Not Justified by Works of the Law

Transcript

GR 1147
3-07-99
Not Justified by Works of the Law
Galatians 2:15, 16
Gil Rugh

We’re in the book of Galatians together and the second chapter, Galatians chapter 2. In verses 11 to 14 of Galatians 2 Paul began a discussion or consideration of a conflict that occurred between Peter and himself at Antioch. The first 10 verses of chapter 2 of Galatians dealt with the meeting that was held in Jerusalem, which we call the Jerusalem Conference. It’s recorded in Acts chapter 15. Sometime after that meeting Peter went up to Antioch where Paul and Barnabas were ministering for a visit. When Peter arrived in Antioch he entered into the fellowship of the church there. And that included eating together with Gentiles as well as Jews. Now sometime after Peter’s arrival some other Jewish believers from Jerusalem came to Antioch and under pressure from these Jews from Jerusalem Peter began to withdraw from fellowship with the Gentiles. Now we don’t understand a lot about that perhaps today because we were not raised, for the most part, as strict Jews. But for the Jews any kind of fellowship and involvement with Gentiles was viewed as defiling or contaminating. The Gentiles were unclean and especially some kind of personal intimate association like eating together, where the Gentiles of course would not be observing Jewish rules and regulations regarding food, would be a defiling matter.

Now for the Jews coming from Jerusalem, this matter had been resolved at the Jerusalem Conference. The Jerusalem Conference had declared that salvation was by grace through faith alone. But these Jews in Jerusalem did not have to live out the implications of that. Because they were all together, Jews who had been raised with the same eating habits and the same practices. But now when the journeyed to Antioch into a Gentile city, it’s one thing to say, “Oh, yes. That’s true we are committed to that.” But now, “Sit down. Let’s eat together with the Gentiles.” “I can’t do that. I’ll be defiled.” Now you understand what is being said. You in effect are saying even though the Gentiles have believed in Christ they are not pure and clean before God. They are still defiled and I will be contaminated if I eat together with them. So in effect you are saying the work of Christ did not completely do the job because they are left in a defiled, impure state. And to really arrive at completeness in their cleansing they will have to also observe the Law, Jewish traditions and regulations.

In this Paul says in verse 14, “they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel.” They did not walk straight in regard to the truth of the gospel. Because the truth of the gospel is we are cleansed, we are justified, declared righteous by faith in Christ. If God cleanses me, if God declares me righteous what else is there? So by their very action they were saying that the gospel is not enough, whether that was their intention that was the result of their action.

Paul is quite blunt. He says they were being hypocritical, referring to Peter, the Jews who followed Peter. It started with Peter. When these Jews came from Jerusalem, remember that’s where Peter is from, that’s his headquarters, so to speak. They bring pressure. Peter begins to withdraw from fellowship with the Gentiles. Other Jews see him doing it that lived up in Antioch they do the same thing and pretty soon Barnabas caved in in verse 13 and went along. Paul’s left to defend the gospel. It’s hypocrisy because Peter knew better. Peter knew the gospel cleansed. That’s the way Peter conducted himself when he didn’t feel the, fear the, fear the peer pressure from those who were from Jerusalem. As a result of this hypocrisy Paul said in verse 11, “I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” Paul did this in a public setting. The middle of verse 14, “I said to Cephas in the presence of all.” With the whole church gathered together I confronted Peter about what he was doing in hypocritical behavior. It needed to be dealt with in a broad and open way.
You know, in this, it’s easy to read an account like Peter’s and say, “Boy, I don’t know how he could, you know, bumble and stumble like he did.” But Peter’s not a wimp. He’s not a coward. When you read the, first part of the Book of Acts in particular you find Peter in prison. You find Peter standing in difficult places firmly declaring the gospel. You find him writing his letters about suffering for the faith. And the second letter of Peter he writes in the context of expecting his execution at any time. So I want to have a proper perspective on Peter. Peter is not a coward. Peter is not a person afraid to stand for truth. But you know we’re all susceptible to peer pressure. There are people that influence me and I want to be thought well of by them. I don’t want to have a conflict with them. I’m concerned about their opinion. They may be family members. They may be close friends. They may be acquaintances. They may be other pastors that I respect and want to be respected by. And we just need to keep in mind, you know, peer pressure, we talk about our kids, “And, oh, boy! Peer pressure! I hope they don’t succumb to peer pressure.” But we as adults do it all the time. How we dress, where we live, what we drive, just to put it in the general realm, we’re affected by that. You know, I don’t want to wear my 1952 tie. Why? Well, you might think I’m strange. Doesn’t have anything to do with whether it’s a good tie or not. And I’m not saying I should. I don’t think this is, I take everybody else’s word.

