 Good morning. Let's begin our class today with the word of prayer. If I could have someone on screen pray for us. Brother Abu Bakar, I'm not very sure how to pronounce your name, but then you know if you could unmute and pray for us even as we start the class please. Thank you my good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for hosting our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. How do I pronounce your name? Abu Bakar. Is it or what's the correct pronunciation? It's correct. It's correct. Abu Bakar. Alright. Okay. So Galatians chapters one and two is what we did last week. We saw that Paul is very concerned for the Galatian believers because there are powerful influential Judaizers who have come among them and are urging them that belief in Jesus alone is not enough. They would have to add works. They would have to add the mosaic law to their daily walk. Otherwise they will not be able to make it into heaven. Now most of these Judaizers were people in the church. They were a group in the church who believed that salvation has to be through Jesus as well as the mosaic law. And of course there were other Judaizers who wanted to promote Judaism as such. But most of the opposition was actually from within the church itself. We know where you had the church in Jerusalem, where you had Paul's wolves coming in. And so these people were now moving to other cities, to other churches and trying to influence the believers even in those places. So Judaizers, when we use the term Judaizers, we are talking about people who were part of the church but now they had strayed away from the true gospel and now they believe that you must even follow the mosaic law as well if you wanted salvation. There were some Judaizers like Paul had been a Judaizer earlier before he became a believer where his main goal was to promote Judaism, promote the Jewish faith and customs. So whenever we are using this term in our Judaizers, we are talking about people mainly in the church itself who had a false belief system but also there were Judaizers from outside who would take advantage of the situation and they would try to influence the churches and break them up. So those were the kind of people who were attacking the Galatian church now and so Paul writes saying, the gospel that I have presented to you is a true gospel. This is not something that I received from human hands. In fact, I didn't even go to the disciples of Jesus and asked to be trained by them. Whatever I have learned, I have learned it directly from Jesus Christ himself and he's the one who taught me and commissioned me to go forth and share this gospel. So continue to trust in it, do not stray away from it. So he gives a rather lengthy defense of two chapters talking about how he has been commissioned directly by God and so he is trustworthy. So after spending two chapters doing his best to win over their confidence and trust, now he moves into the main question which is there in their minds because these influential people who are very learned have come from places like Jerusalem and the other major churches and now they are teaching these Galatians that they must respect the Mosaic law and keep it. So the people are confused. They're wondering, yes, the law is something that has been there for centuries and God, first of all, gave it at Mount Sinai. He's the one who issued the Mosaic law. So maybe these people are right. Maybe we should be following it and so they are rather confused. So this letter would have helped them a lot. So now in these next two chapters, chapters three and four, Paul takes a lot of time to show them why that law is no longer necessary. It's redundant for them now. They do not need the law anymore. Now it's going to be just grace alone. So he takes these two chapters, chapters three and four to show why the law is now redundant. They do not need to follow it. They do not need to practice it and in no way can it contribute to their salvation. So we would be seeing the very interesting things that he says regarding the law in these two chapters and chapter four in fact ends with that example that he uses of Hagar and Sera where he compares them to the law and the promise. And so there are many things that he talks about, elaborates upon so that the Galatians will have a clear picture in their minds and in case they have any wrong ideas, those would be removed. So he starts chapter three by scolding them and these are the words that he uses. So if we could have someone read out for us the first five verses. Galatians chapter three verses one to five, please. Can I say on chapter three verse one to five? O foolish Galatians, who are the speech to you? Can you not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has seen? Evidently say it first. Corresponds among you. His only will, Highest of you, receive me destroyed by the work of the Lord or by hearings of faith. Are ye so foolish having begun in the Spirit? Are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Are ye so far so many things in vain? If it is yet in vain. See therefore that in his praise to you, to you destroy and work a miracle among you. Do ye eat by the work of the Lord or by the hearings of faith? Amen. So here he starts off with the words, you foolish Galatians. I