Freedom From Legalism | Pastor Will Hawk | February 22nd, 2026

Legalism creeps in wearing the mask of spiritual ambition. We take on extra rules, elevate our preferences, and forget that Paul calls them shadows while the substance is Christ. Today we sit with Colossians 2 and let its sharp “therefore” reframe everything: don’t let anyone judge you on food, drink, or special days; don’t let anyone disqualify you with ascetic flexes, angel talk, or breathless visions. The gospel cancels the record of debt, disarms rulers, and places you on a podium you did not earn—so stop letting secondary standards steal your joy.

We trace how this plays out on the ground. From Peter and John’s calm defiance in Acts 4 to Jesus’ teaching on fasting with the Bridegroom present, we see that wisdom is good, but “Jesus plus” is deadly. Loud voices often rise where Scripture stays quiet; that’s our cue to raise antennas, not new rules. We name the modern list—hair, diets, school choices, entertainment, frequency of communion—and show how majoring on minors wrecks churches, marriages, and friendships. Then we anchor in a picture you won’t forget: two high jumpers choosing two golds. Your gold doesn’t dim because someone else has one; grace multiplies without dividing.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Okay, Colossians 2, 13.

Will Hawk 0:50

I told Olivia I was going to give her a weird place to stop. So when she stops and you're like, you should keep reading, she's not making a mistake. I asked her to read this way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with legal demands. This he set aside, laying nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Therefore, let no one. This is the word of the Lord.

