Man, the title of my sermon this evening is, The Law, Our Schoolmaster.
This is continuing the kind of short series that I started in Galatians last week.
And we're going to talk a little bit about this statement in chapter 3 of Galatians.
We just read the entire chapter, but the Bible said that the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ.
And a lot of people have misunderstood this statement and misapplied this statement.
And whenever we're studying the Bible, one of the first things that we always want to
do is make sure that we understand the actual primary meaning of what's being said in context.
And you'll find that the actual primary meaning of this is not the way that a lot
of people are using this verse, and I'm going to explain to you why that's important.
But the law, our schoolmaster, before we delve into this in chapter 3, let's start
reading in chapter 4 because what's said in chapter 4 sheds a lot of light on what
it means in chapter 3 when he says the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.
Let's read further into chapter 4 and get a better understanding.
Now the Bible says in chapter 4 verse 1, Now I say that the heir, as long as he
is a child, differth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all.
So let's say that you've got a child growing up in a very wealthy family, a very powerful
family, maybe he's even the prince and the king is his father and he's next in line
for the throne.
When he's a child, he is still treated like a servant.
He still has to follow rules, he doesn't have freedom, there are all kinds of restrictions
placed upon him.
Why?
Because you can't let kids do whatever they want.
You have to have rules for your kids, you have to govern them and guide them.
Also they have to be made to learn and study because otherwise they might just want
to go play all day.
And there's this movement out there called unschooling that just kind of says turn
them loose and you know every day is a learning experience, we're always learning all the
time and so there's no curriculum, no school books, no math, no English and this
is just kind of a lazy way to homeschool your children by not doing the actual work
of teaching them and getting them to study.
But look what the Bible says, the child is under verse 2, tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the father.
Now here's another word for a tutor or a governor, a schoolmaster.
It's the same illustration that he was using in chapter 3 when he talks about the law
being our schoolmaster.
What's the synonym for that?
Tutor or governor?
This is not governor like the governor of California or something, this is governor
as in a school governor, someone who is governing the learning, the education, the
teaching process.
You know a great example of this is King James.
If you read the life story of King James, obviously he became the king of England and
he's royalty and so forth but he had a really strict tutor, he had a really strict
schoolmaster that actually physically disciplined him.
You know and even today there are some schools that will spank your kids, it doesn't happen
very often but King James, even though he's the heir, even though he's someday going
to be the lord of all, he's still getting a spanking from some tutor, from some schoolmaster
when he's growing up.
Why?
Because the child differeth nothing from a servant though he be lord of all because
he's a kid.
So he has to have those kind of rules.
And by the way, while we're talking about this, you children and teenagers out there
that you think it's such a drag to be a kid and all, my parents have all these rules,
I just wish I were an adult so I could have all this freedom.
Here's the thing, when you're an adult you will have all this freedom but right
now you're a kid so you have rules.
We all had rules when we were kids and every kid wants to grow up and have freedom
and do their own thing but we all have to go through that stage of being a child, being
a teenager, following our parents' rules, submitting to their authority and then someday we get
to be an adult and we get to do what we want.
And look, do I prefer to be an adult doing what I want?
Absolutely.
But guess what?
When I was a kid I needed my parents to have rules.
When I was a teenager I needed my parents to have those rules.
You might not think that you need them but you do and it's so funny sometimes how when
kids move out they start bragging about how like, oh, it's so great being moved out,
oh man, I get to do whatever I want, it's so nice, sorry, my bragging voice is making
me cough, I'm not used to bragging like that, it doesn't come natural for me.
But here's the thing, oh, it's so great being moved out, of course it's great being
moved out but they try to put shade on their parents like, oh, it's so much better
on living on my own because my parents are drunk.
That's so dumb because guess what, the reason it's good for you now that you're moving
out is because your parents were strict, because your parents did have rules, because your
parents raised you right, that's why you're a successful adult now.
That's why you're enjoying your adult life.
So instead of going, oh, my adult life is so much better than my childhood, my stupid
parents, why don't you say, oh, my adult life is so much better than my childhood
because my parents gave me such a great upbringing that I am making it in the world
because guess what, parents who let their kids do whatever they want, those kids
are not making it in the world, those kids are not succeeding at their job, those
kids are not thriving out there in the real world and many times they're even criminals
and derelicts and deadbeats, drug addicts, alcoholics, derelicts of all shapes and sizes.
And so it's foolish for you to not realize that growing up and being a kid has its
challenges, it has its restrictions, it has its drawbacks but stop and think about this,
if you're going to go into the military, first you got to go to boot camp.
Oh, boot camp's so hard, oh, it's such a pain.
Yeah, but when you're in combat, you're going to be glad that you received that
training, you're going to be glad that you got in shape, that you built up that
toughness and so forth.
It's just a necessary part of the process.
Well, guess what, you know, teenagers, they get all down and depressed because
their life isn't what they want it to be.
Well, of course, it's not what you want it to be, you're a teenager, be patient, okay?
You put your nose to the grindstone now, you work hard now,
you study now, you enjoy later.
The world wants to party now and then they're going to suffer later.
The right way to live your life is to suffer now, work hard now, submit now,
do right now, and then reap the benefits for the rest of your life.
