Participants: Pr. John Dinzey (Host), Jill Morikone, Pr. CA Murray, Pr. Ronny Shelton, Shelley Quinn
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP000030A
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00:01 The Bible tells us...
00:20 Join us now for the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:25 Our study today is, The Gospel of Galatians. 00:33 Hello and welcome to this day's study. 00:36 This is the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:38 And we're glad that you have joined us. 00:40 And we praise the Lord for the study that we are doing 00:43 in the book of Galatians. 00:44 And I would like to encourage you to stay by, 00:48 and grab your Bible and something to write with. 00:50 Because it may be that one of us will share something 00:52 that will be of help to you during this program. 00:56 And so I would like to borrow this moment Sister Jill's 00:59 Sabbath School Quarterly, because we want to 01:01 make sure that you have one of these. 01:03 And if you don't have one of these, 01:05 you may want to visit your local Seventh-day Adventist Church 01:08 to see, and they would be able to give you one for free. 01:12 Now if you can't get out for some reason, 01:15 or you prefer, we'd like to invite you to go to the internet 01:19 and go to ABSG.Adventist.org. 01:24 That's Adult Bible Study Guide. 01:32 And there you can download for free a pdf version 01:36 of this Sabbath School Quarterly 01:38 that we'll be using in this program. 01:40 And we are making our way through the 01:43 chapters of the book of Galatians. 01:44 It's a fascinating study of God's Word. 01:47 And we encourage you to prayerfully follow along 01:50 so that your Christian experience can be enriched 01:53 by the study of God's Word. 01:55 And so we have with us our panel that has been praying 01:59 and asking for the Lord to use them. 02:00 And to my left, Sister Jill Morikone. 02:04 Then followed by Shelley Quinn, that you know as well. 02:09 And we have Ron Shelton, also known as Ronnie Shelton. 02:13 We're glad that he's with us. 02:14 And of course, Pastor C.A. Murray 02:16 joining us at the other end. 02:18 And thank you so much for the opportunity to 02:23 be in your homes in this way. 02:26 And we encourage you to pray for 3ABN 02:28 and continue supporting 3ABN so that we can continue 02:31 bringing the gospel to the whole world. 02:34 Before we commence our study, we'd like to ask Sister Jill 02:38 if she will lead us in prayer. 02:40 Let's pray. 02:41 Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus, 02:43 and we just thank You for the gift of Sabbath. 02:46 We thank You for the gift of Your Word 02:48 and the privilege right now of opening up Your Word. 02:51 We ask that You would send Your Holy Spirit, 02:53 that You would teach each one of us, 02:55 that You would give us ears to hear and a mind that's 02:58 open and receptive to the truths found in Your Word. 03:02 And we thank You and give You praise and glory. 03:05 In the precious and holy name of Jesus, amen. 03:08 - Amen. - And amen. 03:10 So at this time, we are going to begin our study. 03:14 And we are looking at lesson number five 03:17 in the Bible study guide that we mentioned. 03:19 Lesson number five, and it's, Old Testament Faith. 03:23 Old Testament Faith. 03:25 And a memory verse is given us. 03:27 And it's found in Galatians 3:13. 03:30 And we'd like to ask our panel to join together in reading 03:34 Galatians 3:13. 03:36 Let us begin. 03:37 "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law 03:41 by becoming a curse for us; for it is written, 03:45 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'" 03:50 Now this memory text, of course, is 03:54 something we want you to carry away: 03:56 that Christ has done so much for us. 04:00 Gave His life for us to rescue us. 04:02 And this is illustrated in the lesson 04:05 by a story that is quite touching. 04:08 There's a story of a young boy that decided to 04:11 make his own boat. 04:13 And he got all his parts together, made his best effort. 04:17 It was his very first one. 04:19 And he was so happy. 04:21 It was perfect, if you want to say. 04:23 It was perfect. 04:25 And so he decided to take this to the test. 04:27 Let's put it in the water to see if it will work. 04:30 And so he put it in the water. 04:31 He was having a great time. 04:33 But eventually a strong wind carried his little boat away, 04:38 and it was too far for him to go after it. 04:41 And soon the little boat was out of sight. 04:43 And soon he began to cry, because he said, 04:48 "I've lost my little boat forever." 04:51 And so the little boy was sad... 04:54 ...until one day he sees his little boat, 04:57 and he couldn't hardly believe it. 04:58 It was there at a store, at a pawn shop. 05:01 He says, "That's my little boat. 05:04 I have found it. I have found it." 05:06 So he happily goes into the store and says, 05:09 "Mister, I would like to get my boat back. 05:12 It's right there in your window." 05:14 And the gentleman says, "Well, no. 05:16 This is my boat. 05:18 And I have it for sale." 05:19 He says, "But I made that boat. It's mine." 05:22 And he says, "Well, it's my boat. 05:25 And if you want it, you have to pay for it. 05:29 Two dollars, and it's yours." 05:31 "Two dollars?" 05:33 And the little boy was sad because he didn't 05:34 have two dollars. 05:36 He went home and counted all his coins, and he was short. 05:39 And he decided to take on some jobs. 05:41 He did some cutting of the grass, and a few other things 05:44 that he could do. 05:45 Shine some shoes, I don't know. 05:46 He did what he could to get the money 05:49 so that he can buy the little boat. 05:51 So when he got the two dollars he ran down to the store, 05:54 and it was still there. 05:55 He went inside and said, "Mister, I want that little boat 05:59 because it's mine. 06:00 And now I pay you the two dollars you want." 06:04 And so he paid him the two dollars. 06:06 He said, "Now that I have your two dollars, 06:08 it can now be yours." 06:09 So he gave him the boat. 06:11 And the little boy was so happy, went out the store rejoicing, 06:14 hugging the boat, and said, "My little boat. 06:18 I love you because I made you. 06:20 And now I also love you because I bought you. 06:23 You are twice mine." 06:25 And so this is a story that we use to illustrate 06:28 God, our Creator, made us, and we out of our own choice 06:36 made ourselves lost. 06:38 But the Bible says that Jesus Christ came to seek and to save 06:41 that which was lost, and died for us. 06:44 So it is, in essence, He created us and bought us. 06:48 We are twice His. 06:50 And it can be three times His if you choose to have 06:54 Jesus as your personal Savior. 06:56 Johnny, Elder T. Marshall Kelly sings that song. 06:59 He sung it right here on 3ABN. 07:01 The song is called, Two Times Mine. 07:03 And he sung it here on 3ABN many times. 