By Grace – part 2

Genesis 12:1-20 (1-9)

March 2, 2014

 

As you know we have now entered a new area

In our study of the book of Genesis.

 

We are now looking at our third major player in Moses’ gospel message.

 

• We started with Adam, where Moses taught us about the tragic reality of sin.

• From there we went to Noah and we learned the terrible reality of judgment.

• Now we move to Abram where we learn the tremendous reality of salvation.

 

When most people think of Abraham they immediately think of faith,

But that is only part of what Moses uses Abraham to teach us.

 

Abraham’s life doesn’t just teach us about faith,

Abraham’s life teaches us about salvation.

 

And you need to know that, otherwise you will find yourself having difficulty understanding the first part of Abraham’s life.

 

If you open the book of Genesis and start reading about Abraham in chapter 12, you have to read three chapters before you get to Abraham’s faith.

 

So what are chapters 12-14 about?

That answer is grace.

 

In the New Testament we find

The clearest statement about salvation in all the Bible.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

According to Paul salvation is “by grace…through faith”

 

What does that mean?

Well salvation is “by grace”

 

That is to say that it is something that we most certainly do not deserve.

 

Everyone who gets saved in this life most certainly does not deserve it.

 

Salvation is also “through faith”

 

That is to say that it is not by works.

God doesn’t give salvation to those who earn it, but to those who trust.

 

So salvation is “by grace” (undeserved) and “through faith” (unearned)

The two work together.

Abraham’s life is picture first of grace then of faith.

And presently I want you to understand

The importance of grace in Abraham’s life.

(we’ll get to the importance of his faith later)

 

But even today, it is apparent to me that there are those who will certainly elevate faith, and yet still manage to minimize grace.

 

HOW DO THEY DO THAT?

 

This occurs any time that the faith of man

Is elevated as more important than the grace of God.

(the two must be kept in balance)

 

Now, faith is important

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

 

Obviously faith is important.

Obviously faith is essential.

 

However, if you only push faith at the exclusion of grace

You will find yourself in a horrible condition.

 

Here is what I mean.

Suppose you remove grace from the equation.

So God offers a salvation or blessing which requires faith

 

But if you stumble even for a second God yanks the blessing

God is only gracious so long as you believe

 

• Doubting condemns you…

• Failing to trust fully condemns you…

• Even confusion condemns you…

 

Because God’s grace is only available so long as your faith secures it.

If your faith struggles, God’s grace departs.

 

Incidentally this has been the flaw of so many of those

“name it and claim it” preachers of our day.

 

They offer the healing of God or the prosperity of God so long as you believe. And then, if the blessing doesn’t occur, they blame it on your lack of faith.

 

And that is a frustrating, scary, and disappointing place to be.

 

It is an emphasis on faith, but it completely fails to understand grace.

 

It overlooks the fact that God’s salvation is

First by grace and then through faith.

 

God didn’t see faith and then decide to offer grace.

God offered grace and then asked for faith.

 

In fact even faith is a gracious gift from God.

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;”

 

I would never minimize the importance of faith, it is essential.

I just want you to understand that your faith is also a part of God’s grace.

You are not holding on to your faith, God is.

 

Need an example?

Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

 

Peter is a classic example of what I am talking about.

For all extensive purposes Peter lost the faith.

He did the unthinkable and denied Jesus 3 times.

 

But did God remove grace from Peter?

Did Peter lose all that God had promised him?

NO – God wasn’t even surprised.

 

Peter wasn’t using his faith to hold on to grace.

God was using grace to hold on to Peter’s faith.

 

It is not your faith which secures God’s grace,

It is God’s grace which secures your faith.

 

Peter was an excellent example of that.

AND SO IS ABRAHAM.

 

Abraham is called the Father of Faith,

But this morning you will see that where it not for God’s grace protecting Abraham’s faith, you would never know about it.

 

And this morning as we continue to look at Abraham’s life

I want you to see that before Abraham ever had faith, he first had grace.

 

And it was the grace of God which secured Abraham’s faith,

Not the faith of Abraham that secured God’s grace.

 

And that is what we began looking at a couple of weeks ago.

 

#1 THE PEDIGREE OF BLESSING

Genesis 11:10-32

 

You will remember that this was the blessed line of Shem.

 

And that blessing was NOT as a result of the good behavior

Of Shem’s descendants.

 

By the time we get to Terah (Abram’s dad) we found that Shem’s descendants had already fallen head first into idolatry.

 

Joshua 24:2 “Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.”

 

So if you had any preconceived ideas that Abram was a man of faith and so God chose to use him, wipe those ideas away.

 

• Abram was idolatrous pagan worshiper.

• Abram gave the glory of the one true God to a false God.

• Abram did not honor God as God or give thanks to Him.

 

Secondly Scripture taught us that Abram’s wife Sarai was barren.

Now certainly that is not a sin, and it doesn’t even indicate

That God was punishing Sarai.

 

Barrenness is a sad consequence of the fall.

 

The problem however is that God was looking for a man

That He could use to start a great nation.

 

You would think that God would at least choose a man

Who was capable of having children, but that certainly wasn’t Abram.

 

Thirdly, Abram was a worldly man.

• We read that he and his father settled in Haran.

 

What did they do there?

According to Genesis 12:5 and 13:2,

It was to make lots of money and buy slaves.

 

Abram wasn’t a man searching for God,

Abram was a man searching for gold.

 

We said that Calvin had a phrase for that, it was TOTAL DEPRAVITY

There was nothing worth anything in Abraham.

 

And yet that was the man God was choosing to bless.

There is only one word for that, and that word is grace.

 

Before Abraham was a man of faith, he was first a man of grace.

 

That was the Pedigree of Blessing.

#2 THE PROMISE OF BLESSING

Genesis 12:1-9

This is that famous passage where God spoke to Abraham

And revealed His plans for him.

 

Here we have this depraved idol worshiper and God approaches him.

Abram didn’t go looking for God, God came to Abram.

 

We said that Calvin called that UNMERITED FAVOR

 

There was no reason for God to select this man,

His favor on Abram was totally unmerited.

 

In that we saw:

1) THE REQUIREMENT (1)

 

If you have difficulty seeing the gospel here,

Then you aren’t looking hard enough.

Jesus said:

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

 

The first expectation of salvation is always repentance.

It is always denial of self.

 

That requirement was in tact even with Abraham.

 

Furthermore Abraham had to travel to “a land which I will show you”

 

Abram traveled with limited visibility.

He was on the narrow road.

 

The second thing we saw was:

2) THE REALITY (2a)

Verse 1 is Abram’s part, verses 2 and 3 reveal God’s part.

 

You leave all, and “I will make you a great nation”

“I will bless you”

 

Abram was called to leave, but God wasn’t taking life from him.

God wasn’t taking anything from Abram.

God was seeking to give to Abram.

 

God wanted Abram to take hold of life indeed.

 

Thus far Abram’s life had been nothing more than treasure hunting.

(parable of treasure in the field)

And that was futile because he thanked the wrong god for it,

And would have no heir to leave it to.

 

God wanted more for Abraham.

And if Abram would only forsake the life he knew,

God had a life of blessing waiting for him.

 

That was the reality, and that is where we left off a couple of weeks ago.

 

We had God selecting a sorry pagan worshiper, with a barren wife

And a love of the world.

 

God took this pagan man and chose to do the unthinkable for him.

God chose to bless him.

There is no word for that but grace.

 

It is also important that you see the point that Moses is making

 

Look at the children of Israel.

Who were they?

Why would God choose them?

 

But He did, and He required them to also leave their life in Egypt.

If they would leave a life of bondage, God would give them life indeed.

