Paul’s Letter to the Gauls (Galatians) – Chapter 2

Even if you know you’re going to win, and you’re certain of it, you still keep reserves because you don’t know exactly how that battle is going to go. If you start losing it, then you bring in your best at the most opportune moment. Now, he’s got a letter there that should resolve everything, but in case some of those people stick their lower lip out and say, “I’m for the law,” and there’s some resistance when he gets there, he’s going to roll out that letter, and that’s going to end it right then and there. If he had mentioned the letter of the apostles in his letter, it’s possible that some resistance to it might have already been created. Maybe someone might say he’s bringing a forgery or something like that, so he held reserves. Now, if you can believe that Paul deliberately did not mention that letter, then you can be sure that everything I have told you here is absolutely accurate. And this is what I truly believe. That’s for those of you who like to be scholarly.

Now, brothers and sisters, here’s what I want to tell you. Paul of Tarsus did go to Jerusalem, the mother church. He went there, and he had his gospel verified, the gospel that you are hearing proclaimed right here. He had it verified. Peter admitted he was wrong and that Paul was right, even though he was a junior apostle. Now that clears up the stories, and that gets us almost through Galatians 2. This passage is where the book really begins for the Gentiles. Paul is telling you, Galatians, what he said to Peter. The only problem is that we don’t know exactly where he ended this and then started commenting on it. Let’s make it the very smallest possible part. We’re on verse 14, chapter 2, and perhaps he said to Peter, if you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews. He’s telling Peter something that Peter has obviously stated somewhere else. This is an unquestioned statement. There is no question, Peter, you live like Gentiles. You don’t live like the Jews. How could you turn around and compel the Gentiles to live like Jews when you know that you and I cannot live up to the law? Now, we’ll stop right there and assume that that’s where it ended, though I am not at all sure that’s where his comment to Peter ended. And let’s look at the rest of chapter 2, verse 16.

A man is not justified by the works of…what? Actually, that’s not what it says. It does not say “the law”. Does your book capitalize it the way mine does? Alright, saints, I think we’re missing something here. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by works of law. You see, I want to say it again: it was not the law of Moses that Simon Peter walked across the room and sat down with those people. Saints, he sat down with those folks because he was breaking a tradition. And it was Paul who came to him and said, “You cannot live up to the traditions of men, and neither can I.” Now, if that’s true, and it is, it was not the Ten Commandments. It was law. What law? Law. Just plain old law. If we say the law, we’re talking about the Ten Commandments and maybe the Pentateuch, as well as some things in Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Leviticus, but we’re talking about law. There’s nothing in those books about not eating with an uncircumcised heathen because you would be unclean. That was manmade. That’s “law.” We are looking at something far, far greater than the Ten Commandments here. We’re looking at any and all standards and conduct of ethical persuasion. We’re looking at the Buddhist law and its tradition. We’re looking at the Muslim law and tradition.  I want to say it again, brothers and sisters, this book was written to believers. It was not written to persuade lost people to get saved by grace. It was written to men and women who were Christians to not depend on law, to merit a good standing with the Lord Jesus Christ. I really hope that you can be set free from all law. Now, saint, I am not trying to set you free, nor was Paul trying to set you free to the flesh. He is setting you free from all law. All law. All laws. All laws.

Now, if you just had a nose that could smell “all law” …we would fight an uphill battle. You and I together fight an uphill battle against all law or laws. It is our nature, our old nature, to follow any kind of law. Saints, if you want, if you really want a following, start preaching impossible standards and get people to feel condemned, and that if they will stop doing this, that and the other, they will no longer feel condemned because they’ll feel good because they’re pleasing God. Then, when they start doing these things, it’s not enough. More law; more law. And the Jewish traditions never ended; they just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and more finite and more finite. And the heel of that woman’s shoe. Then, for the brothers, it will be the heel of their shoe or the buckle on their belt. As we will see, it will take a human being, flesh and blood, to tell us what is and is not pleasing to God. I’m going to repeat myself. You cannot gain from God what you’ve already got. You’ve got His pleasure. To try to get what you’ve already got from God is an insult to you, to Him, is salvation, the work of His Son.

