studying Galatians, and we've
seen this meeting that the apostles had together. They met to discuss
this issue. Is a believer required to keep
any of the law in order to be saved? They all agree a sinner
is justified by Christ without the deeds of the law. No one
is required to keep any part of the law in order to be saved.
Christ kept the law completely for his people. No one's required
to follow any of the ceremonies of the law. All those ceremonies
are done away with in Christ. Now that's settled once and for
all. Everybody here knows this. A sinner's justified in Christ
alone. Anybody here not know that? Everybody
here has heard that. Well, that's the message I got
this morning, so I guess there's no point in teaching it since
that's settled, right? Or is it? Or is it? After getting
this matter settled, and probably the greatest meeting of theologians
that's ever taken place on this earth, I want you to look what
Peter, of all people, Peter did. Look here in verse 11 of Galatians
chapter 2. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I was stood
him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before the
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. And other Jews dissembled likewise
with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their
dissimulation." Now you understand what happened here. They're having
a church dinner at Antioch, and the Jew and the Gentile believers,
they were eating together, fellowshipping together. They were probably
eating meat that was considered unclean by the Old Testament
law. This Antioch is a Gentile town, Gentile believers there,
and I'm sure they brought their normal food to church dinner,
just like we do. And Peter's sitting there eating
with them. I can just see him. He's eating barbecue pork sandwich
and rabbit stew, and he's eating that, and he's loving it. He's
saying, boy, we missed out on some good eating. When we follow
that Old Testament law and he's enjoying the food, he's enjoying
his fellowship with his Gentile brothers and sisters. And then
he looks out the window and sees believers from Jerusalem coming.
Paul says here they came from James. He means that they came
from Jerusalem. James was a pastor at the church
there at Jerusalem. Peter saw them coming. He got
up from the table. He threw that barbecue pork sandwich
away. He cleaned off that rabbit stew
from his fingers and he got across the room. separated himself from
those Gentiles because he's afraid of these brethren coming from
Jerusalem. Maybe they were legalistic. Maybe they hadn't got rid of
these grave clothes and followed Old Testament law yet. Doesn't
sound like Peter had yet either, does it? And Peter wasn't helping
them get those grave clothes off. Now, can you imagine how
hurt those Gentiles were when Peter did that to them? I mean,
their feelings were so hurt. By his actions, Peter said, they
were not as holy as those Jews because they ate pork and they
were uncircumcised. I think Peter forgot that our
Lord Jesus himself received sinners and ate with them. And that was
hurtful to his brethren. He hurt their feelings. There's
no excuse for that. And that's not even to mention
the most important issue. Peter's actions contradicted
the gospel that he preached. Now, that's serious business.
And that's why Paul had to withstand him to the face. Now, there are
several lessons for us to learn here. First one is this. Every believer constantly needs
God's grace. We need his saving grace and
we need his keeping grace or we'll fall. And Peter knew this
was wrong, but he did it anyway. He fell. Even the greatest believers
need God's grace because we still got that old man who will fall
the moment God removes his hands of grace from us. Abraham, the
father of the faithful, he fell. He listened to his wife, Sarah.
He went into Hagar and Hagar bore him a son, Ishmael. Caused
Abraham problems the rest of his life. And Ishmael's descendants
are still causing the world problems all across the world to this
day. Because Abraham fell. David, the man after God's own
heart, fell. He fell with Bathsheba. He committed
adultery with Bathsheba. He fell when he murdered her
husband Uriah. He fell when he numbered the
people. That's the man after God's own heart fell that way.
Solomon, David's son, the most wise man to ever live, fell. When he married idolaters and
built them places, they'd go worship those idols. Peter had
fallen before. He denied he even knew who the
Lord was because he's afraid. And he fell. Well, here he is
making a mistake again because he's afraid. Even great believers
make great mistakes. And in the most surprising places,
Peter fell here at a church dinner, a church fellowship dinner. He
wasn't out there surrounded by the people of the world. He was
surrounded by his brothers and sisters. Don't put your trust
in princes. Don't put your trust in the best
of men. Put your trust in the Lord and
don't ever take your eyes off of him. Every believer constantly
needs his grace. Second, every believer needs
constant teaching. Peter learned this lesson before
more than once, but he still fell an act of contrary to the
gospel. We read this last week about
this conference the apostles had in Acts 15. It was Peter
who stood up and said, now brethren, no Jew was ever saved by keeping
the law. So why do you want to put that
burden on these Gentiles? If any Jew is going to be saved,
Peter said, we're going to be saved the same way those Gentile
heathen are. By grace, not by the law, but
by grace. And you remember before Peter
went to preach to Cornelius, he was hungry and he was waiting
on them to fix something to eat. He fell asleep, fell into a trance.
