Keeping the Law Does Not Save

Transcript

GRM 1021
12/21/2008
Keeping the Law Does not Save
Galatians 4:4-7
Gil Rugh


I want to direct your attention to Galatians 4. Let me read two verses for you in Galatians 4, beginning with verse 4. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son born of a woman, born under the law, so that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. When Paul wrote the letter to the churches in the region of Galatia, he was addressing a particular problem. The problem was there was confusion on how a person is to experience God's salvation. Jesus Christ had come to earth, been born at Bethlehem, had been crucified on the cross, had been raised from the dead. Many among the Jews had come to believe in Jesus Christ. The earlier chapters of the book of Acts particularly record salvation that occurred among the Jews. Then in the last part of the book of Acts we have the missionary travels of the Apostle Paul and we find in different parts of the world he, too, presented the gospel not only to Gentiles but to Jews who had been spread throughout the world from the region of Palestine. And during this time there came to be confusion and conflict over the issue of how is a person saved. And the issue had to do with the place that the Mosaic law played in salvation.

We have to go back and remind ourselves of how important the Mosaic law was to the Jews. All the way back in Genesis 12 God selected Abraham, as we call him, he was Abram then. And said that he was going to develop a nation from the descendants of Abraham and his wife Sarah, who at that point in time did not have any children. But He says I am going to make a nation from you that will belong to Me. And the physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah, through his son Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs developed into the nation. The way that occurred was that Abraham had a son Isaac, and then Isaac had Jacob, and Jacob's twelve sons become the heads of the twelve tribes, family units, in Israel. At the end of the book of Genesis the families of Abraham, his descendants, Abraham of course being dead by that time, went down into Egypt to escape the famine in the land of Palestine. They spent some 400 years in Egypt. Now when they went down into Egypt they were a family of about 70 people. When they came out of Egypt 400 years later, they were a nation of some 2 million people. God fulfilled and honored His word to Abraham that He would make a might nation, a nation that would belong to Him. That was the nation Israel.

Now they are a nation, not just an extended family. God gives them His regulations for governing their conduct as a nation. That's the Mosaic law and it begins in Exodus 19 and follows through in the subsequent chapters. And there the Mosaic law and it governs Israel's conduct in all areas. It governs their religious life and what they must do in their religious activities, it governs their political life, how the nation is to function with their responsibilities civilly as a nation. It governs their family life, it governs social relationships, it tells them what they can eat and can't eat. It even tell them what kind of haircuts they can get and not get. It tells the men how they can trim their beards and how they can't. There are a lot of laws in the Mosaic law, over 600 commandments in the Mosaic law. Keep that in mind because some people think ......, even today there is some confusion. They might say, are you saved? Yes. How do you know? Well I try to keep the law. Oh you do? Well, why don't you name off a few hundred of the commandments you are keeping. Well, I work on the Ten, the Ten Commandments. You understand the Ten Commandments are just a brief overview. There are over 600 commandments in the Mosaic law. Do you know what God says? If you break one of them you've broken the whole law because the law is a unit, it's considered one whole. He says if you break any one of those, you've broken them all. So it's too bad that people think they are going to be saved by keeping the commandments, the Ten Commandments or the Mosaic law because you have to keep every one of them perfectly every day. Some of you, I hate to tell you, all of you have flunked. Look at some of the haircuts we have, and I trimmed off my beard and I'm not allowed to cut off the corners. So I'm under condemnation, too. So you can't do it by keeping the law.

But for the nation Israel the law was given to Moses around 1445 B.C. Now every Jew, then, from that point on and every baby born is raised under the authority of the Mosaic law. Eight days of age a Jewish boy would be circumcised, and on it goes with all the regulations __________. Every day they knew. Why can't we have a ham sandwich? Because we're Jews. Well I think I would like ............ But we can't because God's law says no for this, that, the other. It's all governed.

