Sermon Tone Analysis

Freed to be Free #8

Galatians 3:6-14

The Man of Faith

 

 

Why God Responds to Faith

Houston pastor John Bisango describes a time when his daughter age five, came to him and asked for a doll house.

John promptly nodded and promised to build her one, then he went back to reading his book.

Soon he glanced out the study window and saw her arms filled with dishes, toys, and dolls, making trip after trip until she had a great pile of playthings in the yard.

He asked his wife what she was doing.

“Oh, you promised to build her a doll house, and she believes you.

She’s just getting ready for it.”

“You would have thought I’d been hit by an atom bomb,” John later said.

“I threw aside that book, raced to the lumber yard for supplies, and quickly built that little girl a doll house.

Now why did I respond?

Because I wanted to?

No.

Because she deserved it?

No. Her daddy had given his word, and she believed it and acted upon it.

When I saw her faith, nothing could keep me from carrying out my word.”~*[1]

We continue in our Study of Grace through Faith in the book of Galatians … today in Chapter 3

 

READ 3:6-14

 

He was an everyday guy, but not the guy you would expect to be famously used by God.

Like most people today, he knew who God was but chose instead to find his own way.

He chose to create his own god rather than worship to the true God.

He rejected the place that God deserved in life.

He lived among a people that worshipped idols.

But God appeared to him, and spoke to him, revealed himself to him, and invited him to follow him.

Abraham

God was very clear in his call to Abraham.

/Genesis 12:1-3 (NIV) \\ //The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.//

//2 //“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.//

//3 //I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”/

He told him to

Leave his country

Leave his people

Leave his family

Go to the land I will show

 

We must see first that NIV correctly translates it “The Lord HAD SAID” …

 

Because when you back up into 11:31 you see that Terah, Abraham’s Father, left Ur of the Chaldeans headed for Canaan, with Abraham and Grandson, Lot.

But they stopped a short way out in Haran and /“settled there”/ …

 

God is not a God who accepts when we settle for less than what he commands.

So Abraham, after his Father died, continued in the original call and promises of God.

His nephew, Lot, went with him.

But if you know the story, when given a choice for where to live, Lot walked by SIGHT and picked a lush valley with two cities called Sodom and Gomorrah.

And he disappears from the pages of history in Genesis 19 after his city is destroyed by God, his wife is turned to salt, and his daughters disgraced him.

Terah died outside of God’s Blessing

Lot died in disgrace

But Abraham died in Faith, Obedience, and Expectation … and 1500 years later Paul is lifting him up as a Paragon of Faith and another 2000 years later we are still looking to follow his footsteps.

Paul uses this term,

“The Man of Faith.”

We hear that term about people, “He’s a Man of Faith”; “She’s a Woman of Faith”.

But what IS a Person of Faith?

Well First,

a Person of Faith

 

1.

Believes God

 

If you look back at the first five verses of this chapter, you will see that Paul asks 6 questions.

Now in these verses he makes 6 statements about the Person of faith.

We’ll see two in each of three points.

A.

Abraham believed and it was Credited as Righteousness

 

    1.

notice that it is always God’s Grace ALONE that chooses to reveal himself to anyone and offer them the opportunity for life and blessing.

2.

Did God choose Abraham because he deserved it?

No, he chose Abraham because he wanted to

    3.

God came to Abraham and revealed himself to him.

We don’t have the details about that revelation but it was MORE than enough for Abraham to set aside the idol worship he had known, according to (Joshua 24:2), and choose to place his life, his family, his future, his address in the hands of Almighty God.

We may not know HOW God revealed himself but his revelation is always enough.

Just as his revelation of himself is enough for you.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

Abraham Believed God

 

    4.

There was something INTERNAL that happened to Abraham that day when he heard God and believed God. 

      a.

We are spiritual beings.

b.

That is to say, we were created with an ability to relate to God.

      c.

but our sin separates us from God.

We can’t act right, we can’t live right.

Our righteous acts, good deeds, good intentions, and religious studies and expressions will never make us righteous in God’s eyes. 

 

    5.

Look at the Faith of Abraham

      a.

Abraham believed even though he didn’t know WHERE God was taking him, living in tents looking forward to the city of God. 

      b.

He believed even though he didn’t know HOW God could do what he said he would do

      c.

he believed, though he didn’t know WHEN the promise would be fulfilled

      d. he believed, in spite of the fact that he didn’t know WHY God had chosen him for himself.

e.

He didn’t know Where, How, When, or Why, he just knew That he had been called he just knew WHAT God had said, GO to a place I will show … I.E.

FOLLOW ME

    6.

19th Century Commentator G. G. Findlay wrote, /“the Legalist tries to make God believe in him; Abraham and Paul are content to BELIEVE in God.”/

    7.

We are NOT Saved by making Promises to God and hoping He will believe us.

We are saved by Believing the Promises of God, believing in HIM.

And Paul makes his next statement

 

  B.

Those who Believe, are the children of Abraham

 

    1.

the person of faith becomes one of Abraham’s descendants.

We try to be good people and somehow attain the state of being people of faith.

But folks that is backwards.

We must be people of faith to move into God’s righteousness before we can become people with a righteous character.

Findlay puts it this way,

/“righteousness of character springs out of righteous standing.”