Galatians Chapter number three. Galatians, Chapter number three. The song actually is a good transition into tonight’s lesson as we get into chapter three. And we’re going to see the law versus grace. And we don’t need the law, we need grace. Amen. All that I need is my faith in Jesus. Thank you so much for that truth. Galatians, Chapter three. When you get there, go ahead and stand with me. Galatians, Chapter number three. Everybody should have already gone to the restroom and everything. And now we will stay seated to the duration of the program. Praise God. Galatians Chapter number three. Stand with me. When you get there, we’ll read verse one and read a couple verses here. Says, o foolish Galatians. That’s encouraging. Man, Paul has a way with words, doesn’t he? He’s talking to the Galatians here. He’s calling them foolish because of what they’re doing. Who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth? Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you? This only would I learn of you. Received ye the the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? If it be yet in vain? 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? So here Paul is going to get into the crux of this letter and getting into the truth of comparing the law to Jesus Christ. He’s laid a solid foundation already through the first two chapters, and we’re going to continue to get into the rest of the book here. But let’s go ahead and pray, and I’ll give you the title here. Let’s pray. Father, we love you. We thank you again for the truths of the Word of God. We thank you for the study that we’ve already begun through the book of Galatians. There’s so much that is here. And Lord, help us to be able to rightly divide the word of truth, to look very systematically, very methodically at the Word of God, to take it line upon line, precept upon precept. Help us to look very intentionally here at what the Word of God says and to understand very clearly what you intend for us to understand. I pray that you would use us, guide us, Lord, teach us. And most importantly, Lord, through all this may you be glorified and lifted up. We will praise you and we will thank you. We ask you, saying in your name we pray. Amen. You can go ahead and be seated. As we have discussed on multiple occasions and fronts already, the title of this theme and the series that we are covering is the Gospel of Grace. The Gospel of Grace. We are covering it in an eleven part series. This is part number five. And so as we’ve gone through, we’ve already covered the first two main points of our general outline. And I’ll give you the outline here. We’ve covered already in chapter one, the summons from the Gospel of Grace, or what we have been summoned to do, what our job is our responsibility. Then we talked in chapter number two of the Stand for the Gospel of Grace and we talked about some of the how to handle criticism and some hindrances there and to deal with things in a private manner that need to be dealt with privately. But then we also talked about the hypocritical Christianity on Wednesday night and dealing with public matters in a very public way. And so we began to break those aspects down and look at the comparisons that were given in chapter two. And that is the stand for the Gospel of Grace. Now, chapter three and four are going to cover the sufficiency of the Gospel of Grace. And understand this. The Gospel is sufficient in every area, in every way, shape and form. The Gospel of Grace is sufficient in our lives. We don’t need less grace. We need more grace. We don’t need less of the Gospel. We need more of the Gospel. We don’t need less of the Word of God. We need more of the Word of God. And it is sufficient in every area of our lives. And we need to understand that. And that’s what Paul is going to get into here. As we cover and begin the sufficiency of the Gospel of Grace. We’re going to get to chapter five later on and talk about the standards of the Gospel of Grace. And we’ll talk about the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, and the standards that God gives us to be able to serve him. And then lastly, chapter six will be the support of the Gospel of Grace and the fact that we should not glory in anything save the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, because it is the reason we are where we are today. And so here in chapter three, again, let’s go back to the very end of chapter number two and look at that final verse as a transition into chapter three. As a reminder, when this letter was written, it did not have chapter breaks and it did not have verse breakdowns, ok? That was given so that we can be able to have a little bit more clarity through the Scripture as we are able to go to a place together. But here it was written in different longhand paragraph form. And so it transitioned from one thought to another thought. And so verse number twenty one, it says, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. So again, frustrate means to annul, to set aside, or to reject. So he is saying, I am not setting aside the grace of God. We are not rejecting the grace of God. Everything that we have in this Christian life comes because of the grace of God. It does not come by the law. It is if it came by the law, then Jesus Christ should not have died for all of us. And his death would have been in vain. There was no need for it. It would have been empty. It would have been purposeless. But we know that it was not in vain. We know that it was not empty. We know that it was not purposeless. We know that it was for us to be able to have redemption, to be able to have justification, to be able to have salvation, to be able to have a second chance at life. And so we understand that here, and we don’t set that aside. And then he gets to chapter three, and he starts off and he says, o foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? And so here he’s transitioning from not laying aside the gospel of grace, but putting it back onto them. He says, I’ve not done that. Now why have you done that? Ok? He said, I didn’t set aside the gospel of grace. I haven’t rejected the gospel of grace. But you foolish Galatians, why are you doing this? And then we’re going to get into the aspect of grace being sufficient for us. We’re going to see in verse number four where he talks about, we suffered so many things in vain. Again, that’s the same word that ties into verse twenty one of chapter two, Christ dying in vain. And the things that we do in the Christian life, if we do them according to the law and not according to grace, then we’re doing them in vain and they’re very empty and they’re worthless. In our Christian life, we need to understand everything we have comes because of the grace of God. So we’re going to begin the sufficiency of the grace of God. We’re going to cover two aspects of that as we begin to go through these two Chapters, and then we’ll methodically move our way through it over the next several services. So here we’re going to look in verse number one, and we’re going to see the problems with the law. Look at verse one. 