think it's in your notes that it is mentioned that in the J.B. Phillips translation, the English Phillips translation, this verse is translated as, O you dear idiots of Galatia, rather harsh wording, but that word foolish which Paul is actually using in the Greek language over there. That's a Greek word which talks about someone who has seen the truth, who has understood the truth and now very, very foolishly inspired of knowing the truth is walking away from it. So it's that kind of a foolishness. There are people who may be ignorant altogether and so in a way you can't really blame them for their foolishness because they are not even aware of the truth. But here this word, the Greek word that is being used to describe the Galatians here, it's talking about a category of people who saw the truth, understood it. And now in spite of knowing the truth, they are walking away. So it's talking about that kind of foolishness. So he says, you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. He was portrayed as crucified. It was explained why he was crucified. It was explained that the sacrifice that he has offered on the cross is completely adequate in every way. All of that has been so clearly portrayed to them. And now after knowing the truth, like a bunch of Anoteos people, they're all straying away from the truth. So he says in verse 4, he says, have you experienced so much in vain? If it really was in vain, because you see, it was not easy for these Galatians to become believers. Those of them who had come from other faiths, they would have faced a lot of opposition from their relatives, from their families. As for the Jews among them who have chosen to become Christ followers, they would have faced so much persecution from the synagogues. So it's not an easy decision which these people made to become part of the Church of Christ. So he says, you have gone through so much. And now it's all that's going to be in vain. Are you going back to the law? Is what he's saying over here. So he says in verse 5, I ask you, does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law? Or by your believing? I mean, when he's saying to these Galatians, when you first had the salvation experience, when you first came to Jesus and made a commitment to believe in Him and become His follower, at that time, how was the Holy Spirit given to you? Did Jesus Christ assist you and say, OK, you've done this many good works. So now I shall impart my Holy Spirit to you. Was that how it happened? No, not at all. They just believed in what Jesus Christ had done on the cross for them. They were so glad that He has redeemed them. They accepted it for themselves and they made a commitment that they would walk with Him. And just because they believed and were willing to make that commitment to follow Him, He just freely generously gave Him the Holy Spirit. So it was by believing, it was by their faith that the Holy Spirit was imparted to them. And so in the same way, whatever miracles have taken place in their homes, in their lives up to now, it has just been because they have placed their faith in this Jesus Christ. It's not because of any good works which they have done that miracles were granted to them. So he says, how have you received the Holy Spirit and all the miracles that have been at work in your life? How did all of that happen for you? Was it by keeping the law? Or was it by just simply believing what Jesus Christ has done on the cross for you? And so he says, so also Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Even when you're thinking about Abraham, you know, your biological ancestor about whom you are so proud of and in whom you have placed such faith in this Abrahamic lineage in which you have placed so much faith. If you look at Abraham, he himself, how did he get his righteousness? How was he declared righteous? It was because he believed in God, not because of a bunch of good works that he had done. So Paul says, when this has been the case all along, when it is by faith in Jesus that you have received the Holy Spirit, you have received miracles that even your biological ancestor Abraham, whatever he received, the covenant which he received, it was all just based on faith. It had nothing to do with works. So he says, this being the background, why would you want to stray away from the truth now? Okay, so this is a lesson that is very important for us to grasp for our own Christian lives today. Because when the salvation messages preach to us, we believe, you know, the Holy Spirit enables us because when faith comes through the Holy Spirit. So he enables us to believe in Jesus Christ and we place our faith in him. And that is how we come into the family of Christ. We gain our salvation experience through faith. So we have no doubts in our minds that the Holy Spirit is given to us simply by faith. I mean, we know that so well, salvation, the Holy Spirit, this new redeemed life, all of it is simply through faith. We have no doubts about it. But then when it comes to answered prayers, when we wait upon the Lord for miracles, we somehow suddenly start thinking, oh, now I have to work for this. If I am reading my Bible for this many hours, if I am praying every day, if I'm contributing money to the church, if I'm serving and