Okay, turn with me then to Galatians
chapter 3 and I want to look at verses 19 to 26 this morning. Galatians 3, 19 to 26, the law
and the promise. We've been looking at this over
recent weeks. What's it all about? What is
it all about that we're doing? I mean, no doubt this Easter
Sunday morning, the other churches of the village are filled with
people that wouldn't normally go to church but feel that this
is one of the occasions of the year where, out of duty and respect,
they will be there. Well, we don't make a big fuss
about it because, as I said earlier, we always, each Sunday, the theme
and the centre of our thinking and of our worship is the doing
and dying, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's dying
for the sins of his people and rising from the dead. So you
see, some would accuse us of theological hair-splitting. You
know, they say, oh, you're making too fine a point of it. Why are
you doing this? What's the whole point of it?
Well, it's this. We must keep this in mind. It's
about simple, ordinary folk like you and me. Simple, ordinary
folk like you and me who are certain to die who fear the unknown,
who fear death all their life, who look at the message of the
materialistic world, of the Richard Dawkinses of this world, and
they see the philosophical pointlessness of it all. And, you know, philosophers
have gone and committed suicide, because as they've looked at
it outside of God, they've seen it's just pointless, and they
thought there's no point continuing, and they've gone and committed
suicide. But yet, knowing the truth, Certain to die, but confident
of life, eternal, abundant life. Fearing the unknown, but destined
for a city. Seeing a city, destined for a
city, which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God,
that's eternity. Seeing the philosophical pointlessness,
we hear it on our media all of the time, and yet knowing the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And based on knowing that, knowing that you're right with God, what
a joy it is, what a comfort it is to know it is well with my
soul, it is well with my soul. But what is it based upon? What
is this rightness with God based upon? Is it based on religion,
attempting to be valued by God, because of religious obedience.
Is that what it's based on? Or is it based on faith in the
completed substitutionary work of Christ for me? Of the fact
that He has done everything in my place? Or is it a mixture
of both? Because that was the problem
in these Galatian churches. A mixture of both. Yes, Christ
has died for your sins, but you need to add religious obedience
and works of the law. Well, we've seen. Paul has already
shown us that the promise of grace that was made to Abraham
was to his seed and in his seed and he not only he doesn't leave
us in any doubt he doesn't say and seeds as of many meaning
lots of people but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ
it's quite clear the promise of eternal life the promise of
rightness with God is in the seed the seed of Abraham the
seed, Christ, the one who would come to be the representative,
the surety, the mediator for all of those people. And he's
shown us that you cannot mix it with law works. You cannot
mix it with law works. As soon as you do, you utterly
devalue. It's like, I've got some water
to drink, right? And it's just come out of the
tap. You cannot mix one drop of poison with that. and say,
oh, it's still 99.99% pure water. If it's got the one drop of poison
in it, I'm not drinking it. And you can't mix law works.
You can't mix me doing things for God to think more highly
of me with the finished works of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we saw last week that even the law given at Sinai to Moses cannot
change the promise of life in Christ that was given That law
was given 430 years after the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That law was given then. It cannot
change that promise that was given in Christ. So you might
be led to the point of thinking, well, what's the point of the
law? What was it there for in the
Scriptures? Why? Why, you know, Exodus chapter
20, the Ten Commandments, the giving of the law, the mountain
smoking, All of the strict rules and regulations, you know, don't
do this, do this, don't do that, don't carry the Ark of the Covenant
in a certain way, don't touch it and somebody like Uzzah comes
along with a bit of sincerity and touches it and disobeyed
and he's struck dead on the spot. What's it all for? What's this
law for? Well, look at verse 19. The Scriptures
is what we look to. These are not our own ideas.
We look at the Scriptures to get our doctrine. Wherefore then,
says verse 19, serveth the law. Wherefore then serveth the law.
It was added because of transgressions. It was added because of sin.
Till the seed should come, to whom the promise was made. That's
the reason the law was given. It was a temporary thing. You
know, I mean, The Scriptures teach us, don't they? The Scriptures
teach us. And it says quite clearly, the
law was a temporary thing. It was added because of transgressions
until the seed should come to whom the promise was made. Until
the seed should come. Now, I know people would point
and say, ah, what about the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the
Mount where he said, not one jot or tittle of this. You know,
I haven't come to destroy the law. Not one jot or tittle shall
pass away until all is fulfilled. He came and he fulfilled it.
