And I want to begin reading in
verse 11, Galatians chapter 2, verse 11. But when Peter was
come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was
to be blamed. For before that certain came
from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were
come, he withdrew himself and separated, fearing them which
were of the circumcision, fearing the Jews. And the other Jews
dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was
carried away with his dissimulation. This hypocrisy. 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, and not as do the Jews,
Why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who
are Jews by nature, and not sinners 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. 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
those 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. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me." Now, up until now, in chapter
1 and up until the 11th verse of this second chapter, you and
I have been studying concerning the authority that the Apostle
Paul had as an Apostle. That's what he's been writing
about up until now. That what he knew, he didn't
learn from the other Apostles, or not even from the Old Testament.
What Paul learned, he was taught by revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's why he had the authority
not only to preach the Gospel, but to write it down in these
epistles. And therefore, that's why he cursed every other gospel. And he cursed everybody who preached
any other gospel contrary to the gospel of the grace of Christ.
You found that there in chapter 1. And then here we look last
time in verse 6 of chapter 2 at this tremendous statement that
he makes. And sometimes I think about this
statement and I don't know if there's another statement that
comforts you and me. any more than this simple statement
that he made here in verse 6 of chapter 2. And the reason I say
this is because you and I are common people. We're unschooled,
as Brother Joe Terrell would call us. We're not very educated
people. We're common people, aren't we?
We don't have degrees. None of us read Greek. If I write
a letter, I have to have a dictionary open beside of me to spell the
words I write. We're just common folks. And
sometimes you and I may feel a certain intimidation from what
we call the wise men of this world. And Paul tells us here
something that's very confident in that respect. And that is
this, that you and I have the gospel of Christ. We have it
written down in plain English that we can understand. It's
not complicated. The preaching of the Lord Jesus
is simple preaching. The writing of the apostles are
simple writings. And you and I can go there and
read it, and by the aid of the Holy Spirit, by the grace of
God, we can understand the gospel for ourselves. And we don't have
to be intimidated by the wise men of this world, by the theologians
who contradict the Word of God. And there's what the Apostle
Paul says in that verse 6. He says this, "...but of those
who seem to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter
to me, God accepteth no man's person." And what he's meaning
with that, it doesn't matter if you're a preacher, it doesn't
matter if you're the Pope, it doesn't matter if you're an Apostle.
If you walk contrary to the gospel of the grace of God, then God
will walk contrary to you. It doesn't matter who you are.
Well, I'm somebody. Well, God doesn't accept anybody's
person. He accepts us. He honors us. He is with us as
we're with the gospel of His Son. As we believe and love and
uphold that gospel, God is with us. And it doesn't matter who's
against us. It just doesn't matter. And we
don't have to fear because God does not regard man's person,
but as they regard the gospel of His Son. I always find this
verse very, very comforting. But here in our text, in verse
11, Paul begins to change his subject now. He has been defending
his authority as an apostle, but now he changes subject. He
begins to deal here with justification. How is a sinner justified with
God? But he does this amazing thing.
He doesn't set it forth in doctrine. He doesn't say God is holy and
you're sinners and here's the way we're justified by God. He
sets forth justification by illustration. He sets it forth by something
that took place here at this church of Antioch. The church
of Antioch was a wonderful congregation made up of Jews and Gentiles,
but the Gentiles that was there were uncircumcised people, uncircumcised
Gentile believers. And the whole problem with these
Galatian believers was this. Were they justified by faith
in Christ? Was believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ enough to justify them Or did they have to also add
to that faith the law of Moses? And in this regard, of course,
he's talking about the ceremonial law of Moses. Did they have to
now go back and be circumcised? Did they have to begin to keep
these feast days and Sabbath days and holy days and offer
these sacrifices? Was faith in Christ enough to
justify sinning before God? Or did he have to go back and
begin to observe all of these rituals and these laws and adapt
this rigorous, strict lifestyle of the Jews? And in a word, was a believer required to live
like the Jews and be converted to their lifestyle?
That was the whole problem. Is he justified by faith in Christ
alone? without any obligation to obey
the law of Moses? Paul had already answered this
question in Doctrine, and I want you to hold Galatians 2, and
look over here in Romans chapter 3 right quick. Look at Romans
chapter 3. Is believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ enough to justify sin? Now I'm interested in that, aren't
you? Because I want to be justified with God. I want to be cleared
from all charges. I don't want God to hold anything
against me. David said, if you mark iniquity, there's one thing
about it, ain't no man going to stand. And God sees sins when
we don't see them, you see. And you and I want to be justified. I want to stand before God and
be cleared of all my sins. Not have any condemnation. I
want to be justified. Well, how are we justified? Is
it by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone? Is it going to
take more than that? And that's what Paul is dealing
with, and he does this in Romans chapter 3. Look here in verse
23. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Everybody needs to be justified.
