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[0:00] Last week we started Galatians chapter 3. Despite having four main sections, the chapter has a unifying theme.

[0:18] That theme is that God's covenant with Moses complements his covenant with Abraham, and both covenants find their fulfillment in Christ and the salvation that Christ provides to people who put their faith in him.

[0:31] Let's go ahead and read tonight's text. We're going to cover Galatians chapter 3, verses 6 through 14. We're going to start reading in verse 5, though, because the ESV starts verse 6 in the middle of a sentence.

[0:44] So starting in Galatians 3, 5, Paul wrote, Paul introduced the doctrine of justification by faith alone in the previous chapter, and that's the doctrine that's at the heart of this letter.

[2:15] And now he's defending this doctrine in chapter 3. And remember, he started by asking the Galatians the rapid-fire questions that we saw in the first five verses, and we looked at those last week.

[2:27] Those questions were summed up by the question in verse 2, Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Those Galatian believers needed to recognize that they received the Spirit by faith, not by the works of the law.

[2:42] Starting with tonight's passage and continuing through verse 25 of chapter 3, Paul demonstrates how three different biblical covenants support his teaching of justification by faith alone in Christ alone.

[2:56] Tonight's passage focuses on the covenant with Abraham. The main idea from tonight's text is this. Paul uses scripture to show how God's covenant with Abraham demonstrates justification by faith alone.

[3:09] Paul uses scripture to show how God's covenant with Abraham demonstrates justification by faith alone. Abraham's name was Abram until God changed Abram's name in Genesis chapter 17.

[3:23] We first hear about Abram at the end of Genesis chapter 11. Here are Genesis chapter 11, verses 27 through 31.

[3:35] Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred in Ur of the Chaldeans.

[3:49] And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milca, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milca and Iscah.

[4:01] Now Sarai was barren. She had no child. Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife.

[4:12] And they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. As best we can tell from this passage, Abram is living his life doing whatever pagans did in those days until one day when God speaks to him.

[4:30] And we learn about God speaking to him in Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 through 3. So here are Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 through 3.

[4:41] 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.

[4:56] I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. The Bible gives no indication that Abram had heard from God before this moment.

[5:11] But look at Abram's response in Genesis chapter 12, verses 4 and 5. He obeyed without any hesitation. It just says, With that background information in mind, let's go ahead and dig into the Galatians verses.

[5:47] We're going to break tonight's verses into three sections, starting with Galatians 3, 6. And in verse 6, Paul talks about Abraham's righteousness.

[5:59] So Abraham's righteousness is your first blank. Let's again read verse 5 with verse 6 so that we have a complete sentence.

[6:10] It says, We saw evidence of Abraham's belief when we read Genesis 12, 4 and 5.

[6:31] If we look at Genesis 15, we see that Abraham showed even more evidence of his belief then. Abraham's encounter with God in Genesis 15 is what Paul is referencing here.

[6:44] Galatians 3, 6 actually quotes Genesis chapter 15, verse 6. And between Genesis 12 and Genesis 15, several things have happened.

[6:55] One of those significant events was Abraham and Lot agreeing to go their separate ways. And after they split up, Lot and his possessions were captured by enemy kings.

[7:06] Abraham had to lead an army to rescue Lot and Lot's contingent. And then Abraham had his encounter with Melchizedek. Genesis 15 starts after these events.

[7:18] And we're going to hang out in Genesis 15 for a little while. So you may want to go ahead and turn there. Let's read Genesis 15, verses 1 through 6 first.

[7:28] And when we do that, listen for the passage that's quoted in Galatians 3, 6. Starting in verse 1 of Genesis 15, it says, After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.

[7:43] Fear not, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.

[7:57] And Abram said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, This man shall not be your heir.

[8:10] Your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be.

[8:23] And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Abraham was accepted as righteous by faith. He was not justified because he had done anything to deserve it, or because he had been circumcised, or because he had kept the law.

[8:41] Neither circumcision nor the law had been given at this point. Abraham simply believed God, and he was counted as righteous because he believed God. Abraham already was converted by the time we get to Genesis 15, and he'd followed God for many years.

[9:00] God, however, makes his declaration at this time to demonstrate how somebody does get saved. God here spells out the theological principle that a person receives righteousness through believing the promises of God, rather than through his own works and efforts.

[9:16] God also reminds us that whether it is the day we first come to Christ, or many years later, we're justified by faith alone and by nothing else. Still in Genesis 15, skip down to verses 18 through 21.

