We have before us in Galatians
Chapter 2 the Holy Spirit's record of the fall of an apostle from a place of
peace and safety and fellowship. Not just him, but Barnabas and
many others fell along with him. That's not the end of the story,
is it, in Galatians chapter 2. We have the words that Paul used,
possibly to Peter and the others at that time. Words that should
bring joy and peace and comfort to a backsliding hypocritical
fallen sinner who has stumbled yet again. I love what Isaiah
14 says, it says, I will heal their backslidings and I will
love them freely. I don't know if you recall at
the Last Supper Peter made such bold declarations about his faithfulness
above all of the others, and the Lord promised him that he
would betray him again. And then he says to Peter, he
says a great but, doesn't he, one of the great buts of scripture,
you're going to stumble and fall, but your faith will fail not. I have prayed for you. And when you've been converted,
strengthen your brothers. And so Paul is led by the Holy
Spirit to give us these remarkable words. And as you're preaching
through books of the scripture you have your favourite passages
and you're long and can't wait for the time to get to them.
And essentially what we've had up to this point is Paul giving
a history of his conversion, the simplicity and the wonder
of the Gospel in those first five verses that it's the glory
of God in the salvation of His people and describes the Lord
Jesus Christ and His grace. He gave Himself for our sins,
on behalf of our sins, that He might deliver us from this present
evil world according to the will of God and our Father. And in
Chapter 2, verse 15, I'll just read to the end of the chapter,
we have just amazing descriptions of the Gospel. Twice in Chapter
2, Paul has spoken of why he didn't give in to the false teachers,
not for a minute, that the truth of the Gospel might remain with
you. And Peter had had not walked
uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, verse 14. And
we've talked a little in the last few weeks about the truth
of the gospel here in verses 15 down to 21. We have a glorious
description. And I'm trusting that the Lord
might allow us to have a few weeks resting on these beautiful,
beautiful words. Verse 15, we who are Jews by
nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that 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 the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. What a shocking thought to think
that he might have died in vain. He certainly did not. Paul is no doubt speaking on
behalf of the Jews and speaking to the likes of Peter and Barnabas
in verse 15. We who are Jews by nature are
not sinners of the Gentiles. He then talks about things that
the Jews know. 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. You might
wonder why the Holy Spirit led Paul to repeat himself in such
a way, and repeat those phrases over and over again. We need
reminding. And one of the ways in Hebrew
writing that they reminded people of things is that they repeated
them in such a fashion that you have two ideas and then two more
ideas and then they come to a central idea. It says that a man is not
justified by works of the law at the beginning and then Then
down at the end it says, and not by works of the law, and
then it says, not justified by works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ. And then again it says that we
might be justified by the faith of Christ. And then the very
central verse, the central part of that, that helps us to remember and
helps us to focus on the critical thing, even we have believed
in Jesus Christ. So there are things known, aren't
there? There are things that these Jews
knew. The man is not justified. by the works of the law. It's the great question, isn't
it? It's the great question of life, it's the great question
of all existence, the great question of all eternity. Job asked it. How should a man be just with
God? Job A man who had received much
and had so much taken away from him and now in this situation
of having lost his family, lost his health, lost his respect,
he's then challenged about it. But he goes on in chapter 9 verse
20 to say, if I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn
me. If I say I am perfect, it shall
prove me perverse." It's a great question, isn't it? How can God
be just and the justifier? How can God be just and the justifier
of people like you and I, like Peter, How can he deal with Peter
as a perfectly holy, righteous child of God? We are none better. That's what the Jews know, don't
they? We are none better, in no wise. We have all proved,
Romans 3, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.
