The Heart of The Gospel

Would you open your Bibles, please, to Galatians 2, if you're not already there.

Galatians chapter 2.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

And we're going to be toward the end of that.

And Paul, thank you for reading and getting us kind of the jump start,

which is exactly what I'll be doing here in a second.

So thank you for that, brother.

Well, speaking of the children that are leaving,

two of my kids have really reacquainted me with a love for puzzles, my older two.

They've helped me see how wonderful puzzles are.

And we like to do those on slow afternoons, especially rainy afternoons,

and enjoy that activity together.

One of their puzzle sets is a book of fairy tale puzzles,

and it's a lot different from all their other ones.

All the puzzles in this set are built around a large and uniquely shaped centerpiece.

It might be shaped like a flower or a butterfly, but it's got a unique shape.

And each centerpiece of these puzzles occupies the heart of the puzzle.

And all the other pieces of the regular jigsaw puzzle fit around that main piece.

And if you don't have that large, uniquely shaped centerpiece that's in the heart of the puzzle,

or if you try to substitute one of the other pieces for that piece,

the puzzler is puzzled because the puzzle doesn't make any sense.

It falls apart.

And similarly, the Christian faith has a unique and foundational heart

that must be at the center of it.

For every Christian and for every church that proclaims Christ,

there must be a central and uniquely shaped piece.

And it has to be in place, or else everything falls apart and the whole faith doesn't make sense.

And that piece is the gospel.

If you've been with us the past several weeks in the book of Galatians,

or the letter to the Galatians that Paul wrote,

we've been taking a close look at what he's trying to tell them.

And I'm guessing that you've probably picked up on some of the urgency

and the crisis that are in Paul's words to the Galatian churches.

Because he's very concerned that they're missing,

and they're abandoning that central, uniquely shaped piece.

And because they're abandoning this unique centerpiece of the gospel,

the apostle dispatches this letter urgently

before their faith is shipwrecked and doomed.

So if you've caught nothing else from the last couple of weeks,

I'm guessing that you've at least figured out that the Galatians,

the letter to the Galatians is about this really important thing

that needs to be at the center of the Christian life,

which is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And the Galatians were in serious danger of losing it.

But, what is the gospel?

What is this gospel that Paul's talking about?

Paul has been talking up and down about the gospel.

Just a quick look at chapter 1 and chapter 2,

you see the word gospel pop up all over the place,

but he's only hinted at what the gospel actually is,

and hasn't really spelled it out yet.

And like Paul, as Christians, we talk a lot about the gospel too.

But it's really important that we get it right,

that we understand exactly what it is,

because it's the central, uniquely shaped piece

that makes our faith hold together.

So what is it?

Well, today's passage, which is really the heart of the letter,

everything that Paul's been saying up to this point

has been leading to this big reveal of what the gospel is,

and everything that's going to come after this passage

is going to be pointing back to it.

So it really is the hinge on which this letter turns.

So if you're going to fall asleep,

maybe choose another Sunday,

because this is really important.

In fact, if your neighbor's fallen asleep already,

go ahead and wake them up for this part,

and then they can go back to sleep.

So just again, you can see this right here.

So what is the very heart of the gospel,

which is the heart of this letter,

which is the heart of the Christian faith?

What is it?

It's this.

The only possible way we can be made right with God

is by trusting in Jesus, period.

The only possible way that we can be made right with God

is by trusting in Jesus, period.

And this is what Paul wants us to feel,

that we need to work really hard at keeping this central.

We need to work really hard at keeping this truth central

to our lives, to our life as a church.

This has to be at the center.

Now, the only possible way we can be made right with God

is by trusting in Jesus, period.

That sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?

And it is, wonderfully so.

The gospel is pretty simple.

And yet, that's kind of why we have to work really hard

to not let it just kind of be like the ABC song

and just kind of go back to the back of our head.