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, through his death, faith in his death,
to declare his righteousness for the remissions of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? If we're justified by believing
in Jesus, how do we boast? It's excluded. By what law? Works? No, if it's of works, we would
boast. But by the law of faith. Therefore,
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law, without the law of Moses. So that's what he taught in doctrine.
Now he's going to give us an illustration of that back here
in our text. And I read to you here this account,
and let me give you just a quick overview of it, beginning there
in verse 11. When Peter had come here to this
church in Antioch, that's where Paul and Barnabas, that was where
they probably had their membership, so to speak. They went out from
this church to do missionary work. And Peter came there to
this congregation and he sat. They had a fellowship dinner
just sort of like we had this morning. And there was a lot
of Gentiles there. They were uncircumcised. And
Peter sat down to eat with those uncircumcised Gentiles. And he
fellowshiped with them. And suddenly he looked out the
window and he saw coming down the road some of those Jews that
lived up at Jerusalem. They went to church up there.
They professed Christ. And Peter saw them coming and
he knew that they were sort of legalistic. And he thought, oh
no, I'm in trouble. If those Jews see me sitting
with these uncircumcised Gentiles and eating with them, eating
this pork, eating this rabbit, eating this camel meat, I'm going
to be in hot water with these guys. So you know what he does?
He got up from where those Gentiles were and went over and separated
himself and sat there with some Jews. And what he was saying
by his actions was this, now you Gentile brothers, I know
you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but that ain't enough. And what he's really saying was,
what I've done, I've come down here and I've back slid. And I fell into eating this meat
with you and fellowshiping with you, and I've been doing contrary
to what the ceremony law would let me do. I shouldn't have been
eating with you. I shouldn't have been eating
this pork. But I'm going to correct my actions, he said. What I'm
going to do is separate myself from you, and I ain't going to
eat any more meat with you. Because the law permits me to
do that. And I'm going over there and eating with the Jews. Now,
if you want to be saved, If you want to be justified, you've
got to leave this meat. And you've got to come over here
and live like me and these other Jews lived. That's what he did. That's what he did. See the hypocrisy
of that? Peter knew better than this.
That's why the Apostle Paul rebuked him there in verse 14. When I
saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the
Gospel. What's the truth of the Gospel?
were justified by faith in Christ. And it's not a sin now for a
Jew to sit down and eat with an uncircumcised believer. It's
not a sin now for a Jew to eat pork or rabbit or camel's meat,
which the ceremonial law forbid him to do. But Peter denied that. But he knew better. God had already
taught Peter better than this. Hold your chapter there again
and look back over here in Acts chapter 10. Look in Acts chapter
10. You remember this very well,
when the Lord instructed Peter to go down to the Gentiles and
preach to them that they might be saved. He let down this sheet,
and he saw all these creeping things on it. And the Lord said,
Peter, rise up and eat. He said, well, Lord, that's unclean.
The ceremony law don't let me eat things like that. The Lord
said, nothing's unclean. Nothing's unclean. If it can
be received with thanksgiving, it's not unclean. And look here
though in verse 28. Here's Peter's whole attitude. And I tell you, he had trouble
getting out of this. Look in Acts chapter 10 verse 28. He
went down to Cornelius' house and he went in and saw this company
of people standing there. And here's what Peter said to
them. He went down to these Gentiles. And he said unto them, You know
how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep
company or to come unto one of another nation. It's not lawful
to do that. He said, the Sermon on the Law,
don't let me do this. I'm sinning by doing this. That's
what he said. But God hath showed me that I
should not call any man common or unclean. And look what he
said here in verse 48, or look what he did after he had preached
to them and that the Holy Spirit had fell upon them. In verse
48, commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord, then
prayed they him to tarry certain days." And he sat there with
those Gentiles, lived with them, ate with them for a number of
days. But look now in chapter 11. Look what happened to him. And
the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the
Gentiles had received the word of God, and when Peter was come
up to Jerusalem, They that were of the circumcision contended
with Him. They met Him out there. Met Him. Got on Him. Wanted to strike
up an argument with Him. Look what it said in verse 3.
