September 14, 2025 | Faith Works

Faith Works | Galatians Part 6

Galatians 2:15–21

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (ESV)

In “Faith Works” on Galatians 2:15–21, Pastor Jed Gillis explains that our standing with God is not earned by “works of the law” or any human performance, but given through faith in Jesus Christ. Justification means God declares you accepted and approved, not because you met a standard, but because you rest in Christ. Paul’s challenge to Peter shows that both Jew and Gentile are justified the same way: through Christ alone. Freedom in Christ is not permission to sin. It ends self-justification. United to Jesus, we have died to the law as a way of earning favor, and now live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. The law cannot give life, but Jesus can. To seek righteousness by works would empty the cross of its purpose. Grace, not effort, gives real rest to a weary soul.

Transcript of Faith Works | Galatians Part 6

Jed Gillis: We're going to continue this week in Galatians chapter two. As we sang It Is Well, I thought there's some dangers. There's some dangers in singing beautiful truth week after week after week. And perhaps what we sing sometimes, instead of really saying it is well with our souls. Perhaps sometimes what we're doing is saying, please be well. I hope my soul is well, it should be well.

And I want to encourage you if you sang those words, or maybe just listen to others sing those words. And if there was a thought in your soul that said, it doesn't feel well. I wanna encourage you that you're in a room full of people who struggle with some of those same exact feelings over and over and over, but we don't sit here and pretend like it's well with our souls. We return to the truth of the gospel that God has revealed in his word, and we remind ourselves that while I feel these stresses and struggles, it is well.

Maybe you wake up from day to day with these quiet questions in your soul. Can my soul really rest? Do I really have peace? Am I enough? Am I loved? Am I accepted? Am I approved? Maybe it comes out when you had a bad day and you say, I failed in ways I wish I'd never failed again. Maybe it comes out when your friends don't respond when you reach out to them, at least not the way you want them to, and your soul twists up inside of you. Maybe it comes out when you lie awake at night and all the thoughts, all the conversations of the day or the conversations you think will come tomorrow blitz through your mind and you think, oh, I messed that one up. Oh, I said the wrong thing there. They probably think terrible of me now. And all of these thoughts in our souls, they twist up inside us.

Galatians in Three Sections

Jed Gillis: And that kind of ache in our soul is exactly what the Book of Galatians addresses. As we've gone through the book, we're coming really to the end of the first of three sections. The first section of the book, Paul lays out a foundation. As he talks to the Galatians, he lays out a foundation that says, this is the bedrock, the foundation that can give you rest.

As we move into the next chapters he won't talk so much about the foundation. He'll say, how does that foundation play out in your life? What kind of freedom do you experience? You have freedom in being able to rest in your soul. Being able to say, it is well with my soul.

And then the last section of the book, he'll ask, what does it look like when there's a community of people, a body full of believers who all look to the cross, who all look to the gospel, and who all find grace and rest for their souls?

Reading Galatians 2:15-21

Jed Gillis: So here at the end of chapter two, Paul brings out probably the clearest statement he makes of the foundation for the rest, for the peace of our souls. I wanna read beginning in verse 15, Paul says, we ourselves are Jews by birth and not gentile sinners. Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. Because by works of the law, no one will be justified.

But if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too, were found to be sinners is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not for if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

For Through the law, I died to the law so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave him himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Three Concepts from This Passage

Jed Gillis: So as we look at this text, there's three concepts, three terms we need to talk about to start with before we dive into exactly how he puts these concepts together.

What is Justification?

Jed Gillis: The first is this idea of justification of being justified. A common definition would be, is to be declared righteous. Now, that may not help you too much if you don't have an idea what righteous means. So we have to stop and say, no, really, what does it mean? To be declared righteous. To be justified.

To be righteous is to be in, in a right relationship with God. It's to be approved. It's to be accepted. It's for God to look at you, and when he declares you righteous, he declares, you are approved. You are accepted.

