Transcript for:
Galatians 1:6,9 -Anathema- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-07-23

Please stand with me and open your bibles to Galatians chapter one verses six through nine. And I just gave you a kind of a introduction to what we're gonna cover. But we've got some real examples of that in the room here. Number a number of you have come up and told me, you know, the Holy Spirit speaking to you, the Lord's ministering to you through the teaching of the word, and that's the way it's supposed to be. And, alright. I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ under another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which he have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that what you have received, let him be accursed. Father, we thank you for your holy word. Lord, we lift up Sally. We lift up Joe and Linda and others who are sick, and God, the severity of it, it's huge. But Lord, a cold is as easy for you to heal as there is COVID or cancer, Lord. And so we lift them up, and we pray that you would cause the chemotherapy to work to kill the cancer cells. We pray that you build up and strengthen their immune systems, that they get over all this that they're going through. It's horrific what they're going through. It looks like a death sentence, Lord, but, God, you're a God who raises the dead. You're a God who heals. You're the same yesterday, today, and forever. And, Lord, we know that nothing is hard for you. Nothing is hard, Lord. And, Lord, we have the faith, and we believe and trust in you that you're gonna do what's best. And so we pray for the healing touch upon their bodies now, encouragement, peace, and joy, and, your peace that surpasses all understanding to guard their hearts and minds as they go through, this season of trial, Lord. And, Lord, we ask that you'd open the scriptures to our understanding, that you'd be our teacher today, that we would be edified and built up and strengthened, that you'd help us, Lord. Lord, that you would help us as we as we apply these truths to our lives. Help us to apply. Help us to be doers of your word, not hearers only. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? Paul now gives us reason for writing this letter. The churches of Galatia were being seduced by the Judaizers. The Judaizers were some Pharisaical sect or Pharisaical heavy heavies from Jerusalem. You remember when the church broke out in Acts chapter two, it's primarily Jewish, to the Jew first and then to the gentile. And then, as time went on, persecution came against the church there. And, people responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ, you know, crucified, buried, raised from the dead. And, and and the Jews still would go to, you know, the temple and and participate, you know, in the Mosaic Law and all. And so they're kinda wrestling with, you know, what happened to the law, what happened to Judaism and all that. And so a whole new thing has taken place, the the birth of the church and, salvation by grace through faith alone. And so it's a struggle for many that were, you know, addicted, if you will, to trying to keep, you know, the Mosaic law. And so, as Philip, the evangelist, as as Stephen was stoned in Acts seven, and, as he was stoned and then Philip, one of the one of the deacons, he goes over to Samaria in Acts chapter eight. And these are half breeds hated by the Jews, and he begins to preach the gospel and a great, revival breaks out in Samaria. And Philip had four daughters, and they were prophetesses. You know? Philip the evangelist. And then chapter nine, you see Paul leaving Jerusalem going all the way, as Saul of Tarsus, all the way to Damascus to apprehend the Christians because Jesus gave a commission, to go and preach the gospel to, you know, every nation. And, and then he also said, you're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost. But the early church didn't leave Jerusalem because it was a big party, huge, wonderful Christian Disneyland with every ride and attraction and no persecution yet. So they were just really enjoying so many people just stoked about Jesus. And then persecution came, and Paul, Saul of Tarsus, is going all the way to Damascus because these Christians have spread out. And the Lord meets him on the road to Damascus and grabs hold of him. In chapter 10, Peter is at the house of Cornelius in home of the Gentiles, and the Holy Spirit, like in Acts two, is poured out upon the Gentiles. Pretty soon, you see that Peter later Paul will describe how Peter his mission primarily was to the circumcision, to the Jew. Paul recognized that his primary mission field was to the Gentiles. And so he's planting a church with Barnabas in the area of Galatia, and, and it's working well. Things are going good, and then the heavies come down. These guys from Jerusalem, the sect that you can read in Acts 15, the sect of the Pharisees, the Pharisees come down, and they begin to impose upon these new Christians that you're really not saved unless you're circumcised, unless you keep the Mosaic law. And so Paul's saying, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. That's gonna you're gonna fall from grace. You're you're you're you're perverting the gospel. That that can't happen. So they tried to mix the law with grace. They were undermining the true gospel by preaching another gospel. So Paul describes three dangers of preaching and or receiving another gospel. Do you think another gospel's being taught today? Certainly. And that the true gospel we're gonna cover that today, but the true gospel, not only is Jesus crucified, buried, raised from the dead, and a person comes to salvation in that way. And if that's if that's it, believe on the lord Jesus Christ, you know, the Philippian jailer, and you'll be saved. But we also wanna see that work of sanctification. If somebody adds to the gospel and says, now you gotta keep the law, now you gotta become a member, now you gotta do this, a whole set of do's, you gotta knock on doors, that's a different gospel. That's a false gospel. And so that's what Paul's gonna, show here. So, three dangers of preaching and or receiving another gospel. Another gospel leads to number one, desertion. For those of you that served in the military, desertion is punishable by death. Right? So I marvel. Paul's amazed. How can this be? You know? How could this happen? That you're so soon, and it's the Greek word tachios, so like a tachometer in a race car. It happened very quickly. Removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ. So you've been called into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Grace is unmerited favor. It's God's design. Jesus said, no man can come unto me except the father who has sent me. Draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. Jesus said, you didn't choose me, but I chose you and ordained that you'd bear fruit and that your fruit would remain. And so there's a there's a truth that we speak that we don't become imbalanced in of predestination, of election, of calling, God calling us. We were dead in our sins and trespasses. Dead people don't respond. Dead people have to be raised up. God has to quicken you in Ephesians two. I wasn't looking for Jesus. I wasn't looking for God. I went to a concert. I was looking for girls. And while I was there, a guy got up there and preached the gospel after the music, and it hit me hard. Powerful. Never heard it before. Never heard about this. Nobody ever I made my first communion and all, but nobody told me about Jesus and the cross and how my sins could be forgiven. And I could have said no, but I'd be insane today. A lot of people are resisting the Holy Spirit. They're going insane. They're seeing psychiatrists to deal with the guilt and depression, discouragement, and emptiness of their lives, and they can't put Humpty Dumpty back together again. They just can't do it. But I thought I had it made. I thought everything was great, and I wasn't looking for God. But, man, he invaded, didn't he? He invaded before things got worse. You go back to your reunion, and you see the friends that you're partying with, things you were doing, you know, just before college, college time, and and, man, the alcohol has taken a toll. The drugs have taken a toll. The emptiness of the world has taken a toll. And then you just thank the lord that, oh, man, lord. Thank you for apprehending me. Thank you for rescuing me. Thank you from for saving me from myself, the the course that I was going down. And so the grace of God unto another gospel, and that word another there is a Greek word heteros. It's another of a different kind. And we talked on on Monday night at the bible study, in Hebrews chapter 11 about verse 36, and I asked the I asked the question, how many of you wanna be conquerors? And, all the hands raise