Okay, open up your Bibles, if
you would, to Galatians 2. We're going to continue our study.
The name of the message today is, Dead to the Law. Dead to
the Law. Galatians 2, we'll continue our
study. But I want us to keep in mind
the setting of this book. When this book was written. Brother
Tom and I, again, were talking this week, and Brother Tom brought
up, and I thought this was an excellent point, for us to remember. During the times when this book
was written, the Gentile world was caught up in what is called
polytheism. Polytheism, which is the worship
of numerous gods. So we have to remember the setting
of the book. So you have Israel who's worshiping
the one true God, right? But they've got a bunch of traditions
mixed in there now. But remember, there's always
been a remnant, right? God always has a remnant on this earth. And then you've got, so they
are believing in one God, and then you have the whole Gentile
world, which is all the rest of the world, are caught up into
what's called polytheism, the worship of numerous gods. It's
still around today, even. In India, they have multiple
gods that they worship, right? In all different places, this
is still a setting, but this was prevalent during this time.
It was huge. You had the Romans, they had
multiple gods. You had the Greeks, they had multiple gods. You had
India, they had multiple gods. All around them. Even the Philistines
and all of them, they all had multiple gods, didn't they? Gods
for every different little thing. But they were all false gods.
And then you had the worship of the one true and living God.
But now, it's been revealed That this one true God came down to
earth. To save His people from their
sins. And His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's who
Paul preaches. He says, I preach Christ and Him crucified. I don't
get caught up in how to live a better Christian life, right?
How to do this and how to do that. Right? Just look to Christ. Just look
to our King. preaching Christ and Him crucified,
and if you go through his books that he wrote, take note of how
when he first starts writing to a group of people, he centers
them on Christ. Even the Corinthians, which is
a book of correction, there's correction in there. Read chapter
one, you will be amazed. Again, how he sounds that musical
tuning fork. Christ, Christ, Christ, all through
that first chapter before he does any correction at all. And
remember, this is the Holy Spirit who's penning these words. See
how gentle he is with his people? See how loving the Holy Spirit
is with his people? Before he corrects them, he sets
before them the king. He sets before them the master,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And even here, Paul's writing
to correct the Gentiles. And Tom, you brought up that
point too. This would take months for these letters to go back
and forth. We've got like instant email now, right? Yeah, okay,
I wanna write someone, boom, there, they get it right away.
It took months. First, Paul received a letter
about what was going on, and then he responded back, and it
would take months for that letter to get to those people. my oh my it's not it's the setting
is totally like sometimes i think we we bring in our our worldly
experience now but it wasn't so back then now the people were
the same right they're sinners just like we are sons and daughters
of adam born dead and trespasses and sins with a desperate need
to be saved but The setting of this, they couldn't
jump in a car and drive 200 miles. It took them months to get to
places, weeks to get to places. And so that's the setting. Here
the Greeks, the Romans, they have all these many gods. Remember
when Paul went to Mars Hill and he preached what? The unknown
God. That's the God of the universe.
That's the one true God. He was unknown to them. They
had all these other gods, which were false gods, but unknown
to them was the one true living God. And Paul was there. Who
did he preach? Christ and Him crucified, didn't
he? It's wonderful. So Christianity really did turn
the world upside down, beloved. Because here comes into this
polytheism worship one true living God, salvation through Christ
in Him alone. A declaration to Jews and Gentiles
that there's only one Savior. There's only one Savior from
sin, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is the only way
to be justified before God. So, it would be strange to these
folks, wouldn't it? To hear this. See, that's why
God must reveal Himself to us. If He doesn't reveal Himself
to us, that's strange talk. Those are strange words. But
when He reveals Himself to us, They're the most beautiful words
I've ever heard in my life. Christ died for sinners, and
I'm a sinner. Oh, praise his mighty name. Just
comforts our hearts, doesn't it? And even today, even today,
we have with us still people who worship multiple gods. Even
today, even today. A lot of nations are still bound
up in what's called polytheism. India, again, they have so many
different gods they worship. It's incredible. Let us pray
that God would save his sleep and elect in those nations, because
we know he's got a people in every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation. Let us pray for those nations,
beloved. Let us pray for the nations. Let us pray for our
own nation, too, that God would stir up stir up a consciousness of the one true
gospel where people would want to come and hear the gospel,
hear it preached and proclaimed. A revival of sorts, right? Oh
my. So I just wanted to bring that
forth before we go on studying this book. I thought that was
a great point. Because the setting of the book is so very, very
important. So here's Paul. He's writing
to the Gentiles. The Gentiles have come out of polytheism.
