Berean Community Church Wednesday Bible Study 11/15/2023 Galatians 3:10-14

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- Did you dye your hair? Oh, no, no. All right, if I can get your attention up here. We're gonna just kind of have a wrap-up session for these five verses, but I wanna just remind you of the context, okay? This is starting from verse one. If you guys remember, chapters one and two, Paul's defending his apostleship, that his gospel is the gospel that he received directly from Jesus. They didn't have the New Testament at this time, so his authority is everything, and so he's defending his apostleship. Chapters three and four, we're going into a lot of meaty theology of what it means to be justified by faith alone in Christ alone, okay?

And in the beginning of this, he asks a bunch of just rhetorical questions, calling them, "Dude, you dummies. "You are bewitched. "You started with a clear understanding of the gospel, "but you're veering away from it," right? And we looked at, "Did you receive the Spirit "by the works of the law or by hearing of faith? "Have you been begun by the Spirit? "Are you now trying to become perfect in the flesh? "Does he who provides you with the Spirit "work miracles among you? "Do you do it by the works of the law "or by hearing of faith?" So the Spirit conversation has started in the beginning of chapter three, and it's cycling back around, right? The middle section that we looked at toward the end of last week was, Paul is quoting the Old Testament, because the Jews hold to Abraham as their spiritual father, and so Paul is specifying what the scriptures say about who the true sons of Abraham are and what the blessing given to Abraham is, and today we're looking at curses of God, blessings of God, and in this section, we have the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Right, so verse 13 and 14, you actually see the gospel, all right? So this is, I wanna just read this for you. "For as many as are of the works of the law "are under a curse, for it is written, "cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things "written in the book of the law to perform them. "Now that no one is justified by the laws "before God is evident, "for the righteous man shall live by faith. "However, the law is not of faith. "On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them." So he quotes two books from the law, two verses from the law, and then he quotes something from the prophets, okay? Verse 13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, "having become a curse for us.

"For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, "in order that in Christ Jesus, "the blessings of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, "so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit "through faith." And so Paul is using the Old Testament really to unpack the truths of the gospel here, okay? In Acts 26, 19 to 23, I just felt that this would be helpful. This is Paul's defense before King Agrippa. "So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient "to the heavenly vision, "but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, "and also at Jerusalem, "and then throughout all the region of Judea, "and even to the Gentiles, "that they should repent and turn to God. "Performing deeds appropriate to repentance.

"For this reason, some Jews seized me in the temple, "and tried to put me to death. "So having obtained help from God, "I stand to this day, "testifying both to small and great, "stating nothing but what the prophets and Moses said "was going to take place. "The Christ was to suffer, "and that by the reason of his resurrection from the dead, "he would be the first to proclaim light, "both to the Jewish people, and to the Gentiles." So he's saying that God's message, all the way back from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, all the way through the prophets, to now has been consistently the same. It's always been by faith. The righteous shall live by faith, right? Abel lived by faith, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Enoch walked with God by faith, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham, who received the promise, his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness. So it's always been by faith, and Paul is gonna use, as he's in the habit of doing, Old Testament law and prophets to unpack the need for Jesus' arrival, his death, and resurrection, okay? And so what we're seeing in Galatians is his argument, okay? So for the Jew, in Paul's day, this was the typical understanding of blessing, and the understanding of curses, okay? And I wanted to walk you through that briefly, 'cause that's gonna be helpful. The traditional Jewish understanding of blessing is if you are a descendant of Israel, God has made a contract with his people, and there are blessings awaiting the people of Israel, okay?

Those circumcised according to the Abrahamic covenant are living under that blessing. And law-keeping is not only the duty, but the privilege of living under that blessing. Now, they had various interpretations, because they didn't expect everybody to be able to really actually live according to the law perfectly. But if I'm a descendant of Abraham, I've been circumcised, if I'm a people of Israel, and I generally live according to the law, to the best of my ability, the promises are great nation, there's a renown, I'm gonna have inherent land, there are gonna be innumerable descendants, wealth, and victory over enemies. That was a typical Jewish understanding, okay? And this was a Jewish understanding of the curse, and obviously, we're looking at Galatians, they didn't get it right, right?

