This week we have been looking at a letter in our Bibles called the book of Galatians. Wednesday, we saw the Apostle Paul reveal for us another timeless reason that we are to vote no on religion because religion confines and can only guide us to see our need for Christ. Whether it the religion of legalism or the religion of license, every religious system can only confine us. Religion can only imprison us in the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. Every religion that has ever been devised can guide us to see the desperate situation that we are in as a result of the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. But that is all religion can do.
All religion can do is to confine us and lock us up under the destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion that resides within us. All religion can do is to guide us to the reality that there is nothing we can do for God in order to rescue us and make us right with God. All religion can do is guide us to see our need for a rescuer. But religion does not provide that rescuer that can deliver us from the destructive power of selfishness and rebellion that is within us. Only Jesus Christ can rescue us.
It is only when we place our confident trust in what God has done for us that we can be rescued from the destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion that resides within us and experience the forgiveness and relationship with God that we were created for. We see Paul unpack this reality for us in verse 27:
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Now when Paul uses the phrase baptized in Christ, he is not promoting that we need to be baptized in order to be saved. In verse 27, Paul is revealing the results of what occurs in the life of those who place their faith in Christ. Paul’s point here is that as a result of placing our confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, we have received forgiveness and are now living in a right relationship with God as a follower of Jesus. As a follower of Jesus, we become a part of the body of Christ. And as we follow Jesus command to be baptized, that baptism is a public proclamation and a public identification with an inward reality that has occurred in our lives. We are now a new member of the community of faith that the Bible refers to as the body of Christ as followers of Jesus.
And as part of the community of faith called the body of Christ, Paul explains that followers of Jesus have clothed yourselves with Christ. But what does Paul mean when he says that we have clothed yourselves with Christ? Now Paul is not talking about going to the mall the buy some Jesus clothes. Instead, Paul is using a metaphor to reveal the reality that as a result of placing our confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, followers of Jesus will begin to take on the characteristics of Jesus as they live in a right relationship with Him.
As a result of placing our confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, followers of Jesus experience God’s transformational activity in their lives as they begin to reveal and reflect Christ in their character and conduct as part of the community of faith called the body of Christ. And the access to experience God’s transformational activity as part of the community of faith called the body of Christ is the same for all of humanity. We see Paul reveal this reality as he concludes this section of his letter in verse 28:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.
In these verses, we see Paul reveal for us the reality that regardless of one’s cultural background; regardless of one’s socioeconomic background; regardless of one’s gender; we all become reconciled and restored to the relationship with God that they were created for as part of the family of God the same way. Regardless of one’s cultural background; regardless of one’s socioeconomic background; regardless of one’s gender; we all receive the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the fulfillment of God’s promise to humanity the same way. And that way is not through religion or religious activity. That way is by placing our confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. And because of that reality we are to vote no on religion because religion confines and can only guide us to see our need for Christ.
So are you exhausted as a result of trying to escape the prison of selfishness and rebellion through religion? Because, as we have seen today, religion can only imprison us in the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. Every religion that has ever been devised can guide us to see the desperate situation that we are in as a result of the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. But that is all religion can do. All religion can do is to guide us to the reality that there is nothing we can do for God in order to rescue us and make us right with God. All religion can do is guide us to see our need for a rescuer. But religion does not provide that rescuer that can deliver us from the destructive power of selfishness and rebellion that is within us.
Only Jesus Christ can rescue us. It is only when we place our confident trust in what God has done for us that we can be rescued from the destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion that resides within us and experience the forgiveness and relationship with God that we were created for.
So, how have you been casting your ballot? How have you been voting?
Friday, October 12, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Vote No On Religion Because Religion Confines and Can Only Guide Us To See Our Need for Christ...
This week, we are looking at a section of a letter in the New Testament of our Bibles called the book of Galatians. Yesterday, we saw a man named Paul explain that the Law was given so that we would be perfectly positioned to receive God’s promise of rescue from selfishness and rebellion as a result of placing our confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. The Law and Old Testament imprison us in our selfishness and rebellion so that we would be in a position to entrust ourselves with compete confidence not in what we do for God, but in what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. Today, we see Paul unpack this for us in Galatians 3:23:
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.
When Paul uses the phrase, but before faith came, he is referring to the time in history before Jesus Christ entered humanity. Before Jesus came to earth, Paul explains that we were kept in custody under the Law. In other words the Law was placed over the Jewish people and held them in custody. Now a natural question that arises here is “why would God use the Law and the Jewish religious system as the means by which He would confine them or hold them in custody? I mean why would God take away someone’s freedom like that?”
And maybe I have just described your view of God and religion. Maybe for you God is like the cop around the corner waiting to bust you because you violated one of His rules. God and religion is about confining and restricting your freedom. So, is that who God is and what God is about?
We see Paul answer these questions by explaining that the Jewish people were held in custody under the Law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. You see, the Law and the Jewish religious system were not used by God to keep the Jewish people in custody in order to rob them of their freedom. Instead the Law and the Jewish religious system were used by God to point the Jewish people to something, which was to the faith that was later to be revealed. Now this word revealed here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to cause something to be fully known.
The Apostle Paul’s point here is that the Law and the Jewish religious system was used to point the Jewish people to the day in history when Jesus Christ would come to earth and make fully known God’s message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel that would result in freedom from the selfishness and rebellion that separated them from God. Paul then hammers this point home to the members of the churches of Galatia, beginning in Galatians 3:24:
Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Now to fully grasp the significance of what Paul is saying here, we first need to wrap our minds around what Paul means when he says that the Law has become our tutor to Christ. In the Jewish culture of the Apostle Paul’s day, this word was used to describe a person, who was normally a slave, that functioned as a custodian and who would guide a young and free Jewish person to and from school and who would provide guidance and direction and be in charge of the free child when it came to their conduct or behavior. In our culture today, the word tutor would more aptly describe how a bus driver functions.
