Alright brethren, take your Bibles
and let's go to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. I want to focus on verses 23
through 25 with you. The Apostle here is speaking
of a time, our time in this flesh, both before and after that faith
is come. And when we understand what he's
speaking of, We should recognize, and we will, the people of God
recognize what a mercy, what a grace has been given to us
by our God in delivering us from having to work and try and make
a righteousness for ourselves by the law, because that's just
not possible in this flesh. We're ruined sinners in Adam,
and thanks be to God who gave us salvation, true salvation
and deliverance in his son Jesus Christ. So thank God for his
mercy and compassion toward us for his son's sake. Because the
law, the law holds men in its power and the law doesn't let
any man go justified. That is, by our laboring and
working according to the law, trying to work righteousness
for ourselves, no one is justified before God's sight. He tells
us that in his word. There's none justified by the
works of the law, and that's because we're corrupt. We're
ruined sinners. God is making that known to his
people, shutting us up to having only one salvation, to know that
there is one hope for the sinner, which is Jesus Christ, His Son. And so the purpose in declaring
that no one can be saved by the law isn't to terrify the people
of God. It's not to cause you to fear
and to be afraid and make a false vain profession of faith. It's
to know the truth of God who tells us that by the deeds of
the law, there shall be no flesh. There shall no flesh be justified
in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin. He gave
the law to make us to know our sin, our ruin in Adam, our corruption,
our inability to work a righteousness for ourselves that we should
see, that we should hear the voice of our God who declares
the Son, who turns our eyes from self and from this flesh to behold
the salvation of our God. And so it's not the law which
brings us to Christ. And we'll look at verse 24 because
it's worded in that way. We'll see that in a bit. It's
not the law that brings us to Christ. It's the grace of God
that leads us to the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul said to the Romans
in another place, he said, knowing that the goodness of God leadeth
thee to repentance. The law doesn't lead to repentance.
The law shows me I'm a sinner, condemned, justly before God. It's the goodness of God that
leadeth thee to repentance, to behold the Son, to believe on
Him. It's by His grace. Romans 2.4.
Now the purpose of Paul here is not to bring glory to the
law, but to say, to tell us, guys, the law has served its
purpose. God gave us the law for a reason
and it served that purpose for which God gave it. It's to show
us that a greater glory is here. And actually, we can see that
in 2 Corinthians 3. Turn there, 2 Corinthians 3. And when you get there, put a
little marker. We're going to look at verses 7 and 9 now, and
then we'll be coming back. 2 Corinthians 3. You'll notice two ministrations,
two works of our God. in revealing, teaching us our
need of salvation. Speaking of the law in verse
7, Paul writes, if the ministration of death, that's the law. That's
what's being taught us in the law, that we're sinners, that
we're justly condemned under the law. If the ministration
of death written and engraven in stones, what was written and
engraven in stones? Those 10 commandments given to
Moses on Mount Sinai. They were written in stones.
If that was glorious so that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, God giving us a picture
here of a truth, of a truth here about the law. If that was done
for the glory of his countenance, if he was covered, a veil over
his face for the glory of his countenance, which glory was
to be done away? If you remember, when Moses came
down off the mount, his face shone brightly. He was in the
presence of God for 40 days and 40 nights when he received that
law, and his face shone. But did his face continue to
shine forever? No, it faded. It faded. God giving us a picture that
the law had a purpose. It had a purpose which was to
be done away when Christ came. So they put a veil over Moses'
face, but they didn't have to keep it there once it faded away. Yet the veil never left their
heart. They never left their heart. It stayed over their heart,
keeping them in blindness. Verse 8, how shall not the ministration
of the Spirit be rather glorious? That's the ministration of grace
that we are under today, hearing the glory of God, the grace of
God preached in His Son, Jesus Christ. For if the ministration
of condemnation, when you hear what the law says, You know I'm
condemned justly before God. I can't save myself by this law. Well, if the ministration of
condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness
exceed in glory. And so we see there by the Spirit,
Paul's showing us that the law is administration of death. It's administration of condemnation.
