1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,240 Bible reading this morning is from Galatians chapter 3 verses 15 to 29. 2 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:15,800 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. 3 00:00:16,940 --> 00:00:25,080 Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 4 00:00:25,080 --> 00:00:29,780 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. 5 00:00:29,780 --> 00:00:39,780 Scripture does not say, and to seeds, meaning many people, but, and to your seed, meaning one person who is Christ. 6 00:00:39,780 --> 00:00:51,780 What I mean is this. The law introduced 430 years later does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 7 00:00:51,780 --> 00:00:57,780 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise. 8 00:00:57,780 --> 00:01:02,780 But God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. 9 00:01:02,780 --> 00:01:06,780 Why then was the law given at all? 10 00:01:06,780 --> 00:01:12,780 It was added because of transgressions until the seed to whom the promise referred had come. 11 00:01:12,780 --> 00:01:17,780 The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 12 00:01:17,780 --> 00:01:23,780 A mediator, however, implies more than one party, but God is one. 13 00:01:23,780 --> 00:01:28,780 Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God? 14 00:01:28,780 --> 00:01:30,780 Absolutely not. 15 00:01:30,780 --> 00:01:37,780 For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 16 00:01:37,780 --> 00:01:48,780 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. 17 00:01:48,780 --> 00:01:59,780 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 18 00:01:59,780 --> 00:02:06,780 So the law was our guardian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. 19 00:02:06,780 --> 00:02:10,780 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 20 00:02:10,780 --> 00:02:15,780 So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. 21 00:02:15,780 --> 00:02:21,780 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 22 00:02:21,780 --> 00:02:29,780 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female. 23 00:02:29,780 --> 00:02:32,780 For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 24 00:02:32,780 --> 00:02:43,780 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. 25 00:02:43,780 --> 00:02:46,780 Good morning again church. 26 00:02:46,780 --> 00:02:52,780 If we're not met before, my name is Michael and I'm pastor here at GCC. 27 00:02:52,780 --> 00:02:56,780 This morning we're going to be in our text quite a bit. 28 00:02:56,780 --> 00:03:04,780 So if you have your Bibles there with you, it might be handy to have them open on your lap or something like that. 29 00:03:04,780 --> 00:03:13,780 But before we come to these words of eternal life, would you please join me in asking the Holy Spirit to work in and amongst us. 30 00:03:13,780 --> 00:03:20,780 Would you please pray with me now? 31 00:03:20,780 --> 00:03:26,780 Father God, these are indeed words of eternal life. 32 00:03:26,780 --> 00:03:29,780 Your word was settled in heaven. 33 00:03:29,780 --> 00:03:32,780 Your gospel has been given. 34 00:03:32,780 --> 00:03:41,780 And this morning as we come around your word, we would ask that by your Holy Spirit, you would open our hearts. 35 00:03:41,780 --> 00:03:44,780 You would circumcise our hearts. 36 00:03:44,780 --> 00:03:46,780 You would show us Christ. 37 00:03:46,780 --> 00:03:54,780 And that you would show us more of him so that we would be more like him by your grace. 38 00:03:54,780 --> 00:03:59,780 And we ask for this in Jesus name. Amen. 39 00:03:59,780 --> 00:04:09,780 So over the past few months, we here at Grace Christian Church, we've been in the book of Galatians. 40 00:04:09,780 --> 00:04:22,780 And as we've been in this book, we've seen the Apostle Paul push back on a group of false teachers that we've come to dub the legalists. 41 00:04:22,780 --> 00:04:30,780 Now, he's been pushing back on these legalists because they'd been making their way into the congregations there in Galatia. 42 00:04:30,780 --> 00:04:45,780 And they bought with them a false gospel to which they said people had to be circumcised and keep the ceremonial customs of the law before Christ would be of any benefit to them. 43 00:04:45,780 --> 00:04:47,780 Nonsense cried our apostle. 44 00:04:47,780 --> 00:04:56,780 The gospel that was revealed to him by Jesus himself was that the law not only didn't save those who tried to keep it, 45 00:04:56,780 --> 00:05:01,780 but it couldn't save because it was never designed to do so. 46 00:05:01,780 --> 00:05:13,780 No, the law was designed and given so that people might come to rest on God's mercy and grace as offered in the Lord Jesus Christ. 