Gospel Promise - Galatians 3:15-29 - Sunday Sermon

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>> Tables right after this. Yeah.

>> So any people that want to help uh get

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thankful people at Boon Fairy. We do an

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around and people talk about things that

they're thankful for towards God, which

is the way I think we ought to think

about Thanksgiving is how we're thankful

towards God. Now, you can might say that

I'm thankful uh to God for my wife. So,

you can obviously make it about your

thankfulness for other people as well.

But those are all things God has given

us. So, you might think about that

between now and 4. We're looking forward

to it. It's uh it's probably worth

skimping on lunch. That's what I'm going

to do because this is such a we call it

a feast for a reason. It's really an

amazing meal. It's all the very people's

very best Thanksgiving dishes all on one

table. Really looking forward to it.

It's one of my favorite events that we

do um each year. Um I don't think I have

any other announcements other than

you're going to be given a financial

update next week. So if you I'm only

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it, make sure that you go uh to the

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so you don't have to watch everything

just to see that. That'll be coming next

Sunday. All right. Um I've been excited

since early summer to talk about this

passage. This is Galatians 3:15-29.

Galatians 3:15–29

Greg and I, we write the questions for

our disciplehip communities. Quick plug

on those. That's our Bible study

ministry. We find that to be a very

powerful way to continue being discipled

by Jesus through the word. What we do in

those disciplehip communities is we meet

on Wednesday morning or Wednesday

evening at 6:00 p.m. And we eat

together, then we study God's word

together, and then we pray together. And

we've got a system of how that works. So

we actually study God's word together in

advance to that discussion and then just

go through about six questions or so of

discussion time and that would be so

this last week on Wednesday at 6 uh 6:45

around that time we discussed Galatians

Galatians 3:15–29

3:15-29

and then you're hearing a sermon on it.

We do that on purpose so that you are

studying God's word on your own first,

then discussing with people, then

hearing a sermon. And we we find it to

be a very powerful way to go deeper in

scripture to have your own study time, a

discussion time. That's a style of

learning. And then another style of

learning is having the word preached.

So, we'd love to invite you to any one

of those. There's three. You can check

them online. Some of them are big enough

to need to double and there'll be four.

And uh just pray about which one to go

to. If you've been invited to one, go to

that one. um or consider just attending

it. And uh we also like to think of like

geography as a piece of the prayer uh

discernment process for you to go to one

if you're close to one. That one makes

sense maybe to go to. Um but back to the

idea of how excited I've been to to

preach about this. Um Greg, who helps me

write the questions, uh and is a a

co-leader with me in our disciplehip

community and I discovered something in

this passage that we'd never seen

before. And it's dramatic. I would say

um maybe when I'd recommitted my faith

in 2025

uh and then I went through a study on

Exodus and realizing that Jesus is the

Passover lamb and that he was sacrificed

on the Passover. That was mindblowing

that God orchestrated that. This is more

mind-blowing. And I am not exaggerating.

Um if I've told you about it, you

probably already heard it. But if you if

if you haven't seen this yet, it's going

to dramatically change the way you read

the entire Bible. and I can't wait to

tell you about it. So, let me pray and

we'll get into Galatians 3 uh 15-29.

Heavenly Father, thank you for

everything that you revealed to your

Apostle Paul. Thank you that you had him

write it down so that we could

understand these things. Uh what you've

revealed to your church, what you

revealed to the world through Galatians

3 is absolutely epic. I can't even think

of large enough words, powerful enough

words to describe how grandiose it truly

is. And I pray that people would see it,

understand it, believe it, and rejoice

in thanksgiving over what you've

revealed. And I pray these things in

Jesus' name. Amen.

We're going to talk today about

something called progressive revelation.

And you probably already know what that

means. It means that there's progress in

God's revelation about his plan for

salvation and how he does that, through

whom he does that, and what it means for

our lives. Um, but I want to give you an

image to think about. Um, I'm not

currently in the car market, but maybe

you are. Um, and I want you to think

about you see you're standing with the

Carl Seesman in a in a completely

blackened uhh warehouse. You can't see

anything at all. And then a little

spotlight is shone on a tire. And so you

say, "Okay, well, I knew I was looking

at a car, but all you see is that tire."

So something's been revealed. Revealed

is like light illuminating something.

When we come to scripture, it's God

illuminating to the minds and hearts of

those who have faith um something about

Jesus Christ. That's really what all of

scripture is about. And in this case

though with this van, you don't know

it's [clears throat] a van yet. You just

see a tire and then a little bit more is

revealed and you see kind of the the

wheelhouse and the color is blue. So

it's a blue van. It's like, oh, okay.

But and and you can see that it's a van

cuz you see the nose kind of dips down

like a van does. So now you know it's a

van. And then the lights come on

entirely and you see it's a good-looking

Ford van, family van. Um, and quite a

bit has been revealed to you about this

car now that it's light, but not

everything and not even close. For

example, as you walk closer, the sales

associate shows you that uh the back

door can actually just be touched and

opened. And that's not too new of a

function. Uh, cars had that for a long

time. But you think, oh, I'm going to be

taking this to Costco, so that's kind of

nice. I have my hands full of bags. And

so I just press the button or maybe I

just press my key and the door opens and

you can put your groceries in and and

you think, "Oh, great." But if you stop

there, you would still not even know all

there is to know in terms of important

things about a van. For example, you

haven't seen the interior. And so the

sales associate gets into the interior

with you and you see, oh, it's leather

seats. Oh, they have seat warmers. And

this turns out to be a 2025 car. And so

it also has those airond conditioned

seat vents as well. And whether it's a

hot or cold day, you're getting to try

those like this is really nice. Still

not even close to all the functionality.

I remember in 2017, we really just buy

used cars altogether. Always have. So

the only time that we're in a new car is

when we're in someone else's car that's

new or when we rent a car and rental

units will also almost always be that

year's model and make. And so we I think

it was 2017 that we took a trip and we

were in either a van or a sports utility

vehicle and I realized it had this huge

screen and as I began to back up the

screen came on and I was like wait a

minute that's my car from above. You

guys ever seen these bird's eye views? I

looked up and they have all these camera

wide and a wide angle lens cameras that

they use together and then the computer

stitches together the image so that it

looks like you're looking from a drone

camera bird's eye view on your car.

Obviously I'd known about backup

cameras. I think at the time we already

had a car with a backup camera which is

helpful when you're backing up but this

you can see everything around you. So

when you're parallel parking it's so

much easier. So now still not everything

about the car has been revealed, but

there's been this progress from total

darkness to a tire to a color to a van

to all of these different aspects and

attributes of that van. That would be an

image of progressive revelation and

progressively something was revealed to

you about that. This is how the

scriptures work. And sometimes, and it's

in this case that it's been true for me,

it was true for Greg. I talked to Vern

about this, who might as well be an Old

Testament scholar, especially when it

comes to the Abrahamic covenant, which

is what we're talking about. And no one

I've talked to, except for maybe the

exception of one or two people, had ever

even heard of this idea that I'm talking

to you about. And on top of it, I could

find it in no commentaries. I could find

it in no sermon. Even if you went to

like John MacArthur sermons, which I

consider great, uh you could not find I

I could not find a sermon that actually

mentioned this explicitly and he talks

about the Abrahamic covenant all the

time. Now, red flashing lights come to

mind for me when you find something in

scripture that's a no commentary and no

sermon of any faithful preacher. What I

usually think you've discovered is a

heresy. [laughter]

[gasps] And so I double checked. I I I

talk to friends and pastors and elders

and other students of the Bible and I

says, "This says what it says, right?

