I’m free. Thank God Almighty I’m free at last.

Steve Brown:
I’m free. Thank God almighty I’m free at last. Let’s talk on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
That was author and seminary professor Steve Brown. And this is Key Life. We’re all about radical grace, because of what Jesus has done, God’s not mad at you. Keep listening and that message will set you free to live a life of joy and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re looking at the first few verses of the third chapter of Galatians in our study in Galatians. And we’re looking at how Paul is bringing up some lies that the people at the churches in Galatia had believed and they had been deceived and he was amazed that they had been deceived. They had been deceived because they forgot the Cross. They forgot where Jesus found them. They forgot the way the Christian faith is logical and rational and hangs together. They forgot their own experience. And they also forgot to check in Scripture. I recently put in the radio in my wife’s car and I had followed the direction, I thought to the letter, but when I get almost to the end, I thought, I’ve got this. I put the directions aside and I finished with the radio and it was beautiful and it played beautifully and she was very pleased. Except when you turn on the left speaker, the right speaker comes on. When you turn on the right speaker, the left speaker comes on and Donald Grey Barnhouse said all of life illustrates the Bible doctrine. I thought about that. And I said, Lord, that happens to me too, sometimes, I’ve been teaching the Bible so long, I feel I don’t need to go back to it so often. And then the speakers get confused and people get confused and I get confused. God has gone through a lot of trouble to give us a book. And if he hadn’t, we would have gotten the speakers wrong all along. So stay on the word. And then finally, and then we finished with these verses and we’ll move to another text. Finally, you can be deceived by not only forgetting the Cross, the beginning, the logic, the experience in the Scripture. You can be deceived by forgetting the amazing grace and cleansing and freedom that you’ve been given, Galatians 3:6,

thus Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”?

Now we’re going to talk about that, when we get to the next section in Galatians. And we’re going to talk about it in some detail, as we consider the curse of the law. But what Paul is saying here, is that you are righteous as a gift. In other words, when you stand before God, he has imputed the righteousness of Christ to your account. Paul makes that clear in Romans and he brings it up again in Galatians. And it’s important to remember. Sometimes when I pray at the beginning of the broadcast, I say something about feeling uncomfortable, when I come into the presence of the God of the universe. And that’s because I know my sin. And then I always remember that when I come, I come perfect, because I’m clothed in the righteousness of Christ. I have been forgiven, Galatians 3:9.

So then, those who are men of faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.

What Paul is saying here is this, remember that you were made free and clean by the blood of the crucified Christ. Jeremy is the producer of this broadcast and he sits on a little glass booth. And I look at him through the glass window where he’s operating all the controls and making all of the corrections. And he said after I had done some recording, you know, that was good stuff. And I said, you know, it’d be cool if you got saved because the producer of this broadcast ought to be saved. And he said, I’m going to work on it. I said, are you crazy? It doesn’t have anything to do with you working on it. That’s the gospel, it’s all, and he laughed and I laughed. And that goes on around here a lot, but it’s true. You don’t have a thing to do with it. It wasn’t because you read the Bible or because you were so smart or because you were good, it’s because of him and the grace that was given to you. My friend, Leighton Ford has a wonderful story about a man who bought a new Rolls Royce and decided to take a touring trip through Europe, somewhere in France, the Rolls Royce, now you’d expect that from a Honda, like my car, but not a Rolls Royce. The Rolls Royce developed transmission trouble. So he called the company and you know what they did, they immediately put a first-class mechanic on an airplane, flew him to France and he repaired the problem and sent the man on his way. The man was so pleased with the service that he couldn’t believe it. When he got back home from his vacation, he checked for the bill and there was no bill. He waited for a number of weeks and still nobody sent him a bill. So finally he wrote to the people at Rolls Royce asking them to send the bill. This was the reply, Dear Sir, We have no record of a transmission failure on any Rolls Royce in France ever. That’s me, man, when I stand before God, no record, no record whatsoever. And if you forget that, you’ll start believing the lies. If you forget that, you get in a quagmire and it’s awful. Alright, let’s move on and let me read to you the next text, starting at the 10th verse through the 27th verse. And we’re going to talk about the law, of the third chapter of Galatians. Paul writes,

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 the things written in the book of the law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no man is justified before God by the law, for “He through faith is righteous shall live.” But the law does not rest on faith, for “He, who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us–for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree”–that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come up on the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith.

To give a human example, brothers, no one annuls, even a man’s will or adds to it once he has been ratified, or it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to offsprings referring to many, but referring to one. And to your offspring, which is Christ. This is what I mean about the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant, previously ratified by God. So as to make the promise void, for if the inheritance is by the law, it is no longer by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. Why then the law? It was added, because of transgressions until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made. And it was ordained by angels, through an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if a law had been given, which could make alive, then righteousness would indeed be by the law, but the scripture consigned all things to sin, that what was promised to faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed, filled with the law was our custodian, until Christ came. Alright, I’m running out of time. So, I know you’re thinking, what in the world was that? I don’t understand any of that. Well, it’s a rabbinical argument and I’m going to give you some tools, when we talk about this tomorrow, but for today, remember you’re under a curse. Thank God that you are. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Steve Brown there, setting the table for us, reading Galatians 3:10-27. We will dive into that tomorrow, so don’t miss it. And if you have missed any episodes of Key Life, be sure to visit us at the all-new keylife.org. On our main page, look for a light blue section marked Key Life. You just click that, then you’ll discover the audio for all of our past episodes. Plus a really cool new feature. When you click the listen now button, just scroll on down. You’re going to find transcripts of that program. And again, all of that is waiting for you at the new keylife.org. So now that we’re well into a chilly November, you are probably enjoying the feeling of being cozy in your house. Maybe even curling up next to a fire. So I’m guessing you could use a little fireside reading material. If so, may I suggest the 2020 edition of Key Life Magazine? You’re going to love the article from Steve and those from your favorite Key Life voices. Get your free copy right now by calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also email [email protected] and ask for the magazine. If you would like to mail your request, send it to

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