Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): Is the peace of God noticeably absent in your life? Here's one possible reason.

Pastor Ed Taylor: If today, you're not experiencing, as a believer, you're not experiencing the peace of God, maybe it's because you're relating to God very legalistically. You're relating to Him in such a way where you would rather beat yourself up, you would rather live in condemnation, you would rather have a list, and because you failed at the list, God could never forgive you, God could never receive you. Because people can be like that. People will not forgive and people will. People can be like that, but then we project that on God. And you've lost your peace because you walked away from grace. You forgot that it's all Him.

Guest (Male): This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. You lay down Your life that I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that You've done for me. Some go to college to earn a degree. Others work diligently for years in hopes of getting the job of their dreams. An athlete or musician will practice day after day to improve. In many areas of life, people put in the time and effort to achieve their goals. But when it comes to our salvation from sin and approval with God, we need to realize we can't earn it and we don't deserve it. It's by grace that we are saved, apart from works.

Guest (Male): Today on Abounding Grace, Pastor Ed Taylor visits the first five verses of Galatians Chapter 1. It's a marvelous declaration of the grace of God.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Paul says that Jesus is the one who appointed him. And the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 3 that Jesus is the apostle, capital A. He is our chief shepherd and our apostle. Paul's authority came directly from God and not man.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Those who desire, and this is important for you to realize in our current day construct, that those who desire to bring people under a legalistic religious bondage, will often magnify and amplify authority. They'll make that the big deal. They'll lead with authority. They'll lead with titles. I'm not going to ask for a raising of the hands or any agreement today, but I wonder how many are listening to me here and also online or on the radio that have ever worked for someone that always emphasized their authority and title, and they were very hard to follow because they weren't leaders.

Pastor Ed Taylor: They were just to go, how do you know? How did you know that they were always that? Well, because they would go around the office and say, I'm the junior, junior, junior, junior, junior supervisor now, and you must listen to me. Come on, bro, you were just working with me yesterday. Like, come on, they gave you authority to take out the trash. That's all you got now, you know. We were doing this job together, and now you're the junior, junior, junior, junior supervisor. All right.

Pastor Ed Taylor: And while they may have some kind of position, they lost relationship. Because now they're not connected with you anymore. Instead, between you and them is authority, and they demand that you respect that authority and the whole relationship gets changed. That's not the way of Jesus. But many people lead that way today. They will draw you to themselves through authority. You'll hear it, you'll see it. You might even drive through town. I've seen this before on the marquees or on the LED signs, there'll be an invitation, come and hear apostle so and so.

Pastor Ed Taylor: And they mean it like he's some kind of apostolic, like he's some kind of big deal. And I'll just let you know, I don't know the guy, I never met him, but he's no big deal. He's no big deal. Matter of fact, he's probably less of a person you would want to listen to if how he leads you is by making sure you know who he is. Just follow me, know me because I'm apostle so and so. No, no, you're not. You're actually not apostle so and so. You're not bishop so and so. You're just a brother. And you're just a sister, and together we meet in the word of God.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Does God give authority in the church today? He does. He gives delegated authority. But if you're in a church where you have men leading you with authority and titles, you're in the wrong church. Because the Bible says that the church is to be led by servant leaders. That Jesus gave the motto in Mark chapter 10 verse 45 where he says he came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

Pastor Ed Taylor: You go, well, wait a minute, pastor, there are times where I see your title or I may you may have asserted your authority and there are times where authority needs to be asserted, but it's almost always in a time where we're trying to convince you to what the Bible says. You see, the authority is in the Bible, not in the person. So if you sit down with me, there may be a significance where I am the pastor of this church. I am an elder in this church. And so here's what I'm trying to do. We have the Bible open, we're reading the same thing, it's clear as day, but you refuse to submit to the authority of God's word.

Pastor Ed Taylor: When you refuse to submit to the authority of God's word, then it's important that you have the authority of God's word asserted in your life again. And we beg you, and we pray for you, and if you're unwilling to submit to the authority of God's word, then you will not be able to enjoy the fellowship of God's people. You will not be able. That's called church discipline. And it is necessary, and it's needful. But that's not where it begins. That's the last resort in begging you to come back to the Lord.

Pastor Ed Taylor: You don't want to live under a legalistic authority. You don't want to have to find yourself in a position where the relationship with the leadership is always about their titles and their positions. We're just brothers and sisters in the Lord, doing what God has called us to do. And listen, for those that are in have delegated authority in this church, in this church. I have delegated authority, you have delegated, for those of us that have delegated authority to our chief shepherd, to our chief apostle. Remember this, only God can anoint and appoint spiritual leaders in his church. The best that we can do is recognize that. That's the best that we can do.

