Participants: Mark Howard & Jim Howard
Series Code: GBOTB
Program Code: GBOTB00004B
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00:07 Welcome back to Books of the Book, we are studying the
00:09 book of Galatians and actually Jim you had just mentioned 00:12 1 John 3:4 and we are talking about what it means to be 00:15 dead unto the law. 00:16 We are going to go there in the book of 1 John 3:4 right 00:21 before the end of the Bible you come to the book of Revelation 00:22 have the 1, 2 and 3 John, Jude and then Revelation. 00:27 I read in the New King James version and it says, 00:30 "whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, 00:34 "and sin is lawlessness. " 00:36 Now the King James version says, transgression of the law. 00:39 Sin is transgression of the law and sometimes that makes 00:43 it pretty plain obviously that sin is transgression of 00:46 God's Ten Commandment law and we see that with Paul's 00:48 writings there in Romans 7, we just looked at it. 00:51 The law that convicted him was the law that said 00:53 thou shall not covet and that kind of thing, 00:55 but some people in some of these new editions like 00:58 sin is lawlessness wonder at what it means. 01:01 What's fascinating is if you read this in the Greek 01:04 language of the New Testament, what it says is a word 01:07 for sin is Hamartia. 01:09 And the word for lawlessness is Anomia. 01:14 From the Greek word Nomos law, "a" is negative so it literally 01:18 is lawlessness, but the context there which is interesting 01:23 Hamartia means literally to miss the mark. 01:26 It would be like if you are taking target practice, a bow 01:30 and arrow and you were shooting for a bull's-eye, 01:32 and you miss the mark. 01:34 So an essence the text says in Greek to miss the mark is 01:39 lawlessness, so what would the mark be? 01:42 - the law. - The mark would be the law of God. 01:44 So in other words he is saying in this text that the mark, 01:46 the aim for the Christian is the law of God, 01:49 and that would be the standard. 01:50 You know there is a word in that verse that is key and 01:52 I think it has been in all the verses we have discussed on 01:55 the idea of the law still be valid in the New Testament. 01:58 It is a small word, but it is an important word. 02:01 The word is "is". It says that sin is lawlessness. 02:05 So when the apostle Paul was writing this, or John in this 02:09 particular case was writing this, long after the 02:11 crucifixion of Christ he was saying in present tense sin 02:16 is at this moment, breaking the law. 02:19 Falling short of the law and when you look back at all the 02:21 verses we have looked at and you will see that same 02:23 reality, the law is spiritual. 02:26 The Commandment is holy and just and good and that is in 02:29 Romans 7:12 and 14. 02:31 We found in Ephesians 6:1 wherein said the fifth 02:34 commandment is the first commandment with promise, he 02:37 is quoting the fifth commandment says in present tense 02:39 that this is the first commandment promised. 02:41 So all throughout the New Testament you will find that 02:44 those statements that relate to the law of God are in the 02:47 present tense. - that's right. 02:48 When you compare that with for example Colossians chapter 02:51 2 which talks about a law that was, it's past tense for 02:54 the handwriting of ordinances 02:56 written by Moses and it is past tense verses 02:59 the present tense law of the Ten Commandments. 03:02 It is a very good point an important point. 03:04 Another point that is brought up to me by some who don't 03:08 feel the law of God, meaning the Ten Commandments are 03:12 still valid in the New Testament is that when the Bible 03:15 speaks about Commandments is just talking about the 03:18 teachings of Christ, or the generic commands of God 03:21 for instance in Revelation 14:12 where it says here 03:24 a they, here are the patience of the saints, here are 03:27 those that keep the commandments of God. 03:28 Well they say that is not the Ten Commandments of 03:31 Exodus or in Revelation where it says later in chapter 22 03:36 Blessed are those who do His commandments. 03:38 They say that is not the Ten Commandments. 03:40 But remember as we looked at these different verses in 03:43 the context we have specifically chosen verses that quote 03:47 one of the Ten Commandments so we know what law he is 03:50 talking about, Romans 2 Romans 7, Ephesians 6, 03:56 each of these end James Chapter 2 all have in the context 03:59 one of the Ten Commandments so you know exactly what law 04:02 he is talking about. 