Now you come to the time of Christ and He is born at Bethlehem. And He is born a Jew, as we read in Galatians 4. He is born under the law because every Jew is born under the law. That was true of Christ. Remember when the wise men came from the east to worship Him. They saw His star, they said, where is the One born king of the Jews? If you read the opening chapters of Matthew or the opening of the book of Luke, we have the genealogy, the family history of Jesus Christ, showing that he is a legitimate descendant of Abraham, a legitimate descendant of David, in the line of the king of Israel. He was a Jew. You understand as a Jew and as a Jewish boy and as a Jewish man, Jesus Christ lived under the Mosaic law. He was born, as Galatians 4:4 tells us, under the law. Some people read the gospels and the life of Christ and say, we're going to pattern our life after the life of Jesus. But you understand, He lived under the law. At 8 days of age He was circumcised. Then He was presented at the temple after 30 days. Why? We sometimes in our churches have presentation of babies. It may be all right, but you understand you don't do it because Christ was presented at the temple. Because they didn't do that as a voluntary action, that was required. Remember when God delivered the children out of the land of Egypt? He killed all the firstborn in Egypt, but He spared the firstborn of the Jews. Now He says, he belongs to Me, you redeem him So He was brought to the temple and a sacrifice was made, reminding them that the firstborn belonged to God. That a all part of the regulations, the rules and the requirements.

Well, what happened over time, and some of you can identify with this. You are from various Protestant backgrounds or Catholic backgrounds. You know what it is like to have been raised perhaps from birth in a certain tradition. You know what happens? Certain activities and patterns, people begin to think if I do these things, that's what saves me. That's what happened to the Jews. They began to think because they were born Jews, because they did their “best” to keep the law, therefore they were acceptable to God and their sin wouldn't be an issue. That was never true, people were never saved by keeping the Mosaic law. God said, by the works of the law no person will be righteous in My sight. It's not possible. So no Jews was ever saved by keeping the law, Jews were always saved the way that anyone who is ever saved is saved, and that is by believing the truth God makes known about Himself. All the way back in Genesis 15, 500 years before the Mosaic law was given, we are told concerning Abraham, the father of the Jews, Abraham believed God and God credited it to Abraham as righteousness. Salvation has always been by God's grace through faith in the revelation God has given. But what happened to the Jews, they thought we are saved because we are Jews. Now the Jews didn't have a problem that dirty Gentiles had to be saved. And their view was when a Gentile wanted to be saved, he converted to Judaism and then did his best also to fulfill keeping the law as Jews did.

Now when Christ came the message of salvation was clearly presented as being through faith in Him and Him alone. Some Jews had a hard time breaking with the past. They came to believe that Jesus Christ was the Savior, that He was the Messiah of Israel, that He died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin. But they said you also have to keep the law or you can't be saved. Confusion reigned. Even true believers got confused.

Back up to Galatians 2. You all remember Peter. You have a certain amount of sympathy for Peter because his flaws get presented regularly. I don't know that he had more failures than anyone else, but the Spirit of God has chosen to use him as an example. And in verse 11, but when Cephas came to Antioch, and Cephas is another way for Peter, I opposed him, Paul writing, to the face because he stood condemned. Peter did the wrong thing and I had to rebuke him. What did he do? Verse 12, prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. Now James is head of the church in Jerusalem, Jewish church, basically Jews because you are in a Jewish capital there. When representatives from Jerusalem and the leader came to Antioch where Peter and Paul were, up to that time Peter would eat with the Gentiles. Now good Jews did not eat with Gentiles because Gentiles are defiled. I mean, they are always touching something you are not allowed to touch, they are eating things you are not allowed to eat, they are unclean. But Peter understood that with the coming of Christ that wasn't an issue now, and it was made clear to him in Acts 10. Some of you remember that. But what happened when these Jewish leaders came, he withdrew from eating with the Gentiles because he feared the party of the circumcision. You see here, even Peter, so used of God through those opening chapters of the book of Acts with such a clear message from God. In Acts 10 he still felt the pressure to do what the Jews thought was right.

