Galatians 2:16. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
THE CONFERENCE.
“The law is holy” - why then does it not make us acceptable?
It is important, isn’t it? In the life of a Christian –
The law guards us against sin by giving us standards for behavior –
The law convicts us of sin, giving us the opportunity to ask for forgiveness –
The law drives us to trust in Christ because we can never keep the law.
The law cannot save us, but it has condemned us and it can guide us.
“The faith of Jesus Christ” – what does this mean?
God has provided a way of salvation that cannot be earned by law-keeping.
The law has condemned us to death for sin – “crucified with Christ” – how?
Legally: God looks at us as dead and yet living because we have been crucified with Christ.
Relationally: we have become one with Christ, and His experiences are ours. In unity with Him – when
He died, we died – to our old life.
In our daily life: we crucify the sinful desires that keep us from following Christ.
“Justified by the faith of Christ” – what does this mean? How does it work?
The focus of life is not dying but living – we have been crucified with Christ;
Therefore, we have been raised with Christ – and that means to me today –
Legally: I have been reconciled to God and am now free to grow in the likeness of Christ.
In my daily life: I have resurrection power that enables me to fight and overcome sin.
Christ lives in me, and He is my power for living and hope for the future.
As those brethren gathered at Jerusalem, they did a wise thing – they communicated.
They didn’t go behind each other’s backs with subtle, divisive opinions but prayed and talked and listened.
One group of men accused Paul of watering down the Gospel to fit the Gentiles.
Paul accused them of nullifying the Gospel by adding conditions to it.
The conclusion was clear: Man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ.
Because we have died to the law, it has no claim on us: we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
The conference is over – the decision is clear – the results are spelled out plainly.
Why then return to the bondage it imposed? Why go back again to what we left?
Do not frustrate the grace of God – righteousness does not come by the law.
Christ has died and has not died in vain. His death satisfied every legal claim against us.
We are free to live a new life – a life lived by the faith of the Son of God.
He loved me and gave Himself for me! “Free from the law, O happy condition!”
“O Righteous God and Father: to live in freedom and breathe the air of grace day after day is a wonder to me. I honor Thy holiness in that nothing was compromised, and I honor Thy grace in that provision to meet the need I could never meet, has been provided. I thank Thee, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.”