WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.839 Thank you for tuning in to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:12.240 Newsong is a gospel-centered community-serving Anglican church in Port Perry, Ontario, and the parish of the Anglican Network in Canada. 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:13.759 We'd love to connect with you. 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:19.760 If you'd like to reach out to us, you can find our contact information at Newsongportperry.ca. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.879 God bless you through the ministry of the Word. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:30.160 A reading from the book of Galatians, chapter 1, verses 1 to 9. 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:44.960 Paul and Apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, and all the brothers who are with me, to the churches in Galatia. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:01:00.000 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:00.960 Amen. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:09.519 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:16.400 Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:26.319 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:28.079 As we have said before. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:37.519 So now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you have received, let him be accursed. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:39.200 The word of the Lord. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:02:02.159 Sisters, brothers, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:03.439 Amen. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:04.799 Let's pray. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:19.280 Lord Jesus, we come before you today, perhaps with burdens on our hearts, perhaps not sure how we feel today. 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:39.520 Lord, I pray that by your Holy Spirit and through your word, you would give us such a vivid and life-giving view of our Lord Jesus, clothed in his gospel, and grant us grace and peace in his name. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:41.759 And in Jesus' name we pray. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:42.719 Amen. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:44.080 Please be seated. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:55.439 Alright, well, Galatians. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:58.400 I'm very excited for our study in Galatians. 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:04.000 There are, if I'm allowed to have favorite books in the Bible, uh, Galatians is one of them. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:09.599 At least that's had one some of the most um just impactful in my own spiritual life. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:19.840 So if if nothing else, I'm excited for my own benefit to dive a little bit into Galatians, and I'm so excited for what the Lord has for us as we explore this wonderful letter from Paul uh this summer. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:22.479 I do have a couple things in mind for us to do. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:33.120 Um I want us to spend a little bit of time uh looking at these first nine verses where Paul gives such an important outline of what it is we're going to be diving into. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:42.639 Uh, and I also want us to conclude our time in kind of a a bit of a video overview kind of that ties together all of the themes and components of Galatians together. 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:44.159 So that's going to be at the end here. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:46.000 But to begin, I want to begin with a game. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:48.719 This is me drawing from my youth ministry experience. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:52.719 This is a game called, Is It Real or Is It AI? 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:55.759 We're all familiar with artificial intelligence, right? 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:58.800 That's kind of changing our world very quickly, taking the world by storm. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:05.439 And I am consistently amazed by the sort of images that can be generated with AI. 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:18.079 And so the game is I'm going to show you five images, and with a show of hands, you're going to tell me whether or not that is the the image you're looking at is a real image or if it's an AI-generated fake out. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:19.040 Make sense? 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:19.519 Okay. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:23.120 And then I've got stickers for you after service if you want, if you get them all right. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:25.199 Okay, let's go image number one here. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.600 Alright, so I see a misty landscape. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:33.519 What do y'all think? 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:34.560 Real? 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:36.959 AI. 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:38.879 AI takes it. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.519 That is an AI-generated landscape. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:43.279 Alright, next image. 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:47.680 We've got the Pope in a puffer jacket. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:49.199 Who thinks it's real? 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:51.279 Who thinks it's AI? 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:53.439 I'm betting you've seen this image before. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:55.040 It is an AI image. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:58.160 Although it is a great look for Pope Francis, I think. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:02.639 I just realized this segment is gonna be great for folks who are listening on the podcast later. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:04.560 This is gonna be very engaging. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:06.240 Okay, next image. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:08.480 We've got avocado and toast. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:11.600 This is what got me through college, avocado and toast. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:13.920 Uh who thinks it's real? 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:16.959 Who thinks it's AI? 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:19.680 AI takes it once again. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:21.279 This is an AI image. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:22.720 We're three for three here. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:24.639 Next image. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:30.480 We've got a lovely couple standing next to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:32.000 Who thinks it's real? 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:35.040 Who thinks it's AI? 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:37.360 It's a lovely couple, isn't it? 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:39.680 It is an AI generated image. 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:42.399 These are four AI images. 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:43.279 Alright. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:45.279 And last image here. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:50.959 We've got a futuristic looking lobby of a building here. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:52.399 Who thinks it's real? 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:55.199 Very nervous, I can tell. 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:56.399 Who thinks it's AI? 00:05:58.079 --> 00:05:59.680 It is in fact real. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:02.000 I had to slip it in there. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:03.519 I'm sorry, you guys. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:07.839 That is, I forget where that is in California, but I think it's Apple owns it, I think. 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:09.839 It's a Steve Jobs something or other. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:12.399 I can look it up for you if you're interested afterwards. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:13.199 All right. 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:14.160 Who got all five? 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:15.199 Did anyone get all five? 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:15.680 No? 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:16.959 Did anyone get four? 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:18.639 Joe, you got four? 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:20.720 I've got some stickers for you after service stager. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:22.560 Well done. 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:40.879 So the thing that uh we are just so profoundly aware of in our moment is uh the line between what is genuine and real, and the line between uh what is uh artificial, counterfeit, fake is very blurry sometimes, isn't it? 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:46.160 It is not always an intuitive thing to know exactly what is real and what is not real, right? 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:49.120 And we feel that very profoundly, I think, in our moment, right? 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:54.800 We're very aware of it when we read multiple sources from the news to try and get a measured perspective on something. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:58.160 We're never quite sure what to take at face value anymore. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:05.199 We're very profoundly aware of this whole new reality that artificial intelligence just is a is a part of that, right? 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:14.639 But this is, even if we're profoundly aware of this challenge, the challenge between discerning what's real and what's counterfeit, this isn't unique to our time. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:24.560 It's something that every generation has had to discern what is the genuine article, uh, what is the real McCoy, and what is a counterfeit, what is a fake. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:34.399 In the spiritual landscape of things, Paul is dealing with this in the first century, with these churches in the Roman province of Galatia. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:42.800 Paul is dealing with the question of what is the genuine gospel, what is the real deal, and what is a counterfeit. 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:49.839 Paul is writing this letter, and it is a letter to Galatians, the church in Galatia, which is a Roman province. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.879 Paul is writing this probably AD 48, AD 49. 00:07:55.120 --> 00:08:00.720 So we're talking 15, no more than 20 years after Jesus' death and resurrection here. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:06.959 So this might be Paul's earliest letter, and one of the earliest letters we have in the New Testament. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:14.160 So Paul is writing this letter somewhere between Acts 13 and 14 and Acts 15. 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:16.879 We just did a study in Acts this last spring, right? 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:23.360 So Acts 13, 14, Paul and Barnabas are taking a missionary journey planting churches all around the Mediterranean. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:35.759 And they pass through the southern part of this province of Galatia and stop at a number of cities where they plant churches, and they hand the church leadership over to uh to the local pastors there and continue on their way. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:46.159 And in Acts 15, the church all gathers together in Jerusalem to make a decisive call on the issue that's really at the heart of this letter to the book of Galatians. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:48.000 What is the gospel, right? 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:50.000 That's really the heart of Acts 15. 00:08:50.080 --> 00:09:02.720 So somewhere between Acts 14 and Acts 15, Paul is writing this letter to a church that has very quickly, after his departure, uh gone off the rails in terms of what they're teaching. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:06.000 Here's what we're gonna see in these first nine verses. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:12.720 Paul is gonna lay it out for us and give us a kind of a trajectory for our whole study this summer. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.759 Paul is gonna outline the gospel for us. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.960 He's gonna answer the question, what is the gospel? 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:25.759 And Paul is gonna make clear his burden that the church understands the gospel. 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:38.320 He's gonna help us see what a tragedy it is to trade the genuine thing for a lackluster counterfeit and what this just how high the stakes are in terms of the gospel that we profess. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:40.080 So this is our game plan here. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:45.279 We're gonna have a very close look at verses three to nine, especially. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:46.559 Let's dive in. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:56.240 If you've got your order of service, if you've got your Bible, let's open it up, let's see if we can discern for ourselves what the genuine gospel is from its counterfeit. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:17.279 Paul writes to the churches in Galatia, great uh grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:18.639 Amen. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:25.919 So, if you're familiar with Paul's letters, this probably sounds like a very familiar rhythm. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:31.120 Paul begins most of his letters by extending grace and peace to those that he's writing to. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:37.679 And it might be tempting to think, well, this is a very lovely kind of pastoral way to start a letter or something. 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:39.840 Maybe it's like an email signature almost. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:42.080 It's like automatically generated or something. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:52.240 But I think if we're too hasty to go through these opening lines, we will miss what Paul is trying to set up for the Galatians and for us who are reading this letter as well. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:56.720 Paul is doing far more than offering us a very polite pastoral greeting. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:02.320 He is outlining the essential ingredients of the good news of Jesus. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:12.480 He's laying out for us, he's putting on the table everything that makes up the good news, the things that we ought not to miss, and the things we cannot do without. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:15.279 So let's pull this apart just a little bit here. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:18.399 Grace is how Paul begins here. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:27.840 Grace is God's favor, his benevolence, his benefits, his good will towards us. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:33.519 It is God's generous and gracious heart towards us. 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:36.320 It is unearned, it is unmerited. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:42.639 Grace to you, Paul says, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:54.720 This word peace is related to a word that we might be familiar with, uh, the word shalom, which is both a Jewish greeting but a very, very key word for Paul, who is a Jew. 00:11:54.960 --> 00:12:00.960 Shalom is more than just the sort of peace that happens when there's an absence of conflict, when we're all just kind of getting along. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:04.960 Shalom is like God's right ordering for creation. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:20.480 It's creation renewed, it's creation restored, it's pointing us forward to that ultimate work that God's going to accomplish in Christ when he returns to put all things to right and to renew and restore and reorder our whole world, the world that we live in here. 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:24.080 Grace to you and peace, those are loaded, loaded words. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:25.360 Let's not miss that. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:29.200 Those are two essential ingredients of the good news of Jesus. 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:33.759 Grace to you and peace from God our Father, from a heavenly source. 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:44.799 God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:50.080 For Paul, these are absolutely essential. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:56.720 If we lose these things, if we lose grace, if we lose peace, we lose the gospel. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:59.519 It is far more than just a greeting for Paul. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:03.440 This is the heart of God's heart for us. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:06.799 This is why Paul can write in another letter to the church in Rome. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:25.039 Since we've been justified, that is, we've been made right through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:27.919 That is the heart of the gospel right there. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:38.799 God's grace, his goodness, his kindness, his benevolence towards us that reorders and renews and restores our lives from the inside out and the world in which we live. 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:41.120 Grace and peace to you. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:46.639 One of my heroes of the faith, named Martin Luther, writes this as he's reflecting on these verses. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:54.080 He says, These two words, grace and peace, include all that belong to Christianity. 00:13:54.559 --> 00:14:00.000 Grace releases sin, and peace makes the conscience quiet. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:08.960 He goes on to say, it is impossible for the conscience to be quiet and joyful unless it has peace through grace. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:13.440 That is through the forgiveness of sins promised in Christ. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:14.720 Do you see that? 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:18.320 Okay. 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:21.759 Grace and peace to you. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:24.559 That's an offer to you and I today, by the way. 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:29.759 But not just in the hypothetical, not just in the abstract. 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:35.120 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who did what? 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:38.480 Gave himself for you and I. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:47.360 Who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:51.200 Our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sin. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:15:04.960 Granted, sin is a pretty loaded word, and I know for some of us, perhaps we've had experiences in and around the church where sin is a word that's been used like a blunt instrument across the head, and we are ready to just back right off. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:10.080 And I don't, I know that there are some stories where it's been it's been harder than easier. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:15.440 But what Paul is trying to articulate when he uses this word sin is not a blunt instrument. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:19.440 Paul is trying to articulate something that we intuitively know to be true. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.879 The world is not the way it's supposed to be. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:29.200 There is something distorted, there is something, there is something corrupted. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:34.480 I mean, goodness, we only have to open, like turn on the news to recognize that that's the case, right? 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:43.120 And if we're honest enough with ourselves, we know that we have participated and perpetuated that same brokenness we observe in the world. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:51.200 See, it's this word sin that Paul is trying to use to give articulation to the fact that things are not the way that they're supposed to be. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:16:04.399 There is a guilt, a transgression that belongs to us, that results in our alienation, our estrangement from God, and makes us worthy of condemnation before a holy God. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:08.399 We don't stand on a morally neutral plane before the Lord. 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:12.399 We stand in our brokenness and our corruption and our distortion. 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:13.919 This is the reality of things. 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:19.120 And this, I think, is enough for a lot of folks to say, look at Christianity and say, I am out. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:20.480 No, thank you. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:31.440 The tragedy, if we go that far and no further, is that we miss the goodness and grace of God revealed to us in our sin. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:36.240 Let's not overlook what Paul, the point that Paul is trying to make here. 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:45.600 Our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:17:06.640 The God before whom we stand rightly condemned is the God who entered into our situation in Christ to bear our sins upon the cross, to put its power to death, and then through his new life offer us the hope of everlasting life in fellowship with God. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:14.160 That is the goodness and grace and peace of God towards us in Christ. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:15.599 Do you see it? 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:21.920 The word Paul's using here for gave himself is a word, it's a substitutionary word. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:24.960 And we need to catch that reality. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:40.079 Jesus has stepped into our place to be the righteousness that we could not have for ourselves, to bear our sins, to take our penalty upon himself, so that we can have the hope of eternal life that he is one for us. 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:42.160 He is our substitute. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:51.839 And unless we catch that substitutionary reality, that exchange that takes place between the sinner and our Lord Jesus, then we will miss the gospel. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:54.880 One pastor named Tim Keller writes this. 00:17:55.039 --> 00:18:01.759 He says, Substitution is why the gospel, the good news, is so revolutionary. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:08.880 Christ's death was not just a general sacrifice, but a substitutionary one. 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:17.839 He did not merely buy us a second chance, giving us another opportunity to get life right and stay right with God. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:22.960 Jesus did all we should have done in our place. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:31.200 So when he becomes our Savior, we are absolutely free from penalty or condemnation. 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:32.960 Do you see that? 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:39.039 Do you see that exchange that has taken place in Jesus? 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:42.559 That's the exchange that can change a life. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:44.640 It changed Paul's life. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:47.839 It's changed the lives of saints through the ages. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:50.240 It's transformed the world. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:54.559 Our Lord Jesus has done for us what we could not. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:19:00.799 And when we see that He has done it on our behalf, what else can we say? 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:04.160 But glory to God. 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:14.799 One ancient Christian writes, reflecting on this theme, writes this. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:35.519 Oh sweet exchange, oh unsearchable operation, oh benefits surpassing all expectation, that the wickedness of many be hid in a single righteous one, and that the righteousness of one, the Lord Jesus, should justify many transgressors. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:37.599 Do you see it? 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:41.200 Do you see the exchange that's taken place? 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:44.079 That's God's grace for you. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:46.880 That's God's grace for me. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:57.839 And that means that salvation, our rescue from sin, is 100% God's work. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:00.559 100% God's work. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:08.880 It's not 90% us and 10%, or pardon me, 90% God, 10% us, not 90% us or 10% God. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:13.680 It's not even 99.9% God and 0.1% us. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:20.240 Because if it is one 0.1% us, then we better hold up our 0.1%, right? 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:30.799 God's grace will only ever be conditional if any of the work of our salvation belongs to us. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:33.599 God has done it completely. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:44.880 He has completely taken your sin and my sin upon himself on the cross, put it to death, and raised us to a new life in Christ, so that we can know his grace and peace. 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:46.400 Do you see it? 00:20:50.240 --> 00:21:03.519 That's why Paul says Paul says our salvation was according to the will of God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:04.480 Amen. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:09.119 We cannot claim 0.1% of the glory. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:21.920 The degree to which we think we can claim glory for the work of salvation is the degree we are glorifying ourselves and making an idol out of our own works, and we will miss the gospel. 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:36.400 But it is God's glory that He has taken our sins upon Himself and offers us this free exchange that becomes ours when we put our trust in Jesus. 