Galatians (Session 3) Chapter 2

well we're in the third session and chapter two of our review of the epistle to the galatians the first couple of chapters of course are personal his ministry his method and his message three and four will be doctrinal and five and six practical we reviewed as background of this whole saga the book of acts the message to the kingdom was presented by the uh by peter and the twelve and their answer israel's answer was the stone stephen very key response i mean a milestone in terms of what's really going to happen the message then went to the samaritans and to the gentiles because of the unusual experience that peter had in acts 10 but in between those eight and ten of course paul gets converted very uh dramatic event that he leaned on very heavily in chapter one and uh god especially revealed to paul that he was doing a new thing and that uh the prophecy of the the message of the kingdom had been replaced by the church that is temporarily placed by the mystery of the church and of course there are many believers that uh notice they're believers that are creating the problem here that they continue to be faithful to the jewish religion did not realize that this new program of grace uh was was a new thing for the gentile and so on and this finally leads to the big debate in acts 15. and uh god's program for today was to take out of the gentiles to people for his name paul was the apostle to the gentiles with a special ministry of that body and the kingdom program would be resumed later after this event take place we're in a in a peculiar parenthesis in god's program here and of course the target issue is the judaizers jews who would not receive the simple message of grace they insisted on adding to that the mix of the law and trying to blend which is obviously improper the kingdom message with the church message and the aim was to entice the uh gentile believers into the jewish system now i want to keep emphasizing this this is not a con contest between believers and unbelievers it's a it's a contest of excessively aggressive believers with a wrong doctrine and insisting upon even though you're saved by faith you're going to stay saved by keeping the law sort of the flavor and so they're upsetting people and there's a big bruja brewing that's what we're dealing with here and the jewish is one of the new believers to follow the torah if you will and this is the other gospel as paul calls it that he condemns the only gospel god approves is the gospel of the grace of god justification by faith in christ alone and that of course becomes the major catchword throughout the entire reformation and so we're not saved by making promises to god we're saved by uh believing the promises he's making and so there are distinctives to the epistle we're studying it's very different than paul's other epistles it's very stern severe solemn because paul is concerned because the galatian believers are in peril of being really messed up and so there's no word of commendation there's no praise or thanksgiving there's just a a real concern there's no prayer no mention of their standing in christ that's taken for granted actually and no one's mentioned by name okay and what's interesting is this is not an intellectual massage like uh the the epistle of the romans which is a real exercise in in that understanding this is really just paul's heart his passion for these people deep emotion strong feeling but it's a fighting epistle and uh someone said the epistle romans comes from the head of paul his mind incredible mind the epistle of galatians comes from his gut or as we might say or politely the heart huh it's a it's a it's an epistle of emancipation freeing the believer from the bondage of the law or legalism of any type martin luther of course loved it and it was the magna carta of the reformation that's all pretty straightforward review here the strongest declaration galatians is the strongest declaration of the defense of the doctrine of justification and uh the uh it's the it's the the vital christian truth and i think we will do a review of the of the justification thing here too and as we take on this challenge we don't denigrate despise or disregard the mosaic law its demands its perfection its fullness its purpose all maintained but its those very qualities that make it utterly impossible for man to come by that route to god and there's a whole different way that we're exploring and you don't mix the two ways they're two different ways faith justification by faith is the theme with the emphasis on faith but as we introduced last time and i'll just refresh it again the parent parody of salvation you can say i've been saved i'm being saved and will be saved three different tenses past present and future and the justification is the past tense it's a gift from god and god alone sanctification is the present tense that's what's going on with you and now even myself now is that it's a progressive we're all a work in progress but that presumes we have been already justified by our belief in christ and that so that's it's it's a present tense sense of this of course the future tense is glorification which is the result of those two and uh okay and i i loved in dealing with a whole eternal security issue i usually hang my head on just on john chapter 10. jesus i've given them eternal life they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand and he goes on to say my father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hands so we've got two hands involved here and as as walter martin we might quip if i can lose my salvation i have a new name for god butterfingers and that gets the point across i think