A Freedom Worth Fighting For, Part 2

Today on the summit life with Jeannie Greer.

Some things are worth fighting for.

Paul knew Martin Luther knowing the gospel is worth fighting for.

In our day because again, if we change it, we cut ourselves off from the presence of Christ, and we obscured God's saving power. There is no other gospel.

Jesus is not at all and it is only by faith in him that you and I are saved and have the power of new life like after the summit church in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm your host Molly benefits little history lesson. As we start more than 500 years since the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of his Catholic Church and called Christians everywhere to return to the true gospel.

So why is the work of an old German monk still relevant to our lives today. The answer lies in the explanation of the gospel, found in the book of Galatians. Return to chapter 1 for a sermon called the freedom worth fighting. Are you ready let's jump into God's word together right now there's a question. What was it about the book of Galatians, Martin Luther and many others have found so powerful, but you never asked was take a look voice is one verse six is where I will start. I am amazed Paul said that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, not the resin of the gospel. There is no other gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort or pervert the gospel of Christ. But I tell you, even if we or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse should be on him. Now that's a big goal statement and impulse to repeat that statement parenthesis in verse nine as we have said before, I now say again, if anybody is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you already received but a curse be on him. I've only two real points I want to make with you today. The first point is that the apostle Paul wants us in no uncertain terms to reject the perverse gospel in the number two he wants us to fight you willing to fight for the true one 1 reject the perverse gospel.

He says there was a group in the early church known as the Judaizers will after these Jews had come to faith in Christ.

After they believed that they still stuck out some of this old law mentality.

Paul calls what these Judaizers are teaching that is in addition to faith in Christ. You gotta be circumcising the parts of the law, because that not just a corruption. He calls that a different gospel the real gospel.

He says, is that in salvation God did for us what we were utterly incapable of doing for ourselves all by himself and we can only receive it by faith. Now most of us today are not to be hung up on circumcision or aspects of the Jewish law, but let me just try to suggest for you a few ways that I see Christians today believing the same perverse gospel.

They just substitute different things in for circumcision. I give you a handful of ways that you're one we do it whenever we make something else besides faith in Christ necessary for salvation for exam's for some people.

They think you need to accept Christ as your Savior and take communion and go to confession accept Christ and be baptized. There is no and in the gospel. There is faith plus nothing else in what Christ has done that saves there's a second way some more progressive Christians assume that it didn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere, loving, and good person, but it really just another way of saying that what you do determines whether or not God except you, because there still a standard you have to reach even if it's a really loose one right, but the gospel is not that God saves all good people. The gospel is that there were only bad people only bad people who receive the rescue of Jesus Christ by faith.

There's 1/3 way we do it. Sometimes we don't we try to grow ourselves spiritually through self effort, you realize are saved by grace what you think.

Now becoming Christlike is on you. In chapter 3 of Galatians falls going to explain that any growth in the Christian life is not the result you will emit into your life, but is the fruit of the spirit in you the power of the spirit is released by faith in Christ, not by resolution or self-discipline. There's 1/4 way I realized this week that I often believe a false gospel.

When I think that I can produce spiritual change and other people a lot of times that I'm did not appear ready to preach and I'm thinking what can make me successful as a preacher when you peel back the layers. What I most depending on our my speaking ability is my ability to persuade my study in my preparation.

Sometimes I think about whether or how I'm going to be successful as a dad and nothing was to make my kids turn out the way they should.

They watch the strength of my personality at the back of master these parenting techniques or whatever Paul would say that is foolish only the spirit can produce eternal life in your congregation. Bring your kids and listen. The spirit is not released into your kids or your congregation. Because of your personality or abilities. The spirit is released to others through faith in the gospel which leads me to number two pulses at the rejected.

I want you to fight for the true gospel which to fight for the true gospel.

Paul is use the strongest language imaginable here. You said that preachers and teachers. Even angels who distort this gospel should be cursed by most people don't like any kind of fighting a controversy in the church and honestly I agree. But Paul says some things are worth fighting for. Some things are matters of life and death. If you pervert the gospel.

He says you do two things you notice this verse six. He says you can turn away from him who called you by the grace of Christ. In other words, you can dessert Jesus in the last person that you want to walk out of his presence as Jesus is not a matter of this range of what we can believe… All get along. This has to do with whether or not we are connected.

Jesus's saving power. Secondly, he says, you condemn people by pointing them to another gospel.

