The Old Testament Gospel
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Important messages
Galatians 3:6-14
V. 6-9 just as Abraham "believed God, and it
was counted to him as righteousness"?
7. Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
8. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by
faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall
all the nations be blessed."
9. So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man
of faith.”
No modern leader can, in any way, put himself in Paul’s
shoes, because there is a special inerrant inspiration upon his teaching. There
are no errors in the doctrine, which we will attempt to understand in this
expositional study of Galatians.
Secondly, I think we have seen conclusively that no
one can attempt to lead the flock of God without a thorough understanding of
the entire revelation of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. We showed that
Jesus required it of His disciples in Luke 24:25-27 and 44-46. No one can lay
claim to these Galatian scriptures nor apply them to any situation in our times without
the same understanding. Any attempt to do so is wild assumption, which cannot
be taken seriously.
Foolish and Bewitched
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personal testimonies
Galatians 3:1-6
V. 1 “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched
you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as
crucified.”
The Galatians are foolish. The Amplified Version, with
its characteristic thoroughness, states, “You
poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians!” Please
don’t think that it overstates the condition of the people. Words cannot
adequately express the folly of accepting error in the face of truth, of
turning to theory, where reality has been experienced, of sheep following wolves
instead of the Shepherd, and believers, who prefer law over grace.
For such deception to take place, Paul recognizes
something more sinister and powerful than mere human persuasion. Demons have
been involved; they enjoy no greater activity than to invade the area of
Christian doctrine. Paul writes to Timothy:
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from
the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” (1
Ti.4:1). The Greek word, translated bewitch,
means exactly that: to bring evil
upon people, cast a spell, to charm.
In John 10, Jesus says that His sheep will not listen
to strangers: “A stranger they will not
follow… All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not
listen to them” (Jn.10:5,8). I am sure that He is speaking in the same way,
as He would, in reference to sin: “We
know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning” (1
Jn.5:18). It is possible for a Christian to sin (1 Jn.2:1), but he cannot
habitually practice and persist in sin. Likewise, a stranger could deceive a
sheep for a while, but the Shepherd will intervene, before the sheep is
irremediably wounded. However, for deception to have reached the high level, as
is evident in Galatia, it certainly proves that there are a good share of
unconverted, carnal goats among the sheep.
Positiveness... a Modern Heresy
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Important messages
A little lesson about positive thinking, positive speaking, and positive confession:
Many years ago, I came into a house, in which an old man was outside his senses. The old man had been prayed for and his son had been told that whatever the symptoms might be, he was to confess that his father was healed. Obviously, it would be inconsistent that a "healed" man should take medicine, so the son had discontinued his doses.
I got the old man into a car and rushed him to the emergency entrance at the nearest hospital, where he was given insulin and soon his mind began to function as it should. The attending doctor gave his son and I (although I was not the guilty party) a heated scolding.
Well, my friend, that was enough to teach me that "positive confession" is not only a minor error, but a dangerous weapon that can kill! It is supposed to promote faith, but in truth, it kills faith. I have talked to people, who are broken-hearted, because they did not have enough faith to see their loved ones healed. They would say that they had done everything that they were told to do, and yet there was no improvement. I talked to a family that was totally unprepared for the death of the wife/mother, because they were taught that "by faith, she is healed".
Paul Rebukes Peter
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Important messages
Chapter 2:11-14 “But
when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood
condemned.
For before certain men came from James,
he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated
himself, fearing the circumcision party.
And the rest of the Jews acted
hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their
hypocrisy.
But when I saw that their conduct was
not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If
you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force
the Gentiles to live like Jews?
Yet Paul does not hesitate a moment in opposing him to the face. Why? “Because he stood condemned” and “acted hypocritically.” His deportment was wrong and, in behaving as he did, he had sinned; there was no question about it. There is no indication given anywhere in the New Testament that Paul was out of order. If it seemed to the Galatians, and if seems to us, that he had acted improperly, it is because they did not, and we do not, understand biblical etiquette. I see nowhere in Scripture, from David to Hezekiah that this was not the manner of treating sin or wrong behavior of any kind. Paul instructed Titus, “Rebuke them sharply” (Tit.1:13). A high percentage of what we have heard concerning submission to leaders is not Bible truth.
Competitors or Brothers?
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Important messages
CHAPTER 2:1-10
V.1-2. “Then
after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus
along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though
privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among
the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.”
Why is Paul focusing on Jerusalem and almost
belittling it, I ask? The answer is obvious. It implies that the Galatians are
overly obsessed with the Jerusalem church and its leadership. They see it as an
ideal model of Christianity and as the fountain of spirituality for all
churches. Most of them, being Gentiles situated a long distance from Israel, would
have no natural reason for this kind of attention towards one of its cities.
Could this emphasis possibly have come to them through
Holy Spirit revelation? That certainly was not the case, because it is not His
way to pick out a physical place and declare it to be the center for Christian
instruction and example. He will point us to Christ and His cross. He will
bring us to inspired Scripture and teach us to come before God’s throne in
prayer. He will be concerned with spiritual blessings in heavenly places
No, this teaching was not something, to which the
Galatian were naturally drawn, and certainly, it did not have anything heavenly
in its content, but was something contrived by human sources to fulfill a
special interest for its perpetrators. Judaizers from Jerusalem had come
purposely to divert the Galatian’s attention away from grace and point them
towards works. The Galatians, simply, had been brain-washed.
An Intermission
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Important messages
I probably should have used this little addition to our expositional study on Galatians as an introduction. You will have to forgive my imperfections, because I am presenting these things to you as I write. It is not a finished, polished product. I tend to think that this method produces a little more intimacy between the writer and the reader. I hope so. Please read this selection carefully, because I think it is very important in applying Paul´s letter to our situations in the 21st Century.
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