But this is the understanding of the curse. Those outside of Abraham and Israel are gonna be under the curse, okay? Uncircumcised Gentiles are under a curse, and actually, the Leviticus 18.5 quote is in context of not having any interaction sexually with the Gentiles, that's in the context there, okay? So you're not supposed to mingle with the uncircumcised Gentiles, 'cause they're under a curse. And lawbreakers are typically gonna be under a curse, okay? And so the Jewish people thought, basically, all of our enemies, God's gonna curse. That was part of the Abrahamic blessing, right? And I will bless those who bless you, and everyone who curses you, I will curse. And also, a lot of curses and a lot of doom awaits people who mess with the apple of God's eye, and that's the people of Israel.

So even modern-day Jews will believe that if I am an ethnic Jew, God loves me, God favors me, I am going to inherit a blessing. That's the understanding, okay? And the Jews did their best to live according to certain laws and principles. And that's why, when we read earlier, when Paul is saying this, "We are Jews by nature, "and not sinners from among the Gentiles." So I wanna give you an example from the New Testament of a person who lived with this mindset, okay? Here we go. A ruler questioned him, saying, "Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? "No one is good except God alone. "You know the commandments. "Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, "do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother."

And the ruler, he said, "All these things I have kept from my youth." And he was probably very sincere. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "Eh, one thing you still lack. "Sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, "and you shall have treasure in heaven, "and come follow me." But when the ruler, he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. I wanna pause here. This rich, young ruler already saw himself being blessed by God, but there's something missing. So he's asking Jesus this question, and Jesus looks at him and says, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy "to enter the kingdom of God, "for it is easier for a camel "to go through the eye of a needle "than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

"And that they, the disciples who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" But Jesus said, "Things that are impossible with people "are possible with God." And Peter said, "Behold, we have left our own homes "and followed you." So this is a very important question. If Jesus is looking at this ruler saying, "You're still lacking. "You're still lacking." And the rich, young ruler was probably very sincere in saying that, "I did all of these things." And Jesus says, "There are things that are impossible with people." Earning favor with God is impossible with people. It's possible with God. And what the Jews didn't understand was that the promise giver who is God, and we're gonna be learning more about this in the next 15 verses, how holy he is and how much perfection he actually demanded in all who commit to observing the law.

And James expounds on this and Jesus says something similar in Matthew 5:48, for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. Matthew 5:48, Jesus says, "Therefore, you are to be perfect "as your heavenly father is perfect." What does God demand? He is a thrice holy God, holy, holy, holy. And if you want to earn favor with God, what do you have to be? Completely unsentiented, perfect, right? If you transgress the law of God, even at the most minute point, there's one penalty, and what is that? Hell forever. So because of our pride, because of our limited understanding, this is very hard to swallow because in our minds, we have categories of sinners.

We have the really wicked people, we have the pretty wicked people, we have the average Joe Schmo wicked people, we have a little bit less wicked persons over here, and then we have, ah, they're not perfect, but they're not that bad kind of people over here. And then you have people like Mother Teresa, who at least humanly, that's like one of the best humans you can have, but there is no one righteous, not even one. That's what Romans 3 says, right? And for those of us who are not righteous, who transgress the law of God, just even at one point, what's the deserved punishment? Hell forever. That's what the Bible teaches. And if there's something in you that cries out, "That's not fair," or, "No, it's not," there's pride there that's resisting this truth, and there's an understanding of God that you do not have.

