The Mirror
Galatians - Freedom! • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsUnderstanding our complex relationship with the Law and how it functions in our life.
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Some relationships are complicated.
Some relationships are complicated.
There are multiple angles to the relationship.
Someone may be just a friend to you, but he’s a boss to another.
Someone may be a friend, yet he have an important position in the world that demands respect.
And that position calls for respect.
Think of the President of the United States.
But he has a position in the world.
He’s the leader of the free world.
Yet, that person is also a friend to pe
He’s the commander in chief.
He leads the executive branch of the government.
Yet, he’s also a father, a husband and a friend to different people.
When my dad was a deputy sheriff, there would be times I’d go to work to see him.
I couldn’t show up and say, “Is my dad here?”
That didn’t show the respect for his position.
I had to ask for Deputy Kirkendall, even though he was my dad.
Some of our relationships are complicated.
We have a complex relationship with the Law.
The Law is a difficult thing to grasp.
And I bet that some of you are confused by the law.
At times we speak of it almost like an enemy.
Like it is our foe.
Then at other times we talk about it being good and useful.
And maybe you are wondering, “Well which is it? Good or bad?”
And to be honest, we need to figure this out, because it’s a large chunk of the Bible.
Is the Law, good or bad?
The Law tells us how to live.
Should we listen to it?
Or should we ignore it?
Well, it’s definitely not bad.
Let’s just get that out of the way.
But our relationship with it is complicated.
Today as we go through our text we will see 3 uses of the law.
These are 3 different ways we are related to the law.
And hopefully, you will understand how you are to respond to the Law.
The first use of the law is that it is a Jailer.
The first use of the law is that it is a Jailer.
Look at verse 23, “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.”
God is absolutely holy.
God is perfect.
God is supreme.
I say that, but we don’t believe it.
We are like the child who is told to not to go into the pool on a hot summer day.
You tell the child go near the pool and you say, “Do you hear me?”
He says, “Yes mommy.”
Then with his eyes perfectly fixed on you, he slowly walks to the water.
Still maintaining amazing eye contact, he slowly puts his toe in the water.
You want to think he knows your serious.
But he seriously disobeyed you.
While looking straight into your eyes.
We say we know God is holy.
In fact most people will say that.
But when it comes to our actions, we show we don’t believe it.
We are like a child dipping his toe in the water while maintaining eye contact.
And because he disobeyed you, there is a consequence.
And hopefully, that consequence brings with it some pain
So you give him a swat on the rear.
The spanking is a reminder that he has disobeyed you, and disobedience is painful.
I know that it sounds weird to say, “Hopefully that spanking is painful” and maybe it even sounds a little sadistic.
But have you ever seen someone spank a child and it not be painful?
I’m sure you parents can sit around and share horror stories of a child laughing during a spanking.
The pain of discipline is a good thing.
is an encouragement to parents to spank their children.
It says, “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.”
When you discipline your children, it corrects them.
Let’s go back to the pool incident.
Every year there is the tragic story of a child who fell into the pool and drowned.
I’m sure those children were told not to go into the pool when their parents weren’t home.
But they did it anyway and to their death.
The pain of a spanking is a preventative correction to the greater danger of death.
Just as children need to be taught and reminded that there are consequences to our actions, so do adults.
One of the great problems of mankind is that they have forgotten that there are consequences to our actions.
says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”
What we are seeing in the world around us, and it is nothing new, is that people are like the child who have been told not to go into the pool.
They know the rule, but they suppress the truth, the reject it; they willingly forget it.
And they march forward into danger.
The consequences of knowing right and wrong, but sinning anyway is that the wrath of God is coming.
And it is far worse then falling in a pool.
It is an eternal, conscious Hell.
The Bible describing it as a lake of flaming fire.
Only while you are in the fire, you are never consumed.
The fire never ceases.
It never runs out of fuel.
If you have any desire to see people be spared, then we are to warn them.
And how do we warn them?
By using the Law.
The Law shows that we are sinners.
The Law shows we are sinners and the Law shows what we deserve, which is Hell.
The first way that we use the Law is to show that we are imprisoned and deserving of Hell, it is our jailer.
In fact, it’s only getting worse.
When we go evangelizing, we try and help people understand this.