47 00:05:13,780 --> 00:05:18,780 That's what blew Paul away about these Galatians. 48 00:05:18,780 --> 00:05:23,780 That's why he had written them this letter in the first place. 49 00:05:23,780 --> 00:05:37,780 Through the preaching of the word, they come to see that they were sinners and that they needed Christ and that they would be saved through faith, not by the works of the law. 50 00:05:37,780 --> 00:05:46,780 But now they'd fallen for this false doctrine of a workspace righteousness that these legalists were peddling in their midst. 51 00:05:46,780 --> 00:05:51,780 That's what we saw the last time we were together. 52 00:05:51,780 --> 00:05:59,780 These people and in fact all Christians come to receive the Holy Spirit of God, 53 00:05:59,780 --> 00:06:05,780 not when we try to earn him through the keeping of the law, 54 00:06:05,780 --> 00:06:15,780 but when and only when we put our trust and hope in Jesus Christ alone, as we see there in verse 14. 55 00:06:15,780 --> 00:06:27,780 This morning we're going to see Paul continuing in this line of argument and we're again going to see him bring out the truth of his main thesis of this book. 56 00:06:27,780 --> 00:06:35,780 Justification is by faith in Christ alone and not by the works of the law. 57 00:06:35,780 --> 00:06:42,780 Last time we were together, Paul showed us this truth by contrasting the place of faith and the law. 58 00:06:42,780 --> 00:06:49,780 Now he's going to do the same thing by contrasting the promise and the law. 59 00:06:49,780 --> 00:06:52,780 He's going to do this in three ways. 60 00:06:52,780 --> 00:06:55,780 First he's going to talk about the promise that saved. 61 00:06:55,780 --> 00:06:59,780 We're going to see that in verses 15 through 18. 62 00:06:59,780 --> 00:07:05,780 Second about the law that enslaved in verses 19 to 25. 63 00:07:05,780 --> 00:07:14,780 And then third about the promise that continues to save in verses 26 through to 29. 64 00:07:14,780 --> 00:07:20,780 So if you have your Bibles with you this morning, look with me at verse 15. 65 00:07:20,780 --> 00:07:22,780 The promise that saved. 66 00:07:22,780 --> 00:07:25,780 This is what Paul writes. 67 00:07:25,780 --> 00:07:30,780 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. 68 00:07:30,780 --> 00:07:40,780 Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that's been duly established, so it is in this case. 69 00:07:40,780 --> 00:07:46,780 Now as we saw in the verses preceding what we have before us this morning, 70 00:07:46,780 --> 00:07:55,780 Paul is again drawing on scripture to prove that justification is by faith alone. 71 00:07:55,780 --> 00:08:04,780 And he does this by again directing our attention to when God first made a covenant with Abraham. 72 00:08:04,780 --> 00:08:14,780 And he relates God's covenant-making promise to something that many of us have probably had some interaction with over the years. 73 00:08:14,780 --> 00:08:19,780 And that is with legal documentation. 74 00:08:19,780 --> 00:08:28,780 Now the NIV uses the word covenant here, but the Greek can also be understood as a will. 75 00:08:28,780 --> 00:08:33,780 Both are correct. In fact, it's where we get our word testament from. 76 00:08:33,780 --> 00:08:42,780 And Paul uses this word because he wants to get us into the mindset of when a legal will has been signed off on, 77 00:08:42,780 --> 00:08:49,780 it can't then be added to or set aside after that person has died. 78 00:08:49,780 --> 00:08:54,780 In fact, my family has recently been dealing with this very thing. 79 00:08:54,780 --> 00:09:06,780 A family member of ours made a will, he signed it, and now no one can add or ignore what was given to his family after he died. 80 00:09:06,780 --> 00:09:15,780 Also worth noting, no one is obligated to fulfill anything to get the things that he promised. 81 00:09:15,780 --> 00:09:21,780 No, it's just a simple declaration of what he wants for his family. 82 00:09:21,780 --> 00:09:26,780 And that's the sort of thing that Paul wants us to be thinking about here. 83 00:09:26,780 --> 00:09:34,780 God made a legally binding will and he gave it to Abraham and then he signed it in blood. 84 00:09:34,780 --> 00:09:43,780 We see this in Genesis 15. And thus, it can't be added to or set aside, says Paul. 85 00:09:43,780 --> 00:09:52,780 To put that another way, God's will and testament for his family was enforced forever. 86 00:09:52,780 --> 00:09:55,780 This is where things get really interesting. 87 00:09:55,780 --> 00:10:02,780 You see, God gave promises to Abraham, as we see there in verse 16. 