Transcript

Grace and Law-Friends or Enemies

Galatians 3:15-25
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Pastor Randy Smith

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So there we were in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. It was last Saturday night and I suggested that we attend a local church in the morning. We went swimming in the river earlier in the day and happened to notice a small Baptist church not far from our campsite. Though it was suggested by one of our daughters that I (as a Pastor) just conduct a service for the family, Julie and I missed being with the people of God on the Lord's Day.

At first the girls respectfully balked because they had nothing to wear. In all reality they were right! It was the end of the trip and most of our clothes at this point were worn and pulled from the bottom of the duffel bags. But when they heard what I was prepared to wear it put their hearts at ease. I guaranteed that no one would look worse than me: Dirty hiking shorts, black socks, gym shoes and a florescent yellow tie-dye t-shirt! My prayer for the family was that God would use us to be a blessing to that church.

We arrived at the church as the service was about to begin and only noticed three, perhaps four cars in the parking lot. When we entered our family of six nearly doubled the church population for the day, made up of primarily Cherokee Indians. Needless to say, we stuck out like a sore thumb and my yellow t-shirt didn't help!

I just knew it was coming. "Sir, it is good to have your family visiting us. Would you mind standing up and introducing yourself to our congregation?" Not exactly the position you want to be in after working on your third day without a shower! "My name is Randy Smith and this is my wife Julie and our four children. We are from New Jersey. We are camping nearby so I hope you will forgive us for our attire." The pastor followed with a lengthy prayer for the congregation. I was now able to relax and enjoy the service, so I thought.

After he finished his prayer the pastor again fixed his gaze upon me. He said, "We'd like to hear your testimony." "You mean, how I came to know Jesus?" I said. "Yes, please tell us how you became a Christian."

Then the pastor led us in three songs from their hymnal and once again he fixed his gaze upon me. "Oh no, I thought to myself. Did I do something wrong? What's he going to say now? "He can't…" "He wouldn't…" "He did!" "You seem like a good guy, would you mind preaching this morning's sermon?" Now that one totally caught me by surprise. So with those fifteen or so steps that I took me to reach the pulpit, I walked up in my shorts and florescent yellow tie-dye t-shirt with nothing but a Bible in my hand and a mind deep in vacation mode praying that the Lord would put something on my heart. I spoke for about a half hour uplifting the gospel of free grace as it is found in the book of Galatians.

No other message in the Bible is more important and perhaps no other message in the Bible has repeatedly been twisted, attacked and misunderstood. As Paul said in 1:8 and 9 in this letter, get this one wrong or even teach contrary to the biblical view of how a person is to be saved and the consequences are eternally damning. Though countless people and religions insist that there are things we must do to enter heaven, the Bible emphatically defends the fact that eternal life is received through faith in Jesus Christ and is offered on the basis of grace alone. This is where Paul aimed his guns when he composed this letter to the Galatians.

When I left you a few weeks ago we learned in the beginning verses of chapter 3 that Paul made reference to Abraham as an example of this core biblical belief. In verses 6-9 he stated it positively: "Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness" (Gal. 3:6). Abraham was made right with God on faith alone. And then in verses 10-14 he stated it negatively: "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse" (Gal. 3:10). Try to earn your salvation and you place yourself under a curse because God is opposed to prideful self-reliance and self-righteousness in thinking we as sinners can obtain His standard and merit His love.

But if all this is true then we must ask the question: "Why did God bring the Law through Moses a few hundred years later?" What was the purpose of all those commandments? Aren't they requirements we need to fulfill, things we need to do in order to be saved? Abraham was faith alone, but now that the commandments are here is it still faith alone? Paul anticipated these questions from his opponents and therefore provides his defense in verses 15-25 of chapter 3.

This morning we will answer this important question. We have two quick points, one longer one and then the celebration of the Lord's Table waiting for us.

1. A Permanent Covenant (verse 15)

The first point. God made a covenant with Abraham that He would receive Abraham on the basis of faith. We have already covered that in depth. In verse 15, Paul stresses the nature of that covenant with Abraham by comparing it to a human covenant. "Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it." Though we have exceptions to this principle today, many covenants in antiquity were not permitted to be altered or revoked. The point is that when God makes a covenant, He keeps His word. He does not alter things based upon a change of feelings or change of circumstances. If human covenants do not change, why should we think God (who is unchanging) would ever change His covenants?