And then enjoy it for the rest of your life.
Not just racking up the credit card now so you can suffer later.
No, work hard now so you can enjoy later.
And so, no, your parents are not the bad guys for, oh, I mean,
just living in my house is just such bondage.
You got it right.
The Bible says that the child, even if he's the Lord of all,
differs nothing from a servant.
Being a kid, being a teenager is a kind of bondage
because you have to obey your parents.
They have absolute authority over you.
Oh, it's terrible.
No, it's life.
This book is written thousands of years ago
and it's saying the same thing,
that your life differs nothing from that of a servant.
But the good news is when you grow up, you get to be free.
You get to be an adult.
Now, you may feel like this is an unrelated rabbit trail
from the sermon, but you're going to find out
that this is crucial.
Everything I'm saying right now,
none of this is wasted time in the sermon.
This is crucial to understanding the point
that Paul is making and you're going to see why.
And so every kid and every teenager
who understands what I'm saying right now,
now remember that when we get to the doctrine,
because you're going to understand
this doctrine perfectly, okay?
But let's keep reading.
The Bible says, even so we, when we were children,
were in bondage.
Did he say, man, when I was a kid,
my parents just let me do whatever I want?
He said, no, when we were children, we're in bondage.
But he's going to get into a spiritual application.
He's using this as an illustration
about a spiritual truth though.
Even so we, when we were children,
we're in bondage under the elements of the world.
Now we're talking about religion.
We're talking about the spiritual application.
But when the fullness of the time was come,
God sent forth his son, made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons,
God has sent forth the spirit of his son
into your hearts crying, Abba, father.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son.
And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Now, what do we have here?
A child is under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the father.
Well, in the same way, spiritually,
we were in bondage until what?
Until the fullness of time was come,
when what happened?
God sent forth his son.
Jesus Christ came to this earth,
died on the cross for our sins,
was buried and rose again.
And what did he institute when he died on the cross?
What did he bring us into?
He instituted what?
The New Testament, right?
The New Covenant.
So when the Bible says the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ,
we're not primarily talking about
an individual person's experience
that led that person to Christ personally.
What we're talking about is that humanity in general,
there was a time period when the law
was our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ.
But then when the fullness of time came, Christ came,
now we're no longer under the schoolmaster.
Now, we're not any longer in bondage
under the elements of the world.
Now, I think that's pretty clear here in chapter four,
because you're under the schoolmaster until when?
Until God sent forth his son.
Well, did God send forth his son in our lifetime?
No, that happened 2,000 years ago.
So we're talking about a historical view
of God's redemptive plan.
First, there's the law, and then comes Christ,
and now we're in the New Testament.
That's the primary meaning.
Now let's go back to Galatians three with that in mind.
Look at verse number 21.
It says, is the law then against the promises of God?
God forbid, watch this, this is important.
For if there had been a law given
which could have given life,
verily righteousness should have been by the law.
He's saying, look, if there was even such a thing
as a law that could save you,
there was any law that could confer righteousness upon you
then righteousness would have been by that law.
But nobody can ever be saved by the law.
No one ever was saved by the law.
No one ever will be saved by the law.
The law can't save anyone.
Not only that, no law can ever make anyone righteous.
That's what the Bible's saying here.
Okay, and of course we already saw,
I'm not gonna re-preach my sermon last week
where we looked at all the verse in Galatians
about how we're saved by faith,
not by the works of the law.
We saw that over and over, not gonna re-preach that.
Let's keep going right here.
It says in verse 22,
but the scripture hath concluded all under sin.
Righteousness didn't come by the law.
It just concluded all under sin.
That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ
might be given to them that believe.
But before faith came, we were kept under the law,
shut up under the faith which should afterward be revealed.
Now let me ask you something.
We saw chapter four,
we're reading this together right now.
Is this, in verse 23,
talking about our own personal life?
Is this saying like, you know,
before faith came to Stephen Anderson,
he was kept under the law,
he was shut up under the faith which should after, no.
Of course, this is talking about before Jesus came.
Before Christ came, the Bible's saying,
we were kept under the law.
We as human beings, we as people.
And of course, the Apostle Paul was alive during that time.
We weren't, but that's not the point.
Humans in general were under the law before Christ came.
Now, did the law bring salvation before Christ came?
He just told us in verse 21,
that the law cannot confer righteousness.
Over and over again, he says in this passage,
that the law can't save, the works the law can't save.
And if the law could have made you righteous,
then Jesus doesn't even have to die on the cross.
You know, Paul said,
I don't frustrate the grace of God.
If righteousness comes by the law,
then Christ is dead in vain.
If you can just be a good person or obey the law
or do sacrifices to go to heaven,
why did Christ have to die on the cross?
He had to die on the cross precisely
because the law cannot ever save anyone.
So again, this is not talking about one person's experience,
but rather it's saying before faith came in general,
we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith,
which should afterward be revealed.
Now don't misunderstand this.
When it says before faith came,
it's not saying that there wasn't any faith before that
or that people didn't believe before that
or that salvation was my faith.
Cause what does the Bible say?
Abraham believed God
and it was counted on him for righteousness.
Abraham was saved by faith.
