Is Christianity The Greatest Religious? - [Galatians 1-6]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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December 23, 2018

00:00: The other day I was reading an article in a magazine and it was talking about great religions of the world. What constitutes great?
00:08: I know what religion is, but what's a great religion of the world? Is it quantity of followers?
00:15: Quality of hospitals built? The German magazine Der Spiegel had these religions as great.
00:24: Do you think they're great? They include Islam, because over 1 billion people consider themselves followers of Islam, meaning complete submission to God's will.
00:37: They have Judaism as a great religion, although not very many people, 13 million Jews around the world and about 5 million in Israel, but they look to the promises of God and attend commandments, and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and talked about the greatness of that religion.
00:53: They also listed Hinduism, because there were so many people, over 1 billion people following the tenets of Hinduism.
01:02: They included Buddhism, founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who was later called
01:08: Buddha, 450 million people. And they also included
01:13: Christianity. Christianity to them is a great religion.
01:19: And so my question this morning for our Christmas service is this, what makes Christianity great? Why is
01:25: Christianity great? And is it great among many, or is it the greatest religion? Why is
01:31: Christianity great? Why don't you take your Bibles and turn to the book of Galatians this morning, and we will let the scriptures answer the question, is
01:41: Christianity the greatest religion? And the answer is going to be, in light of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, and his perfect life, his substitutionary death, and his literal, physical, bodily resurrection, the answer is yes, yes, yes, and yes.
01:56: Christianity is great, because Jesus Christ himself is the greatest human who ever lived.
02:02: Yes, he's more than that, but he is certainly a human. And so we're going to look through the book of Galatians today, kind of a jet tour through the book of Galatians.
02:11: We've been in the book of Hebrews, and we'll be back in Hebrews next week, Hebrews chapter 7, but I wanted everyone to kind of reboot again today, and learn the basics, and be refreshed mentally, the basics of Christianity.
02:23: Why is Christianity so great, and what does it do, and what is its function, and who is the
02:29: Lord Jesus Christ? So the theme is essentially, why is Christianity great? And let me give you several reasons why, from the book of Galatians, that Christianity is great.
02:39: And I think you're going to be rejoicing. I think you're going to be ready in two days to talk to relatives and loved ones about why
02:47: Christianity is so important, and the Lord Jesus so essential. Christianity is great, number one, because it alone deals with man's greatest need, sin and forgiveness, to be forgiven of sins.
03:03: Verses 1 through 5, Christianity alone deals with the greatest need of mankind, to be forgiven of sin.
03:10: You might think that cancer cure is the greatest need, but really it's sin. Let me read you verses 1 through 5 of the book of Galatians, chapter 1.
03:19: Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, there's his humanity and deity, and God the
03:27: Father who raised him from the dead, and all the brothers who are with me, and all the brothers, there were many people with Paul, to the churches of Galatia.
03:39: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, focusing on his humanity again with that name
03:45: Jesus, who gave himself for our sins, not his own sins, he never sinned, to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of God our
03:56: Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
04:02: It's one thing, friends, to say, yes, I do some things wrongly. It's another thing to say,
04:08: I'm a sinner. But it is important to be able to say, I am a sinner and I have sinned against God my creator, and I deserve judgment.
04:19: And not blaming everyone else and not calling it a syndrome and a disease and addiction and dysfunction, an accident, trifle, a mistake.
04:29: Jesus, it says in Matthew 1 .21, is born for a particular reason, and here's the reason.
04:35: For it is he who will save his people from their what? Sins. We all sin and we need to be forgiven.
04:43: You've heard it said that if our greatest need had been information, God would have sent Jesus and he just would have only taught us.
04:50: If we needed technology, Jesus would have been kind of like a scientist for us.
04:55: If we needed money, Jesus would have taught us about economics. If we needed pleasure, he would teach us how to be entertained.
05:02: But since we needed forgiveness, he had to come and be a savior. That's what
05:08: Jesus even means, his name. Jesus means savior. Remember that old story with R .C.
05:13: Sproul, the great Presbyterian theologian? Christian man, and he was at Temple University, walking across campus, getting ready to teach a theology class.
05:22: And he said, I was on my way to the faculty lounge in the School of Theology, and out of nowhere, a gentleman stood in front of me, blocking me, and said,
05:31: Are you saved? R .C. said, I wasn't quite sure how to respond to this intrusion.