It's not just the door that we open into the Christian faith

and we kind of move beyond it.

No, we never move beyond this.

So that's exactly what happened to Peter,

as we're going to soon see.

He moved beyond the centrality of the gospel.

So here's how we're going to move into this passage

and gather momentum to the heart of this gospel.

There are four stops along this train ride

we're going to move on through the heart of God's gospel.

Four stops.

And then, after I get to those four stops,

we're going to have three ways to consider

how to respond well to this good news.

So let's look at the first stop in verses 14 to 16.

And the name of this stop is A Gracious Reminder.

A Gracious Reminder.

Last week, we looked at how Paul publicly rebuked Peter

for leaving the Gentile cafeteria table,

which Mike set up so well for us,

and he moved over to the Jewish table.

Now, thank goodness for Paul, because he saw it.

He saw it in the moment,

and he called Peter out on this anti-gospel hypocrisy,

and he called them out on it publicly right then and there.

And verse 14 begins this rebuke,

and I'm pretty sure a lot of other folks

believe that this rebuke goes all the way to verse 21.

So if you have quotation marks at the end of verse 14 in your Bible,

I think it makes most sense for those quotation marks

to be at the end of verse 21.

It seems like Peter's rebuke from Paul is all of this passage.

So we need to keep that in the back of our minds.

This is all a rebuke from Paul to Peter.

So let's look at what he says starting at verse 21.

Let's see how it's a gracious reminder.

Peter.

But when I saw that their conduct was not in step

with the truth of the gospel,

I said to Cephas, or Peter, 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?

So Peter's table switching led Gentiles to the conclusion

that they needed to become Jewish

in order to be really okay with God.

And that was confusing.

They were sort of in by trusting in Jesus,

but then if they get really in,

then they had to also eat the right foods,

get circumcised, et cetera.

And this is a very confusing message

that it would have been sending to the Gentiles

because they had believed that faith in Christ

was the only thing necessary to be made right with God.

Now look at verses 15 and 16,

and let's see how Paul uses repetition.

Just listen for it to drive home his point of this reminder.

We ourselves, Peter, 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 have also 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.

Did you hear it?

It's like three times.

We're not justified by works of the law.

We're not justified by works of the law.

No one can be made justified by works of the law,

only by faith in Christ.

I mean, he's just hammering this home.

Paul's logic is so clear, too.

If God helped law-abiding Jews like he and Peter

to realize that it was an exercise in futility

to try to be right with God through their law-keeping,

then why would Peter turn around

and tell Gentiles with his actions

that they needed to keep the Mosaic law

to be right with God

if he himself knew that that was impossible?

It doesn't make any sense.

Now, just for clarity's sake,

you might have noticed I used the error quotation marks

in verse 15.

Let's look at that word sinners in verse 15.

What Paul's not saying

is that the Jews aren't sinners.

We ourselves are Jews by birth

and not Gentile sinners.

He's not saying that Gentiles are the sinners

and Jews are fine.

He's not saying that.

Rather, he's using a term,

which the quotation marks help with,

that the Jews used to describe the Gentiles

who were considered sinners

in the eyes of the Mosaic law,

including all the purity laws,

offering sacrifices through a priest in the temple,

getting circumcised,

et cetera.

So law-abiding Jews

would refer to Gentiles as sinners

because they didn't follow the law of Moses.

So it might be helpful to kind of imagine

the quotation marks there.

So there's the gracious reminder.

Paul gives it to Peter.

He gives it to the Galatians

by writing this down to the Galatians

and by means of the Spirit of God

preserving this over 2,000 years,

he gives that to us.

We don't get right with God

through keeping the law.

We get right with God

by trusting in Jesus' law-keeping

on our behalf

and by trusting in his death

on the cross for us lawbreakers.

That's the gracious reminder.

Now, before we move on,

we need to be clear on one thing.

What does Paul mean

with this word justified?

