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[0:00] It is Mother's Day and so I haven't had a chance to visit with my mother yet but on the way back I'll be calling her and we can have a nice long visit.

[0:25] Had to make a trip down to Durant and so I spent the night in Ada and did a few chores and changed a few light bulbs, those kinds of things.

[0:38] And anyway, Mary is with her mother down in Plano, Texas. Mary's mother lives with Mary's sister down there. And really two things, the sister and her husband, they had a wedding they needed to go to in his mother's day.

[0:53] So Mary said it was time for her to go down and give some care. So I'm glad to be here and I'm glad you're here. I know the Lord is excited about all of us gathering together.

[1:06] So we continue through the book of Galatians. I believe it was Wes that told me that he's been reading two chapters each day and I do encourage you to do that.

[1:17] And I read it, sometimes I read the whole book every day just because it, and I'm still picking up things. And some things I thought I already knew.

[1:30] There's just a new freshness to it. I guess that's the best way to say it. Other times there's a new perspective. You know, something I really didn't quite get. I kind of, but not all the way.

[1:42] And I'll get that. So encouraging you to continue reading through. We'll be looking at a chapter each week that I'm here with you. And so Galatians chapter, well, let me give you just a brief overview.

[1:57] This was in the notes from last week. And you do have notes in your program, so I hope you'll find those and make a few notes there. Last week I've tried to find a principle for each one.

[2:08] You know, chapter to time, you can't cover everything in the chapter. But still, I mean, there are times it's good to just kind of go maybe two or three verses and the next two or three verses.

[2:20] But sometimes, you know, when you're just so focused on a few verses, you can lose kind of the big picture. And so hopefully as we're going through it chapter by chapter, you can see the big picture.

[2:33] What the Lord has laid on my heart is moving forward with God. How many of you are ready to move forward with God? Anybody want to go backward with God?

[2:44] Not back to God, but backward with God. You know, actually, I don't know that God ever sends us backward. But kind of like the nation of Israel, sometimes we kind of loop around.

[2:56] And we find ourselves back at the same spot or maybe wrestling with the same principle, the same truth in the Bible. Anyway, these six principles.

[3:11] Chapter one was the principle of authenticity. That's how Paul started out the same thing, that it is the authentic gospel. And that will just keep coming up over and over again.

[3:23] And that he was the authentic apostle. And then today we have the principle of identification. That it is Christ. It's who he is and how we identify with him that determines everything.

[3:36] Chapter three, which will be next week, the principle of consistency. Paul brings up, how did you get saved? Well, that's how you continue in your salvation.

[3:49] You don't get saved one way and then grow in your salvation another way. Chapter four is the principle of accountability. Paul kind of scolds him a little bit here.

[3:59] A little tough love that he challenges him with. Chapter five is the principle of replacement, which is the other side of the coin, really, of identification. You identify with Christ.

[4:13] And you really understand that identification. Or it really takes hold as there's a replacement. He takes out the old and he puts in the new. And then we're constantly called to remember this and reckon this.

[4:27] We'll mention even that a little bit today. And then chapter six is the principle of interdependence. He's written this letter to the churches of Galatia. He's written it to the church.

[4:40] And he's also written it today. We come from a independent stance to become dependent upon Christ. And that is the thing.

[4:50] But Christ created the body. And one of the reasons he created the body is we need to be interdependent. The Holy Spirit spreads the gifts out as he sees fit.

[5:04] And one's a hand. Another's a foot. We need them all. We need each other to work together both in edifying us but also equipping us so that then we can go and minister and share the gospel.

[5:20] And fulfill the great commission. So those are the five principles. Six principles. And today chapter two the principle of identification. I'm going to read through the chapter.

[5:32] Make a couple of little notes. And then we'll look at the outline. Galatians chapter two. I'm reading on the new international version. 1984 edition. You know they came up with a new edition.

[5:43] There are a few different words but the 84 edition. Galatians chapter two. Verse one. Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem.

[5:55] This time with Barnabas. Now I mentioned last week that sometimes we don't get a real clear idea of the time frame. Because sometimes you know there's no time mentioned at all.

[6:09] Other times they're going to a festival. Well if you looked on the calendar. The Hebrew calendar. It'll tell you when these festivals happen. But sometimes we really can't tell.

[6:21] This idea. You know Paul was saved. With that bright light on the road to Damascus. He was headed to Damascus to kill or to capture some Christians.

[6:33] And God struck him down. He had an encounter with God. And he turned to the Lord. Confessed Christ as Lord. And then boom. It just seemed like he starts you know putting these books out.

