Well, this morning you can turn in your Bible to Galatians chapter 2. I had hoped that we would be able to cover verses 15 through 21, but let's read verses 15 and 16. Paul is giving more of the doctrine that he confronted Peter with when Peter began to walk in a way that was contradictory to the gospel of grace. And he says, we ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, yet we, even we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have 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. William Farrell, the French reformer, who served in Geneva, Switzerland and was instrumental in bringing John Calvin to that city to be the key leader of the Reformation there. William Farrell spoke of, wrote about how as a child, he and his family, when he was very small, went on a pilgrimage to Tellard in France where there was a unique relic that was venerated by the Catholic Church. And there was a church building there as well. And so he and many of their friends and neighbors, they made pilgrimage together to Tell Art. And when they got there, what they saw was a small crucifix. It was a piece of wood which supposedly was the actual wood from the cross of Christ. These were just little pieces, and they had been twisted together, and they had been bound together by a copper band. And the copper band was supposedly from the basin in which Jesus had washed the disciples' feet. And this relic, as soon as they came into its presence, the whole group venerated it. They fell on their faces. before this relic because they believe that the relic was a conduit for the power of God. And that through the veneration of the relic, they might be able to receive some benefit, some help, some answer to prayers, some healing. And so they all fell down before the relic. It was housed in a little grotto. on the outside of the church. So you can imagine just like a little, a small cave in which this was housed. A priest came out and he began to tell them stories of the power of the relic. And he told them how that when lightning and thunder sent from Satan and winds and storms would have destroyed the land and when these terrible disasters were on the verge of happening in that location, in that geographic location. that the crucifix and its little band of copper was like it was shaking and like it wanted to go out and fight with the devil and destroy him. And if it wasn't for the protection that this little crucifix and its band of copper brought to the place that the entire land would be devastated. And William Ferrell says how much he was afraid. as he heard these stories. After the priest had finished this initial introduction to the relic and its power, he called out another man, a disfigured monk, who came out, and he also added to the stories about the relic, and he ended his with a plea for gifts, for money that they would give in order that they might receive the blessings, the benefits, the protections, the healings, the help of this powerful relic, this conduit by which they could receive God's help and goodness. William Ferrell says that he was dumbfounded in later days reflecting on this. How much, how ignorant they all were as they were looking to this relic. instead of to the only means by which grace comes to us, and that is through Jesus Christ, the Savior. How glad he was when he heard the gospel and was delivered from all this superstitious religion. And so it really was when he heard the gospel, it was what also stirred him to give his life in serving the Lord. They called him the Elijah of the Reformation. He didn't pull any punches. Maybe I'll get to tell you more about him this month as well. But my point is this, is that God's grace only comes to us And His saving grace, His justifying grace, only comes to us by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And that is the message of the few verses that we just read. Here in verses 15 and 16, in verse 16 in particular, we have the heart of the Gospel. The heart of the Gospel. And the heart of the gospel can be described as this justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And so I want to talk about that just a little as we think about what Paul had to say in his rebuke to Peter about the nature of the true gospel. If you notice verse 15 and 16 again, Paul is saying to Peter, look, you're a Jew, I'm a Jew, we had the advantage of having the law, but that advantage of the law did not give us any advantage over Gentile sinners. because we ourselves also are sinners. And there's only one way that Jew and Gentile can be saved, and it is not through the law. So this is what he's saying. And in verse 16, he says, we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Jesus Christ 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. That last expression, by works of the law, no one will be justified, is an allusion to Psalm 143 and verse 2, where there is this confession that is given by David in Psalm 143 in the second half of that verse. He says, enter not into judgment with your servant for, and here he confesses the truth of the gospel, no one living is righteous before you. No one living is righteous before you. And he uses similar words here as he is writing this last line of verse 16. because by works of the law, no one will be justified. That was one of the reasons I wanted us to read that passage. So let's think for a moment about these four things, justification, grace, faith, and Christ, Christ alone. Let's think about these things. This is the heart of the gospel. What is justification? The word, It might be translated regarded or accounted. When we read of justification in the context of the gospel, it means counted righteous in Christ. counted righteous in Christ. That's the gospel definition of justification. People do want to justify themselves by other means as well, and so people use the word, and even the false teachers in Galatia would use the word of being justified, but they did not. It was not justified by Christ alone. It was justification based on the works of the law. You notice how Paul has repeated himself over and over again in verses 15 and 16 to make it clear what he means by justification. So justification is the work of God by which he declares the sinner to be righteous on the basis of the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's what justification is. Justification is the work of God. It is not a work of man. It is the work of God by which he declares the sinner righteous. Now notice, I didn't say that he makes the sinner righteous. Justification cannot be confused with sanctification. They are related, but they are two different works of God. Sanctification is the work that God does in us as he is making us holy, as he is sanctifying us, setting us apart as we are growing in Christlikeness. But that has nothing to do with the work of justification, which is the work of God of declaring the sinner righteous. So when you are justified, you are declared righteous, it is a legal declaration by God that you are righteous. It has to do with your standing, your status. It is an external thing that takes place when God declares you righteous. Now he does internal things too, regeneration by which we are born again by the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God comes to live in us. Paul will deal with these things as well. But justification is that legal external declaration by God that a sinner is righteous on the basis of the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so this is what justification is, and it is the doctrine by which the church either stands or falls. Once we compromise on this, we have lost the gospel. And that is why Paul spoke so harshly in chapter 1, when he said, if anyone, or an angel from heaven, or we ourselves preach to you another gospel than the one that you received, let him be accursed. And so this is justification counted righteous in Christ. The doctrine of justification answers the question, how can a guilty sinner be declared righteous before God? How can a guilty sinner become righteous before God? And as Paul lays this out in verse 16, he shows us how the gospel works to save us. So this justification, this declaration by God is by grace alone. You might say, I don't remember reading any word here in verse 16 that mentions grace. Yes, you're right about that. Paul does mention it in verse 21 of this section. I do not nullify the grace of God. I don't set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Christ died for no reason. If we could attain justification in any other way, then Christ did not need to die. That's Paul's argument there. And if you set that aside, If you try to synthesize that, the grace of God in Christ, with your own works, you poison it and destroy it so that it is no longer grace. Grace is the goodness of God confronting human demerit. We have no merit. We're in a position a state of demerit. We are under condemnation. And so every time we read in verse 16, not by works of the law, just look at it one more time and let your mind meditate on it. We know that a person is not justified by works of the law. And he says, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ. And notice it, not by works of the law. And then once more, because by works of the law, no one will be justified. Every time we read, not by works, implicitly, Paul is saying that salvation is a free gift. Salvation is by grace alone. It is the gratuitous goodness of God to give us the gift of forgiveness and righteousness. That it is not something that is earned or deserved, but it is the mere goodness, the mere grace of God by which he gives us. So every time he says, not by works of the law, it implicitly underscores the grace of the gospel. That we are justified by grace alone. It is not grace plus something. And in fact, if you want to turn there, but I'll read it to you from Romans chapter 11, and I think it is verse 6. Romans 11 and verse 6, listen to what he says. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. So he's very clear on this, that it is by grace and that if you mix works with grace, then you destroy the grace principle. The grace principle says, It's unearned, undeserved. It is simply the goodness, the love, the kindness of God that he gives the gift of salvation to us in his son. And so that is grace. So justification being declared righteous is by grace and then through faith. This is the third thing. Through faith alone. Now, If you said, well, he certainly did mention the works of the law, not by works of the law frequently, did you notice that he also mentions by faith very frequently in this as well? He says, we're not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed. So first as a noun, through faith, and then he tells us what faith is. Faith is believing. We believed in Christ Jesus. So faith is believing, trusting, depending, looking to Christ alone for salvation. Faith is the reception of the grace of God, the goodness of God. And faith is not a work. You say, well, I have faith, I believe, I did my part, and God does his part. You know, as some people would want to say that you do your best and God does the rest. That is not true. Faith is also a gift. For by grace, or you say through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Some of our favorite verses, Ephesians 2, eight and nine. And so, when we hear the word of the gospel, the spirit of God works in us to persuade us of the truth of the gospel, producing faith in us. It is the work of God in us so that we believe. For otherwise, we would not believe at all. And so, faith itself is also the gift of God. And so God works by his grace. He justifies by his grace through faith. Faith is merely the trembling hand to receive the gift of God. It is not a work. It is something also that God grants us. He grants us faith and repentance, as Luke says, in the book of Acts. And then the fourth part is that it is in Christ alone, justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And you notice in this that we have a number of expressions that show us that Jesus Christ is the object of our trust, our belief, our dependence, that we are resting in his person and work. That this faith is not in ourselves, it is not in the works of the law, It is not in any accomplishment or in any other person, but it is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He's called the Son of God because he is God the Son. This is the Trinitarian gospel. And so the Spirit of God convinces us through the gospel to trust and believe and rest and depend on Jesus Christ. And when we read of believing in Christ, so notice it again in the middle of the verse, he says, not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ. So if it's not enough that he should say not by works of the law three times, and that he should say by faith over and over again, he now tells us too that the object of our faith, that this is vital, this is what we cling to, what we believe in, this is the power of justification, is Christ Jesus, our Savior, his person and his work. And by his person, we mean that He is God, the Son, who became man, became the Son of man, so he is the God-man, fully God, and fully man. We can't explain that, but he is 100% God and 100% man. And in His deity and His humanity, He accomplished the work of salvation. Being sent by God the Father, He came into the world and He lived a sinless life. So that Pilate would say, I find no fault in Him. So that others would understand and would say, That in Him is no sin. That guile was not found in His mouth. That He did no sin, Peter and John and Paul. For He knew no sin, Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. This is the sinlessness, the righteousness of Christ. And so by his life of obedience to God's law, he is the only keeper of God's law, perfectly preserved in him. Then he went to that cross, and there upon that cross, our sinfulness, our wretchedness, our law-breaking, our transgressions were imputed to him. They were counted to him. Our sin was counted to Him and He bore the wrath of God on that cross in those three hours of darkness in which He satisfied all the demands of God's law for justice and He satisfied the wrath of God so that we might receive the free gift of forgiveness of our sins and be credited with the righteousness of Christ. And when there is faith, when there is belief, then that exchange takes place so that all that is Christ becomes mine. His righteousness, all His doing and speaking and thinking, all of His righteousness, His passive and His active righteousness become mine. The righteousness of God is counted to me. And all my sins have been counted to Him. And it's on that basis that God can declare a guilty sinner not guilty. This is the means, the only means by which our salvation can be accomplished. And so Paul is so strong in his words, not by works of the law, by faith in Christ. It is the grace, salvation, justification by grace through faith in Christ. So let me talk a little bit about this more. You know, not too long ago, I drew you this very complex diagram, you remember that? This is the triune God, right? And we talked about the uniqueness of God, that he is the creator, and he is the sovereign king, sovereign ruler over the universe. He created all things. He rules over all things. He is the only one to be worshipped. The only one worthy of worship is the triune God, the creator, the sovereign king who rules over the world. And he possesses the divine name, which is Yahweh. And so this is who God is. And below this line, we have all other reality. Paul tells us in Romans 1 that what has happened through the fall is that we have become worshipers of the creature instead of the creator. We worship the things that are made, we trust in the things of this earth, we are hoping in the things of this world, as opposed to trusting, depending, and looking to the only God. He is unique in all of these ways. Nothing in the created universe