This is what this means." And I'd never

seen that before. But yeah, that's

exactly what it means. It has to mean

that. And so then I checked and I'll

show you when we get to that point in

the sermon um different translations cuz

you think, "Oh, we're using the ESV.

Maybe the ESV has sort of a is the only

translation that renders in that way."

And so no wonder you've never read it

because no other translations agree. We

use the ESV because we think it's

generally trustworthy, but that doesn't

mean we don't use other uh translations,

and sometimes I think other translations

word it better than the ESV. So, I

checked every translation with the

exception of one paraphrase translation

called the NLT, which I do like, and the

NIV. every single the KJV, the NKGV, the

NSB, the LSB, um the CSB, the ESV, they

all have it worded in such a way that

this just jumps right off the page. How

many times have I read Galatians and and

and Genesis, which this is what this is

about. I don't know, many, many times

I've seen this exact verse. I've

preached through these exact verses, and

I'd never seen it before. And that was

true for just about anyone that I'd

seen. So sometimes what is revealed to

us in scripture can't just be understood

only by reading it. But God has to

illuminate something that you've read

over and over again and missed. And I

see people nodding. So you've probably

discovered things in scripture that

maybe you hadn't understood something

else and all of a sudden this puzzle

piece comes in and you understand it

more deeply than you ever had. That's

what's happened here. My original

understanding of the Abrahamic covenant

hasn't changed. It's just deepened in

line with the truth. There's nothing

contrary happening here, but it is

definitely an example of progressive

revelation. Uh probably the biggest

Bible discovery I've made in my adult

life. So, I want to tell you about it,

and I can't wait. I'm going to read the

entire passage, and maybe some of you

will see it and be like, "Whoa, I hadn't

read that." My guess is you won't

because your mind, based on your current

understanding of the Abrahamic covenant,

will play a trick on you, just like mine

did. Here is Galatians 31 15- 21. I'll

give you a hint. It's about the promise.

Turns out there's this singular promise

that is the greatest promise that's ever

been made. And there's no promise that

means more. It is the most important

promise you could ever understand by

faith in all the Bible, in all the

universe. So that's your little hint

about what this is about. Verse 15, to

give a human example, brothers, even

with a man-made covenant, no one ans it

or adds to it once it's 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

who is Christ. This is what I mean. The

law which came 430 years afterwards does

not enol a covenant previously ratified

by God so as to make the promise void.

For if the inheritance came by the law,

it no longer comes by promise. But God

gave it to Abraham by 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 put in place through

angels by an intermediary. Now an

intermediary implies more than one. But

God is one. Is the law then contrary to

the promises of God? Certainly not. For

if the law had been given that could

give life, then righteousness would

indeed be by the law. But the scripture

imprisoned everything under sin so that

the promise by faith in Jesus Christ

might be given to those who believe. Now

before faith came, we were held captive

under the law, imprisoned until the

coming faith would be revealed. So then

the law was our guardian until Christ

came in order that we might be justified

by faith. But now that faith has come,

we are no longer under a guardian. For

in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God

through faith. For as many of you as

were baptized into Christ have put on

Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek.

There's neither slave nor free. There's

no male and female. for you are all one

in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ,

then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs

according to the promise. So, I'm going

to walk you through, this will be a

little bit different than verse by verse

preaching. I'm still going to go through

everything verse by verse, but I wanted

to walk you through my experience that

shows you how your mind could play a

trick on you that is in the back of your

mind like running this program and and

you're understanding what you used to

understand, a traditional and good

understanding and you're overlaying it

on what's being read and understand it

that way so that something's hidden from

you. And I want to show you uh the the

way that God just opened my mind to what

it actually says. Here is Galatians

Galatians 3:15

3:15. And here's I was walking through

it. To give a human example, brothers,

even with a man-made covenant, no one

anols it or adds to it once it's been

ratified. And I have experienced

that very thing. So, back to the car

example. Let's say you were buying this

on Craigslist from some guy and you said

it's let's say it's a little bit older

van in this case and uh you agreed and

shook hands on $3,000 and as you go to

hand him the $3,000 he says well

actually $3,500.

You don't do that, right? People try to

treat and do that but that's wrong.

That's not a thing that ought to be

done. So, we all know based on a human

example, um, when you make a covenant,

we're we're currently under contract in

terms of the offer having been accepted

for a house or buying wanting to buy in

Beaver Creek. And so, it's very clear on

what the contract actually is and the

little details and you can't break those

details or the contract becomes void.

And that does sometimes happen and

pending sales fall through. uh we're not

pending yet but the point is there

everyone understands this idea has ever

bought a house who's ever bought

something where you actually have to be

under contract that understood I think

Paul's putting this in a human example

because it's easy for all of us to

understand we know what that means that

means no one changes it after it's

already been ratified and nobody adds to

it after it's been ratified the time to

change it or add it by agreement with

the other person in the covenant or the

contract is before it becomes ratified I

think we all Understand that verse 16.

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

who is Christ. Um the thing that I never

understood is right there. But let me

explain how I understood this in the

past. Now the promises were made to

Abraham and to his offspring. I already

know from having read it before and I

kind of geek out on these kinds of

things, pluralizations and

singularizations. Uh I knew Paul was

going to say this offspring is not a

number of offspring. It's an individual

who's Jesus Christ. I knew that already.

But somehow my mind when I read the

promises were made to Abraham and to his

offspring.

And I I even explained this this way and

it's still true according to Genesis

that God made these this promise to

Abraham. We're about to go there. You

can find it in Galatians 12 and 15 and

other places reiterated over and over

again. It's made to Abraham, but it's

also reiterated to Isaac and it's also

reiterated to Jacob. And then it's also

reiterated to the 12 tribes of Israel,

which are Jacob's 12 sons. So when I

read, even though I know what we're

talking about is just one individual

offspring, one descendant who's going to

be the Messiah, the Christ, my mind

looked at it as though now the promises

were made to Abraham and to his

offspring. Yeah, they were reiterated to

everyone, but it's actually about this

one Jesus. So, and that is a relatively

normative understanding of of Galatians.

So, let's go of of this Genesis passage.

And if you go back to Genesis 12 in our

series on Genesis, you'll hear me say

this very thing. And this is my guess

that this is how everyone in this room

so far has understood um Genesis uh 12

in terms of its uh promise to Abraham.

Now, I'm going to read 1 through 7 just

so that you get a fresh uh reminder of

where the promise originally shows up.

