I'd like to draw your attention
please to Galatians and chapter 2. The passage we'll read from
verse 16. Galatians 2 reading from verse
16 as follows. 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. 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. For I, through
the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 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. And I want to draw your attention
in particular to verse 19. For I, through the law, am dead
to the law, that I might live unto God. For I, through the
law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. In the epistle to the Galatians,
Paul writes to these Gentile churches in Galatia to defend
the truth of the gospel to defend the truth of the gospel of the
grace of God, the one true gospel, and to defend it from an error
which some had sought to introduce into these churches, a deviation
from that gospel, a gospel which Paul describes as another gospel,
which is not another. For any deviation from the gospel,
the gospel of grace, is a corruption of that gospel, which renders
it void. If you add anything to grace,
add works to grace, as Paul says in Romans, it becomes no more
grace, it becomes works. It's either entirely of works
or entirely of grace. And the gospel, the gospel which
Paul preached, the gospel which Paul preached to the Gentiles,
was entirely of grace. summarizes this briefly as it
were in chapter 1 and verses 3 and 4 when he writes to the
churches, grace be to you and peace from God the Father and
from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that
he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father. That in sum is the gospel It's
what Christ did at the will of his God and Father in coming
into this world to give himself for our sins that he might deliver
us from this present evil world. It is all of the grace of God. The gospel is that which declares
that man is dead in sin dead, lost, captive, condemned. Condemned under the law of God
which exposes his sin and brings him in before God as a guilty
sinner. In times of old, God gave unto
the children of Israel a law. He gave it by the mediatorship
of angels and through his servant Moses. Moses came down from the
mountain with two tablets. inscribed upon which were 10
commandments, sent to prove God's people, the Israelites, as being
guilty before him. Thou shalt love the Lord God
with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. None have ever kept such a law. None were ever expected to keep
such a law. For that law was simply given
to prove to man, blind man, proud man, arrogant man, man that thought
he was good. The law was given to prove to
those that think they're good, that they're not good. To prove
to those that think that they are innocent, that they are guilty. To prove to those that think
that they are righteous, that they are sinners under condemnation
against whom the wrath of God burns. Accept that wrath be answered. But the gospel which Paul preached,
the gospel did not simply begin with the declaration to mankind
that he is guilty, that he is condemned under the law of God,
but it went on to declare the wonderful grace of God. the wonderful
grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ, that Christ came
for those who are guilty, he came for those who are lost,
he came for those who are condemned under the law, that he might
deliver them from the law's condemnation, that he might deliver them from
the penalty, that he might deliver them from the wrath of God. Jesus
Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver
us from this present evil world. Yes, the Gospel declares that
man is dead in sin, but the Gospel of Grace declares that God, in
mercy, in love, in grace, has redeemed the people from the
condemnation of their sin. He's redeemed them from the captivity
of their fallen flesh, from the curse of the law, and from the
grip of death. The gospel declares that God
saves a people entirely by grace, entirely by what He has done,
entirely by sending His Son to die in their place. The gospel
declares that Christ gave himself for the sins of his own, that
he might deliver them from this present evil world. The gospel
declares the grace of God. That grace by which God has saved
the people through faith when they're brought to believe on
him. That faith itself being the gift of God, not something
that man has by nature, not something that man can turn to act in the
way in which he desires, but something which man has none
of. Man dead in sin, dead in trespasses and sins, is blind. He's blind to God, he's blind
to the things of God, he's blind to this gospel. But when God
preaches this gospel under his own, he not only brings the message
of the gospel, but when he quickens a dead sinner unto life, he gives
that sinner life and he gives that sinner faith to hear and
hear him to believe and believe him to pass from death into everlasting
life. The gospel is of grace, of grace
from start to finish. All of grace, free grace. undeserved, unmerited, the gift
of God. And anything which teaches any
other thing, any claim to be a gospel, which deviates from
this teaching of grace, any gospel which teaches anything of man,
any part of man in that salvation, anything which teaches that man
has a part to play, that anything of his effort or will or decision
has some part to play in his salvation. any gospel, any message
which declares that man must do something, that though Christ
