If you have your Bible with you this morning, I invite you to open it up with me to Galatians chapter 3.
Galatians chapter 3.
We began looking at this passage a little bit last Sunday.
The churches in the region of Galatia had begun to embrace what Paul referred to as a false gospel, a different gospel.
Some men who were Jewish by birth, he refers to them as the circumcision group, had infiltrated the churches in Galatia.
And they were teaching this false gospel.
They were teaching that in order to be made right with God, to be saved, you need Jesus plus you need to do the works of the law.
You need to be circumcised.
You need to observe the special days and months and years.
We are the true children of Abraham, was the attitude that they had.
And if you want to be cut into the family, you need Jesus, yes, but you need these other things too.
And Paul is writing with all of his passion to correct this false notion and to remind the churches in Galatia that that's not the gift of God that God is offering through the gospel.
We saw this statement in chapter 3, verse 7, last Sunday.
He said, understand then that those who have faith, and of course he's talking about faith in Jesus Christ, those who have faith are children of Abraham.
He goes on from there to talk about the law.
We looked at that last Sunday and how some are trying to say that it's by works of the law that we gain a right standing with God.
And Paul says, no, no, no.
By the works of the law, we are under the curse of God.
We deserve his just and righteous punishment because we've blown it.
We've failed to keep the law.
We haven't lived up to God's good and righteous standard.
And the good news we heard last Sunday was that God sent his son, Jesus, to redeem us from the curse of the law and to take that curse upon himself, that judgment upon himself,
so that we might be set free from the debt that we owe to God in terms of his justice for what we have done.
Paul ended that section, we ended it last Sunday, with this statement of how he has redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles
or to the nations through Christ Jesus.
And so we're going to continue on with what Paul is teaching here because he has more to say.
He has more to say about the law and how this factors in.
He has more to say about the gift of Christ and the gospel.
So we pick it up this morning in verse 15 of chapter 3.
Paul says,
So Paul's getting practical.
He's giving us an illustration that we can all relate to.
It's maybe a little harder for us to relate to it in our culture today because we don't have covenants of the same weight or seriousness as they had.
And even the ones that we do that are most serious, it's very common for us to break them.
You think of marriage, you think of divorce, you think of...
And so I'm trying to think of, you know, what's the best, what's the closest equivalent that, you know, we can really think of.
And this is not a perfect illustration, but perhaps we might think of an agreement with a bank to borrow money, a mortgage.
What is Paul saying here?
When you make a serious, a human covenant, we all know that you can't just set it aside or you can't just add to it later on.
You know, once you have signed on the line for that money, you have obligated yourself to pay it back.
You can't just decide, you know, three weeks later, I don't want to pay it back.
I'll keep it.
I've already spent it, but I'm not going to make the payments.
No, you can't set it aside.
It's binding on you.
Same with making changes to it.
The bank, they can't come to you and say, well, we made this agreement, but we actually want to change that now.
And we want to make it so that you pay additional payments and more.
Give us more.
Or we're going to just change the interest rate.
We're going to jack it up.
This is what the agreement was.
And it's binding.
It's set.
You can't go back and change that.
And Paul's saying, this is how it is with the covenant that God made with Abraham.
It's binding.
He can't just set it aside.
He can't just change it or go back on his word.
Let's keep reading.
He says, so it is in this case.
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.
Now we're going to skip down to 17.
We'll come back to what's in between.
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.
So what is he saying?
Yes, the law of Moses came in 430 years later.
But it doesn't set aside the promises that God made to Abraham and his offspring.
It doesn't somehow just nullify that.
It doesn't change the terms of it so that now it's you need to do all this in order to receive what's promised.
No, it doesn't work like that.
That covenant that God made with Abraham, it stands and it's binding.
If you were here that Sunday, God himself passed through the halves of the animal.
And he alone did.
And there were no requirements on Abraham's side.
Things that he had to do in order to receive these promises.
God promised by himself that he would stick to these things.
That he would do these things.
That he would bless Abraham and his offspring and give them the land.
And God will keep his promise, his covenant.
Verse 18.
