Sunday School Lesson

1. Galatians 3:1-14
True Life
September 16, 2018
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
What’s the number one thing?
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The Glory of God!
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1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
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2. September Memory Verse
Philippians 4:6-7 NASB
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God,
which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:1-14
True Life
Galatians 3:1-14 NASB
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ
was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from
you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by
the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 So
then, does He Who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you,
do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.
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.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
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.” 11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is
evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” 12 However, the Law is not of
faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.” 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”— 14 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.
Galatians 3:1-14 NASB
Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Old Testament Volume 1.
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3. • Paul had evangelized the southern province of Galatia on his 1st
missionary journey (Acts 13 & 14).
• The main cities were Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe (near
Tarsus).
• In each city a church (congregation) had been established.
• Galatians is Paul’s letter to churches in these cities 3 years later.
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Ancient Galatia is now part of Turkey.
• Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls who settled there and
became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC.
• Its capital was Ancyra (Ankara, today the capital of modern Turkey).
The apostle Paul was deeply concerned about what was
happening in the series of towns and cities known as Galatia.

4. After Paul had shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with the Galatians, men
came in who began to complicate the Gospel.
"Paul's message is cool," they said, "but not complete. In addition to believing on
Jesus Christ, you must show you are serious about God by keeping rules and
regulations."
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In this third chapter of Paul's letter to the Galatians, he shifts his focus from his
personal experience with grace (chapters 1 and 2) to doctrinal instruction about
grace (chapters 3 and 4).
Galatians 3:1 NASB
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ
was publicly portrayed as crucified?
"Why do you no longer embrace and enjoy the simplicity of Jesus Christ? Who
put this spell on (bewitched) you?" Paul asks the Galatians.
Galatians 3:2 NASB
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
"How did you receive the Spirit when you were born again? Was it by the works
of the law—doing this or refraining from that? No. You received the Word simply
by faith."
This verse speaks not only of being born again, but also of
receiving the fullness, baptism, or "coming upon" of the Spirit
to empower one's life.
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5. After Jesus was crucified and had risen again, He appeared to the disciples in
the Upper Room.
John 20:22 NASB
22 when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the
Holy Spirit.”
At that point, the disciples were saved but then Jesus told them to stay in
Jerusalem and wait for what the Father had promised.
Acts 1:4 NASB
4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to
wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not
many days from now.”
Acts 1:8 NASB
8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you
shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and
even to the remotest part of the earth.”
So, they went to Jerusalem and waited. On the tenth day, as they were in the
Upper Room, they heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and saw cloven
tongues of fire hovering over their heads.
The Spirit came upon them.
They began to praise the Lord!
They were energized to boldly proclaim the Gospel and the world has never
been the same.
That is what the Lord wants for you and me.
When you became a Christian, the Holy Spirit came in you but has the Holy Spirit
come upon you?
You have the Holy Spirit — but does the Holy Spirit have you?
In Acts 19:2 Paul asked the people of Ephesus "Have you received the Holy Spirit
since you believed?"
And we are asked the same question.

6. https://thumbnails.creationswap.com/gallery/21/7/21740_5.jpg
In years past, many of us were part of churches or traditions that said, "The way
to receive the power of the Spirit is to get rid of all of the sin in your life. Give up
your drinking. Sell your TV. Stop smoking. Get it together. Then the Holy Spirit will
come upon you to empower and use you."
Consequently, many people spent months, years, even decades trying to clean
up their acts in order to earn the power of the Holy Spirit.
Others waited day after day, "We're going to wait for the Holy Spirit to come
upon us," they said.
“If we praise loud enough, pray hard enough, and wait long enough, the Lord
will give us the Holy Spirit. Then we'll be changed. Then we'll impact people
radically.”
These methods would be foreign to Paul.
How do you receive the Holy Spirit?
Neither the indwelling of the Spirit through salvation nor the empowering of the
Spirit through baptism come by works of the law.
They come by faith—just by hearing the Word.
"That's it?" you ask.
"You mean I don't have to clean up my act, get it together, or fast thirty days?"
No.
We receive the Spirit not by works, but by hearing with faith.
Therefore, by faith I can take that which was provided for me and say, "Thank
You, Lord. Even as I sit in this pew, I ask of You and receive from You the power
of the Holy Spirit upon my life right now."
"That's too simple," you say.

