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Once again, a very good morning. Thank you for joining us for our English worship service this Sunday morning, we are looking at Galatians chapter 3 and verses 15-21.

Just advance warning, it's quite a technical passage, I know it's just seven verses, but a lot of technicalities, I hope it will not be boring for you, but it would be helpful to have a good, robust grounding into the doctrines of the Bible.

But let me begin with a letter that someone wrote to his ex-girlfriend. "My Dearest Susan, I've been so sad ever since I broke off our engagement. Won't you please forgive me and consider coming back to me? I love you so. Yours always and truly, John. P.S. Congratulations on winning the Toto."

People change their minds, people are not always sincere in what they say, we are fickle. The question is - Is God also fickle? Does God change His mind and His ways all the time?

Well, the book of Galatians is really about how man can be made right with God. And we last ended last week looking at Abraham, how he was made right with God. The Bible says, "Abraham believed God, and that's how he was made right." [Gal 3:6]

How he was declared righteous, how he was justified before God, he was made right because of faith. So the apostle Paul, knowing this in Genesis, pressed the principle further, saying, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith." [Gal 3:9]

And so, Paul used the example of Abraham to show that great statement he made in Galatians 2:16, "We know that a man or a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ." Or in simple words today - A right standing before God is not achieved by the works of the law, but received by faith in Jesus Christ.

The question now is - Has God changed since He also gave the law? The law here refers to the Ten Commandments, and maybe the 613 commandments associated with the Ten Commandments. If Abraham was saved by faith, then why did God centuries later give the Ten Commandments? What's the purpose? Has God changed His mind? Does the law, the Ten Commandments affect how God has promised Abraham?

So today we're going to look at this simple title, "Why Then The Law"

We must understand that Paul gave that great propositional statement that — a man is justified not by the works of the law, but by faith in Christ. Then in chapter 3, verses 1-14, he explains why it has to be faith in Christ. And now in 15-21, he turns to the law and helps us understand what the law means and does not mean.

So, we are looking at the law, and to be specific, it's about the Ten Commandments and the laws of Moses. What is the purpose of the law? When God gave the law, does it change the promise that God will justify those by faith? We're going to look at these questions in these verses. A few things I'd like us to notice in verses 15-21.

We start first with the longest point, so if I spend a lot of time in point one, don't be too anxious or nervous, I'm going to end on time, don't worry. But the first point will be a bit long, because most materials are given to the first point.

[1] The Independence Of The Law
And the first point is this, it's about the independence of the law.

Now, what do you mean by the independence of the law? What I mean is, the law that is given later, during the time of Moses does not affect, change, nor nullify the promise. And what is the promise? That God will bless through faith.

God promised Abraham, "I'll make you a great nation, in your seed shall all nations be blessed." Abraham believed God, and therefore God blessed Abraham.

So the question is — does the law affect, change, or nullify this promise? Well, the answer in verses 15-18 is really, no. The law that is given later does not affect the promise that was originally given by God to Abraham. Now, we are going to see how this is proven by Paul.

He says, "The promises were made to Abraham and to his Offspring ..." [Gal 3:16] That's a long time ago, "... and then later on, the law came."

Does this law affect, change, or annul the promise that was originally made to Abraham? The answer is no. "The law that is given later does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, previously confirmed or made sure by God." [Gal 3:17] Doesn't do that!

Now, I want you to come to the scene where this promise or this covenant was made. It's the same day, it's the same event in Genesis 15. Now, the scene takes us to a starry, starry night, Abraham was called by God to go out. And God then said to Abraham, "Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them." And He says to them, to him, "So shall your Offspring be." You will have many, many children, spiritual children, if I may add. And the Bible tells us, "Abraham believed the LORD." And now the Bible says, "God counted to Abraham as righteousness."[Gen 15:5-6]

How was Abraham made righteous? Belief, by faith.

