Galatians: Jesus Is Enough

Galatians

Welcome:

Good morning, everyone! My name is Stuart Davidson, and I’m the pastor here at Eastern Shore Baptist Church. It is a delight to see all of you this morning. Thank you for making the time to be here and worship with us.

I especially want to welcome our guests. Whether this is your first time with us, you’ve been visiting for a few weeks, or you’re watching online, we are incredibly grateful that you chose to worship with us today. There are a lot of churches here on the Eastern Shore that you could attend, and the fact that you chose to spend your Sunday morning with us is an honor.

I also want to remind you about our prayer line. If there is ever anything we can pray with you about, you can call or text 251-222-8977. That prayer line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In fact, I think our prayer line is open more than Waffle House! So anytime you need somebody to pray with you, we want to be there for you.

After the service this morning, I’ll be out in the vestibule. If you’re visiting with us today, I would really love the opportunity to meet you, shake your hand, and thank you personally for being here. Please stop by and say hello.

We’re glad you’re here. Let’s worship the Lord together this morning!

Introduction To Today’s Message:

There is an old story about a pastor and hymn writer named Augustus Toplady. The story goes that Toplady was traveling through the English countryside when he was caught in a violent thunderstorm. The rain poured down in sheets. Augustus looked high and low for shelter. In desperation he found a large cleft in a limestone rock and took shelter there.

According to the story, as Toplady stood safely inside that rock while the storm raged around him, he began thinking about the shelter we find in Jesus Christ. That experience became associated with one of the great hymns of the Christian faith, “Rock of Ages.” 

Toplady would write:

“Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to the cross I cling.”

Another line says: 

“Thou must save, and Thou alone.”

I’ve been listening to that song all week in preparation for today’s message. 

Nothing in my hands.

Nothing I can offer. Nothing I can accomplish. Nothing I can do that will make me worthy of salvation.

Jesus must save me, and Jesus alone.

This morning we are in the third week of our series through the book of Galatians. We have been walking through this letter written by the Apostle Paul to churches that were being told that Jesus wasn’t enough. They were being told they needed Jesus plus something else.

Jesus plus the law.

Jesus plus good works.

Jesus plus religious performance.

Paul says, No.

You don’t need Jesus plus anything.

Just like Toplady pictured himself hiding completely in that rock, our hope is found completely in Jesus Christ.

Nothing in my hands. Simply to the cross I cling.

That’s what I want to talk to you about this morning.

Today’s message is entitled:

Today’s Message:

“Jesus Is Enough”

Introduction To Today’s Thought:

When I was a senior in high school, my English teacher, Miss Kelly, was directing our school’s spring musical, and she encouraged me to audition. Now, I wasn’t necessarily a shy kid, but I pretty much kept to myself, and getting on a stage and performing in a musical was way outside my comfort zone. I had never done anything like that before, and I was scared to death.

I can still remember standing on that stage for the audition. They asked me to sing something, and the only song I could think of that I knew all the words to was “Amazing Grace.” So there I stood, a senior in high school, singing “Amazing Grace.” While I was singing, they had their notepads out, pens and pencils in their hands, writing things down and evaluating me. Then they handed me a monologue and asked me to perform that. Again, they watched and they listened and took their notes.

That’s what an audition is. 

You perform, and somebody decides whether your performance is good enough. 

Years later, I’ve watched my son Jett go through that same experience. He loves musical theater, and he is much more talented than his dad. Yet every time he auditions, the process is basically the same. You stand in front of people, you perform, and you try to prove that you’re good enough for the part.

Aren’t you thankful that’s not how salvation works? 

God isn’t sitting in Heaven with a notepad evaluating your performance to determine whether you’re good enough. 

You don’t audition for salvation. 

You don’t have to impress God. 

You don’t have to prove yourself worthy. 

You don’t have to perform well enough to earn His acceptance. 

Jesus has already done everything necessary for you to be saved.

