Law and Grace - Died to live to

Good morning. We are going to return to this same passage, and there's a reason for going back to it. We looked last week at Galatians 2.20 that talked about our co-crucifixion with Christ. I have been crucified with Christ. Each one of us can say that if we're a believer here today. I have been crucified with Christ. That passage talks explicitly about our crucifixion with Christ. It implies that Christ was raised because Christ, in fact, does the living through us. That's God's explicit and deliberate intent.

What we will look at here as we look at it today is we're going to take a look at the alternate verses. Last Sunday we looked more closely at verse 20 and we put most of our focus on that, which talks about who died and who lives, and capital who died and capital who lives. Today we'll talk more about verses 19 and 20, the first and the last verses that Wayne read for us here. Verse 19 addresses our relationship to the law and to God. Our relationship to the law and to God. And verse 21 speaks of the exclusivity of the principle of law and the principle of grace.

Now let me explain something. A principle isn't this guy that heads the school and the kids get sent to the principal's office. No, that's not that one. This is the other principle. This one here This word principle means either the way things work or a fundamental truth or both.

So that's how we're using this. The way things work under law is what we're talking about and the way things work under grace and they are not at all the same. For both our initial salvation and for all of the living afterwards. So we will look at verse 19 and 21 because of what it says about the law and our relationship to the Lord. So we'll look at the first verse and the last verse there.

Now, observation about Galatians and Romans. This is an important one. Galatians often expresses briefly, and sometimes the opposite is true, but often expresses briefly the same truths that Romans both explains and repeats. Romans will often, not always, give more explanation on the same topic than Galatians. There are a few exceptions to that. Died to the law is in Galatians 2.19a. This is the first part of that verse that we just started taking a look at today.

And explain more fully for us in Romans 7.1-6. So you have six verses explaining that died to the law set of words. To live to God is in Galatians 2.19b. Just a few words there. but is both repeated and explained in Romans 6, 8-13. So what we have there essentially is inspired commentary. We have inspired commentary to make sure that we fully understand what is being written. And that happens throughout scripture, where we have an inspired commentary on what is given briefly in another part.

Galatians 2.20a says that we were crucified with Christ, but Romans 6.3-13 repeat that truth and explain it. So that's another instance of inspired commentary. So that's why last week we had these passages were included in the handout.

And Galatians 2.19, for through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. Looking at that one, what can Paul mean by through the law I died to the law? Hmm, through the law. How do we figure that one out? Well, let's take a look. First, the law has no power to convey life. We talk about the law. It doesn't matter whether we're talking about the law of Moses, some part of it.

People like to harp on the Ten Commandments, except they kind of like to push the one about the Sabbath away because they can't quite figure that one out. And then they like to add to it. You've got to have the Ten Commandments minus the Sabbath plus the tithe. People like to do that.

In fact, any principle of law is the same thing applies. But the law has no power, none, no power to convey life. It does, however, have the power of condemnation and to sentence me to death. 2 Corinthians 3, verses 7 and 8, that we looked at not too long ago, spells out exactly that.

The law does not convey life. The law does not empower you to live. It's like the song, it goes, do this and live, the law commands, but gives me neither feet nor hands. That's the problem with the law. The law gives requirements, it gives no empowerment to do it. It's there ready to sentence you, but not anything else.

So, secondly, the condemnation and the sentence of death handed down by the law actually did take place already. Already. It already happened. Paul started the very next verse off with, I have been crucified with Christ. You've already been crucified and condemned. It's already happened. If you're a believer, that's happened to you already. You've already died the death that the law can give. So the death sentence has already been carried out.

I died and you died. If you're a believer here today, you died too. You died with Christ. So, now if that was all there was to it, we could say, if we were alive to say it, was that the requirements of the law have been met. The law sentences you to death. You died. The requirements of the law have been met. It's all done. You're finished. But we were justly condemned, sentenced to death exactly as we deserved, and that's that. It's all over. You died. I died. It's all done.

