Gospel Faith.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Good to see you here. Welcome to the village. I’m one of the pastors [0:03] Here most every Sunday when you come here [0:06] You will unfortunately have to stare at me for about 40 45 minutes while I try to talk about the Bible [0:13] We are we gather here on Sundays as a church to really [0:18] Celebrate God and who God is in our lives and what God has done in our lives as God commands us to we gather together [0:26] To sing and we preach from the Bible and we do all this to celebrate

[0:32] What we have in the gospel and also to offer it out to those who may not necessarily believe in the gospel [0:39] And last week if you were with us [0:42] We talked about what counterfeit faith really looks like we talked about fake faith [0:47] And we talked about this story of Sarah and Hagar and how God told Abraham [0:53] That he was going to have become a great nation and his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky [1:00] And when he goes back and tells his wife who is past childbearing age that God’s going to do this she doubts and

[1:07] She more than doubts she comes up with a plan to help God rather than just do what God said [1:15] She comes up with a plan that is more realistic to her [1:19] She comes up with a plan that she can wrap her mind around rather than having faith in God [1:24] Believing that he can do the things that are sometimes unrealistic for us [1:30] There are sometimes unrealistic and don’t necessarily fit in our plans and rather than allowing faith to [1:36] Reshape her plans and to reshape her life instead

[1:40] She tries to cram God’s plan into the life that she already has and because of that Abraham [1:47] Goes into sin with Hagar and has a child that is not part of God’s plan [1:51] And we talked about how God does not want us to fit faith into our lives rather God wants to change our lives [1:59] Through us believing his promises and through us believing that God will do the things that he says he will do in spite of [2:09] our [2:10] Expectations being low in spite of our lack of faith

[2:15] That God will do what he said he will do [2:20] Instead of us looking at God’s promises and accepting the things that we like and then looking at other things that we aren’t really [2:27] comfortable with and saying well, that’s not realistic I [2:31] Have to be balanced here. God can’t possibly expect me to change all of my life [2:38] whereas the gospel is all about life change and more than that it is a [2:44] Life-change that causes revolutionary movement in our lives

[2:48] It causes when we finished last week saying that the gospel of Jesus Christ [2:52] causes us to get up and actually begin to walk and whenever the gospel [2:57] Disappoints and whenever the gospel is not found to be satisfying [3:01] It’s because we are sitting down in our life and looking at God and saying why aren’t you doing something? [3:09] Why aren’t you helping me right here? Why aren’t you changing your plan to meet my standards? [3:17] Rather than us changing our plans

[3:19] to be free in the gospel and [3:22] That’s something that’s been going on from Genesis all the way through where we are right now in the New Testament and in Galatians [3:29] Chapter 5 what we’re gonna have is something completely different. We’re gonna have gospel faith [3:34] We’re gonna have what faith? [3:36] Actually looks like and for the next half hour 40 minutes, I have I never know how long I’m gonna go [3:42] I just kind of start talking and then when I run out of things

[3:45] I just stop and that’s what that’s when you normally just see me kind of wander off the stage and talk to myself out in [3:51] The hallway for a little while. I just you normally just oh well. I have nothing else to say see you later [3:54] I’m not gonna try not to keep you very long today, but [3:58] Gospel faith what does real faith looks like look like and in Galatians 5 1 through 12 [4:04] We’re gonna have some pretty hard stuff to stomach [4:08] You only have to deal with this for 40 minutes on Sunday. I’ve been dealing with these scriptures all week

[4:14] So it’s been hard on me. It’s been beating me up. It’s been offending me so for the next 40 minutes [4:20] I’m going to try to offend you and [4:23] You’re not gonna like some of the things that I say and you’re gonna you’re gonna look at some of the things [4:27] I say and well, that’s not what I was taught in Sunday school [4:31] All right, well your Sunday school teacher was wrong probably if she disagreed with me okay, not with me with Paul [4:38] I don’t know anything. I mean you can disagree with me, and you’ll probably be right

[4:41] But with Paul he’s usually he’s usually pretty dead on because he had this advantage over us [4:46] It’s called the Holy Spirit inspiring him to write these scriptures [4:49] So he’s gonna talk for the next few minutes about what faith actually looks like and he’s gonna [4:54] Contrast real faith with fake faith [4:57] and he’s gonna tell you where fake faith is going to take you and it takes you down a very [5:01] Dark road in which Paul says it’s better that you do this than have fake faith and especially for the men in the crowd

[5:08] Today that thing that he says it’s better than fake. Faith is not gonna seem better for us [5:13] But in the end it is all right, so join me in Galatians chapter 5. I’m gonna start reading in verse 1

[5:22] In verse 1 it says, For freedom, Christ has set us free. [5:29] Stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. [5:35] Paul seems to say something that’s pretty redundant here, and it’s something that most [5:38] people read, and it makes us feel kind of cool, it makes us feel kind of good, it’s [5:42] like, for freedom I have been set free. [5:45] And if you really think about it, it seems pretty redundant.