00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:40.079 Do you see how good the gospel is? 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:45.119 This is amazing grace. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:51.359 This is unfailing love that you would take my place, that you would bear my cross. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:59.519 And we can sing, it is done, it is finished, no more debt I owe, paid in full, all sufficient merit, now my own. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:06.240 To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus, for my life is wholly bound to his. 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:13.200 Oh, how strange and divine I can sing, all is mine, yet not I, but through Christ in me. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:18.000 We're not just singing nice ideas, are we? 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:23.839 We are reminding one another, as the church, why it is we gather. 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:29.039 We are reminding each other of the goodness of the gospel itself. 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:30.480 That's what we're doing. 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:37.279 We are glorifying God and we are proclaiming to one another how good the gospel of God's grace is. 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.960 And it is a gospel of grace and grace alone. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:42.400 What is the gospel? 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:52.799 Here's Paul's answer: it is God's grace and peace through Jesus who rescues us from our sins. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:23:01.839 It is God's grace and peace to us through Jesus who rescues us from our sins. 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:12.400 In other words, we could put it this way: the gospel is the good news that God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:18.000 It is not religious advice about what you and I have to do for God. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:19.920 Do you see the difference? 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:23.599 Because it's so subtle sometimes. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:30.720 We slip from one mode of gospel thinking, and the next second we're right into, boy, I better pull up my bootstraps. 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:31.599 Right? 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:37.759 It is not advice, it is good news about what God has done in Christ. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:41.759 And that makes all the difference for saint and sinner alike. 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.079 Let me explain what I mean. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:24:00.079 Maybe you go home today, inspired by the sermon, as you always do, and you think, boy, I'm going to today, I am going to show God's heart and love and mercy and compassion. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:04.240 I'm just going to pour myself into an incredible work of charity. 00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:08.160 And maybe we go home and we buy a van for a family in need. 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:11.039 Maybe we donate our whole pantry to the food bank. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:18.000 Maybe we do something over and beyond the call of duty, so to speak. 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:20.880 We do something incredibly generous. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:30.640 But we go to bed tonight assured and grateful of the reality that we are children of God by grace. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:44.640 Maybe you go home today inspired by the sermon and you say, I'm promised, Lord, I'm not going to do that one thing that I keep doing in sinning against you. 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:46.319 I'm not going to do it. 00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:47.759 And guess what? 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:49.440 You do it again. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:51.599 For the 10,000th time. 00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:54.640 Because that's the way sin works, right? 00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:04.880 And that sinner goes to bed tonight, assured and grateful that they are a well-loved child of God. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:11.759 You see, for the saint who might otherwise be puffed up by their good works, it's freedom from pride. 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:21.599 But for the saintly sinner who feels desolate and weighed down by their guilt, it is freedom from condemnation. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:32.480 Because saint and sinner alike, which we are both, let's not kid ourselves, is the reality that we are rescued by grace and grace alone. 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:34.799 Our hope is only Jesus. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:39.119 And so it is assurance, no matter where we're at today. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:45.279 And this is what makes it so tragic that the Galatians have fallen for a counterfeit. 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:55.839 Paul's heart is burdened for this church that has exchanged the glorious reality of God's substitution in Christ for their own works. 00:25:56.079 --> 00:26:00.240 The gospel that the Galatians have, the different gospel. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:01.759 Let me read verse 6 and 7. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:08.640 I am astonished, Paul writes, that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:10.079 And he quickly corrects himself. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:15.519 Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:26.880 Shortly after Paul leaves, in come a bunch of self-appointed teachers who are basically saying, Galatians, if you want to make God happy, you got to keep all the rules. 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:28.319 All the religious rules. 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:35.599 And if you keep all the religious rules, then you'll make God happy, and you can rest assured that you're saved. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:42.640 And that makes sense to a religious conscience in a way that the gospel blows the mind, right? 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:56.240 But Paul is saying, I am flabbergasted at how quickly you have exchanged the glorious good news of what God has done for you in Christ with this idea that you can earn it for yourself. 00:26:56.559 --> 00:27:00.960 Because one, you can't, and two, you shouldn't. 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:05.920 Paul's heart is burdened that they would know the genuine gospel. 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:07.839 And here's the thing, friends. 