With that, let me dive into our new series together on the book of Galatians. And and the theme of this book is called Live Free. That’s not the theme that Paul did. That’s the theme we made up. Okay. Live free. That’s not a biblical. That’s a pastor thought of it and said it. All right. So that’s not necessarily biblical, but I’ll tell you where we get that principle in just a minute. And the important reason the, the idea of, of why we’re going through this book together is that the, the thought and the theme that runs its vein, that runs throughout the course of Galatians, is what transforms the life of a believer in Christ. Meaning really, if you don’t get today and you don’t understand what the the book of Galatians is about you, you don’t get Jesus. The very nature and foundation where your relationship with him grows and and thrives is rooted in what Paul writes in the book of Galatians. And when he begins this book, he he starts off in a very formal way, but he, he quickly jumps in in a, in a very blunt tactic to approach this Galatian church and understanding their need and the relationship with God. He starts off in verse one and he and verse two, he refers to himself as writing, as the apostle and the community of brothers that are gathering together with him and saying, listen, I’m not just saying this.
We’re saying this together as a body of believers. This is key to your relationship in Christ. Paul writes the book of Galatians. If you’re historically into studying where things fit in the portion of Christian history, the book of Galatians is the second book of the New Testament ever written. The first book in the New Testament that was written was the Book of James, written around estimated somewhere around 45 AD. And so really to this point, when you talk about the Bible and Paul’s going around, this is this is this book is written right after his first missionary journey when he goes to share with churches and he preaches the gospel and he’s communicating what Jesus has done in the life of believers, he’s doing it all through the Old Testament. Look at what Christ has fulfilled as the New Testament is now coming together. And much of the New Testament we talked about last week was piggybacked on on the area of theological problems. They would go around as the apostles, disciples of the Lord. They would preach his gospel, give his message, the church would grow, and as the church grow, they would begin to ask questions and really live theologically incorrect in the light of who Christ is. And the reason is, is because a lot of them came from pagan ideas and philosophies and religion. And when they converted to Christ, they brought those pagan thoughts into the identity of who Jesus was.
And so the New Testament was formulated on the back of correcting those theological thoughts that people had that were inappropriate to the idea of who God really is in their lives. To understand God or to know God and what you believe is, is as important as how you live it out. And so that the idea of who God is begins to clearly be communicated to us in Scripture. And James writes the book of James and shortly thereafter concluding his first missionary journey, Paul writes the book of Galatians. If you’re looking at it on a historical time frame and you read the book of acts, it’s just before the Jerusalem Council takes place in acts chapter 15. Paul writes this book. The idea behind it is that Paul goes to the city of Galatia, the region of Galatia, and he establishes church. And when he looks back at this church, he’s noticed this incorrect doctrine has crept in. It’s a theology of religion. Rather than a focus upon their relationship in Christ. And Paul knows that their relationship with Christ and understanding the root and the foundation of where it begins and how it thrives, is so central to their walk with God that he begins to pen this word to the Galatian believers to say to them, listen, fight against the bondage of religion and live in the freedom of your relationship in Christ.
You were created to enjoy your relationship with Christ. A matter of fact, when you turn to chapter five of the book of Galatians and verse one, where do we get this theme in Galatians of living free? Well, it comes in chapter five and verse one. Christ has set us free. The idea of the book of Galatians happens like this. If you read in chapter five and verse three, some Jewish believers had walked into the city of Galatia, and they see this church that’s following after Jesus. And they say, hold on a second. Wait, wait, you’re not really following after Christ if you want to pursue Christ and to know him and to grow in him in this world, not only do you have to accept what Jesus has done on the cross, but there’s this plus thing, this thing that you need to add to it. Galatians chapter five and verse three. It tells you that the debate was over the idea of circumcision. And that’s good that Jesus died for his sins. That’s good that Jesus did all of this for you in your relationship with him. But you still need to do this. And religion began to creep in. And Paul looks at the church of Galatia, and he understands the central idea of the gospel that Christ has declared to us in his death and burial and resurrection, in the way religion has come into their minds, and beginning to rob them of the joy and the relationship through which Christ has given them, and Christ has set them free.
