if you would like to turn there. Galatians chapter two. Paul is addressing Galatians
and has gotten to the root of the issue. He's gotten to the
point of the problem and he's made it very plain to them what
the issue is and the solution. And we have right here We have
some of the most simple, enlightening statements regarding justification
and righteousness that you'll find throughout scripture. It's
simple and it's plain. It's simple and it's plain. Paul
is very direct, he's bold. Now boldness doesn't mean arrogant.
Boldness doesn't mean prideful. Boldness doesn't mean rude. Bold
means confident. Confident in what he's speaking
of because whom he's speaking of. He's confident in Christ.
Christ is his confidence. We can read in other places,
Paul said, I have no confidence in the flesh. So he didn't have
any confidence in his flesh. All his confidence was in Christ
alone. That's why he's speaking the way that he does. He has
that authority because God gave it to him for one, but he has,
the Lord is his confidence. Although this simple Truth can
be found here in Galatians as it can be in so many other places.
Unless the Lord gives us ears to hear and eyes to see, we will
not see it and we will not hear it. For the scripture tells us
that the hearing ear and the seeing eye, they are of the Lord. If I'm gonna see or if I'm gonna
hear anything spiritual, it's going to have to come from Him.
He must be the doer of it. Here's the message, brethren.
Christ alone is our justification. That's the message. That's not
the title, but that's the message. This is what Paul's addressing
in Galatians. This is crystal clear. Christ alone is our justification,
or we have no justification. It's that simple. It's that simple. Only those who are justified
are made to disregard the law for righteousness. So if we're
justified, the Lord is the justifier and we are enabled, we are caused
to not trust in the law for righteousness anymore. Christ has been made
into us all of our wisdom, all of our righteousness, all of
our sanctification, all of our redemption, and all of our justification. That's what the Lord does for
his people. He makes Christ all. unto us. So we no longer look
at what we do or what we don't do for justification, but we
look to Christ and what he accomplished as our only hope for justification.
Now let's read this text. Galatians 2 verse 17 through
21. But if while we seek to be justified
by Christ, Let's read verse 16 also. I think I was supposed
to put that down, I'm sorry. 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. That is to say the faithfulness
of Christ. His faithfulness is our justification. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. You can't get any plainer than
that, can you? By the works of the law, no flesh
shall 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 thing 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, and that
word frustrate means to cast aside or to disregard or discredit,
The grace of God, for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. That's simple, isn't it? That's
very simple. If righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain. I've titled this message, How
to Be Free. I wanna answer that question. How can I be free?
Free from the law, free from sin, free from Satan, free from
the world, free from the punishment of sin, free from the wrath of
God, free from the judgment of God. All those things are what
you have if you're outside of Christ. We have wrath, we have
judgment. There's nothing good that comes
from God if you're found without Christ. But if you're found with
Christ, it's all good things cometh down from the Father of
lights. It's what the scripture tells us. How to be free. Paul's saying here that to use
the law as any part of your righteousness is bondage. It's bondage and
he also calls it transgression. Transgression is sin. That's
all that the law can do is condemn. That's all that the law is able
to do for a man is to condemn a man. It was given that every
mouth would be stopped and that all men would become guilty before
God. This is what the scripture tells us plainly. The law was
never given for you and I to be redeemed by the law. The law
was given to show us that we're sinners. We need a savior. We
can't keep God's law. He's holy, he's high and lifted
up, he's sovereign. He's sovereign. And there's nothing
we can do to stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
He's God. He's God. Those who hold that justification
in the sight of God is by the works of the law, they hold they
hold the individual to contempt. If you are justified, if you're
righteous by the works of the law, then you're held in contempt
because it counts us as transgressors. It counts us as, that's what
Paul's saying right here when he said if I, verse 18, but if
I build again the thing which I destroyed, I make myself a
transgressor. So to go to the law for anything
pertaining to righteousness, pertaining to justification.
