Galatians chapter 2. And we'll be looking at verses
14 down through the end of this chapter this evening. 14 to verse
21. And the title of my message tonight
is, Justification. Not by law, but by the faith
of Christ. Justification. Not by law. but by the faith of Christ. Now
last week we looked at Peter's conduct. We looked at Peter's
conduct and saw that a believer's conduct is very important. We
saw that the conduct of Peter, as he neglected the Gentiles,
as he was eating with the Gentiles, when the Jews came in, he moved
away his food and neglected them and left them because he thought
that he was about to offend the Jews. He got up because he felt
obligated to the Mosaic Law in some way or fashion so as not
to offend these Judaizers. When Peter did that, he had really
no idea exactly to what extent he compromised the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. But when he got up, he had no
idea what the response would be of the others, but they got
up with him. And even Barnabas, who followed
after Paul for many years and preached with Paul, he even got
up and followed after the error of Peter. And so we saw that
our conduct affects other people. Every time we do something, somebody
is watching somewhere, and somebody eventually will follow or do
what we say. So we must be careful what we
say and do, so as our conduct is to match our doctrine. Our
conduct is to match the doctrine that we preach. And in verses
14 through 21, Paul, he gives his response. He gives his rebuke
to the Apostle Peter concerning this uneven conduct. He starts
out in verse 14. Let's read this in verse 14.
He says, but when I saw that he walked not uprightly, again,
that word is uneven, 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?" I want us to notice
this. He asks a question. He asks a
question. Now this is a rebuke, mind you.
This is Paul's rebuke to Peter to the face, and he starts out
his rebuke with a question. You know, I believe this is the
best way to approach someone who is in error. If you find
a brother or sister who is in error, I think the best way to
approach them is a question. Do you think this is right? That's
basically what he's asking Peter, isn't it? Is this right what
you're doing? Is it right? Asking a question,
Paul's in this manner, he's showing that he's not trying to get the
preeminence. You can always tell when somebody
is trying to get the preeminence. Usually they'll call you a bunch
of names. They'll try to degrade your character. Isn't that what
the Judaizers were doing to Paul in having to write this letter? They were trying to degrade his
character and his office and see how Paul responds to Peter
in this. He responds with a gentle question. Nothing wrong with
a question. A question is a gentle rebuke. I remember hearing of Henry Mahan,
this guy was preaching something and it was an air, I don't quite
remember what it was, but after they were all milling around,
kind of talking, and Henry woke up and he says, you know, you
don't really believe that, do you? You don't really believe that
such and such, such and such, you know? He just asked him a
question, do you really believe that? Is that something that
you hold to? But it makes a person think.
When they have to answer the question, it makes them think
about what they're doing, about their conduct, or their action,
or their doctrine, or whatever there it is reproving. So a question
is always a good way to gently steer a brother who is in error. You see, he didn't desire the
preeminence, he desired the truth. And that's what we are to desire. If someone is in error, we are
to desire the truth of the Gospel be exalted and we be abased. We'd be abased. It's not about
us. It's about the Gospel. It's about
Christ. And so, therefore, if somebody
is in error, we come alongside them asking questions and guiding
them into the truth rather than rebuking them or calling them
names and degrading them, which is our natural tendency. That's
our natural tendency to call names. Well, you are many. Yo,
nasty Arminian, I can't believe..." No, ask him questions. Ask him
questions. Come alongside somebody and ask. I think it's a good way, and
Paul uses that way. And what was the question he
asked? Look at the question. If you, being a Jew, live after
the man of the Gentiles, and not like the Jews, why compelest
thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? He said, Peter,
If you've been taught by the Holy Spirit that all things are
clean, if you have learned of God that He is not a respecter
of persons, but that salvation is by grace either to Jew or
to Gentile, and if you live in liberty, then why are you trying
to put the Gentiles back under the law of bondage? Why would
you do that? I don't understand. Why would
you do that? If you have also your rightful
actions in fellowship with the Gentiles, eating with them as
you were, and you wrote a letter saying that they were right,
that it's not by the law, how is it then you take up your plate
and get away from them and take up the law of Moses again? How
is that possible, Peter? Why would you do that? You see with this, why the uneven
conduct? Why are you giving consent to
the law of Moses to put that yoke on them? I'll tell you,
we are a yoke people, aren't we? We like to put yoke on others
as well as ourselves. That's our natural tendency is
to put yokes on ourselves. Laws, rules, regulations. He said, if you understand the
Gospel, and you could read about this, I don't have time, but
in Acts chapter 10, you'll read how Peter learned these things
even from the Holy Spirit Himself when He went to the house of
Cornelius. He learned that God is not a respecter of persons.
