WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.700 Well, good morning. It's good to see you all here. I want to begin this morning by asking you a question. 00:00:06.700 --> 00:00:14.300 ! What is something worth fighting for? It's a question that we ask a lot in our culture today. 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:22.240 The past 50 years or so, the impulse has been to move towards tolerance on the basis of globalism, 00:00:22.240 --> 00:00:29.760 our broadened experience of the world, the growth of moral relativism that has unmoored from God 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:38.380 asked who can judge anything for any reason. It has also rightly recognized the limits of human 00:00:38.380 --> 00:00:43.859 perception and knowledge and acknowledged the diversity of human culture and experience. 00:00:44.380 --> 00:00:52.060 But all of this has led us to a culture that values broadly tolerance and embracing difference. 00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:59.100 Or maybe that's how it felt five or ten years ago. Today, maybe in a backlash, 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:05.259 feels like our polarization in our social world pushes us in the opposite direction, and 00:01:05.259 --> 00:01:09.299 we have embraced pugnacious attitudes towards others who are different, 00:01:10.120 --> 00:01:15.819 towards things we don't like or don't agree with. And we have become willing to fight for many things, 00:01:16.519 --> 00:01:23.879 worthwhile or not. It's not just in culture or society or politics that we see this, 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:32.819 but the church has asked this question as well throughout history. Churches have split over 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:41.120 things like the color of the carpet or whether we keep an organ. Churches recently have been torn apart 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:52.099 by social and political issues. Other churches, in an attempt to maintain unity, have abandoned all criteria 00:01:52.099 --> 00:01:59.079 for what unity might be based on. And we just say we want to be unified for unified's sake, for unity's sake. 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:07.179 How are we to think about this? Are there things worth fighting for in the church? 00:02:08.419 --> 00:02:13.939 Well, this is what brings us to our passage today. As we continue in our series in the book of Galatians, 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:20.180 a letter that Paul wrote to a church that he had been a part of starting through the preaching of the gospel, 00:02:20.180 --> 00:02:28.580 writing to help them clarify in their own thinking the importance of the gospel, 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:38.260 he answers this question today about what is worth fighting for. And there are a lot of aspects of that 00:02:38.260 --> 00:02:44.580 question, how we conduct ourselves and what we do in all this, that we probably won't answer today. 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:50.560 But there is an important central answer in our passage that we want to look at. So, we're going 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:57.200 to look at Galatians 2 verses 11 through 16. It's on page 913 in your pew Bible if you want to turn 00:02:57.200 --> 00:03:02.200 there, or if you have your own Bible, or you can read it up on the screen as we read together. 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:10.520 Let's look at this passage together this morning. So, let's read God's Word together. 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:19.920 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before 00:03:19.920 --> 00:03:27.320 certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and 00:03:27.320 --> 00:03:34.300 separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along 00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:42.060 with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct 00:03:42.060 --> 00:03:49.620 was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, if you, though a Jew, 00:03:49.760 --> 00:03:55.980 live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? 