Galatians 2:15-16 We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ Jesus and not be observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

Truthfully, I am sometimes stunned by what is seen in the religious world. I am particularly stunned when I observe or hear about the religious practices of other religions, things that are considered "holy and good" and I can't for the life of me determine why. Let me share with you what I mean.
Take for instance the practice of one group. They believe that the clothes you wear have a religious impact. They make rules about women not wearing pants and other such things. Mind you, I am not opposed to dressing modestly, I think we should strive for that, but to make rules about it and declare what you wear to be "sin" is a bit silly. The one that I find most interesting is the group that opposes zippers. Yes, you heard me right, there is a religious group out there that doesn't allow the use of the zipper on any clothing. I don't know if that group will actually say that you will go to hell if you have a zipper but you will be excommunicated from their group if you continually wear zippers. Doesn't that just stun you?
Or take another group out there in the world. The group says you can't own a dog. The group has determined that dogs are "unclean" and to own one or to be in the presence of one is considered to be sinful. Why the dog over and against any other "pet" I don't know! It's one of those "laws" that religions come up with.
Or take one that I recently heard of. It was on one of those TV programs that speak of cities under cities. It spoke of a "cult of the dead" that existed and evidently is still going on in one city. People go into the ancient graveyards under this city and set up the bones of the dead and from what the program said they treat these bones like pets. They visit every day, discuss their problems with the bones, pray to them and other such things. What really struck me was that it was pointed out that in the shrines you never have two skulls facing each other, because if you do they will gossip about you and things will go bad for you. You see, I can understand how people could come to believe in ancestor worship or bone veneration but to go as far as to not have the skulls face each other lest they gossip, that's a rule that stuns me on top of being stunned that people still do this.
There are lots of "works" out there, lots of things that people declare will make or help you become holy. Such ideas are to be foreign to the Christian church! No where in Scripture is this fact clearer than in the book of Galatians. Let's then consider our text under the theme: NOT BY WORKS. 1st. Work hypocrisy. 2nd. Justified.
Again I will ask you to recall the history of the book of Galatians. This book was written because false teachers had come into the churches of Galatia and were leading them astray from the wonder of salvation by grace through faith. These false teachers had come in and were destroying the faith by the preaching of work righteousness. Yes, they taught Jesus, but they taught that unless you obeyed this and did that then Jesus was of no account. Paul calls this work righteous preaching, "Really no gospel at all."
Now one of the things that the false teachers did was come in and tell people that Paul was a "nobody" in the faith. They spoke of the fact that Paul in the days of Jesus wasn't a disciple who followed Jesus and that Paul thus wasn't truly an Apostle. The way that Paul countered this argument was to speak of his conversion and how he was regarded and accepted by the Apostles of Jesus as an Apostle himself. One of the things that had happened that everyone knew about (or could verify by those who were a part of it) was when Paul had to publicly rebuke Peter for hypocritical practice that undermined the truth of Jesus.
That history is reviewed for us here. Paul was being visited by Peter in Antioch, no doubt working together to preach and teach to the congregation there. Peter was doing fine until some of the Judaizers appeared. We are even told that these Judaizers had come from James, who many think was the head of the church in Jerusalem. With the appearance of these men, Peter changed his behavior and discredited the gospel.
What happened is that before the men came Peter freely and openly ate and socialized with the Gentiles. Yet when the Judaizers came, those who preached the necessity of obeying the law, including the Jewish laws of not eating and socializing with Gentiles, Peter withdrew. Peter surrendered his freedom in Christ for the works of the law. Peter acted like obeying the law was more important than Jesus. And this from a man who had himself been given a direct vision from Jesus telling him that the law was no longer in effect. It was a terrible mistake on Peter's part and Paul felt the need to correct it.
The reason for the need was that souls were at stake. If the law and obeying the law was the point of faith then what is the point of Jesus? So Paul publicly and clearly rebukes Peter, Barnabas and the other Jewish leaders for their hypocrisy. That's the word found in the text, "hypocrisy." False believing. Peter and the others were guilty of being false believers, of not standing for the truth and upholding the grace of Jesus.
Paul says, "When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, 'You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?"
Let's just quickly grasp what is said here. First, please notice that if you are a leader such as Paul and you see wrong being done it is your duty and privilege to point that wrong out and see to it that it is corrected. It is a difficult task to carry out but clearly, for the sake of souls, it is a task that is to be done. It is something called "apologetics" being able to defend and stand up for the truth of God's Word.
Now notice what Paul is chastising Peter for. He is correcting Peter because of "Jewish customs." It is a reference to those laws of the Old Testament that particularly pertained to the Jewish nation, that is, the civil and ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. It is those laws that spoke of meat eating, hand washing, not sharing a table with Gentiles, circumcision and the like. Those laws had a place and a point until Jesus came. Once Jesus came those laws were ended and no longer served their purpose. Their purpose was to point out sin and not confuse the faith God had given, the faith that was to be in the Savior to come. It is these laws that Paul calls "Jewish customs." No doubt called that because the Jewish people had changed the intent of God's law from pointing out sin to declaring it the very means of being saved.
Paul goes on, "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified."
Here is the heart and core of our faith. We are justified by faith. To be justified means to be "declared innocent of any charges brought." We are justified not by the law, but by faith in Jesus. We are justified because of what Jesus did and not because of what we can do.
That was the whole point of Jesus coming into this world. He came to live the perfect life we could not. He came to fulfill the Father's just demands of perfection and then in a stunning show of love Jesus offered himself to his Father as the atoning sacrifice for sin. Jesus willingly took the righteous wrath and anger of the Father against sin, our sins, upon himself. He suffered our hell, that means he took our punishment, our eternal punishment on himself just for us. Once Jesus had paid for sin, He then determined that everyone who simply believed in Him would be stamped with the label "innocent" or Biblically speaking "justified." In Jesus our sins are forgiven. In Jesus our debt is paid and we have the full and certain gift of eternal life and salvation.
It is not a matter of obeying the Law, because the law cannot save. By the way, what laws might you come up with in order to declare yourself closer to God? Keep your eyes opened in this world of ours and you will see and hear of the various ways that men have declared that we can earn our way to heaven or what we can do to get ourselves closer to God. Prayer wheels, notes in walls, living in monasteries, dietary laws...the list is endless. What does God's Word declare? "By observing the law no one will be justified."
We are justified by faith in Jesus. We are declared innocent of sin because we put our trust, our hope, our all in Jesus. Jesus said he paid for our sin, we believe. Jesus said heaven is our eternal home because he won the victory, we believe. Jesus said he defeated Satan and death, we believe. That is the message of the Bible! Justified by faith in Christ!
Not just so you are not confused please note what Paul says in verse 17ff. "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing."
That whole section is given because there will be those out there who want to declare everything and anything "okay." That's not true. The law still serves its purpose. It still points out sin. Just because we have sin and do sin, even though we are Christians doesn't mean that God promotes sin. God wants you to avoid sin because the Spirit of Jesus lives in you. It is not because you can earn heaven but rather because Jesus won heaven for you. It is simply the action of a grateful heart that knows the love of Jesus and in Jesus has the attitude to hate sin. Paul was well aware that people would use the name of Jesus to promote sin. When you find yourself justifying your sin in Jesus then know that this section of God's Word is for you. You are really living by the law and not by faith in Jesus. That's the issue of hypocrisy Paul rebuked Peter for.
Dear people, we have this marvelous message of salvation because of Jesus. It is a unique message that says that God has done it all for you. Hear and believe! Amen.