I've entitled this message, Before
and After Faith Came. Before and after faith came. Now, if you have faith, look
in verses 23 and 25 again, but before faith came, and look at
verse 25, but after the faith has come, if you have faith,
it came to you. And you know that. I don't have
to argue for that. If you have faith, you know that
it came to you. There was a time when you did
not believe, didn't know what it meant to believe. And then
you found yourself believing because faith came to you. It didn't come from you, but
it came to you as a gift from God. Now in this passage of scripture,
Paul contrasts the before and the after, before faith and after
faith. And we've all seen those before
and after pictures, before a big weight loss, before and after,
or you've seen the presidents before and after, before they
take office they look pretty healthy and afterwards they're
just wrinkled and the weight of the world on their shoulders.
You've seen before and after shots where tornadoes and hurricanes
hit where everything looks fine and then afterwards that tornado
hits and everything is torn up. Now we're given a picture of
what we were before faith came and what we are after faith has
come. Now I love the language of this
because this won't allow us to make a work out of faith. And
that's what people try to do. They try to make it a human work. And this language will not allow
that. Faith, the gift of God, comes
to us. And after it has come to us. Now let's look up in verse 19.
This is what we considered last time. We considered the purpose
of the law, and I just looked at the first sentence, but let's
begin at verse 19. Wherefore then serveth the law? If it doesn't save, why is there
law? And we dealt with that last time,
so I'm not gonna get back into that, but Paul says it was added
because of transgressions. The law was an add-on. It was
never intended to save. The law was an add-on, and it
was an add-on because of transgressions. Now that means several things
when it says the law was an add-on because of transgressions. First
thing the law does is expose transgressions. That's all it
does. It doesn't give you any power to obey. It exposes sin. The strength of sin is the law. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. That's what the law does, is
it exposes him. The law also, in some measure, because the
children of Israel, it's amazing, if you read through the Old Testament,
how quick they were, and it's not amazing if you know yourself.
but how quick they were to revert to the idolatry of the nations
that they went into when they went into captivity or the surrounding
nations there around, they would so quickly go into false worship. And the law was a constant warning
against that. And then the law was an add-on. Where am I at? It was an add-on because it preserved
the true knowledge of the character of God. The law is a reflection. I love the Ten Commandments.
It tells me who God is in His holiness, in His holy requirements,
and in His righteousness. And the law also is the predecessor
to the gospel in the sense of even in the Ten Commandments
in that 20th chapter of Exodus, we're given an altar. What's
an altar for? Sacrifice. Because Moses knew
they wouldn't keep the law. And this altar, you couldn't
have a human tool touch it or it was polluted. It had to be
without human works at all. It was just a pile of rocks and
it didn't have steps. There's not steps to God, just
Christ. We find the gospel in the sacrifices,
in the feast days, in the Sabbath day. There's so much typified
of the gospel in the law, and the law was given for that, but
the law was an add-on. Wherefore then serveth the law,
it was added, because of transgressions, till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made. That's Christ Jesus. He's the
seed the promise was made to. Now, John 17 to Christ said,
thou has given him power over all flesh, speaking of himself,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given
him. He's the seed that should come. The promise was made to
him. And then it says in verse 19, and it was ordained by angels
in the hand of a mediator. That's talking about Moses. After
the giving of the law, let me read this passage of scripture
from Exodus chapter 20. And the people saw the thunderings, and
the lightning, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain
smoking. And when the people saw it, they removed and stood
afar off. And they said unto Moses, speak
thou with us, and we shall hear, let not God speak with us, lest
we die. So Moses stood as a mediator
between the people and God. Now look what, this is unusual
language, look in verse 20. Now, a mediator is not a mediator
of one. When you have a mediator, you
have two parties, don't you? And the mediator is trying to
bring the two parties together. And he says, a mediator is not
a mediator of one, it's always two, but God is one. Now, the law was like a contract,
Moses being the mediator and God saying, if you do this, I'll
do that. If you obey me, I'll bless you. If you disobey me, I'll curse
you. That was the law. It was conditional. It was conditioned upon me doing
my part. Now I want you to think, what
if any part of salvation was conditioned upon you doing your
part? What would happen? Well, let me tell you this right
off the bat, you would not do your part. There is no hope in
that message of salvation by law in any way. If any part of
salvation is dependent upon me doing my part, I won't be saved. But look at the way that says,
God is one. God didn't make a contract in
the gospel that was conditioned upon us in any way. He made it
with himself. He said, I will. and they shall. That's how the gospel works.
