Welcome back to Books of the
Book, I'm Pastor Mark Howard.
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I'm the director of the
Emmanuel Institute of Evangelism
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in the Michigan Conference
of Seventh-day Adventist and
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I'm the Pastor of Gobels
Seventh-day Adventist Church
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and I'm here with
my brother Jim Howard.
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Yes my name is Pastor Jim
Howard and I'm the Pastor of
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the Detroit Metropolitan
and South Lyon's Seventh-day
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Adventist Church in Michigan.
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And we are excited
once again to study the
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book of Galatians with you.
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We love to get into the
word and this book of all books
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is so powerful and exciting.
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It is full of powerful
gospel truths and that is the
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keynote of the book of
Galatians is the gospel.
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Paul wrote this to clarify
the everlasting gospel and
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the last time we were
together we talked about what
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Paul terms the curse of
the law in Galatians Chapter 3
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and we are going to
follow that up almost where
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we left off in
Galatians Chapter 3.
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In fact we will pick up a
little bit and do a review in
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Galatians 3:13 so if you
have your Bible, those viewing
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at home, if you would
turn with us to Galatians 3 and
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it is in the New Testament.
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Matthew, Mark,
Luke, John, Acts, Romans,
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1 and 2
Corinthians and then Galatians.
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We're going to Galatians
3:13 and here the apostle writes
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"Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the law, having
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"become a curse for us
(for it is written, cursed is
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"everyone who hangs on a
tree), that the blessing of
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"Abraham might come upon
the Gentiles in Christ Jesus,
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"that we might
receive the promise
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"of the Spirit through faith. "
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Something we need to
grasp and just reiterating from
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last time is that Christ
did not come to redeem us
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from the law but
from the curse of the law.
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Of course the curse of
the law is the curse of sin.
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"The wages of sin is death".
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What is interesting here
is that he goes into this
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idea of the blessing of
Abraham, the promise of the
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Spirit and then he goes
on from there to talk about
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Abraham and his seed.
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Today our topic is
the 'Seed of Abraham'.
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Jim you are going to
pick up there in verse 15
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I believe if you just
want to start and pick up.
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Sure I think we need to do is
start back at verse 5 and let's
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look there and get a little
bit of an understanding of
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this blessing of
Abraham before we dive into
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the Seed of Abraham.
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We're starting in verse 5
of Galatians 3 where it says,
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"therefore He who supplies
the Spirit to you and works
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"miracles among you, does
He do it by works of the law,
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"or by the hearing of faith?
- just as Abraham believed
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"God... it was accounted
to him for righteousness.
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"Therefore know that only
those who are of faith are
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"sons of Abraham. And the
Scripture, for seeing that God
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"would justify the Gentiles
by faith, preach the gospel
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"to Abraham beforehand,
saying, in you all the nations
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"shall be blessed. So
then those who are of faith are
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"blessed with
believing Abraham. "
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This is a fascinating passage.
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I want to add a clarification
here, in some translations
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it is faithful Abraham weren't
blessed because they believe
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Abraham, but they are
blessed along with Abraham
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who was a believer
and who was faithful.
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That could be confusing,
but if you look at verse 8
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specifically, "the Scripture
for seeing that God would
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"justify the
Gentiles by faith. "
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So here we see that God was
fore seeing that the Gentiles
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were going to be part of
this blessing and this promise
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that was given to Abraham.
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It says not in you all
the Jews shall be blessed
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but in you all the
nations shall be blessed.
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So that would include not only
those who are commonly referred
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to as the circumcised,
but it would also include the
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uncircumcised which the
apostle Paul here is saying
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is that means evidently
that God was justifying not
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because of the circumcision
of Abraham but because of
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the faith of Abraham. -
That's right, that's right!
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If all the Gentiles were
going to receive the same
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blessing then it must
come by faith and not by
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circumcision and then in
verse 14 where you had read
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in the open it said, "that
the blessing of Abraham might
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"come upon the Gentiles in
Christ Jesus, that we might
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"receive the promise of
the Spirit through faith. "
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So here we have Abraham as
the one to whom the promise
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was made, and the promise
that the apostle Paul said
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he would receive and the
Gentiles would receive is the
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promise of the
Spirit which is fascinating.