Now, let’s ask ourselves a question: As a teenager, did you enjoy riding the bus to and from school? Teenagers who ride the bus now, do you enjoy riding the bus to school? Or would you rather walk or better yet, drive your own car to school? Now, I don’t know about you, but I didn’t enjoy riding the bus; I would have much rather had the freedom to drive to school in my own car. I despised riding the bus to school. I would have rather walked than ride the bus to school. I mean on the bus, there were all these rules: rules on where to sit, how to sit. And there was little or no freedom. No choice of music; no choice of who rode on the bus with you; and very little choice when it come to who sat next to you on the bus.
The closer and closer that I inched to my sixteenth birthday, the more desperate I became to be freed from the bus driver and her rules. The closer and closer I inched toward my sixteenth birthday, the more desperately I desired a better option than the bus and the bus driver. The closer and closer that I inched to my sixteenth birthday, the more desperate I became to be rescued from my desperate situation on the bus and my relationship with the bus driver.
My time on the bus with the bus driver led me to desperately desire the freedom that would come with my license and a car. And when I turned sixteen and had the opportunity to get my license and a car, I jumped on that opportunity. I responded to the opportunity to have another option when it came to how I would get to school. And I rejoiced in the freedom that I received from the bus and the rules of the bus driver when I received my license and car.
Paul’s point here is that in the same way, the Law and Jewish religious system served to reveal the desperate situation that the Jewish people were in. Just like that bus driver, the Law and the Jewish religious system guided, directed and oversaw the conduct of the Jewish people. Just like that bus and the bus driver, the Law and the Jewish religious system guided and directed them to look at the desperate situation that they were in as they tried to do things for God in order to be in a right relationship with God. Just like that bus and the bus driver, the Law and the Jewish religious system guided the Jewish people to look for a better option that would rescue them from the desperate situation that they were in as a result of being guilty of having a huge problem with God.
And that better option, as Paul reveals in these verses was to be justified by faith. That better option was to be declared not guilty of having a huge problem with God as a result of placing one’s confident trust in what Christ had done for them through His life, death, and resurrection. And that is exactly why Jesus had come. And since Christ had come to earth and made fully known God’s message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, humanity was no longer under a tutor. They were longer in need of someone to guide and direct them to a time in the future, because that future had come.
God had fulfilled His promise to Abraham and sent His Son Jesus, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. God had provided the opportunity for all humanity to receive the forgiveness of sin and enter into the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.
For those who placed their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, they would receive the freedom that comes from being rescued from selfishness and rebellion. And for those who had placed their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, Paul explains that you are all sons of God through faith in Christ. Those who placed their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel would no longer be outsiders when it came to their relationship with God. Instead they would be insiders who had been reconciled and restored to the relationship with God that they were created for as part of the family of God.
And it is here that we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us another timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. And that timeless reason is this: We are to vote no on religion because religion confines and can only guide us to see our need for Christ. You see, whether it the religion of legalism or the religion of license, every religious system can only confine us. Religion can only imprison us in the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. Every religion that has ever been devised can guide us to see the desperate situation that we are in as a result of the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God.
But that is all religion can do. All religion can do is to confine us and lock us up under the destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion that resides within us. All religion can do is to guide us to the reality that there is nothing we can do for God in order to rescue us and make us right with God. All religion can do is guide us to see our need for a rescuer.
But religion does not provide that rescuer that can deliver us from the destructive power of selfishness and rebellion that is within us. Only Jesus Christ can rescue us. It is only when we place our confident trust in what God has done for us that we can be rescued from the destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion that resides within us and experience the forgiveness and relationship with God that we were created for.
Friday, we will see Paul unpack this reality for us…
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.
When Paul uses the phrase, but before faith came, he is referring to the time in history before Jesus Christ entered humanity. Before Jesus came to earth, Paul explains that we were kept in custody under the Law. In other words the Law was placed over the Jewish people and held them in custody. Now a natural question that arises here is “why would God use the Law and the Jewish religious system as the means by which He would confine them or hold them in custody? I mean why would God take away someone’s freedom like that?”
And maybe I have just described your view of God and religion. Maybe for you God is like the cop around the corner waiting to bust you because you violated one of His rules. God and religion is about confining and restricting your freedom. So, is that who God is and what God is about?
We see Paul answer these questions by explaining that the Jewish people were held in custody under the Law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. You see, the Law and the Jewish religious system were not used by God to keep the Jewish people in custody in order to rob them of their freedom. Instead the Law and the Jewish religious system were used by God to point the Jewish people to something, which was to the faith that was later to be revealed. Now this word revealed here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to cause something to be fully known.
The Apostle Paul’s point here is that the Law and the Jewish religious system was used to point the Jewish people to the day in history when Jesus Christ would come to earth and make fully known God’s message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel that would result in freedom from the selfishness and rebellion that separated them from God. Paul then hammers this point home to the members of the churches of Galatia, beginning in Galatians 3:24:
Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Now to fully grasp the significance of what Paul is saying here, we first need to wrap our minds around what Paul means when he says that the Law has become our tutor to Christ. In the Jewish culture of the Apostle Paul’s day, this word was used to describe a person, who was normally a slave, that functioned as a custodian and who would guide a young and free Jewish person to and from school and who would provide guidance and direction and be in charge of the free child when it came to their conduct or behavior. In our culture today, the word tutor would more aptly describe how a bus driver functions.
Now, let’s ask ourselves a question: As a teenager, did you enjoy riding the bus to and from school? Teenagers who ride the bus now, do you enjoy riding the bus to school? Or would you rather walk or better yet, drive your own car to school? Now, I don’t know about you, but I didn’t enjoy riding the bus; I would have much rather had the freedom to drive to school in my own car. I despised riding the bus to school. I would have rather walked than ride the bus to school. I mean on the bus, there were all these rules: rules on where to sit, how to sit. And there was little or no freedom. No choice of music; no choice of who rode on the bus with you; and very little choice when it come to who sat next to you on the bus.
