Alive in Christ - Galatians 2:17-21

In a certain way, Paul is going to continue to draw attention to the past, draw attention to the book of Moses, and he's also going to be in a certain way kind of singing that last song out loud for his listeners.

Singing of Christ's power to save, singing about his blood that saves.

The faith that is given to the believer is that which saves because of the work that Jesus did.

Not the work that you or I could do to obey the law.

The beat continues.

The beat goes on for Paul this evening.

And we were organizing our garage.

My family was, actually, Sadie and I were.

We were throwing some things away, giving some things away, reorganizing things.

And we came across this box that had yearbooks in it.

And I'm like, I haven't seen those things in so long.

Like I got a yearbook every year, and this box is heavy.

This box is heavy, and in a certain way it's kind of like, it's kind of a it's kind of a burden, kind of a burden to carry along, though there's memories, it's there's a weight to it.

There's a weight to this big box of yearbooks.

And I graduated in a class of close to 800.

Um it was a larger high school that I went to, so there's like just pages and pages and pages and pages and pages of faces of people that I went to high school with, and uh people that I went to class with, and people that I um I played sports with and was part of clubs with.

And um in a certain way uh I I was part of a bunch of different groups, and I think about the life of Paul and the group that he ran with for the majority uh of his upbringing.

He ran with those of his own people, the the Jewish people.

And that is that is something that he was he was probably thinking about, like this this new life I have in Christ, this new man that I am, I I have a new people.

I have a new a new savior, I have a new focus and a new a new purpose in life.

And as I I look back to those yearbooks, I reflect on what mattered most to me, what I was pursuing, what I was most excited about.

And Paul has a new excitement.

Paul has has been radically transformed.

We've talked about this over the past handful of Sundays.

His his new approach, his new fixation is is Christ.

And we're gonna see more of that today.

And I'd I'd like you to think about to think about 20 years in the future.

Think forward, and I'd like you to think of yourself in 20 years.

And in light of that, think about your life today.

How are you gonna look back?

How are you gonna look back and see the things that you were pursuing?

Are you going to be someone who is standing thinking that that those pursuits were good?

Those things that I was striving for, the things that mattered most to me, were good.

Those things honored the Lord.

Those things were worthy of my pursuits.

Um and and Paul in a certain way is reflecting back on his life, reflecting on his journey and what Christ has done for him.

And this is this is 14 years later.

It's not 20 years, but this is 14 years later, uh, after he was radically transformed.

And we're gonna take a look back as we look to Paul and we and we see his reflection on what Christ has done in his life.

So I hope you're ready to get to get nostalgic, to think about years in the past with me uh this evening, because we're gonna follow the mind of Paul as he writes and and reflect back on the years.

So let's let's dive right in.

Verse 17.

Verse 17.

Paul continues this conversation of justification, how how we could be uh seen as righteous, and he's gonna speak about being justified in Christ.

Verse 17.

But if in our endeavor to be justified with Christ we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?

Certainly not.

Certainly not.

The folks that were around him accusing him of uh of turning people away from the law, they were they were thinking, Paul, what are you doing?

What are you doing turning people away from the law, away from the scriptures, away from Moses?

The people that turn are eating with the Gentiles, they're eating and they're defiling themselves because they're they're breaking they're breaking the law of Moses.

What is going on here?

What is going on?

His his call and his claim is if if we endeavor, if if our pursuit, if our mission is to be justified by Christ by repenting of our sins and placing hope and faith in him, we two are found to be sinners.

And that's right.

He's trying to make a distinction here between the sinner's word used in verse 17 and the sinners that we see in verse 15.

Now, categorically speaking, the sinners are those who are not Jewish.

Sinners would be speaking about those who don't have the law of Moses, though those who are not in the family of God, Gentile sinners.

That's verse 15.

But in verse 17, sinners is speaking about those who sin.

Speaking about those who would be sinning against God, breaking his rules in any kind, whether it's found in the law of Moses or otherwise.

So, if we endeavor to be justified by Christ, we too were found to be sinners.

If this is true, if if our pursuit of turning away from the law and turning to Christ, if this is if this is causing us to sin because we're all of a sudden breaking the law because we're following Christ, does this make Christ a servant of sin?

