Welcome to Books of the
Book, I'm Pastor Mark Howard
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of the Gobels
Seventh-day Adventist church
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and also director of the
Emmanuel Institute of Evangelism
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in the Michigan Conference
of Seventh-day Adventist.
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I'm here at my
brother and co-host Jim.
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Yes and hello my name is Pastor
Jim Howard and I am the Pastor
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of the Detroit Metropolitan
Seventh-day Adventist Church
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and South Lyon's
Seventh-day Adventist church.
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We are excited to
be studying the book of
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Galatians with you today.
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Absolutely this book is so
powerful and we have talked
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about the fact that the
book of Galatians is the one,
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probably the most concise
book dealing with the subject
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of the Gospel in
the whole Scripture.
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That is the
apostle Paul's point.
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False gospels have come in
and he is setting forth the
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true Gospel from
several different angles.
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What we find, especially in
the book of Galatians is that
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Paul is trying to give us
a clear understanding of the
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relation between the
law of God, not only the
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Ten Commandments law but the
Torah, the instruction of God
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with the Gospel and how
the two interact together.
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We have also talked about
how there are people who at
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a surface reading will use
the book of Galatians and assume
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the book of Galatians is
actually talking negatively and
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talking about law in a
derogatively and this will be
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a passage that we are
looking at here today starting
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in Chapter 3:10.
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- were that often gets
misconstrued in that way.
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That's right, and the
title of our study today
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'The Curse of the Law'
right from Galatians Chapter 3.
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If you have your Bibles
with you I would encourage you
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to turn in them to the
book of Galatians in the
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New Testament, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans,
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1 and 2
Corinthians and then Galatians.
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Galatians 3:10, in
Galatians 3:10 the apostle says,
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"for as many as are of
the works of the law are under
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"the curse; for it is
written, cursed is every one who
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"does not continue in all
things which are written in
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"the book of the
law, to do them. "
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Now what is interesting
here Jim, is that the initial
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reading, as many as are the
works of the law communicates
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to our minds that oh those
who are of the works of the
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law, these are the people
that think it's important to
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keep the law. - right.
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But we have talked about
this in previous studies that
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phrase, works of the law,
or of the works of the law is
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not saying that at all.
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Those who are of the works
of the law are those who are
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seeking to be justified by law.
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Not that they think the
law of God is important,
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but they think it is
the means of justification.
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Right and we have said
that the law is not necessarily
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how the text
reads, but law in general.
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By the works of law, so
any system of righteousness
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that they develop, it is
not some specific code they
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are trying to
follow necessarily.
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Any system of righteousness
that they developed by
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which they think they are
going to merit justification.
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That's right, and if we
read in verse 10, I'm going to
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read it how some
people will read it initially.
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For as many as are off the
works of the law, or under the
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cursed for it is written cursed
is every one who continues
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in all things which are
written in the book of the law.
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Or cursed is everyone who
seeks to obey the law and that's
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how people tend to read it but
it's not what it says it all.
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Notice the curses on
those who do not continue.
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"Cursed is every one who
does not continue in all things
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"which are written in the
book of the law to do them. "
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So there is a curse pronounced
upon those who are of the
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works of the law, these are the
people who are not continuing
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in the law, they
are not obeying the law.
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That's right and on the
contrary then you go to verse 11
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and it describes the
other class and it says,
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"but that no one is justified
by the law in the sight
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"of God is evident, for
the just shall live by faith. "
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And we talked last time
that the only way to truly have
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obedience, the kind of
obedience where your heart is in
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tune with the will of God.
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Where you are submissive
to God, where that humble
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attitude of trust in God is
evident, it's to have faith.
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We look back at
Romans 3:31 where it says,
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"by faith we
establish the law. "
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So those who are of the works
of law, they don't continue
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in the things of the law.
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Those who live by faith are
just, that is they establish
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the law. - that's
right, by the grace of God.
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It is the only way the
law can be established in the
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human heart and so this is
where in verse 13 Paul says,
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"Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law,
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"having become a curse
for us (for it is written,
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"cursed is every one who
hangs on a tree), that the
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"blessing of Abraham
might come upon the Gentiles in
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"Christ Jesus, that we
might receive the promise
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"of the Spirit through faith. "
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So the point here that needs
to be clear in our minds is
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Christ did not come to
redeem anybody from the law,
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but from the curse of
the law. - that's right!
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The curse of the law is
the curse against disobedience
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or sin. - that's right,
when you look at it, verse 13
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tells us that Christ redeems
us from the curse of the law
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that is He redeem those
from the curse of disobeying the
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law by being crucified.