[6:46] And doing all of this teaching. But there was time that went. Initially he went off in the desert. And then he went to. We saw last week he went to Jerusalem. Well now.

[6:57] Fourteen years later. He's going back to Jerusalem. Now not necessarily. Well here it says after fourteen years. He went up again. There are several times it's recorded that he went to Jerusalem.

[7:11] And so there's a little bit of. You know some will kind of take one. You'll see this in Acts. Acts chapter 13.

[7:22] I want to say. I'm sorry 11. Acts chapter 11. There was a famine in the land. And so Paul had gathered up an offering. And at this stage.

[7:34] He was probably. Kind of based out of Antioch. And so they took up an offering. And in Acts 11. They went to Jerusalem. And presented this to the church there.

[7:44] And so. Some think it might have been that time. Or the more famous visit. Was what is called the. Council of Jerusalem. Where they nailed down.

[7:55] Some of these. And you know. Some of the people say. Well it had to be that time. Because that's when they nailed it down. Others will say. Well. Does anything really ever get nailed down?

[8:07] You think everybody has an understanding. And next thing you know. Somebody's off going this direction. Or that direction. You know. We constantly have to be. Proclaiming the truth. We constantly have to be.

[8:18] Going back to the word. And so. I don't know if it's Acts 11. Or if it's. It's Acts 15. I don't want to lightly say. It really doesn't matter. But in a sense.

[8:30] It really doesn't matter. Which trip it was. What is it that does matter? Were the things that they decided. And the things that Paul now.

[8:41] Is instructing the church. The churches. I should say. In Galatia. And so. He says. This time with Barnabas. I took Titus.

[8:52] Along also. I went in response. To a revelation. And set before them. The gospel. That I preach. Among the Gentiles. This gospel.

[9:03] That he mentioned last week. As the authentic gospel. Now. This authentic gospel. Wasn't Paul's gospel. You may hear that sometimes. There's not a gospel.

[9:14] According to Paul. Now. I guess you could say. There's a gospel. According to Matthew. And Mark. And Luke. And John. Those are titles. That have been. Given to the books.

[9:25] But. The thing that I have read. And heard sometimes. That people. Well no. This is. You know. This is the true. God. You know. Paul. Had these revelations.

[9:36] Well. Yes. He did have some revelations. But it was. No different. Than in the other revelations. And so. This is not a separate gospel. That Paul had. This is the gospel.

[9:47] It's the same message. That we see. Throughout the New Testament. Get this. It's the same message. That you can see. In the Old Testament.

[9:59] There. There's a book. On Hebrews. Called. From. Shadow to Substance. By Ray Stedman. And he talks about. In the Old Testament. You see the shadows.

[10:10] Of Christ. And then. In the New Testament. You see Christ. And it all fits together. Father. Well. Let me continue. Verse.

[10:22] The middle of verse 2. He was afraid. That he had. Not. Gotten it right. But he said. But I did this privately. To those. Who seemed to be leaders.

[10:32] For fear. That I was running. Or had. Run. My. Race. In vain. You see. The honesty. Throughout the characters.

[10:43] Of the Bible. I went this past week. I said this past week. Friday night. Mary and I went to see. The Case for Christ. By Lee Strobel. I don't know if it's still. In the theaters here.

[10:53] In. In Bartlesville. I'd encourage you to read. I'd read the book. And. I don't know. I wasn't. Real interested. In seeing the movie. It was kind of one of those things. There really wasn't anything else on. That. We wanted to see.

[11:04] And. But we wanted to. You know. Get out. And went. And it was great. It was. It was great movie. And. You know. He just kind of went. Piece by piece.

[11:15] Of course. It was told in a story. And basically. Based upon his life. As a. Investigative. Journalist. For the Chicago Tribune. And. He was an atheist. I mean. Clear.

[11:26] Clear. Atheist. Not just. You know. He was apathetic. About God. He was an atheist. And. And proud of that. But anyway. Going through this journey. And there were just several points.

[11:37] Where it talked about. Either the. You know. Historical. Accuracy. Of the. Artifacts. The fragments. Of the Bible. Or whether it was the consistency.

[11:47] Of the message. Of the Bible. You know. Over thousands of years. And. And. Dozens of different writers. But one of the things. That was brought out. In his search.

[11:57] Was that. Basically. The eyewitnesses. To the resurrection. Of Jesus Christ. Were women. And if you were trying. To come up with a story.

[12:07] Back then. And you wanted people. To believe it. Back in that culture. You wouldn't have. Your eyewitnesses. Be women. They weren't allowed. To testify in court.