07:05 I was just thinking how lucky your boys were, 07:09 because you're such a good story teller. 07:11 He can tell a story. 07:14 Well, our lesson going into Sunday's part 07:17 takes us into the Scriptures found in the book of 07:22 Galatians 3:1-5. 07:26 And I will read these verses for you. 07:27 It says, "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, 07:30 that ye should not obey the truth, 07:33 before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, 07:38 crucified among you? 07:40 This only would I learn of you; received ye the Spirit 07:43 by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 07:47 Are ye so foolish? 07:48 Having begun in the Spirit, 07:50 are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 07:53 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? 07:56 If it be yet in vain. 07:58 He therefore that ministereth unto you the Spirit, 08:02 and worketh miracles among you, 08:04 doeth he it by the works of the law, 08:07 or by the hearing of faith?" 08:09 These are some powerful questions 08:11 that the apostle Paul asks the Galatians. 08:14 And this word, "foolish," is a strong word. 08:22 Perhaps Pastor C.A. might help us. 08:24 Pastor C.A., in today's modern language, what would we 08:27 call somebody that we'd say, "O foolish Galatians"? 08:30 What's another word to you? 08:32 The words that come immediately to mind, I cannot use. 08:35 Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha... 08:39 Enough said. 08:40 Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha... 08:42 Well, interestingly enough, some modern translations 08:45 have tried to capture the essence of Paul's words 08:49 in verse 1, "Foolish Galatians." 08:52 And it's a Greek word, "anoetoi." 08:55 And it comes from another Greek word, 09:01 which is a word for the mind, which is, "nous." 09:05 Now I would like to bring to you a translation, 09:10 it's the Phillip's translation. 09:12 And he translates it this way. 09:16 Lovingly, "Oh you dear idiots of Galatia." 09:19 I was just getting read to say, "idiots." 09:20 Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha... 09:22 That's the translation. 09:25 In calling the Galatians, foolish, Paul is not saying 09:27 they are morally or mentally deficient. 09:30 Because the Greek word for that is, moros, 09:34 that conveys the idea. 09:36 And it was used by Jesus in parables such as 09:38 Matthew 7:26 and Matthew 25:1-13. 09:41 Instead, Paul uses the word, anoetos, which has the idea 09:46 of someone who can think, but fails to use 09:50 the power of perception. 09:53 In other words, the Galatians are not crazy. 09:58 They can think. 10:00 But Paul is trying to wake them up, 10:02 and uses this strong language to help them understand 10:05 that they are not thinking correctly. 10:09 And so he uses the word, foolish. 10:13 And so then he follows that with the question, 10:17 "Who has bewitched you?" 10:21 In other words, "You're not thinking right. 10:24 Something has happened to you." 10:26 And he uses the word, bewitched. 10:29 In this sense, it reminds us of another scripture 10:34 that is found in 2 Corinthians 4:4. 10:39 2 Corinthians 4:4 10:42 And in this scripture we have the following words, 10:44 "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds 10:50 of them which believe not, lest the light of the 10:55 glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, 10:58 should shine unto them." 11:01 So Paul has in mind, "Who has bewitched you? 11:06 Who has come in and bewitched you? 11:09 Obviously, the devil has used some individual to 11:13 lead you astray." 11:15 And so Paul is using these words. 11:17 And now he then uses another word, he says... 11:22 Because he's really baffled, he's really baffled. 11:25 "How can this be?" 11:26 Because they found freedom in Christ. 11:29 They understood they were saved by grace through faith. 11:32 And now they go back to something shocking. 11:35 They go back to the works of the law. 11:38 And so that's why Paul asks the questions... 11:42 I see my time is slipping. 11:44 ...asks the questions, "Are you so foolish? 11:46 "Having begun in the Spirit..." 11:47 Going back to Galatians 3:3. 11:49 "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now 11:51 made perfect by the flesh?" 11:53 So this is a question for the Galatians. 11:57 And so in the time that remains for my segment here, 12:01 I would like to use this as a springboard to say 12:05 that we have to be careful ourselves. 12:07 We have to be, as it says in the Bible, 12:11 deeply rooted and grounded in God's Word. 12:14 Because Satan will use people to lead us astray, 12:17 to lead us from the path of the Lord, 12:20 to lead us into speculation, 12:22 to lead us into following cunningly devised fables. 12:26 Jesus Himself said that there will be 12:27 false prophets coming in, and also those who claim 12:31 to be Jesus Christ Himself. 12:33 So what should we do? 12:34 We need to be deeply grounded in the Word. 12:37 As a matter of fact, in Matthew 24 Jesus uses 12:39 the words that, "Insomuch as possible, they would deceive 12:44 the very elect." 12:45 In other words, we need to be studying God's Word, 12:48 but also having that personal relationship with the Lord. 12:51 Being vitally connected to the Lord 12:53 so that the Lord will bless us with discernment 12:56 to know when the devil is trying to lead us astray. 13:00 So, Sister Jill, if you'll follow, please. 13:02 Absolutely. 13:04 Monday we have, Grounded in Scripture. 13:05 And so far in the book of Galatians, the apostle Paul is 13:08 making arguments, you could say, in defense of 13:11 justification by faith. 13:13 His first argument is actually in Galatians 2:1-10. 13:18 And we looked at this in a previous lesson. 13:21 But he reminds them of the agreement that the apostles 13:25 reached at the Jerusalem Council in AD 49; 13:28 the agreement that they made. 13:29 And let's look at that briefly, and then we'll 13:31 get into, Grounded in Scripture. 13:32 We're going to Acts 15. 13:34 That's where we see the Jerusalem Council. 13:37 So his first argument in favor of justification by faith, 13:41 he reminds them of this agreement that they reached. 13:44 And they had discussion there in Jerusalem. 13:48 And then we're in Acts 15:24. 13:52 "Since we have heard that some who went out from us 13:55 have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, 13:59 'You must be circumcised and keep the law,' 14:02 to whom we gave no such commandment, 14:05 it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, 14:08 to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 14:12 men who have risked their lives for the name of 14:14 our Lord Jesus Christ. 14:15 And we also send Judas and Silas, who will report the 14:18 same things by word of mouth. 