Galatians Chapter 3 (Part 2) — Chip Brogden

The day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. Hello again everyone and welcome to another edition of our webcast. This is Chip Brogdon and I'm streaming online at www .watchman .net.

We are continuing our series of messages in the book of Galatians. We have a lot of material to cover today, so go ahead and get your Bible. If you would turn with me to the book of Galatians chapter 3.

Now last week we left off just short of chapter 4. This week we would like to complete chapter 3 and hopefully complete chapter 4 if the Lord allows. But we are going to take up right where we left off in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 19.

The question that is before us and the question we have been examining in the light of Scripture is, Is a Christian under law or under grace? And so as we continue our study this week, let's go to the Lord right now in prayer.

Father, thank you again for this opportunity to share your word. And Holy Spirit, I pray that you would open our hearts and our minds to perceive and understand what the Spirit is desiring to teach us.

Open our hearts and open our minds so that we can behold wonderful things in your word. I thank you Lord for this truth which makes people free in Jesus name. Amen. Praise the Lord. Galatians chapter 3 verse 19.

We pick up with the question that we left off with last week which is, What purpose then does the law serve? For what purpose and what reason did God give the law if it was not His intention that we obey this law now that we have the salvation which is through faith in Christ?

Well, Paul is going to explain that to us. What purpose then does the law serve? I am reading from Galatians 3 verse 19 and I am reading from the New King James Version. What purpose then does the law serve?

It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. Verse 22. But the scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

But before the faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.

But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Now what this entire passage of scripture is telling us is that the law does serve a purpose and did serve a purpose. What is that purpose? That purpose is to bring us to Christ.

It is apparently from the context of this scripture, Paul's understanding of the law is that the law served a particular function and a particular purpose for a particular time and season in God's overall ultimate plan.

God's ultimate plan, his ultimate purpose and intention is to bring forth the fullness of Christ. He must increase, therefore he will increase and he is increasing. But because he must increase, it means that at some point Christ was not fully revealed to the extent that he is revealed to you and I today.

And so in the meantime, until Christ is fully revealed, that plan of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, we have what is known as the Mosaic Law or the Old Testament Covenant that God had with Israel.

And the purpose of this law, Paul says, was to bring us to Christ, not to eliminate Christ and try to establish a law outside of Christ that we can be saved through that law. Instead, the law was basically designed, it says, to teach us right from wrong and to lead us to Christ.

See, the law could only regulate the outward behavior of a person, but it could not change the heart of a person. See, and if you don't understand that, then you're not going to make much progress as you look in the New Testament, you look in the scriptures.

Who did Jesus have most of his problems with? Well, folks, it was not with the common ordinary people, it was not with the common ordinary sinners and people of the world. Who did he have problems with?

He had problems with the Pharisees, with those teachers of the law and with teachers of the religion and with God's spiritual and moral authority and religious authority. That's who he had problems with on earth.

And you can see that even though they kept the law in their own eyes, they kept the law perfectly and they kept the law without fault. They were obedient to the letter of the law, but they could not and were not obedient to the spirit of the law.

They could not be obedient to the spirit of the law because the law could only regulate their outward behavior. It could not do a thing to change them on the inside. And so the law was insufficient in and of itself.

In fact, Paul says the purpose of the law is to teach us and to show us our need for Christ. Our need not just to change the outward, but to have a new creation on the inside. Something on the inside of us to change who we are, not just to change our behavior.

If all you do is look to the outward behavior, if all you do is try to regulate someone outwardly, then you have basically a Pharisee is what you are creating. That's what you are becoming. And that's exactly what religion produces.

Religion does not change anyone from the inside. Religion tries to regulate the person's behavior from the outside. But it never, ever penetrates beyond that outward appearance of things. And so the result is you begin to judge other people based upon some external standard of how that person dresses, how that person acts, how that person behaves.

And behavior is important and we do judge by fruit, but you are not going to change the heart of a person by regulating their conduct from the outside. Scripture says that if any man or any woman is in Christ, they are a new creation.

Well, where does that new creation take place? Certainly not in their outward appearance. It takes place on the inside. And then once the Holy Spirit has control of someone from the inside, He goes to work on the outside.

And so they are being transformed from within. Not trying to be regulated from the outside. So the law was and remains for those who do not have the Spirit of Christ to teach them. The law is and was and continues to be for people who do not have the Spirit of God living on the inside of them to teach them.

