Tabernacle Baptist Church

1. We are Justified by the Same Faith today as Believers were in the Old Testament (vs. 6-9) - It’s not like in the Old Testament they were justified by works and in the New Testament we are justified by faith. No, it’s always been about faith. We have the same Gospel, in the OT as we do in the NT. In verse nine, God called Abraham “the believer”. So just like Abraham believed that ‘God would make him a great nation and all the families on the earth would be blessed’ (Gen. 12:2-3), we need to believe that God is gracious and He cares for us. It was not Abraham’s works that saved him, it was his faith, and because of this faith that God counted him as a righteous man. This was and still is a miracle of God motivated by His grace.

2. Christ Redeems Us by Becoming a Curse for us (vs. 10-14) - These verses really get to the heart of why we need faith which allows us to be forgiven because if we are not forgiven we are cursed. We need to understand two things here:

2.1. We are all under the curse of God’s Law - we are guilty before God for breaking His Law, we are condemned by God, we are separated from God, and finally we are hopeless without God.

2.2. Christ Came Under the Cross of God’s Judgment for us - literally, He became the curse for us. By becoming the curse he covered our guilt, endured our condemnation, suffered our separation, and his death overcame our hopelessness.

1. Don’t Be Led Astray - Paul asks “did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” The Spirit of God is not and cannot be earned. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity, is everything to the life of the believer. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and you would never be converted if the Spirit did not show you your sin and your need for Jesus. It was God’s grace that allowed you to hear it and it is your faith by which you received it. No works involved. Don’t be led astray. It is by faith you receive salvation.

2. Beware of Self Reliance - When we do a couple of good things, and suddenly we take credit for doing these things, this opens the dangerous door to self-reliance. When you try to do it on your own you usually will mess it up. It was God who brought you into this world. His son died in your place, His Spirit brought you to salvation and you can do nothing apart from Him.

3. Stop Suffering Needlessly - You will always be trying to do enough, but it will never be enough. Why would you suffer for something you could have avoided? All you will find when adding some work to the Gospel will be disappointment and judgment. You can’t do anything more than what Christ has already done to be justified. What you can do is trust Him and then honor Him by letting Him live through you. God works through you by His Spirit because of your faith in Him.

Thorns can be turned into blessings and weakness can be turned into strength when Christ is in you. In this message, we will have five questions to answer.

1. What was the Thorn? - Some scholars think it could have been a physical ailment or disability. It could have been physical, but also it could have been mental or spiritual. We don’t know for sure. For you, the “Thorn in the Flesh” might be a physical ailment or a mental struggle like depression or anxiety that never seems to leave you or it might be a particular person who is getting under your skin. Whatever your thorn, identify it and bring that with you through the rest of the text.

2. Why did God Allow the Thorn? (v. 7) - For Paul, it was to keep him from exalting himself. In other words, humility. There is no space to exalt yourself as a follower of Christ, and God may allow a thorn in your life to keep you humble. There is always a purpose for the pain we are feeling.

3. Why Doesn’t God Remove the Thorn? (v. 8-9) - Three times Paul pleaded, “It hurts LORD, please take it from me.” This is our natural response to the pain. In 1 Cor. 10:13 we read, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation, He will provide the way of escape also so that you will be able to endure it.” You may think “God won’t give me more than I can handle.” But the truth is that “God will not give you more than you can bear with Him.”

4. Why is The Thorn Good for You? (v. 10) - When you allow God to flip the script and turn weakness to strength, you will be content and be more able to endure. That is what Paul says in v. 10, ”Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions, difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

5. What Happens when we Don’t Let our Weakness Become our Strength? - We could also phrase it: What happens if we don’t turn to God when life gets too hard to handle? The answer is that the thorn becomes infected. So whatever your thorn is today - loneliness, anxiety, isolation, sadness, shame, sexual temptation, etc... turn to Christ, trust Him and you will be able to endure it.

Christ was Crucified so we could be justified. Therefore worship Him by allowing Him to live through you.