14:21 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, 14:24 to lay upon you no greater burden than 14:27 these necessary things." 14:29 So Paul, in Galatians 2, reminds them of what took place 14:33 at the Jerusalem Council. 14:35 Reminds them that the apostles, the early Christian church, 14:39 had gathered together and had said it is not necessary. 14:43 Justification is simply by faith. 14:45 It's not faith plus circumcision, 14:47 or faith plus works. 14:49 It's just by faith. 14:50 Then Paul continues his argument, and what 14:52 Brother Johnny just shared, in appealing to the Galatian's 14:55 own personal experience. 14:57 We found that in the first couple of verses 14:58 here in Galatians 3. 15:01 He says, verse 3, "Are you so foolish? 15:04 Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made 15:07 perfect by the flesh?" 15:08 Meaning that they had already experienced, or they knew 15:12 what justification by faith was like. 15:14 And then all of a sudden other people are coming in 15:17 and maybe robbing them of their experience, 15:20 robbing them of their freedom in Christ. 15:23 So first, he reminds them of what the church 15:25 had decided in Jerusalem. 15:27 Then he also says, "You know what it's like 15:30 to walk with Jesus. 15:32 You know what that feels like. 15:33 You began in the Spirit, are you now trying to 15:36 perfect your works in the flesh?" 15:38 Then he uses, this is Monday's lesson, 15:40 the most powerful argument of all. 15:42 And that's the Word of God. 15:43 He uses the testimony of Scripture for the final 15:47 and ultimate confirmation of justification by faith. 15:51 We won't look at all the verses, but if you go from 15:54 Galatians 3:6 through Galatians 4:31, 16:00 there are fourteen... 16:03 No, excuse me. 16:04 There are fifteen, fifteen Old Testament scriptures 16:09 that Paul references. 16:11 And we want to take a look at some of those scriptures. 16:13 But first, let's look at 2 Timothy 3. 16:16 2 Timothy 3:16, talking about all Scripture being 16:22 given by inspiration of God. 16:24 2 Timothy 3:16 16:26 Do you have that, Brother Johnny? 16:27 Yes. 16:29 - 2 Timothy 3:15. - Sixteen. 16:33 Or fifteen is good too, but especially sixteen. 16:37 2 Timothy chapter... Oh, I'm in chapter 2. 16:39 Sixteen, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, 16:43 and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 16:47 for instruction in righteousness..." 16:49 Amen, read verse seventeen. We've got to finish that. 16:52 "...that the man of God may be perfect, 16:54 thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 16:57 So here we see he says, "all scripture." 17:00 If you look in the Greek, it's doesn't mean all in a 17:03 general sense like, "Okay, everything." 17:05 It means, each and every scripture. 17:09 So that means every word in the Bible is inspired. 17:14 Every single word, not just in a general sense. 17:17 Yeah, Shelley, I believe the Bible. 17:18 But specifically everything you read here in 17:22 the Word of God is inspired. 17:23 All scripture, each and every scripture, 17:26 is God breathed. 17:29 Given by inspiration of God. 17:31 Literally that means, breathed by God. 17:34 You think, in the beginning He spoke and it was done. 17:37 He commanded, and it stood fast. 17:39 The power in the Word of God to set the world in motion; 17:43 to create. 17:44 And that same inherit power is in the Word of God. 17:48 To re-create in you and I the image of Jesus, 17:51 the character of Jesus. 17:53 So we're going back to Galatians now. 17:55 Galatians chapter 3. 17:57 And Paul is using this, building an argument for 18:01 justification by faith just grounded in Scripture. 18:04 And we're just going to briefly look over several scriptures 18:07 in the time we have here. 18:10 The first scripture used is actually what Shelley is 18:12 going to talk about, so we won't discuss it, 18:14 but it's in verse 6. 18:16 That actually comes from Genesis 15:6. 18:20 "...Abraham 'believed God, and it was accounted 18:23 to him for righteousness.'" 18:25 Verse 8, we have another scripture. 18:28 He says, "And the scripture, foreseeing that God would 18:30 justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham, 18:34 beforehand, saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed.'" 18:38 That's still God talking to Abraham. 18:41 That's that covenant, the promise. 18:44 Genesis 12:3 is what it's referencing. 18:47 Then we jump over to Galatians 3:10. 18:51 And I know, Pastor C.A., you have this. 18:52 We won't discuss this, but it says, "Cursed is everyone 18:55 who does not continue in all things which are 18:57 written in the book of the law, to do them." 18:59 That's from Deuteronomy 27. 19:02 You know, Deuteronomy 27 and 28 are the blessings 19:06 and cursings, you can say, given from the mount. 19:09 If you do these things, if you walk in this covenant, 19:12 these are the blessings that are going to follow. 19:15 And if you don't, these are the curses that will follow. 19:19 We also see in verse 11. 19:21 Now this was huge to me. 19:23 And I'm almost embarrassed to tell you this at home, 19:26 because you'd think, how often do I read my Bible and study. 19:29 But I did not know this. 19:31 Verse 11, it says, "The law is not of faith, 19:34 but 'the man who does them shall live by them.'" 19:37 No, I'm sorry. I'm reading verse 12. 19:39 Verse 11, "That no one is justified by the law in the 19:42 sight of God is evident, for 'the just shall live by faith.'" 19:47 Now to be honest with you, I thought that was from Paul. 19:51 That's just being frank with you. 19:53 I thought that originated... 19:54 I've read it in Romans, I've read it in Galatians. 19:57 It's also in Hebrews, I believe. 19:59 And I always thought, I know that Martin Luther 20:03 built, you could say, the backbone of the 20:05 Protestant Reformation on that verse, 20:06 "The just shall live by faith." 20:10 But you know, it's an Old Testament scripture. 20:12 - Yes it is. - I did not know that. 20:14 So here I'm giving you my ignorance. 20:16 It's an Old Testament scripture. 20:18 Paul is referring to Habakkuk 2:4 where it says, 20:23 "The just shall live by faith." 20:25 And I think so often in the Christian church, 20:27 we think, in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 20:29 we think the Old Testament is the law. 20:34 The Old Testament is even justification 20:39 or righteousness by works. 20:40 And then we think, well the New Testament 20:43 has the new covenant, and now we're under grace. 20:46 But you know what? 20:47 There is grace in the Old Testament. 20:49 The Old Testament, the promise given... 20:52 And I know I don't want to step on your lesson there. 20:55 But the promise given to Abraham is righteousness by faith. 