if you will turn with me for
a scripture reading to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. Paul's talking to the Galatians
here about something that had happened that had to do with
what he was teaching. He talks about his trip to Jerusalem
where James was the pastor, and how that they listened to
him and gave him the right hand of fellowship. He says in verse 8, For he that
wrought affectionately in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision,
the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles, and when James
and Peter and John who seemed to be pillars, perceived the
grace that was given to me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right
hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, and
they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should
remember the poor, the same which I also was forward to do. But when Peter was come to Antioch,
a church Paul had preached. I've preached from that text
often in Acts 13, where he talks about that church at Antioch.
When Peter was gone to Antioch, I withstood him to the face,
because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came
from James, from that big church in Jerusalem, This was a monster
church. It was over 100,000 people, is
what the writers say about it, historians. And these were choice
men of that huge flock of believers. And he said, for before that
certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. He'd come
up to that church at Antioch and he sat down and he ate with
them. But when they were come, When this hierarchy from the
church came, whatever they were, he withdrew and separated himself,
fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews
dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was
carried away with their dissimulation. And when I saw that they 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, and not as do the Jews, why compelst
thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews
by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, not heathens, 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 again
the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. I, through the law, here's my
text I'll be using this morning. For I, through the law, am dead
to the law, that I may live unto God. I'm 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. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead. Amen. I invite you this morning to
turn back with me to Paul's letter to the churches of Galatia. It's not the church at Galatia,
but churches of Galatia. Paul, in the beginning, was identified
as Saul of Tarsus. If you look at a map of the Mediterranean
Sea, Tarsus is right in the bend, right at the top of the bend,
over here on the right, and Galatia was a huge area up above it,
all the way to the north, I believe in what is modern day Turkey.
This is Galatia, and these churches were all over that Roman territory
of Galatia. In Galatians chapter 2, verses
19 through 21, is what I want to use as my text. I sought for a title that would
best set forth the teaching of these verses, and I finally chose
this title, The Believer's Epitaph. The Believer's Epitaph. Now it's
important to me to have a message for you from the Lord. I know I'm expected to stand
up here and preach to you every Sunday and I don't want to just
come up here with something and just put my time in and go home. I want to have, I struggle to
have a message for you from the Lord and a message current to
such things as we're facing in our day. A lot of the rhetoric
I read has to do with issues that they fought over back in
1600s, back in 1700s. I want to bring a message to
you about things that are current, things that we're facing in our
day. And one of the things which has
always haunted believing saints is their relationship with the
law of God. At a glance, the law seems to
be something that we would want incorporated in our religion. It seems to have high goals of
aspirations. To love God with all your heart,
soul, mind, and strength. To love your neighbor as yourself. to honor your father and mother. These are all high ambitions,
high goals, and they're all in the Word of God. The problem
is, and this is at the heart of what I'm trying to preach
to you this morning, the problem is that the law is not a goal
set before men to strive for. The law is the commandments of
God that demand obedience. Now there's a difference. There's
a difference. When religion talks about the
law, they're talking about a goal. They're setting the law up there
as a goal. And by your obedience, you judge
yourself by your obedience to that law. But that's your ambition.
That's your goal. I want to be what the law teaches
me to be. But the law is not a goal set
for you. The law, he said, is not for
a righteous man. Not written for him. That's not
its purpose. The law is the commandment of
God. And to breach God's law demands
punishment. And the price of it demands what
you cannot pay. That's why hell is forever. You
cannot, by your suffering, satisfy the justice of God. It can't
be done. Only one, in all of eternity,
could satisfy the justice of God, and that's Christ. I like to watch old westerns.
And one thing's in common with every western I've ever seen.
They got a sheriff's office. And you go down to that office,
and right before you walk in the door, there's big posters.
Got somebody's face on them. Got the amount of reward underneath.
And it says, Wanted, Dead or Alive. Your face is on that poster.
And the law says, Wanted. Justice demands satisfaction,
and it's relentless. The law knows who you are. God knows who you are. You're not hiding from anybody
except those in this room, those that you work with, family members
that don't attend here. You can hide from them, but you
can't hide from God. And I tell you, when he When
He begins to show you what that law is, oh, you see your picture
on the wanted poster. I'm telling you, listen to these
verses. The Word of God said, Cursed
is everyone who continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law, to do them, not to have an ambition or a
goal to do them, but to do them. The first part of that verse
reads like this. as are of the works of the law. What's he talking about? He's
talking about people who incorporate this law into their religion
to gain favor with God. That's what he's talking about.
