Why Then Have the Law?

TRANSCRIPT

I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning’s message is taken from Galatians chapter 3, verse 19 to 22. Have you ever visited a hospital and taken a CT scan? Apparently the CT scanner is 3D dimensional and it shows much more than an x-ray can show. It takes a picture of what is going on inside your body.  There may be a tumour, internal bleeding, bone fractures, kidney stones and even heart disease. Let’s say your GP sent you to the hospital to take a scan, CT scan, and the result revealed that you have a problem; you have a tumour in the brain. Does it mean that your problem is fixed? No. The CT scanner cannot fix your problem. It can show you what the problem is, it cannot treat you, that was not what it was meant to be. That is an illustration of what this whole passage is all about. The purpose of the Law, or the Ten Commandments, that God has given to us is to reveal sin, not to remove sin. It is to show sin, not to save us from sin.

Remember we have learned that salvation has always been by faith and it was never by works. Abraham was saved by faith, not by circumcision. Moses was saved by faith, not by the Law or the keeping of the Law. So why then do we have the Law in the first place? It was as if the Apostle Paul had anticipated that the Galatians would ask this question; if the Law cannot save us, if we cannot save ourselves by keeping the Law, why then do we have the Law in the first place? That is what we want to learn from today’s passage. The tile of our message is: ‘Why Then Have the Law?’ We will focus on the two questions that the Apostle Paul had asked. 

I. Is the Law without purpose?

Firstly, ‘Is the Law without purpose?’ Paul began by asking a question. Look at verse 19, “Wherefore then serveth the law?” The Law is primarily a reference to the Ten Commandments here. So what Paul was asking is this, ‘What purpose then does the Law serve?’ The answer is, it was added because of the transgressions. The word “transgressions” means to cross the boundary, to step over the line or to deviate. Essentially it means sin; sin is a transgression of God’s Law. The Almighty God says, ‘Thou shall do this, thou shall not do that’, and you cross the line – that is a transgression, that is a sin.

Notice the little word “added”. In other words, at some point in time the Law was added during the time of Moses. Man already had a sin problem long before the Law was given.  The Law was given to add to their sin problem; to reveal more of their sin, so to speak. You see, the Law of God and its purpose is to show to man that he is totally depraved, totally incapable of pleasing God by his own efforts; he desperately needs help. He needs God’s grace and mercy. It does not mean that before the Law was given there was not sin. Since the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, sin existed; man was born in sin. Even the little ones you see running around, they are all born in sin; they have this sinful nature.

The Law was added, it was given, to show the intensity of man’s transgression against God. The purpose is not to remove sin but to reveal sin. It is not a means of gaining eternal life, but to show to the people that they need something else other than their own efforts to gain eternal life. The Law is meant to convict the hearts of sinful men and women and through the guilt of their sins, they will be driven to the only One who can remove sin and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the meaning of “till the seed should come to whom the promise was given” (verse 19).

Remember in our previous message in verse 16, Paul said, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” You see, the promise of salvation by faith is so precious. So much so that God gave it to Abraham in person. The promise that the seed of the woman would come – singular – ‘one seed, thy seed’, and that was Jesus Christ. Jesus came and that was the only way that a person could be saved; by believing in Jesus.

Allow me to give you an illustration. Let’s say I went to a restaurant and I was wearing a brand new white shirt. I ordered a bowl of soup. As I was eating I spilled some of the soup onto my shirt. Well, I look at the little spot and it didn’t look that bad so I kept on eating.  Later on when I looked at the mirror, what initially looked like a little spot was actually several spots and they were not just spots, but big patches of stains. The mirror showed me the damage I’d done to my shirt. The stains were already there – I may choose to ignore it, I may choose to deny it was there – but the mirror sort of magnified those stains to be so clear to me. The Law, the Ten Commandments, is just like the mirror.

When a man looks at the commandments of God, he sees that his life is more than just wrong. It is more than just a behaviour issue, it is more than just an emotional struggle or a temperamental problem. It is sin and when he breaks the Law, he has to face the consequences. The Law demands that there will be accountability, there will be a judgement. That is why it is so important for us to preach the whole standards of the the Law – God’s standard, not man’s standards. Man may pat you on the back and say, ‘Well done, you are a good and righteous man’. But in a final analysis, he’s not the standard, she’s not the standard, God is the standard. That is the only way to drive man to Christ. Unless man realises that they have violated God’s Law and therefore they will stand before His divine judgement, they will see no reason to be saved. They will see no reason to turn to the only Saviour of the world. Otherwise grace will mean nothing to them. No need for help, no need for forgiveness. When a man does not realise that he is eternally lost, why would he want to be saved? Why would he want to turn to a Saviour?

