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Justification by Faith
Galatians 2:15-21 This brings us to the
doctrinal section of this marvelous epistle, which deals with justification
by faith. In this section Paul shows his perspective as a Jew. We who are Jews by nature,
and not sinners of the Gentiles [Gal. 2:15]. The Jew in that day looked
upon the Gentile as a sinner. In fact, Gentile and sinner were synonymous
terms. Therefore, the rebuke that Paul gave shows the folly of lawkeeping --
how really foolish it is to try to be good enough to go to heaven, and how
ridiculous to consider others to be sinners when you keep failing at your
own lawkeeping. Knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we
have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified [Gal. 2:16]. This is a clear-cut and
simple statement of justification by faith. Believe me, the legalist has
trouble with this verse. This verse will upset every legal system there is
today. To say that you have to add anything to faith in Christ absolutely
mutilates the gospel. Notice what Paul says here.
If a Jew had to leave the Law behind -- that is, forsake it -- in order to
be justified by faith, Paul's question is, "Why should the Gentile be
brought under the Law?" That was the great argument at the council of Could the Gentile find
justification under the Law when the Jew had already proven that it was
impossible? The Jews had had the Law for almost fifteen hundred years and
had not been able to keep the Law at all. Why force the Gentile under that
which had not saved even one Israelite? Gentile believers were already
justified by grace. It would be folly for the Gentiles to turn from grace to
the Law which had been unable to justify the Jew. "Knowing that a man." Now
let's pick this verse apart. This is something you can know -- you can know
whether you are saved or not. What kind of "man" is this verse speaking
about? Anthropos is the Greek word, a generic term meaning "mankind." It
speaks of the solidarity of the race, the common humanity that we all have.
This breaks the social barrier of color. It breaks the barrier of race. ill.--There is only 1 race,
in truth. We all are brown.
Some have more dominant brown and some of us less.
Racism will always be with us, but it has no real basis.
We are all the product of our environment, our choices, etc. There is no social barrier.
All men are on one level before the Cross, and that level happens to be
"sinner." You are a sinner. I am a sinner. I don't care who you are, you are
a sinner in God's sight. "Knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law" -- the word 'the' is not in the original;
so it should read "not justified by works of law." This includes the Mosaic
system, and it includes any legal system. This is what I mean: if you say
that you have to join a certain church, or that you have to have a certain
experience, or that you have to be baptized to be saved, you are
contradicting this verse. "Knowing that a man is not justified by works of
law" -- any law. Paul embraces the whole legal system that is found in every
religion. This makes Christianity different from every religion on topside
of the earth. Every religion that I know anything about -- and I have
studied many of the cults and religions of this world -- instruct us to do
something. Christianity is different.
It tells us that we are justified by faith; that is, faith is an
accomplished act. Every other religion says do. Christianity says done. The
great transaction is done, and we are asked to believe it. Let me call your attention
to an important verse in 1 Corinthians: "Wherefore I give you to understand,
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed..." (1Cor.
12:3). Now the question for you and me is: how can we call Jesus accursed?
If you say to me, "Jerry, when you came to Christ and accepted Him as your
Savior, you didn't get all that was coming to you. The Holy Spirit can give
you something that you didn't get in Christ, and you ought to seek that
today?" To do that depreciates the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross when
He came to this earth to die for you and work out a salvation so perfect
that when He went back to heaven He sat down at the right hand of God (see
Heb. 1:3). He sat down because there was nothing else to be done. If there
had been anything else, He would have done it before He sat down. When you
say that He didn't do it all for me, you are saying that Jesus is accursed.
And you can't say that by the Holy Spirit of God. When you came to Christ,
He gave you everything you will need in this life. He is the Alpha and the
Omega. He is the Amen -- and when you say "amen," you are through, my
friend. Christ did it all. This verse is so clear it
is impossible to misunderstand it. "Knowing that a man (any human being --
man or woman, black or white, rich or poor, Roman, American, Chinese) is not
justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ." It is
not faith plus something; it is faith plus nothing. The verse continues: "even
we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ." Who does Paul mean by "we"? He includes himself, meaning we
Israelites. He is saying that he and his fellow Jews had to leave the Law,
come to Christ, and trust Him in order to be justified by the faith of
Christ rather than by the works of law. The conclusion of this
verse is so clear I feel that anybody can understand it: "for by the works
of the law shall no flesh be justified." Now the next verse is a little more
difficult to understand. But if, while we seek to be
justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore
Christ the minister of sin? God forbid [Gal. 2:17]. The word justified is the
Greek dikaioo, which means "to declare a person right," or "to make him
right." We are declared to be right by our faith in Jesus Christ. It means
that a sinner who is guilty before God, who is under condemnation and
judgment, is declared to be right with God on the basis of his faith in the
redemption which we have in Christ. It is not only forgiveness of sins,
which is subtraction; it is the addition of the righteousness of Christ. He
is declared righteous. The righteousness I have is not my own righteousness,
because my righteousness is not acceptable; but I have a perfect
righteousness which is Christ. The sense of this verse
seems to be this: Since the Jew had to forsake the Law in order to be
justified by Christ and therefore take his place as a sinner, is Christ the
One who makes him a sinner? Paul's answer is, "Of course not." The Jew, like
the Gentile, was a sinner by nature. He could not be justified by the Law,
as he demonstrated. This same thought was given by Peter in his address
