The sermon by Scott Brown explores the purpose of the law as outlined in Galatians 3:19-4:7. The law was introduced because of human transgressions and serves as a guide to bring people to Christ, highlighting the impossibility of justifying oneself through the law alone. It acts as a tutor, preparing individuals for the faith to be revealed in Jesus, through whom believers are justified and become sons of God. The law is not contrary to God's promises but works in harmony with them, showing humans their need for faith and redemption. The sermon emphasizes that while the law confines and guards, it leads to freedom and sonship in Christ. The ceremonial aspects of the law were fulfilled in Christ, but the moral law remains relevant, guiding believers to righteousness. The sermon also discusses how the law reveals human sinfulness, making one aware of the need for a Savior, and how faith in Christ results in spiritual adoption and unity among believers, transcending racial, social, and gender distinctions.

So we'll be reading Galatians 3.19 through 4.7. What purpose does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for only one, but God is one.

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.

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. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 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 neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child does not differ at all from a slave, though he is a master of all, but is under the guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

Even so, when we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. As because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. How about that?

How about that? Sorry. It always strikes me when someone can contract a serious illness and they need the help of a real professional to heal them for some kind of major surgery or something, they often say, my doctor is the best doctor in the nation. I hear that all the time, and it always strikes me. But I just want to say that we have here before us the great physician, the doctor that brings all the right remedies to us.

One of those remedies is the law. And here the great physician is very wise. He brings a very, very diverse medicine to mankind. And it is the best medicine. He's the best doctor in the country, for sure.

And what we find here at the beginning of this text in Galatians 3 in verse 19 is a question. The Apostle Paul opens with a question. And I like this question. He answers his own question. What a beautiful way to debate.

You can ask the question and answer it. That's what the Apostle Paul does. And so he asked this question and then answers it in multiple ways. And by the time we get to the end of this text, as we work our way through it, we will see how kind God is to terrify us with the law. Because, as you've already read, though the law is terrifying and though the law kills, it makes you a son.

And what a wonderful blessing it is that we see in this passage. We need to acknowledge that there are different things that are said about the purposes and the natures of the law. And you know in in 1 Timothy, chapter 1, the apostle Paul said that the law is good if you use it lawfully. He also says that the law killed him. He says in Romans chapter 3 that whatever the law says, it says to stop your mouth.

Yeah, Peter calls the law a yoke on your neck. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6, we learn that the letter of the law kills. And in Romans 8, 2, It's the ministry of sin and death. Did Paul hate the law? Did Peter hate the law by saying all those things?

Certainly not. God forbid, to use the words that the Apostle Paul uses often when someone concludes that he has a bad rap on the law, because the Apostle Paul also said that the law is holy, just, and good. The Bible tells us that there are many purposes of the law. In Psalm chapter 1, one purpose of the law is that it's designed to make you prosper. In Psalm 19, it has its purpose in making wise the simple.

In 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, it says that it's profitable for everything. In 2nd Timothy, I mean in Psalm 119 It says that the law is designed to make you wiser than your teachers. And it's designed to make you pure if you're a young man. And it says that it's designed to make you happy. Psalm 19 says in verse 1, 19, 24, says that it's designed to be your counselor, that it is designed to enlarge your heart, in verse 32, that it's designed to comfort you in affliction, in verse 50, that it's designed to be your song in the night, verse 54, that it's better than 10, 000 coins of silver, that it'll make you wiser than your enemies and wiser than your teachers and wiser than the ancients in verses 98 to 100.

It says that the law will redeem you from the oppression of man. Let's make sure that as we think about the law, we don't take one verse out of context and then kick the rest of it over the wall, which is what modern minds are doing in the church today, because they've not sought the whole counsel of God on the matter. They've tried to dice the word of God up and make everything separate, meaning for this or that, rather than a unity. And David said, how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Oh, how I love thy law.

It is my meditation all the day. At the same time, Paul said that the Law is not made for a righteous person, and please don't think this is contradictory, he's just giving you a different side. But it's for the lawless, the unsubordinate, for the ungodly, for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers. And if there's any other thing contrary to sound doctrine, the law should be used for that. That's in 1 Timothy 1, 8, where Paul said, the law is good if it's used lawfully.

And then he says all those things that I just read. So what we find here is that the Apostle Paul is asking this question in verse 19. And then he's answering it by giving a number of colorful additions to our own understanding of the law of God. Now, so What Paul says about the law here, these many statements also need to be understood in the whole context of the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 3, of course, starts out with a really jarring statement.

Oh, Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth? This stunning language, this stabbing language that he uses all through the book, I am afraid for you. I'm astonished that you've been removed from Christ. Paul is coming with this very jarring and difficult language, and the purpose of the language is to wake us up. Now I'm going to give you three purposes that I can discern from this book, why Paul would be so urgent in his appeals here.

