I want you to open your Bibles
again to the book of Galatians, chapter 3. Now, we're prone as a temptation
when we preach to sometimes overdevelop a message
or try to apply it ourselves. I'm not going to try to do that
this morning. I'm not going to try to apply the message at all.
I'm going to preach the truth I see in this scripture. And
I'm going to wait upon the Holy Spirit to apply it to my heart
and to yours in relation to our day. Now, these are things that
happened back in the days of Paul and the churches at Galatia.
But we have kindred problems today. and you'll be able to
identify them, you'll be able to associate with them. I believe
as I give this scripture and what happened back then and how
Paul dealt with this incident. Now the apostle had come to Galatia
and he had preached to these people. The Lord saved many people
and Paul was used of the Holy Spirit to plant several churches
in Galatia. He was now absent from them.
He had written this letter. Paul was down in Rome in prison,
and he had written this letter to the churches at Galatia. Now,
the reason for the letter was this. Though he had preached
faithfully to these churches in Galatia, he had laid the right
foundation. False teachers and preachers
had crept in and gotten the ear of the people. And these false
teachers had convinced and persuaded many of the people that in order
to be saved, now watch this, let me state it, I believe like
it really happened. They believed Christ died, and
they believed he was buried and rose again. But they said to
these Galatians, they said, now in order to be saved, you must
be circumcised, as the Jews were in the Old Testament. You must
keep the Sabbath day. You must keep the feast. You
must keep all these Old Testament ordinances in order to be saved.
Now it's all right, you believe on Christ. But now in order to
be holy, in order to be accepted of God, in order to be justified
before God, you've got to do all these things. The feast and
the Sabbath days and the certain diets and all of these things.
In other words, these false teachers and preachers were mixing the
grace of God with human works. That's exactly what they were
doing. They were mixing the grace of God, the blood of Christ,
with human works. Law and grace. Now, look at chapter
4. Paul had faithfully preached
to these people the gospel of divine visitation. He said in
verse 4 of Galatians 4, when the fullness of time was come,
God sent forth his son. God sent his son into the world.
When the fullness of time was come, in God's own time, in God's
own purpose, he sent Christ into this world. Christ has come.
Now he had faithfully preached the gospel of divine visitation.
He said in another scripture, he said, Jesus Christ is coming
to the world, this is a faithful saying, Jesus Christ is coming
to the world, he has come to save sinners of whom I am chief.
Paul had been faithful in preaching the gospel of divine visitation.
And then secondly, he was faithful in preaching the gospel of substitution. He says in verse 4 that God sent
his son made of a woman, made of a woman, and made under the
law. In other words, Jesus Christ
came down here into the world in our flesh, bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh. He came down here, numbered with
the transgressors, divine visitation, but he took on himself the likeness
of a servant. Christ was made a man. He was
born of a woman and born under the law. All right? Verse 5.
He faithfully preached the gospel of satisfaction. He came to redeem
us who were under the law. That was his purpose in coming.
The Father sent him to redeem. He came to redeem. His was an
effectual redemption. Paul had been faithful to declare
that the substitute made full satisfaction. When the fullness
of time was come, God's sovereign pleasure, he sent his son into
the world. His son was made of woman, his
son was made under the law, his son redeemed us. And then he
preached the gospel of sonship, that we might receive the adoption
of son. Now Paul had been faithful in
declaring these truths. But now he's troubled about these
churches. greatly troubled. He's concerned,
perhaps, that they didn't really understand the gospel he's preached.
Turn to Galatians 1. He's concerned that they didn't
really understand salvation by grace alone. He's concerned that
they don't really know Christ. They're not really resting in
Christ. He's concerned that in mixing human works and divine
grace, it should prove to be fatal to them. He knew that Christ
is all. He wondered if they did. Now
look at Galatians 1. Here in Galatians 1, verse 6,
he says, I marvel, I'm amazed, I am astounded that you who heard
me declare this gospel of divine visitation, this gospel of substitution,
this gospel of satisfaction, this gospel of divine sonship,
I marvel that you're so soon, I haven't been gone that long,
he said. That you're so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ to another gospel. Not another
gospel at all. But there'd be some that would
trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. I'm amazed.
