Justified by Faith Alone

start with a prayer on faith.

A important part of being a believer in Christ is faith. Faith is one of those crucial things that often get talked about and rightfully so. Because for a believer faith is crucial. While we have the word of God as our witness having faith to believe that its true is important. Justification by faith alone is a doctrine that every believer should know all to well.

Listen to what Martin Luther said about Justification by faith.

“And this is the truth of the Gospel. It is also the principle article of all Christian doctrine, wherein the knowledge of all godliness consisteth. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their hearts continually.”

Over the last several weeks and next several weeks the truth of justification by faith will be beat into your minds, and hearts over and over again, and thats good, because we are a forgetful people, and as forgetful people we need to be reminded of this truth.

Justification by Faith is something believers in Christ can’t get wrong!

Read text…

Main Idea: A person can only be made right with God by faith alone in Jesus Christ!

today the text is going to unpack this main idea in two ways and the first is this.

Being saved by faith means you believe the right things

Paul is continuing his argument to the people of Galatia. In verse 15 he reminds the audience by saying we ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.

Peter and Paul were by birth Jews, they had been given the law, and knew of the promises of God, they were not like the Gentiles, they were different. See a Jewish life was saturated by the law. This would be their standard.

So for them being saved meant that they would not be bound to the law that they once tried to follow, they had to rid their minds and hearts of the idea that Christ is the one who saves totally.

But that doesn’t discount they they are still Jews, still having social, economical, and lifestyle differences that were much different than the Gentiles, and how that played out for them would be difficult for many, and we see that Peter, and other Jews had struggled with it.

Their identity was in Jewish laws and customs, but now it shifts to who Christ is. And associating with others who were like minded could lead to some differences, especially when others were trying to cause them to stumble. and could cause them believe the wrong things.

Yet the Jews that were with Paul believed that a person could not be saved by works. One can only be saved by faith alone.

and we know Paul believes this truth so much so that he continues to say it over and over again, he says justification is by faith alone in a few different ways in verse 16. Listen to these words again…

The Judaizers had presented the idea that Paul has been dealing with that you had to have the right behavior, and follow the law plus you had to have behavior that separates you from the gentiles. The Judaizers wanted the Jews to believe that you needed those things in order to be saved. But Paul makes it clear WE KNOW that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. Those transitional words sometimes in scripture capture an argument so well. It’s not saved by works it saved by faith.

But he continues his argument. So we have also believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law.

Listen to how someone else says this works. “We may thus define faith as the initial and continual response of trust in, and obedience to, Christ by a person for the purpose of acceptance with God. William Barclay said it well: “Faith is complete trust and complete surrender to Jesus Christ. It is the total acceptance of all that He said, of all that He offered, and of all that He is.”Thus, when Paul uses the term “faith” (as in “justified by faith”), he is describing both the initial act of trust and the continuing disposition of trust and obedience. This is why faith in Christ and “works of the law” are opposites: one cannot opt for Christ’s system and Moses’ system at the same time because they are mutually exclusive options for salvation. Either one believes in Christ or one chooses to commit oneself to the law. One cannot live under both systems without destroying one or the other’s integrity.”

this is so true you are either going to live your life bought into the idea that you can save yourself or you can’t. Is your life marked by faith in Christ or is it believing you can somehow someway save yourself. or do you stand confident by knowing you are justified made right with God by faith alone.

Paul ends verse 16 with the reminder that No-one will be justified by their own works. Paul wanted to make it a point to them to preach that message, because of who they had been dealing with. No amount of good works will ever save someone. Paul says it so clearly that one is saved by faith alone. This truth should be so ingrained in a believers heart, because it essential to our faith. Justification is by faith alone, and nothing else. If you hear me on nothing else today, know this one can only be saved by faith alone. Don’t get entailed with the idea that you can save yourself.

we live in a world that tries to say moralism and self help can save you. But What makes Christianity so unique is that you are saved by faith in Christ alone

Good works are great, but don't hold our to your works, or your past experiences and make that what saves you, only hold on to faith in Christ.

Being saved by faith means you believe the right things.

Being saved by faith means doing the right things

Remember this doing the right things wont save you, but if you are saved you will do the right things.

Listen to Paul But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!

Turning to Christ would be a major step for anyone especially for someone of the Jewish faith. Many of us in here come from different walks of life but imagine going from a Jew to a Christian it would be different, because many of the things you were use to would be changed. You would probably believe that what you were doing was against God for having new freedoms that you previously didn't have. You would assume that you were sinning. But this isn’t the case. Pauls, and Peters fellowship with the Gentiles did not make Christ a servant of sin.

What they were doing is turning to Christ for righteousness because they were not worthy. They were great sinners, and just because they were great sinners didn't mean Christ was a servant of sin, but a forgiver of sin. Listen to one man, “Christ does not minister sin; rather, he eliminates sin through his sacrificial work. But it is true that the gospel Paul preached was a gospel that dealt face-to-face with sin and its consequences. It seems likely to me that Paul’s focus on forgiveness (and sin) had given the Judaizers pause because their system assumed forgiveness (in the temple rituals) and then focused more on morality and social relations. Paul’s focus on sin and forgiveness, I am suggesting, led to their charge that Christ was one who promoted sin by inviting sinners to come to him.”

So good, and so important for both the people of Galatia and us to understand. Christ forgives sinners, the law can’t. Only those who come to Christ can be forgiven, and forgiven people tell unforgiven people how they can be forgiven. Legalism is not the way to Jesus only Faith in, and our faith helps us do the right things.

Paul wasn’t about to rebuild his past life, something that he tore down, because if he caved on justification by faith alone, and made it faith plus something his work and ministry would be worth nothing. He would have been like the people he was warning about in Chapter 1 accursed and as it says here a transgressor. The grace that Paul had recieved would have been wasted if he was to return to his former life, this is what Peter was doing running back to Judaism after knowing about the grace of Christ, he was rebuilding what Christ had torn down. Christ when he died the vail was torn in two, signifying that there is no separation between God and man anymore for the believer because of the work of Christ. Dont spend time building things that have no value in the kingdom of God.

notice what he says.....

For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. Paul not only tore down his former life, he died to it. If you die you cannot come back. “ Listen to the words of John Macarthur. When a person is convicted of a capital crime and executed the law has no further claim on him. So it is with the Christian who have died in Christ (who paid the penalty for his sins in full) and rises to new life in Him. Justice has been satisfied and he is forever free from any further penalty.”

The life that Paul had been living was put to death once and for all when he met Jesus on the Road to Damascus, there his life that he thought gave him life was radically changed by the grace of Christ.

He had been crucified with Christ. Christ alone could save Paul, his work on the cross was what gave Paul the ability to live for him. One puritan said this, “We are in mind and meditation to consider Christ crucified: and first we are to believe that he was crucified for us. This being done, we must go yet further, and as it were spread ourselves crucified with him.”

The crucifixion weighed heavy on the mind of Paul, because of what resulted from it, and it’s result was salvation for everyone who would ever believe in Christ, and its a reminder of why we live for him.

The result of this is clear in the text, It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. When we believe in Christ our old life is to die, and the reality is that we to must be prepared to carry that cross. Luke 9:23 says, “ And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” His life and example is to be our life and example. Because we have been justified by God through Faith in Christ we can live by faith and do the right thing. Not because it saves us, but because he has saved us.

Paul was clear he wasn’t the one driving his life anymore, it was Christ, Christ was in the drivers seat, and he was now living his life by faith in Christ.

I love what one man said, “When Paul says I have been crucified with Christ, he’s virtually saying, “It’s not the same me anymore. Its not the I that tried to work for God and failed every times, nor the I that thought the world revolved around him. The pride of the old I directed everything to focus on self-esteem, self confidence, self-direction, and self-exaltation. And it lived for personal pleasure or position. But my life is no longer about me. Paul says, because Christ lives in me. This is where the key to faith comes in.

That quote i believe explains it perfectly. Because How can we be the same if we have been crucified with Christ? When we have been united to Christ by faith everything changes. Including our mindset and our heart, and the source of your strength. The Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity is living in each and every believer, and by faith he is guiding us towards Christ and away from our old life.

What did Christ do for Paul? Jesus gave himself up for Paul. A man who was striving to live out the law to become righteous was now a man who was radically changed by the grace of Christ.

Paul was not going to live any other way, because he knew that only Christ could save him. The old life that Paul had was living was not worth running back to, because he knew that in it their was no life. It was not worth building it back up again, because he died to that that old life, and had been crucified with Christ. He was no longer the one living, but Christ was living in him, and the life he had belonged to Christ, because he died for Paul, and because of that he was not going to nullify that grace by not showing it to others, by not eating with others, by living justified by works of the law and the flesh, because he knew justification comes only by faith in Christ, and that Christ died for a purpose.

See what Paul was trying to get the people of Galatia and the judaizers to understand was Jesus Christ died for a purpose, and that purpose was to save sinners, it wasn’t just so they could have eternal life in Jesus by adding to Jesus plus something else. It was Jesus died for sinners, and everyone who repents of their faith and believes that can be saved.

See you can only know Jesus, because he died. Jesus wasn’t just a man with good teachings, a man who helped heal sick people, a man who gave to those in need. While he did those things that isn’t the full story. The full story includes that he died for sinners, and Paul, Peter, Barnabas, and all the Jews knew this, and Paul wants to make sure the people of Galatia knows it as well. Jesus purpose was clear and he achieved it, all those who come to Jesus by faith alone can be saved.

How does this motivate us to live today? Well I want you to think long and yard and ask yourself am I justifying my standing before God by my works or by faith. This question is going to be asked by me probably man more times, but I want you to be sure of this truth. Do you know that justification comes by faith alone and nothing else? If you do are you living out your faith? Two weeks ago we saw wrong belief right practice last week right believe wrong practice, and today we saw you must have right belief and right practice.

as a church we must collectively get justification by faith alone and if we don’t we will miss God. A person can only be made right with God by faith alone in Jesus Christ!

What response do you need to make today? If you have a decision to make, I will be up here to talk with you. Let us pray.