has done all this, that man must then add in this extra work,
he must take the final step, he must make the decision, he
must add the final link in the chain. Anything which adds anything
of man to the work of Christ in the gospel, whether to be
brought to faith or whether it is performed after faith. Any
such message is another gospel, another gospel. And Paul says
of these at Galatia, who had begun to listen to another message,
another gospel. These whom he knew had heard
the truth, he says unto them, I marvel that ye are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some
that trouble you and will pervert the gospel of Christ. There were
those who had entered into Galatia who were persuading the Galatian
Gentile believers that though Christ had died for them, that
though Christ had washed their sins away, that though their
salvation was of God, that nevertheless they were to do something themselves,
nevertheless they should still be living according to the law
of God which God gave by the hand of Moses. Nevertheless they
should still be attentive to what they would call what man
today calls the moral law. They must still attempt to keep
the ten commandments. Yes they have Christ but Christ
is not enough. They must walk accordingly. They
must put their hand to it. They must put their strength
into this. They must live right. They must live godly. They must
live holy. And Paul hearing of this teaching
which had come in amongst these believers, calls it another gospel,
one that sounded like the true gospel, one very like it, but
subtly, slightly, oh so slightly different, a deceptive deviation,
oh so slight, Oh so gentle, such a slight, hardly perceptible,
such a slight deviation from the truth, from Christ and from
his grace alone. It was subtle, the Galatians
wouldn't have accepted a blatant error. These were those who had
heard the preaching of Paul, they'd heard the gospel come
in power, These were true believers in these churches and yet a deception
had come in which was so subtle it sounded right. Judaizers came
in amongst these Gentile believers and said oh yes everything Paul
has taught you is true but obviously God hasn't changed. And you know
for many generations he gave a law. And we've had to keep
that law for many generations. That doesn't just get overturned
in a moment. You should still be keeping the
law. And they sounded very scriptural and very right. And these Galatians
did not want to be sinners. They did not want to be living
a life of sin. And the law declared what was
sinful. And it seemed right that they
should flee from sin and that the law should be a means of
helping them to flee from sin. So they took on board what these
Judaizers taught. Because it seemed so right. But
Paul writes in response his strongest of epistles in response to this
damning error which had come in at Galatia. For though it
sounded true, and so it sounded right, he described it as another
gospel, which is not another. He described these as those that
would trouble the believers, who would pervert the gospel
of Christ. And he has this to say of them,
and any who would preach such a deviation from the truth. But
though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
he have received, let him be accursed. Now could Paul say
this any plainer? Could he use any stronger terms
to describe his opposition to this error which had come in?
His regard of those who would preach such a deviation from
the truth is that they should be accursed. This is no minor
error, to deviate from grace, to return to the law, to mix
work with grace. is another gospel of which Paul
says, let those that teach it be accursed. You see the Jews, the Judaizers
who came in to the Galatians, these people who had been brought
up under the law, brought up under the old covenant teaching,
These who would come to her of Christ in the gospel. These just
couldn't understand how Christ's death could have delivered us
entirely from the law. They were so entrenched in the
law, in the rituals of the law, in the teaching of the law. They
could not contemplate how the Gospel, how faith in Christ,
how the grace of God could deliver us so entirely from the law and
its rule. Yet the Gospel plainly teaches
and Paul plainly taught that yes it had. Yes it had. Today there are many who are
just like these. They read the scriptures, they
see the law. It sounds right, they read the gospel. And they
cannot see that the two cannot walk hand in hand. They want
to believe in Christ, but they want to walk by the law. Surely
we're to walk righteously. Yes, indeed we are. Surely we're
to flee from sin. Yes, indeed we are. Well, does
not the law teach us sin? Yes, indeed it does. then is
it not an aid for us to walk righteously? No, it is not. No, it is not. And there's the
point. You may say, well, why not? It
tells me what sin is. Yes, but it gives you no strength
to free from sin. And in telling you what sin is,
it inflames the flesh which you still have. And it causes you
to sin all the more. Though it tells you to flee from
sin, the more you seek to flee from sin under its rule, the
more you sin and the more you're condemned. Paul brings this out very clearly
in Romans 7. Another passage in which he teaches
the believers deliverance from the law. He tells us plainly
there that we are no longer bound to our old husband, the law,
but we have died to our old husband. He likens the law to a husband
and we've died to our old husband and we are now married to Christ.