[12:19] Their testimony. Was not considered. Accurate. Not these women. But women in general. And so it. It's. I always enjoy.

[12:30] When I. Read something. Like the. The guy that Jesus said. Do you believe. And what did he. He said. I believe. But he said something else.

[12:41] Didn't he. He said. Help me. With my unbelief. Now isn't that the craziest thing. In the world. To say to Jesus. Maybe it's. Maybe it's not so crazy.

[12:55] Maybe that's the way you think. Sometimes. It's the way I think sometimes. And so as I see these little instances in the Bible.

[13:06] It. It gives me encouragement. And here is Paul. You know. Having this. I hate to say miraculous encounter. Because any encounter with God is miraculous.

[13:16] But this. You know. Very unusual encounter. And how many times have we thought. Man. If I just had this. Amazing. Miraculous thing happen.

[13:28] I would never doubt again. And here. Paul had had that. And here. He was in the midst of writing. Much of the New Testament. But it says here.

[13:39] In verse 2. The last part of verse 2. There was a fear in his mind. That he was running. Or had run.

[13:50] His race in vain. There was a little doubt there. But he was moving against that doubt.

[14:02] Moving forward. With what he did know about God. And he was coming to these other believers. That gets a little bit into chapter 6.

[14:13] About the interdependence. That's one of the reasons we need. To be interdependent. We get discouraged sometimes. But you know what. I can't say it never happens.

[14:26] But I would say. Rarely does it happen. When everybody gets discouraged. At the same time. There will be a few discouraged. And there will be a few encouraged.

[14:37] And those that are encouraged. Can encourage the discouraged. And the next thing you know. It's kind of flip-flopped. And the ones that were discouraged. Now they're encouraged. And they're encouraging the discouraged.

[14:50] That used to be encouraged. And encouraging one another. Needing one another. Paul's just living proof of this. Verse 3. Yet not even Titus.

[15:01] Who is with me. Was compelled to be circumcised. Even though he was a Greek. Now we started getting into this last week. It was about the Judaizers. That were wanting to lift up.

[15:14] And hang on to all of the law. All of the traditions. Of Israel. Because at that time. Most of the people getting saved.

[15:24] Were Jews. That's obviously. You know the Messiah came. Jesus came. He was going to the synagogues. And whatnot. And the early converts.

[15:35] For the most part. Were Jews. But then. It started spreading. It started spreading. They didn't just contain it. Within their walls. They knew they needed to go tell.

[15:45] And make disciples. And fulfill the great commission. And Gentiles started getting saved. And suddenly that was weird.

[16:00] Suddenly. People were getting saved. Culturally. That were. Dramatically. Different. Than the ones that initially.

[16:12] Had been saved. Culturally. Dramatically. Different. Almost different in. Every conceivable.

[16:23] Way. What they ate. What they wore. What they hold as. Held as dear to them. Traditions.

[16:36] And values. And I. We say values. Well. Obviously. Values should be universal. But. I'm talking about those values. That. Aren't necessarily. Universal.

[16:48] They. They might. You. Value the way they do something. It's not a matter of. Valuing right or wrong. It's. Well this is our custom. And. You know. This is how we. I can't.

[17:02] Help but think of the story. About. You know. The. The ham was cut in half. For Thanksgiving. Have you heard this one. And everybody was gathered.

[17:16] And so the. You know. The younger daughter. You know. She's. 15. She's. 16. Helping out in the kitchen. A little bit. And she's saying. You know.

[17:27] Why do we always. Cut. You know. The ham in half. And. And her mother said. Well. I. I don't know. You know. You'll have to ask your grandmother. That's the way she did it. And so. You know.

[17:37] She asked the grandmother. Well. Grandmother. Why do we always cut. You know. It's just the way we do it. And. And what did the grandmother say. It's too big to fit into the oven.

[17:48] We had to cut it in half. Well. The oven now is. Much bigger. My mother sent me a picture. Of her mother's kitchen.

[17:58] Just this week. And I. The thing I noticed. Now. I'm not quite sure. How big the oven was. It wasn't really big. Though. But the doors were really. I could see the doors.

[18:09] On the front of it. They were really small. That's why they cut the ham in half. And that's the way they did it. Every Thanksgiving. And. And. You know. One generation. Did it just like the next generation.

[18:20] Because that's the way. Never knowing. Why they're doing that. Well. Let me continue. This idea of circumcision.

[18:31] It was the. The lightning rod. It's. It's the same circumcision. We have today. Basically. But it.

[18:43] It. It's totally different. In its meaning. Today. Circumcision. Circumcision. Basically. Means. Nothing. Nothing. Biblically. It's.

[18:54] You could say. It's a tradition. You could say. It's. There might be some benefits. There might not be some benefits. Physically. There'd be some discussion. About that.

[19:05] But there's. Absolutely. No. Connection. With a relationship. With God. Through circumcision. Today. We.

[19:15] We all. I would think. See that. And understand that. And kind of. This is kind of weird to us. And. Yeah.

[19:25] I. We've got a couple more weeks to go in. Galatians. And I. I'm still looking for. What would be the modern day example. Of circumcision for us.

[19:39] What. What is that thing that we would really really hold valuable. And yet not. Essential to salvation. Or maybe not even essential to the faith at all.

[19:50] And yet it's. It's there. And I've thought of several things. But. You know. They all break down at some point in. Paralleling the circumcision. But in their day.

[20:01] It was the sign of the covenant. Of course. What covenant was it? It was the old covenant.

[20:14] And. What was Jesus the sign of? And. Other things that were given. It's for a new covenant. And so they were wrestling with that.

[20:26] And to them. And. Oh. By the way. All of their males had been circumcised. Because they were all Jewish. And. You know. The females didn't have to worry about it.

[20:37] Just what an issue to the females. And so now you have these Gentiles being saved. And. Praise God. They're confessing Jesus.

[20:48] And. And praise God. They're gathering together to worship. But. You know. It's. It's been a month or two now. It's about time. You know.

[20:59] You know. It's. You guys are not. Circumcised. The rest of us are. And. And they. Some of them could not let that go.

[21:10] And that was all tied into. The law. And the old covenant. And so. We'll see that throughout. Okay. Verse four. This matter rose.

[21:21] Because some. False brothers. Now this would be. Contrasted against the. Authentic apostle of Paul. Here are these. False brothers.

[21:32] Infiltrated. Our ranks. To spy on the. Freedom. You can just go down the line here. And parallel. The. Authentic gospel.

[21:43] And the. Inauthentic gospel. The. Law. And grace. The. The. Captivity. And the. Freedom. And just.

[21:53] Continue to go down through here. They. They wanted to spy on the freedom. We have in Christ Jesus. And to make. Us. Slaves. We did not give in to them.

[22:03] For a moment. So that the truth of the gospel. Might remain with you. Verse six. As for those who seem to be important. Whatever they were. Makes no difference to me. God is not judged by external appearance.

[22:18] Oh by the way. That. Could be a. A slight reference to circumcision. Those. Men. Added nothing to my message.

[22:29] On the contrary. They saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel. To the Gentiles. Now notice he didn't say.

[22:40] Oh they recognize my gospel was superior to theirs. Because we're not talking about two different gospels in this point. It's the gospel. And Peter James and John.

[22:52] It was the gospel to them. Just like it was the gospel to Paul. Who had received it by revelation. They. They all have received it. By revelation. Just.

[23:02] He was going to be. Preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. Just as Peter. Had been. To the Jews. Now I was always. A little confused on this. Matter of fact.

[23:13] This. Week. I kind of got some clarity on this. You've got Paul. And you've got Peter. You know. When you. When you think about Paul's credentials.

[23:24] What do you think of? You know. Remember. Pharisee. What are some other things that Paul. At different points. Let people know about.

[23:35] Just to. Further his argument. Okay. He. He. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He had the right education.

[23:48] Whatever that was. He had the right education. He knew the right people. He had the right lineage. He. He. Was positioned to be. The. Very.

[24:00] Best. Jew. Passionate about. That. And that. And now Peter. Peter was also Jewish.

[24:11] But you didn't hear a lot about. Peter. Being a Jew. Matter of fact. If you were just doing a casual reading. You. You might not even pick up on that. And so.

[24:22] I. I always kind of thought. It should have been switched around. If somebody was going to go to the Gentiles. Oh by the way. Remember Peter had the.

[24:32] Dream on top of the. House. And the dream was about. The unclean animals. And that was God's way of. Showing Peter.

[24:44] And then Peter helping show the other Jews. That the Gentiles. Were now going to be accepted. Into the new covenant. Through faith in Jesus Christ.

[24:54] And so Peter. Played. A key early role. In opening. The acceptance of the Gentiles. Even though some of them were still struggling with it.

[25:04] So it always. In my mind it's like. Well. Peter should have been the. Apostle to the. Gentiles. Because he already had that thing going. In the dream. And Paul.

