Law, Grace, And The Reason We Obey
(from Mike Fitzpatrick’s sermon on Galatians 3:1-5 Part 2 on 3/27/22)
Believing is the only requirement for salvation. Faith relies on God to act.
Law keeping is the method of living the Christian life that suggests that man take matters into his own hands. The Mosaic law gave the nation of Israel several rules that basically required external conformity. Those rules, when followed, and adhered to, brought blessing (Deuteronomy 28). Disobedience brought a curse. Not being under that law, but under grace, which is exactly what Paul says in Romans 6, does not suggest that there are no rules for the church age saint (believer). Are there rules? Yes! Yes, there are rules. They start in Matthew for the church age saint and go all the way to the end of the book (The rest of the Bible).
So what’s the difference between grace and law? The difference might surprise you. Living under grace involves a whole lot more than just following a list of do’s and don’ts. Living under grace is about following a person, not a list. So, rule keeping, according to Law, brought blessing in the Old Testament. That’s what Deuteronomy 28 tells us. The New Testament tells us this: you’re already blessed. Read Ephesians chapter one this week and look at how blessed you truly are. So, the New Testament church age saint doesn’t have to obey to get. That’s what the Old Testament saint did (Deuteronomy 28… Obedience=blessed, Disobedience=cursed). The New Testament says this: when you enter into a relationship with God through faith in Christ you are already blessed, you already have all the blessings that you’re going to get. So, you don’t obey God to get things.
We obey because we’ve been given everything. The standard is higher for us (New Testament church age saints that believe in Christ) because our obedience is not to be merely external. The Old Testament saints' obedience was not just an external thing with no inward reality, but the command in the Old Testament is clear: obey this list and you’re blessed. Our obedience is quite different from that. Our required obedience is to be from the heart, going way beyond the external. Obedience that is an expression of love for a God who has graciously delivered us from sin’s penalty. And by His power (Galatians 3:5) He’s changing the way we look at sin and feel about sin. Galatians tells us that rules don’t change people. A person can follow rules and remain the same person. The Gospel is what changes hearts. The Gospel helps us understand how unworthy we were and how we’ve all been given everything in spite of that. An unbeliever can live according to a list of rules. The Pharisees did that. They rule kept with the best of them and they were rebuked by Jesus constantly for their unbelief and even for their obedience, which was only external. God wants more than that from you. He wants a lot more. That’s why human effort doesn’t work. Galatians 3:2-4 says that God worked in the Galatians simply because they believed. And God is presently working powerfully among them as new converts Galatians 3:5). It was His gracious provision. His powerful work. The Galatians’ contribution? They heard and they believed. God gets the credit. We don’t get any credit or glory.
Believing is the only requirement for salvation. Faith relies on God to act.
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