 

And can’t you almost hear the children of Israel listening to Abram’s story saying, “Take it Abram! Take it! It’s a great deal!”

 

And that was also true for them.

Can’t you hear Moses, “Take it Israel! Take it! It’s a great deal!”

 

And if you’ll listen you can hear the writers of the New Testament

Saying the same to you.

 

Philippians 3:7 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”

 

Philippians 3:13-14 “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

 

That message is the same to you.

“Take it! It’s a great deal”

 

So as we look at THE PROMISE OF BLESSING,

We’ve seen The Requirement and the Reality.

 

Let’s move on this morning:

3) THE RESULT (2b-3)

 

“And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

 

Don’t you like how verse 2 ends?

“And so you shall be a blessing”

 

In other words, there is absolutely no chance of failure in this promise.

If God says you’re blessed then you’re blessed.

 

And not only are you blessed, but you will be a blessing to others.

In other words, you will have blessing to spare.

It will overflow on others.

 

NOW WE KNOW…

That in Abraham God was opening up a line of grace.

 

It would travel through Isaac, Jacob, Israel and ultimately Jesus.

And all the gracious blessing of God would be available through Him.

 

But what we see here is that God was making Abraham the lightning rod

 

GOD WAS DOING FOR ABRAHAM

WHAT HE WAS DOING FOR NO ONE ELSE.

 

It was limited to Abraham alone.

This was not a blanket promise made to the world that only Abraham accepted.

This was a promise made only to Abraham.

 

In fact we specifically saw God segregate the world just a couple of weeks ago so He could specifically save Abram out of it.

 

Calvin would call that LIMITED ATONEMENT

Now I know that is a “lightning rod” word.

 

But look, you believe in limited atonement, whether you think so or not.

 

And the reason I know that is because you are not a universalist.

People still go to hell, and pay for their sin for all eternity.

 

Obviously all sin of all man was not fully atoned for on the cross,

Or otherwise why are they in hell paying for it again?

 

The answer is because Christ fully atoned for those He chose,

It was limited to the elect.

 

It is absolutely unlimited in sufficiency, limited only in application.

 

Now if you try and take the philosophical approach and say, “No, Christ paid for the sin of all humanity” then you have just limited the atonement as well.

 

You chose not to limit it as to its EXTENT, you say it reaches everyone.

Then you automatically limit it as to its EFFECT,

Because though it may have reached everyone, it obviously wasn’t powerful enough to save them, because they still went to hell.

 

The reality is that God chooses and God blesses

And God atones for those whom are His.

 

We call that grace.

He clearly did it for Abraham.

 

The Requirement, The reality, the result

4) THE RESPONSE (4-9)

 

“So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him”

 

We could easily see this as IRRISISTABLE GRACE

 

Jesus said “those whom the Father has given me will come to Me”

And that is precisely what Abram did.

 

He had never followed God before, but he did on this day.

 

Proverbs 16:9 “The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.”

 

He set out for “Canaan” and when he got there,

God revealed to Abram another piece of the puzzle.

 

(7) “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give THIS LAND.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.”

 

God had said He would show Abram the land, and when Abram arrived in Canaan, God said, “You’re home”

 

I’ll remove all the inhabitants that already live here,

And I’ll give this land to you and to your descendants.

 

Now obviously that is good news and even gracious news

And so Abraham is grateful and he does the grateful thing.

 

“So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.”

 

God’s expression of grace

Should always be followed by our expression of worship.

Abram is worshiping God here.

 

And then we see another interesting event.

(8-9) “Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.”

 

Now be careful here.

I’ve heard it preached that Abraham was saved right there.

After all, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”

 

And since Abraham called, then Abraham just got saved.

I can confidently say, “No, he did not”

 

How do I know?

Because Genesis tells us precisely when Abraham gets saved

And that doesn’t happen until chapter 15.

 

Genesis 15:6 “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

 

Well then what about Abraham calling here?

It is easy to explain.

 

Romans 10:9-13 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

 

What Paul is referring to is a confession or a calling

That is the direct result of believing.

 

See what he said, “for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

 

True calling is preceded by true believing.

 

Now here it is:

You can call without believing,

But you cannot believe without calling.

 

Scripture speaks repeatedly of false confession.

Jesus Himself said, “Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord”

 

Luke 6:46 “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

 

And this is where we find Abraham.

It is not that his confession is a false one, but it is not yet a saving one,

For his faith has not yet matured.

 

See Abraham is not yet TRUSTING God, Abraham is TASTING God.

 

Psalms 34:8 “O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

 

Abraham has found God faithful up to this point,

So he is seeing exactly who this God is.

 

As if to say, “Ok God, you’ve come through so far, how about here?”

 

Salvation will occur later, for now Abraham is feeling God out.

 

God is slowly revealing more and more of Himself to Abraham,

Soon will come the day when God will ask Abraham to be His alone.

 

And yet it is clear to see that God is already drawing Abram.

• He has chosen him

• He is blessing him

• He is saving him

• He is drawing him

 

The Pedigree of Blessing The Promise of Blessing

#3 THE PROTECTION OF BLESSING

Genesis 12:10-20

 

Now this is one of those bizarre stories, but one that makes such an important point about the grace God has chosen to bestow on us.

 

Here we read that Abram is in his new home,

But a famine hits and so Abram says adios to this new land.

 

Perhaps at this point Abram is having a few doubts

About this promise that God made to him.

 

And so Abram heads off to Egypt.

• The only problem is that Abram knows how things work.

• He’s got a beautiful wife, Pharaoh is going to want her and so Abram conceives a plan.

• He determines to get Sarai to say she is his sister and thus protect his life.

 

(13-16) “Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.”

 

Now, I don’t know if you realize it, but everything God is promising Abram is in major jeopardy at this point.

 

Abram is no longer in the land or with Sarai

So Abraham’s blessing…

Abrahams inheritance…

Is in serious jeopardy at this moment.

 

But what I want you to understand is that when God graciously offers something, He also graciously protects it.

 

(17-20) “But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.” Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.”

 

Very simply – God intervened.

 

Pharaoh received a plague.

We don’t know what it was, but we do know that Pharaoh knew why it was happening.

And Pharaoh was quick to send Abram and Sarai away.

 

And the point is that God is not only offering the blessing to Abram, but God is also SECURING IT.

 

Two things are true about the blessing God offers you.

• If it depended on you earning it, you never could.

• And if it depended on you keeping it, you never would.

 

Abram is proof of that.

Abram was saved by grace, and he was secured the same way.

 

And even when a decision to leave his inheritance behind and head to Egypt threatened to ruin it all, God was there to protect it.

 

(I hope you see the similarities for Moses)

• Why did Jacob enter Egypt? Famine

• Why did Pharaoh drive them out? Plagues

• Where did they go? Canaan

 

Moses is driving home the point.

Your inheritance is protected.

 

Calvin would call this PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

And that really isn’t even the best name.

 

It is more rightly called the PRESERVATION OF THE SAINTS

 

1 Peter 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,”

 

That is what we call security

That is what we call protection

And that is what Abram had.

 

When you look at Abram in chapter 12 you do not find a man of faith yet.

You find a man of grace

 

• You find a pagan who was not looking for God

• You find an idolater who only wanted money

• You find a man willing to go to a new land, but one who when given the first

sign of trouble, quickly bailed.

 

This man wasn’t worthy of obtaining anything God was offering

And he wasn’t capable of keeping anything God had given.

 

But that’s ok because Abram was being saved “By grace”

 

AND THAT IS WHAT SALVATION LOOKS LIKE.

 

It is God selecting unworthy sinners,

Who have offended Him in every possible way,

And then making them a promise that He Himself will protect.

