WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.520 What a wonderful chapter amidst this wonderful book. 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:06.719 Like we've talked about, this would have been a letter read in its entirety. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:09.919 So that's why we're trying to read chunks at a time. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:14.240 I don't think I'm going to be able to do this justice in terms of being able to talk about every single part of this. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:24.559 And so that's why uh three weeks ago I said, I I would like for us to go through this book together on Sunday, but at the same time for you to do this on your own. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:29.039 There's a great commentary, little book by Tim Keller called Galatians for You. 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:33.520 I've been reading it, and so maybe you want to get that because that would be something that you could read. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:39.119 All these verses that I don't mention, you could dig in and get a lot out of that as well. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:53.439 The question for this morning to start us out is if being good enough has never really been enough, if being good enough has never really been enough, why do we keep living that way of life? 00:00:54.399 --> 00:01:06.719 And maybe that good enough has been for you in some faith context, or maybe that good enough for you has been in some morality context, maybe it's been in some performance context of school or life or career. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:14.719 It's even possible that that good enough has been in you trying to be good enough at not being good, right? 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:20.879 And so it's like I'll be good enough at being rebellious, and then how's that working in the long run? 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:23.920 And none of this really works in the long run at all. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:38.480 Comes back to if performing yourself into worthiness or justification before God or as a person, if performing yourself into that has never worked, why keep doing it? 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:40.480 Why return to it? 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:46.000 I had an English teacher in high school, her name was Miss Walker, and she was short, she had short gray hair. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:47.439 She was ruthless. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:49.040 I mean, she was a pretty ruthless teacher. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:52.959 I mean, she was a really good English teacher in that there was right grammar and wrong grammar. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:57.359 You couldn't sleep in class if you wanted to talk, you had to raise your hand. 00:01:57.680 --> 00:01:59.840 So it was a tightly run class. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:02.879 There was correct prose and incorrect prose. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:06.400 There was a correct commentary on that Shakespeare. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:09.360 There was an incorrect commentary on that Shakespeare. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:12.960 And so it was a tightly run English class. 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:17.840 And yet the interesting thing about it is none of us wanted to hang out with Miss Walker in the hallway. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:18.719 Right? 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:21.759 I mean, the football game, we were like, oh, Miss Walker, we're so excited. 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:23.599 And you wouldn't have been either. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:31.439 And the reason why is because none of us want to be followed around by a schoolmaster who's waiting to pop us on the hand with a ruler. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:35.280 Maybe you actually went to a school where you got popped on the hand with a ruler. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:36.240 They did this. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:40.400 And you're not going like at the end of the day, like, hey, let's let's hang out, let's be together. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:41.759 I want to live with you. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:42.800 I want to hang out. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:44.639 I want you to walk with me. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:48.080 Even though there might have been correct, right, and wrong. 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:49.599 That was clear. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:57.039 Because you slowly start to feel a little condemned if that's the kingdom you live under. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:59.280 You feel a little limited, a little bound. 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:01.680 And that's the point, right? 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:10.479 That's my point with Miss Walker, is that it's possible, it's possible for me, it's possible for you to start to have that feeling with the Christian faith. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:12.240 But St. 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.520 Paul would say, uh it's not faith. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:20.719 Maybe church, maybe religion, but it's not Christian faith. 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:22.319 It's something else. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:24.960 Maybe you've heard stuff like this. 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:33.120 Uh, real Christians perform this well, and then you get that well, and then it's like, oh no, no, no, no, like that wasn't really good enough. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:35.360 Like, oh, it's got to be this good, right? 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:42.159 And oh, real Christians uh they dress like this and not like this, and their children look like this and not like this. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:54.000 So your child can't have that problem, they can only have this problem, and you can have this problem but not that problem, or you can be this messy in this area, but you can't be this messy over here in this area. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:56.719 And so, what do we do? 00:03:56.879 --> 00:03:59.919 What do we do as Christians in a faith context like that? 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:06.159 Well, we would pretend, or we would perform, or we just walk away. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:08.319 You know, I'll do something else. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:09.759 I'll go somewhere else. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:21.360 But Paul says, and our church gets to proclaim that life in perform, then be accepted. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:23.360 This occurred. 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:25.439 Paul calls it the law. 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:28.000 We love it at first. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:29.600 We love it. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:39.199 We love it in faith, we love it out in the world, we love it for our school, we love it for our career, perform to make myself feel justified or righteous or valuable. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:39.680 We love it. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:40.000 Why? 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:41.439 Because it gives us control. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:51.600 We are our own saviors, and we actually end up loving that, but then slowly over time, we go, oh man, this is actually a curse. 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:53.279 I'm being crushed. 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:56.480 And so this is Galatians. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:58.879 Let me reread a few verses that Charles read for us. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:00.480 So Galatians 3, 1 through 6. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:03.920 Paul's writing to a to a people group who have done this. 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:15.279 They've experienced the grace of God through faith in Christ alone, and then they said, Ah, I'm gonna start going back to living under rules to live and be accepted with God. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:19.519 And he says, Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:24.639 It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:27.360 Let me ask you only this. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:33.439 Did you receive the Spirit by works of law or by hearing with faith? 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:36.079 Are you so foolish? 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:41.519 Having begun by the Spirit, or are you now being perfected by the flesh? 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.240 Did you offer so many things in vain? 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:47.680 If indeed it was in vain? 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:55.680 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of law or by hearing with faith? 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:00.240 Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:04.800 So point number one is this a few points as we work our way through this. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:08.399 There are shouldas, couldas, and musts. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:10.800 There are shouldas, couldas, and must. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:12.160 We all know them. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:19.199 But they have nothing to do with your righteousness. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:33.680 See, the Galatians were told, God loves you, but really, really, first you must do X, Y, and Z to really get that love or to stay loved. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:36.000 Who's bewitched you? 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:37.360 Like who tricked you? 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:37.920 Right? 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:40.800 It's like by grace you get into the dance. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:49.040 And then once you're in the dance, you know, the schoolmaster's coming around, circling around, and the schoolmaster says, Oh, yeah, yeah, it's an amazing dance. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:50.240 Great band. 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:55.120 Cindy Lopper, Drake, the Beatles, Mike Libersmith, they're all one band. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:07:00.720 So everybody, everybody is happy dancing, the drink, the food, everything's free. 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:03.920 And then the schoolmaster comes around and starts to go, oh, yeah, oh yeah. 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:09.439 By the way, by the way, to stay in the dance, you can't slow down. 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:17.199 Actually, you need to perpetually get better at dancing and perpetually be more passionate about your dancing. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:21.120 And you need to dance this way, not that way. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:24.000 And that's the curse. 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:38.879 To start off by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and then to revert back to that law as to feel like, oh, I am justified and righteous and valuable. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:42.720 And what Paul would say is the law is good for us. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:45.600 The law is so good for us to know right and wrong. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:46.319 We need that. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:50.000 It helps us see that we're imperfect, but it has no power. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:56.639 It has no power to make you righteous or worthy. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:07:59.759 When has it ever? 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:09.040 Two weeks ago, I walked into our bedroom and I could barely see Christy behind a mound of all of her clothes piled up on her bed. 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:11.600 A few of you have done this already. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:17.439 There's a show out right now on Netflix, tidying up with Marie Kondo. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:20.399 And I looked at Christie and said, What are you doing? 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:22.720 She said, I watched the show, it's unbelievable. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:27.199 And so she pulled out every article of clothing she owned, Christy owned it, it's on this bed. 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:33.440 And what you do is you you hold, you get every article of clothing, and it's in order to get rid of all the extra that you don't care about. 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:34.879 Like you don't really care about it. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:40.399 And so every article of clothing, you hold it to your chest, you take one moment and you say, Does it bring me joy? 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:43.279 Quick answer, yes or no. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:45.759 Yes goes here, no goes here. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:50.159 And I look at it, this is the dumbest, most absurd thing. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:09:06.080 Our closet got a lot cleaner, so the next thing I watched an episode of tidying up with Mary Honda, and I was, I paused it halfway through the show, didn't finish, went into our bedroom, got all my clothes out. 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:07.600 I went through the same process. 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:13.279 I don't have a ton of clothes, and I had three trash bags full of clothes to get rid of. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:21.200 It only took me about four days to start to compare my side of the closet to Christy's side of the closet. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:24.399 Because both of our closets started really tidy. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:28.480 And for the past two weeks, I was doing so good. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:31.519 I mean, my closet was so amazing, it made me feel so good. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:34.960 And I was doing so good about keeping it tidy and all those stacks and everything. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:35.840 It looked so good. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.480 I'd walk in, it made me feel so good as a person. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:43.360 And then on Tuesday, Tuesday of this week, I walk into my closet. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:45.840 Tragedy had struck. 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:49.039 A stack of t-shirts. 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:51.759 Up on the right, they had tipped over. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:53.440 Like a little pile. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:10:00.720 I think that morning when I had pulled one out, I pulled it out, and I didn't take the time to get it right back and tidy. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:04.080 And the most amazing thing happened. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:07.200 I felt guilty. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:10.159 I actually felt guilty. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:16.720 Like I stopped and I was like, I feel guilty about t-shirts. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:20.879 It's crazy, right? 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:22.559 Right? 