And at some point it means having to say some hard words.
Because we are trying to get the person to say they deserve Hell.
Most people assume that good people go to heaven, and they also assume that they are good people.
So we use the law to show that they are not good people.
That they have broken God’s law.
And having broken God’s law, they deserve Hell.
That is not an easy point to get across.
It can be painful to communicate.
But again I go back to spanking the boy who dipped his toe in the pool.
That pain … is for his benefit.
It’s painful to hear, but the result of that pain is repentance.
I knew of a college football player who hurt his knee during practice before a big game.
He had a big game that Saturday, and he was going to do anything to make sure he played in the big game.
He went to his doctor and was given some cortizone shots and a bottle of ethyl chloride to deaden the pain by “freezing” the tissue around his knee.
Well, Saturday came, and he played the entire game.
Throughout the game he’d put more ethyl chloride on the knee when it would start to hurt, but he persevered.
It turns out his body was telling him something throughout the week.
The pain was a good thing, but by ignoring the pain he ended up hurting himself even more.
Because he ended up permanently damaging his knee as well as some ligaments.
The man is about 80 years old today, and still suffers from those injuries.
It is a bad thing to ignore pain.
The law is painful, because it tells us that we deserve hell.
But to ignore telling it, the result is something far worse then hurting someone’s feelings.
It’s affectively wishing them damnation.
Our job is to use the law to help someone see their imprisonment to sin and coming judgment.
And in doing so, they learn of the pain of their sin, and they trust in Christ to for the forgiveness of their sins.
At first it’s painful.
It is our jailer.
describes this process, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”
That describes this process.
There is mourning, weeping and frustration when suffering in our sin.
But in Christ, there is joy and a removal of the gloom.
It’s never fun learning you deserve Hell.
But then when you understand the Gospel … it then turns into joy.
describes this process, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”
In your own conversion, the law was used to show that you had sinned.
It is a reminder that we are under the wrath of God.
That describes this process.
There is mourning, weeping and frustration when suffering in our sin.
But in Christ, there is joy and a removal of the gloom.
The next use of the law is that it is our Teacher.
The next use of the law is that it is our Teacher.
Look at the next verse, , “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”
When Paul says that the law was our guardian, here is the idea he is trying to get across.
Some of your translations may say the law is a:
Guardian
Schoolmaster
Tutor
Custodian
Supervisor.
Roman children had pedagogues.
A pedagogue was a slave, who was employed by the family to take care of a boy.
Have you ever seen The King And I?
It’s a musical about a woman named Anna, who went to Thailand in the 1800’s to take care of the king’s children.
She went there with the intent to teach them English, but in the process taught the children manners, and became an influence on their lives.
A pedagogue was similar, but even more so.
A pedagogue went everywhere with the child.
They went to the playground together.
They went to school together.
They walked home from school together.
They hung out at home.
They went and did everything together.
The pedagogue was like a nanny, but even more intrusive.
They were even allowed to discipline and whip the boy if he misbehaved or slacked off in his studies.
The pedagogues job was to teach and impart the father’s values and morals onto the child.
This is the idea that Paul is conveying to us.
Some of your translations may say:
The pedagogue existed to try to teach children the father’s values.
To raise them up to be a man the father would be proud of.
In the same way, the law is our pedagogue.
Teacher
It exists to teach us about God.
Custodian
Supervisor.
And it exists to guide us as people.
The law is good for culture and society.
We will always have laws.
But it’s good when we have laws that are godly.
It’s good to have laws that protect personal property.
That forbid stealing.
It’s good to have laws that protect life.
That forbid murder.
When these laws go missing, it becomes a bad place.
Historically, we have seen what happens when God’s laws are not obeyed by a culture.
People die.
When Israel neglected God, child sacrifice and cannibalism developed.
Within the United States, a generation of children have been killed through abortion.
All in the name of sexual freedom.
Look what happens when we abandon God’s laws to not covet or commit adultery.
For us as 21st century Americans, it’s good to obey God’s laws and to encourage people to obey them as well.
The law is given as a pedagogue, a teacher to guide and protect our culture.
So teach God’s laws to your children.
Teach them what is good.
Teach them to obey the law.
Teach your kids the 10 Commandments.
Sometimes Christian parents over think all of this.
