The law and our Relationship with our Creator
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Galatians 3:10-18
Galatians 3:10-18
Galatians 3:10-18
Good morning, everyone,
This morning we continue in chapter 3 of Galatians continuing the train of thought that the Apostle Paul was stating.
We learned that we cannot be a fool and that we as followers need to understand that there is no such thing, we can do to add to the gift of being a Believer. We are not saved by the world, being American, or our jobs. The amazing awesomeness and mercy of our Heavenly Father is the only thing that keeps us. Our Creator and sustainers of the earth love us so much that he has provided a way to pay for our transgressions. We cannot do anything to earn our salvation. The Believer doing works does not give them their salvation or secure their place in heaven. This simple act shows their lies and is very harmful. Doing something so that you get out of hell is not being a Believer but being selfish.
Additionally, we learned that there is one and only True God. Even though the world is all around us, the culture we live in, money, family, and stuff we wear, and drive tell us to worship these things. They do not matter. For example, in the times of the Galatians, it was common to have a specific god that they would worship to provide for the needs of the group. However, the God they think provides for their needs is not the God they worship. The God that provides for their needs is the almighty God that created the stars, galaxies, and the sand that we place our toes in is what matters. The ultimate God makes everything out of nothing, financed the absence of nothing, and is who we are to worship, honor, and glorify him.
This morning our title is The law and our Relationship with our Creator so lets see why we have titled it this.
Lets dive into verse 10-11
Galatians 3:10–11
(ESV)
Galatians 3:10–11
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
The Apostle Paul continues to drive to the people of Galatia that anyone that relays on the works of the law is under a curse. This is a continuation that the following of the law does not save the Believer but can cause them to the point that instead of having a relationship with their Heavenly Father, they have a relationship with rituals, customs, and items that they are required to do daily. I am trying to say that there is nothing wrong with following the law, but if the law becomes more important than the one that gave us the law, then there is a problem. The law does not provide salvation but shows us that without the Divine Author of the law, we are doomed to die spiritually and physically.
The curse that the human author is telling us, Inspired by God, is a warning sign that if we follow the law instead of the relationship with God, we will be and deserve a spiritual and physical death. Sacrifices, lighting candles, and sending money to a non-profit in Africa or China. We cannot earn or buy forgiveness for our transgressions. Our relationship with our Heavenly father is more than just believing and having faith that he is the almighty; We human beings want to control everything and not put our trust in someone else.
With a hurricane coming, we see people stockpiling in massive and crazy amounts for things they usually do not buy. Instead, we need to trust and depend on God that we will be okay. Only believe what you need and leave the rest for other families and individuals. You do not need to buy all the water, food, and diapers when there is just one person for all these items. Where is the trust in our Heavenly father that will take care of us and have us depend on him? The funny thing about our world is that we think that the more money we earn, the better we are. We choose to pay all our bills and then give to God what is his, but instead, we need to give God what is his and trust that he will provide all our needs when we need them. God got us; we do not have to be alone in this situation.
This should be seen as the flashing check engine light that we have in our car, and we automatically decide that we either ignore the light and hope it just goes away with whatever we are doing, or we head on over to our mechanic and hope we do not spend an arm and leg fighting the issue.
Jesus Christ took us to the execution chamber, so we did not have to endure the punishment for our transgressions. We as humans are sinful, nasty, selfish, and just gross individuals. If following the law takes the place of what we need and what God wants us to have, we have taken the gift of mercy, grace, and love given to us and quartered it.
We either pay the penalty by Fracturing our spiritual relationship with our Heavenly Father or being thrown into the very pits of hell with enteral torture. Jesus took our place with the consequences of our sin and transgressions against our Heavenly Father.
The law shows us that either Jesus covers our transgressions, or we cover the transgression. There is no white lie or half crime; even the little or trivial things mean we must pay for our sins. I realize that this is not bubbly and heartwarming, but we have a unique, awesome God that sent his son to be there in human form as a baby with stinky dirty diapers and skinned knees. That same baby grew up with no transgressions as the human version of God named Jesus died on a tree for our sins and transgressions. Even the white lies, the ones that we tell each other and even when we are speeding on i75 going one hundred miles per hour.