All that to say we need to be careful. Pressure can begin to drive us to want to compromise even with the truth of the gospel cause I don’t want to lose their friendship. I don’t want to be on the outside of that circle of friends. And let me just remind you of what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10 verses 37 and 38. You don’t need to turn there. Just listen. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” You see Jesus Christ will not take second place, not even to your family members. That means the commitment to Christ could involve a separation and a break with your own children or your own parents. None of us would like that to happen. But I must under Jesus Christ must supersede everyone and everything. “He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”

Well, in Galatians chapter 2 verses 15 to 21 Paul continues this theme. And I take it he is continuing his conversation with Peter. Some think that maybe he moves from Peter to his general discussion and than wouldn't change anything. But you get the sense these were Paul’s remarks to Peter and to the church. Addressing Cephas in the presence of all in verse 14 and says, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” Peter, you’re a hypocrite! Before the Jews came from Jerusalem you ate with the Gentiles. You acted just like the Gentiles regarding your eating and so on. Now the Jews come from Jerusalem, you want to say Gentiles have to live like Jews. What kind of hypocrisy is that?

“We are Jews by nature,” and you see he continues on in his explanation. And really, verses 11 to 21 fit together as a unit. But verses 15 to 21 do begin to make the transition to what will be the doctrinal section of the book, chapters 3 and 4. Chapters 1 and 2 were more personal as Paul defended his apostleship and his gospel. In chapters 3 and 4 you will have a doctrinal treatise of the issues involved. And in reality verses 15 to 21 are the heart of the Book of Galatians. You want to know what is Galatians all about you would read verses 15 to 21. There Paul declares in simple concise form the issues that must be dealt with. Then in chapter 3 he’ll begin to take them apart and explain them in detail.

This section contains verses that probably many of you have memorized if you’ve been a believer very long. Verses like verse 16 and verse 20. Twenty, “I’ve been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me,” and so on. So a very foundational section.

Look at verse 15 as Paul continues addressing Peter before all. “We are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles.” We are Jews by nature meaning, Peter, he’s addressing Cephas in the presence of all, you and I are Jews by nature, by birth. We were born Jews. And that “we” there has a strong emphasis. He’s going to contrast the Jews with the Gentiles. And the Jews have a high and exalted position before God. They were honored by God and it was an honor to be a Jew.

Back up to the Book of Romans just to fill in a few gaps, Romans chapter 3, a little bit before the Book of Galatians, the Book of Romans and the third chapter. Paul asks the question, he’s dealing with similar kind of problems in writing to the Romans. It’s interesting, in writing to churches in Gentile cities how much a problem were these Jewish issues. And in chapter 3 verse 1 of Romans, “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.” I mean it’s an honor to be a Jew, Paul says. Do you realize it was to the Jewish nation and the Jewish people that God entrusted His word? Who was given the Old Testament? Who penned the first five books of the Bible? Moses. Who were the prophets? Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and on we go, Jews. God had entrusted His revealed truth to the Jewish people. That alone sets them apart from any other nation and any other people on the face of the earth. What a privilege! What an advantage! Paul, being born into a Jewish home had been taught the Old Testament Scriptures from youngest years up.

Look over in chapter 9 of Romans at the end of verse 3. Paul is talking about “my kinsmen according to the flesh” my physical family, “the Israelites,” verse 4. And he says concerning these Israelites, “to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers.” In other words we talk about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs. Who are we talking about? We’re talking about Jews. “From whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” The Messiah is a Jew. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is a Jew. I mean God had blessed and honored the Jews above all people.

