Let's turn in our Bibles to Galatians
chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. I want to
thank you for having us and giving us the privilege to come here.
I very much appreciate it. Thank you to Paul and Walter
and Joe for taking us out to eat. I told John yesterday, I
said, we can't say we didn't eat good down here. We have.
And we ate good last night. under this preaching, didn't
we? Brother Don brought an excellent message. Thank you, Don. Alright,
Galatians 2. I want to begin reading here
in verse 11. Galatians 2.11. 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. He sat there at that table eating
with the Gentiles, eating things forbidden by the law of Moses.
When these Jews came from James, it says, when they were come,
he withdrew and separated himself. That's an important word. Sanctification
is to be separated, is to be set apart. And He withdrew and
separated Himself. We don't separate ourselves.
He separated Himself. And it says, fearing them which
were of the circumcision. When we're separated by the Lord,
we're separated fearing the Lord. But getting to wisdom is the
fear of the Lord. We're separated unto Him, given reverence for
Him. But He separated Himself fearing
them. And then it says this, And the
other Jews dissembled likewise with Him, insomuch that Barnabas
also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw
that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the
gospel. Now they thought what they were
doing, Peter did that and those other Jews did that, Barnabas
did that, thinking that was what it was to walk uprightly. And he said they didn't walk
uprightly. They didn't walk uprightly according to the truth of the
gospel. And I said unto Peter before
them all, if thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelest
thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? That's the issue
with legalism right there. When you compel others to live
by the law. If a man is a weak brother and
he's called of God, he delights in the gospel of Christ, and
he thinks he ought to not eat this or not drink that, and he
thinks he ought to observe this day or whatever, but he really
believes the Lord and he thinks this is honoring to the Lord,
but he's not trying to compel anybody else to do it. He doesn't
have a problem if you don't do it. Paul said, leave him alone. He's a brother, he's just a weak
brother. help him, instruct him, teach him. But when a man starts
compelling others to live by the law, that's not according
to the gospel. Paul said, when they tried to
compel Titus to be circumcised, he said, we didn't consent to
that for not even a minute that the truth of the gospel might
continue with you. Now let's read further. He says,
we, verse 15, we who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of
the Gentiles. And it appears to me here by
what Paul's about to say that he's saying we who are true Jews
given a new nature, circumcised in the heart and not Those sinners
who still think they can come to God by the law. Because here's
what he says about it. We being true to you, truly circumcised,
know, verse 16, we know that a man is not justified by the
works of the law. That right there, that one statement
is sanctification and righteousness all in one statement. Because
you don't know until you've been given a new holy heart. But when
you've been given a new holy heart, you know then If we don't
establish the law and fulfill the law at all by our works,
we're justified, we're sanctified by Christ alone. And he says,
but by the faith of Jesus Christ, by his faith and his fidelity,
by him, by his person and his work, by what he accomplished,
And it says, even we have believed in Jesus Christ. And if your
Bible doesn't make that distinction, get one that does, because that's
important. We're saved and justified by
the faith of Christ, and that's why we believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he says, 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." Not any. And then he makes a very, very,
very important statement. Now I want you to pay close attention
to this statement he makes. He says, but, 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. Now stay with the
context here of what he said. Stay with the context of what
he said. He's talking about the sin. If I confess and profess that
I'm justified by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, He's my
righteousness. And yet, I commit the sin of
turning from Christ to the law of Moses in order to sanctify
myself and separate myself. And I compel others to do the
same. Is that the sanctification that
Christ works in the heart of His child? God forbid. God forbid. What is it then?
Look at verse 18. For if I build again the things
which I destroyed, I make myself the transgressor. I'm building
again the things that I destroyed, in the sense that when I professed
to believe Christ, I professed that He had broken down the middle
wall of petition. He had accomplished and established
the law fully for His people and broken down that middle wall
so that there's no more separation between His people based on law.
