Alright, good morning brethren.
Let's turn in our Bibles to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. The subject
is before and after faith came. Before and after faith came. Now Apostle Paul has declared
that believers are saved by God's everlasting covenant of grace,
according to God's promise, by God's grace, and not by the works
of the law, not by anything that we've done, by Christ, by the
promise of God. And so the Holy Spirit makes
Paul raise the question that's obvious, which is verse 19, wherefore
then serveth the law? He says it was added. because
of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise
was made. 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 afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
unto Christ, until Christ is really what it should say, that
we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come,
we're no longer under a schoolmaster. For you're all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither Jew
nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free, there's neither male
nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be
Christ, then are you Abraham's children and heirs according
to the promise. So before Christ came, we were
under the law, but after Christ came, we're no longer under the
law, but we're children of God and joint heirs with Christ.
Now, what does that mean, before and after faith came? What does
that mean? Well, first, let's look at this
first question. Why did God give the law? What
was God's purpose in giving the law? He says there the law was
added because of transgressions. Now, the law includes over 600
commandments, but he's here specifically talking about the Ten Commandments,
because that's what tells us our transgressions. And God gave
the Ten Commandments to give us a knowledge of transgressing
that one law that we broke in the garden in Adam, and also
of our personal transgressions. The scripture says, Romans 5.20
says, the law entered that the offense might abound. Now the
law given at Sinai didn't make sinners. It didn't make men sinners. Adam sinned in the garden and
he's a representative man of the whole human race and all
were in Adam and all really sinned in Adam and broke the law. And
so all became guilty. There were sinners from Adam
to Moses. He didn't give the law until
Mount Sinai. There were sinners from Adam
all the way to Moses. There's been sinners all the
way from Moses till now. And there are sinners in our
day. All are sinners. And the law was given to make
that known. It has to be blessed of God.
We have to be blessed of God to hear the law and what it says
to us personally. But when he makes you hear it
personally, he makes you know that you transgressed in Adam,
and he makes you know you're a personal transgressor yourself. And that's why the law was given.
That's why the law was given. We know what things soever the
law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, here's why,
that every mouth may be stopped. We gotta quit boasting. That
all the world may become guilty before God. Guilty. That's all we are in ourselves,
guilty before God. He said, therefore by the deeds
of the law, by you trying to go to the law and work, no flesh
will be justified. God won't receive us. For by
the law is what? The knowledge of sin. That was
the purpose. That was the purpose. Consider
just a few of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20 verse 3 says, God said,
thou shalt have no other gods before me. No other gods before
me. That means no other gods but
me. Now brethren, has anybody been perfect in heart with no
other gods but God? There's not one. We make gods
of ourselves and worship ourselves. In fact, men who are trying to
come to God by their law keeping or breaking that first commandment
and breaking every commandment because they're making themselves
to be a god by trying to do what God says can't be done. We make
our loved ones to be gods and put them before God. Somebody
will say, well, I can't come to the worship service. I'm going
to do such and such for my loved one. We do that. We do it in our hearts. And all
these things that are perishing in this world, we put them before
God. We've all broken this law. He said, thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not
hold him guiltless to take us this name in vain. And we hear
this all in the world every day. It's just become so popular to
take the Lord's name in vain. But think about it this way,
how many times have we come into a worship service, you and me
who know God, how many times have we come into a worship service,
come right in, sung His name, prayed in His name, preached
in His name, and our thoughts not be entirely on the Lord alone,
but our mind wanders here and there. That's taking His name
in vain. Is God that strict? Brethren, he knows every thought
and every thought that comes from our flesh is sinful. We've
all broken his law and he said, thou shalt not covet. This was that law that the Apostle
Paul said killed self-righteous Saul, just like it did the rich
young ruler. How many times, now listen, I
know that we could all just easily say we've broken this because
you've driven by a nice home and looked at it and thought,
man, I'd like to have that. Or see a nice car or whatever. That's covetousness. But how
many times, think about this, how many times have we thought or had some negative thought
about giving to a needy brother? Or maybe thought, well, that's
too much to give to a needy brother. That's just covetousness. That's
all that is. Wanting it for ourselves. We
break and if you break one law, you've broken the whole law.
