Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): There's only one thing standing between us and eternal condemnation, the wonderful grace of God. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: It started with Abraham. First, grace. To the broken of heart, we give God's grace to them, to let them see that God loves you. You're under grace. You're a sinner saved by grace. It's an amazing thing, grace. His blood cleanses a man or woman from all sin. It's powerful so you can walk in the fellowship with the Father and walk in the light.

Guest (Male): We've got a great study lined up for you today on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff centered on the grace of God. In Galatians chapter 3, Paul is laying out a wonderful doctrine of defense for the grace of God. You see, the Galatians had strayed away from a loving relationship with Jesus and the grace he alone provides. Instead, they were trying to live up to the law as so many still do today. But as we're learning through Galatians, that only leads to frustration and failure. Let's join Pastor Jeff at verse 13 and notice the real intent of the law.

Jeff Johnson: There's not one righteous known, not one. I love that scripture in Matthew 5. Got it down. Matthew 5 verse 43. Jesus said, you have heard that it has been said under the law, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate your enemy. What is that about? But I say unto you, I'm going to tweak it a little bit here, Jesus said, cuz I can. I'm the son of God. I'm the seed. All right? Tweak it. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Huh? Say what? Do what? That guy just flipped me off, man. He cut me off.

I'm going to show him. What are you doing? I'm just being led by the flesh. What's the big deal? Everybody does it. No, that's that's not good. Love the guy that just tried to cut you off. What? I'm going to put a curse on him. You know, I don't love him. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. And pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you. What is this about? Verse 45, that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, that you can reveal the DNA that he gave you when he gave you his son.

You'll know that you're a Christian when you have love to one another. Then you are my disciples. Even your unlovely brother and sister, even your enemy, even those who persecute you. This is the DNA of who we are, what we are in Christ. If the law could have given life, it would have given righteousness. But the law brings no life. It never did. Go back to Galatians 2 verse 21. Remember what Paul said there? Galatians 2:21, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, oh, here it is, then Christ is dead in vain.

No righteousness comes through the cross and only the cross righteousness comes and flows. I am right before God because I've received his son who died for me and loves me. That's my righteousness in God. I'm right. I've made my peace with God. I don't need to do a thing but trust in him and him alone. So this is so powerful. This is why Jesus died. He is life. He is righteousness. The law simply gave us the bull's eye and God's commandments. He says, now hit the target. Hit the bull's eye. Come on. Do it. Keep it.

Keep the law. Oh, I don't I I can't. And we don't. So why would anybody want to glory in the law? Why would anybody want to live by the law? It's just death. We've all sinned and we've broken God's commandments. What is the wages of sin? I didn't hear you. Woah. What does it mean? It means physical death. The day that you eat of that fruit, that is the day you will die. And he was talking physically. See, we're eternal beings. That's why we never like to think about death or never even go there. And that 's why when we're old, we feel young.

And that's why weird things are going on because we're eternal beings and our minds just don't get it. Does not compute. But we die. Look at the graveyards. Next time you go by a graveyard, check it out. 10 out of 10 die. You can escape it? I can't escape it? No. Wages of sin is death physically. But also he meant there what? Spiritually. Cut off from God. No longer having a relationship. That messed things up bad, didn't it? So man had to get into that. And and he got into it by doing works of the flesh and trying his best to get right with God and hit the mark.

And he couldn't do it. And all that time in between, this is waiting for the seed, waiting for the seed, waiting for Christ, the answer. Because the law doesn't justify. Oh, so because the law doesn't justify, does that mean it's no good? No. Does money justify? No. Then it 's no good. Does my eye justify? No. Then it's no good. Pluck it out. You see what that's ridiculous. The law does not. The law does have value though. What is the law? Over in Romans chapter 7 in verse 12, Paul clarifies a little bit here. He says, wherefore the law is holy.

The commandment holy. And it's just and good. It 's got a purpose. It's got a purpose. And in verse 22, we're going to end with this verse. Look at Galatians 3:22. But the scripture has concluded all are under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that what? That believe. Sin enslaves an individual. The law condemns everyone. It brings bondage to a people that will look to it in weakness. Over in Romans chapter 3 and verse 20, Paul writing to the Romans says, therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Just kept it going, didn't it? And even to this day, the law shouts it out, you are a sinner. You broken God's commandment. And because you broken God's commandment, it's bringing death to your life. See, the law is like a mirror. You get to see the dirt. It shows everything up. It goes deep that we are sin, sick sinners. What's interesting about that over in Ezekiel, write this down. Ezekiel 18 verse 20. In Ezekiel 18:20 it says, the soul that sinneth shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son.