As many as are of the works of the law, now watch this, are
under the curse. They're not talking about, they're
not talking about people down in the state pen. Not talking
about people locked up over here in the county jail, this is talking
about religious people. Huh? As many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. For it's written, cursed is everyone
who continueth not in all things written. If you're going to,
Paul said, you that desire to be under the law, do you hear
the law? Do you understand that the law
has your picture on a wanted poster? Do you understand that
the law condemns you? It sees your, the Word of God,
this book that we read from, Basis of Our Faith, this book,
it tells you about the law. And it has eyes to discern the
very thoughts and intents of your heart. And it judges continually. Continually. What curse is he talking about?
He's talking about being a lawbreaker, a transgressor of the law. And
we as members of Adam's race, our fallen men and women, we're
ruined by the fall, being born with a sinful nature, the Scripture
said, we come forth from the womb speaking lies. Uh-oh, there
went continuous not and all things written in the book of the law
to do. Barely made it outside the womb, we've already transgressed
the law. The scripture said we go astray
as soon as we be born. Surveying the whole lot of humanity,
the Lord said there's none righteous. There's none righteous. That's not what I'm hearing.
What I'm hearing is everybody's righteous. If you don't believe
me, go down to the funeral home. Just sit there. Sit through a
few of them. That's the biggest rebel that ever lived. They gave
him right in the head. There's none righteous. And just in case, somebody's
going to say, yeah, but uh... No, not one. Not one. There's none that understand
it. They don't even understand the law, let alone obey it. They
don't even understand what it says. There's none that seeketh after
God. We're all gone out of the way, Paul said. We've together
become unprofitable, and there's none that do us good. No, not
one. That's why our Lord said there's
none good but God. We're all wanted by the law.
Justice demands satisfaction. And for the good of mankind and
the glory of the true and living God, they must be arrested and
put away forever. And he's going to do that. He's
going to do that. We're not good folks with high
ambitions. We're rebels who hate God and
despise his authority. He's not going to tell me what
to do. Huh? Read about it over in Romans
8. The carnal man. Enmity against God. He's not
subject to the law of God. Not subject. He's a rebel.
He's a rebel. Sign says stop, he hits the gas. Huh? He's a rebel. John was carried by the Spirit
into heaven. And there he saw things the way
they really are. And he saw them by the revelation
of Christ and how God saves sinners. And he said, here he is. He's in heaven. Things are coming
to an end now. He's down to the end of the revelation
of Jesus Christ. And he said, I saw a great white
throne and him that sat on it, from whose face heaven and earth
fled away. Why? The throne is the security of
our salvation. Why is heaven and earth fleeing
from the throne? Because there was found no place
for them. I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book
was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged
out of those things. which were written in the books
according to their works. He goes on to say, and death
and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. Why? Because the law demands
satisfaction. And they had no price to pay,
the rebels. The law and justice of God will
judge every man with eyes which can and do discern their thoughts.
It discerns your motives, the intents of your heart. And death
is imminent. Listen to this. He said this
way early in the books of Moses. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. Does that sound like there's A way
out? No way out. Justice has to be
satisfied. Law has to be honored and exalted.
There's no possibility that any sin by any man or woman will
stand without receiving a just recompense of reward. Paul said he was alive, now watch
this, without the law one time. So was I. So was I. I thought the law demanded the
best I could do. I thought the law was a goal
that we strived to reach. I didn't understand what the
law was. I was alive without the law, without any understanding
of it. I was alive. He was alive once
without the law being deceived by Antichrist religion, self-righteous
Phariseeism, and he thought that his efforts to keep the law and
his ambition to exalt the law and his efforts to promote the
law gave him favor with God. But when the commandment came
in truth, in force, In Revelation, sin relied. Sin hid its ugly
face in the law. And being deceived, he couldn't
see it. He couldn't see his sin. And he said, I died. I died. I have four things I want us
to see in this wonderful text of Scripture. We've heard it
read so many times. I want us to see our spiritual
epitaph. I want us to see that. And then
I want us to consider a gospel oxymoron. If you don't know what
that means, I'm going to tell you in just a little bit. And
then he gives us a brief explanation, all in these few verses. And
then he gives us a frightening alternative. So let's look at
these things. Let's begin here with the believer's
spiritual epitaph. In verse 19, he said, For I,
through the law, am dead to the law, that I may live unto God. When you see that word, that,
When it's in a sentence like that, it means in order that. That's what he's talking about.
