I've been hearing about the house of God
under attack.
I want to speak a word on the
gospel under attack Let's turn to the book
of Galatians, please chapter 1 Galatians
1 verse 1 chapter 1 verse 1 Paul
an apostle not of men neither by men,
but by Jesus Christ and God the Father
who raised him from the dead And all
the brethren which are with me on to
the churches of Galatia Grace be to you
and peace from God the Father and from
our Lord Jesus Christ Who gave himself?
for our sins That he might deliver us
from this present evil world The word is
age according to the will of God and
our Father To whom be glory forever and
ever Amen I marvel That ye are so
soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ on to another gospel
a different gospel Which is not another but
there be some that trouble you and would
pervert the gospel Christ Now come into chapter
2 Verse 3 but neither Titus who was
with me being a Greek was compelled to
be circumcised This is at Jerusalem and that
because of false brethren on a words brought
in who came in privately to spy out
our Liberty which we have in Christ Jesus
that they might bring us into bondage Now
verse 11 Now This is in the location
of Antioch But when Peter was come to
Antioch, I withstood him to the face because
he was to be blamed For before that
certain came from James He did eat with
the Gentiles But when they were come He
withdrew and separated himself Fearing them which were
of the circumcision and the other Jews Dissembled
likewise that were dissembled means hypocrisy In so
much that Barnabas also was carried away with
their hypocrisy dissimulation But when I saw that
they walked not abruptly according to the truth
of the gospel I said unto Peter before
them all if thou being a Jew live
is after the manner of Gentiles and not
as to the Jews Why compel us thou
the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
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 of 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 Verse 19 for
I through the law.
I'm dead to the law that I might
live on to God.
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 I do not frustrate
the grace of God for if righteousness came
by the law Then Christ is dead in
vain.
Oh foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that
you should not obey the truth Before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath evidently been set forth
crucified among you chapter 3 verse 13 Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law Being made a curse for us for
it is written cursed as everyone that hangeth
on the tree Now chapter 4 verse 4
But when the fullness of the time was
come God sent forth his son made of
a woman made under the law To redeem
them that were under the law that we
might receive the adoption of sons And because
ye are sons God hath sent forth his
spirit of his Son into your hearts crying
the father chapter 5 verse 1 Stand fast
therefore in the Liberty were with Christ hath
made us free and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage verse 13 For
brethren ye have been called unto Liberty Only
use not Liberty for an occasion to the
flesh but by love serve one another Verse
22 brings out the fruit of the Spirit
is love joy.
Peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance
against such There is no law and they
that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with
the affections and lusts chapter 6 Verse 14,
but God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
By whom the world is crucified unto me
and I on to the world the Lord
will bless to us the Reading from his
word the book of Galatians similar to the
book of Romans in many ways But it's
different in that Galatians takes up controversially What
Romans takes up?
systematically Like the book of Romans it was
written to more than one assembly You'll notice
in the opening part of the epistle.
It was to the churches of Galatia and
So we would learn from that that it
had a widespread Readership and it contained teaching
that was applicable to all assemblies and we
might say at all time when we come
to the Epistle we notice that Well, we
can divide it Into three the first two
chapters are bringing before us the purity of
the saving message Chapters three and four we
could write over that the Liberty of the
Sons and then in chapters five and six
It's dealing with the spirituality of the Saints
Again, the first two chapters is presenting to
us the preacher of justification Paul and The
revelations that he received Chapters three and four
it's the principles of justification Justification by faith
and its ramifications and Then in the last
two chapters we have the privileges of justification
Being realized its realization in the life of
the believer So come to the first two
chapters and the purity of the saving message
you'll notice that Paul Immediately gets down to
business as he approaches this problem of the
attack that had been made on the Gospel
immediately gives a summary of the pure gospel
We read that from verse 3 and verse
4.
He speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ Notice
who gave himself for our sins That he
might deliver us from this present evil world
so the pure gospel presents Christ in his
death as the answer to the problem of
our sins There are certain parts of North
America where it has been stated in the
assemblies That When we preach the gospel we
should minimize preaching about sin The pure gospel
deals with the matter of our sins That
he might deliver us from this present evil
age so the effect of the gospel is
to change lives and to deliver them from
the the evil of the age and ultimately
out of This age altogether when our Lord
returns So it deals it results in a
changed life in lives that are different this
present evil age It's coming under the judgment
of God The pure gospel will bring that
out and it will lead to lies lives
that are separate from the world We live
in a day when people profess to be
saved and they live lives that are no
different from the world They can go to
all the places that the world goes to
and it doesn't seem to mean anything That
is an attack on the gospel that affects
gospel testimony and ultimately denies the purity of
the gospel Chapter 1 verse 6 Paul says
I marvel that you're so soon removed From
the gospel to another gospel another of a
different kind Which is not another of the
same kind and the problem is he says
some would trouble you the word trouble Brings
in the idea of they would agitate they
would cause commotion amongst the Saints by perverting
or turning around or in effect reversing the
effect of the gospel of Christ Paul doesn't
mention mince his words when it comes to
such an important matter.
He says let such be accursed He would
let God deal with them Paul goes on
to show that now in dealing with his
own apostleship and The gospel that he had
received he was not in the business of
trying to please men verse 10 His gospel
was not from man.
He didn't receive it from man and he
wasn't out to try to please man Verse
12 neither was I taught it but by
the revelation of Jesus Christ Paul was an
apostle with apostolic authority and what he received
He received directly from the Lord and he
presented it faithfully in the gospel now there
were detractors from Paul always dogging his footsteps
and it seems like some of them were
saying that Paul was anti-jewish and So
Paul will speak here of his former zeal
in the Jews religion He was actually going
about persecuting the church And it wasn't that
he was opposed to those that Were in
Jerusalem the leaders He's setting out that he
had some early contact with them It's not
that they were contributing to the gospel that
he was preaching But he was not opposed
to them and they were not opposed to
him In fact in verse 24 of chapter
1 it says that they glorified God in
me when they saw the effect of how
that one who was so radically opposed to
the the church and with Persecuting the church
his life had been changed and Paul himself
was a living testimony to the gospel that
he preached and they glorified God in me
in chapter 2 He identifies the
source of Where the attack came from he
speaks of false brethren unawares brought in That
is they were in the church of Jerusalem
at Jerusalem Or they at least had effect
upon the Saints there and they were promoting
the concept that the the Gentiles Who had
believed should not be circumcised and They seem
to have scriptural backup because the Old Testament
after all had had spoken of of circumcision
But Paul says in verse 5 that he
gave them subject a subjection not for a
moment and he was not going to bow
to that idea and In fact the rest
of the the leaders there in Jerusalem They
were in perfect agreement the elders and the
Apostles they gave to him and to to
Barnabas the right hand of fellowship to preach
the gospel among the Gentiles verse 9 so
Paul was moving with his brethren and In
fellowship with the the leaders of the church
in the local assembly in Jerusalem But there
was an issue that that arose in the
assembly at Antioch Now this is still a
long way from Galatia But nevertheless Paul is
setting out how that he has defended the
gospel which he has preached and The attack
which is coming upon the the assemblies in
Galatia he has stood against that before and
So he speaks about the matter that happened
at Antioch Peter had come up to Antioch
and Peter being a pillar in the church
in fact Peter had received that vision in
Acts chapter 10 of the of the sheet
let down and I Arise Peter kill and
eat and and what what God has given
you to eat to call not common and
unclean and the lesson was in in relation
to Cornelius the Gentile being being brought in
with his house into the blessing of the
gospel and Cornelius and his household Receiving Christ
were saved by the grace of God and
Peter recognized that God was Extending the testimony
now to the Gentiles Peter had been taught
that Peter was instrumental even in bringing the
gospel to the Gentiles and Peter Understanding that
has been free to sit down and eat
a meal with the Gentiles something that a
strict Jew would never have done but there's
some brethren now have come up from Jerusalem
from James and And they don't think Peter
should eat with the Gentiles and They would
find fault with that Because it wasn't according
to the law in their view They are
they are what we would call legal beagles
and have come up from from Jerusalem And
they're frowning on Peter and so Peter as
a result.
He separates himself from them.
It says in verse 12 fearing them Fearing
them man like Peter imagine and he's
coming under the problem of legalism that these
men have brought With them.
