Turn with me back to Galatians
chapter two. Galatians chapter two, I have
had the the issue or the subject matter of law and grace very heavily on my mind and my
heart the last few weeks. I feel like we've dealt with
it the last few weeks, the last
couple of Sundays. Two Sundays ago, we looked at
Galatians 1 and the title of that message was The Recovery
of the Gospel. Mankind lost it. Man lost it. The recovery of the gospel, that's
what the whole letter to the Galatians is described to be. A recovery of the gospel, let's
come back to the gospel. A recovery of grace, what grace
really is. People know the word grace, but
we've lost the meaning of grace. Paul and Barnabas brought the
message of the free gift of salvation in Christ. Also known as grace. He brought that to the Galatians
and they seemed to lay hold of it. They seemed to believe it. But after Paul and Barnabas left,
they started resorting back to the works of the law. And I'm
telling you, that's what this flesh is prone to do. This flesh wants so badly to
resort back to the bondage of the law. That's what they started
doing. They started adding back in. Paul came in and just destroyed
all of the idolatry of law for salvation. And then they left
and the Galatians started Well, maybe we need to add this back
in. Well, that's so, but only if we add this portion of the
law. It started creeping back in. Creeping back in as some
component of their salvation. And Paul wrote this letter to
the Galatians to adamantly set forth that salvation is by the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone. Alone, alone means by himself,
with nothing else added. That's what it means. The Lord
Jesus Christ, just dial into this for a minute, okay? Just
really think about this. The Lord Jesus Christ lived a
perfect life on this earth. I have not, you have not. In the flesh, we are not saints.
Well, he's a saint. She's a saint. No, he's not.
She's not. Okay. But the Lord Jesus Christ,
he lived a perfect life on this earth. Okay. And then after he
did that, he offered that perfect life to God by way of giving
himself in death. He offered his life. by giving
himself in death. He gave his body, he gave his
blood on a cross as an offering to God. That's what was taking place
on the cross, an offering to God. In the Old Testament, they
used to take a bunch of rocks and pile up an altar and they
would take a lamb and they would slay that lamb and they would
offer that lamb up as an offering to God. Well, that's what the
cross of Christ was. It was an offering to God. It
was a payment to God. It was an appeasement to God. And God was so satisfied with
his offering. That's the good news. We talk
about the gospel. Well, here it is. God was so satisfied with
the offering of Jesus Christ. That payment that was owed It
so fully satisfied the sin debt of God's people. Satisfied by the blood of Jesus
Christ. It was so satisfying by that
one offering. Not every year, not over and
over again, not every time you sinned, you had to run back over
there with a pigeon. Here is a little sin, here's
a little offering. That one offering, it was so satisfying. God's people
were eternally set free. Completely, totally set free.
Satisfied. Satisfied. Pardoned forever. Freed from the condemnation of
the law. Freed from the punishment of
their sin, the punishment owed for their sin, and not just freed
to go. Not just freed to leave the judgment,
but freed to enter into acceptance with God. Made free to freely
approach the throne of grace, made to be a free partaker of
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Redeemed. made worthy, reinstated. Another way of saying
that is saved. Saved. Fully, completely, totally
saved. Paul adamantly reminded them
that that salvation happened not because of us or anything
in us. or anything done by us, it was
not dependent on us. It was completely by the doing
and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Completely. And Paul was so dogmatic about
this truth, he ended chapter 2 by saying in verse 21, if you
look at verse 21, Paul said these words, he said,
I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness
comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. He said, I do
not frustrate. That word frustrate means do
away with. That's what it means, do away
with. It means disregard. It means violate the grace of God. Adding the
works and the deeds of the law being performed by our flesh,
us doing it. adding those works to the free
gift of salvation in Christ, the grace of God, the gift, the
free gift. It's not that that's just an
unnecessary thing to do. Well, he already paid it, you
know, I'll put your money away. It's already been paid. It's
not that it's just an unnecessary thing to do. It violates the
whole thing. That's the problem. It violates
the whole thing. It's not that it just muddies
or confuses God's grace. It does away with the whole thing. It's not just a hindrance to
grace. It disregards it altogether.
