Paradigm Shift // Gospel Freedom

If you're ready for the word, would you say amen, all right, this is what it says.

Okay, here it.

Is you ready?

It's gonna get a little intense today, but when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his Woo.

I told y'all he wasn't like hey, hey, hey, bro, uh, we need to go to Starbucks and have a conversation, something.

He's like no, what Paul says.

I opposed Cephas Peter to his face a few verses earlier.

We talked about last week.

They had just had a meeting and they were cool, like they were friends.

What's the big deal here?

It says because he stood condemned.

Why did he stand condemned?

Well, before I tell you this, peter had traveled from Jerusalem up to the city of Antioch.

Paul was at Antioch.

Jerusalem was filled with Jewish people.

It's a Jewish city.

Antioch is filled with Gentile people.

So he goes up to Antioch.

In fact, I think we have a little map on here.

You can see this there we go On the bottom right corner.

Peter's at Jerusalem.

He goes up to Antioch, he meets Peter, peter meets Paul there, talks to him there.

I got to say this this is really important Antioch, really, really, really important city in the New Testament and in Christianity, because it's from Antioch that missionaries were sent to make Jesus known to all these different places.

So you can see, there it says, paul's second missionary journey.

All of this started out of Antioch.

So this is a really, really important city.

Peter goes to Antioch from Jerusalem and he stands condemned.

He does something that causes Peter to get in his face.

Well, what happens?

Verse 12.

For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James.

However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself because he feared those from the circumcision party.

So some people, some Jews, came up from Jerusalem to Antioch and they saw Peter.

Well, they knew, heard of Peter had been eaten with some Gentile people.

Ooh, scandalous.

Ooh, peter eaten with the Gentile people.

And interesting, it says there.

It says he ate regularly with them.

I think what happened is he was eaten with and he was introduced to something that changed his life called bacon.

And Peter's like I'm eating with these people more often.

You know what I'm saying.

Any bacon lovers in the house this morning?

Yeah, come on, you're my people, right?

He's like I'm eating with these people regularly.

And then these Jewish people come from Jerusalem.

Peter fears what these Jewish people are going to say.

So Peter's like I'm withdrawing from the bacon eaters.

He withdrew.

He separated himself from them because he feared them.

Because he feared them.

Now, if you're new here or maybe still learn things about scripture like well, what is the big deal here?

Why are we talking about bacon?

Why does any of this even matter?

To the Jews, gentiles and their food were considered unholy and unclean.

And if you ate the Gentiles' food or you even hung out with Gentiles, you were considered unholy and unclean to the Jewish people and unholy and unclean before God.

Now we know that Jesus came and he declared all foods clean Mark 7, 19,.

All the bacon, loving people in the room.

What do you say to that?

You say let's go, come on, thank you Jesus.

Let's sing a song of worship and praise.

Right, who's starting it?

Where's the guitar?

No, just kidding.

We're like, yeah, also, peter had gotten a vision directly from God probably the best vision Peter had ever gotten in Acts 10, because God directly told him you can eat anything.

Yes, bacon, bring it.

But Peter was fearful.

Peter was fearful because these Jewish guys are coming to Antioch that James sent from Jerusalem and Peter fears what these people think.

Now you don't have to answer.

Have you ever feared what somebody thought about you.

I mean, you're human.

Of course you have right.

Have you ever put too high of an estimation on other people's opinion of you?

Of course we all do.

And Peter had come to Jesus by faith.

He had put his faith and trust in Jesus.

He was a follower of Jesus.

He grew up in this Judaism, this rule-based upbringing, but the gospel, the message of Jesus, has broken the cultural barriers, the societal barriers, the racial barriers, the food barriers and Peter's living in this freedom.

But now these Jews come them.

But now these Jews come and it's like Peter relapses.

He goes back into his old ways and he separates from these people because he fears what they think of him.

And because Peter separates himself, he influences some other ethnically Jewish Jesus followers here, and Barnabas too.

This is what it says in verse 13,.

Who we talked about, barnabas last week.

Verse 13.

It says the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy.

It's a strong word y'all, strong word, y'all Super strong.

Why We'll explain in a second.

So that even Barnabas, barnabas, y'all Barnabas was like a strong Jesus follower.

Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

Let's read on.

Paul writes when I saw that they were deviating from the, let's say that word together from the truth of the gospel.

Hold on, paul.

All he's doing is not eating with the bacon eaters anymore.

How is he deviating from the truth of the gospel?

