This world is to no longer hold you hostage. Dr. Tony Evans lays out a fundamental truth of Christianity. Whatever evil you struggle with, Jesus Christ died on the cross to release you from it. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr.
Tony Evans. When you have a physical ailment and turn to the internet for answers, you're likely to find a hundred experts with a hundred different answers, and suddenly you're more confused than when you started.
Well, the same thing can happen spiritually. Today, Dr. Evans takes us to the book of Galatians, where the Apostle Paul confronts theological confusion in the early church and helps us rediscover the liberating truth of the gospel. Let's join Dr. Evans.
This book finds as its concern The Gospel under attack. The gospel is being challenged by a group of people that have come to be known as. Judaizers. He talks in verse 7 of chapter 1. Only there are some who are disturbing you.
and want to distort the gospel of Christ. In chapter 3, verse 1. He says, you foolish Galatians, who has... Bewitched. You.
before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. To be bewitched means to be put under a spell. to be hypnotized.
Now, who are Judaizers? Or this group that he says are. are casting a spell on you. The Judaizers were Jews. who were telling But Christians that you had to live under the law.
They said it in a couple of different ways.
Some say to get saved, you got to keep the law. Then there was another group that says, well, no, to get saved, you accept Christ. But to get spiritual, you have to keep the law. This led to a term that you'll hear me talk throughout the book called legalism. Legalism says the external things you do make you holy.
It is a desire to earn acceptance from God by external performance. If I will read again to you Romans chapter 11. Reverse. Six Says this. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works.
Otherwise, grace is no longer grace.
So grace cannot be Grace if it is earned. Grace is always free. You can access it. And you can respond to it, but you can't earn it. We live our lives by what we earn.
We earn people's favor. We earn our income. When you go to work. And your boss pays you at the end of the week or the month. He is not giving you a gift.
You would not accept that Let me just give you a nice gift this week. You can demand that if it was earned. God never wants people to be put in a position where they can demand anything from him. Therefore, God cancels out the ability to earn his favor.
Now, this is a difficult concept to grasp. It's a simple one to hear. But it's a difficult one to grasp and to live by. Although we function with it all the time. When is our birthday?
People bring us gifts. It would actually be insulting to offer to pay somebody on your birthday for a gift they bring you. That would be an insult. Because the whole point of a birthday gift is that it is being given at no cost to you. All you do is receive it.
You don't earn it. And so it is with grace. It is a gift. The Bible calls it the gift of God.
So it's what God gives away. not what you work to earn. This is true not only of salvation, as we will discover as we walk through the book, it is also true of sanctification, your spiritual life. Which raises the question, well, How does what I do matter then? And we'll answer that question.
Because it does matter, but not from an earning perspective. God wants you to do what you do. not from a have to, but from a thank you. Not from a have to, but from a thank you. You do what you do, not because you're earning his favor, you're doing what you're doing because you appreciate his favor.
Right now it's a it's a whole different mindset. But then it makes you. And enables you to enjoy the Christian life rather than to endure the Christian life.
So, those who were disturbing them, that is, shaking them up. They were undermining God's favor. They were undermining God's grace.
So God raised up the Apostle Paul as the Apostle of grace. And so you'll see this through all of his writings, and the writings of the other. leaders of the church who are authors of scripture. If we can grow in you and me, our understanding of and application of grace. Then work will be no problem.
or less problem. Because you will be so grateful for the greatness of grace.
So let's begin. Having given that introduction, Paul an apostle. Not sent. From men, nor through the agency of man.
Now that's very important because Paul is going to enter into a defense that what he is teaching did not come from man. It came from God. And that becomes a very important point. in terms of those who were against Paul. But through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.
So, my message. comes through Christ and God Who raised Jesus from the dead? Here we have his affirmation of the resurrection.
Now, many of us understand or remember the history of the Apostle Paul. his former name was Saul. His pre-conversion days, he was Saul, and he was an up-and-coming. Pharisee and up and coming part of the Sanhedrin. And he was given, he was so tenacious.
For Judaism and so much of an enemy of this new thing called Christianity, that he was the one that the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council, chose to get rid of the church. To persecute Christianity and destroy it. And he says, I went after it with all I had. Yeah. When Stephen was stoned in Acts chapter 7.
stoned to death for his commitment to Christ. It says, and standing there at the stoning was Saul. He was locking people, prisoners, locking Christians up. But then one day on the Damascus road, He ran into the risen Christ. and was transformed by that meeting.