So back in Galatians chapter 2 when he says in verse 15, “We are Jews by nature,” there is recognition of the honored and privileged position that the Jews had as the chosen nation of God. And he contrasts that in verse 15 by saying, “and not sinners from among the Gentiles.” Peter, you and I are Jews by birth, not sinners from among the Gentiles. And sinners was virtually, uh, a synonym for the word Gentiles among the Jews. The Jews could talk about the sinners; they were talking about Gentiles. In fact in the Gospels, and, certain passages where you compare parallel accounts, you’ll find one account maybe by Matthew uses the word Gentile. And the parallel account in Luke will use the word sinners. So they’re saying the same thing with a synonym. And you could talk about the sinners you were talking about the Gentiles. Why? They’re not talking primarily about sinners, the sin of birth. But they’re talking about the Gentiles lived in a perpetual state of defilement. They didn’t observe any of the Jewish laws and regulations found in the Mosaic Law. They didn’t observe any of the traditions and regulations that had been developed over the years by the Jews. So every time they ate their food with unclean hands, the Jews viewed them as defiling themselves. They ate certain foods that were forbidden in the Law. That defiled them. That’s why Peter said when he went to the house of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, and he addresses these Gentiles and he tells them, “you know how strange it is for a Jew to be at your house because the Jews don’t even visit the Gentiles!” Because you go into their home you’ll get defiled. And then you sit down and eat with them, and you’re defiled. So the Gentiles were called sinners because they lived in a perpetual state of defilement because they didn’t observe the regulations that brought, if you will, ritual purity to the Jews. So, we’re Jews by nature. We’re not sinners like the Gentiles.

“Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law,” and that opening that we have translated “nevertheless knowing” Paul is addressing Peter. And in addressing Peter before the whole church he’s addressing the church. And he is addressing the Jews that are there, the Jews that had come from James in Jerusalem, Barnabas who is sitting there who was a Levite and thus a Jew by birth. You, Jewish believers know these truths. He indicates here that all believing Jews would agree with him. We who are Jews by nature, we are knowing this because if you don’t know this you’re not saved. There are certain basic truths that you must know and believe if you are saved. You cannot be saved in complete ignorance. Now I’m not saying you understand all that is involved in every aspect of that truth. But you must know and believe certain truth to have entered in to God’s salvation. And Paul is addressing such people. Not every Jew would agree with him on this. The Judaizers would not agree with him on this. But every saved Jew agreed with Paul on what he is about to say.

So he can state it, “nevertheless knowing these truths.” And he’s going to unfold here in this verse the issues that are the substance of the Book of Galatians. For the first time in the Book of Galatians he’ll use the word justification or justified. For the first time in the Book of Galatians he mentions the word Law. For the first time in the Book of Galatians in verse 16 he makes clear that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ. Now it’s been behind what he’s said because he’s talked about the gospel of grace in chapter 1. But now for the first time he makes clear that the gospel of grace means you are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, not by works of the Law. And God’s grace excludes all works for salvation. So he’s really entering into a development of the doctrinal issues that are at the heart of the gospel that he preached.

“Nevertheless knowing,” and we’re going to unfold this but if you don’t know this and assent to it and agree with it, it indicates that you are not a saved person. Now, I’m not saying you are worse than some people because even the Jews who were better than some people, humanly speaking, morally speaking, are included here. “Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law.” Justified, I have to understand that it is a legal concept. By that we mean that it is a word that would have been understand in a courtroom context. So as Paul used this word the people of his day would have considered it in the context of a courtroom situation. It pictures a judge rendering a verdict, guilty, not guilty, justified, condemned. The opposite of to justify is to condemn. To justify is to declare righteous, to declare not guilty, to declare innocent. The opposite of that is to condemn, to declare guilty. That’s the picture.

So a man is not declared righteous by the works of the Law. Three times in verse 16 Paul’s going to mention this word to justify. Then at the beginning of verse 17 he’ll use it again. So, the repetition is important. First he stresses that a man is not justified the negative and then the positive. “Not justified by the works of the Law.” By the works of the Law will be mentioned three times in this verse as well, emphasis on the Law, on justification and on faith. The Law refers to the Mosaic Law.

