1 00:00:06,450 --> 00:00:08,440 Yeah. So we're we're in our series 2 00:00:08,450 --> 00:00:10,440 finishing up today bearing fruit. 3 00:00:10,450 --> 00:00:12,340 We'll talk about that again at the end. 4 00:00:12,410 --> 00:00:15,030 You ever seen one of these? This is this is a boilerplate 5 00:00:15,970 --> 00:00:19,440 and these boilerplates were put on boilers obviously, but they 6 00:00:19,450 --> 00:00:22,140 had had the writing on them in the same thing was stamped on 7 00:00:22,150 --> 00:00:23,940 every boiler. You know, they make these plates 8 00:00:23,950 --> 00:00:27,700 up and and stick them on every boiler that that went out. 9 00:00:27,890 --> 00:00:31,440 Have you ever received a boilerplate response to A to a 10 00:00:31,450 --> 00:00:33,060 letter or e-mail that you've written? 11 00:00:33,170 --> 00:00:36,060 You know, you send an e-mail, you sent a letter and they've 12 00:00:36,110 --> 00:00:38,900 replied to you and you thought this is not personal at all. 13 00:00:38,910 --> 00:00:41,590 This is just the same thing they send out to everybody, right? 14 00:00:42,230 --> 00:00:43,960 Yeah, people are nodding had that experience. 15 00:00:44,010 --> 00:00:47,600 If you've applied for jobs, you may have may have come across 16 00:00:47,610 --> 00:00:51,790 that one guy, he just finished uni and he was applying for all 17 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,600 these different jobs and he realised that all that every 18 00:00:55,610 --> 00:00:58,480 time he got a rejection letter, they were all exactly the same, 19 00:00:58,520 --> 00:00:59,820 didn't matter what company it was. 20 00:00:59,830 --> 00:01:02,040 And he said, you know, obviously somebody had come up with a 21 00:01:02,050 --> 00:01:04,760 really good reply at some point and this thing's gone viral and 22 00:01:04,769 --> 00:01:07,730 it's just kind of the standard response that everybody sends 23 00:01:07,740 --> 00:01:09,980 out. And so he decided to write a 24 00:01:09,990 --> 00:01:12,580 reply. Here is his reply. 25 00:01:12,870 --> 00:01:16,410 He said, Dear Sir Slash Madam, thank you for your letter of 26 00:01:16,420 --> 00:01:20,270 February the 17th. After careful consideration, I 27 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,490 regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to 28 00:01:23,500 --> 00:01:26,630 offer me employment with your company this year. 29 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,170 I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an 30 00:01:29,220 --> 00:01:31,810 unusually large number of rejection letters. 31 00:01:31,860 --> 00:01:33,440 Some of them are very high quality. 32 00:01:34,670 --> 00:01:37,420 With such a varied and promising field of candidates, it is 33 00:01:37,430 --> 00:01:39,820 impossible for me to accept all refusals. 34 00:01:40,660 --> 00:01:43,150 Despite your company's outstanding qualifications and 35 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,950 previous experience in rejecting applicants, I've find that your 36 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:49,260 rejection does not meet my needs at this time. 37 00:01:50,050 --> 00:01:52,440 Therefore, I will initiate an employment with your firm 38 00:01:52,450 --> 00:01:54,140 immediately. I look forward to seeing you on 39 00:01:54,150 --> 00:01:56,490 Monday. Sincerely, John. 40 00:01:57,850 --> 00:01:59,340 All right, why did I tell you there? 41 00:01:59,350 --> 00:02:03,020 That'll make sense in a minute. But first of all, a quick 42 00:02:03,030 --> 00:02:06,500 overview of what we've seen in our study through Galatians, 43 00:02:06,510 --> 00:02:10,009 right? So we started off looking at 44 00:02:10,060 --> 00:02:12,860 salvation. The concept of salvation being 45 00:02:12,870 --> 00:02:18,710 rescued from the eternal consequences of our sin passing 46 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:20,990 our falling short. Remember we we looked at this, 47 00:02:21,050 --> 00:02:24,150 the Greek word for sin, hamatia, means to miss the mark and has 48 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:26,690 this idea of firing an error, but it drops short of the 49 00:02:26,700 --> 00:02:30,550 target. We fall short because God's 50 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:34,910 commands reflect his nature. You remember this one We talked 51 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:38,590 about lying. God's very nature is truth. 52 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:41,650 Titus tells us that God cannot lie. 53 00:02:41,740 --> 00:02:45,150 Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life truth is 54 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:48,330 God's very nature. So when we lie, we're going 55 00:02:48,340 --> 00:02:51,710 against the the character and nature of God, right? 56 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,880 And so that sin we fall short of God's God's standard. 57 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:58,370 All of us have fallen short. Romans tells us quoted this 58 00:02:58,380 --> 00:03:00,460 morning. There is none righteous. 59 00:03:00,470 --> 00:03:03,720 No, not one right also from book of Romans right. 60 00:03:03,910 --> 00:03:08,730 So we all fall short and the wages of sin is death. 61 00:03:09,780 --> 00:03:12,550 What does sin is death. We're going to look at something 62 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,770 shortly the the Galatians, something interesting. 