For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise.
But God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
Those words depends on the law.
If the inheritance depends on the law.
If it depends on us doing enough of the good works, the righteous deeds, the ceremonial washings, the holiday, the holy day observances in the law.
If it depends on that, getting what was promised, then it doesn't really come by the promise.
It comes by works.
It comes by our obedience.
But notice the word if.
If the inheritance depends on the law.
Inherent in that is the statement.
It doesn't.
It isn't dependent on that.
He says if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise.
But it doesn't depend on the law or the works of the law.
But God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
Everything that God promised Abraham.
The land, the blessing of his offspring to bless the nations through him.
It was intended as a gift of grace.
Not as something that he had to somehow earn.
This wasn't a rewards program that God set before Abraham.
It was a gift of grace.
And it was to come to him simply because God promised it.
Which kind of raises the question in our minds.
Well then, why the law?
Why the law?
Why was that brought in in the first place?
And this is exactly where Paul goes.
I mean, if the whole inheritance comes to Abraham and his offspring just by faith.
Then why did God bring this whole covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the law in 430 years later?
Paul is going to give us some answers to that question.
Starting in verse 19.
Why then was the law given at all?
It was added because of transgressions until the seed to whom the promise referred had come.
So here we begin to see the beginning of the answer.
We see two things.
Because of transgressions.
Because of sins.
What do you mean by that, Paul?
He's going to explain it a little bit more as we go on.
The law was given because of sins, because of transgressions.
But the other thing we notice here in verse 19 is that it was added.
The law was added because of transgressions until the seed to whom the promise referred had come.
And even there, that little word until.
It was intended to be a temporary relationship.
Not a permanent one.
And Paul's going to say more about that as well.
Let's go down to verse 21 and continue to focus in on this question of why the law.
Why the law?
Verse 21.
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.
Now there's a lot in here.
It's kind of a loaded statement.
But I want to draw your attention to a couple things.
There's another answer to the question of why the law here.
If a law had been given that could impart life,
then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.
In other words, we would get a right standing with God on the basis of law
if it was possible for God to give a just and right law that we could keep.
But that wasn't possible.
In fact, implied in this that could impart life
is the truth that the law could never do that.
In fact, that it wasn't even the purpose of the law.
The purpose of the law was not to give us a right standing with God
or to give us life.
Are we hearing this correctly?
Are we seeing this right?
Paul has already said this a few times throughout his letter.
Back in chapter 2, verse 16.
By the works of the law, no one will be justified.
Chapter 2, verse 21.
If righteousness could be gained through the law,
Christ died for nothing.
This has kind of been his point all the way through this.
The law cannot give you a right standing with God.
It doesn't matter how much you try to keep it.
It's not enough.
You've already blown it.
We will blow it.
We're under the curse of the law.
And so we deserve to be punished
because of that good and right standard
that God has given to his people.
So why the law?
Well, the law was not given to be the thing that delivers,
the thing that saves us.
What does Paul say?
He says,
But Scripture has locked up everything,
verse 22,
under the control of sin,
so that what was promised,
being given through faith in Jesus Christ,
might be given to those who believe.
Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin,
or shut up everything under the control of sin.
The purpose of the law was not to save.
The purpose of the law was to clarify the relationship
and help us see where we stand before God,
to help us see that we are locked up under the presence,
because of the presence of sin,
under the penalty of sin,
and under the power of sin.
It was to help us see that the way is shut,
and that there's no way out of this,
so that we might turn to God and cry out for help,
and find that the way to be saved,
the way to be made right with God again,
is not through obedience.
It's not through law-keeping.
It's actually through the gift
that God intended all along to give,
the gift of His Son,
so that what was promised
might be given to those who believe,
but how would it come to them?
Through faith in Jesus Christ,
says Paul in verse 22.
He goes on to kind of give us a bit of an illustration,
to help us see how this works,
and I'll read it first,
and then we'll talk about it.
Verse 23.
He says,
Before the coming of this faith,
we were held in custody under the law,
locked up or shut up
until the faith that was to come would be revealed.