 

Totally unwarranted

Totally gracious

 

And let me tell you what that means for you.

First it should mean worship – Abram built an altar, so should you – in your heart

Second it means rest

 

So many people today live in this constant panic of doing something

To make themselves worthy to God so He will accept them.

 

And they live in fear of doing something wrong

And messing up the blessing in their life.

 

But friend you didn’t start it, and you don’t protect it.

Do we trust God? Yes Do we worship God? Yes Do we follow God? Yes

 

But don’t get the idea that this whole thing depends upon you.

We are saved “by grace”

 

And so rest in that fact.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

Galatians in a Nutshell – part 1

Galatians 1:1-5

February 16, 2014

 

In the book of Job, one of Job’s friends (Bildad)

Asked Job a very important question.

 

Job 25:4 “How then can a man be just with God?”

 

Now that is a good question.

How is it that a man can be declared righteous before God?

 

Bildad wasn’t debating whether or not man was sinful.

Bildad knew man was sinful.

 

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

 

Today people would debate whether or not people are actually sinful at all, but Bildad wasn’t debating that. He knew man was sinful.

 

Bildad also wasn’t questioning the necessity of righteousness.

He knew God was righteous and he knew man needed righteousness.

 

He understood that unless sinful man achieved

He righteous standard of God, there would be no salvation.

 

Bildad understood those things, he was not debating them.

 

The question for Bildad was

How could sinful man achieve that righteousness?

 

• If man is sinful…

• If God requires him to be righteous…

How is it that man accomplishes that goal?

 

And that is a very important question.

And a question that has been at the center of much debate

Throughout the history of the church.

 

In fact, it was that very question that sparked the movement

Known as the The Great Reformation.

 

When the reformers squared off against the Catholic church,

They were in agreement that man was sinful,

And they were in agreement that man needed to be righteous.

What they disagreed about was how man achieved that righteousness.

 

And throughout history there have been two basic systems of thought.

 

1) He earns that righteousness through religious effort

(Law, Effort, Tradition)

 

That is what we call legalism.

Man holds to some sort of religious code or religious standard and because he is so good, he actually ascends to the level of obtaining the righteousness God requires.

 

And it might surprise you to know that by far

More of the world holds that view than the second.

 

Most people believe that effort is the means of obtaining righteousness.

Now they may disagree on which actions are most important,

But they still believe that their works is what will do it.

 

• It may be circumcision

• It may be praying 5 times a day

• It may be faithful church attendance

• It may be random acts of kindness

• It may be circling the world on a bicycle

 

They may disagree on the specifics, but they all agree that

There is work to be done to obtain righteousness.

 

That is the first system of thought as to how a man is just with God.

 

2) He receives righteousness through a gift

 

Meaning he cannot earn righteousness through his efforts,

And so it must be something that is given to him by someone else.

 

Obviously that someone else, must be someone who possesses it,

For I can’t give you what I don’t have.

 

So the objective would be to find someone who possesses righteousness

And then see if they will share it with you.

 

And that argument is at the center of this letter to the Galatians.

“How can a man be just with God?”

 

Well, to give you the background of the letter, turn with me to Acts 13.

TURN TO: ACTS 13:14

 

Unlike Philippi, Galatia was not a town or a specific church.

Galatia was a region.

 

In Acts 13:14 Paul and Barnabas arrived in Galatia and came to “Pisidian Antioch”

 

Now we don’t have time to go back over the sermon Paul preached there (you’ll have to go back and listen to that from our Acts study)

 

But in Pisidian Antioch Paul preached a tremendous gospel message

Centered on the resurrection of Jesus, and initially it was well received.

But when Paul’s message reached a level of extreme popularity,

A problem arose.

(13:44-52)

 

• So the Jews rejected the gospel and drove Paul out, but not before many Gentiles were saved.

 

• From there Paul traveled to Iconium, but Paul faced the same opposition there.

 

(14:1-7)

 

• Again Paul was driven out of Iconium because of Jewish hostility.

 

• So Paul came to Lystra, and because Paul worked a miracle in Lystra he instantly had a platform and was speaking the gospel, but the militant Jews in the area wouldn’t let it go.

 

(14:19-20)

 

• So Paul was actually stoned by Jews in Lystra and then went to Derbe.

 

In Derbe Paul preached and many were saved and then

Paul returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch.

 

Now I give you that because I want you to understand the region.

It was a Jewish stronghold.

 

Imagine going into the Sudan or some other Islamic stronghold

And preaching Christianity there.

 

Some might be getting saved,

But the intensity and hatred is intense against you.

 

That was Galatia.

Only it wasn’t Islamic persecution, it was Jewish persecution.

 

Now in each of those cities Paul did leave a church.

Because of the Jewish animosity, the churches were primarily GENTILE CHURCHES.

 

But they received the grace of God and were saved.

 

However the Jews were not willing to just stand idly by

And accept these Gentile churches.

 

(15:1)

And there was the debate.

The Jews said that faith in Christ was not enough

To make a man acceptable to God.

The Jews required that circumcision (adherence to the Law)

Was also necessary.

 

And not only was this debate real,

But a group of these Jews, known as the Judaizers

Were approaching the churches of Galatia

And preaching this message of necessary circumcision.

 

They were attacking Paul’s credentials

They were attacking Paul’s message

And the sad reality is that were having success

 

Because the Gentile converts in the region of Galatia

Were about to be circumcised.

 

When Paul caught wind of this, he was furious

And the result of his anger is the letter to the Galatians.

 

John MacArthur called it “a flashing sword, wielded by a burning heart.”

In other words, this is a fiery, passionate letter.

 

Galatians 6:11 “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.”

 

It gives the allusion of him scribbling fast because he has so much to say

And his pen won’t move as fast as his heart.

 

You can also see this fury throughout the letter

Galatians 3:1-3 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

 

Galatians 4:10-11 “You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.”

 

Galatians 4:16 “So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?”

 

Galatians 5:4 “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”

 

Galatians 5:12 “I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.”

 

Galatians 6:17 “From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus.”

 

Obviously Paul is hot!

It is a fiery, passionate letter.

 

And one of extreme importance

 

John MacArthur also wrote,

“The book of Galatians has been conferred with such titles as the Magna Carta of spiritual liberty, the battle cry of the Reformation, and the Christian’s declaration of independence. It is clearly the Holy Spirit’s charter of spiritual freedom for those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Many church historians maintain that the foundation of the Reformation was laid with the writing of Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians. The great German Reformer said, “The epistle to the Galatians is my epistle. To it I am, as it were, in wedlock. Galatians is my Katherine [the name of his wife].” It was out of his careful and submissive study of Scripture, especially the book of Galatians, that Luther discovered God’s plan of salvation by grace working through faith, a plan unalterably contrary to the thousand-year-old Roman Catholic teaching of salvation by works.

Merill C. Tenney wrote of Galatians: “Christianity might have been just one more Jewish sect, and the thought of the Western world might have been entirely pagan had it never been written. Galatians embodies the germinal teaching on Christian freedom which separated Christianity from Judaism, and which launched it upon a career of missionary conquest. It was the cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation, because it’s teaching of salvation by grace alone became the dominant theme of the preaching of the Reformers.”

(MacArthur commentary – Introduction)

 

So obviously this is a vitally important letter to your theology.

 

In this letter Paul defends that salvation is in fact by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

 

And he sets out to squash all forms of legalism which would persuade men to try and earn the salvation that Christ alone can provide.

 

So tonight let’s begin looking at the text.

 

There are 4 points I want you to see. (2 tonight)

#1 THE SOURCE OF PAUL’S MESSAGE

Galatians 1:1-2

 

Now ordinarily when you read one of Paul’s letters

It really starts off somewhat softly.

