If you will, go ahead and turn to the book of Galatians and we're in chapter 3 and this morning we're going to be looking at verses 23 and 24 as we move slowly through this text. We spent the last two weeks in verses 19 through 22, where Paul explains the reason why the law was given, and he gave us several things about that. We're going to review that quickly. This was the text that we had over a two-week period. And he opened that section in verse 19 with the question, why the law then? And then you see as well in verse 21, he asked a second question, which fills out the first. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Is it opposed to the promises of God? Let's go through some of the things that we noted here. First of all, when he answered the question why the law then, he said it was added because of transgressions. And if you do the study on the original language there, you could translate that. It was added to define or to create transgressions. It made men lawbreakers. And that's why the law was added. Paul says before the law, sin was certainly in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. So God gave the law and it defined sin and thereby all men became transgressors. He uses the word transgression there, which is specifically a word that's used with regard to breaking a law. So the law made men lawbreakers. That's why it was given. It was given to convict men of their sin. He went on and he said that it had been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator. And what that told us was that there was a go-between between God and Israel when he gave them the law. That mediator was Moses, and we looked at that in the book of Exodus, and you can just see it in action there, because what happens is God calls Moses up, he tells Moses something, Moses goes back down the mountain and he relates what God said to the people the people Answer and Moses goes back up to God and says this is what the people said and he's just making these trips back and forth and you see there's a distance between God and the people and the law is in a between, whereas the promise that he's talked about so much in this chapter, the promise to Abraham, that was spoken directly to Abraham, person to person. There was no mediator. And a mediator indicates as well that this covenant of law was a conditional covenant. It was an if-then. If you do this, I'll do that. So forth and so on. Whereas the promise was unconditional and it was ratified by God alone. We also saw that the law was inferior because it was meant to be temporary, whereas the promise is eternal. He says, this law had been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, and he says, until, that word until means up into a point of time, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. And we know from the previous text that that seed to whom the promise had been made is Jesus Christ. And so the law was to be temporary. It was to serve a purpose up until the time that Christ came. At that time, men were to put their faith in Jesus Christ, His finished work, and there's, as Paul tells us later on this book, you are not under law, you're under grace. And then when he asks this question, is the law then contrary to the promises of God? And he says, may that thought never come into existence. And he gives us this, it's kind of a difficult if then clause. But basically what he says, it was powerless to impart life. He says, for if a law had been given, which was able, which had the power, that's the word dunamis, to impart life, And he says, then righteousness, and so we see that having life imparted in righteousness are synonyms here in this text. Then righteousness would indeed have been based on the law. And when we looked at that, basically saying, if this part was true, then this part would be true, the then part. But the problem is, is the then part isn't true. Therefore, the if part isn't true either. But his point is, it's powerless to impart life. The law never had the power to grant righteousness, to impute righteousness, to give life, eternal life. But it was powerful to do something, and it did that quite well, and still does that quite well today. He says, but, and that word but, there's the strongest adversative he has available to him in the Greek language, in strong contrast to the fact that it's unable to impart life, It is very able to shut up everyone under sin, to enclose. The word there is used in the gospels when they talk about pulling fish up out of the sea, enclosed in a net. You might translate that word imprisoned. It imprisoned everyone under sin. This word under, he uses several times in the larger text, and it means to be under the, or the moral force of something. They're under the power of sin. It imprisoned all men under the power of sin. That's what the law has done and it's never done anything else but that. It's never imparted righteousness. It's never imparted life. And so when we look at the bigger flow of text in chapter three, the first large section we were in, he was talking about the supremacy of the promises. The promise makes us sons of Abraham. It's by the promise that we receive the Holy Spirit. It's by the promise that we are made righteous before God. All of that. And then he shows us how the law is inferior to the promise. And when I say it's inferior to the promise, that's what I mean. I'm not saying the law is inferior in some way, that it lacks something. The law is good and holy and perfect. But when set against the promise, it doesn't give life. That's the big idea. And so that was the inferiority of the law. So, so far we've looked at the superiority of the promise, the inferiority of the law, and now he's going to continue on talking about the law. And he highlights the law really throughout the rest of this chapter and into chapter four, because why? What's the problem in Galatia? You have these people that are coming in and say, you must come under the law, under the force of the law, if you want to really have salvation in its fullest. And Paul's saying, not so. Absolutely not so. Salvation is by grace through faith, period. And so that's his bigger argument. And now in this section that we began in verse 23, we're going to see that he begins to talk about the effect of the law. So he says, this is why it was given. Now, here's what the law does. And I think maybe we should look at this. This is how you use the law lawfully. This is how you understand the law and the way it was intended to be understood. And so let's look at this in verse 23, says, but before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith, which was later to be revealed. Therefore, The law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith. And so we're going to begin looking at this text and answer the question, who was affected by the law? Effected, I should say. Who is affected by the law? And if you look at this, Paul here, he switches to the we and our. We see here, he says, we were kept in custody. The law has become our tutor that we may be justified. So he's including himself and whoever it is that he's speaking to. And so you have to ask yourself the question, well, who is the we? If you do some reading, you'll find some people think that Paul is talking about we Jews, that he's addressing just the Jewish element of his audience. And I've thought about this quite a bit and I struggle with this because we're not super clear about what his intentions are. But I think that he's talking about we as an all mankind. because the rest of the paragraph speaks of all who have exercised faith in Jesus Christ, both Jews and Gentiles. I would say this, although the Jews, they received the law at Mount Sinai. They were the possessors of the law, if you will. They had a certain relationship with the law, but so do Gentiles. I would say it this way. We use this term in law enforcement. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, right? So Gentiles have a different relationship to the law, but nonetheless they are transgressors, they are lawbreakers. All men have broken God's law. And just because you didn't know about it, doesn't make you any less guilty of the offense. And so I would say when Paul says we, he has we, everybody, Jews, Gentiles, and that basically describes every human being on the planet in terms of the scripture. And so this law had its effect on everyone, on all mankind. And he said that before in the previous verse where he says, but the scripture has shut up everyone under sin, Well, that's all-inclusive, isn't it? And so it would make sense that he's talking about everyone here as well when he says we. But he speaks about it in very personal terms. Paul's experience with the law is exactly what we see here, and it's every man's experience with the law. So that's who the law affected to begin with. Now, when did its effect rule? what was the intended period of time that the law was to rule. And we see there's two markers of time here in our text we're looking at, but there's another one there in verse 25, which I don't have on the screen, but we see first of all, he says, but before faith came. And then he says that this law that we were being shut up to the faith, which was later to be revealed. So he's looking forward to something here. And then if you look at verse 25, he says, but now that faith has come. And so there's a period of time that the law was to be in effect. Well, obviously, The beginning of that period of time was at Mount Sinai when God gave his law. And Paul, earlier in this chapter, makes the point that the promise was made 430 years before the law was given. So the law had a beginning and the law had an intended end. And it was when faith came. So here he's talking about before faith comes. And that's our text this morning is, what is the effect of the law before faith was revealed? Our text next week will be, what is the effect of faith after it came? So today's lesson is the effect of the law. Next week's lesson will be the effect of faith. And we'll be able to compare those two, but what does this mean? Before faith came what does that mean that faith came and literally it's got the article in front of it It's before the faith came and he uses that article throughout this text the faith And he has a specific faith in mind here Well historically What is it when faith came? It's when Jesus Christ came. It's when the one to whom, the seed to whom the promises were made, when he came, when he came and fulfilled his work on this earth and his sinless life, his sacrificial death, his atoning death, his resurrection, his ascension, all of that. And those things make up what? We call it the fundamentals of Christianity, the gospel. And so there was a time when Men didn't look forward to this faith coming. It actually came, right? The Old Testament believer, he looked forward to a Savior coming. Well, he actually came at a point in time, and as Pete has reminded us often, at an exact point in time. Not a moment sooner, not a moment later, but God had a very specific time that faith came. Jesus Christ came. He died on a cross. He propitiated the Father's wrath against sin, and He made salvation a reality for all who would trust in Him. And so, I've got a few verses here. In Galatians 1.23, He uses this term, the faith, to talk about this body of truth about salvation, about God's plan of salvation. And this is when Paul had He had left Jerusalem and gone up into Syria and Cilicia And he says those people in Judea didn't know his face But they kept hearing he who once persecuted us is now preaching what the faith which he once tried to destroy and That faith that says salvation, righteousness, justification is by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, period. And so we have there the faith. Paul uses this term in 1 Timothy 4.1, he says, but the spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. And we've been living in that time since Paul wrote that. And we see that in much of the so-called church today. You preach a gospel that is no gospel at all. It's either watered down or it has the law added to it. Either way, it's an offense to a holy God that sent His Son to die so that you could have life and justification and righteousness solely based on His promise, not on your works. Jude 3, Jude says, Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the saints. The basic doctrines of Christianity, the gospel, never, ever, ever change. And Jude reminds his audience to contend earnestly for that body of truth, the faith. So historically, that's what it means, the faith came, when faith came, when Christ came, when all of this became a reality in time. And then also personally, when does faith come? Faith comes when we place our faith, our trust, our confidence in Christ. We look to Christ for justification, not law. And he says that there, we've already looked at this in 322, he says, but the scripture has shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who, what? Believe. So the faith came at a point in history in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and faith comes when we exercise faith in that Savior, in Him alone. And so he says, but before all this happened, the law had an effect. And so he's speaking of the effect of the law on us before Christ's coming and before our trusting in Him for justification. Does that make sense so far? Okay. So we've looked at who it's affected, when it's effect ruled, and now let's look at what Paul tells us about its effect upon us. And when I say us, I mean all mankind. Jew, Gentile, all mankind. And so what does he say first? But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law. This word kept in custody, it means literally to guard. And the picture here is to guard as a prisoner, to hold as a prisoner. And it's an imperfect passive, and it's under the law. So somehow the law has become this this prison guard who is constantly watching over our confinement. Because remember, the law has enclosed everyone under sin. The imperfect means a continuing action in the past. And so, as a believer, you can look back in your life and say, on a continuing basis in the past, this law was Having me in custody, it was guarding my imprisonment because I couldn't escape the fact that I kept breaking that law. And so he says it's kept in custody. Interestingly, this word can has a have a positive sense. I've got a couple of verses here. I don't have him on the screen for you, but Philippians 4-7 it says in the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard. That's our word here. will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So you look at the picture of the law, it kept you in custody and we're gonna see in prison, whereas grace, the promise, it guards your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. In 1 Peter 1, 3-5 he says, All of that, he says, is reserved in heaven for you. And then he says, who are protected, who are guarded by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. And that's the fullness of your salvation. So there is a positive guarding, but it's connected to what? Grace, faith, trust in Christ. There's a negative guarding, an imprisonment, if you will. You can't get out. And he said, everyone who is of the law is under a curse. So all of that's involved here. You're imprisoned under this curse that you can't escape because you can't keep the law. And the law keeps you in custody. It acts as that guard, standing there with the billy club, waiting to hit you in the head, I guess, if you mess up. Maybe that's going too far. So the first thing we see is it kept us in custody. And I've got here shutting us up to the faith. But before we go there, he says, kept in custody under the law. And I've already mentioned this. When Paul uses this word under here and he's using it several times in this text, it means to be in subjection to or bondage to something. And so kept in custody and subjection to and bondage to the law. is the idea. In 310, he uses this under word for as many as are of the works of the law are in bondage to and subjection to a curse. In 322, it's under sin. The scripture has enclosed, imprisoned everyone in bondage to sin. And that's the idea, isn't it? Before faith came, we were slaves to sin. After faith gain comes, Paul tells us we're now slaves to righteousness. And 4.3, he says, so also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. We'll look at what that means when we get to it. But you see here, previous to when faith came, life was subjection to something, bondage to something, and there's no escape. You can't do like these two guys did and manage to get out of the high security prison. You're not going to do that