So the law was our guardian until Christ came
that we might be justified by faith.
Now that this faith has come,
we are no longer under a guardian.
So Paul is giving them an example,
an illustration.
There's a lot of discussion over this illustration.
The word guardian is kind of,
it's discussed.
Some translations say tutor,
some say teacher,
some say schoolmaster.
And so what exactly is the metaphor there?
We have a hard time, I think,
relating to schoolmaster.
We don't really have that in the same sense as they did.
And so I really like the way that the NIV has translated it,
as guardian and using the language of custody.
The best kind of example I could think of in my mind was,
perhaps most of you will remember a time when you,
your parents maybe took you over to your grandparents' house
or to a relative's house,
and you stayed there for a time.
And they were kind of in charge of you.
They would watch over you when you were kids.
You know,
they,
in that moment,
your grandparents kind of became your guardian.
They,
they,
they had the care over you.
They had authority over you.
You were under their charge.
But,
in that situation,
it was temporary.
The expectation was that when
your parents come
and pick you up,
you're no longer under their authority.
You're no longer under grandma's house rules.
While you're there,
you're under grandma's house rules.
But when you,
your parents come to pick you up
and you get to go home,
you're no longer under grandma's house rules.
You're under mom and dad's now.
It's not a perfect illustration,
but I think it starts to get us thinking about the way that this,
that this works and what Paul is trying to show us here.
That's how it was with the law.
The law was never meant to be the permanent relationship.
It was given as,
as a guardian.
It was given as something that was to hold sway for a time.
Until,
Paul tells us,
the seed to whom the promise referred
had come.
And so,
why the law?
Let's,
let's just kind of sum this up briefly
and bring it all together.
Why was the law given?
It was given temporarily
to be a guardian,
to have charge
over the people of God
because of transgressions.
it was not given to impart life.
It couldn't.
It was given to help them see
that they needed the gift of God
to have life,
to be made right with God.
And if we zoom back for a moment
and,
and think about this
and what we know of the Old Testament
and the law,
it,
it makes sense.
What,
what do we read in the Old Testament?
We read that
God gave them requirements
about
clean,
cleanliness,
cleanness,
ceremonial cleanness.
You,
you,
you are unclean.
And so,
if you want to come close
and approach
and have a relationship with me,
you have to do these things
to be clean.
There's,
there's something,
there's a problem here
that separates us.
It's,
it's uncleanness.
It's,
it's sin.
If you want to,
to,
to have a relationship,
you're going to need somebody
to,
to stand in the gap
between you and me,
a priest,
a mediator.
You need a sacrifice
to bring.
You got to bring a sacrifice
that's going to cover your sin
and,
and divert the,
the wrath that you deserve
for your sin.
All of these things,
the temple,
the,
the tabernacle,
the way that they're set up
are,
are driving home this point
that,
that even though God has
promised all of these good things,
there's something that stands
in the way of us receiving that.
There's a problem
and it's sin.
We are guilty
before God.
We have broken his law.
And so,
how can God simply
just overlook that
and be just?
This is part of what
the law was intended
to show us all along.
We're in trouble with God.
We're on the hook.
We're unclean.
We have,
we have sin.
We're,
it,
it is in us
and we are under
the,
the penalty of it
as far as justice
is concerned
from God.
And so,
we're kind of
seeing this,
this,
this bigger story here.
God gives this promise,
these promises to Abraham,
wonderful,
to Abraham,
but then he gives the law
to help them see
that
there's,
there's something in the way.
You can't receive
these promises
unless this is taken care of,
sin.
And then the good news
is what Jesus,
what God has done
to deal with that problem of sin,
which the law exposes.
Let's go back up to verse 16
and hear the good news.
The good news of the seed
of Abraham.
We skipped over this,
but let's,
let's hear these words.
The promises were spoken
to Abraham
and to his seed.
Scripture does not say
and to seeds,
meaning many people,
but and to your seed,
meaning one person
who is Christ.
Now there's discussion here
over what Paul means,
especially as it pertains to,
scripture does not say
and to seeds,
meaning many people,
but into your seed.
