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Galatians Chapter 3 | Chris Osburn

Church of Christ - Bakersfield, Ca

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  1. Certainly good to see everybody who has made it here this

  2. morning with us. We're going to be studying and

  3. Galatians 3. I was not excited when this

  4. chapter landed on me. You got it.

  5. I got to be honest with you because this is tough.

  6. This is a tough chapter. When I read it, I went, what in

  7. the world are we talking about here, trying to understand and

  8. to put it all together and I even, you know, texted waiter,

  9. you know, earlier this week, he was asking how the study was

  10. going. I said man this is like a

  11. 72-ounce Tomahawk Steak that I'm trying to ingest in one sitting

  12. and it just it's a tough tough. Chapter 4.

  13. It was for me, at least. So I hope I don't Make it more

  14. confusing than what it is. It's my whole point.

  15. I want to make sure that we understand what the word of God

  16. is teaching us today. I considered using the new Kings

  17. James to read out of, but for he's for me and hopefully for

  18. the congregation, I'm going to be studying out of the English

  19. Standard Version. It's just a little easier for me

  20. to read through it. So that's the, that's the

  21. version that will be up on the screen.

  22. So if you are turn to Galatians 3, you can either follow along

  23. in the in your Bible or I'm going to have it up here on the

  24. screen. So we'll start what read through

  25. verse 25 and then we'll get into our study.

  26. It says there. Oh, foolish.

  27. Galatians who has Bewitched you? It was before your eyes that

  28. Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

  29. Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the Spirit by

  30. works of the law, or by the hearing with faith?

  31. Are you? So foolish.

  32. Have you begun by the spirit? Are you now being perfected by

  33. the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in

  34. vain? If indeed, it was in vain, does

  35. he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles?

  36. Among You do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith

  37. just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as

  38. righteousness. Know then that it is those of

  39. Faith who are the sons of Abraham and the scripture

  40. foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith.

  41. Preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying and you shall

  42. all the nations be blessed. So then those who are of the

  43. faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith for

  44. All who rely on works of the law are under a curse for it is

  45. written cursed, be everyone who does not abide by all things

  46. written, in the book of the law and do them now, it is evident

  47. that no one is Justified before God by the law for the righteous

  48. shall live by faith. But the law is not of Faith.

  49. Rather the one who does them shall live by them Christ

  50. redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for

  51. us for it is written. Cursed, is everyone who hangs on

  52. a tree, So that in Christ Jesus, The Blessing of Abraham might

  53. come to the Gentiles. So that we might receive the

  54. promised Spirit through faith to give a human example, Brothers,

  55. even a man-made Covenant. No one anoles in, or adds to it

  56. once it has been ratified. Now, the promises were made to

  57. Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say an to the an to

  58. offsprings referring to many, but referring to one and to your

  59. Offspring. Who is Christ?

  60. This is what I mean. The law which came 130 years

  61. afterward does not annul, a covenant previously ratified by

  62. God. So as to make the promise void

  63. for, if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by

  64. promise but God gave it to Abraham as a promise.

  65. Why? Then the law it was added

  66. because of transgressions until The Offspring should come to

  67. whom the promise had been made and it was put in a place

  68. through Angels by an intermediary.

  69. Now an intermediary. Your intermediary implies more

  70. than one but God is one is the law of in contrary to the

  71. promises of God certainly not for if it'll I'd been given that

  72. could give life than righteousness would indeed be by

  73. the law but the scripture imprisoned, everything under

  74. sin, so that the Promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be

  75. given to those who believe. There's a lot in that chapter

  76. and we'll get to the final verses later on, but there's a

  77. lot. I'm going to have 3 points.

  78. I'm not going to go verse by verse through the chapter, but

  79. I'm going to kind of give an over arching explanation of.

  80. So what this chapter is referring to what it means, what

  81. it means for us. And the first point I want to

  82. deal with is Abraham. The second point is going to

  83. deal with Moses and the third point which is the most

  84. important point is going to deal with Christ.

  85. And so we're going to see how kind of one Builds on another

  86. going through our study. So we'll start with our first

  87. point. Which deals with Abraham.

  88. And my first point is God's covenant with Abraham shows us

  89. the necessity of Faith. God's promise shows us the

  90. necessity of Faith. So if we remember Paul, if you

  91. were here the past couple months, when Wade's been going

  92. through the first couple chapters, Paul is writing to a

  93. church where there were some false teachers, these were

  94. called judaizers and these people were claiming okay, you

  95. can believe in Christ, but then you need to be circumcised.

