2025-06-22 Sermon Notes

• The reason is that these people do not perceive themselves as they really are.
  • They do not see their utter sin and the judgment that is upon them.
  • If we never realize our need of salvation, then we will never realize how good this news really is.

Galatians 1:3-5 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father-- to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

• Paul uses grace here twice (once in v3 and once in v6).
• Here grace represents what is now possible because of the work of Christ. Through Him, we now have access into this grace.
• ⭐ This means I can now approach God with confidence and assurance.
  • What a tragic thing it is to feel that you have no confidence to come to your God, to think that your prayers have no value.
  • One of the great benefits of grace is that now I am able to not only enter the presence of God, but I can come to Him with boldness and confidence.
    • Real prayer means knowing that you are there in the presence of God, and His is listening and able to help you.
    • How can a man presume to enter the presence of God? How can we dare to petition Him? Who gives us the right? (The answer is Christ Himself).
    • Jesus is described as the Great High Priest of God. What does this mean?
      • Once a year, the high priest of the temple would make the people right with God. He would enter the sacred center of the temple, in. the Holy of Holies to sacrifice to God, to atone for the sins of the people.
        • This work was important yet temporary. It would need to be done repeatedly every year.
      • But Jesus Christ, the true High Priest is the true sacrifice who atones for our sins once and for all!
        • How do we know this? Because of the Resurrection.
          • On the third day, Jesus rose again and overcame death. Why?
            • It is because God is proclaiming that Christ is more than sufficient.
            • God is still just, righteous and holy and yet He still has grace for me.
              • My sins were paid for on that cross.

• Well of course He loves me. It says so in the Bible.
  • Yes, but it also says in the Bible that I am wretched and His wrath is upon me.
  • But I know that He loves me and I can see it in the work on the cross.

• God has numbered the very hairs on your head.
• God has told you that nothing can happen to you without His knowing about it and allowing it to happen.
  • He is endless, unlimited in power.
  • And yet this all-powerful God knows you, loves you and cares for you.
  • All the power of that God is available for us.
    • ❓: Does that come to you as a thrilling piece of good news?
      • If it does not then that means you do not truly understand your need for Him and salvation?
      • But if it does, then how could there be anything more precious than this?

• Galatians 6.15 For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
• What does it mean to be a Christian? Does it mean merely that I learn the teachings of Jesus and try to follow Him?
  • No. Though I try I cannot follow Him perfectly. Though we try, we will fail.
• No, being a Christian means that you are a new creation.
  • Christ has changed your very being. You have been born again.
  • this means that Godʻs power begins to act in me
    • It is no longer my flesh that is acting
    • It is Christʻs Holy Spirit acting inside me.
    • Galatians 2:19-21 For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. I don't reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!"
  • How many people try to enter the faith of Christ and yet are dejected when they realize they cannot live up to it.
    • There are many who think of Christianity as the great spoilsport of life. It wants to take all the fun out of life.
      • That is not Christianity.
      • Real Christianity is a new mind, a new life.
        • When you see real Christianity, you will see this world and realize that you do not want it, and instead you will want the things of God.
          • You will begin to enjoy prayer and worship, and yes even the Bible, what you once thought was the most boring book in the whole world!
          • You will desire to please Him.
          • Galatians 5.17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.
            • Take heart Christian, to know that the Holy Spirit stands alongside you in the fight against your sinful flesh. You are not alone!
            • He works in us to do according to His good pleasure.
            • Do you know that the Holy Spirit is working in you even when you are not aware of it?
              • Have you noticed times when you are suddenly compelled to pray or worship? It is the Holy Spirit who brings this in you.
            • Jesus not only conquers the pain of the repercussions of this sinful world. He even delivers us from the sinful mindset and temptations of this world.
              • Wouldn't you like to be delivered from this world? It is the cross of Christ that accomplishes this.
              • In Christ, we can rest assured that we can resist the devil and be victorious because Christ conquers the devil alongside us.
                • 1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.
                • James 4.7 Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

• The Son of God went to that cross in order to open up the vault of grace for you.
• Do you realize this? Have you felt His presence within you and around you? Are you aware of a new power within you enabling you to resist the devil? Are you experiencing and enjoying these things?