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Because this is cursed is
everyone who hangs on a tree.
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So He took our guilt, our
punishment for disobedience
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to the law, in essence
that's what it's saying.
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Then in verse 14 it says,
"that the blessing of Abraham
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"might come upon the Gentiles
in Christ Jesus, that we
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"might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. "
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First He redeems us from
the curse of disobedience to the
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law, then He gives us the
Spirit which writes the law on
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our hearts and He in essence
gives us an obedient heart.
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He dies for our disobedience
and implants in our hearts
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something that wasn't there
before, a heart of obedience.
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I think this is so important
for our readers, our viewers
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to grasp here, then again
those who are of the works of
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the law are the people
who are not obeying God,
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but who disobey
because if man is attempting
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in his own strength, to
keep his own idea of right,
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let me rephrase
what I mean by that.
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If I look at the law of
God I deduce from it what is
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right and what is wrong,
I'm still only viewing it from
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my limited
understanding for example.
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How many times have you
thought you were living right,
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or doing right or whatever
and then you learn something
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new that you didn't know before?
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Lots of times. - yeah, so
if I live up to my highest
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conception of righteousness
today, my highest ideal of
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what is right, is
that going to be right?
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Not necessarily. -No!
Tomorrow I might learn something
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new and the next
day something new.
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So for man to think that
he can even conceptualize
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righteousness is a futility.
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The Lord Himself only
knows righteousness and that is
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why the Bible says in Isaiah
where the Lord talks about
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those who know righteousness
and He says the people in
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whose heart is My law.
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It's the only way to
know true righteousness.
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So those were the works
of the law they are under the
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curse, it can't be
otherwise, you could never meet
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the standard of
God in human strength.
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The greatest reason is
because those who are seeking
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to be justified by the
works of the law are not
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going to Christ
for justification.
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So they are not receiving a
divine nature, all they have
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to work with is the
flesh, the selfish heart.
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So they can do things but
even the things they do are
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going to be from
a selfish motive.
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They are probably only
going to pick and choose certain
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things because the
reality is their heart is not
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submissive as we read in
Romans 8:7 where it says,
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that our carnal mind, our
sinful heart is not subject
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to the law and it
can't be made that way.
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We have to have Christ to
give us something from above
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the Spirit of God even,
to give us that humble spirit
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that is willing to obey God.
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That's right, and that is
where the concept goes on as
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Paul continues to talk and
we are going to Galatians 3:16
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and notice what he says here.
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"Now to Abraham and his
Seed where the promises made. "
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"He does not say unto
seeds as of many, but as of one,
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"and to your
Seed, who is Christ. "
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We are going to talk more
about the Seed of Abraham I
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believe next time,
but it says in verse 17,
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"and this I say, that the
law, which was 430 years later
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"cannot annul the covenant"
now it he's talking here
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about the giving of
the law, not just the
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Ten Commandments, but
also the ceremonial laws that
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were given at Sinai and he
was referring to that event.
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He said that, "which was
430 years later can not annul
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"the covenant that was confirmed
before by God, in Christ,
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"then it should make
the promise of no effect. "
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Now the point the apostle
was trying to make here is
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the same God who gave the
promise of salvation in Christ,
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gave the law, and I
would ask those who have been
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wrestling with this and
thought about the law as still
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binding upon Christians
and should we still keep the
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Ten Commandment law,
the question to ask would be
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because the thought that
comes in here is didn't Jesus
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did Jesus die so we
can be free from a law?
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We have talked
about this before.
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But we have to ask ourselves
who was it who gave the
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Ten Commandment law
again? - it was God.
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You know a dear friend of
mine, Dan Griffin always said
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that there is one word
that God never uses, one word
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God never says,
and that word is oops!
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- that's right. - God
wasn't up there giving a law
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and oops I made a mistake,
I shouldn't have given that
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law, so all the apostle is
saying here is the same God
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who gave salvation
in His Son, Jesus Christ
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also gave the law.
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Well He wouldn't give
us a law that contradicted
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His own promise. - that's right!
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So rather than the law being
contradictory to salvation,
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if we find ourselves as
Christians battling on one side
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of this issue verses another
saying, I'm for the Gospel,
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or I'm for the
law we are mixed up.
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The same God that
gave law gave the Gospel.
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The same God who gave the
Gospel gave the law and they
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are not working to
counter purposes but are working
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together. - you
know that's right.
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You know I think about
when Jesus was talking to the
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Pharisees and He said you
tithed mint and anise and Cumin
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but you neglect the
weightier matters of the law.
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Justice and mercy and faith.
