The Place Of Ultimate Trust

                                                                 Sunday School Lesson
                                                                     February 12,2012
Lesson Focus:
Pay attention to what
you put your faith in.
Lesson Scripture:
Galatians 3:1-14

Introduction:

Paul gave the new believers in Galatia a firm talking to:"Have you come under the spell of an evil magician or a demon?" He was calling them back to truth.The Galatians had allowed false teachers to come among them who were telling them they had to become Jews and follow the law along with their new Christian beliefs.Paul reminded them of the day they received the Holy Spirit,when they understood Christ,His crucifixion,His saving power,and the working of the spirit.The Gentiles were caught somewhere between their pagan temples and the Jewish synagogues.Paul says," you belong to neither.You have to walk away from your old pagan worship but you are not required to start attending the synagogue.Abraham was declare righteous,not because he followed any law,but because he believed God's promise.The Christian life is about faith in God, and His word,and the obedience of the two.Our true christianity is based on our faith in Jesus Christ and our obedience to His word.

The Foolishness of the Flesh

Galatians 3:1-5KJV

¹O 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?

   ²This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

   ³Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

   ⁴Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

   ⁵He 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?

Footnotes:

When it came to living to the glory of Christ,the Galatians were unwise and lacking understanding because they had been seduced into living a lie.Paul and other faithful teachers had clearly presented the gospel,Christ crucified for our redemption,whic the Galatians had readily received by fath.Yet they had chosen to forsake the purity of faith for the putrid works of the flesh or human efforts.Paul marveled at how this could be, considering how much the Galatians had suffered for the truth of the Gospel.Apart from the workd of te spirit,sinners hate the light of the gospel truth because their deeds are evil.

The Family Of Faith

Galatians 3:6-9KJV

 ⁶Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

   ⁷Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
   ⁸And 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.
   ⁹So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Footnotes:

Those who sought to bewitch the Galatians believers may well have used Abraham as an example in their arguments,likely pointing to the fact that God instituted the rite of circumcision with Abraham. But God had promised Abraham years earilier that his descendents would be as abundant as the stars of heaven, and Abraham believed the promise.As a result of the faith,"Abraham believed God and he counted it as righteousness".Salvation by grace through faith is not just a New Testiment concept as Paul made clear to the Galatians.When sinners respond in faith to God's gift of salvation in Christ,they are adopted into God's family as children of Abraham,the man of faith.

The Fulfillment of Faith

Galatians 3:10-14KJV

¹⁰For 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.

   ¹¹But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
   ¹²And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
   ¹³Christ 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:
   ¹⁴That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Footnotes:

Here Paul's argument shifted from the example of Abraham to an examination of what the Old Testiment says abut the law and faith.We cannot kepp th elaw perfectly,the law was designed to show man he was lost and needed a savior.If we could live by the law Jesus wouldn't of had to die. Paul pointed to Habakkuk 2:4 which states that  the righteous,those justified in God's eyes, shall "live by faith".The ultimate fulfillment of God's grace is in His Son,who took the law's curse upon Him to redeem us from the law.Jesus hung on a cross that all who believes can be blessed with the blessings of Abraham.