Living by Grace Pt 4

Good morning. Oh, we had a little. Good morning. Would you all stand?

I think my microphone's hungry. It's feeding back. Or full, maybe. It's full. I want to welcome you this morning to Calvary Chapel. And those of you who are online, we welcome you. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity, Lord, to gather this morning to worship in song and to study your word. And, Father, we come to you just as we are.

We ask for your guidance, Lord, by your Holy Spirit. Please fill us afresh this morning. May we yield to you and just let go and worship, Lord. Make a joyful noise unto your word. We give you praise. We thank you, Lord Jesus. I think I asked you to stand. Lord Jesus, we thank you. Lord, if we sought to leave your love behind, there's no place else to go. Your word is to be true.

You may be seated. Jesus, the ever-saving.

And sure.

And sure.

Lord, as we're worshiping together this morning, I just had the thought that the world, this would look different. But see, to us, it's right because we love you, Lord. Because you first loved us.

The cross is foolishness to the world, but, oh, to us, it means so much.

Our sins being, we thank you so much. But when I think of... Just facing life sometimes. We do have the different mountains ahead of us, Lord. The different things that we face.

But you're greater than the mountains ahead. We can trust you in every... It seems to be a fortress against us. You are faithful. And we thank you for that.

Nothing for God. A king. What a beautiful...

Trust and look to upon himself the form of a servant. For our sins. He rose from the dead and ascended upon the confessor. And he's going to bow. And confess that Jesus is the Lord. And I'm telling you, if you haven't done it yet, before you leave this earth, Jesus loves you. He loves us.

Father, that's our prayer.

As Jesus said, let our light so shine.

Father, as the stars on the moon reflect the sun, may we reflect you in the way. But let us be salt also, Lord. That it seasons and preserves, Lord. Our very speech would be that of grace seasoned with salt. We give you praise, Lord Jesus. And ask for your blessing now. Yes. We have worshiped and we are going to be studying your word. Pastor Ryan, in Jesus' name, amen.

Let's have some fellowship. Fellowship, y'all. Can't get it out of my mouth.

Locating your seats. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements together.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. Handful of announcements to go over. As always, on the left-hand side of your bulletin are the things that are going on throughout the week. So locate one of those places to get plugged in. Oh, one thing. I did forget to put in there, though, is that men's study is canceled. No, I did put it in there.

Look at me. I'm better than I thought I was. Men's study is canceled for tomorrow with it being Memorial Day. So in the middle section of your bulletin, a handful of things to go over. First of all, as a reminder, the servants conference is coming up this Saturday at Calvary of Wellington. We'll grace Calvary Fellowship in Wellington. From 830 to 430, you can come for as much or as little as you want to.

It's always a great time of hanging out with other believers and growing in the world. And then the prophecy conference is coming up June 8th through the 10th at Calvary of Emporia. And then July 26th through the 28th is Vacation Bible School. So get excited about that. Yay! We always have a really good time with that. So mark your calendars. I think more information will be coming out really soon.

I'm looking at my wife to make sure that's true. Yeah, I think they've got a meeting coming up here pretty quick to get some things laid out. So once they do that, we'll start knowing what kind of. Help we might need. So get your kids excited about it. And then we always need lots and lots of volunteers because there's always lots and lots of kids. So take note of that.

Those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our, it's going to be a unison reading this morning because all my buddies are gone. But it's a really short psalm. Psalm 117. Psalm 117. We'll be looking at the New American Standard so that we sound the same. And as you are turning to Psalm 117, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

And we will read this psalm together all in unison. Psalm 117. Praise the Lord, all nations. Laud him, all peoples. For his loving kindness is great towards us. And the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord. And Father, we do praise you for. For both your loving kindness and your truth that are unending. And Lord, I just ask that as we spend time in your word this morning,

that you would move in this place by the power of your Holy Spirit. Father, as always, I just ask that you would overflow me with your gift of teaching. Overflow your people with your gift of hearing. And may we meet with you this morning in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you will, open up in your Bibles to the book of Galatians. Chapter 6. Galatians.

Galatians chapter 6. So today we actually wrap up the book of Galatians. We're going to finish this thing up. And it's been an interesting journey that we've taken in the book of Galatians, I feel like. I think it's been good for the most part. I know I've personally been challenged because Galatians is a decently heavy theological book. And I think we all hopefully personally have been challenged by what it has brought to us.

With this message of grace. Being set free from the law. Being set free from legalism. And living according to grace. And that's kind of what. That's kind of what Paul has done for us. He presented to us his message. And he defended not only himself as the messenger. But his message. Then he went on to explain to us exactly what grace looks like. And now over these last few weeks.

We've been looking at what it looks like to live by grace. And so there's been three studies we've done in living by grace. So far we've talked about the fact that grace means freedom. That grace produces fruit. And that grace cares for others. And today. The last of these studies is that grace boasts only in the cross. Grace boasts only in the cross. So we pick up in verse 11 of chapter 6.