Back in Genesis 15, God again reminded Abraham of this covenant. God reminded him of his many descendants and the righteousness he obtained on the basis of faith alone (also said in Gal. 3:6). And then to seal the covenant, God had Abraham sacrifice animals, split them in half and lay each half opposite of the other. God then passed through the sacrificed animals in the form of a flaming torch. Normally both parties that made a covenant would pass through, but evidence that God was making this covenant ultimately with Himself, He passed through the sacrificed pieces alone. God will not revoke His Word or His promises. That point blows away what the Judaizers were teaching. And keep this in mind when the Law enters our discussion.

2. A Promised Seed (verse 16)

As we move to the second point, we are reminded that God made a specific promise with Abraham. God promised to bless the descendants of Abraham or we can say Abraham's seed. Genesis 22:18, "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." But exactly who was this seed? And are we to take that word in its plural or singular form? Was it all of Abraham's descendants or was it Isaac alone? Paul provides the explanation and takes it to a deeper spiritual meaning in verse 16. "Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as referring to many, but rather to one, 'And to your seed,' that is, Christ."

This passage has troubled people, but what Paul is doing is showing that all of Scripture (as Jesus Christ said Himself) ultimately points to Jesus Christ. Isaac was the faithful son to foreshadow the most faithful Son. God was producing descendants not in a physical sense, but a spiritual one. Abraham's true descendents would not be those of ethnic birth, but those who believe with faith like Abraham. In 3:7 Paul said, "Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham." It goes all the way back before Abraham to Genesis 3 when that first prophecy of Christ was made that the seed of the woman would crush the head of Satan. And it flows throughout the theme in Galatians - that God's children are those with faith in Jesus, Abraham's seed, faith that follows in the footsteps of Abraham as he too looked to the promised Messiah. As Jesus told the Pharisees, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad" (Jn. 8:56).

3. A Prescribed Law (verses 17-25)

So as we move to the third point, we have established the fact that God saves people through faith just as He did with Abraham from the beginning. He has not altered His covenant and the faith they must have is faith in Christ who is the ultimate Promised Child, the ultimate seed of Abraham through whom all of faith will be blessed.

So how does the Law fit into this? Aren't people saved by being obedient to God's Law as the Judaizers were teaching the new converts in Galatia (circumcision, dietary laws, etc.)? Paul says absolutely not! As we learned, God made an unalterable covenant with Abraham sealed with His promise. Therefore, verse 17, "the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise."

We change our minds and plans. Just on our recent vacation, we had plans to go snorkeling in the Florida Keys. We researched it, reserved campsites, and purchased little snorkeling sets for all the children. Unfortunately once we reached the Keys (after almost three days of driving) they forecasted rain and high winds for our entire five-day stay. We packed up, revised our plans, departed and spent the time in the Smoky Mountains. We went to "Plan B." God does not work that way. He never needs to change His plans or promises.

We'll get to the purpose of the Law in a moment, but what we need to see is that the passage of time does not alter the promises of God. The Law never promised salvation. Salvation has always been based on faith in God's promise. It was that way before the Law, during the period of the Law and now in the New Covenant as we are under the Law of Christ.

Salvation has never been by our performance, but faith in the promise of God that He would justify His people on faith. Verse 18, "For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise." The same thing is basically said in the second half of verse 21, "For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law." The promise brings life. The law brings death, and Moses knew it! In Deuteronomy 31:26-27 he said, "Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you. For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; how much more, then, after my death?"

Which way have you chosen to go? Are you trying to earn you way to God by following biblical rules or perhaps rules you have invented in your own imagination? It is a losing cause. Its end is death. It is foolish and it is offensive to God. God has made a promise to all humanity. Jesus Christ, the Promised Child came to take our curse upon Himself. He died on the cross to pay the full penalty for sin. As Abraham looked forward to Christ, we look back and by faith we trust God's promise that we can receive full forgiveness on the basis of Christ's atonement alone.

So if we are not saved by the Law, what then was the purpose of the Law? Paul asks the same question in verse 19, "Why then the Law?" Again, if the Law does not alter God's promise to save us on the basis of faith, as He did Abraham, and the Law, verse 21, is not contrary to the promises of God as if it were providing a conflicting way of salvation, why then did it come, verse 17, some four hundred and thirty years later?

