Berean Community Church Wednesday Bible Study Galatians 3:19-24

All right. Good evening, everybody. Before I read the passage, just wanted to, by way of like a quick review, I wanted to throw the question out there for you again. Is the gospel really good news to you? And in the past, I've shared with you, like if a person has had cancer to hear that you are cancer free, that's really good news. Today, we're looking at someone who should have gone to jail with a lock, everything locked, key thrown away, but you're free. Or someone who's in a very, very, very, very bad contract and the contract has been ripped up. So that's what we're looking at today. Okay, so with a meaty passage like this one, you are going to be tempted to just think about this all just academically.

But the encouragement is, why is this important to you? What are the ramifications of this to you? How has this affected your eternity? How has this affected your outlook on life, on the future? How has all of this played out into your life? And that's, if we just treat this as a theology in academics, you're going to miss the whole point, all right? So we're going to read the passage. I'm going to pray for us, or read the questions, and then pray for us, and then we'll dismiss. "Why the law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator until the seed would come to whom the promises had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only, whereas God is only one.

Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be, for if a law had been given which is able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on the law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore, the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith." Okay? Let's look at these questions. Question number two, in your observations, you're going to be hitting on these points. What exactly is the law? What was its role function before Christ?

Three, what is the mediator? What is the role of the mediator? And I just want to hedge you in a little bit. This may not be the same thing as we have one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. This might not be the same context, so that's just as a warning. Number four, what does it mean to be enclosed, to be shut up under sin? But what does it mean to be that way to the faith? Okay? Because that's the language of the passage. So, let me pray for us, and then at 810 we'll reconvene. Father, we're so thankful to be here tonight. I pray that you would help us in these last two weeks to just engage well, to draw well, to feed well from just your truth. I pray that every group will not get lost in the thick of the wording in the theology, but all of that would cause us both to feel overwhelmed, just with the great privilege to know you.

And I pray that you would help our study to cause us to just worship, cause us to be grateful, and to lead lives that reflect your kindness. And so, would your word do its work, and we avail ourselves to that work. So we thank you, Lord, and we entrust this time into your care. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We'll see you at 810.

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OK. Knee jerk questions. All right? So just everything that we learned from the last couple passages this last semester of Galatians, is the law bad? No. It's good. Right? It's good. Even though Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. But God says it's good. Is obedience to the law required? Yes. Absolutely yes. Because God wants you to be holy as he is holy. So law, obedience, is required. But can a person be saved through obeying perfectly this law? No. Has anyone succeeded?

No. Except Jesus. So that's, there's going to be some tension building and there should be some like cognitive constipation happening in your head. And we're going to get to this next one. So then, if the Christian is free from the law, can he live however he pleases? Yes. Ooh. Tension. But what would please the Christian who's had an absolute heart DNA transformation? His desire would be to what? Please his Lord. That's going to be the flow. Alright? For context, I want to backtrack a little bit so that we keep the verses 19 to 24 kind of hedged in. Alright?

The scripture, verse 8, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, "You will be blessed in you. So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them. Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident. For the righteous man shall live by faith. However, the law is not of faith. He who practices the law shall live by all the law. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.

This makes the law feel bad, but it's not. Right? So in order that, in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The word law, the word faith is going to come out again and again and again. Fast forward a little bit to verse 17. What I am saying is this. Paul is saying, my language is pretty hard to understand so I'm going to re-clarify. Verse 17. I'm saying this, okay? The law which came 430 years later does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise, but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.

So, by way of review, when God makes a promise, is he a promise keeper? Yes. Does he change his promise? No. So this was not covered last week, but when God made a covenant in the presence of Noah, he made it by a promise. What did he say in Genesis chapter 9 verse 13? I put a bowl in the clouds as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. I'm never going to wipe it away by the flood. He makes a covenant with Abraham by means of a promise. I will bless you. I will make your name great. I will bless those who bless you. Whoever curses you, I will curse. I will multiply your seed. I will cause you to be a great nation. And you all, the nations, will be blessed. So he makes a promise to Abraham.

