SPEAKER_00: Our passage of scripture today is Galatians chapter two, verses eleven through twenty-one.
SPEAKER_00: Again, that's Galatians chapter two verses eleven through twenty-one.
SPEAKER_00: But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
SPEAKER_00: For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
SPEAKER_00: And the rest of the Jews had acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
SPEAKER_00: But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?
SPEAKER_00: We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.
SPEAKER_00: Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, so that we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law.
SPEAKER_00: Because by works of the law no one will be justified.
SPEAKER_00: But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?
SPEAKER_00: Certainly not.
SPEAKER_00: For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
SPEAKER_00: For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
SPEAKER_00: I have been crucified with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
SPEAKER_00: And in the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who for who loved me and gave himself for me.
SPEAKER_00: I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you will be surprised to hear that in ninth and tenth grade I played high school football in the great state of Alabama.
SPEAKER_01: It probably won't shock you to hear I wasn't very good.
SPEAKER_01: In the offseason, they would do these drills where they would see who could do the most dips and who could bench press the most and who could squat the most.
SPEAKER_01: And famously, whether you're a sports fan or not, you may have heard they time people's 40-yard dash.
SPEAKER_01: You literally just sprint 40 yards as fast as you can, and they time it.
SPEAKER_01: And let's just say my time was embarrassing.
SPEAKER_01: And they would do this thing where they would video your running.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've ever had your running videoed.
SPEAKER_01: But it's hard to go back and look at yourself, just flail down that line and think, I can't imagine why I'm not faster.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I didn't stay on the straight line, my feet bowed in, my arms are all over the place.
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't stay on the line, I couldn't keep the speed.
SPEAKER_01: Today's passage, we're gonna talk about being brought in line or in step with the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: If you're wondering, if you're like, man, that wasn't, I didn't get the resolution there, don't worry, I never got faster.
SPEAKER_01: Uh after 10th grade, I hung up my cleats and my pads and said, I'm gonna go get ready for college because I obviously need to read more.
SPEAKER_01: And uh the Lord blessed that.
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, shout out to all the football players who are good because it was fun, but not for me.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna see today's passage talking about living a step with the gospel in three main parts.
SPEAKER_01: The first, it's gonna be a lot of fun, ready?
SPEAKER_01: The first point, condemned by sin.
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01: The second one is justified by faith and crucified with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Condemned by sin, justified by faith, crucified with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We start in verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: But when Cephas came to Antioch, pause.
SPEAKER_01: In our last section, starting at the beginning of chapter two, it said, Then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: So this is Paul still telling his story.
SPEAKER_01: He talked about his conversion a couple of weeks ago when Pastor J.D.
SPEAKER_01: preached.
SPEAKER_01: Last week when Sean preached, it was him in Jerusalem talking to Barnabas and Titus and the others.
SPEAKER_01: And here we have another transition.
SPEAKER_01: It's still Paul telling his story.
SPEAKER_01: He's still talking about the gospel that he preaches.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, but when Cephas, that's another name for Peter, remember we've talked about how Paul and Saul are kind of Greek and Hebrew names, same thing going on here.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is true that Jesus said, and I call you Peter, but still in certain contexts, he was known as Cephas.
SPEAKER_01: So Cephas comes to Antioch.
SPEAKER_01: Antioch was the place where we were first called Christians.
SPEAKER_01: It was a hub for missions.
SPEAKER_01: From Antioch, missionaries were sent out all over the known world.
SPEAKER_01: Honestly, if you had Jerusalem as kind of the original church, Antioch was your second tower if you're a two towers fan.
SPEAKER_01: But if that's not interesting to you, this picks up pretty quickly.
SPEAKER_01: Because Paul says, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.
SPEAKER_01: I love how Paul just, you know, tiptoes around things and avoids conflict.
SPEAKER_01: Um, he's he's like, uh, remember when Cephas came to Antioch?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I opposed him to his face.
SPEAKER_01: That's right, because he was condemned.
SPEAKER_01: That's strong language.
SPEAKER_01: If you read that and you go, oh, that feels that feels strong, it's supposed to.
SPEAKER_01: It is meant to.
SPEAKER_01: So that when you read it, you go, oh, okay, something big was going on here.
SPEAKER_01: There's already a principle for us to learn here.
