I'd like to draw your attention please to Galatians and chapter 2. The passage we'll read from verse 16. Galatians 2 reading from verse 16 as follows. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ, Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 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, am 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. And I want to draw your attention in particular to verse 19. For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. In the epistle to the Galatians, Paul writes to these Gentile churches in Galatia to defend the truth of the gospel to defend the truth of the gospel of the grace of God, the one true gospel, and to defend it from an error which some had sought to introduce into these churches, a deviation from that gospel, a gospel which Paul describes as another gospel, which is not another. For any deviation from the gospel, the gospel of grace, is a corruption of that gospel, which renders it void. If you add anything to grace, add works to grace, as Paul says in Romans, it becomes no more grace, it becomes works. It's either entirely of works or entirely of grace. And the gospel, the gospel which Paul preached, the gospel which Paul preached to the Gentiles, was entirely of grace. summarizes this briefly as it were in chapter 1 and verses 3 and 4 when he writes to the churches, grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. That in sum is the gospel It's what Christ did at the will of his God and Father in coming into this world to give himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world. It is all of the grace of God. The gospel is that which declares that man is dead in sin dead, lost, captive, condemned. Condemned under the law of God which exposes his sin and brings him in before God as a guilty sinner. In times of old, God gave unto the children of Israel a law. He gave it by the mediatorship of angels and through his servant Moses. Moses came down from the mountain with two tablets. inscribed upon which were 10 commandments, sent to prove God's people, the Israelites, as being guilty before him. Thou shalt love the Lord God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. None have ever kept such a law. None were ever expected to keep such a law. For that law was simply given to prove to man, blind man, proud man, arrogant man, man that thought he was good. The law was given to prove to those that think they're good, that they're not good. To prove to those that think that they are innocent, that they are guilty. To prove to those that think that they are righteous, that they are sinners under condemnation against whom the wrath of God burns. Accept that wrath be answered. But the gospel which Paul preached, the gospel did not simply begin with the declaration to mankind that he is guilty, that he is condemned under the law of God, but it went on to declare the wonderful grace of God. the wonderful grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ, that Christ came for those who are guilty, he came for those who are lost, he came for those who are condemned under the law, that he might deliver them from the law's condemnation, that he might deliver them from the penalty, that he might deliver them from the wrath of God. Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world. Yes, the Gospel declares that man is dead in sin, but the Gospel of Grace declares that God, in mercy, in love, in grace, has redeemed the people from the condemnation of their sin. He's redeemed them from the captivity of their fallen flesh, from the curse of the law, and from the grip of death. The gospel declares that God saves a people entirely by grace, entirely by what He has done, entirely by sending His Son to die in their place. The gospel declares that Christ gave himself for the sins of his own, that he might deliver them from this present evil world. The gospel declares the grace of God. That grace by which God has saved the people through faith when they're brought to believe on him. That faith itself being the gift of God, not something that man has by nature, not something that man can turn to act in the way in which he desires, but something which man has none of. Man dead in sin, dead in trespasses and sins, is blind. He's blind to God, he's blind to the things of God, he's blind to this gospel. But when God preaches this gospel under his own, he not only brings the message of the gospel, but when he quickens a dead sinner unto life, he gives that sinner life and he gives that sinner faith to hear and hear him to believe and believe him to pass from death into everlasting life. The gospel is of grace, of grace from start to finish. All of grace, free grace. undeserved, unmerited, the gift of God. And anything which teaches any other thing, any claim to be a gospel, which deviates from this teaching of grace, any gospel which teaches anything of man, any part of man in that salvation, anything which teaches that man has a part to play, that anything of his effort or will or decision has some part to play in his salvation. any gospel, any message which declares that man must do something, that though Christ has done all this, that man must then add in this extra work, he must take the final step, he must make the decision, he must add the final link in the chain. Anything which adds anything of man to the work of Christ in the gospel, whether to be brought to faith or whether it is performed after faith. Any such message is another gospel, another gospel. And Paul says of these at Galatia, who had begun to listen to another message, another gospel. These whom he knew had heard the truth, he says unto them, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and will pervert the gospel of Christ. There were those who had entered into Galatia who were persuading the Galatian Gentile believers that though Christ had died for them, that though Christ had washed their sins away, that though their salvation was of God, that nevertheless they were to do something themselves, nevertheless they should still be living according to the law of God which God gave by the hand of Moses. Nevertheless they should still be attentive to what they would call what man today calls the moral law. They must still attempt to keep the ten commandments. Yes they have Christ but Christ is not enough. They must walk accordingly. They must put their hand to it. They must put their strength into this. They must live right. They must live godly. They must live holy. And Paul hearing of this teaching which had come in amongst these believers, calls it another gospel, one that sounded like the true gospel, one very like it, but subtly, slightly, oh so slightly different, a deceptive deviation, oh so slight, Oh so gentle, such a slight, hardly perceptible, such a slight deviation from the truth, from Christ and from his grace alone. It was subtle, the Galatians wouldn't have accepted a blatant error. These were those who had heard the preaching of Paul, they'd heard the gospel come in power, These were true believers in these churches and yet a deception had come in which was so subtle it sounded right. Judaizers came in amongst these Gentile believers and said oh yes everything Paul has taught you is true but obviously God hasn't changed. And you know for many generations he gave a law. And we've had to keep that law for many generations. That doesn't just get overturned in a moment. You should still be keeping the law. And they sounded very scriptural and very right. And these Galatians did not want to be sinners. They did not want to be living a life of sin. And the law declared what was sinful. And it seemed right that they should flee from sin and that the law should be a means of helping them to flee from sin. So they took on board what these Judaizers taught. Because it seemed so right. But Paul writes in response his strongest of epistles in response to this damning error which had come in at Galatia. For though it sounded true, and so it sounded right, he described it as another gospel, which is not another. He described these as those that would trouble the believers, who would pervert the gospel of Christ. And he has this to say of them, and any who would preach such a deviation from the truth. 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 he have received, let him be accursed. Now could Paul say this any plainer? Could he use any stronger terms to describe his opposition to this error which had come in? His regard of those who would preach such a deviation from the truth is that they should be accursed. This is no minor error, to deviate from grace, to return to the law, to mix work with grace. is another gospel of which Paul says, let those that teach it be accursed. You see the Jews, the Judaizers who came in to the Galatians, these people who had been brought up under the law, brought up under the old covenant teaching, These who would come to her of Christ in the gospel. These just couldn't understand how Christ's death could have delivered us entirely from the law. They were so entrenched in the law, in the rituals of the law, in the teaching of the law. They could not contemplate how the Gospel, how faith in Christ, how the grace of God could deliver us so entirely from the law and its rule. Yet the Gospel plainly teaches and Paul plainly taught that yes it had. Yes it had. Today there are many who are just like these. They read the scriptures, they see the law. It sounds right, they read the gospel. And they cannot see that the two cannot walk hand in hand. They want to believe in Christ, but they want to walk by the law. Surely we're to walk righteously. Yes, indeed we are. Surely we're to flee from sin. Yes, indeed we are. Well, does not the law teach us sin? Yes, indeed it does. then is it not an aid for us to walk righteously? No, it is not. No, it is not. And there's the point. You may say, well, why not? It tells me what sin is. Yes, but it gives you no strength to free from sin. And in telling you what sin is, it inflames the flesh which you still have. And it causes you to sin all the more. Though it tells you to flee from sin, the more you seek to flee from sin under its rule, the more you sin and the more you're condemned. Paul brings this out very clearly in Romans 7. Another passage in which he teaches the believers deliverance from the law. He tells us plainly there that we are no longer bound to our old husband, the law, but we have died to our old husband. He likens the law to a husband and we've died to our old husband and we are now married to Christ. We're risen from the dead and married to another. As a consequence, he said, Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the Lord by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. That we should bring forth fruit unto God. Why have we become dead to the law by the body of Christ? Why are we married to another for this end that we should bring forth fruit unto God? Then what does that tell you? It tells you that unless you are delivered from the law, unless you are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, you will not bring forth fruit unto God. You will not. You may take the law and all its righteous and good and holy commands, but you will not attain to them and you will not bring forth fruit under God no matter how you try and no matter how much you may seek to mix Christ and his gospel with the instruction of the law, the end result will be death, the end result will be sin by which death is brought in and condemnation. to bring forth fruit unto God, you must become dead to the law by the body of Christ. As Paul goes on, for when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. The law caused us to sin. Though the law is good, our flesh in combination with the law brought forth sin, brought forth fruit unto death, not fruit unto God. But now, Paul goes on, now praise God by His grace in Christ, for those who are in Christ, for those who have faith in Christ, those for whom Christ died, but now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. We're no longer under the Law. We're no longer under the oldness of the letter of the Law. We're alive in the Spirit, in the Gospel unto God. What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? God forbid! Nay, I had not known sin, but by the Law. For I had not known lust, except the Law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taken occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, for without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Before the law is brought to bear on the conscience of a man, he thinks he's okay, he thinks he's alive. when God by his spirit brings the law to bear upon your conscience you will be condemned by it. Have you had the law brought to bear on your conscience? Has the commandment come to you Has there been a day when you coveted and the sound of the law came into your conscience and said thou shalt not covet? When you killed in your heart and it said thou shalt not kill? When you lusted after something and it said thou shalt not commit adultery? Has it come and has it condemned you? For there came this time in Paul's life when the commandment came, and when it came, far from subduing sin in his heart, it inflamed it, sin flourished under the commandment, sin rebelled against it, for that's what sin does, that's what your fallen broken nature does. When somebody comes to you and says thou shalt not covet, don't do this, do this, you do the opposite, don't you? Your heart rages against it and you run the opposite way. When the parent says to his child, don't do that, the child tries to do it every which way he can. He tries to find a way of getting to do what he wants, he will not be told. And our corrupt sinful natures will not be told. When the commandment comes, sin revives. and we die. As Paul says, I was alive without the law but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law itself is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. There's no fault whatsoever in the law itself. God gave it. What it says is true. but bring it to bear upon a man who still has a fallen nature. As we all do, believer or unbeliever, we still have the flesh. Bring it to bear on one who has the flesh and the sin in that flesh revives and it slays us. Sin, taken occasion by the commandment, deceives and slays. Yes, the law is holy, the commandment holy and just and good. Was then that which is good made deaf unto me? God forbid! But sin, that it might appear sin, work in deaf in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. That which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If I then do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no more I that do it. but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. That's what Paul has to say about the law in Romans 7. It inflames sin. And the Judaizers had yet to come to see that. And many today have yet to come to see that. But when the law is applied by the Spirit as it was at one time to Paul to Saul, one who was a Pharisee, one who for many years had thought that he kept the law perfectly. But when the Lord brought that law to bear upon his heart and conscience, he found that it just inflamed the sin of his heart and it slew him and it condemned him. And what Paul discovered in the gospel was not something that said you're forgiven but now carry on with your law and do your best to keep it. But he found in the gospel the wonderful message, the wonderful truth that Christ having died in his place had delivered him from the law. that he was dead to the law by the body of Christ. Now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held. His old man, his old nature, the old soul was slain. And Paul rose again from the dead in Christ, he rose again alive, a new man, a new man of grace, the other side of death, outside of the reach of sin, outside of the reach of the law. The flesh was slain and crucified in Christ, and the law had no more to say to it, for Paul was the other side of death in Christ. He'd risen again, and he was dead to the law. So when at Galatia he hears of these who would preach any other message, he rails against them for he knew by experience the power of the gospel and he knew the totality of the gospel. that the Gospel had delivered him entirely from the old man, entirely from the realm in which the law's jurisdiction acted. The law was for man in the flesh in this world. But Paul in Christ stood the other side of death. Paul in Christ stood in the heavens. Paul in Christ was alive in glory in Christ at the right hand of the Father. He reckons himself to be dead to the flesh. He reckons himself to be dead to this world. He is crucified and delivered from this present evil world. He is alive in glory. So what is the law to say to such a one? Nothing! It doesn't reach into the glory, it doesn't reach to the heavenly heights. The law's not given for a righteous man in glory as it says in 1 Timothy. The law's given for the unrighteous. It's unlawful to bring the law upon a righteous man. It's given to condemn the wicked. And it condemned Saul as he was. It condemned him and it slew him. And he was crucified in Christ at the cross. But now having been crucified, Saul, renamed Paul, had risen again in Christ, alive, the other side of death, alive in the heavens, outside of the reach of the law. dead to the law, I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. Yes Paul in this epistle shows that the gospel is all of God, all of God, anything else is another gospel, the gospel is all of grace, He shows how he was taught it of God. He received it not of man, but of God. He received it by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Once, as a Jew, as a Pharisee, he had persecuted the Church of God. He'd opposed this Lord Jesus Christ. He'd opposed Christ when he heard of him. And he'd opposed the message of Christ. And he sought to condemn and to persecute the followers of Christ. But there came a time when God in mercy came unto Saul and delivered him from his waywardness, delivered him from his delusion, delivered him from his blindness. Despite his religion, he was blind. He knew nothing of the truth. But there came a time on the Damascus road, when he journeyed to Damascus, when a light shone about him all from heaven. It shone down from heaven all around him. And he heard the voice of Christ from above crying out, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? he was brought to see who Christ was and he was brought to see what he was as a condemned sinner under the law of God. and he was brought to see at the last what he was in Christ, as one who was washed clean by the blood of Christ, as one who had been slain at the cross, crucified with Christ when Christ was crucified, as one who had risen with Christ on the third day, as one who was alive in Christ in glory. I am crucified with Christ, he writes, 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. But righteousness did not come by the law, and Christ is not dead in vain. For Christ's death for Paul delivered Paul from the corruption of his flesh, from his sins, and from the condemnation and reach of the law. Christ gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world. Paul was taught this gospel by revelation, not by man, and he stood in that gospel which God had taught him. And when other men came unto him with another message, he was not persuaded because of who they were. It didn't matter who came to him, if he knew that what they said differed from this, if he knew that what they said was not according to grace entirely, if he could see that what they were bringing in had works in it, had the law in it, had the will or works or decision of man in it, if he knew that that was not grace, it didn't matter who came to him teaching it, he'd stand fast. for his strength was not found in man. His firmness, his faith did not stand in his upbringing, in his teaching, in his wisdom, in his learning. He was not taught this at college. His faith did not stand in following this great teacher or this great professor. His faith stood in Christ and Christ alone. Christ had taught him these things. Christ had taught him this gospel. So when the other apostles, when Peter came to him and he could detect that Peter, who had the influence of Judaism still upon him, when he could detect that Peter, though an apostle, though one who knew Christ personally, when he knew that Peter was to be blamed, he withstood him to the face and showed Peter where he erred. And here in chapter two he gives this account where he stood up to Peter and he defends this gospel, this gospel of grace. And he defends it on the grounds that we are dead to the law, through the law, that we might live unto God, that we are crucified with Christ. Nevertheless we live, yet not us, but Christ lives in us. the life which we now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. The gospel you see makes a clean break from the past. A clean break, it's about the cross. Paul's focus in Galatians is entirely on the cross and on the crucifixion of the old man in Adam at the cross. He makes no mention of the blood in Galatians. This is intentional, this is not specifically about the forgiveness of our sins by the blood of Christ. The focus in Galatians is upon the old man, our sinful nature itself, as it is, as it is corrupt in our flesh, the crucifixion of our flesh, our old man in Christ. It's utter slaying and destruction in Christ. The focus is upon the cross where the old man was nailed and where the flesh, the body was taken away. We are delivered from the law by the body of Christ. When Christ was nailed to the tree, his people were, as it were, in a spiritual transaction. They were spiritually nailed to the tree with him. When Christ was crucified, Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. When Christ was nailed to the tree, Saul was nailed to the tree. When Christ was nailed to the tree, all Christ's people, as they are in Adam, in the flesh, were nailed to the tree with him. And being nailed to the tree with him and in him, he was made what they are in Adam. He was made sin. That is why Christ was made sin. Not because of what he was in himself, for he was perfect, he was righteous, he knew no sin. But when Paul was crucified with Christ, when all God's people were united to Christ at the cross, being united to him in the flesh, he became what they are, their sin. And when God looked down from heaven upon him, he slew him. He destroyed the old man of sin in Christ. He destroyed the old man. He took it out of sight. That old man could not be forgiven. It could not be washed. The old nature cannot be washed. There is the blood which washes us from our sins, but the blood cannot wash the old nature. The old nature must be slain and done away with. And Paul was crucified. Saul was crucified. He was taken out of sight. Never to be seen again. And when he rose in Christ on the third day, nothing of Saul rose, it was Paul that rose. His old man was done away with. That which rose was that which was in Christ from all eternity. Paul, chosen in Christ unto everlasting salvation. He rose, but his old man in Adam was gone. Yes the gospel makes a clean break, it's the slaying of the old man, it's about crossing the river of death, of crucifying the flesh and rising again in the spirit. The gospel is heavenly not earthly and those who are delivered by Christ are as it were dead men here. There's just a carcass lying on the ground in this earth. But we're alive, the other side of death, alive in glory in