88 00:10:02,780 --> 00:10:08,780 But notice this, he made promises to Abraham and to his seed. 89 00:10:08,780 --> 00:10:19,780 But look at the point that he makes. God made promises to Abraham and to his seed, but, says Paul, Scripture doesn't say seeds. 90 00:10:19,780 --> 00:10:28,780 Meaning many people, but to your seed. Meaning one person who is Christ. 91 00:10:28,780 --> 00:10:36,780 Now this is where, admittedly, we need to slow down a bit here and really have a think about what Paul is saying. 92 00:10:36,780 --> 00:10:51,780 Because he's bringing something out in Scripture, in that initial promise that's vitally important for us to understand if we're going to get the rest of the argument that he makes here. 93 00:10:51,780 --> 00:11:02,780 You see, Paul's saying the promise of blessing that was given wasn't primarily about Abraham or the nation that would come from him. 94 00:11:02,780 --> 00:11:09,780 Though Abraham and Israel were going to be very important, no, if we look at what Paul is saying here, 95 00:11:09,780 --> 00:11:21,780 he's saying that there was actually a promise that was held out to Abraham that needed to be ultimately fulfilled later on. 96 00:11:21,780 --> 00:11:32,780 A promise of someone coming from his family who would be the blessing to the nations. 97 00:11:32,780 --> 00:11:41,780 Now church, this is astounding because basically Paul is saying that God gave Abraham his will in which he would bless the nations through him, 98 00:11:41,780 --> 00:11:51,780 but the one to be the blessing wouldn't be primarily Abraham, but someone who would come after him. 99 00:11:51,780 --> 00:11:59,780 One person who Paul says is Jesus Christ himself. 100 00:11:59,780 --> 00:12:07,780 That was the promise and that was the gospel that Abraham came to put his trust in. 101 00:12:07,780 --> 00:12:13,780 And Abraham's faith in God's gracious promise of this seed justified him. 102 00:12:13,780 --> 00:12:16,780 We see that in verse 6 of this chapter. 103 00:12:16,780 --> 00:12:29,780 And that said Paul, that is what justifies us before God, not the works of the law, but faith in the gospel. 104 00:12:29,780 --> 00:12:32,780 And why was this important for the Galatians to know? 105 00:12:32,780 --> 00:12:40,780 Why was it important that Paul started with where he did this morning with this concept of God's legally binding will 106 00:12:40,780 --> 00:12:47,780 and promise about the seed that justifies those who trust in that promise? 107 00:12:47,780 --> 00:12:56,780 Well it was because these legalists, because these legalists had come into the congregations and were now saying, 108 00:12:56,780 --> 00:13:02,780 now that the law has come, that is now the way in which to be saved. 109 00:13:02,780 --> 00:13:10,780 The works of the law is now what justifies us before God. 110 00:13:10,780 --> 00:13:16,780 It's kind of like what we've just gone through as a church. 111 00:13:16,780 --> 00:13:23,780 We've just gone through the entire whole process of introducing a new constitution. 112 00:13:23,780 --> 00:13:30,780 We've had one in play for many, many years, but then we saw that it needed to be updated. 113 00:13:30,780 --> 00:13:36,780 Thus we added new things and we set other things aside. 114 00:13:36,780 --> 00:13:43,780 And so what we have now supersedes what we had then. 115 00:13:43,780 --> 00:13:50,780 And that's the kind of mindset that the legalists had in regard to the promise and the law. 116 00:13:50,780 --> 00:13:54,780 They said that the law superseded what had come before. 117 00:13:54,780 --> 00:14:03,780 God's way of salvation had now been updated and what was, was rendered obsolete. 118 00:14:03,780 --> 00:14:09,780 That's what we see Paul start to turn his attention to there in verses 17 and 18. 119 00:14:09,780 --> 00:14:16,780 He argues against this very erroneous point that the legalists had been making and teaching 120 00:14:16,780 --> 00:14:21,780 by saying the law introduced 430 years later 121 00:14:21,780 --> 00:14:28,780 actually doesn't set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 122 00:14:28,780 --> 00:14:36,780 Why? Why? Well because if the inheritance depends upon the law, 123 00:14:36,780 --> 00:14:41,780 then it no longer depends upon that promise. 124 00:14:41,780 --> 00:14:51,780 But God in his unmerited favour and his unmerited love gave it to Abraham through a promise. 125 00:14:51,780 --> 00:14:56,780 That church is why our apostle begins where he did this morning. 126 00:14:56,780 --> 00:15:04,780 Do you see that? God made a promise. He gave a will by grace and Abraham believed and was justified. 127 00:15:04,780 --> 00:15:12,780 And that way of salvation can't be added to or set aside. 