Shows up three times in this verse

as well as in verse 17

and in the original language,

the word justified

is very closely related

to that word righteousness

in verse 21.

So obviously,

it's a really important word

for this passage

and it's an extremely important word

for the Bible.

So what does Paul mean by it?

When Paul uses language

like justified

or justification,

he's talking about

a gracious, legal pronouncement

that God makes

on an individual sinner

when that person

trusts in Jesus

as his or her substitute.

If the whole of God's law

can be summarized

in the two commands,

love your neighbor as yourself

and love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

soul, mind, and strength,

then you and I

are utterly condemned

before God.

Let that sink in for a minute.

We blatantly ignore

these whole summarizing commands

daily

and we choose to issue

and obey

our own self-made commands

to love self

with all heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And apart from God's grace,

we would be facing

God's righteous wrath

and punishment

because of this law-breaking.

But God sent his son.

And God's son,

Jesus,

lived every moment

of his earthly life

in perfect,

loving obedience

to his heavenly father

and in perfect love

toward his neighbor.

and then Jesus

gave his life up

as a willing substitute

for those of us

who hated God

and hated each other.

And when we,

as these lawbreakers,

see and understand

what Jesus did

and trust that he did that

on our behalf,

in the moment

of that trusting,

God makes a legal declaration.

He says that we are

no longer unrighteous

lawbreakers in his sight,

but he legally pronounces us

righteous.

Even though in reality

we aren't.

He chooses to view us

through the lens

of Christ's shed blood

on our behalf

and through the lens

of his perfect

and righteous life

as if we were the ones

who lived it.

Now,

for a moment,

let's just pretend

that you're a Christian

and you've heard this before.

You believed it.

Just pretend you're hearing it

for the first time.

You are not right with God.

There's no way

you can get right with God

on your own.

And then God

graciously shows you

what he did for you

through his crucified

and resurrected son,

Jesus.

And you believe in him.

And then all of a sudden,

with one sweeping declaration,

not only are your sins forgiven,

but God declares you righteous

just like his son is righteous.

It should make our jaws drop

in awe of his mercy.

Just like the song

we were singing earlier,

all I owe,

you paid for me.

So that's the gracious reminder.

From the lips

and from the pen

of the Apostle Paul,

Peter,

the Galatians,

and us,

we all receive

this gracious reminder.

It is a slap in God's face

to pretend

that we can be righteous

before God

by any other means

except by the shed blood

of Jesus Christ

on our behalf.

That's the gracious reminder.

And that's our first stop.

It's just a beautiful

mountaintop vista

of the gospel.

But let's move

to the second stop.

Verses 17 through 19.

There is some rough terrain ahead.

So I need you to stick with me.

But it's going to set us up

really well

for our third stop.

The second stop is called

an old relationship

discarded.

An old relationship

discarded.

Let's kind of read

these verses together.

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.

So what is that

old relationship

that Paul is

talking about here?

Well, it is

the Christian's

old relationship

to the law of Moses.

And in the context

it's the Jewish

Christian's

old relationship

to the law of Moses.

Paul has just been saying

that we're not justified

by keeping the law of Moses

and so now he needs

to clarify

what that relationship

used to be

and how it has

got discarded.

So let's skip ahead

to verse 19

to answer that question

and then I'll take us

back to verses 17 to 18.

Here,

in verse 19,

Paul says

that he died

to the law.

So obviously

it's an old relationship

it's discarded

but how did he come

to that conclusion?

Well,

Paul says

that he died

to the law

through the law.

Don't you wish

that Paul would be

a little more clear

sometimes?

What does that mean,

Paul?

Well,

going back to verse 16

helps us with this

a little bit.

Paul and Peter

as ethnic Jews

realize with God's help

that their obedience

to the law

could not justify

them before God.

Only Jesus' law keeping

and his death

on their behalf

could justify them.

So,

through their law keeping

they realized

that their law keeping

was not up to par.