I look at that and I'm like, yeah, you're kind of being a little bit rude, you're kind of being a little bit unwelcoming, you're not being kind to those Gentile people, but you're deviating from the truth of the gospel.

So Paul says so what did he do?

I told Cephas, I told Peter in front of everyone if you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?

All up in Peter's grill, all up in his face.

It says in verse 15, we are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.

And yet, because we know that a person is not justified, justified, can we say that word together Ready, justified, justified, justified, justified, justified.

This is a really important word, because you're not justified by the works of the law, but by in Jesus Christ.

Even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus.

This was so that we might be.

What's the word?

That we might be?

This is what the scripture says by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.

There's the word again.

Now.

This verse is so vital to understand, especially if you have a very rules-based religious upbringing in your past.

I thought what we're going to do is we're really going to spend the majority of our time kind of camping out over this verse and really by answering and asking first the question it's, what is justification and why does it matter?

Now I want to break this down into two parts.

First of all, theologically what does this big $5 word even mean?

Of all theologically, what does this big $5 word even mean?

But also practically, because and this isn't hyperbole, this is not like preacher talk, church talk this literally has the power to change your life.

The implications and the reality of justification is why we sing songs like you heal the brokenhearted, why we sing songs like you bring life, why?

Because of the theological truth of justification.

So, theologically, this is what justification means.

It means we're declared righteous before God.

That's what that means.

It means when God sees someone, he does not see their sin, he sees righteousness.

Justification happens when those who are sinners put their faith and trust in Jesus alone for their salvation.

In fact.

Let's go back and look at the verse.

Guys in the back, if you can put up the verse before that we had, I'm going to there.

We go perfect, right there.

Verse 16 says for we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith.

So you're justified by faith.

This happens in the moment, the moment we come to Jesus by faith.

Now, if justification were a, if it was works-based, it would be a gradual process, like once you do these many classes, once you do these things over here, then you're justified.

Slow, just, you're 50% justified.

You're 75% justified.

You're 90% justified, you're 90, oh, you just cussed, you're 91%.

Justification is when God declares you righteous, in a moment when you come to Jesus Christ by faith, to Jesus Christ by faith.

Before this moment we stand guilty before God.

Before this moment John 3, the wrath of God abides on us.

We'll talk about God's wrath a lot, but it's real.

Before this moment we are condemned to a place called hell.

But when we come to Jesus by faith, we are justified.

Now, sometimes people get justification and sanctification confused.

Justification is the moment that we come to Jesus by faith.

We put our faith and trust in him.

Sanctification is the process of us becoming more like Jesus, the process of growth, in fact.

So today some people I think five are getting baptized at this service.

They are declaring publicly that they have put their faith and trust in Christ.

They are justified.

Now they are being sanctified, they're growing in their walk with Jesus and part of that sanctification is through publicly expressing that faith in Jesus.

Now this is really powerful because once you have been justified, you are no longer held guilty for your sin.

Romans 4, verses 1 through 8.

Romans 4:1–8

Psalm 32, 1 and 2.

Romans 8, verse 1.

Romans 8:1

We have no condemnation in Christ Jesus.

So justification is not simply forgiveness, because if it was, a person could be forgiven, then they could mess up, then they could be guilty again.

Justification is you and I are declared righteous.

Okay, now we got the theology in line.

That's mind-blowing to think about.

And here's why Because you know yourself the idea that you're declared righteous before God.

That's hard to fathom.

You're like I ain't righteous.

You're like I could write a book about all my sins, right?

Some of y'all are sitting next to somebody and they're like I could write a book about all my sins, right?

Some of y'all are sitting next to somebody and they're like I could write a book about their sins.

Let me tell you, right, I mean we just, it seems like sin is just, it's what we do.

I mean yesterday okay, for me example, picking myself.

So yesterday I was in an environment some dudes, I didn't know anybody A little bit uncomfortable, I didn't really know anybody.

You know what I was doing for the first few moments?

Because I was just uncomfortable.

I was sizing myself up with people.

You know what that is?

That's pride.

That's sin.

Like, why was I doing that?

I was comparing myself with other people.

That's sin.

I could write an entire book about my sins.

I got a bunch of them right, and the idea that I'm righteous before God is hard to fathom.

And this is why the gospel is beautiful.

This is what's in Deuteronomy, chapter 5.

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

It says he, god the Father, made the one Jesus who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God.

So, god the Father, he doesn't see your sin, he sees the righteousness of his Son.

What a powerful theological truth.

