The following message is brought to you by Capital City Baptist Church of Port Moresby. We exist to bring glory to God by knowing Christ and making Him known. If you would like to visit our church, we hold multiple services on Sunday mornings, starting at 9am. We are located between Motukere Wharf and Edai Town. Pickups are available 7009-1000. Galatians chapter 3 Galatians 3 23 through chapter 4 verse 7 it's good to see you this morning praise God what a day that shall be what a day it is today we can worship him now get used to it now you think you say brother Billy's kind of you know light trigger shouting over there. I think heaven's going to have a lot of that. So if you want to practice, Brother Billy will give you lessons on how to enjoy yourself when you come to the house of God. Galatians 3 verse 23, the apostle writes, But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith, which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a Son. And if a Son, then an heir of God through Christ. I have a glimpse of John chapter one at the same time while we're walking through our time together in Galatians. Galatians chapter three and John chapter one, both many years ago when I was doing my flight training, I was very excited about the opportunity to learn how to fly. And I got to admit the very first flight lesson was everything I had hoped it would be. I was so excited, I showed up, it was a cold day. We walked around that little Cessna 150 is a little two seater airplane. And the instructor pilot walked around and he pointed out all the different parts of the airplane. While we walked around the airplane, he told me this one does this, this one does that, this one's got this name, that one's got that name. And I smiled and enjoyed every moment of it. We got inside the airplane, and then we taxied. As we taxied, he showed me, you taxi the airplane with your feet. When you're on the ground, the control yoke does nothing. The feet do everything. This odd, different way of steering something, and I watched as he steered the airplane. We took off, and he did the takeoff. And once we got into the air, he told me, we're going to turn towards the practice area. And he said, we're gonna go out to the practice area and I'll show you how to fly the airplane in the practice area. And along the way, he taught me something, I'll teach you. This is how we pass the controls in the cockpit. There's a way to do this and all the way through, all pilots still do it even at their advanced levels. He said, this is what we do. He said, when I'm gonna give you the controls, I say, you have control. And then me as the student, I have to repeat back to him, I have control. And then he says it one more time, you have control. So you guys help me with this. So he would say, you have control. Then we would say, I have control. Then he says, you have control. Very simple, right? We went, he showed me how to turn the airplane, go to the left, go to the right. You push it forward, everything gets bigger. You pull it back, everything gets smaller. You go up, you go down. It became time to go back to the airport. I remember all the details of that first flight. We come back to the airport. He said, I have control. I said, yep, you do. He said, no, no, no. I have control. Yes, you have control. That's right. And he said, yes, I have control. And then he brought the airplane back and landed, taxied back, tied it down. And that was my first lesson. I was so excited. I told my dad all about it on the way home. That was back in 1994. That was first lesson. A couple of days later, I show up for my second lesson, and on the second lesson, the instructor said, let's go out to the airplane. And I thought, he's going to show me all the parts of the airplane again. And instead, he said, I want you to tell me what the parts of the airplane are. I said, wait a minute. Last time, I was smiling and enjoying. Now you're telling me I have to tell you? And he began to ask questions, what about this one? What about that one? I said, that's the tourney thing. No, that's called the aileron. I said, okay, what's that one? That's the tail feathers. No, no, no, no, that's the rudder. He really started to get on to me. We got in, he said, start up the engine. I don't remember how to start up the engine. You have to, you teach me how to do this. He said, I'm gonna show you once and you might make a lot of mistakes, but you are going to learn and you are not going to waste my time or yours. It became time to taxi the airplane. It's time for me to taxi with my feet. I've never steered anything with my feet ever before in my life. And as that airplane went down the taxiway, if you were in the control tower, you would have thought I was drunk. A little overcorrection this way, a little overcorrection this way. And all the time he's saying, please keep the nose on the center line. I can't keep the nose on the center line. I've never done this before. Then it came time to take off. He said, I will fly the airplane on the takeoff. You can keep your hands on the control yoke. did the takeoff, we took off. Shortly after we got airborne, he said, you have control. And I said, I guess I do. Is that the right answer? No. He said, we don't talk like that. You have control. And I went, oh yeah, I have control. We flew out to the practice area. And all