That's what he's asking.

It's a rhetorical question that already has an answer.

He says, certainly not.

Of course not.

Absolutely not.

When we turn to Christ and we have freedom and liberty in Christ, that we don't, we're not under the bondage of the law, the law that only proved, the law that only proved our need for a savior, he's saying, are we driving people, are we ourselves sinners because we no longer are following the law of Moses?

He says, certainly not.

He goes on, he doubles down.

For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

Think about Paul.

Paul, his life started out raising and rising up through the ranks of Judaism, going to the best schools, scoring well on the tests, and he was a sharp guy.

He was he was above and beyond those who were his own age.

He was advanced.

And he's saying, if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

He's talking about the old way of life.

He's talking about the law.

When he turned to Christ, he made it his mission.

He made it his mission to say, look, this law doesn't save.

This law only shows us our sin.

And if he's saying to his listeners, if I go back to Judaism, if I go back to the law of Moses and think that's what's going to save me, I am a transgressor.

I am someone who is falling short.

I am a lawbreaker.

I am a violator.

I am a sinner.

The law, the law, its purpose was to show God's people that they don't meet the mark, and neither do we.

That is the purpose of the law.

The commandments that Moses received on Sinai, we break those.

And the consequences for God's people, as lawbreakers, the way to be made right with God was only through blood.

The shedding of blood.

We sang songs this evening about standing underneath the flood of Christ's blood, underneath the cleansing flood, the cleansing blood of Christ.

And everything that was going on in the Old Testament ultimately pointed forward to a final cleansing.

Because the blood of bulls and rams and goats and the things that were going on just day after day after day, it was a bloodbath, like in the literal sense.

There was so much blood.

There's so much blood.

Paul's saying, if I go back to that and thinking that following the law of Moses is going to save me, I can be justified by doing my best, trying my hardest to fulfill the law.

That's not going to save me.

Certainly not.

I will prove to be a transgressor.

For through the law I died.

Verse 19.

For through the law I died 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 is that?

Who is the Son of God?

That's Jesus.

I live by faith in Jesus 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.

The Judaizers were convinced that Paul was steering people into lawlessness, into this freedom in Christ that the Jewish people would say is lawlessness.

They have no structure, they have no framework to follow God through.

They have no way to know what is right because they have nothing to follow.

They have no leader.

And the sad thing is they they miss Jesus.

The people that would be trying to blend faith in Christ and works of the law, the works of the scriptures and the Old Testament, blending those two things to come up with this hybrid salvation where you need both, you must have both.

That is a dangerous place to be.

Let's write this down for point number one.

We need to follow Jesus into paths of righteousness.

Turning away from the law and turning to Christ is not turning to sin.

That's Paul's point here.

He's saying if you turn to Christ, he will lead you into paths of righteousness.

He will show you the way.

He will show you the way.

Follow me.

Follow me, Jesus says, and to his disciples.

I'll make you fishers of men.

I will show you how to catch people for the kingdom.

I will teach you and instruct you how to make disciples, those who will find eternal life.

The lawless people needed a savior.

And those who had the law, the law of Moses, also needed a savior, and they were awaiting him.

They were looking forward.

They were looking forward to the one who would crush the head of the serpent.

They were waiting for their Messiah and they missed Jesus.

They didn't see him for who he truly is.

They were like sheep without a shepherd.

The people at this time who Paul would be speaking to would know the Psalms of David.

They would know Psalm 23.

Psalm 23 opens.

David says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

The Judaizers thought, Paul, why are you leading these people astray?

But really, he was leading them to the shepherd, the one who would restore their soul, the one who would lead them in paths of righteousness for his glory, not for their own.

For his name's sake.

He will comfort you, he will care for you.

He will be your leader.

And you are safe there.

The Judaizers thought Paul was leading people into destruction.

But he was leading them to the safest place that they could be.

Covered by the blood of Christ, cleansed of all their sins.

That is where Paul is directing the attention of his readers.

Paul's mission was to make disciples at all costs.

Even if it cost him suffering, even if it cost him discomfort, hunger.

If his life was in danger, he did not care.

