INTRO.- ILL.- One of golf’s immortal moments came when a Scotchman demonstrated the new game to President Ulysses Grant. Carefully placing the ball on the tee, he took a mighty swing. The club hit the turf and scattered dirt all over the President’s beard and surrounding vicinity, while the ball stayed on the tee. Again the Scotchman swung, and again he missed. The President waited patiently through six tries and then quietly stated, "There seems to be a fair amount of exercise in the game, but I fail to see the purpose of the ball." (I DO TOO!)
That was a pretty good response. Purpose is what we’re thinking about in this message, not the purpose of the golf ball but to start with, but the purpose of our lives.
Why are we here? We know how we got here, but what is the purpose for which God put us here? Have you come to a good conclusion for that question?
ILL.- John W. Gardner (October 8, 1912–February 16, 2002 - Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson) said it’s a rare and high privilege to help people understand the difference they can make -- not only in their own lives, but also in the lives of others, simply by giving of themselves.
Gardner tells of a cheerful old man who asked the same question of just about every new acquaintance he fell into conversation with: "What have you done that you believe in and you are proud of?"
He never asked conventional questions such as "What do you do for a living?" It was always, "What have you done that you believe in and are proud of?" It was an unsettling question for people who had built their self-esteem on their wealth or their family name or their exalted job title.
Not that the old man was a fierce interrogator. He was delighted by a woman who answered, "I’m doing a good job raising three children;" and by a cabinetmaker who said, "I believe in good workmanship and practice it;" and by a woman who said, "I started a bookstore and it’s the best bookstore for miles around."
"I don’t really care how they answer," said the old man. "I just want to put the thought into their minds. They should live their lives in such a way that they can have a good answer. Not a good answer for me, but for themselves. That’s what’s important."
I would say that John Gardner hit on a good thought. What have you done that you believe in and are proud of? Your occupational work in this world? Some of you may view your work as being more important than others, however.
ILL.- Let me illustrate it this way. My son Shane drives a truck for RC Cola. It’s a hard job because of the long hours and heavy lifting but he makes a decent salary. However, Shane doesn’t see much of a future in it. I suspect he thinks that lifting soda all day long doesn’t exactly fit what he thinks of as being a success in life. But who said we’re supposed to be ’successful’ in life? Where does this idea come from anyway?
I think it comes from the world. We get the idea that unless we’re making a good salary with decent hours and also doing something we like then we’re not successful. But nowhere in scripture do I find that we’re supposed to be successful in the eyes of the world! In fact, if we are, we may not be right in the eyes of God!
Here is the purpose of life for the Christian regardless of who we are or what we do for a living.
I Corinthians 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
Can my son Shane drive his RC truck and do his work to the glory of God? Why, of course, he can! How? Do a good job. Be pleasant. Be a good worker and demonstrate a good spirit to everyone he comes in contact. And even be a witness for Christ whenever he can. Speak a good word for Christ whenever the opportunity arises. AND THE SAME THING APPLIES TO US!
And when we get the purpose right, the promise will be even more meaningful. What do I mean? When we figure out that we’re here for the Lord’s glory (and not our own) then the promise of God will have even greater meaning for us in life.
Now to our text, which is also about purpose and promise, only it deals with the purpose of the Old law and the promise of God. Is there a conflict between these two?
PROP.- Let’s discern what Paul is saying.
1- The purpose of the law
2- The promise of God
I. THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW
Gal. 3:19 "What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come."
ILL.- Mike Yaconelli (Co-Founder of Youth Specialties, a training organization for Christian youth leaders and was killed in an automobile accident in 2003 at age 61) in "The Wittenburg Door" (Christian satire and humor magazine) wrote: I live in a small, rural community. There are lots of cattle ranches around here, and, every once in a while, a cow wanders off and gets lost . . . Ask a rancher how a cow gets lost, and chances are he will reply, ’Well, the cow starts nibbling on a tuft of green grass, and when it finishes, it looks ahead to the next tuft of green grass and starts nibbling on that one, and then it nibbles on a tuft of grass right next to a hole in the fence. It then sees another tuft of green grass on the other side of the fence, so it nibbles on that one and then goes on to the next tuft. The next thing you know, the cow has nibbled itself into being lost."
He said: Americans are in the process of nibbling their way to being lost. . . We keep moving from one tuft of activity to another, never noticing how far we have gone from home or how far away from the truth we have managed to end up.