00:03:55.979 --> 00:04:04.959 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. Yet we know that a person is not justified 00:04:04.959 --> 00:04:13.459 by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So, we also have believed in Christ Jesus 00:04:13.459 --> 00:04:21.099 in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, 00:04:21.100 --> 00:04:28.680 no one will be justified. Let's pray and ask for God's help this morning as we look at this. 00:04:29.379 --> 00:04:39.560 Oh, Lord, we thank you for your Word. We thank you that you continue to challenge and refine our 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:48.000 understanding. Lord, as you teach us through your Word, I pray for your Holy Spirit's help this morning 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:56.779 that I would speak the truth as I ought to, and Lord, that we, that in our hearts, in our minds, 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:04.759 and in our wills, would submit to and receive your Word this morning. Shape us, Lord, we pray, 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:15.800 by your Word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, this is not groundbreaking new territory, 00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:23.819 but the gospel of justification by faith in Christ alone is a doctrine worth fighting for. 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:29.660 This is what I believe Paul is saying in this passage, and we're going to look a little bit 00:05:29.660 --> 00:05:35.139 at that context of the confrontation that he has and how the conflict arose, and then we're going to 00:05:35.139 --> 00:05:42.439 look at the content. What is the issue at stake? What makes this conflict worthwhile? So, if you're 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:46.560 taking outlines, there's broadly your outline, you'll see there's some sub points within those. 00:05:47.019 --> 00:05:56.699 So, here we go. In verses 11 through 14, the context. So, basically what we have is Paul is 00:05:56.699 --> 00:06:02.459 just reported in verses 1 through 10 that he's been doing this ministry, preaching the gospel 00:06:02.459 --> 00:06:09.800 to the Gentiles. People have been coming to faith. He's resisted already an impulse to… 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:18.360 for new believers to have to be circumcised. We see that in verses 3 through 5. He goes up to Jerusalem. 00:06:18.579 --> 00:06:23.660 He meets with the apostles in private, and lo and behold, they find that there's great unity because 00:06:23.660 --> 00:06:31.420 they're preaching the same gospel, the same truth, and this is a glorious thing. And then right on the 00:06:31.420 --> 00:06:39.639 heels of that, Paul recounts this encounter with Cephas, which is Peter. That's his other name. 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:50.459 And Peter, the apostle, where Paul confronts him. Why did he do that? Well, because Peter had been 00:06:50.459 --> 00:06:56.579 happily eating meals with Gentiles. Now, if you go back, you read the book of Acts, you can look 00:06:56.579 --> 00:07:04.000 through chapters 10 and 11, and you'll see God intervened remarkably to bring through a vision to 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:13.420 Peter how important it was that the new way of following Jesus was distinct from the old way of 00:07:13.420 --> 00:07:20.000 following the Jewish law. And in particular, it related to dietary laws and restrictions on what 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:27.480 you could eat and who you could eat with, because in the Jewish law, you were set apart by what you ate 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:33.840 and who you ate with. And you could be unclean, ceremonially unclean, and therefore removed from 00:07:33.840 --> 00:07:40.340 the fellowship of the people of God for a season because you were ceremonially unclean. This was the 00:07:40.340 --> 00:07:48.759 issue at stake. And God revealed to Peter that for the church of Jesus Christ, this was no longer the 00:07:48.759 --> 00:08:00.180 issue. In fact, he said, God has told him that we may call no person unclean based on what they eat or drink. 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:05.039 And so, Peter's been eating happily with Gentiles for a long time. This was groundbreaking. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:20.700 This was new and different until some people came from James. So, some people came up to where Peter was 00:08:20.700 --> 00:08:28.520 in Antioch, and Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles. The practice that he had established, 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:33.279 he started to change. Whether this happened overnight or slowly, we don't know. 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:43.360 But at the end of the day, Peter stopped eating with the Gentile believers. And so, the community of 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:50.419 believers that had been Jews and Gentiles eating together were now slowly separating by the imposition 00:08:50.419 --> 00:08:59.000 of this requirement of the Jewish law again. Now, we need to be very clear because there are two 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:04.279 things that happened. These men came from James, and then Peter, fearing the circumcision party, 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:10.259 separated himself. And it's easy for us to read this and think, oh, well, the people from James 00:09:10.259 --> 00:09:16.360 were telling Peter, stop eating with the Gentiles. But that doesn't really make sense, does it? Because 00:09:16.360 --> 00:09:25.220 we just saw in verses 8 through 10 that Peter and the other apostles were in unity with Paul on the 00:09:25.220 --> 00:09:32.080 gospel that he was preaching. And we know that Peter knows in his head that God had revealed to him 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:38.600 that you don't have to follow the Jewish dietary laws anymore. So, it doesn't really make sense. 