God made the condition, conditioned upon himself, not on us. Turn
with me for a second to Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6, beginning
in verse 13. For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swear by himself,
saying, surely This is going to happen for sure. Blessing,
I will bless thee. And multiplying, I will multiply
thee. And so after he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise, for men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them in the end of all
strife, wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto
the heirs of the promise, the immutability, the changelessness
of his counsel or of his will, confirmed it by an oath that
by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us." Now, God is one, and he
made this covenant with himself. He said, and I want to say this
as reverently as I know how to say it, But he covenanted with
himself, I'm going to save Todd Nybert. And he said that of all of his
elect, individually, as the body of Christ, he covenanted with
himself to save you before time began. Now God is one. Hear,
O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord, the divine being. Self-existent, independent, having
need of nothing. Eternal, having never had a beginning
and will never have an end. Immutable, he can never change. Sovereign, that means his will
is always done. And that makes me so happy to
know that his will is always done, that he's in control of
everybody and everything and every event. He's one in nature,
He's one in essence, and all of His perfections as God are
one. He's not made of parts. The reason
idolatry is so evil is because anything you use or I use to
represent God is degrading to His character. Who can you compare
to God? What can you compare to God?
Absolutely nothing. He's utterly unique and there's
none like Him. And when He covenanted to save
the people for His glory, the covenant was made with Himself. The Father gave the Son a people. Clear in the Scriptures? All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. The Son agreed to
put away their sins and work out their righteousness. The
Spirit agreed to give them life. The covenant The divine covenant. And all of my salvation is in
that covenant. That's what David said when he
said, although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made
an everlasting covenant with me. With me. I wasn't even around when it
happened, but I was there. With me. in all things and sure. Why me? I don't know. But David
said this, this is how much of my salvation, you know, the rest
of the verse, all my salvation. You know what else it was? All my desire. I don't want anything
else. Now, God made covenant with himself. God is one. Now, verse 21, is
the law then, the Ten Commandments, the ceremonial law, the civil
law, they can't be separated. 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 would
have come by the law. Now, the law never was intended
to save. It's got its purpose. We considered
that last week. But it never was intended to
give life. It never was intended to make
one righteous. Never was. Verse 22. But the scripture hath concluded
all under sin. That the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ, the faithfulness of Christ, might be given to
them that believe. Now the word concluded actually
means it's locked up. It's locked up. It's put in jail.
It's put in prison, all under sin. To be under sin and be under
the law is the same thing. And the scripture has locked
us up. The law has locked us up in jail
and you can't get out. We're locked up under sin. Look back in Romans chapter three. We're in a prison, now before
faith came. We're in a prison that we cannot get out of. Now,
over there on Leestown Road, that prison, those men are incarcerated.
Can they, if they want to, decide, well, I'm leaving today? No,
they can't. I got a letter today from somebody
in prison. They said, I'm not able to get
out of here for three and a half years. And I thought, three and
a half years? Can you imagine having that long
when you're in prison? You can't get out. Now we're
locked up in prison under sin. Look in Romans chapter three,
verse nine. What then, are we better than
they, us Jews? Are we better than the Gentiles?
No, in no wise, for we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles,
that they are all under sin. What's that mean? That means
sin's over me. It's over me, completely. As it's written,
there's none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understands. There's none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together, become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Now, I'm in that prison. I'm
in that prison and I can't get out and there's nothing I can
do to get myself out. That's the state of all men before
faith. locked up in a prison under the
dominion of sin, and we can't get out of jail. Not a thing
we can do to get out. And the only way we will get
out of this jail is for God to get us out. You see, in this
prison, we're bound by two chains. Kind of like Peter was bound
by two chains, remember that? We're bound by two chains. The
first chain is an evil nature, and the second chain is a law
that we cannot keep. Now those chains we cannot escape
from, an evil nature and a law that we cannot keep. And so we're
concluded, locked up, thrown in jail, and can't get out. Verse three, verse 23. But before faith came, When we were in this jail, we
were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should
afterwards be revealed. Locked up with no way out until
faith would be revealed to us. Did you notice how it says, unto
the faith that would be revealed? You know, faith is a response
to revelation. When God reveals himself to you,
you believe, and not before then. When faith comes to you, that's
when you believe. But until then, until faith comes,
you're locked up in this jail, in this prison without being
able to get out. Now verse 24, wherefore the law
was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might
be justified by faith. Now, hold on. Verse 24, wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster And I don't know why the translators
put to bring us in there because it's not in the original. They
put it in the italic so you can know it's not in the original.
