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00:00:00 morning church the scripture reading this morning is taken from Galatians chapter 1: 1-6 Galatians 1: 1-6 Paul an apostle sent not from men nor by a man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the brothers and sisters with me to the churches in galatia Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father to whom be glory forever and ever
00:00:43 amen I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel this is the word of God thank you Jesse good morning church ah it's uh wow two months since I last preached to you bit Rusty now right um so good to see everybody back here um we are now going to go into a period where for seven months of this year about six months we're going to be preaching from the book of Galatians our brother John Lee will be doing gospel 2.0 next week and I'll come
00:01:26 back to you to preach uh on the Fellowship of The Gospel then we we have a special preacher from the United States at sta he's an he's an excellent preacher where I remember when we first uh came from pantai and started this church we actually read one of his books it's called the transformational church and it was upon those principles that we established how we would grow this particular church so I'm very excited that he will come here and share with us on the 23rd of March so please keep that
00:02:00 date on your minds all right so we're going to go to the book of Galatians why the book of Galatians the book of Galatians is a short book but one of the most powerful books that you will ever read of Pauline epistle it is so powerful that if you look back in the history of Christianity it was the Great Awakening across the Atlantic Ocean Britain and and America where where hundreds of thousands came to know the Lord Jesus Christ it was a spiritual movement at that time and one of the preachers more famously known as a
00:02:43 hymnwriter was Charles Wesley and he was introduced by William Holland uh who worked on a group of leaders to Martin Luther's commentary on book of Galatians and and all he did was read the preface you know the preface the first bit most of you never read you just go straight into it and he read the preface and this is what he experienced just reading the preface and you know and he said at a certain point there came such a power over me as I cannot well describe my great burden fell off in an instant my
00:03:23 heart was so filled with peace and love that I burst into tears and I almost almost thought I saw our savior my companions perceiving me so affected fell on their knees and prayed when I afterwards went into the street I could hardly feel the ground that I trod upon Old English way of saying that he was on cloud n it's it's imagine just reading the preface of this particular book is it's exciting and so therefore we would like to in this church go through the next six months in very much detail what Paul writes to
00:04:03 us in the book of Galatians and some of you who want to be prepared because before every sermon there will be a gamma lesson on that it's every Wednesday night on zoom and you prefer to be old fashion and come here on the physical night it's Thursday and you get to eat makan dinner at 7:00 and then the meeting starts at about 8:30 uh right at the corner our brother Israel key will be leading us and all you do all you have to do is go to the website click on under discipleship and Gamma is there
00:04:35 for the video and the question answer materials so let's start with a word of prayer father Lord we thank you for your word we pray for a Great Awakening in our church that the miracle that happened in the 1730s may not be limited to people at that time because you are the god of of Revival at that time and you are our God at this time and we pray as we hear your word as we read your word as we meditate upon your word that we too will feel a great load remov from our hearts and that we will be set Ablaze and when we
00:05:21 walk we will walk as if we're walking on air simply because of what Jesus did for us we ask this for jesus' sake so let me go through the verses here you actually have Paul an apostle not of men nor true man so he's talking about the gospel it has a divine origin it's not just human philosophy from Jesus Christ and God who raised him and the proof in the pudding is that he raised him from dead with all the brothers it's addressed to the churches of galatia and then you actually have a salutation a salutation is uh uh the
00:06:00 equivalent of salutation today is dear Yen okay dear Wong I don't know why when you write to other people who you don't know you call them dear very odd uh but here they bring the thing as straight up grace to you and peace for Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord from god father and Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to Deliver Us from the present evil age according to the will of Our Father God the Father to whom be glory forever and ever amen the occasional why is he writing this letter which is very
00:06:31 very very important the occasional nature of this uh letter is that I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel John Lee will tell you next week what is Gospel 2.0 2.0 are usually not good upgrades in this case the 2.0 upgrade is so bad it's completely different it's like Microsoft became a MEC all right it's completely different all you have to do is just take something little bit special and it's completely different