If we think that just following a set of rules, laws, and regulations will save us, we are instead having a relationship with what was meant to show us that we need our Heavenly father.
Galatians 3:12–14
But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
The people of Galatia struggled with the concept and idea that the law was not their faith. Following the law does not give you the confidence you have with your Heavenly Father but the person that follows the rule that lives them. For Example, following the Ten Commandments does not give me my faith, but I show my faith by following the Ten Commandments.
You do not know that I am a follower of Christ by not stealing but showing my relationship with my Heavenly Father.
Moses hit the nail on the head in
Leviticus 18:5
Leviticus 18:5
You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
Moses is showing us precisely what the Apostle Paul is telling us: following the law does not give us grace or mercy for our transgressions. Still, it provides a way to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father.
For example, I do not wear my seatbelt because it is the law, but I want not to get seriously hurt if I survive the accident and cause hardship to my family and church. We do not follow the Ten Commandments because we are told to but because we grow deeper in our relationship by following the commandments. You cannot have a relationship with your Heavenly Father if you lust over your neighbor’s wife, kill the husband, and then steal everything inside the house and all the assets. And guess what? After you have broken at least three of the Ten Commandments that our Heavenly Father sent down with the tablets, you decide to attend church. You are a Sunday Christian because you think you are covered sometimes if you follow the commandments.
However, following the commandments of the other seven that you did not break does not guarantee your salvation. Instead, it is the relationship with your father.
I am not saying at all; I mean this completely: it is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. If you are genuinely saved and love god with a relationship, you would not be breaking all these laws from our Heavenly Father. God knows that we are fallible, messed-up individuals. We were not saved by following the commandments but by having a relationship. He walks in the park, sitting by the pool and listening to his word, listening to a sermon while at work, and pondering what God's word is saying over the sound of clapping and banging bread trays.
The point is that we could follow the law and be robots, but we would not be any different from the Judaizers. The same individual following the law is doing what is written, but what is the condition of their heart? Do they hear God’s voice in nature when they watch their church family worshipping on Sunday Morning? There is something so calming and peaceful about singing, worshipping God, and seeing everyone truly honor and worship their Heavenly Father.
The second part of verse thirteen mentions the wording of “Cursed upon a tree, “which when I first read this, I was confused but also knew that this meant the cross and the amount of death and sacrifice that Jesus endured to take the consequences of our sins and transgressions that we committed. The critical thing that we must remind ourselves constantly is that without Jesus paying the price of our mess ups, the sticky tar of sin and transgressions that we place at the feet of our father. Who remembers when they were kids, messed up, and their parents caught them? This whole passage is about realizing that we need a relationship with our father instead of just following a blind set of laws or regulations that were set forth.
One of the intriguing aspects you do not think about is that sin began in the garden of Eden by eating the fruit from the tree of Knowledge and ended with Jesus dying on a tree by the Romans. However, this was not the end but just the beginning because Jesus rose from the dead. Death could not even stop the son of God, and enduring the pain, suffering, and fracture from the father save us from ourselves and our sins. No one is entirely sinless, whether you are a little girl or an older adult at the grocery store.
Galatians 3:14
so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Abraham was the father of Judaism and was promised by God that all his children and many generations would be cared for. He started all of it, and Jesus was the Human that paid the price on the cross after being beaten within an inch of his life, humiliated in front of the streets of Jerusalem, and then forced to drag a burdensome wooden Roman cross. We know all of this, but what is the point of us singing songs and spreading the Gospel without this truth? Jesus paid the price so that we do not have to, but more than that, it was a way to cement our relationship with our Heavenly father. We are all sinners, including our children, spouses, and everyone we interact with.
We receive our gift of salvation through faith that God has given us and not by following laws or regulations. We have only actual Law: to love our Heavenly Father with all our hearts, souls, and minds.
The Apostle Paul is mentioning and talking about something we covered exceedingly early in the year in
Genesis 12
.
Genesis 12:1–3
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
The blessing we received was not because of what we have done but what has been given to us by our Heavenly Father. God never said that if you make the sacrifices, you will be saved but instead told the people of Israel that their transgressions would be covered for a year. Two different things because they were not wiping away the sin that they had caused and placed on the cross but instead placed a band-aid on the problem for them to realize that they were messed up individuals and without God and his mercy, they could not be saved from the punishment they deserved.
