Galatians 2:16-21
Never Has. Never Will.
This is the third message in our study of this book. Let’s begin
with a short summary:
1. \\#Gal 1:6\\ Paul said he was amazed that the Galatians were
so soon removed from the gospel. That is obviously the main
problem that he wanted to deal with in this letter; but at
that time, he did not state HOW they had moved from the
gospel, only that they had.
2. Then the most of the remainder of chapter 1 and through most
of chapter 2, Paul gave his testimony. As we say, the
emphasis was on HIM, on the revelation he had received, and
the acknowledgement even the church and the apostles had
given to him that it was so.
But so far, we still do not know the details of the problem in these
churches throughout Galatia. Paul revealed that in the verses we are
looking at tonight. Each line in these verses is important to staying
with Paul.
Remember, Wednesday night is our Bible study night so instead of me
just picking some of the best truths out and preaching on them, let’s
see if we can keep up with Paul by looking briefly at three of the
statements Paul made. There are more in this text that deserve to
be noted, but three is as far as we will get tonight.
I. \\#16\\ "Man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ."
A. That is the statement Paul made, and it is a foundational
statement. Why is it such an important statement?
1. It is foundation first because it tells us what the
problem in the churches of Galatian was.
a. They were turning from a salvation by grace to a
salvation earned by legalistic works.
b. Of course we remember that Paul said doing so is no
gospel at all.
2. It is foundational second because it connects three Bible
books to the same problem: Galatians, Romans, and
Hebrews.
Galatians 3:11 But that no man is justified by
the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for,
The just shall live by faith.
Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight:
for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Hebrews 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect….
Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins.
a. This was not just a problem in one church or in one
region.
b. It was a false doctrine that was everywhere!
3. It is foundation third because Paul clearly, bluntly, and
directly settled it in this verse.
a. No man is justified by the works of the law.
b. There is no legalistic system that will save.
B. Paul’s plain, blunt, simple answer explains much.
1. It explains why New Testament Christians do not worship
like Old Testament saints did.
a. Why?
b. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to the Old Testament,
but the reason is because when it comes to removing
sins, the Old Testament simply could not.
c. The Old Testament was God’s commanded way to worship
Him in the Old Testament and keeping the Law was
obeying God, a demonstration of their faith, and the
only way one could worship God; but when it came to
removing sins, it never did.
2. But even more important, that statement tells us that no
one—not even the Old Testament saints—were ever saved
by obeying the law.
Gal 2:16 …for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified.
a. NO FLESH means NO FLESH. None. Not today’s flesh.
Not yesterday’s flesh. Not tomorrow’s flesh. NO
flesh has, is, or will be made right by the works of
the law.
b. Paul spent more time explaining this truth in Romans 3
and 4.
c. There he took two of the great Old Testament saints,
Abraham and David, and explained that they were not
saved by the works of the law but by their faith in
what God was going to do.
d. But even without those arguments we know that every
person from every age is saved by faith because of
the statement Jesus made:
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me.
C. So the LAW, with all of the rituals, the sacrifices, and the
rules, never made any person right with God.
1. What did?
2. Paul also told us that: "by the faith of Jesus."
3. If WORKS has never justified, what has? Faith.
4. We, by faith, look backwards to what Jesus has done.
5. The Old Testament saints, by faith, looked forwards to
what Jesus would do.
6. But both are saved by faith.
7. Faith is the only thing that has ever saved a soul.
II. \\#18\\ "if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make
myself a transgressor."
A. Remember, this is what Paul told Peter when Peter withdrew
from the Gentile Christians at Antioch.
1. This is the last part of Paul’s rather long testimony
begun back in \\#Gal 1:11\\.
2. These verses were part of Paul’s rebuke to Peter when he
did that.
B. What do these words mean?
1. Paul told Peter if you go back to trusting in the Law to
make you acceptable to God, you are become a
transgressor.
2. A transgressor means a sinner.
3. Paul was saying that it was sinful to trust in the law
for justification.
C. For whatever the reason, most likely because of the
traditions of men, Peter believed it was wrong to eat with
Gentiles.
1. Peter to Cornelius:
Acts 10:28 And he said unto them, Ye know how
that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a
Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another
nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not
call any man common or unclean.
2. In a moment of weakness, Peter went back to his Jewish
mode.
3. Paul rebuked him, not because it was wrong to either have
or even forgo fellowship with the Gentile Christians,
but because what he did gave the appearance that the
law might somehow "justify" us before God.
D. "Justification" is the word that Paul used.
1. Justification is a legal term that means a wrong action
can be deemed as an acceptable action.
a. For example, it is a wrong to kill a person.
b. However, if you kill someone to stop them from killing
you, it is said to be a justified homicide.
c. That means the wrong action done is considered
acceptable.
2. The idea behind a works salvation is that if you do
enough good works or the right set of good works, it will
make your sins acceptable to God.
3. It will not, and it never has.
4. The only thing that will make us and our sins acceptable
to God is to place them on Jesus Christ and that can only
be done by believing what I cannot prove.
a. That Jesus is God.
b. That Jesus lived a sinless life.
c. That Jesus died on the cross for us.
d. That Jesus rose on the third day.
E. We need to understand what Paul told Peter not only affects
the Gentile Christians, it affected the Jewish Christian
too.
1. Some think that the Jews are still required to keep the
Law in this age because they are Jews.
2. I don’t have all the answers but Paul told Peter that to
cling to the Law for any kind of justification was sin.
3. That means that not even the Jews are required to live
under the law in this time period.
4. Two thoughts about that:
a. First, the Jews can’t live under the law in this time
period.
(1) You cannot begin to keep the law without the
land, a temple, a sacrifice, and the
priesthood.
(2) There are some Jews today who do their best to
keep the Old Testament law and if I was a Jew,
I would too; but what they can do is little to
nothing because they do not have the things
necessary to keep the law.
(3) But if they are doing it to be justified, it
will not happen.
(4) In fact, if the Jew had all of their land, a
temple, and the priesthood, and attempted to
keep the law during this time period to justify
themselves, it would only anger God Who has set
Jesus’ name and faith in His name above all
others.
b. Second, if anyone wants to do some of the things of
the Old Testament as a GIFT to God, do it.
(1) If you want to worship on Saturday AND Sunday,
do it as a gift to God.
(2) If you want to give up pork and other unclean
foods as a gift to God, go for it.
(3) If you want to take a Nazarite vow as a gift to
God, feel free.
(4) God has never put a limit on giving to us, but
He has always forbidden any one and everyone
from trying to justify themselves by works.
III. \\#21\\ Notice Paul’s two concluding statements:
A. "I do not frustrate the grace of God." - Paul was not going to
work against grace. He was going to go with grace not it.
B. "If righteousness could come by the law, then Christ died
for nothing."
1. Paul was saying not only that the law cannot save us
now, he was also saying it never could.
2. If the law could ever save, there was no reason for Jesus
to die.
Paul has several more statements that we need to understand even
within these verses; but from these few alone, it is evident that no
one ever has or ever will be justified or saved by the works of the
law. Every human being in heaven from every dispensation will either
be there because of faith in the grace of God or they will not be
there at all.
<Outline
Index> <Close Window>