And we're guilty of the whole law, brethren. Guilty of the
whole law. But, you know, somebody will
say, well, and we deceive ourselves this way. is we start comparing
ourselves with ourselves. And so we say, well, my sin's
not really that bad. But here's the thing. The comparison
is not between you and another sinner. The comparison is, are
you as holy and righteous as God? Because we've got to be.
We've got to be as holy and righteous as God. There's no such thing
before holy and righteous God as a sin that's not that bad. Oh no. All sin is worthy of hell. There's no not that bad sin.
It's all bad. Every bit of it. We got to be
holy and righteous as God. But the law was only given for
a set time. Did you see that? He said there
the law was given to make us know our transgression It says,
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. Who
is that? That's Christ. If you look back
up there, he said, verse 16, Now to Abraham and his seed where
the promise is made, he saith not unto seeds as of many, but
as of one, to thy seed which is Christ. Just like Adam was
a federal head, Christ is a federal head. There's only two men, and
all men are going to be found in one of these two, either in
Adam or in Christ. Christ came to represent a particular
people that the Father chose and gave to Him before this world
was made. That's God's prerogative. Just
like you choose. who you will, pass by who you
will, choose what you will, pass by what you will, God has that
right. And He chose a people to save,
to glorify His name, to bring to honor Him, and He gave them
to Christ. And Christ came in this world with a mission. He
came into this world to undo what Adam did. He came into this
world to save His people from our sins by fulfilling the law
of God on our behalf. That's why He came. And so the
law was given until Christ came and fulfilled that law for His
people. And that's what Christ did. Now
listen, He didn't set it aside. He didn't destroy it. He didn't
bring it down to a lower level like men do. No, Christ came
and filled the law full. He gave it the perfect obedience
God demanded and he did it unto death so that in Christ all his
people were crucified. Our old man of sin is dead and
buried and gone and God remembers him no more. And in Christ we
fulfill the law in perfect obedience so that in Christ his people,
the law is said to be holy, just, and good. And in Christ he has
made his people holy, just, and good before the all-knowing God.
That's the good news of what Christ did. He fulfilled it. And not only that, but it was
given until Christ the seed should come into the heart of the child
for whom he died. and we'd be born of incorruptible
seed. A new man created, a new spirit
given so that we can hear this gospel and see our sin and behold
Christ in his righteousness and rest in him. That's how long
the law was given for. It was given till Christ came
and fulfilled it until he enters the heart and makes you see that
he's fulfilled it for you. The righteousness of God without
the law is manifested. Romans 5.3 says, the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ, by His doing and dying, by His faith, and that
faith, that obedience, that righteousness is unto and upon all who believe
on Him. You can sit there and you can
say, well, I don't agree with this, I don't like this, but
listen to me. If you can believe on him, if you can rest in him,
if you can say amen, that's how you know he did it for you. If
you can't, if you hate this message and you say, no, I want a part
in this, I don't think it's fair. It doesn't mean he didn't do
it for you, but he hadn't made you know it yet. But if He did
it for you, He will make you know it before you leave this
earth. So first of all, it was given to reveal sin until Christ
comes and brings us to believe on Him. Now, secondly, so then
seeing that's the case, the law's not against the promise of God.
When we read the promise of God, that means God's everlasting
covenant of salvation, His promise to save His people. The law's
not against God's promise to save His people. He says here
in verse 21, 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. Paul gives about as strong an
argument as can be given here that righteousness and sanctification,
righteousness and life cannot be by our works. at all because
he says here there is no law that God could have given by
which righteousness in life could come. There was none because
we were already guilty sinners deserving of death. There was
no law God could have given that you could have kept to make yourself
righteous and holy. But notice here Righteousness
and life go together. He says, if there was a law that
could have given life, fairly righteousness should have been
by the law. Righteousness is perfect obedience
before the law of God. Life is what He creates in you
when He sanctifies you, makes you holy within. Righteousness
and holiness, righteousness and life. If we're righteous with
no sin, then we have spiritual and eternal
life with no death. And when he comes in, he gives
you life, he makes you holy, he makes you behold Christ as
your righteousness, and you have righteousness and life, and both
are Christ. So there's no law that could
have been given to give us this. It's impossible for us to be
righteous and holy by the works of the law, even if he'd just
given one law. That's what he did in the garden.
