Keep sharing good news without ads.
Bro. Otis Fisher
We are in the book of Galatians, chapter 3, somewhere near verse 20. We had just read the verse, Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Very confusing. Raise me up just a little. Okay.
Let me read a little bit further while we're waiting on the rest of them. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid, for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
But the scripture hath concluded all, meaning all mankind, understand that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them, the elect, that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
And the all refers to the elect. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. I believe that finishes the reading of the chapter. Is David coming today? He's here? Well, I'm trying to stumble around until he gets here, but I can't stumble much longer.
Yes, we're going to discuss a lot of things this morning. Those of you that just arrived, Galatians 3 .20, Galatians 3 .20. Pause it for a moment, Greg. I'd like to direct your attention to Galatians 3 .19 in the beginning.
I want to work our way into the 20th verse. The 19th verse says, Wherefore then serveth the law? What was the reason of the law? It was added because of transgressions. Now, according to the rules of grammar, there should be a comma after transgression.
Do you have it? So it was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was ordained by angels in the hand of the mediator. Now, a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
Let's see if we can make any sense out of this. This has been one verse that has offered lots and lots of discussion over the great number of years. First of all, we must understand that the law came into effect because there was sin.
And it was important that the people understand that they were sinning. So without a guideline to point out what was sin and what was not, there was no way to know. So, Russell, there had to be something.
And that something was the law. It was given until the seed should come to whom a promise was made. Now, who is or what is this seed that should come? Christ, Jesus the Christ. So the law was given until he comes.
Then in the 20th verse, now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Now, is there any disputing about the fact that God is one? All right, then a mediator does not mediate between one, right?
God is the mediator, not the one being mediated. So in order to perform the duties of a mediator, there has to be more than one object. The first one was the law. The second was the church or the gospel age.
On one side, then, we have the Jew, which follows under Abraham. On the other, we have the church, which was revealed by Jesus. Now, those are the two that the mediator is going to perform this act of mediation.
He's going to bring both sides into reconciliation. The law was given to the Jew by God. The church was given by God through Jesus Christ. And God is one. There's only one mediator. But he is mediating two different objects.
Are you with me so far? If you're not, let's stop here. I take it by silence, then, and no movement of the head that you agree. God is the one and only mediator, but shown in two different functions. And neither one of these disannull the other.
The law does not disannul grace, and grace does not disannul the law. In verse 21, he asks the question, Is the law, then, against the promises of God? No, cannot be. For if there had been a law given that could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
But it was not, and we have learned that. But the scripture hath concluded that all of mankind is under sin. All mankind has sin. They have come into the world in the state of sin. They were conceived in the state of sin.
Not that the act was sinful, but that the state, or the, what can we say, the place of the person was in sin. That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them, the elect that believe. All right.
The human race all came through the nature of sin. Now if it had not been like that, then God could not have elected certain ones. Because it would mean nothing. But since all were in the state of sin, then the election is very potent.
And God then can elect. Now please understand, he did before there was ever anything, but we're speaking according to the scripture right now. But before faith came, which is another way of speaking of the gospel of grace, we were kept under the law.
We were kept. This is a military term. Anybody in here been in the military? What does it mean to keep? All right. So before faith came, we were protected under the law. We were kept safe. We were assured under the law.
Shut up until faith, which should afterwards be revealed. So the faith's not going to be revealed until sometime later. And by the way, your assignment for next week, and I know this is going to take some thinking, so it may take more than one week.
But I want you to think about the order in which the Bible is given to us. The layout of the Bible, so to speak. From Genesis 1 all the way through to Revelation. And I want you to think of it in this aspect.
How does the layout of the scriptures, maybe a better term, depict that of a human being from birth to death? Does anybody understand what I'm saying? Take the scripture from the very beginning. How does that represent a birth of a human?
The next stage, how does that represent the growth of the baby? And then a little bit later, how does it teach us the position of an adolescent? And then the teenager, and then the adult, and finally the old man, and death.
There is a tremendous lesson to be learned just from the way the Bible has been canonized. Think about it, and write down your thoughts. In verse 24, the law was our schoolmaster. Now the word that is used for schoolmaster is pedagogue.
The word pedagogue does not mean schoolmaster, it means servant. This is a particular servant of a household that had charge of the children. And when they reached the age of attending school, it was the servant's responsibility to see that they went to school.
It was not this servant's responsibility to teach them. He simply took them to the school and then would bring them back. That's the picture of the law. It is stated in the King James, our schoolmaster, it was really the servant that took us to the schoolmaster.
So we have the law now as a picture of a servant that is bringing these children to school, which in turn, it was the servant law that brought us to Christ. And that was the purpose of it. The law did not teach us the living, saving knowledge, but by its rites and ceremonies and especially by its sacrifices, it directed us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
You follow? Questions? The law pointed us to Christ. Without the law, we would not have been saved. Now, because it was instituted for that end and purpose, that's the reason it was here, it was to point us to Christ.