Even as David also described it,
the blessedness of the man onto God
and puteth righteousness without works, right?
So Abraham was saved by faith.
David was saved by faith, right?
Men have called upon the name of the Lord
all throughout history to be saved.
Salvation has never been by works.
So when the Bible says before faith came,
we're talking about the specific faith of Christ,
the death, burial and resurrection,
the faith that we preach today in the new Testament,
where we know all these details before that faith came,
why look at the context.
What does it say at the end of verse 23?
It says the faith, which should afterwards be revealed.
So we're not just talking about faith in general,
we're talking about the faith
that hadn't yet been revealed.
The faith that was revealed afterward.
What is that?
That's talking about the fact that you're to believe
on the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
Now look in the old Testament,
they only vaguely understood these things.
They saw it through a glass dark.
They called upon the name of the Lord.
They knew the Lord was their savior,
but they didn't understand everything
about what the Messiah would do.
They didn't know the Messiah's name.
They did not understand the crucifixion
or the death, burial and resurrection necessarily.
Those things in detail were not known unto them.
They didn't have a copy of the new Testament.
They didn't have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
That's the faith that was afterward revealed.
You know, our Christian new Testament faith, okay?
And again, the word faith is being used
to talk about the religion of Christianity in general,
the belief of us in the new Testament in general,
all of the specifics of that.
Because remember, even just a couple of chapters ago
in Galatians, the churches of Judea,
what did they hear about Paul?
They had heard that he now preached the faith,
which he had once sought to destroy.
So what did they mean by that?
The faith, it's talking about our Christian gospel,
the new Testament, the specific beliefs that we know
and believe in the new Testament.
So before faith came, it says,
before faith came, we were kept under the law,
shut up unto the faith,
which should afterwards be revealed.
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ,
that we might be justified by faith.
But after that faith is come,
we're no longer under the schoolmaster.
For ye are all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus,
for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek,
there's neither bond nor free,
there's neither male nor female,
for you're all one in Christ Jesus.
And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed,
and heirs according to the promise.
Then he goes on to clarify
that schoolmaster illustration
with what we just read in chapter four.
So it's remember that when you're reading the Bible,
these chapter divisions
are not even original to the letter.
And so sometimes the thought flows right through
into the next chapter.
And so, you know, we roll right into this talk
about the tutors and governors.
Now look, if you read it carefully in context,
I don't see how you could come to any other conclusion
that the law being our schoolmaster
is talking about before Jesus died on the cross.
Not specifically before you got saved.
Now, you could use it as an illustration and say,
well, you know, the law's our schoolmaster even now
because we could look at the Bible,
we could look at the laws of God,
we could see our own sinful condition,
and that could lead us to Christ.
But when the Bible says law here,
it's not just talking about the rules,
although that's part of it.
It's also talking about all the animal sacrifices in the law
which are also leading us to Christ
or pointing us toward Jesus Christ.
They're also a schoolmaster leading us to Christ.
Now, let's get back to what I was saying
about the teenagers, right?
You know, they wanna be an adult.
They don't want rules, right?
Now once they get out there
and have all this freedom as an adult,
they're gonna enjoy it.
You know, I remember when I first became an adult
and moved out on my own,
I got married and was living my own life.
It was great!
I loved it!
So now imagine the absurdity of saying,
well, you know, I wanna go back
to living with my parents
and having all the same rules that I had
when I was 15 years old.
I wanna go back to the rules I had
when I was 12 years old.
I want them, you know, it's absurd, isn't it?
But that's what the Apostle Paul's trying to tell them.
Why do you wanna go back to the Old Testament?
We're past that now.
The law was our schoolmaster, now we're adults.
We don't need it.
And if you think about the rules that your parents have,
some of the rules that your parents have
are just absolute right and wrong.
And even once you move out of the house,
you should still be doing those things, right?
So like if your parents are teaching you not to steal,
they're teaching you not to drink alcohol,
they're teaching you not to smoke,
not to do drugs, you know,
they're telling you not to fornicate
or commit adultery or these things, right?
I mean, these are just absolute truths
that hopefully your parents are teaching you
and they might have a rule in their house
that says, hey, there's no drugs in my house,
there's no alcohol in my house,
there's no fornication in my house.
Hey, that stuff, of course you're gonna continue to obey
even when you have total freedom,
even when you're not under the bondage
of being answering to your parents every day,
you're still gonna do those things, aren't you?
Because they're just right.
They're always right.
But what about some of the other rules that you have
when you're living at home
that don't necessarily apply when you get older?
You know, for example, when I was growing up,
my parents had rules like, for example,
what time I had to be home at night
or what time I have to get up in the morning
or something like that.
You know, am I just gonna be calling my mom in 2023,
like, hey, mom, is it all right if I stay up
an extra 45 minutes tonight?
It would be absurd, right?
Because there are certain rules that are there for you
just when you're a kid.
Your parents are watching you, they're keeping tabs on you.
They have a time for you to be up,
a time for you to be in bed.
They have chores for you to do around the house
and you have to check in with them,
you have to let them know where you're going.
And some of their rules also might have only made sense
at that time and then when you're an adult,
they don't make sense anymore.
