Hudson Taylor was born in Barnsley, England, to a Christian family with a deep burden for the country of China. As a teenager, he was converted after reading a gospel tract in his father's library. I just love that. If you're a dad this morning, don't underestimate your influence in your children's life. Keep godly material around the house. You never know, it could be what leads your son or your daughter to Jesus.
So Hudson Taylor received Jesus Christ as his savior, and from that point on, he believed that God was calling him to be a missionary to China. Before leaving England, Taylor intentionally disciplined himself for hardship. He took a modest job with low wages. He lived simply. He didn't have very many creature comforts, and he did that on purpose. Instead of having his own mode of transportation, he walked everywhere that he went. He practiced trusting God for daily needs, even the simplest of things, because he wanted to learn dependence on God before arriving on the mission field. He knew that as he went to China, he would desperately need to be able to depend on God.
Taylor was just 21 years old when he arrived in China as a missionary. Before he left for the mission field, he wrote in his journal: "Depend upon it, God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply."
As we come to Galatians chapter 2 this morning, I want to remind us that the problem facing the churches at Galatia wasn't necessarily because people who once professed Jesus Christ as their savior had turned their back on him. They weren't in an all-out rejection of the Christian faith per se. Rather, the problem facing the churches at Galatia was a dilution and a corruption of the gospel. It was a perverted gospel. It had a hint of truth, but because it was added to, it wasn't the true gospel. Paul dealt with this in chapter one, where he says that this gospel coming to the churches at Galatia was not even a gospel.
There had been false teachers that we have named the Judaizers. These Judaizers taught that Gentile believers must obey the Jewish law in order to be saved. So it wasn't just enough to have Jesus. Jesus was good, and in fact you do need Jesus, but Jesus was not enough. They taught that they also needed to keep the laws of the Old Testament. These Judaizers, though they were preaching a false gospel, had gained influence within the churches of Galatia, and not only there, but also in other places, even among some church leaders.
The Apostle Peter was led away with their hypocrisy. In chapter two, verses 11 through 14, the Apostle Paul confronted Peter for his hypocrisy. At the church at Antioch, the Apostle Peter was ministering and influencing people for the cause of Christ, and then some Judaizers came to the church from Jerusalem, claiming to have been sent by the Apostle James. In coming, they influenced Peter to separate himself from the Gentile believers.
Within the scene of our text this morning, Paul is still confronting Peter, placing the blame on Peter for this hypocrisy. As we see in verses 15 through 21, Paul continues his argument that justification is by faith alone. Coming to Jesus Christ does not require anything but your 100% faith in Jesus Christ.
"We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 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. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." — Galatians 2:15-21
Firstly, man can only be justified by faith in Christ. We can't say it enough. This is such an important point that Paul has been trying to communicate throughout his entire testimony to the church at Galatia. To make clear what has been muddied by the Judaizers, Paul makes several contrasts throughout our text this morning. He contrasts Jews with Gentiles. In verse 16, he contrasts justification by works with justification by faith. In verse 19, he contrasts death and life.
The reason the Apostle Paul is making contrasts throughout his argument here is to bring to the attention of the churches at Galatia that they had a choice to make. They were at a crossroads. Either they were going to accept the gospel that Paul had preached, or they were going to turn from that gospel to what the Judaizers preached. It was one or the other; there is no middle ground.
There is no middle ground when it comes to Jesus. When you woke up this morning, you had the choice: "Will I serve God or will I serve myself?" Praise the Lord you made the choice to come to church today on the Lord's Day. Amen. But you're going to have to make that same choice tomorrow, on Tuesday, and on Wednesday. You have to make the choice every day: who will you serve?
One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture is Joshua chapter 24. The children of Israel had been redeemed out of bondage in Egypt and had wandered in the wilderness, but now Joshua is about to lead them into the Promised Land.
"Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." — Joshua 24:14-15
Oftentimes as Christians we think, "Well, I received Christ as my savior, therefore I have made the choice to serve God." While you need to receive Christ as savior—a man can only be justified by faith in Christ—you still have the decision to make. The children of Israel were a redeemed people. If you know Christ, you are no longer in bondage to the law or sin, but you still have to make the decision to serve God.
In verse 15, the Apostle Paul contrasts the Jews by nature with the sinners of the Gentiles. The contrast is that the Jews had the oracles of God. The Old Testament was given to the Jewish people. They are God's chosen people, which came with great privileges, one of which was having the word of God. They had the prophets, unlike the Gentiles. In Ephesians 2:12, Paul says that the Gentiles were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. When it came to knowing God and understanding what He expects, the Jews had a great advantage over the Gentiles.
Yet, as we look at verse 16, even these blessings, privileges, and covenant relationship with the one true God were not enough. Paul says, "Time out for a second." The Judaizers claim the Gentiles must keep the law to be saved, but what about us Jews? We were given the law, the Word of God, and the prophets, and yet we still had to come to a point where we received Jesus Christ by faith. Why? Because man can only be justified by faith in Christ.
Having the law and knowing the Word of God did not save them. Instead, the privilege they had was understanding that they were sinners who could never attain salvation by keeping the law, so they had to believe in Christ by faith. If the Jews had to believe by faith, obviously the Gentiles also needed to believe by faith and not by the keeping of the law, because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Justification is simply the act of God whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous in Jesus Christ. It is the act of God, not your works. Paul is saying that Jews and Gentiles alike are only justified by faith in Christ. We are all in the same boat, under sin.
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" — Romans 3:23
"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 3:20
If the Jews had any advantage over the Gentiles, it was only that having the Word of God, they knew they could never keep it and needed someone to do the work for them: Jesus Christ. Even the best human works cannot change the nature of the person doing them. We are all lost sinners in need of Christ, and the only way to receive Him is through faith.
People often ask: if there is only one God, one faith, and one way to heaven, why are there so many religions? Essentially, there are only two religions in the world: justification by faith (Christianity) and justification by works. Hinduism, Islam, Mormonism, Catholicism, Buddhism—every other faith is a works-based system where you must do things to be right with God.
Works are important in Biblical Christianity as well, but the difference is that justification by faith recognizes that your works cannot attain justification—only the finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross can. Simple faith in His work is what justifies the sinner. Anything else is justification by works, a false gospel, and blasphemy.
If you are here this morning trusting in anything other than Jesus Christ alone to save you from your sin, understand that you need to change your mind about everything. That is repentance. You need to believe on Jesus Christ and submit to Him as your personal Lord and Savior.
For the believer, the implications of our justification are incredible. Inherent to every person is the knowledge that a judgment is coming. God has put a conscience in all of us to hold us accountable. There is a day at the end of history when everything will be judged. But because the believer is in Jesus Christ and justified by faith, we no longer face a future judgment day for our salvation. Our judgment took place when Jesus died on the cross.
We do not have to live with fear or anxiety about whether we are good enough. We aren't good enough, but Jesus died for us and paid our sin debt. Our judgment day is behind us, and we can live in peace. While we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account for how we lived the new life given to us, our eternity is not on the line. We are justified.
Secondly, justification leads to obedience.
Verses 17 and 18 demand a little context. Prior to Christ's ministry, if a Jew was found eating with Gentiles, it was considered scandalous. In Leviticus, certain foods were forbidden to the Jews, and Gentiles were viewed as ceremonially unclean. A Jew eating with Gentiles or consuming unclean food would become unclean and unable to worship publicly in the temple until going through purification ceremonies.
After Christ came, the gospel was revealed to be for both Jews and Gentiles. Neither is justified by the law, but both are justified by faith. The ceremonial laws no longer apply because Christ fulfilled them.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." — Romans 1:16
Paul makes this argument in response to the Judaizers, who claimed that because Paul taught justification by faith—allowing Jews and Gentiles to fellowship and eat together—he was breaking the law, making Christ a minister of sin. Paul responds: "God forbid." Christ does not cause us to sin. If there is sin in our life, it comes from us, not Jesus.
