Jesus is All You Need
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Good morning church fam! We are continuing our series through the book of Galatians. We have been looking at this letter that was written by Paul to the Christians in Galatia.
This whole letter is addressing those who were coming into the city and adding to the Gospel that Paul preached. They were telling people in short, “Hey that’s great you follow Jesus, but it’s not enough. You also need to follow these 600 some laws.”
Anytime you add something to the Gospel, you are preaching another Gospel.
Paul wanting these new believers in Galatia to live in the freedom of Christ, writes this letter explaining to them to return to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. The one and only Gospel that frees you from guilt, shame, and condemnation.
In 2001 Muhammad Ali did an interview with Reader’s Digest. When it came to religion they asked him about his religion being a Muslim.
“Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams. They have different names, but all contain water. Religions have different names, but all contain truth.” - Muhammad Ali
This is true. All religions contain some truth. Almost all the world renown religions have a Moses, David, Abraham, Jesus, ect.
But there is only one TRUE Gospel. He continues in this interview and answering a question about what his faith means to him, he said:
“[It] means [a] ticket to heaven. One day, we’re all going to die and God’s going to judge us [our] good and bad deeds. [If the] bad outweighs the good, you go to hell. If the good outweighs the bad, you go to heaven. I’m thinking about the judgment day and how you treat people wherever you go. Help somebody through charity, because when you do, it’s been recorded. I go to parties, [see] good-looking girls. [I] take a box of matches with me. [I] see a girl I want to flirt with, which is a sin, so I light my matches, [touches his finger]—oooh, hell hurts worse than this. Buy a box of matches and carry them with you. Put [one] on your finger and just see how long you can hold it. Just imagine that’s going to be hell. Hell’s hotter, and for eternity.”
What he believed and most religions believe is that you earn your way into heaven. This is NOT the TRUE Gospel of Jesus. There is no freedom living life while walking on egg shells hoping that one day when you stand before God, you will have done enough “good works” in order to be allowed in.
This type of gospel is not the biblical gospel.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
As a parent, my kids do not earn my affection. They automatically receive it because they are my kids. No matter what they do I will always love them.
God is the same way. What kind of Father would God be if He required his kids to perform in order to earn His love and affection?
This is what Paul was speaking out against. He continues to speak the truth of the Gospel in chapter 3.
A Correction
A Correction
Paul gives stern, but necessary correction to the Galatians.
Correction is a good thing. As long as it is done in love and truth. Love and truth together has to be the foundation of all correction.
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
Only a foolish person believes they need to earn salvation. Only a foolish person believes they need to earn the love of God.
It was by grace they were saved and by their faith in who Jesus was and is…is what set them free from sin. Nothing else.
Paul is course correcting these believers back on to the right path.
Notice he is not concerned if they are following the Law or not. What is he concerned about?
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
He brings it back to faith. Not works. Did you receive salvation, the Spirit of God living in you, by what you did or is it by faith you recieved?
In our culture today, nobody likes to be corrected. Everybody wants to be right. Some how this has filtered into the Western Culture of the church.
If Paul were to write a letter to you today and call you foolish for living under the Law, how would you respond?
Get mad
Offended
Probably unfriend him from all social media
There are many reasons why nobody wants to be corrected.
Pride/Ego
Fear of judgement
Lack of proper communication in the correction
Fear of change
Biblical correction, in truth and love, is a means for spiritual growth.
1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.
5 Better is open rebuke Than love that is concealed.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Paul loved these people so much that he didn’t care what the religious people of his day thought of him.
People Pleasers
People Pleasers
If we are not careful church, we can become people pleasing Christians. The reason so many of these Galatians started following this false gospel of Jesus is not enough, they wanted to please those in authority…the Judaizers.
The Jewish believers were trying to get the new Gentile converts to adopt their belief system of following the Law. Mostly circumcision. Great church growth strategy!
Paul even said in a “nice way”:
12 I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves.
Here is a freeing piece of truth.
Jesus is not as concerned about what is on the outside as he is on the inside.
I grew up in a church environment where how you looked on the outside was more important. There was more emphasis on the outward appearance.
As long as you looked the part, you were good. I have shared with you before how I went to a church conference as a youth pastor that was put on by a HUGE local church where we started in the ministry.