SPEAKER_01: And it's been one of my favorite in ministry, something I learned from a mentor of mine.
SPEAKER_01: If a church member comes to me, or anybody visiting our church comes to me and says, Oh, have you heard about what's going on with so-and-so?
SPEAKER_01: The next thing I'm gonna ask you is, have you talked to so-and-so?
SPEAKER_01: As Christians, we're called to deal with each other face to face.
SPEAKER_01: I know that makes some of us so uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are like, I'm leaving this church now.
SPEAKER_01: I don't ever want to be dealt with face to face.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all, it's for our good.
SPEAKER_01: This is Paul and Peter.
SPEAKER_01: These are like the heavyweights of the church.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of our New Testament is written by these two men.
SPEAKER_01: Paul opposed him face to face.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because he stood condemned.
SPEAKER_01: That's serious language.
SPEAKER_01: We've already seen in Galatians where Paul talks about people being accursed, things like that.
SPEAKER_01: This carries that same idea.
SPEAKER_01: He's not saying, ah, Peter said some things and it wasn't quite how I would have said it.
SPEAKER_01: No, he's saying the gospel was at stake with Peter.
SPEAKER_01: The stakes are high.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 12, for certain men came from James.
SPEAKER_01: Now, before we talk about these certain men too much, this is the idea they came from James in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: James probably wasn't sending them as like spies to mislead people.
SPEAKER_01: James, for all accounts, is faithful.
SPEAKER_01: But these are people who were Jewish Christians coming from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: So they were still keeping some of the Jewish laws, and there was still a lack of clarity on what needed to be kept and what didn't.
SPEAKER_01: So they come from James, and it says he, this is Peter, was eating with the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: So he was eating with non-Jews.
SPEAKER_01: Why would that matter?
SPEAKER_01: Jews and Gentiles have different dietary laws.
SPEAKER_01: So for Peter to have been eating with the Gentiles means he wasn't keeping what the law of Moses said to do to eat.
SPEAKER_01: Because of the gospel, he was now united with these Gentile brothers and sisters and was rightly able to have freedom in Christ and eat with them.
SPEAKER_01: If you like bacon, shout out to the gospel, because if you were Jewish or obeying some of these laws, you wouldn't be having that.
SPEAKER_01: But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
SPEAKER_01: Two verbs there.
SPEAKER_01: Peter drew back, he literally backed away from them and separated.
SPEAKER_01: Awfully, this brings to mind separate but equal kinds of treatments we've had in our country's history.
SPEAKER_01: No, the Gentiles can eat over there.
SPEAKER_01: We're just going to keep eating over here.
SPEAKER_01: Just let them do their thing over there.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to keep eating over here.
SPEAKER_01: Notice why he did it.
SPEAKER_01: Fearing the circumcision party, he was motivated by fear.
SPEAKER_01: Not because he wanted to keep the law, not because he wanted to glorify God, not because he wanted to do what was right.
SPEAKER_01: He was afraid of what these other people were going to say.
SPEAKER_01: And it led him to stop doing a good thing that he had been doing.
SPEAKER_01: He had been eating with these Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't doing it anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
SPEAKER_01: Yo, we got Peter.
SPEAKER_01: We got Barnabas.
SPEAKER_01: These are names.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been in church, you've heard these.
SPEAKER_01: These are church leaders.
SPEAKER_01: This is like the big kahunas of the early church.
SPEAKER_01: And they're doing the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_01: Folks, leaders in the church can get it wrong too.
SPEAKER_01: We can fail.
SPEAKER_01: The reason we need accountability from brothers and sisters is to call us back and step with the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I find it interesting that in verse 13 it says hypocritically and hypocrisy.
SPEAKER_01: I point out to you often if something is repeated in scripture, you need to pay attention to it.
SPEAKER_01: Why is this hypocrisy?
SPEAKER_01: Because Peter's already shown, Barnabas has already shown that they knew a better way.
SPEAKER_01: They knew there should be unity.
SPEAKER_01: They knew they had freedom.
SPEAKER_01: And instead they turned back to their old ways.
SPEAKER_01: And they excluded people that should have been included.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: Paul comes in, obviously expecting Peter to do what he had been doing.
