The Law & The Gospel Life

We're in Galatians 3. When Sam first launched us in Galatians, he told us about evangelism

explosion and the two diagnostic questions in this training course. And last week, Deb

mentioned the same questions, and so I felt like I didn't want to be left out, and so

I should mention them too. The first question is, imagine you were to die now. Would you

be certain that you would go to heaven? And so what that question does is it raises the

issue of whether or not we are assured of our salvation and our eternal future. The second

question is, imagine you were to die and ended up in front of God, and he was asked you, why

should I let you into heaven? What would you say? And that question highlights the source

of our assurance, or lack of it. What is the, where are we putting our hopes in? Where are

we pinning our hopes on? And so like Deb and like Sam, I was trained in this course many,

many years ago, and I remember an opportunity to use those questions in the very early days

of me doing the training. It was one night, and it was about 20-odd years ago. It was the

end of a Carols by Candlelight event, and I got into a lengthy discussion with this guy

that I knew from high school. It was a lengthy discussion about the gospel of the Christian

faith, and let's say this particular guy, academics wasn't his strongest point, and relational, he

had relational challenges. In fact, he didn't have a lot of strong points, and I used the

questions on him in this evening, and he didn't understand the point of the questions at all,

or even how they related to the discussion we were having. Couldn't make the connection

at all. Anyway, about a week later, I'm lining up in the supermarket, you know, to buy groceries,

that's what you do there, and this is a small country town, right? And over from the other

side of the supermarket, I hear this person call out, hey, Fox. Now, that was a nickname

for me at school, Fox. I had red hair, and, you know, it's a country thing, and it was just

a whole lot better than Bunsen burner, which is what I initially had. But this guy yells out,

hey, Fox, I need your help to get to heaven. And it's like, you know, everyone in the supermarket

hears it, and everyone now is looking around, who best suits the description of Fox in this

room, you know? And he came over to me, and, you know, you're kind of wanting to have a quiet

conversation at this point, but it's fairly loud. And he said to me, those two questions

that you asked me the other night, what were your answers? I need to know your answers.

And so I repeated the questions and repeated the answers. Then he said, can I have your shopping

list? Okay, so I gave him a shopping list. And have you got a pen? Yeah, I've got a pen.

He said, now, just say it again slowly so I can write it down. Okay, you know, so I'm

writing it down. I'm just kind of wondering where this is going to go. At the end of it,

hands my pen back and starts to walk away, and I kind of grave, I've got to know, you know,

what are you doing? He's folding it up, puts it in his pocket, and he said, this is brilliant.

He said, like you say, if I was to die right now, I've got the answers about how to get into

question, into heaven. He said, this is brilliant. He said, I could die right now and be guaranteed

to go into heaven. He said, I'm going to keep these answers with me always. He said, this

is so easy. I'm like, oh, forget it. I didn't know what to do at that moment. He totally, totally

missed the point of the questions. And yet, he did have a point. Is it really that easy?

You see, whenever you hear the radical claims of the Christian gospel of salvation by grace,

we should be prompted in some way to think the same. Is it that easy? That easy to be saved?

You know, where does effort, obedience, work, where does that fit in with all this?

Or to put it bluntly, if I'm always saved only by Christ's performance and not my own,

why would I even bother living a holy life? Who cares about that? Just go on living as I am and just,

you know, have salvation attached in some way. See, I think there's no more practical question than

that of the relationship between the Christian and the law of God and the commands of God.

All of our questions about how to live the Christian life, marriage relationship, sexual ethics,

use of money, retirement, church attendance, raising kids, and the plethora of other things

that we deal with are all linked to that central, central question. What is the relationship

between the gospel, the Christian gospel, and the law of God?

Now, let me just do a little bit of announcement over here. This is a very short book, which is

attractive to most people. Is forgiveness really free? It's written by Michael Jensen. It's cheap,

it's accessible, easy to read, short chapters, big words. So there shouldn't be anyone who wouldn't

want to read that. That's a really helpful little book if you want to delve into it a little bit deep

and a bit longer than what I'm going to deal with it tonight. Is forgiveness really free?

So let's get back to this text. This is the question which is before us. Is forgiveness

really free? What's the relationship between the Christian and the law of God? Now, the first thing

Paul does in Galatians 3 here is he outlines again for us what the law does not do. And Paul's been

working on this right throughout Galatians. He's already established that we are saved,

we are justified, we are redeemed only by faith in Jesus Christ, not through any righteousness of

our own, not through any effort on our behalf. And he pushes the point again. Let's have a look at

verses 15 to 18. Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can

set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises

were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say, and to seeds, meaning many people,

but to your seed, meaning one person who is Christ. What I mean is this, the law introduced 430 years

later does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the

promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise.