128 00:15:12,780 --> 00:15:17,780 That's first. The promise that's saved came first. 129 00:15:17,780 --> 00:15:25,780 But in typical Pauline fashion, he anticipates the argument that the legalists are going to make here 130 00:15:25,780 --> 00:15:28,780 about why the law exists at all. 131 00:15:28,780 --> 00:15:35,780 And that's the next thing I want you to see here. The law enslaves. 132 00:15:35,780 --> 00:15:41,780 Look at this with me at verse 19. Paul says, why then was the law given at all? 133 00:15:41,780 --> 00:15:48,780 Well, it was added because of transgressions. 134 00:15:48,780 --> 00:15:56,780 Now straight away, even though Paul doesn't mention Moses by name, we know how and when the law came. 135 00:15:56,780 --> 00:16:03,780 It's as Paul said, the promise was given to Abraham and then 430 years later, 136 00:16:03,780 --> 00:16:09,780 after Israel had been rescued from slavery in Egypt, as we heard before from Eric, 137 00:16:09,780 --> 00:16:15,780 through Moses at Sinai, God gave the law. 138 00:16:15,780 --> 00:16:22,780 That's what's implied there in verse 20. Moses is the mediator of this law. 139 00:16:22,780 --> 00:16:26,780 But look at why Paul said the law was given. 140 00:16:26,780 --> 00:16:32,780 It wasn't an upgrade or a replacement. 141 00:16:32,780 --> 00:16:37,780 No, he's very clear about it. It was given to expose sin. 142 00:16:37,780 --> 00:16:45,780 That's why the law was given. It was given to show us that our own works and our own law keeping abilities 143 00:16:45,780 --> 00:16:49,780 are absolutely flawed from the get go. 144 00:16:49,780 --> 00:16:57,780 Do you see how profound a lie that the Galatians were being sold by these legalists? 145 00:16:57,780 --> 00:17:04,780 That they were being sold on. They were being told a new dawn has come, the old has passed away. 146 00:17:04,780 --> 00:17:13,780 And all you need to do is keep these rules and regulations and then you'll be saved. 147 00:17:13,780 --> 00:17:17,780 Church, that's the way that many still go about their lives. 148 00:17:17,780 --> 00:17:26,780 Many believe that they can merit their own way before God in his good books by doing and working harder. 149 00:17:26,780 --> 00:17:33,780 They've fallen for looking for a works based righteousness. 150 00:17:33,780 --> 00:17:42,780 But this is the thing. Holy scripture tells us the law was never given to earn salvation. 151 00:17:42,780 --> 00:17:48,780 But as a tool to show us that we need to be saved. 152 00:17:48,780 --> 00:17:54,780 To show us that we're in desperate need to be rescued. 153 00:17:54,780 --> 00:17:59,780 And that's the point that Paul wants to get us to here. 154 00:17:59,780 --> 00:18:05,780 With the law coming in, it couldn't be an upgrade or a replacement as a way to be saved. 155 00:18:05,780 --> 00:18:08,780 Because the law can't save. 156 00:18:08,780 --> 00:18:20,780 No, only the promise does. And thus with the law being given, it actually means that two things were working out at the same time. 157 00:18:20,780 --> 00:18:27,780 The promise and the law, they were working out, playing out at the same time. 158 00:18:27,780 --> 00:18:34,780 In other words, when the law came, it didn't cancel the promise that came before. 159 00:18:34,780 --> 00:18:38,780 No, not at all. It's as we read in the rest of the text here. 160 00:18:38,780 --> 00:18:47,780 It was added until the seed to whom the promise referred to had come. 161 00:18:47,780 --> 00:18:52,780 What are we to make of all of this? What's going on here? 162 00:18:52,780 --> 00:19:00,780 Well, the promise and the law are two separate, though complementary, arrangements. 163 00:19:00,780 --> 00:19:06,780 In that they operate on entirely different principles. One is about faith and the other is about works. 164 00:19:06,780 --> 00:19:10,780 But they have both been given by grace. 165 00:19:10,780 --> 00:19:18,780 Think about it. The promise given to Abraham, as we've seen, was all about what God would do for us. 166 00:19:18,780 --> 00:19:24,780 But the law given to Moses was all about what we must do for God. 167 00:19:24,780 --> 00:19:36,780 And these legalists, they had foolishly set aside the promise and had added works as the criteria to find righteousness. 168 00:19:36,780 --> 00:19:43,780 But as Paul points out here, they've got it completely backwards and upside down. 169 00:19:43,780 --> 00:19:49,780 The law never cancelled the promise. It never replaced it. 170 00:19:49,780 --> 00:20:03,780 The promise was complemented by the law and with the coming of the seed, with the coming of Jesus, the law's purpose has been fulfilled. 