1. We are Justified by What Christ Did not by What We Do (v. 15-19) - The word “Justified” according to N.T. Scholar, NT Wright means “a declaration that somebody is in the right.” When we take Justification into the realm of faith you have the idea of being declared righteous or seen as right in the eyes of God. We receive righteousness this by faith. Therefore we are justified by faith in what Christ accomplished. Also, our behavior matters. When the Righteousness of Christ is given to you by faith you are a new creation, with a new nature inclined to obey God instead of rebel against Him. Remember, we are justified by God to live for Him, which brings us to the next point.

2. Let Christ Live Through you (v. 19-20) - These two verses are the Gospel living and paradigm shift in your Christianity. It puts the Why back in what you do. It’s the Why behind How you choose to live. We know that God requires obedience and wants us as believers to die to sin. But, like the Judaizers in Galatia, we don’t make the rules. Some of the things we die on the sword for are not even biblical mandates. Christianity is not about do’s and don’ts. Paul lives his moral life before men to honor Christ, not to earn God’s favor. In the same way, Worship God! Let Christ live through you. Be an ambassador for Him! Live morally above reproach because His sacrifice means something to you!

Paul was active in leading this church in Antioch. He left this diverse church with Jews and Gentiles living together in Christian harmony. But when Paul came back, Peter and the other Jewish Christians were pulling away from the Gentile Christians. Paul was shocked when Peter seemed to revert back to Jewish cultural mandates in keeping the Jewish believers separate from the Gentile believers. Taking our eyes off Jesus will do the same to you today as it did Peter then. Which brings us to two main points:

1. Keep your eyes on Jesus, not the Context or Culture - Peter in the past had such bold faith that he walked on the water toward Jesus. At first, he was doing it. But the moment he took his eyes off Jesus and started giving his attention to the context that surrounded him he started to sink. This is a theme in his Christian walk. In the same way, Peter was a hypocrite with the Gentiles believers and Paul was forced to confront Peter to his face about this grievous mistake. Paul says the truth of the Gospel was affected by Peter’s wavering and excluding.

2. The Gospel is an Equalizer and Unifier - When we come to the Cross and we see our sin that nailed Him there, we suddenly all become equal. Christ did not die for a certain type of person, Christ died for sins. He rose from the dead to defeat death for everyone. But also because it makes all men equal, it should also unify all men. So when dealing with cultural challenges or political arguments among believers and church members we must stop focusing on what divides us and start focusing on what brings us together. Otherwise, we will get nowhere.

The Gospel transformed Paul completely and we should let it do the same to us. So let the Gospel bring you from death to life in salvation.

1. The first type of transformation Paul experienced was a transformation from life to death. Paul elaborates on this Gospel transformation by showing what he looked like as a dead man. He was a persecutor and destroyer of the church beyond measure. It was Paul who stood there and watched other Jewish leaders as they stoned Stephen to death for sharing the truth of Christ from the Old Testament. No man could influence him or sway him, which leads us to Paul’s transformation in v. 15-16. God, sovereignly set him apart from birth, had grace on him, and revealed Christ to him. God saved Paul. This is the first and most important transformation everyone listening needs to make. If you have not yet to surrender to Jesus Christ as Savior, realize that the sin you are in makes you dead. But God can bring you to life through faith in Christ who died to pay the penalty you deserve for the sin you have lived in. Come to Christ today!

2. Secondly, let the Gospel be your purpose. Jesus saved Paul, but the salvation had a greater purpose and calling beyond himself. His calling might be a lighting fast mention but it takes Paul on a lifelong and oftentimes difficult and dangerous journey. Paul knew that his calling was to preach the Gospel. He had a secondary and specific calling to the gentiles, but it was not like Paul waited till he found gentiles before he started sharing the Gospel. This gave Paul purpose his whole life long even when he was not specifically with gentiles. You might have a secondary calling, but that can’t supersede your first call. Paul was an apostle and missionary, but the Great Commission held first priority. Choose today to obey the Great Commission as you go and make disciples. Get involved in a small group and make yourself accountable to a few Christian friends. This is our calling. So go, preach the Gospel and make disciples.