Here's Genesis 12:1. Now, the Lord said

Genesis 12:1

to Abram, he hadn't yet been renamed to

Abraham. 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. I will

bless those who bless you, and him who

dishonors you I will curse, and in you

all the families of the earth shall be

blessed. And if you skip down to verse

7, this is one of the verses that Paul's

most likely quoting. It says, "Then the

Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To

your offspring," which if you uh studied

Hebrew, you can look up the word

offspring and you will find that it is

indeed singularized. It's not

pluralized. "To your offspring, I will

give this land." So he built there an

altar to the Lord who had appeared to

him. Now, if you had been reading this

without understanding what Paul said

about that was actually about Jesus, you

would also be thinking, well, yeah, he

gave it to the ash. He gave it to the 12

tribes of Israel. And that's true. Um,

but but here's the interesting thing.

Let's go back to actually I'll I'll go

ahead and read the promise reiterated

one more time in chapter 15. Um,

so I'll start in verse 6. God makes this

promise and reiterates it to him and it

he says um in verse 5 and he brought him

outside and said look towards heaven and

number the stars if you are able to

number them. Then he said to him so

shall your offspring be

other places also say as many as the

grains of the sand on the seashore. So

now surely you're thinking about

descendants pluralized. Well turns out

even with this promise so shall your

offspring be. The word offspring in

Hebrew is still singular which already

is like so it's actually talking still

about one descendant and something about

him is like so many star what what

what's going on be hard to figure out if

you understood this before Paul

explained it and verse six and he

believed the Lord and it was counted to

him as righteousness remember when I

read through this that we talked that

Paul talked about the law doesn't come

out until 430 years after this is what

it's talking about Abraham was already

declared righteous, right with God in

right standing according to salvation

with God 430 years before. How? By

believing this promise that God made

him. Okay, which for Abraham um or Abram

at this time um he's uh having to

believe something impossible. That's

important. He has to believe that he's

going to have a biological son when he's

too old for that to happen. and so is

his wife. Many years beyond menopause,

many years be time beyond the time that

women can naturally have children. So he

believed something impossible. That's

important. We'll come back to that.

Okay. So how then should we understand

the promise as Gentiles or even as Jews?

Well, this would be the normal way that

I've always preached that's still very

much true and nothing I'm about to say

contradicts it. God makes this promise

to one man. We call him a patriarch.

He's Abraham. And God makes this promise

that it's going to be he's going to be a

blessing to all nations. And we

understand that to be fulfilled in

Christ. Isn't that the way you've always

understood it? Okay, God makes this

promise and it's fulfilled in Jesus

Christ. And so, how come it's going to

be as many people as the stars or the

sand on the seashore? Because everyone

who then believes in this one singular

offspring will be considered also sons

of Abraham and therefore declared

righteous by faith in the exact same way

that Abraham was. Even though progress

in re revelation is made, we know things

about Jesus Abraham did not. But it's

the same exact faith in this case was

also something impossible that we

believed and that is that God became

human. That he was held accountable for

our sin. that God's son was put to death

for our sin and that even though the

consequence for sin is eternal

condemnation and that's already taught

in the Old Testament. Jesus didn't die

eternally because God resurrected him to

life and people stayed dead back then

too. So it's impossible to believe,

right? So I mean people have this modern

snobbery. It's like oh yeah back then

there were all these legends of people.

No, people stayed dead back then too.

You can read the story of Lazarus and

Lazarus and uh they were all mourning

because he was dead because nobody

thought there was he was going to be

resurrected. They stayed dead. But so we

believe as sons of Abraham, father

Abraham has many sons. You've you've you

if you've been around church, you've

heard these songs and maybe you didn't

fully understand them at the time, but

it's such a common teaching, right? So

how is this promise going to bless all

nations? Well, in Christ, through

Christ. Okay, but let's go back to

Galatians and read with your own eyes

and and see and hear with your own ears

what he actually says cuz he says it

right here. Now, the promises were made

to Abraham and to his offspring.

I hadn't yet understood it cuz again,

when I heard offspring, I thought Isaac,

Jacob, you know, and and the the the 12

sons and all the rest of the Israelites.

And yes, I understood those who believe,

but I didn't I wasn't replacing the word

with Jesus the way you ought to. And so

I didn't see it. What happened was, skip

down to verse 19.

I'm always very interested when Paul

starts talking about the law because

he's if you want to understand the law,

you go to Paul. Paul is the foremost

biblical scholar in line with God about

the law. And so he says, why then the

law? And we'll get to why he asked that

question in a minute. It was added

because of transgressions. that I

understand too. Now it says until the

offspring should come to whom the

promise had been made.

And I was like, wait a minute. In this

case, we're not even talking about

Abraham anymore. We're just talking

about the offspring. He's already

defined the offspring as Jesus Christ,

an individual. And here it's saying that

the promise was made to him, not just

about him, not just fulfilled in him,

but to him. And so since we're starting

to get closer to to Christmas and this

was I think July that we first started

seeing this and I sort of made a

resolution that I'm going to start

thinking about getting people gifts

earlier and and uh before the Christmas

season. I thought in my mind cuz

Christmas is about the birth of Christ.

I thought well happy birthday Jesus. At

some point Jesus being born as an infant

and having a human mind began to

understand that there was this promise

that God made to him thought happy

birthday Jesus and only a couple minutes

before I had reread this I was watching

a YouTube channel where a husband pranks

a wife over and over again and I find it

hilarious so she doesn't always find it

hilarious um but so then I was thinking

about wait a minute happy birthday Jesus

because

It says here, "The promise was made to

the offspring." Um, and and then it

says, "The promise was made until the

offspring should come to whom the

promise had been made." It was made to

him before he was born. It had already

been made and we're waiting for that

promise to be fulfilled, but it already

been made to him. That word to was so

important. And then I was thinking about

I don't know why my mind went into this

other than that I was just thinking

about oh that's so funny cuz like

imagine the trinity trying to prank each

other and this is what happened and I

was thinking God the father and the the

husband had like poured water over the

wife's head or something like that

through a magic trick. She thought there

was no water in it. She pours her head

there's water in it and he thought it

was hilarious. So I thought about God

the father pouring a glass of water on

Jesus' head and trying to surprise him.

And Jesus looks at God and says I knew

you're going to do that. And God the

Father says, "I knew you knew I was

going to do that." [laughter]

You can't prank someone that's omnisient

back and forth. You can't do it. They

know it's going to happen. So, it was I

was literally laughing out loud thinking

that they would do it anyway.

And then I realized, oh my goodness,

somehow that image

changed my understanding of this passage

forever. And I realized, let's go to

John 8. This all happened sort of in a

flash for me, but John 8, this is

famous. You've heard about this before.

This is John 8 verse for uh 56. If

you're not wanting to turn there, we've

got it on the screen.

He's This is Jesus speaking to the

Pharisees. It's probably read letter in

most of your Bibles. And um they're

already like sort of murderously opposed

to him. And he says, "Is your father

your father Abraham rejoiced that he

would see my day?" He saw it and was

glad. That's already like, whoa. Abraham

saw uh prophetically Jesus Christ's day.