That completely messes up the meaning of this verse of scripture.
Now, the law never brought anybody to Christ. The law didn't bring you to Christ.
The law showed you your sin. but it didn't bring you to Christ.
If you were brought to Christ, it's because God brought you
to Christ. John 6, 44, no man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me draw him. And when you're drawn to Christ,
you're drawn irresistibly with your full consent. It's God bringing you in and
you can't resist it. And you give your full consent. This is what I want more than
anything else. I want to be brought to the feet
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to come to him. I want
to believe on him. I want to know him. I want to be found
in him. I want to see him. The law was
our schoolmaster. And my inner linear version reads
until Christ. Until Christ. The law was our
schoolmaster until Christ, that we might be justified by faith,
but after the faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Now, the schoolmaster was a pedagogue,
a servant in a wealthy home that followed the heir around to keep
him out of trouble. And it would be like you having somebody watch Ryan
constantly. How would you like that, Ryan?
If wherever you went, you had this guy that was watching you.
And if you got out of line, he'd hit you. And you couldn't get
away from him. He was always looking you over,
looking you over. Wherever you went, he would go.
When you went to bed, he'd be there in bed with you, watching
to make sure you just, I mean, he was gonna, when you get up,
go to school, he's with you. A pedagogue. Now, his eye was
on you constantly, and it was to keep you out of trouble. That
was his one purpose. Well, what a miserable life that'd
be to have a pedagogue. I'd hate to have one of those
things, wouldn't you? But that's what the law is, our pedagogue. In other words, it was a restraint, certainly. Scared to death. It was our pedagogue. We wanted to avoid its punishment. We wanted to get its favor, its
goods will, but there wasn't any love there. There wasn't
any joy there. There was misery. The law, there's no love in the
law, only resentment. You couldn't do anything but
resent your pedagogue. Now we were under this pedagogue.
It was our schoolmaster to bring us until Christ. that we might
be justified by faith. Romans 4, 5 says, to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. My, what a glorious verse. That person who works not, I
tell you what, I know works won't do me any good. I know I can't
be saved by my works, but I do believe on him who justifies
the ungodly. Do you believe he really justifies
the ungodly? Do you believe that's what he accomplished on Calvary's
tree? The justification of the ungodly? He made everybody he
died for just before him and perfect and righteous and holy
in his sight? That's what he did. Now, verse 25, but after
the faith has come, We are no longer under a schoolmaster. After faith has come, you no
longer need that schoolmaster you were so afraid of. Now, before
it came, you had no understanding. All you knew was salvation by
works, fear of punishment, hope of reward. There was no love,
nothing but bondage. But once faith comes, you no
longer need that pedagogue. You see, you've got something
you didn't have before. You have got the Holy Spirit in you. You've
got a new nature. You've got love to Christ. Faith,
which worketh by love. Now, before faith came, you didn't
have, all you had was that pedagogue. But if you have faith, you no
longer need that pedagogue. As a matter of fact, you're not
under the law. I love the way, after the faith has come, we're
no longer under a schoolmaster. For you are all children of God,
by faith in Christ Jesus. Children of God. Before you were
a slave, now you're a child. Now you're a son. What's that
mean? To be a son of God. Well, who
is Christ? He's the Father's son, isn't
he? He's the Father's son. He's the son of the Father. He's
the son of the Father's love. The Father said, this is my beloved
son. in whom I'm well pleased. I'm altogether pleased with Him. Christ is the Father's Son. He is the Son of God. Now, 1 John 4, 17 says, As He
is, so are we in this world. Is He God's Son? Does the Father
love the Son? Oh, the love of the Father toward
the Son. Is He the Son? Me too. So are we in this world right
now to this extent. The Lord said in John chapter
17 verse 23, Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me. I wouldn't dare even think anything
like that if it wasn't in the Bible. Thou has loved them as
thou has loved me. Now can you imagine God the Father
loving you the way he loves his son? We wouldn't dare think anything
like that unless Christ said it in his word. I'm a son. I'm a son. Children of God, children
by birth, Children by adoption, both, with a permanent loving
relationship which can never be dissolved. Now if I'm a son
of God, that means I share in His nature. This is just mysterious. There's
no way we can understand it, just believe it. 2 Peter 1 verse
4 says we're partakers of the divine nature. He which is, that
which is born of the Spirit, is Spirit. The Spirit of God
cannot birth anything but that which is like Himself. And that's
the mystery of a share of the nature of God. And once again,
these are things we wouldn't dare even think unless the Bible
said it. It says in 2 Peter 1, 4, we're
partakers of the divine nature, a holy nature that cannot sin.