rather maybe a little irreverently but to the point so past tense separation from the penalty of sin we call that justification present tense separation from the power of sin we call sanctification future tense separation of the very presence of sin glorification justification past tense sanctification present tense glorification in the future tense so that should help all all three of these being simply the past present future tone of the word salvation itself okay the justification is for us sanctification is in us and the justification is complete sanctification is still being in the process of being completed justification declares in a legal sense the sinner righteous sanctification actually makes the sinner righteous or more righteous justification removes the guilt and penalty of sin sanctification removes the growth and the power of sin as as hal lindsey would say from romans 6 he'd say rain ain't going to rain no more reign will no longer be controlling things well we talked last time about chapter one uh one and two being dealing with the authenticity of the gospel we talked about its origin last time this time we're going to talk about it's the nature of the gospel again in terms of its authenticity and so we went through some of paul's credentials last time he's no longer a seeker of popularity that was in verse 10 chapter one his revelation was directly from christ his zeal as a champion of as a a benjamite pharisee was forsaken for something better his zeal for the church and he preached grace before any of the other apostles you can almost argue they learned it from him not the other way around well this chapter we're going to discover that the apostles didn't add anything to what paul was teaching and so he continues chapter two verse one paul says that for fourteen years after i went up again to jerusalem with barnabas and took titus with me also now barnabas was a leader in the from the beginning because it was he it was barnabas that persuaded paul to leave to leave tarsus to go to work at antioch which had become the sort of the capital of the the the uh gentile outreach so uh good man full of the holy spirit but the reason paul is bringing titus along becomes clear as we see this all unfold because he is like a test case because titus see timothy was he uh had a uh a jewish uh parent so he it was appropriate for timothy to be circumcised but ball had timothy circumcised to broaden his ministry titus was paul's troubleshooter a major a partner in ministry he gave titus the headache jobs but titus was gentile he brought him along here because it was to be a test case about whether or not a gentile needed to be to be circumcised and so and because titus will be the the proof if you will of acceptance of a gentile believer in the church so he goes on paul says i went up by revelation meaning that god himself called him to that and communicated unto them that gospel which i preached among the gentiles but privately to them which were of reputation lest by any means i should run or had run in vain that implies that part of the dialogue going on was held with leadership in private not public but by revelation and i want you to see notice paul waited till god himself endorsed the trip that was paul's style where wherever he could he tried very hard to be led by the holy spirit so he wait till he had a definite revelation to go up to jerusalem but but neither titus who was with me being at greek was compelled to be crucified and see this starts to reveal as you read in the text here the reason that he brought titus was to be to be a a litmus test if you will it's interesting that titus is not mentioned in the book of acts at all and that people suspect it might be because he was luke's brother that's that's partly conjecture but there's some reason to infer that so anyway and that because of the false brethren um unawares brought in who came and probably despite our liberty that we have in christ jesus that they might bring us under bondage now that's the reason they had previous verse talking about meeting them in private at first so that they wanted to sort of clear the air among the in group here before they took it out publicly and so he paul didn't want he wanted to keep what he called spies in effect to avoid any open disagreements that would only add fuel to the fire they want they didn't want to have a disagreement of the very highly venerated seniors uh disrupt to be divisive and so forth and make a lot of that's very mature verse 5 to whom we gave place by subjection know not for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue with you so he's not about to allow any part of the law to be involved with salvation and this is a tremendous stand that paul is taking before this crowd but of these who seem to be somewhat whatsoever they were it makes no matter to me god accepteth no man's person for they who seemed to be someone in conference added nothing to me in other words they didn't supplement what paul was teaching and uh they but now that they endorsed it they not only didn't add to it they endorsed it as well as we'll see it unfold here so his credentials we added the fact that he preached grace before many of the other disciples but then he they that they added nothing to his message as the main point he's making and they're also going to go further than that they're going to recognize his apostleship this is a very important point for us to embrace here he said but contrary-wise when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me just as the gospel of the circumcision was unto peter for he that wrought effectually in peter to the apostleship of the circumcision the same was mighty in me toward the gentiles this is the way they're dividing up their severes of of emphasis even though peter was the mechanism by which the door was open to the gentiles in acts 10 peter's charge his mission his focus was to the jew paul just the opposite paul's sphere of focus would be the uncircumcision it's called here or the gentiles if you will and so and paul's very careful to point out that it's the same spirit in both that the the same spirit that worked in paul worked in peter both had the same message and the same spirit even though they are dealing with different uh cultural backgrounds jew or jew or gentile goes on when james cephas and john he's using the aramaic name of peter here for good reason when james cephas and john who seem to be pillars perceive the grace that was given unto me they gave to me and barnabas the right hands of fellowship in other words that's the official sanction that we should go to the heathen and they to the circumcision very key very key verse in galatians 2 9. that they gave to paul and to barnabas his partner the right hands of fellowship that wasn't just a casual handshake they were giving a formal uh concurrence with what they're teaching and that's that's that that should clinch it for someone that's concerned about the the paul's credentials here that we should that he and barnabas should go to the heathen the gentiles and they the 12 actually but represented by peter here uh to go to the circumcision or to the jews so it's in that flavor then that paul uses the aramaic name for peter the cephas okay and so and this is the right hand is a fellowship the word fellowship there is corninea which obviously is a word very dear to our situation one of the reasons we we we call the ministry koinonia house and why we call the think tank that we are part of uh coin in the institute because the word koinonia has several nuances in the greek it means fellowship it means communication it is also the word used for fiduciary those of you have a legal background understand that the fiduciary relationship is one where you put the other person's his other needs ahead of your own like a doctor patient attorney client whatever the division of labor one group of evangelists to the gentiles the other the jews but the one thing one footnote they add they're hoping that they all will stay not divorce themselves from the jewish believers especially the ones in jerusalem because the church of jerusalem is very poor very persecuted you'll notice all through the various wandering stuff there's always special offerings taken to deliver to the church in jerusalem it's not that they were the most senior it was that they were one of the most destitute one of the ones that had had the biggest needs so and uh now this all taking for granted i didn't bother to add in our in our pre uh preparation as we read some of the scriptures the text from acts 10. you can read that on your own the famous time where where peter is reluctantly invited to partake of non-kosher food as god's way of getting the point across to peter that those days are over that he is to not don't call anything that i've blessed unclean and take and eat he and he he very interesting uh the main point of all of that in house of cordelia's in x-10 was that the door was now open for the gospel to go to the gentiles and so and peter goes then to the obviously to the jews but paul takes the arrangement as to the division of spheres to labor while in jerusalem and so okay now the apostles had established churches outside judea but they're still primarily jewish fellowships and even those that were scattered abroad really didn't preach to the gentiles interestingly enough barnabas sent to investigate antioch did not report back to the apostles but simply sent for paul to join him because it took to tarsus for paul to join him there in antioch but yet paul's he demonstrates his good faith to the jewish cause if you will by raising substantial funds among the gentile churches which he took to jerusalem on several not just this but in several occasions but the main point is it's the same gospel even though there are different spheres of interest peter had been among the galatians preaching the same gospel as everywhere else we saw this on the day of pentecost in acts chapter 2 we see it again in peter's second sermon in acts chapter 3. the jewish nation had rejected their messiah and that was again you know in acts chapter 4. and now you're going to hear that same man preaching in the house of cornelius in acts chapter 10. so it's the same gospel around and when you examine the message that was addressed to the jewish converts it's the same it's the gospel that peter preached and you can compare that with that of paul in acts 13 if you like there's nothing different paul is just fuller but the the paul really just emphasized the justification aspect of it in ephesians 1 6 we are except we are accepted in the beloved in christ that's the message okay so we've gone through paul's credentials not a secret popularity his revelations from christ alone his zeal as a pharisee was forsaken for something better he preached grace before any of the other apostles did and later on they didn't add anything to what he preached in fact they recognized his apostleship that's what we've just seen with the formal uh handshake if you will with the leaders but now we get into this last interesting little event where peter blows it and paul calls him down for it in public and peter will yield to paul when he's rebuked by paul and paul gives us the details of that encounter in the text of galatians 2. this so only they that we should remember the poor the same