Sound Doctrine: The Harmony of The Law & The Gospel

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to Galatians chapter 3. Today's message is the harmony of law and gospel — the harmony between God's law and God's gospel. You could say it like this: perhaps the Old Testament and the New Testament are non-contradictory. The law which God gave is in complete harmony with the gospel today. You cannot separate the two. Some denominations, some religions would lean more on Old Testament law.

You cannot separate the two. If you believe anything short of the complete infallibility and harmony of the gospel and the law from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 — all the way from Genesis, some say from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:22 — if you believe anything less than the complete harmony between those, then your theology is a little off, and perhaps today we can kind of measure that up together.

So let's read together in Galatians 3:19–26, Galatians chapter 3 verses 19 to 26, and see just what the law was for. Galatians 3:19: "Why the law then? Was it added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made?" Verse 20: "Now a mediator is not for one party only, whereas God is only one." "Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be" — by the way, that is the strongest way in the Greek to say a phrase. "May it never be." It is not contradictory. Verse 21 continued: "For if the law had been given which was able to impart life, well then righteousness would indeed have been based on the law. But the Scripture has shut up everything under sin" — or enclosed everything under sin, or bound everyone in sin — "so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Verse 23: "But before faith came we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. And therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come we are no longer under a tutor, for you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ."

So today we'll examine these Scriptures and we'll look at these passages to see the harmony. But I would ask you again, who would bend God's law to their liking? Only the self-centered, unregenerate fool who was to be pitied. You cannot negotiate with God's law. It is not up for debate. God's law is God's law. It is representative of Himself.

The Old Testament refers to the law in all kinds of different terms. Listen to this. The Old Testament law is referred to in terms of commandments, ordinances, statutes, decrees, legal regulations, covenant obligations. So basically the authoritative instructions and teachings of the Bible — they are an expression of God's flawless character. And His number one attribute is holiness. This Word is an expression of His holiness, and as He expresses or explains Himself, we must get the text right. The text is a perfect transcript of His holiness. And so we must be trepidatious when it goes to explaining what the Word says, because we are explaining who God is. It is of the utmost importance that we study the text to find what the meaning is and then explain the meaning of the text. In fact, here's how important it is: every transgression, every sin that we commit is a personal stab at the heart of God.

Every time we go against what God's Word says, it is a personal transgression to the Lord. So rejecting God's law is rejecting God Himself. And nobody wants to reject God Himself, and you don't want to get the text wrong. But there is harmony between the law and the gospel.

Now the Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue, is the law. The Torah is known as the law. Proverbs uses the word "instruction" as the law in Proverbs 13:14. The word Deuteronomy means "second law." Deuteronomy is a book that largely unfolds how to obey God's law. Now that was not to be perceived as a way to receive salvation. Instead, God's law was to be perceived as how to get to Christ. And so obeying the law was a grateful response to salvation. God did not tell the Israelites to live up to the law so that He'd save them. He gave them the law so that they could see the need for a Savior. Now it was by grace alone through faith alone that they were saved, and they believed in God's promise and followed the law as an expression of love in a covenant relationship.

This covenant relationship that Israel had with Yahweh, with their God, was expressed really well through David. Listen to how David said it in Psalm 119:97: "Oh how I love your law." And so David expressed it well, and how we should too — love the law.

Now the high and holy standards of God's law are simply impossible to live up to. Why is it impossible for us to follow the law to the "T," to the letter? Well, because of sin, because of depravity. We all have that. Now we need a divine enablement in order to be able to please God. Sadly, Israel replaced obedience with ritual and they replaced relationship with rules. Rather than being empowered by God, they tried to do it in their own power. That is the flesh, not the Spirit. And if you were to examine yourself, we all have that leaning. We would rather be self-sufficient than dependent upon God. We would rather do it our own way than yield to God's ways. We would rather get the credit. We would rather be in the spotlight. In the flesh, we are desirous of being our own god. We want to do it. Mankind would want to say, in their humanness, "I had a part in my salvation." That's humanness. That's depravity.

