GALATIANS 3 GOD RELATES TO US BY GRACE2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Galatians 3 God Relates To Us By Grace

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019.

We're going to be here in Galatians chapter 3 this evening continuing to consider the foundations for Christian living and specifically one solid pillar, an important pillar of our foundation is the doctrine of grace and that's what the book of Galatians is really all about and so we'll continue considering that here in chapter 3 looking at verses 1 through 9 and so let's read through that and then we'll jump into the message that God has for us this evening.

Galatians chapter 3, starting in verse 1, Paul says,

Verse 5. Verse 6.

know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, in you all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

Here as we spend some time again with the Apostle Paul in the book of Galatians, continuing to consider the subject of grace and like we're just kind of getting started. He's going to go on in the rest of chapter 3 and then in chapter 4 to really cover this concept incredibly thoroughly. And I don't know about you, but I appreciate the thoroughness of the Apostle Paul. I mean, he comes at a topic, he comes at a doctrine, and he hits it from every angle.

To make sure that we can see on all sides, from every angle, from every different aspect that we might wrestle with it or think about it or stumble over it, that we can know the truth.

I hope you're not tired of hearing about grace yet, but I can understand if you are because we've already been several weeks now talking about grace, but there is so much to this doctrine. There is so much to this truth that we need to grasp hold of, and there is so much that still today,

we get wrong and messed up in our heads about. And so we need to spend this time. And as he talks about this subject of grace, he uses the word faith now as we head into chapter three. And grace and faith are, they're inseparable. As he talks about faith now and justification by faith and those types of things, don't think in your mind that he has changed subjects, but it's the fact of faith

Grace comes by faith and faith comes by grace that these things are related. I shared with you a couple of weeks ago from Romans chapter four that God designed salvation in a particular way and it is of faith that it might be according to grace.

That is that God designed salvation this way so that it wouldn't require works on our part or us like reaching a certain level or accomplishing, you know, some certain thing. But he designed it so that, well, it would be his grace towards us so that anyone would have the opportunity by faith to receive God's work of salvation.

And so as we talk about faith and grace this evening, I've titled the message, God Relates to Us by Grace. This passage that we're looking at this evening is filled with questions. Did you notice that as we were reading through it? Lots of questions. Who has bewitched you, he says. Hey, did you receive the Holy Spirit by the works of the law? Is that how it happened, he asks. Are you so foolish? That's a good question to ask.

Are you trying to be made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered in vain? Does God work miracles by the works of the law? He is asking a bunch of questions of the Galatians because Paul is challenging them to think through their new belief system. They heard the gospel, the gospel of grace. When he was there, he taught it. They grasped hold of it. Now they've turned away to something else. They have a new belief system and they haven't thought it through.

It's bad doctrine, it's false doctrine, and they haven't thought it through. And so he's challenging them with these questions to think through what they believe. And it's a good thing for us to consider as we work through this tonight, that we need to examine, to check our doctrine. Does what I believe line up with what the Bible says? Does it line up with the doctrine of grace?

Pastor David Guzik says this. He says, it is wonderful to have a soft and tender heart before God, but some people have softer heads than hearts. Their minds are too accommodating to wrong, unbiblical ideas. And they don't think through to see if they really are true or not according to the Bible. This is a sign of spiritual immaturity. Even as a baby will stick anything in,

into its mouth. Have you ever watched a baby and you have to be careful because, you know, that reason that you dropped and forgot about three years ago, you know, that somehow those babies can find them, right? And they just stick anything into their mouth. They don't know any better. They just stick it in. You know, let me try this. Let me see what it tastes like. Let me see if it's good. Immature believers do the same. And that's what the Galatians were doing. They're just like, ooh, new doctrine, new teaching. Okay. And they're just, they're trying to ingest it. It's immaturity. It's

What we need to do is to think things through and examine, does this line up with what God teaches us in his word? And so we'll look at three points this evening to continue the subject of grace, talking about God's relating to us by grace. And the first thing we'll look at, we're going to kind of camp out here in verse one for a minute. The crucifixion of Jesus shows that God relates to us by grace. What we ended last week,

I think it was last week, maybe two weeks ago. Anyways, we ended chapter two talking about the subject of the crucifixion. In fact, I want to rewind for a moment and read verse 21 of chapter two. It says, I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. Paul says, I don't set aside the grace of God. Remember, he was having an encounter with Christ.