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The Spirit in other places
the apostle Paul talks about
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having a special role
in terms of our awareness
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of the eternal inheritance.
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When we have the Spirit is
what he calls a guarantee of
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our eternal inheritance.
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There is one place
where we might look at that.
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Ephesians chapter 1 and we
will look at verse 13 it says,
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"in Him you also trusted,
after you heard the word of
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"truth, but gospel of
your salvation; in whom also,
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"having believed,
you were sealed with the
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"Holy Spirit of promise,
who is the guarantee of our
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"inheritance until the
redemption of the purchased
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"possession," so the
guarantee of our inheritance is
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the Spirit. - that's
right. - so when the Gentiles
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received the Spirit that
was evidence that they were
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partakers of the inheritance
that was promised to Abraham.
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So you have this example
for instance, remember we
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studied about Acts 15
where the apostle Peter made
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the point, he said look
we know that God intends for
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the Gentiles to be equal
inheritors of the promise
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with the Jews
because the Gentiles received
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the Spirit just like we did.
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So the Spirit becomes that
promise that God had given.
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Now here is an
interesting thought.
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These Judaizers in the
Galatian church who were causing
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so much trouble and
perverting the gospel.
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They were not only missing
how to obtain the promise,
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but they were misconstruing
what the promise itself was.
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They were not only misconstruing
how to be justified,
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to receive the blessing of
Abraham but they were missing
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what the blessing even was.
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The blessing was the Spirit,
being born of the Spirit.
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They were seeking to
just use circumcision to avoid
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having to have
that internal change,
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that the Spirit would bring.
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You see the Spirit is born-again
experience, that change
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of heart, that change of
life and they were putting
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the circumcision as a
substitute for that change and
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they were missing out
on the power of the Gospel
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which is a changed life.
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That is right, and you
know Jim what is interesting and
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important here to note is
that some people when they read
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Galatians or even when they read
through the Scriptures, they
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want to lump in circumcision
and the whole system of
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the law together and I
have had people ask me,
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Christians come up and
ask me, isn't it true that the
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law of circumcision and the law
of sacrifice and offering and
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the Ten Commandments
was all one system of law?
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In one sense there is
truth to that, in the sense that
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the Old Testament for
example, the word for law is the
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word Torah and it
means instruction.
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When you read the word law
in the Old Testament you are
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talking about the Torah
or the instruction of God.
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The Hebrews have that
connected together in the
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Pentateuch which is the
first five books of the Bible,
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the books of Moses.
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So while that is true yet
there was also a distinction.
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For example, the Ten
Commandments of God were written
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with finger of God,
but only thing in Scripture
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we know that was part of
the document that was written
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with God's own finger
when it was transported
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throughout the
experience of Israel.
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It was carried in the sacred
Ark of the Covenant, whereas the
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other laws of Moses were
put in a special pocket beside
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the Ark of the Covenant. So
there was a distinction there.
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In the New Testament
we find for example, in
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1 Corinthians Chapter 7
the apostle Paul draws a very
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clear distinction
between circumcision and the
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Ten Commandments, I think
because he foresaw the tendency
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of some may be to try and
draw a separation or lump them
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together and he wanted to
make sure that even though
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circumcision was a rite given
by God, it was a rite given
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to Abraham because of
his diversion in God's plan.
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It was not part of the
original plan and it was a clear
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distinction to be held apart
from the Ten Commandment law.
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1 Corinthians 7:19 says,
the apostle Paul writes here,
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"circumcision is nothing
an uncircumcision is nothing,"
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and this is in the sense of
not that it was insignificant
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God had given it, but in
the greater scheme of things it
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wasn't the main issue,
"circumcision is nothing and
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"uncircumcised is nothing,
but keeping the Commandments
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"of God is what matters. "
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So there is a clear
distinction between circumcision
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and the Ten Commandment law.
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That's right and I have
actually heard someone say
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before that word keeping the
commandments of God, he is not
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talking about the Ten
Commandments It's just talking
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about the commands of Jesus so
It's making a distinction there.