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? Here Paul just gets down to the nitty gritty. He gets down to the brass tacks of things and the bare bones. And he literally says, who has basically put you under a spell? That’s what the word bewitched means. Who has put you under a spell to believe another thing? Who has begun to give you some other gospel? Again, in chapter one, it says, if they bring you another gospel, let them be accursed. Okay, all this connection should be. We should be able to make all these connections if we’ve been following methodically through the Scriptures. Here he’s saying, now, who has put you under this spell? Who has put you under this idea and this mentality that you should not obey the truth? Notice he doesn’t say that you should not obey the law. He said that you should not obey the truth, because truth is truth, regardless of what the law says. We can make the same application here in our own country today. Just because America may pass something and legalize something does not mean that God put his stamp of approval on it. And so we need to understand that truth is truth and truth is found according to the word of God. Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. The Bible says to sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. So truth is going to come just from the word of God. And he says literally, who’s put you under the spell? Who’s put you on this idea that you would not obey the truth that you’ve been given? Why would you not obey the word of God but rather go back to the law of man? By the way, if you live according to the law, you’ll die according to the law. Paul deals with that when he deals with the church at Corinth. We’re not getting to that tonight, but we need to understand here the problems with the law. The problem is this. The law was a picture of the truth, but it was never the truth. The law was a foreshadow of Jesus Christ, who is truth. But the law itself was not truth. It was just a picture of truth that was to come. It was something to point us to the truth. So Laws may change and laws may be strenuous and laws may be regulatory in our lives. But laws ought to point us to the truth. But they are not the final truth in our lives. The word of God is the final truth in our lives. So this is the problem with the law. The problem is man. Just as man, we get the law from God. But you know, even in our own justice system, we have lawyers that do what? They twist the law. We have justices that try to reinterpret the law. Think it not strange. Listen, we got preachers that try to reinterpret the word of God. Okay? That’s the problem with man is we try to put our spin on things. But you can’t do that with the truth because truth is truth, regardless of what you believe. So Paul, notice the wording. The wording is of utmost importance. He says, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth because it goes back into our lives. It goes back to this question. Are you going to obey the truth or are you not? Because the truth is Jesus Christ. And the law should point you to truth. But the law is not your absolute truth. The word of God is your absolute truth. Notice what he says. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth. Set forth how? In the law. It pointed to Jesus Christ. It was a picture of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came not to break the law, not to replace the law, but but to fulfill the law. The Bible tells us that in Hebrews chapter nine and ten he is the fulfillment of all six hundred thirteen laws. Not one law did he break in his life. He fulfilled over three hundred prophecies in the Old Testament. Nobody’s ever gotten anywhere close to that. He is a fulfillment of everything that was mentioned in the Old Testament. And here Paul just gets to where the rubber meets the road and he says, listen, this is the problem with the law. Men can change the law. It’s no longer based on truth. It’s based on premise and precedent that has been set in other areas. And again, that’s the problem with our justice system today is they no longer rule cases based on laws. They rule them based on precedents that were set in other court cases. And you and I both know that to be true if you follow our legal system. But here we see the problems with the law. Now let’s get to the rest of the passage here. We’re going to get all the way down to verse number fourteen this evening. Let’s get into the principles of the law. And we’re going to look at three different aspects of some principles that the law ought to point to. Now notice in verses one to five, the last part of verse number one, all the way to verse number five, we see one of the principles of law is an appeal to the example of awareness. The example of awareness meaning that we ought to be aware of the purpose behind the law. What was it there for? What is the intention? So tonight we’re going to, young people, use our big brain, alright? Tonight we’re going to be thinking and using what God’s given us to be able to process the truths that God has for us. Notice before whose eyes at the end of verse one, Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you. This only would I learn of you. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, Are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? If it be yet in vain? Hear 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? So there’s contrast that is given in these several verses here. A contrast between the law and grace. So I want you to notice four different contrasts that we see. We see the crucifixion apart from the law. So here Jesus Christ was crucified. And we see it in verse number one, the law was to point to Jesus Christ and his crucifixion. His death for our sins. Listen again. Later on in the book of Galatians, we’re going to see that the law is our schoolmaster to point us to Jesus Christ. The reason Christ had to die is because blood has to be shed for the remission of sin. Hebrews chapter nine, verse number twenty two. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins, the Bible says. And so he had to shed his perfect and sinless blood. He had to become our sacrifice because we could not fulfill the law. The best of man may be able to fulfill parts of the law, but it cannot fulfill all the law. The law is insufficient to save, but the cross of Christ is very sufficient for salvation. So we need to understand, we need to be aware that it’s to point us to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the death of Christ. By the way, in the Old Testament they were saved the same way we are saved today in the New Testament, ok? They were saved in the Old Testament by looking ahead to the cross of Christ. Here today we are saved by looking back at the cross of Christ. And so everything in our Christian life points to the death of Jesus Christ, the crucifixion, everything ought to point to Jesus. Then we see in verses two and three we see that their conversion happens apart from the law. So the crucifixion versus the law. And now we have the conversion versus the law, verse two. This only would I learn of you. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith. By the way, Paul dealt with this in the book of Romans. He said in Romans I believe, chapter ten, verse number seventeen, faith. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The Bible says in Romans, chapter ten, verse number fourteen, that how shall they believe in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And so we hear the word of God by the proclamation of the Word of God. And we believe based on the things that we hear. God speaks to us through us hearing the word of God, and he speaks to our heart. We hear it not only in our ears, but we also hear it in our hearts. And then we’re able to trust in him by faith. And so here conversion happens apart from the law. Conversion versus the law. Look at verse three. Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Here the simple question is given. If you were saved by the Spirit, are you now trying to say that you have to keep the law in order to Keep your salvation, by the way, that’s what some churches teach. That is a works based salvation. The word of God never teaches a works based salvation, even though we’re in Ephesians, chapter two, verses eight and nine. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. And it is the gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast. We covered it in Sunday school this morning. In Romans chapter number five, we see the free gift is mentioned over half a dozen times because it is a gift from God. Grace is God’s gift to us. Our conversion happens by faith, through grace, not by the keeping of the law. By the way, just like you didn’t gain your salvation by keeping the law, you gained it by putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as a free gift that was given to you. You also don’t lose your salvation by not keeping the law. You can’t lose your salvation at all. It is a free gift that was given to you by God and it cannot be taken away once you’ve been saved. According to Ephesians, chapter four, verse number thirty, you are sealed with the Spirit of God. It’s not four thirty, it’s one hundred and twenty. I have to look at that. Ephesians, chapter one. Where is it? The sealing of the Holy Spirit of God. Help me out. Let’s see chapter four. It was thirty. Ha. I was right. Ephesians four thirty. Forgive me. Ephesians four thirty. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. The devil’s playing tricks on my mind. Y’ all pray for me. We need clarity of thought tonight. So here, our conversion doesn’t happen according to the law. It happens as a free gift of grace that’s given to us by Jesus Christ. So the crucifixion versus the law. Now our conversion versus the law. Then we see in verse number four, notice the cost versus the law. Here have ye suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain? Here we see that there is suffering attached to the Christian life. Listen, if we were just trying to keep the law, nobody else could condemn us because nobody else can keep the law either. So there would virtually be no actual suffering because there’s no real condemnation. Because nobody can keep the law. The suffering comes from living the life that God’s told us to live. And then others will begin to ridicule God’s people. Because we’re not trying to do things the world’s way, we’re trying to do things God’s way. And that’s where suffering comes from the ridicule. And he says, have you suffered so many things in vain? Listen, if you choose to live a life of faith, faith, you will get mocked. You live a life of faith, you will get ridiculed. You will suffer persecution. The world does not understand faith because the world looks at laws and the world looks at things in a very pragmatic way. God says trust. He says believe. He says, follow, and I will make. That takes faith on our part. The disciples asked Jesus Christ in Luke eleven. I believe is verse one, Lord, increase our faith. That ought to be a prayer of every one of us. God, increase my faith. Help me to be able to trust in you and in your Word and not in my works. Listen, there’s a reality the longer you are saved. There’s a reality where there’s a lot of saved folks that try to depend more on their works for their service of God rather than their faith in God. I’m not saying they’re depending on their works for salvation. I’m saying they’re depending on their works for their service. Listen, we serve God the same way we got saved. And that’s through our faith. Our faith is shown and evidenced by by our works. But listen, you can work and not have faith, but you can’t have faith and not work. Are you listening? Did you catch that? You can work and not have faith, but you can’t have faith and not work. Your faith should move you to do a work for God. James talks about that in the Book of James. It says, faith without works is dead. Because your faith ought to move you to do something for the glory of God. But let’s not get to the point to where we depend on our works to associate a relationship with God. You don’t gain favor with God by working for God. You grow in your faith and you grow in your walk with God. And I hate to say the phrase, but you gain favor with God by walking with God, by spending time with God. Remember Paul even said to the Philippians, in Philippians three, I believe it’s verse number. Verse number eight, that I may win Christ. He says he wanted to win. What is he trying to win? He’s trying to win favor. He’s trying to win the attention. That’s not by the works that he’s doing. That’s by the relationship that he’s developing. Okay? And we need to make sure we develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. By the way, let me make this statement. It’s not in the notes, but it’s necessary here until you have a relationship with Christ, you’re going to view the word of God as a list of rules instead of a relationship book. You see, when you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you look at the word of God not as a list of do’s and don’ts, but as an I love you book from God. Okay, now we see the crucifixion versus the law. We see the conversion versus the law. We see the cost now versus the law. In verse five, we see credentials versus the law. Notice what he says. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you. So the ones that are doing things for you by the good grace of God, notice doeth he it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Those that are Sunday school teachers here in the church, are you doing it to fulfill the law or are you doing it because of your faith in God? That’s what Paul’s dealing with. Those that were leaders in the church, are they simply leading the church to fulfill the law, to try to earn something from God? Or are they leading God’s people as a form of grace, trying to express faith, trying to live and be an example of the good grace of God? By the way, notice the word spirit is capitalized, meaning that we don’t minister to you our spirit. We minister to you the Holy Spirit of God. We don’t make followers of ourselves. Brother O, you know, there’s a lot of preachers out there that got followers of themselves. We don’t make followers ourselves. We make followers of Jesus Christ. That’s the goal of any man of God. It should be to make sure that we are ministering to you. Not my Spirit, but God, the Holy Spirit. His Spirit should be ministered to you. And the things that are worked amongst us, we see as God shining his grace upon our lives and God doing the work. You see, people aren’t in church tonight because of who we are, but it’s because of the God that we serve. We got to understand that churches don’t grow just because they’ve got a dynamic preacher. No, no, there are some that do, unfortunately. But proper growth is going to happen because we have a dynamic God. Amen. It’s the God that we serve, not the man that leads us to serve. So here he had an appeal to the example of awareness. Secondly, I want you to notice in verses six to nine, we have some appeals to the example of Abraham. Abraham is one of the patriarchs of the faith. Abraham is one of the first ones to get some laws from God. By the way, we know that the law was given to Moses the. There in the book of Exodus we have Moses wrote, of course, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. And we know that Moses had gotten the law from God. In the book of Exodus, he had given the laws to the priests there in the book of Leviticus, he had given the laws to all of God’s people there in Numbers and in Deuteronomy. And so we know that the law was given during that time. But this predates the law. Abraham, Abraham was one of the patriarchs of the faith. Abraham was the one that God said, I’m going to make of you a great nation. Back in Genesis, chapter number twelve. Now notice what the Bible says about Abraham. Verses six to nine. Even as Abraham believed God, notice he didn’t believe the law at that time. There was no law. Ok, who did he believe? He believed God. Because again, the law was to point others to God. By the way, let me go ahead and put this in as a caveat. The reason that God had to give the law to the Jews was because they spent over four hundred years in Egypt serving pagan gods. And they forgot about their God, okay? And they stopped fulfilling the things that their God told them to do. And so he had to set some specific boundaries and some specific laws to not do what the heathen were doing. Does that make sense here? Abraham, he believed God. It was counted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham? We sing the song in junior church. Father Abraham had many sons. Man, sons. Ok, Verse eight. And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying in these shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Here we see the appeals to the example of Abraham. Notice verse number six tells us that Abraham’s faith was the means of his justification. Abraham’s faith, excuse me, was the means of his justification. Notice what it says. Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him. What for righteousness. You understand that our faith in God is also our justification. The Bible says that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I believe. Romans chapter ten, verse number nine says that with the with the mouth confessions made unto salvation. With the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confessions made unto salvation. You see, in the Christian life, our faith in God is going to be the caveat for salvation. Again, Romans two, eight, nine. For by grace. Are you saved through faith? How was Abraham saved by faith? He believed God. He didn’t believe the law. He didn’t believe what others were doing. He believed God. So we see salvation took place in the Old Testament the same way it takes place today. By faith. And it was accounted to him for righteousness. So Abraham’s faith was the means of his justification. But also understand that his faith is also the means of our justification because we get saved the same exact way. Now we’re not saved because he was saved. No. No. God has no grandchildren. Amen. We’re called the sons and daughters of God. God has no grandchildren. You’re just not a part of the family of God. Just because your parents are saved or just because a family member is saved. No. You’ve got to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ yourself. You don’t ride into heaven on the coattails on somebody else. But here, the same way Abraham got saved is the same way that we get saved. Notice verses seven to nine. We see three aspects of what our faith brings us. Our faith in God. Notice verse seven. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith. The word they there refers to us. That’s all of us that are saved. Those of us that are born again children of God. Those of us that have trusted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. We are the they in that passage. Just like those that were saved during Paul’s day are the they they of the faith. Ok, they which are of faith. Notice the same are the children of Abraham. You understand that our faith brings us a family. Why do we call each other brothers and sisters in Christ? Because we’re all part of the same family. Amen. We all have the same daddy. His name is God. We all got the same brother. His name is Jesus Christ. And by the way, he died for all of us. No other family can say that. No other family can say that their brother gave his life for all of mankind. But God’s family can. And we are a part of a family which many can only be envious of because they refuse to trust in him. Are you listening? There are those that are lost and on their way to hell and all they will do is mock and ridicule born again believers. And they won’t trust in Jesus Christ because they’re going to trust in their own way. Now there are some that are going to get saved. We heard the testimony of a man who got saved today. Praise God. Why? Because the testimony of somebody else. Hopefully you caught that in brother Brandon’s testimony. There are People that you can reach that others may not be able to reach with your testimony. There are those that when they get saved, you may be shocked. But guess what? God is not. God’s not, because nothing takes him by surprise. But here we are, the children of Abraham. Meaning that we are part of the family of God. I may not be a Jew by blood, but bless God. I’ve been grafted in. Praise the Lord. Here. Those of us that are of faith, Faith gives us a family. Look at verse eight now. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith. Notice that’s future tense. God would justify the heathen through. Through faith. Meaning that nobody’s too far gone to get saved. It doesn’t give you categories of who the heathen are. But you know what heathen means. You know who the heathen are. We were all heathen before we trusted Christ. Or as my grandma would say, heathrons. She always threw an R in there. Heathren. He would justify the heathen through faith. What did he do? Preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. You see, not only does our faith give us a family, but in verse number eight, our faith also gives us a future. Our faith gives us a future. The Bible says, notice God would justify the heathen. How? Through faith. Meaning that God would give us a second chance on life. Salvation is a new beginning, is it not? Salvation is a second chance. To be redeemed means to be bought back. The word redeemed means to purchase again or to buy back. We were sold to slave. As a slave to sin. We were sold to the world. We were fulfilling everything that the flesh wanted to fulfill. But when Jesus Christ redeemed us with his blood, he bought us back and he owns us twice. That’s what redemption is. It’s a second chance at life. To be saved means I get a do over. I get a repeat. I get to try again. Listen, young people, understand this. There’s not many things in life that operate like a video game where you get to respawn, but salvation gives you another shot. Salvation gives you a second chance. You see, it doesn’t matter what you used to be. When you trust Christ as your personal savior, all God looks at is what you could be. What does the Bible say? He would justify the heathen through faith. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter how bad you were. It doesn’t matter how you used to live your life. It doesn’t matter the drugs and the alcohol, it doesn’t matter the sin that you were involved in. It does not matter how muddy the pit was that you were in when God saved you. God brought you out of all of that and God gave you a second chance at life here. Faith brings us a family, but faith gives us a future, gives us a second lot in life, gives us another chance, a chance to be something else. Listen, I don’t know about you. I got saved as a teenager. And I know the road that I was headed down. Yeah, I went to a Christian school. Yeah, I was in church. But I know the road that I was headed down. And I know where my heart was at. It was not in the things of God. When God saved me, God gave me another chance. He gave me another opportunity. He changed my life around. And every one of us can testify to the same thing in our lives. A young person. Why don’t you go ahead and say this? Just because you were raised in church and just because you didn’t have to experience all those other things, your salvation isn’t less important. You may not have been saved out of those things, but you were still saved from those things. Okay? You were still saved from that life. You were saved from that experience. You were saved from the shame, from the regret. You don’t have to go through all of that. As Paul told the church at Corinth, he said, I’ve espoused you unto one spouse and I’m jealous over you with a godly jealousy. He says what he means by that is he says, he means you have a head start, that I didn’t put it in our terms today. He says, I only wish that I had the testimony you have. Our choir is working on the song. We’re going to try to bring it out for Old Fashioned Sunday. But listen, we may not all have the same testimony and story, but just because you don’t have all the shame that others have and you don’t have all the scars of sin, don’t think you’re less than anyone else, okay? My wife wasn’t saved out of a life of sin, but I value her testimony. And I wish I had that one. Are you listening? There are things that I experienced as a young person that no child should have experienced. And we try hard to make sure our children don’t have to. Brother Anthony got saved at four or five years old. Five years old. He’s still getting there, praise God. I got a preacher friend of mine, Brother Seth. He was saved at five years old, raised in the house of a pastor. He doesn’t have all the worldly experiences. He doesn’t have all the worldly jargon and lingo. He doesn’t have all the ungodly music stuck in his head. He doesn’t have to battle those things. I’m jealous over that. With a godly jealousy. It’s the testimony that we should desire so young people don’t get mad at the rules your parents have. Understand? It’s for your safety, it’s for your protection. It’s for your benefit. Because they know where that life leads. They’ve been there. God saved them from it. They’ve experienced it. They’ve got the scars, they’ve got the stories. And they don’t want to have to share them with you. Here. God gave us a new future. Verse number nine. We see that God also now our faith gives us favor with God. Look, verse nine. So then they talking about us, which be of faith notice, are blessed. Verse nine. We’re blessed. Don’t miss your Bible when we read your Bible, when we say that we’re blessed, Understand the importance of that word. You’ve been given something by God, the creator of the universe. This is something that not just anybody could have given you, but God gave it to you. The Bible says he daily loadeth us with benefits. Listen, if you can’t get excited about the things that are going on in your life, get excited about. About what God is doing on your behalf and the fact that you’re even alive today, that is a blessing from God. I don’t know what God’s going to do in our lives, but I know God has us here because he wants to do something that’s a blessing. Life is a blessing from God. Not everybody gets to experience that. I got a text from Pastor Mickey Ellis. Pastor’s over in Podo this morning. He was at the hospital with a church family. They were delivering a baby that was stillborn. Not everybody gets a chance at life, so your life is a blessing. Understand the frailty that we live in. Understand this body that we have. We’re not guaranteed anything. And so everything that we have, we know came from God. And we ought to rejoice in that. Here our faith gives us favor with God. We’ve been blessed, notice, with faithful Abraham. Now listen, there’s not many groups that we can be associated with, but to be put in the likes of Abraham, that’s good company. On any day, that’s good company. Abraham was in the hall of faith. Hebrews, chapter eleven. Abraham’s a great hero of the faith. And the Bible says that we’re blessed notice with faithful Abraham. We’re in the same category. Don’t get over that. We’re in the same category as Paul. We’re in the same category as David, the sweet psalmist of Israel. We’re in the same category as John, the beloved disciple, or as he called it, the disciple whom Jesus loved. We’re in the same category as them. Why? Because of faith, because of his grace, we gain favor with God. So here we see the appeals to the example of awareness. See the appeals to the example of Abraham. And now let’s notice verses ten to fourteen. We see the appeal now to end the argument. Here’s the reality. People want to argue between faith and the law. We’re saved by faith, but we’re kept by the law. Or we’re saved by the law, we’re kept by faith. And they want to go back and forth between it. Listen, that’s the same battle that’s happening today in our churches. People can say that you’re saved by Jesus Christ, but in order to keep your salvation, you’ve got to do a work for him. That’s what the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach. That’s what the Mormons teach. That’s what other false religions teach, that you’ve got to work to keep the salvation that God gave. Listen, if you had to work for it, it’s not a free gift. It’s a free gift. So here we see the example now, or the appeal to end the arguments. Verses ten to fourteen. Let’s read it. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, say, okay, you want to follow the works of the law, you want to try to keep your salvation by the law, you’re cursed. It can’t get any more simple than that. For it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them, but that no man is justified by the law, in the sight of God it is evident. For the just shall live by faith. Meaning justification comes by faith, not by the law. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. You want to fulfill the law, you want to live by the law. You’re going to die by the law, you’re going to be cursed by the law, you’re going to be judged by the law. But if you want to be live, if you want faith, put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, then God’s going to judge you by faith. By the way the judgment Seats we see the judgment seat of Christ is for those who are born again. Believers. We see the Great White Throne. Judgment is the judgment of those that have rejected Jesus Christ. You see, we’re going to be judged according to our works at the judgment seat of Christ. But the Bible says that they at the Great White Throne are judged by their works. You say, what’s the difference between according to and by? They wanted to live a law. They wanted to live by the law so they can be judged by the law. And they didn’t amount. They didn’t uphold their end of the bargain. So they’re going to die and go to hell. Ok, we chose to live by faith, but God’s going to judge us according to our works. Meaning he’s going to judge the nature by what we did and why we did it. But that is for crowns, that’s not for salvation. Because salvation was already taken care of by faith. Are you listening? That’s the difference between those two judgments. And we see it right here. Here. Verse number twelve. The law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us. How? From the curse of the law being made. A curse for us. For it is written. Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree that the blessing of Abraham. Notice he’s coming full circle now. That the blessing of Abraham might come where? On the Gentiles. Meaning that salvation is not just for the Jews, it’s for everybody. How? Through Jesus Christ. When he died on the cross, he died once and for all. That’s what your Bible says in Hebrews nine. He didn’t die once. And for the Jews, once and for all. That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Here again, this is an appeal to end the argument. Notice verse ten tells us that curses come by relying on the law. You live according to the law, you’re going to die according to the law. You’re going to be cursed by the law. You’re going to be judged by the law. Verses eleven, twelve tell us that commendations come to righteousness from the law. Notice, no man is justified by the law, but the just will live by faith. And then the law is not faith. The law is works. The law says thou shalt not kill. Okay, I must keep that law. That’s not faith, that’s works. The law says thou shalt not commit adultery. Okay, I must keep that law. Again, not faith. That’s works. Thou shalt not steal. Again, they had curses that were pronounced to every law for Those that stole, they would cut off their hand. You go over the Middle east today, you go over to parts of Africa today, and they’re judged according to the law. You’ll see people that have a missing hand. In some cases, you’ll see people have two missing hands. Why? Because they were dumb and didn’t learn the first time. I don’t know about you. Listen, I broke my wrist back in April. I don’t have to make the same mistake again to know that I shouldn’t be doing that. Okay. Some people have to learn the hard way, I guess. But here, you live by the law, you’re going to die by the law. But verse thirteen and fourteen now teach us that Christ came to redeem us from the law. So here, curses come by relying on the law. Commendations come to righteousness from the law. But Christ came to redeem us from the law. How did he do that? Well, in verse thirteen, it says he removed the curse. He became a curse for us. So we didn’t have to fall under the curse of the law. If we would trust him by faith, we trust in his finished work. We don’t have to go through a curse. Praise God of the law. Because we’re not trusting in the law for salvation. We’re trusting in Him. By the way, hold your place here. Go back with me to one Corinthians fifteen. First Corinthians fifteen. I didn’t have this attached, but it fits. Look at verse fifty five. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Verse fifty six. The sting of death is sin. But notice. And the strength of sin is the. What’s the next word? Law. Christ took the sting of death for us. Why? Because he fulfilled the law. We were never intended to be saved by the law. The law can’t save. The law only pronounces death. But Christ took the sting of death on the cross of Calvary. Why? So that we can trust him by faith. Here, Christ removed the curse of sin. Now there are those today who are still living under the curse of sin and the curse of the law because they’ve not received Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Amen. Christ has removed the curse. But the question you got to answer is, has your curse been removed? Mine has. I got saved. On june twenty second, two thousand three. I can go back to a time and place. I can go back to the exact moment I know when God saved me. How do you know? Because I was there. Because I remember. I asked Jesus Christ to come in my heart and save me. It’s just like. I know when I got married, I was there. I remember. It didn’t just happen. No, no. Salvation doesn’t just happen, you know, when it happens, you got to be there. You got be a part of it. Some of you have never trusted Christ as your personal savior and you’re still living under the law. Let me tell you, friend, if you die, you’re going to die under the curse of the law. And you’re going to die and go to hell. Because you’ve never received Jesus Christ as your personal savior. But Christ took the curse away. He took the sting of death away. The strength of sin, the Bible says, is the law. Meaning that sin becomes more and more taxing and more and more pressing in our lives because of the law. But when grace shows up, we’ve been freed from the bondage of sin. Sin binds us. Why? Because of the law. But Christ came to fulfill that law and to give grace. Christ removed the curse. In verse thirteen, notice he came to redeem us from the law by removing the curse. But in verse fourteen, also by redeeming the Gentiles. Notice that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. Is anybody in this room tonight a full blooded Jew? Raise your hand. Anybody in here a full blooded Jew? What? Do I have any? Okay, that means we’re all Gentiles. Many of you know brother Matt Miller, his wife, Miss Dominique. She’s Jew. She’s Jewish. She’s of Jewish descent. She’s got family that lives over in Israel. They went over there and they’ve met her side of the family and different things. She has Jewish blood. Listen, none of us are Jewish. Which means that under the law we could not have been saved because we