05/20/2007
UNDERSTANDING GOD’S LAW (Gal 3:19-25)
Wanting something to work a certain way when it is designed for something else
Have you ever thought you had something figured out, thought you had it down, only to find out that you had it wrong the whole time?
ILLUSTRATION (mine was way too specific, plug in your own illustration here)
The Jews thought they had the Law figured out.
They knew that the Law they had was from God, at Mt. Sinai God had carved the 10 commandments on stone tablets himself, and given the Law to his people through Moses the mediator
They had a set of rules from God, and to them it seemed simple enough
Follow these rules to the letter and God will accept you as righteous.
Nobody can follow all of the rules all of the time, but you do the best you can, right?
The more you get right, the more righteous you are to God, (and everyone else watching)
They were God’s people, Gods chosen. They had it all figured out.
They saw Gentiles as a little less than themselves, actually a lot less. The Gentiles were sinners, they hadn’t been given the Law like the Jews had.
Then Jesus came along, and he showed amazing knowledge and wisdom, and he taught like one who has authority,
They saw him perform miracles, then when some Jewish teachers of the law asked him why he was hanging out with tax collectors and sinners, he shocked them, shook them to the ground –
Mt 9: 13 But go and learn what this means: ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Hos 6: 6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
Jesus sums up the main message of Galatians in 5 words. Paul wrote an entire letter, a book with 6 chapters. I have been preaching on Galatians since February and we are not quite half way through, and Jesus says it with 5 words
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice”
“Acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.”
It is not about some external act, it’s not about what you can do, its not about you
IT is about Him, acknowledging who HE is and what HE can do
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This was VERY HARD for the Jews to accept.
They had been trying to use the law to be acceptable to God for many Centuries
They thought they had it all figured out.
Even Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah had a hard time letting go of the Law as a means to righteousness
That is where the false teachers in Galatia were coming from:
They tried to Add the Law to the Salvation of Grace offered by Christ
Salvation as a free gift from God, by grace and mercy?
That was offensive – it offended their sense of Fairness
Jesus even said – I didn’t come for the righteous, I came to call the SINNERS
Here they were, living and working the best they can under the Law, and Jesus comes along and says salvation is a free gift, not earned, and he will give it to anyone he chooses, anyone who will respond in faith to the gospel
Doesn’t seem fair does it?
We do the same thing today –
Have you ever had a conversation like this:
So if Osama Bin Laden accepted Christ on his death bed, do you really think that makes him the same as me?
Just as loved by Jesus, just as saved, just as worthy of Gods mercy?
Its just not fair. -- Thankfully, God is not fair, not fair at all
Trust me we don’t want fair. Fair would be for all of us to be condemned forever
Thankfully God shows us mercy and Grace – through faith in Christ
Not by the Law, the Law cannot save us, that has been made clear by Paul
What good then, is the law, what purpose does it serve?
That is a natural question to follow this discovery, and it is asked in our passage
Gal 3: 19-25 (NIV) 19 What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. 21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. 23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
PRAY
1. The Law EXPOSES & INTENSIFIES our Sin
19 What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.
The law has a two-fold purpose: one purpose is civil, the other purpose spiritual
CIVIL
The civil purpose of the law is simply to restrain the wickedness of evil men.
Every good civil law is based on God’s law, and God has ordained Government and civil laws to punish crime / evil
Like the iron bars of a cage keep the wild lion or the bear from rampaging and tearing to pieces everyone in their path,
The law, like a prison keeps the wickedness of sin from tearing through our society destroying everything in its path.
The law brings about some order, some measure of obedience through fear of punishment.
In no way does it bring about righteousness, but the Law is intended by God
For the preservation of all things
Especially for the good of the gospel, that the message of Jesus won’t be hindered too much by the chaos of wickedness
SPIRITUAL
The second purpose of the law is spiritual, and this is what Paul is addressing here in this passage.
Paul says the law was added because of transgressions.
The Law didn’t cause transgressions, it exposes them
There was sin before the Law,
There was envy, and lying, and hate and contempt of God, and Rebellion
The law exposes our sin, brings us face to face with it like a mirror it shows us who we really are. – shows us how short we fall in measuring up to the standard of God.
The standard of God is Perfection, because the law is a reflection of God’s own Character
The Law shows us that we are nothing like God
We are not Righteous, we fall way short
The False teachers argued that the law corrected sinfulness.
God’s word says otherwise.
The Law merely makes visible what was already true inside of us
Evil and hateful rebellion against God inside each one of us
Dragged out into the light of Day by the God’s Law
The law doesn’t correct sin – on the contrary, when we are confronted by the law, our sin increases:
Ro 5: 20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase.
Ro 7: 5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death
The law arouses our sinful passions.
Think about it – as soon as we are given a rule, what is our first instinct?
If I were to make a new rule – No one is allowed to touch my car.