But God, in his grace, gave it to Abraham through a promise. So he says, let me just try and help you

understand this from an everyday example, everyday life. The example he uses is human contracts and the

way that they are binding, the way that they are difficult, if not impossible to avoid. He says,

no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that is being duly established. And the word he uses

there for covenant is the word that is the term for a legal will, you know, like parents in terms of

writing wills for kids and everything else. You see, once a will is made, it is normally considered

binding no matter what circumstances happen, no matter changes in circumstances. The only person

who can overturn a will is the person who wrote the will in the first place. And so it is with the

promises of God. So let me try and capture this for us. Imagine there's a woman, she's got two daughters,

one is extremely wealthy, one is extremely wealthy, and one is really poor. And so she decides in her

will to leave the really poor daughter, the bulk of her estate, and the really rich daughter,

the cat and the dog, you know, and a bit of furniture or something like that. She's trying to help the

poor daughter without recognizing the rich one doesn't need it so much. And that will is legally binding

legally binding, even if circumstances change. So imagine the day after that woman dies,

the really wealthy daughter loses her entire wealth. The will still stands. New circumstances

don't change the will. It's still legally binding. And that's what Paul's saying here.

Paul knows that some might see that the law was introduced by Moses 450 years after God's promise of

salvation to Abraham and conclude, well, this changes everything. New circumstances. If we are to get the

blessing of Abraham, we now have to obey the law of Moses. And Paul shows us here that's a false

conclusion. He does it in verse 17. The law cannot turn God's promise to Abraham into anything else but

what it is, and that's a promise. It's a powerful argument. If the law of Moses came as a way of salvation,

it means that God ultimately has changed his mind about us needing a savior, and that he would now

give us his blessing on the base of performance and not promise. And if the Old Testament law functioned in that way,

notice what verse 17 says, it does away with the promise. And the basic idea is that the very concepts of promise

promise and law are mutually exclusive. You don't add law to a promise to make it a better promise. You at that point

negate it. You nullify it as a promise once you add law to it. They're two different ideas. Just indulge me for a moment here.

For a promise to bring a result, all it needs to be is believed. But for a law to bring a result,

it has to be obeyed. So imagine, for example, I say to you, I've got $20 behind this pillar right here,

and I'm willing to give it to you. And I'm willing to give it to you. And the only way that you will fail

to receive that $20 is by failing to believe the claim, failing to believe the promise.

Yes, it does. That's the only way that you would fail to receive it. But imagine I say to you,

I've got $20 behind this pillar, and I will give it to you, providing you massage my feet and cut my toenails.

You would need to fulfill the requirement in order to receive the $20. You've got to obey the

requirement in order to receive $20. And at that point, you've got to go through cost-benefit analysis

and go, my goodness, I'm not doing that for $20. You know, no way. You see, a gift promise

needs only to be believed. You just need to believe it in order to receive it. But a law wage

must be obeyed in order to receive it. They're two very different concepts.

And if the law of Moses was intended to be a means of salvation, then the promise to Abraham

is not a promise. It's nullified. It's removed. It's gone.

But this promise, as Paul says in verse 15,

is sealed with a covenant. It's sealed with a legal deal.

Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant

that has been duly established, so it is in this case.

And what Paul's referring to here is he's taking us back to Genesis 15.

Back there in Genesis 15, in verse 8, Abraham says to God,

how can I be sure that you are going to fulfill this promise of blessing to me?

How can I be sure of that?

What does God tell him to do?

You see how you can be sure?

Verse 9, bring me a heifer, a goat, a ram, each three years old,

along with a dove and a young pigeon.

Notice, God doesn't give Abraham any more instructions

than to go and get these animals.

Verse 10, Abraham gets them and it says,

In other words, Abraham knew exactly what he needed to do

when he grabbed these animals and birds.

And now this is really strange for us what's going on here,

but in Abraham's day, this is how a covenant,

this is how a legal agreement was signed.

It's fairly grueling, but this is how they did it.

That's why God didn't need to give Abraham any more instructions

because he knew exactly what's required here.

They would get the animals, they would cut them in half,

they would lay them on either half on either side.

You'd kind of find a walkway in between

and everyone who's making this agreement,

everyone who is signing this legal deal

would walk between the two halves of the carcasses

and as they walk between it,

they are saying as a covenant maker,

if I break this agreement,

may I turn out like these carcasses.