05:37: And the first words that came into my mouth were, Saved from what? What I was thinking, but was given the grace to refrain from saying, was that I'm certainly not saved from strangers coming to me and asking me questions like this.
05:52: When I said, Saved from what? I think my friend was as surprised as my question as I had been by his, and he kind of lost it.
05:59: He stammered and stuttered and wasn't quite sure how to respond to the question, Saved from what?
06:06: So the man said, Well, you know what I mean. Do you know Jesus? And then
06:11: R .C. said, That brief encounter left an impression on me. And of course, I was delighted in my soul that somebody cared.
06:19: Saved from sins, yes, but saved from the God who will inflict wrath on us when we stand before him one day.
06:25: We're creatures, and he expects us to obey. We need to be forgiven people. And what do we typically do?
06:31: We love to blame others. This is the woman you gave me, Adam said. Remember Aaron, I just, you know, all these people,
06:38: I just threw in this gold and this fire and out came this calf. We love to blame, but Christianity makes it crystal clear that we can say before the
06:49: God of the universe, Yes, I do deserve to be damned. I do deserve your judgment. I'm like David, you're justified when you judge me.
06:56: But I know there's a savior who can rescue me and deliver me. And by faith, I trust in him. We don't have to blame people anymore.
07:04: We can own our sin because Jesus released us from our sins by his blood,
07:09: Revelation 1. I read also this week about somebody was working at a honey -baked ham store.
07:19: And to the clerk's amazement, a woman grabbed a ham off the shelf and stuffed it up her dress and tried to walk out.
07:28: And the clerk did not know what to do. Should I yell out? Should I follow the woman? And just then, this is a true story, the ham dropped out of the woman's skirt.
07:37: It hit the metal ramp with a loud bang and rolled down to the bottom of the ramp. And the shoplifter didn't miss a beat.
07:44: She turned her head quickly and yelled out, Who threw that ham at me? And ran out of the store.
07:52: I thought, that's exactly right. That's exactly what we do. You know, I don't feel good,
07:59: I'm tired, I'm this, I'm that. We have a thousand excuses why we don't obey. And the gospel allows us, because Christ did perfectly obey, for us to just own it and say,
08:10: Yes, I'm a sinner. I deserve damnation. But God, because of grace, love, and mercy, like we just sung about, it says here that Jesus came to rescue people from their sins.
08:19: And I can just own sin and God doesn't just say, Well, that's okay. We don't really have to be concerned about it.
08:25: We just let it go. No, God is just and so He must punish sin. And instead of punishing us, He punishes the
08:32: Son in our place. That's called substitutionary atonement. Sin is actually dealt with. Why is
08:38: Christianity great? Because God does mark iniquities. But then
08:44: He forgives them. Proverbs 20, verse 9. Who can say, I have cleansed my heart,
08:50: I am pure from my sin? No one can. That's why you need a Savior. Number two, why is
08:57: Christianity great? Because it warns against the greatest theological error you can make.
09:03: It's great because it deals with sin and talks about forgiveness. But it's great because it also deals with the theological error that you must not make, found in verses 6 through 10.
09:15: What's the worst thing you can do theologically? Answer, add to the work of Christ Jesus on the cross or subtract to it.
09:26: That's what Paul is talking about here. As he, like a lion turned loose in the arena of Christianity, one man said, listen to Paul.
09:35: This is like a husband standing up to protect his wife and here Paul wanting to protect the bride of Christ.
09:44: I'm astonished that you were so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.
09:53: Paul was there for these churches as they were established in his missionary journeys. And now before you know it, instead of trusting in Christ alone, they're deserting.
10:02: They're like renegades, they're turncoats. They're turning from the grace of Christ to a different gospel.
10:09: These people are like spiritual Benedict Arnolds. Did you know Benedict Arnold served as a general in the
10:17: American Revolutionary War fighting for the American Continental Army and then he defected?
10:26: George Washington gave him, Benedict Arnold, command of West Point and he, then
10:31: Benedict Arnold, was going to turn over West Point to the British. Benjamin Franklin wrote,
10:39: Judas sold only one man, Arnold three millions. Alexander Scramble described his actions as black as hell.