57 So the Jews said to him, "You are not

yet 50 years old and you have seen

Abraham." And Jesus said to them,

"Truly, truly I say to you, before

Abraham was, I am."

That's that's grammar that doesn't even

make any sense. What you would normally

say is before Abraham was, I was.

This is the eternally present I am. To

to I say to you, before Abraham was, I

am. So now, if you think about,

especially in light of what I was

thinking about, God can't prank Jesus.

And Jesus can't prank God. Not really,

because they can't surprise each other.

They already know. Oh my goodness, this

promise. Jesus knew about this long

before it was made to Abraham.

He had to have. There's no possible way

Jesus didn't know. Pre-incarnate Christ,

the son of God, didn't know that God was

going to make this promise to him. So

when did God make this promise to him?

Well, not at the original Christmas time

like happy birthday Jesus. Long before

that and no, not at the time he made the

promise to Abraham. That is when it

happened in time and space. But from

everlasting past, God the Father made a

promise to God the Son.

I mean, I almost want to do a show of

hands, but I don't want to do that. So,

uh, just because I don't want people

that are that are maybe for the first

time understanding the original

understanding, uh, that's less deep

about the covenant of Abraham just being

fulfilled in Christ, which is already so

grandiose. Um, but I'd love to ask you

individually sometime, how many of you

have understood that God the Father made

an eternal promise to God the Son that

all those who would have faith in him

would become sons of God to to Jesus

before Abraham. Really, you have to look

at it then this promise is primarily a

promise between father and son that

Abraham gets included in. Our minds are

too stuck on chronological order of

things. And we have to remember Jesus is

so much greater than that. Jesus has

always been God. And he didn't stop

being God in any way when he became the

incarnate son. When he became a human

being, he stayed both. It's impossible

yet he is.

So think about that because this has

ramifications that are absolutely

dramatic. I want to give you my main

point now and then we're going to just

walk through the passage again and look

at the ramifications. God made a promise

to Jesus Christ that only those who have

faith in him would become sons of God.

If I wanted to do a longer version of

that, God made a promise from

everlasting past to everlasting future

to Jesus Christ that only those who have

faith in him would become sons of God.

Now you can look at hundreds of

different sermon from hundreds of

different faithful Bible preachers and

you will hear over and over and over

again that God made this promise to

Abraham and it's ultimately about Jesus

and through him that it gets fulfilled.

This is right and true. Nothing's

changed. But God also made this promise

directly to Jesus long before it ever

showed up in scripture. long before it

ever happened that God made this promise

to uh to Abraham. Now, since was this

was so new and I couldn't find it in any

sermon and couldn't find it in any and I

challenge you look it up. You know, AI I

would not put a whole lot of trust in in

terms of like Bible interpretation, but

in general, I found that that when you

ask a relatively simple question, uh AI

will give corresponding verses that are

the right verses with seemingly the

right understanding. Not that AI

understands anything. It's just a data

thing. But in this case, if you ask AI,

did God the Father make a promise to

Jesus the Son? Um you or if you the way

that I asked it is, is the Abrahamic

covenant a promise from God the Father

to God the Son? It'll say no, it's not.

It will say, however, the promised

Abraham is fulfilled in Christ in

Christian theology. So, it got that much

right, but it'll say no, it's not. So,

I'd love for you guys to search

commentaries, search Bible helps, search

the internet, search a sermon, and see

if you've ever found anybody saying that

the promise was actually made directly

to Jesus Christ. And remember, we have

to believe because it's true that before

Abraham was, I am is about Jesus. So, he

would have known about this promise ever

since ever since. Couldn't not have or

he's not God. And yet, let me read it to

you one more time. Now, the promises

were made to Abraham and to his

offspring. And Paul makes explicitly

clear that he's not talking about

descendants. He's talking about one

descendant.

Now, the promises were made to Abraham

and to Jesus is what that's saying. One

individual. And by the time we get to

verse 19, we've transitioned to not even

talk about Abraham anymore. Why? Then

the law, it was added because of

transgressions until the offspring

should come to whom the promise had been

made. Now, if you're not understanding

why this is such a big deal, there's

probably a couple options for why. One,

when I taught this to the uh to the

youth group uh on Thursday night, they

were like, "Yeah, big whoop." And I

said, "Yes, but you're only saying big

whoop because you're still learning the

original version. You haven't been

taught the original version for years

and only now understood something so

much deeper." So maybe that's what's

happening. So it's not as mind it was

mind-blowing for Vern, for Greg, for

Ben, for just about anybody I talked to.

Um, maybe the second thing is you

understand what's being said, but the

reason why you don't understand how

mind-blowing it is because you haven't

yet thought through the ramifications.

Cuz my mind went hard at work about all

that this actually means. Let me just uh

refine what I've said and uh, you know,

distill it into one simple idea. What's

the Bible about? The Bible is about a

promise God the Father made to God the

Son. That's fulfilled in the Holy

Spirit. We haven't gotten to the Holy

Spirit part just yet, but the whole

Bible is that an Emmy ramification

that's been blowing my mind is reading

the Bible with that new understanding.

And I want to take you through some

scriptures as we walk through this one

um to show you just how dramatically it

changes in a deeper way your

understanding of all the Bible. I've

been reading through the Bible along

with our Bible readrough plan and and

this has just brought such depth of

understanding and cohesion to every

passage in scripture. So it is

absolutely dramatically awesome. So

let's go through the passage again.

Again verse 15 to give you a human

example, brothers. Even with a man-made

covenant, no one knows it or adds to it

once it's been ratified. I've already

explained that. You already understand

that probably without explanation. Verse

16. Now the promises were made to

Abraham and to his offspring. Let's

import our new understanding if it's new

to you. The promises were made to

Abraham and to Jesus from everlasting

past. Ultimately, yes, fulfilled in him.

And someday he would actually understand

as a human being that they were made

about him and to him. But it's two. It

says it right there. It does not say

into offsprings referring to many, but

referring to one and to your offspring

was Christ. We've already gone back into

Genesis 12 and 15. And indeed, Paul's an

awesome exedite. And it turns out, yes,

they were always just singular. those

word offspring. This is what I mean.

This is why he's mentioning this. The

law which came 430 years afterward does

not enol a covenant previously ratified

by God so as to make the promise void.

We're not going to go back there because

we've already gone through it in Genesis

and multiple times in Galatians. But if

we were to read and if you go home and

read Genesis 15, remember what God does.