It said, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and you ate with
them? Don't you know that's a sin to
do that? And then Peter went ahead and rehearsed it. God showed
him that it wasn't a sin to do that anymore. Well, why did he
come here in Galatians chapter 1 and do it again and teach the
Galatians to do it? Played the hypocrite, didn't
he? Played the hypocrite. He withdrew himself. He separated
himself fearing those which were of the circumcision, the Jews.
Now the first thing I want to do here before we get into some
of this, and it won't take me very long, I want us to see first
of all some practical lessons in this. Here's some good practical
lessons. And the first thing is this,
it don't matter how far we've obtained in this Christian life,
I don't care how high we've risen, we never get so high and so advanced
that we can't fall. He said, Bruce, I've been on
this way 35 years. And you can fall. You can fall. Here was an apostle of the Lord
Jesus Christ. A witness to the resurrection
of the Son of God. And what happened to this man?
He fell and walked not uprightly according to the truth of the
Gospel. Well, we've all got sins. We've
all got sins that bother us. All of us know we've got weak
points. Peter had a weak point. His weak
point was he's afraid of man. There was a little maid one time
that caused Peter to deny the Lord Jesus Christ out of fear. And here he turned right around
and did the same thing again. A man may have advanced a long way,
and yet he's subject to fall. He's subject to fall. And secondly,
here's another practical lesson we can learn. You and I are subject
to fall when we least expect it. And were we least expected? Now, it's not so surprising that
Peter fell, but look where he was when he fell. He was at a
fellowship dinner, surrounded by the saints of God. Who would
have ever dreamed that he fell there? I just wonder when Peter
got out of bed that morning if he even prayed, Lord, keep me
from evil today. Keep me from false. I just wonder
if he thought, well, I'm just going to a fellowship dinner.
What can happen to a man at a fellowship dinner? Old John Bunyan used
to say, before you see any man's face, before you see any man's
face, see the face of God. When you leave your bed in the
morning, before you go off to work and see any man's face,
see the face of God in prayer. I tell you, when we see God's
face, we're not afraid of man's face, are we? But if we don't
walk before God's face, we can be scared to death when we look
upon man's face. I will not fear what man will
do unto me. Why? I know the Lord is my helper.
Well, go in that confidence. Go in that confidence. This one, and this was a good
one here. This is a practical lesson we can learn from this.
Actions can speak louder than words. You think Peter could
have set Barnabas... Barnabas was a wise man. Loved
the Lord. Loved the Lord's people. You
think Peter could have set Barnabas down and said, Barnabas, here's
what I'm going to do. And here's what I want you to do with me.
I'm going to separate myself from these Jews. from these Gentile
believers. I know what I'm teaching when
I do that, but I'm going to do this, and I want you to come
go with me." You'd think Barnabas would have listened to him. You
know what Barnabas would have said? Peter, you're dead wrong.
You ain't going to convince me that what you're about to do
is right. But you know Peter did convince him, and Barnabas
followed him too. And you know how he convinced
him? By his actions. We can teach people and convince
people things by our actions. We can never teach them with
words. And it's so important that what we teach people in
word and from the Word, that we also teach them with our lives.
You know one of the things that's got the world so confused today?
They're hearing one thing from God's Word and they're seeing
another thing from us. And that would confuse you, wouldn't
it? If a parent tells his child, Now, you're just 18 years old,
and I don't want you out here smoking. I don't want to see
you out here smoking. And he sees Dad lit up. You know
what he's going to say? Well, if Dad can do it, I can
do it. Dad's my example. See what I'm saying? See what
I'm saying? We teach by two ways. We teach by God's Word, and we
teach by example. Paul said, those things which
you've learned of me, those things which you've heard of me, And
those things which you've seen in me. You've seen me do. That's what you do. Be followers
of me as I follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter even went forward
enough to say this. He said there's occasions when
a wife is won, when a husband is won. An unbelieving husband
is won by a meek and quiet spirit of the wife. He won't listen
to the Word. But he sees this meek and quiet
spirit that his wife has. She's a child of God. And she's
so obedient and so kind and gracious. And he says, boy, there's something
to this Christian life. And his prejudice is removed.
And he's won. So our actions, we can teach
a lot, can't we? By our actions. And you know
something, brothers and sisters, and this is what bothers me.
