Jesus Christ for this purpose,
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." Justification by faith. And we're going to
see this. It's very important that you
notice these words in verse 16, that we are justified by faith,
and this is a two-pronged faith. It is, we are justified by the
faith of Jesus Christ. And then you notice, we believe
in Jesus Christ. Why? That we might be justified
by the faith of Jesus Christ. And at the end, in verse 20,
he said, we live by the faith of the Son of God. Justification
by faith, not by law. Now, we know this whole book
of Galatians is written because in the church of Galatia there
was Judaizers that came in preaching Christ plus circumcision. They believed you were to believe
on Jesus Christ, but they added one thing concerning the law,
that you must be circumcised. And so Paul is telling them,
and throughout this whole book, he is setting these two things
in opposition to one another. Law and faith. Law and faith. That justification is not by
law, but by faith. Now the Apostle Paul, having
shown in the previous verses in this chapter, the error of
Peter concerning the law, that when he saw the Jews that were
sent of James, you remember he separated himself. Peter was
over there having a pork sandwich, and he was having a good fellowship
with the Gentile believers there in the church, and then there
came in some Jews. And Peter, seeing these Jews,
became afraid and removed himself from the Gentiles. And not only
that, Many others followed him in this great error. in this
great error. Now, he separated himself not
out of charity. Now, that would have been one
thing. If he separated himself, he sees these brothers come in,
and he has this heart of affection. And, you know, Paul says, if
I eat meat and it offends someone, then I just won't eat meat. Now,
if that was his intention, then that would have been well. But
his intention was not that. He was trying to... He was being
brought back into subjection under the law. And because he did this openly,
Paul had no other recourse, seeing that every other Jew had followed
Peter. He had no other recourse than
to withstand Peter to the face concerning this great error. This was a great error. And you
know this, Paul stood alone. What a lesson for us. What a
lesson for us. And no matter if we stand alone,
so long as we stand with Christ, we are not alone. We should not just follow the
crowd. We should always follow Christ. We should always be steadfast
in the gospel. He said this in verse 14, But
when I saw that he walked not uprightly according to the truth
of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, If thou, being
a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the
Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? This great error became was to
become subject to the law having believed on Christ. He said,
look, if you believed on Christ, if you've been justified, then
why are you compelling these Gentiles to follow after the
Jews? Why are you compelling them to
be put back under the law of bondage? This was a great error concerning
the matter of justification. We who believe on Jesus Christ
are justified. Justified before God. What does
that mean, justified? It simply means innocent. It's
not like you were innocent. It means you were innocent. That's
what it is to be justified. To be innocent of all charges
against you. It's to be justified. Now then,
the question is, how are we truly, who are truly sinners, we who
have truly transgressed against the law of God, and by nature
full of iniquity, absolutely, completely and perfectly justified
before God, how can that be? How can that be? Justification is a necessary
doctrine. It is a wonderful doctrine. It
is necessary that we understand how a man is justified. Were we justified by law or by
faith? Paul here in verse 16 sets these
two in opposition. That's what was being set forth
before him right then when Peter moved. When Peter got up and
left, there were two things being set out, law or faith. Now which is it, Peter? Are we
justified by the deeds of the law or are we justified by faith? We're either justified by the
law of Moses or by the faith of Christ. He sets these two
in opposition for one another. And I like this. Now, it's not
a both. It can't be both. It's either
or. It's either or. There is no middle
ground here. There is no way. There's no wiggle
room here. You are either justified by faith
or by law. And this is the whole point of
the book. It's summed up, I believe, in verse 16 there. Knowing. Knowing. Now, Peter, this is something
you know. This is something every believer knows. Knowing. Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law. How then? By the faith, but by the faith,
very important word, of Jesus Christ. faith of Jesus Christ. The whole doctrine of justification
rests on this. A man is justified, innocent
before God, only by this, by the faith of Jesus Christ. And this is common knowledge
to everyone who is born again. of the Spirit of God. We know
that no man is justified by the works of the law. Isn't that
common knowledge among us? Don't we all understand that?
We know this. We know that this cannot be because
we were born dead in trespasses and sin. We know this. We were
all fallen sons of Adam and corrupt with sin even from our mother's
womb. Psalm 58, verse 3, "...the wicked
are estranged from the womb, they go astray as soon as they
are born, doing..." what? "...speaking lies. Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men. For all have..." what? "...sinned."