He puts Abraham into this translike

sleep. And Abraham had already prepared

the sacrifice for him which was a hepher

and he cut it in half. And the image is

that two people walk through a hepher as

a covenant and they say made to be to me

as it is to this animal if I break this

covenant. In this case however Abraham

doesn't even walk through. It's God

himself and symbolized by a smoking

firepot and a burning torch, you know,

and God multiple times in scripture

after that uh shows his presence by a

pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire by

night. Um, one by day, one by night. So,

we know it's God that's walking through

it. And the author of Hebrews, we're not

going to go there either, but in chapter

6 says that God when he was ratifying

the covenant swore by himself. Because

when someone is seeking to, you know,

ratify a promise, they like to swear by

something higher than themselves. You

know, I don't think we should do it, but

I remember football players would say on

God. They mean or I put that on my

mama's head. They would say like

something so important to me, I would

not lie about it. On God, right? God

said on God. That's how how can you know

that I'm definitely going to do this

promise that you just put your faith in?

A, cuz I said so. and be cuz I'm the

only one that's walking through the

heers. May it be to me as it is to them

if I were to ever break this covenant.

That's what God says. That's the

ratification. The law came 430 years

after that. And it doesn't in any way

change, conflict, or anull that promise.

Remember what Paul's talking about in

all of Galatians is these the

circumcision party that's saying that

you have to keep the law as a gentile.

You need to become a Jew. You need to

through the act of circumcision, the

spiritual right, devote yourself to law

and keep it, and then you'll be right

with God. And he's saying, "No, Abraham

was made right with God 430 years before

the law ever came and it was by faith

alone in this promise."

Okay? Faith alone in this promise.

Remember, an impossible thing to believe

that he would have a child. Even more

impossible to believe that one of his

descendants would be the son of God and

son of man, right? and and Abraham to

some degree foresaw and actually

perceived that this was about the

Messiah. We read that verse two. So Paul

is saying that the circumcision party,

the Judaizers, their scholarship is bad.

Their hearts are prideful and so they're

not even actually teaching what their

scriptures at the time, what we call the

Old Testament is actually teaching. I

think we all understand that. Okay. So

the law came way afterwards. It doesn't

enol, change, or uh in any way amend the

original covenant that it was just by

faith alone. See, because it's if it's

by the law, then you never know how much

of the law you have to keep. And the

reality is Paul says you can't even keep

all of it. Even if you um commit one

transgression again against it,

according to James, you're guilty of all

of it. So there's no way that you could

be like, "Oh, I'm now keeping the law,

so that makes me righteous." You've

already not kept it. So this destroys

salvation and makes salvation into works

righteousness. And then then you can

have never have assurance of salvation

because you cannot be saved by your own

works. So Paul's still refuting that in

context. That's what we're talking

about. Verse 18, for if the inheritance

comes by law, it no longer comes by

promise, but God gave it to Abraham by

promise. So it can't be it can't be

both. It has to be one or the other.

Either it comes by faith alone or it

comes by the law. It can't come through

both. So now now you're thinking about

like why then the law, which is exactly

the Paul presupposes. If God had already

made the way clear that you declared

righteous, declared justified, right

with him, saved, going to heaven, no

longer alienated from him, reconciled to

him. If that was just by faith, why did

even God why God even give the law? Why

not just keep progressively revealing

that? Well, here's what Paul says. Verse

19, why then the law? It was added

because of transgressions.

And you can understand that multiple

ways. The way that I believe what Paul

is teaching is uh and this actually um

there are translations that that

translate it basically like this. It was

to make it a legal offense to sin. God's

heightening the intensity of how wrong

it is to do wrong things. Not that it

wasn't that was less before, but in the

mind of people it was added because of

transgressions. But there's another way

to be understood it to understand it

that's in concert with what I just said

and you have to skip down to verse 24 to

understand it. So let's just go down

there. So then the law was our guardian

until Christ came. Okay? In order that

we might be justified by faith. So in

this case, Paul's using a metaphor.

Let's just call the person a babysitter.

The babysitter is the law. Because of

transgressions, our sin was just so

severe, we had to be had to have a

guardian. But when the parents come

home, that's faith. That's what Paul's

saying. So you would never start calling

your guardian your actual parent. So

really, the law came because of

transgressions is both to make an

illegal offense a legal offense and and

that guards people. I don't know if you

guys I I know this the the nurses in the

in the church know right around the time

that marijuana was legalized there was

like a 400% spike in marijuana related

uh serious medical issues with overdose

hospitals just flooded with that with

that issue. Okay. Why why wasn't because

it was illegal to do. So there's a

constraining power that law and order

has over sin. Does it change people's

desire to do drugs to make it illegal?

Not at all. The law will never change

your heart. That's the whole problem.

But it does constrain things. Why do you

have a babysitter when when you're going

uh maybe on a date night and your kids

are home? Because

quite literally, if you leave kids alone

long enough, it's Lord of the Flies.

Foolishness is bound up in their little

hearts. And you I mean whatever the

worst thing you could imagine someone to

do if you had every a white rug in the

world in your house and there was one

red paint can with you know oilbased

paint that you're not getting OUT WAY UP

HIGH IN THE BACK OF A CLOSET where you

have to take a bunch of different things

out to get it and they had to get a

ladder. They'll find a ladder they'll

find that thing and they'll spill it all

over the carpet.

They need a guardian. So do we. So

that's what he means by it was added

because of transgressions. How long

until the offspring should come to the

promise had been made? Not about whom

the promise had been made. Yes, that's

true from other scriptures. But to whom

the promise had been made. Okay, I want

to stop there before we finish the

second half and I want to take you

through some of the ramifications of

understanding that this promise wasn't

just made about, it's not just fulfilled

in it was actually made to Jesus

himself.

That means that the entire Bible, you

know, I used to understand, you know,

those shirts that have like all the

promises of God or those paintings or uh

posters that have all the promises of

God on them. It's like, "Oh, there's so

many cool promises about God." I think

of it now as really just one promise of

God progressively revealed and

repromised and and and more revealed

about that promise. There's just one

promise and it's from God the father to

God the son and it's made it come to

fruition or or fulfilled in the holy

spirit and it starts is in the earliest

parts of Genesis this very promise I

want to walk through some scriptures uh

with you to show you these ramifications

of understanding not just about not just

through not just fulfilled in but to

directly to okay so Genesis uh chapter 3

so Now, think of the Bible with me like

I do now of the progressive revelation

of God the Father to God the Son

fulfilled in the Holy Spirit. Genesis

Genesis 3:15

3:15.

I will put emnity, emnity, excuse me. I

will put emnity between you and the

woman, between your offspring and her

offspring. Both the same word for

offspring as we've been talking about.

Both singular, really interesting. He

shall bruise your head and you shall

bruise his heel.

This is already

a revelation about the cross of Jesus

Christ overcoming Satan. Satan

definitely bruised him. Jesus crushed

Satan. He took away his power because

the power of death is sin. And and the

law is justified in condemning us to

death. And Jesus took all of our sins

and nailed them as a written record on

the cross and dragged them with himself

into the grave. and it takes away

Satan's accusing power. So, right there

in the earliest parts of the Bible,

we're already talking about this

offspring. Okay, let's continue. Um, now

someone might say, I I watched this

video of a guy um who's a Christian and

he primarily his ministry is primarily

to to Muslims and a Muslim guy who

seemed to be a practicing Muslim. the

one that understood the Quran and had

even read the Old Testament said the the

Jewish Bible never talks about some son

of God. Um it it talks about um God, but

it never talks about the son of God.