SPEAKER_01: Peter, you've been eating with Gentiles, you're going to be doing that.
SPEAKER_01: He finds him ignoring them and leading other people to do the same.
SPEAKER_01: And he doesn't say, hey, we have some rules about this, Peter, you're breaking our rules.
SPEAKER_01: We had some agreements.
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: This elevates.
SPEAKER_01: He says, you're out of step with the very gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's a big charge, y'all.
SPEAKER_01: This shows the seriousness of sin.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are saying, well, if Peter was condemned, I mean, this is the same Peter that Jesus had in his inner circle, Peter, James, and John.
SPEAKER_01: This is the same one who, when Jesus said, Who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_01: He said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, he had denied Christ at the cross, or at his trial, rather.
SPEAKER_01: But he was restored by the resurrected Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Peter, do you love me?
SPEAKER_01: Feed my sheep.
SPEAKER_01: And he was there at the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on them and he preached, and thousands came to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: This is that Peter.
SPEAKER_01: How does he stand condemned?
SPEAKER_01: And if he's condemned, then what hope is there for us?
SPEAKER_01: His conduct was condemning him because it was sinful conduct.
SPEAKER_01: If he had kept on in sin unrepentantly, there was reason to be concerned for his eternity.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul sees this.
SPEAKER_01: But it literally means he was walking with crooked feet.
SPEAKER_01: Remember my running the 40?
SPEAKER_01: How my feet did this, they call it pigeon-toed?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: He says, you need to get in line with the way Jesus has taught us to walk.
SPEAKER_01: Because this wasn't it.
SPEAKER_01: I said to Cephas, before them all.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if there are three words in today's passage that are going to scare more people in this room than any other, that's it.
SPEAKER_01: Before them all.
SPEAKER_01: Paul did not go to Peter privately and say, hey, we got something we need to talk about.
SPEAKER_01: And for those of you in here, because I know several of you know your Bibles.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, well, Jesus says in Matthew 18, we should go.
SPEAKER_01: If a brother sins against me, I should go one-on-one.
SPEAKER_01: Is Paul now doing the wrong thing?
SPEAKER_01: No, why not?
SPEAKER_01: Because Peter is acting publicly and is leading people astray.
SPEAKER_01: He's causing a stumbling block to happen for others.
SPEAKER_01: It's something that needs to be addressed in front of everyone so everyone sees how serious it is.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are so nervous that I'm going to like call somebody out and sin right now.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about to happen, so let's just take that off of you, okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's not what we're doing today.
SPEAKER_01: But before them all, he says, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, Peter, you were eating with the Gentiles, and now you want them to keep the Jewish law?
SPEAKER_01: You've already broken the law.
SPEAKER_01: You can't tell them to keep the law that you've broken.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_01: Again, y'all, think of the gravity of this.
SPEAKER_01: Think of like the most known Christian celebrities you know right now.
SPEAKER_01: I don't even know who they are anymore since Billy Graham died.
SPEAKER_01: That was always like my go-to.
SPEAKER_01: But maybe John Piper, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever it is out there that you think of, that you're like, this is like the Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And think of the other one.
SPEAKER_01: And imagine them publicly calling each other out.
SPEAKER_01: It'd be all over social media today.
SPEAKER_01: There'd be news headlines.
SPEAKER_01: Churches would be like having prayer vigils and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Taking sides.
SPEAKER_01: Paul calls him out in front of everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because he was out of step with the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's feelings weren't just personally hurt.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't just a preference that Paul had.
SPEAKER_01: He was concerned for his brother Peter, and he was concerned for those who were being led astray.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, hey, we're going to miss the gospel if we miss this.
SPEAKER_01: I honestly couldn't help but think of the wise words of Stanley Hudson in this.
SPEAKER_01: Boy, have you lost your mind, because I'll help you find it.
SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all are like, who's Stanley Hudson?
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_01: That was just for those who might understand.
SPEAKER_01: Paul confronts Peter.
SPEAKER_01: If someone confronted you like that, how would you respond?
SPEAKER_01: If you did something that needed to be confronted like that, how would you respond?
SPEAKER_01: If you saw a brother or sister and you need to be the one to do the calling out, would you do it?
SPEAKER_01: I know this is we're like, oh, this is a lot of fun when we're talking about Paul and Peter.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to do that.
