Galatians 3:15-25

Introduction:

**use object and see if anyone knows what it is**

-The reason I do this is twofold:

1. I do this because in our passage this evening, Paul is going to discuss the Law and what it’s purpose is

-remember, last week we discussed how the Law was never designed to bring salvation

-So what is the purpose of the Law? If it’s not to save, what is it? At this point, perhaps the Galatians (and maybe you) are looking at the Law a little like you were looking at my object I brought up here, wondering what the purpose of such a thing is

-And Paul is going to walk us through a discussion this evening about the Law and how it relates to the Promise of God

But there’s another reason:

2. I do this because if you’re not careful, you may fail to see the significance of this discussion about the Law and the Promise for your own life

-You may be sitting here saying, “Yep, I don’t think I’ve ever wondered one time in my entire life if I have to get circumcised or obey the Mosaic Law to get saved. That might have been good for the Galatians to hear, but why is this important for me? Why do I need to know and understand this discussion of the Law and the Promise that Paul is having.”

-And I want to show you clearly this evening that this discussion that Paul has does indeed have significance in your life today as a Christian

**read text and pray**

1. Paul’s teaching on the Law and Promise meets you with grace in your failures (3:15-18)

-Now, the first question here that Paul addresses when he really dives into his teaching on the Law and the Promise is this:

-Does the giving of the Law to Moses change the Promise made to Abraham in anyway?

“I mean Paul, you keep citing the Promise given to Abraham. That’s good and all! But God gave the Law to Moses too! You can’t just ignore that! Doesn’t that change how we understand the Promise to Abraham?”

“Doesn’t the Law affect or change the Promise in some way?”

-And Paul’s resounding answer is “no!”

-Like any good preacher, Paul gives a vivid illustration:

-In the same way that when a covenant, or contract, or will is agreed upon, there is no changing it or adding to it . . .

**Can you imagine signing the deed on your house, and then 12 years into your mortgage, the bank says that they’re changing the terms of your contract to where you were paying for a $300,000 house, but now, halfway through, they say that you need to pay for the house as if it were a $700,000 house?

-That would be criminal!

-Why? Because you can’t alter the terms of a contract or agreement once it’s already in place!

-In the same way, the Promise God gave to Abraham about His descendent is not subject to change or alteration

-Now, Paul goes down a quick side-trail because he wants to be specific about what this Promise entailed

-So he takes us to the texts in the OT where God affirmed his promise to Abraham

-Let’s look at one of them briefly

Look at Genesis 12:1-7.

This is when God comes to Abram and calls him to leave his home and go to a place God will tell him

Genesis 12:1–7 (NKJV)

Now the Lord had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,

From your family

And from your father’s house,

To a land that I will show you.

I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. . . .

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Now, what Paul is pointing out in that verse, is that in verse 7, the word for “descendants” there in your Bible is actually in the singular. It’s technically “descendant”

-The reason that it’s translated as plural in your Bible is that it can also refer to a group of people

-But Paul goes to the text of the OT and finds it significant that the singular form (“descendant”) is used there

-And he says, “this Promise is referring to Christ.”

-He’s THE Descendant of Abraham through whom God will fulfill ALL His promises !

Now, coming back to his original point about not being able to add to a covenant or agreement, he gets to the heart of his argument in these first 4 verses of our text:

**read 3:17

-This is incredibly important! Does the giving of the Law change the Promise to Abraham? No!!

-The Law came 430 after Abraham, and it does absolutely nothing to change that Promise about both Jew and Gentile being able to receive the blessing of God through Christ!

-How could it?? Abraham wasn’t blessed through keeping the Law! The Law came long after he or any of the Patriarchs were still living

-Nothing can change or alter the promises of God!

-Isn’t that a wonderful thing to know??

Then, Paul goes on to reiterate the point he’s been making for a while now that you can’t receive the blessing of God through the Law and through the Promise

**read verse 18

-You can’t have it both ways!

-If the inheritance, if this blessing can be received by keeping the Law, then it’s clearly not through the gracious promise of God

-It would be through your own effort

-But we know that’s not true because God gave this blessing to Abraham through the Promise, not through keeping the Law which came long after Him

Now, you might be saying, “that’s great Braden, really interesting stuff. But I don’t think I’ve ever really been worried about how the Mosaic Law affects the Promise to Abraham, so how does that affect me? How does that meet me with grace in my failures like you said at the beginning?”

Brothers and sisters, if the Promise of Christ and salvation through Him cannot be altered by the giving of the Law, then it can’t be altered by anything else in your life either

Do you realize that?

-Your failure as a husband today does not annul the promise of God to you of salvation through Jesus Christ

-Your failure as a mother today does not annul the promise of God to you of salvation through Jesus Christ

-Your failure of getting frustrated and angry at work today, and even losing your testimony, does not annul the promise of God to you of salvation through Jesus Christ

-There is NOTHING that can alter the covenant of salvation that God has made with you through Christ if you’re His child

***************************************************

-Isn’t this exactly the assurance we need day in and day out?