He fulfilled that law. And that's why it was temporary
until He should come. It's nothing new. The book of
Daniel, chapter 9 and verse 27. It's in that passage talking
about the coming of Messiah at a specific time after 72 weeks
and so on and so forth. All symbolical of exactly the
time when Christ would come. That prophecy that I believe
the wise men, the Magi, used to know when to come and look
for that star. about now he must be coming but it says in there
Messiah will come and one of the things to make an end of
sacrifice what was sacrifice? it was all part of the law the
law that was given about the temple worship and the sacrifices
he will come to make an end of sacrifice when he comes there
will be an end of sacrifice we know that Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone who believes So it was
temporary, given for a while. But what was its purpose? Well,
it had a fourfold purpose. Here are four things. Number
one, God gave this law, when you and I might think, why did
he give it? He gave this law, number one, to restrain sin in
Israel. To keep Israel within strict
bounds, so that the knowledge of God would be preserved. so
that the worship of God would be preserved, so that a line
would be preserved through which Christ the Messiah would come.
You know, that preserving of a line. And to them, the Jewish
people, the Israelites, Paul says in Romans chapter 3, what
advantage is there in being a Jew? Much in every way, for to them
were given the oracles of God. The truth of salvation was entrusted
to them, the word of God was revealed to them, the worship
of God, the true knowledge of God was there in Israel. That
law was given to preserve that, to keep it on the straight and
narrow, to keep it constrained, to stop it wandering off like
the nations around. Now it did, they did. We keep
reading again and again of how they went off the rails, but
nevertheless, the law was there to keep them in line and through
all of that disobedience and the Babylonian exile, yet they
were brought back and that line was preserved and the knowledge
of God was preserved. So that's one reason. The law
was given to restrain sin. Number two, it was given to show
God's holy character. There's no doubt. We read in
this word, we look into this word, we see the holy, holy,
pure character of God. That he's of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity. That he cannot look upon sin.
We see what a holy being God is. Thirdly, it's to make sin
explicit. Absolutely. I used to drive along
the road from Wellyn to Nebworth at 60 miles an hour and it was
absolutely fine. As long as you drove safely,
it was absolutely fine. But then the law was changed
and they put cameras up and speed limits to make it 40. They drew
a line, do not exceed 40. If you do, you're a transgressor
of the law. you will be fined £60, you will
have three points put on your license and now we all drive
at 40 miles an hour through Oaklands and Walmer Green because the
law has made it explicit that to do 60 is a sin, it's against
the law, you don't do it and so it's made the law explicit,
this is what the law of God did It showed Sid up for what it
really is. It unmasked it and showed it
for what it really is. Paul says in Romans 5.13, he
says, when there is no law, sin is not imputed. You know, it's
the keep off the grass sign that is there as the barrier. Keep
off the grass. Now I know it gives you an innate
tendency to want to break that law and walk on the grass, but
nevertheless, it makes it explicit. And then fourthly, purpose of
the law. Have you noticed how much of
it, when you read the scriptures, it's not just the Ten Commandments,
it's all the rules and regulations of the moral law, the ceremonial
law, the civil law for the governance of the nation of Israel, of the
Jewish peoples. When you look at it, how much
of it concerns temple worship, the worship of God, the priesthood,
all of those things, the sacrifices. In actual fact, a large part
of it is to show God's gracious provision in substitutionary
atonement. Animals dying in the place of
those who deserve to die. Priestly mediation. How do we
sinful people get to go through a priest, through a mediator,
all pointing to that one sacrifice for sin? all pointing to that
one Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, all pointing
to that one Great High Priest after the Order of Melchizedek
who stands between God and us. So that's what it was given for.
Now look at these verses. Verse 20 says this. You see,
it's talking about the law, well back in verse 19 actually, and
it was ordained the law by angels in the hand of a mediator. That
mediator was Moses. Moses was the one who received
the law from God by angels. It was given to him, we read
that in Acts chapter 7. The law was given to him in the
hand of a mediator. Now, he says A mediator is not
a mediator of one. In other words, there's got to
be two sides for there to be a mediator. You mediate between
one and the other. You mediate. ACAS, the mediation
service, you know, between the companies, the bosses, and the
unions, the workers. They mediate. They go between.
