That's the old. our justification the justification
of you that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is Christ himself
and the faith which God has given you is that light the light of
Christ whereby we see behold what our God has done for us
in the Lord Jesus in the Lord Jesus Christ, thanks
to the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his blood, who went to the
cross as our mediator, as our surety, as our sacrifice to put
away our sins and to make us righteous, justified before God. And the opposite of that, what
Paul declares is, we're not made righteous by the works of the
law. justified by the law kind of combination between Christ
and the law or all of Christ or all of the law and they try
to harmonize those two that's a lie that's deceitful that's
not the gospel that's not what the Lord declares in the gospel
and so we don't blend them together we don't look to the law for
righteousness we look to the Lord Jesus Christ Paul said it
this way in verse 16 that a man is not justified by
the works of the law this knowing that we have is is the light
of Christ making this known to us he reveals this to us man's
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 our of the law for by the works
of the law shall no flesh be justified and as we're looking
at the law here as we're going through this study remember that
the Lord in his words just refers to them as the law. We as men, as men, men make a
distinction in their minds, in their own brains. They come up
with a distinction and like to talk about the ceremonial parts
of the law, and the moral parts of the law, and the civil law,
but God believe Christ and trust him
for all your righteousness you're not under the law after the manner
of Moses that encompasses all the ceremony the civil the moral
you're not under the law after the manner of Moses in any way
we have a more sure word of prophecy we have a more sure righteousness our God in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I've titled today's message,
A More Sure Righteousness. A More Sure Righteousness. So, let's take this back to what
Paul has been addressing for us. Using his language, right? We'll look at the language he
uses. It's actually not even his language, but he uses language
to describe sinners of the Gentiles. Look
at verse 15. He says we who are Jews by nature
are not sinners of the Gentiles. Now, what Paul is saying here,
well, he's not saying that Gentiles are sinners and we Jews are not
sinners. That's not what he's saying.
He's using the language of the Judaizers. This is their argument. This is how they saw the Gentile
believers who did not submit to believers who were looking to
Christ and trusting in Christ only and they said that these
people are not submitting themselves to the law after the manner of
Moses. before God and Barnabas and Peter
they were by their actions they were adding to what these Judaizers
were saying that the Gentiles are transgressors of the law
against God and by their actions when they broke fellowship with
the Gentiles at mealtime you're you're you're a step below
at best if not all together deficient of of righteousness and so what
they're saying there by their actions is faith in Christ alone
is not That's how they were looking
at it. And so the legalists were the ones that were saying, these
are sinners of the Gentiles. These are Gentile sinners. They're
sinners. They're transgressors of the
law. They've got a big gap to make up under the law after the
manner of Moses. And so they're saying Christ
alone is not sufficient. And so, if the believer, the
one who trusts Christ, is not circumcised after the manner
of Moses, they're saying he cannot be saved. He can't be saved. And so, in other words, if we
don't try to keep the law, this is what the Judaizers are saying,
the legalists, if we don't try to keep the law, then we're a
sinner. transgressors against God's law,
but if you look in any aspect of the law for right Do you just have certain parts
of the law that you like to follow? If you look to the law for righteousness
on any part, you're on the hook for keeping the whole thing. You've now submitted yourself,
you've put your neck under the yoke of the law, the whole of
it for righteousness. All of it. Look over at Galatians
3, verse 10. Galatians 3, 10. Paul said, For as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. Drop down to verse 12,
Galatians 3, 12. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live. Now, the Gentiles who believed
Christ, those Gentiles who professed the Lord Jesus Christ, the majority
of them, unless they were proselytes, the majority of them were never
under the law to Moses. They were never under that law
to Moses. They were there practicing their idolatry, bowing down before
a stone, or looking to some idol covered in gold or silver, and
then Paul comes preach the truth and they're
listening to what he said and they heard the gospel and there
were some that believed without ever coming under the law of
Moses you look at Mars Hill right when Paul was up there preaching
on Mars Hill he never pointed them to the law he pointed them
to the risen Christ he pointed them to Christ and many rejected
it and said that that's nonsense some said well here you claim on to Paul. They clung to Paul. They said,
we want to hear more. We want to go with you and hear
more of this salvation, of this Savior that you preach. And so those Gentile believers
were never under the law. We can see an example of what
Paul preached. If you look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 2, 1 Corinthians 2, the first two verses, of all the churches, all the
Gentile churches that Paul went to, including Galatia. Well,
here in Corinth, he said, and I, brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. I didn't come as
a philosopher declaring unto you the testimony of God. I determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And so that's what Paul preached
to the Gentile churches. Gentile churches without ever
coming under the law of Moses what a blessing what a blessing
that is that they were never bound with that confusion and
that darkness and and and that future utility and vanity of
trying to work a righteousness for yourselves by the law of
Moses. And they knew some sense of it in idolatry and the foolish
things they did there, but not after the manner of Moses. And
just as Paul preached the gospel faithfully to the Gentiles, so
did Peter. Peter, when you look at what
Peter testified in Acts 15, verses 8 and 9, Peter had gone into
the house of Cornelius the Gentile, loaded with a bunch of other
Gentiles, and here he is, a Jew, who goes into the house of a
Gentile, an unclean lawbreaker, and he enters his house. That's
why the Jews met him on the way back, because they didn't like
that he went into, did we hear right, that he went into a Gentile's
house, Peter? What are you thinking?" And Peter
testified, well, God, which knows the hearts, bear them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us. He poured
out the Holy Ghost on them, under the preaching of the Gospel,
and He put no difference between us and them, purifying their
hearts by faith, apart from the law. They never came under the
law. He purified their hearts by faith. And so, even our faith,
the faith of a believer, can't even be called a work of our
flesh. We can't even boast of our faith. Faith is not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. And that's what our Lord gives
us. brings forth that has any part
in salvation all the fruits of righteousness born in us we give
thanks unto God we bow before him and cast every one of those
crowns before him and say Lord you're worthy you're worthy because
this is your fruit this is what you've born in me I am a worthy sinner, but by
your love and grace and mercy shown to me in Christ, Lord,
thank you. And so the child of God believes
in Christ, trusting the faith of Christ. When it speaks of
the faith of Christ, we're talking about that bloody sacrifice that
our Lord gave of Himself unto the Father, unto God, to make
an atonement for our sins, in order for God to forgive you. of all your trespasses, of all
the filthy things and shameful things that we've done in this
life, all of those things are put away before God. God doesn't see them anymore.
