NC Chapels
Cody Griess | Galatians 2:15-21
For him here in a moment, let me just read Psalm 111 verse 2 to prepare our hearts. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. May we delight in God's word this morning. Let's pray. God, thank you for this time. May we not become calloused to what a privilege. May we be grateful that we get to open up your word. We get to carve out a little bit of today to hear the preaching of your word. May we delight in your words as we just read from Psalm. God, would you be with Cody here this morning? Speak through him. May our ears be opened to hear the things we need to hear. May our eyes and mind be attentive to see and remember the things we need to see and remember. God, would you do a work in our heart? Only you can do that. You're the general surgeon, poke and prick and prod where you need to do. And this morning, as we hear from Cody on this justification in this faith, we've been saying it week after week, faith alone. May there not be a soul in here that leaves wondering what else they can do to earn their way in a relationship with you. It is by grace through faith alone. And we read that from Scripture, and it's in Christ alone. God, we praise you for that so that you receive the glory alone. In Jesus' name, amen. Sweet. Good morning. Lively group. Maybe all of you could have used a bubbler as well. No, it's good to be back. This is, I think the third time I've got to do chapel. And I say every time I never chapel here and see, I never would have thought that I would have been doing that when I was sitting in your shoes. But it truly is by God's grace and it's a huge blessing. I love the opportunity to get to come. It's always a highlight for me to see the current students and see where they're sitting where I was sitting and a lot of the same teachers which I love. So I was in Lincoln for about five years. I went to school in Lincoln and then I went on staff at a church in Lincoln Heritage Bible Church and that would have been why I was at when I was here last time. Maybe some of you remember Dustin Rogers. I got the privilege to learn under him and work under him and just a huge, huge blessing in my life that I'm so grateful for. He thus since has moved to a different opportunity and excited for him and I also moved. I moved back closer to this area to Stomsburg. I think there's some familiar familiar faces. Who's from around the Stomsburg area? Yeah, there he is. You work at the grocery store, right? Your brother? Yeah, okay. Close enough. So I just moved to Stomsburg and I'm no longer in full-time ministry. I've farmed with my dad and my well and my mom, my parents and I love that opportunity, something I've always wanted to do but definitely still feel on my heart a great passion for ministry, right? It's something we should always as believers be doing and so along with farming I still get to do what's called Cultivate Global. Cultivate Global is something I started a few years ago to non-profit ministry overseas out of eastern Africa, primarily in Tanzania and so I get the opportunity to go there about twice a year and I love it. I love it. We get to work on ag development all with preaching the gospel and exposing people to the good news that we're here to discuss this morning, right? So as a part of Cultivate Global about a couple years ago, when I was in Tanzania for the first time among an indigenous group of people and tribal people called the Maasai people. Okay, that's their tribe named the Maasai and the Maasai are known for their tribal look, their tribal look and lifestyle. They wear what is called a Shuka, a Shuka and it's pretty much just kind of like a blanket that they'll tie around their shoulder around their waist to cover themselves. I pretty much just call it a loin cloth but that's that's incorrect. So it's called a Shuka. There's other things about the Maasai that stick out from what we would view as normal. The men carry a staff, a staff that is made out of their local ebony wood, very hard durable wood and they use this staff to to herd their animals. They also use it as a form of combat, as a weapon and I've been told I've been told that if you're in that country and you need a security, if you need a bodyguard and you had the option of a normal looking dude, normal looking bodyguard with with whatever weapon he's carrying, parley gun or a Maasai man with with his stick, you would choose the Maasai man all day every day and twice on Sunday, which is interesting but these are very well trained in their craft as warriors, very cool people. But all that I guess is beside the point, right. The lifestyle this tribe stands out also because it is so noticeably different and unique besides in just the way they dress physical appearance that they have as well. It is common for certain individuals to have big gauging holes stretched out in their ears, right. Or for people to have burns under their eyes from intentional when when they're infants and that's all signs of their culture beauty marks. So it's all it's all different to us. Other noticeable things about this tribe is they are nomadic, they move around and they live in small huts made from mud and manure from their cows. Certain communities of the Maasai only eat meat, nothing else, only meat and they'll drink raw blood from their cattle. In the common Maasai person is very uneducated, very uneducated, they cannot read, they can't do what you guys are doing right now taking notes. Therefore the society obviously functions differently than ours would. Their social sign of wealth is different as well. They're it's found in both quantities of cattle, right. Cattle is how they show their wealth both in cattle and for men and in how many wives they have. It's so a common goal for for men is to have as many daughters