Justified by Faith in Christ | Galatians 2:15-21
Brian Hedges | September 17, 2017
“Though great our sin and sore our woes
His grace no limit knoweth.”
That is the best news in the world. And now I get to talk about it for 40 minutes! Isn’t this fun? We get to celebrate the gospel this morning.
So, turn in your Bibles to Galatians. While you’re turning there let me read you something that someone wrote about Galatians. This comes from a New Testament scholar named James Dunn. He says, “Galatians is theology under fire. It is theology in the raw, red-blooded theology, quintessential Paulinism. There is an elemental quality about it. There is more nuclear power in these few pages than in the polemical cannons and mortars of theological treatises, twenty or fifty or one hundred times larger, which have peppered the history of Christianity.”
That’s a really good statement about Galatians. Nuclear power in this little letter. It’s so forceful in its power because it zeroes in so carefully on this critical doctrine of justification by faith, that is, how we come to be accepted by God as righteous.
That’s especially true when we understand the passage we’re going to look at this morning, in chapter 2, verses 15 through 21. This passage has been called the central thesis of the letter. So right here you have the heart of the letter.
One thing you’re going to notice as we study through Galatians is [that] Galatians really only has one main point to make. So, you may feel, even, that the sermons are a little repetitive; there’s some repetition, because there’s just one basic point that Paul’s driving at all the way through. Now there’s an argument, but it’s one sustained argument. Right here you have the core of the argument, the central thesis. Another author calls this the hermeneutical key of the letter. That is, if you understand this passage it unlocks every other door in the letter.
What we’re going to find is that what Paul tells us here is right at the heart of the gospel. And then he’s going to expound it and he’s going to defend it in the next two chapters; then he’s going to spend chapters 5 and 6 applying it and showing us the outworking of this in our lives. But today we get to zero in on this central argument, this central point of the letter.
So, Galatians chapter 2, verses 15 through 21. Let me just remind you that the context here is Paul has just described his confrontation with Peter. Peter got out of step with the gospel by refusing to eat with Gentiles when the moral police from Jerusalem show up.
Peter’s been eating with the Gentiles, and then these overscrupulous, legalistic folks show up. Peter feels afraid of them, and out of fear of man he backs down, and it’s serious enough in Paul’s mind that Paul confronts him publicly. I mean, here’s an apostle confronting another apostle! A really serious issue. This passage gives us the substance of what Paul said to Peter. So Galatians chapter 2, verses 15 through 21.
“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 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. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And 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. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”
This is God’s word.
So, the theme of this passage, the theme of this letter, is justification; justification by faith in Christ. That’s a big theological word, that’s not a word that most of us are accustomed to using in everyday language, but it’s an important word. It’s an important word in understanding Scripture, in understanding Christian theology, in understanding the gospel. So I’m going to build this message around it, and this is what I want to do: I want us to see that we need it, I want us to see how we get it, and I want us to see why it matters.
So, hopefully this will be simple and fairly easy to understand.
I. Justification: That We Need It
First of all, let’s just establish that we need justification. Let me just give the definition. What does it mean? To be justified is to be declared right or just or righteous; it is to receive the verdict of “not guilty” from God himself.
Now in our worship this morning we’ve already confronted the issue. When we come to worship a holy God, the problem is that God is righteous, God is holy, and we are not. Scripture teaches that God is not only our Creator, he is our Judge.
Scripture teaches without any equivocation, without any doubt, that there is a day of judgment; that we will be held accountable before God, that we will stand before the divine Judge and give some account of our lives. And that is terrifying. It’s absolutely terrifying! I wouldn’t want to give an account for just my last week, much less my entire life. It’s terrifying.
How can a sinful person stand before a righteous God? That’s what justification has to do with: how are we declared right before God? This passage gives us the answer.
(1) So we need it, and this is a universal human need. Everyone needs to be justified, whether they realize it or not. Notice how Paul states this basic principle both generally and universally in verse 16. He says, “Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.” Implicit is the need to be justified.
And then at the end he says, “By works of the no one will be justified.” That’s universal language, and he is in fact quoting from Psalm 143, verse two, which we’ve used in our worship this morning. Psalm 143:2 says, “Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.” And yet Scripture says there is a day of judgment, but here’s this prayer: “Enter not into judgment with your servant.” Nobody’s righteous. “No one is righteous before you.” Paul’s quoting that passage.