10:48: In his hometown of Norwich, somebody scrawled the word traitor next to his record of birth at City Hall and every one of his family's gravestones were removed except his mother's.
11:00: But this is actually worse. Here's the Lord Jesus, His perfect life, His virgin birth,
11:05: His obedience to the law of God. And you say, well, that's not enough. Or it was too much.
11:13: They want to add works. What does verse 7 say? Not that there is another one. There's not another gospel. There's only one gospel.
11:19: But there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. They want to take good news.
11:25: Sinner, you can be forgiven in Christ Jesus. To sinner, you can be forgiven but you've got to do something.
11:30: And what they had to do was to get circumcised. What many of us have to do is, well, we trust in the Lord Jesus and we have to get baptized or catechized or something else.
11:40: This is such a denunciation that Paul says, verse 8, do you see it? But even if we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be what?
11:52: Accursed. And it really just means let him be damned. Let him be damned. As we have said before, so I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
12:06: And by the way, you don't talk this way if you want to please people. And Paul knows it, verse 10. For am
12:12: I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man,
12:20: I would not be a servant of Christ. And that's true for all of us, isn't it? We either have to please
12:26: God or please man and you get to choose one. But you can't choose both. Such hard language shows you that Paul is under commission by the risen
12:34: Savior to preach this. And here's what was going on just generally for these churches. These churches believed in the eternal sonship of Jesus.
12:42: They believed in the virgin birth of Jesus. They believed he never sinned. They believed that he did miracles.
12:49: They believed that he was a great teacher. They believed that he healed lepers. They believed that he could cast out demons.
12:56: They believed he died on the cross. They believed he was raised from the dead. But here's what they didn't believe. They didn't believe that just trusting in that work of Christ, in the person of Christ, was enough.
13:08: They had to trust in him to get the benefits and be baptized. That's how
13:14: I would say it today, back in these days, and be circumcised. And Paul says, if you add one little bit of works into grace, everything works.
13:24: We used to tell the kids very often when we had them in the house when they were little, and, you know, you're making brownies and everything, and you're thinking, okay, what is the smallest amount of dog manure that we could put in these brownies before you would eat them, children?
13:39: And the answer would be what? Dad, did you just really say that? That was the answer. This is uncompromising language.
13:48: This is the language of no. I mean, you hear preachers now, they are so saccharine -filled, sweet preachers, that they never can say no.
13:58: Where are the men who stand up and say no? Paul was one of those men. J. Gresham Machen said, our preaching, we are told, ought to be positive and not negative.
14:08: We are to present the truth, but ought not to attack error. We are to avoid controversy and always seek peace.
14:16: Machen goes on and says, with regard to such a program, it may be said, at least, that if we hold to it, we might just as well close up our
14:23: New Testaments. For the New Testament is a controversial book almost from beginning to end.
14:29: Even the hymn of Christian love in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians is an integral part of a great controversial passage with regard to false use of spiritual gifts.
14:40: That glorious hymn never would have been written if Paul had been averse to controversy. And if you are going to say this is what the truth is, by definition, this is the contrast.
14:50: This is what it is not. You define things by exclusion.
14:57: And then Machen says, and here's the Lord Jesus, here's Paul to no men. There is one word which every true
15:04: Christian must learn to use. It is the word no. No to adding things to our
15:12: Savior's perfect work. No to subtracting things to the Lord Jesus' life and death and burial and resurrection.
15:18: Where are the no men? And when you have to think about your own salvation, are you trusting in your baptism, your catechism?
15:25: Are you trusting in your good works? I'm just going to be a good person, that will get me in. Friends, for your own good, because I love the text,
15:33: I love the word, I love the Lord and I love you, the answer has to be no, it's fatal. When you go to the doctor, you just don't want him to say,
15:41: I went this week to the oncologist, I don't want him to just give me the answer that I want to hear. Please physician, tell me.
15:47: I know I might not like the answer, but you have to tell me the truth. But when it comes to spiritual things, we just want, what?
15:55: Platitudes? That's not the heart of Paul, that's not the heart of Jesus. Christianity is great because it says this, you can be forgiven and don't add to the cross work of Christ because it's that important.
16:09: Number three, why is Christianity important? Because it has humbled and subdued its greatest enemy.
16:16: Galatians 1, 11 to 24. It subdued its greatest enemy.
16:21: And the greatest enemy Christianity ever knew was a man named Saul, the persecutor.
16:27: And this should encourage you, by the way, when you hear about ISIS and when you hear about Christian persecution in China, God knows how to subdue his enemies.
16:38: Here's one in point, Paul himself, verse 11. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel or good news about the
16:46: Lord Jesus that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was
16:52: I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ, literally on the road to Damascus.
16:57: He goes on, verse 13. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.
17:07: And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous.
17:15: That is, to an extraordinary degree zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.
17:23: I persecuted, I attacked, I went after, I threw in jail, I was there when people got killed.
17:31: By the way, this is supposed to teach us in the book of Galatians that Paul was no imposter.
17:36: But when you read about Paul meeting the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, what's it supposed to do for you?
17:42: Chapter 8, chapter 22, chapter 26, you should be encouraged that in the middle of Christ building his church, the enemies come along,
17:49: Jesus can easily subdue them. And I mean easily. Jesus is going to build his church.
17:58: Nothing's going to stop it. Remember the conversion of Saul? Still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the
18:06: Lord, went to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogues of Damascus so that if Paul found any belonging to the way, the way of life,
18:15: Christianity, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now, as he went on his way, he approached
18:22: Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him, and falling to the ground, he heard a voice say to him,
18:29: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he, Paul said, who are you,
18:35: Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Rise and enter the city, and you will be told what to do.
18:44: Acts 22 adds this information, that he was persecuting to death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women.
18:53: And when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Acts 22 says that Paul responded, what shall
18:59: I do, Lord? Christianity is great because it subdues its greatest opponents and turns them into gifts to the church.
19:10: Number four, Christianity is the greatest religion in the world because it exposes the default of mankind.
19:19: It exposes the greatest blunder in the world personally, and that is thinking you can get to heaven by being good.
19:26: Works righteousness, keeping the law. Galatians chapter 2 verse 15. I know what you're thinking, we're 20 minutes in, and I'm not even in chapter 2 yet, and there's six chapters.
19:36: So 20 minutes times six, that gives you the outcome. Merry Christmas. Remember, pastors' first points are always longer than their last points.
19:47: Well, not always. What I'm trying to do is just give you an overview of Galatians because Galatians gives you an overview of Christianity.
19:58: Who Jesus is, what he's accomplished, and what your response is to him. And that is faith, and rest, and hope, and boasting.
20:07: As I said at the concert two nights ago, why are we here celebrating? Why can we have a party like this?
20:13: Because we're forgiven. We don't have to pay for our sins. Someone else has paid for them by grace at a great cost, but free to us.
20:22: No wonder Paul could command people, rejoice always, and again what? I say rejoice.
20:33: Paul says in chapter 2 verse 16, maybe the thesis of all of Galatians.
20:38: And notice what's repeated, yet we know that a person is not justified, declared to be right in God's eyes by works of the law, whether that's circumcision or Sabbath keeping, or being good, or being a nice neighbor, whatever you want to put there.
20:59: But that through faith in Jesus Christ, Jesus is the literal man, Christ, the literal
21:05: God, completely God, completely man. One hundred percent, some people say, I like to say perfectly man, perfectly
21:12: God, Jesus Christ. So also we have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by the works of the law, no one will be justified.
21:27: Could there be a more important verse in the Bible when it comes to how do we stand before God? God's perfect.
21:33: He requires perfection, and anything less than perfection, well, we have to pay for those sins.
21:39: So we can't do works to get into heaven unless we can perfectly obey those works, and because of Adam's fall, that's an impossibility.
21:46: So we need someone else to perfectly obey and to keep the law. God's not going to change His character, and therefore
21:53: He's not going to change His law for you to get into heaven. He still has that requirement, perfect obedience.
21:58: That's why you need someone else to perfectly obey for you. And do you know what was repeated? Works of the law, works of the law, works of the law.
22:06: Do you know what was repeated? Justified, justified, justified. Do you know what's repeated in chapter 2, verse 16?
22:12: Faith, believed. Faith. That summarizes the
22:18: Gospel. God declares you righteous based on the work of another. You can stand before God as a person who's sinned because you're forgiven, and someone else has obeyed in your place when you trust in Him.
22:33: You say, well, you know, I'm just hoping I do more good than bad, and that's how I'm going to get to heaven.