which also i was forward to do he's referring to this this commitment that she'd take up offerings for the the church of jerusalem but when peter was come to antioch i withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed paul is making reference to something they were aware of but he'll detail enough so that we can follow what he's saying here it's interesting though because in all of this while he paul called peter down he probably had to smile because it's demonstrating one body one spirit one hope among both jew and gentile the main point we're putting the reason it's here it's going to demonstrate paul in no way was subservient to peter which many people would presume no he wasn't not at all and proverbs 29 you know the fear of man bringeth the snare and that's exactly what was wrong with peter he was fearful of what people would think so here's the encounter it's from verses 11 to 21 in galatians 2. and by the way this is the third time only the third time apparently that paul had occasion to connect with peter and when peter comes up to antioch where paul is involved uh peter behaved strangely and see the first time you just had met peter and then the next time they discovered their their commonality and it was a great warm feeling but this time paul was moved to differ with peter and rebuked him [Music] okay let's see verse 12 for before that certain came from james he peter did eat with the gentiles so when the the heavies weren't around peter mixed with the gentiles i don't know if he ate a ham sandwich but he was mixing with gentiles but when they these important leaders from james the head of the church in jerusalem when they were when they were come he peter withdrew and separate himself fearing them that were of the circumcision in other words what paul is rebuking peter he's being hypocritical when the bosses aren't around he mixes with the gentiles he's he's you know making it clear to the gentiles that there were all one body when the jewish leader shows up suddenly peter becomes very kosher that's that's the flavor of it okay and paul's reaction that's hypocritical the action of the council of jerusalem back in acts 15 had opened the way for freedom of social intercourse from the jews and gentiles in the church in antioch a freedom that peter was glad to share when the bosses weren't around he even ate with the gentiles as described back in acts 10 okay but when these certain men came from james who was acknowledged as sort of the head of the church in jerusalem that awoke fear in peter's heart for he remembered that the mother church had rebuked him for associating and eating with gentiles in the house of cornelius that was the chapter after chapter 10 he caught some flack for the whole cornelius event so paul continues and other jews dissembled likewise with him wasn't just peter alone they're just following his example including barnabas paul's own partner he it's what barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation or their hypocrisy if you want to use a more common word this dissembled or dissimulation is a word we don't commonly use in our language it's basically hypocrisy but essentially that barnabas also you think paul probably expected more from his own partner than just the other guys but even his own partner was guilty of the same kind of hypocrisy what's the lesson here [Music] that no one's immune every one of us are vulnerable to this kind of a fumble so paul continues but when i saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel i said unto peter before them all if thou being a jew lives after the manner of gentiles and not as do the jews why compel us thou the gentiles to live us to the jews pretty gutsy move but he's doing it deliberately in front of others to really make this point he said gee that's not very diplomatic that's a diplomacy he's not what he's after here is getting this express issue resolved and he's flipping it over in a sense that you know if you being a jew lives after the man of gentiles why are we insisting the gentiles act as jews he's he's he's inverting the whole situation here why why why would paul make this kind of a bruja among these this the church group what's it what's at stake here see there's more at stake here than it may seem on the surface see peter was a jew and therefore not obliged to live after the manner of the gentiles as he had been doing in his table uh a champion companionship but now having gone that far and then broken off he was logically compelling gentile believers to live as jews that is to adopt circumcision and the dietary laws of the jews and thus remove all barriers between themselves and men like peter but if the gentile believers did this they would sacrifice the truth of the gospel which had been affirmed in jerusalem the church had decided that no such burden of legal compliance was to be laid on gentile believers the whole principle of grace was at stake that's not obvious at first the logical outcome of peter's conduct was to make jews out of gentile christians or else force the creation the other alternative to churches create a gentile church alongside the jewish church which would break the unity of the body of christ that's the other threat you see this it's going to get either way is wrong so the truth of the gospel is an issue here this isn't just a little you know nuance it's a very fundamental issue that's why paul steps out on this he would not compromise he really called a spade a spade if you will there's another side to this you can't help but comment this you know the whole catholic notion of papal supremacy is a bit wobbly here if peter is the first pope he seemed to have been a