Grace Changes Everything

What's going on, family? How we doing? Doing all right? On this rainy day?

Good to see y'all. I'm Pastor Ricky and I'm excited to be here. Listen, before I get up and preach, I need us to pray and ask God to move, okay? So let's bow our heads and pray. Father, thank you for this rainy morning because you said, God, we should be thankful in all things. Father, we come today expecting to hear your word, expecting for you to move. Amen to me. Father, remind us what it means to be living by your grace and living by the gospel. This is our prayer in Christ's name.

Amen. Red touches yellow, kill a fellow. Red touches black, friend of Jack. It's the rhyme and tale of two snakes, the coral snake and the king snake. These two snakes are very similar, about the same length and width. They have a similar color pattern, and they even reside in the same habitat, the American South. And placed side by side to the untrained eye, these two snakes look the same. But wisdom will caution you that even though they look the same, one has a bite that will kill you. There are two other things that look very similar, have a similar origin and lifespan, have a very similar pattern. And placed side by side to the untrained eye, these two things look the same.

But wisdom will caution you that one has a bite that will kill you. The apostle Paul says that's the difference between the gospel and religion. They both sit in the same pews, read the same Bible, sing the same songs, write the same checks, and place side by side to the untrained eye.

They look the exact same. But one leads to life in Christ Jesus, while the other leads to death in our own actions. Ricky, why are you telling me this? Because today I want to invite you into my struggle. I struggle with religion. The belief that somehow I can be good enough to earn God's salvation. That God, I read in the Bible, I quote in the scripture, I can bargain with you that I don't need your grace. But here's the issue. The gospel has two parts to it. It's vertical and also horizontal.

If you get the vertical part wrong, you then get the horizontal part wrong. Because I spend so much time trying to earn God's grace, I charge you for my grace. All because I believe that if I just do enough good things, God, I have enough grace that I don't need yours. This verse changed my life and I want to invite you into my dark secret. I believe that I am good enough to earn God's grace.

And if I can be honest, if you're from the south, you do too. We think that because we're nice and we don't cuss and don't drink and somehow that's good enough to earn God's grace. But Paul says in Galatians, no, it's not. We're only saved by faith in Christ for Christ has done everything necessary to save you.

And the issue is, needs attention now. In Ephesians 2 Paul says that we're saved by grace through faith and not by works that no man can boast. And I want to invite you into my secret to say that some of you are exactly just like me. You believe that if you do good enough, pull yourself up your own bootstraps, somehow you can bargain with God that you're good enough to earn his salvation. Ephesians chapter 2. And Paul's going to remind us that the whole book of Galatians is about the grace of God, that you are saved by God's grace. And so we're going to see three things.

Wow, that rain is loud. We're going to see, first of all, that God's grace justifies us. Second, we're going to see that God's grace now makes us dead to the law. And last, we shall see that God's grace gives us life in Christ.

As you turn to Galatians 2, I got to invite you to what's going on. Paul has now spent his time in the Galatian church. He's been sharing the gospel with them.

Hear me, the gospel is that Christ lived, died, and rose and all who put their faith in him can have eternal life. He's been sharing the gospel with them, but there's been some old school Christians hanging around the Galatian church called the Judaizers. And they would say, well, Paul is right. Christ is crucial to your salvation.

But then they would say, but he's not enough. You need to have now follow these old school traditional laws to really be saved. Simply put, they're trying to add their own herbs and spices to the gospel. And to make things worse, they even say, if Paul is preaching faith through Christ is enough for salvation, then Paul may not even be a real apostle. They come near Paul's neck. Paul says, okay.

You want to play that game? If you want to charge at me, I'm going to charge back at you. This is what's funny. All of Paul's letters, he always starts with like, oh, I miss you. Oh, I'm praying for you.

Oh, I'm thinking about you. The only book that he does not do that is the book of Galatians. Paul says, I ain't got time to play with you. If you're coming at me about the gospel and you're doing it wrong, I'm coming straight for you. Now pick me up. Galatians chapter two, verses 15 through 16.

You got a big stage and everything. I'll be right here beside each other. John mother.

All right. Says this, we ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be justified. So now let me invite you to the scene. The Galatians are having a cookout and guess who shows up? Your boy Peter. They got the dry rub ribs over here. They got the Bojangles over here.

