The Gospel of Grace

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Jon preaches from Galatians 1 on the true Gospel.

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Good morning and Merry Christmas to everyone. It's good to be in the house of the Lord for those who don't know
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I know most of you do but I'm John I'm pastor Harris's eldest son and I've been away for the last four years pursuing higher education and recently moved back to renovate our home and be with our families and also attend this church and One of the things
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I've realized after living in different places over the last few years
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Is that Grace Bible is actually a very unique and extraordinary place and it's something growing up.
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I think I took for granted I thought this is just normal life, but it's really not and It's good to be frequently reminded.
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I think of that the extraordinary blessings that God Bestows on us because we have a tendency to forget those things to take them for granted
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It's our nature to do that with things that we're familiar with So, let me say a few things about this church before we examine the passage under consideration
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First we are blessed here at Grace Bible Church to enjoy accurate and uncompromising Preaching and teaching and this is a very rare quality
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Especially in the day and age where most pastors are more concerned with their own reputations Than the precious souls under their watchful care and I've seen this firsthand
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We are also blessed to be part of the bond of believers who love each other loving each other is is something that It's not everywhere.
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I thought that was just the way that every church behaved and all Christians should behave that way but that's not always the case and We do love each other here as expressed through the ministry and the fellowship that we enjoy being in each other's company
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Using our spiritual gifts not every church has the high percentage of people that attend using their spiritual gifts on a weekly basis and involving themselves and each other in their own lives and And one other thing
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I didn't note this but as I'm thinking about it also a church that's not willing to Sacrifice the truth when it even comes to shutting the church down We still want to meet and it's because of those two things because we we love each other
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We won't we'd see it as necessary to be together just like a family needs to be together. And we we know that Jesus Christ has commanded the gospel to go forward and the church is the way that that takes place
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It's true across this country are numerous examples of churches once strong in doctrine and practice and now for those who
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Watch the Christmas Carol over the week. They're deader than Jacob Marley's corpse you walk in and there's no life
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I don't know some of you might have been in some of those churches And I do not state this fact to drive fear into your own soul that this place could become that way but in a time when most of us have lost faith in every human institution the true church stands as a bulwark and And I'm talking about the true church that did not the false search for the true church those who believe in the
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Lord Jesus Christ believe his word it stands as a bulwark against the tides of paganism and corruption and all the things out there that we see that are on the rise and It is necessary for that to continue for the
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Holy Spirit. I think to rekindle the flame of the gospel in every generation Church doesn't continue without the gospel the two are necessary for each other a church that gives up the gospel is not the church anymore
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And they may have some great traditions. They may have some beautiful music. They have some smiling people
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There may be a lot of things there that are nice, but if the gospel is not there. It's not the church I I've been actually for a short period of time my wife, and I visited a number of churches that Just part of it was out of curiosity part part of it was we didn't have a home church for about a month and a half
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And and I've been in some places like that some some that I thought man. I really like the liturgy here
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It's so beautiful. It's so but it's dead the people here. They don't know the Lord and That that's not a church,
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I don't recognize that as a church I can't and you walk in here and immediately
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I sense people love the Lord here there's the the Spirit in me and the Spirit in you the
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Holy Spirit is Is is doing something something that we can't maybe even understand or explain completely
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So I want to just be reminded. I want us to think about that as we go through this We have the promise in Matthew 16 that the gates of hell will not overpower the true church and again again in Romans 11 the assurance
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That God preserves a remnant according to his gracious choice the true church is never going to go away
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Not going to happen Doesn't mean that this building. We're not guaranteed that this place will always be true.
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I hate to break that to you It's not a promise that God's given us But he has given us the promise that the church will continue that his people that believe in him will always continue
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Both in the New Testament and in church history. We are we are confronted with examples of once faithful churches that all have been infiltrated by false teaching and Subsequently compromise has taken place and we must not think that it couldn't happen here healthy plants need water and The healthy souls need to be nurtured regularly in the gospel message, and so that's what we're gonna do this morning
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We're gonna go back to the basics a little bit remind ourselves. Why do we even come here? Why do we treat each other the way that we do?