63 00:03:15,820 --> 00:03:18,590 And I just wanna explain an interesting thing about language 64 00:03:19,930 --> 00:03:22,980 in English. When we talk about peace 65 00:03:23,290 --> 00:03:27,150 generally, our definition of peace is the absence of war. 66 00:03:27,990 --> 00:03:30,060 Ohh, that's probably how we did it. 67 00:03:30,070 --> 00:03:33,700 In fact, if you if you ask most English speakers what is the 68 00:03:33,710 --> 00:03:38,630 opposite of peace, most people would answer war, war as the 69 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,790 opposite of peace. But in the in the Greek language 70 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:44,750 of the New Testament, and many languages are like this, the 71 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,840 word peace literally means to join together. 72 00:03:49,230 --> 00:03:51,200 That's what that's literally what they word means. 73 00:03:51,210 --> 00:03:53,280 Peace means joined together, right? 74 00:03:53,290 --> 00:03:58,120 To join together the Greek word for death is Thanatos and 75 00:03:58,130 --> 00:04:00,460 thanatos literally means to separate. 76 00:04:01,230 --> 00:04:03,680 You can see that the the thinking, right you, you were 77 00:04:03,690 --> 00:04:06,620 separated from the living, your soul is separated from your 78 00:04:06,630 --> 00:04:10,460 body, right. So for 1st century Greek 79 00:04:10,470 --> 00:04:13,120 speakers, although they they used the word peace kind of like 80 00:04:13,130 --> 00:04:17,880 we do, if you ask them what is the opposite of peace, they 81 00:04:17,890 --> 00:04:22,290 would likely say death. Yeah, see the sort of thinking 82 00:04:22,300 --> 00:04:25,260 there? The wages of sin is death. 83 00:04:25,270 --> 00:04:28,340 We are, we die and we are separated from God because we 84 00:04:28,350 --> 00:04:31,500 fall short of keeping God's commands. 85 00:04:31,570 --> 00:04:35,340 That's the bad news. The good news is that from the 86 00:04:35,350 --> 00:04:38,440 beginning of time, God had a rescue plan organised. 87 00:04:39,250 --> 00:04:43,160 That plan was that Jesus Christ, who didn't fall short, who 88 00:04:43,170 --> 00:04:45,510 didn't send, would die in our place. 89 00:04:47,060 --> 00:04:53,050 And so if we realise our sinfulness, we're truly sorry 90 00:04:53,260 --> 00:04:56,890 and we ask God for forgiveness, trusting in what Jesus did on 91 00:04:56,900 --> 00:05:01,050 our behalf on the cross, then multiple places in the Bible 92 00:05:01,060 --> 00:05:04,890 tell us that God will forgive us and will wipe the slate clean, 93 00:05:06,100 --> 00:05:08,770 that we can be joined with him, right? 94 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:12,610 Not because we deserve it, but because his love and compassion 95 00:05:12,620 --> 00:05:16,770 means that he's forgiven and he won't treat us like we deserve, 96 00:05:16,820 --> 00:05:19,050 right? We don't deserve it. 97 00:05:19,100 --> 00:05:22,570 It's an undeserved favour. And that the Bible word for that 98 00:05:22,580 --> 00:05:25,950 is grace and undeserved favour, something that you, you don't 99 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,050 deserve. It's a it's a gift in that 100 00:05:29,060 --> 00:05:32,780 sense. And so we saw right back at the 101 00:05:32,790 --> 00:05:36,270 start, right, that the church family at Antioch in Syria, 102 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,580 you'll see see them there just up if you kind of know your 103 00:05:39,590 --> 00:05:41,820 world geography, right. So Jerusalem's kind of at the 104 00:05:41,830 --> 00:05:45,210 bottom there stone Antioch, but further up in Syria and there 105 00:05:45,220 --> 00:05:47,750 was church family there. And they send out Paul and 106 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:51,190 Barnabas into the Gentile world, right into the the non Jewish 107 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,630 world in order to share this good news. 108 00:05:56,460 --> 00:05:59,400 And people believed it and put their faith and trust in it. 109 00:05:59,500 --> 00:06:01,650 And they were joined with God, right? 110 00:06:01,660 --> 00:06:04,560 And churches were established. And one of the regions where 111 00:06:04,570 --> 00:06:09,020 this happened was this area in Turkey called Galatia, right? 112 00:06:09,030 --> 00:06:11,730 And at least four churches were established in that, in that 113 00:06:11,740 --> 00:06:14,620 area and and maybe others, but at least four that we we don't 114 00:06:14,630 --> 00:06:17,150 have that are spoken of in in the book of Acts. 115 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:21,540 But at some point some Jewish believers from Judea came up to 116 00:06:21,550 --> 00:06:25,120 Galatia and they told believers, no, no, no, having faith in 117 00:06:25,130 --> 00:06:28,340 Jesus is not enough. You also have to keep the Old 118 00:06:28,350 --> 00:06:32,020 Testament laws circumcised. The boys abstained from certain 119 00:06:32,030 --> 00:06:35,660 foods and on and on and on. And another thinking, well, 120 00:06:35,670 --> 00:06:39,800 that's not what Paul taught us. And obviously getting a response 121 00:06:39,810 --> 00:06:44,840 worth of well, who is Paul? Who does Paul think he is 122 00:06:44,850 --> 00:06:47,790 anyway? This is what you gotta do. 123 00:06:48,140 --> 00:06:51,890 And so Paul writes this letter and told them to make copies and 124 00:06:51,900 --> 00:06:54,790 pass it around from church to church in Galatia. 125 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:01,140 And in chapter 1, he started off telling him about his sorrow 126 00:07:01,150 --> 00:07:04,500 that they've walked away from the true gospel, right? 127 00:07:04,510 --> 00:07:08,230 The true good news and that their salvation, you know that 128 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,760 this good news that their salvation, their rescue is based 129 00:07:11,770 --> 00:07:16,090 solely on God's grace, on his free gift of forgiveness. 