You can't live off your father or mother who know the Lord, who are living for the Lord. You can't live spiritually out of that because whatever you do, you're responsible. You're responsible for your own sin. And those who sin will die. That's what the scripture says. That 's what God says. That is a fact. The wages of sin death. Only his salvation that he brings. His blood can cleanse us from sin. So through Abraham, grace came first. And these Judaizers, they needed to see that. They were putting so much faith in the law. No, no, no.

It started way back and Paul brought them there. It started with Abraham. First, grace. To the broken of heart, we give grace. We give God s grace to them to let them see that God loves you. You're under grace. You're a sinner saved by grace. It's an amazing thing, grace. His blood cleanses a man or woman from all sin. It's powerful so you can walk in the fellowship with the Father and walk in the light. To the broken hearted, we give grace to the hard and repentant heart. What do we give? The severity of God.

In other words, the law reveals our sinful condition. And so many don't want to see the law. They don't want to hear about it. And so there they sit condemned. And some go through their whole lives never waking up to that. The soul that sinneth shall die. Are you going to get saved? I don't know. Why do I need to get saved? Cuz you're going to die, man. Oh, physically you're going to To those who have Christ get a new body. We're going to live forever with with the Lord. To those who die without the Lord, they're going to be damned.

This is very serious. The law reveals our sinful condition. The law can't help us. It put us in this prison called condemnation. And sin is a very cruel jailer. It holds and keeps us prisoners. You say, what are you talking about? I'm not a prisoner. I am not a prisoner of anybody. I've never even been to LA County for anything, man. I never been in jail. Never done anything wrong. Oh, man, you're wrong there. Take take a take a take today and go through the Ten Commandments and see maybe Well, you'll find it. But everybody's today saying, I'm okay, man.

Yeah, I'm glad for you, bro. You needed it. I'm good. I'm okay. We're okay. We're all okay. And they write books. I 'm okay. You're okay. And they they they encourage one another in that. Okay. Steaming yourself more highly than you ought to. Do you remember in in in John chapter 8 uh the Jews were confronted by Jesus. And Jesus said, he said, you're going to know the truth and the truth shall make you free. And they answered him and said, we be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou that you shall be made free?

We're free. We're not in any kind of bondage. We never were in any kind of bondage. What are you nuts? You can't remember? You can't remember Egypt? Hello. You can't remember the Roman bondage? You can 't remember World War II? When wake up? Bitter bondage. If you are okay, then don't just you leave today and don't sin anymore, okay? You can prove that you're okay. Just don't sin anymore. God says, none are righteous, none are good and none seek after God, which is very interesting. I thought I was on a God search, but in reality, I wanted that which was going to make me the God of my life.

I will become God. And and I would went down that road thinking that I was on a God search. I even wrote a book called The Seeker. And I never sought God. He sought me. He found me in my guttered situation. He reached down to me. The law shows us our need. But if you continue to sin, you have a record of sin. And you will be imprisoned by God's law because that's all it's good for. That's all it does. But the law again, we have already seen this, it also is to drive us to the point of despair.

And it's to bring us to places like this where we're sitting there, we can do anything but just listen to this guy. And hear that the point is you need Jesus. Oh, gosh. Not again. Here we go. Well, wait a minute. Jesus said this in Matthew 11, come unto me all you that are laboring and heavy laden and I will give you rest. He says, lay your burden down cuz you're carrying a big one. It's called sin. And after a while it gets heavy. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Learn of me for I am me can lowly of heart and you shall find rest to your souls.

All the torment that doing your own thing brings and go in your own way. No, no, no. Everyone needs peace with God. Everyone needs rest for their souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I'm not going to lay on you the law. I'm not going to lay on you anything. Just you believe in God, believe also in me. Then that Psalm we read this morning, Psalm 19 where it says in verse 7 powerful. He says, the law of the Lord is perfect. And it says converting the soul. Ah, the law is good.

It's perfect. It's there to convert us, to show us the way that there is no other way but him. And many miss this. Part of the gospel is the preaching of not just Christ and him crucified. That's a big part of it. But also sharing the law. What is what do you mean sharing the law? That there's consequences for sin. I mean, that's powerful in and of itself. You're on your way to Hawaii. And you're in 747. Everything's going your way. You're excited. You can't wait to get into the warm weather and this, that and the other.

The captain brings the flight attendant in and shares with her something very important. We have a leak in our fuel tank and we're not going to make it. We're going down. She's blown away. She after picking herself up and and and taking the the tears out of her eyes and trying to get her composure to go back and and and and minister to those that are there in the plane, she quietly says to everyone, can I interest any of you in a parachute? It will make your flight more enjoyable. You'll experience a measure of real, you know, peace and and joy and and and and it'll bring you some comfort.

I mean, you know how they always you bring those balls to fall asleep on and stuff. Well, if you got the the parachute on, maybe you can be more comfortable, you know. Who would like a parachute? A few raised their hands and they get their parachutes and they begin to put them on. And you're one of the few and then you look at everybody looking at you because you said you'd take a parachute. And they're snickering. They're they're just pointing. Look at that. Chicken. What's wrong with you, man? You're afraid. And and you know, you you aren't feeling really good about what's going on here.