God went on to say, "I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans in the Mesopotamia region, to give you this land to possess. And Abraham then asked, "O LORD God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" [Gen 15:7-8]

Do you have any confirmation? Do you have any chop to show me this is so?" And God said to Abraham, "Now let me tell you to do something."

"Go, bring Me a heifer ..." A heifer is a kind of a cow, "... three years old, a female goat, three years old, a ram, three years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And when he brought all these, Abraham cut them in half and laid each half over against the other." [Gen 15:9-10]

You say, "This is ... this is serious, I better call SPCA. What kind of cruelty is this! Why would you cut an animal right down its backbone, split it into half! Wow, this is ... this is cruel! What's the purpose!" Well, this is an ancient way by which people make deals, or agreements, or covenants. Today, all we need to do is to sign a document, that's how we make a deal.

But in those days, they make a deal by cutting these animals apart and lining them in two rows, so that now between myself and the other person who is making the ... I'm making the deal with, we hold hands and we walk down this aisle. And when we walk down this aisle, we are saying, "If any one of us were to break this agreement, let our fate be like the animals that are killed."

Now, we know this, for example in Jeremiah 34:18, when God said, "The man who transgressed My covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before Me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two." So this is where the covenant-making process is made clear for us.

So on that starry, starry night, God promised Abraham, and God said, "Let's make a covenant." But this covenant is special between God and Abraham in that usually it's the two parties walking down, but in this case, something special in that Abraham was deep asleep. "As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abraham." [Gen 15:12]

So he's not the one walking down this aisle, instead, God alone will walk down this aisle, pictured in, "A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch. And on that day, the LORD made a covenant." " [Gen 15:17-18]

Literally, the LORD cut a covenant with Abraham. So what this is symbolizing, maybe with this artist's impression, is that God is unilaterally promising Abraham and unilaterally saying, "This covenant is on Me. I will bless you, I'll give you and your Offspring the land, and if this is not done, let My fate be like the animals. And Abraham, you can rest assured, you can sleep. I will do it!"

So, it's a very solemn and sure promise and covenant made by God in Genesis 15. So the question now is - Will the law that comes in later break this covenant? Well, the answer is, no, it does not annul this covenant. [Gal 3:17]

Now, a little bit more detail about this promise, this covenant, and we see that, "This is given to Abraham and to his Offspring." [Gal 3:16]

So, this is a promise made to Abraham and to this Offspring, who is this Offspring? Well, we go back to the Genesis accounts and we would see in Genesis 15:18, for example, God says, "To your Offspring, I give this land."

In Genesis 17:7, God says, "This is a covenant between Me and you and your Offspring, to you and your Offspring after you."

Chapter 17 and verse 8, it says, "And I will give to you and to your Offspring the land, the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God."

Genesis 22:17, it says, "Your Offspring shall possess the gate of His enemies." That is a language to say, "Your Offspring will be victorious over all His enemies." "And your Offspring shall be the source of blessing for all nations." [Gen 22:18]

So we come to Galatians, and Paul repeats this idea that this covenant, this promise is made to Abraham and his Offspring. Who is this Offspring? Paul knows, because Paul says, "We must be careful to note that, "The Old Testament mentions Offspring and not offsprings, it's not plural, referring to many, but it is singular Offspring because this refers to Christ." [Gal 3:16]

Paul understood that this promise that God made to Abraham is not only to Abraham, but Abraham and his future descendant, that special descendant, Jesus Christ. Jesus came from the line of Abraham, ultimately.

How did Paul know this? I think he understood the Old Testament in its entire narrative. From the beginning, God said to the serpent, "From the seed of the woman, from the offspring of the woman will come One who will crush your head." [Gen 3:15]

So God promised that there will be a serpent crusher, this one Man who will defeat Satan. And in Abraham's days, God promised to Abraham there will be one Offspring who will defeat all your enemies and will be the Source of blessings for all nations.