It's one or the other. Verse 21, he said, I do not frustrate
the grace of God for if Righteousness, if acceptance with God, if us
being approved of by God, if us being justified before God
comes by the law, how you get to go to heaven? Well, you read
the Bible and you do what it says, and then God is happy with
you, and then you get to go to heaven. No. No. If righteousness comes by
the law. If acceptance with God and God
being pleased with us comes by the law, if it comes by our obedience
to this law, then Paul said, I'm going to tell you this. Christ died in vain. That's how
it works. Christ died in vain. If it's
possible, if we could accomplish righteousness before God, acceptance
with God on our own, then Christ died in vain. That means for no reason. Whoever
did it ought to go to heaven. Whoever didn't do it ought to
go to hell. It's that simple. Now, let's ask this question. Why did Christ die? That's the
question. If you want to get to the heart
of this whole thing, why did Christ die? If Christ died to
make salvation possible for his people, then he died in vain. Because it is not possible for
sinful flesh to do anything to save himself or herself. If he died to save his people,
as long as men and women will accept his death and accept his
salvation, then he died in vain. Because it's impossible for dead
flesh to accept and you have he quickened who were dead it's
impossible if it's dependent on a dead man it's not gonna
happen it's just not gonna happen he died in vain he died but now
it's dependent on a dead man to do something what you mean
dead spiritually dead in Adam all spiritually died Either we're saved by Christ
alone or we are not going to be saved. Either we are saved
by Christ's doing without our doing or we're not going to be
saved. Why did Christ die? Why did Christ die? Here's the
answer. To save his people. To save his people. To finish
the work. He said, Father, I finished the
work. Aren't you so glad he didn't
say, Father, I started the work. I finished the work. I finished
the work. Why did Christ die? He died to
accomplish eternal redemption. That's exactly what he did. That
is exactly what he did. He was the successful Savior. and to bend or to alter His accomplishment
by saying now that we have to add our works to His, that's
a lie on God. If it's not finished unless I
believe or unless I accept or unless I obey or unless I, then
it's not finished. He said it's finished. And then
we stand up and tell men, now it's almost finished as long
as you will. We're calling him a liar. Number one, it's calling God
a liar. Number two, it's an insult. It's an insult to him to say
that what he did in his death was not really enough to save
his people. All is named Jesus, for he shall save his people.
And he died on the cross and he bore that suffering and he
endured separation from God and condemnation. But it wasn't enough. It just wasn't enough. You're
going to have to help him now. Aren't you going to help him?
He needs you. What an insult. What an insult. That's an insult
to his accomplishment. Jesus Christ fully, completely
saved his elect people by the blood of his grace, period. We cannot add anything to that. We cannot take away anything
from that. Salvation is by Christ, was by
Christ. will be understood to be by Christ
alone. It was by the will of Christ,
not my will, not your will. Won't you let him save you? He's
already saved. Won't you make him Lord? He's
already Lord. Sorry, we're a little late on
that one. It was by the will of Christ.
It was by the work of Christ. It's by the application of Christ
alone. without man's flesh or man's
deeds playing a role in it at all. And that is very powerfully
set forth here in Galatians chapter two. I want us to just see this
together. We're gonna very quickly go down through this chapter,
but I want us to see this. Look at verse one. In Galatians
two, verse one, it says, then 14 years after, I went up again to Jerusalem
with Barnabas and took Titus with me. Paul is telling of his
conversion and the things that happened in his life. And he
said, I went up to Jerusalem with Barnas. I took Titus, verse
two, and I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that
gospel, which I preached among the Gentiles. I told them what
I was preaching to the Gentiles. But privately to them which were
of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run in vain.
But neither Titus who was with me, being a Greek, a Gentile,
he was not compelled to be circumcised. And that because of false brethren
unawares," we didn't know they were false brethren at first,
brought in. who came in to privately spy
out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might
bring us into bondage. Nothing is more annoying to me,
I put a lot of thought into that word, that is the word I would
like to use. Nothing is more annoying to me
than a Pharisee who wants to question my liberty in Christ.
