Living by Faith

Well, good morning, church. Would you turn with me again to the book of Galatians chapter 2.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

! That's page 914 in the Pew Bible. We are going to be considering verses 17 through 21 in detail today.

! But for context, I'm going to read starting back in verse 11 so we can get the sweep of Paul's argument here.

So that's Galatians chapter 2 starting in verse 11, and then I'll read to the end of the chapter.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

Let me pray for us as we come to God's Word.

Father, we ask that you would bless now the reading and the teaching of your Word.

Lord, would the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be

pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

All right, Galatians 2, 11 through 21.

But when Cephas, that is Peter, came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.

For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came,

he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted

hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas

before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the

Gentiles to live like Jews? We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. Yet we know that a

person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have

believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law,

because by works of the law, no one will be justified. But if in our endeavor to be justified

in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not.

For if I rebuild what I tore down, 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. It is no longer I

who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of

God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God. For if righteousness

were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. All right, so in verses 17 through 21,

this last paragraph of chapter 2, Paul is answering one of the main objections to the gospel.

And this is an objection I'm wondering if you too might be feeling at this point in our study

of this book of Galatians. It's an objection most people feel when they really start to understand

the gospel. In fact, some have even suggested that if you don't feel the weight of this objection

yourself, if you don't start to ask this question in your mind, then maybe you don't quite see just

how radical the gospel message truly is. So what is this objection? Well, Paul lays it out in verse 17.

He says, but if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners,

is Christ then a servant of sin? Or we might say, does trusting in Christ alone for salvation mean

that we can live however we want? After all, Paul has just reminded Peter in verses 15 through 16

that even they themselves as Jews who are not Gentile sinners, that they too have come to trust in Christ

alone in order to be declared in the right to be justified by God. Why? Because works of the law

cannot justify anyone. So what does that mean about Peter and Paul as Jews? What does it mean

about all their law keeping, all of their Torah observance? Surely it must count for something,

right? But no. As Paul says in verse 17, he says, we too were found to be sinners,

just like the Gentiles who didn't keep the law.

In other words, Paul and Peter, even though they had done their best to keep the law,

in Christ they now see that they're no better off than the Gentiles when it comes to being righteous

before God. Their law keeping, their Torah observance contributes nothing to the basis of

their justification. Their righteousness is found totally and completely in Jesus, the Messiah.

But here's where the objection comes in. If we are justified by faith in Christ alone,

then that means our works contribute nothing to the basis of our standing before God.

But if our works contribute nothing to our justification, then won't that just lead people

to live lives of total moral indifference? Aren't we just giving people a free ticket

to selfishness and self-indulgence? Aren't we making Christ a servant of sin?

It's very interesting that the word servant here is the Greek word diakonos, which is where we get the

word deacon from, right? It literally means someone who waits on tables. It's a table servant in the

ancient world. So, Paul's saying something like, is Christ just serving up sin on a platter?

You're justified by grace through faith in Christ. Your works don't add a thing, so here you go.

Have a giant steak of sin. Enjoy it. Or if you're a vegan, you can have the sin salad. No one's going

to judge you here because it doesn't matter what you do. So, this is the objection Paul was confronting.

And it's one of the main objections that the gospel will always face in every age,

the objection that a gospel of justification by faith alone in Christ alone apart from works of

the law, the objection is that it just inevitably leads to antinomianism. In other words, it will just

make people think that they have a license to sin. It will shut down any concern people have for living

truly moral lives. So, the objection goes on to say justification then can't be by faith alone.

It must also be by our works. We have to keep the works of the law in some kind of central place,

right? I mean, the objection goes, surely our works must provide some basis for our justification,

right? Right? So, how does Paul respond to this objection? Well, he actually has three things to

say in response. And, you know, this paragraph here and what we talked about last week, this is really

the thesis of Paul's whole letter of Galatians. And if you feel like things move at about a hundred

miles an hour in this part of Galatians, that's okay because Paul's going to unpack this in the rest

of the letter. This is where he just lays it all out and then he's going to unfold it as we go.

