Would you open your Bibles, please, to Galatians 2, if you're not already there.
Galatians chapter 2.
And we're going to be toward the end of that.
And Paul, thank you for reading and getting us kind of the jump start,
which is exactly what I'll be doing here in a second.
So thank you for that, brother.
Well, speaking of the children that are leaving,
two of my kids have really reacquainted me with a love for puzzles, my older two.
They've helped me see how wonderful puzzles are.
And we like to do those on slow afternoons, especially rainy afternoons,
and enjoy that activity together.
One of their puzzle sets is a book of fairy tale puzzles,
and it's a lot different from all their other ones.
All the puzzles in this set are built around a large and uniquely shaped centerpiece.
It might be shaped like a flower or a butterfly, but it's got a unique shape.
And each centerpiece of these puzzles occupies the heart of the puzzle.
And all the other pieces of the regular jigsaw puzzle fit around that main piece.
And if you don't have that large, uniquely shaped centerpiece that's in the heart of the puzzle,
or if you try to substitute one of the other pieces for that piece,
the puzzler is puzzled because the puzzle doesn't make any sense.
It falls apart.
And similarly, the Christian faith has a unique and foundational heart
that must be at the center of it.
For every Christian and for every church that proclaims Christ,
there must be a central and uniquely shaped piece.
And it has to be in place, or else everything falls apart and the whole faith doesn't make sense.
And that piece is the gospel.
If you've been with us the past several weeks in the book of Galatians,
or the letter to the Galatians that Paul wrote,
we've been taking a close look at what he's trying to tell them.
And I'm guessing that you've probably picked up on some of the urgency
and the crisis that are in Paul's words to the Galatian churches.
Because he's very concerned that they're missing,
and they're abandoning that central, uniquely shaped piece.
And because they're abandoning this unique centerpiece of the gospel,
the apostle dispatches this letter urgently
before their faith is shipwrecked and doomed.
So if you've caught nothing else from the last couple of weeks,
I'm guessing that you've at least figured out that the Galatians,
the letter to the Galatians is about this really important thing
that needs to be at the center of the Christian life,
which is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And the Galatians were in serious danger of losing it.
But, what is the gospel?
What is this gospel that Paul's talking about?
Paul has been talking up and down about the gospel.
Just a quick look at chapter 1 and chapter 2,
you see the word gospel pop up all over the place,
but he's only hinted at what the gospel actually is,
and hasn't really spelled it out yet.
And like Paul, as Christians, we talk a lot about the gospel too.
But it's really important that we get it right,
that we understand exactly what it is,
because it's the central, uniquely shaped piece
that makes our faith hold together.
So what is it?
Well, today's passage, which is really the heart of the letter,
everything that Paul's been saying up to this point
has been leading to this big reveal of what the gospel is,
and everything that's going to come after this passage
is going to be pointing back to it.
So it really is the hinge on which this letter turns.
So if you're going to fall asleep,
maybe choose another Sunday,
because this is really important.
In fact, if your neighbor's fallen asleep already,
go ahead and wake them up for this part,
and then they can go back to sleep.
So just again, you can see this right here.
So what is the very heart of the gospel,
which is the heart of this letter,
which is the heart of the Christian faith?
What is it?
It's this.
The only possible way we can be made right with God
is by trusting in Jesus, period.
The only possible way that we can be made right with God
is by trusting in Jesus, period.
And this is what Paul wants us to feel,
that we need to work really hard at keeping this central.
We need to work really hard at keeping this truth central
to our lives, to our life as a church.
This has to be at the center.
Now, the only possible way we can be made right with God
is by trusting in Jesus, period.
That sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?
And it is, wonderfully so.
The gospel is pretty simple.
And yet, that's kind of why we have to work really hard
to not let it just kind of be like the ABC song
and just kind of go back to the back of our head.
It's not just the door that we open into the Christian faith
and we kind of move beyond it.
No, we never move beyond this.
