Episode 59 - Galatians - Part 4

Speaker 1 00:00:07 Hi, and welcome to the unveiling. I'm Tim, one of the hosts, and along with Andrey and Mark, we are three guys discussing the one true gospel. We hope you're encouraged by this episode. Let's dive right in. Welcome or welcome back to the unveiling. This is episode 59, and today is gonna be part four. We're gonna go ahead and pick back up on the Galatians series that we got out of for a couple weeks. Uh, and unlike the last couple of weeks, all of us are here today. Aj, welcome back. Speaker 2 00:00:46 Thank you. Good to see you both. Speaker 1 00:00:49 So, AJ has been traveling, as we've said, and, uh, we're glad to have him back despite anything you may hear on those episodes. We, when you were gone, aj, we're, we're really happy to have you Speaker 3 00:01:00 Back. Yes, we are. Speaker 1 00:01:02 So we are going to, like I said, pick back up in Galatians. And for those of you who want to follow along in your Bibles or whatnot, we are gonna start in Galatians, uh, pick back up in Galatians three at the 15th verse. But before we start that, mark, you said you wanted to clarify something from our last Galatian episode three weeks ago. Speaker 3 00:01:24 Sure. Uh, before I do though, I just wanted to say, uh, Tim and I just had a private con conversation before we went on the air, and I was just sharing how I've always loved Galatians, but as the three of us have gotten in deeper to it this time, I'm just blown away by this book. And that's probably why it's taking us a little longer to go through it. We're savoring it, but don't worry, our children will carry on <laugh> Speaker 1 00:01:52 <laugh> Speaker 3 00:01:52 If we, if we don't live long enough to finish the book, but <laugh>, so, but what a wonderful book it is. And, and since it's been a few weeks with AJ traveling since we've been in it, I just wanted to kind of refresh all of our memories as to the context of this book quickly. So the Apostle Paul had gone on his, what most historians believe was his first missionary voyage to, uh, Asia Minor. And he had gone to the province of Galatia and planted many brand new churches there. He had gone, he had preached the gospel, uh, faith alone through, by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. And as the people in Galatia believed this gospel, the Holy Spirit came on them. They saw signs in miracles, and they came to Christ simply by faith and belief. They trusted in Christ. So, so he went at, Paul, went back, continuing his missionary journey, and much to his chagrin while he was gone, uh, Judaizers had came in. Speaker 3 00:03:01 These were Jewish Christians who, uh, who were Christians, they put their faith in Christ, but it was not in Christ alone. They believed that a higher form of Christianity was adding the Mosaic law, all the Jewish rituals. And they came in and were trying to, as Paul described it, pervert the gospel, which is all Jesus, first to last. And and you can imagine how that, uh, really upset him. He, he viewed them as his children. And, and he tells us in Galatians three, four, something that really hit me as I studied, he says, have you experienced so much in vain if it really was in vain? And the reason he said that was these Galatians had been persecuted for their belief in the one true gospel. So Paul came in, preached Christ, they believe the spirit fell on him, did miracles and wonders among them. Speaker 3 00:04:04 And they were so in love with Jesus and his through his pure true gospel that they, they were persecuted for it and were willing to suffer for it. Now, here's the same people who have suffered for the one true gospel turning back to the law, trying to add that in. And as, as, uh, later on, I believe it was, Peter says, it was like dogs returning to their vomit, like pigs that had been washed, going back and wallowing in the mud. And he was incredulous and said, what are you doing? So I guess we can just kind of pick it up from there, Tim. Speaker 1 00:04:43 All right, mark, thank you very much. And I will do a little bit of reading here. The first piece that I'm gonna do is verse 15 through 20, and I am using the niv V for readability, brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life, just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established. So it is, in this case, the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say, and to seeds meaning many people, but, and to your seed, meaning one person who is Christ. What I mean is this. The law introduced 430 years later does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promises. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise. But God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. Speaker 1 00:05:51 Why then was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one party. But God is one, is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God, absolutely not for, if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin. So that what was promised being given through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. So he starts this whole thing off with an everyday example that the people there would understand, because back then covenants were very important to tradition and, and, and law in the world. And, uh, they would understand what he was saying. I don't, I don't know that we understand it to the le that level today. Speaker 3 00:06:53 Yeah, I think you're right. Although we might be able to equate it to contracts and things like that, although they're not exactly the same, I would think that's about the closest we have here, although marriage is a covenant as well. Speaker 1 00:07:07 Okay. And I would see that in those, in, in that first part of that reading, that, uh, Paul argues that the law was added later, uh, as a temporary measure to restrain sin and prepare the way for Christ. I am having trouble tripping over my tongue tonight. So the law was given basically to show us our sin, and we had to have something to measure it against. So the law came to show us the sin by giving us a measurement or a standard by which to hold our behavior to. Speaker 2 00:07:43 Yeah. So, you know, there are several truths here in this short passage. You know, the Bible says, you know, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. There are so many truths here, you know, that, uh, that are, you know, liberating truths if you would. So here we see, um, Polish talking about a promise here, right? I think before we go into the contrast here, again, this whole Ians this whole chapter is about contrast. Here is constantly contrasting law and faith is contrasting the new covenant and the old covenant. And here is contrasting the promise and the law. In verse section, he talks about, uh, God gave his promises, right? Not to the seals, but to seed who is Christ. And then in verse 18, it says, you know, words God gave to our Abraham by promise. So I think it behooves us to stop a little bit and, uh, first to understand what the promise is here, right? Speaker 2 00:08:40 You know, what is that God promised? So that was in the previous verse in the, we read in the last chapter, sorry, in the last, uh, we went through in the last episode in verse 14, it says, the blessing of might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith. So the promise that he's talking about is the promise of the Holy Spirit, right? When we receive the Holy Spirit, in know Holy Spirit comes in us, and Holy Spirit puts us in Christ, and the Christ themselves comes into us. And everything that belongs to Christ belongs to us. So here again in the context of promise we are talking about is the Holy Spirit. Again, I think it's important to stop and understand how do people receive Holy Spirit. The most beautiful thing about the gospel is, you know, uh, mark, you already mentioned two times in your, uh, intro that how we receive the Holy Spirit, when we simply believe the gospel, we receive the Holy Spirit. Speaker 2 00:09:40 The beauty is we don't have explicitly ask the for the Holy Spirit as a second step. You know, when the gospel is preached, when we believe the gospel, we receive the Holy Spirit. And it is there in Acts chapter 10 as well. You know, this is important to understand. Again, uh, I want to quickly read that one. In Acts chapter 10, when Peter, this is the first time Peter is preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. And in verse 43 and after he talks about Lord Jesus Christ and how we went about doing good. And then he talks about the death bur and resurrection. And uh, then he comes towards 43. It says to him, all the prophets witnessed that through his name, whoever believes in him will receive the remission of sin. Again, the remission of sense means forgiveness of sin. It says, he simply said, you know, whoever believes in him and in through his name will receive the forgiveness of sin. Speaker 2 00:10:34 While Peter still spoke these gods, the Holy Spirit fell on them. So again, the same thing we are seeing here in Galatians chapter three. The promise is that God commit to our prime is a justification by faith. When people believe the gospel and they're justified by faith, they will receive the Holy Spirit, the promise of Holy Spirit. So that is a backdrop of this. And now we are coming towards 15, and I'm going to stop in a little bit before I go longer, but I just wanted to, uh, uh, point out a few contracts here, right? So here he's saying he's talking about a covenant, right? You know, his contracts in the covenant, even though if it's a man's covenant, you know, one city is confirmed, no one changes it and use it or adds to it. So you cannot add to it, or you cannot take away from it once the common is made. Speaker 2 00:11:23 