130 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:21,010 And that started believing that they could earn God their way to 131 00:07:21,020 --> 00:07:24,210 God by doing good works and and keeping Old Testament law. 132 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:26,310 Remember that sort of still there. 133 00:07:26,380 --> 00:07:30,610 And then he spent some time in chapters one and two explaining 134 00:07:30,620 --> 00:07:34,190 how and why he had the authority to speak on behalf of Jesus 135 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:36,510 because his authority was being challenged. 136 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:40,290 He talks about how this legalism right this, this trying to reach 137 00:07:40,300 --> 00:07:42,930 God by following laws and ticking all the right boxes and, 138 00:07:42,940 --> 00:07:45,260 and all of that. It's an easy trap for us to get 139 00:07:45,270 --> 00:07:46,970 caught up. And even Peter got caught up in 140 00:07:46,980 --> 00:07:50,270 it. It traps us in an impossible 141 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:54,490 situation of trying to be good enough when that's impossible, 142 00:07:55,510 --> 00:07:57,010 right? We just can't be. 143 00:07:57,350 --> 00:07:59,920 And he and he goes to great lengths, right, to try and 144 00:07:59,930 --> 00:08:03,360 explain to us that keeping laws can't save you. 145 00:08:03,410 --> 00:08:06,790 And how even the Old Testament shows that that the whole 146 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,530 purpose of the law was to teach us that we could never be good 147 00:08:09,540 --> 00:08:11,110 enough. We need a saviour. 148 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,570 And he talked about that we need a rescuer chapter 3. 149 00:08:14,780 --> 00:08:18,370 And then in chapter 4, he used a whole bunch of examples like 150 00:08:18,380 --> 00:08:21,740 slavery and adoption and Old Testament history kind of 151 00:08:21,750 --> 00:08:23,670 illustrate how this grace thing works. 152 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,490 And then in chapter 5, he starts to get into how that should 153 00:08:27,500 --> 00:08:30,710 affect our lives right? In the way we behave and the way 154 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:33,870 we live our lives. That you can't make people do 155 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,130 the right thing by just passing more laws. 156 00:08:36,539 --> 00:08:39,580 There isn't a law that can create love and joy and peace 157 00:08:39,590 --> 00:08:42,230 and patience and, and all of those things. 158 00:08:42,380 --> 00:08:46,490 Those things come from us experiencing God's grace and 159 00:08:46,500 --> 00:08:50,030 letting us, letting that influence the way we see and 160 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:52,230 treat others. And it's not something that can 161 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:55,400 be forced. And then in chapter 6, he talks 162 00:08:55,410 --> 00:08:59,530 about how understanding grace should affect the way that we we 163 00:08:59,540 --> 00:09:02,440 treat other people. Sitting brothers and sisters in 164 00:09:02,450 --> 00:09:07,250 Christ, burden, brothers and sisters in Christ, elders, other 165 00:09:07,260 --> 00:09:09,330 things, right? And he says, you know how we 166 00:09:09,340 --> 00:09:12,880 should do good to everyone, but especially the fellow believers. 167 00:09:14,070 --> 00:09:17,680 And now he signs off, right? He's signing off this letter. 168 00:09:17,850 --> 00:09:21,500 Now, this idea of salvation by grace, and we've already seen it 169 00:09:21,510 --> 00:09:24,880 this morning, right? Calibre, long passage in Romans 170 00:09:24,890 --> 00:09:27,620 right there, explained a whole bunch of stuff about that, 171 00:09:27,630 --> 00:09:29,720 right? This whole thing of salvation by 172 00:09:29,730 --> 00:09:32,060 grace was also quoted from Ephesians, right? 173 00:09:32,070 --> 00:09:36,040 Almost every letter that Paul writes, he talks about this, he 174 00:09:36,050 --> 00:09:37,780 talks about the importance of this. 175 00:09:38,530 --> 00:09:41,760 It would be easy to think law, blah blah. 176 00:09:41,930 --> 00:09:44,740 This is just another boilerplate letter from Paul. 177 00:09:45,390 --> 00:09:50,600 Lots of theology, whatever. So let's pick it up in Galatians 178 00:09:50,610 --> 00:09:58,110 chapter 6, verse #11 he says, See with what large letters I'm 179 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:02,970 writing to you with my own hand. We know from several of false 180 00:10:03,020 --> 00:10:06,950 letters that he usually dictated them, a guy named Susan, he's 181 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:09,620 acted as his secretary to do that often. 182 00:10:09,630 --> 00:10:11,930 So he would dictate the letters societies would write, write 183 00:10:11,940 --> 00:10:15,770 down what what Paul said. But this letter was part of the 184 00:10:15,780 --> 00:10:20,070 letter at least, is handwritten. He's running by hand. 185 00:10:20,790 --> 00:10:26,090 He wanted them to understand how important this was, that this is 186 00:10:26,100 --> 00:10:28,660 not just the boilerplate thing that he's sending out to them, 187 00:10:28,950 --> 00:10:32,950 that it was personal. This isn't some boilerplate 188 00:10:33,020 --> 00:10:37,160 theological essay. Yeah, this is real world, real 189 00:10:37,170 --> 00:10:41,420 life stuff that impacts lives and eternities and, and he's not 190 00:10:41,430 --> 00:10:45,090 messing around. Now the large litters thing, 191 00:10:45,100 --> 00:10:46,490 right? He's writing with large litters 192 00:10:46,820 --> 00:10:50,390 that some people think that maybe had eyesight issues cause 193 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:52,330 you know, he talks about things like that a few in a few 194 00:10:52,340 --> 00:10:53,640 different places. We don't really know. 195 00:10:53,650 --> 00:10:57,330 It's not specifically stated. It's probably just living in a 196 00:10:57,340 --> 00:11:01,030 time, you know, before reading glasses were invented, right. 