were not Jews. The law was given to the Jews. But Christ came to fulfill the law and to give grace to everybody. Are you listening? Thank God for His grace. Because now I as a Gentile, have trusted Jesus Christ for salvation. And I too now can go to heaven and I can be a part of the family of God. Why? Because of his grace. Christ came to redeem us all. Why? How? Because he redeemed the Gentiles. And here Paul’s writing to the church at Galatia, which is found in Asia Minor. It’s a group of Gentiles. He’s saying, listen, you too can trust Christ. You don’t have to keep the law, but God’s sacrifice is good for you too. But also notice he removed the curse. He redeems the Gentiles. But notice at the end of verse fourteen. This is something else that Christ gave us. He lets us receive the Spirit, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. How do I know that I’m saved? Because I’ve got the Holy Spirit of God living inside of me. That doesn’t make me God. Doesn’t make you God either. It just means we’ve got God in us. It means that we’ve got God on our side. It means that we have something inside of us that’s more powerful than the flesh on the outside of us. We’ve got something inside of us that can grow us to do things we otherwise normally wouldn’t have done for the cause of Christ. What is it? It’s the Spirit of God. By the way, Jesus Christ said in John fourteen and John sixteen, he says, I’m going to go away, but I’m not going to leave you comfortless. I’m going to send you a comforter. I’m going to send you the Holy Spirit of God. By the way, in John chapter number twenty, he blew on his disciples and he said, receive ye the Holy Ghost. And then we see in Acts chapter two that the Holy Ghost comes down upon the church there in Jerusalem and empowers the church and the Holy Spirit of God. Ever since that day has been indwelling every single believer at the moment of salvation. Every time somebody gets saved, they get filled with the Spirit of God. Every single time. That man that got saved today, he got filled with the Spirit of God. That’s not a charismatic thing. That’s a Bible thing. A lot of people are afraid of using the phrase being filled with the spirit. I’m not going to dance around and speak in some weird tongue. I’m not going to grab snakes. I’m not going to do all the weird stuff. Okay? I’m not charismatic, but I am a Bible believer. The Bible says that we receive the spirit of God, meaning that our bodies now become a temple of the Holy Ghost of God. And you’ve got God living inside of you. You see, there’s something on the inside of every one of us that are saved. Born again children of God. That does not desire the things of the world. But you know what? You also have the flesh that does desire the things of the world. And you’re constantly battling against the two, right? Constantly going against each other. It’s amazing. The one you feed is the one who’s going to win. Every time you read your Bible and you feed the spirit of God, the spirit of God’s going to Win in your life. I’ve used this illustration before and heard many preachers quote it. It’s a simple poem. Two natures live within my breast. One is foul and the other blessed. One I love and one I hate, but the one that I feed will dominate. And we’ve got to make sure that we feed the right one. You can either feed the spirit and he’s going to get to that. In Galatians, chapter five, Walk in the spirit, you’ll not fulfill the lust of flesh. If we feed the Spirit of God, then we’re not going to fulfill the works of the flesh. Here Christ came to redeem us from the law, to give us the Holy Spirit of God, to teach us the things of God. You see, a natural man, Brother Nick, is not going to understand the word of God. The Bible tells us that in First Corinthians, chapter two, verse fourteen. Why? Because he doesn’t have the Spirit of God living inside of him. He’s lost. This is a spiritual book that only believers can understand because we’re guided into all truth by the Spirit of God. Lost people can read it all day long, but they’re never going to understand it. They’re going to say, oh, that’s some good stuff in there, but I don’t know what half of it means. They’re going to over rationalize it and say that it’s a book of stories. But we as believers in God have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of us and he teaches us the truths of the Word of God. There are times where we read through our Bible and let me make this statement and please don’t misunderstand it. If you can read throughout your Bible every day for thirty days and not get anything from it, I would question whether or not the Spirit of God lived inside of you. If you can consistently read your Bible time and time and time again and not get anything from it, Then one of two things is true. Either you’re so far away from God that you’ve grieved the Spirit of God and he’s not talking to you, or you’re lost. Now, if you can read your Bible consistently for thirty days in a row, intentionally trying to get something and trying to seek after God, I don’t believe that you would be living while grieving the Spirit. Okay? There are a lot of people in church today who are lying to themselves saying they are saved, but they don’t have the Spirit of God inside them, teaching them the word of God. One of the reasons, one of the evidences that I knew that I was saved. After I got saved was I began to start to understand the Bible. It’s amazing how before I got saved, I didn’t understand what it meant. I would sit through preaching and I would take notes. I’m like, how did he even get that? I don’t get that. I’d read over it and read over it and it didn’t make any sense to me. It’s like, okay, well, if he says it, I’ll believe it. But I still don’t get it. After I got saved, things clicked. Why? Because the spirit of God on the inside was teaching it to us. Bible talks about for now we see through our glass darkly. Man’s not going to understand the word of God outside of the spirit of God guiding him. So listen, I want to encourage you here. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your personal savior and you’ve got a problem understanding the word of God, I want to encourage you tonight. You can get that settled. You can trust Christ and God can give you a new beginning in life. It’s only going to come by faith, though not by keeping the law. You can work and you can work and you can try and you can try, but you’re never going to get there, okay? You’ve got to trust him by faith. Stand with me with heads bowed, with eyes closed tonight. The gospel of grace is sufficient. Heads bowed, eyes closed tonight. I wonder, is there somebody here tonight? You may not be able to go back to a time and place in your life. Heads bowed, eyes closed. You may not be able to go back to a time and place in your life where you trusted Christ as your personal savior. I’m not mad at you. I love you. I want to be able to share the word of God with you tonight. If you’re a lady, we’ve got ladies that can talk to you. If you’re a man, we’ve got men that can talk to you and show you from the word of God how you too can trust Jesus Christ.