21:01 And you see that the covenant relationship 21:04 that God wanted to enter into with His people, 21:07 even the Ten Commandments, being promises saying 21:11 "If you will do this, I will give you the power to do this." 21:16 It's not us saying, the people responded in works by saying, 21:21 "All that the Lord has said, we will do." 21:23 But it wasn't meant to be legalistic. 21:26 It wasn't meant to be something of works. 21:29 It was meant to be a promise. 21:30 Jesus said, "I will work in you and I will equip you 21:35 My word to keep these commandments." 21:38 So I know we don't have time, but the other references 21:41 are in Galatians 3:13. 21:44 "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." 21:46 That comes from actually Deuteronomy 21. 21:49 And then we see the promises. 21:50 This refers back, this is in Galatians 3:16, 21:54 but Paul talks about the promise to Abraham and his Seed. 21:57 Seed being capital, meaning Jesus Christ. 22:01 That refers us all the way back to Genesis 22. 22:05 We also see the promise of a mediator, Galatians 3:19. 22:11 Galatians 3:29, Abraham's seed; the promises given to them, 22:15 "and heirs according to the promise." 22:16 Galatians 4:4, "When the fullness of the time was come, 22:19 God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law." 22:23 And that refers us all the way back to the first promise, 22:26 the Messianic promise in Genesis 3:15, 22:30 where God says, "I will put enmity between 22:32 you and the serpent." 22:33 And so it's full of scripture. 22:36 There's reference to Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, 22:39 the law from Mount Sinai, reference to Isaiah 54. 22:44 But Paul builds a conclusive argument 22:47 going through these scriptures that justification by faith 22:51 is not just something the Jerusalem church concocted, 22:54 not just something that they knew by experience, 22:57 the Galatian church, but this is something that 22:59 is rooted and grounded in the Word of God. 23:01 Amen. Well done, Jillie. 23:04 Okay, well I have... What do I have? 23:08 I have Tuesday. 23:09 Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha... 23:10 Reckoned as Righteous. 23:13 And I'm going to read Galatians 3:6. 23:17 "...just as Abraham 'believed God, and it was accounted 23:22 to him for righteousness.'" 23:24 Our Sabbath School Quarterly asks, "Why do you think 23:29 Paul first appeals to Abraham as he looks to the scriptures 23:33 to validate his gospel message?" 23:35 Well in the first place, Abraham was the patriarch. 23:39 We was basically considered the father of the Jewish race. 23:43 And he was the central figure in Judaism. 23:49 So what happened is, the people, the Jews of Paul's time, 23:56 looked to Abraham as the prototype. 23:59 They thought, "This is how a Jew ought to be." 24:03 But they considered that God had made or declared 24:09 Abraham righteous because of his obedience. 24:12 And certainly they thought this was his greatest characteristic. 24:17 When you think about it, first of all Abraham at 75 years old, 24:22 he departs his home, leaves his country, 24:25 has to adapt himself to a new country, new customs. 24:30 He forsook his family to answer God's call. 24:34 He accepted circumcision. 24:38 Now an old man was accepting circumcision. 24:40 And he was willing to offer Isaac his son as a sacrifice 24:46 at God's command. 24:47 And I have to just stop here and add this, 24:50 because some people think, "Why would God do that?" 24:53 And oh, that took so much faith for Abraham to do this. 24:57 I want to read you Hebrews 11:17-19. 25:00 Hebrews 11:17-19 25:04 It says, "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, 25:10 and he who had received the promises offered up 25:14 his only begotten son..." 25:16 Well, this is the begotten son of promise. 25:20 We know he had Ishmael. 25:21 "...of whom it was said, 'In Isaac 25:25 your seed shall be called.'" 25:26 So the whole covenant was based on Isaac, and yet 25:32 God's saying, "Put him on the altar." 25:35 How could he do that? 25:37 Well listen. 25:38 He said, Abraham offers him up in faith. 25:41 "...concluding," in verse 19, "that God was able 25:46 to raise him up, even from the dead, 25:51 from which he also received him in a figurative sense." 25:55 Jesus said, in John 8:56, "Your father Abraham 26:02 saw My day, and was glad." 26:05 So when God cut covenant with Abraham, 26:08 and passed between the pieces, He gave Abraham the vision 26:15 of Christ's day. 26:16 See, it has always... 26:19 Abraham was the beginning of the everlasting covenant of grace. 26:23 And God was showing him Jesus Christ was coming. 26:27 He knew He was going to be crucified. 26:29 He knew He was going to be resurrected. 26:31 So when God said, "Offer up your son," he thought, 26:34 "Well, okay. 26:36 Because if You can resurrect Your Son, 26:37 You can resurrect mine." 26:39 So these Jews mistakenly believed that Abraham 26:45 had God's love and attention because of his obedience. 26:48 And now Paul's going to turn the tables on them. 26:51 And nine times in Galatians instead of using Abraham 26:55 as an example of law keeping, he is going to use Abraham 26:59 as an example of faith. 27:01 In Genesis 15:6, this was the cornerstone for Paul's teaching 27:06 of justification by faith. 27:09 Genesis 15:6. Jill, you've got that? 27:13 "And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it 27:15 to him for righteousness." 27:17 That word, "accounted," means, to reckon, to impute, 27:20 to accredit to our account. 27:23 So Abraham trusted in God's power. 27:25 And he had to keep on believing for quite a 27:28 long time, didn't he? 27:29 Now the word, to trust or to believe, here, 27:35 "aman," in the Hebrew, it means, to trust, believe, 27:39 be firm, and to be faithful toward. 27:43 So when it says, "Abraham believed God," he trusted God, 27:47 he accepted God's testimony. 27:49 But he was faithful to God. 27:52 He was ready to do God's word. 27:54 Now in the Greek, there is a noun for, "faith." 27:59 Pistis. 28:01 The verb is, pistueo. 28:03 Which means that you believe or have faith. 28:08 So the reason I wanted to show that is because 28:13 faith is not just a noun, it's not just something out here. 28:18 It's a verb. It is action. 28:21 So Abraham's faith in God, it was relational. 28:25 It implied that he was ready to receive God's instructions 28:29 and joyfully obey. 28:32 And God counted him, He credited him his righteousness 28:36 just by his faith. 28:43 In Romans 4, let's look at that. 28:45 Romans 4:3-6 28:51 We have the same passage, essentially. 28:57 The thought that's coming to my mind, 28:58 you know, Abraham was a sinner just like you and me. 29:01 So he could never have been, as the Jews believed, 29:06 accounted righteous before God. 29:08 Because what is the wages of sin? 29:10 Death. 29:11 So we know, and Paul mentions this again in Romans, he says, 29:15 Romans 4:3-6, "For what does the Scripture say?" Paul asks. 29:19 "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted 29:23 to him for righteousness." 