Well, which part of you doesn't sin? I sure don't see any of
it, but the Bible still says it and I believe it, don't you?
Whatever God's Word says, I believe. I've got a holy nature. I'm a
child of God. I'm a son of God. I have as a
child the right of immediate access. Ephesians 3.12 says,
in whom we have boldness and access with confidence. That
means that I'm always welcomed into God's presence. Now, I know
somebody who's always welcomed in my presence. My daughter.
I mean, she's always welcome. I might be busy, but if she knocks
on the door, come on in, honey. I mean, she's always welcome. Every child of God is always
welcome into his immediate presence through the Lord Jesus Christ,
in whom we have access, freedom of entrance through the Lord
Jesus Christ. As a son, I have all of God's
blessings. Ephesians 1.3 says, He hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. Means I've already got them.
Means there's nothing I'm to wish I had, because I have it
all. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. If God be for
us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not freely give
us all things? As a child, I'm his heir. An heir of God, joy and heir
with Christ. An heir with the promise of greater
things to come. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be. We don't even have a clue what
it's gonna be like. Not even a clue. And John said that under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He still didn't have a clue.
It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when
he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him
as he is. And every man that had this hope
in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Now what is the
evidence of sonship? I've made some big claims, haven't
I? I mean, those things, having the nature of God, being an heir
of God, what is the evidence that I am
one of those things? What is the evidence that I'm
a true child of God? There is one evidence. You know what that
evidence is? Faith in Christ. You know what else? Nothing else. That's the one evidence. Faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you start looking for
other evidences, if you find them, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but
the one evidence he gives is, but ye are all children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. Now, my faith, the faith that came
to me, is in Christ Jesus. It's not me. It's not in you. It's in Christ Jesus. I really
believe that all that God requires of me, he looks to his son for. I was Talking to Greg Elmquist,
and we were talking during this last week, and we were talking
about how there's not a day that goes by, it seems like sometimes
when you don't, you have some measure of fear of death. You
think, what if I'm deceived? What if I don't really believe
and I just think I do? All the different things that
come through your mind. What if I'm nothing but a hypocrite?
I don't think there's any believer where those things don't go through
their mind from time to time, probably all the time. But you
know the only time when I don't feel that way and I have absolutely
no fear of death? The only time I have no fear
of death is when I believe that everything that God requires
of me, he looks to his son for. And when I am by the grace of
God enabled to believe that, I don't have that fear of death.
As a matter of fact, I want to die, be in His presence, behold
His face in righteousness. The evidence of being a child
of God is trusting Christ as your only righteousness before
God. Now, if you have that faith, if you really believe that Christ
is all, You're a child. You're a son of God. You've been
made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Now let's go on reading.
Verse 27. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Now this is not water
baptism, but it is what water baptism depicts. When he says,
as many as you have been baptized in Christ to put on Christ. Now
this thing of baptism, you know, you can't baptize yourself. You
can't get down under the water, make sure you're all the way
down, then come back up. That's not baptism. As a matter of fact,
where it says, as many as were baptized into Christ, in the
original, it's in the passive tense. It's something that was
done to you. When you were baptized, you didn't
participate. You just stood there. You were
lowered down into the water. And I always make sure no part
is above the water, you go all the way under. All you can see
is the water there, that's it. And then you come back up. But
as many as you were baptized into Christ. We're baptized when
we're completely submerged, not one part of us sticking out.