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But I think if we look in
Romans we will find it further
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outlines that exact point.
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So looking back at Romans
2:21 in says, "you, therefore,
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"who teach another, do you
not teach yourself? You who
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"preach that a man
should not steal, do you steal?
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"You who say, do not
commit adultery, do you commit
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"adultery?" So clearly
he is talking about the
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Ten Commandments right? - right.
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Now in verse 25 he says,
"For circumcision is indeed
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"profitable if you keep the
law; but if you are a breaker
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"of the law, you're
circumcision has become
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"uncircumcision. " Now this next
verse is where the difference is
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clearly made. "Therefore,
if an uncircumcised man
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"keeps the righteous
requirements of the law,
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"will not his uncircumcision
be counted as circumcision?"
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So in the context of
the Ten Commandments-
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- How can an uncircumcised man
keep the righteous requirements
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off the law if
circumcision is part of the law?
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Now that is exactly right
and clearly in the context
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in this one the law
he is speaking of, is the
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Ten Commandments. - in the very
context that is absolutely true.
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So this idea of circumcision
and the promises of God,
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the Jews had gotten distorted
in their understanding of the
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importance of circumcision
and actually placed it
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in the place of obedience.
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It is interesting there in
the passage you read in Romans
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that he said that circumcision
is only significant if you
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are obedient to God. - right.
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So we read the other
day that circumcision,
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the Bible said was given to
Abraham in Romans 4 as a sign
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of faith, not a sign of
obedience, but a sign of faith.
00:11:40.96\00:11:46.25
Yet in Romans 2 it says
that circumcision is only
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profitable if you obey.
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So we see the link with
faith and obedience once again
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in the writings of Paul.
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Faith obeys, the
exercise of faith is obedience.
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Now we are going to go
to verse 15 in Galatians 3
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and we are going to carry
on here in Paul's writing.
00:12:04.99\00:12:08.89
Galatians 3:15 it says, Brethren
rather I speak in the manner of
00:12:08.93\00:12:11.39
"men: Though it is only a
man's covenant, yet if it is
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"confirmed, no one annuls
or adds to it. Now to Abraham
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"and his Seed where the
promises made. He does not say,
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"And to seeds, as of
many, but as of one, And to your
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"Seed, who is Christ.
And this I say, that the law,
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"which was 430 years
later, cannot annul the covenant
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"that was confirmed
before by God in Christ, that it
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"should make the
promise of no effect. For if the
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"inheritance is of the
law, it is no longer of promise;
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"but God gave it to
Abraham by promise. "
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Now Paul's listeners
here, his audience believed in
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Abraham, they believed
in the promise that God gave
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to Abraham, they believed
that the descendent of Abraham
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was the one through whom
the promises would come and
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and that was Isaac. - right.
00:12:58.95\00:13:01.07
However Paul takes that
belief that they hold in common,
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yes Abraham was the
father of the faithful, yes God
00:13:04.70\00:13:07.57
the promises, but then he
turns it and says I agree with
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you all but you guys
need to understand that
00:13:11.22\00:13:13.11
the Seed was not Isaac
at all, the Seed was Christ.
00:13:13.15\00:13:17.98
In other words to be a
part of Isaac means you have to
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be a descendent of Abraham,
literally born of the Jewish
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nation and circumcised,
but if he wasn't the Seed,
00:13:26.36\00:13:29.58
then circumcision isn't
the way into the family.
00:13:29.62\00:13:32.78
So he is bringing out the
fact that the seed is not Isaac.
00:13:32.81\00:13:37.32
The seed really is Christ.
00:13:37.36\00:13:39.09
And we have to go to our
break and we come back from our
00:13:39.12\00:13:43.09
break we are going to address
this issue of the Seed of
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Abraham, not as Isaac in
the literal nation of Israel,
00:13:47.32\00:13:51.13
but the Seed of Abraham is
Christ and we are talking about
00:13:51.17\00:13:54.94
spiritual Israel
here, so stay tuned,
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We will be right back!
00:13:57.00\00:13:58.56