The prophets railed against this — Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and Micah, they all railed against this. Sadly, Israel misinterpreted the law. They in fact ended up believing that God had to bless them because of their attempts at obeying the law. Can you believe that? What a "deservitude" attitude. Reminds me of teenagers, don't you think? A "deservitude" attitude. They felt like because of what they did and what they offered to God, God was indebted to them. God doesn't owe anybody anything. But Israel felt like because they took a sacrifice and offered it up to God, they gave God something. Now get this — God is Spirit. He needs nothing material. And yet because they had offered a sacrifice, something material, they felt like God owed them. Well, that's sad. They felt like because they offered sacrifices, God was indebted to them. 1 Samuel 15:22 says this: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." So from all the way back in the Old Testament, you see that God is interested in our obedience, not what we can do for Him. It is all about Christ and Christ alone — in obeying Him.

And so let's look in verse 19 and see what the text says. The law here is added because of sin, because of transgression. "Why then the law? Why the law then? It was added because of transgressions." The law was added because of sin. In fact, the law reveals our sin. It reveals our inability to save ourselves. It reveals our need for salvation. Never was it intended to be a means of salvation. It reveals our need of a Savior for salvation. So the law was delivered then for our benefit — to be able to see that we are sinners in need of a Savior.

And it was delivered by angels. Get this in the text. Let's continue reading: "Having been ordained through angels." Now that is really neat. Acts 7:53 says this: "You received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not keep it." Now, if you received something from an angel — a good angel, not a bad angel, God's angel — wouldn't you think that you'd be like, "Wow, I need to pay attention to this"? But here is the indictment: they received something holy from God, from the agency of an angel, and they didn't even obey it.

Now, not only is it through angels, but it's by the agency of a mediator. This is incredible. Look at the verse again: "Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed — being Christ — would come to whom the promise had been made." Now, through angels by a mediator. Let me encourage our little note-takers here — if perhaps you have a red pen or a red highlighter, underline "mediator" right there in the text. And children, if you don't have highlighters, see Valerie or my wife or someone who carries in a whole Bible study bag every time they come to church. They will have something for you to be able to circle this word: mediator.

Oh, what a blessing it is to have a mediator. The law has a mediator who is the seed of Abraham. And this mediator is the perfect embodiment of God's perfect law. Get the picture. You stand condemned as one who was born in sin, okay? And you've got God who is holy. God is holy. And in Him there is no darkness at all — 1 John 1:5: "He is light; there is no darkness at all." You cannot even get into the presence of an Almighty God. You need a mediator. If you commit a crime and go to court, you'll be assigned perhaps a mediator — not one who is fallible like you will get here on earth, but Christ is the exact representation of God in the flesh and He is mediating your case. Do you see that condemned mankind need a mediator between them and a holy God? Do you see that the condemned need a mediator to plead their case? Justice would be duly done without a hearing. We are condemned in our sin. But God provided a mediator. And by His grace and mercy, we have a mediator.

He has provided to those who deserve death a mediator who can actually interact and bridge the unbridgeable gap between the holy and the unholy. Thank the Lord for sending a mediator to do that which we could not do. You could not approach a holy God in your sin. You couldn't do anything. You need Christ to come to you. In fact, you don't even know to go to God because you love your sin in the carnal state. But God sent a mediator to do this for us. Christ is the perfect embodiment of God's perfect law. The Apostle John spoke to this in chapter 1 verse 14. He said, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." And so God's Word manifested in the flesh is this mediator, Jesus Christ. Praise God for a mediator. Thank God for providing Christ for us.

The law is not contrary to grace. Look in verse 21 with me. "Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be." The strongest Greek terms were used here to convey this — "May it never be." You know where some other strong Greek words are? In Galatians 3:1 it says, "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" And so some very strong Greek terms were there to convey that the Galatians had shrunk back into entertaining some tenets of Judaism. The same thing here — what I'm exposing is that there are no aspects of the law that we should follow to earn grace, but yet we'll find out as this message unfolds as to why we embrace the law, for it is holy.

You know, the strongest Greek words are here, conveyed to communicate that there is no contradiction between the law and the gospel. And God's law is not hostile to grace, but it is in harmony with it. The law reveals the need for grace, and then grace is the means. Christ came to deliver us from the curse of the law.