[9:32] So here are Genesis 15, 18 through 21. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your offspring I give you this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephraim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

[9:59] The thing to notice about those verses is that notice that Abraham didn't make a covenant with God. God was the one who made the covenant with Abraham.

[10:10] We see that in verse 18. Once again, Abraham did no works to earn the righteousness that was credited to him. As Genesis 15, 6 showed us, Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord counted that belief as righteousness.

[10:26] Now that we've talked about Abraham's righteousness, let's go back to Galatians and move to the second section of tonight's passage.

[10:37] That second section will cover verses 7 through 9 of Galatians chapter 3. And in that section, Paul identifies Abraham's relatives. So Abraham's relatives is your second link.

[10:51] When we talk about Abraham's relatives in this passage, we're talking about his relatives in the spiritual sense. So here are Galatians 3, 7 through 9 again.

[11:03] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed.

[11:21] So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Paul wrote what we know as Galatians chapter 3, verse 7, thousands of years ago.

[11:34] But the verse is still just as true today as it was on the day that Paul wrote it. It is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Abraham's relatives then are people who possess a faith like his.

[11:50] The Judaizers' problem was their failure to understand how someone became a part of the seed of Abraham. They said to the Gentiles who believed that they must also be circumcised.

[12:02] According to the Judaizers, people had to become Jews in their flesh and in their hearts. Paul shows that a person becomes a child of Abraham by faith. Believers today enter the church the same way that Abraham entered the church, and that is by faith.

[12:20] Like Abraham, our faith begins with a sense of bankruptcy, with the realization that we are sinners under God's wrath and condemnation. We're unable to do anything to save ourselves.

[12:33] We obviously can't atone for our sins or wipe away the guilt which deserves eternal hell. Saving faith actually begins with this realization. Each one of us must have this realization of sin and depravity before we can be saved.

[12:50] Our faith begins where Abraham's faith began then, and that's the sense of our helplessness. Then it moves to an assurance that God is who he says he is and that God will do all that he promises to do.

[13:05] And when God promises that he will receive sinners who come to him in Christ, he's saying that he will pardon all their sins and declare them to be righteous in his sight for the sake of Christ.

[13:17] The believer accepts these promises and trusts in God to do what God has promised. And so the believer rests in Christ alone for salvation.

[13:29] And this same method of salvation is one way that believers become spiritual relatives of Abraham. Believers also become sons of Abraham by joining with Abraham in the promised covenant.

[13:43] God has appointed Abraham as the covenant head of the visible family of God. When we receive justification by faith, that links us with Abraham.

[13:55] Let's move to verse 8 now. You'll recognize that Paul quotes the end of what we read earlier in Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 through 3. Here is Galatians 3, 8.

[14:08] And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed.

[14:20] Before we dig into the main meaning of this verse, we need to notice an important secondary point. We know from reading Genesis 12, 1 through 3, that God himself spoke the words quoted at the end of Galatians 3, 8.

[14:36] But here in Galatians 3, 8, Paul says that the scripture preached to Abraham. Well, how can they both be true? Well, the answer to that is God speaks in scripture.

[14:49] Scripture is God's word. So Paul could say that the scriptures preached to Abraham because the scriptures are the divine, infallible, inerrant record of what God had said to Abraham.

[15:03] Before Abraham was circumcised, he had received the gospel. He believed God. And his justification is declared in Genesis 15, 6. But God does not command him to be circumcised until Genesis 17.

[15:17] Paul demonstrates that it was God's intention to save the Gentiles in the same way that God saved Abraham. And that, of course, is by faith. Gospel means good news.

[15:30] And God's good news to mankind always has been salvation by faith alone, prompted by the power of God's grace. The gospel is indeed good news.

[15:41] And Paul just keeps building upon that good news. Look at verse 9 now in Galatians chapter 3. So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

[15:55] Paul has used this word blessed in both verses 8 and 9, so we should talk about what it means in this context. To be blessed means to be the recipient of all that divine love, grace, and mercy that God bestows on those who are in Christ.

[16:11] John Stott expanded on that shorter definition by writing, The blessing is justification, the greatest of all blessings. The verbs to justify and to bless are used as equivalents in verse 8.

[16:27] And the means by which the blessing would be inherited is faith, which was the only way in which the Gentiles could inherit Abraham's blessing. So it's interesting to note here that the blessing he's talking about is justification, and that's why we can receive the same blessing as Abraham.

[16:45] Then John Stott went on to say, Both verses 7 and 9 affirm that the true children of Abraham, who inherit the blessing promised to his seed, are not his posterity by physical descent, the Jews, but his spiritual progeny, men and women who share his faith, namely Christian believers.

[17:03] All this, the apostle says, the Galatians should have known. They should have never been so foolish. They should have kept Christ crucified before their eyes.

[17:14] They should have realized at once that the Judaizers were contradicting the gospel of justification by faith alone. They should have known it as we've seen from their own experience and from the scriptures of the Old Testament.

[17:27] We too need to learn to test every theory and teaching of men by the gospel of Christ crucified, especially as it is known to us from scripture and from experience.

[17:41] So we've looked at Abraham's righteousness and Abraham's relatives. In the final section of tonight's passage, Paul writes about Abraham's Redeemer.

[17:54] So Abraham's Redeemer is your last section. That section covers verses 10 through 14 of Galatians chapter 3. Look again at Galatians chapter 3, verses 10 through 14.

[18:09] For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them.

[18:23] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not of faith. Rather, the one who does them shall live by them.

[18:36] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.

[18:57] John Stott said of this section, These verses may seem difficult in both concept and vocabulary, yet they are fundamental to an understanding of biblical Christianity. They concern the central issue of religion, which is how to come into a right relationship with God.

[19:16] Verses 10 through 14 use Old Testament scripture to illustrate how to come into that right relationship with God. The verses then illustrate how the same principle applied to Abraham.

[19:29] To set up these verses, remember again what we know about the false teaching Judaizers. Those Judaizers strongly advocated the necessity of keeping the Mosaic law to be saved.

[19:43] As we saw earlier, the sequence of Old Testament events should have shown the Galatians the foolishness of this belief. Abraham was declared righteous about 14 years before he was commanded to be circumcised, and more than 500 years before God revealed his law to Moses at Mount Sinai.

[20:02] Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and countless other Hebrew believers lived and died long before the written law was given by God. Paul once again points out the flaw in the Judaizers' reasoning.

[20:15] He says in verse 10, Galatians 3.10 is a reference to Deuteronomy 27.26.

[20:38] Deuteronomy 27.26 says, Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. And then it adds, And all the people shall say, Amen.

[20:50] Meaning that they agreed with that. Paul's emphasis in Galatians 3.10 was on the requirement to abide by all things written in the book of the law.

[21:01] Those who trust in the works of the law are obligated to keep all things in the law without any exception. This places them inevitably under a curse because no one had the ability to abide by everything the divine and perfect law of God demands.

[21:18] Paul knew that nobody could truthfully claim to have kept all the law of God perfectly. In Romans 7.10, Paul admitted that he had the same problem.

[21:29] Listen to what he said in Romans 7.10. Paul said, The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. In other words, if perfectly keeping the law is the only hope of having eternal life, Paul and every other human is dead.

[21:48] And that is why Paul said these words in Galatians 3.11. Galatians 3.11 says, Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith.

[22:03] The Old Testament quote in verse 11 comes from Habakkuk 2.4. Habakkuk 2.4 speaks first about the proud pagan Chaldean.

[22:18] Then the end of 2.4 contrasts the pagan Chaldean with the follower of God. So here is Habakkuk 2.4. Behold, his, talking about the Chaldean soul, is puffed up.

[22:33] It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by faith. Paul also quoted Habakkuk 2.4 in his letter to the Romans.

[22:45] Listen to Romans 1.16-17. Romans 1.16-17 say, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

[23:06] For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. That's not the only time elsewhere that this verse is quoted in the New Testament.

[23:22] There's a third time as well. The writer to the Hebrews also quoted Habakkuk 2.4 in Hebrews 10.38. Hebrews 10.38 says, But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

[23:44] The emphasis in both Habakkuk and the New Testament references goes beyond the act of faith to include the continuity of faith. Faith is more than a one-time act.

[23:55] It's a way of life. The true believer declared righteous by God will persevere in faith as the pattern of his life. Contrast that teaching with the Judaizers' incorrect teaching summarized in Galatians 3.12.

[24:13] Galatians 3.12 says, But the law is not of faith, rather the one who does them shall live by them. Galatians 3.12 quotes another Old Testament passage.

[24:27] And that Old Testament passage is Leviticus chapter 18, verse 5. God is the one speaking in Leviticus 18.5, and it says, You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules.

[24:42] If a person does them, he shall live by them. I am the Lord. Whether we look at the Old Testament text in Deuteronomy, Habakkuk, or Leviticus, the message is always the same.