As it is written, there is no one righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way, they are all, they are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an
open sepulcher. and with their tongues they have
used to seek. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is
no fear of God before their eyes." Now we know that what things
soever the law says it says to them that are under the law that
every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty
before God. 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." God's children know things. Paul the Apostle is reminding
Peter of what they know. They know that a man is not justified
by the works of the law. Peter, as I said earlier, had
fallen into a state where he was to be blamed and stood condemned. And Barnabas joined in that hypocrisy
with him. And they are reminders, aren't
they? They are reminders of how weak
our flesh is. And how much we are in constant
need of the gracious hand of the Lord to lift us up again
from our many, many falls. And how the truth of the Gospel
will only remain when the Lord intervenes decisively and strongly. It is His Gospel. He preserves
it and He maintains it. And what a comfort. What a comfort
as Peter, for the rest of his days, read again and again these
words that his brother in the Lord, Paul, was called to write
for him. What comfort the believers have
in what are described as the sure mercies of David. The sure mercies of David. All
things sure for believers. All that the Father gives me
will come to me. I am the Good Shepherd, and the
Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, even though they
fall into this wicked, wicked, hypocritical sin that compels
others to join with them. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I love what Romans
8.32 says. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? These are wonderful pictures
in Pilgrim's Progress of how prone we are to forget. You might
remember that Pilgrim at times is in a great despairing dungeon
and he forgets, he forgets that he has the key, the key to unlock
the door in his pocket and it's the scriptures. And another time
he's walking and he finds a nice quiet place to rest. from his
wanderings and he lies down to rest. And while he's resting
the scroll rolls away from him. He gets up and he goes on his
journey and he's troubled and troubled and troubled and he
realizes that he's forgotten his scroll. How often, how often
we forget, how often we live as if we don't know how gracious
is our God, how gracious is our God in bringing His providential
hand of mercy upon the children of His everlasting love and restoring
them and showing them from the scriptures why He restores them. We know, says Paul, we know,
we know, We know from our conversion when we are created as new creatures,
Paul's righteousness that he could boast before men and he
could stand before those Pharisees in Jerusalem and say, here is
the law of God. Here are all these things that
Peter was encouraging and compelling the other people in Antioch to
join with him in doing. He could say, I'm absolutely
blameless. What a remarkable statement.
And then he goes on to say that all those things that were gain
for him, he now considers them loss, he considers them done. In conversion we come to know,
don't we, there are things that are part of our knowledge of
who God is and our knowledge of who I am. Romans 7 is a great
description, a great description of a converted sinner. Romans
7, 9, for I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taken occasion
by the commandment, deceived me and it slew me. Therefore
the law is holy and the commandment is holy, just and good. was then
that which was good made death under me, God forbid, but sin
that it might appear sin." So he didn't see that he had sinned
before, but sin that it might appear sin, working death in
me by that which was good, that sin by the commandment might
become exceedingly sinful. For we know, Peter, Barnabas,
all we Jews, we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal,
sold unto sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that I do not. But what I hate, that I
do. For I know, verse 18, that in
me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. I find a law then, a principle,
that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in
my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members,
O wretched man. Paul didn't see himself as a
wretched man until he saw the Lord Jesus in His glory. And
then he saw himself, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with my mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. And it's a shame the chapter
is broken there, isn't it? There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. The law in the hand of God convicts
and condemns the sin We are taught, I was taught in the Bible colleges
that the law of God comes to the cross of the Lord Jesus.
And at the cross of the Lord Jesus, the ceremonial law and
the laws for the land of Israel as a nation all stop and cease. But all the moral law continues
on. and that we are still obligated.
