Welcome to DELIGHT IN GRACE, The teaching ministry of Rich Powell. Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The perfect Christ became sin.
so that we might become the righteousness of God. Those who trust in Christ receive His righteousness. Are we then already righteous? Does Christ save us so that we'll spend our lives working to be righteous? How do works and faith come together?
Pastor Rich delves into these questions, working through Galatians 2. 15 through 19. Let's listen in. We'd like to read the scriptures together, Galatians 2. Verses 9 through 21.
And when James and Cephas and John. who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me. They gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me. that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, Because he's so condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, If you, though a Jew, Live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?
We ourselves are Jews by birth, and not Gentile sinners. Yet we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.
So we have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. because by the works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not. for if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
For through the law I died to the law.
so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. but Christ who lives 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 for me.
I do not nullify the grace of God or For if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Let us pray together. Oh Lord. You are our rock, our fortress, our deliverer. in whom we take refuge.
You are our stronghold and our salvation. Lord, we are confident and joyful in your love for us. At the same time, weaken ourselves in our understanding of your sufficiency. Our eyes, Lord, you open them that we may see wonderful things from your word. We ask, Lord, that you would forgive us in the ways that we have tried to secure for ourselves a place that only Christ can give us.
and what is freely ours in union with Christ. Oh Lord, help us now. when we trust in anything apart from Christ. Lord, by grace you teach us. Your word teaches us, you do not condemn.
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But help us, O Lord, to move from The self trust. to fully relying and putting all of our weight on Christ. Oh Lord Jesus, we thank you for what you have done. We can't add to, nor do we want to.
We don't want to take away. But we trust in what you have done and in your finished work for us. and look at ourselves in our union with you, Not in our unworthy state. But looking to ourselves not in our performance, but in our identity in Christ. Holy, blameless, beyond reproach, Father.
We know that you will have your way and conform us into the image of your Son. We thank you, Lord, that We are in Christ together, raised to walk in this newness of life. Lord Jesus, we look forward to your appearing. We thank you, Lord, that you will see your work to completion on that day. In Jesus' name.
Amen. Yeah, yeah.
Okay. Thank you, Susan. Good morning, church. About a year ago, Okay. Mm-hmm.
I started putting together a gazebo in our backyard, actually, the paver patio that it sits on top of. and there's retainer walls 'cause it's up on a hill.
So you gotta hold the dirt back somehow.
So my brother comes up from South Carolina. And uh he helps me lay that first layer. of these pavers. for the retainer wall. These blocks, they're like 30 pound blocks.
And it has to have the right foundation to it. He's got to have the right layer of crusher run, it's called. It's like a gravel. And it's got to be perfectly level because there's no mortar. It's very unforgiving.
And once you get that layer down, you have to be very, very meticulous with that first layer. because every layer after that Will lay according to how that first layer is laid. It took us a long time. to get that first layer down. But it was a vital layer of that retainer wall.
What we're going to cover today is that vital layer. of the gospel of grace. in Jesus Christ. The title of today's message is Justified by Faith in Christ. That is the bedrock.
of the gospel. If this isn't true. None of the rest of it's true. We must Understand this. This is a non-negotiable for the gospel of grace.
This is what makes Grace Grace. And the reason why this is so important, if you'll remember. Is because we're right in the middle of this interaction where. That Peter had with Paul.
Well, Paul is confronting Peter. Both of them are apostles, right? Yeah. And they have this gathering at Antioch. And there's Gentile believers and there's Jewish believers.
And the Jews and the Gentiles are together, and Peter was meeting together with the Gentile believers. Because the Jews believed, hey, we are followers of the law of Moses. We are keeping that code. We are in covenant relationship with God. And now God has made it available for the Gentiles to be part of us.
And so, as they were meeting together. and eating together. When this group of people came, they called the Circumcision Party, and that's just simply meaning this symbol that God has given to us to show that we are His chosen people. And we follow the law of Moses, we follow the law of God. When that party came, they said, Listen, you can become a follower of Jesus and trust him for your salvation, but you still need to keep the law code.
If you truly are a believer. And so when that party came in, Peter sees them. Remember, he's eating now with Gentiles. Peter sees them, he's like, uh-oh. What are they going to think of me now?
Because these guys were right causing a stir in the early church. And Peter sees them. And he was afraid of him. He was afraid of what they would think of him. eating with Gentiles.