We're risen from the dead and married to another. As a consequence,
he said, Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the
Lord by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring
forth fruit unto God. That we should bring forth fruit
unto God. Why have we become dead to the
law by the body of Christ? Why are we married to another
for this end that we should bring forth fruit unto God? Then what
does that tell you? It tells you that unless you
are delivered from the law, unless you are become dead to the law
by the body of Christ, you will not bring forth fruit unto God. You will not. You may take the
law and all its righteous and good and holy commands, but you
will not attain to them and you will not bring forth fruit under
God no matter how you try and no matter how much you may seek
to mix Christ and his gospel with the instruction of the law,
the end result will be death, the end result will be sin by
which death is brought in and condemnation. to bring forth
fruit unto God, you must become dead to the law by the body of
Christ. As Paul goes on, for when we
were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law
did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. The law
caused us to sin. Though the law is good, our flesh
in combination with the law brought forth sin, brought forth fruit
unto death, not fruit unto God. But now, Paul goes on, now praise
God by His grace in Christ, for those who are in Christ, for
those who have faith in Christ, those for whom Christ died, but
now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein
we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and
not in the oldness of the letter. We're no longer under the Law.
We're no longer under the oldness of the letter of the Law. We're
alive in the Spirit, in the Gospel unto God. What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? God forbid! Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the Law. For I had not known lust, except
the Law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taken occasion
by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence,
for without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without
the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Before the law is brought to
bear on the conscience of a man, he thinks he's okay, he thinks
he's alive. when God by his spirit brings
the law to bear upon your conscience you will be condemned by it.
Have you had the law brought to bear on your conscience? Has
the commandment come to you Has there been a day when you coveted
and the sound of the law came into your conscience and said
thou shalt not covet? When you killed in your heart
and it said thou shalt not kill? When you lusted after something
and it said thou shalt not commit adultery? Has it come and has
it condemned you? For there came this time in Paul's
life when the commandment came, and when it came, far from subduing
sin in his heart, it inflamed it, sin flourished under the
commandment, sin rebelled against it, for that's what sin does,
that's what your fallen broken nature does. When somebody comes
to you and says thou shalt not covet, don't do this, do this,
you do the opposite, don't you? Your heart rages against it and
you run the opposite way. When the parent says to his child,
don't do that, the child tries to do it every which way he can. He tries to find a way of getting
to do what he wants, he will not be told. And our corrupt
sinful natures will not be told. When the commandment comes, sin
revives. and we die. As Paul says, I was
alive without the law but when the commandment came, sin revived
and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin taking
occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it slew me. Wherefore,
the law itself is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and
good. There's no fault whatsoever in
the law itself. God gave it. What it says is
true. but bring it to bear upon a man
who still has a fallen nature. As we all do, believer or unbeliever,
we still have the flesh. Bring it to bear on one who has
the flesh and the sin in that flesh revives and it slays us. Sin, taken occasion by the commandment,
deceives and slays. Yes, the law is holy, the commandment
holy and just and good. Was then that which is good made
deaf unto me? God forbid! But sin, that it
might appear sin, work in deaf in me by that which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. That which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If
I then do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that
it is good. Now then, it is no more I that
do it. but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. That's what Paul has to say about
the law in Romans 7. It inflames sin. And the Judaizers
had yet to come to see that. And many today have yet to come
to see that. But when the law is applied by
the Spirit as it was at one time to Paul to Saul, one who was
a Pharisee, one who for many years had thought that he kept
the law perfectly. But when the Lord brought that