That's it. So even if it's a man's covenant, it it is like that how much more the God's covenant, right? Then he talks about the contrast. Share is what God made to Abraham is a covenant. And then he immediately turns and calls it a promise. You know, God simply promised Abraham 400 years before and nobody can change it. You know, there's the first point he is making, and the second contrast he's making is, is a contrast between the promise and the law. It's interesting, you know, he is, uh, using different words to the God, what God made to Abraham. He calls it a promise and a covenant. But then he contrasted the law. You know, there's a difference there. The promise is a one way promise that God made to Abraham, whereas the law is a two-way contract where we have to keep the conditions. You know, I just wanted to point that out. And the other point I want to make it is, you know, the promise was made to the seed to Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the promise was not made through the seeds as in us, but the promise was made to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to stop here and let you guys chime in. Speaker 3 00:12:28 Yeah, I love this section of chapter three here, because Paul really brings to the forefront a couple things. One is that he's correcting Israel's understanding of why the law was given in the first place. It was given to bring men to Christ, not to become a religion, not a means of gaining cell salvation or blessing or sanctification or anything else. Um, so he, you know, this had to be very revolutionary to them hearing these words, telling them that the pursuit they've been on their entire lives, that all their forefathers going back for centuries have been in pursuit of, was a misunderstanding. They had not understood the reason why it was given, and they knew that the promise was given to Abraham, but they didn't understand that either. And Paul's clearing that up now as well, that the law didn't supersede that promise, and it's still by faith, because Abraham believed in it was credit to him as faith. Speaker 3 00:13:39 So I love the fact that he's redefining some of these things for the Jewish nation. Um, and then the other thing I love is that he sets a chronology up here. Uh, we tend to think in this modern age that the covenant of grace is the new covenant, and it is a covenant of grace, but it's not the first announcement of that covenant. He tells us that first announcement was by promise to Abraham, and, and theologians actually call that the covenant of grace. So you've got the covenant of grace, which is a promise to Abraham. You've got the old covenant, which was the law given only to bring people to that promise. And then you have the new covenant, which was the fulfillment of the promise. Christ came and accomplished that. So I love that chronology, that promise law to bring you to the promise. Speaker 3 00:14:35 Christ came and enacted and fulfilled the promise. And what's even cooler is that the entire Bible is filled with the gospel. There are a number of scriptures that tells, I'm just gonna quickly read a little bit from a couple couple of them here, that say, the grace disgrace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. That's second Timothy one, nine. Titus one says that the gospel, he said, God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time. Ephesians one, three says that God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world. So you can start before time, before creation, the gospel of grace was already the plan between father, son and Holy Spirit. Even in the Garden, Eden, garden of Eden. They were foreshadowing it and giving pictures of it with the tree of the knowledge of good evil, which is the law and the tree of life with his, which was Christ through the patriarchs to Abraham. Speaker 3 00:15:40 The promise was given because of his faith, because of his belief. It was credited as righteousness. Then God gave the law to bring people to that promise. And then you've got the judges and prophets and Psalms, God revealed by his spirit prophecies about that gospel. That's why we have all those prophecies about Christ ahead of time being born of the virgin, um, that he was betrayed for 30 pieces of, of silver, that he was the suffering servant in Isaiah. And then here comes Christ boom to, to fulfill the promise of the ages for us. And yet, even to this day, men stumble over that. And uh, in Jesus said, I have become a stumbling stone to some, because they don't understand that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ, alone in his cross. Speaker 2 00:16:37 Yeah. And two, double down the point mark that you are making in verse 18, it says, for if the inheritances of the law, it is no longer a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. So here the clear contrast is a law and the promise, right? And the