Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Okay, now you can flip over to Galatians 3.
[00:00:06] Galatians 3, where we've been for a little bit, but now we're in a new chapter kind of in the middle of the book here, or almost right in the middle. Galatians 3.
[00:00:20] Now, to start, I want us to think.
[00:00:23] So I'm wondering, I learned this when I was probably in middle school, so I feel like, you know this phrase. Has anyone ever heard the phrase, there's no such thing as a free lunch?
[00:00:36] Yeah. Okay. Some of you haven't. That's okay. Can someone who has heard it?
[00:00:42] Actually, does anyone who hasn't heard it want to take a guess at, like, what that's referring to, how that makes sense?
[00:00:47] You want to guess everything that you do, like, everything you like. If you get something reads like not secretly, it's like they're gonna expect something.
[00:01:01] I think that's a really great guess, but I'm not sure that's quite right. I think that is a really good guess. I mean, I don't know what I would have come up with. What does it mean to someone else?
[00:01:12] Yeah, you seem really confident. Hank, lunch. It's still not free because someone paid for it. Yeah, there's, you know, there's got to be a transaction somewhere, right?
[00:01:25] Someone's giving something up, even if it's not you. I think that's right. Is that right?
[00:01:31] Okay, that's what I remembered.
[00:01:34] Now, I think we. We know the answer to this. But is this true? When it comes to the grace of God, is it really free? Because we talk about it being free, because being a gift, is it really free?
[00:01:47] God's grace, Is it free?
[00:01:52] Well, kinda. Kinda? What do you mean? Well, it's not free in the sense that someone did have to pay for it.
[00:02:04] Yeah, that's right. So someone did pay for it. So Christ paid for it.
[00:02:11] But it is free in a sense. I don't think we're wrong to say it's free.
[00:02:15] It does not cost you anything.
[00:02:18] I actually think this phrase is a little bit trumped up.
[00:02:23] I think we can go a little too far. We shouldn't live by the phrase, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The Bible does tell us that grace is free, but at the same time, we know that Christ did pay for sins, but it's not that we are going to have to pay an extra. Sometimes people think of this concept and they think, oh, well, that is like, you can win money, but the government's still going to take some. You know, we're not paying an extra tax on grace. There's nothing extra to be taken. It is completely covered, but by someone totally other than any of us.
[00:02:59] I just thought that was a. An interesting little thought.
[00:03:04] Now, before we kind of dive in, can someone remind us what is an inductive Bible study?
[00:03:20] Yeah, Jonah.
[00:03:23] Yeah. We're studying the Bible from the inside out. What. What is the inside. What's that referring to? And how exactly does it work?
[00:03:32] Yeah, you do look at words.
[00:03:45] Yeah.
[00:03:47] Sounds silly. No, that's absolutely right. Yeah. You start near with words, surrounding sentences, paragraphs, and you kind of get bigger.
[00:03:57] Sometimes you do some steps close together. It's not completely robotic, or at least a lot of it is assumed.
[00:04:05] But, yeah, I mean, ultimately, we want to make sure that what we're reading when we read the sentence, oh, foolish Galatians doesn't contradict what the rest of the Bible has to say. But we want to start near and work. Ow. That's good.
[00:04:19] All right, well, let's read.
[00:04:21] We'll read the first nine verses. I think we can probably get through them, but if not, we'll just. We'll just stop and pick up where we left off next time.
[00:04:29] So Galatians 3 begins saying, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?
[00:04:36] It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
[00:04:42] Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or. Or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain?
[00:04:59] Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
[00:05:06] Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham? And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify, the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed.
[00:05:28] So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
[00:05:35] All right, so we'll go this go verse by verse. Verse 1. O Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, is how he starts, which is, I think, a very punchy start.
[00:05:49] If we've kind of lost the tone and the seriousness of the issue, I think these words kind of remind us how serious it really is.
[00:05:58] Now, to whom was Paul speaking before? Does anybody know?
[00:06:04] As a hint he was speaking, he's writing to the Galatians, but he was kind of retelling a story where he was talking to an individual.
