Galatians 3:19-25
Paul has said that no one was ever saved by keeping the Old Testament law. Abraham was saved by his faith (see last week’s sermon). What then is the purpose of the Old Testament law? Why didn’t God skip the Old Covenant and go straight to the New Covenant?
The law establishes us as transgressors. It exposes our sinful nature (Galatians 3:19). … The law does make us transgressors or sinners, but it does reveal us as sinners. It’s impossible to understand that we need salvation without understanding why we need salvation. The law shows us why we need salvation.
The law imprisons us in our sin. It cuts off any avenue of escape (Galatians 3: 21-23). … After the law reveals us as sinners, the natural reaction is to try to do better at following the law, However, we are incapable of following the law perfectly and will always fall short. There is no way to get out from under the law on our own.
The law leads us to Christ. It points us to our only hope of salvation (Galatians 3:24-25). … The law, after revealing us to be sinners and imprisoning us in sin, shows us that we need salvation and that salvation can only come through Christ.
Jesus follows this process in His conversation with the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-22). … Jesus starts with the Old Testament law when discussing salvation with this man, possibly with the intent to make the man realize his own transgressions. However the young ruler is convinced he has kept the law to an adequate level since he was a child. Then Jesus ups the ante and tells him to sell everything and give that money to the poor. The young ruler refuses, revealing at least one sin issue that he has, that of greed. Even when we think we’ve done everything right, there’s something in our lives that makes us sinners. The law reveals that to us. Then we realize we are imprisoned by the law and it points us to Jesus.