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Judaizers

Peter had experienced the freedom of the gospel

Judaizers came into town and Pete/Barney were hypocritical and drew back from gentiles

He did this out of fear

Paul opposes peter to his face

They were forcing the gentiles to live like jews, and Paul wasn't having it.

They told the gentiles they weren't saved until they became like Jews

1.

We are justified by faith

That word Sinner is super important

Not sinner like someone who misses the mark, but sinner like someone who doesn't live out the dietary laws

Judaizers didn't want to even associate with the gentiles unless they became like Jews

Paul then appeals to where Peter and him were unified, unified in mission, unified in theology

Peter had experienced a vision from God in so Peter should have known that there is no need any longer for dietary restriction!

God told peter not to call unclean what God had declared clean, and the judaizers were doing just that!

What drove Peter to shaming the gentiles by avoiding them?

Fear, and forgetting the gospel!

How often do we not associate with someone because of fear?!

worse yet, how often do we not associate with someone because we forget the glory of the gospel?

We’re not all that different from peter.

Paul appeals to unity before driving home one of the most glorious truths in scripture, Justification by faith!

This verse flips christ-less religion on its head

This is what separates protestant Christianity from all other religions in the world

The Five Solas are:

Sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”): The Bible alone is our highest authority.Sola Fide (“faith alone”): We are saved through faith alone in Jesus Christ.Sola Gratia (“grace alone”): We are saved by the grace of God alone.Solus Christus (“Christ alone”): Jesus Christ alone is our Lord, Savior, and King.Soli Deo Gloria (“to the glory of God alone”): We live for the glory of God alone.

Justification by faith alone in Christ alone is not a reformed truth, a protestant truth!

Martin Luther speaking about the word Justification said “if the article of Justification is lost, then all true Christian doctrine is lost, it is the point of faith that decides whether the church is standing or falling”

No one will be saved because they are a good person

you could work the rest of your life and you still wouldn’t be good enough

This is deeply offensive to a proud culture

Justification means being made right with God, so its not the law, but faith that makes us right with God

There are two important word that jump out, Faith and Belief

(V16)Belief is understanding that Jesus did what he said he did, faith is holding on to that truth with all your strength

Notice that its not the amount of faith, but who the faith is in!

Its not what you know but who you know!

So it is faith in Christ that saves, if you have never heard the gospel, please understand that christians aren't good people, were living people, and the result of that is a change in morality, but we were not saved because we were good enough

In fact it is only by acknowledging that you aren't good enough that you even open yourself up to being a recipient of grace!

It is such a pervasive lie to think that being good and going to church means you're saved.

Dont get rid of your problems before coming to Jesus!

So were not saved by works, but by faith in Christ…So whats the role of the law for NT believers?

2. The law is gracious in showing our need for salvation

Gal 2:

That word “sinners” shows up again

Verse 17 is confusing, Paul sometimes writes so difficult sometimes!

Let’s pull it apart...

Judaizers claimed that the freedom the gentiles were living in was a sin until they submitted themselves to Jewish tradition

They still respected Jesus, so Paul uses that respect to mess with their faulty reasoning

explain V17

If I have been justified in Christ and have experienced the freedom of Jesus,

Paul says that he endeavors to be Justified in Christ, this means that he has the freedom that only Christ can purchase for someone.

Now the Judaizers were very frustrated that the gentiles weren’t living out the Jewish customs.

So they used that word again… “Sinner”(v17), those who do not follow the dietary, and circumcision practices that the Jews followed.

So Paul says, ok, so you guys like Jesus, and respect His teaching, and Jesus says that we no longer need to live under the weight of the Mosaic covenant, and therefore frees us to live in grace, so Paul says…”are you Judaizers saying that Jesus is now causing us to sin, because He has won freedom for us?”

What you guys are calling sin, Jesus has freed us to live in, and told us it is ok… Does that mean that Jesus is the one who is causing us to sin?

And the obvious answer is no, they would have been able to see that they were asking the gentiles to live outside of the way that Christ designed new covenant life to be lived.

And we know that anything outside of the boundaries that God has set is sin… That is why this is so ironic, the Judaizers were calling the gentiles “sinners”, and the gentiles were just following what Jesus had commanded them to live like.

Jesus doesn’t cause people to sin, therefore what they are doing must not be sin!

That is what Paul is trying to get across to the Judaizers.

What you guys are calling sin, Jesus has freed us to live in, and told us it is ok… Does that mean that Jesus is the one who is causing us to sin?

And the obvious answer is no, they would have been able to see that they were asking the gentiles to live outside of the way that Christ designed new covenant life to be lived.

And we know that anything outside of the boundaries that God has set is sin… That is why this is so ironic, the Judaizers were calling the gentiles “sinners”, and the gentiles were just following what Jesus had commanded them to live like.

Jesus doesn’t cause people to sin, therefore what they are doing must not be sin!

That is what Paul is trying to get across to the Judaizers.

Then he takes it a step further bringing up the biggest of ironies… Those who try and build up the law are actually the ones in sin!

Not those living in freedom!

Then he takes it a step further bringing up the biggest of ironies… Those who try and build up the law are actually the ones in sin!

Not those living in freedom!

**V18“For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor”**

V18“For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor”

What had Paul just spent so much time tearing down?

Justification by works!

He is saying that if he builds up another system that allows works of righteousness to be the way we are accepted, then we are actually living in sin.

It is Jesus plus nothing else that saves us.

The Judaizers were rebuilding a system of meriting God’s grace, which is the opposite of the gospel, so they were proving that they were in sin, because they were not submitting to the plan of God to bring grace through faith in Christ.

What had Paul just spent so much time tearing down?

Justification by works!

He is saying that if he builds up another system that allows works of righteousness to be the way we are accepted, then we are actually living in sin.

It is Jesus plus nothing else that saves us.

The Judaizers were rebuilding a system of meriting God’s grace, which is the opposite of the gospel, so they were proving that they were in sin, because they were not submitting to the plan of God to bring grace through faith in Christ.

The gentiles were not acting in sin because they were living in the freedom of Christ, the Judaizers were acting in sin, because they tried to undermine grace by adding works for salvation.

The gentiles were not acting in sin because they were living in the freedom of Christ, the Judaizers were acting in sin, because they tried to undermine grace by adding works for salvation.

Jeffs point about adding Jesus

w, I died to the law” meaning that the law did its work!

It did what it came to do, it brought about the knowledge of his inability to merit the favor of God because he was a sinner!

What a wonderful thing it is when we can finally just accept that we are sinful people, and then move to an understanding of God’s immeasurable grace!

How Ironic that the law pushed him to grace!

Paul says that he is obeying the law when he tears down the law and follows Christ! .

The law was given, and it brought to the surface the sin that was already festering unnamed deep within us.

Then Paul gives another confusing verse, which took me a lot of wrestling with to figure out.

He says

V19“For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.”

The purpose of the law was to show our inability to accomplish the law.

It was given to show us our death, and our need for rescue.

****

The purpose of the law was to show our inability to accomplish the law.

It was given to show us our death, and our need for rescue.

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The law was given, and it brought to the surface the sin that was already festering unnamed deep within us.

Knowledge of sin, helps us see Jesus all the more beautifully.

When I go into the mountains, I think it is the most beautiful sight.