Later on, God would say to David, "David, one of your descendants will be an everlasting King." [Ps 89:4]

And then in Isaiah 9:6, God says that, "This King will be the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father, the Mighty Counselor." And so on and so forth.

So the entire Old Testament is filled with this anticipation of this coming Saviour, King, Messiah. So Paul says, "This Offspring, in Genesis 15, 17, 22, is not about anyone else but Jesus Christ." So God promised Abraham and Christ that blessings will be through faith in Christ, "In this Offspring shall all nations be blessed." [Gal 3:16]

And so the question now is - Will the law given later change all of this? Is blessing apart from Jesus Christ, is blessing to be found away from Jesus Christ? The answer is an affirmative no.

Because he comes back in verse 15 to this simple logic, that if I made a deal with John, then Susan cannot come and change this covenant. It's between me and John, someone else can't change it. So if God has made this covenant with Abraham, something else that happens later cannot change it. "Therefore, the law which came 430 years afterward does not annul a covenant." [Gal 3:17]

And this is exactly why he says in verse 18, "For if the inheritance comes by the law, it is no longer by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise."

So, the law that comes later cannot change the way God has chosen to bless. It's a long explanation, but that's the logic of Paul. We see, therefore, the independence of the law, in the sense that the law that comes later does not change, affect, nor nullify the promise that God will bless through faith.

Paul is maintaining justification is still by faith, and not by the works of the law. Even though the law came later, the promise still stands, that if you believe God and His Son, you will be blessed.

[2] The Intention Of The Law
Now, if you have survived this, I think the next few points you can survive quite easily. So, let's go to point number two. We note the independence of the law, that's in verses 15-18, secondly, the question that you need to answer, or we need to see is the intention of the law.

What's then the purpose of the law if the law does not change the promise, then why did God give the law later? So, why then the law?

That's what Paul says in verse 19, which is the title of our sermon, and Paul says, "It's given, it's added because of transgressions."

Now, that's quite vague, if I may say, because there are many commentators who have come up with 4-5 explanations of what this means possibly. There are 4-5 options, but I would, because of time and so on, and I think you all would not be so interested.

Uh, so let me get down to the point, I think what this means, "It was added because of transgressions," is that God gave the law so that we might see our transgressions, our sinfulness, and our hopelessness and helplessness to save ourselves. The law is given so that we may see that we are condemned in and of ourselves.

So the law does not save us from our sins, but the law shows us our hopelessness in our sins. So, let me try to prove this to you. There are 4-5 options, as I've mentioned, but I think the best one is this one because it fits the context the best. It is what Paul has been arguing so far, so what do you mean by context? Context means beside this verse, what happens before and what happens after, then you know this fits the explanation.

So I bring you to a chapter earlier, Galatians 2 and verse 19. Paul said, "For through the law I died to the law."

Wah, this is very chim ah! "For through the law, I died to the law." What do you mean by that? Well, I think, as we have explained, Paul is saying, "The law, the Ten Commandments, and maybe the 613 commandments that are associated with it, the law shows me the impossibly high standard God desires. I 垮 [kuǎ,in chinese]liao, give up. I ... I ... I surrender, I put up the white flag." So, the law is given to show us we cannot make it at all, there's no way I can make it!

"So through the law, I died to the law," in that I despaired of the law, I gave up, I realised that in my weakened, sinful flesh, I can never obey it. So I say, "I quit, I stop trying to obey the law to get right with God." And when I stop doing that, then I turn to Jesus Christ and faith in Jesus Christ, "And then I might truly live unto God," [Gal 3:19] because now Christ lives in me. That's the logic, remember, in chapter 2.

So Paul says , "The law was never meant to save us, the law was meant to show us we cannot make it so that we would stop trying to be self-righteous, and we depend on our Saviour and His righteousness. And that's how you can truly live before God." Now that's what happened before this chapter 3 and verse 19.

But after chapter 3 and verse 19, we go on with this idea of verse 22, chapter 3, we're going to look at this next week, actually. Paul says, "The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin."