promise came first. It came 400 years before. And he is saying that, you know, now, if you are saying that the inheritance is by the law, then basically it's not by promise. So you have to pick and choose. It could be that by promise or it could be by the law. So it's the same thing as Romans 11, six. If it is by grace, it cannot be by works. Or if it is by works, it cannot be by grace. The same thing here. If it is by promise, it cannot be by the law. Speaker 2 00:17:19 If it is by the law, it cannot be by promise. So it's an either or proposition here, and we have to pick and choose. But you know, many of us, almost everybody in the most of the church nowadays, right, you know, foolishly and ignorantly mixed both, when the Bible clearly says it has to be either or, you know, it's like a kid, right? Do you want this or that kid says both <laugh>, it doesn't work like this here. It has to be that the law or the promise. And it's clear here, verse 18. If it, if the inheritances of the law, it's no longer a promise, but God, I know it says emphasizing here, but God gave to Abraham by promise. What it means is God gave it by promise. He did not give it by the law. Therefore, the inheritance cannot be by the law. It has to be by promise, which means it is to by faith, it can never be by the works of the law. Speaker 3 00:18:15 And that, that's an awesome point. Let me, let me just read one scripture, Tim, and then I'll hand it to you. We've already talked about this, but the end of Galatians two, Paul says almost the same thing that AJ just read us in 18. He says, I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness could be gained through the law. Christ died for nothing. It's not the law, it's the promise. And it's not a benign, neutral, innocuous thing to add the law to the gospel. It's, it's really sin, it's evil is what it is. And it's like saying Christ died for nothing when you do that, that it wasn't enough that you have to add. Speaker 1 00:19:01 So that does answer one of the questions that I was gonna bring up be, but Paul addressed, kind of addressed it first by saying, so why was then, was the law given at all? I mean, if, if Abraham already had the promise and we get that promise, why did we need to go through the law to get saved? I mean, obviously we don't go through the law to get saved, but why did we need the law if we already had the promise of salvation, you know, by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone? Speaker 3 00:19:34 Well, I would say because we didn't get it <laugh>, people still don't get it nowadays. It was given to help us to understand and see the Jews missed the promise that it was by faith, it would be credited to them as righteousness. So the law was given and they missed that too, and started to make a religion out of it. That's, that's just a supposition I would make that I think's, uh, pretty well supported. What do you think Aji? Speaker 2 00:20:01 Yeah, I, I agree. Mark and I also, I think it's important to clarify because the verse here says, you know, what was the purpose of the law? Then in verse 19? It was added because of transgressions. But again, I think many take it and say, oh yeah, a law is given, you know, to kind of, uh, suppress our sin, right? You know, oh, the society is so bad, you know, without the laws, you know, we'll just go, uh, crazy and start sinning like crazy. And that's why, uh, the law is given to suppress, uh, sin in the society and among the people until faith came. I think that's how some people preach it. But it's actually the opposite. In fact, law is given, if you read, uh, Romans chapter five, verse 20, uh, it says, moreover, the law entered the, that the offense might abound, but where sin bonded, the grace abounded much more. See, the purpose of the law is show that we are sinners. If the law was given oppress sin, you know, we won't be realizing that we are sinners. So law is given so that the sin may abound. And, but the beauty is, you know, where sin bonded, grace bonded even more. So what he's saying here is that, you know, law is given because of transgression. That means that, you know, law is given so that we realize that, you know, we are sinner. It is given to show us our sin. That's what it means. Speaker 1 00:21:22 So given the King James translation that you're using ij, I want to clarify something. It, when it says to make so that sin might abound, it doesn't mean so that we might sin more, but rather I believe, and you to correct me if I'm wrong, but that, uh, we might be conscious of our sin more. Speaker 2 00:21:43 Yes, yes. Well, I guess, um, I think the consciousness of sin comes when we sin more, right? So in Romans chapter seven, the more you try to be good, the worse it became. So I think per at a personal level, when we attempt to keep the law, the more we attempt, the more we fail. So we are actually sin