Jesus, Our Righteousness (Galatians 2:11-21)

You're listening to a sermon from Peak Street Church in Dallas, Texas. We hope this message enables you to know Christ and to make him known wherever you go. For more information, visit us online at PeakStreet.Church. Our New Testament reading comes from Galatians 2, 11, through 21. But when Seaphice came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Seaphice before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not. For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For though the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. So we're in the series that we're calling "No Other Gospel." And it's really a series on one of the earliest letters by a man named the Apostle Paul, who's one of the earliest leaders of the Christian movement as soon after the resurrected Jesus had ascended into heaven. So this is roughly 15 years after Christ died, was buried and was raised again, roughly 48 AD. And one of the challenges he's facing head on is that there were those who had come in after he had established the church in what was called "Galatia," now it's modern day Turkey. And they were beginning to distort the good news of Christianity, namely that in and through, thank you. The finished work of Jesus Christ, that there is nothing else that is needed in order to give us right standing a righteousness before God, without which we will not see him, we cannot live with him in the new heavens and the new earth, the new creation. But the good news is that Christ has come, that he has paid the penalty. In fact, we said this earlier on in our assurance of grace after that confession of sin, that the good news is that he made him who knew no sin, namely the Father made the Son, who knew no sin to be sin, so that in Jesus Christ and our union with him, we might become the righteousness of God. And the reason that that is so profound and maybe because it doesn't hit us is because it's so seemingly unbelievable, it's so otherworldly because you know yourself right, we know ourselves. We know that we are not righteous, that we are not the right kind of people in and of ourselves. But the good news is that it's come to us from outside of us, that it's meant to be received and not achieved. You know, this is one of the great breakthroughs not only in the early church, but in the days of what was called the Protestant Reformation. So this was the time in the midst of the 16th century when the gospel had been diluted and distorted, it was hidden from the church, and there were a lot of other things that were added to it. So just like in Paul's day and in the days of the church in Galatia, so was true in the 16th century that adherence to the law, the keeping of the Sabbath, also in Luther's case, the making of confession, and the attendance and mass. All of these things were necessary in order to be recipients of the gospel of grace. And there was one harbinger in particular, a man by the name of Martin Luther, who actually wrote a commentary on Galatians. Galatians was one of these letters that just lit his world up, and it freed him a whole lot and freed him in this life before God. And in particular, his experience is one that's really compelling because what he's doing is he says he's incessantly in this is his language, beating his head against letters like Romans and Galatians, trying to figure out what it is that God wants from him. The one true God, what is it that he wants from somebody like Luther, and maybe you've asked that question before, not overtly, not directly, but deep down underneath. What does it mean to live in a right relationship with God, and if I have this right relationship with God, then I can live in harmony with everyone and everything else. Like that's where it begins. So Luther goes on to recount his experience, and he said he constantly ran up against that word, the righteousness of God. And it demanded things from him that he could not give. He was constantly, as history tells us, wearing out his confessors in the Catholic Church, he became an Augustinian monk. And the confessors would often tell him, go back and come back when you actually have something to confess because your conscience is driving you crazy and you cannot find relief in the sins that you're confessing just, it's not worth it. But Luther, again, he couldn't quiet his conscience, he couldn't find the peace of God. And so he comes to this phrase and Paul's letter to the Romans in chapter one, and it's present here in our text in particular, but Roman chapter one verse 17, where it talks about the righteousness of God that has been revealed. And Luther recorded his thoughts and he read this passage. He said, and maybe this is you, if you're honest, can you be honest in this way? Well, one of the most faithful men that was used of God, very flawed in certain ways, if you know his history as well. But one that was used of God said this, he said, I hated the righteousness of God who punishes sinners. Thus I raised with a fierce and a troubled conscience. How many people do you know, and maybe you're one who's here today, we're really glad you are. You can even be in the church and have this going on quietly underneath the surface. Who hates this idea of a righteous God who will punish sinners? And as a result, you have a troubled conscience, you have a fearful heart, and you rage against anything that has to do with religion or this idea of the justice of God, because there's a lot in our city, there's a lot in our day. But listen to what Luther experienced. He said, and when I saw those words, the righteousness of God, what I realized is that this was a righteousness that had not