I'm going to give you three reasons for this, from this chapter. First, it's written to wake us up to one of the most important lessons of life. Galatians 3 is written to help us to be jarred awake, to realize that we are completely hopeless without Christ and His righteousness. And also that you're not who you think you are. You think you're a good person.

You think that you can obey the law. Not true. You can't. You've never been able to obey the law for a day in your whole life. And if you think that your righteousness is based on your being able to keep the law, you can forget that.

Galatians chapter 3 is written to teach us this lesson. You're not who you think you are, you're who God declares you to be. And you are wretchedly in sin and helpless, hopeless, without the righteousness of Christ. Yes, you can be a better husband. Yes, you can be a better wife and a better boy or a better girl.

It gets you nowhere regarding salvation. Yes, God has commanded you to be a better husband. He has commanded you to be a better wife. He has commanded you to be a better boy. But if you think you're getting better in one area or another, well by God's favor, you are sorely mistaken.

So Galatians 3 is written to teach us a lesson about life, a really important lesson about our righteousness. Secondly, it teaches us that no matter how good you think you are, if you don't have faith you're a condemned sinner because the just shall live by faith. And then thirdly, that It is impossible to justify yourself before God. You cannot justify yourself by being more generous or by being more helpful. It cannot happen.

You will not be justified that way. So Galatians 3 is here to show us the absolute absurdity of trying to obtain God's favor by obeying God's laws. We don't get His favor that way. We can't obey enough. How righteous do you need to be to get God's favor?

Well, human beings are not capable of being righteous enough. Now, if you could keep the whole law, then it would justify you, if you could. But you can't. And that's the point of chapter 3. And so this whole idea, as Paul is working it out in verses 1 through 5, we saw that self-justification is impossible.

And the Apostle Paul pounds us with five questions to prove how absurd. They're not questions that require any thought at all. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Absolutely not. They're all questions like that.

They're sort of, in some way, they're kind of dumb questions. They're rhetorical questions that are obvious to everyone, you know. And so in verses 1 through 5, he asks these questions to try to strip away all hope of having our own righteousness. And then he comes in verse 6, 6 through 9, and then he gives us an example, the example of Abraham, and he says, Abraham was justified by faith. The gospel was preached to Abraham in 2000 BC, And every person is saved the same way that Abraham was saved.

People were never saved by the law. They were only saved by faith. And then you pick it up in verses 10 through 18, and you see that Christ has rescued us, he's redeemed us from the curses of the law. And Paul uses, he uses everybody he can get to prove this. He uses the prophets, he goes to Habakkuk chapter 2, and he says, the just shall live by faith.

And then he goes to Moses in Leviticus chapter 19 and he says Moses you know contradicts this idea in Leviticus that you can be justified by your works and And then he goes to the cross in verse 13. He says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. He's quoting Deuteronomy. So here the apostle Paul, he quotes Leviticus, he quotes the prophets, and he quotes Moses himself, the law giver, to prove that you cannot be justified by the works of the law. In verse 14, he gives the example of Abraham again.

Abraham keeps coming up. Abraham is going to keep coming up too as well as we'll see. And so what Paul does to prove this point is that he gives us a span of 2, 000 years of history. You have to know the history of redemption to understand what the Apostle Paul is saying. Please parents teach your children that Abraham lived in 2000 BC, that the law was given around 1445 BC, that David lived in 1000 BC, that the temple was destroyed in 586 BC, and Jesus Christ came at the dawn of the new era.

And the temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Those are really important. You have to understand the history of redemption in order to understand the apostle Paul. Peter said about Paul, Paul is really hard to understand. Peter said that about his brother, and he is.

And what you'll find here in this text, as I'm sure you already have in trying to read it, is that you have to think very carefully about it. You have to think comprehensively as much as you can. You have to know the Word of God in order to understand what he is saying here. Why would God do that? Because he desires, he desires that our minds would be in conformity to his.

He desires that we would set all of our thoughts upon God. And how do we do that? We do that by pursuing Him. And so we often don't understand things because we've not studied the Scriptures. And What we find here is that here the Apostle Paul has been appointed as Ananias the High Priest, a chosen vessel to declare the doctrine of justification by faith.

And so Here we find this great question in verse 19. What purpose then does the law serve? Now I've just given you sort of a panorama of what the Bible says about the law. But now we get more. And I've identified eight things here out of this passage that you learn about the purpose or even the nature of the law.

It's very rich. Let your mind rest on these things. They're really wonderful. First of all, it was added because of transgressions. What purpose does the law serve?