It's only the New Testament, which

really shouldn't be called the Bible. Uh

we do consider the Old Testament uh like

uh revealed. They he said I guess some

Muslim groups do. I'm not sure if all of

them do. Um but turns out the Old

Testament talks about it all the time.

the son of God. Here starting in Psalm 2

Psalms 2:7–12

verse 7-12 if you want to turn there or

just look at the screen. I'm going to

move through these fast. I will tell of

a decree the Lord said to me, "You are

my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask

of me and I will make the nations your

heritage and the ends of the earth your

possession. You shall break them with a

rod of iron and dash them in pieces like

a potter's vessel." Now therefore, O

kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of

the earth, about what? Serve the Lord

with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you

perish in the way, for his wrath is

quickly kindled. Blessed are all who

take refuge in him. It's about this

promise again and it's about the son.

The Old Testament talks about the son

all the time. And I will not be

exhausting the passages. Proverbs 3:4.

Proverbs 3:4

And uh just think of this as again

progressive revelation of passages you

may not have considered that just say

something more about this promises

prover about this one promise proverbs

Proverbs 3:4

3:4 who has ascended to heaven and come

down who's gathered the wind in his

fists who has wrapped up the waters in a

garment who has established the ends of

the earth what is his name and what is

his son's name surely you know

nobody knew the son's name at that time

yet. It's been revealed to us because

there's been progress has been made in

Revelation.

Now, clearly, we're talking about God

and we're talking about God's son. But

does anywhere in the Old Testament say

that he was also going to be a human

being? Sure, it does. And let's go to

Daniel 7 to look at that. Daniel 7:13.

Daniel 7:13

And I saw in the night visions, and

behold, with the clouds of heaven, there

came one like a son of man. And he came

to the ancient of days, and was

presented before him. And to him was

given dominion and glory, and a kingdom,

that all peoples, nations, languages to

serve him. His dominion is an

everlasting dominion, which shall not

pass away, and his kingdom one that

shall not be destroyed. Indeed, the

person God was talking about inheriting

the earth, inheriting the promised land

is his own son. And it's his son, as in

God's son, and it's also a son of man.

It's a human being. But remember, this

would remind me a little bit of like

looking at the van and seeing the van

from the outside, but you're not

actually seeing into the inside yet. You

h it has not been revealed to you what

his name is going to be. And I don't

know that the prophet Daniel other

people understood because it says one

like a son of man that this was going to

be God incarnated. That was not revealed

yet. Not until later. Progress is still

to be made in Revelation.

Let's go to Ephesians

Ephesians 3:6

3:6. And I chose this one because it's

so much in line with the very context of

Galatians. Paul's talking about

something that God revealed to the

Gentiles in Ephesians 3:6. And again,

Ephesians 3:6

read it with that understanding of that

all the Bible is just about the

progressive revelation of a promise God

the father made to Jesus the son. Verse

6, chapter 3, Ephesians. This mystery is

that the Gentiles are fellow heirs,

members of the same body and partakers

in the promise in Christ Jesus through

the gospel. There we even have the word

promise. In this case, in not to, but

Paul's already said it's two as well.

And they're going to be partakers in

this through faith. Heirs as well, sons

of God as well. Let's go to Colossians

Colossians 1:27

chapter 1 verse 27. Paul keeps talking

about this as a mystery. It had to be it

had to be revealed. Nobody knew what was

going to happen. They knew some about

it, but they hadn't yet seen the depths.

Colossians verse 1:27. To them, God

chose to make known how great among the

Gentiles are the riches of the glory of

this mystery, which is Christ in you,

the hope of glory. How does Christ live

in us? By the Holy Spirit. Let's go back

to Galatians because you wonder why I'm

saying that this is a promise from God

the Father, God the Son, fulfilled in

the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 14 of

chapter 3 of Galatians. So that in

Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham

might come to the Gentiles so that they

might receive the promised spirit

through faith.

You know, in the Old Testament, this is

also sort of progressive revelation. I

was just thinking about uh you had this

tabernacle and God would show up there

in the Holy of Holies and everything had

to be sprinkled by blood for him to be

close to humans uh who were sinful and

transgressors. There had to be blood

atonement. But he was still in a tent

and then later in a building called the

temple. Turns out God's plan in

progressively revealing the meaning of

this promise to the son and about the

sun is that we would become the temple

of God. You see how it's all perfectly

in line but just keeps expanding in its

grandiosity.

Let's go to first Peter 1 cuz he said

something that just brought me to tears

in terms of how thankful I am.

Let me read this first. First Peter

1 Peter 1:12

1:12.

It was revealed to them that they were

serving not themselves. The prophets

were serving not themselves, but you in

the things that have now been announced

to you through those who preach the good

news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from

heaven. Things into which angels long to

look.

Angels are created perfect. They're

glorious and terrifying. There's almost

never a time in the Bible where an angel

shows up where people are basically

terrified to death and get like knocked

out by the power of it. And these angels

holy seeing God face to face some of

them maybe all of them at times

even they long to look into these things

that God is revealing to us. That's how

great they are.

I mean, I don't think angels experience

sinful jealousy, but you could almost

say that it was revealed to us these

things like almost make angels jealous

what he showed us. Let's stop short of

saying that because I think that kind of

jealousy doesn't exist in angels.

What's been revealed to us through God's

word about his promise that he's made to

Jesus and fulfills in his son is the

greatest revelation in all of scripture.

It's nothing greater that you could

perceive. Let's put the main point back

up and you'll understand why I've been

saying it. Now,

God made a promise to Jesus Christ. I'm

not leaving out Abraham here. Yes, he

also made this promise to Abraham and he

reiterated it to Isaac and to Jacob and

to the 12 sons and in the future to all

the Gentiles. That starts in the Old

Testament, by the way. But ultimately,

if you really distill it down about what

this is actually about, God made a

promise to Jesus Christ that only those

who have faith in him would become sons

of God. Turn with me to one more

passage. I skipped it earlier uh because

I realized that it's just so

mind-boggling to realize. This is Luke.

I'll just read it off the Luke 24:44-

Luke 24:44–47

47 in Christ's own words and he's

talking to them after the resurrection

to the disciples. Then he said to them,

"These are my words that I spoke to you

while I was still with you that

everything written about me in the law

of Moses and the prophets and psalms

must be fulfilled." That means all the

scripture at the time. That's a short

way Moses prophet Psalms or Moses

prophet wisdom writings. Those that's

like the whole Bible that they had and

everything about him. And then listen to

the rest he says. Then he opened their

minds to understand the scriptures.

Their minds did not understand it even

though I just showed you it's right

there. What's his son's name? Surely you

know. Wouldn't wouldn't Old Testament

scholars and and prophets be like, "Oh,

he's going to have a son." They did not

understand or he has a son already and

his son is going to come to earth as the

Messiah. and said to them, "Thus it is

written that the Christ, the promised

one and to whom all the promises and

about all the promises are made should

suffer and on the third day rise from

the dead." Verse tw and that repentance

for forgiveness of sin should be

proclaimed in his name to all nations

beginning from Jerusalem.