He had that vision of all these unclean animals being let down
to the earth and this great sheep for him to eat. God said, take
Peter, come and eat. And Peter told the Lord, Lord,
not so. No, I'm not going to do that. I've never eaten anything
as common or unclean. And our Lord told Peter, don't
you call common or unclean what I've cleansed. And Peter went
to preach to Cornelius, and he said, Cornelius, I perceive this. God's no respecter of persons.
God's taught me this. The Jews are no better than the
Gentiles. God's taught me that. Yet, here's Peter, by his actions,
showing that the Jews are indeed better than the Gentiles, because
they keep the law. That they're more righteous than
the Gentiles because they follow the law. And I thought we settled this.
I thought everybody understood this. Well, we did. But believers
need constant teaching. Constant teaching. To write the
same things to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous. But for you
it's safe. Because we need constant teaching.
The third lesson we have from this is we see how deeply ingrained
the doctrine of works is in our flesh. We want to think that
we wouldn't do what Peter did. We want to think after all this
time, we're better than this. But we're not. And I'll prove
to you we're not. We can't help but think, well,
I'm better in so and so because I do this or I don't do that.
And they do. All that is is self-righteousness.
It's a righteousness, it's a goodness that came from something we did,
not what Christ did, and not what we are in Him. And that
is so deeply ingrained in our flesh, we can't help but think
it, even though we know it's wrong. It just comes to the mind
of this flesh. If it happened to the apostle,
it's deeply ingrained in us too. Here's the fourth thing we have
to learn from this story. This is a warning to us about
the example we set to others. Now this is applicable to all
of us. You older believers, you watch
the example you set for these younger ones. And you younger
ones, you watch the example you set to your unbelieving friends.
There's a warning to us here to set the right example. Even
Barnabas, Paul said it, even Barnabas was led astray by Peter's
example. Barnabas, who was in on this
meeting, he sat and listened to those apostles have this meeting
and this discussion. They discussed the scriptures.
They discussed the Lord and the Lord himself were made righteous
in him. Barnabas was in on that. Barnabas
was Paul's traveling companion. They went together. Barnabas
preached St. Paul to those Gentiles and Barnabas
never would have fallen for this if Peter got up and preached
the message. If Peter got up and preached the message, said,
now we're saved by Christ. We're saved by his obedience.
We're saved by his blood. But now you've got to keep the
law. And the Jews who do keep the law, they're saved by Christ.
But now they're more righteous than people who don't keep the
law. Barnabas wouldn't have fallen
for that. He would have immediately known that's wrong. But even Barnabas followed Peter's
example. when Peter said that exact same
thing by his actions when he separated himself from these
Gentiles. Now, remember this, what did James say? My faith
is justified by my works. Now, I'm justified before God
by the faith of Christ, but my faith, my profession of faith
is justified in your eyes by my actions. Didn't Paul talk
about that unbelieving husband being won by the example? the
conversation, the conduct of his believing wife. So our example,
it can be good or it can be bad. But be careful which one you
say because it's going to have an effect on others. The fifth
lesson we see here. This shows us. How much Satan
hates and despises the doctrine of grace, the doctrine of justification
by faith, and the church is going to remain under attack by him
because he hates the doctrine of the teaching of justification
by faith. Satan attacked the church, how?
By attacking the disciples, the apostles. The apostles themselves,
the leaders, the heads of the church, came under attack, trying
to draw the whole church away from this truth, justification
by faith in Christ. They were saved by grace. And
the church was going to remain under attack for that very same
reason. Satan hates that doctrine of
justification by faith. And the sixth lesson, this is
the last one, this is what I want to spend the rest of my time
on. This shows us how important justification by faith really
is and how strongly we must stand for it. We cannot retreat an
inch from this truth. We're justified by faith, even
if we must stand against an apostle for it. The truth of Christ is
more important than keeping the peace. Got that? The truth of Christ is more important
than keeping the peace. That's why Paul had to withstand
Peter to the face publicly. Look at verse 14. But when I
saw that they walked not uprightly 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, Not as do the Jews.