Peter, who had kind of slipped back to some legalistic ways and tendencies under the pressure of other Jews who had come in. And so there was this correction that had to be made. And Paul concluded that correction. He concluded that addressing of Peter before everybody, reminding everybody, listen, we must not set aside the grace of God. And for a very important reason, it's the cross of Christ. Right?

If God doesn't relate to us by grace, then Jesus died for no purpose. If God relates to us on the basis of what we do, on the basis of our works, on the basis of our merits and how much we earn or deserve, then there was no reason for Jesus to die. He died a meaningless, pointless death if righteousness comes any other way. Did Jesus die in vain?

It's offensive a little bit for us to think that that might be true, right? That that's how it should be. No, Jesus didn't die in vain. Grasping the truth of the cross will help us stay true no matter what kind of false doctrines come at us. It's the core and the crux of all that God has done for us, all that God will ever do for us, it comes back to the cross, right?

The doctrine and all true doctrine, it revolves around this truth of what Christ has done for us. And so it's important to come back to this thought, to come back to this truth, to come back and consider the cross. That if I believe that I have to do something

in order for God to relate to me, you know, in a favorable way and bless me and, you know, save me. And if I have to behave, if I have to earn it, if I have to do something, it waters down, it belittles what Christ did in dying upon the cross. If we set aside the grace of God, it's a slight against what Christ did for us there upon the cross.

Did Christ die in vain? And I pray that we would, you know, cry out with all that we are. No, of course he did not. But here are the Galatians. And in verse one, Paul says, oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? He says, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified.

I explained this thoroughly and clearly. You accepted it and understood it clearly. It was very clear to you when you believed in Jesus. Jesus Christ was crucified on your behalf. Now what has happened that you have bought into this idea that you have to now keep the law in order for God to relate to you in a favorable way?

in order to have a better standing before God or a better position in God. What has bewitched you or who has bewitched you? Who's tricked you? You're so foolish to turn to this, having seen clearly and known clearly the truth of what happened at the cross. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was so meaningful, so powerful that all sin is forgiven.

And you and I have right standing before God as if we have never sinned by faith in what Christ has done for us on the cross. Accepting that we are in right relationship with God and there's no other avenue to like increase that. You can't be in a better position standing before God than believing in Jesus Christ. And yet here are the Galatians thinking that

Well, Jesus got us most of the way, but if we keep the law like these people are telling us, we can be even better Christians. We can have even better access to God. We can have even more forgiveness. You don't need more forgiveness because what Christ did for you at the cross was so complete. And so Paul says, oh, foolish Galatians. The translator in J.B. Phillips, he translates this verse this way.

oh, you dear idiots of Galatia. It's not, you know, in anger or he's not coming against them in calling them foolish, but oh my goodness, you dear fools. How can you be thinking this way? Pastor Dave Guzik points out there's a different word for fool that is more harsh, but this word fool speaks of someone who can think, but fails to use their power of perception.

Again, you haven't thought through this new belief system that you've grabbed hold of. You haven't thought through the ramifications. You've forgotten about the cross. And you're now trying to add on to what Christ has done for you. And, oh, that's foolish. You're not thinking clearly. Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed before you as crucified. He was crucified. You know that. You understand that. You accepted that. How can you now turn to this other doctrine?

Pastor Thomas Constable puts it this way, the Galatians would not have found this false teaching attractive if they had appreciated the major significance of Jesus' crucifixion. Again, the cross is central to all that we believe in Jesus Christ. And everything, every blessing you will ever receive from God is related to what Christ has done for you upon the cross. Every promise that God has for you

It's related to what Christ has done for you upon the cross. And if we hold fast to the cross, it will help us to avoid the traps. I was kind of picturing this idea of grace as a road with ditches on either side. And sometimes we're heading down the road of grace and we fall into the ditch of works.

And, you know, that ditch of works can be works based on the Old Testament or works based on some other system that people impose upon us or that we come up with ourselves. We tend towards legalism and following and keeping laws and making rules. And then we try to relate to God on that basis. And we crash. We go off the road of grace and into the ditch of works.

But there's a ditch on the other side of the road too. Paul's not dealing with it so much in the book of Galatians, but we'll talk about it a little bit. But on the other side is not works, but unhindered sin. Just, hey, look at all this grace. We can just live how we want and just dive into sin and indulge, you know, our fleshly desires and just do what we want. And that's another ditch. You fall off the road of grace. That's not what grace is for.