You know, for example, when you're a little kid
or something, they're making you take a nap every day,
right, but it's not like I have to take a nap,
because my parents taught me I gotta take a nap.
It'd be absurd to go back to that, to revert back to that
and to basically say, well, I can't eat the spaghetti
unless it gets chopped up into little pieces first.
Maybe that's a rule that parents have for little kids,
they don't want them stringing spaghetti all over the place.
Because you know when you're a kid,
don't you hate it when your parents
chopped up their spaghetti?
I remember my mom would come over with the fork and knife
and start cutting up my spaghetti, I'm like, no!
You know, you want those long noodles.
And then they just chop it up and it's just like
these little stubs, just stubble.
Kind of ruins it a little bit, you know?
So look, that's, you know, but hey,
you're in bondage at that age, you know?
You gotta do it.
You gotta eat the stubble, but when you're an adult,
you get to enjoy and you're just slurping
those long noodles.
But you know, I remember another rule that my parents had
when I was a kid growing up,
you're not allowed to call anyone long distance.
No long distance phone calls.
And in Sacramento, half of the city was long distance.
It made no sense because there was a river
that divided the city, everything on the other side
of the river was long distance.
You could literally throw a rock and hit something
on the other side of the river,
but if you called from this building to that building,
doo doo doo, I'm sorry, you must first dial a one
before, and if you have to dial a one,
it's long distance, you're paying the bill, okay?
And so I remember, I would even say to my parents,
mom, dad, I really wanna call this person,
it's long distance, I will pay for it.
And they're just like, no.
I'm like, I'll pay for it, why do you care?
They're just like, I don't even want it on my phone bill
I don't even wanna mess with it.
No, you just can't call long distance.
They said, make friends on this side of the river.
And so, you know, it's just one of those things.
Like, does that rule apply at all now?
Long distance doesn't even exist in 2023,
at least I don't think it exists.
Certainly not within the same city
because you just cross a river or something.
But those kinds of rules don't make any sense anymore.
They were for that time, they were for our childhood.
You know, we're adults now.
If I wanna make a long distance phone call,
if that were even a thing that existed,
I can make it myself and I can pay for it myself.
And it's not like, well,
mom told me not to make a long distance call
so for the rest of my life
I'm just never gonna call anybody in another country
because I'm just not allowed to make long distance calls.
Because obviously those were their rules
for that time that were arbitrary,
whereas there are certain universal rules,
don't drink, don't chew, don't go with girls who do,
where you're gonna stick with that
for the rest of your life.
Does everybody see the difference?
Well, guess what?
The Old Testament law of God's the same way.
Some things in the Old Testament
are just obviously just universal truths.
They're just right, just murder's wrong,
stealing's wrong, adultery's wrong.
You know, the moral laws of the Old Testament,
of course they're right.
And you know what, not only that,
a lot of the ways that my parents did things
were a right way of doing things,
a good way of doing things.
So then in my home, I do things the same way.
I'm following what I learned from my parents.
But then there are other things that were arbitrary
or just for that time.
And you know, using the Old Testament,
we would say the things like the meat offerings
and the drink offerings and those kind of, you know,
those type of things were only for that time,
they don't make any sense to revert back
and do those things.
Why?
Because there's nothing intrinsically wrong
with working on a Saturday or eating a pork sandwich
or whatever, okay?
But those things were rules that they were imposed under
when they were under bondage to the law,
just like when we were under bondage of our parents,
we had to obey our parents' rules
even if they weren't absolute right and wrong.
Our parents just had rules, just, you know,
here's a rule in my house, don't touch the walls.
You know, and this is something that my dad
really felt strongly about.
Who had this rule in your house?
Your dad was just causing, don't touch the walls,
don't touch the walls.
You know, you'd put your hand on the wall
and you'd be like, ah, you know, don't touch the walls
because you know, the oils in your hands
are gonna, you know, dirty up the walls.
We were not allowed to touch the walls.
You know, I mean, that's his rule, that's great,
but I'm not just gonna for the rest of my life
necessarily not touch any walls.
I might touch some walls.
And I don't think that my dad even cares
how many walls I touch as long as I don't touch
his walls.
You know, if I go to his house,
I'll put on some gloves or something
or just stay away from those walls.
But the point is that these people
that Paul is rebuking, that desire to be under the law,
they're trying to revert to infancy,
they're reverting to childhood.
They're going back and saying, give me my blankie,
give me my baba, I need to take a nap,
tell me when to get up, tell me when to go to bed,
tell me what to do, right?
When in reality, we're past that in the New Testament
and we don't need the school master anymore
because Christ has already come.
And so we've got the Holy Spirit, we've got Christ,
we've got the gospel, we've got the New Testament,
we are beyond the ceremonial ordinances,
the statutes, the meats and drinks,
the carnal ordinances, the divers washings,
all of those ceremonial things.
And look, a lot of that stuff is pointing us to Christ.
I mean, an animal sacrifice made sense
in the Old Testament because it's pointing us to Christ.
But we don't need an animal sacrifice to point us to Christ
because Christ already died on the cross.
Now we can just have Christ point us to Christ.
It's already done.
Christ died on the cross.
Doesn't make any sense to go back and do these things.
