How Someone Like You Can Get Covenant Blessings (The Abrahamic Covenant Part 2)

[0:00] We've seen how a covenant is more personal and more binding than a contract. A covenant is full of love. And a covenant, it's also something you can count on, something that is attached to the nature of God himself.

[0:17] So it's much more enduring than a mere relationship. And covenant is how the Lord has promised his grace to people like you and me. Our sermon text today will be all of Galatians 3.

[0:31] As we walk through these verses, I invite you to listen and think about this question. How can someone like you and how can someone like me get such glorious covenant blessings?

[0:48] How is this possible? Galatians chapter 3. This is the Apostle Paul writing to a region in which there are many Christian churches.

[0:59] This region is called Galatia. He begins by saying in chapter 3, Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified.

[1:16] I just want to learn this from you. Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh?

[1:28] Did you suffer so many things in vain? If it is indeed in vain. He therefore, who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

[1:42] Even so, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. I know, therefore, that those who are of faith are children of Abraham.

[1:54] The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the good news beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you all the nations will be blessed.

[2:05] So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse.

[2:18] For it is written, Cursed is everyone who doesn't continue in all things that are written in the book of the law and do them. Now, that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous will live by faith.

[2:32] The law is not of faith, but the man who does them will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

[2:43] For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

[2:56] Verse 15. Brothers, speaking in human terms, Though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it.

[3:08] Now, the promises were spoken to Abraham and his offspring. It doesn't say to descendants as of many, but as of one, to your offspring, which is Christ.

[3:21] Now, I say this, A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law which came 430 years after does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.

[3:35] For it is, if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise. But God has granted it to Abraham by promise. Then why is there law?

[3:46] It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.

[3:59] Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given, which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.

[4:15] But the scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith, which should afterwards be revealed, so that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ.

[4:38] That we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.

[4:51] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female.

[5:03] For you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring and heirs according to the promise. This is the word of the Lord.

[5:16] Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Let's pray.

[5:33] Amen. Oh Lord, you are a God who keeps your covenant. Your word endures forever and ever.

[5:44] Lord, Lord, we ask that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you will apply these glorious promises to every soul that belongs to you.

[5:58] Help us to know, Lord, by the work of Jesus, we are heirs with Christ. to receive this truth and to live in it. We ask for your glory. Amen.

[6:14] I invite you to picture an airport scene. There's two characters. These are two travelers. But by their outward appearance, they are very different. And you can tell.

[6:24] They both get on the same airplane. They're both heading to the same place. One of them is begrudging. She's used to flying first class.

[6:36] And now she sees more and more people getting on. And this seat next to her is open for a little bit longer. Well, then comes this second lady. She's a bag lady. Do you know what a bag lady is?

[6:48] Way too many Walmart bags just tied onto her body. Her hair is a mess. She's wearing clothes that maybe haven't been washed for quite a while. And this second lady comes.

[6:59] And sure enough, she goes for that one open seat next to the lady that's used to flying first class. Throughout the flight, the one that arrived late, she's just glad she made it on.

[7:10] That flight was about to take out. They still let her on. And she's there. And she's going to the place she wants to be. Well, the first lady has all these opinions and criticisms of her. And before long, the flight's getting old.

[7:23] And she's telling her, do your hair this way. You know, put these things here and fix yourself up a little bit better. The flight's not pleasant for either one. This is a little bit like the church in this region of Galatia.

[7:39] You had those who were from the line of Judah. They're used to being that first class standing. And the temple was set up that way. And now there are these Gentiles that are a mess.

[7:49] And yes, their lives, God will clean them up. But Paul's message to these churches is that there are no second class citizens. There's no first class in the church and second class.

[8:01] You are all heirs with Christ. You are all purchased by him. You are in Christ. And he will carry you to your place of rest. So as we walk through these verses, I want to encourage you with this truth.

[8:19] How can someone like you picture yourself at your worst in your life? How can that person have confidence that these blessings of the covenant are for you?

[8:36] And how can they be for someone like me? Number one, reject the lie that covenant blessings depend on you.