04:04 I don't want to get this confused with the idea that you 04:06 are justified by keeping the Ten Commandments, but 04:09 just because you can't be justified by the 04:10 Ten Commandments doesn't mean they are not important or 04:12 that they don't have a place or a role. 04:14 That's what we see Paul making that point in his writings 04:18 here, is the mindset that causes people to read into what 04:22 is not here, in other words there is a mindset that the 04:25 law of God restricts us and in order to have a true 04:28 Christian liberty, the liberty is actually a liberty from 04:33 the law and thus the concept dead to the law must mean we are 04:37 free, when we say free from law or free from the thing 04:42 that held us, that freedom is the freedom to obey the law. 04:48 We picked it up in Galatians 5 where there is another 04:52 passage here a Galatians 5 that aligns with that same 04:55 point Christian liberty and we will get Galatians 5:1. 04:59 Paul says, "stand fast there fore in the liberty by which 05:04 "Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again 05:08 "with a yoke of bondage. " 05:09 I have had people approach me and say well the Bible is 05:12 pretty clear when Paul says don't be entangled with the 05:15 yoke of bondage, that is the Ten Commandments, you are free 05:18 from having to keep the Ten Commandments. 05:20 But the issue here is that is not what the apostle is 05:24 saying, we will read on here and explain that and he goes 05:28 on in verse two to say, "in deed I Paul, say to you that if 05:31 "you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 05:35 "And I testify again to every man who become circumcised 05:38 "that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have 05:42 "become in this estranged from Christ, you who attempt to 05:45 "be justified by law; for you have fallen from grace. " 05:49 Now those are strong words. 05:51 That can sound on the surface, to a surface reader, wow 05:56 anybody who thinks about keeping the law they are 05:59 estranged from Christ, it's Christ or the law. 06:02 We are making a key point that I think is what creates 06:05 the confusion for many, in the book of Galatians. 06:08 That is that what Paul is addressing here is not obedience 06:14 to the law, but seeking to be justified by the law. 06:18 If he was saying the other, then he by telling the 06:22 Ephesians that they should keep the fifth commandment 06:25 would have been placing them under a yoke bondage. 06:29 It would have made him to contradict himself. 06:31 He is not talking about obedience and if you look 06:34 carefully in verse four it specifically says, "you who 06:37 "attempt to be justified by law. " 06:41 He says those are the ones estranged from Christ. 06:44 The reason is, if you are seeking to be justified by some 06:47 external behavior, you really think you are okay and you 06:50 just need to go to church and do certain things and 06:53 you don't not need that personal surrender to Christ and 06:55 a deep commitment to Christ, then you are basically 06:59 saying I don't need Christ. 07:01 You are becoming estranged to Christ. 07:04 I can clean my act a little bit and that will be sufficient. 07:07 That is exactly right so this idea of justification. 07:09 this goes back to what we were talking 07:11 about the Pharisee and the publican, the Pharisee was in 07:14 the temple and he was praying, he said I'm glad 07:17 I'm not as bad as those guys. 07:18 That's right, that's right, so if obedience is not what 07:22 places you under a yoke of bondage then what does it mean 07:26 justification by law is placing you under 07:29 a yoke of bondage? 07:30 What exactly is that telling us? 07:31 It's placing us under yoke of bondage. 07:33 Absolutely and it makes me think of this idea because he 07:37 is talking about liberty, we is the liberty. 07:40 What is liberty, is liberty freedom from having to obey 07:45 God? I think to myself why would anybody who chooses to 07:48 give their life to Christ and serve Him want to be free 07:52 from having to serve Him? 07:53 Why would I want to be free from having to obey the 07:56 principles of God's government, the principles of His law, 08:01 the principles of His very character? 08:03 Why would I want to be free from that? 08:06 Is that the kind of freedom that Christianity is talking 08:09 about? - it just can't be. 08:10 I guess the best way for me to describe this, 08:13 I look back to when we were going through 08:16 our conversion experience. 08:17 Now my brother Mark is five years older than me and I am 08:21 not sure if the camera is picking it up but he has a few 08:24 more silver streaks in his hair. 08:26 That is what gives him away, but though we were born the 08:30 first time five years apart, we were born at the same 08:33 time the second time. 08:35 We had our conversion experience around the same time. 08:37 If you were to go back to before our conversion 08:40 experience and tell us come on over we're are going to 08:44 have a Bible study of the book of Galatians, I can 08:47 imagine that I wouldn't have been all that anxious. 