That's what Paul says. He says that the law was given to bring us to Christ and now that Christ has come, now that His Spirit lives within us, he says, don't you know, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

You are the temple of the living God. And if God is living in us, Paul says, then we are new creations and now we don't need the law to try to regulate us from the outside. We have the Spirit of the law, the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus who is regulating and not just regulating but changing us from the inside out.

Changing us, conforming us to the image of His dear Son. And can you tell I'm excited because this truth will make you free. It will free you from religion. It will free you from the commandments and the traditions and the philosophies of men.

It will free you from this entire attitude of trying to win God's approval by regulating my outward works, by trying to do better, trying to do more. When all the time, all that God is wanting us to do is to come to Jesus, come to Him.

Jesus says if you are heavy laden and burdened, come to me and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and that's what He is trying to get us to do. The law will never get you there. The law will never get you to the stature of the fullness of Christ.

So, Paul says here's why the law was given. It's for a time and for a season of God's plan. But God's plan is Christ, not the law. The law was just a tutor, an instructor to bring us to Christ. And now that we have come to Christ, he says we are no longer under that previous law.

Now I didn't say that, scripture said that. But let's look at an example and again I want to go back to tithing. Because the Galatians were struggling with this issue of circumcision. Most people today, they are not struggling with that issue.

But a lot of people that I talk to can relate to this matter of tithing. Now, last week I got emails back from people that said, you know, I understand that you don't think tithing is for today, but I've been tithing for however many years and God's always blessed me.

And I don't see if God's blessing by tithing why it's wrong. Well, I'm not saying it's wrong to tithe, but here's what I'm saying folks. You're not under an obligation to tithe based upon Old Testament law.

Now, I believe that what God is blessing is giving. God will bless you when you cheerfully give. I mean, giving is a scriptural principle. So, he's not blessing your commitment to obey the Old Testament law.

He is blessing your commitment to be a cheerful giver. Now, whether, you know, you can give like an old Scrooge, like a miserly old Scrooge and count out your 10%, or you can give 1 or 5 or 50 and do it from a cheerful heart, and God is going to bless giving.

And so, it's not so much that he's blessing the tithe. He's blessing that heart of giving. And for some people, it's easier for them just to say, I'm going to give 10%. But God is not blessing the tithe.

He's blessing the gift. He's blessing the heart that wants to give. Jesus says, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Now, you can call your giving tithing, or you can call your giving giving, love offering, whatever it is you want to call it.

But God's not blessing obedience to law. He is blessing obedience to the Spirit of Christ living on the inside of you. Tithing is a good example. And it's a good example because it teaches us, again, the purpose of the law.

Why was the law given? Why did God have laws in the Old Testament that said, here's how much you're to give, and here's when to give it, and here's where to give it, and here's what to give. Because without a law that told people when to give, guess what?

No one would ever give anything. See? Because most people in this world, they are not givers by nature. Most people in this world are takers. There are far, far more takers in this world than there are givers.

And so without a law that said, here are commandments for giving, giving of your time, giving of your money, if God did not have those laws, I guarantee you, folks, people would not give anything because people are not natural-born givers.

They are natural-born takers. Now, it is the Spirit of God on the inside of a person who begins to transform that taker into a giver. And that's why in the New Testament, you do not see anyone teaching New Testament believers that they are supposed to tithe.

You do not see that. The only thing that you see in the New Testament that talks about any kind of giving, Paul says, let every one of you give as you purpose in your heart to give because God loves a cheerful giver.

And if you sow sparingly, you're going to reach sparingly. But if you give and sow liberally, then you will reap liberally. But nowhere do you see him saying that you're supposed to set aside a percentage because why would he teach the Galatians that you're free from the law and you don't have to be circumcised?

But then he's going to teach Christians to go right back under the law and begin to observe some kind of a tithe that is based upon the exact law that Paul says we've been delivered from. See, what is the point?

Not that we don't have to give, but we don't have to tithe. Well, who tells us when and where and how much to give? The Spirit of Jesus. The Spirit of God living on the inside of us. And see, in the Old Testament, they didn't have that and so they had to have a command to tell them when to give.

Quite frankly, because they didn't have the Spirit of God, they had to have a command to tell them everything. That's why there are so many points and commandments there in that covenant because they didn't have the Spirit of God living on the inside of them to teach them right from wrong.

