Galatians 3:10-14 - Judaizing Legalism

Galatians 3:10-14

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written," “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM." Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM." Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Message: Judaizing Legalism

Time: Paul wrote to the churches in southern Galatia after having a hand in starting them on his first missionary journey to Asia Minor, making sure they were on the path of truth and not led off into deception. Paul wrote the book a few months before his attendance at the Jerusalem Council in AD 49.

What the Lord is Saying:

I started this study on the Law over 2 months ago. I haven't posted anything in the last month. I don't know why other than I wake up late and have been prioritizing a morning prayer walk and sometimes that is all the time I have to do something before I head off to work. Plus I've been working more. And trying to stay on top of my online missionary duties. And then I haven't been studying much lately on the weekend. 

But this has been an interesting study about the Law. Everyday it seems I engage with the Law in my life. The message this past Sunday was about the mission field. I got home last night so overwhelmed with work and wondering what I was doing of late to reach my mission field. And so I wrestle with these commands God has given me. At work, I'm trying to do the best I can with my job. But, I fail, continually. Life is about performance, doing things. I need the Law in my life to remind me what I shouldn't be doing and what I should be doing. 

I know often I wish at times there was no law and all I had to do each day was take it easy. I get used to rest. But after a while rest doesn't get me much and I wonder if I'm resting too much. 

This lesson today brings up the "law of Christ" as it is referenced in several New Testament verses. The thought by Ligonier is the moral commandments of the Mosaic law are included in this Law of Christ. There are 3 types of laws it seems mentioned in the Bible: Moral commandments or laws, Ceremonial Laws, and Civil Laws. All 3 laws are in the Old Testament but it is the Moral laws that are focused on in the New Testament and that Jesus mentioned and Paul later wrote about. 

I found this description of the three here and here. 

• First, are civil laws. These were specifically given for the culture of the Israelites, which includes everything from murder to restitution and dietary restrictions.
• Second, are ceremonial laws. This literally stands for the customs of a nation. These would have included sacrifices of perfectly good animals, and rejection of food sources such as pork and rabbits. These laws were specific only toward the Jews.
• Third, are God’s moral laws. These relate to justice and judgment. They are based on God’s own holy nature. As such, these ordinates are holy, just and unchanging.

The lesson from Ligonier's devotional today is that "believers are bound to the law of Christ (I Cor 9:21; Gal 6:2)." Those verses speak of the law of Christ. This "law of Christ includes the moral commandments of the Mosaic law (Matt. 5:21-30; Rom. 13:8-10; 1 John 3:12,15)." Matthew 5:21-30 is where Jesus brings up personal relationships and takes the Mosaic law to a new level or different level. Thus, it includes it, but Christ explains that the laws which have clear outward results when violated (you can see a person murdered, you can see adultery), but they also have a component that can't be seen as clearly (hatred and lust). 

This reminds me of something. Last week we discovered that one of our employees had been convicted of crime of rape. It was shocking to see how this one act changed their lives. But, I think we often stare at the acts and forget that there was a heart issue present. Sin begins in the heart in how we view women in this case and sex in this case. In this case, it starts with a desire that turns into an action that we have difficulty controlling. I think that is what Jesus is talking about here in Matthew 5 that we must look at our heart. And I John 3 further speaks to the idea that these internal acts are viewed in the same way as the outward acts, meaning that doing them negates your ability to make it to heaven. Once again showing that any disobedience results in losing the promise of eternal life. 

And so Paul rightfully takes this thinking that Jesus puts forth in the law of Christ to show us that overriding thought is one of love and how we love our neighbor. If we truly love people we will not break the commandments of adultery, murder, coveting, theft. Thus, we should desire to keep God's commandments -- in all of the ways they are presented. 

But, we must never think that law obedience then results in God's acceptance and salvation. God saved them from slavery and then gave them 10 commandments (Exodus 20:2). Our obedience is a response of God's love not a condition for receiving it. And so the idea that obedience brings about God's acceptance of us for salvation, this is the error of Judaizing legalism. And thus obedience is intertwined with justification. It is, but only Christ's obedience matters because only his obedience was without sin. Any sin nullifies our ability to be saved. But being obedient is how we live life. 

