We are in Galatians this evening. If you have a Bible and you'd like to turn there, we're going to read just the first few verses, but they pack a punch, I warn you. This is the controversy I mentioned before now coming to fruition here in this Roman province of Galatia. Many of these churches, having just been planted by the Apostle Paul, probably just months before, have already fallen to another gospel. Hear now from Galatians chapter 1. Paul, an apostle, not from men. nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead. And all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed, as we've said before. So now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For have I still pleased men? I would not be a bondservant of Christ. But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which I preached by me is not according to man, for neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Let's pray together then. Our Father, we pray that this revelation again would come to us in a different way, that the words of the apostle of defending the importance of the fundamentals of the gospel would again instruct our mind and our church in our time. We pray that you would give us also the victory which as described here comes only in Jesus and therefore to stand fast in that liberty by which Christ himself has made us free. We ask it for his sake. Amen. This is a letter that tells of a titanic battle that raged I should say I guess in the early church over the nature of the gospel. It's a letter of tremendous passion, as you've heard, of, at various times, anger, fear, love, and hope, all compact. Paul is fighting for the life of these believers in the churches of Galatia, which he himself had founded just months previously. But the letter doesn't simply tell us about a struggle in the gospel back in some roving province in ancient times. It does also warn us against the constant danger that we all face, the danger that the church faces in every generation and into which many churches have succumbed. A danger of tampering with, or in his words, perverting the gospel, adding to it and thereby losing it altogether. In context, let me explain. Paul and Barnabas, as we read earlier, had set out from Antioch on an evangelistic mission. That mission is detailed in Acts 13 and 14. The last part of that missionary journey took them through the Roman province of Galatia, today South Central Turkey. When they returned home, A controversy had broken out in the church. We read about that in Acts 15. Some from the sect of the Pharisees, who believed in Jesus, came and taught them, that is there in Antioch, that the Gentiles had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. That is, they needed circumcision if they were going to get in, and they needed to keep the law if they were going to stay in this state of grace. This gospel The gospel was being attacked from inside the church. And that is always the great problem in history. The gospel has not been damaged, very little anyway, by pagans. It has not been damaged by atheists and people outside the church. The Christian gospel has always been damaged by those inside the professing church. betrayed with a kiss, as it were, by those at the Lord's table. So we're now shortly before the Jerusalem Synod of A.D. 48-49, when this is going to be resolved. But Paul has heard that this doctrine is not only being taught there where they are in Pisidia and Antioch, it's already been flooded the churches of Galatia. He writes a letter to the church to be read there to defend the truth of the gospel from those who have sought to corrupt it there. So here in the passage that we read at the beginning of the letter, Paul starts out just as passionate as he could be. He plunges right in. I marvel that you're turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. They want to pervert the gospel. I say again, verse nine, if anyone preaches any other gospel than what you've received, let him be accursed. That is anathema. Damned, eternally condemned, some of you have. Well, this is the passion that goes throughout the letter. Chapter three, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Chapter five, how I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off. Very colorful verse. Here's also this very affectionate verse from chapter four. My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. I would like to be present with you and change my tone. It's this emotional letter. He's heartbroken. He doesn't want to speak to them like this, but he is willing to do so because of the urgency of the matter. Paul writes forcefully, passionately, since he says this is not just a small controversy. The Gospel is at stake. This isn't a disagreement among true Christians. It's a disagreement between true believers and what he actually calls later in this letter, false brothers. who have preached another gospel. This is not merely about requiring circumcision, it's about denying the very heart of the gospel, which, as he explains in chapter two, is justification by faith, 2.16. We know that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, as we Jews. Not by the works of the law, For by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified, Jew or Gentile. No way. This isn't about whether