So that's exactly what happened to Peter,
as we're going to soon see.
He moved beyond the centrality of the gospel.
So here's how we're going to move into this passage
and gather momentum to the heart of this gospel.
There are four stops along this train ride
we're going to move on through the heart of God's gospel.
Four stops.
And then, after I get to those four stops,
we're going to have three ways to consider
how to respond well to this good news.
So let's look at the first stop in verses 14 to 16.
And the name of this stop is A Gracious Reminder.
A Gracious Reminder.
Last week, we looked at how Paul publicly rebuked Peter
for leaving the Gentile cafeteria table,
which Mike set up so well for us,
and he moved over to the Jewish table.
Now, thank goodness for Paul, because he saw it.
He saw it in the moment,
and he called Peter out on this anti-gospel hypocrisy,
and he called them out on it publicly right then and there.
And verse 14 begins this rebuke,
and I'm pretty sure a lot of other folks
believe that this rebuke goes all the way to verse 21.
So if you have quotation marks at the end of verse 14 in your Bible,
I think it makes most sense for those quotation marks
to be at the end of verse 21.
It seems like Peter's rebuke from Paul is all of this passage.
So we need to keep that in the back of our minds.
This is all a rebuke from Paul to Peter.
So let's look at what he says starting at verse 21.
Let's see how it's a gracious reminder.
Peter.
But when I saw that their conduct was not in step
with the truth of the gospel,
I said to Cephas, or Peter, before them all,
if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew,
how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?
So Peter's table switching led Gentiles to the conclusion
that they needed to become Jewish
in order to be really okay with God.
And that was confusing.
They were sort of in by trusting in Jesus,
but then if they get really in,
then they had to also eat the right foods,
get circumcised, et cetera.
And this is a very confusing message
that it would have been sending to the Gentiles
because they had believed that faith in Christ
was the only thing necessary to be made right with God.
Now look at verses 15 and 16,
and let's see how Paul uses repetition.
Just listen for it to drive home his point of this reminder.
We ourselves, Peter, are Jews by birth
and not Gentile sinners.
Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law,
but through faith in Jesus Christ.
So we have also believed in Christ Jesus
in order to be justified by faith in Christ
and not by works of the law,
because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Did you hear it?
It's like three times.
We're not justified by works of the law.
No one can be made justified by works of the law,
only by faith in Christ.
I mean, he's just hammering this home.
Paul's logic is so clear, too.
If God helped law-abiding Jews like he and Peter
to realize that it was an exercise in futility
to try to be right with God through their law-keeping,
then why would Peter turn around
and tell Gentiles with his actions
that they needed to keep the Mosaic law
to be right with God
if he himself knew that that was impossible?
It doesn't make any sense.
Now, just for clarity's sake,
you might have noticed I used the error quotation marks
in verse 15.
Let's look at that word sinners in verse 15.
What Paul's not saying
is that the Jews aren't sinners.
We ourselves are Jews by birth
and not Gentile sinners.
He's not saying that Gentiles are the sinners
and Jews are fine.
He's not saying that.
Rather, he's using a term,
which the quotation marks help with,
that the Jews used to describe the Gentiles
who were considered sinners
in the eyes of the Mosaic law,
including all the purity laws,
offering sacrifices through a priest in the temple,
getting circumcised,
et cetera.
So law-abiding Jews
would refer to Gentiles as sinners
because they didn't follow the law of Moses.
So it might be helpful to kind of imagine
the quotation marks there.
So there's the gracious reminder.
Paul gives it to Peter.
He gives it to the Galatians
by writing this down to the Galatians
and by means of the Spirit of God
preserving this over 2,000 years,
he gives that to us.
We don't get right with God
through keeping the law.
We get right with God
by trusting in Jesus' law-keeping
on our behalf
and by trusting in his death
on the cross for us lawbreakers.
That's the gracious reminder.
Now, before we move on,
we need to be clear on one thing.
What does Paul mean
with this word justified?
Shows up three times in this verse
as well as in verse 17
and in the original language,
the word justified
is very closely related
to that word righteousness
in verse 21.
So obviously,
it's a really important word
for this passage
and it's an extremely important word
for the Bible.
So what does Paul mean by it?
When Paul uses language
like justified
or justification,
he's talking about
a gracious, legal pronouncement
that God makes
on an individual sinner
when that person
trusts in Jesus
as his or her substitute.
If the whole of God's law
can be summarized
in the two commands,
love your neighbor as yourself
and love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
soul, mind, and strength,
then you and I
are utterly condemned
before God.
Let that sink in for a minute.
We blatantly ignore
these whole summarizing commands
daily
and we choose to issue
and obey
our own self-made commands
to love self
with all heart, soul, mind, and strength.
And apart from God's grace,
we would be facing
God's righteous wrath
and punishment
because of this law-breaking.
But God sent his son.
And God's son,
Jesus,
lived every moment
of his earthly life
in perfect,
loving obedience
to his heavenly father
and in perfect love
toward his neighbor.
and then Jesus
gave his life up
as a willing substitute
for those of us
who hated God
and hated each other.
And when we,
as these lawbreakers,
see and understand
what Jesus did
and trust that he did that
on our behalf,
in the moment
of that trusting,
God makes a legal declaration.
He says that we are
no longer unrighteous
lawbreakers in his sight,
but he legally pronounces us
righteous.
Even though in reality
we aren't.
He chooses to view us
through the lens
of Christ's shed blood
on our behalf
and through the lens
of his perfect
and righteous life
as if we were the ones
who lived it.
Now,
for a moment,
let's just pretend
that you're a Christian
and you've heard this before.
You believed it.
Just pretend you're hearing it
for the first time.
You are not right with God.
There's no way
you can get right with God
on your own.
And then God
graciously shows you
what he did for you
through his crucified
and resurrected son,
Jesus.
And you believe in him.
And then all of a sudden,
with one sweeping declaration,
not only are your sins forgiven,
but God declares you righteous
just like his son is righteous.
It should make our jaws drop
in awe of his mercy.
Just like the song
we were singing earlier,
all I owe,
you paid for me.
So that's the gracious reminder.
From the lips
and from the pen
of the Apostle Paul,
Peter,
the Galatians,
and us,
we all receive
this gracious reminder.
It is a slap in God's face
to pretend
that we can be righteous
before God
by any other means
except by the shed blood
of Jesus Christ
on our behalf.
That's the gracious reminder.
And that's our first stop.
It's just a beautiful
mountaintop vista
of the gospel.
But let's move
to the second stop.
Verses 17 through 19.
There is some rough terrain ahead.
So I need you to stick with me.
But it's going to set us up
really well
for our third stop.
The second stop is called
an old relationship
discarded.
An old relationship
discarded.
Let's kind of read
these verses together.
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.
For if I rebuild
what I tore down,
I prove myself
to be a transgressor.
For through the law
I died to the law
so that I might live
to God.
So what is that
old relationship
that Paul is
talking about here?
Well, it is
the Christian's
old relationship
to the law of Moses.
And in the context
it's the Jewish
Christian's
old relationship
to the law of Moses.
Paul has just been saying
that we're not justified
by keeping the law of Moses
and so now he needs
to clarify
what that relationship
used to be
and how it has
got discarded.
So let's skip ahead
to verse 19
to answer that question
and then I'll take us
back to verses 17 to 18.
Here,
in verse 19,
Paul says
that he died
to the law.
So obviously
it's an old relationship
it's discarded
but how did he come
to that conclusion?
Well,
Paul says
that he died
to the law
through the law.
Don't you wish
that Paul would be
a little more clear
sometimes?
What does that mean,
Paul?
Well,
going back to verse 16
helps us with this
a little bit.
Paul and Peter
as ethnic Jews
realize with God's help
that their obedience
to the law
could not justify
them before God.
Only Jesus' law keeping
and his death
on their behalf
could justify them.
So,
through their law keeping
they realized
that their law keeping
was not up to par.
They could not be justified
through their law keeping
and therefore
they died to the law
as a way of
making themselves
right
with God.
In another letter
in Romans 7,
Paul uses an illustration
to help us with this
and it's kind of
from another angle.
In Romans 7,
Paul depicts the law
as a husband
to which we,
the bride of Christ,
were once married.
The only problem
is that it was
a very dysfunctional marriage.
The law made demands
on us
that we just could not keep
in our very nature
as lawbreakers.
That relationship
produced guilt
and shame
and condemnation
in us
not because the law
is bad
but because we simply
could not keep it.
But,
we were bound
to the law
just like spouses
were bound
to each other
in the covenant
of marriage
and only death
could break
that bond.
And then,
a death happened.
Crushed by God's
holy law,
the law we broke,
Jesus died
on our behalf.
And if we
are bound
to Jesus
by faith,
then we also
are dead
to the law,
our old husband,
as a way
of justifying
ourselves
before God.
And this happened
so that we could live
in a new relationship
to God,
no longer bound
to the law
as a means
of getting right
with God.
So that's the old
relationship
to the law
and how it got
discarded.
We used to be
in a relationship
with the law
in which we depended
on our own obedience
to the law
to make us right
before God,
but now because
the death of Christ
took place
and we died
with him,
our dependence
on the law
as the way
to get right
with God
is broken.
Okay.
So it's old
relationship
and it's discarded.
But what about
verse 17 and 18?
What are we going
to do with that?
Well,
scholars have spilled
a lot of ink
on these two verses
and there's really
kind of two main
interpretations.
Both of them
have good ground
to stand on.
The one that makes
most sense to me
is this.
If you want to talk
about the other one,
come find me later.
It seems like
the word sinners
in verse 17
is meant to mirror
the same word sinners
back up in verse 15.
So in other words,
it needs to have
quotation marks
around it
as the label
that Jews
gave Gentiles
who didn't keep
the law of Moses.
So follow Paul's logic
with me in verses 17
and 18.
I'm going to give you
kind of an expanded
paraphrase here.
It's as if Paul's
saying this,
Peter,
you and I realized
that we needed
to be justified
by faith in Christ,
not by keeping
the law of Moses.
And when we realized
that,
we also realized
that Jesus himself
had made parts
of the Mosaic law
obsolete.
He fulfilled
the purity laws
by making us
clean in him.
He fulfilled
the priesthood
and the sacrificial system
by becoming
our great high priest
and our Passover lamb.
So those parts
of the law
no longer apply
to us
because we're
in Christ now.
But Peter,
that doesn't make
Jesus a promoter
of sin,
does it?
No,
because Christ
has fulfilled
all that law
for us.
And he has broken
down the wall
of separation
between Jews
and Gentiles now.
But sadly,
Peter,
you just rebuilt
that wall.
You had torn it
down before
by refusing to find
your justification
in the law
and putting your
trust in Christ.
But now,
when you switch
tables just now,
you're rebuilding
the wall between
Jews and Gentiles
again.
And that makes
you a real
transgressor,
Peter,
because you violated
God's truth
of our justification
in Christ.
You've also violated
his law of love
that we're supposed
to keep toward
our Gentile brothers
and sisters.
That seems to make
the most sense
out of verses 17
and 18.
Peter had died
to the law
through the law
and yet he wanted
to start rebuilding
his old relationship
with the law again.
It was like,
going back to the
marriage illustration,
it's like a remarried
woman going on dates
with her ex-husband
instead of the one
that she's actually
married to.
Bad deal.
So this is the case
with Paul and Peter,
it's the same case
with the Galatian
Christians,
and same with us
too.
Our relationship
with the law
is no longer binding
as a way of getting
us right with God.
The Mosaic law
is not bad,
it makes a good guide
to understand
the holiness of God.
