Is not that I did choose thee? Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nivert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nivert. In Galatians 3, verse 19, the
Apostle Paul asks this question, and it's a very interesting question. Wherefore then serveth the law? What is the purpose of God's
law? Now, he had already established
that no one can be saved by it. But he says, if that's the case,
what is the purpose of the law? Now, by the law, I mean, or Paul
means, all of God's law. The moral law, the Ten Commandments,
the dietary laws, the sacrificial laws, the ceremonies, the feast
days, You can't separate God's law. You can't pull it apart.
You can't say, well, we're not under the law of ceremony, but
we're still under the moral law. No, the law is one. And that
is seen even in the Ten Commandments. In the Ten Commandments, you
have the law of the Sabbath. And the Sabbath was on a Saturday.
And you could do no work at all. And if you're under that law,
if you do any work, you're to be stoned. Now that's what the
law says when people put up copies of the Ten Commandments. Oh,
I love God's holy law. I love the Ten Commandments.
They express God's holy character. But I sure don't want to be under
that law. I'm in trouble if I am, and you
are too. Wherefore serveth the law? Now, in the law there were actually
600 commandments. There were 22 sins that called
on capital punishment, death. Why, if a child was disobedient
and rebellious, he was to be stoned. Now, this is the law
that we're talking about, God's holy law. Now, Paul said in Galatians
3.10, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse, for it's written Cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Now if I'm under law, that means
if I don't keep it perfectly, I am under God's curse. Now Paul had clearly set forth
the fact that we could not be saved by the law. If you would
think that you could be saved by keeping this law, you have
no understanding. If I think that I can be saved
by keeping this law, I have no understanding of what the law
is even saying. Now why then is there law if
we can't be saved by it, if it was never intended for that purpose
and it wasn't? Look in Galatians chapter 3 verse
21, is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid,
for if there had been a law which could have given life, Verily,
righteousness should have been by the law, but the law could
never give life. So what's the purpose of all
these rules, these commandments, these sacrifices, these ceremonies? What is the purpose of the law?
It does have a purpose. Just because it was never meant
to save doesn't mean it does not have a purpose. Steel was
never meant to be eaten, but it still has a purpose. We make
cars and things with it. So there is a purpose of the
law. What is it? Paul actually said in 1 Timothy
1, 8, 9, the law is good if a man use it lawfully. Knowing this,
that the law was not made for a righteous man, but for sinners. for ungodly, for the disobedient. He goes on to name a litany of
sins that the law exposes. The law was not made for a good
man. A good man doesn't need law.
He's not going to steal from you. He's not going to kill you.
He's not going to commit adultery against you or some kind of sexual
sin. He's not going to covet what's yours if he loves you.
The law was not made for a good man, but for a sinner, for a
lawless man. What would this society be like
if we didn't have laws and anybody could just do whatever they wanted
to do? Why you couldn't go out your door? The law is made because
of sin, because of sinners. Now, before seeing what the law
is, it'll be helpful to us to see what the law was never intended
to do. I've already touched on this,
but the law was never intended for men to try to keep it to
be saved. In Galatians chapter 3 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 that was
never intended in the first place. We read this in Romans chapter Romans 8, verse 3, For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, The problem's not with
the law, the problem's with my flesh. What the law could not
do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Now, does that mean that if you have the Holy Spirit, you're
now able to keep the law? No. Walking in the Spirit is
looking to Christ only as your righteousness before God. That's
what it is to walk in the Spirit. It's to look to Christ. That
is the fulfilling of the law. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness, not our personal obedience. I love what Paul said
in Philippians chapter 3 verse 9. He said, O that I may win
Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, which is of my personal law keeping, but
that which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Now, the law was never intended. to give life. And this destroys
the idea of dispensationalism, that there was a law of dispensation
and when that didn't work then there was a grace dispensation.
There has always only been one way of salvation and that is
the way of Christ. The law does not sanctify. Not only can it not make you
righteous or give you a righteousness before God, the law does not
sanctify. It gives no power to obey. All
it recognizes is perfect righteousness. It doesn't sanctify. It doesn't
give power to obey. Paul said in Galatians 3, verse
11, that no man is justified by the law on the side of God.