That's actually not on the gospel at all. There is no other gospel you're giving people who were dying of thirst, or giving them a couple of HCl in my look like water but it's not water it's not to bring life. It's going to bring death. Paul says those two things. The presence of Jesus in your life and the way of salvation. Those are things worth striving for, even if it means you have to sometimes offend people and even if it means you have to create division and enemies. Which brings us back to the Reformation. What was so important that Martin Luther was willing to split the church over Martin Luther was a German university student who was studying law at the urging of his parents were paying for his education. His family was not super religious. They were just normal religious like most Germans of the time he was a good practicing Catholic. One day Martin Luther as a college student was walking home and got caught in on the terrible lightning storm.

He was terrified thought he was going to die and so he called out to St. in it was the patron saint of his family. He said save and save me if you will save me from this lightning storm and I don't die I promise that I will become a monk. Well he survived them so to say true to his word. He dropped out of law school and enrolled in a monastery. But there Luther numb while he was there in a monastery really started to assess about what was going to happen him when he died in the experience to the motion that he later called on doom on factoring in German, which best translate as extreme anxiety, maybe even depression. And it came from thinking. He was rejected by God, he desperately wanted to know he was right with God and that he would go to hell.

So we started to do everything he could do to try to gain an assurance of salvation.

For example, he would fast for days on end. He would sleep on the floor. He would spend hours in confession, trying to remember all of his sense, because in order to get forgiveness for us in the church taught you had to confess it would spend five and six hours in the confessional, trying to remember his sins. He would beat himself with a whip as a way of trying to show God that he was sorry the church taught that all these things are are are necessary to help ensure that your right with God, but Luther wondered how could he ever know that you done enough.

Nobody confess to not know. He repented out that you know he was sorry enough he said try to remember every sin and the confession was like trying to mop up the floor with the faucet running will a mentor and confessor. There is a monastery whose name. It's good to sit and listen. By the way to Luther's like six hours of confession on in finally said to him, Martin Martin, brother. You let this go to seven. How can I let it go in my soul. The most important thing that I have certain I shouldn't everybody be obsessed about this. It said you know what you need. Luther usually needed it. You need to start teaching the Bible. Luther said I couldn't do that if I try to teach a Bible to kill me. Finally, Luther agreed to do that he took up a volunteer Bible teaching hosted the local university and in his study, he started to see things in the Bible that at first confused him then delighted him.

For example, the first book he taught from was the book of Psalms is thought all the way through it came to Psalm 22 were David cries out my God my God why have you forsaken me, which was a prophecy about what Jesus will one day pray from the cross.

And Luther said my God, my God, why have you forsaken me that's unaffected. That is the sense that your rejected by God. That's what I feel. And Luther said I started to wonder why does Jesus the son of God. Why would he ever feel that way. And then he said it finally started to dawn on me that Jesus had suffered my condemnation and judgment in my place.

All that I felt because of my sin. Jesus felt in my place. Then Martin Luther started to teach the book of Romans that was next. He said I couldn't get out of chapter 1 I try to teach the Romans, but I can get out of chapter 1 because it was a phrase in chapter 1, I couldn't get past it was the phrase the righteousness of God to love his account of the so much a habit up on the thing among officers at what is it I hated that phrase righteousness of God which I've been taught understands the righteousness which God punishes the unrighteous center. In other words, the standard you live up to. If you don't live up to it, then God will punish you for not living up to it. Thus I will raise against God with a fierce and troubled conscience. Nevertheless, I'd be relentlessly on Paul timbers a love that image for Bible study on Paul most earnestly desiring to know what all at last for the mercy of God, meditating day and night.

I gave heed to the context of the words, namely in it the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel a righteousness of God is real, as is written, he through faith becomes righteous shall live there. I begin to understand what it is that the righteousness of God's righteousness with which the merciful God justifies us by faith it is.

He called it gift righteousness.

Righteousness, not that God tells us to live up to a righteousness that God gives us because of what Christ accomplished for us.

Therefore it's not about me confessing my sin enough. It's not about me feeling sorry enough for being good enough to be myself enough. Jesus had done enough and it was finished at him.

He had live the life that I was supposed to live. He did everything in my place. Luther said it started at his baptism is Jesus Luther Boyd Isaac Beeson Jesus when he was baptized by John the Baptist, really odd seeing because John calls it a baptism of repentance and Luther's and my question was, what was Jesus repenting out. He never said why would Jesus be baptized in repentance if he never sent Jesus answered in Matthew chapter 3, he did it to fulfill all righteousness with theirs. That wasn't Jesus already fully righteous. Why would he fulfill all righteousness that he was fully righteous already. And Luther said then it dawned on me that he was fulfilling my righteousness. He was repenting in my place.

Jesus did everything in my place.

He repented in my place.

I could never feel sorry enough for my sin.

Jesus felt sorry for me. You live the life I was supposed to live by the death I was condemned to die so that when I trusted him by faith. His record becomes mine and their Luther develop this for a solo file in Latin faith alone.

Christ did it all simply putting faith in what Christ has done is what saves us here. He said he reset I felt that I was altogether born again and it entered Paradise itself to open gates will meanwhile back over in room Pope Leo the Pope at the time wanted to finish a construction project. He had begun on St. Peter's Basilica associate room today, but will Pope Leo would run out of money I needed to raise some money so he didn't do a multiply campaign. He started to sell indulgences. Now indulgences were basically merit tokens that you could buy from the church that would earn you extra credit for having to the popes and all these preachers throughout the Holy Roman Empire to preach these fiery sermons about hell in the rapture and get everybody scared so that they would buy indulgences to shore up their chances of getting into heaven.

12.

Luther is studying Romans and hearing the sermons all start to really take them off and he said, for example, he said if the Pope has all this credit to give out and he really loves us.

Why not just give it.

Secondly, he said, and more importantly in the righteousness of Jesus Christ sufficient and why would we have to go to purgatory to pay for our sin were Christ suffering for us complete. Didn't Jesus say it's finished that the Scripture say put away sin once for all by the sacrifice of himself. So he listed out these and a bunch of other grievances in a document that we now for the 95 theses and emailed them to the door. The church in Pittsburgh. Incidentally, by the way he wrote them in Latin because he intended for them only to be read by the religious elite, but they really struck a chord with the German people because all the German people resented the Pope putting this tax and his obligation on them if caught in Germany and took off for the Catholic Emperor Charles V learned about all this and so he wanted to put Luther to death as a heretic. Problem was that Luther had grown so popular among the Germans. The King Charles couldn't do that without provoking a riot. At least without giving Luther a trial first so we invited Luther to come recant his beliefs at something called the deed of the firm's Luther gets the summons that he's gotta meet King Charles and all these bishops that firms any statement, civil why do I need to go all the way to firms to recant what I could just rotate here in Wittenberg. If you really want me to recant the take back what I said here you go. Previously, I said that the Pope was a representative Jesus.

Now I say he is an apostle of the devil.my recantation is actually what he said he was spicy, give me tight so they bring Luther into the berms and they spread out before him. His 95 theses and all his other books in front of him and they demanded he recant them. Luther, the story goes, witnesses say I got really quiet. He asked for a day that he could think about which is confusing because you like. I thought he was just realize thought it was going to die. He thought he would not recant and they were burned at the stake the next day so he just said I need some time to think about this and he goes back to his his cell and he prays one of the most touching prayers I've ever read in my life are basically this is God I'm scared and I don't want to die, but I know this is right, but I'm not sure that I'm in have the strength to do this.

The next day, Luther walks back into the courtroom was even more packed than the day before the king and all the princes and all the nobles were there and Luther a spread out the books performance at Luther, we demand that you recant these things. Luther says he says will first.

There are many things in these books of the church agrees well so I can't recant those at which .1 of the bishops interrupted him and said Luther, the question is do you insist that the church is in error for selling indulgences and are you continuing to hold to this ridiculous idea that the church membership in the church and all these things are not necessary for salvation and that it's faith alone is necessary for salvation.

Are you really saying Luther that all these other church leaders are wrong and all these people throughout history been wrong and that you Luther, you alone are right. Witnesses said that Luther got really really quiet for a minute and then finally he can look up and look the bishops in the eye and he said and I quote since you want a simple reply.

I will give you one without horns or teeth unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason for I do not accept the conclusions of councils are popes because they contradict each other. My conscience is held captive by the word of God.

I cannot and I will not recant anything to go against conscience is neither right nor safe here I stand I can do no other God help me. Amen the courtroom at this point witnesses they just ascended in the chaos and Luther slipped out the back seriously.

