All right, let's open our Bibles
now to our text, Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. Verse 22 says, But the scripture,
the word of God, hath concluded all under sin. that the promise
by faith of Christ Jesus might be given to them that believe.
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto
the faith which would afterward be revealed. If you care to,
you can write above that word faith. Before faith came, Christ. Before Christ came. He's not talking about the experience
of faith. He's not talking about faith
as the gift of God. Because Abel was a man of faith
before the law was ever given. Abraham was a man of faith. Noah
believed God. All of these men. Enoch walked
with God. They were men of faith. The scripture said they died
in faith. So you can't say before faith came we were kept under
the law. Because faith was here before the law. These men believed
God. But what he's saying here, he's
saying before Christ our Redeemer came into the world, Christ who
is the object of faith, Christ who is the object of faith, before
he came, we were kept under the law, the ceremonial law, the
Levitical law. All of the law, the Levitical
law of its types and shadows and pictures and Passover and
priesthood, and sacrifices, and circumcision, and feast days,
and Sabbath days. You see, the whole Levitical
law served the people as a schoolmaster, a tutor. Look at that next verse,
verse 24. And the law was our schoolmaster. The law was our tutor to teach
us Christ, to reveal Christ, to bring us to Christ. to shut
us up to Christ, that we might be justified by him and by him
alone. The whole Levitical law, the
whole Levitical service, the tabernacle, the priesthood, the
sacrifices, the Passover days, all of these things served as
a tutor, a teacher. And they served to teach four
primary things. Now listen to this. First of
all, to show the holiness of God. That's one of the things
that God impressed upon Israel through Moses and the Levitical
law, was the holiness of God. Isaiah said, In the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple. And the seraphims, one group
covered his eyes and one covered his feet, and with the other
wings they did fly. And they cried, holy, holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God of hosts. God is holy. And that's what
the tabernacle said, the holy place and the holy of holies. The holy of holies, the place
where the shekinah glory of God dwells. God is holy. And that's
what this law says. God is holy. God is holy. The second thing the law reveals
is our sinfulness. It reveals His holiness. And
it would be with our sinfulness. Let me show you that over here
in Hebrews 9. You see, when God gave Moses
the blueprints of the tabernacle, he told Moses, he said, you make
this tabernacle in two parts. The first part, the holy place.
And into the holy place the priest came, bringing the showbread
and the candlestick and the incense to burn, and went about their
duties in the holy place. But separate that holy place
with a veil, and within the veil you put the ark containing the
broken law, and the mercy seat, and the cherubims. And between
the cherubims, the Shekinah glory of God. And no man, no man is
ever allowed in that holy place. Listen, you hold Hebrews 9, let
me read you something in 1 Timothy. Listen to this. In times he shall
show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings
and Lord of lords, who hath immortality, dwelling in a light, dwelling
in a holiness which no man can approach unto whom no man hath
seen, nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting."
That's our God. His glory was manifested in this
holy place. Once a year, one man could come
into that holy place, not without blood. The high priest would
put off his priestly garments and put on linen clothes. And
he would sacrifice an animal, bring its blood, come to the
holy place, and receive the incense, which is the prize of Christ,
and the blood, which represents the blood of Christ, once a year.
And he'd go under that veil, and there on the mercy seat,
between the chair beams, in the presence of the Chicano glory
of God, he'd sprinkle that blood. on that mercy seat, which covered
that broken law. In that mercy seat were those
tables of stone that God wrote with the finger of God, that
Israel had so defiled and broken, covered with a mercy seat. Christ
is called a mercy seat, propitiation. And that priest would sprinkle
that blood on that mercy seat with atonement, as a day of atonement.
Now, Hebrews 9, verse 6-8. He says here in verse 3, After
the second veil of the tabernacle, called the holiest of all, which
had the golden censer, the ark of the covenant, overlaid with
gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's
rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant, over it the
cherubims of glory, shouting the mercy seed, of which we cannot
now speak particularly. Now when these things were ordained,
when they were in practice, the went always into the first tabernacle,
the holy place, accomplishing the service of God. But into
the second went the high priest alone, once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people.
And the Holy Ghost, this signifying, this is what he's showing, that
the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while
that first tabernacle as yet was standing. You see that? These
laws, these types, these pictures, Israel was under them until Christ
came. Who is our high priest? Who is
our tabernacle? Who is our mercy seat? Who is
our atonement? Who fulfills all these things?