Christ has put them away, and you're covered in His blood,
engrobed in His righteousness. And so, we're justified by Christ's
sacrifice for us. grace of God we trust him we
believe him we say Lord yes that is my righteousness I have nothing
else but the blood and the righteousness of your son Jesus Christ you've
given him thank you Lord thank you for doing all this work and
by God's grace in Christ were accepted into the beloved family
of God were made partakers of the inheritance with the Saints
in life that's what you have to look forward to you have it
now you'll see with greater sight
in that day. And look forward to that day,
brethren, and rejoice in him. Let your heart just be glad in
what the Lord has done for you in his Son. And so this is what
Paul has been declaring in Galatians 2. Let's look at verse 16 again. This this faith of Christ, this
sacrifice of Christ, knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. He's justified by the bloody
sacrifice of Christ as our surety, as one who came and paid the
debt in full. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. Even we have been given faith
in the Spirit, whereby we trust in the sufficiency of the blood
sacrifice of Christ, that His blood is sufficient for even
me. For even me. That we might be
justified by the faith of Christ, justified by the bloody sacrifice
of the Lamb of God, whom He sent as a propitiation. from you that believe on his
son. And it's not by the works of
the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Those who come to the Father
righteousness of their own professing to believe on Christ but looking
to the law for righteousness those who profess to be righteous
by that way the Lord's gonna look on them and say you've colored
outside the lines you've gone outside the lines friend where
is thy wedding garment how did you come in here where's thy
wedding garment And so the Gentile believers, they had no need of
the law. They had no need of the law. For that cause, the Judaizers
viewed them, they said, these Gentiles, they're sinners before
God. They're yet breaking the law. When they would go to services,
they'd look at those Gentiles and feel pity for them. Look
at them and say, So close, yet there's a big gap. They still got problems. They
got problems. It's the same way that we and
our stuck-up selves in religion, before the Lord had mercy on
us, how we would look at other sinners and think that we were
something. And all we were, we were kidding
ourselves, we were legalists just like these. Trusting in
our knowledge of things and our way of doing things and we had
pity on others just like these legalizers, these Judaizers pitied
the Gentiles. And so they wouldn't even eat
with them. And they figured those Gentiles open to Christ, boy
they're gonna have a rude awakening when they stand before big moment of truth there. God's
going to say, you're not righteous. You've not done enough. You're
insufficient. But the truth is, they're the
ones that are going to get the big awakening in that day, who
are trusting in their own righteousness. When the Lord says, where's your
wedding garment? You're standing before me, maybe, trusting in
your own righteousness. So the believer knows, as it
says in Galatians 6.15, That in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. But a new
creature. And that's our hope. Because
in Christ Jesus, he's made his people a new creation. Old things
have passed away. Behold, all things are beginning. It's all new. It's all of Christ. We don't look back to the Old
Testament, to the Old Covenant rather. We don't look back to
the Old Covenant. We rejoice in the new covenant of grace
that's been declared in the Old Testament by the prophets, and
the law, and the Psalms, and all them that love the Lord. in his son, the purpose of his
grace in Jesus Christ. And so, to the legalists, back
then and now, the Gentile believers, they look at them and say, they're
antinomians, they're without fault. We're not without law, we're
under the law of liberty, under the law of faith, under the law
of Christ, whereby in Him we are justified and righteous.
And He keeps us, and He teaches us, and He fills us with His
Spirit, and He corrects us. He's gracious, and He's powerful. this filthy flesh. So now, with
that understanding, we're set up to better understand what
Paul means in verse 17. So let's give that a read here.
Galatians 2, 17. 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, or may it never be. Now, Paul and Barnabas and Peter,
these were believing Jews. They trusted Christ. And they
know that a man is not justified by the works of the law. They
know this. And this is what Paul had fought
so hard against when he went to Jerusalem. That the truth
of the gospel might continue with you, brethren. That it wouldn't
be polluted and fouled right from the truth of the gospel and rejoice
in Christ this day being thankful for what the Lord has done and
shown us by his light and grace in his son and so if Christ has
fulfilled the law and he's satisfied the just wrath of God by a sacrifice
and we're one with Christ then we've fulfilled the law and and
the law is satisfied with us and the just wrath of God is
satisfied dead to the law. Any requirement
it had has been met in full by the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
met in you who are one with Christ. And we know that oneness, that
union by the faith which He's given us. We see it, we behold
it. It's like a light shining in our hearts and we now know,
oh Lord, you've done it all. You've provided everything in
your Son. You're not looking to me for
anything else. You look to your Son. It was my surety, my all,
my salvation. And so, we're dead to that law,
and the work of redemption by our Savior, He accomplished everything
necessary. And so we rejoice, we give Him
all the glory, all the praise, all the honor for His salvation,
and believers who are one with Christ enjoy it by faith. He gets all the glory, and we
enjoy it by faith, We're made happy and thankful. A thankful people when we see
it, right? When we see it and remember what
the Lord's done, we're made thankful. And we rejoice in Him. And all
that cloudiness and misery, it all gets put into perspective.