And this is what it says. It says see with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh. Try to compel you to be circumcised. Simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the law themselves. But they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh.

But may it never be that I would boast. Except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through which the world has been crucified to me. And I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision. But a new creation. And those who will walk by this rule. Peace and mercy be upon them. And upon the God of Israel. Or upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one cause trouble for me.

For I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit brethren. Amen. Now as we look at this section. We start off with kind of an interesting way. Because again this is Paul closing up the letter. And as Paul closes up the letter. He starts off in verse 11. Verse 11 by saying something kind of interesting. He says.

See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. Now Paul pens that. And we kind of ask ourselves. Well why does he take time to point out how big the letters are that he's writing with. Well there's a couple of different ideas about this. And I'll give you my own personal opinion as well. For the most part. Anytime Paul wrote a letter. He didn't actually do the writing himself.

And that was not an uncommon thing at that point in time. Letters were often dictated. Especially if it was a letter that contained pertinent information for someone. Pertinent information for how to perform or do or live your life. They would dictate the letter. Someone would write it down. And then whoever had dictated the letter would sign his name at the end.

So that everybody knew the certificate of authenticity of this letter. Many believe Paul didn't write a lot of his letters. Because Paul many believe had a vision problem. They think that that was his thorn in the flesh. And because of that. It would have been a difficult thing to do. It would have been a difficult thing for him to write these letters. And so if he actually wrote this letter himself.

Which some think may have happened. He would have written it in very large letters. Because he didn't see very well. That's one opinion as to why Paul wrote. See with what large letters I have written to you. However I have a different idea. And many others as well have this same idea. And that's that as we close up this book of Galatians. The last thing that Paul is going to tell them is really really important.

And so at the end. As Paul is dictating this letter. He says if you don't mind. Could I use the pen now? I'd like to write this one myself. And so he writes with very large letters. Because he wanted to write it himself. Because not only did he want to do so for emphasis. But because he was really pouring out his heart in these last few verses. He really poured out his heart in this one last contrast.

This one last statement. This one last push towards grace. For the people of Galatia. To the churches in the region of Galatia. To these churches who had been influenced. To these teachers who had come in and said. You need Jesus and fill in the blank here. To be saved. And so as he did so. He takes the pen. And with very large letters he writes to them. To emphasize the importance of what he's going to close with.

And as he does so. There's three things he's going to show us. He's going to talk about glorying in the flesh. He's going to talk about boasting in the cross. And then he's going to talk about being. A new creation. Now. Boasting is a really big theme. In this particular portion of the letter. And so I decided I wanted to do a little bit of research. Because I thought to myself.

I wonder what seems to be the thing that people boast about the most. And so I went to the old Google machine. And I typed literally in those words. I typed. What do people boast about the most? So it spit out a whole bunch of articles at me. And so I started to make a list. And I realized that I could encapsulate the entire list. In all of the lists that Google gave me with one word.

Achievements. People love to boast in their achievements. And may I say in those lists of achievements. They fall into two categories. They are real achievements. Or they are perceived achievements. People love to boast about the house that they live in. They love to boast about the car that they drive. They love to boast about the amount of money that they make.

The type of job that they have. And the type of position they have in that job. People like to boast about how great their kids are. People like to boast about how great their marriage is. People like to boast about how good they are. job. People like to boast about their athletic prowess. People like to boast about their strength. People like to boast about their speed. People like to boast about their talents.

People like to boast. And it's always about their achievements. Well, I read a very interesting article, actually on linkedin.com. And it was talking about people in the workplace that boast. And so he kind of gave some interesting thoughts. Now, I don't believe that this guy was a Christian based on some of the other things that he said. But what he had to say about boasting, I thought

was pretty interesting. So I want to read it to you. Where does boasting come from? Well, it comes from excessive pride and self-satisfaction. It is to prove perceived superiority or to attempt to create envy or admiration. It is often aimed at demonstrating superiority, but it actually comes from a place of inferiority and actually screams inferiority. And this was my favorite part. It is

needed. To fill the gaps in their identity. Isn't that kind of interesting? Those things I think are incredibly true about people that like to boast a lot, which by the way, are us. Because we're people and we like to boast a lot. And oftentimes if our identity is not found in Christ, we have to find our identity somewhere. And so we begin boasting about who we are so that everybody knows

who we are. Well, with that as a backdrop, we jump into what Paul has to say here. And so Paul tells us, first of all, about what it looks like to glory in the flesh. And he does so by pointing out who these legalists are. Notice what it says in verse 12 and 13. It says, those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh, try to compel you to be circumcised

simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they might boast in your flesh. Four things that the legalistic people do that leads to boasting or is boasting in and of itself. Four things that I think that we need to pay attention to in contrast to grace.

Number one, the legalist is focused on outward appearance. After all, they desire to make a good showing. They desire to make a good showing. Now, I don't know about y'all, but when I got up this morning, my goal was not to look bad, right? Now, some of you may be thinking to yourself, mission not accomplished. But that was our goal, right? We got up this morning and we're like,

I don't want to look bad. And when we show up to church, we want our kids to act good. And when we show up to church, we want to make sure that we use all of the right words and the right language. We want to make sure that everybody looks at us and thinks that we look okay and like we've got it all together and like my marriage is great and I'm a great parent and my kids are doing great and my life is perfect. You know why? Because all of us are kind of like those legalists. We like to

really good showing. Isn't that kind of interesting about who we are as human beings? Well, it's one thing when we do that when we show up to church, but it's a whole other thing when we do that with our entire lives because legalistic people like to make sure that what you see is perfect because all they care about is an outward appearance. As a matter of fact, Jesus confronted the religious leaders in this exact same vein in the New Testament, right? When he said, you are

kind of like whitewashed tombs. You look really pretty on the outside. You make a good showing in the flesh, but on the inside, you're full of dead man's bones. Because you see, God's not as worried about what's on our outside as he is what's on our inside. Because he's well aware of the fact that if he can have our hearts, that will change everything that we are on the outside. I was just

having a discussion with somebody about this yesterday. You ever notice that the thing that the most passionate about, nobody has to make you do, right? Nobody has to force you to do the things that you love to do. Why? Because it has your heart. Your heart is in it, and so no one has to make you do it, right? I would do this without getting paid. You had to pay me to work

construction because my heart wasn't in it. And I was only going to work the amount that I had to, and I was going to leave as soon as I was done. And once I was done and I left, I wasn't thinking about that again. This job, teaching God's word, has to tell me to study because it's the greatest joy that I have. No one has to tell me to put in a little bit more time to make sure that I really understand what it has to say. Nobody has to tell

me, hey, Ryan, you better wrap it up because it's time to get out there and teach. Nobody has to do that for me. Why? Because it's in my heart. Because no one has to force you to do the thing that you're passionate about. What's in your heart changes who you are on the outside. That's why if God can have your heart, he'll take care of everything on the outside. But legalism is the exact opposite.

Legalism says, look right, so that nobody knows any different. Put your best foot forward because it only cares about outward appearance. Number two, legalism looks out for self-interest. Notice what it says. They compel you to be circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Because in the Jewish world, nobody cared if you kept all of the Jewish laws. That was a

really good thing. But once you started talking about the cross, that's when people got offended with you. So the problem with legalism is it only looks out for self. As a matter of fact, someone that's living a legalistic life will usually only talk about themselves. They'll tell you everything that they've done. They'll make sure to always give you their resume. And all they can think

about is them, the good things that are going on in their life and the bad things that are going on in their life. Why? Because legalism forces us to look inward, forces us to constantly look at ourselves. Grace will always force us to look at Jesus, but we'll get to grace in just a minute. Number three, legalism often does not practice what they preach. Notice what it says.

Verse 13, for those who are circumcised, in other words, keep some aspect of the law, do not even keep the law themselves. If you've ever been around somebody who lives a legalistic life, they'll have a list of rules that they keep, but there'll be other things that they'll completely let slide. Because oftentimes we don't really keep the law for ourselves. We don't really practice what we preach. We don't practice what we preach. We don't practice what we preach. We don't

practice what we preach. Instead, what we do is we put it off on everybody else. And we're really good at making rules for other people. We're even good at making rules for ourselves, but we're not good at applying it all to us because we don't always practice what we preach. And then number four, legalistic people boast in the flesh. Notice what it says in the verse 13, but they desire to

have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. I think this takes on two different ideas here for us. There's both a direct context and an indirect context. The direct context of those that boast in the flesh are those that are legalistic teachers. They love to boast about how many converts they have. They love to boast about how many people they have won over to their way of thinking, how many people they have

won over to their ideas. That's one aspect of what he's speaking about here. But the one I think that more directly applies to all of us is that legalistic people really love to boast about all of their achievements. They love to boast about all of their accomplishments. They love to tell you how holy they are and exactly how they got there. And as a matter of

fact, they may just write a book about how they got there so that you too can live exactly like they do. How I became humble in 10 days or less, right? Because that's the way legalistic people are. And listen, maybe you're one of those people. Maybe you're one of those people that goes around and gives everybody your resume all the time. Well, this is how much I read my Bible. This is how much

I pray. This is how much I serve in the church. This is how many mission trips I've been on. These are all the things that I do with my family. This is how I'm educating my kids. This is how I'm training my kids up in godliness. And it's like, look, I don't need your resume every time I see you. I just want to talk with you. But we have to boast in our accomplishments. You know why you have to boast in your

accomplishments if you're a legalistic person? Because your identity is in your achievement. Because your identity is in your achievement. Because if your identity is not in Christ, it's going to have to be in something. And so we tend to make it in our achievements, in the things that we do. And so Paul warns us about this glorying in the flesh. But then we come to the next part,

which is boasting in the cross. Notice what it says in verse 14. But may it never be that I would boast in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Now you may notice in verse 14, it says, but may it never be that I would boast, comma. That's a pause in the middle of the thought there. And so I want to pause in the

middle of that thought there. Because I think that there's a really good statement that needs to be made to us as human beings. May it be that I would never boast. Now in a minute, he's going to tell us that if you are going to, there's one thing that you should. But I have a question for you. I want you to think about it for just a second. What do you tend to boast about the most? What do you tend to tell people the most about yourselves?