Look there on your outline under Today’s Thought, and fill this in:

Today’s Thought:
You Don’t Have To Perform or Prove Yourself. Jesus Provides What Is Necessary For Our Pardon.

Brothers and sisters, that’s the Gospel. 

I don’t perform for my pardon. I don’t prove myself worthy of my pardon. Jesus provides my pardon. That’s why Jesus is enough.

Introduction To Today’s Quote:

Many of you will recognize the name Bill Bright. 

Bill Bright and his wife, Vonette, founded Campus Crusade for Christ, which today is known as Cru. They started the ministry in 1951 on the campus of UCLA with a simple desire, “reach college students with the Gospel and then disciple them to reach others”. 

It began on one college campus, but eventually grew into a worldwide ministry focused on evangelism and discipleship. There have been hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of students who have come to Christ through Bright’s ministry. 

Bill Bright wrote a book before he passed in 2003 entitled “Dying To Self”. I read it recently and highlighted this statement as it reminded me about what Paul wrote in Galatians 2. I want to read it for you this morning. It is there on your outline. 

Today’s Quote:

“Real life, abundant life, begins with dying to self. The Christian life begins when I stop insisting on my way, my desires, my plans, and my control. I die to the idea that my life belongs to me. I surrender myself to Christ, because I have been crucified with Christ. The old me no longer sits on the throne. Christ lives in me.”

Bill Bright’s “Dying To Self”

Background and Context:

Friends, go ahead and pull your Bibles out and open them to Galatians 2:15-21. While you’re doing that, let me give you a little background and context.

In the first part of Galatians 2, Paul travels to Jerusalem, where the church leaders affirm the Gospel he is preaching. I know what you might be asking. What Gospel is Paul preaching? 

Simply put, we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by keeping the law or performing religious works. Today we are the beneficiaries of 2000 years of hindsight. We know that this is the one true Gospel and for Bible believing Christians, preaching another gospel is just pure sin. Still, in Paul’s day, there was great debate over the true Gospel message. There was still a lot of debate concerning how a person could be saved. 

One of the big questions was whether Gentile Christians needed to follow the Jewish law in order to truly be saved. What do I mean by that? The big question was if Gentiles or non Jews had to first become Jewish in order to become Christian. How does one Gentile become a Jew before becoming a Christian? Good question. For Gentile women, they would have to commit themselves to ritual and religious immersion. Literally women would enter a pool of water and immerse her entire body as a part of her formal conversion. It symbolized purification. She would commit herself to living under Jewish law and celebrating Jewish rites, rituals, and traditions. 

For men…well…for men it was a bit different. For men to leave their Gentile nature behind, their conversion involves a painful surgical procedure. 

Thankfully for all the ladies and the fellas, Paul’s answer was clear: Jesus is enough.

Ok, moving on to verses 11 through 14…Paul confronts Peter. 

This is a really interested text by the way. Interesting that Peter and Paul were at odds and we the reader get to watch it play out like a talk show. You think Im kidding but Im not. 

Peter had been freely fellowshipping and eating with Gentile Christians. In today’s parlance, Peter was hanging out with Gentile Christians. What happened though when Peter’s Jewish friends arrived? Peter would pull away because he was afraid of what they would think. Peter was afraid that the Jews would judge him or kick him out. 

Paul confronts him because his actions suggested that faith in Jesus alone wasn’t enough.

That brings us to verses 15 through 21. Paul now explains the truth behind his confrontation with Peter: We are not made right with God because of what we do. We are made right with God because of what Jesus has done.

Statement of Belief:

“We are opening the living and powerful Word of God…truth without error, breathed out by Him, and fully sufficient for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. It is our authority, our guide, and our hope. In honor of the God who gave us His perfect Word, I invite you to stand with me as we read it together.”

Today’s Scripture:
Galatians 2:15-21 CSB

We are Jews by birth and not "Gentile sinners," [16] and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified. [17] But if we ourselves are also found to be "sinners" while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not! [18] If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker. [19] For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. [20] I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Pastor: “This Is The Word of the Lord.”

Congregation: “Praise His name. Praise His holy name.”

Thank God! Jesus Is Enough Because…

Jesus Makes Us Right With God vs. 15-16

Friends, we have finally made it to the heart of our message today. You can fill in that first point there on your outline. Thank God Jesus is enough because Jesus makes us right with God.

Listen again to what Paul says in verses 15 and 16:

Galatians 2:15-16 CSB

“We are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners,’ and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.”

There on your outline, I want you to write this down:

“We can never be good enough to earn God’s acceptance, but through faith in Jesus we are declared righteous before Him.”

On April 9, 1865, two generals met in the parlor of a home in Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The great Confederate general Robert E. Lee had come to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant. Lee walked into that room knowing the war was lost. 

He wasn’t there with anything to offer Grant. 

He had no leverage left. 

He was there to receive the terms of surrender.

Interestingly, enough Lee discovered was that Grant’s terms were generous. 

The Confederate soldiers would not be taken away as prisoners. 

Officers were allowed to keep their sidearms. 

Soldiers who owned horses or mules were allowed to take them home because Grant knew they would need them for spring planting. 

When Grant learned that Lee’s soldiers were hungry, he arranged for food to be sent to them. Lee came into that room defeated, but Grant offered terms that allowed the fighting to end and those men to go home.

Now, that isn’t a perfect picture of salvation, but I think it helps us understand something Paul is saying. We don’t come before God with something to bargain with. 

We don’t come to Him saying, “Look at how good I’ve been.”

“Look at how much I’ve given.”

“Look at how many Sundays I’ve gone to church.”

“Look at everything I’ve done.” 

We come to God with nothing that can make us righteous before Him. Still God offers us something we could never provide for ourselves.

That’s where this word justified becomes so important. Paul uses some form of it three times in verse 16. The Greek verb is Dee-Chi-Oh dikaioō (δικαιόω). 

It means to declare righteous, to justify, or to pronounce someone to be in the right. It is courtroom language. The picture is not primarily of God making a bad person behave better. It is the picture of God declaring a guilty sinner righteous before Him.

How can a holy God possibly declare sinners like us righteous?

Paul tells us. It is “by faith in Jesus Christ.”

Our justification is not based upon what we offer to God. It is based upon what God has offered for us in Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the righteous life we could never live. Jesus took upon Himself the judgment our sin deserved. Jesus gave Himself for us. We simply receive God’s gift through faith.

That’s why Paul writes in Romans:

Romans 5:1 CSB

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Friends, you don’t have to negotiate peace with God. Jesus has already made peace possible. You don’t have to prove that you’re good enough. You don’t have to perform until God finally accepts you. Through faith in Jesus Christ, God declares you righteous before Him.

That’s why Jesus is enough.

Thank God! Jesus Is Enough Because…

Jesus Makes Us Right With God vs. 15-16

Jesus Gives Us A New Life vs. 17-20

Friends, thank God Jesus is enough. We’ve already learned that only Jesus makes us right with God. Now look at number two there on your outline and fill in these blanks: Jesus gives us a new life.

Listen to what Paul says beginning in verse 17:

Galatians 2:17-20 CSB

“But if we ourselves are also found to be ‘sinners’ while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Now look there on your outline at the explanation underneath this point:

“Jesus doesn’t simply forgive the life we used to live, He gives us a new life in which Christ lives in and through us.”

A few weeks ago, I read a story on social media about a young lady named Nala Ray. The story was talking about the young ladies conversion to Jesus Christ.

A few years ago, Nala was one of the highest earning creators on an adult website. She was making millions of dollars producing explicit content. From the outside, some people might have looked at the money and the popularity and thought she had everything. Yet Nala has described that season of her life as incredibly lonely. 

She was, by her own words, mentally ill, drug addicted, alcoholic, and pondering suicide. The comment section of her social media posts were either demonic demanding more of her flesh or Christians hurling insults and judgements. 

Nola Ray confided in a childhood friend who had recently converted to faith in Christ. 

Her friend encouraged her to start reading scripture to pray. The Bible began to open her eyes to her own sin and salvation through Christ.

She eventually reached a point where she began crying out to God because she knew this was not the life she was supposed to be living. 

Nala says she eventually gave her life to Christ. She walked away from the adult entertainment industry and was baptized. In talking about what happened, she said, “I got radically saved.” She has also said that she knew the life she had been living was not what God wanted for her anymore. 

Now friends, I tell you that story because Nala didn’t have to somehow erase her past before she could come to Jesus. She came to Jesus with her past, her sin, her regrets, and everything else. Jesus met her there and began giving her a new life.

That’s the Gospel. Jesus doesn’t say, “Fix your past, clean yourself up, and then come see Me.” Jesus invites us to come to Him, and He begins making us new.

Listen to what Paul says:

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!”

I love that word “anyone.”

Anyone can come to Jesus. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been running. It doesn’t matter how badly you’ve failed. It doesn’t matter how much regret you carry. There is no category of sinner excluded from the invitation of the Gospel.

Romans 10:13 says, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Jesus says in John 6:37, “The one who comes to me I will never cast out.”

Acts 2:21 says, “Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

And Revelation 22:17 says, “Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.”

Friends, God doesn’t look at our past and pretend it doesn’t matter. Our sin matters so much that Jesus went to the cross because of it. The good news is that our past does not have to determine our future.

Jesus can forgive your past. He can transform your present. He can give you a new future.

That’s what Paul is talking about when he says in verse 20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

Jesus doesn’t simply give us another chance to live the same old life. Jesus gives us a new life.

Thank God! Jesus Is Enough Because…

Jesus Makes Us Right With God vs. 15-16

Jesus Gives Us A New Life vs. 17-20

Jesus Finished The Work of Salvation vs. 21

Well friends, we’ve made it to the last point. Thank God Jesus is enough because He makes us right with God, He gives us a new life, and lastly, Jesus finished the work of salvation.

Look there on your outline and fill in that final point:

Jesus Finished The Work Of Salvation.

Listen to what Paul says in verse 21:

Galatians 2:21 CSB

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”

“If we could save ourselves through good works, religious activity, or keeping the law, then Jesus would never have needed to die.”

Paul ends this section with a very powerful statement. He says that if we could somehow make ourselves righteous through our own efforts, then the death of Jesus was unnecessary.

Think about that.

If I can save myself, then I don’t need a Savior.

If my goodness is enough, then I don’t need God’s grace.

If my performance can make me acceptable before God, then Jesus did not need to go to the cross.

The truth is, I cannot save myself.

I cannot work my way into God’s favor. I cannot perform my way into God’s acceptance. I cannot be good enough to erase my sin.

And that is why Jesus came.

The cross is not Jesus doing His part while we do ours. The cross is Jesus doing what only He could do because we could never do it ourselves.

Look at what Hebrews says:

Hebrews 10:12, 14 CSB

“But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God… For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.”

Did you notice what Jesus did after He offered His sacrifice?

He sat down.

Why?

Well friends, the work was finished.

The priest in the Old Testament had to continually offer sacrifices because the work was never complete. Not so with Jesus. He offered one sacrifice, once and for all, and then He sat down because nothing else needed to be added.

That’s why Jesus is enough.

You don’t have to add your performance to His perfection.

You don’t have to add your goodness to His grace.

You don’t have to add your accomplishments to His sacrifice.

Jesus finished the work of salvation.

That brings us back to the title of today’s message:

Jesus Is Enough.

He is enough to make you right with God.

He is enough to give you a new life.

He is enough because He finished the work of salvation.

The question is, what are you trusting in today?

Performance?

Religious activity?

Your ability to be good enough?

Or are you trusting in Jesus Christ?

The good news of the Gospel is this:

Jesus did what you couldn’t do, and He gives you what you could never earn.

Thank God, Jesus is enough.

Jesus Did What You Couldn’t Do… And Gives You What You Couldn’t Earn.