It gives us
a good guide
to what it looks
like to live
for God,
but it makes
a poor Savior.
The law leads us
to feel our need
for a Savior
and also leads us
along a good path
of righteous living
to please our Savior,
but it cannot
be our Savior.
Ever since
the Garden of Eden,
human beings
have known
that there was
something wrong
with us.
Ever since Adam
and Eve broke
God's holy law,
and we don't
like that
brokenness
on the inside.
We don't like
that guilt
and that shame
and that condemnation,
and yet we can't
help but try to
make ourselves
feel better about it
by trying to
make ourselves
right in some way,
by trying to
justify ourselves
in some way.
So we do
what Adam and Eve did.
We blame others
for our misdoings,
and we try to
justify ourselves
in that way.
We shift the blame.
Or we compare
ourselves to others
in self-righteous
judgment,
telling ourselves
we're not as bad
as those people
over there,
because we're doing
this or we're not
doing this.
Or we deceive
ourselves into
thinking that if
we try hard enough
to be decent people,
we'll deserve
God's grace somehow.
Or we lower
God's standard
of righteousness
so that it's
easier for us
to meet.
All of these
are desperate
attempts of the
human heart
to try to
justify itself
through an old
relationship
with God's law.
But these are
just painkillers,
not the cure.
Our self-righteous
blame games,
our self-righteous
judgmentalism on
others,
comparing ourselves
to others,
our desperate
attempts to measure
up to God's law,
it's just a morphine
drip for a cancer
patient.
It can dull the
pain temporarily,
but the disease
of God's
condemnation on
us as guilty
people continues
to kill us.
So our self-righteous
performance just
doesn't fit in that
uniquely shaped
center of the
gospel.
If we put it
there, our faith
falls apart.
We have to
discard ourselves
as our own
saviors,
and we have to
embrace another,
which leads us to
our third stop.
a new relationship
embraced.
A new relationship
embraced.
Paul hints at
this new relationship
at the end of
verse 19.
He says,
I died to the
law, through the
law, that I might
live to God.
Well, that kind of
begs the question,
how, Paul?
How are you dead
to the law and
living to God?
Look at verse 20.
It's through a new
relationship.
I have been
crucified with
Christ.
It is no longer
I who live, but
Christ who lives in
me.
In the life I live
now in the body,
or in the flesh,
I live by faith in
the Son of God who
loved me and gave
himself for me.
This verse
proclaims in a
nutshell one of the
most precious
realities of the
Christian life, and
one of the most
easily overlooked by
us.
Brother,
sister, if you
have trusted in
Jesus, then you
are united to
Jesus.
You are in
him.
Like this.
Paul is saying
here that when
Jesus was crucified,
all those who
would ever bind
themselves to him
by faith were
also crucified
with him,
becoming dead to
self and alive to
God through their
union with Jesus.
Now what does that
actually mean?
How does that
flesh it out?
Well it means as
far as being made
right with God is
concerned, I might
as well not be
alive.
I'm not even alive
anymore if I'm
trying to prove
myself, justify
myself before God.
Paul says it's no
longer I who live.
I'm not living
before God to
justify myself.
Now Christ does
that for me.
The old Billy
Nye, the pre-conversion
to Jesus Billy
Nye, was living
to justify himself
before God and
it was horrible.
But the converted
justified Billy
Nye, who is united
to Jesus by faith,
is dead to any
attempts to
justify myself.
In fact, my own
sinful self died
with Jesus on the
cross.
He put the death
nail in my old
self that was
enslaved to the
twin masters of
sin and self-
justification.
So now by
embracing Jesus as
my justification
and not myself
as the only way
to be right with
God, Jesus put
my old self to
death.
He gave me a new
life in him that
has him as the
indwelling and
reigning king.
It's no longer I
who lives but
Christ who lives
in me.
Jesus lives for
me before God
now as my
justification.