197 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:03,450 He's getting on a bit. He just gets a bit harder to, 198 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:05,810 you know, so he's writing in, in large print. 199 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,390 There is another possibility here though, just from some 200 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:12,530 other 1st century documents that we've found, this could be the 201 00:11:12,540 --> 00:11:17,000 1st century equivalent of all caps bold type, right? 202 00:11:17,010 --> 00:11:19,020 Cause that that's been done in some some other letters we 203 00:11:19,030 --> 00:11:20,100 found. But you know, to say how 204 00:11:20,110 --> 00:11:24,160 important it is, not sure. But the point is here that it's 205 00:11:24,170 --> 00:11:26,850 personal. It's very important and he's not 206 00:11:26,860 --> 00:11:29,440 messing around. He's not messing around and 207 00:11:29,450 --> 00:11:31,920 we'll see this right. Then he goes into verse 12 and 208 00:11:31,930 --> 00:11:35,470 he talks about the motivation of these people who are teaching 209 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:38,400 them that they need to follow Old Testament laws in order to 210 00:11:38,410 --> 00:11:40,680 receive God's rescue. Here's what he says. 211 00:11:41,850 --> 00:11:45,500 He says it is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh 212 00:11:45,630 --> 00:11:48,740 who would force you to be circumcised, and only then order 213 00:11:48,750 --> 00:11:51,420 that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 214 00:11:51,850 --> 00:11:54,120 For even those who are circumcised do not themselves 215 00:11:54,130 --> 00:11:57,540 keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they 216 00:11:57,550 --> 00:12:01,580 may boast in your flesh, he says. 217 00:12:01,590 --> 00:12:04,900 Look, the reason these people are teaching you this stuff and 218 00:12:04,910 --> 00:12:07,820 getting you to do this stuff is to make themselves look good. 219 00:12:09,550 --> 00:12:11,740 You know you you can imagine these people boasting to their 220 00:12:11,750 --> 00:12:14,490 peers, right? I bought 5 Gentiles under the 221 00:12:14,500 --> 00:12:17,150 law of Moses this week. Sort of. 222 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:19,450 But the street created right with their with their friends 223 00:12:19,460 --> 00:12:22,600 who believe this stuff, he says. But even these guys know that 224 00:12:22,610 --> 00:12:25,880 they can't keep the law. Ever told a lie? 225 00:12:28,010 --> 00:12:30,740 You've fallen short. You know you've fallen short. 226 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:37,980 Decreasing Jesus death on the cross and bringing our salvation 227 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:40,930 can actually get you on side with a bunch of different 228 00:12:40,940 --> 00:12:44,410 people. It'll get you on side with with 229 00:12:44,420 --> 00:12:48,090 other legalists. Lots of people think this way, 230 00:12:48,100 --> 00:12:49,510 right? People think, ohh, well, you 231 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:51,500 know, just teach people to be good. 232 00:12:51,570 --> 00:12:53,160 Took all the all the right boxes. 233 00:12:53,230 --> 00:12:55,660 They can work their way to God. You know, maybe they'll be good 234 00:12:55,670 --> 00:12:57,650 enough. They can when you a lot of 235 00:12:57,660 --> 00:12:59,370 friends, a lot of people think their way. 236 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:04,140 It can get you on on side with other religions. 237 00:13:04,910 --> 00:13:07,860 Almost all religions we talked about this in in week 1 and 238 00:13:07,870 --> 00:13:09,960 later on as well, right? Almost all religions are about 239 00:13:09,970 --> 00:13:13,680 trying to live a life good enough that God or the gods or 240 00:13:13,690 --> 00:13:16,840 the universe or however the religion works will accept you. 241 00:13:16,970 --> 00:13:19,710 Do lots of good things and God will accept you. 242 00:13:19,850 --> 00:13:24,290 So if you teach people you know falsely and you teach them, 243 00:13:24,300 --> 00:13:27,290 look, you don't need to recognise the authority of God, 244 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:29,570 you don't reckon need to recognise that you've fallen 245 00:13:29,580 --> 00:13:34,030 short and apologise to him. You just need to live your best 246 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:36,400 life. If you teach there, you'll fill 247 00:13:36,410 --> 00:13:40,450 in with every other religion. That's kind of the the teaching 248 00:13:40,460 --> 00:13:44,120 of every other religion. They'll also get you on side 249 00:13:44,130 --> 00:13:48,460 with the government however their government looks if you 250 00:13:48,470 --> 00:13:52,780 teach people that look, Jesus was just a good moral example 251 00:13:52,790 --> 00:13:55,080 and we should try and be good like he he was. 252 00:13:56,020 --> 00:13:57,920 Any government would be more than happy with that. 253 00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:03,000 But if you start teaching people the only way to reach peace with 254 00:14:03,010 --> 00:14:06,650 God is by recognising Jesus death on your behalf and and 255 00:14:06,660 --> 00:14:11,230 asking for forgiveness, well now you're meddling all right. 