 

He will remind that he is an apostle and then mention something

About how he thanks God for them.

 

But this letter is way different.

Paul is preaching from the very beginning.

 

See one of the tactics of the Judaizers was to debunk the gospel by debunking the man who preached it.

 

Their attack was just as much personal as it was theological.

If they could shoot holes in Paul, they could shoot holes in his gospel.

 

We saw the same thing with the Corinthians.

They accused Paul of being boring and meek and timid

2 Corinthians 10:10 “For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.”

 

Or even as we read this morning:

2 Corinthians 13:3 “since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.”

 

And the same sort of thing was happening in the Galatian region.

So Paul sets out from the beginning to squash such rumors

In order to defend the gospel that he is preaching.

 

He first reminds that he is “an apostle”

 

The word simply means “sent one” but as far as the New Testament is concerned it carries much more weight and authority.

 

• An apostle was one who was an eye witness of the resurrected Jesus and one with special authority from God to proclaim truth.

 

John 20:21-23 “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

 

And that is not to say that the apostles had authority to forgive sins.

That authority is God’s alone.

 

Rather the apostles now had authority to declare

Whether or not a person had in fact been forgiven.

 

We have that authority through the New Testament,

They had it inherent from the Holy Spirit.

 

• Furthermore, these men were the instruments the Holy Spirit used to inspire the Scriptures.

 

Their preaching was accompanied with miraculous validity

And their words were authoritative.

Hebrews 2:3-4 “how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”

 

2 Corinthians 12:12 “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.”

 

1 Thessalonians 2:6 “nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority.”

 

So apostles held a special place in the transition of the church.

They are the men who wrote the New Testament.

 

And because the New Testament wasn’t available yet,

God allowed these men to stand upon their own authority,

And gave credibility to that authority by granting that signs and wonders

Be done through them.

 

And that is the first point Paul makes.

 

You may be doubting me and listening to them, but you need to remember that I am “an apostle”

 

And that is not all.

“not sent from men nor through the agency of man”

 

Whereas the Judaizers had been sent by the Pharisees and the Jewish traditionalists, Paul was not sent by any of them.

 

• No man told him to preach the gospel,

• No man trained him to preach the gospel.

• He didn’t learn this in a seminary,

• He didn’t learn this in Sunday school

 

Paul learned this directly from Christ.

 

“but through Jesus Christ and God the Father”

 

He will expound on that a little more later,

But you remember that no man pulled Paul aside and told him about Jesus.

 

Jesus Himself confronted Paul and taught him the truth.

Paul was handpicked and directly trained by Christ Himself.

 

This certainly gives Paul a level of priority over the Judaizers.

 

Namely because the One who taught Paul

Has more power than the one who taught them.

 

Paul learned from “God the Father, who raised Him from the dead”

 

Paul’s instructor has power.

And so did Paul’s message.

 

And so regardless of what the Judaizers had told the Galatians

It was Paul who was actually speaking God’s message

About God’s Savior with God’s power.

 

And that was not all.

Paul also said, “and all the brethren who are with me”

 

In other words, Paul’s message was the adopted message of the church.

 

Paul was not the radical, the Judaizers were the radical.

Paul’s message was the message of God and the message of the church.

 

Today we get some radical folks who branch off

And preach thoughts from their own imaginations.

 

And certainly in regard to that we study the Scriptures to find the truth.

 

But we also remember church history and remember what

The official doctrine of the church has always been.

 

The church throughout the ages has already determined the orthodox view on the trinity – One God in three persons

 

The church throughout the ages has already determined the orthodox view on Christ – Both God and man

 

The church throughout the ages has already determined the orthodox view on salvation – by grace through faith

 

Any man who comes contrary to that

Has been and is today labeled a heretic.

 

And so Paul is saying, “Look, I am divinely commissioned and I am preaching the orthodox message of the church – not them”

 

And so I am writing “To the Churches of Galatia:”

 

That is a fiery way to start the letter.

Paul is letting it be known from the start

That he and not the Judaizers has the truth.

 

The Source of Paul’s message is God, not man

#2 THE SUBSTANCE OF PAUL’S MESSAGE

Galatians 1:3-5

 

Again it is hard to miss Paul’s passion because by the third verse of this letter he is already getting to the point.

 

There are no frills, there is no sentimentality, there is no small talk

 

Immediately after listing his credentials

Paul states as plainly as he knows how what this letter is about.

 

These three verses could be called “Galatians in a nutshell”

 

And in these verses there are three things Paul wants

1) RECEIVE GRACE (3)

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,”

 

This is far from some sentimental statement.

This is precisely what Paul wants for the Galatians.

 

He wants them to receive grace and peace

And he knows that Christ is the only means of achieving that.

 

The opposite of grace is obviously works.

And Paul doesn’t want them trying to earn their salvation.

 

He wants them understand that if you throw grace out,

There is no salvation.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

The simple gospel message is this:

• Man is sinful, unable to justify himself before God

• But God in His grace provided salvation for sinners through the sacrifice of His

holy Son

• And now God will freely apply the righteousness of Christ to any man who

places his faith in Christ.

 

If you lose that, you lose salvation.

Romans 3:20 “because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”

 

And so throughout this letter Paul will be pushing grace, preaching grace, defending grace, offering grace.

 

And the reason is that with grace comes “peace”

 

And when we mention “peace” we aren’t talking about inner tranquility.

We are talking about the absence of war.

 

Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

 

By God’s grace our sin is forgiven and we get peace with God.

Apart from grace our sin remains and we are God’s enemies,

Under His wrath, doomed for destruction.

 

So grace is a big deal.

And he hits that point right off the bat.

I want you to receive grace and get peace.

 

Receive Grace

2) REMEMBER CHRIST (4)

 

“Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”

See the Judaizers would come in preaching circumcision and Law.

“You have to be circumcised to be saved”

 

That brings up then a very important question.

If you have to be circumcised to be saved, then what did Christ do?

 

And the answer at the very least has to be, “NOT ENOUGH”

 

So Jesus died, so Jesus rose, so Jesus ascended,

But if you still have to do something to be saved,

Then obviously His work was only partial.

 

His work must have been incomplete.

His work must have been insufficient.

 

• And so without realizing it, those who promote legalism of any kind in reality do the greatest disservice to the work of Christ.

 

• Those who require any work of the flesh to secure salvation, in effect, belittle the work of Christ to just another insufficient gesture.

 

But you and I know Christ is much more than that.

He “gave Himself for our sins”

 

He was holy, He was sinless, He was perfect

But He died to pay the penalty of sin He did not commit.

 

Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

 

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

 

That is what Christ did.

 

He “gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age,”

 

Christ came and died to free us from sin and rescue us from destruction.

 

And if that is not enough, then understand that He did this

“according to the will of our God and Father”

 

That means that Jesus was and is God’s plan of salvation.

 

When God determined to save sinners, His number one plan,

His only plan was Christ.

 

And some people fail to understand this.

• Some people think God’s first plan was to put man into a perfect garden, but

that failed.

• They think His next plan was to send the Law in order to direct men toward

righteousness, which also failed.

• And so His third plan was to send His Son to die in their stead so they could

be saved.

 

But that isn’t true.

Christ was always the plan.

Christ was the only plan.

 

Ephesians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”

 

Salvation through Christ was settled before the foundation of the world.

 

• The garden was not a means of salvation, the garden revealed the destruction

of sin.

• The Law was not a means of salvation, the Law revealed how sinful man really

was.

 

Christ has always been God’s plan of salvation.

 

And Paul wants the Galatians to realize that.