29:25 That belief put him in right standing with God. 29:29 "Now to him who works..." 29:31 He's talking about if you're working to merit justification. 29:36 "... the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 29:42 But," he says, "to him who does not work but believes 29:47 on Him who justifies the ungodly..." 29:52 To believe on Him who justifies the ungodly 29:57 implies trust and self-surrender, doesn't it? 30:01 "...his faith is accounted for righteousness, 30:03 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man 30:06 to whom God imputes righteousness 30:11 apart from the law." 30:13 And then he quotes David. 30:15 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, 30:19 whose sins are covered. 30:20 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impart sin." 30:26 So justification by faith has two components. 30:30 First, God does not count our sin against us. 30:35 The blood of Jesus Christ covers those sins. 30:38 And when we accept Christ as our Savior, we confess our sins, 30:42 His blood washes away that sin. 30:45 And what that means is, God's... 30:47 It's a forensic term, justification. 30:50 God looks down as judge, there's no more evidence against us now, 30:54 so He says, "Not guilty. 30:57 You're justified." 30:58 But then the second part is that He imputes or credits 31:04 Christ's righteousness to us. 31:07 He puts it into our account so that He can restore 31:10 fellowship with us. 31:12 So not only does He forgive our past, but He credits Christ's 31:16 obedience to my account. 31:18 That just makes me so excited. 31:20 Because you think about, when God looks down 31:22 or He looks at Shelley Quinn's account, 31:25 what He sees is Christ's obedience. 31:27 Hallelujah. 31:28 But then, there is more. 31:32 He doesn't just justify us by grace. 31:35 He sanctifies us by grace. 31:37 So He imputes that righteousness, 31:39 He puts it in our account, but then He imparts 31:42 that righteousness, He puts it inside of us 31:45 as Christ lives in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. 31:48 So he goes on and he says, in verse 9, 31:51 "Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, 31:55 or upon the uncircumcised also?" 31:57 Is it just for Jews or also for Gentiles? 32:00 "For we say that faith was accounted 32:02 to Abraham for righteousness. 32:04 How then was it accounted? 32:06 While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? 32:10 Not when he was circumcised, 32:12 but while he was still uncircumcised." 32:14 Because Abraham wasn't circumcised until he was 32:17 99 years old and Ismael was 13 years old. 32:21 "And he received the sign of circumcision..." 32:25 This was a sign of the covenant that God made with him. 32:28 "It was a seal," an external mark, "of the righteousness 32:33 of the faith which he had while he was still uncircumcised..." 32:38 Now for the Christian, the seal for us, the external sign, 32:44 is baptism, is it not? 32:46 "...that he might be the father of all those who believe, 32:49 though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be 32:53 imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those 32:57 who not only are of the circumcision, but also 33:03 those who walk in the steps of the faith which our 33:05 father Abraham had while still uncircumcised." 33:10 So the point that Paul is making here, 33:14 on what basis did God count Abraham righteous? 33:22 By faith. 33:24 It was not the result, or, his faith was not the result 33:30 or the foundation for his justification. 33:34 He didn't obey to be justified. 33:40 Because he was justified, he obeyed. 33:45 So justification leads to obedience, not vice versa. 33:50 Did that make sense? 33:51 - Yes. - Okay. 33:53 But add that he also obeyed because he loved God 33:54 with all of his heart. 33:56 That's what it's all about, 33:57 once God does that for us, isn't it? 33:59 A relationship. 34:01 Let's look at Wednesday's part, The Gospel in the Old Testament. 34:06 Sometimes I think we forget that the gospel 34:09 is in the Old Testament. 34:11 We normally think of the four gospels. 34:13 You know, the New Testament. 34:15 And that's where everything key today is in the New Testament. 34:19 But today we're going to be looking back 34:22 in the Old Testament to find the gospel as well. 34:26 As I looked at this lesson, I thought, you know, 34:30 yes, Abraham is central to Paul's message 34:34 here in Galatians. 34:35 He is central to that. 34:37 The opponents of the movement that Paul was bringing in, 34:40 if I can call it that, the opponents were all 34:43 looking at Moses. 34:45 You know, because the law came through Moses. 34:48 And so they were saying, "But Moses says this, 34:50 and Moses says that and that." 34:52 So Paul goes back now several centuries before Moses, 34:56 and there he gets hold of this story of Abraham and his life. 35:02 And so that too carries a big weight about faith. 35:06 I want to read Genesis 12:1-3. 35:09 Maybe we've touched on it here already. 35:11 Genesis 12:1-3 35:13 If somebody will read that for me. 35:16 What does this tell us about the nature of the covenant 35:20 that God made with Abraham? 35:21 Genesis 12:1-3 35:24 "Now the LORD had said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, 35:28 from your family and from your father's house, 35:31 to a land that I will show you. 35:34 I will make you a great nation; 35:36 I will bless you and make your name great; 35:39 and you shall be a blessing.'" 35:40 And verse 3, "I will bless those who bless you, 35:43 and I will curse him who curses you; 35:46 and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 35:52 What can we say about Abraham when God says, 35:56 "Pack up and start moving." 35:59 C.A., did you ever take a call some place 36:01 and you didn't know where you were going? 36:02 Yeah, 3ABN. 36:04 Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha... 36:05 You didn't know what to expect, you knew where it was. 36:07 I knew what I was getting into. 36:09 I actually didn't know where it was. 36:10 - By faith you came anyway. - Oh yes, very much so. 36:14 He was wide eyed when he arrived. 36:16 So God tells Abraham, He says, "I want you to pack up 36:20 and start moving," without telling him where he's going. 36:24 To do that takes a tremendous amount of faith. 36:28 Wow! The covenant centered on the promises 36:32 that God had made to Abraham and his descendants. 36:37 So the covenant centered on promises 36:39 that God made with Abraham, and who else? 36:42 I mean, just Abraham? 36:44 - And his seed, his heritage. - And his seed. 36:46 - Does that include us? - Yes it does. Amen. 36:48 How so? 36:49 Because Paul says once we... 36:50 Well Jesus was THE Seed, so when we're in Christ 36:53 we're the seed of Abraham. 36:55 And heirs according to the promise. 