They could not be justified

through their law keeping

and therefore

they died to the law

as a way of

making themselves

right

with God.

In another letter

in Romans 7,

Paul uses an illustration

to help us with this

and it's kind of

from another angle.

In Romans 7,

Paul depicts the law

as a husband

to which we,

the bride of Christ,

were once married.

The only problem

is that it was

a very dysfunctional marriage.

The law made demands

on us

that we just could not keep

in our very nature

as lawbreakers.

That relationship

produced guilt

and shame

and condemnation

in us

not because the law

is bad

but because we simply

could not keep it.

But,

we were bound

to the law

just like spouses

were bound

to each other

in the covenant

of marriage

and only death

could break

that bond.

And then,

a death happened.

Crushed by God's

holy law,

the law we broke,

Jesus died

on our behalf.

And if we

are bound

to Jesus

by faith,

then we also

are dead

to the law,

our old husband,

as a way

of justifying

ourselves

before God.

And this happened

so that we could live

in a new relationship

to God,

no longer bound

to the law

as a means

of getting right

with God.

So that's the old

relationship

to the law

and how it got

discarded.

We used to be

in a relationship

with the law

in which we depended

on our own obedience

to the law

to make us right

before God,

but now because

the death of Christ

took place

and we died

with him,

our dependence

on the law

as the way

to get right

with God

is broken.

Okay.

So it's old

relationship

and it's discarded.

But what about

verse 17 and 18?

What are we going

to do with that?

Well,

scholars have spilled

a lot of ink

on these two verses

and there's really

kind of two main

interpretations.

Both of them

have good ground

to stand on.

The one that makes

most sense to me

is this.

If you want to talk

about the other one,

come find me later.

It seems like

the word sinners

in verse 17

is meant to mirror

the same word sinners

back up in verse 15.

So in other words,

it needs to have

quotation marks

around it

as the label

that Jews

gave Gentiles

who didn't keep

the law of Moses.

So follow Paul's logic

with me in verses 17

and 18.

I'm going to give you

kind of an expanded

paraphrase here.

It's as if Paul's

saying this,

Peter,

you and I realized

that we needed

to be justified

by faith in Christ,

not by keeping

the law of Moses.

And when we realized

that,

we also realized

that Jesus himself

had made parts

of the Mosaic law

obsolete.

He fulfilled

the purity laws

by making us

clean in him.

He fulfilled

the priesthood

and the sacrificial system

by becoming

our great high priest

and our Passover lamb.

So those parts

of the law

no longer apply

to us

because we're

in Christ now.

But Peter,

that doesn't make

Jesus a promoter

of sin,

does it?

No,

because Christ

has fulfilled

all that law

for us.

And he has broken

down the wall

of separation

between Jews

and Gentiles now.

But sadly,

Peter,

you just rebuilt

that wall.

You had torn it

down before

by refusing to find

your justification

in the law

and putting your

trust in Christ.

But now,

when you switch

tables just now,

you're rebuilding

the wall between

Jews and Gentiles

again.

And that makes

you a real

transgressor,

Peter,

because you violated

God's truth

of our justification

in Christ.

You've also violated

his law of love

that we're supposed

to keep toward

our Gentile brothers

and sisters.

That seems to make

the most sense

out of verses 17

and 18.

Peter had died

to the law

through the law

and yet he wanted

to start rebuilding

his old relationship

with the law again.

It was like,

going back to the

marriage illustration,

it's like a remarried

woman going on dates

with her ex-husband

instead of the one

that she's actually

married to.

Bad deal.

So this is the case

with Paul and Peter,

it's the same case

with the Galatian

Christians,

and same with us

too.

Our relationship

with the law

is no longer binding

as a way of getting

us right with God.

The Mosaic law

is not bad,

it makes a good guide

to understand

the holiness of God.

It gives us

a good guide

to what it looks

like to live

for God,

but it makes

a poor Savior.