And then Paul, after asking this question, he turns to practical
experience. Look at this in verse 15. He
says, "...we who are Jews by nature and not sinners like the
Gentiles." Notice he said we. I like that. He said we. I try to do that and then, you
know, inadvertently I say you a lot sometimes when I actually
mean we. I don't really, I try my best
to always in my notes make it a point to say we because I'm
in the same boat you are. We're in this together. I'm not
a separate from you. I'm a sinner saved by grace,
just like you." And so Paul, he puts Peter and himself together
and he said, we, we are Jews, aren't we, Peter? Isn't that
right? Aren't we Jews by nature? Weren't we born under the law,
Peter? Don't we have our formal education
in the law of Moses, Peter? Have we not lived under the bondage
of the law? You see, we as Gentiles, we've
learned about the law by preaching and reading, haven't we? But
you see, none of us have ever been raised under the law, have
we? None of us really have the idea
of what it is to be ingrained with this mosaic law all the
time, every day. When they went to school, they
didn't have books like my son had, they had the law. The law
was how they learned to read and how they learned to write,
by the law. When they were young, they went
with their fathers every year to those feasts in Jerusalem.
And they watched as the animals were slain and put on the altar. They watched as the smoke from
the sacrifice rose from the lamb. You see, that was ingrained in
them. They knew that law. They knew everything about that
law. And Paul said, I know more about
that law than anybody else. Paul knew that law. And he says,
Peter, you know that law. We were raised with it. We learned
under it. We lived under it. We lived by
its precepts. It was in our culture and we
were not born like the pagans. We weren't born without a knowledge
of the law. We had it from our youth. And he said, Peter, what do we
learn from this? Look at this in verse 16 of our text. He said,
what do we know? We as Jews by nature, what do
we know, Peter, concerning this law? We know this. No man is
justified by the works of the law. That's what we know. We
know that, Peter, don't we? Haven't we lived this? Haven't
we experienced this? No man is justified by the works
of the law. Now, this is the first time in
this book that the word justified is mentioned. This is the first
time in this letter that the word justified come up. It's
a very important term because we're dealing with law. We're
dealing with law. To be justified means that we
are, by an act, declared innocent. You've heard that, justified
just as if I never sinned. Really, that's not true. To be
justified means that you never sinned. That's what justification
means. It doesn't mean as if you never
sinned. No, it means that you never sinned. That's what it means. To be justified
means that you are declared innocent of all charges. Innocent of all
charges. In other words, let me illustrate
it like this, if you're charged, if a man is charged with speeding,
say you're charged with speeding, you got a speeding ticket. The
law then says you're guilty. It says you're guilty of speeding.
How then could you be justified of the crime? How is it possible
then to be declared innocent before a court of law? You get
your ticket, you come before the judge. What are the ways
that you can be justified before the law? There are only two ways.
Two ways you can be justified. One, you can declare your innocency
and then prove you weren't speeding. Right? Wasn't speeding. My car only goes 20 miles an
hour. I can't go 50. So I'm proved innocent. Or you
can accept the guilt and then show just cause as to why you
had a right to do it. All right? Those are the only
two ways you can be justified. That's it. There are no other
ways to be justified in a court of law by these two things. And
so if you are, if you have made your case and you are declared
innocent, then the law has nothing to say of you. It sets you free,
right? Bob, you weren't speeding. Go
your way. Not guilty. Innocent. And so the law can do nothing
to you. It is hands off. But my friend, the matter that
we're dealing with tonight is of greater importance than any
trivial matter of legality here on this earth. There is nothing
more serious than the charge of God that He has laid to the
human race. God has charged men with breaking
His law. That's what God says. God has
charged the entire human race with breaking His law. God's
Word declares that all men by nature and by action have broken
His Law, and He has charged them with a violation of lack of love
for their Maker. He has charged them with a violation
of treating each other with love and respect. This Law of God was given on
tables of stone for the Jews, and for us Gentiles, it was given
on the tables of our hearts. All men are charged by God with
being proud, corrupt, sensual, and blasphemers. Paul in Romans 1 tells us that
the Gentiles, they were not given the law of Moses. You and I are
Gentiles. We were not under the law of
Moses. We were not under that covenant.
You see, but we were not free from law, were we? You and I
had a law written on our hearts. We had a law written on our hearts. And the law of God that was written
in our conscience showed us that creation manifests to that there
is a God, and yet we worshipped Him not as God. We made Him like
us. Isn't that what modern religious
man does? Doesn't he make God like the
creature? Doesn't he think God equal with
himself? Doesn't he bring down God to
his level so that God and him can be buddies and pals and friends? Makes God like the creature. We knew in our hearts what truth
was, and what was right, and lies were wrong. We knew that.
