Please take your Bibles and open with me to the book of Galatians. We'll be in Galatians chapter three today, and with the Lord's help, we'll be examining verses 15 through 25. That's Galatians chapter three, verses 15 through 25. If a person has even the slightest sense of their own sinfulness, one of the most important questions that can be pressed upon their conscience is this, how can you have peace with God? Now, the foundational answer that scripture gives to this question, I think is summarized quite well by our confession of faith in this way, quote, The distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience to him as their creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant. Without God's covenant of grace in Jesus Christ, you and I would have no hope of ever being at peace with God. We would have no hope of attaining the reward of eternal life. So this concept of covenant is vital to your hope. It's vital to my hope. It is vital to any sinner's hope for eternity. And as we come to our passage today, it is exactly this, the permanence and the stability of God's covenant promises in Christ that we find the Apostle Paul defending. You'll remember that a group of professing Jewish Christians called the Judaizers had infiltrated the churches of Galatia that Paul had planted on his first missionary journey. They brought with them a false gospel that sought to add works of the law to faith in Jesus Christ, and that was undermining the purity of the gospel that Paul had brought them on his missionary journey. Throughout this third chapter, Paul has been refuting the Judaizers and their false gospel. He started in verses 1-5 by appealing to the Galatians' own experience of grace. He asks them a series of rhetorical questions, probing their conscience to show them that they had received the blessings of God, not through works of the law, but by hearing by faith. Then in verses 6-14, Paul appealed to Abraham's experience of grace, and he showed how Abraham, the patriarch, the father of all believers, he showed how Abraham had been justified by faith alone apart from works of the law. And this brings us to our text today, where Paul properly explains the relationship between the law and the promises of God. He presses upon the Galatians the permanence of the promises that were given to Abraham, and he shows how the law, which came centuries later, in no way alters or annuls the promises of the Abrahamic covenant. And so with this context established, let us pray and ask for God's help and blessing, and then we'll read our text together. Father, I pray that you would pour your Spirit out upon us. I trust that you have done so in each preceding element of our worship. From the call to worship, to the singing of your praises, to the reading of your word, to the prayers of the saints, Lord, now we ask that you would attend the preaching of your word in power by your spirit. I pray, Lord, that on the day of judgment, when everyone in this room will have to give an account for the things that they did in the flesh, that they will be able to say in a good conscience on this day, that they truly worshiped you by hearing the word with faith. We need your spirit, Lord, for this to happen. Pour him out upon us, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let's read from Galatians chapter 3, starting at verse 15, we'll read through verse 25. Hear the word of God. To give a human example, brothers, even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring who is Christ. This is what I mean. The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made. And it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. Amen. Well, the name of this sermon is The Law and the Promise. And if you take nothing else away this morning, I want you to walk away being convinced of two things. Firstly, I want you to be convinced of the utter inability of the law to save you from your sins. You cannot work your way to heaven. And second, I want you to be convinced of the complete sufficiency of God's covenant promises in Christ to save you from your sins. God, in his loving kindness, has made a way for you to have peace with him. As we approach the passage today, we'll do so under two different headings. Firstly, in verses 15 through 18, we see the permanence of the promise. Paul proves that the promises given in the Abrahamic covenant, which he calls the inheritance, in verse 18, this promise is permanent. It cannot be annulled. It cannot be altered. It is, as it were, an eternal promise. And under our second heading in verses 19 through 25, we see the purpose of the law. If the law does not annul or alter the covenant promises of God that are to be received by faith, then why was the law given in the first place? What is the purpose of the law? Again, we have the permanence of the promise, verses 15 through 18, and the purpose of the law, verses 19 through 18. Let's begin first with the permanence of the promise. And as we come to this first heading, it's important for us to remember that the Judaizers were seeking to impose the law of Moses upon the Christians in Galatia. Although they would have denied that the promises given to Abraham were annulled by the Mosaic covenant, they wouldn't have gone that far. They did embrace the idea, however, that the promises were somehow altered and now contingent upon obedience to the Mosaic law. They were claiming that the promises, the inheritance of verse 18, something that I hope we'll see is nothing less than the promise of justification. They were claiming that this inheritance was to be obtained through a