May I die and be cut in two like these carcasses

if I break this agreement.

You seal it with your life is what you do.

And what's astonishing here in this covenant

between God and Abraham

is that Abraham never walks between the halves.

Abraham, it says, falls into a deep sleep

and the only thing that passes through, verse 17,

is a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch appeared

and passed between the pieces.

But we are told in verse 18,

on that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham.

The promise to bless Abraham

is not reliant upon Abraham.

It's got nothing to do with his obedience at all.

And what God was saying in this moment in Genesis 15,

I would die before I break my promise

to bless Abraham and his descendants

and through him and through one particular descendant,

his seed to offer blessing to the whole world.

I will die before I break that covenant promise.

And in the end, this seed did die on a cross

as the man Jesus Christ in order to fulfill

the promise of blessing to all who trust in God

as Abraham did.

That's what it took for the promise to be fulfilled.

So Paul is just simply pointing out here to the Galatians

the impossibility of God adding obedience demands

to his covenant promise.

God had guaranteed that he would keep his promise.

And so the first thing that Paul's doing here

is he's just reminding us,

we need to be really clear about the purpose of the law,

what it does.

Otherwise, and for us, it's really crucial for this,

for the Galatians and for us,

we get the whole Christian life totally wrong.

Totally wrong if we're not clear on this.

Everything God created has a purpose

and as such is a good thing.

And as you know, even good things can become bad things

when we use them for something that they're not intended.

I love Charles Spurgeon, the 19th century preacher.

He had a really unique way of capturing this

as he does with most things.

He liked to say,

a hand saw is a good thing,

but not to shave with.

A hand saw is good for cutting wood,

but not facial hair.

If you put your hand saw to that sort of use,

you'll wind up losing more than hair.

A good thing is not good when it's out of place.

And if we turn to the law as a means of salvation,

it's out of place, it's not a good thing.

And you lose everything.

If the law does not save,

then it must have a different purpose.

And let's see now what this law does.

At last, verse 19, Paul tells us what the point of the law is.

What then was the purpose of the law?

It was added because of transgression until the seed

to whom the promise referred had come.

So the law didn't come to tell us about salvation,

but about sin.

That's the purpose of the law,

to tell us about sin.

Its main purpose is to show us our problem,

not to solve our problem.

It shows us that we are law breakers

and to prove to us that our obedience as law breakers

could not possibly be the solution for salvation

because we are not perfect law keepers.

Paul picks this idea up again and again and again

and again and again.

Does it in verse 21?

If the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God,

is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God?

Absolutely not.

For if a law had been given that could impart life,

then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.

So God never intended for the law to impart life.

In fact, verse 22 says,

the scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin.

In fact, the original language is even more vivid than that.

It is literally scripture imprisoned all the world to sin.

The law shows us that we do not just fall short of God's will,

requiring just a little bit more effort on our behalf

to do a little bit better,

but that in fact we are completely under sin's power

and that we require a rescue.

The law has the power to show us that we are not righteous,

but it cannot give us the power in order to be righteous.

Ironically,

if we think that we can be righteous by obedience to the law,

we've missed the entire point of the law.

The law does its work to lead us towards recognition of our need for salvation by grace.

That is, the law points to the promise.

The law points to the need for the promise.

The law does not oppose the promise of salvation by grace through Jesus Christ,

but rather it supports it.

It points out to us our desperate need of salvation by grace.

And Paul uses two metaphors here in the next few verses

to characterize the way the law works.

The first one is in verse 23.

It says,

The law is a guard.

Before this faith came,

we were held prisoners by the law,

locked up until faith should be revealed.

This verse carries the idea

that we are being guarded by military guards.

We're in prison.

We're locked.

We need freedom.

And we can't get freedom

because the law is keeping us imprisoned to our sin.

And the second metaphor he uses

to show us how the law points to the promise

is the tutor-student relationship.

Verse 24.

So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ

that we might be justified by faith.

Now that faith has come,

we are no longer under the supervision of the law.

So the law is a supervisor.

It's a tutor.

It's a babysitter under whose instruction we live.

The law was put in charge over us to lead us to Christ.

See, in the homes of Paul's day,

1st century Palestine,

the tutor or the guardian

was usually a slave

who supervised the children on the parents' behalf.

And the interesting thing is

when you look at both of these metaphors,

the guard and the tutor,

we see that what the law does

is it removes our freedom.

