How many of you like, when I mean like, I mean actually enjoy having a good argument with somebody. I've shocked, and a little bit frightened, and now I understand all the letters, I guess. Most people don't like to have arguments, but most people like to listen to arguments, don't they? I'm afraid to ask that one too. In other words, arguments are a very interesting thing because you don't really like to have them. Not if there's like conflict, but if it's the right kind of argument, it's always interesting to watch, isn't it? Or to listen to, for example, if you're at a baseball game, who doesn't love when the manager runs out and starts kicking dirt on the Empire Shoes and arguing with them? That makes the game, at least for me it does. Or when you hear the neighbors squabbling, your wife comes in, it comes home and catches you with your ear up against the wall. You're interested, the arguments that tend to interest us the most, however, are arguments that have to do with us. If you're a kid, for example, and you're here, you probably heard your parents argue, my children never have, of course. So you can tell them what that's like eventually, but if you heard your parents argue, and generally speaking you exhale, there's mom and dad, they love each other, they'll get through it. But when it becomes of interest to you, is when they're arguing about you, or when something that you want is actually an issue, like say you ask the bar of the car to go on a long trip, and your father thinks it's okay, and your mother thinks it's wrong. And you listen and have to do with you. When you read the New Testament, because the letters are really at some level, are arguments that he's having with people at the location, the recipients of the letter, or someone else. And he'll say something and then he'll anticipate an objection, and then he'll answer their argument. And the reason that we ought to be very intensely listening to all of them is because they all have to do with us. And in particular, the passage I read to you this morning. In fact, the passage I read to you this morning is one of those kind of things. I don't get nervous preaching very often, but when Luther and Calvin and these guys say that this is the most important passage in the whole New Testament, it sort of makes you pause for a minute. And yet it is an extremely important passage because of the argument that Paul anticipates and the argument that Paul answers. We're going to look at three things this morning, if you're taking notes. The first thing we're going to look at an argument, that's number one. The second thing we're going to look at is an obituary, and the third thing we're going to look at is a bottom line. So we're going to look at an argument, an obituary, and a bottom line. Before you can understand the argument that Paul is actually addressing here, you've got to really have some context of the whole book of Galatians. Remember I've told you before the purpose of the book of Galatians is for Paul to really make one big point. And the point is that Jesus plus anything equals nothing, period. In other words, he had planted this church in Galatia and he had preached the gospel to them. And the gospel that he preached to them was justification by faith alone. In other words, the way that you are made right with God is through the work of Jesus and nothing else, period. And some other teachers had apparently come into town and said, you know, trusting in Jesus is good, but you not only need to trust in Jesus, but you also need to be circumcised. You also need to obey the Old Testament law and Paul is addressing that. And of course they came and said that you need to add things to the gospel. And Paul says, no, there only is one gospel and the one gospel is the thing that I preached. And he says, and if I or an angel from heaven or anyone else comes to you and says something other than what I preached to you in the beginning, there to be a cursed. In fact, there to be a nathema which means to be cursed of God and cast out. He said, that's how important the one gospel is. And then of course people would come back and say, well, Paul, who do you think you are because you're not even a real apostle? You know, the real apostles were the 12 guides that walked around with Jesus. And you're sort of a journey come lately and Paul makes the case that, no, in fact I am a real apostle. Not only am I a real apostle, but all the rest of the apostles affirmed my apostleship. And in fact, you know the guy who you think is the chief apostle, Peter, I had to take him down one time. And not only did I take him down, but I had to take him down publicly. That's what we looked at a few weeks ago before I stopped to do the stewardship series. Remember Peter had been, he believed the same thing that Paul believed we learned earlier. But then when he went to Antioch, he was eating with Gentiles, which was in violation of some Jewish dietary laws. And then when some Jewish folks came along, Peter backed off. And functionally made the point by his actions that somehow the law is important. That somehow the law is a determinative of our fellowship and our relationship with Jesus and Paul says no way. In fact, Paul reminds Peter of what it means to be justified by faith alone. And what it is he had believed, and that's verse 16, which is before our passage, let me read that. Paul said, we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. Because by works of the law, no one will be justified. So in other words, Paul says, is there any question? Will anyone be justified by works of the law by being circumcised? Absolutely not. How are we justified? We're justified by faith alone. In other words, what that means is that you believe that Jesus worked and his death on the cross applies to you personally. At the cross, what happened was God poured all of his wrath onto your sin in the person of Jesus. And he declares all of Jesus' righteousness to be yours. In other words, you're counted right with God because of the person and work of Jesus. And Paul says nothing else in the world can make you right with God than the person and work of Jesus. And now is where the argument comes in because Paul anticipates what people are going to say about that. And what he's going to anticipate that people say about that is verse 17. Verse 17, it says, but if on our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too are found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin. In other words, what would Paul say in there? A simpler way, maybe to say that, is to communicate the concern that maybe the Judaizers would say Paul, if your doctrine of justification by faith alone is true, then that's just going to lead people to sin. Because what you're saying, Paul, is that works of the law have no part in our salvation, at least in making us right with God. And if you say that to people, they're going to think they can do anything. And if you think that's an old argument, I hear it all the time still. In fact, I don't hear it enough. And what I mean by that is, you know, I've told the first service, Martin Lloyd Jones said in the last century, he said that the gospel is so free and grace is so free that if you are preaching it correctly, some people will come to you and complain that you're making it too free. It can't be that easy. And people haven't complained about that lately, so I guess I need to maybe emphasize it more that it is not works of the law. And so what's the argument? People come and say, you know, if Tom, if what you're saying is true, if grace is true, then people are just going to walk around saying, you know, it doesn't matter what I do then I can do anything I want because I'm already forgiven. In other words, it's not going to change their life. It's just going to lead people to sin because then they can do anything and not have to worry about consequences because they know that Jesus has covered their sin. That's the argument, basically. And what's Paul's first response to that argument? No. Actually, it's a very strong, they ask me not to use the same word again so I won't. He says, heck no, but it's stronger than that. Paul uses flowery language all the time, by the way. You should get used to it. He really does when he wants to make a point. And this is one of those times where he basically says, is Christ an agent of sin? Paul says certainly not. If you come and say, if grace is true, then people can do anything they want. Paul is going to say, then you really, what at the end of the day, you don't understand the gospel. You don't understand the nature of it. That's the argument. And what, in fact, what Paul does is they, people would make this argument that if you preach this, Paul, then now Christ is going to be an agent of sin because people do whatever they want. Paul, the very next verse in verse 18, he counters with an argument. And he said, no, let me tell you who the true sinner is. Let me tell you what the bigger problem is in church. The bigger problem in church isn't people understanding grace and then going off and doing what they want. In my experience, that's true. It really isn't. The bigger problem in church is what Paul says in verse 18. Look at what he says in verse 18. He says, if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. What is he talking about here? What he's saying is that in Jesus, the works of the law have been torn down. That the law is a good thing. He's going to say that over and over and over as he goes through this book. But as far as being able to save you, the law can't do that. The law is completely and utterly powerless to save you, to love you, to hold you to do anything except condemn you. And Paul says, if I start rebuilding what has been torn down, then I am a transgressor. In other words, the biggest problem that we have is not understanding grace. And going out and being lascivious, the biggest problem we have is not really understanding grace and starting to rebuild the wall. It's as if Jesus comes, we're going to sing a hymn later on, and can it be? And I love the lines as my chains fell off and I rose and followed him. What Paul is saying here, a bigger sin than the potential freedom that people might have is for Jesus to come and to break you free from those chains and you say, you know what, I would rather wear them myself. It's for you to put those chains back on. In any time you rely on the works of the law to gain favor with God, you are rebuilding what was torn down. And all of us do it. You have to think through these things in your own life. What are the things that I think that if I do, God is going to love me more because all of those things, interestingly enough in the irony, in the backward nature of the gospel, you can actually become a bigger sinner by being obedient. If your obedience is based in the fact that you think God is going to save you because of your obedience, in other words, if you think that your salvation is based upon your obedience and not the work of Christ, that is actually a bigger sin than not being obedient. That's pretty wild, is it not? How can that be? Paul changes gears a little bit. He basically says, if I tear down, if I rebuild what was torn down, I make myself a transgressor. But then Paul basically turns a corner and he makes the case for how the question that they ask in the first place isn't really valid if you understand the gospel. In other words, the question of, if grace is true and Jesus has saved me, does nothing matter, Paul answers that. After he points out that rebuilding this wall is a bigger sin, how does he answer the question of does, does anything matter after you're saved? He answers it by telling us his