He sees the life that was laid down for him on the cross.

He sees the perfect Son of God laid down.

He gave.

He gave himself for Paul.

He gave himself for sinners.

And Paul says, that's my boast.

That's all that I need.

That's everything that I could ever want.

No more striving.

No more trying so, so hard and failing.

And failing to meet the mark.

Failing.

He failed.

You fail.

I fail all the time.

Parents might tell you something really simple.

You ever get frustrated at yourself when you have a very basic and simple task?

You're like, yeah, yeah, Mom, I got I got it.

I got it.

I got it.

And then like somehow you forget and you don't do it, and they're like, hey, what happened?

It's like, oh, that was the that was the easiest task.

Surely I wouldn't have missed that one.

But even in the most simple things, the easiest ways to obey, we can still fail, right?

We can still fall short.

We can still fall away from obedience.

And that's just an encouragement for us tonight.

We need someone who never failed.

We need someone who was perfect in every way.

And that is the Savior.

Matthew has some things to say in chapter 5, verses 17 and 18, speaking of the Lord Himself.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law of the prophets.

This is Jesus.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

He says, Truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until it is accomplished.

The law is still the law.

The standard still remains the same.

The goalpost, the end zone, the hoop isn't moving.

The standard is still the standard.

Until God sees fit to return.

Until he says, This world has come to pass.

He didn't come to do away with the prophets, how they spoke about the future, how they told of the coming Messiah.

He didn't do away with the law and say, Scratch that, new rules.

I'm the game master.

We're playing by my rules now.

No, he came.

He came to fulfill the law.

He obeyed his father's commands perfectly.

Now, Paul, on the other hand, went to the law and said, You don't need it.

Though it is good to obey, he was the one who was tearing down the law to point people to Christ, showing that you, you Jewish men and women of the time, you fall short, just like me.

He was persecuting Christians.

And now he's praying for his brothers and sisters in the Jewish faith to see their Savior for who he really is: Jesus of Nazareth, the good shepherd.

Paul sees clearly the new covenant and the new era, the new timeline that God through his son sets for his people.

It's to know the Son and it's to live through him in death and in life through faith.

It's a gift.

The old way is out, sacrificing animals to cover sins.

The day of atonement, blood day in and day out.

More animals dying.

More animals being born just to be killed for the covering of sins.

Can you imagine that?

You might go to go to somewhere and you might feel a certain wind or a breeze, and then all of a sudden you start smelling, smelling animals.

You might be smelling some manure.

You ever smell that?

Like every once in a while you're like, what is that smell?

I don't normally smell that.

The winds are blowing in a different direction.

I smell that dairy down the road.

Or maybe you have some animals in your backyard.

You're like, I smell it every day, Tyler.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Imagine this, imagine the smell in and around the camp of Israel.

Animals are being killed and burned day in and day out.

There's a certain smell that comes with death.

There's a certain aroma, and something that I think Paul is just so captivated by is just the aroma of Christ, knowing that his blood was the final sacrifice.

His blood was the perfect sacrifice, the only one that could forgive sins, that could give eternal life.

The blood of animals covered sins temporarily.

The blood of animals did not forgive.

Human beings needed a human sacrifice.

An animal sacrifice would not do the job.

It's only Jesus.

It's only his blood.

And to be found in him, to be found in Jesus, means you have life in him.

You have the righteousness that he gives, that he provides, that comes through his perfect obedience.

And the burden, the yoke that he offers is light.

Back in this time, back in this time in history, the religious leaders would put all these little add-ons, add-ons to the law.

You have to do it this way, but also at this time, with these specific circumstances, with these details.

And in the religious people, their whole job was to lead the people spiritually, to lead people to God.

And they were able to do all these little things because they that was their whole role.

That was their whole job.

And they were they were placing these unnecessary, unlawful burdens, giving people unlawful commands to uh in their in their attempts to to obey God, like like they were, air quotes.

But they were only adding burdens and giving giving weights and yokes and putting the yokes on people's shoulders, just weighing them down.

And Jesus is saying, My mine is easy.

Come come to me.

My burden is light.