Who didn't keep the law of Moses? And so what does Peter do? He gets up and he walks out and he goes over to where all the Jewish believers are. All the Jews that were there with them, and even Barnabas, who had been on a missions trip with Paul. Followed suit.
Paul says, I can't stand by and watch this. And this is a moment in history, a critical existential moment in the history of the church where Paul stood alone and he confronted the Apostle Peter in front of all the other Jews. And he said What we have recorded In verse 14, when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas, that's Peter, before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? In other words, it looks something like this. Yes, we are God's people.
And if you are God's people too, you need to behave like we do. Here's the point. of the book of Galatians. If your walk of faith in Christ is relegated to keeping a code, you have missed the power and the point of the gospel. This is how far too many people view religion.
In general, this is how far too many people view Christianity. Andrew was up here earlier. He was good at checking all the boxes. And while he checked the boxes, what was his condition inside? He was falling apart.
Checking the boxes doesn't Change you. This is what. Paul is talking about. This is why Galatians is in the New Testament. We have to realize what a colossal transition this was for the Jews.
To recognize after all this all these millennia God in his people. In covenant with these people and the Mosaic law. And now all of a sudden We're being told. that we no longer have to keep that. It'll be difficult for us to understand how huge of a transition that must have been.
But Peter's actions. and the Judaizers still banking on their heritage and their behavior. Paul had to make this abundantly clear. This is a bedrock issue. with the gospel.
Verse 15, we ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.
Now, here's what we don't know for sure, all right? This is Paul confronting Peter graciously, truthfully. Graciously, truthfully confronting Peter, speaking truth into Peter's life, because his behavior was not in step with the gospel. That is a privilege that we have as brothers and sisters in Christ. If you see someone's behavior not in step with the gospel, you have the privilege.
Loving them. to speak truth into their lives. What we don't know is if what Peter what Paul said to Peter is just recorded in verse 14, the second half of verse 14, or if what he said to Peter continues all the way to the end of chapter 2. We don't know that for sure. In the ESV, the quotation marks end at verse 14, and then verse 15 picks up as Paul is writing his letter to the Galatian churches.
It could be that this continues what Paul was saying directly to Peter in this event, but we don't know that for sure. Having said that, we ourselves Are Jews by birth and not Gentiles?
So it makes it kind of sounds like Paul could still be talking to Peter, right? Peter, you and I are Jews. We're not like those Gentile sinners, because that's how Jews view Gentiles. If you're a Gentile, you're not a part of God's people, so you're a sinner. As if Jews aren't.
Yet we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but here it is, but through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul said this is a bedrock issue.
So we also have believed In Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. To be justified, let's define the word first, okay? To be justified. To be justified as it's used in scripture is. To have a righteousness that makes you acceptable before God.
To be justified means to have a righteousness that makes you acceptable before God. God is absolutely holy. He is perfect God. And He is the Infinite, Sovereign Creator. And you need a righteousness that makes you acceptable to him.
Because if there's anything that becomes abundantly clear, That is human depravity. It is the single most empirically verifiable fact in human history. is human depravity. It's true of every one of us. And yet, if we are to know God, to be reconciled to Him, to enjoy Him, we must have a righteousness.
That makes us acceptable to God. Here's the point of the law. That's the requirement. You can't do it. And the law makes that clear.
So, we have then justified, justified by faith in Christ. I believe there's two senses that Paul is referring to here. Because it comes through all of the context of the book of Galatians as well as the context of the whole New Testament. First of all, there is a declared righteousness. A declared righteousness, that is a fixed position.
So take a dying branch. Lay it on the ground. The creator picks up that branch and grafts it back into the tree. That is a position.
Now that branch is alive again. Because apart from the tree, there's only one thing that branch could do. Die. and be fruitless. But once the branch is grafted back into the tree, it has that position.
of righteousness.
Okay? But there's a second there's a second Idea to the word justification, and that is not just the declared, the positional righteousness, but also becoming holy. Becoming holy. Skip ahead with me to chapter 3 and verse 3. Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
In other words, he's saying this. We say it like today: we've been saved by grace, but I'm trying hard to live the Christian life. I find that nauseating. But that's how most people are living. Christianity.
Saved by grace, hallelujah. I'm trying hard to live the Christian life. It's nauseating.
So, Rich, what am I supposed to do? I'm glad you asked. That's why Galatians is here. We're going to talk about that today. I'm really hoping that today.
If you haven't come to grips with it yet, I'm hoping there is a radical transition in your. Understanding an approach to the gospel of grace. in understanding this justified by faith. Because justified also means to show to be. Wisdom is justified by her children.
Proverbs says. That's the idea, okay? It's lived manifestation of the positional reality. A couple weeks ago, I mentioned the Windermere children. I think it was a couple weeks ago.
I could be wrong, it's ancient history. The Windermere Children. Jewish children rescued from concentrated World War II concentration Holocaust concentration camps.
Some of them saw their families slaughtered. And they're rescued. They don't know where their family is. They have no family. And they're taken in by this group of people.
And they're housed, they're fed. They don't know how to live Free. They have to learn that they are free and what it looks like to live free. Because they're used to the oppression of harsh treatment. that the moment you step out of line, you're going to pay the price.
That's what they're used to. They're used to having to fend for themselves, to hoard food and hide it, so that they'll have something to eat later on. They don't realize that they have an abundance of provision for them now, that they don't have to hoard it and hide it. They have to learn how to live. as free people.
Listen to me. That's what you and I are doing. We are learning how to live free and not under the bondage. Of that which alienates us from God, not under the bondage of our self-preeminent self-indulgence. Where we feel we have to fend for ourselves and protect ourselves.
No. All of that is part of that bondage. These two senses of the idea of the biblical doctrine of justification: one is the positional, it is the reality, the other is. The practical becoming.
Okay, becoming holy. The branch grafted back into the tree. That is a positional reality for that branch. The other part of that justification is as that branch is vitally connected to the tree and draws life from the tree, then that branch does what? It produces fruit.
And the branch doesn't produce fruit by trying. You with me on this? The branch produces fruit by being vitally connected to the tree. That's a beautiful picture of grace. That's how grace works.
We are not only saved by grace, we live by grace. You have to understand what that means and what that looks like. How do you actually live that? Because we're so used to checking the boxes, and in fact, we are naturally bent towards checking the box. Tell me what to do.
What do I have to do? That's how we naturally think. Listen to this verse. I think it's on the screen. Hebrews 10, 14, by for by a single offering.
He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Isn't that awesome? There's the two senses right there. Those who are being sanctified is the perfect. Passive participle.
That'll preach. Three Ps. You have to be a pastor to understand that, I guess. Perfect passive participle. Those who are being sanctified.
He has perfected forever. Two realities about you. If you are in Christ, I'm speaking to you if you're in Christ here this morning. If you're not in Christ, this does not apply to you. But you desperately need it, and it will come through your surrendered trust in Jesus Christ.
But if you are in Christ this morning, there's two things that are true about you right now: one is that your position in Christ is a settled, done deal. And secondly is that God is working in you to mold you into the image of his son. You are becoming like Christ. Those two things are true about you.
Now he says Verse 15, he says, verse 16, we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law. He's a Jew talking to a Jew. How do we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law? Psalm 143, 2: No one living is righteous before you. A Jew wrote that.
Under the law, no one living is righteous before you. And then the disciples heard Jesus say, unless your righteousness exceeds what? That of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And the scribes and the Pharisees were the poster boys of being good. Externally And that's why he said, unless your righteousness exceeds theirs, and that had to be shocking to the people of the day.
These guys check all the boxes. They do everything right that they're supposed to do. And they don't do the things they're not supposed to do. And Jesus said, I don't care. That's not what cuts it with me.
Because that doesn't give you a righteousness. that makes you acceptable before God. Because you're still rotten at the core. Even if you're checking all the boxes. John 8:24, Jesus said, Very strong words: unless you believe that I am He, the Messiah, unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.
He didn't say anything about doing anything. Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. And then he said, John 14:6, we know that I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through doing all the things you're supposed to do. Is that what he said?
No, but through me. Through me.
So here it is, justified by faith. Here is the reason Jesus died and what we trust. The reason Jesus died and what we trust. Uh First of all, God's wrath was poured out on unrighteousness. and absorbed by Jesus.
God is a holy God. And because he is holy and good, he must necessarily oppose what is evil. and that evil resides in every one of us. And Jesus on that cross. Experienced the poured out wrath of God.
In other words, on that dark day, Jesus hanging on the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Listen to me. It was in that moment that Jesus paid for your sins because the payment. For sin is separation from God. That's wrath.
And Jesus took it. In our place. Oh, there we go. Propitiation. The doctrine of propitiation.