up. And as you go through the book of of Hebrews, it's so exciting to see those that close the mouth of lions in Daniel six who who went through the fire like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego quenched the fire. And, subdued kingdoms like David and Samson and Jephthah and all these great hall of faith Christians. We all wanna conquer. Right? And then it comes to and others. And that Greek word is heteros, others of a different kind. Well, if you've got the conquerors listed and all by faith by faith by faith by faith live lives pleasing unto God, why not Allos? Why not others of the same kind? Why Heteras, others of a different kind? And the others of a different kind were like Isaiah that got sawn in two in verse 38. And they had trial and mockings and scourgings and whom this world was not worthy, and they hid in dens and in caves and, you know, and all that, awaiting a better resurrection. And so, you know, I think of that. I think, but the more than conquerors in Romans eight, nothing can separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. Right? We're more than conquerors through him that loved us. Right? As we point back to the cross. And neither height nor depth nor principality nor power nor things present nor things to come, nothing nothing. Nobody is ever gonna be able to separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. So it's not so bad to be a more than a conqueror, hetras of a different kind. But when it comes to the gospel, there's only one gospel. There's no Hetras. There's no other gospel of a different kind. And down in six and seven, he he he's as we move on through here, he's gonna use the Greek word allos, which is there isn't even a gospel of the same kind. There's only one gospel. There aren't two gospels. One gospel. And so, but you've been moved. That word removed means to desert. You transferred or changed. The Greek tenses, they were in the process of desertion. And it's not just a little thing, it's overtaking the whole church. It's overtaking them. They're swayed. They're being seduced. They're being moved. And you remember how Paul talked to the church of Corinth? I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy, lest as the serpent beguiled Eve or seduced Eve, so you would be moved from the simplicity that's in Christ. He was he was he was nervous that these false prophets in Corinth would come there and undermine them, and that they would get away from the simplicity of the gospel, that somebody would come and preach a different gospel, that they'd present a different Jesus and a different spirit. For a pastor or a church planner, you're also a shepherd, and you're and you're watching over the flock. You're trying to get them to the point of maturity that they can fend for themselves. You raise the kids up and you get them going. And then, alright. Now it's time for you to get married, for you to formulate your household and have what you want. But hopefully, we've invested enough in you and brought you to the place of enough of maturity that you're not gonna be seduced, you're not gonna be tricked, that the Internet, the chat g p t, and all that other stuff's not gonna get in your head and make you crazy and make you move in a different direction. And so we try to keep it old school. We try to keep the boundaries that are set of the word of God to protect us and to shield us and keep our kids and us from from all the multitude of liars out there and false gospels and false prophets and false christs. And it's just so simple if you just keep it simple. But what you gotta do is you gotta try and get them or they learn the word of God to a degree that they see through the false prophets. But sometimes as a pastor, you marvel. Oh, how quickly these people are sucked into a flat earth idea. How did that come in? How did that happen? And now I hear it's spreading over to some of the other churches in the community. Well, why do you what how does that matter? That it does matter. People get stumbled from it. People begin to question the word of God. They begin to question, well, I look out there and everything's round. Everything out there is through the telescope. Everything's round. Everything's a sphere. And the word of God, it says we're a sphere, but there's so much AI activity on social media, there's such as pressure to move in that direction. And then pretty soon, you have casualties. You have people that you were breaking bread with and fellowship, and it comes in like it's a different gospel, like it's a different creator, different authority. And you try so hard to break that spell. It's a spell. It's a demonic stronghold, but you can't break it. And if you try to break it, then there's the lover saying, you're not very loving. Well, the most loving thing I can do is try and rescue you from being deceived and shipwrecking your faith. A different Jesus, a different gospel, different means of of sanctification, a different millennium. There is no millennium. There is no rapture. There's so many things circulating in the church today. The church replaces Israel. That's a different gospel. My gospel, the gospel I believe, extends into my eschatology, my understanding of last day's things. I expect Jesus to return literally, physically. In first John, John emphasized that. Do you believe Jesus is going to return physically? That's part of the gospel. That's the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great god and savior. Do you believe he's gonna set up his kingdom here on Earth? That's part of the gospel. That's you don't you don't dissect the promises that god has given to the nation of Israel, the promises he's given us of the kingdom age, and then buy into an allegorical spiritualizing of these truths. No. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. And so you're just amazed. You're amazed at how how quickly it can happen. A military desertion is punishable by death. Paul marveled, astonished, amazed at how quickly they were deserting Jesus. What happened to your relationship with Jesus? Why are you now mechanical? I know. The Lord saved me, so I come by grace through faith, but now I'm gonna help him. Now I'm gonna prove that he picked a winner. Winner, you know, winning. And I'm gonna be able to boast of all my friends and family that I go to church more than them, and that's why I'm so good. And that I read the bible more to them, I pray more to them, I give more to them, I serve more than them. And boy, I get caught up in the do good, and I do good. I do more good than anybody, you know? It's deeds, not creeds, he says. And you crash. You crash because you can't keep it up. It's like a diet. These diets, so many times you're trying so hard and then you crash. It's like, oh, I'll try another one. I crash. God needs to change me from the inside. I'm addicted to food. I got bad habits. I eat bad stuff. How how you gonna change how you gonna change? It's so hard. And so too in the spiritual realm, I can't change myself. I can't remove the spots. I can cooperate with the Holy Spirit, yield to the Holy Spirit, confess to the Holy Spirit, I need his help, and get into the word and allow God to transform and change me. But I've noticed the Lord a lot of times, he'll leave areas of my life where I struggle. And that struggle humbles me, humiliates me, makes me more like a child dependent upon him. And I yearn. I yearn deep inside that one day, I'm gonna see him face to face, and I'll know even as I am known that he'll perfect me. It's like a it's like a terrible, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? We gotta carry that corpse. We gotta carry that old man that keeps warring with the spirit with the new man. And I've never reached the point of where I've arrived, but as Paul says, I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I'm pressing. I'm pressing toward the goal. I'm not giving up. But those days where I think I've arrived, those days where I think, hey, I'm doing pretty good. Boy, the Lord really has a way of humbling you, doesn't he? Bring you down to square one again. But these people are deserting Jesus. They're all mechanical. They're legal. You might be circumcised. You might be doing, but you've left your first love. So they think, well, I'm gonna I'm gonna start wearing a shawl, and I'm gonna go to church on Saturdays, and I'm gonna become a, you know, a mystic Jew. I'm gonna look at the, you know, all the feasts of Judaism and all that and apply all that to my walk and relationship with the Lord. And and for Jews, you know, they kept in that in that groove, I'm sure, enjoying the aspects of culturally being Jews, but they didn't impose upon themselves the 613 precepts of the Mosaic Law. They'd be disqualified because that's legalism. You gotta walk by faith. You start by faith. You walk by