The closest I can come is some of you with your backgrounds and your Protestant traditions or Roman Catholic traditions, or other traditions. You know what it is like, and when you are with family there is pressure on you to go along with the things you've done. And there is a sense that you were raised that way, a certain sense of guilt, you feel I'm not doing what I should do. Some of you come from traditions where you say the Lord's Prayer as part of the regular worship time on Sunday. And some of you have said to me on occasion, I don't feel like I worshiped, we didn't say the Lord's Prayer. Well does the Bible say I have to say that or is that part of my tradition. You can understand with these Jews, this has been the life, the environment in which they had lived. They had died for this over the centuries. Now there are those who profess faith in Christ and never truly been saved. They say, yes, I believe Jesus is the Messiah, I believe He died on the cross and was raised from the dead, but I believe you also have to keep the law or you will not be saved.

Back up to Galatians 1:8, Paul says, if we or an angel from heaven preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is accursed. As we have said before I say to you again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. That word accursed, anathema, condemned to hell, doomed to destruction before God. And the issue was, do you have to keep the law in addition to believing in Christ. Anyone teaching that and believing that is lost, you are doomed to hell. So this is the issue the Apostle Paul was addressing in the letter to the Galatians. You understand that the Mosaic law was given, not to bring salvation to the nation Israel. Any Jews in the nation were saved by believing the truth that God had revealed concerning Himself. But the Mosaic law was given to govern the conduct of the nation Israel, to guide them and keep them separate from the surrounding nations and to prepare them for the coming of their Messiah and Savior, Jesus Christ. But the confusion came to be, they began to think, if I do the physical things of the law, that will save me. Like people today, they think if they are baptized that is what saves them. A physical action could never save anyone, never in the Old Testament, never in the New Testament, never today. But that kind of confusion comes to get ahold of people and they begin to identify a physical action with salvation.

So Paul is writing to show why Jews are not obligated to keep the law, we are free from the law. That didn't mean a Jew had to have a ham sandwich if he didn't want one, but it did mean he could, if he so chose. Because the Mosaic law only was in force until Christ came and died on the cross. So through the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—Jesus Christ is living under the law. With His death and resurrection the Mosaic law has come to an end. It's purpose has been served, it has been fulfilled in Christ.

So when you come to Galatians 3, he's used Abraham as an example here because the Jews revered Abraham, he was their founding father. The nation began with him and in verse 6 he quoted from Genesis 15:6 where it says, Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. So salvation has always been by faith alone, not by faith plus works. Because how did your father Abraham experience the righteousness of God in his life? He believed God. So verse 7, it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. It wasn't enough to be a physical Jew, to have physical circumcision, to keep the physical requirements of the law. The prophets said your heart had to be circumcised, the sin and defilement had to be removed from within. And it's Gentiles' way of salvation as well, it's by faith. That's what he says in verse 8. The scripture anticipated God's work of saving Gentiles, when he said in the promises to Abraham at the end of verse 8, all the nations will be blessed in you. So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer. Those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the one who has had faith, who has believed. He is the believer.

Now note verse 10, 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. You see how clear it is? Isn't it sad that some people today, they are celebrating the birth of Christ and you ask them if they're going to heaven. Yes, I think so. How? Well I try to keep the Ten Commandments. You understand the Ten Commandments are part of the Mosaic law. Remember when Moses went up on that mountain and he was given the tablets of stone? And on there engraved were the ten words, the Ten Commandments. It gives you a condensed overview of the Mosaic law, but you have to keep it all because verse 10 quoting from the law in the Old Testament. Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things. Now we're Bible students here, many of you have been in the Word of God for many years. I daresay if I said, we're going to have a test, somebody is going to win a prize. I want you to stand up, you don't have to name all 600+ commandments, name 200. Probably no one here can do it, and if you think you can, see me afterwards. Name 200 of the commandments, well I can get started. Maybe many of you have memorized the Ten. You still have over 600 to go, and you have to keep them all. Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things. You know what happens? Once you've broken one you are guilty. Do you know what the penalty for the sin is? Death. Think of a Jewish family, they did sacrifices regularly. They were constantly, one sacrifice, another sacrifice. Read the book of Leviticus for the various sacrifices. Think of the Jewish boy here saying to his father, why are you taking this sacrifice? Well because there is sin, the penalty for our sin is death. So we're going to take this animal and the priest will kill him and the blood will be poured out so God will accept that. Dad, that's an animal, we're people. How can an animal die for people? Well, son, wash your hands, we're going to eat. There is no answer to that question.

