WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.320 Freedom from the curse is our theme tonight because Jesus freed us from the curse of the 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:18.320 law that's mentioned in chapter 3 verse 13, which means not only do we get a new future, 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:21.199 but we get a new right now. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:27.980 And we often forget that our eternal future has incredible implications for our moment 00:00:27.980 --> 00:00:32.799 right now and our next moment and our next day and so on. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:36.039 Our eternity is tied to our now. 00:00:36.039 --> 00:00:41.679 So tonight we're going to study just a portion of what we read, Galatians 2 verses 17 to 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:45.920 21, just the last bit of chapter 2. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:50.439 And it's very dense and it's very challenging. 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:52.960 But here's maybe a greater challenge. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:58.920 This is a challenge that I wrestle with is to sit and think, yeah, that's true. 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:03.120 I assent to that doctrine and those legalists out there who don't believe in justification 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:07.439 by faith, they really need to, you know, I hope they get their stuff together and can 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:10.680 understand what's true. 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:15.079 We all have a little legalist way deep down in our hearts. 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:17.120 Some of us it's not that deep down. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:20.040 But we didn't come to church just to read the word of God and nod. 00:01:20.040 --> 00:01:23.960 We came to church to be read by the word of God. 00:01:23.960 --> 00:01:31.440 So let's agree tonight, all of us, very much me included, to invite God through his word, 00:01:31.440 --> 00:01:39.920 to challenge us, to challenge our hearts, to inspect us, to heal us. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:49.000 So in Galatians 2, Paul says that he sees Peter stepping away from fellowship with the 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.599 Gentiles and not eating with them. 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:57.560 In other words, Peter is taking Jewish law that the risen Christ has shown him is done 00:01:57.560 --> 00:01:58.799 away with in a sense. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.480 It's been fulfilled and he doesn't have to do that anymore. 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:07.680 Remember, Christ in a vision to Peter said, don't call unclean what I have called clean. 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:13.920 And yet Peter is acting as though that law is actually still needful to be okay with 00:02:13.920 --> 00:02:16.840 God for a right standing with God. 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:21.200 So Paul sees that and instead of saying, well, Peter, that's kind of racist that you wouldn't 00:02:21.200 --> 00:02:23.159 eat with the Greeks. 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:27.199 Or instead of saying, well, Peter, you know, Christ associated with sinners and we shouldn't 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:29.719 discriminate like that. 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:32.960 Those things might be true, but Paul cuts right to the heart and says, actually, it's 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:34.159 not an eating issue. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.400 It's a gospel issue. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:42.360 This is a justification by faith alone issue, Peter. 00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:47.680 He says you're not in step with the gospel. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:50.880 So you know what's really at stake here is everything. 00:02:50.880 --> 00:02:54.880 And it might seem so mundane. 00:02:54.880 --> 00:02:58.080 So look with me at verses 15 and 16. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:03.040 We're just going to take it kind of a verse at a time and walk through this little passage. 00:03:03.040 --> 00:03:04.240 And I said we're starting in 17. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:06.360 I'm sorry, we're starting in verse 15. 00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:10.600 So 15 and 16, we ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:14.400 But we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:16.219 Jesus Christ. 00:03:16.219 --> 00:03:20.680 So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:26.639 and not by works of the law because, again, by works of the law no one will be justified. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:32.560 I get the sense from Paul's repetition that this is really important. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:38.400 Justification does not come through works of the law, but by faith in Christ. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:41.039 So what do we mean by justification? 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:42.960 It's a very Christianese word. 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:46.280 We'll have all heard it most likely many times. 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:50.520 And there's lots of really formal theological definitions, but really it's at the heart 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:52.960 of what it means to be a Christian. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:57.480 Justification is being okay with God. 00:03:57.480 --> 00:04:03.040 So we put our faith in Christ because He justifies us before God. 00:04:03.040 --> 00:04:05.040 He changes our status. 00:04:05.040 --> 00:04:07.400 Christ changes our status before God. 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:09.039 Not our works. 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:15.439 In the gospel, Christ changes our status from sinner to righteous. 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:19.360 Sam Albury says, it's not primarily a change in you. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:21.759 It's a change of you. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:23.879 In God's eyes, you're a new man. 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:33.120 You stand before Him as clean as Jesus Christ Himself if you have put your faith in Christ. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:37.560 So justification isn't primarily a change of our behavior, our behavior changes as a result 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:44.800 of justification, but justification is a change of our status. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:49.560 But I don't think any of us consciously think on a daily basis, man, you know, I could really 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:51.759 use some justification. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:56.040 We don't think in those terms that word isn't deeply ingrained in our consciousness in such 00:04:56.040 --> 00:05:03.600 a way that justification is identified as one of our deep desires. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:09.080 But I suggest that maybe it's our deepest desire or one of our deepest desires after 00:05:09.080 --> 00:05:17.800 all because what we want, and I think this is pretty ubiquitous, we want our guilt to 00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:19.320 be dealt with. 00:05:19.320 --> 00:05:23.200 And not formally, we want to actually feel a removal of guilt, don't we? 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:26.279 We want our guilt to go away. 00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:33.240 We want our shame to be covered up and not ineffectually like we do when we just hide 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:36.319 things, but actually dealt with. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:40.800 We want our feelings of failure to be done away with. 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:45.159 We want to know that we're secure and that we have a really bright future that we can't 00:05:45.159 --> 00:05:47.680 mess up. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:52.599 We want those anxieties about our future, maybe even just our next week future or our 00:05:52.600 --> 00:05:54.600 next year future. 00:05:54.600 --> 00:06:01.439 We want those anxieties to be relieved. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:04.640 Maybe this is, this might just be me. 00:06:04.640 --> 00:06:06.760 I don't think it is. 00:06:06.760 --> 00:06:11.960 I want to be deeply known and deeply accepted. 00:06:11.960 --> 00:06:14.520 Does that resonate? 00:06:14.520 --> 00:06:18.960 To be deeply known and accepted. 00:06:18.960 --> 00:06:21.439 Only in Christ do we have that. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:28.240 The curse of the law, we experience day to day and those feelings of condemnation and 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:33.959 shame and guilt and anxiety and despair and just that existential frustration. 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:37.720 But here's what justification does and why this is actually the thing that we all crave. 00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:42.040 We all crave to be made right with God because the implications of that for the here and 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:47.959 now is that in Christ, he actually gets rid of our guilt because on the cross, he takes 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:51.199 it on himself and pays for it. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:53.079 There's no more debt to pay. 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:56.319 Through justification, Christ gently covers over our shame. 00:06:56.319 --> 00:07:00.719 He takes our worst and he gives us his best. 00:07:00.719 --> 00:07:02.319 What could be better than that? 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:09.120 And he does it despite our worst betrayals of him and others. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:14.439 Through justification, Christ turns those feelings of failure and condemnation into certainty 00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:21.600 of acceptance and love and freedom because Jesus knows our frame. 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:25.160 He knows that we are dust and he treats us that way. 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:28.279 Isn't that comforting to know that? 00:07:28.279 --> 00:07:34.199 Jesus didn't come in Matthew and say, you know, to all who are trying and moderately 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:37.800 successful, come to me and I will give you rules. 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:45.800 He said, come to me who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:53.360 Justification lets us feel secure and lets us be certain of a bright future because Christ 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:57.480 secured that future for us on the cross. 00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:00.879 In Isaiah, I don't remember where it is, but there's a passage that says there's a 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:06.480 road to Zion and only the righteous can walk it, but not even a fool can fall off the path. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:09.759 I want to be on that road. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:12.600 Not even a fool can stray off the path. 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:16.400 Or another place, I think in the Psalms, it says, though I stumble, I shall not be cast 00:08:16.400 --> 00:08:19.520 headlong. 00:08:19.520 --> 00:08:23.240 We crave that kind of security, don't we? 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:29.920 That we don't have to worry that everything is going to come crashing down at any minute. 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:38.560 We're all convinced that we can be either known or accepted. 00:08:38.560 --> 00:08:43.480 What I mean by that is, if you like me and accept me, I assume you don't know the real 00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:45.800 me. 00:08:45.800 --> 00:08:51.620 And if you really knew the real me, you wouldn't want me as your friend, let alone standing 00:08:51.620 --> 00:08:55.039 here behind a pulpit. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:09:02.199 We're convinced that we can be either known or accepted, not both. 00:09:02.199 --> 00:09:09.639 But justification is the unique Christian reality that in Christ we're both truly known and 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:13.039 deeply accepted. 