Fatal Living, Vital Dying Series

FATAL LIVING, VITAL DYING

Galatians 2:15-21

S: Justification

Th: Grace-Full Living

Pr: WE ARE MADE RIGHT WITH GOD BY GOD.

?: What?

KW: Implications

TS: We will find in our study of Galatians 2:15-21 two implications of being made right with God by God.

The _____ implication of being made right with God by God is…

I. LIVING BY LAW IS FATAL LIVING (15-18).

II. LIVING BY GRACE IS VITAL DYING (19-21).

RMBC 5/28/00 AM

INTRODUCTION:

ILL Mistake (I’m back here)

John Norman had purchased movie tickets for his girlfriend and himself. While he got the popcorn, she went inside to find seats. By the time he was served, the previews were being shown. John stumbled through the dark, sat down and gave his girlfriend a kiss. Then he heard a familiar voice say, “John, I’m back here.”

Ooops!

That was a mistake.

If you are like me, you do not enjoy making mistakes.

How about you?

1. Do you like being right?

ILL Marriage (Mr. Right)

Paul Kessler and his wife were doing errands and discussing current events. Soon, they got into an argument over the issues. When he reiterated his position forcefully, it was his wife, Christine, who had the last word. “When I knew I’d found Mr. Right,” she snapped, “I had no idea his first name was Always!”

Well, a lot of us can probably relate to that situation.

We like being right.

And we don’t like to admit being wrong.

But we need to note this today…

2. There is something more important than being right—it is being right with God.

While we are concerned with the relationships around us, there is a relationship that makes an eternal difference.

For we need to be in right relationship with God.

TRANSITION:

As we come to this letter to the Galatians, we find that…

1. Paul is writing this letter to defend the gospel and his apostleship against the Judaizers.

The Judaizers were false teachers.

We call them Judaizers because of their passion for Jewish laws.

They knew that in order to successfully communicate a different message than the founding pastor had communicated, they first had to undermine his credentials and authority.

In the process of doing this, they strongly insinuated that the Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem agreed with them, and they held up Peter as their patron saint.

When Paul got wind of this heretical teaching, he wrote this strong, emotional letter denouncing anyone who communicated any other Gospel than the one he had spoken, which is that salvation is a free gift of God’s grace.

Then he went to considerable lengths to prove that he received the gospel by direct revelation, and in turn, he was not dependent upon the Jerusalem apostles.

And when he eventually did have a “powwow” in Jerusalem, the leaders of the Church confirmed and supported his message and gave him the right hand of fellowship signaling friendship and partnership in the gospel.

Furthermore, when Paul and Peter had a major conflict, Peter was the one who backed down and admitted he was wrong.

That’s the historical background of what we have studied so far in this letter to the Galatians.

We need to recognize that the argument between Paul and the Judaizers was over how one becomes right with God.

Paul’s conclusion was this…

2. When one chooses a lifestyle based on self-righteousness or performance, it is a fatal mistake.

It is a lethal notion that human beings are basically good.

We are not fundamentally righteous in our being.

And it is also a fatal idea that whatever lack we have can be resolved through our efforts.

Paul says that this is the way of death.

For when we try to experience salvation through “doing the works of the law” basically what that means is that we’ve developed a checklist of sorts.

A checklist full of those things that we have to do or accomplish in order to be saved or assure our place in salvation.

Once we finish the list, then we are done.

Our place is assured…or is it?

Unfortunately, with the Law, it almost seems that for each item you check off the list, ten more appear.

So you find yourself running around in circles, out of breath, out of steam, never able to know whether or not you’ve made it or if you’re even close to making it.

This is why Paul said to Peter that he dared not compel the Gentiles to live like Jews.

Nobody can do it!

Peter dare not imply that keeping the dietary laws is a work by which they can show themselves more worthy before God.

For that means salvation is accomplished by more than Jesus’ work on the cross.

It is not sufficient!

For here is the truth we must understand today.