Paul was not a fit, straddling preacher. He just wasn't. He just wasn't. I've known a
lot of them. What he preached, he insisted on. He used the scriptures
to back it up. And his own standing before God.
He said we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God. You judge for yourself whether
I'm sin of God or whether I sin of myself. I commend myself to
your conscience in the sight of God. Now death through the
law is essential to our understanding of the gospel. In Romans chapter
3 verse 19, having described in detail what it is to be under
sin, he sums it all up in verse 19 saying, now we know, we know
that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them that
are under the law that we might have a goal, knowing
what it is. that we might have a motivation. I ain't going to say it. That we might have something
to book to as a guide. I ain't going to say it. We know
that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them that
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the word become guilty. before God. That's what the law
is all about. You stand before that judge,
and you're given a space to talk. But when you said everything
you had to say, you sit down, and now everybody's eyes is facing
on the judge. What's he going to say? Or there's a jury out, and you
wait on the verdict. You've got nothing else to say. When the law finish talking to
you, your mouth is shut. It's shut. Our Lord had nothing
to reply to him when he died. He could have told them
every detail about how they plotted and planned and did this and
did that and everything else, but he knew. But what they did
is what God's hand and God's counsel determined before to
be done. He knew what he was dying for. And he knew that nothing short
of his death was going to satisfy that justice. And so he answered
not a word. How are we dead to the law? I love what one writer had to
say. I don't read him too much, but
I plan to. I like what he had to say. It
was so good. He said, we're dead to the law
as to our expectations of it. I don't expect to die by it. I died in Christ. I don't expect
to be led by it, because the one who fulfilled it is much
more glorious than the law. I don't even understand what
the law says, but I see it magnified in him. I see it honored in him. I see the personification of
it in him. And I'm just, I don't have any
expectations of him. I don't have any influence by
him. Don't stand up to me and say, oh, you better keep the
Sabbath day. It had no effect on me. Christ is my Savior. I'm not influenced by it. What
is it? I'm dead. A dead man is not influenced
by anything. Is he? A dead man is not doing anything.
It's a state of being. He's dead. I'm dead to the law,
Paul said. I'm dead. Anything and everything
about the law has nothing to do with me. Christ satisfied that law for
me. Christ is my righteousness. Christ is my hope. We're dead to the law being judged
by its righteous demands and put to death. I would put to
death in Christ. Put to death in Him. He died
a righteous death. There's no righteousness apart
from His death. I'm dead to the law, being a
transgressor of it. We're dead being condemned as
an ungodly member of society and an enemy of God. I'm dead
to the law. This is not, as some have suggested,
a difficult act of the will. It's an impossibility. apart from gospel truth and God's
Spirit pressing these precious truths upon our hearts. May the
Lord himself bring us to see this epitaph written in stone
over our spiritual graves. I, through the law, am dead to
the law. Our God is a holy God. He alone
is good. and righteous and just, and he
cannot and will not save anyone apart from the full satisfaction
of his justice. In Proverbs chapter 17 and verse
15, now let this go home to you, and you judge whatever religion
you're being influenced by, you judge it by this. He says, he
that justifies the wicked takes that rebel and he's dead and
he's laying down there at the funeral home and he just ushers
him right into heaven. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
to the Lord. Every believer has the same epitaph. I through the law and did to
the law that in order that I might live unto God. There was a woman,
Scott Richardson was preaching and his preaching was not like
anybody else's I've ever heard. He'd take a subject and he'd
set it up here like on a fence post and then he'd walk around
that subject and just keep preaching on that same point, and when
he was done, you understood what it was he had to say on that
matter. That's what he did. And he was preaching Christ,
and this one woman came there as being invited by somebody
in the church, and she'd been coming for a month. And she'd
wiggle, You could tell she didn't like what she was hearing, but
she kept going. One evening she had a belly full.
She caught old Scott back by the door and she said, Christ,
Christ, Christ, that's all you ever preach. He said, would somebody
put that on my gravestone? All I ever preached was Christ. That I might live under God. All right, here's the second
thing in our text, the gospel oxymoron. An oxymoron illustrates
a point to communicate and reveal a paradox. Are you thoroughly
confused now? Another word used to explain
it is the verb juxtapose. We're going to have an English
lesson. It means to put things close together for a contrasting
effect. In an oxymoron, two things of
seemingly opposite meanings are set close together to reveal
what seems to be a paradox. We're dead to the law that we
might live. To live! That's an oxymoron,
isn't it? How can I be dead to the law
and alive under God? Well, my friend, this is the
mystery that's been hid from generations from the foundation
of the world. It's a mystery, but it's a mystery
declared in the gospel. The mystery. He said, I preach
the gospel in a mystery. God has a people he chose in
Christ and made full provision for them, including their adoption,
their acceptance with God, and all the means to bring these
things to pass. In Christ we have obtained an
inheritance. Now listen, this is Ephesians
111. We have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated. according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of the glory of his grace who
first trusted in Christ." Death and life, two things essential
to salvation and an understanding of justification by faith. Do you understand what I'm saying?
