Destination: Galatians | Skip Heitzig

[Music] the book of Galatians is known as the magna carta of Christian Liberty Paul wrote this letter to declare total Christian Liberty from the Mosaic law Paul emphasizes that freedom from sin is accompanied by both freedom from the law and the doctrines of men you know how it is when sometimes you get a letter and you open it up and you just know that something's different the tone is different it's not gonna be a nice letter necessarily and that's sort of how the book of Galatians is it's interesting before the study I was reading a couple letters one was a very sweet thankful letter the other one was an anonymous letter from someone somewhere in the United States talking about how it's our duty to tell people who to vote for it wouldn't wouldn't be who you thought it would be perhaps and how you know just this conspiratorial stuff but the tone of the letter it wasn't inspired by God that would be the difference between that letter in the book of Galatians but you could just tell this is gonna be a different letter the tone is way different the book of Galatians has a different tone that is apparent right off the bat most of Paul's letters he begins with word of praise for the congregation he writes - or even a prayer that he makes to God for those people and Paul doesn't do that rather than with embracing arms and hands and heart outstretched in Galatians he's got boxing gloves on Paul is out to get some folks and it's not the church it's false teachers that have come into the church and so the book of Galatians is a polemic it's a strong attacking writing against those who are perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ there was a group of people who were legalistic and they go by the term today Judaizers they were Jewish believers who said you have to do legalistic things keep the law of Moses the principle of circumcision in order to be right with God at all so imagine this kind of a scenario Paul starts a church he goes somewhere else a group of people come in and say well hi as Paul the Apostle been here by any chance and they say well yes he has he gave to us the glorious message of the gospel and we have committed our lives to Jesus Christ and now we're our own little body of Christ and they would respond the Judaizers day well that's fine as far as it goes but you know Paul didn't tell you the whole story what Paul should have told you is that now that you're saved you have to keep all of the laws of Moses and ritual righteousness in order to be right with God so Paul hears about that it wasn't the first time it happened to be a recurring problem throughout the early church and Paul writes against that group here's the thing about this group of Judaizers they didn't go out and win people to Christ themselves they didn't go out and start their own churches what they did is they found established churches already and like parasites gravitated toward them they didn't have enough guts to do all the hard work themselves now they wanted to find Christians who are already they're already growing then they would come in and infiltrate the church and bring a different gospel message now the Jews as a nation 2,000 years ago many of them had the belief system that Gentiles in general couldn't be saved that the only way for non-jewish person to even be considered to be right with God as they had to proselytize there to convert to Judaism and so there was an old saying going around among some of the Jewish leaders a couple thousand years ago that said God created the Gentiles to Kindle the fires of hell one ancient rabbi even said there is joy in heaven when one sinner is obliterated from off the earth how different from Jesus who said there's joy in heaven when one sinner repents so those were some of the hardcore Jewish leaders now the Judaizers were indeed believers in Christ they believed Jesus was the Messiah but they also believed you had to keep the laws of Moses and some of the rituals a little something about Galatia itself Galatia is a province in what is today modern-day Turkey Central Asia Minor if you looked at it on a map a modern-day Turkey right in the middle 2,000 years ago was the Roman province of Galatia and it was one of the first places Paul went to to preach the gospel do you remember his first missionary journey he left Antioch and Syria went down to Cyprus and then he sailed up to the coast of Asia Minor and he went to Antioch of Pisidia Iconium Lystra and Derby and then back through that's the area of Galatia so on his first journey second journey and Fleur journey he travelled through these churches in the region of Galatia probably on his third missionary journey somewhere around ad 57 is when paul wrote this letter the book of Galatians stands right up there with the book of Romans as one of the most important documents Paul the Apostle ever wrote now I'm not trying to say that this part of the Bible is more important than that part of the Bible but as far as something monumental that would change the course of church history this would be it on a human level Christianity could have been confined to merely a subset of Judaism were it not for this document of Galatians I took talked about a few weeks ago how the book of Romans influenced the great Reformation and Martin Luther I happen to have with me of a prized possession it's a commentary by Martin Luther on the book of Galatians he said this was his favorite book the book of Galatians and this is an old edition this is a 1749 edition of Martin Luther's commentary to the Galatians and what he says in it is very interesting he says the book of Galatians is my letter I am betrothed to it it is my wife that's a kind of influence this book had on this monk who was trying to be saved by his own good works the book of Galatians powerfully spoke to him about justification through faith in fact it is more powerfully written in the six chapters of Galatians than anywhere else