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Galatians 2:15-19 (KJV) We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. 18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

The absolute number one worse sin in the Bible is the sin of idolatry. Idolatry is when a person worships or seeks to please any God but the God of the Bible. It was idolatry that got mankind thrown out of Paradise. The devil told Adam:

Genesis 3:4-5(AP) {if you eat the forbidden} you will not die {implying God is a liar}. God knows when you eat of it you will be like Him, gods who determine good and evil …

Idolatry starts in the heart, when the created tries to take the place of the Creator.

Idolatry led to the first murder. Cain killed his brother, rather than worship God and kill a lamb (Genesis 4:4-8). Idolatry led to the Noahic Flood. “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Idolatry led to the Tower of Babel. The people refused the command of God to multiply and fill the earth, saying …

Genesis 11:4 (NKJV) Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.

We don’t want to glorify God. “Let us make a name for OURSELVES. Let’s glorify US. Let’s build a building that will get us closer to God, maybe we can be gods.”

While Moses was receiving the Law of God from the finger of God, Israel in the valley was busy creating golden calves, gods to follow. Idolatry is in our DNA.

Even among God’s people. There are people today who take the Law of God (which is good, for the Bible says “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12)) and have turned it into an idol. The concept of Pharisaism has crept into many Churches today, the idea that “since I keep the Law, then I’m going to go to Heaven when I die”. Beloved, that’s a lie. Keeping the Law doesn’t save you.

Salvation Is Not Based On How Good You Are

Let’s examine idolatry and the purpose of the Law based on our text today. We start out with:

Galatians 2:15 (KJV) We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles …

God gave the Jews His Law. He did not give the Law (including the Ten Commandments) to the Gentiles, but to Israel. God gave the Law AFTER He saved Israel from Egypt. Before giving even the first commandment, God said to Moses:

Exodus 19:3-6 Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.

The Law was not given to Israel to save Israel. God had already saved Israel. The Law was a covenant of love. The Bible tells us:

Romans 13:8 (NKJV) Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Galatians 5:14 (NKJV) For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

God loved Israel, and saved Israel, so Israel was supposed to love God. He is their Father. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). “We love Him, because HE FIRST LOVED US” (1 John 4:19).

This is what God told Israel BEFORE He gave them the Law. God said “if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me” (Exodus 19:5). Beloved, this has NOTHING TO DO with going to Heaven! In the first part of the Law, God told Israel to have nothing to do with idolatry – but to love God. The Lord said:

Exodus 20:5-6 (NKJV) For I, the Lord your God, am a JEALOUS God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

The Law was not given to save. It was given to Israel because GOD LOVED ISRAEL. It was not given to Israel to purge sin. God told Israel, in effect:

“Instead of doing what Adam did in the Garden and listen to a snake, listen to ME because YOU LOVE ME. I am JEALOUS for you. I made you. I called you. I saved you. Obey Me, because I KNOW BEST.”

But Israel made an idol of the Law. The first thing they did was say “We Jews are SAVED and SPECIAL because we keep the Law, and the Law was given to us. It was not given to the Gentiles, so they are SINNERS”. That’s why Paul wrote:

Galatians 2:15 (KJV) We who are Jews by nature, and not SINNERS of the Gentiles …

Those GENTILES, God hates them. And yet, when God had Israel build the Temple, He made them make a Court for the Gentiles, or the Outer Court (Revelation 11:2). It was from the Court of the Gentiles that Jesus twice drove out the money changers (John 2:13-17; Matthew 2:12-13).

God built a Court of the Gentiles to show His love for all peoples. But God did not allow the Gentiles to go further than the Outer Court, because the Law was given to Israel ONLY.

God is nothing but consistent. The Jews were given God’s Law because God loved them, not to save them. God only saves. “God is My Salvation” (Isaiah 12:2). “To the only God, our Savior” (Jude 25). Israel could not save herself. Israel was not sinless. Only God can save. The Gentiles are sinners, yes, but so are the Jews. That’s the point that Paul makes here.

Galatians 2:16 (KJV) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Word Study: The word translated “justified” is the Greek dikaioō, which means “to be rendered righteous in the eyes of God, to be made acceptable in God’s sight, to be pronounced pure by a holy God”. The Law cannot make Israel right with God. The Law cannot make any of us right with God. What does the Law do? The Law is like the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Bible says:

Romans 3:20 (KJV) Therefore by the DEEDS OF THE LAW there shall NO FLESH BE JUSTIFIED {dikaioō} in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Could the “deeds or works of the Law” save the Jew? No. Could the “deeds or works of the Law” save the Gentile? No. “NO FLESH {Jew or Gentile, black, white, Latino, Asian, or any other flesh tone} CAN BE JUSTIFIED IN GOD’S SIGHT. Why? Because we are all prone to sin. The Bible says:

Isaiah 53:3-6 (LSB) He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. [4] Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. [5] But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our peace [fell] upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed. [6] All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

God did not give the Law to Israel to save them. He gave the Law to Israel because He loved them. And if they love Him, they would obey His Word. Not to go to Heaven, not to be saved, but because they loved the God Who saved them. But God was going to save more than Israel. He planned to save the Gentiles as well. He would do this through His Son, Jesus Christ. “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried”. “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities”. “The chastening for our peace [fell] upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed.” Who has gone astray from God? “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way”. Whether Jew or Gentile, God has reached out to us in love, but we have gone our own way. But “Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him, on Jesus our Messiah”.

If You Are Saved, You Will Obey God’s Word
Because God Loves You And You Love God

Galatians 2:17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves ALSO are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister {diakonos} of sin? God forbid.

The number one thing I hear from people today is “I was saved so I could go to Heaven, and not Hell”. Then they walk and aisle, get baptized, join a Church, and then proceed to walk absolutely contrary to the Law and Commandment of God. The person who “SEEKS to BE JUSTIFIED BY CHRIST”, but who “CHASES SIN”, that person is not in a saving state. Listen to me.

Word Study: Jesus did not die on the Cross as a Minister of Sin. The word translated “MINISTER” is the Greek diakonos, which means “a Deacon, a Helper”. God did not save Israel and take them to Sinai just so they could go back to Egypt. They were supposed to go into the Promised Land, and glorify God in that land while chasing evil out of the land. Jesus did not die on the Cross to ENABLE US TO BE GUILT FREE SINNERS. That’s what I hear when people say, “I’m a Christian homosexual”, or “I’m a Christian drunkard”, or “I’m a Christian playboy”.

God saves us not IN our sins, but FROM our sins. Not by the Law, but by the Blood of Jesus Christ.

AFTER God saved Israel, then and only then did He give them the Law. If Israel loved God, they would follow His Law without adding to it or taking away from it. AFTER God saves the Gentile, then and only then He gives us standards, His Holy Word. We follow His Word because we love Him, without adding to it or taking away from it. When Jesus Christ was to enter this world, God told Joseph:

Matthew 1:21 (ESV) {Mary} … will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins.

Those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior love God, and hate sin. We believe that:

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) For our sake {the Father} made {Jesus, His Son} to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus Christ gave His life for our sins so that, believing in Him, receiving Him as Lord and Savior, we could be made righteous by God. The Bible says:

1 Peter 2:24 (ESV) He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

It is insanity to live in sin. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Sin kills. It always kills. If you are saved, you are saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But now, being saved, you obey the Word and will of God. Anyone who says, “I was saved so I can do my own thing, so I can ignore God’s Word and make myself god” is not saved. The Bible says:

Romans 6:1-2 (ESV) Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Jesus Saved Us, Not The Law

Galatians 2:18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

Here Paul is not talking about sin, nor salvation, but idolatry. It is God Who wrote the Law and gave it to Israel. It is God Who establishes what is right and wrong. But here Paul is not talking about what God did, but whatI build, andI destroy. This was what the Pharisees – and Paul was a Pharisee before He was a Christian – did to the Law.

Pharisaism takes the Law of God, modifies it to suit the user, then demands that others follow this idolatrous thing to be saved.

There were 613 commandments that God gave Israel in the Law. Rather than love God and obey Him out of love, the Pharisees modified the Law. One commentary notes:

“the Mosaic Law commands Jews to keep the Sabbath holy, refraining from work on Saturdays. To clarify this, the Pharisees created 39 separate categories of what constituted “work”, with many sub-categories. This resulted in thousands of sub-rules, including restrictions on the number of steps one could take and the number of letters one could write on the Sabbath. … The Pharisees also created other laws, such as not spitting on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:10), as it would disturb the dirt and one would be guilty of ploughing, and not swatting a fly, as one would be guilty of hunting. They also believed that a woman could not look at her reflection, as she might see a gray hair and pluck it out, which would be considered work. They even created loopholes to get around certain laws, such as allowing one to put on several layers of clothing instead of carrying them when leaving a burning house.”

The Pharisees created 1500 Fence Laws, rules and guidelines put into place to protect the core laws. Our Lord Jesus condemned the Pharisees and Scribes for making the Law what it was never intended to be. Jesus quoted what God said in the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 29:13) some 700 years before:

Matthew 15:7-9 (ESV) You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

The Pharisees do like many “Christians” do today. Rather than loving God, and obeying His Word because we love Him, they seek to impress God by adding to or taking away from what He has directed. God is not pleased when we manipulate Scripture. We are to love Him, and honor Him by obeying His Word.

Galatians 2:19 (KJV) For I through the law am DEAD to the law, that I might live unto God.

Word Study: The word translated “DEAD” is the Greek apothnēskō which means “to be slain by”. The Law of God was given to Israel to teach Israel that they were sinners in need of the Savior. The Law was given to Israel to show them they needed the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Word of God teaches the Gentile today that we are all sinners in need of the Savior.

The Law kills the lost person, so we can seek the Savior. The Law kills our idols so that we might “live unto God”. We do not keep the commandments of God to “go to Heaven”. This is selfishness. Those saved obey God because we love Him.

The Saved Love And Glorify God

Galatians 2:20 (KJV) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.

Israel was given the Law AFTER she was saved.
God gives us Gentiles His Word AFTER we are saved.

What saves us all? The death of Christ on the Cross. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live”. When Jesus died, like Moses He went up on Sinai where the Father dwelt. He was nailed to a terrible tree, the Tree of Life. He died on that Tree for my sins, in my place. He died for me. Once I received Him as Lord and Savior, believing He died in my place, then “Christ liveth in me”. Here’s a test for you all.

Why did you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior? Just to go to Heaven? Then you’d better carefully look at your salvation! It’s okay to want to go to Heaven – I want to go there myself. But does Christ live in you NOW?

And what keeps you saved? Is it that you keep the Law meticulously? It shouldn’t be. The right answer is, “Because I love the Lord, and live my life for Him”.

The Christian pursues righteousness because he is born again, and Christ lives in us. We live by the Grace of God, glorifying our Savior. When we get to Heaven, it will be because Jesus saved us, and we love the One Who saved us. There is not one good thing you can do to keep yourself on the right side of God BUT to love Him with all you are able.

Galatians 2:21 (KJV) I do not FRUSTRATE {atheteō} the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Word Study: To believe you are able to save yourself is to atheteō, to cast off or do away with the Grace of God. That is the action of a fool. May God lead you to surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ this very day. Amen.