Really. Look at chapter five, verse one. It says, stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. You know what
God's people are? Free. Free, free. And be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage. Man's rules, man's laws, man's
works. For some reason, men love to
put other men and women under religious, a religious yoke of
bondage, which no one is able to bear. That's what Peter said.
No one's able to bear it. And Paul said, neither Titus
nor I was gonna give it the time of day. We just weren't gonna
do it. Go back to chapter two. Verse three. But neither Titus,
who was with me being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised,
and that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came
in privately to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus,
that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we gave place
by subjection, no, not for an hour. that the truth of the gospel
might continue with you. The truth of grace. What is the truth of grace? What
is the truth of the gospel that he's talking about? Hold your
place right here and turn over to Matthew 5. Matthew 5 verse 17, our Lord
Jesus Christ said, think not that I am come to destroy the
law. Whenever we talk about being
freed from the bondage of the law and the burden of the law
and the commandments of the law, it's not that God or Christ or
God's people are against the law. That's not it at all. The
law is not the enemy. I'm the enemy. The law is good.
I'm the evil one. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
in verse 17, thank not that I am come to destroy the law or the
prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled. You know, I've been very hard
on religion this morning and Pharisees this morning. And my
heart really, as I think about it right now, it really breaks
for men and women. It really does. It breaks for
them. But just what gets me is the pride, just the arrogance. You know, men, they love to look
at other men and women and say to them, now, aren't you going
to fulfill the law on that? You know, I'm going to have to,
I'm going to hold you accountable. You're going to be accountable to me.
Aren't you going to? Now, that's what the law says
on that. Aren't you going to fulfill the law? Paul and Titus said,
no. Christ has already fulfilled
it for me. He's already fulfilled it for
me. He's already done for me what
I could never do for myself, fulfill God's law to the level
of perfection that he demands. People say, Gabe, if you preach
that, you're going to make people lawless. They already are lawless. They already are lawless. Love your neighbor as yourself,
has anybody ever done that? Do you realize how much we love
ourselves? Just start by completely, totally
emptying your bank account and give it to your next door neighbor.
You can choose right or left. Or split it between the two.
Half and half. Empty your bank account. Let's
start with that. You want to do that? We already are lawless. The law
was given to prove our lawlessness to us. That's why the law was
given. Men and women just don't realize
that. By nature, we don't realize that. Turn over to Romans 3 with
me. Verse 19, Romans 3, verse 19, it says, Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law
that they might be saved. That is not what it says. Now we know that what things
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. Therefore, verse
20 says, by the deeds of the law, what that literally translates
is obeying the Bible, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. For by the law is the knowledge,
I can't do this. It's the knowledge of sin. Verse
23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. Look at Romans chapter 5 verse
12. Romans 5 verse 12, it says, Wherefore,
as by one man, Adam, Sin entered into the world and death by sin,
spiritual death, which eventually leads to physical death. And
so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned, not
most, all. Look at Romans 7 verse 18. This is the Apostle Paul speaking.
This is the Apostle Paul speaking, Romans 7 verse 18. He said, for
I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing,
for to will is present with me. What he's saying is, I wish I
was not what I am. I wish I could obey God's word. I do. For to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. Verse 22, 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. Oh, wretched man
that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? All right, now watch this. Watch
this. Paul stated the problem right there. He stated the problem. All right, here comes the remedy.
