Galatians chapter 2. And I emphasize try because I
cannot seem to get what I call a preaching outline, so I'm going
to just take the text as I find it in Philippians 2, but I'd
like to read this as like a parallel passage or a background passage
to shed light on what we're going to look at in Galatians chapter
2. Third chapter, Philippians. And I'm planning to read the
first 14 verses. Alright, verse 1, Philippians
3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord to write the same things to you, to me indeed is
not grievous." It doesn't grieve the apostle at all to repeat
himself. But he said, the reason I do
it is, but for you it is safe, better, helpful. I don't know that they've kicked
out repetition as being one of the ways that we learn, but what
the school system does and what the church does really doesn't
have anything to do with each other. They're free to do what
they want to do, and we're free to do what we want to do, and
that ought to be sufficient. Verse 2. Now here's a lesson in the second
verse of Philippians 3. on how to read our Bibles and
understand it. You cannot take everything literally. Some things have spiritual significance
but literally make no sense at all. Beware of dogs. Now is that a literal dog or
is that a typical dog? It is typical. Paul is describing
a certain religious character. He's not worried about a German
shepherd or a rottweiler or a pit bull. Those are not his consideration. You know it. You learn that,
you know, before you get very, very, very far along in years.
Just as a young child, we learn these things. But divine things
have to be taught to us by God, and it is a divine revelation. So the persons he describes,
he compares them to dogs. The second comparison is, beware
of evil workers. Everybody in this religious world
in which we live is not our friend. Some people have ulterior motives. And this was true in religion
as long as it's been true in other things in the history of
man. You don't have to go any further
than the Bible to read of many examples of this. Beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision. the concision. Now these three
phrases describe the same person compared to a dog called an evil worker and then
called the concision has to do with cutting, referring specifically
to the cutting in a male child in circumcision. Do you get the
picture? Paul is warning the Philippians
of Judaizers as they have come to be known. And we'll run head-on
with them in Galatians chapter 2. So try to store these. If you've got a place that they'll
stay, I can't find the right spot. Alright, verse 3. Here's a contrast now. That's
the negative. Here's the positive side. For we, speaking of Paul himself
and of the church at Philippi, and generally speaking, speaking
of all believers, we are the circumcision, we are the truly circumcised, Who are they? And are you one
of the they? When as some of you are women,
circumcision is not even possible with you. Obviously, Paul is speaking here
in spiritual terms. We are the circumcision, number
one, which worships God in the Spirit. That is now the spiritual
worship of God. What goes on in most church houses
this morning is anything but worship. They'll tell you how bad off
God is, how bad He needs you, how much He needs your money
and all, just keep right on naming all the stuff and the stupidity
that has identified itself to the world in which we live as
being Christianity. And the whole mess is explained
in just one simple thing. Where is the Lord Jesus Christ? If he's there at all, he's taken
a back seat to everything else. The last time I was in a church
service, outside of the places that are
similar to this, was in Sampson County in, what is this, 2006. And everything went on in that
place that morning except worship. I had been invited there to preach.
It was their 250th anniversary. And I stepped into the pulpit
at 14 minutes to 12 o'clock. So what did they do with the
other 46? Wasted it. Fawning and pawning over people. The whole thing was a setup to
raise more money, had nothing to do with the glory and honor
of God, which worship God in the Spirit. Secondly, they are
said to rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now let that settle on your mind. Our rejoicing is not in ourselves. It's not in this building. It's
not in a denomination. It is in Christ Jesus. And the two cannot share the
glory. If we give it to men, we steal
it from Christ. And this time is too precious
to misuse it and abuse it. Worship God in the Spirit. rejoice
in Christ Jesus and the natural concomitant, I'm sorry, the natural
sequel is what? Have no confidence in the flesh. Those three things are inseparable.
Now, I'm never going to finish reading if we don't just read.
All right, verse 4. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if you want to talk about confidence, here are
Paul's credentials as a Pharisee in the Jews' religion. If any
other man thinks that he has whereof he might trust in the
flesh, I have more, I more. Circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the
Hebrews, as touching the law a Pharisee, and concerning zeal
persecuting the church, and touching the righteousness which is in
the law blameless." There are seven credentials, and all of
them have become to the apostle nothing but manure. That's what he calls it right
here in this verse, the following verse. But, verse 7, what things
were gained to me? Those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but dung." That's manure, in case you don't know,
that I may win Christ. Religion without Christ, I don't care how much it's dressed
up or covered up, it's nothing more than manure. And I used to be in love with
that manure, and some of you did as well. Verse 9, and be found in him,
be found in Christ. Here's everything in this statement. Here's what it all comes down
to. Be found in Christ. If we're in Christ, this next
thing cannot be set aside. Not having my own righteousness."