But that's not all there is to it, right? That's not the end of the story, right? I didn't just die with Christ and that's the end of it. That isn't where it stops. My joint history with Christ doesn't end there, does it? Doesn't end there. I died to the law means that I died in relationship to the law. I died in relationship to the law.

One of the things that Christians need to get fixed in their thinking is that they have a new history in Christ. Oftentimes when you ask people, well, tell me your life story, they'll go, OK, I was born here and I was raised this way and we did this and we did that and we didn't do this and we didn't do that.

And you get all that story. But if you're a believer, you have a new history, a new spiritual history. It replaces the old history. And as a matter of fact, we'll spend the rest of our lives growing into that new history. The new history has already happened, but we've got to catch up to it, right? That's what spiritual growth is, catching up to the new history that you already have.

Now, a key point here, when the Bible talks about dead, unless it's talking about somebody like Lazarus died, a physical death, Dead means separation. Here is Ephesians 2.12, but you were at that time, speaking before they were believers, as unbelievers, you were at that time separate from Christ, being aliens, without God in the world.

Ephesians 4.18, excluded from the life of God. Excluded from the life of God.

Colossians 1.21, you were formerly alienated. All these ideas convey death as separation. Separation is the real problem. We are separated from God. But death as separation is a key principle.

Death as separation is also taught in Romans 6, 1-11. Romans 7, 1-6. And notice that it's a dead to, alive to principle here. Romans 6, 1-11. Dead to sin, alive to Christ. Romans 7, 1-6. Death releases from marriage, it separates the two, right? Died to the law, joined to Christ is taught in that passage. So it's died in relationship to the law, died in relationship, excuse me, joined in relationship to Christ. Dead to ourselves, alive to Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, 14, and 15. Dead in relationship to ourselves, alive in relationship to Christ.

Galatians 2.19 and 20, the passage we're looking at here, died to the law to live to God, dead to ourselves, alive to Christ.

And then we see in Colossians 2.20, died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world.

Colossians 3.5 and 20, died in relationship to sin, died with Christ to the world. So death is separation and death As separation impacts relationships, I died in relationship to the law, is the teaching here in this passage. It does not mean the law died. That is, it doesn't make the law go away, does it? There is a separation that comes from death. That's the point that he makes consistently.

Even Peter wrote about it, 1 Peter 2.24, and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross. Substitution, right? This is the gospel of substitution. He bore our sins in his body on the cross. Then this is identification so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. So here he's got in this both the gospel of substitution and identification truth in the same verse.

Spiritual death in Scripture is about separation of relationship, very important, but not about termination, cessation, or annihilation. When we die to sin, it doesn't make the sin nature go away. Spiritual life in Scripture is about the establishment of relationship with Christ as the source of life. Death is separation, life is being joined to the Living One, Christ. That's where life comes from. We have it here as a timeline. It's on page 2 of your handout as well.

So Galatians 2.19 puts it this way.

The unbeliever is joined to the law. That's where the unbeliever is stuck with. Why? The law sits there and condemns and condemns and condemns and condemns and condemns and they're stuck with it. They're stuck with it. And that's why Jesus and John 8 warned the Jewish leaders. If you don't believe, you're going to die in your sins. They're joined to the law and the law can do nothing but condemn. It does not impart life at all.

The unbeliever, however, is separated from Christ. Once a person believes by faith, the believer is joined to Christ and separated from the law. The believer is separated from the law by that death. I was crucified with Christ. That separated me from the law that previously stood there to condemn me.

The law condemns. The law does not give life. Sometimes you will hear people say, and I've even heard Christian authors write it, the law is your life wrong answer wrong answer the law can only kill you it is a ministry of condemnation it does not impart life and it does not impart empowerment to live it out so the believer is joined to Christ where previously was joined to the law and the believer is separated from the law the law has no call on him anymore. Why? Because he's died already. You died with Christ. You were separated from the law.

No amount of law. None. Zip. Nada. Not 1, not 10, not 9, not 11. None. Zip. Okay? The law no longer can hand out any further condemnation against me because why? I'm dead! I died. Okay? The law can't hand out any more death sentences against me because I'm dead! I'm done with the law and the law is done with me. I already died with Christ.