more in our life until we come to a point when we realized that, oh my God, I can't do it on my own. It's not in theory, but in practice also, anyone who tries to keep the law will end up sin more. Speaker 1 00:22:17 I, you know, it's funny cuz I, I listened to that and I, I think I understand what you're saying, but I keep asking myself, why did I need the law to sin more? I was doing pretty good at sin on my own before I came to Christ <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:22:29 Well, I think Paul gives us a really good answer to another place when he tells us that before the law came, sin was still in the world, but it wasn't charged to anyone's account. So people sined. But once God gave the law and said, thou sht not now, sin became a bigger deal. And the way Paul puts it is the law was given that sin might become utterly sinful. Yeah, we, we, we would be convicted and condemned by that law to see sin as a terrible, terrible thing and that we are in desperate need as a, uh, of a savior. Speaker 2 00:23:05 Yeah, yeah. Tim would point, you know, I already knew I was a sin. What's the point of the law? But that's not the case with everyone. Many people think they're pretty good. In fact, if you look at, uh, other, uh, religions, world religions like a billion population, they believe man is basically good. Just the other day, you know, I was driving in the car and the driver, uh, just in the conversation mentioned that, uh, 70% of people are good. So the assumption in many of the religion is that human beings are basically good and the environment and the situations they go through make them bad. So those kind of people definitely need the law. In fact, you know, the Bible says the law is in their conscience because it's not that the gentiles have the law of Moses or they're kid to read the 10 Commandments, but the law is in their conscience and return in their heart. So anyone who tries to the keep the perfect law of God, that is return in their conscience. They realize that, you know, they're falling shot, they realize that, you know, they're sinners and they can never be good. Speaker 3 00:24:07 One word I don't like aj, is the word bad? That man is bad. That's, it's a very sub subjective word. I think the point is that all men sin if you've sinned even once you are condemned by the law. And that's the point when people say no, mankind is not a sinner that, you know, we all have bad days, we have bad hair days, we have days we lose our temper. Um, that's a very relativistic word that, that they use incorrectly. We're not to, we're not trying to tell somebody who's not a believer, you're bad, you're bad, you're bad. What we're saying is you've got a sin problem just like I do, just like all people through history do. And that's the point that it's not just a little thing that the law is showing that that's a fatal thing. Speaker 1 00:24:58 I think that idea that, uh, most people are good comes from a wish inside that says, I want to be good. Yeah. And our fear that we aren't good and that, you know, we're so, we're kind of depending on God grading on a curve somehow. Right? But this really is an absolute test. I if, if you don't believe and your sin hasn't been, uh, not, not held against you, then you're a sinner and you are not by definition in this particular strict sense. I know you don't like the word, but you're not good, you're bad. Speaker 3 00:25:38 Right? And I think one of the things the law came to do is that sin is not a contrary to what you might have heard your entire life on tv, in person in books, sin is not a focus of the Christian life. It's the context that the gospel is poured into. That's why it's important that the law came to show us our need for a savior. If I'm good, if I never sin, I don't need someone to die for me cuz I'm doing just fine. Right? Right. So right there just shows another need for the law that we need that. Speaker 2 00:26:17 Yeah, that's a great point, mark. You know, it's the purpose of the law is not to say you are bad, you're bad, you're bad, you can't do anything, you know, that's not the goal. The goal is to show them the need for Christ. No matter what you do, you know, you cannot be what God made you to be. The Bible says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God created us for his glory. So no matter how much you try, you cannot reach the glory that God created as far and the only way is Lord Jesus Christ. And he came, the gospel is about, you know, in, uh, there's a beautiful scripture in Titus, you know, Jesus came to us. The gospel is preached to us so that we can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And even in, uh, uh, John chapter 17, Lord Jesus Christ, praise that you know, that they may have the same glory that I had with you when I was with you. So the gospel is all about, you know, having this glory sharing partaking