00:09:38.980 --> 00:09:43.820 James wouldn't have sent the message, you need to stop…you need to start following the law again, 00:09:43.879 --> 00:09:49.420 because that doesn't seem to be consistent with what else we see in the New Testament. And this will be 00:09:49.419 --> 00:09:58.579 codified, again, if you overlap this with the book of Acts in Galatians…or in Acts chapter 15, 00:09:58.839 --> 00:10:08.179 this will all be settled. But what I do think is happening is that Peter is hearing a report about 00:10:08.179 --> 00:10:14.939 what's going on in Jerusalem, and that makes him concerned. Acts 15 1 says this, 00:10:14.940 --> 00:10:22.400 some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, unless you are circumcised according to 00:10:22.400 --> 00:10:31.400 the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And we see that there's a persecution of unbelieving Jews 00:10:31.400 --> 00:10:38.940 who wanted to maintain the Jewish identity and community through the keeping of the law 00:10:38.940 --> 00:10:48.360 by requiring new Christians to follow the Jewish law. This seems to be the core of it. 00:10:49.540 --> 00:10:56.800 And so, Peter, probably less out of just rank hypocrisy of being, I'm afraid that those people 00:10:56.800 --> 00:11:00.820 might do something to me, so I'm going to completely change my theology. It's possible. 00:11:01.260 --> 00:11:07.720 Peter's waffled before. This might be a waffle. But maybe out of the best of intentions, 00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:13.800 Peter says, hey, I'm going to pull back for the sake of my brethren in Judea, because they're facing 00:11:13.800 --> 00:11:26.680 intense persecution over this issue. But for Paul, this was hypocrisy. This was denying the truth of 00:11:26.680 --> 00:11:34.899 the gospel. The separation that Peter led, that others then, other Jewish Christians followed, 00:11:34.899 --> 00:11:43.039 even Barnabas, a pillar of the early church, followed him in this separating of Jewish and Gentile believers, 00:11:44.079 --> 00:11:52.079 communicated that the gospel that they were preaching somehow separated people out. 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:59.600 This was a message that somehow the Gentile believers were somehow second rate at best, 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:08.360 and maybe at worst, not really a part of the community of God, not really justified before God, 00:12:08.779 --> 00:12:17.279 because they were Gentiles, and they did not keep the law of Moses. Paul says this is hypocrisy that is not 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:27.139 in line with the gospel, and it's truth. So, this is the context of the conflict, where Paul comes and he 00:12:27.139 --> 00:12:35.340 publicly rebukes Peter, because Peter's public actions as a leader of the church was causing a confusion 00:12:35.340 --> 00:12:44.860 and leading people away from the true gospel as he understood it. Does that make sense? All right. 00:12:45.139 --> 00:12:53.559 So, here's the thing we need to think about for ourselves. We need to recognize that there is a danger 00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:59.699 that we can lose sight of the true gospel along the way. We're going to explore this so much more. 00:12:59.699 --> 00:13:06.959 I'm just going to ask that as a question, then move on, because Paul goes on to explain what is it about 00:13:06.959 --> 00:13:14.439 the gospel that is so important that he's willing to confront Peter about this and say, what is at stake? 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:23.440 What is he fighting for? And it is the gospel of justification by faith in Christ, not… 00:13:24.580 --> 00:13:40.520 What does it mean to align with, right? Fundamentally, that's what it means. And particularly in this 00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:50.360 context, it means being aligned with God's moral rightness or perfect moral perfection. God's 00:13:50.360 --> 00:13:58.379 righteousness, that is, He does everything rightly, is the standard of righteousness in the kingdom of God. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:07.600 And the question is, how are we aligned to that? This is the question that justification asks. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:15.360 Justification is a term that's related to righteousness, and so it asks a question, 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:24.759 how do we have a righteousness that aligns with God's righteousness? Right? So, this is the basic idea. 00:14:25.700 --> 00:14:30.600 Now, I just need to acknowledge this for a minute. Some of you are scholars. You're out there. You know 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:37.000 there's a thing called the new perspective on Paul. I do not have the time to get into all of the weeds. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:44.240 N.T. Wright is one of the leading proponents of this. And listen, N.T. Wright is a lovely scholar and a 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:49.320 wonderful man who loves Jesus, and he's done a lot of really good work. His work on the historicity of 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:56.659 the resurrection is unmatched and super. However, he has, along with a group of other scholars, 00:14:56.659 --> 00:15:08.100 tried to redefine justification here to not be about personal righteous alignment with God, that is, how do we 00:15:08.100 --> 00:15:13.980 deal with our sin in order to be right with God, but has said, I don't think that's what Paul is doing 00:15:13.980 --> 00:15:20.579 here. I think it's more about the communal identity of the people of God and making that be more about 00:15:20.580 --> 00:15:27.060 believing in Jesus than it is about Jewish law, but it's about belonging in the community rather than 00:15:27.060 --> 00:15:36.240 about personal salvation. And what he provides and adds is a helpful addition, an enrichment, I think, 00:15:36.280 --> 00:15:42.620 to the overall picture. But he fights really hard to say justification is not what I'm about to teach 00:15:42.620 --> 00:15:47.840 you that it is, but that it's this other thing. And I think he's wrong on that. And you just…if you read 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:52.040 him, you need to know that, and you need to be aware of that, and you can come talk to me afterwards. 00:15:52.540 --> 00:16:00.200 I am not an expert, but I have researched it enough to feel confident. Moving ahead with justification 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:11.120 is about this. How are we made right with God? And the reason why justification is so important is 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:20.700 because the biblical worldview assumes a problem. We are not right with God. Now, we know that. It's not 00:16:20.700 --> 00:16:25.759 hard to figure that out. If we look into our own hearts, we think, am I perfectly morally righteous 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:34.519 in every way? No. We look at our world, and we think, is our world any better? No, it's not. We know 00:16:34.519 --> 00:16:42.720 because Romans 3 explicates at great length that those who know the law of Moses have not kept it and 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:50.960 so need a righteousness beyond that. Those who do not know the law of Moses do not know it and do not 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:59.019 follow it and do not know God, and the heart of rebellion is in each one of us so that no one 00:16:59.019 --> 00:17:08.259 lives a life. No human being lives a life fully aligned to God according to the Bible. This is why 00:17:08.259 --> 00:17:15.859 we use the word sin. We miss the mark because we are unable to match the righteousness of God in our own 00:17:15.859 --> 00:17:26.460 lives, and it puts us in the need of being justified or getting right with God again. 00:17:26.460 --> 00:17:34.700 And Paul says, this is a question on the table, and how are we justified? Well, in this context, 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:43.019 in this conflict with Cephas, there are two options on the table. You can be justified by works of the 00:17:43.019 --> 00:17:49.519 law, or you can be justified by faith in Christ. So, let's explore those two things. And the first thing 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:53.759 he talks about is being justified by the works of the law. And of course, he starts out by saying, 00:17:53.759 --> 00:18:00.819 you can't be justified in this way, right? But we realize the pressure here, we've already talked 00:18:00.819 --> 00:18:08.319 about it earlier in chapter 2, there's already pressure from some Jewish believers to say, 00:18:08.700 --> 00:18:14.339 you should be circumcised in order to be really fully Christian. And they've resisted that and said, 00:18:14.460 --> 00:18:20.920 no, it's not about that. It's not here, it's about dietary laws. No, it's not about that. 00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:29.820 It seems that there were some, because Christianity grew out of, in the primarily Jewish culture 00:18:29.820 --> 00:18:36.420 setting, that there were those within the Jewish community and who wanted to say, let's continue in 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:42.240 our, these Jewish rules and these Jewish identities and this Jewish thought of how we do this. 