They got, look, look, they got fried chicken. Peter walks in going, what is this? And Peter walks in and they slapping all types of slab of ribs on his plate, collard greens, mac and cheese, cornbread. I mean, they are like, Peter is like, where am I at?

This is the best food I've ever had in my whole life. Peter's going, he got barbecue sauce all on his mouth. Peter's going in and then something changes. The Judaizers walk in.

The old school Christians. There's attention in the room now. Peter gets the ribs out of his mouth. Heart begins to pump.

Pawns get sweaty. And in an act of fear, he pushes back from the table and walks over to the Judaizers. The confusion in the room. And while all eyes are on the Judaizers, Paul's eyes are on Peter. Now to understand this, let's go back in time. Paul was saved on the road to Damascus. Christ would knock him off his horse and show him his face. And I love it because all of Paul's life he tried to chase after righteousness, but this time righteousness came after him. And that's the gospel. You and I could not get to God, so God came to us. And so now Christ gives now Paul a new gospel.

That now salvation is for everybody as long as they put their faith in Christ Jesus. He's been a good steward of the gospel message. So he invites to meet with Peter and the church leaders and says, this is the new gospel I've been given. Is this gospel correct? Peter himself would not only say yes, but he would sign off on it. So now come back in the scene. Paul is going, Peter, you got to be kidding me.

We just went through this. You just co-signed this that the gospel is not about your culture or religion. It's the work of Christ Jesus.

But when your old school friends walk in, you change your tune. Some of the church, how long do we have to go through this? The gospel is not about your actions. It's all about what Christ has done for you.

I don't care if you're pure until you're married. I don't care how much Bible you read. That is not enough to get you to heaven.

It is only by the finished work of Christ Jesus. And what makes Paul so upset is he's going, if there was anyone who couldn't deserve to forget God's grace, Peter, it's you. Peter, you were the one who denied Christ three times.

Not the Judaizers. That was you. Peter, you were the one that Christ said, get behind thee Satan. Not the Galatian church.

That was you. If there was anyone who could not deserve to forget the grace of God, it was Peter. So let me say this. Without the grace of God, it is us. Without the grace of God, we have nothing.

But all on the cross, Christ Jesus gave us all he had just to make us his. But I think what really gets Paul upset is these Judaizers never really cared about the Galatians. Most religious people, sadly, don't really care about those who are coming and searching their souls. They just care about as long as you assimilate to what we do.

Let me say this. Let us not be a church that thinks that because you walk in our doors, you have to assimilate to our culture. The only thing I must assimilate to is the Bible, not your culture and not your tradition, because culture and tradition didn't save me.

Jesus did. And I'm talking to you, but I'm really talking to myself because I know the gospel here, but I don't believe it here. It's almost as if every day I wake up going, God, today's the day I can prove to you that I'm good enough without your grace.

It frustrates me because every day I wake up taking a test that I know I'm going to fail. Paul says we're justified. This word, justified, means that Christ would give us his righteousness in exchange for our sin. That when God looks at us, he does not see you.

He sees his son. That this is the grace of God, that he will look upon broken, sinful, jacked up people and call them his. I heard of a well-known judge who was presiding over his courtroom when in walks a guilty party, committing a crime, a woman. The judge hears her case and decides that she is guilty and levies on her fine. He's extremely gracious. He would put down his gavel, unzip his robe, push back from the podium and walk down a platform and then stand right beside the guilty party. But what he would do next would shock the courtroom. He would reach out in his back pocket and pull out a checkbook and begin to write the exact amount for the fine that he just issued. He would rip off the check and give it to now the guilty party. He would sit on the platform, sit back at the table, zip back up his robe and ask the question, do you have the money for the fine? Now the guilty party excited about the grace that she's been given.

She says, yes, I do, your honor. And the judge now accepts the payment for which he himself supplied. That is the gospel message. God would say, as you walk into my courtroom, you're guilty. I would look down the steps of heaven and stand right beside sinners.

And then I will reach in my back pocket and place my son on a cross and look back at you and I and say, pain in full. That's the gospel message of Christ Jesus. And if that's the gospel, why do we add to it?

Many of us add to it because we don't like being a charity case. We actually believe that somehow we can meet the standard of God. Many of us don't like the situation of grace because we don't like to need grace. What do you mean I need grace? I read my Bible.