-I don’t know about you brothers and sisters, but I need this bedrock of assurance that anchors the soul

-Because I fail often

-I sin often

-I am selfish and fleshly and am bent towards my own will over God’s will

-And in the myriad of failures, I don’t have to become depressed or discouraged

-I don’t have to wonder if God has cast me off, because He’s sick and tired of me

-I can be assured that nothing change or annul or alter the Promise of God to me of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus

-Isn’t that something that you can worship God for today?

**********************************************

So first, we’ve seen this explanation by Paul about the Law and the Promise meets you with grace in your failures

But second, we see that this explanation by Paul about the Law and the Promise . . .

2. Exposes your sinful heart (3:19-20)

-Now remember, as we saw last week, Paul has already established in 3:11-12 that Law was never meant to save anyone

-So if the Law isn’t designed to save anyone, and it doesn’t in anyway alter the Promise of God for salvation through Christ, then what’s the obvious question?

What’s the purpose of the Law??

That’s a great question!

-It’s such a great question, that Paul himself goes ahead and asks it so he can answer it

So what’s the answer?

Galatians 3:19 (NKJV)

What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made;

Paul gives an astounding answer to this question: the Law was actually added to show how sinful we really are

-You see, if we didn’t have the Law of God, and didn’t have the myriad of OT accounts of Israel failing to keep the Law, we might be tempted to think that we as humans aren’t all that bad . . . at least most of us aren’t that bad

-But God actually gives the Law in order to show how bad we really are

-Paul uses the word “transgression”, which is a word that describes breaking the law

-It reveals how sinful we actually are, but it’s not designed to fix the problem

-In this sense, the Law is unique because it’s not actually the problem or the solution

**Thermostat on the wall; come home and throw it into the woods**

-Why is that a really stupid thing to do?

-Because the thermostat is not the problem, nor is it the solution

-The thermostat does not cause my house to be really hot

-Nor is that thermostat able to solve the problem in anyway

-The whole purpose of that thermostat is simply to reveal the temperature of the house

Romans 3:19–20 NKJV

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

-And brothers and sisters, that is the purpose of the Law!

-The Law doesn’t make us more sinful. However, it does reveal how sinful we have always been

-It gives us a Law to transgress, revealing how rebellious we as human beings have always been

-This is what Paul is saying in Romans . . .

Romans 5:20 (NKJV)

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.

**Imagine that you are working in nursery, and you are telling your friend standing nearby how sinful these children can be, even at such a young age

-Your friend doesn’t believe you, so you decide to demonstrate

-You hold up a plastic red ball and tell all the 2-3 year olds: “You all can play with any toy you want, but none of you are allowed to play with this ball. Don’t touch it at all. Just leave it where it’s at.”

-With that, you place the red ball in the middle of the nursery

-What’s going to happen? All of those children will go to that red ball and try to get it?

-Did you make those children more sinful by your command?

-No, you simply revealed how sinful they are by putting a Law in place for them to transgress

The Law reveals how sinful we are; it gives us something to transgress

And the Law was meant to fulfill this purpose until Christ came to bring the Promise of God to fulfillment

Now, before we move on to apply this particular section, we need to address the end of 19 and verse 20.

Galatians 3:19–20 (NKJV)

and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

This verse and a half are some of the most puzzling verses of anything Paul has written

-One commentator suggested there are about 250-300 possible interpretations put forth about this verse.

I am going to give you my interpretation of this verse, but it’s an interpretation that I hold with a certain degree of uncertainty and humility

-I think Paul is giving here another reason that the Promise is superior to the Law

-the Law was given through angels and through Moses as a Mediator

-But the promise was given directly from God to Abraham

-Therefore, the Law is a contract or covenant between two parties — God and Israel. And Israel was never able to live up to their half of the contract

-The Promise given through Abraham did not have a mediator. The promise depends upon God alone, not on something Abraham was going to have to do.

Now, let’s think through how to apply this passage

-Brothers and sisters, we ought to be thankful for God’s Law and how it reveals our sin

-To resent God’s Law would be like resenting your speedometer for revealing the fact that you are speeding

-It would be like resenting a tornado warning for alerting you that there is a coming tornado

-We need the Law as a reminder that God is infinitely holy and just and good and we are not

-Without the Law revealing our sin, we may be prone to think that we are far more righteous and good and loving than we actually are

-We need the reminder that we are sinful and in desperate need of Christ

-It was, at least in part, your recognition of your sin that opened your eyes to the need for forgiveness through Christ

-And it is that same understanding that sticks with you even today and reminds you that you’re not better than anyone else apart from Christ

So we’ve seen that Paul’s explanation of the Law and the Promise meets you with grace in your failures, it exposes your sinful heart, and finally . . .