08:50 I remember after my conversion experience when Mark first 08:53 found - not anxious, you just would not have shown up. 08:56 Well alright, but I remember when you first found out 08:59 about me beginning to read my Bible for myself and 09:02 I was hungry for the word. 09:04 Galatians chapter 1 were the apostle Paul said that 09:08 he was called to be an apostle not from men nor 09:11 through man but through Jesus Christ. 09:13 I relate to that because I didn't have a Bible study with 09:16 someone, or evangelist did not come to me, I just read my 09:20 Bible and the Lord Jesus gripped my heart. 09:23 That was powerful, but prior to that time I wasn't 09:27 anywhere near that and I started reading my Bible and you found 09:30 out about it I remember hearing you say well, Jim he doesn't 09:34 have a religious bone in his body, and I didn't. 09:36 So if I would have been placed in certain circumstances 09:40 where to be in church all day or something, 09:43 it would have been drudgery to me. 09:45 It would have been a yoke of bondage to me. 09:48 There are many people who are going through the motions 09:51 because they believe that God is requiring it, 09:53 but in their heart they don't have the interest, 09:56 they don't have a hunger for spiritual things. 09:58 They have not yet seen their need. 10:01 I was brought to a point where I sensed a need in my 10:04 life and when I read my Bible it was like food to my soul. 10:07 But prior to being prepared for that time if 10:10 I had been introduced to it, I probably would have 10:13 been not very interested. 10:15 It wouldn't have been food to your soul and thus the 10:17 words of Jesus, "blessed are those who hunger and thirst 10:19 "after righteousness for they shall be filled. " 10:22 So we see the reality here is this idea of dead to the law, 10:27 when we go back to Galatians 2, Paul talking about him dying 10:31 to the law, notice again what he says, "for I through the 10:34 law died to the law. " In other words as the law 10:37 convicted me I saw my sinful nature, then I accepted 10:42 Christ and the cardinal nature died. 10:44 Notice how he words it, I through the law died to the law 10:47 that I might not have to worry about keeping the law 10:50 anymore? No that's not what he says. 10:51 That's not what he says at all. 10:53 He says that I might live to God. 10:54 The freedom, the liberty of a Christian life is not a 10:57 liberty from obedience, but a liberty into obedience. 11:01 Listen I was free not to obey the law of God when I was 11:04 not a Christian, I never obeyed the law of God and never 11:07 worried about it, but I was not free to obey it because 11:09 it simply wasn't in my being to do so. 11:12 But through conversion my heart was changed and the 11:15 freedom I have now is a freedom that I never had before, 11:18 and that is a freedom to serve God with my heart. 11:20 That's what Paul says, I died to the law that I might 11:23 live to God, notice verse 20, "I have been crucified with 11:26 "Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; 11:30 "and the life which I now live in the flesh 11:32 "I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and 11:36 "gave Himself for me. " 11:37 He is talking about a conversion here, he is talking about 11:39 a new experience. - Amen. If we keep reading in 11:42 verse 21, he only concludes the thought beautifully. 11:45 But before we go there I just want to take one peek at 11:48 2 Corinthians 6:11 and there is another point I would like 11:52 to make, "O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, 11:56 "our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, 11:59 "but you are restricted by your own affections. " 12:02 You know people look at the problem we have in humanity 12:05 and they say we are out of harmony with God. 12:07 Well we have one or two choices, either we can remove the 12:11 requirements, the law of God or we can remove that which is 12:15 standing in the way which is our own Carnal heart. 12:18 And the reality is that the Carnal heart is what 12:20 ultimately has to go in order for us to be brought 12:23 into harmony with God. 12:24 It is a shame many Christians look at the law as the 12:28 problem, Jesus died to do away with the law. 12:30 But no, the apostle Paul says it is our own affections. 12:34 Right here concluding with verse 21 in Galatians 2 it 12:37 says, "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if 12:40 "righteousness comes to the law, and Christ died in vain. " 12:44 It is Christ's death and us dying with Him that brings us 12:48 into harmony with God. 12:49 Friends, we hope you have enjoyed this study and we look 12:52 forward to seeing you next time. |
Revised 2014-12-17