The closer and closer that I inched to my sixteenth birthday, the more desperate I became to be freed from the bus driver and her rules. The closer and closer I inched toward my sixteenth birthday, the more desperately I desired a better option than the bus and the bus driver. The closer and closer that I inched to my sixteenth birthday, the more desperate I became to be rescued from my desperate situation on the bus and my relationship with the bus driver.
My time on the bus with the bus driver led me to desperately desire the freedom that would come with my license and a car. And when I turned sixteen and had the opportunity to get my license and a car, I jumped on that opportunity. I responded to the opportunity to have another option when it came to how I would get to school. And I rejoiced in the freedom that I received from the bus and the rules of the bus driver when I received my license and car.
Paul’s point here is that in the same way, the Law and Jewish religious system served to reveal the desperate situation that the Jewish people were in. Just like that bus driver, the Law and the Jewish religious system guided, directed and oversaw the conduct of the Jewish people. Just like that bus and the bus driver, the Law and the Jewish religious system guided and directed them to look at the desperate situation that they were in as they tried to do things for God in order to be in a right relationship with God. Just like that bus and the bus driver, the Law and the Jewish religious system guided the Jewish people to look for a better option that would rescue them from the desperate situation that they were in as a result of being guilty of having a huge problem with God.
And that better option, as Paul reveals in these verses was to be justified by faith. That better option was to be declared not guilty of having a huge problem with God as a result of placing one’s confident trust in what Christ had done for them through His life, death, and resurrection. And that is exactly why Jesus had come. And since Christ had come to earth and made fully known God’s message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, humanity was no longer under a tutor. They were longer in need of someone to guide and direct them to a time in the future, because that future had come.
God had fulfilled His promise to Abraham and sent His Son Jesus, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. God had provided the opportunity for all humanity to receive the forgiveness of sin and enter into the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.
For those who placed their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, they would receive the freedom that comes from being rescued from selfishness and rebellion. And for those who had placed their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, Paul explains that you are all sons of God through faith in Christ. Those who placed their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel would no longer be outsiders when it came to their relationship with God. Instead they would be insiders who had been reconciled and restored to the relationship with God that they were created for as part of the family of God.
And it is here that we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us another timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. And that timeless reason is this: We are to vote no on religion because religion confines and can only guide us to see our need for Christ. You see, whether it the religion of legalism or the religion of license, every religious system can only confine us. Religion can only imprison us in the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. Every religion that has ever been devised can guide us to see the desperate situation that we are in as a result of the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God.
But that is all religion can do. All religion can do is to confine us and lock us up under the destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion that resides within us. All religion can do is to guide us to the reality that there is nothing we can do for God in order to rescue us and make us right with God. All religion can do is guide us to see our need for a rescuer.
But religion does not provide that rescuer that can deliver us from the destructive power of selfishness and rebellion that is within us. Only Jesus Christ can rescue us. It is only when we place our confident trust in what God has done for us that we can be rescued from the destructive power of the selfishness and rebellion that resides within us and experience the forgiveness and relationship with God that we were created for.
Friday, we will see Paul unpack this reality for us…
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Feeling Confined and Imprisoned?
During this election season, we have been looking at a
letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament in our Bibles called the
Book of Galatians. And just as it was for the members of the churches of
Galatia, we discovered that, every day, we cast a ballot in an election for one
of two candidates. Either we cast a ballot to vote to live our life as a
religious-centered person; or we cast a ballot to live our life as a
gospel-centered person.
Either we choose to live our day to day lives as a
gospel-centered person whose life is driven to respond to what God has done for
us through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection by placing our confident trust
in Jesus and following His message and teachings by faith as Lord and Leader.
Or, we choose to live our day to day lives as a religious centered person who
follows one of two different forms of religion.
This week, I would like for us to pick up where we left
off last week. And as we jump back into this New Testament letter, we see Paul continue
to provide evidence to prove that religion does not make us right with God. And
it is in the evidence that Paul provides that we will discover another timeless
reason why we are to vote no on religion. So let’s look at the evidence
together, beginning in Galatians 3:21:
Is the Law
then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been
given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been
based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the
promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Paul begins this section of his letter by responding to a
potential objection by the members of the churches of Galatia: “Is the Law then
contrary to the promises of God?” Now this objection, if communicated in the
language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this:
“Does the Law, or the first five books in our Bibles today, contradict God’s
promises? If the Law, as we talked about last week, reveals and provokes the
selfishness and rebellion that resides within us, then doesn’t the Law actually
oppose God and His promise to rescue from selfishness and rebellion? So, isn’t
the problem the Law and not us?” Paul
responds to this objection with the strongest negative response that is
possible in the language that this letter was originally written in.
Paul then provides two reasons why the Law is not in
opposition to and does not contradict the promises of God. First, in the second
half of verse 21, Paul explains that if a law had been given which was able to
impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. Now to
understand the point that Paul is making here, we first need to define some
terms.
When Paul states that if a law had been given, he is not
simply referring to the first five books in our Bibles today; instead, Paul is
referring to any list of rules or things that one could do for God in order to
be right with God. The phrase to impart life literally means to cause to live
and refers to one experiencing eternal life in relationship with God. As we
have talked about already in this series, when you see the word righteousness
in the Bible, a simple and accurate definition of this 50 cent word is the
quality or state of being right with God.
What Paul is saying here is “If any list of rules could
have been given to you that would result in you being able to do things for God
in order to experience eternal life with God, then a right relationship with
God would be have been based on what you did for God. So the issue is not in
the Law or any other list of rules when it comes to experiencing a right
relationship with God. The Law does not contradict the Promises of God”.
Second, in verse 22, Paul explains that “Scripture has
shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might
be given to those who believe.” But what does that mean? This phrase has shut
up, literally means to confine or imprison. The word sin refers to the
destructive and evil power of selfishness and rebellion that causes us to do
things that hurt God and others. So what Paul is saying here is that the
message and teachings of the Law and the Old Testament imprison us in the
selfishness and rebellion that is within us.