SPEAKER_01: I want to think about that as a church.
SPEAKER_01: These are biblical principles.
SPEAKER_01: This is the word of God given to us, revealed to us for our instruction to make us more like Christ.
SPEAKER_01: God has something for us here in this confrontation.
SPEAKER_01: Church members, especially here, we must learn to give and receive godly criticism and encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: That's four things.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Give godly criticism and encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: Receive criticism and encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: That's a hard thing.
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't just happen overnight.
SPEAKER_01: If one of you is sitting back there and you're like, oh, I got a list of sins I'm about to call out, like, okay, probably too eager.
SPEAKER_01: It's not what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: But as we're growing in unity and community, as we are entrusting ourselves to one another, as we as members are belonging to one another, as we belong to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Church, I want you to call me out like this if I'm out of step with the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: If it's a first-tier issue and I'm off, please stand and confront me.
SPEAKER_01: Paul stood for the gospel, and in a worldly sense, he was standing by himself.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's important that he says that his conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel and not just listing off rules because he's bringing gospel motivation rather than you just have to do what's right.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say you're not being good enough.
SPEAKER_01: He says you already know the truth of freedom.
SPEAKER_01: He's calling him to obey from salvation, not for salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Do we see the difference?
SPEAKER_01: Lest you think this is only here in scripture.
SPEAKER_01: In Psalm 141, verse 5, it says, Let a righteous man strike me.
SPEAKER_01: It is a kindness.
SPEAKER_01: Let him rebuke me.
SPEAKER_01: It is oil for my head.
SPEAKER_01: Let my head not refuse it.
SPEAKER_01: Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.
SPEAKER_01: Also, just look to the life of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He was bold in his speech.
SPEAKER_01: He was able to differentiate what were first tier doctrines, what were second-tier doctrines, and what things were tertiary, what things just didn't matter even beyond that.
SPEAKER_01: But when it comes to first tier doctrines, throughout the Bible, we see prophets and we see our Messiah and we see apostles.
SPEAKER_01: Have boldness to say so.
SPEAKER_01: Say, hey, this is a problem.
SPEAKER_01: We have to be clear on this for your sake and for the sake of those who see you and hear you.
SPEAKER_01: Folks feel the weight and the problem of sin.
SPEAKER_01: Peter's sinful conduct was condemning him.
SPEAKER_01: Now this section ends without us getting like, and then Peter and Paul were reconciled, which a lot of us would like.
SPEAKER_01: I would like that to be there.
SPEAKER_01: Need some resolution?
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for leaving that out, Paul.
SPEAKER_01: But you can assume it from what we know about the rest of church history.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Peter most likely heard and received what Paul is saying here.
SPEAKER_01: When we sin, if we continue on in it and we are unrepentant, sin leads to death.
SPEAKER_01: Folks, all of us are born sinners.
SPEAKER_01: Originally, Adam and Eve were made without sin.
SPEAKER_01: We're made very good, our God says.
SPEAKER_01: But since the fall, all of us are sinners by birth and by choice.
SPEAKER_01: We participate in sin.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not a joke.
SPEAKER_01: It's not something to sweep under the rug or wink at.
SPEAKER_01: It's dangerous.
SPEAKER_01: Sin is dangerous.
SPEAKER_01: Turn away from it.
SPEAKER_01: This passage is going to continue, and in some of your Bibles, you may notice the quotation marks either continue or don't.
SPEAKER_01: Paul seems to be saying, hey, this is what I said to Peter.
SPEAKER_01: And then at some point he starts also talking to the church at Galatia.
SPEAKER_01: We're not sure exactly what sentence that is, because it's kind of all for the Galatians.
SPEAKER_01: But this could have been what he continued saying to Peter, or this could have been now him just turning.
SPEAKER_01: I just tell you that because it's kind of unclear, and depending on your English translation, you may have quotation marks in different places.
SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
SPEAKER_01: What's good is it would have applied to Paul and Peter and to the churches of Galatia, and there's application for us today.
SPEAKER_01: So in the next section, we see that we are justified by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15, we ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.
SPEAKER_01: That's Paul talking to Peter, saying, Hey, we are children of the covenant.
SPEAKER_01: We are children of Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: We were born into this.
