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Let's pray.

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God, as we open your word this morning, I just ask that you speak to us in a powerful

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way and that you meet us all at the individual places of our heart, Lord, that need help,

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that need rescuing.

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God, that you may meet us right where you are, right where we are.

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In Jesus' name I pray.

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Amen.

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Abraham was called by God in the Old Testament and he was promised a future, a crazy future

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that he could not even imagine to the extent that it would go.

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Abraham was promised a seed that would extend far beyond his days, beyond his age, beyond

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his time, a seed that would continue and continue and continue, multiplying and multiplying

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and growing to God's people.

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And that seed would come through Isaac.

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But it's important to note what happens right before that is that God makes a covenant with

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Abraham.

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Now, this covenant was different than other covenants that happen in the Old Testament

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because what happened was that God asked Abraham to bring him a select amount of animals and

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certain animals and then to cut them in half.

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And this is where it gets interesting because we reading into the text would feel like,

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oh, that's a little weird, why cut them in half?

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But it's important to understand that in the culture in that day, that was actually a ceremony

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that typically happened with someone who was in higher power and someone in lesser power

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or that was, you know, under that person.

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The person under the person that was in higher power would do this ritual where they would

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cut animals in half, put them on two stacks on opposite sides of each other, creating

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a path right in the middle.

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And then the person would walk through them as they would repeat over and over and over

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the commitment that they were making.

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And this was usually done over a ditch.

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So if you can imagine two halves of animals stacked on each side with a ditch in between

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that when the blood drains, it drains to the center.

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And as that person walks through it, they walk through blood and they say and repeat

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the commitment that they're making to the other person.

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May this be done to me and more if I fail my part of the covenant.

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Now what's interesting here is as we're going to see, the next thing that happens is that

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God walks through those pieces.

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Now it wasn't customary that the person in higher power would walk through them because

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it was a covenant made by the person in lesser power, but God walks through them.

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And this is very interesting.

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And so God decides that he wants to make a point.

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And so Abraham falls in a deep sleep and the Bible says that it was great.

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It was troubling and there was great darkness.

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Now the Hebrew words for darkness and this great shocking, troubling horror that he experienced,

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the Hebrew words there show us and tell us that it actually means that it was shocking.

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When the Bible says that a great horror fell upon him, it actually means that it was shocking,

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that it was startling, that it was something that he was not expecting.

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And then this great darkness, it actually is used allegorically to represent this lack

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of understanding.

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So whatever's happening here is making Abraham be shocked and to have a lack of understanding.

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He doesn't get what's going on, that God would walk through the pieces and God walks through

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these pieces of these animals and ratifies the covenant with Abraham and he says, no

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Abraham, essentially he's saying to Abraham, it's not because of you that this covenant

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will be fulfilled, it's because of me.

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I will fulfill the covenant.

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I will follow through on my promise.

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I myself am the guarantee.

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So it's no surprise when God calls himself the I am in scripture because he tells you

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and me, I am the guarantee.

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I am the fulfillment of that covenant.

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So Abraham continues on after that moment and God eventually promises him Isaac.

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Now when God promises him Isaac, Sarah and Abraham, according to scholars, they have

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been placed in the age range where they would have actually been able to have kids.

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They were, she was nearing the time of menopause but not quite there yet.

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And so all of a sudden God promises Abraham and Sarah and I'm just going to refer to them

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as Abraham and Sarah.

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I know that the name change happens when God actually gives Isaac to them but for my sake,

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so I don't get tongue tied, I'm going to refer to them as Abraham and Sarah.

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But when God promises Isaac to them, all of a sudden God goes silent for 40 years and

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they don't hear anything back.

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Now during those 40 years of silence is when Sarah comes up with the idea, well, okay,

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well this isn't happening.

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During that time of silence, she passed the age of menopause so she's no longer able biologically

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to have a child.

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So she says, well, I mean, God didn't necessarily specify through what woman the seed would

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be born but it's Abraham's seed.