Scattered and put away and all our woes and troubles and anxieties
and fears all just fall right into place before the throne
of our sovereign God. We're thankful for Him. And so,
who really is the sinner against the law? Who's the lawbreaker
here? Who's the one breaking the law? Is it the Gentile believer? Who's already satisfied the law
and fulfilled everything that the law required in Christ? Are
we the lawbreakers here? We're not even under the law
in Christ. Or, is it the legalist? The one
who, that legalist who's still looking to the law for righteousness. knowing, knowing that there's
no way you're going to keep it perfectly. You might do a lot
of things and think you do a lot of things well, but there is
no way that you're keeping it perfectly and the law demands
perfect obedience, right? No, perfect, perfect obedience.
So we're not going to do it. We're not going to keep it. But
if we who believe Christ, Let me say, let's start, let's understand
what Paul is saying here. But if while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners. Well, first
what Paul is showing us here is the inability to blend grace
and the law. If we who believe Christ also
turn over to the law, start looking to the law for righteousness,
then we are sinning against God. Now we've made ourselves transgressors
against the law. Look over at Galatians 5.4. Paul
tells us what has become of us. In Galatians 5.4 he says, Christ
has become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you're fallen from grace. Whether you're justified
by the law part or whole you fall from grace he's saying all
right now as far as the Judaizers are concerned again the Gentile
believers they're they're sinners they're transgressors and so
Paul is using the term or the logic that these Judaizers were
using against believing Gentiles those who trusted Christ alone
those who was sufficient for me. And what
he's saying is, that makes me lawless in the eyes of the legalist. If that's the burden I have to
bear, then let me bear it. Lord, help me to bear it. If
I'm now called an antinomian or a legalist in the eyes, I
mean, an antinomian or a lawbreaker in the eyes of the legalist,
then so be it, he says. the sinners of the Gentiles that
help me among them put me with them we're trusting Christ alone
that's what it takes and that's where we're going because that's
how the Lord saves his people in and by the Lord Jesus Christ
alone that's how we're justified and that's what the gospel declares
them become one of these sinners of the Gentiles not not practicing
sin but trusting Christ alone if that makes me a lawbreaker
then in your eyes and that's what I am I'm a lawbreaker and He bore that that the truth of
the gospel would continue with you brethren to this day. If you want to hate me and despise
me, stone me, try to kill me, try to ruin me, try to follow
me all around wherever I preach the gospel to come behind me
and wreck it, fine, I'll take that. I'll bear that for my brethren
because they need Christ and Christ only is our salvation.
I've got to preach Christ. I've got to preach the cross.
That's what he testifies in all of his words. You know, so any Jews who are
looking to Christ alone and turn their back on the law for righteousness,
and they want no part of the law for righteousness, they're
living like the Gentiles, like the sinners of the Gentiles.
That's what they're doing. They're no different than those sinners
of the Gentiles. Look at Galatians 2.14. Galatians
2.14. But when I saw, he's addressing
what he said to Peter, but when I saw that they, Peter and Barnabas,
walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I
said unto Peter before them all, if thou, being a Jew, livest
after the manner of the Gentiles, one who's not under the law,
and not as do the Jews who live under the law, why compelst thou
the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Why are you teaching them
that they need to go under the law when you yourself live by
faith? You yourself trusted Christ for
all your righteousness. Why are you teaching them, these
Gentiles, to go under the law? You're not walking right, Peter.
He's saying we've turned to Christ for righteousness. Our part is
with these sinners, these Gentiles who are sinners, according to
the legalists. We live just like them. Christ
for all our righteousness just like them and so the Apostle
Paul was given grace to bear that for the elect's sake that
the truth of the gospel might continue with us to this day
you that believe in Christ that is the pure gospel that's the
grace of God in Christ and that's what Paul is saying in his other
epistles you turn over to Philippians 3 you'll see this Paul says, Yea, doubtless, and
I count all things, all my living under the law, but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom
I have suffered the loss of all things. People hate me. My own
family despises me and rejects me, he says, but I count that
all dumb, all my works, everything I gained under the law, it's
dumb. my own righteousness, which is
of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith, the wedding garment
that the saints of God wear in that day, that I may know him,
and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of the sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death." He bore that. He bore that despising of his
own country So does trusting Christ alone
for righteousness then make Christ the minister of sin? If Christ is the one saying,
look to me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved. Look to
me and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth. For I am God and
there is none else. Does that make Christ the minister
of sin then? Since you call his But if while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, sinners of
the Gentiles, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? Because
he says, look to me. Trust me for all your righteousness.
Believe me. I'm sufficient. I'm your all.