It was added because of transgressions. So what this means that it was added because of the sinfulness of man and the sinfulness of sin. The language that the apostle Paul uses is kind of like a roadway that comes in and joins a main road. It's as if justification by faith, as communicated to Abraham in 2000 BC in Genesis 12, is the mainstream. It's the mainstream.

And God has introduced another stream called the law into it. It was added. That's the idea that he's giving here. And not that it was new necessarily, but it's something that has sort of come in from the side. We'll learn that it was not new at all.

It was not new to Moses, and it was not new to Abraham, but that it was actually very clear with Adam himself. So, but it pictures this idea of the law coming in because of transgression, to sort of intervene, to come and take care of something that was wrong in mankind. And so what the law did is it convicted the heart. It calibrated the heart regarding the holiness of God, regarding the will of God. It counteracted a seared conscience.

Often as we sin, we become insensible to it. And the law comes to jab us, to make us bleed so that we can heal. A good physician often has to make you bleed before you can heal and That's what this physician is doing. The law has come as a physician, as a tool of the great physician to counteract the searing of our consciences. And you know, The law, as I think it was Jason pointed out in our men's Bible study on Tuesday, that the law was stone.

It was something solid. It was something that you could calibrate to. It was something that cannot be changed. It's like a caliber of the soul. It's like the Rosetta Stone that tells you how to read everything else that's going on in the world.

That's what I love about the Word of God. It shows you who you are. It helps you to unpack and discern what the great political movements are doing and saying. It helps to see what is happening in education or business or philosophy. It's the Rosetta Stone that helps you to interpret everything.

And that's what the law does. It's added because of transgressions. Mankind is sinful. It's straying. It's going off in the wrong direction.

And so it's added because of transgressions. And then secondly, it was fulfilled in Christ. The law was fulfilled in Christ. Not only was it added because of transgressions and to expose them, but it was fulfilled in Christ. It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come, whom the promise was made, and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.

So he says that it was added till the seed should come. In other words, that there would be some kind of end or change in it and That's absolutely true at the Apostle Paul's teaching. And this is difficult to understand unless you read every other thing that's said about the law of God in the Word of God. If you take it to mean that It was added because of transgressions, and then the seed became totally irrelevant. Then you find yourself confused, you're reeling, you're dizzy, because there are so many other texts, many of them I just read a couple of minutes ago, that if you interpret it that way, it makes it completely impossible to understand.

So here, Paul is saying that something ended and abolished, till the seed shall come. So then we have to ask what was abolished? What was abolished when Christ came? Now notice Paul is very specific here. He's talking about the law that came 430 years after Abraham.

Okay? He's talking about the specific giving of the law at Mount Sinai. And what was given at Mount Sinai that was clearly abolished, the ceremonial law. I don't think you can understand this text at all unless you interpret it that he revoked the ceremonial law. He gave the ceremonial law on Mount Sinai.

But if you say that he revoked the moral law, then you make Paul and Jesus an idiot. You have to erase their words and take them out of the Bible. But if you say that it was the ceremonial law, then it's very clear, because Christ came and was the fulfillment and the abolisher of the entire ceremonial law. Not that the ceremonial law didn't have anything to teach us. It always has something to teach us.

Because Paul says, when the law is read and you are converted, the veil comes off and you see Christ and you become like Christ. So the ceremonial law is good, certainly not for salvation, but it does show you Christ. And when you read it, you will see Jesus Christ in it, as 2 Corinthians chapter 3 so clearly says. So the law he's talking about is the ceremonial law given at Mount Sinai that Christ fulfilled and the purpose of the ceremonial law was what? The purpose of the ceremonial law was to point to Christ's sacrificial death on the cross.

That was the whole purpose of the ceremonial law. Paul uses the law in different ways in his writings. Sometimes it's obvious he's talking about the ceremonial law. Sometimes he's talking about the moral law. Sometimes he's talking about the entire Old Testament, and sometimes he's talking about the Ten Commandments.

So we have to look at the context to see what he's talking about. In this context, he's talking to people who are saying that if you are circumcised and if you're a good boy, then you can be saved. And he's saying no, the ceremonial law has been lifted and Christ fulfills the ceremonial law. So you know, when we were here together last Sunday night, Gary Orr gave a message on Matthew chapter 5, 17-20, and he said something that was so well said. He said, Jesus makes it very clear that you can know when the law disappears.

You can know when you don't see the heavens anymore and there are no children in it. There are no children there, because that's what Matthew 5, 17, 20 says. That's how you can know. But the ceremonial law was revoked by Christ. But Let's also just make it very clear that the moral law existed long before Moses.

Long before Moses. You find it in... You find the law of the Sabbath in Genesis chapter 1. In 4000 BC, you find the law regarding murder in Genesis chapter 9. You find the law of adultery in various places.