You see they didn't know, all they could do was believe God. But you know what God said? The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. All it could do was remind them the penalty for your sin is death. You see what it was doing was preparing them for the coming of the Messiah. God was forgiving them, not because they offered an animal sacrifice but because they believed in Him, and He was going to have His Son die on the cross and His sacrifice would be sufficient to pay the penalty so that all who believed God and His truth could be saved. So once He came and paid that penalty, the Mosaic law's purpose has been served.

So come to Galatians 3:23, before faith came we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. When Paul says but before faith came, we were kept in custody, he's talking about we Jews. Paul can identify with the Jewish element here who is trying to tell these Gentiles in Galatia, we're far removed from the land of Palestine when we're in Galatia, the region there, that they had to become Jews in effect and keep the law. Paul says that we were shut up, kept in custody under the law. Shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Now he's just told us in chapter 3, Abraham was saved by faith. But the clarity of how God's grace would provide salvation for those who believe would not be revealed until Christ came. Salvation has always been by grace through faith, never any other way. Abraham was the example in Galatians 3. But the clarity of how that could be awaited the coming of Jesus Christ, how God's grace could provide a sacrifice that would be sufficient to pay the penalty for everyone so that the invitation could be if you call upon the name of the Lord, if you'll turn from your sin and place your faith in Christ, you'll be forgiven. That had to wait the coming of Christ.

So Galatians 3:24 says, therefore the law has become our tutor to Christ. In other words it was the pedagogue, the overseer. In the Roman household there was a man entrusted with the authority over the male child who would be the heir in the future, but he wasn't yet old enough. So this pedagogue, tutor as we have it had absolute authority over that boy to be sure he towed the line, did what he should, got his assignments done, did his work and so on, until the proper time. And that was what the law did, it was an overseer to guide the conduct of the nation Israel, to keep them on a path separated from the nations. You can't be like the people around you. They trim the corners of their bearads, don't you trim the corners of you beard. They do this, don't you do that; they eat this, don't you eat this. And all areas of their lives governed as a nation. You offer these sacrifices, all that will prepare you for the coming of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin, not only of the nation Israel but of the world. Verse 24, the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so we may be justified by faith. Verse 26, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ. What about the Law? Verse 25, now that faith has come we are no longer under a tutor. You see the purpose of the law has been fulfilled with the coming of Christ, and His death and resurrection.

So you come down to chapter 4 where we read from. Chapter 4 just continues, we have a chapter break but read the last verse of chapter 3. If you belong to Christ then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. You see that heirs according to promise? Verse 1 of chapter 4, now I say as long as the heir is a child. He's drawing another picture here. We are the heirs to the promise that God gave to Abraham. As long as the heir is a child, he does not differ from a slave, although he is the owner of everything. But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So the picture here of a household. Paul is writing here from a Jewish perspective now, as a Jew. He's going to broaden it in a little bit. But the Jews, they were under authority. Just like in a Roman household, here is a man who will be heir of all of his father's fortune, his household, the slaves, everything. But now, verse 2, he is under guardians and managers, he does what he is told. There are a number of people in the household of his father who have authority over him, even though he is the heir of everything, until the date set by the Father, the time when the Father says, you will become a full-fledged son with all the prerogatives of sonship. But until then you do what these men tell you. And if you don't, these men will discipline you. Until. So you see, the heir is almost like the slave. In fact slaves in the household would be telling him what to do.

