WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.279 The lesson. We're three weeks into our Freedom 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:06.459 Is Here series. In week one, we talked about 00:00:06.459 --> 00:00:10.480 how Paul, the apostle, is fighting against these 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:13.619 false gospels that are being spread in the church 00:00:13.619 --> 00:00:16.179 in Galatia. And these people are trying to tell 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:18.460 the Christians there that you can do this to 00:00:18.460 --> 00:00:20.920 be saved and you can do this to be saved. And 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:23.620 there's all of these, we call them Jesus plus 00:00:23.620 --> 00:00:27.300 gospels. And Paul says, it's just Jesus. There's 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:29.960 no other gospel. There's nothing else. It's just 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:34.280 Jesus. And then in week two, we saw that Paul's 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:37.979 own story is one that is written by grace. It 00:00:37.979 --> 00:00:41.200 is a transformation that happens from grace alone. 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:46.740 And now this week in Galatians chapter two, Paul 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:49.679 gets right to the heart of the matter because 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:52.399 you have these people wondering, well, if. If 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:55.159 it's not these Jesus plus gospels that save us 00:00:55.159 --> 00:00:57.960 and you keep talking about grace, well, then 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:01.539 what do we do to be justified? What makes us 00:01:01.539 --> 00:01:07.420 right with God? And the truth is, if we get this 00:01:07.420 --> 00:01:10.959 wrong, if we get this question wrong of what 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:14.640 makes us right with God, we don't just end up 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:17.219 with a slightly different version of Christianity. 00:01:18.420 --> 00:01:21.140 We end up with something that doesn't save us. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:25.319 Because salvation is just about being right with 00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:27.840 God. Because to be right with God means that 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:29.659 we have a relationship with God. And if we have 00:01:29.659 --> 00:01:31.620 a relationship with God, we get to live with 00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:33.939 God. And that was God's whole point in the beginning, 00:01:34.019 --> 00:01:38.500 was for us to live with Him. And so how can we 00:01:38.500 --> 00:01:43.420 be right with God? We find our answer in Galatians 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:47.870 chapter 2, verses 15. through 21. And I want 00:01:47.870 --> 00:01:49.450 us to read this whole passage and then we'll 00:01:49.450 --> 00:01:51.790 kind of break it down. But we need to read this 00:01:51.790 --> 00:01:55.090 whole passage to get what Paul is trying to say 00:01:55.090 --> 00:01:58.049 in this letter. So Galatians 2, 15 through 21. 00:01:58.609 --> 00:02:02.250 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile 00:02:02.250 --> 00:02:05.150 sinners. Yet we know that a person is not justified 00:02:05.150 --> 00:02:07.730 by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus 00:02:07.730 --> 00:02:11.050 Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus 00:02:11.050 --> 00:02:14.590 in order to be justified by faith in Christ and 00:02:14.590 --> 00:02:17.069 not by works of the law, because by works of 00:02:17.069 --> 00:02:22.250 the law, no one will be justified. But if in 00:02:22.250 --> 00:02:24.870 our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too 00:02:24.870 --> 00:02:27.550 were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant 00:02:27.550 --> 00:02:32.620 of sin? Certainly not. For if I rebuild what 00:02:32.620 --> 00:02:35.879 I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 00:02:35.900 --> 00:02:38.699 For through the law, I died to the law so that 00:02:38.699 --> 00:02:42.099 I might live to God. I have been crucified with 00:02:42.099 --> 00:02:46.719 Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:50.719 who lives in me. In the life I now live in the 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:53.879 flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:57.659 loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify 00:02:57.659 --> 00:03:01.120 the grace of God. For if righteousness were through 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:07.199 the law, then Christ died for no purpose. So 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:10.180 you got to remember, again, you had people telling 00:03:10.180 --> 00:03:15.319 Christians, you need Jesus plus works. You need 00:03:15.319 --> 00:03:18.020 Jesus plus the law. You need Jesus plus blah, 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:22.120 blah, blah. And Paul says it's not that that 00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:26.879 will save you. It's just Jesus. It's Christ crucified. 