poor example and of course obviously peter knew of no such doctrine that's a doctrine contrived by the catholic church and he so says in his first letter chapter 5 he himself emphasizes that he's not above others etc etc but by the way peter was spirit-filled you can prove that by the way you know it's interesting you watch it's interesting to study peter during the gospel period he was the guy that had foot and mouth disease every time he opened his mouth it was to change feet he was always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time up until acts 2. you know all through the gospel he's a colorful character because he's always got doing the wrong thing when you get to acts 2 and he's spirit-filled it's astonishing to study his speeches the speech he made in acts chapter 2. his second sermon in acts chapter three study them outline them they're elegant they're elegant crafted and you begin to realize he's you see the the movement of the holy spirit there fascinating so peter was spirit filled and yet even peter here blows it it's a lesson for us all we're all vulnerable to to to to blow it and paul didn't spare peter's feelings and he's really instructed by leviticus 19 17 thou shalt any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him so paul is exhorting peter and he accepted it and he says so in his own letters by the way but paul continues here he's continuous rebuke of peter he says we who are jews by nature and not sinners of the gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith in jesus christ even we have believed in jesus christ that we might be justified by the faith of christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified wow that says it all we who are jews by nature see the old testament even expresses that justification does not come from the works of the law psalm 143 verse 2 is another reference you can add to your list well i keep the ten commandments and some of the mount you ever hear someone say that that's strike one i like to see i keep the ten commands i i doubt it well i work by the certain amount makes it even worse ten commandments are operative the term amount is is internal it deals with intent well i'm as good as the next guy strike two because he ain't gonna make it either on his own well i'm doing the best i can strike three james two galatians three ten we'll get to those okay see paul quickly quotes from his words to peter when he whisted peter antioch here in verse 11 paul is recounting in his letter to galatians what went on there why in order to show the galatians that whatever the legalists may have pretended peter and he were in accord doctrinally because peter's going to accept what paul he's going to accept the rebuke paul is laying out paul appealed to the common belief of peter and himself as a rebuke of peter's inconsistent practice he's taking advantage to his readers that both he and peter are regarded as the top leadership so he's pointing out that they're still there they're in step here's a case where peter was wrong but he accepted paul's review because the point he's making here so he goes on here but if while we seek to be justified by christ we ourselves also are found sinners is therefore christ the minister of sin god forbid for if i build again the things which i destroyed i make myself a transgressor so we ourselves we jews he's speaking he and he see both he and peter were jews let me paraphrase that maybe a little clearer if we jews in seeking to be justified by faith in christ take our places as mere sinners like the gentiles is it therefore christ who makes us sinners that makes it clear the point is we're trying to make here by no means it is by putting ourselves again under the law after seeking justification to christ that we act as if we were still unjustified sinners seeking to become righteous through law works that's his point not an obvious one by putting ourselves again under the law after seeking justification through christ we act as if we were still unjustified sinners seeking to become righteous through law works see by doing that we are denigrating the freedom that christ has paid for and he's going to elaborate on this in galatians chapter 5. this lowering of the jew to the level of gentile which seemed to involve christ would seem to make him christ a minister of sin in that he released man from the bondage of the law since faith in christ for both jew and gentile on equal terms is the condition of salvation but paul rejected that conclusion for it rested on a false premise namely fancied superiority of the jew over the gentile here paul delicately takes what belongs to peter and refers it to himself the real transgressor is not christ but the one who like peter builds up again a distinction that has in fact been destroyed that's his point one body one spirit peter was doing just that by withdrawing from the gentile fellowship making it appear that jewish believers were a superior breed there's a whole side of this you don't think it would just go through it lightly now we know strange enough that paul's rebuke accomplished its purpose how do we know that because peter refers to it his own epistle one of the last admonitions peter wrote was that believers should read paul's letters to find god's truth about this present age i love this because the messianics like to disparage paul peter didn't the messianics love peter okay read a second letter you always remember the verse too it's 3 16. how many know john 3 16. well you know peter 3 16 right what does peter say in second peter 3 peter writing now an account that the long suffering of our lord is salvation even as our beloved brother paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you oh really wait a minute peter's letter is going to jews peter's making a reference to a letter that paul wrote to the jews why is it that everybody doesn't believe paul wrote the epistle of the hebrews if paul didn't write the epistle of the hebrews they seemed to have lost one because he did write the hebrews and by the way i'm getting off on a whole nother subject but i think i can demonstrate to you from the text that paul did write hebrews it's also clear why he didn't sign it but i'll leave that for you to study the epistle of hebrews right get your hands out what do you want to and going on here peter continue to talk about this as also in hell of this also in all his epistles speaking of them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood peter's just admitting that you should study paul but realize some of those pretty tough stuff that's the most challenging intellectual exercise you're going to have is to really go through paul especially romans so also in all this epistle speaking of them these things and which are some things hard to understand which they that are unlearned and unstable rest as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction our beloved paul wrote unto you the jews interestingly enough and uh we know it's written in the hebrews come first peter 1 and 2 peter 3 1. his epistles were addressed to jewish believers but interesting paul peter is alluding to paul's writings and calling them scriptures it's interesting it's an evidence that the those early years that peter and paul and they regarded those letters that they're exchanging as the word of god that comes as a shock to many people normally when they say scriptures you think of the old testament probably in the septuagint form fine no testimony no he is as they also do the other scriptures under the destruction he's putting into one bucket paul's letters along with the old testament that's interesting see we regard all scripture is authorized by god right all scripture not most of it all scripture our whole ministry has been based on the discovery that the 66 books penned by over 40 guys over several thousand years are an integrated message system my background is information sciences the fact that it's an integrated message is something you have to experience for yourself i don't mean just thematically i think every number every place name every detail is there by deliberate design and if that's true then you're in for a second discovery it's even more breathtaking if it's an integrated design by 40 different guys over several thousand years then it has to have its origin outside our physical universe because times that we know from 20th century science great discovery that time is a physical property and the origin of this message is from outside the time domain you can prove it can't prove the bible yes you can if you can improve its integrity design you demonstrate that design from outside time and anyway all scripture is given by inspiration of god the greek word there actually means god breathed god breathed there are properties to the torah that are absolutely astonishing when you study the mathematical structure of the text itself and i won't even start on that except to mention just one example that the genealogy of david is encrypted in genesis 38. that strange story that's in genesis chapter 38 tamar trippy tricking judah to have an illegitimate child with her and all that it's taught it it's a very critical tale relative the succession of the messianic genealogy but encrypted in that in 49 letter intervals is boaz ruth obed yeshe and david now for that to be in the books of moses long before joshua long before judges along and long before samuel is pretty interesting david's identity in genesis anyway god breathed you know what that means by the way those properties that you discover in torah dissolve if you change one letter you drop a letter and all those little interesting things you discover disappear and those discoveries were made with computers by the way some scribe didn't invent that that's not that's another whole discussion but all scripture is given by inspiration of god for uh it is profitable for at least four things it's profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction and for instruction righteousness that sounds good what does that mean all scripture is given by is breathed by god is profitable for doctrine what is doctrine well that tells you what's right for reproof that tells you what's not right for correction how to get it right and for instruction how to stay right i suggest those as operative descriptors of those high fluent words doctrine reprove correction instruction what's right what's not right how to get it right how to stay right straight forward enough right second to me another 316 second timothy 3 16. well mark and barnabas they remain friends you discover from first corinthians 9 and elsewhere though they soon separated over john mark that incident i told you about who deserted them in the first missionary journey in jacks 13. but fortunately when you reach ii timothy you discovered later on somehow they made peace with each other mark and paul re unite but anyway see barnabas had desired to take with them john mark his sister's son paul had opposed it because mark's desertion at femphilia the previous journey and that contention caused barnabas and paul to split up and so so paul being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of god which by the way marks their approval of paul's course if you will went with silas then to syria and cilicia confirming the churches barnabas takes mark to cyprus which is his