through that flight, over and over, he said things like, I will show you once and you will learn and you will pay attention. And you might make mistakes, but I'm not wasting my time or yours." He was a very good schoolmaster. He was an instructor that kept me focused even though I might be enjoying the ride. Stay focused on what you're supposed to be learning. He was a very good schoolmaster. As I went on into further training, One instructor to another. I found that almost every instructor was the same way. Got into my advanced commercial training. And there I had one instructor who actually hit me in the head with a clipboard in the cockpit. Another time we landed and he slammed on the brakes. We both have dual controls. We land, he slammed on the brakes. He got out of the airplane and he said, I'll see you in my office. And he walked from the runway to his office. I knew how to steer an airplane on the ground at that moment. There was no problems there, but I was terrified all the way back to his office. And I don't even remember what it was that I did wrong, but I did learn a lesson. You better pay attention when the teacher's talking. A good schoolmaster has a purpose and the good schoolmaster does not waste his time. So let's come into Galatians chapter three. We're gonna see Paul makes this statement today. The law is our schoolmaster. Galatians chapter 3 verse 23, But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith, which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. that we might be justified by faith. I see two pictures in verse 23 and 24. I see two pictures, and the first picture kind of helps us to understand the setting of the second picture. So verse 23, I'll read it slowly, see if you can grab the picture. I see the picture of a prison. A prison. Verse 23. Before the faith came, we were kept under the law. shut up unto the faith, which should afterwards be revealed. I see a picture of prison as if there's bars and I'm being held back and the law might even, we might say the law is acting as the warden holding us in prison. And then he switches pictures in verse 24 and he stays with this other picture the rest of the time. But I think that verse 23 helps us to have the setting. This is not your kindergarten teacher. So it's not the one that high fives you when you color inside the lines. This is what kind of a schoolmaster, see it in verse 24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. The law served as our schoolmaster in a similar light that the law kept us in prison. It was not a joyful thing. So hold your place here in Galatians 3, and I want you to see John chapter 1. See the words of the Apostle John as he talks about the coming of Jesus. And we have many times throughout this series talked about the law versus grace, and the promise of God, and the fact that we have the Holy Spirit through our faith in Christ, and He gives us the Holy Spirit. Oh, what a blessing that we can believe, and He gives us righteousness. This is a blessing. And then as John writes about Jesus coming in the flesh, see the words that he uses in John chapter 1 and verse 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Grace comes with Jesus. Oh, what a magnificent thought. But if we're not careful, we will see Jesus as so wonderfully magnificent that we will see the law as our enemy. But I want to show you from John's words, the law was not our enemy. God gave us the law for a reason. Verse 15, John bear witness of him and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of His fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The law was a grace from God to you and me. And we see the words even in verse 16. Of His fullness have we received, and grace with grace. We had grace. That was God giving us the law so that we could see it was a schoolmaster to teach us towards God's grace. And then, on top of that, He added more grace, and that was Jesus coming. And so please, as we look at Galatians, please don't see the law as a thing that is terrible. Don't see it as a thing that is opposed to God, but instead it was given by God for our good. So come back over to Galatians 3, verse number 24, we'll set a scene here for the law was our schoolmaster, verse number 24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. The law was our schoolmaster. That word schoolmaster The word for schoolmaster is the same word in English we would say pedagogue. And that word has deep meaning. For us, when we say schoolmaster, we might in our minds, current thinking, we might think either a headmaster, like the principal of a school, or we might think a teacher in that that person teaches us. We do not have the position pedagogue within our society. We don't have that. And so it's important for us to understand what the pedagogue was historically when Paul used that word. So when Paul said the law was our schoolmaster or the law was our pedagogue, what was that? So that pedagogue goes back to the Greek times. So it predates Paul. And the idea was that a father would be too busy to be involved with the affairs of his son. And by the way, that's a whole message in itself, all right? Dads, you always have time for your children. And yet, within that Greek mindset, they would have a pedagogue that would then be in charge of making sure that the children in the family, namely the sons in the