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So maybe Abraham just used my servant to have a child.

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So what happens is that Abraham uses the servant to have a child and they have Ishmael.

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But that's not who God promises because shortly after as Ishmael was reaching his Bar Mitzvah

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age, God all of a sudden speaks again.

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After 40 years and he says, no, that's not the child.

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That's not the child by promise.

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And so now he tells them, you're going to have a child.

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It's going to be through Sarah.

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It's going to be through Sarah and it's going to be your child and that's the child promise.

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Ishmael is not.

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So now look at what happens.

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Abraham has to go back with Sarah and now they have to be intimate in faith because

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they could not biologically have a child and they have to be intimate in faith, expectant

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for God to follow through on his promise.

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You see, it was not because of what Abraham or Sarah did.

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It was not because of what Abraham could do.

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It was because of what God could do.

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It was about faith.

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This time it was different.

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They in faith chose to trust God the second time.

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It was not by what they could do, but by what God could do.

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That was the point.

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God wanted to bring them to the place where they would be unable to make a claim on anything

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that they could have ever done.

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Not even to say, God, I have one.

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I did 1% of this.

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God wanted them to say, I did zero and you did all.

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And then Genesis 15 verse 6, it says, and he believed the Lord and he counted it to

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him as righteousness.

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Paul would later refer to Abraham as the father of faith.

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Abraham messed up, right?

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But he still referred to Paul, by Paul, as the father of faith.

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This is wild because Paul uses in the book of Galatians, he uses Abraham as the heuristic

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center of one of his biggest theological arguments that I think is in the New Testament.

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And that's what we're going to be spending the rest of our time here today.

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It's going to be on the rest of the book of Galatians.

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So get your Bibles out, open up to Galatians.

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If you have your phones, go there with me.

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But we're going to be spending the rest of our time in Galatians and we're going to be

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trying to cover the whole book by highlighting several verses that go throughout the entire

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book that outline the theme, the main message, and we're going to grasp, we're going to attempt

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to grasp what Paul is trying to say in a nutshell in this book.

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So Paul opens up Galatians by highlighting an issue that's happening in the Galatian

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church.

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There is something that's very troubling going on and these people have made their way into

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the church and started spreading these incorrect beliefs.

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Look at what Paul says.

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Galatians chapter one, verses six to seven.

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He says, I am astonished that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the

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grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel.

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Verse seven, not that there's another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and

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wish to pervert the gospel of Christ.

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So Paul's deeply concerned here about this disease that's being spread in the church

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and what's happening is that these Judaisms, these very legalistic Jews are coming into

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the church and telling the Christians, no, no, no, you guys have to, you guys have to

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believe and become Christian by keeping the law.

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You have to keep everything to the letter.

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Every single little jot and tittle, you have to keep it.

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And Paul's saying, no, that's not the case.

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So there's this issue going on.

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People were falling susceptible and notice how we ourselves are capable as humans to

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change and pervert and twist the gospel of Christ.

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That we are capable of not necessarily creating another categorically different one, but rather

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a slight variation, just a little, an edit to the gospel of Christ.

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And so Paul responds to these people who have already fallen to this condition where they

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are accepting these teachings and he says, look at what he says to them in chapter five

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verse four.

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Chapter five verse four, Paul says to these people, you who are seeking to be justified

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by the law are alienated from Christ.

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You have fallen away from grace.

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You have fallen away from grace.

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Now that's a big deal.

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I'm look, Paul is saying, if you incorporate even just a little law into your theology

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of salvation, just a little bit, you are fallen from Christ.

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He says, you are seeking to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ.

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You've fallen from grace.

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What a massive statement.

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Paul's not happy about this because this does away with the entire gospel.

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This throws away the gospel completely.

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And essentially the people are saying to God, I don't need you.

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I can do it myself.

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It's because of what I can do.

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I can help you a little bit, God.