of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we can never attain to that glory by our works. So the sooner we realize, the better for us. Speaker 3 00:27:21 Sure. And, and the key to remember with the gospel and what churches should be preaching is we don't bring up sin so that you'll sin less. We bring up sin so that you'll see your need for a savior. That's what the purpose of the law is. And if the church is gonna talk about sin, that should be the purpose, not, not to try to help you stop sinning, which seems a lot of pastors nowadays have become motivational speakers to teach you, to encourage you to cheerleader, to guilt you into stopping your sin. Now, the only reason sin is there is to bring you to Christ. It's why the law came to show you your need. And that's what the gospel should be. That someone loves you so much, they died for you to take care of the same problem. That has been a fatal problem in mankind from the beginning. Speaker 3 00:28:15 Unnecessary problem. But it's still a fatal one. And I know I've, I've shared this quote before, but it's one of my favorite, and it's Matthew Henry, the famous Bible commentary from the early 17 hundreds. He said that the old covenant prophet cries out to show people their sin. The new covenant prophet cries out to show people their savior. And that's a world of dis difference right there. And the latter was the plan from the beginning, well from before the beginning at time, but announced to Abraham and then the law meant to bring people to that knowledge that they needed a savior and then Christ came to die and fulfill it. Speaker 2 00:29:00 Yeah, that's an excellent point. Uh, mark, you know, sometimes in our gospel preaching is like as if we are trying to get people to stop sin. For example, if someone is drinking or whatever right? Or taking drugs, you go after them to go after them as if the goal is to get them to stop, uh, that, uh, sin, whatever they're doing, stop taking drugs. That's the end goal. You know, whether they have Christ or not, not as if it doesn't matter, but that's an excellent point. You know, the point is not stopping sin, but to bringing people to Christ. Speaker 1 00:29:33 Amen. So why don't we see if we can move forward a little bit and finish off the, at least this chapter Mark, we, like you said, we don't want want our children finishing this series <laugh>. So picking back up at, uh, verse 23, before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ, have, have clothed yourself with Christ. There's neither June nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female for you are all one in Jesus Christ. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So if you're, if you're a Christian, I'm a Christian. It doesn't matter who, who we are outside of that, we are all part of the body of Christ. We are brothers and sisters with Jesus Christ. And God is our Father. Speaker 3 00:30:47 It's really to me the only answer to racism. We can't, we're never gonna erase racism by more programs and further education. And Christ is the one that puts us even at the cross, makes us all brothers and sisters no matter what our station in life. One of the, one of the things I love about that you just read, Tim, uh, from Galatians 3 23, it says that we were held in custody, custody under the law locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came. So those of you that are listening that perhaps may be still trying to add things to the gospel until the until has come now the faith that was to come has been revealed. Christ has come. So now the purpose of the law has been fulfilled in all who believe it still exists for those that are unbelievers, to draw them to Christ as well, just like it did us. But that word until is really big. The law was for us until we came to Christ. And then Paul even says it even clear, we are no longer under a guardian. Speaker 2 00:32:07 That's awesome. Uh, mark, you know, here again, we talked about the purpose of the law many times, right? It is so clear here, if a way to say it in a single sentence, uh, half a sentence. It says, the purpose of the law is to bring us to Christ so that we might be justified by faith. See, we are not, that's so clear here, right? The purpose of the law is to bring us to Christ. And again, we are not justified by the law so that you know, we can have Christ so that we might, might be justified by faith. So the moment we come to Jesus, the moment we see the need for the Savior, the law has done its part. It has no part beyond that so that we can be justified by faith. We realize that I cannot be justified by the works of the law, but thank God because of Lord Jesus Christ, I can be justified by faith. And after that, I'm no longer under the tutor. That's it. The last purpose is done. You don't take the law beyond that point in a Christian life. But unfortunately, you know, we