We can see it sometimes by by the opposite. If we think about. Uh, when someone accuses you of something, probably your first reflex is to give all the reasons why they shouldn't accuse you of that. Even if you did whatever they accused you of, you're still your first reflexes. Well, but you don't understand. This was my background. This was the example I had, this was the circumstance. These are all the pressures that pushed me to respond like that.

What are we doing? We're trying to justify ourselves. Someone accuses you and you say, I feel like you are condemning me in some way. I'm gonna give you reasons to say you should not condemn me. That is trying to justify myself.

I could remind you of a story of the, the Pharisee in the tax collector praying in the temple. Starts out, Jesus tells this parable to those who trust in themselves that they are righteous. That's what the Pharisee does. He comes in and says, God, I thank you that I'm not like these other people. I don't do this list of bad things. I do this list of good things. I'm better than that guy over there. What is he trying to do? He's trying to justify himself. Here's my list of reasons why you should accept me, God.

The tax collector knew. He didn't have any reasons that would work. So he says, God be merciful to me, a sinner, and he's beating his chest because he just knows the fact that he has no reason to claim God should accept him. He's not trying to justify himself. He's coming to God. God, I have nothing. I need your mercy.

The Pharisee comes pointing to his performance. Things he didn't do and things he did do. The Pharisees is trying to justify himself. The tax collector is looking to God's mercy, and the text specifically tells us in Luke chapter 18, the tax collector went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee.

The Pharisee stacks his list of performance up and says, here's why you should not condemn me and I should be accepted. The tax collector does none of that. He's the one who is justified.

Anytime we try to pursue approval by our performance, we are trying to justify ourselves. I'd say it on the other direction. If you feel like you have somehow lost God's favor as a believer in Jesus, if you feel like you have lost God's favor because of your performance, then there's a part of you that was trying to justify yourself.

Justif, justifying yourself is like a child holding up a report card saying. See, I did good. I should be loved. I got this great grade. Can I be accepted now? Can I be approved now? That's trying to justify yourself.

And as we look at this text, we need this concept in our minds justification is being declared you are approved, you are accepted. It happens on the basis of something. You come try to justify yourself. Here's my performance, or you come and God justifies you by grace alone. And God says, you are approved because my grace is on you, because my undeserved favor is on you.

What Are Works of the Law?

Jed Gillis: So we need to know justification. That's the first thing. The second concept we need to know is works of the law. We see this in in verse 16. We know that a person is not justified, not approved, not declared, approved by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

Now, if you go online and read different perspectives, you'll find several different big categories for what works of the law could mean. It could mean simply the ceremonial aspects of the law you eat with the right people, you eat clean foods, that kind of Jewish observance of the law, including circumcision and other things that he references in Galatians.

But if you go through the book and see how he uses it, that is part of what he's talking about. But that's not all that he's talking about because when he says works of the law, there's a couple pieces. One, he doesn't say the law only. As if you won't be justified by the law. He says, you won't be justified by the works of the law or in other places by the doing of the law. He draws your attention to your efforts, your performance.

And if you look at chapter three, verse 10, we'll get to this in a few weeks, but you can see the way he's thinking about this. He says, all who rely on works of the law, that's our phrase, are under a curse for it is written cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. Notice he doesn't say who does not abide by the ceremonial pieces and the the kosher foods and the circumcision. He says, no, everything written in the law. When he talks about works of the law, he is saying anything that God's law requires.

In fact, when he wants to illustrate it, we'll see this in a few weeks as well. He doesn't go back to works of the law like circumcision and dietary laws. He goes back to Abraham, before the Mosaic law was given and says Abraham and Sarah tried to bring about God's promises through their own efforts. That was works of the law before the Mosaic law was actually given because it wasn't grace.

So when he says works of the law, you should think anything God's law requires, and we all know if God gives us standard of performance, it's gonna be the highest standard possible. Right? If you say God's law is not gonna justify me, then you have to think any performance standard you come up with on your own isn't gonna be better than God's.