You find the fourth commandment in Genesis 2, 3 and Exodus 16. You find the fifth commandment in Genesis 37, verse 10. You find the sixth commandment in Genesis 4, 3 through 15. You find the seventh commandment in Genesis 12, 17. You find the eighth commandment in Genesis 31 verse 30.

You find the ninth commandment in Genesis 27-12. You find the tenth commandment in Genesis 6-2. So the moral law is something that existed from the time mankind was on the earth. And then Moses brought it all together and codified it in a very beautiful and clear way to expand on, to show the nuances, to help, to give us examples, to know what the principles of the law were. And then Jesus came and even took it further.

Jesus didn't nullify the law. He supersized the law in many ways. He took the law of adultery and said, no, it's in your heart. He took the law regarding murder and said, no, if you hate your brother you're a murderer. Jesus didn't didn't take the law and say oh no take don't don't pay attention to that.

Jesus said take the law and meditate on it and see how it applies to everything. So this is this this statement is not a statement that abrogates the moral law of God. Now if you interpret this verse to mean that the law is now no longer helpful to you, that all you need is the Spirit of God, then you are forced. You're forced into a box canyon. And it's a box canyon where you can only go one way.

You can reject the doctrine of scripture, that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. What scripture was Paul talking about? He was talking about the whole Old Testament. You're forced into abrogating 2 Timothy 3.16 and 17 and wife and expunging it from your Bible. And you also reject the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

For the Lord Jesus Christ said, I came not, I came not to abolish but to fulfill. So we have to understand the context and the terms of Scripture in order to understand this verse. What I've been referring to in Jesus, he says, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For Assuredly I say, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass away from the law until all is fulfilled.

Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." And that's why Paul could say, I delight in the law of God in Romans 722. I delight in it, in my inward man. We'll learn more about that.

Why did he delight in it, in his inward man? We'll learn the secret and the key to that in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 at the end of the chapter, which will be the subject of our entire message next Sunday when Dan Horne comes and preaches on this text. So you have to reject the way Paul uses the law in all of his writings in order to interpret this as abrogating every single aspect of the moral law. Scripture won't let you be that simplistic. It's just not that simple.

You have to read the way that the apostle Paul uses the law. People come to me and say, What's your view of the law? I mean, I want to say, I hope to have the same approach to the law that Paul did. So let's read this verse. How did he approach the law?

I hope to have the same approach that Jesus did. See how Jesus used the law in Galatians itself. In the last section in Galatians, we were constantly going back to the Old Testament. Because Paul is going back to Deuteronomy 21. He's going back to Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 4.

He's going back to Leviticus 19. I want to use the law that way. And so should you. And you should appeal to your brothers that they should use the law the same way the Apostle Paul did and the Lord Jesus Christ did. And this nonsense that I don't need it anymore is completely different than the Apostle Paul thought he needed it.

So let's do the same thing. Charles Simeon said this on the law, in order to establish the perpetuity of the law as a rule of life, let it be remembered that the law is a perfect transcript of the mind of God. It necessarily arises out of the relation which we bear to him and each other. John Calvin said, there were two things which he had undertaken to prove here in Galatians 3. That the law is a preparation for Christ and that it is temporal.

But here the question is put, is the law so abolished that we have nothing to do with it? You see how Calvin even wrestles with this nuance, this difficulty that we're always faced with. Let me read it again. But the question must be put again. Is the law so abolished, is it so abolished that we have nothing to do with it?

I answer, the law, so far as it is a rule of life, a bridle to keep us in the fear of the Lord, a spur to correct the sluggishness of our flesh, so far in short, as is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that believers may be instructed in every good work. This law is as much enforced as ever and remains untouched. So do you understand the nuance? Calvin can say on the one hand that the law was temporal and a preparation to Christ. So you can say that with all of your heart and rest your whole weight on it.

It was temporal and a preparation for Christ, but regarding its applicability in life, It's absolutely applicable everywhere. Those are the two things you have to hold. Let's don't be so simplistic here. God does not give you something so simple. He gives you something in tension.

It's like the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. Man acts and God is sovereign. Now you put those two together. You have to hold them together. J.I.

Packer calls that an antinomy. Two things, Seemingly contradictory, but they're not. And I think you have to do the same thing with the teaching on the law. It seems contradictory, but it can't be, because all the statements don't allow it to be. Simeon continues, that the law is still a rule of duty to the people of God, appears from that injunction of St.

Paul in the 13th chapter of Romans. He's going to Romans 13. Oh, no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another has fulfilled the law. Then, specifying the duties contained in the second table of the law as essential constituents of true love, he adds, love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law, unquote.