He just gave one law in a perfect environment and he let Adam do
what he would. And Adam broke it. Now how do
you and I think with sinful nature, already guilty with 600 plus
laws given, how are we going to keep the law? No way. It was given to show us the impossibility. And due to our sin nature, even
as God's saints, There's nothing we can do after conversion to
obtain righteousness and holiness by our works of the law. We can't. Christ is the righteousness and
the holiness of life that's given to those that he brings to faith
in him. He is our righteousness. He is
our life. Listen to verse 22. The scripture
hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. When you read
the faith of Christ, that's talking about Christ's faithfulness.
If your Bible says faith in Christ, throw that one away and get you
one that says the faith of Christ. Because we're talking here about
the faith of Christ. It's given to them that believe
on Him. The scripture here is all, it
is the law, but it's the whole scripture. Anywhere you look
in the scripture, you don't have to read very long, and God's
word's gonna say we're all under sin. We're all guilty in ourselves. That's the testimony of God against
us. But God makes his elect conclude our own selves to be under the
law, guilty. He gonna have to make us say
that and confess that about ourselves, and that's what he does. And
he shows us that his everlasting promise, he says there, he makes
us conclude that we're all under sin, that the promise, and here's
what he shows you about his promise. It's by the faithfulness of Christ
alone. It's the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ. It's by Christ coming. Like with
Adam, he made a covenant and he gave Adam something to do.
and Adam didn't keep his side of the covenant, and he plunged
us all into sin and death. So when God gave the Lord Sinai,
he made it a covenant of works, he put something to do in the
hands of the children of Israel. And of course they couldn't do
it, they were already guilty, but that was why he gave it,
to show them they couldn't. And by showing them that, he
shows us that, we can't do that either, we're Gentiles, we couldn't
do that either. But when he makes you see Christ, he makes you
see Christ came forth as God and man. He represented God and
he represented his people so that God didn't leave anything
in our hands to do. It's by the faithfulness of Christ.
He did it all. And look at this, it's given.
It's by the faith of Christ Jesus and it's given. That means it's
free. That means we didn't earn it.
We didn't work for it. We didn't deserve it. It's given.
at a season where we gave gifts? What did you do? You chose who
you'd buy a gift for, you went out and bought the gift, and
you just set it up on the shelf and said, I just hope they come
and get this gift. No, you took it to them and gave
it to them. That's what God, He chose who He'd give it to,
He purchased it by the blood of His Son, and He comes and
gives it to His people. It's free. Free grace. And look
at this. And it's to them that he grants
faith to believe on Christ. And that is opposed to our works. Faith in him opposed to our doing. Faith is the opposite of work.
Faith believes on Christ and rests in Christ. So, he comes
to a spiritually dead sinner and he gives you spiritual life.
He gives you faith in Christ. Faith believes that the righteousness,
my righteousness, is by Christ. It's His obedience. It's what
He did. And so through believing on Christ,
God imputes that righteousness to us. He imputes His obedience
to us. Christ is our righteousness Himself. And it's all by God's free grace.
He that hath the Son hath life. Now, lastly, here's the important
thing. We look at the before and the
after. He says, verse 23, he says, but
before faith came, we were kept under the law shut up until the
faith which should afterwards 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're no longer under a schoolmaster. Now before faith came, now who
are we talking about here? It's Christ. Before faith came,
before Christ came, Christ the faithful one, before He came
and before He was revealed to us. It says there He had to be
revealed. Before faith came we were kept
under the law Shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. That can't be talking about your
faith because this is a faith that's revealed. This is a faith
that has to be revealed to us. That's Christ. It's His faithfulness. That's what Paul meant when he
said in Romans 1.16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Revealed. The faith of Christ
is revealed to us. It's from the faithful one to
the faith he's given. And that's how we know Him. But
before Christ came and fulfilled the law, and before Christ came
into our hearts, revealing Himself to us, we were shut up in a prison. We were in bondage. Shut up in
prison, in bondage, in chains. We were kept under the law. Now,
if you're a Gentile, You weren't under the law given at Sinai.