  96. You need to follow Jewish rule or the Jewish regulation in

  97. order to be saved. So they were, they were adding

  98. requirements to Salvation, that Jesus had already put in place.

  99. And Paul introduces the doctrine doctrine of justification of

  100. Faith at the end of Galatians 2. And then he starts to defend it

  101. in Galatians 3 and fours, which were going to be Studying.

  102. So we basically he's not bringing any new material to

  103. this chapter that we're studying today, he's basically

  104. reiterating reiterating what he's already started to develop

  105. and he's bringing it to Bear upon the judaizers the false

  106. teachers and what they were saying.

  107. So he goes back to Abraham and he says okay you guys you

  108. judaizers of talking about circumcision.

  109. So let's go back to where circumcision began The Deal

  110. started with Abraham and let's see how that how he was

  111. justified and he begins to talk about the promise of God of

  112. Abraham that is received by faith.

  113. If we look in verse 6 of Galatians, 3 and says, just as

  114. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness

  115. and he's quoting from Genesis chapter 15, Verse 8 of Galatians

    Genesis 15:8

  116. 3 it says and the scripture foreseeing that God would

  117. justify the Gentiles by faith. Preached the gospel beforehand

  118. to Abraham saying in you shall all the nations be blessed.

  119. And so if you want to turn your Genesis 12, that's fine but

  120. we're going to go back there for a little bit and and pull a

  121. couple points out of there. What Paul is doing here in

  122. Galatians 3 is he showing the necessity of faith?

  123. He starts in Galatians 3 by giving basically six rapid fire

  124. questions to the to the church, in galatia churches, in galatia.

  125. He's basically saying, did you receive all the you would had

  126. observing the law by obedience by your obedience, or by faith?

  127. And he's making the case is basically rhetorical questions

  128. that he's asking here. And that's when he reaches back

  129. and talks about Abraham. He said, let's talk about

  130. Abraham what he's doing. He's building a picture building

  131. a case for his explanation. The people of God in the Old

  132. Testament began with Abraham, he's the father of the people of

  133. Israel and it all plays out and the New Covenant that we are

  134. sons of Abraham. So if we look at Genesis 12,

    Genesis 12:1–2

  135. verses 1 through 2, it says now the Lord said to Abram go from

  136. your country and your Kindred and your father's house to the

  137. land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great

  138. nation and I will bless you and make your name great, so that

  139. you will be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless

  140. you and him who dishonors you, I will curse you and in all the

  141. families of the Earth shall be blessed.

  142. The promise that we see there is in verse 2, it says, and I will

  143. make a great nation make of you a great nation and I will bless

  144. you and make your name great, so that you will be blessings.

  145. That's the promise that was given to Abraham from God.

  146. And that's a big promise, and I don't want us to miss the point.

  147. Abraham had nothing to do with this promise, that was given to

  148. him from God. For all, we know Abraham was

  149. made, even a pagan guy who was not seeking after God, but this

  150. was initiated by God initiated by God.

  151. So the first part of the Covenant with Abraham here is by

  152. Grace God, blesses his people. That's what one of the points is

  153. being made. It's not based on what Abraham

  154. had done, but based on the initiative that the grace of

  155. God, God making his Covenant with Abraham.

  156. It's not Abraham going to make a deal with God.

  157. It was God coming. To Abraham to make a deal with

  158. him or make a covenant with him. I'm sorry.

  159. It's even clearer. We can see that in Genesis 15

  160. and what happened is. God said in Genesis 12 All

  161. Nations on Earth are going to be blessed through you Abram.

  162. But the only problem is, it didn't have a son?

  163. How is that possible? How are all the nations going to

  164. be blessed? If he didn't have a son?

  165. He didn't even have an heir to his family.

  166. He's going to have. How's it going to have a line

  167. that's going to bless all nations?

  168. When he can't even have a son with his wife, Sarah Genesis 15

    Genesis 15:1–6

  169. verses 1 through 6 says, after these things, the word of the

  170. Lord came to Abram in a vision Fair naughty room.

  171. I'm your Shield, your reward shall be very great.

  172. But Abram said O Lord God, what will you give me for?

  173. I continue childless. And the air of my house is

  174. Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, behold you have

  175. given me? No Offspring and a member of my

  176. household will be my Heir and behold the word of the Lord came

  177. to him. This man shall not be your Heir.

  178. You're very, you're very own son.

  179. Shall be rare and he brought him outside and said, look toward

  180. the heaven and Number the Stars. Stars.