in the New Testament justification through faith in God and therefore God confers His grace to us that's the emphasis of this book it's very passionate it's very emotionally charged and there's two key words there are several key words but two main key words in this book that will draw into perspective the focus first is the word law and the word law meaning the law of Moses is mentioned 32 times the second word the word faith is mentioned 21 times and you have this clash between those who believe keeping the law makes you right with God versus Paul who said it's faith that makes you right with God you're not justified by doing you're justified by believing in the one who did it for you that's justification by faith so the theme you could say the theme is justification by faith you could say the theme is faith I would say the theme of this book as he mentions it also a lot is grace grace and if you don't know what grace means it simply means God's favor to those who don't deserve it unmerited favor in fact you could take the word grace and use it as an acronym where every letter of that word stands for a new word and it would beautifully illustrate it grace grac II God's riches at Christ's expense is a good definition of this word that is the theme of this book now outlining the book is easy how many chapters are there six you could divide it up into three sections each in fact it does itself of two chapters two chapters and two chapters the first section chapter one and two is personal it's autobiographical it's Paul's relationship to the gospel Paul's experience with Christ those are the personal chapters chapter three and four the doctrinal chapters where he gives several explanations and allegories of how you're saved not by works but by faith third is the practical or the applicational showing that if you believe in Jesus Christ alone for salvation that that will translate into a beautiful holy loving lifestyle very different than by works so let's look at the first part and go to chapter 1 we'll get right into it after a few words of introduction a typical opening Paul writing to the Galatians grace and peace you know the the typical 2000 year old letter approach he gets right into the personal section verse 6 i'm marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of christ to a different gospel it really does astonish me here you have a group of people who was able to hear the greatest teacher in all of church history next to jesus christ himself and they would sit under his teaching and then they would turn from his teaching toward these people who were alienating paul from them with this new teaching and they did it so quickly verse 7 which is not another but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of christ see the word pervert very strong Greek word Metis truffaut means to reverse or to turn it around to go back you're taking the gospel and you're reverse you're going back to the law instead of forward into the liberty of grace now do you remember in Acts chapter 15 which he makes reference to I believe in this book some don't necessarily but I believe it's a strong reference to this counsel Paul was in Antioch had finished his first missionary journey goes up to Jerusalem because there was a group of people already in Antioch after the first missionary journey to Galatia who were saying unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved and Paul and Barnabas and Peter and others refuted that doctrine now when Jesus Christ died on the cross and when he died something very significant happened it was a sign it was significant to a great work that was going on the sign was that something happened to the veil inside the Jewish temple what happened to it it was torn from top to bottom not bottom to top God tore it the very veil that symbolically kept people out of God's presence was torn to signify you can freely enter into God's presence come as you are the price has been paid the atonement is an eternal atonement come history tells us that the Jewish nation quickly worked on stitching that veil back up very typical of people God wants to remove the barrier people come quickly in and put up another barrier to make it harder again even some who come by grace through faith one erect barriers and I would say even as you heard in this testimony there are still people who want to pervert the gospel of Christ put up a barrier go backwards unless you belong to our group you're really not a real Christian unless you keep our rules and I could tell you story after story after story but then I'd have to mention Church denomination after church denomination and I just don't want to go there because some of you get perhaps a little freaked out but it's still happening today verse eight 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 have said before so now I say again if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received let him be accursed appalled is on the warpath he's unmistakably clear and he's very angry it's sort of like a doctor a doctor if he knows that you have a certain kind of condition perhaps an aggressive cancer and but he knows you can be saved if he acts quickly or if she acts quickly in removing it even though it's gonna cause you some pain in the short run in the long run will save your life Paul like a good doctor says we got to cut some of this stuff out it's killing you you know Paul's a good shepherd remember how David said concerning the Lord is my shepherd he said your rod and your staff they comfort me you know a staff gently guided the Sheep you know what a rod was for to beat up wolves tell you what it's a comfort if you're a sheep and you're Shepherd is carrying a club to beat up your enemy that would be a comfort Paul was that kind of a shepherd he wanted to take these wolves that were perverting the gospel and get him out so he uses a very strong term look at the word accursed accursed it's the Greek word Anathem it means dedicated