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Good morning and thank you for joining us today in our Sunday worship service, we are in the book of Galatians and we are in chapter 3, verses 6-14 this morning.

A story is told of a man who went to his lawyer saying, "I have a problem, a neighbor of mine owes me $500 and he will not pay. So the lawyer asks him, "Do you have any proof that he owes you $500?" He says, "No, unfortunately I do not have." "Let me tell you what to do, write to this neighbor that he owes you $5,000." "But he owes me only $500." "Precisely, he will write to you, he owes you only $500 and then you have the proof." Proving something is not always easy, but that's what Paul in Galatians 3 is seeking to do.

He tells us that, "The great propositional statement in the book of Galatians is that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith or through faith in Jesus Christ." [Gal 2:16] In other words, his point is that — a right standing before God is not achieved by the works of the law but it's to be received by faith in Jesus Christ.

Now, the false teachers are saying the opposite. The false teachers are saying, "Faith in Jesus Christ alone is not enough, you need to supplement it with your own obediences and works." So, Paul labors to prove that justification is by faith in Jesus Christ alone.

And he's going to furnish us with three reasons in verses 1-14, we started this kind of a last week already, when Paul argued that, "As you personally experienced the Holy Spirit in your life when you first believed, not when you were trying to obey the law. A man is justified by faith and not by works."

Today in verses 6-14, Paul is going to add on, he's going to give two other reasons. The first of the two is that he's going to argue from the point of Abraham, the patriarch, the father of Israel, the father of faith. He says, "Look at Abraham, he too was justified by faith and not by works."

And the third reason is that he's going to give a very practical explanation of why works of the law can never be accomplished to get a right standing before God.

So, it's a very simple message, I think we are going to have a short sermon today, so you may be uh, happier. Since the last two weeks, I was a little bit over time, so I make up for it today.

Now when I ... I'm not a very good reader, I am not very patient, I'm a slow reader. So, in order to accelerate my reading sometimes, I like to read what is in the front, just the introduction, overview if I can. And then I'll jump to the end, then I can piece the two kind of a together more easily.

So let me do that trick for you, jump to the end of verse 14 where it says, "So that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles ..." The Gentiles are you and me, people who are not Jews. So, there is a blessing of Abraham that will come to people like you and me, "... so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith." [Gal 3:14]

So, if I were to give a title for this passage, it would simply be "The Blessing Of Abraham By Faith". What does this all mean? How can you and I be blessed? What is this blessing? How can I know this is for sure? Well, this is what we're going to study this morning.

Now in order to look at verses 6-14, it's useful to look at verse 5, which is what we ended off last week, where Paul said, "Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?"

Rhetorical question — did you receive the Spirit because you obeyed the law or did you receive the Spirit because you believed? Answer is obvious, because you believed.

"Just as ..." verse 6, this is where we looked at ... are looking at today, "... Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness."

So, Paul goes to his trump card - Abraham. Whenever you talk to people about the Old Testament, about the Jews, about the nation of Israel, you will likely win the argument if you can prove something or that point from Abraham's life. So Paul says, "Let me draw out my trump card, let me tell you how Abraham was righteous or justified. He was declared righteous because he believed God." This is a quotation from Genesis chapter 15 and verse 6, "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness."

Now, this verse is actually quoted elsewhere in Romans chapter 4. And in Romans 4:3, Paul is the same author there, Paul made it clear that Abraham believed God first and was declared righteous first, before Abraham was circumcised ten over years later in Genesis chapter 17.

The false teachers are probably saying, "Eh, you Galatians believe Jesus, not enough, also need circumcise because Abraham also circumcised." Paul then now turns the argument probably on its head saying, "No, when Abraham was declared righteous, he wasn't circumcised, in fact, it was ten over years before he was circumcised."

And that's exactly the point, "God counted to Abraham righteousness." [Gal 3:6] The word, "count" is the word that means to calculate, to impute, to compute, to credit. It's an accounting term.

For many years, until recently, every month my bank account would have a sum of money that I did not work for. Wah, shiok ah, you all, whatever you are doing just now, you now wake up, "Wah, what's this lobang! Wah, every month got money credited. You mean government payout ah?"