[25:16] Paul. You know. He was the Hebrew. Hebrews. He should have been the. Apostle to the Jews. Jews. But obviously.

[25:26] Both of them were. Jews. And it was just. The way the Lord. Laid that out. That. Paul. Was. I don't.

[25:38] Necessarily. I'm going to say it this way. It's more so that. Paul. Had a. More prominent. Wider. Ministry. And if you're going to have a wider ministry.

[25:51] You know. There are. Only so many Jews. You know. There's the Jews. And then there's the rest of the world. And so it's. It's almost like. Peter's ministry was limited.

[26:03] To the Jews. And Paul's ministry was much broader. In taking the gospel. Writing the books. And had a ministry. To a much wider audience.

[26:14] Which. Spilled over into Gentiles. Well. Let me continue. Verse. Eight. For God. Who is at work. In the ministry of Peter.

[26:25] As an apostle. To the Jews. Was also at work. In my ministry. As an apostle. To the Gentiles. He wasn't getting petty.

[26:36] He. You know. There wasn't a. Jealousy there. He. He wasn't sliding. And saying. Well Peter. You know. He's kind of that. Inauthentic gospel. No. Peter is an apostle.

[26:46] Of the. Gospel. And I'm an apostle. Of the gospel. He's focusing on the Gentiles. I'm sorry. On the Jews. I'm focusing on the Gentiles.

[26:58] And then verse nine. James. John. And Peter. Those reputed to be pillars. Gave me and Barnabas. The right hand of fellowship. When they recognize.

[27:08] The grace given to me. And they agree. That we should go to the Gentiles. And they do the Jews. All they asked. Was that we should continue. To remember the poor.

[27:19] The very thing. I was eager. To do. It's almost. Also a reference. To. You know. This. Acts. 15. Council of Jerusalem. When these same guys.

[27:30] Said okay. We're going to write this letter. And try to decide this thing. Once and for all. That. Everyone. Is. Free.

[27:41] To receive. Jesus Christ. The Savior. Everyone can be saved. Everyone can be a part of the church. We just. Ask. That those. That are. Not Jews.

[27:53] You know. You. You. You. Might. Needed to say. Some of the Jews too. Because we all know. You know. Just because. You're Baptist. Just because.

[28:04] You're. Presbyterian. Or. That doesn't. Necessarily mean. A lot of things. Now. Maybe. You know. Fifty years ago. We. We had all these. Baptist jokes. Or.

[28:14] You know. About pre. About dancing. And. Stuff like that. That. You know. Maybe not so much. The case today. But they said. We'll accept.

[28:25] All people in. If they confess Christ. But we want them to quit. Eating meat. Offered to idols. And a couple of other items.

[28:37] That were. Obviously. Very critical to. Getting along together. Keeping pure. Sexually.

[28:47] Pure. As well. Verse. Eleven. And. When. Peter. Peter. Came to Antioch. I opposed him. To his face.

[28:59] Because. He was. Clearly. In the wrong. Now. He shifted gears. Here. They've been in Jerusalem. He's been talking to Peter. And James. And John. And now. Peter.

[29:09] Has come to Antioch. So. You know. That. Paul. Has already. Come back. He's already. Let. The people. In it. In Antioch.

[29:20] Now. See. That's happening in Antioch. But this letter. Is written to the people. At the churches of Galatia. So. He's talking about all these things. That have already happened. As he's writing.

[29:30] This other group. That really didn't have a whole lot. Of understanding. Of what had been happening. In Jerusalem. Or in Antioch. When Peter came to Antioch. I posed him to his face.

[29:40] Because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James. He used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived. He began to draw back.

[29:52] And separate himself. From the Gentiles. Because he was afraid of those. Who belonged to the circumcision group. Now he's identifying these. You know. It wasn't.

[30:02] The church. Obviously. Most of them were Jews. They had been circumcised. That's not the group he's talking about. It's this group within the church.

[30:13] That is just hanging on. To the traditions. Of Judaism. Called Judaizers. And insisting. That all of the laws.

[30:25] Be kept. For someone. To be. A Christian. Verse 13. The other Jews joined him. In this hypocrisy. So that by their hypocrisy.

[30:36] Even Barnabas. Was led astray. That's how serious this is. You could also say. That's how insidious. This can be. Barnabas.

[30:47] Was Paul's right hand guy. Barnabas. Had been there with him. In Jerusalem. Barnabas. Had heard him. Teach on this before. And yet.

[30:57] Even Barnabas. Was swayed. To. Move over. Towards. This camp. Of focusing on the law. Instead of on grace.

