131201 The Promise Given to Believers

Galatians 3:15-22, To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 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. ¹⁷ This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

²¹ Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. ²² But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Thanksgiving is behind us and Christmas lies ahead! So far as can be determined, Christmas was an unknown concept to Paul and the first century church. So far as we know the first century church did not celebrate the birth of Christ. However, it was very clear that Christ’s birth was important! He had to be born a man in order to become a curse for us so that we might receive the blessing of Abraham — the promised Spirit. Paul’s concern for the Galatian believers caused him to enlarge their understanding of the promise. In a couple of weeks we will look further into what Paul said to the Galatians about the birth of Christ. Right now we need to seek to understand the promises made to Abraham and his offspring and how it affects us.

The promise was made to Abraham hundreds of years before the law was written down. The law condemns a person because it is impossible to perfectly keep it. Twice, on earth, there was a man who was perfect before God — Adam before he sinned and Jesus all his life. Jesus came to remove the condemnation of the law and set us free to serve God by grace through faith. Abraham was chosen by God before there was any written Bible, or law. God, instead of giving a law, gave a promise and,…

The promise was made to Abraham. Let’s look at Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² 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. ³ 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.”

Abram, the son of Terah, was raised in a household that worshiped idols and not the God of heaven. Yet, when God looked on him he saw a man that, according to James, would be his friend and would believe him when he spoke. As result of the faith that Abraham placed in God…

God promised to multiply his descendants. Now, let’s look at Genesis 17:1-6 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, ² that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” ³ Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, ⁴ “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵ No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.

Abraham was ninety-nine years old. He had a son named Ishmael who had been born out of a wrong relationship. Ishmael was not the child of promise, instead, he was born of a slave woman and represented the legalism of works. God had a better plan for Abraham and Sarah. God would produce for them a child born of the free woman representing the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.

Abraham was ninety-nine years old and Sarah was ninety years old. The one thing that was certain to Abraham was that he and Sarah were long past childbearing years. God had given them a promise and waited until the promise could not be fulfilled by human will. That promise could only be fulfilled by a miracle of God!

Not only would they have a son but they would have, descended from them, a multitude of nations. Not just the people of many nations but Kings would come out of the promise. Even better than that…

All the families of the earth would be blessed. Look at what Jesus had to say about it in Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

God never intended that there would be only one nation that believed in him. When he said that all the families of the earth would be blessed he was talking about Jesus, of course! Not just Jesus but all of us would be part of that blessing. Without the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ there would be no hope of us doing any lasting good on this earth.

God told Abraham that he would bless all the families of the earth. Jesus told his disciples that the gospel of the kingdom would be preached to all the nations of the world and when that happens the end will come. Rest assured that the end will not come until all people groups everywhere have had the gospel proclaimed to them. Today, there are more than seven thousand people groups that have not been reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They represent more than 40% of the people on earth. Jesus promised that the gospel would be preached everywhere to all people…

Giving us encouragement. Let’s look at what Hebrews 6:17-20 tells us So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. ¹⁹ We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, ²⁰ where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

God’s purpose does not change and we should be encouraged by that! Thousands of years ago he told his friend, Abraham, that all the families of the earth will be blessed through him. As the years rolled by it seemed to be an impossible promise. Only a few families were being blessed. They were primarily the physical descendants of Abraham and, in fact, only a few of them. The law came by Moses as an act of God’s grace to show his people how to live and to convince them that they could only live out the law by the grace of God.

Again, thousands of years went by and Mary was approached by an Angel and told that she, who had never sexually known a man, would bear a son who would save his people from their sins. Once again God intervened in a miraculous way to bring a child into the world to fulfill his purpose. Only this time that child would be his own Son, Jesus, son of Mary and supposed to be the son of Joseph. In reality he was the only Son of God.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Paul told the Galatians that…

The law came after the promise. After the promise more than four hundred years passed and the law came by Moses. However the law…
Could not cancel the promise. Listen while I read from Romans 4:13-15 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵ For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

The promise to Abraham and his offspring came through the righteousness of faith. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Folks, the most important thing you can do is believe God. Not believe about him, in reality everyone does that, but believe Him! Paul reminds us that if those who keep the law are the heirs then faith is meaningless. Instead, the law brings wrath and puts us in a position where we are doomed to hell. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus which is received by grace through faith.