So, they had to have it all written down. And guess what? Even when they had it all written down and the commandments were all right there in black and white for them or whatever the equivalent, they still could not obey the letter of the law because there was no work being done on the inside of them.

Now, there is only one exception to the rule and it's going to foreshadow a New Testament principle here. The only exception where you see people stirred up to do something of their own free will apart from a specific commandment in respect to giving is in Exodus chapter 35.

And if you would, just keep your finger there in Galatians and turn with me quickly to Exodus chapter 35. Now, to set the stage here, Moses is about to commence this building project of the tabernacle and all the things that God had commanded him to build.

And so, he's going to the people and he's going to ask them to give not from a standpoint of setting down a law that says every one of you bring me a tithe. Instead, read in verse 4 of Exodus 35. And Moses spoke unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying, Take from among you an offering unto the Lord whosoever is of a willing heart.

Let him bring it. An offering of the Lord. And then it goes on and he names all the stuff that they need. The gold and silver and brass, different linens and oil and stones and all of these materials that they need.

So, verse 21 of Exodus 35,. And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle. Verse 22,.

They came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted. Do you see the difference here? Here is something God is stirring up on the inside of people and without a specific commandment, or saying we need to raise a certain amount of money, or we need you to pledge a certain amount of money.

Moses goes to them and says, Look, as many of you as have a willing heart and would like to give, here's an opportunity for you. And God began to stir these people up. Verse 29 of Exodus 35,. The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman whose heart made them willing to bring all manner of work.

In Exodus 36, verse 3, It says,. And they received of Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him three offerings every morning.

See, this was not a commandment. This was something stirred up on the inside of them. A willing heart. A willing heart. A willing heart. Verse 5,. And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make.

And Moses gave commandment, and it caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary, so the people were restrained from bringing.

Verse 7,. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. See? And here's exactly why we don't have an overflow. Here's why we don't have too much. And here's why you'll never hear someone get on radio or on television or up in front of a congregation and say, Stop the giving.

We have too much. This never again was repeated in the Old Testament. And I haven't heard many instances of this happening today. Why not? Because we're commanding people to tithe, and they're not giving willingly.

We're not teaching people that the Spirit of Jesus on the inside of them will teach them whether to give, when to give, who to give, how much to give. Instead, we try to bring people back underneath an Old Testament law and try to command them out of fear to give and to support.

And you see here a foreshadowing in Exodus 35 and 36 of how God is going to operate within the heart of a person in the New Testament. They were not under the grace that we are under. They didn't have the Spirit of God living on the inside of them.

But even they who were under the law, they who didn't have the Spirit of God, when the Lord stirred them up and they had a willing heart to give, look how much they gave. They gave so much that Moses said, Stop.

We have more than enough. Praise the Lord. Now, the purpose of going through all that is not to do a teaching on tithing or not to encourage you to start giving. It's simply to teach you a principle, and the principle is this.

That the law is given to people who do not have the Spirit of God within them, but once you have the Spirit of God stirring you up, making you, giving you a willing heart to obey, then you will naturally obey and follow the life and the leading of the Lord on the inside of you, and you don't need someone to come and give you commandments.

Okay? Now, all of the law in the Old Testament can be summed up into three different categories, and I'm going to share these with you because it is in response to certain people who say that the law is still for today, and if you say the law is not for today, then you're saying that it's okay for people to go out and kill and commit adultery and steal, and you are giving them permission to live any way they want to.

Well, that's just ridiculous. No one with any common sense is going to think that way or teach that way. So let's look at the three different kinds of law and address that issue. First, in the Old Covenant, you have the moral law, the moral law, and that is the law that is teaching right from wrong.

These are pretty much the Ten Commandments and lots of other commandments of do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal. All of these are moral right and wrong issues. Then you have ceremonial law, ceremonial law, and these ceremonial laws are regarding feasts to be observed, holy days to be celebrated, sacrifices, offerings, etc. and so forth.

Now, this ceremonial law is absolutely teaching us about Christ. These ceremonial laws are not intended to be kept today. They are given to teach us of Christ. In other words, we don't go out and sacrifice a lamb twice a day for our sins.

Why? Because Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the whole world. And with His sacrifice, that is the end of that. So all of the ceremonial laws in the Old Testament, they do not have application for us today physically.

They have spiritual application to us today by way of Jesus Christ. In other words, just like Paul said, you can take that information and that information, the ceremonial laws and all of the things, and it's fascinating to study, but you're not going to go out and live that way today.