Christ. We're crucified unto the world and the world is crucified unto us. We are, as it were, no longer here. And it is in this light and upon this ground that Paul writes in this epistle. He vigorously defends the liberty, the freedom of the believer. Because the believer is no longer in the flesh. There's no longer sin in the believer in that sense. The flesh is reckoned dead. He's free, he's alive in Christ. He lives that he might bring forth fruit under God. I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. Yes he defends the liberty of the believer he says in chapter 5 verse 1 stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ have made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Stand fast you're free Now this is not freedom to sin. This is the trouble, people hear these things and they rail against it and they think, if you take away the law, if you take away the law, you're going to have people that will sin. But no, their old nature, which would cause them to sin, has been slain. and that in which they live, that by which they live, is by the faith of Christ who lives in them. And Christ does not sin, Christ is righteous and perfect. And his spirit does not cause to sin, his spirit causes to live right. And their life, that they live now in the flesh, they live by the faith of the Son of God. Their old man is slain. Their freedom, their liberty is not in the old man, is not in the old nature, but in the new. They have freedom from all that bound them, all that caused them to sin, freedom from the corruption of sin in their own fallen nature, freedom from the flesh, freedom from the strength of sin, the law, freedom from the condemnation of sin under the law. They're free, they're free, they have liberty in Christ, they're alive in Christ. and their freedom is freedom from the cause of sin, from that law which would stir up the sin in their flesh and cause them to fall, being delivered from the law, through the law, being dead to the law, no longer under the law, now and only now they can live unto God. For it is only in this freedom as delivered from the law and as delivered from the sin in the flesh that a believer can live unto God. There's no other way to live unto God, no other way to bring forth fruit unto God. You bring the law back upon a believer and you'll see him fall and stumble in an instant and bring condemnation on his head and a guilty heart and conscience. There's no fruit there except fruit unto death. when a believer knows in his heart and soul and conscience as Paul did, that he is through the Lord dead to the law, he lives unto God. He can cry out, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ live within me. I know it, I'm free, I'm alive. Oh the preciousness of the gospel that brings such freedom and how vigorously Paul defends it. And here in the course of his argument against this specious error, he declares plainly in this verse as we've seen in chapter 2, It's the law that crucified him unto the law. It's the law itself which delivered him from its grip. It condemned us as sinners and it pronounces our execution and in Christ it slew all God's people, never to be condemned again. That law's condemnation rang out against the guilty people. But it was brought down, not upon them, but upon their Saviour, upon their Substitute, upon the One who loved them and gave Himself for them. It rained down its execution, its penalty against Christ. God took that law. He read its record against His people. He found them guilty. And His wrath burned against their guilt and their sin. and that wrath burned down upon Christ who stood in their place at the cross and it consumed the sacrifice utterly and Christ died and all who are Christ's died in him. Paul was crucified with Christ, the law, through the law, the law crucified him and crucifying him, dying The law brought forth its final penalty. It had no more to say unto him, for now he was a dead man. A dead man. Saul is no more. He's slain. But Paul lives again in Christ. Jacob is no more. That supplanter, that deceiver, he's crucified. And Israel reigns in Christ. I through the law am dead to the law, I'm crucified to this end, to this end that I might live unto God. Paul has an end in view, he defends our deliverance from the law in any sense. for justification or sanctification, as a means to be saved or as a rule to live by. He defends our deliverance from it vigorously. Why? That we might live unto God. He doesn't just defend it in an abstract sense, it's for that cause. Because there's no other life, there's no other way to bring forth fruit under God. But in Christ, dead to the law. Yes, life is the other side of the grave. It's beyond the grip of the law. It's in Christ in the glory. And the law has no more to say to one who is the other side of death. It looks upon the corpse and it cannot condemn him again. And as far as the believer is concerned, all the law can see is our dead corpse in Adam. That corpse nailed to a tree and taken out of the way. We're in Christ, we're alive, we're another man in the heavens. And if we believe on him, if we have faith in him, we're alive in him, dead to the law. And how did we get there? By grace. entirely by grace as Paul says, I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness comes by the law then Christ is dead in vain. But righteousness comes by the grace of the Gospel, entirely by grace, entirely by the mercy and love of God shown in Christ who loved us and gave himself for us who are in him, entirely by grace that we might live unto God. It's all of grace that man might have no means to boast, no means to glory, that all his glory might be in God as Paul concludes, but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new creature and as many as walk according to this rule peace beyond them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live under God. Praise his name. Amen.