Galatians 3:15–17
To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
The Apostle Paul continues by saying that he will use a real-world example that everyone would understand during that time. Also, he uses the word brother to show a connection with love but also some frustration with his audience. The Human author starts talking legalese in the sense of covenants or contracts. He was a lawyer, and this was just like any other individual in what they do. For example, I start talking about retail and inventory, and some people start glazing their eyes over. Still, if I am talking to someone from that world, they would understand when I am talking about dollars per square feet, inventory turnover ratio, or pull dates.
The point is that the Apostle Paul is adding his flavor in Galatians just like he did in Romans with the legal sense of his words. There is no adding or subtracting to the contract we have made. The contract is binding and no way to change it unless you find a loophole or reach a new agreement.
Just like the contract we have in the legal world, the contract or vacant that our Heavenly Father has made with us will not and cannot be broken. His promise is stronger than the most robust metal, adhesive, or concrete. There is no retroactive contract or backsies but a forever bond on what God has promised.
God told Abraham there was a solution to the stench of sin and all the wrong things we see in this world. Now I am not saying that God reacted to our transgressions but instead was planned before the very foundation of the earth.
Galatians 3:18
For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
The Apostle Paul uses the language of an inheritance or gift you leave for a family or friend when you pass away. You would not get something if you followed a particular group of requirements, laws, convents, or commandments.
God gave the promise to Abraham to provide a way to cover the transgressions and sins of man through the death of his son on the cross.
The aspect that the Apostle Paul keeps driving home is that the law or the following of the law does not guarantee or give you the grace and salvation of our Heavenly Father. The law is not a way to get us to Heaven or to have our dirty deeds washed away but instead reminds us that we are messed up individuals that require the love, grace, and mercy of our Heavenly Father to protect us from ourselves. God in human form takes the pain and suffering to make the slate white as snow.
For example, if your checking account overdrafts one hundred dollars, you are charged a fee by your bank. So instead of paying one hundred dollars to go in the positive, you must pay 140 dollars. There must be a payment to make it right. The bank covering that transaction that makes your account go in the red does not mean that you do not have to pay the money back but instead means that you have been given some grace. That grace still implies that there must be a payment to make it right.
Every time you sin, you go into the red but getting back into the back does not happen because you pray and follow the laws but because you have been the grace and mercy to not have to pay back what caused you to go into the red.
So, as we wrap up this morning, we must keep a few things in the back of our minds as we go through every day.
1.Without God, we are Cursed.
The Apostle Paul mentions incredibly early in our Periscope that there is a curse and that without the gift and grace of our Heavenly Father, we deserve death for our transgressions and sin in this world.
There is no way that we as Humans cannot understand that we are sinful. Whether we are a nun, sweet grandpa, or a child, we all were born into this world, sinning, and surrounded by the stench of selfishness.
No matter if you give all that you want and can afford, if you do not have the gift that only our Heavenly Father gave us by sending his son to die on a cross, then we have nothing.
We live in a world where we think if we work more hours, have a perfect house, have more money, and have more technology, then we will be good. Still, what matter is that God loved us enough to become small tiny baby inside of Mary to go through the nine months of growing and then learning how to walk, potty train, learning how to talk, and interact with people, and then many years later after a short ministry journey he was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, he never sinned and was God in Human Form, still maintaining the rotation of the earth, the stars, and sun but chose to take the punishment and the overdraft fee in my example.
2. Laws are not everything
The following of the law will not give us our Salvation but shows that we deserve death without the gift of mercy and grace from our Heavenly Father. Following any number of laws does not save us from what we deserve. I know that stating laws are not everything is weird, but they were not meant to be the path of salvation but a way to show us that we were messed up. The laws were an action plan to show us that we would be thrown into the very pits of hell without the correct course.
Our Heavenly Father loved us enough to save us from ourselves; all he wants is a relationship with us. So, lift your hands while singing if that is what you are called for, listen to nature, or interact with your church family.
Without the mercy of God, we must pay for our Transgressions.