  181. If you are able to number them, then he said to him.

  182. So shall your Offspring be? And here's what Paul quotes he

  183. quotes from 15:6 of Genesis. It says, and he believed the

  184. Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness.

  185. So we're going to think about this for a second and what's

  186. going to what's going on and how Abram was receiving this

  187. promise? You know, by Grace God bless his

  188. people and that Grace is expressed in radical promises.

  189. God gave some radical Promises to the, to the children of

  190. Israel in the Old Testament, we can read about and to Abraham.

  191. And we see this through Abraham's life and it's evident

  192. right here. God just said to Abram, you're

  193. going to have as many descendants as the stars in the

  194. heavens. He doesn't even have a son yet.

  195. That's a pretty big bold promise that he gave Abraham when he

  196. didn't even have a son. Not only does he not have a son

  197. but he's 99 years old and his wife is Barren.

  198. Sarah could not have children. You know, things were not

  199. looking very promising for that, kind of promise to God, to give

  200. to Abraham You know, even when God, you know, was mentioned to

  201. Sarah that she was going to have a son, she laughed at.

  202. You got to be kidding me. I'm gonna have a son.

  203. I think any of us would do that, if we were told that at that

  204. age, however, the picture was here, it was not, it was not

  205. Abraham or singing or Sarah bringing anything to the table.

  206. It's what God was bringing to the table for them in their

  207. lives. Promises by his grace.

  208. Now the question is, how will he receive the blessing of God?

  209. How will Abraham receive the blessing of God that leads us to

  210. the second part of God's covenant with Abraham Abraham by

  211. Grace? God blesses, his people and then

  212. through faith, God's people received his Blessing and this

  213. is what Paul is talking about. This is how Abraham receive the

  214. blessing of God, not by earning it or meriting it or doing

  215. anything within his power to to gain that from God. he believed

  216. basically what God was telling him, he believed that Abraham

  217. did not do a thing, he believed God.

  218. And that's what verse six set of Paul says.

  219. In Galatians, it says in this is what he's quoting just as

  220. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness

  221. righteousness before, God, credited Bree Abraham based on,

  222. not what he has done, but based on what he believed, Abraham

  223. believed God, it's what Romans 4?

  224. 19 through 21 talks about, it says he did not weaken in faith

  225. when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since

  226. he was about 100 years old or even he considered the

  227. barrenness of Sarah's womb, no unbelief made him waiver

  228. concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith

  229. as he gave glory to God. Fully convinced that God was

  230. able to do what he had promised. That is why it was credited to

  231. him as righteousness. Romans 4 says, the righteousness

  232. of God was credit to him because he believed God had the power to

  233. do what he has promised through faith.

  234. And this is what Paul is talking about, what the judaizers, he

  235. says, yes, he was circumcised, but when was he circumcised?

  236. It's not until Genesis 17 that Abraham gets circumcised.

  237. Paul talks about earlier in Romans 4 verse 10.

    Romans 4:10

  238. It says how then was it counted to him?

  239. Was it before? Or after he had been

  240. circumcised, it was not after but before he was circumcised

  241. before he even did that, he was already justified by faith.

  242. Not based on what he had done but based on what God had done

  243. in his life based completely on his grace.

  244. And this is the picture that Paul is trying to paint her.

  245. He even quotes later in Galatians 3 from habakkuk 2:4 in

    Habakkuk 2:4

  246. the Bible, says there, the just shall live by faith and, you

  247. know, there was centuries ago when the Pope in one church had

  248. said, you know, they were they were selling basically

  249. indulgences for the church. The pope said, there's this,

  250. this is special set of stairs at this one church, and if you come

  251. and kneel and and kneel and every stair and pay some money,

  252. you climb these stairs, you kiss, every stair, you pray.

  253. And when you do that, and you get to the top, all your sins

  254. are forgiven. That's not what the Bible

  255. teaches. Basically what that was tapping

  256. is they were just trying to raise money, is what it comes

  257. down to raising money is what they were doing.

  258. That's not living by faith. That's completely.

  259. Contrary to what is taught in the scriptures and the real

  260. reality of the scripture teaches us that those who know that they

  261. have been saved, leave live completely different lives than

  262. the rest of the world. And this is what was going on

  263. with Abraham his life and the decisions he made were made

  264. because he realized what God was doing it.

  265. What God could do and the faith is expressed.

  266. This faith is expressed in extreme obedience that Abraham

  267. showed. He was Judge, Abraham was

  268. justified by faith and what happens after that, after that

  269. he was circumcised and even back in Genesis 12 before he was even

  270. circumcised circumcised. God, gave him this promise.

