We are in the book of Galatians We
are in the second chapter.
The Apostle Paul is teaching us and the
Galatians about Justification by grace through faith and
this doctrine of justification we introduced last Sunday
morning and it is the key.
It is the theme of the book of
Galatians Justification we are going to this morning
begin to dive into some deeper theological waters
And so I would encourage you exhort you
to have your thinking cap on to be
prepared to do some serious theological study in
Scripture Don't be intimidated or afraid of understanding
these doctrines I'll do my very best to
translate them into ideas with which you are
somewhat familiar Nevertheless, these theological truths are communicated
to us in Scripture It is essential that
we understand them and apply them so that
we can walk with as much Faithfulness and
fruitfulness in our relationship to God through Jesus
Christ as he would have us to and
so when we talk about these words Please
don't let them Intimidate you they're important words
and and significant and again We'll translate them
hopefully and we will use the scriptures to
do so Let's pause for a moment and
pray and ask God to be with us
and to teach us and then we'll jump
into the text of Galatians chapter 2 Lord
we do in fact ask your spirit to
minister to us to teach us from the
word Take these truth these doctrines Lord and
may they come alive for us may they
leap off of the pages of Scripture and
May we understand them in such a way
as to walk in obedience to them and
that they would bear fruit in our lives
I pray this Lord because of what Jesus
has done on the cross in order to
justify us Amen Okay a context again the
Apostle Peter who had of course spent most
of his time in the Jerusalem Church a
Jew Of course Jewish believer had gone to
the Antioch Church Which was north of Jerusalem
the Antioch Church being characterized by mostly Gentile
believers The Apostle Peter had gone to the
Antioch Church to fellowship with them and because
of his his faith in Christ He believed
rightly that he could fellowship with Gentile believers
with no restrictions with no barriers And so
when he was in the Antioch Church, he
fellowship with them.
They went to McDonald's together they went to
roundtable pizza.
They even went to the famous salad bar
at sizzler there in Antioch which by the
way sizzler has a great salad bar and
they and They went and they fellowship together
and there was no problem However when a
group of legalistic Jewish Christians called Judaizers Or
the circumcision parties were called in Galatians 2
came to Antioch from Jerusalem.
They put incredible pressure on The Apostle Peter
to withdraw from the Gentile believers in Antioch
Saying that Jews and Gentiles are not supposed
to associate with each other Peter actually acquiesced
to these pressures and he withdrew from table
fellowship he withdrew from the intimate fellowship that
he had with the Gentile believers in Antioch
and Barnabas and other Jews in Antioch also
Withdrew with him and the word that Galatians
2 uses to describe Peter's attitude or describe
Peter's behavior is the Greek word Hypocrisis from
which we get our word hypocrisy Literally, he
was a play actor a double-minded man.
He was inconsistent between his belief and his
behavior and so the Apostle Paul privately and
publicly addressed this problem in Peter's life and
said you are Wrong you have erected an
artificial Barrier between Jew and Gentile and that
is wrong.
Jesus Christ has broken down the dividing wall
of hostility You have built it back up
again Do not acquiesce do not submit do
not listen to these legalistic Judaizers from Jerusalem
the basis of our of our relationship with
Jesus Christ is Grace through faith the basis
of our fellowship with Christians whether Jew or
Gentile is the same grace through faith the
only barrier between me and God is Jesus
and the only barrier between me and anybody
else ought to be Jesus Christ as well
and If Christ does not establish a barrier
then we ought not to either and so
both privately and publicly the Apostle Paul Confronted
and rebuked and corrected the Apostle Peter and
the fight was on At verse 15, then
we pick up this argument.
We pick up this conflict.
We pick up this confrontation and Now Paul
begins to argue his case Not only to
the Galatians or rather not only to Peter
but also to the Galatians and to us
And so he's addressing it in the context
of what he said to the Jews what
he said to Peter But knowing full well
that we are listening also He's trying to
persuade us not to do what Peter did
He's persuading us not to establish artificial barriers
to fellowship with God or artificial barriers to
fellowship with other people and If I might
say one word of introduction notice then that
there are two important applications then and two
important issues as far as Paul is concerned
of the doctrine of justification by grace through
faith one is theological and One is practical
or to put it another way one is
vertical and one is horizontal One has to
do with your relationship with God.
The other has to do with your relationship
with other people The basis of justification between
God and the Christian is Jesus Christ death
on Calvary's cross not law not ritual Not
church not synagogue, but Jesus Christ death on
Calvary's cross.
That's the basis of justification between God and
the person That's the vertical dimension the horizontal
dimension the practical application of that.
What should be the basis of your fellowship
with another Christian?
Synagogue church Ritual traditions and law no, but
what fellowship through the cross of Jesus Christ?
The same basis for fellowship with God is
the basis of fellowship with others.
So horizontal Which is a vertical and horizontal
Theological practical if you are a Christian and
you have received Christ the basis of your
fellowship with God is Jesus if You are
a Christian you have received Christ the basis
of your fellowship with other believers is also
Jesus Christ We are not to establish any
artificial barriers to fellowship with God we are
not to establish any artificial barriers to fellowship
with other Christians and That we'll get into
in a moment verse 15.
Paul says this we ourselves Who are Jews
by birth and not Gentile sinners?
