“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Galatians 3:26-27
We are not children of God by our works under the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again. When we look to Jesus and His cross in faith and are baptized in His name, as He commanded (Matt. 28:19), we are joined to Christ and partake of God’s new covenant promises: our sins are washed away in Jesus’ blood, and we are clothed with His perfect righteousness.
Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for making me a child of God through faith in Your name and for granting to me, in my baptism, the blessings of forgiveness and life everlasting purchased by Your shed blood. Amen.
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:12-13
Satan would deceive us and have us take sin lightly, as though it will cause us no harm, but we need to constantly exhort each other against the dangers of sin. James writes, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren” (James 1:14-16). Sin and its deception are a threat to our souls. Repent and look to Christ and His cross for mercy, and then seek His help and strength to resist temptation and walk in His ways.
Give me wisdom, O God, to shun every sin and evil, lest I be deceived by sin and suffer eternal death and damnation. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” Galatians 3:23-25
God’s law condemns and imprisons us because, though it reveals what is good and right, we are sinners and have come short of doing what God requires. But being condemned by God’s law prepares us for the gospel, in which God offers and promises us forgiveness of sins and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross. And when we are justified through faith in Christ, we don’t return again to trusting in our faulty obedience under the law to be counted righteous and acceptable in God’s eyes.
O just and merciful God, Your law reveals my sin and condemnation and prepares me to hear the comforting words of the gospel — the promise of forgiveness and life through faith in Christ Jesus. Grant that I trust in Christ alone so that I might be counted just and righteous in Your sight. Amen.
“Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. “ Galatians 3:21-22
God’s law and His gospel are not contradictory, as some would have us believe. The law is good and right, but it cannot give us life because we are sinners who do not and cannot keep the law as God requires. The law curses and condemns us as sinners and dooms us to death and damnation that we might look in faith to Christ Jesus and His perfect obedience and His innocent sufferings and death in our stead for our sins.
Your holy commandments reveal my guilt and condemn me, O God. Grant that I believe the gospel promise of forgiveness and life through faith in Jesus Christ, who kept the law for me and then suffered my punishment when He died on the cross for the sins of all. Amen.
“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.” Genesis 6:1-2
Before the LORD God destroyed the world with a flood because the people of this world had turned away from Him and no longer walked in His ways, the believers took wives from among the daughters of the unbelieving, leading to more and more families turning away from faith in the true God to unbelief and sin.
Give to Your children, O LORD, wisdom to choose a spouse who believes in Your promises and walks in Your ways so that they may bring up their children “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4) and not in the ways of this evil and dying world. Amen.