256 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:16,040 Now you're being divisive. Now you're saying that members 257 00:14:16,050 --> 00:14:20,410 of the government are accountable to God, Paul says. 258 00:14:20,420 --> 00:14:23,420 The reason these people are teaching you legalism, right, 259 00:14:23,430 --> 00:14:26,820 trying to follow rules instead of repentance, is that it helps 260 00:14:26,830 --> 00:14:30,330 them avoid any persecution. They're not going to be 261 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:32,090 persecuted by their friends. They're not going to be 262 00:14:32,100 --> 00:14:34,130 persecuted by, you know, other religions. 263 00:14:34,140 --> 00:14:36,040 They're not going to be persecuted by the government 264 00:14:36,710 --> 00:14:38,760 That that's why they're they're pushing this. 265 00:14:40,430 --> 00:14:41,930 And then he talks about his own motives. 266 00:14:41,940 --> 00:14:46,430 Why is he doing this? Why is he, why has he done all 267 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:50,720 this stuff to go into the into the world and, and all kinds of 268 00:14:50,730 --> 00:14:54,690 places and we will see in a minute some of the stuff he went 269 00:14:54,700 --> 00:14:56,950 through to do this. Why is he doing that? 270 00:14:57,620 --> 00:15:00,050 To get this message? That's gospel. 271 00:15:00,060 --> 00:15:02,590 That's good news. That salvation is by grace. 272 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:08,110 Here's what he says. But far be it from me to glory 273 00:15:08,540 --> 00:15:12,510 except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world 274 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:15,800 has been crucified to me and I to the world. 275 00:15:18,700 --> 00:15:21,690 How do you how do you receive glory in today's society? 276 00:15:21,700 --> 00:15:24,030 What are some of the ways that we can do that? 277 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,930 There's there's a few in there, but kind of some main ones are, 278 00:15:27,020 --> 00:15:30,560 are, are being famous. What famous people receive 279 00:15:30,570 --> 00:15:32,440 glory, right? Glory means like turn the 280 00:15:32,450 --> 00:15:34,590 spotlight on something that light something up. 281 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:36,980 Being famous right, gets you, gets you glory. 282 00:15:37,140 --> 00:15:39,210 Being very wealthy gets you glory. 283 00:15:40,550 --> 00:15:44,460 Having status gets you glory. You know, even in even in a 284 00:15:44,470 --> 00:15:46,800 small sense, if you're part of a small club and you, you know, 285 00:15:46,810 --> 00:15:49,700 somewhere up there, you know, having that status gets you some 286 00:15:49,710 --> 00:15:51,780 glory. These are all common ways that 287 00:15:51,850 --> 00:15:55,520 that people receive glory today. But the words glory and cross 288 00:15:55,650 --> 00:16:00,900 don't go together right at all. Death on the cross. 289 00:16:00,910 --> 00:16:02,810 And this is hard for us to kind of get a heads around. 290 00:16:02,820 --> 00:16:06,120 But it wasn't just about execution, right? 291 00:16:06,130 --> 00:16:08,440 The Romans had other ways of executing people as well. 292 00:16:08,450 --> 00:16:11,780 Paul Headers was beheaded. You know, in Rome, crucifixion 293 00:16:11,830 --> 00:16:15,770 wasn't just about execution. It was about humiliation, it was 294 00:16:15,780 --> 00:16:19,640 about humiliating the person. Even Roman judges would use a 295 00:16:19,650 --> 00:16:22,350 euphemism for this. They would say hang him on the 296 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:25,230 unlucky tree. That's what they would say. 297 00:16:26,030 --> 00:16:28,600 He was sentenced to be hung on the unlucky tree because in 298 00:16:28,610 --> 00:16:30,600 polite society, you didn't talk about the cross. 299 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:34,930 You didn't say it out loud. When Paul talks about the cross, 300 00:16:35,730 --> 00:16:37,010 he doesn't mean the piece of wood. 301 00:16:37,020 --> 00:16:38,570 He's not talking about the piece of wood. 302 00:16:38,620 --> 00:16:41,250 He's talking about what Jesus did on the cross, Right. 303 00:16:41,300 --> 00:16:45,690 He took my guilt on him. This was never about what I'm 304 00:16:45,700 --> 00:16:49,750 doing for him. Yeah, it's what he did, he says. 305 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,170 The world is dead to me, right? And vice versa. 306 00:16:52,390 --> 00:16:57,930 Meaning the culture of the world in, in glorying and you know, 307 00:16:57,980 --> 00:17:00,510 fame and fortune and status and all of that. 308 00:17:01,460 --> 00:17:04,210 It doesn't have the same control over me and it doesn't have the 309 00:17:04,220 --> 00:17:08,040 same motivation. Like it doesn't motivate me like 310 00:17:08,050 --> 00:17:13,780 it used to. This 15 for neither circumcision 311 00:17:13,790 --> 00:17:17,780 counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new 312 00:17:17,790 --> 00:17:22,099 creation. To the Corinthians, he said that 313 00:17:22,109 --> 00:17:24,210 if anyone is in Christ, they're a new creation. 