Yet who know that a man is not
justified by works of the law but through
faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed
in Christ Jesus in order to be justified
by faith in Christ and Not by works
of the law because by works of the
law shall no one be justified Now back
up to verse 15 we ourselves who are
Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners in
other words It is not that Jews are
not sinful and Gentiles are that's not the
point.
The point is this We who are Jews
have been brought up on the law From
the moment we were born we were introduced
to trained by The law of Moses in
the Old Testament.
We went to Saturday school literally synagogue school
and they taught us continually by rote repetition
The law the law the law the law
act obedient act obedient act obedient act obedient
Don't disobey don't disobey don't disobey be committed
to the precepts and principles of the law
Gentiles on the other hand were not brought
up that way Gentiles were brought up to
do basically with whatever they thought they wanted
to do pagan religion whether it be atheistic
agnostic or or Some kind of polytheism the
belief in many different gods was not concerned
with the righteousness of God It was merely
concerned with whatever the the motif of that
particular religion was and so he is making
a contrast between the Jew Who was brought
up under the teaching of the law and
the Gentile who was not brought up under
the teaching of the law?
And he says even though we were brought
up under the law.
We do not believe that justification comes by
that law Even we who have been weaned
on the law if you will don't believe
that the law will provide Justification for us
now quickly.
What does justification mean?
That's a word It's a word that means
literally in Greek to make or to declare
righteous Get this and we mentioned it last
Sunday and get this and get it Well,
because if you don't understand justification the whole
argument will fall apart To be justified needs
to be made or declared righteous And if
you understand that you will recognize why it
is that the law cannot justify Because the
law cannot make you righteous All the law
can do is describe what righteousness is But
it can't make you righteous The law is
a cookbook not an oven In other words
it can tell you the ingredients that need
to go into the cake, but it can't
bake the cake for you The law is
an owner's manual not the driver It's an
owner's manual not the engine it's the owner's
manual not the car and the mistake of
the Jews was thinking that the law was
the oven or the car or the Driver
and to think that you could be made
righteous by acting righteous No, in fact go
back to Romans chapter 3 and you'll notice
if you read Romans and Galatians That he
argues the very same doctrines and principles in
Romans that he does in Galatians Romans chapter
3 verse 9 Romans chapter 3 verse 9
what then are we Jews any better off?
No, he says not at all.
This is Romans 3 9 For I have
already charged that all men both Jews and
Greeks are under the power of sin here
Greeks simply means Gentiles non Jew Everybody Jew
and Gentile are under the power of sin
means this sin literally to miss the mark
to fall short of God's glory and it
means this that we have failed to do
that which pleases God and We have actually
done things which displeased God We have sinned
by omission.
We haven't done right things and we've sinned
by commission.
We have done wrong things So we've failed
on both accounts in addition to that it's
not simply activity, but it's also verbalization thought
patterns and actions and So we failed by
omission by commission by thought by word and
by deed other than that.
We're okay and So he says here that
we are all under the power of sin
now just for a second lest you think
this too severe And I've mentioned this to
you before and possibly you will recall we
are not even consistent with our own moral
code let alone God's We fall short of
our own glory let alone short of God
If the moment you were born someone were
to attach around your neck a very special
tape recorder that recorded all of your moral
thoughts and decisions things that you think are
right or wrong and Then that tape recorder
were to be played back at the end
of your life Would you have been consistent
with every moral principle that you thought or
uttered?
I?
Wouldn't and I doubt that you would either
and so we have missed the mark of
our own Ethical standards let alone God and
so when the scripture says we've fallen short
of God's glory That's definitely true because we've
fallen short of our own glory and our
own glory is much lower than God so
we are in fact guilty before God and
This concept of justification is no Insignificant doctrine
it may be a technical theological term but
it's the most important term in the scriptures
for this reason and That is that when
you stand before the judgment seat of Jesus
Christ the issue as to whether you get
into heaven or not is whether you have
been justified or not and So don't treat
this word as if it is a just
a trivial theological doctrine It's not trivial your
eternal destiny is contingent upon whether or not
you are justified Because what is justification mean
again to make or to declare righteous What
does God require for entrance into heaven?
absolute perfect righteousness nothing less than absolute perfect
righteousness Illustration that I've used and many of
used before and I'll take it from last
night You go to a football game or
in this instance We went down to Jack
Murphy Stadium with 40,000 other people to
watch the races and Everybody went into that
stadium had what to get in a ticket.
How'd they get the ticket?
They are somebody else Brought it for them.
Now if you stood at the gate and
turned to one of those people and you've
seen those people there They have the other
his says event staff You seen the big
giant people usually big guys, you know football
players They've got these big yellow windbreakers on
it says event staff very intimidating and they
stand there with scowls in their face taking
tickets Can you imagine walking up with no
ticket and saying gee mister event staff person?
I'm a really nice guy and I Was
wondering if maybe I could come in and
see Ricky Johnson Jeff Ward race tonight I
don't have a ticket and but I'm a
nice person And I had my Wheaties this
morning for breakfast and I love my mom
and my dad and I watched Mr. Rogers
and everything.
Can I come inside to the stadium, please?
What were the event staffs got?
We'll step on you and squash you and
say next please And a lot of people
have that view of getting to heaven What
do you got to have to get into
heaven a ticket?
Now I want to this morning.