Gentiles would keep a few Jewish ceremonies, but about trying to be saved by the keeping of the law. And Paul says in chapter 5, I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised. He's a debtor to keep the whole law. If you want to be saved by law, you've got to keep the whole thing. "'You have become estranged from Christ,' he writes, "'you who attempt to be justified by law. "'You've fallen from grace, "'for we through the Spirit eagerly wait "'for the hope of righteousness that is by faith.'" Chapter five, verses three through five. So a passionate appeal to the church on the basis not of some ceremonies or of some internal dispute, oh no, false brethren teaching another gospel. And here's Gresham Machen's comment, New Testament and Greek scholar from 100 years ago on Paul's struggle here. He writes, quote, to the modern church, the difference would have seemed to be a mere theological subtlety. About many things, the Judaizers were in perfect agreement with Paul. The Judaizers believed that Jesus was the Messiah. He then goes on to say several things which they, of course, no doubt believed. I mean, these are the Pharisees, those from the Pharisees who believed. They joined the church. They were the people of Jesus, they said. Without a slightest doubt, Machen writes, they believed that Jesus had really risen from the dead. They believed, moreover, that faith in Christ was necessary to salvation. But the trouble was, they believed that something else was also necessary. They believed that what Christ had done needed to be complemented by the believer's own effort to keep the law. From the modern point of view, the difference would have seemed to be very slight, hardly worthy of consideration in view of the large measure of agreement in the practical realm. Surely some might say Paul ought to have made common cause with the teachers who were so nearly in agreement with him. Surely he ought to have applied to them the great principle of Christian unity. But as a matter of fact, Paul did nothing of the kind, and only because he and others did nothing of the kind Does that Christian church still exist today? Paul certainly was right. The difference which divided him from the Judaizers was no mere theological subtlety, but concerned the very heart and core of the religion of Christ, end quote. Thanks for letting me read that longer one, but it's a great statement. Paul's point in Galatians. It's not about certain Jewish works of the law, that are excluded from salvation. His point here, as he makes very clear, he says all works are excluded. If you want to be justified by the law, he says, you have to keep it all, the whole thing. The nature of the conflict in the Galatian churches is therefore, look, if we can't be justified by works, It is therefore only by what Christ has done for us. He argues that right from the beginning, in verse three, expanding on his standard greeting, look, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins. That word for, by the way, for our sins doesn't mean because of our sins here. It's a Greek dictionary writes here in behalf of, in place of, who pair with the genitive for Greek students. Jesus has placed himself in the place of, in behalf of our sins. He was made sin for us. And in our place, condemned, he stood. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Well, what about good works? Someone will ask. Well, Paul goes on to explain in Galatians how they come from new life in the Spirit. Or as he says to the Ephesians, salvation is not of works, lest anyone should boast. But it is for good works, which we have been created in Christ Jesus to do. But this order, as I said this morning, makes all the difference in the world. So here we are. opening up for you, explaining the beginning of Galatians, what the controversy is, what's going on. But as I said, it does hinge on this matter of justification, and I would like to therefore concentrate for the next few minutes on what this means and what it teaches, and second, what's happened in the church that's divided it over this matter until today. Paul writes first in chapter three, sorry, Paul writes in chapter three, citing Moses, that if you rely on keeping the law, that you are in fact under a curse. But the good news is that there is another way to be justified. not by the keeping of the law, not by what we have done, but by what Christ has done, not by our works, but by Christ's works. And as you'll know, this is one of Paul's very favorite themes. He says it again and again. We heard last week from Acts chapter 13, as Paul preached in the synagogue, Everyone who believes in Jesus is justified from all things by which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Here it is in Romans 3. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, in context, Jew and Gentile, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Again, Ephesians 2, by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works. Lest anyone should boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. In these and many other passages, we are reminded of this way of salvation. Jesus has taken our sins, nailing them to his cross, as it were, and giving us his own righteousness. Luther puts it this way in his commentary. This is that mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners, wherein, by a wonderful exchange, our sins are no longer ours, but Christ's. And the righteousness of Christ is not Christ's but ours. He has emptied himself of his righteousness, that he might clothe us with it and fill us with it. And he has taken our evils upon himself, that he might deliver us from them." And so this is what Paul means when He speaks about here in chapter 2 in the letter of Galatians, about being justified by faith, verse 16, or being justified by Christ, in verse 17, the same thing. That we are now both righteous and sinners. Righteous in Christ, sinners yet in our personal experience. The famous Latin phrase you might have heard, simil justus et peccator. We have been perfected forever, but we are still being sanctified. Now, of course, this was a matter not of the New Testament or anything like that. Paul, in this letter, goes right back to Abraham. And Moses, in Romans, he speaks of David's discovery of the blessedness of the one who's been justified apart from works. Jesus confronted a Judaism that was so legalistic it had no place for a Redeemer. We saw it last week, where the man, who thanks God that he is not like other men, that he's kept the commandments, that he is condemned. And the man who beats his breast and says, God have mercy upon me, a sinner, he goes home justified. Paul will tell us that he himself, in this letter, was born and raised on a Judaism that was thoroughly corrupt, that taught justification by works. And he was the graduate of the best Jewish seminary of his day. Paul had hoped to gain eternal life through obedience to the law, but that law cut him to pieces. And that law teaches us that we can't keep it and that righteousness must therefore before be found elsewhere. A righteousness that comes from God through faith. Now I've been using the word without defining it much. What is this justification you ask? Well, it does have a range of meaning in the original like it does in English, but specifically here, we're talking about how we can be acquitted in the day of judgment. how we can stand in that great day saved, pronounced not guilty, righteous before the judge. Justification in the Bible is the opposite of condemnation. I've shown you this many times. I'll just remind you of one or two places here. Deuteronomy 25, judges must justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. Maybe we'd say they would acquit the righteous or declare them not guilty. Well, the biblical word is justify, to justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. It's the opposite of condemnation. This morning I quoted from Romans 8. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It's Christ who makes intercession for us. Justification in a judicial framework here is the opposite of condemnation. Condemnation doesn't make someone guilty. It declares him guilty. It's the verdict. And justification doesn't make someone righteous. It's the verdict. He is declared righteous. And for Christians, the good news is that we are justified in Christ. Declared righteous. Not guilty. Because He has taken away our sins. He has given us His righteousness. He's been made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The good news is not that we are being made righteous, though we are. The good news is that we are accounted or reckoned to have the righteousness of God in Christ. That united to Him by faith we are declared righteous, accounted righteous. Various biblical authors say this many times in a great variety of ways. To the Corinthians, Paul wrote, God made Him, Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. To the Hebrews, by one offering, Christ has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. To the Romans, We conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law, since there's one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. And so let me define the word with the Heidelberg Catechism's definition, summarizing the good news. Brothers and sisters, we are righteous before God only by true faith in Christ. That is, although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and have never kept any of them, and am still prone always to all evil. Yet God, without any merit of mine, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any sins, and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me. And saving faith, therefore, thus embraces Christ, leans on Christ, trusts in Jesus Christ for salvation and for righteousness Saving faith thus finds its joy in Christ alone, not our works in which we cannot boast. Seeing him as our pearl of great price, the one who's more desirable than all, faith rests in the beloved, realizing that there is no salvation to be found, no peace to be found anywhere else. Faith recognizes that all the glory belongs to him. Faith saves us, not because of our faith, but because of the one in whom we trust. Christ, Paul writes, is the end of the law for righteousness. to everyone who believes, righteousness is found in Jesus. Alright, so I've tried to open up the meaning of the passage in the first couple of verses that we read. I've tried to explain to you the doctrine of justification and what it means, how, not that we are made righteous, but that we receive from God a righteousness through