as they can because when when they become of age, which is honestly it's around about 12 years old in their culture, they can marry them off to a man in exchange for 10, 15, whatever they negotiate cattle, right. And so that's become more wealthy. They're also known for their religious practices which which fuel their lifestyle, right. These are pagan tribal religions. Christianity is not common among the Maasai, but I have been privileged to meet some Christian among the Maasai and actually the small group of people in kind of central Tanzania where I've got to go and preach in their little mud hut church three times now, which is really cool. And what stands out about these people that is so glaringly obvious, it's just their passion and love for hearing the word of God. And the question that had come to my mind often was how can a people that from the eye, it seems like so blatantly disobeys so much of how believers are to live and practice things that seem so immoral, yet be so excited by the word of God and express such love for Jesus. See the lifestyle obviously that they live, not that any of our lifestyle does it perfectly, but the lifestyle that they live does not necessarily directly reflect the gospel. And as I met with these people more and more intentionally in their homes, I reflected on that question more in realizing that they are so different from you and I, but the hearts, the hearts are so genuine. I met a man once who was so hungry, this is a specific example, so hungry for the word of God, so hungry for the gospel and professed his love for Christ, yet as we are going around different homes and he's introducing me to all of his wives, I saw his lifestyle and had a really hard time thinking, how can a people live in such a pagan way, such a pagan lifestyle and be born again believers. And as I was then studying more of Galatians 2 and looking at the context and everything, I caught myself thinking and viewing these people, these beside people and probably what was a very similar way to what the Jews viewed the Gentiles, the way their life was so different, right, picking up on where you guys were. But as I was humbled in considering all the circumstances, remembering that these people can't read, they can't read, they don't even have their own copies of the Bible in their homes. If any, even among their church, they wait for someone to come and preach the good news so they don't know all the ways of Christian ought to live. But what is simple, friends, what is simple is that they have heard the life-changing message of the gospel and had saving faith. And this I know is very possible and true and simple, right. And this is what excites me so much as we get to dive in deeper how God can make an unrighteous person righteous. And this isn't just a spectacular thing among the Gentiles if you are Jew or among the Messiah, indigenous, uneducated people for us, it's a spectacular thing for all people, right, because we all practice pagan things. It's just an amazing thing that he would choose to save you and me, all right, no matter what tribe you're from. So I want to encourage the hearts this morning to be open and to be humbled by the gospel yet again. And as we move forward, we are going to encounter some big words and concepts this morning. So I want to give you some of the answers beforehand. You probably don't normally get answers beforehand in school, right. But I want to give you some of the answers beforehand to solve any confusion that might come about. So for all you math people out here, who loves math? Yeah, I see the math teachers like, right. So for all you math teachers or not just the teachers, all you math people out here, I want to give you an equation which really summarize the main point of this passage, which is a write this down and support faith. Faith equals salvation. Plus works will follow, right. Faith equals salvation. Plus works will follow. It's not any other way around. You can't take any of those and swap them, right. Faith alone equals salvation in Christ. And out of that works genuinely will follow, right. How we live should reflect the gospel. But we're not justified by works, right. But so is through faith in Jesus Christ. And faith is revealed based off of what what you learned last week. Faith is revealed when right belief and right behavior are put together. Another thing I want to clarify is the separation of these two concepts of honoring God and being justified before God, honoring God and being justified before God. We honor God when our actions reflect the gospel. We're justified before God by faith alone in Jesus Christ's righteousness. So in a poor way, faith in Jesus as believers is the foundation for our lives. It both honors God and is the means of justification before God. This is the gospel of grace alone by faith alone, right. And you're probably wondering, man, these speakers keep saying the same thing. I've heard that. You've probably heard that a handful of times. These speakers keep saying the same thing. And I say good because if they're not, that's a problem. Every time we open the word and every time a message is taught, there should be a common thread among all of it, the gospel. That is why we are here. That's why I'm here this morning. So before we dive in any deeper, I want to look at Galatians 2, 1 through 14 before our text for context. And over the last two weeks, last week TJ asked the question. I listened to it on the Spotify app, which is cool. I get to listen to the chapels still. I'm not even a student anymore. I love that. I listened to it and TJ asked the question. If God's pleasure in me isn't based on my performance in him, then how can I please him? And the answer to that is obviously by putting together the right combination of belief and behavior, right