Salvation by Faith, not by works

Introduction

New York Times, 2019 Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

“What does it mean to complete a sentence of life in prison? One prisoner claims he has done it by serving time until the moment of his death — plus another four years since — and says it is well past time to set him free.

The prisoner, Benjamin Schreiber, made that argument to an appeals court in Iowa, saying that when he briefly died in 2015, before being revived at a hospital, he completed his obligation to the state. He asked the three-judge panel to let him get on with his life.

The judges rejected his argument this week, ruling that a lower court had been right to dismiss his petition.

“Schreiber is either still alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is actually dead, in which case this appeal is moot,” Judge Amanda Potterfield wrote for the court.

He has filed several unsuccessful appeals, but in 2018 he argued in court in Wapello County that he had been resuscitated against his will, and that because he had, his “sentence has expired.”

Does dying mean that you are no longer under your previous life sentence?

-It’s an interesting question, and one that surprisingly Paul has an answer for in our text of Galatians today

Background

**Go over big picture outline of the book and then some of the points that Paul has made defending his declaration of having received the Gospel directly from Christ

-Now, the passage we’re going to be working through this evening marks a transition from the first major section of the book where Paul is defending his authority to the second major section of the book, where Paul is really explaining and defending his Gospel

-Paul does this very skillfully, because we are still in the context of his confrontation of Peter

-remember from last week that when Peter was at Antioch, he was eating with Gentiles and not living according to the dietary laws of the OT

-However, when people from James came, Jewish Christians who were probably very conservative in their desire to still live like Jews and keeping Law, Peter became afraid of offending them

-so slowly, he begins to eat less and less with his Gentile friends, and more and more he’s eating with the Jewish believers

-this continued to the point where the other Jewish Christians were doing the same, and even Barnabas was caught up in this hypocrisy

-and before long, the Jewish believers weren’t eating with the Gentile believers anymore

-So because of this, Paul gets up and confronts Peter to his face

**read text and pray

-Now, right off the bat, we’ve got an exegetical question

-Where does Paul’s conversation end?

-The NKJV has the quote going to the end of the chapter

-The ESV and HCSB have it ending after 14

-Some translations, like the NLT, have it ending after 16

-The reason for this is that there are no quotation marks in the Greek, so we don’t know for sure

-I tend to think that the quote ends at the end of verse 14, and that the rest of the chapter is Paul’s explanation to the Galatians about the implications of the incident with Peter,

-but it doesn’t change the meaning of the passage either way

1. You are justified by faith in Christ, not by works (vs. 14-16).

-Now, the main point of these verses is very clear

-Paul is saying that even Jews are saved by faith, not by the works of the Law

-Let’s answer a couple questions

-What does Paul mean when he says “sinners of the Gentiles”, or probably more accurately worded, “Gentile sinners”

We’ll come back to this in a verse 17, but I think he’s quoting the Judaizer’s here who would have thought of Gentiles, those who don’t keep the Law, as “Gentile sinners”

-He says, “we know that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ.”

-Now, what does Paul mean by, “works of the law”?

-The Law is referring to the entirety of the Mosaic Law given by God through Moses

-This would have included the 10 Commandments, the Sacrificial Laws (what to sacrifice and how to sacrifice it), the Ceremonial Laws (how to be ceremonially clean), and the Civil Laws (Laws that the Israelites were to follow as a nation)

-and “works” describes human effort to keep all the Mosaic Laws

So Paul is being inescapably clear, that the effort the Judaizers and the Galatians were putting into keeping the Mosaic Law would not justify them

Now, what does this word “justify” mean?

-This may be the most important word in all the Bible when it comes to salvation, so let’s really try to understand it

-Let me give you one OT verse to look at and one NT verse to look at

Deuteronomy 25:1 NKJV

“If there is a dispute between men, and they come to court, that the judges may judge them, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked,

-In this verse, we see a judge, and he delivers two different verdicts to two different people

-What does he do to the wicked man?

-He condemns him — it simply means that he declares him guilty

-And what does he do to the righteous man?

-He justifies him — this is the equivalent Hebrew word, and it simply means to declare someone not guilty

Let’s look at one NT use of this word from Romans, which Paul wrote

Romans 5:9 NKJV

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

What is the result of being justified, being declared “not guilty” according to Paul?

-We shall be saved from wrath

So, back to Galatians:

-Here’s what Paul is saying:

You are not declared innocent by keeping the Mosaic Law through your own efforts!

-Well, maybe these Judaizers and these people in Galatia aren’t doing a good enough job!

-Maybe they could step it up a little bit!

-How do we know that’s not true?

Look at that last phrase in verse 16:

“for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”

How can a man be justified then?

How can a man be made right with God?

“by faith in Jesus Christ”

-Notice the contrast between these two things: works of the law, faith in Jesus Christ

-works is all about my effort and my obedience

-faith is not about works, it’s about believing

and notice the difference in the objects

-in “works of the law”, the object of my hope is the Law, that somehow doing it will be good enough to save me

-but “faith in Jesus Christ”, Jesus is the object of my hope

-One is doing!

-the other is believing!

-One is a set of rules!

-The other is a Person!

Believing that Jesus is perfect enough, and sufficient enough, and powerful enough, and merciful enough to save me — this is what our faith is in

-That Jesus lived righteously, died sacrificially, and rose powerfully — this is what we are placing our trust in, that He can save us!

**brief background of Martin Luther

Galatians: Crossway Classic Commentaries Chapter 2

We can say that we cannot deserve grace, cannot earn it by what we do before grace comes to us; nor can we deserve eternal life, by what we do after grace has come to us. But those who believe have their sins pardoned and righteousness imputed. This truth and this confidence make us God’s children and heirs of his kingdom, for in hope we already possess everlasting life, which is assured to us by his promise. It is through faith in Christ, therefore, that everything is given to us—grace, peace, forgiveness of sins, salvation, and everlasting life. Only Christ forgives sins; only Christ gives righteousness and everlasting life. It is impudent and wicked to boast of being able to obtain these things by merit and worthiness before and after grace.

Brothers and sisters, can you take a moment and worship Christ right now and rejoice that you have been declared right with God on the basis of Christ’s work, and not your own?

This leads right to Paul’s next point:

II. You are sinning by adding works to salvation, not by holding to the true Gospel (vs. 17-18).

-Now, these verses seem a little bit confusing at first glance

-What is Paul trying to say here, and how is he advancing his argument defending his Gospel against the Judaizers?

I think the key lies with understanding the mindset of these Judaizers

-They’re looking at Paul and Peter and other Jewish Christians and saying, “you guys aren’t keeping the Law anymore, and you’re saying that Christ is the One who taught you that? You’re living like Gentile sinners (vs 15) because of Christ?? Doesn’t that make Christ a minister of sin?? You’re saying that Christ is the one making you act like “gentile sinners”?

-So that’s the charge! “Paul, by you teaching that people don’t need to keep the Law anymore, you’re promoting sin and making Christ a minister of sin!”

What does Paul say? Certainly not

That’s not the case, Christ isn’t a minister of sin

-But the Judaizers have got it all wrong, and Paul wants to show them that

Galatians 2:18 NKJV

For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

You know what Paul is saying?

“you all think that teaching people we don’t need to keep the Law is sin and makes Christ a sinner? No way! You know what the real sin is? Reinstating the Law.”

“You all want to go back to the Law! There’s nothing to go back to! The era of the Law is over! Through Christ’s death on the cross, the Law has been abolished. That’s why I’ve been preaching the Gospel of grace and destroying the works of the Law as a system of salvation, because that era is over!”

-Brothers and sisters, this is a similar objection to what we face:

-from people outside the Church

-from other Christians within the church at times

-and sometimes even from ourselves

We face the objection that: “you can’t make salvation so easy! You’ll get rid of any incentive to be good! You need to keep some kind of works in the deal for salvation or for keeping God happy.”

-We see this in Catholocism

-we see this in Islam

-we see this in Mormonism

-we see this in Jehovah’s Witness

-we see this at times within Prosperity Gospel circles, where you must earn God’s favor through your offerings

-We can even see this at times in our own sinful hearts when we think that God will be more happy with me because I witnessed today or read my Bible today

-Brothers and sisters, there is no problem in holding to the Gospel of Justification by Grace through Faith in Christ alone

-the problem, the sin, comes when we add our own efforts and our own works into that Gospel

-that’s where the sin lay for the Peter in choosing not to eat with the Gentiles, making them feel like they needed to keep the Law to truly be a Christian

-that’s where the sin lay with the Judaizers, with Galatians, and even with us when we add works to the Gospel

But how does all of this work? Why do we know longer need to keep the Law?

III. You were crucified and raised with Christ and now you live by faith, not by works (vs. 19-20).

-This is one of the most profound passages in all of the Bible

-These truths represent something so deep, that we could spend the rest of our lives trying to mine the depths of them and never reach the bottom

Vs. 19

What does that mean?