helping the poor, then there's a chance that the Lord will grant miracles. Then maybe he will answer my prayers. That's such a wrong thought process. So just like Paul says here so clearly, it is by believing the same way the Holy Spirit is given through believing, miracles are also granted to you through believing, not through works. Because a lot of Christians go into this either begging mode or the bribery mode to get their prayers answered. What do we mean by the begging mode? They think, okay, if I say a long prayer and weep and cry and beg God and say, oh Lord, please, I know I'm rotten, but please have mercy upon me, give me this miracle, I really need it. If you beg and beg and beg, then maybe the Lord will feel a little tenderness and compassion in his heart and say, okay, because this person is crying so much, I feel sorry for them, so I will grant them. Is the wrong belief that some Christians have? So they go into the begging mode. Others, they go into the bribery mode. Lord, I'm going to donate this much to the church and because I'm doing that, you multiply my finances, oh Lord. Or they may say, Lord, I'm going to be very helpful in serving people, I will go and do good works for them. So because I'm being such a selfless person, please answer my prayers. Now that would be the bribery mode. Answers to prayers are not gained through either bribing God or begging him. No, these are free gifts that are granted to us simply because we have placed our faith in the finished work of the cross. We need to just absorb that into our very being that what was done on the cross was absolutely sufficient. There's no way we could make ourselves approved and qualify ourselves to get anything from God. It was all just granted to us free. He did the work on the cross. He made the sacrifice. He atoned for our sins. He did it all so that we can receive from Him freely. So we should never be under the impression that we have to work to get an answer out of Him, that we have to do some works to get a miracle from Him. These are all things that are being given to us free. I mean, do we really believe that we can do some works that are so great that we can earn salvation and earn help from Him? No, nothing that we do will ever qualify. It's all just a free gift granted to us. And so our focus should be on trusting Him and reading His verses in the Bible again and again, meditating upon them, absorbing those into our very system and believing that yes, what He has said in His Word, He will fulfill just that believing, just that strong faith that the finished work of the cross is sufficient for every need that I and my family will ever have, if we can just believe in that, in this finished work of the cross. Because that work of the cross, it was not an incomplete one. When God, when Jesus Christ had finished doing what all that He needed to do, He said those words, tell a story, He said it is finished. So whatever we require is going to be given to us when we place our faith in this Jesus who did that for us. We are not going to receive things from Him by begging or by bribing Him. It's just a very wrong way of approaching the Lord and Satan can exploit the situation and take advantage when we use either of those two wrong votes of approaching God. We should rather instead approach Him in faith. That would be the right way to approach the Lord with all of our needs, whatever we may require. Now coming to the verse 6, which we just touched upon. So Paul says, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now this of course is referring to the Genesis chapter 15 event because that's basically when his faith is credited to him as righteousness by God. So if we were to go to Genesis chapter 15 verses 5 and 6, we don't need to read them out. But then you know if you were to look at those verses, that is basically the incident where Abraham has just finished a very successful war against some very powerful kings. So the kings who fought with him against the enemy kings, they want to offer him a material gift. In the sense they want to give him some of the booty from the war which they have won. And then at that time Abraham says, no, I don't need anything from you all. God will reward me in His time and in His way for what I have done. So no, I don't need to take anything from humans. The Lord is very pleased with His attitude in dealing with this. So after that the Lord comes to Him and the Lord makes a promise and He says, you know what? I'm going to bless you greatly. So at that time Abraham, he says, Lord whatever you do for me, it's really not going to matter much because one day when I'm dead, it will all go to my slave because I do not have an heir. That may sound like a strange thing to us today because we have a very modern concept of slaves. But then back then slaves were very highly respected, very highly educated people. I mean a person would pay a lot of money, a huge amount to purchase a slave like that. Someone was been trained, someone was highly skilled and so they would purchase their services for the rest of their lives. Once they choose to be bought by somebody, they will be serving with that household for the rest of their life. So Abraham over here is speaking about someone like that, some man whom he has