WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:12.480 So we're working through Galatians, and this is a letter to Galatia, these people, the Galatians, is to a church, and Paul is writing them because this is a church that has reverted. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:12.880 Right? 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:14.400 That's the word is reverted. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:15.279 They've reverted back. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:21.839 They've reverted from a grace path, the Jesus way, back to a merit path or to law. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:23.839 And that's what's occurring here. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:28.160 So you um you remember how you had a particular route to Kroger? 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:29.760 It was your route. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:31.280 It wasn't the best route, but it was your route. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:32.399 You've been driving it for years. 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:33.679 It was just your route. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:36.320 It wasn't a great route, it had some traffic. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:45.039 There's three red lights, there was a railroad track, there's an ugly development of a strip mall, there was a questionable club that your kids asked about. 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:51.200 It was the route you took. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:53.200 You just kept taking it. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:59.200 And then a friend rode with you one day, and the friend gets in the car and says, Oh, no, no, no, don't go that way, go this way, turn this way. 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:10.799 And then all of a sudden you're on this different route, and it's the National Forest, and there's no red lights, there's no railroad track, there's no ugly development, there's no questionable club. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:12.640 I mean, it's wonderful. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:14.879 And it was even it was even faster. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:16.000 It was amazing. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:19.120 And you get to Kroger, you go, that that's that's my new route. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:20.079 That was unbelievable. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:21.120 I can't believe that. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:22.799 For the next few months, that's your route. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:24.480 You're driving all the time, praise the Lord. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:27.280 I mean, you're going through the you are worshiping through the forest. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:28.959 I mean, it is it is wonderful. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:29.920 It's so good. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:41.200 And then one day you get in your car and you get it, you crank up, you get your phone, but you're on the phone and it connects to your Bluetooth, so you're hands-free, and you start, but you end up on the you end up on the old route. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:42.319 Just by default. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:44.560 You just sort of ended up back that way, and you went back that way. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:45.840 Ah, I'm about halfway through. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:46.959 Wow, what am I doing? 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:59.519 But you just kept going that way, and you get to Kroger, and then you come back out of Kroger and you weren't on the phone, but you just ended up driving home the same old way that wasn't as good, and then you just kept going back that same way. 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:00.799 Right? 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:02.239 You reverted, right? 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:02.959 You reverted. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:06.799 You had you had a better way, you reverted back to an old way that wasn't as good. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:08.560 I mean, that's what it means to revert. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:13.599 To revert means you went back to a way you used to go, even while you knew of a better way, right? 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:14.719 That's what it means to revert. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:16.159 We all know about this. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:21.599 You reverted to a former way of life even though you knew the better one. 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:27.599 And we all do this because we start out the new year and we say, enough with the late night snack. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:30.960 I'm only gonna eat celery for my late night snack, right? 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:31.840 That's what you say. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:37.599 And then you pick up a little carton of Ginny's ice cream, brown butter, almond brittle, right? 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:38.960 You know what it is, maybe. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:42.159 If you don't don't know what it is, it'd be good for you. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:43.439 And it gets in your house. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:46.719 And once it's in your house, you go, it's only an afternoon snack, is what that is. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:48.479 I'm not gonna eat it late at night. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:52.159 And then sure enough, one night you're depressed about yourself and your life. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:58.319 Celery's not gonna help that, but that brown butter almond brittle will solve your problem at least for those five minutes. 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:01.840 And so you get that jug out and you start into it, and it's so wonderful. 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:03.840 And by the end of it, it is gone, right? 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:04.719 You reverted. 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:07.599 We know this, we do it with all sorts of things. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:09.680 That's what it means to revert. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:17.840 We know about revert, and we we revert because we're stubborn, we revert because we're selfish, uh, we revert because we're forgetful. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:20.719 We we we just we revert because we're not perfect. 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:22.159 That's why we revert. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:27.840 And in Galatians 2, Paul's calling these people out because that's what they did. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:43.120 They were on a path of law, and then they get this grace path, but then all this pressure, religious pressure, comes in on them from these Judaizers. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:44.479 This is the name of the group. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:04:03.439 They're trying to make non-Jews who became Christians look like Jews who became Christians, and these Jews who became Christians had gone back to the law, so let's impose law on this other group that was leaving way too free and put it on them, and that's what's occurring, and they're starting to give in, and Paul's going, No, no, do not revert. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:04.800 Please don't revert. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:08.960 And so Paul says, Okay, I'm gonna write you a letter and I'm gonna call you out. 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:18.240 So in Galatians 2, he starts to call them out, and he says, Okay, by the way, you as a group are doing something that my friend Peter did, and here's what I said to Peter. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:20.800 And that's what we pick up in verse 15. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:24.319 This is what Paul said to Peter. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:30.879 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:37.519 Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:46.319 So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.800 So, point number one is this salvation and the Christian life. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:57.040 Salvation and the Christian life, both are by grace. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:04:59.040 Never merit. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:06.319 And in some way, this sermon will feel so familiar to you because it's what we talk about all the time. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:11.040 And I was thinking this morning as I was preparing, this may not be my best sermon, right? 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:12.480 Like, oh, that was a great sermon. 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:17.040 This may not be my best sermon, but there could not be a more important sermon. 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:21.120 Salvation in the Christian life, both are by grace, never merit. 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:23.120 So Peter and Paul were these two church leaders. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:26.399 You can get a lot of this narrative in Acts 10 through 15. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:29.199 Peter has a vision and a dream. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:37.199 In this dream, he he learns he can eat food that he never thought he could eat, because the law said, can't eat that. 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:41.279 Got to eat a certain way, eat a certain way, then you're accepted by God. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:46.800 Obey, this is religion and law, obey, and then you're accepted. 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:48.720 And then Peter has this dream. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:50.319 I can eat that? 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:50.959 Really? 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:51.920 I'm that free? 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:52.720 I could do that? 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:58.879 I could I could break ceremonial law and be accepted before I obey? 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:02.240 Because that's gospel, accepted, then obey. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:06.959 Peter has this dream, an anti-religious dream. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:12.480 And Peter starts to live in that freedom where he's accepted by the grace of Christ before he obeys. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:19.120 So he goes from religion of law to gospel, from law to grace, and there's drama there. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:22.639 And even times somebody starts to do this, there's gonna be drama, and there's backstory. 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:24.959 Backstory is in verse 11 and 12. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:30.879 But when Stephas came to Antioch, this is Paul said, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:32.639 Why would he be condemned? 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:34.720 Because he's living under laws, why? 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:37.199 That you're always gonna be condemned under law. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:39.279 And Paul said, I opposed him to his face. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:44.399 For before certain men came from James, so James is the leader of a little subgroup. 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:46.079 Can you imagine a subgroup in a church? 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:46.959 Can you imagine that? 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:48.959 That'd be a crazy idea. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.560 And these are the Judaizers or the circumcision party. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:56.079 It's not a great name for a group of people. 00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:00.959 This is their name, it's descriptive of what they wanted from people. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:03.680 Do something, then you'll be accepted. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:06.240 Peter was eating with the Gentiles. 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:09.839 But when they came, Peter drew back. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:12.639 So he drew back from his freedom. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:17.839 And he separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:23.040 I see a little of myself in James. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:23.920 Right? 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:25.920 I want to impose control on other people. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:27.680 I want them to look a certain way. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:31.439 They look radically different than me in the freedom of the gospel. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:41.600 There's parts of me that say, like, oh, I don't know if I like that part of what you look like, and maybe you should look more like me in this way, or more like me in this, more like how I do the Christian life in this way. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:46.319 I see a little bit of myself in Paul, right? 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:52.639 Like that I can spot legalism and say, oh, I don't want that, and I'll oppose that. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:56.000 But I see a lot of myself in Peter. 00:07:57.199 --> 00:08:02.879 Because Peter gives in to these people because he's just afraid. 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:05.120 And there's a lot of fear. 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:09.120 There's a lot of fear in the world, but there's also a lot of fear in religiosity. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:15.040 For religious people to put on each other in different groups to look a certain way. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:24.959 It's easy in churches, and it'll be easy here, now and in the future, to start with Jesus. 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:35.519 And in time, even though we proclaim grace and practice for the culture to be something else, to revert back to law. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:41.840 Because slowly what the church can say is mature Christians look this way. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:49.759 And it might be to write watch the right TV show and not the wrong one. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:57.120 It could be to be a part of the correct political party, according to you, but not the other one. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:03.679 Cigars are okay, but not cigarettes. 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:05.039 Right? 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:10.559 No, no, no, no cigars. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:13.840 But we're not going to talk about gluttony. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:20.000 We love to make rules and law when it comes to gray areas. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:24.559 Impose it on each other, create a culture of control, law. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:27.120 And those are decisions we'll need to make. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:31.360 You'll need to make these decisions for your health, for your well-being. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:34.399 Some people will form an argument to be God honoring. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:36.480 You have to make decisions in that. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:39.360 But not for your justification. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:42.879 And isn't that fine? 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:49.039 Not for your absolution before God, not for your acceptance, not for your righteousness. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:52.080 It has nothing to do with it. 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:55.279 It's easy for a church to lose its way. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:57.919 It'll be easy for our church to lose its way. 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:02.080 It's easy to go from law to Jesus back to law. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:05.600 To create programs over time. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:08.159 The programs create a culture. 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:10.559 And it can say this. 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:16.399 Well, if you're really in, you're really in the Redeemer. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:20.559 If you're really in, then you'll be at this. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:21.840 You'll be in this. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:23.039 You'll be at that. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:26.559 Your life will look just like this. 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:38.799 And this chapter is written to a church that has created and accepted that culture, gone back into law, and it's asking a church to repent of its churchiness. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:43.120 Because it went from law to Jesus back to law. 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:46.159 Point number two. 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:49.200 By the law we see we are sinners. 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:51.200 So that's what the law does good for us. 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:54.080 It guides us, what's good and bad, it guides us. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:59.519 By the law, we see we are sinners, and by grace we know we are beloved. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:03.120 So imagine you're at a party. 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:07.679 You're at this party and a group of people, maybe it's a company party, maybe it's just a friend party, I don't know. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:12.960 But there's a food table, crock pot, little meatballs, right? 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:14.639 Bunch of toothpicks. 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:18.480 You go get your little plate, and you love those little meatballs. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:19.600 So you get over there. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:23.840 You put about eight meatballs on that plate, and you start to get worried. 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:26.639 Other people are seeing that, so you had a few strawberries. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:31.840 You sit down, you got a little toothpick, you got a bunch of meatballs. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:33.759 And you know you need to be careful. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:34.639 It's hard. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:37.200 A little meatball, a toothpick, a little plate. 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:38.639 You're not at a table. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:40.000 It's a bad scenario, right? 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:40.879 You already know it. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:41.840 But you're working it. 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:47.600 You know, you get through the first three, four, sure enough, you stab that fifth one, and you're coming up. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:48.720 And you know the story, right? 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:49.440 You already know it. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:54.399 It drops on your white shirt and it rolls down into your lap. 00:11:57.120 --> 00:11:59.759 The clean has become dirty at this point. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:03.919 You smear it around. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:06.159 You think, well, I'll try to clean it up, right? 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:09.120 Little napkin, a little water. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:10.879 But nothing mattered. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:12.240 You can't do it, it's already done. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:13.840 The damage is done. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:22.399 So until you can get out the door, until you can get out the door, you have this streak straight down your shirt onto your pants. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:24.559 The imperfections there. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:25.279 You're stuck with it. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:26.159 Can't do anything about it. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:27.600 The clean has become dirty. 