combination of faith in Christ plus works of the Mosaic law. And Paul refutes this false gospel under our first heading, and he does so by correcting the Judaizer's distortion of the Abrahamic covenant. And he proves in the verses that we're about to explore that the Abrahamic covenant and the promises contained in it, namely, again, the inheritance, justification, the promise here is eternal, and it is no way dependent upon law-keeping. And Paul does this, he proves the permanence of the promise by employing four key arguments. Firstly, the promise is permanent because God's promises are greater than man's promises. Secondly, the promise is permanent because it was given directly by God to Abraham. Thirdly, the promise is permanent because it was given to Abraham before the law was given to Moses. And fourth and finally, the promise is permanent because it is different in type and in substance from the law. Now, I wanna look at each of these arguments in turn, starting with the first argument. The promise is permanent because God's promises are greater than man's promises. Look with me to verse 15. To give a human example, brothers, even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. So Paul begins by arguing from the lesser to the greater. His argument is really similar to what we find the Lord Jesus telling his disciples in Matthew chapter 7. Jesus tells his disciples if they, being sinful men, know how to give good gifts to their children when their children come and ask them for good gifts, Well, how much more will God give good gifts to the children that come and ask him? And Paul uses that same lesser to the greater progression here. If a covenant between mere men cannot be changed once it's been ratified, once it has been accepted, how much more permanent is a covenant that involves Almighty God? What's true in the smaller or in the less significant instance, a man-made covenant in this case, what's true here is even more true and even more compelling in a larger and more significant instance, that being the covenant that God made with Abraham. So that's essentially the substance of Paul's first argument, that God's promises are greater than man's promises. But I want to briefly clarify here that the covenant God made with Abraham is not the covenant of grace. It's not the new covenant. However, the Abrahamic covenant does contain a promise, specifically that the nations would be blessed by the offspring of Abraham. And as we'll see this morning, that offspring is Jesus Christ. So although the Abrahamic covenant is not the covenant of grace, it does promise and it does reveal to us the future covenant of grace in Christ. Our confession words it this way in chapter seven, paragraph three. This covenant is revealed in the Gospel, first of all to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman, and afterward by farther steps, until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament. The Abrahamic covenant is one of those farther steps by which the covenant of grace is revealed to God's people throughout redemptive history. And these farther steps would continue until, as we'll read later in Galatians 4. until the fullness of time had come." This, of course, being in reference to the redemption that Christ would secure for his people on the cross. Nevertheless, Paul's point here in verse 15 stands. The promises given in the Abrahamic covenant, including the promise of the coming covenant of grace, that promise is permanent because God's promises are greater than man's promises. Moving now to Paul's second argument. The promise is permanent because it was given directly by God to Abraham. If you would, turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 24. Exodus chapter 24. I want us to look at how both the Mosaic covenant and the Abrahamic covenants were ratified because there's a difference that we need to make note of here. Exodus 24. And when we take a moment here to compare and contrast the divine covenants, the Mosaic Covenant with the Abrahamic Covenant, we're going to see something of a priority given to the Abrahamic Covenant over and above the Mosaic Covenant, simply by the way it was ratified. Let's look at Exodus 24, starting in verse 3. This is when the Mosaic Covenant was ratified. Moses came and told all the people the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words that the Lord has spoken, we will do. Now notice that. There's a dialogue almost going on here. The words of the Lord are presented, the rules are presented. How do the people respond? We will do it. We will be obedient. Verse four. And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in the basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they all said again, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do and we will be obedient. And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, behold, the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. So we notice that there's a dialogue going on here. There's the rules of the Lord, the word of the Lord, and then there's the response of the people, we will, we will. Also notice that the Mosaic covenant, the law, It was put in place through an intermediary. This is exactly the point Paul makes back in Galatians 3 verse 19. Paul says that the law was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Moses mediated the old covenant with the nation of Israel. He was the middleman, if you will, between God and the people of God. There was a distance between the God of the covenant and the people that were bound to God by that covenant. Now let's contrast the Mosaic covenant and its ratification with the Abrahamic covenant. If you will, turn to Genesis chapter 15. Genesis chapter 15. Notice what you're doing here, even in turning to this in your Bibles. You're turning to the left. You're going before the Mosaic covenant. Now Paul's gonna make that argument here in a minute. But we can see something of that even in our Bibles as we're turning back to Genesis 15. So let's contrast here the certification of the Mosaic covenant with what we see here of the Abrahamic covenant. Genesis 15, starting in verse nine. The Lord said to Abram, bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. And when the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Look down to verse 17. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram. Now notice what was missing. There was not rules given. conditions given, and a positive response from Abraham that he would fulfill those obligations. Notice also, the Lord made his covenant directly with Abraham. There was no distance, there was no mediator, there was no middleman here. Now, this is what Paul means in Galatians 3, again, 19 and 20. The law was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now, an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. God alone made the promise to Abraham. God alone ratified the covenant with Abraham. Abraham was asleep. as God swore by himself to fulfill the promises of the covenant. There was only one party involved in this ceremony. Abraham was not bound by any conditions. The promise was made to him based upon the unchanging faithfulness of God alone. Comparing the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, commentator J.V. Fesco says this, The Abrahamic covenant included the unchanging and irrevocable divine promise that comes directly from God through Christ and saves the people of God. The Mosaic covenant, on the other hand, was revocable, mediated through angels and Moses, and powerless to save. Again, the promise is permanent because it was given to Abraham, not through a mediator, but directly from God himself. Thirdly, the promise is permanent because it was given to Abraham before the law was given to Moses. Look back with me, if you will, in Galatians 3, verse 17. Paul says this, "'This is what I mean. The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void.'" Here, Paul makes reference to the priority of time. The promises were given to Abraham before the law was given to Moses. Now, remember that the Judaizers were touting that the keeping of the Mosaic law as being absolutely necessary unto salvation. So Paul argues from a covenant that came before that. He anchors his argument for justification by faith in a covenant that came four centuries before the law was even given. And in terms of redemptive history, the Mosaic covenant, the law, it's really a late comer to the party. It doesn't simply arrive on the scene and wipe out a covenant that was previously ratified by God, therefore making the promises that were given to Abraham null and void. This can't happen. Now, if we were to utilize Paul's tactic of arguing from the lesser to the greater to help prove this point here, we can see some parallels to this in the covenant of marriage. Paul speaks on this covenant in Romans chapter seven, and he says this, for a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she's free from that law. And if she marries another woman, she is not an adulteress. So we see the lesser to the greater, even in the covenant of marriage, There's not a possibility for it to be annulled. It cannot be invalidated or canceled or set aside just because a future marriage covenant has come into play. It doesn't work like that. Now, I'm not making a comprehensive argument here for the doctrine of divorce and remarriage. If you wanna talk about that, come and see me after the service. But the point here is that even with a man-made covenant, even with a God-ordained covenant, marriage, it cannot be annulled just because there's another covenant added to it. And that's the same thing that we see here with the Abrahamic covenant. It cannot be invalidated It cannot be canceled, it cannot be set aside just because another covenant is made in the future. And here's the point, the promise that was given to Abraham that through his offspring, who is Christ, that all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Again, the inheritance, as Paul calls it in verse 18, this really promise of the gospel, it is not made null and void with the arrival of the Mosaic covenant. The promise is permanent because it was given to Abraham before the law was given to Moses. Well, fourth and finally, the promise is permanent because it is different in type and in substance from the law. Look with me to verse 18. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise. but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. Now Paul proposes here a hypothetical scenario in which the inheritance comes by law to highlight the stark contrast between the law as a way of receiving justification and the promise as a way of receiving justification. Now I want to ask the question here, what is an inheritance? Well, generically speaking, humanly speaking, an inheritance is the property, the titles, the entitlements, the privileges, the rights that are received by a beneficiary upon the death of a benefactor. Now, theologically, the inheritance here refers to those spiritual benefits that are received freely by God's people. And in the context of Galatians, the inheritance refers specifically to the blessing of justification. If we look back to Galatians 3, verses