You never were. That's why Paul and Peter and
all of them said it's foolish to bring Gentiles back under
this law. They weren't under it to begin with. And none of
our fathers ever kept it. But we were under the covenant
given in the garden. And that law given at Sinai just
reveals that we were under the curse because we broke that law
in the garden. So, but he still uses the law
given at Sinai to teach us. We were shut up. We were shut
up. We were in a prison. We were
in bondage until Christ came and was revealed to us. So even
though God's elect were heirs of God, we were chosen of God
in Christ and we were heirs of God. He made a promise. He made
a will and testament that he was going to give us all his
inheritance. and make us joint heirs with
his firstborn son, Christ Jesus. But even though we were heirs,
we were under the law as a schoolmaster, as a pedagogue. Look at verse
24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ, that
we might be justified by faith. That word schoolmaster is a pedagogue,
and here's what it was. A master who owned the estate,
He had a servant and he would take that servant and he would
make him a pedagogue so that he would take his children and
entrust his children to that servant, that schoolmaster, that
pedagogue. And his job was if they stepped
out of line, smack them. That was his job. He was strict. He was strict and he made certain
they didn't do anything wrong or he was rough on them. That's
what his job was. And that's what the law was to
us. The law was a pedagogue. When God blesses it to you to
actually hear it, the law doesn't give you any mercy. The law doesn't
treat you kindly. It doesn't treat you lovingly.
The law is administration of death. It treats you harshly. It makes you know you're a sinner
and shuts you up and leaves you in bondage so you can't do anything. You can't get free from it. You
see yourself as altogether lost, undone, hell deserving, and if
God don't save you, you won't be saved. That's what the law
makes you know. Look here, look at chapter 4
and verse 1. Now I say that the heir, as long
as he's a child, he differs nothing from a servant, though he's Lord
of all. Though you were an heir, you
didn't differ from anybody else. You were under the law, just
like every other sinner in this world. He's under tutors and
governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so, we, when
we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
The elements of the world means under the law. We were under
the law. But after, now look at verse
25, after that faith has come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster,
for you're all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. If
you believe on Christ, you're a child of God. As many as you've
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither
Jew nor Greek, born nor free, male nor female, you're one in
Christ Jesus. Nothing about us makes us better
than another. That's the point of there's not
a Jew or a Greek. It's not being a Jew or Greek
that makes you have a leg up with God. It's not being a bond
or free. It's not being a male or female.
It's being one in Christ Jesus. But if you are, if you be Christ,
then are you Abraham's seed. One in Christ, you're Abraham's
seed, you're one in Christ the seed and you're a child of Abraham,
a true spiritual child of Abraham and you're an heir of God according
to God's promise. Only if you believe on Christ.
Now look down at Galatians 4.4, he says there, see there, when
the fullness of time was come, We said this was until Christ
came. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth this
son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law. He bought us out from under the
law. He paid the law what it demanded, paid the ransom price,
redeemed us from under the law's bondage, opened the prison door,
and made us receive the adoption of sons by the Spirit. And because
you're sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, you're no more a servant.
You're not under the law. You're not under that schoolmaster.
But you're a son of God. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Now, I know people stand up and
they'll say, well, and there's many scriptures that says believers
not under the law. We're under grace. throughout
the scriptures. It says that. Scripture nowhere
says the law is a rule of life. It says it's administration of
death and condemnation. So believers are not under that
schoolmaster. We're not under it. But now let
me ask you this, and let me end with this. What relation do we
stand in to the law as believers in Christ? The law declares us righteous
in Christ. It bears witness of the righteousness
of God, Christ Jesus, and it says that we're justified by
the blood of Christ, we've given the law full obedience, and we're
righteous in Christ. That's what the law said. The
law's a friend of the believer. It declares that of us. Now we
live unto God our Father, not as fearful servants in bondage.
We weren't given this spirit of adoption to make us fearful
again and bring us into bondage. That's what Pharisees do to you.
They bring you back in bondage. That's not what we are. We're
free. We've been brought out from under. We're not brought
into bondage. Now we're children. We're heirs of God. Children. Now personally, the spirit of
God makes us know that the Ten Commandments are holy, just,
and good, and that's how we see them. Really and truly, a believer's
the only one that sees them that way. These people that are boasting
about keeping the law, they don't see how holy that law is or how
just that law is or they wouldn't make a boast that they're keeping
it. A believer sees it's holy, just, and good. And by knowing
something of the law, we see something of how holy, just,
and good our Redeemer is, because he kept it. And he didn't have
to try, he just is the righteousness of it. And we fulfilled it in him. And so God's child by the Spirit,
we delight in the law of God after the inward man. We do,
we delight in it. The law's good, it's holy, it's
just, it's good. We delight in the law of God.