So embracing
your new
relationship with
Jesus as your
justification means
that you now have
the spirit of
Jesus at work in
you.
He's bearing
spirit to your
spirit in God's
presence that you
are in his son and
therefore you are
one of his sons or
daughters.
So because my old
self is now
crucified with Jesus
and because Jesus
lives before God as
my justification and
he indwells me by
his spirit, the
actual life I do
live day to day, I
live by faith in
him.
It's dependent faith
and it's not a
life of fear or
shame or drudgery
but it's a life of
grateful adoration.
Did you catch the
end of verse 20?
The life I live in
the flesh I live by
faith in the son of
God who loved me and
gave himself for me.
You can't help but
hear the gratitude and
the joy spilling out
of Paul as he talks
about living by faith
in God's son.
He can't talk about
the cross of Christ
without his own
personal delight in
Jesus' love for him
gushing out of him.
Jesus loved Paul,
the guy who violently
oppressed the church
and hated the very
name of Jesus.
So brother and
sister, do you see
his love for you?
He gave himself for
you?
Embrace that.
Embrace him as your
justification.
Discard your own
attempts at justifying
yourself that died
with him and embrace
the one who loved you
by giving himself for
you.
Let's come to the
fourth stop now,
verse 21.
We'll call this stop
a line in the sand.
A line in the sand.
Look at verse 21.
I do not nullify the
grace of God, for if
righteousness were
through the law, then
Christ died for no
purpose.
There's not a lot of
new content in this
verse.
Paul summarizing what
he had already said
to Peter, which was
recorded for the
Galatians and also for
us.
If righteousness comes
from our obedience,
then Jesus died for
nothing.
It was a joke.
A terribly tragic joke.
But you can't miss the
line that Paul draws in
the sand.
I do not nullify the
grace of God in
comparison to Peter,
who had just begun to
nullify the grace of
God through his
actions.
To say that we
contribute anything to
being justified before
God is to nullify God's
grace, to make it
nothing for no purpose.
If we do that, then God's
incredibly costly grace of
sending Jesus to die for
us was for nothing.
It didn't accomplish or do
anything at all.
And Peter was essentially
doing that by switching
tables.
That's why Paul had to
rebuke him in this way.
And that's what the
Galatians were doing, as
Paul is going to make
very clear in the very
next verse, but I'll let
Pastor Mike do that next
week.
And it's also what we do.
Consciously or
unconsciously, if we do
not keep the gospel of
grace in the center of our
lives.
It's a line in the sand
and you can't straddle it.
You got to be on one
side or the other.
And Peter shifted across
this line unconsciously,
and we can too.
He moved from living with
his life, with the unique
gospel of grace at the
center of his life, to
removing it altogether by
his actions and leading
others astray by doing so.
So we must consciously and
diligently keep this unique
gospel at the center of our
faith, or else we cross the
line, and we get out of
step with the gospel, and
we make the grace of God a
joke.
So we've made four stops
along this train ride, all
the way to the heart of the
gospel.
Now I'd like us to consider
three ways to respond in
faith and obedience, and I've
hinted at a lot of this
already.
Number one, stop justifying
yourself.
Stop justifying yourself.
Hear those words lovingly,
but stop justifying yourself.
There's a famous Bob Newhart
comedy sketch in which he
plays a psychiatrist seeing a
patient who's suffering from
extreme claustrophobia.
And after listening to her
problem, he says, well, now I
have two little words for you
that I think will help clear
this problem up rather well.
And of course, she's very
interested, and she leans in
and wants to hear what he has
to say.
And so after a dramatic pause,
he yells, stop it!
God, through Paul, is basically
saying that to Peter, and he's
also saying that to the
Galatians.
How could he not be saying that
to us?
Stop trying to justify
yourself.
Now, I'm pretty sure nobody in
this room is seriously
considering getting circumcised
or eating kosher food as a way
to justify themselves before
God.
If you are, let's talk
afterwards.
But hopefully this sermon
made sense to you if you've
been considering that.