We're dead and we might live. That's an oxymoron, isn't it?
All right, here's the third thing. Paul gives us a brief explanation
of this oxymoron. How can one die and live? Verse 20. Here it is. We've been talking about verse
19, our epitaph. And in the mystery that we live,
we're dead that we might live. And now here comes the explanation.
I'm crucified with Christ. That's how I can die and live.
I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. How does he do that? In hope. 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. The gospel of Jesus Christ, if
Paul preached and called everything else another gospel, and called
those who preached it a curse of God, is the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the representative head of the church. He's the federal head. He's the
substitute for chosen sinners. There's no other way to die and
live except in another. When God chose His elect, He
chose them in Christ. Why? Why didn't He just choose
them and then send His Spirit down and work in them This progressive
sanctification and they'll just get better and better and better
until they're just like Christ. Here's why He chose them in Christ. That we should be holy. Oh my. We're talking about the wholeness
of God. Every time you hear that word
holy, don't start thinking about how long somebody's dress is
and how they cut their hair. That's not holiness. Holiness
has to do with the whole character of God. He chose us in Christ
that we might be just like God. Holy. Holy. Holy in what? In everything. Holy in justice. Holy in righteousness. Holy in goodness. Holy in kindness. Holy in grace. Holy in mercy.
He chose us in Christ that we might be holy. There's no other
way for any fallen human being to be holy except in Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead, fullness of grace, fullness of mercy, fullness of
love, fullness of justice. It's all in Him. He's God come
into the flesh. He chose us in Christ that we
might be holy. Nothing in our standing before
God to compromise His character. In the salvation of His elect,
He's declared to be righteous in His remission of their sins.
And He's righteous because Christ bore their sins in His own body
on the tree. He's righteousness in their sins
being forgiven because the Lord hath laid on Him. the iniquity
of us all. We're reconciled in the body
of His flesh through death to present us holy. Whoa! Am I made holy in His death? That He might present us. We're
talking about the all-seeing, all-knowing God. And Christ by
His sacrifice So fully recognizes, reconciles us that he presents
us before God as holy. And unblameable. Boy, look at
yourself in the mirror. See if you can find any blame
there. That's all you can see. That's all you can find. And then watch this. Unapprovable. Well, let's see. What can I find
in this believer to make him better? Nothing. Nothing. He's unapprovable. Now, I'm going
to tell you something. The only way you can have that
is by faith. No other way. You start incorporating
the law into this thing, I'm telling you, it's death. It's
death. He chose us in Christ that we
might be holy and without blame before Him in love. And we live,
Galatians 2.20, by the faith of the Son of God who loved us
and gave Himself for us. And by way of this eternal union
with Christ, the love of God for His people is secured forever. No possibility. Not thing present
or things to come. I love this passage over in Romans
8, 38 and 39. He said, for I am persuaded that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us,
believers, from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. If you have Christ, that love
of God is secured forever in him. And since he's our substitute
and representative and our righteousness My love for him is secured in
the same person. Oh, my soul. You're dead, he
said, dead to sin, dead to the law, dead to any potential of
the flesh or the mind of a carnal mind, and your life is hid with
Christ in God. You're looking for a hiding place?