Why compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Peter, you're
not walking uprightly. You're walking contrary to grace.
See, your actions matter. Peter, you're a Jew. But you
believe Christ. You grew up a Jew. You grew up
observing the law and the ceremonies. But you believe Christ. And you
quit all that. You quit all the works of the
law. You quit all the ceremonies. You quit all of that that the
Jews are under. Because you believe Christ, because
you know you're justified in Him. And in Christ, you know
you have absolutely no obligation to the Old Testament law. Peter,
you know this. You're free to eat whatever you
want. You showed it. You're sitting there eating a
barbecue sandwich and a pork barbecue and rabbit stew. You're
free to eat whatever you want, just like the Gentiles have always
done. Well, then why on earth? Would you want to make the Gentiles
live under that law like the Jews do? But even you yourself
don't do that. Why would you want to do that?
You're justified in Christ without the deeds of the law. Why do
you want to put them under law, not under grace? Because you're
their friend. That's your enemy. He's trying
to put you under the law, not under grace. You are the very
fellow that said, why do you want to put the yoke of the law
on the Gentiles? when neither we nor our fathers
could bear it. Why do you want to do that? Peter,
you know you're under no obligation to the law. You know you're justified
by faith, not by your works. Why do you want to require works
from the Gentiles? It's not going to help them any
more than it helped the Jews for centuries. He goes on in
verse 15. He says, We who are Jews by nature,
not sinners or heathen of the Gentiles, Knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ 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." Now Paul says, Peter, you and I are Jews
by nature. We were born to parents who were
Jews, raised in that Jewish religion, Jewish culture. We're not heathen
Gentiles. That's not our background. And
we grew up steeped in the Old Testament law. I mean, steeped
in it. This was their life. This just
wasn't something that those Jews did on a Sabbath day. I mean,
this was their life. This was their culture. We're
steeped in that Old Testament law. But Christ has revealed
himself to us. And we've quit all that. Because
the Lord himself has taught us we're not justified by the works
of the law. We're justified in Christ. So
we know the only way a sinner can be justified is by the faith
of Christ. He says that twice in this verse,
by the faith of Christ. And he'll say it another verse
later, we're saved, justified by the faith of Christ. Now,
he also says faith in Christ. We're justified by faith in Christ. We must. believe in Christ. There's no salvation if you don't
believe in Christ. But we're also justified by the
faith of Christ, by the faithfulness of Christ to keep the law for
us. He was faithful to fulfill the
law for his people as their substitute. So I'm not justified by anything
that I've done, not one thing. I'm justified by what Christ
did for me. as my substitute, as my representative. I'm justified by the faith of
Christ who is faithful to his Father to fulfill every jot and
every tittle of the law. Now, salvation requires both
the faith of Christ and faith in Christ. Christ must do all
the work for us and we must believe on Him. We're justified. in the court of heaven. We're
justified before the Father by the faith of Christ. What he
did for us is our representative. I'm justified in Christ, in his
obedience that he worked out for me. And we're justified in
the court of our own conscience by faith in Christ. My conscience
is clear. Now that seems like an odd thing
to say when you and I both know everything I do is sin. How can
your conscience be clear? Because I believe in Christ.
My conscience is clear because I believe the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ paid for every one of my sins. Even though all I
do sin, my conscience is clear because my sins put away in Christ
and I made obedience in Him. My conscience could never be
clear if I had to keep any part of the law to be saved because
I fail. Every believer knows this. Without
exception, I don't care where you find them, every believer
knows, by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
We know that for three reasons. Look at Romans chapter 3. We
know this. No flesh will be justified by
the works of the law, by the word of God. God's word is very
plain on this. Romans 3 verse 19. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, this saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. We know this from the word of
God. The only thing the law is going to do is reveal our sin. We can't be justified by it.
We know that from the word of God. Secondly, we know this from
the gospel of Christ. The gospel teaches us that we
are complete in him, in Christ. We're complete in what he did
for us as our substitute. We know that from the gospel.
We're not justified by the deeds of the law, but in Christ. The
gospel declares that. And thirdly, every believer knows
we're not justified by the works of the law from our own experience. Every believer knows that. Romans
7 tells us all about that. What I would do, I don't do.