So, what's the purpose of the Scripture? I think this Scripture is another way to describe the law, because he says in verse 23, "Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law." I think they are probably synonymous or same ideas here — imprisoned [verse 22], imprisoned [verse 23], held captive [verse 23].

So Paul is saying that, "The law or the Scriptures in the Old Testament traps us. Traps us in the sense that it forces us into the corner to recognize I am hopeless and helpless in my sin. I cannot break free! The law was given to show us our total impotence and inability to save ourselves."

"So that when Christ comes, we may turn to Him, so that when Christ comes, we may turn to Him, so that when Christ comes, we may turn to Him." And Paul uses a second example of, "The law being our guardian" [Gal 3:24]. I'll explain more next week, but suffices for us to see that I think Paul has been using the law in a very consistent way. It is to cause us to be despairing of ourselves, cause us to be desperate in and of ourselves, so that we would turn to Jesus Christ.

Now, I don't think this is limited to Galatians, elsewhere in the Bible, Paul uses or teaches about the law in a very same way. He says in Romans 3:19, we know that, "Whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law ..."

"So the law speaks to people who are under the law", I think here it refers to the Jews, Israel. "The law was given to Israel, so that every mouth may be stopped." So that Israel and the Jews would realize, "I'm sinful, I'm without excuse because the law shows me my sinfulness." But it is not just limited to the Jews or Israel, because Paul went on to say, "And the whole world may be held accountable by God." [Rom 3:19]

So, why is the law given? So that we all can see very clearly, we are guilty before God. None of us is ever going to be good enough in and of ourselves. No one can say, "不知者不罪" [bù zhì zhě wú zuì, in chinese]. No, everybody is guilty as charged! The law makes it clear — black and white.

He goes on to say in verse 20, "For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in His sight." [Romans 3:20]

The law is not meant to save, the law is not the alternative route you can take to be righteous with God. So, what's the purpose of the law? Through the law comes the knowledge of sin. The law is meant to show you your sins.

He goes on to say in chapter Romans 4:15, "The law brings wrath, for where there is no law, there is no transgression." Same idea.

[Romans] Chapter 5:13, "Sin is not counted when there is no law, and so the law is given, so that we may be held accountable before God." No excuse!

"The law came in to increase the trespass" in chapter 5:20, [Romans]

[Romans] Chapter 7:7, "If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin."

So the law in particular, I think the context here is about the Ten Commandments, they are functioning like a giant X-ray machine. The X-ray machine is meant to show you your cancer, your X-ray machine of the Bible is to show you your spiritual cancer, your sinfulness.

Now, let me ask you, "Has anyone of you been to an X-ray machine to get cured from cancer?" "I've got cancer, X-ray machine, save me." Now I tell you, if you do that, your cancer grows faster. So, the law was never meant to save you from your spiritual cancer, the law is just an x-ray machine to show you your spiritual cancer. That I think is the intention of the law.

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, what do you mean by that? It means we must understand that whilst the law cannot rescue you from your sin, it is meant to reveal to you your sin and your helplessness. That's why the law did not change the promise, because the only way you can be saved, you can receive life, you can be righteous is via faith in the promise.

So, why did God give the law? To show you your sin and sinfulness and helplessness, so that you may turn to God in His promise. That's the whole reason! So when you realize your spiritual cancer with the X-ray of the law, you now turn to the doctor. And who is the doctor? The doctor is Jesus Christ - until the Offspring should come " [Gal 3:19]

So for a long time, Israel was taught the law, so that they may realize their guilt, their hopelessness, and they look forward to the coming Messiah, Saviour. Okay?

So, we learn about the independence of the law, the intention of the law.

[3] The Inferiority Of The Law
The third thing I'd like us to see is the ... I guess I won't ask you to guess, nobody will guess one ah, is the inferiority of the law.