Don’t go after another salvation, don’t listen to another plan.

Don’t add to Christ and don’t take away from what He did.

 

• He is the One who paid your debt

• He is the plan of God

• He is the One who offers grace and supplies peace

Remember Him?

 

Do not disregard the work of Jesus – Remember Christ

 

Receive Grace, Remember Christ

3) GLORIFY GOD (5)

 

“according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.”

 

And this is another major issue.

 

If man does something to cause himself to be saved, then who gets the credit for that? (man does)

 

Which is why legalism is so attractive to people.

 

Humanity naturally flows toward legalism, because in legalism I can do something to get saved and then get all the credit for it.

 

And I can look down on you for not being what I am (i.e. Pharisees)

 

That kind of salvation is not only false,

But it is detestable because it steals God’s glory from Him.

 

And Paul says, that is the last thing I want.

I want the real gospel with the real savior

So the glory can really go where it is supposed to.

 

This was the battle cry of the reformation.

As Calvin and Zwingly and Luther and those like them waged war against the legalistic machine of the Catholic church.

 

The reformation was described by Steve Lawson like this:

Draw a small building with a foundation, three pillars, and a roof.

 

On the FOUNDATION write SOLA SCRIPTURA it is Latin for “Scripture Alone”

 

• Those men had no use for the Pope’s edicts or his supposed papal authority.

• They did not need the church’s traditions or legalistic codes.

• They were not interested in their unbiblical assumptions and beliefs

 

They only wanted Scripture as the sole authority

For what they believed and for what was true.

 

SOLA SCRIPTURA was the foundation.

 

On that foundation stood THREE PILLARS.

SOLA GRATIA which means “Grace Alone”

 

They studied the Scriptures and believed that works could not save.

The only way man could be saved is if God offered grace.

 

The next foundation was SOLA FIDE – “Faith Alone”

 

Man had to respond to God’s grace

And the only response God accepted was faith.

 

And the third pillar was SOLUS CHRISTUS – “In Christ Alone”

 

And they held that salvation could be achieved no other way but through the redemption of Jesus Christ.

 

So the foundation of the reformation was Scripture Alone

The three pillars of the reformation were Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone, In Christ Alone

 

And that then led to the ROOF of their structure.

SOLI DEO GLORIA – “For the glory of God alone”

 

That when we study the Scriptures

And we see how salvation really occurs,

There is but one person who gets the glory, and it is God.

 

• It is He who calls sinners

• It is He who justifies sinners

• It is He who sanctifies sinners

• It is He who glorifies sinners

 

And when a sinner is saved, it is not possible to give glory to the sinner,

Or even the person who preached to him.

 

The glory is God’s and God’s alone

 

That basic structure was the framework of the Great Reformation,

 

And the BLUEPRINT for that structure

Came from right here in the book of Galatians.

 

So Bildad, “How can a man be just with God?”

 

By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone

 

That is Galatians in a nutshell

 

By Grace (part 1)

Genesis 11:10 – 12:2 (12:1-3)

February 16, 2014

 

I told you last week that we were

Entering a new section in the book of Genesis.

And as we enter this section we are also introduced to a new character.

 

We started with Adam,

With Adam we learned about the destructive reality of sin.

 

From there we moved on to Noah,

With Noah we learned about the inevitable wrath that follows sin.

 

Well now we move on to the man named Abraham.

Now most people will quickly ASSUME that when we talk about Abraham

We are going to learn about faith.

 

Now in part that is true.

Abraham is often referred to as “The Father of Faith”

 

But Abraham’s mention in the book of Genesis

Is not just about faith, in reality it is about salvation.

 

We don’t just learn about faith from Abraham,

We learn about JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH from Abraham.

 

Genesis 15:6 “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

 

Abraham’s life teaches us about salvation.

And of course faith is a vitally important part of that.

 

So you can easily see that up until now Moses has been

Laying a basic theological foundation for the children of Israel.

 

We’ve learned about SIN, we’ve learned about the CURSE, we’ve learned about JUDGMENT, we’ve learned about MERCY, and we’ve learned about GRACE.

 

Now it is time for Moses to carry you a little deeper.

Having laid a basic foundation of theology,

Now Moses is about to give you his soteriology (doctrine of salvation)

 

And this is so valuable to us because salvation has always been the same

 

There are those who assume that salvation somehow changed

From the Old Testament to the New Testament.

 

That you were saved one way in the Old Testament

And a different way in the New Testament.

 

That is not true.

Salvation has always occurred the same way.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

Today salvation is by grace through faith.

And that was true for Abraham and every other Old Testament person.

 

THE DIFFERENCE?

We look back to the sacrifice of Christ as atonement.

They looked forward to it.

 

What did Jesus say?

John 8:56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

 

Listen to the faith chapter:

Hebrews 11:1-2 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.”

 

The point being that salvation has not changed.

It has always been by grace through faith.

 

Well as we begin studying the life of Abraham

We will eventually get to the “through faith” part.

 

But for now we are studying the “by grace” part.

 

When we get to chapter 15 you will finally see

Abraham give the faith that is required for justification.

 

Until that point, there is only one way to describe Abraham’s life,

And that is GRACE.

 

It is the message of salvation, and it is worth understanding.

This is “The Gospel According to Moses”

 

He is carrying the children of Israel on a journey to the Promised Land,

And he is desperately trying to show them that

What God did for ABRAHAM is precisely what God is doing for them.

 

He’ll go on to show that what God did for ISAAC, JACOB, and JOSEPH, He will do for them.

 

And that reality passes throughout the generations, even to you.

 

Today we begin a study of salvation, and it all starts “BY GRACE”

 

There are three main points here, but we won’t get through them all

#1 THE PEDIGREE OF BLESSING

Genesis 11:10-32

(don’t read it all yet)

You will notice that verse 10 begins with the statement, “These are the records of the generations of Shem”

 

Why is that important?

Because we saw last week that God had chosen to bless Shem.

 

Remember the story?

• Noah planted a vineyard, Noah harvested grapes, Noah made wine, Noah got drunk, Noah uncovered himself inside his tent.

• When Ham saw it, instead of covering for his father, Ham exposed his father.

• It was Shem and Japheth who came in and covered their father.

• And when Noah awoke, he learned what Ham had done to him and Noah pronounced a curse on Ham.

• Noah then placed a blessing on Shem, and even provided that Japheth would share in Shem’s blessing.

 

Genesis 9:26 “He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”

 

Noah blessed Shem, and that blessing proved to be prophetic.

God was blessing the line of Shem.

 

And that blessing is seen right away in Genesis 11

As we examine Shem’s line.

 

Let’s read it and see if you pick up on what I am talking about.

(READ 10-26)

 

Now this isn’t the first time we have seen a lineage spelled out.

But this one takes on a much different feel.

 

Remember the famous lineage of Genesis 5?

It was Adam to Noah, and do you remember how it read?

 

Genesis 5:5 “So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.”

 

Genesis 5:8 “So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.”

 

And on and on and on “and he died”

That lineage focused on the curse.

 

But did you notice how this lineage is different?

(11) “Shem lived five hundred years”

(12) “Arpachshad lived thirty-five years”

(13) “Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years”

 

And on and on and on.

In fact the word “lived” is used 16 times in this chapter

 

See the lineage of chapter 5 was focusing on the curse, and so it continually mentioned death.

 

But the lineage of chapter 11 is focusing on the blessing, and so it continually mentions life.

 

The curse is no longer in view, we are talking about the blessing.

And so you see this blessed pedigree

All the way from Shem down to a man named Terah.

 

But lets take a look at this Terah and his sons

And see if we can deduce why God chose to bless them.

