Justification is by Faith Alone

Transcript

GR1148
3-14-1999
Justification Is By Faith Alone
Galatians 2:17-19
Gil Rugh



We are studying the book of Galatians together and the focus of the book of Galatians is on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and this is certainly the most basic and foundational truth for the church. A section out of a recent book was drawn to my attention. I just want to read you and excerpt before we move into the book of Galatians. It point outs the seriousness of the issues relating to the Gospel and the confusion that exists even within the evangelical church. This is from Dave Hunt’s recent book Occult Invasion which we have in Sound Words. I've not read the book. Just dipped in it and this particular section was drawn to my attention. It's talking about a subject of spiritual warfare. It brings up a conversation that took place between a man named Jack Deer. Jack Deer for 12 years was a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas, which has been a leading evangelical seminary. He left that school after 12 years to become a member of the Vineyard Movement which was founded by John Wimber. And Dave Hunt records a conversation that took place between Jack Deer and another individual at a conference that was attended by 5500 church leaders. And the man who's doing the interview here with Jack Deer had evidently done a presentation on the Gospel and Deer had been somewhat critical. So he says after introducing myself I said to Dr. Jack Deer, "I wonder why you might tell me why you felt my explanation of the Gospel was defective yesterday." To which he replied, "I'm not really very prepared to talk about that." I was a little surprised considering that he had just speaking to 5500 people and having informed us of the many ancient languages at which he had become proficient in order to fully understand the Bible. I wouldn't have thought that someone with such impressive credentials would need to do all that much preparation for a friendly discussion of the content of the Gospel. I then asked, "Well, just off the top of your head, what do you think the Gospel is?" Jack Deer replied, "I'm not prepared to make a formal statement about that." So I asked, "Could you perhaps tell me informally what you believe to be the Gospel." Jack Deer answered, "I'm not sure." Somewhat stunned I said, "I find that quite surprising that you're not sure what the Gospel is?" He replied, "I used to be just like you thinking the Gospel was simply justification by faith." I responded, "Are you saying it's more than that? What would you add to it?" "Deliverance," he said. "Things like demons and healing." I said, "You would add as an essential part of the Gospel the exorcising of demons and healing." He nodded. I continued. Like Wimber was saying last night. He said yes. "But you're not exactly sure what should be included," I asked. "No," he said, "not yet." "Would it be fair to say," I asked, "that you are in a state of flux since you joined the Wimber thing?" He quickly responded, "We're always in a state of flux. You are." "But on the Gospel message," I asked. Continuing to be amazed, I said, "Are you saying that you couldn't go back into that Pavilion and tell those people the Gospel." He replied, "No, not yet." I responded, "When do you think you could do it?" He said, "Maybe 5 years, maybe 10."

I've just read you from the book. You know, you read something like that and you say can this be actually so? A man can be a professor at an evangelical seminary for 12 years, leave that seminary be involved in another religious movement and come to the place he says I don't really know what the Gospel is. You have to begin to wonder is the man really saved. Can you be saved and not know what the Gospel is? Can you be saved and not know what you must believe to be saved? I say that because it's important as we study a book like Galatians, we don't think well this was an old battle fought a long time ago and these kinds of things wouldn't be an issue for us in the evangelical world today. My fear is that much of the problem we have in the evangelical church today is a result of people who perhaps have positions of leadership who may not even understand the Gospel.

The staff has just about finished a very popular book being used widely in evangelical circles today. And you know at our last staff meeting, we had to grapple with the issue, is this man truly saved? How much can you corrupt the Gospel and the truth of the Word of God and still be counted a believer. I have to say my own personal conclusion as I came to the end of the book is if Paul came to confront him, he'd pick up with Galatians chapter 1, "You are under a curse," cursed of God for the corruptions that you are teaching and preaching.

So it's very important that we understand the issues thoroughly and the implication of the issues as they are developed. There's no shortcut. We are going rather detail by detail. And we are in section in our study together today in Galatians chapter 2. And we'll be picking up with verse 17. And we are going to follow carefully the reasoning of the apostle Paul because he shows clearly the issues that are involved in any alteration in teaching or practice that would undermine the truth of the Gospel. The Gospel is always under attack. Relentlessly people are attacking the Gospel, trying to add things to it as I just referred to. That justification by faith alone cannot be all there is to the Gospel. And even from within the church the corruption takes place.