That it should be, as it were, a schoolmaster in keeping to the people of God until the promise indeed appeared. The promise being who? Christ. That is to say, Christ and the gospel manifestly published with great efficacy by the Spirit.
The reason why we were kept under the law is set out in those terms. Now, we have, Paul is talking about the law. He's been talking about the law versus the gospel all through this. He is answering questions that would have been asked if they weren't.
Why the law? Why did the law last so long? And different things pertaining to it. We now know that the law was there to point out sin, to bring us to Jesus the Christ, to make it possible for us to be saved, and without the law we would not have even known sin.
But the law did not offer any salvation. You cannot be saved through the law. You never have been able to. You never shall be able to. Even the Jews that were under the law were not saved by the law. They were saved by the same, well, can we say action, although the process of salvation was different for them, but the salvation was the same.
They believed just like we believe. It was different in that they were on the other side of the cross, and we're on this side. They looked forward with just as much belief as we looked backward. So the law now has brought us, even you and I, to Christ.
Twenty-five. But after faith is come, but after that faith is come, meaning Jesus the Christ, after he has come, the scheme of salvation by faith is what he brought. After that is revealed, we are no longer under the law.
It does not mean that the law has been done away, because our Lord himself said that he did not come to do away with it. He come to do what? To fulfill the law. Did he keep the law so we could be saved?
No, but he had to in order to be the sacrifice. He did not keep the law for our salvation. He did not save us by love. He did not save us by faith. He did not save us by anything that we can do. We were saved by what?
By his blood. His death on the cross. We were placed into him at that very moment, spiritually, even though we were not here yet. That we might be justified by faith, but after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. People, I think one of the most damnable heresies in the world today is the universal brotherhood of man. Sounds good. Even writes nice. But there is no truth in it.
Do not believe it. Also, another one is the universal fatherhood of God. By fatherhood, we mean that he is the father of the elect. Now, it is by his power that all humans are here. That is true, but that is not the same as the fatherhood.
And that is being taught by the modernistic liberals of today. If you want a thrill, Sunday morning between 7 and 9, watch some of the channels on television. It will thrill you in the wrong way. It is absolutely ridiculous how the church has gone so far in the wrong direction.
But I am not going to talk about that this morning. It is the teaching of this universal brotherhood of man that this nation was prodded into giving away billions of dollars throughout the world and because of it we are hated everywhere.
You cannot buy it. The Lord Jesus never said anything like that. He once looked at a bunch of people and told them, You are of your father the devil. Is it any wonder that those Pharisees hated him? When you just stand flat footed and look them straight in the face and say, Your father is the devil.
Did you ever have anybody tell you that? He went on to say, And the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. No truth in him.
Because when he speaks a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and he is the father of lies. So we're no longer under this schoolmaster or this servant. The rites, ceremonies, and expensive rites, I might add, of the Jew are no longer required because we are in what?
We are in Christ. This was true of the converts from Judaism to Christianity, that they became free from the burdensome rites of the law. And it is true of all converts of the faith of Christ that have been made to see their sin by the law and having been conducted by it to the cross of the Redeemer and are now made free.
So we are free, but we have been made free. Verse 27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Bill, what does it mean to you to put on Christ? Diane, what does it mean to you to put on Christ?
David, what does it mean to put on? As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Who does the putting? Well, why doesn't it say that Christ has been put on you? Yes? I'm still hung up on the fact that you have put on Christ.
What's that mean? Do you see any connection in this phrase, have put on Christ? Do you see any connection to studying? That's exactly right. So are you beginning to see now that this putting on of Christ is a daily operation?
It doesn't mean you start from zero, but I would dare say each of you here this morning have put on more of Christ from your viewpoint now than a year ago. You understand more. You can live a better Christian life.
You are keeping the belt buckle polished on your uniform. You're not trying to operate as a Christian without the uniform. You're proud of who you are and where you are. Another point I want us to understand in verse 27, that there is nary a drop of water in this verse.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, as many of you as have been placed into, is what the word baptized means. And we see another reference to that in Romans 6, 3. It's all spiritual, and it means to be placed into Christ.
First Corinthians 12, 13,. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bound or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. There is neither Jew nor Greek.
God sees the face of no man. It makes no difference how important you are in the eyes of man, how big a position you hold in the church or out. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female.
For ye are all one in Christ. The term all one is a beautiful, powerful group of words. And I always think of Mitch Miller, and I've told you about him before, I'm sure. But he had a choir of men, and I don't know how many, a hundred perhaps.
But that was the only choir I ever heard saying that you could understand every word, because it was like one person speaking. That's what he means, that we're all one in Christ. Among the Jews, there was a great disparity between men and women.
A little bit of side information. A man could shave his head and rend his clothes in the time of morning, a woman could not. A man could betroth his daughter, a woman had no such power. A man could sell his daughter, a woman could not.