I said and what's the ticket and somebody
said Jesus Christ.
No Jesus isn't the ticket Righteousness is the
ticket Jesus Christ is the payment for the
ticket Understand that if you understand that you
understand the doctrine of justification by grace through
faith The ticket is righteousness and That ticket
costs something The law says the law gives
the principle of how much the ticket costs
How much does the ticket of righteousness cost
that gives you entrance into God's kingdom?
It costs life There is a life penalty
or the reverse of the negative side of
that is what a death penalty Attached to
the ticket to go to heaven Because the
law says if you sin you must die
the law says that it's inflexible it's fixed
It's a law and God never changes his
law So, how are you and I we
could never go to heaven because we can't
pay that ticket The price is far too
high if you paid the ticket you wouldn't
be around to enjoy it Unless God somehow
in his grace and his love paid the
ticket for you Paid the price for you,
which is exactly what he did in Jesus
Christ And so we're gonna stand before the
judgment seat of Christ and God will stand
there in a huge yellow windbreaker that says
millennium staff and We're you know, some people
will stand there wringing their hands saying but
I was such a nice person God.
I Had weeds every day hardly ever watched
TV.
I was such a nice person and God
will say what yeah, I thought you were
kind of nice too.
I liked you.
I still like you In fact, I like
you so much I sent my son Jesus
why didn't you believe any I Didn't think
he was really real.
Well, he was he is and always will
be you're kidding and Instead
of the myth of justification the stark eternal
reality of what God had offered them will
become known at that moment and every moment
thereafter for eternity Which is impossible for me
to understand but the scripture teaches that So
the doctrine of justification is pretty important is
it not and that's what Paul is after
he is not only declaring it He's defending
it Because he wants people to understand that
salvation is through the grace of God in
Christ's crucifixion on Calvary's cross And I you
know, this room is full of people this
morning some of whom I've never met I
don't know where you stand with justification before
God, but may I encourage you may I
exhort you?
May I go so far as to beg
you that if you have not been justified
by Christ if you have not received Jesus
Christ as your Savior to justify you that
you would do that this morning and if
the reason why you don't want to or
that you have not is because you're not
sure he in fact is the Savior do
your Homework to find out that he is
because let me he is the Savior and
If you haven't done your homework, it's not
his fault And so you need to ascertain
to discern to determine whether or not Christ
is who the scripture says he is if
Paul is right or wrong And he's right.
Paul is correct and He and I and
God we all want you to be justified
To give your life to Christ and to
receive from him the righteousness that you need
to go to heaven.
I Gave you a verse last week 2nd
Corinthians 521 And I asked this first service.
Let me ask at this service.
Has anybody memorized that verse?
Just out of interest sake 2nd Corinthians 521
and and if you say yes, you know
what I'm gonna say I'm gonna ask you
to quote it.
So don't say yes, unless you have or
you'll be very embarrassed when I call upon
you 2nd Corinthians 521 Anybody memorized that verse
somebody had actually memorized at first service.
They were able to quote it with a
pessimist verbi The exact words of the text
anybody Okay, next Sunday.
I'll ask again 2nd Corinthians 521 and and
that's a very very important verse to memorize
because it is the key to Justification recall
I said last Sunday.
It is a one-verse explanation of Justification
by grace through faith in Christ and it
says this for our sake He made him
to be sin who knew no sin that
in him we might become the righteousness of
God For our sake he made him to
be sin who knew no sin that in
him we might become the righteousness of God
The he is God the hymn is Christ
to us is us and The righteousness is
the very righteousness of which we are speaking
this morning.
That is God's requisite for going into heaven
for us You will not make it into
the kingdom of God if you don't have
the perfect righteousness of God and friends You
can't achieve it.
You must receive it as a gift and
Pardon me for beating this drum, but I
must do that if you are holding out
thinking that somehow you're going to be good
enough to get to heaven by simply The
good things that you've done in life that
is mythological That is simply not true and
you are gambling your eternal destiny on a
false doctrine you must have God's righteousness to
get into God's kingdom and that righteousness comes
through Christ and through Jesus Christ alone and
Therefore you must rightly respond to him if
you want to be a part of his
kingdom.
So Romans chapter 3 verse 9 What then
are we Jews any better off no not
at all for I have already charged that
all men both Jews and Greeks are under
the power of sin as It is written
None is righteous not even one No one
understands.
No one seeks for God All have turned
aside together.
They've gone wrong.
No one does good not even one Their
throat is an open grave They use their
tongues to deceive the venom of asps Those
are poisonous snakes is under their lips Their
mouth is full of curses and bitterness their
feet are swift to shed blood and their
paths are ruin and misery and the way
of Peace, they do not know there is
no fear of God before their eyes you
read that text carefully You will see he
addresses the way people think The way people
speak and the way people act and walk
the three ways a person can sin attitude
word action And he addresses that our sinfulness
finds its way into those three dimensions of
human behavior thought pattern Way of speaking an
activity we participate in verse 19 Now we
know that whatever the law says it speaks
to those who are under the law So
that every mouth may be stopped and the
whole world may be held accountable to God
For no human being will be justified in
his sight by works of the law since
through the law comes knowledge of sin Now
let's stop there for a moment because this
also is a very important doctrine and I
want you to get this and this is
again Where the Jews had failed to understand
what God's plan and purpose and kingdom program
were all about the law was never intended
to save It was never God's intent that
the law should save notice The text says
by works of the law shall no flesh
be justified Now don't raise your hand, but
if I were to ask you this question
And say and now don't raise your hand
But if I were to say everybody who
believed in the Old Testament, you were saved
by works of the law Raise your hand
normally speaking.