law to bear upon his heart and conscience, he found that it
just inflamed the sin of his heart and it slew him and it
condemned him. And what Paul discovered in the
gospel was not something that said you're forgiven but now
carry on with your law and do your best to keep it. But he
found in the gospel the wonderful message, the wonderful truth
that Christ having died in his place had delivered him from
the law. that he was dead to the law by
the body of Christ. Now we are delivered from the
law that being dead wherein we were held. His old man, his old
nature, the old soul was slain. And Paul rose again from the
dead in Christ, he rose again alive, a new man, a new man of
grace, the other side of death, outside of the reach of sin,
outside of the reach of the law. The flesh was slain and crucified
in Christ, and the law had no more to say to it, for Paul was
the other side of death in Christ. He'd risen again, and he was
dead to the law. So when at Galatia he hears of
these who would preach any other message, he rails against them
for he knew by experience the power of the gospel and he knew
the totality of the gospel. that the Gospel had delivered
him entirely from the old man, entirely from the realm in which
the law's jurisdiction acted. The law was for man in the flesh
in this world. But Paul in Christ stood the
other side of death. Paul in Christ stood in the heavens. Paul in Christ was alive in glory
in Christ at the right hand of the Father. He reckons himself
to be dead to the flesh. He reckons himself to be dead
to this world. He is crucified and delivered
from this present evil world. He is alive in glory. So what
is the law to say to such a one? Nothing! It doesn't reach into
the glory, it doesn't reach to the heavenly heights. The law's
not given for a righteous man in glory as it says in 1 Timothy. The law's given for the unrighteous. It's unlawful to bring the law
upon a righteous man. It's given to condemn the wicked.
And it condemned Saul as he was. It condemned him and it slew
him. And he was crucified in Christ
at the cross. But now having been crucified,
Saul, renamed Paul, had risen again in Christ, alive, the other
side of death, alive in the heavens, outside of the reach of the law.
dead to the law, I through the law am dead to the law, that
I might live unto God. Yes Paul in this epistle shows
that the gospel is all of God, all of God, anything else is
another gospel, the gospel is all of grace, He shows how he
was taught it of God. He received it not of man, but
of God. He received it by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Once, as a Jew, as a Pharisee,
he had persecuted the Church of God. He'd opposed this Lord
Jesus Christ. He'd opposed Christ when he heard
of him. And he'd opposed the message
of Christ. And he sought to condemn and
to persecute the followers of Christ. But there came a time
when God in mercy came unto Saul and delivered him from his waywardness,
delivered him from his delusion, delivered him from his blindness.
Despite his religion, he was blind. He knew nothing of the
truth. But there came a time on the
Damascus road, when he journeyed to Damascus, when a light shone
about him all from heaven. It shone down from heaven all
around him. And he heard the voice of Christ
from above crying out, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? he was brought to see who Christ
was and he was brought to see what he was as a condemned sinner
under the law of God. and he was brought to see at
the last what he was in Christ, as one who was washed clean by
the blood of Christ, as one who had been slain at the cross,
crucified with Christ when Christ was crucified, as one who had
risen with Christ on the third day, as one who was alive in
Christ in glory. I am crucified with Christ, he
writes, 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. But righteousness did not come
by the law, and Christ is not dead in vain. For Christ's death
for Paul delivered Paul from the corruption of his flesh,
from his sins, and from the condemnation and reach of the law. Christ
gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this
present evil world. Paul was taught this gospel by
revelation, not by man, and he stood in that gospel which God
had taught him. And when other men came unto
him with another message, he was not persuaded because of
who they were. It didn't matter who came to
him, if he knew that what they said differed from this, if he
knew that what they said was not according to grace entirely,
if he could see that what they were bringing in had works in
it, had the law in it, had the will or works or decision of
man in it, if he knew that that was not grace, it didn't matter
who came to him teaching it, he'd stand fast. for his strength
was not found in man. His firmness, his faith did not
stand in his upbringing, in his teaching, in his wisdom, in his
learning. He was not taught this at college. His faith did not stand in following
this great teacher or this great professor. His faith stood in
Christ and Christ alone. Christ had taught him these things. Christ had taught him this gospel.