It bothers me about myself. And this is what all of us have
to be so careful with. If we teach one thing, and we
live inconsistent to our teaching, we'll lose our credibility. And
I don't want to do that to you. When I talk to people, I want
to have some credibility. I really do. So Peter taught
something here by his actions that he could have never convinced
by his words. The Pharisees, the Lord said,
the scribes, they said in Moses, They're teachers and judges.
Everything that they tell you to do, go ahead and do it. But
don't do it after their works. Because they say and do not. And that's what Peter did. That
was his whole problem. He said, we're justified by faith
in Christ. We believe that we shall be saved
by the grace of the Lord Jesus. And here he turned around and
thought something else. And Paul rebuked him for it.
Now, let's go on here to our lesson. Let's go on here to our
lesson. Here in verse 14, "...and when I saw that they walked not
uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter..."
Now this is the conversation Paul is having here towards Peter.
"...I said unto Peter before them all, If thou be in a Jew,
you live after the manner of the Gentiles." And he had, hadn't
he? Up there in verse 12, he did eat with the Gentiles. He's
eating things that you couldn't eat as a Jew. And Paul said,
Peter, you're living like the Gentiles, then why are you compelling
the Gentiles to live like the Jews? How did the Jews live? Well,
they had this strict, rigid, separated lifestyle. My, they
were so strict in their lifestyle. And they'd been taught this since
they were little infants. When they were born, their parents
had to bring a sacrifice. and offer a sacrifice for them.
Eight days old, they would take them up to the temple or to the
synagogue and they'd circumcise them and name them. And as they
began to grow up teenagers, the parents taught them, now you've
got to observe these days. You watch us as we keep the Sabbath
holy and we keep these feast days. They were careful about
what kind of company they kept. If they met a Gentile, why, they
would avoid him. What kind of foods they could
and could not eat? They were very strict in their
lifestyle. That's how the Jews lived. And
because they were raised this way, and you and I know what
happens when you raise a child a certain way. Somebody, I think
it was Catholicism used to say, you give me a child until he's
twelve years old, and then we've got him. Why? Because you take
a child, an infant, up to 12 years old, and you grind this
stuff in him, it just becomes second nature to do this, doesn't
it? And that's why Paul says here in verse 15, look at this,
we who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles.
It was the second nature of these Jews to keep the ceremonial law. It was ground into them. They
couldn't let it go. It's just the second nature.
And Paul said, we're not sinners. Peter, you and I aren't sinners
of the Gentiles. We were raised Jews. He didn't
mean that there was difference in their natures, essential natures.
There's no difference between the Jew and the Gentile by nature.
We're all sinners, aren't we? Sinned in Adam. And come forth
from our mother's womb, speak and lie. But what Paul means
here is that Peter We don't live, we haven't lived, we haven't
been raised contrary to the ceremonial law like these Gentiles have. The Gentiles never did observe
the ceremonial law. They never observed the Sabbaths. They never offered lambs. They
never had a priesthood. Paul said they were sinners against
the law. That's what he means. I remember,
and you do too if you read the book of Genesis, the first time
that we read of a Gentile that was ever circumcised. And when
the high vibes, was that it? Shishim and his dad, Shishim
fell in love with Jacob's daughter, Dana, and went to ask Jacob and
her brothers, let me have her, to marry her. Jacob's brothers were so mad
at him and said, if you'll be circumcised like we are, then
we'll accept you. And we'll give you our daughters,
and you'll give us your sons, and we'll intermarry and intermingle.
So that whole city was circumcised. And then Jacob's sons went in
and slew everyone up. That's the first time we ever
heard a Gentile being circumcised. But the Gentiles weren't circumcised.
You know why they circumcise Gentiles now? Little infants,
they have been for hundreds of years. But you know where that
comes from. That's that old Judaism, still hanging around. But Gentiles
never observed the ceremonial law. They were sinners against
that law. And that's what the Apostle is
meaning here. Peter, he said, you and I are Jews by nature. By our second nature it is to
keep this law. And we're not sinners of the
Gentiles. And then he comes here now to verse 16, and look at
this. Look here what he does. 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." How is a man justified? What does the law of Moses have
to do with a man being justified before God? It has nothing to
do with justification. What does a strict lifestyle
have to do with being justified before God? It has nothing to
do with it. Then how is a man justified?
Paul said, knowing. knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ."