But these types and pictures were given to teach the holiness
of God. You just don't rush into God's
presence. You've got to have a priest.
Christ is our priest. You don't rush into God's presence.
You've got to have blood atonement. Your sins have to be put away.
Your sins have separated you and your God. You're not welcome.
God dwells in a holy place and a life which no man can approach,
which no man can see. Even Moses, God said, you can't
look on me and live. So this high priest went once
a year into that Holy of Holies, and all of these laws and shadows
and pictures are to reveal to us the holiness of God. There's
one word that describes God better than any other word. It's not
love, it's not power, it's not eternality, it's holiness. God is holy, that's his name. Holy and reverent is his name.
This Bible is called the holy word of God. The angels are called
his holy angels. Heaven is called his holy place.
The tabernacle is the holy of holies. Christ is his holy Son,
the Holy One of Israel. God is holy. And we've got to
understand this. We've got to be taught this with
tutors and schoolmasters and teachers to shut us up. to Christ,
to teach us Christ. And that's what this Levitical
law and mosaic economy did. It was a teacher, it was a schoolmaster,
to bring us, to teach us God's holiness. Secondly, it teaches
us our sinfulness and separation from God. Thirdly, it teaches
us the person and work of Christ, who he is. When he comes, you'll
recognize him if you know the Old Testament. If they had known
these things, if they had known the scriptures, they would have
never crucified the Lord of Glory. You see, God promised a prophet
like unto Moses, Deuteronomy 18. Moses said, God will raise
up from among you a prophet, him you shall hear. Christ is
that prophet. He said, the Lord God hath anointed
me with the spirit of the learned. He had given me the message,
the gospel. Christ came declaring the gospel. He is the priest. There will
be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. There will be a
priest that will fulfill every picture of Aaron, took off the
holy garments, put on the linen, went into the Holy of Holies,
put the blood on the mercy seat, came out, put aside the linen,
put back on his holy garments. with a gold and silver beauty. Our Lord laid aside the robes,
majesty, omnipotence, majesty, glory, greatness, came to this
earth and robed himself in linen, simple garments of flesh, made
of a woman, made under Bone of our bones, flesh of our flesh,
he who thought it not right to be equal with God, made himself
of no reputation, took upon himself the likeness and form of a servant. Where are your royal robes? Where is this that separates
you and identifies you and puts you in a place where no man can
approach? Here you are, man among men. Here you are, carpenter. They call you a winebipper, a
gluttonous man, a friend of sinners. Who is this man? God Almighty. He's our High Priest. He's going
to the cross. He's going into the Holy of Holies.
He's going there to do business with God, to put blood on the
mercy seat as a man, a perfect man, and come away. Now he's
clothed in his royal garments. And when he's coming, you're
not going to see a little fellow holding a sheep. You're not going
to see a poor, pitiful mass of humanity hanging on a cross,
you're not going to see a stranger walking the streets of Galilee,
you're going to see the blessed, holy, potentate as he is, King
of kings and Lord of lords. When he's coming, we'll see him
not as he was, as he is. He's adorned with robes of majesty,
and he sits at the right hand of God, expecting to his enemies,
he made his footstool. That's right. We're going to
learn who he is. He's prophet, he's priest, he's
the king. In what character did they hate
him? They said, we'll not have this man reign over us. In what
character did they accuse him before Pilate? He says he's a
king. We have no king but Caesar. In
what character did the soldiers mock him and beat him? They put a crown on his head
of thorns. They put a robe, a dirty rug
off the floor on his shoulders, and a reed, a scepter in his
hand, and bowed their knees and said, Hail, King! And what character
was he crucified? Over his head Pilate put these
words, Jesus of Nazareth, the King. And they said, Don't write, King
of the Jews, write, you say it. Pilate said, What I've written,
I've written. And I say that to everybody here, what you've
written, you've written. your attitude about him. What I've
written, I've written, he's the king. And I'll tell you this,
that's who he is. He died, the prophet, the priest,
and the king. And that's what he is now, the
king. This is all the good. Fourthly, this law, this tutor,
this schoolmaster that should have taught them but didn't,
Moses He wrote of me, Christ said. Abraham learned. He saw
my day and was glad. David learned. David talked about
the Lord as my shepherd. The Lord, he learned. Job learned.