had to be achieved, but was a passive righteousness. In other words, this is the righteousness of God that Christ himself had received and was giving to those who would receive it by faith. Luther goes on to say, and I listed this in your thoughts and reflections, if you want to go back to it, there I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift, namely by faith. And this is the meaning. The righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely the passive righteousness with which the merciful God justifies us by faith. And this is the famous line. Here I felt that I was altogether born again in the very gates of Paradise open before me. And in so many words, has that experience happened to you? Had the gates of Paradise swung open before you, namely that you have access, bold access, the book of Hebrews tells us, to the throne of grace, not because you deserve it, but because Christ deserves it, and he desires to give it to you, and you are united to him. And if you have received that, know that that is the good news, the foundation of what we call the gospel of grace, that the whole of the Christian life is lived upon, is lived out of. It can wildly bring peace to your conscience and to your troubled soul. But here's the challenge. And if that's not you, by the way, this, hopefully this is the sermon that God might use not again because of me, but because of the spirit through the word who loves to do this, would give you like that experience. But this was the experience and this was the revelation again, Jesus talks about the new birth, Luther talked about being born again, whereby the gift of God's grace of his righteousness that gives to us this right standing and our assurance that we might stand in that, that's what the Apostle Paul is. was fighting for in the Church of Galatians. Because if you begin to add a lot of other things to that, again, namely, well, what does your week look like? Have you been to Mass? Have you been to Confession? Have you appellate the works of the law in Paul's day? Let's just add a little bit of circumcision. Let's add the Sabbath and the ceremonial rights and regulations. Then all of a sudden, it becomes more and more about what we have done and what we have not done, what we can do, what we might be able to do, that grounds are assurance of God's graciousness towards us in Christ, rather than in Him and in Him alone. That's what Paul is fighting for. So here's what we're going to be looking at. In and through Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God has been revealed in order that those who receive Him by faith will be saved. Like, this is all of Paul's letter. He's making this case right out of the gate. So again and again, you and I, followers of Jesus, must preach this gospel to ourselves because self-righteousness, which is a term we kind of cringe at, but we strive after a lot to justify ourselves, or works righteousness, which is used a lot in this text, is the default mode of the human heart. And therefore, the Apostle Paul, again, out of the gate, we saw it last week in chapter one. We'll see it here in chapter two. Reminds us of who we are and what we have received. And again, this is so significant in our day because the gospel becomes slippery. Like we lose it. I was just reading recently in-- but the New York Times, and I saw an interview on 60 minutes where even you have the increase in the growth and appeal of the traditions like the Catholic Church in Eastern Orthodoxy. And I know that many of you have other had experiences in that, or you have family who live in the midst of that. Maybe you're here today. You have friends in that. You find things that are really compelling and appealing in that. And I certainly understand. But know that as a system, as a foundation, it's doctrine. Those two systems have a tendency to add to the gospel alone, the gospel of grace. So again, beautiful cathedrals, incredible liturgy. But does it give the confidence of your assurance in Christ? I'm not that convinced. We can have a conversation about that afterwards. Again, we love to have that conversation. But what the Apostle Paul wants to do-- and I think what Scripture wants to do as the ultimate authority, not the Pope, not others-- is it wants to give you confidence in the graciousness of God toward you in and through Jesus Christ. So again, that's a quick aside. But let's look at this together. Again, let's look at this idea of Jesus our righteousness. And what that means for us in two particular movements here in this text. Number one, Jesus our righteousness means that we now have a new authority over us. And this is startling at first, but this is really good news. Jesus as our righteousness and him and him alone means that we have a new authority over us. So go back to verse 11. I want to give you just a little bit of the context of what's going on here. And by the way, all of chapter 1 dealt with this. And the first 10 verses, which is what you're going to be looking at in your community groups, has to do with this. The question becomes, who is the apostle Paul to be the one to tell us that the righteousness that God requires of us is given to us as a gift by grace through faith in Jesus Christ? Like who is he? This is just Paul. The Judaizers, as they were called, or men from James, who was the Lord's brother, one of the early pillars of the church, they were coming in and they were saying, the apostle Paul is one person. We have been the one who have held the promises and the covenants. And all of the traditions of the law in the Old Testament and Judaism leading up to becoming and realizing themselves as the people of God who would be distinct