Galatians 2:16 to 2:21

As I was saying, the Book of Galatians is a poem. It's packed with so much truth. If we just take the time to read carefully, unfortunately, in the world today, it's so twisted and misinterpreted. And therefore, I've been going through this study. I've started a few weeks back, and I've been doing it more or less. I'm trying to do it once a month, going through a little bit of the Book of Galatians. And we can read right at the beginning in verse 1 of chapter 1, Paul saying that he is an apostle, and then he emphasizes, and he says, I was not made an apostle by man. And indeed, this is true. God's ministers are not made God's ministers or ministers of Jesus Christ by man. It is God that appoints ministers. God that appoints his man to serve him. But specifically, in the case of Paul, he was saying he had been trained personally by Christ.

And that is basically what he's saying by saying, you know, I'm not in this position because I decided and I self-appointed myself to this position. And then a little bit further on, in verse 4 he says, he's talking about the grace that is given to us, the kindness, the loving kindness that is given to us by God through Christ, who gave himself for our sins.

According to God's will.

This is basically, think about it, what we call in English, the SPS or the specific purpose statement.

This is the very purpose of this epistle to emphasize that Christ is by whom we are forgiven and we made right with God.

That is the point. And then he also says that he might deliver us from this evil age. That is also a prophetic statement. Think about it. We live in an age which is evil, but it will not always be so. The end of this age will come and he's going to deliver us from this age, ultimately, and he's going to save the world. And thereafter, as we heard previously, there will be a time when there'll be a new heaven and new earth wherein righteousness dwells. So this present evil age, as he calls it in verse 4, it's a temporary thing, very temporary.

And God allows it for a purpose.

But as he says, look, I am not, going back to verse 1, I am not self-appointed. Christ has instructed me. Christ has died for us.

That's what basically he's saying, that's what I've been preaching to you. And I'm amazed that he says in verse 6 that already there are people twisting this understanding that you and I are justified by Christ.

And this holy puzzle is about that, is to understand that you and I are justified, in other words, made right with God by Christ, not by our own actions or deeds.

He then explains a little bit more in verse 11, starting there, he's talking about the gospel, and he's saying, look, I was very dedicated to God in the, what he calls it, in his former conduct in Judaism. I'm not speaking anything wrong against the Jewish people. I'm just talking that, and he was not, but he was either saying anything wrong against Jewish people. But he was saying that approach of the religion, as we heard in the sermon, had things that were not correct, and that's why often Christ criticized them. And Paul is saying, I was very committed in that approach.

But when God chose and decided, it hit his head, quote unquote, and opened his mind, and it said, you're doing it wrong.

And then he says, in verse 17, he went to Arabia. And when Christ somehow instructed him personally, he didn't go to the apostles to get that information. Verse, in a sense, is the first chapter of Galatians. And then he says, after 14 years, which we know is the Jerusalem Conference of Acts 15, that is, after his first pastoral trip, his first missionary trip, then he went to Jerusalem, and then he says, and this was because there were some false Christians, some false Christians, saying things that had come in secretly under stealth, as under the radar, and had infiltrated wrong understanding. And that understanding is that we have, is that we have been freely given the gift. We've been freely given the gift that our sins are forgiven, and we've done nothing for it. Gharatus, freely. Freely.

But these people were saying, no, you are forgiven by, or you can only be forgiven in addition to that, by doing certain things. And Paul is saying, no, you are forgiven freely by Christ, not by any deeds of law. Any law does not pay sins or breaking of a law. You are not forgiven by, or by the law.

And that kind of was the problem, the barrier that those people had in their mind.