before the great council at For if I build again the
things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor [Gal. 2:18]. In other words, Paul is
saying, "If I go back under law, I make myself a transgressor." However he
is free from the Law. How did he become free from the Law? For I through the law am
dead to the law, that I might live unto God [Gal. 2:19]. Paul is saying, "When
Christ died, He died for me. He died in my stead because the Law had
condemned me." You see, the Law was a ministration of condemnation; a
ministration of death is what Paul calls it in 2 Corinthians 3:7. It
condemns me. Under the legal system God would have had to destroy the nation The Law, therefore,
condemned me. The Law has accused man. We stand guilty before the Law. So
the Law actually is responsible for Jesus' dying for us. The Law condemned
us -- said we had to die. All right now, if I am dead to the Law, then I am
no longer responsible to the Law. The Law has already killed me. It has
executed me, and I am dead -- dead to the Law. Therefore, the Law could not
do for me what Christ has done for me. He not only took my place and died
for me, but He also did something else. He was able to give me life. He came
back from the dead. You see, the Law arrested, condemned, sentenced, and
slew us -- that is all the Law could do for us. If you want to come by the
Law route, you'll get death. Only Christ can give you life. And, after all,
life is what we need today. I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me [Gal. 2:20]. This verse states a fact
which is true of every believer. We are not to seek to be crucified with
Christ. I have also heard many people quote verse 20 and talk about carrying
their cross. They are sincerely mistaken in this case. There are many people
today who talk about wanting to live the "crucified" life. That is not what
Paul is talking about in this verse. We are not to seek to be crucified with
Christ. We have already been crucified with Him. The death of Christ upon
the cross was not only penal (that is, paying the penalty for our sins), but
it was substitutionary also. He was not only the sacrifice for sin; He was
the substitute for all who believe. Paul declares, therefore,
that under the Law he was tried, found guilty, was condemned, and in the
person of his Substitute he was slain. When did that take place? It took
place when Christ was crucified. Paul was crucified with Christ. But
"nevertheless I live." How do I live? In Christ. He is alive today at God's
right hand. We are told that we have been put in Christ. You cannot improve
on that. It is a foolish notion that we can crucify ourselves.
Sure, we all have our cross to bear, and we should daily put our
flesh to death, but all glory for the crucifixion goes to the One Who was
crucified there! You can commit suicide in
many different ways. You can hang yourself, shoot yourself, take poison,
jump off a high building, or jump in front of a truck. There are many ways
to end your life, but you cannot crucify yourself. When you nail one hand to
the cross, who is going to nail your other hand to the cross? You cannot do
it yourself. You must understand what Paul is talking about when he says, "I
am crucified with Christ." Paul was crucified with
Christ when Christ died. Christ died a substitutionary death. He died for
Paul. He died for you. He died for me. In Romans 6 we are told
that we have been buried with Christ by baptism, by identification. We have
been raised with Him in newness of life, and now we are joined to the living
Christ.
Paul is saying, "I am
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live." He died for me down here that I
might live in Him up yonder and that He might live in me down here. "And the
life," Paul says, "which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the
Son of God." What kind of life is this? It is a life of faith -- saved by
faith, live by faith, walk by faith. This is what it means to walk in the
Spirit. "I live by the faith of the
Son of God" -- look how tender this is -- "who loved me, and gave himself
for me." Christ loved me, but He could not love me into heaven. He had to
give Himself for me. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. You
can receive a gift only by faith. This applies to any gift, for that matter.
You have to believe that the giver who holds out the gift to you is sincere.
You must believe that he is telling the truth when he holds it out to you
and says, "It is yours." You have to reach out in faith and take it before
it belongs to you. God offers you the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus. The content of this verse
leads me to believe that Paul was present at the crucifixion of Christ. Paul
was a Pharisee, and they were the ones who led in the Crucifixion. Paul was
a leader in the persecution of the church. He was also one who hated the
Lord Jesus Christ. He probably was attending school in Now after Paul came to know
the glorified Christ, the One who died down here, the One who rose again and
is at God's right hand, Paul could remember that day and say, "While I was
there ridiculing Him, shooting out the lip at Him, expressing my hatred for
Him, He loved me and He gave Himself for me!" He gave Himself -- the supreme
sacrifice. Paul called himself the chief of sinners, which was not
hyperbole...he wasn't just saying it for impact. It was an actual fact; he
was the chief of sinners. You can tread underfoot the
precious blood of Christ by ignoring Him, turning away from Him, or turning
against Him as Paul did. But it was for that crowd that Jesus prayed,
"...Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do..." (Luke 23:34).
Even if you hate Him, He was loving you and giving Himself for you.
He loves the atheist who today denies Him.
He loves the tribesman who has never yet heard of Him.
And He loves the worldly person who has no time to consider Him. I do not frustrate the
grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in
vain [Gal. 2:21]. The main thought in this
verse is simply that if there had been any other way to save sinners, then
God would have used that method. If a law or a religion could have been
given that would save sinners, God would have given it. The only way that an
infinite, holy God could save you and me was to send His Son to die. He was
willing to make the supreme sacrifice.
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NOTICE! Our sermons are free to download, copy and paste, edit and use as you see fit...but only our free subscribers get the newest messages, featured sermons, and some free gifts we shower on them from time to time! Help keep this service free by recommending it using the links above the sermon
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