My friends, you may not want to talk about it – you may try to ignore it, deny it, reject it – but the reality is that you have sinned and transgressed the Law of God and if you are a transgressor there will be a judgement.’

Look at the last part of verse 19, “and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” The word “ordained” means the angels were appointed, they were used by God to bring the Law, the Ten Commandments, to the people. At Mount Sinai God gave the Law to Moses and he was accompanied by a host of angels, almost ten thousand of them. Let me read for you. Deuteronomy 33 verse 2 says, “The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints” – or angels – “from his right hand went a fiery law for them.” So the angels were present when God gave the Law. 

In other words, when God gave the Law, He gave it through two mediators. Firstly, through the angels and then through them to Moses and to the people. Ultimately God was the Author and the Giver of the Covenant of Law. He was present with the angels, with Moses, on Mount Sinai. Although Moses was great, the angels were great, but Paul was reminding the Galatians not to exalt Moses, not to exalt the angels, over God Himself. Sometimes we look to man but then we forget about the Almighty God.

What is the “mediator”? A mediator is someone who stands between two parties – a reconciler, or a go between. For example, when you have two parties who are odds with each other, you need someone to act as a mediator to mitigate for both parties. So in a sense, a mediator is only needed when there is more than one party. But when God gave the Covenant of Promise to Abraham – this is what we have learnt in our previous message, I’m just trying to recap – we considered how God caused Abraham to fall into a deep sleep and then He alone walked through the path. In other words, God was the only One involved in making the Covenant of Promise. Abraham was just a beneficiary; he was not a party to it, he had no part in establishing, or making the covenant – the responsibility was on God and on God alone.

That is the meaning of verse 20, “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.” You need more than one party to be involved, but God is one. When God cut the covenant with Abraham, when He gave the promise that the seed of the woman will come, that is Jesus Christ, God was the only One who makes sure that this covenant would be fulfilled.  So Paul was speaking about the difference between the Covenant of Law and the Covenant of Promise.

Another significant difference is that in the Covenant of Law it not only involved mediators – angels and Moses – but there was also mutual obligations on the two parties: God and Israel. Allow me to briefly explain this: In Deuteronomy chapter 5, when God gave the Ten Commandments, God said to the Israelites in verse 6, “I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods before me” – that was the First Commandment. “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image” – that was the Second Commandment. And then He went on to give the other commandments. After He had given all the commandments, you look down to the last verse, verse 33, “Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live”. You must obey all these commandments, walk according to what God has told you, commanded you, if you want to live – that was the condition.

Man has a part to play; he has to obey, he has to keep the commandments. God has a part to play; He will give life, He will save. The problem was man could not keep his part, therefore God could not grant salvation. When man broke the Law, it was a transgression, and that transgression separated him from God.

So how can a sinful man be reconciled to a holy God? How can a sinful man have a right relationship with a righteous God? Take a moment and consider this: if God is perfectly holy – a hundred percent righteous – sitting at His throne, how can you and I have a right relationship with Him? There’s only one person who can accomplish it, and that one person is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

Maybe you can turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 5. Let me read for you, 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Man needs a mediator because of his sins; sin separates man from God, man must face the consequences of sin. The Bible tells us the wages of sin is death, or the price of sin is death (Romans 6 verse 23). And it is appointed unto man once to die, after this the judgement. Death is not the end of everything. Some people believe that when the coffin is closed the story is finished. It is not finished – after this there is the judgement (Hebrews 9 verse 27).

Man cannot go to God directly because He is too holy, He is perfect. That is why Job cried out in Job 9, verse 33 – this is what he said – “Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.” A “daysman” means a mediator, someone who would bridge this gap between the Creator and the creature. So Job cried out, ‘Who is this one man, who is this daysman?’, this mediator who can bridge this gap between the Creator and us.

Jesus Christ is the only mediator between man and God because He is the only one who has both a divine nature and a human nature; not the angels, not Moses, not Mary, not the saints, because none of them have these two natures. Jesus is a hundred percent God, therefore He is able to meet God’s standard. He’s a hundred percent man, that is why He is able to meet our obligations. As a member of the Trinity, Jesus has communion with the Father and the Spirit. As a member of the human race, He has union with you and me. Only Christ alone is the mediator. There’s no other mediator who can bridge this gap between God and man.

