Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us for this Bible teaching, this message. You know, some people say it's
teaching, some people say it's preaching. I call it delivering
the word of God, the gospel. So I'm glad you could join us.
And if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles, I'll be preaching,
teaching from Galatians chapter two. My text will begin at verse
19 in Galatians two, and I'm gonna talk about this subject
today. Living unto God. Living unto God. Let me read
these three verses and then make some comments. The Apostle Paul
here, he's preaching to professing believers. He's writing to professing
believers in the churches of Galatia. And he says, for I through
the law, this is verse 19, I through the law am dead to the law. that I might live unto God. Verse 20 says, 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. Living unto
God. What is it to live unto God?
You know, so many people today who are in religion, professing
Christians, they say, well, I want to live my life for God, or I
want to work for God, or I want to live my life for the glory
of God. Well, what does that mean? What
does that involve? Well, the context of these verses
here in which the Apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Spirit,
speaks of living unto God, that I might live unto God, the context
here has to do with how sinners are justified before holy God. That's what he's talking about
here. He talks about in verse 16 of Galatians 2. He says, knowing
that a man is not justified, justified before God by the works
of the law. So whatever this justification
is, it doesn't come by works under the law, a person trying
to keep the law. Verse 16, he says, it comes by
the faith of Jesus Christ. Now that's an important phrase
there. You know, we often talk about
having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And certainly, true children
of God are those who believe in, who trust the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that faith, that trust the
Bible teaches, is not natural to us. It's not the product of
our free will, as many people say, or our own inherent goodness. as if we've got some, we're born
naturally with some spark of goodness and we just need to
find an eloquent preacher who can fan the flame with emotions
and draw us down an aisle and all of that, that's modern religion.
It's not biblical. Oh yes, we are to confess Christ,
don't get me wrong. But that's not the biblical way.
But this faith in Christ is the gift of God. Ephesians 2, 8 and
9, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. So he says here in Galatians
2, 16, that a man's not justified by works, but he's justified
by the faith of Jesus Christ. Now what is the faith of Jesus
Christ? Well, that's Christ faithfulness
to come to this world and do the will of His Father, do the
work that He was given to do by the Father, and that work
which He was commissioned and appointed and given to do before
the foundation of the world in the everlasting covenant of grace,
that work that He was equipped to do in His incarnation. That's
why God became a man. The Word was made flesh. You
see, his name shall be called Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins. Well, how can he accomplish that?
His name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God
with us. So Christ was faithful to do
what he was commissioned and sent to do. Well, what was he
commissioned and sent to do? He was commissioned and sent
as the surety and the substitute of God's chosen people, the people
He claimed were given to Him, and to stand in their place as
their substitute to keep the law unto death, obey unto death,
to satisfy God's justice for them, and establish the only
righteousness whereupon God could be just to justify them. So what is it to be justified?
Well, it's to be declared not guilty before God. It's the legal
pronouncement declaration of Almighty God, a holy and just
God, who must do right, that He looks upon His people, sinners,
who deserve and earn nothing but condemnation and death, and
He looks upon them and declares them not guilty, not condemned
is what that means. It doesn't mean, you see, when
we look at that word guilt, we have to make a distinction between
moral guilt and legal guilt. Now, moral guilt, what I'm referring
to there is the fact that I am the perpetrator, I am the criminal,
I am the sinner. You see, if God were to judge
me based upon my best efforts to keep the law, I would not
stand. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand?" So the only hope that I have
for salvation is for God to look at me and say, not guilty, even
though I am the perpetrator. What does that mean, not guilty?
What's the legal guilt? That means no condemnation, no
sentence of condemnation pronounced upon me. Why? Because I'm so good or I made
a decision for Christ? No. Because of the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ to do what He did in my place. He took my death. He took my condemnation. He died,
was buried, and rose again for me. And that's his faithfulness. And look at verse 16 of Galatians
2. He says, but by faith of Jesus
Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ. In other words,
because of Christ's faithfulness to do his great work, his people
come to believe in him. And he says, and not by the works
of the law, but go back. He said, even we have believed
in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ the work of Christ, his faithfulness to accomplish the
work, and not by the works of the law, for by the works of
the law shall no flesh be justified. So that's the context of this.
And that's what he says. Now, he says in verse 19, he
says, I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live
unto God. In verse 20, the first part,
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. So the
first thing we know, according to the scripture, about a sinner
saved by grace, living unto God, is that it means first, he's
dead to the law. That's number one. Living unto
God means I'm dead to the law. Now, what does that mean? Well,
I want you to go back to Romans chapter six. Paul has a great
explanation of what it means to be dead to the law here, as
he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write in Romans 6 here. But
let me just say this, to be dead to the law means that the law
cannot charge me or condemn me for my sin. I cannot be charged
or condemned with my sin. Now why is that? Is it because
God loves me so much that he just says forget about it, sweep
it under the rug, I'm a merciful God and I just can't bear to
see you condemned? No. God is a just God. He must punish sin. He cannot
ignore it, deny it, or sweep it under the rug. Sin must be
punished. The sinner must be punished.