That is what Paul is dealing with. The Judaizers professed to be believers but they were unbelievers who had infiltrated the church. They said faith in Christ is not enough. You must keep the Mosaic Law. Paul dealt with that but then he had to turn and deal with Peter because Peter was genuinely saved but under pressure he began to make adjustments and compromises which in effect ended up being a direct attack on the Person and work of Christ in the Gospel. And that's why Paul is walking through very carefully in Galatians chapter 2.

One of the plagues of the evangelical church today is a general knowledge of the Scripture. And believers are somewhat satisfied with a general knowledge of certain basic truths of the Word of God. But if you don't understand the details, you will be easily led astray. And I believe that God has shown the development of the details and the implications of the actions not only to deal with Peter, but so that we the church today might learn and grow.

Peter was compromising the Gospel by refusing to eat with Gentile believers. In so doing, he was implying that there was more necessary for complete cleansing and purity before God than simple faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. In other words, you could have placed your faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God as your Savior and still not be clean and pure before God. Paul said this is a very serious matter. He had shown in verses 15 and 16 of Galatians 2 that's absolutely essential for Jews and Gentiles alike to be saved by faith. In the middle of verse 16, "Even we Jews have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified." We have believed in Christ so that we might be justified by faith because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. Peter in effect is denying that by His practice.

I want to say a few things about the Law. Some of this will be developed as we move through the book of Galatians but I want you to have it firmly in mind. Remember I said in our last study that verses 15 to 21 really give you the heart of the letter to the Galatians. It is this truth that he presents here in condensed form which will be unfolded through the rest of the book. I want you to have clearly in mind what he is saying and where we are going. Number one, when Paul talks about the Mosaic Law, he is talking about the Mosaic Law. There shouldn't be all the confusion there is present today about the issue of the Law among Christians. When Paul talks about the Law, he is talking about the Mosaic Law. You could go back and read about that beginning in Exodus chapter 19. After the Exodus from Egypt at Mount Sinai Israel camped there for almost a year and during that time God took Moses up on to the mountain and He gave him the Law. So we call it the Mosaic Law because it was given to Israel through Moses when Moses stood before God on Mount Sinai. If you read chapters 19 to 31 of Exodus . . . I would encourage maybe this afternoon just thumb through there. You don't have to read the details but just scan over to refresh your mind about the substance of the Mosaic Law. Paul would deal with the purpose of the Law later.

Look in chapter 3 verse 19, "Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions until the seed would come," at the end of the verse. Down in verse 23, "But before faith came we were kept in custody under the Law being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we might be justified by faith."

Passages like this and others Paul will unfold the purpose that the Law served. And we will deal with that when we get there. But for now we must be absolutely clear that the Law was never intended as a way of salvation. No one at any time in history was ever saved by keeping the Law. The Law was not a way of salvation. God never intended it to be a way of salvation. In chapter 3 verse 10 Paul says, "For as many as are the works of the Law are under a curse." Everyone who is committed to try to be saved by the works of the Law is under a curse because it is written cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law to perform them and no one abides by all things written in the book of the Law. So all who are trying to be saved by the Law are under a curse.

Verse 11, "Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident. No excuse for confusion. For Habakkuk the prophet wrote, "The righteous man shall live by faith," in Habakkuk 2:4. One of Israel's own prophets 600 years before Christ declared that righteousness is by faith. So no one is justified by the Law no one ever was justified by the Law.

Down in verse 21, "Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be for if a law had been given which was able to impart life then righteousness would have indeed been passed on Law." You see, there was never a Law given that could have given life, provided righteousness impossibility. So there has always only been one way of salvation. Salvation has always been by God's grace through faith. That is unchanging. And that will become clearer as we go through the book of Galatians.

So first want to be clear that the Mosaic Law is what is in view when Paul discusses the Law. And that the Law was never a way of salvation. So we are not contrasting our discussion the way Jews used to be saved but the way they are saved now after Christ comes. No. The Jews were never saved by keeping the Law. Also in the context of the Law we need to be clear in our minds. Remember I tell you bad theology always catches up to you. Well, if you don't have your perspective on the Mosaic Law correct it will catch up to you. The Mosaic Law is an indivisible, undividable, non-separable whole. When Paul deals with the Mosaic Law he is dealing with the Mosaic Law. It's popular today to divide the Mosaic Law into three categories: civil, ceremonial and moral. And I don't have any problem with saying well, we can see civil regulations, ceremonial regulations, moral regulations for a general overview of what the Law contains. However, many want to teach today that the Mosaic Law in its civil regulations and its ceremonial regulations was done away with in Christ. But the moral aspect of the Law continues and is binding on believers and the church today. That is an unbiblical perspective on the Law.