We get a fair number of people who
would raise their hand in Christian churches People
who believe that in the Old Testament people
were saved by works of the law But
what does the text say by works of
the law shall only New Testament Saints Or
only Old Testament say what does it say
in the text by works of the law
shall no flesh be justified friends Salvation in
the Old Testament was by grace through faith
in God's provision which was Jesus Christ yet
to be and the New Testament salvation is
by grace Through faith in Jesus Christ who
was on the cross So, what does the
law say if you sin you shall Die
and yet in the Old Testament people still
sin thus what provision was there for the
Old Testament believer?
Animal sacrifice which was the death of a
Externally perfect life as a symbol of the
future death of Christ who would pay the
eternal price for sin Again, let me say
that in the Old Testament Salvation is by
grace through faith in God's provision because even
Old Testament Saints sinned And you know that
if you read the Old Testament, that's one
of their famous legacies is sin We are
walking in their legacy.
Unfortunately today in the new covenant But what
happened when an Old Testament believer sinned was
their provision?
Yes an animal sacrifice whose life was given
as a substitution for the believer and A
symbol of the future death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ who would pay the eternal price
for sin Okay, so the law was never
intended to save it was only intended to
demonstrate what righteousness is now mark this and
market well the role of law still today
of Moral law of God's principles and precepts
is not to provide righteousness within you It
is simply to give you a reference point
by which you know, what righteousness is The
law can't make you righteous It can only
give you a reference point so that you
can know good from bad right from wrong
truth from error Again it is merely the
cookbook.
It is the descriptive role Notice if you
are obedient, this is really interesting theologically if
you are obedient at any point to a
law new or old covenant law That doesn't
make you righteous.
That's just a righteous act.
That's all that it is a Righteous act
in and of itself by itself means nothing
Except that it's obedience to God's moral code
at that point, but it doesn't mean that
you yourself are righteous Righteousness must come from
within not from without Justification is internal not
external it expresses itself externally.
That's why the Bible says faith without works
is Dead because if you're justified by grace
through faith, it will express itself But you
cannot make yourself righteous by being obedient out
here and hope that it seeps and finds
its way inside That was the mistake of
the Judaizers and it's the mistake of legalists
today Who think that I'm going to become
righteous if I act righteous enough?
Never absolutely never because the law is simply
a statement of truth.
That's all that it is This was so
demonstrated to me last week.
How many of you had an opportunity to
see the Stanley Siegel show last week?
I Called me up in the morning asked
me to be on TV On Wednesday morning.
They said would you be on TV tonight?
They said, you know, I somewhat apologized for
this.
I Wasn't the topic I've normally discussed but
they they asked me if I would be
willing to come on television and talk about
Condom advertisements on TV.
That's what I don't own any condominiums.
I don't know I Ain't a study about
those things.
I don't know.
They said no.
No, no, mr.
Kite.
We're talking about prophylactic contraception I said, oh
you want me to talk about that?
I said, yeah.
Okay.
All right.
Well, okay I'll think about it And so
they wanted me to be on there and
to debate a fellow from the San Diego
County AIDS project Well when they said that
is that I'll be there Tell me what
the topic is Anybody on that I'll debate
them and so they had me on it
was really interesting was as I prepared for
this all during the day I read and
read and read and Did a quick eight
-hour crash course on condominiums and Called my
real estate people and so then we Went
on TV and and I gave my case
argue my case my case was that Putting
condom ads on TV to somehow give the
impression that it will defend us against AIDS
Protect us against AIDS is like saying that
to protect oneself against radioactivity when you play
around with radioactivity You should wear a lead
-lined protective suit Well case in point if
you play around radioactivity sooner or later.
Somebody's going to what?
Get burned and and die if you play
around with radioactivity sooner or later.
Somebody's going to die I don't care if
you wear a protective lead-lined suit or
not Somebody's gonna die same thing with AIDS
you play around with homosexual or perverted sex
sooner or later Somebody's going to what to
die So to put condoms on TV as
if somehow that's gonna stop the spread of
AIDS is ridiculous That was my point.
Then I said the only scientifically provable way
to not contract a sexually transmitted disease is
Abstinence before marriage and faithfulness in marriage Stay
a virgin marry a virgin and commit yourself
to a monogamous faithful marital relationship for a
lifetime One man one woman one lifetime one
marriage.
Amen Well, guess what the people said this
is interesting and I said that's God's law
But millions and millions of dollars have been
used to study and to research to find
out all kinds of truths about Sexually transmitted
diseases and all of it and you know
what for five bucks you can buy a
Bible and the whole thing can be said
True You know and cost as much as
80 if you get a rivalry study Bible
leatherback edition But it's still less expensive than
the millions of dollars.
We've already studied what was fascinating Was that
the people who were there and even the
people calling in and the articles and time
of Newsweek?
All we're saying the best thing for all
of us is abstinence People agree with that
now But you know what's really interesting is
students in San Diego State as well as
the articles and time and as we've said
although abstinence is Bulletproof People won't do it.
