Galatians chapter 2, how the gospel works. I'm excited to preach this message. I've been humbled by this text. I struggled over it, strained over it, sought the Lord, and if you glance at any of the commentaries, you will notice that there is not a lot of agreement about some of the ways that we're to understand some of these parts. I'm trusting God to teach you the meaning with the help of the Holy Spirit concerning the work of the gospel and what Paul is saying in this passage. Let's pray once more. Father, I ask now for your help that the words that I speak would be as the very oracles of God and that you would strengthen the faith of your church through the message of your word. We thank you for Christ. both foretold in shadow and type and promise in the Old Testament and fulfilled and presented and demonstrated and glorified in the New Testament. And so may He be brought before us. In Jesus' name, Amen. On Wednesday, I read a little from J.C. Ryle's book, Holiness, and we read a section of the chapter on Lot. And J.C. Ryle has been one of those individuals who has influenced me a long time. I bought his book on holiness when I was just graduating from college. And it was transformative. It was so helpful to me. But J.C. Ryle, he was a Anglican bishop in the 19th century. And he had his own trials. His grandparents were actually very wealthy. They owned a factory of some sort, but due to some financial decisions, everything came apart and they ended up, the family ended up with tremendous debt. And it was passed on from his grandparents to their children and to J.C. Ryle as one of the descendants of this family. And so he was born into a world where he owed a great debt, and throughout his life, he did attempt to pay on this debt, but he was not a man of means. He was an average person, and he did not have access to lots of money, and so he paid what he could, but what he could pay was not even worth mentioning on the ledger sheet. So great was the debt that he really could offer nothing. And brothers and sisters, I would say that we are in a similar situation with regard to our standing and indebtedness before God. Because apart from Christ, we can never pay what we owe. We are under a sin debt, and the demands of the law are such that we could never meet that debt. We do not have the means, and sometimes we even sing the songs, I owed a debt I could not pay. But then we say of Christ, he paid a debt he did not owe. I needed someone to all my sins erase, and so we sing The song, Amazing Grace, because that's the only way to explain it. And I am so thankful for the gospel of grace. But unfortunately, in our day, as in Paul's day, we have many preachers, even, who are stuck on the false gospel of do better and try harder. And you can bet that even churches that believe in the death and resurrection of Christ, that people will go home today from the messages that they hear with the thought in mind that I must do better and try harder. Sometimes even if it is not spoken, it is the way it is heard. And so we are constantly thinking of self-justifications. We are stuck on trying to save ourselves, and it is an utter impossibility. the idol of self-justification as we talked about it last week. It stirs up in us pride when we think we are doing well. And then it stirs up in us self-loathing when we get even a little glimpse of who we really are. The Gospel calls us to look away from ourselves and to look to Christ alone as the source of mediation. It is through Christ that all of God's gifts of forgiveness, justification, adoption, sanctification, glorification, all of these things, none of them are earned or gained by human achievement, but they all come to us by God's grace and God's grace comes to us through the person of His Son. Everything that God has for us is in His Son. And so all spiritual blessings, Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 1, are ours in Christ Jesus. In fact, I just point out to it, we haven't read, we'll read this in a moment, but you notice in verse 17 of chapter 2 in Galatians, but if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, in Christ, It speaks of our union with Christ and one of the first benefits and blessings, spiritual blessing that we receive is our justification. But it is in Christ. It cannot be found anywhere else. Well, let's read this portion together. Let's put the text up. But if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, Is Christ then a minister of sin? Absolutely not. For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that 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 nullify, I don't set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Christ is a complete Savior. He is total adequacy. He is abundance to our need and beyond our need. There is no inadequacy. in Christ and in his blood and in his death and resurrection. These legalizers and Judaizers, they were accusing Paul of being an antinomian. That is because he preached that it was by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone because he said that it was of grace and that it was the accomplishment of the work of Christ alone and nothing that we could add or take away. Because the Judaizers were saying, well, you are just setting people up to fail. Because Christians sin. And you're only encouraging them to think they've got a free ticket to heaven, and now they can live any way that they want. So they accused him of antinomianism, which is a large word that simply means lawlessness. That we have no obligation no need for obedience and so forth. And of course, all of this was a false accusation. But Paul points out that their actual accusation is not just against him, but it is against Christ. Is Christ adequate to save me? Is Christ complete and perfect enough to save a sinning Christian? They said, well, you need Christ for forgiveness. but you also need the law to be justified before God. Because the law is like a fence with its warnings and threats and the threat of condemnation. The law will keep us in line. And so we have to have the law so that we can be practically righteous, ethically righteous, and that God will accept us and we will be justified, yes, by Christ and we have forgiveness and by our keeping of the law that will give us righteousness before God. And so they wanted this fence. But Paul is clear in his answer, and in this text he gives four answers, and I want to give those to you. So let's go to the next slide. So here is the question, if we were to put it this way, I think I put in it more nicely than maybe they would have. The false teachers. Does the fact that Christians struggle with sin mean that trusting in Christ alone for righteousness is inadequate? Does the fact that Christians struggle with sin mean that trusting in Christ alone for righteousness is inadequate? This is the question that is raised. I believe it's the question that Paul answers here. You can see that he answers it in an absolute sense when he says, God forbid, or certainly not, or no way. That's not possible. He is giving the strongest possible answer that he can that such an idea is completely false. And I want to give you the reasons for his answer. So if we could go to the next slide, you'll notice that in verse 17, You have two assumptions, which I take to be true, that in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners. The Judaizers would look at Christians and they say, look, you guys are still struggling with sin in your life and that's the evidence that what believing in Christ alone is not sufficient for righteousness in your life. And that's why you need the law too. And Paul gives his negative answer, certainly not. And so, what are the reasons for Paul's no, definite no? Because justified describes our standing before God, not our Christian experience. Justified describes our standing before God, and not our Christian experience. So we are justified in Christ. Justified includes forgiveness, life, salvation, righteousness, and these all belong to us by the grace that has been mediated, our mediator, Christ, mediated through Jesus Christ. And we are justified sinners. You understand that God doesn't seek to turn you into someone better before he can save you. Lots of people have that idea. You remember that when they entered into the tabernacle from the east, and they came through the gate, the very first thing they came to was the brazen altar. which represents as a type of the cross of Christ, the death of Christ. And beyond that was the laver where the priest would wash. And then they would go into the holy place where you would find other furnishings, all of them pictures and types, shadows of the work and person of Jesus Christ. But they did not come in and immediately there was the laver. And so first I cleaned myself up. No, it represents the doctrine of sanctification, which involves us and God. It is the work that God does in us, and a work that we do with God. Philippians is very clear about that. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure, and therefore we're to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. That's one thing, but this issue of justification calls for death and life. It is the resurrection, the death and the resurrection of Christ. It comes, we are saved sinners. So Romans 5, 8, but God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 4, 5, to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." The one who justifies the ungodly. It's not that we've gotten better, that we've reached a place now where we are good enough that he can say, no, no, we are saved sinners. We are justified sinners, Ephesians 2. 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So justification gives us a new identity in Christ, and that is pure comfort to us. that it is not me that earns this place, it is not me who sustains this place of standing before God in righteousness, but it is purely the gift of righteousness to us that has come to us through Jesus Christ. All of my sin and my blameworthiness, all of my past failures, all of my present ones, all of my future ones, have been atoned through Jesus Christ, and I am justified, even though I am a sinner. So Luther explained this and dealt with this numerous times in his writings. He has a Latin phrase for this, simul justus et peccator, and it means, you can hear simul, it's like simultaneously, simultaneously at the same time, a sinner, a just, righteous, and sinner. And so this is a truth about the Christian, something that these legalists did not understand. So, for the Christian, these are not two categories that, well, now I'm a saint, and I'm doing saint stuff, and yeah, I'm doing really good, but now, oh, now I've sinned, and so now I'm doing sinner stuff, and I'm in this other category. These are true of the Christian all the time while he is in this life. So this morning, perhaps your heart was full of joy in your worship. The Holy Spirit was encouraging you as you were praising the name of the Lord. And as you were worshiping there, you could feel the joy of offering to God true worship. And yet, it is also true that you were a sinner and that even your worship was tinged with sin as well, that sin is in everything that we do. And maybe it would take a while for us to tear that apart that we could see it, but the fact is, is that I in my standing am righteous before God and that is unchanging But it is also true that I am a sinner before God in myself. In Christ, I am righteous. In myself, I am a sinner. Someday, we will be glorified, praise God. But until then, this is the reality, that we are at the same time righteous and sinners. And so it helps us to understand the Christian life. Every grace in your life also has some sort of taint of sin. It has some weed of wickedness that is growing right in there with whatever good things are also being done. And so the good stuff is all from the work of God and His Spirit in us. Other part, well that's ours alone. We have that part and it will be that way. You know, when we were unbelievers, we could compare it to midnight, okay? So, all darkness, midnight. Those saints that are in glory, it is midday, you know? It's all glory. But in this part of our Christian life, it is twilight. And as we experience life, we recognize that we are sinful. Sometimes it will give us pause. And we will wonder, am I saved because I struggle with sin? Hey, listen, that is a good question to ask. One, because if you are not saved, it drives you to repentance. And two, it makes you aware that you're in great need of the grace of God day by day. And so, it's important for us to understand that we are both just and sinner before God. Let's go to the next slide. So here's the next question, next answer. Paul says, no, definitely not. Because the law can't save, it shows my sin and Christ's righteousness. So notice what he says here, verse 18. For if I rebuild what I tore down, I proved myself to be a transgressor. For through the law, I died to the law, so that I might live to God. So their attempt to manipulate people into going back to the law for their sanctification, going back to the law in order that they might have righteousness before God, a righteousness they could witness and see, not the righteousness that's in heaven that Paul preached. That's my righteousness in Christ. It is in Christ. I have no righteousness of my own. So these pharisaical Christians were offering people, hey, you want a righteousness of your own? Remember what Paul said in Philippians? That I might be found in Him not having a righteousness of my own, but the righteousness that is in Christ. So they were saying, hey, you need a righteousness of your own if you're going to be accepted by God. And so they're wanting to add works righteousness, and so they were impugning the righteousness of Christ. Instead of saying, Christ's righteousness is all sufficient, they said, no, it's not quite sufficient. You've got to get it together, Christian. You've got to live in a way that proves that you are the righteous person that you say you are. Well, they did not understand the function of the law. Paul says, if I rebuild what I tore down, he had tore down that pharisaical religion of works righteousness. And he said, if I go back to it, I prove myself a transgressor. I am sinning against, I am a traitor to the gospel of Jesus Christ. A traitor to Christ because I'm saying that his work is not sufficient. And in verse 19, for through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. So what he's saying here is that in answer to their question, you don't understand the function of the law. Because the law shows me my sin and shows me my Savior. The second use of the law is that the law teaches me how sinful I am. And so the law is not a means of salvation. The law can't save. The law actually shows me how sinful I am and it condemns me in order to bring me to Christ. And the law itself shows how righteous Christ is. He's perfect obedience to God's law. That there's no sin in Him. There's no accusation against Him that is warranted. And so Paul is saying here, and then through his union with Christ, he says, I have died to the law. Through Christ's death, I have died to the law. Christ fulfilled the law for me. And because I am a sinner, I have died to the law. Christ paid for all my law breaking. The law has no condemnation to offer me. Now it's still true that the law reveals the will of God, it gives discernment and wisdom, but the law offers us nothing for our salvation. It is not a means of salvation. What the law does when we hear God's commands is that it causes us to realize how much I am in need of Christ and it drives us back to His grace. Let's talk for just a moment about repentance. Repentance does not mean to simply stop sinning. It is the enablement of grace, okay? Repentance is a gift as well. It is the enablement of grace to turn from ourselves, our self-justification, to turn from ourselves and to turn to Christ for grace. Repentance is turning from myself and turning to Christ. So yes, it does sanctify us, but it is not just stopping a sin. I know of unbelievers who have stopped doing certain things. So repentance is not merely stopping sinning. It is the enablement of grace to turn to Christ. And unbelievers haven't turned to Christ, no matter what discipline and mastery they may have over their own life. So in repentance, I acknowledge my captivity to sin in myself, and my incapacity to escape from sin in myself. And I appeal to Christ for salvation, for freedom from guilt, for forgiveness of sin and for deliverance from the power of sin. So repentance is turning from sin to Christ, to the grace that is Christ. My struggle with sin forces me to turn my eyes to Christ. You understand that? That your sin, your struggle, is one of God's means of turning your eyes to Jesus Christ. And Paul points us to that one. So let's go to the next slide, number three. He's pointing us to the one who loves us and gave himself for us, our Savior. Does the fact that a Christian struggles with sin mean that trusting in Christ alone for righteousness is inadequate? No, because nothing can change Christ's love and sacrifice for me, or as Romans 8, nothing can separate me from God's love in Christ. His death and resurrection works powerfully to transform me. And so here we get into verse 20. You'll notice it here. He says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." This is how the gospel works. This is the grace of the gospel, that we are led to embrace Christ alone as our Savior, and in Him we have justification, we have sanctification, we have righteousness, we have wisdom, we have forgiveness, we have every good thing, we have all that we need in Christ. and what has to happen in the gospel, the cross, kills the sinner. It puts us to death so that we do not have any confidence in ourselves, and we are wholly cast upon the Lord, and that is the salvation that he gives us. It's called the great exchange, where everything that was mine, all of my indebtedness, all of my sinfulness, All of my wretchedness, you remember what Paul says in Romans chapter 7, O wretched man that I am, he is speaking as a Christian, who will deliver me from this death? And then he says, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so it is