Why Jesus said, This is my body which is broken what? For you. My blood which is shed what? For you. In your place.
And the writer of Hebrews also says, once for all. It only needed to happen one time. Because he was perfect.
So that's the first thing: the reason Jesus died and what we trust.
So, when I place my faith in Jesus Christ. I am believing, I am trusting that God's wrath was. poured out on him and he took it.
So I would not have to. The wrath of God, separation from God. The second thing is Credited righteousness. credited righteousness. This is the doctrine of imputation.
It's an old word. Imputation. When I surrender myself in faith to Jesus Christ, I trust, I believe and trust that he is God, that he lived a perfect life, that he died and took the wrath of God in my place. I surrender myself to him in faith, and then what? I get his credited righteousness.
It's not a righteousness I achieve, it's a righteousness I Receive This is a God thing. It's the doctrine of imputation. Romans 4:24, it says it will be credited to those who, to all who believe. And he's talking about the righteousness of God. It is received through surrendered trust.
So Paul says Second Corinthians five, he became sin for us who knew no sin. That's propitiation. that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That's imputation. credited righteousness.
John says it clearly, as many as received him to them he gave the right to become. children of God. It depends on faith. That's the words that Paul uses. Here's the third point.
That I trust the reason why Jesus died and what we trust. Point number three. That because of what everything I just described, I am now accepted. and welcomed by God. That's the doctrine of justification.
I am now accepted and welcomed by God. Mm. I am reconciled to him, which is why the writer of Hebrews says, let us draw near. Christian, listen to me. You can draw near to God.
Because of what Jesus has done and you trust him. Listen to me. If you are an unbeliever, if you have not placed your faith in Jesus Christ and received His forgiveness. You cannot draw near to God. You can't.
You must surrender to Jesus first. If we are in Christ, it is our full. privilege and holy calling and responsibility. to draw near to God. That's why he saved us.
That's why he reconciled us. It's a relational Reality. to draw near to God. Here's the fourth point. For why Jesus died and what we trust.
And that is a new humanity. A new humanity. This is the doctrine of regeneration. Again, as many as received them, he gave the right to become. children of God.
We read it, Ephesians 2. We are created in Christ Jesus. We are created in Christ Christ Jesus. Paul tells Titus that he saved us by the, according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Spirit. Which is why we are called to walk in newness of life.
Romans six. Long years ago, we've memorized that as a church. Romans 6. I believe every Christian ought to have that chapter memorized because it's our identity. And he says this, Paul gets all southern on us.
Mm-hmm. And the King James, anyway, says, reckon yourselves. Y'all know what that means, don't you? Reckon yourself. It's a term of inventory.
Understand yourselves to be dead to sin. and alive to God. Listen, that is the positional reality. Not only is it the positional reality, but it is the work that God is doing in us day by day in making us holy. As you Count on the fact.
As you take inventory day by day of the fact that you are dead to sin and alive to God.
Some of you might be sitting here this morning saying, Rich, I don't feel so dead to sin right now. That's where you have to trust the positional reality that is yours in Jesus Christ. And then he'd the words of Andrew Roth in his living picture this morning. Let's talk about that a little bit here, okay? First of all, as we do that, Paul is like, as he goes on, it's like he's going to answer an objection here.
Because some of you have asked me the question: where does obedience and discipline come in on this? It's a very, very good question, because it's not like we just sit back and do nothing, right? Where does obedience and discipline come in on this? And he does this in verses 17 to 19. But if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too are found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?
Certainly not. For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law, I died to the law, so that I might live to God. Let me go through this quickly with you, okay? He's answering.
An objection. The objection is this: if you get rid of the law code, you're just promoting lawlessness. And lawlessness is sin. And if you get rid of the law code, you're just promoting lawlessness. What does Paul say?
No, Jesus Christ fulfilled the law. Yes. He lived a perfect life. We celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. We ought to be celebrating the perfect life of Christ because he lived it for us.
That's what qualified him to be the perfect sacrifice. Jesus fulfilled the law. And so Paul says this: what I believe what he's saying in verse 18: going back to a written code would be contradictory belief and behavior. If I go back to a code, to a written code, I'm saved by faith, but then I go back to a written code, it would be contradictory belief and behavior. What I believe and how I behave.
are not matching up with each other. Verse 19 is a very, very powerful verse. Let's read it again. Look at it with me again. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
The death of Christ Freeze us. from the curse of the law. To live to God. From to. If all we think of our freedom is what restraints I don't have, you're missing the point.
and you're back in bondage. Yeah. There is a from. And there is a two. And if you don't recognize and come to grips The with a two.