We’re not going to go into the details of this, but I want you to be clear on this. If you read some commentaries and writings they will make a point that, if the word Law does not have the definite article the, t-h-e, in front of it, “by the works of THE law” when the Greek text meant, it says the works of law. He’s not talking about the Mosaic Law, but he’s talking about a concept of law, or he’s talking about a legalistic use of law. No, Paul is talking about the Mosaic Law. But we’re not going to take the time to develop that. I think it’s clear in the context of Galatians and through the rest of Scripture as well and, uh, here he is talking about the Mosaic Law. That is what is at issue for the Jews. We are Jews by nature, nevertheless even we Jews know that you are justified by the works of the Mosaic Law. Now we say, “well, that’s true. You know, we don’t go to the temple. We don’t prac. . . “ You understand the Ten Commandments are part of the Mosaic Law. And yet how many people you can meet today are very religious. You say, “You’re going to heaven?” “Oh, yes, I think so I hope so.” “How do you know?” “Well, I do my best to keep the Ten Commandments.” Well, the 10 commandments are part of the Mosaic Law. Now I know some people may misunderstand me here, go out and say, “Ah, I heard Rugh preach at Indian Hills. You know what he said? Who cares? Don’t keep the 10 commandments. They don’t have anything to do with us.” Well you could go out and tell them Gil Rugh says we’re not under the Mosaic Law and the Ten Commandments are part of the Mosaic Law so we are not called to keep the Ten Commandments because they are part of the Mosaic Law. Sometimes we are called, those of us who would teach that we are not obligated to keep the Mosaic Law, people say we are anti-nomian. The Greek word for law as you have translated here is nomos. Nomos means law, anti-nomos, anti-law. And when somebody says, “Oh, they’re anti-nomian, they believe you, believe you can live without law, you live without restraint, you can do whatever you want. So that is not a valid use of anti-nomian. I am not anti-nomian. But I do not believe we are under the Mosaic Law. And the Scripture is clear on that point. We are not justified by the Law and that includes the Ten Commandments because at best the Ten Commandments only summarize the other 600 plus commandments, as the Jews broke them down, of the Mosaic Law. And you can’t be justified by the Law. We’ll have more to say about that but at least have it fixed in your mind. Don’t let it stick in your craw, just fixed in your mind!

“A man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus.” There’s a contrast here that you cannot mix. That’s what the Judaizers wanted to do. They wanted to mix faith in Christ and works of the Law. And that is not a possibility. They are dealt with as two opposing concepts. It’s an argument is how are you justified? It’s either by faith or by works of the Law. There is no such thing as by faith plus works of the Law. As soon as you do that it has become works of the Law. Remember Acts 15, verse 1 and verse 6? What do the Judaizers say? You must believe in Christ and also keep the Mosaic Law. They weren’t denying faith in Christ. They were simply saying that is not enough. That is not all there is to it. It is faith plus the Law. Paul says we are not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Christ. What is faith? We say, “It’s trust.” That’s true, you could translate the Greek word faith, trust, believe. They’re just synonyms; they’re all saying the same thing. It involves an acceptance of certain truth and a commitment to that truth. Now we’ll see that as we move through this section I believe. You know, we use the example: I believe that chair will hold me. But I actually exercise faith when I sit in the chair. So we talk about faith being a reliance upon. The Bible no where defines faith, it describes it at times like in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1. But it no where defines faith but faith is an acceptance of the truth and a commitment to the truth, a reliance upon Christ alone. And the concept of salvation by faith excludes all works. We’ll see that as we move along. He’s focusing on the works of the Law here.

Maybe you ought to go back to Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter 11. You note verse 6; here he’s talking here about God’s sovereign work of choosing. But you note what he says about grace in Romans 11:6, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” So I want you to keep that in mind as we talk about this concept of grace. It excludes works. Paul’s going to be focusing on the works of the Law. But by very definition the concept of using grace excludes the involvement of works in the bringing about of our salvation or our justification. And as soon as you bring a little bit of works in, or just one or two, just circumcision, not the rest of the Law, we’ll just bring in circumcision, then you don’t have grace any longer. Follow along because we may get to a point you don’t like the conclusion but we have to go where the Scripture takes us and adjust to the Scripture not try to make the Scripture adjust to us. Are we clear? The concept of salvation by grace excludes mixing in any works. OK!