eight and nine, we see that clearly. Paul says that the scripture foresaw God would justify the Gentiles by faith. Therefore, the scriptures preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, How did the scriptures preach to Abraham? The promise, in you shall all the nations be blessed. Paul continues, so then those who are of faith are blessed. They are justified along with Abraham, the man of faith. The blessing of Abraham is justification before God received by faith alone according to the promises of God. Now back in verse 18, you have the inheritance and you've got two potential ways of obtaining that inheritance. There's law on one hand and promise on the other. These two ways are different in type and in substance. The law by its very nature, as we saw in the Mosaic covenant, it is conditional. The blessings set forth in the Mosaic covenant were conditioned upon what? Upon the obedience of the Israelites. No obedience, no blessings. It was that simple. In fact, it was actually worse than that. No obedience and you get curses. Those were the stipulations of the covenant. The promise, on the other hand, is unconditional. The blessings, the inheritance that were promised in the Abrahamic covenant were according to God's own faithfulness. And this was shown in the way that the covenant was ratified, God swearing by himself while Abraham was fast asleep. No conditions were placed upon Abraham, just a promise that through his offspring, all nations of the earth would be blessed. The law is conditional. The law is based on works. The promises are unconditional and they're based upon grace. The law says, do this and live. The promises say, believe this and live. just as a beneficiary receives an earthly inheritance, not upon the fulfillment of any specific conditions, but upon the declaration of the benefactor alone. The last will in Testament says this person or these people will receive these things. There are no conditions. In a similar way, sinners receive a spiritual inheritance. We receive justification not by fulfilling the conditions of the law, but by receiving the promises of God by faith. The inheritance does not come by the law because God gave it to Abraham by a promise, and Abraham believed that promise. And what do the scriptures say to us? that the Lord counted it to him as righteousness. The promise is permanent because it is different in type and in substance from the law. So what does the permanence of the promise that was made to Abraham have to do with you? You're not Abraham. You weren't there. What does it have to do with you? Look to verse 16. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is Christ. Brothers and sisters, I would say to you, because the covenant promises were made to Abraham and also to his singular offspring who is Christ, because that is true, the permanence of the promise has everything to do with you. Listen to how the Puritan William Perkins put it. The promises made to Abraham are first made to Christ and then in Christ to all who believe in him. To have faith in Christ is to be in Christ. And to be in Christ is to be united to Christ and to share in His covenant blessings. What is His becomes yours by faith. I was reminded of that as Jesse's telling us this morning from Psalm 133 about the blessing of unity in the church. There's a sense in which, the sense in which Paul is talking about this, It is individual. He's speaking of an individual's justification and an individual receiving that inheritance because they are personally united with Christ. We cannot do away with that. You must have personal dealings with the Lord Jesus Christ. If you haven't, you are not in covenant with him. But there's also a sense corporately, isn't there? that because each of us as individuals are united in Christ, the chief cornerstone being built together into a holy temple for the Lord, there's a sense in which that's the reason we can have corporate unity. because we're united to Christ individually by faith. So brothers and sisters cling to the assurance of God's covenant promises to you in Christ. Remember that the inheritance of justification is not offered to you on condition. It's not offered to you like the blessings of the Mosaic covenant were offered to Israel, which were completely dependent upon their obedience. The blessing of justification, the inheritance, it comes only by way of promise, and it is to be received by faith alone through Christ. And so I want you to take comfort that your eternal security, the forgiveness of your sins, being at peace with God, these blessings, and really every blessing that is to be found in Christ, none of them depend upon you. How many of us find ourselves questioning, does God love me anymore? Did I take it too far this time? Surely this sin was the one that separates me from God. Or maybe you don't struggle with that. Maybe you're secure in the sense that you know that Christ has earned for you what you cannot earn for yourself. But maybe you're under the impression that Christ gets it started and you finish it. That at the end of the day, my good works are going to be weighed in the balance with my evil works. And, you know, somehow, some way, if I just try hard enough, well, things will turn out in the end. That's no way to live, friends. That is no way to live. That is a recipe for depression. It's a recipe for ineffectiveness in the Christian life. We have these promises given to us over and over and over again in the scriptures. And why? Remember the command of Paul that we are to renew our minds. We're not to be conformed to the world's way of thinking. We