The ones that are saved, too. Remember that. Now they still
got grave clothes, right? Just like us. Still got grave
clothes. You ever be reading and you think
sometimes, I don't read the Bible enough. You ever get that? I
don't pray enough. Bam, bam, bam. Right? Your flesh is just hammering
on you. Using it as a weapon. Well, praying is as easy as God
have mercy upon me, a sinner. Isn't it? Oh my, my oh my. Let's look at the context of
our verses now that we'll be looking at today. Galatians chapter
2, we'll read verses 16 to 21. 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. 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! For if I build up the things
which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through
the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. In 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. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is what? Dead and vain. If righteousness
comes by the law, by your works, then why did Christ even come?
Oh, but Christ came because we can't be saved by the works of
the law. That we can't be saved by our own doings. Let's read
verses 17 and 18 together here. It's the same thought as being
continued in these two verses. But if well we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners. Is therefore
Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again
the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
So beloved of God, if we seek to be justified by Christ. And something we do and we don't. In something we do, then that's
a false gospel. That's a false gospel. And if
we seek to be justified by Christ and do not rest in him, in his
righteousness, his obedience, his blood, his intercession,
but seek again to add to Christ our own works, our own righteousness,
in obedience to the ceremonies of the law, then Christ, instead
of being a minister, instead of being a minister of perfect
righteousness and acceptance, become as minister of the law.
That's not what Christ is, is it? No. And the strength of sin
is the law. minister he he then F if righteousness
comes by something we do along with Christ and then he becomes
a minister a condemnation and death and that's not true he's
a minister of life live in sins paid for fully so
we say is this the work of ministry have got of Christ God forbid
God forbid he We we don't we don't if we restore the ceremonies
and the law Then we're just going back to bondage beloved We're just going back to bondage
that's what paul's bringing forth here Just go back to bondage. If I restore the ceremonies of
law, such as circumcision, holy days, foods and drinks, the things
which I preach as fulfilled by Christ, through Christ and in
Christ, if I preach that you still have to do all those things,
then I make myself an unjustified sinner. Because I'm still trusting
in something I do. But I don't preach that, do I?
I preach Christ and Him crucified. He's the fulfiller of the law,
beloved. And as a result of him being
a fulfiller of the law in our riven place, we, who are his
people, are dead to the law. Isn't that wonderful? Why? Because
we're crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live,
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. So we don't frustrate the grace
of God, do we? We don't have any of our own
works. See, when you add your works along with Christ, you're
frustrating the grace of God, because salvation's by grace
alone, plus nothing on our part. And justification, it's a judicial
act of God. It does not come from the result
of man's effort. God declares us righteous, beloved. And the reason God declares us
righteous is because of the work and the obedience of his son.
He gets all the glory. He gets all the honor. He gets
all the praise. See, it cannot be otherwise because
the law demands perfection, doesn't it? It demands absolute obedience,
perfect obedience, perfection. And I'm a transgressor of the law.
by nature. But praise be to God, Christ
fulfilled the law in my place. Though I still be a sinner, but
now I hate sin, right? Do you hate sin? Do you hate
it more in yourself than anyone else? Absolutely we do, don't
we? See these folks that say, well you can go off and do whatever
you want. No, I hate sin. I get convicted now when I never
got convicted before. I used to do things that wouldn't
bother me. Now it bothers me. Well, who's the cause of that?
The Holy Spirit in me. See, my natural flesh, which
was ruled by a dead nature, right? Love that stuff. Is it so for
you? Now that you're born again, you
have a new nature, beloved. That hungers and thirsts after
righteousness now, that hungers for the things of Christ. It's
not satisfied with the things of the world. As a matter of
fact, it doesn't want any of the things of the world. Tell
me about Christ. Tell me about my King. Tell me
to look to Him. Oh, my. And He is the only sole
possessor of our righteousness, isn't it? It's His. We are clothed
in an alien righteousness, beloved, the old timers used to call it.
