No Other Message but Christ

The gospel of Jesus Christ is gloriously simple: sinners are saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ alone. Yet, as Paul will show us in Galatians 2:1–10 this week, there is always a temptation to complicate the gospel. The false teachers of Paul’s day wanted Gentile believers to embrace certain requirements of the law that would inevitably compromise the gospel of grace. As Paul made clear in chapter 1, any addition to the gospel is no gospel at all. Any addition to Christ will ultimately diminish Christ and the sufficiency of His work. The gospel calls us to rest completely in the finished work of Christ, not in our religious performance, moral achievements, or ability to measure up. Before we think this has little to do with us, the reality is our hearts are constantly tempted to look for something besides Christ to give us confidence before God. We may trust in our church attendance, our Bible knowledge, our good works, our family heritage, or our sterling reputation. But Galatians 2 reminds us that the gospel is not Christ plus our effort—it is Christ alone. The question is not, “Have I done enough?” but, “Is Christ enough?” And the answer must always be a resounding “Yes!” His righteousness is sufficient. His death is sufficient. His resurrection is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. My prayer is that we readily reject every addition to the gospel that makes Christ insufficient. Do not allow guilt, pride, legalism, or the affirmation of others to become the thing that shapes your identity and replaces the freedom found in Christ. Let the gospel produce both humility and confidence in you: humility because salvation is entirely God’s grace, and confidence because your standing with God rests entirely upon Jesus. The church must never compromise the gospel, because the gospel is the good news that Christ is enough. Rest in Him, rejoice in Him, and live today with the settled confidence that you need nothing more than Jesus.  – Pastor Nate 

Sunday at Liberty

9AM: BTH–Ephrem the Syrian–John 10:7-10 

10AM: Pastor Nate–No Other Message but Christ–Galatians 2:1-10 (sermon notes) 

No Evening Gathering