“Turning the Corner Part 1,”

“ Kept by Law, Kept by Gospel”

Isaiah 65:1,2&9

¹I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;

I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.

I said, “Here am I, here am I,”

²I spread out my hands all the day

to a rebellious people,

who walk in a way that is not good,

following their own devices;

⁹I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,

and from Judah possessors of my mountains;

my chosen shall possess it,

and my servants shall dwell there.”

            The words of Isaiah chapter 65 are in answer to the previous chapter.  Chapter 64 is a prayer from Israel in captivity. God’s chosen people pray to God asking Him to answer whether He has abandoned them or is He still with them and still their God.  God answers His chosen people reminding them that they did not choose Him to be their God, but He chose them even when they were a rebellious people to raise them up to be His chosen people. 

God did not choose them because He thought they were better people than anyone else in the world.  On the contrary the Hebrew people were just the same as everyone else in the world, as are Christians too.  We are all rebellious and we all sin daily.  God may have chosen them at random; maybe they had a direct bloodline to Noah.  Maybe they looked like they could use some help.  Whatever the reason God chose the Hebrew people to raise up to be His first chosen and to teach the world about their only God, one of salvation for all whom He had created through Adam and Eve.  God first raised His chosen people up through His Law as any good father would do.  God’s chosen people were a starting point not a finished product for there are many ingredients God’s will is manifesting for the salvation of all He has created.

            Genesis 22:18 ¹⁸ and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

            The Law is a means to raise His chosen people up in His ways for His good and gracious will.  Kept by Law God’s chosen people learned to live life as God had intended it to be lived by a people descendent from the one who broke the first law.  But it only starts here, like a well planned soup God did not just boil the water and call it soup; He added the stock and then all of the other ingredients being careful only putting ingredients not already rotted and decayed in it to give His will substance for His creation of life the finished product. 

              Galatians 3:23–29 ²³Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. ²⁴So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

            God knew that if one law given to Adam could not be kept then mankind would surely break many laws.  However the Law is needed to guide and raise up those whom He calls His children.  Though adopted children He treats us with the same love as His begotten Son in that the inheritance Christ received He also gives this same inheritance to all of us who believe. 

As children we need to have a guardian to guide us in the proper ways of maturing.  The Law was our first guardian to guide us into accomplishing our maturity.  However the Law could not do what Christ did and that was to bring us to salvation.  Christ seasons us with faith through our baptism and again through dying on the cross for our sins.  It is through Christ that God’s chosen people become the possessors of His Mountain.  It is through Christ that our lives turn the corner and go towards the finished product of salvation.

            Galatians 4:1–7 ¹I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, ²but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. ³In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. ⁴But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

            The Law guides us and raises us to be mature, however the Law also condemns us and does nothing to save us.  Kept by the Gospel Christ came to help us turn the corner in our maturity as He fulfills the law by suffering the death the law demands and then putting the death the law demands to death itself so that it no longer imprisons us to eternal death but give us instead the inheritance of eternal life and relationship with our Father in heaven.  Jesus Christ shares the Father with us all and shares His inheritance of eternal life and relationship with us also.  Amen

Written by: Pastor Curtis A. May

Let us go forth in the Peace of our Lord and Serve the Lord who loved us first.