Sermon - Galatians 3:15

Good evening everybody - I hope you’re comfortable and have your bibles ready for God’s Word. Tonight we’re continuing in the book of Galatians and looking at Galatians 3:15, So far in Paul’s letter to the church of Galatia we’ve learnt about the true Gospel - that we’re saved, justified and redeemed only by faith in Jesus Christ and not through any works of our own. However, this Gospel was being twisted by the Judiasers - a group of men who were trying to distort the Gospel message through false teaching.

The Judiasers believed - that even if faith in Jesus could get you so far - legalistically keeping God’s law was still the final proof of your salvation, and thus opening up the church to a different Gospel, or a Jesus “+” Gospel that we still see even today. Thankfully though, as we saw in our last sermon, Paul was able to dismiss this false teaching by helping us understand the context of the Gospel properly - by giving us a correct view of it. He did so by establishing and rooting the Gospel firmly in the Old Testament. He writes in Galatians 3:8-9:

“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

You see, Paul’s use of the word Gospel in V8 is clear; that God always had a salvation for us and that salvation plan was always pointing towards the NT and Jesus. the law did not change or replace this as the Judiasers argued - and so, as we come to tonight’s passage we’ll see; in order for Paul to get this message across, he is now having to use human examples to explain the Gospel truth even further. V15.

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.

To give a human example brothers. Here Paul is giving us a teaching example that I’d like us to get our heads around before we continue - as I believe cracking this will help us understand the language Paul uses later on. The example he is using is that of a “man-made covenant” and it is universally agreed that the man-made covenant - in Greek - literally means a human will. So what Paul is saying here is this: even with a human will, no one voids it or changes it once it has been established. But what has this got to do with Jesus?

Well let’s think about this. If it was God who preached the Gospel to Abraham and promised him an eternal inheritance, if it was God who swore upon himself that He would keep His promise, if it was God who fulfilled that promise by dying on the cross and establishing His new covenant, then it was God who signed, sealed and delivered on the eternal inheritance that was due to those who have faith in Him.

You see, God’s promises to Abraham were a covenant - so if we can understand the importance of our own man-made wills, then we shouldn’t ever question the importance and significance of covenants made by God! This is why Paul places the preaching of the Gospel here - this is the beginning of our Gospel as revealed to us by God - God knew what He was promising to Abraham when he made his covenant, and He knew He would have to do to fulfil those promises. V16.

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.

As with any covenant - the detail can sometimes be found in the small print. In this case the argument is between “offsprings” which means many people, and “Offspring” which means one person. If the promised inheritance is for many people (offsprings) then that would place God’s salvation inheritance solely in the blood line of Abraham - namely, the Jews. However, if the promised inheritance is due to 1 person (who is Christ) then the inheritance would be due to Christ. However, I think it’s important that instead of listening to Paul’s translation, and then my teaching of that - lets actually listen to the words of God when He preached this Gospel to Abraham. Remember, Abraham, in faith was about to sacrifice his only son Isaac because he fully trusted in God’s promises. Hear now the Words of God as preached to Abraham in Genesis 22:15 :

And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Can you see what the Angel of the Lord is preaching here on behalf of God? The Gospel! That It’s through Abraham’s offspring - who is Christ - all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Praise be to God! V17:

17 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. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

Verse 17 is Paul’s teaching about covenants applied in context of the law. He’s saying, the law does not void or change God’s covenant made to Abraham. I like how Tim Keller puts it, he says:

“If the law of Moses came as a way of salvation, then it means that God had changed his mind. It would mean that God had decided that we didn’t need a Saviour, and that He would give out His blessing on the basis of performance, not promise. If the law had this function, it would not add to the promise; it would “do away” with it altogether.