Scripture Reference
Galatians 3:1-14
Introduction
Title: “The Gospel of Grace – Part 5”
Preacher: Dr. Terry LeQuieu
In Galatians 3:1–14 Paul confronts the dangerous drift from grace back to law. Dr. LeQuieu explains that chapters 3 and 4 of Galatians teach the sufficiency of the Gospel of Grace: that Christ’s work fully saves, that faith alone justifies, and that the Spirit is the mark of new life. This sermon walks through Paul’s arguments: the problem with trusting the law, the example of Abraham showing faith’s priority, and the final appeal that Christ redeemed us from the law’s curse so the blessing of Abraham could come to all who believe.
Quote from Preacher
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?
Outline
- Problem with the Law — The Picture, Not the Promise
- Law as a shadow
The law was given to reveal sin and to point forward to Christ. It served as a schoolmaster (Gal. 3:24), but was never intended to be the basis for eternal justification. Paul asks plainly: who has persuaded you to abandon the truth—Christ crucified?
- Man distorts law
Human beings reinterpret and corrupt laws. The law can be twisted by culture, courts, and even religious leaders. Truth, however, is found in Christ and the Word. The law pronounces death where grace pronounces life.
- Law and condemnation
To depend on law for righteousness brings curse (Gal. 3:10). The law demands perfect obedience — something only Christ fulfilled. Therefore, the law cannot justify; it convicts.
- Law as a shadow
- Principles of Contrast — Crucifixion, Conversion, Cost, Credentials
- Crucifixion apart from the law (v.1)
Jesus was set forth crucified among them — the cross is the center of salvation. The law pointed to the need for a blood sacrifice (Heb. 9:22), but could not supply it.
- Conversion apart from the law (vv.2–3)
Believers received the Spirit by faith, not by law-keeping. Salvation is a gift: “By grace are ye saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8–9). You begin in Spirit; you are not perfected by the flesh.
- Cost of faith vs. law (v.4)
Following Christ can bring suffering and ridicule. That suffering is not in vain if rooted in faith; it is often absent if people merely claim to follow rules without relationship.
- Credentials from the Spirit not the law (v.5)
Ministry evidence — miracles, Spirit-work — comes by faith and the Holy Spirit’s power, not by compliance with rules. True ministry points people to Christ, not to a leader.
- Crucifixion apart from the law (v.1)
- Appeal to Abraham — Faith Before Law
- Abraham justified by faith (vv.6–7)
Abraham believed God; it was counted to him for righteousness. This pre-law example shows that justification by faith is the pattern both Old and New Testaments teach.
- Faith brings family (v.7)
Those of faith are children of Abraham — faith unites believers into God’s family. We are spiritual brothers and sisters because of faith, not ethnicity or law-keeping.
- Faith brings future (v.8)
Scripture foresaw God justifying the gentiles by faith — faith opens a new future and a second chance for all nations.
- Faith brings favor (v.9)
Believers are blessed with faithful Abraham. The blessing is spiritual — the promise of salvation and indwelling Spirit.
- Abraham justified by faith (vv.6–7)
- End the Argument — Curse, Commendation, and Redemption (vv.10–14)
- Curse of the law (v.10)
Those relying on the works of the law find themselves under a curse, because they cannot fulfill all the law’s demands.
- Righteousness and living by faith (v.11)
No man is justified by the law; “the just shall live by faith.” Paul insists that true righteousness comes through living faith.
- Law demands life by works (v.12)
The law calls for perfect obedience; to live under it is to attempt salvation by works — which leaves a person condemned.
- Christ redeems from the law’s curse (vv.13–14)
Christ became a curse for us (citing Deut. 21:23) to remove the law’s condemnation. Through His death the blessing of Abraham comes to the Gentiles, and believers receive the promised Spirit by faith.
- Curse of the law (v.10)
Summary
Paul confronts believers who are tempted to return to law — to human systems of righteousness — and reminds them that the Gospel of Grace is sufficient. The law served to reveal sin and point to Christ; Abraham’s example shows that faith, not law-keeping, is the means of justification. Christ removed the curse of the law by becoming our substitute, and by faith we receive the promised Spirit. Salvation is a free, irreversible gift received by faith and indelibly marked by the Holy Spirit.
Quote to Ponder
The Gospel of Grace is sufficient. Stand with me with heads bowed, with eyes closed tonight. The gospel of grace is sufficient.
Application for the Week
Practical, weekly steps to live the Gospel of Grace:
- Examine your trust
Ask: Am I trusting Christ alone for salvation, or do I rely on my religious activity? Take time each day this week to confess and rest in Christ alone (Romans 4; Galatians 3:1–3).
- Read and receive
Read Galatians 3:1–14 each morning this week. Pray for the Holy Spirit to illumine these verses and write one insight you receive each day in a notebook.
- Feed the Spirit, starve the flesh
Identify one fleshly habit that tempts you this week. Replace time you would spend on that habit with Scripture reading and prayer. Remember: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).
- Share Abraham’s gospel
Find one person this week who needs to hear the Gospel. Share plainly the simple message: we are justified by faith in Christ (use your testimony where appropriate). Be prepared to invite them to church or a gospel conversation.
- Evaluate ministry motives
If you serve in any ministry, examine why you serve. Are you driven by applause, obligation, or love for Christ and people? Recommit your service as an act of faith and dependence on the Spirit (Gal. 3:5).
- Pray for growth in faith
Each evening, pray: “Lord, increase my faith” (Luke 17:5). Ask God to help you trust His finished work and to live in the freedom and power of the Spirit.
May you be encouraged to rest in Christ, to study the Word, and to live by faith. The Gospel of Grace is sufficient — for salvation, for service, and for suffering. Seek the Spirit; trust the Savior; walk in grace.
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