Consequently, it is our duty to exercise love. It is our duty to fulfill the law which is in all aspects identified in love. For instead of the law being superseded by the Lord Jesus Christ, it is in hand more imperative than ever and comes to us with tenfold obligations. So do you see the nuances and difficulties here? I think in another way they are easy to understand.

In the same way that we can be refreshed by the doctrine of the sovereignty of God and pray that we might, pray that we might fulfill all of God's commandments. We can hold these two things in tension. And then the third purpose of the law. It is in harmony with God's purposes. It is in harmony with God's purposes.

I'm sorry. It is in harmony with the promises of God. Verse 21. It is in harmony with the promises of God. Now, Paul says, is the law then against the promises of God?

Certainly not. And again, he uses that incredibly emphatic term that you would use to sort of pound the table with. No! He does that quite regularly. Typically, he uses it when people want to wipe the law away.

He pounds the table with this, certainly not, may it never be. And he does it here again. And what he's saying here is that the promises were always in agreement with the law in this sense. They work hand in hand. The promises of God that man is justified by faith is living in perfect complementarity with the law that condemns you as a sinner.

You're condemned as a sinner, You are told that you must obey every law. You know you can't and so your only hope is to be justified by faith. And that's how the law and faith work together. So it's not contrary. It's not against the promises of God.

And we have to be careful to see the tag team rhythm that they have, that they work together and they serve different purposes. And so even though the Apostle Paul says the law is not of faith, they still are not contradictory to one another. They still work together. And then the fourth, the fourth purpose of the law, or the fourth quality of the law, it does not give life. It does not give life.

And it can only mean that it doesn't give eternal life. Because all over scripture we know that it does give life. In fact, it's like a river of water of life. In fact, when you meditate on it and you obey it, It brings forth fruit in its season. So it is life.

It's life on earth, but it's not life on heaven. Life in heaven. It doesn't buy you favor of God with God. It doesn't earn your place in the kingdom of heaven. But it does give light and life to the believer.

But he says it does not give life. For If there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. He's talking about eternal life. If that kind of life, the law can never give. That's why Jesus said in John 6, it is the spirit who gives life.

The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. And here I think Jesus is talking actually about both. In one sentence, he's bringing together eternal life and then the blessings of life. The blessings in Deuteronomy and the cursings of Deuteronomy are similar but they're also different.

The blessings have much to do about life in this earth. The cursings have something to do with life on this earth and they both have to do with heavenly things as well. I believe that they have a dual meaning. That the curses are for the curse they they curse you here and they throw you into hell they bless you here and it's the righteousness of God that takes you to heaven so the law does does not give life, not eternal life anyway. And then the law confines unbelievers under sin, verse 22.

The fifth thing that the law does is it confines unbelievers under sin. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. So here's this idea of the law confining you, sort of in a sense imprisoning you. You know, the law so terrifies you for its consequences, that it constrains you, and it teaches you to hate sin or want to avoid it. One of the things I am so thankful for as a young man, God gave me, before I was converted, I was fearful of certain things.

I was fearful of being with certain young ladies. It just terrified me. And it was the law of God working in my heart before I was converted that kept me away from evil women. I was not a believer at all. But God placed a fear in my heart that I wouldn't sin in that way.

And I had a terror of it. And so he preserved me from that in my youth. The law was such a blessing, but it was a prison. It just terrified me. It didn't give me any help or life.

It just kept me from chopping my own head off. And that's what he's saying here, is that it constrains you. The law is like a jail keeper that keeps you from destruction. You know, when youth want to throw off the bonds of the law of God, they need to know that they're on the path of their own destruction. That the law of God is there for you even if you do not believe.

Even if you're not a believer here today as a young person or an old person, Obey the law of God because it will keep you hemmed in, it will constrain you, it will confine you in a good way that will be a blessing to you. If you ever are converted, you'll look back and be so thankful that you are terrified by the law of God. And so the law keeps us in prison until we come to Christ. It's like a jail keeper that protects us from destruction. It keeps us from running wild in the world.

And it holds us in so that our passions are constrained. Gigi Finley says this. The law was all the while standing guard over its subjects, watching and checking every attempt to escape, but intending to hand the mover in due time to the charge of faith. The law posts its ordinances like so many sentinels around the prisoner's cell. The cordon is complete.

He tries again and again to break out. The iron circle will not yield. The day of faith approaches. It dawned long ago in Abraham's promise. Even now it shines into his dungeon, and he hears the word of Jesus, thy sins are forgiven thee, go free.

Law, the stern jailer, has after all been a good friend. If it has reserved for him this, it prevents the sinner from escaping to a futile and elusive freedom. Oh that, Oh that we had listened to the law more when we were young. Oh that we'd listened and stopped our drug abuse, our licentiousness. Oh that if we had only listened, where would we be today?