171 00:20:03,780 --> 00:20:09,780 This is such a powerful argument that our apostle is making here. 172 00:20:09,780 --> 00:20:20,780 He's pointing out the folly of the false teachers as he's essentially saying that these legalists are treating God like a schizophrenic husband. 173 00:20:20,780 --> 00:20:24,780 Like a guy who made a vow to his bride. 174 00:20:24,780 --> 00:20:39,780 But then after a period of time, started to add terms and conditions to his vow to legitimize his promise that he had already made and ratified on that day. 175 00:20:39,780 --> 00:20:50,780 Because if we think about it, if the law was really the new way of salvation, if God really no longer thought that we needed a promised Savior, 176 00:20:50,780 --> 00:21:00,780 if he really changed his mind on blessing us on the basis of our own performances and no longer by faith in his promise, 177 00:21:00,780 --> 00:21:12,780 then God himself is a liar and his own blood-signed will was rendered null and void. 178 00:21:12,780 --> 00:21:15,780 But it was in fact the legalists that had it all backwards. 179 00:21:15,780 --> 00:21:21,780 God states true to his promises and the law never replaced it. 180 00:21:21,780 --> 00:21:29,780 Now the promise was always there and has in fact been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. 181 00:21:29,780 --> 00:21:36,780 And thus with the coming of Christ, it was never the Abraham covenant that would be made obsolete, 182 00:21:36,780 --> 00:21:44,780 but rather the mosaic law with all the codes and restrictions and types and all of that that Paul's pointing out here. 183 00:21:44,780 --> 00:21:54,780 That code has been made obsolete. Jesus has come and the time of Moses was done. 184 00:21:54,780 --> 00:22:08,780 So in light of that, why do you think for a moment anyone would think that they could get right with God by trusting a system that has now become totally obsolete? 185 00:22:08,780 --> 00:22:14,780 As we've seen this morning, the law was never given to replace the promise. 186 00:22:14,780 --> 00:22:25,780 It was only ever given to complement the promise until God fulfilled what he said he would do in the promised seed. 187 00:22:25,780 --> 00:22:31,780 And Jesus has fulfilled all that the law was given for. 188 00:22:31,780 --> 00:22:39,780 And so on that, what do we do with the law now that Christ has come? It's an important question. 189 00:22:39,780 --> 00:22:47,780 This is something that Paul actually looks back on there in verses 21 through to 25. 190 00:22:47,780 --> 00:22:55,780 As it's been said in this series before, the legalists, they're pushing that adherence to the law was the way of salvation 191 00:22:55,780 --> 00:23:03,780 and that Paul was in error because he was making good law-rebiding Jews like sinful Gentiles. 192 00:23:03,780 --> 00:23:10,780 But in no way was Paul saying that the law was insignificant or not at all planned. 193 00:23:10,780 --> 00:23:20,780 No, the law was given by grace so that we might know our God, know our Savior, know our sin. 194 00:23:20,780 --> 00:23:27,780 And so Paul elaborates on the true function of the law in the history of salvation here 195 00:23:27,780 --> 00:23:36,780 by again using an everyday example that his audience would have been able to understand. 196 00:23:36,780 --> 00:23:45,780 You see, by looking at these verses, he's essentially saying that the law is like a guardian or a schoolteacher. 197 00:23:45,780 --> 00:23:56,780 And this is something that we do have nowadays, but the actual Greek that he uses is something more like what a rich father would have for his children. 198 00:23:56,780 --> 00:24:00,780 Like a home tutor or something like that. 199 00:24:00,780 --> 00:24:08,780 And usually they'd be very strict because this was in the day and age where if you rebelled or you didn't do your homework, 200 00:24:08,780 --> 00:24:14,780 you'd get a rap across the knuckles. Who's old enough to remember that? 201 00:24:14,780 --> 00:24:19,780 Now this teacher guardian was valuable, no doubt. 202 00:24:19,780 --> 00:24:27,780 But to the little one that they were in charge of, they would feel like a prison guard. 203 00:24:27,780 --> 00:24:30,780 That's the image that Paul is wanting us to see here. 204 00:24:30,780 --> 00:24:36,780 Those under the old covenant, under the law, had a tutor that looked over them 205 00:24:36,780 --> 00:24:42,780 and would be very, very, very good at pointing out their failings. 