Enough is Enough
Notes
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Introduction
Introduction
Enough is enough, we have all been there.
Ill. Kickball in the house.
It happens to everyone. There were times that the Apostle Paul had had enough too.
Turn in your Bible to the book of want you to hear the language of Paul. Hear how upset he is.
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6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
5. What was Paul so upset about?
Paul had enough of people saying that Faith was not enough for salvation.
In other words, some people were convincing the new believers in Galatia that there were specific actions that they needed to perform to be a real Christian.
On his first missionary journey, Paul had preached to them the Gospel that was given him directly by a direct revelation of Jesus Christ. Someone had come behind him and preached a perverted Gospel that said faith was not enough.
Read the text:
Read the text:
There we a segment of the early church that believed that to be Christian you must be a Jew or become one through circumcision and the only to be a good Christian was by being obedient to the Jewish regulations and rituals. Paul writes in this letter how he even stood up to Peter regarding this issue. Peter had come to Antioch where Paul was probably to hear all about Paul’s first missionary journey to Southern Galatia. While he was there he ate with Gentiles. He was no longer bound by the Jewish dietary laws which would not allow this. Let’s read what happened next!
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
16 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.
17 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!
18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 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.
21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Galatians 2:11-
To get an idea of how Paul probably felt, I want us to go back in time.
Illustration of Mocking Jesus:
There you are approaching the hill of Golgotha. Atop the hill, along the road way stand three crosses with men on them writhing. Your stomach turns, the stench of body odor, metallic smell of dried blood. You see a crown of thorns on the man in the middle—you know that is Jesus. There is a sign above his head you cannot read. You recognize some Greek and Latin letters and recall from the Bible that the sign reads King of the Jews. Your eyes can barely take it all in, the suffering and humiliation He is enduring is too much. Yet, like the others gathering around, you can't stop looking. You follow the blood dripping from his brow down his face. The swelling and the bruising reminds you of what you read about that dreadful night when he was arrested. He was betrayed by Judas, one of his followers, and was led off to a secret gathering of religious leaders. There they asked him if he was the messiah. Jesus told them "I am." But instead of accepting this they looked at Jesus who was not the kingly messiah they expected and said in their hearts, "you are not enough. They punched him in the face, slapped him, ripped out his beard! You see torn flesh, tears along his rib cage where sharp stones at the end of whip tassels swung across his body, Roman guards yanking back. Suddenly, Jesus jerks his body upwards, putting all his weight on the huge spike driven through his two feet into the wood of the cross. The feet worn from traveling dusty roads of Palestine, Jesus serving, teaching, healing. Those feet, just hours ago struggling to walk the road out of Jerusalem, Jesus trying to carry his cross to the hill. Now, his body collapsing against the cross, taking the weight off the bones of his feet, the movement yanks his outstretched. The hands that touched the leper and made him whole. The hands that multiplied sardines and bread to feed 5000 people. The hands that held a small child as he said let the children come to me. Those hands. Now pierced with spikes. You recall reading how when the Roman executioners were nailing those hands to the cross, Jesus called out breathlessly, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." It is only mid-morning but you notice the sky is getting dark, winds are picking up. You notice some men, religious leaders by their fancy garb yelling at him “to save himself and come down off the cross.” Mocking him. The thieves are mocking him too. You remember reading how one of them eventually realizes who Jesus is and asks him for salvation. Never forget, Jesus gave it.
Now there you are and there is Jesus. How would you feel if in that moment someone in your group broke from the crowd, went up to Jesus hanging on the cross and said, "Hey Jesus...what you are doing here is great. But it is not enough! You are wasting your time! You are doing this for no purpose."
Do you feel the shock? You may even be mad at me for mentioning it like that in such a way. Its just completely awful. It is unfathomable! That is why Paul is so angry and so forceful in this letter.
Wouldn’t use also use words like bewitched, perplexed, cursed, and emasculate themselves!
He saw any attempt to add anything at all to Christ’s work for Salvation (or any attempt to leave Christ's work out of living the Christian life) is essentially saying that Christ died for no purpose! What He did was not enough!
Paul wrote this under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so the message is from God to Us! We need to heed His Word.