[5:48] It’s like, well of course freedom sets me free, that seems to just kind of go hand [5:53] in hand. [5:53] It seems a bit redundant that Paul would just reiterate the point. [5:57] But you have to understand what Paul is actually talking about here, and there is a reason [6:01] that he said, for freedom Christ has set us free. [6:04] And in the original language that’s literally what it says, he repeats himself.

[6:09] Because notice what he says second, he says, for freedom Christ has set you free, stand [6:16] or because Jesus has set us free so that we can be free, don’t again submit to the [6:24] yoke of slavery. [6:26] Don’t again submit to not being free, is Paul’s point. [6:31] Paul’s point is, Jesus did not come and set us free from condemnation, he did not come [6:37] and set us free from the wrath of God, he did not come and set us free from death in

[6:41] the grave, so that we could then be imprisoned by something else. [6:47] He says, Jesus came and gave us freedom, and that freedom continues to be freedom forever. [6:52] It never stops being freedom. [6:55] His point there is that the gospel is not a force of imprisonment. [7:02] The gospel does not take us and then put us into prison. [7:07] The gospel takes us and it gives us absolute freedom, gives us absolute freedom.

[7:15] There’s no better word for it. [7:17] You are not imprisoned any longer, but this is completely counter to what culture understands [7:25] the gospel to be.

[7:28] Church people are thought to be the most imprisoned people in the world. [7:34] We have rules that we live by, we have standards that we live by. [7:38] Those rules and those standards, those laws, those are the things that define us. [7:43] We are the moral backbone of society, and anyone that does not walk in line with Christians, [7:49] they are the ones that are free. [7:52] And they look at us and say, well what you have doesn’t really look like freedom.

[7:56] Because what most of us have and what most of us understand the gospel to be in the year [8:01] 2010 is not freedom.

[8:06] What most of us understand the gospel to be is actually a force of imprisonment. [8:11] Because most of us have this understanding of the gospel that what the gospel does is [8:14] the gospel gives me a second chance on life. [8:18] Jesus wipes the slate clean. [8:21] And now I have the ability to be obedient to the law. [8:26] Jesus gives me the power, he gives me the moral standards, and he gives me a second

[8:32] chance to be obedient to the law of God. [8:35] That’s what a lot of people think about the gospel. [8:40] That’s not the gospel.

[8:43] The gospel is not a force of imprisonment. [8:45] The thing that culture understands the gospel to be is what Paul is actually fighting against [8:49] here in the book of Galatians. [8:51] Because here in the book of Galatians what we had was, is Paul comes in, he gives the [8:56] gospel, and then right after Paul leaves he’s discipled these people, he’s planted a church, [9:00] he said you are free from the wrath of God forever.

[9:03] This other group comes in and says, but now you’ve got the law as well. [9:10] So if you have Jesus and you disobey the law, then you lose your acceptance with God.

[9:17] And that’s the life that a lot of us actually live.

[9:22] On Monday we pray and have our quiet time and we don’t cuss all day.

[9:28] And so on Monday night when we lay our head down to sleep and we pray a little prayer, [9:32] it’s like, I think God heard that prayer because I’ve been pretty good today. [9:36] But then on Tuesday we wake up and we burn our hand on the coffee, the iron hits our [9:40] leg, we get into a fender bender on the way to work, and we think terrible thoughts about [9:45] killing our boss, and we’re just mad at the guy in the cubicle next to us, we go to the [9:49] gas station and somebody cuts in to the line at Wawa in front of us, and so we’re mad at

[9:55] them, and so when we go to bed that night, man I better not pray tonight. [10:00] God’s not going to be too happy with me.

[10:05] And this is the thing that I hear over and over from people, this is the gospel living [10:10] that many of us are familiar with. [10:12] It’s a cycle of continual guilt, where we have a law, and as long as Jesus gives us [10:20] the power to obey that law, God’s okay with us, but then one day we didn’t have that [10:26] power, we didn’t feel it, we weren’t feeling the Spirit that day, and we got a little upset, [10:32] or we did something we shouldn’t have done, and then our spiritual life is blown for weeks.

[10:38] Because God isn’t happy with us right now. [10:43] How do I know that? [10:44] Well, I had a cold. [10:46] That was the wrath of God. [10:47] I got in a car accident. [10:48] Oh God.

[10:52] That doesn’t sound like freedom because it isn’t freedom. [10:54] That is a force of imprisonment, and that is not the gospel. [10:58] What we understand the gospel being is not the gospel.

[11:03] The gospel says that our acceptance is based completely on Jesus, period.

[11:18] It’s not based on anything else. [11:20] It’s based completely on Jesus and nothing else. [11:26] Alright? [11:26] Keep reading with me. [11:28] [11:28] Verse 2.

[11:30] Look. [11:31] I like it when Paul says stuff like that, because you know he’s getting really serious. [11:35] Because he’ll be sarcastic and he’ll throw some stories in there and he’ll wow you with [11:39] his knowledge of history, and then finally when he gets to the point, he writes, look. [11:45] This is when you know he’s getting serious. [11:46] He says, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, when he says circumcision, what

[11:54] he means is, is Jesus plus the Old Testament law. [11:58] Jesus plus morality bringing you salvation. [12:00] Jesus plus your effort. [12:03] Jesus plus your moral upstanding. [12:05] Jesus plus your Judeo-Christian ethic. [12:09] Which is a really confusing string of words if you think about it.

[12:12] I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. [12:22] I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. [12:33] You are severed from Christ. [12:37] You who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace. [12:42] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. [12:50] And then finally in verse 6, he brings this paragraph to a close, and he says something

[12:56] that should change your life, and should help you grasp the Gospel. [13:00] For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but [13:10] only faith working through love.

[13:17] That again, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for [13:24] anything. [13:25] Because here’s why he’s using this parallel. [13:28] We are not Jews, we are Gentiles. [13:31] So we are considered in biblical terms uncircumcised. [13:37] That’s who the Gentiles were back in that day.

[13:39] Now medicine has made things a little different in 2010, but I need you to pretend you’re [13:44] in the first century and the doctors don’t do these things at birth.

[13:49] We’re considered the uncircumcised. [13:52] And these Galatians were uncircumcised Gentiles. [13:54] The Jews came in and said, you need to follow the Old Testament law, and as a sign for that, [14:00] you need to be circumcised. [14:02] Which doesn’t sound pleasant.

[14:06] He says, this is what you need to do if you really want acceptance from God. [14:10] And Paul looks directly in the face of that and he says, you need to understand that [14:15] in Jesus, uncircumcision or circumcision, they both count for absolutely nothing to [14:22] gain acceptance with God and to give you the life in Jesus that you want and that you [14:28] said you wanted to me. [14:30] You could also put in place of that, in Christ Jesus, neither obedience, nor love, nor love,

[14:40] nor disobedience counts for anything. [14:46] In Christ Jesus, neither quiet time or no quiet time counts for anything. [14:55] In Christ Jesus, neither praying or not praying counts for anything. [15:01] In Christ Jesus, neither cussing nor not cussing counts for anything. [15:06] And in Christ Jesus, nothing that you have ever done in your life or will ever do in [15:14] your life will count for anything where God accepting you and God having an intimate relationship

[15:22] with you ever matters. [15:24] It will not count because God’s acceptance for you is based completely on the sacrifice [15:30] of His Son and nothing else. [15:34] On the cross, Jesus Christ took the sins of your past, He took the sins of your present [15:39] and He took the sins of your future with Him. [15:44] He does not continually have to go back to the cross every time you have a dirty thought.

[15:51] He doesn’t. [15:52] He dealt with it. [15:55] It’s gone.

[15:57] You cannot be obedient enough to get acceptance from God.

[16:05] So why are you repeating this cycle of guilt throughout your whole life and because of [16:10] it you are completely worthless for the gospel.

[16:15] Why? [16:16] That’s what Paul is saying to them. [16:18] He is using that tone of voice too. [16:19] It’s very interesting.

[16:22] I actually know that because I was there. [16:24] I just got a time machine, hopped back and I’m like, Paul, what were you thinking when [16:28] you wrote that? [16:29] I was yelling.

[16:31] It was interesting. [16:33] Some of you were like, I didn’t know I was going to get yelled at today. [16:37] Look you never know what you are going to get when you come in here. [16:39] It just depends on what mood I’m in. [16:41] I didn’t have breakfast. [16:42] I’m a little hungry.

[16:44] Blood sugar is low. [16:45] It’s one of those caps of days. [16:47] You just never know. [16:49] But that’s what Paul is saying.

[16:53] Why do you go about your life as if you are as good as Jesus?

[17:04] Why do you go about your life as if something that you could do could be as good as what [17:09] Jesus did on the cross?

[17:13] Look at the flip side of that. [17:15] Think about this. [17:17] Why do you go through your life as if Jesus isn’t good enough?

[17:23] Why are you carrying guilt around from five years ago?

[17:29] Something you did, something you said, something somebody else did to you, something somebody [17:33] else said to you. [17:35] Why are you carrying that around?

[17:38] Saying that Jesus’ cross wasn’t good enough to cover that?

[17:44] That’s what Paul is dealing with here. [17:47] I said it a couple of weeks ago. [17:49] I don’t think any of you are tempted to convert to Judaism. [17:52] If you are, that’s a long conversation after the service that we need to have. [17:56] But right now, that’s not your struggle.

[17:59] The heart of what Paul is dealing with is your idolatrous heart that either says, I’m [18:10] not good enough for God.

[18:13] That’s what Paul is dealing with.

[18:17] You can’t do it. [18:19] Stop.

[18:23] You are going to run into a brick wall by these standards. [18:28] And you are going to give up on God completely. [18:31] You are going to give up on church completely. [18:33] If you are basing your life with Christ on what you do or what you have done, guess what? [18:39] You are not good enough. [18:42] None of you.

[18:44] And the rest of you, you are not bad enough.

[18:48] See, because my parents’ generation was bound up in being good enough.

[18:59] My generation and those just a few years younger than me, they are all bound up in being too [19:07] bad or being bad enough that Jesus doesn’t want them.

[19:14] And the gospel of Jesus Christ says, guess what? [19:18] Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything. [19:23] What Paul is saying here is nothing you do is in God’s mind.

[19:32] Everything that Jesus did is in God’s mind.

[19:40] Some of you, this is very offensive to you because you immediately begin to go to the [19:44] other side and say, you are giving people a license to sin.

[19:49] They can have Jesus and then go out and party hardy.

[19:58] Let’s get to the rest of the story. [20:01] So if our acceptance is based on Jesus and Jesus alone, and last week we said that the [20:07] gospel brings about life change and it is a force of revolutionary movement in our [20:13] lives that God takes us and no matter where we are, He doesn’t leave us where we are. [20:18] He moves us somewhere. [20:20] It is going to be different for everybody because your struggles are not my struggles,

[20:24] my struggles are not your struggles, what I am good at isn’t what you are good at, what [20:27] you are good at isn’t what I am good at.

[20:31] Where is He going to take us? [20:33] Let’s follow along. [20:35] Verse 7. [20:37] You were running well.

[20:40] Paul says, I saw it myself. [20:42] The gospel came into your life. [20:44] The gospel had an effect in your life. [20:46] The gospel grabbed your life and you were running along. [20:50] You were running this race for the gospel so well. [20:54] And then he says, what hindered you?

[20:59] What tripped you up? [21:02] What was it that stopped the gospel from causing you to change and causing you to [21:07] move and causing your life to be for the gospel?

[21:13] And he continues and he says, this persuasion is not from Him who calls you. [21:21] A little leaven leavens the whole bunch.

[21:28] Paul writes right here, he says, those people who stood in your path, those people who [21:34] have come, understand, they are not from God. [21:38] They are not from God.

[21:41] So here is the key. [21:42] Those people that come into your life who say, Jesus can’t be enough.

[21:51] You need to do more.

[21:53] Or you are not a real Christian. [21:55] I know what you used to be like. [21:58] Those people, Paul is saying right here, they are not from God. [22:02] If they are not from God, who are they from? [22:05] You can do that when you want to. [22:09] They are definitely not from God, they are from the south.

[22:14] The devil is sending them into your life. [22:17] That is what I am saying. [22:18] Satan and his demons would send people into your life to keep you from obeying the gospel. [22:24] How do I know this? [22:25] Because what does he say before? [22:26] He says, look, I Paul say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage.

[22:30] I testify to you again that every man who accepts circumcision, that he is obligated to keep the whole law, [22:35] you are severed from Christ. [22:39] In other words, if you think something that you do is more advantageous to your life than Jesus Christ, [22:47] or if you think that the things that you have done are too great and Jesus cannot forgive you, [22:52] then what he is saying is, you are severed from Christ, you have no part in Jesus, [22:56] and you are a child of the devil, you are damned.

[23:01] You are going to hell.

[23:05] That is what Paul says. [23:07] So people that come into your life and try to convince you something other than the gospel, [23:12] understand that if you follow them, you have no part in Jesus. [23:16] If you believe them, you have no part in Jesus.

[23:21] Jesus is the gospel. [23:23] That is it. [23:25] So what does the gospel free us towards? [23:27] Because he says, for freedom Christ has set us free. [23:32] And notice that he says, you were running well. [23:34] Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

[23:38] What is the truth? [23:39] Jesus is the truth. [23:41] The gospel is the truth. [23:43] In 1 Peter, Peter asks the same question in a certain way. [23:46] He tells us, you must obey the truth after saying, obedience does not give you the gospel. [23:53] So why do they seem to have this counterfactual thing going on,

[23:57] where we have not obedience and then we have obedience. [24:01] What is the truth? [24:03] What must we do to be saved? [24:06] Paul constantly says, faith in Jesus. [24:11] Faith in Christ. [24:14] Faith in the cross.

[24:16] So whenever you read in scripture, obedience to the truth, [24:19] understand that he is talking about the very gospel that saved you. [24:24] And what many people are trying to say right there in the church at Galatia is, [24:29] you have the gospel, now move past it and grow towards something else.

[24:36] Paul is fighting that and saying, you can’t grow past the gospel. [24:40] You can only live in the gospel. [24:43] You can only revel in the gospel. [24:46] Because the gospel frees us to live for the gospel. [24:52] It’s kind of like the idea that you have been given freedom so that you can be free. [24:56] It’s a redundant thing.

[24:58] The gospel comes and the gospel sets you free. [25:01] And then the gospel says, live in me, live for me, live to me, live through me. [25:07] Because who is the gospel? [25:10] Jesus. [25:11] He is the whole gospel. [25:13] There is nothing to add to Jesus.

[25:16] There is nothing to take away from Jesus. [25:18] He is the gospel. [25:20] Romans chapter 11 says, of him, through him, and to him, are all things in Christ Jesus. [25:28] To who be glory forever and ever. [25:30] And the thing that the gospel does is that the gospel gives us a lifestyle where we no longer have to fear that. [25:38] Because if you live a life that is outside of the gospel and you have sin that has not been dealt with by Jesus,

[25:45] then that is a scary thing because that is God. [25:48] And I remember growing up, like you would just be frightened of this judgment seat that you go and stand in front of. [25:54] And Jesus has like this projector and he is hitting these slides. [25:58] It’s every sin you have ever done in your life. [26:00] And that is a terrifying thing. [26:02] That is a terrifying thought, especially if you are as bad as I was.

[26:05] And sometimes continue to be, I ask my wife.

[26:10] It’s terrifying. [26:12] So if through the lens of the Old Testament law and a life that is condemned by morality because you are so immoral, [26:19] and trust me, you are, somebody told me, I know all your friends. [26:24] It’s terrible. [26:25] Just bad people. [26:27] I’m just kidding.

[26:27] I don’t know. [26:28] I don’t know half of you.

[26:32] Jesus is not something to be feared in the gospel. [26:36] He is to be celebrated. [26:38] He is to be enjoyed. [26:41] He is to be reveled in. [26:43] He is to get delight from. [26:46] We were created to be in an intimate relationship with God.

[26:52] We were created to enjoy God. [26:54] We were created to give glory to God and to live in His presence. [26:59] And sin is the thing that cuts that off. [27:02] But in Jesus, we are brought back in. [27:05] We are reconciled to God. [27:07] And now we live for the enjoyment of the very gospel that saves us.

[27:13] And when Jesus is leaving and the disciples are like, what now? [27:18] What are we supposed to do now? [27:20] In Acts 1-8, he says, go and be my witnesses. [27:23] Tell the world they don’t need to be afraid of God anymore. [27:27] Go tell the world that they can now enjoy God rather than fear Him. [27:34] And then in 2 Corinthians 5, Paul pens it and he says,

[27:39] we are now ambassadors for Christ. [27:42] God making His appeal through us so that people can be reconciled to God. [27:46] So what does the life of a believer look like? [27:50] It looks like a person who is madly enraptured by the gospel.

[27:58] It looks like somebody who is comfortable in the presence of God. [28:03] Hebrews chapter 4 gives us the idea that now we can run headlong into the presence of God. [28:09] He gives us this analogy of God being the King. [28:15] And in that time period you couldn’t just walk up into the King’s presence. [28:20] He could have you killed for that. [28:22] And Jesus, He gives us this way to God.

[28:30] And Paul writes that now we can just come headlong into the presence of God, guilt free.

[28:38] Not worrying about anything of our past. [28:41] Not worrying about anything of our present. [28:43] Not worrying about anything of our future. [28:45] We just enjoy God and what do we do with that? [28:49] Well we go to others and we say, guess what?

[28:54] Be reconciled to God through His Son. [28:58] And for some of you that’s not enough. [29:01] For some in the church of Galatia that wasn’t enough. [29:05] And to those people Paul said, [29:07] you are then severed from Christ and you have no part of Him. [29:11] If the gospel isn’t enough for you, then I pity you.

[29:18] I’m not going to mince for words today. [29:21] I pity you. [29:23] If you need more than Jesus, then you are to be pitied. [29:26] And I’ll tell you why in just a moment. [29:29] Let’s go forward. [29:31] He says, a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

[29:34] In other words, if you add just a little bit of error into the gospel, you’ve ruined it all. [29:39] Ruined it all.

[29:43] He says in verse 10, [29:44] I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine. [29:49] I like the way Paul says this. [29:51] He basically looks at him and he’s like, look, I’m telling you straight up, I’m right and they’re wrong. [29:57] He’s like dancing with them, he’s like, who won the debate? I’ll let you judge. [30:01] Paul doesn’t say that.

[30:02] He says, look, if you disagree with me, you’re wrong. [30:05] I hope that you don’t take any other opinion than mine because mine is the right one. [30:11] Kind of like the O’Reilly factor in that regard.

[30:16] I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine. [30:20] And the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty. [30:27] Whoever he is. [30:30] See, because some of these people that came in actually have told the church that Paul sent them. [30:33] They said, well, we represent Paul. [30:37] And God’s going to send people into your life who are like, we represent Jesus.

[30:42] But you need something more than him. [30:45] You need to follow my way. [30:47] If I stand up here ever and say, you need to follow my way, [30:53] stop coming to church here.

[30:56] You don’t need my way. [30:58] I give you zero advantage where God is concerned.

[31:03] Jesus is the way.

[31:07] Let’s keep going. [31:09] And he says that they will bear the penalty for their lies.

