Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / November 25 - Galatians 3

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November 25 - Galatians 3 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello, friends, it's Sean here. It's Tuesday.
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  It's the 25th of November. Great to have your company.
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  Thank you for inviting me into your day so that we can sit down
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  before the throne of the eternal God.
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  And He's going to speak to us and He's going to share some of
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  his heart with us. What an incredible privilege.
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  And today Paul really climbs up high on his soapbox and works
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  hard to try and convince people to turn from the thing that they
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  have been following their whole life.
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  I don't know if you've ever experienced this.
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  I, I'm witnessing it with great joy at the moment as Fraser, our
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  middle son, has just finished grade 12 final exams.
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  And he has spent months and months locked in studying so
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  hard. And then walks out of his last
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  exam and suddenly no more study to do, no more preparation to
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  do, no more, you know, thinking of maths and physics every
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  waking moment of every day and even in his dreams.
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  And now he has to try and find a new way of being.
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  And I think how hard must it have been for those early Jewish
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  believers who their whole life, their whole culture was centred
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  around following this law. And that is how they made
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  themselves holy. And just like that, Jesus comes
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  along and turns that on its head.
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  And that's no longer the most important thing.
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  That's no longer how they're justified.
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  So as they try and wrap their heads around this and are
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  struggling to do so, Paul is encouraging them with great
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  urgency to just rest in the grace of that post exam Jesus.
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  OK, maybe not, but yes, in that grace that Jesus has for them.
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  So let us hear that encouragement to us to rest in
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  the grace of Jesus as we read together Galatians chapter 3.
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  Oh, foolish Galatians, who was cast an evil spell on you?
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  For the meaning of Jesus Christ's death was made clear to
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  you as if you had seen a picture of His death on the cross.
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  Let me ask you one question. Did you receive the Holy Spirit
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  by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not.
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  You received the Spirit because you believed the message you
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  heard about Christ. How foolish can you be after
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  starting your new lives in the Spirit?
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  Why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human
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  effort? Have you experienced so much for
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  nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was
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  it? I ask you again, does God give
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  you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you
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  obey the law? Of course not.
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  It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
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  In the same way Abraham believed God, and God counted him as
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  righteous because of his faith. The real children of Abraham
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  then, are those who put their faith in God.
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  What's more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when
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  God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of
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  their faith. God proclaimed this good news to
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  Abraham long ago when he said all nations will be blessed
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  through you. So all who put their faith in
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  Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his
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  faith. But those who depend on the law
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  to make them right with God are under his curse.
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  For the scriptures say. Cursed is everyone who does not
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  observe and obey all the commands that are written in
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  God's book of the law. So it is clear that no one can
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  be made right with God but trying to keep the Law.
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  For the Scriptures say it is through faith that a righteous
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  person has life. This way of faith is very
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  different from the way of the law, which says it is through
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  obeying the law that a person has life.
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  But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law.
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  When He was hung on the cross. He took upon himself the curse
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  for our wrongdoing, for it is written in the Scriptures.
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  Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree through Christ Jesus.
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  God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing He
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  promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive
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  the promised Holy Spirit through faith.
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  Dear brothers and sisters, here's an example from everyday
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  life. Just as no one can set aside or
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  amend an irrevocable agreement, so it is in this case.
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  God gave the promises to Abraham and his child.
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  And notice that the scripture doesn't say to his children as
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  if it meant many descendants. Rather it says to his child.
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  And that of course means Christ. This is what I am trying to say.
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  The agreement God made with Abraham could not be cancelled
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  430 years later when God gave the law to Moses.
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  God would be breaking His promise, for if the inheritance
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  could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the
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  result of accepting God's promise.
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  But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise.
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  Why then was the law given? It was given alongside the
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  promise to show people their sins.
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  But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the
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  child who was promised. God gave His law through angels
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  to Moses, who is the mediator between God and the people.
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  Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach
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  an agreement. But God, who is 1, did not use a
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  mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham.
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  Is there a conflict then between God's law and God's promises?
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  Absolutely not. If the law could give us new
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  life, we could be made right with God by obeying it.
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  But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so
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  we receive God's promise of freedom only by believing in
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  Jesus Christ. Before the way of faith in
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  Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the
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  law. We were kept in protective
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  custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.
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  Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until
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  Christ came. It protected us until we could
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  be made right with God through faith.
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  And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the
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  law as our guardian. For you are all children of God
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  through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united
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  with Christ in baptism have put on Christ like putting on new
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  clothes. There is no longer Jew or
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  Gentile, slave or free, male and female.
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  For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
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  And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true
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  children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's
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  promise to Abraham belongs to you.
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  Oh, what an incredible chapter. Thank you Jesus, for these
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  words. Thank you for Paul's
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  encouragement to make our faith in you the one and only thing
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  that we pursue in our lives. Because that faith that you give
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  us, that you plant like a seed in our heart and water it
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  through our lives, that is the only thing that draws us into
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  this wonderful relationship with you, our Creator, our Saviour,
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  the lover of our souls. So here we are, Jesus.
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  We are putting you at the centre.
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  And all the other trimmings that we hold so tightly to as though
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  they're going to make any kind of difference.
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  We just release them and we lift up our empty hands to you, the
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  Creator, our King, our Saviour, our wonderful Jesus.
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  Thank you for this beautiful gift that you give us, for all
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  that you've done for us, and the freedom that we now have to just
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  cast our gaze upon You and bask in the glory of your love.
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  So we do that now, praying all of this in your wonderful name,
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  Jesus.