We are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. Now what does
he mean by that? If you check your commentators,
most of them believe that Paul is saying you are justified by
faith in Christ. Edgar Andrews, a very wise man,
has had an excellent commentary on the book of Galatians. And
he says this means two things. Some of the commentators agree
with me. When you see this word faith of Christ, it not only
means faith in Christ, but it means the faithfulness of Christ. We're justified by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. And I like this and I think it
fits perfectly here because what these Jews were concerned about, obeying the law of Moses, being circumcised and keeping
all of these days holy. And they said, by our faithfulness
to this, by our obedience to this law, we please God. And
by obeying this law and being faithful to this law, we'll justify
before God. So what Paul turns right around
here and says this, no, you're justified by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. I like that, don't you? It takes
away my faithfulness and our inability to obey the law anyway,
and what does it insert? The faithfulness of Jesus Christ.
Now let me show you that. Hold that again and look over
here in Hebrews chapter 3. Look in Hebrews chapter 3. Look here in verses 1 and 2. The faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ. Now look at what he says in verse 1, Hebrews chapter 3,
"...Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus, who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as Moses
was in all his house." Jesus Christ was faithful to God who
appointed Him. Why is that so important? Why
is that so important? God appointed Jesus Christ to
do a work. And what was that work? The Lord
Jesus talked about it often, didn't He? When He was 12 years
old, even 12 years old, He said, don't you know that I must be
about my Father's business? My Father's appointed me a business
to do. And all through the Scriptures, He often talked about, I come
to do the work of Him that sent me. And on the cross, He said,
Father, I finished. I finished the work. It's finished.
It's done. And His faithfulness to do that work is so important
to you and I. You know why, don't you? Because
He's our representative. He took our cause unto Himself. to justify us, not by what we
did, but what He was able to do, and what He was faithful
to do. Look what He says here in chapter 2 of Hebrews. He was
faithful to Him that appointed Him. Look here at chapter 2,
and look here in verse 17. "...Wherefore, in all things
it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren..." Why? "...that He might be a merciful
and faithful high priest for us in things pertaining to God
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." See that? He was faithful to God, not only
to live holy, but to die. He was faithful unto death. And Paul said, we are justified
by the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We find that also
in Romans chapter 5 verse 19, where it said, "...by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, even so by the righteousness
of one." By the obedience of one. By the obedience of one.
That's important, isn't it? One man's obedience. Because
that's the way we're justified. And then he continues on back
here in our text in verse 16, not only by the faithfulness
of Christ. If you want to look upon that and say, by faith in
Jesus Christ, that's fine. Most of the commentators say
it can mean that, and some say by the faithfulness of Christ.
And then he continues on and said, even we, Peter, remember
Paul is still speaking to Peter. Even we, Peter, have believed
in Jesus Christ that we might be justified. by the faithfulness
of Christ and not by our keeping the works of the law. Now look
in verse 17. If you say this is the faithfulness
of Christ in verse 16, look how well it goes with verse 17. If
while we seek to be justified by Christ. See that? How are we justified by Christ? By His faithfulness. By His faithfulness. He's faithful isn't He? He's
faithful. You and I sometimes always see the awful, awful sin
that's within us, our failures, and it just breaks our heart. It just breaks our heart. But
we know it's there, don't we? We often pray, Lord, forgive
us. Forgive us. But here's the joy in seeing
our unfaithfulness and our failures, our utter failures. We have one
who's never failed. We have one who was faithful
to God in everything. And by His obedience and His
faithfulness, we'll justify. Paul is talking to Peter. Now look in verse 17. So what
Paul is saying, what Paul is saying up to now, he says, Peter,
you know this as well as I do, that even though we're not sinners
of the Gentiles, we've obeyed this law, but we know, we know
that we're not justified that way. Our strict lifestyle doesn't
justify it. were justified by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, by believing in Christ for it. Now he comes
here to verse 17. And he says this, But if, Peter,
while you and I seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also
are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? Well, that's a difficult verse
to understand. And I think what the Apostle Paul is saying here,
he's saying, Peter, who taught you and me that we're justified
by faith in Christ? Who's taught us that? Well, the
Lord taught them, didn't He? The Lord Jesus Christ taught
them and He's taught you how you're justified by believing
in Christ. Who taught you that? The Lord
Jesus taught you that. And now Paul looks at Peter and
he says, Peter, Christ taught you, and He's taught me, that
we're justified by believing Him for it. Is He causing us
to sin, therefore, by telling us to forsake that law? Is that
sin in Christ to teach us to do that? No, that's not sin in
Christ to teach that. Because that's the truth. That's
the true thing. That's the truth. We're justified
by believing in Christ. That's what Christ teaches us.