You might you might think to yourself,

and I have in the past, wouldn't it be

nice to know what Jesus said? You do.

The disciples wrote it down and that's

what's in the book of the New Testament.

They wrote down what he said. If you

look at Matthew, it's just this is to

fulfill the scripture that said

messianic prophecy. This is the

scripture to fulfill what said messianic

prophecy over and over and over and over

and over and over. They knew and they

wrote it down and we see it too. So when

you're reading scripture

and you're reading it by faith,

things about this promise are being

revealed to you that even angels long to

understand.

That's how big of a deal it is. Let's go

back to Galatians and finish up with the

second half here. [snorts]

There's more.

So he says right after that the to whom

the promise has been made in verse 19

and it was put in place through angels

by an intermediary.

Now an intermediary implies more than

one but God is one. Is this the law? Is

the law then contrary to the promises of

God? Certainly not. And at this point

most of us are sort of lost in all of a

sudden what are you transition talking

to? I am going to use a paraphrasic

translation here of Galatians and this

is the New Living Translation because

the way that I explains it is the

shortest way and simplest way to explain

what Paul's actually saying. Let me turn

there and uh and as I I don't have it

up, but as I read it to you, you'll

understand it more simply. Um so what

Paul is actually talking about is a

comparison between the law and the

promise. The law came through Moses with

angels there. You can look at

Deuteronomy 33 um maybe verse two and it

says that there was a angelic host

myriad. Here it is. He said, "The Lord

came from Syinai and dawned from Seir

upon us. He shone forth from Mount

Piran. He came from from the 10

thousands of holy ones with flaming fire

at his right hand."

And we also know that the angel of the

Lord who many believe is actually Jesus

Christ and so do I uh was was attending

this giving of the law from Sinai. So

it's true that he gave the law through

an intermediary. By verse 20 though

we're talking about the promise and that

is what makes it so hard to understand.

Now an intermediary implies more than

one but God is one. What Paul's actually

saying is that in the giving of the

promise there was no intermediary. God

just swore by himself. Let me read the

NLT to show you that very thing.

Starting in verse 13, 19. Why then the

law uh why then was the law given? It

was given alongside the promise to show

people their sins. But the law was

designed to last only until the coming

of the child who was promised. That's

one translation here that disagrees with

almost all the other translations other

than NIV that makes it about not to the

child, the promise made to the child,

but the child who was promised. But

again, if you look up the KJV, the CSB,

the NKJV, the NSB, uh even its updates,

the ESV, and other translations that are

um way more close to the actual wording

of scripture, it's all the promise to

whom uh the the the promise directly

made to the offspring. But that's not

what I wanted to show you. Let's read

on. God gave this law through angels to

Moses, who was a mediator between God

and the people. Now, to mediator is

helpful if more than one party must

reach an agreement. But God who is one

did not use a mediator when he gave his

promise to Abraham.

So now you can understand what Paul's

actually talking about and you can

understand why he has to deal with the

objections that the law is then

contrary. The law would be considered

contrary in the minds of those who still

are stuck on the idea that its intent

that that the means of be being declared

righteous is still the law. So they'll

be like, well, if the promise is

declaring us righteous, why would God

also give the law that would declare you

righteous? But that's a

misunderstanding. There is no conflict.

Is there the law then contrary to the

promises of God? Certainly not. Meganoto

in modern language, hard no. It's

definitely not. For if the law had been

given that could give life, and there is

no been no law given that could give

life, then righteousness would indeed be

by the law. But it's not. Verse 22. But

the scripture imprisoned everything

under sin so that the promise by faith

in Jesus Christ might be given to those

who believe. Imprisoned is another

metaphor similar to being guarded by the

law. Now before faith came, we were held

captive under the law. Imprisoned until

the coming faith would be revealed.

Right? There's the progressive

revelation. So then the law was our

guardian until Christ came in order that

we might be justified by faith. Now I

want to talk to you about some things I

understood about the law. I did not

understand exactly what this saying

previous to really understanding it.

First of all, the law was definitely

given to be a chaperone as as a legal

infrastructure to punish sins and to

guard people. The law was also given to

show what transgressions actually are.

The law, you could also understand it as

purpose is to reveal what it looks like

to love God with all your heart and soul

and mind and strength and to love your

neighbor as yourself because that sums

up the law. The law was also given to

point to the moral character of God and

to point to point to the total depravity

of our moral character because even

though you know we talked about

coveting. We know it's sin. We know we

shouldn't do it. We do it anyway. We

don't disagree with the law that it's

wrong. And yet the law says that those

who covet deserve to die. And you're

like, "Oh, I can't disagree. Wretched

man that I am. I can't stop." Paul says

there's all these purposes of the law.

But did you know that one of the

purposes of the law was to point to the

fact that righteousness would be by

faith alone.

So wrong are the Pharisees. So wrong are

the uh circumcision parties. So wrong

are the Judaizers about the law. The law

was actually given so that in order that

we might be justified by faith. Did you

know that one of the purposes of the law

was to point to justification by faith

alone through grace alone in Christ

alone?

I knew it was to show how utterly sin

sinful sin is. I knew that if you

understand by faith how sinful your sin

is, you will be driven away from trying

to declare yourself righteous by the law

towards absolutely desperate faith in

Jesus Christ to be saved from what the

law requires. I knew that. I didn't know

that one of the purposes of the law was

to point to justification by faith

alone. You have to destroy the intent of

God's purpose for the law. To say that

justification would be by the law.

Nonsense. Not the purpose of the law.

Verse 25. But now that faith has come,

we are no longer under a guardian. For

in Christ Jesus, you were all sons of

God through faith. For as many of you as

were baptized into Christ have put on

Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek.

There's neither slave nor free. There is

no male and female. For you are all one

in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ,

then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs

according to the promise.

It's just so awesome. I want to I want

to leave you with one

um world view idea to consider um and

then we'll close

this verse.

Just like the law is misused by those

that are prideful hypocrites all

throughout history, not just back then,

now too, it's still being misused in

that very same way.

You'll even have people quote this very

verse to talk about racial

reconciliation in a legalistic manner.

You've heard of critical race theory.

Critical race theory basically says that

even if you yourself aren't the worst

version of a racist that you could

possibly be. You're participating in

hopelessly racist systems. Those systems

themselves are racist and you're not

doing enough to change those systems.

You need to do more. Sounds like a

Pharisee to me. You're going to you're

going to earn your way out of racism.

First of all, the presupposition is that

systems themselves are racist. Only

people are. If you call systems sinful,

did Jesus die for systems or did he die

for people? He died for people

and only for people. And people's hearts

are what make systems evil. So to say,

well, you're not necessarily racist, but

you're still guilty because you're part

of a system. makes it impossible for you

to ever be forgiven because the system

cannot be forgiven. Only human beings.

