WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.030 --> 00:00:02.870 Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience. 00:00:02.988 --> 00:00:03.738 Day 28. 00:00:04.338 --> 00:00:11.598 oh foolish Galatians, who has cast an evil spell on you for the meaning of Jesus. 00:00:11.598 --> 00:00:15.168 Christ's death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a 00:00:15.168 --> 00:00:17.028 picture of his death on the cross. 00:00:17.868 --> 00:00:19.998 Let me ask you this one question. 00:00:20.808 --> 00:00:24.198 Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? 00:00:24.873 --> 00:00:26.043 Of course not. 00:00:26.613 --> 00:00:29.853 You received the spirit because you believed the 00:00:29.853 --> 00:00:31.683 message you heard about Christ. 00:00:32.343 --> 00:00:37.653 How foolish can you be after starting your new lives In the Spirit? 00:00:37.893 --> 00:00:41.643 Why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 00:00:42.573 --> 00:00:45.153 Have you experienced so much for nothing? 00:00:45.933 --> 00:00:47.853 Surely it was not in vain, was it? 00:00:49.353 --> 00:00:54.603 I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles 00:00:54.603 --> 00:00:56.643 among you because you obey the law? 00:00:57.273 --> 00:00:58.413 Of course not. 00:00:58.983 --> 00:01:02.763 It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. 00:01:03.813 --> 00:01:10.233 In the same way, Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because of 00:01:10.233 --> 00:01:17.043 his faith, the real children of Abraham then are those who put their faith in God. 00:01:17.943 --> 00:01:22.473 What's more, the scriptures looked forward to this time when God 00:01:22.473 --> 00:01:26.373 would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. 00:01:26.973 --> 00:01:32.643 God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, all 00:01:32.648 --> 00:01:35.403 nations will be blessed through you. 00:01:36.333 --> 00:01:40.773 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham 00:01:40.773 --> 00:01:42.783 received because of his faith. 00:01:43.968 --> 00:01:48.678 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse. 00:01:49.068 --> 00:01:53.658 For the scriptures say, cursed is everyone who does not observe and 00:01:53.658 --> 00:01:57.768 obey all the commands that are written in God's book of the law. 00:01:58.578 --> 00:02:04.578 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. 00:02:05.298 --> 00:02:10.698 For the scriptures say it is through faith that a righteous person has life. 00:02:11.898 --> 00:02:17.628 This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says it is 00:02:17.628 --> 00:02:24.318 through obeying the law that a person has life, but Christ has rescued us 00:02:24.323 --> 00:02:26.328 from the curse pronounced by the law. 00:02:26.988 --> 00:02:32.298 When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. 00:02:33.048 --> 00:02:34.938 For it is written in the scriptures. 00:02:35.298 --> 00:02:38.328 Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. 00:02:39.423 --> 00:02:40.743 Through Christ Jesus. 00:02:41.343 --> 00:02:46.863 God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham so 00:02:46.863 --> 00:02:51.783 that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith. 00:02:53.643 --> 00:02:58.053 Dear brothers and sisters, here's an example from everyday life. 00:02:58.983 --> 00:03:04.053 Just as no one can set aside or amend an irrevocable agreement. 00:03:04.473 --> 00:03:06.063 So it is in this case. 00:03:07.143 --> 00:03:11.823 God gave the promises to Abraham and his child and notice that the 00:03:11.823 --> 00:03:17.163 scripture doesn't say to his children as if it meant many descendants. 00:03:17.853 --> 00:03:22.953 Rather, it says to his child, and that of course means Christ. 00:03:23.718 --> 00:03:26.028 This is what I am trying to say. 00:03:26.568 --> 00:03:32.418 The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later. 00:03:32.568 --> 00:03:38.358 When God gave the law to Moses, God would be breaking his promise for if 00:03:38.358 --> 00:03:42.408 the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be 00:03:42.408 --> 00:03:44.838 the result of accepting God's promise. 00:03:45.648 --> 00:03:49.968 But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise. 00:03:51.108 --> 00:03:53.088 Why then was the law given? 00:03:53.808 --> 00:03:58.758 It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins, but the law 00:03:58.758 --> 00:04:03.708 was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. 00:04:04.608 --> 00:04:08.658 God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator 00:04:08.663 --> 00:04:10.398 between God and the people. 00:04:11.328 --> 00:04:17.088 Now, a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement, but 00:04:17.118 --> 00:04:23.028 God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham. 00:04:24.693 --> 00:04:28.593 Is there a conflict then between God's law and God's promises? 00:04:29.223 --> 00:04:30.303 Absolutely not. 00:04:31.053 --> 00:04:34.023 If the law could give us new life, we could be made 00:04:34.023 --> 00:04:35.643 right with God by obeying it. 00:04:36.213 --> 00:04:41.283 But the scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we 00:04:41.283 --> 00:04:46.743 receive God's promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ. 