Leading The Way

Guest (Male): Listen today as Dr. Michael Youssef reveals the awesomeness of God's grace in the pages of the Bible on Leading The Way.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Here in the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul becomes the most indignant that you ever see him anywhere in all of his writings. Why? Because he knew that when you teach that salvation through grace plus whatever that plus is, I don't care what it is, you repudiate the whole gospel of Jesus Christ.

He knew that when you preach that salvation is through faith plus, you empty the cross of Jesus Christ of its power. You empty the cross of Christ of its value.

Guest (Male): Before Dr. Youssef begins these encouraging teachings about the amazing grace of God, here's how to get in touch with Leading The Way. You can call us, 866-626-4356. That's how you can order a product or discover giving options.

Or if you'd rather connect online, you can start at LTW.org. Dr. Youssef and the team also love getting your notes delivered by our friendly postal carriers. You can address yours to Leading The Way, Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia 30325. Wait just a little bit, though, before you call or click or even write because you don't want to be distracted as you listen to Dr. Youssef as he teaches about God's grace alone. Here he is to begin today's Leading The Way.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Today there are Christians who live their lives that is so deprived of joy, is so deprived of peace, it is so deprived of hope simply because they do not know from day to day if they're going to go to heaven or go to hell. If they are pleasing God or not pleasing God. If they're going to make it or not going to make it. One day they're up, one day they're down.

Some of you heard me say that I was taught as a young boy growing up in that church that if I went to the movies, smoked, or played cards, or God forbid made a purchase on the Lord's day, even if it's necessary, I have fallen from grace. That's what the church taught.

And the preacher would lean on the pulpit, and I still remember him, and he'll point that finger and I was sitting in the front. And he would say, "The cinema, the devil's house." And he would say, "If Jesus returns and you're in the movies, the devil's house, you spend eternity in hell."

The few times that I have violated this rule as a youngster and I went inside the devil's house, I never enjoyed the movie. My wife would testify we don't go to movies much at all, but when we do, I am miserable. I'm not enjoying it. I'm always worried Jesus is going to come back and I'm not going to see the end of the movie.

I don't mind telling you if my preacher would see what kind of movies Christians see today, he would die a thousand deaths. That's a different subject. I'm going to get to that at some point.

But those of us who have been brought up in legalism, and if you were not brought up in legalism, brother, sister, just rejoice. But those of us who been brought up in legalism will probably struggle with it for a very long time. But when the Apostle Paul is using the term falling from grace, he did not mean that a Christian would lose his or her salvation when they fall in sin. It does not mean that no amount of repentance will ever get you to heaven. That is not what he's saying.

Why? Because it is the grace of God that saves us. It is the grace of God that sustains us, and it is the grace of God that's going to present us to the Father blameless and holy in that day of glory. That's what the grace of God is, a complete job from beginning to end.

So what does the Apostle Paul mean by fallen from grace? He was talking about legalism. Well, some of you when I mentioned that word earlier in the piece probably very few of you but very important for me, I can see your mind switch and say, what's legalism? Well, we don't know what that means. Well, I am glad you asked. I want to tell you.

Legalism says that you are not saved by God's grace alone, but rather you are saved by God's grace plus keeping some external rituals, some external rules, some external practices. That's what legalism in a nutshell.

There are some people still think and judge Christians by the clothes they wear, or the type of music they like to listen to, or the style of worship they prefer, or the length of the dress, or the length of the hair and all the rest of it. You know what I'm talking about.

There are people even today who believe that you can only please God by observing certain external rules, certain external rituals. We saw in the last message how we are saved by grace alone through faith alone.

And even that faith is not our faith, it's a gift from God. God gives us faith because without that faith that He gives us to open our eyes, we would not recognize that we are sinners and heading for hell and we need His help and we need His grace.

In fact, that faith is given to us as a gift not only makes us recognize our condition without Christ that is miserable, but it helps us to be able to receive the grace of God because in our natural fallen nature, we can never receive the grace of God.

So the faith alone as we saw in Ephesians chapter two is that when we were dead in trespasses and sin, when Paul said we were dead, we were dead, dead, dead in trespasses and sin. There was no life in us. And dead people cannot believe. Dead people cannot repent. Dead people cannot receive the grace of God. So He had to breathe the gift of faith in us in order to revive us therefore to be able to recognize our condition. He breathes that faith in order that we may be able to receive the grace of God.

So what is falling from grace then? What is this falling from grace all about? Listen carefully, please. Falling from grace is when you cease to believe that only God's grace can save you. Falling from grace is when you trust in some external rule, on some made-man ritual, or some man-made idea, or some church dogma that's going to get you to heaven.

Falling from grace is when you follow a certain dogma believing that that dogma is going to get you to heaven. Falling from grace is when you are observing certain religious rituals believing that that's going to get you to heaven. That is falling from grace.

Falling from grace is when you add something, whatever it is, baptism, communion, it doesn't matter what it is. If you add anything, whatever that thing is to the grace of God to give you favor with God.