Judaism in the first century did not recognize these three distinctions that we have created for our own help. They never dealt with the Law as though it could be divided into three separable parts. Jesus never dealt with the Law that way. Paul never dealt with the Law that way. I say this because if you pick up the average evangelical commentary on a book like Galatians they'll want to tell you that the moral law is still in effect. That demolishes the whole argument of Galatians on dealing with the Mosaic Law. Oh, then you are antinomian. You believe that Christians are without law. No, I believe we are under the law of Christ. I believe there are commandments and regulations given to believers in the church today. That's not part of the Mosaic Law. When we deal with the Law we are dealing with the Mosaic Law and the Law has been done away with. I am not antinomian, anti-law, because I believe there are other commands and laws and regulations given to the church. Oh, you don't believe in the moral aspects of the Mosaic Law. You believe people should commit adultery. No. But I don't believe that the reason the church is not to commit adultery is because the Mosaic Law forbid it. You can't just pick and choose within the Law. The Law is dead and done because of our identification with Christ. In reality we are dead but our relationship to the Law is as dead.

Look over in chapter 5 of Galatians verse 3, "And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision." And those who would divide the Law into its three parts would say circumcision was part of the ceremonial aspect of the Law. But note what he says, "I testify to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the ceremonial aspect of the Law." No. He's under obligation to keep the whole Law. You cannot break the Law apart. You keep all of it or none of it.

Back up to chapter 3 of Galatians verse 10 where we just were reading. The quote from Deuteronomy 27 verse 26 in the middle of verse 10 of Galatians 3. Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the civil and ceremonial aspects of the Law. No. In the book of the Law . . . That's the trap of the Law you have to keep it all in its entirety, complete, whole, unbroken.

Turn over to the book of James chapter 2. Toward the back of your New Testament. Just after the book of Hebrews, the last big book before you get to Galatians. The book of James. I mean, before you get to Revelation. The book of James chapter 2 verse 10, "For whoever keeps the whole Law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." And the reason given in verse 11 is because there is one law giver, God. So when you break one point of God's law, you have broken God's law. And the Mosaic Law stands as a whole because it was given as a whole by God. So I just want it to be firmly fixed in your mind. When we are talking about the Law being done away with we are talking about the Mosaic Law. We are talking about a law that never could save a person and we are talking about the Mosaic Law as a unit, as a whole. You cannot divide it up, parse it out, make this continuing and this not. The Law is the Law. We will see that as we move along. But if you are not clear on that, your whole theology with the Law and other portions of Scripture will get out of balance and out of biblical perspective.

All right. Let's come back to Galatians 2. After that rather extensive introduction. Paul's going to show that any turning back to the Law of any kind involves an attack on the Gospel and an attack on the Person and work of Christ. And in effect he says Peter has been guilty of that, but he does it in a rather kind way.

Note what he says in verse 17. Galatians 2. "But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!" If while we are seeking to be justified by faith in Christ or justified in Christ . . . The reference is to true believers, those who are trusting in Christ for their righteousness. It's interesting here. It is put as a present tense. It's not as though they haven't arrived there but the goal of their life. Their desire for righteousness is focused in Christ and Christ alone. That's true of us as a believer today, is it not. You may have trusted Christ 10 years ago. Are you not one who seeks righteousness in Christ? Yes. That doesn't change. It's not like well, yes, I sought righteousness in Him. Now I'm on to other things. That is the focal point of my life for righteousness. Why do you believe you are righteous before God? I am trusting in Christ alone as my Savior and seeking righteousness in Him--justification in Him.

All right. If while we have that as the focus and the foundation, we are seeking justification in Christ. We ourselves have been found sinners. Now remember up in verse 15 we are Jews by nature. Then into the middle of verse 16, "Even we," with emphasis. We Jews . . . We are are Jews by nature have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ. Now verse 17, "We ourselves have also." It's still referring to Jews--Paul, Peter, Barnabas, these other Jews at Antioch who had followed Peter's lead. "If while we are seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners." Sinners connects back to the sinners from among the Gentiles of verse 15. We are found to be sinners. We are sinners just like the Gentiles. In what way? Well, because we believe you are justified by faith in Christ. We have given up obeying the Law. We no longer recognize the requirements of the Law in food and eating and so on as is the issue with Peter. They didn't observe the regulations of the Law. Well, the Jews believed the Gentiles were defiled, unholy and unclean because they didn't observe the Mosaic regulations.

