Galatians 3 vs 6-18

We do not know God through our great faith. We know God because of His great faithfulness. All that we do is not primarily because we are so great in faith! All that we do is primarily because God is so great in HIS faithfulness! When we get this…, everything changes. We can breathe. We can simply fall into the hands of the Father!

Cursed is everyone who attempts to keep the law! Why? Not despitefully but practically! Because everyone falls short of the perfection of the law. Cycles of condemnation or cycles of endless self-concentration rather than worship, praise, thankfulness and appreciation! (Ten boards illustration)

Galatians Chapter 3 Verse 6

·    Case in point, Paul calls to witness the most important figure in the history of the Jews, father Abraham. Genesis Chapter 10 gives us the genealogies of his three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth. We are told in Genesis 10 that it was in the days of Peleg that, “the earth was divided,” which we take to mean the continents separated from one another in accordance with the tectonic plates.

·    The descendants of Japeth settled in the north giving rise to the modern-day Caucasians including the Russians, Brits, Greeks, Italians and Romans just to name a few. The descendants of Ham settled in the south and the far east giving rise to the Africans the Asians the Egyptians and even the Canaanites. The famous Nimrod was a descendant of Ham.

·    The descendants of Shem settled in the areas of the Middle East including either side of the Euphrates River and into modern Arabia. According to Josephus, they settled as far as the Indian Ocean and gave rise to the Persians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Syrians, the modern-day Arabs and the Jews. Genesis 11 tells us that one of Shem’s descendants was “Eber” where we get the modern word “Hebrew.” Six generations later comes Abram (later God changed his name to Abraham).

·    Abraham had many sons and daughters but two of note are Isacc and Ishmael. From Isaac will come the nation of Israel and from Ishmael will come the people of the Arab nations. Wild…, they’re literally brothers! In fact, the Nation of Islam traces their holy line from Abraham through Ishmael, even claiming it was Ishmael that Abraham went to offer on Mount Morriah while of course the Jews and the Bible trace the lineage through Isaac to Abraham. So, check this out…, Genesis 14:13 actually calls Abraham a “Hebrew” as he was a descendant of Ebr… I know, crazy!

·    Ok, so, Paul quotes from Genesis 15 when Abraham expressed faith and that belief that Abraham placed in God was astronomical, literally! Genesis 15:5-6, “Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”

·    As awesome as this is, it shows that Abraham himself placed his belief in God, (specifically the word of God) and righteousness was accounted to him for that belief! It was not, (couldn’t have been), because he kept the law because the law was not yet given… (430 years later…)

Galatians Chapter 3 Verses 7 – 9

·    This is a circumstance where it is essential to take a verse (or a verse set) in context of the point being made AND in context of the entirety of scripture. Because to get at what Paul is trying to say here, (which is actually quite simple), you need to know a good amount from other places in the Bible. The simple point that Paul is making here, IN CONTEXT, is that the blessing of God flows through faith and cannot, does not, flow through the law. (Faith - believing God, living and acting and behaving like God is telling the truth – subjecting yourself to the Word and integrity of God primarily in your life, even above your emotions or carnal senses…).

·    Sons of Abraham was a title claimed proudly by the Jews and rightfully so… God pronounced His promise on Abraham and his descendants. It was a covenantal promise, not based on anything else other than the integrity of God. AND, Paul introduces that the Abrahamic covenant was one pointing not to biology but to belief!

·    Here’s the complexity, and I won’t be able to develop this completely because this is definitely the deep end of the pool, AND, we will get to this in the next chapter as Paul returns to this illustration! There were two specific nations that came from Abraham. The nation of promise, the line of the free woman (Sarah), and the nation of bondage, the line of the bondwoman (Hagar). Sarah had Issac but the first son was by Hagar, Ishmael.

·    God promised Abraham a son and yet he and his wife were beyond the years of having children. Sarah was somewhere around 50 years old and Abraham was around 60 years old according to Genesis 17:24. But Abraham believed God… 25 years later…, still no son. So they did it in their own strength and understanding and Abraham had a son, not the one promised, by his servant, Hagar… That son was Ishmael.

·    Interestingly, Ishmael is the son of bondage and therefore a picture of the law… conceived as a result of the works of men… while Issac is the son of the free woman and therefore a picture of faith… conceived as a result of the word of God… And those two war even unto today…

·    So, Paul says “all the nations shall be blessed,” because any nation of people, race, creed, or culture can come to God by faith… And this also has a double meaning (at least) that whatever nation, I’m going to go as far as say family, workplace, marketplace, neighborhood, whatever nation contains these believers is blessed! What’s that mean? Christians…. WE SHOULD BE A BLESSING to the people around us!!!!!! Basic Jesus shining right there!

·    The crazy part of all of this, and we will have to revisit next chapter because Paul does as well, is that we get to choose our family! This is odd, weird, backwards and yet its certainly the case! We can choose to report to the bondwoman or the freewoman. Report to bondage or report to freedom!

·    Because of Jesus choosing us, the choice is now ours! And listen, EVERYONE does choose because it is appointed for each man to die once and then comes the judgment. Each person will either be judged based on grace or based on works and the choice is made in FAITH. Into whom will you place your faith for right standing with God? You or Jesus?

·    One last statement. Faith is definitely effort…, but it’s not bondage. Bondage is forced. Faith involves discipline. Discipline is a personal choice with GREAT reward. Bondage is no choice with no reward…

Galatians Chapter 3 Verses 10 – 18

·    God promised His blessing upon you and upon me through faith. Simply trusting Him at His Word, trusting in the finished work of Jesus and entering into the relationship that God wants to have with each one of us through that. A relationship not based on our own personal goodness but knowing Him through the realization of His goodness!

·    Let me try this… An offer has been extended to you. Live rent free in a very nice house. Fridge and pantry always stocked with yummy foods. Comfortable and regulated temperatures to make sure you are never hot or cold and you never have to adjust anything or think about it… It’s just done for you. You will be given a space just for you filled with the things you love! Books or a computer or a TV… Super comfortable furniture will be provided for you to ensure you sleep well and enjoy your environment. If you want to go somewhere, no problem, you have several drivers and the pick of what kind of car you’d like to be chauffeured in… Need something? It will be bought for you using money that you haven’t earned. Have questions or need some extremely effective and wise counsel? Anytime! And, the whole time you will be adored and loved unconditionally. Sounds like the life, right!?

·    Now, whose life did I just describe? My 14-year-old son, Lincoln’s! Why does he have that life? Because of whose he is… He’s my son. He hasn’t earned any of that. He doesn’t work to get it or maintain any of that…, it’s simply his because he is my son. Paul says here, “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” We enter into right relationship with God through faith in Jesus…, NO other way…

·    Jesus opened the door that you might receive the promised blessings of God apart from the law. The blessing that was upon Abraham and its through faith that you and I enter into the covenant that God made to Abraham. Paul says that we receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

·    God’s promises to me are rock solid because they are founded upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. He has extended His pledges to me that pertain to my life and to my eternal life through the Person and done-deal delivered death of Jesus. And it is by faith, by stepping into not access but awareness of God’s faithfulness and Jesus’ provision that I experience all that God has pledged personally for myself!

·    If it takes any other type of payment than accepting Jesus Christ then Jesus Christ and what He has done is deficient… BUT, the fact is that the cross of Jesus Christ was sufficient to finally and formally pay for the sins of the world and no one, not you, not me, nothing can annul (render void, deprive of force and authority) that acceptance in Jesus because it is not my promise to God, it is God’s promise to me! Have you accepted this promise for yourself?