And so that's what the Bible's teaching here.
Now what's funny is that there's a guy out there
and this guy teaches lies.
He teaches false doctrine, a wrong way of salvation.
His name's Ray Comfort.
And I know a lot of you have probably heard of this guy.
And he teaches this wrong gospel,
but one of his biggest things
that he's constantly hammering is Galatians 3.24.
He's constantly saying how the laws are schoolmaster
to lead us to Christ.
And here's how he uses this verse.
He says, when you go soul winning,
he doesn't use the word soul winning,
but when you go out evangelizing,
he says, you got to use the law
as a schoolmaster to lead people to Christ.
And in fact, he had articles on his website
with titles like the law must be used when evangelizing.
You must use the law to evangelize.
And he said things like,
around the turn of the 20th century,
the church as a whole has gotten away
from using the law to evangelize and all this stuff.
Well, hold on a second.
Can you see how he has totally misunderstood this passage?
First of all, he's misunderstanding the term law
because the word law is actually referring
to the entire old covenant,
not just only the commandments.
It would be referring to all of the sacrificial system
and all that as well, okay.
But number two, he's missing the point
because what it's saying is the law
was the schoolmaster for humanity
in the time leading up to Jesus dying on the cross.
But now we're not in the Old Testament.
Now we're in the New Testament.
So we're not under the schoolmaster.
And what he wants people to do is he wants you,
when you evangelize, to start out
by just going through the entire 10 commandments
with someone and showing them
how much of a sinner they are.
Now, is this necessary?
Is it necessary for me to go through
the 10 commandments with someone
because the law has got to be the schoolmaster
to bring them to Christ?
First of all, that's not the primary application
of this passage.
But here's the thing that's so ridiculous about that
is that virtually everyone out there
already knows that they're a sinner.
I mean, how often do you really run into somebody
at the door that says, I'm not a sinner.
I've not sinned.
It's very rare.
I mean, you'll run into it every once in a while,
but it's very rare, okay.
I've done a lot of evangelizing.
I've knocked a lot of doors.
And usually it's sufficient to say,
hey, right here in Romans 3 23,
it says, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God.
99% of people just instantly agree with that.
You just show them Romans 3 23.
Now is Romans 3 23 the law, the Old Testament,
the Old Covenant law?
Romans 3 23 is a New Testament epistle.
So is that going to work or what?
I mean, can I show somebody the gospel
by just going Romans 3 10,
there's none righteous, no, not one.
Romans 3 23, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 6 23, for the wages of sin is death.
Right, I could show them revelation.
But the fearful and unbelieving,
the abominable and murderers and whoremongers
and idolaters and sorcerers and all liars
shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death.
You know, I can easily just in a couple of moments,
show someone you're a sinner and the Bible says
that because of our sins, we deserve to go to hell
without using the law at all.
Without turning to the Old Testament,
without showing the Mosaic law,
without going through the Ten Commandments,
but they will go through this program
where they'll literally sit there
and go through each of the Ten Commandments
and they'll just spend so much time
just kicking a dead horse,
something that people already know.
Okay, you know, you know,
Dost should have no other gods before me
and then they convince them that they've done that.
Grave and image, convince them that they've done that.
You know, Lord's name in vain,
convince them that they've done that.
You know, and they just go down through the list
and I've seen, I've been standing next to someone
when they did this and it's downright uncomfortable
because they're just like, you know,
getting this person to just admit
that they've just done all these bad things.
Then they get to the one about adultery
and they're like, so, you know,
have you ever lusted after a woman in your heart?
Come on, you know, some guy's like,
well, you know, his wife's standing like 10 feet away
and he's kind of like, oh, well, you know,
I kind of get the point.
No, have you?
I mean, come on, did you though?
Is that really necessary?
Now, look, what is it that's gonna get people saved?
Last time I checked, it's the preaching of the cross.
It's the gospel that is the power of God into salvation.
The good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ,
not hammering someone with the Old Testament law
or with the 10 commandments or hammering them with,
you know, the law is gonna be their schoolmaster
to bring them to Christ.
That is a misuse of what the Bible is saying here.
It shows that he's not even taking the passage
in its context, he's just grabbing a verse
and then building a whole ministry on it
of just all about showing people their sins.
Now, here's why this matters.
Because you say, well, who cares, Pastor Anderson,
if he spends six or seven minutes, you know,
just undressing someone spiritually
and just showing how wicked and sinful they are.
Maybe that's a good idea.
Here's the problem is that the gospel
that Ray Comfort teaches is not salvation by faith,
but rather he says you have to turn from your sins.
So it totally makes sense that he makes some huge deal
about all their sins and that he has to like
catalog a whole bunch of sins
because then what's he gonna ask them to do to get saved?
He's gonna ask them to do what?
Turn from those sins.
You have to now repent of these sins.
And he'll go through and be like,
so when are you gonna repent?
When are you gonna turn from your sins?
And they're just like, I don't know, man, you know.
And he's just like, well, you need to.
And that's typically how it ends.
And it's so funny because this guy has a series of videos
it's called Way of the Master
and he's going around like failing
to win people to Christ.
Now, here's the thing.
I can understand, you know, uploading a video
of successfully leading someone to Christ.