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:17.799 While you were still sinners, Christ died for you, not while you were getting your act 00:09:17.799 --> 00:09:20.399 together. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:24.759 That's at the very heart of what it means to be a Christian is, he came for us when we 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:28.120 were at our very worst. 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:34.000 There's an implication, like a good meal, you kind of eat the leftovers for a long time, 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:35.439 for days after the meal. 00:09:35.439 --> 00:09:40.200 The implication of this is like a feast for me. 00:09:40.200 --> 00:09:44.439 That our best efforts aren't the thing that moved Christ most toward us, it's actually 00:09:44.439 --> 00:09:47.399 our weaknesses and our failings. 00:09:47.399 --> 00:09:58.039 That Christ has moved toward us by the very thing that we think would push him away. 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:03.639 It's through our sin and failure that we experience the tenderness and mercy of Christ. 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:09.159 And that kind of justification that only comes by faith in Christ. 00:10:09.159 --> 00:10:10.159 That's it. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:12.120 That's Paul's point here. 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:15.559 Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:17.159 Jesus Christ. 00:10:17.159 --> 00:10:21.639 So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ, 00:10:21.639 --> 00:10:26.079 and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 00:10:26.079 --> 00:10:29.000 Paul's saying, do you get the point yet? 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:32.360 This makes me think of back in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve's sin. 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:37.399 And as soon as they do, they're ashamed. 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:40.399 And so they make an effort to cover that shame with big leaves. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:42.679 It's not enough. 00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:49.000 And God shows up and they feel guilty and shame and they hide. 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:57.159 Now legalism often is thought of as trying to impress God or adding rules, but that 00:10:57.159 --> 00:11:00.639 has actually another side of the same coin. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:05.439 When we think that we can get right with God or feel okay with God by hiding from God, 00:11:05.439 --> 00:11:11.120 what we're doing is trying to cover up our own shame and we're not relying on Christ. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:15.399 Jesus gives us freedom from the curse of the law, freedom from the shame, freedom from 00:11:15.399 --> 00:11:22.200 the guilt, the fear, the anxiety, the freedom that comes from being truly known and deeply 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:27.799 accepted, but only comes through faith in Christ. 00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:30.639 We just put all of our weight on Him. 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:33.960 We rely on Him and we stop relying on ourselves. 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:40.680 Now verse 17, but if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ we too were found to be 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:45.039 sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:46.039 Certainly not. 00:11:46.039 --> 00:11:50.439 In other words, Paul's stating his opponent's critique of Paul's gospel message. 00:11:50.439 --> 00:11:54.679 Paul says we're justified not by works of the law, but only by faith in Christ. 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:58.079 And his opponents say, well, then doesn't that mean that Christ is actually kind of promoting 00:11:58.079 --> 00:11:59.679 sin? 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:04.719 If we don't have to do any good works to prove ourselves to God, I mean, isn't that 00:12:04.719 --> 00:12:08.679 a bit morally subversive? 00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:13.039 Isn't that too good to be true? 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:17.959 Paul's gospel always seemed too good to be true. 00:12:17.959 --> 00:12:22.839 I looked, I don't think anyone ever accused Paul of being a legalist, but when Paul preaches 00:12:22.839 --> 00:12:27.279 the response is generally something like, well then maybe we should sin so that grace 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:29.759 should abound. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:31.839 Free grace. 00:12:31.839 --> 00:12:34.919 Justification by faith alone. 00:12:34.919 --> 00:12:44.439 If we don't believe, know and preach a gospel that is close to being too good to be true, 00:12:44.439 --> 00:12:53.000 it might not be the gospel that we know at all. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:58.279 If the gospel is a narrow road with a ditch on either side, if you heard that one ditch, 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:03.480 one error to fall into is legalism and the other is called antinomianism, literally the 00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:07.080 anti-law way. 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:10.759 Legalism says, I can earn my way into God's favor. 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:13.480 I can cover up my shame and be okay. 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:18.240 I can deal with my guilt myself. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.920 Antinomianism says, I don't need to earn my way into God's favor because I'm doing just 00:13:21.920 --> 00:13:24.039 fine, thank you very much. 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:26.360 I'm not really that bad. 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:32.360 But only the gospel, only justification by faith says you really are that bad and you 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:35.399 don't need to earn your way into God's favor. 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:42.519 It's the only thing that takes our condition seriously, God's law seriously and God's grace 00:13:42.519 --> 00:13:43.919 seriously. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:48.240 You can have it all in Christ, but we have to admit that we're that bad and he's that 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:52.600 good. 00:13:52.600 --> 00:14:01.560 Verse 18, for if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:08.839 In other words, if we've been changed and confronted by that gospel, it would be ridiculous 00:14:08.839 --> 00:14:18.719 to climb back up those flimsy structures that we had built to attain to God. 00:14:18.719 --> 00:14:24.279 The structures that we had built of self-righteousness or of hiding from God, the structures that 00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:31.359 we build in our lives to feel okay, whether they're habits, relationships, what have you, 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:36.240 in Christ, he says you don't need any of that, you just need me, you just need Christ, faith 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:38.840 in Christ. 00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:43.720 In Paul's saying what Peter's doing is actually rebuilding that structure. 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:46.840 He's rebuilding a structure to be okay. 00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:48.720 And he says we don't do that. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:53.039 That's contrary to the whole point. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:59.360 His rationale, look at verse 19, for through the law I died to the law so that I might 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:02.039 live to God. 00:15:02.039 --> 00:15:05.440 The law is for the living. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:08.840 Laws don't have anything to do with dead people. 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:12.720 The law only has a domain to accuse the living. 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:17.560 The law can only hold the living up to a standard. 00:15:17.560 --> 00:15:20.200 But if you're dead to it, what does the law have to do with you? 00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:23.560 Paul says through the law, I died to the law. 00:15:23.560 --> 00:15:25.600 I have nothing to do with the law anymore. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:28.279 I'm dead to it. 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:29.679 Now rules are good. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:31.799 Rules and laws are necessary. 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:33.159 But Paul is emphatic. 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:38.679 When it comes to our justification before God, rules and laws have nothing to do with it 00:15:38.679 --> 00:15:41.120 anymore. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:45.879 Because through the law, I died to the law. 00:15:45.879 --> 00:15:50.519 Not to be dead, not to remain dead, but so that I might live to God. 00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:55.240 Martin Luther says this in his incredible, I almost just wanted to read the Galatians 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:56.839 commentary from Luther. 00:15:56.840 --> 00:16:00.000 It's just a 200-page sermon, essentially on Galatians. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:01.480 It's amazing. 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:03.680 He says this about this passage. 00:16:03.680 --> 00:16:09.680 As the grave in which Christ lay dead was empty after he rose, so when I believe in 00:16:09.680 --> 00:16:14.680 Christ, I rise with him and die to my grave, that is to the law, which held me captive. 00:16:14.680 --> 00:16:19.480 So the law now is empty, and I have escaped out of my prison and grave. 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:27.159 Therefore, the law is no right to accuse me or to hold me any longer, for I have risen. 00:16:27.159 --> 00:16:29.960 I love that. 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:30.960 The law comes. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:32.639 You're like, no, I've died and risen. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:34.480 You can't find me anymore. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:39.720 It's like if you owed a huge sum of money, and then you died, and someone else came to 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:43.639 live in your flat, and a debt collector came and knocked on the door and said, we're here 00:16:43.639 --> 00:16:44.920 to collect the money. 00:16:44.920 --> 00:16:47.720 You say, the person you're looking for is dead. 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:51.160 I'm sorry, you can't collect. 00:16:51.160 --> 00:16:55.639 So when the law comes around to accuse you of not measuring up to God's standards, so 00:16:55.639 --> 00:16:59.200 we can say, the old man you're looking for isn't here anymore. 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:09.480 He's dead to the law, and now he lives to God. 00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:14.920 Paul goes on, verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:17.360 Wow. 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:18.919 I have been crucified with Christ. 00:17:18.919 --> 00:17:22.439 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 00:17:22.439 --> 00:17:28.119 And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and 00:17:28.119 --> 00:17:29.799 gave himself for me. 00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:38.359 Our faith unites us to Christ in his death and his resurrection, so much that we can 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:44.639 say what happened to Jesus happened to me. 00:17:44.639 --> 00:17:46.719 Christ was crucified. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:50.000 I was crucified with him. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:51.480 Christ was raised. 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:54.200 I was raised with him. 00:17:54.200 --> 00:18:00.000 So now in a very intimate, in a very real way, we can say it's not we who live, but 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:06.839 Christ who lives in me, Christ in you. 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:13.200 I'm not sure five more glorious words, five more glorious words have ever been spoken. 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:16.680 Christ who lives in me. 00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:22.880 That should awe us every day. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:30.160 So how do we live then our next moment, our next day, our next week? 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:32.519 How does this affect our practical life? 00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:36.279 Because it's easy to say, yeah, that's true. 00:18:36.279 --> 00:18:40.360 God changed my status through Christ on the cross, and before him I'm righteous, which 00:18:40.360 --> 00:18:41.840 means I can go to heaven when I die. 00:18:41.840 --> 00:18:43.880 But what does that mean for tomorrow? 00:18:43.880 --> 00:18:50.360 Look at the second half of verse 20, the life I now live in the flesh, I live how? 00:18:50.360 --> 00:18:52.720 By faith. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:53.720 And who? 00:18:53.720 --> 00:18:55.640 The Son of God. 00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:57.400 Who did what? 00:18:57.400 --> 00:19:00.080 Who loved me? 00:19:00.080 --> 00:19:01.080 Even me. 00:19:01.080 --> 00:19:05.560 And gave himself for me. 00:19:05.560 --> 00:19:08.960 We preach that gospel to our hearts, friends. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:12.120 That's how we live moment by moment, day by day. 00:19:12.119 --> 00:19:15.239 That's how we experience real Christianity. 00:19:15.239 --> 00:19:23.479 That's how justification by faith in Christ affects us and changes us. 00:19:23.479 --> 00:19:28.159 Moment by moment we just take the next step of faith because Christ is with me. 00:19:28.159 --> 00:19:32.319 So much so that I can say Christ lives in me. 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:36.719 And he loved me and he gave himself for me. 00:19:36.719 --> 00:19:40.119 I think clear-minded Christianity, we don't always think this way, but I think that our 00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:47.599 most clear-minded, we read this, we think of Christ's love for us and we say, for me? 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:50.799 Are you kidding? 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:56.679 Christianity should always come with a sense of awe. 00:19:56.679 --> 00:19:59.359 We should be blown away. 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:01.279 It's scandalous. 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:04.639 What Christ did for people like us, isn't it? 00:20:04.639 --> 00:20:08.959 And we preach that gospel to our hearts. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:13.120 You think, okay, heart, who's me? 00:20:13.120 --> 00:20:15.759 Who's the me that Christ died for? 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:22.279 And then you might run down the list of your past and the things that you wish you hadn't 00:20:22.279 --> 00:20:28.920 done, the things you wish you hadn't said, the times you didn't measure up. 00:20:28.920 --> 00:20:33.400 And then you might think about all the ways that you've not loved the Lord your God with 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:37.200 all your heart and mind and soul and strength and all the times you've not loved your neighbor 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:40.120 as yourself and you say, me? 00:20:40.120 --> 00:20:43.039 I don't deserve that. 00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:45.039 Exactly. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:47.400 Exactly. 00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:57.880 We see that justification by faith has immense power in how we live our next moment. 00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:04.440 If you think of it like that, with that kind of awe. 00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:12.519 All ends, verse 21, I do not nullify the grace of God for if righteousness were through 00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:17.080 the law, then Christ died for no purpose. 00:21:17.080 --> 00:21:24.279 Well, did Christ die for no purpose? 00:21:24.279 --> 00:21:32.440 Was it for nothing that he was nailed to that tree and became a curse? 00:21:32.440 --> 00:21:37.799 Well we set him aside and say, oh thank you, we're all right. 00:21:37.799 --> 00:21:43.360 I don't need you here for this bit of my life. 00:21:43.360 --> 00:21:51.759 When we look to anything but Christ to feel okay, to deal with the mess of our lives, we 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:56.480 are in grave danger of nullifying the grace of God. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:08.720 When we look to anything but Christ to deal with our shame, guilt, anxiety, despair, anger, 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:13.720 anything but Christ, let's not nullify the grace of God. 00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:24.200 Christ did not die for no purpose, Christ died for you, even you. 00:22:24.200 --> 00:22:30.240 So we just go on moment by moment preaching to our hearts the life I now live in the flesh 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:35.319 I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 00:22:35.319 --> 00:22:41.920 And we just tell him, I am a mess, but I'm your mess, Lord. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:44.920 That's a comfort. 00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:48.000 Let's pray. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:58.240 Here we thank you for that mercy, we thank you for your kindness, we thank you for your 00:22:58.240 --> 00:22:59.240 tenderness. 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:03.920 We don't deserve it, but we love it. 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:05.720 Lord we all need our hearts lifted. 00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:09.880 None of us has too much encouragement in the gospel. 00:23:09.880 --> 00:23:11.359 None of us feels too forgiven. 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:16.880 None of us feels too loved by you. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:23.560 You lift us up, lift up our drooping heads, strengthen our weary weak knees, straighten 00:23:23.560 --> 00:23:29.160 our backs, give us that rest that can only be found in Christ. 00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:30.160 We crave it Lord. 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:34.380 What we deeply crave in all of our mess is just you. 00:23:34.380 --> 00:23:36.760 We just want to be near you. 00:23:36.759 --> 00:23:50.160 Amen.