I'll show you another scripture. Galatians 2.21. Galatians 2.21. He's concerned about this church.
Paul had been down here and preached to them. God had redeemed some
people. And now he was gone. He was in prison. These preachers
had come in, these false teachers, and were turning the hearts of
these people away from Christ and away from the gospel of grace
to works, and deeds, and ceremonies, and rituals, and feast days,
and all these things. He says in verse 21 of Galatians
2, I do not frustrate, I do not confuse the grace of God if righteousness,
if acceptance with God, comes by law, by doing certain laws
and deeds. Then Christ is dead in vain. That's how serious it is. That's
how serious it is. Now let me show you another verse
in Galatians 3.1. He says, O foolish Galatians,
foolish people, who hath deceived you, who hath bewitched you,
that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus
Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This
only would I learn of you. Did you receive the Holy Spirit
by works? Or by faith? Are you so foolish,
having begun in the Spirit, you're now perfected by your own works?
You're now sanctified by your own doings? Is that what you
believe? Look at Galatians 4, 11. I read
this a moment ago. I'm afraid of you. I'm afraid. This is serious. He said, I'm
afraid of you. I'm afraid of you, lest I have
bestowed upon you labor in vain." Have I preached in vain? Have
you really not heard me, he said. Have you really not heard the
gospel? Let me show you another in Galatians 4, 16. Look down
here. Am I therefore become your enemy
because I tell you the truth? He's concerned about these people.
Look at verse 20 of Galatians 4. I desire to be present with
you now. I'd like to be down there right
now, he said. and to change my voice and to come to you a little
more forcefully, a little more powerfully, I stand in doubt
of you. I stand in doubt of you. Now,
I want us to apply this to our own hearts. Look at Galatians
5, 4. Watch this word here. He said
in verse 3 of Galatians 5, I testify again to every man. Now let's
get the picture before I read this. The Apostle had come down
here to Galatia, and he had preached Christ. He preached the gospel
of divine visitation, the gospel of substitution, the gospel of
satisfaction. Everything's in Christ. Christ
is all. The gospel of sonship were accepted in the Beloved.
Christ is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
He preached that. These people had professed Christ. They laid
hold of Christ, they said, by faith. They'd rested in Christ.
They'd come to a knowledge of their relationship with God in
Christ, and Paul had gone on somewhere else to pray. He'd
been arrested and cast into prison, and somebody came up from Galatia
and said, Paul, there's some fellas down there preaching,
and the people are getting carried away with them. And those fellas
are preaching that it's all right to believe on Christ, but you
have to be circumcised to be saved, or baptized, or you have
to wear certain uniforms of religion, or you have to be, have a certain
name, Baptist or Catholic or something, or you have to, you
have to keep the Sabbath day, or you have to do certain diets,
certain eats and meets, some things that are not to be touched,
tasted, or handled, and so on. These fellows have come in and
preached these things. Now, Paul says in Galatians 5,
4, now listen, or verse 3, I testify again to every man, I say to
every person that is circumcised. that he's a debtor to do the
whole lot. In other words, this is what Paul is saying right
here. If Christ is not sufficient, if his obedience is not enough
righteousness and his death is not enough atonement, if Jesus
Christ is not all I need, all my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, all I need, Plus nothing, minus nothing. I mean
minus keeping the Sabbath. I mean minus tithing. I mean
minus being baptized. I mean minus keeping what we
call the sacraments of communion or minus church attendance or
anything if Christ is not all. And I must do this. I must be
circumcised and become a Jew. I must keep a holy day. I must
not shoot basketball on Sunday. I must not do this, go to the
store. I must keep that Sabbath day.