[8:48] Reject the lie that God's covenant blessings depend on you. That's what Paul writes in verses one, two, and three. Look there with me. Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified.

[9:11] Paul's saying, I preached to you. I preached the crucifixion of Jesus, the son of God. You saw him with the eyes of faith. Verse two, I just want to learn this from you.

[9:23] Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? He uses as strong of language here as he uses anywhere else.

[9:36] He says, who has bewitched you? And he calls them fools twice. You're a fool. They got bewitched. And he's writing to Christians in the church. See, you and I can, we can be deceived.

[9:48] There can be lies that creep into our thinking just the same. This is the only time in the New Testament where the word bewitched is used. It means to entice.

[9:59] It can be charming, but it's malicious. It's to deceive. It's like setting a bowl of soup with only two drops of poison in it.

[10:10] You take that and you die. To be bewitched, it has connotations of coming from the darkness, from a demon. And it's a fool who would fall for this trap.

[10:23] Why can you and I be fools? Why do we need to beware of this deception? We've all been fooled before. We get fooled for one of two reasons. We're fooled either because we want to get something good, they sucker you in, or because we fear something bad.

[10:41] See, the new-to-faith Gentiles in this region, they wanted to make sure that they can hold on to their salvation. They're wanting to make sure they can have this good thing. It's like that lady on the airplane willing to change her hair, willing to do all these things this other lady's telling her to to make sure that she's doing it right as she flies.

[11:00] But the Jewish Christians in Galatia, they fear losing God's blessing by not keeping all of the ceremonial laws, by not continuing in those. And that's why you can be fooled.

[11:12] In our sin of pride, we want to be first-class Christians. We all want to be that. We want to please God, and that's good. But where it becomes an idol, where we become deceived, is where we want to please God more than that person.

[11:28] Start comparing ourselves to one another. When we know we have sinned, we fear, and we want to make sure that we can hold on to our salvation. One of our children in our congregation asks that, well, what if I get baptized, but then I sin after I've been baptized?

[11:45] We want to make sure I'm doing all I need to to hold on to my salvation. And let's see how Paul answers those desires. He says, you saw Christ portrayed as crucified.

[12:01] You received the Spirit by faith, not because you were keeping the law well. that same way that God saved you, God will keep you.

[12:13] Reject the lie that covenant blessings depend on you. Covenant blessings depend on God. Picture a mother who's got little children, not getting enough sleep.

[12:29] She hears on a podcast by a pastor, quote, all future blessings of the Christian life are conditional on your keeping of the covenant.

[12:41] This is a strong teaching that's very popular right now. We can relate to this mother because she thinks, well, I did not keep the covenant well even just this morning.

[12:52] I had a rage of anger against my kids who won't obey and won't listen and keep fighting each other. We can relate to that because we all can look at our lives and we can start to feel like I'm running low on hope.

[13:06] If this depends on me and me obeying God to get blessings, I'm hopeless. We've all been there too. Maybe I was never saved.

[13:17] Has the enemy brought that little dart against you? You're such a sinner. You've been baptized and you continue to live in sin and continue to stumble. Maybe you were never saved.

[13:29] While we certainly hear from God's word, there is no place for a false assurance. If you're grafted into Christ, he will bear his fruit in you. This is not a licentiousness, but that's not the message to the church in Galatia.

[13:40] The church in Galatia was adding on to the gospel of grace works. Add on the works to make sure you stay. Paul says, see Christ again.

[13:53] See Christ portrayed openly. Among you as crucified. We need to be a church that sees Christ among us every time we gather.

[14:06] And how do we see Christ? We see him bearing all our sin, paying for it once and for all. And as we gather around the foot of the cross, 360, all of us gathered around Christ receiving grace from him, it changes how we relate to one another, doesn't it?

[14:23] dear believer, you are not your own. You were bought with a price. It's the very high price, the precious blood of God, the son himself.

[14:39] Verse 29 of our sermon text, he says, church, you are Christ's. Christ's. So reject the lie that covenant blessings depend on you.

[14:51] Number two, how is it that the Lord ministers his blessings to you? How does the Lord minister his blessings to you?