Can I tell you this morning? Pertinent information to the book of Galatians as it relates to us as believers is that even within our own sinful nature, just like the church of Galatia, we tend to revert to religion rather than enjoy the freedom in our relationship with Christ, through which I’ll share in just a little bit. The policy begins to pin these words. He says, Christ has set you free. This is the central idea through which your relationship in Christ grows and thrives. And I’m not just writing this to you as some guy on the street saying these things. I’m writing this to you as a body of believers, these brothers in Christ who are with me, who was saying the bondage of religion will just rob you of your joy, but Jesus has come to set you free. And when Paul writes this book, he tells us in verse six that he’s writing it to the called. I am amazed that you are so quickly diverting him who called you by the grace of Christ for for a different gospel. Paul writes his book To the Believers. You think about the idea of the word called in Scripture? We could we could describe called this way. The Christian story doesn’t go like this I chase God so hard.
I wore him out and he gave up, right? I was so passionately after him that he couldn’t take it anymore. I looked so adorable. He did not resist and he just embraced me. The way that the Bible describes your relationship with God is called. The idea is this. Truthfully, we don’t pursue God. God pursues us. Jesus has come to this world offering himself for you in pursuit of you. In the beginning of the Book of Genesis, when sin entered the world, the response of man was to run from God and live a religious lifestyle. And God in his grace, passionately pursued after you. God has called. We describe it even in a personal way. I could tell you the moment of my life. Resistant to Christ, wanting to live in my own world, doing the things that I desire because sin pleased me. And Jesus called. And I found myself on my knees, begging my God for the grace that he promises to us. And the Bible says that is the central thought to your relationship with Jesus, understanding the grace through which Jesus has called you into him. And so when Paul writes in verse six, he says this, I’m amazed. I am utterly just astounded at this, that you are so quickly deserting him. Who called you? You didn’t chase him. He called you by the grace of Christ. And you’ve done this for a different gospel.
And the idea of chapter one. As Paul talks to us in our relationship through him and the diversion of our mind to pursue religion, the theme that Paul harps upon in the Gospel of Christ is the freedom we find in Jesus through his grace. He says it in verse six that you have deserted his grace. He even says it to us in verse three. This is an opening thought that Paul tends to give in most of his epistles. It says, Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This grace that’s given to you isn’t something that you’ve earned. It’s something that God has called you and extended to you by his merit and not by yours. Paul tends to say this when you are called. To Christ. There are two things you begin to experience in your Christian life. One is grace and the other is peace. Grace is God’s favor. Apart from what we have done and will do in this world, good or bad, God is gracious and loving. Set it in a different way relating to the gospel. Grace is the source of your salvation, and peace is the result of your salvation. I wrote it like this poetically. Grace is where you start and peace is what rules your heart. Grace is how you go in. Peace is what you know. Grace is the route and peace is the fruit.
Can I get an amen? Yeah. It says like this. Know the grace of God. And you know, the peace of God. But if you don’t know the grace of God. You will not know the peace of God. Jesus has brought his grace to your life, that you may experience the peace of knowing him. And when you don’t understand grace, your spiritual life will go one of two ways. You’ll begin to live religiously, trying to appeal to God. And in that religious living, it’ll bring you to a place of despair because you always wrestle with yourself. Am I good enough? Am I worthy enough? Does God really care about me? Is my worth been evident enough to him for him to accept me? You struggle in the worth of who you are. Or this you do so good at the laws you write for your life that you are arrogant in. The Jesus that you follow is distasteful. You tend to brag about what you’ve done. I read my Bible, I saved my marriage. I did this and it makes me great. It robs you of your joy and it brings you to a place of war. But when you understand the gospel, the result of that in the grace of God is peace with God. In Ephesians chapter six, you read about the the armor of God at the end of the armor. When Paul begins to conclude, he says, have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of what? Peace.