I must be baptized by the right authority, by the right church
and so forth. I must, I must, I must. He said the man that
does any of these things, the man that subjects himself to
any work, any act, any ritual, any deed to be accepted of God
is a debtor to do every bit of it. You set out, the course you
set out on is this. You set out to make yourself
righteous before God. You set out to fulfill certain
laws and deeds and rituals and ceremonies to make yourself acceptable
with God, all right? You are debted to do the whole
thing. Now, what's the next verse? Christ is become of no effect
unto you whosoever you are that are justified by law. You are
fallen from grace. You have departed from grace.
You have departed from Christ. You have departed from the full,
complete redemption that's in Christ alone. Anything you do
in order to be justified before God, then Christ profits you. You're indebted to do the whole
thing. The whole thing. In verse 19
of Galatians 4, here's his concern. He says, My little children,
of whom I travail like a woman in birth pains, I travail in
birth again. This is the one objective of
my ministry, my prayers. This is the one objective of
my preaching, of my concern. Christ be formed in you. I'll tell you this, salvation
is not only in Christ, salvation is Christ. Redemption is not
only in Christ, redemption is Christ. Sanctification is not
only in Christ, He is our sanctification. Our righteousness is not only
found in Christ, Christ is our righteousness. And a man does
absolutely nothing, not one thing, not one thing religiously, not
one thing ceremonially, not one thing legally, not one thing
ritualistically, to gain favor with God. He looks to Christ,
he rests in Christ, he trusts in Christ, he commits himself
to Christ, and Christ is made unto him everything God requires.
Everything the law demands and everything God requires and everything
that God's holiness commands and everything that God's justice
demands is mine in Jesus Christ. I'm perfect in Christ. This is
what I'm preaching. I'm saying that the thief who
hung on the cross in his last hour, in his dying moment, who
confessed Christ, who committed his soul to Christ, who rested
in Christ is just as sanctified, just as saved, just as redeemed,
just as glorified as the Apostle Peter who served Christ most
all of his life. Peter is no more sanctified,
no more accepted, no more loved, no more glorified than that thief
because everything we have is in Christ and Christ alone. And
if you fall from that, if you slip from that, if you come down
to this place, yes, but, yes, but, like these Galatians, but
a man must be circumcised. A man must keep the Sabbath day.
A man must do this, that. If a man must do anything, Christ
died in vain. The only thing that a man must
do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The only thing that a
man must do in order to be saved is look to Christ. That's so. All right, turn down here now
to Galatians 3, verse 19. Here's where I started reading
a while ago. All right, preacher. Wherefore then serveth the law? What is the purpose? What is
the purpose of the ordinances? What is the purpose of the ceremonies? What is the purpose of circumcision? What is the purpose of the Sabbath
day? What is the purpose of the priesthood? What is the purpose of the tabernacle,
the days, the feasts, all of these washings? What is the purpose
of the Holy of Holies? What is the purpose of all this
elaborate law given in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy? What's the purpose of it? Why was it given? Now, you've got to understand
something. Now, if I laid the right foundation,
have you understood the foundation? I want it understood clearly,
because this is what Scripture is teaching. Paul came down here
and preached Christ, and Christ alone, plus nothing minus nothing.
Redemption is Christ. And some other fellows came in
and said, well, now Paul's got a whole of a half a truth. Paul's
an antinomian. Christ is right. You trust him.
But these are some things you must do. And you won't be accepted
unless you do them. And Paul comes along and he says,
if you say, at any point in redemption, you better do it all. You better
do it all. You follow from grace. You follow
from grace. And somebody said, well, what
purpose is the law then? Why was circumcision given? Why
was the Sabbath day given? Why was tithing set up? Why was
the tabernacle built? Why was the priesthood ordained?