Now, to tell you something, you won't be able to see it. We all tend to have a blind spot about the things that we boast about the most, because oftentimes it's our identity, right? And we have a blind spot when it comes to that. So I want to tell you to do something besides ask yourself, what do I boast about the most? Husbands, I want you to ask your wife, what do I boast about the

most? Wives, I want you to ask your husband. And if you really want to get rambunctious, you should ask your kids. Listen, I'm here to tell you right now, what I have found in my household is if I want someone to be honest with me, I will ask my family. Now, they will lovingly and kindly and very gently roast me, right? Because we don't always see those kinds of things, but I guarantee the people that you're the closest

to, they see it. And if you just in a really genuine way say, I want you to tell me what I boast about the most. If they really love you, they will say, okay, here it is. This is what you tend to talk to me about yourself on the most. And if you really want to get rambunctious, and then we have to put that to death because he says, but may it never be that I would boast

because it always puts the emphasis on myself instead of on Jesus. And so Paul says, may it never be that I would boast, except if there is going to be this one time when I do, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as I've mentioned before, we don't always think about what a, what a revolutionary statement that is really what an oxymoron it is for Paul to say, I'm going to boast in the cross. First of all, the cross is what so brutally executed Jesus. And so to think that you would boast in the

brutal execution of your leader is a complete oxymoron. But anybody living at that point in time knew that if there was one thing you didn't want to find any glory in, if there was one thing you didn't want to boast about, if there's one thing you didn't want to find any glory in, if there's one thing you didn't want to talk about, it was the cross because it was horrific because it was awful because nobody wanted to go there. Nobody wanted any part of that. So for Paul to tell the Galatian people, don't glory in the flesh. As a matter of fact,

don't boast about anything except for this one thing. You should boast in the cross. It would have caused them all to sit back, to take pause and to wonder exactly what he meant by that. And so I did the exact same thing the past few days. The past few days, as I've read over this passage again and again and again, I sort of sat back and thought, so what does it look like to

glory in the cross? What does it look like to boast in the cross? Why, why would we do this? Why would he boast in the cross? And so as I like to do oftentimes, I made a list of a handful of reasons why we should boast in the cross. So bear with me. It'll take a few minutes. And I forgot to have her put it up on the screen. So please forgive me for that. So write them down

if you're able to, but a handful of things that I wrote down about why we should boast in the cross. Number one, because at the cross, my sin has been put away because at the cross, my sin has been put away. Honestly, I could stop there and it would be enough to boast it out, but I've got a whole bunch of others. But I want you to think about the beauty of what took place at the cross.

All of your sin, was nailed to Jesus Christ on that cross. All of the shameful things you've ever done, all the horrific things that you've ever thought, taken part in, either in word or in deed or in thought, has all been nailed to Jesus Christ on the cross. I have to be completely honest with you. I went through a point in time in my life where I went through a really hard time because I didn't know what that meant for me. After Bible college, I went through a time of

questioning my faith. I didn't question the existence of God. I didn't question the reality of salvation. I questioned myself. Have I done what I'm supposed to do? Have I believed in the way that I'm supposed to believe? And so I began to question that. And so I began to pray, Lord, am I really saved? Do I really belong to you? And he so graciously answered and reminded me I did

belong to him. But then I started asking him a question. I said, Lord, what does that mean? And in the process of me asking him that question, the Lord allowed me to go on a journey. And the journey that the Lord allowed me to go on, was for me to be reminded of all of the things that I had ever done wrong. All of the horrific thoughts that had gone through my head, sometimes the deeds that I had taken part

in. And I began to think about all that stuff. Now, listen, I think the enemy was involved because he was just trying to destroy me, but it was what the Lord used in my life to really teach me about the cross. And so for a good year and a half to two years of my life, I walked around with a great weight hanging around my neck because I started thinking about all the things that I'd done wrong.