The great question, or maybe I should say one of the great questions (it’s not the only question, but it’s one of the great questions) in Scripture is this question: “How can a man be right with God?” Job 9:2: “How can a man be in the right before God?”
Or, Psalm 130, which we’ve just heard in that wonderful hymn by Martin Luther. Psalm 130:3: “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, who could stand?” Who could stand? God is righteous, we are not; therefore, we need justification, we need the verdict of “not guilty.” We need it.
(2) That’s a universal need and then it’s also a personal need. Notice here how Paul makes it personal. Remember, he’s talking to Peter, and he’s giving Peter the reason why he’s confronting him for his error in refusing to eat with the Gentiles, and he says almost - you might almost put “sinners” in quotes here in verse 15 - he says, “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, and yet we know,” he says, “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.”
I mean, Peter knew this! Peter preached this! Paul and Peter were united on this point of the gospel. They were united. So Paul says, “We know that a person’s not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus.” This is how Paul was saved. He was saved by believing in Christ Jesus, so that he was justified. It’s the way Peter was saved, it’s the way Paul was saved; it’s the only way that anybody is ever saved.
Now that doesn’t mean that everyone understands the doctrine of justification in any great detail. But when you come to Christ, this is what happens. When you come to faith in Christ, what happens is Christ receives you. Christ has mercy upon you, and God then declares you righteous, he sees your faith in Christ, your trust in Christ, he credits what Christ has done to you, and he gives the verdict. He gives the verdict right there. Now it’s true, there is a final judgment, and on the day of judgment we will all hear the verdict. But listen: if you’re in Christ, that verdict comes ringing down the centuries into your present, and the verdict is, if you believe in Jesus, “Not guilty.”
So it’s a universal need, it’s a personal need, and I just want to stress this: this is your need. You need it. If you’ve not been justified, you need it, because you’re guilty before God. If you’re honest there are things in your life that are not what they should be. You are not right. You’ve sinned, you’ve done evil, you’ve violated God’s law. You’ve violated even your own standards, you’ve violated standards of basic human decency. We’ve all done this in thought, in word, and in deed. And so you need to be justified. When you stand before God in judgment, do you know what the verdict will be? Guilty or not guilty?
(3) The third thing to note is that this need to be right is hardwired into our hearts. It’s hardwired into our hearts. This is true of everybody. This need to be right; this is true whether you’re religious or not, it’s true whether you’re Christian or not. There’s something within us that’s just hardwired, that we need to be right, we need to be seen to be right, we need to be in the right. This gets expressed in different ways, and here’s where I want to be practical for a minute and just help you see that there are everyday kinds of expressions of this deep need.
Here’s two ways this gets expressed: it gets expressed in our feelings of superiority or inferiority towards other people. Do you ever look down on others? You know why you look down on others? Because deep in your heart you feel the need to be in the right, to prove yourself as right.
There’s a great illustration of this in Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “Revelation.” If you’ve never read Flannery O’Connor and you’re a literary kind of person, give her a try; this great, southern, gothic, Catholic novelist and short story writer. She writes this story, “Revelation,” about a woman named Mrs. Turpin.
Mrs. Turpin is a very snobbish person who sees herself as superior to other people. She sees herself as socially ranked above others. She sees herself as better than ethnic minorities, she sees herself as better than “white trash,” she sees herself as better than people who own their own home but not land, because she and Claude, her husband, actually own a farm; they own land. She’s very proud.
One day she’s at the dentist’s office, and someone tells her, “Go to hell, you old warthog.” And it shocks her. It shocked her, just like that shocked you. It shocked her. Somebody says this to her, it shocks her, and she goes home to her farm and she notices the pigs out in the mud, and all of a sudden this dawning realization that she’s actually like the pigs. She’s dirty. She’s filthy. There are things wrong with her, and it just begins to sink in that she’s not the person she thought she was. Just like the hogs on her farm need to be washed every day, so she is a sinner too. She’s not a saint, and she begins to have a revelation. Things begin to change. That’s why this short story is called “Revelation.”
Well, all of us at times have moments that we might call “Mrs. Turpin moments.” We have an inner Mrs. Turpin, an inner Pharisee. We have this inner person that is looking down on others; we’re making judgments. We feel superior, or maybe we feel inferior. In one or the other we’re making comparisons, and we’re trying, deep in our heart of hearts, we’re trying to establish that “I’m okay.” One of the ways we do that is by thinking, “I’m better than that person.”
Here’s another way that this gets expressed: in the drive to prove ourselves through some kind of success.
You know that great classic movie, Chariots of Fire? That movie often gets quoted by Christians in sermons because of Eric Liddell, who was the Scottish Olympic Christian, Olympic runner, 1924. He’s the guy who said, “When I run, I feel his pleasure.” It’s a great story, but there’s actually more than one story in the movie. There’s the story of Eric Liddell, but there’s also the story of another runner, named Harold Abrams; brilliantly portrayed by Ben Cross. That’s him in the picture.
There’s a place in the film where someone asks him why he runs, and for Harold Abrams it’s not out of any pleasure. He confesses; he says, “I don’t really love it. I’m more of an addict. I’m an addict.” You see that in this film he’s driven, he is competitive, he is tormented. Later in the film, before running the 100-meter event, this is what he says: he says, “Contentment. I’m 24 and I’ve never known it. I am forever in pursuit, and I don’t even know what it is I’m chasing. I’ll raise my eyes and look down that corridor four feet wide with ten lonely seconds to justify my existence. But will I?”
The drive to succeed, to justify my existence, to prove something! To prove my worth. We have that as well. Sometimes this deep need to be right and this feeling of displacement, this existential angst that we feel deep in our hearts finds expression in just that way.
Listen. All of us are looking to something to justify our existence. We’re all looking to something to prove that we’re right, that we’re okay. We want to feel like we’re right in the world, and ultimately, those feelings of superiority, inferiority, the drive to compete, to succeed, all of those things are really just symptoms of a deeper need. It’s the need, as creatures, to be rightly related to the Creator.
II. Justification: How We Get It
Justification: that we need it, secondly, how to get it. How do we get it? That’s really what this passage is about. That’s the issue in this letter, and Paul make essentially three points.
(1) First of all, we cannot be justified by works of the law. He says this three times in verse 16; look at it again: “Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law... 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.”
The key phrase there is, of course, “works of the law,” erga nomou (εργα νομου) in Greek. This is a phrase only used eight times in the New Testament, six of those times in Galatians. What are the works of the law? What’s Paul talking about here? I think the most simple definition is simply this: doing what the law requires. That’s what the works of the law are. Works of the law are doing what the law requires. That definition is from New Testament scholar James Dunn.
But here’s the big question. I mean, the law requires lots of things. You read the Old Testament law...lots of requirements in the law. Here’s the big question: are these works of the law simply the ceremonial aspects of the law, like circumcision, food laws, Sabbath, and so on; or do these works include obedience to the law’s moral commands, such as the Ten Commandments?
I think the answer is that in the whole context of Galatians and in Paul’s theology elsewhere, the works of the law include not only the ceremonial aspects, but obedience to the moral aspects of the law.
You might think of it like this: it’s true that in Galatians the presenting problem are these ceremonial aspects of the law. Peter and the food laws; the Judaizers, the false brothers that are trying to impose circumcision on Titus and on the Galatians themselves. That’s the presenting issue.
But just think of a physician. A good physician knows that there’s a difference between the presentation of a problem, the symptoms, and the deeper root problem. So someone may go to a doctor and say, “I’m having really severe headaches.” That’s the presenting problem. But the doctor’s going to try to find out the reason for those headaches, and it may be a really simple reason or it may be a really serious reason.
I think what’s going on here is that Paul sees that though the presenting issue is this insistence on the ceremonial aspects of the law, these are symptoms of a much deadlier disease: the disease of self-righteousness and the problem of relying on one’s works to secure one’s relationship with God. This becomes clear in chapter 3, where Paul contrasts faith not only with works of the law, but he contrasts doing with believing. Look at chapter 3, verses 10 through 12.
He says, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them.’” Notice that it says all things written in the book of the law. Not just some things; all things written in the book of the law. There’s comprehensive obedience required here.
Verse eleven, “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, ‘for the righteous shall live by faith.’” There’s the contrast again. “But the law is not of faith; rather, ‘the one who does them shall live by them.’” Here’s the big issue: are you saved by believing or are you saved by doing? Are you justified by trusting in Christ or are you justified by your works?