206 00:24:42,780 --> 00:24:52,780 And in verse 23, Paul says that at that time, God's people were actually, in a way, held captive under that arrangement, 207 00:24:52,780 --> 00:24:56,780 under the law before faith in Jesus came. 208 00:24:56,780 --> 00:25:06,780 Held captive for a time when the law was their clearest picture in how to faithfully obey and serve God. 209 00:25:06,780 --> 00:25:10,780 Now church, please don't misunderstand Paul here. 210 00:25:10,780 --> 00:25:16,780 He's not saying that there was a time when God switched how he would save people, not at all. 211 00:25:16,780 --> 00:25:25,780 Remember, the whole thesis of this book is we are justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. 212 00:25:25,780 --> 00:25:32,780 But there was a time when God's people didn't have Jesus in the flesh, 213 00:25:32,780 --> 00:25:37,780 when they didn't have the New Testament account of Jesus of Nazareth. 214 00:25:37,780 --> 00:25:45,780 And so the law, it functioned like a schoolmaster, a schoolteacher or a personal tutor 215 00:25:45,780 --> 00:25:52,780 that would guide them in the way that they should go until the seed had come. 216 00:25:52,780 --> 00:25:58,780 We might think about the Mosaic law like a staff. 217 00:25:58,780 --> 00:26:02,780 Can you imagine a candy cane for a moment? 218 00:26:02,780 --> 00:26:07,780 Like a staff, the staff in the hand of the Good Shepherd, 219 00:26:07,780 --> 00:26:11,780 which would discipline the sheep when they needed it, 220 00:26:11,780 --> 00:26:16,780 and rein them in when they went astray, all the while guiding them in faith 221 00:26:16,780 --> 00:26:22,780 to remember the promises of God about the one to come. 222 00:26:22,780 --> 00:26:25,780 There was a time when that was the case. 223 00:26:25,780 --> 00:26:29,780 And under that old system of things, one thing is for certain, 224 00:26:29,780 --> 00:26:39,780 God's people learned quick smart that they were never able to save themselves by their own works. 225 00:26:39,780 --> 00:26:42,780 But now, says Paul in verse 25, 226 00:26:42,780 --> 00:26:48,780 but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 227 00:26:48,780 --> 00:26:53,780 In other words, things have shifted from that old way to the new, 228 00:26:53,780 --> 00:26:58,780 from the Mosaic guardian to the coming of faith in Jesus Christ. 229 00:26:58,780 --> 00:27:04,780 And the whole complex Mosaic system that taught Christ in the types and shadows 230 00:27:04,780 --> 00:27:13,780 has been completely fulfilled in the light and the power of Christ's coming. 231 00:27:13,780 --> 00:27:16,780 Brothers and sisters, that is the function of the law. 232 00:27:16,780 --> 00:27:19,780 That is why the law was given. 233 00:27:19,780 --> 00:27:23,780 It was given to point and lead us to Christ. 234 00:27:23,780 --> 00:27:28,780 And so what do we do with the law now that Christ has come? 235 00:27:28,780 --> 00:27:29,780 What do we do with it? 236 00:27:29,780 --> 00:27:36,780 Well, we don't tear it out of our Bibles and pretend that it doesn't exist anymore. 237 00:27:36,780 --> 00:27:39,780 No, it's still the Word of God. 238 00:27:39,780 --> 00:27:44,780 And just because the guardian has taken us to where we need to be, 239 00:27:44,780 --> 00:27:50,780 and we now live in what Paul calls the age of faith, we don't ignore it. 240 00:27:50,780 --> 00:27:57,780 That's why here at Grace Christian Church, we love to preach through the Old Testament, 241 00:27:57,780 --> 00:28:04,780 because we can see how God has always been pointing His people to our need of His Son 242 00:28:04,780 --> 00:28:08,780 so that we might be saved by Him by faith. 243 00:28:08,780 --> 00:28:13,780 And so we go through the old so that we might understand our Savior in a greater way. 244 00:28:13,780 --> 00:28:16,780 But I also want to point something else out to you here. 245 00:28:16,780 --> 00:28:24,780 Paul isn't saying that we no longer have any relation to the morals that we find in the law. 246 00:28:24,780 --> 00:28:28,780 Let's say for the Ten Commandments, for example. 247 00:28:28,780 --> 00:28:38,780 It's not like Christ came and then all of a sudden God's totally fine with stealing and adultery. 248 00:28:38,780 --> 00:28:44,780 What Paul is saying though is that we no longer look at the Mosaic Code as a system 249 00:28:44,780 --> 00:28:50,780 to make sure that we're right with God, like the legalists were pushing on the churches. 250 00:28:50,780 --> 00:28:55,780 To put that another way, we don't meditate on the law so as to fall into legalism 251 00:28:55,780 --> 00:29:00,780 and start to fret over the dos and the don'ts that were given to Israel 252 00:29:00,780 --> 00:29:05,780 but have been completely fulfilled in the coming of Jesus. 253 00:29:05,780 --> 00:29:11,780 No, we meditate on the law because it still shows us our need for mercy and grace. 254 00:29:11,780 --> 00:29:16,780 It still shows us the love of God and how we might love others. 