Participants: Mark Howard & Jim Howard
Series Code: GBOTB
Program Code: GBOTB00006A
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00:22 Welcome to Books of the Book, I'm Pastor Mark Howard
00:25 of the Gobels Seventh-day Adventist church 00:27 and also director of the Emmanuel Institute of Evangelism 00:30 in the Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventist. 00:32 I'm here at my brother and co-host Jim. 00:34 Yes and hello my name is Pastor Jim Howard and I am the Pastor 00:37 of the Detroit Metropolitan Seventh-day Adventist Church 00:40 and South Lyon's Seventh-day Adventist church. 00:42 We are excited to be studying the book of 00:44 Galatians with you today. 00:45 Absolutely this book is so powerful and we have talked 00:49 about the fact that the book of Galatians is the one, 00:52 probably the most concise book dealing with the subject 00:56 of the Gospel in the whole Scripture. 00:58 That is the apostle Paul's point. 01:00 False gospels have come in and he is setting forth the 01:03 true Gospel from several different angles. 01:05 What we find, especially in the book of Galatians is that 01:08 Paul is trying to give us a clear understanding of the 01:11 relation between the law of God, not only the 01:15 Ten Commandments law but the Torah, the instruction of God 01:18 with the Gospel and how the two interact together. 01:23 We have also talked about how there are people who at 01:27 a surface reading will use the book of Galatians and assume 01:31 the book of Galatians is actually talking negatively and 01:35 talking about law in a derogatively and this will be 01:38 a passage that we are looking at here today starting 01:41 in Chapter 3:10. 01:43 - were that often gets misconstrued in that way. 01:47 That's right, and the title of our study today 01:50 'The Curse of the Law' right from Galatians Chapter 3. 01:53 If you have your Bibles with you I would encourage you 01:56 to turn in them to the book of Galatians in the 02:00 New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 02:02 1 and 2 Corinthians and then Galatians. 02:04 Galatians 3:10, in Galatians 3:10 the apostle says, 02:09 "for as many as are of the works of the law are under 02:14 "the curse; for it is written, cursed is every one who 02:18 "does not continue in all things which are written in 02:22 "the book of the law, to do them. " 02:23 Now what is interesting here Jim, is that the initial 02:27 reading, as many as are the works of the law communicates 02:30 to our minds that oh those who are of the works of the 02:32 law, these are the people that think it's important to 02:35 keep the law. - right. 02:37 But we have talked about this in previous studies that 02:39 phrase, works of the law, or of the works of the law is 02:42 not saying that at all. 02:44 Those who are of the works of the law are those who are 02:47 seeking to be justified by law. 02:49 Not that they think the law of God is important, 02:52 but they think it is the means of justification. 02:56 Right and we have said that the law is not necessarily 02:59 how the text reads, but law in general. 03:01 By the works of law, so any system of righteousness 03:05 that they develop, it is not some specific code they 03:08 are trying to follow necessarily. 03:10 Any system of righteousness that they developed by 03:12 which they think they are going to merit justification. 03:15 That's right, and if we read in verse 10, I'm going to 03:18 read it how some people will read it initially. 03:21 For as many as are off the works of the law, or under the 03:25 cursed for it is written cursed is every one who continues 03:28 in all things which are written in the book of the law. 03:31 Or cursed is everyone who seeks to obey the law and that's 03:35 how people tend to read it but it's not what it says it all. 03:38 Notice the curses on those who do not continue. 03:42 "Cursed is every one who does not continue in all things 03:46 "which are written in the book of the law to do them. " 03:49 So there is a curse pronounced upon those who are of the 03:53 works of the law, these are the people who are not continuing 03:57 in the law, they are not obeying the law. 03:59 That's right and on the contrary then you go to verse 11 04:02 and it describes the other class and it says, 04:06 "but that no one is justified by the law in the sight 04:10 "of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. " 04:14 And we talked last time that the only way to truly have 04:17 obedience, the kind of obedience where your heart is in 04:21 tune with the will of God. 04:23 Where you are submissive to God, where that humble 04:26 attitude of trust in God is evident, it's to have faith. 