Now, we're still not done with what Paul had to say. We're not through. Because we just dealt with the first part of that verse. There are a couple of critical words here to tell us that this story is not even close, not even remotely close to being finished. Paul's not done, and neither was God, and neither are we. We're not done here. Let's look at the rest of the story here.

It says that I also rose from the dead with Christ when He rose from the dead. Why? Because that I might live to God. That's implied in this passage here. Now this is getting interesting, especially since I find out that I'm actually alive so that I can follow through with this. Now, that death that I went through with Christ means I died in relationship to the law, but the intended outcome was so that I could be alive in relationship to God. Alive in relationship to God.

Now there's a couple of words we need to talk about. We can have a relationship that is fixed and unchanging. And then there is fellowship, which can vary moment by moment. The relationship that we have with God doesn't change. Doesn't change. If you're in Christ, once you're in Christ, you're always in Christ. Once Christ is in you, He is always in you. He doesn't come and go. The Holy Spirit is in you. He doesn't come and go. And you're also, as we saw in Romans chapter 8, you're also in the Spirit. Positionally, you're in the Spirit. There is no coming and going. There is no pleading necessary to have the Holy Spirit come back. He doesn't leak out.

So a relationship, that's permanent. The fellowship is what we're called to based on the relationship. And the fellowship is something that God's always there ready to have fellowship with us. It's just a question of whether we will have fellowship with Him based on the relationship. The relationship does not change.

Okay. That I might live to God. That's the key part. Why did you die to the law? God thinks, I don't like the law so much anymore. Is that why? No, it's because you need to get the law out of the way so that you could be alive to God. Alive to God. And all this was done entirely by grace. That I might live in relationship to God. That's Paul's point here. So what does this part of verse 19 mean here?

Romans 6.4, here's our inspired commentary, that I might walk, that's one step at a time, living life, one step at a time, that I might walk in newness of life, and that means a new kind of life. You're not going to say, you know, now that I'm a Christian, I'm going to try really hard to live like a Christian. Wrong answer. That we might walk in newness of life, His life. live in relationship to God by His life living through us.

Romans 6.8, live with Him. Live with Him. We have a relationship.

This is the fellowship question. This is the fellowship question. The profound truth is not just that I have come out of my death with Christ alive again, but that everything about my new kind of life is centered on relationship to, get the meaning of that word, and fellowship with God. Relationship to, which doesn't change, once you're a believer, and fellowship with God, which is something we're called to moment by moment. That's what this is all about.

God wanted to get the law out of the way, out of the way, so that we could live to Him. We could live in relationship with him. That's what his intent was. That's why he would put the law out of the way. The law was a hindrance. It had me looking at me all the time. It had me trying harder.

He says, enough of that. I'm going to crucify you and then I'm going to put Christ in you. Once you're raised with him, I'm going to put Christ in you and his life will do the living. His life will do the living and I want you to be alive to me. That's exactly what he wanted. That's exactly why he sent Christ for us.

Ephesians 2.4 puts it this way, But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, not wimpy skimpy love, not just barely enough, great love with which he loved us, Even when we were dead in our transgressions, God didn't say, you know, here's a group of really nice people. I mean, they're really good-hearted folk. I'll help them.

No. He didn't do that. When we were dead in our transgressions, when we were worthless, He made us alive together with Christ, and all we did was believe. That's it. By grace you've been saved. You didn't earn it. It's not because we were good people. It's not because we did anything to deserve it. It's not that we can do anything to deserve it. It's all by grace, period.

Ephesians 2, 6, And raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches, that's overthrown riches, way over the top riches of his grace, in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

By the way, this is a portion of one wall of gold bricks at Fort Knox. That's to get across the idea of riches of His grace. God's riches are phenomenal. God's riches are amazing. God's grace is so spectacular in ages to come. I mean ages and ages and ages, rolling ages. He's going to show, that word means to demonstrate visibly, okay, the surpassing riches of His grace. in ages and ages to come. God's grace is so awesome, so awesome that we sang the song here when we've been there 10,000 years, a whole lot longer than that.