are to take the scriptures and by the spirit of God, illuminating them for us, renew our minds. And that's what we need to do here. We need to remember that the blessings of being in Christ are secured for us by Christ. They are secured for us by a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. Therefore, they are unchangeable, they are irrevocable, they are permanent. And so we've seen under this first heading, the permanence of the promise. Under our second and final heading, let us see the purpose of the law. Having made clear that the law does not make void the promises that were given to Abraham and to his offspring, and that the inheritance of justification does not come through the law, but it only comes through promise, Paul now moves to answer the obvious question. Okay, we hear you, Paul. Why did God give the law then? Because from what I'm hearing, it's kind of meaningless. Why did God give the law? If it has nothing to do with receiving the inheritance, with receiving justification, then why was the law given in the first place? As we examine Paul's answer to that question in verses 19 through 25, I want us to see four essential facts about the law that was given in the Mosaic covenant. Firstly, the law was added to show sin to be sin. Secondly, the law cannot give life or impart righteousness. Thirdly, the law is a servant to the promises of God. And fourth and finally, the law was temporary. And I want us to look at each of these essential facts, starting first with this, the law was added to show sin to be sin. Look with me to verse 19. Paul asked the question, why then the law? It was added because of transgressions. The law was added because of transgressions, because of sins. Consider what Paul says in Romans chapter three, verse 20, declares what we've been hearing all throughout Galatians, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight. Why? Since through the law comes what? Knowledge of sin. through the law comes knowledge of sin. The law makes men and women painfully aware of their transgressions. The third question in the Heidelberg Catechism asks this, from where do you know your sins and misery? The answer, from the law of God. The law makes sins palpable. It makes sin clear and visible. It makes sin obvious. It shows sin to be sin. This is why Paul can write in Romans chapter seven, that if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. That's an amazing statement. But he goes on, for I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, you shall not covet. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me, what? All kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. Now Paul is not saying here that sin didn't exist before the law. He makes that qualification there in Romans as he's leading into that, saying that sin was in the world before the law. But the law is like a highlighter. Now, you remember last week, Pastor Jerry was preaching his inaugural sermon on the Gospel of John, and he mentioned how the Apostle John loves to use the word light in his writings. Now, I was prepping yesterday, and I did a quick search, and by my count, John uses the word light at least 29 times in his writings. We can read his writings and we can see the word light scattered all throughout the pages of the Apostle John. But if we took a highlighter and we highlighted the word light in bright orange or bright yellow every time we saw it, well, what's gonna happen? What's gonna jump out at us when we look at those pages? The word light is just gonna jump out at us off of the page. And this is what the law does in our lives. It highlights our sin. It brings about a keen sense of our own guilt before God. It awakens us to our transgressions. And as we will see, being aware now of our sins, we become aware of what? Of our need for a savior. Commenting on the law, church historian, Philip Schaff. said this, the law set forth the ideal of righteousness and was thus fitted most effectually to awaken the sense of man's great sin and guilt. The same sense of guilt and of the need of reconciliation was constantly kept alive by daily sacrifices. at first in the tabernacle and afterwards in the temple, and by the whole ceremonial law, which, as a wonderful system of types and shadows, perpetually pointed to the realities of the new covenant, especially to the all-sufficient atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The law was added to show sin to be sin. Well, secondly, the law cannot give life or impart righteousness. Look to the second half of verse 21. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. Similar to what he does in verse 18, Paul poses here another hypothetical scenario. Paul's saying this, let's suppose for a moment that a law had been given that could give life and justification to sinners. If that were the case, then righteousness, yes, it would be by the law. But the problem with Paul's hypothetical statement is really the problem with most hypothetical statements. It crashes head on with reality. And in this case, it crashes head on with the harsh and concrete reality of human sinfulness. Now, Paul, of course, is not surprised by this. He's wanting the Galatians to see this harsh reality. Friends, he's wanting you and me to see this harsh reality. The idea that life and righteousness can be obtained through the law is like trying to mix oil and water. It just isn't going to happen. Consider what Paul says in Romans chapter eight. He says that the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death, for God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. Because of our