Embracing Grace: Freedom, Justification, and Gospel Truth
Summary
In our time together, we explored the profound questions of faith, sin, and the Christian journey. We began by addressing the weight of guilt and depression that can stem from sin and pain. It's important to recognize that while a deep sense of sin can be a genuine reflection of our separation from God, the gospel redirects us to Christ. We are reminded that despite our sinfulness, God loves us with an everlasting love, and through Christ, we are forgiven and restored to fellowship with the Father. This assurance should lead us to rest confidently in the completed work of Christ, knowing that we are part of God's family and not abandoned.
Understanding the doctrine of justification by faith is crucial. Our justification is not based on our sanctification but entirely on what Christ has done for us. This realization frees us from the burden of trying to earn God's favor through our actions. Instead, we are called to rest in the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to us. This understanding helps us avoid the trap of equating our spiritual maturity with our justification.
We also discussed the importance of baptism as a command from the Lord and a means of grace. Baptism is a declaration of God's promise to wash away our sins and renew us. It is a significant act of obedience and a source of encouragement in our faith journey.
When it comes to sharing the gospel with those living in sin, such as a gay relative, we must approach the situation with love, compassion, and truth. All sin is deserving of death, but the gospel offers the hope of salvation through Christ. We must present the gospel in a way that acknowledges the seriousness of sin while also emphasizing God's love and the promise of redemption.
Finally, we explored the concept of mortifying sin and resisting temptation. This involves a commitment to the basics of Christian living: spending time in God's Word, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. Repentance is more than feeling remorse; it requires a brokenness over sin and a commitment to live differently. We must focus on Christ, not our sin, and strive for holiness with the support of a community that encourages us in our walk with God.
Key Takeaways:
1. Freedom from Guilt and Depression: Embrace the gospel's assurance that despite our sinfulness, we are loved and forgiven by God through Christ. This understanding should lead us to rest confidently in our restored relationship with the Father, knowing we are not abandoned but part of His family. [03:23]
2. Justification by Faith: Our justification is based entirely on Christ's work, not our sanctification. This frees us from the burden of trying to earn God's favor and allows us to rest in the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to us. [05:03]
3. The Significance of Baptism: Baptism is a command from the Lord and a means of grace, serving as a declaration of God's promise to wash away our sins and renew us. It is an act of obedience and a source of encouragement in our faith journey. [09:53]
4. Sharing the Gospel with Love and Truth: When sharing the gospel with those living in sin, approach with love, compassion, and truth. Acknowledge the seriousness of sin while emphasizing God's love and the promise of redemption through Christ. [15:30]
5. Mortifying Sin and Resisting Temptation: Commit to the basics of Christian living: time in God's Word, prayer, and fellowship. Repentance requires brokenness over sin and a commitment to live differently. Focus on Christ, not sin, and strive for holiness with community support. [38:19]
Youtube Chapters:
[00:00] - Welcome
[00:21] - Introduction to Q&A
[01:03] - Freedom from Guilt and Depression
[02:31] - Assurance in Christ
[04:15] - Justification by Faith
[06:43] - Election vs. Predestination
[08:15] - The Importance of Baptism
[10:42] - Marriage and Doctrinal Unity
[14:11] - Sharing the Gospel with a Gay Relative
[19:28] - Responding to the Problem of Evil
[24:08] - Grieving the Holy Spirit
[29:07] - Understanding Anthropomorphisms
[33:48] - Mortifying Sin and Resisting Temptation
[40:07] - Closing Remarks
Study Guide
Bible Study Discussion Guide
Bible Reading:
1. Romans 5:1-2 - "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand."
2. Galatians 3:26-27 - "So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."
3. 1 Peter 3:15-16 - "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."
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Observation Questions:
1. According to the sermon, what is the relationship between our sense of guilt and the gospel's assurance of forgiveness? [02:31]
2. How does the doctrine of justification by faith help believers avoid the trap of equating spiritual maturity with justification? [05:03]
3. What role does baptism play in the Christian faith according to the sermon, and why is it considered a means of grace? [09:53]
4. How should Christians approach sharing the gospel with those living in sin, such as a gay relative, according to the sermon? [15:30]
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Interpretation Questions:
1. How does understanding justification by faith change a believer's perspective on their relationship with God and their own sinfulness? [04:15]
2. In what ways does the sermon suggest that baptism serves as both an act of obedience and a source of encouragement in the faith journey? [09:53]
3. What are the implications of approaching someone living in sin with love, compassion, and truth, as discussed in the sermon? [15:30]
4. How does the concept of mortifying sin and resisting temptation relate to the basics of Christian living, such as prayer and fellowship? [33:48]
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Application Questions:
1. Reflect on a time when you felt weighed down by guilt or depression. How can the assurance of God's love and forgiveness through Christ change your perspective in similar situations? [03:23]
2. How can you remind yourself daily that your justification is based on Christ's work and not your own actions? What practical steps can you take to rest in this truth? [05:03]
3. If you have not been baptized, what steps can you take to understand its significance and follow through with this command? If you have been baptized, how can you use this experience to encourage others in their faith journey? [09:53]
4. Think of a person in your life who is living in sin. How can you approach them with the gospel in a way that balances truth and love, while maintaining the relationship? [15:30]
