Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): Pastor Ed says God's love for us isn't contingent upon how good we are, but rather His grace.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Are you trying to earn God's favor through your devotions or through your regular church attendance or by memorizing verses or handing out gospel tracts or all sort—is that, is your motive behind that? "I am good with God because I do good." Do you think God loves you just because you do things for him? Do you think you're in a right standing before God because you don't do bad things now?

That you've avoided that and you've done that, and now because you're doing good and not doing bad, now God must love you? If so, then you have left the simplicity of the gospel because God loves you. Period. And all your behavior, all your decisions are not going to cause God to love you any more or any less.

Guest (Male): We are back in Galatians today on Abounding Grace. It's good to be with you. Hypocrisy exists in the church, and something we need to be aware of, as it can easily creep into our own lives. When we're not real or giving the full story, it's displeasing to God.

In the latter half of chapter two, the Apostle Paul is dealing with hypocrisy in the church. Now in this case, someone wasn't being straightforward about the truth of the gospel. Let's join Pastor Ed Taylor for today's message.

Pastor Ed Taylor: If you ever see me do something wrong, do not follow me in that wrong. I just set you guys up again. Let me go out and come back in. I'm really serious about it because we live in a day and age where everybody's failures are exposed and everything. Even if someone you respect and honor, if they're doing something wrong, don't follow them.

Don't let their bad behavior be an excuse for your bad behavior. Someone's sin doesn't give you permission to sin. And even someone you respect and honor and follow and do ministry and do life together, if they do something bad, like Barnabas here watching Peter, don't follow them. You keep your eyes on the Lord. Very, very important. Otherwise, you can say, "Well, I'm just going to follow—" No, no, no. That's where people get ripped off.

Again, Paul is writing to the Galatians saying this issue you guys are dealing with, it's not an unusual issue. I had to deal with this in Peter's life. I had to speak up. I had to tell him what you're doing is wrong, man. What you're doing is wrong. Not only that, but notice in verse 14 hypocrisy is described in this instance as not being straightforward about the truth of the gospel. What's the truth of the gospel? The Gentiles are saved the same way Jews are saved: by grace through faith.

And through Peter's behavior, he sent mixed messages as a leader in the church that somehow Gentiles were less and so not worthy of his time because he feared man. And Peter, he stood, or Paul stood up to Peter and says, "Hey," I told him before and in front of everyone what you're doing is wrong. The way you're behaving right now, it's not right. We're Jews and Gentiles. We're all saved the same way, is really what verse 14 and 15 is saying.

Then he gets to verse 16 and he says knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. Now, if you like to write in your Bibles, I'm going to give you things to mark. I want you to mark them. It's okay to write in your Bible. It's okay to highlight them different colors. You got to see this. This is really one of the core teachings of the book of Galatians, but it's also one of the core teachings of the Bible, the whole Bible. This one verse so powerful that's testified and confirmed throughout the rest of the scriptures.

And I want you to see it because some of you, you'll be set free today. Some of you, your eyes will be open. Some of you will see it clearly. So he says, "Look, knowing that a man..." so this is settled doctrine. Settled when? In the early church back in Acts 15, but it's always been the heart of God. "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by..." what does your Bible say? "...by faith." Circle the phrase "by faith." Faith in Jesus.

"Even we have..." what does your Bible say? "...even we have believed." Circle that: "believed" in Jesus. "Not by works of the law, for by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified." Now, skip that. "That we might be justified by faith." So circle "by faith" three times. You notice that? By faith, by faith, believe.

Three times. One of the reasons why I think it's three times here is because Peter was a three-timer. Did you know that? Peter was a three-timer when he denied Jesus how many times? Three. When Jesus came to restore him, how many times? Three. When it's mentioned here in the life of Peter, maybe that was a reputation that he had, that he was a three-timer. Well, here you go. Three times I want you to understand this, Paul says. It's by faith. It's by faith. It's your belief. Understand this.

But not only that, one other thing is mentioned three times. Did you notice that? You got to hear it out loud. I'll just read it to you. We are not justified by the works of the law. That we might be justified not by the works of the law. By the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. Did you get it? You are not saved by works. You are not saved by works. You are not saved by works.

In this case, what they're dealing with is the law, but any works. None of us are justified by works. And now some of you might be new to the Bible. You go, "What do you mean, justified? What does that mean?" Glad you asked. Justified is a technical word, theological word. If you'd like to study it, I did Bible studies on this. That's one of the advantages, by the way, of teaching through the whole Bible verse by verse, that you can go back to other places and we taught on that.