I go to church. What do you mean I need God's grace? What you don't see is your pride.

You know what's funny? The standard of God's holiness is perfection, not Southern Christianity. God says, if you don't come to be perfect, don't come at all. And only by the grace of God, dying on the cross, us putting our faith in him, now we can approach the throne of grace. Paul says, it is by God's grace that we are justified. Amen.

Man, y'all are quiet in here, man. Come on, Lord. All right. Next point. God's grace only justifies us, but then it makes us dead to the law.

Pick me up. Galatians chapter 2 verses 17 and 18 says this. But if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were 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.

I love it. Paul says, Peter, I ain't done with you yet. Paul is talking to three audiences at the same time.

The Judaizers, Peter, and also the Galatian church. And Paul says, Peter, I ain't done with you yet. Come on back here and sit down. Do you really want to play this game?

That somehow your resume got you saved? Do you really want to play this game, Peter? Okay.

Let's play. Paul takes Peter back down to his childhood. Paul says, Peter, you're a Jew by birth, right? As a Jew, you knew that you could not touch or hang out with Gentiles or Galatians. There was a belief that if you touch them, you will be sinful. Can you imagine like walking around and saying, cooties, don't touch me.

Can you imagine trying to avoid people? Like all his, like, there was a belief that if, if, if, if a Gentile touched a Jew, they were sent, like they had cooties and they were sinners. And so Paul goes, are you sure you want to play this game? The game that you believe that your culture and tradition somehow makes you saved.

Are you sure you want to play this game? Because Paul says, Peter, you being a Jew know the rules. So if you want to play the game, you lose by your own rules. You just ate with them.

You just sat down with them and had Kool-Aid and everything. A religion that says, I bring my resume to God and I try to bargain myself to show him that I don't need his grace. Are you sure you want to play that game?

Because if you do, you will always lose. I'm talking to myself, man. It frustrates me sometimes that I have so much Bible knowledge here, but yet don't believe it all the time here. It doesn't matter how much you know, but what do you believe? Paul calls out Peter's hypocrisy. And so many words he says, Peter, you just preached two different gospels. See, Jesus preached faith in him as salvation. Jesus preached that you're not simple because of what you eat or your traditions.

Jesus preached that if you believe in me, you are a part of now the family of God altogether. But Paul preached something different. I mean, Peter preached something. Peter said, Galatians, while I'm here just with you, me and you, the gospel is for everybody. But when the Judaizers walk in, he preaches a different gospel. Now the gospel is only for those who look like a Jew, talk like a Jew, and walk like a Jew. Paul calls out Peter's hypocrisy.

But there's something else that I think if you're not careful, you'll miss. Peter was all about racial reconciliation until certain folks walked into the room. I like that. That was a dramatic effect that rang. Peter was all about racial reconciliation until certain people walked into the room.

Let that sit right there for a while. People aren't in the room. But what about when they walk in? Will I run back to my culture and back to my tradition or will I stand up for the gospel? When certain folks walk in the room, will I back up off the gospel and run back to my culture and run back to my ethnicity or will I stand up for the gospel of Christ Jesus?

Peter preached two different gospels, which we call hypocrisy. In 2009, I moved to Memphis, Tennessee. I was saved there and I was moved to one of the most racial cities in the country. And there I will see a multi-ethnic church, multicultural church.

I've never seen it before. It blew my mind. Two men who really helped shape me was a man by the name of Randy Odom and Brown LaRitz. They poured into me that I am called to be now a reconciler. I needed to be a reconciler there. But I'm from Durham and my family faced some real racial trauma. My dad remembers having crosses burning his yard. And he would often tell me these stories as a kid. But hear me. He did not tell me these stories because he was trying to make me be mean to people.

He was trying to protect his son because the reality is sometimes because the way you look, you may not always be treated fairly. So I moved back to Durham, started working at the Summit Church. And so we buy a house. And I didn't know this, but supposed to have a housewarming party.

Men don't. I just thought you buy a house and walk in and live it. I didn't know you had to have a party. I'm paying rent. Y'all come pay me rent to have a party.

I'm going to pay my own rent for you to come and eat my own food. What kind of. My all black family who's felt some racial tension and trauma.