No lah, not for every month ah, government payout, but every month for many years, I have a certain sum of money that pops out in my account. I don't work for it, I don't ask for it, I did not do a single thing for it, but it's always there, every month. Why? Because my father, seeing that I'm a poor church mouse in church, or he assumes that I'm not ... I'm well supplied, he assumes that and he, on his own, has been for years, depositing that money into my bank account. Wah, you say, "I wish my father was also like that."

Well, you can, you can have a father like that, in fact a way better father than that, who credits, who accounts, who imputes to you perfect righteousness. Not because you work for it, not because you deserve it, but because you simply believe in Him. That's what Abraham did!

What is so special about Abraham? Did he build a church? Did he circumcise a hundred men? Did he do a lot of good works? Not that we read of, the Bible simply says, "He believed God." He had faith in God and that is all that matters. A right standing before God is not achieved by our own works, but it is received by faith in Jesus Christ.

So, for those who follow in Abraham's footsteps, you are the sons of Abraham. Who are the real sons of Abraham? The Jews? No! Paul is saying, "The real family of Abraham are those who are of faith." So, Abraham's family is not made up of people of the same race, or the same kind of a stock racially, but they are people who believe.

Today, who are the children of God? People who read the Bible teen times a year? People who give money to charity? People who try to live a pure life? Well, maybe, but that's not what is the main reason. The main reason is that we believe, and when we believe, God changes our hearts. Then maybe that's why we read the Bible, that's why we help the poor, that's why we want to grow as Christians to please God, but they are not the things we do to earn a right standing.

A right standing is freely given to those who believe like Abraham did. [Gal 3:7]

"And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel of the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [Gal 3:8]

Now, there's a personification of Scripture. Basically, it's just saying, Scripture, Paul writes Scripture as if Scripture can see and Scripture can speak. So Scripture, the Bible, the Old Testament, God is saying in the Bible in ahead of time, that, "He would justify the Gentiles." [Gal 3:8]

God will make the nations righteous, God would justify the nations. Now, you must understand that the Bible started with sin, God created a beautiful world, but man chose to sin against God. And from Adam and Eve, every human being is born a sinner, we are not right with God after that, we are corrupt, and we are evil, and we are rebellious. But God didn't give up on this world, He has a plan to save people, to clean them, to make them righteous, so that they can now draw near to Him.

And the Bible is saying, "God seeing that this is His plan, wrote in the Scriptures, that He would declare righteous, make righteous, the Gentiles." [Gal 3:8]

Gentiles are non-Jews, and He's going to do so when they believe, by faith, not by works. So God's seeing, or the Scriptures seeing that God would do that, said, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [Gal 3:8] This is a quotation from Deuteronomy, or from Genesis 12, verse 3, perhaps with an addition from Genesis 18:8.

But when this is said, "In you ... in you Abraham, shall all the nations be blessed," God is already saying I'm not just going to save the Jewish people who will come after you, but all people throughout the world, and He's going to do so in Abraham. Now, we would later on in the Bible realize that this "in you" is pointing to Someone who would come from the line of Abraham.

Thousands of years after Abraham, there will come Jesus Christ, He is God's Son, born into this world, who will live a perfect, sinless life, and offer Himself up on the cross to die and to pay for our sins. And in, therefore, "Abraham's descendant, Jesus, all nations will be blessed." [Gen 12:3] All peoples can be saved when they exercise faith in Jesus Christ.

I'd just like you to note that the word, "Gentiles and nations", you think they are different words. Unfortunately, that's how the New Testament has been translated, actually in the Greek, it's one word, ethnos, from which we get the word, "ethnicity or ethnic groups".

So, God is going to save all the nations, He's going to justify the nations. Doesn't matter whether you are Caucasian, Asian, African, all peoples are saved one way, not two ways, not three ways. One way — faith in the promised Saviour who will come from Abraham.

So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. The characteristic about Abraham is that he has faith, and if you have faith, you can receive the blessing of Abraham. It's not whether you go to church, it's not whether you give to the poor, it's not whether you have been a good boy, but whether you have faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Abraham believed that one day God will send a Saviour and he was saved. Today, you believe God has sent the Saviour, you will be saved. That's the point!

