R sbc
May 1st 2005
Sunday Morning
Series: Christ the Sum & Substance of The Bible
Subject: “Christ Clearly Set Forth”
Text: Gal 3-1-14
Intro: As you can see from the previous messages that it is not difficult to speak on Christ each week from various parts of the BIBLE. It may be the same theme and the same message basically, but it is looked at from various sides...
Paul begins by name calling: vs 1 “ O foolish Galatians” the word foolish comes from a greek word which means “ not to be wise, not intelligent”. The next phrase he tells them why he calls them foolish...
That they had been “bewitched” which means to fascinate someone by charming them. Satan is the master of bewitching people. Listen to what Paul’s says about him in another book...
2 Cor 11-13 such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Paul says five things about them..
(1.) That they are false
(2.) That they are deceitful workers
(3.) They can transform themselves
(4.) They belong to Satan
(5.) They masquerade themselves as righteous..
Believe me there are plenty of them floating around in our society duping people into thinking they are the men of the LORD..So Paul is saying to the Galatians that of people whom Christ has been set forth before their eyes to be bewitched by these workers of Satan...
Most believe him to be talking about the preaching of the word among them and Christ being evidently set forth among them through eh gospel. Because in the gospel of Christ we do see our LORD crucified...
I... “ CHRIST WAS SET FORTH AMONG THEM AS THE SOURCE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS..VS 1-6
It is clear that they had begun this idea that they could be made perfect in the flesh. It want work. In the flesh dwelleth no good things. In the flesh we cannot please GOD. The flesh is the enmity against the LORD...
The great example that he uses: vs 6 When you read the life of Abraham you learn quickly he did what he was told by GOD by faith.
(1.) The LORD told him to leave his own country and he left:
Genesis 12-1 ¶ Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4 ¶ So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
(2.) He staggered not at what the LORD said:
Romans 4:20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
If you expect to be righteous this morning it will come only through believing what the LORD hath said...It is believing the gospel of Jesus Christ there is no other hope for us except in Christ and what he has done.
II... “ CHRIST WAS SET FORTH AMONG THEM AS THE ONE THAT GOD PREACHED TO ABRAHAM AND MADE A SPECIFIC PROMISE”..VS 7-9
Here we see a number of things:
(1.) The antiquity of the gospel... God preached it to Abraham...
(2.) That the gospel is to be preached to individuals as well as crowds..
(3.) That the blessings of which the LORD spoke comes through the gospel and Abraham believed it...
(4.) They which be of faith are blessed as he was..
Listen my friends the gospel is the greatest story ever told, it lays out clearly hope for the hopeless, salvation for the unworthy, righteousness for the unrighteous, grace for those who have no grace... light for those that sat in darkness, freedom for those who are bound, security for the insecure... come to him today...
III... CHRIST WAS SET FORTH AS THE ONE THROUGH WHICH THE CURSE WAS REMOVED”..VS 10-13
1ST. The curse remains..vs 10
2nd. The clear fact..vs 11
3rd. The great work ..vs 12-13
The curse that we were under, and the curse that some of you are under this morning is the divine judgement of GOD. You see you cannot please GOD the way you are. You are undone, unsaved, unworthy, unconverted and stand great danger this morning... the LORD JESUS SAID:
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
My advise to you who know not Christ this morning is to flee to him now while you have this great opportunity. Today is the day of salvation...now is the accepted time. Come unto me all you that are heavy laden and I will give you rest... take my yoke upon you and learn of me...
IV... “ CHRIST IS SET FORTH AS THE ONE AND ONLY ONE THROUGH WHICH THE BLESSINGS WOULD BE REALIZED...VS 14-16
Paul said in Ephesians 1-3 “blessed be the GOD and Father of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ...
I want elaborate on them for that is for another time and another sermon... but Christ is the source of all that we have or hope to have...the Lord told the Israelites that they were not to abuse the blessings that he gave them if they did he would curse them...
Malachi 2:2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
Some of the blessings that GOD gives us are temporal and some are eternal. Those that are eternal cannot be cursed, but those things that the LORD he hath given us temporal can be a curse to us...
What privileges we have....as GOD’S people this morning blessed beyond measure...
(1.) David said...
Psalms 32:2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile..
(2.) Our nation would be blessed this morning if the LORD was it’s GOd..
Psalms 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
(3.) A sinner is blessed this morning if GOD does a personal work on them
Psalms 65:4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
V.. CHRIST WAS SET FORTH AS THE ONE IN WHOM THAT GOD CONFIRMED THE COVENANT WITH...VS 17-20
The word confirm means to ratify:
1. The act of ratifying; confirmation. 2. The act of giving sanction and validity to something done by another..
(1.) Who it was that ratified the covenant: “ The Father”
(2.) That no law could nullify it...
(3.) That Christ is the mediator of the covenant:
A mediator has two jobs: He is to be a reconciler, and an intercessor. Christ is both and more.
A...Reconciliation was done by the death of Christ on the cross for his people Ephesians 2:14-17...
2 Cor 5-18-19
Romans 5-10 “ For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life.
B. The work of mediation is going on now:
Job states the great need:
Job 32-33 “ For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him and we should come together in judgement. Neither is there a daysman betwixt us that might lay his hand on both of us...
Christ is that one man, one mediator, between us and the LORD, he is that daysman who hath laid his hand on us and on the Father and spoke on our behalf. Charles J Rolls tells of a Missionary in Belgian congo who labored to translate the word of GOD in a language of the natives he was preaching to. After two years he had struggled to find a word that would properly convey the meaning of the word mediator. He failed.
He has an audience with the King and while he was there, the KING sends out a mediator to handle a case for him. This missionary was seeing the work of a mediator firsthand. An old ladies husband had died. Some were trying to take her hut away from her. She was told by the mediator that he would take her to the KING.
The Old lady replied “don’t do that’ The mediator replied “why not?” because I am old and timid and I would become speechless in the presence of the King. The mediator replied there is no need for that I will speak for you I know the whole matter. That is what a mediator does.
Hebrews 8:6 “ But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much more also he is the mediator of the better covenant, which was established upon better promises..
When we think about the vast work of the mediator, he must be totally omniscience, because he has to understand all languages, all cultures, all peoples to very minute detail of everything about everyone in order to mediate between them and the Father. Christ is that man who well qualfied...