Now, practically, we've got to shed some light on this.

We've got to shed some light on it.

What've got to shed some light on like what does all this mean?

What's all this about?

And I want to do this by kind of giving a little biblical story.

Okay, first book of the Scripture is the book it starts with a G.

It's the book of Bam, genesis.

Okay, genesis, adam and Eve they lived in the Garden of man.

We're getting 100% of our Bible test so far.

Let, they lived in the garden of man.

We're getting 100% of our Bible test so far.

Let's go, let's go.

They lived in the garden of Eden.

And how many rules did God give them in the garden of Eden?

God gave them.

Oh, it's because I helped you.

That's why you got that one right.

They had one.

Did they obey the rule or did they break the rule?

They, man, we're four for four guys.

We're just crushing it over here.

They broke the rule, okay, couldn't eat of the tree.

They saw that luscious green apple.

I don't care what people say, it had to be a green apple.

This is amazing.

They saw the apple.

They ate it.

Oh man, it's probably so good.

And the first emotion they felt after they sinned, the first emotion they felt after they sinned, was shame, shame.

Now, what is shame?

Brene Brown says shame is the intense, painful feeling or experience of believing that we're flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.

Shame is the human condition.

We've all have felt shame before.

Right, and if you're here and you're like I don't know, I've never felt shame before, You're trying to cover up your shame with shame.

Basically, you're trying to cover it.

How do we know that Adam and Eve felt shame?

Because what did they do right after they sinned?

Well, they tried to cover themselves.

Before they sinned, they were naked.

It was all good.

Adam was probably especially loving it, it was great.

And some of you are like, can I laugh at that or not?

Anyways, and then they sin.

And then they sin, they're still naked, but now they're like whoa, I've got to cover myself.

What was the difference?

Shame, as one church leader said, before they had sinned they were clothed in the love and acceptance of their heavenly Father, but sin stripped them of the love and acceptance of their heavenly Father and they felt vulnerable and they felt exposed like something was missing, felt exposed, like something was missing.

So what did they do?

They covered themselves.

And since the Garden of Eden, you know what the human condition is and you know what humanity has been trying to do for the last thousands of years.

We've been trying to cover our shame, justify our existence, prove ourselves, restore our sense of self-worth, to show that we aren't deeply flawed, to show that we're actually lovable, to show that we matter, to show that we belong Like.

For some of us, it's almost like life is one big episode of Survivor.

Have you guys ever watched the Survivor show?

You guys seen that one?

Right, and we're trying to convince everyone else that we're not the ones that should be thrown off the island, like we're the ones that belong, we have worth, we have matter, so we matter.

So this is what we do.

We present ourselves in such a way to people so people will think that we have ourselves together.

So this is what we do.

We look to personal accomplishments and accolades and maybe how successful we are over here, how much money we have or how many toys we have over here, to show man that we're somebody, that we have ourselves together, that we're worth together, that we're worth something, that we have value.

We spend our lives trying to prove ourselves, and sometimes we try to prove ourselves to our own selves because we feel like we don't belong, we're not worthy, and some of us don't realize this, but shame and us trying to cover our shame comes out in a thousand different ways.

We always have to be right in any discussion or argument we have Proving yourself that you are strong, that you are able.

Why?

Because what's the opposite, you're less than Nobody.

Cuts me off, nobody does this to me.

What are we trying to do?

Prove, hey, it's me.

We all have a foundational need a feeling loved, a feeling belonging.

This is how we were hardwired and what we either do is we either look to the gospel or a thousand other things to try to meet that need in our hearts and in our lives.

I remember.

I remember being in a season of deep personal betrayal and loss and trauma and some of the most powerful things people said to me I love you, you matter.

I love you, you matter, you have worth.

Because in that moment, in that season, I had nothing to give to anybody.

I couldn't prove myself, I didn't have any emotional energy to do anything.

I was mentally drained.

Frankly, I was spiritually disappointed and had nothing to offer.

I was worn down.

People looked at me and they said I love you, god's not done with you and you belong.

And my religious, rules-based upbringing would have shamed me, would have pointed me and said you're a failure.

There's still somebody I cannot talk to on the phone right now.

Because I you know why Because I have shame, because I know what they're going to talk to me about.

I can't talk to them.

I haven't gotten there, shame.

But some people said I love you and they were extension of God to me.

Extension of God to me, and you know why I am worthy.

And you know why you are worthy Because you're justified, because God declares you righteous.

What that means is that you're loved.

What that means is that you're in God's family.