Once again, Paul here is revealing for us the reality
that the function of the Law and the Old Testament was never to provide us
rescue from selfishness and rebellion; the Law and the Old Testament were given
to reveal our need to be rescued from selfishness and rebellion. The Law was
given to confine and lock everything up under the destructive and evil power of
the selfishness and rebellion that resides within us.
Now a natural question that
arises here is “Why would God give us the Law and the Old Testament if its
function was to confine us and lock us up under the power of the very selfishness
and rebellion that separates us from God? If that question is running through
your mind, we see Paul provide the answer to that question by explaining that the
reason why the Law confines us and locks everything under the destructive and
evil power of selfishness and rebellion within us is so that the promise by
faith in Christ might be given to those who believe.
In other words, the Law was
given so that we would be perfectly positioned to receive God’s promise of
rescue from selfishness and rebellion as a result of placing our confident
trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. The Law and Old
Testament imprison us in our selfishness and rebellion so that we would be in a
position to entrust ourselves with compete confidence not in what we do for
God, but in what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Tomorrow, we will see Paul
unpack this for us…
Friday, October 5, 2012
Are You Perfect??
This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Galatians. Wednesday, we saw Paul reveal the reality that Jesus Christ chose to do what humanity refused to do so that all humanity, whether Jew or Gentile, would have the opportunity to be declared not guilty of having a problem with God as a result of placing our confident trust in what God has done for us through His life, death, and resurrection. The gospel centered life that trusts in Jesus perfection to rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion does what a religious centered life could never do, which is to meet God’s standard of perfection.
You see, when we trust in Jesus as Lord and Leader, a great exchange takes place. We receive Jesus perfect righteousness and Jesus takes our selfishness and rebellion. Today, we see Paul provide an illustration to unpack this truth in verse 15:
Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.
Now to understand the illustration that Paul provides us, we first need to define some terms. When Paul refers to a man’s covenant, he is referring to a person’s last will and testament. The word ratified means to validate or to make legally binding. When Paul uses the phrase to set aside or add conditions, this phrase conveys the sense of invalidating or modifying the conditions of something. With these definitions in mind, this illustration, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “From a human standpoint, even though it is only a person’s last will and testament, once that will has been made legally binding, you are not allowed to invalidate the will later. Once a will has been validated, another person can’t’ come later and modify or add conditions to the will. The promises made in that will are binding and cannot be changed”. Paul then takes this illustration that involving humanity and applies the illustration as an analogy to God’s activity with humanity in verses 16-18:
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
Paul points the members of the churches of Galatia, and us today, to a section of a letter in our Bibles called the book of Genesis. In Genesis 22, we see Abraham demonstrate his faithfulness to God by not withholding his only son Isaac from God. In Genesis 22:18, we see God respond to Abraham’s demonstration of faithfulness by saying the following:
"In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
Paul takes God’s words to Abraham and points out that all the nations of the earth would be blessed not because of Abraham’s descendants corporately. The Jewish people and what they did for God by keeping the Law was not what was going to bless the nations of the earth. Instead, God’s promise to Abraham was that all the nations would be blessed because of a single descendant of Abraham. And that descendant, Paul reminds the readers of this letter, is Jesus Christ.
Paul then hammers his point home in verses 17-18. Four hundred and thirty years after God promised Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Jesus Christ, in Exodus 20, the Jewish people received the Law. And since God had previously entered into a binding and valid covenant with Abraham as the Father of the Jewish people, the Law would not make void or cause God’s promise to lose its power of effectiveness. The Law and the religious centered lifestyle that followed did not invalidate God’s promise that flowed from the faith of Abraham. Paul’s point is that God’s way has always been the way of faith; God’s way has always been a gospel centered way. God’s way has never been about religion or a religious centered way that follows a list of rules for God.
But that raises a question doesn’t it? That raises the question “then why even give the Law?” Maybe that question just popped into your mind? If so, I have some good news. And that good news is that you are not the first person to ask that question. We see that question asked and answered in verses 19-20. Let’s look at it together:
Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.
First we see Paul ask the question: Why the Law then? Paul then answers the question by saying that the Law was “added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.” But what does that mean? Paul here is revealing for us the reality that the Law was given to reveal and provoke the selfishness and rebellion in us. The Law was not given to provide justification; the Bible was given to reveal our condemnation. The Law was given to reveal the selfishness and rebellion that resides within us and to provoke that selfishness and rebellion so that it can be exposed for all to see.
Have you ever noticed that you do not have to teach anyone to be selfish or rebellious? We do not take a class on how to be selfish and rebellious. Yet, while we do not have to teach anyone how to be selfish and rebellious, how do we know we are selfish and rebellious. We know that we are selfish and rebellious when we are told that we cannot do something. A rule that tells us that we cannot do something provokes within us a desire to selfishly rebel against that rule doesn’t it? God gave us the Law because that is what the Law does; the Law reveals and provokes the selfishness and rebellion within us that we need to be rescued from.
In addition, Paul explains that the Law was ordered by God to be proclaimed to man by angels and was given to the Jewish people by Moses, who served as a mediator, or an intermediary, between God and humanity. But what does Paul means when he says “Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.”? To understand what Paul is talking about here, we first need to understand the role that a mediator plays. A mediator is an intermediary between two parties that tries to broker an agreement between parties. Once an agreement is reached between two parties, then both parties have to keep the agreement for the agreement to be effective.
Now with that in mind, remember in verse 10, when Paul quoted Deuteronomy 27:26, where the Jewish people entered into a covenant commitment to God as His people by agreeing that, to live in a right relationship with God, that God required them to be perfectly obedient to all of God’s commands. Now, did the Jewish people keep their end of the agreement? No, they failed to keep their end of the agreement. The agreement to try to live a religious centered life only revealed their inability to do things for God by keeping a list of rules in order to be right with God.
