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Collision: Faith vs. Law (Galatians 3:6-14)
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Collision: Faith vs. Law (Galatians 3:6-14)
Galatians: The Truth of the Gospel :: A Study of Galatians
Sunday Message recorded 17 October 2021
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
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Transcript
Introduction and Blessing
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milan 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. And now take your copy of God's timeless word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Salvation Debate in Galatians 3
00:00:42
Speaker
Good to see you this morning. Would you open God's word to Galatians? New Testament, Galatians chapter 3, we'll begin with verse 6.
00:00:51
Speaker
But I want you to listen closely as we go through this passage. Listen to the biblical report of this theological collision that happens over the means of salvation. Someone may be here today or someone may be listening over the radio or perhaps on the internet today that needs to place their faith in Christ. Would you stand in honor of God's word, take your copy of his word and let's look at Galatians 3 verse 6 all the way down through verse 14.
00:01:20
Speaker
Just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture for seeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, in you,
00:01:46
Speaker
shall all the nations be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith, for all who rely on works of the law are under a curse.
Faith vs. Law's Curse
00:02:03
Speaker
For it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them.
00:02:13
Speaker
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not of faith, rather the one who does them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
00:02:43
Speaker
so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.
00:02:57
Speaker
Are you under God's blessing or are you under the curse of the law? Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Oh Father, I want people to come under your hand of blessing. I know there's only one way for us to get there because we're so sinful and broken and rebellious, and that is to repent and turn from our sins and to trust in the finished and final sufficient work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
00:03:24
Speaker
Thank you so much that the gospel saves, that it gives us hope that, Lord, you deliver us through Christ. And so open up our eyes and help us to listen today to what you'll say to us about the collision that always happens when there's someone emphasizing trusting Christ, when someone else is emphasizing, no, trying to do the best you can. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated.
00:03:54
Speaker
The heart of this significant passage contrasts two spiritual lanes of people. They're traveling in opposite directions. If you look at verse 9, you'll see one group.
00:04:08
Speaker
One group is blessing bound. They're trusting in Jesus Christ. There's like four vehicles headed in that lane. In the other lane, verse 10 tells us there are three vehicles that are not blessing bound. Perhaps you're traveling in a vehicle much like one of them.
00:04:26
Speaker
They're curse bound. Because of our sin, we're under a curse. So once trusting the Savior, the other is trusting self. I know I've got this. I know I can do this. I know I'm a good person. You'll have to turn from that someday and say, oh Lord, please help me to put my faith and trust in what your son did for me on the cross.
Abraham's Faith and Righteousness
00:04:50
Speaker
Let's go to this passage and let me first give you three of those blessings that I saw in this passage. Look with me for example in verse six. Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, the first blessing of placing your faith in Christ is the deposit of righteousness that has always been by faith.
00:05:17
Speaker
You see, during theological controversies back in Paul's day, the rabbis used to refer to the heroes of the Old Testament, and especially if they could just work it to where they could refer to Abraham. They knew that they would have the trump card.
00:05:36
Speaker
Most likely the Judaizers had already pointed to Abraham. And they've already been saying perhaps, looking at Genesis chapter 17 verses 10 through 14, Abraham was circumcised and that's why he was blessed. That's perhaps what the Judaizers were saying to the Galatian disciples. They were saying, if you want to be blessed like Abraham, you're going to have to keep the Old Testament law.
00:06:05
Speaker
The Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to point not to Genesis 17, verses 10 through 14, but to point back earlier than that to Genesis 15 and verse 6. 14 years before Abraham was circumcised, God said, you know what? Because you believed in me, you're going to be blessed.
00:06:31
Speaker
Let me read it again just as Abraham, and notice the quotation marks, believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
00:06:43
Speaker
You see, Paul is pointing out in this verse, Galatians 3, 6, that faith for Abraham came first. Abraham's deeds followed his faith because he trusted in what God had promised. God said, you know what? I'm going to make a deposit into your spiritual account, Abraham, and what I'm going to deposit is righteousness.
