Galatians 3:27 Immersed into Christ

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Galatians 3:23–29 “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

Text Explained

Introduction: If a young man went into a store and robbed the owner at gun point. That young man was later arrested, charged, and convicted of armed robbery. Then the Judge, with a heart of love for the young man said, “I forgive you. You are free to go.” Would that be Justice? No, it would not. In fact it would not even be merciful because the judge had not been wronged. The shop owner had been wronged and had suffered loss. This would not be fair, it would not be right, it would not be just. As we have been in the book of Deuteronomy, we have begun to see an underlying principle when it comes to justice. Eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, life for life. Justice would be for this young man to pay some type of restitution for the crime he had committed. To let the young man go without paying any kind of restitution would be unjust to shop owner. Scripture very clearly points out that we are guilty of sin/breaking God’s Laws. Ultimately, He is the One who has been wronged and since Justice must be done, it means that our debt of sin must be paid. To simply tell us to go free without some type of fair restitution for sin would be UNjust. Since scripture tells us that fair restitution of breaking God’s Law is death Rom 6:23 “the wages/payment of sin is death,” then the only way for justice to be done is for death to occur. Yet God loved and is merciful and the message of the Gospel is that God made a way for us to be justified. For justice to occur. So as we come to today’s text we are going to consider the question: How is a person justified with God? How can sinners like you and I be made justasifI’d never sinned/broken God’s Law. There seems to be two options for being justified. Works of the Law and Faith in Christ

Can the Law Justify a person? In short, NO! 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but (a person is justified) through faith in Jesus Christ, (Gal 2:16)

In the city of Galatia, there was a church. In that church, there were some new folks who had shown up and they were teaching: Yes you need to believe in Jesus, BUT you ALSO had to keep the Law in order to be saved. They were teaching that you had to have Faith AND DO Works in order to be justified with God. So the Apostle Paul writes to this church in a very forceful way telling them the Purpose of the Law and the Purpose of Faith. All the while he works toward proving this truth: Justification is through faith in Christ and NOT through Obedience/Works of the Law. So then what is the Purpose of the Law

The Purpose of The Law in regards to Justification

1) To Reveal Wrongdoing: One of the purposes of the Law I want us to notice is that it reveals specifically where we fall short. Matthew 22:34–40 “But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” While absolutely true, these two commands are a bit broad. By that I mean, what does it look like to Love God & Love Others? The Law actually goes into more details because we as humans are tremendously skilled at not admitting where we have failed to love God and love others. Whereas, if we look at the 10 Commandments we begin to see the specifics of the greatest command spelled out for us. Thou shalt not steal. Have you ever taken something that wasn’t yours? If yes, you are a thief and failed to love others by taking what belongs to them. Have you hated someone in your heart? If yes, then you Jesus said you have committed murder in your heart. Have you lusted after a man or woman? If yes, then you have committed adultery in your heart and failed to love God and love those people. Have you ever lied, even once? If yes, you are a liar and have failed to perfectly love God. You see the first purpose of the Law I want us to notice is that it reveals, specifically, where we have sinned/broken God’s Law/done wrong. The Law demonstrates in very specific terms where we have sinned, so that we have no excuse. BTW, this does not mean that those who have never read the Law are excused. “Ignorantia juris non excusat” or “Ignorance of the Law is no excuse” is a phrase often quoted. Just because someone does not know the specifics of a law does not mean that they are free to violate that law. In fact God says in Romans 1:18-23 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Ignorance of the Law does not give a person freedom to break the Law. A person is not free to steal or murder just because they were never told not to. The purpose of the Law is to specifically tell us where & how we have sinned. It reveals to us specifically where we have sinned.

2)To Bring Condemnation: “Condemnation is a judicial declaration of guilt, a pronouncement of the liability to the deserved punishment for the breach of morality.” (McCune, R. (2010). A Systematic Theology of Biblical Christianity: The Doctrines of Salvation, the Church, and Last Things (Vol. 3, p. 95). Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.) In other words, let us consider the young man from our earlier illustration. The Law tells the Judge that the Young Man who robbed the store is guilty of his crimes. It is illegal to threaten someone with a weapon in order to steal from them. This is what the Law tells us. The Law says you are guilty of this crime, therefore you are condemned. Quite simply, the Judge officially pronounces what the Law has said. The Purpose of the Law is to bring condemnation. A judicial/legal declaring of guilt. You are guilty of the crime and therefore you deserve/have earned the punishment befitting those crimes. You are condemned.