faith in Jesus, that is, that very righteousness of God revealed by faith. And therefore, how it is that this attack of the Galatian church is striking at the fundamentals of the gospel. But now I'd like to spend a few minutes asking another question that someone will ask. Well, what happened then in the Western church? How is it that we've gotten so tangled up and turned around about this matter? How is it that we have divided now of all things on the matter of justification, if it's so important, if it's the fundamental that Paul is here defending so vehemently? Well, there is a long story, as you might guess. It didn't happen one day, everybody's mind was changed, but there were some very important events that I'd like to mention to you. When the New Testament was being translated into Latin for the Western readers, This word justify, the opposite of the word to condemn, this verb that means to declare righteous. Well, for whatever reason, the translation into Latin was justificare, justification, make righteous. That's what the word said. And imagine that every time you read Paul, you were reading how God was making people righteous, not declaring them righteous, but making them righteous by faith. And then later Western writers like Augustine, who knew no Hebrew and virtually no Greek, simply did not understand Paul's meaning and couldn't fit it all together. Some things, of course, were perfectly clear, and they were triumphantly wonderful on, but one of the areas where they stumbled was this matter of justification. From some passages, you knew, even though it said make righteous, you knew it was declare righteous, and so confusion set in, and here's where the trouble began. Augustine and others said that justification must somehow be both being made righteous and being declared righteous. And this was a sharp turn in the pure gospel. Instead of being justified by what Christ has done for us, it was said that Christ justifies us by what He does in us. shifting the focus, you see, from Christ's righteousness, which is perfect, to our own righteousness, which is very, very, very imperfect in this life. Every time you read that word justification, just think, what would it be like if I read, made me righteous? it would be confusing to you. And one other confusing change was already taking place and now come to fruition. In the Bible, you know that the word grace is used in many of these very passages that we've read as the opposite of works. That grace has a range of meaning, of course, it can mean beauty, it can mean poise, all that, yes, but in such passages, Grace is the opposite principle of works. Grace has the sense of an unmerited gift, rather than what is owed or deserved. Ephesians 2, by grace you've been saved, right? It's the gift of God. Romans 4, Abraham's believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. but to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. So in these same passages, grace is the opposite principle of works. Grace, not of works, lest anyone should boast. To him who works, the wages are not grace, but a debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. One more, Romans 11. Our election is by grace, and if by grace, it's no longer by works. Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. But if it's of works, it's no longer grace. Well, grace is the opposite principle in this context, and the opposite of receiving what you deserve. Well, that is a theological term. Grace was often used to mean the way that God grows our faith and righteousness. And this is still with us, it's not altogether wrong here. I mean, when we say that the word of God is a means of grace, what are we saying? We see that it's a means by which God is growing our faith and our righteousness, a means by which we can grow in faith and righteousness and holiness. And it has that sense elsewhere. So, in this sense, to quote a modern Roman Catholic tract, grace is a supernatural push or an encouragement, means of grace. It's transient, it doesn't live in the soul, but it acts on the soul from the outside. It's a supernatural kick in the pants. That's their words, not mine. Grace is a kick in the pants. Now do you see the problem? We're justified by God's grace. What's meant by those words? Completely different things now. Are we saved by the free, unmerited gift of God apart from works? Or are we saved by the Lord kicking us in the pants to make us work more and more righteousness? The same words being used in almost opposite senses. Is it a declaration, not guilty? Or is there a process, more and more and more righteous? Is it accomplished by Christ? Or is it accomplished by our cooperation with these supernatural pushes? Is it perfect in Christ or is it continually imperfect in us? The errors in the Middle Ages multiplied. How can we be just on the Day of Judgment? How can we be righteous? Well, baptism. From Jesus Christ, through the church, in its sacraments, we receive righteousness, baptism. Makes a real change, they said, in the soul, so that we are made personally, actually righteous. Well, and then what? That doesn't last very long. Well then you maintain your salvation by keeping the commandments. And you can lose it by any grave or mortal sin. Let's say you deliberately miss church. You