Berean Community Church Wednesday Bible Study 11/29/2023 Galatians 3:15-18

Good evening, everyone. We're going to go ahead and get started with Bible study. So why don't we just take a moment or two to just quiet our hearts before we get into praise.

Father, thank you for the opportunity to worship you, to study your word, and to learn more about you. We pray, Lord, for humble hearts. We pray, Lord, that if we haven't taken the time to study your word, we pray that you would empower us with your spirit to remind us how important it is to read your word, to spend time with you each and every day, to pray to you. We pray and ask, Lord, if we've been distracted, if we've been struggling, wrestling with sin, that we would run to you rather than hide from you, that we would go to you, cling to you, and be rooted in your truth, Lord.

We pray for these songs that we sing. Would it be from our hearts? Would it not just be lip service to you, that you'd be honored? We thank you. We love you. Pray all this in your name. Amen.

As we gather. As we gather, may your spirit work within us. As we gather, may we glorify your name, knowing well that as our hearts begin to worship, we'll be blessed because we came. We'll be blessed because we came. As we gather.

As we gather, may your spirit work within us. As we gather, may we glorify your name, knowing well that as our hearts begin to worship, we'll be blessed because we came.

We'll be blessed because we came. The steadfast love. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. New every morning. Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord. Great is thy faithfulness. The steadfast love. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning.

New every morning. Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord. Great is thy faithfulness.

They are new every morning. New every morning. Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord. Great is thy faithfulness.

By grace alone. By grace alone somehow I stand where even angels fear to tread.

Invited by redeeming love. Before the throne of God above, he pulls me close with mascot hands into his everlasting arms.

Contemnation rips my heart. And Satan tempts me to despair. I hear the voice that scatters fear.

The great I am, the Lord is here. O praise the one who fights for me and shields my soul eternally.

Coldly I approach your throne. Painless now I'm running home. By your blood I come, welcomed as your own into the arms of majesty.

Behold the bright and risen sun. More beauty than this world has known. I'm face to face with love himself. This perfect spotless righteousness. A thousand years, a thousand songs are not enough to sing his praise.

Coldly I approach your throne. Painless now I'm running home. By your blood I come, welcomed as your own into the arms of majesty. Coldly I approach your throne. Painless now I'm running home. By your blood I come, welcomed as your own into the arms of majesty. By your blood I come, welcomed as your own into the arms of majesty. By your blood. By your blood I come, welcomed as your own into the arms of majesty.

Can you guys-- can you guys hear me OK?

So for Galatians chapter 3 and 4, we're actually in a section of the Bible that is pretty deep and profound. There's a lot of rich stuff in here. And at the same time, it's very simple. And I was thinking, the most important question for you and me to answer is, am I right with God? Would you guys agree? That is the most important question for you and I to be able to answer. Am I right with God? And I think there are four kinds of people. The first one is, they know they're right with God, and they're exultant, and they're super joyful, and they're happy. And then there are people who are right with God, but they're always living mired in, like, discouragement and guilt, feeling like they're not good enough when God says, you are my child.

Oh, I don't deserve to be, and you're not enjoying that. The third kind of person is a person who believes himself to be right with God, but is in grave danger. And so, oh, I already know all there is to know, so I am absolutely certain I'm right with God. But you're not. The fourth kind of person doesn't care. I don't even care if I'm right with God, whatever. Send me to hell, whatever. But I'm here for friends. So we fall into one of those four. But the most important question that we're gonna be tackling over the next several weeks into the next term really is, am I right with God? How do I get right with God? And there's no end to how deeply you can dig and dive. But at the same time, it's pretty simple.

So I'm leading with this because the text that we're gonna be tackling this week and next, it's rich. And so the danger is that we get so caught up in the nitty gritty that we forget the core central message. But at the same time, you don't wanna treat it so lightly that you don't actually appreciate what it costs and how intricate the plan of God was from the very beginning. So we're gonna be looking at this. And so my prayer is that we tackle this passage with both humility and yet with childlike faith and eagerness to really get to know the God of the Bible. Amen? So I wanna read the passage for you and I'll pray for us. Well, I'll read the passage, review the questions, and then I'll pray for us.