04:30 We look back at Romans 3:31 where it says, 04:34 "by faith we establish the law. " 04:36 So those who are of the works of law, they don't continue 04:40 in the things of the law. 04:42 Those who live by faith are just, that is they establish 04:47 the law. - that's right, by the grace of God. 04:50 It is the only way the law can be established in the 04:52 human heart and so this is where in verse 13 Paul says, 04:55 "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, 04:58 "having become a curse for us (for it is written, 05:02 "cursed is every one who hangs on a tree), that the 05:05 "blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in 05:07 "Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise 05:10 "of the Spirit through faith. " 05:12 So the point here that needs to be clear in our minds is 05:14 Christ did not come to redeem anybody from the law, 05:17 but from the curse of the law. - that's right! 05:20 The curse of the law is the curse against disobedience 05:23 or sin. - that's right, when you look at it, verse 13 05:27 tells us that Christ redeems us from the curse of the law 05:31 that is He redeem those from the curse of disobeying the 05:35 law by being crucified. 05:37 Because this is cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. 05:41 So He took our guilt, our punishment for disobedience 05:45 to the law, in essence that's what it's saying. 05:47 Then in verse 14 it says, "that the blessing of Abraham 05:50 "might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we 05:53 "might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. " 05:56 First He redeems us from the curse of disobedience to the 06:00 law, then He gives us the Spirit which writes the law on 06:03 our hearts and He in essence gives us an obedient heart. 06:07 He dies for our disobedience and implants in our hearts 06:11 something that wasn't there before, a heart of obedience. 06:15 I think this is so important for our readers, our viewers 06:18 to grasp here, then again those who are of the works of 06:22 the law are the people who are not obeying God, 06:25 but who disobey because if man is attempting 06:28 in his own strength, to keep his own idea of right, 06:32 let me rephrase what I mean by that. 06:35 If I look at the law of God I deduce from it what is 06:39 right and what is wrong, I'm still only viewing it from 06:44 my limited understanding for example. 06:46 How many times have you thought you were living right, 06:49 or doing right or whatever and then you learn something 06:52 new that you didn't know before? 06:54 Lots of times. - yeah, so if I live up to my highest 06:58 conception of righteousness today, my highest ideal of 07:01 what is right, is that going to be right? 07:05 Not necessarily. -No! Tomorrow I might learn something 07:08 new and the next day something new. 07:09 So for man to think that he can even conceptualize 07:12 righteousness is a futility. 07:18 The Lord Himself only knows righteousness and that is 07:22 why the Bible says in Isaiah where the Lord talks about 07:25 those who know righteousness and He says the people in 07:29 whose heart is My law. 07:31 It's the only way to know true righteousness. 07:33 So those were the works of the law they are under the 07:36 curse, it can't be otherwise, you could never meet 07:39 the standard of God in human strength. 07:42 The greatest reason is because those who are seeking 07:47 to be justified by the works of the law are not 07:50 going to Christ for justification. 07:52 So they are not receiving a divine nature, all they have 07:55 to work with is the flesh, the selfish heart. 07:58 So they can do things but even the things they do are 08:01 going to be from a selfish motive. 08:03 They are probably only going to pick and choose certain 08:05 things because the reality is their heart is not 08:08 submissive as we read in Romans 8:7 where it says, 08:11 that our carnal mind, our sinful heart is not subject 08:14 to the law and it can't be made that way. 08:16 We have to have Christ to give us something from above 08:20 the Spirit of God even, to give us that humble spirit 08:23 that is willing to obey God. 08:25 That's right, and that is where the concept goes on as 08:28 Paul continues to talk and we are going to Galatians 3:16 08:32 and notice what he says here. 08:33 "Now to Abraham and his Seed where the promises made. " 08:37 "He does not say unto seeds as of many, but as of one, 08:41 "and to your Seed, who is Christ. " 08:43 We are going to talk more about the Seed of Abraham I 08:45 believe next time, but it says in verse 17, 08:48 "and this I say, that the law, which was 430 years later 08:52 "cannot annul the covenant" now it he's talking here 08:56 about the giving of the law, not just the 08:57 Ten Commandments, but also the ceremonial laws that 08:59 were given at Sinai and he was referring to that event. 09:03 He said that, "which was 430 years later can not annul 09:07 "the covenant that was confirmed before by God, in Christ, 09:10 "then it should make the promise of no effect. " 09:13 Now the point the apostle was trying to make here is 09:16 the same God who gave the promise of salvation in Christ, 09:20 gave the law, and I would ask those who have been 09:24 wrestling with this and thought about the law as still 09:27 binding upon Christians and should we still keep the 09:30 Ten Commandment law, the question to ask would be 09:34 because the thought that comes in here is didn't Jesus 09:37 did Jesus die so we can be free from a law? 09:40 We have talked about this before. 