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:31.319 And us living in him. You see Paul starts there 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:33.460 in verses 15 through 16 by admitting something. 00:03:33.719 --> 00:03:37.419 He says even though he, Peter and the other apostles 00:03:37.419 --> 00:03:40.379 were born Jews. And they upheld the law. Remember 00:03:40.379 --> 00:03:44.699 Paul was an apostle before. And so he didn't 00:03:44.699 --> 00:03:47.780 just uphold the law. He delighted and was zealous 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:50.979 for the law. And so Paul says we upheld the law. 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:56.919 But not even we could be justified by keeping 00:03:56.919 --> 00:04:02.439 it. Justification or being made right with God. 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:06.319 Justification doesn't come from works of the 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:08.419 law. It doesn't come from anything that you or 00:04:08.419 --> 00:04:11.840 I could do. Paul repeats it three times in one 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:14.159 verse so that we don't miss it. It comes through 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:21.660 faith in Jesus Christ alone. I love that we sang 00:04:21.660 --> 00:04:28.379 in Christ alone. Because it is only Jesus. It's 00:04:28.379 --> 00:04:31.800 just Jesus. And the more I get through this series, 00:04:31.899 --> 00:04:34.319 I'm starting to think that maybe the series title 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:37.459 should have been just Jesus. Because that's the 00:04:37.459 --> 00:04:40.279 theme. It's not these other things. Here's the 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:42.819 deal. No one is going to stand before God one 00:04:42.819 --> 00:04:46.120 day. Whenever we get to judgment, we're not going 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:48.759 to stand before God and say, you know, God, I 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:50.720 don't know if you remember this, but you have 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:54.480 to let me in because I was good enough. I did 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:57.420 everything that you told me to do. Nobody's going 00:04:57.420 --> 00:04:59.620 to stand before God and say, hey, look at this 00:04:59.620 --> 00:05:02.300 document. I kept a record of all the times that 00:05:02.300 --> 00:05:04.800 I did the right thing, or I kept a record of 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:06.639 all the times I gave a certain amount of money 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:08.519 to the church, or I kept a record of all the 00:05:08.519 --> 00:05:10.740 mission trips I went on, or all the Bible studies 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:15.019 I was a part of. We're not going to look at God 00:05:15.019 --> 00:05:17.860 in the end and say, remember all the things that 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:24.439 I did right? The only ones who will stand before 00:05:24.439 --> 00:05:30.550 God As right with God are the ones who Jesus 00:05:30.550 --> 00:05:34.470 looks to on the day of judgment and says, they're 00:05:34.470 --> 00:05:39.509 with me. The ones that we look to Jesus and say, 00:05:39.649 --> 00:05:42.889 I'm with him. You've seen the movies where, you 00:05:42.889 --> 00:05:44.790 know, somebody is trying to get into the club 00:05:44.790 --> 00:05:49.089 and they are exactly on the list. And, you know, 00:05:49.089 --> 00:05:50.649 they're way back in line and the bouncer kind 00:05:50.649 --> 00:05:52.550 of cuts them off. They're like, no, not you. 00:05:53.370 --> 00:05:55.290 But then they look at the famous person that 00:05:55.290 --> 00:05:57.230 they just so happen to see because that happens 00:05:57.230 --> 00:05:59.290 all the time, right? They're like, oh, it's Shaq. 00:05:59.310 --> 00:06:01.850 I'm with him. And then Shaq looks at them like, 00:06:01.970 --> 00:06:05.250 I don't know that guy. And the bouncer throws 00:06:05.250 --> 00:06:08.790 them out to the street. That's what we're going 00:06:08.790 --> 00:06:10.490 to do. I mean, we're going to be like, Jesus, 00:06:10.829 --> 00:06:13.649 we're with him. And he's going to say, yeah, 00:06:13.750 --> 00:06:18.500 they are. They're with me. It's not going to 00:06:18.500 --> 00:06:20.879 be our own accolades and our own accomplishments 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:25.620 and our own good deeds that get us in. It's our 00:06:25.620 --> 00:06:29.040 proximity to the Savior. Let me put it this way. 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:34.000 I want you to imagine you're standing on an old 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:38.920 bathroom scale that's broken. Don't think about 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:42.220 what it might read. You're on a broken scale. 