So I taught on justification, glorification, and sanctification in the book of Romans. You can just look it up online or on our app if you want to go in deeper, but I'm going to give you a definition that's way down on the lower shelf so you can pick it up because I want you to understand it. Men have spent their whole life writing books on this topic, but I'm just going to give it to you a very simple way so you can remember it.

Justification is a synonym for being born again. It was the moment in time, millisecond in time, you were declared righteous in the eyes of God or what Jesus would say is born again. This is how you remember it: that by the blood of Jesus Christ, when you and I were justified because it happened in an instant moment, instantly you were justified. This is what it means: that when you and I are born again, God now sees us—ready?—just as if I never sinned.

That's what the blood of Jesus Christ has done in your life. That in Christ, He doesn't see all of your failures. He doesn't see all of your weaknesses. He doesn't see all of your past. He sees Jesus in you. He sees the righteousness of Jesus in you and upon you. He sends His Holy Spirit to dwell in you. You have been justified. So when he says we haven't been justified by works, what he would be saying in how we would say it today is you are not born again by works.

You are not saved by works. You are saved for works. They do come, but you have to have them in the right order. And he says it very clear, three times on both of them. Three times: faith, faith, believe. No, no, no to works. We're not justified by works, but by faith. Even the Jews knew that the law couldn't save a person. Even they knew.

I use the same illustration so by now you're going to know it. You're going to remember it, and that's a good thing. But I think of our driving habits when we're driving through and we see the speed limit sign. I want you to remember this about that. Not only does it tell you as you compare the number to your speedometer—let's just say the number on the sign is less than your speedometer—so right away that sign has revealed to you that you're a sinner in that moment.

You're a speeder. You're not keeping the law. You're a lawbreaker. That's what that little sign just showed you. You looked at the number, you looked at your speedometer, and you should conclude, "What a sinner I am!" Now, let me add another part to this illustration. That sign has no ability to help you stop speeding. It has none. Zero. All it can do is reveal to you that you're sinning.

It can show you the divine standard or the city standard, but it's not able to get off the pole, chase you down the street, jump in the car, and take your foot off the accelerator. It can't do that. It's an inanimate object. It can't do that. And that's what Paul is saying in relation to the law and salvation. The law can do a lot of things: reveal to you, show you, tutor you. It can't save you. It has no power. It leads you to the one who does save you: God, through His son Jesus Christ.

It's important that we understand that because in your life, you can replace grace with works very easily and very quickly. The essence of Paul's letter to the Galatians is that we're saved by faith, not by works. So it's important to pause and just ask a few questions in self-examination today. Are you trying to earn God's favor through your good works? Are you trying to earn God's favor through your devotions or through your regular church attendance or by memorizing verses or handing out gospel tracts or all sort—is your motive behind that?

"I am good with God because I do good." Do you think God loves you just because you do things for him? Do you think you're in a right standing before God because you don't do bad things now? That you've avoided that and you've done that, and now because you're doing good and not doing bad, now God must love you? If so, then you have left the simplicity of the gospel because God loves you. Period. And all your behavior, all your decisions are not going to cause God to love you any more or any less.

It does have everything to do with your enjoyment of relationship, though. I mean, I know it's a good choice to be in fellowship and you're like, "You know what? I need to be in church more often." You do. Or, "I need to read my Bible more often." That's right. And my prayer life can improve. For sure. And I really need to obey this one scripture. Like some of you, you're just brand new. We had people respond to the gospel.

You need to be water baptized. Yes, you do need to be water baptized, but not to earn God's favor, but because God has already given you His favor. It's a big difference. I was thinking today, how many parents—again, how many parents would look at your kids and say, "You know what? You got to prove to me every day that you're my kid." Like they get up on Wednesday, "Where's your ID? Where's your ID? Show me. Prove to me."

"Do this work and that'll prove that you're my son. Do this thing and I'll prove. And you know, if you do 10 other things, I might show you more love." That's not a healthy parenting style. It's not good. No parent that loves his kids, no parent that loves her kids would ever do that to them. But you automatically love your kids. It's just automatic. You look at them, even when they do things that may not reflect the culture and character of your family, you love them nonetheless. Why? Because they're your kids. They're your kids.