from among the nations of the world. Remember, we talk about this often. How the law was given through Moses at Mount Sinai after the people had been led out of the Exodus in Egypt? And it was given to them not because the Lord wanted to put a straight jacket on his people and go, look at what you can't do. I'm going to give you 630 regulations so that you can figure out how often you can't keep this. No, what he wanted to do was give his people a way in which to live a blueprint of life in the kingdom of God so that their life together would be this witness of to human flourishing as God created it to the nations around them. But you know the story, right? That in all of Israel's history, that all throughout the Old Testament, that there's just failure upon failure to uphold that law. And they continue to look like the nations around them. And so when Jesus comes in as a 33-year-old Jewish rabbi who says, I am the fulfillment of the law, it begins to turn the Jewish legal system on its head. And in some ways it gets him killed, right? But then he rose again and he appeared to many of his followers after his resurrection. And then when he ascended into heaven, you have this incredible experience from the Apostle Paul. On the Damascus Road in Acts chapter 9, you can go read about it through 9 through 11. And the Lord reveals himself to one who's not just sort of a random Jewish man, one who is zealous for the law, zealous for the things of Judaism. If you look at places like Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul goes, I mean, if you want to resume in Judaism to show you that I was about these things, that this is my click about me circumcised on the eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin. A Hebrew of Hebrews, according to the law, "blameless zealous for the things of my fathers." And then he says, "But." And this was a huge way in which the Lord opened my eyes when I was a junior in college. He said, "Indeed, I count all of this as a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord." And so again, there's all these questions of who's the Apostle Paul? And how is he the one who is now speaking an authority on these things? And so again, you want to go back and read in chapter 1 and chapter 2, but Paul goes, "I didn't receive this from any man in particular." In other words, I didn't receive it from Peter, James, and John, and then distort it when I was giving it to the deletions. But rather, I received it from the Lord himself. And he goes on to tell the Galatians. He says, "If anyone is preaching to you another gospel than the one they had received, the one that you have received that Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. He is sufficient, fully sufficient for you." Paul says, "Let him be a cursed, let him be damned." Like that's what Paul says. He wanted the Galatians and all followers of Jesus' confidence rooted in the finished work of Jesus Christ and in Him alone. Not whether they had been circumcised or not, not whether they had hailed the Sabbath, not whether they feel like they did a lot of great Christian things, where in Dallas, Texas, a lot of great Bible studies out there, like what podcasts are you listening to? Have you done the read through the Bible in a year of thing? Like, are you a Sears Christian or not? Right? These things that sort of get added. So Paul goes on to say, beginning in verse-- let's look at this again-- looking in verse 11. He says, "But notice this, when I came to see this, but when seepheus, this was Peter, came to Antioch. I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned." Now here's the Apostle Paul, again, making this argument. You can trust me as an authority because my authority comes from God himself. It doesn't actually come even from Peter, who's living as a contradiction sometimes to this gospel. And Paul's going to give us an example here. He says, 12, "For before certain men who came from James, again, they were sent from James and Jerusalem, he was eating with the Gentiles. Now Peter had been told that it was free for him to do this. Like the gospel who's now going to go into the nation so that Jew and Gentile might come together. And Peter was embodying this. But when they came, he drew back. He separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas, who was one of the new converts, was led astray by their hypocrisy. So Peter is acting in a way that is not an alignment with the gospel that he has received. He's now stepping back into the law, upholding the kosher laws. And he's essentially saying, I'm going to step back in here so that I don't be seen as one who is not abiding by the law who's outside of the bounds. So again, there's hypocrisy, there's self-preservation, self-righteousness that's being upheld. Verse 14, "But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to see this before them all." So you can imagine Paul telling Peter this, if you think about his reasoning here, though a Jew, which Peter was, live like a Gentile. and not like a Jew, because you've eaten with them, how can you force the Gentiles not to live like Jews? So this is Paul calling out his hypocrisy. Notice here what Paul says, verse 14, "That I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel." So in other words, this became a really important ethnic issue, racial issue in the first century church. How do Jews and Gentiles come together? Because remember Jews had the law of God. And if they could have just upholded this, they would be clean, they would be separate. And it was really easy to believe that then your sort of people are better than you are clean. This is unclean. They are the dogs, you are the sons