Okay? There's a word called, there's a theological, have you guys ever heard of the word tulip? I mean, not the flower, but the acronym? But the T stands for total depravity. And one of the theologians I had to read when I was in seminary was a man named William Shedd. He says, "Total depravity means "the entire absence of holiness, "not the highest intensity of sin. "A totally depraved man is not as bad as he can be, "but he has no holiness, "and that is no supreme love of God. "So he is unable to be holy." That's our condition. You and I, in and of ourselves, who are born under the law, cursed because we're born under the law, we have no ability in and of ourselves to perform any holiness, is what the Bible is teaching.

Are you guys tracking? And that's so offensive. And at this point, just every other religious person will reject Christianity, because every other religious system has some degree of merit, right? You can outrank somebody by merit in this religious system, but only the Christian faith says is, you and I, everybody has zero ability to be holy according to God's standards. And I use the mosquito, I bring back in the mosquito. What can a mosquito do to curry your favor? What if he brings you a newspaper every day? What if he checks your emails and responds to your emails? First of all, can a mosquito do that? No. How many of you guys would kill a mosquito without even asking a question?

All of you. But remember, the distance between me and God is way bigger than the distance between me and a mosquito. But I think because we don't fully understand how holy God is, there's something that's within us that cries that's not fair. And I was thinking of the song, Living Hope, how great the chasm that lay between us. When you sing this, you're not even able to fully ponder that question. How great the chasm. 'Cause we think it's reachable. If I pray hard enough, if I work hard enough, I can kind of reach it. How high the mountain I could not climb. The top of this mountain is over there in Pluto. Pluto's not a planet anymore, from what I understand. I can't even get to Everest without dying.

Nor can most of you. But the gap between holy, holy, holy God and you and me is so vast that we cannot but be under a curse. And you wanna work against that? Good luck, because then you have to fulfill all of it. So from our passage, it's divided into the top part, those are the curses. And I'm not gonna go into all the Old Testament passages that Paul quotes. Those are the curses. The bottom section is the statement of what we've received as blessed people. And the middle is the cost. Middle was the price paid for our redemption, for our liberty, for our freedom. So you have the curse, which every person is born under. You have the blessing, which is completely a gift of God.

And in the middle, you have the means. Okay? And I wanna pause for the middle part. Christ redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." And I wanna just focus on that passage briefly. If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day, for he is hanged, is a curse of God, so that you do not defile your land, which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance. The person who is hung on a tree was already dead when you placed him on the tree. You guys see that? Usually it was through stoning.

So if someone really did a sinful thing that defiled the land, and some of it was even like cursing your mom and dad, you got stoned to death, okay? That person was stoned, and if his offense was deemed so bad, they hung him on a tree as a warning. He isn't cursed by God because he is hung on a tree. He is hung on a tree to show a visual illustration of what it means to be rejected, not just from the community, but by God completely. And coincidentally, in the Roman times, they didn't just crucify ordinary people. They crucified the worst of the worst.

And I mentioned this passage last time, but I wanna actually just read this for you. Numbers 21, verses four through nine. Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, and the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? So they didn't really trust in God, okay? There is no food, no water, and we loathe this miserable food. God is disappointing us. God is horrible. Why did you bring us out here? And so God sends discipline. The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people. They bit the people so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord and you.

Intercede with the Lord that he may remove the serpents from us. And Moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard, and it shall come about that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live. And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard, and it came about that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. When you get snake-bitten, anybody snake-bitten before? Now praise God, nobody, right? But if you get bit by a venomous snake, there are kits, and what do those kits do? Extracts the blood. Moses is being told to do something absolutely absurd. If I've been bitten by a venomous snake, and I'm sick, and I'm about to die, all I have to do is look.

Yes. Makes no sense. But what you're doing here is you're trusting that God is true to his word, and that's all that it'll take, and they lived. Now why is that important to today's passage? John 3, 14 to 21, and I'm gonna read the whole thing, 'cause most of us only get stuck at 16, all right? But I wanna read this. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life, not just an abundant, wealthy life here, but an eternal one, okay? For God in this way, the so is not the he loved you so. I've actually heard a pastor say this, and I cringed. That's not what that so means. That so means in this way, in this manner.