To know God is to understand the grace of God and living in the grace of God, you find the peace of the Lord. As Paul writes this book, he starts off in chapter one and verse three and he says, listen, this relationship with Jesus is so important. And the theme to that relationship is grace, and it’s the gospel of grace, and you’re bringing religion and it’s robbing you of this joy. So grace is central, and it’s so central to this book that not only am I starting with Grace, but the last thought I leave you with in the book of Galatians comes in chapter six and verse 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. So the wrong way we tend to define grace is this if I do this well enough for long enough. Then I proved myself worthy and God accepts me. Yeah. I’ll get I’ll get Grace. It’s not really Grace, but I’ll get it. I’ll just show God that I’m worthy of it. And then he’s going to give it to me. That’s the way people tend to define grace. That’s the way religion defines grace. Follow these rules and God will smile at you. Paul goes on from verse three, and he defines really what grace is for us. He says this who talking about Jesus, gave himself for our sins so that he might secure rescue us.
Excuse me from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. Underlines just the simplistic thought of what grace is. Jesus gave himself. For our sins. Jesus gave himself for you despite the sin that you’ve offered to him. Romans five eight, we tend to say often here is a reminder of what grace is. God demonstrates his love to you and while you were yet sinners. In your sin. Christ’s love reigns through. Grace isn’t merited. There’s a statement within Christianity that says this by grace alone, through faith alone. And one someone in church pointed out that the inconsistency with that. Because if grace isn’t alone, it isn’t grace. It’s redundant to call it grace alone. Grace is always alone. It’s by grace through faith alone, because grace is freely merited to us. Grace is all about his goodness and faithfulness and not ours. The moment you put yourself under religious law. You fall from grace. The Bible has a tendency to do when you discover it and read it within your life is it likes to make you feel uncomfortable. One of the places that it tends to do that is in the area of grace. You read about the lives of the people that Jesus sought after in this world, and the lives of the people that religion tends to make in this world, and the people that Jesus pursued are contrary to the ones that are good in our definition.
Meaning. I look at the gospel of grace and I tend to think this God didn’t come to to make bad people good. God came to bring dead people to life. Jesus as he shares the stories within the gospel. The people that he approached, he he picks the ragtag bunch that don’t have necessarily the the great things that religious has to offer to teach us about the beauty of his grace and the way it transforms our life. Bible tells us first, John, we love him because he first was. Grace changes you. It’s the grace of God that moves within us despite our sin, that brings the beauty of Christ into our lives and begins to transform us from the inside out. Maybe one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament as it relates to grace is the story of Rahab, right? Joshua in chapter two of the book of Joshua is going into the land of Canaan, and Israel is about to conquer their promised land, and the place they start is with a prostitute. I mean, her name, Rahab, means a proud savage. It’s like Jesus is saying, you want to know how powerful I am? Watch what I do, right? I’m going to take this lady who’s living in her own religion, in her own world, this proud savage, this harlot, this prostitute, and I’m going to transform her.
So beautiful does that story become that? When you turn to the book of Matthew and you read about the gospel of Christ, the one and the lineage of Jesus is Rahab the prostitute? This grace transforms. And the story goes like this for us. Anyone. Anyone can experience the freedom through which Christ has called you in his gospel of grace. And Paul then begins to expand upon understanding the significance of grace as this passage of Scripture goes on. He tells us the contrary thought to the life of the Galatian believers is that their battles against religion and Galatians five three. Remind you again that when you read in the book of Genesis and chapter three, the tendency of all of us from the beginning has been to revert to religion, to say to God, God, God, you don’t have to take care of me, Lord, I’ve got this. Watch what I can do. Even from the story of Adam and Eve. It tells us in verse seven they sewed fig leaves together. They had just eaten of the fruit. And their immediate response. They they know that they’re naked and they sow fig leaves together. And get this in verse eight, they hid from the Lord God. This religion. From the very beginning. They recognized their sin against the Lord, and they did whatever they could to merit the grace of God in their lives, to cover up the sin from the Lord, who sees all things anyway.