Now the comparison will be verse 3, so also we, and he's talking about we Jews. While we were children we were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. It's like the ABCs. He's talking about the Mosaic law, they were the rudimentary things, the basic laws and requirements. That's like all the regulations you have for your children. You know what happens when they get a certain age? They are no longer under those regulations. That's the picture being drawn.

So while we were children we were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world, what God had given as the regulations for the nation Israel. Now they are not for us Gentiles, the Gentiles were never under the Mosaic law. The law was given to the nation Israel, to mark it off as distinct. The Gentile who converted became a convert to Judaism, and submitted himself then to the laws of Israel, became a convert there.

Then we come to verse 4, but when the fullness of the time came. In the analogy, the end of verse 2, until the date set by the Father. That's the fullness of time. You know when Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem some 2000 years ago, that was the date, the time set by the Father, that was the fullness of time. Everything that God had planned and ordained came together at that exact moment. All that prophets had prophesied throughout the Old Testament, all that God had ordained for the nation. Rome is ruling the world, Herod the Idumean, a non-Jew, is sitting on the throne of Israel under Roman authority. All according to God's ordained plan. Think about that. All that goes on over the course of centuries and millenniums, and it all comes to God's appointed moment, for the birth of His Son. So when the fullness of the time came, well we're going to have a decree from Caesar to tax the world. That's all part, every little detail. But there will be no room in the inn. Everything is coming together just as God ordained it. The fullness of time came. God sent forth His Son. Tremendous statement. That's what happened at Bethlehem—God sent forth His Son. God the Father sent out from heaven His Son. The word sent here has a preposition on the front, ek, out. He sent out His Son. You know, Jesus Christ existed before Bethlehem.

Turn over a couple pages to Colossians 1:15, concerning Christ, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. It does not mean that He was born first, it means He has the preeminence, the priority. He is sovereign over all creation. All you have to do is read on. Verse 16, for by Him all things were created. He is not part of creation, He is the firstborn, He is the One who has preeminence. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible. That includes angelic beings as well as human beings. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him. Note verse 16, by Him, through Him, for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. Awesome picture. That One born in Bethlehem is the sovereign God, God the Son who created all things, who holds all things together. Truths here that our finite mind cannot grasp, that baby in Bethlehem, in Him is contained all the fullness of deity in bodily form, Colossians 2:9. And yet He has sovereignly chosen not to exercise the attributes of deity. How can this work? How does this function? He is fully God and now fully man. And I don't know, but I believe it's true, God declares it. I am not surprised that this peanut of a brain, this finite mind cannot encompass all the truth there is of the sovereign God and understand it completely. That will never happen, but it's a truth that I believe because it is declared here by God Himself.

So you see the One born in Bethlehem, when it says God sent for His Son, this is the One who has dwelt in eternity with Him. That's why when Micah the prophet hundreds of years before Christ prophesied He would be born at Bethlehem, he said the One who would be born at Bethlehem was the One who dwelt in eternity. He said dwelling place, eternity, because He is the eternal God. Now He is born in time and place into the human race.

Come back to Galatians 4. The fullness of time came God sent for His Son. Now when you say God sent forth His Son that's a declaration of the deity of Jesus Christ. And the Jews understood it as such. Remember when Jesus Christ claimed that God was His Father, the Jews were ready to stone Him. Why? If you make yourself the Son of God, you declare yourself deity. For them, they viewed Him as One who should be stoned. If it wasn't true, He should have been, it was blasphemy. God sent forth His Son, the One in whom all the fullness of deity now dwells in bodily form, the One who is the exact representation of His nature. Remarkable.

