Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRO: Do you like to argue?

I know a few of you who do… my kids do.

My mother-in-law often tells them that they would argue with a fence post.

Arguing isn’t necessarily a bad thing though.

In fact, a little over 500 years ago, a monk named Martin Luther made an argument that would radically change the direction of the Church… we reference that day as Reformation Day.

It’s providential in a way that today is the anniversary of Reformation Day and we are studying Paul’s argument for salvation by grace through faith… this is the same argument Martin Luther made!

Before we jump into the text, I’d like to give you a brief overview of Reformation Day written by Dr. Stephen Nichols, the president of Reformation Bible College:

A single event on a single day changed the world.

It was October 31, 1517.

Brother Martin, a monk and a scholar, had struggled for years with his church, the church in Rome.

He had been greatly disturbed by an unprecedented indulgence sale.

The story has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Let’s meet the cast.

First, there is the young bishop—too young by church laws—Albert of Mainz.

Not only was he bishop over two bishoprics, he desired an additional archbishopric over Mainz.

This, too, was against church laws.

So Albert appealed to the pope in Rome, Leo X.

From the De Medici family, Leo X greedily allowed his tastes to exceed his financial resources.

Enter the artists and sculptors, Raphael and Michelangelo.

When Albert of Mainz appealed for a papal dispensation, Leo X was ready to deal.

Albert, with the papal blessing, would sell indulgences for past, present, and future sins.

All of this sickened the monk Martin Luther.

Can we buy our way into heaven?

Luther had to speak out.

But why October 31?

November 1 held a special place in the church calendar as All Saints’ Day.

On November 1, 1517, a massive exhibit of newly acquired relics would be on display at Wittenberg, Luther’s home city.

Pilgrims would come from all over, genuflect before the relics, and take hundreds, if not thousands, of years off time in purgatory.

Luther’s soul grew even more vexed.

None of this seemed right.

Martin Luther, a scholar, took quill in hand, dipped it in his inkwell and penned his Ninety-Five Theses on October 31, 1517.

These were intended to spark a debate, to stir some soul-searching among his fellow brothers in the church.

The Ninety-Five Theses sparked far more than a debate.

The Ninety-Five Theses also revealed the church was far beyond rehabilitation.

It needed a reformation.

The church—and the world—would never be the same.

One of Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses simply declares, “The Church’s true treasure is the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

That alone is the meaning of Reformation Day.

The church had lost sight of the gospel because it had long ago papered over the pages of God’s Word with layer upon layer of tradition.

Mere tradition often brings about systems of works, of earning your way back to God.

It was true of the Pharisees, and it was true of medieval Roman Catholicism.

Didn’t Christ Himself say, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light”?

Reformation Day celebrates the joyful beauty of the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ.

What is Reformation Day?

It is the day the light of the gospel broke forth out of darkness.

It was the day that began the Protestant Reformation.

It was a day that led to Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and many other Reformers helping the church find its way back to God’s Word as the only supreme authority for faith and life and leading the church back to the glorious doctrines of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

It kindled the fires of missionary endeavors, it led to hymn writing and congregational singing, and it led to the centrality of the sermon and preaching for the people of God.

It is the celebration of a theological, ecclesiastical, and cultural transformation.

So we celebrate Reformation Day.

This day reminds us to be thankful for our past and to the monk turned Reformer.

What’s more, this day reminds us of our duty, our obligation, to keep the light of the gospel at the center of all we do.

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-is-reformation-day

This was Paul’s point as well in his letter to the Galatians.

If you’ve been studying with us over the past few week, you remember that Paul has called the Galatians to turn from their errant ways.

They had been deceived by the Judaizers who taught them that in order to be saved, that is- counted righteous in God’s sight, one had to adhere to the Jewish Law and the traditions of the Jews.

In last week’s message, we observed Paul present a scriptural argument for salvation by grace through faith.

Today, we are going to explore the expansion of Paul’s argument in the second half of Gal. 3.

This is a logical presentation that solidifies his points and helps us to wrap our minds around how the Gospel applies to our every-day lives beyond the point of salvation.

We will also see what role the Law played and plays in Christianity.

So, if you have a bulletin, I invite you to follow along using the sermon guide on the inside flap.

Our message is entitled “Arguing for Grace.”

Let’s dive in.

The first thing we notice Paul do in his argument is to

Expose Fraud (15-21)

Verses 15-18 give us an illustration of Paul’s argument that the promise of righteousness was not given through adherence to the Law as the Judaizers taught.

Instead, Paul points out that this promise was made to Abraham some 430 years BEFORE the Law was given to Moses.

Anyone who can do math can see where he is going with this.

He likens it to a contract between 2 men- If I make a contract with James and it is ratified or executed, then you, a 3rd party, cannot come in and add additional terms or take away terms that have already been established.

God made a covenant with Abraham - btw this covenant was one that did not require Abraham to ‘do anything.’

If you remember, Abraham simply believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

This covenant was a promise that was given to Abraham and his ‘seed’, that is Christ (v.17).

Therefore, Paul explains that God in His sovereignty already had this salvation thing figured out.

(Amen!!) We CANNOT earn it, and thus it would only be possible through God’s gift of grace.

The bottom line is that the Law was not given to nullify God’s promise.

God never intended the Law to be the source of our salvation.

If that would have been His plan, He would not have sent Jesus to bear our guilt on the cross!

(21)

Now, you might be wondering: Well, what in the world was the Law for if not for righteousness?

Paul knew you’d ask that question, look here at v. 19.

(READ)

Paul says that the Law was added because of transgressions… The word “transgression” literally means “Going aside from”.

We must think about the context here: WHO did God give the Law to?

Moses, right.

WHEN?

After the Israelites were delivered from Egypt where they spent the better part of 200 years immersed in the Pagan Egyptian culture and many of those years they spent as SLAVES.

- They didn’t know anything else.

They thought that being a slave was normal.

They thought that idolatry was normal, sexual perversion was normal.

What they had adopted as normal was not aligned with God’s character.

Thus, says Paul, the Law was given in part to define and detect sin.

ILL: A few years ago, our a/c wasn’t working.

We called a repair man and he said there was a refrigerant leak somewhere… but finding the leak was not possible with the naked eye.

In order to expose the problem, he had to add a dye to the refrigerant.

That’s truly the case with even the laws we have today.

They are intended to show where people go aside from the best agreed upon practices for the community.

The Law helps to reveal God’s character and standard, and show us where we are out of alignment.

This was especially important because the Israelites had been set apart by God to reflect His glory, to be a light unto the nations of the earth.

And this Law was a temporary provision.

Verse 19 says… “until the seed would come...”

Do you know what a temporary provision is? It’s like a spare “donut” tire… or the respirator in the hospital.