  271. And, and after that promise was made than Abraham packed up all

  272. of his bags, And he said God I'll go wherever you want me to

  273. go because of what you've done for me.

  274. He leaves his family and all that was familiar to him left it

  275. all behind sold. All his possessions and that's

  276. extreme Faith. That's extreme faith.

  277. He went to a foreign land where he was living in tents just

  278. trusting in God to lead him every step of the way we get to

  279. Genesis 22 Abraham. Finally has that son that God

  280. had promised him which was Isaac.

  281. And once he had that song that son, what does God say to him?

  282. God says you take that son, your only son and you go and you

  283. sacrifice him. You build an awful firm, you

  284. take him up to a mountain and you sacrifice that son that I

  285. promise to you. Your Offspring were going to

  286. come from. now, if I'm Abraham, I'm thinking How many roadblocks

  287. are going to put in front of me before I get this promise that

  288. you're telling me about but Abraham has that radical Faith

  289. where he's going to do whatever God tells him to do.

  290. So Abraham does it or he almost does it until God stops him and

  291. he takes his and he raped to the mountain and raises the knife

  292. over his son and and God, of course, stops in the provides a

  293. ram for him, that's living by radical Faith.

  294. Listen to Genesis 22, 15 through 17, it says, and the angel of

  295. the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said

  296. by myself, I have sworn declares the Lord because you have done

  297. this and have not withheld, your son, your uncle Only son, I will

  298. surely bless you and I will surely multiply your Offspring

  299. as a stars of the heaven, and as a sand, that is on the seashore.

  300. When I read this, something, caught my attention.

  301. I read this verse and I went, you know, we've been talking to

  302. all along about how this was all by grace, through faith and God

  303. says, to Abraham because you did this.

  304. Now I'm going to bless you and if if we're not careful we can

  305. we can see that that doesn't quite aligned with living by

  306. faith. You know, at that point was

  307. Abraham earning the blessing of God and the answer is certainly

  308. not. He was not earning the blessing

  309. of God. Basically, Abraham was living by

  310. his faith and it's the same picture.

  311. We he's got a promise from God. He's got trust in God, he's

  312. believing in God. And his life is the outworking

  313. of that Faith. The outworking of what God has

  314. done for him. It's not trying to earn

  315. salvation and Hebrews 11. We get to the hall of faith and

  316. these Heroes of Faith were doing extraordinary things.

  317. Hebrews 11 33 through 38, it says who through faith conquered

  318. kingdoms enforce, Justice obtained, promises stopped, the

  319. mouths of lions. Quenched, the power of fire

  320. escaped. The edge of the sword were made,

  321. strong out of weakness, became Mighty, and War.

  322. Put forward armies to flight, women receive back there dead by

  323. Even some were tortured refusing to accept release so that they

  324. might rise again to a better life, others suffered mocking,

  325. and flogging and even chains and imprisonment they were stoned.

  326. They were sawn into they were killed with the sword.

  327. They went about in skins of sheeps and goats destitute

  328. Afflicted, mistreated of, whom the world was not worthy.

  329. People lived by grace through faith live extremely different

  330. lives than the rest of the world.

  331. Old completely different lives because they believed God and

  332. they don't know, they need the stuff of this world.

  333. They know that they don't, this stuff that we have doesn't need

  334. to be held on to, we don't need to.

  335. We don't need any of that thing, because we know God is good, and

  336. God is all sufficient, and God can provide whatever we need, he

  337. is enough. So these people believed in God,

  338. and that belief, they believe that he's enough for him, they

  339. were not saying, well, I've got all this.

  340. Is Grace through faith, you know, so I can just indulge in

  341. all the sin that I want to. And all the things that this

  342. world has to offer, we can do that because of the grace of

  343. God. That's not living by grace

  344. through faith and people who live like that.

  345. Know, so little of Grace and so little of faith So Abraham

  346. received the blessing of God by grace through faith that leads

  347. us to the second point, which is Moses.

  348. God's covenant with Moses. What we need to understand.

  349. Is this Covenant with Moses? What the judaizers were saying

  350. back in Galatians? 3 was okay, Abraham.

  351. We understand Abraham, you know, Faith with Abraham.

  352. We see that but then God gave a covenant with Moses that involve

  353. law. And the judaizers were saying,

  354. you know, God used to operate with his People based on grace

  355. through faith. But now, he's put into place

  356. this law that we need to follow. So Moses here, he tells us what

  357. we need to do, what we need to do with all that.

