Are you afraid of criticism because of grace?

Jerry Parries:
Are you afraid of criticism because of grace? Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you’ve suffered too long under a do more, try harder religion, Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captives free. Steve invited Jerry Parries to teach us this week. Jerry is an author and the pastor of Christian Family Worship Center, House of Grace.

Jerry Parries:
Thank you Matthew. Hey Jeremy, I am back today. I am back today. Listen, if you’ve tuned in expecting to hear the man of wisdom, Dr. Steve Brown, well, he’s allowed me to sit in for him this week. And you know what? I am tremendously grateful for this amazing opportunity. I am pastor Jerry Q. Parries, one of the voices of Key Life. And all this week, I am going to be teaching from the Book of Galatians. I said on yesterday that Galatians is one of my favorite books. It’s amazing. Paul unfolds the message of grace in that book as he does in the Book of Romans. This is what this week is all about. It’s all about grace. Man, God’s grace is absolutely amazing.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.

Man, what a profound and an amazing song. If you ever read the entire Book of Galatians with the open heart and mind, the revelation of the gospel will open up to you like never before. I believe that. So, you always want to go in and read Galatians. New Living Translation is a great translation to read the Book of Galatians. It will help you and it will bless you to know that it is all about the grace of God. On yesterday, I talked about that there is no other gospel, but the gospel of grace. And if you add anything to it, you are preaching another gospel. Paul, the apostle, I didn’t say this, Paul said it. He says.

If you preach any other gospel than grace, you are preaching a curse.

And Paul even said that mixing law and grace together. He calls that preaching a perverted gospel. Man, I mean, I’ve been in church all of my life every since I was born, I think I was born on an altar. I’ve been in church, Pentecostal churches, Apostolic church, Baptist church. I’ve been in church all of my life. And sometimes when we were growing up, we have a hell fire and brimstone was always preached. If you don’t do this, God’s going to get you. If you, if you don’t do this, you’re going to hell. And they preach this message that God was a God of anger. God was a God that was ready to just hit you with hell fire, you know. And I come to learn that that wasn’t the God I know at all. In fact, Jesus introduced him as the Father. He is a Father. He is someone that loves you. I give a story sometime about my dad. My dad was so kind to me. I had never got whooped from my father in all of my life. He’s never raised his voice at me. He’s always loved me. And then when I did something wrong, he would hug me and say, why did you do that? That’s not the right thing to do. I learned grace from my father. And because I had a loving father, I understand the relationship of God to us. The Bible even says.

If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more does the heavenly Father know how to love you?

And so, therefore, I know that we have a good, good Father who is loving. He is not one that is ready to send you to hell or make you pay for things you’ve done in your past. Jesus, God took all of his wrath out on Jesus on the cross so that he can release all of his love on you. You will run out of sin before God runs out of grace. That is the incredible good news of the gospel. Well, let me jump right into my teaching today because you will be criticized when you talk about the grace of God. And grace alone can save you. But listen, the Bible even says.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe.

Grace is the power of God unto salvation.

For by grace, you have been saved. Not by works so that no man can boast.

Sometimes I hear people talk about hyper grace and I always laugh at the term of hyper grace, because grace is not hyper. Grace is all it is. So, how can it be hyper when that’s all that it is? Grace is everything. So, let me jump back into Galatians in the short time that I have left and I’m going to jump down to verse six, for Paul starts in verse one to nine. Paul talks about that when he was, he went to all the apostles to share with them about the message of the revelation of grace that he was preaching and all of them approved of it. So we start at verse six. He says.

And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching.

He was preaching grace. He says.

(By the way, their reputation as great leaders, made no difference to me for God has no favorites.) Instead, they saw that God has given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel of grace to the Gentile, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews. For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles. In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews. The only thing they suggest was that we would keep on helping the poor, which we always eagerly do.

See, it’s easy to stand and preach grace when you have people that believe in the message. When we’re here at Key Life and we talk about grace. Oh, everybody’s happy, man, because we all believe in grace. But sometimes when you go out, we encounter what Peter encountered in verse 11. I want you to listen to this because Peter didn’t want to be criticized for preaching grace, he didn’t want to be criticized, so he backed up. Look at verse 11.

But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some of his friends, some of the friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on necessary for you to continue to obey the law. As a result, other Jewish believers follow Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. When I saw they were not following the truth of the gospel message,

What is the truth of the gospel message? Is that it is all about the cross, about grace.

I said to Peter in front of the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, has disregarded the Jewish law and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow these Jewish traditions? You and I are Jews by birth, not sinners like the Gentiles. And yet we know that a person is made right with God

Listen to this.

by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law.

There you go.

And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.

That’s verse 16. Let me say that again.

For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. We are made right with God because we believe in the finished work of the cross.

That is the grace, that is the gospel. And that’s the reason that we are saved. It is all about grace. And listen, what verse 17 says.

But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law? Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I have already torn down. For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law, I stopped trying to meet all of its requirements so that I might live for God. For my old self have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Wow. Grace, it’s all about the grace of God. I don’t know who I’m speaking to, but don’t you worry about being criticized. Stand on the truth. The gospel truth and the truth is that the gospel is all about the grace of God. You don’t have to be ashamed that God has forgiven you of your past, your present, and your future sins. You can walk in grace with your head up and not worry about the criticism that will come your way.

Listen, people of God, I do not treat the grace of God meaningless for if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Remember that the cross alone is what saves you. Remember that the cross alone is what saves you. As Dr. Steve Brown would say, you think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
We will be criticized for preaching the gospel, but that is not the end of the story. Thank you Jerry. We’re continuing in a fantastic series from Jerry Q. Parries based on Galatians called It’s All About Grace. More to come tomorrow. Hope you’ll join us. You ever hear that phrase, you don’t need a boat, you just need a friend with a boat. That’s what I think of when we talk to Hugh Ross. You don’t need to be a super genius, you just need a friend who’s a super genius. And Hugh certainly fits that bill. We recently spoke with him on Steve Brown Etc about Biblical inerrancy. And man, was it fascinating. Get that entire conversation on CD for free by calling us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. To mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Again, just ask for the free CD featuring Hugh Ross. And finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you join us in that work through your financial support? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone right now and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two, doesn’t matter. Text that to 28950 and then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.