[15:03] to minister is to carry out with the authority of an office all of the responsibilities and roles and privileges that that office can bestow.

[15:16] I see here in these verses four through nine two ways in which Paul reminds the church this is how you receive this. This is how the Lord ministers his blessings to you.

[15:28] It's by the spirit and it's by the word. by the spirit and the word. First, the spirit. He reminds us of times we have experienced his powerful working in us.

[15:41] He says, think back to a time when the spirit ministered to you. What was that like? You know what it was like if you're saved. The spirit convicted you. Look what he says in verse four.

[15:53] Did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed in vain? The word suffer means did you experience? Did you go through this? Were you carried along by this?

[16:04] By this ministry of the spirit? He says the spirit moved among you for a reason. The reason the spirit drew you to Christ in the first place was for his purpose.

[16:15] It's so that you would never forget God is real. God is truly applying to you personally all the blessings of Christ because this was the plan of the God the Father, Son, and the Spirit.

[16:28] And he reminds us in verse five that therefore the one who supplies the spirit to you and does miracles among you does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

[16:42] Did the spirit cause you to repent and see Jesus as crucified because you were a good person? Or was it because you heard the gospel and the spirit gave you a faith to believe that this could be true for you as well?

[16:58] Well, of course, it's not because you're a law keeper that the Lord ministered to you. It's because you're a sinner in need of him and that's why he will continue to minister to you now.

[17:10] The Spirit of God ministers the blessings of Christ. He applies it to you while you were sinners. That's the ministry of the Spirit and the way the Lord does this in the second place is by the ministry of the Word.

[17:24] He teaches us from the Bible. He calls the church to study the Lord's acts and his revelation in all of Scripture. And he takes them to one particular passage.

[17:36] He takes them to the story of Abraham in Genesis 15. Look at verse 6 of our sermon text today. Even so, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.

[17:50] He's quoting to the church Genesis 15 verse 6. He's saying, study the Bible. See, how is it that God has ever saved anyone? God saved you the same way he saved Abraham.

[18:02] God did not save Abraham because Abraham kept the law. God saved Abraham because he believed by faith that this could be true and God counted it to him as righteousness.

[18:13] In verse 6 he says, Know therefore that those who are of faith are children of Abraham. This Gentile whose life is a mess is a child of Abraham.

[18:27] First class citizen in the kingdom of God. And dear believer, you are the fulfillment of God's promise long ago. Look at verse 8.

[18:37] The scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the good news beforehand to Abraham saying, In you all the nations will be blessed.

[18:49] God promised this three times to Abraham. Genesis 12, 18, and 22. Verse 9, So then those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

[19:02] Do you follow Paul's logic? This is how someone like you and me can receive God's covenant blessings. The Lord designed your salvation. The Lord accomplished your salvation.

[19:15] And the Lord has applied your salvation. what he began in you, he will finish. What he initiated by the ministry of the Spirit through the Word of God, he will finish.

[19:27] He will bring it to its fulfillment in your life. You were Christ's. You are Christ's as the Spirit has united you to him now through faith.

[19:41] And you shall always be Christ's. Let the Lord minister this truth to you again today. Through his word, you're seeing these words for yourself and by the power of his Spirit.

[19:58] Number three, Paul clarifies that covenant blessings do require obedience. Covenant blessings do require obedience.

[20:10] But he says it's not your obedience that secures them. look at what he says in verse 10. He says, as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse for it is written cursed is everyone who doesn't continue in all the things that are written in the book of the law and do them.

[20:31] He's quoting Deuteronomy 27, 26. He says, yes, to get blessing, you must have obedience. And what's more, that if you break the covenant, you get cursed.

[20:45] We know that the moral law of God is perfect and the keeping of God's moral law is required for anyone to be saved. But look at what he says in verse 11.

[20:56] No man is justified by the law before God. And it's evident because the Bible says in Habakkuk 2, 4, the righteous will live by faith. Paul's preaching that the only way that sinners like you and me can be declared righteous by the holy God is if the Lord Jesus, God the Son, took on a flesh and he made himself under his own law.