Christ is our righteousness. But if I turn from Christ back
to the law for righteousness or sanctification I'm building
again that wall. And that's not the sanctification
Christ works in the hearts of His people. That is a man making
himself to transgress. And here's the problem. It's
transgression against Christ. It's transgression against Christ. Now, here's where I want us to
focus right here. Why is it transgression against
Christ? Number one, Verse 19, here's
the number one reason. For I through the law am dead
to the law. I through the law am dead to
the law. Whenever Christ came forth, the
reason He came forth, this is what's so ridiculous about telling
sinners that compelling sinners to live under the law and by
the works of the law and to seek some sort of adding something
to Christ by the works of the law. This is what's so absurd
about it. The whole reason Christ came is because you and I could
not give the law what it demanded. We could not. Paul said that
in Romans 8. What the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh. You and I could not give
the law the demands that it requires at all. We couldn't do it. And
that's the reason God gave it, to show us we can. He gave it
to declare us guilty and shut our mouths from making any boast
or any pretense of having done anything remotely resembling
a perfect obedience to that law. And there is nothing else. But
if it's obedience to the law, it's perfect obedience. And not
a halfway obedience to the law. It's got to be The law's got
to be who you are. It's got to be your very person.
Christ didn't strive to fulfill the law, that's who He is. He
is the righteousness of the law. He is the righteousness of God. He walked about under the law
never offending the law because He He's God. He's God in human flesh. But
He didn't come to push the law aside. He didn't come to sweep
sin under the rug. That law had to be honored. Brother Marvin read there last
night where he said, I'm pleased with His righteousness. Behold my servant. Behold my
servant. He's the one that honored the
law. He's the one that magnified the law. I'm pleased with His
righteousness. He looked and there was no intercessor. There was no man. And His own
arm sustained Him. His arm established righteousness
and brought salvation to Him. Christ. And He came forth to
fulfill the law. So it's not that He did it apart
from the law. He did it through the law. He
did it through the law. The law and the prophets bear
witness. You remember whenever Moses came
and he was going to die and Joshua was taking him into the land
of promise? You remember He's the law bearing witness that
He can't take you into the land of promise. And the prophets
bear witness that the law can't take you into the land of promise.
Christ is the only one that can take you into the land of promise.
He said in Romans 3, now the righteousness of God is manifested
by the law and the prophets. Christ fulfilled everything that
was written. Men will read that scripture where Christ said,
I didn't come to destroy the law and the prophets. I came
to fulfill. And they'll say, see there, the
law is still in effect. If you're saved by grace, you
still have to keep the law. Well, listen to that reasoning.
That also means you have to fulfill the prophets. Because He said,
I didn't come to destroy the law and the prophets. I came
to fulfill the law and the prophets. And He fulfilled the law and
the prophets. So that now, because Christ went
to the cross, and because every one of His people were in Him,
when He laid down His life and died under the justice of God,
the law said, they're dead. They're dead. I'm satisfied. The wages of sin is death and
it has been paid in full. And they're dead. They're dead. And so Paul says
here, I through the law am dead to the law. I'm dead to the law. That body of sin was destroyed
in Christ. If you can just picture it, when
Christ went into that tomb, our body of sin was buried. Christ came out of that tomb.
A new man came out of that tomb. And we came out of that tomb.
In Him, a new man. All His elect came out of that
tomb. In Him, a new man. But that body
of sin didn't come out. And He sat down at the right
hand of the Father. And we sat down in Him. I'm dead
to the law. You're dead to the law. Sinner?
Oh, if we could get this. You and I sin. We see our sin.
That's all we do is sin. But you think about this. To
be dead to the law means God won't ever, ever, ever charge
one of His people and condemn one of His people ever again
because Christ put our sin away. Dead to the law. And He said
in Romans 7, we were married to that law. That was our husband.
We could not lawfully be married to Christ until that husband
died. And when we die to that husband,
and that husband dies to us. And now, we can lawfully be married
to Christ. Now if we turn from Him and go
back to that law, the reason that is transgression, the reason
that I make myself the transgressor against Christ, that's just like
a woman cheating on her husband. The only way you can show faithfulness
to Christ, the only way a woman shows faithfulness to her husband,
by being faithful to her husband. And you want to walk according
to the truth of the gospel? Look to Christ. Look to Christ.
Dead to the law. Here's the second reason it's
transgression. I'm dead to the law, he says there in verse 19,
that I might live under God. I'm not supposed to be living
to that old husband. I'm not supposed to be going
to put flowers on his grave. I'm supposed to be living under
Christ. Paul said, be ye followers of me as I am also of Christ. And when you look through the
Scriptures, you see over and over and over through the Scriptures
where Christ says, follow me, follow me, follow me, follow
me. Peter said he's left us as an
example that we should follow in his steps. We were on our
way over here, and when we left the hotel, I didn't know how
to get here. I didn't know exactly where to
go. We came over here last night,
but first time, I didn't know exactly how to get here. So Marvin
said, I said, you know how to get there? He said, yeah. And
I said, I'm going to follow you. We got behind him, started over
here on the interstate, and we're driving along. And I said, you
know, John, I said, I hadn't looked to a single sign on this
interstate. I hadn't looked at a single exit. And I said, you
know what I've done? I've kept my eyes on Marvin.