purchased who has been in charge of all his dealings for many, many years. So because now Abraham does not even have a natural heir. Once he is dead, this man who has been running their household for so many years, a trusted man, the slave, he will inherit everything. So at that point of time, the Lord says to him, no, this prosperity and this blessing which I'm speaking upon your life, it will come not to the slave but to someone who is your own flesh and blood. You will give birth to a son, you will have an heir and the Lord takes him out. He says step out of your tent, look up at the sky. Now of course in our polluted cities, when we look up at the sky, at the most maybe we would see one star or two stars. And so the Lord would say you'll have as many children as there are stars in the sky. Maybe you would count that one or two stars and think okay fine, maybe I'll have a couple of kids. But then back then when you didn't have the cities which are now lit up with electric lights, and you only had darkness and there was no pollution, if you looked up into the sky, you would not be able to count the number of stars there are over there. I mean it would take you hours to count the patch of sky which you can see. And the Lord points out that kind of a sky to him and says, in the same way you can't even start counting the number of stars there are, that is the number of descendants that you will have. So here is a man standing there, he's quite aged, doesn't have children and God is talking to him not about one child but about a numerous descendants who will not even be counted, whom you will not be able to count. So when the Lord speaks words like that, this man just trusts, just believes what the Lord is saying and therefore when the Lord sees that kind of faith, he credits it to him as righteousness. And so Paul is now over here in the book of Galatians in chapter 3, Galatians chapter 3 verse 7 Paul says, understand then that those who have faith are children of Abraham. You know what? You believers are the children of that Abraham. So some of them may be biological descendants because they are of Jewish background, as for the Gentiles, they too are children of Abraham by faith. In the same way Abraham trusted the Lord, these believers have also trusted the Lord and so in that sense, even though they may not be biological descendants of Abraham, by faith they too are the spiritual descendants of Abraham. So he says, this is who you are, this is your lineage, Abrahamic lineage by faith. So you people don't need to go back to the law is what he is saying. And then here, if we were to maybe look at verses 10 to, maybe up to 10 to 14. So if you could have someone read out for us please, Galatians 3, 10 to 14. Yeah, if someone could read out for us, Galatians chapter 3 verses 10 to 14. Galatians chapter 3 verses 10 to 14. For as many as the works of the Lord are under the course of what is written. The course is everyone that continually, not in all things which are written in the book of the Lord to do them. But that no man is justified by the law. In the title course, it is evident for the judge shall be, shall live by faith. And the law is not of it, but the murder of the, shall live in them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written. The course is everyone that anger on the free, that the blessings of the Abram might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Yeah, yes. So there are two, three arguments that now he's going to start making to explain why they don't need to go back to the law. This is the first argument that he's presenting. He says, you know, you are so eagerly going back to the law, thinking that it can help you. But don't you know, people who go to the law are actually under a curse. The law places a curse upon them. So you are going to the law as if it's going to save you. But what's going to happen when you go to the law? The law will place a curse on you because you're unable to keep it. You keep breaking it. So obviously a curse comes upon you. So you think that by going to the law, going back to the law, you will get salvation, but rather you would not end up with salvation but a curse. So that's the point that he brings out over here. So he says, all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse as it is written. Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law. You know, because you have, you must keep all the 613 mosaic laws every single time. If you break even one of those laws even once, it's equal to your having broken all the 630. So therefore you're definitely cursed. Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written. And that is clarified also in James chapter 2 verse 10 where the same thing is repeated. In James chapter 2 verse 10 where it says, whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. So it's very very clear. Anyone who goes to the law, they're going to have a curse upon their heads because they're going to be unable to keep it. Therefore, the provision that God made for people is mentioned in verse 11 that it says, clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God because the righteous will live by faith. And then he says in verse 12, the law is not based on faith. On the contrary, it says the person who does these things will live by them. That is, you will live by the laws. So two options are available here. You can either live by faith or you can live by the laws. If you want to live by the laws, you better keep all 630 every single time, not break even one. So if you think you can take that route and really successfully do that, fine, live by the law. Otherwise, your only hope is to live by faith. So these are the two options that are very plainly Paul presents before them. Because he's basically basing this on Leviticus chapter 18 verse 5 where it says, keep my decrees and laws for the person who obeys them will live by them. So you must obey all the 613 laws every single time, never break even one. And if you do that, you will live by them. Life will come to you through that by keeping all of those laws perfectly. But if we are human and we are not able to fulfill that law, then yes, we automatically come under the curse. The law itself, this occurs on us because we have been unable to fulfill it. So therefore he says, the righteous, they live by faith. Now, in the New Testament, you have this phrase, the righteous will live by faith, repeated thrice. I mean, this concept which is first presented in the Book of Habakkuk is such an important concept that the New Testament writers pick it up from the Book of Habakkuk and they repeat it three times in the New Testament. And each time that they use this particular phrase in the New Testament, they emphasize one aspect of this particular phrase. So I mean, they emphasize three different aspects of this particular phrase. So maybe we should take a few minutes to look at this because it widens our understanding about living by faith. So if we were to look at the original verse where you have this mentioned for the first time, that would be in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4. Now over there in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4, basically what Habakkuk says over there is that he says, you know, there are two ways of living. There are people who have no desire to be upright. They are evil and wicked in their ways. So, you know, they will live according to the consequences of their unrighteous deeds. On the other hand, the righteous person, how will he live? He will live by his faith in the sense he will be living in a way that is honorable to God, which relies upon God as being good and worthy of worship. So a person, so he's just mentioning that verse at a very superficial level. He just simply says, the enemy is puffed up, his desires are not upright. So he has evil desires and he will, you know, Monday reap the consequences of his evil desires. On the other hand, the righteous person, he will live by his faithfulness or by his faith or his faithfulness, you know, it can be translated either way. Basically, this will be a person who will place his trust in the Lord and choose to live in a godly manner in an obedient manner. That is it. That's basically what Habakkuk 2.4 says. But when the New Testament writers, you know, mention this phrase in the New Testament, they give it a whole new angle. So here, when they are talking about living by faith, they are not talking about just doing good works. They are talking about putting faith in the work of the cross. So they give this verse an entirely new meaning when they bring it into the New Testament. So this phrase is mentioned in Romans chapter 1 verses 16 to 17. It's mentioned in Galatians 3 verses 10 to 11, you know, which is what we have looked at right now. And it's also mentioned in Hebrews chapter 10 verses 26 to 27. So just to very briefly, you know, put this across. So when it is first mentioned in Romans chapter 1 verses 16 to 17, which aspect of this particular phrase is being emphasized? Let's maybe read it out. So if we could have someone read out for us, Romans chapter 1 verses 16 and 17, please. Romans 1, 16 and 17. So I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jews fast and also for the Greeks. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith through faith as it is written. So just shall live by faith. Amen. Amen. So the emphasis over here is on what you are going to receive, you know, by placing your faith in the finished work of the cross. You will be, you will live in the sense you will have eternal life. So it says in verse 16, those who believe in this gospel and are not ashamed of it, it brings them salvation. It brings them eternal life. And in verse 17, the same thing is repeated. You know, it's a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. So right from the time you place your trust in this work of the cross, right into eternity, right up to the time of your death and beyond. It is this faith which you have placed in Jesus, you know, which will enable you to live, which will enable you to have your eternal life. So the emphasis over here in Romans 1, 16 to 17 is on the eternal life, which faith will bring to you. In Hebrews chapter 10 verses 26 to 27, there, the emphasis is upon what kind of a person will live by faith. So it talks about this emphasis is more upon being righteous. What exactly does righteousness mean? Is it just works or is it works which are based on the finished work of the cross in the sense. Now that Christ has done this