obituary and he doesn't not only tells his own obituary, he tells us our obituary as well. What's Paul's obituary? What is he right here? Look at the next verse in 19. Paul says, for through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. To have that be written by a former Pharisee, by someone who would have memorized the law, by someone who was ahead of the class in the law, for someone whose life was the law, who lived for the law, whose life was defined by the law, to say the only way I could live to God was to die to the law. That's unbelievable. I mean, it really is. Think of the change that has been wrought in someone. Everything in Paul's life was about the law and he said, I had to die to the law in order to live to God. Why is that in the case? Why was it necessary for Paul to die to the law in order to live to God? And the answer is pretty simple, if you think about it. Imagine that God is at your point A and God is at point B and God wants to be in relationship with you. And it's all about your obedience to the law. Will you ever make it from point A to point B? You never will, or you're trying to pursue God, you're trying to be in relationship with Him, but you always, unless the law is killed, you're always looking over your shoulder wondering if you were good enough. Wondering if you've made it, and it's not only sins of comission, it's sins of omission, right? A sins of comission is something you proactively do. Something that you know, I shouldn't lie and I didn't lie, I must be good to go. But then there's all these sins of omission, right? You don't even know whether you did it or not. You don't know whether you forgot. And so your whole life, if you don't die to the law, your whole life is defined by wondering if, in fact, you've obeyed the law correctly. Paul says the only answer to that is you've got to die to the law because once you are dead, there's no claim upon you. You're just dead. And Paul says something interesting because you expect him to say, through the gospel I died to the law so that I might live to God. Did you notice what Paul said? He said through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. Why does he say through the law and not through the gospel? That Paul is basically saying here that the logical conclusion that the law brings us to is that we have to die to the law because what the law says is among other things. Cursor is everyone who doesn't obey everything written in this book of the law. In other words, we are under curse. We are deserving of death because we have not obeyed the law. And Paul says because of that, I got death. I died to the law through the law so that I might live to God. How does that happen? How do you die to the law? Is that just something Paul decides to do? He's going to gut it out and say, you know what from now on I'm not going to obey the law. I'm not going to care about the law so I can live to God. Absolutely not because the law must be fulfilled. That's the thing. The law is a big thing and the law is an important thing even to the apostle Paul. It's not something to be trifled with or cast aside. So how do you deal with the fact that between you and God is this thing called the law? And that's where Paul goes next in his obituary. Look at verse 20, the first line there. He says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. How does Paul say that he died to the law? Paul says I've been crucified with Christ. In other words what Paul is talking about here is something that theologians call union, the mystical union between believers and Jesus and Paul is saying that I am so identified with Jesus or better Jesus is so identified with me that when Jesus went to the cross it wasn't just sort of an objective thing that he went to the cross and he died and I'll trust him and then my paperwork is good. Paul says that God Jesus so identified with him and Jesus so identified with you and with me that Paul says when Jesus was crucified I have been crucified that the laws righteous demands were met in the person of Jesus but I am in such union with Jesus that I myself have been crucified. That's a mysterious doctrine because on one hand we never feel it we have to accept it by faith and yet it's taught throughout the New Testament and that is our hope of being better people that is our hope of obedience. The fact that we are united with Jesus that's Paul's answer to if grace is true why bother being good. Paul would say if grace is true how could you not be good? Paul says if grace is true and you are truly united to Jesus how could you say nothing matters. In fact if you are truly united to Jesus everything matters now everything and that's what Paul said look at what he says after that he says it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God. Paul's making a transition here by the way he's not only saying that we are saved by justification by faith alone after this week the rest of the book he's going to say not only you saved by faith but we also live by faith. In other words we're not saved by faith and then we got it out Paul is saying that every minute of every day I have to live by faith I've been crucified with Jesus. You see the good news of Paul's obituary is that Paul's obituary is also a birth announcement that to the extent Paul died to himself he is crucified with Christ and yet he is also risen with Christ and he and Jesus are so united that how could I not be better. And if you look through the New Testament you do see images of this it's hard to get at in some ways but you see the image of the body that we are the body and Jesus is the head. We're this building made out of bricks and Jesus is the chief cornerstone we're the bride and Jesus is the husband. And it's even deeper than that it's as if if you've ever read the the arrogant series inheritance. If you're under 15 you