We have one eye fixed on the law of God to know how to live
and we have another eye fixed on the Lord Jesus to know how
to live. Isn't it extraordinary that the
scriptures never ever break up the law of God in that way. There's
not a single word in scripture. When our God says something it
becomes immoral not to hold to it. So all of the law ultimately
is moral, isn't it? When God reveals something of
his character in the scriptures, to not hold to the truth about
his character is an immoral activity. The law, says James 2.10, the
law is a package. You break one part of it and
you have broken all of the law of God. The soul that sinneth,
it shall die. Romans 1 says that all have sinned. In fact, Romans 5 ups the ante,
as it were, because in Adam we were made sinners. We are made sinners. The Scriptures
cause God's people to know. The Scriptures cause God's people
to know in experience and by the lessons
of the false teachers and by the lessons of Peter and others
joining with them that they are hypocrites. They are people wearing
a mask. As many as desire to make a fair
show on the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest
they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." They
constrain you. They don't keep the law. They
never have kept the law. How does God save sinners? Peter must have delighted in
these words, wouldn't he? knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ. A couple of things just to note
about the words. The word to justify is actually
a legal term. It speaks of the verdict in a
court And here it speaks of God's verdict in God's court. The other thing we need to see,
if the Lord allows, is that the word justified here is in the
passive voice. And so it means that the justification
is done completely outside of the believer. completely outside
of the believer. It's not something that we do. We are passive. It's something
that God does. And when it talks about works
of the law, it's talking about putting forth an effort. It's
about striving, about trying, justifying. What sweet, sweet
words these are to fallen sinners, backsliding sinners, justifying. It's a legal term. It's God's
verdict in God's court on the basis of the work of God's Son
entirely. We are justified by what Christ
has done. We are justified by His blood,
justified by His death, justified by His resurrection, and we are
justified in such a way that all of the magnificent and glorious
attributes of God are on perfect display. God is just. always perfectly just. Proverbs 17.15 says, He that
justifies the wicked and he that condemns the just, both are an
abomination to the Lord. When God justifies He's actually
pronouncing something that is real in his court and the evidence
is there before him. He's not playing let's pretend. He's talking about realities. That's how the judges of Israel,
weren't they? They were to judge with absolute
and strict and impartial justice. And so is our God. The judge
of the whole earth will do right. He will do right and he will
by no means clear the guilty. The scriptures describe him,
don't they, as our just God. God can be just and the justifier. We have. We have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of His grace. God is the cause of justification. Grace is the means by which justification
is brought to us. The reason is the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The objects are those given to
Him by the Father, those in perfect union with His Son. Such is the
union that the Eternal Covenant speaks of and the Scriptures
are full of, that God sees such a union that all that he did,
they did. They are one with him. As I said, justification is a
legal term. A legal term in the courts of
God. The law is holy and just and
good. And the law demands perfection. It demands to be honoured perfectly
in body and perfectly in spirit. People so often take the Sermon
on the Mount and make it a set of rules for holy living, and
it's wonderful to order our lives in some way by the beautiful
precepts in the Sermon on the Mount. But the Sermon on the
Mount is the Lord Jesus raising the bar. As Paul said in Romans
7, the law is spiritual. Now you commit murder by being
angry with someone. Now you commit adultery by looking
lustfully upon a member of the other six. So sin is personal. Sin is personal against God. What did David say in Psalm 51? He says, against you. against
thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou might be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest." David was a fallen sinner, a fallen sinner
who fell just like you and I do. What a remarkable What a remarkable
event. Isn't it wonderful for us, whose
falls are hidden from so many and whose falls are public, in
sad, sad ways so often, to know that the Scriptures give us the
life of Peter and David and others, and they give us in the exposing
of that sin and not hiding its heinous qualities and its ongoing
pain. They then use the blackness,
the scriptures use the blackness of that to bring the glory of
the Gospel. Nathan comes to David and he
causes David to say that he is the man. He is the sinner. And then Nathan makes that remarkable
statement, doesn't he? That the Lord has taken away
your sin. I've told you before, but imagine
that you rise, mum and dad, and you're walking down the street
And there was your son, who'd been remarkably loyal, a foreigner,
more loyal than the Jews to David and David's God and David's people. And you walk down the street
and you meet Nathan and David the next day. And you turn to
Nathan and you say, what's going to happen to him? My son's gone."
We see it on television in outside courts all the time, don't we?