00:04:47.583 --> 00:04:52.023 Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were 00:04:52.023 --> 00:04:54.093 placed under guard by the law. 00:04:54.573 --> 00:04:58.383 We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until 00:04:58.383 --> 00:05:00.123 the way of faith was revealed. 00:05:01.083 --> 00:05:02.493 Let me put it another way. 00:05:03.333 --> 00:05:06.363 The law was our guardian until Christ came. 00:05:06.963 --> 00:05:10.803 It protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. 00:05:11.463 --> 00:05:17.103 And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. 00:05:17.913 --> 00:05:23.853 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus and all who have 00:05:23.853 --> 00:05:29.853 been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ like putting on new clothes. 00:05:30.453 --> 00:05:36.363 There is no longer Jew or gentile slave or free male and female. 00:05:36.768 --> 00:05:42.378 For you are all one in Christ Jesus, and now that you belong to Christ, 00:05:42.678 --> 00:05:44.778 you are the true children of Abraham. 00:05:45.348 --> 00:05:50.088 You are his heirs and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you. 00:05:51.048 --> 00:05:55.698 Think of it this way, if a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his 00:05:55.698 --> 00:06:00.558 young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they 00:06:00.558 --> 00:06:05.358 grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. 00:06:06.408 --> 00:06:11.808 They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. 00:06:12.528 --> 00:06:15.618 And that's the way it was with us before Christ came. 00:06:16.278 --> 00:06:17.508 We were like children. 00:06:17.958 --> 00:06:22.098 We were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world. 00:06:23.028 --> 00:06:29.898 But when the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman subject to the law. 00:06:30.603 --> 00:06:35.343 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law so that he could 00:06:35.343 --> 00:06:37.623 adopt us as his very own children. 00:06:38.253 --> 00:06:45.213 And because we are his children, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts 00:06:45.753 --> 00:06:49.623 prompting us to call out Abba Father. 00:06:50.463 --> 00:06:56.523 Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child, and since you are 00:06:56.528 --> 00:06:59.703 his child, God has made you his heir. 00:07:00.573 --> 00:07:04.683 Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called 00:07:04.683 --> 00:07:06.783 Gods that do not even exist. 00:07:07.473 --> 00:07:13.263 So now that you know God, or should I say, now that God knows you, why do you 00:07:13.263 --> 00:07:17.823 want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weakened, useless, 00:07:17.823 --> 00:07:19.863 spiritual principles of this world? 00:07:20.673 --> 00:07:25.083 You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days 00:07:25.083 --> 00:07:27.033 or months or seasons or years. 00:07:27.798 --> 00:07:32.838 I fear for you, perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing. 00:07:34.638 --> 00:07:40.638 Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from 00:07:40.638 --> 00:07:46.308 these things, for I have become like you Gentiles, free from those laws. 00:07:47.208 --> 00:07:50.058 You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you. 00:07:50.598 --> 00:07:54.588 Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the good news. 00:07:55.188 --> 00:07:59.208 But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did 00:07:59.208 --> 00:08:01.698 not despise me or turn me away. 00:08:02.118 --> 00:08:07.848 No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from 00:08:07.848 --> 00:08:10.788 God or even Christ Jesus himself. 00:08:11.688 --> 00:08:14.748 Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then? 00:08:15.588 --> 00:08:19.038 I am sure you would've taken out your own eyes and given them 00:08:19.038 --> 00:08:21.438 to me if it had been possible. 00:08:22.368 --> 00:08:26.238 Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth. 00:08:27.258 --> 00:08:31.038 Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but 00:08:31.038 --> 00:08:32.688 their intentions are not good. 00:08:33.288 --> 00:08:37.848 They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them. 00:08:38.598 --> 00:08:42.468 If someone is eager to do good things for you, that's all right. 00:08:43.038 --> 00:08:47.418 But let them do it all the time, not just when I'm with you. 00:08:48.468 --> 00:08:50.508 Oh my dear children. 00:08:51.198 --> 00:08:56.328 I feel as if I'm going through labor pains for you again and they will continue until 00:08:56.328 --> 00:08:59.058 Christ is fully developed in your lives. 00:08:59.778 --> 00:09:03.618 I wish I were with you right now so I could change my tone, 00:09:04.158 --> 00:09:07.728 but at this distance, I don't know how else to help you. 00:09:09.468 --> 00:09:14.448 Tell me you who want to live under the law, do you know 00:09:14.448 --> 00:09:15.888 what the law actually says? 00:09:17.058 --> 00:09:22.368 The scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife 00:09:22.578 --> 00:09:24.528 and one from his freeborn wife. 00:09:25.308 --> 00:09:29.028 The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the 00:09:29.033 --> 00:09:35.088 fulfillment of God's promise, but the son of the Freeborn wife was born as 00:09:35.088 --> 00:09:37.878 God's own fulfillment of his promise. 00:09:39.018 --> 00:09:43.938 These two women serve as an illustration of God's two covenants. 00:09:44.853 --> 00:09:50.703 The first woman, Hagar represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that 00:09:50.703 --> 00:09:57.453 enslaved them, and now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia because she and 00:09:57.458 --> 00:10:00.603 her children live in slavery to the law. 00:10:01.443 --> 00:10:05.943 But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. 00:10:06.693 --> 00:10:09.783 She is the free woman, and she is our mother. 00:10:10.743 --> 00:10:16.698 As Isaiah said, Rejoice old childless woman, you who have never given 00:10:16.698 --> 00:10:19.638 birth, break into a joyful shout. 00:10:20.148 --> 00:10:25.668 You who have never been in labor for the desolate woman now has more children than 00:10:25.668 --> 00:10:27.288 the woman who lives with her husband. 00:10:28.728 --> 00:10:34.188 And you dear brothers and sisters are children of the promise, just like 00:10:34.188 --> 00:10:40.038 Isaac, but you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law 00:10:40.308 --> 00:10:45.888 just as Ishmael, the child born of human effort, persecuted Isaac, the 00:10:45.893 --> 00:10:48.288 child, born by the power of the spirit. 00:10:49.068 --> 00:10:51.678 But what do the scriptures say about that? 00:10:52.578 --> 00:10:57.978 Get rid of the slave in her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the 00:10:57.978 --> 00:11:00.018 inheritance with the free woman's son. 00:11:00.858 --> 00:11:05.358 So dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman. 00:11:05.748 --> 00:11:07.578 We are children of the free woman. 00:11:08.328 --> 00:11:10.638 So Christ has truly set us free. 00:11:11.328 --> 00:11:14.778 Now, make sure that you stay free and don't get tied up 00:11:14.778 --> 00:11:16.608 again in slavery to the law. 00:11:17.508 --> 00:11:20.928 Listen, I Paul tell you this. 00:11:21.438 --> 00:11:25.518 If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then 00:11:25.518 --> 00:11:27.678 Christ will be of no benefit to you. 00:11:28.398 --> 00:11:29.358 I'll say it again. 00:11:30.018 --> 00:11:35.058 If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey 00:11:35.058 --> 00:11:40.098 every regulation in the whole law of Moses for if you are trying to make 00:11:40.098 --> 00:11:45.168 yourselves right with God, by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ. 00:11:45.678 --> 00:11:52.068 You have fallen away from God's grace, but we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to 00:11:52.068 --> 00:11:58.638 receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us for when we place our faith 00:11:58.638 --> 00:12:04.368 in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. 00:12:04.918 --> 00:12:09.858 What is important is faith expressing itself in love. 00:12:11.538 --> 00:12:14.238 You were running the race so well. 00:12:15.183 --> 00:12:17.763 Who has held you back from following the truth? 00:12:18.603 --> 00:12:22.983 It certainly isn't God for He is the one who called you to freedom. 00:12:23.793 --> 00:12:26.943 This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads 00:12:26.943 --> 00:12:28.503 through the whole batch of doe. 00:12:29.223 --> 00:12:32.853 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. 00:12:33.513 --> 00:12:38.163 God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you. 00:12:39.153 --> 00:12:42.873 Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must 00:12:42.873 --> 00:12:45.483 be circumcised as some say I do. 00:12:45.993 --> 00:12:48.303 Why am I still being persecuted? 00:12:49.053 --> 00:12:52.443 If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of 00:12:52.448 --> 00:12:55.263 Christ, no one would be offended. 00:12:56.073 --> 00:13:00.543 I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision 00:13:00.723 --> 00:13:04.653 would mutilate themselves for you. 00:13:04.658 --> 00:13:08.103 Have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. 00:13:08.703 --> 00:13:12.033 But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. 00:13:12.723 --> 00:13:18.693 Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love for the whole law 00:13:18.693 --> 00:13:21.003 can be summed up in this one command. 00:13:22.413 --> 00:13:28.533 Love your neighbor as your self, but if you are always biting and 00:13:28.533 --> 00:13:31.173 devouring one another, watch out. 00:13:31.863 --> 00:13:33.933 Beware of destroying one another. 00:13:34.698 --> 00:13:39.018 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. 00:13:39.378 --> 00:13:42.288 Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. 00:13:42.768 --> 00:13:47.328 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what 00:13:47.333 --> 00:13:51.978 the spirit wants, and the spirit gives us desires that are the opposite 00:13:51.978 --> 00:13:53.988 of what the sinful nature desires. 