00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:11.920 What's happening in the life of the Galatians, I think, happens much the same in our own life. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:16.480 It can happen for us individually, it can happen for a church, it can happen for a culture. 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:18.240 Maybe, here's the thing. 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:22.319 Maybe you're find yourself, maybe you'd sort of identify yourself sort of on the theological right. 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:24.400 I know we've kind of got our political spectrum. 00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:27.680 There's sort of a theological spectrum that you could you could draw out as well. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:33.680 Maybe you're on the theological right and and you know you think our present moment has a lot to learn from where we've been. 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:36.720 So we we better take the past into account. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:42.079 And maybe you think, I'm gonna I'm I'm the right kind of Christian if I believe the right things. 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:48.400 If I believe the right things, if I check all the intellectual boxes, then I'm gonna be doing all the right things, right? 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:56.319 Maybe you're sort of more on the theological left and you think, boy, we better be looking at where the church is going and adapt ourselves to the present moment, right? 00:27:56.559 --> 00:28:02.480 And you think the heart of Christianity, maybe it's not so much about believing the right things, but it's behaving the right way. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:08.640 If I do the right things, if I have the compassion of Jesus, if I show that to my neighbors, that's the heart of Christianity. 00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:10.400 Here's the thing I want to point out. 00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:15.039 The gospel is not the right against the left, it is not the left against the right. 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:17.519 The gospel is something else altogether. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:23.119 Because the thing that the right and the left have in common here is they are both up to us to perform. 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:27.839 It is up to us to believe the right things, it is up to us to behave the right way. 00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:29.359 Both is our works. 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:34.400 And the gospel says it is not about what you do for God, but what God has done for you. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:45.759 And yes, that will lead to a transformed life in which we will come to a deeper understanding of who Jesus is for us, and it will lead to a life of transformation where we act more and more like Christ. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:52.160 But it begins not with what we do for God, but with what God has done for us in Jesus. 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:53.680 That's Paul's point. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:55.039 Do you see it? 00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:58.240 I hope we see that today. 00:28:58.559 --> 00:29:09.200 Because this gospel makes all the difference, and the stakes are too high, too high to mistake the gospel for anything else. 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:23.519 If we, Paul says, including himself, if an angel from heaven, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one that you received, let him be accursed, is what Paul says. 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:25.039 Condemned. 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:31.759 Because if the gospel leads to life, what can a counterfeit gospel lead to but death? 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:37.839 The stakes are too high for us to mistake the gospel for anything else. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:50.559 But when we know the gospel, we know the freedom that it brings, we know the assurance that it brings, it brings peace and rest to the restless soul. 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:53.839 It bids our strivings cease. 00:29:54.880 --> 00:30:00.400 And it places us entirely into the merciful hand of God in Christ. 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:05.279 And that's where we live and we breathe and we rest. 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:08.240 That is the gospel for us. 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:14.480 There is no middle ground, writes Martin Luther, between Christian righteousness and works righteousness. 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:19.599 There is no alternative to Christian righteousness but works righteousness. 00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:26.240 If you do not build your confidence on the work of Christ, you must build your confidence on your own work. 00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:31.519 But the opposite is true. 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:33.759 And that's a glorious hope. 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:40.799 If we build our confidence on the work of Christ, then we know the grace and peace that comes from him. 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:45.200 We aren't bothered by our saintliness, we're not bothered by our sinfulness. 00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:50.559 We look wholly to Christ, who has done it on our behalf. 00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:53.279 That's the gospel. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:34.000 So, brothers and sisters, as we head into the book of Galatians, my prayer is that we have an even deeper sense of the goodness of God in Christ, a more glorious glimpse of the gospel, a heart that rests assured, a heart that knows grace and peace revealed to us through the cross and resurrection, and we find ourselves wholly and completely gripped by grace and grace alone. 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:39.680 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:40.640 Amen. 00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:46.000 Thank you for listening today. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:51.839 We follow a generous God who calls us to give willfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially towards gospel ministry. 00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:58.160 Newsong is 100% funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us. 00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:05.839 If you'd like to learn more about how to give towards Newsong's ministry, you can do just that at newsongportperry.ca slash giving. 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:08.400 God bless you and keep you today and every day.