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:45.199 And no matter how many times you step on it, 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:47.180 it always gives you the wrong number. And sometimes 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:49.139 it even gives you a different number because 00:06:49.139 --> 00:06:52.160 it's broken. And you can diet, you can exercise, 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:55.199 you can try harder, you can wear less clothes. 00:06:55.259 --> 00:06:56.660 Or if you're trying to gain weight, you can wear 00:06:56.660 --> 00:06:58.939 more clothes so that you get the number that 00:06:58.939 --> 00:07:01.519 you're looking for. But if the scale is broken, 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:05.959 it is never going to show you the true number. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:10.000 You see, that's what trying to be justified by 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:14.379 the law. Or by our good deeds or by our own goodness 00:07:14.379 --> 00:07:18.459 is like. You can step on the scale a hundred 00:07:18.459 --> 00:07:21.579 times and you can try harder and harder to get 00:07:21.579 --> 00:07:23.800 it to give you the number that you're looking 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:26.980 for. But it'll never give you right standing 00:07:26.980 --> 00:07:31.930 before God. Because the scale is broken. The 00:07:31.930 --> 00:07:34.889 scale of the law, it's not a complete thing. 00:07:35.029 --> 00:07:37.709 It's not the thing that was ultimately going 00:07:37.709 --> 00:07:41.310 to get us to be with God for eternity. That scale 00:07:41.310 --> 00:07:44.870 is broken. The only way we can know the truth 00:07:44.870 --> 00:07:48.170 is if someone else steps in and gives you a better 00:07:48.170 --> 00:07:55.029 measurement. When I was in high school, I was 00:07:55.029 --> 00:07:56.689 on the football team. I won't say I played football 00:07:56.689 --> 00:07:58.110 because I didn't play a lot, but I was on the 00:07:58.110 --> 00:08:00.959 football team. And every spring we did 40 yard 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:03.379 dashes so that we could kind of, you know, gauge 00:08:03.379 --> 00:08:06.040 where we were at speed wise. And then at the 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:07.959 end of the summer, after all the workouts are 00:08:07.959 --> 00:08:10.199 done, we would do 40s again. So we could try 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:12.199 to figure out, you know, improvements and all 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:15.819 that stuff. And so I can remember when we would 00:08:15.819 --> 00:08:19.699 run the 40, we would have like five different 00:08:19.699 --> 00:08:22.829 coaches. lined up. You'd have two or three at 00:08:22.829 --> 00:08:24.730 the starting line and you'd have a few at the 00:08:24.730 --> 00:08:27.870 end so that they could all start their stopwatches 00:08:27.870 --> 00:08:31.709 at the same time. So that when you started moving, 00:08:31.910 --> 00:08:34.149 they pressed start. And when you got across the 00:08:34.149 --> 00:08:37.509 line, they stopped. Now the problem with this 00:08:37.509 --> 00:08:41.769 is some coaches' hand reaction time is a little 00:08:41.769 --> 00:08:45.679 bit slower than others. And so you'd get like 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:49.080 a, you know, if I ran it, it'd be a 4 -5 -6, 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:52.059 a 4 -6 -7, and then all the numbers in between. 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:54.639 And you're like, well, one of these has to be 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:57.460 right, right? And the truth is, probably none 00:08:57.460 --> 00:09:02.299 of them were right. That scale, that way of measurement 00:09:02.299 --> 00:09:07.080 is broken. But now when you get to the NFL, when 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:09.419 those guys line up to run their 40 -yard dash, 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:15.399 they have lasers. that are at the start and are 00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:19.299 at the end. And so the laser picks up on any 00:09:19.299 --> 00:09:21.980 movement. So when they get down in their stance 00:09:21.980 --> 00:09:25.259 and they set their arm back and they go, as soon 00:09:25.259 --> 00:09:27.639 as a part of their body gets across the laser, 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:31.120 it's on. And as soon as the body gets across 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:36.460 that last laser, it stops. Now, which measurement 00:09:36.460 --> 00:09:41.139 do you think is right? The high school coach 00:09:41.139 --> 00:09:44.490 getting paid. part -time pay to coach football 00:09:44.490 --> 00:09:47.190 with his little stopwatch that he got at academy 00:09:47.190 --> 00:09:51.070 or the couple thousand dollar laser technology 00:09:51.070 --> 00:09:55.110 that the nfl combine has probably the lasers 00:09:55.110 --> 00:09:59.129 in fact you have a lot of guys that you know 00:09:59.129 --> 00:10:00.830 when they're in high school they run the 40 and 00:10:00.830 --> 00:10:03.029 it gives them you know the coaches like oh they 00:10:03.029 --> 00:10:05.809 ran a 4 -3 and then in college it's like oh yeah 00:10:05.809 --> 00:10:08.429 they ran a 4 -4 then they get to the nfl it's 00:10:08.429 --> 00:10:12.350 like they ran a 4 -6 There's no way. Well, there 00:10:12.350 --> 00:10:15.370 is a way because their measurement is precise. 