faith. You continue by faith. But you've left your first love. You've you've made it rather than a love relationship, a legal relationship. You've got a contract with your wife. She's gotta do this, that, and the other, you know, or she's gonna forfeit this, you know. And you signed a prenup, you know. I don't know. But in any event, it's not a love relationship. You're not trusting the Lord that he's gonna complete that work that he's begun in you. Instead, you're imposing the law upon yourself. And you can you can, you can let everybody know. You can boast if if you're living according to the law until you until you fall. But what's the law lead toward? It leads toward bondage. You go back into bondage. Bondage to the do's and the don'ts. Mechanical, legal, but no love. Sometimes you'll come across churches that are really sterile. Sterile. No life. Because the spirit gives life. The letter of the law kills. And if you live according to the letter of the law in your marriage, your relationship with God, or in a church, there's always the condemners, those that condemn, those that are finding fault, those that are always wanting to point out sin. And and it, it leads to condemnation, it leads to bondage, and there's no freedom. No freedom to fail, no freedom to fall. If any man be overtaken in the fall, you are spiritual. Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, lest you also be tempted. Healthy environment's an environment where we can fall, where we can blow it, but the Lord's there to build us back up, strengthen us, encourage us. We as Christians, it's been said, we're the only ones that forsake our wounded. The military is no man left behind. Right? No man left behind. He gets wounded, you go out there, risk your life to get him to the medic. Right? But we're running around like policemen, like lawyers, holding people to the very letter of the law. The law says she should be stoned. And Jesus, in John eight, stoops to the ground after he he says, he that is about sin cast the first stone. And they're holding the law over his head. The law says, they didn't bring the man, did they? Just the woman. And he stoops to the ground, and he begins to take the finger of God that wrote the 10 commandments, and the finger of God begins to write in the dust of the ground. And from the eldest to the youngest, those condemners, accusers began to leave. What did Jesus write in the ground? I don't know. Maybe the names of the women they were with. Maybe the sins that they'd committed. And they're walking by, can picture them with their sandals wiping that dust, nobody can see it, and they're getting out of there. Our sin always looks worse on other people. And there's a word that we use today called projection. Many times, we project onto other people our very sin. And we're condemning the things they do, or we think they're doing. And we act so pious and self righteous and all. But in our quietness of who we really are, we're twice the son of Belial than they are. Right? Where are thine accusers? Nowhere, lord. Neither do I condemn thee. You're not gonna condemn me? The law's intention is to condemn, to stop every mouth, to make every person admit that they're a sinner. That's the intention of the law, to force you, to bring you to the end of yourself where your only way out is Jesus Christ. Your only way out is to receive his free gift of eternal life. Jesus said, it is finished, paid in full. He did the work. And then Jesus told her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. For the son of man came not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. His intention wasn't come to condemn, but to save. It's sinners. It's those who are sick that need the physician. He didn't come for the righteous, but for sinners. That's you. That's me. And there's such a weight that's lifted off when I continue to trust, continue to rely upon him and his righteousness, his finished work. But they're deserting Jesus. They're getting into the law. They're falling back into, bondage. He said deserting him that called you into this grace of Christ. So you've been drawn by love, but you're deserting me because of the law. You're imposing the law upon yourself. Bondage. In Jeremiah thirty one three, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. I see this over and over again in marriages and relationships where the husband and or the wife will impose upon the other the standard that they want them to perform and be. You're putting her under the law. You're putting him under the law. You leave him alone. You leave her alone. You let the Lord Jesus transform and change him. Don't put her under a I I know guys that put, like, I know a guy that put a tracker on his wife. You know? Trying to manage her every minute, every time. I mean, a person can only withstand or hold up under that for so long, And then they break down, and you know what they call that? A nervous breakdown. Too high a standard of perfection, you Mormon women. Having all those babies with all those men and having to be perfect, and put your Mormon face on and get out there. What's Kathy call them? The something wives? Stepford wives? You know? It's not true. It's not reality. It's not God's intention. It's not God's will. A husband's there to build his wife up, to cover his wife. Paul Peter said, husbands, take knowledge of your wives. Get to know her intimately. What makes her tick? What does she like? Maybe she likes to sleep in. Let her. You better be up at 5AM and making me breakfast. Well, maybe she needs to sleep in and you need to make some toast yourself. You know? Who do you think you are? You know, when I go get my haircut and I meet these women that are divorced, they're in their forties, one of their biggest gripes is he works and I work, but when I get home, I do all the housework, all the laundry, cut the grass, everything else. Well, what's he do? Oh, he smokes pot, drinks beer, and he's a gamer. What do I need him for? I got my own money. And boy, I'm just like, well, I better quit talking. She's messed my hair up. She's starting to get angry. You know? And, this one girl has cut my hair. She doesn't cut men's hair anymore. And I went and knocked up on the door because I need a haircut because there's a wedding coming up, and I didn't wanna go like a scarecrow. And so I I knocked on the door. She wasn't answer she wasn't doing it. And she come to the door, Rick, I don't do men's hair anymore. And I I I why? I knew that was gonna happen. These conversations I've had with her. And I'm like, okay. Alright. Alright. Don't get mad at me. And I almost said, what are you, a man hater? But I I didn't say that. It didn't come out, but it was in my head. But so many people just given up on marriage, given up on relationships. Lack of love, a lack of laying down our lives for the other. Husbands, love your wives like Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Your wife can be as weak as she wants to be. She's the weaker vessel. You're her covering. You're the one that the Lord is using to build her up and strengthen her. And when she feels supremely loved, guess what? She finds it easier, easier, I'm not saying easy, easier to submit to your leadership, to respect you. But if she doesn't feel supremely loved, if you got a wandering eye and and you're always condemning her and finding fault and using the f word on her. You know, you're so fat. You can't do that. That's that's like that's like suicide. You can't do that. You can't berate. You can't tear her down. You can't you can't do that. You don't put her under the law. Build her up. Strengthen her. Love her. And you'll have the best friend you've ever had. And there's a whole lot of grace and a whole lot of God's love and a whole lot of molding and shaping. There's a lot of times he puts us with opposites. It'd be so much easier if she liked to get up early like me. It'd be so much easier if she liked to go to the gym and she liked to surf and she liked to race cars and stuff, you know. It'd be so much easier. But it gives you someone the opposite of you, so now you need to die. Both of us are dying. You don't measure up to what she envisioned, what she wanted. She's gotta die. And that's the Christian life, is dying to self. No longer us living, but Christ living through us. But the law? You bring the law into a relationship, into a marriage, a standard of performance, and you're gonna quench the Holy Spirit. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, it's not gonna work. I have loved thee with an everlasting love, and therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Colossians one twenty one, it says, you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled. So he's reconciling you. You not reconciled to god because god didn't do anything wrong. You're being reconciled. You're being made at one minute. You are an alien and an enemy of God, and he's reconciled you through the blood of his son. In the body of this flesh through death to present you holy. So God has had you as an enemy, as a filthy, wretched individual, but his intention is to present you holy. Not gonna leave you with all your wicked works. Holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. How does he do that? It's not by the law. It's a transformation and an imputation of god's righteousness upon you. In your in your position, you're already justified just as you've if you've never sinned. Sanctification, yes, holy, but also a progressing work of of holiness being changed from glory to glory one day to see yourself in the image of Christ. But god we're growing. All of us are growing. None of us have arrived, but we're growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. I'm not as big a sinner as I was before. The potential's there. I could slam all the way back and do the things that I used to do before I ever became a Christian. I could do that. But I don't want to. And I asked the Lord to protect me from what? From from me. It's there, but he's put a greater, stronger desire within my heart to live a life that's pleasing unto him. That desire is there. What the law could not do, Jesus has done for us. Why would you remove yourself from the grace of Christ? Who would do that? Why would you remove yourself from the grace of Christ? He's gracious toward you, kind toward you, written your name in the lamb's book of life already. Why would you remove yourself from the grace of Christ to become a member of a cult? Why would you do that? Because your flesh desires to boast. There's a desire in the flesh, a pride of life that wants to tell everybody, you're better than they are. You knocked on more doors. You gave more. Went to church more. Went to mass more. You did more, more, more, more, more. You're not one of those losers. That's the boasting. That's where the pride comes in. You remember in Luke chapter 15, the story of the prodigal son, How he deserted his father. He deserted his family. He deserted the the legacy that his father was trying to provide for his two sons. And he said, father, I want my inheritance right now. And I wanna go out and live large, man. I wanna live large. I've been watching social media and, man, these guys really know how to party. It's really boring here being a farmer. I'm tired of being a farmer. I wanna go to the cities. I wanna go and live the the life of clubbing and hanging out and and drugging and drinking and all that good stuff. I wanna go to Vegas, man. I wanna gamble. Give me my inheritance. And a whole lot of people are tired of waiting for mom and dad or grandma and grandpa to to die because, man, they really want that inheritance. Well, this guy went up and asked for it, and he got it. And he lived a licentious lifestyle. No law. Do whatever I want, whatever I please. And he wound up, because he's a child of God, he wound up in a pigpen, a Jew eating pig's food. That's the law of the law for a Jew, boy. And then he began to recognize how far he'd fallen. And he began to rehearse a speech of repentance unto his dad, that maybe his dad, his father, would receive him back. And unbeknownst to him, his father's been looking out the window for quite some time, and some of us have been looking out that window for ten years. Fifteen, twenty years for our prodigals to come home. And we're so afraid they're gonna die in the foreign land. We're so afraid they're gonna succumb to the drugs, the alcohol, the riotous living. We we'd like to go and just forcibly rescue them and bring them back and put them in recovery, but we know we doesn't work in every case, doesn't work. Maybe that's what you've had to do, but there's a free will there. And in that free will, it's their choice that they make. A child? Yeah. A child being seduced? Yeah. We intervene. But an adult? An adult that's had so many different chances, so many different speeches, so many different intervention and actions and prayer and and trying to reason with them. People call it hitting rock bottom. Well, the prodigal son hit rock bottom. And as he's turning toward home, the father runs out the door. God runs to you when you turn. All you gotta do is turn, one eighty. All you gotta do is is have that posture of repentance turning back toward God, and he runs to you. It's like your daughter picking up the phone saying, daddy, will you come get me? Nothing will stop you. He'll be out the door and brings him close to himself and hugs him and kisses him and puts a ring on his finger and a robe of righteousness and kills the fatted calf and gonna throw a party. And then there's another prodigal living in that home, but he's the legalistic son. The legalistic, indignant son, angry son, the one that's shriveled up, the one that's living according to the law, who's not excited about his prodigal brother coming home. And when he sees dad lavishing upon him this great grace and love and attention, the elder son's indignant. I have served you faithfully. I've done this. I've done that. I've done it all. You know? And he's indignant. He's angry. Why would you why would you give this loser all that favor? He's he's never done right. He's still at home, but he's so religious. He's going to church. He's reading his bible. He's praying. But he too needed to return to his first love, under his father's arms, the place of grace, of intimacy with his God. His legalism, his works relationship had left him unloving, resentful, bitter, and proud. He forgot that he didn't deserve a thing, that it's all of grace. No room for the law. The letter of the law kills, but the spirit gives life. Another gospel leads to number one, desertion. Secondly, another gospel leads to deception. Notice verse seven, which is not another so here's his play on words. Watch it. Heteros and Allos. In verse six, it's Heteros, another gospel, another of a different kind. Here, it's Allos, Greek word Allos, another of the same kind, Which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and will pervert the gospel of Christ. So again, another, alos, another, the same kind, similar yet different. There's only one gospel. You can't try to squeeze one in there that's similar, that's like the gospel, but, you know, different, another, and certainly not the one of a different kind. So if you agree that Jesus died for your sins, if you agree that he raised himself from the dead, but deny that he saved you and sanctifies you by grace alone, you are deceived. You're trusting in something other than his finished work upon the cross. Another gospel leads to deception. Truth has been perverted. That Greek word means to turn about, to be backwards into the law. So you've come back into the law, allowing the law to be how you function. This perversion causes trouble. Notice. Trouble means confusion, perplexity, deep emotional disturbance, and what else? No peace. There's no peace, saith the lord, for the wicked. The law is constantly condemning you. The law is constantly making you feel guilty. You wake up in the morning, and you feel guilty before you even your feet hit the ground. You know you're gonna sin that day. You're trying to be a perfect mom, a perfect dad, a perfect family, and you've been working at it real hard. You've been condemning everyone around you because they don't live up to it. But you think, I'm a do better today. I'm a do better today. And you fall. You lose your temper. Say a bad word. You burn the cookies. You're not perfect. Learn to laugh about it. Learn to sing about it. Sing a song. Lighten up. Lighten up. Don't be so tight. There's actually people that hate me. Can you believe that? And I say, lighten up on Facebook. Lighten up. It's just a joke. They don't get my humor. And sometimes it's not a joke. Sometimes I'm gonna challenge them toe to toe because it's heresy. And you know what's interesting? I never go on anybody else's site and attack them. That's their business, what they wanna post. Now Rob does and other people I know, which is good. It's good. You need people like that. If there's people in the church, you know, questionably living in adultery, not married, but having sleepovers and they're adults, someone needs to be the hammer. And just ask them a very polite question, you know? Are you a Christian? Yeah. Are you guys sleeping together? That's none of your business. We're adults. Well, I beg your pardon. A little eleven eleven is a whole lump. It is our business. Our kids are watching you. Our church family is watching you. So some of you get to do that. I try to I try to stay away from it because I'm always the heavy. And I try to, through the teaching of the word, allow the Holy Spirit to convict. And some of the guys I'm finding out from their wives said, when I talk about alcohol or pot or adultery, their husbands that are sitting next to them, their head goes down because they're convicted. They're online giving their heart to another woman, and it manifests itself years later, and they're kooky. Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. They've lost their mind. They just lost their mind. It's just like, what happened to you? Decades of marriage and you've lost your mind. That's the Internet. That's demonic activity over the Internet. That's the heart of man thinking he can get away with it because it's it's private, but as a man thinks of his heart, so is he. It's gonna manifest itself someday. And and your and your wife's just like, who is this guy? What happened to him? He's going in getting hair plugs now, and he's got a red sports car, and he's trying to get slimmer, and and he and he's got a girlfriend that's younger than our daughters. You know? And what happened to him? The world calls it a midlife crisis. And everyone knows you're kooky. Everybody knows your new girlfriend. She's she just looks at you like an ATM. That's all you are to her. You're just an ATM. And you think you're so hip and cool. So embarrassing being a human being. It's just so embarrassing. The things we're capable of. The things we bring into our families. It's just it's crazy. You're deceived. Mind boggling. This word of sanctification, the grace alone that sanctifies. You're trusting in something other than his finished work upon the cross. Another gospel leads to deception. The truth has been perverted. There's confusion, perplexity, deep emotional disturbance. No peace, saith the Lord of the wicked. That wickedness. Guilty. Guilt is produced because of the crushing pressure of the law, which condemns you. God did not make you with shoulders big enough to carry that burden. And going to a psychiatrist and the psychiatrist trying to get at the root of who abused you, who hurt you, who did this to you, you've got this guilt you're carrying. There's condemnation. You feel filthy. You don't feel clean or pure or noble or righteous or like a woman should feel. As a unspotted, unblemished bride, clean white garment, all the sin washed away, continually washed away. You don't feel like the virtuous woman, Proverbs 31 talks about. You're condemning yourself. You're allowing those that abuse, those that mistreated you to have a hold upon you, have control, a domination over you, because that's what the law does. And in some cases, you're in bondage because you haven't forgiven them from your heart. It's true. It did happen to you. It does happen. You had a terrible marriage. It's true. What do you do now? Well, I gave my heart to Christ. I'm saved, and I'm trying to do better. I'm trying to better myself. I'm going to the gym, and I'm eating better, and I'm doing everything I can to be a better person this time. Maybe next time, the next person I marry won't condemn me so much. I'm making myself better. I'm gonna rebrand. Honey, the problem's not you. The problem's the law being used to condemn you. You'll never measure up. The law is a terrible, terrible bondage over you. No. You need to let Jesus fulfill the law. You need to let Jesus take the punishment upon himself, the wrath of God poured out upon him because of your sin and the sins of those that have hurt you and abused you. And so the psychiatrist says, well, it's your it's your mom's fault. It's your dad's fault. We're gonna play the blame game. Well, it was the serpent's fault. It's the serpent. Oh, it's the woman you gave me. Now you're into the blame game, and you're going around in a circle and you never get to the root of the problem. It's sin. Sin's the problem. And that sin's crouching at the door. And the guilt that you have cannot be alleviated by anything you can do, except as a Christian to confess our sins, and he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. I can't do anything about other people's sin. God says to me, leave them to me. Vengeance is mine. I'll repay, sayeth the lord. I have the freedom, not the bondage, the freedom to approach each and every new day. The mercies of the lord are new every morning. I need to concern myself with my own sin, with my own inabilities, and ask god to strengthen me and help me become more like Jesus. Lord, I I need to walk in that grace, that unmerited favor. There needs to be a lot of of love in this home and a lot of love in this relationship and love in in the church, a safe place to fail, a safe place to be a human being. If you impose a a standard of perfection upon people like the Pharisees did, Jesus said, come on to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden carrying that burden. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Yoke up to me. And I'm the carpenter from Nazareth. When I make a yoke for you, when I come up with a with a plan and a purpose for your life, that yoke on your neck doesn't chafe. It doesn't scar your neck. It's perfectly fitted, a perfect fit for you. Don't try to be somebody else. I've got a yoke. I've got to work for you. Yoke yourself up to me. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Get to know me. For I'm meek and lowly, you don't have to try and be a tech giant. You don't have to act like I gotta reach the upper echelon of society. Jesus left the splendor of heaven to come down here and become a man so that we could get to know him as he's revealing himself, as god's revealing himself through his son under you and I. I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest. You've been so perplexed carrying that law and the guilt, and you'll find rest under your soul. For my yoke is easy. My yoke is kind. There's kindness. My burden is light. So you keep casting all your cares upon him. It starts to roll back down on you. Look at all the laundry I gotta do. People are coming over. Just keep casting your cares upon him. Go find a room in the house to put all that laundry. Shove it somewhere else. Get to it another day. And when push comes to shove, it's always, always, always your relationship with Jesus that comes first. Your time sitting at his feet in devotion. Yeah. The day might have got away from you, but you have got to have your devotional time with Jesus. Because the tyranny of the urgent, the tyranny of all this stuff that is open ended, you can never get it all done. So put the Lord first, spend time with him, and what doesn't get done, it'll be there tomorrow waiting for you. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. He doesn't want you to carry that burden of the law. And as we get older, we get weaker and weaker, the less and less we can do. We're not as champions like we once were, superhuman. And we gotta resign ourselves to the fact that it's getting harder to walk, it's harder to go upstairs, it's harder to, you know, put out eight, twelve hours of work all the time. That that window of opportunity you have to be constructive in all changes, and there needs to be understanding in the home. Don't impose the law. The law is too heavy, too big a load. In Acts 15, the apostle Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem to talk to the heavies. And, they were in Antioch, and and some Judaizers came down from from Jerusalem to impose the law upon the early church. And they were telling the Christians that were responding to Barnabas and Saul with the gospel that they needed to be circumcised, that they need to start keeping the law. In addition to believing in Jesus, you also have to keep the law. So Paul and Barnabas went up to and Titus went up to, Jerusalem to talk to the leadership. James, the brother of our Lord, was was one and Peter was one. And so Peter, as he's listening to what the Pharisees were doing, trying to impose this upon the early church, he said, why put a burden on them, meaning the Gentiles, that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear? That that burden of the law, we can't carry it. And I have to testify that when I went to the house of Cornelius, you know, they received Jesus the same way as we did in Acts two, by grace through faith alone and the holy spirit moving and working in them. And then James says, yeah, what brother Peter is saying is good. And so what we would say for the sake of fellowship, not the law, for the sake of fellowship, let's try to exhort the gentiles so that we can have fellowship, so that we can eat together. Because the Jews were prayed each day. They thanked the Lord that they weren't a Gentile. They thanked the Lord each day that they weren't a woman. These Jewish men, prideful men. And they thought of Gentiles as simply fuel for the fire of hell. They're just for hell. Now these Jews are getting saved. They're learning of the grace of God, and the gentiles are getting saved. But these Pharisees, the sect of the Pharisees, rigid concerning the law, the very letter of law, are imposing this upon others, and they're still in a mixed group. What do we do? And so James agreed with Peter. We're not gonna impose the law upon them. But for the sake of fellowship, let's see if we can get them to abstain from, idols, fornication, from things that are strangled, you know, in the eating of meat, and and and of bloody bloody stuff. The well, we don't like real rare meat and all the blood. Everything's gotta be gotta be drained properly. You know? Because otherwise, we're freaking out because we've been taught a certain way to eat and to cleanse and to and to prepare meat for eating and and things that are offered unto idols that'll ruin our conscience or whatever. So let's try and see if we can just put a few things out there that helps with fellowship. But we're not imposing the law upon them. But for the sake of fellowship, let's, let's see if we can get them to understand this. And so sometimes your eating meat cause someone to stumble so you don't eat meat, Paul said. There's things, liberties that you have that you don't do around others for the sake of fellowship that they that they're not stumbled. In second Timothy four verse three, the time will come, he says, when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned onto fables. And so what am I supposed to do when the people don't want the word of God anymore? What am I supposed to do as a pastor? If I'm pastoring and teaching in an age of apostasy, departure from the truth, And they've got itchy ears, and they want pastors that'll tell them what they wanna hear. They wanna hear fables. They wanna feel good. And they've turned themselves away, their ears from truth turned unto fables. And so what's happening is they don't wanna feel judged. They don't wanna feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit. So we're not putting them under the law. We're teaching the truth of God's word. And we know that adultery is wrong. We know that murder is wrong. We know a lie and cheat you know, all that's wrong. So Jesus didn't come to con you know, abolish the law, but to fulfill. And so by the grace of God, we're not under the law, but by the grace of God, we're able to live lives that are pleasing unto God, which means I don't murder anymore. I'm not gonna live as a a habit of life of fornication or lying, cheating, stealing. Because it's a love relationship, because I love the lord, I'm like Joseph, I don't wanna do this great evil and break god's heart. And god's looking at me and he's saying, with the power of the holy spirit, I'm gonna help you live a life that's pleasing. The law was good. The law is holy. The law is not bad, but the law can't save me nor can the law change me. It has to be an inner work of the holy spirit by grace through faith alone. But there are parameters. The law is made for the lawless. It's made for society so that people that aren't regenerated, that don't have the holy spirit, so they know don't cross this line. It's punishable by death if you cross this line. That's the only way to keep them in check. But after three strikes and you try to reform them in the prison system and pretty soon you just got more and more and more lawlessness. And then as the leadership, those you know, we we lost the SP files. We lost them. That's lawlessness. No accountability for anybody. Well, that's an indicator that the law is there to punish evil doers, to protect the children that they're preying upon. But we as Christians, we live on a higher standard than the law. We wouldn't dare want to be punished as an evil doer. We're not gonna live lives like that. Our love would wanna protect the kids, protect society. And so people want the liberalism, the antinomianism, no moral law. Leads to lasciviousness, leads to license. You can do anything you want in these churches. Jude one four, they changed the grace of God into lasciviousness. So they take the grace card out, and they say, I agree with pastor Rick. You know, we don't wanna live a legal lifestyle. We want God's grace. So God's grace means I can do anything I want. No. God's grace means you live a higher standard because he's been gracious to you. Now you respond to his love and his grace. You don't wanna hurt his heart. That's a greater motivator to live a holy life. It's love. The spirit speaks expressly, first Timothy four one, that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meat. Now that really bothers me. Which God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. So here you have the legalism, the other side of it. So one side, you got licentiousness, antinomianism, no law. We're not under the law. We can do whatever we want. Existential humanism, every man doing that which is right in his own eyes. And then on the other side, now you got the legalism side. Can't eat meat, can't marry, fifteen minute cities, can't leave your house, only this much electricity, tyranny. The beast system that's coming. Both extremes are in error. The truth is that only Jesus can save us and make us holy. We walk by faith. Anything more or less is another gospel, another deception. Another gospel leads to desertion. Secondly, deception. Thirdly and finally, another gospel leads to damnation. Now catch the tone of what Paul's saying here. Some of you, when you hear the tone, you're gonna say, god. That's not very loving. That's not very loving. Well, it's the most loving thing you can do. You're trying to protect these people that are being seduced by wolves, who are being ripped off. There needs to be a warning. But though we or the angel Moroni from heaven from hell, preach any other gospel unto you than that which he have preached unto you, let him be accursed. That word accursed is anathema, damnation. Paul is speaking damnation to anybody that would pervert the true gospel and cause these new Christians to stumble. He's saying you're headed to hell. And how did Jesus talk to him in Matthew 23 verse 33? He says, how can you, you serpents, you vipers, how can you, you serpents? Who's he talking to? The religious leadership, the Pharisees. How can you, you serpents, you vipers, escape the damnation of hell? That's where you're going. You're going to hell. He's he's calling them out, and they need to be called out so that the others can see. It's the most loving thing he can do to protect the to protect the whole, to protect the ones that are being deceived. That word, a curse is anathema, damnation. Only room for one gospel. Jesus died for our sins. He was buried. He rose again the third day, and he's coming again. In act sixteen thirty, when the Philippian jailer realized that Barnabas and Saul or excuse me, Saul and Silas hadn't left, Paul and Silas, that they hadn't left. They brought the house down. They began to worship the Lord after having been beaten, and the chains were loose from all the prisoners. And the prisoners who were still there well, the jailer is punishable by death for him, the the the ignominy of of failure. And, and he's got his knife and he's ready to kill himself, and Paul and Barnabas or excuse me, Paul and Silas are saying, no. No. No. They're all here. Everyone's here. Don't do yourself no harm. And the guy asked him a question, what must I do to be saved? And Paul said, keep the law. All 613 precepts, you be a good Jew. Be a proselyte. You're a gentile, become a Jew. No. That isn't what he said. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. You and your whole household will be saved. Pretty simple. In John chapter six verse twenty eight and twenty nine, some people came to Jesus and he's turning, you know, giving them food, causing the multitude to have loaves and fishes feeding the multitude. And verse 28, they said, what must we do, the doing, to receive eternal life? What is the work that we can do? What's the work that we can do to receive eternal life? And Jesus said, this is the work that you believe on him whom he has sent. You know what you can do? Respond to God's love. Respond to the gospel. That's your part. You respond. God initiates. You respond through repentance, turning from your sins, turning to God, crying out to God, God, be merciful to me a sinner. So if we or any man or even an angel preaches any other gospel, all the YouTube prophets and all the different tweaking and stuff they're doing. Now remember, if you know the gospel, if you know the word of God, they can't deceive you. That's the objective of the pastor, is that you'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free and keep you free. But if you're still a babe in Christ and haven't been taught the word of God over the last twenty years, then you're susceptible to deception, to being deceived, to drifting or crashing, shipwrecking. Your faith isn't developed. Your faith