All right, if you will, take
your Bibles and turn with me to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter
3. This morning we'll be looking
verses 22 down through verse 29, the end of this chapter.
And I believe I may be here a couple of Sundays in this section. Galatians chapter 3 and verses
22 through verse 29. The title of the message this
morning is The Conclusion of Scripture. The Conclusion of
Scripture. Scripture says in verse 22, But
the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Now, last time we looked at this
passage together, we studied this book of Galatians together,
we saw verses 19 through 21, we saw the purpose of the law,
the purpose of the law. And the purpose that we saw concerning
the law was one purpose, and that was to expose sin. The law has one purpose, and
one purpose only, to expose sin so that sin might be exceeding
sinful. And as God gave this commandment,
this commandment and ordinances of the law by the hand of a Mediator. Who was that Mediator that God
gave the law to? It was Moses. Moses was the Mediator. Even so, would God give a covenant
of promises by the hands of a Mediator which was Christ. Christ Jesus,
the one Mediator. And as Moses interceded, he interceded
for the children of Israel. Remember, they wouldn't go up
to that mountain. They said, no, Moses, you go up for us,
lest we die. And Moses interceded for them
and went up for them to receive that covenant of the law. Well, even so has Christ been
made a mediator of a better covenant. A better covenant. The covenant
of law was only to expose sin, but the covenant of Christ was
to bring righteousness by His life and by His blood. It is a covenant of mercy, a
covenant of promise, a covenant of grace, and it is not a covenant
of works or human merit. Go to Hebrews, hold your place
here, go to Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8, and look at
verse 6. The Scripture says, But now hath
he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he
is the mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better
promises. What was the promises established
in the covenant of the law? Do this and live. Don't do this
and you shall die. That was the promise, right,
of the covenant of the law. For it is written that if everyone
must continue in all things that are written in the book of the
law to do them, and cursed if you don't continue in everything.
That's the promise of the law. You like the law? The law says,
cursed is everyone that doesn't do everything in the law. That's
a promise, just not a very good one. It's not a very good one
for us because we've broken the law. But Christ is the mediator
of covenant of better promises. Verse 7, For if the first covenant
had been faultless, then should no place been sought for the
second. For finding fault with them,
he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah. not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by
the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they
continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith
the Lord. You see, it wasn't that the covenant
of law was bad. The covenant of the law was good. There was nothing wrong with
the law. He says it was because of their sins. Because of their
sins, there must have been another covenant, another covenant, a
covenant of promise. You see, the law was a shadow
of good things to come and not the very thing. You see, all
those priests, all those sacrifices. When you read the law and you
see all of the ordinances of the law, God says, make this
this way, do this this way, sacrifice this this way, honor me on this
day. You see, all of those were just
shadows and pictures and types of the covenant of promise which
was Christ. They all pictured Him. They all
pointed to Him. They all pointed to Him. They were a pattern of good things
to come, and not the very image the Scripture says. For by those
sacrifices, gifts, priests, and commandments, they could never, never take away sin. Never take away sin. But, the covenant of promise,
on the other hand, The better covenant has come by one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. This covenant of
promise speaks of better things than the covenant of works. You
see, this covenant doesn't speak of cursings, it speaks of blessings. This covenant of promise, it
speaks not of guilt, but of forgiveness. Pardon, mercy, eternal life rather
than eternal death. In Titus chapter 1 and verse
2 it says, God that promised eternal life, when? Before the
foundation of the world. And he can't lie. God can't lie. Who promised eternal life, when
did he promise it? Before there was ever a sin,
God promised eternal life for His people. For the heirs of this covenant
of promise. This covenant of promise was
from eternity and purposed in Christ. In Christ. Given by promise to Abraham before
the law was given. And so Paul speaks in verse 21,
is the law against the promises of God? God forbid. The law is
not against the promises of God. Why? The law was after the promises
of God. The promises of God were before
the law. They're not against it. God's
not contradicting himself. The law was never given to provide
righteousness. It was never given for your comfort.
for your assurance, for your peace, or for your joy. You that read the law, do you
find comfort when you read the law? Do you find comfort when
the Scripture comes and says, Thou shalt not lie? Do you find comfort in that? I don't. Why? I'm a liar. I don't find any comfort there.
Where do I find comfort? In Christ, who is the mediator
of a better covenant, a covenant of promise, a covenant of forgiveness. You see, because He was not a
liar, He obeyed God's law perfectly in my stead and in my place. We preach not the letter of the
law that killeth, You realize in the New Testament that every
time the law of Moses is mentioned, it's mentioned in a negative
sense in regards to us. Paul calls it, he says, I'm not
given the ministration of death. And what's the ministration of
death? It's the law. The law is the ministration of
death. The letter of the law kills. And that's all it does. Kills. But the spirit of God's grace
in Christ, that's the message we preach, a ministration of the gospel of Christ's righteousness
fulfilled, the justice of God satisfied and forgiveness of
sins through faith in Christ. That's the gospel we preach.