00:07:09 and though therefore it is so important which is why Paul starts to write right so the structure of Galatians is very simple six chapters to each the true gospel what is the true gospel chapter one and two it is an inclusive gospel because if you twist the gospel then you will separate the church into two different Parts Gentile and Jew totally against each other the the true gospel brings not only freedom in truth but it brings inclusiveness and unity in the new family chapter 3 and four and lastly it
00:07:44 liberates you to explode and live your life as you should live in the rest of the World chapter 5 and six so it's the three sections here and the issue here is having a gentile church and then the Jews come in and they say wow that very good you become a Christian you can throw your armor away but you must add laws food laws sacrificial laws and you must undergo surgery by a qualified urologist oh business is good M yes Mass so there's some who don't want to do some who want to do and they are basically fighting and and the
00:08:27 issue here is if you look at chapter 2 verse four because of the false Brothers secretly brought in that mean the Jews come in they Christian also what and then who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus so that they might bring us into slavery so here we are free we're running around we don't have to be circumcised and now they say come circumcised uh so that is the problem is Jesus Christ plus something else we ourselves Paul says are Jews by birth and not Gentiles sinners yet we know
00:09:00 that is a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ that is the Crux of the heresy here that they wanted to add something to Jesus Christ in addition because they were Jews they were the original Christians as the world they come from Jerusalem all right but Paul says but if I Brothers chapter 5 still preach circumcision why am I being persecuted he's actually being persecuted because of this issue of he saying no need pers ition in that case the offense of the
00:09:31 Cross will be removed I wish those who unsettle you would go so far as to do all the way I mean un unqualified urologist he'll cut everything off all right so that's what he means emasculate yourselves all right now if you look here give you a bit of background this is the first missionary journey of Paul goes to Cyprus and then he lands at this particular area of galatia at predan Antioch is where he was when he preached the gospel there the Gentiles responded but the Jews saw the crowd jealous Mega
00:10:06 just starting and begin to contradict what was spoken by Paul and reviling him reviling means publicly scolding him so Paul then leaves and goes to Iconium nearby another church in uh a city in galatia and then there but the unbelieving Jews continue to follow him and stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers chapter 14 it says when an attempt was made by both Jew and Gentiles with their rulers to mistreat them and stone them they learned of it and fled to lisra and Derby so here is the Jews everywhere
00:10:42 they go they join you they're dogging you they're trying to sabotage and they influenc the crowd so that the crowd actually want to attack and kill Paul but by the holy spirit's power he was saved and he ran off to listra when he went to listra and preached the gospel the Jews were there you see this is like a bad rash never go away when all right the Jews came from Antioch and ionium having persuaded the crowds they stoned Paul and drag him out of the city supposing he was dead imagine how bad it
00:11:17 was smash him in his head until he was dead and dragged him out thank God they don't have ECG he wasn't dead you know what happened he got up and he went to Derby and he went to Derby where they had preached the gospel that day and made many disciples they list returned to lisra Iconium and Antioch strengthening The Souls of the disciples encouraging them to continue in the faith saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom which means after all this persecution he gets up he preaches
00:11:52 in distra and the Derby they come to know Christ and the whole gang go back to lisra Iconium and Antioch and preach again and a Great Awakening happens it's amazing he's got guts stoned and don't tell me the Jews weren't there the Jews were still there they were still there dogging him but the power of Holy Spirit overcomes you can see what happens in the and freedom was so hard one then right after that in ad 48 49 you've got the Council of Jerusalem that worked out that you don't actually need all these levitical laws
00:12:28 and here we have have two groups of people if you are a gentile or a grp a Greek at that time you would be having Idols your idol will be your work your money your family your achievement and they are epitomized by the various little statues that you have and you worship them in order to get what you want and you are a Jew your Idols be your religion your morality your ministry success everything else they were under that kind of idolatry see our idols and slave and alienators and why are they persecuted because the two