The woman could not assemble with the men in the synagogue. Now this was under the law, under the Jewish age. But under the age of grace, they are equal in the eyes of the Father. This does not, and I emphasize, does not mean that they can do the same work.
Only that they stand on the same level as man. 29. And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed. Usually when we speak of Abraham's seed, we're talking about his physical descendants. Is that what's under discussion here in verse 29?
The physical descendants of Abraham? Very few of you look like a Jew this morning. So we'd have to rule out the physical descendancy. And then the only thing left is spiritual. So if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed.
Very simple. And heirs according to the promise that was made to Abraham. It covers us also. 30. If men are disposed to have eternal life, is it not he or God that disposes them? Is anybody here this morning?
Yes. Well, even in the physical world. Well, you can pick out men and pick out women, but I'm talking about women as a whole. It was always my belief that, having served as a deacon for so many years, that that included my wife.
And not that she was a deacon, but she was the wife of a deacon and supported the deacon and always visited with me when I would visit a woman, never by myself. There are very definitely things in the church that women take care of.
Unfortunately, and this speaks to man, the women are having to do too much of it in most churches because the man won't do it.
And I was trying not to say that.
Now that's a good thought. If it were not for the women, how many churches would still be in existence? This one would. But this place is unique. If you don't believe it, just visit other churches. If you do believe it, act like it.
So, let's get back now to my question. If men are disposed to have eternal life, that is, if they want to have eternal life, is it not God that causes them to want it? All right. Is it wrong for God to give grace?
If it is all right for Him to give it, then is it wrong for Him to desire to give it? If it is right for Him to propose to give grace today, was it not right for Him to give it before today? And since He changes not, is it wrong for Him to desire to give it in eternity past?
No. And if He gave it in eternity past, is it wrong for Him to give it in eternity future? The answer to all of this is no. The basis upon which God elected certain ones, or elected His, was not faith foreseen in them.
Let me unscramble that. The basis of His election was not based on foreseen faith in people. Right or wrong? Because choice founded upon a foresight of good works is just as truly made on the ground of works as any choice can be.
A choice made upon future works is just as much a choice on works as if it were now. And in such case it would not be of grace then, would it? Luke 16, 15. Turn to that, please. Debbie, read it for me.
What was it in the heart of the elect themselves that attracted God to them? I thought I heard of Christ. The only thing that He wanted. But what was in unregenerated man that attracted God to him? Nothing.
Was it certain virtues that he had or possessed? Could it not be that? Was it that they were so generous? Was it because they were so sweet? Was it because they always speak the truth? Now, listen to each one of these.
You may get caught. Was it that they were so good? Was it because they did good works? What was the question? Was it because they had a zeal for seeking God? No. What attracted him to the elect but the elect was after they were...
What I'm talking about is the saved people before they knew they were saved. What was in man that attracted God to that person? Nothing.
Bill, you want to say something? No, see, I think I disagree with you. That's right. That's right.
What if you had died while in that state?
No, no. See, if we're going to say that we believe that the elect were selected prior to the beginning of time, then we've got to also admit that we were elected prior to my birth. So all of the people that I've done in my lifetime, all of the things that are bad about me were not in play at that time.
That's what he said. We saw in Isaac, they were chosen before they were born, before they were even done right or wrong. The question was what attracted God to us. Nothing that we did attracted him to us.
It points to his unconditional love for us. Nothing in us. There was nothing in us that attracted him to us. Nothing that we have done has attracted him to us. We agree. But what he said was, what is there about or what is there in us that attracts God to us and that would be Christ that was placed in us at the call to salvation.
Yes, but in some sense without kind to it. I don't think that was the question.
I'm not disagreeing with you. My question has become confused. I'm talking about spirit, about... Let me clarify everything. I'm talking about the physical human being. What has he done or what can he ever do that attracted God to him?
All right. That was the original question. I may not have phrased it like that, but that's what I meant. You ought to be able to read my mind.
I'd like you to repeat your question.
You want me to repeat it? Just the question. Just the question. Yes, sir. Well, I can't remember what it was exactly. I can tell you what I intended to ask. Let's do that. What was there or what is there in any human being in the physical human being that attracts God to that person?
Well, you've answered all the questions right.
Well, I may have, but this is where my problem comes. Anything.
God. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about eternity or predestination. I'm talking about a human being sitting here on the front pew or on the street corner. What is there about that man that would ever attract God to him?
That's what you're saying. There's no words. That's right. That's all I'm saying. You're talking about the depravity of man, which also applies to the loss he left. That's right. Before that point in time, when you're born again, you're lost.
You're a lost sheep. You're not a goat. You're a lost sheep. And in that state, That's right. Scripture tells us that. That's right. But that's the next step.
That's the next level. We're talking about right now. No. It's always him. Everything. Everything. Remember, God accepts nothing unless it originates with him. Period. That's it. He himself, because he is in us.
And we're in him. Well, salvation. However,.