Last week we started chapter 3 in the Letter to the
Galatians and Paul was a little upset that they had allowed themselves to be so
easily led astray. He could not believe that they had been so easily bewitched
or hypnotized into believing something other than the Gospel message that he had
personally shared with them. Paul goes onto to ask them how foolish can they
be?
Ronald Reagan said we need to ‘trust, but verify’ and that
was exactly the point that Paul was trying to make. It would be nice if we
could trust people to only be truthful and to be completely honest and
forthcoming. Sadly, that is not the case. Too many people have their own
agenda, are clueless, or are just down right corrupt. We need to be careful
with what we hear and read. We cannot count on people to always tell the truth.
Instead we need to ‘trust, but verify’. Does not matter even if it someone
saying they are quoting the Bible. We need to verify that they are telling the
truth.
The false teachers were using the teachings of Moses to
distort the truth of the Gospel that sets you free. Paul showed his knowledge
of the Old Testament Scripture and looked back to a time before Moses.
Galatians 3:6
“6 Just as Abraham believed
God, and it was credited to him for righteousness,”
Paul is countering Old Testament with Old Testament. The Law, as laid out by Moses was critically important, but Abraham is the father of the
Jewish people. The False Teachers were using Moses, so Paul went back a couple
of hundred years and said let’s take a look at Abraham and quoted the Book of
Genesis.
Genesis 15:1-6
“15 After these events, the word of
the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be
afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great. 2 But
Abram said, “Lord God, what can You give me, since I am childless and the
heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram
continued, “Look, You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my
house will be my heir.” 4 Now the word of
the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who
comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He
took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are
able to count them.” Then He said to him, “Your offspring will be that
numerous.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and He
credited it to him as righteousness.”
Abraham trusted in God and believed that God would do what
He said He would do. This all took place before Moses was given the Law for the
people of Israel and obviously took place before Jesus paid the ultimate price
for the sin of the world. So, how was Abraham justified? How was he saved from
his sin?
The Bible tells us in Genesis 15:6 that it was through
belief. It was not that he followed the Law, and it was not due to being
circumcised like the false teachers were trying to say. The whole circumcision
thing did not come about until Genesis 17. So we have God saying that Abraham
was found as righteous, or justified, through simple belief.
So here is the question, how can a rule be put in place
whether it is circumcision, some part of the Mosaic Law, or anything us humans
have come up with since be required for salvation?
The famous Bible teacher Henry Allen Ironside was traveling
and dropped in on a Sunday school class. The unprepared teacher asked how the
Old Testaments saints were saved and somebody answered, “By keeping the law.”
The teacher said, “Correct!”
Ironside raised his hand and said, “Romans 3:28 says it’s
not by the law.”
The teacher responded, “Oh, that’s right, so how were the
Old Testaments saints saved?”
Another person said, “By making sacrifices.”
The teacher again said, “Correct!”
Again Ironside raised his hand and said, “Hebrews says the
blood of bulls and goats is not sufficient.”
The teacher said, “Oh yeah… why don’t you tell us how they
were saved!”
Ironside said, “The same way we are today, by faith!”
Nothing is needed, except faith in God. Believe in Jesus and
what He did for you and you are saved. No rules, no actions, no hurdles to jump
through. Just believe and you are saved.
Ephesians 2:8-9
“8 For you are saved by
grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s
gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.”
We cannot earn it! We don’t deserve it! There are no rules
you need to follow. It is a gift! Freely given! All we have to do is to have
faith!
It is amazing how many different things you can find people
add to being saved. I googled it this week and found rules requiring baptism,
presenting yourself in front of the church, worshipping on a certain day,
physical signs of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and so much more.
When Paul was in jail an earthquake shook the jail and opened the
doors and undid everyone’s chains the jailer asked Paul what must he do to be
saved. Paul said.
Acts 16:31
“31 So they said, “Believe on the
Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Believe in Jesus! Have Faith! Nothing else is needed.