belief and right behavior, aka faith. We honor God by faith, by how we live through the faith, right. So you also looked over a couple common concepts that come about when right belief and right behavior are not put together. In verses 1 through 10, that would have been a couple weeks ago for you guys. The Judaizers were putting the pressure on Titus because he was an uncircumcised Gentile. And through this, though, the truth of the gospel of salvation by faith alone could be shown through Titus. So the Judaizers in a way had the right behavior because they wanted to follow Christ according to the law. They had the right behavior, but it's all based out of the wrong belief. This we call this concept legalism. The second concept came about in your passage last week, right, a passage that goes noted because of the opposition, the opposition Paul brings to Peter is because Peter suddenly draws away, he draws away from the table and he's dining with the Gentiles because all of a sudden certain Jewish men came about and he wanted to save faith among those men for whatever reason and out of fear or perception of them, he withdrew to to preserve his status among them, right. So because he knows the truth of the gospel, he knows the truth of the gospel. He's got no problem eating bacon in one moment, right. But in the next, he's like, nope. And to me, that hits a little different because we raise pigs, right. Praise God, praise God for the gospel. And his behavior even led other disciples of Christ destroy Barnabas, right. Remember that? They started following him. Peter's a leader and the way he was illustrating and demonstrating what he was doing, it even led other believers, destroy with him. Peter believed the right thing, yet his behavior was wrong. We call this hypocrisy. He preached the gospel, he believed the gospel, but his actions didn't reflect the gospel. That's hypocrisy. And one could look at this in a discouraging way and think, man, if the great apostle Peter fell in such a great way to reflect the gospel, what makes you think that I co-degrees, not an apostle, just a normal dude who raises pigs, could do any better. But it's not about that. This should actually encourage us because God chooses to use us despite our failures to honor him, despite our lack of faith. He uses Peter in a great way. Despite Paul's past, he uses Paul in a great way. Despite my sense, he can use me in great ways, right. And so, there's moments like this where I am so grateful for men like Paul. I mean, I am such a hypocrite. I can stand here and preach the gospel in one moment, which I get to do often, and I love it, but in the next, not reflect it by the way I'm living at all. Right? And we all can fall into that. So, we all need a Paul kind of friend in our lives. He sees his dear brother, Peter, failing to live out the gospel, and out of love, he opposes him directly to his face because his conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel. His behavior illustrated a lack of faith. It was not honoring the Lord. But the exact verbiage, the exact verbiage used in verse 11, if you're there with me, Galatians 2, 11 says Paul opposed Peter because he stood condemned because he stood condemned. So, here's where I'm going to bring about two big words and concepts relevant to this chapter, two concepts that directly clash with each other. The first is the word condemnation, condemned condemnation. Condemnation is the act of declaring someone guilty or sentencing them to punishment. It can also refer to the judgment that someone that results, excuse me, from breaking God's law, when someone breaks God's law. In this case, it's Paul declaring to Peter his negligence and protecting the purity of the gospel. He stood condemned. The second big word which is opposite of the word condemnation is the word justification, justification. And this is the act of being made white with God despite our deserving of condemnation. And when condemnation and justification are in the same room, praise the Lord, justification always wins, always wins according to the gospel. Condemnation is something that all people have earned. We've all put in the work and earned condemnation. Romans 3, 23, for all that sin and false rule of the glory of God. We're all sinners. We're all guilty of breaking the law and we're all to be condemned. But justification can't be earned. We can't earn justification. But the good news is it can be received, right? It can be received. So, the good news that Peter knows and the good news for us comes then spinning like fire out of Paul's mouth following the opposition. And this brings us to our text, which is such a good one. It's such a good one. So real quick follow me Galatians 2, 15 through 21. I'll read it and we'll dissect it. It 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 and 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 a sin? Certainly not. For if I rebuild what I tore down I proved 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. In 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 a righteousness or through the law. Then Christ died for no purpose. Man that's good. I love that text. And a common thing that is essential to what we are talking about in this passage is actually repeated six different times within these seven verses. What might that be? This concept there's a lot of things repeated but the one I'm referring to specifically is the law. It's repeated six times in these seven verses. The law. And what is the law? This is important to know when studying this passage. What is the law? Well the original law is both the ten commandments paired with 613 different commandments right in rules given to God's people. His chosen people to like distinguish them from other people and to instruct them on how to live in