I can't make myself righteous by the law. And he puts that
against the ministration of righteousness, the ministration of the Spirit,
the ministration of Christ, wherein is righteousness, wherein is
salvation. There's hope and faith in our
Savior wrought in our hearts. And so Christ has made his people
righteous. He has delivered us from the
condemnation of the law so that in Christ Jesus there's no condemnation. to you which believe him." Romans
8.1. So, I'm going to first speak
to you, or show you what Paul is speaking of, or rather, of
whom he speaks of in verse 23, when he says, Before faith came. Galatians 3.23. Before faith
came, we were kept under the law. Who is Paul speaking of
there? And then secondly, you see the
close at verse 25, where he says the good news, which is after
that faith is come. So before faith is come, after
faith is come, of whom is Paul speaking of here? I've titled
this, Faith is Come, Believe Him. Faith is Christ, and we'll
see that. This faith is speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ. So verse 23, Paul writes, but
before faith came, we were kept under the law. Shut up unto the
faith which should afterwards be revealed. And then in verse
25, but after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. of whom does this faith speak? We know that all the saints of
God, from before the flood, after the flood, under the Old Testament,
all the saints of God, including the saints today, are all saved
one way. through faith, looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ, through the faithfulness of Christ. All the saints of God believed
the promise of God made unto Adam and Eve in the garden concerning
that promised seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would come
and crush the head of Satan, that he would crush our enemy,
that he would destroy death and sin and deliver us out of that
kingdom of death, into the kingdom of light. So all the saints of
God are justified by the righteousness of Jesus Christ even as we are. So this isn't speaking of the
grace of faith. God in grace gives you faith
to believe on his son. There's a beautiful picture in
this. We can certainly see how that's a truth But that's not
the faith spoken of here in these verses. It's not the grace of
faith. Well, is it speaking of the doctrine
of faith? That is the glorious revelation
of the preaching of the gospel in the face of Jesus Christ.
We know that all the scriptures speak of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Christ came, he taught them out of Moses, out of the Psalms,
out of the prophets, the things concerning himself. Is this speaking
of that doctrine of faith which we preach that God saves us by
grace through the Lord Jesus Christ and by the hearing of
faith we hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches and believe
on the true and living God. Is it that doctrine of faith
because when Christ came and the apostles were given power
by the Spirit, they preached and proclaimed and declared that
glorious good news of what God has done through His Son. So that now, under the Old Testament,
they spoke with types and shadows of the things concerning Christ.
Now, we use great plainness of speech, We declare him plainly. We show him plainly from the
scriptures, having an understanding, having his spirit to behold the
son throughout all the scriptures. And so many in the Old Testament,
they worshiped under the law, seeing only types and shadows
of Christ. But now we see Christ plainly
and we declare him plainly. Well, it's not the doctrine of
faith either. It's not talking about when Christ
came in that sense. What it's talking about here,
according to the context, is that we see Christ, when Christ
has come, the object of our faith. When He came, the purpose of
the law was done away. The purpose of that law to show
us our sin was done away because now Christ is our righteousness
and He teaches us of our God. He shows us God. He reveals God
unto us. When Christ came, He fulfilled
the law. He fulfilled the righteousness
of the law. He made an end of the law for
righteousness and delivered His people from the curse and the
power of that law by redeeming them with His own blood. We see
that declared in Romans 6, 6, where Paul says, knowing this,
That our old man is crucified with Christ. That the body of
sin might be destroyed. That henceforth we should not
serve sin. For he that's dead is freed from
sin. Christ delivered us from that power and that authority
wherein we were held by the law. trying to work a righteousness,
laboring in fear and doubts and worries were delivered from that
in the Lord Jesus Christ by His power, by His glory, by His Spirit
given unto us to know Him and what He's accomplished for us. And this salvation was accomplished
for both Jew and Gentile alike. We're all saved one way by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so, knowing that it's speaking
of the object of our faith, that this faith here spoken of is
Christ, we read this verse 23, it helps to read it this way.
But before Jesus Christ, the object of our faith, came, we
Jews were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which
should afterwards be revealed, meaning we found no relief in
the law. God purposed it that His sheep
should find no relief in the law, that we might behold the
true salvation of God, that we should see our need of His grace
and mercy, which is revealed to us now plainly through the
preaching of the gospel. And I know that we can get hung
up and think, well, how do I know that that's really Christ there?
Are you sure that's speaking of Christ there? Well, look at
verse 19, Galatians 3.19. Wherefore then serveth the law,
it was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made." It's the same, same wording, till
the seed should come, till faith came, till the seed should come.