00:10:16.149 --> 00:10:20.149 And that's kind of what it's like with this Jesus 00:10:20.149 --> 00:10:24.289 plus gospel mindset and then just Jesus. You 00:10:24.289 --> 00:10:26.750 have all of these things that they can't measure 00:10:26.750 --> 00:10:30.110 correctly because they're not the right measuring 00:10:30.110 --> 00:10:34.429 system. And then you have Jesus who is the right 00:10:34.429 --> 00:10:40.909 scale. He gives the right number. The gospel 00:10:40.909 --> 00:10:43.990 says, stop stepping on this broken scale. Stop 00:10:43.990 --> 00:10:46.889 measuring yourself with self -righteousness. 00:10:46.929 --> 00:10:49.409 Stop measuring yourself with your standards, 00:10:49.549 --> 00:10:52.610 with your traditions, with your intentions, and 00:10:52.610 --> 00:10:57.330 just trust the one who lived the perfectly righteous 00:10:57.330 --> 00:11:04.990 life for you. If you will measure yourself the 00:11:04.990 --> 00:11:08.009 way Jesus... says to measure yourself, and that 00:11:08.009 --> 00:11:10.850 is, do you trust me? Do you follow me or do you 00:11:10.850 --> 00:11:14.590 not? If you'll measure yourself that way, you 00:11:14.590 --> 00:11:17.470 may just feel like you're in good standing with 00:11:17.470 --> 00:11:21.070 God. And that's a good place to be. See, we go 00:11:21.070 --> 00:11:24.590 to verse 20 and Paul says, I have been crucified 00:11:24.590 --> 00:11:28.090 with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but 00:11:28.090 --> 00:11:30.330 Christ who lives in me. See, that's the heart 00:11:30.330 --> 00:11:33.230 of the Christian life. It's when I give my life 00:11:33.230 --> 00:11:36.529 to Christ, my old self dies. The old self that 00:11:36.529 --> 00:11:39.629 I had been trying to measure. The old self is 00:11:39.629 --> 00:11:44.149 gone. My sins, my striving, my failures, my attempts 00:11:44.149 --> 00:11:47.649 at self -justification. All of that is gone. 00:11:47.750 --> 00:11:52.309 It's nailed to the cross. It's thrown in a tomb. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:56.639 And the only thing that rises from the grave 00:11:56.639 --> 00:12:00.500 is a new person. And it's not just a new person. 00:12:00.519 --> 00:12:03.440 It's a person with Christ living in them. That 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.200 means that your identity isn't sinner trying 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:10.960 to get it right. It's not sinner trying to be 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:17.220 right. It's child of God. And dwell with Christ 00:12:17.220 --> 00:12:23.860 living in him. With Christ living in her. See, 00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:27.879 I love that word dwell because to dwell is not 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:30.440 like I'm coming to visit and I'm going to set 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:32.779 up shop in your home for a weekend. It's not 00:12:32.779 --> 00:12:35.980 I'm going to stay here for a temporary time. 00:12:36.259 --> 00:12:39.039 When you say, hey, where is your dwelling place? 00:12:39.139 --> 00:12:44.279 It's where do you live? So our family was in 00:12:44.279 --> 00:12:47.159 a period of transition, right? So when we moved 00:12:47.159 --> 00:12:51.220 here, we were staying at an Airbnb for a couple 00:12:51.220 --> 00:12:56.120 months. But now we're in a place that we are 00:12:56.120 --> 00:13:00.580 going to dwell, that we're going to live. There's 00:13:00.580 --> 00:13:04.539 a big difference. It's temporary residence. And 00:13:04.539 --> 00:13:06.799 Jesus doesn't take up temporary residence in 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:13.299 our lives. He lives in us. That's a really, really 00:13:13.299 --> 00:13:17.559 nice new identity, right? The perfect son of 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:21.759 God. The one who loved us enough to give up a 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:23.840 seat on the throne, to come down here, be spit 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:26.500 on, to be mocked, to be beaten, to be killed 00:13:26.500 --> 00:13:30.419 for our sake. That perfect, loving, grace filled 00:13:30.419 --> 00:13:40.139 God lives in us. So you talk about. Can I get 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:46.019 in? I feel like if my way of getting in is my 00:13:46.019 --> 00:13:49.559 proximity, my relationship to God. Well, if God 00:13:49.559 --> 00:13:52.759 is living in me, there's no way I don't get in. 00:13:53.480 --> 00:13:56.039 There's no way I can't be near God. There's no 00:13:56.039 --> 00:14:02.600 way I can't have access to God. He's in me. See, 00:14:02.759 --> 00:14:06.139 your obedience, it's not a trade for acceptance. 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:10.960 Us living the right kind of life, we should try 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:14.000 to do the right thing. We should try to do. We 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:17.659 should always strive to follow the commands of 00:14:17.659 --> 00:14:22.840 Christ. This is not a let's give up rules type 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:26.259 of thing. But our obedience isn't a trade for 00:14:26.259 --> 00:14:32.879 our acceptance. You look at the Reformation movement 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:35.200 a few weeks ago. I mentioned and quoted Martin 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:36.759 Luther. I think it was last week. Martin Luther 00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:40.480 knew all about obedience to the law. He knew 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:43.200 about structure and religious rules and traditions 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.379 and commands. And so Martin Luther knew what 00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:49.419 he was supposed to do. But Martin Luther, again, 00:14:49.580 --> 00:14:53.759 never felt free. He never felt right with God. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:58.940 And so you get into this Reformation movement 00:14:58.940 --> 00:15:01.559 where people like Martin Luther said, it shouldn't 00:15:01.559 --> 00:15:04.120 be like this. We should feel a little bit more 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:07.019 freedom. We should feel a little bit more grace. 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:10.200 In our life with Christ. And so they start this 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:12.779 movement. Where they move away from this rigidity. 00:15:12.899 --> 00:15:17.759 And all of these laws. That really. They're not 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:20.679 bound in scripture. And they said we're going 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:25.120 to reform. Christianity. And then. You get to 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:28.039 the restoration movement. Where the people that 00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:32.419 founded. That. The church of Christ and the Christian 00:15:32.419 --> 00:15:35.059 church, they said, we want to get back to even 00:15:35.059 --> 00:15:39.820 more just Jesus. We just want Jesus. And so you 00:15:39.820 --> 00:15:42.840 have this thing where everybody is starting to 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:46.279 come back to maybe it's just that we've already 00:15:46.279 --> 00:15:49.879 been accepted by Christ. And we need to live 00:15:49.879 --> 00:15:52.460 like it. See, your obedience isn't a trade for 00:15:52.460 --> 00:15:56.080 acceptance. Your obedience is a response to acceptance. 00:15:56.460 --> 00:16:00.720 We don't serve to earn God's love. We serve because 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:05.179 he's already loved us. We live a life for him 00:16:05.179 --> 00:16:08.200 because he's already loved us. Maybe you have 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:10.700 rescued a stray dog at some point in your life. 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:15.200 And, you know, maybe when you got the stray dog, 00:16:15.299 --> 00:16:19.299 it was a little mean and it smelled and it was 00:16:19.299 --> 00:16:23.200 scared. And so you loved on it, right? And you 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:25.580 gave it a bath and you fed it some good food. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:27.200 It doesn't have to eat out of the dumpster anymore. 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:30.960 You gave it a nice. Cozy bed in your living room 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:36.600 or for some of you people in your bed and you 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:42.799 love this dog and you treat it so well and you 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:47.720 give it a home and you give it a family. And 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:51.399 this dog, for the first time in its life, knows 00:16:51.399 --> 00:16:57.830 what it means to be accepted. That dog. Unless 00:16:57.830 --> 00:16:59.750 it's just got a screw loose, and some of them 00:16:59.750 --> 00:17:04.210 do. But that dog is going to serve you. It is 00:17:04.210 --> 00:17:06.950 going to protect you. It is going to let you 00:17:06.950 --> 00:17:10.069 know when danger is near. It is going to be the 00:17:10.069 --> 00:17:12.750 first person by your side when you're hurting, 00:17:12.950 --> 00:17:18.890 when you're sad, when you're sick. I don't know 00:17:18.890 --> 00:17:20.609 if you've ever witnessed that, but I've seen 00:17:20.609 --> 00:17:25.549 this, I call it a phenomena, where the stray 00:17:25.549 --> 00:17:29.579 dog becomes, The beloved child in the house. 