Now when I say inferiority of the law, some of you may walk out and say, "Wah, Pastor Jason said the law is lousy leh!" Please don't do that, hor tolong [in Malay]. Uh ... uh, I ... I ... that's why I must quote, I must present myself very clearly. I want to explain, when I say the inferiority of the law, I am not saying that the law is lousy. But what I'm saying is that when you compare it with the promise, the promise is greater. There is superiority and primacy in the promise, which is not accorded to the law. The law is important, but it's not as important as the promise. That is the point!

How does Paul argue this out? Let's look at his argument. In verse 19 he says, "And it ..." the "it" here refers to the law. "The law was put in place through angels by an intermediary."

So, this is really interesting for us. We ... we all know, actually most of you would know the story of the Ten Commandments and how Moses was up in Mount Sinai, 40 days, 40 nights, received the Ten Commandments, right? So, we understand the intermediary part, but very few of us would know that actually the law was given via angels, but it's actually found in the New Testament, for example.

This is one text, but another text is Acts 7 and verse 38 [This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us], we have angel, "he" here refers to Moses.

Acts 7:53, "You who receive the law as delivered by angels." This is from Stephen.

And then we read in Hebrews chapter 2:2, "The message declared by angels ..." the context in Hebrews 2 is that of the Ten Commandments or the law.

So, it's really interesting because you don't really find this very explicit in the Old Testament at all, but the Jewish nation, the Israelites, know that it's given via angels. But the point Paul is simply making here is that the law was put in place via angels and Moses. And so there is this supply chain, there's this middleman, it's not direct from God to Israel, it's God to angels to Moses to angel, uh, to ... to Israel.

So, there is a distancing, it is not so direct! If you think about it, when God gave the promise, it was direct. Wah, please lah huh, huh, huh, huh. When God gave to Israel, it is not so direct because you have middlemen, right, they ... they kind of come in between. It's two steps removed, uh when God gave the promise to Abraham, it was direct. So, you sense Paul is talking about something here already.

Now, he goes on to say in verse 20, "Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one." Wah, this one chim [complex in Hokkien], quite chim lah for a lot of people, kong si mi [what is it saying in Hokkien], what are you talking about? "What now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one?" Wah, this one is very chim lah!

Uh it is considered difficult for many commentaries or commentators. Uh, there's someone who joked that it has been said that, "There are as many interpretations of this verse as the number of years between promise and law." Some of you are already smiling, uh because how many years is it between promise and law that Paul spoke just now? 430. So there are some people who say there are 430 interpretations of this verse. Uh, that may be an exaggeration, hyperbole, but actually I read someone who said there are 100 over interpretations. I don't know lah, I didn't study the 100 over lah, I figure there's just one right view lah.

But not just this commentator, Piper himself, I read his sermon in 1983, that's about 40 years ago, about this verse. This is what he wrote, "I am not going to deal with this because I don't
know what it means. I cannot figure out how the two halves of verse 20 relate to each other. I would be happy for anyone to give me insight here."

So ... so remarkable for a super sharp guy like Piper, but recently he has been going through a series called "Look At The Book in Galatians". And I read up or I listened to it, and he has come up with a possible interpretation, which is not what I agree with, but never mind. Uh, basically he has changed his mind too, he said, I didn't know, now he ... he ... he proposes a view.

I think the best way to understand this verse is simply to look at it in the two halves and connect them to the context, that's all. It's not that complicated an approach. Now he says, "Now an intermediary implies more than one." [Gal 3:20]

I think this simply says that when you have an intermediary, it means that there are more than one party involved, because if there's only one person, no need intermediary what. But if there are two, three, four, five parties, you need someone to mediate.

So, "An intermediary implies more than one ..." [Gal 3:20] he's saying that , "When God gives the law, it was conditioned upon the fulfilment or the performance of two parties." Correct? God's laws in the Mosaic Covenant is that if you keep all My commandments, I will be your God. So, you need both sides to keep the ends of the deal.