We know that's so true. But at the same time we hear the voice of Jesus Christ, you cannot be justified by keeping that law. You're free, brother. Enter into my rest. Come out of the prison and I'll save you.

And you'll be mine and I'll put a new heart in you and I'll justify you by your faith alone because you never could be judged saved by your law keeping but you But you were given the law to keep you in its prison so that you wouldn't destroy your life. Isn't it amazing how God is merciful? He gives us the law in our pre-conversion state, and then He gives us His grace and His Spirit afterward. And He does not give up on us. And then in verse 23, He really continues and flourishes the same sense, that it keeps unbelievers under guard.

Not only that before faith came we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which afterward be revealed. The word kept is a word, it's a very strong word, a watcher in advance to protect. The emphasis is upon constraint and we were kept. First Corinthians 10, please read First Corinthians 10. If someone asks you how should we use the law, turn to 1 Corinthians 10.

1 Corinthians 10 will say that we should use the law to teach us not to be idolaters. And that's a good example. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 is giving an example of how this works. That the idolatries in the wilderness, the idolatries in Israel are exposed in the Old Testament. Read it so you'll know, so you will see what an idolater you are.

That's what he's saying there. And that's the guardianship, the being kept by the law. To be kept from the idolatries of the Gentiles is one of the marvelous things of the law. And to be kept and governed in our worship and our discipline and our government and our lifestyle To keep the false religions out to to to destroy everything raised up against Christ The law is for that for the unconverted person Spurgeon says the law is meant to lead the sinner to Christ. It's the black dog to fetch the sheep to the shepherd.

It's the burning heat which drives the traveler to the shadow of the great rock in the weary land. He says, it shows us our great need. The law is the surgeon's knife which cuts out the proud flesh that the wound may heal. The law by itself sweeps and raises the dust, but the gospel spreads and sprinkles clean water upon the dust, and all is well in the chamber of the soul. The law kills, the gospel makes alive.

The law strips, and then Christ comes in and robs the soul with glory. All the commandments and all the types direct us to Christ if we will but heed their evident intent. They wean us from self. They put us off from false self-righteousness and they bring us to know that only Christ can be our help. So the law provides such a marvelous help to us as a guard.

And then next, the And then next, the law is our tutor. This is the same idea. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ. This is the idea of a pedagogue, a teacher. A pedagogue was a Roman caretaker who took care of children and brought them up.

And he would hold the children in check. And so Paul is taking us to this imagery in Roman culture, to the function of a pedagogue, of someone who takes care of children and brings them up. Paul is likening us to children. He's likening us to children. Our pre-conversion state, we're like children.

And so he's treating us this way in our pre-conversion state, that we are under a tutor. And the tutor was designed to teach the obligations that he had. So the law teaches us our obligations to God. The two tables of the law, obligations to God. The first table, the second table of law are obligations to mankind.

And so that's what the law was intending to do. This is the idea of a leader of children. He's leading children by the hand. He's taking children somewhere. And through his admonitions and his threatenings, he's taking them by the hand to Christ.

That's the idea. The pedagogue is leading the sinner, the child, to Christ. That's His purpose. He's constraining Him. He's holding Him at bay.

He's imprisoning Him. And then He's leading him to Christ so that he will be set free. But after faith has come, you're no longer under a tutor. Does that mean that the law is totally meaningless? Does that mean that now everything you were taught is nothing?

All the grammar, all the words, all the memorizations? No, you don't need that anymore? No, that's not what Paul is saying. Paul is not abrogating the law by saying you're no longer under a tutor. He's saying in your pre-conversion state, you are under a tutor.

And when you come to Christ, it's different. It's different than that. It's not that you wipe out the moral law, but something happens in your heart that makes you desire to fulfill all the laws that the tutor has given you. That's why Ray Comfort in his ministry, his primary foundational principle is, use the law to convict of sin. And they Use the Gospel to set free.

And that's a right use of the law for the unconverted. But the converted have a different way. The converted read Moses, and their hearts are opened up, and they see Christ. That's what the converted do with the law. They're not saved by it, but they are blessed in their hearts by it.

This analogy breaks it down a little bit, but I'll give you sort of an illustration. My son has walked by my side since he was eight years old. He's barely left my side since he was eight. And he was under a tutor. He was under a highly directed tutor.

He was under sometimes a harsh tutor that restrained him from many things that he wanted. My guess is that if he had his way when he was nine, There would be 19 four-wheelers on this property. I restrained him from them. There are a number of particular things that were part of the restraint of the tutor, the pedagogue, the meanie that held him in prison, that made him go everywhere he went. But now, now it's different.