They so desperately want to teach their children grace, and forgiveness, that they think it’s hypocritical to teach morality.
If you don’t teach them, who will?
By teaching the law, people learn about who God is.
Think through the 10 Commandments.
What do they teach us about God?
There is only one God.
He is a jealous God, and wants us to worship Him how He has called for us to worship Him.
We are to guard our thoughts and language of God.
Because He is holy and true.
God provides rest.
He provides physical rest in having a day of rest.
He also provides spiritual rest in the work of Jesus Christ.
God is authority.
We respect parents and those in authority over us.
We respect them because they act as ministers from God.
How we view authority shows how we view God’s authority.
God loves life.
He created us in the image of God.
And to attack a fellow image bearer is an attack on God.
God has created marriage to mirror His relationship to His church.
JEsus has only one bride the church.
When we remember this, then marriage, that husband wife relationship, becomes even more special.
God is truth.
He never lies.
Therefore, we too are to pursue truth and never lie.
Let your yes be yes and your no be no.
God is provider.
To rob and steal is to say God hasn’t given enough.
God is truth.
He never lies.
Therefore, we too are to pursue truth and never lie.
Let your yes be yes and your no be no.
God is who we are to be satisfied in.
To covet states that we are not satisfied in Him.
That we need more.
The Law is a teacher, showing us who He is.
The Law is used to teach people about God and to restrain a society.
And the third place of the law in our life is one of a Friend.
And the third place of the law in our life is one of a Friend.
This might seem a little strange.
The Galatians are under the influence of the Judaizers.
Much false teaching uses something that is good, and corrupts it.
They take something good and make it a weapon.
The Judaizers are telling the Galatians that they can only be a Christian if they obey the law.
We’ve just been told that we were held captive under the Law.
They make the Law and obedience to it the gateway into salvation.
And in affect, they lessen the work of Christ.
It’s not Christ alone.
It’s Christ plus something.
It’s Christ plus the Law.
Here is something to be careful of.
Just because the Judaziers are wrong about the Law, it doesn’t mean we have to hate the law.
Their wrong use of the law, doesn’t mean we should ignore the law.
As you read through the Psalms, the Psalmist talks about his love of the Law.
says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;”
That doesn’t sound like something that you hate.
So don’t
So how do we get there? How can we love the law the way David did?
We must understand that the Law only had power over us for so long.
In Jewish tradition boys go through a Bar Mitzvah, and girls have a Bat Mitzvah.
For girls it is the Bat Mitzvah.
This is a coming of age ceremony.
Once a boy turns 13, he is now accountable for his actions.
He is a man.
Verse 24 said the law was our guardian, teacher, a pedagogue.
How long is a child under a pedagogue?
Only as long as he is a child.
Once he is an adult, the pedagogue no longer has any authority over him.
When he was a child, could be treated like a child, but once he’s an adult, none of that anymore.
He can’t whip anymore.
Look at verses 25-26, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
Jesus came.
And Jesus died for our sins.
He suffered the consequences and the pain that we deserved because we broke the law.
Since Jesus paid for our sin, the payment that the Law demanded is satisfied.
It no longer has any power over us.
The Law was once our jailer.
But if you are in Christ, if you have faith, you are no longer in jail.
The time for the Law to condemn the Christian has passed.
It’s as if we have gone through our own bar mitzvah.
We are no longer under a pedagogue.
We are no longer under the Law.
But how is our relationship to the Law good? How does it become something we love?
If the Law has no power over us does this mean we are to live in anarchy, doing whatever we want?
Growing up in Murrieta, and never leaving, means that I still come in contact with different teachers of mine from high school.
When I was in high school, these men and women had authority over me.
I was their student.
I was their pupil.
Then there came that fateful day, in 1998, when I graduated high school.
I was no longer a high school student.
My relationship with my teachers changed.
They could no longer send me to detention, or give me a failing grade, because I had graduated.
My relationship with them changed, but my attitude towards them didn’t change.
I still admired and respected them.
Hoping to be the adult that they were training me to be.
Hopefully, I was the man they desired me to be.
Now that Christ has come, the Law can no longer condemn us.
tells us that, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
A high school teacher can no longer condemn me to detention; but I live a life that reflects their time training me.
