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Promise Keeper (Galatians 3:15-29)
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Promise Keeper (Galatians 3:15-29)
Galatians: The Truth of the Gospel :: A Study of Galatians
Sunday Message recorded 24 October 2021
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
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Transcript
Introduction to Sermon and Participation
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message. If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, FBCColumbusTX.org.
Appreciation and Scripture Reflection
00:00:32
Speaker
And now take your copy of God's timeless word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
00:00:43
Speaker
Good morning. Thank you so much, Marsha and praise team. She led us in some great gospel singing. Appreciate the truths of the gospel that we sang together. How powerful to just celebrate as we survey the wondrous cross and as we stand there and look inside an empty tomb and we say, he lives. That's why I'm not going to be afraid. And then to also celebrate and say, these are the blessings that we have, even when times are tough.
00:01:12
Speaker
You can still say, I'm going to say, blessed be the name of the Lord. And then it touched me as I was singing the other song about, in my father's house, there's a place for me.
Assurance of Faith and Promise in Galatians 3
00:01:25
Speaker
I'm a child of God. You know, there can be a place for you. If you don't know Christ as your Lord and Savior, I pray that God will use his word today to help it be clear. How can a person put their faith and their trust in Jesus Christ and know for certain
00:01:42
Speaker
that whenever they die, that they will go into the presence of the Lord. You're going to hear that this morning as we look at Galatians chapter 3.
00:01:51
Speaker
If you would, turn with me there. Galatians chapter 3, we're going to begin with verse 15. We're going to look at a logical argument of why it is that we are saved by faith in Christ, what He did for us, rather than each one of us trying our best to try to please God.
00:02:12
Speaker
As he transitions into this section, he's going to bring a word in verse 14 with him. As he goes into verse 15 and all the way down through verse 25, you'll hear the word about nine times. It's the word promise, the word promise. He ended that last section by saying that we might receive the promise spirit through faith.
00:02:37
Speaker
And I think the Holy Spirit said, now that is a topic I want to give you some more truth about, promise. So you're going to hear promise as we go through here.
God's Promise to Abraham and Faith vs. Works
00:02:48
Speaker
So the word promise is going to be like the locomotive. It'll be the engine that's pulling this train through there.
00:02:57
Speaker
So in this passage, Paul will remind them of God's promise to Abraham. You see, in Christ, God kept that promise. He actually fulfilled the promise that he made to Abraham and he opened up a way
00:03:12
Speaker
for all of us who are not Jews, we're not Israelis, but God opened a way so that we could be blessed. And so I want you to stand with me in honor of God's word as I read from Galatians 3.15 down to verse 29. Listen to this. To give a human example, brothers, even with a manmade covenant,
00:03:37
Speaker
no one annulses it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is Christ?
00:04:02
Speaker
This is what I mean. The law which came 430 years afterward does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it's no longer comes by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
Human Analogy of God's Unbreakable Promise
00:04:29
Speaker
Why then the law?
00:04:32
Speaker
It was added because of transgressions until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
00:04:51
Speaker
Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
00:05:20
Speaker
Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith.
00:05:39
Speaker
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you're all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ,
00:06:08
Speaker
then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to
Irrevocable Nature of God's Promise as a Gift
00:06:13
Speaker
promise. Let's ask him to speak to us through his word.
00:06:17
Speaker
Lord, I thank you so much. If we were to just dismiss right there, I believe already your word speaks so clearly, so loudly. And so Lord, help us as we go through this and we push a pause button every now and then and we look at different components of this wonderful text that includes an incredible promise for us, a promise that we would be saved, that we would be justified, that we would be cleansed, that we would be welcomed into your family,
00:06:47
Speaker
if we come by faith, faith in Christ, the finished work of our Lord and Savior. So bless us as we look at this passage, and I pray for any that are here that are still kind of wondering, they're still questioning, they're still seeking, I'm so glad they're here. Bless them as they hear these truths this morning. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated.
00:07:11
Speaker
Well, let's examine Paul's logical argument in defense of justification by faith. I believe he makes five basic statements regarding God's promise to Abraham and get this, regarding God's promise to us, to each one of us. So let's look first at verse 15. In verse 15, I believe the Lord provides us with an illustration of the promise. It's an illustration, God's saying, let me give you a human analogy.