Why, why, why? All right? He tells you. Now,
remember this, though. When the word law is mentioned
in the Bible, it may mean any of three or four things. The
word law may mean the Ten Commandments, the moral law, that's what we're
talking about. It may mean that. The word law may mean the whole
Word of God, the whole Word of God. Like Abraham said to the
rich man in hell, he said, send Lazarus back to earth and let
him preach to my brother. He said, they have the law and
the prophets, or Moses and the prophets. See, that's the whole
Word of God. They have the Word of God. Let
them read the Word of God. Let them read the Word of God. Sometimes
the word law, as in this scripture right here, means the Levitical
law. What is the Levitical law? All
of these washings and days and feasts and circumcisions and
Sabbaths and all, that's what he's talking about in these scriptures
right here. Do's, do's, do's. We've got the
do's today. Do this, do that, and God. Do
this, do that, and God. The message of the gospel is
tis done, not do. The covenant of works says do.
Christ said it's done. Works says this do and God will
bless you. This tithe and God will prosper
you. Keep the Sabbath day and God will bless your family. Come
to church and God will do this. Be baptized and you'll be saved.
Paul says if you do one thing to gain favor with God, you're
indebted to do everything God ever commanded a man to do because
you've departed from grace. The message of grace is it's
done. It's that I am complete in Him. With his spotless garments
on, I'm as holy as God's Son. Nearer, so nearer to God, nearer
I cannot be. In the person of his Son, I'm
as near as he." That's grace. It's Christ. He's done it all.
He's my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
All right? Then why did God give the ceremonies? Why did God set
up the tabernacle? Why did God ordain a priest to
it? Why did God do these things? Verse 19, it was added. The Levitical law, the ceremonies,
the priesthood, the circumcision, the Sabbath days, they were added. Why? Because of sin. It was given
because of sin. What do you mean by that? What
did Paul mean? He means this, it was given not to take away
sin. It was given not to establish
a righteousness. It was given because men were
sinners. And the law of God, both the
moral law and the Levitical law, exposes sin. It convinces of
sin. You say, even these ceremonies
convince of sin? Oh, yeah. In the ceremonies,
in the sacrifices, there is a remembrance of sin. Let me show you that. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. That's
right. That's what the law says. The
law says we're sinners. In Hebrews chapter 10, the law
keeps saying, you're sinners, you're sinners, you're sinners.
The law was given because we were sinners. Circumcision tells
us we're sinners. The priest going into the Holy
of Holies, the priest killing a sacrifice, the priest waving
the incense, all of these things say we're sinners. That's what
the law says. It's given to convince us of
it, to expose it, to reveal it. In Hebrews 10, listen, verse
1, That is, the ceremonies and the sacrifices and all these,
having a shadow of good things to come. The law is a shadow,
a picture of Christ. The law is a type of Christ.
The law, when the Old Testament priest came into the tabernacle,
went into the Holy of Holies, put the blood on the mercy seat,
all of that is saying, Christ is coming, our great high priest.
He'll shed his blood. He'll go into the holy place,
not made with hands, but into heaven itself. He'll attain for
us acceptance of perfect righteousness. That's what the law is saying.
It's a shadow of things to come. It's a picture of good things
to come. It's not the very image of those
things and can never, can never with these sacrifices which they
offer year by year continually make the comers perfect. For
if these sacrifices could make us perfect, verse 2, could effectually
put away sin, could make us acceptable with God, would they not have
ceased to be offered? If one atonement made by one
priest could put away men's sin, they wouldn't have to make one
next year. They wouldn't have to make one the next year. Because,
listen, because the worshipers once forgiven, once purged, once
sanctified, would have no more conscience of sin. That's what
Christ has done for us. Preacher, how can you speak so
dogmatically, so positively of acceptance in Christ because
once sin is purged, it's purged? Once sin is erased, it's erased.