Now, in verse 21, Paul says, if the law If there was a law
that might come to save men, then righteousness should come
by that law. In other words, if there was a law, if there
was a way, another way by which God may save His people from
their sins, then truly God would have not sent His Son to die. But because there was no law,
There was no law for righteousness. God must have sent His Son to
die in the stead of His people. The law is not against the promises,
but rather, the law, friends, is a dark backdrop that only
magnifies the gospel of God's grace in Christ. You ever seen
a jeweler when they put out those diamonds? What do they put it
on? They put it on a dark backdrop. Why? So that you can see the
color and the clarity of the diamond itself. So that the diamond
sits out. Now did the backdrop add anything
to the diamond? No, that diamond was just as
good as you put up against a white wall or or any other color wall. But it brings it out more with
the backdrop being so dark. And that's what the law is. The
law is the dark backdrop that magnifies the gospel. Makes it
clear and bright. Before God's people. Now, in
verse 22 in our text, Paul gives us the conclusion of the Scripture. The conclusion is, "...but the
Scripture hath concluded." What does God's Word conclude
about this matter of law and promises? First of all, it concludes
this, "...all under sin." That's the first thing God always shows
us. All under sin. You see, if you're
not a sinner, you don't need a Savior. If you're doing alright
by yourself, you don't need Christ. But God has provided the law
so that we may see that we are all under sin by nature. All have sinned, the Scripture
says, and come short of the glory of God. Not a few, not some people,
not most people. All have sinned and missed the glorious perfections
of God. All have sinned. Every man, woman,
boy and girl by nature are sinners. This includes all we do and all
we are. We, by nature, are prisoners
to sin. Prisoners to sin. So that all
we do, think, feel or imagine is full of sin. How sinful is
the natural man? How sinful is a natural man?
Paul says that the natural man is free from all righteousness.
So if you're free from all righteousness, you are full of all sin. So that everything we do, whether
it seem good, whether it seem religious or not, is full of
sin. Full of sin. No matter how religious
our actions or how sincere our motives, no matter how much we
feel that our works are good and acceptable before God, the
Scripture concludes this, all under sin. All man's righteousness,
all man's religion, all man's obedience in the sight of God
are as filthy rags. So that the Scripture concludes,
there is none that doeth good, no, not one. There's none that
understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Is this not the message of the
law? Yes, it is. That's the message of the law.
Guilty. Guilty. The message of the law has concluded
all men guilty before God. Romans 3 19 says the purpose
of the law is that every mouth may be stopped. And the whole
world. Become guilty before God. As God shuts you up to your guilt,
are you still clamoring that you have something wherewith
to offer God? Are you still holding to something
that you can give to God whereby you might be accepted? Is there
some work that you've done? Is there something you've decided
to do? Is there something that you're
hanging on to? Saying, yes, yes, I want Christ,
but I've got to have my work in this. May God shut your mouth. You and I have nothing God wants. We have everything by nature
that God will punish. Have you found no hope to please
God by your will and by your works? Why does God paint such a picture?
God is a wonderful artist in the Scriptures. I see that clearly.
I see how he paints a vivid picture. Lepers. That's a vivid picture. You see a man, his skin is rotten
to the bone, and all of a sudden his arm falls off. It's rotted
so much. That's a picture of our sin.
It's a picture of our sin. Why does God paint such a hopeless
picture of sin? Why does God's Word declare us
to be guilty and having no hope in ourselves? Scripture says
that no flesh by the deeds of the law shall be justified in
His sight. For the reason He does so is so that the promise might
be clear, so that the promise might have glory, might have
all the glory. The Scripture hath concluded
all under sin. Look back in your text in verse
22 of Galatians 3. But the Scripture hath concluded
all under sin that, this is the purpose, in order that the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to all them that believe. If the promise comes by law,
it is no more of promise. Isn't that right? It's of merit. You can't have
it both ways. You can't have it by grace and
by works. It's impossible. Either salvation
comes by what you're doing or it comes by what God has done
in your stead. There's no other way. And so, because all men have
concluded under sin, the only hope of salvation then must come
by promise. By promise. By the eternal, immutable, unchangeless
decrees of God. You see, God promised that He
would save some of Adam's race. God promised that he would save
his chosen people whom he loved before the foundation of the
world. He promised that. Go to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Look at
verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He hath chosen us in Him, when? Before the foundation of the
world. That we should be holy and without
blame before Him. in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
When were we accepted in the Beloved? When was I accepted
in the Beloved? When God Himself chose me and
gave me to His Son. That's when I was accepted. I
was accepted in Christ. Accepted in Him. How? By experience? No! By promise! Promise. I had not yet been born. I had
not yet committed good or evil. And yet God, that the purpose
according to election might stand. God put me in Christ before the
foundation of the world. This was according to promise. Jesus Christ, He put us in Christ. before the world began. There
is none that understands. There's none that seeketh after
God. I didn't seek after God. When I was born in this world,
you didn't find me seeking after God. I was seeking after what
I wanted to do. Why is it that I was saved? Why
is it that I was brought to faith in Christ? Because God promised
it to me before the world began, even before I knew it. It was
promised to me. And Jesus Christ, the only Son
of God, He did always please the Father. He was always God's
delight. And so when we were in Christ,
we were the delight of God in Him before the foundation of
the world. and he shut us up to the law.