-Paul’s relationship with the Law has so radically changed, the the only way to describe it is in terms of dying

-You see, before salvation, Paul lived his life under the Law, trying to obey it in all of its demands

-but now, he has died to the Law and lives to God

**illustration of being married**

-In a similar way, Paul’s life and identity has radically changed

-he has died to the Law

-Paul seems to agree with with Benjamin Schreiber: when you do, you are no longer under your sentence

-Paul says is no longer under the power of the Law but now lives to God

-This has happened through the Law

-what does that mean?

-Paul goes on to explain in Galatians 3:13

Galatians 3:13 NKJV

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

You see, Christ came to earth and was born under the Law (4:4)

-He completely and totally kept the Law, never breaking it once

-And on the cross, He bore the curse of the Law, the penalty of breaking God’s Law, on our behalf

-And so Paul can say that he died to the Law, through the Law because of Christ taking the curse of the Law

So how does this work?

Vs. 20

You see, in salvation, there are two era’s or two domains to which everyone belongs according to Romans 5.

-Before Christ, everyone was in Adam, the head of the human race, standing in the domain of sin and death

-We were all guilty because of the sin of Adam and how that sin nature has been passed down to us

-But Christ came, and through His death and resurrection, he has opened up a new era, a new domain

-Instead of being in Adam, under his headship, standing guilty and condemned before God as we are connected to him as guilty sinners,

-we can now be in Christ, standing under His headship, standing righteous and justified before God because of our connection with Him

-And so just as Christ was crucified and resurrected, ushering in this new era, in salvation, there is a sense that we were crucified with Christ and raised with Him, bringing us into His life and justification

-Christ, as the captain of our salvation, has swung open wide the doors of justification and acceptance before God, and we get to enjoy that not because of our inherent worthiness, but because of Christ’s worthiness

**illustration of buying suits because of Jimmy Hutto**

-That’s what we enjoy in Christ!

-On our own, we have no merit that earns us right standing with God in anyway!

-But because of Christ and our connection with Him, we get to experience the rewards and privileges of His death and resurrection

-That’s why can say that I’ve been crucified with Christ!

It is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me!

-This phrase does not mean that you “let go and let God”

-It’s not saying that you just go limp and let Christ move you around like a puppet on a string

-It’s saying that I have died to the Law, but now I am alive to God, because Christ resides in my heart

-and the life we now live, we’re not living in obedience to the Law!

-we’re not living trying to earn our right standing through our works!

-We’re living by faith in the very Son of God

Why would Christ do that for us?

Because He loved you a gave Himself for you

Do you realize that?

-You have this divine righteousness because Jesus Christ loved you and gave Himself for you

This leads to Paul’s last major truth from the text:

IV. You were saved by grace, not by anything else or Christ’s death is in vain (vs. 21).

-Grace here is referring simply to God’s free act of saving you through Christ

-He didn’t have to

-but He chose to

And here’s the thing:

-if righteousness can be earned

-if you can attain a righteous standing before God because of what you accomplish

-Then Christ died in vain

-It served no purpose

-It’s vain, it’s empty

-Why on earth would Christ come to die, if man could simply reach God through his own efforts

-He wouldn’t need a Savior, he’d just need to work harder

-be more disciplined

-be more motivated

Brothers and sisters, any kind of theology that would render the sacrifice of Christ to be pointless is a theology of demons

Application:

-So what does this mean for us?

-Brothers and sisters, why was the book of Galatians written?

-Is this book in the Bible just because of a few whacky people in the first century AD who have the tendency to add their own works to salvation?

-Or, is this book in the Bible because every single one of us has a tendency to smuggle our effort into the Gospel?

-Is it that just the Galatian church and some Judaizers have a tendency to think that the Gospel is too simple, too easy, and too free to be true?

-Or is it because all of use have that same tendency within our own hearts

-Are you, by God’s grace, seeking to protect the Gospel of grace from the legalism within your own heart

-Are you actively seeking to rest in and trust in the finished work of Jesus, who loved you and gave Himself for you

-Who through His death and resurrection which you share a part has won you freedom from the works of the Law?

Brothers and sisters, let us hold fast to the true Gospel of grace through faith in Christ alone, and not go back to a yoke of slavery

-Your right standing with God is not dependent on your obedience, your devotions, your prayer life, your church attendance, how good a husband or wife or mother or father you are (as good as all those things are)

-They are dependent on the finished work of Christ

“When Satan tells me to despair, and tells me of the guilt within

upward I look and see Him there who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free;

for God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me.”

“To this I hold, my sin has been defeated.

Jesus now and ever is my plea.

Oh the chains are released, I can sing “I am free”

Yet not I, but through Christ in me.”