You don't need to be weighed down and crushed by these extracurricular rules that these religious leaders are giving you, are telling you to do.

The law of Christ is the new way.

The law of Christ is life.

You obey the Son, you are obeying the Father.

God the Father sent the Son to take the place of sinners.

The law of Christ is freedom.

In Galatians later on, chapter 5, to borrow from the future, Galatians 5, verses 13 to 15 says this.

Galatians 5:13–15

For you were called to freedom, brothers.

This freedom, this liberty is speaking of outside, outside the law, outside the chains of the law.

You were called to freedom, brothers.

Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

This is this is the law of Christ.

Love your neighbor.

Go and love people just like I have loved you.

The great commandment.

The second is is this.

The first familiar.

Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind.

That's what Matthew says in Matthew 22.

This is this.

Is simple.

The equation is not complex.

Follow after me, Jesus says.

Follow the commands that I give, and you will have life.

I hope you see that.

As we look to the scriptures, we see more and more our inability to measure up.

More and more, as you evaluate your life, you're going to see your failures.

And I'm not saying that to like put you down because that applies to me too.

The more that we see God's word, the more we see, like, man, like, I actually, if I'm if I'm holding myself strict to the standard that God says, like, I'm sitting often in my mind, in my thoughts, with the things that people don't see.

Mom and dad are out.

They don't see what's going on in my mind.

They don't see me treating my siblings the way that I do, speaking about others the way that I do.

There is a way that the law shows us our need for salvation because through it we cannot perfectly uphold it.

Let's write this down for point number two.

Read Scripture to see death and life.

Read Scripture to see death and life.

In verse 19, Paul says, For through the law I died to the law.

I couldn't uphold it.

I couldn't measure up.

Through the law, I died to the law, so that I might live to God.

He's saying that's that's the old me.

I put that lifestyle, that way of living, that way of pursuing God was futile.

I couldn't do it.

It only showed me my need for a permanent solution.

Back and forth, back and forth.

Sin, sacrifice, sin, sacrifice, sin, sacrifice, back and forth, back and forth.

The blood of Christ, the sacrifice that Christ made is final.

No going back once for all.

That was Christ's humble sacrifice.

He died once so that you and I could live.

Paul says in verse 20, I've been crucified with Christ.

It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Christ lives in me.

Christ sent his spirit to dwell within those who have faith in him.

You live, you are alive spiritually only because of Jesus and His Spirit that He sent.

The spirit that God has sent to indwell, to empower, to enable you and I to please God, to follow him, to obey.

One of the lyrics we sang tonight is I lay down my, I laid down my garments, any empty boast.

Anything that we do outside of Christ is under our own power, under our own strength.

And Pastor Josiah this morning was speaking to pride.

A lot of the things that you and I may be tempted to do would be for the approval of man, for empty praise, for recognition that would improve your self-image or improve your reputation.

But Paul says it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

I've been crucified with Christ.

My sins put to death.

My shortcomings dead.

Now I live in Christ.

I have Christ's life.

I have Christ's life attributed to my account, accredited to my name.

It's no longer me.

It's no longer I who live.

You are Christ's possession.

Christian, you are Christ's possession if you are His.

If He died for you, you're no longer living for yourself.

You're living for the Lord Jesus Christ.

He died for you and He lives in you.

Paul goes on to say, 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.

A verse that you might be already familiar with.

It might be a common verse to you, but think about it another time this evening with me.

The bodies that we live in, the word flesh here isn't speaking about the fruits of the flesh.

The flesh is your skin and bones.

This is what Paul's talking about.

This earthly life that we now live, I live by faith.

I live by faith.

I live trusting that God has marching orders for me.

I live now pleasing my Savior rather than pleasing myself.

It's no longer about me.

And that's a good thing.

Because the more that we want for ourselves, the more it doesn't satisfy.

The more that we we strive to gain for ourselves, the more we realize we're lacking.

But if we have Christ, we have the infinite.

We have the creator.

We have the spirit living inside of us.

What more do we want?

What more do we want than to be known and to know the Maker, the creator of the universe?

This is God revealing himself to Paul.

This is your new life, Paul.

It's not about you.

Trust me, I have plans for you.