09:41 But we have to ask ourselves who was it who gave the 09:44 Ten Commandment law again? - it was God. 09:46 You know a dear friend of mine, Dan Griffin always said 09:49 that there is one word that God never uses, one word 09:53 God never says, and that word is oops! 09:55 - that's right. - God wasn't up there giving a law 09:58 and oops I made a mistake, I shouldn't have given that 10:01 law, so all the apostle is saying here is the same God 10:05 who gave salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ 10:08 also gave the law. 10:09 Well He wouldn't give us a law that contradicted 10:12 His own promise. - that's right! 10:13 So rather than the law being contradictory to salvation, 10:17 if we find ourselves as Christians battling on one side 10:21 of this issue verses another saying, I'm for the Gospel, 10:24 or I'm for the law we are mixed up. 10:27 The same God that gave law gave the Gospel. 10:30 The same God who gave the Gospel gave the law and they 10:32 are not working to counter purposes but are working 10:35 together. - you know that's right. 10:36 You know I think about when Jesus was talking to the 10:38 Pharisees and He said you tithed mint and anise and Cumin 10:42 but you neglect the weightier matters of the law. 10:45 Justice and mercy and faith. 10:47 A lot of people when they read Galatians, they think this 10:52 is really attacking these people who are so focused on 10:57 carefully obeying these rules and requirements, but the 11:00 reality is that we have to be careful not to throw the 11:04 baby out with the bath water. - that's right! 11:06 If you look at the example of Jesus He is saying it's 11:10 okay to pay this tithe but don't neglect 11:14 the weightier matters of law. 11:16 It is not obeying the law to keep these external requirements 11:21 if you are bitter and angry in your heart. 11:24 It is not obeying the law if you are critical of others 11:27 because they are not obeying the law. 11:29 That is not obeying the law. - that's right. 11:30 That is about all our stubborn or can do, that is not 11:33 obeying the law, we need something deeper. 11:36 Just because we need a more warm Spirit, just because 11:39 we need that mercy and compassion of God is no reason 11:43 to say because that is the weightier matter of the law 11:47 we don't need to do anything from an external observant 11:51 standpoint that God asked us to do. 11:52 We can't throw away the one to make room for the other. 11:55 We have to look at it as a perfect whole. 11:57 When you talk about throwing away this example comes to 12:01 mind, when Paul talks about the law he repeatedly says 12:04 that man can't be justified by the law. 12:07 By the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. 12:09 What that does is that it triggers the mine of some people 12:12 the idea that there is no purpose for the law. 12:13 For example, my wife and I received this beautiful ceramic 12:19 fruit bowl from some friends of ours that had went 12:22 overseas and brought this back. 12:23 So we have this beautiful fruit bowl on our counter at 12:27 home, now let's imagine one day I'm coming through the 12:30 kitchen and heading out to the garage and take that fruit 12:32 bowl, take the fruit out and began to walk out to the 12:35 garage and my wife says honey hold on a minute. 12:36 Where are you going with the fruit bowl? 12:39 Oh I'm just going out to change the oil. 12:41 She says you're doing what? I'm going to change the oil 12:46 don't worry I'll bring it back. 12:47 She says no you are not going anywhere to do any such 12:50 thing with that fruit bowl you put it right back here. 12:53 - I know Stephanie she wouldn't speak that way. 12:56 No, no she would speak that way but she might still say 12:59 that, so she says you are not going anywhere with that. 13:03 You can't change oil in that fruit bowl 13:06 that's not what it's for. 13:08 Let's imagine if my response is oh well if that's not 13:11 what it is for what good is it and I chuck the thing in 13:14 the trash can, that wouldn't go over real well. 13:17 Okay, I think you husbands at home can relate to that. 13:20 Here's the idea, that is the very thing that some 13:24 Christians do with the law of God. 13:26 When Paul says you can't justify, a law can't justify 13:29 they say what good is it in chuck it in the trash can. 13:32 The reality is, was there a purpose for that fruit bowl? 13:35 - yes there was. - absolutely. 13:37 There was a purpose it just wasn't for changing the oil. 13:39 There is a purpose for the law of God, it's simply not 13:42 to be justified with, but it does serve a purpose. 13:45 We are going to talk about that purpose well we come back 13:47 from our break, so stay tuned and stick with us. 13:51 When we come back we're going to talk about the purpose 13:53 of the law in the life of the Christian. |
Revised 2014-12-17