Connect the Dots
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Reading (“Please stand…”)
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”
So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Pray...
Intro:
Intro:
Yesterday was a day that I will not soon forget.
We went to the funeral of a long-time friend of mine.
Graduated high school with him,
played on the same basketball team,
was part of the same youth group,
and he married a girl from our youth group.
So there was tons of connections with him,
and he was the first our circle of friends that has died.
On August 2nd, he found out he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
On August 22nd, he breathed his last on this earth and entered glory.
B/c of the shock of his passing,
they waited a bit before doing the memorial service yesterday in Greenville.
One of my other friends from high school and the basketball team was doing the service...
a pastor also.
When we were about 45 minutes away from the church,
I got a call that said that my friend who was leading the service was taken by ambulance to the hospital with an apparent heart attack or stroke.
When I spoke to the friend that was with him yesterday morning,
he said, “He was not responsive when they took him. He was out. And he had turned yellow.”
Oh, and will you do the memorial service?
Of course I will,
but this day just got far more weighty.
At the end of the day,
my friend in the hospital is fine...
not a heart event or a stroke.
Some combo of dehydration, fatigue, and stress.
The local pastor of their church picked up the parts that my friend was doing
so I didn’t have to do the service.
But needless to say,
I was brought to a place where I was FORCED to look at our mortality.
Our days on this earth are limited...
And there is not guaranteed our tomorrow.
It’s days like yesterday that teach us to not make assumptions about our lives.
It’s days like yesterday that convince us that this life is beautiful...
Why would we want to live any other way than the fullness of what God has provided?
To enjoy this life
And to leave a mark on the people around us (friends, children, grandchildren).
FCF:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
This is the human heart.
God tells us what is good...
we take another way.
God shows us the way to truly live...
we think he’s holding out on us.
“deserting” - abandon
We are abandoning the Gospel of promise.
As I’ve tried to synthesize the concepts and flow of thought from Galatians,
its been fun this week to connect the dots.
Basically, How the Apostle Paul unfolds the logic.
Overall Theme of Galatians: Freedom
by how do we get there?
Promise Given (by God to Abraham, Old Testament)
Promise Received (how do you come into it)
is it by obedience to the law or by faith?
Promise Enjoyed (split arrow, now/not yet)
What does life look like lived in light of the promises of God.
The Promise Given
The Promise Given
Gal. 3:8, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”
Quote from Genesis 12.3
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.”
Land, Seed (descendants, nation), Blessing
The Promise to Abraham… Covenant
But what about the Covenant with Moses after the Exodus from Egypt?
The Covenant of Law
Did this supersede the covenant with Abraham and set it aside? No
For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
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.
The covenant promise to Abraham...
is the promise that we are brought into.
The Promise Received
The Promise Received
How do we come to receive the blessing of the promise of God?
Well, it must be through our obedience, right?
It must be through us earning the favor of God, right?
Wrong.
We are legalists by nature.
Performance = Blessing
Obeying the Law = Blessing
But there’s one huge problem...
we can’t keep the law of God.
No matter how hard someone tries...
we all fall woefully short.
So our plan of getting God’s blessing
through our obedience to his Law fails miserably.
So how do we come into the promised blessing of God?
by faith in Christ.
Before we get to “faith”… we have to start with Jesus.
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.
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Mistaken thought: Abraham —> Descendants
But (3:16) says, “offspring” not “offsprings”
So, NOT “Abraham to Descendants”...
But “Abraham to Christ”
From Christ to Abraham’s offspring.
“by faith”
Galatians 3:7–8 (ESV)
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”
Galatians 3:9 (ESV)
So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
App. By faith… receive Christ.
It’s as if the “law/faith” discussion was merely a point driving to his conclusion.
Chapters 3 and 4 seem to be the point...
Chapters 5 and 6 are the “now what”
ILL. Zaccheaus was a wee-little man… a wee-little man was he.
Climb up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see....
Saw the Lord, followed the Lord, joyfully received Jesus into his home.
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.
Jesus describes salvation as being a son of Abraham.
Paul describes salvation as being the offspring of Abraham.
He says that we are brought into the Promise to Abraham.
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
The Promise Enjoyed
The Promise Enjoyed
Now & Not Yet
Present and Future
Now
Now
“The Spirit”
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
So Galatians 5 and 6 and its discussion of Living the Spirit...
is about living in the Promise of God.
The Promise —> Freedom
Resurrection
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Not Yet
Not Yet
For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
Life in the Spirit is a glimpse of the promise in its fullness.
Are you living in the Promise?
OR are you living according to your own designs?
Close in Prayer
Close in Prayer
Closing Song:
Closing Song:
“His Mercy is More”
Praise the Lord His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness new every morn
Our sins they are many His mercy is more
Benediction:
Benediction: