Hearing God's Word this evening, please turn to the Book of Galatians, the letter of the Apostle Paul to the church at Galatia, chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. This evening we will be focusing on verses 17 to 19, a little change from your bulletin, narrowing the focus to verses 17 to 19. For the sake of context, I'll begin reading at verse 11 to the end of the chapter. Here now, the reading of God's holy word is taken from Galatians chapter 2, beginning at verse 11. Now, when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed. For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles. But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not. For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, But Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. And thus ends the reading of God's holy word. May he be pleased to bless it to our hearts tonight. Paul's apostolic autobiography that we have been studying in these first two chapters of Galatians serves more to show us something more than his apostolic authority, but his singular focus on the gospel, the truth of Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil age as we find in the fourth verse of chapter one. Along the way, we've seen the uniqueness of the gospel such that any other gospel than the one we have been given and the one we have received is no gospel at all. And we've seen the power of that gospel and such grace of God transforms one such as Saul from a persecutor of the church to a preacher of the gospel. And we've seen the liberty and truth of the gospel. that the ground of our justification with God is not through the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. Verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. Such faith Signified by the words of verse 16. Faith in Christ. Whereby we lay hold of all that Christ is in His person and work on our behalf. The Son of God given for sinners. The one, as we heard in our conference even Friday and Saturday, by whose blood God has turned away His wrath and our iniquities are cleansed. The price of our redemption is paid. and our reconciliation with God is secured. Precious shed blood of Christ. And this is where we left our study last time, that for Jew and for Gentile, the way to stand before God is the same. And it's to stand before Him by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. In the words before us tonight, verses 17 to 19, We enter into Paul's final words to Peter. A few of them, at least, will finish, Lord willing, next week over the Lord's Supper. In verses 17 and following, Paul is dealing with an objection that might have come into the minds of especially his Jewish listeners when he spoke so freely and so powerfully about the gospel, about justification by faith. And in short, this objection would have been to Paul's suggestion that the law should be renounced, discarded, set aside in the matter of justification before God. And Paul treats that objection here in the words that we will study tonight. In short, we will hope to see that we are made dead to the law. and alive to God in Christ. And that's our theme this evening, a very simple theme, words drawn from the text, dead to the law, alive to God, in which we hope to see that we are both dead and alive in union with Jesus Christ, in union with Him in our justification. And the two points we will cover follow the theme itself, dead to the law and alive to God. Let's recall that Paul is addressing Peter's hypocrisy in Antioch. It's important for us to keep in mind the context in order to understand what is a difficult passage in many ways. Peter knew the gospel. He preached the gospel and he was willing to live in the terms of the gospel, even with the Gentiles. He was saved in the same way as the Gentiles. He was willing to eat with the Gentiles, which a mindful and strict Jew of that time might have balked at. And then one day, as you recall, some fellow Jews showed up from Jerusalem, from James, and by all appearances, Peter feared what his friends might think of his liberty to be so free with his discussions and his enjoying meals with Gentiles and so forth. And so Peter pulled back from his Gentile brethren. But in so doing, as we saw last time, he sent a message to them that if you want further table fellowship with me, you will need to become as the Jews. To be circumcised, perhaps, and so forth. Peter's hypocrisy, his inconsistency, was a compromise. of the truth of the gospel itself. And the implication for the Gentile brethren would be this, that faith alone was not enough to be a true Christian. You needed to do more. Faith plus something. It wasn't a mere social faux pas in Paul's mind, Peter's actions. It was an attack on the truth of the gospel. And this led to Paul's unequivocal statement of the gospel truth verse 16 even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified now Paul's clear words of justification by faith and not by works could have raised many eyebrows among those who were listening especially the Jews The Jews were given the law of God. They were careful for it. They loved it. It was unto the Jews that the oracles of God were given, as Paul says in Romans. And if they were to renounce the law, as Paul suggests, would this not make them, would this not place them on the same level as those Gentiles? Those sinners, as Jews were wont to call them, as we saw last time. who are known not to be in subjection to the law. And if that's true, what would this say about Christ, by whose authority we are led this way? Would that not make him the author of sin? Paul sees that objection coming, and he deals with it in the words that we find in verses 17 to 19. Let's read them. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, We ourselves also are found sinners. Is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not. For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. These are admittedly difficult words and that's agreed upon by a whole host of commentators and the matrix of possibilities is almost staggering. But if you hold together the thought from verses 17 to 19, you may see Paul's rationale and logic more clearly. And so it would be worth standing back for a minute just to get a general idea of what Paul is saying in this passage, and then return to apply these words to our own condition and circumstances. And one way to trace out Paul's thinking is like this. Paul, if we are to set aside the law as a ground of our justification and go by faith alone, does this not place us on the same level as those Gentiles, those sinners who don't live in subjection to the law? And if we were to renounce the law in this manner, would that not be sinful? Especially, would this not make Christ a minister of sin whose authority you say we should live? By whose authority you say we should live in this manner? How could this be? And Paul deals with first the last suggestion that Christ could ever be a minister of sin. He says, certainly not. Verse 17. Or in another translation, God forbid. It's impossible that Christ could ever be a minister of sin. Far from it. He's the Savior of sinners. He's holy. He's harmless. He's undefiled, separate from sinners. Hebrews 7.26. And for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3.8. And so Paul tells them, let's be clear. Christ is in no way a minister of sin. But as for the objection that to renounce the law would make a Jew no better than the Gentile, we do not live in submission to the law. Paul responds with these words, verse 18, For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. That is, justification by faith alone in Christ destroys any possibility of legal merit with God. And for anyone to reintroduce legal merit into the equation of justification is to rebuild those things which the gospel has destroyed. As if Paul is saying this, The transgression is not in renouncing the law as a grounds of justification. The transgression is finding your justification by the justice of the law. The problem is not setting aside the law as the basis of your justification. The problem is with using the law as the basis of your justification. And that was Peter's message in so many words. to the Gentile Christians. Something more was needed. Works. Faith plus something else. And Paul is saying the transgression is not in abandoning the works of the law as a ground of being just with God. The transgression is resorting to the works of the law as a ground of being just with God. Some mistake Paul to be dealing with the same objection that he deals with in Romans chapter 6, that God's grace in Jesus Christ suggests that the more we sin, the more God's grace will abound. But Paul isn't dealing with that problem of antinomianism in this passage right here. Commentator John Eady said it well. It's not the abuse of the doctrine of faith that Paul is dealing with. but the virtual denial of its sole efficacy. Paul is not concerned with the problem of misusing grace. He's concerned with the problem of ignoring grace alone. And that's the main idea Paul is expressing. And the reason for it he gives through these words, for I through the law am dead to the law that I might live to God. Now you can understand Paul's words here. I am dead to the law in a couple of ways. He could be saying that the law of faith releases me from obligation to the law of works. And that is a plausible idea. And he could be saying that with respect to salvation with God, the demands of the law are so great, and they so convince us of our sin, and the impossibility being justified and saved by obedience to it, that we are dead to the law in that regard. And these have merit. But a third option seems most plausible, and the commentator Edie again helpfully summarizes it. To die to the law is to die to the law's demands. To die as the law demands. To bear its penalty and therefore to be no longer under its curse and claim. To die as the law demands. And the only way to do that is for ourselves to bear the penalty of the law or for another to bear it for us. and that another is Jesus Christ in whose death we are united by faith as we hope to see with Paul's words the Lord's Supper next week verses 20 to 21 I have been crucified with Christ Christ was crucified for his people he became a curse for our sakes Galatians 324 and by faith in him we are so joined to his death that we ourselves become dead to the demands and the penalty of the law, which he had taken had taken upon himself. And we become alive to God. And so to take the thought as a whole, it's Paul saying this, if I seek to build a righteousness before God through the justice of the law, I show myself to be a transgressor. I become an offender. Christ cannot be blamed for this. But it's impossible that I should ever build in such a way. The law only condemns me as a sinner. It only curses me. But in Christ, who bore the penalty and curse of the law for me, who is crucified for this reason, I am dead to the law and alive to God. I wonder if this meets your case tonight. that you're seeking a righteousness with God in the wrong way. Last week, it was reported that a tornado set down in a town near where we lived in Washington State, which is not a place that gets tornadoes. It turns out it tossed around a camper or two, not a lot of damage. Midwesterners, especially even those here in Indianapolis, are familiar with what really happens when a serious tornado comes through town. Neighborhoods are decimated, and the field of damage is a wreckage of debris. Now, what if you started to collect the scattered