Seeking Something to believe In

                                                                          Sunday School Lesson
                                                                               February 5,2012
Lesson Focus:
We are not saved by doing,
but by believing in Christ.
Lesson Scripture
Galatians 2:15-21

Introduction:

Paul and Peter were Jews by birth,automatically entitled to certain priviledges,unlike the Gentiles who were not given the Law.However,no one,Jew or Gentile,is declared righteous or becomes a Christian by following the Law.One purpose of the Law was to lead people to know they needed a Savior.When Jesus came He showed us a better way.God delares salvation to all who trust in Christ and His finished work on the cross,not depending on their works or obeying rules.Christ is the only one who has kept the law perfectly.No one can stand before God and say"I have done enough to earn your favor".Jesus has to stand with us.We are justified in Christ.In Christ we are totally cleasned and make right with God.Therefore,is a Christian to go around and do as he pleases?No that is foolish behavior,and is not the walk of one born again in the spirit of God.The life we live we now live in Christ,as we are hid with Christ in God.

Not by Works of The Law
Galatians 2:15-16KJV
 ¹⁵We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
   ¹⁶Knowing 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.
Footnotes:

One of the challenges Paul faced in his ministry was communicating unambiguously the relationship between faith and works.Before putting his faith in Jesus,Paul was a Pharisse who took great pride in his ability to keep the requirements of God's laws.And he was well aware of the importance the law had in the lives of the Jewish people.But when he put his faith in Jesus,he learned that salvation was based on faith not on works.When Paul wrote the Galatians,he was reinforcing the message that believers are justified by faith alone and not by their ability to observe God's laws.Paul pointed out that if we could be made righteous any other way,Jesus would not have had to die.Our faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the only way man can be saved.

I Am CrucifiedWith Christ
Galatians2:17-21 KJV
 ¹⁷But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
   ¹⁸For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
   ¹⁹For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
   ²⁰I 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.
   ²¹I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Footnotes:

Paul was not concerned only about those who said that a person had to obey God's laws to be saved.He was also concerned about those who wanted to continue in a legalistic lifestyle even after being saved,since they saw following the law as also essential to salvation.Peter and Barnabas were swayed by pressure from Jewish Christians legalist in Antioch.Paul pointed out,however,that the law as a measure of righteousness died on the cross with Jesus and can no longer be used as a means of determinining if a person is righteous.The only measure God uses now is faith.It's "Christ in us" that saves us.Paul's statement in verse 20 that he has been "crucified with Christ" embodies the change from living by rules to living by faith.Now we can't just say we have faith, our lives must be one of faith,there must be evidence of our faith, for faith without the works of that faith is dead.

If Christ now lives within you there should be some evidence of that new life in Christ.There should be a change in our attitudes and actions.Our lights should so shine before man that they see our good works and glorify God.In Christ we become a new,made another, different from the first,old things have passed away behold all things are become a new.