Once sin is blotted out, it's blotted out. Once men are perfected,
they are perfect forever. That's what I'm saying. That's
what he says here. Read on. But, verse 3, in those sacrifices
there is a remembrance again made of sin every year. Every year. So when Paul asks
this question, Wherefore then serveth the law? What is the
purpose of the ordinances? The law was added, the Levitical
law was given, all the types and ceremonies and pictures and
symbols and everything was given because of sin. To expose it,
to reveal it, to make us conscious of it. Every time the high priest
took the scapegoat and stood and confessed Israel's sins over
the head of the scapegoat and took it and led it out into the
wilderness to be seen no more, he's saying, sin, sin, sin, we're
sinners, we need a sacrifice, we need a scapegoat, we need
someone to purge our guilt. That's right. All right, here's
another reason. It says, Wherefore then serveth the law, verse 3,
verse 19 of chapter 3. It was added because of transgression,
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." He
says that means to the people, no, so till Christ comes. That's
Christ. Christ is the seed. He is the
seed in Genesis 3, 315, the seed of woman. She'll bruise the serpent's
head. Look back at Galatians 3.16,
Galatians 3.16, and to Abraham, now to Abraham and to his seed
where the promise is made. He said, not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, to thy seed, which is Christ. What purpose
is the law? Why were the ceremonies? and
the feast days, and the Sabbaths, and all these things so elaborately,
so precisely set up by God's divine order in the hands of
Moses the mediator, they were set up to reveal sin, to expose
sin, to show us our need of a Savior, to show us our need of a sacrifice,
to show us the holiness of God, that He must be just and justified.
to reveal to us our need of a perfect sacrifice. And all of these ceremonies,
circumcisions, ceremonies, rituals, pictures, Sabbaths, feast days,
and all were set up until the seed comes, until Christ comes,
to whom the promise was made of having a redeemed people.
Until Christ comes. The law reveals the Messiah in
picture and type. Last few days ago, I don't remember
when it was, But I saw a Catholic ceremony. I saw a Catholic ceremony,
and the priest had on his... It was just like going back in
the Old Testament. And there are people today who
try to approach God this way. It was a very elaborate thing,
you know, with all the elaborate candles and all the stained-glass
windows and the people sitting out there. And this fellow with
the linen garment, it's like the Old Testament. with all the
different writings here, and he had in his hand a cup, and
he took that cup and he held it up before some kind of image,
and he put his hand over it like this and blessed it, and all
this sort of thing in his garment with his hat on, and I thought
to myself, no, no, Christ is our Passover. Christ is our cup. No, don't do that. If you do
that, you're indebted to go back and take every jot and piddle
of the law. And those poor deceived people
and you, you deceived man, are indebted to do all of it. And
then he not only did that, but he took an incense. There was
the incense burner. on the end of a chain. And the
incense was burning, and another priest came up and waved it to
him, and waved it over the blood, the wine, and waved it over the
book. I said, No! No! Don't do that! Christ is
our incense. People don't do what they're
saying. Don't listen to them. You're falling from grace. Don't
get wrapped up in that. Under God, I say it to all of
you, I say it to you, I don't know what you're doing, I don't
know what this religious world's doing. It's going to perish under
a bondage of works because you can't mix it. You can't say Christ
and with the same breath say uniforms or Christ and candles
and Christ and incense and Christ and sacraments and Christ and
baptism and Christ and Sabbath. He is our Sabbath. He is our
sacrifice. He is our atonement. He is our
incense. He is everything. Is that clear? I'm accepted in the Beloved.
And then Paul gives this back, look at verse 21. Well, is the
law against the promises of God? God forbid. God forbid the Levitical
law and the types and ceremonies are not against God's promise.
If there'd been a law which could have been given, a law given
which could have given life, then righteousness would have
been by the law. But everybody's a sinner, all run to sin. And
verse 23 says, Before the faith came, before revelation of the
gospel in Christ came, we were kept under the law. under the
Levitical law, shut up to faith, which should afterward be revealed."
