The Gospel Effect

Good morning Church Family I am glad to be back with you!!!

Off last week, Brad brought the Word

Intro:

Trout Fishing, Missouri

Caught some big rainbow trout

People often ask me what kind of bait we use to catch trout…

Power Bait (Illustrate)

You try all these different colors of bait…to see what the fish like…

Often times…

Change the Color, Changes the Outcome

Day 1-2 that color was yellow…

Day 3 rain…fish weren't biting…Change location…

Still no luck...

GUY WALKS BY ME WITH A FULL STRINGER OF FISH AND SAYS…“Orange is hitting!”

I reel that line in so fast…pulled off that yellow power bait…

Reached in the vest cracked the seal on the orange and caught my first fish of the day 2 casts later…

Coming to a revelation of what color to put on the end of your hook

Can change the entire outcome of your day of fishing

Cause and effect…

Life is like that to…

Every decision we make has a cause and an effect…

WHAT WE ARE GOING TO SEE TODAY AS WE CONTINUE ON IN OUR WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF GALATIANS…

The cause and effect that the ONE TRUE GOSPEL HAS ON OUR LIVES…

BIBLES OUT GALATIANS 2:15-21.

DON’T HAVE A BIBLE???

Last Week: We saw Peter not living out the Gospel the way he is supposed to

Not eating with Gentiles in front of the other Jews out of fear of the “high ranking Jews” in town…

Going back to the ways of the law…

And Paul calls him out on this…

Today we continue on in this conversation that Paul is having with Peter…

READ WITH ME verses 15-19

What we are seeing here is the CAUSE…

The Cause: Justified by faith alone (v. 15-19)

v 15- full blooded Jews thought they were Justified because they were Jews by blood

Gentiles were seen as sinners because they didn't have the law

Paul says YET WE KNOW THAT A PERSON IS NOT JUSTIFIED BY THE LAW!

Peter knows that faith alone in Jesus justifies you…

He has even confirmed it at the Jerusalem Council…we saw that 2 weeks ago in the beginning of Chapter 2…

Not by works of law, and not just because you are a Jew by blood

No man can be justified by works of the law

Paul is reminding Peter…You are justified NOT by the law…BUT BY FAITH ALONE!!!

Peter knows this truth but has been tempted to go back to abiding in what the law says about eating with gentiles…

THIS IS A HARD CONVO THAT PAUL IS HAVING WITH PETER…

HE IS SAYING REMEMBER THE ONE TRUE GOSPEL…REMEMBER YOU ARE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH ALONE!!!

Paul is including this in this letter to the churches in Galatia for a reason…

He is reminding them of HOW THEY BECAME JUSTIFIED…

Lets dive into this word “Justified”

What does it mean to be Justified…

Old Noah Websters (1828) definition of Justified is :

To prove or show to be just, or conformable to law, right, justice; to defend or maintain; to vindicate as right…to pardon and clear from guilt; to absolve or acquit from guilt and merited punishment…

We are all sinners right??? AMEN?

And we will all stand before God one day…

And the bible tells us that Because we are sinners, God who is Just has to give us our just sentence…

The punishment for sin is eternal death…

SO WE NEED TO BE JUSTIFIED…JUSTIFIED TO GOD…

BUT HOW???

For thousands of years the Jews tried to be justified through the law but have failed over and over again…

EVEN PETER HIMSELF SAYS ITS NOT POSSIBLE WE CANT DO IT!!!

THAT IS WHAT THE ENTIRE OLD TESTAMENT IS ABOUT!!

GODS PEOPLE FAILING OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND DESPRETLY NEEDING A SAVIOR!!

So Jesus came, God in flesh came down to take our punishment and made us just…

He justified us to God…

Jesus vindicated us…cleared us from guilt… made us right with God

AND ALL YOU HAVE TO DO TO ACCESS THIS…IS BELIEVE THAT CHRIST DIED FOR YOUR SINS AND JUSTIFIED YOU…MADE YOU RIGHTEOUS…

BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL AND PLACE YOUR FAITH IN IT!!!

PLACE YOUR FAITH IN THE GOSPEL OF JESUS PERIOD!

Romans 5:1–2 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

We as Christians, placed our faith in the fact that we are Justified by faith alone!!!

This means that we are completely relying on what Jesus did on the cross to fully justify us from our sins…

THAT IS WHAT FAITH IN CHRIST IS!!

(PAUSE)

AGAIN…PAUL IS HAMMERING THIS HOME TO US…TO THE CHRISTIANS IN GALATIA…TO THE APOSTLE PETER…

IF PETER…A MAN WHO WALKED WITH GOD IN THE FLESH NEEDS THIS HAMMERED INTO HIS HEART AGAIN AND AGAIN THEN SO DO WE CHURCH!!!

BUT WHY?…how does this truth effect our lives????

What effect does this have on us as Christ followers???

READ verse 20-21

The Effect: live by faith alone (v.20-21)

The gospel changes the way we live our lives

We have died with Christ…And been raised to new life by and with Him!!!

Paul says “its no longer I who live”

The old Paul…the persecutor of Christ is DEAD!!!

Now its Christ who lives in me!!!

Pauls saying my life is no longer mine…It was bought and paid for…It belongs to Jesus!!!

All my good works…Not mine but that of Jesus through the Holy Spirit…

And the effect this has is what Paul says at the end of verse 20…

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.

WHAT DOES HE MEAN LIVE BY FAITH…

WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE?

People who are living by faith look differently…

People whose faith flourishes…

(I remember before i was saved…being amazed at how well Christians handled hardship)

Christians living by faith react differently…

Especially to hardship…

You ever hear about people who…

-Get in an accident and lose a limb or get paralyzed from the waist down…

-Or lose a loved one…a husband/wife, parent or child

-Get a cancer diagnosis…

AND THEIR RESPONSE IS TO START WORSHIPPING JESUS?!?!?

Before I came to Christ this always used to blow my mind!!!

HOW IN THE WORLD ARE YOU in the midst of all this hardship are able to praise Jesus in a moment like this!!!???

ITS BECAUSE THEY ARE LIVING BY FAITH!!!!

This is the effect the Gospel has on the Christ follower…

When we put our faith in Christ alone and know that we are Justified by that faith…

We were bought and paid for…

THE BIGGEST WORRY IN OUR LIFE WAS HANDLED 2,000 years ago on a Cross and in an empty tomb…

BECAUSE OF THAT TRUTH….

WE WORSHIP NO MATTER WHAT WE ARE GOING THROUGH!!!

Romans 5:3–5 “Not only that (not only do we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.) but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

PAUL is reminding Peter…

He is reminding the people who are being led astray by the Judaizers in the Galatian Church

HE IS REMINDING US!!!!

Through the following of the Law we were dead…

But through faith in Jesus we are made ALIVE…

NOW WE LIVE BY THAT FAITH…

WE ARE JUSTIFIED!!!

And that Justification changes the way we live…

BIG IDEAD: The one true Gospel motivates us to live everyday by faith in Jesus

So if you are in here today…and you are in the midst of a hardship…

A bad diagnosis…

The loss of a job…

Maybe a hardship in your marriage…

Remember who you belong to…

REMEMBER THE CROSS AND THE TOMB ARE EMPTY!!!

REMEMBER JESUS HAS DEFEATED SIN AND DEATH!!!

REMEMBER YOU ARE JUSTIFIED… YOU WHO PLACE THEIR FAITH IN HIM!!!

AND REMEMBER… WE ARE TO LIVE EVERYDAY IN THAT TRUTH…

REMEMBER…REJOICE FOR YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED BY THE LOVE OF JESUS!!!

LETS PRAY!!!