Look at Galatians 4, chapter 4 and verse 3. Even so, when we were children,
we were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when
the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Now, God before had adopted us
in eternity, but yet we had not received it. We have not known
it. until God came by Jesus Christ and accomplished it for us, and
then by His Spirit came and gave it to us. Friends, behold the God-man. He was shut up to the law, but
yet when he was shut up to the law, he had no sin. He had no
sin. Unlike us, he had no sin and
he knew no sin. But yet he magnified the law
of God in our stead. You see, the law of God had to
be magnified, had to be honored. It just couldn't be honored by
us. But God purposed that that law would be magnified not in
us, but in a substitute. in Christ His Son who would come
and do that. This was the promise of God.
And Christ was faithful to that promise, wasn't He? He was faithful
in obedience to God. Therefore, the Scripture hath
concluded this, that the promise of God is by the faith of Jesus
Christ. Now friends, this is not a mistranslation. Well, I like the King James Version.
It is the best translation that we have. I use others on occasion,
but I know that this is the best. In most other modern translations,
that would say faith in Jesus Christ. That's not what it's
saying. But rather, it is true that it
says that the promise is by the faith of Jesus Christ. By the faithfulness of Christ. You see, that promise that God
gave Christ fulfilled in our place. Promise of peace and righteousness. You see, our salvation is never
based on us, it is always been based on the faithfulness of
Christ. Always. By His faithful obedience
and by His faithful righteousness and by His faithful death on
the cross, Jesus was faithful unto God as His elect servant
and bear the sins of all His people in His own body on the
tree. He was faithful. He was faithful. And even though His sorrow, the
sorrow of His soul was unto death, even though the sinless man He
pleaded that the cup of our sins pass from Him. Yet He said, not
My will, but Thy will be done. That according to the eternal
purpose, that God was not willing to impute our sins to us, He
imputed them to His own Holy Son. And he paid the debt of
sin that we owed to God. Christ paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed Why does snow? So when the wrath of God was
poured out on Christ. And Christ declared this, it
is finished. What was finished? The promise. The promise was finished. promise
of pardon, promise of peace. He accomplished what He had purposed
to do. And now He is exalted to the
throne of God where He sits on the throne for this purpose,
to intercede for His saints and to call forth all of His elect
people for whom He died. That's what He's doing now on
the throne of God. He has sent forth His Spirit
into the world, and the Scriptures conclude this, that all who Christ
died for shall come to Christ by faith. They shall. Scripture concludes that this
promise was by the faith of Christ. Look at your text, that it might
be given. Isn't that wonderful? It's given. It's not merited. It's not earned.
It's for it's given. It's given to them that believe
on Christ. The faith of the believer, friends,
is necessary for a man to be saved, he must believe. There's
no doubt about this. But our salvation was never based
on our faith. Never. was always based on the
faith and faithfulness of Christ. But everyone who Christ died
for, the Spirit will come by the preaching of the gospel,
apply that gospel to the heart of the sinner, give him life
and faith in Christ so that he can believe. Go to John 6. I want you to see something.
John chapter 6. I want us to know this, the Lord
never, never compromised the gospel for the sake of man. Never. Look at verse 60. Sorry, wrong chapter there. Look at verse 59. It says, These
things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Many
that many, therefore, of his disciples, when they had heard
this, said, This is a hard saying. Who can hear it? When Jesus knew
in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said, Does
this offend you? Friends, the gospel is offensive.
It is by nature. The gospel is offensive. Does
this offend you? What and if you shall see the
son of man ascend where he was before? It is the spirit that
quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are
some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not
and who should betray him. He said, Therefore I said unto
you that no man can come unto me except the Father which has
sent me. is given of him, my father. From that time, many
of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. What
did he say? What was so offensive? You can't
come to me except the father draw you. And they said, we can't
have that. And they turned and walked away. That's offensive to the natural
man saying you ain't got anything God wants. That's offensive. But it's the truth. It's the
truth. No man can come to Christ except
the father which has sent me draw him. How does he draw men
by the promise? It's the promise of the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved That's a promise and it's sure Why because
all who believe were drawn of the father? All who believe were
given to Christ and he faithfully Faithfully fulfilled their righteousness
and by his blood paid their sins and all who believe were chosen
of God in that promise from before the foundation of the world.
How sure then is that promise? It's sure. It's sure. I pray that God blesses to our
hearts.