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:28.639 And what do we do? 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:30.799 What do we tend to do with this? 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:38.960 Well, either you kind of hide your way all the way out, or if you're like me, every conversation from here on out goes something like this. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:40.639 Yeah, meatball. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:41.200 Right? 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:44.960 I mean it's something like, yeah, can't take me anywhere. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:45.840 Right? 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:53.200 Your life becomes how to cover what's already there. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:55.519 That's just what it becomes. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:59.759 This is life under the law, this meatball, this meatballed shirt. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:01.679 Imperfection exists. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:03.279 The law has revealed that. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:07.360 We don't live up to that which God has called us to or what we even desire to be. 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:08.080 It's already there. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:09.519 And in that way, you're condemned. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:12.080 You are the meatballed shirt at the party. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:13.519 You're condemned. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:17.120 The law sends you on a mission. 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:27.039 It sends you on a mission from there on out to tell everyone and even God why the clean became dirty. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.960 And the law is that mission that exhausts you. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:44.639 That you gotta tell everybody constantly why you're valuable, how you're absolved, how you're forgiven, you're telling yourself, and some days you feel prideful, and some days you're in despair, but this is the operation of the law. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:47.679 And the gospel is something entirely differently. 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:51.840 It doesn't send you on a mission to justify yourself. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:56.240 It just says your shirt is meatballed. 00:13:57.759 --> 00:13:59.200 You're imperfect. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:02.559 And it doesn't send you on a mission to justify yourself. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:13.440 Because you are accepted and absolved and loved anyway, because your sin is put on his cross and his righteousness given to you by the grace of Christ. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:18.799 Verses 17 through 21, last section of scripture, we'll talk about. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:24.960 But if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too are found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:26.000 Certainly not. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:28.080 In other words, like that's what's going to happen. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:30.080 Like we're going to realize we're sinners. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:35.919 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:42.960 Verse 19, a key crux verse of the chapter, for through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:44.399 I have been crucified with Christ. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:53.279 I no longer, I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:59.039 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:01.200 Point number three, last point. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:05.039 New life with God comes by dying to the earning. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:08.399 Verse 19 is that key verse. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:10.960 Through the law, I died to the law, so I might live to God. 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:17.679 My mentor says, and he said it here when he preached in the fall, it is not a death to effort. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:20.480 It's a death to earning. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:21.840 That's why you're free. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:23.919 You're free to put forth effort. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:27.840 Last week, Christy and I watched this show on Netflix at seven days out. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:29.360 Is anybody watching seven days out? 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:30.240 It keeps popping up. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:31.679 Maybe it's you're seeing it. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:36.639 And so it's the show where it takes seven days leading up to a big event. 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:39.759 Opening of a restaurant, Kentucky Derby. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:40.799 It's the seven days later. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.759 So the one we watched last week was the Westminster Dog Show. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:49.440 And so you meet the people who run the dog show in New York City, is the most prestigious, biggest dog show in the world. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:52.960 You meet the trainers, you meet the people who show the dogs. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:53.919 You meet all these people. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:57.360 Well, we met Mike and Phyllis from Ocala. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:01.759 And Mike and Phyllis from Ocala, they live in a little ranch house in O'Cala. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:03.600 I mean, it looked like they didn't have a lot of money. 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:06.320 You never know, but it didn't look like they had a lot of money. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:13.200 And middle-aged, no kids in the house, and they buy a little puppy from a breeder in Oregon. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:14.480 They buy a harrier dog. 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:15.840 I'd never heard of a harrier. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:18.399 It looked kind of like a big beagle to me. 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:22.000 And this little dog comes into their life. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:22.799 Emmy. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:24.399 Emmy was her name. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:26.159 The most beautiful little dog. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:30.080 And everywhere they took this little puppy, everybody would say, that's the most beautiful harrier. 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:32.399 I guess only people know what harriers are, not everybody. 