I'm following him. My daddy used to give me this
big old long list of chores to do while he's at work. And it
was never a small list. It was always so big there was
no possible way I was ever going to do it. And I'd get out there
and get to trying to do it and there was things that he'd put
on there and I'd think, I don't know how in the world to do that.
And I'd be out there trying to do what he wanted me to do and
I just didn't know how to do it. When he came home from work, he'd
say, son follow me. He'd take off out there around
the house and around the yard and we'd go to working and I
would just follow him. And I never went back to that
list of chores and sat down and started to figure out how do
I do this. I followed him and the way I learned how to walk
and do what he wanted me to do was following him and watching
him and looking at him. See, Christ is our rule of life.
We're living under Christ. You want to learn about the law
and understand what the law has taught, the spirit of it and
the truth of it, you're not going to learn it by looking at the
letter of the law. The law won't show you the spirit and truth
of the law. You want to see what the love of the law is? Look
to Calvary's cross. Look to Calvary's cross. See?
Love God and your neighbor as yourself. Look at Calvary's tree
and you'll see the love of the law which is righteousness. You'll
see there one hanging there who loved his father so much to declare
him just and to justify he's willing to be forsaken of God
with the sin of his people upon him. Willing to be justly forsaken
of God. and at the same time willing
to bear that so He can have mercy on His children and save us from
our sin. Men want to talk about their
obedience to the law? That's what it takes. That's
the fulfillment of it right there. That ought to shut our mouths
about any obedience to the law. Christ is the rule we're to follow
and you learn everything from Him. He says, Do all things to
the glory of God. Whatever you do, do it. First
motive of the heart for the believer, living under Christ, is this.
What's going to honor Him? What's going to honor Him? That
principle you think about, if you were just living by the letter
of the law, you see this and in the cold letter of the law,
it's like, how does that apply to this over here? You have this
principle of glorifying God in everything you do. And that's
going to apply to every situation and every circumstance you come
into. And love your brethren. Do what's for their good. Do
what's not going to cause them to stumble. Do what's going to
be edified for them. Live unto God and do what's best. That's
what you learn from Christ. Look into Christ. Follow in Christ.
So if I turn from Him back to that law, I make myself a transgressor. Alright, here's another reason.
Verse 20. I am crucified with Christ. Yes,
I died. I'm justified by what He did. Galatians 2.20. I'm crucified
with Him. Nevertheless, I live. Now we're
entering sanctification. I live. 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." You see, when he begins to preach
this gospel to you, and he begins to bind his foal to the choice
vine, he takes a child of God who's never been broken, never
been tamed, And he breaks your heart. And he tames you. And
he binds you to him. One time, when I was about 13
years old, I decided I was going to ride a calf in the rodeo. And so my uncle, he set up this
barrel in the yard and put some ropes to it. And I'd get out
there and get on that barrel. And he'd pull that barrel. And
I'd ride that barrel. And I'm learning how to ride
me a calf. Rodeo was coming up a month or two away. I'd been
doing this for weeks and weeks and weeks, and I thought I was
something. Well, I could ride that barrel, you know, and I
can ride a calf. I know I can ride a calf. And
there was a man down at my mom's beauty shop, and he was getting
his hair cut, and he saw me out there, and I come in, you know,
and he said, you're pretty good on that barrel. I said, yeah,
I'm going to ride a calf in the rodeo. He said, well, I got a
horse up at the house that's never been ridden, a little old
colt. And he said, you want to come up there and ride him? I
said, you betcha, I sure do. So I took off up there with him
and got to his house, and he brought this colt out. In my
mind, I'm thinking, a little colt. And he brings this colt
out. And he puts a saddle on that
colt. And it didn't do anything. It just sat there. And he puts
me on that colt. Colt don't do a thing. He leads
me out to this open field. Colt walked along right behind
him, didn't do a thing. And he handed me the reins, and
I had the reins, and I'm standing there on this, sitting there
on this colt. Colt don't do a thing. And I spurred the colt. And he went straight up and straight
down, and I went right over his shoulders and landed on my head,
and my earlobes touched my shoulder. I couldn't tame the colt, but
Christ can. Christ can. He makes you to behold
Him. He makes you to behold His eyes
red with the joy set before Him and go into that cross and and
taking the sin of His people and bearing that justice of God
and pouring out His life's blood for His people. And He makes
you to behold Him there in agony on that cross, crying out, My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And when He makes you behold
Him, He said, I'm going to pour out My Spirit, and I'm going
to put My Spirit in their heart, and I'm going to give them a
new nature, and I'm going to make them partaker of the divine nature.