probably have right the arrogant dragon rider. And the whole story is about this kid there's a great war going on it's sort of like Lord of the Rings days you know middle earth and they're dragon riders and dragon riders are the ones who come and save the day all the time and the way you become a dragon rider is a dragon chooses you. And this kid who's apparently nobody is chosen and when you are chosen by a dragon in the egg still a mark appears on your the palm of your hand. So you're marked forever but the interesting thing is is that once you become a dragon rider you are united to the dragon that everything the dragon feels you feel everything the dragon thinks you think and vice versa. And that is our hope of growing in Christ. If you ever feel like you're struggling do you ever feel like you're suffering do you ever feel like the times are just dreadful and you don't know what to do. And you wonder where God is if you are Christian Jesus feels every bit of pain that you feel if you're Christian Jesus knows you're despair because you and he are united. It's sort of like a mother and a baby in the womb with an umbilical cord you cannot get much closer than that except to be united to Jesus Paul would say. And the question is are you because Paul also says something interesting here you almost get the sense that Paul like every now and then his letters he gets on these arguments and he's sort of these highfalutin arguments he's making these logical cases and the deeper he gets into it all of a sudden it hits him. It's sort of like when you're a preacher one of the benefits is you get to study and things will hit you in your office that no one sees but all of a sudden you feel closer you know God better notice what Paul says he usually talks in the plural. And he says the last part of verse 20 he says I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Notice what Paul doesn't say there. He doesn't say I live by faith in the Son of God who loved the world and he gave himself for the world. He says that in other places or things like that. He didn't say I live by faith in the Son of God who loved the church and gave himself for the church. He says that in other places but in this particular text Paul says I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me and that is the big question of the Christian faith. That's the question you have to answer. Do you believe that? I mean that some of you have been in church 20 or 30 years and if anyone asks you are you a Christian and I've heard people say this I live by faith in the Son of God who loved my parents and died for my parents. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved my children and gave myself for the children. Nothing bothers me more when I hear people in my own family. People say are you a Christian? They'll say well my brother is a preacher. You're answering the wrong question. And the question is have you been sitting in church for 20, 10, 20, 30 years and you've never really thought that Jesus gave himself for you personally. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Do you believe that? Some of you maybe you've been dragged to church and you've never heard that. I offer it to you now Jesus. Do you believe that Jesus loves you and gave himself for you because it changes everything and it changes you from the inside out? That's the answer to this grace matter. Yes it does. Remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5? He said if anyone is in Christ he doesn't say if anyone trusts Christ then it was in Christ. United to him. What happens? There's new creation. The old has gone and the new has come. That's our hope. Our hope isn't being obedient in order that God might care about us. Our hope isn't trying to keep people in line by making them obey certain laws. Our hope is that Jesus will free the shackles of more and more people and the more he does that the more people are united to him and the more the world changes. And then Paul goes from giving his obituary to given the bottom line and here's the bottom line. Look at verse 21. He says I do not nullify the grace of God for righteousness were through the law. Then Christ died for no purpose. That's big. In fact if you want if you want one verse that explains why Jesus plus anything equals nothing. That's the verse. Verse 21. In other words if you believe that somehow works of the law contribute to your salvation that it is Jesus plus anything Paul says you have done two things. Number one you have nullified the grace of God because the grace of God by definition is unmerited. The definition of grace is unmerited favor and Paul says if there is any merit involved whatsoever then you have undone the grace of God. The second thing that's just as big he says if it's Jesus plus anything then Jesus died for no purpose why would Jesus have to die think about it if your works mattered. If it was your works that saved you why send Jesus to the cross why didn't God just say gut it out and we'll see who pans out at the end. The reason he didn't say that was because of his grace you and I don't have what it takes to gut it out. In effect the more you try and gut it out the more you heap on to your own sin. And by adding works by saying Jesus plus circumcision or Jesus plus anything you nullify the grace of God and you nullify the cross. And Paul says these two things are the only thing that matter. Do you believe that think about that let me pray for us. Father I pray that as we prepare and come to your table this morning that we would be drawn in to this union that this mystery that is on one hand hard to communicate on the other hand is perfectly clear that I have been crucified with Christ. I have been risen with Christ I pray that you work these truths deep into our hearts that we might be a changed people. Christ name we pray these things Amen.