[24:58] Perfection allows no exceptions, no failure of the smallest sort. To break the law in one place is to break it all. In the New Testament, James chapter 2, verse 10, reaffirms that message.

[25:14] Here's James chapter 2, verse 10. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. Do you see why people who advocate justification by works have a slight problem?

[25:31] Actually, it's a lot more than a slight problem. Paul summarized that problem well in Romans chapter 3, verses 19 and 20. Here are Romans chapter 3, verses 19 and 20.

[25:44] Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

[25:57] For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 3.20 is about as clear as it can be.

[26:10] Here is Romans 3.20 again. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his, meaning God's sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

[26:22] Given such a clear warning, what hope could anyone have? Let's go back to Galatians chapter 3, because in Galatians chapter 3, verses 13 and 14, Paul reminds us of our hope.

[26:38] Here are Galatians 3, 13 and 14. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.

[27:03] Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross what we could not do for ourselves. The only way to escape the curse is not by our work, but by Christ's work.

[27:15] He has redeemed us, ransomed us, set us free from the awful condition of bondage to which the curse of the law had brought us. That quote was from John Stott.

[27:27] Here's another one from A.W.F. Blunt. And Mr. Blunt is a little blunt. He says, The language here is startling, almost shocking.

[27:38] We should not have dared to use it, yet Paul means every word of it. So listen to that one more time. The language here is startling, almost shocking.

[27:49] We should not have dared to use it, yet Paul means every word of it. As we dig into verses 13 and 14 now, consider the significance of the fact that Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, means every word that he wrote.

[28:05] More importantly, consider that for believers, every word applies to each of us. Here is verse 13 again. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

[28:20] For it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. That quote at the end of verse 13 is from Deuteronomy chapter 21, verses 22 and 23.

[28:34] Here's what Deuteronomy chapter 21, verses 22 and 23 says. Paul's mentioned a curse more than once in tonight's passage.

[29:09] The curse of verse 10 and the curse of verse 13 are the same curse. Christ redeemed us from it by becoming a curse himself.

[29:20] The curse was transferred from us to him. He took it voluntarily upon himself to deliver us from it. The verb redeem and its noun redemption are very important words in the Bible.

[29:34] They mean to ransom, to purchase by a price paid. The price paid is designated a redemption or a ransom and the reality of being purchased by that price is to be redeemed.

[29:48] Redeemed is a word commonly used for buying a slave's freedom. Christ justifies those who believe in him by buying them back from their slavery to sin. The price Christ paid was the only one high enough to redeem all mankind.

[30:05] Paul's readers certainly would have understood the concept of redemption and of paying a ransom. So would the Judaizers. For an early example of why that is, listen to Exodus chapter 21, verses 28 through 30.

[30:22] These verses are Exodus chapter 21, verses 28 through 30. When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten.

[30:36] But the owner of the ox shall not be liable. But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.

[30:52] If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him. Rather than killing the owner of the bad ox, the family of the victim had the option to ask the owner or the family of the owner to pay a ransom in exchange for sparing the owner's life.

[31:13] If that payment was made, the ox's owner was delivered from the curse of death. So you can see that as far back as Exodus, we've already seen their picture of redemption in the Bible and the people in Galatians should have known better.

[31:30] This law illustrates what Paul is teaching about Christ redeeming his people from the curse of the law. Christ has made a payment to God because the people's sins have brought them under God's curse.

[31:43] Their violation of the law exposes them to the curse of a just and perfect God. They are liable to punishment because they are guilty. But Christ has paid the redemption price to deliver his people from the curse of the law.

[31:59] Christ redeemed his people from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for them. And that part of verse 13 should remind us of 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21.

[32:11] 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21 says, For our sake he, meaning God, mean him, talking about Christ, to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

[32:28] Martin Luther wrote this about Galatians 3, 13. Luther said, The whole emphasis is on the phrase for us. For Christ is innocent so far as his own person is concerned.

[32:43] Therefore, he should not have been hanged from the tree. But because according to the law, every thief should have been hanged, therefore, according to the law of Moses, Christ himself should have been hanged.

[32:55] For he bore the person of a sinner and a thief, and not of but one, but of all sinners and thieves. For we are sinners and thieves, and therefore we are worthy of death and eternal damnation.

[33:07] But Christ took all our sins upon himself, and for them he died on the cross. Some theologians refer to Galatians 3, verse 13 as the negative side of redemption.

[33:23] They call that verse the negative side of redemption because Christ had to redeem us from the punishment for sin. Charles Spurgeon wrote, In all the pages of Revelation, you will find no blessings that the law ever gave to one who had offended it.