  358. We need to follow this law to to be able to be in good, graces

  359. with God. So what they were saying was

  360. basically that what Moses did trumped what Abraham had done

  361. and that is not the case. That's what these judaizers were

  362. saying. And what we need to realize is

  363. that God's covenant, with Moses does not contradict his Covenant

  364. with Abraham instead, God's covenant, with Moses

  365. compliments, his Covenant with Abraham God is not contradicting

  366. himself. This is what Paul in Galatians 3

  367. 15 vs. 15, 16 17 is talking about he said this does not

  368. nullify what happened with Abraham in fact what God did

  369. with Moses helps us understand better what God had done with

  370. Abraham. They complement one another.

  371. So with Abraham, God's promise shows us the necessity of faith.

  372. And with Moses God's law shows us the futility of the flesh.

  373. And that's a big set in. So I want to try to explain that

  374. a little bit. God's law shows us the futility

  375. of the Flesh in curing, Galatians 3, Paul mentions the

  376. law over and over and over again.

  377. Now, sometimes the New Testament when it when we see the word law

  378. mentioned, it talks about maybe just the Old Testament, maybe

  379. talks about, Just the Ten Commandments sometimes.

  380. It's even talking about just the will of God or the authority of

  381. God. But but specifically here, He's

  382. referring Paul is referring to the Kent Commandments and the

  383. requirements that were given to Moses back in Exodus and we see

  384. in Leviticus numbers and Deuteronomy the whole picture of

  385. the Old Testament. That's what Paul is referring

  386. to. It's not talking about just the

  387. word of God in general. All this.

  388. It's talking specifically about the Covenant that God had made

  389. with his people in Moses day. So what happens in Galatians 3,

  390. and verse 10? He kind of goes back and forth

  391. from verse 10 to about 25. He starts talking about what the

  392. law can do. The law can't bring life.

  393. Paul says the law can't bring Salvation the law, can't bring

  394. righteousness, the law, can't do any of these things.

  395. The picture here will Paul is talking about is basically

  396. showing the in Attica, sweet and adequacy of the law and the

  397. weakness of the law and the futility of the Flesh and in a

  398. couple different ways. First of all, the law shows us

  399. that we have all disobey God. Galatians 3:10 says for it is

    Galatians 3:10

  400. written cursed, be everyone who does not abide by all things

  401. written in the book of the law where he's quoting from.

  402. Here is Deuteronomy 27. It says back there, anyone who

  403. does not follow everything in the law is cursed.

  404. The law demanded. Perfect obedience.

  405. That is what Jesus would say. In Matthew 5, in The Sermon, on

  406. the Mount, he's talking about the Old Testament, he gets to

  407. the end and he says be perfect. Therefore as your heavenly

  408. father is perfect and that's the standard.

  409. Jesus is the standard of perfection, we disobey the law

  410. of God and the law confronts us with the fact that we cannot

  411. obey it perfectly, not one of us in this room can so what the

  412. Lord is doing here is a couple of different things.

  413. First the Old Law, exposes our sin.

  414. The law exposes our sin. It brings sin are in our hearts

  415. to light, Romans 6 & 7, talks about this.

  416. What the law does, is it confronts us with the commands

  417. of God and brings the sinful heart?

  418. That is that we all have in US, it brings it to life and exposes

  419. our sin. If there was no law, we wouldn't

  420. know that we were sinning in the law, brings that to the surface.

  421. So we know that we're imperfect and we need to do something

  422. about it. Not only does it allow expose

  423. our sin but the law actually intensifies, its inner it makes

  424. it worse. In chapter or a verse 19 of

  425. chapter 3. In Galatians here, it says the

  426. law was added because of transgressions I don't have time

  427. to get into all the language there.

  428. But basically, Paul is saying that the law increases

  429. transgressions, the more laws you at or transgressions are

  430. going to have add another law. You're going to have another

  431. transgression, it intensifies it.

  432. It's the same thing that he says in Romans 5 verse 20, now the

    Romans 5:20

  433. law came to increase the trespass.

  434. So, the law intensifies has and exposes our sin.

  435. And as a result, confronts us with the cruel harsh, stunning

  436. reality, not only do we disobey the law of God, but as a result,

  437. we all deserve the wrath of God. The verse 10 of Chapter 3 of

  438. Galatians. It says, for all who rely on

  439. works of the law are under a curse for it is written cursed,

  440. be everyone who does not abide by abide, by all things written,

  441. in the book of the law and do them.

