131027 Grace is not Empty

Galatians 2:15-21, We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ 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! ¹⁸ For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹ For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. ²⁰ 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. ²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Paul has had to stand up to Peter and the others who were intimidated by Jewish Christians who had come from Jerusalem. He shows that both Jew and Gentile were justified through faith in Jesus Christ. If Christians are to return to the covenant of works they will be declaring that grace is empty of power to justify. The Judaizers argued that in order to be a Christian one had to first follow the laws of Moses. They accuse Paul, and those with him, of sin because they did not keep the law of Moses anymore. Paul says if leaving the law is sin then Christ is a servant of sin. And that cannot be.

Anyone who adds anything to grace through faith for justification before God makes Jesus into a cruel tyrant who demands what we cannot give — absolute obedience! Grace through faith, and grace alone, is the path to salvation. People are drawn to a covenant of works, or works salvation, because we want to be in control of our lives and, therefore, proud of our accomplishments. Wayne Grudem, in his Systematic Theology, writes: “Faith is the one human attitude that is the opposite of depending on oneself, for it involves trust in or dependence upon another. Thus, it is devoid of self-reliance or attempts to gain righteousness by human effort. If God’s favor is to come to us apart from our own merit, then it must come when we depend not on our own merit but on the merits of another, and that is precisely when we have faith.”

The law was designed by God to draw us out of the security of our self-trust into the presence of Holy God so we can see how exceedingly sinful our lives are without Christ.

We must remember that…

The law brings death not life!

The law does not forgive sin. Listen while I read, Romans 3:19-20, Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰ For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The law was designed by God to make people aware that they could not be pleasing to him through what they did. In order to try to live by the Law of Moses the Jewish rabbis compiled a huge list of rules to follow. They were designed to get around the law because, honestly, it could not be kept.

For example, the Bible refers to a distance called “a Sabbath day’s journey” and that amounts to about a half mile that a person can travel without “working” on the Sabbath. If a person had to walk further than a half-mile it was simply a matter of having some food placed beforehand at the end of the Sabbath day’s journey. A person could then stop for the meal and continue on another Sabbath day’s journey. Presumably this could go on as far as the person needed to go. Walk about a half-mile, declare that to be where he lived, eat something that had been placed there to prove it was his residence, and then go on. Of course, this does not work. No matter how the rabbis twisted things around they cannot make the Law of Moses doable. God never intended the law to do anything other than cause a person to rely on him completely for salvation. Not only does the law not forgive sin …

The law enhances indwelling sin. Paul points out how the law worked in his life. Let me read some of his explanation. Romans 7:7-12. What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰ The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. ¹¹ For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. ¹² So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

The law serves a very important purpose. It is extremely important that we know what sin is otherwise we might accidentally do things that would condemn us. Paul uses the example of the tenth commandment. We are commanded not to covet and when Paul first read that he realized that he coveted many things and that it was sin. And as a result sin worked in his life causing all kinds of covetousness. This law that he thought was to have given him life instead deceived him and enhanced his sin. Works salvation cannot save us and only drives us to redouble our efforts in a failed attempt to please a God who demands perfection.

The law cannot save us it only increases our sin and…

Indwelling sin condemns us. Now let’s look at Romans 5:19-21. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The one man’s disobedience refers to Adam in the Garden of Eden. The consequence of Adam’s sin was that we all became sinners. We inherit from Adam and Eve rebellion against God. So we are born in trespasses and sin and in need of a Savior.

The law increases the guilt and condemns the person who attempts to live by it. God, knowing that man could not save himself, by his grace ruled over the law of sin in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The law came through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus. It is not possible to live by the law and those who attempt to are condemned to struggle without ever having real peace.

I remember once talking to a pastor’s wife from a church that teaches salvation by works. She told me that if she died with one unconfessed sin she would go to hell. Being the gracious diplomat that I am I simply said to her, “Then you are going to bust hell wide open.” She thought that her salvation depended upon her confession rather than upon Christ’s work on the cross. We need to remember…

Christians have been crucified with Christ! I know that we live a long time after Jesus was crucified. But we need to remember that we do not think the way God does. God sees us in Christ not in our human nature. There is nothing about us, apart from the grace of God, that makes us acceptable to him. We owe a debt we cannot pay. We have sinned — all have sinned — and the wages of sin is death! Apart from the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Praise God there was more than paying our sin debt when Jesus went to the cross…
Our old self was crucified with him. Listen to Romans 6:6, We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Our old self, or old man, is who we are as sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. In order to be able to accomplish our salvation Jesus became flesh and blood like us. He was tempted in every way like we are except that he had no sin of his own. He did this so that he could set us free from the bondage of the old man and destroy the power of the enemy over us. Romans 6:6 tells us that this “old self” was put to death with Jesus Christ on the cross to take away the power of sin over us. In the mind of God Jesus became the substitutionary atonement for those who put their faith in him.