The law leads us

to feel our need

for a Savior

and also leads us

along a good path

of righteous living

to please our Savior,

but it cannot

be our Savior.

Ever since

the Garden of Eden,

human beings

have known

that there was

something wrong

with us.

Ever since Adam

and Eve broke

God's holy law,

and we don't

like that

brokenness

on the inside.

We don't like

that guilt

and that shame

and that condemnation,

and yet we can't

help but try to

make ourselves

feel better about it

by trying to

make ourselves

right in some way,

by trying to

justify ourselves

in some way.

So we do

what Adam and Eve did.

We blame others

for our misdoings,

and we try to

justify ourselves

in that way.

We shift the blame.

Or we compare

ourselves to others

in self-righteous

judgment,

telling ourselves

we're not as bad

as those people

over there,

because we're doing

this or we're not

doing this.

Or we deceive

ourselves into

thinking that if

we try hard enough

to be decent people,

we'll deserve

God's grace somehow.

Or we lower

God's standard

of righteousness

so that it's

easier for us

to meet.

All of these

are desperate

attempts of the

human heart

to try to

justify itself

through an old

relationship

with God's law.

But these are

just painkillers,

not the cure.

Our self-righteous

blame games,

our self-righteous

judgmentalism on

others,

comparing ourselves

to others,

our desperate

attempts to measure

up to God's law,

it's just a morphine

drip for a cancer

patient.

It can dull the

pain temporarily,

but the disease

of God's

condemnation on

us as guilty

people continues

to kill us.

So our self-righteous

performance just

doesn't fit in that

uniquely shaped

center of the

gospel.

If we put it

there, our faith

falls apart.

We have to

discard ourselves

as our own

saviors,

and we have to

embrace another,

which leads us to

our third stop.

a new relationship

embraced.

A new relationship

embraced.

Paul hints at

this new relationship

at the end of

verse 19.

He says,

I died to the

law, through the

law, that I might

live to God.

Well, that kind of

begs the question,

how, Paul?

How are you dead

to the law and

living to God?

Look at verse 20.

It's through a new

relationship.

I have been

crucified with

Christ.

It is no longer

I who live, but

Christ who lives in

me.

In the life I live

now in the body,

or in the flesh,

I live by faith in

the Son of God who

loved me and gave

himself for me.

This verse

proclaims in a

nutshell one of the

most precious

realities of the

Christian life, and

one of the most

easily overlooked by

us.

Brother,

sister, if you

have trusted in

Jesus, then you

are united to

Jesus.

You are in

him.

Like this.

Paul is saying

here that when

Jesus was crucified,

all those who

would ever bind

themselves to him

by faith were

also crucified

with him,

becoming dead to

self and alive to

God through their

union with Jesus.

Now what does that

actually mean?

How does that

flesh it out?

Well it means as

far as being made

right with God is

concerned, I might

as well not be

alive.

I'm not even alive

anymore if I'm

trying to prove

myself, justify

myself before God.

Paul says it's no

longer I who live.

I'm not living

before God to

justify myself.

Now Christ does

that for me.

The old Billy

Nye, the pre-conversion

to Jesus Billy

Nye, was living

to justify himself

before God and

it was horrible.

But the converted

justified Billy

Nye, who is united

to Jesus by faith,

is dead to any

attempts to

justify myself.

In fact, my own

sinful self died

with Jesus on the

cross.

He put the death

nail in my old

self that was

enslaved to the

twin masters of

sin and self-

justification.

So now by

embracing Jesus as

my justification

and not myself

as the only way

to be right with

God, Jesus put

my old self to

death.

He gave me a new

life in him that

has him as the

indwelling and

reigning king.

It's no longer I

who lives but

Christ who lives

in me.

Jesus lives for

me before God

now as my

justification.

So embracing

your new

relationship with

Jesus as your

justification means

that you now have

the spirit of

Jesus at work in

you.

