Galatians 3:26-29 Children of the Most High God

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 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, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Verse 29 of Galatians chapter 3 calls the children of God “heirs according to the promise.” This divine promise has always been the chief inheritance of the people of God. Their earthly state can be nothing but inferior, limited, and unsatisfying; their hearts constantly desiring something beyond the earth. Accordingly, they have always held the divine promise as their comfort and most prized possession. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all of the Old Testament saints looking forward, not having received the promises in their fulfillment, are heirs together of the same promise with us. The great promise to them was that of a Savior and it is ours as well – a Savior to us who is salvation – a personal Savior – who in proper time was born to be the man Jesus Christ. The possessions of man consist of his attainments and his expectations. A Christian’s earthly attainments are very little; however, it is his expectations which constitute his main and most important wealth. These are divine promises of which you have become an heir! We are all partakers of the same great and precious promises. For the accomplishment of these, we wait, and look, and labor.

Are you an heir according to the promise? This week meditate upon your inheritance very carefully. Consider first, that it is all of grace; as such secondly, your condition is a sure one, which should fill you with an overflowing joy. Thirdly, consider that your state is a most exalted one; you are seated in heavenly places, so you ought to be holy. Lastly set your affections upon your sure inheritance looking forward to the day of its consummation in faith. Take to heart the four traits just mentioned – grace, joy, holiness, and faith; are these traits distinctive in your life?

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Amos 9:1-6 Hiding in Hell

I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said:
“Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,
And break them on the heads of them all.
I will slay the last of them with the sword.
He who flees from them shall not get away,
And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.
“Though they dig into hell,
From there My hand shall take them;
Though they climb up to heaven,
From there I will bring them down;

And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel ,
From there I will search and take them;
Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea,
From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them;
Though they go into captivity before their enemies,
From there I will command the sword,
And it shall slay them.
I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.”

The Lord GOD of hosts,
He who touches the earth and it melts,
And all who dwell there mourn;

All of it shall swell like the River,
And subside like the River of Egypt .
He who builds His layers in the sky,
And has founded His strata in the earth;

Who calls for the waters of the sea,
And pours them out on the face of the earth —
The LORD is His name.

The vision of the autumnal presentation of ripe fruit is here succeeded by a fifth and final vision revealed to the prophet Amos. As though a veil has been removed, in this vision we find the chief Agent of judgment to be the Lord Himself. Not insignificantly Amos has hitherto used the covenant name “Yahweh,” but here in verse 1 uses “Adonai,” to describe the Lord standing by the altar; this serves as a sign that it is as judge and ruler over all that He visits Israel . The Sovereign Lord of the universe has now replaced the human offering of ripe fruit beside the altar. Alec Motyer writes in The Bible Speaks Today (©1974 Inter-Varsity) Commentary on Amos: The counterfeit is replaced by the real, the human by the divine, the king who had come to prop us his dynasty by the King who had come to throw it down. The day of pretence was over and the war on pretence had begun.

Once God comes in wrath there is no escape for man; there is no supernatural or natural refuge where he may run. There is one thing that is worse than death itself, and that is the wrath of an angry God. Under such wrath, death itself may even be sought as an escape (see Jer 8:3, Hos 10:8, Luke 23:27-31, Rev 6:16-17). It is the essence of the human’s sinful nature to try to escape encountering God. From the very first sin, after which Adam and Eve sought to hide themselves from God, mankind has ever since sought to throw a cloak of religion and pretence over his self-governed life. People use God and religion to cover their own selfish desires. But the Psalmist knew of God’s omnipresence (Psalm 139:7-8): Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

Cross References: Exodus 20:18-19, 1 Kings 8:27, Jer. 23:23-24, Jonah 1:3-4,10

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Amos 8:11-14 A Famine (Pt. 2)

John MacArthur writes: Some observers might think the evangelical movement is larger and healthier today than it has ever been. After all, there are more megachurches than ever, some boasting attendance figures exceeding 20,000 people per week. Massive pep rallies, enormous songfests, and stadium sized men’s meetings have become fairly commonplace in the modern evangelical culture. He continues saying that nonetheless, there is a spiritual famine in the land which he links to the dearth of biblical preaching.

We have found this to be the case in ancient Israel in the 8th century B.C. during the time which Amos was sent by God to prophesy. Despite vibrant worship, great religious zeal, and lofty numbers of people gathering at the three worship centers of Israel – Bethel, Dan and Beersheba – Amos announced that the days were coming when God would send a famine on the land, a famine not of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. We found that this coming spiritual famine would be so severe that young and old alike would stagger from coast to coast looking for a word, but would not find it.

Are we in such a time today? I am convinced we are! But how can this be, when ‘Christianity’ appears to be prospering so? After all, Contemporary Christian Music is the fastest-growing segment of the recording industry. Christian publishing has become big business; a few evangelical novels have even made it to the top of the New York Times best-seller list. Evangelicals as a group seem to be enjoying more clout in our nation than perhaps since our nation’s inception. It seems to our eyes to be anything but a famine.

But after a closer look at the fruit that is being produced by the modern church, it shortly becomes clear to the discerning Christian that the signs of such a famine abound. Pastor Steven J. Lawson writes, “[in their] new way of doing church, exposition is being replaced by entertainment, preaching by performances, doctrine with drama, and theology with theatrics.”

With no spiritual sustenance offered from the pulpit, the church has gone into ‘survival mode,’ staggering and seeking a word from God in every place but where God has ordained it to be found. While ‘boomers’ and ‘busters’ have settled into their seeker-friendly, purpose-driven megachurches, ‘Gen Xers,’ ‘Ys’ and ‘Millenials,’ exasperated by the ways of their parents, are ‘doing church’ in emerging fashion. Seeking to conform to the changes in culture, the emergent church has adopted a post-modern philosophy where there are no longer any cold hard facts, but only warm, fuzzy subjectivity. Experience and relativism trumps Biblical Truth, which ultimately makes saving faith in Jesus Christ unnecessary and meaningless. Meanwhile, the hyper-spirituality of the signs-and-wonders movements have sent a generation of people literally staggering from Pensacola to Toronto seeking gold dust, gold fillings, laughter, barking and howling. Add to this the staggering of the church, up and down the radio dial, and internet, and it becomes implicitly clear – there is indeed a famine of the true word of the Lord in our day!

Galatians 3:19-25 Law to Grace

What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, 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 have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

John MacArthur has written:

After showing the superiority of the covenant of promise, Paul shows the inferiority of the covenant of law, first in regard to its purpose, then in regard to its mediator, and finally in regard to his accomplishment. Why the law then? What is the purpose? It was added because of transgressions,(vs.19). In light of Paul’s convincing argument up to this point, the obvious question would be, why the law then? If salvation has always been by faith and never by works. And if the covenant of promise to Abraham was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, what purpose did the law have? Paul’s answer is direct and sobering: ‘It was added because of transgressions.’ The purpose of the law was to demonstrate to man his total sinfulness, his inability to please God by his own works, and his need for mercy and grace. The law was added to show the depth of man’s transgressions against God. It was given to drive him to desperate guilt and the awareness of His need for the deliver. As the Apostle explains a few verses later, the law was a “Tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by Christ. That we may be justified by faith.” (vs 24). The impossible demands of the law were meant to compel men to recognize their violation of God’s standards and to seek His Grace through faith in His Son.

This week seek the Lord in prayer and ask Him has the law really done its work in your life? Questions to ask: Have I seen my sinfulness? Have I seen my inability to please God by my own works? Have I been driven to desperate guilt and the awareness of my need for the Savior? Has the law truly led you to Christ? Study Romans, chapter 7 this week for a greater understanding of the law.

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