So a right standing before God is not achieved by the works of the law, but received by faith in Jesus Christ. And Paul gives three reasons.

[1] Personal Experience
First reason, personal experience.

When you receive the Spirit, was it by faith or by works? By faith. So a right standing is achieved by faith, not works.

[2] Patriarchal Example
Second reason, patriarchal example.

Let's look at Abraham, our patriarch, our father, he was also saved by faith, not works.

[3] Practical Explanation
The third reason, ah, this one not fair ah, didn't say so much, it is a practical explanation why works don't work.

It says here, "For all who rely on works of the law ..." [Gal 3:10]

Now, this is the operating system for all religions, every religion is basically about your works, about your merit, about your efforts, about your accomplishments. All who rely on the works of the law, every religion. People think that if I'm better, I sin less, I'm kinder, I'm more helpful, I will get close to God, I will be the one God will save.

But the Bible is actually very shocking here when it says, "For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse." [Gal 3:10]

You are under a divine sentence, you are condemned, you are damned if you choose this route. It's a very stunning statement but if you think about it, it makes sense, if righteousness is received by faith, that's the blessing, then if we go to works, we won't have the blessing, but we will be under a curse, and Paul is referring again to the Old Testament.

By the way, verses 6-14 contains at least six Old Testament quotations. Very interesting, for the first of the three reasons, Paul used six rhetorical questions, now he gives us six Old Testament quotes. One of them, again we have looked at Genesis 15, Genesis 12.

Now we're going to look at Deuteronomy 27:26, "For it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them."

If you don't do, the key word here is, if you don't do "all". That is the problem! If you do some, you are still cursed, because cursed be everyone who does not abide by "all" things. That's why obeying the law is not a viable way to have a right standing, because the requirement is 100% results.

How many of you get 100% for PSLE? Have or not? 100% is 300, right, I think. Oh, sorry, now it's AL4. Uh maybe you can get perfect now lah, last time cannot one lah, nobody gets 300 for PSLE. Your oral should sure say something wrong, your essay should have got something to pick on one.

Who can score perfect? Nobody! And who can score perfect in the law? James 2:10 tells us, "or whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of it all."

That's the requirement if you want to stick to legalism or obeying the law in order to get right. The problem is, there is no one perfect to obey it all.

There's a man who prides himself as a perfect husband. He will say to his friends, "I love my wife, I'm a perfect husband. I wash all the dishes, I clean the toilet, when it's her birthday, I buy her LV bag, Gucci bag, Channel bag, whatever bag. I do all these things for my wife, and one day, he said to his friends, "However, my wife decided to divorce me." You said, "Why? You're such a perfect husband." Well, he said, "It's all because of one spelling mistake, I accidentally texted my wife, "I'm having a wonderful time, I wish you were her."

Well, the fact of the matter is that there is no perfect husband and there is no perfect man. Therefore, "Everyone who relies on the works of the law are under a curse," [Gal 3:10] just as God has said.

More than 30 years ago, I was sharing my salvation testimony last week, but another part of it, is more than 30 years ago, I sat under the teaching and preaching of God's Word, I came to oppose Christianity, but soon I got convinced, somehow, I would say, "Miraculously that the Bible is true, it's God's Word, and I wanted to be saved, but I didn't know how to."

So in those days, in our church building, there will be these tract racks, where there will be tracts. And I think I've shared this before with you guys, I saw this tract, it's a very simple tract, picture of a man looking into the dark skies. And there's just this question, "Am I going to heaven?" I know I'm not, and so I better find out how.

So, I love this tract because it is not just telling me what to do. It starts with an interactive questionnaire, which says, "Am I going to heaven? Check below, and or all you THINK is necessary to get to heaven."

I'm an expert at exams, true, false, MCQ, so I thought, this one easy, sure ace it one lah.

- Ah, so number one, keep the Ten Commandments, I say, "Yah, should be good person, right?" So I tick yes.

- uh, sorry, be sorry and confess your sins, I say yah, should be humble, yes, I tick.

- sincerely do your best, I tick.