[31:08] And so. What he's saying is. Okay. Peter. You know. When you would come up here. And visit. When you weren't with. The other leaders. Of the Jerusalem church. When you would come up here.

[31:18] Even though you're Jew. When you would come up here. To Antioch. You'd hang out with. All of the people. Whether they were Jew. And Gentile. And you would act. One way. But then.

[31:29] When. Any of the other leaders. From Jerusalem. Came. Came here. And you were with them. Then suddenly. You'd start acting. All Jewish. You'd start going back.

[31:40] To all of the traditions. And then you would even. Kind of point out. That. Some of the other Gentiles. Weren't keeping. All those commands. So that's what he's saying here.

[31:50] Verse 14. When I saw that they were not. Acting in line. With the truth of the gospel. I said to Peter. In front of them all. And this is where he comes at him. With what I just said.

[32:01] You are a Jew. Yet you live like a Gentile. And not like a Jew. Before. Not before you were saved.

[32:12] Before the other people came. How is it then. That you force Gentiles. To follow Jewish customs. After. When the other Jews.

[32:23] Are there with you. We who are Jews by birth. And not Gentile sinners. Know that a man is not justified. By observing the law. But by faith.

[32:34] In Jesus Christ. So we too. Have put our faith. In Christ Jesus. That we may be justified. By faith in Christ. And not by observing the law. I'm going to ask you a question here.

[32:47] He's telling them. You should not try to be justified. By observing the law.

[32:59] Why would he tell them. That they should not try to be justified. By observing the law. He answers it.

[33:13] In the last part of verse 16. Because by observing the law. No one.

[33:24] No one. Will be justified. You need to underline that. You need to make a note of that. You want to do the law?

[33:38] Have at it. Get after it. but let me remind you the bible says no one will be justified by the law that doesn't make sense i thought the law was good i thought we should do good we should do good but let me just help you to understand being good is not going to justify you in the eyes of god doing good will help other people doing good is better than doing bad doing good well if everybody in this community did good we'd have a better community but the whole community could do good and it would be a good place to live but not a single one of us would be justified in the eyes of god verse 17 he'll clarify this i think it gets a little confusing before it gets clear if while we seek to be justified in christ it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners does that mean that christ promotes sin absolutely not if i rebuild what i destroyed i prove that i'm a lawbreaker let me just take a moment here because this has always been confusing to me if while we seek to be justified in christ it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners that's exactly how you become justified by christ you run head first into a brick wall called the law you're trying to do good you're trying to do good you're trying to do good you want to do good and you can't be good enough and you get frustrated and you get anxious and you get discouraged and you get depressed because it's not possible and suddenly the light comes on and you realize that's why the law is there to show me how holy and righteous and separate and other god is and i can't get there and as you're kind of walking around you're seeing stars because you beat your head against the wall one more time then suddenly there's the grace and the glory and the majesty of jesus christ that offers you the way to where you want to go the way to god the way to be justified the way to be forgiven the way to have hope the way to have peace the way to have purpose and meaning in your life through jesus christ that's what's happening here if while we seek to be justified in christ it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners exactly there's no way you can come to know jesus without recognize the sinfulness of your life and then paul says if i rebuild what i destroyed basically he's been destroying the law the old covenant it's not that he destroys it in a bad way the best way to look at it is the new covenant completes the old covenant it's not like it says that was bad and now i've got the good no the new covenant finishes out and and blossoms into what ultimately there is to be from the old covenant but in the way he's saying it here is yeah i've been in a sense tearing down

[37:39] the old covenant if i go back and rebuild the old covenant i destroyed if i build back what i destroyed it proves that i'm a lawbreaker if i go back and just embrace everything about the law i'm hopeless i'm a lawbreaker that's what he's saying there then verse 19 for through the law i died to the law so that i might live for god and then the beautiful clarity of galatians 2 20 i've been crucified with christ nevertheless i live yet not i but christ lives in me and the life that i now live in the body i live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me that sums it all right there i do not set aside the grace of god for if righteousness could be gained through the law christ died for nothing this is the other side of the coin of what i said a moment ago a moment ago it said by observing the law no one will be justified you flip that coin over and it's verse 21 if righteousness could be gained through the law christ died for nothing it our most powerful arguments are never made in the negative this is a negative argument here it's a good argument but you'll see it really it's saying if righteousness could be gained through the law christ died for nothing well we restate that christ died so that you can be free from the law that's the positive side of that negative so very quickly let me share with you a couple of items about this idea how does that happen then it happens through identification and it all is based on one word galatians 2 20 i have been crucified the crucifixion how do we how do we connect to the crucifixion we connect through something called baptism now wait a minute i didn't say water baptism i said baptism what does baptism basically mean basically it means identification literally it means immersion why are we immersed in the water does the water save us if if you were at a revival meeting during the week if you were at home beside your bed if you were at a youth camp if you were at a backyard bible club if you were at a home bible study and in any of those situations you came to the point where you recognize that you could not be justified through the law you recognize that it was jesus christ that has purchased this for me and you cried out to god to forgive you and you prayed to god that you would follow christ and you were born again at that moment and then later that evening you died in your sleep would you go to heaven well that's what we see in the bible and that's another sermon and so the water doesn't save us the water is a testimony

