Gal 3:29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. 
	The Apostle Paul, in chapters 1 and 2 answered some of the accusations that had been launched against him by the Judiazers. These Judiazers were teaching the Gentile converts that their salvation was not assured unless they obeyed the Law along with accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. They were teaching that adherence to the Law, that becoming a Jew was also required in order to have a complete salvation. They, also, had attacked the Apostle Paul as being so enamored of man’s praise that he was teaching anything and everything that would build his stature among his listeners. These Judiazers were claiming that Paul was not really an Apostle, in the true sense, and, therefore, his gospel was not as valid and the Galatian converts did not have to pay attention to Him.
	We saw that the Apostle declared that he was ordained by God and not by man. That he was a true Apostle in every sense of the word since what he was preaching had been revealed to Him only through the ministry of God: Father, Son and Spirit. He had not received it through the teaching of men. Being faithful unto the Lord meant that what he taught had to be in line with the Lord Alone and unto Him only. He also recounted his various meetings with the Apostles and the church leaders in Jerusalem and how they accepted his ministry of the risen Lord Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles. Paul then continued with the great statement of our living relationship in Jesus Christ; it is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me. 
	Oh that we could see that we have come into that living relationship with Christ. That we could realize everything that God has brought into being in the oneness of our life in Jesus Christ. That we could learn to appreciate what is now our inheritance with all the saints, in our union one with another, the Beloved of God. That is the focus of His entire intent in the very creation of all things. We now have a living relationship with Almighty God through the life that we share with each other in Christ. Oh, to know the joy and peace of God. It surpasses all human understanding, as we live in accordance with the ministry of the Holy Spirit. To seek after Him to open up in our hearts the love for the every word of God that we would more fully and completely and accurately become the expression of His Life and Love in the world. There is so much that is part of Christ in us, the mystery which was hid for ages and generations, but now revealed through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
	The Apostle Paul finds it necessary to engage the Galatian readers in a very precise and straight forward manner to get them to see the difference between the true, unadulterated Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the perverted attempts of the Judiazers to place them under the bondage of the Law. Paul begins Chapter 3 with the statement O foolish Galatians. It is generally accepted that foolish, as used in this manner, means the lack of using mental and spiritual understanding. It would appear that a number of the Galatian believers had become lazy in their faith, meaning that they were not taking the things that they heard and were taught before the Lord for His validation. That is something that we each must do as we listen to what is being shared with us. We must always take the time to ponder these things before the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to open the truth in our hearts, or to expose the falseness of the teaching. 
	As an aside, some people think that they can discern the truth and the lies with just their minds. To discern spiritual truth requires the activity of the Holy Spirit. We need to learn that there is an absolutely unfailing manner that He always uses to reinforce that which is right and to expose that which is wrong. It is the same avenue which the Apostle Paul models here in this Letter to the Galatians, as he refers them back to the scriptures. He is setting the example of discerning what is true and what is false, of seeking after the Holy Spirit to reveal in us that which He would have us know. We can be absolutely sure of this methodology, because it forces us to go before the Lord and to ask Him to make evident the truth of His life in us. What we hear proclaimed must, and I repeat with all emphasis, must be completely and absolutely in line with His Word. It must be validated by the Holy Spirit as we consider it under the microscope of the Word of God. 