3) Not to Save/Justify: 10 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”...12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them (works of the Law) shall live by them.” In (Gal 3:10,12) we see that the person who attempts to live by the Law must do so perfectly. To attempt to live by everything that is written in the Law and do those commands perfectly is to fall under the threat of the curse/separation from God. This phrase under the curse is quite literally cursed by God. One who attempts to perfectly live by the Law is under the constant threat of being condemned by God. If a person attempts to be in a right relationship with God/justified with God through hard work at obeying the Law that person is under the threat of being condemned by God. For if that person slips up one time, they are now guilty of all. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. (James 2:10) It is impossible for a person to perfectly keep the whole Law. The Purpose of the Law in regards to Justification is to 1) reveal your wrongdoing, 2) condemn you 3) not to save you. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Some may say the Law is then evil for it imprisons us. No the Law was our Guardian/tutor/guide/disciplinarian. The Law was not evil. Rather the Law was strictly fulfilling its purpose by showing us where we fell short. The Law was not the one doing wrong, we were the ones doing wrong and the Law continually showed us that we were not perfect and we cannot save ourselves through obedience to it. The Law does not allow us to think we are good enough. The Law is not our Savior, but rather the Law is tells us, in no uncertain terms, that you need a Savior. When properly understood, we see the Law pointing us to Christ.

The Purpose of Faith in Christ in regard to Justification

Galatians 3:25-26 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian/Law, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. There is great misunderstanding of faith in our culture. What is faith? Quite simply faith is trusting in someone or something. We have faith that when we sit in these chairs they will not collapse under us. We have faith in the chair to do what it is supposed to do. We do not have faith in a chair to fly us to the moon. It is not simply general faith that justifies, but rather faith in Christ. 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but (is justified) through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Gal 2:16) In order to be Justified by Christ Jesus, you have to Have Faith in Christ Jesus. We are to believe that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, (1Cor 15:3b-4a) We must believe that Christ is who He said He was, the God of the Universe, that died for our sins. He stood in our place, paid the debt of sin, which is death, that we could not pay, that He rose again. We trust in His finished work. We add nothing to it. “For such is the mathematics of grace, that if we add nothing we gain everything, but if add anything, we lose everything.” By believing in Christ, by accepting that free gift of Salvation, we are immersed into Christ. When we believe in Christ, 20 I/we have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I/we who live, but Christ who lives in me/us. And the life I/we now live in the flesh I/we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me/us and gave himself for me/us. (Gal 2:20). I am no longer my own, but I am bought with a price. Christ has redeemed us/bought us back from the condemnation of the Law. (Gal 3:13a) In this way Christ has justified us. The Punishment of the Law has been satisfied. Christ bore that in my place. So now, baptized into Christ/immersed in Christ/fully submerged in Him, I am free and Christ is both Just in punishing my sin AND He has made me justasifI’d never sinned. Let us return to the Young man who committed armed robbery. He is standing before the judge and the Law has him condemned. Let us say that the young man pleads for forgiveness. The Judge cannot let the young man go for that would be unjust. Yet the Judge loves this young man. So the judge says, I will pay his debt, I will accept the condemnation, I will make full restitution for the Law that was broken. In standing in the young man’s place, the judge may both be just in upholding the Law and still allow the young man to go free justasifhe’d never broken the Law.

Text Applied

1) Salvation/Justification: If you have never trusted in Christ to save you from your sin, then you are like the Young man. You are condemned already. The Law has you imprisoned and you await your final judgment. Yet the Judge of All the Earth loved you. He has paid the debt for your sin. You can choose to stand before Him and pay your own debt, or you can seek forgiveness. You can go to the Judge and say I know I am a sinner, I know You died to pay my debt, please forgive me of my sins and save me. I am trusting in You and nothing else. It is not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-7) If you trust in Christ, He will save you and you will be clothed in His righteousness. You will be found in Him. Fully immersed/baptized into Christ. Fully washed, fully buried in the likeness of His death and raised to walk in newness of life, salvation is to trust fully in Christ. If you have never trusted in Christ and Christ alone, apart from works or anything else, let today be that day of your salvation. Let today be the day you are Justified by Faith in Christ.

2) Baptism: Today we get to witness a believer being baptized/immersed. Baptism is that outward showing of the inward truth of salvation. It is the best possible picture of us being fully immersed into Christ. Every part of us is buried with Him, we are fully washed/every part is cleansed, we are IN Christ just as we are fully immersed/baptized/submerged in the water, and we are raised to walk in a new life 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2Cor 5:17) Baptism pictures death, burial, and resurrection, it pictures the full and complete washing away of sin, it pictures our immersion into Christ and it was commanded by Christ in the great commission. Dear Believer, perhaps you are here and you have put your faith in Christ, but you have been reluctant to follow Christ through baptism. I would love to talk with you about that.

3) Good Fruit: I hope I have made the scripture clear in how good works, obedience to Christ does NOT save you. However, Christ does command those who are His to bear good fruit. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:8-10)

The Law To Christ

The Law is our Honest Mentor/Teacher/Friend

The Law Leads to Faith & Faith Is Immersion into Christ

The Law & Christ (Work & Faith)

I can tell my tree is an apple tree b/c it is loaded with apples. the apples do not make the tree an apple tree. B/c it is an apple tree it brings forth apples. Because you are a christian, you are to bring forth good works. I can tell you are a christian by your actions, but your actions do not make you a christian