a way honoring to Him. To distinguish them and to instruct them. Because when they live according to these commands it sets them apart from the rest of the world. Yet again we know that all have sinned. Romans 3 23 right the law is passed or failed. You break one and you break them all. James 2 10 forever keeps the whole law but fails at one point is guilty of all of them. So no one could actually obey all these commands. Meaning the purpose of the law is actually much deeper than just setting them apart from the rest of the world. They track with me here. You may ask God certainly knew no one in their sinfulness could perfectly obey the law. So did He set us up to fail? Because it seems like a lose-lose situation here. It's important to know that to answer that is a big no. No see the righteousness of God brought about by justification can only be earned through perfection. Now raise your hand if you're perfect. Is anyone here perfect despite what your mom might tell you? None of us are perfect right? None of us are even close so none of us can earn righteousness. So the primary purpose of the law here you go the primary purpose of the law is to expose the sinful broken condition of the human heart. To expose the sinful broken condition of the human heart and to reveal in the grand way that we can't earn it. We are not enough we can't do it on our own. What we have earned is we're all put in the work and we've earned something. We've earned condemnation because we have broken the law over and over and over and over again and that was just this morning. So focusing on verse 15 and 16 this is what Paul is talking about in Galatians 2. We cannot be justified by our work so it continues on his point that the Jews are Jews and Gentiles and Gentiles and they will act accordingly to their traditions, to their culture, to their customs. And despite the differences in culture and in action one thing we already know is that neither side can earn more favor over the other four salvation based on their actions not be justified towards righteousness by our actions. I'm going to say that over and over. We cannot be justified towards righteousness by our actions or in obeying the rules but we are to be condemned by breaking the law when we don't obey the rules. So our actions cannot save us they cannot save us but they will condemn us. So therefore Paul in his opposition to Peter is calling them out and reminding everyone what is the primary purpose of the law what it is even for and Peter knows it. So showing that yes all Jews and yes all Gentiles have already broken the law so at this point in time friends what's the big deal with enjoying the pleasant aroma of some crispy bacon right can I get a name into that yeah thank you I mean you're really engaged on that and I would shout that out even if I didn't raise pigs right again praise the Lord that we can eat bacon it's good stuff man I just lost where I was at okay here we go here we go okay so all people have a critical thing in common right and that is that we all have sin we all fall short we're all fall short yet we all have another thing in common and that is that we can be justified through one way through one way by faith in Jesus Christ alone and why because justification requires perfection in righteousness and Jesus came and did what we could not do he lived a life in perfect submission and obedience to the will of the Father declaring his righteousness and creating rule for justification on our behalf yet in verse 17 if we look at this real quick Paul brings up a critical question raising the eyebrows towards the idea of Christ did not sin look at it he's essentially saying that our endeavor of follow Christ if we are found to be sinners in the eyes of others because we have broken Old Testament laws did did Jesus lead us into sin because Jesus didn't obey all those 613 commands an Old Testament he did miracles on the Sabbath he embraced unclean and dying with sinners he did so many things that the people of God were told not to do in the Old Testament right and for us to live in the same way and to follow in the split steps and act accordingly does that not mean that Jesus led us into sin well no no he did not that is the simple answer rather Jesus led us into the freedom found in the gospel to show that men Pharisees said Jesus he had it all wrong what was the purpose for this law in the first place right but then Christ came and he led us out of the law that we could not do and into the freedom found in the gospel second Corinthians 5 21 for our sake he made him sin who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of God so the purpose of the old law had come to pass the people of God had been set apart by the law yet proven to be no different than the Gentiles because of their inability to perfectly obey and honor God through the law so at that point I think that by doing or excuse me so at that point to thank that by doing some of the things of the law you're actually earning more favor towards righteousness before God it's just a foolish concept because you're not in verse 18 Paul is talking about that he's like why try to rebuild what we tore down and what we tore down is alluding to the false system of salvation through works yet it is founded on wrong belief so it's legalism why try to rebuild that why go back to that remember the law was given to distinguish God's people and to instruct them on how to live in a way honoring to him in the old law the number of rules on how to live distinguish God's people as well is instructed them right to live in an honorable way but but legalism in the old judeic system thankfully is done away with by the preaching of salvation through faith alone it's a lot there dialing right here okay we're gonna get into it right now okay it's done away