Understanding God's Promise Series

05/06/2007

UNDERSTANDING GOD’S PROMISE (Gal 3:15-18)

Today – God’s Promise

We talked about the promise and the blessings that come from the promise when Paul told the Galatians to consider Abraham, whose faith was credited to him as righteousness

Promise made to Abraham in Gen 15 and affirmed in 22

Abraham (actually still Abram) is told he will have offspring outnumbering the stars in the sky, the sands on the seashore, and that all nations will be blessed through his seed.

When the promise is made, God and Abram are having a conversation. Abram was feeling really down because he had no heir.

He was in his eighties, getting pretty old, he had prospered, and God had already told him that he was giving him the land, him and his offspring, or seed.

If you have children then you know that we naturally have this desire to pass along what God has blessed us with, our estate, what little wisdom God has allowed us to gain – built in desire put there by God

Abram was depressed, because it looked like his estate and blessings would be left only to his servant because he had no children

God takes Abram outside to look at the stars.

Its there that he tells Abram to count the stars, if he can. His offspring will be that numerous – and Abram believed God

There is something about a star filled sky at night.

Have you ever had a deep conversation with someone you care about on a starry night?

Maybe take a long walk somewhere where there aren’t a lot of lights so you can see the stars

Maybe you lie down and just look up at the sky together.

For some reason it seems taylor made for deep thought if alone

Or deep conversations if you are with someone

Maybe its the testimony of God’s creation – puts me in Awe of God’s glory

Because of the vastness of the sky, and the stars that you know are millions of miles away, but its like you could almost reach out and touch them

Alex and I used to get up a cpl hours early and take long walks before the sun came up

Some of our best talks

You know what I think? I think God made it that way. I think he made starry nights especially for deep thought and deep conversations

I think that is why he took Abraham outside to show him the stars and remind him of HIS Power, so when he made Abraham the Promise, Abraham would see the promise in light of God’s power, and he believed God

It’s that promise, made by God to Abraham and his seed on a starry night so long ago that Paul is talking about in our passage today

Galatians 3: 15-18 (NIV) 15 Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

1. Nature of the Promise: Irrevocable

15 Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case.

Paul gives his readers an illustration from everyday life – something preachers often do

The human covenant that he refers to would be like a will

Now many of us have wills. A will defines our inheritance.

My parents have a will – changed when I went into the family business, stake in Co.

Changed back when I left the family business

This IS NOT that kind of will

What we would refer to as an irrevocable TRUST – like a WILL that cannot be changed in any way, added to, or canceled.

It is IRON-CLAD, to give people involved a sense of peace that the document cannot be messed with no matter what kind of games people try to play.

It’s funny how people can act when there is a significant inheritance involved

A will like that is like an un-breakable promise.

And Paul is saying that God’s promises to Abraham are like this irrevocable trust

IRON-CLAD

Once it is duly established, it’s written in stone – cannot be changed.