Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 28.
oh foolish Galatians, who has cast an evil spell on you for the meaning of Jesus.
Christ's death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a
picture of his death on the cross.
Let me ask you this one question.
Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses?
Of course not.
You received the spirit because you believed the
message you heard about Christ.
How foolish can you be after starting your new lives In the Spirit?
Why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
Have you experienced so much for nothing?
Surely it was not in vain, was it?
I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles
among you because you obey the law?
Of course not.
It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
In the same way, Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because of
his faith, the real children of Abraham then are those who put their faith in God.
What's more, the scriptures looked forward to this time when God
would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith.
God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, all
nations will be blessed through you.
So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham
received because of his faith.
But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse.
For the scriptures say, cursed is everyone who does not observe and
obey all the commands that are written in God's book of the law.
So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law.
For the scriptures say it is through faith that a righteous person has life.
This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says it is
through obeying the law that a person has life, but Christ has rescued us
from the curse pronounced by the law.
When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.
For it is written in the scriptures.
Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.
Through Christ Jesus.
God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham so
that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.
Dear brothers and sisters, here's an example from everyday life.
Just as no one can set aside or amend an irrevocable agreement.
So it is in this case.
God gave the promises to Abraham and his child and notice that the
scripture doesn't say to his children as if it meant many descendants.
Rather, it says to his child, and that of course means Christ.
This is what I am trying to say.
The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later.
When God gave the law to Moses, God would be breaking his promise for if
the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be
the result of accepting God's promise.
But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise.
Why then was the law given?
It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins, but the law
was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised.
God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator
between God and the people.
Now, a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement, but
God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham.
Is there a conflict then between God's law and God's promises?
Absolutely not.
If the law could give us new life, we could be made
right with God by obeying it.
But the scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we
receive God's promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.
Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were
placed under guard by the law.
We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until
the way of faith was revealed.
Let me put it another way.
The law was our guardian until Christ came.
It protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.
And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.
For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus and all who have
been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ like putting on new clothes.
There is no longer Jew or gentile slave or free male and female.
For you are all one in Christ Jesus, and now that you belong to Christ,
you are the true children of Abraham.
You are his heirs and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you.
Think of it this way, if a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his
young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they
grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had.
They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.
And that's the way it was with us before Christ came.
We were like children.
We were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.
But when the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman subject to the law.
God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law so that he could
adopt us as his very own children.
And because we are his children, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts
prompting us to call out Abba Father.
Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child, and since you are
his child, God has made you his heir.
Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called
Gods that do not even exist.
So now that you know God, or should I say, now that God knows you, why do you
want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weakened, useless,
spiritual principles of this world?
You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days
or months or seasons or years.
I fear for you, perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing.
Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from
these things, for I have become like you Gentiles, free from those laws.
You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you.
Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the good news.
But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did
not despise me or turn me away.
No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from
God or even Christ Jesus himself.
Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then?
I am sure you would've taken out your own eyes and given them
to me if it had been possible.
Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth.
Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but
their intentions are not good.
They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them.
If someone is eager to do good things for you, that's all right.
But let them do it all the time, not just when I'm with you.
Oh my dear children.
I feel as if I'm going through labor pains for you again and they will continue until
Christ is fully developed in your lives.
I wish I were with you right now so I could change my tone,
but at this distance, I don't know how else to help you.
Tell me you who want to live under the law, do you know
what the law actually says?
The scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife
and one from his freeborn wife.
The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the
fulfillment of God's promise, but the son of the Freeborn wife was born as
God's own fulfillment of his promise.
These two women serve as an illustration of God's two covenants.
The first woman, Hagar represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that
enslaved them, and now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia because she and
her children live in slavery to the law.
But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem.
She is the free woman, and she is our mother.
As Isaiah said, Rejoice old childless woman, you who have never given
birth, break into a joyful shout.
You who have never been in labor for the desolate woman now has more children than
the woman who lives with her husband.
And you dear brothers and sisters are children of the promise, just like
Isaac, but you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law
just as Ishmael, the child born of human effort, persecuted Isaac, the
child, born by the power of the spirit.
But what do the scriptures say about that?
Get rid of the slave in her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the
inheritance with the free woman's son.
So dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman.
We are children of the free woman.
So Christ has truly set us free.
Now, make sure that you stay free and don't get tied up
again in slavery to the law.
Listen, I Paul tell you this.
If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then
Christ will be of no benefit to you.
I'll say it again.
If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey
every regulation in the whole law of Moses for if you are trying to make
yourselves right with God, by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ.
You have fallen away from God's grace, but we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to
receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us for when we place our faith
in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised.
What is important is faith expressing itself in love.
You were running the race so well.
Who has held you back from following the truth?
It certainly isn't God for He is the one who called you to freedom.
This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads
through the whole batch of doe.
I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings.
God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.
Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must
be circumcised as some say I do.
Why am I still being persecuted?
If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of
Christ, no one would be offended.
I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision
would mutilate themselves for you.
Have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters.
But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature.
Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love for the whole law
can be summed up in this one command.
Love your neighbor as your self, but if you are always biting and
devouring one another, watch out.
Beware of destroying one another.
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.
Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves.
The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what
the spirit wants, and the spirit gives us desires that are the opposite
of what the sinful nature desires.
These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not
free to carry out your good intentions.
But when you are directed by the spirit, you are not under
obligation to the law of Moses.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear.
Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility,
quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger.
Selfish, ambition, dissension, division envy, drunkenness, wild
parties, and other sins like these.
Let me tell you again as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life
will not in inherit the kingdom of God, but the Holy Spirit produces this
kind of fruit in our lives, love, joy.
Peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control.
There is no law against these things.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and
desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
Since we are living by the spirit, let us follow the spirits leading
in every part of our lives.
Let us not become conceited or provoke one another or be jealous of one another.
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who
are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path.
And be careful not to fall into the same Temptation yourself.
Share each other's burdens, and in this way, obey the law of Christ.
If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself.
You are not that important.
Pay careful attention to your own work for then you will get the satisfaction
of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else For we
are each responsible for our own conduct.
Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers,
sharing all good things with them.
Don't be misled.
You cannot mock the justice of God.
You will always harvest what you plant.
Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay
and death from that sinful nature.
But those who live to please the spirit will harvest
everlasting life from the spirit.
So let's not get tired of doing what is good at just the right time.
We will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.
Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we
should do good to everyone.
Especially to those in the family of faith.
Notice what large letters I use as I write these closing words in my own handwriting.
Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised, want to look
good to others, they don't want to be persecuted for teaching that
the cross of Christ alone can save.
And even those who advocate circumcision don't keep the whole law themselves.
They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and
claim you as their disciples.
As for me, may I never boast about anything, the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified and the
world's interest in me has also died.
It doesn't matter whether we have been circumcised or not.
What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.
May God's peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle.
They are the new people of God.
From now on, don't let anyone trouble me with these things.
For I bear on my body, the scars that show I belong to Jesus.
Dear brothers and sisters, may the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with your spirit.
Amen.
This concludes today's immer reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.