255 00:29:16,780 --> 00:29:24,780 In fact, the Reformers, they so helpfully called this the third use of the law. 256 00:29:24,780 --> 00:29:32,780 Which is to say, because of the cross, because of the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God's people, 257 00:29:32,780 --> 00:29:36,780 we can meditate on the law in light of the Gospel 258 00:29:36,780 --> 00:29:44,780 and be motivated to walk in a way that pleases God from the standpoint of already being saved 259 00:29:44,780 --> 00:29:48,780 by grace through faith in Christ. 260 00:29:48,780 --> 00:29:52,780 That's the way. That has always been the way. 261 00:29:52,780 --> 00:29:58,780 God justifies His people by faith and the law teaches us that. 262 00:29:58,780 --> 00:30:04,780 It continually teaches us that and like a staff in the hands of the Good Shepherd, 263 00:30:04,780 --> 00:30:09,780 the law points us to the Saviour of our souls 264 00:30:09,780 --> 00:30:17,780 who has come to set His people free from the curse of the law. 265 00:30:17,780 --> 00:30:21,780 What a difference the Gospel makes. 266 00:30:21,780 --> 00:30:24,780 And that's the last thing Paul shows us here. 267 00:30:24,780 --> 00:30:28,780 He again reminds us of the promise that continues to save. 268 00:30:28,780 --> 00:30:32,780 We read in verses 26 through 29, 269 00:30:32,780 --> 00:30:36,780 So in Christ Jesus you're all children of God through faith. 270 00:30:36,780 --> 00:30:42,780 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. 271 00:30:42,780 --> 00:30:48,780 There's neither Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male, female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. 272 00:30:48,780 --> 00:30:54,780 If you belong to Christ, then you're Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. 273 00:30:54,780 --> 00:31:01,780 That is a beautiful summary of everything that Paul has been teaching to us in this book so far. 274 00:31:01,780 --> 00:31:06,780 When you give up on your own attempts to justify yourself, 275 00:31:06,780 --> 00:31:10,780 when you understand the law in the way in which it was meant to be understood, 276 00:31:10,780 --> 00:31:16,780 as our guardian that leads us to the promised one and how much we need him, 277 00:31:16,780 --> 00:31:22,780 then by faith in him we become children of God. 278 00:31:22,780 --> 00:31:25,780 That's what makes us the children of God. 279 00:31:25,780 --> 00:31:28,780 The faith which is a gift. 280 00:31:28,780 --> 00:31:34,780 And when we put this faith in Christ, we're clothed with Christ's righteousness 281 00:31:34,780 --> 00:31:36,780 and severed from our old lives. 282 00:31:36,780 --> 00:31:39,780 That's what baptism represents here. 283 00:31:39,780 --> 00:31:42,780 And this miraculous work of the Spirit in our lives, 284 00:31:42,780 --> 00:31:47,780 this justification by faith alone and Christ alone by grace alone, 285 00:31:47,780 --> 00:31:56,780 has always been the will and testament and promise for God, of God for his children. 286 00:31:56,780 --> 00:32:01,780 He's always planned and promised that Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male, female, 287 00:32:01,780 --> 00:32:05,780 in other words, no matter who you are, 288 00:32:05,780 --> 00:32:11,780 that he would bless the nations through faith in the seed that was to come. 289 00:32:11,780 --> 00:32:15,780 And he kept that promise in the Lord Jesus Christ. 290 00:32:15,780 --> 00:32:22,780 So as we end our time in this complex but powerful part of Scripture, 291 00:32:22,780 --> 00:32:27,780 the Gospel would ask something of you here this morning. 292 00:32:27,780 --> 00:32:35,780 Have you given up on trying to earn your place before God? 293 00:32:35,780 --> 00:32:39,780 Have you given up on trying to make yourself all shiny 294 00:32:39,780 --> 00:32:45,780 and acceptable before the God of the universe? 295 00:32:45,780 --> 00:32:50,780 Well, as Paul said in this book, by the works of the law, 296 00:32:50,780 --> 00:32:55,780 no one, no one will be justified. 297 00:32:55,780 --> 00:32:58,780 It's impossible, friend. It's never been possible. 298 00:32:58,780 --> 00:33:02,780 And that's because the law wasn't designed to save you. 299 00:33:02,780 --> 00:33:09,780 It was designed to enslave you so that you might look to the one who was to come, 300 00:33:09,780 --> 00:33:13,780 to the seed who kept it perfectly in every which way, 301 00:33:13,780 --> 00:33:18,780 to the one who invites you this morning to bring nothing in your hand 302 00:33:18,780 --> 00:33:23,780 and cast yourself completely upon him. 303 00:33:23,780 --> 00:33:31,780 So that like Abraham, you might be clothed in his righteousness and perfection. 