They stand in the middle of them. And he says, a mediator is not
a mediator of one. You don't have a mediator just
for one side. in that covenant of law at Sinai which said this
you do this and you shall live you do that and you shall die
you fail to do that and you shall die it's a two-sided bargain
You know, it's like workers and wages. Another analogy that Paul
uses about grace and works. Wages. You know, if it's of grace,
then it's not wages. But when your employer pays you,
he's paying his debts. He owes you something. You fulfilled
your side of the bargain, he has to fulfill his side of the
bargain. That's a two-sided covenant. But, he says, that's in the giving
of the law through Moses, but God is one. What's he talking
about there? He's talking about the other
covenant, which is the one-sided covenant. God is one. You see, the law was given at
Sinai to Israel in the hands of Moses, who was a mere man.
But the promise of eternal life in Christ was given to Christ,
our mediator, from the Father, and these two, the Father and
the Son, are one. That's what that verse 20 is
saying. God is one. The Father, one-sidedly, God
alone on one side, the two persons in that that we read of here,
the Father covenanted with the Son. All three of the Trinity
were there because the Spirit covenanted to bring to life those
whom the Father had given to the Son from before the foundation
of the world. But it's a one-sided covenant
is that covenant of promise. And that's good. Should I tell
you why? You know why. It doesn't depend
on me. You know? Me being paid my wages
depends on me going and doing the work. Me being a recipient
of the promise of God of eternal life depends on God. It depends
on the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit doing that which
only they can do. These two are one. Verse 21 then.
He says, is the law then, are we talking about two things that
are in competition with each other? Is the law then against,
contrary to, in competition with the promises of God? Is the law,
as a means of being right with God, in competition with the
promise of life in Christ, as a means of being right with God?
God forbid, he says. Absolutely not. For if there
had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness
would have been by the law. But of course there isn't. Why
isn't there? Because it was weak through the flesh. The flesh
can never be right with God. The flesh can never do those
things that the law requires. The law and the promise are not
in competition with each other. It isn't either or. You see,
the law, or a system of laws, could never produce eternal life.
There isn't a contest between them. In fact, as we read in
2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 7 earlier, what is the law? It's
not about life. The law is the ministration of
death, says the scripture. It's the scriptures that say
that. The law was never a means to eternal life. The law was
never a means to rightness with God. It was a ministration of
death. It was showing what sin really
is. And verse 22, look what it says. But the scripture hath
concluded all under sin. All have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not
one. The scripture hath concluded
all under sin. every single one of us Romans
319 says this whatsoever the law says it says to those who
are under the law that every mouth may be stopped no defense
no excuse to offer and all the world may become guilty before
God convicted by the law charged by the law convicted by the law
guilty the case is closed The sentence is passed, the soul
that sins, it shall die. He must punish sin, he cannot
overlook it. And all efforts to be made right
or more valuable in the eyes of God by law-keeping are exposed
as worthless. They're filthy rags in the sight
of God. They can never make you right
with God. The Scripture has concluded all
under sin. Why? That the promise by faith
of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. That the promise might be given
to them that believe. You see, it was a constraint.
The law was a constraint to point us to the promise. It's concluded
all in sin and therefore unable to save themselves that we might
turn to the promise by faith of Jesus Christ and that that
might be given to those who believe. Let me use an example. The law
is a constraint to keep us in a certain way to bring us to
the promise to the faith. When we go walking in the mountains
Often we use the map and we use the GPS thing and compasses as
our guide, as our rule, as our law. And sometimes the guide
tells us to take a path that for a while seems very difficult,
very unrewarding, very much hard work. It constrains us to views
that are not particularly... For example, if you climb Skiddaw,
there's part of the way and you just look out over the bleakest
countryside and there's nothing much to see and it doesn't have
much to recommend it at all but there's a promise ahead. You
keep constrained by that guide. Don't veer off the path. You
keep constrained by it. There's a promise of a glorious
vista when you get to the summit and you look down Borrowdale
and you see that marvellous view. It's like that with the law and
the promise. The law is keeping us constrained
to bring us to the promise of faith, the faith of Jesus Christ. and so he says in verse 23 before
faith came we were kept under the law we were kept under the
law before faith came shut up constrain waiting for the faith
which should afterwards be revealed wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ Now Michael goes to school and he has some
schoolmasters and no doubt lady teachers as well. But their purpose
is to constrain you and teach you and make you understand and
often make you do things you don't particularly want to do.
