My text today is from Galatians chapter 2, verses 17 through 21. Galatians 2, verses 17 through 21. The words of the Apostle Paul to the churches of Galatia. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners. Is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I, through the law, and dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the son of God who loves me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. How do you find peace from the guilt of your sin? When I was young, Born and raised in the city, it was always a great joy for me to get out of the city as my parents would take a vacation every two or three years. And we would go to the Ozarks in Arkansas or Missouri. And there we would spend time with our family. and how I remember the excitement that surrounded an evening of coon hunting. Yes, coon hunting. You heard correctly. The hounds were really the ones that did most of the work. All we did was laugh and run and follow their barks. The hounds had a particular bark that was noticeable as they were chasing the coon, and when they finally had the coon treed in one particular tree, there was a different kind of bark, and you could tell that when it was finally treed. The noses on those hound dogs were so sensitive that those coons very rarely escaped. the tenacious barking of the hounds. They could not, it seemed, elude the hounds. And dear ones, so it is with your conscience. You may, like that scared raccoon, try to escape the hounding, howling guilt of your sin. You may try to jump, as it were, from one tree to the next. or from one job to the next, or from one car to the next, or from one marriage to the next, or from one friendship, or one toy to another toy, whatever it may be to evade and elude the howling noise of that guilt. You may try to hide inside some dead tree, as coons are wont to do, or you might Hide yourself in your work. Or you might hide yourself in pleasure or food or drink to find some kind of temporary relief from those guilt hounds. A few hundred years ago, guilt hounds ravaged a monk. Here was a man who as far as outward conduct and speech were concerned was without blemish. He regularly attended church. He strictly observed his daily devotions. If ever there was a sincere, conscientious man, it was this man. He even assumed the most menial task that he could possibly find in order to subdue his pride He begged for food on the streets. He subjected his body to such punishment for the guilt he felt that he actually injured his own health. He went without food for days. He went without sleep in order to pray. He confessed his sins over and over and over again. But the more he did, the more guilty he felt. He could find no peace from the guilt hounds in all of the so-called religious activities that he performed. Where, dear ones, is peace of mind and of conscience before God to be found from the guilt hounds? Well, you know, the apostle Paul could certainly have identified with that monk, for he, too, believed at one time in his life that he could find peace with God through his own mere works and deeds of righteousness, through obeying the law. In fact, he says in Philippians chapter three, verses four through six, The kinds of things that would have, to this kind of person, thought, if anybody would have peace with God, the Apostle Paul, or actually Paul before he became an apostle, Paul as he was a zealot, Paul as he was a Pharisee, this man should have peace. Listen to what he says in Philippians chapter three, verses four through six. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. You see, at one time, the Apostle Paul believed that he could earn that peace with God. by becoming righteous through his own obedience to the law of God. But like that monk of which we spoke earlier, the more he worked to obey the law of God, the more he did, the more he saw he could not perfectly keep it. And the more guilty he saw he was before God. He says in Romans chapter 7, there was a time when he was alive, but then the law of God came and he died. The problem was not with the law of God. The law of God is perfect. It is holy. It is righteous. It is the reflection of God's own righteous nature. The problem was with He was a sinner before God, and the law of God justly condemned him for his sin. And it was, therefore, an endless, vicious cycle that he passed through. Dear ones, perhaps some of you know what that cycle is like as well. Perhaps some of you are still fighting and struggling within that cycle. Paul, in this portion of Scripture which we have read today, gives to each believer in Jesus Christ the confidence and peace of mind that sets them free from those guilt hounds once and for all. So that that person can say, to all guilt, be gone. Be gone, for I am safe and I am secure in the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot harm me. You cannot touch me. The Roman Church And all of her illegitimate daughter churches maintain you can never reach that place in your life where you can know with certain faith that you are forever secure, forever delivered from the condemnation of God. Such security, Rome and her illegitimate daughters maintain to be a false security, a presumption on any man's part to have that kind of confidence in the living God. They maintain it would certainly lead to a lawless life, to an antinomian life, an abuse of the law of God, licentious abuse. But, dear ones, our Reformed forefathers, our Presbyterian and Covenanted forefathers, on the other hand, maintained that a Christian can have an infallible assurance of faith before the living God. In fact, we find In the Westminster Confession of Faith, these words under the very chapter entitled of Assurance of Grace and Salvation. Such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed. There is assurance of salvation. It is not a bare conjecture or a probable potential persuasion. It is a certain assurance. that you have been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ and you are one of God's people. And the confession of faith says that this infallible assurance of God is founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation. First one. Second, it's based upon the inward evidence of those graces under which those promises are made. And third, the testimony of the spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God. We'll be focusing our attention primarily upon that first ground, founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation. You see, the churches of Galatia, whom Paul is writing, were being shaken from the very orthodox foundation upon which Paul had established them. Paul had established this church, or these churches in Galatia, upon the firm foundation that justification is by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. But certain false teachers had crept into the church. Those who were Jews. Those who were saying, yes, one must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but in addition to believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, one must keep the law of God in order to be declared righteous before God. And that, my friends, Paul says, is heresy. In fact, Paul says it is a damnable heresy, for he says in Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 and following, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that calls you into the grace of Christ, into another gospel, which is not another, But there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, So say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Now, whether it be laws which God himself has established, for example, in the churches of Galatia, the false teachers were saying that one needed to be circumcised in order to be justified. One needed to follow the Old Testament feasts and festivals, the ceremonies of the Old Testament, in order to be justified. One needed to follow the dietary laws of the Old Testament in order to be justified. Whether one establishes that as the criteria upon which one's justification is based, or whether one gives it a new wrinkle in the new covenant and says, it's not circumcision that one must have in order to be justified, it is baptism that one must have in order to be justified. It is all the same, whether it is a ceremonial law or whether it is the moral law of God. It is all the same. Because it is in effect saying that one is justified on the basis of law keeping, upon the basis of his obedience to the law of God. Or whether one even completely changes the picture and says, I don't base my salvation upon a specific law that God has established, but upon my own standards in some way. It is still saying the same thing. One is justified on the basis of whatever standard he thinks that he must reach in order to be righteous before God. It is all a false gospel, for they all, in the final outcome, say the same thing. Christ alone is not sufficient to save. His righteousness is not enough. You must add to what Christ accomplished. You must add to His righteousness, His blameless and perfect righteousness, with your own law-keeping. In Galatians chapter 2, to bring you up within the context very quickly. In the immediately preceding verses, in verses 11 through 16, we find there that the Apostle Paul had defended the gospel that he had preached to the Galatians, and to whom now he was writing this letter, by relating to the Galatians A true historical account of how the gospel which he preached had even condemned the hypocritical actions of the apostle Peter. The gospel which he preached condemned the hypocritical actions of even an apostle. Paul uses this illustration to demonstrate that his knowledge of the gospel did not come from Peter, it did not come from any other apostle, but he received this gospel directly from the living God Himself, from the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the gospel of salvation. And it's interesting in this particular account, of Peter's failure here. Peter was one who believed in justification by faith alone. Peter was not a heretic. Peter had preached this very doctrine and yet Peter failed in this circumstance and situation by his actions. to defend the very doctrine which he preached and believed. Again, take note, dear ones, that Christians who believe in justification by faith alone can live contrary to what they actually believe at times. That the example that the life can be mismatched with what they believe. It happened in the life of the Apostle Peter. And it can happen in your life, and it can happen in mine. You see, Peter, being a Jew, had been eating and fellowshipping with uncircumcised Gentiles in the church of Antioch, where the Apostle Paul was ministering. And Peter, as I said, knew that the Lord had opened the door to the Gentiles, to the uncircumcised Gentiles, that the door of salvation and justification had been opened to those who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not because they fulfilled some particular law, but because they trusted in Christ alone for their salvation. You remember how in Acts chapter 11, this is the same Peter. This occurred in Acts 11 before what we read of in Galatians 2. In Acts chapter 11, after having gone to the house of Cornelius, having received this vision from God, first of all, that he was to go to the house of Cornelius and to proclaim to them A message of salvation, that him and his whole household might be saved. When he returns, he's called on the carpet. He's berated, he's challenged by false teachers. In Acts chapter 11, verse 1. And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, Thou wentest into men uncircumcised and did eat with them. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them, saying, and then in that account, he goes on to explain exactly what God accomplished in proclaiming this message to Cornelius. And then we find in Acts chapter 11, in verse 13, very end of the chapter, these words. Peter is speaking here to the same people who had called him, challenged him. He says in verse 13, And he showed us how, that is Cornelius, showed us how he had seen an angel in his house which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. What was I that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. You see, this is the Peter that fell in Galatians chapter two. By refusing to eat with the uncircumcised Gentiles, when a party of Jews who said they were from James. Actually, we find in Acts 15 in the letter that the Council of Jerusalem sends back to these churches, they make very clear they said they were from us, but we didn't send them. that Peter succumbed to the fear of men in that situation and compromised the gospel through his deeds, through his actions, because he withdrew from eating, from having communion with these uncircumcised Gentiles on that basis, because he would be condemned by the Jews who said they should not have that kind of fellowship and communion with those who are uncircumcised. They must first, in effect, become Jews before they can be saved. They must keep our laws before they can be saved, before they can be justified. But Paul, in the presence of the whole church, because of such an open demonstration of sin and denying the truth, he didn't go to Peter privately because this was no private sin. He went and spoke before the whole congregation. as to the nature of Peter's sin and publicly rebuked him. Paul points out the seriousness of Peter's sin when Paul says, Peter, even though you're a Jew, You acknowledge by your eating with the Gentile Christians that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has already broken down all of these walls and barriers between Jews and Gentiles, and that a Gentile does not have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian. But now you reestablish and rebuild these walls because now you have separated from the Gentiles and will only eat with the Jews. And now, as we come to verses 17 through 21 of Galatians, we continue with Paul's speech, that same speech which he brought to the Apostle Peter. He continues with his rebuke of the Apostle Peter's actions and and the false gospel that was taught not by word, but was taught by action. I simply have two points very briefly that I will elaborate on in our text today. First of all, in this portion of scripture, Paul makes clear that in order to be declared righteous by God, In order to have peace with God, in order to be free of the guilt hounds that plague the conscience, the first step must be to acknowledge that you are indeed a sinner, a transgressor of the law of God, that you have not and you cannot keep God's commandments. You cannot keep God's commandments. You, in fact, are a lawbreaker. And so the first point that Paul makes clear is, you are guilty. You are guilty! You're guilty before a holy God. And dear ones, that is no doubt the most difficult step in addressing people, whether in proclaiming the gospel or in counseling, the most difficult step is that one. To get to the place where people honestly, sincerely say, yes, I am guilty. I have violated God's law. I stand before Him condemned because I have. broken His commandments. So often, what we hear rather is, I'm a pretty good guy. I mean, after all, I'm no murderer. I'm no racist. I love my wife and my children and I'm a good provider. We say grace before meals. Then I go to church and I read the Bible myself and to my family. Or, I'm a faithful and supportive wife and mother. I serve my family self-sacrificially. Or the children might think that I'm a pretty good kid. I haven't gotten into much trouble. I've not gotten into drugs or sex. I'm a pretty good kid. But friends, You may have done, and others may have done, some things outwardly that are commendable. The issue, however, before a holy God is that all of us have broken His commandments. We are guilty. You have not perfectly kept them all. And therefore, God's holy law stands to condemn you because you are guilty for breaking God's commandments in plot, word, and deed. In fact, one of the purposes of God's law is that very purpose, to show to us that we are indeed sinners before God. that we are those who are unworthy of the least blessing and favor from God, that we deserve His eternal punishment, which is the punishment that the law rightly brings upon us. Therefore, you cannot be righteous before God on the basis of your own law-keeping. You never could and you will never be able to be righteous on the basis of your own law-keeping. And therefore, you will never be able to reach that place in your mind where you have peace. As long as there is any doubt in that area, where you have not sincerely acknowledged that before God, The Apostle Paul in Galatians 2 verse 17 says this. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. You see, there was a hypothetical question or objection that Paul was answering in declaring this. An objection that he would perhaps even expect to find, perhaps, amongst the people there. To the effect, OK, Paul, suppose we are seeking to be justified. Everything seems to be rosy and cheerful. I'm heading down this path, enjoying life, not a problem as it would seem at all, and I want to be saved. I want to be declared righteous before God. But in going through the route and the way that you have suggested, when I seek to be declared righteous by God, by faith alone, And I come to the law, I sense that I'm a sinner. Isn't Christ responsible for that? Doesn't that impugn Christ in some way? Is He not guilty of making me feel that I'm a sinner? Because I didn't feel that way before. I sought to be justified on the basis which you are declaring. And Paul says unequivocally, God forbid. You are a sinner because you have violated God's law, and God has revealed to you the seriousness of your sin. Jesus Christ is not implicated in this at all. It is your sin, not His. It is your fault and your responsibility, Paul says. I'm sure you've noticed perhaps in your life and in the life of others, how usually we do lash out and blame sin on those who reveal that sin to us. How that is a very natural, at times, tendency. Oh, you're going to point out the sin to me? Wait till you hear what I have to tell you! Rather than saying, You're right. You're absolutely right. That's me. And I sincerely repent and turn from that sin by the grace of God. It was Adam who lashed out at God when God revealed his sin by saying, the woman you gave me. It was Eve who said, when the spotlight fell on her, the serpent beguiled me. And on and on it has gone since then. It's called passing the buck. And Paul says the buck stops here. You are responsible. It is not Jesus Christ. Christ is the revealer of sin, but he's not the approver of it. In fact, in verse 18, Paul says, For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor." That's what Peter had done. By his deeds, he had rebuilt what he had destroyed. And he was a transgressor through his deeds. Again, he was justified by faith. But here was definitely a point in Peter's life in which he had failed the Lord in his in his deeds. The modern psychology puts a bandaid on. a person's guilty conscience by either excusing sin or blaming others, or in some way justifying it as simply natural, or encouraging them to feel sorry for themselves, despite the relentless attacks of the guilt hounds. God, dear ones, heals the conscience. He heals the conscience. when the sinner begins by confessing, I am the one. I'm the guilty one. I'm the transgressor. I am condemned before God as a lawbreaker. And I cannot help myself. And so, dear ones, to be free of that guilt of your sin, you must first confess your sin before God that you are guilty Otherwise, dear ones, if you go on the track of seeking to be, in some ways, now many of us would never, most of us would never say, I'm justified or declared righteous by my works. But again, we live that way. We live that way, whether we believe it or not, we find that we fall into that trap like Peter. But the problem is, when is enough enough? Because you will find, as in the case of the Apostle Paul and the monk that we spoke of earlier, and in your own life you will find that enough is never enough. Because when you think you've finally reached that place where you can finally chase those guildhounds away, there will be something else that you need to do in order to have that clear conscience before God. Enough is never enough. if it's based upon your works or obedience to the law of God. Paul makes the second point from this text. Not only must we confess that we are sinful, that we are transgressors and guilty, before God. But secondly, we must rest ourselves in the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone as the only grounds of our justification before God. The only grounds. Not 90% Jesus Christ and 10% me. Totally, 100%. It is Jesus Christ alone that saves me. And Paul says in verses 20 and 21... Actually, I'll begin with verse 19. For I, through the law and dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. That is, if righteousness comes by the law, Christ died for nothing. If you want to be declared righteous by God and know the true peace from that guilt, those hounds, of guilt cling to Christ who died for you. That is the answer that Paul gives. Rome and her apostate daughter churches have it all backwards when they say that one must be obedient. One must pay God in order to become righteous. and in order to enjoy His peace. Dear ones, you cannot pay God anything because you have nothing to give. You have nothing at all, zero to give, except demerit, no merit, only demerit. You don't even have a clean slate to give to God, You have all of these infractions and broken commandments to offer God. That's what you have to offer God. No one can be justified on the basis of his own law-keeping. It is only and always through Jesus Christ. Paul says, in effect, in the words which we have read, verses 19 through 21, he says there was a time that old Paul, that old Paul stood condemned before God. He stood condemned before God by the law of God. He stood condemned because he was under the covenant of works. And the covenant of works says that if you will be saved, you must keep all the law of God perfectly. And if you do not keep the law of God perfectly, you