has these characteristics. Now, when we get to reading what Paul is saying here, we have kind of a parallel extension of this, because below the line, what we have is the teaching of the Judaizers, which is self-justification. And above the line, you have Justification by faith. That's short for all the things we talked about. Justification by grace through faith in Christ. This actually is a form of idolatry. Because it seeks, in ourselves, through religion, it seeks justification. How can I be righteous before God? How can I be acceptable in his presence? And so all religion is founded, all religion except for the gospel. And I make that distinction because not all groups, communions that claim to be Christian, teach the gospel. Remember that these Judaizers, they also believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, that he died for our sins and he rose again. They believed all that as well. But they said, we also have to do the works of the law. So they added the works of the law. We have to be circumcised. We have to keep the dietary laws. We have to keep the Jewish festivals. We have to keep the Sabbath. And so they were teaching a synergism, trying to say, yes, yes, this plus this, okay? This plus this. And when you do that, it just is another way of trying to subtly get away from the fact that you're trusting in yourself. If you are not depending on Christ alone, then you are depending in some measure on something earthly. And all the religions of the world are the works of man. They have to do with how I can make myself presentable to God, or something like that, as opposed to being declared righteous by pure, free grace as the gift of God. And so it's very important for us to see this distinction because in justification, God receives the glory, justification by faith, and he receives our worship. We worship him. We adore him because it is total and complete grace to us. But here, we have some reason to boast because we have added our part to it. This leads to gratitude. Justification by faith leads to gratitude, thankfulness. Self-justification leads to pride or despair. But it leads to both of those things and maybe both in the same person. So it's vital for us to understand the difference. I remind you of Isaiah 45.22 where The uniqueness of God is held out as the means of salvation where he says, look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be saved for I am God and there is none else. It is exclusive. So here's Jesus saying the same thing in John chapter 14. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. And in the Old Testament, Yahweh, and indeed the Son of God, says there also, look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be saved, for I am God, and there is none else. And so you can see the exclusiveness of trust in God is the only means of salvation. And that any other mixture any synergism, anything that makes man in some way credible before God. And there are lots of names for this as well. I won't try to go into those, but these are all false gospels. The idea that I might be saved because I was responsible for my faith. I'm the one who believed, it was me who believed, my neighbor didn't believe, But I believed because I was smarter than he was. I was wiser than he was. What is that? I don't know why he won't believe until he hears the gospel and God gives him the gift of faith. And so this idea of self-justification rejects God's verdict. We misunderstand. If we believe in a mixture of grace plus works, or if we believe in some form of self-justification, then we have a false view of God and of ourselves, because we reject his verdict on us as totally sinful. We're completely rebellious against God. In many cases, there is a belief that man is basically good, and that grace is kind of the boost he needs. The ladder's too hard for me to reach. I just can't quite reach it. So grace gives you a little boost, and then, oh, I'm on the run. And now, thank you. That's good. I got it now. I can climb now. So that is the idea that was being taught in Galatia by these false gospelers and it rejects God's verdict about ourselves that I do not want to hear from God, and I believe in my own righteousness, it rejects God's verdict about me, and it also makes God a liar because he says that I am helpless and hopeless, and that I'm beyond cure. That the sinner does not need healing, the sinner needs resurrection. Which is why Paul says in the later verses, you notice it, Verse 19, for through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. Now here he's speaking of the proper use of the law. The works of the law are not, were never intended by God as a means of salvation by which you could accumulate merit. That you could get points with God by keeping these, it was never intended that way. Rather, the law, the second use of the law, teaches us that the law is a mirror that shows me how rebellious I am. And let me just take a moment to say that. So take one command, thou shalt not kill. And we say, that's a good, good choice. I have never killed anybody. And so I've kept the law. But wait, wait, right? Because when Jesus teaches us about the law, He teaches us the inside-outside rule that not only does the law forbid the outward act of killing, but it also forbids all of the inward emotions that lead to