Now if Peter or if we Jews "while we are seeking to be justified in Christ" are found to be sinners . . . In other words you are saying, well, you are a sinner. You've given up following the Mosaic Law. Does that mean Christ then is a minister of sinner? This is what Peter was saying. He used to eat with the Gentiles, fellow believers who were Gentiles. But when Jews came from Jerusalem he quit eating with the Gentiles. What was he saying? Faith in Christ was not enough. You are still unclean. You are still undefiled. I will be defiled if I eat with you. Justification by faith in Christ wasn't enough to make you clean and pure before God.

Well, then preaching justification by faith and the Gospel of Christ cause people to be sinners. Back up to Mark chapter 7. Look what Jesus taught here. Verse 15, "There is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him." In other words, the things you put in your mouth do not defile you. "But the things which proceed out of the man are what defile him."

This is an aside. I've mentioned before but we got Christian diet books mentioned. And you know our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and you shouldn't defile it by eating certain things. I encourage them to read Mark 7. I'm not saying it's healthy to eat everything but I'm not saying that doesn't spiritually defile me in anyway. So if I have a cream puff at lunch and you see me, forget it. I probably feel guilty but not because it's spiritually defiling.

Verse 18, "He said to them, 'Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside can not defile him; because it does not go into his heart but into his stomach, and is processed? (Thus He declared all foods clean.)" See what Jesus was teaching there. Foods don't defile.

Go over to Acts chapter 10. Remember the situation. Peter he's up on the rooftop taking a nap and God gives him a vision. And in this vision there is a sheet lowered from heaven. He's in a trance. And in this sheet lowered from heaven, verse 12 of Acts 10, "There were in it all kinds of four-footed animals, crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice came to him, 'Arise, Peter, kill and eat!' But Peter said, 'By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.' And again a voice came to him a second time, 'What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.'" Foods are not defiling. Over in verse 28 Peter shared that with the Gentiles at Cornelius' house. "God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean." So Peter claimed that he learned that from God.

Over in Acts chapter 15. At the Jerusalem conference that Paul talked about in the first part of Galatians chapter 2 Peter stood up and preached a sermon. And he said concerning the Gentiles and the work of God in verse 9 of Acts 15. "And He made no distinction between us [Jews] and them [Gentiles], cleansing their hearts by faith." Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?" Here he attacks the Jews who were trying to say Gentiles have to obey the Law. He said we Jews could never obey the Law. It was an unbearable burden. Why would you want to place that on Gentiles? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they also are. Neither Jew nor Gentile is required to keep the Law because salvation is a matter of faith by grace or grace by faith. Founded on God's grace, carried out through faith. That's what Peter preached.

If while seeking to be justified in Christ. So we've abandoned the Law to seek salvation in Christ alone by faith alone. We are ourselves have been found sinners. Paul's saying, Well, now you are saying we are not really clean. We are sinners. We are guilty and defiled because we are not observing the requirements of the Law. Is Christ then a minister of sin? I mean, the truth concerning Christ . . . The Gospel concerning Christ really leads people into sin. Because it tells them they don't have to keep the Law. Is that what you are saying? The Gospel of Christ causes people to be sinners. That's what Peter was saying is it not? He's declaring to these Gentiles you can't be clean, you can't be pure. All you've done is trust Christ. You have to keep the Law. Well, then the Gospel of salvation by faith in Christ alone causes people to be sinners because it tells them they don't have to keep the Law and they really do. That means Christ then because a minister or servant of sin. He encourages people to sin. You know, it's almost blasphemy to even to suggest that, isn't it? Raise the question.

And that's how Paul responds, "May it never be." That expression, "May it never be," in Greek, "Meginomai." May it never be is a literal translation. King James says, "God forbid," which is not an actual translation but it gives you something of the force. This expression is used 15 times in the New Testament. Fourteen of those times by the apostle Paul. It's used one time in the book of Luke chapter 20 verse 16. Paul always uses it in the context of expressing something that is inconceivable. This is a moral or theological monstrosity as one person put it. Such a thought cannot even be considered. I mean, that Christ would be a minister and servant of sin. Such a thought is repulsive. It's monstrous. It's inconceivable.

