Why the Law?
Notes
Transcript
Over the past several weeks we have brought up over and over again the Judaizers, and their claim that following works of the law can save you. Looking at the book of Galatians we have seen the the law does in fact not save anyone? But at the same time we must understand that the law came from God. But why? We can ask several questions. Did he give it so we could show us who he was? Did he give it because he is a demanding God? Did he give it because he is Holy? Did he give it to show us our own sin? Did he give it to show us that we need a Savior.
Lets look at Galatians 3:15-29 and lets see why he gave it..
Main idea:
The law was given as a guide and to show us our own sinfulness, and our need for a Savior, and does not negate the promise that comes from faith that given to Abraham.
The Promise is greater than law.
The Promise is greater than law.
Paul is not letting up on defeating the argument of justification by works of the law, and in this text he is going to explain to us the purpose of the law, and starts this section of scripture with reminding them they they are in fact brothers, he still loves them even after all he has said to them.
As he shifts the argument he makes the statement that even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. He does this for good reason, because if you have ever entered into a contract you are responsible for full-filling that contract. In that time and much like today when you sign up for something or agree to something you must full-fill it.
Now just this past week my wife and I closed on a new home, and during that process I can’t tell you how many times that I signed for something a little detail there and a little detail there, and the purpose for that is that my wife and I would full-fill whatever they asked of us, and we agreed to it. And those terms of the contract cannot be changed. So no matter what happens even after the fact years later that contract cannot be changed until its fulfilled in some way.
So this import for Paul to say because he is going to make the argument that the promise that was given to Abraham is something that cannot be ratified by God giving the law to the people.
The promise that was made to Abraham was for him and his offspring. The Original Promise was made in Genesis 12 but in Genesis 15:6 ( go slow repeat ) is where he believed God and it says, And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness”
It was one promise that Abraham would have many offspring. As the text says it says offspring not offsprings, meaning that it was one promise that this would happen not multiple but one, and by faith is the only way you can be a true offspring of Abraham.
It’s not just faith in Abraham its faith in Christ. Christ is the greatest of all of Abrahams children, and it is through Christ that we to can be partakers in the promise that was given to Abraham.
What is great about this promise that God made to Abraham is that it is for his offspring as well.
If you know your bible you know that Abraham had more than just child, and more than one son he had several. Abraham in Genesis 15 believed God, but he kind a made a big mistake on how he thought that was promise was going to take place, and ended up having a child with Sara’s concubine and that child ended up being Ishmael, and Ishmael even though he is Abraham son was not the son of promise, because he did not come from faith.
The immediate son that we know a-lot about is Issac, he is the son of the promise, and we see some fore-shadowing of Christ to come through there own relationship. And the promise to Abraham is repeated to Isaac as well. If you are taking notes this occurs in Genesis 26:24 ( Go slow repeat ) And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said,“I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.
Issac the son of Abraham, a physical descendent of him, the one where the promise really began to take shape recieved the same promise, and if you read on Issac worship God for that promise. Abraham’s promise continue to his son.
Issac would have some children as well, and one of those was named Jacob, if you know anything about Jacob his story really dominates the book of Genesis, because him and his sons have a huge role in God plan, and Jacob would eventually be known as Isreal and his sons was where the twelve tribes would come from, with the exception of his son Joseph, and Levi, Joseph boys would become tribes, and Levi would become the priests.
And what is amazing church is that Jacob too would receive the promise that Abraham would receive. Listen to Genesis 46:2-4 (go slow repeat).. 2 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” 3 Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. 4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.”
Again a promise from God using the illustration of I am the God of you father. God was in fact moving this promise to a place, that the people of Isreal would go, this wasn’t the promise land yet, but it was part of the journey that the people of God would go on for years to come.
When the promise was repeated to Jacob it would mark 430 years before Moses had the law, and over 600 years that Abraham had first heard the promise.
This history lesson is important, because as Paul explains it does not annul a covenant that God gave Abraham by faith. It has lasting authority.
And he gives the people of Galatia reason to believe this promise comes by faith alone. Lets look verse 18. Read…
Paul says quite clearly that this inheritance doesn't come by the law. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob even though they did not have the law couldn’t have kept it if they tried, but that doesn't matter, because following the law doesn’t give life, Faith does. This inheritance that Abraham and his offspring get is something they did not work for.
Most inheritance are that way in general. Most people who receive a great inheritances dont actually work for it. When Bill Walton founder of Walmart died his son inherited billions of dollars, I cant even wrap my head around how much money that actually is, but church we get a better inheritance if we believe in Christ by faith. ( not in this life, but in the life to come, and it wont be like anything we could have ever imagined.
