"15 “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. 17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
Good Morning Beloved,
Welcome to worship this Lord's Day!
Thank you for joining us, we're so glad you're here.
What are the lifestyle implications of the gospel of justification by
faith in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection? Is salvation through
grace by faith in Jesus Christ alone a promoter of sin? Is setting
people free from adherence to the law going to cause people to sin more?
Absolutely, definitely not!
When a man by the power of the cross
dies to sin, dies to his old way of believing, to his old way of
thinking, and to his old way of living, he can then live in Christ and
in the power of Jesus' resurrection. By the same power that raise
Christ from the dead, he can receive a new way of believing, a new way
of thinking, and a new way of living life. This new life lived by faith
through the grace of God will be a righteous life. It is the power of
Christ that truly enables one to live righteously, not the personal
power of attempting to keep the law.
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for this opportunity to gather together in worship of You today. Thank You for that honor and great privilege. We recognize what a wonderful privilege it is. Thank You for Your truth, that so often, overwhelms our hearts. Thank You for listening to the prayers that lie heavily upon our hearts. Thank for the fullness of joy, the incredible love for You, for Christ, and for one another that Your Word generates.
Thank You for Christ's finished work on the cross, for Your saving grace by which we receive salvation, the forgiveness of sin, such a sacrifice, what a precious gift we've been given, we're so grateful, so very grateful. May we be faithful and committed to the work You have given us.
Father, if there are any among us who have not received Christ as their Lord and Savior, we pray that You would reach down and touch them, that today might be that glorious day, they would turn from their sin, repent and receive the gift of salvation.
We pray this in Jesus' name
Amen
Today's Message: In Christ Alone
Today, in our ongoing study of the book of Galatians, we come to the end of chapter 2. Open with me your Bibles to the book of Galatians chapter 2, verses 15 through 21. I invite you to follow along with me as I read to you from our text today, to get it settled in our minds. Listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit.
"We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through
faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that
we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of \the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. But
if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also
been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
These verses continue the jest of what Paul said to Peter. Paul let's
Peter know that the law was originally intended to keep Jews from sin in
verse15. "We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the
Gentiles; and if law keeping could save they would have been saved by
it. But that is not the
case. Despite the advantages that knowing the
law gives, law abiding can not save anyone.
Romans 9:4-5, says "who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and daughters, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the temple service, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen
Verse 16 then proclaims that law-keeping will not save anyone, Jew or
Gentile. nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in
Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the works of the Law but
through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so
that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the
Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
Even if a Jew has meticulously observed the law must turn to Christ to be saved. This
clearly indicates that the keeping of the law does not save but only the
Gospel of Christ can save. Justification by faith in Jesus Christ alone
must never be compromised, distorted, added to or subtracted from. Justification is the act of God
where by He declares the repentant individual righteous through the life
and death of Jesus Christ and their faith in Him.
The sacrifice for sin by Christ and the obedience of Christ is placed in
the account of the repentant individual who trusts in Christ. In
justification God covers the individual with the righteousness of Christ and imputes into them the righteousness of Christ.
In Romans 4:1-8, Paul says, "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. "Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account."
Psalm 32:1-2, David says "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!
Now, I have had some ask, "If observing the Jewish laws cannot justify us, why should we still obey
the Ten Commandments and other Old Testament laws? We know that Paul is
not saying the law is bad, because in Romans 7:12, he wrote, "The law
is holy."
What Paul is saying that the law can never make us acceptable to God. The law still
has an important role to play in the life of a Christian. The law: Guards us from sin by giving us standards for behavior; Convicts us
of sin, giving us the opportunity to ask for God’s forgiveness; Drives us to trust in the sufficiency of Christ, because we can never
keep the Ten Commandments perfectly. The moral law cannot possibly save
us. However, after we have become Christians, it reveals to us if we are
living as God requires or not.
So, verse 17 wants to know if we need to return to the yoke of the law in
order to keep ourselves from sin. However, if, while seeking to be
justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is
Christ then a minister of sin?
While seeking to be justified in Christ by grace, are we set free to
indulge our own natural sinful inclination? Does being set free from the
restraint of the law cause more sin to occur? If so then Christ who
freed us from the law would be a promoter of sin. May it never be! Let
it not come into being. Let it not even be thought in your mind.
May it never be!
The Jews understood that because of the falleness of man, man is
inclined to sin. They saw the law as way to keep us from sin, as what
checks unrestrained living. If the law is removed in Christ doesn't
that cause us to be release from what keep us from sin? Isn't
justification by faith in Christ alone going to release people into
lawlessness?
Yes, Christ taught that it was not what enters a man
that defiles him but He also taught that sin comes from what proceeds
out of the heart Yes, He taught all meats were clean, but He also taught that man does not live by bread alone but by
every word that comes out of the mouth of the Father. The
grace of Christ changes the inside, the law is for external agreement as
to what is right and wrong. It is the Spirit of the Living God, not
legal regulations that change the inner life of man.
The Jewish alternative to trusting only in Christ and receiving His
all-sufficient grace was obedience to the law. But the New Covenant not
only supersedes the Old Covenant, it replaces it, as verse18 states. For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I then prove myself to be a
transgressor!
Peter was starting to rebuild a law keeping or a works
oriented salvation by reverting to keeping the ceremonial law under the
peer pressure of those from Jerusalem. Both Peter and Paul knew this was
transgression because in rebuilding the doctrine of salvation by works
or law they were casting down the most fundamental doctrine of salvation
by grace through faith in Christ alone.
