North Anderson Baptist Church
On Mission In Anderson & Beyond
December 17th, 2023
Locations & Times
North Anderson Baptist Church
2308 N Main St, Anderson, SC 29621, USA
Sunday 10:00 AM
1. THE PLAN OF SALVATION IN EVERY AGE IS ALWAYS BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
After appealing to personal experience to remind these impressionable Galatian believers that salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus, and not their works Paul goes to the jugular by referencing the justification of Abraham.
This was genius as the Judaizers who’d brought their false gospel message into the region revered Abraham.
In short, he’s asking, “How was Father Abraham saved?”
Galatians 3:5-6 “So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard— just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?”
The message of the Judaizers would have referenced Genesis 17 – The Covenant of Circumcision
Paul points them to Genesis 15 – After Abraham had put his trust in God, specifically in Gods promise that he’d given him a great lineage and from that lineage, the Messiah, he was justified by faith
Genesis 15:6 “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness”
This verse is one of the clearest expressions of the truth of salvation by grace through faith in all of the Bible.
The Bible teaches that Abraham was justified BEFORE circumcision.
The Bible teaches that Abraham was justified by faith and considered righteous around 430 years before Moses even climbed Mt Siana
Romans 4:9-10 “Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness. In what way, then, was it credited—while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised”
THE POINT: No one can say that Abraham was saved because of an external ritual, or his adherence to the law – he was justified prior to the covenant of circumcision or the Law being given.
How was Abraham saved? Abraham was saved in the same way that we are – By the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
THERE ARENT MULTIPLE PATHS TO REDEMPTION THAT VARY WITH TIME, GEOGRAPHY, OR PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCE - Gods great plan of salvation is the same in every age – By grace, through faith.
Some may argue, "but there are hundreds of years pass between Abraham and Jesus."
THAT’S NOT TRUE AT ALL –
- The Angel Of The Lord who appeared to Hagar was Jesus
- Jesus appeared to Moses in the flame of Exodus 3
- He appeared to Samsons father at the Altar in Judges 13
- He was atop Jacobs ladder in Genesis 28
- When Abraham Himself raised his knife to slay Isaac in Genesis 22, it was the Lord Jesus Himself who appeared and provided a substitute – foreshadowing His substitutionary death on the cross for our sins
Jesus told the Jews in John 5:39 “You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me”
He said to two disillusioned disciples as the walked to Emmaus:
Luke 24:25-27 “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scripture”
· In the Old Testament – people were saved by grace by looking forward to Jesus by faith
· In the New Testament – people were saved by grace by looking at Jesus by faith
· Today, people are saved by grace by looking back at Jesus by faith
2. THE GOSPEL LEAVES NO ROOM FOR PREJUDICE
Galatians 3:7 “You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s son”
The Judaizers – Deeply believed that they had a good standing with God because they were genetically descended from Abraham and observed the Law.
In fact, many Jewish Rabbis taught that that Abraham himself stood at the gate of Hell to make sure that none of his descendants would slip by and go in.
According to the Judaizers, these Gentile Christians were second class citizens, at best. The only way they could truly inherit eternal life - through circumcision and keeping the Law. They must become a Jew. It was the least they could do.
Romans 2:28-29 “For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people but from God.”
What this means - THE GOSPEL LEAVES NO ROOM FOR PREJUDICE
In the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ - There’s no basis for excluding due to lineage, heritage, ethnicity, language, pigmentation, social standing or appearance.
It means that in His Church there’s no place for bigotry, racism or prejudice.
1 John 4:20 “If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar.”
THE GOSPEL – ALL who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!
3.GODS PLAN FROM THE BEGINNING WAS TO SAVE PEOPLE FROM EVERY TRIBE AND TONGUE
If you take missions out of the Bible, all that’s left is the leather cover.
Galatians 3:8-9 “Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you. Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.”
When God promised Abraham that through his seed a Messiah would come – He doesn’t say, “And the Jews alone will be blessed through you”
BUT RATHER – “All the nations will be blessed through you”
We have a global God and therefore a global Gospel!
THIS
We exist as a church for a purpose greater than ourselves - Missions is why we exist!