What I love, that's what I don't do. What I hate, that's what
I do. Every believer completely understands,
we know from experience, I can't be justified by my works because
everything I do is sinful. Salvation, justification, cannot
come by the law and grace. It can't come from a mixture
of the two because law and grace are opposed to one another. So
if my actions say that I have to keep the law in order to be
justified, then why do I believe Christ? If my actions say I've
got to keep the law, I've got to do some things here legally
in order to be saved, then why bother preaching Christ? Why
bother believing him? This is what makes Paul so upset
with Peter. Peter's actions make those Gentiles
think, Peter thinks he's got to keep the law. He's got to
follow these ceremonies. Well, I must too. I must have
to do that too. And their conscience will always
bother them. Their conscience will always convict them and
rob them of their peace and joy in Christ if they think, based
on Peter's example, I've got to keep the law. Christ is not
nut. Their conscience will always
bother them. They'll never have any peace. Peter's actions took
away the peace, the comfort of the hearts of his brethren. More
importantly, Peter's actions took away all the glory of the
death of Christ. And Paul said, no, we can't stand
for that. We cannot stand for it. Look at verse 17. But if
while we seek to be justified by Christ, We ourselves also
are found sinners. Is therefore Christ the minister
of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things
which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. Now our actions
must match our message. If we preach that we are justified
by Christ, by faith in Christ and by the faith of Christ, we
are justified by what Christ accomplished for us, as our His
perfect life as a man, as our representative. But then our
actions show, I don't rest in Christ. But I think I've got
to do some things in order to be justified. God requires something
else of me other than Christ. Then we make ourselves guilty.
We make ourselves guilty because if I've got to keep any part
of the law, if I've got to do something to please God, instead
of being justified by Christ alone, then I'm going to be guilty. I'm just going to be guilty.
Because everything I do is sinful. I can't do anything. I can't
keep the law. Not even for a second. If justification is not all in
Christ, then we're all guilty. Every one of us. We're wasting
our time preaching the gospel and we're wasting our time believing
the gospel. If justification is not completely
in Christ alone. In other words, if I preach,
Sinners are justified by the faith of Christ. And they're
justified by faith in Christ. It all has to do with Christ.
But then, I say, now, you all who cut your grass on Sunday,
you're not as holy and righteous and good and accepted by God
as people who don't cut their grass on Sunday. Then I've made salvation conditioned
on whether I cut my grass on Sunday, not on Christ. That makes
Christ the minister of condemnation and the minister of death, not
the minister of justification in life. Well, Frank, it sounds
like you're saying the law is out the window. What about the
law? Isn't the law the believer's rule of life? No, no, no, no,
no. The law is out the window. You
thought, Frank, you're saying the law is out the window. That's
exactly what I'm saying. The law is thrown out the window.
We're dead to the law. Every believer is dead to the
law. And we're dead to the law, through
the law itself. Look at verse 19. For I, through
the law, through Christ keeping the law for me, through the law,
I'm dead to the law, that I might live unto God. Now, when we say
a person's dead to the law, we mean that the law has no effect
on them. They're dead to it. The law has
nothing to do with them. Just like the laws of men have
nothing to do with the dead corpse, nothing. I'm dead to the law
through the faith of Christ, by what Christ accomplished for
me as my substitute. He kept the law for me as my
substitute. The law is fulfilled. I'm dead
to the law. Since Christ kept the law for
me, I'm under no obligation to the law. I don't have to keep
the law to save me or to justify me or to keep me sanctified.
It's not that I want to break the law, because I don't. God's
law is good and holy. I want to keep the law. But I'm
dead to the law. Even though I don't want to live
a life of sin or an immoral life, I am dead to the law. I'm dead to the law, but alive
to God. A believer lives under God. We
live under His royal law of love. And living under the royal law
of love That covers all the other law. That covers all this other
stuff, but the motive is very, very different in it. It's a
motive of love and thanksgiving, not of trying to earn something. That's all the difference in
the world. And here's why I'm dead to the law. Look at verse
20. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. 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 loves me
and gave himself for me. I'm dead with Christ. When Christ
died for me, I died in Him. Christ, when He was crucified,
He died the death that I deserve. When He was crucified, I was
crucified in Him. He is my representative. So the
law has no more demands on me. The law has absolutely nothing
to do with me if I'm crucified with Christ. Because Christ met
every demand of the law. He obeyed the law perfectly.