even for a short period of time. There's no relief period ever under the law because it's ever there having you in custody. And then as we go on, he says, we were kept in custody being shut up to the faith, which was later to be revealed. This being shut up to the faith is defining what that custody looked like. It's a participle. And so it's helping us understand what being kept in custody is. And it's a present tense word he's using. It's a continuing action, and it's something that's being done to you. And it's that same word where he says the scripture has shut us up under sin. It's the same word here. It's like that net that goes around us that there's no escape from. And I think the idea here is imprisoned. And so look at it this way. Before faith came, we were kept in custody on a continuum basis in the past, presently in prison. I just envision in my mind sitting in a cell that is inescapable and on top of that there's a guard there all the time that never goes away and he's watching me every moment of every day and not only just my actions but he's looking into my heart and my mind as well and discerning that. Can you imagine And so before faith came, the law acted as the guard over our imprisonment, which this imprisonment was imposed by the law itself. Not only do you have a guard there, but it's the guy that judges you. He's the guard. And we know the law was given by God. There was a mediator there. It wasn't personal, but it was still God's law. So, kept in custody is the first effect. Further describing that is imprisoned, and it says, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. This is a little bit more of a difficult text because of that word to there. It's actually in Greek, it's the word ice, E-I-S, and normally it's translated into. And there's different usages for it, and you can look at lexicons and read until your head hurts. And unless you have a Greek background or seminary, you probably still won't understand it, depending on some scholars for this. But first of all, it's literally the faith about to be revealed. And the picture here is that it's close, the about-to-be-revealed faith. And that word there, revealed, is the word apocalyptic. Same word we get in the Book of Revelation. Unclosed, disclosed. What was a mystery before is now made manifest. Well, that happened in time, right? The mystery of Jesus Christ, there came a point in history that he came, and all of this was laid open, it was uncovered, it was disclosed. And what's interesting here is this word, this time, to, because I was struggling, what's it mean to be shut up to the faith? which was later to be revealed. So you see there's a Paul has time in mind here when something began and when it ends and so forth. And in this instance, this word too has a temporal sense. It could be translated until. And the English Standard Version actually translates it that way. Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming of faith, until the coming faith would be revealed. And I think that's the idea that Paul has in mind here. We were in custody, imprisoned, and he's looking forward to a time that he tells us in verse 25, when faith came. So when faith comes, The release comes. The imprisonment ends. And so the picture is that all mankind was imprisoned under guard by the law until the point in time when faith came. When it came historically and when it comes personally. Before you exercise faith in Christ, what we've discussed so far, that's the picture of your life. Even if you don't know it, that's still the picture of your life. And there's no escaping it until faith comes. And then there's freedom. And I think the whole picture here is, in your mind's eye, you picture all of mankind enclosed in a maximum security prison, always under guard, always being watched, always being convicted for their thoughts, their words, their deeds. There's never any escape from this ever-present law that's always there. And the picture is, if you place yourself there, there's no hope for escape from that prison and anything you can do. And so your only hope would have to be someone would come and rescue you from there. Someone would come and liberate you. Someone would come and set you free from that. And this is just the wonderful thing. Centuries before Christ came, the prophet Isaiah, and he's speaking about the Messiah here, he says that's what he's coming to do. And we've probably read this verse and never given it a thought to what it's saying here. But he says, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. This is Messiah speaking. Because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners." And I bet we've read that and thought, oh yeah, there's people in prison and he's just going to set them free. No, I think he's talking about captives to the law, prisoners of the law, those who are being guarded, imprisoned by the law. I think that's what he has in mind. He's going to set people free from the bondage, from the curse of the law. And so it's a beautiful picture. Isaiah 61.1 just describes what Christ did. Sadly, there is a world of people and the Jewish nation collectively, not every individual, but the Jewish nation to this day has still rejected that freedom. They would rather sit in that prison thinking they could release themselves. then allow their Messiah to set them free. And it's no different for us Gentiles as well. I think about you watch a TV show and one person talks about Christ and the other person says well God's going to let me in their heaven because I'm not a robber and I'm not a