So when he says works of the law, you should think anything God's law requires. And by extension, since God's law is the best version, you could possibly have any human performance. Anything I can do to earn favor. Every time he says works of the law, he is driving at the kinds of performance treadmills that we do, where we say, I'm gonna be a good enough, fill in the blank. A good enough worker, a good enough business owner, a good enough boss, a good enough father, husband, wife, mother, student, teacher. I'm gonna be good enough. I'm gonna perform well enough here. Any system we can come up with is condemned under what the works of the law cannot do.

So before we dive into this text, we need to know those two concepts to be justified is to be declared. God says, you are approved. You can try to put your own reasons forward, or you can come and say, God, be merciful to me a sinner. I need your grace. Works of the law can't justify you, so therefore, any of my reasons, any of my performance, it never really works.

What is Faith in Christ?

Jed Gillis: And then there's a third concept we need to talk about because the second half of verse 16 includes this phrase: in order to be justified by faith in Christ.

So I want to point out a distinction. There's a difference between believing that something and believing in something. I can believe that certain things are true about you as a person. That doesn't mean I believe in you as a person. Those are two different concepts. You can believe that I was born in Georgia. That's true. You can believe a lot of facts about me. You may or may not trust in me. Those are two separate ideas.

When he says we're justified by faith in Christ, he is not inviting you to say you are justified by believing that these things are true. He's inviting you to say you're justified by believing in a person Jesus Christ. Now you have to know some things about a person to believe in them, but merely being able to recite facts about that person doesn't mean your trust is in them. The same thing is true when we look at Jesus. Says, faith in Christ. It means believing in him. It means reliance on him. It means resting in him.

And by the way, since one of our themes throughout this series is the idea of rest for our souls, this is why it doesn't make any sense to say faith gives rest. Because faith is essentially resting in something. That's like saying rest gives rest. It's like sort of true, but not helpful. No. As we go through Galatians, if we think that way, if I believe hard enough, then I'll have rest. That's like saying if I rest hard enough, I'll have rest. It's not really that helpful. No wonder we get stuck.

Grace gives rest When you see God's favor towards you. That's what can give you rest. That's why if you say, I know truth of the gospel, and I don't feel rest in my soul, don't just stare at, well, am I believing hard enough? That's never gonna work. Am I resting hard enough? No. Look at Grace.

We've been in Galatians for about five, six weeks. The number one thing I've heard from you all has been when I will talk about grace as undeserved favor and not just undeserved tolerance. I've heard, I don't know how many people say, you know, I tend to think it's just God tolerates me. I know it's unmerited. It's not really favor. That's what gives our souls rest: grace. We approach grace, like it's just God tolerates me and then we say, I've gotta try harder and harder to rest. Rest more. So you can have rest like it doesn't work.

Paul drives you to say you're justified by reliance, by resting in Jesus Christ and the grace shown through Jesus Christ. Grace gives rest.

So we got three big concepts. Justification, you're declared approved works of the law is any human performance specifically that the law of God requires. But if it's not sufficient, then neither is anything else that you could perform, and believing in not merely believing that something is true about Jesus, but resting in him.

Paul Addressing Peter: We Are All Justified Through Christ Alone

Jed Gillis: Now with those concepts, let's go back and look at verse 15. Remember, Peter has just been eating with Gentiles and then he's withdrawn. He's had these fears and these external pressures. He's pulling back. So Paul is continuing this conversation to Peter and he says, Peter, we were born into Judaism. We ourselves are Jews by birth and not gentile sinners.

He's like, Peter, we, we started out, we ate the right things. We didn't eat the wrong things. We followed the ceremonies. And we were clean. Unlike these gentiles who by birth were sinners. Now we have to be careful with this word. 'cause Paul knows the Jews are sinners too. If you go read Romans two and three, he's very clearly saying, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He's not saying the Jews haven't sinned and the Gentiles have. So he's using this word sinner in a specific way here to say we, Jews had kept the law and the gentile sinners are gentiles who did not keep the law. It's not saying that the Jews were perfect, it's just saying they were against like the dietary rules and those kinds of things within the law.

But he reminds Peter. We know a person is, I'm gonna, I'm gonna freely start to use some of our definitions in place of the words that are here at times. So he says, we know a person is not justified. We know a person is not approved. They're not accepted by their performance according to the law, by their works of the law, but a person is justified, is approved, is accepted, is enough, we could say, through total reliance on Jesus alone.

He says, look, Peter, we know a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. You and I know this, and he says, we as Jews, we have come to God this way. He's like, Peter, we're the ones who could have just stayed in the law. If we wanted to stay there, we could have. I said, but we didn't, and we left the law because we knew the law could never save us. We as Jews have believed in Jesus like this, so that we would find approval and acceptance through him alone and not through our performance. That's what he reminds Peter of.

And he continues to say, verse 17, if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, this is an interesting phrase. If in seeking justification in Christ, if in pursuing justification in Christ, when we think about grace, there's a quote by Dallas Willard. He says, grace is not opposed to effort, it's opposed to earning.

Paul's not saying, well, I just sit here and hope it works out. He's like, no, I want to trust in Jesus with all of my being. This is my pursuit. I'm seeking this. Not because I'm earning it, but because I know this is the only way to find rest, approval, justification for my soul. So he points Peter to confidence in justification by Grace alone.

Paul Addresses Accusation: Is Freedom in Christ Serving Sin?

Jed Gillis: Then he responds to a challenge because these Jewish teachers are coming with Paul and they're saying, well, Paul. You say you're pursuing the God of the Old Testament through Jesus. Paul would say, yes, that's exactly what I'm doing. And they say, but in pursuing Jesus, you're eating with Gentiles and you're becoming unclean. So isn't Jesus just serving sin?

Now, when Paul uses this word sinners in verse 17, if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners. He's using it the same way he used it before in Gentile sinners. In other words, he's not saying we're pursuing justification in Christ, but I mean, nobody's perfect anyway. That's not his point.

His point is to say, I'm gonna grant you for sake of argument. That's how we start in verse 17. For sake of argument, if in trying to be justified in Christ, we are found to be breaking the dietary laws, we're found to be sinners like Gentiles were. If that is what is happening, are we making Jesus bow down before sin and do his do its will?

That's the language. He's responding because that's what these teachers are saying. Peter's heard somebody say this before. If you're trusting in Jesus and now you're eating with gentiles, see, you're breaking the law, therefore, Jesus is just serving sin. And then they're saying, that can't be right, so you have to keep the law. That's what the false teachers are telling Peter.

Paul is responding to that saying, if in our attempt, our seeking justification in Christ, we are found to be breaking these rules, sinners, is Christ then serving sin? And he says, no, no, no. Here's Paul's reasoning for why he corrects that the accusers are assuming what they are trying to prove.

Let me show you what I mean. Their logic goes like this. You have to follow the law to be right with God. Paul, you are following Jesus and breaking the law. Therefore, you would not, you would be a sinner and not right with God. Paul. That's their logic. You must follow the law to be right with God. Paul is following Jesus and breaking the law. Therefore, Paul is a sinner and he's not right with God. So Paul, you have to keep the law.

But you notice the first thing I said was you have to keep the law to be right with God. And the conclusion was you have to keep the law. They're assuming the thing they're trying to prove. So Paul points that out and he says in the next verse, if I rebuild what I tore down. Says, I already know salvation comes by grace through faith. Now, if I come back and say, no, you have to keep the law to be right with God, then these accusers are right. Right? Paul's conclusion here is if you must keep the dietary laws of the Old Testament in order to be right with God, Paul says, well, then you're right. I prove myself to be not only a sinner in a ceremonial way, but notice he uses a different word. I prove myself to be a transgressor. He's saying, if I go back and I agree with you that you have to keep the law to be right with God, then you're right. I'm sinning. I really am sinning. Not just I'm unclean, but I'm transgressing. I'm breaking the law, and I'm not right with God. If I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

So Paul has set up confidence for Peter. Justification comes in one way. Then Paul says, here's the challenge from the false teachers, and he corrects their logic and says, no, the way they're going about this is incorrect. Say, well, why Paul? Why is that true? Because a change has happened.