In this sense, he's no longer under a tutor. He's being transferred. He's being transferred out of this tutorship. And now everything that he has learned is coming to fruition. Now, things that I used to say to him that may make him chafe, he's now repeating to other people as his own.

He doesn't need a tutor anymore. He has Christ. And he has all those laws. And he hasn't thrown off, He hasn't thrown off the tutor in that sense. But something has changed, and that's what salvation changes with the believer.

It changes so that the heart desires it, so that the heart says, oh how I love thy law, so that you say with Paul, I delight in my inward parts toward the law of God. You desire to do it, you know you can't keep it, it only makes you humbler the more you know of it. That's that kind of law that we're talking about. It's a wonderful law because it's a tutor to show you the way you should go in your pre-conversion days. But then once Christ enters your heart, you are no longer under that same kind of tutor.

But it doesn't mean that you erase the whole Old Testament and 80% of what the apostle Paul and Jesus said. Okay? It's not what it means. And you don't forsake the alphabet, you don't forsake the grammar, you don't forsake the principles. It means graduation.

It means that you freely use those skills that you were given and you continue to acquire more. That's what it means to no longer be under a tutor. If you think that being no longer under a tutor means you don't need to read your Bible anymore and you don't need the Old Testament anymore. You cannot agree with Paul and Jesus and many, many things. Is that clear?

Do we get this? So consider the law in one sense, like you were in your pre-conversion classroom, and then you graduate. And when you graduate you are no longer subject to the penalties of the law. You're no longer under a threatening tutor. Your heart cries out, Abba Father, We'll get to that in a minute.

Your evil is not constrained by the law, but by the love of Christ. You're like the one who says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. You're no longer guarded by the law in the sense of, in the old sense, but Now you have a circumcised heart. It cannot produce righteousness, but the Spirit uses it to produce righteousness. It is an instructor that cannot change us, but the Spirit can change us and lead us and enlighten us into its meaning when we read Moses.

For whenever Moses is read, the veil is taken off. Whenever Moses is read by a converted person, the veil is taken off, and the heart cries with joy at the seeing of these wonderful things from the law. So he's talking about that moment we believe in Christ, that everything changes forever, and the essence of the change is that you become a son through faith. And that takes us to verse 26. You are made sons.

You are made sons. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And so the only people in the world who enjoy the true Fatherhood of God are those who have faith. And then they receive new clothing, like the prodigal son who has a robe brought to him. He says, here you are clothed with Christ.

When you become a son, you receive the clothing of Christ. He gives you His robe. He gives you His robe to make You clean. It's a robe of blood and sacrifice, but it's a robe that cleanses you from all of your unrighteousness. And That's why he says, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

And then he says that you are included as a son, in verse 27. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. You are all one in Christ.

So the moment you have faith, you are one with all the believers in the world. And Paul is making this argument in Galatians that the Jews and the Gentiles need to understand that there is one faith, and one Lord, and one baptism. This is a revolutionary, amazing text here. It destroys racial boundaries, it destroys all social boundaries, it destroys gender boundaries, it destroys racism. Racism is one of the most evil contradictions to justification by faith.

If you want a proof text to destroy racism, here's your text. Because racism is opposite to justification by faith. Now how does this fit, that only men can hold offices in the church and women cannot teach men and you know how does this contradict that women are to be silent in the church and this text has nothing to do with the roles and responsibilities of male and female. This doesn't erase Genesis 1 through 3. This doesn't erase the whole book of 1st Timothy.

You know, this doesn't erase everything that's said about manhood and womanhood. What this says is that when you're justified by faith, there are no boundaries, racial or gender or any other kind of boundaries, with anyone in the world who also trusts in Christ. The Judaizers are saying, no, you've got to be of the direct lineage of Abraham. And Paul is saying, you don't have to be of the direct lineage of anybody. You only have to be of the direct lineage of Jesus.

And that's what this is about. Your salvation has nothing to do with your family. It has to do, or your race, it has to do with Jesus and His blood shed on the cross that makes all one. It's interesting that Paul changes his language. He starts talking about you.

Makes it very personal. You are all sons of God through faith, for as many of you as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ, you are all one in Christ Jesus. You. He speaks like a father to a son. So all of all of these threatenings of the law are for a purpose.

The guard in the prison, the tutoring, they are all for one purpose, to bring you to Christ. So you'll see your sins, And He'll bring you by the hand, by His threatenings and His judgments to lead you to the Lord Jesus Christ, who will cleanse you from all of your sins and clothe you with his own righteousness." And then he says, you are heirs according to the promise. If you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed. Oh, now we know what Abraham's seed is again. It's not genealogy.

It's spirit. It's the law of the Spirit of life that's in Christ Jesus that sets you free from the law of sin and death. That is the seed of Abraham. And if you are of that seed, then you are Christ's and heirs according to the promise. So Justification makes you an heir.

