I please God to bless the reading
of his word as we read together from the epistle of Paul to the
Galatians chapter 3 and we'll read from verse 15 to the end. The epistle of Paul to the Galatians
chapter 3 and reading from verse 15 to the end. Brethren I speak after the manner
of men though it be but a man's covenant yet If it be confirmed,
no man disannulleth or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his
seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. And
this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of
God in Christ, the law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul
that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance
be of the law, it is no more a promise, but God gave it to
Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions,
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and
it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a
mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law
then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there
had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded
all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. But before faith came, We were
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith, which should afterward
be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come,
we are no longer under a schoolmaster, for ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptised into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female.
For ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's,
then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Well, we'll continue our meditation
in Galatians after a little break, and this evening we'll just speak
on the two verses in the third chapter, and that's verse 21
and 22. And it reads, is the law then
against the promises of God? God forbid, for if there had
been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded
all under sin, and the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe." No doubt we can remember how
the Apostle is so concerned that the Galatians and of course the
Church of God walk by faith and that they are not justified by
works. and how, of course, the Jews
at the time were concerned about the Old Testament laws and in
keeping those laws to try and justify themselves. So the apostle
goes to some length to destroy that position and to give them
a very clear position that we do indeed walk by faith. And that, as he says, is a law
then against the promises of God, God forbid. For if there
had been a law given, which could have given life, very righteousness
should have been by the law. Now, of course, there was a law.
The law was given to Moses, but it wasn't able to be kept because
in Leviticus we read, and in the 18th chapter of Leviticus
in the fifth verse, ye shall therefore keep my statutes and
my judgments, when, if a man do, he shall live in them. I am the Lord." But of course,
all those statutes which were given, man was not able to keep. And I'm sure we appreciate that.
I hope we appreciate that today. We have the gracious holy law
of God, which is righteous and pure, but we are utterly, utterly
unable to keep it. as much as we may try. We only
have to just ponder for a moment and to think of the thoughts
which come into our minds. And if we are blessed with the
tender fear of God and a conscience, then we will recognise that so
many times during the day we sin against the Lord, and how
we find that pride is such an evil sin and how easily it penetrates
and comes really into so many things. We may think that our
desires are right and pure and honest, but we find that there's
pride. And we are often taken in by
the devil. You think of the sin of covetousness,
how easy it is to desire something And yet, you see, we desire those
things which are not necessary and not right. We know there
is a right thing, caveat earnestly, the best gifts, and that, of
course, is the knowledge of our Saviour. But there are so many
things that we do that we could not, therefore, justify ourselves. We absolutely could not. And
therefore, we are so dependent upon the grace of God and that
grace which gives faith to believe, and that grace which gives faith
to believe, to trust in the Lord, and not in ourselves, and not
look to ourselves. We must always look out of ourselves.
because as the Apostle said when he wrote to the Romans, in me
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And that's a painful
lesson, but it's a good lesson to learn because it makes us
appreciate the great and glorious salvation which the Lord has
given. And so in this verse we read,
for if there had been a law given which could have given life,
very righteousness should have been by the law. But you see,
we could not become righteous. We were sinners, and we are sinners,
left to ourselves. And the only righteousness we
can have is not one that we work for, but it's one which is freely
given. And it's given to us because
the Blessed Saviour has taken away all our sins, if we are
his children, and as there is no sin, then we are clothed with
his righteousness, and our nakedness is no more to be seen. Well,
we are justified then by faith. And let's not forget, it's God
given faith. It's not something you and I
have suddenly managed to manufacture ourself. And so the 22nd verse
tells us, but the scripture hath concluded all under sin, without
exception, all under sin. And therefore, everybody needs
to be saved from their sin. They need to be freed from it.
Because the soul that sinneth, it shall die. It's condemning. And we need to know that we might
therefore be blessed with this knowledge of Christ, as the Apostle
goes on to say, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. What a blessing it is to be given
faith to believe. And what does that mean? It means
that you and I are given faith to believe in the sin-atoning
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you and I can read
it in the Word of God, and perhaps we can assimilate it in our mind. But when the Holy Spirit convicts
us of our sins, so that we stand guilty before our Holy God, with
nothing to bring, simply to his cross we cling. We look to the
salvation which is brought about through the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it makes then that death
upon Calvary very real and very precious. It's not something
which we just read and assume happened. It's something that
by grace we lay hold on, because there is our hope. Our hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. There is the confidence of the
child of God. There is that which you and I
desire to believe in, I hope, to believe what Christ has done,
because there, in that sinatonian death, we have hope of salvation. Nothing in self, nothing in our
own righteousness. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags, but oh, may we bless God tonight that there is that
great and glorious white and pure righteousness which the
Lord gives freely to all his people. To know then that we
are clothed with that righteousness because we are washed in the
blood of the Lamb, because our sins are taken away, the Saviour
has paid the price for them and we are complete in Him. So tonight may we have real reason
to praise and to bless God for that faith which he gives. And what a mercy if you and I
possess that faith. It's a very humbling thing to
realize God gives us faith. Many in the world receive it
not. It's a free gift. We never merited
it. And that's why surely the Church
of God should desire to lift up the Lord high and to praise
him for this great salvation. Well, may we be able now to draw
near to him in prayer, and may our prayers be accepted in the
beloved.