and daughters of God. And how in the world does the Apostle Paul have the ability to call out the leader of the church when he's in hypocrisy on an issue that has to do with ethnicity and race? Because, here's how he does it. Because he's not using shame. He's using the gospel as his authority. He says, "Your conduct is not in step with the gospel." In other words, the gospel is not just sort of a starter doctrine by which you come into Christianity, you believe that Jesus died for your sins. I know that. We say that often. I know that, but and then you leave it behind to go on to things that are greater than that. Now the gospel becomes a way in which you begin to see the world that you relate to God, you relate to others on the ground that we are not righteous in and of ourselves. In fact, we are all sinners. Romans 3 says that there is none who is righteous. And yet God shows His love for us, and that while we were yet enemies, which the Jews and Gentiles were, Christ died for us. So what does that mean in their relationship to one another? That now, in Paul's going to say this in chapter 3, there's no longer male nor female, slave nor free, Greek nor Jew. It doesn't mean that those distinctions aren't important, they are. But it means that there is now a unity that the ground underneath the cross is level. And you come in here, and there's a lot of us in here with all different kinds of stories, all different things that are really impressive about one another. We've also got a lot of baggage. Maybe some of you have seen that. And the beauty of the gospel is that we are all on this unified plague field, in that there is not one of us who is righteous, not one. This is incredible implication. John Perkins, who worked for reconciliation, especially around the Memphis area, said in particular, he said this. He goes on to say, "For too long many in the church have argued that unity in the body of Christ across ethnic and class lines is a separate issue from the gospel." There's been suggested that we can be reconciled to God without being reconciled to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Scripture doesn't bear that out. We only need to examine what happened when the church was birthed to see exactly how God intends for this issue of reconciliation within the body of Christ to fall out. You look here, you look at Acts chapter 15, the gospel has implications. It has an authority over us and it frees us to even call one another out, not because we're trying to shame one another, but for us to live in alignment with the gospel. And whether that's through rebuke or encouragement, the gospel becomes our standard. Maybe just to give you another illustration, I thought about these implications, not just for issues of race and ethnicity, but have you thought about its implications for your work? For your life as a parent, like how do you preach the gospel to yourself as a mom who is just like threat bear? How do you preach the gospel to yourself as one who is trying to navigate the dating scene in Dallas, Texas? And here's the thing. I'm going to break just a moment here because I was in the line last night, I saw a little issue of the magazine in the grocery store. And they actually ran a full issue on this. And I want to try to show you how the gospel comes to bear even on the issues of this. And it said essentially the line was like, what is the dating scene look like in Dallas? And it was all kinds of people on the Katie Trail and they were really beautiful and they were looking at their phones, right? The apps. And it's described as like a lululemon, aloe, fashion runway on Saturdays. And people look really impressive and kind of on the lookout for one another. But there's all of this sort of comparing our insides to everyone else's outsides. And it was interesting. One of the articles here in particular, and there were some really helpful things. There were some really funny things and there were some just brutally honest things. And so in one of these in particular, again, I'm just trying to show you how the gospel comes to bear not just as a starter doctrine, but how it comes to bear on very pertinent issues in your life, how it has a unique and beautiful authority over us and how we make sense of our lives. But this is Bia Rodriguez Mora. Again, you can go get this in line at any Kruger, Trader Joe's, I don't know whatever. But the article in here in particular in the dating issue was how to spot a loser like this was it. And the tagline was she was writing in particular to women. She said, "Ladies, you need to know where the lines lie between benign X concerning red flags and dire deal breakers." So it's everything from, he has a weird sneeze, which is an "ick." He calls himself old-fashioned and then Ben Moverquest you for half after dinner to he cared too much about the Luka trade. Those are red flags. And it then moves into deal breaker territory when he doesn't care enough about the Luka trade. Right? So like, who can win? X, red flags, deal breakers. Another op-ed contributor in this issue, in this the last one in particular, but this was interesting. I think she goes by the name of Elizabeth Wimpy. She is a or L's best, I can't remember exactly. But she goes on Instagram TikTok and she interviews people who are walking along the Katie trail in particular. And she asks if they're looking to date. And it's just interesting all the responses, what people are looking for, what they're not looking for. And she goes on to ask this one guy in particular who is in private equity, she says, "Where are you looking for?" And so John says, and it's not a John in here, by the way. John goes on to say, "I'll have