For God in this way loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him, not work off your sin, not wash away the residue, just believe, will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, aka under a curse, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, curse, that the light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed, but he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, and the word redeemed means to be purchased. There was a transaction that was needed to be liberated and freed at a cost. You and I could not pay this cost. That's why Matthew 18, the parable of the king who's demanding an account, and then that's actually called the parable of the unforgiving servant, okay? But God forgives this servant of an unpayable amount. Let's say if someone were to say, you're gonna be in jail, your entire family's gonna be in jail until you're able to pay off $10 billion. Would you be able to pay it? If yes, come talk to me. We need a new church building, right?

Nah, but that's an unpayable debt. But the redemption is it was paid for you, so you're free. In him, you also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession to the praise of his glory. The Holy Spirit is God's contractual signature on your life that no one can snatch you out of his hand, that you are his, his stamp is on you. Satan cannot touch you. And that you are guaranteed heaven. And what is this guarantee of? But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved.

And he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And I wanna pause there. We're seated with Christ? We who are wretched worms, we're children of God and seated with Christ in the heavenly places? Why? So that forever and ever and ever he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. God will spend the rest of eternity being creatively, eternally kind to you. That's a long way you've come if you understand the depth of your depravity. So I have this question for you. Is the gospel good news to you or is it just religious information? If it is just religious information, it's because you don't understand the condemnation you actually deserve.

It's because you and I don't understand the price it costs the Lord. It's because we don't understand what eternity in heaven with Christ Jesus will be like. And then it's just information. But is it good news to you? And that's why when Jesus says he who has forgiven much just naturally knows how to love much. 'Cause we know that we're not entitled to anything. We don't deserve anything. So I'm gonna give you some information, okay?

Malaria can give you fevers. Nod your heads if you believe that to be true. Great, you're wise. Shingles is a painful, itchy, blistery rash, among other things. Have you guys, have you had shingles? Nice. Mary, Mary Kim, she had shingles. Sorry. You're never gonna raise your hand again. That's information. Food poisoning is caused by bacteria, I learned, and sometimes viral. And it's unpleasant. Raise your hand if you've had food poisoning. Okay. All right. That's information. And making it more personal to you, you don't have a cold. How many of you, this is true for you right now, you don't have a cold? Good news or just information? Well, it's good news. Are you excited about that? No, you're like, "Duh, I shouldn't have a cold, right?

"I take my vitamin C." How about this? You have not contracted AIDS, guys! Is that information or is that good news? Well, it's good news, but it's impacted you very little, 'cause that's not your expectation.

You are cancer-free! How many of you guys have ever heard that before? Let's say you are cancer-free. Is that a good, bad thing? Great thing! But for someone who's had cancer, being told after 15 months, you are cancer-free, so much so that possibly we don't need to do surgery. It was a wild day. My wife was in there, I was like, "What? "You might not need to take away 10 inches of your colon "and half your rectum because you're cancer-free!" So I called my, he used to be a Berean, I called him, he's the head of radiology in Bakersfield. He's like, "Since you're young, "you should still have the surgery to remove that, "because a lot of these cancer cells are microscopic "and you don't really know until you actually carve it out "and then see it under a microscope, so just do it."

And so I did it, even though the surgeon said, "You possibly could do without." But how many cancer cells is too many cancer cells? That possibility? That one. To my wife, to me, you are cancer-free was exceptional news because I was cancer-us, and it could cost my kids to be deprived of their father, my wife to be deprived of her husband. So when I heard this, I was like, "That's good news." Even though it's temporary. For you, it's duh. But when we think about the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you understand the depths of your depravity, what you were facing, and that you are now redeemed from that, then that's exceptional news and you cannot contain it. You cannot go back to your old self. You're gonna live the rest of your life jumping and skipping and dancing and praising the name of the Lord who has redeemed you, not just for this life, but especially for the next.

