WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:04.400 Alright, we are in Galatians chapter three. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:12.320 Happy Mother's Day to the moms, obviously. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:18.480 I'm gonna just tell you a little bit about my mom, and then I'm gonna ask for your help. 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:39.280 Um my mom is like truly one of the last, like, I think, like, people from like the old old school, like she grew up with six siblings, and um they didn't have indoor plumbing, they didn't even really have outdoor plumbing, it was just the house out there that you went to. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:51.520 And so she grew up like doing puzzles and doing nothing, like all the time, and she was perfectly content with that, and she still to this day is perfectly content to sit. 00:00:51.679 --> 00:01:08.480 She would she used to uh babysit my youngest for uh a couple days a week, and I would come home for lunch, and she would just be sitting on the couch, no TV on, looking out the window, and I'm just I'm a little bit envious, like I want to have some of that, and I'm like, how do you do that? 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:15.760 Uh in a in a day and age where everyone's obsessed with just constantly being entertained by something, but that's who she is. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:22.480 So she is like the least materialistic person that I've that I know of, and she also is perfectly content by herself. 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:29.840 So she doesn't like gifts, and she's okay if she doesn't get visitors, and it's Mother's Day, and I really have no clue what to do today. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:35.599 What do I get someone that doesn't want to be showered with gifts and that doesn't really care if I even stop and see her? 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:38.239 So if you have any suggestions, this is my help. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:40.079 Um this is what I'm asking for for help. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:49.760 If you have if you have a mom like that and you've uh nailed it on the gift department, please stop and talk to me because I really don't know what to do today on Mother's Day. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:53.680 I always struggle with this because I don't know what to get someone that really doesn't want anything. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:55.200 So there's my plea to you. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:57.040 Galatians chapter 3. 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:09.520 Um Paul is again telling us in Galatians chapter 3 that it is faith alone that justifies us and not the law and not circumcision. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:19.680 And I just want to encourage us as we get into Galatians chapter 3 uh to let these truths sink down deep into our hearts and our souls and embrace them. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:23.759 Because we can have the attitude of, we just went over this last week. 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:26.960 We just went over this the week before and the week before and the week before. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:32.719 And if the text says it a bunch, like we're just we're gonna preach it a bunch. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:35.680 That's just the way that it goes because that's what the text says. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.800 So allow these truths to sink down deep. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:43.360 It's not, we're not opening God's word, looking for new things that we need to hear. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:51.120 We're looking for the same truths to pound us over and over again, to chip away at us and form us more into the image of Jesus. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:52.400 We're not looking for new things. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:59.599 In fact, if someone comes up and says, I've found something new in the Bible, that should be really a huge red flag for us. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:01.520 We're not looking for new things. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:07.360 We need to hear the same truth that we are sinners and that God has sent Jesus to save us. 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:08.479 That's what we need to hear. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:10.000 So that's what we're gonna hear. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:15.680 And in Galatians, Paul seems pretty upset in this letter. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:19.919 He he, first of all, he has a short introduction into Galatians. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:21.520 Uh that's not normal for him. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:23.120 He's astonished. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:24.639 He says that he's astonished. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:27.759 He's saying that some people should be accursed. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:31.360 And then he doubles down on it and says it again. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:38.080 And now to open chapter 3, where we are this morning, he is calling the Galatians foolish. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:45.199 This is how important it is to get some of these foundational truths of Scripture right. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:53.520 And I don't know of a more foundational truth in all of Scripture than that of us being justified by faith alone. 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:59.599 Does a saving faith in Jesus transform us and prepare us for good works? 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:01.599 100% yes. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:06.400 If your life has not been changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, then neither has your heart. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:07.680 That's just the way it is. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:16.319 You are not saved if you are not putting sin to death in an imperfect way and being formed more like Jesus. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:18.160 You're not saved if you're not doing that. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:20.639 Even if it's a tiny bit at a time. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:26.959 But if there is no fruit of good works, then there is no root of salvation. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:36.959 However, those good works do not serve in any way as something for us to stand on and say, see, God, I did this, I got this going for me. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:42.879 They are simply the result of the work that God has done by grace through faith in our hearts. 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:46.399 We are justified by faith alone. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:56.879 Uh, many times we will hear a complaint, you'll hear a complaint in the world that says that the church just uses doctrine to divide it. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:04:58.879 Doctrine divides churches. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:00.639 And I would agree with that 100%. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:02.720 Doctrine does divide. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:05.920 And it when it's doing its job, doctrine divides. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:15.120 And that's what we see with Paul and these Jewish Christians that are trying to make people get circumcised and follow the law. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:19.360 Paul uses doctrine to divide truth from untruth. 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:30.160 So in this case, we have Jewish Christians who have abided by the law since God gave it to Moses more than a thousand years previous to this, thousands of years previous to these writings. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:35.439 Since then, they have added much of their own rules onto what God had given them. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:44.879 So God had given them the law, not as a means to save them, but as a way for them to live a separated life from the rest of the world. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:48.560 And one of the things included in these laws and commands was circumcision. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:50.240 We went over this in the previous weeks. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:56.000 Circumcision was what God gave to Abraham in Genesis 17 as a sign of their covenant. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:04.639 God told Abraham that he will multiply him and that he will make him fruitful, and that his offspring will be as many as the stars of the sky. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:06.240 And that's fantastic. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:08.720 That was his covenant with Abraham. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:11.759 But Abraham's end of the deal was circumcision. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:17.920 And if you read, I'm going to read real quick in Genesis, this all builds into Galatians. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:32.560 So if you read in Genesis chapter 17, verses 9 through 14, you can see why the Jewish Christians were like still thinking that they need to abide by the laws and the circumcision. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:36.160 This is what it says in Genesis 17, 9 through 14. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:43.439 And God said to Abraham, As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:48.800 This is my covenant which you shall keep between me, you, and your offspring after you. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:50.800 Every male among you shall be circumcised. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:55.680 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:09.279 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or brought with you bought with you your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:15.439 Both he who is born in your house and he who is brought bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:19.360 So shall my covenant be in your flesh, an everlasting covenant. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:26.480 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people. 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:28.800 He has broken my covenant. 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:31.199 You can see why they held to that. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:36.399 Also, that's more times than I care to say, circumcision and foreskin for the rest of the year. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:39.040 So I'm I'm hopefully done with that. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:53.120 But as as awkward and as weird as this seems to cling to something like circumcision, you can see why the Jewish Christians think that people need to be circumcised in order to truly be saved. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:58.319 God said that uncircumcised people were cut off and have broken his covenant. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:10.879 But Paul keeps pleading with these Gentile Christians that what actually justifies us before God is our faith, not our practice of a ceremony or our adherence to a law. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:16.079 And in this part of the text, we're gonna look at three different things here in chapter three. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:26.399 We're gonna look at Paul's questions for the Galatians, we're gonna look at Paul's example for the Galatians, and we're gonna look at Paul's encouragement for the Galatians. 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:33.120 We will see that really what has always justified God's people has been their faith in God. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:35.919 It's always been faith, it's never been the law. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:42.399 So we're gonna dive right in, Galatians chapter 3, and we're gonna look at Paul's questions to the Galatians. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:44.320 He's got some questions here for them. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:52.159 And in verse number one of Galatians 3, he says this, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:54.240 I just want to read that very first part. 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:55.519 Who has bewitched you? 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:00.399 I think it's interesting that Paul asked the Galatians, who has bewitched them? 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:09.360 The word that you that Paul uses isn't translated as who tricked you or who fooled you, but it's who bewitched you. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:17.360 There is some sense in the word bewitched that you have been attracted to this or you have an interest in this. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:18.879 It happened to me. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:30.080 I was minding my own business, and my wife bewitched me with her good looks, and she pulled me in, and I was bamboozled. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:34.879 But this is the same language that Paul was using here today. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:43.039 And I gotta tell you, on the surface, circumcision doesn't seem like something that would be very enticing. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:46.559 Like it's easy to think, oh, this beautiful woman bewitched me. 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:55.360 But circumcision and the law, like, yeah, I'm gonna use that to bewitch you, to attract you to Christianity. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:58.080 That seems weird that you would use that as something. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:04.559 But I think what is happening is the law and and circumcision, they give you, they give you something to hold on to. 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:07.039 They mark something. 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:14.240 Uh what day we put our faith in Jesus' work on the cross, that seems a little bit hard to grasp. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:18.879 But but I did this, this, this, and this, and on this day I was circumcised. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:20.559 That is a stamp. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:22.879 And it's it's that's appealing. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:29.600 And even if we have to do that to stamp it, okay, we'll do it because that gives us something. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:32.240 That gives us a day and a time and a place. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:36.559 And so he tells them through this question, you guys have been bewitched. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:42.720 They've fooled you into this, they've enticed you into thinking that this is the way to salvation. 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:52.799 And he's he he reminds them in the second part of that verse there, he says, It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:11:02.639 He reminds them that Jesus died a brutal public death, a death that made no legal sense but all the sense in the world scripturally. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:16.639 Why would he have even needed to be crucified for our sins, according to the scripture, if we still needed to be circumcised for our justification, or if we still needed to adhere to the law for our justification? 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:20.639 It was before your eyes that he was publicly portrayed as crucified. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:23.679 And then in verse 2, he asked him another question. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.000 He says, Let me ask you only this. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:32.240 Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:36.320 How did you receive the Holy Spirit? 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:40.879 Now, we don't have the time today, but you can trace clear through the book of Acts. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:44.559 The Holy Spirit is received by faith. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:50.080 We are given the Holy Spirit upon salvation, which is by faith. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:53.120 That is wildly debated today. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:57.440 Uh but the Holy Spirit is applied to us upon our faith. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:02.320 So Paul picks right back up with another question in verse number three. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:09.279 Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:21.360 Look, if you've received the Holy Spirit, which Ephesians 4.30 says has sealed us for the day of redemption, if you've received the Holy Spirit by faith, are you now being kept saved? 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:24.720 Are you being sanctified by works of the flesh? 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:31.120 His plea is this if you are saved by faith, you are kept saved by faith. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.399 And he forms the question another way in verse 5. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:44.159 He 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? 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:54.799 Does God, does this the same God who supplied the Holy Spirit and works all of these miracles that you have seen, does he do that by the law or by faith? 00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:05.600 Paul's questioning these Gentiles, and he's trying to lead, or I'm sorry, the Galatians, and he's trying to lead these Galatians to a logical conclusion. 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:24.159 That if God has initiated our salvation through his work on the cross, and it has start it is started by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, then how does it make any sense for us to have to finish out our salvation with works of the law? 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:38.639 Do you he says this so many times, and I got I I feel like we need to say it so many times because do you know how many different denominations and and so Christians out there that are saying, I believe something very similar to this. 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:49.360 That yes, we need to believe in Jesus' work on the cross, and yes, we need to confess our sins, but we need to maintain our salvation on our own. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:51.759 We have to do something to maintain it. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:14:03.519 And and God's not gonna take our salvation for us, take it back from us per se, but we will forfeit our salvation over to him if we don't do something to maintain our salvation. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:07.840 Is this not the exact same thing that Paul is fighting against here? 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:13.840 If we are justified by faith, we are kept justified by faith. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:27.679 We, like Paul, should be able to ask these questions in Scripture and draw a logical conclusion based on Scripture that shows us that faith alone is what justifies us before God. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:34.000 And if faith alone justifies us before God, then faith alone keeps us justified before God. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:38.879 That is Paul's questionings, his questions for the Galatians. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:49.600 Now we have Paul, he's going to give an example to the Galatians, an example of why they are saved by faith and not the law. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:56.320 Paul in this day is constantly fighting the notion that he is not a real apostle. 00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:58.720 Rick, I think, went over this a little bit. 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:05.679 Um, so he, and even to this day, his writings are often discredited in the Bible. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:10.080 Uh, people will say that Paul has made up a new gospel. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:20.000 There are uh people that say, yes, they they adhere to God's word, but they throw out all of Paul's writings because they don't believe that he's truly an apostle. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:22.000 So he's always fighting against this. 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:29.039 So I love that Paul's example of being saved by faith is from the Old Testament. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:35.759 Uh because something that people often, I hear people often ask, well, well, how were people saved back in the Old Testament? 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:43.440 And we can hear, we can see here from Paul's example from the Old Testament, people have been saved the same way for all of eternity. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:46.000 It is their faith in God that has saved them. 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:51.360 So Paul's example for the Galatians is out of the Old Testament. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:58.799 And I'm gonna read Galatians 3, verses 6 through 9, and then we will trace back what he is saying back in Genesis. 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:02.000 Genesis chapter 12 through 22. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:07.759 Okay, so Galatians 3, chapter, chapter 3, verses 6 through 9. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:10.000 Um, sorry. 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:14.480 Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:18.639 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:29.440 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. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:35.279 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:38.080 There is so much in these four verses. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:43.120 There's plenty here for a whole nother sermon, a whole nother couple sermons. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:54.879 But I want to take a quick dive into the covenant that God made with Abraham so that we can better understand that it is faith that has always been what has justified us before God. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:17:03.039 And so we can see that what Paul is talking about in this example that he's using is to prove that faith has always justified us. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:07.519 And it's not the law and it's not circumcision, as mentioned earlier in Galatians. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:11.119 So turn to Genesis chapter 12. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:13.920 This is going to be a little bit of an exercise. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:15.920 Try to follow along. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:24.799 We're going to go to Genesis chapter 12, where God was making a covenant with Abraham. 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:32.240 This is the story that Paul is using to prove that we are justified by faith. 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:40.000 I'm going to read Genesis 12 and I'm going to read verses 1 through 4. 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:47.039 Now the Lord said to Abram, by the way, Abram is just Abraham's name before God changed it to Abraham. 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:59.200 Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:03.920 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse. 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:07.839 And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:12.559 So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot with him. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:21.200 So in those verses, we see a covenant that God has made with Abraham. 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:22.559 That's his promise. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:24.640 I'm going to make a great nation of you. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:28.960 I'm going to bless the whole world, is going to be blessed through you. 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:36.720 And then if you move on through chapters 12 and 13 and 14, we're not going to read them all. 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:42.960 But if you go through those, you will see that Abraham and Lot start to go their separate ways. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:46.720 Abraham has to rescue him. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:48.480 Abraham receives a blessing. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:51.359 Now we flip ahead to chapter 15. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:56.400 Remember, this is Paul's story about proving that Abraham was already justified by faith. 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:02.160 In chapter 15, chapter 15, verse 1, they revisit this covenant. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:05.759 God comes and revisits this covenant that he had already made with Abraham. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:09.920 He says this after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:11.200 Fear not, Abraham. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:12.319 I am your shield. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:14.559 Your reward shall be very great. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:15.759 What is that reward? 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:18.000 I'm going to bless the whole earth through you. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:19.519 You're going to be a great nation. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:22.400 All the nations will be blessed through you. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:28.799 Abraham reminds God as if he needed to be reminded that he has no offspring. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:29.759 I don't have any kids. 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:31.519 How can you bless the whole world through me? 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:33.680 I don't even have any children. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:37.680 God again in verse 5 and 6 reminds him. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:44.079 It says, Genesis 15, 5 and 6, and he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven and number the stars. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:49.440 If you are able to number them, then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:55.359 And verse 6, and he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:59.519 So God makes this covenant with Abraham. 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:02.160 And at this point, where is the law? 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:03.759 Where is circumcision? 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:04.880 Nowhere to be found. 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:06.640 Moses isn't even born yet. 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:08.960 So the law has not been given. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:16.000 God has not given his people the law, and yet Abraham's faith is what has made him righteous before God. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:18.720 Now, in this covenant, this covenant gets expanded on. 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:20.640 We're going to go a little bit more into this. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:21.839 So hang with me. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:24.000 There are two types of covenants. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:33.279 Now, I'm just going to tell you, if you want to look up a really good sermon on this, Tim Keller has a great sermon on what I'm about to go over. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:39.200 And I honestly stole a lot of this from him, but he stole it from the Bible, so I feel pretty good about it. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:44.319 So if you want to listen to a great sermon on that, Tim Keller, on this topic right here. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:48.240 There are two types of covenants that God made with his people. 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:52.079 There are an unconditional covenant and there's a conditional covenant. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:56.240 So an unconditional covenant, obviously, there's no conditions for you. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:20:57.440 I'm going to bless you no matter what. 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:02.880 A conditional covenant, I'm going to bless you if you do this, this, and this. 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:03.680 Okay? 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:05.359 And the rest, keep that in mind. 00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:11.279 In the rest of chapter 15, we get to read about this covenant that God makes with Abraham. 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:14.559 So God just told Abraham, I'm going to bless you, I'm going to bless those who bless you. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:15.920 I'm going to make you a great nation. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:21.440 And the rest of chapter 15, they're going to act out this covenant ceremony. 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:28.880 Now, this is foreign to us because we don't have covenant ceremonies in our culture. 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:33.279 But in this culture, in the ceremony, this is what they would do. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:34.559 They would take animals. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:37.279 And you can read this in the rest of chapter 15. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:41.119 They will take an animal, several animals. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:43.200 They will cut the animals in half. 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:45.039 It's brutal, I know. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:54.079 And they will lay animal here and an animal here, animal here, animal here, half of it on this side, half of it on this side, and they'll make like a little path down through here. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:59.680 And the people that are coveting together will walk through that, pass through those pieces. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.079 Of those animals together. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:03.680 That's what they did. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:12.000 And what they're saying is if I don't uphold my end of the covenant, do to me as has been done to these animals. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:13.680 May I be cut into pieces. 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:17.359 May I be mutilated if I don't uphold my end of the covenant. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:22.880 And if you don't uphold your end of the covenant, may you be mutilated and cut up into pieces like these animals. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:25.039 It's very vivid, I know. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:26.960 But this is what God is talking about. 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:33.359 So in verse 9, when God says, go get some animals, Abraham knows what's happening. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:35.279 He's like, okay, we're doing a covenant. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:37.920 He's going to seal this covenant with this. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:42.559 We're going to cut these pieces up and we're going to pass through these pieces to seal this covenant. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:49.839 The covenant that we've talked about, that God's going to bless Abraham and give him, uh make him a great nation. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:50.799 That's what they're doing. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:52.319 They're sealing it up. 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:57.519 Now, typically, you're passing through these pieces together to seal the covenant. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.720 Now, imagine, I just want to bring it to our terms today. 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:09.440 Imagine for a second that you have bought a car and the salesperson's like, okay, I just need you to sign here and we're all set. 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:10.319 You can drive away. 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:11.920 And you're like, just a second. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:14.160 I brought some livestock with me. 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:21.200 We're actually going to slaughter these here in the parking lot, cut them in half, and you and I are going to pass through these pieces together. 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:25.039 Because if I don't make my payment, you're going to cut me up like an animal. 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:31.279 And if you don't uh um honor this warranty, I'm going to cut you up into pieces. 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:33.519 So we're going to walk through these pieces together. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:39.359 We don't really do that, which I'm thankful for it personally, but that's what they did. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:41.039 This is their covenant ceremony. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:45.680 And in verse 12 through 16, this is what happens in this ceremony. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:53.440 It says, As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:56.640 And behold, a dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:06.079 Then the Lord said to Abram, Know for your certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:11.279 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with the great possessions. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:14.240 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:20.799 You shall be buried in a good old age, and they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:24.480 So he's uh reiterating this covenant to him. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:34.559 And then in verse 17 it says, This when the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:45.200 So what happens in this ceremony is God puts Moses in a deep dark sleep, and God passes through the pieces, a flaming torch. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:48.960 God himself passes through these pieces by himself. 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:50.880 What does that mean? 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:57.039 There is great significance for us, for the Galatians, in this story. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:02.079 God is saying, I will uphold this covenant to bless the world through you. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:13.359 If I can't uphold my end of the covenant, and if you can't uphold your end of the covenant, let it be done to me like is done to these animals. 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:24.240 If I don't make a great nation of you, if I don't bless the world through you, may I be mutilated, may I be cut up like these animals. 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:31.839 Then in verse 17, he expands and he includes circumcision in this as Israel's part. 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:34.720 Now, hang with me. 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:36.880 This all ties back to Galatians. 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:40.880 Now we know that Israel was not faithful. 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:45.920 Did they not wander and seek after other gods and all of these other things? 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:49.119 They did terrible things in the sight of God. 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:53.279 But God made an unconditional covenant with them and they broke it. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.039 So what does this mean? 00:25:55.359 --> 00:26:00.799 This means that God has to do to himself as was done to those animals. 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:02.480 That's what he covenanted with. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:07.279 That's what he promised Abraham when he passed through the pieces. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:16.960 And that's exactly what God did in sending Jesus to the cross to pay and fulfill this covenant. 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:24.880 He was beaten, he was torn, he was mutilated, his infinitude became finite. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:26.319 He became a man. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:31.920 He was unrecognizable as a man because he was fulfilling this covenant. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:36.000 He upheld when we did not uphold the covenant. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:44.000 That's why when Jesus comes in Matthew 5, verse 17, he says, This do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:47.200 I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:51.440 The covenant that Jesus was fulfilling was right here. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:54.160 He is fulfilling all of the law. 00:26:54.480 --> 00:27:00.160 And now all who have faith in him, just like Abraham, are justified. 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:05.599 This is why Jesus, hanging on the cross, beaten, disfigured, unrecognizable. 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:09.359 This is why he cried out before he yielded up his spirit. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:11.359 He cried out, it is finished. 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:12.799 It's done. 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:14.000 It's over. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:16.000 That part's over. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:24.160 That's the example that Paul is giving to prove that we are justified by faith in God. 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:31.359 That's why he says, it was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:40.319 And then in verse 7, he says, those of us that believe and have faith in Jesus' work are the actual sons of Abraham. 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:43.200 Not the physical descendants. 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:45.839 This is what the Jewish Christians would cling to. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:48.000 Well, we're physical descendants of Abraham. 00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:53.200 It's not the physical descendants that are doing rituals and keeping traditions. 00:27:53.599 --> 00:28:04.480 Paul goes over this in Romans chapter 9 when he says, not all of Israel's descendants are actually Israel, but it is those of the promise that are the actual sons of Abraham. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:08.880 That's how God preached the gospel to Abraham. 00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:15.119 That's how God blessed all the nations and made Abraham's offspring more than he could number. 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.240 Because we right here are the offspring. 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:20.559 We're the offspring of Abraham. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:25.920 It is our faith that binds us together more than bloodline. 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:36.079 That's what Paul means in verse 9 when he says, so then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:37.279 That's us. 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:42.319 It's always been faith that has justified us before God. 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:45.680 It's not Paul making up some new doctrine. 00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:50.000 That's why he goes back to the Old Testament and says, it's always been this way. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:53.680 This has been God's plan since the very beginning. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:29:02.960 This was God preaching the gospel to Abraham before the law was ever even in place, before circumcision was even a thing. 00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:11.359 Now, if we go back to Galatians, I'm gonna read Galatians chapter 3, verse 10. 00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:23.839 It says, 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 things written in the book of the law and do them. 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:33.839 You are cursed under the law, because if you are using the law as a means to make you right before God, you must uphold it perfectly. 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:37.759 Part of the law given says that you have to keep these things and do them. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:46.160 If you're going to use that as grounds to justify yourself before God, then you've got to do every little thing right. 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:56.000 So if these Galatians, along with the Jews, want to cling to the law, they must uphold every last bit of it. 00:29:56.400 --> 00:30:00.799 So that makes Paul draw the most logical conclusion of all time. 00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:02.079 And verse 11. 