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You see the thematic element with Abraham's story and what's happening here where we say

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no to God because we think that we could do it.

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So Paul has a response for these people.

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Chapter five, verse one, he says, stand fast therefore in the freedom with which Christ

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has set us free and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

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He calls what these Judaizers are infiltrating the minds of these Christians with, he calls

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that a slavery, a sort of slavery, this bondage.

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Paul's saying no, don't be submitted again to a yoke of slavery.

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You've been liberated from that.

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Don't fall back into that.

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Don't even go near.

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Paul is saying do not.

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And this law is a yoke of slavery because it shows you precisely what you are at the

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worst possible degree.

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The law is a revelation of God's character, of God's heart, and it can be summarized into

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love.

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The whole law is love, different manifestations of love.

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And we as sinners have fallen away from that.

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We're sinful.

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We cannot adequately, adequately represent that.

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So therefore, the law places us in bondage and slavery because it says you're totally

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not capable of having salvation.

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You're lost.

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You're completely doomed because we can't do anything.

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You can never measure up to God, to God's heart.

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You can never represent God's love perfectly anymore as a sinner.

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And so the law places us under this bondage, under this slavery.

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It's done.

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It's over.

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There's no hope.

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And this is why Paul says the following.

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If you go to chapter three, verse 10, he says, for all who rely on the works of the law are

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under a curse because it's written, cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything

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written in the book of the law.

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And this points back to Leviticus 18 five, but later in two verses after two more verses,

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he says in verse 12, but the law is not based on faith.

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On the contrary, the person who does these, who does these things will live by them.

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So why?

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So Paul is extremely set on making this point.

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You cannot live by the law because when you live by the law, you're giving the law power

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to determine the righteousness that you have in your life, which according to Paul is unattainable.

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Right?

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The law says you cannot make it.

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You cannot get there.

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And so what Paul's saying is if you even try and live by the law, your righteousness depends

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by it completely.

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One hundred percent.

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The person who does these things will live by them.

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Your life will be determined by the law if you live by it.

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But the thing is no one can keep it.

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Therefore it condemns to death.

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There is no hope with the law period.

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But Paul doesn't start stop there because obviously in scripture you have one thing

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and then you have God.

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You have the law, but then you have God and God makes a way and chooses to come.

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And that's the amazing thing that I love about our God because our God, when we are in a

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problem, when we are in distress, when we need saving, he's not an absent God.

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He shows up.

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He gets down here with us to fix our mess.

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And look at what Paul says now.

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Look at this amazing thing.

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Go to chapter four verses four to five.

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Chapter four verses four to five and Paul says, but when the fullness of time came,

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God sent his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the

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law so that we might receive adoption as sons.

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So what's God's response?

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God says, if they're no longer capable of fulfilling the law, I myself will go and fulfill

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the law for them.

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God says, I will live to the letter of the law.

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I will earn salvation.

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I will live it perfectly because they can't live it.

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So God comes here.

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Jesus comes here and lives the law perfectly.

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His whole purpose here on earth was to live this law, to be subjected to this yoke with

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which we as sinners aren't capable of meeting up to the standards.

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God lives up to the expectation of the law, to every single little jot and tittle of the

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law.

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And because of that, he earns his salvation.

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So when Jesus dies on the cross and he's laid in the grave, death doesn't have a legal hold

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on him because the law can't say he's condemned because he lived it to the letter.

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Death has to give him up.

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Death cannot hold him in the grave.

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So Jesus is resurrected and comes back to life because there's nothing the law can do.

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The law says this person lived it to the fullest and fulfilled it.

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He has earned his salvation.

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So because of that, Jesus is resurrected.

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Death cannot hold him there.

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And that's wonderful news, but there's more to that.

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Just look at what Paul says in chapter five, verse 24.

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He says, now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and

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desires.

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So look at what Paul's just saying here.

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Jesus died on that cross, right?