Both metaphors reveal

that our relationship with the law

is not an intimate one or a personal one.

Both metaphors reveal

that our relationship with the law

is based on rewards and punishments.

Both metaphors reveal

that our relationship with the law

means that we are treated like kids.

There is, however, a difference between the two.

The guard metaphor

represents human effort religion.

And it's characterized by bondage,

an impersonal relationship with the divine,

and motivated by a desire for reward

and a fear of punishment.

That's the guard metaphor.

The tutor metaphor, on the other hand,

shows us that the law's true purpose

is in fact instructive.

In the same way, a tutor's role

is to prepare children for lives

as adults,

as free persons,

as grown-up, matured persons.

And in that sense,

the law points to a life of freedom,

not confinement.

The law points to a personal relationship

with God rather than impersonal.

The law points to maturity of character

rather than immaturity.

That's what the law does.

It points to the promise.

Now, I think it's worth quoting here

at some length the great John Stott.

This is from his commentary in Galatians.

I think it just sort of sums up

this second point so well.

After God gave the promise to Abraham,

he gave the law to Moses.

Why?

He had to make things worse

before he could make them better.

The law exposed sin.

It provokes sin.

It condemns sin.

And the purpose of the law

was to lift the lid

of humanity's respectability

and disclose

what they really are underneath.

Sinful, rebellious,

guilty,

under the judgment of God,

and helpless to save themselves.

And the law must be allowed

to do its God-given duty today.

One of the great faults

of the contemporary church

is the tendency

to soft-pedal sin and judgment.

We must never bypass the law

and come straight to the gospel.

To do so is to contradict

the plan of God

in biblical history.

No person has ever

appreciated the gospel

until the law

has first revealed

to them

themselves.

It is only against

the inky blackness

of the night sky

that the stars

begin to appear.

It is only against

the dark background

of sin and judgment

that the gospel

shines forth.

That's what the gospel does.

It locks us up

until the gospel reveals

justification by faith

in the Lord Jesus

for salvation.

not until the law

has bruised us

and broken us

will we admit

our need for the gospel

in order to heal our wounds.

Not until the law

has arrested

and imprisoned us

will we long

for Christ

to set us free.

Not until the law

has condemned us

and killed us

we will call out to Christ

for justification

and life.

Not until the law

has driven us

to despair

of ourselves

and our effort

will we ever believe

in the grace

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not until the law

has humbled us

even to hell

will we turn

to the gospel

to raise us to heaven.

That's how

the law

and the promise

work together.

So,

verse 25

how the law

and the gospel

life

how this works

together for us.

Verse 25

says that once faith

comes

we are no longer

under the supervision

of the law.

Our effort

to gain

God's approval

by obedience

to the law

shows us

that we need

to go

beyond the law

to find that approval.

and when we see

that

and we allow

Christ

to be our saviour

we learn

the lesson

that the law

sought to teach us

as our tutor.

Okay?

So what now

for the Christian?

Does this mean

we now forget

about the law?

Don't need any more?

Don't need these commands

from Jesus

and

don't need that

anymore?

Don't need standards

values?

Paul would say

don't be ridiculous.

Don't be ridiculous

because you don't

forget the law.

Let me just draw out

just for a little bit

the analogy

of the

tutor over the child

or maybe

you know

parent-child relationship

might be better for us.

I don't do this

so I can't imagine

any parent

designs their

child rearing.

I don't think

I can't imagine

any parent

that designs

their child rearing

in such a way

that when that child

grows to maturity

that they cast off

all of their values

that have been instilled

in them

and live

a totally different life.

I can't imagine

there's a single parent

who thinks

that that is

ultimately the goal

of child rearing.

that is

I'm assuming

that every parent

when they're instilling

values in their children

they're instilling values

that they think

that their child

needs in order

to flourish

in all of life

not just while

they're a child.

Is that correct?

Am I stupid here?

Well I mean

don't answer that one.

If all goes well

and I'm assuming

this for my own children

if all goes well

the adult child

is no longer

coerced into obedience

as before

but over the course of time

they have internalized

the basic values

which have been instilled

in them

and they live

in a similar manner

not necessarily

a total same manner

but they live

in a similar manner

because that's what

they actually want to do

the values have been instilled

they've been internalized

within them.