Well, how can that be? To be in Christ is to have Christ's
righteousness. Well, what about my righteousness?
Well, when God turns the light on in the soul, we realize that
our righteousness is nothing more or less than self-righteousness. It's rotten. be found in Christ, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith." Now I cannot leave, I'm going to stop at verse 9,
but I have got to say one or two things here while it's before
us because it has so much bearing on what we're to look at in Galatians
2. not having my own righteousness,
now watch these words, which is of the law. Law righteousness is nothing
more or less than self-righteousness, and self-righteousness more or
less is nothing less than no righteousness at all. And since this subject will be
in Chapter 2 of Galatians, let me ask you a question. Do you
obey the law? Now, I'm not talking about the
state law, and I'm not talking about the federal law. I'm talking
about God's law. And it's a whole lot bigger than
just the Ten Commandments, though none of us are a match for that.
A person who thinks that they keep the Ten Commandments are
sadly mistaken. And many of them are just bald-faced
liars. Some of them actually think they
do. Paul was in that camp, was he
not? Is Romans 7 in your Bible? I dare you to read it. You'll
discover What Paul discovered when God showed him what that
law really said, he said, it killed me. And that's a good
thing. That means God is in the process
of saving you. Praise his name. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Galatians chapter 2. Second chapter
of Galatians. No, I'm not going to read the
whole chapter. I wish I had the time and luxury. Galatians chapter 2. Alright, before we come to our
second reading, may we pray together. Lord, we come before you this
morning confessing myself to be nothing
but sin. But in my blessed Lord Jesus
Christ, I am perfectly holy in your sight. The blood of your Son has completely washed away all
the sins, iniquities and transgressions of your children. And your marvelous grace and
love for your people has provided in our Lord Jesus Christ, in
his sinless and spotless life, a robe of perfect righteousness
worn by every believing sinner. Lord, we have a passage of scripture before us
this morning that is the most needed medicine
there is for the state of affairs that
exist in the world in which we live. Religion is without Christ and therefore
without hope, without peace, without God. Lord, enable us this morning
as we gather in this house to blot out everything out of our
minds except this passage and what it teaches us concerning
ourselves, not somebody else, but concerning me and my need,
my desperate need for my Savior, the Lord Jesus, to make me to know in this very
hour in which we stand that we have a saving interest
in that precious one called the Beloved. Oh, to be accepted in Christ the
Beloved. Lord, we beg that this book that
belongs to you, that you've sent to us, you would make this book to become
alive in our souls this exact time today. That our time together
in this passage might be profitable eternally regarding our souls. You must make this word to live
and you must make us to live by the power of this word, both
written and living in our Lord Jesus Christ. We beg your mercy
upon us. Help us for Christ's sake. Amen. Alright, let's begin in Galatians
chapter 2 at verse 11. Now the same issue that Paul
was addressing in Philippians 3 in the second and third verses
when he said, beware of dogs and beware of the concision.
And then he described the believer in those unforgettable words
that worships God in the Spirit rejoices in Christ Jesus and
has no confidence in the flesh. Here is the very same issue now
that is carried over. That was to the Philippian congregation
in a city called Philippi. And this letter called Galatians
in our Bibles is addressed to more than one congregation. Nobody
seems to know exactly how many there were. in cities that were
scattered throughout this region, somewhere in Asia Minor, as it
was once called, and I couldn't tell you what it's called today.
But it's in the southern part of Asia and north, considerably
north of Jerusalem. Give you some idea of where it
was, though that has no bearing on what it says and what it means
to us. Paul is writing this letter.
call Galatians to these congregations because of one single problem
and issue. The same persons to whom Paul
referred to in Philippians 3, he now finds he must refer to
in this letter to the churches of Galatia. It is to that group
of persons who were called Judaizers These were Jews primarily from
Jerusalem who had taken up a profession of faith in Christ. But they
cannot let go their former religion. And so they blend the two together,
telling persons that they could get to listen to them for a little
while, telling people that they must do two things. You must
believe and trust Jesus Christ, but you must also obey Moses. You must keep the law, both ceremonial
as well as moral. And that was the problem in Galatia. And in case, I hope you know
this already, that is exactly the problem in our day. We have added to who Christ is
and what Christ has done what people must do for themselves. Now how much of salvation belongs
to Christ and how much belongs to me? This book teaches without
argument everything you and I touch we poison with sin. Our thoughts, our actions, our
words, our deeds are all infected with the disease called sin. And you mean to tell me that
we're going to gather these things up and unite them to Christ and
between the two of them make a Savior? That is utter and absolute
foolishness. That is impossible. Like that
What was that back in the book of Daniel? Trying to join iron
and clay. They don't mix. Neither does
that mix. So Paul is addressing this subject. And an incident had happened
in a city called Antioch where Paul and Barnabas and some others
preached for some period of time and then the Lord sent Paul and
and Barnabas on a missionary journey where they went to strange
cities and preached the gospel in established churches. And
now he's come back and in the interim he is writing this letter
to the churches of Galatia. And something took place at Antioch
that is also taking place in Galatia. And Paul uses that example
in the illustration. But when Peter, the apostle Peter,
was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was
to be blamed. For before certain came from
James, James being the leading elder of the church in Jerusalem,
before certain people came from Jerusalem and the church in Jerusalem,
Peter ate with the Gentiles. He thought nothing of sitting
down eating the same foods they were eating. But when they were come, professing believers who demand
that the law be added to the gospel, which means you don't
have any gospel left. And Paul cannot let this go.