So where do we go from here. Paul gives an explanation. You note verse 18 begins with "For." "May it never be." Why is such a thought monstrous, repulsive? "For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed I prove myself to be transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law so that I might live to God." You are going to walk us through it. For if I build what I have once destroyed. Now Paul means from talking about we. First focused on Peter and what he is doing. Then he includes himself as a Jew with Peter. If this is what we do. We have to believe in Christ. And if we do this what will be saying. Now he uses himself personally as an example. He hasn't done this. Peter has. But Paul really is not here to nail Peter, you know, to the payment, but just to show that you can't do this.

So, "If I rebuild what I have destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor." The preaching of the Gospel, faith in Christ alone, cleansing by faith alone, destroyed the Law. "It annulled and canceled the commandments of the Mosaic Law, rendered it null and void. Now if I rebuild what I have destroyed." I destroyed the Law, the commandments. Which really did what? Separated Jews and Gentiles. Said Jews were clean. Gentiles were unclean.

Turn from Galatians to Ephesians. Just after the book of Galatians, the book of Ephesians chapter 2. Paul is talking about the relationship between Gentiles and Jews in the body of Christ. Remember verse 11 says, "Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles" and so on separated from the covenants and so on. Verse 13, "But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." Verse 14 of Ephesians 2, "For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one [both into one], Jew and Gentile into one group. He broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in His flesh the enmity which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances." We are talking about the Mosaic Law. "So that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity." You see in Christ the dividing wall, the Mosaic Law, was torn down. It was destroyed. Now Jew and Gentile could be one in Christ. By his actions Peter was saying not true, not true. I can't eat with you Gentiles. There's a wall between us. The requirements of the Mosaic Law which make me clean and you unclean. He's denying the very work of Christ. He's repudiating the Gospel that he preached so clearly in Acts chapter 15 when he rebuked the Judaizers for wanting to put people back under the burden, unbearable burden, of the Law. He wants to separate Jew and Gentile again. He wants to implement the necessity of the Mosaic Law.

Come back to Galatians 2 then. "If I rebuild then what I have destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor." Now the sin was not in destroying the Law. The sin was in rebuilding it. With the truth of the Gospel he has demonstrated the end of the Mosaic Law. He has preached that himself. And now by attempting to rebuild the Mosaic Law and the barrier between Jew and Gentile he proved that he was a transgressor. The word transgressor literally means one who steps aside, one who's deviated from the path. His sin was not in rejecting the Law and not keeping it. He's sin was trying to reinstitute it, re-implement it, re-observe it. That's the issue at hand. I prove myself to be a transgressor.

You see how serious his conduct was. You say, look, the general issues. Let's not mire down in the details. You can see people saying, Look, Paul, I think you could have handled Peter differently. You could have shown more love. I don't want to mire down in all your details of theological discussions about the Law and all that. We all believe the same Gospel and Peter does too. And we know that. We've heard him. So let's just not make it an issue. No, Peter has to say you have to understand the seriousness. Are you implying that Christ is a minister of sin? I mean, that's a meginomai, may it never be concept. You're right. And if I rebuild what I once destroyed, I'm the transgressor. Peter, the issue here is you have deviated from the Gospel. You've stepped aside from the truth of the Gospel. You've made yourself a transgressor.

"For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God." Again, this is going to get full expansion as we move into the book of Galatians and in verse 20 really he will walk through the details of this in a very clear and summary way.

Verse 19, "Through the Law I died to the Law." And that "I" there is emphatic. Really it's emphatic in two ways. In the Greek sentence here, in the Greek sentence, verse 19 "I" appears first. It's one way to give emphasis to something in Greek. You just put what you want emphasized first in your sentence. We do it a little differently in English. But they could just put the word they want emphasized right up front. So when you it it first, you know what's getting emphasis. He also uses a separate word for "I" here. So the emphasis is brought in two ways and he draws attention to himself.

"Through the Law I me, I died to sin. I died to the Law so that I might live to God." What is he talking about? What he is saying here first of all, returning to the Law is not option. I died to the Law. That's a settled done issue. Can't go back. Can't reinstitute the relationship. It's done. It's over. I died to the Law. We say it's a dead issue. It's what we mean, right? A dead issue. There can be no connection, no involvement anymore. It's over. He says, "Through the Law I died to the Law." What he is saying here will be expanded. We get to like verse 20 and then into the book of Galatians. "The Law condemned him. It demanded death for his sin."

