WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.479 We just came back from a week of camp. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:03.839 And I'm going to tell you something. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:10.240 The pastor got up one night and said, You should, teenagers, you know what you should do Sunday? 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:14.480 You should go to the front of the church and sit down right under the preacher's preacher. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:15.839 Get as close to the word as you can. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:17.359 It'll freak out the preacher. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:18.559 I'm going to tell you something. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:19.760 I don't care. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:21.519 The rest of y'all can join them. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:23.920 You can get as close to the word as you want. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:29.199 And you know, we've been talking a lot about legalism and stuff like that. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:34.320 So if you come in and that makes you weirded out, you might not like the rest of this series. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:37.920 But we've been talking through the book of Galatians. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:40.960 And uh if you got your Bibles this morning, turn them there. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:46.079 I'm going to share a little bit through this sermon about some of our camp experiences. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:46.960 So good. 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:48.880 So, so good. 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:51.679 And I thank God for these opportunities. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:01:04.560 And so for some of you that your father's here, I want to say that we thank you, we honor you, we love the dads in this church and what you do and what you mean to your family. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:11.280 I do know that, and Benji shared that for some, that doesn't bring up good feelings. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:16.319 And I want you to know that Scripture says he'll be a father to the fatherless. 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:18.959 And so I'm so thankful for my heavenly father. 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:21.040 I'm thankful for my earthly father. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:29.040 And throughout this message, I think we could share no greater thing than what the theme fell to in Galatians. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:32.000 And the theme this morning is about love. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:39.439 As a father, there's no greater thing that you can share with your children than how to love and how to be loved. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:43.280 And I've got a note I keep in my Bible from my father. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:48.719 And it says in here that his father never knew how to tell him he loved him. 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:52.560 And he said to me, I want you to know you're special and I love you. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:02:02.719 And so but when we think about love, love sort of in our culture today, and because of social media has become like a real flippant kind of thing. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:05.439 Hashtag love my frappuccino. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:07.519 Right? 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:10.479 Hashtag love my new shirt. 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:15.280 Hashtag, you know, everything is sort of love, and and look at this plate of food. 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:17.360 I love this restaurant. 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:17.840 Right? 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.479 And um Heather has a love hate with food. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:21.439 It's kind of funny. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:22.479 She really does. 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:24.719 She loves something or she hates it. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:26.400 There's not a big in-between. 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:30.960 And so we went to um Buffalo Wild Wings the other week, and what I had was okay. 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:31.840 It was okay. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:33.280 What amazing. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:34.639 It wasn't terrible. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:35.840 It was just okay. 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:41.439 And for me, as a person who needs food, I can eat okay again. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:42.879 That's okay. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:48.080 It really, my food needs don't really depend on if I love it or hate it. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:51.280 It depends on when was the last time that I had sustenance. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:55.520 For Heather, if I don't love it, I don't want it again. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:04.639 And so in fact, we go on a date on Fridays, and uh it's become breakfast mostly because the kids are in school. 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:08.719 Um and summertime, I don't know what we're just gonna have to do something else. 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:10.719 Callie's gonna have to babysit. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:18.400 Um But anyhow, we for 10 weeks in a row, we found something that Heather loved. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:21.919 For 10 weeks in a row, we went to Ruby Sunshine. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.319 It's a little breakfast place down in Inverness. 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:27.520 And uh, for 10 weeks in a row they got it right. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:31.199 And she got the same exact meal ten weeks straight. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:39.439 I'm gonna mess it as some sort of salmon, poached, hollandaise, frou fruit, whatever, with capers and not this and not that, because she makes her own order. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:42.639 And uh, everywhere we go, she makes her own order, I promise. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:45.599 She gets people spinning and smokes coming out of their head. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:50.479 And uh, so but tenth time, they made it wrong. 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:52.800 They made it wrong on the tenth time. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:54.319 And guess what? 00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:01.599 We hadn't been back because she lost that loving feeling. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:05.759 Oh whoa, that loving feeling. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:08.400 And it's gone, gone, gone. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:10.000 I'm sorry. 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:12.240 I'm sorry for that this morning. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:16.160 I did watch Top Gun Maverick, so um, if you wonder. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:26.959 I I want to share with you sort of the the key verse to this text about love, and then um we'll we'll kind of walk ourselves backward through it. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:30.079 But it says this in verse 14 and 15. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:37.839 For all the law, we've been talking about that Old Testament law, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, you shall love. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.040 Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:44.879 If you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed. 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:52.000 Father, we pray this morning for more of your presence. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.000 God, I thank you for the week. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:05:02.639 God, I thank you that I get to be a dad to some teenagers and go to a place where your presence was surely felt. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:06.639 I thank you for a church that supports something like this. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:12.160 I thank you, God, um, Lord, for your word this morning. 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:16.959 Help us to understand the freedom that it is to love. 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:19.519 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:20.240 Amen. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:21.680 Look at verses 1. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:25.040 Uh, we're gonna start in verse 1, and then I want you to go back to chapter 3. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:33.920 We're in Galatians 5, and this is what it says stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:39.839 And don't, key here, don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:41.759 I want you to go back to chapter 3. 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:43.279 What is that yoke of bondage? 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:58.399 Chapter 3, verse 13 said this: that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:00.480 We are free from a curse. 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:03.279 We're free from a curse this morning. 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:11.759 Fourteen to sixteen hundred years had passed from the time of Old Testament law, and Jesus came to this earth and he hung on a tree. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:15.759 It said, Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:18.560 Jesus took my curse. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:23.920 We all deserve crucifixion for our sin, church. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:25.680 That was our curse. 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:28.959 Don't miss the weight of Jesus' love in the Bible. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:31.920 The Bible says that we are able to love. 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:34.959 We're free to love because he first loved us. 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:36.240 And that's what he took. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:40.639 He loved us and he showed us by taking my curse. 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:48.959 He took my nails, he took my thorns, he took my beating, and he took yours to show you that you don't have to live tangled up. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:52.160 He took that curse. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:58.639 You know, some dads will often sort of well-meaningly say something like this to their children. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:04.000 They'll say, Um, I want to do what I do to give my kids a better life. 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:06.720 I want them to have a better life than I had. 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:13.120 And um, I'm not sure that statement is always healthy if it means they don't have to work. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:24.000 I I don't know if that's as healthy as we think, or they never get corrected because we had a tough upbringing and we were corrected and and and we had to work hard. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:26.000 I think I understand the sentiment. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:27.920 I want my kids to have good. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:30.959 Um, but I want you to know this. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:36.720 Let me tell you, our father, God, wanted to give you a better life than this world had to offer. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:39.519 And in John 10, 10, he even tells us about it. 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:43.439 He says that the thief came to steal, kill, and destroy your life. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:46.720 Say, steal, kill, destroy. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:53.279 That's what the thief came to do, and he says, I came and I brought my son so that you could have life and life more abundant. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:58.160 So as a father, he wanted to give his children the best life here. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:02.639 And he sent his son to free us from that curse. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.120 Well, what can we learn about the curse? 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:10.000 Look at verse uh two and three in Galatians 5 again. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:13.519 It says, entangled again with a yoke of bondage at the end of verse 1. 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:27.680 And then it says, Indeed, I Paul say to you that if you become circumcised, if you're just catching up with this first time, the whole issue is this that the Jewish people were believing to have the Savior, you had to be circumcised like them. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:29.920 They were adding salvation plus. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:34.000 And so he says, Christ will profit you nothing. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:35.519 Let me say that again. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:42.159 Paul said to you that if you become circumcised, Christ, the death of Christ on the cross profits you nothing. 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:49.519 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:52.159 And so they were entangled by customs. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.000 That's what letter A is this morning. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:09:10.480 He says this if you're accepting what these Judaizers are saying, that you have to be circumcised to join the church to be saved, if you have to do this preference, then you have to accept all of the law, all of the Old Testament law. 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:13.679 And what the law did was pointed out that we were imperfect. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:19.919 So, in order for you to have salvation, if you accept this, then you have to live perfect. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:21.360 That's what he says. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:23.679 You have to then accept the whole of the law. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:27.360 To get to heaven, how many of you want to have to live perfect? 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:33.039 Crickets, as I suspected. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:47.679 And he says, if this is what you expect, and I want to tell you, listen, it sounds like, oh, that makes sense, but I want to tell you that there is many churches, many places that are getting here and talking about preferences. 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:50.000 Salvation plus. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:55.279 And they get here and they almost say if it's gospel truth, you need to do this and you need to do that. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:58.799 There's people today, and we got a lot of it when we built this building. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:00.960 We started to hear about preference. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:02.720 Not this book. 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:05.360 People say, I don't like the lights. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:07.360 I don't like dark lights. 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:10.879 I don't, I don't like big lights, I don't like bright lights, I don't like the lights. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:11.919 Okay. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:14.879 That's a preference. 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:16.320 I don't like wood on the walls. 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:18.639 I had some people say, I don't like the wood on the walls. 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:22.159 I'm like, have you ever had basketball inside of a church? 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:24.559 Wood on the walls is brilliant. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:26.080 Y'all hear me? 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:29.360 It bounces the ball off and doesn't ruin the wall. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:34.320 Well, there shouldn't be basketball in a sanctuary of the Lord. 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:39.840 We're using it every day, people. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:45.840 We get as many people in here as we possibly can so that the gospel is more than Sunday and Wednesday. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:47.360 And so, but it's a preference. 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:48.879 That's a preference. 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:51.840 And we get wound up in preferences. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:57.600 Man, get caught up in this thing and that thing and the sound and the light. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:00.799 Listen, I'm gonna tell you what the Bible says in Nehemiah child. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:02.159 I don't have time to go through all that. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:05.919 Nehemiah 8 through 12 talks about what should happen in church. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:13.120 The only part in the Bible that shares what things have to happen in church, let me tell you what they are, so we know it. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:14.720 The reading of God's word. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.080 If we stop reading God's word, you have my permission. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:20.159 Get out and get out quick. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:24.639 The reading of God's word, and in Nehemiah it says on an elevated platform. 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:27.279 So hey, look, two for two. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:32.320 And then it says that you have to have a time of response. 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:34.399 So we have an altar time. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:39.519 And if you never respond to the altar but you don't like the wood, you've got some mixed-up things going on. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:41.200 It says there's an altar. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:48.000 So if you go to a church and they don't have a response time, look, I'm gonna tell you, that's a flag for me. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:53.840 Some places that's old school and they want to just end, and we we don't we don't want to really push people with their sin. 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:57.440 And listen, it's not about it's about what is God speaking to you. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:01.840 This isn't magic, but there is Nehemiah shows, there's a time of response. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:03.120 There's an altar. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:05.840 They're singing and praising of God. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:07.440 Three foot three, Benji. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:10.879 We sing, we praise God. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:16.000 It didn't say, doesn't say what words. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:17.600 Singing and praising God. 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:21.679 If we get up here and you hear the words and you go, man, that didn't have nothing about Jesus. 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:23.279 Leave that church. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:24.399 I'll tell you. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:32.320 Hymn, new song, country Christian, rap Christian, whatever, whatever it is, if it doesn't praise Jesus, get out. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:35.279 But if it does, we're on the right path. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:36.159 Okay? 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:37.840 And then there's sacraments. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:41.600 Oh, and offerings is there in Nehemiah with singing and praise. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:42.399 All in the same thing. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:43.200 They call that worship. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:44.559 Singing, praise, and offerings. 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:47.600 So we give unto the Lord so that the ministry can continue. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:48.000 Okay? 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:48.960 Four for four. 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:49.759 We do that too. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:53.840 All of these acts of worship and then two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:54.960 We do that. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:03.919 But the ceremonial laws that were happening that these people looked at, listen, there's all kinds of, they were tied up in Old Testament. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:10.480 They had burnt offerings and grant offerings and grain offerings and sin offerings and peace offerings and guilt offerings. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:17.679 And what he says, don't get entangled up in all of that stuff. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.879 Entangled in that old bondage. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:23.120 I need you to turn to a verse just for a second. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:23.919 I need you to see this. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:25.200 Turn to Hebrews. 00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:30.480 Hebrews chapter 9. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:37.440 And I want you to see verse 10, and then I want you to see verse 26. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:42.159 Okay. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:45.279 Verse 10. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:51.600 This is talking about some of the types of offerings and ordinances and things that they were concerned about. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:14:00.480 Concerned verse 10 only with foods and drinks, various washing, fleshly, hear that word, ordinances imposed until the time of Reformation. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:02.320 Now go to verse 26. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:14.320 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world, but now, once at the end of the age, and he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:22.960 Jesus came and the sacrifice of himself washed all of that ceremonial custom type of stuff away. 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:27.519 And what happens, these Judaizers, they got entangled. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.159 Have any of you ever felt entangled by something? 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:31.440 I got a picture. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:34.159 I think it's a picture of a spider web. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:35.279 Y'all look up here. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:36.879 You ever felt like this? 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:40.080 You ever walked into a spider web? 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:41.279 I have seen my wife. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:45.200 There's a story about her taking her jacket off and start swinging it at something. 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:49.200 Your skin feels itchy ten minutes later. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:51.039 Like you walk in and you're like, what? 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:53.840 And you're trying to figure out how do I get this thing off of me? 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:54.320 Right? 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:57.600 And so he gives this picture of being entangled in something. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:03.039 When you're trying to live in the preference world, it's tangling. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:07.440 He says, Don't get tangled up, verse 1, with that yoke. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:09.679 I got a picture of a yoke I want you to see. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:10.559 Look up here. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:11.440 A yoke. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:16.399 A yoke was something that they put on oxen and it went around their necks. 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:23.120 He's saying, You're getting entangled in this yoke and you're letting it drive you. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:35.279 People stuck in a world of preferences get entangled, they get pulled, and they're letting whoever's sitting on the seat drive them, whoever's getting before them drive the way that they live their life. 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:37.200 And this is the only yoke. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:42.240 And so even Jesus tells us that his yoke is better. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.279 Can you imagine that thing on your neck? 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:46.159 Right? 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:49.440 Kids, talk about a real pain in the neck. 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:51.519 It's Father's Day. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:52.960 Come on, dad joke. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:54.399 Come on, you're welcome. 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:57.039 Good one, Dad. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:58.000 Thank you. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:05.360 Matthew 11, 28 says, Come all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:09.759 Take my yoke upon you because it's light. 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:16.399 But entanglement with the law leads to living that yoke. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:18.639 It also leads to letter B. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:21.600 Estrangement from Christ. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:24.559 I'm gonna read verses four through six. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:27.519 And I want you to feel the weight of what he's saying here. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:28.879 This is heavy. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:33.600 You have become estranged from Christ. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:39.120 You who attempt to be justified by law, you've fallen away from grace. 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:43.440 For we, through the Spirit, eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:52.960 For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:59.200 He says this phrase that's you could skim past it and sort of miss the weightiness of it. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:03.600 He says, You are estranged from Christ. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:13.119 If you come to the end of your life, church, and you are estranged from Christ, let me tell you what that means. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:15.440 That means hell. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:18.640 Estranged from Christ. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:20.880 Listen to the severity of the statement. 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:22.400 Estrangement from Christ. 