We sinned in Adam. We were sinners in the womb. And not only sinners in the womb,
as soon as we came forth, we were speaking lies. From the
sole of our foot to the crown of our head, there's what? No
soundness, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. and what is the conclusion and
no one is justified by the deeds of law that's easy understanding
that's what's that's something peter knew and that's something
every one of us know cannot be just you know the law is has
is has promises the law has promises what is the law promise the law
promises life everyone that obeys it does it promises life to everyone
that perfectly, continually, perpetually obeys the law of
God forever. Now then, if you do that, yes,
you can have life by the law. We know then the problem is that
we've already sinned. The slightest infraction of the
law has a second promise. that everyone who disobeys the
law will die, is cursed. Over in the next chapter, Paul
declares this in verse 10, for as many as are of the works of
the law, as many as people as want to be justified by the law,
by the merits of the law, are under the curse for it is written. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law. Listen,
not to contemplate them, not to think about them, not to know
them, but rather do them. Do them. And I want you to understand
the law can't be demented. I understand men do this for
We have chapters and verses in our Bibles. You know, that wasn't
the original, right? We put those in there so they're
helpful. And I know men are trying to be helpful. They divide the
law into certain sections. But the law is not divided, friends.
The law is the law is the law! whether it's the Ten Commandments,
or the offerings and sacrifices, or the dietary law, or the law
of circumcision, or the law of the Sabbath, or the law of tithing.
It's the law. And if you don't continue in
all things written in the Book of the Law to do them, not just
to know them, you are under the curse. And this is the promise.
Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things written in
the Book of the Law to do them. And so then, all who would even
in part be justified by the law, who would live by the law in
part, are cursed by the law. This is the first work of the
Holy Spirit, isn't it, to convince us of this. This is the first
work. To convince men of sin, the work
of God upon the hearts of men, of His elect sons, is to first
expose our sin. And friends, this is how God
uses the law. This is the usefulness of the
law. The law is to show the exceeding sinfulness of sin. That's it. It is meant to expose us as we
are sinners. Paul says this of himself in
Romans chapter 7 and verse 9. He says, I was alive without
the law once. But I really didn't understand
the law. I didn't know the law was spiritual. I was doing well.
But what happened? When the commandment came, sin
revived, guess what? I died. I died. And the commandment
which was ordained to life, what was the life? Well, if you did
everything, it was life. That was a promise. I found to
be death. Why? For sin. That's the problem. Sin. It's not the law. The law
is good. It's sin that's the problem. For sin taking occasion by the
commandment deceived me and by it slew me. Wherefore the law
is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. And in verse
14 he says this, We know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, what, sold under sin. That's what he teaches us.
That's what the law teaches us. And when we were by grace quickened
to see and know and feel our depravity, that all our nature
is corrupt, all our works are full of sin, we see and feel
the holy nature of God that demands our death. We are made to see that we can
by no means or works of the flesh in our vain attempts ever, ever,
ever obey the law of God. But in the hour of God's saving
grace and power, we also heard how that God can be just and
justify the ungodly." This is the gospel message. This is what
we know. We know that no one is justified
by the law. But we also know of the grace
and power of God by which God can be just and still justify
ungodly sinners. Well, how can this justification
take place? Seeing we are sinners, how can
God be just and still justify ungodly sinners? Look at it in
verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of law, but here it is, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. This surely is not speaking of
faith in Christ. As many translations, now in
our modern translations, they change that word of to in. Now, I know that in the Greek
they can be interchanged, but this is vitally important to
see it in the context and light of this scripture, that our faith
in Christ does not justify us. It is not the origin of our justification. The origin of our justification
is the faith of Christ. There's where our justification
was accomplished. It was accomplished by the faith
of Christ. In the next clause of this verse,
we then see our faith, even we have believed, listen, in Jesus
Christ. which is surely necessary for
the experimental justification." No man can say, I'm justified,
except he believes in Christ. Faith in Christ is most surely
necessary for justification, experimentally. But yet our justification
was accomplished long before we believed in Christ. Why? Because
our justification was accomplished by the faith of Christ. By the
faith of Christ, it was accomplished. And listen, I think this is comforting.