That's why Galatians 3:10-14 is supremely important to meditate upon 'cause that's your testimony. And some of you don't quite understand how cursed, actually all of us, are lacking in an understanding of how cursed we are because if we understood how bad the wrath of God was to be for us, we would understand how good the good news is. And then grace would be that much sweeter 'cause then we understand that I've done nothing for this. It was just given to me as a gift. Why? would be the question that we would ask. Why? And the rest of my life, as a righteous person, I'm gonna live it by faith. I'm gonna walk in the Spirit. I'm gonna live as a free man, Galatians 4, 5, and 6. Is the gospel of Jesus Christ good news or is it just information?

And if it's only information, study the curse. Study Deuteronomy, study Leviticus, see how holy, holy, holy God is. And then you'll realize there is no way anyone can earn their way into the presence of a holy God. There has to be sacrifice. There has to be death. There has to be a substitutionary atonement. Amen? So don't take the promise of the Spirit having been given to you, residing in you right now, for granted. May we not take that for granted.

Here are some things that are happening. Oops. November 22nd, there is no thanksgiving. We don't have Bible study. I was actually supposed to put, we don't have Bible study, all right? So next week, don't come. Okay, well, you can come, just pray outside. Saturday, December 2nd, FAM245. Sunday, December 3rd, we have communion, just as a heads up. The Christmas parties, the BAM party was at four. I put down as four, but it's actually at 5.30. And then the ping pong tournament, New Year's Eve service, you're gonna keep hearing about it. The sign-ups are gonna come soon for the ping pong tournament. And the Galatians study starts on February 7th. But if you guys can, do this right now, please.

Click on this and sign up for the Bible study. And I'm gonna give you a good minute. 'Cause it really is a hassle trying to track you down.

Does it work? Okay. Someone give me a... Okay, and while you're gonna go ahead and do that. This is for the November 29th. 2023 is almost over. We got three Bible study sessions left. The next one is November 29th, and it's four verses. Galatians 3, 15 to 18. The first question is, what were the promises spoken to Abraham and to his seed? What was the covenant previously ratified by God? How did he ratify it? And what were the contents of the inheritance? Who are the heirs? So the language is gonna be a little bit more complex. The grammar's gonna be a little bit more complex, so slow it down and try to dive in as deeply as you can. That's for the next, that's two weeks from today.

But today, in your discussion, this is what I would like you guys to just really think through and pray together over. Question number one, if you are a Christian, this applies to you. If you're not, you're not set free from the law. As one set free from the law, what does living by faith look like in your life? And stay away from the hypothetical, stay away from the generalizations. What does this look like right now in your life? And if you need help, you can ask the other people around you, am I walking by faith? Can you be as honest as you can with me? Do I, am I living like a person living by faith? Number two, in what ways do your life, attitudes, pursuits, and passions demonstrate that the gospel truly is good news?

These aren't supposed to be like, yes, no. These are really supposed to cause you to reflect and seek some degree of application. Question number three, how can your group members come alongside you and help you to steadily walk and step with the spirit? And those are the, 'cause if you are a believer, you have the spirit in you. You've received it, him. And you need to walk in step, okay? So how can your friends benefit you and intercede on your behalf? And then any prayer requests that come from questions number one through three. All right, let me pray for us, and then we'll dismiss. Father, I pray that you would just cause us, really, to reflect deeply on what we've been saved from so that we would more thoroughly enjoy and revel in what we've been saved for and what we've been saved to.

So help us to really reflect deeply. And help us, Lord God, to live according to what pleases you most. We thank you, Lord, for your generosity and for your kindness. We can't repay it. So we pray that we would all just live our lives as living sacrifices, just in worship. May you receive the glory in our lives. And Jesus, let me pray.