	So often we call this book, the Bible, the Word of God, and do not consider exactly what is involved in that statement. It is not just a casual phrase that we have been taught over and over again; it is a statement of fact, immutable fact, accurate beyond the comprehension of any created being. This is the written expression of the heart of God, given to man for our edification, which is defined as the building up and strengthening of the believers. Just that seemingly simple element of His Word, encompasses our entire life on this earth. It builds us up. It brings forth growth on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ. His Word actively causes us to develop as Sons of God in Christ Jesus. It establishes our faith, our hearts, our lives in the deep rooted and secure foundation of all spiritual truth and reality. Then, once that growth has begun, we are strengthened by It against all the influences of this age. God’s Word firmly establishes His Grace and His Mercy and His Love and His Omnipotence and His Omniscience and His Omnipresence into our beings. Not just surrounding us with Himself, but infusing all that He is into the very core of our beings. This, in nowise, means that we are made into little gods unto ourselves. Never! It means, as Paul describes in verse 20 of Chapter 2, it is no longer I that lives but Christ Who lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
	If what we are being taught, at school, at work, at church, by the media, by movies, by music, by other readings, by friends and associates is not in line with the written Word of God, it must be discarded as not part of our lives in Christ. Do not be fooled! Do not be foolish! This world age is preaching its doctrines of selfhood, and yes I do mean preaching through every avenue of communication at its disposal. The false and defiling and malicious message that it is preaching is that man, of his own accord, can create his own future apart from God. That was the issue here in Galatians. That is the onslaught of the propaganda that our young people hear in and out of school. That is the message of this world, the deceiving lie that infests every part of our society. We can save ourselves. We do not need Jesus Christ. We do not need God. We are gods unto ourselves and can live completely independent from Him. That is the blasphemy of this realm!
	Oh foolish Galatians. Oh foolish Christians, to let ourselves become complacent in our hearing of the Word of God and in our hearing of this world’s deceitful lies. Thank God that there is a large and committed group of prayer warriors in this fellowship, throughout His Body, who regularly, weekly, bi-weekly, daily and hourly hold up the youth of our fellowship and all young Christians before the Lord God Almighty. The prayer is that He would cover them with His protective being of Love and Safety. That He would enfold them with all His Mercy and Grace. That He would establish Himself as their lives, especially at this tender age. We pray for their edification in Jesus Christ to be able to stand against all the lies and perversions of this age and to see that it is Christ and Christ Alone unto whom they are to live their lives, unto Whom we are to live our lives. 
	Someone very recently asked me what is the underlying, the main purpose of our Bible studies with the young of the fellowship. It is that they are edified by the Word of God, in the Word of God, and with the Word of God. That they are built up and strengthened as believers in Jesus Christ, members of His Body. That they are so established in Christ Jesus, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, in the teaching of the Word of God, that they can face all the forces of evil and wickedness in this realm. They, and we, are being constantly bombarded by a deceitful and malicious and vicious world power that will do anything to distract them from realizing the fact that it is Christ in them, in us, the hope of glory. We must all learn to read, ponder, study, and obey, in love, the Word of God. Not because we have to. Not because we are expected to. Not because if we don’t we will suffer consequences – no! It is because we love the every Word of God and want to show forth that love unto God in our every reverent consideration of Him.
	Getting back to this morning’s text, Jesus Christ had been preached unto these Galatians to such an extent that Paul states that they have seen the results of the very crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He was not saying that they were actually at the foot of the cross in a physical sense, but that the Holy Spirit had been so operative in their presence that they were brought unto the cross of Christ. That should be absolutely true in each of us, as well. We are brought to the cross of Jesus Christ as we ask Him to be our Lord and Savior. That heart of love for what God has accomplished and the cost of the sacrifice of God in giving His Only Begotten Son to die for us must be at the very center of our hearts of love unto Him. How can we see anything of God apart from that Great Love with which He so fully and absolutely loved us through the sacrifice, the pouring out of the lifeblood of Jesus Christ? 
	Paul then tries to ascertain whether they truly are trying to complete the work of the Holy Spirit through their own efforts. Are they so foolish, so mentally and spiritually lazy, as to think that they, in the flesh, can complete what God has done by His Holy Spirit? Can any created being match the work of its Holy Creator? Are they going to throw away all that they have already endured in believing in the all-sufficiency of Christ, in order to try to accomplish something that can never be? The Holy Spirit has shown forth miracles in their midst and those were not by works unto the law, but by hearing and living in faith in Christ Jesus. 
	We are at the crux of the matter, now. Paul has put forth the challenge unto these Galatians to prove what they already know is truth, that their salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ Alone. No longer defending himself, no longer declaring the validity of his Apostleship, we are now at the very core of what is facing these early converts. Are they saved through works under the Law or by faith in Jesus Christ? It cannot be both, as the Judiazers were proclaiming. We cannot live by faith in what God has done and still account our righteousness unto the works that we have done. We are at a mutually exclusive place in our life before God. No gray area, no possibility of compromise between these two teachings. It is one or the other. One is truth, the other is a lie.