God sent forth his Son born of a woman. That's not primarily emphasizing the virgin birth. The virgin birth is true, but that's not what this passage is primarily emphasizing. This passage is primarily emphasizing His humanity. Job 14:1, Job says, man born of a woman is short-lived and has a life full of turmoil. Being born of a woman is an expression of humanity. In Matthew 11:11, Jesus said regarding John the Baptist, of those born of woman, none is greater than John the Baptist. So what it says here, God sent for His Son, that's a declaration of His deity; born of a woman indicates now He is truly human. So you have the God/Man, what is called the theanthropic union, God/Man, joined together. He is fully God and He is fully man and He is one person. And that leaves us with so many questions. The wonder of it all, yet it is true and there is no comparison because this is unique. Jesus Christ was always God, He is without beginning and without ending. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, John 1:1. It was there, it has always been there. And yet at a point in time God became man, but He could not cease to be God because God by definition is eternal, unchanging. But now God has taken Himself, God the Son, humanity. And now He is the God/Man.

Born of a woman, born under the law. So He is God, He is man, and now he says He is born under the law. He is a Jew. Read the genealogy of Matthew, read the genealogy of Luke—He is a Jew. It's required to have the proper lineage to be truly the Messiah of Israel, the king who will reign. He is born under the law. You understand He lived under the law. So you read the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John—Jesus Christ lived under the law, He observed the Mosaic law. He went to the feasts and so on that the Jews observed and so on.

The truth being brought out here for all of this comes to verse 5. Why? Two purpose statements, and we have them with the word that in verse 5. Why did God do this? Why in the fullness of time did God send forth His Son from the glories of heaven to be born of a woman, to be born under the law? What did Christ say in Matthew 5? He didn't come to abolish the law, He came to fulfill it and thus bring it to its completion. He did it so that He might redeem those who were under the law. Now it's primarily a statement regarding Jews because Gentiles were not under the law. The law was given to Jews, was given to the nation Israel. But this is the shocking statement to the Jew—Christ came to redeem you who were under the law. The Jews didn't have any problem thinking Gentiles needed to get saved, they were dirty, they were defiled, they were unclean. Just like Peter backed away from eating with Gentiles when the Jews arrived. That's why in Acts 10 he wouldn't even have gone to the house of a Gentile if God hadn't intervened directly and made it clear he had to go. Even in his own statement, I wouldn't have gone, I wouldn't have done it, but God made clear to me this change.

So when he says that Christ came that He might redeem, purchase, to buy out of. It's used of a slave in a marketplace, you buy him out of the marketplace, out of slavery, purchase it out of. He purchased us out from our sin, purchased them out from the curse of the law to redeem those who were under the law. _______________________ saying here, the Jews needed redemption, those who had the law needed redemption. Why? Back in chapter 3 verse 10, for as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. Everyone who sees himself obligated to the law and are trying to keep the law to be saved are cursed. Why? Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law. But you know what the sacrifices of the law that every Jew carried out were for? For breaking the law. So every Jew knew he didn't keep the law. And the penalty for sin is death, and by the sacrifices of bulls and goats you can't take away sin. What's the answer going to be? I'm just trusting God as the One who is the Savior of Israel, and I believe His truth, I believe He'll save me by believing in Him. But you understand the fullness of understanding of how God could do this consistent with His righteous character is not clearly revealed until Christ comes and pays the price of redemption.

I realize Isaiah prophesied about it, Isaiah 53. There are others but to understand how that ........... Peter says the prophets never could put that together, how the Messiah could come and rule and reign in glory and suffer and die in humiliation. It was a puzzle to them. Now it is clear to us, He is coming twice, to suffer and die and then He'll come again in a yet future time to rule and reign.