00:07:05
Speaker
Something Abraham, you don't have. All of us, the Bible says that all of us, our righteousness is as filthy rags. Who among us would ever say, I've never been selfish, not once in my life? Who of us would say, I've never rebelled against God's ways. I've always told the truth. I've always done what was right. I've never disobeyed God. None of us.
00:07:28
Speaker
You see, the reason that the Judaizers were getting confused is because they were pointing at the mark of salvation, not the means to salvation. The mark of salvation is found in Genesis 1711,
00:07:44
Speaker
When Abraham was told by God, look, I want you to be circumcised. And here's what he said. This is what God said to Abraham about circumcision. It is a sign of the covenant. It is a sign. It's a mark of the covenant. They'll know that you have entered into a covenant with me because you have taken this mark. But the means is different.
00:08:10
Speaker
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. You know that word counted means to deposit. Do you ever deposit something in your checking account? God deposited something in his spiritual account. You know what he deposited?
00:08:29
Speaker
God's righteousness, His righteousness, not Abraham's righteousness. God said, because you trusted me, I'm going to deposit my righteousness into your account. A second blessing is found in verses 7 and 8 and 9, and that is the blessing of dependence upon receiving, which is expressed by faith.
00:08:54
Speaker
You know, Hebrews 11 is a great chapter. I encourage you sometime, if you want to get to know more about faith, read Hebrews 11. But in Hebrews 11, it says something interesting about those in the Old Testament. It says that they gained approval through their faith. They trusted God.
00:09:16
Speaker
You know, if we could work for our own salvation, you know what we would be like in heaven? We'd be so proud. We'd be so proud that we'd accomplish this and we'd accomplish that. But think about if we're saved only through Christ, then we're not going to be proud of what we have done.
00:09:38
Speaker
We're going to be proud of what He has done, right? You know, that's why Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 says that it is by grace that we are saved through faith. It's not of our own works, lest anyone would boast, because that's exactly what we would do.
00:09:57
Speaker
But he's saying it's of grace. That's why here in verse seven and eight and nine, can you look real quick and count the times the word faith is mentioned? Look at that. Count them up. How many times do you see faith in verse seven, verse eight and verse nine? Hopefully you'll come up with four. I'm from Tennessee, so I get confused sometimes. But faith is mentioned four times.
00:10:24
Speaker
Why would God set up salvation based upon trusting rather than trying? I want to give you three possible reasons why I think he did that. The first one is this assurance, assurance of salvation. Do you see in verse seven where he starts this whole thing out by saying, know then that it is those of faith? You see, whenever it's based on faith, you can know.
Irrelevance of Good Works for Salvation
00:10:53
Speaker
But if it's based on works, how would you, how would I ever know? You know, in 1 John chapter 5 and verse 13, there's a great verse. If anyone here is ever struggling with assurance of salvation, is it ever possible to know for certain that you're going to heaven? 1 John 5, 13, the apostle John says, I write these things.
00:11:18
Speaker
to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know." Same word, that you may know that you have eternal life. You see, that's why the Bible is so clear about the way to salvation. It's not based on our works.
00:11:35
Speaker
If it were, we would never have assurance. It's based on anyone that places their faith or trust in what Jesus Christ did for them. There's another thing, though, I thought about. What about this? The amount, the amount of good works for salvation.
00:11:53
Speaker
You notice in verse seven and again in verse nine, he says, know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. You drop down to verse nine, so then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. You see, God is not saying you have to do 513 good works across the course of your life.
00:12:19
Speaker
What if God said, no, it's not across the course of your life, it's every single day that you live. You're gonna have to do three good works every single day that you live. Or let's say he said, you're gonna have to do seven good works every single day that you live. Wouldn't that be incredible to think, what's the amount? Where can I find in the Bible how many things I need to do every single day in order to be accepted by God today? It's not there.
00:12:48
Speaker
You know what is there? It's a faith. It's a faith. Trusting in what Jesus did, know what you will do. I thought, thank you God. And of course the third one would simply be the atonement. That's the third reason why we're depending on receiving salvation through faith in Christ because of the atonement. Look at verse 8.