But that's not the way we, in
our culture and in our
evangelical subculture, tend
to slip into self-justification.
After all, we love the gospel
of grace.
None of us would deny it.
However, Peter did, and he
loved the gospel of grace
too.
He slipped into self-justifying
ways and led a whole bunch of
people along with him.
So, how do we do that?
Well, we do it in a thousand
different ways.
Self-righteousness is slippery.
Self-justifying is very slippery.
Here's one way in particular.
We can consider ourselves to be
good, legit, decent Christians
in comparison with those
Christians.
It's a self-righteous
judgmentalism.
So, for example, Christians
who don't drink alcohol can
judge those who do drink
alcohol and vice versa.
Christians who support
Trump judge those who
hate Trump and vice versa.
Reform Christians judge
Arminian Christians and vice
versa.
Charismatics judge
non-charismatics and vice
versa.
Social justice activist
Christians judge more
conservative Christians and
vice versa.
White Christians judge black
Christians and vice versa.
the list could go on.
The fact is, we all have a tendency to want to justify ourselves
with regard to other believers thinking that we are the legit Christians
because we do certain things or don't do certain things
in comparison to these Christians.
We tend to develop a certain set of self-righteous merit badges
that we can wear
because we mistakenly think that God approves of us more
than those people over there
because of the things that we do or don't do.
And that is a form of self-justification
and the church can't do that.
We must stop it.
The one who loved me
by giving himself for me on the cross
is the same one who loved you
and gave himself for you on the cross
and is the same one who loved them
and gave himself for them on the cross.
Only the blood of Jesus makes us right and approved before God.
Only the righteousness of Jesus
that God has graciously clothed us with
is able to make us stand before God
as approved and precious in his sight.
Period.
There are no first and second class Christians
in Christ's kingdom.
We all get in like little children
trusting humbly and dependently
on the perfect righteousness of Jesus
and his shed blood for our sin.
Period.
So take a look just around the room for a moment.
Just kind of look at each other.
It's kind of fun to do that every once in a while.
We are a bunch of different people.
We're white collar, blue collar, no collar.
We're black, white, Asian, Hispanic.
We're educated or self-educated.
We're socially awkward.
We're socially savvy.
We're biblically literate or not literate at all.
We're visually well put together
or just barely hanging together.
We're young.
We're old.
But what unites us
is the plain fact that none of us can do anything
to get right with God on our own.
We are completely dependent upon Christ
and Christ alone.
So what should be running through your head
when you see your fellow Christians right now
is the same blood that was shed to justify me
was also shed to justify them.
Now there are other ways we can tend to justify ourselves.
We can overemphasize our spiritual disciplines,
for example.
We can see them as a way
to maintain our righteous standing before God
as if God smiles on us more
when we read our Bible
than on the day that we don't read our Bible.
We know deep down that reading our Bible and praying
won't make God love us more
or consider us more righteous
than we are already in Christ,
and yet we can easily slip into that mindset.
We can also blame others for our sin
as a way to justify ourselves.
We can also ignore certain parts of God's Word
to lower His holy standard to justify ourselves.
But no matter how we do it,
we've got to stop.
This passage won't let us continue to think
that we contribute anything
to our righteousness before God at all.
It's only by trusting in Jesus,
and we are no better than anyone else who does too.
Number two,
embrace your union with Christ.
Embrace your union with Christ.
This is the biggest antidote to number one.
This is the antidote to self-justification.
When you realize that you are no longer married to the law,
but you are married to Christ,
and all that was yours,
all that yucky stuff,
is now His,
and all that is His,
all that lovely stuff,
is now yours,
and that He has committed to you forever in love,
then the need to justify yourself
just kind of fades away.
Imagine a woman
who was not only poor,
sick,
and a million dollars in debt,
but also a convicted felon in jail
with a $10 million bail.
Okay?
Get that picture in your head.
Now imagine a brilliant millionaire doctor slash lawyer
who's healthy
and an upstanding citizen.