People in absolute despair because in the court there doesn't seem
to have been justice done to someone that they have lost forever. In Uriah's parents heard Nathan
say, The Lord has taken away his sin. He's perfectly just before God. He's perfectly righteous in God's
sight. He is perfectly holy before God. He has no sin. You can imagine
how they must have felt. And yet Nathan had spoken the
truth, and it might for the next thousand years have seemed to
be an injustice. an injustice until, until we
come to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we see
justice, perfectly, perfectly satisfied. The justice of God,
perfectly honoured. The law of God, perfectly honoured. And Nathan being perfectly right,
in saying this man has no sin, it's been taken away. That's why Paul so delightfully
and helpfully for all of us is caused to write this magnificent
verse of scripture. We're not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Justified by
the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the whole, the
sole justifying cause before God. He obeyed the whole law perfectly. He magnified the law. He honoured
the law. He obeyed it with absolute perfection
in body and spirit. He obeyed it as a baby. He obeyed
it as a man unto death, but justified by the faith. I love the King James translation
and it's so right. Almost all the modern translations
take the glory of the Lord Jesus' acts of faithfulness away from
Him and turn them into activities of men. Almost universally, when
the scriptures are distorted, they are distorted in favour
of the activities of men, and almost universally, from my experience,
they take away from the glory and the work of our dear and
precious Saviour, justified by the faith, by the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. faithfully obeyed God's law in
body and soul absolutely perfectly, justified by his faith. And he
was a man, but he was a representative man. He was the head of his body,
the Church. He was the representative of
all those that the Father had given Him. He was the great shepherd
of the sheep. He was the surety. And as surety,
when He struck hands with His Father in eternity, the Father
looked to Him. He looked to Him for absolutely
everything that was required of His people. He looked to Him
to obey the law absolutely perfect, to honour it, to obey it as a
holy law, to obey it as a good law, to obey it as a just law. And when He suffered, He suffered
the whole penalty of the infinite just wrath of God on all of the
sins of all of his people, so that God is just. It was a just
activity of God to cause his son to be made a curse
and for him to suffer the wrath of God." Simon and I had a discussion
with a young preacher who we thought had some interest in
the things of sovereign grace and we were excited that He came
down and he wanted to have these discussions with him. And obviously
it came very quickly to the point of what happened on the cross. And one of the objections that
he made was that he didn't like the mathematics of particular
redemption. He didn't like the exact equivalence
that the Lord Jesus suffered exactly as justice demanded for
an exact number of people and an exact number of sins. What he wanted was to have some
fuzziness in it all, to have some allowance for him to say
to people that the first thing we must do when evangelising
them is tell them, get as quickly as possible to tell them how
much Jesus has done for them. how we must have the opportunity
as quickly as possible to tell them how much God loves them
and Jesus has died for them and Jesus wants them. Turn with me to Isaiah 53. were justified by his faithfulness,
were justified by his blood, were justified by his life. In
Isaiah 53 verse 11, he shall see the travail of his soul. That travail that we read about
in verse 10, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put
him to grief. And when thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, and he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. By His knowledge, by His knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many. His knowledge of what?
His knowledge of whom? The scriptures say that the understanding,
the knowledge of God is absolutely infinite. Why wouldn't it be? He is the sovereign creator of
all things. He is the potter and we are the
clay. Nothing exists outside of His
knowledge. Is it His knowledge of God? Or
is it His knowledge of us? It's both, isn't it? His knowledge, His understanding
is infinite. He had a perfect knowledge, brothers
and sisters in Christ, He had a perfect knowledge of every
sin that everyone, that His sheep would commit from all eternity. And he went to the cross, and
he went to the cross with that perfect knowledge of every single
one of his sheep. Isn't it remarkable? It's wonderful
for me to think about someone who stumbles and falls like Peter. Did this catch the Lord Jesus
by surprise? this sin of Peter's, this hypocrisy
of Peter's, this compelling others to join
with him in hypocrisy. Did it catch him by surprise?