We knew that murder was wrong. We knew that homosexuality was
wrong. I can tell you that abortion
is wrong, not because I'm a Christian, because it's written on the hearts
of every man. Everybody knows it's wrong. Everybody! You don't have to convince anybody
of that. They can deny it if they want
to. They know in their conscience it's wrong. It's evil. How do we know these things?
How does a person in the darkest jungle who has never heard of
the Ten Commandments know that it's wrong to steal? How do they
know? How do they know it's wrong to
murder? How is it that they have laws
in these places? because it's written on their
hearts. It's written on the heart of
every one of us. Romans 1.29 says, "...being filled
with all unrighteousness..." See if you identify with this,
because I know I do. "...being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents..." without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God,
they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only
do the same, but have pleasure in them." You see, I knew every
one of those things was wrong before I was saved. But I had
pleasure in every one of those things. And you know what? I judged everybody else that
did it. I judged everyone else as wrong, as sinners, and yet
I myself have been guilty. That's what natural man does.
We as Gentiles, knowing in our hearts these things are evil,
and by our laws we show this knowledge, but we by nature have
pleasure in the things of sin. And Paul here is telling Peter,
he said, hey look, we didn't have no room to boast. He says, why the Jews? Jews,
why are you smiling? When I said that about the Gentiles,
why are you smiling? You have nothing to smile about. Paul says in Romans chapter 2,
therefore thou art inexcusable. Oh, man. You see, when God charges everyone,
know this, everyone is without excuse. I'm sure that we can come up
with a lot of them, but not one is going to be heard by God.
We are inexcusable. We are inexcusable. Our sin is
inexcusable. Shall we then escape the judgment
of God? Let me ask this about everyone
here. Is there anyone here going to escape the judgment of God? Is anyone going to miss the great
white throne judgment? Is anyone not going to be there?
Every one of us will be there. Every one of us will be there.
No one will escape the judgment of God. God's charge is clear. All men are guilty by nature
before God. All men have broken the law and
stand under condemnation. Is that clear? Is that clear?
That's clear, and that's a serious charge. Very serious charge. And it has a serious sentence,
my friend. Even eternal death. Eternal death
is the sentence by which God shall condemn us. Does anyone think they will escape?
Does anyone think they can justify themselves in these charges?
Have I said anything that's not true about ourselves? Can we show our innocence? Is
that possible? Can anyone show just cause why
they are innocent of these charges that God has laid forth? Can
anybody here show that they had a right to commit these things?
Oh, man would boast. Man is so proud and boastful
that he would not have God to rule over him. That's what man
by nature, that's what I said by nature. Man says we shall not have Him
to rule over us, and man will be even so bold as to blame God. Man will try to say that he is
sovereign and God should not intrude upon his right to do
anything he pleases. That's what the natural man says
to the charges of God. But my friend, God is not a relativist. God is not a relativist, nor
is He a respecter of persons. His justice is truly blind regarding
the person. If you want to see how blind
the justice of God is concerning the person, look at the cross. When God charged our sins on
His Son, did He look at His Son and was He lenient because that
was His Son? Did God show any mercy to Christ
when He saw sin on His own Son? Do you think God will show mercy
to any of us if sin is found on us? God's not a respecter
of persons. God will judge. And when He judges,
He does it with all of His wrath and justice. All men are charged with violations
of God and without excuse. Then there's no excuse for our
sins. And we as creatures of God are subject to our Maker,
and as He has divine right, as our Maker, He has divine right
to exercise His law upon us, every one of us. God, in His sovereignty, has
the right to execute justice and conduct the sentence upon
all who are guilty. God has that right. And regardless
of what man says, God will execute His judgment and justice upon
all sinners. He will. Absolutely. Without mercy. This is the fact that Paul is
relaying to Peter. He said, Peter, we know this.
We know that all men are condemned by the law and the law shall
not justify anyone. The law shall not justify anyone.
Why? Because we're already condemned
and guilty. And we cannot be justified by
further obedience. Isn't that obvious? If you committed
a murder, a man committed a murder, And he's standing before the
judge, and the judge executes the sentence, and the sentence
is death. He rings the gavel and he says, guilty. He's sentenced
to death. And then the man says, okay,
I'm guilty. I'm guilty? Yes, you got me. I'll tell you what, let me make
a deal with you. I'll just do some community service now and
I'll be a servant even to the family of the victim. I'll go
to them and I'll do everything for them and I'll be a nice man
from now on. I'll never commit another murder
in all my life. Does that have anything to do
with the sentence? What if he does all those things?