Notes, Setup, And The Big Therefore

Let No One Judge You

How Do You Stop Judgment

Peter And John’s Model In Acts 4

The Colossian Error And Shadows

Jesus Versus Loud Voices

Fasting Debate And Missing The Bridegroom

Legalism Diminishes Christ

Essentials, Liberty, And Charity

Majoring On Minors Wrecks Relationships

Will Hawk 1:26

Awesome. Thank you, Olivia. All right. Therefore, let no one. If you guys want to, uh I'll leave this up for about 20 seconds or so. If you guys want to grab today's notes in case I talk too fast or we go through the slides too quickly, you can scan the QR code and have the notes for today. Fair warning. Uh I don't always finish all of the notes that uh that I write for a given sermon. That happens today. And so if you cheat ahead, that's fine. You're just gonna see some stuff that I'll kick us off with uh next week. But what Olivia just read ended by saying this he disarmed the rulers, being Jesus, and authorities, put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Therefore, let no one what. Now I bring this up because usually when we see teaching from scripture, let no one do something to you is not what we read. What we're more normal in reading, what is more common, is this Jesus in Luke chapter six about our enemies. But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good even to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. In fact, let's take it even further to the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other one also. From the one who takes, steals your cloak, if they take your jacket, as they are walking away, say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you might need my t-shirt too. So it is a unique thing that Jesus would say, you are going to Christian, I'm speaking to Christians here, you are going to walk through a world that does not love you, it does hate you, it will persecute you, especially if you love me my ways and my worldview. If that is the case, expect people to take, and when they do, let it happen. But then we get to this teaching in Colossians, and the Bible says, Except for two things. So certainly let them hate you, let them curse you, let them steal from you, but don't you dare let them, and there are two things here verse 16, therefore let no one something, and verse 18, let no one something else. What is it that Christ does not want you to budge on and give up, Christian? Therefore let no one pass judgment on you. If you want to understand this verse correctly, that word matters a lot. Don't let them pass judgment on you in questions of food, what you eat, drink, what you drink, in regard to festival, new moon, how you celebrate some days or other days. All of those things are a shadow of the things to come. The substance belongs to Christ. Secondly, let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism, worship of angels, going on and on. I'll explain these things in a moment, but I want you to notice verse 19. Instead of holding fast to the head, notice, capitalized H-E-A-D, pointing to Christ, instead of holding on to Jesus, they have found a thousand different things. If you walk into my boy's room right now, they have more ball caps than any place that I've ever been. My oldest collects them. And so when you walk in, if you look to the left, there's, I don't know, 70, 80 hats just hanging up on the wall. Here's what I want you to imagine. When it comes to your salvation, when it comes to your right standing with God, there are so many things that we will hang our hat on. We'll hang our hat on giving, we'll hang our hat on serving, we'll hang our hat on not cussing, throwing away those CDs, not watching R-rated movies, showing up to church, praying, fasting, evangelizing. There are all of these things that we will hang our hats on. And what Paul is doing is he's taking out his DeWalt, Milwaukee, whatever. I'm not intending to like make teams here. I'm I'm yellow and black, but he pulls out everything you can put a hat on except for Jesus. And he says, when it comes to your right standing with God, don't you let anyone judge you in anything other than is your faith in Christ and in Christ alone. But here's the question: how do you stop someone from judging you? Don't let them, how do you stop someone from disqualifying you? Can I just tell you it sounds like a spiritual superpower? Because people judge Christians in the room, people judge you all the time. They judge the way you drive and they judge the way you talk. They judge what you like on social media and what you neglect to comment on in social media. They judge a thing that you did that you repented of moments later, and they don't even know that you went to the Lord to repent of it. They judge you not even to your face. They judge you in backroom conversations or whispers or text threads that you are not a part of. How am I supposed to let no one pass judgment on me in these secondary issues? And what does it look like? Bad news, I can't give you an exact answer. One reason is because circumstances matter. It's different when you're being judged by your mom than if you're being judged by a friend. It's different if you're being judged in a secondary matter, but I can give you a really good example when the Bible says, let no one pass judgment on you and disqualify you. Now I already circled it, but I want you to understand this. When the Bible says, let no one pass judgment on you, you've got to include the word in and what Paul is writing. Because, Christian, you do need people to judge the fruit of your life. You need people who will walk in and will say things like, Brother, I'm concerned that this is becoming too big or this is becoming too small. I'm concerned that I mean, just pick your thing. Something other than Jesus is becoming major and something about Christ is becoming minor. So, how is it that we're supposed to do this? I'll give you one really good example. In the picture on the screen, what you'll see are Peter and John standing before a council of religious leaders. Off to the side is a man sitting down. It's ironic the man is sitting down because he was just given the ability to walk in this story. They healed him, uh being lame in the name of Jesus. And now all of a sudden the religious leaders draw them in. How, what does it look like for you to not let someone judge you in secondary matters? Here's an example out of Acts 4. So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. This is one example. If you want to judge me, judge me. But here's the deal: when