I Thought that is an example of a
difference between law and Jesus Christ Law simply
says that's right and that's wrong And if
you do the right here the positive consequences
if you do the wrong there are the
negative consequences But just saying that means nothing
in terms of getting it done Turn to
a four-year-old and say would you
please park my car?
I don't say that because she'll try the
second thought Let's back up on that Give
a child a task you cannot perform and
you're frustrated and you know something the law
was intended to frustrate us and drive us
What does the law say be perfect doesn't
say that does the law say oh, it's
okay If you mess up every now and
then the law does not say that the
law says be perfect Now, what are you
gonna do about that?
I am gonna run to the arms of
the Messiah who gave his life for me
To provide the righteousness of God in my
heart, then I might stand fully cleansed before
the judgment seat of the Holy God of
the universe These poor students from San Diego
State these poor authors in time and news
me could say with all sincerity and scientific
data Abstinence chastity are the best but alas
and alack people won't do it.
In other words people are dying to have
sex Well, I'm afraid sometimes theologically we do
the same thing in the church We act
as if law is alive But it's not
alive Law is simply a truth that the
Living God gives and so your salvation Your
righteousness Your spirituality your joy your fulfillment is
not through relationship with law But through relationship
with the Lord who's the lawgiver and you
will find yourself acting far more righteous In
relationship to the law give your in relationship
to the law You are not being called
into relationship with rules and regulations and restrictions
and responsibilities You're being called into relationship to
the Living God of the universe who gave
his life for you on Calvary's cross and
dog of the nearly 2,000 years ago
And if you try to embrace the law
as a way of salvation, you won't be
saved Because the law simply cannot save you.
It can only tell you what is right
and what is wrong And if you've ever
tried to embrace the legalistic Christianity, you know,
the frustration and anxiety and utter defeat that
it brings And so what he says here
in Romans chapter 3 Again, is that the
law cannot justify but rather the law points
to sin or gives us knowledge of it
Turn to Romans 10 east of Romans 3
about seven chapters Isn't Galatians fun?
Romans chapter 10 verses 1 and following brethren
my heart's desire and prayer to God for
them as if they may be saved Well
that just expresses how I feel about the
whole wide world My heart's desire and prayer
to God for them as if they might
be saved My heart went out to those
people on the Sydney see our Stanley Siegel
show How many heard on the line yesterday
our radio program John rules general's said Tim
was on Sydney live the other day I
said John it wasn't Sydney's name is Stanley.
It was all whatever.
He didn't get your name, right?
So don't The guy can't talk He had
marbles in his mouth and and there's a
good reason to for changing the name of
our church Mission Evangelical free church is a
mouthful.
I don't mean change our affiliation I just
mean change your name to something simple like
the church, you know It's Stanley was he
was stumbling and bumbling and mumbling over that
word that name.
He could not get that out and So
he's a square cake But my heart went
out to those people I they're just lost
Completely and utterly lost and they need some
lights to shine in their darkness And so
what Paul says in Romans 10 1 is
certainly the attitude I think that we all
share verse 2.
I've there been witness that they have a
zeal for God, but it's not enlightened It's
not according to knowledge full knowledge Of the
truth of who God is that full knowledge
God desires each one of us to have
in relationship to salvation They don't have that
There's nothing worse than zeal without knowledge that
ignorant zeal is is It's a it's a
one of the greatest tragedies in the world
is you see people religiously motivated in ignorance
And I saw that again that evening as
people stood up and said well, I'm going
to speak definitively here about This AIDS issue
and they speak with zeal and enthusiasm When
once when they asked the students of Stanley
asked the students you believe that these advertisements
encourage young people to be promiscuous Absolutely, not
they said with great flair and alacrity Absolutely,
not Well, they're wrong They're zealous.
They mean well, and they're wrong in this
case Lethally wrong in many instances.
Unfortunately, I bear them witness that they have
a zeal for God, but it's not enlightened
The same thing theologically many people have great
theological zeal for God but it's not enlightened
for it says being ignorant of the righteousness
that comes from God and Seeking to establish
their own they didn't submit to God's righteousness
Well, that's a great verse for our study
on Justification, isn't it Romans 10 3 underline
it mark it circle it do whatever you
do to mark in your Bible for for
being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from
God and Seeking to establish their own righteousness.
They didn't submit to God's righteousness.
There it is Again, the whole issue is
do you have his righteousness not your own
but his Don't be caught with your righteousness
now.
You've got to have his righteousness Now what's
particularly?
Seductive about legalism is That it's it appeals
to pride because people like to think that
somehow they've merited Yeah, I've earned it belongs
to me I've done it I I just
happen to be better than the average person
I'm gonna go to heaven Quite frankly, I
deserve it Now we laugh but there are
entire theological persuasion and millions of people today
who are going to go to hell because
they think they ought to go to heaven
and some of them some of them are
in evangelical churches and So when it says
here that they're ignorant of the righteousness that
comes from God that's what you should beware
of watch out of ignorance of God's righteousness
and Therein it gives you a key to
true spirituality true spirituality is a right understanding
of God's righteousness How you get it what
it is and how you walk in it
how you express it how you share with
others how you nurture It and other people
that's true spirituality Understanding God's righteousness not man
but God and Not just knowing God's righteousness
But understanding where it comes from how to
get it how to live in it how
to express it how to teach it how
to All of that that's what true spirituality
is a right understanding literally an epinosis of
God's righteousness true knowledge full knowledge of what
the righteousness is that comes from God and
Don't seek to establish your own verse 4
for Christ is the end of the law
that everyone who has faith may be There's
our word.