Peter gets up from eating with the Gentiles and goes across
the fellowship hall and segregates himself with the Judaizers. Not long after that, other Jews
in that congregation did the same thing. And even Barnabas,
who was... Paul and Barnabas were like this
in their missionary endeavors. He gets up and goes and joins
Peter. So Peter withdrew and separated
himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision." Now please
understand, when the gospel comes to town, Jewish religion is dead. There's nothing to it. No life in it whatsoever. And
the same is true of my old religion and your old religion. and the other Jews dissembled. That's a strange word. I looked
it up in the dictionary and you've got to go to another word and
I looked that one up. But it has to do with hypocrisy and
claiming something to be something when it's not. Barnabas also was carried away
with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked
not uprightly, That is, this act of segregating themselves
is contrary to the essential nature of the gospel itself.
If it's simply a person that won't eat meat and someone else
who will, those things are nothing. But this had to do with Jewish
dietary laws in the Old Testament. Peter has already had a vision
in chapter 10 of Acts, when God let that sheep down from heaven
and told Peter, rise, kill, and eat. And Peter said, some of
this food is never past these lips. Do you remember what the
Lord said to Peter? Don't call anything I have made
unclean. And then He subsequently went
and preached the gospel to Cornelius and his household and God blessed
that preaching mightily. So Paul describes it this way
in verse 14 of Galatians chapter 2, but when I saw that they walked
not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, there's
the secret, Nothing is worth fighting over except the truth
of the gospel. Yeah, but these people do this
or they do that. Don't fight over anything except
the truth of the gospel. If it is an essential element
of the gospel itself, defend it with your life. Otherwise,
let it pass. Paul said to Peter before them
all, if you being a Jew live after the manner of Gentiles
and not as do the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live
as the Jews? That's pretty simple, isn't it? Now here's the application. of that event, verse 15 and following. Paul said, we who are Jews by
nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, and by that he means
not sinners in the same way as the Gentiles. Because when you
read Philippians 3 like we did earlier, if Paul is not calling
himself a sinner, I don't know who is. And if you read that
passage in Romans 7, especially the second half of it, you'll
find out what he says about himself. His concluding statement is in
like verse 24 of Romans 7 and he says, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? And the next
word is, I thank God through Christ Jesus my Lord. Verse 16, Galatians 2, knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law. Now do we know that beyond a
shadow of a doubt? Do you know that keeping the
Ten Commandments has nothing to do with being saved? If we had to depend on keeping
one of them, let alone ten, We would all perish. We cannot do
it. The law is spiritual, not just
outward. I know you can behave yourself,
well, most of the time or part of the time outwardly, but not
inwardly. Can you keep yourself from thinking
awful thoughts? If you tell me yes, I don't believe
you. Why don't I believe you? Because
I'm the only example that I really know. And I know I can't. And I believe this book teaches
that none of us can. The Lord Jesus did for sure.
He honored the law of God to the nth degree, dotting every
i and crossing every t. And in doing so, he worked out
a perfect righteousness for his people. which He gives them freely
by His grace. So why would we want to pretend
to do it some other way? Because we will not have Christ. We won't have Him. Not even on a silver platter
we will not have Him. Verse 16, knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the law, well how is he justified,
but by the faith, now carefully look at this, it does not say
in, it says of, of the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified, here it is again, by the faith
of Christ. Of Christ. Now if you're interested,
I'm going to work on that subject tonight, I hope, if I can get
me a nap and get up in time to get things a little bit organized. I have to have a nap on Sunday,
I'm sorry. All right, the last phrase in
verse 16. I know the time's getting away
from us and we're going to stop at the right time, but I want
to get you as far as we can so I won't have so far to go tonight. The last phrase in verse 16. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. This is in God's sight. No justification
by the works of the law. And yet people, millions of them
this very hour, are under the dreadful curse of the law. I call it Avis religion. We try
harder. Have you not ever been there?