Look over in verse 10 again of chapter 3. "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse." For to be under the Law is to be under a curse. Well, Paul's talked about those who are cursed of God in chapter 1. Anybody who is trusting anything else, anything more, anything less, anything in addition to faith in Christ is under a curse. So those thinking that the Law helps them to be more pure before God, completes the work of Christ, whatever, they are under a curse.

Verse 13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, 'Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree.'" Christ freed us from the condemnation of the Law, the penalty of which was death by taking our place. The curse that was upon us was placed upon Him. So through the Law I died to the Law.

Turn back to Romans chapter 7. In Romans chapter 7 Paul gives a whole chapter unfolding this issue of our relationship to the Law. And he uses the picture of a marriage. And a woman is married to her husband as long as he is living. But if her husband dies, she's free. Simply truth, right? Marilyn has the most wonderful husband on the face of the earth. I feel compelled to remind her regularly. If I die, she's free. So say she gets remarried, not that she would want to. And she gets up in the morning and prepares oat bran for her new husband. He says why do you have oat bran? I hate oat bran. I love bacon and eggs. No, Gil, likes oat bran. Well, he's dead. Oh, no, I want to please him. There's going to be trouble. It just doesn't work. That's the very practical picture Paul draws in the opening verses of Romans 7. It's like a marriage and death breaks the relationship.

Verse 4, "Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that you might bear fruit for God." Keep that purpose in mind. That's what Paul says at end of verse 19 of Galatians 2. "That we might live to God." Here he says we might bear fruit to God. Verse 6 of Romans 7, "But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we might serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter." We were released from the Law so we can now live in the power of the Spirit, not go back to try to live under the Law. The letter refers to the Law. We will pick up this expression and go all over the board with it. It's because as Paul wrote to the Corinthians it was inscribed in letters on stone. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai God had inscribed in letters on stone, the Mosaic Law, in substance in the Ten Commandments. So it's called the Letter. I mean you died to the Law so you could be free to be joined in a new relationship. By Peter's action he said I died to be set free so I can go back now to join the old relationship. No, that's not a possibility. It's not an option.

Come back to Galatians 2. For through the Law I died to the Law so that I might live to God. This death to the Law was to set me free but not set me free to do whatever I pleased, to set me free to enter into a new relationship and a new life, a life now lived for God. We have to please Him. This is why this teaching that we are not under the Mosaic Law is not anti-nomian. That's foolishness. We have a life now to be lived for God, to please Him in every way. But you don't do that by going back to the Law. That's done.

Let me walk through a couple of principles to summarize what we've said and maybe just to mention that the principle established here impacts us even though we may not be grappling directly with the Mosaic Law. What He has said here establishes a foundation that we must be ordered by.

Number one, we must be justified in Christ. I made that clear at the heart of what he is saying in verse 16. Jew as well as Gentile must be justified by faith in Christ. And there is no other way of justification. Jesus said it this way in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life." No man comes to the Father but by me. It's saying the same thing. By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. We must be justified in Christ.

Number two, we prove ourselves transgressors if we try to rebuild the Mosaic Law. We prove ourselves transgressors if we try to rebuild the Mosaic Law. Now I would say just by way of development or application we prove ourselves transgressors if we try to rebuild our old beliefs and religious practices whatever they are. For example, if you were saved out of Roman Catholicism, you truly trusted Christ, you cannot go back to that old system. Same issue would be at hand. You say, well, I've been saved, my feet are firmly planted on the Gospel but I think it would make for greater peace in my family if I went back to the Roman Catholic Church. I think it would give me opportunity to witness if I went back to the Roman Catholic Church. You can't do it. To do so would be to deny the Gospel. To do so would be to deny the Person and work of Jesus Christ. To do so would be to try to rebuild what you have torn down. Because you are going back to a system that declares salvation by works. We can't go back.

So when Paul is dealing with the Mosaic Law, this truth of course has broad implications for us. To go back for whatever reason. Peter had good reason so to speak to go back to the Law but no acceptable ones. It had to be seen in its context of its impact on the Gospel.