United to Christ Under the Curse of the Law

Jed Gillis: So look in the next verse, verse 19. For through the law, I died to the law so that I might live to God. I read it earlier from chapter three. Through the law, Jesus became a curse for us. Jesus sat under the curse of the law 'cause it said cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. So the law said Jesus is cursed. Now through the law, through the fact that Jesus sat under the curse of the law, I have died to the law because I'm united to Jesus. So if Jesus is under the curse of the law, then everybody united to Jesus is under the curse of the law.

In relying on Christ, we willingly sit under the curse of the law. We know we are not good enough. We have no righteousness to boast in. If we're united to Christ, we die to human performance as a way of justifying ourselves. And that's a whole lot of theological speak. That's a whole lot of theological jargon. What on earth does that mean?

It means that the old me and the old you, if you're a believer in Jesus, the approval-seeking, reputation-guarding, self-justifying me was nailed to a Roman cross 2000 years ago. It means that that version of me and you is dead. It means that the me who wakes up panicking about, am I good enough? Is I worth enough? What can I do to earn favor and acceptance and approval? That version of me is dead.

That's Paul's language. I died with Christ and now Christ lives in me. His perfect record is my record. His status of being the beloved son of God is mine. It's yours if your faith is in Jesus Christ.

Can you imagine Jesus waking up one day going, oh no. I don't know if my father loves me. I wasn't good enough. Can you imagine if somebody comes to Jesus and says, how do you know the Father loves you? Jesus says, well, let me give you all these reasons of all the things I've done. No, that's not how it works.

We've died with Christ, but the life we live is not ours. It's his. If you're in Jesus, then when God looks at you, he does not see a spiritual disappointment.

I know you might see that. I know you might look at yourself and think, oh, I, I'm never good enough. You might see a spiritual disappointment. What Paul is driving you to is to say no. God does not look at his children and see spiritual disappointments limping along. He sees his beloved son. He sees people who are already accepted and already loved and already delighted in. Now, that's kind of scary to die to self, to die with Christ, to say, I'm gonna quit thinking that what I do justifies me.

But it doesn't stay at dying with Christ. Verse 20 continues. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That's grace by the way, which is why the next verse, he says, I do not nullify the grace of God. If I could earn my justification by my performance, then the grace of God is pointless. That's what he says. I don't nullify the grace of God for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

It's not just dying with Christ, it's living with him afterwards. That's why we can go through dying with Christ and say, I don't need. The approval seeking reputation, guarding, self-justifying version of me. I don't need that. It can die. Let it die. 'Cause I have Jesus. And the life I live is the life of Jesus within me.

Since we have a foundation for rest, for our souls. I have justification. I have approval because God has shown unmerited, undeserved favor, not tolerance, favor towards me. Since we have that foundation, we don't have to be whipped around by fear of rejection. We don't have to strive to be good enough that God will not condemn us and will love us. Since Grace has come through Jesus, we live a different life.

The Law Cannot Give Life. Jesus Can.

Jed Gillis: Now I want you to think about one thing as we conclude today. I think there's a common misunderstanding about works of the law that gets in our way. I think sometimes we think Paul is saying no one will be justified by the law because no one keeps it perfectly.

I wanna point out several texts that that's not what Paul's saying. Paul doesn't. Now it is true. No one keeps it perfectly. That's true, but he's not saying, if you could keep it perfectly, then you'd be justified. No. In fact, he says the opposite.

Look at chapter three, verse 21. If a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would be by the law. Now we know righteousness is not by the law, so therefore the law that was given cannot give life. It's not that it could, if you could keep it all perfectly, it can't. It's not designed the right way.

Or verse 21, if right, or chapter two verse 21. If righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. So therefore, since we know God doesn't have Jesus come and die for no purpose, righteousness cannot come through the law.

Or back to verse 16, by works of the law, no one will be justified. Not merely, because you won't keep it. But because works of the law, can't do that, works of the law, cannot justify you.