304 00:33:31,780 --> 00:33:35,780 You are here by no mistake this morning. 305 00:33:35,780 --> 00:33:37,780 No mistake. 306 00:33:37,780 --> 00:33:42,780 As we see here in these last few verses, it doesn't matter who you are, 307 00:33:42,780 --> 00:33:47,780 where you've come from, or what you've done. 308 00:33:47,780 --> 00:33:52,780 The gracious free gift of salvation is held out to all 309 00:33:52,780 --> 00:33:59,780 and given to anyone who puts their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 310 00:33:59,780 --> 00:34:04,780 Brothers and sisters, for those of you that have put your faith in Christ, 311 00:34:04,780 --> 00:34:10,780 then the Holy Spirit of God says that like Abraham, you are heirs of the promise 312 00:34:10,780 --> 00:34:13,780 and Abraham's seed. 313 00:34:13,780 --> 00:34:19,780 That is how closely we are identified with Christ. 314 00:34:19,780 --> 00:34:24,780 We're clothed in his righteousness and what is his is ours. 315 00:34:24,780 --> 00:34:26,780 We belong to him. 316 00:34:26,780 --> 00:34:31,780 We are by the Holy Spirit given to us, one with him, 317 00:34:31,780 --> 00:34:37,780 and because of that gracious work, you are blessed forever, 318 00:34:37,780 --> 00:34:42,780 no longer under the curse of the law. 319 00:34:42,780 --> 00:34:47,780 That is your status in Christ at this very moment. 320 00:34:47,780 --> 00:34:51,780 Right now, where you sit in this place, you belong to the family of God 321 00:34:51,780 --> 00:34:58,780 and you are part of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the risen Lord and Saviour. 322 00:34:58,780 --> 00:35:01,780 God made a promise in the Gospel. 323 00:35:01,780 --> 00:35:05,780 The seed that was to come came in Jesus Christ of Nazareth 324 00:35:05,780 --> 00:35:11,780 and for anyone who has faith in God's testimony in the Gospel about his Son, 325 00:35:11,780 --> 00:35:15,780 Jesus Christ has been made part of God's family, 326 00:35:15,780 --> 00:35:20,780 part of his people, part of his inheritance, Abraham's seed. 327 00:35:20,780 --> 00:35:25,780 If your eyes have been opened that you can't make yourself right because of the law, 328 00:35:25,780 --> 00:35:31,780 if you've cast yourself on the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have called upon his name, 329 00:35:31,780 --> 00:35:36,780 then right now in this place, because of God's promises, 330 00:35:36,780 --> 00:35:46,780 because of his unchanging will, you're a son, you're a daughter, you're an heir, 331 00:35:46,780 --> 00:35:50,780 you're a member of God's family. 332 00:35:50,780 --> 00:35:56,780 May the Lord help us to live in the light of the Gospel. 333 00:35:56,780 --> 00:36:05,780 Would you please pray with me? 334 00:36:05,780 --> 00:36:11,780 Father God, it's already been prayed from this pulpit this morning that we are such fickle people. 335 00:36:11,780 --> 00:36:14,780 But Lord, you are not. 336 00:36:14,780 --> 00:36:17,780 Your yes is yes. 337 00:36:17,780 --> 00:36:22,780 And when you say yes to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, that is unchanging. 338 00:36:22,780 --> 00:36:31,780 We thank you for the Gospel, we thank you for the Lord Jesus and his amazing, awesome keeping 339 00:36:31,780 --> 00:36:38,780 of all that he was meant to do to buy our righteousness, to set us free from the curse of the law. 340 00:36:38,780 --> 00:36:43,780 We thank you that by his blood we have been washed clean, that the cross was sufficient, 341 00:36:43,780 --> 00:36:48,780 that his life, death and resurrection has been accepted in the heavenlies, 342 00:36:48,780 --> 00:36:56,780 that that status of son, of daughter has been given to all those who have been called by your name. 343 00:36:56,780 --> 00:37:00,780 This morning, Lord, we are asking that we desperately need you. 344 00:37:00,780 --> 00:37:09,780 We desperately need you to turn our eyes upon Jesus and to look forward to him and not to our own works. 345 00:37:09,780 --> 00:37:13,780 We ask you, Lord, that you would fill us with this knowledge, 346 00:37:13,780 --> 00:37:18,780 that the Spirit would show us Christ more and more, that it would overflow to those around us, 347 00:37:18,780 --> 00:37:26,780 that we would point people not to a church, not to the law, but to Christ. 348 00:37:26,780 --> 00:37:30,780 We ask, Lord, that you would use this congregation for your will, 349 00:37:30,780 --> 00:37:36,780 that you would use this congregation to be a light, a city on a hill in the city of Armidale 350 00:37:36,780 --> 00:37:38,780 and that we make disciples of you. 351 00:37:38,780 --> 00:37:57,780 Lord, we ask for this in Jesus' name and for your glory. Amen.