CIT: Paul wanted his readers to stop distorting the Gospel by adding specific human requirements to the process of salvation, but instead trust that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ.
Christians should stop trying to earn salvation and favor with God, but instead trust Jesus for salvation.
Christ Plus NOTHING = EVERYTHING!
Christ plus ABSOLUTELY NOTHING = Infinitely more than everything!
6. People are doing the same thing today. We need to hear this word today. If we are not careful, we do this too.
7. Who needs to hear this message?
If you are wondering how much does it take to please God and get into heaven, this message is for you.
If you are confused and think that all there is to being a Christian is going to church, carrying a bible, wearing a cross necklace and WWJD bracelet and have a fish bumper sticker, then this word is for you.
If you are wondering what is required for salvation and for living the Christian life, this message is for you.
If you are wanting God’s power in your life but just don’t feel it, this message is for you.
If you think you got it all together and you have got all your bases covered and you and God are doing just fine, this message is for you too.
Transition Sentence:
Transition Sentence:
So how do we keep from making this mistake. How can we be certain we are not adding anything to the Gospel of Christ.
So how do we keep from making this mistake. How can we be certain we are not adding anything to the Gospel of Christ.
Keeping it SIMPLE: The shorted Sermon Outline: DIE. LIVE!
Keeping it SIMPLE: The shorted Sermon Outline: DIE. LIVE!
I. Die.
I. Die.
a. Self. This is our key text.
When we are saved we identify with the crucifixion of Christ. When we come to the end of our selves, and recognize that Jesus is God and by implication our Lord and Savior; When we have faith that his work on the cross is the only thing that can remove our sin put us into a right relationship with God and His resurrection makes the way to live forever with Him; When we get to this place and call on Jesus to Save us, HE WILL!
When he does, your old self dies! Christ kills it.
In that moment, we identify with Christ in His crucifixion. We do not literally get crucified nor is there some mystic re-crucifixion of Christ. It is an identification as our old lives are killed so they can be made new.
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 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.
19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
b. Law.
When we are saved, we die to the Law so that we can live for God.
Paul had come to realize the truth about the law. It can not lead to eternal life, it only leads to death.
Ill: Prison and prison guard
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
Ill: The law does not reward. Police have never given me an award for keeping the law.
Ill. Operation (We still want the steady hand and to remove the adams apple, but on our own the buzzer goes off. If ever I was able to take it out without touching the sides, he never once said thanks!
19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 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.
c. Flesh.
When Jesus saves us, there is victory given over the flesh. We will talk more about that in a moment. But Paul had come to realize that no matter how hard he tried, he gave into his desires more than he wanted, even when he knew better. His desires had dominion over him. he was a slave to his flesh. Without Christ, we all are. When Christ saves us, He gives us the power to Crucify the flesh so we have victory.
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
d. World.
Before Paul was saved he was climbing the corporate ladder. He was at the top of his game. He was a Pharisee of Pharisee’s. But he found out the ladder he was climbing was leaning against the wrong wall. The world makes lots of promises. The world can provide some temporary happiness and fun. But in the end, its vanity. The world always leaves us empty and cold. Only Christ can fulfill our lives and give us true joy. When we are saved, we are set apart from the world and made citizens of heaven. We are no longer to be swayed by the empty promises of the culture.
14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
So
Transition sentence:
Transition sentence:
So the first step in making sure we do not add anything to Christ is to die. The next step is to live!
So the first step in making sure we do not add anything to Christ is to die. The next step is to live!
II. Live!
II. Live!
What does a person do when God brings him to a place when he realizes that being a good person, obeying the law is not enough? When a person realizes that there is no satisfying our desires and pride? When a person realizes that the world is full of empty promises. None of these things can provide lasting joy and eternal life. They leave us cold, empty and longing for more.
What does a person do? They must turn to Christ, the only one who can satisfy. He alone is enough.
a. . Dying to the Law, Living for God.
Read
16 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.
b. Describe Justification
Declared righteous
Imputed righteousness
c. Sanctification
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 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.
Galatians
When we are saved, Jesus steadies our hand and he takes the batteries out of the game. Oh death where is your sting?