7. Talk to Paul.
He said, "Don't let anyone complicate this. You receive the Spirit simply by
hearing with faith."
Galatians 3:2-3 NASB
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the
works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by
the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
"You began in the Spirit," said Paul, "hearing the Word, and receiving it by faith.
So, don't let people tell you more is required of you. That’s foolishness."
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Galatians 3:4 NASB
4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
"When you began," said Paul, "you were persecuted because of your simple
faith in Jesus Christ. People came down on you, laughed at you, and made fun
of you. Yet you continued to believe in the simplicity of the Gospel. You've gone
through the put-downs and persecution. You've already taken some hits and
experienced some beatings because of your belief in grace. Don't turn from
grace now."
• The same is true today.
Those who are under bondage to the law and live their lives by trying to earn
blessings from God will make fun of those who live by faith and have confidence
in grace.
• They'll mock you.
• They'll say you're immature.
They'll say what you believe is frivolous and trite.
Mark it well, saint: If you are an embracer of grace, people will call you shallow.

8. "Our group is really heavy," they'll say. "We understand what it means to carry
the Cross and pay the price. We're the few, the chosen—the spiritual marines."
There's an arrogance that permeates those who are trying to earn God's
blessings but when you celebrate what Jesus did on the Cross, you are free from
exalting yourself.
Galatians 3:5 NASB
5 So then, does He Who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among
you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
No doubt you've seen all kinds of people being used by the Lord whose lives are
far from perfect.
How could this be?
It is because the miracles wrought and the Spirit given are not by the works of
the law, but simply by the hearing of faith.
Once you understand that simple truth, it will affect everything you do in ministry.
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Jon Courson said that for years, he was under the impression that the key to
ministry, to being used by God, to seeing folks saved or filled with the Spirit, was
his faith.
• Therefore, the greater his faith, the more God would do.
• Not true!
He now just has total confidence in the great faithfulness of God to touch
anyone, anytime, anywhere who is hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
• When this is understood, it is so incredibly freeing.

9. But until it's understood, Satan will whisper in your ear, "You don't have the
technique down. You don't know enough verses yet. You haven't prayed hard
enough. You haven't worshiped long enough."
Satan will paralyze you until you understand that every area of ministry is based
not upon your faith, but upon God’s faithfulness.
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If you believe this, you'll find yourself talking to people and expecting them to
respond in some way.
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If it's dependent upon me, my knees knock, my forehead breaks out in beads of
sweat, my mouth gets dry, my lips become sealed.
I am paralyzed by fear because I know I haven't done enough.
But once I understand that the One
Who ministers the Spirit, the One
Who works miracles doesn't do it by
the works of the law, I am free!
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10. "I would love to minister the Spirit," you might be thinking, "but I'm so afraid I'm
not capable of being effective in service. What if someone told me he wanted to
know the Lord, or to be empowered by the Spirit? What would I do? What if I
tried to teach a Bible study, and no one came? What if I witness, yet people just
walk away?"
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You who long to be used, but are afraid you can't be, understand this point: The
one who ministers the Spirit and works miracles is not the one who says, "God
can really use me because I've taken care of this sin; I've overcome that
problem; I've mastered theology."
No.
The one who ministers the Spirit and works miracles is one who simply hears in
faith.
Hears what?
The Word!
Matthew 28:19-20 NASB
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe
all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
age.”
Acts 1:8 NASB
8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you
shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and
even to the remotest part of the earth.”