That means that everything that God has ever promised is yours. Every single thing that God promised Abraham is yours. Every promise of the Bible is yours. I believe that. Someone may want to debate that.

We can talk about the nuances. I'd like to go to the verses and deal with it. But let me just say that this says that you are heirs according to the promise. The mistake of dispensationalism is it makes the seat of Abraham a racial thing. So this gives us a common heritage with all those who have believed since the beginning of time and those in the future.

And then he says that we were redeemed to be sons, chapter 4, verse 1. The chapter markings are not inspired. They were added later. And he continues the thought in chapter 4. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all.

But as under guardians and stewards until the appointed time by the Father. Here's the Doctrine of Election. There's a time appointed by the Father for the scales of your eyes to fall off, and you'll be saved. It's always in His time. We ought always to bring a message of urgency to the unconverted that they need to be saved, that today is the day of salvation.

At the same time, we know that there's only a time appointed by the Father that they can be saved. Even so, verse 3, when we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world. In other words, we thought that we could be justified by our works. We were shining ourselves up, making ourselves cooler than cool to try to be justified before man and God. That's being under bondage to the elements of the world.

Trying to justify yourself by your own works. That's bondage. Verse 4, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons..." Now, read this very slowly. Please look.

Verse 6. The second half of verse 6. This is the heart of this text, brothers and sisters. This is where the whole text is driving to now. You're here now.

You're here at the reason He said everything He said. And He says this, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." So Why all these things from the law? Why has He told us so many things about the law? He's told us that it was added because of transgressions.

He's told us that it was fulfilled in Christ, that it is in harmony with the promises of God, that it doesn't give life, that it confines the unbeliever under sin, that it keeps unbelievers under guard, that it's a tutor to bring us to Christ, and it leads us to sonship. So what is he saying? He's saying that the law is given. So that when you believe, when you have faith, the Spirit of God enters into your heart. And that Spirit, that new presence in your life you never had before, it cries out in your heart and it says, Abba Father, and you do the same thing.

It gives a cry you could never have before, and it shows you that you love God. If your spirit is crying out, Abba, Father, and you know you can't be justified by your law keeping, and you believe in Jesus Christ, and your spirits crying out, Oh Lord, Abba, Father, I dare say you've been saved. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. So why the law? Why?

So that you would have the spirit in your heart that would cry out things you never could cry out before. That would say, Oh Father, I love you. Oh Father, not my will but thine be done. Oh Father, I delight to do thy will. That's why He gave you the law to put something in your heart that would never stop feeding life into your soul and making you happy and helping you.

Now, one final text. I've been referring to it over and over again. We'll read it briefly, and then we'll go over it extensively next Sunday. Please turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul is speaking of the work of the Spirit in someone's heart.

There's so much in here. So what he's saying is that, is that who is able to live the Christian life? No one. We are not sufficient in and of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of Christ." In other words, Christ is able. Christ is able to live His life in you.

And so he says, our sufficiency is from God, to be ministers of the New Covenant. And then he tells the story of Moses. He calls it the ministry of death. Moses coming down from the mountain and his face was glowing and he had to have a veil over his face so that the glory of the Lord would be hidden. And then he tells us why that happened.

And he tells us, he tells us why we must read Moses. Okay? He tells us why we have to. He tells us why it's so good for us. So here we go.

Verse 11. Again, Paul is often hard to understand, as you'll see in this text. For if what is passing away was glorious, and he's talking about the glory of the Lord fading from Moses' face. He came down from the mountain and the glory faded. For what is passing away was glorious, What remains was much more glorious.

Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. Something was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day, remember Paul is writing, he's saying until this day in New Testament times, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, that's a really key, interpretive key to this text.

When Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Do you see how the two things are here in this text that we've been talking about? We've seen in Galatians that the law, it terrifies you and condemns you, and it leads you like a tutor to Christ. And then when He comes, your spirit cries out, Abba, Father. And that's what this is right here. That your spirit, you Read the Old Testament and you see Christ.

And you see Him in His glory. The images, the shadows come to life because you also know Christ. And He takes those laws through the Holy Spirit and shows you Christ. And so these are the two great purposes of the law. To condemn sinners, to lead them to Christ, to make them, to take them by the hand to the feet of Jesus, so that they could cry out Abba Father.

Will you pray with me? Oh Lord, Lord thank you for your work in our hearts to make us cry out Abba Father, to say, oh how I love thy law, to say I delight to do thy will. Oh thank you Lord for giving us these things. You the great physician bringing all the right medicines, the right knives, the right equipment, the right teachers to bring us to Jesus Christ. Amen.