And then even when they went to Jerusalem Conference and they agreed that, and they said, yeah, that is correct. You can read that in Acts 15. Then after that, Peter came, you can read that in Galatians 2 verse 11 from there, and he came to Antioch, and then he was not acting correctly, as we read, for instance, in verse 14. He was not being straightforward about the truth of the Gospel. In other words, he was not behaving himself correctly. He was being or showing a degree of hypocrisy. And so under that context, he then says, we, who we are Jews by nature, verse 15, you know, not the Gentiles, which the Jews normally call them, they sinners, the Gentiles are sinners, kind of putting the Jews being self-righteous. Again, I'm not speaking anything against the Jews. People, I'm just saying an attitude that was prevalent was, we are better than thou type of thing. We are better than you. So, and he says, but we, and even being Jews, but now being Christians, know, verse 16, that a man is not justified. A man is not declared righteous. A man is not made right with God. A man is not reconciled with God. A man is not made without sin before God, by works of law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. And that's where we stopped in the previous study. And so today, we want to go into this verse, verse 16, in a lot more detail, and then we'll make a little bit of progress in this chapter today. So, let's read verse 16 again. Knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, and I'm reading it as it should be read and translated. And I'll go through that, explaining to that in a moment, step by step. So, we are justified, you're not justified by works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus. So, so what? That we might be justified by faith of Christ, and not by works of law. For by works of law, no flesh shall be justified.

Let me put it very simply. We believe that for us to be right with God, for us to be without sin before God, we are made right by the faith of Jesus Christ. And by the way, that is not just believing in Christ, or believing in His sacrifice, because that requires also a commitment to obey God. And I'll go into that very clearly. So, it's not just believe in Christ, and we'll be saved. But the world subtly twists the scripture. So, it is important for us to understand this verse clearly, because the sum of the whole issue is, we have the law, and we have grace. We have both. And they both are critical and important. What this world puts it, is that it's grace, and we don't need a law. And that's wrong. So, let us understand very clearly the functions of each one.

The function of the law is to tell us what is sin.

The function of grace is to justify us. It's to make us right. It's to forgive us.

Through the faith of Jesus Christ. And grace has got many other benefits, many other gifts, not just that, of course. What I'm saying, I'm trying to say it slowly and carefully, that is no misunderstanding, is that obeying the law does not pay the fine of breaking the law.

Think about it. Obine the law does not pay the fine of breaking the law. Say for instance, let me take a simple analogy.

Say for instance, you have been involved in drugs, and you've been dealing with drugs. Obviously you haven't, but it's just an analogy, an example. And now there's a penalty for that when you get caught. Whatever the penalty, whatever the degree of drug abuse or usage or whatever, maybe there'll be a level of penalty. There's a fine. There's something that you have to pay, or either be in jail for a certain time period or pay a certain fine or whatever it is.

Once that fine is paid, and you are free back in the streets, you are not now quote-unquote free to deal with drugs again.

You see, there was a payment for that breaking the law, but now you still have to obey the law even though that payment has been done. So once the payment has been done, it does not mean now that the law is done away or abolished us. We heard in the sermon that a very good example explained that principle.

In fact, if you think about it, really, if you think about it, if you've been dealing with drugs, and now for some reason a fine is being paid and you're now free, what did they put you in? In a rehabilitation, right? A rehab. You've got to go through a rehab. What is the intention of the rehabilitation?

Is that you don't do it again? Is that the case? Is that you don't do it again? You rehabilitate it. You kind of decontaminate it of that drug, influence, whatever it is, and you helped maybe. You got to a rehab center and you trained and whatever it is, and you helped because you don't want to go back to the same habit or wrong behavior. So you see there's two things. There's a law that says you don't deal with drugs, don't do things with drugs, but then there is a separate entity or thing that is a fine that you have to pay, and once that is paid, then you have to go through a rehabilitation to get yourself right with the intent of not doing it again. So what is the law? The law tells us what is wrong. The law tells us don't deal with drugs or whatever it is. The law tells us what it is, and then there is a fine or a payment of that breaking of the law. Looking at it spiritually now, let's look at Romans chapter 4 verse 15. We're going to look at a few scriptures here in Romans at this moment. Romans chapter 4 verse 15 says the law brings about wrath. Here was the law brings about a punishment. Now, let me ask you a question. Does the law of dealing with drugs bring you any punishment? No. Why? Because you're not breaking the law or dealing with drugs. So it doesn't bring you any punishment. So to whom does the law bring a punishment? Those people that are what? Breaking the law. Those people that are breaking the law are under the punishment of the law. In other words, they are under the law. Why? Because they're breaking the law. So the law says you break the law so that under the law, under the jurisdiction of that law, and that law says x, y, z, fine, or penalty. You are only under wrath by the law if you're breaking the law.

So let's continue. Because the law brings about wrath. Why? Because people are breaking the law, because they are under the law. They're breaking the law. Therefore, they're under the punishment of the law. For where there is no law, there's no transgression. Oh, if there was no law that says, oh, you can deal with... there's no law against dealing with marijuana, you can freely buy it and sell it, then there's no punishment. Then there's no transgression. But if there's a law that says you can't deal with it, and you know that that's what's happening today. Some laws were in practice a few years back, and today they say, oh well, now you can have these drugs. It's okay. For recreational use, it's okay. So, in a sense, they're changing the law. But God's law doesn't change. It's permanent. But the point is that, yeah, for where there is no law, there's no transgression. In other words, the law defines what is the transgression, defines what is sin. That's what you and I read in Romans 3 verse 20. Read with me, please, Romans 3 verse 20.

It says, therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh should be justified. Just because you don't deal in drugs does not pay for the fine of having dealt in drugs. You can't go to to say, well, you better fine. It says, oh okay, I won't deal in drugs anymore. That doesn't pay the fine. That doesn't pay the fine. So, the deeds of the law, you won't be justified. You, in this case, talking about God's law and being justified with God. For the law, or by your pardon, for by the law at the end of verse 20, is the knowledge of sin. The law defines what is right and what is wrong. The law, the purpose of the law is to define what is right and what is wrong.

The purpose of the law is not to forgive. The purpose of the law is to define what is right and wrong and, in fact, define what is the punishment for breaking it.

So, the law does not pay for sin, does not forgive. Neither is the function, for instance, of the ceremonial law, the law of sacrifices, to pay for sins. The ceremonial law was only an analogy or a symbolic or some a shadow of the real sacrifice, which is Christ. So, the ceremonial law was just pointing to Christ, because the real because the real payment of sins is the sacrifice of Christ. So, the ceremonial law was only, let's call it, a metaphor or an analogy to bring us to that understanding. So, why a law? A law is there for our good. For instance, you have laws of traffic that shows you how to drive on the road, etc. Why? So that you don't cause accidents. It's for your good. You have laws of aviation. If you are a pilot, there's various laws, and you've got to do certain things according to certain laws. For what reason? For the safety and good of everyone flying. Thank God your pilot obeys the laws, otherwise you'd be in danger, right? So, the laws are there for your good. Do they pay the fine for breaking the law? Does the law pay the fine? No.

You see, obeying the law or works of the law never pay the fine. They never make us right with God. Therefore, God's Ten Commandments do not pay for your sins and my sins.

God's Ten Commandments do not forgive us.

God's Ten Commandments do not justify us. Think clearly about this now. If you and I were forgiven by obeying a law, or any law of the Ten Commandments, or the ceremonial law, or whatever it is, then why did Christ have to die for our sins? Why did God have to send the Father, to send his only begotten Son, to die and suffer for us? If there was a law that would fix it up, he would say, well, just obey that law. Why send his Son?

Therefore, the law cannot pay for our sins. Therefore, if the law paid for our sins, then why would Christ, which was in the form of God, Philippians 2 verse 6, empty himself to be in the form of man, Philippians 2 verse 7, and not only that, but humble himself to death, voluntarily.

Why did he humble himself? Why did he leave the form of God to become of the form of man, Philippians 2 verse 6 and 7? If there was a law that forgivers our sins, why did he go through that suffering?

And also, people say, oh well, because of this now God has changed the law. God changed his mind, so the law's done away. Well, if God can do away with the law, why didn't he do it away before Christ dying and suffering? If he can change the law, why didn't he do it before? You see, this reasoning is faulty, very faulty.

Now, why doesn't God change the law? Because the law is love, because the law is for our good, because God is love and the law is only an expression of what God is and what we need to be. There's nothing, nothing wrong with the law, nothing. It's for our good. Therefore, why would God change his character of love? Of love, because there's nothing wrong with the law.

Now, for instance, think about it. Some rulers of this world say, now that I'm a ruler, or a president, or whatever it is, I don't have to obey the law. I'm above the law. I can do whatever I feel like. Imagine if God did that. Even God himself, as God, obeys the law. It doesn't, it's not a part of the law. Well, that's something.

Therefore, we conclude that Jesus Christ had to die for our sins. He had to, because life for life, and when we break God's law, the wages of sin is death. Romans 6 verse 23. So, he had to die for us. To pay, to buy our lives back.

Therefore, any human effort, any effort from any person to try and earn salvation by obeying a law is legalism.

And that's what we were getting a message in the sermon, that mankind, through their own human reasoning, which I call it human reasoning apart from God, mankind in their human reasoning apart from God, felt that, I thought it was very well put when he said that man thinks that he can do better than God and create something better than God's law. Ridiculous, ridiculous. And, but that is like legalism. Or, put it another way, that's works of the law, or works of law.

Only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ can forgive sins.

Only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ can forgive sins.

And the sacrifice of Jesus Christ given to us as a gift, and deserved and merited gift. Now, there are many gifts of God which represents God's goodness, God's grace. So God's grace is not just forgiveness of sins, but forgiveness of sins is one big component of God's grace.

Therefore, we can see that God is full of love, full of forgiveness, full of forgiveness.

Now, as we look at how God is for us, let's measure ourselves and say, how are we doing ourselves? Are we forgiving others at the same way, with the same outgoing concern, with the same mercy, with the same kindness that God does for us? Are we?

Whatever position, for instance, if you have a position of authority, whatever that authority is, and somebody does something, and even if it's not authority, but somebody does something against you, are you able to exercise the same gift of mercy which Christ has done for us, while we were yet sinners? That's what we're reading in Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, which reads, for instance, in verse 8, God demonstrates His love towards us in that while we were still sinners, means we are not yet repented. But Christ died for us. In fact, not only had we not repented, we had not even been born, and Christ really died for us.

You see, Christ died for us, and because of that, as we read in verse 9, much more than, having now, we are now justified by His blood. Oh, wait, wait, wait! Didn't we say justified by His faith? Now we say justified by His blood. How do we connect the two?

You see, Christ had to die for us. Okay, we understand that, I hope. All right, so He had to leave the form of God and become of the form of man, no more in that form, but in a humanity form, and He died for us.

When He died, He gave His blood. He died, His blood. So, giving His blood, coming from the form of God to the form of man and dying for us, He gave His blood.

Now, that means He was dead. Dead. And dead means dead. Dead. Unless He had faith that God would resurrect Him, and unless He was sure He would never disobey and kept the laws, why would He do that? You see, because He had faith in the Father, that the Father would resurrect Him because God says, you don't break God's laws, you do not die. But He died for us because He gave His life for us, voluntarily. So, the Father resurrected Him. He had absolute trust, confidence in the Father, that the Father would resurrect Him because He had confidence, trust, or in other words, faith in the Father, that the Father would not leave Him in the grave. He therefore did that because He knew by doing that He would pay for our sins, and now we could have eternal life with Him and with the Father.

So, our sins are justified, of course. In other words, we are justified. Our sins are forgiven. That's what I meant to say. Our sins are forgiven. We are made right with God, of course, because of that blood.

The life is in the blood. So, He gave His life. He gave His blood.