11. Jeremiah 20:9 NASB
9 But if I say, “I will not remember Him
Or speak anymore in His name,”
Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
And I am weary of holding it in,
And I cannot endure it.
Matthew 7:11 NASB
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good (the Holy Spirit)
to those who ask Him!”
We have a tendency to say, "I can't teach. I can't witness. I can't pray for the
empowering of the Spirit because I don't have the technique down yet. I don't
have the necessary insights and the understanding."
But in so doing, we're saying, "The ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of miracles,
being used by God, and seeing the power of God is dependent upon my
knowledge, my togetherness, and my worthiness."
No! No! No!
You were saved by faith.
You will be used in the same manner—just believing not in who you are and
what you know, but in Who God is and in what He has promised to do.
Therefore, our ministry, our service, our walk with the Lord is not based upon
works of great faith, but simply upon our faith in a great God.
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12. When Bartimaeus asked to receive his sight (Mark 10:46-52), Jesus didn't say,
"Why do you want to see? Is it so you can behold My beauty? Is it so you can
study the Torah? Is it so you can do the work of God? Get your act together,
Bartimaeus, and when you have your motives purified, then I'll deal with you."
No, He simply said, “Go; your faith has made you well.”
We think we need to analyze our reasons for wanting to be used by the Lord. "I
better go through a year of heavy introspection," we say, "before I dare ask the
Lord to use me in ministry. I better make sure my motives are pure and my
methods are proper before I can help someone else."
Not true.
If you want to be used by the Lord, just go to Him and say, "Father, use me."
Then, when someone comes to you, struggling with a marital problem, physical
disease, or emotional depression, you can simply say, "Let me pray for you."
You don't need to put people on a program or teach them a procedure.
Simply take them to the One Who said He will not cast them out.
John 6:37 NASB
37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I
will certainly not cast out.”
One third of the recorded ministry of Jesus pertained to healing.
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Of the 40 recorded healings by Jesus, over 30 of those who were healed were
brought by someone other than the patient himself/herself.
We are to be bringing to Jesus those whom God brings across our path.

13. For every person that God allows you to meet, be thinking - “Where is this person
spiritually?”
Why should we be concerned about their spiritual lives and why share the
Gospel with them?
It was because of the faith of the four friends (Mark 2:1-12) that Jesus healed the
paralytic in Capernaum after they dug through the man’s roof.
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Mark 2:5 NKJV
5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are
forgiven.”
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So, there are at least two lessons we are to learn from this account:
1) As God brings folks across our paths, we are to bring them to Jesus.
2) The power of intercession.
In Matthew 8, Jesus was amazed that the Gentile centurion showed more
genuine faith in Him than He had found with anyone in Israel as he pleaded with
Jesus to heal his young servant at a distance.

14. Matthew 8:5-13 NKJV
Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant
5 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading
with Him, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully
tormented.”
7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come
under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also
am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’
and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do
this,’ and he does it.”
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10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly,
I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!
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15. 11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven.
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12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
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13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so
let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.
Matthew 8:5-13 NKJV
Mark 6:5-6a NKJV
5 Now He could do no mighty work there (in Nazareth), except that He laid His
hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6a And He marveled because of
their unbelief.
Mark 6:5-6a NKJV
Is Jesus marveling at your faith or your unbelief today?
You either believe His claims to Deity and the miracles that back Him up
or you don’t!

16. Jesus didn't say, "I'm not interested in those who don't have their theology down,
their lives together, or their motives pure."
No.
He said, "I will not cast out anyone who comes to Me."
And that's what makes service such a joy.
• That's what makes walking with the Lord so delightful.
• The hearing with faith says, "Lord, You said, 'Come to Me,' so here I am."
"I have done that," you say. "You see, I've come to Him concerning my
daughter's situation. I've come to Him about a physical infirmity. I've come to
Him about a broken relationship. But nothing happened."
That's because all too often we come to the Lord and give Him instructions or
directions instead of just saying, "Lord, here's my situation. You see what's best
for me."
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Jon Courson said, “I am so thankful that the Lord in His goodness did not answer
thousands of my prayers. I was convinced I knew what I needed. I thought I
knew what was right for this person or that situation. I was so sure I knew what
was best for Applegate Christian Fellowship. I can recall walking around the
Grange Hall on Upper Applegate Road, saying, 'You told Joshua that the land
whereupon he set the sole of his foot would be given him. So, Lord, I'm claiming
this building. It's perfect for us. Why, it seats sixty easily!' But because the Lord
had something entirely different in mind, the deal we were pursuing with the
Grange Hall didn't work out. And I'm so glad.”
You see, the key in praying for your own situation or for the people with whom
you're sharing or ministering is not to give God direction, but simply to say, "Lord,
here's the situation. You do what's right."