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He earned his salvation by living the law.

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But now look at this.

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We as sinners, we don't deserve salvation.

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We don't deserve eternal life because we can't live up to the law.

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So we are doomed.

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We are destined for death because that's what we deserve.

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But here's the thing.

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Paul says, now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions

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and desires.

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And so what he's saying here is that those who cling to Jesus and who Jesus has made

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his claim over, those people, their flesh has been crucified along with Jesus.

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Now what does this mean?

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The Bible says there are only two options.

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You either have death or you have eternal life.

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So what does this mean if your flesh was crucified with Jesus?

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What's the other option?

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What's the only other option that's left for you?

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Eternal life.

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This is major because Jesus dies on the cross, he earns his salvation, and our flesh is crucified

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there too.

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To say the ugly parts of you, the ugly parts of me, the messed up parts of you, the parts

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that can't get, they don't seem like they can get any better.

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The maybe parts that other people don't know about, what you hide, the nasty parts of who

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you are, of who we are, who I am, that was crucified on the cross with Jesus.

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Therefore that doesn't, that has been, the justice for that has been met already.

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Therefore there's only one more place, one other place I'm heading and that's heaven.

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Eternal life.

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This is monumental.

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It is that simple.

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There's no other option than, other than eternal life for those who cling to Jesus.

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This is one of the main purposes of the story of the two robbers that are next to Jesus

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on the cross.

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You see they represent human flesh.

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They represent humanity.

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Both of them are on the cross, but one clung to Jesus.

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Human flesh deserves the cross.

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But what we as humans can do is cling to Jesus.

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One took the full weight and responsibility of his sin upon himself and died.

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And the other said simple words, Jesus remember me.

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And that was all.

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He clung to Jesus.

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His sin was crucified on that cross with Jesus.

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And Jesus says, you have salvation.

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What a big deal.

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So now you see why it's so important to not stop clinging to Jesus.

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Why it's so important that we live a life and have a theology that's centered around

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Jesus, all Jesus, everything, Jesus, everything that you've ever could be.

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This is why it's so important to be centered around the core principle that Jesus is everything,

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that there's nothing else, that adding more requirements to being saved other than believing

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to Jesus, editing the gospel, that when we do that, we're saying no to Jesus and accepting

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the judgment of the law, that we are accepting death over ourselves, that when we don't cling

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to Jesus, we're saying I'm fine taking it on myself.

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That's going to land me in a grave for all eternity, but I'm fine taking that on myself.

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That's what God doesn't want for us.

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And so this is the importance of clinging to Jesus.

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This is why it's so dangerous to let go of him.

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And Paul says in chapter two, verse 16, he says this, know that a person is not justified

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by works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus.

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So we too have to put our faith in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith

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in Christ and not by works of the law, because no flesh, no flesh, not a single person, no

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flesh will be justified by works of the law.

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And Paul also says in the next chapter, in chapter three, verse 22 through 27, he says,

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but scripture is confined all under sin.

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We're all under sin.

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We can't move ourselves from there.

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Scriptures confined all under sin so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith

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in Jesus Christ to those who believe.

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Now before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law confined until the faith that

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was to come would be revealed.

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The law then was our guardian until Christ's came so that we could be justified by faith.

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But now that faith has come, we're no longer under a guardian for you are all sons of God

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through faith in Christ Jesus for all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on

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Christ.

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Now look at Paul's last bit of his argument, and this is where he starts wrapping up his

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argument.

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He says in chapter three, verse 11, now it is evident that no one is justified before

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God by the law because the righteous will live by faith.

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And this is the last part I want to focus on.

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What does it mean that the righteous live by faith?

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What is this concept that the righteous will live by faith?

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I mean, many people think that when you encounter the gospel, it's just this moment.

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It's just this moment in time that happens where your life is transformed and that's

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great and awesome.

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And now I was heading this way and now I'm heading the other way and that was it.

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The gospel happened at that moment.