But He gave His blood. He gave His life for us because He had absolute trust that the Father would resurrect Him. Therefore, you and I are made right, yes, by His blood, but in conjunction with that, by His faith in the Father, that the Father would resurrect Him. And also, He also had faith that this extreme, enormous act of love would hit us, that we would repent and change our life. So, He had faith that there would be fruits from it as well, good fruits. So, you and I are justified by Christ's faith. So, let's summarize this very simply.

Romans 7 verse 7. Romans 7 verse 7.

It says, What shall we say then? Is the law sin? No. On the contrary, I would have not known sin except through the law. The law defines sin.

And it was mentioned, I think, earlier on in the sermon, at 1 John 3 verse 4, that says that whoever breaks the law commits sin. So, you know, sin is the translation of the law. So, we know that the law basically, and also, by the way, if we read that Romans 6 verse 23, which is just a little bit behind where we read in a moment ago, it says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. So, the wages of sin. So, what is the power of the law? The power of the law is two things. Number one, identify sin. Number two, identify or give the degree of punishment for breaking that law. In this case, it's death. Breaking the law of God is death. So, the law has got two powers. Identify sin and basically define the penalty.

That's what it is. Verse 23, Romans 6, 23, For the wages of sin is death. The law does not give us life. But it says, verse 23, The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Yes, through the faith of Jesus, through the blood that is done, we have life.

Therefore, in Romans 7, verse 12, it says, The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and just and good. There's nothing wrong with God's law. God's law is perfect. You read that in Psalms 19 verse 7. It says, God's law is perfect. Psalm 19 is a lovely psalm for you to read. It says, God's law is perfect. There's nothing wrong with the law. Still reading in Romans 7, if we read verse 14 of Romans 7, it says, We know that the law is spiritual. You see, there's nothing wrong with the law.

So what we have is the law and grace. The law defines sin and defines the penalty. The grace through Christ's faith, which, and therefore he gave his life, and therefore his blood, is what forgives us. So let's go back to where we were in Galatians 2 verse 16. So I hope we've explained Galatians 2 verse 16 very clearly. So let's read it again very clearly. Knowing that a man is not made right or justified by works of law. In other words, works of law do not pay the sin, but the faith of Christ. That's what pays our sin. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so therefore we trust that Christ's act of faith, that Christ's blood. We believe in that, that that is good enough for us. So it is from faith to faith, you see, from faith to faith, elsewhere it talks about from faith to faith, God's faith, and then we also have to believe in it. So the two go hand in hand. So it says, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified so that we are made right, we are made without sin, by the faith of Christ, and not by works of law. In other words, the law does not pay for our sin, for by works of law, no flesh will be made right with God. Very simple. Now we can continue reading verse 17. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are also found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin?

In other words, if we are following, understanding that we are justified by faith, by the sacrifice of Christ, we are now not free to sin. We need to rehabilitate, we need to go through rehab. Because if we don't, then we are saying that Christ is a minister of sin. See, but Christ is not a minister of sin. So because we have been freely forgiven, gratis by God's grace, that does not give us the right to continue sinning now. Otherwise, then Christ is a minister of sin. And that's what traditional Christianity tells us today. Oh well, Christ has forgiven you, therefore now the law has done away.

You can just do whatever you want to do, which they know very well. They don't mean that. They only mean you don't have to keep the Sabbath. You know that pretty well when you analyze it carefully. But the point is, that is the twist of the reasoning. We cannot be continuous sinning. Therefore, once we've been forgiven, like an example of somebody coming out of a drug situation, he now needs to go through a rehabilitation process. And that's what you and I need to do once we have been forgiven. When are we forgiven? After baptism, after we made a commitment, the baptism symbolizes the old man dying away.