Chapter three, verse 15 to 18. Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations. Even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one set to decide or adds conditions to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say and to seeds as referring to many, but rather to one and to your seed, that is Christ. What I am saying is this, the law which came 430 years later does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise, but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. And here are the questions. After you share your questions and observations from the four verses, what were the promises spoken to Abraham and to his seed?

And hopefully you did some digging at home. Secondly, what was the covenant previously ratified by God and how did he ratify it? And then what were the contents of the inheritance? Who are the heirs? Questions two and four, similar but different. Okay, so go ahead and you're gonna be tackling this passage. Again, super profound. There's no end to the depths that you can dive in deep for this, but at the same time, the message is simple. All right, let me pray for us and then we'll reconvene at 8.10. Father, we pray that you would help us tonight not to take your words, your plan, and your grace for granted. I pray for those of us who are looking at this passage and are at a loss to know where to begin to understand it.

I pray for illumination and guidance. I pray for those of us who are so much more interested in theology and learning head knowledge and don't really think to apply these truths into our lives. I pray for rebuke and brokenness that you would cause us to love you more than we love just learning. And I pray, Father, for each and every table, each and every group at home, that you would grant your grace, that we would feed off of your word and that we would be changed and that we would go forth with power, with boldness, with great humility, knowing that this gift of salvation is abundantly available to so many around us. So I pray for just your protection and your provision tonight as we study this passage and we entrust this into your care and we pray all of this in Jesus' name, amen.

We'll see you guys at 810.

- All right, if I can get your attention up here real quick.

What I'm gonna try to do is help us to build enough hedges around this section so we don't get lost, okay? But to provide enough just meat and information so that you all appreciate what's in the text. Some of you guys who've been Christians a lot longer are gonna wanna know all the nuances of the different covenants, of the different meanings of David's throne in the future, all of this stuff. And then there are others of you who've been a Christian for like, just like months, okay? Where even the person of Abraham is a little bit of a mysterious figure. So I'm gonna try to walk us through this passage. We're gonna talk about Abraham, we're gonna talk about Moses, we're gonna talk about David, hopefully in a way that causes you guys to feel the weight of the point that is in this passage, all right?

So let me pray for us and ask the Lord to help us to understand and understand thoroughly and yet clearly. Father, help us this evening, help me as I just walk our church through just these four verses that I would communicate and articulate well and effectively would you feed your people through this time? And we ask that your word would do its work and would you leave an indelible impression on our hearts and cause us all just to be in awe of your great plan. So we thank you Lord in advance for just the feeding that we're about to partake in and we pray for just open ears and humility and especially for those of us who are tired physically that you would keep us alert so that we don't miss some of the most important details and elements and aspects of Galatians chapter three.

In Jesus name we pray. So just as by way of review chapter three and four are very meaty sections, two of the meatiest chapters in all of the New Testament, okay? And so the main thrust is justification by faith. Now justification is a word that we hear a lot but oftentimes we kind of forget the importance of the word and the meaning of the word, it just means being made right. Right? Being made right with God, that's justification. Okay, so from God's vantage point, how is a person to be made right? And that's justification. In chapter three and four it's by faith alone, okay? And by way of review these are passages that we went over already in the last three weeks and I wanna read them just so that it provides some buttressing of what we're gonna be looking at today.

Verse six, "Even so Abraham believed God "and that belief was counted, "reckoned to him as righteousness. "Therefore be sure that it is those who are of faith "who are sons of Abraham." "The scripture foreseeing that God would justify "the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel beforehand "to Abraham saying, all the nations will be blessed in you." Genesis 22, 18. Now blessed is a word that needs to be unpacked because when we're thinking, oh, God's blessing me, I might mean a very different thing than if someone else says it, right? Okay, what is blessing? So we're gonna have to unpack that today. Galatians 3, 14, "Christ's regime is from the curse." Okay, that's by becoming a curse for us.

Curses everyone that's hung on a tree. Verse 14, "In order that in Christ Jesus "the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles "so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit "through faith." So there's blessing language here, there's promise language here, and so we're gonna look at the blessing of Abraham. Okay, so we're gonna go back into Genesis and look at Genesis 22, verse 16 to 18. And Abraham, or, and it reads, "And said, by myself I have sworn, declares the Lord." And this is after Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac and God says, "Stop," and then he intervenes. "Because you have done this thing "and have not withheld your son, your only son, "indeed, Abraham, I will greatly bless you, "and I will greatly multiply your seed," singular, "as the stars of the heavens, "and as the sand which is on the seashore, "and your seed," singular, "shall possess the gate of their enemies."

It's actually in the singular, the ESV, the LSV, the King James actually has his. Okay, the NASB, NIV says there. So that's a little bit of an interpretation that's going into this, all right? So it's actually singular. "In your seed," singular, "all the nations of the earth shall be blessed "because you have obeyed my voice." So this is the promise. Genesis chapter 12, God promised Abraham, Genesis 12, 15, and 17, God reiterates the promise. Abraham, you're gonna have lots of descendants, you're gonna have a nation, you're gonna have blessing, you're gonna have victory, you're gonna have renown. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse. So there's this big, just, blessing that the people of God have in their minds when it comes to the blessing of Abraham.

But what does this mean specifically, okay? So that's kind of the background. In today's passage, Paul is arguing from the lesser to the greater, okay? So he's gonna be talking about even people, when they make a contract, it's like this. How much more so a perfect and good and just God, okay? So I found a quote that summarizes this passage, and I just wanna read it for you. It's by Timothy George, he's a commentator. He go, and he's saying this in Paul's words, all right? "Look, you say God made a promise to Abraham, "and then came along hundreds of years later "and added to it burdensome requirements "no one could fulfill perfectly anyway, "thus radically altering the character "of his relationship to his people.

"But this is to turn God into a dishonest broker "who goes back on his word once it is given. "How dare we attribute to God the kind of chicanery "we do not even tolerate among sinful human beings." So that's what Paul is saying to the Judaizers, okay? God made a promise, it's irrevocable. So we're gonna be looking into that, all right? So I wanna look at it in little bits and pieces. First, even though it is only a man's covenant, the word is D-F-A-K, which can be translated as a contract, or it can be translated as a will and testament, okay? Personally, I look at this as a will, okay? There's a difference between me writing a will, leaving all of my inheritance to my kids, versus me renting my house to one of you and coming up with a renter's agreement, what you will fix, what I will fix, what I will pay for, what you will pay for, what happens if you don't pay rent, all that kind of stuff.

So it could be both. It could be a will and testament, or it could be a contract, but I see this as a will and testament just from the context of this section. So God is, or Paul is saying, in a will and testament, once it's finalized, signed, you can't add to it, you can't change it. If someone passes away, you can't go and alter the contents. And then he goes on to say, the promises are spoken to his seed, singular, okay? And so that's why when I look at Genesis 22, verse 17, for me, I interpret that as Christ. And I'm gonna look at 430 years later. How many of you guys have actually looked into this and did the math? Okay, the 430 years, it's coming out of Exodus chapter 12, verse 40.

This was the time of Jacob and Joseph to the time of receiving of the commandments at Sinai, okay? So it's actually 645 years since Abraham and 215 years since Jacob. Okay, so I'm gonna kind of get those out of the way. All right? And in chapters three and four, you're gonna see three words pop out a lot. The word promise comes out a lot. Did you guys notice that? Okay, and there's four just in these four verses. The word promise comes out a lot. The word covenant is gonna come out a lot. And the word inheritance is gonna come up. And these are all very important words for the next several chapters. Okay, so I'm establishing that as a premise. And I wanna kind of remind us again of what the gospel is, okay?

'Cause we've been going over this, so this is an argument that's being set up. What is the gospel? It's the good news that God will make possible for sinful man to be reconciled to holy God. Amen? That's the good news. It's not bigger home, bigger land, bigger car, good health, cancer-free life. It's not that. The gospel is holy, holy, holy God is gonna allow a wretched, sinful man, like you and me, to be reconciled to himself. That is the gospel. And he promises this gospel in Genesis 3.15 immediately after the fall. Okay, and we call that the Proto-Ewangelion, right? The first mention of the gospel, and it reads, "And I will put enmity between you, "the serpent and the woman, "between your seed and her seed.

"He shall bruise you on the head, "and you shall bruise him on the heel." So there is a promise made to the snake. One day you're gonna be crushed, okay? And so over the course of the history of the Old Testament, you're gonna see God making a route possible for the seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent and eventually reconcile sinful man once again to himself. So that's the progressive plan of God that we're gonna see in the scriptures. And we see some very well-known, notable figures in the process. Raise your hand if you guys have heard of Abraham, and all of you should have at this point. Abraham, King David, Moses. Three extremely important characters in the Bible, but I'm gonna leave Moses aside for now, okay?

And I'm gonna introduce you to the different covenants that relate especially to the people of Israel, okay? So if you look at this chart, it might be a little small. So if you guys, I'll put it up so you guys can look at it again. But what we're gonna be looking at are three very important covenants that God makes with the people of Israel or with Abraham to bless. You guys follow? God makes three promises to bless. Okay, he first starts with Abraham, and we're looking at that today. So the promise that God has made to Abraham is that there will be land, seed, and spiritual blessings, and it's completely of grace. Abraham doesn't deserve it. So some people in the Bible study, they ask, well, why did God choose Abraham?

Because he could, okay? The promise that God makes with Abraham is of grace. And you see this promise reiterated in Genesis 12, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, Genesis 22. And the promise that God makes with Abraham is unconditional and unilateral. He swears by himself. Did you guys read that in Genesis chapter 22? Actually, when you cut a covenant, you separate carcasses of animals, you put one on one side and the other on the other side, and usually in this period of time, when people made a contract, both parties walked through. But you know what God did to Abraham during this time? He knocked him out. He put him to a deep sleep, and God walked by himself. So he swears by himself, and the promise that God made to Abraham is unconditional, unilateral, and irrevocable.

Make sense? It's a promise, and as Abraham, as a sign of a beneficiary of the promise, he and all the males in his family had to become circumcised. And then circumcision becomes an issue when we're looking at Galatians, right? Okay, so they all have to be circumcised. And in the Abrahamic covenant, there's a lot of I wills. So God is saying, I will do this, I will do this, I will do that for you, Abraham. And this covenant, this promise is everlasting. Can someone define for me what everlasting means? Or give me a synonym. Eternal, what else? Forever, how long is forever? A really long time, okay? So if God says something is forever, will it end? No, okay? Davidic covenant, so later on, God establishes Israel's first, his choice of a king.

Okay, it's not Saul, it's David. And what he promises to David is the Messiah who's going to reconcile basically God to man. He's gonna come from your line, David. He's gonna come from the tribe of Judah. And he is going to establish a kingdom that will endure forever. That's another promise that God gives to this sinful man. Is David flawed or is he a perfect guy? Are his David sins recorded in scripture? Are his shortcomings and failures recorded in scripture? Yes, he doesn't deserve nothing. But God makes a promise by his grace to David, and he reiterates it again and again. This promise to David is unconditional and unilateral. What's unconditional mean? No matter what, okay? If David rapes a woman, will that promise be broken?

If David fails miserably as a father, will that promise be broken? If David takes a census, 'cause all of a sudden he has a little time of a shake in confidence to count his armies, and God sees that as a wicked thing, will that break God's favor on David? No, it's unconditional, it's unilateral, okay? And the fulfillment of this covenant, the sign is Christ's life, death, and resurrection, and enthronement, and we're gonna see that later, okay? And in David's, the covenant with David, there's a lot of I wills, and this is again everlasting. The new covenant, okay, of which you and I are enjoying is a third major covenant of God's everlasting blessing, okay? God will completely forgive sin, he will write his laws on the hearts of his people, and reconcile man to himself, amen, okay?

You are a beneficiary of that if you have faith in Christ. So the reward of this is he will give us a new heart, he will give us a new spirit, and not only will he change our spirit, God will dwell inside of sinful man. Holy, holy, holy God will dwell inside sinful man, and that's absurd. And that's the covenant that is also unconditional, unilateral, it's a promise. And that's why in the book of Hebrews it calls it a better covenant, an everlasting covenant.

Okay, and so there's a lot of I will, I will, I will talk. So Abraham and David are very important figures to the Jewish people and to you and me, because blessings come through these families, make sense? So here we go, the book of Matthew is really written to show the Jewish people how Jesus is the Messiah of God. And look how it begins. The record of the genealogy of Jesus, the Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So the whole Old Testament is built on all of these promises that God has made to these people by his grace to save humanity. All the Gentiles will be blessed in you, Abraham. I will restore sinful man and reconcile him, so God and man can once again have reconciliation.