It's evident. It's evident. For the just shall live by faith,
and the law is not of faith. But the man that doeth them shall
live in them. The law does not deliver anybody
from the dominion of sin. In Romans 6, verse 14, we read,
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under
law, but under grace. Now, if you're under law, you're
under the complete dominion and domination of sin. Now, listen
to this. The law is not even given as
our rule of life. The Ten Commandments. I love
God's law. I love the Ten Commandments.
It's an expression of God's holy character. But the Ten Commandments
were not given as a rule of life. And let me say a couple of things
about that. Somebody says, are you saying it's okay to break
God's law? No, I'm not saying it's okay
to break God's law. It's never okay to break God's
law. But I know in my heart, every time I read the Ten Commandments,
I know that all I do is break them in my heart. Every single
one of them. I've not kept one commandment
one time. And neither of you, if you think
you have, you demonstrate an ignorance of the holiness of
God's law and the holiness of God. Paul said, we know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin, a slave
to sin. And all the law does is expose
my sin. It's not my rule of life. All I have done is broken it. You know, when I tell the truth,
I tell the truth in such a way as to make myself look better.
And there's always a little slant to it. Whatever I do, if I do
it, it's sin. John put it this way in 1 John
1, he said, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. If we say we've not sinned regarding
anything we've done, if we say we've not sinned, we make him
a liar because he says we have. So the law is not my rule of
life and I'm thinking about the commandments. Thou shalt have
no other God before me. Have you ever put anything before
God? Are you doing it now? What about the law regarding
idolatry and no graven images? Have you made false conceptions
of God to make you more comfortable with yourself? What about the
law regarding not taking His name in vain? Anytime I use His
name, if I don't have the proper reverence, I'm taking His name
in vain. I don't know what it is to rest
completely like the rest of the Sabbath, honor your father and
mother. Have you ever dishonored your
parents or any of God's place given authority? Thou shalt not
kill. Have you ever murdered somebody's
character by innuendo or even by silence when you should be
speaking up for them? Thou shalt not commit adultery.
To even lust after a woman in your heart or to lust after a
man in your heart is committing adultery in the very sight of
God. Thou shalt not steal. Have you ever stole time on the
job? Have you ever loafed? Have you ever robbed God of glory?
Thou shalt not lie. Where you stand there, have you
ever exaggerated? Have you ever not told the truth? Thou shalt
not covet. How can you stop from desiring
something? You see, the Ten Commandments, God's holy law, they're not given
as a rule of life. They're given to expose sin.
And listen to this. I don't try to keep God's holy
law, I've kept it. Because when Christ kept it,
I did too. That's why I don't fear God's
law. Now I fear God's law apart from Christ, because Christ came
to fulfill that law, and he fulfilled it in every jot and tittle. But I did too, because when he
kept the law, I kept it as well. I delight in the law of God after
the inner man, just like Paul said he did in Romans chapter
7. Now, so we see that there are some things the law was never
intended to do. It was never intended to save
us or make us righteous or be a rule of life or it gives no
power to obey. All it does is condemn. Well,
what does the law do then? You tell me what it doesn't do,
what does the law do? Well, here's the purpose of the
law. First, it reflects God's holy
character. Oh, how I admire and love the
law of God. It reflects God's holy character
and his holy requirements. It demands absolute perfection. God can accept nothing less. And this makes us admire God
for how he is, how he's seen in his law. And the primary purpose
of the law is to expose sin. That's what the law does. It
exposes sin. All it can do is condemn. It
exposes sin. What about somebody who's never
heard the law? What about somebody in some other country who has
never heard the Ten Commandments and knows nothing about them?
Well, everybody's got the law written in their heart. Everybody
knows it's wrong to commit adultery. Everybody knows it's wrong to
steal. Everybody knows it's wrong to kill. In every society, people
are born with that understanding. Listen to this scripture in Romans
chapter 2, verse 14, for when the Gentiles, which have not
the law, they've never seen a copy of the Ten Commandments. They've
never seen a copy of the Bible. They have not the law, but they
do by nature the things contained in the law. These having not
the law are a law unto themselves which shows the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness,
and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one
another, either making them feel guilty or trying to come up with
an excuse for why I acted that way. I just had a bad day or
I had a weak moment and always coming up with some kind of excuse.
