[00:00:00] Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome everyone here, everyone. Uh, on any of our campuses, we welcome you. Those of you who are seeing this online, wherever you are, we welcome you and it's just good to be together. So I want to begin. I want to ask you to think about something that happened to you in your life. And I have no idea, um, w w what your answer would be, but think of a time when you needed to be rescued, uh, I don't know what happened, but something happened. You, you were in a mess. You, you were in a bind, you, you needed help badly. I don't know if you would say you got trapped into something, whether, you know, you were suffering some circumstance or something. I don't know what it would be. I had a little bit of time to think about it. And there were a number of occasions that I could tell you I needed to be rescued from. But one that comes to my mind was, and I've told this story before, but when I was at college, I was driving a Jeep on the Apache trail. I was going up to Apache lake and, uh, we had an accident. I was [00:01:00] driving, I was responsible. I rolled this Jeep and it rolled like three times. It landed on the driver side. I was driving and my leg was pinned under this Jeep. They had put a step on the Jeep. And then there was the point where the door, uh, the Jeep that was pin. And to this day, right here on my leg, I have a scar that reminds me of that event big, because what happened was when the Jeep finally stopped rolling and all the dust settled, I could not get out. And there was a friend of mine that was in the passenger seat. He did everything he could do to get the Jeep off of me, but he couldn't. And I knew that it was a matter of time before I lose my leg. Well, you know, from that point, Uh, or I was afraid the Jeep was going to catch on fire or something was going to happen. And all that's to tell you that I got myself in a mess and I had absolutely no power to get myself out of. That's what I want you to think about and how I got out of that mess was, uh, we had some people come down the road as eventually [00:02:00] they would. And, uh, enough people came that they were able to get this thing up off its side, far enough for me to be pulled out. And I, uh, I, I still have. Uh, and I needed to be rescued. Now. I want to just say this. There are many, many ways in life you can get stuck. And when I say stuck, I mean trapped, when I say trap, I mean pinned. I mean, when you, you find yourself in a situation where you go, I don't have the resources to fix this. I can't, I need help. And I need help really badly. You can be trapped by habits that you have. That you had no idea how the power to control you, that you discovered that they do have, you can be trapped by addictions, that you had no intention of developing, but they've caught up with you. You can be trapped in a destructive relationship where you know, harm is being done and you feel like I can't get out of this. I'm pinned into this. You can be trapped in debt and choices that you've made you be trapped in your career. We'd just finished a [00:03:00] series. You can be trapped financially and find yourself up to your eyeballs in debt. And you felt like was there's no way out. Well, we can talk about all of those things. The scripture talks about another trap and it's a trap that we all fall into. All right. Now here's the problem. I'm going to tell you about this trap. And a lot of us are going to deny it even exists because scripture talks about being trapped by sin. Now, when I say trapped by sin, there's a problem because we live in a culture that says there is no such thing. As sin and we live and we are surrounded by a culture that basically says anything goes and nothing's wrong and you can do whatever you want. And, and sin is this thing that scripture is absolutely unequivocal on. It makes it doesn't vacillate. It's very clear to them to simply describe what sin is. Sin is to break the law of God. It is to do what God said, not to do or to not do what God said. The easiest way for me has always been to explain it this way. If [00:04:00] God told me to go this way and I decided I'm not, I'm going to go that way. Sin is the process of turning your back on God and saying, I'm doing it my way. I'm going to do what I want to do. And you have no right to tell me I can't do what I want to do now. Here's the deal. Every time I sin, every time you sin, you do so because you really do in your heart believe, you know, That God doesn't know that somehow there's a benefit to this, that he doesn't want you to experience. And you feel like you're going to come out ahead. If you disobeyed God, now what life and time will teach you is you, it doesn't work that way, but you've got to learn that on your own because it's one of these things where I could tell you until I'm blue in the face and you would just go, I'm going to do it my way. Now, what happens over here is when I do. I'm making the decisions I'm going where I want to go. And I feel like I'm in control and I [00:05:00] am in control and listen, listen until I'm not in control. I am in control until whatever it is that I'm doing actually overwhelmed me. So the habit was formed. The addiction