They're going to behold Me and see Me. And when they do, He
said, they're going to mourn for Me as one mourns for his
own son. He melts that hard heart. And
He brings you into submission to Him. And He gives you the faith to
believe Him. And He gives you the repentance
to... He is the repentance. He is the
faith. He turns you from your vain works
and your dead works and makes you to behold He hears salvation. His teeth are white with milk. He speaks into your heart and
He says, My son, it's finished. The works are finished. It is
finished. And when Christ has been formed
in you, you have now the nature in you of God. To be changed into the image
of God in that new man is to be partaker of his nature. And
so what God hates, you're going to hate. And what God loves,
you're going to love. God hates sin. And His people
don't love sin. Now, in our flesh we do. And
that's the thing we hate. But when you sin against Him,
it breaks your heart. This is the sanctification He
works. God, of God is Christ made unto you. Wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. And He makes you to behold Him
and He makes you to follow Him and to be led of Him. And you
live now by His faithfulness. By His faithfulness. When you
stand up and you preach, if you can stand up and preach, it's
because His faithfulness has given you the words to speak.
If you walk and do something you ought to do, it's His faithfulness
that made you do what you ought to do. If you turn from sin to
follow Him, He turns you from sin to follow Him. It's God working
in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. The life I now live, I live by
the faith of the Son of God. The Son of God. Now look, who
loved me and gave Himself for me. That's sanctification and
righteousness. The Lord said, I've loved you
with an everlasting love, therefore, in loving kindness, I've drawn
you. He formed himself in the heart
of his people because he loved his people. And he wouldn't take
no for an answer. His brother Don said, he drew
you to himself and he binds you to him so that you can't be separated
from him. Hell can't separate you from
him. And when he binds you to him, he shows you, I've loved
you. And you're constrained then,
not compelled, Not forced, not whipped, not promised a reward,
not any of those mercenary motives that religion gives you. Now
you're constrained by the love of Christ. That love for you. And you have a love for Him.
We don't speak much of it because there's not much to speak of,
but we're constrained by His love. And He shows us, and I
gave myself for you. That's how I'm made holy. and righteous. So, what's the
end of that for the man that he's worked this in? Are you
going to turn back to the law? Oh, you might do like Peter did
and make a mistake and do something like that, but he's going to
use one of his brethren to teach you. That's not right. Walking
according to the truth. And a man that's taught of him
and whom he dwells, when he hears that, he's going to be corrected.
He'll be corrected. The man who's not born of Him,
made righteous by Him, He'll turn back and He'll build that
wall back up again, and He'll try to use that wall to say He's
better than you, and He's more holy, and He's getting more holy,
and more holy, and more holy. Paul said in the next chapter,
having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?
That's utter foolishness. That's bewitching. That's bewitching. And 99.9% of what you hear preached
in this world today is bewitching doctrine. It's devil worship. And Paul said you can't be a
partaker of the cup of devils and the cup of the Lord. Light
and darkness does not have any communion, have no fellowship
whatsoever. So what do we say to these things now? Knowing
what He's done for us. Verse 21. I do not frustrate
the grace of God. I do not turn from it. I don't kick against it. I don't
try to add to it. I don't frustrate the grace of
God. For if righteousness come by
the law, If holiness comes by the law, if justification comes
by the law, if redemption comes by the law, if anything comes
by the work of my hands, and I say that's necessary, I'm saying
Christ is dead in vain. That is a serious, serious charge
to false religion, to will works religion. That's what you hear
preached in churches. Christ died in vain. rather than
let it never be said of us. Let it never. By God's grace,
may He work this in our hearts to make us see. That sanctification
they call sanctification, that ain't the work of Christ. No,
that's a man making himself a transgressor against Christ. Lord, don't let,
make me bury that self-righteous old man and bury that will and
bury everything about me that would, that Pharisee. Kill him. Just kill him. And Lord, you
make me live and follow you. Thank y'all so much. I appreciate
your hospitality and look forward to seeing you again soon. Thank
you, brother.