He said, I know my Redeemer liveth. He's going to stand on this earth.
Job learned. He said, write it in a book.
I know my Redeemer liveth. Isaiah learned. Isaiah said,
he's wounded by transgression. He's bruised by iniquities, chastised
without peace. Some of them learned, most of
them didn't. But nevertheless the lesson was taught, the holiness
of God, the sinfulness of man, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
in his person and work. And fourthly, to instruct us
in the righteousness and justice of God. Job and his three friends
sat around for days discussing this question, how can man be
just with God? Read it sometime. They just kept... He said, well, how can man be
just with God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Why, the moon, it shineth not.
The sun, the stars are not pure in God's sight. How much more
abominable and filthy is man who drinks iniquity like water?
How can he be just? How can he be clean? Who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? They wrestled
with that for days and days and days. Well, the answer is, in
a substitute. in Christ. God gave Christ to
be a propitiation for our sins, to declare God's righteousness,
that at this time he might be just and justifier of those who
believe in Christ. The law was honored by Christ. We didn't honor it, he did. Justice
was satisfied by his sacrifice. We didn't satisfy justice, he
did. And because God's holy is honored and God's holy justice
is satisfied, therefore God can be just and justify us. God can be holy and allow us
into his presence, because Christ makes us holy. With his spotless
garments on, I'm as holy as his Son. Nearer, so nearer to God,
nearer you cannot be. In the presence of his Son, you're
as near as he, seated with him in the heavenlies. So we were
crucified with Christ. buried with Christ, risen with
Christ, seated with Christ, accepted in the Beloved. You are without
sin if you are in Christ. If you are without sin, you can
call on God. You can come into his presence.
Come boldly before the throne of grace and find mercy and grace
to help in time of need. Come boldly before the presence
of God in the high priest, Christ Jesus. Now look at chapter 4,
verse 1. That's where we left off with.
Now watch this. Now I say, and Paul's going to
illustrate this now, that the heir, as long as he is a child,
he differs nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all. But
he's under tutors and governors until the time appointed in the
Father. What's he talking about here? Well, here's the Lord and
King of a great kingdom. He has a son. a little boy, 3,
4, 5, 6 years old. And one day that little
boy is going to be a king. That little boy is going to take
over all of his father's holdings, his father's estate, and rule
his father's kingdom. When he reaches the appointed
year, it says here, appointed by his father. When he reaches
that appointed time, He's going to be heir and owner of all. He's going to know. He's going
to be taught. He's going to understand. Yet
now he doesn't. Until he has the wisdom and skill
to command such a position and to occupy such a responsibility,
he's got to stay under tutors. He's got to stay under instructors. He's got to remain under teacher
is to be taught until the appointed time of his father. You see that? That's so. You have children
right now, you men, some of you men have businesses and holdings
and so forth. Someday your son will run those
things. But when he's a little boy, he's got to be tall. He
doesn't take that job now, he's got to be tall. He's got to come
in there with understanding and wisdom and responsibility and
to understand where it comes from and how to rule. So verse
3 says, even so, when we were children, Israel, talking about
Israel, before Christ came, before the Son of God was sent into
the world in human flesh, we were in bondage, in bondage. We were servants. We were under
teachers. We didn't look like heirs. We
didn't act like heirs. We weren't wise enough to be
heirs. We were under the elements of the world. Why are they called
the elements of the world? Well, they are called the elements
of the world because everything in Moses' Levitical law is earthly. All of the ceremonies, water, bread, candlesticks. Candlesticks represent the light
of the world. In that tabernacle was the bread,
twelve loaves of bread, one for each tribe. Christ is the bread
of life, but that represents Christ, that's earthly. Christ
is spiritual. They ate this bread with their
mouths. We eat Christ with faith. Take him in the ear. He's the
bread of life, he's the light of the world. Blood is sprinkled in the tabernacle,
in the book, in the people, in the mercy seat. Everything was
sanctified by blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. But it was an animal blood. The
blood of an animal cannot atone for the sin of a man. It's a
different nature, it's a different blood. It represents holy blood,
precious blood, precious blood of Christ. But it's an earthly
thing. The priest had on clothing, holiness
to the Lord, miter, all this clothing. Shaggy rags compared
to his clothing! He was clothed with the majesty
of God! You can't represent that with
earthly things. But all this was earthly things.