Not at all. He knows us. He knows our frame. He knows that we are but dust. He wasn't ignorant. of you, my
brothers and sisters in Christ. He wasn't ignorant of you and
your sins when he went to the cross. I love what it says, isn't
it? My righteous servant shall justify
many, for he shall bear their iniquities. They can't be in
two places at once. If he's borne them, then I cannot
bear them ever. just, justify many, for he shall
bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he has poured out his own soul unto death,
and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bear the
sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." I love what verse 11 says. We
often think, don't we, misunderstand the character and the goodness
of our God. I love what verse 11 says. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. We have right now, brothers and
sisters, our glorious Saviour satisfied. Was he satisfied with
Peter before he fell? He was satisfied with Peter in
eternity. Was he satisfied with Peter when
he was falling? He loved him just the same. He heals our backslidings and
he loves us freely. We are justified, Romans 5 verse
9 says we are justified by his blood. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if
when we were enemies we were reconciled to God, by the death
of His Son, how much more being reconciled shall we be saved
by His life. Not only so, but we also joy
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received
the atonement. justified by His faithfulness. His faithfulness to His Father,
His faithfulness to His people, His faithfulness to everything
in that eternal covenant. that he was made, where he was
made the surety, and he willingly and delightfully was made the
surety. It wasn't a burden to him, it
was the delight, the father's gift to him of his bride, justified
by his blood. Romans 4, just back a page, we
are justified by his life, remarkably, isn't it? who was delivered over for our
offences and was raised again for our justification." He was
delivered over because of our offences and was raised again
because of our justification. It's remarkable to think, isn't
it, a man A man now sits on the throne of heaven. A man in glory. A man who is touched with the
feelings of our infirmities. A man now as if a lamb that was
slain. We are raised and seated together
with him in heavenly places. we have boldness and access to
the throne of grace, justified. Therefore, Romans 5 verse 1,
therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus. It's all hinges upon that eternal
union, isn't it? The way in which this obedience,
this bloodshedding of Christ becomes the cause of the justification
of His people before God is upon the virtue of this union. Christ and His people, in the
eyes of God's holy law, are one. What Jesus Christ did, they did. What Jesus Christ suffered, they
suffered. What Jesus Christ is rewarded
with, having seen the travail of His soul, they are rewarded
with. They are seated together with
Him in heavenly places, and where He reigns, they reign. Even we, This is the centre part
of this structure, isn't it? Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. I love what Romans 15, 13 says.
It says, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing. joy and peace in believing that
you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Even we have believed, so even our believing is the grace gift
of God. Ephesians 2 makes it abundantly
clear, isn't it? For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. I love what Clay Curtis says
in our bulletin, faith takes nothing from you. Faith takes
nothing done by you. Faith demands you add nothing. Faith, and he says, believe and
keep believing, not in anything that you have done, not in anything
that you have not done that you should have done. Faith is casting
your care, your whole self, your whole eternal salvation into
the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. The justification takes place
in the court of heaven. not in the experience of a believer. We are made the righteousness
of God in Him. as He was made sin for us. He
was made sin, how? By imputation. He did no sin,
He felt no sin, He knew no sin and our sins were imputed to
Him, 2 Corinthians 5.21. We did no righteousness, we felt
no righteousness, we knew no righteousness, And yet, Christ's
righteousness, Christ's holy, just righteousness pleaded in
the court of heaven right now, brothers and sisters, is our
full justification. See, faith, our believing, looks
out of self, looks out and looks away from my activities and my
person. The anchor for the soul is thrown
out of the boat onto a rock, a firm foundation. And in the
new birth, in regeneration, the Holy Spirit sprinkles the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ upon our consciences. And we believe
the verdict of God. We believe what God says. We believe what God says about
Himself, what God says about His Son, what God says about
His people who are one with His Son. What was His work? His work was to present us holy,
unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight." And we just read
it in Isaiah 53-11. He's satisfied. He's satisfied
that all His people are holy, unblameable, unreprovable. By faith we have peace with God. Faith receives Christ. Faith receives the forgiveness
of sin. Faith receives grace. Faith receives the justification. Faith looks to Him. I heard an
analogy which was, I thought, really helpful the other day.
Ella said, if you're actually listening to the radio and you
hear a really moving and magnificent song, and it brings joy or brings
tears, you don't turn around and say, what a magnificent radio,
do you? What a wonderful, wonderful radio. What a magnificent singer and
hopefully what a magnificent God who created such wonderful
things. Faith receives. I trust that like Peter, when
he came to read these words again and again and pondered them in
light, of what the previous verses describe as his life at that
time and his rescue by a man sent from God, bringing the words
of God. 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, the faith of Jesus Christ, and not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.