It's the righteousness of Christ. It's a righteousness that's not
ours. And it must be that way. We must
be dead to the law so that the law has no claim upon us. See, the justice of God comes
to us in Christ and says, I got nothing on you. I got nothing on you. It's already
been satisfied. The wrath of God's already been
extinguished, right, by Christ. Everything we deserve, the wrath-wise
of the God, of our great God, fell upon Christ in our room
and place. God is not angry with us, beloved.
We wrap our head around that. He's not angry at all with us.
As we've been seeing in John 17, as a matter of fact, He's
loved us with an eternal, everlasting love. That has not changed. And it
never will change. It's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. What comfort that'll give we
who are the people of God, right? He doesn't change. So man can never earn justification
before God. We can only receive it by faith,
and even the faith by which we receive it is a gift of God. Man is not justified by the works
of law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, by Him. And because we are justified
by Christ alone, by the faithful obedience of Christ, that's so
important that He obeyed the law perfectly in our room and
place. And unto death, too, he did it, didn't he? As our substitute,
he died where the law said the soul that sinneth it must die.
Well, he's the sinless one, but we're a bunch of sinners. So the law of God demands our
death. Well, praise God, our sinless substitute dies for us
in our room and place. Sheds his blood, amen. Sheds
his blood to redeem our eternal souls. And now we're justified
before God and we're dead to the law because he fulfilled
the law in our room and place. Now we still see the law as holy,
right? It's God's law. It's God's holy
law. But praise God, it doesn't have
a claim on us anymore. Because Christ fulfilled it in
our room and place by his perfect, perfect, perfect work. His perfect
obedience to that law as our substitute. And so we're justified in Christ
alone. We have no obligation to the
law. See, God looks at us now and sees Christ, right? I know that's hard for us often
to think about, but it's true. Being clothed in His righteousness,
God now sees Christ. He doesn't see our sinfulness. You know why? Because He said
to us, as far as the East is to the West, He's cast our sins behind His
back, into the depths of the sea. They're gone, beloved. So when he looks upon us, he
sees Christ. He doesn't see Dave, he sees
Christ. He doesn't see Brian, he sees Christ. Karen, he sees
Christ. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful, isn't it? Oh my gosh. It's absolutely wonderful. Clothed in that perfect righteousness.
Now let's read verse 19 of this chapter. For I, through the law,
am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. See, we're bought
with a price, aren't we? We're not our own. See, when
people say, well, if I preach what you preach or believe what
you believe, I could just go and do whatever I want. Look
what this verse says. Look what this verse says, beloved.
For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might what?
Live unto God. That we might live a life that's
pleasing to him. That we might live as servants
to him. Right? I'm a servant of the church. We're all servants of Christ,
right? All of us. Every one of us is a servant
of Christ. And we're dead to the law. This
isn't a license to sin. No, but it's the blessed liberty
of grace. We're free. We're free from the
law. That which people dread to face
God because of their sins, it's been taken care of, beloved. And we live upon this earth justified
people of God. just as justified now as when
we would be in heaven. The only thing that'll change
when we're in heaven is we'll have glorified bodies and we
won't sin no more. But you're just as secure for
heaven right now as a believer as the saints that are already
in glory. That's amazing. And it's true. Why? Because we're in Christ. We're in Him. Oh Lord, let me live in that
freedom. And we dare not return to the
law, beloved. We dare not return to the law.
It leads to a curse and condemnation. Oh my. And look what he says
in verse 18 again. For if I build again the things
which I destroyed, I'll make myself a transgressor. If I stick
myself back under the law, I make myself a transgressor. The law of God can never give
life, it only leads to death. It only shows us our sinfulness.
Turn, if you would, to Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter
seven. And keep your finger in there,
put your finger in chapter six, we're gonna be going back there
very soon. chapter 6. Go to verse chapter
7 right now. Romans chapter 7 verses 7 to
9. See, the law can never produce
holiness. Now, people try that, right? They say, well, I'm living under
the law. Well, they're breaking the law all the time. It can't
produce sin. It can't produce holiness. All
it does is show us our sinfulness. And if they think that they're
living properly under the law, they're deceiving themselves.