I take pride in my shiny car and I don’t want your fingerprints on it.
If it is parked right outside, as you leave and walk by my car, what pops into your head
I’m going to touch Jim’s car.
He thinks he’s going to tell me what to do
In fact, I’m going to smear dirt all over it
I’ll show him
Some of you are thinking about touching my car right now – aren’t you?
The Law arouses our sinful passions.
The rebellion and insubordination of the human heart intensifies and expands as it hears the law. Because of our sinful nature
To the false teachers in Galatia, they saw the law like a weed killer
Put some law on your sin, kills some weeds of sin, put a lot of law on, kill them all.
But God’s word here shows us that the law is really more like fertilizer for our sin
The law exposes sin and causes it to multiply
2. The Law EXALTS / ELEVATES the Promise (19-20)
The law because of
19...transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.
Another purpose of the law is to cause us to long for the fulfillment of the Promise
The law points us to the coming of the Seed, the coming of the Messiah
We cannot live up to the law, and that should build in us a desire for something more
For something better
A longing for the fulfillment of the Promise
The Law did not replace the promise, and it did not change the promise,
The law elevates the promise, because the Promise is clearly superior, clearly better than the Law
Paul shows the inferiority of the law by saying that it came through inferior mediators,
Angels and Moses.
The promise on the other hand, had no mediator,
The promise came directly from God
The nature of the Law is for man to keep his side of the bargain, the keep the law
And we already know how well we do at that – we fall short
The keeping of the promise is God’s responsibility, not ours
And God never fails.
The Promise trumps the Law
That doesn’t mean the Law is bad
It’s like an X-ray when you hurt yourself
An X-ray shows us what is wrong, it identifies the problem
The law is not opposed to the Grace of God any more than an x-ray is opposed to healing
The x-ray cannot repair what is wrong, but it exposes the problem, and points to the solution necessary for healing
3. The Law ENHANCES / ENRICHES the Gospel
. 21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
That very question is asked
Paul says that if the law could save you, then it would have
But clearly, the law does not give you life.
Du 31: 26 "Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a witness against you.
The law is a witness against us, against our sin
It brings with it the full weight of God’s judgement down on every transgressor
It makes us a prisoner. Locked up, closed in on all sides
With no way to escape – not by any means within ourselves
This is absolutely necessary to drive people to the gospel
Unless we realize that we are living in violation of God’s law and that we are under his Judgement, there is no reason to be saved
Grace is meaningless to a person who doesn’t feel inadequate or in need of help
The purpose of the law is to drive us to despair over our sins,
To cause us to see our greatest need
The best seasoning is Hunger
The law points to a greater need
The law makes us long for the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham
It points us to faith, to belief, to the Grace of God
4. The Law ESCORTS us to Christ
23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
The Law makes a great mirror, but a terrible washcloth
The mirror shows us our true condition
By it we can see just how dirty and in need of cleansing we have become
It drives us to soap and water
But we don’t take the mirror down off of the wall and use it to clean ourselves
It can’t clean us, no matter how bad we need it or how hard we try.
The law, even when it is kept to the best of a person’s ability
It nothing more than a prison cell on death row
It shows us our guilty helplessness, our complete lack of righteousness
Our total spiritual and moral depravity
It shows us our need of being rescued, our need for a Redeemer
The NIV says the law was put in charge, some translations call the law a schoolmaster or teacher. The word paul uses here is for a slave, called a Pedagogue, used by Greek or Roman families , His duty was to supervise or be in charge of a young boy on behalf of the parents. He would take him to school, watch over them, even scolding and disciplining the boy. But it was not a permanent position. The boy would eventually become a man and have his freedom, and the relationship changed, and the Pedagogue had no more authority or control over the boy.
That is what the Law is like.
It watches over us, disciplines us, and escorts us to the Cross
At the Cross we meet the one who can Redeem us from our prison of sin
At the Cross we meet Jesus, who paid the price for our sins with his blood ON the Cross
Its not about what we can do, we can do nothing, the law shows us how short we fall
And when you see your need,
and you turn to Him, and you believe on Jesus as the risen Son of God,
asking Him for Forgiveness of your sins.
Accepting His payment on the cross for your sins
Giving Him control of your life, stepping down from the throne of your life and putting Jesus there where he belongs.
When you do that and you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior,
Then the Law has done its duty, and it has no more authority over you
You are free in Christ, you have the freedom to live your life for Jesus.
No more prison bars, no more shackles and chains.
Oh, you still have your sinful nature, you still fall short of God’s Glory, of God’s standard
But you also have the Holy Spirit of God living inside you, making you more and more like Jesus day by day.
Prison bars are replaced by Freedom
Despair is replaced by Hope
Open rebellion and hostility is replaced by reconciliation and Relationship
A relationship with the creator of the Universe
A relationship with God Almighty
Through his Son Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh
By God’s Holy Spirit who lives in you.