Come back to Galatians chapter 2. “Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” OK. We’re in the courtroom of God. You’re declared righteous by faith in Christ not by keeping the Mosaic Law. Knowing that truth, “even we have believed in Christ Jesus.” Now the “even we” picks up the emphasis of verse 15, “We,” emphatic. It’s emphasis: We are Jews by nature not sinner like the Gentiles, from the Gentiles. Even we, Jews by birth, have believed in Christ Jesus and so in doing so have declared what? We could not be justified by the works of the Law. Why would we have believed in Christ Jesus if we could have been justified by the works of the Law? Even we, who are Jews by nature, by birth, have believed in Christ Jesus. Why? We know that a man is not justified by works of the Law but by faith in Christ. Um the concepts are profound but they’re not difficult. There is a simplicity to it that we constantly want to complicate.

Even we have believed in Christ, uh, believed in Christ, believed into Christ, the different prepositions used. All are saying the same thing but also clarify a truth. We believe into is the preposition here and it denotes that committal aspect of, you know, we said we accept the truth. We rely upon it, we’ve committed to it, we’ve believed in Christ Jesus.

“So that we may be justified by faith in Christ, not by works of the Law.” The idea, the redundancy here. I mean you could have just stopped at the first part, “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus,” period. But he wants to not leave any loose ends there, drive home the point, nail it to the wall. “So that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the Law.” Believing Jews like Peter had acknowledged the ineffectiveness of the Law in bringing about salvation. Peter had declared that he himself along with the other Jews had believed in Christ and Christ alone for salvation.

Come back to the Book of Acts chapter 15 to the Jerusalem Conference. Paul is not putting words in Peter’s mouth. Paul is confronting Peter with the words of his own mouth at the Jerusalem Conference where Paul was present and these other Jews from Jerusalem would have been present. Peter stood up and said in verse 9, “and He (God) made no distinction between us (Jews) and them (Gentiles) cleansing their hearts by faith.” Paul said God has not made a distinction. He has saved Jews by faith. He has saved Gentiles by faith. There’s no distinction. “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon a yoke the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” Now he confronts the Jews and says, “Why would you put a yoke on the Gentiles that we Jews were unable to bear? Our fathers were unable to bear that yoke.” The yoke is the Law, the requirements of the Law. You know what he’s saying? The law was a terrible burden but we could not be justified by the Law. We had to come by faith. All the Law was was a terrible burden and now you Jews want to place that burden on the Gentiles. You’re putting God to the test! You’re challenging God! Oh, ho, this is the Peter who preached this. By the end of the book, chapter 15 of Acts he goes to Antioch and we have the account that Paul’s dealing with. Well, you know, lot of pressure there and I’ve got to live among these people. One thing to preach it, now we’re going to go out there and eat with some Gentiles. Well, you know, we have a doctrinal statement we just don’t like to live by it. Peter is being confronted with his own words.

Look at verse 11, “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.” We Jews are saved just like the Gentiles are, by faith. So what are you trying to bring the works of the Law into this for? We Jews have acknowledged we need to be justified by faith. And you’ll note in this at the end of verse 9, “he cleansed their hearts by faith.” Verse 11, “we believe we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus.” Grace and faith are inseparably joined together. When you’re saved by grace you are saved through faith. That is in contrast to works. Salvation by grace is always through faith. So Peter is being confronted with the truth that he himself preached because there is only one Gospel.

Come back to Galatians 2. “Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may 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.” Let me slam the door and lock it. There are no exceptions! No flesh will be justified, literally all flesh will not be justified. The way it’s put here makes clear there are no exceptions to what is being said. No one will be saved by keeping the Law. Isn’t it sad that you can meet people today 2000 years after this was written who would say, “I think I’m going to heaven, I do my best to keep the Ten Commandments,” When the Scripture tells us by the works of the Law absolutely no one will be justified. Period. There are no exceptions. The Judge has spoken. The sovereign God, through Paul, has made His declaration in His courtroom, “No one will be justified by the works of the Law.”

People say, “Who are you to judge?” People say, “Oh, I’m going to go to heaven. I try to keep the Ten Commandments.” And you say, “You’re on your way to hell.” They say, “Who are you to judge?” “I’m nobody! But let me show you what the Judge has said will take place in His courtroom. He’s already said.” Not one person will be justified by the works of the Law. So it is a settled issue.