In this next verse, verse 22, the law showed that people are shut up or bound under sin. Look in verse 22 with me: "But the Scripture has shut up or enclosed everyone under sin." So you in your carnal state, pre-salvation, were in fact bound by sin without any hope of escape. You could never have gotten out of this solitary confinement. There would be more hope for you to dig out of Alcatraz in solitary confinement with a spoon — a clay spoon — than to get out from underneath your sin in your own works. You'd need a mediator, and it is just absolute foolishness to try to do it any other way.

And so it is by faith in Christ that we are freed. "But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin," and there is a "so that" — "so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ may be given to those who believe." Pretty interesting, isn't it? We are bound by this sin. It's a grip that we cannot get out from underneath, and yet we can do it by faith in Christ. And He gives us that faith. Romans 8:3–4 says this: "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son, that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

I want you to see just how this is a true metaphor — being bound into solitary confinement — in verse 23: "But before faith came, we were kept in custody." Here is another term that helps you to see that sin is like a jail cell, okay? You're in custody under the law. If you are obeying the law as a means to try and achieve righteousness, you're in jail. You're in solitary confinement. You are hopeless. The criminals that are most hardened are broken in solitary confinement in just a short amount of time. If you try and follow the law as a means to please God or as a means to try and achieve His blessings, you are crawling into solitary confinement. The law is not a hope for you. It is a direction to Christ.

And so we must see that you will be under the law, under custody. Now, you can't even see how to get out from underneath the law without a mediator, without a tutor. Here is what the law truly is: as you recognize that you're bound by the law, it points you as a tutor to Christ. And so let's continue reading on in verse 24: "Therefore the law has become our" — what? — "our tutor to lead us to Christ." There is the crux of this passage right here. So as one who is hopelessly sitting condemned in jail, you need a volunteer to come to you and to offer to tutor you on how to be free. This is the purpose of the law. It is a guardian. It is a guide to Christ. It will show you your depravity. It will show you how to go to Christ.

Tutors — it's very interesting — in this context, in Roman times, teachers would take a student to and from their home because oftentimes children were abducted and molested in Roman times. And so a tutor would take it upon themselves to not only escort a child to school but then educate them in school and then escort them back. A tutor would come and pick up and school a boy or a girl, and take them, and as they were going, they were teaching. And as they were there in school, they were teaching. And so they were escorting and educating, and educating and escorting. That's what the law does. The law has become our tutor. It is great. It's a guardian. It's a guide.

So tutors, in Roman times, were trustworthy supervisors made for educating children. Now, interestingly enough, tutors back in Roman times weren't loved. They were actually abhorred. Children did not like their tutors because what child loves a teacher or a tutor that makes them do things they don't want to do, right? Children wanted to get out from underneath the tutor. They wanted to grow up. "I can't wait to grow up so I don't have to go to school." That's how they felt about tutors. Well, in like fashion, the law will educate a person and escort them out from underneath the law and into Christ. That's a beautiful thing.

And so the law will weigh you down, and grace will set you free. But first of all, you have to comprehend who you are — or basically who you aren't, who you are not. If you are not in Christ, then you are a sinner destined for hell. And that produces sorrowfulness. And then sorrow from understanding what the tutor is saying about the law leads you to embracing grace. And so law is heaviness, but grace is uplifting.

Can you believe that there are whole denominations today that want to take and put you back underneath the law? I have some really good friends who are independent fundamental Baptists. I love them because they stand strong on their convictions. But however, if they're not careful, they can get underneath the law legalistically and follow the law legalistically. And that makes and produces religious and bitter people. Now, I don't want to just pick on independent fundamentals, because SBC Baptists or whoever it might be can fall underneath this too. If you approach the law incorrectly, it will zap you of your life in Christ. And you'll feel like you're in a jail cell if you fail and you perceive yourself as under the law.

See, in Christ, we are able to follow the law and we desire to follow the law because we are able by Christ. We are enabled by Christ. He helps us with our desires and with our willingness. And then we look at the law totally differently. It's like a guide. It's like a help. Matthew 22:37–40 says this: "You shall love the Lord with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all of the law."