Isn’t that true? We can’t have an inheritance promised freely by God, to which he then adds a requirement on top. This completely removes the promise altogether! So then, if Paul has established that the law did not grant us salvation and does not change the promises made to Abraham, then the big question is this: “why then the law?” We find the answer to this in the beginning of verse V19:

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made

Why then the law? The text says it was added BECAUSE of our transgressions. It was added BECAUSE of our sins. Without the law, we wouldn’t see the need for a saviour. We wouldn’t see the need for Christ. We were blind to our sin before the law came and it was the function of the law to make us see it - to make us aware of it. John Stott puts it brilliantly when he says:

“No man has ever appreciated the Gospel until the law has first revealed him to himself. It is only against the inky blackness of the night sky that the stars begin to appear, and it is only against the dark background of sin and judgement that the Gospel shines forth”.

I’ve heard so many people say: “I couldn’t be a Christian, I could never follow all God’s rules and regulations” to which I say exactly! Nobody can follow them - that’s why they were put there in the first place! So you can see who you truly are - who I truly am. We are sinners! And we need saved from somebody who could keep all these rules and regulations, and to who all these rules and regulations pointed to - Jesus Christ. Back to V19

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

At the end of v19 and now going into verse 20 Paul says that the law was put into place by angels and an intermediary. Here Paul is acknowledging the mediation of the law through Moses and the role that Angels played in that. However, V20 isn’t so clear cut. In fact, it has commentators going in twists and turns to understand what is truly meant by: “an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.” FF Bruce - “the commentator’s commentator” did a study and found that there were over 300 hundred interpretations to this passage. However, let’s not get lost in all of these interpretations. Instead let’s focus on the one word: mediator. Let’s remind ourselves what Pastor Ross said about this one word a few weeks ago in our 1 Timothy series; he said this:

“Jesus Christ is the one Mediator. Mediator simply means someone who intervenes to restore peace. Who better to restore peace between God and man, than Jesus, who is both God and man? Jesus mediates, or intervenes to restore peace, by giving himself as a ransom. He takes our place, as the prisoner of sin, and uses Himself as the ransom to be paid. He does so in accordance with the will of the Father”

Praise be to God. V21

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! 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. 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24

Did God change His mind by giving us the law? Paul says “Certainly not!”. However, the law did imprison everything under sin, and with that imprisonment comes condemnation.

Another question I hear from people is this, “I can’t believe that you’re on-board with all the punishments given to people in the Old Testament. That God has stored up all this wrath upon them - that he’s stored it up upon you!” Even fellow Christian brothers and sisters have asked if I actually believe in this stuff.

However, let’s look again at the promises mentioned in verse 22:

But the Scripture *imprisoned* everything under sin, so that the *promise* by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. - those who have faith in Jesus receive the blessings of eternal inheritance, eternal blessings, eternal salvation and are not condemned.

And again in V23

we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

Church, when we - by faith - gave ourselves to Christ, we became co-heirs to the promised inheritance due to Christ; and with that all the blessings that come with it. When we hear ourselves imprisoned and condemned through the law - know this; God has provided us with the keys to salvation! He sent us our help in the form of Jesus Christ. God must punish sin because he is righteous. However, through faith in Jesus Christ we no longer have to be imprisoned by the law. We can be saved by faith in Jesus V24

24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian

Here Paul gives us another teaching example - he likens the law to a guardian. In the 1st Century, Jewish children were often handed over to a guardian for their education. The guardians, or schoolmasters were often trusted elderly slaves who sternly and diligently educated the children. And I must say, that if 1st century Jewish children were anything like I was as a child, then they absolutely hated these guardians and often broke their rules! However, by comparing the law to these elderly taskmasters Paul is saying we must grow up graduate. Stop rebelling against the law and stop being an angsty teenager. Grow up and put your faith in Jesus! Why? V 26

26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Here we come to the climax of God’s salvation plan for us and the true heart of the Gospel. Because Jesus is the ‘offspring” that we learnt about earlier and He is the inheritor of God’s promised blessings to Abraham, then anyone who belongs to Christ through faith is also an heir to the Kingdom of God through faith. We can enjoy this inheritance as legal children of God - we have a new identity - a new status and in turn; an eternal inheritance. We are now children of God; co-heirs to the throne and citizens of Heaven. Praise be to God!