Pastor Ed Taylor: We can't convey that. We can't give that. We can't we don't have anointing to give you. You know how some apostles, if you come with me, I'll give you my anointing. Bro, I don't want your anointing. It's man-centered. I don't want anything to do with that nonsense. I want the anointing of God. I want the approval of God. I want the strength of God. I want the wisdom of God. I want the favor of God. I don't want some man's anointing. Well, you know, if you give to us and you follow me and you come to, we can extend our. No, no, keep it. Keep it.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Actually repent of it so that you can come to the place where in Psalm 75:7 it says that God is judge, he puts down one and exalts another. You can't exalt yourself. I mean, you can, but you're not going to last very long. You can come with your gifts and you can come and you can raise yourself up into a position, but that's not from the Lord. You don't want that. Even though sometimes in your flesh you want it, in your spirit, you want the Lord to do what he wants in your life.

Pastor Ed Taylor: And when we lay hands on someone here, or we're praying for someone here, the best that we can do is recognize the hand of God in someone's life. That's what we're doing. We're saying to you, if we have a brother up here, say, I want to introduce you to our newest pastor or a newest leader, what we're saying to you is that we see God's hand in his life. And we trust that God has sent him to us to help lead and serve this congregation.

Pastor Ed Taylor: That's all. We're not conveying authority. We don't have any authority to give. There is nothing in the Bible. This is important, church. There is nothing in the Bible that gives any one man the ability to pass on some sort of anointing or ministry to another. Only God can do that. And that's where Paul's saying, look, I'm a leader in the church. I'm an apostle. I'm in the strictest sense. I'm one of an exclusive group of 13, which are only 12 at a time.

Pastor Ed Taylor: And that's how I'm writing to you. You got to understand these guys are coming, they're lying, they're saying they're apostles, they're saying they have authority, but I'm telling you right now, God's hand has been upon my life. You guys remember when we came, we planted that church. He says it's through Jesus Christ, verse 1, the Father who raised him from the dead. And I'm writing with all the brethren that are with me. We have the affirmation of the church with me. He's writing, notice plural to all the churches in Galatia, verse 3.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Grace. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Another word to mark, the word grace. It's the Greek word Charis, C H A R I S. It's a beautiful word in the Greek. It has all the pictures of loveliness, of joy, of pleasure, that which affords delight and sweetness. It's a beautiful word that was used to describe something that was fun, enjoyable, sweet, lovely. That's how it was used in the first century.

Pastor Ed Taylor: There's also a technical, biblical definition for this word. When it's used in the Bible and it's used in relation to salvation, here's what it's describing. It's describing God's unmerited, unearned, and undeserved favor upon man. That's what he starts, grace. Grace is an important topic in the book of Galatians. It's mentioned seven times in six chapters and you'll see like a beautiful diamond, all the different facets of grace. This is where he leads. He leads with grace. He doesn't lead with condemnation, he doesn't lead with judgment, he leads with grace.

Pastor Ed Taylor: I give you It was a general greeting, by the way. It was a very general greeting, but in the context of the letter, he's very intentional. I want to start with grace, the favor of God upon you. The biggest issue of the Galatian believers is they have forgotten Jesus Christ, who's been so gracious to them. They got their eyes off of Jesus and on man, on the authority of man, these false teachers that had a strong word, a strong convincing argument for them. And the grace of God always brings us to a place of worship.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Now, a great way to remember the word grace, what it means is to just use the word G R A C E. If you can remember, that's called an acronym, and you remember the word grace, this is what it means biblically. You ready? God's riches at Christ's expense. God's riches, that means all that he's given to us, has come to us at the expense of Jesus. His blood that was shed. We enjoy the pleasure of God because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Our sins have been forgiven and washed away.

Pastor Ed Taylor: There's nothing that stands in the way of you and your Heavenly Father, because you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Right now, in Christ, you are righteous. Why? Because of your good works? Because you've been so strong this week? Well, I'm right with God because I read my Bible every day this week. No, you're right with God because of the blood of Jesus Christ. And you read your Bible because you love God. Not because it makes you right, because of what Jesus has done to make you right. Now you get to enjoy all the privileges of relationship.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Notice not only that, he says, grace to you and peace from God. Mark that word peace, it's the Greek word Eirene. It's spelled this way, E I R E N E. We're going to look at quite a few of the original words in this letters because they're very important. That's what makes a letter different than narrative. As we're just kind of walking through, we didn't stop too much at words, but in a text like this, in a letter, we're going to look at quite a few words, and this word peace is very important.