  442. We stand cursed beneath the law cursed.

  443. This is what the law confronts us within.

  444. The fact that you and I are cursed before God, we're still

  445. talking about the law of Moses here.

  446. We need to understand that and this is where Moses helps out.

  447. When we read about Moses in Deuteronomy 27, which Paul is

  448. quoting here, and what happens is he saying when you go to the

  449. land, you're you're going to go beyond the Jordan and there's

  450. going to be two mountainsides. And half of the tribe you're

  451. going to put on one mountain side and the other half.

  452. You're going to put on another mountain side and you guys are

  453. going to face each other. And what Moses God tells Moses

  454. to do is half of these people on One.

  455. Mountainside are going to pronounce blessings And the

  456. other side is going to respond to that.

  457. We can read this in Deuteronomy 27.

  458. The other half is going to pronounce curses.

  459. The other one's going to pronounce blessings so imagine

  460. you can you know we can see a seen thousands of people gather

  461. on to Mountain sides. One side saying cursed is anyone

  462. who does not obey his father and mother the other side replies.

  463. Amen. Then they say, cursed is

  464. everyone who leads the blind astray.

  465. The other side says, amen, cursed is the one who does this

  466. curse, is the one who does this, and they're yelling out a men's

  467. cursing. Them blessings back and forth

  468. that we can read about And the law was given to show us because

  469. we disobey the law of God, everyone stands beneath the

  470. curse of the law. So, what is this curse mean?

  471. What does it cursing mean that we can read?

  472. About cursed means that we stand condemned before.

  473. God. The whole point of the law,

  474. that's the whole point of the law.

  475. It was not good to be standing before a holy God and to be

  476. confronted with sin, it's not a good thing.

  477. Because now to be confronted with the law because the law

  478. exposes our sin before a holy God, we're standing there before

  479. God, who is dead set against send hates, it can't can't even

  480. be associated with it. You turn Li hates it and we're

  481. covered with it. And that law has confronted.

  482. That and right here, in verse 10, it says, cursed be, everyone

  483. who does not abide by all things written, in the book of the law

  484. and do them. When we see that we read a verse

  485. like that, it should cause us to go into some sort of a Panic

  486. mode, I guess you want to say, we're cursed before.

  487. God, what do we need to do about that?

  488. Where are we? What do we have to do?

  489. What do we need? What can we, who do we go to?

  490. How can we be saved? You know, there's an urgency

  491. because we're cursed before God. So what do we do about that?

  492. So also to what I noticed about this kind of a scary thought to

  493. me. It says, it doesn't say cursed

  494. are the atheists or agnostics or pagans?

  495. no, it says, cursed are the people who try to obey God,

  496. That's kind of a scary thought. Cursed are those who trying to

  497. bring the law of life into their the law into their life thinking

  498. that it's going to bring them life.

  499. Cursed are those who, you know, when you use current

  500. terminology, you know, Kershaw those who, you know, I read my

  501. Bible, so many times a week, I do the best raising my family.

  502. We go to church three, four times a week, whatever.

  503. Maybe we do. All we can we're studying every

  504. night. We're praying.

  505. Every day were working, working, working working.

  506. And in every 10 that we try to do that, the law says, guilty,

  507. you're still guilty over and over again.

  508. Guilty guilty this year guilty next year, the harder you try,

  509. you're still guilty. It doesn't, you know, that makes

  510. us feel hopeless, right? That's what it's supposed to do.

  511. That's the whole point of the law, it doesn't make us feel

  512. that way, if it doesn't make us feel that way, then when they

  513. were missing the point, it says, stop trying to do these things

  514. to earn favor towards God because you're not going to get

  515. it right, period. Everything you do.

  516. You're not going to get it right?

  517. The law was given to show that you are disobedient to it.

  518. And as a result, we stand under the curse and condemnation of

  519. God. And that's the purpose of the

  520. law that Paul is showing us here.

  521. So, why is Paul telling us this? And some of the reasons, coming

  522. Galatians, 3, verses 22, 23 and 24.

    Galatians 3:22

  523. It says, but the scripture imprisoned, everything, under

  524. sinned imprisoned, everything and then we get down to verse

  525. 23, it says now, before Faith came, we were held captive under

  526. the law. So God through the word says, or

  527. Paul is saying, here were like prisoners chained by the law.

  528. The law exposes our sin at every turn and the law.

  529. Intensifies has our sin and there's nothing we can do were

  530. chained or chain before God. We can't get out were under his

  531. Kirsten, his condemnation, we can't do anything the harder, we

  532. try the worse. It is, Paul says, in verse 23.