[21:23] And he did that to become the substance of his own ceremonial sacrificial system. He obeyed the Father perfectly and received all the blessings of the promise.

[21:36] All the blessings that God has ever promised find their yes and amen. Ultimately, in Christ. In verse 12, we read that the law is not of faith, but the man who does them will live by them.

[21:52] So do covenant blessings require obedience? Yes, they do. And only one who obeys them perfectly, personally, and perpetually can live by them.

[22:03] There's no hope for anyone under Adam's curse, but that's why the Lord Jesus Christ. He became the righteousness we could never achieve on our own. We read in verse 13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

[22:24] It is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Someone like you and me could never have a hope of receiving covenant blessing.

[22:35] And we have two problems. We are not righteous and our sin needs to be punished. Jesus Christ fulfilled both. He kept the law perfectly to give you freely the righteousness you could never have.

[22:50] And he took the penalty so that you don't need to die for your sins. He kept the law and he set you free. He was cursed so that you could be blessed.

[23:04] God's covenant blessings require obedience. The good news is it's not your obedience or mine. Jesus Christ fulfilled all of the requirements so that he could receive the blessing and turn around and apply those to his people freely.

[23:23] Number four, how did the Lord secure the blessings he promised to Abraham? how did the Lord secure these blessings that he promised?

[23:37] Look at verse 14 with me. The blessing of Abraham, the Lord purposed to give it freely to the Gentiles as well, those that are not from the physical line of Abraham, and he secured it through Jesus Christ.

[23:53] How can Gentiles claim all of those same blessings and promises as their own now? In Genesis 15, the Lord said, I am your shield.

[24:04] I am your great reward. It's because the Lord accomplished that which he promised, and he applied it to those who would receive his promise by faith, trusting that what he says can be true for you.

[24:19] In verse 14, he says, it's that we might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. How do you receive it? Through faith. What is faith? So that these promises and blessings can be yours.

[24:32] Faith is an open hand like a beggar receiving what God is going to freely give. You have a saving faith when you see your need for a Savior, and his spirit cuts you to the heart, and he turns you from the sin, and he turns you to the Savior, not because of the good works you do, but because you need him to give you this salvation freely.

[24:54] in verse 15, Paul says, brothers, when a covenant has been cut or confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it.

[25:07] How is this promise for you, and how is it secured? It's because God covenanted this promise. No one can add to what God already sealed in this covenant, and no one can take away from it.

[25:22] verse 16, he says, now the promises were spoken to Abraham and his offspring.

[25:33] He doesn't say to descendants as of many, but as of one to your offspring, which is Christ. All that God stored up in the treasury of heaven, in the course of human history, God would intervene in time, and in space.

[25:54] And through the physical seed of one man, Abraham, would come the promised savior, that same seed that the Lord promised back to Eve in the garden after the sin of Adam and Eve and the curse on the serpent, the Lord promised this one seed will come to save and deliver.

[26:10] Now this promise gets more narrow, more specific. It will come from the bloodline of Abraham. Let me define some of the terms here to make sure our kids are understanding the argument that Paul is opening up.

[26:23] He's talking about an inheritance, and he's saying who this inheritance is for. So to give a simple example, the grandpa, as we saw in Sunday school, let's say grandpa owns this amazing ranch, this great farm.

[26:38] That's the inheritance. The inheritance is what he's going to pass on to the next generation. And this grandpa puts on a piece of paper the names that are going to get this. those names on this piece of paper, the last will and testament, those are the heirs of this grandpa.

[26:55] Galatians 3 is a glorious passage because it says this has been established. Who will get all of the inheritance, all of the blessings? It's whose names are written in this will.

[27:07] These are the heirs. In this passage, Galatians 3 16, the promises were spoken to Abraham and his offspring, which is Christ.

[27:18] Christ is the one who will inherit and ultimately fulfill these promises. He will be the heir of all that God has stored up to one seed from Abraham. See, what happens in the church is that we have other people wanting to change the terms.