He came to redeem those who were under the law, under the curse of God. Because what the law did was reveal how sinful they really were. They got it so twisted around, they thought this was their way of salvation, doing their best. What the law revealed was doing your best could never save you. What a tragedy. People today think they're going to get saved by doing their best, by going to church, be being baptized, by taking communion, by trying to lead a good life. I mean, the Jews couldn't do it when they had the law that Almighty God gave directly on Mt. Sinai. They said all that could do was curse you. By what kind of twisted thinking do we think that by our good words we'll be able to do what the Jews could not do, we'll be able to become acceptable to God. I've been baptized. I'm a Jew, we have circumcision, we have all these commandments of God. Cursed. No one is saved by their works, no one is saved by their good deeds. How tragic, 2000 years after Christ has come and it's become clearer than it's ever been. People still think, I go to church, I was baptized, confirmed, whatever else you had done. Just like the Jews, we had the law, we do our best, we're not perfect but we're ............... Cursed, cursed. You understand the coming of Christ makes that clearer than it ever was. These Jews under the law needed to be redeemed, needed to have the price paid that would satisfy the demands of a holy God's righteousness. He just can't say, that's okay, we'll forget it, because He is righteous. The penalty for sin is death.

That He might redeem those who are under the law, the second part of that, second purpose, so that we might receive the adoption as sons. That's picking up the point that he has already made. Adoption of sons, that was that point in time when that Roman boy had become a man and now he receives his special toga, robe he could put on. And you know what? Now he was no longer under the authority of those others because now he was master of the house. That's the contrast. Why would you go back? Why are you telling people you have to go back to the law, get under the law and try to keep the law in order to please God? That's like having a 21-year-old say, now I want you to go back and try to live like a 6-year-old. What do you mean? A 6-year-old has a lot of people telling him what to do. But now you're mature, you're adult. When that Roman boy came to that official, they had a ceremony with it, he had become an adult. Now he is free from those administrators, those tutors, those ............. That's the point. The law just served a purpose for the nation Israel. The Jews were so confused they were trying to bring the Gentiles under the law. They didn't stop to consider they couldn't be saved by keeping the law themselves. Now you want to tell Gentiles they should keep the law. There are Gentiles running around today talking about they keep the Ten Commandments. You understand, they were never given to us, the Gentiles, they were for the nation Israel. What are you going to do? Become a Jew now? Be circumcised and do the sacrifices? Observe these specific feasts that were required? Cut your hair the way they were required? Wear the garments they were required? Not allowed, remember, to have any mixed material. Most of you sitting here have _________ that law, too. Can't do it. Go back and observe the Sabbath—park your car and measure off how far you can go.

No. He redeemed those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons, be placed fully as the sons of God. That's what becoming a Christian is. We've now entered into a relationship with God. They were saved before, but we have come to a maturity that the greatest of the Old Testament prophets did not enjoy. We've been placed with the full rights of sonship.

So verse 6, because you are sons, God has sent for the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying Abba Father. You have the trinity mentioned here in these verses right together. Verse 4, God the Father sent for His Son, God the Son. And now in verse 6 God the Father has sent forth the Spirit. Remember Jesus said in John 14-16 that He had to go to the Father so that the Spirit could be sent, as a result of His death, resurrection and ascension to heaven. He ascended in Acts 1, the Spirit descended in Acts 2. Because you are sons God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. Remember chapter 3 verse 26, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. You'll note we have moved from we to you, because this has proved Jew and Gentile alike. There is only one way of salvation, it is by faith and it is always the same result. Chapter 3 verse 26, all are sons of God through faith in Christ. There is only one way to get saved, that's through faith in Jesus Christ. Chapter 4 verse 6, because you are sons God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying Abba Father. I know I'm saved because I have believed what the Word of God says I must believe. I also know because the Spirit of God dwells in me and He confirms that, we cry Abba Father. Daddy is not a good translation, we pick that up in the diminutive form of the Aramaic Abba here. But it does denote that immaturity that maybe comes with Daddy, it denotes intimacy, closeness. An intimacy that did not before exist. Jesus told His disciples, the Spirit of God is with you but He will be in you. There is a depth of intimacy that will be established and brought about that you have not experienced. We call Him Abba Father, that's what Christ called His Father toward the end of His life in Mark's gospel—Abba Father with the intimacy. The Spirit of God dwells within us.