 

(READ 27-32)

 

Now you see where Shem’s line went.

 

It left the place of the ark, and eventually the descendants of Shem settled in the land of “Ur of the Chaldeans.”

 

And that is important.

Shem’s descendants were not faithful,

Shem’s descendants were PAGAN.

 

Joshua 24:2 “Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.”

 

You have to understand then that this Abraham that God is about to choose was NOT a righteous man.

 

He wasn’t even a good man, he was a pagan worshiper.

He gave the glory of the God of creation to a false man-made god

Who did not deserve it.

 

Terah and Abraham would have been

described like this in the New Testament:

Romans 1:20-23 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

 

That is precisely the type of men that Terah and Abram were.

• They ignored the testimony of creation.

• They did not honor God as God, nor did they give thanks.

• They were futile in their speculations and they exchanged the glory of God

for a manmade image.

 

THEY WERE PAGAN.

 

God DID NOT choose some man who was first choosing Him.

God DID NOT select some man who was first seeking Him.

 

God was choosing to bless a man

Who had offended Him in every possible way.

 

Abram was a pagan idol worshiper.

 

Abram was NOT what we would call a FAVORABLE CANDIDATE.

 

Now I’ll show you another thing about this Abram that God is about to choose.

Not only was he pagan, but he was BARREN

 

(30) “Sarai was barren; she had no child.”

 

Why is that significant?

Because it reminds you that God did not choose a person

Who might have succeeded on his own anyway.

 

God was about to choose a man and make a great nation out of him… One would think God would at least choose a man

Who was capable of reproducing.

 

That is not at all the type of person that God chose.

He chose a pagan worshiper

With no ability to accomplish this dream on his own.

 

Even later in Genesis, Abram will bring this problem up to God.

Genesis 15:2-3 “Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, ” Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.”

 

So not only was Abraham not a favorable candidate,

He wasn’t even a QUALIFIED CANDIDATE.

 

I mean at the very least start with a man who is open to worshiping you and who has a lot of kids he can teach to do the same…

 

But that wasn’t Abraham.

 

So he was pagan, he was barren, and he had AMBITION

 

What do I mean?

(31) “Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.”

 

Now it may surprise you that entering Canaan was not Abram’s idea.

It was Terah’s idea.

 

Terah was the one who decided to make a move to Canaan.

• And so they traveled north along the Euphrates to a place called “Haran” (Syria)

• And the Scripture says they “settled there”

 

But that really doesn’t tell us a whole lot

Why did they move to Haran?

What were they looking for?

 

It certainly wasn’t God (they were pagan remember)

 

Chapter 12 yields some insight as to what they might have been seeking:

Genesis 12:5 “Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.”

 

So what exactly did Abram do while he was in Haran?

He was chasing the almighty dollar.

 

• He got rich.

• He accumulated possessions

• He bought slaves

• He acquired the world

 

Abram was the kind of man James warned about.

James 4:13-17 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

 

The point I am making is that Abram was NOT searching for God.

He was searching for gold.

 

And incidentally Abraham is not alone in this.

Romans 3:11 “THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;”

 

No one is seeking for God, God is seeking for them.

• Consider the disciples – “You did not choose Me, but I chose You”

• Consider Paul – he wasn’t looking for Jesus

• And it is the same for all genuine salvation – God does it.

 

Abram was seeking the world, not God.

 

Does it surprise you to see what kind of man Abraham was?

• A pagan worshiper who had denied creation and worshiped false gods…

• A man incapable of reproducing…

• And yet a man consumed with the world, even owning slaves…

 

I know a good word to use to describe Abraham – DEPRAVITY

 

John Calvin actually referred to it in his doctrines of grace

As TOTAL DEPRAVITY

John MacArthur called it ABSOLUTE INABILITY

 

In other words, there was nothing in Abraham that was good,

And nothing Abraham could do to change that.

 

He was not a FAVORABLE candidate, he was not a PRIME candidate,

He wasn’t even a GOOD candidate.

 

So why exactly did God choose such a man?

GRACE

 

That is always why God chooses people.

• He purposely chooses the hard cases.

• He purposely chooses the vile, the weak, the sinful…

 

Because when He does His work in them,

It is all the more glorifying to Him.

 

Moses said it like this:

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

 

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 16:1-14

There again we see God choosing the most unlikely candidate.

 

And incidentally this hasn’t changed.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

 

It’s amazing to hear people argue against God’s sovereign election.

I always wonder what they do with that passage.

I mean, apart from election, that passage doesn’t even make sense.

The whole point is that God chose those who

Weren’t smart enough or strong enough or noble enough to choose Him

And He did it to make a point.

Namely that He gets all the glory.

 

So Abram may not have been a prime candidate for glory,

But he was a prime candidate for grace.

 

• He was totally depraved

• He was absolutely unable to become what God envisioned on his own

• He was a pagan slave owner with a barren wife.

 

The only word for that is grace.

“By grace are you saved…”

 

The Pedigree of Blessing

#2 THE PROMISE OF BLESSING

Genesis 12:1-9

 

Oh please don’t miss that first line in chapter 12

“Now the LORD said to Abram…”

 

THAT IS HUGE!

• Abram wasn’t crying out to God, God was crying out to Abram

• Abram wasn’t choosing God, God was choosing Abram

 

And God was choosing him despite what he was.

The doctrines of grace would call this UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

 

That is to say that there was no reason for God to choose anyone He chose, except for grace.

 

And that was true for Abram

Joshua 24:2-3 “Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. ‘Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.”

 

But that is also true for salvation today.

• Who here deserved to have God draw them to Himself?

• Who here deserved to be saved?

• Who here met the prerequisites of being called?

 

No one.

God chose you and God called you, despite who you were.

 

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

 

Titus 3:4-7 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

 

God’s election is unconditional, it was for Abraham, it is for you.

God is demonstrating grace

 

But let’s look a little closer here to these 9 verses.

• This is in fact the moment when God began to cry out to Abraham.

• This is the moment when God began to reveal salvation to him

• This is when God began to make His will known

 

It merits looking at a little closer,

As it most definitely reveals what true salvation is.

 

1) THE REQUIREMENT (1)

 

“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;”

 

God’s selection is in fact unconditional

There was no criteria that made Abram more appealing to God

 

But just because the offer of the blessing is unconditional,

That does not mean that receiving the blessing is unconditional.

 

Grace always comes with an expectation.

 

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

 

And the expectation for Abram is obvious.

“Go” (leave)

“from your country”

“from your relatives”

“from your father’s house”

 

Sound familiar?

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

 

Luke 9:61-62 “Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

 

Luke 14:25-26 “Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

 

Psalms 45:10-11 “Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house; Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.”

 

And we could go on.

Salvation hasn’t changed any

 

The call to follow God is a call to forsake the world.

It always has been, it always will be.

 

This is the requirement.

Blessing is there, but there is a cost to receive it.

 

We are on a journey for a better place,

But to get to the better place we must leave the old one behind.

 

Hebrews 11:14-16 “For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

 

That is what God was requiring of Abraham,

And that is what He still requires.

 

Abram had to leave and go “to the land which I will show you;”

 

So Abraham left without even knowing where he was going.

It was a place he had never seen.

 

Sounds like the narrow gate and the narrow road wouldn’t you say?

Leave it behind, and travel a road with poor visibility.

 

That was the requirement Abram faced.

 

God is gracious in that He calls unworthy sinners

Into a life of unmerited blessing.

But you must receive that blessing by doing what God asks.

 

How true this also was for the children of Israel.

• God had a land of promise waiting for them.

• God was leading them to a land flowing with milk and honey

• But they had to go there, they had to enter it, they had to take it

 

In fact, it was their refusal to do this that cost them the blessing.

