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Camp Pioneer RLS High School Trip - Galatians 3:15-22

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Posted: Saturday, September 3rd, 2016 by Pastor Westgate

Law and Gospel. If you’ve been at Redeemer a while, chances are you’ve heard these words before: Law and Gospel. You can boil the whole Bible down to these two things: Law and Gospel. When I was a little younger than you, my pastor gave us an easy way to remember what these two things mean: “S.O.S.” It works well here at Camp Pioneer because Lake Erie is known for all its shipwrecks. What does a ship in danger do? It lets out one big “S.O.S.” “Save Our Ship.” What do the Law and Gospel S.O.S.’s stand for? The Law “Shows us Our Sins.” If we were a ship, that means our ship would definitely need saving. The Gospel “Shows us Our Savior.”

What’s The Law? We think of those two tablets of stone God wrote on, full of a lot of dos and don’ts. And there’s nothing we hate more than lots of dos and don’ts, right? But there’s a reason for that. We don’t like dos and don’ts because we’re rebels at heart, rebels from God’s will for us. We like being rebels. But God’s Law says that’s a bad thing. It says if we don’t keep all those dos and don’ts 100% we’ll die. We need an A+ to pass into eternal life. Just look back through your day today. Look at all your thoughts and actions and words. Can you say you did a great job in God’s all-seeing eyes? See His test, The Law, you took today covered in red marks. You fail. Save our Ship. The Law shows you your sins. It shows you you deserve eternal death.

So show us our Savior. God told Abraham that through his Seed all the world would be blessed. That Seed is The Seed of the woman, Mary’s Son, Jesus. How are we blessed through Him? By believing in Him, that is, by trusting in Him. What do we trust and believe? That He died and rose for us. He took to His Cross all the F’s we get in God’s Law’s classroom. With His Blood He’s whited them out and written a big A+. Trust this, and the A+ in God’s Law’s classroom is yours. You cannot be punished for your sins. Christ has been punished for them. Now eternal life is yours. You are saved from the shipwreck of eternal death. He has rowed out to you and rescued you from certain death in the waters of eternity and is rowing you to the shore of eternal life. In His boat you are safe. So when you do what is wrong, confess your sin, and He will forgive you. This is His promise to you, and He has an A+ in keeping His promises that He intends to never lose. Don’t forget it, because that’s the one A+ that will matter to you when you meet Him. That’s The Gospel.

Categories: Pastor Westgate's Sermons

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