The Savior who rocked his world on the road to Damascus, who blinded him.

He's the master now.

He's the captain of the ship.

He's leading you, and he will not disappoint.

He's not going to disappoint.

Paul, you're free to go and love one another.

You're free to go and show people their need for me, their need for a savior.

In John chapter 13, we see the new commandment.

John 13 · chapter mention

The new commandment that Jesus gives.

You must love one another in verse 34.

You must love one another just as I have loved you.

You also are to love one another.

Not go sacrifice another animal.

More blood.

More blood.

Go to this festival.

Go.

Do do do.

Do this.

Don't do that.

Do this.

Don't do that.

Jesus says, go love one another.

And when you go and love one another, this is what he says in verse 35.

By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

The life that he has in Christ is to go and love.

Go and love people.

Go and make disciples.

They're going to know that you're from me if you love each other.

This is life in the Spirit.

God dwelling in his people.

Empowered.

This is a grace.

This is a gift from God.

I hope that you guys see that.

This great commandment, this privilege that a Christian gets to do, to go to be free from the weights of sin, those the weights of the law.

You no longer have to be good enough because Jesus was good enough for you.

Go and serve one another.

Go and love your neighbor.

Love God and love your neighbor.

Follow after me.

Follow after the shepherd.

That's freeing.

Not a list of to-dos and don't do's.

Obedience is required.

Jesus told the people, if you love me, you will obey my commandments.

If you love me, you're going to follow after me.

So, yes, there is there is a there is a leader.

There still is someone who is directing and navigating your life.

It's no longer a set of rules and regulations, but it's it's a person.

I hope that you guys see that tonight.

It's a person that is that is leading.

It's a person that is saving, not the law, not the do's and don'ts.

And how how refreshing that is.

How refreshing it is to know that the Savior, the creator, the word who became flesh, as John says it in chapter 1, this is the one.

The creator laid his life down for his enemies.

And the privilege that we have to know him, to see what he has to say to us in the scriptures.

This is a gift.

This is a gift from God.

Romans in chapter 8, Paul says, there's no condemnation.

Therefore, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

You don't stand guilty anymore.

You've been forgiven.

Verse 2 says, the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

The law exposes your guilt.

The Spirit says, You are free.

You are forgiven.

You belong to Jesus.

Verse 3 goes on to say, For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin.

He condemns sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

Your life that you get to live as a Christian is empowered by the Spirit.

God fulfilled the law.

You don't need to earn your way to heaven.

You can't.

You can't do that.

Take a deep breath.

Take a sigh of relief.

You're not good enough, and it's okay.

Praise God.

You're not good enough, and that is a blessing because Jesus was and you never could be.

The law failed to save, but Jesus did.

Write this down for point number three.

See the law's failure to justify.

See the law's failure to justify.

It fails to justify.

Spoiler alert.

You can't uphold the law.

You've already broken it.

You've already sinned.

You can't be saved through your right living.

You can't do it.

You cannot work your way to heaven.

You cannot work your sins away.

You cannot make a deal with God and say, if I do 1,000 good deeds, 5,000 obedient days in a row without sin, then I get heaven.

Doesn't work like that.

But imagine every single day that Jesus was on earth, every temptation that he faced, he perfectly obeyed the Father.

In those times when you're feeling mad, when you're feeling angry, when you're feeling jealous, Jesus was tempted to fall and fail in those ways, but he never did.

He obeyed God perfectly when we couldn't.

So that his perfect resume, his perfect record could be applied to you.

And sometimes we can we can feel like the grace that we get, there could be a temptation for us to think like, well, God's gonna forgive me, so like it's it's okay if I fall short today.

It's okay if like grace is there for me, forgiveness is there for me.

It's okay, it's okay for me if I if I err today, if I fall short today, God's just gonna forgive me.

I know that my my mom and dad, they're supposed to forgive me because that's what God tells them.

So if I sin against my parents, they're gonna they're gonna be forced to.

If not, then they're sinning, right?

Sometimes we can play these mental mind games in our head.

But those are not helpful.

Don't we don't nullify, we don't nullify the grace of God.

We don't do that.

We don't take advantage of the freedom and the forgiveness that that Christ offers.