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:51.200 And Paul says that is not how we do that anymore. Now, we need to be really clear on this, right? 00:18:51.700 --> 00:18:58.640 Because Paul does say, there's nothing wrong with being circumcised. He circumcised Timothy for 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:03.980 missional purposes. So, there's nothing wrong with being circumcised. There's nothing wrong with 00:19:03.980 --> 00:19:11.160 following the dietary role, the dietary laws. A first-century believer may be circumcised, 00:19:11.380 --> 00:19:18.140 but he doesn't have to be. And a first-century believer may follow the Jewish laws of eating, 00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:25.920 dietary restrictions, but she doesn't have to, right? Because the fault in this thinking of 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:35.200 justification by works of the law is twofold. One, there's a requirement, right? You must do this 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:43.539 in order to be justified, right? You must do this for God to forgive you of your sin, 00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:51.860 whether it's keeping the dietary law or circumcision or Sabbath. These are the basis upon which 00:19:51.859 --> 00:19:59.359 forgiveness of sin and acceptance by God is embraced in this thinking. 00:20:02.139 --> 00:20:05.379 Requirement and purpose. Why do we do these things? 00:20:07.259 --> 00:20:12.279 Do we do them because we think that God will accept us because we do them? 00:20:13.919 --> 00:20:19.779 We might add all sorts of religious principles and practices to our lives. 00:20:19.779 --> 00:20:26.480 probably not a lot of us are tempted to go back and obey the Jewish, like, dietary laws or 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:31.440 circumcision. That's a whole other question. You know, we can talk about that too. Probably we're 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:36.379 not following those things. We're not tempted to do these things, but we might think we need to do 00:20:36.379 --> 00:20:43.619 certain things, ritual things, Christian things, in order to be justified by God. 00:20:43.619 --> 00:20:51.179 And more broadly, we may just think we need to do good works in order to be justified by God. We need 00:20:51.179 --> 00:20:52.139 to be good people. 00:20:56.419 --> 00:21:03.399 But when we do these things, now here's the thing, all of those things could be really good. It could 00:21:03.399 --> 00:21:09.459 be really good to do religious rituals of certain kinds. It could be really good to do good works or 00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:16.220 to be a better person. All of these good things, they are good to do. I'm assuming that. I'm excluding, 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:20.579 like, there could be bad things that you could do as well, thinking, I'm going to do bad things and be 00:21:20.579 --> 00:21:28.400 justified by God. We'll just exclude that as an even option. But even these good things, if we do them 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:36.240 as a requirement and with the purpose that on this basis, we will be justified, that is made right 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:48.220 with God. We are adding our works as a necessary requirement or prerequisite for our salvation. 00:21:50.980 --> 00:22:00.180 And when we believe this gospel, we are saying, we and you need to do these things in order to 00:22:00.180 --> 00:22:10.160 participate with God in being justified, in being made right with Him. Paul says, this is not, 00:22:10.539 --> 00:22:18.180 this is not the way of justification according to the gospel. Now, I'm going to dig in a little bit 00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:24.880 deeper. Why is it true? What's the problem with it? Well, here's a couple of things. One, 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:32.740 it denies the doctrine of sin. The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:22:32.940 --> 00:22:39.960 The Bible says that we are dead spiritually in our sins and trespasses. The Bible says that we are 00:22:39.960 --> 00:22:50.240 slaves to sin apart from God's gracious work in our lives. We are so bound by sin, we have no righteousness 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:59.480 that we can muster up or create that would even come close to the glorious holiness and beauty of God Himself. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:11.319 And so, if we think that by our little addition of something that we might think is righteous enough, 00:23:11.579 --> 00:23:17.920 that we're adding to the righteousness necessary for God, for us to be right with God, 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:27.360 it's not true. And so, justification by works of the law denies the sinfulness of human beings. 00:23:28.180 --> 00:23:38.100 It also provokes our human pride and our boasting. Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, these famous words, 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:43.500 you know this, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of your own doing, 00:23:43.500 --> 00:23:50.940 it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 00:23:53.819 --> 00:23:59.039 Friends, the danger in justification by works of the law is that we would boast in what we do. 00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:04.200 Look at the righteousness that I have done. And you see this, this is why I think N.T. Wright is wrong, 00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:11.980 because when you see Jesus interacting with the Pharisees and the Jewish leadership during His lifetime, 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:16.279 increasingly it was conflict over these very issues. 00:24:16.819 --> 00:24:22.799 Look at me, look at my righteousness. I thank God that I am not like those Gentile sinners. 00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:28.160 They bring their own righteousness to bear and stand on it and say, 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:35.220 this is why God can accept me, because I am good enough in a particular way. 00:24:36.980 --> 00:24:43.759 And this pride exalts ourselves rather than exalting Christ. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:52.580 And here's the third thing about this concept of justification by works of the law, 00:24:52.579 --> 00:25:00.119 is that it fosters doubt and fear among true believers. Because if we think that we have 00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:07.819 contributed to our salvation, then we probably wonder whether we have to keep going to do it. 00:25:07.819 --> 00:25:14.599 And if we have to keep going, we wonder, how much do I need to do to satisfy the infinite holiness of God? 00:25:15.879 --> 00:25:21.079 Is there another thing that I need to do to reach the level by which God might say, 00:25:21.079 --> 00:25:23.839 yeah, that's good enough, you're justified now? 00:25:24.819 --> 00:25:32.659 It's like taking our teacup and pouring it into the ocean to raise the global level of the water. 00:25:35.319 --> 00:25:41.879 We can't affect it. And so we keep wondering, and we jump on this hamster wheel of, 00:25:42.139 --> 00:25:44.139 is it enough? Is it enough? Is it enough? 00:25:44.140 --> 00:25:53.480 And this makes our Christian lives full of fear that we haven't done enough and doubt that God could accept us. 00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:59.160 And this is why Paul confronts Peter, because he says, 00:25:59.600 --> 00:26:06.200 by separating from the Gentile believers, saying that you have to follow the dietary laws, 00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:15.779 you are telling them, and you are saying to yourselves, we must follow these laws in order to be Christian. 00:26:16.140 --> 00:26:19.500 This is the gospel that you are preaching by your actions. 00:26:26.100 --> 00:26:28.819 But Paul says, there's a better way. 00:26:28.819 --> 00:26:34.919 Paul says the gospel that we first believed and preached from the start. 00:26:36.439 --> 00:26:38.879 And he says, Peter, you know this. 00:26:39.740 --> 00:26:43.480 We who are Jews know that we're not justified by this. 00:26:43.720 --> 00:26:47.599 We didn't come to faith because we kept the works of the law. 00:26:47.859 --> 00:26:51.439 We came to faith because of what Christ has done. 00:26:51.440 --> 00:27:00.920 And so justification is by faith in Christ, in Christ alone. 00:27:04.320 --> 00:27:10.799 Because to be perfectly justified before a holy God, what would we need? 00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:13.539 We'd need something from outside of ourselves. 00:27:14.140 --> 00:27:16.519 A righteousness that is not our own. 00:27:16.519 --> 00:27:21.240 A righteousness that matches the perfect righteousness of God. 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:31.519 And this is what Paul says is the truth of the gospel and justification by faith in Christ alone. 00:27:31.740 --> 00:27:38.820 The passage that Janet read earlier from Romans explains this so beautifully, right? 