sinfulness, because of our flesh, the law is unable to give us life or impart to us righteousness. When Paul was on his first missionary journey in Galatia, he did what he normally did when he was out preaching the gospel and taking the gospel into new territory. He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he began to preach to the Jews. Listen to what he said to the Jewish Galatians who were in the synagogue that day. Some of them perhaps now converted reading this letter that he's writing to them, reminded perhaps of this sermon that he was preaching to them. Paul said to the Jewish Galatians in the synagogue, let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man, that is Christ, through Christ, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. This has been his song from day one. When the Lord Jesus met the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, when he rocked his world, when he revealed to him the gospel, this is what Paul has been saying ever since. I get it now, but I can't be freed by the law of Moses. I'm not good enough. The law says, don't covet. All I can see now is my covetousness. All I can see is my sinfulness. And Paul is telling us, he's telling the Galatians, the law of Moses cannot free you from your sins. It can show you your sins, yes. It can show you your transgressions and your guilt, but it will never free you from those things. Now, at this point, I do want to acknowledge the fact that most of us are probably not tempted, at least overly tempted, to think that we must obey the law of Moses, specifically the ceremonial law to be justified. I doubt many of us are kind of wrestling with, you know, do we need to be circumcised to be justified? Do we need to observe the feast days? So on and so forth. The dietary laws were probably not wrestling with that at our particular place in redemptive history. But the truth expressed here in this passage that the law does not give or impart life or righteousness, this is a truth for all time. It wasn't just relevant to those Christians who were coming out from under the law of Moses. It's true when Paul's addressing the Judaizers, who taught that receiving circumcision, which was what? The sign of the old covenant. They were teaching that that was necessary for salvation. So Paul's argument certainly is true for them. But friends, listen to me, because we've had this happen in our own church twice in the last, I don't know how many months, less than two years. What Paul is saying here, that the law does not give life or impart righteousness, it's true, yes, talking about the law of Moses, but it's also true right now, it's relevant for us right now, as it concerns the error of those who would say that one must receive baptism, the sign of the new covenant to be saved. What was circumcision? It was a positive law of the old covenant. Salvation is not by works of the law. What is baptism? But a positive law for the new covenant. Salvation is not by works of the law. Doesn't matter, old covenant or new covenant. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Baptism is a command, and we should baptize people. Christ says, go into all nations, make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Friends, let us not make the mistake of taking that command and taking that ordinance, which is a great blessing to the believer, it's a great blessing to the church, and twisting it on its head and making it something that it was never intended to be. We could go on and say that that is the same for the moral law of God, the abiding 10 commandments. We can make that same application, but the point of the matter is this, the law cannot give life. The law cannot impart righteousness, whether it's an old covenant law, whether it's a new covenant law, whether it's an eternal moral law. but the law cannot give life or impart righteousness. This brings us now to our third essential fact about the law. And this one may sound strange to you, but the law is a servant to the promises of God. Look with me again to verse 21. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. Now Paul asks and answers here the next logical questions that the Galatians might have. If the promises are guaranteed by God himself, if the law cannot impart life or righteousness, but only the promises, does this somehow make the law contrary? Does it somehow make the law opposed to the promises of God? And his answer is crystal clear, certainly not. Some translations say here, God forbid, or may it never be. Now, if you remember something that we looked at last time from verse 12, where Paul says that the law is not of faith, you might be scratching your heads a bit here, thinking, you know, it certainly sounds like Paul is saying that the law and the promises are at odds with one another. And this is true, but only as it relates to justification. As it relates to the inheritance, the law is certainly not of faith. As it relates to the inheritance, the law is indeed contrary to the promises of God. But this is only true if we try to take the law and use it for something that it was never meant to be used for, namely to obtain justification. But when we understand the law in its proper context, we see that it is not contrary to the promises of God and that it actually works as a servant to the promises of God. Now to explain this, Paul uses two different metaphors. Look with me again to verse 21, his first metaphor here. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin. so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. Verse 22, the scripture, the law, in other words, the law imprisoned everything under sin. And then verse 23, Paul says that we were held captive under the law, we were imprisoned And he's using this metaphor, this picture of the law as a penitentiary, as a jail house, imprisoning everything and holding everyone captive. But for what purpose? Verse 22, the scriptures imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Why did the law imprison everything under the sin? Why, excuse me, why did the law imprison everything under sin? Why did it hold everyone captive? Why did the law, as it were, make sins palpable and lay the divine judgment at the feet of every sinner, guilty, transgressor? The law did this. The law imprisoned everything under sin so that The promise by faith might be given to those who believe. The law is a servant to the promises of God. Now Paul uses a second metaphor, a second picture to explain this same truth. Verse 24, so then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. Now, depending on the translation that you have, you may see a different word there. You may see tutor, schoolmaster, disciplinarian, but the meaning is essentially the same. This word is in reference to a practice in the ancient world where a man, generally a slave, would be put in charge of the slave owner's boy children, and he would be their guardian. He would be their tutor, their schoolmaster. And this guardian would be responsible for seeing his master's boys to and from school. And he would also watch over them during the day. He would ensure that they behaved properly. And when discipline was needed, he would administer the discipline. Now regarding the role of this discipline, this disciplinarian, this tutor, schoolmaster, guardian, commentator William Hendrickson says this, The discipline which he exercised was often of a severe character, so that those placed under his guardianship would yearn for the day of freedom. And as it has been shown, that was exactly the function which the law had performed. It had been of a preparatory and disciplinary nature, readying the hearts of those under its tutelage for the eager acceptance of the gospel of justification by faith in Christ. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that, for the purpose of that we might be justified by faith. Just as the law imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe, in the same way the law was our guardian in order that we might be justified by faith. The law was not given as an alternative way to justification, but rather in its proper context, far from being contrary to the promises of God, the law is actually a servant to the promises of God. It points us, it leads us to the inheritance that is to be obtained by faith in Christ alone. This is taking us now to our fourth and final essential fact about the law. And that is this, the law was temporary. Look with me again to verse 19. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made. Until. The law was added until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. And remember verse 16, the promises were made to Abraham and to his singular offspring, who is Christ. The law was added until Christ should come. Again, the law was temporary. Now Paul goes on and he repeats this again in verses 23 and 24. Listen to the temporary language he uses here. Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. before faith came, until the coming faith would be revealed, until Christ came. The law was temporary. It was never meant to be a permanent fixture in the life of God's people. It was put in place at a specific time for a specific people and for a specific reason. It was put in place before Christ It was put in place for the nation of Israel, and it was put in place to show God's people their sins so that they might be justified by faith in the promised offspring who is Christ. The law was temporary. Therefore, Paul concludes in verse 25, but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. A change has occurred. Because there is faith in Christ, the guardian is no longer needed. The guardian has served its purpose once faith has come. And Paul says that we, who is we? Himself, the believing Galatians that were reading his letter, indeed all believers of all time, because we have faith in Christ, we are no longer under a guardian. Because faith has come, the guardian, the law, is no longer needed. This is what the Judaizers could not see. Yes, they professed that faith in Christ was necessary for justification, but they refused to let go of the law. They couldn't see that the law was a temporary mechanism put in place so that sinners might be justified by faith in Christ alone. And for you who are trusting in Christ this morning, I want you to see that because faith has come for you, because the Lord has regenerated you, because you have turned from your sins and turned to Christ by faith, you are no longer under a guardian. You are no longer imprisoned under your sin. You are no longer held captive under the law. Christ has set you free from the bondage to sin. He has set you free. He has released you from the law. He has canceled the record of debt that stood against you with its legal demands. He set it aside. He nailed it to the cross. So believer in Christ, because faith has come for you, because you have been justified by faith, you are no longer under a guardian. And so we've seen that the law given to Moses was never intended to be permanent. It served its purpose as a prison, as a guardian, to lead us to Christ so that we might be justified by faith, and therefore it has passed away. The law was temporary. I want to make two additional