After a while, your parachute is getting tight, uncomfortable. And you think this isn't giving me any joy right now at all. In fact, this is ridiculous. And after 20 minutes, you're taking it off. And you're throwing it to the side. I don't want this thing. And then you get to the the stewardess and you you get her down you say, listen, you lied to me. You promised it would be a comfortable bring a comfort to me that would bring me some peace for the flight. But all I got was that made fun of and people laughing at me and that's rash.

I don't know. It just started rubbing and that's all I got from it. Here, take it. It's the same way with the gospel. When people hear the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, and then they get snickered at and they get put down. They they they you know, where's the joy? I mean, I don't know. I I'm not getting that, you know. But where's the peace? And and I'm not getting that. And so people eventually sometimes feel restricted to the point of leaving the faith. Hmm. Wow, that's pretty heavy. Turn away. Now let's look at another scenario.

Another steward here's the captain's message and she enters the the cabin and she shouts real loud, stop what you're doing and listen to me. This is important. Get those ear plugs out of your ears right now. Everybody's freaking out. What's wrong with her? I'm telling I'm I want your undivided attention right now. Yeah, what? What? What? And she says the captain has just informed me the plane is losing fuel and we are going down. We're not going to make it. Who wants a parachute? And everybody's raised their hands. And everybody's grabbing the parachutes and they're putting them on and they're getting them tight and they're making sure and they're getting ready for this whatever is going to happen.

It's the same way today. When you look at the scripture and what it says, it says that all all are damned. All are doomed. There's a leak in our tank. And all humanity is going down. We've broken God's law. We're headed for destruction and annihilation. It's not time to dance around the truth. The truth sin brings death. There's an interesting scripture the Lord just showed me right before I came out here. Jude write it down. Jude 22 and 23 where Jude says, and some you have to give compassion making a difference. Some people just need to be loved on and shared the grace of God and the blessing of God and and just sweetness of the Lord.

And others saved with fear pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. What do you give them? You give them the results of sin. You share with them the law of God and how everyone has lied, everyone has stolen. What are you going to do about it? And go over those commandments with them. It's pretty heavy. I mean, yeah, but I give my testimony. Your testimony's great. And it will speak to some. But the law also speaks loud and clear. It's true. You're going down. You're doomed. And you need the Lord.

Every single one of us. The gift the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Love it. And notice verse 22 going back to our last verse there, he says, but the scriptures hath concluded everyone is under sin. Everyone's doomed. Everyone's going to die spiritually, physically and spiritually that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Knowing this, who wants Jesus? Who wants Jesus? I mean, that's important, isn't it? And that's what needs to be shared. The promise is by faith to receive him.

That's what we do. We don't understand it. We just step in and look up and receive in faith. Just like we would want to turn on light on in a dark room, you just turn it on. You talk about a light, man. You'll be lit up.

Guest (Male): Have you turned on the light? This is Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. You just heard a study in Galatians chapter 3. Jeff will have some more to say about getting lit up for the Lord in just a few moments. It's our sincere hope that you've been blessed by the words spoken today by Pastor Jeff as we continue verse by verse through the book of Galatians. This great New Testament epistle contains some of the most challenging lessons we can learn about being a believer in Jesus Christ in the 21st century. If you'd like to hear this study again, there are several options.

First, go online to sound doctrine radio.org. We have a massive archive of Jeff's messages right there waiting for you at sound doctrine radio.org. That's also the place to go to download our free app. Take sound doctrine with you wherever you go through the sound doctrine podcast app. Download it today from sound doctrine radio.org. We're also on oneplace.com and you can find us on most of the podcast platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If you appreciate the teaching you're hearing on Sound Doctrine, you can show your support through a financial gift. Simply head over to sound doctrine radio.org and click give in the top right hand corner.

And thank you in advance. Again, we're at sound doctrine radio.org. Now to bring today's edition of Sound Doctrine to a close, here's Pastor Jeff once again.

Jeff Johnson: You receive him and you believe in your heart and you turn your heart towards him, your light will shine, man. It'll be lit up big time. You'll have a spiritual experience of being born again. His spirit will come in and quicken your dead spirit and make it alive and you'll never be the same. Your righteousness will be in Christ Jesus to the glory of the Father. To those who believe believe what? That he's the only way. There is no other way to get to heaven. No other way to be right before God but through Jesus Christ.

There's no other way of escape. So the time is to receive the promise seed, be freed from the law that is condemning continually and be free in Christ and walk in grace and love the Lord and live for him. Bottom line.

Guest (Male): The law of God has a purpose. And we'll see what that is next time on Sound Doctrine when we dig deeper into Galatians chapter 3. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey.