This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, and welcome to Day 4 of our look at Galatians chapter 3. We're going to look
at verses 15 to 22 together today, and we're looking at these arguments that
Paul is giving for growth and these principles that God is giving for growth
throughout this week and next week. The first argument, one, was the argument
from experience, your own experience with Christ.

You were saved by faith, and so you're going to grow by faith, and the principle
is just that. You're saved by faith, and so you grow by faith. The second
argument was the argument from Scripture.

Paul showed from Scripture that we rely on faith and not the law, and the
principle behind that is the principle of the new creation. We rely on faith on
what God has made us to be. The third principle is the one we talked about
yesterday, the principle of God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

The argument of the Spirit was that we began with the Spirit, and so we must
continue with the Spirit, and the principle of the Spirit is living a
Spirit-filled life day to day. Principle number four, principle number four for
growth we're going to see later today is the principle of God's promise, but
let's begin with the argument. The fourth argument that Paul gives to prove that
it's grace and faith and not works in law is the argument from history.

He talks about this in verses 15 to 22. Brothers, and 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 his seed. The 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 promise. For if the inheritance
depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise. But God, in his
grace, gave it to Abraham through a promise.

As Paul talks us through, for them, in that day, it was sort of a chicken or egg
argument. Which came first, the promise or the law? And they were having this
big argument of the law leads to promise, no promise leads to the law.

And Paul says, well, let's look at this from an historical perspective, and
you're going to see that the promise came first. He says from an historical
perspective, the law came in second place, and it came in second hand. First, he
says it came in second place.

In verse 17, he says the law introduced 430 years later. The promise that was
made in the book of Genesis to Abraham was made 430 years before the law was
given to Moses in the book of Exodus. And Paul writes, and he says, even in
human agreements, a latter covenant cannot set aside an earlier.

And in this case, there's 430 years between the two. The law came late, he says,
and it left early, also we're going to see as we walk through these verses. The
promise, and here's the argument that Paul is making here.

The promise was made to Abraham and his seed, and Paul sees in that something
that they had never seen, maybe something you've never seen, that in that
promise in the Old Testament, the promise is looking forward to Jesus Christ.
Paul says when God says enter your seed, he says it in a singular way because
he's not thinking about multiple people, he's thinking about one person. He's
thinking about Jesus Christ.

You see, Jesus is directly in the line of Abraham. The promise was made through
Abraham, not Moses and the law. And the promise was to go through us to one
person, one seed, Jesus Christ.

God is telling us that we all experience the promise of God through one person.
It began in the mind of God. It began, we see it in history, in the person of
Abraham, but history was looking forward to Jesus Christ.

God often does that. God knew where history was headed, so history often looks
forward to Jesus Christ. You can see clues in the statements from God all
throughout the Old Testament.

This seed of Abraham looking forward to Jesus Christ. God not only talks about
this seed with Abraham, he talked about it earlier with Adam and Eve. Remember
when God was bringing the curses upon the serpent in the garden after the fall
had happened.

He talks about how the head of the serpent would be crushed by the seed of Eve.
There was the promise there again of Jesus coming someday. And to Moses, Moses
is learning about some prophet of God that's going to come someday.

He doesn't know who it is, but we know today that it is Jesus. Throughout
history, you've got the suffering servant in Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah.
Throughout history, God is putting these clues, his son is coming, he himself is
coming in human flesh to give his life for us.

And so the law came in second place. And the law also, Paul says in these
verses, came second hand. That's what he's talking about in verses 19 to 20.

Verses 19 to 20 he says, "What then was the purpose of the law? It was added
because of transgressions until the seed to whom the promise referred had come.
The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator.

A mediator, however, does not represent just one party, but God is one. " Now as
I read those verses, you were scratching your head a little bit thinking, well,
what exactly does that mean? I will admit this is a difficult passage to
understand.

Some say there are over 300 different ways that this single passage, these two
verses can be interpreted. Now I'm going to confuse you with only one way of
interpreting it today. And that focuses on through angels, through a mediator.

That's how this law came. What is Paul saying here? He's saying it came second
hand.

It came through a mediator. The promise came straight to man through Jesus
Christ, God to man. Moses heard the law second hand.

We have the first hand promise through Jesus, but the law in essence came second
hand. Paul is proclaiming that he has a first hand gospel based on first hand
experience. But the law, it did serve a purpose for a time, but the law from the
very beginning was a second hand thing.

A mediator he talks about. He says there was a mediator involved, and a mediator
is only needed when two parties are involved. The law, Paul is saying here, when
he talks about a mediator, is a covenant requiring the agreement of both
parties.

The only way you and I can agree with the law is to keep all of it. And I can't
keep up to that. But Jesus Christ came and he gave his life for us.

So all I have to do is trust in him. Now Paul wants to be clear here in these
verses. He tells us that the law, it may have come in second place.

It may be second hand, but it is not second rate. It is part of God's plan.
After all of this that he said about the law, Paul does not say that the law is
contrary to God's plan.

In fact, he says it fits into God's plan. Listen to verses 21 and 22. 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 the scripture declares
that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised being given
through faith in Christ might be given to those who believe.

Paul writes and he says, "The law, the law has a purpose. It is not the medicine
to cure. It is the thermometer that shows you your sickness.

" Now we're going to talk about this more next week, because it's one of the
most powerful principles that Paul has in this argument for grace and faith over
works and law. But for right now I'd like to focus on the principle that's
behind this. The principle behind this is the principle of promise, and that is
that growth depends not on your actions, but on God's promise.

Now you might act in wonderful ways because of God's promises. Treat people in
new ways, say new encouraging words, serve when you never would have served. You
might act in incredibly, you should act in incredibly new ways because of God's
promise, but your growth does not depend on your actions.

Those are our response. Your growth depends on God's promise. Which comes first,
the actions or the growth?

Do I grow because I act in new ways, or do I act in new ways because I've grown
in faith? We change because we grow. It's the growth that comes first.

The foundation is not your actions. It is God's promise. And to me there is
great encouragement in that, because God's promise is always there.

God's promise is reliable. My growth is based on a relationship. And as my
relationship with God deepens, I see my actions change, because as my
relationship with God deepens, I realize how much I can trust His promises.

That relationship with God is not based on my actions, it's based on grace and
promise. And that's where the trust comes from. Now what I'm saying is this.

When I begin to think that my actions are that which is sparking my growth, I
have fallen into the trap that Paul is talking about here. The trap of depending
on the law. Now you might call it rules, or you might call it regulations, or
you might call it habits, or you might call it any number of good words, but if
that's what you're depending on for your growth, the truth is God has some
things for you to do.

There are some things for you to do when it comes to growth, but what you're
depending on is His promise. And the law, a list of rules that you come up with,
it might make you feel good about yourself for a time. It might even motivate
you for a time, but in the end, you're left depending on yourself, your actions,
and not God's promises, and so in the end, you're left empty.

What am I saying? I'm saying this. Focus on the promises of God.

Let's do that right now. Jesus Christ, we choose right now to focus on your
promises. Your promise of life.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. Your promise of rest. Come to me, I will
give you rest.

Your promise of peace. Peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give to
you. I give you my peace.

Your promise of strength to serve. Greater things will we do because we serve
you. Your promise of motivation to reach out.

As I came to serve, so you should serve. Those are the greatest. Lord, we trust
right now in your promise, and we pray that out of that trust, we would see the
growth that always comes, that naturally comes out of your promise, and then the
praise then would go back to you, and we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

Tomorrow we're going to talk together about the freedom of a life of faith.