If we will hold fast to the cross and remember the crucifixion of Jesus, when the cross is clearly portrayed in front of us and we remember and appreciate what Christ has done for us, it keeps us balanced in the road that we don't go off course and start to try to do more and

to earn God's favor. We don't go off the road and try to dive into sin because, hey, there's grace and we'll just be forgiven. No, no, the cross keeps us there in the center of the road of grace that we would be steadfast and immovable and abounding in the work of the Lord because of what Christ has done for us. If there's another way to be righteous, then Jesus did not need to die. And it was a great expense for little value.

We need to check our doctrine. Make sure what we're thinking, Paul asks all of these questions of the Galatians to help them, to challenge them. And we need that kind of stirring up in our lives as well, that we would check, why am I behaving this way? Why am I grabbing hold of this doctrine, this teaching? Does it match up? Does it mesh with, does it fit with the cross of Jesus Christ and all that that means?

Well, Paul's going to go on now to challenge them in verses two through five with their own experience. Point number two this evening is your own experience shows that God relates to us by grace. The crucifixion of Jesus shows once and for all, you cannot approach God on the basis of works. If there was ever going to be a legal system that could, you know, cause you to have right standing before God, it was the one that God invented in the Old Testament.

But that failed, not because the law was insufficient, but because humanity was insufficient and unable to keep the law. And so the fact of the crucifixion shows God relates to us by grace. Now he looks at the Galatians and says, think about your own experience. And you'll remember God has worked in your life by grace. In verse 2, he says, this only I want to learn from you.

Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? How did all of this get started for you? When you received the Spirit, was it by some effort that you put forth? Some achievement? You got, you know, the Holy Spirit badge and then boom! You had the Holy Spirit. You, you know, went through the initiation. You know, you got jumped into the gang and then now you have the Holy Spirit and

How did you first receive the Holy Spirit? Think about your own experience, Paul says. Now, I think this is interesting, this approach that Paul takes, because some people could look at their own experience and conclude, yeah, I think it was by works, because you know what happened was, you know, I did this, and then God worked in my life. I would encourage you to kind of think about that a little bit.

For the Galatians, Paul was there. He says, look, I was there when Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified among you. I know you know it wasn't by your efforts. It wasn't by your accomplishments and your achievements, but it was by the grace of God. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, to argue from experience can be dangerous because experiences can be counterfeited and they can be misunderstood.

And Paul balances the subjective experience of the Galatian Christians with the objective teaching of the unchanging word of God. And I point that out just to say, we need to consider our own experience.

And that's a good thing to do, but also our experience is not the authority. It's not the final say, you know, just because you experienced something and you had a feeling or you had, you know, some kind of emotion or experience or you had some kind of encounter or something happened in your life and you can misinterpret that. You can misunderstand that. I can misunderstand that. Also, sometimes it's just plain counterfeited. It's faked.

And it's not a real experience and encounter with God. You know one of the things about our hearts, right? Jeremiah tells us. One of the best things that our hearts are capable of. One of the things that's best at is deceiving ourselves. And so we have to be careful. Now that doesn't mean we cast out all experience. But then we balance it out. And Paul's going to do that with the scriptures. And so that's why we'll get into the verses we're covering tonight. And then on into the rest of the chapter. But...

but also not to just throw out our experience. Paul says, stop and think about your own experience. Think about when you first received the Holy Spirit. Now, this is a good test for Paul to use because this is something that every Christian has experienced. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit. This is what the Bible teaches. Paul tells us in Romans 8, verse 9, he says, "'You are not in the flesh, but you are in the Spirit.'"

If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. So you will see there's a question. Maybe God's Spirit doesn't dwell in you. But verse 9 goes on to say, now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. There is no true Christian who does not have the Holy Spirit indwelling within them. This happens at conversion being born again. Every believer in Jesus has the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. And if you don't, you're not a believer in Jesus.

Every believer in Jesus has the Holy Spirit. So it's a good test. Paul says, think about when you first received the Holy Spirit. Now in verse 5, he's also going to talk about the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. So not just that initial experience, but ongoing as the Lord pours out his Spirit upon you. How does that happen? Is it by works? Is it by efforts? Is it by your achievements? He also challenges them to consider the miraculous work of God in their lives in verse 5.