SPEAKER_01: We are not born these Gentile sinners.
SPEAKER_01: He's using a bit of hyperbole to make a point.
SPEAKER_01: If you're here and you're like, I'm not Jewish, does that make me a sinner?
SPEAKER_01: Well, not just inherently because you're Gentile, but in their eyes, yes.
SPEAKER_01: We would have been seen as Gentile sinners.
SPEAKER_01: We were those outside the covenant.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16 is good news, though.
SPEAKER_01: Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: There are several things we need to get out of these two verses.
SPEAKER_01: Number one is just this word justified.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: It means declared to be in the right.
SPEAKER_01: It's a courtroom term.
SPEAKER_01: If you were standing before the judge and they said, Ah, you had reason to act, you were right to do that.
SPEAKER_01: It is a forensic declaration that is immediately applicable.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Beyond that, we really get two main points.
SPEAKER_01: One is that no one is born a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says to Peter, we're Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter if you're born Jewish or Christian, or Jewish or Gentile.
SPEAKER_01: No one's born Christian.
SPEAKER_01: You must be born again.
SPEAKER_01: If you're here and you say, I've gone to church my whole life, I must be good with God, that's not the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel is the good news of what God has done to save us in Christ, and you must turn away from your sin and trust in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You must do that.
SPEAKER_01: So no one's born a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing we get here is no one becomes a Christian by works, not by works of the law, is repeated three times here.
SPEAKER_01: Three times.
SPEAKER_01: Now he's most likely referring to the Old Testament Mosaic Law.
SPEAKER_01: We've joked on this, I think, some in Galatians already.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know a lot of people who are just like trying to do that.
SPEAKER_01: There are denominations, there are people applying this, trying to, but it's kind of in smaller groups, honestly.
SPEAKER_01: It's not widely as big of a thing.
SPEAKER_01: Many of you here probably aren't having that temptation that you're just like, man, I feel like I gotta keep everything in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully not.
SPEAKER_01: But we do try to justify ourselves by our works in other ways.
SPEAKER_01: We try to show how godly we are.
SPEAKER_01: We are quick to self-justify.
SPEAKER_01: How does it say we will be justified?
SPEAKER_01: Through faith.
SPEAKER_01: You will be declared right before God through faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Faith alone.
SPEAKER_01: Sola fide.
SPEAKER_01: This was one of the main themes of the Protestant Reformation.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of the main themes of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of the main things of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It goes all the way back to Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to get more of that in Galatians later.
SPEAKER_01: Folks, if you turn away from your sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ right now, you will be declared righteous before God and you will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: We're just saying, God so loved the world, he gave his only son, whoever believes in him.
SPEAKER_01: We have to use belief because we don't have faith as a verb in English.
SPEAKER_01: In Greek, you did.
SPEAKER_01: This would be the same word.
SPEAKER_01: It's that trusting in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just believing that Jesus exists.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just saying these things are out there.
SPEAKER_01: It is a reliance upon, it is resting in him as Savior and Lord and His complete work, not on my own works.
SPEAKER_01: That's one of the most freeing doctrines you can find.
SPEAKER_01: Folks, the gospel of Jesus Christ frees us from striving.
SPEAKER_01: If I said to you today, if you died, would you be with God?
SPEAKER_01: If you died, would you go to be in the presence of the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: And you said, Man, I hope so.
SPEAKER_01: I've been a really good person.
SPEAKER_01: I hate to break it to you.
SPEAKER_01: That is the wrong answer.
SPEAKER_01: None of us are going to be good enough people in our own record.
SPEAKER_01: None of us.
SPEAKER_01: No one except Christ.
SPEAKER_01: If you are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior and Lord in his perfect account of the law, because he did keep the law, then you could confidently say, if I said, if you died today, would you be in the presence of the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: You can say, Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Because I trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
SPEAKER_01: You can be saved.
SPEAKER_01: And if that sounds too good to be true, because we are so quick, we're like, okay, yes, and we just have to pause there for a second.
SPEAKER_01: Because something I've learned in pastoral ministries is it doesn't matter what your church background is.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter if you have no church background.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter if you're Church of Christ, Southern Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, on and on and on.
SPEAKER_01: When we talk about justification by faith, we eagerly want to get to, yes, and then.