was formed. The bad choice that run its course I'm pinned to now and I can't get out. And we always look to say, I can stop doing this anytime, whatever this is, I can stop doing it any time. Except we don't stop. Even though we know this is doing me harm. I can't stop it. There comes this revelation in your life where you realize, I thought I was in control and I'm not at all in control in the Bible that uses a phrase that's foreign to our ears because sin, the word sin is foreign to our ears. Now the only place you're ever going to hear the word sin is in. Pay attention, the only place you ever going to hear about it. But the scripture says that we can become slaves to sin or enslaved by sin. And again, that sounds funny to our ears, slaves, to sin, you become a slave [00:06:00] to sin when sin takes over your will, and now you're doing what the census to do, not what you want to do. And that's the essence of the trap. And that's the essence of being stuck and needing desperately to be rescued now. The wonderful news, which I'm speeding fast, but the wonderful news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that Jesus came to rescue you. He came to rescue whatever you're in. So, uh, using the analogy of the Jeep, he came to lift the Jeep off of me and set me free, whatever it is that you're stuck, wherever you feel like I can't get out. That reason Jesus came was to set. And all of the new Testament testifies to this. That is the reason. So we read things like this in acts 1339 through him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin. That's the point he's come to rescue you to get you out of the bind that you got yourself [00:07:00] into. Romans eight two says because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free. From the law of sin and death. Now, let me take this analogy one step further. Not only do we not talk about sin, not only do we not talk about being enslaved by sin, scripture is really, really clear that the consequences of sin is death. That this will kill you. This will do you in, and it's the natural consequence. Now there's an immediate death that takes place. When you realize I can't get out of this. And then there is any. All right. There's an eternal price to pay, but, but we live as if there are no consequences because we never thought we'd get trapped. We thought we'd be able to walk away from that and we'd stay in control. But Jesus Christ came because if he didn't, you would die in your sin and he doesn't want that. And he's on your side, by the way. [00:08:00] Uh, one of the absolute most famous verses in the Bible. In fact, in our last study, I also referenced this because I'm telling you if there's something you have a tattoo on your brain, it's the truth of John three, 16 and 17. And it says this for God. So loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish not die in. But have eternal life for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him, Christ came to rescue you from that, which will kill you. He's for you. He's on your side. He has your best interest in heart at heart. Now we're going to begin a brand new series today that I am so stoked about. We're going to begin a series. That is going to be about the book of Galatians is going to be a book study in the book of Galatians, which is one of the 66 books of the Bible. And we're, we're going to start now and we're going to finish this right as summer rolls in. We're not in a hurry. We're just [00:09:00] going to take it chapter by chapter and work our way through this. Okay. The series is called set free to live free, set, free to live. And here's what I want to ask you to do right now. Well, we're going to start our study in the book of Galatians today. We're not actually going to begin in the book of Galatians. We're going to begin in the book of acts. So if you would open your Bible and I want to encourage you every single week, every single week, bring your Bible with you. Okay. Because we're just going to go from this passage to that one, to that one. And I want you to see it on your. And I'm going to put some verses up, but the majority of them, I want you to read out of your own Bible. I'll read it, but if you don't have it, you're not going to see it. So bring a Bible. Okay. And, and, and plan to use it. Now, uh, you can do that electronically. You can do that with an actual physical book. However you bring it. I want to explain to you, what's going to happen in the book of Galatians. This is an awesome book. And [00:10:00] I tell you, I think you're absolutely going to love it. It is a letter from Paul. To a group of churches in which he wants to help them to understand you are free live free. You are not bound by that, which trapped you, you are set free, live, set free, but I need to explain some things just as the way a foundation. Now here's, here's the deal that we got to agree to today. All right. Today is going to be heavy on information light on. You go. Why, why? I don't like that. I'm not going to lecture you, but I'm going to give you some background information that is crucial to understanding what's going to happen in this book. If I don't do what I'm going to do today, and we just jumped in. So many of us would be going, I don't, I don't get it. I don't even get it. So what I want to do is I want to, we're going to set the stage. We're going to build the foundation. Okay. And then everything is going to come on top of what we're going to [00:11:00] talk about today. So just understand that and that delays. The book of Galatians is written to Galatians. Galatians is not a city. You've got to understand this because so many of the letters that Paul wrote were two churches in the city. So the book of Philippians is to the city, the church in the city of Philippi, uh, the church, uh, the book of Colossians to the church at Colossae the, the book of first Corinthians to the church. Galatians is a region. It's an area on a map. And so we've been seeing maps lately with the Ukraine and all that. I want you to see on the right-hand side, you can see that whole green area, the dark green. It says Galatians. Now you've got to understand that's modern day Turkey for the most part. All right. And that in Galatians, there are a number of cities that we'll run into in the book of acts, what cities like conium and LIS stra. So the book of acts is going to help us to understand [00:12:00] what happened in the region called Glacia. And it's going to give us a backdrop. All right. Now, let me say this. A Glacia is going to be mentioned, uh, more than one time in the Bible. We're going to see that as we work our way through it. And our desire, as I said is by the time we get to summer to have an understanding, now, now here's what I need you to get today. And I've already said, You can not understand the book of Galatians. If you don't understand the history of Paul. Paul is the author of the letter to these churches. If you don't know what happened to him, what he's gonna say to them, is he going to make any sense whatsoever? So, today what I want to do is give us. A good introduction to the apostle Paul. Now, for many of you, this will be a review for some of you will go. I didn't know that. And that's perfectly fine. It doesn't matter where you are just pay attention. You'll learn a ton. Like I'll tell you this, this guy that we're going to talk about. This guy, apostle Paul, he [00:13:00] wrote two thirds of the new Testament in your Bible that you're carrying. He wrote two thirds of that. He is the most prolific author of all the books in the Bible. You need to know that about him. Uh, you need to understand. Sometimes he would write to cities, the church in the city. Sometimes he would write to individuals. So you you'll get the book of Philippians two, the city of Philippi. And you'll get the book of first Timothy and second Timothy two, the guy named Timothy and two, the guy named Titus and, uh, It he'll personalize these. So you'll start to understand he's he's writing all the time. He's writing all over the place. The, let me just do a crash course here. That's why all I got to do it. Did I get it? I got to give you a crash course on, on Paul. No, stay with me. Cause I'm going to confuse you right now. First thing you got to understand is when you meet him in the Bible, he doesn't go by the name. Paul who what? No, he goes by the name Saul. [00:14:00] So I remember Saul. Saul was the first king in the old Testament. Is that new? Wrong Saul. That's a thousand years ahead of this guy. The first king in the old Testament was a guy named salt. Not the guy we're talking about. This guy is we're going to meet him in just a minute in the book of acts. Who's going to be a young man at the beginning of his career later. And I'll show you, when is there going to change the name to. Saul now, then Paul, and Paul's going to be the apostle. All right. Now, second thing I need to tell you is he was a Jewish man. He was a Jewish man through and through. He was culturally a Jew. He was religiously a Jew. He was born a Jew. He had chosen to be a Jew. He loved being a Jew. He reveled in the fact that he was a Jew. You've got to know that about him. Third thing I want to tell you is he was from a town called Tarsus. Now we don't know much about his early years, but we know where. Tarsus is north and west of Jerusalem. It's [00:15:00] just below Glacia. It says important because he's going to make all of these tours around three missionary journeys are going to be recorded in the book of acts. That's how he's going to have interaction with the churches that are in Galatians. The fourth thing I need you to understand is that he was trained by a very, very prominent rabbi of his day. A guy named. And here's why this matters because he studied under this rabbi. He got the credentials of the rabbi on him. It would be like somebody going to Harvard to get their MBA. And then they can always say, I got my MBA from Harvard. And all of a sudden you associate the quality of an education with the institution of which it was given. And the status of he was a student of Emilio. You need to understand that. And the most important thing you need to know about. Was, he was a Pharisee and proud of it. Now, let me just explain what a Pharisee was. A Pharisee was a group [00:16:00] of particularly men, a group of men who were super committed to the Jewish. They were so committed. They were so devout. They were so zealous that they would