I wore baggy pants, skate shoes, chain wallet, had all my piercings. No one spoke a word to me (not even a hi) until I was leaving for the day when I was approached by two young ladies who then proceeded to ask me about my salvation.
I didn’t look the part.
God is not looking for those who “look the part”. He has seen that already.
Speaking about the religious leaders, he said:
5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.
Just because someone looks the part on the outside, doesn’t mean they are right with God on the inside.
An apple may look delicious on the outside while being rotten to the core on the inside.
God is more concerned where your heart is at than the Law you keep. God does not see as man sees, God looks at the heart and not the outward appearances.
I have learned long ago that people pleasing is not spiritually healthy. In fact it will stunt your spiritual growth.
Before we moved to California six years ago, I had several people tell me not to move. Told me I would hate it here. I would be depressed. I would miss home.
But here I am six years later enjoying life, enjoying my family, enjoying my church, and living out what God has called me to do!
People pleasing is nothing more than a pride issue.
People-pleasing can be prideful because it often centers around managing others' perceptions, seeking validation, avoiding conflict for personal comfort, and compromising authenticity.
By focusing on external approval, people-pleasers may prioritize their self-image over integrity and truth, reflecting a form of pride.
True humility involves seeking to please God above all and being authentic in relationships, even if it means facing criticism or conflict.
God is very clear on this subject.
25 The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.
I like how The Message translation puts it:
25 The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that.
When we live a life of pleasing those around us it disables us from walking in the freedom that Christ died for.
I had a lady once in our church, not here, but back East who told me she lives to please her kids. This disabled her spiritual growth and she comprised the truth of God’s Word in order to keep her family happy.
It bears repeating the words of Paul:
10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
When you think about it, Paul was asking the Galatians where do they get their identity from.
Do they get their identity because they follow a bunch of rules? Or do they get it from the Father?
Identity
Identity
5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.
8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.”
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”
11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.”
17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
This has identity written all over it. What is Paul saying?
Paul is saying that Abraham was made a promise by God that He was made righteous not for what he did. The Law was written 430 years after Abraham.
He was made righteous for his faith in what God said…Abraham was made righteous for his belief in the Word of God.
Flip back over to the New Testament and Paul says this:
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
When you believe in Jesus (the Word) you are given a new identity.
God spoke this very clearly to me this week:
I (God) have been trying to speak identity in you for a long time.
But you are still receiving your identity by what you do, are doing, or have done. You are trying to find your identity by following the Law.
The problem is you are cursed if you try and follow the Law. We just read it.
10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”
Curses bring death. Curses bring bondage. There is no life in being cursed.
What is this curse? This curse that Paul is speaking of is guilt, shame, and condemnation. Judgment.
Go to Luke 22. I want to show you something.
Right before Jesus was arrested to be crucified, something wonderful happened. Someone’s ear got chopped off.
How is that wonderful you might ask?
50 And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.
John 18 reveals to us that this was Peter who cut Malchus ear off. Later on we find Peter denying Christ to one of Malchus relatives.
You ever wonder why Jesus put Malchus ear back on?
Why did Jesus respond so quickly?
Harming the slave or servant of the high priest was considered a capital crime. Peter would have been sentenced to death for assaulting one of the high priests slaves. They were protected.
Had this gone to the council, Peter would have stood before them a condemned man ready for death.
By taking the ear and putting it back on, Jesus took away all evidence of the crime done to Malchus so there would be no evidence if it were to go to trial.
If there is no evidence. There is no case. If there is no case there is no sentencing. If there is no sentencing there is no death. If there is no death then there is life. There is Freedom. And Peter does not have to take on the identity of a felon.
What a picture of what happens to us when we put our faith in Jesus. When we believe and confess Jesus, His blood that was spilled over 2000 years ago cleanses us, it wipes away ALL evidence that we ever sinned against God!
You no longer have the identity:
sinner
condemned
unrighteous
unholy
enemy
But you have a new identity!
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
New Creation
Child of God
Justified and made righteous
Redeemed
Forgiven
Holy and Blameless
Citizen of Heaven
God’s workmanship
Friend of God
Ambassador for Jesus
Joint Heirs with Christ
More than conquerors
Chosen
and most of all SEALED with the Holy Spirit! Your identity and salvation isn’t dependent on what you do, it is dependent on who you know!
Jesus is all you need!
Closing
Closing