That doesn't give us an opportunity to be like, well, I'm not gonna obey today.

That's not the point.

Paul concludes chapter two by saying, I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

If you're trying to work your way to heaven and think that you can, then there was no point for Jesus dying for you.

That's what Paul's saying.

I don't know if by the grace of God.

If there was some way for me to earn my way to heaven through the law, then Jesus died for no purpose.

Jesus died for every one of your sins.

If you put your faith in him, all of your sins are forgiven.

Every last one, every past one, every current one, every future sin, everyone is forgiven.

Christ died for the sinner.

He didn't die so that in combination with the law, with your good works you can be saved.

This is all credit, all accomplishment, all glory, all honor to Christ.

There's nothing we can stand and boast about.

There's no mixture of your good things and God's perfection that that brings you to heaven.

It's only by the grace of God.

It's only through faith in Jesus, in Him alone.

The law fails to justify.

Even if you were to live the rest of your life perfectly, which you won't, but even if you did, your past sins would disqualify you.

Your past sins would DQ you at the gates of heaven.

Jesus is not.

He does not fail to justify.

Jesus' righteousness applied to the sinner is enough to save.

Do you believe that?

Have you thought about that for yourself?

Is Jesus, is his sacrifice enough for me to be saved?

Did he truly die for all my sins?

I would say he did.

Every last one.

The life that you live today, you can live like Paul in freedom because of what Christ has done.

Today, you can live by faith in Jesus and remember what he's done.

You can remember how he had loved the sinner and how he had sacrificed, how he'd humbled himself for those who were his enemies.

He gave himself up for sinners.

What a gift.

What a treasure.

For those of us who have been in church for a long time, or maybe you're raised in the church, a lot of people would say, Well, I've been a Christian my whole life.

And what they mean by that is they've been going to church ever since they can remember.

And some of that might apply to some of us in this room today.

Some of you might be thinking, like, well, my earliest memories were at church, and they're great memories.

Those are good things.

Those are privileges, those are blessings for you guys.

What a blessing it is to be raised in a home where Christ is honored.

But don't believe that somehow your attachment to your parents, your attachment to the culture that you were raised in is your ticket to heaven.

Your ticket to heaven is Christ's perfection, not the culture, not the family that you grew up in, not how long you've been going to church.

I've been going to church since surely I get to go to heaven.

No, you get to go to heaven if you have faith in Christ.

You get to go to heaven and be with God if you know the Savior, if He is your master, if you are cleansed by His blood.

That is how anyone gets to heaven.

It's through faith in God.

That's a gift.

We have no room to boast, no reason to boast.

All the glory, all the credit goes to God in that context.

So while many of you are raised in a home that has been following God, your faith still needs to be your own.

You can't adopt a faith.

There's no buddy like partner two-pack situation.

You individually need to have faith.

You individually need to confess and turn from your sins in hope and trust in the salvation that Jesus offers you, just like Paul.

So as you look back to your life, as you think about this sermon, maybe you'll forget it.

Maybe you'll go back on the internet if the internet is still a thing in 20 years.

Maybe you'll go back and think, huh, that was an interesting time in my life.

I kind of had some interest, I kind of had some things that I was I was caring about.

But what are you going to be caring about most?

As you look back on your life, as you look back to your younger year, teen years when you're a full-blown adult, are you going to be thinking about what you've done, what you've accomplished, or are you going to rest assured that what Jesus has done, what he has accomplished, sets you on the path to life, has given you life.

God, we are amazed by the free gift of salvation that you offer through your Son.

We are amazed by the humility of Christ to pursue the cross more eagerly than we pursue the grace that you extend to us.

God, you are you are full of mercy and grace, and you care for you care for the sinner enough to die for them, to save them.

God, will you work in the hearts through your spirit?

God, will will many of these students 20 years from now be looking back and said, I've been washed by the blood of Christ.

It's no longer I who live, it's not about me anymore, but it's Christ living in me.

Just like Paul says here in Galatians chapter 2.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

May it be so, God.

May it be so that they reflect and their only boast is in Christ, because Jesus loved and he gave himself up for the sinner.

God, we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.