And then their religion led them to run and hide. God, I got this. But the response from the Lord. As if the Lord comes to them. The Lord has called. Bible tells us that the Lord goes on then to prepare for them a clothing through. Which a sacrifice for which God had made in a lamb. Excuse me. And a goat. And he clothes them, and he promises them the gospel of grace which will bring to them salvation in Christ, not by their merit, but by his. Paul goes on in verse six. This passage of Scripture, and he begins to elaborate on this idea and the battle that the believers are facing. If I were to stop before I read this and just ask you a question, what is it that you consider evil? How would you answer that? I know immediately we all have to think of Hitler and whatever Hitler stood for. Man, whatever he did, whatever he drank, wherever he went, just Hitler. Right. And then a couple other things. I’m sure those things are evil. It’s interesting when you talk about the apostle Paul and they ask the same question according to this passage of Scripture. Paul, what what do you consider evil? This is what Paul says. I’m amazed that you are so quickly deserting him. Who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, for which is really not another.
Only that there are some who are disturbing 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 what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed, as we have said before. So I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. Meaning when you mess with the grace of God. That’s evil. Word that Paul says here is anathema. It is a cursed. There are times in the life of the Apostle Paul where he just says some things that would make the church lady blush, right? One is right here in this passage of Scripture. Paul literally says accursed which? Which means for us a thing to devoted to God that has no hope of ever being redeemed. Meaning when you start messing with the grace of God and the identity that Jesus has brought for you and calling you, that message is unredeemable. Literally, it can go to hell. Paul’s looking at the religion that that people are building. They’re just simply saying all they’re saying, let’s, let’s do Jesus. Plus this. Jesus looks good, but let’s just add a little bit better to him. And Paul says, when you mess with that grace and that identity that Christ has brought to you, that thought, that thinking that drives you to your own merit and worth, that thought can go to hell.
Paul said it another way in Philippians chapter three. He said, I like the way we put it in English because it doesn’t come across right. If I said the word that, that Paul’s actually saying here, half of you would probably leave. But he says in Philippians three eight, I count all things as rubbish and think, what rubbish is? I count all things as rubbish in Second Corinthians 1114 and talking about changing the doctrine of Christ and the gospel of of salvation through Jesus by his grace alone, he says that it comes from Satan. He was appearing as an angel of light. First Timothy chapter four and verse one he calls and messing with the identity of Christ and His salvation, and him as coming from the doctrine of demons. This brings us to a place in this passage through which Paul is recognizing within our minds the simplicity and importance of understanding the grace of God in your life. It is grace alone. By faith alone. Which you can come to Christ because what Christ has done for you on your behalf. Paul adds these words and these thoughts, and you notice in Galatians chapter one, verses seven and verse nine, he, he, he doesn’t just say, you know, you guys should reconsider this thinking this is not healthy for you.
He’s saying to the believers, listen, this is how we’re starting. I’m telling you this as a bunch of friends gathering together. But if you have this thought, let it go to hell. It’s robbing you of the joy through which Jesus has come to set you free. It’s by his grace on your behalf, not by your merit. Christ has created you to know you and to live with him forever. And it’s by his grace that it is done. Grace. Becomes important. And if you are a believer in Christ, this is why grace is so important to us. It is the theme of our message. It is the joy through which our relationship with Christ comes. And when you understand the grace of God and the light of who we are through Jesus. It takes your walk with God as more than just a religion, but it makes it personal about your relationship. The grace of God has come to set you free. And if you aren’t a believer in Christ, the thought of this grace is where you stumble. When you allow religion to reign over the grace of God, it destroys your theology and understanding of who God is. Let me give you an example. You talk about the theological word of justification, which means being made right in the eyes of God. We talk about. Apart from grace, it’s all about us and our effort when we talk about it in Jesus, it’s all about his accomplished work on the cross for your behalf.
You talk about the the doctrine of sanctification, it’s through which the believer in Christ continues to grow in the Lord and reflect him in this world. If you live that apart from the grace of God, you do so by your own merits and living in this world. But when you do it by the grace of God. It works. The transforming power of Christ in you. Without an understanding of grace. It destroys the very theology and framework as God has displayed himself and made himself known in our lives. Without grace. Your dependency becomes upon religious practice. Religious religion tells us that if you do this, you get to manipulate God. Or if you don’t do this and you break these rules, God doesn’t care about you. Religion tends to focus on you and not on Jesus, your works, and not on Jesus your power and not on Jesus. Religion ignores your identity in Christ and it stunts your walk with God and your joy in the Lord. Grace is important. And Paul says it becomes so important for us in our relationship with the Lord. He says this in verse seven, which is really not another. He’s talking about the gospel. You have deserted it in verse six to to follow another gospel, which is really not even a gospel at all.
There is no good news in that. Jesus alone has come to set you free. Conclude with these thoughts on grace. Why you follow God. This is important as what you obey about God. Because of his grace in your life. Because Jesus has come and paid for all of your sins. Hanging on the cross saying Tetelestai it is finished. It is paid in full. You no longer have to work or you don’t excuse me at any point. Have to work for your acceptance. But rather you work from your acceptance in Christ. Grace is the root of your relationship with God and peace is the fruit. Meaning we understand in life. In this world, we don’t always have peace and the things that we pursue. But when it comes to your relationship with God, if you’re not finding peace, the question you should stop and ask yourself is, have I really been covered in his grace? If you’re religious, life in the Lord feels like a constant struggle of proving your worth to him, hoping that he accepts you, then you don’t understand the grace of God. And in that you don’t discover peace. When you accept his grace. It redeems your life in him. The question that people tend to ask when you come to the grace of God, if we don’t have to merit it, we don’t have to prove our worth in God, then why even follow him? If his grace is that easy for me, then why follow God? And the answer to that is very simple grace is free.
But grace is costly. So we as believers and here this morning that have the understanding of grace and want to pursue that within our lives, the way that we do, that we don’t work for our acceptance. We work from our acceptance when we see what Jesus has done for us, and the way that Jesus has demonstrated his love for us and the extent through which he has loved you. The response for us isn’t to try to appeal, to have that love accept us, but to see the beauty of his worth in this world and just respond to that. God loved you. So that you could love him. The idea of love. Is that love produces love. Grace is free. But it is costly. And the moment you see the grace of Christ in your life, you see the beauty of who Jesus is. The gospel. The foundation. Of the church. Rest in the identity of this. When you allow anything to be added to Jesus. Other than the grace that he’s extended to you. That isn’t good news. That is in Christ. It’s rubbish. It denies the transforming power of Christ that desires to be present in your life, and you have given in to doctrines of demons and things that are unredeemable or only worthy of hell.
Christ has come to set you free. Christ has come, that you may enjoy him and know him, and be known by him for eternity. The Gospel of Christ rests in grace, and the message of his church proclaims this grace. To end it with this thought this morning. I’m glad if you’re here this morning. You come in, you say, you know what? My mommy loves me. I feel so loved because my mommy loves me. And, um. Or you could be coming in and saying this morning, uh, my spouse loves me. It’s great. We have this love for each other or my kids. I love my kids. Kids love me. This love is wonderful. But can I can I just tell you something about the grace of God? What it what it screams to us? What becomes the pillar for us as a church is that no one will ever love you more than Jesus loves you. No one will ever give more to you than Christ. What he’s already given, and what will he continue to give to you for eternity? His grace screams that in your life his calling rests upon you. He comes to your world not based on what you’re doing, but because he loves you despite your sin and he has come to set you free, that you may know him forever. In the moment you add anything, anything to that, it becomes something different than the gospel.
It is not good news at all. It will not set you free. It will put you in bondage. Christ has set you free and Christ has loved you more than anything in this world can ever compare to his grace is your anthem. And in his grace. This grace becomes the root of you being able to approach his throne and enjoy him for eternity. And the result of that? This piece. Peace in your heart through knowing him. If you’re here this morning and you feel loved, I’m glad you’re loved. If you’re here this morning and you feel a lack of love in your life, rejoice in the love that Christ has given to you and his grace. As you see the grace that he has extended on your behalf. Maybe the call for you this morning is to stop fighting, or to stop throwing the fig leaves before God, or stop hiding your heart before God. Stop proving your worth before God, but just simply fall to your knees and embrace the grace that he’s given you. Jesus has come to set you free. Jesus has come that despite the worth that you may feel is placed upon your life, Jesus sees an unbelievable amount of worth through which he wants to display his love upon, and he has come to set you free. Understanding his grace. Has implications for the rest of your Christian life. Because I’m living in his grace. You find is the place through which you grow in Jesus.