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:34.220 And it will do anything to protect that house, 00:17:34.420 --> 00:17:40.059 to serve that house. And that's not to call us 00:17:40.059 --> 00:17:43.329 stray dogs, but that's kind of our life is. Christians, 00:17:43.470 --> 00:17:46.269 right? God has given us a home. He's given us 00:17:46.269 --> 00:17:48.190 a purpose. He's fed us. He's clothed us. He's 00:17:48.190 --> 00:17:50.670 cleaned us up. He has given us everything we 00:17:50.670 --> 00:17:54.250 needed to feel loved, to feel okay, to feel like 00:17:54.250 --> 00:17:56.789 we've got a family, to feel accepted. He says 00:17:56.789 --> 00:18:00.150 that. And so now that we are in Christ, we're 00:18:00.150 --> 00:18:05.369 in this family, we want to serve and do everything 00:18:05.369 --> 00:18:08.630 we can to make sure that this family knows, hey, 00:18:08.670 --> 00:18:12.049 I love you back. And so our relationship with 00:18:12.049 --> 00:18:14.630 God is not a, I'm going to serve so that you 00:18:14.630 --> 00:18:16.309 will love me. It's I'm going to serve because 00:18:16.309 --> 00:18:21.210 you have already loved me. So much so that you 00:18:21.210 --> 00:18:28.190 would die for me. It's a freedom response. It's 00:18:28.190 --> 00:18:32.470 a rescued response. It's a, you've done this 00:18:32.470 --> 00:18:34.690 great deed for me, so now I'm going to live the 00:18:34.690 --> 00:18:37.609 rest of my life to try to repay you response. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:41.099 See, Paul closes this section with a warning. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:45.180 He says, if righteousness were through the law, 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:51.000 then Christ died for no purpose. Think about 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:55.079 that for a second. If you could earn salvation 00:18:55.079 --> 00:18:59.619 by just being good, if you could earn a spot 00:18:59.619 --> 00:19:07.660 in God's house by being good. Then it was all 00:19:07.660 --> 00:19:11.180 pointless. The cross was pointless. Christ's 00:19:11.180 --> 00:19:15.680 life on earth was pointless. His shame, his ridicule, 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:21.859 his pain was pointless. But God knew that it 00:19:21.859 --> 00:19:27.420 was the only way to save his children. See, Jesus 00:19:27.420 --> 00:19:29.750 didn't die because... You needed a little boost. 00:19:29.829 --> 00:19:32.630 He didn't die because we were sad and he wanted 00:19:32.630 --> 00:19:35.630 us to be happy. He didn't die so we could have 00:19:35.630 --> 00:19:38.609 a fun life and live our best life now. Jesus 00:19:38.609 --> 00:19:42.130 died because we needed total rescue. We were 00:19:42.130 --> 00:19:45.170 drowning. We were in the burning house and he 00:19:45.170 --> 00:19:51.509 had to step in to save us. His grace was our 00:19:51.509 --> 00:19:58.410 only hope. His getting down on our level. Running 00:19:58.410 --> 00:20:01.549 into the burning house. Jumping into the stormy 00:20:01.549 --> 00:20:06.369 seas. It was our only hope. And so what do we 00:20:06.369 --> 00:20:08.910 do with all of this? Because there's a few different 00:20:08.910 --> 00:20:12.069 points that we hit on. Well, I want to give you 00:20:12.069 --> 00:20:14.630 a few application points. They're very simple. 00:20:15.609 --> 00:20:18.970 The first one is stop striving for God's approval. 00:20:20.329 --> 00:20:25.970 Because we can't earn it. The truth is... None 00:20:25.970 --> 00:20:29.009 of us are ever going to live until we are in 00:20:29.009 --> 00:20:31.630 the new creation with God. None of us are ever 00:20:31.630 --> 00:20:34.630 going to live a perfect life. And so something 00:20:34.630 --> 00:20:37.630 we do every day is going to be something that 00:20:37.630 --> 00:20:39.490 God would look at and say, I just don't approve 00:20:39.490 --> 00:20:44.910 of that. cut somebody off in traffic, when you 00:20:44.910 --> 00:20:47.049 yell at somebody because they said something 00:20:47.049 --> 00:20:49.390 you didn't like, when you shove somebody out 00:20:49.390 --> 00:20:52.369 of your way, when you lie because you think it's 00:20:52.369 --> 00:20:54.970 going to get you out of the jam, when you steal, 00:20:55.250 --> 00:20:58.190 when you cuss, whatever it is that you're doing, 00:20:58.309 --> 00:21:00.630 we're all going to do something that God just 00:21:00.630 --> 00:21:04.910 doesn't approve of. And you know exactly the 00:21:04.910 --> 00:21:07.750 things that you do every single day that there 00:21:07.750 --> 00:21:10.549 is no way possible God approves of it. I know 00:21:10.549 --> 00:21:15.440 my things. And so we've got to stop striving 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:21.880 for God's approval and live from grace. Live 00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:25.940 with the understanding that God has already forgiven 00:21:25.940 --> 00:21:31.039 us. He longs to keep forgiving us and he is going 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:35.019 to do what is necessary to get us to that new 00:21:35.019 --> 00:21:39.319 home with him. So we live