However, as Paul reminds the members of the churches of Galatia, a gospel centered life that is based on confident trust in what God has done through Christ for us does not involve two parties forming an agreement. Instead, God’s promise through Jesus was incumbent on God’s activity and grace alone, which made it superior in its effectiveness. Because the timeless reality is that a right relationship with a perfect God requires perfection. And because of that reality, we are to vote no on religion because religion requires a perfection that no one possesses.
So here is the question: Are you perfect? Because a religious centered lifestyle requires a perfection that no one possesses.
You see, when we trust in Jesus as Lord and Leader, a great exchange takes place. We receive Jesus perfect righteousness and Jesus takes our selfishness and rebellion. Today, we see Paul provide an illustration to unpack this truth in verse 15:
Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.
Now to understand the illustration that Paul provides us, we first need to define some terms. When Paul refers to a man’s covenant, he is referring to a person’s last will and testament. The word ratified means to validate or to make legally binding. When Paul uses the phrase to set aside or add conditions, this phrase conveys the sense of invalidating or modifying the conditions of something. With these definitions in mind, this illustration, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “From a human standpoint, even though it is only a person’s last will and testament, once that will has been made legally binding, you are not allowed to invalidate the will later. Once a will has been validated, another person can’t’ come later and modify or add conditions to the will. The promises made in that will are binding and cannot be changed”. Paul then takes this illustration that involving humanity and applies the illustration as an analogy to God’s activity with humanity in verses 16-18:
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
Paul points the members of the churches of Galatia, and us today, to a section of a letter in our Bibles called the book of Genesis. In Genesis 22, we see Abraham demonstrate his faithfulness to God by not withholding his only son Isaac from God. In Genesis 22:18, we see God respond to Abraham’s demonstration of faithfulness by saying the following:
"In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
Paul takes God’s words to Abraham and points out that all the nations of the earth would be blessed not because of Abraham’s descendants corporately. The Jewish people and what they did for God by keeping the Law was not what was going to bless the nations of the earth. Instead, God’s promise to Abraham was that all the nations would be blessed because of a single descendant of Abraham. And that descendant, Paul reminds the readers of this letter, is Jesus Christ.
Paul then hammers his point home in verses 17-18. Four hundred and thirty years after God promised Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Jesus Christ, in Exodus 20, the Jewish people received the Law. And since God had previously entered into a binding and valid covenant with Abraham as the Father of the Jewish people, the Law would not make void or cause God’s promise to lose its power of effectiveness. The Law and the religious centered lifestyle that followed did not invalidate God’s promise that flowed from the faith of Abraham. Paul’s point is that God’s way has always been the way of faith; God’s way has always been a gospel centered way. God’s way has never been about religion or a religious centered way that follows a list of rules for God.
But that raises a question doesn’t it? That raises the question “then why even give the Law?” Maybe that question just popped into your mind? If so, I have some good news. And that good news is that you are not the first person to ask that question. We see that question asked and answered in verses 19-20. Let’s look at it together:
Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.
First we see Paul ask the question: Why the Law then? Paul then answers the question by saying that the Law was “added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.” But what does that mean? Paul here is revealing for us the reality that the Law was given to reveal and provoke the selfishness and rebellion in us. The Law was not given to provide justification; the Bible was given to reveal our condemnation. The Law was given to reveal the selfishness and rebellion that resides within us and to provoke that selfishness and rebellion so that it can be exposed for all to see.
Have you ever noticed that you do not have to teach anyone to be selfish or rebellious? We do not take a class on how to be selfish and rebellious. Yet, while we do not have to teach anyone how to be selfish and rebellious, how do we know we are selfish and rebellious. We know that we are selfish and rebellious when we are told that we cannot do something. A rule that tells us that we cannot do something provokes within us a desire to selfishly rebel against that rule doesn’t it? God gave us the Law because that is what the Law does; the Law reveals and provokes the selfishness and rebellion within us that we need to be rescued from.
In addition, Paul explains that the Law was ordered by God to be proclaimed to man by angels and was given to the Jewish people by Moses, who served as a mediator, or an intermediary, between God and humanity. But what does Paul means when he says “Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.”? To understand what Paul is talking about here, we first need to understand the role that a mediator plays. A mediator is an intermediary between two parties that tries to broker an agreement between parties. Once an agreement is reached between two parties, then both parties have to keep the agreement for the agreement to be effective.
Now with that in mind, remember in verse 10, when Paul quoted Deuteronomy 27:26, where the Jewish people entered into a covenant commitment to God as His people by agreeing that, to live in a right relationship with God, that God required them to be perfectly obedient to all of God’s commands. Now, did the Jewish people keep their end of the agreement? No, they failed to keep their end of the agreement. The agreement to try to live a religious centered life only revealed their inability to do things for God by keeping a list of rules in order to be right with God.
However, as Paul reminds the members of the churches of Galatia, a gospel centered life that is based on confident trust in what God has done through Christ for us does not involve two parties forming an agreement. Instead, God’s promise through Jesus was incumbent on God’s activity and grace alone, which made it superior in its effectiveness. Because the timeless reality is that a right relationship with a perfect God requires perfection. And because of that reality, we are to vote no on religion because religion requires a perfection that no one possesses.
So here is the question: Are you perfect? Because a religious centered lifestyle requires a perfection that no one possesses.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
We Are To Vote No On Religion Because Religion Requires a Perfection No One Possesses....
This week, we are looking at a section of a letter called the book of Galatians. Yesterday, we saw a man named Paul provide two pieces of evidence to prove that religion does not make us right with God. First, Paul revealed that God’s standard was clearly communicated from the beginning and has not changed. To be in a right relationship with a perfect God requires perfection. Paul then quoted and Old Testament verse to provide the evidence that the person who is right with God is right with God not because of what they did for God by keeping a list of rules for God.
A person who is right with God is right with God because they have faith in God and live their life by faith in God and His promises. A person who is right with God and who will experience eternal life in the relationship with God that they were created for will live a life of devotion to Christ based on their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. Paul then hammers his point home by providing a third piece of evidence in verse 12:
However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM."