And he became now the architect of Christianity. In terms of writing more books in the New Testament than any other author, Paul is the author of 13 books. of the New Testament the most of any single author. He says he is an apostle. The word apostle.
refers to scent ones. And it was referring to those who were selected and sent out to declare Christianity. because they had been with or seen the risen Christ. He was not part of the twelve. Obviously, he came later.
But he did get to see the risen Christ on the Damascus road.
So he was given this this office of apostle. to lay the foundation for are the Christian belief system and the Christian church.
So he's writing all the churches of Galatians. He's writing all the brethren, very important, because he's writing Christians.
So, this message is to Christians. And he wants us to clearly understand this message of the gospel of grace. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, he connects the Father and the Son together. And then he What?
Rehearses The gospel message. This is still his introduction. Who gave himself, Jesus Christ, gave himself. For our sins. This is what we call the substitutionary atonement.
Jesus Christ died in our place for our sin. When one accepts Jesus Christ. God credits to that person. The righteousness of Christ. having credited the sin of that person.
to the death of Christ.
So there's been a credit exchange. God credits our sin onto Christ, and when you accept Christ, he credits Christ's righteousness onto you.
So, in terms of your legal standing before God, you stand before God as though you have never sinned. Because of you got a credit score. There's a credit transfer of the righteousness of Christ to us because He's already paid for our sins. There's more to this story of what Christ's payment really covers, and Dr. Evans will clarify that when he returns in just a moment.
Mm-hmm.
Well, as we've been hearing today, the gospel isn't just good advice, it's good news that transforms everything. And if you want to dig deeper into the book of Galatians and strengthen your understanding of grace, freedom, and faith, we have a powerful resource to share with you. It's Tony's in-depth sermon series, simply titled Galatians, an 11-part journey through this foundational book that unpacks Paul's passionate defense of the true gospel. This series is available right now as our thank you gift when you support the ministry of the alternative. And for a limited time, we'll also include a bonus resource, Tony's book, Kingdom Prayer, Touching Heaven to Change Earth.
This practical, inspiring guide will help you align your prayers with God's purposes and tap into the authority and intimacy that come with praying according to His will. Get both of these powerful resources today at tonyevans.org or call our resource team. At 1-800-832-22. That's 1-800-800-3222. I'll share that contact information again after the second part of today's lesson.
Here's Dr. Evans. Let me clarify something. The Bible says that Jesus even. pay for the sins of people who are not Christians.
1 John 2.2 says, He is the propitiation for our sins, but not only ours, but for the sins of the whole world.
So on the cross, Jesus satisfied the sin of all men for all time.
Okay? The question is then, why aren't all men saved? Because all men have not had the righteousness of Christ credited back to them. Which means that they will stand before God with their own righteousness. I don't want to stand before God with my own righteousness.
Yeah. Especially since His standard is perfect righteousness. That's a standard. I can't meet that standard. You can't meet that standard.
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We cannot meet that standard.
So, what God does, knowing we can meet it, is credit it.
So when you trust Christ, you get a perfect credit score. And you stand before God. One of the reasons you can't lose your salvation. is because The credit score includes all sin. Which includes the ones you haven't done yet.
It's including tomorrow.
So that's why the book of Hebrews talked about we've been perfected forever by the righteousness of Christ. And so it's an eternal salvation. that has been provided through the substitutionary atonement.
So that why did Jesus die? These people are already saved, but he goes a little deeper in verse four. who gave himself for our sins so that he might rescue us From this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. Interesting. He says.
That Jesus Christ died. Yeah. To rescue or emancipate believers. Because he's talking to brother and people who've already been saved. to rescue believers from the powers of this world.
In other words, this world is to no longer hold you hostage. This present evil age, so right now. Paul says in chapter 6, verse 14, Of Galatians, but may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
So, this present age, this world that you and I live in, should no longer be your boss. Should no longer define you, should no longer. uh control you you're in it But you've been rescued From its It's it's grip. On you. And us.
You say, well, I don't feel really rescued.
Well, the book of Galatians is written for you to experience the rescue you have. To experience the rescue you have.