Do you believe in Christ? You're justified. Everyone who
believes in Christ is justified. Matter of fact, that's why we
believe in Christ, right? To be justified. How? By the
faith of Christ. Now, I'm not being justified
by my faith. I'm being justified by His. By His faith. It was not in our faith in Jesus
that accomplished our justification before God, it was the faith
of Jesus Christ. I like what Hawker said, Christ
as our head and surety and representative obeyed the whole precepts of
the law and suffered the whole penalty of all the branches of
it by his death. And Christ's obedience in death
being set forth by God Himself for propitiation, nothing can
be more plain and satisfactory than to have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of all our sins according to the
riches of His grace. As a representative, this is
what the faith of Christ has to do with. representative, a
representative. He, by his faith, obtained justification
for us as a representative and surety. Believer, let us therefore, knowing
that all our justification was accomplished by the faith of
Christ, not by the deeds of the law, let us seek then only to
be justified by Christ. And to do that, what I want you
to understand is, we have and must turn our backs to the law. We must turn our backs completely
to the law. I said at the beginning this
is an either-or. It's not a mixture. You cannot
stand between. You can't be hold between two
opinions here. It is either justification by
law or it is justification by the faith of Jesus Christ. There's
no mixture. So in order to turn to the one,
you have to turn from the other. And so as we know these things,
what do we do? We turn from law and we turn
to Christ. We turn in faith to Him for all
our standing. Therefore, we must see this,
that the law is no guide to the believer's life. It is no guide. You know what
a guide is? A suggestion. That's a guide. When I have a guide on a tour,
he's suggesting where I go and suggesting what I do, and he's
kind of trying to keep me in a certain path, but I got a little
wiggle room here, there, do some other things. That's what people
think about the law. It's just a guide. No. No. It's a demand. Do this, or die. But that's not the believer's
rule of life. Praise God! That's not the rule of my justification. It is not by the law. Now, I
want you to understand Peter's error here because I think it's
instructive for us. If the Apostle Peter could make
such a grave error, how much more could we? I know this, the flesh loves
law. You know why men like it? Because
they want man's approval that they're going in the right direction.
They love the pat on the back. The preacher sees them not doing
this, not doing, obeying the law in the outward frame, and
they're doing, having a good family, a good, you know, that's
a good job! You're doing such a great job!
That's what the flesh wants to hear. Now, is the law of faith? No. No. But we are justified by faith. We're not of the law. I remember what Peter said at
the very beginning when he was, years before this, in great boldness.
He was, he stood up to such a doctrine. When he said this in Acts chapter
15, he said, "...and God, which knoweth the hearts bear them
witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did us, and
put no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, purifying
their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why tempt you
God to put the yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which
neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe
that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be
saved, even as they." What did He do? He turned His back on
the law, and He turned to faith and grace. He believed, and he
made a bold statement. Then he made an error. And so
we are prone to this, prone to this. In weakness, we are overcome
with temptation to be entangled by this yoke of bondage, which we know to be no means
of justification. I see now many in this same error
that set aside the gospel of God's grace without the deeds
of the law. Many are holding to things of
the law. Think of this, tithing. I'd say,
I know people, they say that. Well, I've given my tithes. Don't
say that. That's a grave error because
you have just now taken the yoke of bondage and put it on your...
It's not just words, friends. That's part of the old covenant.
We're not under tithing or Sabbaths. And if you do, then you're making
the same error as Peter. And we are to be mindful of this. People living under the Ten Commandments
is some rule of the believer's life. These, like Peter or worse,
have set aside the gospel of grace and taken again... Again,
there's no middle ground here. How foolish was Peter, and how
foolish are those who are justified by faith to revert back by any
means or any measure to the law for their acceptance. Now, the law of God has only
one purpose. Paul says in Galatians 3, 19,
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of the transgression. Its only purpose is to show and
reveal sin. The law is not against the promises
of God. The law is good and righteous
and holy, and if it were possible that we should be saved by law,
then if there was a law that we could obey, then we should
be saved by it. But there's not. There's not. So then how can the promise of
life be given to us, seeing that the law demands our death, that
God requires punishment, the soul that sinneth it shall surely
die he who continues not in all things written in the book of
law is cursed but here's the promise of the gospel justification
by the faith of Jesus Christ which is given to all that believe every believer knows this and every believer lays His whole
soul on this one thing for all our justification, the faith
of Christ, the faith of Jesus Christ. And so in verse 19, Paul
says, then, if we seek to be justified by Christ, we are found
sinners. Now, what this means is the Gentiles
were called sinners by the Jews because they did not adhere to
the law. Now, Paul's saying, look, if we, who are justified
by faith, are like those people who don't follow the law, sinners
like the Gentiles, is Christ then the minister of sin? Seeing
justification by the faith of Jesus Christ and justification
by the works of the law cannot coexist at any level that the
believer in Jesus Christ is justified without doing the works of the
law and all those who seek to add works to their justification
are not justified at all. You see, the legalist The legalist
says that faith in Christ is not sufficient. Now, if you want
to understand what legalism is, it's that. They're saying that
faith in Christ, or the faith of Christ, is not sufficient.