00:13:12
Speaker
Verse 8 says, and the Scriptures for seeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. What does that word justify mean? What are we talking about? It means to declare as righteous. If God looked at your life,
00:13:28
Speaker
Without Jesus Christ, would you think that He would declare you righteous? The Bible says all of us are declared guilty. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God, so none of us would be able to stand before God and Him say, you are righteous. You've done everything just the way I wanted. You're righteous.
00:13:50
Speaker
No, that's why we place our trust in the Atonement of Christ, because He did do everything perfect. That's why that Jesus laid down His life for you and for me, makes such a difference. I couldn't do that. You see, I'm flawed. I make mistakes. I'm a sinner saved by grace.
00:14:09
Speaker
That's the only way we get in, is by saying, you know what, I need God to look not in my works, but to look at the finished works of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And if he looks at his works, then he's gonna say, I declare you righteous because you're not trusting in what you've done, you're trusting in what he did for you. Wow, that's a powerful difference. Do you see the difference in depending and receiving?
00:14:37
Speaker
The third blessing of the gospel of grace is simply the descendants among all races are going to be multiplied by faith. Isn't it amazing that perhaps there are some places across the world, I'm sure, that we can interview Ben and Amber and just ask them, does every community have a church around the world? They don't.
00:14:59
Speaker
So if it's going to church, some people would say, we don't have one. We don't have a place here. We don't even have a disciple here in this particular community. And so how are the descendants going to multiply all around the world, every nation, every people, every tongue, every tribe? Well, through Christ. You see, the Bible teaches that all races, all nations are broken because of sin.
00:15:28
Speaker
All nations, every race, every ethnicity, every, our problem is not skin. Our problem is sin. Sin is the problem that we have. All of us have sinned and fall short of what God wants us to be and to do. But then we think about him and over there where he is, there's blessing, right? So here we are broken. There he is. He's got all these blessings he would love to give to us, but there's a big gap. There's a chasm.
00:15:59
Speaker
In Tennessee, we used to call it a gully. Do y'all say gully? But anyway, there's a gully. Trust me on this. There's a gully. And how are we gonna ever cross that great divide? There's only one way, the bridge. The bridge is the gospel. It's given right there. It says that the gospel, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham. This is even Old Testament, right?
00:16:26
Speaker
In you, listen to what he says, shall all the nations, every nation, anybody that walks across that bridge can know that God loves them. He will accept them. He will approve of them, not because of what they've done, but because of what Jesus did for them. I think that's so powerful to go to this biblical, a biblical teaching about race. So let's think about the curses.
00:16:56
Speaker
While those blessings are available through faith in Christ, there's a curse with only deeds of the law. You know, the curse that's mentioned here is to be separated from God.
00:17:08
Speaker
You know, if you were to review what we've already studied in Galatians, if you were to go back to Galatians chapter 2, verse 16, you would see that the Old Testament law, all those rituals and everything you're supposed to do, it cannot justify the sinner.
Law's Limitations and Need for Faith
00:17:24
Speaker
Only through the blood of Christ are we justified.
00:17:27
Speaker
I'll tell you something else in chapter 2 and verse 21, the law cannot give a man righteousness. It can only show us how far we fall short. Chapter 3 verse 2, we saw that the law cannot give the gift of the Holy Spirit. That's why Dr. John MacArthur says after showing what faith can do, whenever you move into verse 10, Paul now shows what works.
00:17:54
Speaker
cannot do, works cannot do. The Judaizers, they were pushing a religion. The Apostle Paul, on the other hand, was proclaiming a relationship, a relationship that is very possible with the Father through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Judaizers, on the other hand, were pushing more rules, more rituals, more things that we have to do in order to try to be acceptable before God.
00:18:23
Speaker
But the deeds of the law only lead to the curse. And that's what he's trying to warn us of. For all who rely, all who trust, own works of the law are under a curse. But since the Judaizers were often referred to what Moses said in the Old Testament law, he says, OK, remember this. Remember this, that Abraham was declared righteous
00:18:50
Speaker
500 years before Moses received the law. And so they're like, whoa, wait a minute. And so that's another aspect of the curse is the defeat by just one law.