In Acts chapter 10, the Apostle Peter had a vision where God showed him unclean animals and told him to kill and eat. Peter resisted, but God told him, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." Shortly after, Peter was called to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile Roman centurion.
"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 showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean." — Acts 10:28
God opened the gospel to the Gentiles and declared them clean. Returning to Galatians 2:17-18, being justified by Christ does not lead to lawlessness or sin. Paul says that if he were to rebuild the ceremonial legal system he had destroyed by separating from Gentile believers, he would make himself a transgressor. Departing from Christ to return to the law is the actual sin.
Justification does not give us a license to sin.
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid." — Romans 6:1-2
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." — Ephesians 2:10
Good works do not justify us, but once we are justified, God saves us to perform good works. Justification leads to obedience.
Thirdly, the believer lives by faith because Christ lives in the believer.
In verse 19, Paul says he is dead to the law. In Scripture, death refers to separation. Paul is separated from the law, dead to it, and cannot go back. What was true for Paul is true for us today: the believer is dead to the law.
This does not mean the Old Testament has lost all meaning. The law consists of three categories: civil law (governing Israel as a nation), ceremonial law (governing Israel's worship, which pictured the coming Christ and was fulfilled by Him), and moral law (the Ten Commandments). The moral law shows a redeemed people how to love God and love others. Jesus summarized it: love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. The moral law remains relevant for believers today.
Paul is not discarding the moral law; he is contending for the grace of God over human merit. You cannot mix grace and works.
"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." — Romans 11:6
Either something is entirely of grace or entirely of works. Paul says he is dead to trying to earn favor with God through the law so that he might live unto God.
How do we live unto God? Paul answers in verse 20: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." When Jesus died, He paid our sin debt and took the punishment we deserved. In God's eyes, when Christ was crucified, we were crucified with Him. When He rose, we rose with Him. We have a vital union with Christ.
To be crucified with Christ means our old man is dead, yet we still live physically. We live unto God by faith. Faith is the necessary human response to what God has objectively accomplished in the cross of Christ. We live unto God one necessary response at a time in light of what Christ has done for us.
Paul personalizes this truth: the Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me. To live by faith means making every daily decision with the reality of Christ's sacrifice in mind. This is the normal Christian life.
As I was going through the Navy diver pipeline, it was tough. About half of my class did not finish. It was a constant grind of physical fatigue and being worn down. Because of that, you learned to reserve yourself, looking for every opportunity to rest or save energy for the next test down the line.
I noticed in my Christian life that I reverted to that same mindset of self-preservation. But self-preservation is not compatible with the Christian life. Jesus said that if anyone will follow Him, he must deny himself and take up his cross. A cross is an instrument of death, the very opposite of self-preservation.
When I evaluated my life, I realized I was trying to live in my own strength, manipulating situations to conserve my energy instead of relying on Christ. That is the opposite of living by faith.
"for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." — Romans 14:23
Why should I build again the things which I destroyed? Rather than living for self, we are called to live by faith. Are you making your daily decisions with Jesus' death for you in mind?
One way God spoke to me recently was regarding evangelism. I had gotten so busy with ministry tasks that I let opportunities to share Jesus pass by, telling myself I had a schedule to keep or a sermon to write. But yesterday, as I made a U-turn near the church, I saw someone at the bus stop. The Holy Spirit prompted me to go invite that person to church. I praise God that I responded by faith, parked, and took two minutes to invite them. Too many times in the past, I excused myself because of upcoming meetings, failing to live by faith.
When we do not live by faith, we frustrate the grace of God. If righteousness could come by the law, then Christ died in vain. As Hudson Taylor stated, God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply. When we rely on our own abilities, we act as if we do not need God's supply. But when we live by faith, we will never lack His supply of grace. Let us exchange self-sufficiency for Christ living through us.