Galatians 3:19-25 • The Lesson of the Law

Review & Overview

1. Previous Study’s Review

Remember there are 3 sections: Preservation, Explanation, Application

In Ch. 1 & 2 we looked at The Preservation of the Gospel.

In that section we looked at several ways how Paul preserved the Gospel of Grace or how he defended the Gospel of Grace.

We are currently in Ch. 3 dealing with The Explanation of the Gospel of Grace

here in Ch. 3 Paul offers 5 arguments regarding the Gospel of Grace. And so far we have looked at 3 out of the 5 arguments.

And we saw the 1st argument Dealt with the Galatians themselves Vs. 1-5

Paul said, Who Has Bewitched You?

Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by hearing of faith?

2nd Argument Dealt with Abraham and his example Vs. 6-9

Abraham was made righteous by believing God way before the law came into the story line of humanity.

3rd Argument Dealt with The Law Vs. 10-14

Those who are under the law are under a curse because anyone goes to the Law for Righteousness has to keep every single law every single second of the their life.

2. Current Study’s Overview

This brings us to Vs. 19 where we are going to go back and continue the 3rd argument dealing with the Law. Read…

The Title of Today’s Message Is: The Lesson of the Law

Because as you saw in our quick reading of today’s scripture Paul goes back to his 3rd argument dealing with the Law.

Here Paul is explaining the Gospel of Grace by explaining the purpose of the Law.

If God’s promises are not annulled or canceled and they are still valid today in 2024. What is the whole purpose of the Law?

This is what we are going to talk about today.

If your taking notes we want to look at 5 things that involves the Law.

1. The Law Involves Transgression Vs. 19a

The law did not annul, cancel, or add conditions to the promise God made to Abraham, so what was the purpose of the law?

The law was intended to reveal sin in its true character as transgression.

Sin existed before the law, but man did not recognize it as transgression until the law came.

Transgression is the violation of a known law.

The law was given to a nation of sinners. They could never obtain righteousness by keeping it because they did not have the power to obey it.

The law was meant to show men what hopeless sinners they were, so they would cry out to God to save them by His grace.

God’s covenant with Abraham was an unconditional promise of blessing; the law resulted only in cursing.

The law demonstrated the unworthiness of man to receive free and unconditional blessing. If man is to be blessed, it must be by the grace of God.

And notice there, it says till the should come, the Seed as we learned last week is Christ.

Therefore, the law was given as a temporary measure until the coming of Christ.

The promised Abrahamic blessing was to come through Him.

2. The Law Involves Mediation Vs. 19b-20

2.1 The Law Requires Mediators Vs. 19b

A contract between two parties involves a mediator, a go-between.

The law involved two contracting parties—God and Israel. Moses served as go-between (Deut. 5:5).

Deuteronomy 5:5 NKJV

5 I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said:

The angels were God’s messengers in delivering the law to Moses (Deut. 33:2; Ps. 68:17; Acts 7:53; Heb. 2:2).

Deuteronomy 33:2 NKJV

2 And he said: “The Lord came from Sinai, And dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came with ten thousands of saints; From His right hand Came a fiery law for them.

Acts 7:53 NKJV

53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

APPLICATION: The participation of Moses and the angels spoke of distance between God and His people, of a people unfit for His presence.

2.2 The Promise Does Not Require a Mediator Vs. 20

Unconditional Promise vs. Agreement with Conditions - If there is only one party making a promise and nothing is required from the other party, there is no need for a mediator.

An example of this is God's promise to Abraham.

God made an unconditional promise that depended entirely on God and did not require Abraham to do anything in return.

The Role of a Mediator - A mediator is needed when an agreement involves two parties who must both fulfill certain conditions.

The law given to Moses required a mediator because it was an agreement that demanded obedience from the people.

The people had to keep their part of the agreement, which was to follow the law.

Weakness of the Law - The law's weakness was that it required people to obey, but people lacked the power to fully comply with it.

They couldn't keep the law perfectly.

Strength of God's Promise - When God made His promise to Abraham, He was the only one responsible for fulfilling it.

The strength of this promise was that it depended solely on God’s faithfulness and power, not on human ability or obedience.