And so this leads us to today's passage in Galatians 3:10-14. If one subscribes to the idea that working the Law or working obedience then that person is under a curse. For a person is cursed because law obedience for salvation is based upon doing "all things written in the book of the law." Deuteronomy 27:26 records these words -- "Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ Thus, true righteousness is obtained in living by faith or being a person of faith. And law living is not faith living. What Christ did on the cross is He redeemed us from Law living; He redeemed us from this curse. We are cursed because law living is impossible. The curse got transferred to Christ and only Christ can fulfill the Law. 

To me, once someone acknowledges God this idea of Judaizing legalism enters lives in very subtle but profound ways. We must always re-focus ourselves on the idea of obedience in response to God's love and not as a condition for God's love. I think the area that I struggle with is whether obedience results in God's blessings for our life. I mean, once we understand salvation is by faith alone, does obedience impact blessing? Most definitely to receive any blessing we must be in Christ, surrendered to Him, accepting His justification. 

Promise: God saves us to make us obedient. We are not obedient in order to be saved. 

My Prayer: O God, the riches of your love and the riches of this message never ceases to amaze me. I have to place it at the forefront of my thinking all of the time because it is so opposite to the way in which life is lived in the world in which acceptance follows good work. But, you show us the better way. Help me to always keep this supreme in my thinking. And Lord help me to understand also your blessing and what it means to me and how obedience is related to normal day to day blessings. Lord, forgive me for letting the busyness of life get a hold of me. Help me to do my best at work while also do my best 

in the areas of ministry you have called me to be in. 

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of July is about the right use of God's Law; June was justification by faith alone; May about solus Christus - Christ Alone; April, salvation by grace alone; March, the sovereign providence of God; February, the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January, the doctrine of God.

The Restraint of the Law - the law is given for lawless, unholy, disobedient people, to restrain us from acting on our sinful thoughts. Restraint and Guilt - the law is meant to restrain Christians and non-Christians alike; so that others may see Christ. The Law's Revelation of Sin - The Law reveals sin, at times making it more desirable, and show the sin which people commit and the complete standard it expects. The Law and Our Powerlessness - We are powerless over the Law and Sin revealed. It is in Christ that we receive forgiveness and the power to resist sin. The Law our Guardian - The law is not a tool of justifying me, but rather it is an instrument to bring me to Christ and show me my need for Him. The Guidance of the Law - The Law is a guide in our lives for what pleases God and what it looks like to walk in holiness. The Antinomian Error - We were slaves to sin, but now we are slave to obedience and righteousness. 

Romans 6:15-23 - The Antinomian Error

Romans 6:15-23 

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Message: The Antinomian Error 

Time: Paul wrote to Rome, a city he had never visited, from the Greek city of Corinth in AD 57. He writes to a church that he believes needed to hear basic gospel doctrine. The city was a hotbed of sexual immorality and idolatry.

What the Lord is Saying: Often we see the extremes in life. The Pharisees and much of our world believe that salvation or eternal life is earned instead of given and there are elaborate systems or rules that must be followed to earn this salvation. On the other end are those that accept grace but along the way believe it is completely a free gift and Christians can live however they want, for the law is in no way binding for believers. 

Today's passage makes it clear that in understanding the gospel is understanding that we are about obedience no matter what; it is never an option. Prior to Christ being in our lives we were slaves to sin. And now we are slaves to righteousness. It is actually an interesting paradigm shift that has occurred in our lives in that we remain slaves; our life and how it is lived takes on a different meaning. As a slave to sin we are a slave to perfect obedience in order to merit salvation. The fact that we do not live under grace means that all of our deeds are worthless before God because our sin is not excused or not paid for. In this framework these verses iterate that we are slaves to impurity and lawlessness resulting in greater lawlessness. Sin multiplies and continues and we need more sin as it feeds upon itself. As a slave to sin, righteousness is not even an option though. 

But now life is different and we have been freed from sin and freed from the penalty of sin, resulting in sanctification and eternal life. Our destiny is secure. We are free and free indeed. The wages of the gift of God now is eternal life. Before the wages of sin was death. 

Promise: By possessing saving faith there is now the desire to fulfill the commandments. We do so as a response to God's love and to please Him not looking to merit or earn salvation through our deeds. 