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:34.720 That's the most beautiful harrier I've ever seen. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:35.840 You should show that dog. 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:37.279 You've got to show that dog. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:46.240 So these people, just people, just like us, like if you're like, I guess I'll show a dog, they start showing this dog, dog shows, become dog show people. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:49.039 These are this is a group of people that exist, dog show people. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:50.960 They're showing this dog. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:54.399 And this dog, Emmy, starts winning all these dog shows. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:57.120 And it's not because Mike and Phyllis are trained in any of this. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:16:57.919 They're not. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:16:59.679 They have no resume here. 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:04.720 This dog, over two years, just win after win after win. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:12.000 And before long, they're at the Westminster Dog Show, the most prestigious dog show in the world, and they are there. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:15.839 It's not them, it's Emmy, right? 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:16.799 It is Emmy. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:23.119 And Emmy wins at the dog show's best of breed. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:25.119 And Mike is shining. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:27.680 I mean, he is ecstatic. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:31.599 Because listen, Emmy won. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:37.039 And then the award is handed to Mike from O'Cala. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:51.279 And then he says this a guy like me, I'm middle-aged, out of shape, don't have tons of money. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:59.920 But because of her, because of Emmy, I walk into the ring on equal footing with everyone else in there. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:04.400 And because of her, my life is completely changed. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:07.680 It's a simple question. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:10.000 It's a beautiful illustration, right? 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:15.599 Of imputation that Jesus wins, hands to us his righteousness. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:19.440 Simple question for us as a church, as a people. 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:30.160 Do we make ourselves clean and worthy and righteous and lovely by what we do, or do we become that by the grace of Christ? 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:34.559 And tomorrow morning when you wake up, which one will you live by? 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:36.960 Here's our quote from last week. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:40.000 I'm going to reread it by theologian Gerhard Forday. 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:43.039 I reread it because he quotes verse 19 in the quote. 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:47.839 And because it was so dense last week, I think maybe we need to hear it a couple of times to get it. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:19:13.200 For the point is that the unconditional declaration of justification, the imputation, the flat-out declaration that which offends and shocks us so, that which shatters all of our ambitions for something to do, that declaration is our death and our life, the new beginning. 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:18.480 It is the act which recreates, redeems God's creation. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:29.599 Death, you see, is put in the position of not being able to do anything according to the ways of the world, the law, religion, the upward climb with all its plans and schemes. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:32.079 They suddenly stop, come to an end. 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:36.240 I, through the law, died to the law that I might live to God. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:45.839 Both our vices and our virtues come to a full stop. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:51.920 The justification declaration is precisely that, a full stop. 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:55.440 You have died, says Paul. 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:56.880 It is all over. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:05.519 Last week a friend sent to me a text and said, A nighttime gospel blessing. 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:08.160 Here's what it read. 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:12.240 The parent says, Do you see my eyes? 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:14.400 The child says, Yes. 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:18.240 Can you see that I see your eyes? 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:19.440 Yes. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:22.240 Do you know that I love you? 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:24.400 Yes. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:30.559 Do you know that I love you no matter what or how many good things you do? 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:32.240 Yes. 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:35.119 Who else loves you like that? 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:36.880 God. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:39.680 Even more than me? 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:41.279 Yes. 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:44.079 The child rests in that love. 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:51.200 Our brothers and sisters, by the grace of Christ, nothing else, nothing else, you are justified. 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:52.559 Let's pray together. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:21:22.240 Thank you, God, for your justification that does not come by law or our merit or our goodness, but by your grace, which frees us from earning and frees us into effort, frees us into a life of honoring you, but not for, not for absolution or for acceptance or for righteousness or for value, but out of gratitude to honor you. 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:25.680 Help us to be people. 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:41.759 Help us to be first individuals who are free from the law that condemns and free in your gospel, which empowers and brings life. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:57.839 And help us to be a church that does not create programs and a culture that puts law back onto people, that gives freedom over and over and over again for the sake of your kingdom. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:58.960 In Jesus' name. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:21:59.839 Amen.