Because they can't. The law demands absolute perfection. So someone says, well, I've got
this part here. Well, the rest of them, you all
just, you're failed in. Because if you break one, you're
guilty of them all. Remember? We're all doomed if we're under
the law. It can never give life. It only
deals out death. My oh my. Listen to this. Verse
7 to 9. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? God forbid. No. No. Nay, I had
not known sin but by the law. Look at that. We wouldn't know
sin except by the law of God. Isn't that amazing? Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, rotted me all manner of conspicuence. For without
the law, sin was dead. When I didn't know about the
law, I just sinned like I was drinking water. Right? For I was alive without the law
once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. I saw myself guilty before God."
Guilty, guilty, guilty. Now turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter 3. What was the law's use? What was the use of the
law? Well, it was a schoolmaster,
beloved, to bring us to Christ. Because it shows us our sinfulness
And then we see the Savior, don't we? The only Savior of sinners. So you see your sinfulness, and
then you see the Savior. A dear sister in our congregation
once said, she said, when the Lord saved her, that the Lord
showed her her sinfulness, and right away, the balm of Christ. The only Savior of sinners. The
only Savior of sinners. Look at this in Galatians 3 verses
24 and 25. So once we have come to faith
in Christ, the law has no more power or authority over us, beloved,
because it's been fulfilled by Christ. It doesn't have power
over us anymore. See, before we're saved, the
law has a demand on us, doesn't it? It's got a rightful claim
on us. Because we're a bunch of sinners.
Look at this. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ. There's the purpose of the law. To reveal our sinfulness. To
be like a schoolmaster and teach us. To bring us unto Christ that
we might be what? Justified by faith. Who's that
faith in? Christ. He's the sole object
of that faith. Look at this. But after faith
has come we are no longer what? under a schoolmaster. See, we
were under the law. In Christ, he redeemed us out
from under the law, beloved. And that law has no more claim
on us. It has no more power over us. No more. Now, Satan might put in our minds
things like, oh, you are such a lawbreaker. Yeah, I know I
am. But Christ fulfilled the law in my place. Hallelujah. He did. He did. He fulfilled
it by his perfect obedience. And now I'm in him. Praise be
to God. Oh my, it's wonderful. So rejoice,
beloved God. If you come to Christ, the law
has no more dominion over us. It's wonderful news. Let's go
back to our verse again in chapter two. For I through the law, verse
19, am dead to the law that I might live under God. Look at that. For I through the law am dead
to the law that I might live under God. We're saved out from
under the law to live under God, to worship Him, to praise Him,
to be thankful and grateful for what He's done for us. What a
wonderful purpose, eh? He takes folks who never worshipped
him before and turns them into worshippers of his grace and
glory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh my, we're dead to the law. Not that we might live under
ourselves, like those folks say, see? It's the opposite, actually,
of what those folks say when they say, well, you can just
live however you want. No, it's actually the opposite.
Let's take them right here and say, no, look, look, I'm saved
that I might live under God. I'm saved that I might praise
and worship my King for the wonderful things that He's done for us.
We're His workmanship, beloved. Paul wrote those things in Ephesians
chapter 2. We're His workmanship created in Christ Jesus, ordained to do good works for
Him that we don't even know we do. It's wonderful. So we must never,
never return in any way under the law, to be yoked under the
law for any reason. Not even to appease a weaker
brother. Bring that brother alongside
and say, look brother, look, look, we're not under the law.
We're not, we're under grace. We're under grace. My, turn if you would. to Galatians chapter five real
quick. And look what Paul says here. Christ alone is our righteousness,
right? So to return to the works of
the law is to deny Christ altogether. Look what he writes here in this,
I can't wait till we get to this point. Galatians five verses
one to four. Stand fast, just stand firm. And Christ keeps us, doesn't
he, standing firm. This is standing like a soldier. Stand firm. Remember those Roman legions,
they'd lock shields. Stand firm. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath what? Made you free. Be not again
entangled with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. See,
these Judaizers were saying you must be circumcised to be saved,
along with faith in Christ. And he says here, if you're circumcised,
Christ don't profit you at all. If you're doing that for salvation,
Christ doesn't even profit you, not at all. For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised, that he's a debtor to the whole
law. You say you want to trust in
Christ and be circumcised, you are a debtor to that whole law.
And that law just brings condemnation. See, but in Christ there's life,
freedom, beloved. Christ has become of no effect
to you. Whosoever of you is justified by the law, you've fallen from
grace. Look at that. Now turn to Romans chapter six.
And I'm gonna do a little bit of expounding here, and then
we're gonna close this message here. This ties so much into
what we're looking at. Romans chapter six, let's start
in verse one. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound? So those folks say, well, if
I preach like you or believe like you, I could just do whatever
I want. Paul, look at this question.
Look at this. What shall we then say? Shall
we continue that grace may abound? God forbid, that's in the absolute
negative, remember? Let it never be. Let it never
be. How shall we that are dead to
sin, because Christ has fulfilled the law for us, live any longer
therein? Know ye not that so many of us
were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death?
Therefore we're buried with him by baptism unto death. Like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,
and we were raised up from our dead state, Right? By the same
power that raised Christ up. The glory of the Father. Even
so also we should walk in what? Newness of life. Remember in
Galatians it said that we should live unto God. Newness of life. This is instruction for us, beloved.
Isn't it wonderful? It's such wonderful instruction
for us. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his
death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection,
knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not
serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. See, we're
crucified with Christ, beloved. We died with him to the law.
Right? I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. We're dead. When he died, we
died to the law as well. We were in him, remember? He's
the second Adam. Oh, this is spectacular news,
beloved. Wonderful news for sinners. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. Verse seven, for he
that is dead is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we also shall live with him, knowing that Christ,
being raised from the dead, dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion
over him. He has no claim on Christ. He's
sinless. He's sinless. That's why death
couldn't hold him. He's sinless. He's sinless in
his life. He's sinless in his death. He's sinless. It couldn't touch him. Couldn't touch him, beloved. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once. The sinless one died unto sin
once. Once. What a savior. But in that he
liveth, he liveth unto God. And we live in him, beloved.
Likewise, also reckon yourselves to be dead, look at this, unto
sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not
sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it
in lust thereof. Neither yield your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead. And your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God. So he's telling us
to serve God. The same way he's telling the Galatians to live
unto God, he's telling the same thing here. Just live unto God.
Worship him. Praise him. Live your life unto
him. No matter what you do for a living,
live your life unto him. Thank Him for everything you
have. For sin shall not have dominion over you. It doesn't
have the dominion over us it once had. We're set free, beloved. Now we're still sinners, of course.
But now we fight it, don't we? My, it doesn't have the dominion. For you are what? Look at this.
Look at this. For you're not under the law, but under grace.
Praise God. I'm not under the law. I'm under
grace. So are you if you're a believer. You're not under the law anymore.
Now take note of the following verses. We who are the redeemed of the
Lord are servants to righteousness. Servants to righteousness. Look
at this. Verses 15 to 23. And this ties in with live our
life under God, right? That Paul was talking about.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not
under the law? But under grace, let it never
be. God forbid, there it is again.
Let it never be, right? No, we don't have a license to
go and do whatever we want. Know ye not that to whom you
yield yourself servants to, obey? His servants ye are to whom you
obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.
But God be thanked. Now, we know that disobedience
unto righteousness is not Increasing our righteousness or marrying
our righteous. We're righteous in Christ This is just talking
about living our day every day Every living every day of our
life is servants of Christ. That's what it's talking about Look at this But God be thanked
that ye were servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart
that former doctrine which was delivered you. Oh, by the grace
of God. Being made free from sin, you
become what? Servants of righteousness. We were servants of sin, now
we're servants of righteousness. We were servants to ourself,
now we're servants to the King of glory. I speak after the manner
of man because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have
yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity
unto iniquity, that's where we were before, even now so yield
your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. See, we used to
serve our flesh, didn't we? I did. Now we serve Christ. Now we serve Christ. For when
you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.
Look at that. We had no righteousness. We were
servants to ourselves. What fruit had ye then in these
things, whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of these things is
death. But now, here we go, here we go, but now, But now, being
made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your
fruit unto holiness and to the end everlasting life. For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, my beloved. What a Savior! What a Savior, eh? What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord! We are free, beloved! Free! And
let us live unto God, beloved. Let us live unto God, our great
God and King. Let us live unto Him. Brother
Charlie, can you close us in prayer?