Here we see Paul reveal the stark contrast between the religious centered life that tries to be right with God based on keeping a list of rules for God with a gospel centered life of devotion to Christ based on their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. The Apostle simply says “However, the Law is not of faith”. In other words, Paul is saying “living a religious centered life and living a gospel centered life are incompatible. You cannot live a religious centered life and a gospel centered life”.
Paul then reveals the reason why the Law was not compatible with faith by quoting a section of a letter in our Bibles called the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus 18:5, God clearly tells the Jewish people that eternal life through God was achieved through keeping the Law perfectly. In other words, God was saying “only the person who keeps the Law shall gain eternal life through the Law.”
Paul’s point is that the religious centered life and the gospel centered life are incompatible, because the gospel centered life experiences eternal life based on placing one’s confident trust in what God has done through Jesus. The religious centered life however, only experiences eternal life by perfectly keeping God’s commands. And no one perfectly keeps God’s commands, do they? Whether or not you buy into the Jesus, Bible, church thing, our culture readily recognizes this reality. We even have a phrase that we use to acknowledge this reality, don’t we: “Well nobody’s perfect”.
And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us a timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. And that timeless reason is this: We are to vote no on religion because religion requires a perfection no one possesses. You see, God’s standard has been clear from the beginning and has not changed. To be in a right relationship with a perfect God requires perfection. And because nobody is perfect, religion can only reveal the problem because every human being on the planet ends up breaking a rule on their religion’s list. To attempt to be right with God by keeping a list of rules for God only results in revealing that we have a huge problem with God.
You see, a religious centered life can never provide us justification; a religious centered life only reveals our condemnation. The person who is declared not guilty of having a problem with God is right with God not because of what they did for God by keeping a list of rules for God. A person who is declared not guilty of having a problem with God is right with God because they have placed their confident trust in God and live their life by faith in God and His promises. We see Paul unpack this reality for us beginning in verse 13:
Christ 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 "-- in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Here we see Paul reveal for us the reality that Jesus Christ chose to do what humanity refused to do. When Paul uses the word redeemed here, this word, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to secure deliverance or rescue. What Christ rescued us from was the curse of the Law. Paul’s point here is that Jesus rescued us from the divine condemnation that humanity was under as a result of their failure to perfectly keep God’s commands. Paul then quotes from Deuteronomy 21:23 to reveal exactly how Jesus was able to rescue us from what a religious centered life was unable to do.
Jesus, as God in a bod, fully God and fully man, entered into humanity and lived a perfect sinless life. Jesus kept all of the commandments of God, which enabled Him to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. Jesus became a curse for us; Jesus represented us and took our place on the cross, where He hung and died in order to absorb the divine condemnation and punishment we deserved.
In verse 14, Paul then reveals the reason why Jesus would willingly choose to become a curse for us. Jesus allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. But what does that mean? Paul is pointing the members of the churches of Galatia, and us today, to the promises that God made Abraham, which are recorded for us in the book of Genesis. In Genesis 12:1-3, 15:1-6, and 17:1-5, God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed.
Paul’s point here is that Jesus Christ chose to do what humanity refused to do so that all humanity, whether Jew or Gentile, would have the opportunity to be declared not guilty of having a problem with God as a result of placing our confident trust in what God has done for us through His life, death, and resurrection. And as a result of believing, trusting, and following Jesus, we would not only experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for; we would also receive the Holy Spirit and have Him dwell in us.
The gospel centered life that trusts in Jesus perfection to rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion does what a religious centered life could never do, which is to meet God’s standard of perfection. You see, when we trust in Jesus as Lord and Leader, a great exchange takes place. We receive Jesus perfect righteousness and Jesus takes our selfishness and rebellion.
Friday, we will see Paul provide an illustration to unpack this truth…
A person who is right with God is right with God because they have faith in God and live their life by faith in God and His promises. A person who is right with God and who will experience eternal life in the relationship with God that they were created for will live a life of devotion to Christ based on their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. Paul then hammers his point home by providing a third piece of evidence in verse 12:
However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM."
Here we see Paul reveal the stark contrast between the religious centered life that tries to be right with God based on keeping a list of rules for God with a gospel centered life of devotion to Christ based on their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. The Apostle simply says “However, the Law is not of faith”. In other words, Paul is saying “living a religious centered life and living a gospel centered life are incompatible. You cannot live a religious centered life and a gospel centered life”.
Paul then reveals the reason why the Law was not compatible with faith by quoting a section of a letter in our Bibles called the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus 18:5, God clearly tells the Jewish people that eternal life through God was achieved through keeping the Law perfectly. In other words, God was saying “only the person who keeps the Law shall gain eternal life through the Law.”
Paul’s point is that the religious centered life and the gospel centered life are incompatible, because the gospel centered life experiences eternal life based on placing one’s confident trust in what God has done through Jesus. The religious centered life however, only experiences eternal life by perfectly keeping God’s commands. And no one perfectly keeps God’s commands, do they? Whether or not you buy into the Jesus, Bible, church thing, our culture readily recognizes this reality. We even have a phrase that we use to acknowledge this reality, don’t we: “Well nobody’s perfect”.
And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us a timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. And that timeless reason is this: We are to vote no on religion because religion requires a perfection no one possesses. You see, God’s standard has been clear from the beginning and has not changed. To be in a right relationship with a perfect God requires perfection. And because nobody is perfect, religion can only reveal the problem because every human being on the planet ends up breaking a rule on their religion’s list. To attempt to be right with God by keeping a list of rules for God only results in revealing that we have a huge problem with God.
You see, a religious centered life can never provide us justification; a religious centered life only reveals our condemnation. The person who is declared not guilty of having a problem with God is right with God not because of what they did for God by keeping a list of rules for God. A person who is declared not guilty of having a problem with God is right with God because they have placed their confident trust in God and live their life by faith in God and His promises. We see Paul unpack this reality for us beginning in verse 13:
Christ 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 "-- in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Here we see Paul reveal for us the reality that Jesus Christ chose to do what humanity refused to do. When Paul uses the word redeemed here, this word, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to secure deliverance or rescue. What Christ rescued us from was the curse of the Law. Paul’s point here is that Jesus rescued us from the divine condemnation that humanity was under as a result of their failure to perfectly keep God’s commands. Paul then quotes from Deuteronomy 21:23 to reveal exactly how Jesus was able to rescue us from what a religious centered life was unable to do.