Boy, this is the trouble these Jews were having. I mean, they
had this legal conviction about them, and they said, we were
raised to believe that we had to keep this ceremonial law,
and these feast days and Sabbath days. Now you're telling us that
Christ would have us to forsake that law and believe in Christ
only? Is that what you're telling us? Paul said, that's what Christ
is telling you. That's what Christ is teaching. Then Christ is teaching
us to sin. Because we know we have to obey
that law. And that's what Paul is asking
Peter. Is Christ causing us to sin? Is He leading us to sin?
And he said, God forbid. No. No. Because it's not a sin,
brothers and sisters. It's not a sin to forsake the
law and be saved by Christ alone. That's the truth. That's the
only way to be saved. Ain't no other way to be saved.
Listen to this now and see if this isn't so. It's not a sin
in Christ to teach us this, because number one, this honors Christ. This honors Christ. To forsake
Moses and to come to Christ, to be saved by Christ, don't
that honor Christ? What it's saying, the law condemns
me. The law proves my guilt. The
law can't save me. But Christ can. Christ can. He fulfilled the law in my stead.
And now there's married enough and righteous enough and faithful
enough in Him to save me. That honors Christ. When we come
to Christ alone to be saved by Him. When we kick all the props
out from under us and say, I've got one salvation. I'm dependent
upon one God to save me, and that's God in Jesus Christ. He's
honored by that, ain't He? He's honored by that. And secondly,
the law is honored. The law is honored. Because Christ fulfilled the
law. I want to show you one more verse. I don't want to keep you
too long. But look over here in Isaiah,
chapter 42, right quickly. The law is honored by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the law is honored when we
are saved by Christ. Because it's only in Jesus Christ
that the law has been fulfilled. Nobody else has ever kept the
law but Him. And look what He's talking about
here in Isaiah 42. And I want you to look here first in verses
1 and 2 because you can see who He's talking about. All through
this chapter He's speaking of the Lord Jesus. He calls Him
the Servant. Verse 1 of chapter 42, Behold,
my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth,
I have put my spirit upon him, And he shall show forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and smoke and flecks shall he not quench,
until he has brought forth judgment to truth. He shall not fail nor
be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth, and
the isles shall wait for his law. Thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens and stretched them out. Verse 6, I, the Lord,
have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and
keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for
a light of the Gentiles." He's speaking of Christ. Now look
down here in verse 21. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness. Whose righteousness? The righteousness
of Christ. The obedience of Christ. The
faithfulness of Christ. Look at this. Why is God well
pleased? Because look what Christ did.
He will magnify the law and make it honorable. See what He did?
See what He did? As long as you and I are saying
we are justified by keeping the law, you know what we are doing?
We are just breaking the law. We are dishonoring the law. We can talk the law up. We can
talk about how spiritual it is, how good it is, how holy it is.
But then if one of us can keep it, it don't matter what excuse people
may say, well, I want to keep it. That's good. We ain't talking
about wanting to keep it. We ain't talking about trying
to keep it. We're talking about, do you keep it? And there's only
been one that kept it. He honored it and magnified it. Thy law is within my heart. Ain't
that what he said? He kept it. And the law of God
looks upon the Lord Jesus and says, Oh, He's the perfect One. He's the just One. He's the Holy
One. And in spite of that, when it
came time to die, He suffered His penalty. Obeyed all His precepts
and then suffered His penalty. And who did He do that for? Everybody
that believes on Him. Everybody that believes on Him
for righteousness and justification. So when you and I cease to trust
our own obedience, when we cease to trust our own abilities, and
we trust Christ alone, then God is pleased. And Christ is glorified
and the law is honored. And then grace reigns through
righteousness, even the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's sort
of a mystery to this world, but that's the gospel. That's the
gospel. Look back over in our text now
in verse 18. Look in verse 18. Paul makes
this wonderful statement here. He said, it's not a sin in Christ
to tell us to forsake this law and be justified by Him. Believing
in Him for our salvation. Quit trying to do it yourself.
Quit trying to add the law to Christ. Believe in Christ for salvation.