00:13:04 roots of Works righteousness is what pride and fear the Jews have pride and they persecuted and they also have fear because circumcision and the law is being threatened and that gave them Authority if that's threatened they will react for the Gentiles when they Paul went to Ephesus and uh the people rebelled against him why because they were produ the greatest industry there was Idol making and if you actually turn to Christ there's no more Idol the industry is threatened and they say great is atmus of the Ephesians which is their
00:13:43 gods and they and they were threatened so and then they threatened they try to attack Paul so basically the two roots of Works righteousness is pride and fear and the problem here is that they're bringing back the law which is described in chapter 5:1 for the freedom Christ has set us free stand firm do not submit again to the Yoke the yoke is actually a metaphor for the law right so we've got a funny relationship with the law because you're supposed to obey the law and you're not under the law so
00:14:14 Galatians helps us work through the issues with law and so therefore he tells us first of all the gospel is from God divine origin the gospel is a based on a historical event it's not philosophy is Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to Deliver Us from the present evil age and he was raised from the dead that is a historical event everything is based on that now the t two key words which I want to share with you today is that Grace and peace Grace and peace are the center piece of the Gospel if the gospel is anything at all
00:14:53 it is Grace and peace the peace uh in in the Hebrew is Shalom Shalom and Shalom is this is birai nagasu the first American woman at the Olympics in 2018 you know what she's doing anybody know trip yes this is called the triple AEL it is the hardest routine that you will ever do for for human being in that time and it's 300 three and a half turns you practice a long time and then you smash to the ground and the estimate when you smash to the ground you got 500 lb on a quarter inch blade you could wreck your you could
00:15:37 break your leg you need to be very brave to do that she practice practice practice and On that Day 2018 she jumped up and she did it and nobody else could do it and then look at her face you know what that face is that fa is Shalom that means you were made to be a skater you were made to do that thing and on that day the ice was perfect the jump was perfect The Landing was perfect everything was perfect the opposite to this is when I came back from my holiday got to operating theater the consent is wrong don't know
00:16:20 who didn't sign instruments don't work I lose my temper I want to go home back to Melbourne nothing works poor patient poor patient thank God you're not on the table that day that's shalom shalom is when everything works out and when God created the world he created us there is a particular purpose he created me nagasu do the triple Axel if she does that she's in that zone They Call It Flow and each of you are created for that and the trouble is we don't we don't have shalom in the world we we we actually
00:17:08 have people like that berating each other or millions are dying there the fell is fighting in public such a embarrassment to the country of America I don't understand if I were America i' be hiding my face somewhere even our own prime minister even past leaders don't act like that they're like a four-year-old uh this is our present evil Age and and the gospel is to Deliver us from our present evil age to give each of us the true satisfaction we have in life so how do we get this Shalom we all want Shalom what you be a
00:17:45 Jew the first thing he'll say to you Shalom everybody wants Shalom how do you get it you get it through Grace but how is Grace related to peace well we've got this lovehe relationship with the law uh what does a Christian do with the law you you you toally free from the law but yet you have to obey the law what is it you're talking out both sides of your mouth isn't it if you go to other religions they know about the law they tell you how to live all right and Muhammad will tell you that you will do
00:18:14 good deeds at the end of time they will then weigh you on the scales of justice and if your good deeds exceed your bad Deeds then you get to go to heaven you know uh if you are a Buddhist that you got this prayers and meditation so that you could actually uh uh basically unite yourself to the cosmos by Awakening and inner energy but is something that you do if your confusious or louser you follow a set of principles with something that you do if you are a idol worshipping person then you will have to do a couple
00:18:53 of things in order to please the idol so that they can grant you blessing whatever it is they tell tell you how you are judged there is a judgment in the end and even in Jesus many Christians liberal Christians have taken his servant amount and they become that centerpiece of law you follow this and you'll be saved and this is what the Jews were doing in galatia but you understand the Bible says in 1 John 17 the law was given to Moses Grace and Truth through Jesus Christ for Freedom Christ set us free stand firm therefore
00:19:28 do not submit to the Yoke of slavery again so in Jesus we actually have Grace and if you look at the life of Jesus there's so many portraits of Grace in The Gospel bartmus the man who had the who was born blind for 40 years of his life there's no merit in him blind fellow who who wants to bother a blind fellow right Jesus comes and opens up his eyes they ask you know was he blind because his father sin or his sin no no no it is for the glory of God did he deserve it no what about zakus that short fellow hiding in the tree up in