here. There's this exchange. All that was mine was imputed upon Christ. It was imputed to Christ. And He bore the penalty, and He made the payment. All of our debts became His. And then all of His, all of His obedience, all of His righteousness, all of the wisdom of Christ, the Spirit of Christ is given to us And we have now received, just like in a marriage where everything is shared, and where one maybe brings nothing, the other brings everything, in terms of maybe one has great debts, but the other, and I have seen situations like this, where the wife had great credit card debts and so forth, but the husband had the resources to take care of all of those things, and they came together and His riches became her riches, and her debt became his debt. And so it is with us. We have nothing, we bring nothing, but Christ brings it all for us. And so we learn from this that the death and resurrection of Christ is how we need to live. That every day I am dying, I am putting to death my flesh, and I am dying to myself. And I am made alive every day in the likeness of Christ. I'm renewed, Paul says, day by day, always putting to death our sinful flesh and always being raised to life day by day, renewed day by day. And let's go to the next slide, the last slide. And in this fourth answer to the question, does The fact that Christians struggle with sin mean that trusting in Christ alone for righteousness is inadequate? No. Because salvation is by grace from beginning to end. Paul says it here in verse 21, I do not nullify the grace of God. For if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. He's the one who loved me and gave himself for me. It is He who saves us and not us ourselves. He loved the church and gave Himself for the church. And so, Paul is warning these Christians throughout the letter not to give up the grace principle by which they live. The gospel principle of grace by which they are saved is also the way in which they live. And so Peter exhorts us, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so what we need is more grace in our lives. And the Bible gives us many practical ways with regard to this. Sometimes we speak of the ordinary means of grace. So you've received Christ, and everything that you need is in Christ, but you need to appropriate what is in Christ in order to live the Christian life. And that appropriation comes through meditating in God's Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. By meditating on the Word, I perceive my own emptiness, and I perceive the fullness of my Savior, Jesus Christ. But if I do not lay hold of the grace of the Word, then the darkness of my own ideas is going to fill my mind. The works righteousness is going to take over. The self-loathing, the pride, all of those things are going to bring ruin to my Christian walk. And so one of the ways that we lead the Christian life is by receiving the grace of God. All you have to do is reach out for it, the grace of his word. These are the ordinary means of grace. So gathering to hear the word, gathering to sing and praise God, gathering to pray, for each other to study together, gathering to sing, and so this is the ordinary means of grace. The ordinary means of grace, prayer, scripture reading, gathering, receiving communion, and so forth, these ordinary means of grace are so important and vital to the health of our Christian lives. Grow in grace, he tells us. And so it is the grace of Christ coming to us day by day, moment by moment, as we live in the ordinary means of grace. It's like a river. So if you take your canoe or your little boat, and you put it on the shore, and you start to row, and you want to go downstream, You're rowing and it's simply not hardly going anywhere. That's what it's like to live the Christian life apart from the means of grace. So Christian, put your boat in the water, in the river of God's grace. and let God's grace carry you in your Christian life. Because it is here where you are hearing, receiving, meditating, studying the Word of God. Here you are praying and bringing all your needs because He's able to meet all of your needs even as we heard this morning in the testimony. And it is here where you are strengthened by the fellowship of other saints, and they hold you accountable, and your life with them and in community, it both strengthens them and you are strengthened by it. And it is here that you grow and you're making progress. This is the grace of Christ that is coming. These are not works by which you're earning something with God. And when we start to think that way, well, we're rebuilding again what we once destroyed. But here is where the grace of God carries us down. And so day by day, moment by moment, we are receiving and walking and learning the grace of God. And daily, we are repenting. So we're sinner and saint. And that is why we need daily repentance. It's the mark of a true Christian is daily repentance. Our hearts are deceitful. And for that reason, the Bible says, examine yourselves. Before you receive communion, Paul warns the Christians that they should examine themselves. If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. Rather than incur the discipline of God, He tells us to judge ourselves, to examine ourselves before God, to repent, be diligent, to make your calling and election sure. Listen, there are many who are self-deceived. They are nominal Christians, Christians in name only. And one of the ways that you see the nominal nature is that they lack repentance. You know, they can talk about repentance, and they can use Christian words, but there's just no change. There's just nothing that changes. Self remains king, even while he is quoting scripture and doing spiritual things, but there is no repentance. No significant work of grace is evident in their hearts and lives. And yet in a true Christian, they are brought again and again to the cross and the resurrection. It is there. They die to themselves and to sin and to the law. It is there that they are resurrected to life and to salvation and to likeness of Jesus Christ. It is there that we are transformed.