from grace. from grace, 00:21:39.339 --> 00:21:43.079 not guilt. See, guilt is not a motivator. I don't 00:21:43.079 --> 00:21:45.000 know about you, but guilt has never motivated 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:48.119 me to do the right thing, especially not a sustained 00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:51.480 right thing. Like I don't lose my temper with 00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:54.160 my wife and then I go, oh, I felt bad about that. 00:21:54.859 --> 00:21:59.019 And so for the next month, I stopped losing my 00:21:59.019 --> 00:22:03.019 temper. It takes a little bit more than that. 00:22:03.059 --> 00:22:06.619 It takes a, I genuinely want to do the best for 00:22:06.619 --> 00:22:12.619 my wife. So I'm going to work on my temper. Again, 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:15.559 you know the things that you do that God doesn't 00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:20.440 approve of. And you need to be motivated by more 00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:23.559 than just, I feel bad about that. We need to 00:22:23.559 --> 00:22:26.299 be motivated to like the stray dog story, to 00:22:26.299 --> 00:22:29.180 live the right way for God because he's already 00:22:29.180 --> 00:22:31.839 rescued us. He's given us the grace we need. 00:22:32.940 --> 00:22:36.849 Guilt motivates for a moment. But grace is the 00:22:36.849 --> 00:22:40.049 type of thing that will transform a life. We 00:22:40.049 --> 00:22:42.829 saw that with the Apostle Paul. Do you think 00:22:42.829 --> 00:22:47.089 Paul felt guilty sometimes after stoning a Christian 00:22:47.089 --> 00:22:50.650 or after killing someone? I would imagine he 00:22:50.650 --> 00:22:54.849 did. Again, unless there's a screw loose, you 00:22:54.849 --> 00:22:57.910 don't kill someone or send somebody to have their 00:22:57.910 --> 00:23:02.029 life taken and not feel a little bit of guilt 00:23:02.029 --> 00:23:05.779 afterwards. even if you thought you were doing 00:23:05.779 --> 00:23:09.079 the right thing. I'm sure we've got some deer 00:23:09.079 --> 00:23:11.720 hunters in the room. I don't know about you, 00:23:11.859 --> 00:23:15.859 but there's a moment after I kill a deer where 00:23:15.859 --> 00:23:20.720 I think, I hate that. But then I remember the 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:23.980 circle of life and that I need to eat and that 00:23:23.980 --> 00:23:28.759 there's a part of this food chain. So you get 00:23:28.759 --> 00:23:31.900 over it because you did the right thing. But 00:23:31.900 --> 00:23:34.160 there's still that part of you that's like, It's 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:36.480 like, ah, I hate that. You know, when you see 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:38.200 the blood on the ground or whatever, it's like, 00:23:38.220 --> 00:23:44.400 ugh. So guilt doesn't transform, but grace does. 00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:49.680 And the third thing is share the freedom. You 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:52.059 see, people around us, and we're seeing it in 00:23:52.059 --> 00:23:55.319 our society today, that there is some type of, 00:23:55.420 --> 00:23:59.980 we're going to call it revival happening. And 00:23:59.980 --> 00:24:03.079 really, it has been happening for a while, but... 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:06.420 People are looking to be freed from the chains 00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:09.380 of sin. People are looking to experience something 00:24:09.380 --> 00:24:11.519 greater than what the world offers. People are 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:14.559 looking for this grace that transforms a life 00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:17.859 because this life is hard and it's heavy and 00:24:17.859 --> 00:24:20.819 it's painful. And people want something more. 00:24:20.940 --> 00:24:24.059 And we have that. If we are in Christ, we have 00:24:24.059 --> 00:24:26.619 access to that. We know that to be true. We've 00:24:26.619 --> 00:24:28.960 said, I believe it so much so that I would give 00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:33.900 my life for it. We have to share it. Because 00:24:33.900 --> 00:24:35.559 the world is looking for it and they're just 00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:41.200 waiting up for us to say, hey, I found it. There 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:44.500 are people all around us, people in this church 00:24:44.500 --> 00:24:47.660 even, that are still stepping on that broken 00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:51.740 scale trying to measure if their life is good 00:24:51.740 --> 00:24:55.079 enough. There are people still trying to measure, 00:24:55.140 --> 00:24:58.819 am I good enough for the people around me? Am 00:24:58.819 --> 00:25:01.640 I good enough for my family? Am I good enough 00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:03.799 for my friends? Am I good enough for my coworkers? 