That actually would make a little bit of sense.
Now, personally, I don't really like that
because for me, when I'm out soul winning,
I'm thinking about leading the soul to Christ,
not like filming leading a soul to Christ,
which is why what I've done is
I have uploaded demonstrations where it's not real.
Where basically there's a video, for example,
where I knock on the door
and Dave Berzins comes to the door.
And then I lead Dave Berzins to Christ
because Dave Berzins was already saved,
but what are we doing?
We're acting it out to teach people how it's done,
to show people how it's done.
And here's the thing.
It's still real, it's still true
because I've had hundreds of conversations
that went just like that.
So I don't have to go with like a hidden camera
and, you know, have my phone kind of like down here
and I'm kind of like, you know, so, you know,
Romans 3.23, you know,
it's gonna be great on my channel.
You know, when I'm out soul winning,
I care too much about that person
to be making it all about the video production.
You know, it's like when I'm soul winning, I'm soul winning.
And people have wanted to film me soul winning.
Like the lady from the BBC
wanted to film me soul winning.
And I said, you know,
I want you to get the biggest zoom lens
cause you're gonna be hundreds of feet away.
Cause I said, I don't want you cramping my style.
You know, this isn't about your video.
This is about me going soul winning.
And so if you want to film it, then film it,
but be so far away that neither me
or the person I'm talking to knows that you're there.
Cause I don't want you to interfere with the work
cause it's a real person I'm talking to.
But I mean, even so I could see,
I can understand someone wanting to upload a video
of someone actually getting saved as an instructional tool.
But this guy just uploads video after video after video
where the person doesn't get saved.
Here's a hundred ways to fail at soul winning.
It's so dumb.
It's almost like a parody or a spoof, you know?
And he's just, he's just like, oh, here you've done
this sin, you've done that sin
and let's go through all 10 commandments.
So when are you going to repent?
When are you going to turn from your sins?
I don't know, man.
You know, and this is like, bye.
So cool.
And you know what?
He's not leading anybody to Christ
cause he's not even saved
because he's not even trusting Christ by faith.
For him, it's all about turning from your sins,
which is works.
Turning from your sins is works.
Okay?
The Bible says in Jonah 3 10, God saw their works
that they turned from their evil way.
And God repented of the evil that he had said
that he would do unto them and he did it not.
God saw their works, comma, what were the works?
That they turned from their evil way.
That was their works.
Why?
Because turning from your sins is a lot of work.
You know, those of us that are saved Christians,
we're constantly turning from our sins
and it's a lot of work, isn't it?
But we're not saved by works.
We're saved by faith.
Well, you just kind of have to be willing to turn.
You gotta be.
And then they're like, you know,
well, you gotta be so willing to turn
that you will turn.
Buh-bye.
It's garbage.
Salvation is by faith.
It's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved.
Quit trying to make it complicated.
Don't bring in the works of the law.
Don't bring in turning from sin, turning over new leaf.
Now let's think about the preaching
that we see throughout the New Testament
when we see guys like Peter or John or Paul,
when we're in the book of Acts
and they're preaching the gospel,
are they going through and preaching commandments
from the Old Testament proving how,
hey, you violated this commandment,
you violated this commandment,
you violated this commandment
and the law is the schoolmaster to bring you to Christ.
Is that what they're doing in Acts?
Or are they preaching Christ crucified?
Are they preaching the gospel?
See, here's the thing.
The power of God unto salvation
is the message of Christ.
So therefore, I don't want to spend a lot of time
talking to somebody about them being a sinner
when they already know that.
Think about how insulting it is to someone if,
you know, I come to Daniel here.
Daniel, do you believe that you've sinned?
Okay, I'm gonna spend 10 minutes proving that to you.
Isn't that kind of stupid
when he just told me that he already believes it?
Well, guess what?
99% of people already believe that.
So, you know, yeah, I'll show him a quick verse
for all of sin just to make sure we're on the same page,
just to make sure we're thinking along the same lines,
and then I'll show that the punishment of sin is hell,
that we all deserve hell.
But you know what?
I'm off that subject in less than 90 seconds.
Why?
Because virtually everyone gets it in less than 90 seconds
because it really isn't that complicated
and most people already instinctively know
that they have a problem, that they're a sinner,
that they're in trouble with the Lord
and that they need salvation.
And so it's not hard to get people to that point.
So I'd rather spend the limited time
that I have talking to somebody talking about Jesus,
because that's the power.
You know, why is evangelism effective?
It's because you're talking about the gospel of Christ
and the gospel has power.
Is brow beating someone with Old Testament commandments,
is that where the power is?
No, it isn't.
And so don't get sucked into that teaching that says,
hey, we gotta use the 10 commandments
when we're out soul winning.
That's funny because I don't see
that kind of soul winning happening in the book of Acts.
And not only that, you know, when I go out soul winning,
I find that people already know that part anyway.
You know, I don't see the Apostle Paul
getting up and preaching
and talking about people's drinking problem
and their lust problem and their, you know,
their foul mouth, okay?
No, it seems to be that he's talking about
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And that's what's gonna get people saved
because salvation is by faith.