314 00:17:25,490 --> 00:17:28,920 Their new creation, circumcision, was a sign of 315 00:17:28,930 --> 00:17:33,080 being Jewish, right? Not being circumcised was a sign 316 00:17:33,090 --> 00:17:37,910 of being Gentile, and the legalists were teaching, look, 317 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:40,730 you, you have to follow the laws of Moses, which included all the 318 00:17:40,740 --> 00:17:42,990 boys being circumcised, right? Paul says. 319 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:47,330 Look, that's missing the point. Outward religion doesn't make us 320 00:17:47,340 --> 00:17:51,150 a new creation. I quite like to watch a good 321 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,370 stand up comedy, but you know, it's quite hard to find a good 322 00:17:54,380 --> 00:17:56,560 one, isn't it? Well, times you you see a thing 323 00:17:56,570 --> 00:17:58,410 in this like ohh, there's a Comedy Festival on stand up 324 00:17:58,420 --> 00:18:00,150 Comedy Festival, especially in New Zealand one. 325 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:01,230 And you think, Oh, this is great. 326 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,440 And you turn it on right and you get like a minute into a day and 327 00:18:04,450 --> 00:18:07,860 the language is flying or the contents really smutty and you 328 00:18:07,870 --> 00:18:10,910 think, ohh, man, but every now and again, right, you had a 329 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:13,770 really good one and you go through and think, man, this is 330 00:18:13,780 --> 00:18:16,690 this is really clean and it's funny and you know, it's got and 331 00:18:16,700 --> 00:18:19,770 if you're like me, you start to think wonder if she's saved? 332 00:18:20,300 --> 00:18:23,840 I wonder if he's a Christian and they will might be right, but if 333 00:18:23,850 --> 00:18:28,030 they are, the fact that they're not using bad language and and 334 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:32,190 you know, rugby content is kind of a, it's an outward sign of, 335 00:18:32,250 --> 00:18:34,370 of that, isn't it? Like it's a, it's kind of a 336 00:18:34,380 --> 00:18:36,710 symbol of the things they believe it's coming out. 337 00:18:37,580 --> 00:18:40,370 Yeah. But are they saved because they 338 00:18:40,380 --> 00:18:42,610 don't use bad language and their contents clean? 339 00:18:42,940 --> 00:18:45,150 No, they're not. It's just kind of a, it's a, 340 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:47,350 it's an outward sign of that coming out. 341 00:18:49,430 --> 00:18:51,600 Paul said this back in the relations too. 342 00:18:51,830 --> 00:18:54,980 He said this, He said, you. We know that a person is not 343 00:18:54,990 --> 00:18:58,700 justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus 344 00:18:58,710 --> 00:19:02,170 Christ. So we also have believed in 345 00:19:02,180 --> 00:19:06,510 Jesus, in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in 346 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:10,410 Christ Jesus and not by works of the law, because by works of the 347 00:19:10,420 --> 00:19:14,760 law no one will be justified. He's saying, look, if you wanna 348 00:19:14,770 --> 00:19:16,190 follow a rule, here's a simple rule. 349 00:19:17,030 --> 00:19:20,890 Salvation is a free gift received by recognising your 350 00:19:20,900 --> 00:19:23,680 sin, turning from it and asking for forgiveness. 351 00:19:23,740 --> 00:19:28,350 That's what makes you a new creation, not the fact that you 352 00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:32,290 were good enough, right? It's being forgiven of your sin 353 00:19:32,700 --> 00:19:35,320 because you came and apologised, right? 354 00:19:35,620 --> 00:19:38,450 This is the rule, right? Not by being good enough, not by 355 00:19:38,460 --> 00:19:41,170 outward religious symbols, right? 356 00:19:41,180 --> 00:19:43,110 By this. And then he says this. 357 00:19:44,130 --> 00:19:48,870 And As for all who walk by this rule, peace, right, being joined 358 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:52,080 together and by contacts with God and mercy, right, not being 359 00:19:52,090 --> 00:19:57,240 treated like we deserve to be treated, be upon them and upon 360 00:19:57,330 --> 00:20:00,180 the Israel of God, right? Any Jews that live by this rule, 361 00:20:00,190 --> 00:20:03,890 Same deal for them. Whether you're due or a Gentile, 362 00:20:04,180 --> 00:20:07,670 the rule is salvation is by grace through faith. 363 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:12,050 It brings peace with God, and you don't get treated like you, 364 00:20:12,060 --> 00:20:18,040 just you, you deserve. And you can feel the kind of the 365 00:20:18,050 --> 00:20:22,000 passion here and how personal it is to Paul when he says this 366 00:20:22,010 --> 00:20:25,620 inverse 17 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear 367 00:20:25,630 --> 00:20:30,560 on my body the marks of Jesus. So you're these 11. 368 00:20:30,650 --> 00:20:32,760 Paul recounts some of the things he's been through and getting 369 00:20:32,770 --> 00:20:36,430 the gospel to people. He says this imprisonment with 370 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:39,200 countless beatings and often near death. 371 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:45,250 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews 40 lashes -1 372 00:20:45,980 --> 00:20:48,090 So there's a bit of cultural significance there. 