King Charles had promised Luther safe conduct of berms and back as part of the deal to get in there so we had to let Luther walk out free but as soon as Luther left King Charles published what they call the edict of berms in which he declared that once Luther got back the Wittenberg anybody anywhere could kill him without punishment. So on the way home some local militia kidnapped Luther and Luther thought he was gonna die, but these turned out to be friends and they took him and hit him in a castle in Wartburg were for several years he lived in secret translated the Bible and the common German and just wrote a bunch of books we still have today. You can visit the very cell where they kept him there. Wartburg inventors, a famous story about the sale were Luther says they believe he said he done through inkwell of the death and I take a tour of it. If you have a savage regatta built smudge some sort on the wall and no say here is the very spot where the inkwell exploded against the wall. But what Luther actually said in German, the suspect may make the little he said was in this cell. I thought the devil would peak what he meant was not through inkwell of Satan but that he thought Satan by writing out the first ever translation of the New Testament in the common German so that the people could read it because the word of God itself would do all the work.

The problem was only the popes and only the priest had access to the word of God. He said everybody should have access to it. Not even Luther was expecting the impact this simple discovery would make. He later said I didn't mean to cause the Reformation and I'm not the one who engineered it and I'm not the one who propelled it forward. I simply translated the Bible and prayed and then sat back and drank a good time to German beer.

While the word itself that all work. Luther was a very colorful and deeply flawed individual, but that's what he said the Reformation which is built on the idea that salvation came to faith alone in Christ begin to spread like wildfire all throughout Europe is more more preachers begin to translate the Bible into the common language. What followed were some of the bloodiest years in history scholar say more Protestants died for their faith in the years following Reformation and all the Christian martyrs in early Rome. If they did it gladly. One historian of the time describes it. He said no human being was able to take out of their hearts what they experienced the fire of God itself burned within them if they would rather die 10 deaths in Passaic, the divine truth because they knew this was about eternity. Some things are worth fighting for.

Paul knew it.

Martin Luther knew it. The gospel is worth fighting for. In our day because again, if we change it, we cut ourselves off from the presence of Christ, and we obscure God saving power. There is no other gospel. Jesus is done at all, and it is only by faith in him that you and I are saved and have the power of new life policy was spent the last half of chapter 1. Galatians explaining why he is so zealous about the gospel and basically what he says is the gospel is the only place that you can experience Jesus use himself as case in point is a only a real resurrected Christ of willpower could change me and if you tamper with the message you're going to lose the presence of God and cut yourself off from his power. You have heard it described like this before. If you if you were dying of starvation and a rich person had compassion on you and set him to give you access my bank account. So here's my my ATM card and go anytime you want to got any amount of money you want all my millions and millions and millions of dollars in your example, what is that what's that that the pin number and the seven pin number is 1973, the year that I was more and you you say how this could hardly remember I was born in 1978.

So that's the pin number.

I prefer to remember the rich person would say well you can try to enter 1970. If you want you never to have access to my money. That way you want my money had entered 1973. What Paul is saying is if you want access to the riches of Jesus Christ. This is not a plan that you can edit this is a planet God gave and said this is the way did you get in.

It is by acknowledging that you have no power to save yourself that you have no power to live the Christian life that Jesus is done at all through his death and his resurrection visibly by believing that arresting the weight of your soul. Upon what you experienced the forgiveness and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jim Webb. Luther believed this Glenn Hall believe this. I believe this when you believe what you be willing to fight for its have you experienced this gospel are you fighting for this gospel. The end of the day. This is what it's about. Are you experiencing the power that flows from this gospel freedom. If you happen to join us late. You can hear the full message online@jdgreer.com. Today's message is part of our new teaching series in Galatians called freedom in between Jenny. As you teach the Bible show us it's important to have daily in the word of God best approach to reading the Bible and how does it grow our relationship with God by what you know when you're when you're a young believer. The first thing you think is more than it should affect my behavior. But what you get it begin to see is that the Bible is God's word that he is living and active and he is using it to speak into your life to the promises you are an earning of promises to you all the promises of God are are yes in Christ Jesus. The warning some some of them are then applied to you at different times in your life more than others.

My dad tells me. For years, that was a superhero Christian the never missed an invite, and when I was no reason and I said as I was struggling beginning but what changed. He said I realized that in the morning and I would get up and read the Bible that God was more anxious to meet with me than I was to meet any equipment when I got that understanding is changed as I begin to want to hear from God's word. What we want to do is is is provide you with resources or some a life that will help facilitate that relationship so that life is about increasing Bible knowledge is a lot of places that you can do that writing books. But if we can help you know God better serve him more faithfully into love him and know his love letter that's that's her heart. Her summer life and I think this resource is one of the best tools we offer. You can reserve a copy today discouraging.com would love to do this and will be our honor to be able to say that we helped you a little bit not to know more about God that you know God better.

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