[31:15] And then he says, but if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, [31:19] in other words, if I’m preaching the same gospel that they’re preaching, [31:23] then why am I still being persecuted? [31:25] In that case, the offense of the cross has been removed. [31:32] Paul tells them, he says, you must live a life where the gospel is absolutely offensive. [31:39] Because if the cross ever loses its offense,

[31:43] and it becomes about us and about more than the cross of Jesus Christ, [31:48] then the gospel is of zero advantage to your life, and it’s worthless. [31:54] I’ve heard it said before, if you go to church as some sort of hobby, [31:59] or if church is a hobby to make you feel better about yourself, [32:02] and it is not about Jesus Christ, you need to get a better hobby, [32:07] because this is a lousy hobby.

[32:09] If you don’t have Jesus Christ, then you’re going to come here and you’re going to be guilty. [32:12] Why do you want to be guilty every single Sunday morning? [32:15] Read the newspaper and drink a cup of coffee. [32:18] Watch the pre-race show on speed or something. [32:20] That’s much more enjoyable than coming week in and week out and having guilt, [32:25] and never dealing with that guilt.

[32:27] Having religion, but not knowing God. [32:30] Having a Bible, but not understanding the message that is from the Bible.

[32:36] Stop wasting your time, because the cross is not offensive to you, it’s a country club.

[32:44] I’m not here to give you self-help. [32:46] I’m not here to give you a message to give you seven keys [32:48] to how to have a better marriage, so that you’ll be happier in your house next week. [32:52] That will not do anything for you. [32:55] It will make you feel good, and on Monday morning husbands and wives will smile at each other, [32:59] but by Wednesday you’ll be back at each other’s throats,

[33:02] because you don’t have any Jesus in your life.

[33:08] Paul never looks at people and says, [33:11] he says, let me give you the five keys to contentment at work.

[33:18] Paul looks at people and he says, let me tell you what my life is like. [33:22] For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain.

[33:28] In other words, if I continue to live in this world and in this life, [33:32] and he was facing death in that moment when he wrote that. [33:37] He says, for me to live is Christ. [33:39] In other words, I live to further the gospel. [33:43] That’s what drives my life. [33:45] That’s what dictates what I do, because that’s what gives me freedom.

[33:48] And if it’s what gives me freedom, then it is what I want to live for. [33:51] It is what I want to get my enjoyment out of. [33:54] It is all that I have, not because I don’t have anything else, [33:58] but rather it’s all that I want. [34:00] I don’t want anything more than the gospel, because there’s nothing greater than the gospel. [34:05] Then he says, if I die, then that’s good too.

[34:10] Because then I get to see Jesus face to face. [34:13] I get to meet my great God and King and lay in front of him in worship.

[34:20] And I think sometimes we read that verse in a tough time, [34:25] and we see that Paul relates to us in our hardships. [34:28] But I don’t think that we ever read verses like that and say that defines my life. [34:34] That’s what my life looks like. [34:37] Maybe you do. Maybe you’re further in the gospel than I am. [34:42] But when we see those verses, I think it’s a mentality that we can’t grasp.

[34:47] Paul had this amazing faith. He had this amazing freedom.

[34:54] And he says, that freedom is so that I can be completely free.

[35:00] This is a man who had murdered Jesus followers. [35:04] This is a man that had lived a life of religion. [35:08] This is a man who called himself at the end of his life, [35:11] not when he just started following Jesus, at the end of his life he says, [35:14] I’m the chief of sinners.

[35:17] He said, if you’ve sinned, I’ve sinned greater. [35:20] But then he also says, out of the same mouth, he says, [35:23] if you’ve been religious, I’ve been more religious. [35:26] And then he writes these beautiful words that are so counter-cultural to us. [35:32] And he says, my obedience never gained me one thing. [35:36] And my disobedience doesn’t make me lose anything.

[35:39] Because in Jesus, I have absolutely everything.

[35:45] What kind of life are you living? [35:48] What kind of journey are you taking?

[35:53] That is the question that you have to ask yourself. [35:57] Here’s where it really gets interesting. [35:58] You’re like, well, that’s been some good stuff so far. [36:01] And here’s where it’s going to be not so good for you, [36:03] and it’s going to be kind of uncomfortable for me. [36:04] But I’m going to talk about it anyway.

[36:06] Verse 12. [36:08] Paul’s now talking about those people that he says, [36:10] they’re going to bear the penalty for what they’ve said. [36:14] It says in verse 12, [36:14] I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves.

[36:24] If you’re a man in here, that sounds like a very uncomfortable reality. [36:29] Sounds like a pretty harsh punishment.

[36:33] But Paul says straight up, he says, [36:35] if anyone brings to you something other than the gospel that I brought to you, [36:40] which is the gospel that freed me, [36:41] I pray, number one, that they would go straight to hell. [36:46] He says that. [36:47] When he says they’ll bear the penalty for what they’re preaching.

[36:49] And then he says, number two, [36:51] I wish someone would grab a hold of them, take a knife, and cut it right off.

[36:58] That’s what Paul says. [36:59] This is the inerrant word of God.