This is a gospel reality in your life.

If you've come to Jesus Christ by faith, the God of the universe says you belong, you are made whole, you are righteous, you are made complete, you are accepted.

This is who you are and for some of us, what we have to do.

This is who you are and for some of us, what we have to do we have to stop living for something we already have, because we're justified, like some of us are living for all of these things that God has already declared over us.

This is why justification matters, because, guys, you can get off the hamster wheel of proving yourself.

You can get off of the wheel of trying to make everybody happy.

You can get off of the wheel of looking for somebody to say you're good.

You can get off of the wheel of thinking, if I just lose 10 pounds or 20 pounds or fit into this or look like that, then I'll be somebody.

No, bro, you are somebody because Christ says you're justified.

Yeah, it's good.

For some of us, life is one big, massive tryout.

This didn't make me feel a certain way, so I'm going to change my identity and I'm going to try to make this make myself feel this way and find my worth in that and find my value in that.

Some of us are in a season right now where we have some challenges, but I want to read to you what justification declares about you.

You may be in a season where you feel abandoned, but because you're justified, you're loved by God.

You may feel like you're condemned, but because you're justified, you are spotless and righteous.

You may feel down on your luck, but because you're justified, you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

You may feel neglected by others, but because you're justified, you've been chosen by God.

You may feel dead and lifeless, but because you're justified, you have resurrection life coursing through your veins.

You may feel broken, you may feel destitute, but because you're justified, you have been made complete in Christ.

Because you're justified, you might feel old and forgotten about, but you are a new creation in Christ.

Because you're justified, you are adopted into God's family.

That's who you are.

So can I lovingly but very straightforwardly say something Quit acting like somebody else.

That is who you are.

We are okay if we've come to Jesus by faith.

And in verse 17, paul writes this.

He says if we ourselves are found to be sinners while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin?

Absolutely not Apparently.

There were some people that were like I'm justified and I can live.

However, I want Paul's like nah, y'all don't understand justification.

Verse 18,.

If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.

So if I'm looking to the law for my standing with God, which the law has one purpose to show us that we need Jesus.

That's what it says in James.

That's the purpose of the law.

So if I'm looking to the law for my standing with God, when the only way I can have standing with God is my faith in Jesus, then I'm actually being a breaker of the law, because the law demands that I keep everything and I have to fully obey it.

Let me say this in a simple sentence Verse 18, you can't mix faith and works for your justification before.

God Can't do it.

And verse 19,.

He says for though I, for through the law, I died to the law so that I might live through God.

Now he doesn't mean that we don't follow God's principles, we don't follow God's ways.

He doesn't mean that he writes about them.

But what Paul's saying is the law doesn't save us.

It doesn't have the power to do that.

It says in verse 20, for I am crucified with Christ, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The gospel doesn't just mean that we are justified and we are in Christ and God declares things about us, but it also means that Christ is actually living in us, that Christ is actually living in us, so now we actually have the power to live the Christian life.

Verse 21 says this I don't set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

It's Christ and his grace that lives through me.

Have you ever tried to live the Christian life in your own strength?

Y'all, it's impossible.

You don't have the power to do that.

And if you think you can live the Christian life in your own strength, it's going to lead you and leave you in one of three places either very prideful, because you think you're keeping all the rules.

Very guilty, because you're self-aware that you can't keep all the rules, or completely burned out, or maybe a mix of both, depending on the day, or completely burned out, or maybe a mix of both, depending on the day.

It's kind of like this have you ever been around a toddler that thinks they can do everything on their own?

Do you have a toddler?

Have you had a toddler?

All you guys are talking to me.

You're like yes, I know, you know, they're so cute.

They can do everything on their own.

They think they can get dressed by themselves, they think they can eat by themselves.

They don't need mom, they don't need dad and they're super cute, but they're a hot mess.

They're a hot mess.

They cannot do life without their parent, even though they think so.

And then what happens?

Then they finally mess up and they're, you know, all over the place.

They're crying, pitch and fit, it didn't work out.

And then they go and run to mom.

It's like hello.

I was here the whole time.

They can do it on their own, they think they can do it on their own and sometimes in our Christian life we're like the toddler.

We think we can live the Christian life in our own strength.

We think that we can do it in our own power.

But the only way that we can do it, the only way the Christian life can be lived, it's not with your strength, it's with his strength, working in and through you.

Only one person can live the Christian life.

It's Jesus in and through you.

And what has to happen is we have to come to the end of ourselves and we have to realize we can't do this Like.