And I thought, oh Lord, I don't know what to do with all of this. And I'll never forget sitting at a kitchen table house, sitting for some friends of ours in Lewisburg, Kansas, taking care of chickens, which is why I hate chickens, sitting at their kitchen table, having my morning devotions and reading in the book of Leviticus and reading about the scapegoat on that day of atonement. Because on that day of atonement, once a year, they would choose two goats. One would be the sacrificial goat. And they would take the sacrificial goat and they would choose the

sacrificial goat. And they would take the sacred goat. And they would take the sacrificial goat. the blood of the sacrificial goat and they would sprinkle it on the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant. But then they would take a second goat. And this is what really got me the most in my understanding of what Jesus did for me on the cross. They would confess all the sins of the

people over the head of that scapegoat. They would take the goat outside of the city and they would set it free because that meant symbolically for another year, all of the sins of the people would be carried away from them for another year. Well, around that same time, actually within that same week, was when the Passion of the Christ first came into movie theaters. Yes, it was that long ago. And so I go and watch the Passion of the Christ and I'll never forget watching the scene

of Jesus carrying his cross. And as he carried the cross, which by the way is a symbol of my sin, he carried it outside of the city. Wait, what did I just say? He carried it outside of the city. And as he carried it outside of the city and he was nailed to that cross and he hung there, the Lord said, the Lord told me, that's what I did with your sin. All that stuff you're carrying, that's where it is

now. It's not yours anymore. Because at the cross, all of my sin was put away and I don't ever have to wear it again. Number two, at the cross, my salvation was purchased. At the cross, my salvation was purchased because the only way that we could be bought back, the only way that humanity who had been so stained with sin, the only way that we could be bought back, the only way that we could

so stained by sin could be purchased off of the slave market, purchased off of that sinful slave market was with the price of blood. And so Jesus spilled his own precious blood, as we're told in 1 Peter, that we were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver and gold, according to our vain traditions, but purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. And now you, brothers and sisters, have been bought at a price. And when Jesus purchased you, he purchased you for himself. And now he sets you free to be exactly who he's called you to be, because your salvation was purchased at the cross.

Number three, at the cross, there is hope. At the cross, there is hope. Because right now we're living in a world that's really hopeless. Can we all agree with that? Can we all agree that the world feels hopeless right now? And sometimes situations feel hopeless right now. It feels like kids are always going to have to go through terrible things because their parents won't quit living in their home.

It feels like kids are always going to have to go through terrible things because their parents won't quit living in their home. It feels like kids are always going to have to go through terrible things because their parents won't quit living in their home. It feels like kids are always going to have to go through terrible things because their parents won't quit living in their home. It doesn't solve anything. We solve racism at the cross. Are there gender identity issues in the world right now? Yes. I'll get to the identity thing in just a minute, but it's all solved at the cross.

Are there kids that are broken and hurting right now? Yes. But their problems are not solved with another medication. Their problems are not solved with all the things of the world. Their problems are solved at the cross because that's where they're looking for hope. Are their parents living broken because they can't get past themselves? Yes. But their problems are solved at the cross.

Because at the cross, there's hope. Because we realize that he spelled out hope by taking our sin upon himself. Number four. I think it's number four. Yeah, number four. At the cross, there is peace. Oh, another thing that we don't have in this world right now. We have turmoil. We have conflict in this world right now. But the reason why we have turmoil and conflict is because nobody's at peace with God.

Therefore, we can't be at peace. We can't be at peace with each other. And we're constantly trying to be at peace with each other when I'm not at peace with God. You see, if I live my life under the guilt of sin, if I live my life at war with God, then I will automatically be at war with everybody else around me. It's true for an unbeliever. And listen, it's true for a believer that if you're not at peace with God, you cannot be at peace with the people that are around you.

But peace is found at the cross because that's where I make peace. I make peace with God. Therefore, that's how I make peace with everybody else. You got turmoil in your heart. It's time to go to the cross. You got angst in your heart. It's time to go to the cross. You're lacking peace. It's time to go to the cross. Because at the cross is where peace with God is found.

Number five. At the cross, love was displayed. Paul will go on later in the book of Romans to write that God demonstrates his own love for us. Paul, we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. I have to be honest. Throughout my life and my time in ministry, I have had people come to me oftentimes and say, if you knew what I had been through in my life, you would understand why I cannot believe that there is a God that loves me.

If you knew the things that I had been through in my life, you wouldn't try to tell me that there's a Jesus that loves me. And I was plagued by that question for a long time because when they would share their life story with me, I would say, I fully understand where you're coming from. I fully understand why you have a hard time believing that Jesus loves you. And so I started praying, Lord, how do I let them know that you love them, even though I can't even fathom what they've been through in their life?

And I'm telling you, the Lord spoke it to me as clear as day. Ryan, I showed my love on the cross. I thought, man, that's the only way I know to tell people who have been through the worst things that they could possibly imagine in their lives that Jesus still loves them. I love them. I love them. I love them. I love them. I love them. I love them. I love them.

I love them. I love them. I love them. Jesus loved you enough to come down and put on the clothes of a man, to live 33 years on this earth, and to end his time on this earth by spreading out his arms on a cross. And he spelled his love for us with three nails and a spear because at the cross is where love was displayed. The next one is that at the cross, I find my identity in Christ.

Identity. Identity chrises seem to be filling the world right now. Amen. We don't know if we're a boy or a girl anymore. We don't know if we're a human or a furry anymore. We don't know whether we want to be married or not anymore. We don't know anything about who we are anymore. And I don't say those things jokingly. I say those things because genuinely in our society right now, we are in the midst of an identity crisis.

And the reason why we're in the midst of an identity crisis is because people live not that. their identity in christ because that's what we were created for you were created for jesus you were created to bear the image of god and the enemy has told you don't bear the image of god you should try to be like god you can set the rules for yourself you can be who you want to be you can sin however you want to sin you can find your identity and everything else in the world and so now we have a world that's finding their identity and everything else besides jesus therefore we have a world that's going to hell therefore we have a world that is falling apart i'm here to tell you right now studies prove it over and over again that the healthiest mental

state you can be in is when you are serving a higher power now we know that there's only one true higher power that we serve and that's jesus christ therefore if you really want to know your identity serve your creator it's the healthiest mental space you can live your life in because that's where your identity is found man your identity is not found in your job your identity is is not found in your ability to provide for your family your identity is not found in your ability to do your hobby your identity is found in christ wives your identity is not found in your kids your identity is not found in your job your identity is not found in your marriage your identity is found

in Christ. And if we don't find our identity in Christ, then you'll be looking for it somewhere. But we can boast in the cross because I can say, because of the cross of Jesus Christ, my identity is found in him. He goes on from there to say, or the next one is at the cross, I come to an end of self and I come to an end of struggle. I come to an end of myself,

my fleshly sinful self, because once I come to the cross, I've had to lay everything else aside. Because here's the thing, at the foot of the cross, the only thing there's room for is me to dump all of my garbage, is for me to dump all of my junk at the foot of the cross. But not only that, I come to an end of my struggle because once I come to the cross, it means I'm done fighting. I'm done.

I'm done trying. I'm done striving. I'm done struggling. I'm just going to give up. And in my giving up, I'll find my everything in Christ because it's the end of my struggle and it's the end of self. And I'll wrap up with this last one. At the cross, my life is found. At the cross, my life is found. Listen, brothers and sisters, those of you who know Jesus as your Lord and Savior,

you know that you didn't really know what it meant to live until you finally came to the cross, until you finally came to Jesus. And when you came to Jesus, you said, I'm more alive now than I've ever been in my entire life. I'm more alive now than I could ever imagine because I found my life at the cross. Therefore, I boast. I do. I love to boast. And what he says is, don't boast of anything else except for this one thing in the cross.

That's the cross. You should never stop talking about what Jesus has done for you on the cross. You should tell everybody that will listen that you found your life. In Christ at the cross, you should tell everybody that you know that all of your sin was taken away from you at the cross. And now I live a life of complete freedom because I don't live under the

shame of that guilt any longer. You should tell everybody that you know that I have more hope than you can ever imagine because of the cross of Jesus Christ, that I have identity in who I am because of the cross of Jesus Christ. You should tell everyone that will listen that you understand what love is and you know what it is to be loved because of the cross. And you should boast about it to everybody you can come across.

Because it's not only amazing for you to remind yourself of who you are in Christ, but everybody else needs to hear that exact same message. May I never boast about anything except on the cross of Jesus Christ. Then he goes on to talk about this crucified life. Notice what he says at the end of verse 14. He says, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. The world was crucified to me and I to the world.

One of the commentators I read put it best when he said, what he means by this is the world is dead to me and I'm dead to the world, right? It's that scene from Mafia. You're dead to me, right? And that's where we are with the world now. We're dead to it and it's dead to us because that's what living the crucified life means. Well, now that he's talked to us about glorying in the

flesh, we're going to talk about the death of Jesus Christ. We're going to talk about the death of the flesh, boasting only in the cross. He's now going to talk to us about being a new creation. Notice what he says in verse 15. For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And those who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the

Israel of God. He says for neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, let me put it to you in a language that we can understand. Whether you keep all of the rituals or you don't do any of the rituals, it doesn't mean anything. I'll put it in one more way. Whether you belong to a denomination or whether you're non-denominational, quit boasting about it. Those things don't matter.

Only one thing matters and that's that you are a new creation in Jesus Christ. The one thing that matters is that you are a new creation in Jesus Christ. All of the ceremonies, whether you take part in them or not, that doesn't matter. Because you see, denominational people that have all of the ceremonies tend to boast in the denominational things in all of the ceremonies. But you know what? Those of us that are non-denominational,

we tend to boast in the fact that we're non-denominational. We don't follow all of the ceremonies, right? And Paul's like, stop, both of you. What matters is that you're a new creation in Christ. And I'm going to camp out on that. I'm going to camp out on that. I'm going to camp out on this phrase for just a minute. Because this phrase, all the things in the world don't matter. What matters is that you're a new creation in Christ

is one of the most foundational truths in all of scripture. And so I've been kind of battling with a way to sort of describe this to us and really praying on this a lot. And so there's a couple things I'd like to tell you. Number one, I'd like to read this to you out of the Amplified Bible. When it says, what matters is a new creation, it gives us little parentheses and it says this,

the new birth. A spiritual transformation, a new nature in Christ. And so I read that and I thought, basically just restated the exact same thing. Lord, what else can I say to really emphasize this new creation? And then I remembered 2 Corinthians 5.17. Go there with me real quick. 2 Corinthians 5.17. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says this, I still hear pages. I'll give it a second. Yes, turn those Bibles. It's amazing.