Now I wanna elaborate on those words just a moment. Righteousness
means we're right before God. He views us as right and he views
us as good. And the scripture says there's
only one that's good and it's Jesus Christ. So for me to be
righteous, I must be in Christ. Likewise, justified means that
I'm no longer guilty. I'm no longer a sinner. The Lord
has saved me. Yes, I still have this body of
sinful flesh. Yes, I still commit sin. But
as far as God is concerned, Christ put those in a way on the cross
of Calvary, therefore justifying his people in the sight of God. You've been justified if you're
in Christ Jesus. So to go to the law and say,
OK, I am going to do this work or I'm not going to touch this
or I'm not going to taste this or handle this. OK, but I can
do this and I can do this. This is how I'm going to dress.
This is how I'm going to act. This is how I'm going to talk. This is
how I'm going to walk. And you believe that you're acquiring
righteousness before God. You're just a transgressor. You're
just a transgressor of the law, a transgressor towards the Lord. There's no hope in that. There's
no hope in that. A transgressor is a sinner. That's
how God views those who try to keep the law for righteousness.
But God's people have not so learned. Believers have turned
their back on the law pertaining to righteousness, pertaining
to righteousness. We flee to Christ as all our
righteousness. Paul clearly is saying this.
Look at verse 17. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ,
we also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister
of sin? God forbid, for if I build again
the things which I destroy, I make myself a transgressor. Paul is
saying if your basis for justification is on the grounds of keeping
the law, then you're calling, you're building upon the finished
work of Christ. You're building upon the finished
work of Christ, but you're a transgressor building upon the finished work
of Christ. So is Christ the minister of sin? God forbid, God forbid,
it'll never be so. Let it not be so, that's what
that means. May it never be, God forbid,
all we are doing is making ourself a transgressor if we try to keep
God's law for righteousness sake. You have those that would be
instantly thinking the opposite of, well, if you're in free grace,
then you can just do whatever you want to do. And there's no
responsibility at all. And you can live life how you
want to live. There's no law at all. Nowhere
have a law. We love God's law, but we don't
go to the law for righteousness. Christ is our righteousness.
And the law that we serve is the law of love written on the
heart of the Lord's people towards Him. And in doing so, in looking
to Christ as our all, and I'm getting ahead of myself a little
bit, but as looking to Christ as all our righteousness, if
the Lord calls us to do that, we are fulfilling the law. That's what the Bible tells us.
We're gonna look at that in a little bit. Brethren, there's no such
thing as righteousness before God based upon what I do or what
I don't do. It's that simple. There is no
such thing as righteousness before God based upon what I do and
what I don't do. The only one that's righteous
is the Lord Jesus Christ, and those that are in him are counted
righteous because they're in him. He's the righteous one. It's what he did that made the
difference, not what I do. It was his life, not the life
I live. It was his works, not my works.
It was his law-keeping, not mine, because I can't keep the law.
He's saying right here, if I try, I'm just a transgressor before
the Lord. I'm guilty, I'm guilty. To preach the lie that your salvation
is dependent upon you in any way is to say Christ died in
vain. That's what we're saying, that's
what he said at the very last part. I do not frustrate, I don't
discredit, I don't disregard the grace of God, for if righteousness
came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. That's so simple. If I go to the law for righteousness
in any way, and it could be the moral law, the civil law, the
ceremonial law, how I treat others, how I live my life before God,
or how I worship God. If I do any of those things as
part of my righteousness, then it's saying, if that be true
and I gain righteousness, Christ died in vain. He didn't die in
vain. He saved his people from their
sin. So the Lord has perished the thought in his people that
the law brings about justification, that the law brings about righteousness.
It can't happen ever. Christ is the one that brought
about righteousness. Christ is the one that justified
his people. To say Christ died in vain, that's
the highest form of blasphemy, isn't it? It sure is. It sure
is saying God failed. God failed, if something I'm
required to do as any part of my salvation, in order for God's
salvation to be successful for me, that means Christ did not
finish the work, he lied when he said it is finished. But he
didn't lie, did he? Why? God cannot lie, the scripture's
clear. The scripture's so clear, he
saved his people from their sin. Now those that oppose this free
grace, have been called antinomian before. You know what that is?