Jesus, as God in a bod, fully God and fully man, entered into humanity and lived a perfect sinless life. Jesus kept all of the commandments of God, which enabled Him to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. Jesus became a curse for us; Jesus represented us and took our place on the cross, where He hung and died in order to absorb the divine condemnation and punishment we deserved.
In verse 14, Paul then reveals the reason why Jesus would willingly choose to become a curse for us. Jesus allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. But what does that mean? Paul is pointing the members of the churches of Galatia, and us today, to the promises that God made Abraham, which are recorded for us in the book of Genesis. In Genesis 12:1-3, 15:1-6, and 17:1-5, God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed.
Paul’s point here is that Jesus Christ chose to do what humanity refused to do so that all humanity, whether Jew or Gentile, would have the opportunity to be declared not guilty of having a problem with God as a result of placing our confident trust in what God has done for us through His life, death, and resurrection. And as a result of believing, trusting, and following Jesus, we would not only experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for; we would also receive the Holy Spirit and have Him dwell in us.
The gospel centered life that trusts in Jesus perfection to rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion does what a religious centered life could never do, which is to meet God’s standard of perfection. You see, when we trust in Jesus as Lord and Leader, a great exchange takes place. We receive Jesus perfect righteousness and Jesus takes our selfishness and rebellion.
Friday, we will see Paul provide an illustration to unpack this truth…
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
An Impossible Standard to Achieve...
This election season at the church where I serve we are
involved in a sermon series entitled vote no on religion that is looking at a
letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament in our Bibles called the
Book of Galatians. And just as it was for the members of the churches of
Galatia, we discovered that, every day, we cast a ballot in an election for one
of two candidates. Either we cast a ballot to vote to live our life as a
religious-centered person; or we cast a ballot to live our life as a
gospel-centered person.
Either we choose to live our day to day lives as a
gospel-centered person whose life is driven to respond to what God has done for
us through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection by placing our confident trust
in Jesus and following His message and teachings by faith as Lord and Leader.
Or, we can live our day to day lives as a religious centered person who follows
one of two different forms of religion. Last week, we discovered that we are to
vote no on religion because religion does not make us right with God. Religion
does not make us right with God because religion cannot rescue us from our
selfishness and rebellion. Our rescue and right relationship with God is
revealed not as a result of our activity for God, but as a result of the Holy
Spirit’s activity as God in our lives.
Now this week, I would like to pick up where we left off
last week, where we see Paul provide evidence to prove that religion does not
make us right with God. And it is in the evidence that Paul provides that we
will discover another timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. So
let’s look at the evidence together, beginning in Galatians 3:10:
For as many
as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written,
"CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK
OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM."
Paul begins this section of his letter to the members of
the churches of Galatia by providing the first piece of evidence to support the
claim that religion does not make us right with God. When Paul uses the phrase
“For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse” he is referring
to those who were trying to do things for God in order to be right with God by
keeping the Law, which were the lists of commands that are found in the first
five books in our Bibles today. For those who were attempting to do things for
God in order to be right with God by keeping a list of religious rules for God,
Paul explains that they are under a curse. In other words, their activity for
God resulted in them being under divine condemnation instead of being in a
right relationship with God.
But why would those who attempted to do things for God be
under divine condemnation from God? The Apostle provides us the answer to that
question by quoting from a section of a letter that is found in the Old
Testament in our Bibles called the Book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 27:26,
we see the Jewish people enter into a covenant commitment to God as His people.
As part of that covenant commitment, the Jewish people agreed that, in order to
live in a right relationship with God, they would have to abide by all the
things written in the book of the Law, to perform them. Now this word abide
literally means to persist or persevere in something, in this case keeping
God’s commands. And it was not just some of God’s commands; it was all the
commands.
The point that Paul is making here is that the Jewish
people entered into a covenant relationship with God that required them to be
perfectly obedient to all of God’s commands. God made it clear to the Jewish
people that His standard was perfection and the Jewish people agreed to that
standard. And the Jewish people agreed that the consequence for failing to
perfectly keep God’s commands was to receive divine condemnation for their
disobedience. You see, God’s standard was clearly communicated from the
beginning and has not changed. To be in a right relationship with a perfect God
requires perfection.
Now you may be saying to yourself “but Dave nobody is
perfect”. And that is Paul’s point. As
we saw a few weeks ago, because nobody is perfect religion can only reveal the
problem because every human being on the planet ends up breaking a rule on
their religion’s list. So, for the members of the churches of Galatia, for
humanity throughout history, to attempt to be right with God by keeping a list
of rules for God only results in revealing that we have a huge problem with
God. Even when we try to make up our own religion, we end up breaking a rule on
the list. Religion can reveal and diagnosis the problem of our selfishness and
rebellion, but religion cannot provide the solution or cure the problem of
selfishness and rebellion. This leads Paul to his second piece of evidence,
which we see in verse 11:
Now that no one is justified by the Law before
God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
Paul provides his second piece of evidence in the form of
a huge statement: “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is
evident”. Now, as we have seen previously in this series, the word justified is
a legal term that meant to be declared not guilty of something. If Paul was
making this statement in the language we use in our culture today, this
statement would have sounded something like this: “The fact that no one is
declared not guilty of having a huge problem with God as a result of their
selfishness and rebellion because of what they do for God by keeping a list of
rules is clearly understood and self evident.”
Paul then backs up his strong statement by quoting from a
section of a letter in the Old Testament called the book of Habakkuk. In
Habakkuk 2:4, we see God respond to the prideful arrogance of the Babylonian
King, by stating that the righteous man will live by faith. When you see the
word righteous in the Bible, a simple and accurate definition of this 50 cent
word is that righteous is the quality or state of being right. Paul quotes this Old Testament verse to
reinforce the reality that the person who is right with God is right with God
not because of what they did for God by keeping a list of rules for God.