So you can think about your initial conversion, the receiving of the Holy Spirit. You can think about the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in your life. You can think about the ongoing miraculous work of God in your life. And Paul tells the Galatians, evaluate these things and think about these things. How did these things take place? How did this happen for you? He says to the churches of Galatia, but I think it's appropriate for us to just take a moment and let's consider this personally.

How did this happen for you? How did you first receive the Holy Spirit? When you were born again, did you receive that through some effort of your own? Do you remember your first experience with the Holy Spirit? Do you remember your first encounter with God just doing something fresh and new and pouring the Holy Spirit into your life? I'm going to invite you to maybe share a minute or two about that.

But first, I'll share my experience just to give you a moment to think about it. I can think about it. My experience receiving the Holy Spirit, I have a very clear memory of it. You know, I was raised in a Christian home, so I don't have the, I never believed in God, but now I, you know, came to Jesus kind of moment. But I can look back at being 14 or 15, maybe 16 years old, a youth retreat and spending time in worship and teaching. And God did something.

unique work in my life. And I look back at that, that's like when my life changed. Now, I've needed some changes after that too, but that's like that initial experience for me where, man, God just poured out His Holy Spirit upon me. And there was this encounter that I had with God. In the time of worship, it was like no time of worship that had preceded that. I'd lived and grown up in times of worship all my life, but no, no, now it's

there was an encounter with God. There was the presence of God. There was an alertness to the work of God. And there was a joy there. I mean, it was just an amazing experience with the Lord. But then I can see after that, I can kind of see the before and after. And there was a change in my life. And there was a thirst for the word and an understanding of the word and a digging into the word that came forth out of that in the days and weeks and months and years that followed. There was a

It was a real encounter with the Lord. And I look back at that time and I can see this is, wow, that's the time that I usually describe it as that's when God got a hold of my life. Like he just met me and did an amazing work. What about you? Anybody want to share a moment? Just something you remember, either maybe conversion or maybe pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon your life. And just thinking back to that first encounter with the Lord.

I can call on people, but I'm just... Okay, Richard. When you went to the Harvest Crusade for some girl, what happened? At the Harvest Crusade, I went for a girl. As Pastor Greg gave the message at the end and gave the altar call, I should say, I said, you know, there's specific words I can remember as it just happened. It was, you know, when you're at home all alone in your bed, you know, no one else is around, it's just you. Is there a victim to scare? And for me, that was absolutely the truth. I had never said it. I could never...

Awesome. Awesome. Thanks for sharing and for volunteering. Anybody else?

You want to share about your first encounter with the Lord or the Holy Spirit? Okay, I'm going to pick on Elsa then. Come on, Elsa, tell us something. Okay.

Afterwards, they were talking to my sister, and one of the, her name was Susan, she was talking to her about, you know, accepting the Lord. And I kept telling my sister to stop being, because she would be calling Jesus weak. And stop. But as she heard prayer, I started to say that prayer in my heart. And, um...

She asked me, where's God at right now? I said, he's in my heart. I just remember feeling this, like a weight being lifted off me. And just having this joy. Yeah, awesome. Awesome, thank you. Anybody else? Alright, Mika. Making me not have to pick on people. Nine years old.

and I can remember it was winter camp, so it was cold, there was snow, but we were actually at fire pits, so it was really cold outside, and they shared time of worship, and time of the word, and then the pastor said, he gave an altar call, and he said, if your heart is burning within you the same way that this fire is burning, my heart was burning, and even though I had

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. So, you know, just as we look back to the cross and there's such value in kind of recentering ourselves and remembering this is who Jesus is and this is what he's done for us. But then looking back to our own experience and remembering that

This is what God's done in my life, and this is where it all began. And as you think about your experiences, again, there is the danger. You could misinterpret it, but just kind of basing it on some of the accounts that we heard tonight, right? Richard went to the harvest crusade for a girl, right? He didn't achieve some spiritual milestone, and then God got a hold of his life, right? It wasn't his works. It wasn't his efforts that caused God to say, no.

Now you're ready. I can save you, right? Elsa was saying, hey, stop being a Jesus freak. You know, don't be doing that. She didn't achieve some, you know, milestone and get a badge. And now God is so proud of her. And so I'm going to save you. Mika, well, maybe, you know. But you get the point, right? You look back to your beginning and the reality is...

Your life with God, your relationship to God from the very beginning has been the work of God's grace. You never deserved it. You never earned it. You didn't work hard enough. You could not even if you had tried. And some people are aware of their need for God and so they work hard and they try. And again, that's why sometimes it could be misunderstood or misinterpreted to think that, well, you know, God has done this in response to me.