Maybe what Chicago justified made or declared righteous
everyone who has what?
obedience No Everyone who has what hey Now
back to Romans 2 because that then thrusts
us upon the horns of an apparent dilemma
If I'm saved by faith and not by
obedience Then isn't that a motivation not to
be obedient if I'm saved by grace through
faith.
I'm off the hook I don't have to
obey I can sit up a storm.
God gets glory.
I get saved and I can sin and
enjoy myself, right?
Wrong except that's the argument that people brought
against the Apostle Paul and you've probably heard
that same argument from your friends when you
share that Salvation is by grace.
They say great.
Where do I sign up?
And you say well, hold on a second
Do you want to receive Christ because you're
convicted of sin and want to get rid
of sin?
But you want to receive Christ because you're
committed to sin and you'd like to be
forgiven for it while you can still do
it and if it's the former you're saved
if it's the latter you're not and And
unfortunately a lot of people see in grace
a license to sin and they go to
these soft gospel cheap grace churches The easy
believism that has characterized our generation God loves
you just the way you are and you
never have to change just go to our
church as often as possible where Southern, California
Pastel colored clothing and Everything will be okay
well, no, that's not what the scripture teaches
and Paul gives the argument here in Roman
or in Galatians chapter 2 Notice, he says
this is the verse 17 This is the
argument people use against grace, but if in
our endeavor to be justified in Christ This
is Galatians 2 17 and he's giving the
opponent's argument But if in our endeavor to
be justified in Christ, we ourselves were found
to be sinners Is Christ then an agent
of sin Now what he's saying is just
what I earlier a moment ago said that
is if I receive Christ By grace, and
I'm justified by grace.
It's Christ not then stripping me of my
motivation to be obedient and Paul answers with
his famous No way Jose There's some people
from Spain.
They're in Antioch and he was just relating
to them.
Listen Never absolutely not.
Certainly not.
It says in the RSV But if I
build up again those things which I tore
down that I proved myself a transgressor in
other words if I embraced law as a
Jew and Then I embraced Christ as a
Christian and then go back to the law
What do I do to myself?
We just saw what's the function of the
law to indict and to find guilty.
That's the role of the law So if
I go back to the law I'm only
what putting myself in a place whereby I
am not saved but indicted and found guilty
the law can't say that can only condemn
and so if I tear down the law
through Christ and Then go back to the
law to construct it again as a system
for salvation.
What do I do?
I lock myself into condemnation That's what he's
saying don't go back to the law and
notice who is he arguing against Jewish Christians
who attempted to add to Christ Circumcision and
the law of Moses he's saying don't do
that because if you do that, what are
you gonna do?
You're gonna condemn yourself because you can't keep
the law and so don't go back to
it if you do you indict and condemn
yourself and That's not according to knowledge you
would say then verse 19 beautiful beautiful piece
of theological Argumentation verse 19 for I through
the law died to the law that I
might live to God I have been crucified
with Christ and pause there for a moment.
I have been crucified with Christ I through
the law have died to the law.
I've been crucified with Christ.
Notice what God does.
This is beautiful We'll see it again in
Romans chapter 7 If the law Finds you
which it does and indicts you which it
does and convicts you and condemns you sentences
you and then Actually executes you you are
free of any Jurisdiction or power of the
law anymore Because the law has done what's
supposed to do problem is once you have
been executed.
You're not around to enjoy in the law
anymore But what if?
Hypothetically, what if somehow the law were to
find you?
indict you Condemn you sentence you and then
execute you But then you resurrected and you
lived again after you were executed imagine you
go before the law court It says guilty
electric chair off you go.
They put you in electric chair.
They strap you in It puts a little
cap on your head.
They throw the switch And you die and
They all too bad for him or her
and then they take the cap off and
you wake up and you say thanks Appreciate
that.
I'm free now and they go And you
walk out Does the law have any jurisdiction
over you anymore at that point?
No, why not?
Because it is discharged.
It's justice.
I Didn't mean that really that shocked me
when I said it Sorry, I was my
current joke, but never met never let go
to Roman seven I'll be saved by Romans
You all are saying justification.
It better be by grace because title never
make it if it's by works He's hopeless
So if somehow somehow in God's Kingdom economy
We could be killed by the law and
still be around to live to enjoy being
free from the law Then everything is settled.
The law is justified.
It's killed us We are Saved because we're
alive.
So how are you going to get us
killed but alive?
That's the big problem Well, he said in
Galatians 2 I have been crucified with Christ
He from any condemnation under the law legally.
I Can pull your file and it can
say yep on such-and-such a day
So-and-so was crucified in Christ and
is now free from any condemnation because they've
died In Christ you were nailed to the
cross and you died and when Christ resurrected
you resurrected with him by faith by spiritual
unity and Thus the law no longer has
any condemning jurisdiction over your life.
