WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 So we're now going to, for a short time, look at the passage we just read from the Bible, 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:06.960 from Paul's letter to the Galatians. 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:10.279 So if you have a Bible, you might find it helpful to have it open there. 00:00:10.279 --> 00:00:18.600 Galatians chapter 1, if you've got one of these church Bibles, that's on page 972. 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:25.719 Further on in the letter, Paul says in chapter 5 and verse 1, it is for freedom that Christ 00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:28.160 has set us free. 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:35.280 Confirm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:40.399 I think a lot of people in our world today see Christianity, see faith as something that's 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:48.280 quite heavy, quite burdensome, quite legalistic or oppressive, and at times the church maybe 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:51.320 is guilty of these things. 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:55.439 Maybe these are things you feel yourself about the Christian faith. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:00.320 The message of Jesus is a message of freedom. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.959 Maybe you're here this evening and you've come to church and you're weary, you're burdened 00:01:05.959 --> 00:01:11.759 by life, maybe you're battling with sin and guilt and shame, maybe you're struggling with 00:01:11.759 --> 00:01:19.400 the lack of self-worth or inadequacy, maybe your heart is full of anxiety or worry about 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:21.400 the week ahead. 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:26.120 There are so many things as human beings that can weigh us down and burden us and make us 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:29.800 feel trapped or ensnared. 00:01:29.800 --> 00:01:34.520 This letter we're looking at this evening, Paul wrote to these early Christians in Galatia 00:01:34.520 --> 00:01:40.840 and he points us to the liberating power of the gospel and the incredible freedom that 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:44.880 Jesus brings to people who trust in him. 00:01:44.880 --> 00:01:50.160 It's a letter which promises us this evening that our standing before God is never dependent 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:54.319 on anything except our faith in what Jesus has done. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:57.679 So over the next few weeks we're going to do a short series looking through Galatians. 00:01:57.679 --> 00:02:02.759 We're going to do six snapshots into Paul's letter to the Galatians and we're going to 00:02:02.759 --> 00:02:08.560 be thinking about the theme of freedom as we explore the letter together. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:15.759 I'll mute myself that time. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:20.239 So we're looking this evening at Galatians and chapter one. 00:02:20.239 --> 00:02:24.759 I wonder if you've ever ordered something online and when it's arrived and you've opened 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:30.439 it up, you've realized that what you've ordered is actually a counterfeit or a copy or a cheap 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:33.280 knockoff of what you wanted. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:37.680 I once was ordering some headphones on Amazon and I thought I was getting a great deal. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:41.919 I bought them, they arrived and they were a cheap kind of Chinese Apple ripoff and they 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:43.519 were useless. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:49.400 Or maybe when people used to watch DVDs, maybe you got a copy of a DVD and found out that 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:51.800 it was a pirated movie. 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:57.640 And when you compare a pirated film with seeing a film in the cinema, it might look similar, 00:02:57.640 --> 00:03:02.600 might sound similar, it might be presented as the same thing, but it's not the same. 00:03:02.600 --> 00:03:07.120 The picture's often a bit blurry, the sound is usually off a fraction. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:12.719 We can usually spot a counterfeit or a knockoff when we compare it with an original. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:17.840 And Paul begins this letter to the Galatian Christians talking about the gospel because 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:24.439 these were Christians who were embracing a counterfeit gospel, a fake gospel. 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:29.879 And so the first point I want to think about this evening is that the gospel is unique. 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:31.360 Look at verse six. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:36.560 Paul says there, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:41.240 in the grace of Christ and you're turning to a different gospel. 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:45.320 Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the 00:03:45.320 --> 00:03:48.960 gospel of Christ. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:52.159 One of the surprising things about this letter when you compare it with maybe the other New 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.960 Testament letters is Paul's tone. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:58.800 It seems quite intense, quite angry. 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:02.200 Normally his letters start with, I rejoiced over you with thanksgiving. 00:04:02.200 --> 00:04:05.879 He's usually quite encouraging in the start of his letters. 00:04:05.879 --> 00:04:09.240 But right at the beginning of this one, he says, I am astonished. 00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:12.400 I am shocked by what I have heard. 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:16.680 Further on in the letter, he says, you foolish Galatians. 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:20.240 So what's the problem going on in Galatia? 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:25.480 Well, there was a group of teachers who were teaching that the Gentile Christians, the 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:30.920 converts, people who were not Jewish, who had become Christians, in order for them to 00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:36.519 be fully accepted and right before God, they had to not only put their faith and their trust 00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:42.519 in Jesus, but they also had to embrace the Jewish cultural customs of the law. 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:44.879 In other words, they had to be circumcised. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:51.120 They had to follow all the food laws and all the other ceremonial stuff that God's people 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:55.919 had to follow in the Old Testament. 00:04:55.919 --> 00:04:57.120 But why is it such a big deal? 00:04:57.120 --> 00:04:59.919 Why does Paul get so worked up about this? 00:04:59.919 --> 00:05:05.240 Is this not just a cultural thing that people can agree to disagree on? 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:11.879 We live in a world that's full of different messages, different values, different influencers. 00:05:11.879 --> 00:05:18.040 And the culture around us would say to each their own, we would agree to disagree. 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:22.560 And in the church, there are some areas where we can agree to disagree, maybe in terms of 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:28.280 what we wear, what time we have our service, the style of worship. 00:05:28.280 --> 00:05:34.360 But Paul is saying when it comes to the gospel, when it comes to the essentials, there is 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:36.720 no room for compromise. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:40.240 If we are wrong on the gospel, we are wrong everywhere. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:44.080 And he's saying that the gospel these early Christians were embracing isn't really a 00:05:44.080 --> 00:05:46.720 gospel at all. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:49.439 So the stakes could not be higher. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:56.840 Paul says that in verse 6 and 7, that they are deserting Jesus. 00:05:56.840 --> 00:05:59.400 The stakes could not be higher. 00:05:59.400 --> 00:06:04.040 This is why Jesus himself, when you read the gospels, is particularly hard against false 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:05.760 teachers. 00:06:05.760 --> 00:06:09.280 He's particularly harsh against the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who are leading 00:06:09.280 --> 00:06:10.920 people astray. 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:15.920 Matthew chapter 7 verse 15, he says, watch out for false prophets. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:21.640 They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 00:06:21.640 --> 00:06:24.200 So this is the problem in Galatia. 00:06:24.200 --> 00:06:26.879 There's this false teaching which is leading people astray. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:29.360 So you can understand Paul's anger. 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:34.240 It's the kind of anger a parent might feel if they see their child being led down a dangerous 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:35.240 path. 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:40.520 He's concerned for these Christians, but at the same time he's condemning these false 00:06:40.520 --> 00:06:43.759 teachers because what they're teaching is not the gospel. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:46.199 There is no other gospel, Paul's saying. 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:52.319 If you add anything to Jesus, it is effectively a different gospel. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:55.040 And we face similar problems today in our own lives. 00:06:55.040 --> 00:07:03.040 There's maybe two extremes we gravitate to. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:06.240 On one hand you have legalism. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:13.000 Legalism says that in order for God to accept you, you need Jesus, but you need Jesus plus. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.680 In practice you also need to be like this. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:17.879 You need to do this. 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:22.439 You need to earn favor with God. 00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:24.360 And that can express itself in different ways. 00:07:24.360 --> 00:07:28.759 We might gravitate more towards saying, I'm not good enough to be a Christian. 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:33.360 But that too in its own way is distorting the gospel. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:39.040 We also might face the temptation to make secondary issues into gospel issues. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:42.520 We might make the kind of culture, the church culture, the style of worship, the clothes 00:07:42.520 --> 00:07:44.920 we wear when we preach the order of service. 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:48.000 All of these things are secondary issues. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:52.480 On the other hand, the opposite danger to legalism is the approach which says, well, 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:54.879 we're saved by grace. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:59.160 Jesus has saved us so we can really do whatever we want. 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:03.960 In the name of Christian liberty we are free to do anything. 00:08:03.960 --> 00:08:08.680 And as the letter goes on, we'll see that that's absolutely not the case. 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:10.560 Paul says Jesus frees us. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:16.040 The gospel is a message of freedom, but it's freedom to a new kind of life, a life that 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:21.520 is fruitful, a life that's distinctive, a life that's marked and shaped and identified 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:23.719 by love. 00:08:23.719 --> 00:08:28.919 So the gospel is sometimes distorted by these two extremes, but for us the danger might 00:08:28.919 --> 00:08:30.799 be somewhere more in the middle. 00:08:30.799 --> 00:08:34.399 I think usually it's more subtle. 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:38.480 Sometimes you might think cognitively, I've got the right gospel. 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:40.120 I know what Jesus did. 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:42.600 I know the facts of the gospel inside out. 00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:49.120 But when it comes to our practical, everyday experience as Christians, sometimes we burden 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:54.000 ourselves, we preach a subtly different gospel to ourselves. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:59.039 And I think one of the areas we see that most clearly is how we respond to sin, how we 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:03.080 respond to our own brokenness and failure. 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:08.919 So often we put ourselves through cycles of guilt and shame and hopelessness. 00:09:08.919 --> 00:09:11.560 We tell ourselves, I just need to try harder. 00:09:11.560 --> 00:09:13.440 I need to be better. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:16.519 I need to do more. 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:21.480 The gospel tells us first and foremost to look at what Jesus has done, to look at what 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:28.279 He has done for you on your behalf, to secure your forgiveness, to remove your guilt, to 00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:33.439 deal with your shame, to give you hope of a new life, to give you freedom from the burden 00:09:33.439 --> 00:09:36.159 of slavery. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:39.240 So a different gospel can be subtle. 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:42.559 And the alternative gospel that's been preached in Galatia probably wouldn't have struck the 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:45.799 Christians there as radically different. 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:49.479 Because when we're thinking about counterfeit products, the differences are usually fairly 00:09:49.479 --> 00:09:50.479 subtle. 00:09:50.479 --> 00:09:53.439 You know, when you look at online, the picture might be the exact same. 00:09:53.439 --> 00:09:57.199 It might be presented in the same way as the original. 00:09:57.199 --> 00:10:00.000 The name might be subtly different. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:05.240 And in much the same way, the Galatians were not led astray by a radically different message. 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:08.759 It was the message of Jesus, but subtly changed. 00:10:08.759 --> 00:10:10.000 It was added to. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.919 It was a message of salvation by faith in Jesus plus. 00:10:14.919 --> 00:10:16.240 So that's the first thing this evening. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:18.479 The gospel is unique. 00:10:18.479 --> 00:10:24.399 Secondly, I want to think about the fact that the gospel is true. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:28.399 And that might seem obvious to us this evening if we're Christians. 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:33.360 But we live in a time and a culture where truth is relative. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:41.360 Every opinion, every belief, every system of thinking is held to be equally valid. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:44.120 So how do we measure what's true? 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:48.120 How do we know that the gospel that we preach here at St. Columbus is the true exclusive 00:10:48.120 --> 00:10:49.120 gospel? 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:54.799 Well, first of all, it's not based on personal feelings or convictions. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:56.279 God does work through that. 00:10:56.279 --> 00:11:01.720 But ultimately, we have to measure truth against His word, against the Bible. 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:04.679 Nor is it necessarily what our church leaders tell us. 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:09.840 Obviously, God uses our leaders in preaching and proclamation and speaks through them. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:15.960 The infallible source of truth is what God has said in His word, through His chosen people, 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:16.960 His apostles. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:20.320 And that's ultimately what Paul goes on to say. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:25.040 Because the question arises in Galatians 1, well, who is Paul to say that his gospel 00:11:25.040 --> 00:11:27.360 is any better than this gospel? 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:33.280 And this is what leads him on now to go on to say that his message is not man's gospel, 00:11:33.280 --> 00:11:37.759 verse 11, for I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.519 not man's gospel. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:43.319 I did not receive it from any human being, nor was I taught it, but I received it through 00:11:43.319 --> 00:11:46.519 revelation from Jesus Christ. 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:52.199 He says in verse 1 as well, he identifies himself as an apostle, not from men or through 00:11:52.199 --> 00:11:58.360 man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. 00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:01.799 So Paul's apostolic identity is really important. 00:12:01.799 --> 00:12:06.519 And it's what he goes on to speak about for the next chapter and a half. 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:10.559 And as we're thinking a little bit about what an apostle actually is, the word itself means 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:17.399 someone who is sent, someone who is commissioned, someone who is given a task as a messenger. 00:12:17.399 --> 00:12:21.639 In the ancient world, an apostle was a title used for people who would speak in Caesar's 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:22.639 name. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:27.879 And if you didn't listen to an apostle of Caesar, you didn't obey an apostle of Caesar, you 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:32.199 were effectively disobeying Caesar himself. 00:12:32.200 --> 00:12:37.280 So an apostle at the time spoke with the voice of the person who sent them. 00:12:37.280 --> 00:12:40.879 And the New Testament tells us that the Jesus sent out these apostles who functioned in 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:42.560 much the same way. 00:12:42.560 --> 00:12:48.680 They would speak for Jesus with his words and act with his authority. 00:12:48.680 --> 00:12:53.360 That's why Paul says here, the gospel I'm telling you about is not man's gospel. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:55.680 It's not just another take on things. 00:12:55.680 --> 00:12:57.879 It's not food for thought. 00:12:57.879 --> 00:13:01.280 This is a message from God. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:06.279 So Paul is saying he's a man who's met with Jesus, who's had direct personal revelation 00:13:06.279 --> 00:13:08.319 from Jesus. 00:13:08.319 --> 00:13:15.399 So either he is a lunatic and he's crazy, or he's a pathological liar and unstable, 00:13:15.399 --> 00:13:17.039 or he's telling the truth. 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:22.360 And when we read Paul's words in his letters, we're reading the very words, the living words 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:32.480 of Jesus to us this evening, which are absolutely true for all people at all times. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:36.960 We'll draw a contrast between what Paul says and what Jesus says. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:39.320 Maybe you've heard people say that. 00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:40.879 I like Jesus' message. 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:46.399 I can get behind the message of Jesus to love people and to be self-sacrificial and be compassionate. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:49.840 But I'm not a fan of Paul. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:54.480 Maybe you've seen those Bibles that put Jesus' spoken words into red text. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:59.080 And it's helpful to a certain extent because it shows us what Jesus was actually recorded 00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:00.080 as saying. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:03.360 But it can be unhelpful as well. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:08.080 Because in reality, every word of the Bible is Jesus' words. 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:10.680 Paul's words are Jesus' words. 00:14:10.680 --> 00:14:13.840 Moses' words are Jesus' words. 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:19.360 Every word we have recorded for us is Jesus' voice. 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:20.480 So the Gospel is unique. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:21.480 The Gospel is true. 00:14:21.480 --> 00:14:24.840 It's the very words of Jesus to us this evening. 