You see the issue again in chapter 5, verses 2 and 3, where Paul essentially says that to accept circumcision is to oblige yourself to keep the entire law. “Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.”
And then, we also see this in a couple of other passages. Romans chapter 3, verses 19 and 20, Paul makes a similar argument. He says, “We know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God, for by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.”
Now, part of the overall argument of Paul in both Galatians and in Romans is that we have to understand the purpose of the law. The law was given with a purpose, and the purpose of the law was not to justify. The purpose of the law was to expose our problem. The purpose of the law was to show us our need.
I’ve used this illustration many times before, but the law is like an X-ray machine. So, you have a fractured bone, or you think you do; you go to the emergency room, they take an X-ray. The X-ray will reveal the problem; it will show the problem. It will expose the problem. But the X-ray machine has no power to set the bone. And in the same way, the law could show people their sin, but it couldn’t make them right; it couldn’t set them right. It couldn’t correct the problem.
Finally, just one more passage. I’ve mentioned before that this letter is written to a group of churches that Paul preached to and evangelized (we think in south Galatia; that’s my view) on his first missionary journey. That’s recorded in Acts chapters 13 and 14, and we actually have two sermons by Paul. So, sermons that were preached to some of the churches that received this letter.
One of those sermons is in Acts chapter 13, and he says something very similar to this in Acts 13:38-39. He says, “Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man [that’s Jesus] is preached to you the forgiveness of sins, and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” He’s just saying the same thing again here. You cannot be justified by works of the law. That’s the first point Paul’s making here.
(2) Second point: we can only be justified by faith in Christ. There’s the antithesis. Works of the law versus faith in Christ.
Again, you see it three times in verse 16. I won’t read those again, but essentially when Paul says “faith in Christ” I take that to mean our faith, which is oriented towards Christ. Christ is the object of faith, and of course, the nature of this faith is trust. It’s a matter of trusting or relying upon or resting on or depending on Christ. It’s not trusting in ourselves, it’s trusting in him. It’s the same orientation of the saints in the Old Testament, who looked to God for mercy. That’s it.
Like David in Psalm 51: “Have mercy upon me, O God.” Or the psalmist in Psalm 130. Again, “O Lord, if you should mark iniquities, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you might be feared.” It’s looking to God, and now Christ, as the object of our faith, as the one who gives us mercy, as the one who justifies us.
(3) So, thirdly, the basis of our justification (this is important) is the grace of God expressed in the cross of Christ. Look at verse 21. Paul brings his whole argument here, I think, to a very sharp point. Verse 21; he says, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” That’s what he says. It’s either justified by grace, through the cross; or, Paul says, “If I’m justified by my works, there’s no reason for the cross. The cross is emptied of its power; he died for nothing, for no purpose.”
The issue is really that simple. It really is. Are you justified, declared righteous by your works, or are you justified, declared righteous by grace? Is it through the cross, through what Christ has done for you, or is it through yourself?
Paul gives a fuller explanation of this in Romans 3:23-26, a familiar passage. I’m not going to read it, but you can go back and read it later. Essentially Paul just says that it’s through Christ’s work on the cross, his atoning work on the cross, that God can be righteous in forgiving our sins and in declaring us righteous at the same time. He can pass over our sins, he could forgive us, and be righteous in doing so, because the judgment is satisfied in Christ. The debt is paid in Christ. The issue, though, is works or grace.
I will read this passage; Romans 11:6: “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis; otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.”
What I want you to see here is that grace and works are mutually exclusive. If you’re saved by grace, then you’re not saved by works. So this is how you get it. How do you get this verdict of not guilty? You get it through faith in Christ and what he’s done for you on the cross, all of that given to us by the grace of God. It’s really that simple.
III. Justification: Why It Matters
Now, thirdly, why does it matter? Why it matters. So, what difference does it make? This is, obviously, a very theological point to make, this is a doctrinal kind of sermon. Is it really important? I mean, you believe that you’re forgiven already; why is it really important to understand the doctrine of justification? Why is it important to understand how it is that you are justified and made right with God? I want to give you four reasons, and just spend the rest of the time on - this is really application to show why this matters in our lives.
(1) The first one, just restating basically what I’ve said, justification is the only way to peace with God. It’s the only way. It’s the only way to be right with God.