The law was our schoolmaster, our teacher, our tutor to bring
us to Christ. And after faith came, verse 25,
we're no longer under the law. Now, he illustrates that in chapter
4, verse 1. Let's go to this, chapter 4,
verse 1. Now, I say that the heir... Now, here's a father
who is a king, a lord, a ruler. A wealthy, prosperous, wealthy,
influential man. He has one son. He's a little
boy, three years old. One son. Now who is that boy? That's the prince. That's the
future king. That is the heir. That is the
one who will take the father's place someday at three years
old. And though he's an heir, and
though he's a prince, and though he's a king already, Why, he's
no more than a servant. Why, even the fella that cleans
out the stables tells that boy, hey son, get that shovel. Your
daddy told me to tell you to come on in here and shovel with
me. That's right, get over there and do a good job. And some teacher
tells him, now you hush your mouth and read that lesson I've
given you. Why, it's okay. I don't care
as long as he's a child. He's under tutors and schoolmasters
and governors. He's no more than a servant.
He's got to learn, he's got to be taught until the day appointed
by his Father. When he's 21, he takes over. But until he's 21, he's a servant
and a learner, and he's taught by common people. Chapter 4,
verse 1. Now they say the heir, as long
as he's a child, he differs nothing from a servant, though he's Lord
of everything. But he's under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of his Father. Even so, we Jews, when
we were children, before Christ came, before the fullness of
time, we were kept in bondage, in servitude. We were taught,
Almighty God erected a tabernacle. Almighty God ordained a priest
to it. Almighty God told that priest to burn the incense, to
fix the table of showbread, the candles, the altar out here,
the slaying of the lamb. under the veil, into the Holy
of Holies, put the blood on the mercy seat, Sabbath day, day
of rest, ten percent, all ten percent belongs to God, feast
of the first fruits. God ordained all these things
to teach us children about Christ. That's what it is, about Christ.
All these are pictures of Christ. See, Christ What is the tabernacle?
It's where God meets men and men meet God. Who is Christ?
He's tabernacled among us. In Christ, God meets men and
men meet God. What is that atonement? Christ
is that atonement. What is that Sabbath day? Christ
is our Sabbath day. That's what he's saying. Verse
4. And you see down here in verse 3, we were kept in bondage under
the elements of the world. What does that mean? This is
what it means. All of these types and pictures and ceremonies were
elements of the world because they were earthly. They were
worldly things such as water, sprinkling of water, such as
washing of the hands, that's all worldly, such as animal sacrifices,
such as days in time. I know there are a lot of people
who observe Lent, Easter, Christmas days, Sunday, Sabbath days. You see, this is elements of
the world. These are worldly things. A day is a division in
a worldly system of time. There are no days with God. With
God, a thousand years is a day. A day is a thousand years. You
see what I'm saying? These were elements of the world, and they
were elements of the world because they consisted in days, meets,
drinks, washings, sacrificing. And when the Jews were under
all of this Levitical law and ceremonies and rituals, they
were children under tutors being taught. But, verse 4, when the
fullness of time was come, the time fixed for the Father in
the eternal covenant, are you with me? Christ was a lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. Don't you think for a
moment that when Adam fell, that God ever determined or ever purposed
or ever thought to redeem men by innocence, conscience, judges,
laws, or any other thing. Christ was our shepherd. He was
a lamb slain before the foundation of the world. When the fullness
of time was come, decreed, designated, purposed by God, when the time
came that Christ should assume human nature and tabernacle on
this earth, when the time, when the fullness of time was come,
that time predicted by the prophets, prophesied by the prophets, promised
by the prophets, searched into by the prophets, That day that
Abraham saw, of which Moses wrote, that time when all the types
and shadows and sacrifices and pictures should be fulfilled
by one person, in one person, one priest, one sacrifice, one
life, one offering, one atonement, one righteousness, when that
time came, read on, God sent forth His Son. Who is this son? Not a man, a son of God by creation
such as angels and men, not by adoption such as believers, but
God's only begotten, well-beloved son, his son by divine generation,
of his divine nature and essence, one with God, equal with God. They said, show us the Father.