00:20:09 the tree so that he can get the attention of Jesus Christ he's a horrible tax collector a tax collector is a terrible person what he does is he collects taxes from you he double the amount because he quet half you think they'll be popular all right but but Jesus went to his house didn't go to your house went to his house he didn't deserve it what about a woman caught in adultery with how many men in her life most of you would look people like that even in this church with disdain and you look the other way and you wouldn't want
00:20:41 to be caught Nick she stand next to you take selfie would you take a selfie with her most of you say but Jesus said no those of you who have no sin you cast stones and Jesus stood if Jesus had a chance you'll take selfie with her this do make sense it's a portrait of Grace and what about that great murderer Paul persecute the church ruin hundreds of hundreds of lives it's not fair that God Appears to him in the middle of the road to Damascus it's not fair isn't it has he appeared to you no you are a good person you obey
00:21:26 the law you didn't where's the last time mailing that you agreed that you managed to kill a few people off no you're better than Paul but but did he appear to you no he didn't he appeared to Paul doesn't make sense so therefore the gospel brings together all these different portraits and the portraits and after you read all the stories hey something something doesn't make sense it's it's people who don't deserve it and what Jesus is doing in the gospel is crafting a picture of Grace they don't get what they deserve
00:22:00 in this world we're always talking about you get what you deserve but in the gospel they don't get what they deserve Fred crok was a preacher and was preaching on the The Prodigal Son and and and to make a spiritual point he twisted this the the picture of the prodigal son he said the father slipped the ring and the robe not on the younger son but the Elder son and they killed the cat fed calf for the younger son why for the older son you know why because he been faithful honorable able he stood by my side he
00:22:31 sucked up to me so therefore I reward him the prodical are I kick out and then one of the ladies at the sanctuary actually stood up and say yeah that's the way it should have been written the gospel writers read it wrong but this true isn't it in our hearts we all support the older brother because we are good people see the gospel is totally counter intuitive in fact it's called the Scandal you can have an old woman at the temple she give two cents only two cents is worth what and she's According To Jesus given more than all
00:23:06 the rich people who go and donate millions of dollars doesn't make sense or a woman who who brings eight months worth of a normal person's pay perfume and pour it on jesus' feet after pouring on Jesus feet go on the floor 8 months worth doesn't make sense is scandalous about the what about that that that that Shepherd I mean if you had a couple of sheep and you you hire him to look after die for you you know he left 99 ship to look for the one by the time he come back maybe half them can Rass right it doesn't make sense so
00:23:48 when Jesus tells all these stories actually it shows you it doesn't make a SC there's a Scandal of Grace the how God works is not the way we we work what about the thief on the cross the guy could be a mass murderer how do you know last minute Jesus says today you'll be with me in Paradise just because he believed in Jesus Christ that is the biggest tell you can see all he did was recognize who Jesus is and no matter what he had done was totally forgiven he did not get what he deserved that's what the gospel
00:24:33 is about same with the tax collector and the Pharisee and what a parable of the laborers the laborers all come 9:00 in the morning they promise maybe 50 ring end of the day some people come at 12:00 also get 50 ring the fellow come at 5:00 work finish at 6:00 also got 50 ring oh my goodness then the rest of us always come and work at 5 at 5:00 it I mean the moment you hear this you get upset in fact you get you turn against the gospel when I was young reading this I got very upset with the Lord Jesus Christ said why got fair you
00:25:12 know you've been Christian for how many years you work so hard for the church you do and then suddenly the last minut come in I become Elder of the church probably it doesn't make sense and you understand that God gives gifts not wages that's something that we cannot understand they did not get what they deserve so when God deals with us and every single one of us the the prime issue about Grace is that we don't get what we deserve and and when and Grace comes to our lives Grace also had to be transmitted from our lives and when
00:25:49 Peter comes to Jesus and said you know Lord uh how often uh will my brother sin against me and I have to forgive them as many as seven times actually Peter very generous when the last time you forgave someone seven times anybody here seven times very hard because the Pharisees said maximum three after three game over and Peter was being generous and Jesus turned around and said no no no no seven times 77 times W huge 490 times which means forever you got to keep forgiving most of us have you had