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God saved me from that direction.

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God saved me from that person, from who I was.

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Now I'm walking the other way.

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Now I can walk towards Jesus.

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Maybe a lot of times stop there.

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That's what we stop with, that the gospel just changes our life like that.

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And maybe that's why a lot of us struggle with coming up with testimonies when we have

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been walking with Jesus all our lives because I mean, well, I don't have a testimony because

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I didn't come from the world.

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Well, there's something more because according to Paul, the gospel doesn't just stop at that

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point.

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You live by the gospel.

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You live by faith.

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The righteous will live by faith.

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So what is it, you know, what is this right?

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The righteous us, thanks to God, will live by faith.

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What does this mean?

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And this is where Paul pulls in the Abrahamic story and the Abrahamic covenants.

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So we're going to spend a little bit of time here.

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It's going to be a bit of scripture, but hang on with me.

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Chapter three, verses seven to eight, we're going to start there.

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It says, therefore you must understand that those who have faith are sons of Abraham.

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Now the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preach the

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gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying all nations will be blessed in you.

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Then jumping a little further to verse 18, it says, for if the inheritance comes by the

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law, it no longer comes by promise, but God granted it to Abraham by a promise.

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Now flip to the next chapter in chapter four, verses 21 to 26.

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It says, tell me you who wish to be under the law.

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Do you not listen to the law?

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For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free

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woman.

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But the son of the slave woman was born according to the flesh while the son of the free woman

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was born through the promise.

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This can be explained allegorically for these two women are two covenants.

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One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery.

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This is Hagar for Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem.

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She is in slavery with her children.

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Verse 26, but the Jerusalem that's above is the free woman.

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She is the mother of us all.

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And in verses 28 to 31, this is where Paul wraps up his argument.

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Now we brothers like Isaac are children of the promise, but just as that just as at that

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time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child that was born according

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to the spirit.

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So it is now also, but what does the scripture say?

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Cast out the slave woman and her son for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with

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the son of the free woman.

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Verse 31.

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So brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

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Let's work through this because it may seem like a lot.

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We just write a lot.

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But here's the thing.

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When we go back to the Abrahamic story, which we started with, we realized one thing.

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Abraham tried for Ishmael, but God's promise was Isaac.

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That is the big point.

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All to tell us, all to tell us is really simple.

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God had promised him a son, but they took matters into their own hands.

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And he had a son through another woman.

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All forgot to tell them that the son of the promise was going to be through Sarah.

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The son of the slave woman was born according to the flesh.

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00:29:01,980 --> 00:29:06,440
Ishmael was born according to what Abraham could do.

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According to what he saw fit, he wanted to make God's promise happen.

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He wanted to be in charge of fulfilling that promise.

399
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Ishmael was the result of him trying, of him keeping himself accountable to fulfill this

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00:29:22,620 --> 00:29:26,980
law, to fulfill this promise.

401
00:29:26,980 --> 00:29:30,120
What God promised him, apparently God's promise wasn't enough.

402
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:33,180
He had to take matters into his own hands.

403
00:29:33,180 --> 00:29:35,540
He worked for it.

404
00:29:35,540 --> 00:29:42,860
So the slave woman being Hagar and Ishmael represent works.

405
00:29:42,860 --> 00:29:50,260
Now Sarah represents the freedom that Jesus gives us when we choose to trust him to fulfill

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00:29:50,260 --> 00:29:52,480
what he said.

407
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:54,180
It comes down to this.

408
00:29:54,180 --> 00:29:56,460
They worked to have Ishmael.

409
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Ishmael was a product of what they could do, but God wanted a product of what God can do.

410
00:30:03,900 --> 00:30:07,260
God doesn't want a product of what you can do.

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God wants a product in your life of what he can do.

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God doesn't want you to try.

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God wants you to let him do it.

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God doesn't want you to step in the middle of his plan.

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God wants himself to be the fulfillment of that plan in your life.