So when the other apostles, when Peter came to him and he could
detect that Peter, who had the influence of Judaism still upon
him, when he could detect that Peter, though an apostle, though
one who knew Christ personally, when he knew that Peter was to
be blamed, he withstood him to the face and showed Peter where
he erred. And here in chapter two he gives
this account where he stood up to Peter and he defends this
gospel, this gospel of grace. And he defends it on the grounds
that we are dead to the law, through the law, that we might
live unto God, that we are crucified with Christ. Nevertheless we
live, yet not us, but Christ lives in us. the life which we
now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved us and gave himself for us. The gospel you see makes
a clean break from the past. A clean break, it's about the
cross. Paul's focus in Galatians is
entirely on the cross and on the crucifixion of the old man
in Adam at the cross. He makes no mention of the blood
in Galatians. This is intentional, this is
not specifically about the forgiveness of our sins by the blood of Christ. The focus in Galatians is upon
the old man, our sinful nature itself, as it is, as it is corrupt
in our flesh, the crucifixion of our flesh, our old man in
Christ. It's utter slaying and destruction
in Christ. The focus is upon the cross where
the old man was nailed and where the flesh, the body was taken
away. We are delivered from the law
by the body of Christ. When Christ was nailed to the
tree, his people were, as it were, in a spiritual transaction. They were spiritually nailed
to the tree with him. When Christ was crucified, Paul
said, I am crucified with Christ. When Christ was nailed to the
tree, Saul was nailed to the tree. When Christ was nailed
to the tree, all Christ's people, as they are in Adam, in the flesh,
were nailed to the tree with him. And being nailed to the
tree with him and in him, he was made what they are in Adam. He was made sin. That is why
Christ was made sin. Not because of what he was in
himself, for he was perfect, he was righteous, he knew no
sin. But when Paul was crucified with
Christ, when all God's people were united to Christ at the
cross, being united to him in the flesh, he became what they
are, their sin. And when God looked down from
heaven upon him, he slew him. He destroyed the old man of sin
in Christ. He destroyed the old man. He
took it out of sight. That old man could not be forgiven. It could not be washed. The old
nature cannot be washed. There is the blood which washes
us from our sins, but the blood cannot wash the old nature. The old nature must be slain
and done away with. And Paul was crucified. Saul
was crucified. He was taken out of sight. Never to be seen again. And when
he rose in Christ on the third day, nothing of Saul rose, it
was Paul that rose. His old man was done away with. That which rose was that which
was in Christ from all eternity. Paul, chosen in Christ unto everlasting
salvation. He rose, but his old man in Adam
was gone. Yes the gospel makes a clean
break, it's the slaying of the old man, it's about crossing
the river of death, of crucifying the flesh and rising again in
the spirit. The gospel is heavenly not earthly
and those who are delivered by Christ are as it were dead men
here. There's just a carcass lying
on the ground in this earth. But we're alive, the other side
of death, alive in glory in Christ. We're crucified unto the world
and the world is crucified unto us. We are, as it were, no longer
here. And it is in this light and upon
this ground that Paul writes in this epistle. He vigorously
defends the liberty, the freedom of the believer. Because the
believer is no longer in the flesh. There's no longer sin
in the believer in that sense. The flesh is reckoned dead. He's
free, he's alive in Christ. He lives that he might bring
forth fruit under God. I through the law am dead to
the law that I might live unto God. Yes he defends the liberty
of the believer he says in chapter 5 verse 1 stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ have made us free and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Stand fast you're
free Now this is not freedom to sin. This is the trouble,
people hear these things and they rail against it and they
think, if you take away the law, if you take away the law, you're
going to have people that will sin. But no, their old nature,
which would cause them to sin, has been slain. and that in which
they live, that by which they live, is by the faith of Christ
who lives in them. And Christ does not sin, Christ
is righteous and perfect. And his spirit does not cause
to sin, his spirit causes to live right. And their life, that
they live now in the flesh, they live by the faith of the Son