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:30.399 I hadn't used sweet little Marie Kondo, who's just the most gracious little sweet little angel who like just floats into these people's homes. 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:32.000 You can carry her around your pocket. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:34.399 I mean, she's just the cutest little thing. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:38.559 And I had, but I hadn't used her to help my closet, right? 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:40.240 It had passed that. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:45.200 And I used her to help me feel like I was a good person. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:48.399 And as soon as I did that, I was cursed. 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:56.799 Because as soon as I did that, I created a law in which I needed to live up to in order for me to feel like a good person. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:58.720 And of course, I wasn't gonna live up to it. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:03.039 So as soon as I failed before it, which is, by the way, perfect. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:05.840 Her standard of tidiness is perfect. 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:07.600 And I wasn't gonna live up to that. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:11.360 So as soon as I didn't live up to that, it crushed me. 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:13.919 I was doomed from the beginning. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:16.559 And this is point number two. 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:21.440 The shouldas, kudda's, and musts will eventually condemn you. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:35.279 And it's easy to live under law by performance and life, and it's easy to convert from irreligion to religion, but never really convert into the way of the grace of Christ. 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:44.720 In verses 23 and 24, Paul calls the law a guardian or a schoolmaster, Miss Walker, right? 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:54.799 And it's the image of the law as a disciplinary who follows you around everywhere you go and just points everything out constantly. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:59.600 That second guesses everything you do and condemns you when you're not perfect. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:01.120 And that's what the law does. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:07.519 And in its role, it's a beautiful thing because it helps us see we're not perfect and we need the grace of Christ. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:11.360 But without the grace of Christ, this is a horrible way of life. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:18.159 Whether it's law inside of your religion out in the world, or whether it's law inside of faith. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:21.679 Point number three. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:29.039 In Jesus, we are free from performancism from governing our hearts. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:37.039 In the grace of Christ, you are free from perform unto be accepted, or be righteous or justified. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:40.240 You're free from that governing your heart. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:43.279 Back in 2011, there's a podcast on This American Life. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:45.039 This American Life started as a radio show. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:48.639 It became, it's probably the number one podcast in the country in terms of listeners. 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:52.240 And they interviewed chef Dan Barber, is his name. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:59.759 And this chef, the interview is about fugra, which is duck or goose liver, which has one main problem. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:00.399 I guess two. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:03.919 First is it's it is goose liver, which is kind of gross to me. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:06.559 But people love it because it's so sweet and it's juicy. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:07.360 People just love it. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:09.600 The other is how it's actually produced. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:10.799 It's horrible. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:23.600 They bound the animal and then they shove a tube down the animal's throat into the stomach and they force feed the animal until the liver becomes huge. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:30.639 But there's a farmer in Spain, his name is Edward Souza, and he was an anomaly. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:33.600 Because he had a flock of geese. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:36.159 They were not caged, there was no fences. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:37.759 He didn't feed them. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:42.240 So they lived in the wild, they ate in the wild, but they were his flock. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:46.799 And he was raising these geese to have massive livers. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:50.080 And it didn't make sense to anybody how this could possibly be. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:54.720 So this chef goes and interviews this farmer out in the middle of Spain. 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:59.039 And when he gets there, the farmer's out in the middle of the grass, out in the middle of the field. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:05.679 He's laying down in the grass, and he's saying to his geese, lovelies, lovelies, lovelies, over here, lovelies, come over here, lovelies. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:07.759 And the geese are all around him. 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:09.840 I mean, it sounds a little radical, right? 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:11.200 That's a little crazy. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:14.000 That's a little farmer crazy going on there. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:16.159 Here's what he said. 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:25.840 You don't have to force feed geese to gorge them out on food because geese gorge themselves naturally in the wild. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:27.360 But he says, here's the key. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:28.399 Here's the key. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.440 They'll only do it if they know they're free. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:35.679 And isn't that an amazing, beautiful picture? 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:45.279 See, you'll only grow in the grace of God transformation from the heart outward if you really know you're free. 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:52.639 If the heart is finally free from the law and performance unto being accepted. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:57.120 If you know you're accepted on the front side, all of a sudden everything changes. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:06.559 And that freedom creates a heart that is secure and healed and deemed righteous and valuable and worthy, no matter what, all the time. 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:09.360 Because of Christ's work alone. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:13.840 And now some change begins from the heart out. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:18.399 Ran into a quote this week by Robert Farrer Capin. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:19.440 I've quote him every once in a while. 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:20.799 He's a priest, an author. 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:23.840 He has a great book named Kingdom, Grace, and Judgment. 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:33.120 Everything religion tried and failed to do has been perfectly done once and for all by Jesus and his death and resurrection. 