for us and has won us to salvation. Now out of gratitude, we choose to walk in a new way. Christ has given us a second chance by sacrificing himself. So we take hold of the second chance and we don't live the way we used to live before salvation. Now we choose to live in a new and righteous way. So in Hebrews chapter 10 verses 26 to 27, the emphasis is on the first part of the phrase, the righteous. Who are the ones who will live by faith? It's the righteous ones, the ones who have chosen to walk in a new way. So that is emphasized. Now here when we come to the Galatians 3, 10 to 11, here the emphasis is upon the object of your faith. What are you placing your faith on? So over here in Galatians 3, 10 to 11, cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law. So the book of the law is going to be the object on which you're placing your faith and you're in big trouble because the book of the law is going to declare you as cursed. On the other hand, if the object of your faith is God and what he has done, then there is hope for you because you will be now depending on the finished work of Jesus. So the New Testament writers, they give additional meaning to the Habakkuk 2, 4 verse and each of those three passages dwells on one portion of that phrase and tries to bring out the emphasis which is there in this phrase. So that was just so that we would be aware of that. Okay, verses 13 and 14, which our brother has already read out for us. So it says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. He redeemed us. Why did he do this thing? Why did he become a curse for us? He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles. So none of us were able to keep the law, whether it's the mosaic law or whether it's just the law written on our hearts, none of us have been able to keep it. So we all stand condemned. We all stand cursed. But then Jesus Christ comes along and he is our perfect representative. He is able to keep the law completely and having kept it completely, the law declares him as yes, you have passed, you have fulfilled all that is required by those 613 laws you have kept and you have fulfilled. So the law declares him as righteous through the law. He's now perfect in everywhere. He's been declared perfect in the eyes of the law. So now Jesus looks at all his brothers and sisters who have failed to keep the law and who are under the curse and this is the offer which he makes. This is the offer which God the Father makes through Jesus Christ. So the offer is this. Jesus says, the law has declared me righteous. The law has declared me as perfect. Now I am willing to give this to my brothers and sisters and the curse which is upon their heads. I'm willing to take it upon mine. So on his head was resting the approval of God. The righteousness was I was resting upon his head upon our heads. What was resting the curse. So now Jesus makes an exchange the curse which is resting upon our heads. He takes it upon his head and therefore he becomes a curse for us. And now the righteousness which was upon his head that he transfers it to us. And when he makes the transfer now just like this Abraham who was blessed because of his faith we who the spiritual descendants of Abraham who have just placed our faith in Christ the same way he did we also are now going to walk into the blessings and the inheritance. So Paul over here is saying to these believers you know if you go back to the law you're just going back to a curse. On the other hand if you stay under the promise which Jesus Christ has made that he has redeemed us that we have a new life in him. If we hold onto this promise we actually walk into the blessings which were given to Abraham the same way that he walked into the blessings and into his inheritance by faith. We also can walk into the blessings and the inheritance through faith. Now these okay we do have time so yes let's get into that. So yeah if someone could read out for us verses 15 to 18 Galatians chapter 3 verses 15 to 18 please. Brother I speak in a manner of men though it is only a man is confident yet if it is confirmed no one annals or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made he does not say and to seeds as of many but of as of one and to your seed who is Christ. And this I say that the law which was 430 years later cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law it is no longer of promise but God gave it to Abraham by promise amen. Yes thank you so there's a lot packed in these verses. He says I'm going to use a human example which you all of us can understand he says. So he talks about a will or a contract which a human has made and he says you know this will which a human being makes we honor it when that person dies we make sure that whatever he has written in the will will be very carefully be carried out. So even though it's just a human agreement we honor it. That being the case when the divine God himself made a divine promise to Abraham don't you think he will be even more careful about keeping it when human contracts are honored so carefully will not a divine promise which was made be honored. So the promise which God made he made it to Abraham and he made it to his seed over here very clearly all clarifies and says you know that verse that Old Testament