22:39: Friends, that's not the right question. If you've ever done one bad thing, it's not going to outweigh it.
22:45: You can't go to the judge and say, you know, I'm here for murder, but I haven't sped in the last two years.
22:51: It's not going to work that way. There's no one living righteous before you, Psalm 143. Why send
22:57: Jesus if you can get to heaven by being good? That'd be foolish. The two great commandments are this, love the
23:06: Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. By the way, how are you doing in that?
23:13: The second great commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. How are you doing with that?
23:19: If those are the two great commandments, those have to be the two greatest sins. So I personally have not loved
23:25: God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength since I was conceived. And I haven't loved my neighbor. So what am
23:32: I going to do? I can't stand before God like that. That's why you need somebody who did perfectly obey.
23:40: And God is a Spirit. How can God the Spirit obey the law for me? Because He sends His Son, who's eternal, and He adds humanity.
23:48: He's born in a manger, and He perfectly lives as my substitute, as my representative.
23:55: Skip down to verse 21, please. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then
24:01: Christ died for no purpose. Friends, Jesus has to be everything for you, as Machen said, or nothing.
24:12: Only the death of Jesus Christ can deal with sin problem and have you stand before God as righteous.
24:21: Well, closely following this, Christianity is great because it highlights the greatest love in all the world, and that is
24:29: God loves sinners. Do you see it in chapter 2, verse 20? I have been crucified with Christ, Paul said.
24:35: It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the
24:41: Son of God, and do you get this? Who loved me and gave Himself for me. That's the
24:47: Christian killer Paul. And he said, Jesus, love me.
24:54: The Father and the Son and the Spirit with an eternal love sends the Son to go rescue sinners.
25:01: This is not an impersonal love. This is not a mechanical love. This is not a transactional love. This is love.
25:09: 1 John chapter 4. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent
25:14: His only Son into the world that we might live through Him. In this is love. Not that we have loved
25:20: God, but that He has loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation or the satisfaction, the sin -assuaging, wrath -assuaging
25:29: God for our sins. Could anybody love you like that? James Denny said, the whole of Christian life is a response to the love exhibited in the death of the
25:40: Son of God for men. A great prayer would be,
25:45: Lord, could I grow in my appreciation for how much Your Son loved me, how much
25:50: You loved me. Why is Christianity great? Because it displays the greatest exchange in all the world,
25:58: Galatians chapter 3. It deals with sin. That's why it's great. It protects you from theological error.
26:04: That's why it's great. It humbles its enemies. That's why it's great. It provides a remedy for our default response of works.
26:11: That's why it's great. It highlights the love of God. That's why it's great. But also, it highlights and displays the greatest exchange,
26:18: Galatians chapter 3, verse 10. And Peter would summarize it this way, that God the just dies for the unjust.
26:26: That's Christianity. Chapter 3, verse 10.
26:32: For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. In other words, if you think you can get to heaven by being good, doing good, paying your taxes, being a good neighbor, doing some religious things, not being a horrible person in society, if you think you can get to heaven by that way, you're under a curse.
26:55: What did George Whitefield say? Whenever I see a ladder, I think of this. I always think of two things when I think of a ladder. Well, I guess more.
27:02: One is, I think, don't fall off that ladder. And I did putting up Christmas lights the other day. Laurel and Hardy moment.
27:10: That's why I think old people like me should probably pay for people to put their lights up. Number two,
27:18: I think, don't walk under the ladder because I might have bad luck. Oh no, that's how I thought as a pagan. So, that's out.
27:24: Number three, I think, you know what? This ladder is a picture of what George Whitefield said. You want to get to heaven by being good?
27:31: Then it's like trying to climb a ladder made out of sand to the moon. It's impossible.
27:37: You can't do it on your own. That's why when we talk about Jacob's ladder, Jesus comes down the ladder to make atonement for you.
27:45: It's called the incarnation. I don't want to be under a curse for it is written.
27:54: He's going to quote, by the way, in the next few verses. Deuteronomy 27, Habakkuk 2, Leviticus 18. Here's the
28:01: Deuteronomy passage. Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and to do them.
28:08: See, it's not a matter of bell curve. It's not a matter of, you know, I've got to do more good than bad. I've got to completely obey.