Bit by bit, Paul was tearing down what the false teachers
has said.
Galatians 3:6-8
“6 Just as Abraham believed
God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, 7 then
understand that those who have faith are Abraham’s sons. 8 Now
the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and
told the good news ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations
will be blessed through you.”
Again Paul is showing his Old Testament knowledge and
actually going back a little farther to when God spoke to Abraham and sent him
from his father’s land into the land of Canaan.
Genesis 12:1-3
“12 The Lord said to Abram: Go out
from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will
show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will
bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I
will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
God is telling Abraham that everyone will be blessed through
him. It does not matter if you sat around the fire pit with Abraham or if you
are sitting here today in Clark, faith in God brings salvation. As we have seen
before it does not matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, black or white, rich
or poor, a sports star, or a band geek, a business man or a farmer, all you
need is faith. Abraham was saved by simply having faith and so are you.
The false teachers would have been very hard pressed to
debate with Paul or any of the Galatian church on this point. Paul was quoting
scripture that was spoken directly by God Himself. Any Old Testament Bible
teacher would never contradict these words.
Trust the Bible over what someone says. Sounds like last
week’s message ‘Trust, but verify.’
To many people look at society and then try to determine
which parts of the Bible they are going to believe and which parts they are
going to cut out.
Years ago I heard a story, and it may have been made up to
make a point, but I am going to share it anyways.
A Pastor was visiting a man in the hospital who was
terminal. The man asked the Pastor if he would read him something from the
Bible as his eyes weren’t working as good as they used to. The Pastor picked up
the man’s Bible and starting thumbing through it. He asked if there was anything
specific that he wanted to hear and then he noticed something funny. As he
looked through the man’s Bible he found pieces of it had been cut out. When he
asked the man about it, the man said I cut out the pieces that you said were
not important.
People tend to ignore what makes them feel uncomfortable.
Some might ignore those verses about sexual immorality or those about getting
drunk. Others might ignore those verses that tell them that their faith is
supposed to change them so that they can be the light unto the world or those
verses that tell them to be a witness.
Society would like us to do just that. Cut out or ignore the
verses that society deems as being too critical or old fashioned. You know
those verses that talk about sin, morals, repentance, damnation, hellfire and
brimstone, and those verses that talk about Jesus’ Second Coming and Judgement
Day.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
“16 All Scripture is inspired by
God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for
training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of
God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
The Bible came from God to teach, rebuke, and correct and we
need to use it accordingly. We need to use the Bible to measure what the world
says, not the other way around. Paul was using Scripture to counter false
teachings and to discredit the false teachers. We need to turn to the Bible to
make sure we know the truth and are not easily led astray. If someone is
speaking garbage we need to turn to Scripture and use it to rebuke, correct,
and teach.
God’s Word broke through the lies in Galatia and it will
break through them today.
Galatians 3:9
“So those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who
had faith.”
Paul wraps up this section by reminding the Galatians that yes,
God has paid the price for all. All nations will be blessed through Abraham,
through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But there is a ‘big’ but.
The price has been paid, ‘but’ only for those who have
faith.
2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord does not delay His promise, as some
understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to
perish but all to come to repentance.”
God does not want any to perish. He wants to spend eternity
with every human ever created. But they have to believe. It is that old saying,
you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.
God has led all humankind to water, but He will not force us
to drink it. It is up to you; it is your choice if you are going to drink the
living water He is offering or walk away.
Most if not all of us sitting here today have already made
that choice, but there are a lot of people outside these four walls that have
not. If we look to the Bible as our guide, as the ultimate authority. Our job
is to be witnesses to the world. Everywhere we go, we are to be witnesses.
Every believer no matter how young or old, is called to share the Gospel and
make disciples.
Are you going to follow the world or lean on the Bible to
guide you?
Thanks for reading!
God Bless,
Robert
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