[37:02] I’m not making this up. [37:04] Paul says, I wish you’d take them and you’d castrate them. [37:07] Because that way, then, number one, can’t reproduce and have another generation more wicked than they are. [37:14] And number two, it’s better that they go into the afterlife without genitalia [37:19] than to go into the afterlife without Jesus. [37:24] That’s the mentality that Paul is driving home right here.

[37:27] He’s saying, if you are living for anything other than the gospel, [37:33] then you do not have a life that is worth living. [37:38] You have nothing in a society that is consumed with lust and sex. [37:44] Paul says, if you’re living without the gospel, [37:46] it’s better to cut it right off and never have sex again than to not have the gospel.

[37:56] And yet, we want to look at the gospel, [37:59] and we want to take those little things out that we enjoy, [38:02] and we don’t want to take those things out that cause discomfort in our lives [38:06] and would cause us to change something in our lives, [38:08] and would cause us to have one different aspect to our lives [38:12] that might make us sacrifice just a teeny tiny bit of this thing that we call the American dream.

[38:19] And Paul’s saying, if you don’t have the gospel, [38:21] you might as well not have any reproductive glands, organs, whatever you call them.

[38:27] Sounds a lot like Matthew 18, where Jesus says [38:30] that if you have a hand and that hand causes you to sin, [38:35] it’s better to cut that hand off. [38:38] If you have an eye and that eye causes you to sin, it’s better to cut that eye out. [38:41] If you have a foot and that foot causes you to sin, it’s better to cut that foot off, [38:45] because it is better to enter into the afterlife,

[38:48] lame and blind, than to go before God with all the guilt of sin that you have.

[38:56] So what are we saying here? Is this corporal punishment?

[39:01] No. Paul’s saying, just believe the gospel. [39:06] He’s saying the gospel is the greatest truth possible. [39:11] He’s saying that anything in your life [39:15] that hinders the gospel must be expelled.

[39:20] Anything.

[39:23] If it’s religion, get rid of it. [39:26] If it’s sin, be done with it. [39:30] If it’s guilt, Jesus took it.

[39:35] Live for the gospel.

[39:40] Stop living a life that is less than. [39:45] Paul is presenting this and saying it is the greatest truth possible. [39:50] It is the greatest miracle that has ever happened in the world. [39:56] It’s the greatest reality that you could ever be a part of. [39:59] Not just so that you can have forgiveness of sins and then walk through life doing whatever you want, [40:04] but so that you can be forgiven, so that you can be changed,

[40:07] and then you walk through life completely unhindered by anything.

[40:12] And you can obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you can have life to its fullest. [40:17] You can have the greatest treasure ever. [40:20] And we are content to go to work five days a week, play golf on the weekends, [40:25] go to church on Sundays, and try to throw a Hail Mary up to God and say, [40:30] this is my service to you. [40:31] That’s not the gospel life.

[40:37] Why are we trying to play games with God?

[40:42] Why are we trying to convince God that we know more about life than he does? [40:47] Well, you don’t know my situation. You don’t know my circumstances. [40:51] You’re right. I don’t. And I don’t need to. [40:53] You don’t know my life and my circumstances. [40:56] God knows your life. God knows your circumstances. [40:59] And God gave you the gospel. And God says live for the gospel.

[41:07] Nothing can be more important than the gospel. [41:11] Nothing.

[41:15] The gospel has the power to reconcile us to God. [41:18] The gospel has the power to forgive sin. [41:20] The gospel has the power to heal broken relationships. [41:23] The gospel has the power for life to be lived as it was designed. [41:28] The gospel has the power to turn death into life. [41:31] Yet so many of us try to convince ourselves and others that life can and should be lived with something else more important.

[41:40] I want you to think about it this way. [41:42] If I looked into your life and I found what was really most important and what really mattered, [41:46] and I said Jesus is more important than blank. [41:50] Jesus is more important than this. [41:52] Jesus is more important than that. [41:54] You should be living for Jesus instead of this thing that you are living for.

[41:59] I go as far as to say to me, I have a almost three month old son. [42:03] He’s the most precious thing to me. [42:05] And the gospel is more important than my son.

[42:14] And if I raise him and say, Liam, you’re more important than Jesus. [42:19] You’re more important than Jesus. [42:21] You’re more important than the gospel. [42:23] I am damning my son.

[42:32] I’m to raise him so that he looks at my life and says the most important thing to daddy is Jesus.

[42:45] What’s the most important thing in your life?

[42:51] Because Paul says, if there’s anything in your life that’s more important than the gospel,

[42:59] verse 12,

[43:05] I pray that you will emasculate yourself.

[43:11] If you’re like, but that’s offensive. [43:14] That’s not going to be a popular message. [43:16] Then good, verse 11 is true. [43:18] The cross has not lost its offensiveness.

[43:25] You’re like, well that offends me. [43:27] That means I need to change things in my life. [43:29] Yeah, it offends the hell out of me too.