28:15: I'm a creature. God made me. He expects me to do what I've been made to do and that is to worship the Son. It's either all or nothing.
28:23: It's binary. And what does he say in verse 11? Now, it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law.
28:30: I mean, let's just be serious. We've all sinned. And we know that. For the righteous shall live by faith, faith in the object of Jesus, trusting in His works,
28:41: His righteousness, His law -keeping. But the law is not a faith, rather. The one who does them shall live by them.
28:48: If you're not going to just trust in Jesus' work, you better live by the law. And of course, you're going to die by the law.
28:54: And the Old Testament teaches that. So does the New. The law demands perfection.
29:02: Verse 13. And here's this great exchange. Could there be something more wonderful to talk about on Christmas?
29:10: Christ redeemed us. He bought us out of the slave pit of sin. The Messiah did from the curse of the law.
29:16: That is perfect obedience by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, it stands written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
29:26: You didn't hang people on trees back in those days unless they were the worst.
29:35: Deuteronomy says, if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and is put to death, you hang him on a tree.
29:46: This is the language of 1 Peter 2. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
29:54: By His wounds, you have been healed. This is the language of substitution.
30:00: While we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrates
30:08: His own love toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's the language of substitution.
30:14: He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. That's substitution. Christ died for us.
30:21: 1 Thessalonians. Titus 2, Christ gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed.
30:31: No wonder Jesus said on the cross, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Because He was accursed and bearing our sins.
30:43: Well, just a few more. Always beware, and the pastor said just a few more. That's code.
30:51: Christianity is great and you ought to praise God not only for the Incarnation but the whole life of Christ because God's character is revealed in the law because Christianity properly reveals
31:08: God's character. It's a great revealer. What is the standard for me to get into heaven?
31:14: You want to know what the GMAT format is to get into certain grad school and what kind of classes you need to take and what are my entrance requirements for work and to get in this promotion and to become a ranger and to do this, that, and the other.
31:26: What are my entrance requirements? Well, God's law tells us. It's a reflection of God's nature.
31:32: Chapter 3, verse 21. What's God's law? What does God expect out of me to get to heaven?
31:39: Like the rich young ruler that said to Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And the law gives the answer.
31:45: The law can't save, but at least it tells us the answer to the question, what does God require? And only
31:51: Christianity does that. Verse 21 of chapter 3. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God?
31:59: Certainly not. For if a law had been given that could give life, it just tells you when you make an error, when you sin, it doesn't give life, then righteousness would be indeed by the law.
32:09: But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
32:17: Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law. That's what the law does. Imprisoned until the coming faith could be revealed.
32:24: And mark this well, beloved, so then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith.
32:34: A guardian back in those days was a slave you would hire to take care of your kids and that slave would point out sin.
32:39: That slave would punish sin. That slave would cane your children. Didn't make them good on the inside, but it just punished them.
32:49: That's what the law does. It exposes, that's why it's good. It's holy, it's righteous and good,
32:55: Romans 7. But that's all it does. It just tells us what we're supposed to do. It tells us that we're to perfectly obey, inwardly, outwardly, attitudes, actions.
33:05: The law promises eternal life if you'll perfectly keep the law. It threatens damnation if you don't perfectly keep the law.
33:14: It requires perfect, perpetual, entire obedience. The law isn't good news.
33:22: The law is do this and live or don't do it and be damned. It reflects God's nature. It's unbending.
33:31: Westminster Confession of Faith says, God's law requires personal, exact, entire, perpetual obedience before the fall and after.
33:41: The law helps us because it's for the proud. When you talk to people about Christianity, they always have an excuse.
33:47: What do you give them? You should give them more law and what God requires until they say, you know what, if what you say is true,
33:53: I stand condemned. I am a sinner. I am a sinner. I have no hope. And then you tell them the good news that Jesus keeps the law, that Jesus perfectly obeys, that Jesus is the one who earns righteousness for other people.
34:05: He doesn't need his own to earn righteousness for himself. He's already perfectly righteous, which leads us to essentially the passage of the day.
34:15: Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5. Christianity is great because it explains the greatest birth, the greatest birth ever.
34:25: Galatians 4, 4 to 5. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth
34:30: His Son. Born of a woman. He had to be because He needed to be our representative. To be the last
34:36: Adam, He had to be man. Born under law. Why was He born under law?