I want to recommend something: that you be free from all law, whether it be Jewish, Buddhist, Shinto, Confucian, or Christian. I’m going to say it again. You have got to start there. You don’t start by seeking to please God. Right after I got saved, I got a gospel that said, “Please God.” Did you not? How do you live a good Christian life? This, this, this, this, this, and this. And the implications and the statement were there. This will please God.

Paul makes a statement; will you hear this? He makes these two statements. They’re concerning Paul’s past. They’re concerning your past. Paul said in the past tense, “I persecuted the church. I laid waste to the believers.” He caused the death of Stephen. That’s Paul’s past. Through whose eyes? Through whose eyes? His own eyes. Now listen to Paul’s past…through someone else’s eyes. Christ loved me and gave Himself for me. Same past, two different people looking at it. Who’s looking at it the second time? The Lord. I loved you and gave Myself for you.

I was talking about this a minute ago; you can’t get what you already got. You can’t gain it and merit it. Before he was saved, how did God feel about Paul of Tarsus? While he was helping put Stephen to death, how did God feel about Paul Tarsus? Say it. He loved him. And what’d He do? Died for him on the cross. Well, he did that for Peter, but he doesn’t like you that much, Job. Not you. He doesn’t like you that much. He likes Paul that much because Paul’s going to work really hard. Past: I’m a sinner, or past: Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me.

Now, before you were converted, there was absolutely no question that you did nothing to gain His favor. Is that correct? He was in love with you and died for you. Then you got saved, and He said, “I’m not going to love you anymore now that you’re My son. I loved you when you were an old sinner out there doing terrible things. I’m not going to love you anymore unless you read your Bible, pray, go to church, tithe, witness, be submissive, kind, gentle, and loving. Help me here… some more. Forgive. Oh, yeah, but some of the outward stuff, especially. Visitation. Wear gray suits. Don’t dress like this or that. Consult the elders, and no makeup, and then I will love you. My dear friend, if that is the God you have, tomorrow he’ll be demanding something else. It never ends. Please listen to me: it never ends. Your conscience will even find more things to get under bondage so that you might please Him, because you’ll never feel worthy. Won’t you give that up and just let Him love you and give Himself for you?

Alright, here we go. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of any law, but through faith in Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Him, and not by works of law. Since by works of law shall no mortal man, no flesh be justified. Let me reread that. We are Christians by nature, not sinners from among the world. Nonetheless, knowing that a man is not justified and cannot gain merit from the Lord by living the Christian life, but by faith in Christ Jesus. But we have believed in Him, that we may live the Christian life by faith in Christ, and not by living out the standards of the Christian life. For by doing the things demanded of a Christian, by men, shall nobody be justified.

Brothers and sisters, forgive me, but for what the law was in that day, so the traditions of the so-called Christian standard today is to you. That is the law under which you live. Gene, are you saying don’t pray? Are you saying don’t read your Bible? Are you saying don’t go to meetings? Are you saying don’t live a moral life? I’m saying that they will not gain one bit of favor in the eyes of God. They will in no way alter your relationship to your Lord. But you were told to begin there, were you not? I am saying to you tonight, saints, begin with freedom, and whatever you pick up beyond freedom, never pick up anything that takes away your freedom. Never, anything. But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be. I am justified in Christ. The fact is, I am also a sinner. That does not make Christ one who dispenses sin. That is not the way you look at things, Paul says. “But if I rebuild the law, if I rebuild law, then I have gone back and made myself a transgressor of law.”

Very, very difficult for me to explain this to Christians because it sounds so strange to your ears, but if you put yourself under obligation, dear brother and sister, to a Christian standard, a certain code of ethics, if you put yourself under it, you have stepped out from under grace, and you are now obligated to live up to whatever it is you adopted. You have now said, “Lord, by this I will be a Christian.” The Lord says, “Fine, then be a Christian by that.” If you’re not going to walk in grace, be a Christian by that, and it will not take long for you to discover that you’re back where you were before you were saved. You are an outrageous sinner, and sin will compound itself in your life.