17. That's why He says, "Come to Me. And as you talk things over with Me, trust that
I'll do things in the right way, at the right time—not because you're naming it and
claiming it, not because you're instructing Me as to what you think should
happen, but because you're just trusting Me."
So, to any who are wrestling with troubled marriages, to any who are struggling
with physical problems, to any who are emotionally depressed or financially
stressed, to any who are worried about a father or mother who's not saved, or a
son or daughter who's falling away: The Holy Spirit is given and miracles happen
not by the works of the law, but by the hearing with faith—simply by believing
that the Lord cares about you and that He'll do the best for you.
Rejoice. You were saved in a simple way, embracing a simple message. You
began in the Spirit. Now walk in the Spirit. Depend on the Lord. Have confidence
in Him.
Come to Him, all you that are heavy-laden. He will energize and empower. He
will save and work—not because of who you are, but simply because of your
faith in Who He is.
Your motives may not be pure.
Your methods may not be perfect.
That's irrelevant.
Just come to Him, and you'll see miracles happen. You'll be escorted to first
class, and you'll fly high—marveling at what He does.
Galatians 3:6 NASB
6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
Abraham wasn't doing something to
impress God, he just believed God, and
God declared him righteous.
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18. Paul pointed to Abraham—the father of the Jewish nation, the one whose
heritage the religionists and Judaizers claimed as their own—as an example of
the all-sufficiency of faith.
Galatians 3:7 NASB
7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.
"Whether you're Jew or Gentile," Paul continued, "if you have faith in God, then
you are linked to Abraham, the father of faith."
Galatians 3:8-10 NASB
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.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
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.”
Galatians 3:8-10 NASB
Why is the law a curse?
Because if you're going to try to earn God's favor through keeping rules and
regulations, you've got to do it all.
Jesus gave us an understanding of what this really means.
Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28 NASB
21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’
and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22 But I say to you
that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and
whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the
supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into
the fiery hell.”
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; 28 but I say to
you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already
committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28 NASB
You're cursed if you try to keep the law because unless you keep all of it
perfectly, you’re guilty.

19. Galatians 3:11 NASB
11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The
righteous man shall live by faith.”
The words "the righteous shall live by faith" are first seen in Habakkuk 2:4, when,
in response to his complaints concerning the prophesied Babylonian invasion,
the Lord told Habakkuk to look to Him rather than at the circumstances.
They are seen again in Romans 1:17, where Paul stresses justification; and in
Hebrews 11, where the emphasis is on faith.
Here in Galatians, the accent is on live.
Want to be happy, fruitful, excited, and set free in your Christian life?
• The righteous shall live—really live—by faith.
Martin Luther beat his body, crawled on his knees, and fasted in order to get
close to God.
But nothing worked.
And then one day he read this verse—and he understood that the Christian
experience is not "Do, do, do"—it's "Done!"
Jesus did it all!
Dear saints, get rid of the burden of trying to be spiritual. Get rid of the notion that
since you had morning devotions ten times in a row, God owes you a blessing. It
doesn't work that way. You are justified by faith alone.
"Then I don't have to have morning devotions?" you ask.
No, you don’t.
"I can sleep in?"
Yeah, you can.
"I don't have to pray, or study the Word?"
Nope.
You don't have to do any of those things. You get to. You get to check in with
God morning by morning, moment by moment. You get to spend time late at
night or before the sun rises, seeking the face of the Lord. It's not got to, it's get
to. And that makes all the difference in the world, for once you're free from the
"got to's," you invariably do more than you ever did before.