GODS PLAN FROM THE BEGINNING WAS TO SAVE PEOPLE FROM EVERY TRIBE AND TONGUE – and He has invited us to join Him on mission
Matthew 28:18-20 “Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
After appealing to personal experience to remind these impressionable Galatian believers that salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus, and not their works Paul goes to the jugular by referencing the justification of Abraham.
This was genius as the Judaizers who’d brought their false gospel message into the region revered Abraham.
In short, he’s asking, “How was Father Abraham saved?”
Galatians 3:5-6 “So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard— just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?”
The message of the Judaizers would have referenced Genesis 17 – The Covenant of Circumcision
Paul points them to Genesis 15 – After Abraham had put his trust in God, specifically in Gods promise that he’d given him a great lineage and from that lineage, the Messiah, he was justified by faith
Genesis 15:6 “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness”
This verse is one of the clearest expressions of the truth of salvation by grace through faith in all of the Bible.
The Bible teaches that Abraham was justified BEFORE circumcision.
The Bible teaches that Abraham was justified by faith and considered righteous around 430 years before Moses even climbed Mt Siana
Romans 4:9-10 “Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness. In what way, then, was it credited—while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised”
THE POINT: No one can say that Abraham was saved because of an external ritual, or his adherence to the law – he was justified prior to the covenant of circumcision or the Law being given.
How was Abraham saved? Abraham was saved in the same way that we are – By the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
THERE ARENT MULTIPLE PATHS TO REDEMPTION THAT VARY WITH TIME, GEOGRAPHY, OR PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCE - Gods great plan of salvation is the same in every age – By grace, through faith.
Some may argue, "but there are hundreds of years pass between Abraham and Jesus."
THAT’S NOT TRUE AT ALL –
- The Angel Of The Lord who appeared to Hagar was Jesus
- Jesus appeared to Moses in the flame of Exodus 3
- He appeared to Samsons father at the Altar in Judges 13
- He was atop Jacobs ladder in Genesis 28
- When Abraham Himself raised his knife to slay Isaac in Genesis 22, it was the Lord Jesus Himself who appeared and provided a substitute – foreshadowing His substitutionary death on the cross for our sins
Jesus told the Jews in John 5:39 “You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me”
He said to two disillusioned disciples as the walked to Emmaus:
Luke 24:25-27 “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scripture”
· In the Old Testament – people were saved by grace by looking forward to Jesus by faith
· In the New Testament – people were saved by grace by looking at Jesus by faith
· Today, people are saved by grace by looking back at Jesus by faith
2. THE GOSPEL LEAVES NO ROOM FOR PREJUDICE
Galatians 3:7 “You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s son”
The Judaizers – Deeply believed that they had a good standing with God because they were genetically descended from Abraham and observed the Law.
In fact, many Jewish Rabbis taught that that Abraham himself stood at the gate of Hell to make sure that none of his descendants would slip by and go in.
According to the Judaizers, these Gentile Christians were second class citizens, at best. The only way they could truly inherit eternal life - through circumcision and keeping the Law. They must become a Jew. It was the least they could do.
Romans 2:28-29 “For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people but from God.”
What this means - THE GOSPEL LEAVES NO ROOM FOR PREJUDICE
In the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ - There’s no basis for excluding due to lineage, heritage, ethnicity, language, pigmentation, social standing or appearance.
It means that in His Church there’s no place for bigotry, racism or prejudice.
1 John 4:20 “If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar.”
THE GOSPEL – ALL who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!
3.GODS PLAN FROM THE BEGINNING WAS TO SAVE PEOPLE FROM EVERY TRIBE AND TONGUE
If you take missions out of the Bible, all that’s left is the leather cover.
Galatians 3:8-9 “Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you. Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.”
When God promised Abraham that through his seed a Messiah would come – He doesn’t say, “And the Jews alone will be blessed through you”
BUT RATHER – “All the nations will be blessed through you”
We have a global God and therefore a global Gospel!
THIS
We exist as a church for a purpose greater than ourselves - Missions is why we exist!
GODS PLAN FROM THE BEGINNING WAS TO SAVE PEOPLE FROM EVERY TRIBE AND TONGUE – and He has invited us to join Him on mission
Matthew 28:18-20 “Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”