He's bearing

spirit to your

spirit in God's

presence that you

are in his son and

therefore you are

one of his sons or

daughters.

So because my old

self is now

crucified with Jesus

and because Jesus

lives before God as

my justification and

he indwells me by

his spirit, the

actual life I do

live day to day, I

live by faith in

him.

It's dependent faith

and it's not a

life of fear or

shame or drudgery

but it's a life of

grateful adoration.

Did you catch the

end of verse 20?

The life I live in

the flesh I live by

faith in the son of

God who loved me and

gave himself for me.

You can't help but

hear the gratitude and

the joy spilling out

of Paul as he talks

about living by faith

in God's son.

He can't talk about

the cross of Christ

without his own

personal delight in

Jesus' love for him

gushing out of him.

Jesus loved Paul,

the guy who violently

oppressed the church

and hated the very

name of Jesus.

So brother and

sister, do you see

his love for you?

He gave himself for

you?

Embrace that.

Embrace him as your

justification.

Discard your own

attempts at justifying

yourself that died

with him and embrace

the one who loved you

by giving himself for

you.

Let's come to the

fourth stop now,

verse 21.

We'll call this stop

a line in the sand.

A line in the sand.

Look at verse 21.

I do not nullify the

grace of God, for if

righteousness were

through the law, then

Christ died for no

purpose.

There's not a lot of

new content in this

verse.

Paul summarizing what

he had already said

to Peter, which was

recorded for the

Galatians and also for

us.

If righteousness comes

from our obedience,

then Jesus died for

nothing.

It was a joke.

A terribly tragic joke.

But you can't miss the

line that Paul draws in

the sand.

I do not nullify the

grace of God in

comparison to Peter,

who had just begun to

nullify the grace of

God through his

actions.

actions.

To say that we

contribute anything to

being justified before

God is to nullify God's

grace, to make it

nothing for no purpose.

If we do that, then God's

incredibly costly grace of

sending Jesus to die for

us was for nothing.

It didn't accomplish or do

anything at all.

And Peter was essentially

doing that by switching

tables.

That's why Paul had to

rebuke him in this way.

And that's what the

Galatians were doing, as

Paul is going to make

very clear in the very

next verse, but I'll let

Pastor Mike do that next

week.

And it's also what we do.

Consciously or

unconsciously, if we do

not keep the gospel of

grace in the center of our

lives.

It's a line in the sand

and you can't straddle it.

You got to be on one

side or the other.

And Peter shifted across

this line unconsciously,

and we can too.

He moved from living with

his life, with the unique

gospel of grace at the

center of his life, to

removing it altogether by

his actions and leading

others astray by doing so.

So we must consciously and

diligently keep this unique

gospel at the center of our

faith, or else we cross the

line, and we get out of

step with the gospel, and

we make the grace of God a

joke.

So we've made four stops

along this train ride, all

the way to the heart of the

gospel.

Now I'd like us to consider

three ways to respond in

faith and obedience, and I've

hinted at a lot of this

already.

Number one, stop justifying

yourself.

Stop justifying yourself.

Hear those words lovingly,

but stop justifying yourself.

There's a famous Bob Newhart

comedy sketch in which he

plays a psychiatrist seeing a

patient who's suffering from

extreme claustrophobia.

And after listening to her

problem, he says, well, now I

have two little words for you

that I think will help clear

this problem up rather well.

And of course, she's very

interested, and she leans in

and wants to hear what he has

to say.

And so after a dramatic pause,

he yells, stop it!

God, through Paul, is basically

saying that to Peter, and he's

also saying that to the

Galatians.

How could he not be saying that

to us?

Stop trying to justify

yourself.

Now, I'm pretty sure nobody in

this room is seriously

considering getting circumcised

or eating kosher food as a way

to justify themselves before

God.

If you are, let's talk

afterwards.