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:06.279 Am I good enough for my bosses? Am I good enough 00:25:06.279 --> 00:25:11.000 for God? You know, I think I mentioned last week 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:14.700 that you have people taking their own lives because 00:25:14.700 --> 00:25:17.359 they just don't feel like they're good enough. 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:20.720 They don't feel like they have enough value. 00:25:22.859 --> 00:25:27.180 And if we feel like we know the truth of... Somebody 00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:30.400 says you do have that much value. Why would we 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:33.400 not share that? It really could be the thing 00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:38.700 that saves a life. The people around us need 00:25:38.700 --> 00:25:42.140 to hear about the grace, the goodness, the freedom 00:25:42.140 --> 00:25:46.019 that Jesus gives. Y 'all, justification is not 00:25:46.019 --> 00:25:51.440 about what we do. It never has been. There's 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:56.730 nothing we can do to justify ourselves. It's 00:25:56.730 --> 00:26:01.089 about what Christ has already done. So we don't 00:26:01.089 --> 00:26:03.849 have to keep stepping on the broken scale. We 00:26:03.849 --> 00:26:08.250 don't have to keep using the hand -clicked stopwatch, 00:26:08.569 --> 00:26:13.730 hoping that this time we'll get it right, or 00:26:13.730 --> 00:26:16.150 this time I'll measure up, and this time I'll 00:26:16.150 --> 00:26:19.329 be good enough. Jesus has already measured up 00:26:19.329 --> 00:26:22.910 for us. He's already paid the price. He's punched 00:26:22.910 --> 00:26:25.589 our ticket. He's opened the gate. He has already 00:26:25.589 --> 00:26:30.470 measured up for us. And by faith in him, we are 00:26:30.470 --> 00:26:34.329 declared righteous. When we give our lives to 00:26:34.329 --> 00:26:37.849 him, when we show our faith and put our faith 00:26:37.849 --> 00:26:40.930 in him, we are made right with God. We are given 00:26:40.930 --> 00:26:43.609 access to the kingdom of God. We are adopted 00:26:43.609 --> 00:26:46.470 into the family of God. We're given a home. We're 00:26:46.470 --> 00:26:48.910 given a purpose. We're given a family. We are 00:26:48.910 --> 00:26:54.400 accepted. And we are guaranteed a spot in the 00:26:54.400 --> 00:26:59.460 new creation. You see, Paul says, the life that 00:26:59.460 --> 00:27:02.920 I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the 00:27:02.920 --> 00:27:08.039 Son of God who loved me, who gave himself for 00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:12.799 me. And that's the invitation today. Stop striving 00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:16.940 to be perfect. Nobody's saying stop doing the 00:27:16.940 --> 00:27:20.460 right thing. But stop striving to be perfect. 00:27:20.579 --> 00:27:23.400 Stop trying to fix the broken scale and just 00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:27.339 put your full trust in the finished work of Jesus. 00:27:28.180 --> 00:27:30.420 If you're not a Christ follower, if you've not 00:27:30.420 --> 00:27:33.039 given your life to him, if you haven't been baptized 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:36.339 for the remission of your sins, for the gift 00:27:36.339 --> 00:27:38.519 of the Holy Spirit, for access to the family 00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:42.119 of God, for that guaranteed home in the new creation, 00:27:42.220 --> 00:27:46.660 if you have not done that yet, today can be the 00:27:46.660 --> 00:27:50.720 day. That you accept that free gift of righteousness. 00:27:53.339 --> 00:27:58.339 If you're a Christian and you have been bought 00:27:58.339 --> 00:28:00.240 into the family of God, you've given your life 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:03.039 to God, but you've been chained by guilt or you've 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:05.759 been chained by legalism and you just feel like 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:08.400 you haven't really been okay with God because 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:10.700 you just don't know if you're in good standing 00:28:10.700 --> 00:28:13.420 with God and you just constantly doubt your life 00:28:13.420 --> 00:28:18.829 in Him. Come back to the cross. Come back to 00:28:18.829 --> 00:28:23.769 grace. The son of God loved you so much that 00:28:23.769 --> 00:28:25.750 he would step down from his throne in heaven. 00:28:27.190 --> 00:28:32.890 Endure a life of pain. So that you and I could 00:28:32.890 --> 00:28:36.910 be made right with God. So that we could be justified. 00:28:38.009 --> 00:28:42.710 So that we could be declared righteous. Wherever 00:28:42.710 --> 00:28:46.089 you stand in your walk today. If there's anything 00:28:46.089 --> 00:28:49.700 you need. If it's just a prayer or if it is the 00:28:49.700 --> 00:28:52.819 free gift of salvation, we want to help you with 00:28:52.819 --> 00:28:55.500 that. And so we extend an invitation to you now 00:28:55.500 --> 00:28:57.279 as we stand and as we sing.