He said, you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I and my Father
are one. I am in the Father and the Father
in me. He was in this world. The Father in the person of Christ
came into this world. One priest, one person, one life,
one sacrifice, one atonement. He came. He came. Read on. He was made of a woman. Here
it is summed up, the word God was made flesh. The promises
of God made flesh. The prophecies of God made flesh.
The glory of God made flesh. The redemption of God made flesh.
Here is the sum and the substance and the essence of all that God
will ever do for men in one person. He was made of a woman. Bone
of thy bone, flesh of thy flesh, look at this line, made under
the law. What law is he talking about
here? First of all, he was made under this ceremonial law. When
a Jewish son was born into this world, he started rathen when
he was eight days old. He started rathen in all the
ceremonies, sacrifices, and rituals of the Levitical law, which pictured
Christ, which circumcision pictures the rending of the heart. the
taking away of the flesh, the making of a new person. When
he was 8 days old, Christ was circumcised. When he was 12 years
old, when he was no, a few days older, he went to the temple
at the time of his mother's purification. That said something about Christ.
And then when he was 12 years old, he came to Jerusalem to
keep the Passover. And then when he was growing
up, he attended the synagogue. On the Sabbath day, he kept the
Sabbath, Saturday. As a man, he fulfilled the ceremonial
law in every jot and tittle. Our Lord Jesus Christ, he was
made under that law. Not only that, but he was made
under the moral law of God, the Ten Commandments. Turn to Romans,
chapter 5. Romans, the fifth chapter. I'm
going to sum all this up in a minute. Romans, chapter 5, verse 19. Listen. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, So by the obedience of one, obedience
to what? Obedience to God's laws. God's
holy law, God's moral law, God's indisputable law, God's unchangeable
law, by His obedience shall many be made righteous. Shall many
be made righteous. Our Lord Jesus Christ, listen
to me, was made of a woman, took a body, made under God's ceremonial
law, under the biblical law, under the civil law, under the
moral law, subject to every one of them in every jot and tittle.
Now let me show you something in Hebrews. Will you turn over
here? Hebrews chapter 10. This is so important. Hebrews
chapter 10. It says, beginning with verse
5, Now, you know, I read a moment ago in chapter 10, verse 1, the
law was a picture of things to come. Could never were these
sacrifices and ceremonies to take away sin. If verse 4 says,
it's not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away
sin. Now watch verse 5. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world made of a woman, made under the law in the fullness
of time, God's Son, he said, sacrifice and offering you would
not. He didn't come to become a part
of that picture, he came to fulfill it. He didn't come to offer those
sacrifices, he came to fulfill them. He said, Sacrifice not
but a body thou hast prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
and all these Old Testament types, you had no pleasure. Then said
I, the Lord Jesus speaking, Lo, I come, in the book it's written
of me, in the Old Testament it's written of me, I come to do your
will, O You said, sacrifice yourself in offering and burn offerings
and offering for sin. You would not accept, you would
not forgive on the basis of those things, neither had pleasure
therein in anything offered by the law. Then said I, Lo, I come
to do your will. He taketh away the first and
establishes a second. You know what that means? It's
exactly what it means. The first Adam, in Adam we died. In Adam we became sinners. Put
away. Christ is the second Adam. In
Adam I died. In the second Adam I made alive.
Take it on a little further. The first covenant established
with men in the Garden of Eden. Do this and live. First covenant
is taken away. The second covenant is Christ.
It's done. The great transaction is done.
I am my Lord's and He is mine. The first tabernacle that Moses
built, synagogue, taken away. Temple, taken away. Christ is
our temple. We come to God in Christ. The
first priesthood, Aaron, Levi, all these priests, taken away. There is no high priest on this
earth. There are no representative priests
on this earth. None whatsoever. Every believer
is a priest, and Christ is our great high priest. He takes it
away. The first sacrifices, they're
all taken away. Christ is our one sinner. The
first Sabbath, is put away. Christ laid in the tomb on the
Sabbath day. Every day is the Lord's day.