But how do we show our new status? How do we outwardly express our faith - that we are children of God? V27

27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Baptism is our outward expression of our inward faith. When we are baptised, we declare death to our old selves and our old ways, we become buried under the water and when we rise again we do so as new creations. We have been baptised into Christ and we are now children of God - we have now “put on” Christ. I love this metaphor that Paul uses - that we are “wearing” Christ as we would wear a new set of clothes. When we wear Christ we have a new identity in Christ, we have a closeness to Christ, we have comfort in Christ, we have no shame in Christ. He covers our naked sins and makes us acceptable to a Holy God.

But what happens when we don’t put on Christ? Well we’re just left behind in our old selves with our old, naked sins - exposed to condemnation and to death. If, by the Grace of God you are listening to this and you are not a Christian I beg of you - I implore you. Have faith in Jesus and die to “self” you cannot do this alone. We must all be baptised into Christ and we must all “put on” Christ because when we do, this is what happens: V28

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[g] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

LBC when I was baptised, I died to myself. I put on Christ and he became my new identity. When you were baptised, you died to yourself and you “put on” Christ and he became your new identity. When this happens and we all “put on” Christ, verse 28 tells us that we become “one in Christ Jesus”. There is no division in race (Jew nor Greek), there is no division in social standing (neither slave nor free) and there is no division in gender (male and female) for we are all one in Christ Jesus and heirs according to promise. I’ve seen these last, beautiful verses misused by Christians and non-christians alike to affirm all manner of things. Please, I pray in the power of the Holy Spirit and the name of Jesus Christ; do not ever use this verse to affirm an identity other than Christ. We cannot let this verse affirm anything but Christ. For it is only through Christ that we become heirs according to promise. Not through your own works and not through your own identities. The world will tell you that you that you can be anything you want to be - that you can identify as anything you like; “and don’t you dare question somebody’s choice!” Well here’s the thing - Christ loves you. He died for you. He humbled himself and came to earth to bare your sins and save you.

Application

Well now comes our time to apply what we have learnt from today’s passage and to glean the message that Paul is trying to give us here - and I think it’s quite clear; Put on Christ. Whether you’re taking communion tonight, or dragging yourself out of bed tomorrow morning; Put on Christ. Whether you’re on top of the world, or just fed up with life and wondering what to do next; put on Christ.

School run example.

You know. On the school run this week I walked past a teenage mother and daughter who I must’ve walked past countless times. It brakes my heart - they have a lonely air about them - that perhaps life hasn’t quite gone as planned. But this week when they came towards me they were beaming. They looked happy they looked happy to see people like they wanted to stop and talk to people. As they came closer I had to stop, I had to stop and talk to them. Why? Because they had a puppy - it was a beautiful little thing. But as I was walking I was wondering, if this was the first time they had felt happiness on the School run? That they had felt love and acceptance? Our world will tell you this is enough - just find something that makes you happy and embrace it - identify with it. But how many of us have done this? And soon after we forget - we realise these things will never truly give us peace. We should never forget.

Never forget! Who can clothe you, who can comfort you and who can guide you with His spirit; put on Christ. When the world tells you, temps you, sometimes even forces you to be something else DON’T! Don’t even consider removing your identity in Christ. Stand firm in the faith and receive the eternal inheritance that God promised, that He fulfilled, that He died to give you. Now come, “put on” Christ - wash your robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. Let’s pray.

Prayer

Lord, come. Fill us, clothe us and equip us to go out everyday and be a blessing here on Earth. Show us how we might share this wonderful news - the Gospel as preached to Abraham and fulfilled in your death on the cross. We thank you. We love you and we can’t wait to praise your wonderful name for ever and ever. Amen