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:24.400 Hell, church, is real. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:33.200 I believe sometimes the average Christian lives in acts and breezes if it's not really a big deal, if it's not a real thing. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:39.039 And Jesus, 70 times in the New Testament, warns about hell. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:42.799 So this statement is heavier than just let's fly by. 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:48.400 He's talking about circumcision and preferences, but he says you estrange yourself from Christ. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:49.599 It's heavy. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:56.799 He says, earning your way to heaven actually earns your way to hell. 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:05.200 Every Catholic who bought indulgences were getting further from grace, earning their way to hell. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:10.960 Every Jehovah's Witness who knocks at the door trying to earn their way to heaven earns their way to hell. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:15.839 Every Mormon on their mission trip, earning their way to heaven, earns their way to hell. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:23.200 Every Muslim committing an act of jihad, dying for their faith, earns their way and they awaken their eyes. 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:28.319 Their last breath was in an airplane going through a tower and they woke up in hell. 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:35.200 They're faithful to the wrong thing. 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:37.920 It's the saddest thing. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:41.839 Justification by law causes a fall from grace. 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:46.640 They're attempting through morality to win their way. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:49.519 Through good rituals. 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:58.480 Satan is using these bewitchers to give a message, Lord, that is compelling to people, and they listen, and it's the wrong message. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:02.799 Love has freed you from hell. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:07.359 Why would we choose estrangement from Christ? 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:09.279 Hell is horrifying. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:19.599 It's torture, flames forever, and worse, it's estrangement from the God we were created to have a relationship with. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:25.920 When you have him, you know him and how good it is. 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:40.319 And if you've ever been in his presence, I'm telling you this week with these students, we sat in a room and in the services, I'm telling you, it was powerful. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:46.400 I mean, the presence of God, the preaching of God, the conviction in people's story, and then worship. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:49.119 And I've been praying for 10 years. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.480 God met with us, with our group from Indiana. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:54.960 I've been praying, God, meet with our kids from Alabama. 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:55.759 Just meet with them. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:58.559 And and and I in my heart I know what that means. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:00.640 It means confession. 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:03.680 People getting real with God. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:09.039 And so we went up after a service and I wrote on the board, confession. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:15.039 And that morning a preacher preached a message on repentance, and I said, Oh God, this might be. 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:22.880 And and we got going, and a student, a third one to speak, he said, This is gonna be really hard. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:26.880 And he began to cry before he spoke anything. 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:31.759 And he publicly, before his peers, confessed a specific sin. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:34.799 He said, I'm sorry to everyone. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:35.839 I'm sorry. 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:38.319 And you know what happened in that moment? 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:43.519 God, who was in the service, ran from the service and he said, Wait a minute. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:48.720 Somebody's being real about me. 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:58.559 And he got up in that room, and I'm telling you, it wasn't long before every student in this circle had tears coming down their face, and others began confessing. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:07.200 Listen to me, a student, a young student, Braden, Pastor Danny's grandson, said, I've been being mean to my sister. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:16.559 When he said, I've been being mean to my sister, I said, Stu, is this okay to love your sibling? 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:21.200 All of the kids who had siblings in the room got up. 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:22.480 I didn't ask them to get up. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:27.680 They got up one to another and began to hug and embrace their sibling. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:29.039 Can y'all hear me, church? 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:30.160 A brother and a sister. 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:32.720 A brother and a brother hugged publicly. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:36.960 And then others saw it and they wanted to hug somebody, so they began to hug publicly. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:39.680 And we had a hug fest. 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:42.079 Tears. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:49.440 You imagine your kids tomorrow morning get up and just give each other a hug to start their day? 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:50.400 Like, what? 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:52.799 This must be heaven. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:58.720 When you feel the presence of God like that. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.519 You don't ever want to leave. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:07.440 The hardest thing I have to do in a moment like that is to stop it. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:10.079 I don't want it to end. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:12.240 I want us to sing. 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:14.960 I say, God, heaven is here on earth. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:18.000 Until we get to heaven, we don't get to feel something like this again. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:20.000 So we have his presence. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:27.119 Why would we choose to listen to someone's list of preferences and fall from grace? 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:35.680 You can hear of grace and believe it intellectually. 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:38.640 That's what we're seeing proved by the church here. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:43.279 Believe it intellectually, but live by the law and making an annulment. 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:45.839 It says they nullified grace, an annulment. 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:47.039 Now, this is interesting. 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:49.920 An annulment, a divorce ends a marriage. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:57.599 In contrast, an annulment asserts that there was no valid marriage that ever existed in the first place. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:22:59.279 So hear me. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:11.119 If you can go back from the grace you received, if you can say my life has been changed, but if you go back to sin, it's basically almost saying you can't. 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:13.839 You nullify, you're having an annulment. 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:19.519 If you can't, you can't change and then be not saved. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:20.960 He's saying you make an annulment. 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:23.200 He says it's like it's never even happened. 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:30.640 Paul says if you truly experienced God's grace, you would never go back. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:34.720 Man, we met with Jesus. 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:42.000 And I can I tell you, an estrangement from Christ is the antithesis of heaven. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:43.759 It's not heaven, it's hell. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:47.839 So it takes us to the second thing. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:50.000 We're not free to sin. 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:51.200 We've been talking about that. 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:53.200 I know we're beating this horse up. 00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:56.079 But this is what Paul says again. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:57.599 It's one letter, one thought. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:04.720 So I know we're hitting a lot of the same things, but Paul is trying to really drill into them that it's not about this law. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:06.400 And he says, You've been given grace. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:11.599 And he keeps reminding, every time he tells them about grace, he turns around and says, Not that you can go live any way you want to. 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:15.599 You don't receive God's grace and then go back to sinning. 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:18.720 And so look at verse 7 through 9. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:21.279 He says, You ran well. 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:23.920 Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:26.720 This persuasion does not come from him who calls you. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:30.319 A little leaven, hear this, leavens the whole lump. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:38.559 I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will have no other mind, but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment whoever he is. 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:40.640 He says, You were running well. 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:46.400 They were persuaded, letter A is that, they were persuaded by false principles. 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:51.200 They were persuaded, they were hearing something that they shouldn't be doing. 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:55.519 He said, You guys, he comes back and I want you to picture him like a father, Father's Day. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:58.880 He says, You were running well, church. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:01.119 You were doing the right things. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:03.119 You were running the right way. 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:08.319 The first track meet I ever got taken to, I'll go to Callie's first track meet. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:11.119 I haven't been to any, I have no experience with track meets. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:16.160 And we go and we sit, and this sweet girl gets, I don't know what the meters are. 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:21.599 Look, there's so much, I don't know, 860, it was a big one because she was running forever. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:30.319 And she was running, and I don't know, lap three or four, this girl looks up and she's going, I can't do it. 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:31.920 I can't do it. 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:37.279 And her daddy comes running to the gate and he's you got this, baby. 00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:38.640 You just keep going. 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:43.359 She gets to the next lap, and she's still, I can't she had like three left after that. 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:44.400 She said, I can't do it. 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:45.920 And her dad's like, Come on, baby. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:49.599 And I'm like, why am I crying at a track beat? 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:52.640 I'm like, you can do it, girl. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:53.920 Just keep going. 00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:54.720 Man. 00:25:55.680 --> 00:25:57.119 That's what it feels like here. 00:25:57.279 --> 00:25:58.720 It's a father with his sons. 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:02.960 Paul is being the best father, a spiritual father. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:05.359 And he said, You guys were running good. 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:09.039 Now who who has hindered you? 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:10.640 Who has done this? 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:13.119 He called him before these bewitchers. 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:16.960 I mean, if if Cali's hurt, let me tell you, that's it. 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:18.400 The boys, they're good. 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:19.920 I've taught them how to punch. 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:22.160