They didn’t enter the land because of unbelief.

 

Abram is required to respond to God’s grace.

The Requirement

2) THE REALITY (2a)

 

“And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great;”

 

And that is great news.

God may be asking you to leave your life behind,

But don’t ever get the idea that He is stingy.

 

In fact it only appears like you are losing your life.

In reality, you are gaining it.

 

Matthew 16:25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

 

God always rewards those who follow Him.

 

Perhaps the greatest illustration of this in the New Testament

Was the day when the Rich Young Ruler walked away.

 

He chose the world and rejected Jesus.

It got the disciples wondering of they had made the right choice.

And they point blank asked Jesus what His plans for them were.

 

Matthew 19:27-29 “Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

 

They asked a direct question and Jesus gave a direct answer.

And the point is that it is worth it.

 

God was asking Abram to leave, but He wasn’t stealing from Him.

God had something better in store.

 

And this was true for Israel.

God was asking them to leave Egypt (a life of slavery)

So that they could enter Canaan (a life of blessing)

 

How tragic that so much of the time the children of Israel

Wanted to return to Egypt.

 

AND THIS REALITY IS TRUE OF SALVATION FOR YOU.

 

You also were totally depraved, unworthy of salvation.

• A pagan who did not give God the glory He deserved.

• A man or woman incapable of fulfilling on your own all God planned for you.

• A person consumed with the world and indifferent to the things of God.

 

BUT…

 

God reached down into your life, chose you anyway,

And issued a call to you that you did not deserve.

 

Ephesians 2:1-9 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

The only requirement is that you respond to that call of grace,

Leave the world behind,

And receive the blessing that God has in store for you.

 

It is the grace of God’s salvation and it has never changed.

 

Jesus vs. Sin

Matthew 9:1-8

 

You are aware of the point in Matthew’s gospel.

Jesus is Messiah

 

And you are aware of Matthew is currently doing.

Matthew is revealing the power of Jesus.

• Power over sickness

• Power over fallen creation

• Power over Satan’s army

 

And the reason is because Matthew wants you to see a greater picture.

All of these things Jesus has defeated share one thing in common.

THE ARE ALL THE EFFECTS OF SIN

 

• Without sin there would be no sickness.

• Without sin there would be no unruly creation.

• Without sin there would be no demons.

(it was sin that caused Satan to fall)

 

And so Matthew is doing a very thorough job of detailing Jesus’ power,

And he is pointed about it.

 

Showing us that Jesus is the only One

Who can deal with a problem as big as sin.

 

And this morning Matthew gets straight to the point.

 

We see the miracle of Jesus healing the paralytic.

BUT PLEASE KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT THE MAIN PURPOSE.

 

Jesus didn’t come to defeat sickness

Jesus came to defeat sin.

Defeating sickness was how He proved He could defeat sin.

 

Beyond that, Jesus wasn’t even looking to heal on this day.

 

Luke records, “The power of God was present to perform healing.”

But both Mark & Luke reveal it was a preaching service.

 

Mark 2:2 “And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.”

 

His miracles were for the present, His teaching is for eternity.

He was preaching to save sinners.

 

Jesus is now doing what He came to do. “SAVE SINNERS”

HE WAS PREACHING THE GOSPEL!

 

This story is famous for Jesus healing a paralytic,

But that is not what this story is about.

THIS STORY IS ABOUT JESUS POWER TO FORGIVE SIN.

 

Forgiveness is indeed a hot commodity.

 

Anyone who understands God’s assessment of humanity

Understands the need for forgiveness.

 

Romans 3:10-18 “ as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

 

When looked on in that light,

Our need for healing doesn’t compare to our need for forgiveness.

 

No one will spend eternity in hell because they are sick.

They will spend eternity in hell because of sin.

 

There is nothing more needed in our lives than forgiveness.

 

But it’s not just those who know the truth who understand this.

 

Woody Allen, the adamant atheist was once asked,

“If there is a God, what would you most like to hear Him say?”

To which Allen responded, “You are forgiven”.

 

Even the wicked who claim God is a myth

Understand the need for humanity to be forgiven.

 

WHY DO THEY FEEL THAT WAY?

Because something inside them tells them they are in trouble.

 

Listen to what Paul said to the Romans.

Romans 2:14-15 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,”

 

Paul is talking about the conscience.

Every man has one

Every man has violated it

GUILT IS THE RESULT

And so even those without God’s Law know they need forgiveness.

In short, forgiveness is a universal need.

 

• And while we need a cure for cancer…

• And while we need a cure for AIDS…

• And while we need to make the world safer…

• And while we need to strengthen the economy…

All of those needs are dwarfed by our need for forgiveness.

 

This morning, we study the One who has the power to offer forgiveness.

 

As we look at this story, we will see four things

that will teach us both the author and power of forgiveness.

#1 THE PLEA FOR FORGIVENESS

Matthew 9:1-2a

 

“Getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over the sea and came to His own city and they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.”

 

MATTHEW LEAVES PART OF THE STORY OUT.

 

Mark 2:1-4 “When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.”

 

One of the things that is becoming increasingly obvious

Is that we are dealing with needy people.

 

It was a crowd that pushed Him across the sea of Galilee earlier,

And as soon as He returns so does the crowd.

 

But that wasn’t all that came.

Luke 5:17 “One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.”

 

The religious big-wigs didn’t like all the attention He was getting

So they come to scout Him out.

 

And what we have here is a mass preaching service.

• Some want to condemn Him

• Some want to obey Him

• And everyone has all eyes on Him.

 

And that is when we get this paralyzed man showing up.

 

Now, I said this point was, “A Plea for forgiveness”.

Some would say, “That’s not why they came”

But you must understand the mindset of the day.

Even as far back as Job, it is obvious that

People equated suffering with sinfulness.

 

In short, they didn’t believe that the righteous could suffer.

 

In fact, one of the purposes behind the book of Job

Is to show that the righteous can indeed suffer.

You remember the grief Job’s friends gave him.

 

Eliphaz told Job

Job 4:7-8 “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed? “According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity And those who sow trouble harvest it.”

 

Later he says:

Job 5:17-18 “Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. “For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.”

 

It is obvious that Eliphaz thought that pain and wounds

Were a direct punishment for a person’s sin.

 

They did not comprehend that the righteous could suffer.

 

This mindset had carried into the New Testament.

 

John 9:1-2 “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”

 

Later, Jesus heals the blind man, and the Pharisees get angry,

because he won’t lie about Jesus. So they say:

 

John 9:34 “They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.”

 

During Jesus day, it was common thought,

that if you had a sickness or a disease, you had a double problem.

SICKNESS & SIN

 

THIS MAN MAY HAVE BEEN LOOKING TO BE HEALED.

BUT EVERYONE KNEW,

THAT COULD ONLY HAPPEN WITH FORGIVENESS.

 

These men were crying out to Jesus for forgiveness and healing.

 

We look at their plea for forgiveness,

Such great faith that they cut a hole in the roof.

 

With that being said, let me remind you how forgiveness works.

 

1) Someone has to pay the price for the forgiveness.

 

FORGIVENESS IS NEVER FREE,

IT ALWAYS COSTS SOMEBODY SOMETHING.

If you aren’t forgiven, then you will pay the price yourself.

If you are forgiven, then the offended is paying the price.

 

(If someone breaks your window. ONE OF YOU WILL PAY FOR IT.)

Someone always must pay for forgiveness, it isn’t free.

 

Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’”

 

Hebrews 9:22 “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

 

Matthew 26:28 “for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”

 

YOU UNDERSTAND, FORGIVENESS ALWAYS COMES WITH A PRICE,

AND SOMEONE MUST PAY IT.

