Living in grace alone.

Opening Comments:

Please meet me in your copy of God’s Word in Galatians 2:17-21. The book of Galatians, in no uncertain terms is all about the gospel and the sufficiency of Christ alone. There was an error afoot in the Galatian churches that said that salvation was found by faith in Christ and adherence to the mosaic law (circumcision). In essence they were saying the message of the Gospel, preached by Paul was insufficient to save and insufficient to sanctify. Last week we saw that in order for a person to be justified before God, he had to place his faith in Christ alone. This week, we will see what a life rooted in the gospel looks life. Instead of living a life trying to earn God’s favor, believers can live a life rooted in the gospel of grace.

Let’s read our text together this morning. This is the Word of the Lord:

Galatians 2:17–21 NKJV

17 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

I’ve titled the message this morning: “Living in Grace Alone.”

Introduction:

In Galatians 2:11-14 we saw an event where the Apostle Peter came to the church in Antioch and under the weight of peer pressure began to play the part of a hypocrite. He bowed to the demands of the Judaizers and began to separate from the gentile believers in Antioch. Peters act of hypocrisy caused a terrible divide in the church. So much so, that Paul had to openly confront Peter in front of the entire congregation. However, this event also called for Paul to give clarity to the church on the truth of the gospel. So, in v.15-16, while rebuking Peter, he lays out for the whole church body what the gospel really is. He declares that the only way for man to be viewed by God as righteous is in and through faith in Christ alone. When we come to Christ in faith, we are declared justified before God because of Christ. We do not deserve that in any way, shape, form or fashion. Justification is purely an act of God’s grace.

The Judaizers were declaring that justification only came through obedience to the Law, but Paul declared the message of the gospel of Christ that justification is purely by grace through faith.

To the Judaizers for Paul to declare that salvation is purely of grace and faith was to make Christ a minister of sin.

Their reasoning was that when men turned away from the law to trust Christ righteousness, Christ caused them to sin, because he made it easy for them to transgress the law.

So in other words, trusting in Christ condemned men to sin, for if their is no law then there is no standard of holiness.

They argued that grace led to lawlessness.

Paul answers their question is vs.17 “Certainly not” or “God forbid”

In fact, the opposite is true, the man who trys to keep the law makes himself a sinner, because the law condemns him.

James 2:10 NKJV

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

The law cannot give righteousness it can only serve to highlight our sin. That is the purpose that it serves in God’s plan of salvation. When a man sees that he is utterly incapable of keeping the law, it drives him to faith in Christ and once he comes to Christ and sees all that God has done for him, he is driven to please his savior.

When we as believers see Christ bearing our sin debt we bow in adoration and love . We have a desire to do good, not to earn righteousness but out of a deep appreciation for our salvation.

The genuine believer will have a desire to follow Christ because he loves Christ.

Grace doesn't lead me to license, it leads me to living for Christ because of all he has done for me. Not out of debt but out of gratitude.

But what does it mean to live for God? Is it by keeping a list or rules and standards?

In verse 19-21, Paul spells out for us what it means for the believer to live for God.

1.) The believer lives for God by dying to the law. (v.19)

The law serves to show us that we are sinners who fall far short of God’s standard of perfection. It shows us that we are condemned and doomed to be punished by separation from God forever. That we stand no chance of ever being accepted God if it is through the law. Because we cannot keep it continually or consistently. We are constanly falling short of God’s glory.

Romans 3:23 NKJV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 7:9–14 NKJV

9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

The law slays us. It kills and condemns mankind to death.

The only hope ever has of being made acceptable to God is to die to the law, that is to say we somehow-someway have to be delivered out from underneath its weight. It has to be removed so far from us that it no longer has any bearing on our souls.

How does this happen?

BY a man turning from the law and finding someone who can stir God to count him righteous and to accept our faith.

The first thing a man has to do in order to live for God is to die to the law and to righteous works.

In other words, I need to realize that their is nothing I can do in and of my own power to be made acceptable to God. The law cant do it so I must die to it being my master.

2.) The believer lives for God by being crucified with Christ. (v.20a)

How in the world can someone be crucified with Christ when he was crucified 2,000 years ago?

When a person places their faith in the fact that Jesus died for them, that he bore the punishment for their sin, God takes that faith and counts them as:

Having died in Christ

As our identification in Christ.

As already having been punished for our sin in the death of Christ.

This is what it means when Paul says “I have been crucified with Christ.”

When we come to Christ in faith God counts or credits the believer as already having died with Christ.

The person who is “in Christ” is safe and secure from the condemnation of the law.

Romans 8:1 NKJV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

3.) The believer lives for God by allowing Christ to live His life through our body. (v.20b)

Once I have been crucified with Christ, my life is no longer my own to live as i please.

By faith, I have died with Christ, therefore I am to live with Christ. That is to say that I am to allow Christ to control and be in charge of my life.

Once I have placed my faith in Christ, I have died. Christ, in the person of the Holy Spirit now lives in me.

I am so merged with Christ at salvation that it is as if he is alive on this earth through me.

I am so in union and fellowship with Christ that it is as though I am a branch drawing my life and nourishment from Christ.

John 15:4–5 NKJV

4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

I am to allow Christ to live through me. I am to be his hands and feet in this world. No longer to I live to please me but my life is now his and it is lived to serve my father in Heaven.

The christian life isn't about working as hard as we can to please God by living right. Its about allowing Christ Himself to live out his life through us. As this happens, the character of Christ and his glory are put on full display in our lives for all to see.

4.) The believer lives for God by trusting in the grace of God. (v.21)

My righteousness only comes about by the grace of God. If I set that grace aside and bring myself back under the law, then Im living as if Christ death was meaningless.

If I seek to obtain or maintain righteousness by human effort than I am in effect rejecting the grace of God. Im saying that God’s grace was good enough to save me but its not good enough to sustain me.

We do not contribute anything to gaining salvation and I cannot somehow contribute my good works to Christ work to sustain me either.

Far too often we seem to think that salvation is meeting God half-way. We come to him in faith and grace but then have to work to keep his favor and earn sanctification. That its somehow up to me to work to become more and more like Christ.

No, our justification, sanctification, and glorification are all the result of God’s grace alone, effected through faith alone, in the finished work of Christ alone.

Grace is the way to life and a way of life. I don’t have to live for God by adhering to some list of rules, I live for God by allowing Christ to live through me and following his lead.

Conclusion:

We can not work to earn our salvation by keeping the law and we can not work to earn our sanctification by adhering to the law.

We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone and live for him the same way. By grace through faith allowing Christ to live through us as we follow his lead.

Law is unforgiving, un relenting. It always causes us to hear that were not good enough and its right. We’re not good enough, but Christ is.

He’s good enough to save and he is good enough to sanctify. Lay down your burden today and live for Christ.