What does he mean by that?
And you know,
some would say that
God meant all along
in the Old Testament
when he,
times when he gave the promise
to Abraham,
what he meant right from the start
was to you
and your seed,
singular,
referring to Christ.
That's how some read that.
Others read it more
as that Paul is,
by the Spirit,
applying that word
to the ultimate fulfillment,
which is Christ,
a single person.
Either way,
what's crystal clear here
is that the seed,
the ultimate fulfillment
of the promise
points to Christ.
Let me read it again
and hopefully we'll hear that.
The promises were spoken
to Abraham
and to his seed,
who is Christ.
The seed,
the offspring of Abraham,
who is Christ.
All along this series,
we've been hearing
all these promises
that God gave to Abraham
and maybe we've been wondering,
well,
through the centuries,
how has God kept
these promises?
Because in some places,
it doesn't look like
he really has.
but perhaps this is
the key detail
that we're missing.
The promises were spoken
to Abraham
and to his seed,
his offspring,
who is Christ.
Could it be
that God intends
to keep
all of these promises
that he's made
to Abraham
to Christ?
And when we stop
and think about that,
Christ is
a son of Abraham,
descended from Abraham
in the flesh.
He is the ultimate heir
of all of the promises.
He is the son of God,
but he took on
full humanity
when he came down
into our world
and he was born
into the lineage
of Abraham.
where is Paul
going with this?
What's the implication
of this?
Verse 19,
the law was added
because of transgressions
until the seed
to whom the promise
referred
had come.
until the offspring
of Abraham,
Christ,
that the promise
referred
had come.
The promise
referred
to him.
Ultimately,
God intended
to fulfill it
through him.
And so,
we're going to look
at this in a moment
in verse 26 to 29,
but I'm going to try
to describe it for you
and hopefully
if you see it,
then we'll read it
and if you see it there,
then that's good.
But what I'm seeing
here is this.
God intends
to keep
all of the promises
that he made
to Abraham
to the Lord
Jesus Christ himself,
the offspring,
the seed
of Abraham.
And sin
doesn't stand
in the way
of Christ
receiving
all of that.
He keeps
the promises
to Christ
and then he takes
all who have faith
in Jesus Christ.
He puts them
into Christ
so that we too
might receive
all that has been
promised.
All the blessings
that God
has promised
to Abraham.
That's what I'm seeing here.
Now let's read it
in verse 26 to 29
and see if you see that
as well.
So,
in Christ Jesus
you are all
children
or sons
of God
through faith.
for all of you
who were
baptized
into Christ
have clothed
yourselves
with Christ.
There is neither
Jew nor Gentile
neither slave
nor free
nor is there
male and female
for you are all
one
in
Christ Jesus.
And then here's
the final statement.
If you belong
to Christ
then you
are Abraham's
seed
heirs
according to the promise.
Four times
in that section
Paul takes up
this language
of union
with Christ.
He says
in Christ Jesus
you are all
children
of God.
He says
for all of you
who were
baptized
into Christ
think of that
picture of
baptism
going into
the water
baptized
means
to
immerse
or to
plunge
into
for you
are all
baptized
into
Christ
and have
clothed
yourselves
with Christ.
Literally
Christ
you put
on
you are
in
him.
Paul is
trying to
press this
home as
strongly as
he can.
he says
at the end
of verse
28
for you
are all
one
in
Christ
Jesus
and
therefore
if you
belong
to Christ
then you
are
Abraham's
seed
and
heirs
according
to the
promise.