Paul went on to say in verse 6 of 1 Timothy chapter 2, "Who gave himself a ransom for all.” The word “ransom” is a rich theological term describing Christ’s atoning death. Jesus did not simply pay a ransom for us, like a billionaire giving hundreds, or thousands, of dollars as a ransom for someone. No, He became that ransom; He took our place on that cross of Calvary when He died and shed His precious blood to save us – that was how much Jesus loved us.

Notice Paul said Jesus gave Himself a ransom for all. Does it mean that everyone is saved? No. It speaks of the sufficiency of His atonement. In other words, the ransom paid by Jesus for sin, it is sufficient to save all, but it is only efficient for the Elect; only those who believe in Him for salvation it will be effective. One theologian explained it in a very interesting way: Even if one trillion more sinners had been added to the number of believers, His death is still able to save, but at the same time, even if you are the only believer in this whole world, His death is still necessary. Take a moment and try to digest this thought: Even if you are the only person in this whole world to be saved, Christ’s death is still necessary because of your sin. Jesus must come, He must die, otherwise you will be eternally lost. Jesus came, He died not just for you, for me, for all those who believe in Him personally. We must bear in mind that my Lord Jesus died for me, my Lord Jesus was risen from the dead for me – He was my ransom.

The question is, Have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? Please do not reject Him. There’s only one mediator between God and man. The One who has these two natures; a hundred percent God, a hundred percent man – Jesus Christ – you reject Him; you reject the only way to salvation.

II. Is the Law contrary to the promises?

Our second point is, “Is the Law Contrary to the Promises?” Paul moved on to ask a second question in verse 21, “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.” If God was the giver of both the Law – the Ten Commandments – and the promises, how could He contradict Himself? Paul used a very strong negative “God forbid”, which means may it never be, or perish that thought, because the idea was unthinkable; do not even think about it. The Law was never meant to save.

But let’s presume if the Law could save, in that man was able to keep the Law of God perfectly – a hundred percent – all the Law of God, let’s presume, then the ability to attain righteousness – the way to salvation – should be through the Law. If that was the case, my friends, then love, grace and mercy would be redundant. If that was the case, there would be no need for the ‘seed of the woman’. Jesus would not need to be born of a virgin. There would be no need for Jesus to come. There would be no need for Jesus to keep the laws of God on our behalf. There would be no need for Him to clothe us with His righteousness and most importantly, His death and the shedding of His precious blood would be totally unnecessary. Paul says, “God forbid”, perish that thought, that thinking, get it out of your mind, God forbids; may it never be. The Law was to reveal sin, not remove sin. It can show you what is the problem, but it cannot fix your problem. The Law was never meant to do that.

Verse 22, “But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” To be “under sin” is a very strong term, which means to be locked securely and there was no way of escape. Why does the Bible say that all of us are under sin? There are many Bible verses but allow me to just quote one, which most of us are very familiar with: Romans 3 verse 23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. All – without exception – have sinned, have transgressed the Law of God and have fallen short of God’s glory. The Law shows to us that everyone has missed the marked, everyone has overstepped the boundary, crossed the line. We have sin and transgressed many times, we have fallen far short of God’s glory. We are all locked up in the prison of sin. Maybe you do not like to be called a sinner, you do not like to be classified as a law breaker, because you think you are a cut above most people; you are better than the rest.

Let me end with this illustration: Suppose you and I are in a prison, and one day the authority said that the only way to get out of prison is to pay one trillion dollars. Both of us tried desperately to gather all our assets and bank accounts; I discovered that I only had ten thousand dollars and you discovered that you only had one million dollars. Neither of us can get out of prison because we do not have the amount needed to get out. It is true that you have more than me, it is true that you are better than me in that regards. But still, neither of us can get out because we do not have enough. That is the same with God. Some men may be better than others, others may be worse, but here’s the problem. To get into heaven, one has to be perfect, and no man is perfect; everyone falls short, we are all locked up in the prison of our sins, we are all in the same room, we are all under sin. That is what it means.

So back to our question, why then have the Law? Is the Law without purpose? No. The purpose of the Law is to reveal our sins, not to remove sin. The purpose of the Law is to bring man to such a point that they will cry out to God, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7 verse 24). That is the purpose of the Law, that is the purpose of the Ten Commandments. Is the Law contrary to the promises? No. Instead of contradicting the promises of God, it actually compliments the promises of God. Because the Law shows to us that no matter how hard we try, we cannot save ourselves by our own efforts, by our own good works, by our obedience. We have to turn to the promised Seed of the woman, the only mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ – only Jesus alone can save us.