Say, well, well how does, how does that work? Well, justification is declaring that you are approved and you should have confidence in that if you pursue the law, you only have God's favor if you keep the law, right? And so. Even if you've kept the law all the way up until now, works of the law can never give you confidence for tomorrow because what if you don't keep the law then? You see they can't give you this kind of confidence. We could talk about it. If you try to earn favor, you mess up the relationship.

Think about a friend. You have a best friend, you've known 'em for 20 years, and you decide I'm gonna get them the perfect birthday gift. I know exactly what they'll love. So you go, you get the gift, you buy it, you give it to 'em, and as expected, they love it. Now, for whatever reason, let's say they ask, well, you didn't need to do that. Why'd you do that? Well, because I want to earn your friendship. That's gonna really throw a monkey wrench into that relationship, isn't it?

You see, works of the law. In order to earn favor, they mess up the relationship. Same thing is true in our relationship with God. It's not merely that we don't keep works of the law well enough. It's that works of the law could never do it. They're the wrong kind of thing, because as soon as you come to God going, see, I did all these things to earn your favor, that's not how this works.

And in fact, if you try to earn favor, you really just end up serving yourself. I gave the example a few weeks ago of if a spouse comes to the other spouse. Says, look, just tell me what you want and I'll do it so you'll be happy. We all know that's not really the best kind of love, and in fact, it's self-serving. I'm tired of this difficulty, so just tell me what to do so I don't have to have this difficulty anymore. We do the same thing with God sometimes and we say, I'm gonna earn God's favor, right? God, just tell me what to do. Well, he did. He gave them the law and they really served themselves. We see that in the Pharisees.

If you try to earn God's favor by your human performance, you nullify the grace of God. The grace of God through Jesus is pointless. It's not that human performance might work or might give your soul rest if you can do it well enough. I think we all kind of deep down, we think that. It's not true. It's that by its nature, human performance cannot give you the approval and the rest that you need.

That's why PE Paul says to Peter, we no person is justified by works of the law. In fact, no one will be justified by works of the law. The only way to have approval and acceptance with God is to be justified by reliance, by resting faith on Jesus Christ.

I want to encourage you, don't let these kinds of words be powerless theological jargon. I could have started out and I could have said, the foundation of true rest for your souls is justification by grace alone through faith alone. And a lot of us would say Amen and walk out. It's true. It's wonderful. It can sound sterile and powerless when we sit here and sing all those things and then say, but my soul is still twisted up in knots.

What if we said instead, true peace in your soul comes through approval, by God's unmerited favor as you rest in him? What if we said true rest is through acceptance by God's undeserved love through total reliance on Jesus? That's just justification by grace through faith, but with different words.

So brothers and sisters, some of you are just really tired. Your soul's been twisted up in ways that you think it can't ever get really to sing It Is Well and feel that peace. You live in the constant courtroom of other people's opinions. You never feel good enough as a mom, or a dad, or a student, or a child of God. Maybe even when you come to church, you carry this tightness in your chest, in your soul that says, am I really approved? Do I really belong? Am I really loved?

The gospel doesn't just fix a theological category. The gospel is supposed to relieve the deepest pressure in our souls. The gospel transforms us at the deepest levels. It addresses our fears and our inadequacies. It meets us as limited people who always wish we could do more, and says, there is a foundation for peace and rest for your soul. It's found in the grace of God shown in Jesus Christ alone.

If you are relying on Jesus, God approves of you because he looks on you with undeserved favor, not merely undeserved forgiveness, not undeserved tolerance, undeserved favor, and there is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Where else would you find good news like that?

The world around you tells you to carefully cultivate your profile online or your profile in real life. Carefully cultivate this sense of self so all the people around you approve and accept you, and you can feel good about yourself. Religious answers tell you to work harder. That's never given you more rest for your soul. Neither one of them has, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is that Jesus says, come to me if you are weary and rest.

You are already mine. You are already loved. You are already approved. That's grace. Grace is good and we can rest in it.

I wanna invite you just to close your eyes. Ask God to take the truth of his grace that you may have heard a million times to apply it to the experience of your life. Give you a moment to pray and then we'll close.