No mediator was needed for God's promise to Abraham because God did everything Himself.

3. The Law Involves Salvation Vs. 21

The law does not cancel or replace God's promises.

If it were possible for the law to make people perfect and save them, then people could have been saved by following the law.

But God didn’t choose this method because it wasn’t possible.

Why Send Jesus? - God sent Jesus to die for our sins because following the law could never achieve the same result.

If salvation could came through the law, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to die.

And God would not have sent the Son of His love to die for sinners.

The law had plenty of both time and people to demonstrate that it could not save sinners. In this sense it was “weak through the flesh” (Rom. 8:3).

Romans 8:3 NKJV

3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,

So All the law could do was show men their hopelessness and impress on them that salvation could only be by the free grace of God.

4. The Law Involves Incarceration Vs. 22-23a

So the key words here are: confined and under guard…

The law confined all under sin, everyone was kept under guard by the law…

The OT showed that all men are sinners, including those under the law.

It was necessary that man should be 100% convinced of sin, in order that the promise of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

ILLUSTRATION: Imagine being locked in a prison cell with no way out.

The walls are high, and the doors are impenetrable. No matter how hard you try, you cannot escape.

This is the condition the law put us in. It revealed our sin and kept us confined, unable to free ourselves.

APPLICATION: So why was this necessary? It was to make us fully aware of our desperate need for a Savior.

Until we recognize the depth of our sin, we cannot appreciate the magnitude of God's grace.

The law was our strict guardian, teaching us that we cannot achieve salvation through our own efforts.

APPLICATION: Understand this, that apart from Christ, we are like prisoners, unable to break free from the bondage of sin.

This truth should drive us to the foot of the cross, where we find true freedom.

5. The Law Involves Conviction Vs. 23b-25

The law involves conviction, in other words it involves faith…

5.1 Jesus Reveals Faith Vs. 23b

Faith here is the Christian faith. It refers to the era ushered in by the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus, and the preaching of the gospel at Pentecost.

Before that time, the Jews were kept under guard as if in a prison or in custody.

The people under law were thus confined until the glorious news of deliverance from the bondage of the law was announced in the gospel.

5.2 The Law Reveals Jesus Vs. 24-25

The law is pictured as a guardian and guide of children, or as a tutor.

This emphasizes the thought of teaching; the law taught lessons concerning the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and the need for atonement.

Here the word is used to describe one who exercises discipline and general supervision over minors, or the immature.

Has anyone seen the movie or know the story Matilda? My kids love it…

ILLUSTRATION: Imagine a young student struggling in school. His parents hire a strict tutor to help him.

This tutor is relentless, pointing out every mistake, making the student repeat lessons over and over until he gets them right.

The tutor's standards are high, and he never lets the student off the hook for even the smallest error.

It seems harsh, but the tutor's goal is not to be mean but to prepare the student for success.

The student, frustrated by the constant corrections, begins to understand his weaknesses and limitations.

He realizes that he needs help beyond just trying harder.

Eventually, the student graduates from the tutor's rigorous training. He meets a new teacher who is kind and gracious.

This new teacher builds on the foundation the tutor laid but offers support, encouragement, and the promise of success not based on perfection but on a relationship of trust and guidance.

Application: In the same way, the law served as our strict tutor. It pointed out every sin, showed us our shortcomings, and made it clear that we could never meet God's perfect standards on our own.

The law’s purpose was to prepare us, to make us aware of our need for a Savior. It taught us that we are sinners in need of grace.

APPLICATION: But once we recognize our need and come to Christ, we graduate from the law’s rigorous training.

Jesus, our gracious teacher, doesn’t demand perfection from us because He has already fulfilled the law's requirements.

Instead, He offers us a relationship built on faith and trust, leading us into the fullness of life that the strict tutor could only prepare us for.

Challenge: Let this illustration remind us that the law, with all its demands and corrections, was necessary to bring us to Christ.

But now that we have come to faith, we live under the grace and guidance of Jesus.

Embrace this new relationship and allow His grace to transform your life, knowing that the strict tutor has done its job in leading you to the ultimate Teacher.

ENDING….