Chapter five, Epistle to the Galatians, here's what Paul is saying. He's saying to them to fall from grace is to fall into legalism. That's what he's saying. To fall from grace is to fall into legalism.

And since choosing legalism is the abandoning of the grace principle by which you can only relate to God, therefore you have turned away from the all-sufficiency of the grace of God, all the necessity of the grace of God for salvation.

Well, let me give you a quick background about the church in Galatia. That's modern-day Turkey. Paul comes in, preaches the gospel of grace, salvation through Jesus Christ, Christ alone, faith alone, grace alone, and then the church grew. People believed, and then he left.

A group of people called the Judaizers came in. The Judaizers, they're the ones who taught that yes, you are saved through faith in Jesus Christ plus the keeping of the ceremonial law. You're not saved by Christ alone, the cross alone, faith alone, grace alone. No, you have that plus. And therefore, if you have that and not the other, you're not really saved. That's what they were teaching.

And you can understand why Paul is absolutely furious. These Judaizers, like their modern-day successors, they have a strategy and they have a very deceptive strategy. They really do. It never changes. I mean, you just look at it through history, it's the same strategy.

First of all, you try to destroy the credibility of the preacher of the truth. Then you turn in and you destroy the truth that he is preaching. That's what they were doing.

These people who came from Jerusalem said, "Oh, Paul wasn't one of the twelves. The twelve don't believe him. He doesn't understand. He wasn't there at the resurrection time." And that's why Paul had to defend his own apostleship to these people.

And once people began to say, "Yeah, I'm not really sure about this Paul guy," once they succeeded in that and said, "Now, let me tell you what he's teaching is not the whole truth. He just teaches through grace alone, but really you have to keep all these ceremonial laws as well if you really want to make it to heaven." That's the incredible, incredible deception.

Here in the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul becomes the most indignant that you ever see him anywhere in all of his writings. Why? He had a very good reason and I thank God for it that we have it today.

Because he knew that when you teach that salvation through grace plus whatever that plus is, I don't care what it is, you repudiate the whole gospel of Jesus Christ.

He knew that when you preach that salvation is through faith plus, you empty the cross of Jesus Christ of its power. You empty the cross of Christ of its value. That is why the Apostle Paul is so indignant in this epistle, and that is why he is so emphatic.

Look at verses two, three, and four of Galatians five. Here's what he's saying. He's saying if the person is trying to be saved by works, that person had fallen from grace into legalism and therefore he cannot be saved at all since no one can be saved in any other way other than grace alone.

When you witness be careful ever to give somebody some rule to obey. Tell them that Jesus loves them and that He's ready to give His grace free. They don't have to jump through hoops to get to Christ, that His grace is free.

And when the grace of God come into their life, they will recognize that they're sinners and they need to repent. When the faith comes into their lives, they're going to come to the point of receiving the Lord Jesus Christ because that's His job not yours. Your job is to witness. Don't give them 12 steps or 13 step formula or this or that or the other thing for them to be Christians. No.

And that is why I thank God every single day and we all should be thankful to God for preserving His word for us today. So that we can tell what is the error, so we can tell what is wrong, so we can tell what is false teaching. That He preserved His word for us today so we can know the difference between man's way and God's way. And make no mistake about it, legalism is man's way, not God's.

In fact, in the fourth century, the Epistle to the Galatians was already in circulation by then. By the fourth century, we see the beginning of the entry of legalism into the church. There were some monks who lived on a diet of bread, salt, and water thinking that this is how they can please God. There were some monks who wore only a loincloth of thorns. Simon Stylites prostrated himself 1,224 times a day thinking that this is how he can earn God's favor.

When the Bible clearly said that God's grace is an unmerited favor, undeserved favor. Don't ever think that you deserve the grace of God.

The question that always follows when you preach on grace, if I stop here I would have been just as in error as the others. People would say, the natural response when they hear salvation by grace alone, there are some who would say, now that I'm saved by grace, can I just break every one of the commandments?

Please hear me right on this one. Anyone who says this, anyone who practices this, anyone who believes this is not saved. Is not saved. I'm going to explain to you why.

The Bible tells us that those who are saved by faith alone are not habitual lawbreakers. Those who have experienced the love and the grace of God not only going to keep the letter of the law, they're going to keep the spirit of the law.

What do you mean by the spirit of the law? Those who receive the grace of God by faith alone and receive the Lord Jesus Christ into their life, not only they're not going to kill because that's what the commandment said, they're not even going to hate, which is the first step that will get you to killing.

You see, that's the spirit of the law. Those who have received the grace of God and the love of God and overwhelmed with the salvation given so free, not only they're not going to covet somebody else's property and possession, they are going to give sacrificially of their own life and of their own resources no matter how little they have or how much they have.