Paul was quite sure of one thing, that Jesus Christ had done for him what he could never have done for himself. A life at peace with God can only be had by the love and mercy of God as Jesus
Christ revealed it to men. It is when a man gives up the struggle which
the pride of self thinks it can win, but must ever lose, and only when
he abandons himself to the forgiving love of God that peace will come.
Beloved, there are two great temptations in the Christian life. There is the temptation to try to earn or merit the favor of God. Then, there is the temptation that the man who has shown some little
achievement will compare himself with his fellow men to his advantage
and to their disadvantage.
We must guard against the temptation of using service, good deeds,
charitable giving or any other thing as a substitute for faith.
Is keeping the law the way to acceptance before God and the way of
living a life pleasing to Him? Or is trusting Christ and following His
Spirit the way of acceptance and the way to live a life pleasing to God?
Destroyed, annihilated, annulled is a historical aorist
referring to a past act when one turned from law as the way of salvation
and pleasing God to following Christ as the way of salvation and a life
pleasing God. Forsaking the only way of salvation God has provided, to turn back to what
God never intended as a way of salvation is the way of transgression.
Verse 18 says "For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor."
The only way out of attempting to gain self-approval before God is
through dying to the old self so that you might live to God as verse 19
points out. " For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God."
The purpose of the law is to point out our sinfulness according to
God's righteousness. Through the law, Paul had discovered what a great
sinner he was because the law demanded nothing less than inward, as well
as outward perfection. The law demanded that he love God with all his
heart, soul, mind and strength and love his neighbors as himself. That
standard Paul had been unable to meet. Since he could not find Salvation
through the law he must die to it. Once he stopped trying to save
himself by the law he could begin living in the power of the Spirit to
God.
Because Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin that the law demanded, Paul
could die to the law and stop giving further thought to legal obedience
as a means of winning God's acceptance. To go back to the law is to go
back to the graveyard of the spiritually dead. We have been raised to
walk in newness of life. Death to the law is a prerequisite
to life to God.
In verse 20 Paul conveys, the only way to continuously live in right relationship with Himself.
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. "
After his conversion, Paul became dead to the Law, to the world, and to sin. In other words, Paul is saying that he became insensible to the Law as a means of justification;
to the world; to ambition and the love of money; to the pride and pomp
of life, and to the dominion of evil and hateful passions.
They had lost their power over him.
The born again believer has been crucified with Christ. He has
legally died with Christ. God looks at us as if we were in Christ when
He died and our sins and old life died with Him. When sin
nailed Jesus to the cross it also nailed Paul, you and me to the cross. But the believer must daily
appropriate, make his own, Christ's death for him. As Christ identified
with the believer, the believer must identify with Christ in His death.
Crucifixion
with Christ means death to, or separation from, the reigning power of
the old sinful life and freedom to experience the power of the
resurrection life by faith. We must die daily by the power of
Christ's death. We must die to sinful desires that keep us from
identifying with and following Christ. This spiritual identification
with the death of Jesus releases believers from the power of sin, the
power of flesh, the power of the devil, and the jurisdiction of the law.
Yet the focus of Christ and Christianity is living and not dying. This
is why Paul goes on to say, "and it is no longer I who lives but Christ
who lives in me." Because we have been crucified with Christ, we have
also been raised with Him to walk in a new manner of life. In our daily
life we have Christ's resurrection power as we fight sin and live for
God's Glory. We are not left on our own but have Christ
living in us. He is our power for living and our hope for the future. He gives us victory over ourselves.
As followers of Christ, we know that we can never live up to the performance of the Lord Jesus, our Great Example. We might even feel
like giving up in despair. But because Christ lives in us, we have what
we need to keep growing toward spiritual maturity and Christlikeness.
In the Greek text the "I" is emphatic, being written out as well as being included in the verb. It is no longer Paul who lives. Paul sets his old life in contrast to Christ¡¯s life in Him. He daily lives in faith by faith in the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself on his behalf, as his substitute. Paul's daily life and attitude is completely united with Christ. His victorious Christian life is due to Christ's victory over sin, death and satan. Therefore, it is Christ, who gives Paul a righteous life, not the law.
The Christian life is lived by faith. It is a commitment of faith to
Christ. It believes in Christ and depends on His faithfulness to us. How
can you place your life so fully, so completely in His hands. You can
so trust Christ with your life because of His love for you and
self-sacrifice for you or on your behalf. It was Jesus¡¯ love that His
sacrifice for us on the Cross demonstrated that motivated Paul to life
for Him. It should motivate you to die to self and life for Him also.
In verse 21, Paul says "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
The legalist wanted to mix grace and law. Paul says he receives righteousness from Christ and lives a righteous
life by dying to the old life by spiritual identifying with, by making
his own, Christ death and living in the power of His resurrection. If
sinners could get right with God by their own efforts at law-keeping,
Jesus would never have needed to go to the Cross. If we could be
righteous or live righteous by any other means; including the law, then
Christ died needlessly,in vain, for nothing, for no purpose. Any means
to righteousness other than Christ's death and resurrection power
nullifies the grace of God available only in Christ.
Paul takes his firm stand against legalism, even the infraction committed by Peter, that opens the door to any other means of acceptance before God than grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. In the room where they were gathered silence prevailed. The Gospel of Grace was clarified once more. We may assume that not only Cephas but true believers who had followed his example were grateful to the Lord that they had been corrected by the true gospel.
It should be the heart's desire, of every Christian, to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, that through the Spirit it might show you where you err?
May the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ bring you ever greater salvation.
May it be so...
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2020 All Rights Reserved