[00:06:16] Yeah, it is Peter. Now, people kind of debate where that he's kind of retelling the conversation with Peter, but it's debated where exactly that stops and he starts commentary.
[00:06:27] I think it's reasonable that maybe the rest of chapter two was him talking about how he explained how Peter was in the wrong and being a hypocrite in that one circumstance for, you know, not eating with Gentiles in the presence of the Jews that were called the circumcision party. So he was recounting that conversation just for their educational benefit.
[00:06:51] But now it may have been earlier, but now for sure, as chapter three starts, he's definitely turning to talk to them directly. This is to you, Galatians.
[00:07:02] What. What's our first clue that the focus is being directed to the church specifically?
[00:07:08] He says Galatians. He does say Galatians, but even before that, the. The letter SL word O.
[00:07:17] We actually see this translated sometimes in the Bible, and it's kind of indicating the. The tense of the words. And it's vocative is what they say. It's really just saying. It's an address.
[00:07:29] It's a way to form the word to make it clear that a person or a people are being directly addressed.
[00:07:37] So that's why we definitely know now he's not talking about Peter. He's talking to the Galatians.
[00:07:42] But he. Yeah. Oh, foolish Galatians.
[00:07:46] Now that can be a little harsh, right? I think we might wonder, how useful is that?
[00:07:54] Even if a church is, you know, sinning in a significant way, can you imagine how helpful would this be if the pastor stood up and shouted, oh, foolish. So and so whatever church you are, we might criticize him and say, that's not very winsome. You're just going to make people mad and shut them down. They're not going to listen to you.
[00:08:18] So is Paul calling these Galatians stupid?
[00:08:23] That's what I'm asking. Is he calling them stupid, referring to lack of obedience, you said?
[00:08:47] Yeah, I think that's included. But I do think he's using strong language and I'm not sure how the connotation would translate. So we have to be careful in these instances when we think like this. Even though I was kind of baiting you into it, we don't want to apply the context too directly to us because we would just understand it differently. But I do think he is kind of calling them stupid, at least morally.
[00:09:15] Foolish, but sin, as you continue to sin and wear down your conscience, it's called an eroded conscience. As you sin more and more, it becomes easier and easier to commit the same sin. And we see people that do this, that are addicted even, even to a particular sin, begin to make more stupid and rash decisions. Ultimately, many times, you know, showing the world their sin by how foolish they have. So as one of my professors used to say, sin makes you stupid.
[00:09:50] It really just does hurt your judgment.
[00:09:54] And you can see this with chronic sinners over time. And so I think he is trying to shock them out of this, but they are being morally foolish. He's saying, this is so clear. You knew the gospel. I preached it to you. It was the true gospel. And instead you're turning to this obsolete form of religion.
[00:10:15] You're turning to works of the law for justification when it could be free. And it is free.
[00:10:23] And that, that's what he's. He's saying now. Then he says, who has bewitched you?
[00:10:31] What does bewitched mean?
[00:10:36] Like tricked.
[00:10:38] Tricked. That's a good guess.
[00:10:40] It definitely includes that.
[00:10:43] Has anyone used this recently?
[00:10:46] I've been bewitched.
[00:10:50] What'd you say? Not like anyone ever uses that. Yeah, you're probably right.
[00:10:56] You're probably right. No one, no one ever uses that.
[00:10:59] Well, so it, it involves being tricked. But what he's saying more literally is that it's as if someone has cast a spell on them. See the word witch in there? It's indicating some sort of magic or witchcraft, basically just saying their moral bankruptcy is astounding.
[00:11:19] Now, magic and witchcraft was actually pretty prevalent in their culture. Paul's not endorsing it, but he's taking something from the world that they really understand to say, it looks like you've been like, bewitched. You have been. Someone has cast a spell on you to be so foolish, which would shock them. So he's just using something that they're familiar with to shock them so they can understand. This is actually a really grave mistake were making.
[00:11:48] He continues in verse one. It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
[00:11:57] Let's sit there for a second. Did the Galatians witness the crucifixion?
[00:12:19] Anyone know?