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:30.120 Thirdly, and finally, the Gospel is liberating. 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:34.440 The Gospel presents Jesus as someone who rescues. 00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:40.039 Verse 4, verse 3 and 4, Paul opens by speaking about Jesus as the one who gave himself for 00:14:40.039 --> 00:14:45.759 our sins to deliver, to rescue us from the present evil age according to the will of 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:49.080 our God and Father. 00:14:49.080 --> 00:14:55.080 So a lot of people think of Jesus as this great teacher, as an inspiring figure, as 00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:58.560 maybe a model for a good life. 00:14:58.560 --> 00:15:02.520 Many people today think that Jesus' message is just another iteration of all the other 00:15:02.520 --> 00:15:05.600 religions around us. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:12.200 And Jesus was a great teacher, but the Gospel tells us he's far more than that. 00:15:12.200 --> 00:15:17.840 People are often attracted to Jesus' teaching, but the message that Jesus tells us through 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:22.879 Paul and through the rest of the Bible is that we are in desperate need of rescue. 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:23.879 Tim Keller makes this point. 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:27.040 He says, imagine that you see a drowning woman. 00:15:27.040 --> 00:15:32.120 It doesn't help her whatsoever if you throw her a manual on how to swim. 00:15:32.120 --> 00:15:33.720 You don't throw her some teaching. 00:15:33.720 --> 00:15:38.040 You throw her a rope, because that's what she most needs. 00:15:38.040 --> 00:15:42.519 And the Gospel tells us that Jesus' first and foremost are rescuer, because that's 00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:45.000 what we most need. 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:46.000 And how does he rescue us? 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:50.039 Paul says it there, he gave himself for our sins. 00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:52.200 Jesus the rescuer is the one who took our place. 00:15:52.200 --> 00:15:54.200 He is our substitute. 00:15:54.200 --> 00:16:01.480 And as we think about the problem in Galatia, this message of kind of Jesus plus, it's 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:08.000 so helpful to go back to Gospel basics, to think about the fact that Jesus rescues us 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.840 through no merit of our own, through no help on our part. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:16.680 Martin Luther Key figure in the Protestant Reformation, he said that if you do not build 00:16:16.680 --> 00:16:22.320 your confidence on the work of Christ, you must build your confidence on your own work. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:26.360 The Gospel tells us to look at Jesus. 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:31.200 Gospel is a liberating message, because it tells us it's not about us. 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:35.160 It tells us that we are not the hero in salvation. 00:16:35.160 --> 00:16:36.560 Jesus is the hero. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:42.519 He's the great rescuer, the one who takes our guilt and our shame and our punishment. 00:16:42.519 --> 00:16:49.279 When we distort the Gospel and make it burdensome and heavy, it becomes about Jesus plus. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:53.199 Paul says the Gospel is about Jesus plus nothing. 00:16:53.199 --> 00:16:56.679 He goes on in chapter two and verse four and five, he speaks about these false brothers 00:16:56.679 --> 00:16:58.559 who are promoting this other Gospel. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:04.000 He says they slipped in to spy our freedom that we have in Christ, so that they might 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:05.240 bring us into slavery. 00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:12.640 You have this great contrast between these two Gospels, one of freedom, one of slavery. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:16.200 Jesus gave one message about salvation through his death. 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:20.319 He didn't give us helpful ideals on how to live a good moral life. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:24.839 He didn't just inspire us through his life and death to love each other more. 00:17:24.839 --> 00:17:30.960 He came to rescue us and free us and release us from captivity to sin and death and to 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:35.559 give us in its place life and hope and forgiveness. 00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:40.680 So our standing before God this evening, something we maybe take for granted sometimes, our favour 00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:47.200 with God, our acceptance by him is grounded absolutely in the fact that Jesus is the great 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:49.200 rescuer. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:51.720 So he rescues us and frees us. 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:53.880 But what does that free life look like? 00:17:53.880 --> 00:17:58.120 Do we have a licence to live however we please? 00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:01.079 People go on and later on in the letter to deal with that. 