An antinomian is somebody that disregards any law. Any law. We're just gonna discredit the
law of God. The Lord's people discredit the
law of God for righteousness. You see what I'm saying? We don't
go to the law for righteousness by it or for it. The law is good,
the law is holy, the law is pure. We would love not to sin. Is
that not true? Would you love to? Well, it's
gonna happen one day. Whenever we awaken his presence
and the glory that's within us shall be revealed, we will never
sin again. We drop this body of sin. But
in the meantime, would you not love to never have an impure
thought and to just think upon heavenly things all the time?
That would be glorious, wouldn't it? Now think about the rest
and the peace we would have. Our problems are our own doing
most of the time, isn't it? The reason that we're frustrated,
the reason we're upset, we do it to ourself. It's our sin.
That's just how it is. We disregard God's law for our
righteousness and for justification because Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Christ accomplished salvation
for his people. Christ completed the work given
to him by the Father. Christ then imputed that righteousness
to his people. He took our sin, and gave us
his righteousness. It was a transaction that took
place on that cross. It wasn't just a man that was
dying that wants to try to save everybody. Everybody he died
for is saved. In time, he's gonna let them
know about it. This was an eternal matter. This wasn't just a temporary
matter. This was an eternal matter. God
saved his people forever on the cross of Calvary. We don't disregard the law and
count it as evil. Law's not evil. Law's good. But we disregard it regarding
our righteousness. Can't be justified by the deeds
of the law. He just told us that. Can't do it. Means if you're
trying to live a certain life in order for God to be satisfied
with you, all that you're doing is you're committing transgression
in his sight. We're just shoveling more of
the sin on top of our mountain, the debt that we owe. We're just
digging a deeper hole, aren't we? Can't get out by doing. No,
you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the only way
to do that is by God-given faith. It's by grace alone. I quote
this verse often, but I love this verse. It's so simple. For
by grace are you saved through faith, in that not of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of
works, not keeping the law. Why? Because men would boast,
lest any man boast. That's what the scripture tells
us. We never go to the law in any
way, shape, or form as part of our acceptance to God. We go
to Christ for our acceptance with God. Why? Because he's the
one that the father said, this is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased. God's people are the only ones
who actually establish God's law. Turn with me. I told you
we would turn. Romans chapter three is where you'll find this.
Romans chapter three. And I like how Paul, so many
times he writes, now we know, or knowing this, he's telling
us the things we already know. And this is the same thing he's
doing right now in verse 19. Now we know. that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. I quoted that earlier. This is the purpose of the law.
It's for us to see we don't have anything to say that's going
to do us any good whatsoever. We're gonna be stopped. We're
gonna be halted. We're gonna become guilty before God. That's the
purpose of the law. That word guilty means subject
to the judgment of God. That's what that means, guilty.
Verse 20, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of
sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all them, that
believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. That's a crystal clear verse,
isn't it? We're all guilty. We're all guilty. Here's the
good news of the gospel. Verse 24, being justified freely
by his grace. through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. Where is boasting then? Where's
boasting then? It is excluded by what law? The
law of works? Nay, but the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the
God of the Jews only? Is he not also the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeing it as one God which shall
justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through
faith, do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid.
We establish the law. God's people established the
law. How? by looking to Christ as
your justification, by looking to Christ as your righteousness.
How do you do that? Through faith. That's what he's
telling us, through faith. This is not something you can
see. This is not something that you do with your physical body. This is not something you do
with these eyes. This is eyes of faith. This is not something
you do with these lips. This is lips of faith. This is
not something you can see. It's the gift of God by grace,
by grace alone. It's not a believer's faith.
I want to be clear on this because he said, and this is an issue
sometimes people get mixed up in faith. You ever heard, you
need to put your faith in Jesus Christ. You ever heard that before?
That's not the proper way to say that. Now, if they mean what
they're saying, they're wrong altogether. You don't have any
faith, and I don't have any faith until God gives faith. It's the
faith of Christ that he's pleased with. Everything God requires,
he must provide, and he provided the faith, fullness of Christ
under the Father, and he gives us that faith, believing God,
believing God, and he's pleased with that. He's pleased with
that faith. It's not the believer's faith
in Christ that makes the difference. It's the faith of Christ in the
believer that makes the difference. It's not the faith of the believer
in Christ. It's the faith of Christ in the
believer that makes all the difference. It's freely given by grace. That's
what makes the difference. This is what our text says. This
is exactly what our text is telling us. Are you still holding your
place in Galatians? We're gonna come right back to
Romans, I'm just gonna read one verse, verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.