And when Satan comes to you and says
all you sinned You've sinned you're condemned and
you say well, that's right It was condemned
and Christ took the condemnation for me on
the cross and the sin that I just
said I hate more than you do And
I'm going to seek to bring the power
of the Spirit and the principles of Scripture
and the fellowship of the church to bear
In that scene and get rid of it,
but I'm forgiven already through Christ and you
have no more condemning power Romans 8 1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus There is therefore
now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus for the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has set me
free from the law of sin and death
for God verse 3 says has done what
the law Weakened by the flesh could not
do I love that God has done what
the law could not do Sending his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh and
for sin He condemned sin in the flesh
in order that the just requirement of the
law.
What's the just requirement of the law?
perfect righteousness and death for any infraction of
that He condemned sin in the flesh in
order that the just requirement of the law
might be fulfilled in us who walk not
according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit That's a wonderful piece of theological expression
of God's kingdom ministry now look at Romans
7 verses 1 through 6 Which is a
commentary on Galatians 2 19 Literally by the
way Romans 7 1 through 6 is a
commentary on Galatians 2 19 That also teaches
you the principle that scripture interprets scripture The
best interpreter of the Bible is the Bible
Remember that it is a Absolutely necessary doctrine
for right interpretation of the Word of God
verse 1 chapter 7 book of Romans Do
you not know brethren for I am speaking
to those who know the law that the
law is binding upon a person only during
His life thus a married woman is bound
by law to her husband as long as
he lives But if her husband dies, she
is discharged from the law concerning the husband
Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if
she lives with another man while her husband
is yet alive But if her husband dies,
she is free from that law and if
she marries another man, she is not an
adulterous In other words, what's the point same
thing as long as there is someone left
alive in this case in the marriage The
law is still binding the law is still
binding but should the spouse die no longer
is the Law binding on that person and
they are free For verse 4 likewise my
brethren you have died to the law through
the body of Christ This is so important.
Don't miss this So it says my brethren
you have died to the law through the
body of Christ so that you may belong
to another To him who has been raised
from the dead in order that we may
bear fruit for God While we were living
in the flesh our sinful passions aroused by
the law were at work in our members
to bear fruit for death But now we
are discharged from the law dead to that
which held us captive So we serve not
under the old written code, but in the
new life of the Spirit So in the
Old Testament people were wedded to the law
They were wedded to sin they were wedded
to their own weakness But through Christ, they
not only died to the law, but they've
also been resurrected in life to remarry Jesus
Christ In other words in the Old Testament
Israel was wedded to the law into their
sins and to the sin nature Through Christ
that marriage has been dissolved the marriage of
the of the believer to sin of the
believer It's a law that condemns of the
believer to unrighteousness That wedding that marriage has
been dissolved Who has died?
to dissolve the marriage the believer has through
Christ and The believer has been resurrected and
thus the believer is free to remarry and
who does the believer remarry?
Jesus Christ and the righteousness of God Now,
like I said, this is somewhat complex But
it is so clear what Paul is teaching
in Galatians when you unpack it with the
rest of what scripture teaches God in Christ
has made provision for us and That we
identify with him because he is our substitute
now the Jew should understand this The Jew
should understand this turn way back to the
book of Leviticus in the Old Testament Leviticus,
that's the book where all the pages are
stuck together in your Bible Leviticus
chapter 1 now again, we've mentioned the principles
the doctrines of Substitution Christ died for me
paid the price for me and the doctrine
of identification I died with Christ and thus
I died to the law The law had
its jurisdiction and had its condemning power and
authority over my life through Christ And now
I've resurrected again with Jesus and I'm alive
to enjoy my relationship with God verse 1
Leviticus chapter 1 The Lord called Moses and
spoke to him from the tent of meeting
That's the tabernacle and he said speak to
the people of Israel and say to them
when any Man of you brings an offering
to the Lord.
You shall bring your offering of cattle from
the herd or from the flock If his
offering is a burnt offering from the herd,
he shall offer a male without blemish He
shall offer it at the door of the
tent of meeting that he may be accepted
before the Lord that Old Testament language of
justification That you may be accepted at the
tent of meeting before the Lord that's the
same issue the same doctrine the same principle
in an Old Testament motif and the Old
Testament picture of an earthly picture to demonstrate
and illustrate a heavenly truth Because we're not
going to stand at the door of an
earthly tabernacle to seek entrance to the kingdom
But at the door of the heavenly one
verse 4 he shall lay his hand.
That's the worshiper the sacrificer the sinner shall
lay his hand upon the head of the
burnt offering and It shall be accepted for
him to make atonement for him Now in
verse 4 are both the doctrines of identification
and substitution so in two verses you've got
justification substitution identification Leviticus chapter 1 book of
grace through faith you see it What does
it say what says this you lay your
hand upon the head of the animal sacrifice
now?
Why would the believer lay his hand upon
the head of the animal sacrifice for one
reason to identify?
To say that this animal is going to
be the substitute for me and Through this
animal's death.
I'm going to die to the just condemnation
of the law What does the law require
if you sin you what you die?
if you sin you die, that's what the
law says except when there's provision that someone
else can stand in your place to die
for you and Here we don't have people
dying for us.