To show them! I know a lot of preachers and
people don't even preach the Old Testament. You can't preach
the New Testament without preaching the Old Testament. The Old Testament
is the New Testament concealed. It's Christ in picture, in pattern,
in type, in promise, in prophecy, in all things. There was an earthly
tabernacle representing heaven, God's presence. Christ is our
tabernacle. There was an earthly ark. There
was a man clothed in earthly garments, a priest. There was
a lamb slain whose blood couldn't put away anybody's sin. There
was an earthly nation called Israel, which represents the
Church. There was a man who served as a prophet, a man who served
as a priest, and a man who served as a king. One day in seven was
set apart as a rest day, symbolizing and teaching everlasting rest
in Christ. Circumcision. They circumcised
the flesh, which represented the operation on the heart. We're
not circumcised in the flesh now, but God circumcises the
heart, removes that which is unnecessary, unneedful, unwanted. And the people were commanded
to do these things, commanded to tithe, commanded to keep a
Sabbath, commanded to do these things. They didn't like it and
didn't want to do it, but they did it, representing a people
who one day will do these things because they want to. See the difference? Israel didn't
know God, most of them. There was a handful. Paul said, if the Lord hadn't
left us a seed, we'd have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. But
among Israel there were Caleb and Joshua and Moses and Abram,
there was a few. The rest of them did what they
had to do. He said, they're not going to need somebody to tell
them who God is, they're all going to know me. Every believer
is a priest. Every believer offers a sacrifice,
not of blood, but of thanksgiving and praise. Every believer comes
into the Holy of Holies. Every believer is a priest. He
has made us kings and priests under God. This nation, that's what this
is saying here, the four Christ kings. the object of hate, we
were kept under tutors and schoolmasters to teach us Christ, to show us
the holiness of God, to show us our sinfulness, to shut us
up to Christ, to our need of Christ, and also to show us how
God can be just and justified. Now, what's this verse? But when
the fulness of time was come, here's the greatest mystery of
all. When the fulness of time was
come, what is this fulness of time? The time agreed upon, the
time fixed, between the great three and one. Let us make man. I can't explain the Trinity,
you don't have to, to people who believe the word of God.
The only people you have to explain things like that to are folks
who don't believe. The person who believes the word of God
receives it by faith. If I could understand God, he
wouldn't be God. Martin Luther said, I don't need
a God I can comprehend. he'd be like me. But the great
three in one made a covenant before the foundation of the
world. Christ became the surety, the shepherd. Christ Jesus became
the redeemer. Christ Jesus stood for us, and
God made a covenant and gave to the Son of people to be redeemed
by him, an everlasting covenant. He was a lamb slain before there
was a sinner from the foundation of the world. There was an elect
people chosen in Christ, he gave them to Christ. And when the
fullness of time was come, after God had taught the people his
holiness, taught the people their sinfulness, showed the people
the person and work of this Christ, showed the people how through
Christ God could be just and justified, he sent his beloved
son into the world, made of a woman. Sin and death came by man. Righteousness
and life came by man. The first man, Adam, in him we
die. The second man, Christ, we may
lie. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man, the Lord from
heaven. He's a man. He's God. Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in human flesh. Who is he? I'll illustrate it
first with scripture. And then with an illustration.
Hebrews chapter 1. Who is he? Hebrews chapter 1. This God-man. Watch this. Hebrews chapter 1. God, who at
sundered times in endowed manner spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things. That's who he is.
By whom he made the worlds. That's who he is, who being in
the brightness of his glory, expressed in his exact likeness
of the Father, who upholds all things by the word of his power,
who by himself purged our sins, who is seated on the right hand
of God. That's who he is. That is God. This man is God
within Christ. Let me illustrate. Lazarus had died. A brother and two sisters lived
in Bethany. Christ loved them. He often came
to their home. This brother was a sole supporter
of these two sisters, may I remark. And Lazarus died, and they buried
him. He was in the grave four days,
and Christ came on purpose. And our Lord Jesus Christ Ask
the sisters, where have you laid him? And they took the Lord. And all these Jewish people were
there mourning over the death of Lazarus and weeping, and Mary
and Martha were distraught. They were so brokenhearted that
their brother was dead. And the Lord walked with this
group up to the grave. And he came to the grave, and
the scripture said one of the people in the crowd says, Looks
like if this man could give sight to the blind, he could keep his
friend from dying. They had a lot of things to say
like that. And you know what scripture says? Our Lord wept. Jesus wept. He stood there, the
man, Christ Jesus, listening to these unbelieving Jews. He came unto his own, they didn't
receive him. Watching these sisters, their brother was in glory. Their
brother was with the Lord. They should have been rejoicing.