36:58 Amen, amen. 36:59 The basis of God's covenant with Abraham centered on 37:03 God's promises to him. 37:06 God says to Abraham four times, "I will." 37:09 "I will..." "I will..." "I will..." 37:12 And you know, we serve a covenant keeping God. 37:15 - Amen. - Aren't you glad? 37:17 You know, sometimes I've made some covenants, some promises, 37:20 that I couldn't fulfill. 37:23 Aren't we glad that the God who makes the covenant 37:26 promises is able to do what He says He can do? 37:29 Nothing will deter Him. 37:32 So Abraham, by the way, notice during the covenant 37:35 that we talked about, C.A., that you read, 37:38 when God said, "I want you to go here. 37:41 And I will bless you. 37:43 And I will curse those who curse you." 37:45 Did you notice, during that promise or that covenant part 37:50 with Abraham, Abraham didn't really agree to anything. 37:53 - Who made the promises? - God made all the promises. 37:55 God made all the promises, yeah. 38:00 It just amazes me that He didn't say, "Now Abraham, 38:03 if you will do this, then I'm going to do that for you." 38:07 He just said, "I'm going to do this for you. 38:09 I'm going to do this." 38:11 A covenant keeping God. 38:12 We usually promise that we will serve Him 38:16 if only He will do something for us in return. 38:19 How many times have you prayed, as I have, 38:21 "Lord, if you'll do this, I'll do this." 38:25 Have you ever tried to bargain with God? 38:26 Yeah, we all do at one time, I think. 38:28 Yeah, "If you'll do this, God, I will do that." 38:32 And if I see God doing it, I say, "Wow, look at God move." 38:36 But then I find I'm getting weak now on my end 38:38 of the covenant with Him. 38:40 I find that I'm slipping. 38:43 So we try to work with God on my terms. 38:50 You know, that doesn't work so good, does it? 38:53 And we talked about the sacrifice of Isaac 38:56 in Genesis 22. 39:00 And of course he wasn't actually sacrificed, but 39:02 in God's sight Abraham had been faithful. 39:07 As we understand, as we look at that story, 39:10 that Isaac, though a young man, could have overpowered 39:13 the old man, right, and said, "I'm not going to do this. 39:16 The old man has lost it." 39:17 Isaac was close to thirty at that point, yeah. 39:19 How easy it would have been. 39:21 But I think about the training that Abraham had put in his son. 39:25 The family environment. 39:27 "God has said this." 39:29 And the son, Isaac, said, "You know, Dad has always said that, 39:33 and it's always been true." 39:35 When Abraham, when the father said, "God is going to do this," 39:38 He always did it. 39:40 And so now he says... 39:42 The trial comes now to Abraham. 39:45 Imagine the call coming for a couple of different reasons. 39:49 "This is my only son, and I'm 99 years old, you know, already. 39:55 Chances are I'm not going to have any more." 39:58 You know? 39:59 And imagine the temptation to have said, "You know, God, 40:01 you're asking too much. 40:02 I don't think I can do this." 40:04 You know, what I've always thought, 40:06 now Abraham was accustomed to listening to the voice of God. 40:11 Who really had faith was Isaac, 40:14 who believed that it was God's voice telling his father that. 40:20 Because Isaac had to have faith, not only in God, 40:22 but in his father that he was hearing from God. 40:24 Yes, and so we look back then at the example 40:28 of Abraham and what he was willing to do for God. 40:32 He was willing to do all this by faith, wasn't it? 40:36 "God had said it. I believe it. 40:38 I don't know how it's going to turn out, 40:39 I don't know what God is going to do. 40:41 I don't know how I'm suppose to be the father of nations 40:44 if I kill my only son. 40:46 But I know God is able somehow, some way." 40:50 So when I look back at faith in the Old Testament, 40:53 can you think of a place where somebody else also 40:56 responded by faith and it was accounted 40:59 unto him for righteousness? 41:03 - That's a good question. - A good question. 41:06 And I'm thinking about Noah. 41:08 Genesis 6:8 says, "And Noah found grace..." 41:13 He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 41:16 And that too, I mean, what a test of faith that was 41:20 to build this huge ark to save humanity. 41:23 Rain? What's that? 41:25 Yeah, it had never rained before. 41:26 They'd never seen rain before. 41:28 What is wrong with Moses? 41:30 And so he had like 120 years proclaiming 41:33 that it's going to rain. 41:34 People thinking, "This old man is nuts." 41:37 You know, Ronnie, you just had a thought here 41:38 that slipped, because you said, "Moses." 41:40 But Moses fits in that category also. 41:41 In fact, just go to Hebrews 11 and run that list. 41:43 And everybody there really fits in that list because they all 41:47 were moved by faith. 41:50 - Yeah, yeah. - Yes, absolutely. 41:52 And you think, what a test that must have been when 41:54 society said, "You're nuts." 41:56 You know. Didn't they? 41:57 Peer pressure, he didn't give into the peer pressure. 42:00 So there was faith exhibited throughout the Old Testament. 42:05 And so the book of Galatians, now Paul is pulling in on 42:08 some of those faith stories from the Old Testament 42:11 to convince those that were opponents of the faith. 42:15 They had always lived by law, C.A. 42:18 They had always lived by law. 42:19 The Jewish nation thought, "I will be saved by keeping 42:23 the law, by keeping the commandments. 42:24 I will work my way to heaven. 42:26 That's how I'm going to get there." 42:28 So Paul now comes on the scene bringing this new teaching, 42:32 this "new" doctrine to them. 42:34 And so he has to go back now to the Old Testament 42:37 and find proof that there was faith back there, 42:41 that the gospel is back there. 42:44 So the new teaching Paul was bringing was actually 42:47 the original teaching that God gave. 42:49 Good point, good point. 42:51 That's, you know, because they got off, they got off... 42:54 They got off track so often, you know. 42:56 And we look at that in all of the foretellings of 43:01 Christ's coming, especially in the book of Isaiah. 43:04 And we say, "I don't understand, the people 43:05 who studied the Word as much as they did, 43:07 how could they get so far off track 43:09 and not recognize the Messiah when He came?" 43:12 It's true today though too, because there's so many 43:15 different interpretations, that sometimes we read 43:19 through a filter. 43:20 Yes, yes, our preconceived ideas, what we've grown up with, 43:24 what we've studied and come to the wrong conclusions, 43:27 as Saul did in the beginning, you know, before 43:29 he was transformed into Paul. 43:31 Let me give you a good saying. 43:33 Preconceived ideas effectively insulate the mind against truth. 43:40 Preconceived ideas effectively insulate the mind against truth. 43:46 They call that today, silo thinking. 