Justified by faith alone Galatians 2:15-21 · Join the Journey

Justified by faith alone

Galatians 2:15-21

Imagine standing in a courtroom. The evidence is overwhelming. Every lie, every selfish act, every sinful thought has been presented before the judge.

You know you're guilty.

The judge reads the verdict: "Guilty as charged."

Then someone stands up and says, "I'll take his punishment."

The judge accepts the payment and then declares you righteous.

Not because you were innocent.

Not because you earned it.

Not because you promised to do better.

Because someone else paid your debt.

That's what justification means.

Most people think Christianity is about trying harder to become good enough for God. But the gospel says something radically different. We can never be good enough. That's why Jesus came.

Last week we saw Paul addressing two problems that we still face and struggle with today. Legalism on the one hand and hypocrisy on the other. Trying to earn God’s favor and caring more about people’s approval then God’s. and the gospel is the answer to both. Jesus plus nothing is all we need.

Today Paul will double down. He will show us that we are justified by faith in Jesus and not by works.

If you have your bibles.. Galatians 2 right after 2 Corinthians right before Ephesians.

Justified by faith and no works

Galatians 2:15-16

Galatians 2:15–16

Remember that Paul had confronted Peter for not acting in line with the truth of the gospel. Paul confronted Peter because he loved him. By Peter’s hypocrisy he was affirming the false believers that were trying to imprison the Gentile by putting on their necks the yoke of the law.

Paul reminds them that both Jews and Gentiles, non-jews, are justified in the same way. Not by the works of the law. But by faith in Jesus! Now if you want to do a deep dive on this same thing, Paul lays out this argument in full in Romans 1-8.

The term justified is a legal term. It means to be declared righteous in the sight of God. It is the opposite of being condemned.

Here’s our problem we are all guilty. The reason justification is such good news is because of our condition apart from Christ.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Imagine getting pulled over for speeding.

You tell the officer:

"I usually obey the speed limit."

"I've never robbed a bank."

"I help my neighbors."

None of those things matter.

The question isn't whether you've done some good things.

The question is: Did you break the law?

Likewise, before God, our good deeds can't erase our guilt.

One violation makes us lawbreakers.

What we all have earned. What you and I deserve, because everyone means everybody. You, me, him, her all of us have sinned. What we all deserve, earned is death, condemnation because we all have sinned. When we try to be declared righteous by following the law, we fall short. We all fail and thus stand condemned.

So if we stand condemned before a holy God, how can we ever be made right with Him? That's the most important question any person can ask. And the answer is not found in ourselves.

Every religion in the world asks the same question: "How can I be made right with God?" Most religions answer with some version of: "Do more. Try harder. Be better."

But the gospel stands alone. The gospel says the work has already been done through Jesus Christ.

So how are we made right with God? In one word. Grace! Grace is God giving people what they have not worked for. God’s Riches At Christ Expense.

The wages we have earned with our sin is condemnation. But the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus. And so if we can’t be justified by own effort, we can only be justified by our faith or our trust in the effort of Jesus.

The law could never save us. Not because the law is weak, but because we are. The problem was never God's standard. The problem is us. We can't keep it. And so the only way we are made right with God, declared righteous, justified is through faith in Jesus.

These false believers, Paul is addressing, argued that if you are justified by faith it does away with the law, it encouraged sinful living. That Jesus promotes sin. Paul addresses that next.

Grace does not encourage sin

Galatians 2:17-18

Galatians 2:17–18

Well, if we are declared righteous, justified by faith in Jesus and not by our works, doesn’t that mean we can live however we want too. We can keep living for sin. Doing as we please. Or that somehow Jesus is prompting sin? Paul emphatically declares. Absolutely not!

On the contrary, if a believer returns to the law after trusting Jesus alone for salvation, the law would only show them that they are a sinner.

If we rebuild the prison cell that we destroyed, then we really would be a lawbreaker.

Imagine a man who has been released from prison.

His sentence is paid.

The gates open.

He's free.

But every night he sneaks back into his old cell and locks the door.

People would think he's crazy.

Yet that's what Christians do when they try to earn what Jesus already purchased. Jesus has set us free. Why would we go back?

Here is what Paul says in Romans.

Romans 5:20-6:2

Romans 5:20–6:2

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Our salvation by God’s grace through faith, doesn’t mean that we should go on sinning. We have died to sin so we must stop living in it.

So if we have died to sin and to the law, then what are we living for? The answer is, God!

Faith unites us to Christ's death and resurrection

Galatians 2:19-20

Galatians 2:19–20

Paul describes the transformation that happens within us when we come to God through faith in Jesus, as death and resurrection.