Prayer: O God thank you for the beauty of your Gospel message and I look to You continually God for salvation. It is in You. It is in Christ. Thank you for showing me at 14, just shy of 15, that there was nothing I could do to earn my way to eternal life and it is a free gift. You confirm this daily and the message never gets old. Help me to continue to be true to the reading of your word and applying it in the correct way, so as to bring you all of the glory. 

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of July is about the right use of God's Law; June was justification by faith alone; May about solus Christus - Christ Alone; April, salvation by grace alone; March, the sovereign providence of God; February, the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January, the doctrine of God.

The Restraint of the Law - the law is given for lawless, unholy, disobedient people, to restrain us from acting on our sinful thoughts. Restraint and Guilt - the law is meant to restrain Christians and non-Christians alike; so that others may see Christ. The Law's Revelation of Sin - The Law reveals sin, at times making it more desirable, and show the sin which people commit and the complete standard it expects. The Law and Our Powerlessness - We are powerless over the Law and Sin revealed. It is in Christ that we receive forgiveness and the power to resist sin. The Law our Guardian - The law is not a tool of justifying me, but rather it is an instrument to bring me to Christ and show me my need for Him. The Guidance of the Law - The Law is a guide in our lives for what pleases God and what it looks like to walk in holiness.

Psalm 119:9-11 - The Guidance of the Law

Psalm 119:9-11

9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.

Message: The Guidance of the Law

Time: The psalms were written by many different people across a period of a thousand years in Israel's history. They are thought to have been compiled and put together in their present form by some unknown editor shortly after the captivity ended about 537 B.C.

What the Lord is Saying:

The Law acts as a restraining tool. I think of the time of Noah when the Law was not yet present and God would wipe out the earth because everyone did evil continually. And then the Law came on the scene to aid man, restraining from doing evil all of the time. So it is a tool of restraint for every person - whether they recognize it or not in their lives. But this is meant to point people to Christ. Recognizing our sin is meant to show people their need for deliverance. We are powerless to this sin and need Christ to be forgiven and the power to resist sin. Christ is the answer to all of life's problems of sin. Thus, the law is a tool to bring me to Christ and help me see my need for Him. 

But in addition to being a restraining tool and pointing us to Christ, it also acts as a guide in our lives for what pleases God and what it looks like to walk in holiness. As today's verse starts in Psalm 119, verse 9 - How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your Word. This Law, is our guide.  We are to treasure or store God's word in our heart. This is something I always so my mom doing, writing out verses on notecards and reading them often. God's word was ever present in her life. I know she struggled with doubts and her marriage and things still, but God's word was close. She always wanted to do the right thing. 

I've gotten away from memorizing God's word for it is a struggle it seems for me. But, I need to keep reading it and studying. 

Promise: God's word is our always present help in life. It is God's good gift to equip us for pleasing Him in all that we think, do, say, love and believe.

Prayer: Thank you God for your Word and thank You Spirit of God for continuing to instruct me in how I am to live. Keep me close to it. And give me discernment in the reading of it. Help me to know how to talk to people about it. 

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of July is about the right use of God's Law; June was justification by faith alone; May about solus Christus - Christ Alone; April, salvation by grace alone; March, the sovereign providence of God; February, the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January, the doctrine of God.

The Restraint of the Law - the law is given for lawless, unholy, disobedient people, to restrain us from acting on our sinful thoughts. Restraint and Guilt - the law is meant to restrain Christians and non-Christians alike; so that others may see Christ. The Law's Revelation of Sin - The Law reveals sin, at times making it more desirable, and show the sin which people commit and the complete standard it expects. The Law and Our Powerlessness - We are powerless over the Law and Sin revealed. It is in Christ that we receive forgiveness and the power to resist sin. The Law our Guardian - The law is not a tool of justifying me, but rather it is an instrument to bring me to Christ and show me my need for Him.