But hopefully this sermon

made sense to you if you've

been considering that.

But that's not the way we, in

our culture and in our

evangelical subculture, tend

to slip into self-justification.

After all, we love the gospel

of grace.

None of us would deny it.

However, Peter did, and he

loved the gospel of grace

too.

He slipped into self-justifying

ways and led a whole bunch of

people along with him.

So, how do we do that?

Well, we do it in a thousand

different ways.

Self-righteousness is slippery.

Self-justifying is very slippery.

Here's one way in particular.

We can consider ourselves to be

good, legit, decent Christians

in comparison with those

Christians.

It's a self-righteous

judgmentalism.

So, for example, Christians

who don't drink alcohol can

judge those who do drink

alcohol and vice versa.

Christians who support

Trump judge those who

hate Trump and vice versa.

Reform Christians judge

Arminian Christians and vice

versa.

Charismatics judge

non-charismatics and vice

versa.

Social justice activist

Christians judge more

conservative Christians and

vice versa.

White Christians judge black

Christians and vice versa.

the list could go on.

The fact is, we all have a tendency to want to justify ourselves

with regard to other believers thinking that we are the legit Christians

because we do certain things or don't do certain things

in comparison to these Christians.

We tend to develop a certain set of self-righteous merit badges

that we can wear

because we mistakenly think that God approves of us more

than those people over there

because of the things that we do or don't do.

And that is a form of self-justification

and the church can't do that.

We must stop it.

The one who loved me

by giving himself for me on the cross

is the same one who loved you

and gave himself for you on the cross

and is the same one who loved them

and gave himself for them on the cross.

Only the blood of Jesus makes us right and approved before God.

Only the righteousness of Jesus

that God has graciously clothed us with

is able to make us stand before God

as approved and precious in his sight.

Period.

There are no first and second class Christians

in Christ's kingdom.

We all get in like little children

trusting humbly and dependently

on the perfect righteousness of Jesus

and his shed blood for our sin.

Period.

Period.

So take a look just around the room for a moment.

Just kind of look at each other.

It's kind of fun to do that every once in a while.

We are a bunch of different people.

We're white collar, blue collar, no collar.

We're black, white, Asian, Hispanic.

We're educated or self-educated.

We're socially awkward.

We're socially savvy.

We're biblically literate or not literate at all.

We're visually well put together

or just barely hanging together.

We're young.

We're old.

But what unites us

is the plain fact that none of us can do anything

to get right with God on our own.

We are completely dependent upon Christ

and Christ alone.

So what should be running through your head

when you see your fellow Christians right now

is the same blood that was shed to justify me

was also shed to justify them.

Now there are other ways we can tend to justify ourselves.

We can overemphasize our spiritual disciplines,

for example.

We can see them as a way

to maintain our righteous standing before God

as if God smiles on us more

when we read our Bible

than on the day that we don't read our Bible.

We know deep down that reading our Bible and praying

won't make God love us more

or consider us more righteous

than we are already in Christ,

and yet we can easily slip into that mindset.

We can also blame others for our sin

as a way to justify ourselves.

We can also ignore certain parts of God's Word

to lower His holy standard to justify ourselves.

But no matter how we do it,

we've got to stop.

This passage won't let us continue to think

that we contribute anything

to our righteousness before God at all.

It's only by trusting in Jesus,

and we are no better than anyone else who does too.

Number two,

embrace your union with Christ.

Embrace your union with Christ.

This is the biggest antidote to number one.

This is the antidote to self-justification.

When you realize that you are no longer married to the law,

but you are married to Christ,

and all that was yours,

all that yucky stuff,

is now His,

and all that is His,

all that lovely stuff,

is now yours,

and that He has committed to you forever in love,

then the need to justify yourself

just kind of fades away.

Imagine a woman

who was not only poor,

sick,

and a million dollars in debt,

but also a convicted felon in jail

with a $10 million bail.

Okay?