[33:40] There were blessings for those who kept it completely, though none ever did. But no blessing is ever written for one offender. Blessings we find in the gospel, curses we find in the law.

[33:52] Christ hung on a tree for us, bearing our curse, in our room and place instead. We were all under the curse of the law.

[34:04] But Christ voluntarily took our place and was made a curse for us so that the blessing might be ours. He fulfilled the law's demands by his perfect obedience, and he suffered the law's utmost penalty by his death upon the cross.

[34:20] Now all those who believe in him are forever justified because of what he did for them. Spurgeon's quotes serve as a good transition to the other side of redemption.

[34:33] For believers, redemption also has a positive side. And Paul documents that positive side in Galatians 3.14. Look at Galatians 3.14 one more time.

[34:46] That verse says, Christ redeemed us so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.

[34:59] The positive side of redemption gives each believer two things. First, each believer receives the blessing of Abraham. As we talked about earlier, the blessing of Abraham is salvation through justification by faith.

[35:16] Second, each believer receives the Holy Spirit. Listen to how John Stott described the positive side of our redemption. It is a double blessing.

[35:29] The first part is justification and the second, the gift of the Spirit. It is with these two gifts that God blesses all who are in Christ. He both justifies us, accepting us as righteous in His sight and puts His Spirit within us.

[35:46] What is more, He never bestows one gift without the other. Everybody who receives the Spirit is justified and everybody who is justified receives the Spirit.

[35:59] Let that last part sink in. God never bestows one gift without the other. Everybody who receives the Spirit is justified and everybody who is justified receives the Spirit.

[36:15] That's the same concept we heard from John MacArthur last week. And here is that quote from MacArthur. He said, It is therefore ludicrous to maintain, as some Christians do, that the full gift of the Holy Spirit comes through an additional work or experience.

[36:31] A person who does not have the fullness of the Holy Spirit does not need a second blessing. He needs salvation. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is inseparable from the new birth.

[36:45] So that raises the question, what must we do to receive the blessings that Paul mentions in verse 14? The proper answer is nothing. We don't have to do anything.

[36:56] We only have to believe. Some might say that believing is a work, but Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 tell us that even our faith is a gift from God.

[37:09] We've cross-referenced Ephesians 2, 8-10 often in these lessons, but the verses are worth hearing again. So here are Ephesians 2, verses 8-10.

[37:22] For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

[37:32] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Such is the true gospel, the gospel of both the Old and the New Testaments.

[37:48] It's the same gospel which God himself began to preach to Abraham in verse 8, in which the apostle Paul continued to preach in his day. It's the setting forth before men's eyes of Jesus Christ as crucified.

[38:03] It offers on this basis both justification and the gift of the Spirit, and its only demand is faith. Remember the main idea.

[38:15] Paul uses Scripture to show how God's covenant with Abraham demonstrates justification by faith alone. Grace is never earned. Abraham simply believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

[38:29] He didn't do anything, he just believed something. More appropriately, he believed someone and that someone is God. Abraham did this in the face of an outlandish promise, namely that his wife would have a son and through that son's line all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

[38:51] Abraham's faith was the crucial point. Before, during, and after Abraham's day, this has always been the case. Hebrews 11.4 tells us that Abel's sacrifice was more acceptable than Cain because of Abel's faith.

[39:07] Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, the godly judges, kings, prophets, and others throughout the Old Testament received God's blessing through faith, not through what they did.

[39:24] In Hebrews 11.6, the author states, And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

[39:39] Once again, you see that through faith alone we receive God's promises. God gave Abraham the promise by grace, and Abraham trusted the promise through faith.

[39:53] That faith led to radical obedience. When you trust God you do things that seem crazy to the world not because you're earning salvation but because you believe God.

[40:06] Consider just how radical Abraham became in his obedience. By the time we get to Genesis chapter 22, Abraham had so much faith and trust in God that he was ready to sacrifice his own son if necessary.

[40:22] We see similar radical obedience at the end of Hebrews chapter 11. So as we read these verses in Hebrews, every believer should ask ourselves whether our faith results in such radical obedience.

[40:36] Listen to Hebrews chapter 11 verses 32 through 38. 38. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David, and Samuel, and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

[41:11] Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.

[41:26] They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword, they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, and notice this, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.

[41:48] Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for the reminder that our justification comes by faith alone, in Christ alone.

[42:00] Help us always remember that and let the memory of that enable us to be more bold. Let us be more like the people we just read about in Hebrews.

[42:12] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you.