I think this is true. Do you remember the old cigarette commercial (Virginia Slims) that said, "You’ve come a long way, baby"? We’ve come a long way from where to where? We have everything in America, materially speaking. Just think of what you now have in comparison to what you had when you were a kid. It was a different era: no TV, you played outside, you weren’t worried about many things, life’s pace was slow. We always had time to be neighborly, etc.
And then look at where we are today! Not only do we have everything, but we also do everything! And everything we do isn’t good or godly!
For example, the Gay movement, which is a very acceptable lifestyle by most people today, was unheard of many years ago. If it was heard of, it was not called "Gay."
Have you noticed the difference in movies today in comparison to the movies of the 50’s and 60’s? Little sexual activity to MUCHO sexual activity. And more.
You can’t go see a rated R movie today or else it will be filled with filthy language, extreme violence or sexual explicitness.
What in the world has happened to our world? We’ve gone from bad to worse in regard to sinful behavior. And as some people have suggested, "Is nothing sacred anymore?" No, not in Hollywood and not in America.
The thought is this: What is the purpose of God’s law? Paul said, "It was added because of transgressions."
Mankind apparently didn’t know it had sinned until God stated his law. Oh, there was a certain amount of inborn realization of sin or that something wasn’t right, but God gave man His law so that sin would be specifically spelled out, as in, "Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery" etc.
ILL.- It’s like when your children were small. There were many things they couldn’t understand and that’s when moms and dads had to say, "no, no" until they learned what a "no, no" meant.
God’s list of "no, no’s" was given in the old law. And the people needed it to understand where they had sinned against God and man. So, in that sense the law was not bad.
But there was a bad side to the law. What’s that?
Gal. 3:10-11 "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."
The bad side of the law was two-fold: First - No person could completely fulfill the law in its entirety. No one could live a perfect life. Second - The law made no one just in God’s eyes. We could only be made righteous BY FAITH!
Gal. 3:21-23 "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. "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. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed."
Prisoners to the law. But now that Jesus has been revealed we live by faith in Him.
In Christ we are free, free to live, but not as we please but as He pleases. We can do whatever we want but we are constrained by faith and love to do as He wants. Our greatest motivation for doing right is Christ, not the law. And only by faith in Christ can we be made whole!
II. THE PROMISE OF GOD
Gal. 3:18 "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."
Our inheritance in Christ depends on faith in God’s promise, not the law.
ILL.- A sign in the middle of the Royal Gorge bridge in Colorado, the tallest suspension bridge in the world, rising 1053 feet above the water level: "No Fishing From This Bridge." How could a person fish from a bridge that high? There is no way! And how could a person be saved by a law that is impossible to obey completely?
ILL.- Commentator, William Barclay, wrote: "How can we achieve a right relationship with God? Shall we try to achieve it by a meticulous and even self-torturing obedience to the law, by performing endless deeds, by observing every small regulation the law lays down? If we take that way we are forever in default, for man’s imperfection can never fully satisfy the perfection of God.
"We are forever frustrated, forever climbing up a hill in which the peak never comes in sight, forever under condemnation; but if we simply abandon this hopeless struggle and bring ourselves and our sin to God, then the grace of God open its arms to us and we are at peace with God who is no longer judge but our father." AMEN!
There is no way that any of us could ever fulfill or live up to God’s requirement for righteousness. IT’S FUTILE. It’s a waste of our time and money. But as William Barclay said, when we open up to His promise by faith, we can become justified before God.
It’s God’s plan and it will be done His way or not at all! And when we play the game His way, His blessing and grace floods our souls and lives!
Commentator B. W. Johnson of the People’s New Testament wrote: "The inheritance was given to Abraham by promise; and ours depends on the promise."
All hope is in the gospel. And I add: Our only hope is in the gospel!
William Barclay wrote: "The principle of law and the principle of faith are quite opposite; you cannot direct your life by both at one and the same time; you must choose; and therefore the only logical choice is to abandon the way of legalism and to venture upon the way of faith, of taking God at His word and of trusting in His love." AMEN?!
Gal. 3:24 "So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law."
ILL.- Fred Brown compared the law to a plumb line. When a builder wants to check his work, he uses a weighted string to see if it’s true to the vertical. But if he finds that he has made a mistake, he doesn’t use the plumb line to correct it. He gets out his hammer and saw.
The law points out the problem of sin; it doesn’t provide a solution.
ILL.- Dr. Phil Williams said: The law is the light that reveals how dirty the room is, not the broom that sweeps it clean.
CONCLUSION-----------
Gal. 3:26-29 "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."
ILL.- Someone put it this way: If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator; If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist; If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist; If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer; But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.
JESUS! He alone is our Savior. He alone is our hope!