Sidebar. I love the sound of pages turning. I'm not used to yet the sound of screen scrolling, right? I just, anyway, pages turning. No, 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature. And this is where I feel like the explanation comes in. The old things have passed away. Behold new things. Have come. And I thought, now that's exactly what I want to say. That's exactly how I want to

explain it. What does it mean that you're a new creation? Well, first of all, it means that the old things have passed away. I think too many Christians live like the old things haven't passed away. We still live like we're identified by those old sins. Well, you see, I'm just a drug addict. That's all that there is to it. No, you're not. You're a new creation. Well, you see, I'm

just a porn addict. That's all that there is to it. No, you're not. You're a new creation. Oh, I'm just a, I've always been a, do I use the word? No, I've always been promiscuous and that's just my identification. That's how everybody knows me. No, you're not. You're a new creation. Stop identifying yourself with what you were and start living like what you are. Because if you're in Christ,

old things have passed away. And listen, you need to hold a funeral for your past, right? Okay. So, so I do premarital counseling with a lot of couples and I go through a devotional. It's called the before you say I do devotional. And one of the chapters, there's in there is amazing. And it tells you to hold a funeral for your single life. Basically all of the things that you need to leave behind in your single life,

you need to hold a funeral and bury them, get rid of them because that's not who you are anymore. You're now a married couple. So bury the, bury the things of the past. Well, you know what? I think as believers in Jesus Christ, you need to hold a funeral for your old life. You need to say, here lies Ryan. He used to do a lot of garbage. He used to do a lot of bad things.

He used to be caught up in the, the bad language of the world and the porn of the world and the drinking of the world and all the things that were terrible. But that's not who I am anymore. And quite frankly, I'm not going to miss him because that's dead. I love that scene in Jesus revolution. I can't help it. Every time I think about it, I, I watched Jesus revolution with my kids in class the other day or a couple

of weeks ago. And y'all look, I just can't stop crying when it hits me. Okay. When the emotions hit me, they just roll. That's just all there is to it. Y'all know that about me. Well, there's like four girls in the back of the class. And I was like, anybody else crying? And they're like, we are like me too, because it's just so amazing, right? Like I can see the

baptism where you see him go under the water and you see him just continue to sink and sink and sink because that's his old man dying. That's the old him passing away. And when he comes up out of that water, water cascading off of his face, you realize, because all things have become new brothers and sisters don't live like you were live like you are because you're brand new in Christ. Listen, all the things of yesterday, the things of yesterday, you say, right? I'm a believer. And I started living like the world

again. I started living according to those things in the world again, then bury it again, put it to death again and say, that's not who I am. That's who I was. And I'm not going to live that way anymore. Because I'm a new creation, a new creature in Christ. You have a brand new identity. You brothers and sisters are a child of God and you have been identified as a child of God

and you should live like a child of God. I shared this story with first service. I may as well share it again at second service. Um, there was a guy that used to be on staff with pastor Chuck. His name was Romaine. And, uh, Romaine was, was sort of Chuck's bulldog, right? Like, like he was the disciplinary guy for Calvary chapel of Costa Mesa. Romaine was just a little bit shorter than me, much plumper than me,

but he was an old drill sergeant and he had that gruff drill sergeant sort of way about him. Right? And so he came down and did a, a men's conference at, uh, the Bible college because it was a conference center as well. So a bunch of us are hanging outside of this place called main assembly, which is where they were holding the, the sessions for their men's conference.

And, and we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were just hanging out, trying to figure out what we're going to do. This is a Friday evening. And, and Romaine comes walking out and he talks to us. He says, you guys with the men's conference. And we're like, no, I said, no, sir. We're, we're just Bible college students. He said,

you listen here. And we're like, he said, never say you're just anything. You're a child of God. Don't ever forget it. You're never just anything because once you're a new creation in Christ, you're a child of God. And you're never any of those old things again, go back to Galatians with me. So he says, listen, circumcision, that doesn't mean anything. Uncircumcision. That doesn't mean

anything. What matters is that you're a new creation. And notice what he says in verse 16 and those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. In other words, those who conduct their lives by that principle, what principle? Well, the principle of being a brand new creation. When you conduct your life, like you're a new creation, when you

live like you really are, he pronounces a blessing upon him. He says, mercy and peace be upon you. But when he says mercy and peace be upon you, he doesn't just pronounce a blessing. He reminds us of a reality that when you walk like a new creation, mercy and peace are upon you. So yesterday we had an amazing time at the worship. Listen, if you missed yesterday, all I know to tell you is you missed yesterday because it was

great. It was an amazing time of gathering as the body of Christ in Ark City. It was an amazing time of seeing different worship styles, different worship leaders get up and do their thing, and of just fellowshipping together as a community. And all I could think the entire time that we were there is if I was to use two words to describe the spirit of what's going on here right now, it would be peace and joy.