native island so that's strangely enough a tense situation but at the same time it benefited the body of christ because now we had two teams rather than just one team anyway paul continues for i through the law am dead to the law why that i might live unto god he's going to expand on that for us what do you mean dead to the law the law cannot try a dead man you ever think about that the law can't drive dead man so he's dead to the law and that's what paul deals with in romans 7 as well as romans 6. which raised the question where did you die are you dead to the law galatians 2 20 is going to want to hit this pretty hard are you buried with him that's what romans 6 tries to lay out in fact the whole idea of the body is mentioned three times there in in anyway are you are you dead are you raised with him that's what romans 6 is going to unravel i encourage you to undertake that study and you are viewed in paul's letter to ephesians as ascended and seated with him did you die with him were you raised with him are you presently seated in effect saved sanctified and kept what by the law no by grace that's paul paul is going to really build that case here and here is the key verse to the entire epistle you want to pick a verse to sort of make it your special verse for this whole study the whole six chapters ephesians 2 20. paul says i am crucified with christ nevertheless i live yet not i but christ liveth in me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of me of the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me see the law made no provision after death grace does this is the key verse i am crucified with christ nevertheless i live yet not i but christ liveth in me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me boy that says it all that's your core piece that's your you just put that on a plaque over your life key verse memorize it and more important live it the law see the believer is not under the law but under grace that's the whole message of romans 6. he's loosed from the law according to romans 7. he's delivered from the law in romans 7 christ is the end of the law it's over you're free from the law romans hammers that all the way through see the law can't punish you twice and your debt has been paid paul talks about that in colossians two he refers to it as the the handwriting of the ordinance that was against us nailed to the cross that deserves perhaps an anecdotal exploration in that society when you were guilty of a crime you were said to owe society a debt reason expression today he was a debt to society for a criminal right what they did those days they actually drafted up a debt you're sentenced to five years in prison okay you had a debt a five-year debt an actual document and when you went to prison that died was filed with a jailer and and and if you after three years serving three years with two more to go escape the jailer was on the hook for those remaining two years that's why in that occasional acts where they're all in there and the angel there was an earthquake and the jail was unlocked the jailer was about to kill himself because he was on the hook he assumed they'd escaped and they're all on his neck he said don't and they yelled don't don't don't kill yourself we're still here they didn't leave that blew them away in fact he became he as a result they became saved you know the story now when you served your five years the jailer would take your certificate of debt and he would sign it paid in full in greek that is to tell us die and hand it to you and you kept that document because that was your protection against double jeopardy that was proof you paid your debt to society and that's in john 19 verse 30 where paul john the last words of christ on the cross were to tell us die translated in john you know it is finished equivalent translation paid in full paid in full christ's first and last words on the cross predicted in psalm 22. written as if it was in first person singulars he hung on the cross check it out it's a fascinating piece of scripture law cannot punish a man twice and the certificate that thing of course the church is spoken of as christ's body first corinthians 12 and ephesians 5 30 colossians 1 16 and so forth when did god first start dealing with you this answers a shock before the foundation of the world god had you on his mind wow let's talk about lord we we use these words so casually law and grace i want to demonstrate best if we can how they are not complementary they're opposites they're antithetical these the precise term see remember in numbers 15 if you on the sabbath day collected some sticks for a fire what was the result death you got to be kidding read it deuteronomy 21 you have a son that's rebellious what was the remedy death what was god doing there pointing out that he takes it seriously wow we i think if we applied those things our whole teenage population would be gohan the prodigal son that's one of my favorite examples you all know the prodigal son he took his inheritance early right spent half of it on wine women and song and wasted the other half i'm wondering if you're gonna let me get away with that i couldn't resist it what's interesting about the prodigal son by the way is he blew his inheritance but he never lost his sonship interesting interesting see you can lose your inheritance paul was paranoid about losing his lest i be a castaway that's always salvation he's smarter than that no was worried about the there's an inheritance set aside for us there be careful that no man take your crown there's a crown that's coming to you only if you're faithful see there is a behavior side of all of this you're not under the law but that