The first of two reasons, verse 19, "It was added because of transgressions." This does not mean that the Law came to make us sinners. This means the Law came to show us that we are sinners.

For example, let's say the government has in its mind one hundred traffic laws for motorists. If none of them were posted you could drive your car anyway you wished and feel you were a law-abiding motorist. But then one day you see signs appearing. No right on red. Speed limit 35. Seatbelts required. It would take long for some if not all of us to be convinced that we are lawbreakers.

Likewise, before the Law you could feel like a very God-honoring individual too. Then comes the law and you can imagine how it would have crushed the average Jew of the day (wrong! wrong! wrong!). Unfortunately this was not the case for many of them. Instead of allowing the Law to show them their rebelliousness (which was the Law's purpose), they used the law in an effort to display their righteousness, and earn their salvation. That is what we call legalism. That was never the purpose of the Law. The purpose of the Law was to verse 22, "Shut up everyone under sin," verse 23, "keep [people] in custody under the Law."

So the first purpose of the law is negative, that it might show us our sin. The second purpose of the law is positive, that it might lead us to Jesus Christ. I get that from verse 24, "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith."

Back when this letter was written it was common for slaves to be employed by the Greek and Roman families to supervise their young children on behalf of the parents. Oftentimes these slaves (or tutors) would lead the child to and from school and train them in the proper course of living. It was a temporary role until the child came of age and could function of his or her own behalf.

This is the metaphor that Paul picks us to explain the role of the law. The law came for a specific purpose. It was not contrary to faith, but put in effect to lead us to faith like a tutor. For if we think we are already righteous we have no need for God's mercy. If we fail to see ourselves as sinners we have no need for a Savior. So the Law shines a spotlight on our sin. The Law is like a mirror, it shows us the dirt on our face that we normally could not see for ourselves. A mirror reveals, but a mirror cannot make us clean. That is why the Law after it shows us our sin, takes us by the hand like a tutor and leads us to Christ to be cleaned up. So we are justified not by our works, but verse 24, our faith in Christ as we plead to Him for mercy and forgiveness. And now that Christ has come in our lives, verse 25, we are no longer under a tutor.

A couple quick points of application before we head to the Lord's Table.

Number one, understand this concept in light of Paul's context in the letter. He goes to Galatia and the people receive the free grace that is found in Christ Jesus. He departs and the Judaizers infiltrate the region and begin telling the converts that Paul was wrong and they must do the works of the Law to be saved. Do you now see how wrong this is? Do you now see why this is a false Gospel? Do you now see how their message devalued the climatic redemptive work that God accomplished in the giving of His long-awaited Son for our sins? They were going backwards!

Second, we must remember that people will never rightly understand their need for a Savior until they accept the fact that they are sinners. As it has been said before, you can't get someone saved until you first get them lost. Before we share the work of Jesus Christ in our Gospel presentations, we must share the holiness of God, the law He has given and how far every person falls short of His standard. Back then like now, all people must realize that Law is never intended to save, but Law is the means that people see their need for salvation. The Law shows us we are sinners and only sinners will cry out for a Savior.

And third, just because we are under grace and the Old Covenant Law is abolished, we as believers are still under the Law of Jesus Christ. Throughout the New Testament there are expectations that our Lord has placed upon us. We do not follow these expectations to get saved, but if we truly are saved we will reveal God's work in our lives by a desire and ability to be obedient to His commandments. Follow God's Law to get saved and you bring yourself used a curse. Follow God's Law after you are saved in a grace-driven effort to glorify Him and you bring Him honor.

As I've said, I don't get tired of preaching this wonderful message of God's grace. I know we often want to be told what to do for God, but what we must always keep in mind is what God has done for us. And then whatever we do, we do it with an attitude of not trying to earn His acceptance, but understanding we have received His acceptance and then allowing His love for us motivate us to be everything that He wants us to be for Him.

It brought a tear to my eye when I first entered that small church in western North Carolina. On the wall they had a plaque that tallied the dozen or so people that attended last Sunday, the number of people that brought their Bibles and the offering that amounted to a couple hundred dollars. It was a different experience, but in the most important way it was the same. When I finished my message from Galatians on the Gospel, the first thing the pastor said was, "That is the message we preach here as well."

May the heart of every Christian first and foremost understand and live by the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ and the grace He freely offers to sinners on the basis of faith alone.