The rest of this chapter, and the one to follow, center on the superiority of the promise of God as opposed to the Law; Faith or the Law, Grace or works, freedom or slavery, inclusion or exclusion, justification or condemnation, life or death. 
Gal 3:6-7 Thus Abraham "believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." So you see that it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Paul now puts together the basis of the truth of God’s promise to Abraham in Christ Jesus. He is going back to the scriptures in order to show that the teaching about Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation has always been the divine plan and purpose of God. He goes back to the promise, the covenant that God made with Abraham. Gen 12:1-3 Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves."
 Gen 17:1-7 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly." Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 
Abraham was saved by his belief in the promise of God. He lived by faith, by living in the knowledge that God’s promise was sure and true. There is a very important aspect to this that the Apostle Paul will touch on later in the chapter, but which we must now consider. No one has been saved except by faith in the promise of Jesus Christ and that by the grace of God. So often we talk about the Old Testament as under the Law and the New Testament as under the Grace of God. We have the misconception that the people in the Old Testament didn’t know faith and grace; they only knew the Law and punishment. What a sad course of belief we perpetuate when we do not see the truth that God’s Grace has always operated in the salvation of those who will call upon Him. Abraham lived by faith, the faith in the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ. Moses lived by faith, the faith in the truth of the promise of the Messiah that was made unto Abraham. Yes, he was the mediator by whom the Law was brought forth unto the Children of Israel, but that law has never saved a single person. Salvation belongs to God in His Omnipotent and Omniscient power of Mercy and Grace. It was by the Grace of God, that Adam and Eve were created. It was by the Grace of God that they dwelt in fellowship with Him in the Garden. It was by the Grace of God, that Noah was not consumed by the flood. It was by the Grace of God, that Abraham learned to walk in faith. It was by the Grace of God, that Moses led the Children of Israel. It was by the Grace of God, that David was made King of Israel. It was by the Grace of God, that His Son was made flesh and dwelt among us. It was by the Grace of God, that Jesus Christ was crucified in our stead. It was by the Grace of God that Our Lord Jesus Christ rose triumphant from the grave to become our very life. It was and is by the Grace of God that we are now alive unto Him in Christ. It is by the Grace of God that we have the Holy Spirit operating lovingly and effectually within us. And, it is by the Grace of God that we have His Word, the Living Word of Christ, with and in us.
Never let us be deluded into thinking that anyone was saved apart from faith in Jesus Christ, by the Grace of God. There is no other salvation possible. There never was any other avenue of salvation possible. It was never by the works of the Old Testament peoples that salvation became theirs. It was because they had faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One of God. They did not know His name. They did not know the time of His coming. They did not fully understand exactly how God was going to bring about His promise. But they did know that God is faithful. That God is trustworthy. That God is able. That God had promised His Messiah. That God would do all that He said He would do, and they lived in that faith unto God’s promise of salvation. Hab 2:4…but the righteous shall live by his faith. 
Listen to the Words of the Psalmist as he considers the promise of God’s Messiah Ps 89:26-29 He shall cry to me, 'Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.' And I will make him the first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him for ever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his line for ever and his throne as the days of the heavens. 
Then hear the prophecy of Isa 53 Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand; he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. 
Before we end this morning, we need to briefly consider some of the facts concerning the Law of God that Paul puts before us. It is important to have a proper understanding of the purpose of the Law, what it could and could not do. What it did and still is doing under the direction of fulfilling God’s purpose for it.
First of all, the law is subservient to the Promise of God. It did not replace that wonderful promise. It did not set it aside for a time. It did not change it in any aspect. That is what the Apostle Paul is categorically stating as he discusses the characteristics of a covenant and how that once made, it is immutable and unchangeable, even by the Law.