But Paul is challenging us to look back and recognize that's not the case. When you first received the Holy Spirit, it was not because of some work you performed or some deed that you did or some, you know, achievement that you accomplished. And it's not just from the beginning, but ongoing. And again, that's why he says in verse five, he who supplies the Holy Spirit to you.

As we have the command and the instruction to be filled with the Holy Spirit ongoing, you know, in a continual way. How does that happen in your life? And sometimes, like the Galatians, we acknowledge, okay, first, you know, God got a hold of my life. And then now I have to earn or deserve or be holy so I can have the Holy Spirit.

And so we work really hard to be holy to receive the Holy Spirit. And it's backwards. That's why Paul says in verse 3, Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? That's not how you began. By working really hard and giving all of your effort so that God would then be pleased enough with you to pour out His Holy Spirit upon you. And so are you so foolish to think that, well, I started that way, but now...

that I've begun, now it is my effort that is required. Now it is, you know, what I can give and I have to work hard and then God will bless me. Listen, you don't become holy to receive the Holy Spirit.

You receive the Holy Spirit to become holy. Like there's no, you can't get it the other way. You can't, you know, become holy enough to earn or deserve or allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life. No, the Holy Spirit's able to work in your life because of what Jesus Christ did for you upon the cross. And you are holy before God because of that. And so you can't earn or deserve God filling you with his Holy Spirit. You can't.

You can't earn or deserve God's miraculous work in your life. In verse 5, he says, he who works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? I don't know if you've seen some miracles in your lifetime. I'm sure you have. Did God work those miracles because you deserved it? Never. You might think that, but if you think that, you're mistaken. We never earn or deserve God's work in our lives. Any experience you've ever had with God, it's not because of works.

It's because of God's grace. And so Paul challenges them to think about their own experience, your own encounter with God. It's been the result of grace. It's been God relating to you by his grace. But now they are trying to relate to God on the basis of their works, even though they began in faith, in grace, trusting in God and believing and receiving from him. In verse four, he says, "'Have you suffered so many things in vain "'if indeed it was in vain?'

There's a little bit of discussion that could be had about what exactly Paul is saying here. It is possible, well actually it's likely that the churches of Galatia suffered persecution as a result of the gospel. Paul was persecuted as he went through these areas. And so it's likely that they did suffer persecution in that from the Jews and from the Judaizers.

And so Paul is saying, did you, you know, you endured and you put up with those things. And then later on, you turn to legalism. You turn and join those who are persecuting you. There's another way to look at it, though. This idea, this word suffer can be translated suffer as in like affliction, but it can also just be talking about undergoing an experience. And so Paul could be talking about all the things that they've experienced so far in the Lord, right?

And more in a positive light. Like you've experienced so much in God and was that all in vain? Because, well, after receiving all this blessing and work from God, now you're turning away and trying to approach God in a different way. In a way that can't approach God. A way that's not a gospel at all. In a way that is based upon your own works and efforts and not upon what Christ has done for you.

Your own experience shows God relates to us by grace. Your life with God, your relationship to God did not begin with your efforts. And if you think that it did, correct your bad doctrine in your head. Recognize that's not the truth. That's not the reality. Recognize and that's why Paul's walking them through these questions for that kind of purpose. So it's appropriate for you to think through and recognize, yeah, I haven't thought this through before.

I do misunderstand my, you know, beginning, my story, my testimony. If I think that it was my efforts, my achievements, my accomplishments, my works that brought about God's work in my life. Your own experience shows, proves, demonstrates. No, God relates to us by his goodness, his grace. Check your doctrine. Make sure that it lines up with

The rest of scripture. And again Paul says. Are you so foolish? And I would say again. You can recognize if you're that foolish. When you stay away from God. Because you failed. If you ever stay away from God. Because you failed. You're foolish. You've turned from grace to works. You've fallen off the road of grace. Into the ditch of works. And if you ever try to approach God. And want God to bless you. And say you know you're kind of negotiating. God look.

I read my Bible four times this week. So if you could just, you know, get me through this traffic so that I could get to work on time, boy, that'd be great. Look what I did. Now, you know, would you please bless me? You've fallen off the road of grace into the ditch of works. Are you so foolish? Do you relate to God that way? Check your doctrine. Make sure it lines up with what the Bible actually teaches. The grace of God, the cross of Christ.