Here it is. In Christ. In Christ. What we have in us is the hope
of union with Christ. That's what I have. He's my hope. He's not trying to make me better
and better and better. I'm getting worse and worse and
worse. That which is flesh is flesh. It's always going to be
flesh. It'll be flesh until it's put in the ground. Then what's your hope? This new
man. My life's here with Him. And
He's here in God. And He's in glory. And He's accepted. And He's exalted. And He has
obtained eternal redemption for us. All in Him. Paul said, do you think you got
a hope? I got more hope than you ever dreamed of. I'm a Jew. A pure Jew. I'm of the tribe
of Benjamin. Huh? I'm a Benjamite. You want
to talk about the law? My obedience was perfect. You
want to talk about my righteousness? I'm a Pharisee. Huh? Oh, but he says, I took that
out. I took that hope. That hope that
men wallow in. That hope that men feel secure
in. They feel warm like a blanket
on the wind. He said, I took that hope out,
that righteousness, that religious rhetoric. He called it dung,
and I threw it on the dung heap. That's where it belonged. And
listen to what he cries. Oh, that I might win Christ,
and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is
of the law. But that which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ. His faithfulness. That's my hope. That's that new man. We won't
do this, do that. And all it is, is mimicking the
law. Look at religion. It's filled
with the leftovers of the law. They come out in robes. That's
the way the high priest was. That's the way the common priest
was. They all had a special uniform. They come out in these uniforms,
these robes, and all this stuff. Look at the Pope. He's got a
headpiece on. So did the high priest. That's who he pretends to be.
Religion has all these carryovers from the law. But boy, not the
believer. The believer has Christ. He's
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And because he
ever liveth, he's able to save, I love Henry
said, not the uttermost, but the goodermost. He can save to
the uttermost those that he brings unto God by him. That I might know him and the
power of his resurrection, that is the virtue which arises from
it, and the influence which it has within us, and his power
to resurrect the saints from their spiritual deadness. The
power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings,
that is, being a beneficiary of his sufferings. And if you are a beneficiary
of his suffering, you're going to suffer for the same reason
he did. being made conformable unto his
death. That is, being crucified with
Christ, planted in the likeness of his death, dying a death to
honor God's justice, being crucified with him. And this is our hope. And this hope is life-altering. It's life-altering. The life
I now live in the flesh, he said, I live by the faith of the Son
of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Is Christ sufficient
for me to live? He's the only thing that is. The only thing that is. There's
no other hope. There's none other name under heaven given whereby
we must be saved. And when he talks about the mind,
does he talk about this intellectual mind that perceives the law?
This part of the law, well, that's over with. But now this part
ain't what it says. It says, cursed is everyone who
continues not in all things written in the book of the law. You're
going to use that law as a walk of life, and you better go get
a lamb. You better build an altar. You better round up a priest
to offer it for you, because you ain't fit. You're going to
have to build all the furnishings in there. You're going to have
to slit it throughout, divide it up, put this on the altar,
drain the blood, build a tabernacle, go under the rock. You that desire
to be under the law, do you hear the law? If you did, you wouldn't desire
to be under it. Oh, my soul. I'm dead to the
law in order that I may live under God. And everything we
do as a believer is out of love and gratitude to God our Savior.
The object of our faith is Christ who is also the model of our
works. Faith don't produce life, but
life produces faith. And eternal life is to know God
as God is revealed in His Son. What do men and women do that
know God in Christ? They love one another. No doubt about it. He that loveth
not knoweth not God. God's love. They love one another. They promote the gospel. They say, come here, come here. They worship God in spirit and
truth. And they walk in Christ exactly The life we now live in the flesh
we live by the faith of Christ who loved me, gave himself for
me. Scripture said the just shall
live by faith. Let me hurry. I want to get this
last poem in. Paul leaves us with a frightening
alternative. He said, I do not frustrate the
grace of God. If righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain. His death was not necessary if
it was in vain. If he died in vain, it's a breach
on God's love for his son. His death was not sufficient,
leaving the sinner now with an impossible task. His death was
not illuminated, leaving us in our darkness and ignorance to
walk with God. That's what it means for him
to die in vain. Salvation in all of its senses
is by the grace of God, and especially as it is in the life we live,
being converted. And what an awful thing to think
about. Christ dying in vain. The preacher you preaching, wanting grace always is right. That's exactly what I'm preaching.
That's exactly what I'm preaching. Salvation in Christ. He's our
righteousness. And watch out now. If it were
possible, The very elect would be deceived. Deceived how? By telling them that this all
had to be done, Christ had to die, but now we need to follow
the law. That's what my friend told me
down in Louisiana. He said, I love the gospel. I see its importance. I see y'all,
but we need a little law. You haven't seen anything. Huh? You don't see Christ and need
the law. I'll tell you what that law'll
do. Same thing I told you in the beginning. It'll put your
face on a wanted poster. And it won't quit following you
till it has you. And once it has you, it has you
forever. Oh, you don't want the law. You
don't want the law. You want Christ. And he didn't
go around the law. He satisfied the law, he exalted
the law, and he made the law honorable by his life and death. Oh, may the Lord help us to see
that. Thank you.