Trust me. Is therefore Christ the minister
of sin? God forbid. God forbid, he says. The legalist says, yeah, it does. That Christ that you're preaching
is a minister of sin, according to the legalist. But Paul says,
no, no, God forbid, may it never be. That's what the Greek really
is, let it never be or may it never be. May it never be, that's
just no way, not at all. That's nonsense that you're talking
there. So the legalist may charge us
with sin and may the Christ of this blessed covenant of grace
to be a minister of sin, but the reality is, rejoice and so our God demands
absolute perfection and it's all provided in his son our Lord
said in John 8 24 John 8 24 he said I therefore I said therefore
unto you that ye shall die in your sins for if he believed
not that I am he and I am Christ the Savior who saves his people
to the uttermost I've been sent by the Father to do this very
thing If you don't believe in me, that I'm all your righteousness,
that the Christ sent of God to provide salvation for God's people,
His chosen people, then you're going to perish in your sins.
You're going to die in your sins and stand before God in a garment
full of holes. the law and I was carrying forward
by the Judaizers who profess to believe Christ but they still
look back to the law now Paul says it this way very similar
where Christ said ye shall die in your sins listen to how Paul
says it in Romans 8 verse 13 he says if ye live after the
flesh if you're trying to work a righteousness shall die. You're gonna die in
your sins just like Christ said. But if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. Ye shall live. Because it's only
by the Lord Jesus Christ that the deeds of the body are put
to death. Especially, especially that vain
false confidence that we have by So, when John the Baptist, when
he saw Christ coming to him, he said, Behold, the Lamb of
God, who taketh away the sin of the world. He takes it away. He preached Christ. He preached
Christ. Believe that Christ. Believe
Him. Believe on Him. Because He is
all your righteousness. All your acceptance. everlasting life and shall not the best defense is that it doesn't
apply to you at all and that's only true of those for whom Christ
gave himself gave his life those for whom Christ died you that
believe on him because that's how we know that we're his we
believe on him that's not a faith isn't of the flesh it's the gift
of God so you that trust him for all your righteousness no
God's giving me this I don't I don't wandering away because you alone
are salvation and so we're delivered in Christ from the judgment of
the law because we stand complete in Christ it's all been fulfilled
by him it's all accomplished by him isn't he a glorious Savior
he's wonderful he's wonderful I'll close with Romans 6 verses
14 and 15 where he says for sin shall not have dominion over
you for you're not under the law but under grace We are not under law, but under
grace. that we want nothing more. Lord,
keep us from ever turning back and looking back to the law for
a righteousness. Lord, deliver us from that sin,
that evil. Lord, we want to be found perfect
in Christ, not having our own righteousness. so wonderful Lord our words fail
to express it fully and sufficiently how deserving our God is for
all his salvation provided in the Sun Lord you're wonderful
you're glorious thank you keep that keep us ever seeing your
glory and being thankful for it it's in Christ's name we pray
in your At least it says live, still.
Yeah, yeah, so I think this is... board worked it out that I needed
to get a new phone and so that is going to take the place of
the need for the tablet as well and it's got some power in it
that helps with streaming. Are you going to throw a party
with the new phone there? Yeah, it feels weird. So if that thing goes out, you
let me know if that thing's giving us any trouble. My mom will let
me know, too, if she's watching. the gospel that our justification
the justification of you that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
is Christ himself and the faith which God has given you is that
light the light of Christ whereby we see behold what our God has
done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ he's Jesus Christ as our sacrifice
to put away our sins and make us justified by the law that were
made right some kind of combination between
Christ and the law or all of Christ or all of the law and
they try to harmonize those two. That's a lie. That's deceitful. That's not the gospel. That's
not what the Lord declares in the gospel. And so we don't blend
them together. We don't look to the law for
righteousness. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ. is not justified by the works
of the law this knowing that we have is is the light of Christ
making Man's 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. As we're looking at the law here,
as we're going through this study, remember that the Lord in his
word never makes a distinction between the moral law and the
ceremonial law, or the civil law. He just refers to them as
the law. We as men, as man, men make a
distinction. They come up with a distinction
and like to talk about the ceremonial parts of the law and the moral
parts of the law and the civil law, but God never does that. He doesn't make that distinction
for us. And so believers, you that believe Christ and trust
him for all your righteousness, you're not under the law after
the manner of Moses. that encompasses all the ceremony
civil the moral you're not under the law after the matter of Moses
we have a more sure word of prophecy we have a more of our God in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so I've titled today's message,
A More Sure Righteousness. A More Sure Righteousness. So, let's take this back to what
Paul has been addressing for us. Using his language, right? We'll look at the language he
uses. It's actually not even his language, but he uses language
to describe and then sinners of the Gentiles
look at verse 15 he says we who are Jews by nature are not sinners
of the Gentiles Now, what Paul is saying here, well, he's not
saying that Gentiles are sinners and we Jews are not sinners.