Who is the seed? Look at verse 16. 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. So before Christ Jesus, the object
of our faith, came, we were kept under the law. But now that Christ
has come, he hath delivered us from our condemnation, from our
death, from laboring vainly under the law to try and work a righteousness
for ourselves. So Paul here is speaking of the
Jews. He's writing to Gentiles and
he's telling them that the law's purpose was for us Jews to be
kept under that law until Christ came so that the law now has
fulfilled its purpose. In other words, we are not to
bring unbelievers under the law of Moses, to teach them, all
right, now you've got to be law keepers first before you can
come to Christ. We don't put Moses the mediator
between between us unbelievers and Christ the mediator. We have
one mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that brings
us to the Father. He's the one that teaches us
all that we have need of knowing. He's the one that reveals to
us Christ. So we don't bring sinners under
the law first to make them fit for Christ. We preach the hearing
of faith. We preach Christ. We preach the
salvation of our God in the Lord Jesus Christ, and He delivers
the sinner. He heals the broken. He's the one who heals the sick
and gives life to dead sinners, dead in trespasses and sins. We don't make sinners Jews first,
according to the flesh. The scripture has already settled
that question. The scripture has already told
us how that sinners were living under the law. They were condemned. It says in verse 22, look at
it there in Galatians 3.22, but the scripture hath concluded,
it's already decided, all are under sin, that the promise by
faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. We're
already condemned by the law. No flesh by the deeds of the
law will be justified in God's sight. It's done. The question's
already settled. We don't need to repeat what
God's already shown us in the Old Testament scriptures with
national Israel. It's already settled. It's clear
to us. By the Spirit of God, He showed us, I can't work a
righteousness by the law. I'm condemned by the law. Why
am I going back to the law? Why am I trying to work a righteousness
which Christ himself worked for his people? Lord, save us from
that. Now, we can declare what the
law is declaring to us. We can make plain to sinners
to say, don't look to the law. The law calls us, the law shows
that we are sinners. The law was given for transgression
to make known our corruption, our ruin, our fall in Adam. But we don't send sinners to
the law to try their best at working righteousness by that
law. The law, we just declare what
the law declares to us. that by the law were condemned,
were sinners. And so regarding the Jews, what
does Paul mean when he says, we were kept under the law? What does that word kept mean? Well, in the scriptures, there's
two uses of that word kept. And both are helpful here in
this sense in understanding this scripture. In one sense, to be
kept means to be kept by a garrison, like a garrison of soldiers for
one's protection and safety. And actually, you can see when
Paul was retrieved from when the Jews were going to beat him
to death for preaching the gospel to them, the Romans intervened. And they came, and they pulled
him out from him, and they protected him from what they would do.
and then hearing how they had taken an oath to slay Paul, and
they wouldn't eat until they had killed Paul. You can see
at the end of Acts, the captain of the guard, the Roman guard,
said, all right, well, we're going to send Paul over to Caesarea.
And he told the centurion, he said, you assemble 200 soldiers,
you get 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen, to take Paul safely to Caesarea. So in that sense he was kept
by a garrison from being killed by the Jews which sought to kill
him. And in that sense the Lord did
preserve Israel. with the law, the law teaching
them that what the Gentiles were doing, their idolatry, their
heathenism, their worship of God was all vain, it was false,
it was lies, it could not save, don't go there. Don't follow
their practices. Don't worship their gods. Destroy
them. Have nothing to do with them.
That's what the law taught them. And when they disobeyed the law,
God chastened them and brought them back under the law because
of Christ. He preserved them because Christ
was to be born under the law in the time of God's appointment
so that he fulfilled all the law which was against us. He
kept that law perfectly and he died our death. He died the curse
of the law which was against us to put it away and to obtain
for us eternal redemption and life by his life. And so that's
why God preserved Israel, to bring forth the promised sea
and to deliver us from that law. And so it had to be preserved
and kept in that sense. But the other sense is also one
of a military guard, which keeps a prisoner under strict watch
and rule. Alright, now we can see that
in Peter's imprisonment in Acts 15 verse 6. It says, When Herod
would have brought Peter forth, he had him taken into custody.
The same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with
two chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prism. You know, Herod at that time
had already killed James, the brother of John. And he saw,
he was a newly appointed king over that area, and he saw the
Jews like that. They appreciated me putting James
to death. And he thought, I'll do it again
with Peter. I'll make them happy again. But
God delivered Peter, that condemned prisoner. But they were keeping
guard over him as a condemned prisoner. And both uses can work
here in this verse 23. But before Jesus Christ, the
object of our faith came, we were kept under the law, shut
up unto faith. Unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. So that in the wisdom of our
God, Those who labor under the law and try to work a righteousness
for themselves, if they are God's children, they're going to find
no relief from the law. You cannot keep the law for righteousness. And if you try to blend that
law in and try to keep that law, all you're doing is bringing
yourself under the curses of the law. That's what Paul told
the Galatians here. We're not trying to keep the
law for a righteousness. The salvation of God makes us
to know our need of a savior. That when we see that law, we
see ourselves sinners, condemned, righteously before God. That
we might hear the peace and the mercy and the grace of God revealed
to us sinners in His Son, Jesus Christ. That we should cry out
to Him for mercy. Confessing God, you are just,
you're righteous, you're holy, and I'm the sinner, and I need
your salvation. Lord, save me. Have mercy on
me for Christ's sake. Put away my sin with his blood. Bring me under the blood of thy
gracious covenant in your son, Jesus Christ. And so he makes
us to see that. And our Lord said that to the
Jews in John 8, 24, when he said, if ye believe not that I am he,
that I am the Christ, the salvation of God, sent to save sinners,
ye shall die in your sins. You're going to die in your sins.