[41:40] the water is identification let me just ask a couple of questions how many of you here this morning are university of oklahoma fans raise your hand university oh you university of oklahoma football fans baseball i went to a softball game yesterday how many of you are oklahoma state university football fans whatever ok about half and half dan would if i bought you an oh you shirt would you wear it it's polo you know nice collared polo shirt maybe one of those nike dry fit kind of golf looking shirt that's you know bright crimson and has oh you on it or something would you wear that if i bought that this week you'd give it how come you wouldn't wear that i'll give you the five dollars later on some of you oklahoma fans if i brought a bright what do they call it the orange the best color of orange or the brightest color of orange i went to the ouosu softball game yesterday and i'm telling you there's some bright orange there you know you don't and you're much closer you know at the stadium you know it's kind of far off but man there is some bright orange if some of you ou fans if i brought you a bright orange shirt that said osu would you wear it yes it's weird let me ask one more how many of you are oklahoma city thunder fans got quite a few if i brought a bunch of golden state warrior t-shirts next week how how many or you know they had a sale on number 35 how many of you would wear a oklahoma city number 35 t-shirt you know you there you just wouldn't wear it it could be a ball cap some i i remember in a future generation a previous generation you know they wouldn't they wouldn't drive one of those foreign cars you know they wanted a ford it was ford it was chevy it was dodge you know jim something like that they weren't gonna drive one of those foreign cars it's all about identification and so number one you need to recognize the power of identification there is power there is something personal there is something that you are not willing to do because you don't want to be identified with somebody else every one of you i threw out a couple of examples but don't have time to go further there's just something you're not going to wear that because you do not want to be identified with who that it could be a company maybe there was a company that fired you you can go throw all those t-shirts or whatever in the trash you're not going to wear something from a company that you let you go there!

[45:08] there the power of the baptism is not that the water saves you the power of baptism is that it's intended to be a public demonstration of your faith you may have prayed all by yourself you may have prayed with just one other person you may have prayed when there were five people there whatever but it was it was kind of quiet and private now back in the day they baptized out at the river or something that was very public here but this is public enough I mean not everybody is going to come in and see it but you're standing in front of other people saying I'm a believer I'm a follower that's baptism is the identification and there is power in identification number two you need to know your options of identification who are you going to identify with really

[46:12] Paul has narrowed it down and quite a narrow covers a whole lot of territory he's narrowed it down to two things the law and grace you need to know your options now you could take law and you could probably identify a hundred things that could come under that umbrella but basically you're going to either identify with the law and basically the law is I can do this myself yeah I'm a pretty good person I'm well okay I'm pretty good but I know I'm better than they are I'll make sure where I'm pointing here I'm just kind of pointing down here I'm better than that other person and so I'm pretty good that's the law or grace grace is unmerited favor grace is a gift from

[47:21] God grace is something we don't deserve grace is something we will never earn it's not like you go on the layaway yeah they brought layaway back you can do layaway now I don't know if they're bringing Christmas clubs back yet but you know they brought layaway back it's not like buying a car on credit get a bright new shiny car and you my dad was a banker 36 months was kind of standard it's up there now used to be three years and I was like five years or so six years that's an easy way to get upside down just a little commercial that's an easy way to get upside down it's not like okay I get saved and then I'll work it off that's what we're going to look at in the principle of consistency the two options Galatians 2 16 19 and 21 know that a man is not justified by observing the law but by faith in

[48:29] Jesus Christ I'm going to stop there I already covered that verse but you need to know your options it's either going to be the law the law is rules the law is guilt bondage punishment works compliance death grace grace is relationship it's peace freedom discipline faith love life through grace and then number three choose to be identified with Jesus that's the choice there's power in being identified with something let's just think we've got a t-shirt that just has Jesus the biggest letters in the world that you put that on you know that's not far from what happens you put on it doesn't say put on the breast well it says put on the breast plate of righteousness but maybe in today's world we could interpret that to be put on the t-shirt!

