What is Christianity?
A Sermon on Galatians 6:15
Scripture
15For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Sermon Description
In this sermon on Galatians 6:15 titled “What is Christianity?” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones challenges Christians to regain a proper understanding of what the life of a follower of Jesus truly is. He asks a central question to help gauge spiritual health: “is Christianity central to everything in our lives, or is it small and narrow?” In the passage, Paul is addressing a false teaching in the church that did not hold Christianity up as a worldview around which the lives of people should revolve. Dr. Lloyd-Jones also shows how and why people need to come to Jesus in the first place. Before becoming followers of Jesus, anything that one has or has done avails to nothing. Good deeds, intellect, and even baptism does not secure an eternal future. In and of themselves, they are useless in bringing anyone closer to Christ. This relates to why all need to be born again. As Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds, salvation is humanity’s most fundamental need. Listen as he preaches on the Christian life and why all are in need of being saved.
Sermon Breakdown
- The context of Galatians 6:15 is Paul summing up his message and driving home the main points he wants to convey.
- Our natural ideas about Christianity and salvation are completely wrong. We need to be born again to truly understand.
- Circumcision (religious observance) and uncircumcision (human reasoning) are useless and irrelevant in Christ.
- What matters is being a new creation - this means being made into something completely new, not just improving what already exists.
- We cannot take up Christianity like an interest or hobby. We must become nothing in order to become Christian.
- Christianity is not about following rules or modifying behavior. It is about God giving us new life and making us into new people.
- Our deepest need is for God himself, not just new ideas or a better life. We were made to know and have fellowship with God.
- God is perfect light, truth, holiness, righteousness, and justice. He cannot look upon sin. How can we know such a God in our natural sinful state?
- We are by nature the opposite of God - we are darkness, sin, unrighteousness, and injustice. We cannot come before God as we are.
- Our circumstances and externals do not defile us - our sinful hearts do. We need inner renewal and transformation.
- Knowledge of the truth is not enough - we need God to change our hearts and give us new desires and wills.
- When we become Christians, we become new creations - we are so changed that we can barely recognize ourselves. This is God's miracle.
- We cannot make ourselves Christians through effort and willpower. God alone can create - he makes Christians through the Holy Spirit.
- Christianity means gaining a new heart, new mind, new outlook, and new life. Everything becomes new.
- We become Christians through God's grace and power, not through anything we have or do. All else is useless - only a new creation matters.
Other Sermons
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.