My Utmost for His Highest - July 1st - The Inevitable Penalty

Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. - Matthew 5:26

    “There is no heaven with a little of hell in it.” God is determined to make you pure and holy and right; He will not allow you to escape for one moment from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit. He urged you to come to judgment right away when He convicted you, but you did not; the inevitable process began to work and now you are in prison, and you will only get out when you have paid the uttermost farthing. “Is this a God of mercy, and of love?” you say. Seen from God’s side, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure and spotless and undefiled; but He wants you to recognize the disposition you were showing — the disposition of your right to yourself. The moment you are willing that God should alter your disposition, His re-creating forces will begin to work. The moment you realize God’s purpose, which is to get you rightly related to Himself and then to your fellow men, He will tax the last limit of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide it now — “Yes, Lord, I will write that letter to-night”; “I will be reconciled to that man now.”

    These messages of Jesus Christ are for the will and the conscience, not for the head. If you dispute the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will blunt the appeal to your heart.

    “I wonder why I don’t go on with God”! Are you paying your debts from God’s standpoint? Do now what you will have to do some day. Every moral call has an “ought” behind it.

 - From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition

My Utmost for His Highest - June 30th - Do It Now

Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. - Matthew 5:25

    Jesus Christ is laying down this principle — Do what you know you must do, now, and do it quickly; if you do not, the inevitable process will begin to work and you will have to pay to the last farthing in pain and agony and distress. God’s laws are unalterable; there is no escape from them. The teaching of Jesus goes straight to the way we are made up.

    To see that my adversary gives me my rights is natural; but Jesus says that it is a matter of eternal and imperative importance to me that I pay my adversary what I owe him. From our Lord’s standpoint it does not matter whether I am defrauded or not; what does matter is that I do not defraud. Am I insisting on my rights, or am I paying what I owe from Jesus Christ’s standpoint?

    Do the thing quickly, bring yourself to judgment now. In moral and spiritual matters, you must do it at once; if you do not, the inexorable process will begin to work. God is determined to have His child as pure and clean and white as driven snow, and as long as there is disobedience in any point of His teaching, He will prevent none of the working of His spirit. Our insistence in proving that we are right is nearly always an indication that there has been some point of disobedience. No wonder the Spirit so strongly urges to keep steadfastly in the light (See John 3:19-21)!

    “Agree with thine adversary quickly.” Have you suddenly turned a corner in any relationship and found that you had anger in your heart? Confess it quickly, quickly put it right before God, be reconciled to that one — do it now.

 - From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition

My Utmost for His Highest - June 29th - Direction of Discipline

And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. - Matthew 5:30

    Jesus did not say that everyone must cut off the right hand, but — “If your right hand offends you in your walk with Me, cut it off.” There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but, says Jesus, if it hinders you in following His precepts, cut it off. This line of discipline is the sternest one that ever struck mankind.

    When God alters a man by regeneration, the characteristic of the life to begin with is that it is maimed. There are a hundred and one things you dare not do, things that to you and in the eyes of the world that knows you are as your right hand and your eye, and the unspiritual person says — “Whatever is wrong in that? How absurd you are!” There never has been a saint yet who did not have to live a maimed life to start with. But it is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God’s sight than to be lovely in man’s sight and lame in God’s. In the beginning Jesus Christ by His Spirit has to check you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you. See that you do not use your limitations to criticise someone else.

    It is a maimed life to begin with, but in v.48 Jesus gives the picture of a perfectly full-orbed life — “Ye shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

 - From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition

My Utmost for His Highest - June 28th - Apprehended By God

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:12

    Never choose to be a worker; but when once God has put His call on you, woe be to you if you turn to the right hand or to the left (Deuteronomy 5:32). We are not here to work for God because we have chosen to do so, but because God has apprehended us. There is never any thought of — “Oh, well, I am not fitted for this.” What you are to preach is determined by God, not by your own natural inclinations. Keep your soul steadfastly related to God, and remember that you are called not to bear testimony only, but to preach the gospel. Every Christian must testify, but when it comes to the call to preach, there must be the agonizing grip of God’s hand on you, your life is in the grip of God for that one thing. How many of us are held like that?

    Never water down the word of God, preach it in its undiluted sternness; there must be unflinching loyalty to the word of God; but when you come to personal dealing with your fellow men, remember who you are — not a special being made up in heaven, but a sinner saved by grace.

    “I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do.… (Philippians 3:13-14)”

 - From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest" - Classic Edition

Highlights and Underlines are courtesy of Mom from her print edition