with by Christ alone so if if the old law has now been done away with by the preaching of the gospel something new had come to distinguish God's people Christ had come like Christ put himself under the law by coming to earth as a man bearing the old line becoming the new one taking all our punishment for sin upon himself and leaving it in the grave and becoming that which now distinguishes his people which are those who have received this justification in Christ by faith so that we would not live to the law but to God and this is what Paul is saying in verse 19 for through the law I died to the or for through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God I have been crucified with Christ because this is so powerful for through Jesus I died to the old law so that I might have the freedom to just live to God in the first following this one often gets all the attention it's it's more known more common right but let's not overlook the deep meaning of what Paul just said here Galatians 2 verse 19 Jesus did not come to lead his people into sin by breaking the old law which he didn't because he did not sin he is perfect but rather to lead them into the freedom found in his gospel grace alone by faith alone so towards the end here verse 20 this is why by faith you are justified because righteousness is only learned through perfection and Jesus is perfect we could never earn it but Jesus is it and he latticely pours his righteousness upon us believers and gives us his helper the holy spirit as we live by faith in the flesh to the one who loved us and gave himself for us and that is why it is said it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and by living in any other way or retreating back to salvation earned and legalism or hypocrisy we are simply proclaiming that Jesus Christ then died for no purpose no reason so Peter standing with the Judaizers denies that the need for God's grace right when he retreats back from the Gentiles and and stands with the Judaizers he is denying in his action the need for God's grace and thereby nullifies the benefit of Christ's death because again righteousness is not through the law but only through faith in Christ I'll say that again and again and again righteousness is by faith salvation is by faith in Christ right and Peter knows that so that can be a discouraging moment for Peter but the good news is God blesses and uses this moment as a major teaching moment for not just him at the time but but it's in the Word of God that we all can read we all can learn from for all believers so still friends be motivated by this good news don't get lazy don't get caught sleeping like some of you are right now right don't get lazy don't get caught sleeping remember we honor God when our actions reflect the gospel so the last point I really want to touch on is so why it works important if we are saved by by faith alone faith equals salvation but plus works will follow why are the works important they don't earn us any favor towards salvation but why are they important well like I said it works don't save you but they are proof they are proof that one's faith is genuine it separates the idea of just intellectual belief from genuine faith because a believer should want to honor God and it doesn't mean that everything a believer does honors God because we don't we still fall short again and again and again is none of us are perfect but it's all about how we then respond despite our shortcomings as believers again the good news is we are justified before God by faith in Jesus Christ and out of the overwhelming gratitude we should feel when we who are so far from righteousness so far from righteousness are then made righteous made righteous in the eyes of the Father and lavishly poured upon that from Jesus out of that that should motivate us just think about that that should humble us that should motivate us we who are not righteous are made righteous before the Father through Christ's perfection in righteousness and he lavishes that upon us that should motivate us to want to do good works to want to do things that honor God not because it earns us any favor but because that's how we should respond amen so for the unbeliever justification in the gospel is not just about getting you out of hell and getting you into heaven it's about enjoying a loving and real relationship with the God who created you which can be done by faith and his only son that he sent to die for you so if that's any of you in here if you if you truly don't have that relationship with with God if it's just intellectual belief in it it's not genuine it's not real didn't matter if you're a student or a teacher right I I pray that it becomes real right that that's you're humbled before the gospel on your knees so for the believer how ought we to respond to this good news saved by faith alone in Christ alone we ought to respond humble because Christ has done it and confidence because Christ has accomplished it amen all right let's pray God I thank you for this time I thank you for what you're doing here at Nebraska Christian and and for each of the students and teachers and staff God and how you have made us in a way reflecting your image where so I pray that as we live we know we will not do it perfectly but it will strive to really reflect you to reflect the gospel that how we interact with not just believers but with unbelievers would truly reflect the gospel of Jesus Christ faith alone is the means to salvation and God I pray that you'd soften our hearts the believers would be humbled in Christ and we'd be confident in Christ and for any who have not believed Lord that that you would overwhelm them with your mercy and grace God bless us day I pray that what we do would be honoring glorifying to you the rest of this day in Jesus' name we pray amen