373 00:20:48,100 --> 00:20:50,030 If you've ever seen one of those movies, you know, Passion of the 374 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,070 Christ or something, you know, you've seen the scourging, the 375 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,860 flogging. They did so back in the 1st 376 00:20:54,870 --> 00:20:56,250 century. You know, they have those, those 377 00:20:56,260 --> 00:20:59,910 whips think they cat of nine tails was what came to be known 378 00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:03,100 as down through the centuries. But you have a handle and they 379 00:21:03,110 --> 00:21:06,450 have all these sort of leather straps that come off at, you 380 00:21:06,460 --> 00:21:08,250 know, the whips. And then they tied bits of 381 00:21:08,260 --> 00:21:11,090 pottery and glass and all that sort of stuff into the thing. 382 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,090 And so then they would whip you and it would dig in and then 383 00:21:14,100 --> 00:21:17,140 they would pull it out. It would tear your flesh, right? 384 00:21:18,390 --> 00:21:21,840 40 lashes with one of those was considered a death sentence 385 00:21:21,850 --> 00:21:24,050 because most people didn't recover. 386 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:28,930 Yeah, so five times he got sentenced to 39 lashes. 387 00:21:31,990 --> 00:21:33,790 Five times, right? Imagine that. 388 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:36,520 Imagine going through that. Three times I was beaten with 389 00:21:36,530 --> 00:21:40,150 rods. Once I was stoned, three times I 390 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:44,300 was shipwrecked a night and the day I was adrift at sea. 391 00:21:44,710 --> 00:21:48,150 No, in the days before light jackets and light boats, and all 392 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:54,160 of that on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from 393 00:21:54,170 --> 00:21:58,380 robbers, dangers from my own people, danger from Gentiles, 394 00:21:58,850 --> 00:22:02,420 danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, 395 00:22:02,670 --> 00:22:04,650 danger from false, false brothers. 396 00:22:05,540 --> 00:22:09,030 And toil and hardship through many a sleepless night. 397 00:22:09,100 --> 00:22:13,360 And hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and 398 00:22:13,370 --> 00:22:15,850 exposure. And apart from all these other 399 00:22:15,860 --> 00:22:20,700 things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for 400 00:22:20,710 --> 00:22:26,270 all the churches. Imagine going through all of 401 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:31,180 that in order to get the good news that salvation is available 402 00:22:31,970 --> 00:22:37,600 through faith and have people say who's Paul game? 403 00:22:37,770 --> 00:22:40,180 Don't listen to Paul. What does he know? 404 00:22:42,140 --> 00:22:43,970 Imagine that. Imagine how that must have felt 405 00:22:43,980 --> 00:22:47,020 hearing that back that got passed back to him. 406 00:22:48,950 --> 00:22:54,230 He says goodbye. From now on, let no one calls me 407 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:57,500 trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 408 00:22:58,420 --> 00:23:00,670 I sat and thought about this for a long time and I I thought 409 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,910 about this. Do the identifying marks on my 410 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:09,410 life lead people to Christ? Do they point people to Christ? 411 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:15,140 He closes in verse 18. He says this the grace of our 412 00:23:15,150 --> 00:23:18,700 Lord Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit, President. 413 00:23:19,090 --> 00:23:22,420 Amen. It's quite a short ending 414 00:23:22,430 --> 00:23:26,040 compared to a lot of his other letters, which is, you know, say 415 00:23:26,050 --> 00:23:29,720 hello to so and so and, you know, encourage so and so and 416 00:23:29,730 --> 00:23:31,480 don't forget so and so is coming to visit. 417 00:23:32,170 --> 00:23:36,920 He's just very, very, very, very to the point here, very blunt. 418 00:23:38,020 --> 00:23:41,240 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. 419 00:23:41,250 --> 00:23:44,310 There it is again, right there. Free gift, that undeserved 420 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:48,480 favour. So here's the question for us. 421 00:23:48,490 --> 00:23:51,420 Here's the kind of concluding question from the series. 422 00:23:51,430 --> 00:23:54,360 Will we let God's grace change us? 423 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:57,450 Will we let God's grace change us? 424 00:23:57,460 --> 00:24:05,550 If you are here and you have never received God's grace in in 425 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:09,870 in the sense of having your sins forgiven, you know, maybe you 426 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:12,010 would be considered a good person by most people. 427 00:24:12,750 --> 00:24:16,600 Maybe you've been in church for a while, but you've never come 428 00:24:16,610 --> 00:24:20,960 to the point where you recognise your own sinfulness, that you 429 00:24:20,970 --> 00:24:23,820 fall short of God's standard, and you've never honestly asked 430 00:24:23,830 --> 00:24:29,490 Him for forgiveness for that. God's grace is waiting for you 431 00:24:29,500 --> 00:24:34,880 today. You can be a new creation and 432 00:24:34,890 --> 00:24:39,280 you create. Have the conversation with them, 433 00:24:39,630 --> 00:24:43,030 experiencing that peace, being joined with God. 434 00:24:45,180 --> 00:24:49,090 For those of us who have done that, we need to ask ourselves 435 00:24:49,100 --> 00:24:54,640 this Am I now letting God's grace affect who I am? 436 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:03,010 Am I letting God's grace affect who I am, or am I trying to 437 00:25:03,990 --> 00:25:06,210 endlessly keep a list of rules and regulations? 