family, would get their schooling. When that came into the Roman times, there was such a difference between the haves and the have-nots, we might say the aristocracy and the slaves, that there were so many slaves and so few children that you would have literally a slave pedagogue assigned to a son. So if dad had four sons, he had four pedagogues. And the pedagogue's job, his job was to make sure that the son goes to school. He's not the teacher, make sure that he goes to school. And that he sits in his classes and that he learns in his classes. So if you're a teacher here, could you imagine if in your class you had students in your class, but then you also had a pedagogue that was with the student that was in case the student started to nod off, the pedagogue can go, pay attention. What a blessing that would be to so many teachers, would it not? But can you put yourself in the shoes of the son? Perhaps dad is one of the senators, Or perhaps dad has gone off to war to fight for the nation. And around the time that a child or a son was six years old, he would then be given over to the hand of the pedagogue and the pedagogue was given free reign. Until the time that the father marked, and there was not a time set within their society, there was not a time that said, oh, when he makes it to 18, he's an adult man now. No, there was nothing. It could be 18, it could be 21, it could be 25. For some fathers, because they were afraid that their sons would try to take over their throne, they would leave them under the tutelage of the pedagogue until they were 35, 40 years old. So can you imagine being a six-year-old little boy, you've now been given over to the hand of a pedagogue. There's no way that you can go and tell dad that he hits me every day. There's no space for that. And so here, as a son, the pedagogue wakes you up in the morning, but I want to sleep just a little bit longer. No, get out of bed. It's time to go to school. Get up. Brush your teeth. Let's go. Eat your breakfast, all of your breakfast. Let's go. And out the door you go into the school. You're walking too slowly. Let's go. Pick up your feet. Let's get to class. We're into school now. Wake up. Don't fall asleep in the classroom. Smack, smack. Your peers are doing better than you. Come on. I can't get a failing grade on your classes because my boss is paying attention. And then back to home. Let's do our studies. Let's eat our dinner, all of our dinner, the vegetables included, all of it. And now it's bedtime. I know that you want to stay up late. I know the sun hasn't gone down yet, but you need to rest. Go to sleep. Do your homework. all of the extra things. Oh, it's a day off from school? You need to study. And it was the pedagogue's job to make sure that the students learned and they would continue on year after year after year until the time that the father appointed. And when the father said, he's now a man, the pedagogue's job was finished. This is a example that the Apostle Paul gives, and I would say, go so far as to say that the pedagogue most likely was a grouchy old man. He doesn't like his job, he doesn't want to be around this little boy, and the little boy wants nothing to do with his schoolmaster. And the Apostle Paul says that we were under the schoolmaster. Look down at chapter 4, verse number 1. He continues the story further on. Verse number 1, Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all. It doesn't matter if you are Caesar's son. If you're 15 years old and you're Caesar's son, you're still considered a servant. You don't get to do anything on your own. You do what the pedagogue tells you to do. Verse two, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. And could you imagine this grouchy, grumpy old man trying to teach a little boy how to do everything just right? Mind your manners, pick up this spoon, put down that fork. Hold your teacup just right. No, don't tell those kind of jokes. Study your geometry. Rewrite that essay. You misspelled another word. Wipe your nose, Koosmambu. And wipe that smile off your face. And it was to be that way until the father appointed. Remember, within that setting, the father had every right to change his mind. He could have started and said he'll be done at 18. And as they got closer to 17, I don't think he's ready yet. Hold off until he's 21. Hold off until he's 25. Hold off until he's 40. What a terrible system to have to live under. And the Apostle Paul says, the law was our schoolmaster. As I look at the way that the law treats men, I see an interaction as it was between the law and men and I'll walk through some of the interactions. So the law as a pedagogue says to us, notice your obligations before God. 613 of them, 10 of them to be exact. Notice your obligations before God. And so man responds, well, I think I can handle this. I think I've got it. And the law says, hey, don't forget, there were a couple of them that were added on, that it doesn't just have to do with your outward, but it also has to do with your inward. As in, you look upon her to lust after her, you've committed adultery in your heart, or you have anger against your brother, you've killed him. And the law goes, here's some added depth. You are not all that great. You need to be knocked down a few notches. You can just see the pedagogue as he says that to a little boy who tends to