literally spend their time studying the minutiae of the old Testament. So they would not fail to do anything at sad, except they were human. And they felt to do a lot that it said, but the kind of the secret was we are more committed. We are more devoted. We are more faithful than any other Jewish people. And they were known for that and he was one of them and he was proud of the fact that he was. And he wanted everyone to know that now we know that Pharisees, the name literally means separated ones. They were a click into themselves. They were just, they were better than everybody. They communicated it to every way they could. We're better than you. We are more faithful, more holy, more religious, more righteous, very important. You understand that? Now what we know [00:17:00] about Paul or Saul, as we're talking about at this stage of his life, we know from two. One is what we can read about him in the book of acts, which we'll do in just a moment. And the second one is things he said about himself. See, he would give us insight. Like I just told you, I wrote the Jeep. When I was a college student, I let see in on something, he lets us in on some of the things that go through his head, as you read his letters that he wrote to the churches or to the people. So let me read you something from the book of Philippians. All right. Not the book we're setting, but a different book, Philippians. He said this. If somebody else thinks that they have reason to put confidence in the flesh, you think you're good? You think you're righteous. You think you're holy. This is what he said. I have more, you get a sense of who he is. I'm circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law of Pharisee. As for zeal persecuting, the church, I'll show you that in a moment as for righteousness based on the law, [00:18:00] He is simply saying, look, I take this really seriously. I challenge you to find a flaw in my pedigree and everything he listed was literally setting himself up as an authority. That's what you need to get out of. All of this is he is a big deal. Saul is a big deal. Now, this little band of brothers, okay. It's kind of doing their thing now. Listen. So along comes Jesus. Now you can read about Jesus coming along. And Matthew, mark, Luke, and John, the biographies of Jesus, Jesus comes along and he starts explaining God differently than they were explaining God. He starts teaching values of the kingdom that are in contrast to these values. And so these people come after Jesus and quite frankly, Jesus goes after these people, there is no group in the Bible that Jesus was. Focus on, in more antagonistic, toward than the Pharisees. They're [00:19:00] kind of religion, repulsed Jesus. And so he had all kinds of names for them would call them hypocrites and blind fools and blind guides. He said of these people. He said, you are like, you could just read this in the Bible. You're like a bunch of whitewashed tombs. You look so good on the outside, but you are full of death and dead men's bones on the inside. You are deaf. He, he called them. You are a brood of Vipers. You are a society of snakes. That's what he said. And so you start to realize that this is going to create some tension. Yes. Now is what I need you to understand. They're the group that had him crucified. They orchestrated the crucifixion of Jesus because they couldn't stand him. Now who's prominent over here. Who's a big dog. A guy named Saul and, and when they crucified Jesus, something unexpected happened, [00:20:00] they thought when they killed Jesus, that Jesus would be done and forgotten. What they didn't take into consideration is what Jesus said was going to happen, which is after three days, I will come back. I will rise from the dead. You will kill me, but you will not. I'm going to rise from the dead. And we get to Easter in a couple of weeks. Literally. Now we're going to celebrate this rising from the dead, but they didn't anticipate him rising from the dead. And when he wrote some of the dead, he began to appear when people began to see him. And I'll tell you what, it's one thing to say you believe in Jesus, but when you saw him crucified and they killed him and now he's walking and he's talking and he's teaching and he's back then all of a sudden it's like this thing exploded and a thing called the church was. And all kinds of people, including some of these people started going, I'm going over here. And this became a really, really popular, which drove this group of people up the wall and they go, we've got to stop this. This has got to come to an end [00:21:00] and they were so quick. And so bold about telling about the resurrection of Jesus, which by the way, you want to know how people learn about Jesus. It's not because I talk about Jesus. When you talk about. It's when you tell your friends, it's when you go to work, it's when you go to school, it's when you go to the clubhouse of your neighborhood, they were just telling everyone about Jesus and more and more people started coming to faith in Jesus. Because when you understand what he's done, you go, I want him, I want a part. So this has grown in Booman. This is threatened by it. Now go to acts chapter seven in your Bible in acts chapter six, we