And now my predominantly white church family in the same home. I don't want to do it. I would have rather just had two separate parties. I didn't want to deal with the looks.

Or the sly comments. I didn't want to deal with it. So the night before the housewarming party, I'm walking around frantic like what I'm going to do, what I'm going to do. And my wife says, what is wrong with you? I say, listen, I'm I'm about to cancel this thing. I just don't want to deal with it. She said, you're not canceling our party because you're afraid to be what God calls you to be.

You can't do that by being afraid what God has called you to be. In that moment, I failed. I pushed my seat back from the table. I believe that God's grace was enough for salvation, but not enough to heal racism.

And it frustrates me. The main guy waving the diversity flag was the main guy when the rubber hit the road. He cowered out. In that moment, I was Peter and my wife was Paul.

Cowered away. Because I know God has called me to be a reconciler. In that moment, I allowed my culture and my history to tell me that the gospel is good enough for salvation, but not good enough to heal racial tension. So, I've just been honest with you.

Can you be honest with me? Has anyone in here ever done that before? Just raise your hand.

Keep it high if you have. It's okay. Look around.

Look around. We've all failed together. The issue sometimes about racism is always about pointing fingers, but it's hard to point fingers when everyone has failed.

We've all dropped the ball. We've all preached two different gospels. We've all been afraid to stand up for what's right when certain people walk in the room, but this is my pledge to you that when I'm around my all-black family and they say controversial things about you, I will stand up for you. And when you're around your family and they say stuff about me and my black skin, stand up for me.

We've got to learn how to stand up for each other. And the reason Paul was so upset is because the Judaizers said that they're less valuable because they are not Jewish. There is no JV or varsity Christians.

All of us come in by the blood of the lamb. Let me say this. The one thing I love about this story is Paul didn't cancel Peter. We live in a cancel culture. There's something wrong about me, especially racially, I'm done with you.

But here's the joke. I can't cancel John because John will be in eternity with me. How are you going to cancel somebody who's going to be in heaven with you for the rest of your life?

You can't cancel them. Stop canceling each other, but do what Paul does. Paul says, I'm going to call you out.

I'm going to do it in love. Paul did not cancel Peter. We've all preached two different gospels.

And I just want to share with you that even though I wave the flag of diversity, I failed myself. Sometimes it's just easier to stay on the other side of the street. But thanks be to God that he chose to walk across the street to breach both parties together. So now, Paul says, not only does God's grace justify us and make us dead to the law, but now it makes us alive in Christ. And we're going to end here.

I get really excited by this part. Look at it with me, verses 19 through 20. It says this, 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 within me.

And the life I live now in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. In so many words, Paul says, I'm not ragging on the Old Testament. I'm not knocking the Old Testament. I'm just saying, look to the one who fulfilled it.

That's all he's saying. The Old Testament law was to be a mirror to show us that we are sinful. That was the whole purpose of the law. It was to show us that you need a savior, that you cannot do it on your own. And Paul simply says, I'm not knocking the Old Testament law. I'm just saying, look to the one who fulfilled it, which is Christ Jesus. Paul, man, I love it. In so many words, Paul says, if the law shows your sin, why are you worshipping it?

If Jesus is your salvation, you should worship him, not the law. And then Paul says in so many words, he says, when you and I try to add to the gospel that is based on our actions, what we're saying is, Jesus, come down from the cross. I have found another way. Christ says, I am the way. I am the truth.

I am the life. What he's saying here is when you and I believe that it's all about what we do that makes us saved. Paul says, when you say that, what you're saying is Christ come down from the cross. I have found another way. Look at this quote with me from John Calvin. Says this. As long as Christ remains outside of us, we are separated from him. All that he suffered has no value to me nor the human race. When you and I begin to bargain with God about how good we are, we actually stand outside of Jesus. But this is where it gets good to me. Paul says in Galatians 2 that it's addition by subtraction.

What? It makes no sense. Paul says the gospel is addition by subtraction. I know it makes no sense, but listen, Christ oftentimes says so that it doesn't make no sense, right? Christ would say, to live, you must die.

Squeeze me. Christ says, to be strong, you must be weak. Christ says, to be great, you must be least, a servant. Paul says, let me ask you this thing. He says, addition by subtraction. In verse 19, I'm going to try to break it down for you. Paul says, it is no longer I who live, subtraction, but Christ who lives within me, addition.

The life I live now, I live in faith by Christ Jesus, addition, who gave himself up for me, addition. Paul says, the more I take my hands off the gospel, the better and better it gets. Paul says, it is no longer I who live, subtraction.

I'm not bringing anything to the table. I don't want to bring my righteousness or my Bible study. Nothing can make me good with God. And he says, but Christ now lives within me, addition. He's simply saying that if you have Christ, you have all you need on the cross. Christ paid your full penalty that you may not stand up for God, holy and blameless.

I hope y'all don't judge me too hard, but this is my struggle, man. I was raised in the south and the south, he put more energy on looking holy than actually being holy. And I'm angry because it frustrates me how I can know the gospel, but not at times believe it. I wake up every day playing this dice game with God. God, God, today I did this. Is that good enough? Paul says, if you have Jesus, you have everything you need.

There is no need for you to come to the table trying to bargain with the Holy Spirit. The story of a father and son. They lived to collect rare art pieces, Van Gogh, Picasso, Ramblin.

They would spend hours surveying these pieces. One day the son was called off to war and the father was now left alone. He would wait by the phone every day just hoping to receive a phone call. Sadly, about eight months later, he received a phone call that his son died saving a young man. The father was crushed.

About six months later, he would hear a faint knock at the door. And there stood a young man with a very large package. The man said, sir, you don't know me, but I'm actually the young man that your son died saving. He would often tell me about how much you love art, and so here's a gift for you. The father opened the package and there, a picture of his son. He was blown away how this novice pinnaker captured his son's eyes, his essence.

He would do something great. He would remove the Picasso and remove the Ramblin and now put the portrait of the son right in the middle of his centerpiece. The father would soon pass away and, of course, his paintings went up for auction.

Folks would drive miles around to see these rare pieces. The auctioneer banged his gavel, auction opened. The first picture on the docket was a painting of the son. The auctioneer would say, the son, the son, who will take the son? Folks began to yell, we didn't come to see this. Show us the Rambread, show us the Picasso.

The auctioneer was persistent. He would say again, the son, the son, who will take the son? Folks said, we didn't come to see this. We came to see the Rambread, the Picasso.

Get this out of here. But he would say one last time, the son, the son, who will take the son? A faint hand in the back would raise and say, I will take the son. The auctioneer banged his gavel, sold, auction is over. What do you mean the auction is over? We came to see the Picasso, the Rambread, what do you mean the auction is over?

The auctioneer said quietly, impatiently, when I was given this auction, I was told about a secret stipulation in the will. I was told that whoever got the Porsche of the son got the whole collection. He was told that whoever gets the son gets everything. The son, the son, who will take the son? There was no need for me to bargain with Jesus for Christ on the cross paid it all and all to him I owe. Still if a crimson stain believe, wash me white as snow.

Do you not understand? The gospel says that Christ did everything for me and I can stumble for God, pure and holy. The son, the son, who will take the son? For those of you who struggle like me, who are raised in the south and believe that being holy is all about what you look like and not about what your heart says, let me invite you back to the gospel message that Christ says if you have me, you have all you need. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I shall not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock I stand.

All of the ground is sinking sand. I want to remind you that if you place your faith in Christ Jesus, you have all the hope, all the worth, all the value, all the protection, all the love, all the grace, all the compassion. You have all you need and it's bound up in the resurrected Savior.

So if that is true, why are we bargaining with God? God says on the cross I gave you all I had. I bankrupted heaven just to bring you back to me. Man, the gospel of Christ Jesus. So when you hear me say amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found.

I was blind but now I see. I don't say it because it sounds nice. I say it because, boy, if you forget the grace of God, you have nothing.

So do something for me. I want you to write down this verse, 1 Corinthians 15 verses 3 and 4. That is the gospel that Jesus Christ would live, would die and rise that all who put their faith in him will have life. And after you write down that verse, I want you to write under it, do not add to it. I share with you my secret. I can preach God's grace but don't believe in it. And if you're just like me, there's no need to feel shame or guilt. There's all grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Red touches yellow, killer fellow. Red touches black, friend of Jack. One leads to life and one leads to death. Which one shall you choose? And that's why I say it was God's grace for me that changed everything.