I will do this. But here's a problem. The law comes in. Okay, hopefully you guys can see why I'm setting it up this way. It's the Mosaic covenant, okay? So Abraham's people are to worship Yahweh, live by the law of Yahweh in the promised land. If they fail to do so, they will be cursed. So all the covenants are of grace, except this one is a big old threat. You live like this, you're gonna get demolished, you're gonna get wiped out, you're gonna eat your children, you're gonna lose your land, your animals are gonna miscarry, you're gonna have blight, mildew, diseases, all this stuff is gonna happen. But if you obey, you're gonna get land, seed, and blessings. This is called the Old Covenant, and this Old Covenant is conditional and it's bilateral, it's actually a contract.

Whereas all three of the others are a promise, almost like a will, promising an inheritance, this one is written where there has to be some kind of agreement. If you fail to fulfill, you will lose all your blessings. And the verbiage here is you shall, you shall not, you shall, you shall not. And this covenant is a temporary one. I've actually used up a lot of time explaining this. But take a look at this when you get home. And I wanna read to you the stipulations of this new covenant, and I'm gonna walk you through how this is important to our Galatians passage. Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34, the whole days are coming declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, although I was a faithful husband to them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart, I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. They will not teach again. Each man his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.

So this covenant is super duper important to you and me because God is saying, I will do this and wipe out our sin. Wipe out your sin, wipe out my sin. Hallelujah. So I'm gonna come back to Galatians 3:15-18. Okay.

Brothers, I speak in terms of human relations, even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. It means to be signed. If you're from an Asian culture, long time ago, and still in some countries today, they actually use these seals called chops. Anybody familiar with chops? It's like a stamp, okay? It's like your family's stamp. It's more valid than a signature, okay? But no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. Now the promise is, we're spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, and to seeds, as referring to many, but rather to one, and your seed that is Christ. What I am saying is this, the law which came 430 years later does not invalidate a covenant previously stamped, sealed by God, so as to nullify the promise.

For the inheritance, if the inheritance is based on law, is no longer based on a promise, but God has, perfect tense, granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. So which means that God, in the person of Jesus Christ, fulfilled his promise spiritually to Abraham. And because of Christ's life, death, and resurrection, he made it possible for a holy God to be reconciled with you. And as a reward, who is inside of you, if you are a child of God? The Holy Spirit. Did you earn it? Did you pay for it? Did you do anything to attain it? Can you attain this gift, even if you're a murderer? Can you attain this gift, even if you are a rapist? Can you attain this gift, if you've committed every sin there is possible to commit?

Can you still have this gift? Through what? Repentance and faith. And when you have faith, what happens to you? God puts his spirit within you. Okay, Ephesians 1, 13 to 14. In him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit, a 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. If you have the Holy Spirit of God in you, will he take it away? No. Will he break that contract? No. If you have the Holy Spirit within you, it's a done deal. Amen? How do we get the Holy Spirit within us? By what? By hard work? No, through faith.

So there's an important question. The only way to have that is if you've been reconciled to God. And if you've been reconciled to God, he has given a heart transplant to you. Are you guys tracking? So the word DNA was not in the Old Testament. But I almost look at this as he has changed your DNA. So over time, you're gonna look like your father. It cannot be stopped. So the important question we need to ask from this passage is, have I been reconciled to God? Or am I still trying to figure out how to curry God's favor by deeds? So Martin Lloyd-Jones, he said this, I'm not asking whether you know things about him, but do you know God? Is the Holy Spirit within you? Are you enjoying God? Is God the very center of your life, the soul of your being, the source of your greatest joy?

He is meant to be that. That's the blessing. Not land, not money, not good health. The blessing is God himself. Amen? So I wanna walk you through a quick passage and so that you guys really have to pay attention. What were all of the heroes of the faith waiting for? Okay, and this is the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. By faith, even Sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore, there was born even of one man and him as good as dead, 'cause he's 100, as many descendants as stars of the heaven in number and as numerable as the sand which is by the seashore. Genesis 22, okay? All these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

So Abraham is a stranger on this earth, even though he inherits land, all of this stuff, he's a stranger on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And if indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had an opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son. It was he to whom it was said, in Isaac your descendants shall be called. He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

Skipping forward, by faith, even Moses, when he had grown up, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Because Moses also was looking forward to his reward. All these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised. Is the word promise important in Galatians? Yes, so you wanna keep tracking, okay? Because God has provided something better for us, so that apart from us, they would not be made perfect. And I'm gonna fast forward to Hebrews, end of chapter 13. Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate, so let us go out to him, outside the camp, bearing his reproach, for here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.