43:49 You're in this box, and everything is filtered through 43:53 what you are already thinking is true. 43:54 Yeah. Okay. 43:57 I was thinking of one more thing in the Old Testament, 43:59 an example in the Old Testament of salvation by faith, 44:03 the question is asked. 44:04 And it gives the story in 2 Samuel about David 44:08 receives God's forgiveness for his big sin. 44:12 By faith David became, God said, "He's a man after My own heart," 44:17 that he received forgiveness. 44:19 Forgiveness in the fullest sense. 44:22 Well said, well said. 44:23 You know, I'm looking, and let's go to Galatians chapter 3, 44:27 I just want to read verse 10, 44:28 though Thursday, Redeemed From A Curse, 44:31 really is woven in 9 through 14. 44:34 But if we look at Galatians 3:10, the Bible says, 44:38 "For as many as are of the works of the law 44:42 are under the curse: for it is written, 44:44 'Cursed is every one who does not continue in all things 44:48 which are written in the book of the law, to do them.'" 44:54 You will note that in all of Paul's letters, 44:59 there is an element of apologetics. 45:03 He is defending the faith through all of them. 45:07 Because he's dealing with a people who are so steeped in 45:11 their tradition, it was their tradition that caused them 45:15 to reject Christ. 45:16 So now as this infant church is starting, 45:20 Paul is spending a lot of time defending Jesus. 45:24 He's spending a lot of time defending the faith of Jesus. 45:27 In fact, the book of Hebrews is almost the 45:30 summation of all of these books. 45:32 Because he's really telling the people, Jesus is it. 45:35 Jesus is what it's all about. There is no other. 45:37 And if you go back, there is no more sacrifice for you. 45:42 There is no more forgiveness. 45:44 Because you're going back under the law. 45:46 And so he's saying that in a sort of mini way here; 45:50 that you've been set free, but for some unexplained reason 45:55 someone has hypnotized you, something has gotten into 45:58 your heads, and you are putting yourself back under bondage. 46:02 You are putting yourself back into a state of working 46:05 your way through things. 46:07 So you've got freedom, you're giving up your freedom 46:10 to go back into slavery, volitionally. 46:13 And that is the wrong thing. 46:14 There must be something wrong. 46:15 You must be hypnotized. 46:17 Somebody has gotten in and gotten a hold of your brains. 46:20 Because you are free. 46:22 Why would you want to go back under slavery, 46:24 and you are free in the Lord? 46:26 And so he says here, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue." 46:31 And Shelley and Jill, you both touched on this. 46:35 "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." 46:37 So you cannot continue on your own. 46:40 If we're going to get through this thing, 46:43 we've got to have the grace of Jesus. 46:44 We've got to have faith in Christ, because it is 46:47 Christ who frees us. 46:50 Any other way is going to put you back under the old law. 46:54 So Paul is wrestling with the people who have come up with 47:00 the idea in their minds that: obey, live; disobey, die. 47:05 And no further. 47:07 That's kind of where their thought has ended. 47:10 And he's trying to say, there's a new paradigm now. 47:13 Surrender to Christ and live. 47:14 Have faith and live. 47:16 And Christ has done the obey part. 47:19 What you've got to do is accept His obedience, His death. 47:24 He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 47:26 When you accept that, now is the new way to live. 47:30 Rather than just obey and live, 47:32 it's surrender to Christ and live. 47:34 Believe in Christ and live. 47:35 Accept the grace of Christ and live. 47:37 And of course, another thing that is working against him 47:40 is this idea, from Deuteronomy 21, 47:43 that your Savior died in an accursed method. 47:48 The one that you've got to look to and venerate 47:51 died in a way that has classically in your minds 47:54 been taught that if a person is put on a tree... 47:58 And this is not necessarily die on a tree. 48:00 It's, put on a tree after death 48:01 as a symbol of the accursed state. 48:06 Shot, whatever, by an arrow, or however they were killed. 48:09 If the body is hung on a tree, it is a statement that 48:13 that person is accursed. 48:14 And now Christ dies on a tree. 48:16 And you're being called to venerate somebody 48:20 who your heart says, who your training says, 48:23 who your teaching says cannot be venerated. 48:26 So it's a stumbling block to a lot of people. 48:28 So Paul is spending a lot of time saying, 48:30 we've got to re-orient our life. 48:32 Shelley use to tell us, when you first came to the Bible 48:34 God had to kind of flush everything out 48:36 and we've got to start from scratch. 48:39 And basically, that's what Paul is telling the Galatians. 48:41 You need to get rid of your preconceived silo thinking 48:45 and start from ground zero. 48:48 And ground zero is, Christ has become sin for you. 48:52 He's taken the curse of sin for you. 48:55 Now let's start with that building block 48:57 and build up from there. 48:58 Because if you stay in your old way of thinking, 49:02 you will never, ever be able to accept 49:05 what Christ has done for you. 49:07 Because it's already been done. 49:08 You just have to accept it and understand it. 49:11 Here in the lesson it says, "We do not have the liberty 49:14 to pick and choose what we want to follow." 49:16 And that is so very, very true. 49:18 It's not a Chinese menu. You know, a Chinese menu. 49:21 You don't get to choose one from column A, one from column B. 49:24 It's the whole thing or none at all. 49:28 Before my time slips away... 49:30 And this little ten minutes we get are fun, but boy, 49:32 they kind of tax you when you've got a lot. 49:34 The question is asked in the lesson, 49:37 and I think this is good, "How did Christ deliver us 49:39 from the curse of the law?" 49:41 And Paul is very, very clear in Galatians 3:13, 49:45 2 Corinthians 5:21. 49:46 He became sin for us. 49:49 I think that is one of the things that we'll be studying 49:52 throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. 49:54 How He became sin for us. 49:56 He took on the burden of sin for us. 49:59 He took on our sin, debt, Colossians says, 50:02 and canceled that debt. 50:04 That is something that the human mind has trouble, sort of, 50:09 wrapping itself around because it is so exhaustive 50:12 and so comprehensive, the fact that He became sin for us. 50:15 It's a powerful, powerful thought. 50:18 The word, "redeem," is, exagorazó. 50:24 And of course, any time you have, "ex," in the Greek, 50:28 it's something going out. 50:30 You think, it's something going out. 50:33 The idea is to redeem us or to rescue us from loss. 50:38 To buy us back, as it were. 50:40 To reclaim, to repurchase. 50:42 To re-assert the rights over a particular thing. 