But tightly packed in here, Paul has three things very tightly to say in response to this objection.

In fact, he's going to argue that this sort of objection to the gospel actually suffers from a

deep misunderstanding of three things. In short, Paul's going to say, if you think that you have

to put works of the law back into your justification in order to uphold moral living, then you don't

truly understand the law, and you don't truly understand faith, and you definitely don't

understand the cross. So let's look at each one of those. First, Paul says, you don't truly understand

the law. More specifically, you don't understand the purpose of the law. Look again at verse 18.

Paul says, if I rebuild what I tore down, what's he talking about here? Well, most likely he's talking

about the law of Moses. There's a nice parallel passage in Ephesians 2 where Paul talks about

a dividing wall that has come crashing down in Christ, not just a wall that divided sinful humans

from God, but a wall that divided Jews from Gentiles. Jews who had the law of Moses, who lived within God's

covenant promises, and Gentiles who were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to

the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. In Christ, Paul says,

this wall that divided them has come down, and the two have become one. So the law of Moses now

no longer defines the people of God. It's not what reconciles us together to God.

Its function has ceased. Christ has brought the law of Moses to its climax, to its fulfillment,

and begun a new era of salvation history.

But in verse 18 here, Paul says, well, let's say I do what these agitators in Galatia are

recommending. Let's say we rebuild the law of Moses. Let's build it back up. Put that wall back in place.

What do we achieve? Well, Paul says, here's what we achieve. If I rebuild what I tore down,

I just prove myself to be a transgressor.

What is the true function and real purpose of the Mosaic law? Does the law make us holy?

Does the law make us morally upright people? Does the law give us the ability to stop sinning?

No, Paul says. The law doesn't have the power to do any of those things. Here's what the law really does.

It proves that we are transgressors. It shows us that we're sinners. Yes, the moral law shows us

something of God's character, and it shows us how as humans we ought to live. But in showing us how we

ought to live, we see how far we fall short. So, if you think that you need to put the works of the law

back into justification, think again, Paul says. But a law can't make you good.

It will only show you how much you need a Savior. And Paul presses that point even deeper in verse 19.

He says, for through the law, I died to the law so that I might live to God. When Paul says,

I died to the law, he means that he died to the law as the basis of his justification. He died

to law-keeping, to Torah observance as a way of securing a righteous verdict before God.

And how did that come about? Paul says that he died to the law through the law itself.

If you take the law seriously, you begin to realize that sinful humans cannot keep it.

The false teachers in Galatia were really big on circumcision, right? They were probably also

pretty big on the food laws, most likely on Sabbath observance too. It seems that they stressed the

outward markers of the Mosaic law. But Paul says later in this letter that, look, if you accept

circumcision on those terms as your righteousness before God, you have to keep the whole law in order

to be righteous. You can't pick and choose. You can't just pick the bits of the law you think you

can keep and then say, look, I'm justifying myself, and then ignore the rest. No, Paul says, when you

really feel the weight of the law's demands, when you really see that God requires perfect righteousness,

then you start to see that human law-keeping can never be a means of salvation.

through the law. I died to the law, Paul says. But then surprisingly, he adds, so that I might live to God.

You see, it's only when Paul stopped trying to justify himself through the works of the law

that he finally and truly began to live for God.

Do you see what he's saying here? He's saying, who was I really living for when I was thinking that my

own Torah observance would gain me a righteous verdict from God's throne? Who was I living for when I thought

that I could construct my own righteousness through these observances? Who was I living for? For God?

No! He was living for himself. This obedience wasn't really done for God. It was done to get something

from God. You see, here's the great irony. If we think we have to put the law back into our justification

in order to preserve moral living, we accomplish the very opposite.

It doesn't make us live for God more. It makes us live for God less.

People are not fun and all-around not fun people. Why?

