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What's The Point Of It All? Galatians: Set Free, Part 6 I have heard people say, “I am trying to become a Christian.” My friend, you can try all you want to become a Christian, but it will never work. To become a Christian, you must stop trying and simply TRUST in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He paid for our sins so that we may live in heaven forever. Jesus did all the work necessary for me to BECOME a Christian. Give up your trying to BECOME a Christian and believe that Jesus can make you become a Christian! That is what Galatians 3 and 4 is all about. Galatians 1 and 2 was Paul defending his apostleship. Galatians 3 and 4 is Paul defending justification by faith alone in Christ alone. Now, Martin Luther led the battle cry of the reformers by emphasizing SOLA SCRIPTURA and SOLA FIDA, that is the Scripture ALONE is our authority and FAITH alone is the basis of our justification. The phrase “faith alone” is something that Roman Catholics still refuse to accept. They argue that the Scripture never uses the phrase faith alone to describe our justification. This is an accurate statement, so let me use the exact phrase of the Scripture: Today, life is meaningless for multitudes of people. Many people wake up in the morning with nothing to really live for. They feel they have no purpose, that they do not belong to anything or do not belong anywhere. They feel a disconnect from anything and anybody. Many people feel like misfits, outsiders. Many have no security that what they are living for really counts for anything. Most people have nothing to anchor them in their storm-tossed existence. When trials come they are often swept away and do what feels good or what is the easiest path. What’s the point of living, people often ask. What’s the point of doing right? What is the point of going to work? What is the point of coming to church? In this passage of Scripture we see Paul make sense of 2,000 years of history, from Abraham, to Moses, to Christ. Paul shows how we can “get connected” to God eternal purpose; how we can be connected to Christ and to Abraham. Paul surveys practically the entire Old Testament landscape and he presents it like a mountain range, whose high peaks are Abraham and Moses, and who Everest is Jesus Christ. Amazingly, Paul shows this majestic panorama of Scripture and then connects everyone who has ever believed in Jesus to Abraham. He shows how God’s promise to Abraham was confirmed by Moses and fulfilled in Christ. The Law connects the promise God made to Abraham with the coming of Christ. Paul weaves a compelling argument in how the Scripture fits together. Paul shows us the amazing unity of the Scripture. The promise, the law, and the cross are all tied together in this passage of Scripture. There is a great need to see the big picture of God’s Story. History is His Story, and Paul shows us the everlasting purpose of God to redeem a people unto himself through Jesus Christ. 1. The Point of the PROMISE, v.15-18 Paul tells us in Galatians 3:15-18 that before the Law of Moses, God made a promise with Abraham to send the Messiah into the world. In the promise God made to Abraham, He makes provision for “all families of the earth” to be justified by faith. Again, this promise to justify by faith Jews and Gentiles was made before the Law was given. Whatever the purpose of the law, it cannot change this promise that God made. God has promised to send his Son, and He will! In verse 15, Paul is saying that when two men make a covenant, it cannot be annulled or changed by just one party. What if you buy a car, and pay the set amount? Let’s say that you sign the contract and then drive the car home. What if, the next morning, the dealership is in your front yard, towing the car away? You would say to them, “Hey, what are you doing? That is my car! I bought it fair and square and signed a contract for it!” Can they say, “Oh, we changed our mind and have revised the contract.” No, they cannot annul or change the contract without your permission, nor would they even try if they want to remain in business! Now, if a man would not break his contract, how can God change his agreement? Is God a liar? That could never be. God has promised that he would send a Messiah and that all who believe in the Messiah would be justified. Verse 16 tells us that the point of the promise is to point to THE SEED. Who is THE SEED? Jesus Christ. God had promised to Abraham a land, a nation, and a blessing. In thee shall ALL FAMILIES of the earth be blessed. All families of the earth means that people of all ethnic backgrounds will receive a blessing through Abraham’s descendents. If you look at Genesis 15:5 and Genesis 15:18. In the passage Genesis 17:6-8, we see the phrase “thy seed” at least three times. Thy seed refers to the descendents of Abraham, but Paul says, God does not “and to SEEDS, many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ” (Galatians 3:16). The Promise points to the SEED, who is Jesus Christ. In verse 17, Paul says that the law does not cancel out or annul (invalidate) the promise. The Law and the promise are given by the same God, and “God is one” (v.20). In verse 18, Paul’s point is that since Abraham was justified by faith in the coming Messiah, all those who believe in the God of Abraham are justified the same exact way. What if those who lived under the law of Moses were justified by the works of the law? Then there would be two different ways of salvation. God has never had two ways of salvation! Justification even during the days of the Mosaic Law, was not by the works of the law! 2. The Point of the Law, v.19-25 What a great question, and one that must be answered: Paul easily got the lawkeeping Jews very upset, and also the Judiazers who sought to teach salvation through Jesus Christ and the works of the law. You can almost hear them tell Paul: Paul, your theology fuses Abraham and Christ, but you squeeze out the law. You have no purpose for the law in your Gospel. This is wicked, Paul, because Jesus did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it.” This is what Paul now deals with in this section. How does the law fit into this age of grace? A. The Law POINTS INWARD, to our Sin, v.19-22 The point of the law was never to be a means of salvation, but to convince men of their need of salvation. For those living under the law before Christ, the law should have awakened them