00:26:24 parents when you do something wrong and then you apologize say sorry Mom and she Tes you know you can't possibly be sorry if you're really sorry you wouldn't have done it in the first place right that kind of logic you know uh so your apology is not accepted so but this is Grace and then chapter 3: 2- 4 let me ask you this only did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by healing with faith are you so foolish having you begun in the spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh did you suffer so many things in vain if
00:26:57 it was indeed in vain this is a crucial verse this describes us it's like you start your Christian Life by the Ferrari Spirit empowered transformation then you finish your journey by getting out of your car you pull your Tesla along the way going back to works so therefore you start off sinners prayer accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and you finish your life following the Bible and telling other people what to do and following a book of rules is that what Christian Life is because a lot of us our Christian lives are like
00:27:34 that Jesus died for me on the cross is something entry level kindergarten all right I don't have to use that anymore I I'm the rest I use rule book to do the best I can and we revert back to our Idols of Idols of of of money work employment happiness or Idols of of religiosity as it were we like to count so therefore the by the law becomes a standard upon which we stand and we compare with each other and it actually enslaves us how many people here in our church spend time gossiping about each other you know
00:28:13 why you gossiping about each other because you think you're standing on a taller tree stum than the other guy and you don't realize all of you Sinners are how tall your Trum three stum you're still short that's the problem and you're trapped all right and that's what the Catholic Church did Jesus is not enough Jesus passed indulgences and they said that oh you know there's this place called purgatory and you're going to go there and suffer a long time cow cow and then after that you can go heaven but you can
00:28:45 shorten that time if you pay some money and get certificate to the church it was Martin Luther who rebelled against this and and it's true if you look in today's theology when we actually look at the book If of Galatians We believe We Are declared righteous justification by grace and because we've been Justified and transformed then we grow in Holiness the Catholic church is different they've got baptism Works only the end you got justification all this is given by Grace if you look at the recent uh uh book
00:29:22 called the doctrine of which the church stands and Falls one of the editors da carsen he writes according to Trent which is a Council of Trent once Justified we are called to keep the Commandments and preserve our righteousness spotless through faith and works in this way we grow in righteousness increasing it and in anticipating a reward in other words salvation is not by faith alone in the end eternal life is both a Grace promised and a reward given for good works and merits This is Gospel 2.0 when you adopt stop this they are
00:30:00 not worshiping Jesus Christ Paul said I'm so surprised you're quickly deserting deserting you know mean turning your back on Jesus Christ this is serious Hebrew Roots some of us are affected in the Hebrews recently in our church Hebrew Roots say Jesus is not enough justification yes but you all need to follow Old Testament law if you don't follow Old Testament laws celebrate Festival Tabernacle then you might not be saved and so that because of this issue the biggest complaints against Christians that they're like
00:30:38 Pharisees okay what they claim Proclaim to be and what they do are completely different you know last week in Melbourne attended a very good church I always go there when I'm there uh and and the senior pastor of Crossway Baptist Church if you ever there drop by it's a big church and Dale is an excellent preacher and uh he was telling about time when he was driving back from church well driving her back from somewhere anyway and he saw the lights in front of him going down bwood highway and the lights
00:31:13 were going to flashing going to turn red and they thought my goodness if I would press an accelerator I go much faster I might be able to make it because a long terrible day at work I'm sure you've been there before right all of a sudden the corner iside young lady with the car stuck at the intersection blocking people and she's like uh don't know what to do you know and then the the hazard lights on and he look at her McDon know Drive some more faster and then somehow his conscience got to him
00:31:49 ha you know go past the green light then turn back then thinking again turn back again then turn back again and he finally wound up next to her to help her see what can I do and the woman turned oh Pastor Dale oh church member church member then he thought thank God I stopped imagine church member and I senior pastor Zoom passed tells you a story isn't it why did he turn around if he knew that was church member his motive would be different that we didn't know as a church member isn't it it tells you how