00:07:42
Speaker
Isn't it great that God, the God who created the heavens and the earth, he actually wants to communicate with you. He wants you to understand. You don't have to guess how to be saved. God says, I want you to get this. I want you to understand.
Spiritual Inheritance and Real-Life Illustration
00:07:59
Speaker
So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna give you an analogy. I'm gonna give you a parallel of something that you can relate to, something you can say, now I understand that.
00:08:09
Speaker
So what was that? Well, the parallel is, he says, to give a human example, and he's drawing from even a man-made covenant. Have you ever entered into some kind of covenant, some kind of agreement, some kind of contract? Have you ever taken a wedding vow?
00:08:27
Speaker
then you understand what God is trying to do. God is trying to say, it's just like that. He's trying to clarify his promises are just like your promises that you make. And once it's ratified, he says, you know, the ratification is like a confirmation.
00:08:45
Speaker
It's like God says, I mean this. And so he ratified it through a ceremony, like a wedding ceremony. You know, that's how we know whenever we gather people and before witnesses, a couple exchanges their vows with one another. Well, in ancient times, they called it cutting a covenant. Why did they call it cutting a covenant? Because they often would take an animal and they would cut an animal into two halves.
00:09:11
Speaker
And in between the two halves, those two that were making a covenant with each other would walk between there. Do you remember earlier in Galatians when I referred back to Genesis 15.6 and it says that Abraham believed God.
00:09:27
Speaker
And when he believed God, God made a deposit into Abraham's spiritual account. And God said, because you trust me, because you believe what I said, you believe my promise, I'm going to deposit righteousness into your spiritual account.
00:09:44
Speaker
Right after that, you know what God did? He told Abraham to get certain animals, get a goat, get a heifer, all these different animals, and he wanted him to cut them in two, place them on this side on the left, on this side on the right. And so what happened next? Usually back then, right?
00:10:04
Speaker
The two people that were making a covenant with one another, they together would walk between the animals. And what they were saying was, may I be like these animals if I don't keep my word to you? But something unusual happened in Genesis 15, verses 7 through 21. Do you remember what it was? Abraham went to sleep.
00:10:25
Speaker
Abraham slipped while God passed between those halves of those animals. You know what that means? It means that God was saying to Abraham,
00:10:36
Speaker
You rest, my friend, because I will keep the covenant with myself." You know who he made the covenant with? We'll get to it in a moment. You won't believe it. Well, that's the ratification. And notice, can you make a modification to something later? He says, no one annuls it. No one adds to it. The Judaizers were claiming, well, yeah, that's true. God made a promise to Abraham. But after that,
00:11:05
Speaker
Several years after that, God gave the law to Moses.
00:11:10
Speaker
And so what he's saying here by way of a logical argument, he's saying to give a human example, brothers, even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds it once it has been ratified. So he's saying, you know, that's not right to break your word on what you make a promise on. It's not legal and it's not right. So let's go to a second observation that we can have right here in this text about promises, verses 16, 17 and 18.
00:11:40
Speaker
Galatians 3 16 through 18 reminds us of the inheritance that is given through the promise.
Purpose of Old Testament Law
00:11:48
Speaker
The inheritance is not given through Abraham trying the best that he can.
00:11:53
Speaker
No, remember he's sleeping. And so God is saying, get this, I'm going to give you an inheritance. You know, down there in verse 18, it actually brings up that word, doesn't it? Look in your copy of God's word. For if the inheritance, there it is, comes by the law,
00:12:11
Speaker
It no longer comes by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. You see how important promises are? See how important it is that God made salvation, not by works, but by promise.
00:12:27
Speaker
When you inherit something, did you earn that? Or was that a gift given by a loved one who goes on, who passes away? You know, in 2016, about five years ago, there was a man named Stuart Walton who inherited $190 billion. What about you? What about if you put your faith and your trust in Jesus Christ? There's something that's far more valuable than $190 billion. You know what it is?
00:12:56
Speaker
It's eternity. It's all that we have in Christ. You know, in Ephesians 1.11, Paul says, in him we've obtained an inheritance. In Ephesians 1.18, he says, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.
00:13:14
Speaker
You're not just a millionaire, a billionaire. Man, you have eternity with God the Father. All your sins are washed away. You were called a child of God. That was what makes a song so meaningful when you say, I am a child of God. Ephesians 1.14 even says the Holy Spirit is given to every believer as a guarantee that there's more.