00:27:39.539 --> 00:27:41.480 There's no one righteous, not one. 00:27:41.779 --> 00:27:44.420 But God has revealed another righteousness to us. 00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:46.460 Where does this righteousness come from? 00:27:46.460 --> 00:27:54.319 It comes from God and particularly through Jesus Christ who perfectly obeyed the law 00:27:54.319 --> 00:28:00.000 and perfectly lived a life of righteousness before God in every way 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:05.680 so that He may come as our Savior to die in our place. 00:28:05.880 --> 00:28:10.460 Friends, this is the good news of the gospel that there's this great exchange, right? 00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:18.480 That Christ goes to the cross bearing our sin, bearing our unrighteousness, 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:23.360 bearing all of our self-justifying works that we do. 00:28:24.600 --> 00:28:29.960 And He bears the death that those sins deserve in punishment 00:28:29.960 --> 00:28:34.059 because of the offense that it is to a holy God. 00:28:34.059 --> 00:28:37.099 Christ takes all that on Himself. 00:28:38.619 --> 00:28:40.299 But it's not just that. 00:28:41.339 --> 00:28:44.659 But it's His great exchange because by faith in Christ, 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:50.240 not only does He take our sin, but He gives us His righteousness, 00:28:51.559 --> 00:28:55.339 given by grace through faith. 00:28:55.339 --> 00:28:58.579 All who believe. 00:29:00.539 --> 00:29:12.000 So, the typical example, right, is that I have accrued a debt of $500,000. 00:29:12.699 --> 00:29:16.859 I have stolen, I have cheated, I have done all these terrible things, 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:25.220 and I now owe this incomprehensible amount of money that I don't have, right? 00:29:25.339 --> 00:29:30.919 And so, I stand in a place of unrighteousness before the judge. 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:36.659 And Jesus steps in and He says, I'll pay the price for that, right? 00:29:38.039 --> 00:29:40.759 But it's not only that He pays the price for that. 00:29:41.859 --> 00:29:43.819 It's that He says, oh, and by the way, 00:29:43.899 --> 00:29:46.839 this means your rap sheet is completely erased. 00:29:47.959 --> 00:29:50.899 As a matter of fact, you have a new standing in life 00:29:50.900 --> 00:29:54.240 where you are going to be seen as a noble person, 00:29:54.660 --> 00:29:59.040 an upright person, member of society. 00:29:59.820 --> 00:30:02.840 You're not just erasing the sin, 00:30:03.060 --> 00:30:07.019 but you're being given a righteous standing in the world. 00:30:08.120 --> 00:30:10.740 Now, it doesn't make us righteous on the inside. 00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:12.180 It doesn't transform us. 00:30:12.420 --> 00:30:13.759 We'll get to that next week. 00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:17.220 There is a power of God that does have a transforming power 00:30:17.220 --> 00:30:20.740 that should ensue in our changing. 00:30:21.379 --> 00:30:24.680 But the righteousness here is declared. 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:27.799 God says, you are righteous. 00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:30.940 When God looks at those who, through faith in Christ, 00:30:31.140 --> 00:30:32.900 have received the righteousness of Christ, 00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:37.420 God looks at us with the pleasure that He looks at Christ 00:30:37.420 --> 00:30:40.140 because He sees Christ's righteousness. 00:30:40.140 --> 00:30:43.660 This is the propitiation, right, 00:30:43.780 --> 00:30:47.120 that Christ has made God propitious, 00:30:47.320 --> 00:30:50.160 that is, favorable towards us. 00:30:50.440 --> 00:30:52.380 So He sees us as His children, 00:30:52.540 --> 00:30:55.680 and all the richness of the doctrine of salvation comes in. 00:30:55.720 --> 00:30:58.160 He adopts us as children, and we have His inheritance, 00:30:58.340 --> 00:30:59.980 and we have a new life, and all these things. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:02.820 But it's based on this declaration 00:31:02.820 --> 00:31:06.259 that we are now righteous in Christ 00:31:06.259 --> 00:31:08.640 through faith in Him. 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:14.540 And friends, this is all of what Christ has done. 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:18.180 There is nothing that we have added, 00:31:19.160 --> 00:31:20.780 nothing that we have done 00:31:20.780 --> 00:31:24.700 to either earn or contribute to this righteousness. 00:31:25.520 --> 00:31:28.400 We don't need to clean ourselves up 00:31:28.400 --> 00:31:31.080 in order to be justified by faith. 00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:34.800 And we are not justified by our great zeal. 00:31:35.020 --> 00:31:38.300 We aren't justified by our observance of the sacraments. 00:31:38.299 --> 00:31:42.279 We aren't justified by a special religious experience. 