The sentence is death. Not community service. And a
person who thinks that says, well, I've been guilty all my
life and I've been a sinner, yes, I'll change, I'll turn over
a new leaf, I'll be reformed from now on, I'll just do my
best and surely God will accept that. No. The sentence is passed. The gavel's already swung. It's
over. And all man is doing is waiting
for the execution of the sentence. That's it. He's just waiting. I know I'm going to dash some
of y'all's Christmas spirits with this one. I was listening
to that song, and I have to hear it about four million times at
home, that Christmas music plays over and over. It's kind of getting
to me right now. I'm getting a little on edge
about it. But that little drummer boy song, you know, a little
rumpa-pum-pum song. And, you know, in that song,
I caught this. He said, I'll play my best for
him, the rumpa-pum-pum. And then what does he say Jesus
did? He smiled at me. Isn't that what religious man
thinks? If I just play my best, if I just do my best, that's
all that God wants is just my best. He'll smile at me when
I get to heaven because I did my best. That's a lie. That's a lie. Our best. is filled with nothing
but sin and shame. That's what our best is. No. God is condemned to eternal death. We all are guilty and stand in
need of justification. But I just said we can't justify
ourselves, can we? We're guilty. If any man will be honest with
himself, he'll see he's guilty. Ain't no doubt about that. Guilty. Guilty. You see, it's not by the deeds
of the law, that's for sure. You can't do it by working the
law. It won't work. Paul says, we know this. What
was the purpose of the law? Have you ever asked yourself
that? I know that you've heard it before. What's the purpose
of the law? Think about that. If no man can
be justified by the law, if no man can earn God's favor, then
why did God give a law? What was His purpose? Romans
3.20, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified in His sight, for the law is the knowledge of You see,
I had not known that I was a liar had the law said, thou shalt
not lie. I'd have never known I was an
adulterer unless the law said, thou shalt not commit adultery. And as soon as the law came into
our wicked hearts, what did we want to do? Exactly what it said
not to. That's exactly what we want.
Wet paint. Don't touch. What do we want
to do? We want to touch it. Why? It's
our nature. It's our nature. Standing at
the door the other day, I told my little girl, don't go outside. And you know what she did? She
stuck her arm out the door. Why? Because she's lost and she
loves sin. That's what it is. And see, I
know, I identify with that. That's my offspring. She's inherited
my sin nature. I passed to her. She's under the condemnation
of God. The purpose of the law was to
show us our sin. To show us that sin had been
passed down from our father Adam and death by sin. So death is
passed to us all. And so the law entered to show
us our sin and guilt. It was never meant for a way
of salvation. So then the question remains
for guilty sinners, how then can we be justified
before God? How will you stand before God
and be declared innocent? Not by the law. But know this, it must be through
the law, not by the law, but never apart
from honoring the law. Look at verse 19 of our text. Paul said, for through the law
I am dead to the law. You see, God is not going to
sweep our sins under the rug, is He? He's not going to go around
His law to make a special case just for us. No, my friends,
if you're going to be justified, you must be as righteous as God
is. How is that possible? The only way a man can be justified
is not found in himself. But here it is in our text. Look
in verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but how, Paul? But by the faith of
Jesus Christ. Now that phrase had made me scratch
my head for about two or three days. I've been scratching my
head about that. The faith of Christ. The faith of Jesus Christ. It's mentioned in other places. Just flip real fast to Romans
chapter 3. I'm going to show you one verse here and we're
going to flip again. Romans chapter 3 and verse 22. It says this, even the righteousness
of God, here it is, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Philippians chapter 3 and verse
9. says, "...and be found in Him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but which
is through the faith of Christ." The faith of Christ. What does
that mean? If justification comes by the faith of Christ, what
does that mean? We've got to understand what
this means. I'm going to give you two things that it can mean,
and both of them are correct. Both of them are correct. First
of all, this word is the word pistis. It can either be translated
faith or faithfulness. Faithfulness. And that's what
I want us to look at first. Faithfulness. The faithfulness
of Christ is our justification. This is how man's justified.
