Anyone Can Be Blessed! [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

God will have a shoe. Those are the three most hopeful words I know, and a close second is, you can change, but beloved, keep the order right. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Galatians, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month made to Alan Wright Ministries.

So as you listen to today's message, you can go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. You ready for some good news? All right, here it is from Charles Spurgeon, who wrote, When I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin. But when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could have ever rebelled against one who loved me so and sought my good. My good. Anyone, we're going to learn in Paul's third chapter to the Galatians, anyone can be blessed.

Anyone. Because it is not through your works, but through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes you just got to get a whole new way of thinking. Okay, so I've been getting a little vacation time, and I've been able to therefore focus on the really important things in life, like my putting game. Now, I've noticed some deterioration in how many putts I was making, and I began to think, like all middle-aged golfers want to do, that my real need is new equipment. And so, I began looking for a new putter, and I've been looking for months with all the in the stores, testing them all out, and I finally had settled that what I need to do is make the leap, get the new belly putter, which is a longer length, which you can kind of wedge into your belly, and it works like a pendulum, and you ought not be able to miss. And I settled on the one I wanted, the tailor-made Ghost Spider. Very popular on tour right now, the Ghost Spider.

And Ann found one on eBay, a good price, got it for my anniversary present, the Ghost Spider. I couldn't wait to get out and start putting with it, so I went out with Bennett, my son, and my nephew, Jake. We started having some putting contests.

I thought I was doing pretty well with it, actually. I was loving the Spider. And then came time to actually play the first real round of golf, this time with Bennett and another nephew of mine, Coble, and they're both good golfers. I said, I'll take you guys on.

The Spider is ready to bite. I was, oh, how great I was going to be with this new putter. And I said, of course, you guys have got to give me a stroke of hole.

But anyway, I took them on. I was missing everything. Later, Bennett used the word hideous to describe my putting.

It was hideous. I was like, I got to my new putter. I've never been so excited about a piece of golf equipment as a kid. I was like, I got to my new putter. I've never been so excited about a piece of golf equipment as this.

The Spider, the Spider was biting me instead of anybody else. And finally, on hole 15, my beloved son said to me, Dad, you're aiming left. I said, what do you mean? He said, the putter's aiming left. The whole point of this putter is that it has a line on it, on the base of this putter about three inches long.

I mean, this idea is like, you know, you'd have to be blind not to be able to see that this is the line. Line it up towards the hole. And I said, what do you mean I'm aiming left? And so we got out on the putting green afterwards. I said, let me get this thing fixed. I got to get this fixed.

I said, okay. Now, here I'm lined up. It looks like to me I'm lined up at the putter, at the hole. And is that aiming right at the hole? And Bennett said, no, that's left.

I said, that's not left. I'm aiming at the hole. He said, here, let me hold the putter for you. You come back here and look.

He held it exactly where it was. I came back and looked. It was aimed left, way left. I said, are you kidding me? I said, all right, well, get back up here. I said, all right, now you tell me when I've got it lined up properly. I started aiming more and more to the right, to the right, to the right. He said, keep going. I said, well, I feel like I'm aimed way right of the hole. He said, no, no, no, keep going. There, now you're aimed at the hole.

I said, are you kidding me? I think I'm aimed like a foot to the right of the hole. He said, no, dad, that's where it is. I said, this can't be right. And I putted it and it went in the hole.

I was like, wow. Wow, maybe it's right. Okay, let me do it again. So I tried to line up again. Dad, you're aimed left.

Are you kidding me? I feel like I'm aimed at the hole. Get it right here, here, here, here. Okay, now you're aimed at the hole. I feel like I'm aimed a foot to the right. No, you're aimed at the middle of the hole. I putted it. It goes in the hole. And I realize that I have spent the last 20 years probably putting, thinking that I'm aimed at the hole, but I'm actually aimed left of the hole, and therefore my brain has learned to take the putt and push it offline to the right in order to make it.

My brain's, look at that. So I've got to go out now and putt a million putts, and here's what I gotta do. Draw a little line on the ball, line up the line on the putter, that giant line on the ghost spider, line it all up at the hole, stand over it, and it looks like I'm aimed to the right, but I gotta just tell myself I'm not aimed at the right because I've just lined it all up and just putted. And after a while I started doing this.

I started making more of them. I'm like, well, maybe I am aimed at the hole. Maybe I've been seeing it wrong for all these years. It is altogether possible that even right now today, isn't it, there's something that you would think, that's lined up just exactly right. That's the truth.