So the law is mediated between two parties, because if God fails, then this mediator would stand on the side of Israel and say, "God, You did not fulfil Your end." Or if Israel didn't fulfil their end of the bargain, then the mediator would say with God, "They are guilty, they did not fulfil the end of the deal."

So, a mediator is needed when there are two parties who are called to perform. But when it comes to the covenant, God is one, it means the covenant promise, I use the word, "covenant promise" because that's the picture in Genesis 15, God gave a promise and God also backed it up with a covenant, right? So the covenant promise, however, is unilaterally fulfilled by God. What is Abraham doing at the time? Sleeping. So, the performance of it is not dependent on any man, but on God Himself. So, I think that's the best way to understand.

Now an intermediary implies more than one, the law is given or is to be mediated between two parties, but the covenant promise is unilaterally fulfilled by God. So the law is inferior, not that it's lousy, but compared to the promise, it's inferior because it's two steps removed from God. You need angels and Moses, and it is also inferior because it does not have the guarantee that God alone does it all.

So, why then the law? Does the law affect the promise? No. It's independent, it does not change, alter, or nullify the promise that was established a long time ago. Then why did God give the law? The law was given for transgressions, to show us our sinfulness and our helplessness.

Can the law, any day overtake the promise? No way! You must understand the superiority of the promise, the primacy of the promise. The law can never be an alternative way of justification or receiving life. God is removed two steps away, and God did not promise to do it unilaterally, sovereignly by Himself.

[4] The Impotence Of The Law
And the final 'I', I think it's the impotence of the law.

What do you mean by impotence? It has no power to grant life, and that is what Paul is saying in verse 21. Let me work this out with you. "Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law."

Now let's look at this, because when you first look at this verse, it's not easy to understand. Paul says, "Is the law then contrary to the promises?" Now you say, "How does the law oppose the promise?" That's the question, right? Paul is asking, "Is the law opposing the promise? In what way does the law oppose the promise?"

You cannot anyhow guess one, cannot anyhow say one, because the subsequent verse explains what it means to oppose the promise.
The subsequent phrase here says, "If the law had been given that could give life ..." [Gal 3:21]

In other words, Paul is asking, "Does the law oppose the promise in that the law is another way to give life?" Answer - certainly not! Do you get what I'm saying?

"Is the law contrary to the promise?" In what way? By offering an alternative way of getting right with God. Can the law be an alternative way of getting right with God? Answer - cannot, because if can, then righteousness would indeed be by the law, but it can't. [Gal 3:21]

So Paul is saying, "The law cannot give spiritual life, nor righteousness." By the way, the blessings of Abraham are kind of elaborated in not so explicit ways, you just got to bring them together. I think Paul has been speaking about life, he has been speaking about righteousness. In Genesis, we read about the inheritance of the land, and then earlier on in chapter 2 and 3, we read about the receiving of the Spirit.

So the blessings of Abraham is not so much about money, health and wealth, but it's about spiritual life, about a right standing with God, about a future eternal possession of land and about receiving the Spirit today. And Paul is saying, "All these things cannot be given by the law, it cannot give life, it cannot give righteousness, it cannot give inheritance, it cannot give you the Spirit."

"For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse." [Gal 3:10]

And elsewhere in Romans 8:3, "The law cannot do these things, but Christ can. And that's why Christ was born as man, that unique God-man, to die for our sin and thereby condemn sin and save us from our sin."

So Paul is saying, "The law cannot give these things to you. It can never be the alternative way to get right with God. Don't you ever go back to the law to be justified, it can't, it's impotent! It has no power to do so, only Christ can give you life and righteousness and land and the blessed Spirit."

You remember what Martin Luther said, and I quote this again to you, "Did the law ever love me? Did the law ever sacrifice itself for me? Did the law ever die for me? On the contrary, it accuses me, it frightens me, it drives me crazy ..." The law was never meant to rescue you, the law was meant to reveal to you your sinfulness. "... Somebody else saved me from the law, from sin and death unto eternal life. That Somebody is the Son of God, to whom be praise and glory forever."