Because everyone was peaceful, and there was so much joy flowing in the people of God. Because that was the spirit at work there. And all I could think it was, that's because we're all living like new creations. That's because we're all living according to this rule that we don't care what church you go to. We don't care if you have some different ideas about some things. We've kept the main thing, the main thing, and that's Jesus.

And we're glorifying Jesus. So peace and joy are what's ruling. And it's the same when we walk as new creations. Peace and mercy, that's what governs our lives. That's the reality of our life. Well, time to wrap the book up, put a bow on it, put it away until the next time. He says in verse 17, Remember, one of the things Paul did in this epistle was also defend himself,

was to defend his apostleship. And he says, listen, now on, nobody give me any trouble because I bear the branding of Jesus. It's interesting because there were two different groups of people that were literally branded at this point in time, because that's actually what that phrase means. The brand marking literally means a brand. There were two different groups of people. First of all, slaves were branded.

They were branded with their owner's name so that everybody always knew who they belonged to. Interesting, isn't it? Because Paul considered himself a bond slave of Christ. But there was another group of people that were branded. The other group of people that were branded were oftentimes soldiers, either with their commanding general's name or the company that they were

involved in, that they served in, that they were branded with that. So that everybody knew anywhere they went, they could be identified as a Roman soldier in this company under this commanding general. And so it was their identification anywhere they went. He says, no one troubled me any longer about being an apostle because I bear in my own body the brand marks of Jesus.

What does he mean by that? What he means by that is, the persecution that he has been through up to that point in time had left a branding on him physically. It had changed the fabric of who he was. I think he wore it, and I think it wore him down a little bit. I don't think spiritually, emotionally it wore him down, but I think physically he was worn down. Let me put it to you this way. He walked with a limp because of the

things that he'd gone through, and everybody knew it. And they said, why does he walk that way? Why does he look that way? And they'd say, well, because of Jesus. Well, you know as well as I do that when we live this life, we can't make it out unscathed. No matter how storied your life may look to everybody else, you've been through things. Anybody that's walked with Jesus for any amount of time,

you've been through things. And when you've been through things, it leaves an indelible impression upon you. And people look and they say, why does he walk that way? And you can say, because of Jesus. Because he's left his branding on you. The brokenness that we go through, the hardships that we go through, the things that Jesus brings us through, they may leave a mark on our body, but they make our soul

beautiful. He says, let no one trouble me anymore because I bear in my own body the brand marks of Jesus. And then he closes out like this. He says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. I love this because he closes with the word. I love the word that has been the theme of this book, grace. Because he was well aware of how powerful God's grace is in our life. You see, it is God's grace that draws

us. It is God's grace that saves us. It is God's grace that teaches us. It's God's grace that preserves us. And it's God's grace that takes us home. The old hymn writer of Amazing Grace put it best when he said, His grace has brought me safe thus far. And grace will lead me home. I'd like to invite the worship team to come up. And everybody stand, if you wouldn't mind, if you're able to.

We've talked a lot about the cross this morning. We've talked a lot about boasting in the cross. We've talked a lot about the effect of the cross. But I feel led to ask a question.

Has the cross had its effect in your life? I'm well aware of the fact that when I speak to a group of people, even if they're people that I know, the potential is there that someone has never really accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That someone's here who has never really come to the cross. Who's never really come to that place of kneeling at the foot of the cross to find their hope, to find their identity, to have their sin put away. And perhaps you're here this morning and

you've been wearing that sin around your neck like a noose that's been weighing you down. You know all about that shame. You know all about that guilt. and you know all about that lack of identity and I want you to know that Jesus does not want you to leave here today until you've dealt with that until you've come to the cross to find your hope in him and so if that's you this morning, tell you what we'll make it easy on everybody let's just all bow our heads if that's you this morning I just want you to do something really really simple for me, I just want you to put your hand up in the air I want you to declare to the world, I need Jesus I need to come to the cross and then I just want to pray for you Lord, I lift up

the people that have their hand up right now and Lord, their desire is to know you, their desire is to follow you and so Lord, as they come to this cross this morning I pray that as we sing this last song they will confess their sins they will ask for your forgiveness and they will rest in the work of the cross Father, I lift up those who are believers that need to once again bury the old man that need to once again bury who they were and Lord, I ask that you would give the grace to be able to do that Father, I praise you for who you are and thank you for the opportunity to be here, to study your word to draw closer to you this morning and Jesus, I thank you for that in Jesus' name, amen if you need prayer for anything I'm going to be down front

and so feel free to come forward I'd love to pray with you love to visit with you and so, other than that have a great Memorial Day weekend and be blessed the motive was love and you saved us by grace by grace are we saved Father, just bless now the rest of our weekend and our week to come and all the days to come that we would serve you and trust you and we thank you that we can look to you and would you give us the might and your strength in Jesus' name, amen Lord bless y'all, have a great week