Justification by faith proved by scripture.

Opening Comments:

Please meet me in your copy of God’s word in Galatians 3:6-14. We began this section of Galatians that runs from 3:1-4:7 by asking two rhetorical questions that Paul seems to be answering for the Galatian churches.

How do we know that God gives Justification by grace through faith in Christ? How do we know that through Christ we will be accepted and live eternally in Heaven?

There are six proofs that Paul gives to the Galatian churches in chapters 3-4 that prove that God justifies us by faith in Christ alone and not by the keeping of the law or by good works.

Two weeks ago, we looked at the first proof of justification by faith in 3:1-5 where Paul reminded the Galatians of their experience when they became believers.

Now this week and next we will see the second proof as Paul proves from scripture that justification by faith comes from Scripture.

“Justification by faith proved by scripture.”

Galatians 3:6–14 NKJV

6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 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.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Introduction:

False teachers in the Galatian churches were teaching that a man must focus His life on religious rituals and teachings (Works of the law) instead of focusing on Christ. They were saying that a person had to be ritualized (circumcised, church membership, baptism, etc.) and dedicate his life to the keeping of the law in order for God to accept Him.

They placed religious law and ritual-their own work and effort before Christ.

They were preaching a message that focused on what they had to do instead of upon what Christ has done. They were focusing upon what they could do to save themselves and make themselves acceptable to God and not upon the person of Christ and his saving power. They preached a message that stressed flesh and the strength of man instead of the love of God given to the world through Christ.

So, here in our text, Paul lays out for them the fact that the scriptures (for them the OT) prove that a person is not justified by law keeping or the deeds of the flesh but by faith alone and he uses the life of someone they all would have known about, a man named Abraham.

Abraham held a unique position in Jewish history, he was the founder of the nation of Israel. God called Abraham to follow him and to be a witness to other nations to the one true and living God by leaving his home, friends and country and to search for a city whose builder and maker was God. In other words God called Abraham to follow his leading wherever it took him until God would lead him to heaven.

God made two great promises to Abraham that were predicated on Abraham following God without question:

Abraham would become the father of a new nation.

All the nations of the earth would be blessed by his offspring.

There are four things we can learn from the life of Abraham in the scripture that prove that justification is by faith and not by ritual or works.

1.) Scripture declares that Abraham believed God. (v.6-7)

Abraham left his home and risked everything he had not knowing where he was going because he completely and unquestionably trusted and took God at his word.

Hebrews 11:8 NKJV

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Understand it wasn't Abraham’s keeping of the law that pleased God, he lived before the law was even given.

He simply had faith in God’s Word that he would be given a new life if he simply followed.

A.) God’s promises were only given to Abraham and his descendants.

B.) Only a promise was given to Abraham. No other information or details were given. God didn't identify the country, he simply gave Abraham a promise. Thats all Abraham had to go on.

C.) There was only one condition attached to God’s promise, Abraham had to believer God. There were no works involved at all.

D.) Abraham did believe God.

Genesis 12:4–5 NKJV

4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.

E.) Abraham was counted righteous because he believed God.

Genesis 15:6 NKJV

6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

God didn't justify Abraham because of who he was or what he had done. God simply took Abrahams faith and counted his faith as righteousness.

F.) The proof that Abraham believed God was that he did what God asked. Abrahams faith preceded his obedience. He believed God and then obeyed God. Abrahams obedience was evidence of his faith in God’s promise.

v.7- All those who are of faith are the true sons of Abraham.

The person who believes God is the person who receives the promises of God.

Application: Heritage, nationality, works, or law keeping have nothing to do with the promises of God. Any person who places their faith in God are the sons of Abraham. God’s promise that a nation would be born from Abraham and “his seed” was the promise of not just an earthly nation but an eternal one made up of all those who have come to God by faith in Christ.

2.) Scripture declares that Abraham believed the Gospel . (v.8-9)

A.) The scripture declared the gospel of grace through faith long before Christ ever came. The Gospel was declared to Abraham

God told Abraham that he would be accepted and blessed by God if he would believe the promise of God.

What was the promise?

“In you all the nations shall be blessed.”

Abraham believed God and gave himself wholly over to God therefore God accepted Abrahams faith and judged him righteous.

That is the Gospel.

B.) Abraham was justified by believing God.

Abraham believed God by faith and God took Abrahams faith filled belief and counted it as righteousness. Abrahams salvation was an act of God’s will not Abraham’s works. All the glory for Abraham’s salvation belonged to God, not Abraham.

Everyone is saved the same way, by faith.

When you give God your faith in Christ, God will take your faith and count you as righteous not because you deserve it but because of His glory.

Titus 3:4–5 NKJV

4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

You are blessed and made a part of the nation God promised to Abraham due to your faith in Christ. The law can’t bring the blessing of God, only faith can do that.

3.) Scripture declares that the law puts man under a curse. (v.10-12)

Curse- to be condemned and doomed by judgement.

The law brings condemnation, doom, death and punishment to all who break it. That’s not a blessing, its a curse.

You either keep the law or bear the curse of the law. You either keep the entire law or stand before the righteous judge and bear the punishment of a lawbreaker.

The penalty and punishment (curse) of the law is death.

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 7:10–11 NKJV

10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

You see if you approach God by the law then you must keep every bit of it, but, the problem is that we can’t so we are cursed to be condemned from the start. The whole purpose of God giving the law was to show mankind their need of a savior.

Romans 3:20 NKJV

20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

No man is justified by the law in the sight of God because we are all doomed to be sinners, thats why God’s chosen way of living by faith in Christ is far better.

God in his sovereign love takes our faith and counts that as righteousness not because of us but because of Him.

4.) Scripture declares Christ came to redeem us from the curse. (v.13-14)

Redeemed- to buy back, to buy from, or ransom.

Christ has bought all those who come to him in faith back and ransomed them from the curse of the law.

It is of no question that all of mankind have broken God’s law and stand condemned and guilty. They must be judged and bear the curse and punishment of the law.

But, the good news of the Gospel declared by scripture is that Christ came to redeem us or buy us back from that curse. When he substituted himself to bear the wrath of God for our law breaking.

Notice, Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21:23 “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”

This doesn't mean that man is cursed if he is executed on a tree but rather that a man who is executed upon a tree is there because he is cursed, having been judged a lawbreaker. Jesus Christ became the lawbreaker, when he took the place of all who have transgressed God’s law. He bore our curse when he chose to die in the place of the unlawful and disobedient sinner and in so doing opened the door of blessing to all mankind.

This was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham that all the nations would be blessed by him.

Now any man who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith that Christ bore the curse of the law for them is accepted by God and given the blessing of dwelling in God’s promised land forever.

Conclusion:

The Gospel has always been the same. I has never been and never will be a message of “you must do in order to gain acceptance from God.” It has always been a gospel of grace through faith. Abraham believed the promise of God by faith and you and I are saved the same way by believing God’s promise of eternal life in Christ through faith.