is in an infinite stage still, and you don't have the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, to combat the lies of the wicked one. When Jesus is tempted, he every time, it is written. It is written. It is written. You don't have that. You don't have the word of God written in your heart. So I'm sitting with Betty yesterday at the wedding, and, she lets me know that she may not know, I'm paraphrasing, the address of where the verses are. But as I'm teaching through years of her studying the bible, she knows those verses. Those verses are in her heart. And I said, well, that's what the holy spirit that's what Jesus said. The holy spirit, the comforter when he comes, will bring the word to remembrance. And that word being brought to remembrance helps you combat the lies that you're hearing or seeing or, you know, a red flag goes up. You get discernment. It's like, no. That that that's not right. That's not right. And you may not know the address of the verse, but you know the verse. And then now you take and you search, ah, I knew it was there. The other night, we were talking about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and we were talking about how they refused to compromise. They refused to compromise. There are three guys that stood up when everybody else was bound down to King Nebi. During Hitler's reign, how many churches stood up? How many pastors stood up and said no? How many complied and put Jews in the ovens? Like Shadrach, Meshach, and the bed to go in that oven. Like Antipas at the church of Pergamum, they put them in a brass bowl and they they roasted them. Like Polycarb, 80 and six years old, and they they wanna burn him at the stake because he won't recant. And so we began to talk about the importance of being unwilling to compromise. And we went over to Romans twelve one and two, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And we began to study things we already studied before. There's something on at me. I might have we might have went through 50 different verses to hammer that truth home. But I forgot a verse, and it was bothering me because I like to be thorough. And I'm thinking, how could I forget that verse? That's crazy on me. That's such a solid verse to to help bring forth this truth. But the Holy Spirit was bringing to remembrance that verse. And so I I I'm like, they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. And I was so stoked. Hey. I remember this. It's Revelation 12 verse 11. What a great verse. What a great verse to describe the saints, the tribulation saints, during the tribulation period overcoming the AC, the Antichrist, who Nebuchadnezzar is a type of type of the devil. How do they overcome him? The blood of the lamb. The word of their testimony. They love Jesus more than they love their own life. And that's the help of the Holy Spirit, helping me, helping you to overcome, to not compromise, to not give in, to not change the gospel, to accommodate what we wanna do. So there's no secret knowledge. There's no YouTube new revelation. I had a dream. I had a dream. I've got the secret underwear on. I got the rose colored glasses. I got the pharmakeia. Revelation chapter 18, the antichrist is using pharmakeia. He's using sorcery to deceive the nations. I got a pill. This pill will change you. You're still a wretch. You're still unfaithful. I've got a pill for you. This pill will change you. I've got a knurling. I've got a means of reprogramming your brain. We're gonna load up a a digital software into your brain. You're gonna be transhuman. We're gonna reform you. We're gonna make you a hybrid, a a superhuman being. No. There's only one superhuman being. That's Jesus Christ. He's the prototype. And you and I, one day, are gonna be like him. These guys are all pretenders, bringing a false hope, a false gospel. People, cryogenics are freezing their heads that one day, they're gonna have the technology and bring me back to life. Yeah. They just took your inheritance. That's all they did. Took the last of your money that should've went to your kids to to you go down to Arizona and be frozen. You know? The frozen chosen. Yeah. Polygamy. Yeah. We're gonna have a bunch of wives, a bunch of kids, and we're gonna go out and get our own planet like Adam and Eve, and we're gonna start all over. Right? You ever heard that before? New age success. There's no millennium that Jesus is gonna come back and inaugurate until we dominate the plan and until we get the gospel. Our gospel out there is a gospel that dominates everybody, forces kinda sounded like Sharia law. Kinda sounded like you're gonna force people. God doesn't force. It's free will. And the gospel goes forth to whosoever will, let him come. And God gives everybody a chance in my bible, and everybody answers, what did you do with my son? What did you do with Jesus? Because in order for love to be meaningful, there has to be free will. Illustrated further in the millennium in Revelation 20, the devil is in the abyss. He's bound for a thousand years. At the end of the thousand years, human beings live in a perfect environment. The devil is loosed to tempt them to expose their free will. And what do they do first chance they get? They wanna destroy Jesus. And he uses fire to come down from heaven and subdue them. Whosoever will. It's the will. Do you do you desire to be saved? All that the father gives to me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I'll no wise cast out. How are you exercising your free will? Well, it's election, it's predestination, it's foreknowledge, it's calling. Yes. That's the truth. He's calling you. All that the father gives me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I'll no wise cast out. That's true. Both are true. Election and the free moral agency of men, both are true. You get to one extreme, you're you're teaching heresy. So if anybody does this stuff, if Joseph says he's got some glasses that he looked at and some golden tablets and and that Jesus was in Upper State New York and blah blah blah blah blah. There's no archeological evidence. And yet a cult has started, a works dominated cult. Don't fall for it. Not gonna happen. No secret knowledge, no revelation, no secret underwear. New age success. A better you is just a greater deceived sinner. You're a smarter sinner, a better liar. None righteous, no not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's where we all are, level playing field. We're all sinners. Why did God render all of us sinners? So that it wouldn't be by works, so that he could save us by grace through faith. Salvation's a free gift. He's gotta stop every mouth. He's gotta stop all boasting. He's gotta stop all your confidence in yourself to where you cry out, oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me? Who? Not what program, not what pill, who shall deliver me from this body of death? There's Paul in Romans seven. When he comes into Romans eight, he answers his question. There's now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh trying to keep the law, but after the spirit. And then you circle, you underline the word spirit all through Romans eight. It's a work of God's spirit that saves us and transforms and changes us, sanctifies us. No program. It's a love relationship as you get to know the lord. He's transforming and changing us from glory to glory into the image of his dear son. He says, verse nine, as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that he have received, let him be accursed anathema, dedicated to destruction, damned to hell. That's strong language, very strong language. It's not the language for some churches in Atlanta, some churches in Texas where they're promising your best life now. Some of them are saying you don't even need to read the Old Testament anymore. Got a whole new gospel. There is no hell. There's no hell. It's it's it's symbolic. God of love, certainly, there wouldn't be a place called hell, Gehenna, Tartarus, the Lake Of Fire, because that would be an unloving thing for God to do. Hell was prepared for the devil and the fallen angels that rebelled against God. Hell was not prepared for man. God's long suffering, not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. But God's a gentleman. He's not gonna force you to believe in him, not gonna force you to love him, not gonna force you into his heaven. He respects your free moral agency. Nobody goes to hell that doesn't choose to go to hell. They choose to go to hell by rejecting the gospel, by rejecting Jesus Christ. It's simple. We got kids giving their heart to Jesus. It's so simple. Men love to complicate it. God considers the perversion of his gospel a very serious crime against humanity, crimes against humanity, weapons of mass destruction. Jesus died for sinners so they wouldn't have to go to hell. The gospel tells them how to be forgiven. Forgiveness cannot be earned by keeping the law, only received by grace through faith. Two men went up to the temple to pray in Luke eighteen, one a Pharisee, one a publican. The Pharisee prayed thus with himself, didn't even get past the ceiling. I thank thee, God, that I'm not like this publican. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not an adulterer. You know? God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men, so I'm better than all other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Very, very self righteous dude. And the publican, standing afar off, wouldn't so much as lift up his eyes on the heavens, smote his breast, and say, god, be merciful to me a sinner. And Jesus said, this man went away from the temple justified, just as if he never sinned. The Pharisee was still carrying his sin in that self righteous pious holding to the letter of law. Jesus said, whosoever exalts himself shall be abased, and whosoever humbles himself shall be exalted. For by grace are you saved Ephesians two eight nine. For by grace are you saved how? Through faith, and that not of yourselves. Even the faith that you have is a gift from God. Because if you can produce any of it, you're gonna be able to boast. So by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works. Why? Lest any man should boast. Jeremiah nine, Jeremiah said, the only thing you can boast in is you know God. And the only way you can boast about knowing God is he loved we love him because he first loved us. That's that's it. Your only boasting is I know Jesus. I love Jesus because he first loved me, because he saved me. All the all the glory and the honor goes to Jesus. Great things he has done. So the call goes out to whosoever will, let him come. Trust in Jesus. All that the father gives to me shall come to me. Him that comes to me, I'll no wise cast out. Come like the repentant publican. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And you won't be disappointed in the day when Jesus says to those trusting in themselves, away from me. I never knew you. You that practice iniquity. Boy, what a wake up call that's gonna be. So religious, so self righteous. Oh, we're the best church in town. We prophesy. We do good works. We do miracles. And Jesus said, Away from me. I never knew you that practice iniquity. Christianity is a relationship. Anathema, because they deserted Jesus, he will desert them. If you deny Jesus before men, he's gonna deny you before his father and the angels of heaven. If you confess Jesus before men, he's gonna confess you before his father and the angels of heaven. He's gonna say, dad, he's one of mine. He's pharisaical churches are gonna be condemning you. But Jesus say, dad, he's one of mine. He's gonna show the scars. Dad, I died for him. He's one of mine. He's washed in my blood. What What can the devil say about that? We overcome him by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony, great things Jesus has done. And we don't love our lives unto death. We're willing to die. We're not gonna compromise. We're already dead men walking. We're already crucified. It's Christ living through us. There's no way we're gonna dishonor him now. Polycarp said, 80 in six years, he's never failed me. And the and the persecutors are like, Poly, just just just do it, you know? Just pinch the incense. Say say Caesar's lord, you know? What's this Jesus is lord stuff? And Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, he'd been he'd been taught by John the beloved. Eighty and six years, Jesus has been faithful to me. Why would I wimp out now to try and save my life? Do your best. You don't fear death. Give God the glory. Humble yourself and pray for God to be merciful to you, a sinner. Are you trying or are you trusting? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved in your house. The work is finished. Jesus said, it is finished. What's finished? The work. The work of redemption. The work of saving you, saving me. It's not a works relationship. It's a love relationship where God's grace, his unmerited favor is poured out day by day by day by day by day. And it's such a privilege to know him. It's such a privilege to fellowship with others that know him. It's such a privilege to have hope and knowing he's coming soon, that he's prepared a place for us. There's just so many gracious, gracious truths and acts and moving and working of his holy spirit in our hearts and lives. It's not dry and dead and it's not gonna get better if I work harder, love more, pray more. No. It's just simply getting in to know him, receiving his unmerited favor in your life. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the simplicity of the gospel, the simplicity of your love, the simplicity, Lord, we don't have to complicate it. Lord, we pray that if ever we're confronted with a laissez faire, lascivious approach, lord, that we say no. That that's not holiness. That's not righteous. That you said be holy. Be perfect. Lord, we wanna be like you. We don't wanna live according to the law, but nor do we wanna slip, Lord, into lasciviousness. Father, we wanna live lives that are pleasing unto you, and we pray that your love would motivate and compel us to live as close to you as we can. Not one foot in the world and one foot in your kingdom, but all the way. We go for it all, Lord. All in. I'm all in. I pray that we'd be all in, Lord. That we'd not be a part of the church in the last days where we think we're rich and increased with goods and need of nothing. That makes you sick. You're on the outside knocking on the door. We've left our first love at the church of Ephesus. We're anemic and insipid and powerless like the church of Laodicea. It's church incorporated. Church has just become a business, and you're on the outside knocking and saying you desire fellowship. Lord, we wanna be those Maybe like the Philadelphia church with little strength. You can give us more strength if you want, but but intimacy, your favor upon us. Where, Lord, you're pleased, and we're resisting the world. We're resisting the things of the world. We're resisting the false gospel. We could be more successful like the world if we gave in, but Lord, we don't want to be a worldly Christian or a worldly church. We want to know you, lord. We ask that you would manifest your power in our lives, lord, that you would do exceedingly, abundantly, above all we could ask or think according to your power that works in us, lord. That we not manufacture anything, we not devise anything, that we not make a program or a formula or sell a book. But lord, we enter in by grace through faith all that you have for us and our relationship with you. And Lord, trusting that you'll build your church, that you'll build our marriages, that you'll build our kids, that you'll build our lives, that you'll continue to change us, to transform us from glory to glory in the image of Jesus. We confess to you, Lord. We can't do it. We're undone. We're men and women of unclean lips, around people of unclean lips. We need a transformation within, Lord. We need our hearts changed. Lord, continue that work you've begun. We're relying upon you. While your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed, if you don't have this relationship with Jesus, if you've been trying rather than trusting, you've been living religiously, working for a greater standing with him or even working for your salvation or a closer this or more blessings if you do this or that or the other, Quit working him. He knows when he's being worked. He knows when he's just an ATM machine to you. Love him for who he is. Love him for what he's already done. Love him for the promises of what he's wanting to do for you and on into the future. Fall in love with Jesus. Stay in love with Jesus. Serve him because of your love of him. Anyone here this morning, you don't have this love relationship with Jesus, we want you to lift your hand up. We want to introduce you to our savior. We want to introduce you to Jesus, to his everlasting love. Anyone here this morning? Father, thank you once again that we can rest, That we can rest in you, Lauren. No anxiety, no guilt, no standard that we have to live up to. But Lord, we can rest in you. That we can serve you. And at times we sweat, Lord. It can be physical, but Lord, it's not the sweating of the flesh of trying to do it in the arm of the flesh. It's in the life of the spirit and the empowering of your spirit, Lord. Make us better husbands and wives. Make us better grandma and grandpas. Make us better brothers and sisters and friends in Christ Jesus. Help us to live the Christian life to to, lord, where people are jealous. They recognize a transformation and a change, but people see Jesus in us, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.