to destruction or damnation if I were to literally translate this for our benefit in our vernacular Paul was saying let him be damned very strong isn't it and he says it twice so it's unmistakable now he says though we or an angel from heaven would preach another gospel now a real angel from heaven would never do this it's it's simply a case or in point he's simply simply speaking hypothetically but many the Jews believe the law came through angels as mediators thus it was especially binding so even though a real angel from heaven would never bring another gospel it's very clear look if any person let alone even an angel comes and brings a different message let him be damned accursed let's say during this study there was an apparition an angel appeared right here on this stage and we were all freaked out now sadly if that angel or that apparition brought a message contrary to the Bible sadly many people here would latch on to it why because their senses were engaged they heard they saw what would the angel say that's really the important part let's compare the message that the angel brings with what the Bible says and I wish people would do that so there's an apparition at Fatima or an apparition at madge aghori or Jesus face appears in a tortilla or Jesus embodiment is on a toast now sold on eBay what is the message that goes along with that and just because it looks good what does it sound like an angel from heaven that's what Joseph Smith said appeared to him giving him the translation of the golden plates in 1823 hence the angel Moroni gave to Joseph Smith the real revelation saying that all of Christianity was perverted all of the gospel was wrong up to that point no church could be trusted but here's the real revelation to Joseph Smith hence the Mormon Church but we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than the one you have received let him be accursed Paul recounts his own salvation and we'll just look at a couple of verses in other words Paul saying look let's talk about legalism here I was Joe Legal I was I was a Pharisee I was mr. Judaism verse 14 and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation being more exceedingly jealous for the traditions of my father's but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace to reveal his son in me and then from this point on he recalls his relationship with the church in Jerusalem and how they came to realize that God had placed a calling in his life and that he was saved verse chapter 2 verse 2 and I went up by revelation and communicated to them those that as the council in Jerusalem the gospel which I preached among the Gentiles but privately to those who were of reputation lest by any means I might run or have run in vain so what he shows in the next few verses is how the Church of Jerusalem got comfortable with him and recognized that he was an apostle to bring the gospel the message of Christ to Gentile nations and they endorsed him so that's the personal part of this letter chapter three and four is the doctrinal section and he brings several arguments to demonstrate that a person is saved by believing not by doing good works and earning it it's justification by faith chapter three verse one o foolish Galatians who has bewitched you and that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified I'm gonna read it to you in the JB Phillips translation it's gonna shock you oh you dear idiots of Galatia pretty strong isn't it JB Phillips says he believes that's the most accurate way to render it I'm glad to use the adjective dear before idiots in other words you are so spiritually dull what has gotten into you guys o foolish Galatians who has bewitched you who cast a spell on you to turn you away from me the one who founded this fellowship and gave you the grace and gave you the truth and now your turn to another gospel that's a good question and isn't it why would anyone want to turn away from liberty in Christ and turn to bondage in anything why when Christ has set you free would you say now that I'm free I'd like to be a slave of some other teaching or some other system instead of the freedom of a relationship with Christ obviously whoever these judaistic preachers were they were powerful they must have wowed them awed them persuaded them it still happens people who aren't biblically astute will find a new book on the Christian bookshelf then after they read it and they're loud and odd I never saw that before I never knew that before I never read that before it's because it really was never there in the Bible before until this guy came along and said it was there but now their eyes are opened and now they begin judging every other Christian not by their relationship to Christ but by their relationship to the book they just read and their heart gets turned away I've seen it time and time again year after year verse 3 are you so foolish having begun in the spirit are you now being made perfect by the flesh again listen to JB Phillips translation surely you can't be so stupid you began your spiritual life in the spirit were you now completed by human performance think about it if you couldn't get saved by works why would you go back to the law for spiritual maturity it's absolutely baffling to Paul the Apostle now I have seen tendencies I've seen the tendency I just mentioned about the book illustration and I think I've mentioned this one before as well somebody gets saved they're so excited about Jesus you just love the Bible they love fellowship it can't wait to worship and after a while you're around them they're loose a little colder a little more aloof a little more standoffish and then you dig in a little bit more and you find out well they've been reading some stuff I see people who get involved in and believe me I love this I love Messianic Judaism if you know me and my stance toward Israel and my involvement in many of these groups I stand with them as brothers and sisters in Christ but I find sometimes these Gentile believers who start reading some of this material and find out how the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament so now they feel like I got to go back and live like the Old Testament I'm gonna wear a prayer shawl and a keep on blow the shofar and keep Shabbat and keep all the festivals it's cool if you just want to do it but it becomes a lot of some of them and they start turning against just those who are Christians and love Jesus well you're not really a real Christian - you know what I know and do what I do it's pathetic or they read some of the works of astute hardcore Calvinists and they're not free anymore in Christ they're always tight about things and they feel like their job isn't to preach the gospel of Christ but to preach the new Calvinistic doctrine to you I see this also with Sasser totalism or people believing you have to perform certain rites and rituals and ceremonies in order to be saved it's just a sad state of affairs that people Christians can get into verse 5 chapter 3 therefore he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith just as abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness therefore know that only those who are a faith are sons of Abraham now if you know anything about Judaism you know that the Jews were proud of grandpa Abraham they were children of Abraham they were so proud of that distinction but to the fault that they thought that guaranteed salvation we're sons of Abraham we're daughters of Abraham remember John the Baptist remember him at the jordan river and as he's telling him to repent of their sins then he figures out that they're probably thinking something and so he says don't think within yourself we're children of Abraham because God can raise up from these rocks children of Abraham remember that that's because of this strong belief that if we're Jewish were automatically saved so Paul takes us back here to Genesis chapter 15 let me just recount the story it'll ring a bell Genesis 15 is after the battle with five kings ketterle omar and a coalition of five kings that upset the region lot his nephew was taken captive after God gave Abraham victory one night Abraham goes out and God speaks to him it says Abraham it was Abram at the time Abram God says I am your shield and your exceeding great reward and that a beautiful thing for God to say wasn't good enough for Abram Abram says well what are you gonna give me seeing that I am childless and the only heir in my house is this guy named Eliezer from Damascus God says don't worry he's not going to be your heir come here look at the stars of the sky Abram and as the stars of the sky are so shall your descendants be and it says an Abram believed God and God accounted it to him for righteousness God made a promise Abram believed it by the way in Hebrew it's the word Amane in Hebrew I mean where we get the word amen God gave him a promise and Abraham said Amen like that's good enough I believe that and notice when Abram said Amen a simple statement of I believe what you just said Abram was made right with God that's justification not by works the law wouldn't give and wouldn't be given for hundreds of years Moses wasn't even born but by faith not by deeds but by faith it was accounted to him now don't miss that word Paul loves that word he used it in Romans he used it here it's an it's an accounting term it's a bookkeeping term it means to put something to one's account or to one's side of the ledger so you believe in me I will write on the side of the ledger your accounting books saved righteous pure by faith not by any works so how was Abram saved by baptism by meritorious works by going to a professional who had taken through some ritual and some right know just by faith and in this way you should understand - from a Jewish perspective when Abram was justified by God he was still a Gentile he wouldn't Jewish he came from more of the cal DS Abram was 99 years old when he was circumcised but he was 85 years old when he believed God 14 years before there was any legal ritual 14 years before that he believed God and 14 years earlier he was accounted as righteous it's a very strong point that he's making there was no law there was no judaistic line yet he was a Gentile believed God and God saved him by faith now I want you to hear this there are only two religions in the world only two no skip I take a class in religion there's a lot of them we'll just hear me out there's really only two categories the religion of human achievement and the one of divine accomplishment there's only two you take all of the religions of the world except the belief system called Christianity and you could lump them all into this religion of human achievement it's the salvation by works I'll earn it I'll do this and then I will get that one is by works Christianity is not by works but the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and our belief in him sad thing is most people will Bank their eternity on the first category I'm good enough I've done this enough I believe if I do that then I'll get saved you know what I've discovered I've discovered that the real problem isn't that people aren't good enough that's usually what when I talk to people I'm really trying to be good I'm really trying this Christianity thing I'm really the problem isn't that people aren't good enough the real problem that prevents salvation is people don't realize how bad they are you tell the average good person you are a sinner let's fight words but unless you realize you're a sinner you'll never want to Savior verse 10 for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse of the law now notice what he says about the laws not a blessing it's a curse for it is written cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them quoting Deuteronomy 27 verse 11 but that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for now he quotes Habakkuk chapter 2 the just shall live by faith so he