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Why do we love each other? Why do we attend church? I think for a child growing up. That's an obvious question
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But for those who have developed a habit you sometimes you just get into the habit, right? The Apostle Paul reminded his child in the faith
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Timothy to remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead descended from David according to my gospel
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Christian author Jerry Bridges taught Christians the need to preach the gospel to themselves daily Regularly reminding ourselves of God's grace for us is important for several reasons number one
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It keeps us from thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think That's why we should remember the gospel.
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We tend to get prideful if we don't remember none of this was brung about by you you didn't do anything to merit the grace that God's given you a
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Christianity without the gospel reduces itself to a cold metric by which failure to meet a moral standing
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Brings condemnation to the sinner in This context a priestly class trumpeting their own counterfeit virtue preys upon the sinner's guilty conscience to gain advantage for themselves in truth this state of affairs describes every religion devoid of the
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Christian gospel and sadly many churches also in Contrast the true gospel assumes our inability to keep
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God's law while still possessing a clean conscience Because of what Christ did on our behalf clean conscience
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No guilt in life. No fear in death. This is the power of Christ in me, even though I've sinned and yet being forgiven
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How does how do you sin and your conscience is clean that's that's something that is unique to Christians who believe the true gospel
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There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus Paul says and Salvation is not a result of work so that no man may boast
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No pride no guilt at the same time in the true gospel
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We can't take credit, but yet we're not held responsible for our sins Secondly remembering the gospel prevents damning heresies from taking root
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I have yet to discover a Christian cult that did not compromise on the gospel somewhere
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So sometimes there are cults out there in which They have all kinds of sometimes quirky views.
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Maybe we would think that there's one over in Newburgh. I don't know if anyone's come in confronted at the mall by the the mother something called the mother god cult the
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International Missionary Society and And they have some quirky views On song hunk,
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I think it's on song hung if I'm pronouncing it right it is Jesus And there's this there's this female deity, and it said there's some quirky views there
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But it's easy to get hung up in those at the core of it though because I've met with these people a few times It's a false gospel.
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It's not just that they have some weird views that are out of step with Christology or pneumatology or some of these other theological things
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It's it's that they actually believe we get there by works somehow if we get there at all You can never be assured of it
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Mormonism teaches that it is by grace that we are saved after all we can do that's second
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Nephi 25 23 and If you shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness and love
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God with all your might mind and strength then is Grace sufficient for you
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Moroni chapter 10 32 The Watchtower Society tells people that to get one's name written in the book of life will depend upon one's works
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That's how you do it literally says that in their literature And then of course the
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World Mission Society, I think I called it the International Miss the World Mission Society the one I just described Believes that when we receive the blood of Christ through the new covenant
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Passover we can be forgiven of our sins It's in their literature on their website took me about three seconds to find it
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Just I just got through all the the the ribbons and and all the the onion layers go right to the heart of it
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What are they teaching? That's what they're teaching Does any of that sound to you like good news?
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That's not good Good news You can be forgiven of your sins after you do some things if after all you can do
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Maybe God will let you in maybe his face will smile on you, and he won't frown on you anymore if you jump through these hoops
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That doesn't sound like very good news to me Gospels good news, how is that good news and of course if you ask people from any of these cults and others that I haven't mentioned if they can be assured that they are
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Going to heaven the answer is always the same in my experience No They don't know for sure and it would be prideful to think that they could know because it's all based on them and And this goes for other religious goes for Islam this goes for for all the religions without the true gospel
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The third reason for reminding ourselves of the gospel is that we need the encouragement it brings okay?
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I want to emphasize that that's the primary thing. I want to bring to you this morning We need the encouragement even as believers who already know the gospel and understand the gospel.
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I need the God I need to be encouraged by the gospel regularly
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After establishing the universal sinfulness of all mankind and Preaching the message of salvation the
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Apostle Paul declares to the church at Rome Having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our
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Lord Jesus Christ through whom Also, we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exalt in hope of the glory of God Romans 5 the
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Apostle Peter in 1st Peter 1 Likewise commands Christians undergoing persecution real persecution
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Prepare your minds for action keep sober in spirit fix your hope Completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ That's the solution personal trials tribulation sin
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Things that are going on out there in the world that make us nervous all of those stresses in life. This is the solution ultimately
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Remember remember the gospel remember you're undeserving. This is what God's given you look at all the blessings He's given you but most specifically his son and salvation in him
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Do any of you this morning sense the burden of your own guilt before God Does your spirit condemn you before him or perhaps
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Satan the accuser is? Suggesting the lie that God does not really care about you.
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Not really. We read that we talk about it, but I mean does he really he's abandoned you hasn't he?
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Has he abandoned your family? Maybe you're wondering if he's abandoned your country anyone feel like that It's just left
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America letting us kind of drift off into or go down into a pit
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If he really loved you, why does he let good men like Keith Hamilton?
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Why does he let them die? Before we would have wanted him to go Why does he let wicked people impose tyranny upon us?
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Maybe we aren't worthy of his grace after all Perhaps if we read scripture prayed and attended church, then he would receive us.
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Maybe that's the problem We're just not doing enough if we just if I hear this a lot by the way even from conservative circles if we just Did something more if we we all got back to church on Sunday.
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It's a very Bible Belt thing I don't you heard as much up here But I a lot of political sermons in the south tend to go this direction
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If God's people they just call upon his name again, and they come to church. That's usually what it means Then God's gonna do a revival
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It's blaming us for the fact that there's no revival and can you bear that weight? I can't bear that weight
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These are all the kinds of questions that naturally arise during the course of life and the answer to them is found in the message of the gospel
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With these goals in mind defeating pride guarding doctrine and encouraging our souls
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Let us read from Paul's letter to the church in Galatia. Let's let's open up our Bibles to Galatians Chapter 1 we'll start at verse 1
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Galatians 1 verse 1 says Paul an apostle not sent from men nor through the agency of man but through Jesus Christ and God the
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Father who raised him from the dead and all the brethren who are with me to the churches of Galatia Grace to you and peace from God our
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Father in the Lord Jesus Christ Who gave himself for us so that he might rescue us from this present evil age?
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According to the will of our God and Father to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.
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We'll stop there for now There's one simple truth that I want to impress upon your heart this morning, it's one you've heard a lot
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But we need to remember it and think about it mull it over Jesus died for you
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Individually he died for you. Think about that God of the universe died for you Yes, we must first realize we've broken
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God's law we must repent we must believe to receive the everlasting life and as Christians we know this
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But don't don't let your mind shift focus from Christ To your own heart this morning.
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Don't ask yourself if you've repented enough Of course, you haven't you haven't repented enough you ever think that you'll get there.
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I haven't repented enough Did you think your salvation was based on your own ability to even repent?
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I Want to read for you that reflect on these words This is from the theologian Charles Spurgeon some of you saw
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I posted this on social media this week It is the Holy Spirit's role to always turn our eyes to Jesus and away from ourselves
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But Satan's role is exactly the opposite For he is constantly trying to make us think of ourselves rather than Christ Satan insinuates your sins are too many to be forgiven and you have no faith.
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You don't repent enough You will never be able to endure to the end and you don't have the joy of God's children and your grasp on Jesus Is weak and wavering all?
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These thoughts are about self Yet we will never find comfort or assurance by looking inside ourselves
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The Holy Spirit turns our eyes away from self telling us we are nothing but that Christ is our all in all
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Remember it is not your hold on Christ that saves you it is Christ It is not your joy in Christ that saves you it is
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Christ It is not even your faith in Christ, although that is the means he uses it is in Christ's blood work and worthiness
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Therefore don't look at your hand with which you are grasping Christ look to Christ Don't look at your hope look to Jesus the source of your hope don't look at your faith
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Look to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith We will never find happiness by looking at our prayers our works or our feelings
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It is who Jesus is that gives us rest to our soul Not who we are
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Charles Spurgeon, I thought he I couldn't say it any better than he said it there salvation is wholly a work of God Rest in the simple truth that he loves you
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Consider it be amazed by it Perhaps you grew up in a family where your acceptance was rooted in your ability to please your parents
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Somehow maybe sports or some some metric that they use good good grades. Maybe God is already pleased with his son
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Matthew 3 17 declares this and behold a voice out of heaven said this is my beloved son in whom
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I am well pleased Your position before God is not grounded in your performance, but in the performance of another and what
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Jesus did for you God knows all about your sin your doubts your struggles he saw what your eyes looked at this week and he heard what your mouth said and He is still just as unmoved in his love for you as when you first came to know him
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Nothing's changed in that relationship and it's not because of anything you've done to make him love you
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But because he loved his son and has given us a gift in his son Listen to the words of Jesus.
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This is in John 17 He says this in prayer to his father's with the words of Jesus father
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I desire that they meaning his disciples Christians This is us a desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am
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So that they may see my glory which you have given me and again in verse 24 I have made your name known to them and will make it known so that the love with which you loved
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Me may be in them and I in them The love that God had for Jesus may be in us
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So Jesus prayed to the father We didn't live the life Jesus did
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Perfect. We didn't die and pay for our sins. Jesus paid for them But he wants the love that God gives to him to us.
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So now we are adopted as his sons. We're brothers with Jesus Look to those words from verse 3 to 4 again that we just read in Galatians verses 3 and 4 grace to you and peace
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From God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins so that we might he might rescue us from this present evil age
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The Bible teaches that God the father sent his only son into the world filled with sin with darkness
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Corruption in order to accomplish something bigger than you and me Something beyond anything we can imagine
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Something this temporal existence cannot handle something Keith Hamilton has more knowledge of right now than we do and And and all those who have gone to be with him
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The Apostle Paul observed that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
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That is to be revealed to us Romans 8 18 Jesus said the glory which you have given me
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I have given to them Brothers and sisters We are being made alive together with Christ Ephesians chapter 2 we read
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Ephesians this morning made alive together with Christ raised up with him and seated with him in heavenly places
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And why? Why are all these things true? Ephesians chapter 2 verse 7 says this so that in the ages to come he might show the
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Unsurpassed the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus For by grace you have been saved through faith in that not of yourselves
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It is a gift of God not as a result of works so that no one may boast
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For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which
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God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them God the father sent his son on a mission
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To this dirty sinful world filled with rebellious enemies, that's us before we knew him in order to transform them into clean righteous citizens of the kingdom and Not only that to adopt us into his family to call us friends to welcome us to sit at his table and reap the blessings
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Of a harvest we did nothing to labor for To demonstrate his own attributes of grace and mercy through his work in us
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That's the gospel That's the Christian message It is my personal tradition to read
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Old Christmas every December Oh Christmas is a compilation of five short stories written by Washington Irving Some of you would recognize
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Washington Irving from such stories as the legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle so he was a
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Hudson Valley boy and The first major American author really to gain international acclaim
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Irving's purpose in Old Christmas though is to invite readers disenchanted with modern life To remember and modern life right 1819, right?
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It's modern life To who are disenchanted with that to Look back to a way that Christmas was celebrated in the countryside of Old England To remember something something that they were starting to lose that there was a distant memory of something better, right today we just turn on the
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Hallmark Channel back then they read Old Christmas by Washington Irving and One of the things that was becoming increasingly difficult to grasp in Irving's time
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In much less in our own time is a sense of hierarchy honor and obligation.
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I want to read for you a Short section from Old Christmas and it's just describing the way
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Christmas used to be celebrated in the English countryside Irving writes this the squire went on and the squire.
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So there's someone who's owns land nobility the squire went on to lament the deplorable decay of the games and amusements which were once prevalent at this season among the lower orders and countenance by the higher when the old halls of castles and manor houses were thrown open at daylight when the tables were covered with Brawn and beef and humming ale when the harp and the carol resounded all day long and when rich and poor were alike
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Welcome to enter and make merry our old games and local customs said he had a great effect in making the peasants
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Fond of his home and the promotion of them by the gentry made him fond of his
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Lord They made the times merrier and kinder and better What Irving is describing is a time once a year when the wealthy landowners?
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Would open up their large estates and they would invite the poor to come and sit at their table and the tenants who lived on The estate relied on the nobility for their own livelihood.
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So there was a social bond. There was a relationship here They depended on each other
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Being invited to the master's home was not in payment for any product though or service
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It wasn't like he owed them to come to his house and enjoy the benefits of his food and sitting at his table
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He didn't owe them that that it was undeserving Wasn't earned it was simply a demonstration of the affection that the landowner had for those under his care and protection
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And this was a great honor and with it came a responsibility to respect nobility's position and property as an undeserving guest
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How much more of an honor is it for we poor sinners? Who are once enemies of the master and totally dependent on his grace and mercy for us?
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to be seated in heavenly places and Have mansions waiting for us built by the hands of the carpenter from Galilee.
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We didn't do anything and build them We owe nothing and that he swings open the doors and says come in the foods of the tables prepared
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Food is waiting for you fires warm and We're out in the cold
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Bitterly freezing not deserving any of this We didn't pay any fee when we walked in our names are already though on the register
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Does that sound like good news? How about that and in contrast to what we read from the
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Mormons and the Jehovah's how this sounds like a better deal to me This sounds like good news, and that's what you and Galileo on the
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Greek word for gospel. That's what it literally means It means good news So the true gospel is what the word implies it's good news, it's it's not well
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If you do this for the master, he might let you in The doors are already open Grace to you in peace from God our
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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that we he might rescue us from this present evil age
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Jesus paid the penalty of the law you broke by giving his own innocent life in return for your guilty one
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He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God and It's and the result is that God doesn't look at you and see sinful rebels anymore
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He sees the righteousness of his son Instead of a burning like a fire to pay for your sin
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You escape what the rest of humanity is heading toward and you didn't do anything to deserve it. That's good news
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But there's a problem We can so easily forget this simple truth. I mean we remember it intellectually talking about myself here, too
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But we can demonstrate we don't really believe it in its entirety It sounds too good to be true.
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Surely there must be something That we need to contribute in order to gain this some kind of payment
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Something even if it's a small thing we have to there's something we got to do, right? That's how the rest of the world works
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He's not just going to let us waltz into his mansion on Christmas without us doing something in return for him
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Let's turn to verse 6 in Galatians chapter 1 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel
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Which is really not another only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ even if we
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Or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you he is to be accursed as We have said before and so say again now if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received
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He is to be accursed For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God or am
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I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men I would not be a bondservant of Christ For I would have you know brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man
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For I neither received it from man nor I was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ The situation in Galatia Paul's writing to this region we would know it as The it'd be the eastern end of Turkey.
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What's today, Turkey? The situation in the churches there was very dire at this point and chapter 2 verse 4 describes the situation
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The parallel situation a little more that there were false brethren Paul says who subversive subversively
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Persuaded Christians to add a demand to keep the Mosaic law to the gospel message
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So yeah, we believe the gospel we can articulate the gospel. It's God's grace through faith and If you really believe that though, this is what you also have to do you have to keep the
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Mosaic law that's what was going on and According to one scholar the term here that Paul uses in chapter 2 for to call the false
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Brethren who refers to them as pseudo Delphi's and it designates traitors within a city who?
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Allowed the enemy to sneak into the city and survey its defenses That's a very strong term that Paul is using saying these guys aren't your friends their enemies within your own churches that are coming in and They're introducing a false gospel a virus if you will into your body
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The Apostle Paul had previous experience with these false teachers in chapter 2 verse 5 states
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He did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour so that the truth of the gospel would remain
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How so well he supported Titus's refusal to receive the sign of the
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Mosaic Covenant in circumcision according to verse 3 of chapter 2 Interestingly in Acts chapter 16 we find that Paul personally circumcised
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Timothy in order to avoid unnecessarily offending the Jews Yet here in Galatians Paul is encouraging the refusal to get circumcised.
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So what's up with that and one At one point Paul says yep, you need to get circumcised
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Timothy avoid offending the Jews and another point He says we're not going to yield to you for one hour. Do not get circumcised.
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Why the switch? Why the difference? I'll tell you why because the false teachers also known as the
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Judaizers made circumcision a gospel issue They gave the impression that one could not be a true
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Christian Unless they successfully kept the law Paul called this in chapter 1 verse 6 a different gospel
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The term denotes a completely different message not to be confused with a genuine article He further clarifies in verse 7 that it is not another gospel and there's a there's a different Greek word used here
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And what he's he's trying to say that It's it's the
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Judaizers aren't preaching anything similar to the true gospel nothing it's not it's not even in the same category and And they should not be confused by it.
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It shouldn't be something that they they look at there There should be a clear delineation there the true gospel false gospel
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So this is this is a different gospel, and there is no other gospel in fact
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They've distorted the true message Paul says beyond recognition and this gospel will not save them it will curse them
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Paul uses the word anathema curse them. That's a pretty big deal
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Only adding a little bitty thing we just need to be circumcised You can keep the law and it's the difference between heaven and hell life and death true and false
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One of the things I've learned over the last few years is how subtle this kind of false teaching can be and It's shocking to realize that the vast majority of what call what calls itself today evangelicalism in this country accommodates a gospel that curses
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The prosperity gospel connects the blessings of Christianity including forgiveness to the sincerity of one's faith
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If you are not enjoying a good life, it's because something is lacking in you You are always trying to achieve
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God's favor through sacrificially giving and pious displays Will a good father give his son a snake though who asks for a fish
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According to the prosperity gospel he will if the son isn't sincere enough. That's the prosperity gospel.
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There's another false gospel And I believe right now Doesn't come as a surprise to some of you.
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It's a greater threat, and that's the social justice gospel because of how pervasive it is I Cannot tell you the amount of popular preachers today who tell their congregations their sheep
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That if they preach salvation by grace through faith, that is just a half gospel or part of the gospel
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It's not the whole gospel We must pursue social justice if we are to embrace the whole gospel.
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That's the other part of the gospel apparently There are even preachers who call this so -called second part of the gospel the gospel of justice
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The term I didn't make that up Not to be confused of course with the gospel of grace Which is what
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Paul's talking about and it's the only true gospel and the one that we're talking about this morning They tie heavy burdens around the necks of their followers and condemn them to everlasting punishment if they fail this second part of the gospel
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Then there are the good old -fashioned legalists who preach that in order to maintain Maintenance language, okay maintain
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One standing before God they need to keep the law Usually this law includes such things as abstaining from certain taboo vices
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Granting considerable control to church leaders and keeping up a good public image And if you do those things, then you're maintaining
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The at least we will all come together and affirm that you are a true Christian Does any of that sound like good news to you?
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Doesn't sound good news to me either The Apostle Paul has something to say about these false Gospels in chapter 3 verses 1 through 4
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Why don't you turn their chapter 3 verses 1 through 4 he says this This is strong. He says you foolish
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Galatians. I Think of mr. T all of a sudden for you fools, right? I pity you
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You foolish Galatians Who has bewitched you? Before whose eyes
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Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified This is the only thing
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I want to find out from you Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?
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Are you so foolish having begun by the Spirit? Are you now being protected or perfected by the flesh?
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Did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain So then does he who provides you with the
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Spirit and works miracles among you do it by the works of the law or by? hearing with faith
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He continues verse 22 21 and 22 He says this for if a law had been given which was able to impart life then righteousness would indeed have been based on law
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But the scripture has shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ Might be given to those who believe
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But before faith came we were kept in custody under the law being shut up to the faith, which was later to be revealed
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Therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith
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You understand what Paul is saying here First he's saying it's okay to be sarcastic every now and then
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I just want you all to know that It's not un -christian Secondly and more importantly there is no life to be found in the law
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You're trying to get something you're trying to get water from a stone You fool you're not gonna.
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There's no water in it You can't get grace from the law it's not gonna happen there two completely different things a
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Propensity to keep God's law is the result of salvation not the cause of salvation
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It is the fruit of salvation not the root Or as one pastor told me it is like a
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GPS It can tell you when you're off track, but it is not a gas pedal.
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It cannot save you or motivate your Christian life This is why Christians who hear law all the time don't actually they can they can modify their behavior
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But it doesn't change their heart Their sin might go underground, but it's still there and Many pastors throughout this country try to motivate their congregations that way
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Live a holy life come to church read your Bible because it says so it says to do it
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Yeah, it is a command. We need to know it's a command Yes, we need we need to do the things that God has commanded us true.
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It's not the motive though Look to Christ Look what he did look what he did for you understand what he did for you
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How the the mansion of the master is swung open and you get to be at the table? That would that would motivate anyone to love the master is it possible
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Here's a question for Christians to be temporarily compromised by a false teaching that corrupts the gospel with requirements of the law
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Answer is yes throughout the entire book of Galatians Paul argues against those in the church who were tempted to adopt this false teaching and In chapter 2 verses 11 through 4
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Paul tells us that the Apostle Peter Cephas is what your translation probably says stood condemned and engaged in hypocrisy because he was not straightforward about the truth of the gospel and The term for condemned conveys the idea of guilt here.