Guys, you're not saved by your works of the law, but Jesus gave His life, paid it all, and will give to you the blessings of Abraham in life and righteousness, in eternal inheritance and the blessed Spirit of the Living God.

So, Galatians is not that complicated after all, because it is about false teachers coming in to the Galatians saying, "You need also to be circumcised to be saved, you need to keep the festivals in order to be saved, you need to keep the law in order to be saved." They are proposing, it is faith plus works of the law, because they think that Jesus is not enough, you need Jesus plus something else.

And Paul is shocked, he's horrified, he's grieved. He says, "How can it be that you are so quickly deserting God, who has called you by the promise? And you are turning to a different gospel, different message, which is actually not the Gospel at all. No, we affirm Jesus alone is enough, it is Jesus plus nothing else."

And as Paul would say in chapter 3 and verse 9, "Those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith."

We have not sung this song for a long time, but I thought it's good for us to be reminded of the song. I ... I ... I searched for songs that are about the Ten Commandments, a hymn about the law. You know, I can't find, I don't think anyone has written a song about the law. "O law, how I love you, O law, how you gave yourself for me." No, no one wrote that! And we don't sing that, why? Because the law is not the ultimate thing, the primacy and the superiority of the promise is what we sing about. Jesus is who we sing about, not the law.

Now, I'm not saying the law is lousy, the law is useful, and we will study what the law is for next time. But today, the only One who can give you life and righteousness, and the Spirit of God and the promise of God is Jesus Christ.

So, we would sing in closing later on - My faith Has Found A Resting Place." Where? The law? No, in Christ.

My faith has found a resting place,
not in devise or creed;
I trust the ever-living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.
[Enough for me that Jesus saves, this ends my fear and doubt. I stand in grace, not in my performance.]
A sinful soul I come to Him,
He will never cast me out.
I need no other argument,
I need no other plea.
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together.

I appreciate all of you paying attention to a technical, maybe difficult passage of Scripture, but I want to allow our hearts to settle down, to pause, to reflect and to realize, hey, behind all these technical details and doctrinal issues is a God who is generous, who is magnanimous, who is merciful, who is gracious, who is love.

You don't have to prove yourself before God, you don't have to say, "I deserve this or I must try to deserve this." But what you need is to humble yourself, confess before God your sins, confess before God your absolute hopelessness and look to Jesus Christ who paid it all.

The law says, "You shall not murder," and yet many times in my life, I've murdered. Not that I've killed anyone physically, but I've killed many people mentally, I've hated in my heart, I've been angry in my soul. And you know what? God says, that is breaking the law, that is what sin is all about. "Thou shall not commit adultery." Well, I've never slept with another woman apart from my wife, but there have been times in my head, I've committed adultery. I'm guilty, I'm sinful, and if I break this one law, even in my mind, I break the whole law. So through the law, I die to the law, I realise I can never make it on my own.

But today, I need no other argument, I need no other plea, it is enough that Jesus died and Jesus died for me. O, turn from your sin and look to Jesus, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him, credited to him righteousness, and so those who are of faith will be blessed along with Abraham. Today, you can be saved, you can be forgiven, you can receive life and the Spirit and righteousness if you turn to Jesus Christ. I pray you will.

For all my brothers and sisters in Christ today, God loves us so much, isn't it? His love is so amazing, because none of us, none of us can ever say we deserve the least bit of this mercy. We are all condemned sinners, the law condemns us, but how we praise Him for sending His Son to love us and save us.

May our hearts today be filled with gratitude, may we live a godly life as a result of His grace, that we may bring true glory to His Name. May you today marinate, soak in the Gospel, love Him because He first loved you.

So Father, thank You for this time. Bless Your Word to all our hearts. May souls be saved, may saints repent and walk for Your glory. Thank You, Jesus, who paid it all. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. Thank You, in Jesus' Name, Amen.




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