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A lot of people when they
read Galatians, they think this
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is really attacking these
people who are so focused on
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carefully obeying these
rules and requirements, but the
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reality is that we have to
be careful not to throw the
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baby out with the
bath water. - that's right!
00:11:04.58\00:11:06.28
If you look at the example
of Jesus He is saying it's
00:11:06.32\00:11:10.75
okay to pay this
tithe but don't neglect
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the weightier matters of law.
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It is not obeying the law to
keep these external requirements
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if you are bitter
and angry in your heart.
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It is not obeying the law
if you are critical of others
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because they are
not obeying the law.
00:11:27.60\00:11:29.26
That is not obeying
the law. - that's right.
00:11:29.30\00:11:30.79
That is about all our
stubborn or can do, that is not
00:11:30.83\00:11:33.16
obeying the law, we
need something deeper.
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Just because we need a
more warm Spirit, just because
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we need that mercy and
compassion of God is no reason
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to say because that is the
weightier matter of the law
00:11:43.43\00:11:47.23
we don't need to do anything
from an external observant
00:11:47.27\00:11:51.04
standpoint that
God asked us to do.
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We can't throw away the
one to make room for the other.
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We have to look at
it as a perfect whole.
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When you talk about throwing
away this example comes to
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mind, when Paul talks
about the law he repeatedly says
00:12:01.21\00:12:04.58
that man can't be
justified by the law.
00:12:04.61\00:12:07.12
By the works of the law
no flesh shall be justified.
00:12:07.15\00:12:09.23
What that does is that it
triggers the mine of some people
00:12:09.27\00:12:12.09
the idea that there is
no purpose for the law.
00:12:12.13\00:12:13.91
For example, my wife and I
received this beautiful ceramic
00:12:13.95\00:12:19.58
fruit bowl from some
friends of ours that had went
00:12:19.62\00:12:22.05
overseas and brought this back.
00:12:22.09\00:12:23.60
So we have this beautiful
fruit bowl on our counter at
00:12:23.63\00:12:27.49
home, now let's imagine
one day I'm coming through the
00:12:27.53\00:12:30.40
kitchen and heading out to
the garage and take that fruit
00:12:30.43\00:12:32.90
bowl, take the fruit out
and began to walk out to the
00:12:32.94\00:12:35.37
garage and my wife
says honey hold on a minute.
00:12:35.41\00:12:36.94
Where are you going
with the fruit bowl?
00:12:36.97\00:12:39.25
Oh I'm just going
out to change the oil.
00:12:39.28\00:12:41.49
She says you're doing what?
I'm going to change the oil
00:12:41.52\00:12:46.12
don't worry I'll bring it back.
00:12:46.15\00:12:47.71
She says no you are not
going anywhere to do any such
00:12:47.74\00:12:50.72
thing with that fruit bowl
you put it right back here.
00:12:50.75\00:12:53.69
- I know Stephanie she
wouldn't speak that way.
00:12:53.73\00:12:56.54
No, no she would speak
that way but she might still say
00:12:56.58\00:12:59.89
that, so she says you are
not going anywhere with that.
00:12:59.92\00:13:03.20
You can't change
oil in that fruit bowl
00:13:03.23\00:13:06.80
that's not what it's for.
00:13:06.83\00:13:08.41
Let's imagine if my response
is oh well if that's not
00:13:08.45\00:13:11.51
what it is for what good
is it and I chuck the thing in
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the trash can, that
wouldn't go over real well.
00:13:14.60\00:13:17.70
Okay, I think you husbands
at home can relate to that.
00:13:17.73\00:13:20.56
Here's the idea, that
is the very thing that some
00:13:20.60\00:13:24.21
Christians do
with the law of God.
00:13:24.24\00:13:26.28
When Paul says you can't
justify, a law can't justify
00:13:26.31\00:13:29.11
they say what good is it
in chuck it in the trash can.
00:13:29.14\00:13:32.41
The reality is, was there a
purpose for that fruit bowl?
00:13:32.45\00:13:35.69
- yes there was. - absolutely.
00:13:35.72\00:13:37.39
There was a purpose it just
wasn't for changing the oil.
00:13:37.43\00:13:39.82
There is a purpose for the
law of God, it's simply not
00:13:39.86\00:13:42.58
to be justified with,
but it does serve a purpose.
00:13:42.61\00:13:45.26
We are going to talk about
that purpose well we come back
00:13:45.29\00:13:47.66
from our break, so stay
tuned and stick with us.
00:13:47.70\00:13:51.63
When we come back we're
going to talk about the purpose
00:13:51.67\00:13:53.62
of the law in the
life of the Christian.
00:13:53.65\00:13:55.49