But again, when you realize that his salvation's
all about being justified by the law,
and he'll, of course he'll say like,
no, no, no, the law doesn't justify you,
it's just a schoolmaster bringing to Christ.
But you gotta turn from your sins to be saved,
which is what?
Adherence to the law.
Keep these laws and thou shalt be saved.
Be willing to keep these laws and thou shalt be saved.
Follow these rules and thou shalt be saved.
Be willing to follow these rules and thou shalt be saved.
Stop breaking these rules and thou shalt be saved.
Be willing to stop breaking these rules
and thou shalt be saved.
How is that not justification by the law?
Can somebody explain that to me?
That's exactly what it is.
The real true gospel is,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
That's what the Bible says.
Ye are all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus.
The Bible says in verse 22,
the scripture has concluded all under sin
that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ
might be given to them that believe.
The whole point of Paul,
and again, when you're reading the Bible,
part of reading the Bible in context
is thinking about what is the point
that the chapter is trying to make?
What's Paul talking about?
Is Galatians three a chapter about how to go soul winning?
Is this a how to?
Hey Galatians, I wanna help you guys out
and tell you how to evangelize more effectively.
Is that what this chapter is about?
What's the chapter about?
The chapter is about people who are Judaizers
who are trying to bring them back under the law,
who are trying to move backwards and say,
no, you need to be circumcised,
you need to observe the Sabbath,
you need to be kosher,
you need to blow the trumpet on the new moon.
And so he's trying to preach against those people
saying, no, my friend,
the law was a schoolmaster before Jesus came
to bring us to Christ,
but now that Christ has come,
we're not under the schoolmaster.
Totally different application
than how it's being misused by the likes of Ray Comfort.
Now go to chapter four,
and let me continue on with the argument here.
And you'll see that Paul will round this out
here in the end.
He said in verse number seven,
wherefore thou are no more a servant.
This is chapter four, verse seven,
but a son, and if a son,
then an heir of God through Christ.
How be it then when you knew not God,
now he's talking to the churches of Galatia.
These are Gentile believers.
These are believers who had been Greek pagans
before getting saved, right?
So they're worshiping the Greek Pantheon, they're pagans.
And so he says, how be it then when you knew not God,
you did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
So they're doing service to whom?
Zeus and Athena and Hermes and all these gods
that are not really gods, fake gods, right?
But now after that you've known God,
or rather are known of God,
how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements
whereunto you desire again to be in bondage.
Now what's interesting is the people that are trying
to bring them into bondage,
the ones who have bewitched them,
the Judaizers who have come in
to spy out the liberty in Christ
and to bring them back into bondage
and to teach circumcision and to teach law keeping,
these people who come in are Judaizers,
but the Galatians themselves,
they don't have a Jewish background.
Their background is they were pagans
because they used to do service to these other gods.
And the Apostle Paul is comparing
going back and doing Judaism
as far as going through all of the rituals
and the washings and the meats and the drinks
and the circumcision and all those things of the law,
he's comparing that to almost like a reverting to paganism.
He's actually comparing the two things
because he's saying, you know,
you used to do all this service
to those that were no gods,
and now that you've known God
or rather have been known of God,
why do you want to go back into a bondage
where you turn again to weak and beggarly elements
of this world?
You know, you basically want to go back
to a ritualistic style of religion.
You know, you were a pagan doing rituals to false gods.
Now you've received Christ by faith
and you're walking in the spirit.
Why would you now wanna go back
to a primitive state of going through
all these rituals and things?
Now, obviously the difference between paganism and Judaism,
the Apostle Paul acknowledges,
is that they were doing service
to those who by nature are no gods.
Whereas the Old Testament worshipers
are worshiping the true God,
but they're still going through these rituals.
They're doing sacrifices.
They're doing these, you know,
washings and purifications and rituals and ceremonies.
And he's saying, look, we're past that.
Christianity is past that.
Those things were only a temporary thing
for the time then present pointing forward to Christ.
And to revert back to those things
is tantamount to saying that Christ didn't come.
It's like you're saying Christ didn't fulfill the law.
Christ didn't show up.
We're still under Judaism.
And here's the thing,
when you're living in the New Testament
and you're rejecting Jesus Christ and following Judaism,
you are tantamount to being a pagan.
I mean, think about it.
Is the God, if people are denying Jesus
and worshiping God,
even if they call that God Jehovah,
if they're rejecting Christ,
are they worshiping the true God?
No, they're worshiping a false God.
Because if you don't have the son,
you don't have the father.
And so that's why the Apostle Paul
can compare their going, you know,
getting sucked into Judaism
as a reverting to something similar
to what they were doing when they were pagans.
An empty, meaningless ritual.
Because here's the thing,
the Old Testament had meaning
when it was pointing to Christ.
But guess what?
In the New Testament, circumcision has no meaning.
Animal sacrifice has no meaning.
I could go out and take a goat out there
in the parking lot and I could kill it
and shed its blood
and we could offer up a burnt sacrifice
in this parking lot.
It'd probably be on the news if we did.
But we could offer a burnt sacrifice in that parking lot
and you know what?
The only thing it would be good for
is it could be a good barbecue.
And that's about it.
But it would have literally no meaning.
Worshipping Zeus had no meaning.
