Dr. Michael Yousef begins this episode of Leading the Way Audio offering perspective on law and grace. The grace of God is meaningless for those who do not feel a desperate need for forgiveness of their sins. The grace of God is meaningless to those who do not recognize that they are offending a holy and righteous God. So it is out of compassion and out of mercy that God gave us the law to drive us into despair of ourselves and recognize our need for the Savior.
Thank you for making time to listen to Leading the Way with pastor and the author of the new book, My Refuge, My Strength, Dr. Michael Yousef. You know, some people never consider Christianity because they just can't get past the ancient law of Moses. Questioning the relevance of a religion, say, where prison or death is the penalty for killing a neighbor's livestock. Well, Dr. Yousef tackles that today. Not the livestock, but the purpose of God's law and how it points people to his amazing grace. This is part of Michael's series called Got Freedom? Reminding you of the freedom available in Christ.
So listen with me as Dr. Yousef begins this powerful message. Little Tommy watched his mom as she was baking this magnificent chocolate cake and he was salivating. And then he started pestering his mother. Mom, when are we going to eat the cake? When are we going to eat the cake? And his mother said, now Tommy, this cake is not for us.
It's for the guests who will be coming tonight. Tommy, I'm going upstairs to take a nap. And Tommy, do not touch the cake.
And so she goes upstairs. And I want you to imagine Tommy pulling his chair a little closer to look at the cake just close up to admire mom's handiwork. But as Tommy got closer to the cake, he noticed a slight imperfection in the double fudge icing. There's a little swirl there and he sought to smooth it over. That's all he's doing is just going to smooth the cake over. And then, of course, he licked his finger. But once he did this, he realized that there's another imperfection on the other side of the cake. So he turns the cake around and he smooths that other side and licks his finger.
That's his reasoning. And so he kept on turning it around, turning it around. And then all of a sudden he realized that the cake looks far worse than in the beginning. So he reasoned again. Well, now that I messed it up, might as well enjoy a piece of cake.
Surely mom would not mind at all, would she? So as Tommy was finishing his second piece of cake, he hears mom yelling from upstairs saying, Tommy, did I not tell you not to touch the cake? Well, the thing is, Tommy reasoned in his mind that mom is not really a very reasonable issue.
I mean, he built this thing in his mind in a logical sequence. But this story is repeated millions of times, millions of times. In many a home, many a public place, many a workplace.
It's repeated, not to do with cake per se, but to do with so many of the moral issues that we're facing and the major decision about whether we keep the law of God or break the law of God and why should we do this and why should we do the other thing. And we try to somehow go around the law, rationalize, we try to circumvent the law. There are people who spend untold hours finding loopholes in the law, the others spend millions of dollars trying to get around the law. But in the long run, there is no going around the law of God because the law of God is perfect. The law of God is absolute. The law of God is holy.
And God demands that everyone to be saved must obey the law all the time perfectly. But that's an impossibility. The natural man can never do that. It is impossible. So we're at the impasse.
What do we do? And here in Galatians chapter 3 verses 15 all the way to the end, Paul compares the law of Moses to a legal document that's drawn up by lawyers. He compares this law of God with the covenant of grace which was given to Abraham 430 years before the law was given to Moses. This whole confusion between grace and law boils down to one word.
One word. In some translations said offspring and for centuries the rabbis have interpreted that word offspring to mean is what we call collective noun. Collective noun is a noun that's in the singular but refers to a group of people.
Let me illustrate this. I can point to one of my children and say he or she is my offspring. Or I can point to all of my children and grandchildren and say they are my offspring still in the singular.
Now you understand the difference. The ancient rabbis for centuries tried to interpret that Abraham offspring, especially in Genesis 15, is the Jewish nation, is the Jewish people, those who are ethnically Jewish. But under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the apostle Paul says no, no, no.
Offspring is in the singular and is not referring to many but is referring to one. No, other than the Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah who is the descendant of Abraham. That's what the Bible is saying here. Thus all of the blessings of Abraham, all of the Abrahamic blessings are in the covenant of God with Abraham. All of them fulfilled in the one and only true offspring seed descendant of Abraham. Thus anyone who wants to be the recipient of all the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant must come to God only through the one and only descendant offspring seed of Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the term in Christ here is a powerful term.
In Christ is saying that you can only be in Christ through the grace of Christ, that you can only be in Christ through faith in Christ, that you can only be in Christ when you have placed your whole trust in Christ, that you're only in Christ by being saved by Christ alone. Not through being ethnically Jewish but by being in the one who is spiritually the seed and the descendant of Abraham. Salvation is not through ethnic identity but through faith in the one and only offspring of Abraham. And beloved this is indisputable, this is unchangeable, this cannot be added to or subtracted from.
It is the whole truth. And like a good lawyer, the apostle Paul goes on to press his point by explaining that Abraham was saved by faith, not by the law. He couldn't be because he lived for 130 years before the law. And when God gave the law, he did not nullify the covenant of grace with Abraham.