quotes Deuteronomy 27 and he says look the laws and a blessing the law is a curse unless you're perfect if you're perfect and you never break one iota of the law it's a blessing but if you live in the real world like the rest of all of us the laws in a blessing it's a curse and according to Habakkuk chapter 2 that's what he quotes in verse 11 God is always justified or declared righteous a person who lives by faith so now look at verse 12 yet the law is not a faith but and he's quoting now Leviticus 18 the man who does them shall live by them you see the law doesn't ask people to believe you get that the law doesn't ask people to believe and the law doesn't ask people to try to keep it the law demands a strict complete and perfect obedience do this and live faith says believe this and live remember again the disciples came to Jesus Jesus what must we do to work the works of God jesus said this is the work of God that you believe on Him whom he had sent so what is the solution the solution is Jesus took the curse look at chapter 3 verse 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith a very fascinating point that Paul makes I real don't want you to miss it what was capital punishment in Judaism if you did something wrong what did they do to you they stoned you to death okay Jesus suffered capital punishment but it was not by stoning but by crucifixion the Jews never crucified never crucified it was a Persian invention later on the Romans adapted it because of the belief system according to Scripture anyone who hangs on a tree is cursed so the point Paul is making is look Jesus died but he died on the very implement that the Jewish law says when is a curse so were cursed by the law and the only solution is that Jesus Christ died on the place of cursing that is a cross that is a tree the curse of God fell upon Jesus Christ he is our substitute all of our sins were placed on him and that's the solution verse 19 what purpose then does the law serve good question if he just eradicated the whole thing and the next question is okay so what's the whole purpose of it it was added he says because of transgressions until the seed should come to whom the promise was made and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator he's showing that it had a purpose okay so Abraham was justified by faith today people are justified by faith in Christ so what was the purpose of the law it was added because of transgressions now Judaism was the only religion God ever gave to man and it served a distinct purpose it was added because of transgressions I'm gonna I'm gonna read that verse to you in two different English modern translations to help you get the sense of it the new century translation renders it this way so what was the law for it was given to show that the wrong things people do are against God's will again the JB Phillips translation don't worry you won't say you're lame you're stupid what was the purpose of the law to underline the existence and the extent of sin here's the point the law wasn't given to remove sin it was given to reveal sin it can't help take it away it can only show you you've got it but it's never gonna fully remove it so the law was given from the time of Moses to the time of Christ to reveal sin until it says the seed should come go down to verse 24 therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith and some old translations don't say tutor they say our school masters I would say I think the King James says our schoolmaster and here the new King James says your tutor the Greek word is pie de Gaga's pie de Gaga's it was a person in a Roman household who took charge of a child from about age 7 to age 18 it fell under his duties he would get clothes for the kid in the morning he would wash his face if he needed his nose and blow need hand him a Kleenex it walk him to school the time came when he went into his secondary education and he was given over to someone else I'll be the tutor I'll guide you until I take you somewhere else for a fuller education so the law revealed sin pointed to the cross and when the seed Jesus Christ has come the law went up to the child and said I can't help you any longer but I can point you to where you need to go you need to go to Jesus Christ now that's the place where you rest for your salvation chapter 4 verse 4 but when the fullness of the time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law now don't stop there because you're about to read the rest of the Christmas story the real Nativity story to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons because you are sons God has sent forth his spirit of his son into your hearts crying out abba father what kind of a father would give his only begotten Son to die kind of a father is that it's the kind of a father that loves other people and wants to redeem them and knows the only way to do that is to send the one who is the sinless seed to redeem people from the curse of the law and make them adopted children and give them full sonship I think of it this way the son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God and I mean men generically don't take that as I didn't say a generic liquor our gender correct men and women mankind he became a human to enable humans to become children of God this is the site of the Christmas story that isn't usually told every year there's Maine Jers nativity sets I was in Baghdad Iraq a few years ago and right in front of the hotel I was staying at in Iraq was a nativity set and I thought well there's places in America you just can't have a nativity set you know the ACLU will come in and and try to shut that down but I'm in Baghdad Iraq and here's the nativity set but then if you can even manage these days to get a nativity set in a public setting that's where people want to stop they like the baby Jesus they like the little Jesus they don't want him to grow up and be a savior and make demands on people and say I'm the only way the truth