meet a guy named Steven, a very good guy. Who's in. A very righteous holy guy. And basically what happens is I'm going to speed through this because I want to show you a bigger picture. He gets brought in front of the Jewish Supreme court. If you will, of made up of a bunch of these guys called the Sanhedrin, and they're basically judging. [00:22:00] Because he's outspoken about Jesus. He's telling everyone about Jesus. And basically what he's saying is what they have made out of faith is absolutely not what God wanted, and this is the truth and he is speaking and laying it down and they want nothing to do with what he's saying, because he's calling them out. Look at acts chapter seven, I'm going to begin reading in verse 54. Watch this. Now when the members of the Sanhedrin heard. Th that, that Jesus is in the old Testament. And the old Testament is a foundation on which the new covenant in his blood is built with. The members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and they gnash their teeth at him. But Stephen full of the holy spirit looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Look, he said, I see heaven open. And the son of man standing at the right hand of God, you've got to realize what that would've done. That these guys. There he is. He's right next to God. Okay. At this, they covered their ears [00:23:00] and yelling at the top of their voices. They all rest at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, watch this line. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. These guys are furiating. They're the sin here. They're going after they're going to kill this. And Paul is going, let me hold your coat while you kill him. I'm full agreement, full, full support. This he's just kind of watching their coats while they kill him. Right? While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed and incredible prayer. Lord received my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and he cried out. Lord, do not hold this sin against them. Reminiscent of what Jesus said. When these people crucified Jesus on the cross father, forgive them. They don't know what the. Steven says, forgive them. Uh, when he said this, he fell asleep, [00:24:00] look at the next line and Saul approved of their killing him. Now on that day, when they killed Steven on that day, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and. Now godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church going from house to house. He dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. This is his new calling in his life. His new mantra. I will track down everyone who is in this thing called the church. I will make sure that they're killed. He's not a good guy. That's what you need to understand. He's religiously motivated comforter people in the name of God. Well, [00:25:00] this guy's awesome, man. Jump over a chapter. Go to chapter nine. Meanwhile, in chapter nine, verse one, meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and he asked for letters to the synagogues in Damascus. Damascus is north of Jerusalem to the east it's in Syria. So, Hey, can I have a letter I'm going to go through the synagogues in Damascus. So if, uh, so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, the way was the early name of the church, it was known as. This is the way this is the way they have, this is the way to live. This is the way to Jesus. All right. It was known as the weight. So he went and asked the high priest letters. If he found any there who belonged to the way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. Why, why would he take them as prisoners to Jerusalem? [00:26:00] Because that's the headquarters of this band of brothers. We can kill them there. So we've got. Um, as he neared Damascus on his journey, he's got papers. He's got, I'm going to go find every I'm going to, we are, we are going to kill as he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven. Don't miss this, a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and he drops to the ground and he heard a voice say to him, Saul. Why do you persecute me? Who are you? Lord had asked Saul. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. He replied now get up, go into the city and you will be told what you must do. Now. The men traveling was all stood there. Specialists. They heard the sound, but did not see anyone [00:27:00] so got up from the ground. But when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing blinded. You could see nothing. Um, so they led him by the hand into Damascus for three days, he was blind and did not eat or drink anything. It's all nos. Some bizarre just happened. I don't understand. I don't know what just, I don't know, but my whole world just got flipped upside down in this encounter with this guy named Jesus, who I have done everything. I know how to do to. And I said, this is one of my favorite parts of scripture. I love this next part in Damascus. There was a disciple named Anna Niaz the Lord called to him in a vision and an NIS. Yes, Lord. He answered and the Lord told him, Hey, I need you to do something for me. Go to the house of Judas on straight street and ask for a man from Tarsus named assault. [00:28:00] Say why. Yeah, there's