Salvation comes through Christ alone so don’t add anything to the Gospel that saves you.

1. We can Trust Paul as His Message and Authority Come from God (v. 1-5) - This may seem like a minor point, but we need to be reminded of Paul’s authority. It’s easy to breeze through the introductory material and get to the hard hitting battles in the body of the letter. We need to understand that every word Paul penned was inspired by God. Inspiration means that the Holy Spirit led Paul to write what he wrote while still leaving his distinct human personality intact. His orders came from the top, and how we need to understand authority these days. Submitting to authority, whether it be societal, or biblical helps us to learn to obey God better. We must obey the LORD above all.

2. We Must Not Let Anything Distract from the Gospel (1:6-10) - In verse six Paul is amazed that they have so quickly turned to another Gospel. In verse seven Paul makes it clear that this is not really another Gospel because there is only one Gospel. The message they have turned to was a false Gospel and no gospel at all. The term Gospel means good news and the message these believers have been distracted by was not good news. People are always adding some type of work to the Gospel or putting some secondary issues on the same footing as the Gospel. This corrupts the message of Christ every time. We need to understand that Salvation is by God’s Grace alone, through Faith alone, and in Christ alone, as revealed in the Scriptures.

We must count the cost of following Jesus so as to be true followers and to live a life of effectiveness for Him.

1. A Faithful Follower Counts the Cost of Discipleship (v. 27-33) - Jesus uses two illustrations in the beginning to make the same point.

1.1 The first is about construction. Who does not first consider what a house would cost before they build it? You need to consider how much will cost, so you can finish your construction. In the same way, you need to consider what it would cost you to follow Jesus.

1.2 The second illustration works much the same. What king or general would not consider the size and strength of an opposing army before going to battle? Every successful wartime mission considers the enemy. They know their weaknesses and strengths. If you are willing to follow Jesus no matter what, that means you are willing to weigh the cost of being unpopular, the cost of losing your job… and maybe even the cost of your own life.

2. Counting the Cost will Keep you Salty (v. 34-35) - Staying salty means staying useful. If the salt loses its saltiness, it is useless. This is just like Christians becoming ineffective for the Kingdom. They lost flavor. This is a constant battle to not let the comfort of this world distract you from following Jesus. Keep staying salty.

Christ’s great forgiveness awakens the soul to love. Let us lavish our love on Christ greatly!

1. The Pharisees’ Prideful Prayer - There is No Salvation in the Strength of Man (vs. 9-12) - In the Pharisees’ prayer, he exalts himself to God and over others. He compares his strengths to the weakness of others to justify in his mind his righteousness. He was boasting about his strength in comparison to the people around him. The point is: God was not impressed with his strength, and even today He is not impressed with our “strength.” The idea that someone can trust themselves for righteousness is contemptible to Christ. Righteousness is only given by God as a gift.

2. The Prayer for Mercy - Weakness is the Way of Salvation (vs. 13-14) - The Pharisee goes to the front of the temple to offer prayer to God with eyes lifted to heaven. The tax collector on the other hand does not go down front. He even does not lift his eyes to heaven. He sees himself so low and unworthy that he cannot worship like everyone else. He sat in the back and beat his chest. The beating of the chest was an outward expression of his sorrow for his sin and acknowledgment of God’s righteous anger towards his actions. In Christ, our sins are not just covered they are done away with. Our sins are no more. When God sees us He does not see us in our sins. When God sees us, He sees us in the righteousness of Jesus.

3. Christ Will Exalt The Weak (v. 14) - J. I. Packer says “In our society strength, at least imagined strength is applauded and weakness is thought of as a defect. We like to have the idea that we are strong. For Christians, weakness should be a way of life. Yet most of us try desperately to be sufficient on our own, and we resent our limitations and our needs.” We don't have to become something else to worship. We do not have to pretend to be strong. We can only worship when we lean into our weaknesses because our weaknesses display the greatness of God. Jesus showed in this parable that projected strength is a true weakness. Real strength is embracing your weakness and living a life of dependence upon Christ.