You see, that's the spirit of the law. Those who have received the grace of God so freely by faith alone believing the Lord Jesus Christ, they don't only not take revenge, they are forgive those who even hurt them and despise them because they love their enemies. That's the spirit of the law.

The Bible tells us that there are people who can keep the external laws. Remember the rich young ruler came to Jesus, said what do I do to be saved? He said keep the commandments. Said, oh, I kept all those. He said, you know, there are number of instance. The older brother in the prodigal son story in Luke 15. He stayed home singing in the church choir and did all the right things. He kept them all. Man, he can tick them all off.

But listen to me, please. They may be able to keep the external law, but deep down they are haters. Deep down they are prideful. Deep down they are angry. Deep down they are covetous. Deep down they are idolaters. You see, grace changes the heart.

The one and all-important question, listen carefully, please. How then can a Christian who is saved by grace alone, faith alone keep the letter of the law as well as the spirit of the law? Not saved through them, but once he's saved, once she's saved, they keep them. How can they do that?

One everything around us trying to pull us away. How can they do this? Well, the Holy Scriptures tell us that when you are saved by grace alone, the Holy Spirit of God came into dwell on the inside of you.

Why? The Spirit of God is to empower you to do the impossible. The Holy Spirit of God is there to strengthen you to do what is humanly cannot be done. The Holy Spirit of God comes into your life in order to guide you to do the undoable.

You see, legalism imposes an outward code. It can never change the person's inner desire and inner heart. That is why I think this fallacy of political correctness that has been thrown around in this country is so dangerous because it can never change the man's heart. It can never change a woman's heart. It can never change a boy's heart or a girl's heart.

Only the grace of God does that. Legalism enforces the outward appearance, but it can never, never, never enable you to please God.

Grace on the other hand provides that inner desire and gives you the power to obey God. The Holy Spirit helps us to fulfill God's desire in us to make us be all that God wants us to be.

What does God want us to be? God wants to free us up. Free to serve Him. Free to sacrifice for Him. Free to love. Free to give. Free to obey. That's what the Holy Spirit does in us.

And so, my beloved friends, to fall from grace is to refuse to accept that it is grace alone and only grace can make you acceptable to God the Father.

Now, there are some people who think that legalism is hard. They really do. No, it's not hard at all, it's the opposite that is true. Legalism is easy. And that's why most religions have a legalism. Muslims have five things, just keep those, you're fine, you don't have to think, you don't have to do anything. Keep the law, that's it, you don't have to think about it, you don't have to, it doesn't have to permeate every part of your life. No.

See legalism is easy, it's not as hard as people claim to be. I want to explain to you why, I want to give you an illustration. It is relatively easy not to murder. I think most of us here would say I haven't murdered anybody. You haven't murdered anybody. It's relatively easy not to murder, but it is much harder to reach out and love to someone who despises you.

It is relatively easy to not commit adultery, but it is harder to keep on loving your spouse more than yourself even when you've just had a humdinger of an argument. It is relatively easy to pay taxes. It is much harder to give sacrificially to the Lord.

You see what I mean now? Living in the spirit is to be in constant openness to the Holy Spirit's guidance, even if He takes you in places that you might not and your flesh might not like to go. Living in the spirit makes me more conscious of what I have left undone, not brag on what I have done.

Living in the spirit forbids me from putting on a social mask. Living in the spirit convicts me to avoid false comparisons with other Christians.

Someone said that the ultimate effect of legalism is to lower our view of God. And I say amen to that. But grace on the other hand gives us high and lofty view of God when He lavishes His grace upon us undeservedly.

Beloved friends, I want to tell you what often overwhelms me. Not how much I've done, but how much God's grace is lavished upon me. Especially in the times when I'm not deserving of it.

If you want to live in victory, if you want to live in power, get to know, really, really know Jesus. If you want to live in victory and in power, get to know the overwhelming grace and love of God. If you really want to live in victory and power, put yourself in the place of receiving the grace of God.

Guest (Male): That's Dr. Michael Youssef shedding light on the awesomeness of God's grace. If God's grace is new to you, then maybe you'd like to talk with someone about what that means. A Leading The Way pastor or a counselor would love to chat. They can answer any of your questions. Start that conversation at LTW.org/Jesus. That's LTW.org/Jesus.

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Dr. Michael Youssef: Hebrews 4:16 is an invitation of all those who put their trust in Jesus Christ to come and see and experience and know the awesome power of the grace of God that's available to them when they come to the throne of grace. Today I want to tell you about the grace of God that can only be found, listen to me very carefully, that can only be found in that converted throne of grace.

Guest (Male): Do plan to listen to upcoming episodes when Dr. Michael Youssef once again passionately proclaims uncompromising truth on Leading The Way.

As we bring today's episode of Leading The Way to a close, allow me to invite you also to watch Leading The Way television. Each week dig into the truth of God's word and be challenged to love and serve the Savior. Leading The Way television is available in most areas on TBN, NRB, TCT, Fox Business and more. Visit LTW.org for details. This program is brought to you by Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.