By the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And what do we mean by
that? This man, Jesus Christ, who is God manifest in the flesh,
He came down to earth to establish the law, and by His obedience
through the law of God, He has obtained the righteousness of
God. That's what I mean. Through His
faithfulness. He Himself obtained the righteousness
of God by His active obedience. His active obedience. He said
this, I have not come to destroy the law, but to what? Fulfill
or establish the law. I've come to fulfill it. And
he said, not one jot or tittle is going to be moved from the
law until all things are what? Fulfilled. He came to fulfill
the law in its entirety. That's what he did. He came to
be obedient. His faithfulness. His faithfulness. He came to fulfill the law's
requirements. And by his act of obedience,
he did that. Anybody else do that? Anyone
else do that? I didn't. He did. He did, and this is vitally important
to us. But He not only actively obeyed
and honored the Law of God, He passively obeyed the Law of God.
In every intent, everything He did, He obeyed the Law of God. And He was passive in His death. He died. in obedience to God. You see, for Christ to honor
the law was not enough for us. That's like putting on a new
suit on an old bum that you haven't washed. He still stinks, doesn't
he? You can't put on a new suit and
take away the smell. You couldn't put Christ's righteousness
on us It would have just been contaminated by our sin. You
see, our sin had to be dealt with. It had to be dealt with. The law's demands had to be satisfied. Therefore, it was necessary for
Jesus to satisfy the demands of the law of God to fulfill
them. See, the sentence of our condemnation
is death, and until He had carried out the justice of God, He cannot
declare us just. Therefore, Jesus, willingly out
of love and grace for all God's elect, took our sins and our
sorrows and made them His very own, and bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone." Why? For our justification. For our justification. He is
the great High Priest Himself, and He had offered Himself for
the sacrifice of our sins. This man, Jesus, paid the sin
debt by his passive obedience and endured the wrath of God,
and therefore God has highly exalted him above every name. And Jesus, my friend, by His
faithfulness has accomplished justification. He accomplished
it. And number two, this justification
by the faith of Christ means the faith of Christ that is given
us. You may ask this. Do you believe
that there is anyone who is justified that doesn't have faith? Is there anyone that is justified
that doesn't believe? No. You can't have justification
unless you are a believer. Well, guess who gives that? By
the faith of Jesus Christ, because He is the object He is also the
possessor of faith, and He gives it to whomsoever He wills. And it is by this faith that
God Himself has declared us innocent of all charges. Why? Because He was faithful. Because
He was faithful. He, through the law, has accomplished
my justification. And therefore, His righteousness
by faith is imputed and imparted unto us who believe. You believe? Then you, my friend, have been
justified and stand clear of all charges. Paul said, for through the law
I am dead to the law. What does the law have to say
to you tonight? If you are in Christ, it has
nothing to say to you because you are dead. I was talking to
Cheryl about this. If a man is executed, executed,
and he's dead, The sentence of death had been carried out and
somehow he was able to be revived. He was resurrected after he had
died. Could the law come back and kill
him again? No. His sentence had been executed. My sentence has been executed
in Christ and the law can do nothing to me. I'm dead to the
law. And the only thing the law can
demand of me is my freedom. It demands that I go free. The
law demands it. Because I'm innocent. How? In Christ. My substitute. I'm going to close with this
illustration. One more illustration. I'll close with it. I thought
it was a beautiful one. There was this chieftain. Very
just man. head of his tribe. And in their law, they had a
law against thievery, it was a very stringent law, that if
you were caught stealing, you would be stripped, tied to the
post in the middle of town and given a hundred lashes across
your back. This chieftain, as well known
as a just man, had found out that somebody had been stealing
in the tribe. They had no idea who it was.
And he told them to find him, find the man, and we will execute
judgment on that man. The sentence of lashing will
be carried out. Well, they found the thief. And
the thief turned out to be the chieftain's mother. A little
old lady. barely stand, much less take
a hundred lashes. The chieftain, again being a
just man, knew that the sentence must be carried out. The morning
came, he sat on his throne with his robe, commanded that his mother be
stripped, tied to the post. And just as the executioner was
about to execute the sentence, the chieftain got up from his
throne, disrobed himself, went down to the pole and wrapped
his big body around his mother and hung on to the pole. And
then, he said, begin. And he himself received the hundred
lashes for his mother. And when it was over, he went
back and put on his robe, sat on his throne, and declared his mother innocent. Justice had been satisfied. That's what Christ has done for
us. He's wrapped His arms around
us. And as God meted out His justice
that was due us. When it was over, my Savior rose
to His throne and now demands the freedom of everyone of those
He died for. Isn't He a wonderful Savior? Isn't He a wonderful Lord to
do something so great for someone so vile? Justified. free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus has bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law, bruised by
the fall, Christ hath redeemed us once for all. I pray this be a blessing to
your hearts. It is if you believe. It is if you believe. If you
don't believe now, a stand will be dismissed in
prayer.