The law no longer condemns me, but, I have been trained by the law to live a certain way.
I learn how to repent from the law.
I learn what good things to do from the law.
I learn how to love my neighbor from the law.
I learn what is pleasing to God from the law.
I learn how to love God from the law.
Out of a heart of gratitude, because I fear the Lord, and respect Him, I have been trained by the Law.
That obedience shows it’s influence over me.
It is evidence of conviction and being born again.
For the Christian the law serves as a guideline for what is pleasing to God.
The Law is my friend because it frequently reminds us of why I needed Christ.
No longer condemning.
But the law is now a source of praise.
When I sin, and break God’s law, I am drawn to the Cross.
I am reminded that in my disobedience to the law is why Jesus came.
Jesus died because of my disobedience.
In that sense the Law is good for the Christian, because it reins us in.
It brings us to the Cross.
It directs our attention to the Cross.
It’s okay to use the Law.
Use it as a guide.
Use it as a reminder of the Cross.
Use it as your jumping off point into your worship.
But there is a wrong way to live with the Law as a Christian.
It’s near the end of the school year.
In a couple weeks high school seniors will be graduating.
They will say farewell to their teachers and their schools.
They will move away and go to college.
But for some students, that freedom is too much.
College is a huge change.
Their parents won’t be hounding them to get their homework done.
Their teachers won’t be begging them to do better on their tests.
The pressure will mount.
And inevitably, when September and October roll around, some of these seniors who graduate, will return to their old high schools, missing the good old days, wishing they were back in high school.
The time for that has passed.
A wrong way to use the law is thinking that you can be back under it.
There is this thinking that the Law actually saves the Christian.
That taking communion saves.
Being a good person saves.
Being baptized saves.
And on and on the list goes.
Look again at verses 25-26, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
But in the way that you think it can actually save you.
You are not under the law.
Your sins have been paid for.
Now we live by faith.
Trusting that Jesus has satisfied all the requirements of it.
Unfortunately, there are people and groups that think we must go back under the Law.
Not as a guide.
But for salvation.
The Judaizers were one such group.
They were the high school student going back to high school, even though they’d graduated.
As great as high school was, it’s not the end.
The student is to grow up and become an adult.
The Law was good, but it’s not the end.
But it was weak.
It was weak in that it could never actually pay for sins.
says, “But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
As great as the law was, it could never forgive a person.
It guided.
It pointed out sins.
But it never saved.
This is why the Roman Catholic Mass is so wrong.
The Mass, the taking of communion is a reminder of sins.
The Catholic church threatens purgatory, saying your sins are never actually taken away.
And so continued obedience to a law is required.
But with Christ, sins are paid for, once and for all.
says, “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
You don’t want to stay in high school forever.
And you don’t want to stay in the Law forever.
Because it will never save.
Christ came to free us from that.
And even today there are groups like the Judaizers.
They go backwards.
They say it’s grace and works.
It’s Jesus plus something.
When I hear of people saying we need to go back under the Law, any kind of law, that always raises a red flag.
It’s a warning sound.
I told you our relationship with the Law is sometimes complicated.
When we forget the purpose of the Law, we then can get caught in a trap.
There are many Christians who become vulnerable to this.
They sin, and they think that somehow it’s their obedience that removes the sin.
Remember the roles of the Law.
The law:
It’s a jailer, pointing out sin is and what we deserve.
It’s a teacher, it trains us and teaches us.
And it’s our friend; in Christ we’ve graduated, and it now points us back to Christ.
That’s the Law
That’s the Law
It shows us what sin is.
It shows what we deserve.
It trains us for a period.
It teaches us what’s good.
But ultimately, it can never save.
That’s why Jesus came.
So here you are today, and you are wondering how to become a better person.
You are looking for a nugget from this sermon to hold on to.
Think of the use of the Law.
It shows us what sin is.
It shows what we deserve.
It trains us for a period.
It teaches us what’s good.
But ultimately, it can never save.
That’s why Jesus came.
In your times of struggle, use the law to direct your focus back to Christ.
To remind you of why He came.
In your moments of depression and unworthiness, bring your focus to the Lamb slain.
He died.
He paid for sin.
He paid for what makes you depressed.
And my your gloom be turned to joy.