Look at chapter eight, verse one. There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. who walk not
after the flesh. That means they just cannot look
to their flesh any longer. They've been trying to do better. They've been trying to turn over
a new leaf. They want to be saved. So they're
trying to stop sinning. They're trying to do things that
they think God will be happy with, but they just, they're
not going to be able to do that any longer. They just cannot
walk after the flesh any longer. They're just going to have to
start looking to Christ. They're just going to have to
start hoping and trusting that Christ came to save sinners because
that's what I am. Verse one, there's therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law
of sin and death, the law that condemns my sin and kills me,
demands death. For what the law could not do,
what could it not do? Make me holy, make me righteous,
make me acceptable. What the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, my margin says,
by a sacrifice for sin, condemn sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. And I was going to read down
to verse 17. But he keeps saying the same thing over and over
again. We're not looking to our flesh. We're looking to Christ. Christ has set us free by fulfilling
every demand of the law for us. And if Christ did it for us,
we don't need to do it for ourselves. And that's wonderful news. Now,
very quickly, go with me back to Galatians 2. Galatians 2, I'm going to... We'll be very quick here. Galatians
2, look at verse 3. But neither Titus, who was with
me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised, and that because
of false brethren and awares brought in, who came in privately
to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that
they might bring us into bondage, to whom we gave place by subjection,
no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue
with you. But of these who seemed to be
somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me, God
accepteth no man's person. For they who seemed to be somewhat
in conference added nothing to me. But contrary wise, when they
saw that the gospel of the Gentiles, the uncircumcision, was committed
unto me, I was preaching the same word to the Gentiles. They
thought the good news of salvation was only for the Jews, but I
came in and said, I'm preaching it to the Gentiles too. When
they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed
unto me as the gospel of the circumcision, the Jews, unto
Peter, For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of
the Jews, the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward
the Gentiles. And when James, Peter, that's
who Cephas is, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived
the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas
the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen,
the Gentiles. And they unto the Jews, the circumcision,
only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which
I also was forward to do. But when Peter was come to Antioch,
I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed. For before
that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles.
But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing
them which were of the circumcision. Peter was probably over there
eating barbecue with those sinful Gentiles. The Jews were not allowed to
eat pork. They definitely were not allowed to fellowship with
sinful Gentiles. And Peter had been set free from all of that.
Can you imagine the first time he tasted bacon? Oh, it's so
good. You mean I can have bacon and
be saved? Yeah, it's not in touch, not
taste, not handle, not has never touched my lips. Well, great. He's touched mine, I like bacon. But he'd been set free of all
that as a spiritual picture of how centers are saved. Saved by grace. In a dream, the
Lord told Peter, arise, kill, eat. Animals that the law said
was unclean. And in this dream, Peter said,
I can't eat it, it's unclean. And God Almighty said, don't
you call unclean what I've made clean. That's us. Unclean, unclean,
unclean. Don't you call unclean. with
my blood as washed and made clean. I've made it clean. Now, listen
to this. I've made and this this will
bring so much understanding to law and grace, law and grace.
OK, I've made it clean. Therefore, the law is in agreement
with it. It's not that grace goes against
the law, but we're going to rebel against the law. No, no, no.
God's grace doesn't break the law. God's grace makes the recipient
of grace to be in agreement with the law. When God came down to
Mount Sinai, he said, you better tell them, don't step foot on
this mountain or they'll die in their sin. But he said, after
my sacrifice is finished, you tell them they're all going to
stand on top of it, worship, made worthy to walk up that mountain,
that holy mountain. And Peter had been set free from
the bondage of breaking the law and he was enjoying himself with
God's people. And then some Jews came in and
Peter got scared. And he put his put his barbecue
down. And he went and sat over here
at this other table and all the other Jews saw Peter do that,
even Barnabas. Did the same thing. I can't can't
be sitting here with these centers. And. And I've been too long, I'm just
going to paraphrase some of this. Paul told Peter, he said, you've
sinned not because you ate pork, not because you were hanging
out with sinful Gentiles, but because you resorted back to
the law. You went back to the law, you
turned back to the flesh. He said, if God set you free
from the bondage of the law, why are you encouraging them
to enter into the bondage of the law? We're free, brethren,
we're free. We're free. Does that make people,
does that make God's people want to be lawless? No. That makes
them want to cry. That makes him fall in love with
Christ. He said, if I build again what I tore down, I'm making
myself to be the transgressor before God. And he said, this
is how the whole thing works. Look at verse 20. He said, this
is how the whole thing goes. Verse 20. I am crucified with
Christ. When he died, I died. Nevertheless,
I live. When he arose, I arose. 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. This life I'm living on this
earth, I'm not looking to my flesh by faith, I'm looking to
Jesus Christ. I'm looking to his perfect obedience
to the law that I was joined to in him. He said in verse 21,
I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness
comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. And I'll tell
you this, and Paul is telling us this, Christ most definitely
did not die in vain. He did not. If it were not for
his death, we wouldn't have any hope. He's our all. He alone is our all. Amen.