Worshipping Hermes and Athena and Diana had no meaning.
But guess what?
Practicing Judaism in the New Testament
also has no meaning.
It's also worthless and it's tantamount
to a denial of Christ coming.
Because the Apostle Paul is horrified
because he understands that Christ
has fulfilled those things
and that now we're not under the schoolmaster.
Christ has come.
We're not trying to return into those carnal ordinances.
What does he call them in Hebrews?
The carnal ordinances.
Here it's the elements of this world, right?
And that's kind of an obscure phrase.
It's kind of hard to understand exactly what he means
by the elements, the beggarly elements.
I believe elsewhere he calls it
the elements of this world.
But it's carnal ordinances.
It's just a fleshly physical process
that they're going through.
As opposed to the spiritual fellowship
that we enjoy in the New Testament
and following not the oldness of the letter
but the newness of the spirit.
And so he says, now after you've known God, verse nine,
or rather are known of God,
how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements
whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Ye observe days and months and times and years.
I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed
upon you labor in vain.
You see, when the Apostle Paul sees somebody
getting into the Jewish calendar
and feeling like they need to do
all of these different holidays and the Jewish calendar,
he basically says, I'm scared that you're not even saved.
Do you not understand that Christ has come?
Do you not understand that Christ is our savior?
You know, that we're saved by the hearing of faith,
not by the works of the law.
What's going on here?
Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am.
For I am as ye are.
You've not injured me at all.
Ye know how that through infirmity of the flesh
I preached the gospel unto you at the first,
and my temptation which was in my flesh,
ye despise not, nor reject it,
but receive me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
Where is then the blessedness ye spake of?
For I bear you record that if it had been possible,
ye would have plucked out your own eyes
and have given them to me.
Am I therefore become your enemy
because I tell you the truth?
They zealously affect you, but not well.
Yea, they would exclude you that ye might affect them,
but it is good to be zealously affected
always in a good thing,
and not only when I am present with you.
And then he continues on, and he says in verse 21,
tell me ye the desire to be under the law.
Do you not hear the law?
And then he goes on to talk about
how Abraham had two sons,
one by the free woman, Isaac,
and one by the bondmaid, Ishmael.
And what says the scripture?
Cast out the bond woman and her son,
for the son of the bond woman
should not inherit with the son of the free.
And what he's saying is, look,
you're going back into bondage
when you're trying to put yourself under rules
that no longer apply.
You're like an adult who wants his parents
to continue telling him what to do
after he's a grown adult who's moved out
and living on his own,
and you want your parents to tell you what to do again.
It doesn't make any sense.
You want to be coddled, and it makes no sense.
Okay, he's saying, look, you know,
you are in the New Testament now.
Don't put yourself back under that bondage.
Yes, that was necessary for the time.
The law of Moses had a purpose.
God didn't make a mistake when he gave the law
and had Israel with a tabernacle and Levites
and animal sacrifice.
All that stuff had a purpose,
but it doesn't have a purpose anymore.
It's over.
Okay, so I hope that that helps you to understand
this important teaching about the law
being our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ.
It's not primarily talking to the individual
as Ray Comfort would have you to believe.
It's rather talking about humanity in general.
Super obvious when you actually read the passage.
And the bottom line is that salvation's by faith in Jesus,
but not only is salvation by faith in Jesus,
sanctification is from faith to faith.
And we're not sanctified by keeping a bunch of rules
and falling to Old Testament laws.
We're sanctified by walking in the Spirit.
And if we walk in the Spirit,
we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
If we walk in the Spirit,
we're not gonna be doing all these sinful things.
And so we have a more excellent program
in the New Testament.
And so wanting to revert back to the Old Testament
is a backward movement that makes no sense.
And every teenager should understand
what I'm saying right now and get this analogy.
Because, you know, let's face it, okay,
these people, they come along
and they make it sound like it's cool
to just speak a little Hebrew.
And, you know, abstain from pork.
They show up with their ram's horn.
I mean, we were at, I don't know what was going on.
We were at Steadfast Baptist Church.
And there's all these weird freaks protesting.
And then there were a couple of people out there
with Jewish shofars out there.
Who's been to Steadfast and seen the shofar out there?
My children, okay, anyone else?
Yeah, I wasn't sure,
because I know some people have visited that church.
We're out there with our
pew, blow it.
I mean, whenever I, as soon as I see that shofar,
I'm just like, you know.
You know, it's like circumcision, shofar, Sabbath,
kosher food.
You know, I feel like the Apostle Paul.
I'm horrified, I'm afraid of you.
You know, those protesters are kind of scary though.
They're a bunch of freaks and weirdos.
But they're not really scary
because they're also just, you know,
nothing compared to who's on our side,
which is the Lord.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.
And we thank you for the new covenant.
I pray that everything was understandable tonight, Lord,
and that everyone would understand the truth of scripture,
that the law was for the Old Testament,
but that now we're not under the law.
And although there are universal truths
that still apply from the Old Testament,
we're not in bondage to the law as mankind once was.
Lord God, please bless us as we go our separate ways
and help us to live a godly life
for your glory this week through walking in the Spirit
and crucifying the flesh, Lord.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.