Galatians 3:15-29 | Finding Your True Self

Message for Galatians 3:15-29

Walking in grace is = you are made righteous (right standing before God) by faith in Jesus Christ PLUS Absolutely nothing. Legalism is adding anything to faith in Jesus to make you righteous.

We talked about how God moves in our lives not because we follow the law but because we believe. Just like Abraham believed (he was a pagan who heard God’s voice call him, he answered the call and left everything and followed God by faith) and this belief, this faith of Abraham, a faith that caused action, was credited to him for righteousness. He didn’t work for it, he didn’t earn it, he just believed, and became righteous, and his real belief caused real action (following God)

Read Verse 16 So the promise that “all of the nations of the earth shall be blessed through you” is fulfilled through not the Jewish people in general, but through one specific descendent of Abraham, the Son of God Jesus Christ. “to his seed” not seeds.

Read Verses 17-18 So these Judaisers pointing believers in Christ back to the law of Moses, to follow the law of Moses, Paul by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit challenges them, he says “Oh you want to go back to the law??? Let’s go back even further, over 4 centuries before angels delivered the 10 commandments to Moses on tablets of stone, let’s go to the covenant promise God made with Abraham.

God’s covenant with Abraham That is when God began the process to what reverse the curse upon the world because of the fall of man in Gen 3. CEREMONYAnimal cut in half, halves arranged opposite of each other, both parties remove sandals, walk through blood pooled in middle of pieces… SYMBOLIf I don’t keep my end of the deal may I become like this dead animal. ALL IS NORMAL BUT THEN… Abraham goes into a deep sleep and only One Member of the covenant passes through the dead animal… a smoking firepan and a blazing torch just float through the dead animals, GOD HIMSELF (without Abraham) GUARANTEES THE COVENANT FOR BOTH PARTIES!!! God was saying even then, man is not a faithful covenant partner, but I love him, so I’ll fulfill the covenant on his behalf, even though man will fail Me, I’ll fulfill his part of the covenant, I’ll become as these dead animals, I WILL DIE IN PLACE OF MAN for his failure, BECAUSE I LOVE HIM!!! God taking death on Himself for a covenant broken by the human partner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BEAUTIFUL THING ABOUT THIS IS THE PRESSURE IS OFF OF YOU!!!! ELABORATE ON GRACE

Read Verses 19-20 So the law was added not to change the nature of the covenant made prior, the covenant is God’s promise to bless us, He does all the work, and we access the blessing simply by trusting Him, simply by faith… but the law was added to show man his sin and his desperate need to put his faith in the Savior. THE LAW REVEALS SIN LIKE LIGHT REVEALS DUST Read Verses 21-22 So the law does not oppose God’s promise, it’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing, but the problem with the law is it has no strength to offer those who want to keep it! It provides no solution, it simply points out the problem. Read Verses 23-26 The law was also your “guardian” or other translations use the word “tutor”… the literal word is paidagogos, and it’s where we get the word pedagogy the science and methods of teaching. So there’s a sense in which the law had us under protective custody before we came to Christ and there’s a sense in which the law was tutoring us, teaching us, instructing us to put our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation… Read Verse 27 What is it to put on the Lord Jesus Christ? ACCESSORY TO YOUR OUTFIT VS. PARACHUTE TO SAVE YOUR LIFE.

YOUR IDENTITY IS NOW FOUND IN CHRIST not in an ethnicity, not in a friend group, not in popularity, not in achievement, not in a gang, not in a life of pride filled crime, not in being better than someone else, not in your past full of abuse and neglect, not in anything but simply being a child of God in Christ, and knowing that God loves you.

Read Verses 28 The dividing line between Jew and Gentile is gone, both men and women have equal standing before God in Christ there’s no difference in value between the 2 (difference in roles in the home and church yes), both a slave and a free man have equal value and right standing before God in Christ and are brothers in Christ.

Read Verse 29 All Christians are in Christ Jesus the Messiah, so all Christians are spiritual descendants of Abraham and heirs of God. This is a place of privilege according to the promise, not according to law or good works. We are connected with the people of God throughout the ages.

Questions for discussion in small groups-

1. Discuss the difference between having a head knowledge that your favor with God is based on His grace and not your moral performance VS. really knowing that in your heart and experiencing it as a reality. Does someone have a testimony to share regarding this?
2. How does the law reveal sin in a person’s heart and show them that they need a Savior? Does anyone have a personal story of how the law was a tutor in your life pointing you to Jesus as Savior?
3. How can the law be used correctly in evangelism to help an unsaved person understand their sin and need for Jesus? Has anyone had an encounter where they used the law in sharing their faith that they’d like to share?
4. Why is it so important to build our identity “who we know we really are” on our relationship with God through Jesus Christ instead of the many options the world has for building an identity? Does anyone have a testimony they’d like to share about previously building your identity on something flimsy that failed?