00:32:34 legalism affects our hearts you know if you were riding in the plane I play this scenario in my mind every single time I get on mases maybe not specifically M what if the captain turn around and tell you that you know we've been struck by lightning and we're going to we're having difficulty please strap your seat belt on and Bend forward and all that would you look like this or would you look like that most of us won't look like the B fell quite apart from his tattoos most of us if you'll be honest your entire life will Flash
00:33:16 before your eyes and you'll think all the good that you have done and all the bad you're done and what to say to the boss when you meet him the next five minutes don't you think so how many of you will not think like that put your hands up by default you answer yes this how you work a Malaysian crowd you ask them the the proper question it's a fact isn't it then you ask yourself question why why would you think like that you would think like that because your salvation and your place with our Lord Jesus Christ
00:33:58 is entirely dependent on what you do and if that's the case then I tell you you don't understand Grace it's just like people who've got terminal illness after terminal illness oh attended church many years but never go to GMA one your terminal illness oh you know turn to the gospel why why because you feel that it's inevit every person when he's faced with mortality will look back and reflect back on what he has done and in that way we even though we say we are Christians we are gripped by that
00:34:40 uncertainty we cannot understand Grace so therefore we work through life we work righteousness we don't have confidence we don't have Shalom if we actually at the Shalom then we won't be feeling Bo that lady will look more like the B man because our Shalom comes from Grace we understand Grace this is Catholic St Francis Xavier he says and he I think he ionizes this at night just before you go to sleep you must examine your conscience inquiring into your thoughts and words and deeds of the whole day and
00:35:17 also whether you have left out anything of what you ought to have done sleep is like the likeness of death meditate on death and Eternity retire not without being prepared for death isn't this scary the next time you fall asleep during a sermon you might not wake up be careful but why does St Francis Xavier say that because he is worried he is worried that if you die without being prepared you will not wind up in heaven he doesn't have that Assurance of the cross and that is so sad you see if God loved
00:36:03 us because we have earned his love by our obedience the good works then we on Shaky Ground because one day what happened in dark times you feel unloved or we fail you committed a sin you on Shaky Ground you will you believe that God will stop loving you because he loved you in the first stage because of what you did so the next big sin that comes out he will not love you anymore it's like you got a status save and not Sav every time you not saved every time you you confess saved again my God how to live you tell me how to live
00:36:38 and I think many of you have the same thing right you dare not lift up your heads and you worship because Ting at the present moment I got see I couldn't confess that I hope before I die I turn it back last minute you know that's not how the gospel works and if you go to the book of Galatians at the end of 6 months by God Grace given to us by all the preachers of this church you will change so the next time your bus is heading towards the cliff you'll be more like the B man and I'm sure you will see sal sal if
00:37:12 salvation is like the triple axle then none of us can do it that's the thing none of us can do the triple axle none of us will reach Shalom only Grace can lead us to peace only Grace can lead leaders to Shalom that's the only way that's why Grace and peace are intertwined the gospel is about Grace enabling you to read that wonderful peace of your life you know dor Sayers actually said this words the law of the universe says it can only be fulfilled in two ways God's law either judgment or by Grace only two ways it's no other way
00:37:53 the law you know you know 1991 there was a movie called Last Emperor Pui who how many people seen this older people right and he's got 1,000 servants and for him no problem he says somebody asked him and interviewed him uh what happened if you do anything wrong because you were child oh no problem if I do anything wrong they'll punish my servants so he took the glass uh jar smash on the ground and then go and then then somebody go and can one of the servants you know the go gopel is complete opposite we drop the glass jar
00:38:33 and Jesus Christ the King gets punished that's how counterintuitive Grace is and Grace is UN very difficult to understand we transform the law if the law is like some poor girl trying to learn the violin and depend on which method you use you play wrong then the the teacher give you a look they call the joanel look and if looks could kill I think you die already you sort of shrivel my God I going to do the thing many many times again uh but but let's say you give you automatically give her grace and and says I give you great Aid
