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The Promise -- Greater Then The LawGalatians sounds like a broken record concerning the law of God. Paul the Apostle is trying to drive home his point over and over again. But unlike a skipping record Paul approaches his topic from different angles. He first tells the Galatians that they were foolish to be led astray to think they can accomplish the goal of being right before God, or Justified, by their human efforts. Then he uses what they know, the scriptures about Abraham to show them that the father of faith was made right with God not by what he did, but by his faith in God. Finally as we will consider today, Paul uses an example as he show them- and us, that God's promises are greater then any rules, regulations, or requirements of law. I have read of three images to describe the purpose of the law. First the law is likened it to a dentist’s mirror, which the dentist sticks into a patient’s mouth. With the mirror he can detect cavities and find problems. But he doesn’t drill with the mirror, he doesn't use it to pull teeth. The mirror can show him the decayed area or other abnormality, but it can’t provide the solution. Secondly the law is like a flashlight. If the power goes out, you use a flashlight to guide you in the dark. It can help you find the electrical box, it can lead you to a phone, but it does not repair the problem. You can not use the flashlight as a fuse. But with it you can find a blown breaker and reset it, with it you can find your way to call the power company. Third the law is like a carpenters level. When a builder wants to check his work, he uses a level or a plumbline to make sure his work is true. If he finds that he has made a mistake, he doesn’t use his level to beat the wall into plumb. He gets out his hammer other tools. So it is with the law of God, when we consider the commandments, they point out the problem of sin. They guide us to the grace of God, they give us a light to show us how to live, but the law was never intended to provide a solution to the problem. The problem that we are separated from God by sin. READ THE TEXT GALATIANS 3:15-29 THE PROMISE GREATER THEN THE LAW
Driving home the point of Grace over law, Paul takes us to an example that we can all understand. A contract or “covenant” when it is legal, can not be changed. Of course today we know that contracts have clauses to break them. The sports star who has a good year, the actor who is suddenly more popular can break their contracts or re-negotiate a better one. But for the rest of us, when we sign a contract, a covenant, say buying a car, we are bond by that contract. So Paul reminds us that the covenant or promise that God established with Abraham was before the law. If you would it was “grandfathered in” and is a higher authority and has a greater rule then that of the law, the commands that came more then 400 years later. What was God's promise to Abraham? That takes us to point two.
Our text goes right into the explanation of the Abrahamic covenant. Lets consider some things with God's promise to Abraham. First the word promise is used eight times in chapter 3 and 4 of Galatians. All referring to God's promise to Abraham from Genesis 12- that in Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed. God's promise involved being “justified by faith” and the blessings of God by grace. So Paul points to the obvious - that this promise to Abraham that was given given centuries before the Law of Moses. So Paul is showing the Galatians and us, that those who implied that the giving of the Law changed God's original covenant of promise are wrong. Because the promise is give to the seed who is Jesus Christ. Later we find the best part, that all who have faith in him are in that seed and share in the promise to Abraham. Paul explanation goes like this: When two parties conclude an agreement, a third party cannot come along years later and change that agreement. The only persons who can change an original agreement are the persons who made it. To add anything to it or take anything from it would be illegal. All that points to grace especially when yo remember that it was not Abraham who made a covenant with God. God made the covenant with Abraham! God did not lay down any conditions for Abraham to meet, in fact, Abraham was asleep when God ratified the promise. So God's promise was a covenant of grace: Because God made promises to Abraham; Abraham did not make promises to God. It involved no clauses for Abraham to do anything, it was based only on God's word to him. Then Paul reveals another wonderful truth there in V16. God made this promise, not only to Abraham, but also to Abraham's seed, Jesus Christ. The Biblical concept of "the seed" goes back to Gen 3:15, after the Fall of man. God said there will be a conflict in the world between Satan's seed and the woman's seed. All the Scriptures show that conflict: Cain versus Abel, Israel versus the nations; John the Baptist and Jesus versus the Pharisees, and true believers versus counterfeit Christians. Satan's goal in the Old Testament was to keep the Seed - Jesus - from being born, for he knew that God's Son would one day crush his head. In reality God made this covenant of promise with Abraham through Christ, so that the only two parties who can make any changes are God the Father / and God the Son. Years later when the law came by Moses it did not change this promise, it did not add to God's promise. In Galatia, the Judaizers were men who were trying to add to God's grace and take away from God's promises but they had no right to do this since they were not parties in the original covenant. So Paul's argument is clear - a law given centuries later cannot change a covenant made by other parties. We have seen the example, and the explanation.