SPEAKER_01: You know how we do that?
SPEAKER_01: Because this is part of the good news.
SPEAKER_01: And it sounds too good to be true.
SPEAKER_01: But y'all, it's true.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never been baptized, and you say, I believe in Jesus, what will happen to me if I die?
SPEAKER_01: You will go to be with him.
SPEAKER_01: Do I think you should be baptized?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, of course.
SPEAKER_01: But not because it saves you.
SPEAKER_01: Not by the washing of the body, uh pure conscience before God.
SPEAKER_01: It's simple.
SPEAKER_01: And it removes any self-pride.
SPEAKER_01: It removes any self-righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Because faith itself is not a work.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is not from us.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 2 is clear.
SPEAKER_01: This is a gift from God to us.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have faith in Jesus Christ, you've been granted by God to trust in him, you will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Not according to anything that you've done, but because God is gracious and saves us through faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You must believe in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you are eager saying, okay, but but then what?
SPEAKER_01: I don't just believe and then go about my life, you're right.
SPEAKER_01: We've got a whole other point we're getting to.
SPEAKER_01: Crucified with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 17, but if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ we too are found to be sinners, is Christ a servant of sin?
SPEAKER_01: Certainly not.
SPEAKER_01: This is kind of a confusing sentence if we're not following Paul's argument.
SPEAKER_01: What he's saying is, does the doctrine of justification by faith, does it use Jesus' name to justify sin?
SPEAKER_01: Am I saying that I don't have to keep the Mosaic law because Jesus, and now that allows me to sin?
SPEAKER_01: And what does Paul say?
SPEAKER_01: Certainly not.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: This is a new covenant in the blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And he's going to explain himself.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 18.
SPEAKER_01: For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
SPEAKER_01: Folks, Christians are no longer subject to the Old Testament law.
SPEAKER_01: You can't be accused of breaking it.
SPEAKER_01: We are dead to it.
SPEAKER_01: I know y'all are like, wait, doesn't it have some kind of meaning for our life?
SPEAKER_01: It does.
SPEAKER_01: But it is not for salvation.
SPEAKER_01: It is not for justification.
SPEAKER_01: We have been justified.
SPEAKER_01: How does all this make sense?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: For through the law, I died to the law.
SPEAKER_01: See, some of y'all when I first said it, you're like, that sounds extreme.
SPEAKER_01: It's right there in the text, y'all.
SPEAKER_01: We died to the law so that I might live to God.
SPEAKER_01: If you're here today and you're not a Christian, thank you for coming.
SPEAKER_01: To be saved, you must die to your old self that you might live.
SPEAKER_01: It's not simply a decision we make, something you add on to what you already have in your life.
SPEAKER_01: You don't just need a little religion.
SPEAKER_01: Your old self needs to be killed, needs to be crucified with Jesus, so that you can have new and everlasting life.
SPEAKER_01: Meaningful, joyful, wonderful life in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And if you are here and you are a Christian, that's already your story.
SPEAKER_01: We're dying daily to our old selves, crucifying those old ways with Jesus and walking in newness of life with him.
SPEAKER_01: Our baptism testifies to this, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01: We've been buried with Christ, raised to walk in the newness of life.
SPEAKER_01: We say every time we baptize.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: If you're looking for a memory verse, this is it.
SPEAKER_01: I have been crucified with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: There's that language.
SPEAKER_01: I've been crucified with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Has your old self been crucified?
SPEAKER_01: Are your worldly desires dead to you, or do you still feed them some crumbs to keep them alive so that you can come back to them when you want to?
SPEAKER_01: Cut off those worldly desires.
SPEAKER_01: Go after Christ with everything that you are.
SPEAKER_01: We've been crucified with him.
SPEAKER_01: It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, y'all, this is not talking about physical death.
SPEAKER_01: Please, no one take that from this.
SPEAKER_01: This is painting a beautiful picture of what goes on in our hearts and our spirit.
SPEAKER_01: I've been crucified.
SPEAKER_01: But Christ lives.
SPEAKER_01: It says that the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: So that tells you you continue life in this body by faith in the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: That Son of God is Jesus, He is the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Why will we live by faith in Him?
SPEAKER_01: Because He loved us, because He gave Himself for us.