There's
this
statement
in the
midst
of this
that's
got
some
of us
kind
of
wondering
what
is he
talking
about
here
verse
28
he says
there is
neither
Jew
nor
Gentile
some
translations
say
Greek
neither
slave
nor
free
nor
is
there
male
and
female
for
you
are
all
one
in
Christ
Jesus
and
some
of us
are
thinking
Paul
what
are
you
saying
here
I
mean
we've
kind
of
got
this
strange
cultural
context
in
which
we've
got
gender
identity
stuff
being
talked
about
what
do
you
mean
there's
no
male
and
female
why
is
he
throwing
this
that
there
is
no
legitimate
differences
between
people
or
is
he
making
a
different
point
I
think
he's
making
a
different
point
I
think
the
point
he's
trying
to
make
is
that
whether
you're
Jew
or
Greek
whether
you're
slave
or
free
whether
you're
male
or
female
it
doesn't
make
a
difference
as
to
whether
or
not
you
are
a
son
of
Abraham
and
therefore
an
heir
of
the
promises
why
because
you
are
in
Christ
think
about
this
Jesus
himself
was
descended
in
the
flesh
from
Abraham
he
was
circumcised
on
the
eighth
day
he
was
born
under
the
law
Paul
says
in
another
place
he
kept
the
law
perfectly
and
we
don't
think
this
way
in
our
North
American
culture
but
back
in
Old
Testament
times
if
you
wanted
to
receive
the
inheritance
you
had
to
be
a
son
you
had
to
be
male
if
you
were
female
you
were
you
know
you
entered
into
another
family
by
marriage
and
you
would
receive
inheritance
over
there
was
kind
of
the
typical
way
that
it
happened
Jesus
meets
all
the
requirements
to
receive
the
inheritance
that God
promised
to
Abraham
he's
a son
he was
circumcised
he's a
true
descendant
of
Abraham
and so
when it
says in
verse 16
the promises
were spoken
to Abraham
and to
his seed
meaning
one person
who is
Christ
God
will keep
all of the
promises
made to
Abraham
to the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
he will
inherit
them all
and then
God
has put
us
into
him
so
that
the
things
that
would
otherwise
disqualify
us
don't
disqualify
us
anymore
and it's
this
way
that
it
will
be
fulfilled
that
the
blessing
of
God
will
go
through
Abraham
and
his
seed
to
the
nations
through
the
person
of
Christ
male
and
female
it
sounds
strange
until
you read
in
verse
26
so
in
Christ
Jesus
you
are
all
my
Bible
translated
children
of
God
through
faith
but
literally
it's
sons
you
are
all
sons
and
sons
are
the
ones
who
at
least
in
the
context
of
the
scriptures
receive
the
inheritance
and
so
when
he
says
that
there
is
no
male
or
female
I
think
what
he's
pointing
to
is
that
just
because
you're
female
you're
not
disqualified
from
the
inheritance
because
you
are
in
Christ
and
he
is
a
son
who
will
inherit
everything
that's
been
promised
it's
a little
hard to
wrap
our minds
around
this
we're
talking
about
the
big
scope
of
the
plan
right
from
Genesis
all
the
way
to
today
and
into
the
future
but
I
think
that
this
statement
sums
it
all
up
so
well
in
verse
29
this
is
the
point
Paul
is
trying
to
get
across
those
people
are
telling
you
we're
the
true
children
of
Abraham
the
true
sons
of
Abraham
you
guys
are
not
and
if
you
want
to
be
you
got
to
do
all
this
stuff
Paul
saying
no
if
you
belong
to
Christ
then
you
are
Abraham's
seed
you
are
his
offspring
and
this
is
what
follows
from
that
you
are
heirs
according
to
the
promise
you
don't
need
to
do
all
this
other
stuff
you
don't
need
to
keep
the
law
you
don't
need
to
be
circumcised
you
don't
need
to
be
Jewish
you
don't
need
to
be
a
male
son
to
inherit
what
has
been
promised
Christ
and
the
gift
of
God
is
that
he's
going
to
put
you
into
Christ
and
unite
you
with
him
through
faith
so
deeply
so
that
you
receive
all
of
it
as
a
gift
of
grace
this
is
the
gospel