[00:12:28] Yeah, I don't think so is a good answer. Almost certainly not. They weren't physically there to witness it. So how can Paul say this? Does anyone have an idea? How can Paul say that their eyes have seen Christ portrayed as crucified?
[00:12:45] Is he saying, like, he preached Christ crucified To them.
[00:12:49] Yeah, I think that's right. And it's a little difficult for us to see. So sometimes it's helpful to have some sort of commentary or study Bible that helps you get insights to some stuff like this.
[00:13:04] We see this word publicly portrayed, and there's maybe a more clear way to translate. This isn't wrong, but I think there's a more clear way to translate that makes sense in context that reveals this. Which, by the way, if you want, like a Bible app that actually helps you pick out words and explains just very clearly, and it's software how or what a verb or a noun or what Greek or Hebrew term something comes from. There's an app called Literal Word that I use a lot that's really helpful. You don't have to know Greek and Hebrew to use it, so that's helpful. But it's called Literal Word, and it's got, I think, four different Bible translations, including esv, which I'm using.
[00:13:53] And I just highly recommend that, that. That Bible app, so that can help you with that. But, yeah, it's more clear to translate this as publicly proclaimed. This portrayal a lot of times has the connotation of something being proclaimed. So I think it is that they have seen vividly, through the preaching of God's word, that Christ was crucified. So the cross and Christ crucified was publicly proclaimed to them by whom?
[00:14:30] Paul? Yeah, exactly, Paul. So he knows firsthand that they have seen and heard the gospel, truly preached. He preached the true gospel, which we know this because he has labored to remind them of this at the beginning of the letter. So we want to remember where we've been. He kind of unpacked how what he preached was authentic. And now he's saying, you have seen it.
[00:14:57] That really happened. You guys were all there.
[00:15:00] You've seen the cross, you know the gospel.
[00:15:04] What does the Galatian heresy, the mistake they're making, have to do with the cross, though?
[00:15:11] What does the heresy have to do with the cross?
[00:15:15] It.
[00:15:44] I think it's a little difficult, but we don't want to just assume that something's false that's an offense to the cross, to Christ crucified.
[00:15:54] It's not just, you know, a polemical jab.
[00:15:59] It's not a rhetorical device that he's using. But I think there is a real connection between the Galatian heresy, which was.
[00:16:08] What was their error? What were they doing?
[00:16:15] Starts with an L.
[00:16:17] They were legalists. They were legalists.
[00:16:21] Legalism and requiring obedience to the law of Moses, which is why he keeps saying the phrase works of the law.
[00:16:30] You know, thinking about for following the law of Moses for justification.
[00:16:36] It means, as verse 21 of chapter 2 says, Christ died for no purpose.
[00:16:45] If legalism is right, if works of the law justify, then Christ died for no purpose. That's what he says just before chapter three.
[00:16:55] And that's the connection. We know that Christ didn't die for no purpose.
[00:17:01] It's intuitively true. But we see it as the focal point, the exclamation point in the whole Bible is the cross.
[00:17:09] God did not put on flesh and die for no purpose, but their actions and beliefs and teaching is now emptying the cross of any meaning.
[00:17:20] So now hopefully we can really clearly see that this is a heresy. It is significant.
[00:17:29] It can empty out, hollow out and destroy a church.
[00:17:35] So it is offensive and mind rottingly foolish for the Galatians to turn to legalism when offered the truly free grace of Christ.
[00:17:48] It is beyond comprehension, although that is because sin makes us do foolish things. False teaching, if we are tickled in the ears by it, will make us do foolish things.
[00:18:04] Verse two, he says, let me ask you only this did you receive? Which by the way, he asks multiple questions after this. But let me ask you only this. Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
[00:18:17] We've had a question. What type of question is this? Have this a lot.
[00:18:22] It is a rhetorical question. What's the purpose of a rhetorical question?
[00:18:29] It can point out flaws. Right. Are there other purposes it makes you think? Sure, yeah.
[00:18:43] The answer is clear too. Yeah.
[00:18:46] And when you stack them together like he does in this passage with, you know, where there's clear answers, he. He's kind of making them think with him. But he's using this kind of strategy by asking questions to make points. So he's laying out an argument through questions. It's just kind of a way to. To, you know, carry them along, to grasp them a little bit.
[00:19:14] But. So he talks about works of the law and hearing with faith. But we notice a theme in verses 2 through 5, a theme of receiving the Holy Spirit. I don't know if you noticed that. That's kind of a newer theme in this book, I think. I don't. I think he's mentioned the Spirit before. But this is certainly kind of maybe out of the blue. It's not out of the blue, but it can seem like it.
[00:19:43] So why is he focusing on receiving the Spirit? Aren't we talking about justification?
[00:19:49] How are they related?
[00:19:51] Well, let's look at some scripture and we'll hopefully kind of see how they're related. So first turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 2.
[00:20:06] So that should be just a little bit before Galatians. 1 Corinthians 2, 1st Corinthians 2. Right after Romans.
[00:20:26] We're going to look at verse 12 when you get there. 1st Corinthians 2 12.
[00:20:30] This is Paul again writing to another church. Says, now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand things freely given us by God. And then Skip to verse 14. He says, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly or foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
[00:20:58] What does this teach us about the Spirit? It can be obvious. It doesn't mean it's something new to you. But what does this kind of establish about the Spirit Aids us in the understanding of the word. Right? Yeah.
[00:21:26] Where's the Spirit from?
[00:21:34] From God. So this Spirit is from God. We can understand this with the rest of Scripture. This is also the Spirit of God which we see in verse 14.
[00:21:44] And so this Spirit is close to God. God gives his Spirit to those that are in God.
[00:21:52] Now go to Romans. So this is the book before 1 Corinthians, Romans 5 should be not too far away. Romans 5. And then look at verse 5.
[00:22:04] Romans 5, 5 says, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
[00:22:18] So what is this helping us connect with the Spirit?
[00:22:23] What do we learn about Him?
[00:22:41] What do we learn about the Spirit in this verse? Same question as before.
[00:22:52] As a hand, what happens through the Spirit?
[00:23:00] God's love is poured into our hearts. And in Romans, he's talking to a church, so he's talking to Christians specifically.
[00:23:08] So we know that the Spirit is given to believers in love. And God shows his love for Christians through the Spirit, pouring his love into their heart by giving this spirit that is from him.
[00:23:22] And then just a page or two over Romans 8:9. If you flip there real quick, Romans 8. 9.
[00:23:32] Romans 8:9 says, you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. So similarly, with different language, we're seeing that Spirit's from God. The Spirit pours love into our hearts. And for Christians, the Spirit dwells also in you, not just God's love being poured into you, but the Spirit himself, God himself dwells in you.
[00:24:02] And Then last passage, 2nd Corinthians, so you got Romans 1 Corinthians, then 2 Corinthians 1. So just find the beginning of the book.
[00:24:13] 2nd Corinthians 1:22, 2 Corinthians 1:22 says, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee?
[00:24:34] What does this teach us about the Spirit?
[00:25:03] There are two special words in this verse that I want you to notice.
[00:25:07] What do you think they are?
[00:25:09] Guarantee. Guarantee, right.
[00:25:12] And then similarly, what's another word?
[00:25:16] A seal.
[00:25:18] Okay, so we see that the Spirit seals Christians as a guarantee. A guarantee of what?
[00:25:34] Yeah, assurance. It includes probably a lot, but it at least also includes justification.
[00:25:42] A guarantee gives an assurance of justification because God, whom he loves believers, he gives his Spirit to dwell in them as a seal, a guarantee.
[00:25:59] If you have the Spirit, you've been justified.
[00:26:04] So the Spirit is the seal for Christians, not circumcision. That's the point. In Galatians, the Spirit is the seal for Christians, not circumcision. Circumcision was. The seal is no longer required. Now it is done away with because we are sealed by the Spirit, which is now portrayed through baptism.
[00:26:29] We. We see the example of dying to Christ and raising to new life. That new life comes through the Spirit. That's what happens when someone comes up from the waters. That's what is being depicted in baptism.
[00:26:41] And so it's not circumcision, but it's the indwelling of the Spirit. It is the seal of the Spirit. That's why he was talking about justification by faith, works of the law. And now he's talking about receiving the Spirit because that is like what is happening within you. That is the seal.
[00:27:00] So Paul affirms their Christian faith by assuming they've received the Spirit.
[00:27:05] That's why he's saying, you know, if you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith, since they should know the Gospel, they should know that they have not received the Spirit by works of the law, they've received the Spirit by or through faith.
[00:27:21] And so he continues with these questions. In verse three, he's saying, are you so foolish having begun by the Spirit?
[00:27:27] So what does he mean, having begun? What has been begun?
[00:27:46] What has been begun in these Christians by the Spirit?
[00:28:03] Yeah, faith, I guess.
[00:28:06] But they have faith. I think that's a good answer. But I think maybe more particularly it's their Christian life.
[00:28:16] So they've been justified. They've been begun and welcomed into the family of God. So having been begun by the Spirit, having been justified, which is kind of, you know, the first part when you repent and believe you are justified.
[00:28:33] So having begun that, are they now being perfected or sanctified, which is the part of the Christian life that continues until death through the return of Christ.
[00:28:42] That's what he means by being perfected. So are you now being perfected by the flesh?
[00:28:49] Now, I just explained what sanctification is. It is this being perfected, this growing. Can someone remind us, what does justification mean?
[00:29:03] Yeah, you said set right before God.
[00:29:08] Yeah, I think maybe even I would say declared right before God.
[00:29:12] So we don't confuse. You're not made perfect. Right. That's when you're sanctified, but you are declared that you are right or righteous before God.
[00:29:23] And is it like sanctification, progressive, like growing throughout your life?
[00:29:33] You see a. No, that's right. The difference is it is. It's once for all. It's a declaration. It happens when you repent and believe because of what Christ did on the cross.
[00:29:44] And so it is different. Having been justified by the Spirit, we could say, are you now being sanctified by the flesh?
[00:29:52] And that's obviously not true. Now, what is the danger of confusing these two things?
[00:29:58] Let's look at what the. The old Baptist catechism says. People don't really use this anymore very much, but it's still useful. It's just got some old hard language. Actually, I think John Piper modernized it, and it's pretty good.
[00:30:14] But it says justification is an act of God's. So it's an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed or credited to us and received by faith alone.
[00:30:32] So we see the same affirmation that he accepts us as righteous, he pardons our sins. And it's not because of what we do. It's not because it works the law. It's by faith alone.
[00:30:44] And it also says sanctification is a work of God's free grace. So it's kind of starts in the same way, but continuing, it says, whereby we are renewed in the whole man. So like who we are in our being after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die, to sin, and live to righteousness. So we see this progressive understanding of sanctification. And so this is, you know, hundreds of years old. I promise I'm not making it up.
[00:31:11] It's far older than me, these things we're teaching.
[00:31:16] Another scholar says, and I thought this was helpful, he says, notice that justification and sanctification are equally of God's free grace.
[00:31:25] So it is God's gift, both of them.
[00:31:27] But justification is an act, a once for all event, whereas sanctification is a work of ongoing renovation or renewing.
[00:31:37] Nothing can possibly add to the completed act of our justification.
[00:31:42] Nothing can add to that. But we remain, as he says, works in progress in terms of our sanctification.
[00:31:50] Keeping these things straight in our minds is important as we learn about the nature of living the Christian life.
[00:31:57] So, students, if we confuse these two things, then we can become legalists.
[00:32:03] We can think. We can become legalists who think that we're working toward a fuller justification, a more perfected justification, or worse, we might even think, or not worse, but on the other end of the spectrum, we might think that we've already been made completely holy. People do believe this.
[00:32:24] Christian perfectionism is a belief, I think, that arose mostly with one of the. With John Wesley, very famous and wonderful historical figure in the Church, but who made a serious error in this way, thinking that we can achieve full perfection and sanctification in this life. But Paul is telling us otherwise.
[00:32:48] Continuing, he says, did you suffer in verse four, did you suffer so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain?
[00:32:54] I think we get a little bit of a hint of what he's meaning here in chapter four, verse 29, which says, but just as at that time, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
[00:33:09] So you see this in mostly all of the epistles. This just the reality of persecution against Christians. So I think that's what he's talking about. You've suffered all these things for being Christians, but you are missing the cross and you're working for your salvation through circumcision and keeping the works of the law. He's saying, if you're working for your justification, then you're suffering for no reason.
[00:33:36] That's what he's pointing out, verse 5 does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith.
[00:33:44] So who is the who?
[00:33:47] Who is the who here?
[00:33:53] He who supplies the Spirit to you. Who supplies the Spirit to. Yeah, God. Right. That first verse we read in first Corinthians, the Spirit who is from God. Clearly what Paul is saying, God does not give the Spirit and the Work of miracles.
[00:34:10] Just because we keep the law.
[00:34:12] So we keep the law. So now you have the Spirit, now there's miracles being done among you? No, these things occur amongst communities, churches of faith.
[00:34:21] And then verse 6. Just as Abraham believed God and is counted to him as righteousness, so now here's kind of the reason that backs up his argument.
[00:34:33] And again, like I was mentioning the old catechism and some church history figures, Paul's going all the way back to Abraham, the Father of Israel, to back up his argument. So Abraham is who? I hope we know this. Who's Abraham?
[00:34:53] What, the polytheistic moon worshipper from ur? He may have started that way, but he certainly did not end that way, but was called by God and worshiped Yahweh alone.
[00:35:16] Abraham is the father of the Jews and he was not justified by works of the law either.
[00:35:24] So even this belief of needing circumcision and works of the law is really not how justification has ever worked.
[00:35:35] It's not even necessarily just a New covenant idea. But he's going all the way back to the Father of the Jews and saying he was not justified by works of the law either.
[00:35:48] He believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
[00:35:53] And I think that's significant.
[00:35:56] You know, I'll wrap up here so that we don't go over and we'll get to the rest of the Abraham stuff in a couple of weeks because I'll be gone next week.
[00:36:06] But I want you guys to think about how remarkable that is, that justification. Even back then, sometimes we kind of get this idea that the Old Testament, that's when they were saved by following the law.
[00:36:20] But it just was not the case with Abraham. He believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
[00:36:28] So that should be a challenge to us to keep watch because legalism sometimes seems obvious, but it can really creep into our hearts. I think it's really easy for it to creep into your heart when you grow up in the church.
[00:36:41] I think of myself when I was your age, often thinking, though I had believed and been baptized and everything, that maybe I wasn't worthy enough or maybe I can't really confess. I need to, like, get this stuff straight before I can like really be a Christian in public with my friends at school. And I was just always thinking that even though I believed in justification by faith alone, although I don't know if I would have used those words exactly, I believed in those ideas.
[00:37:16] I just so often was thinking about my own sin, cleaning up my own act, and making and saying, I don't know, I don't even feel like I can pray until I get this part of my life together. This is just legalism in different forms and it can be really subtle. So I just encourage you to pray through that and pray and ask God to help reveal little bits of sneaky legalism in your own hearts and get rid of it.
[00:37:45] Be amazed at the grace of God that was freely given to you in Christ.
[00:37:50] And if you don't know the Lord, just know that nothing you do, just coming here, even on Sundays, which, you know, a lot of people don't come to the Sunday morning thing. That's not earning you any special righteousness.
[00:38:03] But you are credited with righteousness only through faith in Christ.
[00:38:09] And that's the message you should share with others.
[00:38:12] Let's pray.
[00:38:14] Father, we thank you for your grace and for the spirit that you've given to your church. God, we ask that you would search our hearts and know us and help reveal to us parts of our hearts and beliefs that are out of step with the truth. Lord, reveal to us ways in which we are trying to earn favor with you or earn favor with others or earn favor in the church by things that we do.
[00:38:39] God, help us to lean wholly on and be totally amazed by your grace.
[00:38:44] Lord, may our good works only be fruit of the justification in our hearts. And we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.