rapist and I'm not a thief and what. Yes you are. You know we have some skewed idea about God's law but God's law is perfect and holy and it. It looks into the recesses of the heart Not only your actions, but your attitudes and your motivations and everything else. And everyone is convicted under that. Everyone is in custody, in prison. And so we see that it kept us in custody, shutting us up. But he's saying the law, it had a purpose, and it was to do this until a point in time. And it will continue to do that until faith comes. In the person and work of Jesus Christ, that's come. That's a historical fact. And so we look back to that and then we trust that. And personally, that's when faith comes for us personally. And then we're set free from that. And that's Paul's whole argument in the book of Galatians. You're free from the law. Don't go back or don't begin to try to keep the law. You can't do it. And Christ has set you free from that. Free indeed. So it kept us in custody, shutting us up to the faith. And I have here, it treated us as slaves. Now how do I get that? Because he says, therefore the law has become our tutor. How do I get it treated us as slaves from the law being our tutor? Because, first of all, I think the word tutor in our society doesn't have much meaning for us. It just means that person you either pay or go to and they help you with your math homework. Well, in those days, a tutor was very different than what we think of today. We'll look at some of that. So he says, therefore, and remember, therefore means with the result that, or thus, or accordingly, because the law was doing this, it's become, and it's a perfect tense, it stands in a state of being our tutor. Now remember, this is before faith came. This is the effect of the law before faith. And so until one exercises faith in Christ, at which point he's no longer under a tutor, before that he is, Paul says, under a tutor. The law is our tutor. This word is pedagogos, and we have a word that comes from that word in English, pedagogue. And it literally means boy leader. Boy leader. And I did some reading about the role of pedagogos in society back then. Now, first of all, a tutor wasn't something that the Jews alone practiced. Tutors were practiced through most of the cultures of that day. The Romans, the Greeks, no doubt the Galatian people, the Jews, they used tutors. First of all, a tutor was a slave. And he was considered among slaves, the lowest of slaves, interestingly. And I'll just read this to you. It says, the role of pedagogues probably varied from family to family and culture to culture, but all seem to have had certain responsibilities in common. listen to this, as a constant companion to the child. So this tutor never ever left that child's side. So I can see this tutor, he's taking him to school, he's doing this, he's sleeping in the same room. That child can't get away from this guy, right? I remember my cousins, they used to yell at the younger cousins, stop following us. Because you just hate that. But this is the picture. The law is like this tutor. He goes everywhere you go. The pedagogue escorted the child to and from school. Sometimes he took the child to athletic practice. He oversaw his meals. He taught him how to eat correctly, how to wipe his mouth correctly. He made him do his homework. He protected him from harm. He disciplined him. And sometimes that In that day, tutors were known for harsh discipline. And in that day, many people expected that because they saw harsh discipline as the only way to train a child. And he supervised all his social engagements. So this child didn't play with another child unless a tutor was there. And if that other child had a tutor, his tutor was there. And you couldn't get away from these tutors. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, nonstop, the pedagogue accompanied the child in virtually every activity of life. So you see that custody in prison, and now you got this tutor. And there are good aspects of the tutor. The loft certainly held back sin, but I think Paul If he's not highlighting the negative aspect of that, at least he's being neutral about it. I don't think he's pointing out the positive aspects of having this tutor. And generally, tutors were not teachers. So that tells you something, too. This tutor he has in mind here wasn't one that instructed you in things. It was just this one that was your constant companion, always there, always looking over you, always watching you, making you do your homework, making you do the things you didn't want to do, so forth and so on. And it disciplined you often. So the laws become our tutor. And so look at chapter four, verse one, because he says this there. I think he's elaborating on what he says here. Now, I say as long as the heir. So that's a son, right? He's an heir is a child. Only children had tutors. He does not differ at all from a slave, although he is owner of everything, but he is under And here he uses the terms guardians and managers until the date set by his father. So he still has a point in time in mind here until a date set by the father. But prior to that, even though you're an heir, you're no different than a slave. And so that's why I have here the law treated us as slaves. At the very least, it treated us as children, as immature children who needed to be constantly watched over and disciplined. And so the law kept us in custody, shutting us up to the faith, and it treated us as slaves. And Paul is saying here to the Galatians, do you want to go back to that? Or do you want to enjoy the