But all the law does is expose sin. The law is given to show
us our inability. For the carnal mind is enmity
against God, what we are by nature, for it's not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. They completely lack the ability
to please God. The law shows me of my inability
to do anything but sin. Romans 4.15 says the law worketh
wrath. The wrath of God to punish all
lawbreakers. And it works wrath in man. Men
become resentful of God because of the strict requirements of
His law. The law is kind of like having
a, if you're under the law, it's kind of like a woman being married
to a man. And we're married to the law coming into birth. We're all required to keep God's
law. We're under the law, but it's
like being married to a man who does nothing but criticize, condemn,
find fault. Who would want to be married
to somebody like that? But that's what the law does.
And the law slays all hopes of self-salvation. Galatians 3,
verse 11, but that no man is justified by the law in the sight
of God, it is evident. You know, in Galatians 4, Paul
says, tell me you that desire to be under law. Don't you hear
the law? Don't you hear what it says?
All it does is condemn you. And when he gives this example,
he doesn't name the Ten Commandments. He tells the story of Abraham
and Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael. You will remember that God made
a promise to Abraham, you're going to have a son. And they
waited years, and Sarah said, well, evidently, we need to do
our part for that promise to take place. So you don't go on
into Hagar. You can have her, and you can
have a child through her. Sarah had already gone through menopause.
It was impossible for her to have a child. So you just go
into Hagar. He did that. He had Ishmael. And God never acknowledged Ishmael
as a true son. And then when he went into Sarah,
God came back again, you're going to have a son through her. And
he, who was 100 years old, went into this woman who was 90 and
had already gone through menopause, and they had a supernatural son.
Now, the law is any aspect of salvation being dependent upon
you doing your part. It's not just the Ten Commandments.
If any aspect of salvation is dependent upon you, you're under
law, right down to an act of your free will, your decision
to accept or reject Jesus. If that's what your salvation
is, you are under law. You know nothing of the freedom
of grace, and you can't be saved as long as you're under law.
If you think salvation is dependent upon you accepting Christ, He
died for everybody, but it's up to you as to whether or not
you accept him or reject him. If you're saved, it's because
you've accepted him. And if somebody is lost, it's
because they rejected him. No real understanding of the
death of Christ, what he actually accomplished on Calvary. It's
true. That's works. That's all it is.
In the middle of your salvation, if you think you can make yourself
more holy by your obedience to the law, that's works. If at
the end of your salvation, if you think that you can get a
higher reward in heaven because of your works of personal obedience
here upon earth, that's works too. And as far as that goes,
how could you have such a high opinion of your works that you
think that they would merit some kind of higher reward? Would
it be better than Christ in his righteousness? No, all the law
does is slay all hopes of self-salvation. In Galatians chapter three, verse
24, Paul says, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring
us unto Christ. Now, in my King James Version,
this is one of the reasons I love the King James Version, wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster to bring us is in italics. It's
in italics. And that means the translators
put it there, but it wasn't in the original. They were simply
making an attempt to make it more understandable. The law
was our schoolmaster. And here's the way this could
read. The law was our schoolmaster until Christ. Now, the word schoolmaster
wasn't a teacher. It was somebody employed by a
wealthy Greek family to watch their son wherever he went. That pedagogue, is the word,
went. And when he got out of line,
that pedagogue would discipline him. He would restrain him from
doing things that he would have done if he wasn't around. I mean,
he would hit him. He had the ability to do whatever
he wanted with that boy to keep him in line, and he was hired
by his parents to do that. Now, the law was our schoolmaster. If there were no law, what would
you do? You'd say, open up the doors.
I'm going to do, I'm going to be evil as I want to be. And there's no consequences.
That's the way every natural man is. But when you come to
be saved by his grace and you come to love Christ, you don't
need a schoolmaster anymore. You love Christ. You have his
spirit. You want to honor him, but If
all I got is law, all I got is misbehavior. It doesn't do anything
else. Galatians chapter 5 verse 18
says, but if you be led of the Spirit, you're not under the
law. You see, if I'm under the law, all I'm showing by that
is that I don't have the Spirit of God. The strength of sin is
the law. And as long as somebody's under
law, it's going to bring them away from Christ. Romans chapter
10 verse 4 says Christ is the end of the law. He's the termination
of the law. If I'm in Christ, I love Him. I love His people. You mean you
don't sin anymore? No, I don't mean that at all.