And then God makes a promise with David. He makes a covenant with David, which launches off of the covenant with Abraham by means of a promise. New covenant. Also stemming from the promise with Abraham. Also through a means of a promise. And I showed you last week, promise, promise, promise. So the path to salvation is all God says it, and it's going to happen. Because he promises that it will be the case. Okay? So these covenants is a road map to how people are going to be saved and reconciled to God. Justification, we learned, is what? Being right with God. Right? And we looked at, last week, Matthew 1.1 says, "The record of genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

I will change the word Messiah to "promised one." And I will change the word son to seed. And I'll read it again. "The record of the genealogy of Jesus, the promised one, the seed of David, the seed of Abraham." And this chart, hopefully it will help you at home, just to kind of organize certain things in your head. But the verbiage is the same, and the duration is the same. Last week we looked at Jeremiah 31. I want to take you back to Ezekiel 36. And I want you to pay attention to all the "I wills" that God makes in this promise. "I will take you from the nations. I will gather you from all the lands." I'm getting excited. "I will bring you into your own land. And then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean.

I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers, so you will be my people and I will be your God." All of these things are unconditional, unilateral, all promise. All emphasizing the God will, God will, God will, God will, God will. Everlasting. And how long is everlasting? There's no time. It's forever. Right? It's everlasting. Okay? The record of the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the seed of David, the seed of Abraham.

Jesus came and all the promises were fulfilled. Okay? All things are now different with Jesus entering into the picture. So the promises are fulfilled in Jesus. That's Galatians 3, 1-18. Does this make sense? All of these rolling covenants, God said, "Amen" when he sends Jesus. That's why Paul, there's an interesting verse in 2 Corinthians 1-20. "For as many as are the promises of God, in Him, Christ Jesus, they are yes. Therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us." So every promise of God is a big ol' Amen in the person of Jesus Christ. You guys tracking? That's great news for us. So then, what is the purpose of the law? Do we still have to keep it?

Why did God give it? How is it really good if it condemns us all? These are natural questions that well up. So this is how I kind of charted it out. You notice, I do this and I see a lot of law in yellow. I'm like, "Oh, okay, that's mentioned a lot." So I look at the promises and I pull out three questions that are going to be addressed. What is the purpose of the law is the first question. The second question that naturally will come about is, then are the promises of God and then the law of God in conflict is another mental disturbance that my mind goes through. The third one, then what was the function of the law is going to be what's answered in the third little section. So that's how I break it up.

But for lack of time, I'm not going to go into all of that. But I'm going to go through today three things about the law. The first one is that the law was to be temporarily added. It wasn't permanent. Remember at the bottom of that first chart, everything is how long? Everlasting. The law is not everlasting, it's temporary. The second is that the law was to be very telling. I just had to use alliteration. So telling, just deal with it. It was to be telling. What's it going to tell? I'll tell you in a bit. Third, the law was to be a tutor. This is not a teacher. This is not like, how many of you guys were tutors? I did SAT, verbal, I did some math. This is not that kind of a tutor. And we'll get into that.

So first thing, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this. The law was to be temporarily added. The word until the seed kind of gives that away. Make sense? So once the seed came, the law was fulfilled. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5, I did not come to abolish the law. What did he say? I came to fulfill it. So the law is still there, but it's different. It's been satisfied. It's temporarily, it was temporarily a tutor until Christ's fulfillment. Okay? So this was the part that I inserted last week. So the law, unlike the promises, were conditional. They were bilateral. It was a handshake contract.

Right? The Israelites actually performed this. They got pools of blood splashed on them and they said, "We shall obey, we shall obey, we shall obey," and splash, sploosh. So they went through this. They agreed to God that they would fulfill it. Did they fulfill it or did they mess up? Oh, they messed up real good. Right? Okay? So it's a contract. Okay, good thing I'm tall. The verbiage, it's a lot of, oh my goodness. It's a lot of, "You shall, you shall not, you shall, you shall not." Okay? And the duration is, it was temporary, abolished in the death of Christ, so it's no longer in play. Okay? And the law was used as a threat. It's a threat of what is due. You mess up, you mess up, kicked out of the land.