3. It prepares you for the grace of Christ (3:21-25)

-If the Law was added to show us how sinful we are and to give us something to transgress, then there’s a pretty serious question that might be asked

“Is the Law against the promises of God?”

-It’s a great question!

We know that God hates sin. We know that the Law doesn’t change the promise of grace

-So is the Law working against the promise of God for salvation?

-And Paul answers this very strongly: absolutely not!

**3:21-22

-if there was a law that could give life, then we would be able to say with the Judaizers that yes, you can gain righteousness through the Law!

-But we already know that’s not the case

-Instead, we learn from the Scriptures that we’re all under sin

-Every single person is locked in the jail cell of transgression and iniquity, waiting for Christ to come and set those free who believe

And who’s the guard of this prison cell?

-It’s the Law

**vs. 23

-The Law makes sure to keep everyone in the jail cell of sin, enforcing the fact that no one can escape or get out based on their own efforts

-He paces in front of the cell, constantly reminding of the impossibility of ever getting out

-No amount of effort or will can ever break the chains and open the door

-But this guard, the Law, is waiting for something

-He’s waiting for the coming Messiah to come, born of a virgin, to spring open the door for all those who would believe in the Son of God!

-This is why the Apostle John would close his Gospel with the words:

John 20:30–31 NKJV

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

Paul shifts the analogy slightly in verses 24-25

Galatians 3:24–25 NKJV

Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

-The word “tutor” probably isn’t a great translation

-The idea has more to do with a guardian

-Back in this culture, when a child was young, the guardian was usually a household servant who was responsible for taking care of the child — things like taking him to school and watching over him as he grew up

-It was almost like a baby-sitter

-the purpose of the guardian was to bring the child to a place of maturity to where they would no longer need their guardian

-The guardian was preparing them for something better

-He was pointing the child he was watching to a better way of life where the guarding was no longer needed

-And the Law prepares people for Christ

-This was true in the history of redemption, where the Law was given for hundreds of years to prepare Israel for their Messiah

-And this is true on an individual level too

-Before salvation, the Law’s purpose is to bring us to a place where we recognize how sinful we are

-The Law is constantly showing us how depraved we are whenever we lie, or steal, or slander, or hurt others, or choose sexual sins, or covet what others have

-The Law is meant to point us to the reality that we desperately need something else, something better

-And then, Christ enters the life of a believer by faith!

-And what happens? The Law goes away

-Because it’s sinful or harmful?

-No

-Because it’s served its purpose

-It has brought us to Christ by faith, and we can praise God and thank God for His wisdom in giving us the Law as our guardian to transport us safely to salvation by grace through faith in Christ

Conclusion

So brothers and sisters, I hope you see the importance of this teaching on the Law and the Promise in your own life!

1. This teaching meets you with grace in your failures

-On your worst days of sin and selfishness, nothing can alter or cancel the promise of God’s salvation to you through faith in Christ.

2. This teaching exposes your sinful heart

-The Law is the thermostat the reveals how sinful we are

-The Law create opportunities to transgress, showing us how sinful and depraved we really are

3. This teaching shows you how the Law leads you to Christ

-The Law was our guardian, our babysitter, keeping us and preparing us for faith in Christ

**In 1946, one of the most famous Christmas movies of all-time was released

-It was nominated for 5 academy awards, and it still plays frequently on TV in December, probably making you cry

-It’s a movie starring Jimmy Stewart, entitled, “It’s a Wonderful Life”

-The movie follows the life of a man named George Bailey who’s a really nice guy, always looking out for others and sacrificing for the good of his community

-However, he falls upon rough times, and becomes so desperate that he is considering killing himself

-In order to help, an Angel named Clarence is sent to help George

-Clarence has one purpose: to show George that his life is not worthless and a failure. To show George that his life is full of blessings and one worth living

-Clarence sets about to accomplish this by showing George the how the world would be if George had never lived

-How George’s brother would have died at an early age without George there to save him from drowning

-How his wife would have ended up an old maid without him there to marry her

-How the town he lives in would be a much more seedy and dangerous place without him there to help the community

-In the end, George realizes that his life has been wonderful and is still worth living

-And at the end, he finds himself surrounded by all of his friends and family, enjoying Christmas all together

-However, there’s one person missing from the gathering at the end: it’s Clarence

-For you see, Clarence had accomplished exactly what he had set out to do: to lead George back to the wonderful life he had

-And when his purpose was fulfilled, Clarence disappeared, never to be seen again, not because he was bad or evil or unimportant . . . but because he had accomplished exactly what he had set out to do

Brothers and sisters, for us as Christians, the Law has been done away with

-Not because it is bad or evil or unimportant, but because it accomplished exactly what God created it to do

-To bring us to Christ, who is the end of the Law for all who believe