Get that picture in your head.

Now imagine a brilliant millionaire doctor slash lawyer

who's healthy

and an upstanding citizen.

He goes to the jail,

pays her bail,

goes to her creditors,

and pays off her debts.

He proposes marriage to her

after finding a miracle cure for her sickness

and getting her free from all her charges.

Upon their marriage,

He shares with her all His wealth,

all His upstanding reputation,

all His wisdom,

and all His affection.

Now if that can start to make our mouths

drop a little bit in awe,

then we're just starting to begin to understand

how astounding it is

to be united to Jesus by faith.

We offer Him nothing but our sin.

That's it.

He offers us everything

at great cost to Himself

and binds us to Him

through grace.

And once we are united to Him,

then we're dead to trying to justify ourselves before God.

Because Jesus has already done that.

He's already shed His blood for it.

So we're dead to our old ways

of wanting to continue in sin.

Because He dwells within us by His Spirit.

And we yield to Him as our King and our Lord.

And we're alive

to wanting to please God

because through our union with Jesus,

we now have God as our Father.

Father.

So if you've trusted in Christ,

then this is live for you now.

This is your reality now.

It's not like kind of partway

and you kind of gradually edge into it.

No, it's just boom.

Once you're married, you're married.

You're not half married.

You're one with Him now.

And you are as united to Him now

as you will ever be for eternity.

So embrace Him.

Move toward Him in faith.

Drop any sin that you're clinging to.

Drop any self-justifying ways

that you're hoping in.

Revel in His love for you like Paul did.

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.

And as Paul mentioned in verse 17,

just because Jesus had fulfilled the law of Moses

and were justified by Him in faith

and not by keeping the law,

then that doesn't mean that Jesus supports law-breaking.

So you're not united to Him now.

And Christ is not a servant of sin.

So if you're one with Him,

then you're dead to sin.

You've been crucified with Him.

So embrace Him, not sin.

If you happen to be feeling the conviction of the Spirit

for a particular sin,

or you know that you've been running away from Him for a while,

and you need to turn around,

then do that now.

Repent.

Come back to your new husband,

because He's good, He's generous,

and He will never leave you dissatisfied.

And if you're finding yourself as a believer

who knows and even loves the Gospel,

but your joy has been kind of slowly ebbing away,

take some time to soak in the truth of your union with Him.

Read verse 16.

Read verse 20 over and over and over again

until it kind of starts to get traction in your heart

and remind yourself that it is your relationship with Him only

that makes you right with God.

So exercise that muscle of faith and trust

in that new relationship,

and I think that you'll begin to experience joy again.

And number three,

offer this Gospel.

Offer this Gospel.

This is the most precious truth anyone can ever hear.

It requires boldness and courage and faith

to offer it to someone who may not receive it,

and it grates against the fear of being rejected by people,

which we all face, just like Peter did.

But the fact is that we, as the Church of Jesus,

are the only people on the face of the planet

who carry around this light in an otherwise very dark world.

So act in faith, just like Paul did in confronting Peter,

to offer this Gospel of getting right with God by faith in Christ.

Let it flow out of you in your joy of your union with Him.

Freely you receive this Gospel,

so freely give it away.

Perhaps this Gospel is something that you yourself

are just starting to understand, perhaps for the first time.

If that's you, then embrace it.

It's being offered to you,

so embrace it with your whole heart.

Ask God to make you right with Him.

Put your trust in Jesus.

Talk to someone about it, too.

Some of the pastors and elders

would be happy to pray with you down here at the end of service.

So church, let's keep this Gospel central.

Let's keep it as the centerpiece of our lives,

and let's work hard to keep it there.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

We thank you, Father, that your word is a shield to those who trust in you,

and you never change.

All that you say is true and right and good.

So God, help us to receive it now by faith.

Give us the strength we need to respond in obedience.

And give us great joy as we rejoice in the grace you've given us in Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.