Surely you have, you must have. 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, verse 18, for if
I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a
transgressor. Now what does it mean to build
again the things that I destroyed? Let me first use the example
of the Apostle Peter. In Acts chapter 10, God taught
him not to call any human being unclean in God's sight. In other
words, Jews are sinners and Gentiles are sinners and God is holy.
and his salvation is for both Jew as well as Gentile." Well,
Peter must have forgotten that when he was at Antioch that we
just read about earlier back in verse number 12. Paul, after saying those seven
credentials of a Jewish Pharisee, remember them? He said, I count
them but done that I may win Christ. Well, what if Paul goes
back and begins to polish them up a little bit and embrace them
again? What does he mean? He means what
he says here, I make myself a transgressor. I am not truly in Christ or I
could not go back to these things. For what are these things compared
to him? He's God's unspeakable gift. Oh, the unspeakable gift of God
in Christ. One more verse. Verse 19. I want to know if you and I have
experienced this statement Galatians 2.19 for I through the law am
dead to the law let's work on that first I through the law am dead to
the law. Paul actually says, the law killed
me. You remember a certain character
in the gospel accounts. I know he's in Matthew and Luke. I believe in Luke it's chapter
18. But anyway, we've come to know this man as the rich young
ruler. And he came running to the Lord Jesus and fell on his
knees at his feet with one question on his lips, what must I do to
inherit eternal life? And our Lord mentioned a thing
or two. He used the wrong word when he gave
our Lord a title. He said he called him good master.
And our Lord basically said to him, either call me bad master
or good God because God alone is good. That's his first problem,
that's our first problem. We think we're good. We think
we deserve God's salvation in Christ. And he ought to give
it to us because of who we are and what we've done and what
we haven't done. But it turned out, in that interview with the
rich young ruler, the Lord Jesus said, do you know the commandments?
And the rich young ruler said, oh, he says, I've kept these
from the time I was just a tyke. Every last one of them, just
kept them all. Well, the law said do not covet, I think, and
so the Lord put his finger on that one and said to the rich
young ruler, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor
and come and be my disciple. And the man went away sorrowful
because it says he was very rich. Now, I know you and me ain't
got much in this world's goods, but everybody thinks they've
got something about them that is really, really good. And the
news of the gospel is it's all bad. God alone is good. And His mercy and His grace cannot
be deserved or merited by you and me. It must be free grace
and sovereign mercy or no mercy at all. That's simply how it
is. That's how it is. I, through the law, am dead
to the law that I might live unto God. Now, I can't resist
this. If you don't want to turn, you
don't have to, but I'd like, I'm going to go to Romans chapter
7. Let's see, that's the Go through Corinthians twice and then you'll
be in the book of Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. I need to read
for you the first four verses. Romans 7 verse 1. Know you not, brethren, For I
speak to them that know the law." Did you ever have to memorize
the Ten Commandments? I mean, most church buildings
are plastered all over the place. Some people used to put them
in their front yard. Now, you don't put the Ten Commandments
in your front yard unless you think you yourself keep it. How that the law has dominion
over a man, how long? As long as we live in this flesh. Well, that sounds to me like
it's permanent. Well, it's not permanent. And here's how. I'm going to use an illustration
of a woman. And the church in Scripture is called a woman,
the bride, the bride of Christ. For the woman which has a husband
is bound by the law to her husband as long as her husband is alive. But if the husband be dead, she
is loosed from the law of her husband. She's free to marry
or not, whatever she chooses. So then, if while her husband
lives, and she be married to another man, she'll be called
an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another man." Now here's what that means in
gospel terms, as far as our souls are concerned. Verse 4, here's
what Paul said, Wherefore, my brethren, who are they? Well, first of all, it's the
Roman believers to whom the letter to Rome was sent. It's called
the Book of Romans. But it's to all who are in Christ. This letter is addressed. Wherefore, my brethren, you also
are become dead to the law. Well, how did we die to the law?
We're still alive. Here it is. By the body of Christ. Does this book not teach us that
we are in Christ, and whatever Christ does, we are said to have
done in Him? And when He went to the tree,
were not His people included in Himself? Was He not our federal
head, our surety, and our representative? Certainly He was. So when He
died, we died. and the law has no hold over
us anymore. Our law, if you could call it
that, and you hardly can, is Christ Himself. The believer is interested in
pleasing his Savior, and yet he knows every day he lives he
fails miserably. We are become dead to the law
by the body of Christ, that you, believers, should be married
to another, the Lord Jesus, even to him who is raised from the
dead. And if he's raised, his people
are raised in him, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.