debris and rebuild your home? Started to tack it all back together? Impossible. And anything you would build would be woefully inadequate at best. Subpar. So too is our righteousness. When we seek to build by the justice of the law. And not by faith in Christ. Your works will never measure up. Your righteousness will always, in God's sight, be inadequate. Because God's righteous demands are too great and too high that you could ever meet them apart from Christ, apart from being justified by faith in Him. In response to this dynamic, I would set before you two important applications. First, to be convinced of the impossibility of seeking a righteousness by the law on account of the law itself. And I speak to unbelievers particularly in this way tonight. Those who stand outside of Christ. A healthy view of the law demands that you see your need for a Savior. Apart from Christ, you are cursed and condemned. The law, as you see it in its fullest sense and in respect of what it is saying, can only convict you. And it can only condemn you. And it should drive you to see your need of a Savior. The law to you at this point is an instrument of your condemnation. It pronounces you tried, condemned, sentenced, as long as you remain outside of faith in Jesus Christ. Paul says here, verse 19, for I, through the law, died to the law. The problem is not with the law, as we even sang earlier from Psalm 19. The law is perfect. And Paul says in another place, but we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. First Timothy 1.8. The problem is with us. our inability to meet the demands of the law of God perfectly due to our sin, due to our guilt. Adam had the ability to keep the law as a means of life until he sinned. Now the path of law keeping as a means of life is closed off to all men and women. The demands of the law are so exact, so extensive, One has said, it destroys all our hopes of acceptance by our obedience to it. And as Paul says in another place, Romans 7, 9, I was alive once without the law. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the law kills any kind of self-righteousness that we might have before God. It's probably true what one has observed. I paraphrase. If we have a low view of the law, the demands of the law, we will have a low view of our need of a Savior. And we could reverse it the other direction. If we have a low view of our need for a Savior, we probably have a low view of the demands of God's law. Please understand. Tonight we are tracing out the law as it convicts of sin, as we are dead to it, not as the law is a rule of life. We'll have opportunity to treat that at another time. The point Paul is making is uncompromising in these terms. The path of life, the path of peace, the path of favor with God cannot be had through presenting your works to him to curry his reward. to carry his favor, but by trusting in Jesus Christ. To follow Paul's course, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. And so the first point of application is this. Be convinced of the impossibility of seeking a righteousness by the law on account of the law itself. But the second point of application is similar. Be convinced of the inconsistency. Of seeking a righteousness by the law. On account of justification. And here I speak mainly to believers tonight. If you're tempted down the path. even in some small way, to build favor with God through your works. Realize that such a path is not only impossible, but such a path is inconsistent with who you are in Jesus Christ and who you are on account of your justification. And we can do this in so many little easy ways. Let's give one example. Perhaps it could be as subtle as this. I'll do better this week in my prayer and Bible reading, and then God will be pleased with me. You follow the pattern and apply it to your own life. To curry favor with God In another way, apart from the gospel, is inconsistent with your standing with God, with your justification. It's interesting in verse 17 that Paul uses the phrase justified by Christ. That can also be translated justified in Christ. And that actually puts a nice shade of meaning on that phrase because it shows that we have a personal and close union with Jesus Christ when we lay hold of Him by faith. Luther, I believe, said that faith is the ring that clasps the diamond. That is Christ. But I would say also that faith brings us closer to Christ than even that. We are not justified just by faith in Christ, but we are justified in Christ. We're brought to union with Christ. We are in Him. We have a living union, as the commentator John Eady put it. Such a union, he said, in which faith, any power of divine grace or saving efficacy is not possible. He said the soul out of union with Christ is faithless, unforgiven, and lifeless. So when you rely on your performances, for favor with God, even in some small way. You obscure the gospel. That's what Peter was doing. To paraphrase a Scottish commentator, you are setting up with one hand what you are pulling down with another. Christ did not come, did not die on the cross to complete what you could not do, as if it's a team effort. Christ died to do what you could never do. to bring you into a right standing with God. And to do otherwise is to say in effect that Christ died in vain. In so many words, Paul makes that clear in verse 21. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. For those who stand outside of Christ tonight, or those who might be ensnared even unwittingly in the same pattern that Peter found himself at Antioch, obscuring the gospel through some form of works righteousness or self-righteousness, might you be convinced of the impossibility of favor with God through law-keeping or the inconsistency of anything that obscures the favor that can be had only through Jesus Christ, only by justification in Him. Paul's words lead us to consider the impossibility and consistency of seeking such a righteousness by the law. Commentator Charles Simeon put it well. See that the law does nothing but curse you. Yea, deservedly and eternally curse you and see that the new covenant that has been made with us in Christ Jesus is our proper refuge. That we may flee to it and lay hold upon it and find acceptance by it and let this covenant by all your salvation be all your salvation and all your desire. And so we see first tonight dead to the law. But it's to this end that a soul is joined to Christ by faith, that I might live to God, as Paul says at the end of verse 19. We hope to take up this life in more detail going forward in our study, but there are two points on which we should close this evening. One, preserving God's order and two, serving God's honor under this idea of a life to God. Preserving God's order and serving God's honor. Notice the order of the words. For I through the law died to the law that I might live unto God. If it wasn't such a problem in the history of the Church, we wouldn't have to stop and consider the order of these words. But the history of the Church, particularly as we see it in the past in the rise of Roman Catholicism, but we also see it present in other kinds of Gospels, is one in which the order gets reversed. So it could be expressed this way, you must be alive to the law or you'll be dead to God. So many religions get it backwards. But Paul clearly expresses a different order. You must first die to the law and live to God. The first says, do the law and live. And the second says, die to the law and live. And what is Paul saying but this? I must die to the law in order to live unto God. And this not only dealt with Peter's problem in Antioch, but as Paul writes, it seems, he has various layers of the onion that touch upon other layers. It appears he's beginning to open up the doctrine that he is going to expound to the church at Galatia to deal with their particular trap, their particular problem. must die to the law in order to live with God. We must become dead to the doing more model of favor with God. And if you insist on reversing the order that you must become alive to the law or dead to God, you will face a life in which your performances with God will never add up, will never be enough. Life with God will be the proverbial track workout. One more lap. One more lap. Good will never be good enough. There's always more performance that's needed with God. It's almost paradoxical, really. In order to live fully for God, to do more for Him and for His glory, You must first become dead. You must first find your peace and your reconciliation and your assurance that God is pleased with you, not on account of what you are doing, but on account of his son. This is my son and whom I am well pleased. Hear him. And out of that justification and living union with Christ, you will find liberty to serve Him. Yes, even die to yourself and live fully for Him in this life. And so we see first the order of these words and the importance of maintaining the order that Paul gives us. And secondly, in closing, we see serving God's honor. Paul says, for I through the law verse 19, died to the law that, what? I might live unto God. We'll have opportunity to look at this in greater detail going forward. But these words capture the essence of Christian living, true Christian living, that I might live unto God. The order of the words even provides us our motive to live unto God. Our motive to serve God by obeying His law is not to achieve something with God, but to serve and honor Him who has accomplished all that we could not accomplish and made it possible to live for Him. That's our motive. Not to achieve something with God, but to serve Him in whom we live and move. and have our being. The world will tell you that grace removes the motive to serve God. But Paul tells us that grace enables us and moves us to serve him. For I through the law die to the law that I might live unto God. Commentator John Brown observes well that law had its full course with Christ. It was glorified in Christ. He obeyed it perfectly in his life. He suffered its penalties in his death. And I am so joined to him that this law no longer holds anything over me with regard to justification. And that my liberty and freedom is found in him to live a life holy before him. The world may see you being over-righteous with much, as one put it, but your response to that can be this, I am living life in its highest form. That is a life in which I have been cleansed by the blood of Christ and brought to serve the true and living God. It's not a life of bondage. The only bondage we know has been to the law when it stands against us, when it stands over us, when it curses us. But in Christ, I am made dead to the law and alive to God, and now I am enabled to serve and have a life consecrated to Him. That is the highest living we have on this site of glory. as one put it well, life originated and fostered by the Spirit of God, the life of faith, the true life of the soul of Christ living in it. Let us pray. Our God and our Father, we thank you for the great gift of faith. Faith as so joins us to Christ in a living and real union. in which we die in His death and are made dead to the law and its penalty and curse, in which we are made alive by Him. We pray, O God, that You would move our spirits to serve You more fully. Turn aside from every way that would displease You. And that You would also, Lord, protect our minds and our hearts from a performance-minded approach to serving you and rather serve you out of full gratitude and love what you have done for us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.