Are you foolish or are you wise?

Jerry Parries:
Are you foolish or are you wise? Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life, here to communicate the freeing truth that God’s not mad at his children. Steve invited our friend Jerry Parries to teach this week. Jerry is the pastor of Christian Family Worship Center House of Grace and the author of Grace the Real Good News of the Gospel.

Jerry Parries:
Thank you Matthew. Jeremy, this is the third day and I’m excited to have you working with me. Thank you so much for all that you do. Hey, if you tune in today, expecting to hear the man of all the wisdom, Dr. Steve Brown, he has allowed me to sit in this week and I am tremendously grateful for the opportunity. I am one of the voices of Key Life. I am Pastor Jerry Q. Perrys. And all this week I have been teaching from the book of Galatians. I hope that it has blessed you. And if you’re joining us for the first time, you can go to our website and listen to the broadcast for the other two days and kind of get caught up, to what we’ve been talking about. Listen, if you have a friend or family member, and you would like them to hear about the message of grace, this is a great time to call them and tell them to tune in. Galatians is an amazing book about grace. And this week, my theme this week is just, it’s all about grace. Man, the finished work of the cross.

Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.

And if you read the entire book of Galatians and you have an open mind and open heart, the revelation of the gospel will be open up to you like never before. I believe that, it is such a great book to read out of the New Living Translation. So, I would encourage you to do that, so that you can get the revelation that we are talking about today. Well, on Monday, I talked about there is no other gospel, but the gospel of grace. And Paul says.

If you mix law and grace together, that you are preaching a perverted gospel.

And that the Bible says.

That if you preach any other gospel than grace, then you’re preaching a curse.

And then on Tuesday, I talked about that you can’t be afraid of criticism that comes when you preach the gospel of grace from religious people, they are always going to tell you no, grace is not enough. You got to keep the rules and regulations. You think God’s going to get tired of you sitting at some point in time, that’s a favorite line. Well, at some point in time, God’s going to get tired of you doing what you’re doing. Well, Peter asked Jesus that question. Peter said.

Lord, how often should I forgive my brother that sin against me? Seven times. Jesus said, no. You should forgive him seven times 70 in a day.

That’s 490 times. Now listen people, if Jesus would tell Peter to forgive his brother 490 times, don’t you believe that Jesus would do double for us? He wouldn’t ask Peter to do something that he wouldn’t do himself. So, that means that Jesus will forgive you for the same sin 980 times in one day. That means that you will run out of sin before God runs out of grace. So, don’t be afraid to listen to criticism from people when they tell you that grace is not enough. Grace is enough. Grace is all there is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. God, when he paid for sin and died, the Bible says in Hebrews, he did it one time, he did it once and for all times. And so, your sins have been forgiven of your past, your present, and your future sins. If I was driving in the car right now, I would throw up my hands and scream and say, hallelujah that I have been forgiven of my past, my present, and my future sins. Well, I’m jumping into verse three today, chapter three of Galatians and I’m starting at verse one, listen to what it says.

Oh, foolish Galatians!

And sometime we could say that about ourselves. Oh, foolish us!

Who have cast a spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was as clear to you as you have seen a picture of his death on the cross.

Paul said, Hey, you know what Jesus Christ has done for you. How foolish can you be? Let me add verse two.

Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not, you received the Holy Spirit because you believed in the message you heard about Christ. How foolish

verse 3

How foolish can you be? After starting your new life in grace in the Spirit, why are you trying to become perfect by your own human effort?

Can I tell you something? You will burn out in life trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Hey, I’ve got to set my alarm clock because I got to pray five times a day. I’ve got a fast food four times a week. I’ve got to make sure that I’m pleasing God. You will burn out trying to please God by your own human effort. God is already a hundred percent pleased with you because of Jesus Christ. Would you receive that into your heart today? Man, that God is a hundred percent pleased with me and he’s already approved me, not because of my works, but because of the works of Jesus Christ that he has done for me.

How foolish can you be? After starting your new life in the Spirit, why are you trying to become perfect by your own human effort?

verse 4

Have you experienced so much for nothing. Surely it was not vain, was it?

verse 5

I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about the finished work of the cross. In the same way, “Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. What’s more, the Scriptures looks forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”

verse 9, I love verse nine, verse nine makes me want to shout like I’m in the Pentecostal church and run up and down the aisles. Listen, what verse nine says.

So all who put their faith in Christ. All who put their faith in Christ.

Let me say it one more time.

All who put their faith in Christ shares the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.

What did the blessing that Abraham received? The Bible said.

That Abraham believed God and he was counted as righteous.

When you and I put our faith in Jesus Christ, we have what we call imputed righteousness. God takes his righteousness and place it up on us. When we believe in the finished work of the cross, we are made perfect. We are made holy. We are made blameless. And it is imputed to us because of our faith.

But those who depend

This is what verse 10 says.

But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scripture says, “Cursed is everyone who does not obey every commandment that is written under God’s law.”

Let me tell you something, if you are depending upon the law to make you right with God, if you say, well, Hey, I’m going to do what God’s commandments have told me, because that’s what’s going to make me right. He says, you have to do all the books of the law. And so, it is clear verse 11.

That no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scripture says, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

Man, when you believe in the finished work of the cross, when you accept what Christ have done for you, that is what makes you righteous. You will never be holier than you are right now. You are holy because of the finished work of the cross and there’s nothing you can do to make yourself holier than you are right now. You just have to believe it and receive it. Listen what it says.

This way of faith is very different from the law, which says it is through obeying the law that a person has life.

verse 13

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law, when he hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in Scripture, curse is everyone that hangs on the tree.

God took your curse. Listen, I’m telling you when you people talk about generational curses. No, you don’t have any generational curses on you. God took those curses and put them on the cross.

Through Jesus Christ God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessings he has promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

Wow. It’s all about grace. Ha ha ha. The grace of God in your life is amazing. Receive it today. Stop trying to perform to please God. You already pleased him because you believed in Jesus Christ. Because you believed in the finished work of the cross, you receive the same blessing of Abraham. That is the good news of the gospel. The good news of the gospel, man, is that you are righteous. Can you imagine waking up in the morning? Can you imagine praying today, knowing that God is going to hear your prayer because you are righteous, you are holy, you are redeemed. Can you imagine how your prayer life would change when you realize that there’s nothing that you have done that is going to hinder your prayers? The prayers of the righteous availeth much. And because you are righteous, not because of you, because of the finished work of the cross, God placed his righteousness on you, and now you are holy. As Dr. Steve Brown would say. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
God is 100 percent pleased with us because of Jesus. What a refreshing reminder that is. Thank you Jerry Q. Parries for sharing that message with us from Galatians 3. We are in a series, it’s called It’s All About Grace and we still have one more day to go. Sure hope you’ll join us for that conclusion tomorrow. Well, if you’re a regular listener to Key Life, then you’ve probably heard Jerry before. He’s an amazingly talented man who really, really gets grace. So, you may be interested in reading some articles he’s written on our website. Just go to keylife.org then on the left hand menu, click the Authors button. Then just scroll down until you find Jerry’s name. And as you’re there, you’ll also see info and articles from all our Key Life contributors. It’s an easy way to really drill into the content that ministers to you the most. And great news, all of our website content is still free thanks to the generous support of listeners just like you. If you’d like to donate, just call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. If you’d like to send your donation by mail, just go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Or email [email protected] you could charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. And of course, you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 and then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the states and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.