We now commit to be a new man. Sin is being put away. We, through the laying on our hands, receive God's early Spirit. Why? Because it's God's helper. It's God's entity, capability, power, mind, spiritual entity that helps us, that prods us, to help with our conscience, which helps us in what? In the rehabilitation process. The Bible calls that sanctification of the Spirit. In that rehabilitation process, which is nothing else than the sanctification of the Spirit, which we keep going on until we reach a state that we are re-apped, quote-unquote, that we are now committed to God. Now, we need to understand that this discussion was brought about in the letter to the Galatians because they were these false ministers and not only that, they had been kind of confused because of Peter's bad example, as you can read in verse 12 of this chapter, Galatians 2, because they were, verse 11 and verse 12, says, Peter and some people that came from James, they were acting incorrectly in an hypocritical way, and he said, hey, guys, this is wrong.

And that's why he says, that's why he says he had to criticize Peter publicly because he was affecting the Church. And therefore, that's why he's saying in verse 17, he says, if we that have accept Christ's sacrifice and we justify by Christ, if we are still sinning, that is wrong. We must re-app. We've got to change. And that is the lesson there. So he says, verse 18, for if I build again those things which are destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

In other words, we now have to walk according to God's way. I can't continue walking in the wrong way because I have built this new thing, this new man. I'm now built, I've repented, I'm now going to the new man. But if I'm going to go back to those things which are destroyed, which is the old man, I make myself a sinner again.

I can't do that. That's what he's saying there in verse 18. You see, Paul is not negative about God's law, nor is he saying that we don't need to obey God's law. He is combating or fighting the concept that obedience to God's law by our own strength will make us right with God. No, it would pay our sins. No. We broke the law, now we need Christ sacrificed, but now we got it, now that we have been forgiven, we now got ahead, we now need to obey the law.

Verse 19. For I, through the law, died to the law that I might live to God. Once I learn and I know and understand the law, once I have the knowledge of the law, once the law tells me I can't break the Sabbath, I can't kill, I can't murder, I understand God's laws. So once I have that, if I have, once I understand that, and if I have broken the law, I'm now under the death penalty. Because I did break the law in the past, and so now I'm under the death penalty.

But now I need to have the faith of Christ, and I need to accept Christ's sacrifice for us, that I might live to God. I need to change. I need to now be a new man. That's what he's saying, and that happens that when I repented, when I got baptized, I now changed, and I become the new man.

There's a section of scripture that I'm not going to go through now, which is in Colossians chapter 3 from verse 1 through verse 14 that talks very clearly about that we need to be a new man, that we have to let that human nature die, and that we need to put on the new man kindness, and basically God's love is the perfection of that new man. That's what we need to do. So, in verse 20 he says, I have been crucified with Christ. What does he mean that? That means that I have died to the old way of life. Like Christ died when I got baptized, symbolically got under the water. I died with Christ. I died to that old way of living, and now I have to live imitating Christ. In other words, with Christ in me. That's what he says. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. In other words, I don't live the same way I used to be. I have to change myself. I have to, and now I have to put on the way Christ is, so Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. The life that now I live, which is a new life, I can only do because the faith of Christ, the Son of God, paid for myself through his blood, who loved me and gave himself for me. That's what we read in verse 20. In verse 21 he says, if we, he says, I do not let set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. In other words, if I could be justified by the law, then Christ would have died in vain. Why did he die?

You see, so I'm not putting aside the grace of God. I am sticking to the grace of God, but I have to live a new man. I know that righteousness does not come through the law.

Righteousness is imputed to us by grace. And that's a whole explanation that Romans discusses it very clearly, that righteousness was imputed unto Abraham because he believed. So it's my faith. So I'm not putting aside the faith of God, because if righteousness would have come by the law, then Christ would have died in vain. So for us to be just before God, you and I can only be made just before God by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, gratis.

What a wonderful, a wonderful epistle of hope this book of Galatians is. Because once you and I understand that you and I are made righteousness freely, what a lovely hope it is. The book of Galatians is a book of great, profound understanding that you and I are justified by Christ alone, not by any actions of law. But we have to obey God's law, because it's law and grace.