34:42: To show that He was righteous? No. To earn righteousness for us. Verse 5. To redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.
34:52: He identifies with sinners. He perfectly obeys and we get His benefits. No wonder
34:58: Hebrews 10 says, when Christ came into the world, He said, I don't know what you said when you came into the world.
35:05: Here's what Jesus said. Sacrifices and offerings, Father, You have not desired, but a body You have prepared for Me.
35:12: In burnt offerings and in sin offerings You take no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come to do
35:17: Your will, O God, as it is written of Me in the scroll of the book. When He had said above,
35:23: You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings. Then He added,
35:30: Behold, I have come to do Your will. And by that, we have all been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
35:42: There had to be the virgin birth. There had to be Jesus' incarnation. There had to be
35:47: Jesus who was poor that we might be rich. Jesus was manifest in the flesh.
35:54: One old writer said, Jesus was God and man and one person that God and man might be happy together again.
36:02: What a great truth. Romans 8 For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending
36:08: His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.
36:20: That's why it's so important to believe in the incarnation and not to deny it. Why is
36:26: Christianity great? Galatians 4, 8, and 9 because it tells us the greatest knowledge and that is not to know but to be known.
36:36: What is the greatest knowledge? To be known by God. How wonderful. Verse 8 of chapter 4
36:43: Formerly when you did not know God you were enslaved to those that by nature are not God's.
36:48: But now that you have come to know God and then He clarifies it or rather to be known by God how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world whose slaves you want to be once more?
37:01: Have you ever sung this song? I sought the Lord and afterward I knew He moved my soul to seek
37:08: Him It was not I that found, O Savior, true No, I was found of Thee Thou dost reach forth
37:15: Thy hand and mine enfold I walked and sank not on the storm -wrecked sea T 'was not so much that I took
37:21: Thee hold As Thou, dear Lord, on me It's not that we know
37:27: God that He knows us. And then we end with the final great thing about Christianity for our message today in the book of Galatians Christianity is great because it results in the greatest boast.
37:41: Chapter 6, verse 14 Since salvation is all of God He gets all the praise.
37:48: Since there's only one Savior He gets all the praise. If you saved yourself with God there'd be 50 -50 praise.
37:55: You would get to heaven and you would as my brother would say high -five God, fist -bump God and say we did it.
38:02: But since only God did it He gets the praise. If there were two gods that could save which one gets the praise?
38:08: 50 -50, how would we do it? But since there's only one Savior He gets all the praise. And Paul knew that.
38:14: Paul knew he deserved to go to hell for even killing Christians but he was redeemed. And how does
38:19: Paul respond? Christian, this is how you should respond. But far be it from me to boast.
38:26: By the way, Paul could boast. He was a Jew trained. He was born on the right day. He was circumcised on the right day.
38:32: He had the right teachers, the right pedigree. He had it all. Except in the cross of our
38:39: Lord Jesus Christ. You see Jesus there. You ought to be thinking humanity. You ought to be thinking
38:45: Christmas. By which the world has been crucified to me and to the world.
38:51: I'm going to boast in the cross. What did Paul used to think? That guy is a loser.
38:57: He died on the cross. He couldn't even save himself. Paul I'm sure could have said I don't know if he did or not.
39:03: He saved others. Let him save himself. And now Paul is saying that's my boast. That's my all in all.
39:09: I'm boasting in the work of God for me. In spite of me. Because he loves me.
39:16: Paul as a Roman citizen by birth and a religious Jew would not be thinking you know what oh the cross is wonderful.
39:22: The cross is boast worthy. He'd be thinking it's something else. He'd be thinking garbage.
39:28: He'd be thinking trash. He'd be thinking that way.
39:35: But that's not what Paul did. I can think of Paul writing in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Let he who boast what?
39:42: Boast in the Lord. We're all made boasters. You're going to boast one way or the other. I think some of you will start boasting at 1pm today.
39:50: Eastern time. You heathens. There's nothing wrong with that.
39:58: But I remember I remember that Jim Elliott who at 15 years old he was martyred you know later in life.
40:04: But at 15 years old he would say you know I sit in the stands and I watch these people for football games.
40:10: And they can't be contained with their enthusiasm and boast for a team. But when it comes to the things of God and boasting in Him people are just like oh yeah whatever.