00:30:02.319 --> 00:30:09.039 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law. 00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:10.880 I mean, amen to that. 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:12.079 No one is doing that. 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:14.160 No one is upholding the law perfectly. 00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:15.599 No one has ever done that. 00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:24.799 A lot of people have lived in the history of the world, and there has been a lot of things, there hasn't been a lot of things that have not been done. 00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:32.319 If you flip through the Genesis, the Guinness Book of World Records, people are doing some fascinatingly dumb things. 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:36.000 And they're doing some neat things, and they're doing some weird things. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:38.880 There's not a lot left that hasn't been done. 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:42.319 But no one has ever upheld the law perfectly. 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:46.160 That is why he says what he does in verse 13. 00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:52.240 He says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. 00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:56.799 For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. 00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:05.839 Jesus became the curse for us, so that faith in him, accomplishing and fulfilling the law, would be imputed to us as righteousness. 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:16.559 Now we skipped over a little phrase there, and I want to go back to that because I believe that is Paul's encouragement to the Galatians, and I want that to be our encouragement here today. 00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:26.640 In verse 11, it says, Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. 00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:32.400 And that's Paul's encouragement to the Galatians, and that's my encouragement to us today. 00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:34.400 The righteous shall live by faith. 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:40.000 Paul is telling the Galatians, and he would tell us today, to live by faith. 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:45.759 Live as if Jesus' work on the cross finished off the curse of the law. 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:47.599 There's freedom in that. 00:31:47.920 --> 00:31:53.039 Don't put the restraints of the law on yourself that Christ paid for on the cross. 00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:55.920 That's actually trampling on the cross. 00:31:56.079 --> 00:31:57.839 That's like saying, I got this, God. 00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:00.240 Thanks a lot for dying on the cross. 00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:02.160 You initiated this whole thing. 00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:05.119 But from here on out, I'll take care of the rest of it. 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:07.440 You can't take care of the rest of it. 00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:10.240 Because the righteous shall live by faith. 00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:19.279 And I want to give an example as a means of encouragement for us, as how I have actually seen our church body live by faith. 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:27.839 We currently live in a very skeptical world, and I probably am one of the chief skeptics in this room. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:32.000 Like I feel like I'm always like, yeah, right, that, yeah, right, motives behind that. 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:34.400 That's not, he didn't mean that. 00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:36.640 I feel skeptical, honestly. 00:32:36.799 --> 00:32:43.359 People are very suspicious and leery of everyone and everything, and probably for pretty good reason. 00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:49.200 There are a lot of people taking advantage of different people and of different situations. 00:32:49.440 --> 00:33:02.720 Everyone's a little bit hesitant to give their time and their efforts and their money to things because it seems like we're just a little bit taking advantage of everything and we're all suspicious. 00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:12.400 And what happens is, as a result of that, we as a society become less generous and more just grumpy, honestly. 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:16.400 But that is not what has been displayed at Proclamation Church. 00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:23.440 I watch every week as people people joyfully come in and they give their time and efforts to pitch in and make this all happen. 00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:27.119 All of these chairs get set up, all of these chairs get torn down. 00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:39.839 80 people are fed every week, people's kids are cared for in the nursery, people are up here singing, there's they're just putting this together all week so that they can do this for us. 00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:41.839 That is people giving other time. 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:52.079 I have seen more than a few times that we have had someone in the church have a financial need and the church pitch in and give thousands of dollars. 00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:54.400 Not like, oh, here's 20 bucks. 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:55.759 I hope that helps out. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:00.079 I'm talking thousands of dollars as a church we have given to people. 00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:06.640 It would be very easy for us to be skeptical and suspicious in these cases. 00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:13.039 But the response of our church has been a response that has been generous and loving. 00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:16.320 That's actually what it looks like to live by faith. 00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:22.719 We aren't saying, well, we live by faith, God saved me, so now I can enjoy sin. 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:25.519 It's actually the exact opposite of that. 00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:35.199 God has saved me by faith, and I am now free from the entrapment of this world, and I can live a life that isn't as self-centered as it used to be. 00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:38.239 And I can live in an open-handed way. 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:46.000 I can joyfully and open-handedly and in love give my time and my talent and my money. 00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:47.760 I can give that stuff. 00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:49.039