00:13:39
Speaker
You see, right now, if you've trusted Christ, the Holy Spirit is going through life with you. And you know what? The Holy Spirit is there to remind you of? This is not all there is. When you get to heaven, you're going to say, well, I can't believe how much was included when I put my faith and my trust in Jesus Christ.
00:13:57
Speaker
Remember earlier I told you that I wanted to share with you who the beneficiary was of the covenant? Remember I said that God walked through there by himself. He didn't have Abraham walking through there with him. Who did he make the promise to? Well, he makes it clear here in the logical argument, doesn't he? He says, now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say and to offsprings.
00:14:25
Speaker
referring to many, but referring to one. And to your offspring is exactly what God said. Who is Christ? Isn't that amazing? You know what? The covenant is between God the Father and God the Son. And that's why it's not dependent on your good works or my good works as special
Old Testament Law as Guide to Faith in Christ
00:14:46
Speaker
as those are. You may honor God with your whole life. That's great. I encourage you to do that.
00:14:51
Speaker
But all I'm saying is, this was an agreement between the Father and the Son, because Abe, he's sleeping. Man, they ought to make a movie about that while you were sleeping. Look what happened. The beneficiary of the inheritance. But I want you to notice again, don't miss it, verse 17, this is the crux of his argument.
00:15:10
Speaker
The binding promise, the binding promise within this inheritance. You can't change the terms. Verse 17, that's what he's trying to get at. This is what I mean, the law which came 430 years afterward does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void. Promise is not void. Promise is still very active. It's very binding.
00:15:39
Speaker
See what he says here at the end of verse 18, for if the inheritance comes by the law, well, it no longer comes by promise. And then he says it, get ready. It's like he's going to give you a one, two punch. And the last one is quite powerful when he says, but God gave it, but God gave it, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
00:16:06
Speaker
See, that's why in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 15, 57 says, but God gives us, He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. You can't work it up. You'll never work your way into God's family. You'll never work your way into heaven. You will just have to sit there and say, Lord, I need your mercy. I need your grace because I cannot attain this. And God says, I know that friend. That's why I provided a way.
00:16:35
Speaker
But until you get there, there is this important role of the Old Testament. And so I think that the Apostle Paul anticipated, oh, the Judaizers, these legalists are going to give a few objections and they're going to say, okay, let's take your argument then. So the law is no longer important. It doesn't even have a place, right? See, look at verse 19. He gives two questions. One is in verse 19. Why then the law?
00:17:02
Speaker
And one is in verse 21, is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Those are the things that he thinks the Judaizers are going to be coming at the Galatian new believers and new disciples with. So Paul says, let's take it home. Let's just talk about that. What is the purpose of the law? Do you know what is the purpose of the law?
00:17:26
Speaker
Well, here's what he goes with. The Old Testament law is not contradictory to Old Testament promises. Oh no, it's actually not contradictory, it's complementary. They work together in unison. You won't believe this.
00:17:42
Speaker
The Old Testament law, it says in verse 19, is because of transgressions. You see, the Old Testament has a very important purpose. It convicts us of sin, just like the Holy Spirit is going to take the Word of God and convict us. He's going to turn the light on and expose our sin. And so whenever God does that, whenever you hear the Word of God, sometimes you feel uncomfortable and you say, whoa, I don't like that.
00:18:08
Speaker
But you know what? That is a good thing because the law is going to tell you, you need a Savior. You're not going to make it. And so the law is going to show you the truth about how lost you are, how helpless you are, how hopeless it is for you to try to work your way into heaven. You won't be able to make it. And so the law convicts, that's why when Josiah in his day, maybe there's some in this day,
00:18:34
Speaker
You know what? They had lost the Bible. I wonder how many homes across America have lost the scriptures. They can't find the Bible. But in Josiah's day, they found it. They found it. It was just kind of buried in the temple. And they were cleaning out the temple and they found it. They said, look at here. This is the law. And so Josiah said, well, read that. I haven't ever heard that. They start reading it. And you know what? The king started weeping.
00:19:01
Speaker
And the king said, I want the whole nation to hear what God has said. And when the whole nation heard what God had said, 2 Chronicles 34 verses 18 to 21 says they started weeping. And it's like the Word of God will help you realize I can't do this by myself. I need a Savior. That's conviction of sin.