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Okay, so it's a different word He says the false teachers are anathema. They're accursed very strong.
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He didn't say that about Peter and say he's accursed What he says is he's guilty He's guilty before God and and why would he be guilty?
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He didn't actually trust in the false gospel himself He wasn't a false teacher
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But he was guilty of in giving the impression that there really wasn't any difference between what the
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Judaizers were teaching in the true gospel He didn't make a wall between the truth and the lies
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That's why he was compromised. That's why he was condemned. He was guilty in chapter 6 verses 12 through 14
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Paul exposes the motives of the false teachers as Attempting to make a good showing in the flesh and boast instead of bearing one another's burdens
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There's a contrast in the final chapter. We should bear one another's burdens. That's not what they do. They heap burdens on people
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They condemn you you you leave at you you're beaten up because because you didn't achieve because you never will and And you're made to feel that unless you do you're not worthy of God's love.
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He's frowning on you somehow I do want to ask you briefly this morning if you see any of these traits in you, okay again
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It's not to condemn you. This is it's dangerous for me to even ask this after preaching this grace I don't want you to this is just an assessment.
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It's GPS. Okay, it's not gas pedal Do you harbor an unwillingness to forgive others the way
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Christ forgave you Do you question the salvation of others because they fail to keep the law?
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Do you question your own salvation because you fail to keep the law? Do you try to gain
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God's forgiveness by keeping the law? Do you doubt his forgiveness when you fail to keep the law if any of this describes you this morning, then
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I have Gospel for you of good news for you Look at chapter 2 verse 16 a
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Person Paul says is not justified by works of the law But through faith in Christ Jesus Even we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not
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By works of the law since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified
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And guess what scripture even teaches that our faith is a gift from God so It's not like you have to have perfect faith.
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No one does that's even a gift that God's given you We are blessed here to enjoy the love of God and the love of one another and in this uncertain world
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Let us not look to ourselves and the changing circumstances that are around us And I realize for some of you this pits closer to home than for others
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Some of you lost your jobs Some of you don't you're afraid of what's going to happen in in the future.
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I think we all have an uncertainty and We can't let those things be the metrics by which
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That we use to determine our own joy and our own decisions We must look first and foremost being aware of those things at the purposes of God in history and how we fit into them and We fit into them because Christ loves us because we are a gift from the father to the son
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And then the son perfects us and gives us back to the father and we are a trophy of his grace We God looks at us and he sees his son
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He sees a work that he's done and he gets to show the whole entire world. This is my grace
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This is my mercy. This is who I am. This is what I've done Who else could do this who else could take rubbish and and then make it pure as gold and That's what
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God does and we have to remember that that that's that's the how we that that's our place and it's a it's a privilege
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Place it's not a bad word by the way privilege is a good thing God gives it to us and that that is something that is undeserved unmerited and We have anyway,
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I'll repeat for you the words from the song. We just sang here. Oh how he loves you and me
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Oh how he loves you and me. He gave his life. What more could he give not our lives?
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One more could we give he gave his life. Oh How he loves you. Oh how he loves me.
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Oh how he loves you and me. Let's pray Father we thank you for the truth of your word this morning and the simplicity of the gospel message
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Lord. We know How easy it is to forget I know for me Lord How easy it is for me to get into a works mentality and thinking that you won't approve of me unless I do something for you and It's already been done in Jesus Lord.
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There's nothing left for me to do. It's a hundred percent paid for all my sin all my guilt and Lord, I thank you for the believers that you've gathered here whom
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Jesus is also redeemed I pray God that we would remember this grace even as we go forward into 2022 and we we in uncertainty not knowing what's going to happen with the political situation and the social situation and maybe
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Trials in our own lives that we all have we know one things for certain and is unmovable and that is your love for us
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Lord because Christ Jesus does not change. He's the same yesterday today and forever and we thank you for that truth
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Lord We thank you for the body of believers that comes together because of this
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We love each other because of this and there's security here because of this in Jesus name.