My friends, when you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you will receive the forgiveness of your sins. He has paid the penalty of your sins on the cross of Calvary and you will be clothed with His righteousness. When God sees you, He sees His Son in you. That is why Paul says, ‘I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ If you cling onto your effort, if you cling onto your ability to keep the commandments of God, [if] you think you are well and good – think again.

As I have said, using this illustration: if you fall from the cliff – it’s one thousand feet down – you will plunge to your death. But as you fall you cling onto a chain, and this chain has ten links, you cling onto it for your dear life, how many links you have to break to plunge down to your death? All it takes is just one link; you just need to break one link, you will plunge to your death. You cling onto your ability to keep the commandments of God, you break one, you break the whole Law of God. When you swing into eternity, you are swinging unto eternity hanging on nothing but, as the old creatures used to say, you are hanging onto a horse’s hair – you are too late.

My friends, instead of clinging onto your own abilities, your obedience, your good works, the money you give to charity, the things you have said, the things you have done – no, cling onto Jesus Christ; the One who died, who shed His precious blood, the One who is able to save you, the mediator between God and man.

Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank Thee for this opportunity for us to study through the book of Galatians, and as we study Galatians 3 verse 19 to 22, Thou has taught us what we ought to learn about Thy Law and Thy promises. Do we need the Law? Yes, because Thy Law – Thy commandments – revealed to us our sins, it was not meant to remove our sins. We pray that as we understand this passage that we will be bold and courageous to share and preach the Gospel; by preaching Thy commandments, by telling the people that they have all transgressed Thy laws and there will be an accountability, there will be a judgement. The only solution is to turn to Jesus, the mediator between God and man, the Saviour of the world. So help us that we will always preach the Gospel, preaching about sin and the Saviour. This we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

SERMON OUTLINE

• I. Is the Law without purpose?
• II. Is the Law contrary to the promises?

THE BOOK OF GALATIANS

A Letter To The Galatians

A Letter To The Galatians

Galatians 1:1-5

The Danger of Preaching Another Gospel

The Danger of Preaching Another Gospel

Galatians 1:6-9

Be a God-pleaser, not Men-pleaser

Be a God-pleaser, not Men-pleaser

Galatians 1:10-12

But When It Pleased God

But When It Pleased God

Galatians 1:13-24

Standing for the Truth of the Gospel

Standing for the Truth of the Gospel

Galatians 2:1-5

One Gospel, Different Ministries

One Gospel, Different Ministries

Galatians 2:6-10

The Need to Confront Sin (Part 2)

The Need to Confront Sin (Part 2)

Galatians 2:14-16

The Need to Confront Sin (Part 3)

The Need to Confront Sin (Part 3)

Galatians 2:17-19

Dead, Yet Alive!

Dead, Yet Alive!

Galatians 2:20-21

Remember How You Were Saved!

Remember How You Were Saved!

Galatians 3:1-5

Saved by Faith

Saved by Faith

Galatians 3:6-9

The Age Old Promise of the Gospel

The Age Old Promise of the Gospel

Galatians 3:6-18

Christ Bore Our Curse

Christ Bore Our Curse

Galatians 3:10-14

Will God Keep His Promise?

Will God Keep His Promise?

Galatians 3:15-18

Why Then Have the Law?

Why Then Have the Law?

Galatians 3:19-22

What the Law Meant to Us?

What the Law Meant to Us?

Galatians 3:23-29

The Son of God Became the Son of Man

The Son of God Became the Son of Man

Galatians 4:1-7

No More a Servant and Child, But a Son

No More a Servant and Child, But a Son

Galatians 4:1-7

Until Christ Be Formed In You

Until Christ Be Formed In You

Galatians 4:8-20

Freedom in Christ or Bondage to Works

Freedom in Christ or Bondage to Works

Galatians 4:21-5:1

By Faith Or By Works!

By Faith Or By Works!

Galatians 5:2-6

The Dangers of False Teachers

The Dangers of False Teachers

Galatians 5:7-12

The Christian Freedom

The Christian Freedom

Galatians 5:13-15

The Works of the Flesh

The Works of the Flesh

Galatians 5:19-21

The Fruit of the Spirit (Part 2)

The Fruit of the Spirit (Part 2)

Galatians 5:22-25

Restoring the Sinning Brother

Restoring the Sinning Brother

Galatians 5:26-6:5

Restoring the Sinning Brethren

Restoring the Sinning Brethren

Galatians 5:26-6:6

You Shall Reap What You Sow

You Shall Reap What You Sow

Galatians 6:7-10

Living for the Praise of Men

Living for the Praise of Men

Galatians 6:11-13

Living for the Glory of God

Living for the Glory of God

Galatians 6:14-18