Culver Community Church
Pastor Chris Sweeney
Sermon Notes
September 8, 2019
Galatians 3:21-29 The Righteous Will Live by Faith! (Part 3)
{vs 21} The Law is not at odds with or against the promises. It is the exact opposite the Law shows us to be sinners in need of a Savior! The Law leads us toward Christ, not away. God uses the Law to herd us toward the grace found in the promise given to Abraham! No law, not even Gods perfect Law can give life, reverse the curse or secure our pardon but Gods Law can point to the One who can. If it were possible to gain life from the Law then some rare few would have done it! What we have seen is that God would have to be a monster if there was another way (as Jesus prayed for in the Garden of Gethsemane) and He still sent Jesus to suffer and die! So many over the centuries have tried to follow the Law! The religiously observant have added layer upon layer to the core God gave to Moses - - - in order to keep from coming close to breaking it! However, the more they added, the tougher it was to follow they just added more weight to the burden! Jesus came as one of us, under the Law and it showed Him to be righteous but even for Him, the Law did not give Life; Christ already had life in Him! He came to us in a perfect holy state the Law did not add to or take away from who He was and is! If Jesus, the One and only person to keep the Law did not gain life by it then what hope is there for us, who are imperfect? As far as justification goes, no hope can be found in the Law! The problem with relying on the Law is not in the Law itself - - - it is in trying to use the Law for a purpose that God never intended it for and in our inability to keep it!
In this section, Paul answers the question of verse 19 Why, then, was the law given at all? Not to save, but to train up and teach us. I hope and pray that we can understand this God does not give us commandments because watching us obey will in any way help us relate to Him. Relationship is not about being ordered or forced to do anything! Can you imagine you just get into a romantic relationship and here comes the love laws? 1) You shalt call every day; 2) You shalt think about him/her and no others; 3) You shalt do and give to them that is not how it works! We do these things from Love not because of some law. This is true with God the law teaches, but love allows us to relate!
{vs 22} Paul paints a picture of incarceration the Law (Scripture) is our judge and jailor and our sins are the crimes. See the extent not some things are locked away but everything what a pleasant picture! Everything is held captive to sin! We are locked away and unable to escape if you doubt that, try to stop sinning in your own strength sin owns the unrepentant person! Like an addiction, but spiritually, mentally, physically you and your whole world are held captive! However, being locked away can be useful! It can serve as an impetus for reform, causing us to desire to change our ways and seek help. In order to begin the healing the first step is to admit there is a problem! God desires that we look longingly through the cell bars, hoping for the One, our Savior, who will come and set us free! This is clear from the pattern of those who practice or rely on the Law 1) do this and dont do that; 2) failure we all fail to keep the Law in varying degrees and so we must 3) sacrifice - we must bring sacrifices to seek pardon for our failures. However, those sacrifices could not pay for our pardon, but they did point to the One Sacrifice that would Jesus, the Lamb of God! The Law tells us that the life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11) but one life is not equal to another! The life of a ram, bull or ox is not the same as the life of a man (woman or child). Genesis 1:27 tells us that man (Adam and Eve) was created in Gods own image (likeness) no animal can boast this! Hence, the blood and yes, the blood-debt of man is worth far, far more than that of any animal!
Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. - 1 Corinthians 15:39 NIV
No amount of animal blood can satisfy the guilt of our deliberate rebellious sin because that animal is not capable of that same deliberate, rebellious sin! The author of Hebrews talks about this -
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. - Hebrews 10:1-4 NIV
Those sacrifices teach about the terrible price of sin can you imagine taking the Passover Lamb into your home, caring for it as a beloved pet for days and then bringing that precious little lamb up to the temple and seeing it slaughtered for you each and every year? The wages of sin is death there is a terrible cost and someone has to pay! Those animals point to the real, true payment the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World (for all who will believe!)
It is by believing God that Abraham and all of those who made those weak ineffective animal sacrifices were justified not by the Law itself.
{vs 23-25} Now the picture has changed slightly it is no longer imprisonment but rather protective custody (which can sometimes feel like being imprisoned). Here the word-picture is that of a minor who needs guidance, protection and supervision. In the Roman world, a son or daughter would be entrusted to a custodian - not someone who mops up messes around the school but someone who is in put in charge for the purpose of caretaking. Trust me, the Law never cleans up any messes it only points them out and doles out punishment! So this nursemaid, guardian or tutor (usually a trusted slave or family household servant) would have complete control over their charge until they came of age, at which time they had the free exercise of their inheritance, their place in the family. Much like a child monarch who technically has all the power of the throne but also cannot freely use that power because someone else is in charge of him or her!
The Law serves as this type of guardian one who lays down the expectations and punishment, who cares for the charge - - - without all the love and gentile nurture that an actual mother or father would have. Like a child, chomping at the bit, waiting impatiently for the day that they become legal we (Paul speaks to Jews and gentiles everyone, including himself) we expectantly long for faith to be revealed! Know this faith has always been around, it was not invented with Christs advent. We understand this because the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11 lists some of the prophets and patriarchs who had faith, long before the Jesus walked the Earth! These people who put their trust in God, like Abraham had faith in the promises that had not yet been revealed. They died without realizing the fulfillment. However, in Christ the promises have been, are and will be fulfilled. We live in a glorious time we can see how God is delivering on His promises because they are in Christ!
Now that Christ is here, the promised new covenant has been received - - - we no longer need the guardian! We have been set free from the curse, from sin and from the Law!
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh [our sinful flesh], God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh [but without sin!] to be a sin offering [the only acceptable sin offering!] . . . - Romans 8:1-3a NIV
{vs 26-27} Now what does this all mean? In Christ we are reconciled to God not just made acceptable but we have become children! Not even, second-class, red-headed stepchildren or children less favored in any way! We are full-fledged Children of God joint heirs with Christ! When God looks upon us, He sees Jesus because we are clothed with Christ - in Christ, fully baptized (not in the water sense but submersed into) baptized in Christ! This means that God can no longer make a separation or distinction between us because He would be separating from Christ! Every person who believes is now in Christ! The stress here is on our identity in Jesus through faith. We aren't simply associated with Jesus; we are identified in Him. If He is a Son of God, so are we. If He stands righteous before God the Father, so do we. If He has free access to the throne of God, so do we. If He has victory over spiritual powers of darkness, so do we. We aren't associated with Jesus; we are in Jesus.
{vs 28-29} Now a word of warning this is not saying that God no longer sees heritage, race, men, women, employers, employees, etc. God has not turned a blind eye to who we are because He knows us intimately and loves us - - - just as He created us! We are not some unisex, nondescript blank of a person in His eyes! We are still husbands and wives, employers and employees and each of us has specific ways in which God wants us to relate to each other and Him because of those differences! That being said God does not discriminate! What this is saying is in reference to our Salvation and His love for us there are no distinctions. Regarding our standing before God in Jesus, every dividing line is erased! Now that Jesus is our identity, that is more important than any prior identity we possessed. We are all one in Christ Jesus.
It was this kind of distinction making (lets call it what it is prejudice) that started the problems at the Galatian churches. Jews came down from Jerusalem and looked down on those gentile believers. Why they dont observe the Law, do the washings and THEYRE NOT EVEN CIRCUMCISED! These are no children of Abraham, no Jews and so the God of Abraham cannot have anything to do with them! Hogwash! That is the kind of partiality that separated and divided them - - - but in Christ, they are, we are all one! There is no difference between Jew, gentile, slave, free, male or female! We are all heirs with Christ, receiving Abrahams promises and more, through faith like his!