You've missed the point of the from. and you're back in bondage. Yeah. Here's what he's saying about the law. The law could not bring life.
The law could not bring life. The only thing the law could bring was condemnation and death. That's all it could bring. Because of the nature of the law. The nature of the law is just simply this: you have fallen short.
It is the holy standard of holy infinite God and the law made clear to man. You have fallen short. And if we learn anything from the Old Testament, it is the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. But not only is it the nature of the law, but it's also the limits of the law. Which Paul, which is brought out in Acts chapter 13, verse 39 by Jesus, everyone who believes is freed, that's the word justified, is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
You see, the law doesn't bring life. It only brings condemnation and death. Here's the good news of it. of the gospel. The curse of the law.
Which is death. was satisfied. In Christ, it's death. The curse of the law. was satisfied in Christ's death.
And the God-man, Jesus, was the only possible candidate. That is what makes Christianity. utterly exclusive. Because there is no other Savior. And he liberates us.
To live to God, as it says in verse 19, to live to God. That's to walk in newness of life. In other words. In my day to day, I recognize through my knowledge of God's Word and the transforming of my mind, I recognize and I understand and I believe and I trust that I am forgiven. I am reconciled to God.
I am loved and he delights in me. And I delight in his purpose. These are things that are true about me. I want to use a phrase now that Paul uses about the law in Colossians. These ladies are studying Colossians, and I was listening to some of it as I was visiting out in the gathering room.
And it goes very much, very much in hand with what we're studying today. Here's what he calls the law in Colossians chapter 2, 14. to chapter 2 verse 14. The law is the record of debt with its legal demands. The record of debt with its legal demands.
And what does he say about this record of debt? Yeah. with its legal demands. Jesus nailed it to the cross. When Jesus was nailed to the cross.
that record of debt with its legal demands. was nailed to the cross. And what's next? Jesus is no longer nailed to the cross. But that record of debt and its legal demands still is.
Amen. Paul says in Romans 4, again, Jesus was raised for our justification. He was raised for our justification. This is why Paul says that we must understand the positional reality that is ours in Christ by faith in Christ. He says this in the last verse of chapter 2.
If righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
So it looks like this: I was saved by grace, but I'm trying hard to live the Christian life. then what you're communicating is Christ died for no purpose because you're banking on your effort to be righteous. In fact, it's an oppressive way to live. And some of you have experienced that. Many of us have mortgages.
Pretty fair sums of money wrapped up in a mortgage. It takes a lot of years to pay a mortgage off.
Okay. What if somebody came to your front door and said, I'm handing you this note. It says someone else has paid your mortgage in full. That brought a smile to some of your faces. And yeah, we're gonna Someone else has paid your debt.
In four. Hallelujah. And then you keep on making the mortgage payments. That doesn't make any sense at all, does it? Jesus paid it.
Oh. Hang on on the cross. It is finished. Three words. Greek, one word.
You know what that means? Paid and full. Pretty sure. Pain in the form. The record of debt with its legal demands.
Paid in full.
So Paul is saying: if you are saying you have to go back now and keep that written moral code. Even though Jesus nailed it to the cross because it's paid in full. It doesn't make any sense to have to go back and keep That written code. That's inconsistent with the gospel of grace. I want you to hear this.
Jesus did not die for you.
so that you could try hard to be good. Jesus did not die for you so that you could try hard to be good. We are all natural legalists, aren't we? And our focus on trying to live the Christian life is a focus on my performance. We naturally tend to think that we have to redeem ourselves.
We become self-righteous when we do that. And you know what? Paul... Who's writing this, Paul himself said, No one is better than me. When it comes to that written code, you can't outdo me.
That's what he said. And yet he called himself what? Chief of sinners. Because he honestly thought he was blameless regarding the law. Jesus did not die for you so that you could try hard to be good.
He died for you so that he could declare you righteous and here's the key word transform you into his character That word transformation is key. That's how the gospel works. This is why Paul calls us, and the apostles call us in the New Testament to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. The goal of our walk with Christ is the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, as Paul says. God's intent for us, whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus.
Okay. 1 John chapter 3, verse 2. It has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, We shall be like him. God is taking you there.
He will make sure that you get there. Thank you.