- stop sinning, I tick.

- do good deeds, I tick.

- give money to a church, I don't tick. I know this one, trick question. Money doesn't get you to heaven, I know, so I don't tick, I thought I got it right.w

- water baptism, no need, I think it's an external one.

- I don't believe in heaven or hell, I do believe now after I've been hearing God's Word.

- trust in Jesus and serve Him, I say, I tick.

- trust in Christ as my only hope, I also tick.

So I get the answer, it's tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, don't tick, tick, tick, don't tick, tick, tick. Okay, man, I got the answer key, I got full marks, man! And then I realized the next page, "Trying to keep the Ten Commandments cannot save us, but they do show that we are all sinners, James 2 verse 10."

Oops, I got one wrong, jialat [in Hokkien] maybe the rest will be correct. But as it went on, all the other, actually they don't really do a very good job explaining why it's wrong, but I kind of got it, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wah everything wrong. This one I really failed my exam, my test, and the only correct answer is in number 10, trust in Christ as my only hope.

Well, this is what Paul is saying, "It is evident that no one, according to the Bible, according to God, no one is going to be made, be made righteous before God by the law, by your own good works, by your own achievements." [Gal 3:11] No way! Cannot! It's evident! Why? "The righteous shall live by faith," [Gal 3:12] it's a quote from Habakkuk 2:4, not 2:14 but 2:4, "The just shall live by faith, not by your own works."

The law is not of faith! You see, there are two routes, and they are different routes. Faith in Jesus Christ is not to be mixed by our own works of the law. If you choose the works of the law, then you shall live by it, and if I may say, also die by it." This is a quote from Leviticus 18:5, "The one who does them shall live by them, you want to keep the law, then you live and die by it." And the standard, and the minimum requirement is 100% perfection. It's doomed!

"Therefore those who are under the law, or those who rely on the works of the law are under a curse." [Gal 3:10] It's clear! So Paul has, I think masterfully proven to us, a right standing before God is not achieved by the works of the law, but by faith, or received through faith in Jesus Christ. The three reasons — the personal experience of receiving the Spirit, looking at Abraham, that trump card example, and number three, by the works of the law, no one will be justified.

Now, we have looked at the three reasons and we conclude with his conclusion. His conclusion is found in verses 13-14. I think it's a conclusion because if you read this, you will notice something. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith."

What do we see here? Well, I think it's a masterful way to end this segment, because Paul returns to the three things he has been speaking about in verses 1-12.

First of all, the curse of the law, that's what we looked at in verses 10-12. Then he speaks about Abraham, verses 6-9. And then he speaks about the promised Spirit, verses 1-5.

So this I think, is Paul concluding for us, that you are delivered from the curse of the law, you receive the blessing of Abraham. What is the blessing of Abraham? Righteousness. A right standing before God, a hope of eternal life to come, and the Holy Spirit. And number three, you receive the promised Spirit, how? By faith in Jesus Christ. "In You shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," well, he's pointing to Jesus.

That ultimate Savior from Abraham's life is none other than Jesus Christ, but how does He save us from the curse of the law, gives us blessing, and sends His Spirit. Well, He did so by redeeming. The word, "redeeming" is to pay a price to set us free. Jesus Christ paid a price to set us free. How? By becoming a curse for us, by taking on the punishment and the damnation that we deserve for our sins. He paid it by Himself, on His body, on the cross.

So the great message of the Bible is not you deserve it, but that Jesus deserved it. The great message of the Bible is that He is our substitution, "He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." [2 Cor 5:21] God, that good heavenly Father, freely credits righteousness to those who believe.

And on the cross, Jesus hangs there as a picture of a man who is cursed. This is taken, the last quote is taken from Deuteronomy 21:23, in Israel, people are killed or executed by stoning. But for those who sin in a grievous way, God wants to make a public display of their guilt and shame.

So those who are stoned, some of them will be hanging on a tree, that's a public display to say, "Don't follow in their footsteps." And God is saying, "My Son was hanging on a tree as a picture of shame and suffering. Not because He deserved it, because He was perfect, but because He was saving you. He was suffering for you, He was bearing your sins, He is seeking to redeem you."