[27:38] So we have a group wanting to say this person's name is not on the list, but we want to go ahead and give them the blessings of the inheritance. And then they're saying this person, their name is on there, but we don't want them to be part of it for these reasons.

[27:54] Well, if a grandpa dies, there's an executor of the will, there's a lawyer who knows the law, and he's going to point to this and say, this is binding. No one can add or take away from this. This is what secures it right here.

[28:05] And this is a covenant. The covenant says all the blessings are in Christ. Whoever is in Christ is the one who's going to receive it. No one can add or take away from that. So as a church, we have to look to Christ.

[28:19] We have to look to who it is that all of these blessings are sealed up in. And we don't have any authority to add or take away from it because Christ has secured all of these blessings for all those who belong to him through faith.

[28:33] faith. The Lord secured for you all the spiritual blessings that he promised to Abraham in this covenant with Jesus Christ as the heir.

[28:45] Number five, why did the Lord then still give his law to Israel? Paul's working through this argument and that's the natural rebuttal. Well, what about all of the civil laws? What about all the ceremonial laws that were piled on for Israel?

[28:58] What do we do with those? Verse 17, he says the requirements of the law cannot annul God's promises and make the promise of no effect.

[29:09] If the inheritance is of the law, then it is of no more of promise. But God has granted it to Abraham by promise. He's saying that the ceremonial laws given to Israel under Moses do not change the promise of free grace that he gave to Abraham.

[29:30] Well, then the natural question is, what do we make of those? What do we do with those? In verse 19 and 21, he asked those questions. Then why is there the law?

[29:41] Verse 21, is the law then against the promises of God? And he says certainly not. He gives two answers. Number one, it's because we must be convicted of our sin before we will ever repent.

[29:57] The law is very important to convict us of our sin. in verse 21, he said, for if there had been a law given which could make a life, most certainly righteousness would not have been of the law.

[30:11] Verse 22, but the scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. The law was added because of transgressions.

[30:25] So why do we have the law? Why was the law given to Israel? It's because everyone who will turn to God to receive grace by faith must first be convicted of our sin.

[30:37] We must repent. We must see that we fall so short of the glory of God. And so the law cuts us down. It humbles us.

[30:47] And it exposes us. I cannot save myself. The second reason he gives is because we must see our great need of God's grace before we will turn to God with hoping faith in that offspring that will come.

[31:05] The Lord will send a Messiah, an anointed one. The Lord will send one who will fulfill the law. The Lord will send a victor who will conquer all the enemies. And he will come at the fullness of time.

[31:20] We read in verse 19. There is one to whom the promise has been made. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ will come.

[31:33] And you must see your need for him. When the Lord Jesus was brought to the temple as a baby, there were two believers who had the Old Testament scriptures and the Lord had prepared them in their spirit to receive him.

[31:49] And when they did, the spirit ministered to him. This is the anointed one, that promised seed of long ago. If we're reading the Old Testament correctly, we are reading with an anticipation. There is more.

[32:01] There is a grand act. There will be the coming Messiah. The blessing that God had promised to Abraham was salvation. You will be God's people.

[32:14] You will dwell in his kingdom. You will be secure in him forever. He will be your shield. And the Lord kept all of his promises. The Lord kept the promises to Abraham in a physical and an earthly sense.

[32:30] And he also fulfilled them and expanded them into a spiritual fulfillment. The physical seed of Abraham did get this land that God promised after they came out of slavery in Joshua 21.

[32:43] All of the good things the Lord promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they all came to pass. And in 1 Kings chapter 4 verse 1, we read that with Solomon again after David the man of war had defeated the enemies with the sword, then came Solomon with the kingdom of peace.

[33:00] And the Lord gave them all the land. All of the good things God promised, he gave. And the Lord also exposed the need of God's people to have Yahweh as their king.

[33:11] After Joshua and the Israelites lived in the land, there were so many problems. It was porous. They never defeated the idols. They allowed idolaters to live in their midst. They had no king and everyone did whatever pleased them.

[33:24] The book of Judges is an ugly book to expose their need of a king. They need God himself, Yahweh, to rule as their king. The disobedience of the Israelites in the land led them to exile.