And since Christ reigns in the new man, since he reigns in our
new heart, a believer has no desire to break the Ten Commandments. We don't have a desire to break
the Ten Commandments. And by his spirit, we endeavor
not to break the Ten Commandments. We don't live in such ways just
to say, well, let's just break them. No, we don't want to break
them. We endeavor not to. But the Spirit has made us hear
the law and to know that our sin nature is still sin. We know that. We cannot look
to ourselves, we have to look only to Christ. We know we've
kept the whole law perfectly, but only in Christ, only in Christ. Now, under the rule of faith,
that's the rule we're under, faith, and where the Spirit is
dwelling in us, He directs us and guides us into all truth,
we're under the rule of faith. And the Spirit restrains our
sin nature, Not by law, but by the love of Christ. By seeing
what Christ has done for us, what great love He showed us,
that's how He restrains our sin nature from having free reign.
And as Galatians 5 says, the Spirit of God keeps us from sinning
to the degree we would if we didn't have the Spirit of Christ.
He subdues your sin nature, your flesh, so that you don't sin
as you would if you didn't have the Spirit of God. And yet, to
keep us from putting confidence in what we do, He still makes
you hear what the law says of your sin nature. He still makes
you hear, you still understand that sin is all you are in your
nature. And so He keeps you from putting any confidence in anything
you do and makes you put all your confidence in Christ. You
know, others may look at you and they may say, well, that
one, he's not breaking the law outwardly. And they may think
that you're keeping the law. But the Spirit of God makes you
know personally, I'm not keeping the law. I've never kept it. Ever. Because you see your sin
nature and you see your sin and so though it might appear to
others that you're outwardly keeping it, the Spirit keeps
you knowing, I can't put any confidence in anything I do.
Not even in good things I do. There's so much sin mixed with
them. And he keeps you knowing that. And when you're overcoming
a fault in thought or deed, and you see your sin, the Spirit
shows you Christ's love for you, how He fulfilled the law for
you. And that's what keeps us repenting. That's what keeps
our mind and our heart changed from loving sin, makes us hate
it, and makes us turn from it. He's the only one that can do
that in a sinner. The only one. And it's by not
the law, but it's by seeing Christ as the fulfillment of it for
you. That's how he does it. And he shows us Christ's love
in fulfilling it and crucifying our flesh and making us righteous.
And so not only does he turn you from your sin and make you
keep all your care on Christ, but he does something else. He
keeps you from being overly cast down over your sin. If he didn't do that, if he just
showed you what a sinner you are and didn't show you Christ,
you would be so cast down, you wouldn't have any hope. But it
keeps you from being overly cast down. And knowing this about
yourself, knowing this and being taught this by the Lord about
yourself, it keeps you glorifying God, only glorifying God for
the good you see your brother do. He keeps you glorifying God. And he does something else. When
your brother sins, he keeps you being merciful to him. Why? Because you know the mercy
you need constantly. That's why. That's the relationship
we're in to the law. Before Christ came, we looked
to ourselves and we knew men after the flesh. We knew ourselves
after the flesh. We falsely used the law for a
measuring stick to somehow try to convince ourselves we were
doing pretty good. And that's how we knew others.
But after Christ has come, born of the Spirit, we look into Christ
only. He's our righteousness. He's
our life. And now we know ourselves and
we know Christ and we know our brethren after the Spirit. What does that mean? It means
I know my brethren are perfectly righteous and holy and complete
in Christ. And that's what keeps us dealing
with one another as believers rather than as Pharisees. It's
by Him making you know what you are constantly. That's the before
and the after of this thing of Christ, our faithful one, our
righteousness. I pray he'll bless that. Let's
stand together. Our Father, our Heavenly Father,
we thank you that you've taught us this word and worked it in
our heart. We thank the Lord you keep us
looking to Christ, keep us knowing that in ourselves dwells no good
thing. Lord, help us to look only to
him. Help us to be constrained by
his love to honor you and to hate our sin. And by that same
love, keep us constrained, Lord, to glorify you for all the good
we see in our brethren and keep us being merciful toward our
transgressions. We thank you, Father, for Christ
Jesus. Thank you for this day. Thank
you for this place. Thank you for this gospel and
for these, our brethren. Forgive us, Lord, our sins. In
Christ's name we ask it. Amen.