That's what he said. Then what he says in verse 18,
look at this. This is amazing. If I build again,
after I've come to Christ, after I've believed upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, if I build again the things which I destroyed, Then
he says, I make myself a transgression. Now what's he saying? Well, what
did he destroy? What did he count as loss? What
had he threw to the dust? You remember in Philippians 3,
don't you? Circumcised the eighth day of the stop of Israel. As
a Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching the law, I was blameless. As
a Pharisee, I was trusting in my own obedience to be saved,
my own works. But what did he say about that?
He said, I counted all lost. I destroyed it. I tore that house
down. That's what he said. And now
he comes around here in verse 18 and he says, after I've come
to Christ and I believe on Him for all my salvation, now if
I turn around and start building that old house up again, he said,
I'm a real transgressive man. I'm a real transgressor there.
And see what he's saying to Peter. He's still talking to Peter.
He said, Peter, look what you're teaching these Gentiles. You
yourself are forsaken that ceremonial law, and you believe in the grace
of Christ, and now you're going back to that law and start keeping
that? He said, you're just transgressing
when you do that. You're transgressing when you
do that. Look in verse 19 now what he
says. Look in verse 19. Now this is present tense. For
I through the law am dead to the law. Boy, I tell you what,
if Paul here was going to say that the law was a believer's
rule of life, That should have been a good place to put it,
wouldn't it? It would have been an excellent place to put it,
because what he just said was, now, what I'm saying is, we're
justified by faith in Christ. But don't carry that too far.
Don't carry this faith business too far. Because this law, God's
given this law, and we ought to try to keep it, at least a
little bit. But he doesn't say that, does
he? He says these two things. First of all, he says if I turn
back to that law now and add it to Christ, I make myself a
transgressor. It must be Christ and His grace
and faith in Him, or it must be law. If it's Christ alone,
then you please God. You glorify Christ and you magnify
the law. But if it's partly law and partly
Christ, then you're transgressing. And now he says this, I through
the law, I am dead. I'm dead. What does it mean to
be dead? We know what it means to be dead.
You go down to the funeral home and bury someone in the casket,
and you say, why don't you get up and go to dinner with me?
Is he going to do that? He's not participating in the
activities of this world anymore. To be dead to something means
you don't participate in it. And Paul said, I am dead to that
law. What does that mean? I don't
participate in that anymore. I'm dead to that. How do you
become dead? I, through the law, am dead to
the law. How do you become dead to the
law? Through the law. He answers that. Look at chapter
3 right quickly. Brother Steve just read it to
us. Verse 22, The Scripture hath
concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith
came, before the object of our faith came, before the grace
of faith came to our hearts, we were kept under the law, shut
up, until the faith which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore,
the law is our schoolmaster." What does a schoolmaster do?
He teaches us, doesn't he? What does the law do? It teaches
us of our guilt. brings this weight of guilt and
condemnation before God. Why does He do that to us? Look
at this. To bring us to Christ. That we might be justified by
faith, but after faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. We're all children of God by
faith in Jesus Christ. So we're dead to the law. We're
dead to it. After the law, I'm dead to the
law. Okay, Paul. Okay, then, Paul. You've convinced
me. You've convinced me. How do we live, therefore? If
we're dead to this law, how are we going to live? Here we are
in this sinful world. We're children of God. How do we live? Well,
look what he tells us in verse 20, and I'll just comment on
this quickly. I am crucified with Christ. What a wonderful union. I am
crucified with Christ. Well, if he's crucified with
Christ, he must be buried with Christ, because Christ was buried.
And if he's buried with Christ, he must be risen with Christ,
because Christ is risen. And if he's risen with Christ,
he must be seated with Christ in heaven, because Christ is
there. Union with Christ. Union with Christ. And look what
he said. I live, yet not I, but Christ
lives in me. in the life which I now live,
now, right now, in this flesh. How do you live, Paul? I live
by faith of the Son of God. I live by believing on Him. I
live by His faithfulness who loved me and gave Himself for
me. What's the believer's rule of
life? Faith. Love. The Holy Spirit. The believer's rule of life is
not contrary to the moral law of God. It's not contrary to
that. But that's not his rule. He has
a higher rule. Faith. You know what faith will
do? Purify your heart. Love will make you forgive one
another gladly. I tell you, brothers and sisters,
I tell you this all the time. I tell you this all the time.
You'll never be any more committed and any more gracious in your
life than when you just keep your eyes upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. All the time, just be looking to Him. And someday you'll
look yourself right into heaven. You'll do it. And the more you
look to Him, the more you'll be like Him in grace and love
and faithfulness. God bless His Word.