  533. Now, before Faith came, we were held captive under the law in

  534. prison until the coming. Faith would be revealed.

  535. So, the law was put in charge to lead us to who to Christ that we

  536. might be justified by faith. So here we are sitting in our

  537. change, in our sin and in our ability to obey, God completely

  538. or be right before. God based on anything that we

  539. do, there's nothing that we could do to be in.

  540. Good graces with God, we're cursed condemned.

  541. And here stands Christ and he is completely righteous.

  542. He has no sin in him. He is a lamb without blemish or

  543. defect. He is right before God, he

  544. alone, and he steps in and he says I'll take that curse for

  545. you. All Barrel.

  546. That's in I'll take the condemnation for you.

  547. So now we're approaching the third most important point.

  548. The first point God's covenant with Abraham what shows us the

  549. necessity of Faith. The second Point, God's

  550. covenant, with Moses shows the futility of the Flesh and the

  551. third point of Galatians 3, God's covenant through Christ.

  552. Christ shows us the price of Freedom, the whole point of the

  553. law has been to show us that we need Christ.

  554. We need him to save us. We need him in our lives.

  555. We need him to do what we can't do.

  556. We need him Jesus, fulfills the law of Moses.

  557. That is everything. The Old Testament was building

  558. to everything was pointing directly to Christ.

  559. All the ceremonial laws, all the rituals of the sacrifices that

  560. they would do all these different things.

  561. The who book of Hebrews says they are all Shadows pointing to

  562. one some substance and that substance is Christ.

  563. Romans 10:4 says Christ is the end of the law.

    Romans 10:4

  564. Matthew 5 says that Jesus says, there, I come to fulfill.

  565. I came to fulfill the law to complete with the law Jesus.

  566. This fulfills the law of Moses. How did he do that?

  567. Number one, Jesus fulfilled, the law by obeying, the law of God

  568. for us. He lives right righteously by

  569. faith perfectly righteous and there's no other person in the

  570. Bible and no other religious teacher in the history of the

  571. world that can claim righteousness.

  572. Before God, based on their own Merit, only Christ.

  573. He and obeyed the law of God for us.

  574. But not only, did he obey the law of God he endured the wrath

  575. of God, instead of us. He endured the wrath of God.

  576. Instead of us Galatians 3:13 says there that he was.

    Galatians 3:13

  577. He redeemed us Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by

  578. becoming a curse for us. Those two words are for us, I

  579. threw the most beautiful words in the Bible.

  580. That we can read about. For us for you, for me, for the

  581. person sitting next to you Christ.

  582. Did that for us? He became the curse for us.

  583. He died for us. He shed his blood for you and I

  584. he died for you and I gave his life for you and I and he took

  585. that Rod wrath of God. Do to us on himself.

  586. He redeemed us, and that's a word that Paul uses here and

  587. that was a word that was used in that day to describe how you

  588. would pay the price to buy his slave.

  589. So you could set him free redeemed, paid the price, he

  590. took the curse upon himself. So what do we say to that?

  591. One, hymn writer said nothing in my hand.

  592. I bring simply to thy Cross Lake clean naked, come to thee for

  593. dress helpless, look to the for Grace.

  594. Val, I to the Fountain fly Wash Me savior or I die.

  595. Some of you might recognize that that's Rock of Ages beautiful

  596. words. That's what the law does.

  597. The law says, you have got to have Christ you need Christ.

  598. You desperately, need him, use Everything.

  599. Jesus also completes the promise to Abraham He is the seed and we

  600. look at verse 19 of Galatians. 3, it says, it's talking about

  601. the law. It was added because of

  602. transgressions until The Offspring should come to whom

  603. the promise had been made to. Who is that scene?

  604. We go back up to verse 16 and it says, now the promises were made

  605. to Abraham and to his offspring. It does.

  606. And it does it does not say into offsprings referring to many,

  607. but referring to one and to your Offspring, who is Christ?

  608. So this is why when we get to the Book of Matthew, he starts

  609. with a bunch of names. We read a bunch of names and

  610. lineage of Jesus, how Jesus came from Abraham.

  611. He lived perfectly righteously by faith in the lines of

  612. Abraham. He fulfills, the promise that

  613. was made all the way back in. Genesis 12 through him, all

  614. nations of Earth will be blessed and his death, his resurrection

  615. from the grave. We hear can see can be credited

  616. righteousness before God, because of Jesus.