And so now the law has become something that we embrace. Don't you want to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength? If you are saved, let me tell you, that's what you want to do. You want to love God and you want to do these things. It is a true joy and a desire that's inside of you to want to do these things. 1 John 5:3 says this: "His commandments are not burdensome." They're not a burden. His commandments, His law — they're freeing. It's like, if I know what I am supposed to do because I've read the law and I do that, then I'm safe. Oh, that's great — when I feel safe and secure. But when I violate God's law and now I'm in sin, I am feeling heavy, right? The weight of sin. But see, it's a joy to know what is right and wrong. It's a joy to be able to follow the commandments. "His commandments are not burdensome," the Apostle John said.

So once God's law leads us to Christ, the law then is a guide and a protector. So hey, if you look at yourself, even now that you perhaps are saved, don't you believe that you need rules? Don't you believe you need to have some type of document like this to be able to specify what is right and what is wrong? In fact, these rules are like a train track. What the law is for us, it's the same as train tracks are for a train. It keeps us on track. God's law keeps us on track. Now, if you leave the law, if you leave the rules, then you'll derail. And you'll have a train wreck. A lot of times your lives end up being like a train wreck, and if you go back to the very essence of why things perhaps derailed, it would be an abandonment of God's rules and His law. And so they're there to help guide us and to protect us.

The law was not, however, our motive. It's not our master. Christ in us is our motor. He's the engine. He is the one who is driving us. It's like living water coming out from inside of us. It's Christ in us as the hope of glory. And so as we have Christ as our focus, He is our motive and He is our master. And the love of Christ compels us. The law leads you to Christ, and now you are free in Christ. It's a beautiful relationship. And this is the truth, and the truth will set you free. There is a complete harmony between law and grace, okay? And that is true Christianity.

And now as I start to wrap up here, I want to read to you what the doctrinal statement says of the harmony of law and the gospel: "We believe that the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral government, that it is holy, just, and good, and that the inability which the Scriptures ascribe to fallen men to fulfill its precepts arises entirely from their love of sin, to deliver them from which, and to restore them through a mediator to unfeigned obedience to the holy law, is one great end of the gospel and of the means of grace connected with the establishment of the local church."

And so I believe that we could perceive God's law again like David explained it. David explained it like this in Psalm 119:70: "I delight in your law." And then again in verse 72: "The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces." And then again in verse 97: "Oh, how I love your law." And then again in verse 127: "I love your commandments." And then again in verse 142: "Your law is truth."

So when you see a complete harmony between the law and the gospel, there is a love and a joy and an appreciation and a delight in Christ, in His Word. And you live in complete harmony with these things. In fact, you embrace them. And so it's my prayer that we would continue to live with a complete harmony between law and grace. Amen?

Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, we do love You and we thank You for this teaching today. And I pray that by Your power You would help us to understand the harmony between law and gospel. In our nature, we don't see it. We feel like the law is something that condemns us and then we're eternally condemned. But yet You have provided for us a mediator — it is Jesus Christ — to help us to be able to see the way, the truth, and the life. And I pray that if anybody here has never truly seen the harmony between the law and the gospel, if they've never really seen the fact that they are a sinner in need of a Savior, if they have never heard from You as a mediator, dear God, I pray that You would call Your sheep unto You. I pray, Lord, that You would call them to salvation. I pray that You would grant them repentance so that they can truly turn from their sin, embrace the sorrowfulness that it was their sin that put You — an innocent One — on the cross to have to pay for their sin as a substitute. But yet at the same time, Lord, after they embrace the sorrow, may they truly be saved and rejoice in You forevermore. You say in Philippians 4:4: "Rejoice" — and again I say, "Rejoice."

I pray, Father, that as we see the complete harmony between the Old Testament and the New Testament, and the New Testament and the Old Testament, that we would live free. It is for freedom, Lord, that You set us free. And we thank You for that, God. And now, as we sing a hymn of invitation, may we reflect upon this. And if any of our theology or our interpretation of Your holy book is a little bit off, God, I pray that You would help us to align our thinking as to what is reality — what really is the truth of Your Word. We do love You. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.