 The Law did not even come into existence until more than 400 years after the promise given to Abraham. Because of that reason, and several others that we will mention, it ranked lower than the promise. Abraham could not live by the Law because it hadn’t yet been given. The promise of God, therefore is far above the Law. It includes all the nations of the earth, as our verses indicated. It was an inclusive promise. The Law, on the other hand was exclusive. It did not belong to the other nations of the earth, only the Children of Israel. The Israelites looked at that as an indication that they were better than the rest of the nations. Paul, however, sees that faith in Jesus Christ becomes inclusive of all the nations. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus, as the only begotten Son of God, no matter what their heritage, will find Him and will become a child of God, the heritage of Abraham. 
Why then, did God give the Law? What was and is the purpose of the Law? Paul tells us in verse 19, …It was added because of transgressions, till the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained by angels through an intermediary. It was given to show what sin was. Some argue over the exact interpretation, and statements can be made one way or the other, but the fact is that by the Law, God showed man that sin was not just a moral choice of right or wrong, it was an utter abhorrence of the Holiness of God. Sin was not just a selection of good over bad; it was a complete and declared hatred for God and the things of God. The purpose of the Law was to show, in absolutely certain terms, that man could not and never would be able to save himself from sin. Only God could provide the means of salvation to satisfy the righteous demands of death under the Law. It was put into place with a view forward to Jesus Christ and the so great need for God to save us unto Himself. Christ paid the righteously demanded price of death in our stead. He took upon Himself the stench of our filth and laid it forever in that grave. In His triumphant resurrection, the Law became null and void, and the promise was entirely fulfilled. 
As well, please note the fact that the promise was made directly by God to man. God spoke directly to Abraham and He promised Abraham the Messiah. The Law, on the other hand was given to the nation of Israel through the work of the angels and a mediator. This is an extremely important consideration. When God made His promise, it was not a bargain, if you will do this, I will do that. It was not a negotiated settlement between two parties by a third person. It was the direct attribute of God’s Character of Grace in action. He did not expect anything in payment from Abraham. He did not look to get anything in return. His promise was the selfless giving of salvation because of His essence of Love. That is what makes the promise so exceedingly superior. 
The Law, on the other hand was given through a mediator, which absolutely implies two parties being brought together. It was established on the basis of Thou Shalt and Thou Shalt not. It brought with it the curse of death to any who would not fulfill its every aspect and demand. It had to be entirely obeyed, or else the sentence of death was the righteous punishment. This is the negative aspect that we so often consider when we look at the Law.
It has another purpose, however, which is often overlooked in the dread of its curse of death. It is through the Law that we see our need for Christ Jesus. It is as we realize that we are lost in our sin that we can look to God and cry out for Him to save us, for God to reach down and pull us out of the stench of this age. Because of the Law, in complete desperation, we turn to Jesus Christ and we find the life and the salvation that the law could never provide, and never was intended to provide. In this capacity of drawing mankind unto the need for Christ, the Law is still effectually at work. Once we call on God to save us through His only Begotten Son, the consequences of the Law are nullified because of the fact that Christ has already died in our stead. His death has completely fulfilled the righteous death sentence of the Law.
Please do not overlook the value of God in the Law. It was the means by which we were kept unto God. Paul’s terminology is that of a Greek slave who was given charge over the moral development and character of a young child. That slave was responsible to make certain that the adolescent did the proper things, stayed out of trouble, and showed up for his lessons. That slave was charged with the responsibility to keep that child in line with the use of discipline, as needed. As the youth grew older and matured the need for the slave’s oversight came to an end. The son was then entrusted to the teacher and accounted unto the maturity of the sonship, which will be dealt with in Chap. 4.
The Law held us in the bonds of our moral and ethical growth. It covered us with guidelines and restrictions in order to keep us and direct us to the time of our being turned over to the Lord Jesus Christ. At that point, it was no longer necessary as a functionary. Its purpose had been fulfilled. Please note that the Law was never contrary to the Promise, but subservient to it. It fulfilled its task to bring us into the fruition of the Promise of God in Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
It is in Jesus Christ, faith in Christ, believing God’s promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ, that we find the only way of salvation. In that promise, we are brought into the very family of God, the heritage as promised to Abraham so long ago, and yet so fully at work even to this very minute and for all eternity.

John 1:9-14 The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. 

	 

Heb 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.