00:13:54.828 --> 00:13:58.968 These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not 00:13:58.968 --> 00:14:01.428 free to carry out your good intentions. 00:14:02.298 --> 00:14:06.108 But when you are directed by the spirit, you are not under 00:14:06.108 --> 00:14:08.448 obligation to the law of Moses. 00:14:09.018 --> 00:14:14.448 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. 00:14:15.138 --> 00:14:22.638 Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, 00:14:23.518 --> 00:14:27.138 quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger. 00:14:27.543 --> 00:14:34.113 Selfish, ambition, dissension, division envy, drunkenness, wild 00:14:34.113 --> 00:14:37.053 parties, and other sins like these. 00:14:38.043 --> 00:14:43.353 Let me tell you again as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life 00:14:43.353 --> 00:14:49.233 will not in inherit the kingdom of God, but the Holy Spirit produces this 00:14:49.233 --> 00:14:52.863 kind of fruit in our lives, love, joy. 00:14:53.493 --> 00:14:58.803 Peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 00:14:59.013 --> 00:15:01.923 gentleness, and self-control. 00:15:02.703 --> 00:15:05.643 There is no law against these things. 00:15:06.543 --> 00:15:10.683 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and 00:15:10.683 --> 00:15:14.913 desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 00:15:15.873 --> 00:15:20.823 Since we are living by the spirit, let us follow the spirits leading 00:15:20.853 --> 00:15:22.983 in every part of our lives. 00:15:23.463 --> 00:15:29.463 Let us not become conceited or provoke one another or be jealous of one another. 00:15:31.353 --> 00:15:37.713 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who 00:15:37.713 --> 00:15:43.323 are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. 00:15:44.133 --> 00:15:47.823 And be careful not to fall into the same Temptation yourself. 00:15:48.603 --> 00:15:54.423 Share each other's burdens, and in this way, obey the law of Christ. 00:15:54.933 --> 00:15:59.643 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. 00:16:00.063 --> 00:16:01.593 You are not that important. 00:16:02.493 --> 00:16:06.753 Pay careful attention to your own work for then you will get the satisfaction 00:16:06.753 --> 00:16:12.333 of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else For we 00:16:12.333 --> 00:16:15.213 are each responsible for our own conduct. 00:16:16.053 --> 00:16:19.293 Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, 00:16:19.533 --> 00:16:21.123 sharing all good things with them. 00:16:22.293 --> 00:16:23.493 Don't be misled. 00:16:23.823 --> 00:16:26.343 You cannot mock the justice of God. 00:16:26.763 --> 00:16:29.433 You will always harvest what you plant. 00:16:29.973 --> 00:16:35.733 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay 00:16:35.733 --> 00:16:37.773 and death from that sinful nature. 00:16:38.523 --> 00:16:41.823 But those who live to please the spirit will harvest 00:16:41.823 --> 00:16:44.043 everlasting life from the spirit. 00:16:44.703 --> 00:16:49.533 So let's not get tired of doing what is good at just the right time. 00:16:49.533 --> 00:16:53.073 We will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. 00:16:53.733 --> 00:16:56.853 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we 00:16:56.853 --> 00:16:58.563 should do good to everyone. 00:16:59.328 --> 00:17:03.318 Especially to those in the family of faith. 00:17:06.108 --> 00:17:11.688 Notice what large letters I use as I write these closing words in my own handwriting. 00:17:13.008 --> 00:17:16.908 Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised, want to look 00:17:16.908 --> 00:17:20.868 good to others, they don't want to be persecuted for teaching that 00:17:20.868 --> 00:17:23.148 the cross of Christ alone can save. 00:17:23.838 --> 00:17:29.448 And even those who advocate circumcision don't keep the whole law themselves. 00:17:30.108 --> 00:17:33.948 They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and 00:17:33.948 --> 00:17:35.958 claim you as their disciples. 00:17:36.918 --> 00:17:42.588 As for me, may I never boast about anything, the cross of our Lord Jesus 00:17:42.588 --> 00:17:49.068 Christ, because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified and the 00:17:49.068 --> 00:17:51.498 world's interest in me has also died. 00:17:52.653 --> 00:17:55.683 It doesn't matter whether we have been circumcised or not. 00:17:56.193 --> 00:18:00.753 What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. 00:18:01.743 --> 00:18:06.813 May God's peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle. 00:18:07.503 --> 00:18:09.723 They are the new people of God. 00:18:10.743 --> 00:18:14.733 From now on, don't let anyone trouble me with these things. 00:18:15.273 --> 00:18:21.003 For I bear on my body, the scars that show I belong to Jesus. 00:18:22.713 --> 00:18:27.273 Dear brothers and sisters, may the grace of our Lord Jesus 00:18:27.273 --> 00:18:29.913 Christ be with your spirit. 00:18:31.113 --> 00:18:31.713 Amen. 00:18:33.753 --> 00:18:36.603 This concludes today's immer reading experience. 00:18:36.753 --> 00:18:37.953 Thank you for joining us.