of life you can't get to heaven unless you believe they don't like that Jesus they like him in the nativity set that's so cute look at those cute little hands look at those soft little feet but what you don't realize and Paul is saying for the purpose of redemption those cute little hands were there so that they could develop and spikes could be driven through them that's their purpose and those cute little cuddly little feet would walk up a hill toward Golgotha bearing a cross and be stapled to a cross and that soft sweet little infant head would one day wear a crown of thorns that's the real story and Paul say that Paul says that is why he came I've always loved the story of the family who got in the car to drive around town and look at the Christmas lights and they came to a nativity set that they saw every year at a church and the Graham I was in the backseat she said I love this nativity set hidden that beautiful little granddaughter said yeah I like it grandma but one thing bothers me Jesus is the same size this year as he was last year when will he ever grow up you know there's a lot of people in this culture who don't want him to grow up I want him to stay the little baby Nepal says he came to redeem those who were under the law and so why so we could be placed in his family and be his children were adopted sons and we cry Abba Father now the translators of this verse must have felt uncomfortable with the real translation so they they put in the Aramaic or the Hebrew Abba if you go to Israel today and you'll see little children running through the streets going EEMA Abba EMA is mommy Abba is daddy it's a very intimate term it's not father it's daddy EEMA ABBA but probably the translator saw that the translation itself is too intimate to translate it as daddy after all this is a Bible so they left it with its original rendering of its language Aramaic or Hebrew same word ABBA but the translation is daddy so here's the point Paul is making the law could never do this grace through faith can do this you trust in him in his work and you get put in his family as a full-grown mature son or daughter of God and you're able to call him your daddy because now there's an intimacy of relationship that comes with that something the law could never do now as the chapter goes on and allegory is given it's quite hard to unravel but I'll just simply say it's an allegory of Ishmael and Isaac and Jerusalem and Mount Sinai and it's basically an analogy of bondage and freedom the law is a picture of bondage as seen by Hagar and now figuratively is in Jerusalem under the bondage of the law and the other is the freedom that comes through faith in Jesus Christ let's get to the practical section and the last few minutes that we have in Chapter five and six Paul will show how that living by grace will promote true spirituality now I'll tell you why this is important because these false teachers these Judaizers they didn't like Paul's message because they thought well grace if you preach that will be misunderstood unless you put it in the parameters of the law it could lead people to lawlessness to lewdness no restraint so you need the law and what Paul will share is that the law only commands it doesn't enable it doesn't help but grace will do in the person and through the person with the law could never do here's a little poem do this and live the law commands but gives me neither feet nor hands a far better word the gospel brings it bids me fly and then it gives me wings so what Paul will say is look I'm through the personal part I've showed you my relationship to the law in my relationship with the gospel my relationship to the church in Jerusalem I've talked about the doctrinal part of it now now I want to bring this back to the practical just so you don't think that this gospel of grace is gonna lead to lewd loose living it's gonna lead to holy living he says in chapter 5 verse 1 stand fast therefore in the Liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be tank entangled again with a yoke of bondage ok understand the difference between standing fast and being entangled by a yoke this is farm talk a yoke was an implement that went around an animal to pull a plow it's a picture of a sir an animal bowed down and unable to stand because the yoke is so heavy it's pushing them to the ground so he's saying stand fast in the Liberty don't be bowed down and entangled by a yoke of bondage which is the law do you remember in acts 15 that counsel at Jerusalem the Paul and Barnabas went up to Peter was there and Peter was Jewish and Peter said to these people in Jerusalem who said you got to keep the Jewish law to be safe he said to them why will you put a yoke on the neck of these Gentile disciples that neither we nor our fathers were ever able to bear now Peters calling their bluff you know what you guys are talking about the law keeping the law you've never kept it your dad never kept it your grandpa never kept it all of your forefathers never really kept all the law and you're trying to put that on the Gentiles now even Jesus himself said concerning these religious leaders they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders and I watch people do this i watch young believers come to Christ they're so happy they're so excited then they go yeah but I'm going to this Bible study and and I just feel kind of weird cuz they say I gotta do this I gotta do that I gotta do the other thing and they just start getting really pushed down instead of standing fast in the true gospel which gives them Liberty verse 13 for you brethren have been called to Liberty only do not use Liberty as an opportunity for the flesh but true love serve one another for all the laws fulfilled in one word even this you shall love your neighbor as yourself Paul's point is well the gospel of grace won't make you indulgent it'll make you a servant to others verse 16 and I say then walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh see the Holy Spirit living inside of a believer energizes the new nature that has been put than us helping you when you were born when you were born physically you received an old nature that's just the impulses of the flashy the the impulse to sin that's the you receive that at birth when you were born again you received a new nature a new nature and the flesh wars against the spirit Paul will say and the spirit against the flesh there's the conflict and so Paul wrote do you remember in Romans chapter 7 what I want to do I do not do and what I hate I do Paul is is now showing here's the battle and he'll he'll list seventeen sins of the flesh contrasted by nine fruit of the Spirit or characteristics of the spiritual life showing that if you live according to the spirit the spirit living inside of you will energize you to conquer the sins of the flesh so I want you to compare something look at chapter five verse 19 now the works of the flesh are evident which are adultery fornication lewdness and cleanness etc verse 22 of chapter five but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering kindness goodness faithfulness this is what Christ produces so it's a very strong point to these teachers who are saying well if you follow this gospel that Paul is preaching you're just gonna kind of in Liberty do whatever you want to do policy no you won't you'll live by the Spirit and if you live by the spirit and you follow Jesus Christ it will produce in you fruit now here's the thing about fruit do you ever see an apple strive were walked up to an apple tree and looked at it and go that Apple is working really hard well that tree is working really are that branch really sweating you ever seen an apple tree going like this Apple that was so hard I worked so hard to produce that but it was my hard work as an apple branch no you know you get an apple the branches has to hang in there quite literally it's what Jesus said if you abide in the vine you will bear much fruit abide means to hang in there means to remain if you just stay in there with Jesus Christ hang in there stay in fellowship with him walk with him love him if it's true fellowship that you have with Christ it will produce fruit won't be anything you have to strive for yes you'll have to obey Him certainly holiness is a huge part of it but the Spirit living inside of you gives you the ability energizes that new nature the fruit of the Spirit that's why he says at the end of verse 23 he says against such this fruit of the Spirit there is no law the gospel of grace will make you a rebel it'll make you a faithful disciple so the real danger then isn't the liberty of the gospel that Paul preached but the legalism of religion the law can only restrain you outwardly oh look at that nice little boy the good works he's doing but what's he thinking inwardly what's he doing inside his heart in his mind look at that good Christian man or woman doing those good things yet but but what's going on see the law can only govern don't do this don't do that it's all Albert what about the inside no power to change the inside chapter 6 the power of the gospel of grace also shows up and how we treat people verse 1 brethren if if a man is overtaken in any trespass you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness considering yourself lest you also be tempted how different this was from those judaistic legalize errs who pointed their fingers and said you have to keep the law of moses to be saved what you're doing is wrong they had no sense of restoration and compassion it was always condemnation I hate when I see that in Christians and people who profess to be believers that spirit of condom nation instead of restoration you know the church has really been good at shooting its own wounded throughout the centuries instead of coming alongside and saying let me hear you out I'm gonna come alongside of you let's restore you back to fruitfulness let's restore you back to relationship let's restore you back to fellowship they don't want to repent they don't want to change that's another story but once they do remember the Corinthian incident Paul says there's a guy with incest in the church kick him out and then once the guy sees what's going on and wants to repent Paul says bring him back in lest he be overtaken with grief we have to be if we're really good at discipline we should really be good at restoration and discipleship that way verse 2 bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ for if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing he deceives himself again that's all the outward vs. the inward verse 11 see with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand now stop right there for a minute if you have by any chance an old King James Bible I believe it says see how large a letter I have written to you so this is sort of baffled expositors and commentators what does Paul mean when he says I've written to you a large letter is he mean this is a really long letter I've written to you it's really not i mean you compare galatians with romans or first corinthians it's relatively short so he probably doesn't mean there's a really long letter probably doesn't mean that number two it could mean that he had bad eyesight i mean worse than my eyesight really bad eyesight but he couldn't see it all and he had to write real big now when he went to Galatia the first time you went to Galatia he went through Iconium Antioch of Pisidia Iconium Lystra and Derby in Derby they threw rocks at him they stoned him they thought he was dead he wasn't dead he got and he preached the gospel but some believe that that incident is when he got a malady he he couldn't see after that maybe his hand his riding hand was paralyzed and so he had to write really big letters so that he could see it you know like extra super mega giant print his Bible would be like he'd have to have wagons to carry it in because his print would be so large he didn't have spectacles