Because if we don't get the gospel of grace, we're living for ourselves.

We're working really hard to keep ourselves looking good so that our sense of self doesn't collapse.

But of course, it's not just religious people who do this, right?

Everybody does this. Everybody does it. If my works are the basis of my identity and my life,

right, if I'm looking at something I am or I do or I've constructed to be my identity, to be my life,

to be my righteousness, then I'm inevitably going to be proud when I'm doing good.

Look at me.

Or I'm going to be depressed when I'm not doing good.

Woe is me.

And nearly all of the time,

I'm going to be deeply hypocritical.

Why?

Because I have to pick and choose.

I have to pick and choose.

The fallen human heart knows that it can't possibly be completely moral, completely righteous.

So we pick something we're good at,

make that the really important thing,

and then downplay or disregard the rest.

And then, because I may be naturally inclined to be a little bit better in this one area,

I cast myself as the morally superior one.

I've got it all together.

But if you were to look at my whole life,

you'd see that I'm not better than anyone else.

In fact, I don't even live up to my own standards,

let alone God's.

Friend, do you really want to live?

Do you want to really live?

To live not for yourself,

but for God.

To live free of hypocrisy and self-centeredness

and the endless circles of pride

and self-loathing that come

when you base your identity

on your own performance?

If you really want to live,

then you have to die to the law.

You have to die to the idea

that your law-keeping will put you right with God

and make you acceptable to Him.

You have to die to the idea

that your identity can be founded on anything in you.

That's the first misunderstanding that Paul clears up.

The purpose of the law.

We see the second one in verse 20.

Now remember, Paul's responding to the objection

that the gospel of justification

by faith alone in Christ alone

will make people morally lazy.

It'll give them a license to sin.

That's what he's responding to.

But this objection isn't just working

with a faulty view of the law.

It also deeply misunderstands the nature of faith.

So in verse 20, Paul goes on to say,

if you think you have to put works of the law

back into your justification

in order to uphold moral living,

not only do you not understand

the true purpose of the law,

you also don't understand

the transforming power of faith.

You don't understand the transforming power of faith.

Look again at verse 20.

Paul says,

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live,

but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh,

I live by faith in the Son of God

who loved me and gave himself for me.

You see,

when someone truly comes to understand

who Jesus is

and what Jesus has done,

when they realize that they can't save themselves

and that they're dead before the law,

when they repent

and turn from trusting in their own self

and their own goodness

and their own moral efforts,

when they repent of all the things

they made their identity,

and when they place their faith

in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus,

that is when they trust Him

and Him alone

for righteousness,

life, and salvation,

when that happens,

they are no longer

the same old person.

They are united to Christ.

Their old self dies with Christ

in His crucifixion.

Their new self rises with Christ

in His resurrection.

That's why, by the way,

the very first public act of faith

for a Christian,

their very first public act

is to publicly identify

with Christ and His church

through what?

Baptism.

Why baptism?

Why is that the first public act of faith?

Because baptism is symbolic

of when a believer,

when they go underwater

and come back up again,

it's symbolic that they've died

and risen with Christ.

The old eye,

the eye that wanted to build

its own righteousness,

the eye that put its identity

in its own record,

its own accomplishments,

the eye that thought God

would owe it something

if it kept its end of the bargain.

That eye was crucified with Christ.

That eye no longer lives.

That eye actually deserved to die.

It deserved to be put in the grave.

And united to Christ by faith,

it has died,

and it is left in the grave.

But even though that eye

has died,

crucified with Christ,

sentenced,

condemned,

buried,

even though that eye

is now dead,

there's a new eye.

Paul goes on to say,

the life I now live

in the flesh,

a new eye has risen.

And how does this new eye live?

Does it live for itself anymore?

Does it live for sin?

Does it thrash about

trying to find a secure spot

to place its identity

in family,

or in sports,

or in academics,

or in career,

or in moral performance?

What is this new eye?