A person who is right with God is right with God because
they have faith in God and live their life by faith in God and His promises. A
person who is right with God and who will experience eternal life in the
relationship with God that they were created for will live a life of devotion
to Christ based on their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the
message of the gospel.
Tomorrow, we will see Paul hammer his point home by
providing a third piece of evidence…
Friday, September 28, 2012
Vote No On Religion Because Religion Does Not Make Us Right with God...
This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter in our Bible called the book of Galatians, where we discovered that the members of the churches were being mesmerized into abandoning a gospel centered lifestyle for a religious centered lifestyle. Wednesday, we saw the Apostle Paul ask a series of questions and share a story from the Father of the Jewish people, a man named Abraham. Through that story we discovered that Abraham was not rescued from selfishness and rebellion because of what He did for God. Instead Abraham was rescued from selfishness and rebellion because he placed His confident trust in what God said He would do for him.
Paul then revealed the timeless truth that throughout history, it is not what we do for God that makes us right with God. Instead Paul reveals the reality that that those who place their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel follow the example of Abraham and are thus rescued and in a right relationship with God, just like Abraham. Today, we will see Paul point to another story involving Abraham to hammer his point home in verse 8:
The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU." So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
Paul points the members of the churches of Galatia, and us here this morning to a story that is recorded for us in Genesis 12:3. But what does Paul mean when he says “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham”? When Paul uses the word foresee, this word literally means to see in advance. The word justify here was a legal term that means to be declared not guilty of something, in this case having a problem with God.
Paul’s point here is that God’s plan all along was to provide all humanity the opportunity to be rescued from selfishness and rebellion and to experience the relationship with God that they were created for by placing one’s confident trust in God’s message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel.
And the Bible provides the evidence of this reality. From the very beginning, even before Abraham was given credit as being right with God by God, God’s plan for rescue was faith. The Bible publicly proclaimed that the blessings that come from being declared not guilty of having a problem with God as a result of selfishness and rebellion do not come as a result of what we do for God by living a religious centered life. Instead, Bible publicly proclaimed that the blessings that come from being declared not guilty of having a problem with God as a result of selfishness and rebellion come as a result of trusting in what God has done by living a gospel centered life.
And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us a timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. And that timeless reason is that we are to vote no on religion because religion does not make us right with God. Religion does not make us right with God because religion cannot rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion. Just as it was for the members of the churches of Galatia, we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion and become followers of Jesus that received the Holy Spirit not because of what we do for God.
Instead we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion and become followers of Jesus that received the Holy Spirit because we have responded to the Holy Spirit’s activity by believing and trusting in the message of the gospel that we have heard. Our rescue and right relationship with God is revealed not as a result of our activity for God, but as a result of the Holy Spirit’s activity as God in our lives.
So, here is the question before us to consider: where are you placing your confident trust when it comes to having a right relationship with God? In living a religious centered life that trusts in what you do for God by keeping a set of religious rules? Or in living a gospel centered life that trusts in what God has done for you through Jesus?
Because, as we have seen, religion does not make us right with God. A religious centered life can only reveal the problem, it cannot provide the solution. It is only by responding to the Holy Spirit’s activity by placing our confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel that we can be right with God. Our rescue and right relationship with God is revealed not as a result of our activity for God, but as a result of the Holy Spirit’s activity as God in our lives.
Paul then revealed the timeless truth that throughout history, it is not what we do for God that makes us right with God. Instead Paul reveals the reality that that those who place their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel follow the example of Abraham and are thus rescued and in a right relationship with God, just like Abraham. Today, we will see Paul point to another story involving Abraham to hammer his point home in verse 8:
The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU." So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
Paul points the members of the churches of Galatia, and us here this morning to a story that is recorded for us in Genesis 12:3. But what does Paul mean when he says “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham”? When Paul uses the word foresee, this word literally means to see in advance. The word justify here was a legal term that means to be declared not guilty of something, in this case having a problem with God.
Paul’s point here is that God’s plan all along was to provide all humanity the opportunity to be rescued from selfishness and rebellion and to experience the relationship with God that they were created for by placing one’s confident trust in God’s message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel.
And the Bible provides the evidence of this reality. From the very beginning, even before Abraham was given credit as being right with God by God, God’s plan for rescue was faith. The Bible publicly proclaimed that the blessings that come from being declared not guilty of having a problem with God as a result of selfishness and rebellion do not come as a result of what we do for God by living a religious centered life. Instead, Bible publicly proclaimed that the blessings that come from being declared not guilty of having a problem with God as a result of selfishness and rebellion come as a result of trusting in what God has done by living a gospel centered life.
And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us a timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. And that timeless reason is that we are to vote no on religion because religion does not make us right with God. Religion does not make us right with God because religion cannot rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion. Just as it was for the members of the churches of Galatia, we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion and become followers of Jesus that received the Holy Spirit not because of what we do for God.
Instead we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion and become followers of Jesus that received the Holy Spirit because we have responded to the Holy Spirit’s activity by believing and trusting in the message of the gospel that we have heard. Our rescue and right relationship with God is revealed not as a result of our activity for God, but as a result of the Holy Spirit’s activity as God in our lives.
So, here is the question before us to consider: where are you placing your confident trust when it comes to having a right relationship with God? In living a religious centered life that trusts in what you do for God by keeping a set of religious rules? Or in living a gospel centered life that trusts in what God has done for you through Jesus?
Because, as we have seen, religion does not make us right with God. A religious centered life can only reveal the problem, it cannot provide the solution. It is only by responding to the Holy Spirit’s activity by placing our confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel that we can be right with God. Our rescue and right relationship with God is revealed not as a result of our activity for God, but as a result of the Holy Spirit’s activity as God in our lives.
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