Where is the city? In heaven. Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Our home is not here, it's in heaven. Our blessings are not to be here, it's actually to be in heaven, when all things are recreated new. Now the God of peace, and this is the closing of the book of Hebrews, now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory, forever and ever, amen. So I talked really fast today. But the covenants that God has made with his people, the Abrahamic, the Davidic, the new covenants, 100% God's kindness and grace.

And we are beneficiaries of those promises. Amen? So we're gonna be looking at, but the law, it kind of gets in the way, right? And that's gonna be unpacked for the next chapter and a half. But the important thing to remember is God has made a promise to bless his people, to bless non-Jews through his people, and to dwell with people like you and me. And it was signed, sealed, and delivered when Christ was raised from the dead. Our sins were paid for on the cross. And as a reward, we have God living within us. That in and of itself is a blessing. But right now, we see kind of a, but a poor reflection, but in the end, what'll we see face to face? Right now, we are children of God in 1 John 3.

But when he appears, we will be made like him because we will see him as he is. And I hope that the study of Galatians just kindles that. There is nothing I can do to add to my salvation. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. But the primary question that you and I need to be concerned about is, have I been reconciled to God? That is a very important question. Because if you're trying to be reconciled to God by your effort, you're gonna fail. If you try to be reconciled to God by abstaining from alcohol, games, pornography, like, that is not what reconciles you to God. And we're gonna get to that in the following weeks. Okay, we have a couple, we have two more weeks after this.

I'm gonna just, I'm super sweaty.

Upcoming events, this coming Sunday is communion. We're gonna partake of the sign of the new covenant, which is the cup and the bread. So prepare your hearts for that. Christmas parties are coming up, ping pong tournament and the New Year's Eve service is coming up. And as we've been mentioning in the past couple weeks, January 7th, we're going to three services. So for you guys in here, most of you whom are BAM, if you guys can come to the eight o'clock service, please do. We're trying to populate that eight o'clock service so that we free up parking spaces for our families. Okay, so three services are coming January 7th. Please pray for Pastor Peter, 'cause he's gonna be preaching three weeks, or three services every day, or every Sunday.

And for you guys who are not members of the church, January 14th, the new membership classes begin. If you are a member of the church, January 14th, we have a quarterly members meeting, probably just after the third service. So keep that in mind. And our Galatians chapter two, or part two Bible study begins February 7th. And if you haven't done so already, please do register for that, so that we can put you in the appropriate small groups. I'm super sweaty. So this is for next week. Okay, we have two weeks left. You're doing six verses, Galatians chapter three, verses 19 to 24. What exactly is the law? What is its role and function before Christ? Okay. What is the mediator, or who is the mediator?

What is the role of the mediator is another question you wanna ask, or you wanna think through. And then what does it mean to be shut up under sin? Shut up to the faith that is to be revealed. Literally the words are shut up. Okay, not in the sense of silence, but we are enclosed. So what does that mean? Okay, so that's for next week. So these are the questions that I want you guys to think through today with your groups. What is the evidence of the new heart and the new spirit that is in you? What are evidences that indeed, or what are evidences that you indeed are an heir of the promise? Okay. If the Lord has input his new heart into you, if the Holy Spirit is residing within you, it should show.

So what are the evidences? Second question, are you looking forward to heaven? Why? Do you profess faith in Christ more to be in heaven with him for all eternity, or primarily to avoid hell? And that's a question that you really wanna answer honestly. Okay, and then how do you feed your longing for heaven? How do we feed that? Question number three, what are the inheritance rights that you need to learn to enjoy more of? How do you grow in this? Now you are a child of God. If you have put your faith in Christ, how do you grow to enjoy the benefits? And then any prayer requests that come from those questions. All right, let me pray for us, and then I will dismiss. Father, thank you for just your word and that you are a faithful God.

And there is so much for us to unpack here. And I pray, Lord, that each group, you would provide just clarity of thought, hunger, humility of heart, that each member and each and every group would long to know you intimately more and more. So draw your people even more intimately unto yourself through this study. We ask your favor and your blessing and your grace upon our time of prayer. In Jesus' name we pray.