That's not what he's saying. He's using the language of the
Judaizers. This is their argument. This
is how they saw the Gentile believers who did not submit to the law,
to a righteousness by the law. They looked at those believers
who were looking to Christ and trusting in Christ only and they
said these people are not submitting themselves to the law after the
manner of Moses. before God. And Barnabas and
Peter, by their actions, they were adding to what these Judaizers
were saying, that the Gentiles are transgressors of the law
against God. And by their actions, when they
broke fellowship with the Gentiles at mealtime, you're a step below at best,
if not all together deficient of righteousness. And so what
they're saying there by their actions is faith in Christ alone
is not sufficient. That's how they were looking
at it. And so the legalists were the ones that were saying, these
are sinners of the Gentiles. These are Gentile sinners. They're
sinners. They're transgressors of the
law. They've got a big gap to make up under the law after the
manner of Moses. And so they're saying Christ
alone is not sufficient. is not certain size can't be seen and so in other
words if we don't try to keep the law this is what the Judaizers
are saying the legalists we don't try to keep the law and we're
a sinner we're a transgressor of that law we're transgressors
against God's law but if you look in any aspect of the law
for righteousness whether you just have certain
parts of the law that you like to follow, if you look to the
law for righteousness on any part, you're on the hook for
keeping the whole thing. You've now submitted yourself,
you've put your neck under the yoke of the law, the whole of
it for righteousness, all of it. Look over at Galatians 3,
verse 10. Galatians 3, 10. Paul said, For
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse,
for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Drop down to verse 12, Galatians
3, 12. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live. Now, the Gentiles who believed
Christ, those Gentiles who professed the Lord Jesus Christ, the majority
of them, unless they were proselytes, the majority of them were never
under the law to Moses. They were never under that law
to Moses. They were there practicing their idolatry, bowing down before
a stone, or looking to some idol covered in gold or silver, and
then Paul comes to preach the truth and they're
listening to what he said and they heard the gospel and there
were some that believed without ever coming under the law of
Moses you look at Mars Hill right when Paul was up there preaching
on Mars Hill he never pointed them to the law he pointed them
to the risen Christ he pointed them to Christ and many rejected
it and said that that's nonsense some said we'll hear you again on to Paul. They clung to Paul. They said, we want to hear more.
We want to go with you and hear more of this salvation, of this
Savior that you preach. And so those Gentile believers
were never under the law. We can see an example of what
Paul preached if you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians
2, the first two verses. I believe this is true of all
the churches, all the Gentile churches that Paul went to, including
Galatia. Here in Corinth, he said, and
I brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech
or of wisdom. I didn't come as a philosopher
declaring unto you the testimony of God. I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus. Jesus Christ and him crucified. And so that's what Paul preached
to the Gentile churches. That's what he preached to the
Gentiles in the city who became Gentile churches without ever
coming under the law of Moses. What a blessing. They were never bound with that
confusion and that darkness and that futility and vanity of trying
to work a righteousness for yourselves by the law of Moses. And they
knew some sense of it in idolatry and the foolish things they did
there, but not after the manner of Moses. And just as Paul preached
the gospel faithfully to the Gentiles, so did Peter. Peter,
when you look at what Peter testified in Acts 15, verses 8 and 9, Peter
had gone into the house of Cornelius, the Gentile, loaded with a bunch
of other Gentiles, and here he is, a Jew, who goes into the
house of a Gentile, an unclean lawbreaker, and he enters his
house. That's why the Jews met him on
the way back, because they didn't like that he went into... Did
we hear right that you went into a Gentile's house, Peter? What
are you thinking? And Peter testified, well, God,
which knows the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the
Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us. He poured out the Holy Ghost
on them, under the preaching of the Gospel, and He put no
difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith,
apart from the law. They never came under the law.
He purified their hearts by faith. And so, even our faith, the faith
of a believer, can't even be called a work of our flesh. We can't even boast of our faith. Faith is not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. And that's what our Lord gives
us. brings forth that has any part
in salvation, all the fruits of righteousness born in us,
we give thanks unto God. We bow before Him and cast every
one of those crowns before Him and say, Lord, You're worthy.
You're worthy because this is Your fruit. This is what You've
born in me, a filthy, vile, unworthy sinner. But by your love and
grace and mercy shown to me in Christ, Lord, thank you. What can I say, Lord? It's all... And so the child of God believes
in Christ, trusting the faith of Christ. When it speaks of
the faith of Christ, we're talking about that bloody sacrifice that
our Lord gave of Himself unto the Father, unto God, to make
an atonement for our sins, in order for God to forgive you
of all your sins. of all your crimes, of all your
trespasses, of all the filthy things and shameful things that
we've done in this life, all of those things are put away
before God. God doesn't see them anymore.
Christ has put them away, and they're covered in His blood,
and robed in His righteousness. And so, we're justified by Christ's
sacrifice for us. And we hear that word, and by
the grace of God, Yes, that is my righteousness. I have nothing else but the blood
and the righteousness of your son Jesus Christ. You've given
him. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
doing all this work. And by God's grace in Christ,
we're accepted into the beloved family of God. We're made partakers
of the inheritance with the saints in life. That's what you have
to look forward to. You have it now. We'll see you with greater sight
in that day. And look forward to that day,
brethren, and rejoice in Him. Let your heart just be glad in
what the Lord has done for you in His Son. And so, this is what
Paul has been declaring in Galatians 2. Let's look at verse 16 again. This this faith of Christ, this
sacrifice of Christ, knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. He's justified by the bloody
sacrifice of Christ as our surety, as the one who came and paid
the debt in full. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. Even we have been given faith
in the Spirit, whereby we trust in the sufficiency of the blood
sacrifice of Christ, that His blood is sufficient for even
me. For even me. That we might be
justified by the faith of Christ, justified by the bloody sacrifice
of the Lamb of God, whom He sent as a propitiation to turn away
His wrath from you. from you that believe on his
son and it's not by the works of the law for by the works of
the law shall no flesh be justified those who come to the father
having a righteousness of their own, professing to believe on
Christ, but looking to the law for righteousness. Those who
profess to be righteous by that way, the Lord's going to look
on them and say, you've colored outside the lines. You've gone
outside the lines. Friend, where is thy wedding
garment? How did you come in here? Where's
thy wedding garment? And so the Gentile believers,
they had no need of the law. They had no need of the law.
For that cause, the Judaizers viewed them, they said, these
Gentiles, they're sinners before God. They're yet breaking the
law. When they would go to services,
they'd look at those Gentiles and feel pity for them. Look
at them and say, So close, yet there's a big gap. They still got problems. They
got problems. It's the same way that we and
our stuck-up selves in religion, before the Lord had mercy on
us, how we would look at other sinners and think that we were
something. And all we were, we were kidding
ourselves, we were legalists just like these. Trusting in
our knowledge of things and our way of doing things and we had
pity on others just like these legalizers, these Judaizers pitied
the Gentiles. And so they wouldn't even eat
with them. And they figured those Gentiles open to Christ, boy
they're going to have a rude awakening when they stand before
God. big moment of truth there. God's
going to say, you're not righteous, you've not done enough, you're
insufficient. But the truth is, they're the
ones that are going to get the big awakening in that day, who
are trusting in their own righteousness. When the Lord says, where's your
wedding garment? You're standing before me, maybe, trusting in
your own righteousness. So the believer knows, as it
says in Galatians 6.15, that in Christ Jesus neither circumcision but a new creature
but a new creature and that's our hope because in Christ Jesus
he's made his people a new creation old things have passed away behold
all It's all new. It's all of Christ. We don't look back to the Old
Testament, to the Old Covenant rather. We don't look back to
the Old Covenant. We rejoice in the new covenant
of grace that's been declared in the Old Testament by the prophets,
and the law, and the Psalms, and all them that love the Lord.
They testified doing in his son, the purpose of his grace in Jesus
Christ. And so, to the legalists, back
then and now, the Gentile believers, they look at them and say, they're
antinomians, they're without fault. No, we're not. We're not without
law. We're under the law of liberty, under the law of faith, under
the law of Christ, whereby in Him we are justified and righteous. And He keeps us, and He teaches
us, and He fills us with His Spirit, and He corrects us. He's
gracious, and He's powerful. If Christ can't keep us, the
law certainly isn't going to keep us. understanding we're set up to
better understand what Paul means in verse 17 so let's give that
a read here Galatians 2 17 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 or may it never be Now, Paul
and Barnabas and Peter, these were believing Jews. They trusted
Christ. And they know that a man is not
justified by the works of the law. They know this. And this
is what Paul had fought so hard against when he went to Jerusalem,
that the truth of the gospel might continue with you, brethren,
that it would have been polluted and foul know the truth of the gospel
and rejoice in Christ this day, being thankful for what the Lord
has done and shown us by his light and grace in his Son. And
so, if Christ has fulfilled the law, and he's satisfied the just
wrath of God by sacrifice, and we're one with Christ, then we've
fulfilled the law. And the law is satisfied with
us. Any requirement it had has been
met in full by the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's met in you who
are one with Christ. And we know that oneness, that
union by the faith which He's given us. We see it. We behold
it. It's like a light shining in our hearts. And we now know,
Oh Lord, You've done it all. You've provided everything in
Your Son. You're not looking to me for
anything else. You look to Your Son. It was my surety, my all,
my salvation. And so we're dead to that law,
and the work of redemption by our Savior, He accomplished everything
necessary. And so we rejoice, we give Him
all the glory, all the praise, all the honor for His salvation,
and believers who are one with Christ enjoy it by faith. He gets all the glory and we
enjoy it by faith in Him. We're just rejoicing. We're made
happy and thankful. A thankful people when we see
it. And we rejoice in Him. And all
that cloudiness and misery, it all gets put into perspective.
Scattered and put away and all our woes and troubles and anxieties
and fears all just fall right into place before the throne
of our sovereign God. We're thankful for Him. And so,
who really is the sinner against the law? Who's the lawbreaker
here? Who's the one breaking the law? Is it the Gentile believer
who's already satisfied the law and fulfilled everything that
the law required in Christ? Are we the lawbreakers here? We're not even under the law
in Christ. Or is it the legalist, the one
who's that legalist who's still looking to the law for righteousness,
knowing, knowing that there's no way you're going to keep it
perfect. you do a lot of things well,
but there is no way that you're keeping it perfectly and the
law demands perfect obedience, right? A perfect, perfect obedience.
So we're not going to do it. We're not going to keep it. But
if we who believe Christ, well let me say, Let's start, let's
understand what Paul is saying here. But if while we seek to
be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners. Well,
first what Paul is showing grace and the law. If we who
believe Christ also turn over to the law, start looking to
the law for righteousness, then we are sinning against God. Now
we've made ourselves transgressors against the law. Look over at
Galatians 5.4. Paul tells us what has become
of us. He says, Christ has become of
no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you're fallen from grace. Whether you're justified
by the law in part or whole, you've fallen from grace, he's
saying. all right now as far as the Judaizers are concerned
again the Gentile believers they're they're sinners the transgressors
and so Paul is using the term or the logic that these Judaizers
were using against believing Gentiles those who trusted Christ
alone those who confessed that his And what he's saying is, that
makes me lawless in the eyes of the legalist. If that's the
burden I have to bear, then let me bear it. Lord, help me to
bear it. If I'm now called an antinomian or a legalist in the
eyes, I mean, an antinomian or a lawbreaker in the eyes of the
legalist, So be it, he says. I'll be one of the sinners of
the Gentiles then. Count me among them. Put me with
them who are trusting Christ alone. If that's what it takes,
then that's where we're going, because that's how the Lord saves
his people, in and by the Lord Jesus Christ alone. That's how
we're justified. And that's what the Gospel declares
then. Become one of these sinners of the Gentiles. Not practicing
sin, but trusting Christ alone. If that makes me a lawbreaker,
then in your eyes, then that's what I am. I'm a lawbreaker. And Paul bore that. He bore that,
that the truth of the Gospel would continue with you, brethren,
to this day. If you want to hate me and despise
me, stone me, try to kill me, try to ruin me, try to follow
me all around wherever I preach the gospel to come behind me
and wreck it, fine, I'll take that. I'll bear that for my brethren
because they need Christ and Christ only is our salvation.