The faith of Jesus Christ. You know those other translations,
it actually says your faith in Christ, they changed that. No,
that's not what it says. It says the faith of Christ.
It's his, it belongs to him. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. Not the
faith of Caleb Hickman, Not the faith of anybody here, the faith
of Jesus Christ, His faithfulness. And not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Because we are justified by Christ
alone, then everything needed God must provide. And he provided
his faith for his people. He provided his blood for his
people. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission
of sin. He provided his soul as an offering for his people
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Because of all that, by looking
to Christ alone as all your acceptance before God, the Lord's made it
so that you establish the law. Establish the law. Now go back
to Romans briefly, and let's read this again. In this light,
we're just gonna read from 24 down. Being justified freely
by his grace. So if somebody says, well, wait
a minute, am I justified by my faith or am I justified by grace?
Because he's saying that you're justified by faith. It's Christ's
faith, Christ's faithfulness, and it's all by grace. Scripture
doesn't contradict itself. It's not us that's justified
because of what we have or do, justified because of what he
did on the cross of Calvary. Being justified freely by his
grace to the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God." So it's faith in his
blood. That's what Christ's faith bestowed looks to, is the blood.
Why? Because the Lord said, when I
see the blood, I'll pass by you. Not your law keeping, not your
law mongering, not your lifestyle, not what you do and don't do.
When I see the blood of Christ, I will say clean and pass by
you. Judgment will not come to you.
Wrath will not come to you. We've got to have the blood.
We've got to believe the blood was sufficient in putting away
our sin and the sin of the Lord's people. To declare, verse 26, I say at
this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? Well, it's not in the flesh,
is it? Not a bit. It's excluded, he says. By what
law? The law of works? What I do?
No, but the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. If you're
looking to Christ, that's what this law of faith is, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. Looking to him is how
you keep the law of faith. That's it. You're looking to
him. That's the whole point. If he's enabled you to do so.
Is he not the God of the Jews only? Is he the God of the Jews
only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the
Gentiles also, seeing it as one God, which shall justify the
circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith.
Now understand when he says circumcision and uncircumcision, he's just
repeating what he said in the verse before the Jew and the Gentile. Either
you're a Jew, born a Jew, or you're a Gentile. There is no
other alternative. There is no other alternative.
And thankfully the Lord's people are spiritually Israel. Spiritually
Israel. His elect. Verse 31, do we then
make void the law through faith? God forbid, it's irrelevant whether
the circumcision or uncircumcision, it's irrelevant. We have faith,
does that mean we've made the law void? No, we establish the
law by faith, by God-given faith, looking unto Christ as all. He says you establish the law,
you establish it. To return to the law for righteousness,
how you live, how you treat others. I talked to somebody this week
that told me, they said, I believe whenever I get up there, I'm
going to be all right with God because I've treated everybody
really nice. And I told her, I said, that's not exactly how
it works. I was like, you have sin in your
life and it has to be dealt with and you can't pay it. Christ
has to be the one to pay the sin debt. It was a good conversation,
but she still believes what she believes. You know, I'm never
going to argue with somebody like that. I spoke to her in love,
tried to encourage her to come to church. But if we look at
how we treat others as part of our righteousness, that's the
civil law that we're keeping. That's what that is, how we treat
others. And God says, no, that's just, you're a transgressor.
Don't do that. You're saying Christ wasn't sufficient. And
likewise, in our worship, if we come to church, if we come
to worship, and we believe that we're going to I've seen men
and women, they believe they're going to get a better reward
for their service unto God, their service. I've come to church
faithfully for 27 years. I've heard different people say
things like that. That's irrelevant to salvation. That's irrelevant. It's good to go to church. It
is. And I love our church. I love to worship. I love to
worship. But I don't come to church as part of my salvation. Christ is all. in salvation. I come to hear about salvation.