Jesus takes somebody who couldn't walk and he heals them, I'm not going to be quiet about it just because you don't like Jesus. I'm not going to be quiet about it because you didn't like him when he was living and walking and healing people and showing love to the loveless, and you really don't like it when he defeated your best attempt to put him down. I can't stop talking. So here would be example one. You judge as much as you need to. I am going to stand right before God. Notice this, Christian. They do not argue with them. They do not try to explain themselves, and they do not try to outlogic them. They simply say, You go right ahead and judge if you must. I must do what God has called me to. You see, we are told to let no one pass judgment on us in a number of secondary issues. What in all likelihood happened was there was a guy who was very charismatic, and he was beginning to lead the Colossians, a church in a place called Colossae, astray from the good news of Jesus Christ. And he was saying, Hey, here's the deal. If you like Jesus, that's all well and good. But don't you know if you really want to be impressive, you won't eat this thing. You won't drink that thing. You will celebrate this celebration, but not that celebration. By the way, if it doesn't sound to you like church today, you're not paying close attention. Some things never age out and hit an expiration date, but please notice verse 17. Paul looks right at him and he says, Look, these are a shadow of things to come. In the garden there was something we weren't supposed to eat. It wasn't pointing to the fact that you could be perfect. No, just as later the Jews would not eat pork. The point wasn't that pigs are bad animals. The point was we are trying to put on display on the outside that we are choosing God over anything else. You see this also with Samson. Samson was so far from being an impressive man. He's the biggest bonehead you will find. He's one of the biggest boneheads you will find in all of Scripture. The guy can't get it right. Woman hungry, angry, warmongering, passionate guy, and God's like, I'm gonna choose this guy and he's gonna do some good stuff for me. Why was it that he wasn't supposed to cut his hair? You ask an eight-year-old in one of those rooms, and they'll tell you, because God wanted to make him strong. And if he cut his hair, he wouldn't be strong. Did you know the reason he couldn't do these following three things? Cut his hair, be around dead bodies, or drink alcohol was not because he was supposed to be so impressive. He was taking a Nazirite vow. He was saying, I am choosing to say no to some of the things in this world so I can say more yes to my Lord. Now Samson kind of flubbed on all of it. It's a shadow of something to come. I will just tell you this: be cautious if voices are loud where scripture is quiet. And notice I did not put silent here. What you want to be very careful of, if you're listening to a blog, if you are following someone's writing or reading someone's books, if you are under the influence of a teacher or a speaker, if they are louder about something than scripture is, antennas up, eyes open, ears open, watch yourself. If God wanted to be louder on that thing, he is certainly capable to do so. Be cautious where voices are loud and scripture is quiet. I'll give you another really good example out of Matthew chapter nine. This one's my favorite because it feels like an argument at a church meeting over the color of the carpet. Uh I didn't grow up with a church like this, but I've been in the church long enough to see enough of these that honestly it just makes me smirk and smile. All right. It's sad, but it makes me smirk and smile for two reasons. One, then the disciples of John, that's important, this is John the Baptist. The disciples of John the Baptist came to him, this is Jesus, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? Let me interpret this 2,000 years ahead. If I'm not eating, he shouldn't be eating. If I'm not drinking, he shouldn't be drinking. If I don't get to watch a rated R movie, he doesn't get to watch a rated R movie. If I don't get to listen to this music, he shouldn't get to listen to this music. That's what's happening. If I'm gonna take the hard road, everybody better take the hard road. He even points to the Pharisees, which you would think would have been a red flag. Okay? Like if you've read anything, you would figure this out. Why are we taking the hard road? Even the Pharisees are taking the hard road, but your disciples are like, Man, turkey is so good. This is great. Let's have an awesome dinner. And Jesus looks at them. Here's what he says, and then I'll bring the speech up 2,000 years. Jesus said to them, Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. Here's what Jesus is saying. It doesn't make sense for my disciples to be fasting right now. Open your eyes. Here's what it would be like. It would be like you going to Christmas supper, Christmas dinner, and Nana has made the best sweet glazed ham. And everybody's digging in. You, you, whatever. We'll just say this person in the illustration. This person decides, I'm just gonna go last. I'm gonna let everybody go in front of me. And then instead of getting a plate of food, they just kind of stand there in the room while everybody else is eating. Inevitably, someone asks, Hey, aren't you gonna grab something? Like we worked really hard on this food. Is everything okay? Oh, far be it from me to enjoy a meal like this when I could fast and draw nearer to the Lord. And it's like no one likes you. You are not gonna, you're not getting one friend out of this thing. If you're gonna do it, do it quiet. Don't do it in a way where you're trying to shame the people around you. It's Thanksgiving lunch, and somebody has done the sweet potato souffle, which is my favorite, and they've been even more charitable in the sense that it's m it's it's marshmallows on the left and it's pecans on the right, so you can pick and choose. I get both, right? And it's instead somebody saying, Oh, we could never enjoy this food today, for the Lord has called us to seek Him, heart, mind, soul, and strength. Please do not be my friend. I do not want to spend time with you. It's Easter, except my kids aren't eating candy. Could you imagine them having sugar on a day we should celebrate Jesus? You can do both. And Jesus is saying, What sense does it make for me to be with them celebrating the world God has made, seeing the lame walk and the blind sea, watching people being set