got schoolwork. You said, I can't go. I mean, I can, but I got too much to do. So probably I better just do my work and miss this week. According to canon law, it's a willful and grave violation of the Sabbath command. God is no longer your adoptive Father. Christ is no longer your everlasting Savior. Nowhere is the Holy Spirit your abiding comforter. You have violated one of the Ten Commandments in a grave and deliberate way, and therefore hell-bound according to Catholic doctrine, which I'm reading to you. You can commit mortal sins, by the way, and lose your salvation by deliberately missing any holy day of obligation, or by deliberately eating meat on Friday during Lent, or by endangering the safety of others by deliberately speeding, or by deliberately failing to confess a mortal sin to the priest, or by disbelieving any of the truths that Rome Magisterium proposes in a definitive way. All of those exact quotes, or most of those exact quotes, from the Catechism. There is no comprehensive list. The truth is there's so many ways that you can lose God as your Father and lose Christ as your Savior and the Holy Spirit as your present and abiding sanctifying possession. It's rather daunting. Well, how then, if you've lost it, can you get salvation back? Well, you go back to the church to receive another sacrament, another means of grace. Go back to the church for the sacrament of penance. And if, and only if, you confess all your mortal sins to the priest, he will forgive you and give you back God as your Father, Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit as your Comforter. And you then keep this with you until you commit another mortal sin, and then the process repeats. Grace, in their sense of the word, comes, though, especially from partaking of Christ in the mass and also appealing to Mary, who, as co-mediatrix, has the fullness of grace. Hail Mary, full of grace, all that. As well as the saints in heaven for help. If you need to grow in your righteousness, which is the only way you're gonna make it on the last day, you can appeal to help. And when dying, Last Rites, a special sacrament from Jesus, through the church, by the sacrament, will give you extra grace. Not unmerited kindness, but extra push in your soul, in a sense. But we're not done yet at death because again, since we need righteousness to be saved, almost none go right to heaven when they die. The rest go to the fires of purgatory where they will suffer the temporal punishment for their sins and atone for them there until they are purified in soul and attain unto a perfect righteousness. the time in purgatory may be shortened by seeking various indulgences. In fact, it can be wiped out entirely by a plenary indulgence, granted by the power of the Pope, whereby righteousness is applied from the treasury of merit of Christ, Mary, and the saints to your account." You say, well, didn't they get rid of that at the Reformation? So, Here's a news article from back in end of November. This year, Catholics will be able to receive a plenary indulgence by praying before a nativity scene at a Franciscan church. Okay, you can go to a Roman Catholic church, you can kneel down and pray there before the little figures, and you can have your time in purgatory expunged. I mean, of course, unless you've committed moral sin, right? In which case, it's all gone. But assuming you don't, A plenary indulgence, this is Catholic News Service, is a grace granted by the Catholic Church, grace in their sense, through the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary, and all the saints, to remove the temporal punishment due to sin. The indulgence cleanses a person of all temporal punishment due to sin. However, it must always be accompanied by a full detachment from sin, even venial. That is to say, all sin together. If you can detach your soul for that moment from every sin, perfectly loving your Father, heart, soul, strength, and mind, perfectly loving your neighbor as yourself, if you detach from all sin, then, and go and bow before the little figures and pray, then you can have all of those fires of purgatory removed. Oh, you also have to have sacramental confession, Holy Communion, and you have to pray for the intentions of the Pope. Sacramental confession and receiving the Eucharist can happen up to 20 days before or after the act performed to receive a plenary indulgence. Catholic News Agency, November 25th, 2023. So you see the difficulty of the way of salvation in Roman Catholicism. Faith in Christ is required, of course. Am I saying that this error is identical to that of the Judaizers? Well, certainly not. They had their problems. But Paul didn't just attack the error of the Judaizers. He defended the true gospel against all those who would corrupt it. In Rome's legalistic gospel, you don't even actually need to know Christ at all. I mean, faith is required for Roman Catholics. Summarizing here from Cardinal Dulles, famous writer, recently passed away. Cardinal in the church. Catholics can be saved if they believe the word of God, as taught by the church, and if they obey the commandments. Adherents of other religions can be saved if, with the help of grace, their meaning, they sincerely seek God and strive to do his will. Even atheists can be saved if they