Paul isn't saying here

that the Christian

can

no longer

has any relationship

you know

the law's there

the word of God's there

the command of God's there

you found salvation

and grace

and now you don't need

any relationship

with that stuff at all

I don't think that's

what Paul's saying here

at all

what he's saying is

we no longer

view that system

of the law

for salvation

the law

no longer

forces obedience

through coercion

and fear

that's what he's saying

the gospel means

we no longer

obey the law

out of fear

rejection

or the hope of salvation

by performance

when we grab hold

of salvation

by promise

salvation by grace

in Christ alone

our hearts are filled

with gratitude

and a desire

to please

and

to be like

our saviour

and the way

that we live

like our saviour

the way we be like

our saviour

the way we seek

to please our saviour

is through the way

he's described

as life should be lived

through the law

when you come

to the law

and it's totally

different for the

Christian

for the person

who's been saved

by grace

totally different

approach to the law

when you come

to the law

motivated by gratitude

because of grace

we are better

in our obedience

to the law

much better

why is that

firstly

it's because

when we think

that the law

obedience

will save us

we tend to

by nature

lower

the standards

of the law

that's what the Pharisees

did in Jesus' time

it's like

it's almost like

we become

emotionally

incapable

of admitting

just how

searching

and demanding

and penetrating

the law

actually is

in our life

it's almost become

we just

by nature

give me

ten simple rules

to live by

and that'll do

and the law

is so

penetrating

in every aspect

of our life

for instance

Matthew 5

21-22

Jesus says

that to resent

someone

is a form

of murder

and we sit

in a culture

and say

murder

nothing worse

ta ta

murder

and Jesus said

you resent

someone

that's a form

of murder

you've broken

the command

do not

commit murder

and frankly

it's quite

possible

that

a good majority

of us

sitting here

right now

has resented

someone in our hearts

you've committed

that sin

Jesus made

the law

so penetrating

and only

if we know

that we cannot

keep it

completely

but that we

don't need

to keep it

completely

to be saved

at all

in fact

to be saved

because Jesus

did it

for us

will we

be able

to admit

just how

broad

and how

deep

this command

is

how deep

the law

is

how deep

the commands

of God

are

if we think

we are saved

by obedience

then we

just by nature

have to limit

the scope

of the law

in order

for us

to be able

to manage

it

and what

flows on

from that

is a position

of self

righteousness

you ever

find yourself

looking down

on another

human being

because they

don't live

by the standards

you live

by

that's because

you're living

by the law

that's because

you're living

by the law

not living

by grace

and you've

made the law

manageable

and Jesus

condemned the

Pharisees

for that

secondly

grateful joy

is a motive

that will lead

us to much

more endurance

in obedience

than fearful

compliance

fearful compliance

makes obedience

a drudgery

and it's a drudgery

that cannot cope

with the tough

times

the difficult

times

without the

gospel

we may

obey the

law

but we

will hate

the law

we will

use it

but we

will not

truly love

it

so if you

look at the

commands of

Jesus

and you go

oh well I've

got to do it

I better do it

it's kind of like

my kids when I

say you need to

clean your room

stamp stamp stamp

you know try it

with a smile on

your face this

time you know

it's it's I'm

gonna do it

but I'm

oh I don't

love it

don't see it

as a good

thing at all

once we

understand salvation

by promise

we do not

obey God

any longer

for our

sake

we obey God

for his

sake

we use the

law to

please him

and to

delight in

our gracious

father because

the way he

has defined

life

is for our

flourishing

for our

good

so the

point of all

this this text

in front of us

today is

that the law

and grace

work together

for Christian

salvation

many people

want a sense

of joy and

acceptance but

they will not

admit the

seriousness of

their sin

just give me

the good news

about Jesus

without this

sin stuff

they will not

listen to the

laws

searching and

painful analysis

of their

hearts and

their lives

but unless

we see how

hopeless and

how profoundly

sinful we

are the

message of

salvation will

never be

exhilarating

it will never

be liberating

never be

exhilarating

or liberating

unless we

know how

huge our

debt is we

cannot have

any idea

how great

Christ's

payment of

it was

if we

think we're

not all

that bad

the idea

of grace

will never

ever change

us

the law

shows us

who we

really are

and points

us to see

Jesus as

he really

is

a saviour

that we

need

a saviour

who obeyed

the law

on our

behalf

died

in our

place

that we

might receive

the promised

blessing to

Abraham

see friends

salvation is

so much more

than just

forgiveness

it is so much

more than being

able to answer

a couple of

questions

you know in

the right

kind of way

grace and

law work

together

to allow

us to love

Jesus

and enable

us to show

true love

in grateful

obedience to

him

they work

together for

salvation

law

needs to be

obeyed

in order to

get a result

promise

just needs to

be believed

in order

to get a

result