liberty in Christ? Now, liberty in Christ does not mean that you can just live like you want. No, not at all. You were saved to do the good works which God created beforehand for you to walk in them. But there's this freedom from this oppression of the law. Now you're under grace. So we've looked at who it affected, when its effect ruled, or when it was intended to rule, up until faith comes, its effect upon us. And now again, Paul's going to point out the fact that it's had a temporary purpose, a temporary effect, an intended temporary purpose and effect. And he says here, Therefore, the law has become our tutor. And we see the translators have added to lead us to Christ or actually they've added to lead us. But literally it's therefore the law has become our tutor to Christ. And again, it's that little word ice. And so the lead us to may be in view and the law does do that. He's already said that the law The proper understanding of the law is that I can't keep it and therefore I must call out to God for justification or else I'll never have it. He's going to have to grant it to me somehow because I'll never earn it by keeping the law. And so the law does do that, but I don't think that that's what he has in mind here. I think he's using the word the same way as he had before, in a temporal way, that the law was our tutor until Christ. And again, the ESV translates it that way. So then the law was translated guardian until Christ came. And we know, again, Christ came historically. He came at a point in time, and that's the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith, the gospel. But he also comes at a point personally, right? God calls men into his son and grants them faith in him. And so up until that point in time, at least on a personal level, the law is your tutor. And so that's why even today, we don't just toss the law out, but we use the law lawfully. We use the law to bring men under conviction of sin until faith comes personally in their lives. And so whether he means it like the NASB translators has the idea to lead us to or whether it's temporal until Christ, Either way, the law's our tutor, and it's only up until one exercises faith in Christ. It keeps us in custody, in prison, and it's constantly watching over us like that pedagogue of that day. Until it hands us over to Christ and I think chapter 4 Paul's going to elaborate on that because he what we read Although he's an heir He's no different than a slave until a certain point in time and then as you go through chapter 4 He talks about the son of the bondwoman and the son of the free woman and so forth I think he's actually in chapter 4 elaborating on what he brings up here So therefore the laws become our tutor until Christ, until Christ. For us today it would be until Christ comes in us, we exercise faith in Him. And then we see also that it has a purpose. We see here it says, so that we may be justified by faith. When you see so that, that's a purpose clause. He's saying, here's the reason why it's doing all of this. And it's so that we may be justified by faith. And I would add, Paul's argument is so that all mankind, anyone who is justified, that that justification would occur by the means of faith, not the means of works, the law. God is very interested that no one else gets the glory but himself. And when I say himself, I'm including God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. So the purpose, the reason God designed the law and the way it affects us was so that being declared righteous, being justified, having a right standing before God, having salvation, having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, all that's involved in that, possessing the Holy Spirit. everything that's involved with our justification, adoption as sons, we could go on and on, that it would be by faith, not law. And again, it's we, we Jews and we Gentiles, all men, without exception, God's going to guarantee you that if you're justified, it's by the means of faith in His Son. So again, after being guarded, imprisoned, constantly tutored by the law, the proper response would be to look to God for the freedom of the law's demands, which we could never satisfy. We were those people sitting in that prison that had no hope of escape. Someone would have to come and deliver us, and Christ did just that. And so rather than being the means of justification, the law's purpose was to just show us the correct means of justification, which is faith. And I think that's Paul's argument here. As we go into the next text, he's going to tell us, when faith came, here's all it's done. And man, it's wonderful. The law is bondage, the law is curse, but faith in Jesus Christ is true freedom. And I would just close with this because I think we're all guilty of it. We need to stop ourself when we think that I need to do this or this or this for God to love me or for somehow to maintain my salvation. And, you know, that can take all kinds of forms and nuances and so forth. And, you know, I won't try to give you a bunch of examples, but we need to think about that. Because here's the way I look at it, and I think the way that the scripture is telling us that God looks at it. God sent his only son into the world and he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. He paid the ultimate price to purchase our salvation. And for us to do anything less than to completely trust in that is to spit in God's face and say, your son's not enough. Do we ever look at it in those terms? I think Paul in the book of Galatians is calling us to live by faith.