or contacts so it could mean that he had an eye injury of some kind that disabled him from reading so he wrote with large letters now Paul would dictate his letters but sometimes he would reserve the last section where he would write it himself and it could be that he had really write like a take up a lot of space on the page I could that could be it or there's another thought just I'll toss it out there it could be that throughout this letter Paul would say to his amanuensis his secretary who was taking the dictation write this in all capitals make this really big like forty five point font not the little stuff as if to say I'm emphasizing this don't miss this these are some large letters here in this point and this point that I want to emphasize this to you unmistakably so you can take your pick I won't be dogmatic verse thirteen for not even those who are circumcised keep the law but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh see to them was all about you know here's the conversation I love Jesus I'm a Christian have you been circumcised well no Paul didn't tell me I had to what Paul was wrong he was a good guy with gave you a good start but now you have to be mature and if you're really mature you really obey and the law says you got to get circumcised okay so Paul is says they want to boast in your flesh so compare that look at look at verse 17 from now on let no one trouble me like I've had enough of this for I bear in my body the marks the Lord Jesus brethren the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit amen okay here's the point he's making he's contrasting their marks in their body circumcision and the marks in his body that he has suffered for persecution okay they want to boast in their marks circumcision let me tell you about the marks I've suffered in my body the stripes I have on my back the whippings I've taken the beatings I've endured to follow Christ to preach this Gospel message to you you don't have to turn to it but in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 it's the same idea I I just touched on it briefly a while back last week Paul writes in verse 22 are they Hebrews so am i are they Israelites so am i are they the seed of Abraham so am i are they ministers of Christ I speak as a fool I am more in Labor's more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequently in deaths often from the Jews five times I received 40 stripes minus one three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned three times I was shipwrecked a night and day I've been in the deep and journeys often in perils of water in perils of robbers and perils of my own countrymen and perils of the Gentiles and perils of the city and perils of the wilderness in perils of the sea in perils among false brethren and weariness and toil and sleeplessness often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakedness beside the other things which come upon me daily my deep concern for all the churches so they can boast all they want in their circumcision but I bear the marks of persecution because I preach the Jesus Christ alone divine accomplishment not human achievement as the way people are right with God a while back I was over here in a restaurant some of you have gone to I was eating lunch I had some other friends some company we were getting ready to leave and pay the bill and I got out a credit card and the the waitress said you don't have to pay it's been paid for your tab has been covered I said well who who covered it she said I don't know but it's been covered and they've already left and I said what would no wait a minute I've got company here these are friends I got at least pay for half of it you know that this whole free lunch thing grace thing it's sort of hard to receive and I wanted to earn part of it look I'll pitch a pitch and I'll put in my part it's free gift it's already been taken care of that's what grace says God says you know what what you owe me it's so much you could never pay for it I don't care how hard and how long you worked you could work life time after a lifetime and be really religious this tab is so high you can't pay for it it's been covered it's already paid for and it's all been paid for it even the tips been paid for you can't add to it don't try here take it and while people were saying well that's too loose of a message to preach you've got to add something to that add a little guilt add a little good works Paul said if it's the real gospel it'll be fruitful it'll be loving it'll be life producing and I have marks on my body to prove it that's the message of Galatians powerful powerful book no wonder Luther said this is my favorite book no wonder he said it's my letter I'm betrothed to it it's my wife let's pray Heavenly Father though it's not our wife it is certainly our life Jesus Christ gave us life freely and that's why when we worship we sing and we think of different words and different melodies and different ways to express our love to you because you paid a debt you didn't know we owe to debt we could never pay we just say thank you praise you we worship you we receive that gift I pray Lord that the message of the gospel will so transform us we'd never want to add anything to it we'd want to live by it but we do pray Lord that as we abide in Christ as we hang in there that our lives would be fruitful though not perfect ever-increasing fruit would mark us thank you lord thank you for your forgiveness thank you for your love thank you for your plan and thank you Lord that the law did its part pointed us to maturity salvation freely in Christ in Jesus name amen

Channel: Skip Heitzig

Views: 6,199

Rating: 4.8681316 out of 5

Keywords: How to study the Bible, How to read the Bible, Jesus, Skip, Skip Heitzig, How to know God, Galatians, Galatia, church, grace, faith, law, Paul, Letter, legalism, false gospel, works

Id: dY9IKNEK5jw

Length: 59min 48sec (3588 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2019