I hope not. And why not? Because all of those are fulfilled in Christ. So we don't have to offer sacrifices every morning. We don't have to slaughter animals and offer them up for our sins. Jesus Christ has fulfilled the ceremonial law.

And then the third category of law is the civic law. And those were laws that were specifically directed towards the nation of Israel. These are the laws such as priesthood and government and rights of aliens and the Levites and the armies and marriage, etc. and so forth.

How to deal with slaves, etc. So those are civic laws specifically given to govern the civic affairs of the earthly nation of Israel. So you've got three categories of laws. Now, you've got the moral law.

Certainly, those commandments are just as valid today as they ever have been. But see, the difference is this. With the Holy Spirit living on the inside of a person, you don't have to go to them and say, Thou shalt not kill.

Why not? Because the Holy Spirit living within a person teaches them that you shall not kill. It teaches them what? To love one another. To love God with all your heart and to love one another. So obviously, if you are following the Spirit of Christ, you are fulfilling that law and all the moral law.

Paul says all of the law can be summed up into this. That you love God and you love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus said the same thing. And Paul says the point of that is if you love your neighbor, you're not going to kill your neighbor.

You're not going to lust after your neighbor's wife or neighbor's husband. You're not going to steal from your neighbor. You're not going to try to lie to your neighbor. You're going to speak the truth and you're going to love.

And so love is the fulfillment of all the moral law. What about the ceremonial law? We've already discussed. Jesus has fulfilled all of that ceremonial law. And it is interesting to go back and to read and to study.

But they are symbols only. They are types and shadows of something that is coming and that something is Christ. And now that we have Christ, we have the reality. We have the substance and we can certainly learn.

And that's the purpose of the law. Why don't we just throw the Old Testament away if it's old? No, because we see Christ in the pages of that Old Testament. In fact, you can't really interpret and understand the Old Testament without the New Testament.

Paul says that whenever you read Moses, whenever you read the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, there is a veil over your heart and that veil is only taken away in Christ. So it takes Christ to go back and see by the Spirit of God what all of these Old Testament things are talking about and what they are pointing to.

But you don't try to go back and reestablish those things. You simply take them as lessons. The lessons of the daily sacrifices and the daily offerings and the tabernacle and the smoke and the incense and all of these things, they point us to Christ, Paul says.

And what about the civic law? Well, there's some interesting things in there and certainly you can learn a lot by studying it, but you're not going to try to take laws that apply to the earthly nation of Israel some 4 ,000 or 5 ,000 years ago and try to apply them to us today.

That's just not going to work. That was a theocracy. That is that God is in charge and there has never been a nation that was a theocracy. There never will be another earthly nation as a theocracy until Jesus Christ comes and establishes His kingdom here on the earth.

So they had application in that time and season, but while they are instructive to us today, we're certainly not going to go back and try to model life today after those civic laws that were given to Israel.

Okay. So when you consider all of that, you understand the proper purpose of the law and as Paul says, it is to bring us to Christ. Well, let's get back into Galatians 3, verse 26. Galatians 3, verse 26, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Hallelujah. Verse 28, There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Praise the Lord. So basically, the gist of what he's saying there is once you come to Christ, all of those distinctions about Jew and Gentile, male or female, slave or free, all of that is just kind of obliterated and we are all made one in Christ Jesus.

Then he becomes our commonality. He becomes our common ground. And it doesn't mean that we cease being who we are. It doesn't mean that I'm a man but I stop acting like a man. Or you're a female, you stop acting like a female.

But what he is saying is we are all one in Christ Jesus and because of who he is, because Christ has come to live within us, we are all bound together by that same spirit of Jesus who is no respecter of persons, who crosses all racial lines, all male or female lines, all social status lines, all geographic and nationalistic lines.

And out of all of those categories of people, Jesus is building his church and he is gathering people together into a house of living stones. Hallelujah. A house of living stones. He is building that church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it because we are not under law.

We are under grace and he is Emmanuel, God in us and God with us. Praise the Lord. Well, we're going to stop right there because chapter 4 is right in front of us and we'll have to pick up there next week.

Again, this is Chip Brogdon. We're streaming online at www .watchman .net. Thank you for listening today and I hope that you will continue to study and meditate upon these things. We'll pick up again here next week, the Lord willing.

God bless you.