The law, or good works, cannot give life…

Instead, the law brings sin to life. Look at what Romans 3:19-20 tells us. Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰ For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Often, when a person is introduced to faith in Jesus Christ he, or she, thinks to themselves, “This is easy.” However, as time goes by, they try to live out the Christian life in their own strength and fail miserably! The harder they work at keeping the rules the harder the rules seem to get.

In Romans chapter 7 Paul talks about how the tenth commandment, “you shall not covet”, made him aware of covetousness. And the harder he worked at being right with God the more he coveted. The law was doing its work in his life! The law was not given to make us right with God. The law was given to show us how wrong we are! The law, or good works, brings sin to life…

And brings us to the end of ourselves. Look at two familiar verses from what is often called, “The Roman Road”, to salvation. Romans 10:9-10 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

In order to achieve salvation a person has to come to the place where they know they have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have to see all our righteousness is like filthy rags. We need to recognize what the law was designed to teach us — apart from a work of God in our lives — that we have no hope of eternal life. We have to confess that we have failed in the Lordship contest. When we are Lord of our life we are in serious trouble. Instead we have to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. That is the first step in salvation! We do not come to salvation little by little and eventually come to the place where Jesus is Lord. We come to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and salvation by grace through faith all at the same time. We confess with the mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead. Then, and only then, are we saved.

The law came to condemn us and…

Christ came to remove the condemnation of the law.

Jesus said that the Father did not send Him into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. The world was condemned already. We were born in trespasses and sins and therefore spiritually dead. Jesus came into the world to remove the condemnation. The law, or good works, could never set us free but…

The law of life frees us. Look at Romans 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

No condemnation! Those are very precious words. Mankind is born condemned and in need of deliverance. We are born subject to the law of sin and death. What can I compare this to? Well, let me try this. The law of sin and death is a primary law in the same sense as the force of gravity which affects all of us in the same way. Actually, I am not so sure about that because as I get older gravity seems to increase. I know, I know, actually I am getting weaker with age. But the law of gravity is a powerful force. A good test that we can simply do is stand on a chair and step off it. What will happen? If you do it right you be standing up when you hit the ground. If you do it wrong you will likely hurt yourself. A stronger illustration would be to go up on top of a house and step off. Almost no matter how you land you will hurt yourself. Or, consider this. The average weight of a Boeing 747 airplane is about 900,000 pounds. The law of gravity says that it will stay on the ground. However, there are other laws to take into consideration. As a group they are called the laws of aerodynamics. The four primary laws concern lift, weight, thrust and drag. In order for a 747 to fly when it is fully loaded the lift has to exceed 900,000 pounds. And the thrust has to be adequate to overcome the drag.

In the same way, if we are to overcome the law of sin and death, we have to come under the law of the Spirit of life. We are set free in Christ Jesus by the law of the Spirit of life that overcomes the law of sin and death. In the same manner, the laws of aerodynamics must overcome the force of gravity in order for an airplane to fly. We receive the law of the Spirit of life…

Through the promised offspring. Jesus himself tells us in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Remember the promise was made to Abraham and to his offspring. Not “offsprings” as though there were many but, a singular offspring! Physically there are multiplied millions of offspring of Abraham. Spiritually there are millions of offspring of Abraham but there is only one that the promise was given to. That one is Jesus Christ! We receive the Spirit of life by God’s grace through faith in Jesus and…

Nothing can take us back to death. Listen while I read Romans 8:32-39  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans Chapter 8 begins with “no condemnation” and ends with “no separation”! We were born under the condemnation of sin. God, in his infinite mercy, determined before we were born that we should have an opportunity to be free of that condemnation. He gave his own Son for us! If he would do that he will also take care of us since he has delivered us from the condemnation of sin.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus. Not death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nothing — nothing at all can separate us.

Do not let yourself be brought back into the bondage of works salvation — legalism. You cannot earn your salvation it is the gift of God, by his grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Galatian believers were being brought into bondage to legalism. Throughout history the church of Jesus Christ has been plagued by legalists. If we are not careful any of us can be brought under the condemnation of the law. We must always remember that without faith it is impossible to please God. If a law had been given that could give life then Jesus died for nothing. When he prayed, “Father, let this cup pass from me!” The Father would have sent legions of Angels to stop what was about to happen, if there was any other way! The Scripture imprisons everything under sin so that the promise of faith could be given to those who believe. Have you placed your faith in Him? If not, today is the day of salvation! Be reconciled to God while there is still an opportunity.

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.