We have an animal now this also taught
how very very Seriously God takes sin and
we're not don't have time to go through
all the text but all kinds of things
had to be done for the animal sacrifice
among them was the animal had to be
killed and dismembered and gutted and properly cut
up Who did the cutting up of the
animal the priest everybody says the priest usually
it's not the priest If you read the
text carefully who cuts up the animal the
sinner cuts up the animal and hands the
pieces to the priest Now why would God
have the sinner cut up the animal because
God wants you to know that as that
Animal is being if you will dismembered and
dies this gruesome death that if it wasn't
for his grace, that would be your spiritual
condemnation Sin is that serious and if you've
ever butchered an animal from Alive and standing
to dead and cut up.
It's no pleasant experience.
And so here we've got justification Substitution the
animal for the person and in identification Where
the person lays the hands upon the heads
of the animal and says I'm identifying my
sins with this animal who's going to die
in my place Notice that says to make
atonement in the text verse 4 To make
atonement for him the word atonement if I
know what the word atonement is in Hebrew
What is it?
Yom is the word for day words were
atonement is Kapoor Yom Kapoor is the day
of atonement and that means to cover not
to cleanse or eradicate but to cover and
so the Hebrews had to sacrifice animal after
animal after animal because Because the blood of
bulls and goats can't take sin away They
can only cover it Now how many times
did Christ have to shed his blood to
take sin away and ever since Christ was
crucified No more animal sacrifice and to make
sure that God destroyed the temple in a
decent Going on quickly in the text Leviticus
chapter 1 then he shall kill the bull
before the Lord and that works both ways
Think about that it'll sink in later and
then and Aaron's sons the priest shall present
the blood and throw the blood round about
against the altar that is at the door
of the tent Of meeting and he shall
flay the burnt offering and cut it into
pieces Notice that he here is the what
is the sinner is the offerer is the
Sacrifice and the sons of Aaron the priest
shall put fire on the altar and lay
wood in order upon the fire and Aaron's
sons the priests shall lay the pieces the
head the fat in order upon the wood
that is on the fire upon the altar
and it's But it's entrails and its legs
he shall wash with water and the priest
shall burn the hole on the Altar as
a burnt offering and offering by fire a
pleasing odor to the Lord Now had it
not been for God's grace who would be
dismembered and burned on the altar by fire
We were Sinner was but God and his
grace has made provision for us And so
Jesus Christ was nailed to that cross on
whose behalf Ours and if we put our
faith in him, we are unified with him
Spiritually, we die with him.
We resurrect with him.
We're dead to the law.
We're alive to God in Christ Let's finish
in Galatians 2.
Are you with me on the theology here
now justification?
Have we?
Explicated that to some degree Okay, now we're
not going to be done with it because
Paul doesn't done with it as you might
well know Paul doesn't let anything alone.
He just keeps after it like a I
was gonna say like a Krishna on a
traveler in a airport, but that's The guy
said last night him this guy on the
announcer in the motocross He has all these
these kind of strange things and he's talking
real fast and the guys are racing around
there goes Yeah, Johnson's on machine machines on
Johnson like a Krishna on a traveler in
the airport.
Everybody's going.
Where's the Christian?
Galatians 2 let's finish For I through the
law died to the law that I might
live to God verse 20.
I have been crucified with Christ It's no
longer I who live but Christ who lives
in me and the life I now live
in the flesh I live by faith in
the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me Is that verse read
differently than it did before you were here
this morning I Hope so.
I do not nullify the grace of God
for a justification where through the law then
Christ died to no purpose And so I'll
leave you with this thought And it's just
a repetition of what we've said If you
seek to have a relationship with the Living
God and if you seek to be in
his kingdom forever you must receive the provision
he's given you through the Lamb of God
Jesus Christ and Should you choose to establish
your righteousness on your own?
You will not be a part of God
in his kingdom And I invite you I
exhort you this morning to give your life
to Jesus Christ While listening to this tape,
perhaps God's Spirit has been talking to your
heart If you felt the need to draw
closer to your creator, why not start today?
God has provided a way for man to
enter into relationship with him forever through his
son Jesus Christ Jesus said I'm the way
the truth and the life no man comes
to the father, but by me The Bible
says that as many as receive him to
them give he power to become the children
of God You too can receive him right
now by asking him to forgive you of
your sins And asking him to come into
your life and to be Lord and Savior
of your life If you'd like to receive
Jesus Christ in your life today you can
do so through a simple little prayer just
open up your heart and Repeat this prayer
with me.
Lord Jesus.
I admit to you that I am a
sinner.
I Believe that you died on a cross
for my sins Please forgive me all of
my sins Please come into my heart and
into my life Please make my life acceptable
unto you Thank you Lord for your gift
of eternal life And I receive you this
day In Jesus name I pray Amen Now
if you pray that prayer with me right
now you are a new person All your
past sins and faults have been forgiven by
God and in his eyes you are a
brand new creature The Bible says that if
any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature old things have passed away and
behold all things become new Now as a
newborn spiritual infant, you should seek the sincere
milk of God's Word so that you may
grow by it So read your Bible and
pray to the Lord often and seek out
other Christians and enter into fellowship with them
We'd love to hear of your decision for
Christ I'd love to give you a free
study of the book of John on cassette
by Pastor Chuck Smith Jesus never turned a
spiritual or hungry or thirsty soul away, but
filled everyone who asked So we'd like to
do the same for you in his name
So, please write to us At the address
on this tape and tell us of your
needs and what the Lord has done for
you today May the Lord bless you now
and keep you in everything you do and
everything you say welcome to the family Oh