00:31:42.419 --> 00:31:45.159 We aren't justified by the good works we do 00:31:45.159 --> 00:31:46.379 in serving the poor. 00:31:47.480 --> 00:31:50.460 But we are justified because Christ 00:31:50.460 --> 00:31:53.500 has given us a righteousness 00:31:53.500 --> 00:31:56.279 that is not our own, 00:31:56.379 --> 00:31:58.779 that allows us to stand before God 00:31:58.779 --> 00:32:02.240 as we do so by faith. 00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:06.059 And we are declared right before God 00:32:06.059 --> 00:32:06.740 because of it. 00:32:07.799 --> 00:32:09.380 What a gift that is. 00:32:10.900 --> 00:32:12.839 And friends, what freedom it is too. 00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:15.299 It means we don't have to pretend 00:32:15.299 --> 00:32:16.440 to be good anymore. 00:32:17.099 --> 00:32:18.859 We can confess our sin 00:32:18.859 --> 00:32:21.900 knowing that He is faithful and just 00:32:21.900 --> 00:32:23.620 to forgive us of our sins 00:32:23.620 --> 00:32:26.460 and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. 00:32:26.460 --> 00:32:30.299 It means that we have a sure 00:32:30.299 --> 00:32:33.680 and certain thing that we boast about 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:35.079 in our lives. 00:32:35.259 --> 00:32:36.880 Rather than boasting about 00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:38.380 how good we are, 00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:39.720 our religious activities, 00:32:39.980 --> 00:32:41.620 or justify our lives. 00:32:41.779 --> 00:32:44.079 We boast in the work of Christ 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:45.420 and the person of Christ. 00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:48.259 And friends, this is so worthwhile. 00:32:48.259 --> 00:32:51.400 It's a wonderful thing. 00:32:51.859 --> 00:32:54.720 And we exalt and live a life 00:32:54.720 --> 00:32:57.440 seeking the glory of Christ 00:32:57.440 --> 00:32:59.940 in His life, in our lives. 00:33:00.740 --> 00:33:02.220 What joy and freedom. 00:33:03.059 --> 00:33:04.799 This is the good news of the gospel. 00:33:05.400 --> 00:33:06.819 And Paul says, 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:09.160 this is worth fighting for. 00:33:10.700 --> 00:33:12.779 When people come and say, 00:33:13.519 --> 00:33:14.740 you've got to do more 00:33:14.740 --> 00:33:18.519 than simply receive Christ 00:33:18.519 --> 00:33:22.059 in order to be justified with God, 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:25.000 it's worth fighting 00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:28.900 to maintain the purity of that gospel 00:33:28.900 --> 00:33:31.180 and the clarity of that truth 00:33:31.180 --> 00:33:33.599 in the church and in the world. 00:33:37.859 --> 00:33:39.859 Friends, this is what Paul 00:33:39.859 --> 00:33:41.019 is telling us this morning. 00:33:41.339 --> 00:33:43.039 We'll continue to explore 00:33:43.039 --> 00:33:45.399 in our coming days 00:33:45.399 --> 00:33:47.000 in the book of Galatians, 00:33:47.139 --> 00:33:49.079 how this gospel plays itself out 00:33:49.079 --> 00:33:49.720 in our lives. 00:33:50.059 --> 00:33:51.339 This is the gospel that, 00:33:51.680 --> 00:33:53.259 if you remember back in chapter 1, 00:33:53.500 --> 00:33:54.759 saying, I'm so sad 00:33:54.759 --> 00:33:56.859 that you're so quickly departing 00:33:56.859 --> 00:33:57.899 from this true gospel. 00:33:58.399 --> 00:33:59.500 This is the gospel 00:33:59.500 --> 00:34:00.920 that Paul is saying, 00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:02.079 don't depart from. 00:34:02.539 --> 00:34:03.980 This is where we find it. 00:34:04.639 --> 00:34:06.460 The doctrine of justification 00:34:06.460 --> 00:34:08.759 by faith in Christ alone. 00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:10.900 All right, let's pray. 00:34:10.900 --> 00:34:13.539 Lord, we thank you for this word 00:34:13.539 --> 00:34:15.420 and we thank you for this time 00:34:15.420 --> 00:34:16.720 that we've had exploring 00:34:16.720 --> 00:34:18.780 and understanding it. 00:34:18.920 --> 00:34:21.300 Lord, I pray that you would help us. 00:34:22.300 --> 00:34:24.380 Lord, show us if there are ways 00:34:24.380 --> 00:34:26.860 in which we, Lord, 00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:29.559 in our hearts or in our minds, 00:34:30.180 --> 00:34:32.920 believe and trust in things 00:34:32.920 --> 00:34:36.760 beyond the full and finished work 00:34:36.760 --> 00:34:37.400 of Christ, 00:34:38.340 --> 00:34:40.240 the sufficient one 00:34:40.240 --> 00:34:43.380 whose righteousness is enough 00:34:43.380 --> 00:34:46.260 for us completely 00:34:46.260 --> 00:34:48.980 so that we may be right with you. 00:34:51.700 --> 00:34:53.540 We pray these things in Jesus' name. 00:34:54.040 --> 00:34:54.260 Amen.