Now Paul will go on in verses six through nine to use Abraham as another example to help them, to kind of recenter them and help them think through this bad doctrine that they've got a hold of. In verse, or sorry, point number three is Abraham's experience shows that God relates to us by grace. So we have the cross, that shows us this is how God works. We have our own experience, that shows us how God works. That's a little bit subjective and we might misinterpret that. So

On either side of our experience, we have the cross and then we have the word of God. Here looking at the example of Abraham and the word of God in verse six, Paul says, just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now in verse five, he's saying, how does God give you the spirit and work miracles in your life? Is it by the works of law or is it by grace? Is it by faith? And then he goes on to say, it's by faith, just as Abraham believed

You see, it's the same. You have the same relationship to God. God relates to you the same way that he related to Abraham. And here's how it worked for Abraham. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And so let me just say, if your experience is different than Abraham's, something is wrong. You're misunderstanding and you're misinterpreting how God is working in your life. If your experience is

Your encounters with God, you're receiving from God. If it's different than how Abraham received from God, something's wrong in your doctrine. Something's wrong in your head. You're not understanding the truth. You've fallen off the road of grace. Check your doctrine. Make sure it matches with and lines up with the scriptures. Warren Wiersbe again says, Paul turns now from subjective experience to the objective evidence of the word of God. We never judge the scriptures by our experience, but

We test our experience by the word of God. It's a pretty bold statement that Wiersbe says. We never judge the scriptures by our experience. Now we can say that, but that doesn't mean that we actually, you know, don't do that. And so again, this time of evaluation and this considering of the way that we think and the way that we operate is good because sometimes we do judge the scriptures by our experience. And while it does seem like

God works this way in my life when I do this. And if I do this, you know, God will be more pleased. And we can begin to say, well, I believe in this experience. And, you know, that's why I bark in the spirit because, you know, I experienced it and, you know, it must be true. I had a real feeling. I had a real emotion. It was a real encounter. And so it must be true. And we can judge the scriptures by our experiences, but we

That's not the way that we should do it. We need to test our experiences by the word of God. And so I think God operates this way. I feel like God operates this way. But is that consistent with what the Bible teaches? And so that's what Paul does. Let's look at Abraham. We look at the cross. We look at our experience. It's important. It's valuable. It teaches us a lot. Bookends, you know, on either side of our experience is the cross, the

And the word. And Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. This is a quotation from Genesis chapter 15. In Genesis chapter 15 verse 5, it tells us that God brought Abraham outside and said, look now toward heaven, count the stars if you're able to number them. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be.

Now, does anybody remember how many children Abraham had when God told him this in Genesis chapter 15, verse 5? Anybody remember? Zero. He had no children. How old was he? Was he young? He was old. So here is an old man. I don't remember his exact age either, so don't feel bad. He's an old man where it's not to be expected that he would have children.

God pulls him out of his tent, says, look up, look at all the stars. That's how many descendants you're going to have. And in verse six, it says, and he believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness. God told him something crazy. Abraham believed it. And God says, good job believing it. That counts for a hundred percent righteousness. I'm crediting full righteousness to your account.

And I am relating to you on the basis of my righteousness. What did Abraham do? What work did he accomplish? What sacrifice did he make? What did he do to get this promise from God? Nothing. God brought him outside and said, look, let me tell you what I'm going to do. Abraham responded in faith. He believed the Lord. Did God make him this promise because he was righteous? No. No.

He counted him righteous after he had made the promise when Abraham believed it, right? Was Abraham righteous because he was circumcised? That's what the Judaizers would say. That was the people perverting the gospel for the Galatians. But you know, circumcision came 14 years, around 14 years later in Genesis chapter 17. So this was before that covenant. Abraham didn't even, you know, have that badge yet. He hadn't even achieved that yet.

He believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Was Abraham righteous because he kept the law? Paul's going to go on in chapter 3 to explain the law came 400 years later. 400 years later the law came. Abraham didn't keep the law. I mean, think about that. 400 years. That's longer than the United States has existed. It wasn't about Abraham's keeping of the law. It wasn't about Abraham's accomplishments. How was Abraham righteous?

He believed God at his word. And God says that counts for righteousness. Now again, if your experience is different than Abraham's, something is wrong. Verse 7, Paul says, Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. Descendants of Abraham, Father Abraham had many sons, right? Who are those sons? It's not talking about his genetic descendants.

Those who are biologically, you know, descended from the lineage of Abraham. Now that's what the Jews thought. They thought they had an automatic connection and blessing from God because they had Abraham's DNA. Jesus had to deal with that throughout his ministry and remind them, just because you're Jews, descendants of Abraham, doesn't mean that you're right with God. No, only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. Your DNA doesn't matter.

And it's not circumcision. The Judaizers who were there in the regions of Galatia teaching this false doctrine, they thought they had a better connection to God because of circumcision and the law. And they thought they were sons of Abraham because of that. Paul says, no, only those who are of faith. That's the only way to be a son or a daughter of Abraham and to have the access to God and the relationship with God like Abraham had.

In verse 8, Paul goes on to make the case. He says in the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand saying, in you all the nations will be blessed. This is referring back to Genesis chapter 12, which Pastor Tom Holman shared on Sunday. The promise of blessing to Abraham. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You're going to be a blessing, not just something.

For your immediate family, not just for your biological descendants, but all the families of the earth or all the nations of the earth. Worldwide, globally, Abraham's descendants would be made up of every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Those who are of faith, those who believe God like Abraham did. Verse nine, so then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. This promise of blessing to Abraham comes upon us when we have faith like Abraham had faith. When we accept God's grace like Abraham accepted God's grace. When we receive God's word and God's promises like Abraham received God's word and God's promises.

And so those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. If your experience is different than Abraham's, something is wrong. Abraham's experience shows that God relates to us, not by our efforts, not by our accomplishments or achievements or, you know, what we can do for him. God relates to us by grace on the basis of his goodness, not ours. It's by faith.

This is the way that God has designed it. Turn with me real quick to Romans chapter 4 because I want to read that verse real quick and we'll finish up with that. In Romans chapter 4, we're going to look at verse 16. Paul says, Therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

Again, we go back to Abraham. We go back to his faith. And when we believe God like he believed God, he's our father. We're descendants of Abraham. And God designed it this way. He designed it to be a faith that it might be according to grace. So that it's not our efforts, but this way the promise is sure to all see. Because what we all have the opportunity to have encounters with God and to have God work in our lives. We all have that opportunity.

Because it's not by our efforts. It's not by our merits. It's not by us working for it or deserving it or earning it. Check your doctrine. God has designed salvation, your initial experience, and then also your ongoing relationship with God to be a faith that it might be according to grace. Grace is unlimited favor and kindness from God for seeking after him, for walking with him, for receiving from him.

You can look at your own experience, and if your head's on straight, you can see it's by the grace of God. If it's not, well, look to the cross. The cross shows, proves once and for all. Remember and appreciate the significance of the cross. Again, Pastor Thomas Constable says the Galatians would not have found false teaching attractive if they had truly appreciated the significance of the crucifixion. The reason why they were susceptible to this false doctrine was they had forgotten the value of

Of what Christ has done for us. And the meaning and the purpose of it. This is the way that God has always worked from the beginning. You go back to Abraham and you can see. God relates to us. As we believe him at his word. Faith opens the door. Gives us access to the presence of God. To the power of God. To the work of God. To the blessing of God. To redemption. To deliverance. Everything that we have from God. Every promise that comes from God. It comes from God.

Through faith in Jesus Christ. And it's not by our efforts. But faith in Jesus Christ means it's by the grace of God. And again, remember in chapter 2, verse 21, Paul says, I don't lay aside the grace of God. Because if righteousness comes any other way, then Jesus died in vain. So we come back to the cross and we remember, Jesus, once and for all, you proved, you demonstrated, I must never approach you by my own efforts.

Lord, help me to stay out of that ditch, not fall off the road of grace into the ditch of works, trying to earn, trying to deserve. Along with that, Lord, help me to never stay away because of failure. Lord, help me to never not pray because I don't deserve. I never have. And when I don't pray because I don't deserve for God to work, when I don't ask God to bless because I don't deserve for God to bless,

I've fallen off the road of grace. I've fallen into the ditch of works and I've misunderstood how God has worked in my life from the beginning. Let's go back to the cross. And so we want to close out our time together this evening with a little bit of worship and reflect upon what Christ has done for us and recenter our minds and our hearts upon the cross and remember how God began the work in us. And it doesn't change after that, but that we would continue.

the grace of God and the work of God in our life.