[33:39] It led them to see a greater fulfillment must come, one that we can't produce by our own good works. And that's why Paul says the law for them was a tutor.

[33:50] It was a trainer. It was a servant of the great king that they need. The law serves the same purpose for the church today. It humbles us.

[34:02] It tells us we need a king to rule over your heart and your life. Look at what a wreck your life is without Christ ruling over you as a king.

[34:12] repent again. Humble yourself. Turn to God to be your king and your savior once again. Praise him for his law.

[34:24] What pleases the Lord in his moral law does not change. We look back on the ceremonial laws and we see these all foreshadow the work of Christ on the cross.

[34:34] Christ. We look at his civil law and we long for a kingdom of true peace and one day Christ will rule over the new heavens and the new earth perfectly. We long for him to rule and to be under that rule.

[34:48] And now we are in a spiritual sense. We are his people. We are united to him. He rules over his church. I'm going to try to be a little bit more specific as we wrap this up with the sixth observation.

[35:02] There are specific promises that God gave through Abraham and his offspring Christ. So I want to do my best to show you what I see in the scripture.

[35:14] You can study further on your own as well. And then come to Sunday school next week as we pick up where we left off on this topic. Here's the question. What specific blessings can someone like you and me expect?

[35:30] What are the specific blessings from the Abrahamic covenant that someone like you and me Gentiles used to be sinners. We had no concept of God and his word until he ministered to us.

[35:41] What can we expect? Four things for us. The Lord had promised Abraham a child. Do you remember that? Him and his wife were barren and the Lord said you will have a child.

[35:56] Well on earth Abraham got Isaac. Because God keeps his covenant he also fulfilled and expanded this with Jesus Christ.

[36:07] And he gave him an offspring Jesus born from the line of Abraham. He's on every genealogy as Abraham through this line came Jesus Christ. So yes he got the son on earth and God fulfilled and expanded it further by giving him the offspring Jesus Christ in heaven.

[36:25] Now look at what he says in verse 26 for the church. You are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The expansion of this blessing pulls you in to the family of God and the blessings he promised Abraham as well.

[36:42] The child. Number two. The Lord counted Abraham's faith as righteousness. And because God keeps his covenant Jesus Christ fulfills and expands this blessing to you as well.

[36:56] In verse 27. As many of you as were baptized into Christ you have put on Christ. You have been baptizing Christ in two ways according to scripture.

[37:08] First you have been baptized by blood. Mark 10 39. Jesus says you are baptized in the blood as you drink from this cup of his covenant.

[37:22] See the baptism of blood it means that you have been washed by the work of Christ on Calvary. You have seen Jesus Christ portrayed through the preaching of the word.

[37:35] You have seen that it was your sin that kept him there. It was your voice as one of the mockers. And the Lord Jesus in grace is paying for that very sin for you.

[37:48] That's to be baptized by the blood. Baptism of the spirit. John the Baptist he said I baptize you with water but there is one coming it's Jesus Christ in Luke 16.

[38:00] He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. That means that Jesus Christ will give the spirit of God to you. You who were dead in your trespasses he will make you alive.

[38:11] That's called regeneration. And as he brings you alive the spirit indwells you and sanctifies you and lives in you and creates in your life a place where the Holy God Father Son and Spirit can live and abide forever.

[38:27] That's what it means to be baptized by blood and baptized by the Holy Spirit. As many of you as were baptized into Christ he says you have put on Christ in verse 27.

[38:40] To put on Christ it means that you have received Christ's righteousness as your own. To be baptized in Christ it means that you are submerged.

[38:52] As Jonathan pointed out to our kids last week it's it's like a pickle a cucumber is a cucumber but it's baptized into the the brine and the vinegar and it becomes a pickle.

[39:03] That's sanctification. You are baptized in Christ. You have put on Christ. You are washed by his blood and you are identified with him. He changes your very substance.

[39:17] The third blessing is that the Lord promised Abraham a great people from all over the earth like the dust that would be united to God in the heavens like shining stars.