We cannot, number 3, go back to our old beliefs and practices. We cannot go back to the Law because we have died with Christ. We have died with Christ. That broke us off from the Law, speaking as Jews, even though we are not. But that also broke us off with a whole way of life. We see this as we move in to the development of this. So the Mosaic Law is at the issue of what Paul is saying, but the implications are far reaching for us. We have died with Christ. The old me, the old life, the old way is gone, over, cannot be reestablished.

Number four, we died with Christ so that we might live for God. Total new focus, new center, new direction. Everything is new.

In all of this you know, it's of greatest importance that we carefully consider the impact of the Gospel for every area of our lives. We cannot deny the Gospel by our conduct. You know the danger? We take Peter's doctrinal statement, for example, in Acts 15 and we hold on to that and we ignore his practice at Antioch referred to by Paul in Galatians 2 and say, Look, here is what he believes. He may not be consistent but at least we know what he believes. You know, Paul says, we have to hold one another's feet to the fire. The Gospel is at stake here. You know what happened to the major denominations? They kept their great doctrinal statement. They just began to conduct themselves over here. Didn't live according to it. So with the passing of a generation or two then they just changed the doctrinal statement to bring it over to where they were living anyway. We must work through the details and grapple with the issues that face us.

I had a conversation recently with a man who left the church over a doctrinal battle we had. And I appreciate he came to apologize for all the terrible things he'd said about me in different places. Probably would have been better if he apologized to those people then to me but I appreciated it. But you know he wanted me to know that in it all and even with the passing of years he wanted me to know that he still believed I was wrong and handled the situation wrong. Well, as we worked through it, you know what he really admitted then? He finally said to me, he said, but I do want you to know I never read any of the books that you critiqued. Well, I said, how do you know that the Gospel wasn't an issue? Well, you know, I . . . I don't think they were saying what you were saying. I just think you handled it wrong. You know, we just got to grapple with it.

I was interested Don was sharing with a pastor who came and visited him this week. And the pastor made reference to a book that we are reading as staff. And said yeah that's a really good book. And Don began to point out to him some of the conflicts we had with the book. You know what the man, the pastor said? Well, to tell you truth I never read it. But you see that's what happens. We all fall into that. We give a general recommendation. Someone said that's a good book, so when somebody asks me about the book I say oh yeah, that's a good book. But I never really took the time to read it so I don't know. We need to be careful. There's no simple way.

Why do we work through these? You know some people study the book of Galatians and say you know all this stuff about the details of the Law and that. You know, I don't think I really care. You know, I just want to live my life and have the Lord accomplish His purpose in me and be a good testimony. Let somebody else who's a theologian work out the details. That's how we get into trouble. If you don't know the details, how do you know when you are off track? Is your care not running right? Bring it over. I'll fix it for you. I know how to drive. I know a car has four tires. You get in, you turn the key, you step on the gas and away you go. I'll fix it. You say, no, you have to know more details. You go to the doctor, go to the dentist. I got a dentist appointment coming up. You go to the dentist. Oh, you come to see me. I'll charge you half of what your dentist charges. I've got teeth. I even got fillings. I'll fix him. I got a Sears drill. I mean, we'll cut to the quick on this. You say, not good enough. But somehow we get into our theology the eternal truth of the Word of God. Heaven and earth will pass away but my word will not pass away. We think general knowledge is good enough. You can blend around. Any fool can poke around in your mouth theologically speaking and somehow you are unloving if you say no.

We have to come to grips with what Paul's detailing with in Galatians. There's no more pertinent issue facing the evangelical church today than the very issues being unfolded in the book of Galatians. And we don't understand it and submit ourselves to it, it will be to our own detriment and the destruction of the Gospel that we claim to believe and preach. Let's pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for the greatness of Your grace as manifested in Christ. And Lord, it is a demonstration of our own sinful character. And even as the redeemed we easily fall into that corrupting of the beauty of that Gospel. We are influenced by what people think, by pressures. Lord, I pray that we might keep our eyes focused on the truth, that we might be willing to labor and toil to be students of the Scripture, that we may be diligent to show ourselves approved to you, workmen that do not need to be ashamed because we are handling accurately your truth. Thank you for the ministry of the Spirit that gives us understanding. And Lord, I pray that the truth of this Gospel will reach to the heart of each one who is here. For those who do not know you, may the Spirit do that work of opening blinded eyes to see and believe the glorious simple Gospel of salvation by faith in Christ alone. And we pray in His name, amen.