They're trying to get back to the law
Legalism, I want to I want to speak
carefully about this because legalism Today that that
word is an emotive word when it when
it's used amongst us But notice some of
the some of the lessons that we can
pick up on here in relation to that
Because it was legalism that was raising its
head and was affecting even a man like
Peter We noticed number one.
It runs on fear the fear of what
others might think and it resulted in a
separation.
That was wrong That was divisive and it
was overturning what Peter had previously learned What
Peter previously had taught and what Peter previously
had practiced?
So says Paul he was being hypocritical he
was Doing that which was not according to
the truth of the gospel of the grace
of God that had brought Blessing to the
Gentiles.
And so it says Paul withstood him to
the face because he was wrong And we
simply learned that good men can be Wrong
and might even need to be rebuked as
Paul did with Peter In a public way
firmly I'm sure but graciously I would note
as well Just jumping over quickly to chapter
4 verse 16 I would notice that legalism
also makes those that speak the truth an
enemy To those that subscribe to it Verse
16 am I therefore become your enemy because
I tell you the truth So there's an
animosity.
There's a hostility against those that speak the
truth That comes from the legal mind and
then right there in chapter 4 again You
follow on into verse 17 We would learn
that that legalism threatens to exclude individuals from
its little click Any who do not follow
its code of rules That's what the legalists
were doing legalism fosters cliquishness amongst the Saints
Now those lessons are right on the surface
of our Bible Paul's difficulty with it all
is this that it was getting back to
the very core of the gospel because It
was basing it was basing justification and acceptance
acceptance with God and with other believers on
the basis of the works of The law
and so now we're back in chapter 2
verse 16 the works of the law do
not bring justification But faith in Jesus Christ
So Peter's behavior was an attack on the
very core of the of the gospel message
Paul brings out now in verse 19 of
chapter 2 That so far as the necessity
of performing under the law was concerned that
was finished with at the cross I am
dead to the law Nevertheless, I live yet
not I But Christ liveth in me the
life that I now live in the flesh.
I live by the faith of the Son
of God Who loved me and gave himself?
for me Marvelous to think of it, isn't
it our acceptance with God is because the
very Son of God Himself Was willing to
lay down his life in death at the
cross of Calvary To deliver us from the
penalty of our sin To bring us back
to God and give us perfect acceptance in
his presence.
So salvation by grace through faith is in
a personal Savior and It is the opposite
to the idea of achieving righteousness or acceptance
with God through a performance System of trying
to keep rules or trying to keep law
It's the opposite to that Paul defends the
purity of the saving message coming to chapters
3 and 4 He'll take up they thought
now of the Liberty of the sons You
notice how he approaches it in verse 1
of chapter 3 Oh foolish Galatians who has
Bewitched you who has mesmerized you you're acting
like you're you're hypnotized Hasn't Jesus Christ been
graphically presented before you as though he was
crucified among you So graphically was the presentation
of the preaching of the cross So he's
calling their minds back to when they first
received the gospel.
And so he asked them some pertinent questions
He says how is it that you came
to have the Spirit of God within was
it through the keeping of the law?
Oh, or was it through what you heard
and received by faith?
obviously the latter he's on to show the
consistency of that even with the Old Testament
scriptures because the legal beagles they were going
back to the Old Testament and they were
trying to to Transpose the the truth of
what was for then Over to here now
in the new era of the of the
of the gospel of the grace of God
But Paul shows in verse 6 that Abraham
believed God and it was counted on to
him for righteousness and that statement was made
before even the sign of circumcision was given
and then Paul will prove that the blessing
of justification by faith Does reach out to
the Gentiles?
Because God had promised to Abraham That in
thee shall all nations of the earth be
blessed And God makes the point God was
presenting the gospel to Abraham then It was
embodied in that that through Abraham and through
the promised seed all Nations of the earth
would be blessed and though the law comes
430 years after That covenant was confirmed to
Jacob Paul's point is this that the law
came after that so the the law cannot
disarm or disenow What God has already unilaterally
promised and just like an ordinary contract when
it's signed sealed and delivered Then you can't
change it.
It's a contract So God made that contract
with Abraham that there would be blessing that
would extend to all nations Through the promised
seed That is through Christ So then the
question would arise.
Well, what was the purpose then of the
law?