That's what I see it as, and it could be a foot off, it could be a degree off, it could be an inch off, but that inch off could be making all the difference in the world. And what happens with most of us is that we have grown up in a culture, in a world surrounded by and filled with a message that is contrary to the gospel. And then even in church, and even in our attempts is to be religious people and to be good people, we tend to filter the way we even hear the announcement of the gospel or we hear the gospel, it's not even announced correctly and it reinforces this idea that the gospel is yes about the grace of God, but it is also about some mixture of the law that we are somehow justified, somehow made right with God by what Jesus did, but also by what we do. And what we've been learning in Galatians is Paul at his most adamant, his most insistent, his most passionate, and in fact his most angry. Because there were some people who had slipped in to the Christian churches in Galatia and began teaching that you not only need Jesus to be justified, to be saved, to be forgiven, to be fully in with God, but you also need to keep the Old Testament sign of inclusion which was the ritual of circumcision, an Old Testament law that you also have to keep.

Yes, you need Jesus, but you also need this, a little mixture. And what we're discovering is that Paul on this point, he doesn't care so much about whether you have your children circumcised or not, that's not the issue. The issue is if you think that you have to circumcise or keep dietary laws or a new moon or a Sabbath or a certain festival or any other law, if you think that you by your performance or your righteousness, that you are somehow bringing yourself into a better standing with God, now you've contaminated the whole of the gospel. That even if you're 99% right but 1% off, that mixture not only dilutes the power of the gospel, but it poisons it. Because once you introduce into your thinking some law mentality that says if I don't perform, then I'm not in right standing with God and therefore I can't be blessed, you've just turned the gospel around backwards and missed the whole point of it and introduced into your life an unlimited capacity for fear.

And it makes us the plaything of hell when we think like that. That's why Paul is so mad. That's why he's so adamant. He says if anybody preaches a different gospel than this, he said let it be anathema, let it be like a curse to you that you have nothing to do with. He said even if I preached a different gospel to you, they have nothing to do with me.

That's what he's so passionate about in chapter one. And we realize he even had to confront the apostle Peter because Peter was observing some dietary laws along with people and Paul was saying you're a hypocrite if you're doing this. This is diluting the gospel and he's laying all this out and then he talks about what it really means that we're justified. And we've learned that to be justified means to be counted righteous.

And this has two amazing implications. It means just as if I'd never sinned. That when you accept Christ and his saving work, his grace, when you believe and accept it by faith, God reckons it as if you'd never sinned. But the second thing is that when you trust in that grace and you believe in faith Jesus died for you and you accept that saving work, that when you believe that, he also reckons it not only as if you'd never sinned but as if you had lived this incredible obedient life full of all the good works that Jesus had actually performed. In a very real way what it means is that the justification that we receive in Christ Jesus engrafts us into Christ. Paul said it's no longer I but Christ who lives in me. We are engrafted in that sense into Christ.

It's as though we've been crucified with him and now we live with him and therefore we are in the same standing with the father as the son is. That's how radical the gospel is. And Paul is saying we do not want to allow anyone to diminish this because this gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

You start robbing it of its power and people are gonna be robbed of the life of God. So he's just passionate about this. Now in today's text what happens is that Paul makes an ingenious, brings an ingenious new image into play in this discussion. He brings in the picture of Abraham. We're in Galatians chapter three.

That's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Imagine for 99 days in a row someone tells you I love you, I'll never forsake you. Wouldn't you feel cherished? But what would happen if on the 100th day that same person said, I'm not sure you're good enough for me. If you don't measure up, I don't think I'll love you anymore.

Wouldn't that one day contaminate the meaning of the other 99 days? Wouldn't 1% of conditional love poison the other 99%? Well, just 1% of law is enough to spoil grace. The tiniest bit of law can introduce an unlimited capacity for fear.

What if I don't measure up, when might I be rejected? When the Judaizers infiltrated the Galatian church, the apostle Paul was outraged and wrote a letter that describes the essence of the gospel of grace and why it must not be mixed with any form of law. Alan Wright's 12 message audio series trumpets the power of the gospel in order to set you free and empower you with pure grace. It's called Galatians and that's the gospel.

Discover the purity and power of the grace of God. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's messages in an attractive CD album or through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastoralan.org. Today's teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. Let me pick up reading at verse five where we were previously and then we're gonna have verses six through nine for today. Paul says, does he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, there's our concept of justification. Verse seven, now then that it is those of faith, I'm sorry, know then that it is the those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed. So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

You see what he's saying? Anyone can be blessed. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ and his saving grace is a son of Abraham, is an heir in full and right standing with God. And what he says is that through the picture and the story of Abraham, God is setting forth in the scripture, the gospel beforehand. You make a mistake if you think that you wait to the New Testament where the gospel is proclaimed. The gospel is proclaimed from the beginning chapter to the ending chapter. But the revelation of that gospel doesn't reach its fullness until the revelation of Jesus himself.

But what Paul is saying is if you want to understand the essence of faith, which the Bible says without faith, it's impossible to please God. If you want to understand the essence of what that faith is that so pleases God, look at Abraham. And if you want to really, really know what it means to be a person who is justified and blessed and blessed in this world and that assurance, look at Abraham. If you want to understand, in other words, what I'm saying about the gospel, turn your attention back to Abraham.