There's something must be added. Something must be added. The
law must be brought back in to finish the work that he was not
sufficient to perform. they say we must keep some aspect
of the law or men will be lawless isn't that the excuse you hear
you talk to a legalist and you tell them that we're free from
the law they say well how do you keep your congregation in
check? I don't I don't let me ask you this how do you keep
yourself in check? you can't you don't what does is the law of love
that keeps us in check in that what Paul says and he says in
Romans chapter 6 he said what shall we say then shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound God forbid for how shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein how in the world can
that be possible why do I need law I don't need law how can
we live any longer in sin saying we're dead to it we can't These legalists call us antinomians. And listen, if anyone preaches
the gospel of God's free grace, you're going to be called an
antinomian. It means lawless or against the law. This charge
is always laid to us who preach the gospel of God's free grace.
So then, if we who have fled to Christ alone, as all our justification,
are sinners, are called sinners by legalists, then is Christ
the minister of sin? That's what he's asking. Well, God forbid that you should
say such a thing. Rejecting the law for justification
may make us sinners in the eyes of the legalists, but in the
eyes of God we're justified. Rejecting the law for justification
may make us sinners in the eyes of men, but in the eyes of God
we are justified. We are justified. Jesus Christ is not the minister
of sin, but righteousness. And we only can know this if
we have abandoned the law and believed on Christ. That's the
only way you can know this for true. If you've abandoned the
law. To abandon the law is to say
Jesus Christ is all our righteousness. Jesus Christ is all our acceptance
and all our salvation. Now, do we abandon the law? to
be justified that we that are abandoned have abandoned the
law and justified by Christ do we hate the law no no the law
is good no one who is justified by Christ ever hates the law
we love it matter of fact would to God we could live it that's
our holy desire but we we know this we we won't we can't And so in verse 18, Paul uses
a strong language. Look at this. For if I build
again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. In other words, if I go back
to the law that I destroyed, that I abandoned, what do I do? I make myself a transgressor.
If you go back to the law, all you do is put back on the sinner. That's all you do. The law can
only do one thing, condemn you. And so what do you do? You go
back to the law, you are nothing but a guilty sinner. You're not
justified. Remember, justified is to be
innocent. And I like this. Paul used that word destroyed.
I like that. It's something that's destroyed.
In other words, look, I've burned all my bridges. I've passed the
point of no return. I've destroyed everything that
links me to that law, to be justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. In that pilgrim's progress, he
was on the hill of difficulty. and he saw these men running
down the hill back the other way and these men told him there
were lions up there there were lions in the way he began to be afraid but then
he said this can I go back? no I cannot go back I fear going
forward But beyond that is life. I go forward. Why? We ain't going back. Why?
It's destroyed. Our bridges are burned. I've
tied everything to Christ. I've hitched my wagon to Him.
Matter of fact, He's hitched me to Himself. We'll see that
in just a minute. When a sinner destroys the law,
he does it by rejecting it as a covenant by which he is made
righteous before God. And by fleeing to Christ by faith,
he destroys the law and makes it obsolete in that Jesus Christ
has already fulfilled it. He's already fulfilled the law.