His journey was over. His pain was gone. He's in the
presence of the King forever, but here they are crying. All
the unbelief and all of the doubt and all this, and he stood there
and wept, tears streamed down his face. And the wind blew upon
his face and dried his tears. A man of sorrow is acquainted
with grief. The man, Jesus Christ, all men. He walked in front of
that grave, and he looked death in the eye.
Death, over which no man has any control. Death, which no
man can avoid. Death, which makes its claim
on every human being and every animal and every tree and every
twig and every bush. And he looked death in the eye.
And those eyes aren't weeping now, they're flashing. And he
says, Lazarus! Lazarus! Come forth. And the scripture says that they
had got up and walked out of that tomb. That's God. Who is he? The God-man. On another occasion, our Lord's
disciples were out in the boat, and the man, Christ Jesus, was
with them. And he was back in the back of
the boat, in the hinder part of the boat, tired for days Days
of nights of prayer, preaching, walking, weary. The man, Christ
Jesus, tested in all points as we are, yet without sin, but
yet a man, weary, weary, tired. He lay down back there on a pillar
in the back of that boat. If you've been on boats, you
know what they do in a storm. He was so tired, so weary, and
the lightning flashing, the rain coming down, the wind blowing
And this tired man sleeps. He sleeps. And the disciples got scared. The boat was filling up with
water, and the storm was getting worse. But he slept. That's the weakness of the flesh.
And they came back there, all of them, and they said, Lord.
They woke him up. Lord, don't you care if we perish? And he got up, a man, dressed
exactly, walked to the front of that boat, and he looked at
that rain that he had made. If you entered the treasures
of the snow, can you say to the lightning, go when it goes and
come when it comes? Can you roll the clouds up like you roll up
a mattress or a bedspread? He looked at the clouds, he looked
at the rain, he looked at the wind, and he said, Be still. And the scripture said
there was a great calm. That sea was like glass. It lay
down at his feet like a shepherd dog whose master says lie down. That's God. Who is he? In the fullness of
time, God sent into this world his Son, made of a woman, but
no less God. Why did he come? Listen. Made
under that law. Subject to it. To redeem them
that were under the law. To redeem us. He was made subject
to the civil law, the judicial law, the ceremonial law, the
Levitical law, the moral law, every law of God. And he obeyed
it perfectly. To redeem them. How did he redeem
them? By meeting and obeying every
jot and tittle of that law. by going to the cross and paying
every jot and tittle of their debt, by dying, by being buried,
by lying in a tomb, by being raised, by exaltation, seated
at God's right hand. He's all we need. In him doth
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and we're complete in
him, made sufficient, qualified, meet, fit for the inheritance
of God in Christ. It didn't say he sent his son,
maid of a woman, maid unto the Lord to try to redeem them, to
make an effort to redeem them, to see if they wouldn't let him
redeem them. He came to redeem them. He's
a Redeemer that redeems. He's a Savior that saves. He's
a sacrifice that satisfies. He's an offering that's pleasing
to God. Our Lord never had any pleasure
in these sacrifices offered by Moses and his people. They were
pictures. But when he saw Christ, the Father
saw Christ in human flesh, he said, this is my son. I'm well
pleased. And because he's a son, I'm a
son. Listen. And because! Because. He redeemed us that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth his Spirit, the Spirit of his Son, into your
heart. And you can cry, Abba, that's
the word for father, Hebrew word, Abba, Hebrew word, father. And the Greek word, father, father,
father, whether you're Jew or Gentile. whether you're Moses
or whether you're Mahan, you can say, Father, Father, because
he came, because God sent his Son, because he redeemed you,
you're a son. Wherefore, verse 7, you're no
more a servant, but you're a son. And because you're a son, you're
no more a servant, but you're an heir of God. Now, listen. They crashed. That's so clear and so beautiful,
so blessed, so comforting, so certain.