00:39:17 not because of what you have done but what Christ has done Grace leads to Shalom it comes from God our Father Lord Jesus Christ so here you actually have a nice brand new law same law actually we can use the law not for our salvation but for his honor and glory and lovingly to show our gratitude as a Believer you're not simply free from the obligations of the law you're free to actually carry the law to its full to its fulfillment let me see this chapter 2 verse 19 to 20 for through the law I died to the law so I
00:39:58 can I might live to God if I have been crucified with Christ it's no longer I who live but Christ who live 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 up for me before you met Christ or even if you are now if you really don't understand the gospel right every day you'll be thinking if I do this if I give my tithing now now to BT 0076 then God will bless my business if I serve as an aser tomorrow although I don't like everybody I like I
00:40:39 meet and I'm not going to smile then God will bless my house I got 15 more grandchildren if but when you look at this verse it's completely different it's because he did this therefore I do this you see if you were Dale Stevenson it wouldn't matter whether it's a church member or his greatest enemy at the side of the road as he's driving through he will say not if I do this God will do this he will say because God stopped his car and hung on the cross I will stop my car and help that young lady because it
00:41:33 brings glory to God and it doesn't matter how many times you stop your car some of you may be younger in the faith you stop your car one time now some of you stop your car many times it doesn't matter you don't have to carry the guilt in your life that you're not like Mother Teresa you see I mean the devil will put in your hearts oh you didn't do this you didn't do this you didn't do this no no no no no you are not condemned because of that you are now justified by the blood of Jesus Christ and because you
00:42:06 Justified Jesus Christ the plane can crash today and you stand before him with his righteousness and now when you obey the law the law is a way in which you can see and then use that to glorify God if it is in his will and your ability to just have the one person that one day glorifies God just like but Sarah came up here and told you about the Philippine trip some of you oh my goodness I'm very guilty I never been to mission trip for what whole life maybe if I go my business will do better I'll feel better I'll be stronger
00:42:43 my cancer will go away or maybe I'll be able to play like Bay now but if you were think in terms of the Gospel you will say because he went to the Philippines no he went he went further than because he went to the cross I can go to the Philippines and I can glorify his name and so that's my opportunity I can do or you are like some of the gamma groups like Michael yamut and and and laus they were ministering to uh uh refugees from Burma sang and they're going to renovate this whole place and then get them there
00:43:28 uh and then they ask for volunteers nobody volunteer but they are convicted by God that they will put some money there they will do something and that for them is loving God with all your heart soul and mind and loving your neighbor as yourself and that glorifies God that's where where their way of glorifying God so when we're assured of this righteousness we're not only cheerfully working well in our vocations we submit in all manners and burdens to the dangers of this present life because we know that this is the will of God that
00:43:58 his obedience pleases him so the Lord becomes a way in which you please him you created the the the flowers to bloom the birds to sing the monkeys monkeys is going to swing right but we are here to follow the law and use that to glorify his name he while we are here on Earth we will be accused exercised with temptation oppressed with heaviness and sorrow bruised by the law with all his demands of act righteousness because of this Paul sets out in the letter of Galatians to teach us to comfort us and to keep us
00:44:35 constantly aware of this Christian righteousness for if the truth of being justified by Christ Alone not by our works is lost then all Christian truths are lost you need to understand Martin Luther's words for the next 6 months and if these words are blasing and and stencil in your hearts the way you live will be completely different Charles Coy a psychologist years ago came up with the Looking Glass self Theory you know when we see ourselves how we sees ourselves is actually dependent on how other people
00:45:17 see us how your mother and father sees you is all the world to you then you become a terrible teen 13 14 15 years old then what your friends think of you is more important to you so I remember Church camp or the my sons we not use them example otherwise they complain again I always get this delete that a parent driving a teenager to school will be asked to drop them uh a few yards from the front you know why they don't want to be seen as Mommy's boy or Papa's boy Papa's girl they want to be on their own because what their
00:46:04 friends see on them is more important than what you see and that theory is correct how other people look at us make us in our Behavior you see this is KL bath he's arguably the most influential Evangelical scholar in in history came even came out Time Magazine he visited a a Chicago seminary in that Seminary the students wanted to ask this great Theologian what is the most profound truth that you've ever learned in all your studies car bath without batting an eye said Jesus loves me this I know