have brought law along with us, through our Christian life. And not only that, right? Every day we ignore Christ and we go back to the law as if the law is thing. No law is one, law's purpose is done. You know, we are in Christ and Christ is enough. We don't need the law. Speaker 3 00:33:26 Just a footnote on, uh, the word guardian in Galatians 23 where it says the law was our guardian and the K jv, it says the law was our school master, but fame theologian RC Sproll, I heard him teach that the original Greek word for school master is better translated cruel task master. So when we include the law with our faith in Christ, we're keeping ourself under a cruel task master. Which would you rather have a accrual, taskmaster or the one who said, come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest. Speaker 2 00:34:08 Awesome point, mark. Yeah, I have one, uh, observation, kind of a bigger observation, Tim. Is it, uh, here it says, uh, uh, in verse 29 it says, you know, if you are Christ, then you are ab Abraham's seed and aids according to promise. In fact, I think 26 through 29, if you don't mind, uh, there is, again, there is so much of truth here, right? It takes a lot of time to grasp all this. But it says in verse 26, we are all children of God, our sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. And as many as of your baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And there's no difference. You are Greek, there's no slave or free male or female for your all one in Jesus Christ. And then it says, if you are Christ, then your Abraham seed according to promise. So if you go back upright, you know, when we read, uh, we started in verse 15 and in verse 16 says, the promise was made not to us, not to the seeds, not to human beings, but the promise was made to Jesus Christ. Speaker 2 00:35:12 That's what it says. The promise was made to seed and not the seeds. So it was made to Jesus Christ and not to us. Then how do we partake of the promise? The only way we can be partakers of the promise is if we are in Christ. That's what he is saying. Exactly right. If you are Christ only, then your Abraham said, and theres account of promise. In other words, without being in Christ, we cannot individually claim the promise of God. Because to begin with, it was not made to us. It was made to Lord Jesus Christ. And he fulfilled the law and he removed our sins and he received the promise. And the only way for us to have this promise are to have the inheritance of God is to be in Christ. And how are we in Christ through faith Only, you know, when we are justified by faith, holy Spirit comes and takes us and puts us in Christ, and Christ himself comes in us, and now we are seated in heavenly praises in Christ Jesus. And whatever belongs to Jesus belongs to us. So here the picture again is a picture of, uh, the marriage. That's why, you know, it's so important, right? You know, from God's perspective, once you marry right, you know, whatever belongs to husband, belongs to wife. Similarly, you know, when we are married to Lord Jesus Christ, when we are placed in him, whatever belongs to him, belongs to us. That's how we, you know, not by keeping the law or not by individually claiming God's promises apart from Christ. Speaker 3 00:36:43 Yeah, I'd like to add one comment to that last little paragraph there, uh, AJ and Tim. And that is, in Christ, we are all children of God. Through faith, we all receive the same inheritance. Um, now I think what Paul's trying to contrast is before Christ, people under the law, they were not all the same. There was a where here where Paul says there's neither Jew nor Gentile under Christ, under the law there was Jew in Gentile, the Jews hated, the Gentiles weren't allowed to touch them, eat with them, talk to them. Uh, there there was a difference between slave ands free under the law. Slaves hated the master because they're working for free and being beaten, whatever else. Same thing with male and female under the gospel, there's no hierarchy. Both have received and are heirs of all that Christ has accomplished Under the law, males were considered superior to females. So he's making a point here that a massive difference has been accomplished here in Christ, that system that was meant to bring people to Christ, divided people and made others feel better than other people. And when Christ came, we all are heirs and children of God. And I I love that point. He finishes up with there. Speaker 1 00:38:07 Yeah, very much. This is, this is the one of the quintessential references to unity amongst the body. And that is, we are all literally equal, period. Doesn't matter our background, our skin color or anything. Well guys, it's uh, good to have AJ back. Uh, but we do have to come to an end eventually tonight it is heartening to see that we actually made it to the, to the end of the third