I come to worship the God of salvation, but I don't come to
promote myself to God and say, well, I'm going to church, so
I'm going to be okay now. It doesn't work that way. No more than going
to a doctor's office makes you well immediately, does it? If
you're sick and you go to a doctor's office, they don't give you a
blue pill and you get out the door, you're 100%. It doesn't work
that way, does it? No, when you come to the great physician,
he's gonna give, he's gonna show you your condition, that you
have leprosy, and he's the only solution for that leprosy, the
only solution for that sin, that death. Christ is all. Christ is our justification and
our righteousness, or we have none. If we return to the law
for righteousness based upon how we live, how we treat others,
or how we worship God, Brethren, we're saying Christ was not sufficient,
that he didn't accomplish what he said he did, that he wasn't
successful. It's to call God a liar. That's
what it's to do. That's how serious this is. It's
to call God a liar. Yet there are churches that are
packed. Churches are packed. I don't
have to name any of them, but you can turn the TV on and see
them. They're packed out telling this lie. Live this way and God
will favor you. Don't do this and God will favor
you. He'll give you health, wealth, and prosperity. You will not
find that in this book or anywhere. He did not promise us a peaceful
life. As a matter of fact, he said,
you're going to be hated for my name's sake. That's what he said. The
world's going to hate you. But he said, don't marvel that
they hate you. They hated me first. It's not
you they hate. It's me. But he said, be of good
cheer. I've overcome the world. I've
overcome the world. Brethren, if we preach works,
preach a works gospel, we're just putting men under bondage.
That's all we're doing. We're just putting men under the bondage
of the law. I heard a man talking about how we were supposed to live,
and I started feeling a little bit guilty there for a second.
I thought, man, this man's putting me under the law. Sure was. He sure was. He said, you can't
call yourself a believer and do this and this and this. And
I thought, man. I'm not doing everything he's saying, but it's
like, oh, I got to recheck this. It's like, OK, now I'm examining
myself for my righteousness. You see, that's the trick. That's
what that's all the law can do. It points to you. It doesn't
point to Christ. It shows us our sin. It's a mirror. It's
just a mirror. It's all it can show is the dirt.
That mirror is not going to get you clean. You can't wash with
a mirror, can we? No. No, we need the water. That's what we need. The fountain
of living water to wash us. Need the blood to wash us. Only
the Lord can provide that. So how to be free? That's the
message. That's the question. How to be free from all this
bondage, from all this lawmongering. How to be free? Well, look here.
Verse 27 of our text. Nope. Romans, I'm sorry. I did
not clarify in my notes, so I had you turn for the wrong reasons.
We're in still Romans three. And look at verse 27. When I get there. 27 Romans 3 27 where is boasting
then it is excluded by what law of works nay but the law of faith. How do you be free of the faith
of Christ given by looking unto Jesus by believing on him. Therefore,
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the
Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. What
he's saying is, is whether you're keeping the law or not, there's
only one way to be justified. Whether you're a Jew or you're
a Gentile, it doesn't matter. Whether you're circumcised or
uncircumcised, it doesn't make a difference. seeing it as one God which shall
justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith.
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid, we
establish it. We look to Christ. You wanna
be free? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look to his finished work as all your acceptance before God.
Look to his finished work as all your righteousness before
God. Look how he lived his life. as part of your righteousness. There is all your righteousness.
You can't look at anything you're living or doing. You look to
his life, you look to his death, you look to his burial, his resurrection,
as all your justification before God. Not one ounce of any bit
of me can be included in it. Not one ounce. Look to Christ
as all your wisdom. It means, if God enables you
to look to Christ as all your wisdom, that means you're saying,
I don't know anything. I know nothing, I'm gonna put my hands
over my mouth. I see the law that says I'm sinful and I can't
fix it, and I don't know how to fix it, because it's impossible
for me to fix it. So I'm going to look to Christ
as all of my wisdom. Who is the wisdom of God? Who
is the wisdom of God? Look to Christ as all your righteousness,
as all your righteousness. That's confessing to him, Lord,
all my righteousness is filthy rags. Have mercy on me, the sinner. The sinner, not a sinner, not
one of the sinners, this sinner, me. Have mercy on me, the sinner. I need your righteousness. Confess Christ as all your justification. You wanna be free, this is how
you be free. Confess Christ as all your justification. Saying,
Lord, I can't justify myself. Nothing I can do can help me
in my situation. Nothing I can do can help me
with my sickness, my sinfulness. Can't help. Look to Christ as all your sanctification.