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00:30:28,620 --> 00:30:36,420
It was medically impossible, biologically impossible to get pregnant with Isaac, but

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they were still intimate in faith.

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And the faith in God produced fruit.

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And this is what Paul is saying.

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Then after verse 24, Paul says that these two things represent two covenants and that

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Ishmael and Hagar are in bondage with Jerusalem, but that the Jerusalem above is free.

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And what Paul is saying here is that the Jerusalem then was subject to the very system of works.

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That's where the Judaizers were coming from that were infiltrating the church in Galatia.

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Paul was saying they are in bondage to works, but we Christians have been called to something

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higher.

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So what does Paul say when this desire happens to live by the law, our desire to take matters

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00:31:33,140 --> 00:31:35,180
into our own hands?

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He says cast it out, cast out the bond woman, cast out the slave woman and her son, for

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00:31:42,100 --> 00:31:46,540
they shall not inherit with the free woman.

430
00:31:46,540 --> 00:31:55,900
Works has no place with faith, zero place with faith.

431
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God says cast it out completely, cast it out.

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00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:05,980
So then what does the righteous will live by faith mean?

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What does it mean?

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00:32:08,900 --> 00:32:21,540
It means that when we see something, when we see a reality that doesn't line up with

435
00:32:21,540 --> 00:32:34,420
what God says, with what God promises, we choose to say, I trust you, I trust your promise.

436
00:32:34,420 --> 00:32:40,980
So when it says the righteous shall live by faith, it means that when I feel like I don't

437
00:32:40,980 --> 00:32:46,540
deserve it, I say, God, I don't deserve it.

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But you say I'm saved.

439
00:32:49,460 --> 00:32:55,740
I might be burdened down by my sin, but you say I'm chosen.

440
00:32:55,740 --> 00:33:00,820
I may have just messed up, but you say that I have a new life.

441
00:33:00,820 --> 00:33:06,460
I may look dirty and messed up and I may have a ton of issues and I may have a ton of character

442
00:33:06,460 --> 00:33:10,100
flaws, but you say I am worthy.

443
00:33:10,100 --> 00:33:18,300
It is refuting the reality of your life, the reality of the issues in your heart.

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00:33:18,300 --> 00:33:24,420
The righteous shall live by faith is refuting that reality with the truth of God and the

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00:33:24,420 --> 00:33:31,260
gospel in saying, no, I get it, I messed up, I'm a sinner, I don't deserve it, but you

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00:33:31,260 --> 00:33:33,380
say I'm worthy.

447
00:33:33,380 --> 00:33:34,380
God says I'm worthy.

448
00:33:34,380 --> 00:33:38,380
Jesus died and took my sin and says, I'm saved.

449
00:33:38,380 --> 00:33:39,860
That part of me is dead.

450
00:33:39,860 --> 00:33:42,420
I may not feel like that part of me is dead.

451
00:33:42,420 --> 00:33:46,020
I may not see how that may even make sense.

452
00:33:46,020 --> 00:33:51,100
Just not by sight, not by feeling, but by faith.

453
00:33:51,100 --> 00:33:57,460
God calls the people that will not see, that will not feel, but will trust.

454
00:33:57,460 --> 00:34:00,720
God doesn't want a people who feel like they're brand new.

455
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:04,500
God wants a people who trust they're brand new in Jesus.

456
00:34:04,500 --> 00:34:06,540
That is the point of the gospel.

457
00:34:06,540 --> 00:34:09,340
The righteous shall live by faith.

458
00:34:09,340 --> 00:34:15,280
When you sin, you say my flesh was crucified with God.

459
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:19,880
When you keep feeling like a sinner and you're deep down in the same pit you've been trying

460
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:26,580
to get out of all your life, you say Jesus' followers walk by faith.

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00:34:26,580 --> 00:34:34,740
So even if I don't feel it, even if I don't know how it is possible, Jesus says I am his

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00:34:34,740 --> 00:34:37,020
child.

