Galatians 2:14-21

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 145:8-12
• Hymn — All Creatures of Our God and King (#115)
• Westminster Shorter Catechism — Questions 67, 68, and 69 (Sixth Commandment)
• Hymn — My Jesus, I Love Thee (#648)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Galatians 2:14-21
• Sermon
• Hymn — Not What My Hands Have Done (#461)
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

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Sermon Title: Seeing Clearly the Gospel of Justification by Faith

Scripture: Galatians 2:14-21

I. See the Precise Need Common to All: To Be Justified Before God

A. Paul, like a good physician, diagnoses the problem before offering the remedy

1. As a medical doctor turned preacher, Martyn Lloyd-Jones applied this principle: diagnosis must precede cure
2. Paul follows this pattern throughout his letters — e.g., Romans 3:23 diagnoses the problem, then Romans 3:24-25 offers the remedy

B. Paul identifies a universal need: justification before a holy God

1. In Galatians 2:15-16, Paul uses the common distinction between Jews by birth and Gentile sinners — but the need for justification belongs to both equally
2. "By works of the law no one will be justified" — the problem is no respecter of persons
3. Every person, through original sin imputed from Adam and individual transgression, stands condemned before a holy God
4. The judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah and the flood in Noah's day illustrate what sin deserves

II. See the Personal Means by Which You Are Justified Before God

A. Paul addresses the anticipated objection of the Judaizers (Galatians 2:17-19)

1. The Judaizers held that keeping the Mosaic law was the means of justification
2. Their objection: does faith in Christ make believers sinners, thus making Christ a servant of sin?
3. Paul responds: "Certainly not!" — the Judaizers fundamentally misunderstand the law's purpose

B. The law's true function is to drive us away from itself as a means of justification (Calvin)

1. The law is a mirror revealing the filthiness of our condition
2. The law is a guide through the sin of our hearts, a physician holding up the scan of our souls
3. "Through the law I died to the law" (Galatians 2:19) — the law's threats and condemnation leave only despair, pointing us away from works-righteousness

C. The universal human tendency toward self-justification

1. People assess their own moral performance and conclude they are "doing pretty good"
2. This sneaks into the Christian heart — attendance, giving, prayer, moral effort — as grounds for confidence before God
3. Paul rejects this entirely: relying on works for justification is like patching a gaping crack in a pool wall with bubble gum

D. The means of justification is personal, Spirit-worked faith (Galatians 2:16, 2:20)

1. Faith is the gift and work of the Holy Spirit, flowing from union with Christ
2. Yet it is deeply personal — "we also have believed," "the life I now live… I live by faith"
3. No one can believe for another; each person must personally apprehend Christ — plunging their own bucket into the deep well of Christ

III. See the Person Through Whom You Are Justified Before God

A. Justifying faith is not vague — it has a specific, personal object: Christ Jesus (Galatians 2:16, 2:20)

B. This person is the man Jesus

1. Fully human — born as a helpless infant, grew in wisdom, ate, slept, wept, thirsted
2. Made like us in every way, yet without sin

C. This person is the Son of God

1. From eternity fully God — the second person of the Trinity
2. The Word through whom all things were created, upholding all things by his power

D. This person loved us and gave himself for us (Galatians 2:20)

1. The eternal love of the Father for the Son overflowed into love for his people from before the foundation of the world
2. As a husband lays down his life for his bride, Christ gave himself for his people — cf. John 3:16
3. The white bridal gown in Scripture pictures the cleansing, justifying righteousness of Christ imputed to believers
4. By faith, the charge against you is forgiven, erased, expunged — "not guilty"
5. "Christ died for no purpose" only if righteousness could come through the law (Galatians 2:21) — but he died with purpose: to give his righteousness to those who receive it by faith