Come back to Romans 8. You understand in chapter 8 verse 9 the last statement of the verse, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Him. Only those who have believed in Christ alone for salvation have become the sons of God, and they have received the Spirit of God. And anyone who has not received the Spirit of God does not belong to God. That's what Romans 8:9 says. Come down to verse 14, for all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you have not received the Spirit of slavery leading to fear again. ___________________ in the context of the Mosaic law again for Jews. Romans 7 was about that, go back and read Romans 7. But you have received a Spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba Father, that closeness of intimacy. That child under tutors, that was his father, but he didn't have the fullness of relationship that would come with his maturity. The Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit that we are children of God. If children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

For the same point come back to Galatians 4:7, therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir through God. You see what happens? I have now been placed in the full relationship of sonship, an intimacy with God that none before the coming of Christ had experienced. They had experienced salvation, but they had not experienced the fullness that comes. Just like that child born was the heir in that sense, but he is still under tutors. He hadn't come to the maturity and the relationship that would bring in its depth and intimacy.

But you'll note there is something more, that's where Romans 8 went on as well. I have not yet taken possession of everything that is mine as a son. I'm an heir and I have entered into now my stage of maturity and a new level an intimacy with my heavenly Father. But there is more to come, and that is the glorification of the body when God's work of salvation will be brought to its fruition, its completion and I will be glorified. Romans 8 carries that on in greater detail, that that is where we are going, the glorification of the body. So I have entered into maturity, I have been placed as a son with the prerogatives of sonship, and I'm not going back to being a 2-year-old, a 4-year-old. That's the message to the Jews. You're not dragging me as a Gentile back under the law. The law served its purpose, now we enjoy the fullness of relationship that has resulted with the coming of Christ.
But we're not Jews. We know we're not under the law, although you meet many people who think they are going to be saved by keeping the Ten Commandments. You meet many people who think they are going to be saved because of their church. I've been raised a Lutheran, I've been raised and Episcopalian, I've been raised a Catholic, I've been raised a Presbyterian. Just like the Jews, I've been raised a Jew and we have the law and no one else has the law, but us Jews. We have the covenantal promises, now one else has them but us Jews. If the had any right to boast in their works, in their special privileges, the Jews did. But you know what? It could not save them, anymore than being a good Methodist could save me, anymore than being a good Presbyterian could save you, anymore than being a good fill-in-the-blank. No, that won't do it. Anyone who adds any works, no matter how religious those works are, to the message of Jesus Christ and the simplicity of the gospel is cursed to hell. Because in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we, Jews, might receive the adoption as sons, and so that we as Gentiles could know it's open to us as well, that the Jewish Savior is also a Gentile Savior. And those who had the special privileges and inside track and were the chosen nation could not be saved by their works. But the Jewish Messiah was going to come and die on a cross to provide salvation for the Jews that they could not provide for themselves. And in doing so in an act of greater grace make it possible, not only for Jews to be saved, but us filthy undeserving Gentiles, unclean, defiled, separated from God. And yet the Jewish Messiah was born at Bethlehem to be a Savior for Jews and to be a Savior for Gentiles. And thus God would honor His word when He told Abraham, in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And we have come through faith in Christ to experience the blessing of His salvation.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the grace you demonstrated in sending your Son to this earth. How awesome it is to consider that you, the eternal God, sent your eternal Son to the earth to be born of a woman and become completely human so that He is the God/Man to pay the penalty for our sins, so that we through faith in Him might become sons of God, might receive your Spirit to dwell within us and move us to cry out, Abba Father. Lord, what a salvation we have that privileges us to live in a relationship of intimacy with you, to be your sons, to look forward to the fullness of our inheritance and all that you have provided for those who love your Son. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.