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:40.000 For Christians, therefore, the entire religion shop has been closed, boarded up, and forgotten. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:42.159 The church is not in the religion business. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:45.919 The church instead is in the gospel proclaiming business. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:56.960 It is not here to bring the world the bad news that God will think kindly about us only after we have gone through certain creedal, liturgical, and ethical wickets. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:03.919 It is here to bring the world the good news that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:08.240 It is here, in short, for no religious purpose at all. 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:12.639 Only to announce the gospel of free grace. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:20.799 Now, why does Capan and Paul sound so radical? 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:29.519 Because they realize this isn't an outside job behavior first. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:31.519 It's an inside job. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:34.159 The heart has to be set free first. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:37.840 Then the change happens. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:40.240 There's this great story in Genesis 15. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:43.120 God says to Abraham, I will bless you. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:45.200 Galatians 3 refers to the story. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:47.519 God says to Abraham, I'll bless you. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:51.200 Abraham says, How do I know that? 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:52.559 How can I know that? 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:54.399 How can I know that for sure? 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:54.960 Right? 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:56.480 You could imagine this conversation. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:59.600 You think some truth, God wants to bless you. 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.879 And you go, how could I know that for sure? 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:05.119 I mean, you know my life at all. 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:09.680 And God says, here's what I want you to do, says it to Abraham. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:12.640 Go find an animal and sacrifice the animal. 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:14.640 Cut the animal up into pieces. 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:18.799 Put the animal into two rows so there's an aisle in between. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:21.039 So you can walk through it. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:27.119 Now, this is the point, the story, where we think this is the oddest, strangest, most ancient, barbaric possible story in the world. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:29.519 But at the time, Abraham would have been tracking. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:33.519 Abraham would have gone, oh yeah, this is how covenants are made. 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:45.200 Because when a Lord was making a covenant with a peasant or a poor person, the Lord would say, Go get an animal, sacrifice the animal, cut them up into pieces, put them in two rows, make an aisle in between. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:59.519 And the peasant, the one who was in need, would walk in between the cut animals, and would say, I swear loyalty to you, O Lord, and if I do not keep my promise, may I be cut into pieces like these. 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:03.599 So this is what Abraham is thinking. 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:05.839 This is what's happening with him and God. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:24.160 All the animal pieces are out, and then the end of the day comes, the darkness falls, and then a fiery pillar comes, and we get this wonderful story, this wonderful picture that the fiery pillar, God, passes through the pieces, and then Abraham never has to. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:26.720 And here's what the story's telling us. 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:34.319 The story's telling us it's as if God is saying, I will bless them if they obey. 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:38.000 And I will bless them if they don't obey. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:46.000 And Abraham doesn't have to walk through the pieces because he's not the one who upholds this relationship. 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:48.079 I uphold it. 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:52.640 See, you don't uphold the relationship. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:55.440 You're in the relationship with God by grace through faith. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:19:00.720 You don't uphold it, he upholds it by his faithfulness, his covenant to you. 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:03.359 Now we can read Galatians 3, 12 through 14. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:06.720 All that helps us see 12 through 14. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.279 By the law, but the law is not of faith. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:14.720 Rather, the one who does them shall live by them. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:19.839 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:35.119 For it is written, curse is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Jesus Christ the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:40.400 Here's what this means: Jesus was cursed, so you don't have to live under the curse. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:46.240 Your sin and shame has been put upon the cross, and his righteousness is given to you. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:49.359 You're already perfectly loved. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:52.240 You're already perfectly righteous. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:57.039 You're perfectly worthy, perfectly lovely to God. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:06.319 Right now, forevermore, won't change by grace through faith in Christ alone. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:15.119 We are no longer sent on that mission by the law to validate or justify ourselves before Him and in this world. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:16.559 You're free from that. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:23.920 My brothers and sisters, may you enjoy your freedom and the grace of Christ and may change happen in your life from the inside out. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:25.599 Let's pray together. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:29.680 God thank you that you are a redeeming God. 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:34.880 That redeems us by your work and not our work. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:45.920 May we know that we are free, completely free in the grace of Christ, so that our lives might honor you. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:49.839 Help us to see there's nothing for us to add. 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:59.440 There's nothing for us to perform unto acceptance, but we are already accepted, therefore would our wants change. 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:05.279 May we want to dance in your grace and mercy. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:11.039 Forgive us for all the ways that we are in love with performance and law. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:15.519 Help us to see the ways that we revert back to it all the time. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:18.319 May we be quick repenters in your grace. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:28.079 That we might honor you and rest and enjoy the great freedom of Christ Jesus. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:29.039 Amen.