I don't mean that at all. But I do know this, the love
of Christ constrains me. It keeps me. It presses on me. It holds me. It won't let me
go in a certain direction. You know, I love that passage
of scripture in Galatians 5, 17, where he says, the flesh
lusts against the spirit, and the spirit lusts against the
flesh. And these are contrary one to the other, so that you
cannot do the things that you would. Now, I can say to every
believer, What would you do if God didn't keep you? You would
be as wicked and evil as the devil himself. And you know that's
true about yourself if God didn't prevent you. But you can't be
that way because you have the Spirit of God. You have a new
nature. And you can't do the things that you would do if it
wasn't for having the Spirit of God. On the other hand, if
you're a believer, you would be without sin. You would never
sin again. You would love God with all your
heart and all your soul and all your mind and your neighbor as
yourself. You'd never break one of his laws. You would do that,
but you can't because you have something called the flesh. He's
still there. And someone who tries to deny
that is not being honest. He is still there. Now, the law was fulfilled by
Christ and Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
Now listen to this point very carefully. The law is a necessary
and permanent enemy of our most dangerous and evil enemy, our
own self-righteousness. Now, your sin, listen to me carefully,
Your sin will never keep you from Christ. Did you know that?
Your sin will never keep you from Christ. It's your righteousness
that will keep you from Christ. Your self-righteousness. And self-righteousness, what
does the Bible say about our righteousness? Our righteousness,
as Isaiah said, are as filthy rags. The law lets me know I
have no personal righteousness at all. The only righteousness
that I have is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's the only
righteousness I know of, His righteousness. If I can't see
that, it's because I don't have the Holy Spirit. I've just got
one old nature that's blind to the things of God. You see, if
God gives you a new nature, if He saves you, if you're regenerate,
if you're born again, there's things you see that the unbeliever
can't see. And one of the things you see is the filthiness of
your own righteousness. Every evil person, lost person, believes that they
can somehow perform righteousness. They believe that. And every
truly righteous person, given the righteousness of Christ,
being made righteous, they believe themselves to be evil people. It's always that way. And as
long as God's holy law is around, it's going to be impossible for
me to have any righteousness other than the righteousness
of Christ as my only righteousness before God. Now, in Romans chapter
3, Paul makes this statement. He said, do we make void the
law through faith? Do we just set it aside and say
it's meaningless and useless? Do we make void the law through
faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the law. Now let me tell you
the one way that you or I can honor God's holy law. And I mean really honor it in
a way that God's pleased with it. I'm not talking about just
putting up a copy of the commandments in a courtroom or anything like
that. The only way A man or woman can truly honor and glorify God's
holy law is by faith in Christ. You look to Christ and His obedience
as your righteousness before God, as your law keeper. He kept
the law for you and you honor God's holy law. You dishonor
God's holy law and bring it down to your standard if you try to
be saved by law in any way. What I'm saying by that is Surely
God will accept this work of mine. I accept it. And we bring
God down to our level. And God's not gonna have it.
The only way a sinner can honor God's holy laws, not by trying
to keep it, but by looking to Christ as the one who did keep
it, and rest in his righteousness as your righteousness before
God. Now somebody said, if you believe that way, that'll lead
to sin. Never let anybody sin. You just don't understand what's
being said. If you think that, if you think, well, if I believe
that way, if I believe that Christ's righteousness really was my righteousness
before God and I didn't have anything to worry about, why,
I'd go out and sin all I wanted to. I sin a whole lot more than I
want to. And my sin, it's not because
I look to Christ as my righteousness before God, but I do look to
Christ as my righteousness before God. that I may win Christ and
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. And when I look to Christ as
keeping the law for me, you know what makes me do? It makes me
love Him. It makes me want to please Him.
It makes me want to follow Him. It makes me want to be found
in Him. Now, I love God's holy law. And it makes me know that the
only righteousness I have is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
That is the purpose of God's law. Now we have this message
on DVD and CD. If you call the church, email,
or write, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg, praying
that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's
our prayer. Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at todsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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