How does this new eye live its life?

What fuels it?

What sustains it?

What secures it?

The life I now live

in the flesh,

I live by faith

in the Son of God

who loved me

and gave himself for me.

You see, a Christian

is someone

who is in a vital,

relational union

of trust

with the risen Lord Jesus.

There's a whole new center

to your life,

and that center

is not a thing,

and it's not an object,

and it's not a job,

and it's not a project,

and it's not an aspiration.

It's not a series

of good deeds

done or undone.

No, the new center

of your life

is a person.

And what of this person?

Who is he?

He's the very Son of God.

God from God,

light from light,

the eternal Son of the Father,

become flesh for us,

Israel's Messiah,

the world's true Lord.

And what has this Son of God done?

He loved me

and gave himself for me.

His self-donation in love,

his self-giving on the cross,

that was for you.

How stupid it is

to think

that someone can say,

the Son of God

loved me

and gave himself for me,

and then say,

if you believe that,

you're just going to go out

and sin.

That is the stupidest

line of reasoning

of all time.

You don't understand

the gospel at all.

You don't understand

what it means to say,

the Son of God

loved me,

loved me

in all my sin

and in all my selfishness,

in all my rightly deserved

condemnation and death,

loved me

and gave himself for me.

Gave himself.

No one forced him.

No one demanded

that he do it.

Jesus gave himself

freely,

generously,

willingly,

eagerly.

He gave himself

for me,

for you.

On the cross,

it was for you,

for your sin,

for your condemnation,

for your death,

for your hell.

That's who

I am united to

in faith,

the King of love,

who died my death

and bore my curse

and suffered my hell

so that I can live

and live forever,

so that I can share

his righteousness,

life,

and eternal joy

now and forever.

You see,

in faith,

we flee to Christ

and are united to him

so that we can be

done with sin,

so that we can be

done with the old nature,

so that we can be

done with the old

present evil age,

as Paul says

in the opening

of this book.

We go to Christ

in union with him

so that we can

be done with sin.

Think of it this way.

Why do you go,

why do you go

to an oncologist?

You go to an oncologist

so that you can be

done with cancer,

right?

And no one

who is done

with cancer says,

you know,

what am I going to do today?

I'm going to go out

and get me some more cancer.

Just so.

Friends,

when we flee to Christ,

we do so because

we want to be done

with sin

and so that we can

live in his love.

And that is exactly

what happens.

The old self

that loves sin

is crucified with him.

And the new self

that is fueled

by his love

is raised with him.

Now, of course,

as Christians,

we will continue

to be tempted

by sin, right?

We will even at times

give in to that

temptation of sin.

But united to Christ,

we no longer love sin.

It's lost its taste.

And united to Christ,

we now have the power,

the power that the law

could never give us

to turn from sin

and walk more

and more in holiness.

And what is that power?

Is it the power

of a demand,

do this or else?

No.

Paul says it's the power

of his love.

He loved me

and gave himself for me.

When that truth

becomes real

to your heart,

when the Holy Spirit

awakens your faith

to that reality,

sin loses its power.

And the heart longs

to live no longer

for itself,

but for God.

There's one more

understanding

that Paul addresses here.

Not just about

the purpose of the law

or the power of faith,

but lastly,

it's about the magnitude

of the cross.

The magnitude

of the cross.

Look again with me

at verse 21.

Paul says,

I do not nullify

the grace of God.

Apparently,

there were people

accusing Paul

in preaching justification

by faith alone

of nullifying God's grace,

of making God's grace

meaningless in their life.

But Paul says,

I do not nullify

the grace of God.

For if righteousness,

that is justification,

if righteousness

were through the law,

then Christ died

for no purpose.

You know,

it's very easy

to believe

in a version

of Christianity

or so-called Christianity

that goes something

like this.

God does His part.

God provides you

with some grace.

God provides you

with some fresh start.

He even puts

His Spirit in you.