a guy in this location in this city from Tarsus named Saul. I need you to go find him. All right. Togo there for, he is praying right now in a vision. Okay, good. He sees a man strangely enough, named Anna Niaz you who's going to come and place his hands on him to restore his. So Anna and I, and I need you to go find them and I need you to put your hands on and restore sight. All right. I love this Lord, Lord. Uh, and a nice answer. Uh, Hey, I don't know if you've been up on social media lately. I don't know if you've been paying attention to Facebook and Snapchat and all that stuff, but let me give you the down low on this. Uh, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in. And he's come [00:29:00] here with authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name. God, I don't think you know that. I don't think you're aware that you are putting me in serious danger. Uh, why don't you go find somebody else to go deliver this message and pray for him. But the Lord said the NNI go. This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their Kings and to the people of Israel. Oh, I'll show him how much he must suffer from. Don't worry about him. So, and an ice has a dilemma. This guy kills everyone. He can get in con he's here because he's a murderer and a do I go then in and I S went to the house and entered it, placing his hands on Saul. Let me, let me reenact how he placed his hands on Saul. That was free. Um, placing his hands on Saul. He said, uh, brother. The Lord Jesus, who appeared to you [00:30:00] on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the holy spirit immediately. Something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again, he got up and was baptized, taking some food. He regained his strength. This is awesome. This is incredible. This guy is reborn. This guy has got a new life. This guy's got a new calling. You don't think so. Chapter nine verse 19. I think it's 19 salts spent several days with the disciples in Damascus at once. He began to preach in the synagogues, not the churches in those synagogues, that Jesus is the son of God and all who heard him were astonished and asked. Isn't he the man who raise havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on his name. And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the. Now what's this line yet Saul grew [00:31:00] more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah. How could he do that? He was trained by Chameleo. He had an MBA from Harvard. He understood the old Testament. Like these guys. And he began to go. And, you know, when it says there, and you know, when it says there and you know, where it says there, and he understands the old Testament and he, as soon as the scales fall from his eyes, he sees it. The old Testament is simply setting up. The old covenant is simply setting up the new covenant in Jesus's blood. And once he saw it, he couldn't not see it. And basically from this point on, in the story, we're going to know him as Paul and he's going to be. The apostle Paul, and he's going to be the guy that's going to give us two thirds of the insights of the new Testament. Now I'm going to close this message [00:32:00] by reading one verse, we're going to unpack one verse. That's it one verse in the book of Galatians, the opening verse. So if you would go to the, now to the book of Galatians, become familiar with where that is, and I'm going to read one, one sentence by Paul. Follow along one sentence, Paul, an apostle sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God, the father who raised him from the dead and all the brothers and sisters with me to the churches in Glacia grace and peace to you from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and father to whom be glory forever and ever one sentence, one sentence. [00:33:00] And then at the end he says, amen. So be it. Now let's just hang on here. Let's unpack just a few things. First thing you need to understand, and this is crucial, Paul and. Why that's important is what's going to happen in this letter to the Galatians is he is going to explain to people that life and hope and joy and love and freedom is found in Jesus. And he came to rescue you. And these people over here are going to do everything within their power to undermine. As well as people who are kind of in the middle, a little of this and a little of this, which I'll explain in the weeks to come, all right, but they're going to do everything they can do to stop them. One of the ways we're going to try to discredit him as go. You not, you're not even an apostle I'll show you that later. I don't have time right now, but, uh, he basically says, look, I need to explain [00:34:00] something. I'm Paul I'm commissioned by God, not by men and not by a man, but I am here from God. And. I want you to know I'm speaking on behalf of God. That's the first thing. Second thing. He wants two things for them. I don't, I don't, I don't miss it. He wants two things for them. Grace and peace listen very carefully right now. This is real important. The first thing he wants for them is grace. He wants them to experience what he experienced. He wants them to understand the secret sauce of the. And grace means that God loves