ONLY BY GRACE, ONLY BY FAITH

ONLY BY GRACE, ONLY BY FAITH

Galatians 2:11-21

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

March 12, 2006

What does it take to start a real, life changing, society altering revolution? In answer to this question, in our call to worship (Romans 1:16,17) you will find a few verses which God used to bring forth a mighty Reformer and a Reformation of the Church of such magnitude that it is, perhaps, without parallel. It was these verses that changed an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther into a Reformer. These verses shook him up and then he used them to shake up the Church by calling for reform.

The Church had strayed from having Jesus Christ as its sole foundation. It had turned instead to additional means in seeking to secure one’s salvation in the sight of a thrice-holy God. Such means were useless, said Luther, meaningless upon which to rely, for it is by God’s grace alone in Jesus Christ that we are forgiven, accepted and adopted as the children of God.

As a monk, Luther had desperately tried every avenue to please and pacify such a holy God. In all of this, his conscience gave him no peace. But in preparing lectures on such books as Galatians and Romans, he rediscovered the Gospel. “Where can a person find relief from a conscience burdened with guilt,” he asked, “acknowledging the vast chasm that exists between one guilty of sins of omission and commission, and that of a thrice-holy God?” His answer was clear and concise: “It is through Jesus Christ, in His perfect obedience fulfilling all righteousness, and in His complete sacrifice, fulfilling all justice.”

Luther said that, trusting fully in Jesus Christ, the Christian can say with the utmost of confidence: “He made satisfaction. He is the righteous one, and this is my defense. He died for me, He made His righteousness mine and made my sin His own; and if He made my sin His own, then I do not have it, and I am free.” [i]

In a letter of reassurance, Luther once wrote to a young Christian. He reminded him that human strivings have no part in establishing or securing one’s relationship with God. “Therefore, my sweet brother, learn Christ and Him crucified; despairing of yourself, learn to pray to Him, saying, ‘You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am Your sin; You have taken on Yourself what You were not and have given me what I was not.” [ii]

PAUL AND THE GALATIANS.

Of course, Paul was trying to get across the very same point to the Galatians. Refreshing your memory, some false teachers had come into the area after Paul’s departure. They had questioned his apostolic authority, reminding the Galatians that Paul was not one of the original Twelve. Thus it was that they also questioned the content of the Gospel Paul had preached. They said that faith in Jesus Christ was not enough. For one to enter into a right relationship with God, they said, one must also follow Jewish customs, rituals and observances.

Paul wanted it to be made very clear that if righteousness or right standing with God could be gained through personal human effort, then in effect Christ died for nothing; He died in vain, as His death held little consequence.

In defense of himself and of the teaching of the Gospel, Paul told the Galatians of his open confrontation with Peter, whose conduct was not in accord with the truths of the Gospel. In this situation, Paul was displaying his own authority as an apostle, as well as in clarifying the truth of the Gospel.

Paul then, in verses 15-16 brought forth what is the core teaching of this epistle:

“We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”

In paraphrased form, Paul was saying,

“We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over ‘non-Jewish sinners.’ We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ.

How do we know? We tried it – and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.” [iii]

THE HUMAN DILEMMA.

In the divine courtroom where the Creator is rightfully the Judge, you and I have a very serious problem. As our Creator, God rightfully holds each and every one of us accountable for the thoughts that we think, the words that we speak, and the deeds that we do.

In this courtroom, we would love to be justified, a legal term meaning to be declared as being fully righteous and blameless. But how can God declare such a verdict when no one living, absolutely no one, is ever totally free of sin or guilt?

The good news of the Gospel is that, as God is rightfully our Judge, whose verdict is fair and just, and absolutely final, He is also the Savior who can uniquely provide us with release from His own judgment.

All the efforts of a fallen humanity, even “religious” rituals and activities – even such as attending this service of worship this morning - are simply not able to bring a person into right standing with God. Only by God’s unmerited favor – grace – by trusting solely and completely in Christ – faith – can we ever be brought into such a relationship.

Faith is the key, and it does not merit God’s acceptance of us, it only accepts Christ’s merit before the divine Bar of justice. Trusting fully in Christ crucified, we then receive not only the gift of forgiveness, but the righteousness of Christ as well. Again, in quoting Luther, in faith alone in Christ alone we declare, “(Christ) made satisfaction. He is the righteous one, and this is my defense. He died for me, He made His righteousness mine and made my sin His own; and if He made my sin His own, then I do not have it, and I am free.”

BRINGING IT HOME TO US.

In light of the hearing of the Gospel, I must ask you this morning: “Are you living a Christ-centered, Cross-centered life?” It begins with Christ, and with Him crucified, you know. It begins with the hand of faith reaching out to receive what He has for us, based upon what He has done for us.

The gifts of forgiveness, righteousness or right-standing, acceptance and adoption come not by personal merit, but by divine achievement. And this is precisely why the Christian life is the Christ-centered life, and the Christ-centered life is the Cross-centered life.

As we were reminded today in our Affirmation of Faith taken from the Heidelberg Catechism: True faith “… is not only a certain knowledge (what we might call “head-knowledge”) by which I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also a wholehearted trust … that, not only to others (a wife, husband, parent, child, neighbor, co-worker …) but to me also, God has given the forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness and salvation …” And how might this come about? “…out of sheer grace solely for the sake of Christ’s saving work.” [iv]

Being saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is a most wonderful thing indeed! With this in mind, there once was a doctor in a mining town where most of his patients were quite poor. It was a largely impoverished community. When they couldn’t pay their bills, this doctor wrote the word “cancelled” alongside their debts listed in his record books.

Many years later, this physician died, and his widow went to court to collect on these debts. But the court gave the following verdict: “If your husband said that their debt is cancelled, it is cancelled and can never be claimed again.” [v]

Likewise, dear friends, when we trust in Christ, our Sovereign King who reigns and rules, He declares us forgiven and the debt cancelled, and nothing and no one can change this! As author Steve Brown reminds us, “the reach of forgiveness is vast, ‘once for all.’”

“Christ has given forgiveness as far into the future as our lives will reach.

And He has given forgiveness into the past

as far back as our lives have been lived.

We really are free.” [vi]

Dear friends, this really is the Good News of the Gospel. Therefore, Rest in Christ, Trust in Christ, Rely on Christ … for a life with God is only by grace … and only by faith!