00:46:58 that's all that matters and we can say with David you have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grains and wine abound in peace I will both lie down and sleep for you alone make me to dwell in safety we don't care how the world looks at us there's only one person who whose gaze whose approval whose smile means more to us than life itself Jesus loves me this I know so if you're sitting here or standing here don't look and compare with somebody else older than you handsomer than you
00:47:49 prettier than you more accomplish than you I know you all do that you stand tall you know why Jesus Loves You this I know and that's the center if that's a center means the gospel has achieved its purpose you will have joined the Great Awakening the Holy Spirit would have empowered you you could stand up and do anything not just ushering you can do everything else maybe you come and preacher too because that's the power of the Holy Spirit we all depend on the power holy spirit so because of this we now come to the most
00:48:29 important demonstration of our commitment to the gospel the Lord's supper if you are a person who does not know our Lord Jesus Christ yet then I challenge you right now when people look at you who who did this what who what do they see do they see just a lawyer a business person a CEO come 65 no more CEO R it it matters who looks at you and today Jesus Christ is offering you that no matter what your sin no matter what your past and no matter what your future will be if you accept Jesus Christ into
00:49:24 your heart right now don't say to me uh I cannot I got to clean up my life first maybe I should quit this business or or sell this share or do then only I can come to Jesus if you say that then you're relying on your Works righteousness you're relying on the fact that you need to be good enough the only criteria to come to Jesus is that to believe you are a horrible sinner and you trust him that's all and if you are a horrible sinner and you trust like the rest of us are then you take this bread this bread represents his body
00:50:06 laid on the cross nailed there for us so you can see all the failures in your life all the deaths in your life all the pain that you have caused your family nailed on that cross and you can start fresh fresh so that no man look at you and look down on you or what a piece of eight that you are because you are in Christ and that matters if the Christ loves me and God loves you nobody else matters if you do that and you want to do that then we can then open up our packets this bread nothing magical about
00:51:00 it this bread represents what he did for you and if this is an existential Truth for you then you take it you take it and when you take it you don't have to be afraid you don't have to cower you can stand tall every single one who takes this bread today you're going to stand tall why because of what Christ has done today Christ stands at the right hand of our God in heaven and he's banging his fist and he's saying I demand Justice you know what the justice is he died for your sin the Eternal law of the universe has
00:51:46 been fulfilled he died you now stand in the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ so I want you to stand right now for those of you of which this is the truth if this is not the truth don't stand we respect you maybe you have not come to a time in your life when this is true but if it is true let us proudly Jesus said this is my body take it in rembrance of be let's take it together this is the blood that was shed for us it represents the life that Jesus has lived that you should have lived and the death
00:52:38 that Jesus died that we would have been inflicted with and so therefore let's take this let's drink it together my brothers and sisters this is what the gospel is about I'm going to pray for the next six months that you keep coming back or you join the GMA groups listen to the sermons online and understand that if you have the gospel the justification of Jesus Christ stencil your heart you will never be afraid you will never be proud let's pray father Lord we thank you for the precious blood of the
00:53:28 Lamb only by the blood of the Lamb can we enter into your presence only in the by the blood of the Lamb can we stand up tall and look anybody in the face and understand that the most important fact in our life should be Jesus loves me this I know we ask oh Lord as uh we depart that you fill us with your spirit and make this reality palpable in our lives for we ask for Jesus sake let's pray let's sing now prepare ourselves for the benediction because of what he did therefore this is how we live now to him who is able to keep you
00:54:17 from Trump stumbling and to present to you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only God our savior through Jesus Christ Our Lord be glory Majesty dominion and Authority before all time now and forever and all the Lord's people said amen so some of you who want to know more about Lord Jesus Christ or you want counseling Don't Be Afraid don't be ashamed when you look at other people coming in front it doesn't mean you're less Jesus loves me this I know that all that matters come and and share your burdens
00:55:03 with us as we share ours with you thank you