Well, how then can I stand before God without being condemned? Well, I through the law am dead
to the law that I might live unto God. How did that happen? I'm crucified with Christ. Now, what does that mean? That
means Christ took my place. He suffered the full penalty
of the wrath of God and paid my debt to God's justice for
all my sins. My sins were imputed, charged,
accounted to Christ. And I have His righteousness
imputed, accounted, charged to me. So I stand before God, not
guilty, and actually declared righteous. Not by works, not
by my works. A man's not justified by works
of the law. And it's not even by my decision.
My decision for Christ did not make me righteous before God.
You know what makes me righteous before God? The blood of Jesus
Christ. I quote this song, I quoted it
last week, I quote this song, what can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Another verse in that song, this
is all my hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This
is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. You see,
the death of Christ satisfied the justice of God. and makes
me righteous before Him. His righteousness charged, accounted
to me. Now look at Romans 6, look at
verse 3. And this is what it states. This
is what it is to live under God. First, you must be dead to the
law. He says in verse 3, know ye not
that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into His death? Now the word baptized there is
not referring to the gospel ordinance of water baptism. Many times
in scripture, the word baptized or baptism refers to water baptism. And that's an ordinance. That's
a gospel ordinance of confession. That's how born again persons,
believers, confess Christ before men, in immersion. Believer's baptism. Sprinkling
and sprinkling babies, that's not New Testament baptism. That's
false baptism. But the baptism is believers.
Water baptism is believer's baptism in an ordinance of confession. But here, the word baptized in
the original literally means placed into. Now sometimes we
say it means immersion, and it does. But it means placed into. In water baptism, we're placed
into the water. Not just from the waist up or
not over a basin, but we go down. We identify with Christ and confess
Him that when He died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried.
We come up out of the water. When He arose again, we arose
again. That's a confession. It's not salvation. There's no
salvific power in the waters of baptism, as some denominate.
That's a denial of the gospel. But it's a confession of something
that's already taken place. But here, baptized means that
we were placed into Christ, those who believe. Baptized into Jesus
Christ. We're baptized into this. Now,
how do I know that? Well, look at the context. Look
at verse 4 of Romans 6. Therefore we are buried with
Him by baptism into death." When Christ died, He died as the representative
of God's elect people. God's chosen people. When Christ
died, He died as the surety of God's people. God's chosen people. Their debt to God's justice was
charged to Christ. He's their surety. Put it on
His account. He became accountable, responsible
for their debt. When Christ died, He died as
the substitute for God's chosen people. And His death was the
full payment for all the debt of their sins. The full wrath
of God. Christ was made guilty, legally
guilty, by imputation. And He went under the wrath of
God He became legally separated from the Father. I can't explain
that. He said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? In
Matthew 27. He drank damnation dry. He suffered. You see, as
the people of God, the chosen of God, they were ruined by the
fall in Adam into sin and death, they must be redeemed by the
blood. And as a result of being redeemed
by the blood, they will be regenerated by the Spirit. That's living
unto God. Now, so when He died, I died. I didn't die personally, but
I died in Him. He's my representative. He's
my surety. He's my substitute. My sins imputed
to Him. His righteousness imputed to
me. When He was buried, I was buried. When He arose the third
day, I arose the third day. So look at verse four. Therefore
we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life. Now this walking in
newness of life refers to the new birth, which is a literal
spiritual resurrection from the dead. You must be born again.
We're born spiritually dead. We must be quickened by the Spirit. Ephesians 2.1, and you hath he
quickened, given life, made alive, resurrected, regenerated. And
you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. And
the evidence of that being quickened is this walking in newness of
life. What does that mean? Walking
in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Walking in repentance of dead
works, idolatry, and sin. walking in obedience motivated
by love and grace and gratitude. So look at verse five of Romans
six. For if we've been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection. In verse 6 he says, knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with him, our old connection
with Adam in dead and trespassing and sin, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now
jump across the page there to Romans 7 and verse 4. Now how
did this, see we're dead to the law. The law cannot condemn us
if we're in Christ now. That's not to everybody without
exception. The law cannot charge, if I'm in Christ, the law cannot
charge me with sin. I'm a sinner. But you know David
prayed in Psalm 32, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity. God doesn't, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies, it's
Christ that does. And I'm charged with righteousness. I have righteousness imputed,
charged to me. That's what Paul, when he was
commenting on David's statement back in Psalm 32, blessed is
the man to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, Paul stated it
this way by inspiration of the Spirit, blessed is the man to
whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without words. I have a righteousness. I can honestly and without embarrassment
tell you that I stand before God righteous. And you look at
me and you say, well, wait a minute. You're a sinner. You're still
suffering the consequences of sin. You still have to put up
with the influence, the contamination of sin. And you're getting old.
You're going to die. I can tell you're not perfect.
I'm talking about how I stand before God, not in myself, but
in Christ, my substitute, my surety, my representative, my
advocate, my high priest, my mediator. That's what this gospel
is all about. How did all this come about?
Look at verse 4 of Romans 7. Wherefore, my brethren, you are
become dead to the law, and I'll underscore the next phrase, by
the body of Christ. The death of Christ. That you
should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. In other words, all this happened,
and it's all conditioned on Christ, and it's all based on His blood
and righteousness. in order that we who are saved
might stand before God, justified, dead to the law, righteous before
God. And that's the foundation of
living under God. We'll go back to Galatians 2.
Now look at it again. Paul says, in verse 19, I threw
the law. am dead to the law. You see,
Christ kept the law. God didn't throw away His law.
He didn't deny His law. He didn't break His law. It's
I through the law. The law being kept, not by me,
but by Christ. The law being honored, not by
me, but by Christ. The law being fulfilled, not
by me, but by Christ, my substitute. Romans 10, 4, for Christ is the
end of the law, finishing, fulfillment, completion, perfection of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. that I might
live under God. I'm crucified with Christ. Well
look at verse 20, living under God. He says yet, verse 20, 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. Living under God is number one,
being dead to the law. Number two, it's living by the
grace of God. My whole life. It's not by my
power. It's not by my goodness. It isn't
even by my will. Now God has changed my will.
He's changed my desires. But that's not the source or
the cause or the goodness of this life that I live, living
under God. Christ is. He said, I live, yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me. How does Christ live in His people?
By His Holy Spirit and by His Word. The Spirit resides within
His people, and the Word is written on their heart, that's the new
heart, the regenerate heart, and they live by the faith of
the Son of God. He is the power, He's the source,
He's the vine, we're the branches, and we bring forth fruit. You
see, we're not fruit producers or fruit inspectors, we're fruit
bearers. We who are saved now. That's
living under God. And then thirdly, verse 21, living
unto God is living in the grace of God. Being dead to the law,
living by the grace of God. He's the source. He's the vine.
His people are the branches. Third, and that's why they can't
be lost again, because it's all in Him. And then thirdly, verse
20, living in the grace of God. Verse 21, I do not frustrate
the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead and vain. That word frustrate means to
make void. There's a lot of people, as I
said before, who claim to be saved by grace. who claim that
salvation is by grace. But they frustrate the grace
by other things that they believe and things they're ignorant of.
For example, here somebody comes along, he says, I believe that
salvation's all by grace, but you've got to be baptized in
order to be saved. My friend, that's a denial of
grace. That's making baptism a work
of the law. If righteousness, if our right
relationship with God, if our right standing with God comes
by the law, whether it's baptism, circumcision, keeping this, doing
this, not doing that, then Christ is dead and vain. You claim to
believe in Christ. You claim that Christ is your
salvation, but your very thoughts, your very ways of living Trying
to make yourself righteous, trying to make yourself good enough
to attain or maintain salvation is a living testimony that you're
saying Christ died for nothing. You see, my righteousness before
God, and I often tell people this, I've been preaching this
gospel for over 36, 37 years now. But all my preaching, put
together, does not contribute one degree to the righteousness
in which I stand before God. Righteousness doesn't come by
my preaching. I preach righteousness because
I preach Christ. I preach grace. My preaching
does not save me. My preaching does not make me
righteous. My preaching does not balance
out the scales. My preaching does not earn me
rewards in heaven because I'm going to tell you something,
the only reward believers receive in heaven is eternal life by
Jesus Christ. That's so. If righteousness comes
by the law, If you claim to be saved by grace, but you're trying
to earn your way into God's favor in some way to some degree at
some stage, you're not living in the grace of God. You're not
living unto the Lord. You're living unto self. If self
enters into the scheme of salvation as to attaining or maintaining
salvation, then my friend, you're not living unto God. Living to
the glory of God. is a beautiful thing. but it's
all brought about by the grace of God. Ephesians 2.10 says,
for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto, not because
of, but unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them. And as we live our lives, as
believers live our lives, as witnesses of Christ, as disciples
of Christ, understand, living under the Lord's not trying to
draw attention to ourselves, but it's trying to point sinners
to Christ. It's glorifying Him, honoring
Him, giving Him the preeminence. He's everything, I'm nothing.
John the Baptist said it, Christ must increase, I must decrease. My old pastor used to say that
preaching the gospel is pointing sinners to Christ and then the
preacher getting out of the way. And I like that. Don't follow
me, don't come to me, don't use me as your standard, it's too
low. Somebody said, well, I wish I could be like brother so-and-so
or sister so-and-so. My friend, you're aiming too
low. I don't care who brother so-and-so or sisters, look at
Christ. He's the goal, and the only way
that I have any hope of salvation, any hope of being justified,
any hope of being not guilty, any hope of being righteous,
or any hope of having life, spiritual life, eternal life, to live under
God is by the grace of God, which reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. There is no other way. There is no other avenue. There's
no other true religion. This is it. None other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. Christ said, I'm the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. That's what it is to live unto
God and for his glory. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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today and may the Lord be with you.