worship God under some other name and place their lives at the service of truth and justice. You don't need faith in Christ as long as you are seeking and striving. Can you disagree with the Church on these things? No. I quote Canon Law, each and everything which is proposed definitively by the magisterium of the Church concerning the doctrine of faith and morals is to be firmly embraced and retained for your salvation. You cannot deliberately doubt or deny any of these doctrines. You will have to believe a great many Roman innovations which, as we read this morning, no church in the world, East or West, considers to be true apostolic tradition. One more thing before I conclude. How did this all start in Galatia? Certain men came from Jerusalem. They persuaded the Galatians that having just come from James and the other apostles, they had the true apostolic teaching. And Paul, before he can even get into the scriptural teaching of the gospel and justification by faith in the middle of chapter 2, he first gives a detailed argument why these false brothers are not representing the true apostolic tradition. These poor Galatians are being swept along by supposedly apostolic tradition, by people supposedly closer to the apostles but who are teaching them error. And this is why he's adamant right from the beginning, I didn't learn this from man, I got this from Jesus Christ. Now I'll pause here and just point out that just because a Roman bishop can supposedly trace his lineage back to Peter, or because various early church fathers said something, that doesn't mean they were representing apostolic doctrine, obviously. God's teaching on the gospel is plain, and has been plain since the beginning. You could read 1 Clement for a very nice reference to justification by faith. You could read St. John Chrysostom on some wonderful comments on Romans and so forth. God's teaching on the gospel is plain and it depends not on any man. It has been the same since the beginning. Chapter 3, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. He's become a curse for us as it's written, cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. This is the place where Paul ultimately resides and this is where our faith also needs to be. In conclusion, the apostles warned that when someone departs from Christ's gospel, Galatians 5 verse 1, there's this yoke of bondage. And the issues here are not academic, but they are crucial for the life of God's people and the mission of the church. Luther is just right on target when he says, this justification is a very important and pleasant comfort. with which to bring wonderful encouragement to minds afflicted and disturbed with a sense of sin, and afraid of every flaming dart of the devil. Your righteousness is not visible, and it is not conscious, but it is hoped for as something to be revealed in due time. Therefore, you must not judge on the basis of your consciousness of sin, which terrifies and troubles you. but on the basis of the promise and the teaching of faith by which Christ is promised to you as your perfect and eternal righteousness. A glorious statement. And it's backed up by so many here. Speaking of justification, Bishop Latimer, who died in the fires of Bloody Mary, said, our Savior makes our sins nothing. Our sins are gone. They are no sins. They cannot be hurtful to us. So basic, and yet so easily obscured. Thomas Cranmer, English reformer, burned at the stake in his homily. The Holy Scripture teaches that this doctrine of justification is the strong rock and foundation of our Christian religion. This doctrine, all the old and ancient authors of Christ's church do approve. This doctrine advances and sets forth the true glory of Christ and beats down the vain glory of man. Whoever denies it is not to be counted a true Christian man. but an adversary of Christ and His gospel. Well, one more. The 39 articles of the Church of England say this is a very wholesome doctrine and very full of comfort. And so, brothers and sisters, this awkward five-syllable word that people in our day might lose patience with, what can we say about it? Well, it is the joy of our heart to be able to give all glory to Jesus that He is our righteousness, who will be revealed on that day fully to be sufficient for all that you and I have need. Therefore, let us abandon all boasting, returning again to the pure gospel of grace, and thank God for it now in Jesus. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we pray that you would continue to bless to us this glorious knowledge of a righteousness that is from God by faith and one that the apostle himself, after so many years in the cruel bondage of a legalistic Judaism, rejoiced to find and triumphed to tell others. So may we continue to be encouraged by all that is revealed here and pray that you would certainly firm our hearts and minds on it. We pray that you would give us grace to explain it to others, even those who have become confused, who look back to early fathers of great veneration, men of great wisdom and note who taught an error and who were picked up by others who taught further errors. Our Father, we come back again to you and pray that that true fountain may emerge crystal clear and that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ would lighten also.