to their need of the PROMISED SEED. The Law shows that a man is in direct violation to the character of God. Men under the law needed to keep their eye on the promise God made to Abraham! Our proud flesh would like to prove ourselves holy by the law, but God gave the law to prove us sinners. God gave the law to reveal our sin to ourselves so as to drive men to Christ. We see that the law of Moses was added TEMPORARILY “It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come” (v.19). A transgression is “to step beyond the boundary into forbidden territory.” We have all stepped into forbidden territories. The Law was added to grace not as a means of salvation but to show the nature of their sin. When the Messiah came, the Law was done away. Does this mean we have a license to be lawless? May it never be! The Law was given by a mediator; the Promise was made directly by God to Abraham. The law was brought in to show sinners their need of grace. The law does not provide the grace. The law of Moses has been superceded by a greater law: the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. God administered His moral absolutes from Moses until the cross by the Law of Moses; since the coming of Christ, God administers His moral absolutes in a superior way, by the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. B. The Law POINTS UPWARD, to our Savior, v.23-25 Here Paul makes two comparisons. His first comparison is to a prison. This is in verse 23. “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.” God’s law kept a watch over us and kept us in confinement. The word “shut up” is used in Luke 5:6 of fish being inclosed in a net. (This word is also used in Gal.3:22 and is translated “concluded.”) The law captures us and incloses us. How does the law imprison us? The law keeps us under a CONSCIOUSNESS of sin and under the CONDEMNATION for sin. The law keeps a person under lock and key until they come to Christ. Christ sets us free from the law! Unless a person comes to Christ they cannot escape the law of God. This word “shut up” is also used in Roman 11:32, “For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.” The second comparison Paul makes is that the law is like a schoolmaster. The word does not mean a teacher, but a guide. In ancient times a schoolmaster conducted a youth aged from 6-16 to and from school, and watched over the conduct of the child. A schoolmaster had the responsibility to discipline an unruly child. So a schoolmaster watched over the outward behavior of a child and attended him wherever he went. Vine says this word means that a schoolmaster was “responsible for his moral and physical well-being.” The law expressed the will of God to the people and tells what to do and what not to do. It warns us of the penalties of disobedience. Is the law bad? No, the law is holy, righteous, and good. It is not the law that is bad, it is WE who are bad. The law is our schoolmaster. Just as the schoolmaster led a child to through his childhood, the law leads us to come to Christ. Once a child arrived to adulthood, they did not need a schoolmaster. The law shows us that we are sinners and we need a Savior. The law shows me that sin can only be removed by a blood sacrifice, but the blood of lambs cannot in themselves take away sin. I need a Savior! The law shows me that I need a High Priest to interceed perfectly for me. I need a Savior! Once we come to Christ, we are not under the law of Moses but we are now set free and placed under the law of the Spirit. “We are no longer under a schoolmaster.” 3. What’s the Point of being IN CHRIST? (v.26-29) The point of faith is this: faith in Jesus Christ sets us free! The promise pointed to the seed, which is Christ. The Law pointed to a need of the Savior. The point of being in Christ is to be brought into a right relationship with our Creator. A. We Belong to God: By faith we are placed in God’s Family, v.26 We become Sons of God by faith in Jesus. B. We Belong to One Another, v.27,28 When we put our faith in Jesus we become ONE in Christ Jesus. We all are members of Christ. We are baptized into Christ. This is not speaking of water baptism. This is speaking of our spiritual union with Jesus Christ that happens by faith PERIOD. (v.28) There is no distinction of race (Jew or Greek), class (bond or free), or sex (male or female). These distinctions are the reasons that people have been exploited down through the centuries: race, class, and sex. Why were people made slaves in America? Race. Why did Hitler gas people during WWII: race. Why have women often been exploited and ill-treated even today in Muslim countries? Why do they have a caste system in India: class. Does this mean that racial, social, and sexual distinctions have been obliterated entirely? Does it mean that a man should be treated in every way as a woman and a woman should be treated in every way as a man? Does it mean that you should have no feelings for your homeland if you were born in another country? There are certain differences that do exist, and we better realize they exist, but they do not matter in our relationship with God, or in our fellowship with God. No one is better than another based on race, social standing, or sexual orientation. We do not accept one another in the family of God based on these things. We will not be rewarded by God based on racial, social, and sexual distinctions. C. We belong to the PROMISE, v.29 Yes, we are Abraham’s seed. We are connected to 4000 years of history! We are connected to Abraham and to all who have believed in the God of Abraham! Amazing grace! Today, life is meaningless for multitudes of people. They feel disconnected. Many people wake up in the morning with nothing to really live for. They feel they have no purpose, that they do not belong to anything or do not belong anywhere. Many people feel like misfits, outsiders. Many have no security that what they are living for really counts for anything. Most people have nothing to anchor them in their storm-tossed existence. When trials come they are often swept away and do what feels good or what is the easiest path. Come to Christ and get connected to the God of eternity. If you are already in Christ, rejoice in your salvation and in the fact that by grace you are reconciled to God by the death of His dear Son! The point of it all is that by believing in Jesus we belong to Jesus for all eternity and are connected to the very promise God made to Abraham! |