Now, some of you, I think some of you are swimming right now. Rich, again, where does obedience come in? This is what I'm going to introduce to you. I'm going to hammer on this the rest of the way through Galatians, all right? Because this takes us right up to Galatians chapter 5, where it's all talking about the Spirit.
Pepples. The New Testament. directives are largely about relational pursuit. Men, if you're squirming right now. You need to get over it.
The New Testament directives are largely about relational pursuit. Paul. Said. Talking about the righteousness from God. Here it is, that depends on faith.
That I may what? Obey him. Is that what he said? Yeah. that I may know him.
Paul was passionate. about knowing Jesus Christ and then knowing him more. That was his ambition. I want you to get this, because this is where the shift needs to happen, okay? Because God's purpose for each of us is to become like Jesus Christ.
You become like Christ. by pursuing him. You become like Christ by pursuing it. Like I just said earlier, the New Testament directives are largely about a relational pursuit. We need to leave behind The natural way of thinking, of thinking in terms of lists, just tell me what to do.
Tell me what I'm not supposed to do, tell me what I have to do. Let's leave that behind. Let's now turn the corner and shift our thinking in terms of: I'm no longer going to try to live the Christian life, I am going to passionately pursue Jesus Christ. How do you passionately pursue Jesus Christ?
Well look at the commands of the New Testament. Follow. Follow me. Abide in me. Imitate me, draw near to me, love me.
Those are the commands. The law of Christ summed up In one phrase. Love one another as what? I have loved you. Love me.
He's not talking about An emotion. Here's some homework that I'm going to. offer to you. Can't require it. You don't do that in church.
I'm gonna offer you some homework. Check out, check out the lists. of the New Testament. What are they? What comprises those lists?
What are they made up of? The Beatitudes. The fruit of the Spirit. Colossians 3, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on patience, kindness, goodness. Check out the lists of the New Testament.
What are they? They are who Christ is and how we reflect him.
Next week, Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day. We're going to be talking about this verse right here. Verse 20. How do we do that? The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself.
There is nothing in that that's do this, do that, do this, do that. There's nothing there. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. In other words, living the Christian life is Christian. Christ living in me.
So, where you and I need to be labor-intensive is exactly what Andrew was giving testimony to this morning. That the Word of God, God Himself, through His Word and His Spirit. is changing me at the core of my being. Because I'm walking with him, I'm communing with him. I'm delighting in him.
I love him. That's what changes me. And the gospel of grace works through transformation, not. conformity to a code. That's the difference.
I can't believe it. I encourage you to an assessment of your walk now. Your walk of faith in Christ. As a Christian, if you claim to be a Christian, are you trying to be good? And we say that to our kids: Are you trying to be good?
Are you being a good boy? Being a good girl? Know this. God does not talk to you that way. You know how he talks to you?
You are mine and I love you. Here is all I have given you. to be what I want you to be. If you're trying to be good, you're focusing on what a Christian is supposed to do. And you know what?
Everyone has a different list. There are no two lists alike. And it's a focus on my perception, and it's a focus on my performance. Does that describe your faith this morning? Would you please ask God to change your heart and mind?
to open your eyes to see the gospel of grace.
So that you are, so that we are walking with Jesus. Am I walking with Jesus? Because I am reconciled to Him. Am I walking with Jesus? His words are captivating and informing my affections and my attitudes, and he's changing me in and through my daily life.
Big difference. I want us to be a church. That is beautiful. Because we reflect Christ. Because we love him.
Because he loves us. and gave himself for us. Would you stand with me, please? Uh Father, you are good. I thank you for giving us your Son, the Lord Jesus.
Thank you, Father, for the gospel of grace. Father, open the eyes of our understanding. Open our hearts. to know what it is, to pursue you, to walk with you. to follow Jesus.
to delight in him and his purpose. Father, change our hearts this morning, I pray, and rescue us. from the natural legalism that we tend to live. May we understand, Father, what it is to live by grace. Thank you, Father, for making this known to us.
for making it available to us. Thank you for making it a reality in us. We ask, Father, that by your Spirit you would do your work in us. that you would form in us. A passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ.
that our chief ambition would be to know him. And to know you. For it's in Jesus' name. according to his purpose and his glory that we pray. Amen.
This message titled Justified by Faith was preached on April 13, 2025 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. We're so glad you listened with us today. Join us here next Monday for the next message in the Galatians series, our freedom in Christ.