But it's all good for you that it teaches you and shows you
and keeps you in line. And so the law of God was our
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The word used there, in the Greek,
is Paidagogos, or something like that, which means the disciplinarian,
the educational disciplinarian, who was employed by the household
to keep the children in line, to bring us to Christ. Discipline,
instruction, direction. But look, once we've arrived,
after faith has come, we're no longer under the schoolmaster.
We've used the illustration before. When you've left school, when
you've grown out of those years, the relationship of law that
your schoolmaster has to you and over you is broken. They
no longer have that relationship over you. And it's exactly the
same applies here. Once we've arrived at faith,
we're no longer under law as a schoolmaster. It has achieved
its purpose. Well then, What is the promise
to which the law drives us? Now this is what I want to spend
the rest of the time on. What is the promise to which the law
drives us? And it's there in verse 22 that
the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them
that believe. Did you notice the subtle difference? The promise by faith of Jesus
Christ. If you look at your New King
James Version, it says Faith IN Jesus Christ. Just two two-letter
words, OF and IN. but a world of difference in
the meaning. And that's why I'm using the
authorized version this morning and I'm very much inclined to
because I believe that the translation here is much more faithful to
what the original said. You see, the promise does not
become ours because of the fact that we exercise faith in Christ. Not at all. The promise becomes
ours because Christ was faithful and did all that was necessary.
It's the faithfulness of Jesus Christ that secures our hope.
It's the faithfulness of Him that purchased our salvation.
It's not our faith in Him that did that. It's not the fact that
the difference between you who have believed and you who haven't
is that you are accounted righteous because you have believed you've
done a good work. No! You are counted righteous because
He did the good work. It's the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ. It becomes ours because of the
faithfulness of Jesus Christ. That means that our justification
was totally accomplished by Christ. That it was accomplished outside
of our experience, altogether without us, by the faith, the
faithful obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute.
You know what Philippians 2 says? Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ, who, though he was in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. He was God, but made himself
of no... He who was the God of the universe
made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and humbled himself, and became obedient to death,
even the death of the cross. And it was that faithful obedience
Nevertheless, not my will, he said. Let this cup pass from
me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And it's that,
the faithful obedience of Christ, that is our assurance, that is
our confidence, that is the certainty of the promise of life in the
seed who is Christ. It makes an enormous difference
to what you believe. You know, I always used to think
I don't really get this Christianity thing. How is it that me saying,
oh yeah, okay, I believe, suddenly I'm righteous. No, it's Christ
doing his work that makes me righteous. The believing bit
is just that I see it and I trust it. That's all it is. You see,
if it is our faith in Christ that secures the blessings of
the promise for us, We've got cause to doubt the efficacy of
our faith. Was it true faith? Is it real?
Have I really exercised faith? Was my faith good enough faith?
Was it big enough faith? Was it powerful enough faith
to secure me eternal life in Christ? Oh, I don't know. I don't
know whether I believed as well as that guy did or that lady
did. I don't know whether I believed enough. No, it's not our faith
in Jesus Christ that secures those things for us, it's Christ's
faithful accomplishment of them. If it's Christ's faithful accomplishment
of all he covenanted with the Father to do for his people,
and who are his people? All who would be brought to believe
in him in time and trust his saving work. If it's On the basis
of that, the promise is certain. You can rest on it. You can sleep
soundly, says one of the Psalms. I will lay me down and sleep
soundly, without a worry. You know how when you're worried
about something, it keeps you awake at night. You're concerned.
You can't sleep. You're waking up very early in
the morning. Things are churning over. You've got a project at
work to do. It's troubling you. But when you're not worried,
you sleep soundly. and so it is with eternity you rest on
it you sleep soundly let me just show you seven times in the New
Testament Paul uses this term the faith of Jesus Christ and
every time the New King James and all the other versions translate
it in Jesus Christ and it's a world of difference just look up these
scriptures with me Romans chapter 3 and verse 22 You got it? And if you've got
a pen, I would mark it if I were you. Verse 22 in the New King
James says, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus
Christ. You see? It's saying, righteousness
is through your faith in Jesus Christ. That's not what it says.