verse it says the promise was made to his seed and not just seeds so the meaning that actually Paul is trying to establish here is that when the covenant was first spoken to Abraham and Abraham believed in it at that time God was speaking to Abraham and God was through Abraham God was also speaking to his descendent Jesus Christ the covenant was not being spoken to all the physical descendants because it would there's a bigger plan that God had in mind the covenant is being spoken very directly regarding one particular seed through whom all that has been said is going to be fulfilled so in that sense the covenant when he spoke that day under the night sky when they were standing under the stars and God opened his mouth and he spoke that covenant was spoken to Abraham and through Abraham it was spoken down the ages to this particular seed this Jesus Christ who would come and become the perfect representative who would be able to keep all of the 613 laws and having done that you know would be able to redeem us so Christ fulfilled the law but when was this law in fact even given it was given 430 years after the promise was made so which is bigger which is greater the promise that was made to Abraham the divine promise that was made to Abraham and to Jesus that preceded the law by 430 years it was only 430 years later that the law came along at which point of time God said you know you people descendants of Abraham please start following this laws but the promise was given much before that and so here you know Paul is saying the promise is greater than the law the promise was made first long before the law even showed up on the scene so God who made that promise he will keep it and the law will not get in the way it will not get in between it can't stop the promise from being fulfilled and having made that kind of introduction he goes on to explain in greater detail what does he mean by this what is he saying what is the point that he is trying to make we see that in the following verses if someone could just read out only verses 19 and 20 please verses 19 and 20 Papas then does the law serve it was added because of transgression 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 yes so first God made a promise he made a divine promise and that promise when he made it it says in verse 20 mediator however implies more than one party but God is one here it's basically talking about how the law involved two parties on the other hand the promise involved only one party okay so that's basically the point which is being made so when God first initially made his promise to Abraham at that time he didn't attach any conditions he didn't say if you do this then I will keep my promise on the other hand if you fail to do this I will not keep my promise no no conditions at all were attached one single person God himself made the promise and the other party just simply had to believe they didn't need to do anything from their side to receive the promise which is why if you were to go back to Genesis 15 and if you were to look at those last few verses verses 17 and 18 where it talks about how this promise was how God kind of puts his stamp saying yes I will do this Genesis 15 17 to 18 it says when the sun had set and darkness had fallen a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham so two parties don't walk through those pieces of the sacrifice he was asked to cut a lot of animals I think a ram and a goat and a hyper and a couple of pigeons and don't really remember I mean if you were to look over there in the Genesis chapter 15 all the animals that he is asked to cut so he cuts each of them into two halves so the cut portions are placed on either side and as was the custom in those days two parties are supposed to walk through that as though they are declaring and saying if you and I don't keep our word if we don't keep the promise which we have made to each other maybe we killed maybe we cut into two pieces in the same way these sacrifices have been cut into two pieces that was the kind of understanding so this was supposed to walk through the cut portions of the sacrifice was supposed to signify that both of us are going to stay true to our promise we will keep our word and if we don't maybe we cut out so that was the kind of understanding that was supposed to be conveyed through this ceremony but when Abraham performs this ceremony God chooses to be the only person walking through Abraham is not when asked to walk through the two pieces so God unilaterally on his own confirms and says I will keep this promise no conditions are being attached I will do my side I will do whatever is required completely totally on my own the human cannot contribute anything towards the fulfillment of this promise I on my own shall fulfill this promise after God finished establishing this promise 430 years later the law was given and at that time that involved two parties in that law mosaic law which was given at Mount Sinai their conditions were attached God said if you will follow these 613 laws then I will bless you I will not allow the sicknesses of the Egyptians to come upon you I will grant you victory in war so there were conditions attached for the second one we will look at the details regarding that when we come back from our break