5. Identify a specific sin or temptation you struggle with. What practical steps can you take to mortify this sin, and how can your community support you in this process? [38:19]
6. How can you incorporate more time in God's Word, prayer, and fellowship into your daily routine to strengthen your resistance to temptation? [33:48]
7. Consider the role of repentance in your life. How can you move beyond feeling remorse to making a commitment to live differently? What changes can you make this week to reflect true repentance? [37:44]
Devotional
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Quotes
"GODFREY: Well, I think one could say in the first place that it's not all bad to have a profound sense of sin before the Lord, if it's a genuine reflection of truth. I think of Psalm 88 and the, the pain the psalmist feels there of separation from God and suffering in the world, and the misery that can be true of this life. But, the gospel constantly points us away from ourselves and to Christ and encourages us to really feast on the truth that, although we are great sinners who deserve only the wrath of God, He has loved us with an everlasting love, He's given His son for us." [00:02:04]
"FERGUSON: Chris, I think I've found getting a better understanding of the doctrine of justification by God's grace through faith is a tremendous help to us, especially to realize that the justification that we have is not dependent on anything that is done in us, but entirely dependent on what God has done for us in Christ. And because it's been done for us in Christ, we can neither add to it, nor subtract from it." [00:03:36]
"FERGUSON: I have never done this, but I've often wanted in a church to ask if the, if the elders would point me to the oldest and most mature Christian in the congregation, and also to the newest Christian, and to bring them out to the front and to ask the congregation, 'Which of these two is most justified? Is it this woman who has served and suffered 50 years, or this girl who became a believer three weeks ago?' Just to underline the point that our justification is not based on our sanctification." [00:04:23]
"GODFREY: You mean beside that the Lord commanded us to do it? Did you see that? I was struck! I was I was persecuted for, well, I, this sort of comes to mind because I was just reading a student dissertation where he talked about John Foxe in the 17th century, and the founder of the Quaker movement, and that John Foxe, had, at least in some ways, rejected the doctrine of the Trinity because he said it wasn't in the Bible. And then he rejected baptism. And I couldn't help as I read that, but think, 'But isn't baptism in the Bible?'" [00:08:51]
"GODFREY: I mean, the Lord gave the Great Commission, that we are to carry the gospel, to disciple the nations, and to baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I think, personally, that we have seriously undervalued baptism in a lot of Protestant evangelical circles, and the Lord intends baptism to be a great promise and encouragement to us, and is a declaration of His purpose to wash away our sins and renew us." [00:09:45]
"PARSONS: Well, I'll just simply say we want to share the gospel with a gay relative or friend or neighbor gently and carefully and thoughtfully and prayerfully. And, we want to make sure, though, that all the components of the gospel are presented, but in the same way that the gospel would be presented to any of us, in one sense. I don't want to be glib about this, but we need to recognize that all sin is deserving of death. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, is salvation." [00:14:25]
"PARSONS: We all need to hear the gospel presented to us in love and care and with compassion. And we need to hear the words of the gospel and the words and the promises of God that are offered to us in the gospel, because we are all weak sinners. It's not to, not to suggest that all sin is the same. We do know that some sins are more heinous than others. We know that homosexual sin is contrary to nature, as according to Romans 1, that it is contra naturum. And so, being a sin that is contrary to nature, it is a more heinous sin in the eyes of God." [00:15:02]
"NICHOLS: I think much of this is just the basics of living the Christian life, and has to be right at the center, is time in God's Word. This is how we come to know the mind of God. This is how we come to know what God approves and what God disapproves. And so, if we're not spending that time in God's Word, we're not having God's Word convict us of our sin, even awareness of what is our sin." [00:33:58]
"NICHOLS: And then on top of that conviction and then the mortification, I think it's not only the Bible reading, but it's the time in prayer. It's, we all recognize what are those sins that we struggle with, and what are those temptations that are unique to us. And so, we spend time in prayer, pleading for the Spirit who dwells within us, to come to our assistance as we try to put to death those sins that we are entangled in." [00:34:56]
"PARSONS: Just a couple of things following what Steve said. We have to understand what repentance is, and I think a lot of Christians in our day, because we've been so inundated and influenced by so much bad teaching out there, that for many Christians, repentance looks a lot like just remorse, and feeling badly about their sin. But, but repentance, and to mortify sin in the flesh, to kill sin in the flesh, we first have to understand what repenting of our sin looks like." [00:37:24]
"PARSONS: And that is a brokenness, a contrition of our sin that we are, we are truly broken by it. We are contrite and humbled by our sin. Then we confess our sin. But we don't stop there. That's where most Christians stop. But we are called to consecrate ourselves to a different way of living, a different way of thinking. And that even means striving to set parameters or guardrails, or noticing what the triggers are in our lives to try to help us not commit those same sins again, because the mortification of our sin is a lifelong process, as all of you know, and even when you think you've killed a sin, it can rear its ugly head a year or two, or ten years later." [00:38:00]
"PARSONS: But as I said earlier, too often we, we try to kill sin, we try to overcome sin by focusing on the sin. And what we read in Hebrews 12:1-2, is, is that's not the way we go about killing sin. We don't focus on the sin which so easily entangles itself, like, like vines and, and weeds growing up out of the ground to strangle us and wrap themselves around our ankles and legs to make us fall. The way we mortify sin is not by focusing on the sin, but by focusing on Christ." [00:38:44]
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