463
00:34:37,020 --> 00:34:42,980
I am saved because of Jesus.

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And this is echoed in Revelation chapter 7 verse 14.

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And he said to me, these are they which came out of the great tribulation and have washed

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their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.

467
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This is the perseverance of the saints.

468
00:34:56,580 --> 00:35:01,320
This thematic element of the righteous shall live by faith.

469
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:09,060
This is the whole scripture that we as Christians would gain the habit of dipping our robes

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00:35:09,060 --> 00:35:11,900
in the blood of the lamb.

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It's there.

472
00:35:12,900 --> 00:35:20,380
That is the place where we can wash ourselves when we don't feel like we deserve it.

473
00:35:20,380 --> 00:35:26,160
That we continually go back and wash our robes in the blood of the lamb.

474
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:33,700
That is the righteous shall live by faith, not by sight, not by feeling, but by faith.

475
00:35:33,700 --> 00:35:36,560
The righteous person will walk by faith.

476
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:37,900
You will not feel it.

477
00:35:37,900 --> 00:35:39,340
It will not make sense.

478
00:35:39,340 --> 00:35:40,580
It will not seem like it.

479
00:35:40,580 --> 00:35:46,620
And honestly, it wouldn't be love if you could understand it.

480
00:35:46,620 --> 00:35:52,620
But we have to trust that we are made new.

481
00:35:52,620 --> 00:35:54,560
We are a new creation.

482
00:35:54,560 --> 00:36:00,340
And Paul ends by saying this in Galatians chapter 6 verse 15, for in Christ Jesus neither

483
00:36:00,340 --> 00:36:04,860
does circumcision have any significance nor uncircumcision.

484
00:36:04,860 --> 00:36:12,900
But what matters is whether we become a new creation.

485
00:36:12,900 --> 00:36:16,960
We proclaim our new creation by faith.

486
00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:20,740
We proclaim the promise by faith.

487
00:36:20,740 --> 00:36:23,880
That is how believers stay saved.

488
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,220
You want to know how to keep your salvation?

489
00:36:27,220 --> 00:36:32,180
You want to know how to never wonder if you're saved again?

490
00:36:32,180 --> 00:36:36,100
It's by faith you proclaim it in faith.

491
00:36:36,100 --> 00:36:37,180
That's the secret.

492
00:36:37,180 --> 00:36:40,780
That is how we stay saved.

493
00:36:40,780 --> 00:36:41,780
It's by faith.

494
00:36:41,780 --> 00:36:48,420
God didn't come here so that you could be 50% sure of your salvation.

495
00:36:48,420 --> 00:36:53,260
God didn't come so you could be 75% sure of your salvation.

496
00:36:53,260 --> 00:36:59,520
God didn't come so that you could be 99% sure of your salvation.

497
00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:03,300
God came so you could be 100% sure of your salvation.

498
00:37:03,300 --> 00:37:04,700
Nothing less.

499
00:37:04,700 --> 00:37:13,020
If you're walking as a Christian and you're not sure that you're saved, you better go

500
00:37:13,020 --> 00:37:16,220
to Galatians.

501
00:37:16,220 --> 00:37:22,900
You better read your scripture because we proclaim that we're saved by clinging to Jesus.

502
00:37:22,900 --> 00:37:31,420
There is not a single moment in a believer's life in their walk with God in which they're

503
00:37:31,420 --> 00:37:34,100
not saved.

504
00:37:34,100 --> 00:37:36,940
When you walk with Jesus, you're saved.

505
00:37:36,940 --> 00:37:41,900
The Bible teaches us that salvation is not a thing.

506
00:37:41,900 --> 00:37:45,620
Salvation is a person, which is why in Matthew when Jesus walks into the tax collector's

507
00:37:45,620 --> 00:37:47,860
house, what does he say?