00:19:24
Speaker
I know we like the sugar stick sermons, and we like to say, nah, just tell me how much God loves me. You need to know the damage your sin has caused. Because when we know that it convicts us, it exposes our sin, but it also constrains us, doesn't it? I think that's a second purpose of the law. You know, when he says, because of transgressions, that's the conviction. But he says, until the offspring came,
00:19:51
Speaker
Paul doesn't want to be misunderstood, and neither do I. The Old Testament is perfect. The Old Testament is exactly like God. The Old Testament is a revelation of the holiness and the righteousness, the perfection of our God. No, don't write off the Old Testament. Paul wasn't. He was saying, no, it has a purpose.
Justification by Faith and Our Position as Heirs
00:20:13
Speaker
And that purpose is to hold us back as best it could.
00:20:16
Speaker
It's like the rain's on a horse. You're pulling back and saying, whoa, that's what the law is supposed to do. So you don't need to throw away the law. You just need to understand the law. And that's why he says it's like we're in confinement. We've been incarcerated because when we read the law, it's like
00:20:36
Speaker
God is, say, a jailer. And he says, your sins deserve judgment. You realize that, don't you? And of course, we like to justify ourselves and say, no, look, I do a lot of good things too. And God says, well, let's just see what the Bible says here. And then you say, OK, OK, don't read any more of that. Don't read any more of that. I'll get back in my jail cell. And so it's like we're in a jail cell.
00:20:59
Speaker
We're under confinement is what it says. Twice it says that we are imprisoned. Once it says that we are held captive under the law. So man, that's a pretty rough thing, right? Yeah, but now we need to go to the fourth thing.
00:21:16
Speaker
There's a fourth observation you don't want to miss. And that's the instruction toward the promise. Because if you keep following the Apostle Paul as he goes down through the passage, he says, look, the Old Testament law is really like a guardian, not a prison guard, not that kind of guardian. No, it goes back to Roman and Greek days whenever they were trying to bring up their young.
00:21:40
Speaker
Sometimes the husband was out working, the wife had other children, she could not see to the proper education of the kids. And so they would hire a slave, and the slave was very dependable because that slave is going to be with their children from age 6 through 16. Make sure that they get the proper moral training. Make sure they learn things right.
00:22:03
Speaker
Listen, these guys were like a tutor, but they were also sort of like, kind of like a policeman. And they was walking around with a kid saying, you better get on that homework, buddy. And then it's like, my daddy's gonna come home and he's gonna get on to you for telling, your daddy's the one who told me, you better get on the homework, you know? So it's like, they're gonna make them get on it. That was what he says, you know what, the law is also like that.
00:22:30
Speaker
And so even though we're in a prison, it's like the Lord is going to say, here's the keys. Here's the keys that'll get you out of there. And you know, the Old Testament promises were like those keys. And here we are sitting in our despair and we're thinking, I'll never be able to get out of here. And God says, yeah, but there is this one key.
00:22:52
Speaker
The Messiah, this one key, is going to unlock that prison door and you can go free. You're saying, really? Really? Is it like that? Oh yeah, it's like that. Do you remember in Matthew 19 when a rich young ruler came to Jesus? Remember Jesus? He said, I want eternal life so bad. He said, what do I need to do to receive eternal life? Remember what Jesus said? You got to keep the law.
00:23:19
Speaker
He said, listen, what kind of law? What are you talking about? So he starts naming them off. And the young guy says, look, I've been trained in my family. I've been keeping that law ever since I was a kid. So I've done all that. See, that's what the law was supposed to do, to hold him back, but also to push him forward and saying, you better look for a savior. And so even though he was a good guy, he was a good boy.
00:23:46
Speaker
He still had something missing in his life. And so did every one of us. The Bible says all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And that's the Old Testament, New Testament. They're telling us the same thing. They're instructing us to move toward the promise of faith in Christ. Two disciples were talking on the road to Emmaus and they were so discouraged. They saw Jesus down the cross.
00:24:12
Speaker
And Jesus, of course, like we saw, because he lives, he had risen from the dead. Luke 24, verses 25 to 27, these guys are so discouraged. And Jesus says, how can you miss it? It's all through the Old Testament. And it says that Jesus began with Moses and all the prophets, every single one of them.
00:24:33
Speaker
And he said, it's been there all along trying to point to me. You see, a doctor can diagnose an illness, a sickness. He can't always heal that sickness. That's the same way with the law. The law can define sin, but he can't defeat sin.
00:24:53
Speaker
That's where we need Jesus and the victory that only He can give. So that's where our text closes the logical argument for justification by faith and the promise of a Savior by reminding us what happens, what's our position in Christ.
Call to Accept Salvation by Faith
00:25:08
Speaker
Oh, you won't believe it.
00:25:09
Speaker
He closes with three different things that describe our position in Christ. When we're incorporated into the body of Christ, when you are merged and assimilated into God's family, what becomes, what is it that is yours? What are the perks?
00:25:28
Speaker
Well, there's lots of them, but he mentions three right here. When you enter into God's family, you are incorporated into sonship through faith in Christ. That's verses 26 and 27. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith, right? Through faith. And you know, they had a tradition back then whenever a young boy
00:25:52
Speaker
got to be a certain age, maybe 16, 18, wherever it was, the dad, it was an official thing, he would present him with a new robe. He would give him a new robe, special toga there, say, from now on, you're considered a young man. And so it was like a special ceremony. Do you know that it says here, there's neither Jew, right before that, verse 27, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
00:26:20
Speaker
See, Paul's pulling from that and he's saying, look, when you trust Jesus Christ, you're clothed. You're clothed with a new robe, a robe of righteousness, not your righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. But then next, not only sonship, but fellowship. You're incorporated into the body of Christ. Do you know that here in this congregation, if you're visiting with us, we're so glad you're here.
00:26:44
Speaker
But you may be wondering, okay, who's really ahead of everybody else? No one. The ground's level at the foot of the cross. You see, it doesn't matter who you are, what you have, what you don't have, what schools you went to, what schools you didn't go to, how much your salary is, where you work, what kind of car you drive, none of that matters. You know what matters? Have you placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ? And if you have,
00:27:10
Speaker
Then listen, we're all one. We are one in Christ. And that's what he's trying to get at in verse 28. We don't lose our identity, but we gain a new identity that we have in Christ. And then last of all is the airship. You know what it is to be an air, right?
00:27:27
Speaker
Remember in the story, the parable of the prodigal son? Remember one son, he was like a prodigal. He was wayward and rebellious, and he left home and wanted his inheritance right then. So the father gave it to him. So when the son wastes it all and comes back home, well, the older son says, look, I can't believe how you're welcoming him back.
00:27:50
Speaker
I've been here all the time. There's not one thing you've ever told me to do that I haven't done. And you remember what the dad says to him? He looks at that older son and he says, don't you realize all that I have is yours? Everything I have is yours.
00:28:05
Speaker
Do you realize, church family, God is saying, everything I have in Christ, it's yours. He gives it to us. Ephesians 1, 3 and 4 says, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is given to us, given to us in Christ. So we are an heir to an incredible, incredible resource that is with God the Father.
00:28:31
Speaker
You see, God is offering people this morning the same thing. It's an incredible invitation. It's an incredible promise of salvation if we will just place our faith and trust in Christ. It's amazing to me that God is still keeping the same promise he made to Abraham and to his son.
00:28:51
Speaker
over 4,000 years ago. Isn't that amazing? It's been 4,000 years. The Lord is trustworthy. The word of God is absolutely reliable.
00:29:04
Speaker
Have you trusted Jesus Christ? Are you trying to work your way? Are you trying to be good enough to earn your way into heaven? It won't work. None of us, all of us are broken. We've all disobeyed the Lord in some way. We've all been selfish or prideful. We've all turned away from Him. But the good news of this passage is all it takes is saying, I'm gonna trust what Jesus did for me. Lord, thank you so much for this passage.
00:29:33
Speaker
Lord, it reminds us that if we just trust Christ, if we just turn from sin and place our trust in you and your finished work, oh, it reminds us that we will be saved. And so God, I pray right now in Jesus' name.
00:29:49
Speaker
For any that don't know the Lord in this place, that this would be a day of salvation, a turning point in their life, when they say yes to Christ. So Lord, help them to realize that all they have to do is say, I'm tired of sin. I want Jesus. I believe he died for me in my place. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.