The promise is greater than the law.
The law shows us our need
The law shows us our need
Paul says then why the Law? It was added because of transgressions. These transgressions show us our sin. If you have read even the 10 commandments you have violated them, and prove to be a sinner. These transgressions show us we cant save ourselves and our need for Christ.
This law would not last forever though.
One guy says, the law was temporary (“until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come”) and inferior (because “put into effect through angels by a mediator”). Here the mediator is doubtlessly Moses who, as an agent of a mediated revelation, is brought forward in contrast to Abraham, to whom God made promises directly.
Think about that. The law was given by Moses to the people, God may have wrote on the tablets but moses gave it to his people, not God, moses. But Abraham was given the promise by God.
Hebrews 2:2 says, “you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
They were an Intermediary, and if you know what an intermediary its, a person who acts as a link between people in order to try to bring about an agreement or reconciliation; a mediator.
I told you earlier in the sermon my wife and I bought a home, and in doing so we had to go and sign all this papers, and in addition to that we had our realtor, their realtor, and a title company who handled the exchanging of funds. It wasn’t something as easy as someone walking to my front door of my old home, and saying hey I want to buy your house, and me saying ok, sounds great lets do it. We had so many people involved in order to get the sell of the home done, now if you think about though it really was just someone saying I want to buy your house will you sell it to me.
And thats what the angels and moses were doing was relaying a message from God, it had authority, yet was not like the promise.
God often uses intermediaries, but when it came to the promise he did not. He made that promise to Abraham but not in a way like a mediator would, he was the one who made the covenant.
Moses was a mediator, Angels are often mediators, Christ is our mediator and promise is through him alone, and the law should ultimately lead someone to him.
Paul continues.. Read 21-23
The Law isn’t bad, but it doesn’t give eternal life, I just mentioned some what the law does, but through it cannot bring righteousness to those in Adam, righteousness for the believer is only found by faith in Christ. WHICH IS WHERE THE PROMISE IS.
What ends up happening the law puts this prison around someone, and it confines them on all sides and shows them there is no way out, theres no hope of a prison break, you cant dig your way out under the law, but Paul again shows us the promise leads us to Christ. If you have faith in Christ you will receive that promise.
Without faith you are held captive under the law, you are in the prison but with faith you can have eternal life.
24-25
Paul says that the law was in fact a guardian to show people how to live. The language used here is often referred to someone who would in fact tutor a child. These tutors were usually a slave who would essentially raise the child and teach them all they needed to know. The law does that very thing, and God expects his people to follow it.
For Isreal It taught the people how to live, and how to honor God, but it doesn’t make you right with God because you can’t follow it perfectly.
But if you have faith in Christ you are not under the law.
Paul is Romans 7 gives a perfect illustration of what the law looked like for him, for he it better helped me understand it as well. Romans 7:1-13 ( re-read and go slow )
Romans 7:1-13 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.2 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
The Law and Sin
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
The key thing that Paul says in all of this is verse 6. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
If you are a believer in Christ you are not under the law, you are not in the prison, you are under grace.
And as Paul has said numerous times you can only be saved by faith alone, and that promise is older than the law.
Check mate Judaizers.
And the implication of this are you are a son’s and daughters of God by faith alone. Incredible reality for Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Paul, the people of Galatia, and us if we have faith in Christ we are children of God, and the promise of Abraham fullfilled.
And as believers we are baptized into Christ, and this isn’t believers baptism like we believe here, it is though the same type of language. Because of the reality that takes place in a believers life its similar to our water baptism. Because by faith in Christ we are immersed in him, and his death, resurrection, and righteousness.
We put on him, its the outfit that you dont go back and change.
And as a result all those who believe in him are in Christ. It doesn’t matter their background. Paul uses so many different types of people to drive this home. Read 28. Pretty clear clear in our own context. Doesn’t matter the color of your skin, what you make, or where your from, if you are in Christ you are are one with him.
And if you believe in him you are Abraham’s offspring, and heir of him, because of the promise God made to Abraham. And as we will see next week you are heir of God.
The law was given as a guide and to show us our own sinfulness, and our need for a Savior, and does not negate the promise that comes from faith that was given to Abraham.
Are you part of the promise? Do you have faith in him? Dont leave hear today without answer that question.
Because Christ is the only way you come to God. If you repent and believe you can have eternal life in him.
If you have a decision you would like to make or just want to pray I will be here to pray and talk to you.