[49:42] identifying with Jesus let me just share a couple of things about this this idea of identifying with Jesus Christ Galatians 2 20 I've been crucified with Christ it's a different kind of death it's a spiritual death it's a different kind of life it's a supernatural life it's a different kind of love it's an unconditional love I want to give you an illustration of dominoes how many of you like to play dominoes I played it it's kind of like noodling Robbie I haven't I've noodled one time I've probably played dominoes five times in my life but I know enough to kind of be dangerous but what I want to talk about dominoes is not at the card table how many of you remember

[50:43] Johnny Carson like to watch Johnny and it seemed like maybe once a year he gets somebody to come in there and they stack up those dominoes and there had to be a couple of safeguards in there I'm talking about it wasn't this big but maybe the size of this stage I mean there had to have been tens of thousands of dominoes stacked up all right what's the right word stood up on end and they'd have some where they'd go up a ramp and drop off and some of them would go around in a circle some of them would split off and it was just the neatest thing in the world back before there was a whole lot of computer animation and we all have in our mind a phrase you knock that first domino over and what happens they off they go Romans chapter 6 let me finish with this Romans 6 verse 1

[51:45] Paul again what shall we say then shall we go on sinning that grace may increase by no means we we die to sin how can we live in it any longer or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ okay now there's the word baptized if you can substitute the word identified those who were identified into Christ Jesus were identified into his death now it's saying baptism there but I'm telling you that's what it means all who were identified into Christ Jesus or identified into his death we were therefore buried with him through identification every time I say identification it says baptism here in the NIV let me see we were therefore buried with him through identification into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of the father we too may live a new life if we've been united with him now see there that's it really says united that's another way for saying identified we're united with him we talk about they're uniting with us and membership they're identifying with us when somebody moves their letter we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection for we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin and then in verse 11 in the same way count yourselves to be dead to sin but alive!

[53:31] to Christ now I enjoy the King James I just don't use it very much but there are a few places where the King James says something that I just love the NIV says in the same way count yourselves the King James says reckon!

[53:54] now I can't say it as much here when I lived in California I would talk about my kin folk back in Oklahoma that would say reckon! there are not many people in California that say reckon you reckon so they don't say that a lot in California unless you're in the Central Valley maybe Bakersfield Fresno where there are a lot of Okies that live there when you say reckon what are you saying?

[54:22] it's true I reckon so it comes from reconcile what happens when you reconcile something you take these things over here numbers and you take these numbers and you match them up and they reconcile what happens when two people are reconciled they take their anger and their differences and their hurt and they come back together as one reconcile means to count it to be true Paul told the Romans you need to count this as being true and what was it that was true that Jesus died and if he died he was buried and if he was buried he rose on the third day you need to reckon that you need to identify with that how many of you are

[55:23] Star Track fans or you watch Star Track you would get being back in time now they beam you up but they could beam you back in time when you identify with Jesus Christ when you're publicly baptized every morning every afternoon every evening in the middle of night whenever you count yourself to be crucified Galatians 2 20 I'm crucified with Christ and I claim that each day I claim it several times a day you are reckoning you are counting!

[56:07] You are identifying with Jesus and when you identify with Jesus on that very first domino when you bend your knee to the cross and say I surrender to Jesus boom the death of Jesus becomes real for you it becomes active for you and if Jesus died what's the next domino he's buried Romans 6 says we're buried with him and then if he's buried what's the next domino the resurrection and if Jesus was resurrected we are resurrected if Jesus wasn't resurrected we are not resurrected back to the movie the case for Christ he was trying to figure out where to start and

[57:09] I can't remember if it was his mentor who was also an atheist I think it was the atheist mentor he had he's trying to decide where can I start and the guy said you need to start with the resurrection because it all hinges on the resurrection it's a house of cards that will fall if the resurrection is not true and so that's what it means when you say I count myself to be in Christ death burial resurrection so that you can in verse four walk in new life just as Jesus you know who resurrected Jesus we don't think of this a whole lot the Holy Spirit resurrected Jesus sometimes we just think it was one of those Hulk things where Jesus just popped out of the grave I wouldn't discount any of that but the

[58:11] Bible says the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead and that same Holy Spirit raises us to new life in Christ spiritually the day we are saved and every day thereafter when we reckon!

[58:29] it to be so that's the principle of identification and that's how we choose to be identified with Jesus Christ Thank you.