free from demon possession, and then sit down and say it's only bread and water for it. No, this is a time to celebrate. I can give you an example, but I can't give you an exact answer. Why? Because John and his disciples and the Pharisees, they saw a shadow of something, but they missed the substance. They missed the freedom that Christ was wanting to bring, letting others judge you. In in secondary, non-salvific issues is legalism. And Paul writes about it because he wants to warn you about it. He's not pushing drunkenness, he's not pushing gluttony, he's not pushing sexual depravity. If you think he is, turn the page and please just keep reading. But what he is saying is this every man-made litmus test and every hook in your heart you would build so that you can hang a hat that you can accomplish. It needs to come off the wall because it is diminishing who Christ is as you try to maximize who you are. So many disagreements over nonsense issues in the church. I don't mean here, I just mean in the church. And the South is the worst at it. The absolute worst. I was in a staff meeting one time listening to the whole staff have a conversation on how the length of my hair was ungodly. You look at me now and you're like, seriously? It used to be pretty long. There, there were pastors before we planted the church. My hair was not quite to my shoulders, it was pretty long. I looked more like Jesus then. I hope I live more like Jesus now. But um, and and there were pastors, I was like, Yeah, I'm gonna be moving into your area, would love to connect with you. And I one of them said, I was a little concerned about a new enthusiastic past pastor coming into the area, but I can look at you now and know none of our people are gonna want to go be led by you. And I was like, okay, yeah, fine. Just so you I love y'all's eyebrows. Like that was normal to me. It it was all kinds of things like what movie ratings you're allowed to watch, what clothes you're allowed to wear, do I have a tattoo? Do I not have a tattoo? What's your nutrition like? What about your water intake? Is it too much? Is it too little? How much time are you spending on screens? What about the friends or the car you drive? And if I really want to push the button, I just need to talk about how frequently we do communion, or what is the responsibility of a Christian with alcohol? What about homeschooling and non-homeschooling? And I can just watch your little like faces go happy and then not so happy when I touch on your particular thing. Jesus. That's it. He is the head. Now listen, don't get me wrong. We can talk about wisdom all day long. If a young man comes to me and he says, Well, I can't get a date, I'm not gonna say, but you're clinging to Jesus, right? I will, but then I'll tell him, man, you need you need to take a shower, shave, and find a job. Okay? If you want a woman who wants to be led by you, look like a guy who's able to lead. But that has nothing to do with your right standing with Christ. We must be cautious that while we can talk about wisdom all day long, the moment you attach anything other than faith and grace to a right standing with God, you are ill-it formed at best and evil at worst. And this is why Paul gives the warning because legalism is a church killer. Do you know why? It's because it's a relationship killer. And this church and every church is built on two relationships your relationship with Christ and your relationship with one another. You're never gonna be legalistic with Jesus because he will beat you, and none of us like to lose. But you will be legalistic with the person sitting next to you. And even if you don't do it out loud, you'll do it very quietly. How do I stack up? Two of the saddest things I hear are when I meet with people and they say, We really enjoy Mitry, but I just don't know if it's gonna be our home. And I'm like, Why? And they say, I don't know that we're smart enough to go here. I I want you to know I hear that. Like, really? Everybody here is just so smart. I would never get to James before they did in a Bible drill. That is heartbreaking. As the church is called to be a place. Do you do you wonder why I say the church is not a place to have all the answers, but to find them? That's why. It's not just a will-ism, it's because I meet with people and they wrestle with it. I talk with people all the time, and they say, My life just isn't clean enough yet. It's heartbreaking. This is the place for people whose lives are everything but clean. It's why a cross is front and center, to invite people. You see, in the church, Rupertus Melinius put it this way: here should be our motto. In essentials, unity. When it comes to Jesus, when it comes to his word being infallible, when it comes to the recognition that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, we are unified in this. But in all non-essentials, show people liberty. Doesn't mean we should be unwise, but it means we need to be real careful when we call people to add to Jesus or take from Jesus. It is Jesus and Jesus alone. And in all things, we ought to show charity. Legalism is a church killer because it's a relationship killer. You are in relationship with each other and it has nothing to do with your blood. There are so many last names in this room. It has to do with the fact that every one of you is an orphan adopted by Christ, brought into a family that you did not deserve to be in. So love your brothers. Love your sisters. Love those he would call to be your brothers and sisters who see the world in a very different way than you do. Majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors will wreck everything. If you want to destroy this church, I will tell you how to do it. Here's how write it down. I want to destroy mid-tree in one easy step. Major on the minors and minor on the majors, and then just let it cook. That's all you have to do. That's why I have six guys with me every Thursday that pray and watch and protect that that not happen. By the way, because it's built on relationships, if you want to wreck your marriage, major on the minors. Minor on the majors. Be real loud about his driving, but quiet about his prayers. Be real loud about how she wants you to read her mind. And even 20 years in, you still can't do it. But be very quiet about her gentle kindness and the thousand sacrificial things she does to make the family work. You want to wreck your kids? It's easy. Major on the minors. Minor on the majors. Yell at them. Shout about a dirty room and not making all A's. But