But if you want

to be justified,

if you want to maintain

that friendship with God,

then you have to do

your part.

You have to cooperate

with this grace.

You have to get to work

alongside this grace.

You have to live

a righteous life.

And on the basis

of that life

that you live,

on the righteousness

you perform,

through your effort

in concert

with God's grace,

grace,

then God will justify you.

Maybe,

if you've cooperated enough.

But in the face

of all such thinking,

the Bible holds up

the cross of Jesus Christ.

If God could save you

by giving you some grace

so that through your law-keeping

you could justify yourself,

if God could just

give you a push,

give you a boost,

so that you could then

become the forger

of your own righteousness,

if all that were possible,

Paul simply says,

then why did the Son of God

need to be crucified?

If the law was enough,

why did He have to die?

In fact,

if the law was enough,

then His gruesome death

on a Roman cross

was utterly pointless.

It was gratuitous violence.

Nothing else.

But when you see

the magnitude of the cross,

when you,

it is then,

when you see

the magnitude of the cross,

then you realize

that law-keeping

of any kind,

whether that pure

sort of Pelagian legalism

or some sort of

semi-Pelagian cooperation,

that could never be

the basis

of our justification.

any such thinking

is an offense

to the cost

and the achievement

of the cross.

At the cross,

the curse of sin

was dealt out in full

so that the blessing

of righteousness

might be given in full

to all

who turn

and trust in Christ.

No

cooperation

necessary.

Now,

do good works

flow from our union

with Christ?

Of course,

yes.

That's what Galatians 2.20

is all about.

But will those good works

be the basis

of your justification

before God?

No!

The cross of Christ

has already won

your verdict.

Your sins

have been condemned

and by the righteousness

of Jesus

with whom you are

united by faith,

you've been pronounced,

accepted,

loved,

and righteous

forevermore.

Do you see

what justification is?

Justification

is the verdict

of the end

come crashing

into the present

and pronounced

over your life

now.

When God,

the judge

of all things

pronounces His judgment,

what will that verdict

be over your life?

Paul says

you can know

what that verdict is

right now

because justification

means it comes in

now

into the present

and says

what if you're in Christ?

You're forgiven

and you're mine

and you're righteous.

Friend,

do you see

the magnitude

of the cross

of Christ?

It cleanses

every sin.

It silences

every accusation.

It fulfills

every precept

of the law.

It ends

the age

of sin and death.

It inaugurates

the new creation.

Now to live

as if that's true.

That's our task.

Don't go back

to the law

as if you needed

to complete something

of what Christ

has already finished

as if you needed

to now somehow

save yourself.

No!

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.

Now Paul says

go forward.

Go forward.

Go forward

as people

of the new creation

that you are.

Go forward

in love.

Go forward,

yes,

and fulfill

God's commands.

Not because

you need to save yourself

but because

Christ has already

saved you

and loved you

and freed you

from sin.

Run in the path

of His commands

because He set

your heart free.

love because

He first loved you

and gave Himself

for you.

You are justified

totally and freely

by His self-giving love

through faith alone.

Is Christ

then a servant

of sin?

Certainly not,

Paul says.

Certainly not.

Let's pray.

Father,

we take just a moment

and pause

before You.

Lord,

our lives are very busy.

They're full of distraction

and worries

and cares.

But in this moment

as we sit

before

the magnitude

of the cross

and the deep

mysterious wonder

and joy

of our union

with You,

O Lord,

help us again

to experience

the goodness

of these things,

the power

of these things,

the joy

of these things.

Lord,

for those

who've been

contemplating You

and contemplating

the gospel

but not sure yet

where they stand

with You,

Holy Spirit,

open their eyes

to what is true

here

that Christ,

the Son of God,

loved me

and gave Himself

for me.

Would that

great affirmation

rise in the hearts

of all of us

here this morning

and help us

to live lives

of new creation,

joy,

and holiness

as a result.

Amen.

Amen.