508
00:37:47,860 --> 00:37:51,140
Salvation has come here today.

509
00:37:51,140 --> 00:37:52,420
Salvation has entered.

510
00:37:52,420 --> 00:37:58,740
When you walk with Jesus, you walk with salvation hand in hand.

511
00:37:58,740 --> 00:38:00,580
That is the point.

512
00:38:00,580 --> 00:38:02,580
That is the point.

513
00:38:02,580 --> 00:38:08,480
We are children of faith in accordance with Abraham because of that.

514
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:13,800
We are saved through grace and stay saved through faith.

515
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:21,460
This is the great story of scripture and everything in scripture can be tied back to this.

516
00:38:21,460 --> 00:38:32,380
Let it be that when Jesus says, bear your cross and follow me, that he's asking for

517
00:38:32,380 --> 00:38:44,460
a people who will understand and embrace their identity as sinners, yet look forward to Jesus.

518
00:38:44,460 --> 00:38:52,700
That those who are worthy of Jesus are actually those who acknowledge their sin.

519
00:38:52,700 --> 00:39:00,160
That Jesus says, if you don't come to terms with who you are, you're not worthy of me.

520
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:07,200
That you're a sinner, but you can look to me because I've called you.

521
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:15,940
That Jesus calls a people to bear their cross, but to follow Jesus, but to have faith in

522
00:39:15,940 --> 00:39:21,440
Jesus despite the cross.

523
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:24,700
A people who say, God, I deserve death.

524
00:39:24,700 --> 00:39:28,980
I deserve this cross that I'm carrying.

525
00:39:28,980 --> 00:39:35,540
But as long as I look forward to you, I believe what you've told me.

526
00:39:35,540 --> 00:39:45,300
I believe the promise that you've made to me that I'm saved and I trust in that.

527
00:39:45,300 --> 00:39:52,740
Jesus asks you this morning, are you a sinner?

528
00:39:52,740 --> 00:39:58,840
Well, good, because I only save sinners.

529
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:05,780
Not by feeling, not by sight, but by faith.

530
00:40:05,780 --> 00:40:13,500
God, we are just so in awe of who you are.

531
00:40:13,500 --> 00:40:16,540
You're just so good, so loving.

532
00:40:16,540 --> 00:40:22,380
Lord, help us to live in the reality that we're saved.

533
00:40:22,380 --> 00:40:27,900
Help us proclaim that reality over our lives and live by faith when we don't feel like

534
00:40:27,900 --> 00:40:34,600
it, when we don't seem like it's changing our current state, when it doesn't seem like

535
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:40,660
some of our tendencies and our desires are changing, when it seems like we're just doomed

536
00:40:40,660 --> 00:40:42,660
for nothing but death.

537
00:40:42,660 --> 00:40:48,500
Lord, help us to proclaim in faith who you say that we are.

538
00:40:48,500 --> 00:40:54,360
To proclaim in faith our flesh crucified on the cross with you, Lord.

539
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:56,740
Help us be sure of our salvation.

540
00:40:56,740 --> 00:40:57,820
Fill us with your Spirit.

541
00:40:57,820 --> 00:41:00,340
May we not keep this inside of us.

542
00:41:00,340 --> 00:41:05,860
May it overflow our hearts and pour out into the people surrounding us.

543
00:41:05,860 --> 00:41:09,740
May we bless others with this amazing truth, Lord.

544
00:41:09,740 --> 00:41:16,000
And may we, being responsible for the truth that was placed in our hands to communicate

545
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:21,640
to others, may we not be found guilty of editing your gospel.

546
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:25,300
May we not be found guilty of tampering with it.

547
00:41:25,300 --> 00:41:28,600
May we say it and proclaim it boldly as it is.

548
00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:31,100
Not by feeling, not by sight, but by faith.

549
00:41:31,100 --> 00:41:33,100
In Jesus' name we pray.

550
00:41:33,100 --> 00:41:56,100
Amen.