be quiet when you see little Christ-like character beginning to bud. That's all you have to do. Maybe you're not married, maybe you don't have a kid. If that's the case, I can tell you how to wreck your friendships. Major on the minors. Minor on the majors. Bring all the attention to the fork that got left out by your roommate or the laundry pile you're still tripping on. And bring no attention to the open Bible heavily highlighted and noted. It's all you have to do. Kids, by the way, if you really want to wreck your parents, you can do the same thing. You can major on the minors and minor on the majors. You can argue about how you can never have spend the night company, but never tell them that you appreciate them reading the Bible to you every night. Guys, it is not hard to wreck a church. It's not hard to wreck a marriage. It is not hard to wreck a child. It is not hard to wreck a parent. Just major on the minors and minor on the majors. And it's why Paul would say, Don't let anyone do this. By the way, tucked into this, I haven't beat this drum, so let me just say it. It also means let no one pass judgment on you in secondary matters. You shouldn't be doing it on others either. I I feel like that stands as an obvious thing, but in case two people were like dodging convictions. This morning. I just want to go ahead and point that out. It's a two-edged sword. The second thing is let no one disqualify you. This one's a little harder to understand. All of us know when we're being judgmental, all of us know when we're being judged, but what does it mean to be disqualified? Here it is in context. Let no one disqualify you insisting on, Paul's going to list three things. I'm going to give a quick definition as we read each one. Christian, let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism. Don't let them disqualify you saying if you were just more self-disciplined, if you abstained from worldly pleasures, if you didn't eat this food, if you didn't have sex in marriage, if you didn't allow wealth to be a blessing, you just pick your thing. You should be the poorest, most emaciated, miserable person if you really want to be an elite Christian. Don't let anybody insist on that. The worship of angels, which to you may seem bizarre, but back then they would carry around little tokens. Angels that they would pray would that they would pray would protect them rather than going to God the Father through the access that Christ has provided. In other words, yes, Jesus is in my corner, but I'm gonna go build up some other spiritual help and heroes as well. And this one may seem odd to underline going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason. Notice this because it's about to get real fun. Going on, where is it, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind and not holding fast with his sensuous mind. Paul's talking about an individual here. And he would go on and on in detail about a vision he had, puffed up without reason. By the way, if you want a good definition for a fool, that's a great one. Puffed up without reason. What was happening is this individual was going, most likely we found this in Ephesus since this was written, was going to pagan temples, having some great experience, spiritual experience, worship experience, fill in the blank experience, and then he would come back and he would say, Yes, Jesus is good, but if you add to Jesus this pagan thing, then it's going to be even better. You can be an elite Christian, you can be an impressive Christian. Here's a guy who's puffed up and he doesn't even know to point to Jesus, who is the head, from who the whole body is nourished, knit together through joints and ligaments in a way that it will grow with a growth that is from God. He had all the enthusiasm, all the charisma, but none of the content. And then Paul does something very funny. You have to drop a verse or two to get to verse 21. And here's what he says: do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. I need you to notice in your Bibles and on the screen these quotes, because it makes this very, very fun. What probably happened was this. I'm being a little facetious and sarcastic. This teacher with all the charisma in the world was putting out an incredible podcast, had some really good, like viral 45-minute clips, and people were just eating it up. And this was his big message. You really want to be an impressive spiritual person. Don't touch that thing, don't taste that thing. You just abstain from anything and everything. Remember what Jesus said. Now's not the time to fast, right? So Paul quotes the guy in his letter. It would be as though I grabbed somebody else's sermon notes and said, talk about a bonehead, all right? By the way, this is what happened last week. Uh Thomas had a typo in his slides for first service. We told him to fix it, and he broke it more. So you guys told me, why was Jesus baptized? Does anyone know? Why was Jesus baptized? This is what Paul's. It's fun. It's okay to be a Christian that smiles, a Christian that laughs. Paul certainly didn't mind. He grabs this guy's sermon notes and he says, What a dummy. Who would say something like this? Now, I'm obviously messing with Thomas. That's okay. We have a really good relationship, but his point is look, in a world that says no, where does Jesus say no? Don't let them judge you. Don't let them disqualify you. I got that Burton wasn't kidding when he said uh he is surprised in a sense that I'm his pastor now. There are people who go to this church that change my diapers. Do you know how weird that is for me? I'm glad it's a blessing of them. It's a little weird for me. But can I tell you what I love about it? Here's what I love about it. We talk about this capital campaign and we talk about uh building a church that can steward people well and can think about a legacy and a future. I get to think about my children being in leadership roles here. I get to think about your kids who are in kids' ministry right now being the ones who are preaching sermons and are going on the missions field. And do you want to know it's not because they're impressive, perfect, cute little kids? I got into all kinds of shenanigans, constantly in the principal's office, put in the back of a squad car. And do you know what God does with those people? He makes them pastors. And if that bothers you, I'm completely cool with it. That's been my whole life. God loves taking broken people with backgrounds that make very little sense and elevating them like Peter, like Paul, because all it does is display his incredible grace. There is no such thing as advanced spirituality. There is knowing and loving Jesus and trusting him for the forgiveness of your sins, and there is everything else. And this individual was promoting an idea that would not only have disconnected folks from Christ, but severed them. Now, when he says not holding fast to the head, which is Christ, I will just tell you, you can get by without an arm. You can get by without a leg, without an eye, and without an ear. You're not getting far without your head. And that's exactly what he was saying here. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on Jesus plus salvation. This is somebody who wants to make an elite version. And that's what the word disqualify means. It means for somebody to take away a reward that was rightly yours. I love watching the Olympics. Nobody, I mean this, this is not a joke. I do not want to know what's happening in the USA-Canada hockey game. I don't, don't, it won't be cute. I like you think, oh, it won't. It will not endear me to you. I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna watch how it ends on my own. But do you know what I love about the Olympics? I love when people from different countries get on the podium and the bronze medalist celebrates that the gold medalist made of gold. That's what I love. I love people who can't even speak the same language, just celebrating that they made the podium. And do you know what crushes me about Christians? It crushes me when you think your gold shines less if somebody else has one too. I have to look better than the people around me, in front of me, or behind me for my pursuit of Christ to actually count. And it is garbage theology and philosophy. I want to show you this great little clip. If you guys would go ahead and press play on it. This is not from the current Olympics, it's from uh Summer Olympics. Two guys are going for gold in the high jump. And what you're gonna see is the first one go to make the jump. He's gonna do it. He's gonna literally set the gold standard. And when he does, y'all good back there, just give me a thumbs up if I need to keep going or not. I'm good? Okay. And when he does, you're gonna see his competitor who still has to make the no, I mean, he could probably make a high jump, I think. All right, here you go. Nope. Yep. All right, nails it, boom, gold standard set. What does his competitor do? Clap, celebrate that his life just got harder. They get to the next one, he falls, fell short a hundred percent. Now the Italian has an opportunity. Now he can get the gold. He runs, jumps, falls short. Both of them fall short of the gold standard. They've tied, which means they should go into a jump off, whatever that means, and however it works. And so this Olympic official walks up, and I'm gonna be quiet, turn up the volume. I want you to hear this. What about two golds? It's possible. Kill the audio, leave the video. That's all they needed. It didn't mean more to one that he had a gold and someone else did. This is what Christianity is supposed to look like. It's supposed to look like I got a gold, not because I outran sin or I jumped over the hurdles of life. I got gold because Christ did. And he looked at me and he said, Son, do you want something you could never earn? Do you want to stand on a podium that you would never deserve? Here you go. Take the gold medal. And then he looks at your brother or your sister sitting in front of, beside, or behind you, and he offers the same thing. You see, up to this point, I've been talking to Christians. Now let me talk to all of you. If you have ever felt like the race of life was too hard for you to do well, you are right. Now, can I give you the good news of the gospel? All of those 603 or 608 laws of what you weren't supposed to touch or see or eat that you can read about in the Old Testament, it was a shadow pointing to a substance. Christ was going to run every race, he was gonna jump every hurdle, he was gonna hit every mark perfectly and set the record. And you can spend every one of your days trying to get every one of your decisions, every one of your thoughts right, or you can walk up to Christ and say, Your word promises that if I ask for the forgiveness of my sins, you will forgive me and invite me into a family I don't belong in. That you will not only give me a neutral standing, you will give me a gold medal. And the moment he does, here's what Paul's saying: don't you ever let anybody take that from you. Don't you ever let your own thoughts take that from you. You couldn't earn it and you cannot lose it. Christ did, and he secured it. And the other thing that happens is this you're able to look at somebody else's gold and celebrate it. Not measure yourself by it, simply celebrate it. Legalists and elites are gonna try to snatch your medal away, but don't you ever come down off the podium that Christ secured in his blood. Don't you ever hand that off. You aren't there because you ran the race of life well or because you jumped over hurdles of sin. You're there because he did and he gave imputed that medal to you. I I would encourage you to think about this question. How do you need to practice renewing your mind this week? Are you so constantly competitive that you're judging yourself based off of others? Are you judging yourself based off of your previous self? Can you find the freedom that Christ offers when he knocks every peg off the wall that you would want to hang your hat on and leaves only one? Coming to him to find repentance and grace. And the beauty of it is, you need only ask for the forgiveness of your sins, that he would become the Lord of your life. And here's the great news Jesus always answers the exact same way. Yes, my son. Yes, my daughter. We're gonna close in worship and respond the same way we always do. In a minute, the band's gonna come up and we're gonna stand and sing. Before we do, we wanna invite you. There are little cards in front of you. If you need to talk with a pastor, if you want to become a Christian, if there are next steps that you need to take, you'll have an opportunity to put those in the plate as the ushers get ready to pass the plates. Additionally, if you want to receive prayer or just celebrate what God is doing through prayer, there will be a number of us on the back porch. And in a moment, Bennett will tell us when to stand and sing. But let's posture ourselves to receive from Christ all of the gold he would give us through his own life.