How much more than a human parent showing love to their kids does our Heavenly Father show us love? If our kids turn their back on us, I think of the prodigal son, and just went and lived a riotous living, will we stop loving them? No. Never. Our prayer lives will increase: "Come home. Come home. Come home. Please stop hurting yourself."

The blessings of God do not depend upon what we do or don't do. The blessings of God don't depend upon what we say or don't say. No, the blessings of God are based on His love working through your faith. It's so simple. We often take the credit for things only God does. Because you look at your life right now and you're sharing your testimony. You go, "Oh, you won't believe the things that I've changed ever since I became a Christian.

I stopped cussing. I stopped drinking. I stopped partying. And you don't know what I'm doing now. I'm going to church. I'm reading the Bible." And you're like, "Why? Why do you do that?" Well, because I'm a Christian. No, that's not why you do that. The reason you do that is that God has revealed His love to you and you're saved, and now He's put those desires in your heart. They weren't there before.

We can't take credit for any of that. The only thing we can take credit for is how much we enjoy following Jesus. How good it is! What a great life He's given me. What changes He's brought in my life. What He's going to, what He's done, and what He's doing only makes me excited for what He wants to do. But it's not because of my good works, my moral decisions. You know, I'm now personally, I believe that I am providing and giving and helping make society better.

I really do. There was a time in my life where I was a drain on society. Now as a born-again believer, I believe I am contributing to the good of society. I believe that with all my heart. But why? Is it because now I just want to be a good citizen? Is that why? Because I just want to make good moral decisions and that's it? Now I'm a Christian, so now I'm going to follow the list and I'm going to do all these good things?

I say no. The reason why I am a contributor to society today is because of all that God has done in my life. I am a responder. He initiates it. He works in your life. He works in my life. And we have to have that in order. Now, a couple things before we go. First of all, it was once said, and I believe it to be true, that if the doctrine of grace is taught properly and it's understood properly, it will be very offensive to some.

And I'll tell you who it's going to be offensive to: those of you that have spent your whole life working to please God. And you got some guy coming up, "What do you mean, I don't have to do anything? What are you talking about? Have I done all these good works for nothing?" Oh, no, no. No. You haven't done all these good works for nothing because the world is a better place because of your good works.

But don't think for a moment that all your good works somehow earned you special favor with God. It's only the blood of Jesus Christ that saves you. You may ask, "Does all this mean that all these great things don't mean anything?" No, they do. "Does it mean that I can live any way I want and just without any restraints?" No, no, no. That's not what Paul's teaching at all. The truth is this—ready? Sin will ruin your life.

It will always demand the wage, and the wage is always death. Sin will always ruin you. It'll destroy your family. It'll wipe out your health. It'll demolish your joy. It'll bring you down to the lowest depths of despair. You'll start to think about suicidal thoughts. You'll start to hurt the people that love you. But what Paul is saying, he's not saying go ahead and sin all you want because it's grace. No, no, no.

What he's saying is that grace will change you and your behavior will follow the work of your—you don't have to look to any list. You don't have to look to anything because usually what happens is this, and you'll see it in your own life. You have a bad day, you have a bad week, and immediately, "Got to get back to church. Got to get back to church." Why? "Well, I'm out of God's favor. I need to get back in God's favor." No, no, no.

You need to get back to church for sure, but not to gain God's favor. You had a bad week, you yelled at the kids, had a bad day as a parent, you go, "Oh man, I need to pray more." Yeah, you do need to pray more, but not to gain favor with God. He loves you already. Your prayer life is to be in tune with Him so that your desire to express love to your kids, the motive is very important.

It's not to stay saved or to get saved. Our Christian activity comes out of relationship. I think of the singles in our church that get married. They have a change of relationship. And if a single person that gets married wants to continue to live a single life, they're going to have a hard time in their marriage. Can I get an amen on that? Because automatically, you have a new relationship, you're going to live differently.

Automatically. You don't even know how to live differently yet, but you'll learn. She'll tell you, don't worry. It's true. It's true. It goes both ways. But your change in relationship changes your behavior automatically because you want to, not because you have to. And that's where verse 20 comes in. Notice, he says, "I have been crucified with Christ." That's new identity. "It's no longer I who live." That's new behavior. "But Christ lives in me." And that's the new power.