[39:29] Do you remember that last week? Your offspring will be like the dust. They will be like the stars. It doesn't mean like the Lion King where you die and become a literal star. It means that the glory of God the spiritual purity and glory of God is in you and your life reflects him.

[39:49] That's what that means. Well on earth Abraham got the Jewish nation and he got this ethnic people a true people living in a true land and because God keeps his covenant Jesus Christ further fulfills and expands this promise.

[40:04] Look at what he says in verse 28. Now there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female. He's saying there is not a first class and a second class Christian.

[40:19] There is only first class citizens in the kingdom of God. There is no difference between any of you and it's because you are united to Christ. Not by your works.

[40:29] Not by your outward appearance. By faith. That's what you all have in common. You are all one in Christ Jesus. So we don't go to church for community.

[40:43] We don't go to church for fellowship. We don't chase after the byproducts. We are church because we are one in Christ.

[40:55] We are one through the same faith, the same spirit that ministers and unites us. Well guess what you get as a result? Your lives do become more like Christ. You do get the deepest conversations.

[41:08] You do get friends and true fellowship for life and it's more than a friendship. It's a fellowship that is even tighter and closer and more more intimate and meaningful than a blood relation.

[41:20] Have you ever experienced that in the church? That's what we get. Why would we settle for anything less? Well the fourth promise is that the Lord promised Abraham a land.

[41:33] On earth he got the promised land. He got geographic Israel. And because the Lord keeps his covenant Jesus Christ also further fulfills and expands on this.

[41:44] Listen to the language from the Bible itself teaching us this. Hebrews 12 21. Writing to the church. Writing to you who have a faith and are united to Christ. You have come to Mount Zion.

[41:58] Mount Zion is the hill in Jerusalem where the temple is. And he's saying all of you across the world. All of the nations. You have come to Mount Zion. Mount Zion.

[42:09] To the city of the living God. The heavenly Jerusalem. He's saying don't pattern yourself off of old Jerusalem. You're part of the heavenly Jerusalem.

[42:21] You have come to the assembly of the firstborn. Well in the ancient world it's only the firstborn that gets all the inheritance. The firstborn gets grandpa's farm.

[42:32] And he's saying you are the assembly. The gathering. The church of the firstborn. Every single one of you is a firstborn. You are enrolled in heaven.

[42:44] This is language of citizenship. You are on the roster. You belong here. You can vote. You can have land. You possess this kingdom. It's yours. You have come to God.

[42:56] The judge of all. To the spirit of just men. Made perfect. To Jesus. The mediator. Of this new covenant. That's what it means to be a Christian.

[43:07] God keeps all of his promises. He further fulfills them. And he expands them. And elevates them. To the highest of heavens. Look at verse 29. If you are Christ's.

[43:22] Then you are Abraham's offspring. And heirs. According to promise. Did Paul persuade you? Do you see why someone like you.

[43:32] And someone like me. Can be an heir. You can receive all of these. Covenant blessings. By the work of Christ. I found myself this week.

[43:44] Thinking a lot about. John Bunyan's example. And John Bunyan was a simple pastor. He wrote Pilgrim's Progress from prison. In the 1600s in England.

[43:55] When John Bunyan would see. A drunk bum. On the street. Or the scum of the earth. You know. Getting into a fight. In the trash.

[44:07] He had this line. That he would preach to himself. To remind himself. Of this truth. That I think is. The heart of Galatians 3. John Bunyan would say. There.

[44:18] Pointing to those people. There. But for the grace of God. Go I. I. So like those two ladies. On the airplane.

[44:29] Instead of trying to. Fix. The other one. I should say. There. But for the grace of God. Go I. In fact. I would be worse than that.

[44:39] If God would have left me to myself. What a beautiful thing. To belong to a body. A church. Where everyone knows. That would be me. Except for the grace of God.

[44:51] Then we can enjoy true fellowship. Truly one body. One people. By the Lord's covenant. Mercies to us. All glory be to God. Let's spend some time.

[45:03] In response. Reflecting on the gospel. That you've heard. Thank you.