438 00:25:12,860 --> 00:25:18,070 So the the real question is, am I connecting to him through 439 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:23,270 prayer and and reading my Bible and just relationship, right? 440 00:25:23,340 --> 00:25:26,070 Having that connection, having that relationship so that that 441 00:25:26,870 --> 00:25:30,420 fruit that the Holy Spirit generates, Lovejoy, peace, 442 00:25:30,430 --> 00:25:32,980 patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, 443 00:25:32,990 --> 00:25:37,720 self-control, those things are flowing out of me despite 444 00:25:37,830 --> 00:25:39,870 whatever circumstances I find myself in. 445 00:25:41,580 --> 00:25:42,830 That's kind of challenging, isn't it? 446 00:25:44,070 --> 00:25:45,980 I start to think, man, is that the case? 447 00:25:46,380 --> 00:25:48,160 Is is that what people are seeing? 448 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:51,950 The sermon series was called Bearing fruit. 449 00:25:52,420 --> 00:25:56,090 Is God's grace bearing fruit in my life? 450 00:25:57,690 --> 00:25:59,520 Yeah, We've talked about this before. 451 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,660 I went to a Chinese circus many years ago, and I had this dude 452 00:26:02,670 --> 00:26:04,720 that was spinning plates on a stick. 453 00:26:05,050 --> 00:26:07,080 You ever seen that? And then they get a plate 454 00:26:07,090 --> 00:26:09,030 spinning, and it's just kind of balancing there. 455 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:11,480 And then he stands the next one up, and he spins the next plate, 456 00:26:11,530 --> 00:26:13,760 and he stands the next one up, and he spins the next plate. 457 00:26:13,850 --> 00:26:17,490 And then he gets to about #4 and number #1 starting to wobble, 458 00:26:17,500 --> 00:26:19,370 and he goes back and he gets that one going again. 459 00:26:19,450 --> 00:26:21,250 And by the end of it, he's got, like nine of these things 460 00:26:21,260 --> 00:26:23,580 spinning, right? And the crowds are, you know, 461 00:26:23,590 --> 00:26:25,710 right into it. And I think sometimes we look at 462 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:27,640 the fruit of the Spirit, kind of like that, and we go, well, I've 463 00:26:27,650 --> 00:26:33,260 kind of got love, right? And Joy's doing okay and well, I 464 00:26:33,270 --> 00:26:36,960 gotta work, come on, piece a little bit, and then I gotta go 465 00:26:36,970 --> 00:26:39,760 back and work on love and I kind of get these things going. 466 00:26:41,060 --> 00:26:44,070 This is the fruit of the spirit. And, and interestingly in Greek, 467 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,990 that fruit is singular. It's a single fruit, the fruit 468 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,040 of the Spirit. Are these things Lovejoy, peace. 469 00:26:50,090 --> 00:26:53,380 If I am connecting with the Holy Spirit, if I am living God's 470 00:26:53,390 --> 00:26:56,450 grace fix me. These things will come out. 471 00:26:57,250 --> 00:27:01,400 These things will come out. Is God's grace bearing fruit in 472 00:27:01,410 --> 00:27:04,970 my life? Am I connecting with God in such 473 00:27:04,980 --> 00:27:07,710 a way that His Holy Spirit is working through me in that 474 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:12,630 regard? Let's pray and I'll hand back to 475 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:18,470 Tim. Father, we thank you for yeah, 476 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,600 Grace and what it means, and lovely thank you that even 477 00:27:22,610 --> 00:27:29,390 though it's it's through all of Paul's letters, this was just so 478 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:31,200 personal because he understood it. 479 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:34,660 He understood what it meant. They have since forgiven and 480 00:27:34,670 --> 00:27:36,700 what that that freedom feels like. 481 00:27:36,910 --> 00:27:38,840 Thank you for it. But we just pray if there's 482 00:27:38,850 --> 00:27:42,320 anyone here who hasn't experienced that, the freedom of 483 00:27:42,330 --> 00:27:46,880 forgiveness from sin that Matt talked about this morning, Lord, 484 00:27:46,890 --> 00:27:50,690 just pray that they would make that connection today, that they 485 00:27:50,700 --> 00:27:54,320 would come to you and realise their sinfulness and connect. 486 00:27:54,390 --> 00:27:55,920 Lord, thank you there. Thank you there. 487 00:27:56,670 --> 00:27:59,470 You're a for giving God that you don't treat us like we deserve. 488 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:01,820 We thank you for who you are in that regard. 489 00:28:01,830 --> 00:28:05,480 And Lord, and again, we just thank you that Your Holy Spirit 490 00:28:05,490 --> 00:28:09,520 does work in us that brings out the fruit. 491 00:28:09,730 --> 00:28:12,390 And we just pray that we would be connected with you enough 492 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,070 that that's the case. Well, thank you for the whole 493 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:19,450 series and the whole, all the different nuances and things 494 00:28:19,460 --> 00:28:23,830 that come out about this. And we just pray that we would 495 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:25,370 all be challenged and we would be different. 496 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:30,630 And as a church family, your grace would be evident to those 497 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:32,250 around us. We just pray these things in 498 00:28:32,260 --> 00:28:33,720 Jesus name, Amen.