I'm immersed into Christ so that all you see is Christ. That's what it is to be baptized
into Christ. When God the Father looks upon
me, all he sees is his blessed son. I'm united to him. And I'm
part of him. I'm one with him. Both he that
sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one. For
the which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. For as
many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And
this is like putting on clothes. Putting on clothes. You're the only clothing I want
to have is Christ. Clothes is what covers you up. The only
clothes I want is Christ. To where all can be seen is Christ. And this is something you consciously
do. I mean, this is what you want to only be seen, only be
found in Christ. That's your desire. Just like
Paul said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. When
God comes looking for me, oh, I just want to be found in Christ.
That's it. There isn't any greater desire I have than that, than
to simply be found in Christ. I don't want anything about me
being brought up. Nothing. Nothing. Not my preaching, not
my praying, not my, certainly not my sin. It's all sin. I don't want anything about me
being brought up. Just Christ Jesus. Christ is all. He's all in my salvation. Don't
want anything else brought up. We put on Christ to where he's
all that's seen. And look at verse 28. Now, in
Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither bond nor
free. There's neither male nor female.
For you are all one in Christ Jesus. All fleshly distinctions
have gone away. You're all one. in Christ Jesus. Every believer. Isn't it glorious
to be one in Christ? You want to be above me in glory?
Sure you don't. I mean, we're one. We're one.
One in Christ Jesus. All the same Savior. All saved the same way. All glorifying
the same grace. All fleshly distinctions. No
male, female, no... Turn for a moment to Colossians
chapter 3. It says pretty much the same thing. Verse nine, lie not one to another,
seeing that you've put off the old man with his deeds. And you
know when he says that, what I think more than anything else,
he's talking about, he's not just talking about trying to
lie to each other, to rip each other off. Don't try to present
yourself to be what you're not. Don't try to be some kind of
super religious, pious person. Be real, be real. Don't lie to
one another. Lie not one to another, seeing
that you've put off the old man with his deeds, and have put
on the new man. which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him, where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, scathian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all." In all. Is Christ all to you? Is he all in your salvation?
Well, he's all in all of God's people. Verse, back to our text, Galatians
3. And if ye be Christ's, in that
seed, in him, if ye be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed. You're a true Jew and heirs according
to the promise, heirs of God. Now, in conclusion, before faith
came, remember this is a before and after. Before faith came,
you were under the law, therefore under the dominion, the complete
control of sin. The strength of the law, or sin,
the strength of the law is sin. I mean that's, you were under
the complete dominion of sin in that prison, locked up and
unable to get out, shut up in unbelief, not knowing what faith
was under a pedagogue you feared, wanting to avoid punishment and
hoping for reward with no hope and without God in the world.
Now that's the picture before faith came. But after faith came,
you're no more under the law. Sin. shall not have dominion
over you, for you're not under the law, but under grace. After that faith came, the gospel
was revealed to you. Faith was revealed to you. God
made himself known to you. After faith came, there was justification. in your consciousness. Now, you
were justified before time began if you're a believer. You're
justified in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
But you didn't know anything about it. You didn't have a clue. But when you believe the gospel,
you found out you've been justified. After faith came on a son with
all the special privileges of sonship, After faith came, baptized,
immersed into Christ so that all you see is Christ, all God
sees. And I consciously put him on
as my clothing. We're one in Christ, true unity,
all fleshly distinctions dropped. We're Abraham seed, true Jews. You're looking at a Jew. I'm
a true Jew. I love that scripture in Philippians
chapter 3, verse 3. We are the circumcision, which
worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh. The true Israelite, the true
royal race of God, every believer is that, a son of God and heirs
according to the promise. And we don't have any idea what
glorious heirs we are, but what What an inheritance every believer
has. Whatever Christ has come to end,
we have coming to us because of Him. Before and after. Big contrast. Let's pray together.