There is an old hymn by an anonymous author entitled, “What Wondrous Love is This”. This is one of my favorite songs because it is so full of truth. It goes like this:

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul, What wondrous love is this, O my soul! What wondrous love is this, that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, to bear the dreadful curse for my soul?

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down, when I was sinking down, sinking down, when I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul!

To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing, to God and to the Lamb I will sing! To God and to the Lamb, who is the great I AM, while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing, while millions join the theme, I will sing!

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on, and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on! And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be, and through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on, and through eternity I’ll sing on!

When we were sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown, Christ laid aside his crown for our souls. Jesus took our Adamic nature to the cross and put it to death! God sees us in Christ and Paul could say to us, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…” The life that we now live as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is Christ himself living his life through us for the glory of God and the good of God’s people! When he took us to the cross…

Jesus took our sins to the cross. The wages of sin is death and those wages have to be paid! Listen to 1 Peter 2:24, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. He bore our sins along with our old man paying the price for Adam’s sin and our sins. He did this in order that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. The only sinless perfection that’s ever been on this earth was Adam before he sinned and Jesus all his life. No matter how well we may obey God we will never be sinlessly perfect. Our sins have to be paid for. So in our account books we have a debit filed against us. Sin is in that line! By God’s grace, Jesus entered into our account, “Paid in Full”! He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in him. And the righteousness of God that is ours because of the work of Jesus Christ is God’s grace at work. We were crucified with Christ and our sins were nailed to the cross…

So that we might live with him. Having come to faith in Jesus Christ, the life that we now live we live by the faith he has given us through his grace. Listen to what Paul wrote to Timothy. 2 Timothy 2:10-11. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. ¹¹ The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

Wow, salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The Bible tells us that we died with Christ and were raised up with him and seated with him in heavenly places. Since we have been raised with him already we should be seeking the things that are above not focusing on the things of this earth. We should set our minds on heavenly things. Our focus should always be living out the faith that God has put in us. Jesus took us to the cross and paid the price for our sins so that we might live with him forever. He said that he was going to prepare a place for us so that where he is we could be also. We don’t know when that will be but we have confidence that it will be. We were crucified with Christ…

Yet, we live by faith in the Son of God! Faith is…

Not just belief about Jesus. Faith is much more than “belief”. James tells us that the demons believe and they are no less demons. Jesus had many experiences with demons when he was on this earth. We find the account of one of them in Matthew 8:28-29, And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

These demons immediately knew who Jesus was. They were with him before they fell with Satan. They had seen him in the creation before there was any people. They had been part of the rebellion led by Satan himself. They immediately knew who Jesus was and that he had the power to do whatever he wanted to with them.

Their belief about Jesus certainly is not reflected as faith. There are people all over the world today who believe about Jesus. Sometimes what they believe is very accurate but it doesn’t translate as faith. They are like the fool who says, “There is no God.” They know he exists but will not allow him to rule over them. Faith is more than believing about Jesus it is…

Trusting in Jesus. Jesus himself talks about this in John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God,…” And John adds more information, including that in verses 35-36, The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Faith is not believing about Jesus it is putting one’s trust in him. Jesus tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes “in him” should not perish but have eternal life. The word “in” in the original language is most often used for “into”. Believing into Jesus may not sound right but it is right. Not just believe about but enter into is the sense in which this should be taken. The concept is absolute trust in Jesus Christ. As the songwriter Edgar Stites said, “Simply trusting every day, trusting through a stormy way.” No matter what I trust Jesus! Trust in Jesus is not something that we work up in a “fake it till you make it” concept…

That trust is a gift from God. Listen to these familiar words in Ephesians 2:8-10.  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

There have been many attempts to explain what these verses mean without making them mean what seems clearly, to me, the simple understanding. Grace is a word that indicates God’s pleasure in giving to his people. What he gives, in this passage, is faith! We are saved by grace through faith and that faith is a gift of God. It’s not something that a person can work up from the inside it is a gift bestowed from God. Salvation is not by works but instead salvation produces works that God has prepared for us to do. Praise God for his grace and the gift of faith it bestows on those who believe!

The Judaizers came to Antioch in an attempt to draw the believers there into the Jewish law. Even Peter, and others with him, were caused to turn away from salvation by grace through faith. Paul had the responsibility, which he accepted gladly, to confront Peter, and the others with him. Through the study of the word, and his time alone with Jesus, Paul was thoroughly convinced that the covenant of works could never justify a person before God. Paul could see the strength in grace to bring all people, no matter what their race or culture was, to faith in Jesus Christ apart from works of the law. In fact, the law brings death because it can never be kept. Christ took our sins into his own body and in the understanding of God we died with him on the cross so that we can rise with him and be seated with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Have you placed your faith in him? It is the most important decision you could ever make. If you have a desire in your heart to put your faith in Christ it comes from God.

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.