Romans 5:1: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the only way to deal with your conscience, which accuses you when you kneel in prayer or when you’re about to take the Lord’s Supper or when you open your Bible and you’re trying to connect with God.
And listen; all of us experience what Loni was talking about earlier. We all experience these moments where we find it hard to connect. It’s hard sometimes; it’s really hard to connect. We feel distant. There could be lots of reasons for that, but one reason is these whispers in our ears of all the reasons why we’re not worthy, why we shouldn’t be allowed to come before God.
The only answer to that is justification by faith. That’s the only answer. The only answer is what Christ did for you on the cross, and trusting it. You have to trust it in a way that goes against reason sometimes. I mean, it’s hard to believe that that can actually be true, that God would forgive me because of what somebody else did! I look at my record; it’s so awful. I look at the things that I’ve thought, the things that I’ve said, the things that I’ve done, and it’s so awful; I hate it! Right? You feel that way, I feel that way. What hope is there for me? There’s only one hope: what Jesus did.
This has been the impulse in so many of these great movements throughout history. Martin Luther hated God. He actually said, “I hated him. I didn’t love him, I hated him,” until he understood this, and then he said the gates of paradise were open. John Bunyan struggled for years with doubts about his salvation, until he understood, “My righteousness is in heaven, because it’s Christ; it’s all Christ.” The Wesley brothers; this is what brought them assurance and then unleashed their ministries in the Great Awakening.
Remember those words of Charles Wesley?
“No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus and all in him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living head,
And clothed with righteousness divine.
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown through Christ my own.
Amazing love, and can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me.”
This is the way. No condemnation. The only way to not get the "guilty" verdict, and instead to get the "not guilty" verdict, is by justification through faith in Christ. So it matters for your eternal salvation, alright?
(2) Secondly, justification also leads us into new life. It leads us into new life; the life of Christ living in us. Part of this text is Paul’s response to an objection in verses 17 and 18. It’s a little hard to understand. He says, “But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too are found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?”
What does he mean by that? There are a couple of different ways of reading that. One is that the accusation here is that if you are justified by faith and then you tear down the law, these Judaizers would be saying, “That’s sin. That’s wrong. To get rid of the law, that’s wrong.” Paul is then responding to that objection, and he’s saying, “Of course Christ is not the servant of sin,” then verse 18, “for if I rebuild what I tore down I prove myself to be a transgressor.”
He’s actually saying, “In light of what Jesus did and this new era that’s been ushered in, where we’re justified by Christ, we’re not justified by law, in light of that, to go back to the law would actually be a transgression.
So that may be what Paul means. Here’s another way of reading it: they’re essentially accusing Paul of what theologically we call antinomianism, which means living against the law. So this is the idea of, “Man, if you’re saved by grace, that’s fire insurance, that’s a get-out-of-jail-free card; I mean, that means let’s party! We can live any way we want to! It doesn’t matter how we live.” So that makes Christ, then, a servant of sin.
Now, I’m not sure if that’s what Paul is answering here, but that’s exactly the problem he deals with in Romans 6, where he lays out justification in Romans 5, and then in Romans 6:1, “What shall we say, then, to these things? Shall we continue in sin that grace might increase? God forbid!” The reason why justification does not lead to unbridled immorality is because we are united to Christ in his life, and that is exactly what Paul says both here and in Romans 6.
Now, here’s one little point to make. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said one time that if no one ever accuses you of antinomianism you’re not really preaching the gospel. I mean, the accusation itself, not accusing you because of the way you live, but accusation of just, “Man, if I believe that then I would live any way I want.” If nobody ever accuses you, you haven’t really preached free grace. But the answer to the antinomianism is not, “Yes, you’re saved by faith in Jesus Christ, but you sure have to be sanctified by the law.” That’s not the answer. “You’re still going to have the law, you’re not just justified by the law.” That’s not the answer to the antinomianism.
The answer is, if you’re justified by faith in Christ it means you’re joined to Christ, and if you’re joined to Christ you have the life of Christ. If you’re joined to Christ it changes you; it changes you.
So, like William Cowper said in that great hymn,
“To see the law, by Christ fulfilled,
To hear his pardoning voice,
Changes a slave into a child,
And duty into choice.”