[43:37] Don’t play games with God. [43:39] Don’t rewrite the gospel.

[43:44] Nothing is more important than the gospel. [43:46] God wants to give you life. [43:49] He gives it to you through His own death. [43:53] This isn’t a game. [43:54] Life isn’t a game. [43:56] Yet you are so self-centered, and I am so self-centered,

[44:00] that most days we want to pretend that life is all about us.

[44:08] Live for the gospel. [44:11] Because some of you aren’t, [44:14] and some of you need to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ [44:20] because you never have before.

[44:28] This is tough.

[44:31] That’s why going through books of the Bible is so hard sometimes.

[44:36] Because then you can’t skip over those passages. [44:38] Some of you have probably been in church for 20, 30 years [44:41] and you’ve never even read that passage.

[44:46] But I can’t avoid it. [44:48] Because that’s the gospel. [44:49] And the gospel looks right into our lives and says, [44:53] not you must change your life. [44:56] Don’t hear that this morning. [44:58] The gospel says Jesus wants to save you and He wants to change your life.

[45:03] He wants to transform your life. [45:05] He wants to turn death into life.

[45:10] If you live for anything other than the gospel, [45:12] your life is nothing but a 70 year celebration and parade of death [45:20] before everyone else, and in the end, you get hell.

[45:27] That’s it, in a nutshell. [45:30] That’s what you get. [45:31] And if you proclaim the name of Jesus and live for anything other than the gospel, [45:36] how dare you? [45:38] How dare you? [45:41] You’re being very blasphemous.

[45:43] You need to repent. [45:45] Because this is about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[45:49] He loves you so much, He wants you to live life the way it was designed to be lived.

[45:55] And right now,

[45:58] we’re going to celebrate.

[46:01] And some of you might be saying, [46:03] well I don’t really feel like celebrating. [46:04] You just yelled at me. [46:07] Understand this though. [46:08] Understand this.

[46:12] I did yell at you. [46:13] I admit. I confess. [46:15] But here’s the big key.

[46:18] If anything I said today stirred something inside of you. [46:22] If anything Paul wrote in Galatians 5, 1-12, or anything in the book of Galatians so far [46:27] has stirred anything inside of you and has said, [46:30] I need to look at my life and change something. [46:33] Understand, carrying around guilt when you leave here is not going to change one thing.

[46:40] Jesus dealt with that guilt on the cross. [46:43] Accept it. [46:46] You are forgiven if you’re in Christ. [46:49] And what we’re going to do now is celebrate the death of Christ. [46:52] And that’s what’s so amazing about the gospel is that Christians celebrate death. [46:59] Everyone else just mourns.

[47:01] And Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10, [47:04] he says, [47:05] Proclaim the Lord’s death. Celebrate it through the body and blood of Christ. [47:10] And as a church our response to the gospel is communion.

[47:18] One thing you’ve got to know if this is your first time here or if you’ve been here for a long time. [47:22] If anything is stirred inside of you during the music or during the preaching, [47:27] understand there are people here that want to pray with you. [47:29] If you’re not quite grasping something and you’re like, I’m confused. [47:32] I want to talk to you. I want to pray with you. [47:37] If you’re saying, I don’t know the gospel. I thought I did.

[47:40] But now I don’t think that I do. [47:41] I want to pray with you. I want to talk to you. [47:44] And today could be the day that you take communion for the first time as a real follower of Jesus. [47:50] The question is, do you have fake faith like Sarah had? [47:54] Or do you have real faith like Paul had? [47:57] Can you really look at your life and say to live as Christ, to die as gain?

[48:02] Because you feel freedom in God. [48:06] Not do you feel guilty for your sins.

[48:11] Are you free to pray to God?

[48:16] Or does every time you pray you feel like there’s a roadblock?

[48:22] Are you free to love people? [48:26] Or do you feel like there’s a roadblock every time you try?

[48:31] Are you free to live for the gospel? [48:36] Or are you carrying around condemnation in sin?

[48:42] I can’t answer that. [48:45] Only you can.

[48:48] The real answer here today is you can be free. [48:51] And in Jesus, we are free. [48:55] Free to love. [48:57] Free to laugh. [48:58] Free to cry. [49:00] But most importantly, we’re free to live.

[49:04] Life the way it was meant to be lived. [49:06] And I want you to have that.

[49:10] For the next few moments, I want you to reflect on just your life.

[49:15] And then I want you to come up, as long as you’re a follower of Jesus. [49:19] Proclaim his death. [49:20] Witness to the world through communion. [49:23] And then we’ll leave here and we’ll scatter and we’ll be missionaries in culture. [49:28] Let’s pray. [49:30] Father,

[49:36] Help us to live a gospel-centered life.

[49:42] A life that is not dictated by our sins or our guilt.

[49:48] A life that is not led by lies and hate. [49:53] But rather, is led by the gospel of your very son, Jesus Christ.

[50:00] Whom you killed,

[50:03] to give us life.

[50:07] Amen.