  617. We have received the blessing of God.

  618. Christ, completes the promise of Abraham, Everything that we see

  619. in Abraham points directly to Christ by Grace, he gives us

  620. salvation. Paul is saying here in Galatians

  621. 3, what are you going to do based on all this stuff?

  622. You know, what do you do to earn your salvation in light of this

  623. gigantic picture that Paul has just taught the Galatians?

  624. What are you going to do? Are you thinking that being

  625. circumcised is going to make that big of a difference?

  626. No, he's saying don't add to what Jesus has done for you

  627. guys. Don't do it.

  628. He is all that we need, you know, Christianity is not a

  629. systematic way to make our life, better to work in to follow to

  630. make all these principles to make our life better.

  631. It's not how to be more moral of to be more good.

  632. It's not the point. The point of Christianity is

  633. that it's not what we can do and make ourselves a better life.

  634. You know, I want to make myself have a better life.

  635. That's not what it is. It's to have a new life.

  636. Everything in the past is gone, we're living a completely new

  637. way based on what Jesus has done for us, crucify yourself, Slayer

  638. self. That's what he said in Juice.

  639. Galatians, 2 verse 20 Crucified with Christ.

    Galatians 2:20

  640. I no longer live myself dead instead.

  641. Christ lives in me. By Grace, he give salvation to a

  642. to us, through faith. We received his spirit in US,

  643. Galatians 3 14 says, so that in Christ Jesus.

  644. The Blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles.

  645. So that we might receive the promise Spirit, through faith

  646. Not only are we looking to the righteousness of Christ in

  647. heaven as a basis by which we stand before.

  648. God, the acts of the spirit of Christ is actually in US.

  649. Put into us. And when that happens, that's

  650. what radically changes Our Lives.

  651. Not from the outside in, but from the inside out because we

  652. are believing, and trusting and have faith, that Jesus and God

  653. are going to do what they are going to do.

  654. Our lives aren't look completely different than they did in the

  655. past. We'll see more and more of that,

  656. as we still complete our study through Galatians, It'll point

  657. to some more of those. So, so for all that, maybe our,

  658. you know, our church members here, Christians here, you know,

  659. we struggle for years, having trying to make get it right, you

  660. know, I'm gonna try harder this time.

  661. I'm going to, I'm going to struggle.

  662. Yeah, I'm struggling or wrestling for a victory or a win

  663. over some particular sin that we may be dealing with, and we just

  664. can't find that piece sometimes. With the struggles that we have

  665. try harder this year, next year. Next year.

  666. Next year, next year. We need to start stop relying on

  667. ourselves to make these changes. I now outward works and look to

  668. heaven and see the righteousness of Christ and know that we are

  669. counted righteous simply by following the instructions that

  670. we have had laid out before us by Christ himself.

  671. And that's an astounding awe-inspiring truth that that

  672. the galatian book of Galatians shows us.

  673. So how do we get into Christ? Thankfully, Paul shows us how in

  674. verses 27 through 29 of this chapter.

  675. It says, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ.

  676. Have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek.

  677. There is neither slave nor free. There is no, you have no male

  678. and female for you are all one in Christ.

  679. Jesus. And here's a key verse this

  680. might sum up. We were talking about with

  681. offsprings and if you are, Christ's, then you are.

  682. Abraham's offspring heirs, according to the promise.

  683. Amazing chapter. Really it really kind of

  684. encapsulates, the whole picture of the Bible starting way back

  685. in Genesis. What all had happened coming to

  686. Jesus at that point in the New Testament and Paul really just

  687. kind of lays it out. If you have time you want to

  688. read it again on your own. It might hopefully it makes a

  689. little more better sense than what it did originally.

  690. So I hope I haven't muddied the waters are or confused anybody

  691. but Paul really shows us the importance of Christ.

  692. And we are baptized into Christ. Having put him on.

  693. So do you believe that Jesus is the son of God?

  694. if so, and you need to repent of your previous way of life and

  695. change your life now live by faith because of what he's done

  696. for you live, according to his work and we confess his name,

  697. Firming that he is the Son of God and then we are baptized in

  698. immersion of water baptized into Christ and he has us to his

  699. church. Maybe there's one of that class,

  700. maybe there's one who needs to just make a public confession or

  701. just needs the prayers of the church.

  702. At this time, we ask you to please come while we stand while

  703. we've seen We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on

  704. by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.

  705. Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional

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  707. correspondence, course by mail. Please email us at info at her

  708. Church of Christ Bakersfield.com.

  709. Our service times are on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and

  710. Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. Please make plans to join us.

  711. We would love for you to be our honored guest.