“The Death of a Man Who Loved Law!” Galatians 2:15-21

When he got out to fix it, a cow came along side him. “Sounds like a carburetor problem,” said the cow. The man was startled…

There are some who think themselves as the good guys who are helping the church – who when it gets right down to it want MORE THAN grace. They want grace AND law…

Galatians 2:21 “I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through law, then Christ died needlessly.”

Keep in mind, the man writing this was at one time the Pharisee of Pharisees… but now he is saying he has a new aim and that is to find righteousness not by keeping the law but by grace through faith in Christ!

Purpose: to further break down the barriers of justification by law in our lives

IIn Christ You Stand Even Though You Fall (vv 15-16) A.Note His Appeal to a Basic Conviction B.Law Can Only Instruct – It Cannot Save

Romans 3:20 “…because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge off sin.”

…law sends you to jail – law only teaches what’s right and what’s wrong, but it can’t save a sinner… Does this make the law bad? Not at all for by showing us we cannot save ourselves… law actually points us to the only was we can be saved = GRACE!

Man had a dream that he was at the gates of heaven. Beyond the gates was a big scale with his good works on one side and his bad works on the other…

IIn Christ You Stand Even Though You Fall (vv 15-16) A.Note His Appeal to a Basic Conviction B.Law Can Only Instruct – It Cannot Save C.Justified Through Faith and Not by Works

Justification means God takes a sinner who comes through faith…, at baptism and God imputes righteousness, not by anything the sinner does, but through the Cross of Christ where Jesus PAID IT ALL!

We’re like the man who took his first plane ride. He was nervous…

Therefore, “in Christ” you stand even though you fall dear friend = saved by grace alone!

IIIn Christ You Live Even Though You Die (vv 17-21) A.Jesus Died Our Death

Galatians 6:14-15 “But may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”

IIIn Christ You Live Even Though You Die (vv 17-21) A.Jesus Died Our Death B.We Live a Crucified Life

Paul vigorously denied the charge that the Gospel of Grace promotes more irresponsibility. The exact opposite is true…

Galatians 5:24-25 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

Many try to get people to stop sinning by giving them a bunch of rules… The problem is that changed lives can’t be regulated by law. Transformation is the sole work of Holy Spirit, Who doesn’t…

2 Corinthians 5:14 “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, that they who live should live no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”

Abraham Lincoln came to a slave trading block. A young black woman was put up for sale. Lincoln bought the girl, took her aside and said, “Madam, I release you. You are now free.” She inquired. “What do you mean?”…

Summary and Conclusion Have we died to being a lawman so that we can live as new ones in the Spirit? Understand this, Paul is not saying, “Let’s go from law to now law.” What Paul is saying, “Let’s go from law depending to grace depending…”

“Crucified With Christ” by Phillips, Craig and Dean Chorus: For I am crucified with Christ and yet I live Not I but Christ that lives within me. His cross will never ask for more than I can give, For it’s not my strength but His, There’s no greater sacrifice, For I am crucified with Christ and yet I live.