And so the law was over the Jews, not as righteous persons who
were good and good keepers of the law, righteous people, the
law was over them as criminals, as keeping criminals, as lawbreakers
in debt to the law and under its curse. And so those Jews
who looked to the law for righteousness, they were detained and kept in
darkness, in darkness, so that the veil, even to this very day,
that veil, which was over their heart, Back then, when the law
was read, is still over their heart today. Turn back to 2 Corinthians
3. 2 Corinthians 3 verses 11 through
17 now. For if that which is done away
was glorious, much more that which remaineth This gospel,
this door opened by the Lord Jesus Christ unto the Father,
that is remaining and that is more glorious. Seeing then that
we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. You cannot
be saved by the law. Jesus Christ is the salvation
of God's people. You run to Him. You look to Him
plain, simple. He alone is our salvation. And
not as Moses which put a veil over his face that the children
of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which
is abolished. Christ has abolished the law.
Its rule, its reign, the law of sin and death, put away. It
has no power over you. You've been raised again. You've
experienced the first resurrection, being born again of Christ. The
second death hath no more power over you, no influence over your
eternal home with the Lord. But their minds were blinded,
for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in
the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. I've lived and worked and known
Jews, and that veil is still there. They still do not hear
what the law says. They don't hear it. But even
unto this day when Moses read, the veil is upon their heart,
nevertheless, verse 16, because it's of grace, when it, when
their heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken
away. Well, how is a heart in bondage?
How is one who is born blind and dead in trespasses and sins
ever going to turn and behold the Lord? It's a grace, it's
a grace. Verse 17, now the Lord is that
spirit. He's the one that delivers the
prisoner. He's the one that shines the
glory of His light upon the sinner. And where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. So that all for whom Christ died
and shed His blood to save them, they shall be delivered. They
shall be brought out of that bondage and that death and delivered
out from the law and the law's rule and power over His people. The law cannot deliver a guilty
sinner. The law cannot make a sinner
clean. The law cannot make the unrighteous
holy. It's just fact. And that's exactly
what our God tells us. Ye must be born again. And that's what Christ told Nicodemus,
that law keeper. He told him that very thing.
Nicodemus, ye must be born again. And brethren, we must be born
again, else we shall die in our sins. Because we cannot make
a righteousness for ourselves. That law stood opposed to our
receiving the promise of God in Christ. But Christ came and
destroyed that. He put it away and set his people
free. Now it says in Galatians 3.24,
wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that
we might be justified by faith. Understand that that phrase,
to bring us, with King James versions, if you look at it,
it shows those words in italics, meaning they are not in the original. And so what it really says is
the law was our schoolmaster unto or until Christ that we
might be justified by faith. Christ came and he delivers us
from that death grip of the law that kept us and held us fast. He delivered us unto life. It
says in Hebrews 2 verse 14 and 15 concerning this truth it says
as for as much then As the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
Christ also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage. So long as we keep looking
to the law, and trying to work a righteousness by the law, trying
to justify ourselves or find some comfort or some assurance
that I'm a child of God because I keep the law. Well, as soon
as you don't keep the law, you see, I guess I'm not a child
of God, Lord, and you become terrified and afraid. Christ
delivered us from that by turning us away from the law. That's
not your righteousness. That's not your holiness. You
need Christ. Christ heals. Christ saves. Christ
fills our hearts with His love and with His Spirit and causes
us to walk by faith looking to Him, seeking Him, desiring Him. We do love the Lord and we want
to love the Lord more. We do love our brethren, and
we want to love our brethren more. And we seek him for it. We don't go to the law to teach
us what to do or how to do it. We cry out, Lord, have mercy.
Help me to walk faithfully according to your word, according to your
son. I want to know him and the power
of his resurrection. I want to walk in that faith,
in that light of your son, because I've got nothing in the law.
I can't save myself by the law, but you've provided everything
in your son Jesus Christ. And so Christ is the one, not
the law, but Christ comes and says to the prisoner, go forth,
I've set you free. And Christ comes to the one who
sits in darkness, show yourselves, show yourselves, I've put away
your sin. And I'm going to stop there because
we're out of time. But I pray the Lord bless that
word and comfort you, keep you looking to Christ Jesus. Amen. All right, let's pray and then
we'll be dismissed. Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for
your grace and mercy. which is shown to us abundantly
in your Son. Lord, help us to see Him with
an unveiled heart, a heart that sees your righteousness, your
glory in your Son. Lord, that we would not walk
according to the flesh, and that's exactly what we do under the
law, but Lord, help us to walk by your Spirit and faith, looking
to your Son, by His resurrection power and glory. Lord bless your
people. Keep us Lord. Teach us. Show
us Christ more and more and more plainly. It's in His name we
pray and give thanks. Amen.