This statement here is brought to bear particularly on the Jews. Go back to Psalm 143. Paul is drawing from the 143rd Psalm with this declaration. Psalm 143, just about the middle of your Bible, a little bit in front of the middle. You hit the Book of Psalms and I like to go to Psalms because it’s a nice big book. You know, you just open your Bible 2 or 3 times in the middle and you hit it. One hundred and forty-third Psalm, David is the spokesman. And he says in verse 1, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications! Answer me in Your faithfulness in Your righteousness.” Now note verse 2. “And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no man living is righteous.” Well, David was a man who lived under the law. David was a man after the heart of God, the sweet psalmist of Israel. The Messiah would be the descendent of David and sit on David’s throne. And here David declares, “in your sight no man is living.” And you’ll note the context is a courtroom setting. “Do not enter into judgment with Your servant.” What is David declaring? God I need your mercy. You are righteous. I am not. Don’t deal with me according to my sin because there is not a living soul that is righteous. So Paul in this declaration in Galatians has drawn from David’s writing a thousand years earlier to show that even there Scriptures support this truth.

Turn to the Book of Romans again in the New Testament, Romans chapter 3. If you’ve been a believer very long this should be basic redundant truth. And that’s what Paul is saying in Galatians, verse 16 of chapter 2, “knowing nevertheless.” This is basic truth. Peter, let me go over to you what you’ve preached because there is a conflict in what you are doing. In Romans chapter 3 verse 20 Paul makes the same statement he did in Galatians 2. “Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight,” settled, fixed, concluded. Now in the context of Romans 3 Paul has just concluded an extensive consideration of the doctrine of sin. He began in chapter 1 verse 18 demonstrating that each and every person is a sinner guilty before God. In verse 9 of Romans 3, “What then? Are we better than they?” Are we Jews better than those Gentiles? “Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.” Then he gives a series of quotations from the Old Testament beginning with verse 10 and going down through verse 18 that begins with what? “There is none righteous, not even one.” The end of verse 12, “There is none who does good, there is not even one.” And on we go no exceptions. Verse 19, “Now we know therefore that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God.” You know everyone is accountable to God. Everyone has been declared by the sovereign Judge of all guilty and condemned. That being the case there is no hope that you could be saved by keeping the Mosaic Law or any other works for that matter. Why? Well, you know I’m going to be 56 pretty soon, real pretty soon. Hum! Now, I don’t know how many days that adds up. You take 56 years and multiply the days in every year, how many days that is. If stood before you and said, “I’m going down to the courthouse today and make a confession. You know, I’ve lived these many thousands of days but on three days I killed seven people. But I’m going down to the courtroom because I’m sure when they put all the thousands of days on one side of the scale in which I didn’t kill anyone and they put on the other side only three days where I did kill someone I’m sure it’s going to tilt in my favor and they will declare me righteous, not guilty and I’ll be back next week.” You say, “That’s not the way it works, not the way it works. You are guilty! You are condemned!”

Well, you understand that’s what God says about us? All have sinned. There is none righteous. There is none that does good. Everyone has gone astray. Ok. But I’m going to correct that. And I’m going to keep the Mosaic Law, all 600 plus commandments everyday. And I’m even going to do some others that weren’t even in there. That’s what the Jews did. You know the problem? I’ve been declared guilty. I want to confess to you. I snuck over to my neighbor’s house last night and murdered his family. You say, “These are terrible illustrations!” Well, good! That’s what they’re intended to be. You know, I snuck over and I murdered his entire family. You know what? When I woke up this morning I felt badly about that. So I went over and painted the trim on his house, cleaned up the garbage, the place looks great. So, you know I’m sure now I’m not guilty. I mean those kind of illustrations, you say, “They’re absurd!” But we have to put this in the context. The reason people do not understand the Biblical concept of justification by faith alone is they have no conception of sin. It’s like I’m neutral. I spilled a little on the sink this morning but I took the rag and wiped it up and so we’re back to zero. God says, “No! All the world is accountable. Every mouth is closed,” verse 19. That’s not my judgment that’s the Judge’s judgment. Everybody has already been pronounced guilty, condemned. It’s too late to say I’m going to go paint the trim, too late. The Law can’t help me. The Law can’t save me, not to imply that I could keep it perfectly. But even if I would from this day on, it’s too late. Jew and Gentile alike condemned. The Law cannot provide salvation because we have all sinned.