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:05.959 We're told that Jesus doesn't just free us from something, he frees us to something. 00:18:05.959 --> 00:18:12.719 He frees us to a new kind of life, a life that's marked out by certain qualities. 00:18:12.719 --> 00:18:17.759 The first half of the letter, chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, is very much indicative. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:23.119 It's very much Paul saying this is what God has done through Jesus. 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:26.439 In the second half he moves on to say this is what this means for you in terms of how 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:29.720 you live your life. 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:33.279 So there's that kind of balance between the two. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:38.320 One of the problems we have though, I think as Christians, is that sometimes a performance 00:18:38.320 --> 00:18:42.799 mindset can be really pervasive in the way we see ourselves and our relationship with 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:44.279 God. 00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:48.840 Even how we feel about the level of our faith from day to day. 00:18:48.840 --> 00:18:53.440 Sometimes we can be tempted to think that the strength of our faith is what determines 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:56.759 God's favor with us. 00:18:56.759 --> 00:19:00.000 But the question should never be how strong is our faith. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.600 The most important question is what is our faith placed in? 00:19:04.600 --> 00:19:06.920 Who is our faith placed in? 00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:09.559 Sometimes our faith can feel very weak. 00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:12.880 Other times our faith can feel strong and vibrant. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:17.840 But the gospel reminds us that God's acceptance of us never changes based on the strength 00:19:17.840 --> 00:19:19.360 of our faith. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:25.599 What matters is what our faith is placed in, the object of our faith, Jesus Christ. 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:30.959 So Galatians is a letter that begins right away with a lot of challenge, a lot of conflict. 00:19:30.959 --> 00:19:34.879 It forces us to ask ourselves which gospel do we believe? 00:19:34.879 --> 00:19:37.519 Which gospel do we live by? 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:40.439 Because if we're wrong in the gospel we're wrong everywhere. 00:19:40.439 --> 00:19:45.439 A deluded and distorted gospel leads to uncertainty. 00:19:45.439 --> 00:19:47.599 It leads to a lack of assurance. 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:52.159 It leads to a great deal of self-confidence and self-reliance. 00:19:52.159 --> 00:19:58.079 It turns our attention inwards on ourselves and our own moral spiritual performance. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:01.719 The true gospel makes us look at Jesus. 00:20:01.719 --> 00:20:06.319 The true gospel points us to the one who has done it all for us, who has freed us from 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:12.759 sin and our guilt and our shame and gives us forgiveness and hope and new life. 00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:15.959 The gospel of Jesus is absolutely unique. 00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:18.759 There is no message in this world like it. 00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:21.039 The gospel of Jesus is absolutely true. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:23.120 It's a message we can trust. 00:20:23.120 --> 00:20:25.400 And the gospel is liberating. 00:20:25.400 --> 00:20:28.200 It's a gospel that frees us. 00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:33.400 Jesus said, come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:38.079 Let's pray. 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:41.920 Lord God, we thank you so much for the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:47.600 We thank you for your word which has preserved that truth for us. 00:20:47.600 --> 00:20:53.080 Father, help us this evening to maybe for the first time place our trust in you and 00:20:53.080 --> 00:20:54.600 what you've done. 00:20:54.600 --> 00:21:01.519 Lord, help us maybe for Christians for a long time to know and to be reminded of what 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:03.440 our confidence should be placed in. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:07.240 Father, thank you so much for the confidence we have through Jesus. 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:08.240 Help us to know it. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:09.600 Help us to live it. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:14.159 Help us in the rest of this week to be reminded of your love for us. 00:21:14.159 --> 00:21:18.759 Father, we marvel at all you've done for us through Jesus, through his death on the cross, 00:21:18.759 --> 00:21:22.039 through his resurrection, and the hope that we have through him. 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:28.240 Father, we pray that you would, in all that we do in this week, enable us to have our 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:34.039 minds fixed firmly on Jesus and be a people who love you and live for you and glorify 00:21:34.039 --> 00:21:35.399 you in all that we do. 00:21:35.399 --> 00:21:36.879 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:39.680 Amen.