Well, you know how else you're guilty?

You're guilty because your ancestors

took slaves. If that can even be proven

that they did, even if they did, is that

true? No. God says, "The soul that sins

shall die." It's in Ezekiel. Father will

not be held guilty for a son's sin, nor

a son of a father's sin. The soul that

sins shall die. Thus all forgiveness,

turns out, is hyper exclusively

individualistic.

You could have a murderer sitting here

that's repented of his sin. Yeah. Still

needs to go to prison, but he comes to

communion by faith in repentance and

he's saved. And you could have the

nicest lady you've ever met who's

actually really prideful and doesn't

think she needs Jesus to be forgiven and

come to communion and not be forgiven.

It's hyperindividualistic. God knows the

hearts of every individual and who's

actually repented and put his faith and

that's a son of Abraham. That's a son of

God. So, back to this idea, there's a

desire, crooked as it might be and

warped by sin, for there not to be

animosity between the races anymore,

black and white, Jew and Greek or

Gentile. For there not to be animosity

between the classes anymore, whether

they're slaves or whether there's people

lowerass and upper class. Have you seen

the divide in the generations? The way

that millennials talk about boomers like

they're the ones at fault for the

housing crisis. Oh, we can't buy a house

because the boomers. The there's such

animosity between the generations. All

of this is reconciled not by us doing

anything at all, but by repentant faith

in Jesus Christ.

And there isn't, you know, Michael

Jackson was right. Whether you

understood or not, I'm guessing he

didn't. It doesn't matter if you're

black or white.

That's not what matters. What matters is

if you've put your faith in the one who

God promised from everlasting past that

only those who put their faith in him

and his name is Jesus Christ would be

saved. That's the Israel of God. Those

who believe in him and those in the

future, Jew or Gentile, that believe in

him.

And God promises many more, including

Jews, will be unhardened and will

believe.

So what's the answer to racial

reconciliation?

Never systems thinking, never critical

race theory. In fact, that does nothing

but create even more of a blood feud

animosity.

You know, before critical race theory

reared its ugly head. Racial

reconciliation was better than it is

now. The law makes an absolute mess of

things. It makes claims of guilt that

cannot be forgiven. It makes claims of

guilt that have to be earned. how uh

that righteousness has to be earned and

you never will. And so you you load a

burden on people's shoulders that in the

end just makes them hate each other even

more.

But the cross of Jesus Christ makes it

possible for forgiveness to happen even

between the absolute most racist clan

member and the most angry Black Panther.

And the cross alone, there's no such

thing as racial justice. There's just

the cross. just you can do nothing to

accomplish racial c racial justice.

Nothing. You add nothing to it, you only

make it worse. Only Jesus Christ can do

that. That's why Paul says, "I preach

Christ and him crucified." And that

alone you're there's no justice apart

from the cross. If someone's preaching

something to you that doesn't require

the cross to be believed in advance of

any justice being accomplished, it's

just human justice, which always just

leads to more injustice. Which is why

you'll have the author of White

Fragility say that the answer to

discrimination is more discrimination.

We have to fight fire with fire. That's

depravity. That's sin. And anybody who

uses the Bible to try to sew that as a

charlatan and a false teacher at best.

But the glorious news is that no matter

what race, ethnicity, tribe, or class

you are, if you have put your faith in

the one to whom the promise was made, in

the one about to whom the promise is

made, and the one in whom the promise is

fulfilled by the Holy Spirit, then every

one of us becomes a temple of God. And

if you're a temple of God, who can ever

speak against you being less than or

having some kind of contempt for

somebody else if God himself is

indwelling them by the spirit? That's

the only and exclusive answer to all

racial issues that have ever existed.

That's the only answer to peace in the

Middle East. There will never be

political peace in the Middle East apart

from this being uh uh believed. Never.

Ever. Ever. and all you you can do all

you want all you want and you'll never

have peace because there's a blood feud

that can only be healed in

reconciliation to God and reconciliation

by to one another and that only comes by

the cross.

So don't be fooled. You saw so many

people during the pandemic virtue

singling hypocrites talk about all of a

sudden how much they care about black

lives matter and now where is it?

They've removed their justice pages

BECAUSE NOBODY CARES BECAUSE THERE'S NO

POWER. There's no power for that.

There's only power for any kind of

healing between any kind of group of

people in the cross. And you know who

needed healing? Jews and Gentiles.

There was a deep divide in the church in

Antioch. And there was a divide here in

this church as well because of false

teachers and the Jews being taken in and

maybe even some Gentiles too that

somehow they had to keep the law.

Hypocrisy like that will only divide.

So again, if you remember nothing else

and if you remember the main point, you

have heard and seen and understood

things that even angels locked long to

look into. Let's put the main point one

up one more time.

God made a promise to Jesus Christ that

only those who have faith in him will

become sons of God and obviously

daughters of God too. Sons of God is the

theological idea of being a child of

God. And so I want you to consider if

God is is willing to reveal to your

heart these kinds of things. Just have

one question as you come to communion.

Many of our sins, many of our apathies,

many of our ways that displeas God are

rooted in a perception that somehow he's

disappointed us.

But if he's included you by faith in a

promise from everlasting past to

everlasting future, and if he is willing

to place the very fullness of himself,

the very spirit of Christ in your heart

and make your your innermost places his

dwelling place, how could you how could

you be disappointed? How what more could

he give you? What greater thing could

God do for you than to come and live in

you forever?

So undeserved. So you might think of any

sin that clings so closely, a pattern in

your life, anything. If it's related to

basically, yeah, I've been disappointed

in God, then compare it to what he's

revealed to you. The thing that he's

given you, it's not a van. He's made

your heart his home.

And he had to die to do so. And it was

his plan since infinite eternity's past.

And it's now come to fruition in your

heart. So go to communion as sons and

daughters of God. Go as people that are

forgiven through the blood of Christ. Go

to as people. There's never been a

people to whom more has been revealed

than to us. [snorts] Never. The greatest

revelations that have ever been given

are are now given to you. If that

doesn't make you thankful and if that's

not something that overcomes the kinds

of things that we're tempted not to be

thankful for, I don't know what is.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this

revelation.

I've been looking forward to it for

months to talk about I can't I can't

believe I understand it. I don't have a

mind smart enough to perceive these

things. I cannot believe I see what I

see in your word and that you've taught

it to me. I can't believe you've

included me. That I just happen to be

one of your sons because you gave me

this gift of faith and you brought me to

repentance. You chose me and you chose

us before the foundation of the world to

be your promised people in Christ.

There's nothing ever that could possibly

be better. And I just pray that we would

experience the joy of your spirit in its

fullness now.

I pray that we would come to communion

with hearts set a flame, convicted,

challenged, encouraged, consoled,

comforted,

and that whatever things are we're

struggling with in our lives that we

just surrender that to the Holy Spirit.

You are God the Father who made a

promise to Jesus Christ the son and you

fulfilled it in our hearts by the Holy

Spirit. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen.