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Hi, this is Pastor Tom Holliday and I want to welcome you back to our second day
of looking at Galatians chapter 3. We're going to look at verses 6 to 14 all
throughout today. Remember that Paul in Galatians chapter 3 is arguing for grace
and not works as the foundation for our growth.

It's what God has done, the gift he has given, it's not what I do. He's going to
give us several arguments that show that this is true. First, yesterday we
looked at the argument from experience.

You remember how you were saved, it was through faith and the principle behind
that is you grow the same way that you're saved, it is through faith. Today
we're going to look at a second argument and this is Paul's argument from
Scripture. He goes back to look at Abraham who was the father of faith and he's
really talking about an argument that many of the false teachers were coming up
with which was that Abraham somehow depended on the law in order to be closer to
God, to be related to God, to be a part of God's family and so we have to do the
same thing.

And Paul says, "Well, wait a minute, let's look at Scripture, let's look at what
the Bible has to say and he says that it's faith that makes you a son, a
daughter of Abraham. " Now as I walk through these verses today there's going to
be a lot of quotes from the Old Testament so I'm just going to mention it when I
hit a quote and just say quote from the Old Testament so I'll be able to pick
them up as I read them. Let me read for you verses 6 to 9, Paul writes,
"Consider Abraham," and a quote from the Old Testament, "he believed God and it
was credited to him as righteousness.

" Understand then that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture
foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announced the Gospel in
advance to Abraham, a quote, "All nations will be blessed through you," end
quote. So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Paul just goes after it here and he says, "Look at what the Bible really says. I
know what these false teachers are saying but let's go back to the Word. "
That's what you do when you're confused by a teaching.

That's what you do when you're facing a false teacher. You go back to God's Word
and Paul says very clearly the Scripture says Abraham believed. That's how he
became a part of God's family and it's those who believe who are also children
of Abraham a part of God's family.

Paul is writing and he's saying, "Think, don't just accept what everybody says
to you, think. Think for a minute. " Did Abraham even have the ceremonial law
before he believed and it was credited to him as righteousness?

He didn't have the law. That didn't come until Moses. "Think," he is saying
here, "God declared Abraham righteous 14 years before he was even circumcised.

" When you compare Genesis 14. 1 and 17. 24, you see very clearly that God says
he is righteous by his faith, not by the fact that he followed him in the ritual
of circumcision.

Think Paul is saying here. You don't have to become a child of Abraham, a son, a
daughter of Abraham. You already are a child of Abraham.

These false teachers aren't offering you anything new. They're trying to offer
you something that you already have and tell you you have to get it in a
different way that makes them feel better about themselves because they've
controlled your life. Many times when it comes to false teachings, we find
ourselves grasping for something that we already have, being used by others to
make themselves feel better about themselves.

And Paul writes here and says, "The promise of Abraham's blessing, it's already
on you. You're a child of faith," just as he was a child of faith. Now as Paul
is talking about this, he also wants to talk about the law in this argument from
scripture.

He says, "Faith is what gives you this sense of being in God's family, this
reality. But law, what does law give you? It just brings you under the curse of
the law.

" Listen to what he says in verses 10 to 13, "All who rely on observing the law
are under a curse, for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue
to do everything written in the book of the law. '" Clearly no one is justified
before God by the law because, "The righteous will live by faith. " The law is
not based on faith.

On the contrary, "The man who does these things will 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 hung on a tree. " Now these verses, verses
10 to 13, let's just walk through these verses.

Paul is saying, let's look at what scripture has to say. He says, look, here's
what scripture says, "Unless you keep everything in the law, you are under a
curse. " Unless you can be perfect, keep every single letter of the law, you are
under a curse.

And so you suffer twice. You suffer the burden of trying to be perfect, trying
to keep the law, and then you suffer the curse of not being able to attain
perfection. Paul understood this one.

He lived most of his life as a Pharisee, trying to obtain, attain to perfection
in his life, and it never happened. He knew the burden that was going to be on
the life of these Galatians. That's why he speaks with such passion.

He knew the pain that they were headed toward. So he says, "Look, unless you
keep all the things in the law, you're under a curse. " He also says, "Look, the
righteous live by faith, but the law is performed by works.

" They were trying to say that somehow the law was an expression of faith.
That's what the false teachers were saying. But Paul says, "No, look, the
scripture says it's the one who does these things, not believes these things,
but does these things.

" Now you still hear forms of this one today, where people say, "Here is a rule
that you should keep, and we're going to call that faith. " And so they say,
"You're having faith by keeping the rule that I say you should keep. " And Paul
says, "That's not faith.

That's a rule. That's you doing something to make yourself better in God's
sight, and you can't do anything to make yourself better in God's sight. " Now
God has things for you to do, but you don't do them to get yourself to a place
of faith.

You do them in response to the fact that you have faith in him. That's why we
live out his commands, not to get God to love us, but because we know God loves
us, and we have a relationship with him. So watch out for people who are trying
to substitute the idea of faith for the idea of works and still call it faith.

Paul says, "It's still a law. " I don't care if you call it faith, it's still a
law. Paul says, "Look at one more thing about this thing of the law.

Christ took our curse for us. He took our sin for us. Why would you want to take
it back?

" Now he talks in these verses about someone who is hung on a tree. What is this
all about? Well, in Deuteronomy 21, 23, God put into the law that if somebody
was hung on a tree as a punishment, as an execution for killing someone else,
they should be taken down immediately because anyone hung on a tree was cursed
of God.

Why did God put that in the law? He put that in the law because he knew that one
day his son, Jesus, would be hung on a tree across, and he knew that he would
take our curse for us. God knew in advance what was going to happen.

So all through the Old Testament, there are these clues of what is coming. This
principle from Scripture, this principle that faith makes you a son of Abraham,
that law brings you only under the curse of the law. There is a principle for
growth behind this argument that Paul is making, and the principle is that
growth is living out who God has already made you to be.

Your growth as a believer is not something you're trying to achieve. It is you
deciding to believe and then trusting God to live out through you what he's put
in you through faith. What I'm talking about here is your identity in Christ,
who you already are.

The way that Paul puts it in these verses is you're a son of Abraham. You might
think, "Well, I'm a woman. I'm a daughter of Abraham, actually.

" No, he says we're all sons of Abraham. Why does he say that? Because in Old
Testament times, in New Testament times, the sons got the inheritance.

So he's saying here we all get the inheritance. Every one of us are a firstborn.
All of us get the inheritance.

All of us are important in God's sight. We are all children of Abraham. Why is
this so important?

Not just to Jewish believers, but to all believers, because the promises of God
come through Abraham. And my identity in Christ is I'm a part of God's family,
and God's promises come into my life because I'm a part of his family. That's
why these verses say to Abraham, "All nations will be blessed because of you.

" When you think about this, what we're really focusing on is remember who you
are. That's how you grow. You are saved by grace.

You are a new creation in Christ. You are adopted, redeemed, justified, chosen.
I could go on with a hundred of these.

Who you are in Christ. You want to grow in Christ, don't focus on who you're
not. Remember who you are.

And then ask God for the faith, the strength to live out who he's made you to
be. Don't try to become it on your own. Ask him for the strength to live out who
he's made you to be.

You don't need any new tools to grow to be what God has called you to be. The
Galatians were trying to graft a diseased branch onto that which already would
naturally grow to be a fruit-bearing tree. And Paul says, "Stop.

God's already at work in your life. Just see who he's made you to be. " Now the
question is, what does this look like on a daily basis, what we're talking
about?

How do I live this out? Well, here's where it starts. It starts by not putting
faith in yourself for your growth, but putting faith in the God who saved you
for your growth.

And it also starts with gratitude, thanking him for who he's made you to be in
Christ. And then you live your life out of that grateful spirit. Let's talk to
him right now and let's thank him right now.

In our time of prayer today, I encourage you just to say, "Jesus Christ, I am
grateful. I'm grateful for who you've made me to be. I know I don't live it out
all the time, but instead of focusing on that right now, I'm going to focus on
you and who you've made me to be.

Thank you that you did adopt me into your family. Thank you that you did redeem
me. You did set me free.

You did justify me. You declared me not guilty. Thank you that in that moment
that I said to you, Jesus, that I trusted you as my Savior, that your choice of
me was affirmed in my life.

I thank you for who you have made me to be. And I pray that today as I focus on
that, that in faith, I would be able to live out a little more of who you made
me to be in my daily life today, in my conversations, in my decisions, in the
way I treat people. Help me to treat people like you, Jesus, because you're
making me to be more and more like you every day, by grace, through faith.

Thank you for this. In your name, Jesus. Amen.

Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to talk about the Holy Spirit and your
growth.