We Are All One in Christ
Jesus
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Rev. Jim Bogle, given January 21, 2007
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Turn with me this morning to Galatians Chapter 3. We
are going to share in this whole chapter this morning.
Last Sunday I shared with you from Ephesians Chapter
4 verses 1-8, where we learned from Paul that Christ, upon His return to Heaven,
poured out spiritual gifts upon all those that came to Him by faith; men and
women alike. In fact the very evidence of that outpouring is recorded in Acts
Chapter 2.
We also shared with you Paul’s writing to the church
at Corinth, his first epistle, chapter 12, where, speaking of spiritual gifts,
he also made the very important point that God gave gifts according to His will,
and not according to man’s will.
Then we shared with you Paul’s first letter to young
Timothy where Paul gave guidance and direction for the building of the church;
the specific functions for men and for women within the church that there may
be structure and order within the body, and where Paul made the clear statement
that “women were not to teach, nor usurp authority over men.”
Having shared all of this information with you last
Sunday, and as we face within our Denomination today the question of whether
women should be ordained to the ministry, I was reminded by one who fully
supports the ordination of women to the ministry, that today, in Christ Jesus, "there
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)" His
conclusion was that, based upon this single verse, women are just as approved
of God for the pastorate as any man.
So it is incumbent upon us to find out whether Paul
is stumbling all over himself, saying one thing to one group and a completely
different thing to another group, or if in fact Paul is writing a truth and we
are lifting a single statement out of that truth in order to support a personal
theology of our own.
What did Paul mean when he wrote:
Galatians 3:28
there is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Are we saved by trusting the Law of Moses today, or
are we saved by faith in Christ Jesus?
Out on our Ten Commandments monument you will see at
the bottom of the plate “Galatians 3:24 – the law was our schoolmaster to bring
us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” If we cannot be saved by
keeping the Ten Commandments, why then were the Commandments even given; and
what is the strength of the Commandments today?
Galatians 3:1-12
1: O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched
you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath
been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2: This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of
faith?
3: Are ye so foolish? having
begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
4: Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
5: He therefore that ministereth
to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you,
doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
6: Even as Abraham believed God, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness.
7: Know ye therefore that they which are of
faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8: And the scripture, foreseeing that God
would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto
Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Abraham was a man of faith. He was not a perfect man
in the flesh! Abraham, every day, faced the challenges of life that we all
face. Abraham stumbled many times in the flesh, but he was righteous in the
eyes of God because of his faith.
Paul says,
9: So then they which be
of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
This was a hard saying for many of the Jewish
believers who were still clinging to works and rituals and, by doing so, were
rejecting the freedom they had obtained through the blessed work of Christ. In
effect, they were rejecting the saving grace, pardon, and forgiveness of Christ
that comes by way of faith in His finished work, not theirs. Having heard and
received the Gospel of Salvation, they had now fallen back into the false
gospel of works, striving to keep the law. This, in the end, brought glory to
self and not to Christ.
10: For as many as are of the works of the law
are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them.
11: But that no man is justified by the law in
the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall
live by faith.
12: And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
What kind of a life can one enjoy, striving to live
by the law?
I was attending a Seventh Day Adventist church out
in
Living by the law is bondage and is unprofitable.
Acts 15:10
Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke
upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to
bear?
Galatians 3:13-14
13: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree:
14: That the blessing of Abraham might come on
the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the
Spirit through faith.
Abraham lived in a time long before the giving of
the Commandments. There were no Commandments in his day, nor
his immediate children’s day (Isaac or Jacob). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were
all men of faith, and they will be sitting with Christ in glory.
Luke 13:28
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,
when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the
kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
Now Paul gives a human illustration of a covenant.
Galatians 3:15-20
15: Brethren, I speak after the manner of men;
Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be
confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
An agreement between two parties, when it has been
sealed, can’t just arbitrarily be changed. So when God makes a promise you can
count on it wholeheartedly.
16: Now to Abraham and his seed were the
promises made. He saith not, And
to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
17: And this I say, that the covenant, that
was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and
thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none
effect.
18: For if the inheritance be of the law, it
is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
19: Wherefore then serveth
the law?
If God’s covenant promise to Abraham was by faith
without the law, then what is the purpose of the law – which came 430 years
after Abraham? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should
come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of
a mediator.
Note two things here!
(1) The law was given to convince men of their
sin. Paul will tell us that the law was our schoolmaster showing us our sinful
condition. The law is like a mirror; as we look into the demands of the law, we
realize that we are unable to keep up with those demands. And so the law was
given because of transgressions.
(2) The law was only to be temporary, “Until the
seed should come.”
20: Now a mediator is not a mediator of one,
but God is one.
What does a mediator do? He mediates between two! When
God made his covenant with Abraham, there was no mediator. God spoke directly
to Abraham, and said,
Genesis 21:1-3
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.
But, when God gave the Commandments, who was the mediator between God and the children of
Did this new giving of the Commandments negate God’s
personal and direct covenant with Abraham? Not at all! God had made a promise
to Abraham and it was a promise based not upon a law, but upon faith.
Galatians 3:21-29
21: Is the law then against the promises of
God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life,
verily righteousness should have been by the law.
22: But the scripture hath concluded all under
sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe.
O my! How wonderful is this truth! God gave us the
Commandments not to make us righteous; for trusting in the law could never give
life or make one righteous. But, it could convince us of our sin. Then we would
be forced to conclude that salvation could only be by faith in the finished
work of Abraham’s seed, the Lord Jesus Christ.
23: But before faith came, we were kept under
the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24: Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to
bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25: But after that faith is come, we are no
longer under a schoolmaster.
26: For ye are all the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus.
The discussion Paul has been having here with the
Galatians is not one of gifts to serve Christ in the church. It is not one of
who will be pastors or deacons. The discussion is whether we are to trust in the
law, as the Jews want us to, or are we to trust in Christ Jesus by faith?
And Paul concludes that Jews and Greeks alike,
whether they are bond or free, whether they are male or female, are all
Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the same promise.
27: For as many of you as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ.
28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in
Christ Jesus.
29: And if ye be Christ's, then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
We are all one in Christ Jesus; when we come to Him
in perfect faith.
Have you received Christ Jesus this morning?
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