Like an explorer going through the jungle, like a reporter exposing the truth in the story, Paul gives his exposition in the account of the giving of the Law. The Law or the commands were given with great awe, we read about that in Exodus .19. There were thunders and lightnings, and the people were trembling with fear. Even Moses was shaking in his sandals. Heb 12:18-21 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear." The law was given with great fanfare, but we do not come to God by what we do, rather it is all by what Jesus has done. It was a dramatic event and those who advocated working your way to God via the law, were impressed with these externals. Hebrews 12: 22-24 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. The law came with drama, but we have come to God by faith in Jesus, who's blood speaks for us. Paul explores how the Law is inferior to the promise in two ways. First the Law was temporary -'It was added .. until the Seed should come." No temporary law can alter a permanent covenant. When you read God's covenant with Abraham, you find no "ifs" in his words. Nothing was conditional it was all a free gift, we call that grace. But the blessings of the Law were dependent on the meeting of certain conditions. Gal 3:12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them." Live by the law and you will live- but the law, had a endpoint: "until the Seed should come." With the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the demands of the Law were done away with because they are fulfilled in us through the Spirit. Rom 8:1-4 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. How many of you can remember when Nevada had no speed limit? When you would reach the end of town there was a sign that said, “End Speed Zone.” When I was a 16 year old driving my 58 Chevy station wagon with a 283/ 4 barrel carb and three speed on the floor. What that sign meant to me is - “you are free!” So when I hit Washoe Valley, I also hit the gas, bald tires and all, it was all out speed. No condemnation, no restrictions, no law. See that silly example of youthful stupidity is a good example of what Paul is driving home to the Galatians. That if you are in Christ you are not bound by the law. See when I would drive to Reno I came from Tahoe and had to go down Spooner summit, where the speed limit was 50 mph. I was under the law, it kept me in line, there were consequences if I broke that law. But when I had finally gotten through Carson City, when I finally hit Washoe Valley. I was free, from the restrictions of the law. Like the scripture we just read in Romans says we are now under the guidance of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. A much different law, a law that unlike the ten commandments that condemn us, and is meant to guide, and enlighten us – the law of the Spirit brings us to God. TURN TO GALATIANS 5:22-23 Isn't that interesting, that he says there is “no law” against living by the Holy Spirit. No restrictions, no limits, no boundaries, you can have as much of the fruit of the Spirit as you are willing to surrender your old nature to the Lord. Like a crazed 16 year old driving a beat up Chevy, the sign says – “Go for it.” Second way the law was inferior is it required a mediator. When God gave the Law to Israel, he did it by means of angels and through the mediation of Moses. That means that Israel received the Law third hand from God to angels to Moses. But when God made His covenant with Abraham He did it personally, without a mediator God was revealing to Abraham all that he would do for him and his descendants. Ok, what does that mean for us? Glad you asked. It means those who have faith in Jesus Christ are living by the promise to Abraham, there's no need for a go-between, all who are in Jesus Christ have access to a personal relationship with God. You can pray for yourself, you can worship for yourself, you can live by the Holy Spirit and it is has no conditions of performance. Legalistic folks in Galatia and today are impressed by the flash of the Law – the glory, thunder, lightning, and the angels. But Paul looked beyond incidentals to the essentials and tells us the Law has a purpose, to bring us to Christ. His conclusion: The promise is greater than the Law. Marvelous grace of our loving
Lord, Grace, grace, God’s grace, So Paul asks the question that the Judaizers or any legalist would be shouting. “Is the law opposed to the promises of God? “Is God contradicting Himself?” “Does His right hand not know what His left hand is done?” “ Absolutely not!” Why? Because if you could earn your way to God, then there was no reason for the cross. No need for Jesus, no need for the hundreds of prophecies that said he would come, and no need for faith. But God is perfect, and nothing less then perfection dwells in his presence, the commands are there to school us, to teach us that we are not perfect, point out the flaws, to guide us to the one who is perfect. Jesus Christ our righteousness. 2 Cor 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Our text gives deep insight into the ways and purposes of God, in telling us that the Law cooperates with the promise. While Law and grace seem to be contrary to one another, they are actually in complement to one another. V21 tells us the Law was not given to provide life - but to point us to the promise, to point us to Jesus who died on the cross. For when law is what rules people's lives, that leads to self-righteousness, and division based on all kinds of things, outward behavior verses inward attitude, nationality, sex , or even race. The Law was given to reveal sin, to point us to our savior and to guide us into right living. That is what the law continues to do to this day. The Law and grace cooperate in bringing the lost to Jesus Christ. Law shows the sinner his guilt, and grace shows forgiveness in Jesus Christ. The Law is holy, and show us we are unholy. The Law does not make us sinners; it reveals to us that we already are sinners. The Law is like a mirror that reveals dirt - but you do not wash your face with the mirror! It is grace that provides cleansing through the blood of Jesus Christ. As the law lights our way to grace, it is our plumbline to a right and true way to live. But when anyone begins to think that the keeping of any law is what makes them right with God, - be that God's 10 commandments, or be those self imposed rules for good living- that is like trying to use a flashlight as a fuse, -- it just will not work. When people claim they are saved by "keeping the Ten Commandments," they are revealing their