50:47 Like that song we were talking about at the very, very 50:49 beginning that T. Marshall Kelly sings, You're Twice Mine. 50:52 "Made you, you sold yourself into sin, 50:55 and I went and got you and bought you back. 50:57 And I spared no expense in getting you back. 51:00 You were worth the price that was paid." 51:02 Of course, the price was all of heaven. 51:04 And we are redeemed through that particular transaction. 51:11 The thing that is wonderful about it is that the transaction 51:14 was volitional. 51:15 Christ was not forced to do this. 51:18 The everlasting covenant says, and picks up the story 51:22 in the mid-sentence, "Yeah, let us make man 51:26 in Our image. 51:28 We know there's going to be a period when there's 51:30 going to be some estrangement, but let's go ahead and do this. 51:34 Let's make man in Our image. 51:36 And if we've got to make a sacrifice to get him back, 51:40 yeah, we'll make that sacrifice. 51:43 Let's go ahead and do it." 51:45 Because of the love of God and the love of our great Savior. 51:51 The lesson says, "He voluntarily took our curse 51:53 upon Himself and suffered in our behalf 51:56 the full penalty of sin." 51:59 So now I don't have to pay that penalty. 52:03 It's been paid. 52:04 I don't have to take a trip to Jerusalem. 52:08 And I don't have to crawl on my hands and knees. 52:10 And I don't have to, as poor Martin Luther did, 52:12 wear my horse hair garment inside out to sort of 52:15 flagellate myself. 52:17 All I've got to do is come to Jesus and say, "I surrender. 52:21 Come into my life." 52:22 And somewhere in heaven a key turns in a lock 52:26 and the grace pipeline is opened. 52:30 And it's such a convenient term, isn't it? 52:34 It just fits so much. 52:36 And all of the benefits that are in that pipeline 52:39 are made available to me. 52:41 And it's a wonderful thing because I begin to grow 52:45 and I begin to live. 52:46 And it's something I do, not to... 52:47 Obedience comes as a natural consequence 52:50 of my love and relationship with Jesus Christ. 52:54 And the curse is gone because there's no condemnation 52:59 in Christ Jesus. 53:01 And I'm in, so there is no condemnation. 53:03 There is now only righteousness credited to my account 53:07 the moment I say, "Jesus, I am yours." 53:11 So essentially, obedience is only by grace. 53:16 Amen, love it. Yeah. 53:19 As God works in us to will and to do His good pleasure. 53:22 It's the logical consequence of an abiding relationship 53:26 in Jesus Christ. 53:28 Obedience is a gift too, isn't it? 53:29 It is, it is. 53:31 It is a gift, because I can't be obedient. 53:32 As faith is a gift, as grace is a gift. 53:33 It's the default setting on loving Jesus. 53:36 If you love Him, He is working out His will 53:39 and His way in you and through you. 53:40 You were created, Ephesians 2:10 says, 53:44 for good works. 53:45 Well those good works come as a... 53:47 Of course that follows, "The just shall live by faith." 53:49 It follows that there's a loving faith 53:52 relationship with Jesus Christ. 53:53 And out of that flows obedience. 53:55 - Amen. - Praise the Lord. 53:58 So we have then, that the gospel is found in the 54:02 Old Testament as well as the New Testament. 54:05 And it's interesting to me that some people think 54:09 it's only in the New Testament. 54:11 But we see grace in the Old Testament, 54:14 we see grace in the New Testament. 54:16 And really, God has only had one way to save the human race. 54:21 Amen, it is. Well said. 54:22 Absolutely. Before time began, amen. 54:24 Before time began. 54:25 I'm thinking of some scriptures that will help us along the way 54:29 in this talk that we have. 54:30 I'm not sure if it's been mentioned, maybe I missed it. 54:34 There in Isaiah chapter 1 we see God describing 54:39 the condition of the people of Israel. 54:42 And He says, from the sole of the foot to the top of the head 54:46 it's just in a filthy condition. 54:48 It's putrefying sores. 54:51 But then in Isaiah 1:18, God says to them, 54:56 even though they're in that condition, 54:58 "Come, let us reason together. 55:01 Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be white." 55:04 White as snow. 55:06 "Though they be red like crimson, 55:07 they will be white as wool." 55:10 And so we see here God offering mercy, 55:12 extending His hand of grace to the people. 55:15 Not based on works. 55:16 He says, "Come, let us reason together." 55:18 But based on faith in the coming Redeemer. 55:22 Because really, when you look at the sanctuary system, 55:26 just as Shelley mentioned, it is the gospel in symbols. 55:30 By the sacrificial system they were to understand 55:35 and keep before them that the true Sacrifice, the Lamb of God, 55:41 Jesus Christ, was going to come to redeem them 55:45 from their sins. 55:46 When they went to church, they were also going to school. 55:48 Because, as well said, they weren't taught. 55:51 But if you look at how Isaiah starts, "The ox knows its owner. 55:54 But My people don't know Me. They're away from Me." 55:58 And yet it ends with this call, "Come, let us reason. 56:00 Let's work our way through this." 56:02 So there's grace there even in the book of Isaiah 56:05 over and over again. 56:07 Oh my goodness, over and over. 56:08 But when God called me to full-time ministry and said, 56:10 "Forget what you think you know. 56:12 Come sit at My feet and I'll teach you," 56:13 where He started me, the most interesting thing, 56:16 was the study of the Sanctuary. 56:19 And that is where I came to understand grace, 56:25 when I studied out the symbolism of the Sanctuary 56:29 and everything it meant about Jesus Christ. 56:31 So salvation has always, always been by grace. 56:36 - Amen. - Amen. 56:37 One last passage that I want to mention is found 56:41 in Zechariah chapter 3. 56:43 And there Joshua the high priest is clothed in filthy garments. 56:47 In other words, he was full of sin. 56:49 And what does God say to him? 56:53 Remove them. Take away the filthy garments. 56:55 Yes, He tells the angel, "Take away the filthy garments, 56:58 and give him a change of raiment." 57:01 In other words, there it is. 57:04 The robe of righteousness is put on the individual 57:07 that acknowledges he's a sinner 57:09 and accepts the righteousness of Christ. 57:12 So there again, over and over, you can see it 57:14 in the Old Testament as well; the gospel. 57:17 There has only been one way for us to be saved, 57:19 and that is through Jesus Christ. 57:20 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. 57:23 No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." 57:27 We hope you have enjoyed this Sabbath School lesson 57:30 and we hope that you will continue to join us 57:31 in 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 57:33 We'll see you here next week. 57:35 God bless you. |
Revised 2024-06-17