He didn't do that. In fact, as I said, the law came for 130 years after the covenant of grace where Abraham was saved by grace alone. As a matter of fact, when the law came, 430 years after Abraham, you know what the law did? It divided humanity. Jew, Gentile, put a separation between Jews and Gentiles. And that is why when God's Messiah, the offspring of Abraham came from heaven, he destroyed that division. Jesus Abraham's offspring healed that division. Jesus Abraham's offspring tore down the wall of hostility that separated us.
Jesus Abraham's offspring, by his grace, he welcomed everyone from every ethnic group, from every background. If they are repentant and come to him in faith, they are saved. If this is the case, why the law at all? If Abraham's saved by grace, offspring of Abraham is Jesus and saved by grace of Jesus, then why the law?
Right? Paul asked that question himself in verse 19, the verse with two words. In verse 19, why the law? He asked that question.
And he goes on that same verse, 19, he answers the question. It was added because of transgressions. But it was temporary.
It was not permanent. It was temporary until the offspring of Abraham whom the promise referred to comes. In fact, in verse 19 of Galatians 3, all the way to the end, you're going to find, and I'll summarize them for you, three reasons why God gave the law 430 years after Abraham. Three reasons.
I want to share them with you. First of all, he said the law was given to be a mirror that reveals our sinful nature. Secondly, he said it is a guardian that was given to us until we reach the age of maturity, until we come to Christ.
And thirdly, it is the pipeline to grace. You see, the law was added to show everyone, everyone, everyone, everywhere, our inability to save ourselves. The law is given to demonstrate to us our desperate need for grace. The law is added to show us that we are a rebellious people against a holy God.
The law was given to drive us to a deliverer. The law is given for us in order to be a constant reminder of our total inability and that we are incapable of meeting the demands of the law. So the next natural question in your mind, if it is not, it ought to be, if you can't be saved by the law, for no one can keep it all the time, all of it perfectly, then why? Why, Michael, explain to me why so many Christians are so fussed up about having the Ten Commandments hanging on walls? In the courthouse, in classrooms, why Christians are so hung up on this symbol?
Why? Why is that fussed if we can be saved by the law? Simply because the law is a mirror, is a mirror for everyone to see that we are fallen people and only when we recognize our fallenness will we seek to be saved by Christ. The grace of God, listen to me, I know a lot of people preaching grace but it's really not grace, it's cheap grace because the grace of God is meaningless and it's cheap. If a person does not feel inadequate in themselves, grace of God is meaningless to the one who does not know, does not even recognize that he or she is lost. The grace of God is meaningless for those who do not feel a desperate need for forgiveness of their sins.
The grace of God is meaningless to those who do not recognize that they are offending a holy and righteous God. So it is out of compassion and out of mercy that God gave us the law. He gave us the law to drive us into despair of ourselves and recognize our need for the Savior. God gave us the law to stir in us hunger for salvation. God gave us the law not to save us by the law but to drive us to the only one who can save us eternally. I'm convicted that one of the greatest tragedy of our society today is the war on the Ten Commandments and the cross of public life because the Ten Commandments supposed to drive us to despair and then the cross comes in and redeems us and forgives our sins. The Ten Commandments tell us that we are incapable of saving ourselves but the cross says come to the only one who can forgive you. The Ten Commandments drive us to hopelessness then the cross comes and says there is hope in Christ. And that's why a death war. Now listen to me, this war is not by accident, it's not just happening. The evil one knows the power of these symbols. I know there are a lot of well-meaning Christians removing these symbols and said well you know we just offend people so let's not have them because we don't want to offend anybody.
They unwittingly, unwittingly doing the betting of the evil one and they don't know it. Today when a woman goes to one of those abortion mills, the first thing they say to her, you have nothing to feel guilty about. As someone said, they said it is counterproductive to try to eliminate guilt feelings without dealing with the guilt cause.
And I say amen to that. The good news is that God loves you and he desires to forgive you for whatever causes that deep guilt. He doesn't want you to deal with the symptoms of guilt, he wants you to deal with the cause of the guilt. Because the cross does not deal with the symptoms, the cross deals with the root of sin. And therefore the guilt that the Ten Commandments induces in us is the bad news. Then comes the cross with the good news that God can deal with the root of guilt in us.
He can remove our guilt, he can remove our sin, he can forgive us eternally. So the law is a mirror. And secondly, the law is a guardian, is a custodial.
The word guardian here, it really has a very special meaning. You see the ancient Greek and Roman cultures, you know Rome had two million slaves, but these were not laborers as we think of slaves. These were doctors, they were engineers, they were accountants, they were all professionals, but they were taking a slave by Rome. And so a well-to-do family in the Roman culture would take one of those slaves who is trustworthy, somebody that they really trust. And they use them to educate their boys. This trustworthy slave would do the work on behalf of the parents, not instead of. These guardians, they will take the boys to school, they would train them in manners, they would help them do their homework. They would train them in obedience. They even administer discipline on behalf of the parents. And the Greek word here is pedagogos.
You see, every Galatian who is reading the epistle that Paul wrote here, everyone who is reading it, understood exactly the point that he is making here about the nature of the law. The pedagogos did not hold a permanent position. It was a temporary position. The pedagogos was only there to observe the boys' education until they reached the age of maturity. And then when the boys become adults, their guardians, this pedagogos relationship changes. The pedagogos no longer is a master, but he's a friend to the adult child. He was a master when the boy was little, but now he's a friend.
Hear me right on this one. The scripture here is very clear. Our pedagogos, our master, the law imprisoned us until faith in Jesus Christ was revealed. The law functioned as a master, but then our relationship has changed after succeeding and driving us to Christ. After the law succeeded in reminding us that we can't save ourselves, that only Jesus can save us. After the law takes us to the foot of the cross, after we come to that point in our lives, then the law becomes our friend, not our master. That's what Paul is saying here. Now you understand why they want to remove the Ten Commandments and the crosses from public life.
Now you understand. They see them as an insult to the human pride. They see them as a rebuke to human arrogance. They see them as demeaning to human intelligence, and they're deciding for themselves whether they need forgiveness or not. The pride is mocked by those two symbols. Human pride. And so they remove them from schools, government buildings, and public life in general.
Why? Because God's law makes them aware of an authentic guilt deep down in their lives, whether they admit it or not. Make them aware of deep sin and helplessness, and all they fear that this awareness of their sin is going to drive them to Christ. The law is a mirror. The law is our pedagogos, our guardian, to drive us to Christ. Thirdly, the law is a pipeline to grace. And the best way I can illustrate this pipeline to the grace of God is a true story that I will make the point better than I try to explain it.
In 1919, there was a peace conference in Paris. Lawrence of Arabia brought delegates from Arabia. Back then it was not called Saudi Arabia, it was just Arabia.
It became Saudi Arabia later, the house of Saud. And so when these Arabs came into that hotel, and they went into the bathrooms of the hotels, and they turned the faucets on, and water gushed out, they were mesmerized. Now remember, in Arabia, water is a precious commodity to get it from the well, and they have used it so sparingly. There's a lot of water coming out of that faucet. So after the conference, in that hotel, the delegates were preparing to leave the conference, go back to Arabia. They started unhooking the faucets and packing them in the baggage.
I mean, to them, that's magic. You take that faucet back to Arabia, you get water. That's what they assumed. They assumed that the faucet is the source of the water. They had no idea of the system of pipes through which the water comes up all the way to these spigots. They actually thought that if they take these spigots and they install them in their tents, they're going to get water. And when Lawrence of Arabia saw what they were doing and packing the faucets and causing floods, he proceeded to explain to them that these fixtures are useless by themselves if they are not connected to the source of the water.
And beloved, listen to me. I know we may laugh at this, but that's exactly what so many people on a spiritual level are doing today. They get trying to get spiritual water from disconnected fixtures. They're trying to draw power from all sorts of places that has no power. They tried to fill their emptiness in their lives with religious activities.
They tried to find fulfillment in fixtures that produces no water. Unless you are connected to the source, Jesus Christ, you cannot be saved. Unless you are connected to the source, Jesus Christ, you will have no power for living. And therefore, listen to me. I'm going to get it to close. Our testimony to this fallen world must be clear.
That it is not common, look at me, I'm good and you're bad. No, no, no, no, no, God help us. No. But rather, come to the only one who removed my guilt, who forgave my sins and he can remove your guilt too and forgive your sins. That's our testimony.
Come to the only one whose grace is sufficient, sufficient to forgive you, sufficient to redeem you, sufficient to save you, sufficient to heal you, sufficient to release you from all guilt of the resource of it and give you the power to live righteously before God. You're listening to Leading the Way, celebrating more than 30 years of media ministry around the world. And if you missed any of today's message from Dr. Michael Youssef, you can catch up so easily. Just listen online. Use the Leading the Way app or subscribe to the Leading the Way podcast.
You can visit ltw.org for more details about those. Now, if you've listened to Leading the Way for any length of time, you probably know that in addition to being a pastor and an international evangelist, Dr. Youssef is also a passionate author, authoring more than 50 books. In fact, just recently, My Refuge, My Strength hit store shelves. My Refuge, My Strength is a book that speaks directly into what we're all experiencing right now and our culture of 2024. And it guides you to draw strength from abiding in Christ. So order your copy of My Refuge, My Strength today. Also, it's a hardback devotional book. It's beautiful, so it's great to share with friends and family too.
It makes a great gift. This resource is currently available as a thank you from Dr. Youssef when you give a gift of any amount to the ministry of Leading the Way. Just go online for more information about that. ltw.org. ltw.org. Or you can always call us. We love hearing from you. Call 866-626-4356. And do remember that all gifts to and all products purchased from Leading the Way helped fund the gospel message being spread here at home and around the world. Learn more at ltw.org.