He goes to the jail,
pays her bail,
goes to her creditors,
and pays off her debts.
He proposes marriage to her
after finding a miracle cure for her sickness
and getting her free from all her charges.
Upon their marriage,
He shares with her all His wealth,
all His upstanding reputation,
all His wisdom,
and all His affection.
Now if that can start to make our mouths
drop a little bit in awe,
then we're just starting to begin to understand
how astounding it is
to be united to Jesus by faith.
We offer Him nothing but our sin.
That's it.
He offers us everything
at great cost to Himself
and binds us to Him
through grace.
And once we are united to Him,
then we're dead to trying to justify ourselves before God.
Because Jesus has already done that.
He's already shed His blood for it.
So we're dead to our old ways
of wanting to continue in sin.
Because He dwells within us by His Spirit.
And we yield to Him as our King and our Lord.
And we're alive
to wanting to please God
because through our union with Jesus,
we now have God as our Father.
Father.
So if you've trusted in Christ,
then this is live for you now.
This is your reality now.
It's not like kind of partway
and you kind of gradually edge into it.
No, it's just boom.
Once you're married, you're married.
You're not half married.
You're one with Him now.
And you are as united to Him now
as you will ever be for eternity.
So embrace Him.
Move toward Him in faith.
Drop any sin that you're clinging to.
Drop any self-justifying ways
that you're hoping in.
Revel in His love for you like Paul did.
The life I now live in the flesh,
I live by faith in the Son of God
who loved me and gave Himself for me.
And as Paul mentioned in verse 17,
just because Jesus had fulfilled the law of Moses
and were justified by Him in faith
and not by keeping the law,
then that doesn't mean that Jesus supports law-breaking.
So you're not united to Him now.
And Christ is not a servant of sin.
So if you're one with Him,
then you're dead to sin.
You've been crucified with Him.
So embrace Him, not sin.
If you happen to be feeling the conviction of the Spirit
for a particular sin,
or you know that you've been running away from Him for a while,
and you need to turn around,
then do that now.
Repent.
Come back to your new husband,
because He's good, He's generous,
and He will never leave you dissatisfied.
And if you're finding yourself as a believer
who knows and even loves the Gospel,
but your joy has been kind of slowly ebbing away,
take some time to soak in the truth of your union with Him.
Read verse 16.
Read verse 20 over and over and over again
until it kind of starts to get traction in your heart
and remind yourself that it is your relationship with Him only
that makes you right with God.
So exercise that muscle of faith and trust
in that new relationship,
and I think that you'll begin to experience joy again.
And number three,
offer this Gospel.
Offer this Gospel.
This is the most precious truth anyone can ever hear.
It requires boldness and courage and faith
to offer it to someone who may not receive it,
and it grates against the fear of being rejected by people,
which we all face, just like Peter did.
But the fact is that we, as the Church of Jesus,
are the only people on the face of the planet
who carry around this light in an otherwise very dark world.
So act in faith, just like Paul did in confronting Peter,
to offer this Gospel of getting right with God by faith in Christ.
Let it flow out of you in your joy of your union with Him.
Freely you receive this Gospel,
so freely give it away.
Perhaps this Gospel is something that you yourself
are just starting to understand, perhaps for the first time.
If that's you, then embrace it.
It's being offered to you,
so embrace it with your whole heart.
Ask God to make you right with Him.
Put your trust in Jesus.
Talk to someone about it, too.
Some of the pastors and elders
would be happy to pray with you down here at the end of service.
So church, let's keep this Gospel central.
Let's keep it as the centerpiece of our lives,
and let's work hard to keep it there.
Let's pray.
We thank you, Father, that your word is a shield to those who trust in you,
and you never change.
All that you say is true and right and good.
So God, help us to receive it now by faith.
Give us the strength we need to respond in obedience.
And give us great joy as we rejoice in the grace you've given us in Christ.
Amen.
Thank you.