be just a little bit arrogant. You need to be knocked down a couple of notches and whipped across the legs. And the law says that to you as the law asks, have you loved the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul and mind? Because if we're going to bring it all down, bring it down to those two and you can't even keep those two. And then man says, oh, I'm a terrible sinner. But it's not my fault. It's not my fault. I'm just this way. I was born this way. And so the law says, okay, list your excuses so that I can knock those out of the way as well. And so man might list a few excuses like, it's in my nature. It's in my nature to steal. I can't help it. It's in my nature. And so the law might add on to that, well, then if it's your nature, then you need to be punished twice. Once for your nature and once for the action. And another excuse that man might have to say is, I stole because I was hungry. Or I needed it and I stole. And the law says, I don't make any space for extenuating circumstances. There's no space, no provision. You don't get to explain your way out. Man might say, well, I'm not as bad as the other ones around me. I don't steal quite as often as that guy does. And the law returns with, you are cursed if you do not continue in all of the things. Man might respond, but I'll try harder next time. I promise that I won't do it again. And the law says, there is no future, only the past. You've wrecked your testimony. You cannot make up for it. A man might say, but I'm sorry and I repent for all my wrongdoing. And the law says, I have no space for repentance. I have no space for mercy. I have no space for grace. What a hard pedagogue. You might have heard the name Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher, he added this statement. He said it like this, as if the law were speaking. He says, why, says the law, why thou hast done this and that and the other and thou knowest thou hast. Thou hast sinned against light and against knowledge and against conscience and against love and against mercy. And every one of these things brings a blow from the great rod, till we are all wounds and bruises, and we seem to ourselves to be covered with putrefying sewers." Can you get the image of the pedagogue? The law is our schoolmaster, and all he does is beat us down. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Oh, he serves a purpose, and God gave him as a grace. But surely there's more to it than this. Look at verse 3. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Do you see how much more beautiful the grace of God is when the fullness of time was come? So do you remember with the pedagogue, it could be at 16, it could be at 18, maybe 21 or 25, or forbid at 40. And when the fullness of time was come, only the Father knew when He would send the Son. And only the Father knew when that time would be enough. But He had a plan all along. And He had planned it from the beginning. He knew well before He ever said, let there be light, He knew that the Son would hang on the tree and cry, it is finished. And He knew long before we were ever cursed by the law, that His Son would be cursed on the tree. And He knew long before we were dead in our sins, that His Son would be dead for us, and that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Oh, He knew it from the beginning, and He held off until the fullness of time was come. Allowed the pedagogue to do His work, the schoolmaster to do His work to show us that we are insufficient in and of ourselves. And so I might just walk through the Scriptures and show you that He had a plan all along. So in Genesis chapter 3, when Adam fell in the garden, you remember Adam and Eve? We've mentioned them many times over the last few weeks. Adam fell in the garden, and God placed a curse, and in the middle of God placing a curse, He gave a blessing. And here was his curse, I will put enmity between thee, speaking to the serpent, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." I hope that as you hear the word seed, it causes your mind to immediately come to Galatians 3 and 16. In my Bible, it's just across the page. So look at verse 16, this is 3 and verse 16. to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made. He saith not, And to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ." And so here in the promise, in the garden, when Adam and Eve don't even have any kids yet. I don't even think they've even thought about kids yet. Here's Adam and Eve falling guilty in sin before God. They've had one law and they broke it. Is not that the job of the law? as a pedagogue to show us that we cannot do it on our own, as God places curses. And here's the curse on the serpent. I will put enmity between thee and thy seed, and the woman and her seed. And then we come down through into 2 Samuel. In 2 Samuel, God gives another promise. This one was to David, and He says to David, When thy days shall be fulfilled, And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." So don't be mistaken and think that God's given a promise to David about Solomon, his son, because Solomon will not sit on the throne forever. That one's going to Jesus, and notice the word He uses. Seed and then in Psalm 89 he gives it one more time just in case you might have gotten mixed up in that one So here's Psalm 89 verses 3 and 4. He says I have made