The law then is of no use to the believer in this matter of
salvation, which includes justification, sanctification, righteousness,
and redemption. Behold, we who believe in Jesus
Christ are saved not apart from the law, just apart from our
own works and obedience to the law for jesus christ by his faithful
obedience to the law has accomplished all that the law requires and
how can we partake of his work it member it's by the faith of
jesus christ were justified now that how then are we made partakers
of that work one word You see, when Christ came into
the world, He came as a representative man. A representative man. Adam was a representative man.
And when Adam died, we all died. When Adam sinned, we all sinned.
As a representative man. Even so, Jesus Christ, as a representative
man, came down as a man to fulfill the law of God. Now what he said,
I came not to destroy the law, but what? To fulfill the law.
That's what he was doing. And he did this by faith. Oh,
I can't wrap my mind around this. You know that the Son of God
must have necessity had faith? to believe God? Now, faith is
not sight, is it? He believed God in every thought,
word, deed, and act as a representative. But it was not enough for Him
to obtain righteousness for us by His obedience. But in order
to obtain our justification, he must do it by his death. Remember, the law required death. Death. When Jesus Christ, our blessed Redeemer, came into this world, he came
for one purpose, and that is to die. to be crucified. Behold, it is
here that we are made dead to the law. When Paul said this,
he said in verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. I am crucified with
Christ. This speaks of union in the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which he obtained our justification. I am crucified. When God made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, for this purpose that
we might be made the righteousness of God, where? In him. In union
with him. And so as he died under the law
and justice of God, having fully, completely satisfied all the
demands of the law of God, he cried, it is finished. Justification accomplished. Redemption accomplished. Salvation accomplished. He did
this for us, and when He died, guess what? You who believe in
Him, you died. Now what did the law demand of
you? That you die. And guess what? You died. Now what more can the
law demand of you? What more use has the law for
you, or you the law, if you are dead to the law? If you have
satisfied the law, what use is it? It's of no value. It's meaningless. Because it's already been accomplished
by Jesus Christ. We were in union with Christ
as God chose us before the foundation of the world. And we were in
union with Christ when He came into the world. And we are in
union with Christ when He died. We were in union with Christ
when He rose again. And listen, we are still in union
with Christ. One with Christ. And so Paul says, what is the
result then of our union with Christ being justified by the
faith of Christ? He said, nevertheless, I live. Now what did the law say? Die.
What does the death of Christ say? Live. Live. There's life. The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And
they that hear shall..." What? "...live." I live. I live because
He lives. I live because He is my life.
And He says, "...yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Christ
liveth in me. This is the work of the Spirit
of God in us. This is that faith in Christ. If you have faith in Christ,
why is that? Because the Spirit of God lives
in you. The Spirit of God has worked
His work of grace and power upon your soul and made that justifying
grace effectual to your heart. And you are experimentally justified. You live because He lives in
us. And the life which we now live
in this body, how do we live? By the faith of Jesus Christ. The just shall live how? By faith. And what's the object then of
our faith? We who are living, what is the object of your faith?
If the object of your faith is your faith, you're in trouble. The object of our faith is the
faith of the Son of God. Listen, who loved me. He loved me. Why did he do all
this? He loved me. It's the root cause
of everything God does for you. This love, God, behold what manner
of love the Father bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. We. I emphasize that word because
it says we. Sinners, worthy only of death,
are made the sons of God by love. And consider His love, how infinite,
how vast, beyond measure. Can you measure God's love for
you? I'm sure you can measure your
love for Him. And your love for Him is always
fluctuating. Always. His love never moved
from eternity. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. What's the manifestation of this?
Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn thee. That's a manifestation
of his love. The manifestation is he gave
himself for us. And so what is Paul's conclusion
here at the last part of this? I do not frustrate the grace
of God. I will not disannul the grace
of God. I will not set aside the grace
of God for the law. I will not do it. And if you do, this is the only
conclusion. If righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead and vain. It's either or. It's either
or. It's either justification by
the faith of Jesus Christ or justification by the law. And we who believe know it's
not the law. We know it is the faith of Jesus
Christ. Therefore, we have believed in
Christ so that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. For I
am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me in the life that I now live in this
body. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me. Therefore, I will not move from
this. May God the Holy Spirit keep us from moving, always standing
on the faith of Jesus Christ as all our justification before
God. I pray God will apply that to
our hearts. Show us more of His love. More
of His grace. The only way you see that is
the cross. You can't see it anywhere else. I pray God will bless this to
our hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.