skin sharp facial features." And Elzbest goes on to say, "Well, what is an Ick of a particular Dallas girl that might turn you away?" John in private equity goes on to say, "The filter I always think about when I'm dating a girl is, are they gonna bring peace or chaos to my life?" And most just don't pass that filter. In quote, "Of course they don't." Right? Because who has the ability to bring absolute peace into your life? Men and women both have the cra- like we all have the crazy gene to an extent. We need to not like we know that. And so to come together in a relationship like marriage or prospectively in one like dating, what does it mean to bring the gospel to bear in this maddening, like hopeful but sad situation that we currently find ourselves in. Tim and Kathy Keller, when they wrote the book, meaning a marriage, they said, "We are living in an age that is the most idealistic, yet pessimistic age when it comes to dating. We have such high standards and we are so hopeless that that person is out there." Right? Totally understandable. And by the way, when you get married, you realize that this person will bring chaos into your life. And it's worth it. Like it's both that. But what would it look like for the gospel to be brought to bear here? It's to say, "What if the standards that I'm looking for and the standards within me?" What if they are incredibly high that I can't even achieve my own sense of standards? But what if the peace that I'm looking for actually is it bound up in somebody out there? What if it's bound up in somebody who has come here who has revealed himself? And the Apostle Paul writes, "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything through prayer and supplication and let the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, which surpasses all dating and marriage experiences, that the peace of Christ guard your heart and the knowledge that you have of Him." That's what it looks like to live in line with the gospel. So again, think about the whole of your life. Think about those who you work with, your children, your parents. It has massive implications. So there's not only a new authority over us, there is now a new identity, again, that is given to us. We said this again, he made him who knew no sin to be sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God in him. And this is exactly what the apostle appeals to when he goes on in verse 15, and he's saying not only to Peter, but to the church, he says, "We ourselves are Jews by birth "and not Gentile sinners." This is what Paul is saying about he and Peter. Yet we know, Peter, that a person is not justified by works of the law. You're not in right standing anymore if you're kosher or non-cocher, if you're keeping Sabbath, if you're not keeping Sabbath, if you're with the Gentiles, if you're not with the Gentiles. But rather through faith in Jesus Christ. So also we have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, and this is the implication, no one will be justified. Some commentators ask the question here, you go, "Is it my faith in Jesus Christ that saves me "or is it the faithfulness of Jesus Christ that saves me?" So the answer is faith in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, right? This is what we see in the New Testament. Verse 17, "But if our endeavor to be justified in Christ, "we too are found to be sinners, we are exposed, "is Christ then a servant of sin? "Absolutely not. "For if I rebuild what I tore down, "which is what the Apostle Paul is constantly saying, "I prove myself to be a transgressor. "For through the law I died to the law. "If remember Jesus goes on to say that "all of the law should be fulfilled, "there's a beauty, a goodness to the law, "but it cannot save your soul." But rather Christ who lives in me. This is the way that we talk about our identity, who we are, and by the way, the conversations on identity in our cultural moment are wild and interesting. That without a creator to tell us who we are and without a savior to redeem us to that creator, we're constantly striving, finding no peace. Life is, we'll just go back and say chaotic. Like that is our experience. But we are now, and this is the New Testament's favorite way to describe it, in Christ, like a branch to a vine, a brick to a building, we are united to Him. Verse 20, "If you want to commit one to memory, "this is a great one. "I have been crucified with Christ, "and it is no longer I who live, "but Christ who lives in me. "And the life I now live in the flesh, "I live by faith in the Son of God, "who loved me and gave Himself "for me." He goes on to say, "I do not nullify the grace of God, "for if righteousness were through the law, "then Christ died for no purpose." Meaning the Apostle Paul goes on to say, "You're either all in on Jesus, "or you have to be the one that presents yourself "before a holy God." One of the big questions that comes in is, "Okay, like, how do we make sense of this? "How do we understand this?" Let's just idea that in the doctrine of justification by faith alone that God looks at you, and just as a judge would pronounce a sentence that doesn't make sense, a sentence of no condemnation, but rather you get all the privileges and benefits of one who completely upheld the law, that is the way that God looks at you and in through Jesus Christ. And if you have faith in Him, if you trust in Him, if you are united to Him, you can have confidence that that is your standing right at this very moment. Luther went on to describe it this way, he had a great Latin phrase for it, I can't say it 'cause I'll butcher it, but he said, "The reason that is so difficult "is because again, we know our