So thats what Paul has stated very succinctly and to the point. Now let me walk through a little bit of a summary with the illustrations.

Number one: Peter the Jew by birth declared that he was saved by grace through faith and not by works. That was in Acts chapter 15 verses 9, 10 and 11. That’s what Paul is addressing when he tells him we know this. Even we Jews have believed in Christ. Peter declared that he had believed in Christ and Salvation was by grace through faith.

Number two: Paul, the Jew by birth, declared that he was saved by grace through faith and not by works. Turn over past Galatians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. Look in Philippians chapter 3, Philippians chapter 3. Paul was a Jew by birth and he alludes to this fact and in verse 5 of Philippians 3 he says he was, “circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.” Now he doesn’t mean he had perfectly kept the Law. But he is saying as much as anyone did, I did. I was as good at keeping the Law as you could be. If you could be saved by keeping the Law I would have been saved by keeping the Law. You say, “Well, that’s arrogance.” But it’s a fact of the matter. He gives testimony. “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” And I think you have involved here, what is saving faith? It is a let go, letting go of everything to rely totally upon Christ. All that I had in Judaism, all that I would work for, all that I had believed was true; I let go of it all. Why? “I counted it as rubbish (dung)” at the end of verse 8, “that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law.” The righteousness of the Law that he had was what? What he did, his works. “But that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.” Paul testifies that he was saved by grace through faith and not by works. And true salvation by faith means you let go of everything else you have confidence in, everything you have believed in, everything else you have relied upon and you take hold of Christ alone. You rely upon Him alone.

Number three: No one can ever be saved by keeping the Law including the 10 commandments. That was stated in Galatians 2:16, “By works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” You can jot down Romans 3:28. Don’t turn there. “We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” You note, justification by faith excludes works of the Law and no one will be saved by keeping the Law including the 10 commandments.

Number four: The principle of salvation by grace through faith excludes all works of any kind from contributing to salvation. So Paul’s focus is on the Mosaic Law, the works of the Mosaic Law. But the principle of salvation by grace through faith excludes all kinds of human works and efforts. We looked at Romans 11:6, “If it is by grace it is no longer by works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” Because I fear that some of us Gentile Christians have just replaced some of the Mosaic Law with our own laws: church membership, confirmation, baptism and on we go. But those are all things what? We add to justification by grace through faith alone. Well, it’s justification by faith, by grace through faith but you have to join church. You have to be baptized or you have to be or. . . . Well, wait a minute. Just like the Jews, justification by faith in Christ but you have to be circumcised. Paul says that’s a totally different gospel. Remember he pronounced them accursed, eternally condemned who believe and teach that gospel.

In summary only salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone provides a sure and adequate remedy for sin. The reality of sin precludes any possibility of anyone at anytime anywhere being saved by their works and if you would try to include even one of your works with faith in Christ you have destroyed grace, you have destroyed faith, you cannot be saved on that basis. So you see what seem like maybe a minor drifting on Peter’s part, a little inconsistency, he knew the Gospel. Paul knows Peter knows the Gospel. So he feels the pressure. Not everybody can stand like Paul. No excuse at all! “Yeah, but these are my family. These are my friends. These are my co-workers.” No excuse at all! The truth of the Gospel supersedes everything. But praise God. Aren’t you glad? You can be saved today by grace through faith in Christ alone. Just let go of whatever you’ve been holding on to, whatever you’ve been trusting, whatever you’ve been trying to do and say, “God, I want to place my complete confidence and trust in Christ alone as the One who loved me and died for me. I have no other hope. I don’t want anything but mercy.” And God offered, “I will justify you in My courtroom, declare you righteous, not guilty. Because I will apply the penalty My Son paid on the cross to your account and it will be paid in full.”

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for a salvation that is by grace through faith, because, Lord, if that were not the case we would be without hope. We would be lost and on our way to hell. Lord, it’s amazing such a simple and beautiful truth becomes so confused, so blurred and so mixed up by our own sinful and inconsistent ways. May we who have been saved by Your grace through faith in Christ hold firmly to this truth and stand unmoved even at the cost of family and friends and associates if need be? Lord, we thank You that this salvation assures and guarantees the eternal glory of heaven for all who believe. We praise You in Christ’s name. Amen.