doesn't mean your behavior doesn't matter it's got to be spirit driven what you do led by the spirit counts those wonderful things you do for the lord that aren't spirit-led don't count for anything wood hates double first corinthians 3 verses 11 to 15. anyway the adulterous stone here you had an adulteress what happened to her [Music] under the law should be stoned under christ go and sin no more the law see the law is perfect nowhere does paul attack the lack of perfection although the law is perfect but that's why imperfect people can't keep it not a problem with the law it's a problem with the people we have a dna problem it's not that we're hiv positive we're sin positive there's a blood cure for both of those the law is holy nowhere does paul denigrate the law in any way the law is holy that's why sinners are condemned by it the law is just that's why it cannot show mercy to the guilty to show mercy to the guilty is unjust if it's really just it can't show mercy you're guilty that's that's its job is to identify guilt and innocence law prohibits grace invites and gives the law condemns the sinner grace redeems the sinner the law reveals sin grace atones for sin do you realize that all the sacrifices in the torah all the sacrifices in leviticus etc only cover sin they don't remove it they are symbolically anticipating the sacrifice that was on that cross two thousand years ago all that all that all the ceremonial offerings were were emblematic law reveals sin grace atones for sin by the law is the knowledge of sin by grace is the redemption from sin the law was given by moses but grace and truth came by jesus christ good for you the law demands obedience grace bestows and enables you to obey gives power to obey the law says do and do not right do this don't do this that's the law grace says it's done it tetelestai it's finished the law says continue to be holy grace says it is finished it's done the law curses grace blesses the law slays the sinner that's its job grace makes the sinner alive see they're opposites the law shuts every mouth before god grace opens the mouth to praise god law condemns the best man grace saves the worst man amen probably love that amen that's great we've got some yeah the law says pay what you owe grace says i freely forgive you all law says the wages of sin is death grace says the gift of god is eternal life [Music] law says the soul that sinneth it shall die grace says believe and live the law was done away in christ grace abides forever the law puts us under bondage grace sets us in the liberty of the sons of god the sons of god you know it's interesting elohim it's a term in the old testament hebrew it's used of a direct creation of god the son of god has a very specific meaning in the bible a son of god is a direct creation of god adam was the son of god direct creation of god you and i are sons of adam we're not direct creations we're derivative from adam the term son of god in the old testament is used of only two things adam of course and angels because they are direct creations of god that's where we see that term but elohim that's what makes genesis 6 that's an important study but it's interesting in even in the new testament that follows through john chapter 1 verse 11 and 12. speaking of jesus christ he came unto his own but his own received him not but as many as received him to them gave he the power to be come the sons of god see this whole idea of being a new creation is maintained in that structure you may not feel any different hey i've accepted christ do you mean you may not have a big lightning strike or you know some experiential situation but you know from the scripture a new creation has taken place the tragedy is the old creation hasn't gone away the flesh is still there active have you noticed yeah okay well move on to galatians 2 21. paul says i do not frustrate the grace of god for if righteousness come by the law then christ is dead and rain wow that's a heavy statement what a daring thing to say that christ died in vain i don't think so but i do not frustrate the grace of god for if righteousness could come by the law then christ is dead in vain because christ prayed three times in gethsemane father there's any other way let's take it nevertheless not my will but thine be done and he prayed it three times and not casually he sweat drops of blood and that's not a layman's exaggeration that was dr luke telling us that there are more medical terms in the book of writings of luke than there are in hippocrates the the father of medicine paul's credentials not a secret after popularity his revelation was from christ his zeal was forsaken for something better he preached grace before he met with any other apostles later they added nothing and they recognized his apostleship [Music] and peter yielded when rebuked by paul heavy stuff all the way now in our next session we're going to talk about doctrine and galatians three is we'll we'll split that into two sessions there's so much there but uh we're going to now enter having done with we've gone through the first two chapters which are the personal part we talked a lot of doctors who went but it's really he was focusing on himself and his credentials to establish his right to speak the way he's going to speak in chapters three and four he's going to actually lay out the doctrine it's heavy stuff it's very real stuff it affects every one of us even today even today so we're going to enter into that in two parts in the next session let's bow our hearts with a closing word of prayer

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Length: 55min 5sec (3305 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020