It has to be Galatians 2.20,.

It has to be Christ in us and Christ through us.

And when it comes to the end of yourself and you're like God, I can't do this.

You know what's going to happen.

You're going to begin to actually overcome temptation and overcome sin.

You're going to be able to love people that are unlovable.

You're going to be able to forgive people when people mistreat you.

You're going to be able to.

You're going to see things happen in your life that you're like I don't even know how that just happened and I don't even know how I just responded in a healthy way, because usually I'll be flying off the handle, cussing them out right now.

How did that even happen?

This is what happened Christ living in and through you.

That's how it happened.

If you're going to try to live the Christian life on your own, it ain't going to work, bro, Right, like if you're going to be a faithful Jesus follower for years and decades to come, it's only going to happen when you let Christ live and work through you, and what that takes is us surrendering and saying it's not me.

It's not me.

I mean, I'll tell you guys, in the big scheme of things, I'm a young pastor.

Some of you guys remind me of that.

I have people.

They'll say something super kind to me.

Then they'll be like I got a grandkid older than you, you know, and it's awesome.

Give me a hug, grandma.

My grandma lives on the East Coast, right, I'm 34.

That was me at 35.

Goodness gracious.

But I know this.

I want to do this for decades.

Like I want to be found faithful.

Like you know, the percentage of pastors that like make it to the end, it's crazy low.

And the only way I'm going to do it, the only way I'm going to pastor you well, the only way I'm going to love well, the only way I'm going to live the Christian life and not do something dumb, honestly is by Christ living in me and like, working in me and working through me.

And, guys, that's the same for you.

But, guys, because of the power of Christ, he can do it in and through you.

You ever like I got like two minutes, okay.

You ever like we're about to get going here.

You ever read some of this stuff and you're like I can't do this.

If you some of y'all looking at me, me like you're way too holy bro, come on, man.

Like I look at some of the stuff, I'm like there ain't no way, you were not supposed to do this.

It's him doing it in and through you, right, like some of you guys are newer to the faith and I love it.

And you're like, whoa, you're reading in.

You're reading ephesians, you're in philippians, you're like man that's actually in there how do I even do this?

I don't know, but he does.

And when you come to the end of yourself and you're like I can't do this, that's the most healthiest place you can ever be, because that is where god meets you and that's where god does something in you and through you, and then that's how your life is changed and that's how other people's lives are changed.

And then, oh yeah, and then what happens is we got, you know, we got more people coming to faith in Jesus, more people growing, more people serving, more people seeing we can't do this on our own, but God can do this in us.

People are coming in.

People are like, wow, god's working on that person's life.

Wow, I knew that person like two years ago and they were something else.

Now they're a completely different person.

What's happened?

God's worked in them, god's worked through them.

And then they come to faith in Jesus.

And then guess what happens?

God works in them and God works through them.

And then their friend comes.

Guys, this is happening right now at FCC, but this is what we need to be man, I am on one at 1030 service, but what really needs to happen is come on, y'all get the good stuff here, okay, what really needs to happen is all of us, as a people of God, say we can't do this, but he can, and this is going to happen.

We're going to make Jesus known, and greater than ever before.

Hey guys, we're going to be at three services before we even know it.

Come on, somebody, say amen this morning.

Y'all know what I'm saying.

It's not me, it's not you, it's him in me and through me and through you, because we are better than me.

All right, I gotta stop.

We got three questions.

Man, I try to keep these messages to like 30 minutes.

I always fail, especially fail today.

Okay, here's three questions.

I just love y'all, okay, honestly, here's my question If you're a follower of Jesus, are you looking towards something other than Jesus to justify your existence, to prove yourself?

Are you understanding, hey man, like I'm justified, like I don't need to prove myself, are you looking to something out here to try to prove the worth of your existence?

Guys, just stop trying.

Jesus already said you're good, bro.

Question number two If you're a Jesus follower, try and do this thing in your own strength.

Try and do it in your own strength.

Try and do it in your own strength.

It's time to give up.

Question three If you're not yet a Jesus follower, would you turn to Christ by faith and be justified today?

I say this all the time God will accept you just as you are, if you will come to him just as you are and you'll be justified.

And when you're justified, you're declared righteous before God.

And all of these things that we talk about and all the glories of the gospel and how we can have worth and power comes when you humble yourself and come to Jesus by faith and experience a Bible word salvation.

Let's do this right now.

Let's open our heads and close our eyes and let's just have a moment.