40:21: He knew it at 15. Paul knew it later in life. I'm going to boast in the cross. And it's hard because when we talk to people about the cross it's offensive to them.
40:32: They want signs. They want wonders. They want wisdom. And all I have for you is a crucified Messiah.
40:38: And Paul says you're going to be rejected. And by the way I personally don't like to be frowned upon in academic circles.
40:44: But the second you open your mouth and talk about the cross and I'm a Christian and I actually believe that you're going to get the look.
40:52: Paul didn't care. He said I embrace that. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I'm not only going to boast in the
40:58: Lord Jesus but what's he say in the text? In the cross. Lloyd -Jones said look at the matter in this way.
41:04: You here with me are miserable worms in this world. And with our arrogance and pride and our appalling ignorance we deserve nothing but to be blotted off the face of the earth.
41:16: But what has happened is that before the foundation of the world this blessed God these three blessed persons considered us.
41:24: Considered our condition. Considered what would happen to us. And the consequence was that these three persons
41:30: God whom man has never seen stooped to consider us and planned a way whereby we might be forgiven and redeemed.
41:39: The Son said I will leave this glory for a while. I will dwell in the womb of a woman.
41:44: I will be born as a babe. I will become a pauper. I will suffer insult in the world.
41:50: I will even allow them to nail me to a cross and spit in my face. He volunteered to do all that for us.
41:58: And at this very moment this blessed second person of the Trinity is seated at the right hand of God to represent you and me.
42:06: He came down to earth and did all that and rose again and ascended to heaven.
42:12: And that was all planned before the world began for you and for me. What's your response,
42:18: Christian? I know my response. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
42:28: That's amazing. No wonder Paul was boasting. He said how do I receive these benefits?
42:34: How do I receive forgiveness? How do I receive a right standing in God's eyes? How do I receive redemption?
42:41: Well, all you have to do is look at the book of Galatians. And we've already talked about it. But the answer is faith.
42:47: Trusting. Not just intellectually. Not just with assent and agreement. But wholehearted trust with a hearty trust.
42:57: That's the word I'm looking for. Galatians 2 .16 Through faith.
43:03: Galatians 2 By faith. Galatians 3 Hearing with faith. Galatians 3
43:10: Only the righteous shall live by faith. Through faith.
43:16: So the question for all of us today is do you believe? It doesn't matter how great
43:21: Christianity is because the benefits aren't applied unless you believe. The text often says repent and believe.
43:29: And trust in the risen Savior. You say, well, I just can't make myself do it. Here's a good prayer.
43:34: God, have mercy on me. I know I'm a sinner. God, please have mercy on me.
43:40: You don't owe salvation to me. You don't have to do anything. You're the God of the universe. I know I've sinned.
43:45: I know you know I've sinned. I don't even want to think about that day, but I know you know it all.
43:51: But your text says, and I've even heard from this sinful, frail man today in that pulpit, that you love to save sinners.
43:58: And when sinners cry out to you, you are pleased regularly and often because it's your nature to graciously save, to be merciful to people.
44:08: Because when you save graciously, Father, the focus is on the Son, the spotlight's on the
44:13: Son. Show me a Holy Ghost -filled church, and I'll show you a church that talks about the Lord Jesus over and over and over because it is the
44:20: Spirit's prerogative to say, I would be worshiped, but instead he points to the Lord Jesus. Look at the
44:26: Lord. Look at the Lord. And that's what you need to do, friend. Look at the Lord. And if you're a Christian, the same applies to you.
44:32: You need to keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus and walk by faith. Hallelujah.
44:40: What a Savior. Let's pray. Father in heaven, you are great and greatly to be praised.
44:48: Your Son is great and greatly to be praised. Father, your Spirit is great and greatly to be praised.
44:55: And I think today, Father, as I'm reminded about the essential truths of Christianity, that you'd help us to think rightly.
45:05: For the people here who are not born again, would you help them to think rightly and be gracious to them? And Father, for us as Christians, we struggle, we sin, we fall short.
45:16: But Father, all those have been dealt with and we stand before you as sons and daughters. How encouraging is that?
45:23: We thank you. We thank you for a time like Christmas. It's not on the church calendar, but it's something to be reminded about that's wonderful, that Jesus Christ came to save sinners.