I've got to preach Christ. I've got to preach the cross.
That's what he testifies in all of his words. You know, so any Jews who are
looking to Christ alone and turn their back on the law for righteousness,
and they want no part of the law for righteousness, they're
living like the Gentiles, like the sinners of the Gentiles.
That's what they're doing. They're no different than those sinners
of the Gentiles. Look at Galatians 2.14. Galatians
2.14. But when I saw, he's addressing
what he said to Peter, but when I saw that they, Peter and Barnabas,
walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I
said unto Peter before them all, if thou being a Jew livest after
the manner of the Gentiles, one who's not under the law, and
not as do the Jews who live under the law, why compelst thou the
Gentiles to live as do the Jews? that they need to go under the
law when you yourself live by faith you yourself trust in Christ
for all your righteousness why are you teaching them these Gentiles
to go under the law He's saying, we've turned to
Christ for righteousness. Our part is with these sinners,
these Gentiles who are sinners, according to the legalists. We
live just like them. We trust Christ for all our righteousness,
just like them. And so the Apostle Paul was giving
grace to bear that for the elect's sake, that the truth of the gospel
might continue with us to this day. in Christ. And that's what Paul
is saying in his other epistles. If you turn over to Philippians
3, you'll see this. Philippians 3, verses 8 through
10, well, you can read all of it, but, because it's so good,
we'll read just verses 8 through 10. Paul says, Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things, all my living under the law, but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things. People hate me.
My own family despises me and rejects me, he says. But I count
that all done, all my works, everything I gained under the
law, it's done. him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, the wedding
garment that the saints of God wear in that day, that I may
know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship
of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."
He bore that. He bore that despising of his
own So does trusting Christ alone
for righteousness then make Christ the minister of sin? If Christ is the one saying,
look to me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved. Look to
me and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth. For I am God and
there is none else. Does that make Christ the minister
of sin then? Since you call his But if while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, sinners of
the Gentiles, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? Because
he says, look to me, trust me for all your righteousness, believe
me, I'm sufficient, I'm your all, trust me. Is therefore Christ
the minister of sin? God forbid. God forbid, he says. The legalist says, yeah, it does. That Christ that you're preaching
is a minister of sin according to the legalist. But Paul says,
no, no, God forbid, may it never be. That's what the Greek really
is, let it never be or may it never be. May it never be, that's
just no way, not at all. That's nonsense that you're talking
there. So the legalist may charge us
with sin and may the Christ of this blessed covenant of grace
to be a minister of sin, but the reality is, rejoice and so our God demands
absolute perfection and it's all provided in his son our Lord
said in John 8 24 John 8 24 he said I therefore I said therefore
unto you that ye shall die in your sins for if he believed
not that I am he that I am Christ the Savior who saves his people
to the uttermost I've been sent by the Father to do this very
thing If you don't believe in me, that I'm all your righteousness,
that the Christ sent of God to provide salvation for God's people,
His chosen people, then you're going to perish in your sins.
You're going to die in your sins and stand before God in a garment
full of holes. by the law and I was carrying
forward by the Judaizers who profess to believe Christ but
they still look back to the law. Now Paul says it this way very
similar where Christ said ye shall die in your sins listen
to how Paul says it in Romans 8 verse 13 he says if ye live
after the flesh if you're trying to work a righteousness by the
law by the works of the law, ye shall
die. You're gonna die in your sins,
just like Christ said. But if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. Ye shall live. Because it's only
by the Lord Jesus Christ that the deeds of the body are put
to death. Especially, especially that vain
false confidence that we have by nature that trusts in our So, when John the Baptist, when
he saw Christ coming to him, he said, Behold, the Lamb of
God, who taketh away the sin of the world. He takes it away. He preached Christ. He preached
Christ. Believe that Christ. Believe
Him. Believe on Him. Because He is
all your righteousness. All your acceptance. everlasting life and shall not
come into condemnation defense is that it doesn't apply
to you at all and that's only true of those for whom Christ
gave himself gave his life those for whom Christ died you that
believe on him because that's how we know that we're his we
believe on him that's not a faith isn't of the flesh it's the gift
of God so you that trust him for all your righteousness no
God's giving me this I don't I don't love what from wandering away because you
alone are salvation. And so, we're delivered in Christ
from the judgment of the law because we stand complete in
Christ. It's all been fulfilled by Him. It's all accomplished
by Him. Isn't He a glorious Savior? He's wonderful. He's wonderful.
And I'll close with Romans 6, verses 14 and 15, where He says,
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under
the law, but under grace. Alright, Brad, I'm gonna stop
right there. Pray to the Lord, bless that word to your heart.
Okay, let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for this glorious sight of Christ. Behold, that we stand
complete in Him, that we want nothing more. Lord, keep us from
ever turning back and looking back to the law for a righteousness.
Lord, deliver us from that Lord, we want to be found perfect
in Christ, not having our own righteousness, but that righteousness
which you've provided fully, freely, and abundantly in your
Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you. He's such
a precious Savior. He's so glorious, so wonderful.