applications before we close. For my fellow believers in Christ, when we say that the law is temporary and that the law is no longer needed, we need to be clear as to what we mean by that. It's certainly true that we are no longer imprisoned under sin and held captive by the law. We no longer need the law as a guardian that we might be justified by faith because faith has come. However, we do need the law as a rule of life. In fact, our obligation to God is to obey his law, not the ceremonial law, which was done away with at the coming of Christ, but our obligation is to obey God's eternal moral law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments. And our relationship to the moral law is no longer one of fear and condemnation because Christ has set us free from that. Again, we are no longer imprisoned under sin. We're no longer held captive under the law in that sense. We need not fear the law in that sense. Rather, our relationship to the law should be one of love. We should be able to say with the apostle that we love the law of God and the inward man. We should be able to say with the psalmist, oh Lord, how I love your law. Your testimonies are my delight. They are my counselors. This is not a legalistic Pharisee who said this, friends. This is a justified Old Testament saint who could declare because he had been set free from the penalties of law breaking, he could say, your testimonies are my delight. They are my counselors. We should love the law of God because we love God. And the law is simply a representation of his holy and righteous character. If we say that we love God, but we do not love his commandments, we need to check ourselves. We need to check ourselves. So let us never forget that the law and our obedience to it is completely powerless to justify. That comes from God's covenant promises through Christ alone. But likewise, let us never forget that God has justified us according to those covenant promises so that we might glorify him by living in obedience to the commands of his holy and righteous law. Secondly, for any unbeliever within the sound of my voice, for you, faith has not come to this point. Faith has not come. I will say, though, the object of faith has come. He came 2,000 years ago, very God of very God, born of a virgin. Jesus Christ, he lived a perfect and sinless life, yet he was despised and rejected by men. But he offered himself as a spotless sacrifice on the cross, completely paying the sin debt for anyone who would believe in his name. And being buried three days later, he was raised from the dead, never to die again. And right now, as you are listening to me call you to believe upon this Jesus, he sits exalted at the right hand of his father where he ever lives to make intercession for his people. Without a doubt, the object of faith has come. And let me tell you, if you are outside of Christ, you need to know he will come again. We don't know the day, we don't know the hour, but the Lord Jesus Christ will return in clouds of glory to do what? To save sinners? No, he will return to judge sinners, to judge the living and the dead. And so the question is presented to you, are you ready for that day? Before God, are you ready for that day? And I say to you, if you've not trusted in Christ by faith alone, you're not ready for him to come again. Despite the object of faith having come 2000 years ago in a manger in Bethlehem, faith has not come yet for you. You are still imprisoned under sin. You're still held captive under the law. You're still subject to the eternal curse that is rightfully due to all lawbreakers. But despite all of that, despite your sin, despite your transgressions, despite your years, perhaps decades of unbelief, of rebellion against God, God loves you so much that he brought you here this morning to once again hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. So friends, do not harden your heart. Do not stop up your ears, but instead humble yourself. Look at yourself in the light of God's holy law. Use the law as it was meant to be used. Use it as a mirror to hold up and see the reflection of your sinfulness. but don't stop there. Be convinced of your sinfulness. If you're not convinced of it, you have no need to go to Christ. Be convinced of your sinfulness, but then look to Christ, look to the offspring of Abraham to whom the promise was made. Look to the one who invites sinners to come to him and find rest for their souls. We talked about the fact that the Abrahamic covenant, the promises that were made are permanent because Well, God made the promises and God cannot lie. And God says this in his word, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Believe the covenant keeping God who cannot lie. If you are outside of Christ, turn to him this very day and live. Let us pray. Father, would you bless your word to us now, we pray. We thank you, oh Lord, for the permanence of the promises made to our father Abraham. And we thank you that indeed, the one to whom the promise was made has come and that he has made a way according to your promise. And we thank you, O Lord, that because of faith in him, we are no longer under the condemnation of the law. Lord, we long to see those who are still in bondage to sin and to the law and under the curse of the law be freed from it. Would you be pleased to move in that way, to do what only you can do to regenerate the hearts of those who are outside of Christ And Lord, may we have the joy and the privilege of rejoicing with the heavenly host as sinners are converted for your glory. We ask this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.