"And the life that I now live in the flesh," that's your humanity, "you live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I don't set aside the grace of God," Paul says. "If righteousness came through the law, then Christ died in vain." And that's the point he makes. He says like Christ did not die in vain because He is exhibit one in grace, but He also had Titus with him. Titus is an exhibit. We know Christ did not die in vain.

So you got to back up and go, "Okay, wait a minute. If Christ didn't die in vain, which is true, it wasn't empty or worthless that He died, then you got to back up and go, okay, I see the grace of God. It's God in me, the hope of glory. It's His strength, His wisdom, His help." Verse 20 was life-changing in my life. It's the second verse that I ever was told to memorize after Proverbs chapter three verses five and six.

I was struggling very legalistic as a new believer, very difficult things going on in our marriage. If you've ever, if you're married to a legalist or you know one, you know how hard it is to be with them. So I'm struggling and in the hallway of the Children's Ministry some brother came up and go, "How are you doing Ed?" I'm like, "I'm horrible. Marie's mad at me and I'm a horrible legalist," whatever I said.

And he was so gentle and so kind. He says, "I know what you need. You need to memorize this scripture." I go, "What? Tell me which one." And he took me right here and he said, "Ed, you're not living, you're not living in the power of Jesus in your marriage." And I didn't even understand what that meant yet. But I do know this, I put this scripture in my heart and for 35-plus years God has used it to change my life and remember that I'm not living this life in the energy of Ed or the wisdom of Ed.

It's not my Bible knowledge or my prayer time or my study time that God will use in your life. It is His. It is His power, His strength, His word, His direction, His gifts. It's all Jesus and zero you and zero me. That's grace. Again, I anticipate these questions and go, "What do you mean Ed, you don't have to do anything?" I don't mean that at all. I need to present myself to God a living sacrifice.

I need to come to Him daily, but it's not just need, I want to. This is my new desire, my new why? Because He put His life inside of me. It is the grace of God, the grace of God. Again, what is it church? The grace of God. It's not of works. I've been crucified with him. Under the law I get tired, guilty, condemned, shame-ridden, but in Jesus Christ, He gave me freedom from sin and He wiped away the guilt and the shame and He's given me the strength to do.

It's by the death and resurrection of Jesus where there's absolute proof there is no other way to heaven except through the grace that is shown through Him and Him alone. Paul was a champion of grace. He defended it before the church and the message of grace is ours today. Freedom in Jesus Christ, true freedom. Freedom from the demands of the law, freedom from the besetting sins, freedom from addictions, any religious system that someone man has designed to try to make you righteous, you're free from it all.

You're free from any cult, any false teaching, any weird family thing that you grew up with, you're free. You're a new creation in Christ. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And that's the message of Galatians, but it's the message of Christianity: that in Christ you are set free. You have a new identity. You don't bring your old identity with you, you know. You crucify it. You reckon the old man dead.

You are the only thing that gets resurrected is new life, not old life. And nobody wants to meet the old you. Did you know that? I don't want to meet the old you. And you certainly don't want to meet the old me. But praise God we get to gather together in the newness of Christ. The gospel is good news, not bad news, and available to anyone that will come to Him today. Amen.

Guest (Male): And with that we'll draw today's Abounding Grace to a close. Pastor Ed Taylor is in the middle of a study in Galatians. Catch a replay when you visit aboundinggraceradio.com or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Here in the month of May, we picked out an excellent book written by Chuck Smith called *When the Storm Hits*. If you're struggling with life's burdens, this is a must-read.

From the ability to discern spiritual warfare and how it can affect our emotions to the realization that God is intimately aware of everything we are going through, this book will restore hope and peace to the weariest of believers. God may not always deliver us from the storms of life, but He is faithful to be with us as we go through them. And we'll send you a copy with our thanks for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace.

Please remember, it is through your financial support that we're able to come to you day by day on stations all across the nation. Your gift, whatever the size, would be greatly appreciated and put to good use. Request your book today by calling us toll-free at 877-30-GRACE. Again, 877-30-GRACE. You can also order the book online at calvaryco.store. And if you'd rather not have the book but still want to make a donation, that can be done rather easily at aboundinggraceradio.com.

And we'd like to connect with you before the day is done. Say hello. Tell us what God is up to in your life when you visit aboundinggraceradio.com and then click on "Contact Us". We'll return to Galatians all next week on Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed. Have a great weekend and God bless. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church, Colorado, here in Aurora.