chapter, <laugh>. But uh, having said that, I want to give you guys an opportunity to do any summaries you might want to before we sign off. So AJ, as our returning guest, would you like to start? Speaker 2 00:38:49 Yeah. So, uh, Tim, for me, I think the key phrase here and throughout the Romans is Abraham believed God and it was countered to him for righteousness. You know, that's what we are saved. We simply believe the gospel, then they become righteous. And because of our righteousness, right, we receive our inheritance, which includes the Holy Spirit and Christ himself and everything we have in Lord Jesus Christ. So that is a point he is making. Like, you know, you are justified by faith and you continue in faith. You don't add the law in, you don't go back to works. You don't do anything, you know, based on the law. Once you come to Christ, everything, you know, everything is by faith from beginning to end. We come to our Lord Jesus Christ by faith, and we live this Christian life by faith, and we end this Christian life by faith. Paul says, you know, I fought a good fight of faith. He doesn't say towards the end of his life, he doesn't say, I did this, I did that. I fought a good fight of works of the law. He says, I fought the good fight of faith. You know, it's all by faith. We thought the works of the law. Speaker 1 00:39:56 Thank you very much, ij. Mark, have you got, uh, uh, something to add? Speaker 3 00:40:00 Yes, I believe I do. Surprise, surprise, um, <laugh>, what, what I would like to add is this, and it just has occurred me to the other day that, and we just brief, briefly touched upon it earlier tonight, but people under the law, whether it's a church or a pastor or a congregant, whoever, the focus is sin. The focus is overcoming sin, not sinning. Um, where when you're under Christ, he's the focus. And what it comes down to this, that, I would say this to those out there now who may still be adamant that we've got to follow the rules and regulations, that we have to be religious and do this, do that, don't this, do don't do that. Here's the simple fact. We all sin, all people sin. No one is righteous. No, not one. And we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Speaker 3 00:40:57 That's a given. We're all desperately in need of a savior that's a given. So when they criticize people that have put their faith alone in Christ, and all he did and say, that's a license to sin, all I would say to them is, well, what's your, what's your excuse then <laugh>, you sin. So, so how is it any different? Or are you saying that you're not a sinner? Or are you saying that people under grace sin more and I, and and scripture tells us very clearly that being under the law causes us to sin. It makes us a slave to sin. It says in Romans six 14, it arouses the sinful passions in us, Romans 75. So the question is not whether we all sin or who sins, more or less, it's what we're gonna do with that sin. Are we gonna put it under the law that condemns, guilts, curses, shames, makes you a slave and actually arouses your sinful passions? Or are we gonna take our sin, put it under the grace of God and have it removed As far as the east is from the West, God will remember it no more. He releases us from its control and dominion, he declares us. His righteousness makes us a child, an heir of Christ in freedom. That's, that's our choice that we all have to make. Speaker 1 00:42:20 Thank you very much, mark. I will say just this, this is 14 verses and in it is so much, Paul talks about the relationship between law and grace. He talks about the Abrahamic covenant, he talks about the role of faith in salvation and, and at the end brings up the unity of the believers in Christ. That's so much there, it's so rich and such a short bit. And I would encourage anyone who's interested in this to dig deeper, go, you know, the whole book of Galatians is full of this sort of thing, but this is really distilled into a very small section. Well, we wanna thank you for joining us again for this episode. We hope that you've been uplifted and blessed for the three of us today. We wish you a great week, and we'll talk to you again the next time. Speaker 1 00:43:20 Tim, again, thanks for listening today. We hope you were blessed by today's message. If so, we encourage you to subscribe and share our podcast with your friends and family. Our entire catalog of episodes can be found on our website at www.theunveiledgospel.com. Or you can listen and subscribe on most popular podcast apps. If you have any feedback or questions, you can send us an email to the unveiled gospel yahoo.com. You can reach out to us on our Facebook page, the Unveiling Podcast, or you can leave a question or comment on our listener line at 3 5 2 3 9 8 0 0 8 9. Maybe you'll hear yourself on a future episode. That's it for today. As always, God bless and we will talk to you the next time.