of God. Their old man is slain. Their freedom, their liberty
is not in the old man, is not in the old nature, but in the
new. They have freedom from all that
bound them, all that caused them to sin, freedom from the corruption
of sin in their own fallen nature, freedom from the flesh, freedom
from the strength of sin, the law, freedom from the condemnation
of sin under the law. They're free, they're free, they
have liberty in Christ, they're alive in Christ. and their freedom
is freedom from the cause of sin, from that law which would
stir up the sin in their flesh and cause them to fall, being
delivered from the law, through the law, being dead to the law,
no longer under the law, now and only now they can live unto
God. For it is only in this freedom
as delivered from the law and as delivered from the sin in
the flesh that a believer can live unto God. There's no other
way to live unto God, no other way to bring forth fruit unto
God. You bring the law back upon a believer and you'll see him
fall and stumble in an instant and bring condemnation on his
head and a guilty heart and conscience. There's no fruit there except
fruit unto death. when a believer knows in his
heart and soul and conscience as Paul did, that he is through
the Lord dead to the law, he lives unto God. He can cry out,
I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ
live within me. I know it, I'm free, I'm alive. Oh the preciousness of the gospel
that brings such freedom and how vigorously Paul defends it.
And here in the course of his argument against this specious
error, he declares plainly in this verse as we've seen in chapter
2, It's the law that crucified him unto the law. It's the law
itself which delivered him from its grip. It condemned us as sinners and
it pronounces our execution and in Christ it slew all God's people,
never to be condemned again. That law's condemnation rang
out against the guilty people. But it was brought down, not
upon them, but upon their Saviour, upon their Substitute, upon the
One who loved them and gave Himself for them. It rained down its
execution, its penalty against Christ. God took that law. He read its record against His
people. He found them guilty. And His
wrath burned against their guilt and their sin. and that wrath
burned down upon Christ who stood in their place at the cross and
it consumed the sacrifice utterly and Christ died and all who are
Christ's died in him. Paul was crucified with Christ,
the law, through the law, the law crucified him and crucifying
him, dying The law brought forth its final penalty. It had no
more to say unto him, for now he was a dead man. A dead man. Saul is no more. He's slain. But Paul lives again in Christ. Jacob is no more. That supplanter,
that deceiver, he's crucified. And Israel reigns in Christ. I through the law am dead to
the law, I'm crucified to this end, to this end that I might
live unto God. Paul has an end in view, he defends
our deliverance from the law in any sense. for justification
or sanctification, as a means to be saved or as a rule to live
by. He defends our deliverance from
it vigorously. Why? That we might live unto
God. He doesn't just defend it in
an abstract sense, it's for that cause. Because there's no other
life, there's no other way to bring forth fruit under God.
But in Christ, dead to the law. Yes, life is the other side of
the grave. It's beyond the grip of the law.
It's in Christ in the glory. And the law has no more to say
to one who is the other side of death. It looks upon the corpse
and it cannot condemn him again. And as far as the believer is
concerned, all the law can see is our dead corpse in Adam. That
corpse nailed to a tree and taken out of the way. We're in Christ,
we're alive, we're another man in the heavens. And if we believe
on him, if we have faith in him, we're alive in him, dead to the
law. And how did we get there? By
grace. entirely by grace as Paul says,
I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness comes
by the law then Christ is dead in vain. But righteousness comes
by the grace of the Gospel, entirely by grace, entirely by the mercy
and love of God shown in Christ who loved us and gave himself
for us who are in him, entirely by grace that we might live unto
God. It's all of grace that man might
have no means to boast, no means to glory, that all his glory
might be in God as Paul concludes, but God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the world for in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but
a new creature and as many as walk according to this rule peace
beyond them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. I, through the law, am dead to
the law, that I might live under God. Praise his name. Amen.