Think about a child adopted from an orphanage. For years he wondered if anyone wanted him. Then one day a family chooses him. Brings him home. Gives him their name. Provides everything he needs.

Now imagine that child continuing to introduce himself as an orphan.

Friends, your old identity died. Yet many Christians still introduce themselves mentally by their failures.

"I'm the addict."

"I'm the divorcee."

"I'm the failure."

"I'm the person who messed up."

No.

If you are in Christ:

You are forgiven.

You are redeemed.

You are adopted.

You are justified.

You are loved.

Live from your new identity in Jesus. That's not who you are anymore.

Through faith in Jesus, your old life has died and you've been raised to live for God.

Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ."

My old life died.

My old identity died.

The person trying to save himself died.

"It is no longer I who live."

Paul isn't saying he physically disappeared.

He's saying the center of his life changed.

The old Paul who lived for himself is gone.

"But Christ lives in me."

Christianity isn't self-improvement.

It's Christ-transformation.

The goal isn't to become a better version of yourself.

The goal is for Christ to live His life through you.

"Who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Notice how personal Paul gets.

Not merely:

"Christ loved the world."

But:

"Christ loved me."

Not:

"Christ gave Himself for sinners."

But:

"Christ gave Himself for me."

Think about that. Paul doesn't say Jesus loved people. He doesn't say Jesus loved sinners. Both are true. He says Jesus loved me. The Creator of the universe knew every sin Paul would commit and still loved him enough to die for him. And Christian, the same is true for you.

The law demanded death for lawbreakers. Yet, Jesus willingly took the death penalty that the law demanded for us. So now we can live for God.

Paul explains in Romans 6 that through faith we are united with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection.

Romans 6:3-11

Romans 6:3–11

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

That's why baptism matters. Baptism isn't us earning salvation. It's us trusting in and identifying with the finished work of Jesus. As Peter says, baptism saves not because water has power, but because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Through faith in Jesus we die to sin, are raised to new life, and now live for God.

It is only by Gods’ grace, through faith in Jesus at baptism that we die to sin and the law and are raised to live for God.

But if we return to the cell of the law then did Jesus died for nothing?

Adding our works to salvation, empties the cross of its meaning

Galatians 2:21

Imagine hiring a contractor to build your house. When he finishes, you walk in carrying a hammer and nail. You pound one nail into the wall and say: "Now I've helped build the house."

The house was already finished. Your nail contributed nothing. That's what happens when we try to add our works to Christ's finished work.

Jesus didn't do 99% and leave 1% for us. No, He finished it all.

When we like these false believers and Peter return to saying, yes Jesus save, but you have to earn or repay it. You have to add your effort. Or if we could have saved ourselves by keeping the law, then Jesus died for nothing. But we can’t and He didn’t.

Many believers understand grace with their minds, but live as if God loves them based on performance.

Some think:

• God loves me more when I read my Bible.

• God loves me more when I serve.

• God loves me more when I have a good week.

Now Bible reading and serving matter. But they don't make God love you more. You don't obey for acceptance. You obey because you've already been accepted.

When some people hear grace and think: "Then my obedience doesn't matter."

Paul says absolutely not. A person who has truly encountered Jesus doesn't want more sin. They want more Jesus. Grace doesn't make us careless. Grace changes our desires.

The question isn't: "How much sin can I get away with?"

The question is: "How can I honor the One who gave Himself for me?"

Many church people have spent years trying to prove themselves. Friends, you can show up every Sunday and still be trusting yourself instead of Jesus.

Some of you are trusting:

• Your baptism date.

• Your church attendance.

• Your Bible knowledge.

• Your giving record.

• Your ministry service.

Those are wonderful things. But none of them justify you. You would never say it out loud, but if someone asked why God should let you into heaven, your first answer would be:

"Because I've been faithful."

"Because I've served."

"Because I've been in church my whole life."

Friend, the only answer that saves is: "Because Jesus died and rose again for me."

Your hope is not: "I've been a good Christian."

Your hope is: "Jesus was a perfect Savior."

The ground at the foot of the cross is level. The newest believer and the oldest saint are saved exactly the same way. By grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Maybe you've spent your life trying to earn what God only gives by grace.

Maybe you've been trying to prove yourself.

Maybe you've been trying to clean yourself up.

Stop trusting in yourself.

Start trusting Jesus.

And rest in Jesus.

Because the greatest news in the world is that God is not asking you to make yourself righteous. He is offering righteousness as a gift through His Son. And Jesus is enough.

Friends if you remember one verse from this sermon, remember this:

The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.