will be condemned. The covenant of works. Paul stood condemned before that law. He says in verse 19, for I, through the law, am dead. If there is only death, Paul says, if that's the covenant under which one is standing, he will die. It's much like we find in Romans chapter 7, where another analogy, a very helpful analogy, is used by the Apostle Paul, that of marriage. where the apostle Paul compares this to a woman who is married to a husband, and that husband represents the covenant of works. And in order to be married to the Lord Jesus Christ, the covenant of works, that woman must die to that covenant of works. And that happens The Apostle Paul says in Galatians chapter 2, when Jesus Christ died for me, I died. I died to the law. I died to the guilt and to the condemnation of the law. I didn't die to the law as still being a standard in my life for sanctification, but I died to the law as As to the covenant of works, I'm no longer under the law to be justified on the basis of my law keeping. I'm under now the covenant of grace through the Lord Jesus Christ, who kept all of the law of God for me. And when he went to the cross, having kept all of the law of God for me, He bore the just condemnation of that law. What that law, that broken law deserved, He bore for me. He died in my place. He suffered the torments of hell for me upon that cross. And as a result, I'm not dead, but I live through the faith of the Son of God alone. alone, through what Jesus Christ did for me. Dear ones, you cannot say, in conclusion, you cannot say, I have no sin. But you can say, I have no guilt. before God. The condemnation of that sin has been taken away as well as the guilt of that sin. Past sin, present sin, and future sin. It all has been taken away. And you stand as righteous before the living God as the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That is your position in Jesus Christ. And so my exhortation to you, God's people today, is to cling to the promises of God that God has made unto you. Cling to them. When God says, for example, in Romans 3, 28, Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Do you believe it? Are you clinging to that as the ground for your justification? When the Apostle Paul says to the Philippian jailer, don't become circumcised, He doesn't tell the Philippian jailer, go be circumcised, go do this particular commandment, do this particular law, and then come back to me and believe in Jesus Christ and thou shalt be safe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be safe. That is the free offer of the gospel to all who hear it. Believe it, and thou shalt be justified and declared righteous for all eternity. Cling to the promises of God. In our lives, it seems at times there's nothing else to cling to, but to the simple, steadfast, eternal promises of God. This is, dear ones, the only way to have assurance of your salvation, that certain confidence before God. And you can't even be sanctified, dear ones, on the basis of your law-keeping. It still is only a standard. It is only by the grace of God alone that you are sanctified. From beginning to end, salvation is of the Lord. Do you desire peace today? Do you desire assurance today? Cast yourself upon Christ and His righteousness. Cling to His promises. He will save. He will deliver. He will pardon. And He will give assurance. For He has declared unto you, Come unto me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Let us stand in prayer. Our Father in heaven, Great is Thy faithfulness. Thou art to be adored and worshiped. Thou art to be served, O Lord, for such a wondrous salvation. And, O God, the longer that we believe, the more Thou dost open to us the treasures of Thy amazing grace and love. O Lord God, we know that there is really no way to be sanctified if we have not settled justification. If we, in our own lives, keep running back to that particular issue, there will be no real sanctification in our life. We'll be going back and back to square one, over and over and over again. But God helped my people to stay. to see, to understand that it is a trust in thy promise and in the righteousness of Christ alone that is offered to us in the gospel that forms the ground of our justification, not our keeping of the law of God. And yet, O God, we know that Those who are justified will be sanctified. Those who understand and know the grounds and basis of their justification will in fact be ones who are growing by leaps and bounds in their sanctification. So that all will work together for thy glory and for our good. so that thy law, thy holy commandments will not be dishonored by us. But Lord, we will see them as, in fact, not the power by which we are justified or sanctified, but the goal to which we will be sanctified, even conformity to the image of Jesus Christ, who is the embodiment of thy holy law. O Father, we praise Thee this day that Thou hast fed our souls. Let us go forth this day with joy and rejoicing in this feast that Thou hast brought unto Thy people through the manna which has come from heaven, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. You are welcome to make copies and give them to those in need. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. It is likely that the sermon or book that you just listened to is also available on cassette or video, or as a printed book or booklet. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail order catalog, Thank you. by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton, that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.