It changes you from the inside out, and that’s essentially what Paul says here in verses 19 and 20. He addresses the subjection by saying, “For through the law I died to the law,” and then look at verse 20. “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 now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
I mean, that’s probably the best-known text out of the book of Galatians, and it is an amazing statement. We could spend an entire sermon just on that. Paul says, “I’m crucified with Christ. Somehow, by being joined to Christ, I am identified with Christ in his death. When he was crucified, I was crucified. When he died, I died. I died!” What does he mean by that? Well, he’s already said, “I died to the law,” and then I think he means this: I think he means that the old Paul died, and there was a new Paul after.
I like the way Sinclair Ferguson expresses it. He says the Christian life, the Christian autobiography has two volumes; volume one, in Adam; volume two, in Christ. Volume one, before Christ; volume two, in Christ. Changed by Christ. There’s a real change; you’re crucified with Christ.
Remember that great old spiritual, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” Paul says, “Yes, I was. I was crucified with Christ. I am crucified with Christ, therefore I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith [the whole life is a life of faith!] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” So personal for Paul. “He loved me! He gave himself for me!”
Can you say that? “Christ loved me!” Not just he loved the world; yes he did! It’s not just he loved his elect; yes he did, but he loved me. Paul was just captured by this; he couldn’t get over this. So his whole life is this life that is lived out of this union with Christ, and that’s why he doesn’t just live a life of sin; it’d be unthinkable if you’re in Christ.
That doesn’t mean there’s no struggle; of course, there is, but if you’re in Christ, you don’t just give free reign to your worst impulses. If you’re in Christ you’re a new creation; you’re a new person, and you can’t go back to the way things were before.
There’s a great story about St. Augustine that, after his conversion, he ran into an old acquaintance in the streets. You remember that Augustine, before his conversion, he was an immoral man; living with concubines, couldn’t control his sexual appetite; he was an immoral man. After his conversion he runs into one of his old flames in the street, and she tries to get his attention. She says, “Augustine! But it is I!” And he said, “Yes, but it’s not I. It’s not me. I’m not the same person anymore.”
That’s the idea. I think that’s what Paul’s saying here: “I am crucified with Christ; therefore I don’t live. But I do live! I live because Christ lives in me, and the life that I live I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” So, life in Christ; that’s the second implication.
(3) Here’s a third: justification inclines the heart to God in thankful worship, love, and praise. You can hear it. You can hear the worship in Paul’s language. “He loved me and gave himself for me.” When I get into sermons like this, one reason I quote a lot of hymns is because this is the doctrine that gave the hymn-writers the impulse and the language and the inspiration that they wrote these amazing hymns that we sing.
They wrote these things because it just led them to worship, because if you’ve been captured by the grace of God, who gave his Son, Jesus Christ, to die the death you should have died, to live the life you should have lived, and to raise him, and then to raise you with him so that you’re united to him, you’re righteous in him, then you’re changed because of him. If that grabs hold of you then you want to sing! You want to sing; you want to write poetry; you want “a thousand tongues to sing his praise.” You want that, because this leads to worship. It leads to worship.
Don’t ever listen to somebody says that doctrine and theology is dry and boring. Now, there are theologians who can be dry and boring, and there are preachers who can be dry and boring, but it’s not the theology’s fault! If there’s a defect, it’s a defect with the presentation, not the content, because this stuff should make you want to sing. It should thrill your heart. It should make you want to clap. (I’m glad you clapped awhile ago, by the way. That’s good. Do that. Do more of that.) [applause] Thank you. Alright.
(4) One more thing: justification, not only is it the only way to be right with God, not only does it lead you into a whole new life, and not only does it lead you into worship —"lost in wonder, love, and praise"— but justification also slays self-righteousness, and it opens your heart wide in love for others.
Now here was the problem that Paul’s addressing. We’ve talked about this a lot. He’s addressing this problem of disunity in the church, this division between Jews and Gentiles. It’s so serious that he will confront the apostle Peter himself, and he connects it to this issue; this issue of justification, because this is the issue that just takes down pride. It takes down pride! I mean, if you believe this, there’s no room to pat yourself on the back for anything. This is a humbling doctrine. It’s humbling, because you essentially have to say, “I have nothing to contribute to my salvation except my sin. Nothing to contribute! I have nothing to add; I have nothing to boast in.”
“No more, my God; I boast no more
Of all the duties I have done.
I quit the hopes I held before,
And plead the merits of your Son.”
(Isaac Watts)
It humbles you, and if it humbles you, if it slays self-righteousness, you know what that does? It actually opens your heart so that you’re able to have compassion on others. That’s what Peter needed.
Here’s the problem with law-based, works-based religion: not only does it condemn you, but it makes you feel superior to other people. If you feel superior to others, you’re going to treat them as inferior to you, and so this vertical relationship with God; if you get that wrong, it’s going to express itself in the horizontal. One reason why some of us have such trouble forgiving our spouses for petty little offenses is because we think way too much of ourselves, and we do not see our own sin clearly, and we are not grounded in the doctrine of justification by faith alone. You have a theological problem expressing itself in your marriage.
That’s how practical this is. One reason why some of you dads have a hard time apologizing to your children and actually saying, “I was wrong. I should not have said that to you, I should not have yelled at you, I should not have broken my promise to you; I was wrong, please forgive me.” One reason dads have a hard time saying that is because they don’t really get it. They’re absolutely without anything to boast in.
If you get it, if you get that, it just changes your horizontal relationships. It makes you able to extend grace to others, it makes you able to give the benefit of the doubt to other people. You know what I’m talking about? Have you ever been in situations where you know someone (or maybe you’re this way yourself) that you’re just quick to jump to conclusions. That’s pride. That’s a problem. That’s a relational problem. You’re quick to jump to conclusions, just look down at other people; make the worst possible association with what somebody does, instead of giving them grace.
Remember Mrs. Turpin, I told you about, from Flannery O’Connor’s story? She thought she was so much better than everybody else, and then she starts to see herself like the pigs on her farm, she’s a sinner and needs to be washed.
This is how the story ends. The story ends when she has a vision. And the vision is this large train of people, this caravan of people who are on the way to heaven, and what absolutely startles her is that at the very end of the train, bringing up the rear, she sees herself. And she realizes that, in spite of all of her snobbishness and superiority and pride and condescension, she can be washed, she can be changed too, and she’s right there with this grand company of sinners saved by grace on the way.
That’s what we are. It’s what we are. If we believe that, it will unleash hearts of love and compassion.
So, let me end this way. Let me get one Martin Luther quote in the sermon; this is a good one. I’ll read this, and then we’ll end.
Luther said, “The law is divine and holy. Let the law have its glory, but yet no law, be it never so divine and holy, ought to teach me that I am justified and shall live through it. I grant, it may teach me that I ought to love God and my neighbor, also to live in chastity, soberness, patience, et cetera, but it ought not to show me how I should be delivered from sin, the devil, death, and hell. Here I must take counsel of the gospel; I must hearken to the gospel, which teacheth me not what I ought to do, for that is the proper office of the law, but what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hath done for me; to wit, that he suffered and died to deliver me from sin and death. The gospel willeth me to receive this and to believe it, and this is the truth of the gospel. It is also the principal article of all Christian doctrine, wherein the knowledge of all godliness consisteth. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.”
Alright, that’s worth clapping for!
Let’s pray.
Gracious God and Father, we are so grateful for the cross, we are so grateful for your grace, we are so grateful for the gift of your Son. We are so grateful for this astounding, amazing truth, that it is does not depend on us; it depends on what Christ has done for us. Our prayer this morning is that we would grasp this, that we would cling to it, that we would hold onto it, and that it would have transforming power in our lives, to see the law by Christ fulfilled, to hear his pardoning voice. May it change us from slaves into sons, into children, and may it transform duty into choice. And may the heartbeat of our lives be the desire to love you, the desire to worship you, the desire to obey you, the desire to love others; not because we’re trying to earn anything, but because we have been humbled and rescued and utterly overcome by the grace of the gospel.
Father, that’s what we celebrate as we come to the table. We don’t bring anything to the table, we don’t put anything on the table, we don’t make ourselves worthy of the table. Instead, we come to receive what Christ has done for us; his broken body, his poured-out blood.
And so in these moments may we commune with our Lord Jesus, may we express in body what we believe in our hearts, that in taking Christ we are fed, we are nourished, we are strengthened. May we draw near to you in these moments of worship. I pray it in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Brian G. Hedges