ignorance of the true meaning of the Law, and saying they are perfect because the Law makes everyone equal, for there are none right before God. The Law shows we are all are under sin, and points us to be saved by grace! God does not have two ways of salvation; just faith in Jesus Christ. So our text tells us that the law was put in charge, or was our “schoolmaster” to lead us to Christ. In Matthew 19 We read about a young man of power and wealth who came to Jesus and asked him a sincere question: "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" To which Jesus told him: If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." But there was something missing in this young mans life- so he pressed the Lord for more. "Which commandments?" he asked. So Jesus replied, and gave him the biggies. "'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, don't give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself." Well, this young man apparently had tried to keep the law, he tried to live by what was right and he knew that he really didn't know God. So he told Jesus "All these I have kept," But-- "What do I still lack?" Something was missing from his life. He had youth, he had money, he had power, he had morality, but deep down he knew there was more, he knew he still lacked something. So Jesus told him something that totally caught him off guard. Matthew 19: 21-22 ... "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. It was not what he wanted to hear, to lay it all down, to give his very heart to the kingdom of God, to be like Abraham who's life was about faith and his faith moved him into action. Jesus says, lay it all down, give it all up, surrender and follow me. For that young man, the law, the commandments literally brought him to Christ! And that is one of the purposes of the Law to this day, to create in sinful people a sense of guilt and the reality of our need to be justified by faith. The Law cannot change the promise, and the Law is not greater than the promise. But the Law is not contrary to the promise: they work together to bring us who are lost to the Savior. We have seen an example, explanation, and exposition, finally.
The law, created two classes of people, the Jews had the law, and the gentiles didn't. The law created to classes of righteousness, those who like the Pharisees of Jesus day, did outward things to empress everyone how righteous they were. And those who those Legalists shunned. The law separated people but the promise made many people one. For by faith in Jesus Christ we become children or sons of God. We are all are baptized into one Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism its not the act that saves, but the faith that the act of baptism represents. See if baptism saved you, it would simply become a new law to replace the old and all of Paul's arguments would apply to baptism. No baptism, is obedience to our Lord, baptism seals the promise that brings equality to the church. For as our text goes on, there is no race distinction, no differences in the sexes, no nationalistic division, all who belong to Christ are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. The Law created differences and distinctions, Jesus Christ unites. He unites us all under God, and he unites all the church. Eph 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism ; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. No division in the races, the sexes, one church, not Lutherans and us, not baptists and High Sierra, just Christians, followers of Christ and heirs of the promise. For the Law could never make us heirs of God. But God' promise to Abraham was to his Seed and if we are "in Christ" by faith, then we too are "Abraham's seed" spiritually speaking. This means we are heirs of the spiritual blessings of God's promise to Abraham. And all of this is by grace - not by Law! Are you in Gods family, an heir of God's promise? Are you drawing on your inheritance? INVITE. When you are a child of God, there are many more wonderful promises for us. There are promises for eternity, that God will not abandon us to the grave, he will rescue us from the coming wrath, and hell has no part for those who call upon the name of Jesus. But like Abraham who had a promise he needed to live in that promise. He had to take the promise and make it part of his life. There's a true story of an old ragged native American who in the early 1800s wandered into a Western settlement, begging for food to keep him from starving. He had a bright-colored ribbon from which was suspended a small, dirty pouch around his neck. On being questioned about it, he said it was a charm given him in his younger days. Opening it, he displayed a faded, greasy paper, which he handed to the interrogator for inspection. It proved to be a regular discharge from the Federal Army, entitling him to a “pension for life”, and was signed by General George Washington himself! Here was a name which would be honored almost anywhere and which, if presented in the right place, would have insured him support and plenty for the remainder of his days. Yet he wandered about, hungry, helpless, and hopeless, begging for bread to keep from starving. What a picture of men and women today who with all the promises of Jesus in their hands -- with the charter of their inheritance in full possession, yet starving in the wilderness! So we find in the bible many promises from God, the greatest is the promise of salvation by grace alone. But there are other promises, promises that need to be live out, promises that need to be claimed. So in closing I would like to consider 12 promises for the Christian to claim.
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God’s presence:
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God’s protection:
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God’s power:
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God’s provision:
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God’s leading:
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God’s purposes:
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God’s rest:
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God’s cleansing:
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God’s goodness:
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God’s faithfulness:
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God’s guidance: · God’s plan: Rom. 8:28 “All things work together for good to them that love God” PRAY, INVITE, BENEDICTION, SING. Series: Galatians -Through the Bible |
(C) High Sierra Fellowship 2008 |