this
is
the
gospel
if
you
belong
to
Christ
then
you
are
Abraham's
seed
and
heirs
according
to
the
promise
what's
the
promise
I
mean
Paul's
talked
in
context
he's
talked
about
all
kinds
of
things
we
could
flip
back
to
verse
8
the
promise
is
that
there
will
be
blessing
generally
for
the
nations
verse
6
a
gift
of
a
right
standing
with
God
Paul
has
spoken
of
the
gift
of
the
spirit
in
verses
1
to
5
in
verse
14
that
we
might
receive
the
promise
of
the
spirit
what
about
the
land
we
might
wonder
verse
16
the
promises
plural
were
spoken
to
Abraham
and
to
his
seed
and
where
he
quotes
from
to
say
that
and
to
your
seed
is
the
promise
to
you
and
your
seed
I
will
give
this
land
Christ
will
inherit
all
of
that
and
in
Christ
we
too
are
counted
as
the
seed
as
the
children
of
Abraham
who
will
enter
into
that
and
inherit
it
as
well
some
of
you
may
not
have
been
here
when
we
went
to
Romans
4
but
in
Romans
chapter
4
it
says
that
Abraham
by
faith
became
heir
of
the
world
heir
of
the
world
proclaiming
the
final
expansion
of
the
land
promise
it
wasn't
just
all
along
just
for
this
little
piece
of
land
in
the
Middle
East
it
was
for
the
world
because
how
can
all
the
people
of
the
children
of
Abraham
if
it's
been
widened
to
the
nations
like
this
through
Christ
and
it
has
how
can
all
of
us
fit
into
this
little
parcel
of
land
in
the
final
expansion
of
the
promise
of
the
land
has
been
proclaimed
in
the
New
Testament
it
was
proclaimed
through
Paul
what did
Jesus
say
he
said
blessed
are
the
meek
for
they
shall
inherit
the
earth
as
in
the
whole
thing
what
did
John
see
in
his
vision
a
new
heaven
and
a
new
earth
the
place
where
behold
the
dwelling
of
God
is
now
among
men
or
with
his
people
and
he
will
be
their
God
and
they
will
be
his
people
it
was
always
going
to
this
trajectory
to
the
world
what
does
Paul
say
to
the
church
at
Corinth
he
says
are
not
all
things
yours
and
I
think
the
implied
statement
or
qualification
there
is
in
Christ
are
not
all
things
yours
whether
Paul
or
Apollos
or
Cephas
or
the
world
this
is
the
good
news
when
Jesus
returns
he
will
bring
the
fullness
of
his
kingdom
the
fulfillment
to
all
of
the
promises
that
have
been
made
he
himself
will
inherit
it
and
through
him
we
get
it
too
though
we
don't
deserve
it
though
we
were
outside
the
family
that
was
chosen
and
we
get
it
as
a
gift
of
grace
through
faith
and
so
if
there's
anyone
that
comes
around
to
tell
you
that
you
need
to
do
this
you
need
to
keep
these
regulations
you
need
to
do
these
rituals
you
need
to
know
Jesus
has
done
it
all
through
him
I
receive
it
all
as
a
gift
of
grace
if
you
belong
to
Christ
then
you
are
the
seed
the
offspring
of
Abraham
children
of
Abraham
and
heirs
of all
that's
been
promised
let's
pray
father
in
heaven
we
thank
you
for
these
words
we
give
you
praise
and
glory
for
sending
your
son
into
our
world
to
be
a
true
flesh
and
blood
one
of
us
human
being
what
a
gift
Lord
we
would
be
happy
just
to
have
our
sins
forgiven
we
would
to
have
a
relationship
with
you
for
eternity
in
some
kind
of
way
but
we
thank
you
that
your
plan
has
been
to
give
us
all
of
the
blessings
that
you
have
promised
to
your
people
that
we're
not
cut
out
because
of
our
differences
thank
you
that
it's
not
about
us
measuring
up
to
the
standard
having
the
right
lineage
Lord
it's
about
you
and
your
son
the
seed
of
Abraham
and
we
thank
you
most
of
all
that
this
is
just
a
gift
Lord
it
sounds
too
good
to
be
true
in
one
sense
but
it
really
points
to
your
true
graciousness
and
your
generosity
we
don't
deserve
this
Lord
we're
sinners
we
we've
sinned
a lot
we
thank
you
for
your
mercy
and
for
your
grace
in
Christ's
name
amen
man
oh
son
any