SPEAKER_01: We said we're condemned by sin.
SPEAKER_01: That's true.
SPEAKER_01: And if we are left to our sins, we will be condemned.
SPEAKER_01: We will not be justified.
SPEAKER_01: But because Jesus came and lived without sin, the only person to ever do it, and went to the cross to pay the penalty for our breaking of the law.
SPEAKER_01: He never broke the law.
SPEAKER_01: He fulfills the law.
SPEAKER_01: He kept it perfectly.
SPEAKER_01: And then he died for lawbreakers like us.
SPEAKER_01: Because he loved us.
SPEAKER_01: He gave himself for us.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't just give us more rules.
SPEAKER_01: He gave us himself.
SPEAKER_01: And he laid down his life willingly, burying the wrath of God for us so that we wouldn't have to.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus took our condemnation so that we would not be condemned.
SPEAKER_01: The personal language here from Paul I love so much.
SPEAKER_01: Because he's saying, I, I, who loved me, gave himself for me.
SPEAKER_01: That's actually not something Paul does a lot.
SPEAKER_01: He often says, We, an hour.
SPEAKER_01: And here he's so caught up in it.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Jesus did this for me.
SPEAKER_01: Is that your testimony?
SPEAKER_01: Is that your story?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was crucified for us.
SPEAKER_01: But he didn't stay dead.
SPEAKER_01: Three days later he rose from the grave.
SPEAKER_01: He defeated sin and death.
SPEAKER_01: He's alive now and forevermore, and one day he will return to judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And all who are found in him will spend eternity with him.
SPEAKER_01: We won't just be spirits floating around on clouds playing harps.
SPEAKER_01: We will have a physically embodied, eternal life with God and with his people.
SPEAKER_01: We will know his love like we've never known it before.
SPEAKER_01: We will look the man in the face who went to the cross for us and defeated sin, defeated my sin, defeated your sin, and defeated the grave.
SPEAKER_01: All this does have implications for now.
SPEAKER_01: We said this would lead us to those implications beyond justification.
SPEAKER_01: I heard this a long time ago from a revival preacher, and I thought it was a beautiful pair of questions.
SPEAKER_01: One, what are you saved from?
SPEAKER_01: What are you saved from?
SPEAKER_01: And then two, what are you saved to?
SPEAKER_01: Christian, it's important that you know that.
SPEAKER_01: It's important that you evaluate that in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Because we've been saved from sin.
SPEAKER_01: And it would help individually to list some of those off.
SPEAKER_01: What sins?
SPEAKER_01: What sins are common to my flesh that I've been saved from, that I'm no longer a slave to, that I can put to death in my life?
SPEAKER_01: And what am I saved to?
SPEAKER_01: Because we are now saved to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like we forget this a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe this is just in my own upbringing.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I was told the right thing and only heard this.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to blame the people who taught me.
SPEAKER_01: But there was so much focus on what I was putting to death, and there wasn't enough on what I was doing to live.
SPEAKER_01: And I really think this passage has more about what we're doing to live.
SPEAKER_01: Go back to Paul confronting Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Peter, you've already begun to live in unity with Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: You've seen how Christ brings together people from all backgrounds and ages.
SPEAKER_01: Why would you leave that behind?
SPEAKER_01: Let's learn to walk in freedom.
SPEAKER_01: Let's learn to care for the orphans and the widows and the poor and the prisoners and the immigrants.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because God cares for them.
SPEAKER_01: And he says he will give them justice.
SPEAKER_01: There is a positive aspect.
SPEAKER_01: This is who we now are.
SPEAKER_01: These are the things we're supposed to do that come naturally to us.
SPEAKER_01: That we joyfully give to one another to help one another when it's needed.
SPEAKER_01: I get really frustrated at something going on now.
SPEAKER_01: There's kind of this uptick and an interest in socialism.
SPEAKER_01: I know y'all are like, oh, we're going to get into politics today.
SPEAKER_01: We are on this because it has been brought into our lane.
SPEAKER_01: When people say the Bible supports this, it shows the early church sharing their gifts.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all, that's not socialism.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know why?
SPEAKER_01: Because the early Christians wanted to do it.
SPEAKER_01: No one was forcing them.
SPEAKER_01: No one was controlling this.
