This Week's Sunday School Lesson, "God's Grace For His People", Galatians 3:1-14, 4/28/2019

GOD’S GRACE FOR HIS PEOPLE

Galatians 3:1-14

OBEY THE TRUTH, NOT MAN
V:1-4.  O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
A. Paul established the Church in Galatia during his first missionary journey.
    1. He preached Jesus Christ and the Galatians accepted Christ by faith.
    2. As usual, after he preached to the believers, the Jews who held to the law
        came to undermine his teaching.
    3. The Jews who held to the law, questioned Paul’s Apostleship and
         thus the authority of his teaching.
B. With the absent of Paul, the Galatians were persuaded that it was
     Jesus Christ plus the Law for salvation.
   1. Having heard, that Galatians were backing away from their belief
       of what had been taught to become believers, Paul wrote this
       letter to remind them of their faith.
   2. The work of God cannot be done in the flesh.
   3. We have to be careful that when we are in the world that
        we don’t slip back into our former selves.
   4. The temptations of the world are all around to entice us to step
        back into sin.
   5. It is the constant study of the God’s Word that strengthen us to
       follow His commands.
   6. There are several signs to know you are slipping.
       a. We know we are slipping when we tell every one our problems
           before we tell God.
       b. We know we are slipping when our prayers become short and all
           about us.
       c. We know we are slipping when salvation is a word and not a life style.
       d. We know we are slipping when all we want to hear is “I am alright
            preaching” rather than “what I need to change for God.”

THE JUST LIVE BY FAITH AND NOT BY WORKS
V:5-7. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, 
   doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
A. To please God, it is faith plus nothing.
    1. We woke up this morning, not because we are good, but because of God’s love.         
    2. John 3:16 says whoever believes shall be saved, not whoever believes and good
        works.
B. Abraham is the father of faith, because he believed God was going to make
      him the father of many nations. He would never live to see it but
      he believed it.
      1. Abraham lived 400 years before the Law was given to the Jews,
          and it was faith plus nothing that pleased God.
      2. The Law was never given to us, so we have never been under
           the Law.
       3. It cannot be faith plus the law for us. It is faith by reason
           of God’s grace.
C. The Jews are not the only ones who have a claim to Abraham.
     1. We (Gentiles) have a claim to him as our father of faith.
     2. Jesus death on the cross ratified our sanctification and justification
         in himself.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH BEGAN WITH ABRAHAM
V:8-9. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
A. Before the foundation of the world we were God’s elect.
    1. Before we were born God knew we would be born in sin and destined
        for hell.
    2. God, before the foundation of the world, planned a way out of hell
        into his kingdom.
    3. The promise to Abraham foresaw the blood of Christ on the cross
        for our salvation.
    4. Before Abraham, God plan of salvation was in motion, for He said
        to Satan in the Garden of Eden, He (Jesus) will bruise you on the head.
B. God promised to Himself our salvation by His grace.
    1. Since Jesus and the Father are one, God sent Himself to the
        cross for our salvation.
    2. By introducing our works to salvation, we are saying that we can pay God
        back for His death on the cross.
    3. Jesus put an end to that thought, when He said that any good we do is nothing
        more than a filthy rag.

THE LAW A TUTOR UNTIL CHRIST CAME
V:10-11. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
A. The law was never given to save.
   1. The was given as a tutor until Christ came.   Galatians 3:24       

   2. No man has ever been able to keep the whole law.
B. While we are not under the law, it is still a reference to the righteousness  of God.
   1. Jesus did not get rid of the law, He fulfilled all the requirements of the law.
   2. It is from the that we know to worship one God and one God only.
      3. It is from the law that we know what sin is.
      4. It is from the law that we know what pleases God.

THE EVIDENCES OF FAITH
V:12-14.  And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
A. The evidence of our faith is how we stand on God’s Word in face of adversity,
     1. The evidence of our faith is when we stand on God’s Word, when others are
         falling away.
     2. The evidence of God’s Word is when we stand on God’s Word when others
          are changing the Word to fit their desires.
B. The law is a set of standards that God gave to a particular people, for a
      set time frame.
    1. The purpose of the law was to raise a generations of people who would be
         the example of God’s righteousness to the world.
    2. From the law we learn the consequence of disobedience.
    3. From the law we learn the blessing of obedience.
    4. From the law we learn the Love of God for His people.
    5. Looking back at the law we see the benefits of God’s
        grace and mercy towards us.

THANK GOD FOR HIS GRACE

Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor Of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church
5510 West Sam Houston Parkway North
Houston, Texas 77041

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