own hearts, "if we know our experiences, "and we know the shady things we do, "and we know how slow the process of sanctification is, "but we are at the same time sinner, "and yet as righteous as the second person "of the Trinity." And one day, Christ will return, and He will eliminate the power and the presence of sin once and for all. But until then, we labor on as we sing, rejoicing for in our need, His power, His efficiency, His righteousness is displayed. Richard Loveless, who's an author, went on to say of this idea of the doctrine of justification, he said, "Only a fraction of the present body "of professing Christians are solidly "appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. "Few of us know enough to start each day "with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther's platform. "You are accepted looking outward in faith "and claiming the holy alien righteousness of Christ "as the ground for acceptance. "As you begin to relax in that quality of trust, "which will produce increasing sanctification, "it will do so, and you will begin to see "what we're gonna talk about later in this letter, "the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit, "of faith and hope and love. "You wanna grow as a follower of Jesus, "you wanna begin to experience human flourishing "according to God Himself. "It requires the work of Christ in you "and not you crowbarring your life, "or you white-knuckling this idea of discipline "to the point to where you're finally getting it. "No, but it becomes a preaching of this gospel "to yourself again and again and again. "And as you do so, it becomes a witness to the world "that there's something unique and compelling, "attractive about the power, the righteousness of Christ in us. "A close maybe with this image of what that would look like, "not just in the dating world, but now in the worksphere. "This is great illustration that was shared by "Tim Keller and Catherine Leary, "all-storfe in their book, Every Good and Devere." And they talked about this idea where Keller, who was a pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, there was a woman that came up to him after the service and she was talking about her life at the church and he said, "How did you even find this church?" And she went on to say, "Well, there's a story." And she said, "I was actually working "in the entertainment industry. "This is in New York." And she said, "I had a boss, "and I just did something just awful. "It was totally a fireable offense, and I knew it, "and I went to him and told him about it." And he said, "Okay, glad you told me." He went, "I had a conversation with some of his supervisors, "some of his bosses." He came back and said, "Listen, I had a conversation. "Let's just, let's don't do this again. "Let's figure out how we can make it right, "but you know, if you've got a lot of potential, "you're a good kid, I don't want to lose you." And she said to him, "Wasn't a Christian at the time." She said, "Wait a minute, wait, wait, wait." She said, "Why would you do something like that?" And he said again, "Like, you've got a lot of potential. "I don't want to lose you all of this." She said, "No, no, you don't understand. "Most people, like, step on my neck. "Like, most people use me in order to get ahead "and then when it's my fault, they let me take the blame." But you did the opposite, like, you took the blame so that I might be preserved. She was like, "Why would you do this?" And he said, "We'll get like, you know, your hardware." And she said, "No, no, no, there's got to be more than that." And he said, "Listen, you're pressing me, "so I'm just going to tell you this one time." He said, "I'm a Christian." And I believe that at the heart of my faith that in Jesus Christ, like God gave himself for my massive blunder. And he didn't hold that against me, but rather receive me on the basis of a plea, on the plea of another. And he said, "So that's what I'm actually called to do "here among you and with you." And he said, "Her response was, "Where do you go to church?" And so she ends up there. The gospel that is the finished work of Christ on us who are so undeserving, yet reconciling us to God and through his life and death and resurrection, that becomes life giving to the watching world. And it will become, it will become wildly offensive to many of people, but to many it will become the fragrance of life. So again, have you received this? Is this the gospel that you have received? Or has it been become the kind of person that looks Christian, acts like a Christian, does well, and then God's going to give you, he's going to grade on a curve, don't worry, it should be fine. No, like the righteousness of Christ for you, so that now whatever you're doing, whatever you're going through, which is a lot. by the way, I know. You can say, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and therefore the life I live, I live my faith, and the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me." That's our great hope. That's our one foundation. We pray for us, Father, as we come now to the table resting assured in the finished work of Christ alone. We would make it all the more compelling to us, as Luther said, help us to get it into our heads and our hearts because it can so easily slip away. We want to make known this good news. We want to share this gospel, so give us opportunity to do so. But for now, as we come to this table, we pray that you would help us by faith to rest and all that you are and all that you've done. Jesus name, Amen. This has been a sermon from Peaks Street Church in Dallas, Texas. For more information, visit us online at Peaks Street Church. [Music]