You mess up, generation wiped out. You mess up, all your armies will be destroyed. Oh, you mess up, you're going to eat your own children. For reals. There's things that are happening in there. Okay? It was conditional, bilateral contract, and temporary. Now, I just wanted to make a brief note on the mediator thing because some of you guys might have a little scratch that needs to be itched. I mean, itch that needs to be scratched. Okay? When God gave this covenant to the people, it was not like how he made it with Abraham, David, or revealed to the prophets. It was different because he made it through a mediator. God went through angels who revealed things to Moses. Okay? Now, notice, there's a scene where Moses actually asks God, "Show me your glory."

And God says, "I cannot show you myself or you will die." What does God do? He hides him in the crevice and a little bit of the afterglow of the passing byness of God, Moses sees it and it's so amazing that it radiates off his face. So when Moses receives the Ten Commandments, he is not in the presence of God there. Okay? We don't see this in the Exodus account, but there are angels there who are giving it to Moses, who then takes it down to the people. And he has to do that twice because he gets so mad he throws it. Right? So now, this is the blessing with which Moses the man of glad blessed the sons of Israel before his death. He said, "The Lord came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir.

He shone forth from Mount Paran and he came from the midst of 10,000 angels. At his right hand there was flashing lightning for them." So the people were so scared because they saw the mountain quaking and shaking and on fire like they have never seen it before. So they couldn't go near it. Nod your heads if you have ever read that story. There's stuff happening. And we don't know all the details, but there were 10,000 of his holy angels there. Okay? Acts chapter 7 in Stephen's sermon he also retells this. This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai and who was with our fathers and he received living oracles to pass on to you.

Hebrews chapter 2 verse 2 also talks about through angels. And that's why in the beginning of Hebrews he says, "Christ is better than the angels. Christ is better than Moses." And it's a long elaborated argument. Okay? With Abraham he didn't have any mediator. God just showed up at Abraham's home. You guys know this? Every time God interacts with Abraham it's direct. He eats with him. He makes a covenant with him and he swears by himself. Okay? And he said, "By myself I have sworn and declare as the Lord because you have done this thing and I have not withheld your son, your only son." And then God gives that promise to Abraham. There is no mediator there. Now, going back to this. The law was temporarily to be added.

The law was to be telling. Why was the law added? Because of transgressions. And that can mean many different things. And grammatically I think it's left vague because it can mean many different things. It's like me saying, "I went to the hospital yesterday because of Becky, my wife." What could that mean? Many things. So, because of transgressions, the law is added. And I look at it as this. The law is very telling of, the first one is the law is very telling of the character of God. It tells mankind who he is. That he is holy, holy, holy, far beyond who you are. He is completely other. He is more different from you and me than we are to a mosquito. Because at least with the mosquito, what you and I have in common with the mosquito is we're all created beings.

And we need blood to live. God is completely other. So, in the law he gives, he gives things that are not contradictory to his character. He gives representations of his character to the people. You guys tracking? The second thing that the law does is it exposes the depravity of man. We are so corrupt that we don't just get offended by the law, we get aroused by it. If we're told, "Hey, don't go there." What do we want to do? I want to go there. "Don't eat that." What do we want to do? That must be pretty good. That's what happens to us. Whenever something is forbidden, we want it more. This is a random example. In Europe, alcohol is like soda. You guys know this, right? Beer is like soda. So, teenage kids drink beer.

But in America, it's like, "Ooooh." So, we are so foul that the presence of the law incites and arouses more sin. That's how depraved we are. It's like this ginormous squeeze of a sponge. And the law squeezes and everything comes out. So, the law is also to show the depravity of man. And the law is also very telling of man's desperate need of a savior. And that's the entire book of Leviticus for you. How can holy God and sinful man be reconciled again? It's going to take the death of an innocent, substitutionary lamb. So, that's what the law is very telling of. In and of itself, it is good. But for us, it's bad news. Okay? You guys tracking? Now, here's a very profound quote. "The law is for the proud and the gospel for the brokenhearted," says Martin Luther.

"The person who can distinguish between the law and grace can thank God and know himself to be a true Christian."

The non-Christian believes himself to somehow be able to manipulate God to give a thumbs up. That's most of the rest of the world. Right? The non-Christian believes that as long as there is a certain mathematic metric where the good outweighs the bad, they're going to heaven in the presence of holy, holy, holy God. Utter stupidity and folly. The Christian understands who he's not before God. The Christian understands that without grace, I have zero hope. The Christian understands that every single righteous deed that I perform in the presence of holy God, Isaiah 64 6, is like a filthy rag. You know what a filthy rag is equivalent of? A woman menstruates on a pad and gives that as an offering.

That's a filthy rag. Me, giving a $5 bill to a homeless man on the street before a holy, holy, holy God, that is as offensive as a filthy rag. I cannot curry any favor from this God. So a genuine Christian understands law, grace, and that it is all by grace.

If in your heart you still have a works-based system that you cannot shake, that's evidence of something missing. And we all feel when we've rebelled against God, we feel it, of course. But if you feel like you have to do something to clean your act up before you can come to the presence of God, that's utter stupidity.

You guys tracking along? The law was to be a tutor. And I'm going to spend just a couple moments on this and then move on. The word "paitagagas" is a slave. Didaskalos is a teacher. Someone who's teaching facts, that's a didaskalos, that's a teacher. A paitagagas is a slave entrusted to the supervision of a young boy on its parent's behalf. So culturally, a parent entrusts the paitagagas with charge of the kid. Ultimately for the safety of the kid, but for the instruction of the kid. And a lot of the rule of thumb was, if he gets out of line, beat him up. That was great Greco-Roman culture. Not "cam out." That was a paitagagas. It's a chaperone to keep the child safe from trouble, from danger, to make sure that the child didn't do harmful things.

So they were very Asian. Memes all the time. Okay? So here's John Starr in his research. They took their young charges to and from school, made sure they studied their lessons, trained them in obedience. They were very strict disciplinarians, scolding and whipping as they felt it necessary. He was often harsh to the point of cruelty. And it's usually depicted in ancient drawings with a rod or a cane in his hand. It's like the equivalent of a strict governess. So this was the mental understanding of a paitagagas. Trusted by the parent to keep the child in line. And so most, if you go into the research on this, young Greco-Roman men celebrated, like 13-year-old, you know, the Jews celebrate bar mitzvah where they become a man.

The young men in Greco-Roman culture would celebrate when they were old enough where they can't get no memen no more. They had a party when the paitagagas is out of their lives. Even though some of them were nice, most of them were not. Okay? So Paul, just a little context from biblical, so you can, when we read 1 Corinthians 4, it kind of helps us understand. Hey, for if you were to have countless paitagagoi, tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I become your father through the gospel. So what do you want? What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod like a paitagagas or with love and the spiritual gentleness? And so you get a little bit of an insight.

So this was commonly understood. Keep you in check. That was the purpose of the law. By any means necessary. Okay? This is the pathway to salvation. This was added temporarily until the promised seed would come. Then the law is fulfilled. The wrath of God is satisfied. And the thing that is required for full receiving of this is repentance and faith. Those go hand in hand. If you guys know Romans 1 to 2. Therefore there is now no what? No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death. That's a very well memorized chapter 8 verse 1 and 2. But you know what's interesting? Verse 3 and 4. For what the law could not do.

Weak as it was through the flesh, God did. Sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. Why? So that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled. In us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Brothers and sisters, may we do everything that our regenerated hearts desire. Because if you're still thinking of what can I get away with and still receive a pass from hell. That question in of itself might be very telling. That you don't know what it means to have been changed by the power of God. Next week is a preview. Verse 25.

Therefore the law has become our tutor unto Christ. So that we would be justified by faith. Now that faith has come. We are no longer under a tutor. Praise God. So that's a preview for next week. The non-Christian will read this and be like, "Cool. No rules." And I want to close with this illustration. I am a dad. My kids are eight, almost nine. I want to do everything that I can for their good. I've given them laws. I've given them rules. I've given them principles. Hopefully when they're adults, they don't go, "Cool. No more daddy. I can do whatever I want." That isn't the appropriate response of a kid who understands the heart of his father.

Right? What I would hope for is that my child, because he loves me, because he knows me, because I've loved him well, that he grows up replicating my character in every good way that I can possibly hope for. He is a little mini me of virtue walking around in the world. That's the appropriate response of good parenting. Right? So the heart of a true child of God is, "I want to be like my daddy." And we're not even thinking about the rules. We're thinking about his pleasure. So, and that's what we're going to be looking at in chapters five, especially in chapter six. Okay? Alright. I'll stop sweating again. It's winter. Upcoming events. We've got the Christmas parties. As was announced on Facebook this Sunday, we need to clear all of this out.

So I'm not sure how it's going to work in terms of the hours for the cafe. Please be mindful, as soon as second service is done, we're going to have to start setting everything up in the sanctuary and in this whole building for the family ministry Christmas party. There's like 400 people involved. So just, we've got lots of families. Okay, so please do be mindful and help us to get through that as quickly as we can for the setup. The 31st is coming up. Well, Christmas is coming up. We have 2,000 flyers printed for you to invite people out to our Christmas party. We have a choir. We have our kids singing. And we will have a booth for newcomers and non-Christians who are interested in hearing more.

We're going to have all of that, so invite them out. Sunday, the 31st, we have our New Year's Eve stuff. January 7th, you guys already know this. It's been announced at ad nauseum. But please pray for this. It's not an easy thing, especially for our shepherd. Pastor Peter's going to have to preach three times every Sunday. So pray that God would protect and guard his body and his heart. So three services is coming, and if you want to help, we will find ways for you to help. So just jump in and help. Sunday, the 14th, the new membership class begins. There's a lot of you in here that are not members of the church. The 14th, the sign-up is going to probably go out this weekend, but just kind of keep that in mind.

It'll be at second service at 930. Second service, 930, the new membership class will begin. In the afternoon, we have our members meeting. And February 7th, we have our Galatians Bible study part two, so please do plan for that. Travel when we don't have Bible study, but when we have Bible study, prioritize this time to the best of your ability. For next week, it's our final one. So give yourselves a hand. Give your small group facilitators a thank you clap. It's the last five verses of Galatians chapter three, and I would encourage you guys to go back and review the first 70, the verses from chapters one through three. And then the preview questions, what does it mean to be baptized into Christ, to have been clothed with Christ?

What does that mean? What is the purpose of the phrase male nor female? This phrase is abused today. A lot of people quote this, misquote this. So what is the purpose of the phrase there is neither male nor female? In this section, what does it mean to be an heir of the promise of Abraham? That's going to be on the Facebook, so you don't need to copy this down. This is today's discussion. Who is God to you personally? Who is Jesus Christ to you? And it sounds, it might feel like we've gone over these questions before, but this is the important question for you to answer. Okay, so think through that. What role does the law of God play in your day to day life? How eager are you to obey his law?

And what is the motivation? Fear of wrath or desire to please? And you want to really wrestle with that and share. And number three, in what ways do you still try and get to God through a mediator? This passage I don't think was talking about there is now one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. I don't think that's the, the Catholic Church abuses this. They have mediators all over the place. You have Saint Mary, you have all kinds of saints you have to pray through to get to God. But the scriptures teach us that the veil has been torn, God is now in you. Okay, so what do you do to try to still bypass what was already given to you? Four, are there any prayer requests that come from questions one to three?

And the more vulnerable and honest you are with these questions, the more your group will pray. And actually more than your effort, the spiritual support and the prayers of the saints around you probably will do way more than anything that you could endeavor for yourself. Let me pray together, or let me pray and then we can dismiss. Father, help us to just appropriately respond to what we've learned. Help us to be people who understand how amazing grace really is. And help us, Lord God, to live lives of jubilee and of celebration. So would you grant us a good time of fellowship as we process through these words, through these verses, through these questions. And would you continue just to protect and bless our study.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.