And the law says the soul that sinneth must die. Christ was made to sin for me.
And he suffered and he died for me. He died. The law says soul
sin must die. Christ died for me. The law is
satisfied. Completely satisfied. The law
does not demand that I die if Christ died for me. Just like
the law doesn't demand that I obey the law, Christ obeyed it for
me. I'm dead to the law. Even man's law does that. A murderer,
he's condemned to death row. Twenty years later, after all
of his appeals run out, he's put to death. The law's satisfied. The law doesn't keep that dead
corpse in prison anymore. The law doesn't punish him and
beat him and whip him and do all these things to him. Well,
why not? He murdered those people because
the penalty has been paid and the law is satisfied. When Christ
died, every believer died in him. The law is satisfied. The law does not require anything
else of you because Christ fulfilled it all. And that salvation in
Christ is a just salvation. It's through the law, not by
bypassing the law, not by ignoring the law, but through the law.
Through Christ keeping the law perfectly and Christ satisfying
every demand of the law for his people. That's a just salvation
that's through the law that can never be lost. Now I'm dead with
Christ. Yet here I stand. I live. Yet I live. Because Christ died
for me, I have spiritual life. I live. But it's not me that
lives. It's Christ that lives in me.
Paul calls that new man Christ in me. Christ lives in me. That's
the hope of glory. He calls that new man Christ
living in me because that new man is born in the image of Christ,
just like Christ. I'm dead with Christ, yet I live.
I live because Christ died for me and he gave me his life. The
spiritual life that I live in, that I have by faith, is by the
faith of Christ. And I live spiritually by looking
to Christ. You call me alive because you
see living, breathing flesh. I say I'm alive because I live
by the faith of Christ, by the obedience of Christ. I live because
He loved me and gave Himself for me. He gave me the life that
He earned. Yet, when I sin, hell, it's me
that sins. It's me. When I sin, I really
sin. That's really me. Everything
I am in Adam, I really am. It's not Adam's fault. It's my
fault. I really am. I'm the dead, depraved sinner. Everything I am in Adam, I really
am. Yet when I believe, that's really
me. That is really me. Because everything
I am in Christ, I really am. By His grace, I really am everything
I am in Christ. I'm perfect. I'm holy. I'm righteous. I have life. That sounds confusing, doesn't
it? Is Paul some sort of schizophrenic? No. No, he's not. Read Romans
7 this afternoon. Someone who reads that chapter
is not born again. They could think, what? It sounds
like Paul's saying we've got a split personality. Someone
who's been born again knows exactly what Paul's saying. They understand. That's those two natures. The
one that loves God. Oh, I love him. I love his word. I love his law. I love him. But
what I would do, I can't. Because of this wretched old
man that I'm tied to. That's really me. That's the
two natures in one man. Now look at verse 21. Paul says,
I don't frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. I don't deny the grace
of God. I don't compromise the grace
of God. Salvation is either all of grace or all of works. It's
one or the other. They can't mix. It can't be both. And this is how serious this
matter is. This is why Paul had to extend
Peter to the faith publicly. If salvation is by some mix of
my obedience and Christ's obedience, some mix of my obedience and
the death of Christ, then Christ died in vain. Why would Christ
have to die if I've got to keep the law anyway? I mean, if I've
got to keep the law anyway, I'll just save myself. There's no
need for the death of Christ. He died in vain. If salvation
is by the death of Christ and my works, then the death of Christ
is vain. If you don't have any good works
to add, I'm going to die anyway. I'm going to be condemned anyway
if salvation is conditioned on the death of Christ and my obedience.
If that's the case, Christ died in vain. He didn't save me. His
salvation is dependent upon me. God forbid that we think that. God forbid that we say that.
God forbid we say that by our actions, by our example, that
Christ died in vain. That takes all the glory of Christ
away and makes God. Not the God of love, who in wisdom
and justice showed mercy and grace to his people, that makes
God a monster who killed his son when it wasn't necessary. That truth is more important
than keeping the peace. It's the truth of Christ. But
what peace that gives. What peace it gives the hearts
of God's people that we're justified by the faith of Christ, not by
anything we did. All right. Well, the Lord bless
that too.