00:19:06
Speaker
will never break the law. If you're going to go down the road like the Judaizers were encouraging, you're going to say, I think I can be good enough that God will accept me if I'm just trying to be a good person. I think I'll be good enough. Then here, you need to really listen to this. For all who rely on works of the law or under a curse, for it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide, get this, by all things written in the book of the law.
00:19:34
Speaker
and do them. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith
00:19:45
Speaker
Let me give you three adjectives that describe the kind of obedience. If you wanna go into God's presence, into God's family, into heaven by your obedience, then you better listen to these three things, three adjectives. The first one is total obedience. Did you see the word all? All. You know, in James chapter two and verse 10, James chapter two and verse 10 says, for whoever keeps the whole all,
00:20:14
Speaker
He's doing pretty good, but he fails in one point, has become guilty of all of it. James 2.10 is a pretty sobering verse. Think about that. Trying to keep the law, it won't work because we cannot offer God total obedience. But let's say on a given day, you and I get up, we've had our coffee, we're having a great day, so we're in a good mood, and we're gonna really do the very best that we can on that day.
00:20:43
Speaker
But you see, the thing is, it's not just total obedience. It has to be perpetual obedience. In other words, you can't let up. You can't quit on a certain point in your life. You've got to keep that going. Some translations use the word continueth.
00:21:00
Speaker
This one in the ESV says, abide. That word abide is a very serious idea there. When it says all that we must, it says, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them.
00:21:19
Speaker
So if you can't keep it up, then don't try it that way. I would go in the direction of the cross. I would go in the direction of grace. I would go in the direction of justification through the blood of Christ. It's way better. Of course, the third one puts it straight.
00:21:37
Speaker
It's impossible. It's unthinkable. Unthinkable obedience, living only by the law. It's unthinkable. And that's why he says in verse 11, now it's evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. You see, the design of the law is the third thing. It's like part of the curse. The design of the law reveals our need under the curse.
00:22:04
Speaker
You see, the law was never meant to save you. The law was meant to show you your need for salvation in Christ. It reveals to us God's perfect, holy, righteous nature. That's what the law is trying to say. It's not wrong, it's right. The law is right. But what it's saying is,
00:22:27
Speaker
You are not right. I am not right. We are not right. And so not only is God revealing to us His nature, He's revealing to us our nature. That's why in James, he said, you know what? The law is like what's, it's like a mirror. When I looked in the mirror this morning, I thought, goodness gracious, we can eat a miracle before we go in front of people today. The mirror only tells you what's there, right?
00:22:55
Speaker
That's what the Old Testament was meant to show us. You need salvation. And you know what the Old Testament law did though? When you read on in Galatians 3, if you were to drop down to verse 22, all the way down through 26, it's like there are two other metaphors, not a mirror. He said, well, the Old Testament law is like a guard, a prison guard.
00:23:22
Speaker
You see, remember what I said? The law's right. The law's right. I'm guilty. You're guilty. All of us are guilty. And so God keeps us in a prison. It's like a prison. And the Old Testament law says, you can't do it, can you? And we're saying, no, I can't. I didn't. I'm already guilty. And it says that we are like imprisoned and there's a guard out there. And it's the Old Testament. And the Old Testament says, I saw what you did. I know what you did. You fell short of what God wanted.
00:23:52
Speaker
But then the Old Testament also does something else, not just a guard. It's like a guide, like a mentor, like a tutor. And so the guide is going to say, so don't you want to trust? Don't you want to look forward to the Messiah? Don't you want to see all these Old Testament pictures that point to the Savior? And so we're like, yes, please give me some hope.
00:24:19
Speaker
And so right now, it's like Friday nights, I don't want to talk about yesterday's game with Astros, but Friday nights game with Astros, it was awesome.
00:24:29
Speaker
What do you do when the score is tied? Score is tied. Three blessings, three curses, right? Well, let me close with one last thing. It's the game-winning hit, Jesus Christ.
