Raise you up from the evil's wings. Bear you on the bread of dawn. Make you to shine. All right, Chester A.R.P. Church devotional podcast. Clint Davis, your host. Galatians chapter two, verse 15. Now Paul is starting to get into the heart of his letter to the churches of Galatia. He's addressed the issue with Peter. He's saying, listen, I have been accepted the message I'm preaching to you. He's addressing the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in the life of the church and specifically addressing the question, Should Gentiles have to adopt Judaism to be Christians? This is what he says, we ourselves 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 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. But if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too are found to be sinners. Is Christ an asservant of sin? Absolutely 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. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I live now in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Boom. He lays it out right here in about, let's see, about seven verses, six or seven verses, he nails the point. And it might be a little challenging for us, but ultimately he gives a summary of his entire argument, and that is this. We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, in other words, He's not saying that somehow Jews are better than Gentiles. He's not saying Jews are righteous and Gentiles aren't. What he is saying is we were Jews by birth, we had the opportunity, Jews had the opportunity to be born into the covenant community of God. They received the covenant sign of circumcision, the men did, received the covenant sign of circumcision within eight days of being born. And they were raised, presumably, in the life of the synagogue. And they came to understand the principles of who God is and how God reveals himself in his Old Testament covenant, in the Old Testament. And so Paul is making a distinction, much the same as we would make a distinction about children who are baptized into the life of the church and are raised in the church. They have a benefit of being raised by the covenant people of God, parents that get involved in the life of the church, parents who teach their children the truth of the gospel, parents who teach them the truth of of the word of God and the church that does it. There's a benefit, a privilege to being raised in the life of the Christian church. Paul's saying the same thing. There was a benefit of being raised in Judaism. But he says even now we understand, right, that a person is not justified by works of the law. We understand that no matter how great we think we are or how much we attain to accomplish the works of the law and the Old Testament that are put before us, we will never, ever be made right before the presence of God. We're sinners. We're sinners in the presence of God. We cannot. Make ourselves right before a holy and just God. You've got to understand that there's such a separation between a holy and perfect God and sinners. It doesn't matter how good we might be in this world, we are still categorically separated from God because we're sinners and he's not. Right? But he's given us Jesus. That's the gospel. He loved us and gave his life for us. And through faith in Jesus Christ, we have believed in Christ, so we are justified because God came and took on human flesh, the holy just God took on human flesh for us and lived a perfect life and did everything that was necessary for us to accomplish the will of God. We can't please God, but Jesus did. And by trusting in Jesus, God the Father gives to us that wonderful righteousness that Christ earned. In other words, that merit, that salvation, that life eternal that Jesus earned in his humanity is given to you by grace through faith in him. Now we understand that, Paul says. We are Jews by birth. We understand we can't be justified by the works of the law. And we know that through faith in Jesus Christ, we are the ones who are made right before the presence of God. No one will be made right before God by works of the law. It's impossible. But he says in verse 17, if our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we are found to be sinners, Christ then the servant of sin? No, right? We're striving to live a holy life, but when we find sin in our lives, that doesn't mean Jesus is the servant of sin, it rather means we're sinners. Plain and simple, it's not a reflection on Jesus, it's a reflection on us. And he says, if I try to add, tear, and rebuild a lost structure that I know cannot make me right before the presence of God, And all it does is show me where I fall short, then I become a slave to that law and that law does nothing more than prove to me when I am a failure. Now listen, I've got to start to wrap this up, but you know you've had those experiences in your life when someone's been really hard on you, maybe a parent, maybe a coach, maybe a teacher. And it seems like you could never, ever do enough. And they constantly, regardless of how much you strive to do, maybe a spouse does this to you, no matter how much you strive to do things the right way and to do what's supposed to be done, they constantly tell you You're a failure. You didn't manage up. And they have this impossible standard. And you hit your head against that ceiling over and over and over and over and over again. You become a slave to their expectations. And you prove yourself by trying to live that way. You are a failure in their eyes. And Paul says, why would we do that to our relationship with God? We're not building that back up. Rather, he says, I died to the law. OK, I can't do it. So what have I done? Well, I have trusted Jesus. And in trusting Jesus, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So it's Him living through me. I have received His righteousness. He's living through me. The life I now live in the flesh, this current life, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave His life for me. I don't nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. In other words, Christ died so I could trust Him. entrusting him I've died with him and so now I live with him because God has given me the credit for everything he did come on now come on now why are we gonna try to add something to it just walk with Jesus hey I gotta go I want you guys to walk with Jesus today take care God bless you I love you ♪ Love don't make you cry ♪