By Faith Alone???

Good morning Church!!!

Bibles out Galatians 3:10-14

Last week:

Who has bewitched you? (recap of last week)

The Christ followers in the region of Galatia have been sold a Jesus plus gospel…Jesus + the law by these Judaizers

Jewish converts who are holding on to the Law

Paul asked them…who has bewitched you ???

Who has deceived you???

As we continue into our text today…

Paul is going to simplify this for the churches in this time and for us…

He is going to show us that you have 1 of 2 possible standings…

You are either …

Cursed under the Law

OR

Righteous through Faith in Jesus

YALL READY TO GET IN THE WORD THIS MORNING????

READ V10-14 ALL

Okay so lets break this down

Cursed Under the Law (v10-12)

This entire text that we will be in today Paul does something incredibly clever…

The first 5 books in the bible are GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY

The Jews use a Hebrew word for these first five books…They call it the TORAH

The english word for Torah is LAW

Now the commands of the law are mostly found in the book of Exodus through Numbers

In Deuteronomy Moses is addressing alot of Jews who weren't alive when God gave the Law to Moses at mount Sinai

So Deuteronomy is a recap of the law for the Jews

And today as Paul aims to show the Galatian Churches that there is no hope in a Jesus plus Law gospel…

He is going to use the book of the Law itself as proof…

The first thing Paul does…

Paul quotes:

Deuteronomy 27:26 ““ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”

Thats a pretty high standard…

The standard of righteousness is the law of moses…

The Bibles standard for righteousness is Gods perfection…

The Law describes God’s perfect character and sets the measuring bar for human righteousness

So in order to stand before God you must be righteous…

And the measuring stick in the OT for righteousness was following the law…

Which we just read in Deut. requires you to follow ALL ASPECTS OF THE LAW…

the scary part is… we see throughout God’s Word and throughout history

No one is able to fulfill this command…

Not Paul..

Romans 7:10 “The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.”

Not any of the Jews throughout history…

Acts 15:10 PETER SAYS: “Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?”

Not Moses…

Not King David…

NOT THE 12 APOSTLES…

None of these men were able to achieve perfection of the Law…

And according to Deuteronomy 27 that is exactly what righteousness requires…for man to abide in the law perfectly…

SO THE LAW IS A CURSE UNTO US!!!

So is the law bad???

NO!!!

The bible tells us The law is Holy and Just…

It is perfection…

The issue is WE ARE IMPERFECT!!

We are not capable of achieving perfection of the Law…

Gods character is holy and just and perfect

Our character is sin…

But lets have a test to make sure…

Maybe your sitting here thinking “Im a good rule follower”

“Maybe it is possible to follow the law in perfection”

There are 613 commandments of the law of Moses…

Lets see how we hold up to just 6 of them…

-Always respect your mother and father (All of us have already failed)

-Help others load their beasts (ever seen someone needed help to load something?)

-no eating milk and meat cooked together (goodbye sausage gravy)

-Don’t lie…Even a white lie counts (We fail that one)

-Keep all vows and promises to God (Lord i swear this is the last time i will…)

-Don’t bear a grudge (Hold zero grudges)

How many of us are 0 for 6???

The bible has shown us over and over again that every man that has attempted to live under the law in perfection has failed…

except one…

And Paul tells us…

Stop placing your faith in your own ability to achieve righteousness…

Instead place your faith in the ONE who achieved it for you!!!

READ V 11-14

Remember…Paul is telling us we are either CURSED UNDER THE LAW…

OR

Righteous through faith in Jesus (v13-14)

Christ Redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us!!!

Again this comes straight from the book of the law…

Deuteronomy 21:22–23 ““And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God…”

Look their is soo much Jesus prophecy in that line of the Law

We have established that WE are NOT capable of achieving perfection of the Law…

That we are under a curse…

The Law outs us as sinners…

BUT JESUS, who is sinless, who is spotless…

Fulfilled the Law to a T…

Was made the curse for us…

Hung on the tree for us…

The wages of sin is death…

Though he was innocent of sin, He took on the death…

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

AND NOW WE CAN ACHIEVE RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH FAITH IN HIM!!!

He fulfilled the Laws requirements for us!!!

And Jesus told us the world this is what He was here to do!!!!

JESUS proclaimed this before hand in…

Matthew 5:17–18 ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

AND JESUS’S LAST WORDS ON THE CROSS WERE…

”IT IS ACCOMPLISHED!”

JESUS FULFILLED THE LAW

AND NOW IT IS THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST THAT WE ARE JUSTIFIED…

THAT WE ARE MADE RIGHTEOUS!!!!

THROUGH FAITH ALONE!!!

Thats what Paul is trying to get through to these people who have been bewitched

There is NO HOPE IN OUR WORKS FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS…

OUR HOPE IS IN THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS!!!

SO WE MUST PLACE OUR FAITH IN THAT FINISHED WORK ALONE!!!

SO AS WE ROUND OUT OUR TIME THIS MORNING…

Three questions I want to answer for you…

WHAT IS FAITH??

-We got some nice chairs in here don’t we??

This morning, when you came in, a moment before you sat down, there was a trust between you and that chair…

you placed your faith in the fact that the chair you are currently sitting in would hold you through NO effort of your own…

FAITH IS TRUST

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Faith is trust in JESUS

Trust that Christ made you righteous through His death, Burial, and Resurrection

You trust that chair you are sitting in to continue to hold you as you sit in it because that is what it was made to do…

Jesus was sent to die in your place…

To become a curse for you and me…

Faith is placing your trust in that!!!

WHAT IS IT NOT???

-Faith is not a Feeling

-Faith is not circumstance

ITS CONCRETE…IMMOVABLE

It is constant…

What do you put your faith in???

Whenever I talk to atheists I always say this to them and they hate it…

I tell them all of mankind are designed to have 2 things: FAITH AND WORSHIP

WHERE IS YOUR FAITH AND WORSHIP???

Money??

Relationship?

Job??

Science??

Church Building???

Rituals??

Health??

In yourself???

Leave here today with this…

THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH IN CHRIST ALONE!

LETS PRAY!!