Lord, our words fail to express it fully and sufficiently how
deserving Our God is, for all his salvation, provided in the
Son. Lord, you're wonderful. You're
glorious. Thank you. Keep us ever seeing
your glory and being thankful for it. It's in Christ's name. At least it says live, Theo.
Yeah, yeah, so I think this is... Worked it out that I needed to
get a new phone and so that is going to take the place of the
need for the tablet as Well, and it's uh, it's got some power
in it that helps with streaming and a pro party that the new
phone there. Yeah It feels weird. I think it's massive and it's
pretty good It's pretty cool So if that thing goes out you
let me know if that thing is giving us any trouble my mom
will let me revealed to us brethren in the
gospel that our justification the justification of you that
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is Christ himself and the faith
which God has given you is that light the light of Christ whereby
we see behold what our God has done for us in the Lord Jesus in the Lord Jesus Christ, thanks
to the Lord Jesus Christ who shed his blood, who went to the
cross as our mediator, as our shorty, as our sacrifice to put
away our sins and to make us righteous, justified before God. justified by the law that there's some kind of combination
between Christ and the law or all of Christ or all of the law
and they try to harmonize those two, that's a lie. That's deceitful. That's not the gospel. That's
not what the Lord declares in the gospel. And so we don't blend
them together. We don't look to the law for
righteousness. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said it this way in verse
16, Galatians 2, 16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law. This knowing that we have is
the light of Christ. 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. As we're looking at the law here,
as we're going through this study, remember that the Lord in his
word never makes a distinction between the moral law and the
ceremonial law, or the civil law. He just refers to them as
the law. We as men, as man, come up with a distinction I'd
like to talk about the ceremonial parts of the law and the moral
parts of the law and the civil law but God never does that he
doesn't make that distinction for us and so believers you that
believe Christ and trust him for all your righteousness you're
not under the law after the manner of Moses that encompasses all
the ceremony the civil and you're not under the law after the manner
of Moses in any way we have a more sure word of prophecy we have
a more sure righteousness we have a more sure justification
of our God in the Lord Jesus Christ and so I titled today's
message a more sure let's take this back to what
Paul has been addressing for us using his language right we'll
look at the language he uses is actually not even his language
but he uses language to describe two kinds of people here he speaks
of Jews and then he speaks of sinners of the Gentiles Jews
and then sinners of the Gentiles look at verse 15 He says, we who are Jews by nature
are not sinners of the Gentiles. Now, what Paul is saying here,
well, he's not saying that Gentiles are sinners and we Jews are not
sinners. That's not what he's saying.
He's using the language of the Judaizers. This is their argument. This is how they saw the Gentile
believers who did not submit to believers who were looking to
Christ and trusting in Christ only and they said that these
these people are not submitting themselves to the law after the
manner of Moses. They have a gap. They've got
problems. They're not righteous before
God. And Barnabas and and Peter they
were by their actions they were adding to what these Judaizers
were saying that the Gentiles are transgressors of the law
against God and by their actions when they broke fellowship with
the Gentiles at mealtime step below and so what they're
saying their actions is in Christ alone is not looking at it and so the legalists
were the ones that were saying these are sinners of the jet
these are sinner Gentile sinners they're sinners they're transgressors
of the law they've got some a big gap to make up under the law
after the matter of Moses and so they're saying Christ alone
is not sufficient believer, the one who trusts
Christ, is not circumcised after the manner of Moses, they're
saying he cannot be saved. He can't be saved. And so, in
other words, if we don't try to keep the law, this is what
the Judaizers are saying, the legalists, if we don't try to
keep the law, then we're a sinner. transgressors against God's law. But if you look in any aspect
of the law for righteousness, whether it's circumcision, whether
it's the Ten Commandments, whether you just have certain parts of
the law that you like to follow, if you look to the law for righteousness
on any part, you're on the hook for keeping the whole thing. You've now submitted yourself,
you've put your neck under the yoke of the law, the whole of
it for righteousness, all of it. Look over at Galatians 3,
verse 10. Galatians 3, 10. Paul said, For
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse,
for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Drop down to verse 12, Galatians
3, 12. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live. Now, the Gentiles who believed
Christ, those Gentiles who professed the Lord Jesus Christ, the majority
of them, unless they were proselytes, the majority of them were never
under the law to Moses. They were never under that law
to Moses. They were there practicing their idolatry, bowing down before
a stone, or looking to some idol covered in gold or silver, and
then Paul preach the truth and they're
listening to what he said and they heard the gospel and there
were some that believed without ever coming under the law of
Moses you look at Mars Hill right when Paul was up there preaching
on Mars Hill he never pointed them to the law he pointed them
to the risen Christ he pointed them to Christ and many rejected
it and said that that's nonsense on to onto paul they clung to
paul they said we want to hear more we want to go with you and
hear more of this salvation of this savior that you preach and
so those those those gentile believers were never under the
law we can see an example of what paul preached if you look
at first corinthians chapter two first corinthians two the
first two verses I believe this is true of all the churches,
all the Gentile churches that Paul went to, including Galatia.
Well, here in Corinth, he said, and I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. I didn't
come as a philosopher declaring unto you the testimony of God.
I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus. crucified. And so that's what Paul preached
to the Gentile churches. That's what he preached to the
Gentiles in the city who became Gentile churches without ever
coming under the law of Moses. What a blessing. They were never bound with that
confusion and that darkness and that futility and vanity of trying
to work a righteousness for yourselves by the law of Moses. And they
knew some sense of it in idolatry and the foolish things they did
there, but not after the manner of Moses. And just as Paul preached
the gospel faithfully to the Gentiles, the house loaded