you. In spite of you. He loves you regardless of what you've done. He loves you and, and he's come to set you free and you don't even deserve it. And it doesn't matter over here though, are people who are going to come along and want to take the grace out of this story, take the greats out [00:35:00] and basically keep them bound under the. Stuck forever. And Paul goes, I want you to experience the grace of God, which sets you free. And then he says, peace, grace, then peace. Listen to me. You can't have peace. If you skip grace, if you don't have the grace of God, all you're going to do is live your life. Trying to get yourself unstuck, and it's going to drive you into deep misery and hopelessness. Grace, then peace. So when you received the grace of God peace and how are you going to get that? Well, it's going to come through Jesus. Who happens to be your rescuer, your save your, your salvation. Okay. What do I need to be rescued from? And listen, listen, listen, listen, listen. This important. Well from sin that you've committed and I, I have to what's that turned my [00:36:00] back on. Disobeying thinking I'm in control. Realizing it's got me. I don't have it. I need to be set free from sin. Now. Listen, listen, listen, and I need to be set free from bad religion and I'm not talking about the eighties punk rock group. Okay. For those of you who know, not thinking about them, bad religion, what is bad religion? You're going to discover bad religion in the book of Galatians, but bad religion. Listen, listen, listen, is any solution to your trapped. That ultimately in the name of God traps you deeper in despair, and you don't tend to think of religion as doing that, but I want you to understand if it's not about grace is going to be about religion. If it's about religion, it's going to bind you in a worst bind. Then you first found yourself in by sin and it's hard to get your brain around it. There are so many ways that people love to give you all kinds of rules and all kinds of [00:37:00] lists and all kinds of requirements in religion. And pretty soon you are more stuck in a system of religion than you were ever stuck under the Jeep. He came to set you free from the sin and the battery. Now we'll discover that in the days to come, let me finish this by just, uh, I was thinking about this and I got to do this quickly. I was thinking about this and I was thinking about the word enslaved and that slavery was on my mind. Slaves of sin. We don't think of ourselves as slaves of sin. Scripture says, no, you're a slave. As soon when you do what sin wants you to do, not what you know to do. You're a slave. So I started thinking about slavery. I started thinking about, oh, I don't know the history of slavery in the United States. I started thinking about a couple of things I was thinking, did you know that in 1863, that Abraham Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation? And if you don't remember what that was from history, that was a declaration that, that set free. All the slaves in the south that weren't slaves in the north, their slaves were in the south. He declared it and it changed [00:38:00] nothing for all intents and purposes. The war went on, it concluded in 1860. And in 1865, uh, they changed the constitution of the United States. They out of the 13th amendment. And so now we are officially ending slavery. That's the 13th amendment. The 14th amendment was added in 1868, guaranteeing citizenship to African Americans, 1868 and 1870. Uh, black men were given the right to vote. That's the 15th amendment. It's as legal as it can be. Man. You are. We have we changed the loss you're free. Here's what you need to understand, uh, that affected some people. But a lot of blacks in the south didn't change a thing. You know why? Because there were people who didn't want them to know this truth, keep them in the dark, keep them unaware. Don't let the word get out. They didn't have social media folks [00:39:00] had to come through somebody who was. And there was a determined effort to make sure that they never heard it. And here's the saddest part of all. Even if they heard it, it sounded too good to be true. And many of them just kept serving as it always served theirs, their masters, because the thought of being given their freedom was more than they could. They just couldn't get, this is a parallel to, what's going to happen in the book of Galatians. You are set for. In Christ now live as free. People will pick it up next week. Let me pray on each of our campuses. Our campus pastor or host will come out, let me pray. So God help us to see it, help us to begin to learn this, help us to get so familiar with our Bible, that we're not going to be trapped by bad religion. We're going to know when somebody is telling us something that you never, when they created a rule or a regulation or a list that we're supposed to. [00:40:00] And then all of a sudden we're sideways with you because they said that we're doing it all wrong. God, he's just flipped. Freedom is, and then teach us how to live free. And I pray for us in this, in Jesus name and all God's people said, oh, they didn't say it like that. They just did not say it like that. And all God's people said, amen. All right.