Now why this is so ingenious is because the Judaizers who had come into the provinces of Galatia with their false teaching about you need to add law into your gospel, they were always referring to the Mosaic law. Now Abraham was on the face of the earth somewhere around 2,000 years before Jesus. And Moses was on the earth sometime around 1,500 years before Christ, just roughly speaking.

In fact, it's a good way to kind of remember your timeline, Abraham 2,000 BC, Moses 1,500 BC, David 1,000 BC. So there's 500 years between Abraham and Moses. They're referring to the Mosaic law if you want to really, really be a Christian, if you want to really have, be pleasing to God, if you really want to be in, if you really want, then look back to the Mosaic law, look back to circumcision.

So what Paul does is he says, let's look at Abraham. Abraham came 500 years before the law and he was reckoned as righteous and he's the father of the nation. The father of the nation came before the law and he came before circumcision. He was called before there was any notion of circumcision. So let's look back to Abraham.

Was it because of the law? Was it because of circumcision that he was in any way blessed? No, why was he blessed? Because the announcement of blessing over his life and he believed it and it was reckoned as righteousness unto him. It is a beautiful kind of strategic way of making his point because the people of God of God understood themselves to be the sons of Abraham. This one man is called and a nation is formed out of this one man and their sense of inclusion in the family of God was built upon the fact of their physical genealogical lineage from Abraham. In other words, they had a sense of false assurance, the Jewish people, that because we are sons of Abraham that therefore we are the blessed ones.

And what Paul is making here is a point that is so huge and has such unbelievable ramifications that the Jews became absolutely furious at Jesus about this and were embroiled in this battle with Paul. Abraham is mentioned in Matthew's gospel in this very simple way. It opens with this, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So Matthew starts by saying, you want to understand who Jesus is, he's the son of David who's the son of Abraham. Jesus is the son, the son of Abraham. In Luke chapter 19, Jesus equates being a son of Abraham with being a Christian, with being saved. Jesus said to Zacchaeus, today salvation has come to this house since he is also a son of Abraham, for the son of man came to seek and save the lost. In John chapter eight, there's a really intriguing dialogue between Jewish leaders and Jesus that revolves around Jesus and Abraham. I want to read a little portion of this sometime later, spend some time studying this.

It's an important, important text. In John eight, the Jews said to Jesus, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? They were calling Jesus a demonized Samaritan. It was the lowest thing that they could think of to say to him because the Jews despised the Samaritans, considering them a half breed and heretics.

And in addition, we're saying that you're not motivated by heavenly purposes by God, but you're motivated and you're the instrument of hell. So they couldn't say anything more disrespectful than you are a demonized Samaritan. And Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. And when Jesus said that, by the way, he is appealing to what is potentially the most powerful societal force in ancient and still in Eastern cultures, and that is honor and dishonor. And he said, you are dishonoring me.

He's making a huge statement. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. And the Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died as did the prophets, yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he'll never taste death. And this is what they say, are you greater than our father Abraham who died?

Who do you make yourself out to be? And I'm reading this text so that you'll understand that the Jewish mentality was that when they were up against Jesus and he said, those that follow me, believe me, and whose lives reflect that, they're not gonna taste death. And he's speaking spiritually. But when they hear this and the Jews, their only way of refuting him is to make their appeal to what they considered the greatest person, their father Abraham. They couldn't think of anyone greater to whom to compare Jesus. Are you greater than our father Abraham?

This is the way they thought, you see. And Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me of whom you say, he is our God, but you have not known him. I know him.

If I were to say that I do not know him, I'd be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Alan Wright, that's today's teaching, anyone can be blessed in our series on the study of Galatians. Stay with us, Alan is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and today's final word. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at pastorallen.org. Imagine for 99 days in a row, someone tells you, I love you, I'll never forsake you. Wouldn't you feel cherished? But what would happen if on the 100th day that same person said, I'm not sure you're good enough for me. If you don't measure up, I don't think I'll love you.

I'll love you anymore. Wouldn't that one day contaminate the meaning of the other 99 days? Wouldn't 1% of conditional love poison the other 99%? Well, just 1% of law is enough to spoil grace. The tiniest bit of law can introduce an unlimited capacity for fear.

What if I don't measure up, when might I be rejected? When the Judaizers infiltrated the Galatian church, the apostle Paul was outraged and wrote a letter that describes the essence of the gospel of grace and why it must not be mixed with any form of law. Alan Wright's 12-message audio series trumpets the power of the gospel in order to set you free and empower you with pure grace. It's called Galatians, and that's the gospel.

Discover the purity and power of the grace of God. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's messages in an attractive CD album or through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Alan, I love this. It seems like the gates open wide here. Anyone can be blessed.

What's our takeaway today? If you think that there's something that's disqualified you, if you think that someone else can be blessed, but you can't, then Paul's message to the Galatians has extraordinary news for you. If all of the merit that God is honoring is not yours, but Christ's, then the only question is, does Christ have merit? And so you turn your attention towards Jesus in that way and know that God is a God of blessing, and anyone, anyone, regardless of your past or your abilities or your merits, can be blessed.