True Freedom series, “Boast Only in the Cross of Christ”
by Sherman Watters   §   GALATIANS 6:11-18

In his book, Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper spends a chapter entitled “Boasting only in the cross” where he treats the very topic that we are going to discuss this morning. Piper remarks that a statement like this is like saying only rejoice in the electric chair, gas chamber, lethal injection or lynching rope. The cross is (one of, if not the) most excruciating way that man has devised to kill. In fact the word excruciating was coined to describe what death on a cross was like. This morning we are going to talk about rejoicing in that horrible form of execution, because Christ endured it to bring us salvation, so that we may be saved. Piper also remarks on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, The Cost of Discipleship. Dietrich said “The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise God-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die.” Bonhoeffer was later martyred for his faith in Nazi Germany.

That is where we are going to end this series, at the cross, because that is where we all find our beginning. Over the last semester, we have learned that there is no other gospel by which men may be saved. We learned that the gospel is something we have to contend for, especially in our own churches. We have learned that we are justified by grace through faith and not work, that the law was a schoolmaster to guard us until Christ came, that we should live by faith and not by the law, that we are children of the promise and that the promise is of faith in Christ, we are adopted into God’s family as sons and daughters, that Christ has freed us so that we could be free to live by the Spirit and not the flesh, walk by the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit in our personal lives and in the church. Last week we talked about bearing one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ and that if we sow into the flesh we will reap of the flesh, but if we sow into the Spirit, then we will reap eternal life. Through all of this we have seen that we will be persecuted and that we will have to stand firm in the truth that we have received. Today we are closing out the book and we will take a look at some of the things that Paul considered worthy of writing with his own hand as he ends this letter to the Galatians. — 10:30am Sunday Worship St. Michael’s Academy

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True Freedom series, “Stand firm in the Truth and in Freedom”
by Sherman Watters   §   GALATIANS 5:1-12

Here is an overview:
1. Christ delivered us from the power and authority of sin so that we could live as we ought.
2. Works cannot and do not add value to your salvation.
3. Run to the cross of Christ the offense that brings salvation and persecution.

Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Remember last week when Allen Duty was talking about the Bible being written plainly so that we can understand it? – If he had the hardest section of verses, then verse 1 is the easiest.

Christ set us free, so that we would be free.

That’s pretty much it, but let’s look at what that freedom looks like and what it’s for. — 10:30am Sunday Worship St. Michael’s Academy

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True Freedom series, “Adoption: God’s Grace Makes Us His Children”
by Sherman Watters   §   GALATIANS 3:26-4:11

I believe that James 1:27 calls caring for orphans in their distress “pure and undefiled” because every believer was once an orphan who was adopted by God into His family. God, at great cost, sought to make us his own children. He sent His one and only Son to bear the weight and penalty of our sin so that we could become adopted children of God.

As we discuss Galatians 3:26-4:11 today, we are going to consider three main points about believers as seen in this passage:

1. We are sons of God through faith in Christ
2. God chose to adopt us and be our Father
3. God’s call and character always beckon a response.

So, does the great the love and power of God that chose a wretched sinner like you and me to be a part of His family and bring Glory to His name require a response? Do you see the part you have to play in God’s grace being shown to the world? — 10:30am Sunday Worship St. Michael’s Academy

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True Freedom series, “Fear God or Man: Compromising or Upholding the Truth of the Gospel”
by Sherman Watters   §   GALATIANS 2:11-21

The fear of man leads to compromising the Gospel – exchanging the truth for a lie. The fear of God leads to upholding the truth in the face of opposition – whoever/whatever that may be. Justification by Faith is the only answer. — 10:30am Sunday Worship St. Michael’s Academy

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