SPEAKER_01: It was a joyful response to the gospel they had received.
SPEAKER_01: So when they said, Oh, my brother and my sister's hungry, they said, I'm going to share my food with them.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, my brother and my sister need somewhere to stay.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to let them stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, my brother and my sister needs clothing.
SPEAKER_01: I have clothes.
SPEAKER_01: It was a natural outflowing.
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't saying, I'm going to earn extra in heaven or I've got to do this to make sure I'm saved.
SPEAKER_01: It was because I am justified by faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Because my standing with God is secure.
SPEAKER_01: I can now walk in freedom and in love in this life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm dead to that old self, but I am alive in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: More alive than I've ever been.
SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite movies that's not for children is Braveheart.
SPEAKER_01: William Wallace's character says, every man dies.
SPEAKER_01: Not every man truly lives.
SPEAKER_01: Folks, if you want to truly live, that life is in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That life is not just in seeking the next promotion or the next house or the next model of iPhone or hoping your team's better this year in college football or whatever it is that you're trying to find your identity in.
SPEAKER_01: It's in dying to self and living in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It's in embracing a compelling community of all different ages, people who are so different than you that apart from Christ, you would have no reason to interact with them.
SPEAKER_01: But in Christ, especially church members, listen to this.
SPEAKER_01: The people around you who are here, they're your brothers and sisters for eternity.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to spend forever together.
SPEAKER_01: Let's get to know each other.
SPEAKER_01: Let's have each other in our homes.
SPEAKER_01: Let's not be afraid to tell people how we really feel on a day.
SPEAKER_01: When we say hi, how are you?
SPEAKER_01: Don't just say, fine, how are you?
SPEAKER_01: No, tell them.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm great.
SPEAKER_01: I've had a really good weekend with my family.
SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, I'm not doing great.
SPEAKER_01: I got bad news last night.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all, we can do this.
SPEAKER_01: Because we have right standing with God.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a performance, it's not a grade to make.
SPEAKER_01: It's just joyful truth.
SPEAKER_01: We get to walk in.
SPEAKER_01: Walking in step with a gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a beautiful invitation.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you know that I like to run.
SPEAKER_01: Even though you've also now heard that I was a really bad sprinter.
SPEAKER_01: But I do enjoy running.
SPEAKER_01: I see throughout the New Testament so many parallels and calls to running and walking.
SPEAKER_01: And for some of you, you're like, those are my nightmare.
SPEAKER_01: Please let's not talk about cardio right now.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all?
SPEAKER_01: We are to walk and step with the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That means our conduct should be such that glorifies God, not to save us, because we've already been saved, but for our joy, for the good of our neighbors, and for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01: It also means that when we are walking out of that step, that we welcome godly criticism and encouragement, and that with the Holy Spirit and with boldness, we can give each other godly criticism and encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: And we can help each other to be more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If this sounds like platitudes or it sounds too good to be true, some of you are like, I've heard this in church before, I've never actually seen it.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all I've experienced this kind of love and this kind of community.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have here, and I'm so glad.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have been here for a while and you haven't experienced that, and I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to.
SPEAKER_01: But Christians in here, can you think of a time when you did experience this kind of community?
SPEAKER_01: Were you able to be transparent with people and be loved?
SPEAKER_01: Where you found encouragement even when you didn't realize you needed it?
SPEAKER_01: When we stand on the bowl of truth of the gospel of justification by faith alone, the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's because we want good for you.
SPEAKER_01: We want good for those who hear it.
SPEAKER_01: Now and forever.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we thank you for the truth of your word.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The good news that we can be justified by faith and not by works.
SPEAKER_01: God, we thank you that you also have prepared good works for us.
SPEAKER_01: That once we find salvation in Jesus, we can begin to live.
SPEAKER_01: Truly live.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray that if anyone here does not yet know that life in Christ, that today they will trust in Jesus and turn away from their sin and be saved.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that they'll tell a member here, talk to someone before they leave, about what that means to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And God, I pray for those of us who do know you that we'll be reminded that we're not just earning stuff with our work.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to strive like this anymore.
SPEAKER_01: But that we get to live for you, with you, in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you for this glorious good news.
SPEAKER_01: Apply it to our hearts and make us more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: In His name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.