Why did the law come in chapter 4
will will deal with that and show that
the law was our Schoolmaster to bring us
to Christ that is it was it was
given as a temporary measure in the program
of God it was given as a Spotlight
if you will to highlight the fact that
man was a need of deliverance from the
curse of the law Man couldn't perform it
Perfectly and so in that temporary period had
come to an end when the fullness of
the time was come What happened God sent
forth his son made of a woman made
under the law that he might redeem them
that were under the law and under its
curse that we might receive The adoption of
sons That's very significant.
That's bringing us into the second part of
the epistle because now it's going to move
on to the ground of a relationship and
God has sent forth the spirit of his
son into our hearts Whereby we cry ABBA
father There's a new relationship has been established
So the fullness of the time comes and
God sends forth his son to redeem them
that were under the law the focal point
of all time and of all eternity is
the life is the death of our Lord
Jesus Christ chapters 5 and 6 the spirituality
of the Saints Paul's thinking is is following.
No doubt the attack that his detractors would
bring and the question would be asked well
if the law was just temporary and If
that has been set aside Well, then how
shall we then live?
By what rule by what code of conduct
What is going to regulate the life of
the believer Paul is teaching that I am
dead to the law Thank God for that
because its curse is no more power Over
me as a believer But he goes on
to show that I am dead to the
flesh as well with its affections and lusts.
So we we do not Dealing with this
negatively first of all, we do not have
License to do whatever the flesh desires When
Christ died on the cross, he died as
a real man in a real body as
a representative man before God He was actually
put to death in the flesh So I
am dead to the flesh with its affections
and lusts he says in chapter 5 verse
24 they that are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with the affections and loss and Lusts
so the cross has brought the believer now
on to new ground where he has decided
Against his depraved self and recognizes that that
was finished at the cross And that's the
mind of God that we should be finished
with it And so when I enter into
the mind of God in that matter, I'm
actually expressing the will of God in my
life Finished with the flesh and its lusts
and affections But then there's a third thing
he says that I'm dead to he says
I'm dead to the world chapter 6 verse
14 But God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ By whom the world is crucified unto
me and I unto the world So what
is it that stands between me as a
believer and the world?
What stands between me as a believer and
the world?
It's not some line drawn in the sand
by men Somewhere around the cultural norm of
the 1950s in the Western world Nor the
line drawn by the Amish code of community
rules Nor by the Hutterite collective idea nor
some preachers printed booklet of extra biblical rules
That's not going to regulate the life of
the believer and separate him from the world
What is it that will separate him from
the world it's the cross The cross the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom
the world is crucified unto me and I
unto the world and On resurrection ground the
believer has a new power to operate within
him the Holy Spirit Which when we move
subject to his will to his teaching from
the Word of God From his leading from
the Word of God, we will walk in
the spirit and we will not fulfill the
lusts of the flesh Teaching of chapter 5
So it's not some code of behavior Behavior
either from the law or some other code
of behavior that will regulate the life of
the believer But it's an indwelling divine person
That will produce within that believer a living
likeness unto the Lord Jesus Christ The fruit
of the Spirit love joy peace long-suffering
gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there
is no law righteousness Practically lived out in
the life Of the believer so an obedient
walk is the result of the believer that's
living in fellowship with God in the energy
of the Spirit of God according to the
Word of God an Obedient life results Obedience
is not legalism.
It is scriptural behavior Legalism goes beyond the
Word of God So as believers we do
not have ten commandments to follow Our brother
Alice already mentioned this But I noted with
interest just yesterday that 12 times over in
the New Testament.
We have this expression love one another 12
times over Is the Spirit of God emphasizing
that I think so Love one another just
Paul emphasized that in this subject Notice verse
5 verse 13 chapter 5 verse 13 for
brethren You have been called unto Liberty only
use not Liberty for an occasion to the
flesh, but notice But by love Serve one
another that would be the test of true
spirituality, wouldn't that the test of true?
spirituality is not How well we follow a
set of rules or even of?
Expected gospel hall behavior.
That's not the true test of spirituality.
What's the true test of spirituality?
How well we in love serve one another
it's the fruit of the Spirit the first
one mentioned love joy peace and the believer
that's living in the good of that will
be a peaceable believer and Will have that
effect on others and it's easy to love
him a person that's lovable toward us Isn't
that in love serve one another just the
Lord will bless his word to our hearts