20. James said;
James 2:20 NKJV
20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
This is because true faith will always bring about lots of works.
When you fell in love with your husband or wife, you didn't have to be told to call
her; you didn't have to be reminded to hold his hand; you didn't have to be
urged to communicate.
When you're in love, you long to be in touch—and that's what the Father wants
from you and me.
"Love Me," He says.
And the more I realize that He loves me by His grace and mercy being poured
out upon me, the more I have no choice but to love Him in return.
So, I do more under love than I ever would do under the law.
Think about that first letter your wife wrote you, guys. As you stuck it in your
pocket, did you say, "Boy, one of these days I really need to read this letter. I'll
set my alarm fifteen minutes earlier tonight and read it first thing in the morning"?
And then as you rolled out of bed half an hour after the alarm went off, did you
say, "I really want to read this letter, but I don't have time now. Maybe tonight.
No, Home Improvement is on. Can't miss that. I'll get to it tomorrow"?
No! It doesn't work that way. When you got that letter, you ripped it open, read it,
analyzed it, parsed the verbs, researched it, and read between the lines. You
couldn't put it down!
The same thing happens when you understand grace and mercy. You say, "You
bless me, Lord, when I don't pray. You love me when I'm not lovable. You take
care of me when I fail to walk with You. You're faithful to me day after week after
year. I want to find out more about You."
That's what it means for the just to live by faith.
Galatians 3:12 NASB
12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall
live by them.”

21. The law says, "You must do it and keep doing it."
Leviticus 18:5 NASB
5 So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if
he does them; I am the Lord.
Faith says, "He did it. It's done"
John 19:30 NASB
30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And
He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
Galatians 3:13a NASB
13a Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for
us—
When man sinned, God said to Adam, "From this point on, you will labor for
bread, live by the sweat of your brow, and work through thorns and thistles."
Then came Jesus, the Last Adam.
In the Upper Room, His broken body became our bread. In the Garden of
Gethsemane, His sweat mingled with blood.
On Calvary, the thorns of the Earth were embedded in His brow.
Jesus absorbed it all.
He Who knew no sin became sin for us, as He Himself became the curse.
This is what Paul is driving home.
What Jesus did is so incredible, so wonderful, how could we think that through
our own efforts we could add anything to His work on our behalf?
Galatians 3:13b NASB
3:13b for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—
This verse has obvious application to Jesus Christ as He hung on Calvary's tree.
Galatians 3:1-14 NASB
14 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.

22. Jesus paid the price so we could receive the promise of the Spirit—all the power
and blessing of the Holy Ghost—not by our works, but by faith in what He
accomplished on Calvary.
Galatians 3:1-14 MSG
Trust in Christ, Not the Law
1 You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of
your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer
have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was
certainly set before you clearly enough
2-4 Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by
working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s
Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy
people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by
God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you
suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning
process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this
up!
5-6 Answer this question: Does the God Who lavishly provides you with His own
presence, His Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for
yourselves, does He do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or
because you trust Him to do them in you? Don’t these things happen among you
just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief
was turned into a life that was right with God.
7-8 Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ (not persons
who put their trust in the law!) are like Abraham: children of faith? It was all laid
out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by
faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: “All nations will be
blessed in you.”
9-10 So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by
faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his
own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up:
“Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the
Book of the law.”

23. 11-12 The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make
it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who
lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for
him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you.
Habakkuk had it right: “The person who believes God, is set right by God—and
that’s the real life.” Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith,
but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in
Scripture: “The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by
them.”
13-14 Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it
completely into Himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is
everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed
to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse.
And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s
blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive
God’s life, His Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received
it.
Galatians 3:1-14 MSG
Sunday
http://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.YeZK4m9R0ZovA7PRca4vag&pid=15.1
Galatians 3:23-29
One in Christ Jesus
September 23, 2018
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 NASB
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

24. John 14:6 NASB
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father but through me.”
Romans 3:23 NASB
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NASB
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the
penalty for our sins.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in
Revelation 21:8.
Revelation 21:8 NASB
8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and
immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the
lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Romans 6:23b NASB
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5:8 NASB
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.
Revelation 21:7 NASB
7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be
My son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be overcomers.
Romans 10:9-10 NASB
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that
God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person
believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in
salvation.
Romans 10:13 NASB
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

25. Have questions or would like to know more?
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or
http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/