So on the cross, Jesus paid it all. You see, this is the Good News of the Bible. You have chosen, by the way, if this is your first week here with us, you have chosen an excellent week to come. Number one, the sermon is short. Number two, the message is really the main message of the Bible. This is it!

You say, "What is Christianity all about?" This is what Christianity is all about - Jesus Christ, He came and died on the cross to redeem us, so that we are no more under a curse, so that we may receive the blessing together with Abraham, the hope of eternal life, a right standing before God. And so that His blessed Spirit may come into our lives.

I pray today, you will humble yourself, turn from your sin, and believe in Jesus Christ. That's how you can have a right standing with God.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together.

It's a short message, and I want to give you some time as you sit right there with your heads bowed, eyes closed, to think together with me the generosity, the love, and the goodness of God.

The Bible tells us of a good, good God, isn't it? A God who is so generous, He really wants to give. I share with you about my father, my earthly father, he just wants to give. You multiply that, that desire a thousand trillion times and you have the heart of our heavenly Father. I say to you my friends, God really wants to bless you, I'm not talking about finances, I'm not talking about physical illnesses, I'm talking about what really matters, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, a right standing with God.

This God of the Bible really wants to bestow upon you blessings, it is so generous that you don't need to pay for it. It is so generous that you don't need to earn it, and actually we can't anyway. But this God who is our Blessor, our Blesser, really wants to give it to you, and all He's saying is, "Repent and believe in My Son, the Lord Jesus Christ."

I think about the story in the Bible about a prodigal or wasteful son. He said to his father in effect, "Dad, I wish you were dead, just give me my inheritance." Heartbroken, the father gives him his inheritance, and he runs as far as he can away from his father and there he enjoys himself for a season. But soon he spends it all, he eats the same food as pigs would eat, and only when he's down in the dumps, did he come to his senses and realise he has been wrong. He has wronged his father and he has sinned against God, he recalls how good his father is and now he turns and returns and is on his way home.

But his father, he must have been looking out of the windows every single day, longing for the return of his son. His father, from a distance, spotting his son, puts aside his own dignity, holds up his own garments, not something that a wealthy man would do in those days, but he holds up his garments and he runs. The father does not wait for the son to come, the son would not come so quickly, but the father runs. He runs to the son, embraces him and puts on for him his sandals, his ring and throws a party saying, "My son who is lost has come back home."

That's a picture of God's heart for you today! You are lost, you are rebellious, you are sinful, and maybe you have even given up on yourself, but God doesn't. He might be speaking to you, "O son, O daughter." And God is running to you today through His Word, He's saying, "I want to receive you back to Myself, believe in what My Son Jesus has done for you."

You know in a story in Luke 15, for the father to throw a party, he would probably have to take from the inheritance of the older son, the elder brother. And the elder brother, knowing that the son or the younger brother is back is upset. He says, "How can my father treat my brother so well after he has sinned?" He sulks and he pouts, he's not willing for his brother to return.

But the twist, I think in the Bible is that we have all an Elder Brother, and our Elder Brother is none other than God's own Son, Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is not sulking and pouting when the Father is saving the nations, but the Elder Brother is saying, "Let me pay that price, let Me be the One who will die on the cross, let Me be the One who will bear their sins, let Me be the One who will suffer the shame and the pain, let Me be the One to bring them home."

And Jesus paid it all, He died and He rose again, and one day, we who believe in Him would join Him in a heavenly congregation to praise our Father above. So sinner, come home. I came home to God some 30 years ago, my life has been changed. His Spirit lives in me, I have the hope of eternal life, and so will you, would you today receive the love of God?

To all my brothers and sisters, it's a simple message, but may we be reminded, freely we have been saved by grace. Let us then genuinely, sincerely worship Him with our lives. Your life on earth must not be lived for yourself anymore, but let it be lived for the cause of Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us.

So Father, we thank You for this morning, for the clarity of Paul's words, so that we are left in no doubt. Salvation is never what we achieve, but it's what we must receive by faith. Grant to men and women repentance and faith, and help this church know Your love more and love you more. Thank You. We pray all this in Jesus' Name, Amen.
 

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