 

John MacArthur wrote,

“When Jesus spoke those words to the paralytic, He must have tasted the bitterness and agony of Calvary, knowing that the words could be effective only because He would take the man’s sins upon Himself. Every time He forgave sin He knew and anticipated the cost.”

(MacArthur, John: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 8-15; Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1987, pg. 52)

 

The first requirement of forgiveness

Is finding someone to pay the price

 

2) The sinner must come to the offended in repentance and faith

 

If someone throws a ball through your window, and they come to you and say,

“I’m not sorry, you had that coming.”

Would you be inclined to forgive them? NO.

 

THE REASON IS BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T ASK FOR FORGIVENESS.

 

Well we know that Jesus is fully ready to forgive our sin,

But you must seek Him in true repentance, and faith.

 

Mark 1:4 “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

 

Acts 10:43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

 

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

Forgiveness has requirements.

 

Those requirements are met here in the story of the paralytic.

They found the one who would pay the price.

They approached him in humility and faith.

 

Our plea for forgiveness is the same.

#2 THE PRESENTATION OF FORGIVENESS

Matthew 9:2b

 

“seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”

 

The humble approach in faith, and Jesus agrees to forgive.

If the story stopped here, it would be no less of a miracle.

 

This is the miracle of the story,

And the main purpose of why Jesus came to this earth.

 

HERE WITH THE PARALYTIC.

THE MOST IMPORTANT MIRACLE HAS ALREADY OCCURRED.

 

WE ALSO SEE THE RESULT OF BEING FORGIVEN.

 

Jesus says, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”

 

There are two words for courage in the New Testament.

 

One is (TALMAO) – which refers to outward boldness.

 

This person is scared, but charges into the fear.

It is being afraid, and going through with it anyway.

 

That is not the word Jesus uses.

 

The second is (THARSEO). Courage that eliminates fear.

 

It represents the courage that eliminates fear,

Not the courage that perseveres through it.

 

Jesus doesn’t tell this man to be tough in the midst of danger.

He tells the man what you were afraid of is now gone.

Forgiveness wipes out our fear, because it wipes out our enemy.

 

1 John 4:15-18 “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”

 

When we truly receive the forgiveness of Jesus, that love casts out fear.

It doesn’t just give is the guts to endure, it takes away the enemy.

Now with nothing to be afraid of, we also have no fear.

 

However, a person without forgiveness,

Who hasn’t turned to God will very much live in fear.

 

Hebrews 10:26-27, 31

“For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES…It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

 

And that is why Jesus told this man to “take courage”

 

No longer do you have to be afraid.

No longer do you have to dread.

 

I love that song “In Christ Alone” that we sing.

“No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me. From life’s first cry to final breathe, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand. ‘Til He returns, or calls me home, here in the power of Christ, I’ll stand.”

 

Jesus performed the miracle on this man, and fear was gone!

 

First, the plea for forgiveness, second, the presentation of forgiveness.

#3 THE PROOF OF FORGIVENESS

Matthew 9:3-7

 

This is one of the tragedies of our world.

Regardless of how wonderful Jesus is. There will always be skeptics.

 

As soon as Jesus says this, that little mob

Who came to accuse Him found what they were looking for.

“This fellow blasphemes”

 

Mark 2:7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?”

 

You see, they knew what an ordeal forgiveness was.

Furthermore it is yet another claim by Jesus that He is indeed God.

 

The theology of the Scribes was correct.

Only God could forgive sin.

 

It was the discernment of the Scribes that was lacking.

God was in front of them, and they couldn’t see Him.

 

They didn’t believe that the man had actually been forgiven.

Because they didn’t believe Jesus was God

 

AND SO JESUS SETS OUT TO PROVE HIS POWER.

(Not His power over paralysis, but His power over sin)

 

(4-5) “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’?”

 

You answer that question, but make sure you answer the exact question.

 

Because if you say that it is easier to forgive sin

Than it is to heal a paralytic then you are wrong.

You and I would come much closer to healing a paralytic

Than we ever will to forgiving a sinner.

 

It took a word from Jesus to heal the sick.

It required the death of Jesus to forgive sin.

 

So forgiveness is much more difficult.

 

But Jesus didn’t ask which is more difficult.

Jesus asked which is easier “to say”

 

And the answer to that question is that

Anyone can say you are forgiven, because it is invisible.

 

(6-7) “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins – then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” And he got up and went home.”

 

Jesus main miracle was forgiveness of sin,

The other miracles only served as validity.

 

John 5:36 “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”

 

Jesus offered unmistakable proof that He had the power to forgive sin.

 

JESUS CAN FORGIVE

What that means for us, is that when we come to Jesus

In true repentance in faith,

Then we can be confident that our sins are indeed paid in full.

 

Colossians 2:13-14 “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

 

That is what Jesus meant on the cross when He said, “It is finished!”

 

And not only that, but based upon that sacrifice

He gave great authority to the apostles.

 

John 20:22-23 “And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

 

This didn’t mean they could forgive,

But rather that they could authoritatively offer forgiveness through Christ.

 

That is why Peter preached at Pentecost:

Acts 2:38 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

 

Because of Jesus, forgiveness is real.

You really can be clean before God.

BECAUSE JESUS PAID THE PRICE FOR FORGIVENESS

 

First, the plea for forgiveness, The presentation of forgiveness,

The proof of forgiveness.

#4 THE PRAISE FOR FORGIVENESS

Matthew 9:8

When the people saw this, the were “awestruck”.

And they began glorifying God.

 

We are told why they glorified God.

Because He “had given such authority to men.”

 

They worshiped because finally there was One

Who had the authority to forgive sin.

There was finally One who could fix our biggest problem.

 

If there ever was a reason to worship, this is it.

Psalm 32:1 “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!”

 

Psalm 130:3-4 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.”

Charles Spurgeon

1) He Forgave it All

2) He Forgave it Fully

3) He Forgave it Freely

4) He Forgave it For ever

 

FORGIVENESS IS THE BEST REASON TO WORSHIP GOD.

We couldn’t earn it,

We couldn’t afford it,

We didn’t deserve to receive it,

We could never live up to it,

BUT THANKS TO JESUS WE’LL NEVER BE WITHOUT IT.

 

THIS MORNING LET ME OFFER THIS FORGIVENESS TO YOU.

• Jesus came in the form of man and lived a perfectly sinless life.

• He then was crucified for sins He did not commit.

• And His blood became an acceptable offering to God on behalf of all who will trust in Christ.

 

If you will repent of your sin, and give your life to Jesus Christ,

He will forgive you of all your sin and make you clean before God.

 

THIS MORNING LET ME ALSO SAY.

If you have turned from your sin, and trusted in Christ,

There is no reason for you to live in fear or guilt any more.

Jesus really did settle it all, and there is nothing more you need done.

 

Keith Getty wrote a song called “The Power of the Cross”

(some have heard it, Peggy will sing it soon)

 

“Oh to see the dawn, of the darkest day, Christ on the road to Calvary. Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten then, nailed to a cross of wood.

This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us; took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross.

“Oh to see the pain written on Your face, bearing the awesome weight of sin. Every bitter thought, every evil deed, crowning your blood-stained brow.

This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us; took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross.

“Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath, quakes as its Maker bows His head; curtain torn into, dead are raised to life, “Finished!” the victory cry!

This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us; took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross.

“Oh to see my name, written in the wounds, for through Your suffering I am free; death is crushed to death, life is mine to live, bought through your selfless love.

This the power of the cross, Son of God slain for us, what a love! What a cost! We stand forgiven at the cross.”

 

Colossians 2:13-14 “And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”