Pastor Ed Taylor: It has the idea in the first century, it means a state of national tranquility. It basically means a state without war. You're not at war with anyone. And it was used to describe countries that weren't at war. They were in a place of peace. They were enjoying Eirene. They were having a time of peace. But it's also used in the Bible to describe your relationship with God. Once you've experienced the grace of God, you know what the very next thing you enjoy is? Peace with God. You're no longer fighting Him. You're no longer at war with Him. You're no longer running from Him. You're no longer in a position against God. You are immediately in a position with Him.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Grace always precedes peace, not the other way around. Grace will always lead you to peace. Peace never precedes grace, always follows. Someone once said that grace is the fountain, but peace is the stream. And so you receive the goodness of God, not because of your own works, but because of what he has done, because of the cross of Christ. And what is the result? You're at peace. No more war. Nothing to hide. You speak the truth. You walk in the truth. It's like It's like the Galatians have become prodigals.

Pastor Ed Taylor: They had left the comfort and the enjoyment of their home and their peace with God. They abandoned God's peace because they abandoned God's grace. And those of you that are praying for your prodigals in your home right now and your family that have left, what have they they're always your kids, right? They're never going to stop being your kids ever. A million years, they will never stop being your kids. But what did they what did they stop by their choice to leave? They stopped enjoying you. They stopped enjoying your home. They stopped enjoying the peace that was theirs. It's the same thing that happens when you sin. And when I choose to sin, I abandon peace. I choose war when I choose sin.

Pastor Ed Taylor: I choose a position of being an adversary with God. I choose a position as a believer being an enemy of God. And therefore my peace is stolen away from me, but really it wasn't stolen. I gave it away willingly. No one sins by accident. And here the Galatians, God is God is calling them back through Paul to grace and the peace that's theirs. Let me just say this, and we don't have much time to develop it, but I do want to share this question.

Pastor Ed Taylor: If today you're not experienced, as a believer, you're not experiencing the peace of God, maybe it's because you're relating to God very legalistically. You're relating to Him in such a way where you would rather beat yourself up, you would rather live in condemnation, you would rather have a list, and because you failed at the list, God could never forgive you, God could never receive you. Because people can be like that. People will not forgive and people will. People can be like that, but then we project that on God. And you've lost your peace because you walked away from grace. You forgot that it's all Him. It's all Him.

Pastor Ed Taylor: When were you saved? When was I saved? When I was saved, in my worst. I was lost as lost could be. I was in the height of rebellion against God, and yet God loved me still. How much more now as his child, wooing me back to himself. If you don't have peace in your walk, maybe you're just very legalistic. Maybe you're antagonistic. Maybe you're antagonistic against anything that's outside of the little box of your theological construct, where you've got it all figured out. I meet people that way. They just got it all figured out, and they just want to argue and defend their little box, defend their little box.

Pastor Ed Taylor: God's saying, I mean, there's a big world out there for you that's filled with grace and freedom, where you can relate to me as you are, and you come you come to me. God says, and I I will do the work in your life. You know how many times you'll think, if I want to follow God, I've got to clean up my life. And really, it's the other way around, isn't it? You follow God, and he'll clean up your life. You follow God, and he'll deliver you. You follow God, and he'll forgive you. He'll cleanse you. He'll release you. It's not what you can do. We're not saved by good works. We're saved for them. And God begins to work in places that only he can work.

Pastor Ed Taylor: The Galatians needed to be reminded of the beauty of relationship with Jesus that they left behind. They had exchanged grace and peace of God with rules and regulations. They had exchanged grace and peace of God with condemnation of legalism. Let me show you. Go over to chapter 5, verse 4. He says it very clearly. What happened? Chapter 5, verse 4. Paul says, you have become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace. This is the common theme of most men and women that are under the bondage of legalism.

Pastor Ed Taylor: We're going to be talking a lot about and learning a lot about legalism in our study. But let me give you a quick definition. Erwin Lutzer, I think, does a great job. Let me quote him. He says, legalism is self-righteousness. It is the belief that God is satisfied with our attempt to obey a moral code. Legalists keep the law for self-glory or to merit some reward. They do not keep it because it expresses the desire of their heart. Legalism always deals with the motives of the heart. It's always an issue of the heart. Am I obeying God because I love Him? Or am I obeying God for outward show? Because I'm afraid.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Am I living for God because I love Him and I know he loves me, or am I living so I can show somebody or give some like have some kind of outward show for people. Instead of saying, no, Lord, it's just between you and me. I love you. You love me and I give you my life. It's always a matter of the heart. And our hearts will be revealed during this study, and the surprise of the room will be in every service just how much legalism is in the room. You might have grown up with it. You might have been raised with it. And not even religious legalism.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Parents, again, we can't, I can't develop it now because we're going to be out of time, but parents, I beg you, please do not oversee your home legalistically. It's a love relationship with your kids. As you disciple them and as you help them along the way, you got to remember, for most of you, when you brought that baby home, that baby. What did that baby do for you anyway? Nine months was sucking the life out of you and making you tired, and then it came out and it starts screaming and yelling and soiling itself and demanding, demanding, demanding. And what did you do? You love that little thing. It's like, this is the best. I can't believe you're so nervous, you're so careful, you're just protective and loving.

Pastor Ed Taylor: And something switches along the way where your discipling and your training, if you're not careful, your relationship now is just enforcing, just enforcing rules. You're not doing the rules. You're not doing the rules. And you do that long enough, there's separation. That's how you get with God. If you think God's just a rule enforcer today, then you're living in a way where you don't understand he loves you. He loves you as that screaming, crying, pooping baby that you were. We just got to keep changing your diaper over and over and over again. He loves you. He cares for you.

Pastor Ed Taylor: And in a nurturing, loving environment, the response of that baby, our response is love. Love always begets more love in a real relationship. Love always draws out love in a real relationship. So be careful.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Notice finally, in verse 4, it says, speaking of Jesus, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. I love this word deliver. I looked it up today. The word deliver is the same word that Jesus uses to describe when he says, if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Same word, deliver it. Get rid of it. Take it out. Deliver you have been delivered. This is the essence of grace. You have been delivered from this present evil age.

Pastor Ed Taylor: And by the way, we need to step back for a second and let's let the Bible say what it is. The age in which you live is evil. And this always this always shocks me. I shouldn't, but when I see it in my life, I also see it in the church's life. When you embrace this culture that hates you. The culture hates you. The culture is designed to destroy you and take advantage of you. This culture in a spiritual realm hates your Savior. You know, if Jesus, well, you know, if Jesus came back today with all the technology, he'd be so much more successful. No, if Jesus was here in this generation, they'd kill him too.

Pastor Ed Taylor: They hate Jesus, and they hate you. And yet, so many of you take in and embrace this culture like it's your friend. And the Bible says it's your present evil age. Paul would even say it gets worse in 2 Timothy 3, he would say that in the last days, perilous times will come. And so you consume the media of this culture, the music of this culture, the attitude of this culture, the thinking of this culture, the education of this culture. And I just want to remind you today, brother to brother, brother to sister, this present age is evil.

Pastor Ed Taylor: And if you sow to the flesh, you will reap corruption. It will catch up to you. It's evil. There's nothing in this. We live in a different, now Jesus told us that we're in this world, we're not of this world. We live in a different kingdom while we're in this world. You just got to be careful because it says here you've been delivered. You've been plucked out. This is the same Greek word that's used in the New Testament to describe the deliverance of the nation of Israel from Egypt. In order to be delivered, you leave. You leave it behind. It's part of your past.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Paul, I think knows exactly his time of deliverance. It takes him right back to the road to Damascus. He knows what kind of life he lived. That was his deliverance. The Galatian believers, they could remember what they were delivered from. They remember when Paul came with Barnabas in Acts 14. They remember the decision they made. They remember the salvation they received. They could remember. I remember. I remember like it was yesterday. I remember the whole environment surrounding how bad my life was when I was invited to a church like this.

Pastor Ed Taylor: I was in this culture. The present evil age was my present evil age. I lived it to its fullest as it was destroying me day by day, and destroying relationships, and destroying the people that loved me as well as the people that I cared for. I remember what I was delivered from.

Guest (Male): That is Pastor Ed Taylor on Abounding Grace. The Galatians needed to be reminded of the beauty of relationship with Jesus. They had exchanged grace and peace with God with rules and regulations. And maybe that's a reminder you needed to hear. If you joined us late or would just like to hear this message again, drop by aboundinggraceradio.com. Another way to take in a steady dose of God's word is through the app. It's free. We're also on onplace.com. Abounding Grace is made possible through the support of our listeners, and when you give a donation of $25 or more to Abounding Grace, we'll send you a copy of When the Storm Hits by Chuck Smith. Maybe you're in a storm even as we speak. Know this, the Lord stands by you, His purpose sustains you, and God's word will encourage and guide you.

Guest (Male): So if you're feeling a little overwhelmed by the waves, see how to get anchored on Jesus the rock as you read When the Storm Hits. Call 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-30-GRACE. You can also get the book online at calvaryco.store. Join us next week for Abounding Grace when Pastor Ed will go deeper into Galatians Chapter 1.

Guest (Male): This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. You laid down your life. That I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church, Colorado, here in Aurora.