the act of killing. So, malice, bitter resentment, anger, a vengeful spirit, thoughts of vengeance, So when God says, thou shalt not kill, it not only means not only the act of killing, but all of those thoughts and feelings that are in all of our hearts at some point, one or another. And so he gives us this rule that the command forbids the act, and it forbids all of the inward feelings that lead up to it. But wait, Jesus still teaches us the two-sided rule for interpreting his commands. The inside-outside rule, Not only does it forbid the act, the outward act, but it forbids all the inward emotions that lead to the act. And then the two-sided rule that not only does it forbid the outward act and the inward emotions of murder, it obligates us to the opposite. So that I have not kept that command until I have loved my enemy. Until I've sacrificially reached out and cared for that person. Until I've loved the unlovely and loved the person who doesn't love me. And so you can see, just one command of God, and we have to agree with Paul, I, through the law, died to the law. The law killed me. It makes it clear I don't have any ground to stand on before God. They were misusing the law of God. Paul uses the law rightly. And so it is not a means of moralistic salvation. The law exposes my sinfulness. And then consequently, It drives me to Christ because there alone is salvation. Let me just give you a few things, and I'm indebted to Michael Lockwood in his book, The Unholy Trinity, for these last points, applications, the consequences of self-justification or mixing law and gospel. Number one, enduring guilt. The consequences of self-justification. Enduring guilt. Since no idol can atone for sin or take our guilt and shame away, they leave us under the wrath of God. Though idolaters try to cast out fear, they have everything to fear since God will judge them and they will perish. And you can put this in contrast to, instead of enduring guilt, The one who trusts in Christ has peace with God, reconciliation, and he has the assurance of his forgiveness that Christ is my righteousness. Now a second consequence of self-justification is an unstable conscience. Your conscience affirms or convicts. and an unstable conscious. This inability to eradicate guilt by means of self-justification means that the idol of self-justification cannot give us a peaceful conscience. Instead, the conscience they deliver is unstable. Luther says, by the works of the law, men either become proud and presume or else they fall into despair and hate God. Now those who justify themselves may feel proud and secure when things are going well, but what about when all of a sudden they find the things they are doing or the things they are saying that are evidence to them that there's been no change in them? And instead of taking pride once more in their righteousness, all of a sudden they fall into despair because they realize all their righteousness is a sham. It's designed to honor and lift them up. It does not give glory to God. A self-righteous person, Luther says, is a thief of the divine glory and an idolater because he lays claim to God's glory for himself. And that person can quickly also change from pride to despair because they're looking at themselves instead of looking to Christ. Another, and this certainly was true in Antioch with Peter, Hypocrisy, a third consequence of self-justification. Self-justification always leads to a hypocritical pretense of righteousness rather than the real thing, even when people strive to keep certain parts of God's law. Well, I'm circumcised. Well, I'm keeping the dietary law. Well, I tithe mint and anise and cumin and all these little seeds. I'm tithing those things. This law can only change our works. We decide we're going to keep this or do this, but it does not change the heart of the person who does them. Consequently, they stand under condemnation, and everything they do is actually an act of righteousness, a pretension to righteousness, and not true righteousness that arises from the heart. You know, we've been teaching on Abraham on Wednesday evenings, and we've learned when teaching the children Abraham's obedience came from his faith, that because he believed God, he obeyed God. And when there is trust and dependence on God and not in ourselves, then the heart for obedience arises within us as the ministry of the Spirit of God, the gospel itself, that we've been freely received. There is no threat of condemnation if we do this or don't do that. And so, consequently, we are motivated to obey. He mentioned several others, but I'll just mention one more, and that is exhaustion. What does self-justification do? It's an exhausting religion. Just look at all the religious people around us, all the people who believe in self-justification. All that the idol of self-righteousness can ultimately do for its devotees is to make them weary and anxious. Luther calls self-righteous people the devil's martyrs. They sacrifice all their strength seeking to justify themselves only to inevitably fall. Brothers and sisters, I want you to believe the gospel and I want you to hold fast to it and not fall back into some syncretism of faith plus works. That works, good works, are only the fruit of faith, and they are never the root of faith. And this makes all the difference.