The original says, through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. The faith of Jesus. It's his
works that gives us righteousness, not our faith in him that gives
us righteousness. His works, his faithful accomplishment
of them. that's what gives us righteousness
Galatians 2 and verse 16 this is where Paul is rebuking Peter
publicly and saying knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law but by faith in Jesus no it doesn't say you're
justified by your faith in Jesus Christ you're justified by the
faith of Jesus Christ is what it says in the original and later
in that same verse that we might be justified by faith of Christ
and not by the works of the law it's the faith of Christ that
justifies us not the works of the law and not our faith in
Him. It's His faithfulness that does
it. Galatians 2.20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is
no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life which
I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God. The faithfulness of the Son of
God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Ephesians chapter 3 and
verse 12 in whom we have boldness, talking
about Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and
access with confidence through faith of Him, not in Him. It's because of His faithfulness
that we have boldness and access. And finally, Philippians 3, verse
9. It's a verse that I often quote,
and I've always quoted it, well, for the last 20 years, in the
New King James. And I'm going to change the way
I quote it. It says, I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not
having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that
which is through faith of Christ. The faithfulness of Christ. That's
where we get our righteousness from. The righteousness which
is from God, by faith. That's it. It is what you believe
in that has purchased your salvation, not your act of believing. You
know, I've said that so many times. It's what you believe
in, not your believing. It's the faith of Christ, not
your faith in Christ. The testimony of the child of
God is this, and I keep saying it, And it's almost cliched,
I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ, he's
my all in all. His faithfulness is my all in
all. It's my confidence. He did it
for me. That's why he cried, it is finished. Not it is started so that they
can try themselves. It is finished. So what has my
faith got to do with it? That's about his faith. What
has my faith got to do with it? Because the Scriptures talk again
and again about my faith in Jesus Christ. That's how we know that
we're not getting this wrong. Because the original language
is quite clear. In some places it talks about my faith in Jesus
Christ, and those seven other places, faithfulness of Jesus
Christ. And Paul knew what he was writing.
and Paul knew the distinction and it's quite clear absolutely
clear the problem is that the modern translators have come
along and they've said they've imposed their view of salvation
onto what the scriptures say and they've used license to change
a word which is clearly of into one which is in and it completely
changes the meaning well my faith I must believe the gospel what
must I do to be saved said the Philippian jailer Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look. That's it. Look. We're going off to Austria and
we're going to see some very high snow-covered mountains.
At least I hope we are. What do we have to do? Just look. Just look, there they are. We
don't change their existence by our looking, but we appreciate
them by looking. We apprehend them by looking.
We appreciate their beauty by looking. Just as the Israelites
who were dying of the snake bites and Moses made an image of that
which was killing them, the snakes. And that's like Christ being
made in the likeness of sinful flesh. and lifted up and what
were they told to do? Look, look unto me all you ends
of the earth and be saved for I am God and there is no other
you see nobody was ever saved who didn't believe Christ and
trust in the faithfulness of Christ to have lived died and
risen in his place you must believe nobody was ever saved who didn't
believe but it wasn't their believing that saved them it was the faithfulness
of Christ that purchased their salvation and look at Galatians
chapter 3 and verse 26 you see after faith has come we are no
longer under a tutor for you are all sons of God how do you
know that you're a son of God? how do you know that you're a
child of God? through faith in Christ Jesus
Through your faith in Christ Jesus, you know that you're a
Son of God. Through your looking and believing
in Him, and trusting in Him, that's how you know. That's what
makes the difference. It's not that that saves you,
but that's how you know that you're saved. Because you believe
in the Son of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you shall be saved. Conclusion then. What's the point
of it all? Remember what I said at the start?
Ordinary people fears like everybody else but such glorious hope and
confidence in the objective view of this one who has done all
in our place the seed who purchased the promises of God for us. You
see the law drives us to despair of ourselves to get right with
God. We can't get right with God ourselves.
It drives us to look to Christ and rest by faith in what He
has faithfully done on our behalf and in believing Believing in
Him, I know I am God's child. You are all sons of God through
faith. I know the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge that are in Him. I know He is my wisdom from God
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption and I rest in
all of that because He was faithful on my behalf and I rest happy
and hopeful and contented. Amen.