So, as we walk to the book, The vice grip of the world should loosen up. if you're a believer. Because he says Jesus died for our sins, that's salvation, but to rescue us from this world order, this present age, so that it no longer defines our identity, so it no longer defines our purpose, so no longer it defines our actions, so it no longer is the controlling. entity in our lives.
So he gives a A present world purpose for your salvation in this. present. Evil page.
So he's talking about the evil of the world, not being in the world, but the evil of the world. And he's talking about it presently.
So whatever evil you face, I face, we face. Whatever evil you struggle with, Jesus Christ died on the cross to release you from it. So that we operate within the will of God. and bring him glory verse five. Forevermore.
So that all that's just the introduction. That's just kind of laying the table for. What Paul wants to accomplish in the book of Galatians. for brethren for believers. He says, I am amazed.
I'm shocked. That you are so quickly deserting him. Who called you by the grace. of Christ for a different gospel. There is approximately a six-month gap between.
Their conversion in Paul's writing.
So and in six months, you didn't go on A wall. In six months, you have deserted the gospel. of grace. He called you by the grace of Christ.
So you see, he's talking about the grace. His theme is grace. that you are saved by grace. For a different gospel.
So here we have The fact that Something different was being given to them other than what they had heard. that brought them to salvation. They were getting some different information. There's a lot of information out there today. You can go to a lot of religious.
Entities and institutions about What the good news is. The gospel. One thing is for sure. You are to measure a church. By its understanding of and teaching concerning grace.
Let me read Hebrews chapter 13, verse 9. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace. Not by foods through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. which was a lot of the Jewish rituals.
He says, Don't be duped by strange teachings that don't strengthen you by grace. Many of you, maybe you are Christian, maybe you weren't. But you were raised in legalism. It shows up. in a lot of different ways.
You can't wear makeup. Their pants, you know they're all kind of Nuances of performing to earn God's acceptance. Many denominations are driven. By legalism. And by A performance-based approach to either salvation or spirituality, or both.
And he says, I am shocked that you're so. quickly removed From not only the gospel, but from God, because he says you're deserting him.
Now why is that important? Because when you leave the gospel, you leave the person. When you depart From the truth of the gospel of grace, you've not just departed from a doctrinal system, you've departed from God Himself. Because God is operating. With us.
Via Grace.
So you've departed from this. This gospel. to a different gospel. Verse 7, which is really not another. He says, it's different.
But it's not real. It's not another. Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
So the gospel of Christ is being distorted by legalism. or law keeping in order. you to be saved or sanctified.
So strong is Paul about this issue. It matters so much. That he goes to the extreme. He says in verse 8, but even we, and he's an apostle, so he's including himself. or an angel from heaven.
Well An angel from heaven is like a good angel.
Okay. He's a good apostle. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel. Contrary to what we preach to you, let him be. Accursed.
That is Set up for judgment. Even angels can't get away with another gospel. And these are good angels. Anyone who changes the gospel is to be condemned. If works are necessary, then Christ's work was not sufficient.
If works were necessary to gain an acceptance with God, then Christ, what he did, was not enough. And I know we sing the song. He's all I need. Singing about the sufficiency of Christ. But most people, even Christians, don't know what that means.
It sounds good. We know it's true, but What does it mean and how does it work? Paul wants to argue that he is sufficient. And he says. If somebody comes with another gospel.
That demeans the sufficiency of Christ for salvation and sanctification, and your growth as a Christian. He is sufficient to get you to heaven. And he is sufficient to get you through earth. Sin again. He is sufficient to get you to heaven, and he is sufficient to get you through earth, his present age.
It is sufficient for both.
So he is sufficient for your victory and my victory. Dr. Tony Evans, pointing us back to the sufficiency of Christ, both for eternity and for today. Before we go, don't forget to request your copy of Tony's current series, Galatians, 11 powerful messages that unpack what it means to truly live in the freedom of God's grace. Along with it, we're including his practical and inspiring book, Kingdom Prayer, to help you align your heart with God's purposes.
Both are yours as our thanks for your generous support. Just visit tonyevans.org to make your request or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Again, that's tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222. Yeah. Some people water down the truth.
Others try to replace it altogether. That's why the Apostle Paul was passionate about defending the gospel. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans explains why God's grace and the sufficiency of Christ are not only the foundation of our salvation. but also the starting point for our spiritual growth.
Make sure to join us.