Christ's Sacrifice and Redemption
00:24:42
Speaker
When you look in verses 13 and 14, you see the deliverance by the Redeemer. That's another blessing. That's the fourth blessing. The fourth blessing, deliverance by the Redeemer is received by works.
00:24:58
Speaker
by faith not works, excuse me, by faith not works. It's a great summary, I think, of Christ's deliverance. Let me just summarize it real briefly and quickly. You see, whenever it says that we're under the curse, it's referring to the condemnation.
00:25:17
Speaker
Our condemnation is God's right. We're guilty. That's why, you know, we love John 3 16. God so loved the world and it's so true. God so loved the world that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But you know what happens if a person doesn't believe? John 3 18. John 3 18, just a couple of verses down, says, if I don't believe,
00:25:45
Speaker
And you know what, I'm already under condemnation. You see, I believe in order to get out from under the sentence of condemnation. So how does that ever happen? Well, there's two little words right here, right in these verses. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse, get this, for us.
00:26:08
Speaker
I love that. For us. It tells me that he was a substitute. It should have been me paying the price for my sins. I should have paid the penalty. I should have been punished. But you know what Jesus said? He said, instead of Victor paying for his own sins, I will take it as the substitute. So think about how I go from condemnation. Jesus has this substitution
00:26:35
Speaker
And that leads to redemption, which, when it says that Christ redeemed us, I want you to know that the Father was satisfied. The Father was satisfied whenever Jesus said, you know what? I will pay the price for His sins. The Father said, you've not sinned. And so Jesus said, I know. I've tried to live everything, everything, total obedience to the Father, perpetual obedience to the Father. That's Jesus life, sinless.
00:27:05
Speaker
And so the Father says, I am satisfied with your substitution so you can redeem anyone you want. And so I think, wow, whenever he redeems us, he gives us the Holy Spirit as a down payment. How do you know heaven's coming?
00:27:22
Speaker
Well, we know heaven's coming because there's this down payment that the Lord makes, it's the Holy Spirit. And so he says, here, I will give you my spirit, and that means there's more to come. But notice one last thing, the limitation, the limitation of salvation. Did you know it's limited? Oh yeah, it is. Look at verse 14. So that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit
00:27:52
Speaker
through faith. People do not believe. They stay condemned. People believe. They repent. They turn. They say, well, Jesus died for me. I'm going to place my faith and trust in Him. They are saved. But the thing we faced in Japan was people believed in universalism. Jesus died on the cross, so everybody's going to heaven. That's not biblical. Jesus did die on the cross, so everybody can go to heaven.
00:28:21
Speaker
But everybody won't go to heaven because some will say, I refuse to put my faith and trust in Christ. I think I can get there on my own. What about you? Which road are you traveling? Are you trying to do the very best that you can? I'm just here to tell you, biblically, God says it won't be enough.
00:28:43
Speaker
But if you will simply turn and say, you know what, I want to turn from trying to be saved by my own goodness, and I'm going to trust in what Jesus Christ did for me
Gratitude and Call to Obedience
00:28:56
Speaker
on the cross. Lord,
00:28:59
Speaker
I know that we could have never made it into your family on our own. We could have never been righteous enough and good enough to earn our way into the forgiveness of our sins, to ever be good enough for you to say, not guilty. And that's why you gave your son. That's why you came, Lord Jesus.
00:29:22
Speaker
We are so grateful that it is by grace and that it's through faith. It's not how much money we give. It's not how many times we come to church. It's not how many good things we do.
00:29:36
Speaker
No, it's all by grace when we trust and follow Christ. Then we begin to live in obedience. Then we begin to be so grateful we would follow you and serve you anywhere, no matter where it is. Thank you. Thank you so much. So we pray today for any that are listening, whether in this room or across the world even, we pray that you would help them
00:30:01
Speaker
to repent of trying to work their way to heaven and to trust in the finished work of Christ. We know that you love them. We know that you provided a way for them. And so help them to turn from sin, to place their faith and trust in your death and also your resurrection. And I know that you said if we would call upon you, we would be saved. So thank you so much, Lord, for this time. Bless this invitation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:30:32
Speaker
you