Every day is holy unto the Lord. Christ is our rest. Christ is
our Sabbath. Our first nature is done away. We are new creatures in Christ
Jesus. Even the first earth and the first heaven shall fade away. There will be a new heaven and
a new earth. God said, Behold, I make all things new. And all
things are new in Christ, and we cannot go back to any of these
things. And when you do, when you go
back for acceptance with God, I don't care what kind of service
or work or ritual or ceremony it is, or the keeping of a day
or denying of yourself, if you're doing this in order to gain favor
with God, Jesus Christ is become of no effect to you. You'd better
run from it. You'd better run from it. Now,
that's so. Let's go back to our text. Well, let's say it, Hebrews
10, a minute. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. That's Christ. By the which will
we are sanctified through the body of Jesus Christ once are
all. All right, now back to our text
in Galatians 4. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent his Son. Made of a woman, made under the
law, to do what, verse 5? To redeem them. To redeem them. My friends, there's a fugitive
out there, wandering around in fear and poverty. The law has
been broken. There is a price on his head.
The holiness of God has separated from him. The justice of God
demands his death. There is no hope. He's without
God, without help, without hope in this world. The perfect Son
of God comes down here and faces the law and obeys it. And faces the justice of God.
The sword of God's wrath is unsheathed and plunged into his very heart.
And he satisfies every demand of the law and every demand of
God's justice and dies and is buried. And God raised him from
the dead. Say to that fugitive out there,
come on home. You're free. You're free. The
law has no claim on you. The justice of God has no demands
for you. Come on home. The price is paid.
That's what he says in verse 5. He came to redeem them that
were under the law, condemned by the law, judged by the law,
found guilty by the law. He came to redeem them that they
might receive the adoption of sons. And because you're a son,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart. You
cry, Father, Father. Verse 9 now. Now, after you've
known God, or rather are known of God, why do you turn back
to these weak and beggarly elements? Why, Paul said. Why? He asked
this church down there in Galatia, this church. Why? Why in the
world would you allow any man to slip in and say, I know Christ,
but you must be circumcised. You must keep this day. You must
fulfill this requirement. You must do this." He says, why
do you turn again to these weak and beggarly, worldly washings
and ceremonies and ritualism and legalism? Why do you turn
to those things? Do you desire again to be in
bondage? You want again to be, and that's
what religion is today. Today's religion is bondage.
It's bondage. That's all in the world it is,
bondage. And what these religious fundamentalists want to do is
get everybody else in bondage to their way and to their system
and to their doctrine and to their legalism and to their do's
and don'ts and touch not, taste not, handle not. You want to
be in bondage, verse 10, you observe days and months and times
and years. I'm afraid of you. Paul said,
I've labored in vain, because if you're not totally satisfied
and obsessed with Christ, then I've labored in vain, because
I've prevailed till Christ be formed in you. You say, Preacher,
if you don't give people something to do, they won't do anything.
Then good. Then good. That's fine. That's
fine. That's all right. If you don't
put a fence around people, they'll run out. That's all right. Let
them run. I'll tell you this. If a man ever falls in love with
Christ and comes to know Christ, Christ is fence enough. He's
foundation enough. He's fullness enough. That's
enough. He's all I need. All I need. It's a fearful thing. Tonight
I'm going on with this thing a little further into Galatians. But what I'm then trying to emphasize
and what I'm emphasizing now is that you can't mix works and
grace. You can't mix what he did and
what I'm doing. It won't mix. It's either all
Christ, all Christ, all Christ. And that's where we get the simplicity
of worship. And things that we do, and things
that we say, and things that we give, and deeds that we're
done, and so forth, are done because we love Him and for His
glory, not in order to gain favor with God.