That means that you believe that God made his people holy, that
he made his people holy. Not that you're getting better
because of your law keeping, but that he fulfilled the law.
And that's what the scripture tells us. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Believe
that he is your sanctification, that he's made you holy. Some
might say, well, I don't, Feel holy? Well, this flesh is not.
This flesh is still sinful. But in the eyes of God, he sees
the new man, new creature created in Christ. He sees you as holy. He does, as holy as he is. Why?
Because you're born of his spirit. We'll hear about that next hour
a little bit more. Look to Christ as all your redemption. Believe
that when he was finished with the work, by his own blood he
purged our sin and then he sat down. He saves all our redemption. Look to Christ as all your justification
before God means he kept God's law perfectly on your behalf.
He justified you. This is what the elect of God
are made to believe. We're not to trust in ourself.
We don't trust these hands anymore to accomplish anything before
God that would merit anything good. We see that everything
we touch, we corrupt. We don't trust God with this
mind or approaching God with this mind anymore as any part
of our righteousness. We see our thoughts deceive us. We can't
give God our heart. He doesn't want our heart, number
one. It's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
We need a new heart. We come completely dependent upon him
doing all the work, all the work. Then you're free. Then you're
free. Free in Christ Jesus. This is what Paul's conveying
both to the Romans and the Galatians. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Why is he the end of the law? He satisfied
it. He satisfied it. When He said it's finished, all
of it was finished. Every detail, every dot, every tittle, everything. Every I dotted, every T crossed,
He didn't leave anything undone. Nothing undone. It was perfect.
Salvation is perfect. And it was successfully accomplished
by Jesus Christ on the cross by Himself. By Himself. For the beneficiaries, they were
called the elect, His people. That's who He redeemed. Christ's
soul was made an offering for sin, and he put away that sin.
Therefore, you know what the law says now to the Lord's people
that's not looking to the law for righteousness, that's looking
to Christ alone? The law says, perfectly righteous.
Perfectly righteous. Now in closing, go back to Galatians
2. Let's read this again. Knowing,
verse 16, 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.
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. 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, I do not
cast aside or discredit the grace of God, for if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. You that desire
to be free from the bonds of sin and death, you that desire
to Be free from the guilt and the shame of sin. Sin makes you
feel guilty, doesn't it? Makes you feel dirty. You want
that guilt to be gone, you're not gonna be able to do it by
yourself. You're not gonna be able to do it by yourself. That
guilt can only be remedied one way, by the precious blood of
Christ. That's it. That's the only way.
You desire to be free from the wrath of God, free from the judgment
of God, because everyone outside of Christ, God pronounced judgment
and wrath upon them. That's what's going to come to
them. There's no other remedy outside of Christ. You've got
to be in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must believe on him. And
he's gotta be the one that makes you do it. He's gotta be the
one that enables you to do it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look to his works, not yours. Look to his life, not yours.
Look to his death, burial, and resurrection. Look to the blood,
what it accomplished. Believe that the blood accomplished
everything the Lord said it accomplished, your salvation. For all time
and eternity, it's our only hope. We look to the blood, we look
to the Lord Jesus Christ as all our acceptance before God. We
look to him as all our hope and eternal life. We look to him
alone as all our peace. Don't look to what you do or
what you don't do. Don't look to the law for righteousness.
Look to the Lord Jesus Christ who is righteous, who is the
righteousness of his people. If you look to the law, it's
bondage, but look to Christ. And if you're looking to Christ,
You're free. Let's pray. Father, we ask that
you would cause us to understand these words and bless it according
to your will. In Christ's name, amen. Let's
take a break.