God’s Descendants

Summary: Paul argues that Scripture itself anticipated God’s plan to justify the Gentiles by faith, and in that sense “preached the gospel beforehand” to Abraham by declaring that all the nations would be blessed in him. From that foundation he concludes that those who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, the believer. In contrast, Paul says that those who rely on works of the Law place themselves under a curse, because the Law pronounces a curse on anyone who does not continue in everything written in it. He then insists that it is evident no one is justified before God by the Law, since the principle set forth is that the righteous will live by faith. The Law, he adds, is not grounded in faith; instead it operates on the principle that the one who does these things will live by them. Against that backdrop, Paul proclaims what Christ has done: Christ redeemed believers from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse on their behalf, because Scripture says a cursed status falls on one who is hanged on a tree. The result, Paul says, is that the blessing promised to Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that the promised Spirit would be received through faith.   Teaching: God’s promise to Abraham includes more than just the physical descendants Abraham bore by blood. It also includes the people born through faith - including the Gentiles. If someone tries to be declared righteous by the Law, that person becomes a sinner because of the parts of the Law he cannot keep. In that sense, the Law exposes our sin as sin. Therefore, a person who belongs to the Law will be judged in God’s final accounting and fall under condemnation. And such a person ends up struggling through life anxiously - if they have money, they suffer because they have it; if they do not have money, they suffer because they do not. But those who live by faith before God may appear to be struggling on the outside, yet everything is being handled within God’s hand. When they obey by entrusting things to God, life is not ultimately unbearable. Entrust your money to Him, entrust your children to Him, and entrust your work to Him. The gospel is the gospel of the cross. To be saved through faith in Jesus Christ means that Jesus took the curse that I deserved. He was crucified and died for me, and in doing so, He saved us from the curse of the Law. Excerpt from the sermon by Pastor Lee, Feb 25, 2026 Galatians 3:8–14