God's still going to be showing us His grace and we're going to go, wow! 100,000 years from now, we'll still be going, wow! We talk about grace around here a lot at Holly Hills. We're just barely scratching the surface. We're talking about over-the-top riches. Extreme wealth of grace. God's not got wimpy skimpy grace. None of that.

Galatians 2.21. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. Oh, wow, that's intense. Okay, the Greek word to translate here is nullify. The King James, I think, has frustrate, is one that is used in other passages for rejecting the law. Rejecting the law.

Mark 7, 9 in Hebrews 10, 28 are a couple examples of that. So I do not reject the grace of God. Paul turns that use around there of rejecting the law, completely using that word to deny that he is rejecting God's grace. I'm not rejecting God's grace, he says. You see, here's one of the things people don't get.

The law is already gracious. The law of Moses is already gracious. As a matter of fact, Exodus 22, 27, and 34, 6 already says that in the middle of the law that God is gracious. So the law is already gracious. We're not to get some other new combination of law and grace. No. God did not have that in mind. Not some combination of law and grace. No. So now, I do not nullify, reject the grace of God.

This word grace is a word that was used in the pagan culture, so it wasn't one that the Christians just invented, but it was used for a couple of different purposes. One, it was used as a greeting. You'd just say grace, kind of like hi, howdy. And so grace, that was one way it was used. It was also used with the idea of doing a favor for a friend or a relative with no expectation of any compensation or favor back. That was grace. And so grace had this little tiny definition.

Here's something that you aren't expecting anything back, but in fact, the friend or relative you did the favor for could pay you back. and you would do it for a friend or relative, certainly not an enemy. The authors of the New Testament, Paul included, stretched that definition by saying that God did and does us favors with no expectation or even a possibility of a return.

Are you going to pay God back? No! Not a chance! How would you like if this last Christmas everybody exchanged presents and then sent invoices along with the presents? Hey, here's a present. Pay me back. That just doesn't sound right, does it? God does a favor that we cannot possibly return. There is no way we can even begin to even think about paying God back. And He doesn't want us to. He doesn't want us to think about paying Him back. while we were enemies while we were dead in our transgressions we were separated from him because of our sins separated from him because of our sins while we were enemies god did this so if righteousness comes through the law so does righteousness come through the law?

Had 10 come in? Maybe I can keep the 10, right? I'll keep the 10 and that'll do, most of the time. Most of the time. Paul is going to answer that question here by telling us the simple and absurd and devastating conclusion, if. If righteousness does come to our efforts to carry out the law. He uses simple logic here. So here's some truths around the bend in Galatians. We won't be going into them directly, but we're going to draw from them just to make our point.

Galatians 3.11. Remember, we're looking at chapter 2.

Here's Galatians 3.11.

Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident. No one is justified by the law before God. Who? How many? No one. Nobody. Nobody. Zip. It's like nailing jello to the wall. It's just not going to happen. It's like getting blood out of a turnip. Not going to happen. No one is justified by the law before God. At all. Nobody.

So now, the number of laws which are able to impart life. We want to ask that question. Now just think about that, contemplate that, and we'll get back to it. The number of laws which are able to impart life. Let's look at Galatians 3.21, just about 10 verses down. For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then... How many laws? If a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. The law is your life, not in your life.

The logical conclusions from Galatians 3.21 is this. No single law has been given which is able to impart life. None, zilch, nada, whatever other way you want to say it, not happened. So the number of laws which are able to impart life? Goose egg. Zero. Nothing. Not happening. Zero laws impart life. But there are plenty of them that will kill you.

Here's Philippians 3, 7-10. But whatever things were gained for me, Paul writes to the Philippians, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, by the way, these are counting terms. that he's using here. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

I write it off. I used to be an accounting manager almost 20 years ago at the engineering firm I was at. And there was certainly not, we got to write it off. He says, all the things that I used to consider of such great value, I just write it off. for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish.