a covenant with my chosen I have sworn unto David my servant thy seed will I establish? forever and build up thy throne to all Generations and then in Isaiah 7 you might remember this a wonderful promise Isaiah 7 verse 14 therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign and Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." God is going to be with us instead of separated from us. And there in the garden, as Adam was sent from, expelled out of the garden, and a flaming sword was held in the hands of the angel, at the entry to the garden, one will come, a seed will come and crush the head of the serpent, and he will take the fall of the flaming sword so that you and I can come back into the garden. Oh, what a blessed, blessed promise to come. And then Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be Wonderful. so that we might receive the adoption of sons. His name shall be Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of the government and peace there shall be no end. His government that He sets up will not ebb and flow, and anybody will vote of no confidence Him out of it. the increase of His government will only increase and increase and increase and get better and get better forever. Oh, what a blessed promise. And He will be upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice. Oh, I seek the day when He will sit upon His throne and justice will be meted out and all things will be made right from henceforth even forever. And yet for 4,000 years, man sat under the pedagogue of the law. And God had a plan. From the garden and from before the foundation of the earth, He had a plan that He would send forth His Son. See it again in Galatians chapter 4 and verse 4. And when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, Made under the law. And he was fulfilling every prophecy of that law in Old Testament. Every prophecy being fulfilled by God through Jesus. Every promise in God, in Jesus, is yes and amen to God. And he was made under the law, made a Jewish man. And by being made of a woman, He flipped the story of the woman on its head. And what I mean by that was in the garden, Eve was tricked and man fell. And then with Mary, God flips that over. And by the way, He says, Jesus was made of a woman. There's promise, ladies. As many times as some would point at Eve and say, look how wicked the woman is, instead, see promise, look how wonderful Jesus is, and in Him coming through a woman, God says, here, I'm going to take everything that man will ever say bad about a woman, and we're going to toss that on the side, because that one doesn't matter. Jesus comes along and makes all things right. He wasn't born above the law. For if He was born above the law, we would have no hope. Instead, He was born under the law. See it in verse 4. Made of a woman, made under the law. And He fulfilled all of the law, and in Him we are also made righteous. For if He was above the law, what good would that be? I need my Savior to be made under the law, and He will live His whole life perfect and sinless, so that when He goes to the tree and takes the sin of the world, He's not paying for His own sin, He's paying for ours. And so He goes to the cross and He takes our sin upon Himself, and the Father pours out His wrath upon Jesus, and when He dies, I die with Him, and when He raises again, I raise with Him. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Oh, this is a wonderful thought. Now see verse 4 again, And when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And I don't know if you remember the last time we saw the word redeemed. That was back in chapter 3 and verse 13. So my Bible again, opposite page. So look over at chapter 3 and verse 13, the last time we saw the word redeemed. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Oh, Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law. He went to the tree on our behalf. He became cursed for us. He redeemed us back to Himself. And now we have it in verse 5. He redeemed us from under the law. How did He do it? By being under the law Himself. God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. We are brought into the family no longer held by a pedagogue, no longer held by a schoolmaster who's going to whip us every time we do something wrong. Instead, we are now brought into the home at a time appointed by the Father. He said, this is enough. And in we come and we get to receive the adoption of sons. So much so, not that we will sit at the far end of the table and hope that his glance falls favorably upon us. Not sitting at the table in fear, Saul with his son Jonathan going to chuck a spear across the room. No, instead, verse 6, and because your sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. That word Abba is the word for Daddy. That's not, oh, high and lifted up and you're far separated from me. No, this is Daddy. And you and I understand the relationship that comes with the word Daddy. He says, I'm going to bring you into My family. You're no longer set aside as a servant, as a studious child who I will not have anything to do with, but instead you're brought into My home, and I will give you the spirit of My Son, and you are My adopted son. And you can cry, Abba, Father. Verse 7, Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son than an heir of God through Christ. What a blessed promise that we can receive as heirs together with Jesus, heirs of God the Father. For He has sent Jesus to redeem us from the law. Now we skipped over verses 25 to 29 in Galatians 3, so if you'll come back to Galatians 3.25, Mark 24 with me, and we'll walk through those verses before we're finished. Verse 24, Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. These words are so very important. The law had a purpose. It had a purpose. You see them in verse 24? Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to shows us there's a purpose there, to bring us to Christ. That we might be justified by faith. So the law has a work that it needs to do. The schoolmaster has a work. It brings us to the point where we can find out what sonship is all about. And we come to a point where we realize that we can't do it on our own. So the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, to bring us to the end of ourselves. We realize after having been whipped again and again by the schoolmaster, after seeing there is no hope in following the law on our own, we come to a point when we realize, oh, I must have someone else who will give me righteousness, and that brings me to Jesus. And through faith, He places Christ's righteousness on me. Could I take just a moment? and caution us, parents. Parents, be very careful with phrases like, be a good boy, obey your parents, and you'll go to heaven. We're teaching moralism with those words. Don't teach, be a good boy. Don't teach, obey your parents. And you'll go to heaven. That's not how you get to heaven. That's following the law. The law will leave you short every time. And friend, don't say things to your other friends and co-workers, things like, love Jesus, and you'll go to heaven. Place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, for He took your penalty for sin. That will get you to heaven. Trust in Him, and He will give you His righteousness, for you and I need His righteousness. All the law does is tell you you can't do it. And so the law serves a purpose. It's like the pedagogue whipping your legs every time you get it wrong, and smacking you over the head every time you get it wrong. And instead, we need to come close to the Savior who redeemed us from the law. Oh, let us be drawn to Him. Look at verse 25. But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Aren't you glad for that? For we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. So righteousness comes by faith. Again and again, we've seen it throughout this series. Do you want righteousness? You absolutely need righteousness. Do you want righteousness? It comes by faith in Christ. You believe Him. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. You and I, the same way. We believe God and it's counted to us. for righteousness. And so my righteousness is in Him. Now, let me hone in on a word in the middle of this verse, verse 27, that if we're not careful, we'll get mixed up on. Look at verse 27. As many of you as have been baptized into Christ. A lot of times when we hear the word baptized, we automatically think, go under the water. Or if you come from another denomination, get sprinkled on the head with water. I don't want you to think about going into the water here. This is baptized into Christ, is what he says. It's not baptized into water. This is baptized into Christ. And so, think of another way that the scriptures use as a phrase, if any man be in Christ. Another way that he used, Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, it's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. The life that I now live, I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. This is me in Christ. Christ in you, me in Christ. And so when you put your trust in Jesus, He robes you, as it were, in righteousness, and you are now in Christ. And so when you trust Him, you are, another way to say it, baptized into Christ. You can even just get this mental picture of being baptized into Christ. And here you are in Jesus. So have that in your mind as you read verse 27, as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And so He is my righteousness, and my righteousness is found in Him. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to righteousness. Even so, I believe God, and it's counted to righteousness. So now, verse 28, there is now neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." So forget about the pedagogue ruling your life anymore. Forget about trying to do the deeds of righteousness so that you can live up to it. for every person gains righteousness the exact same way, and it does not matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile. We all gain righteousness the very same way, and that is by trusting Jesus. We put our trust in Him, and we gain righteousness. It does not matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile, if you're free or a slave, or you're a man or a woman, it does not matter. Every single one of us finds righteousness the very same way, and we are one in Christ Jesus. And if I could just bring all of that into the context of the people of Galatians before we finish. You might remember the Galatians. These poor Gentile new believers, they've put their trust in Jesus. And along comes some Jewish guys that tell them, you need to start acting like the sons of Abraham in order to be accepted by God. And Paul goes, no, no, no, no. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. And it does not matter whether you're a Jew or you're a Gentile. And it doesn't matter if you're free or you're a slave. And it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman. In Christ, we've got His righteousness. And it is so much better. For the law had its purpose, and that purpose was to bring us to Christ. When I came to the end of my flight training at Piedmont, I spent five years there. And during my five years there, we had one guy that was the chief pilot. His name was Dan. I didn't call him Dan when he was my chief flight instructor. I called him Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kelly was the one that did all of our check rides. So we had a different instructor, but you dreaded Mr. Kelly. You never wanted to go to Mr. Kelly's office. And if Mr. Kelly singled you out at a class, something was wrong. He was the one that would do our check rides. Interestingly in their curriculum, the last 10 hours of flight training was supposed to be spent entirely with Mr. Kelly. So the last 10 hours and you do one hour flight blocks. So that means my last 10 flights, you can figure probably the last two to three weeks, I'm gonna be one-on-one with Mr. Kelly. And at the beginning of that 10-hour block, he was Mr. Kelly. And I want to tell you, during that time, he's the one that smacked me in the head with a clipboard. He's the one that slammed on the brakes, got out of the airplane, told me to taxi it back, and he said, you push the airplane back into the hangar on your own. And by the way, back then I was a lot skinnier than I am now. It was very difficult to push anything at that weight. He was the one that was always pushing me. There was one day, I remember in my third year of training, there was one day when he asked me over the desk, are you sure you want to be a pilot? Because I don't know you've got what it takes. He was a hard schoolmaster. But somewhere halfway through those 10 hours, my last 10 hours with him, somewhere about halfway through, it became obvious that I was going to graduate. And it became obvious that I'm almost done, and I've only got a couple, and I can even see in the curriculum, I've only got a couple of flights left. And I'm looking ahead to some of those flights, and I already know they're gonna be fun. We did stuff in those last flights that you only dream of doing. Package drops, and canyon turns, and landed on one little airstrip that was on the top of a ridge. It was like landing on an aircraft carrier. It was a lot of fun. I saw those flights coming at the end of the list. And I got to tell you, somewhere about halfway through those 10 hours, little switch flipped for us. And all of a sudden, he stopped hitting me over the head with a clipboard. And he started saying some encouraging things. And by the time we got to the end of the 10 hours, he no longer looked at me as a student. Instead, he looked at me as a graduate. And I stopped calling him Mr. Kelly and started calling him Dan. Funny thing, when I graduated, I gave him a gift. I bought him a brand new headset. He hadn't had a new headset in 25 years. That was my gift to him. So I want you to have this. I think it's something special for you. You realize as we look at the law, oh, how often we look at the law and we say, what a terrible thing. And yet it served its purpose. Its purpose was to bring us to Christ and the grace that comes with Christ. And we can look back on the law and say, thank you, Lord, for the law. Or we cannot fully come into the grace that is given by Christ and we can stay under the law and continue to live as though it were a pedagogue whipping us. And yet God invites us to come into grace. And I might just use some words that David used in Psalm 119. Many times he used these words, Oh, how I love thy law. And we can look back at the law from a position of grace. We can look back at the law and say, Lord, thank you for that which brought me to a position where I will fully love the grace of God and fully appreciate the cross of Christ. For without the law, I would not have known my own sin. Oh, how I love thy law. And so the Apostle Paul in our passage today says, God gave us the law for a reason. It was to be a schoolmaster. You could never live up to it. But once you realize what its right place is in your life, you have every reason to love it. Father, thank You for the law that You gave. Lord, I pray that we would not try to use it as our means to gain Your favor. It was never intended to be that way. I pray that You would help us instead to lean heavy on the grace of God that is Jesus Christ on the cross, crucified for us, that we would come trusting Jesus, and by trusting Jesus we would be robed with His righteousness. And we can look back on the law and say, thank you for that which showed me how terrible my sin was. Father, I pray that you would help us to live loving the grace of God. And thank you for sending Jesus to redeem us from the law and to draw us in as your sons. In Jesus' name, Amen. Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Matt Allen of Capital City Baptist Church of Port Mosby. We would love to have you join us for service if you are in the area. If you need help with transportation, please give us a call on 7009-1000. Again, it's 7009-1000.