And actually that word could be translated more intensely, but you get the idea. Count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law. Are you going to have any righteousness of your own derived from the law? No, not if you have all 613 laws of the Law of Moses. Not 10, not 1. No righteousness is going to come from the Law. Not at all. Period. No righteousness, no life, no empowerment. The Law is not going to do nothing. All it will do is fall on you. Imagine these big giant stone tablets and all they're going to do is smash you.

So the last part of Galatians 2.21, I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly.

Wow! Here is Christ, and he deliberately goes through this judgment with the Jewish leaders, and Judgement or Pontius Pilate, and deliberately lays his hands out, and let's do this. Let's do this. He wasn't struggling, saying, No! This is unfair! You guys got the wrong guy! You can't do this! This is wrong! He didn't say any of that stuff, right? If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

When we study through scripture, we often go through it one piece at a time, and we even have chapter breaks and things of that sort. Sometimes those are actually a disservice. And in this case, I have to say it's like that. Let's see what stands out if we drop the chapter break for a moment and look at it here. And you have this slide on page four of your handout.

A cluster of words in Galatians 2.21 through 3.4.

Christ died needlessly. Notice also the pattern of two times foolish, bewitched, and finally twice in verse 4, 3.4, in vain and vain. Do you see the consistency of those words there? Needlessly, foolish, foolish, in vain, in vain, bewitched. Repeatedly, this is absurdity. This is absurdity. This is a cluster of similar extreme words, all in a similar direction. So, let's ask this question.

When Christ said, it is finished, was it finished, or was it that this was just a stupid thing to do? When Christ died for our sins once for all, and we died with Him, did Christ die for nothing at all? That's the absurdity that the Apostle Paul is trying to bring across here.

We've shown before that the Law of Moses made reference to the graciousness of God, there in those passages in Exodus, made reference to the graciousness of God, and indeed include the grace of God in some aspects. The grace of God is shown in some aspects of the Law.

But, We in the church, in Christ, and of the body of Christ, we are entirely and totally and completely under the principle, that's the operating system, of grace. Entirely under the principle of grace. As believers, we breathe in an atmosphere of 100% grace. We breathe in an atmosphere of 100% grace. It's not some mixture. 100% grace. All grace, all the time, forever. All grace, all the time, forever.

What's he going to be showing us, Ephesians 2, 7, and the rolling ages to come? More law? Eh, eh. Okay, not happening. He's going to be showing us in the rolling ages to come, Ephesians 2, 7, the surpassing riches of his awesome total Full-on, full-out, pedal-to-the-metal grace. The principle of grace includes no amount of law at all, none, zip. We don't need one. All it takes is one to mess it up. So the Apostle Paul writes to the Galatians and he says, if you so much as get circumcised in order to comply with the law, then you've fallen from grace. And you don't want to fall from grace. That's a long fall. God's intent for us is all grace, all the time, each one of us for all time and beyond time. All grace, all the time. All grace when there is no time. All grace when time is no more. Grace, grace, grace and nothing else. Pure grace. Here's Galatians 2 19 and 21 expanded and explained here.

For by means of the ability of the law to condemn and sentence me to death, I died in relationship to the law so that I was eternally separated from it. They were not going to slip back under law. No. But this death with Christ and my subsequent resurrection with him also had its eternal purpose in order that I would live in relationship to God forever. That's why I did this. That's why I did this. In saying these things, verse 21, in saying these things, I do not reject the grace which is an essential part of God's own infinite and eternal character, because if being declared righteous by God comes by means of the law, then I must conclude, and this is just absurd, that Christ died for absolutely nothing.

Wow. Let's pray. Lord, your grace is awesome. And you did radical things with us, to us, us with your son. You did radical things in order that we would be dead in relationship to the law. Every single one, even any principle of law that anyone might cook up, completely and entirely, died to the law so that we'd be completely and entirely alive to you. That's a wonderful and awesome thing. We thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.