Faith Alone

We pick up our study in Galatians 5:13 where it says, “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Paul’s point here is that liberty excludes the mandatory keeping of the Law as a means of salvation. Why does Paul continue to hammer this subject over and over? – Because they had problems with it then and we still have problems with it now. The Law never was a means of salvation. People in the Old Testament where saved through faith just like you and I today. The Bible says of Abraham in Galatians 3:6, “…Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Think about it for a moment – if the Law could save, why did Jesus go to the cross? Do you remember what Jesus prayed in the garden right before his crucifixion? He said, “…O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). He was saying, “Father, if there is any other way for these people to be saved, please don’t make me go through with this.” The answer of his Father came through the kiss of Judas the Betrayer. There is no other way of salvation accept through faith and faith alone in Christ Jesus. I can assure you that if you are trying to “work for it”, you don’t have it. You’ve believed a lie somewhere.

However, Paul is also making the point that this liberty does not give us the freedom to do anything we want to either. He declared in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient…Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body…Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication…What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.”

The Narrow Way

Today, we pick up our study in Galatians 5:7-9 where it says, “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” In other words, they were doing so well, but now something has went amiss. Of course, that something is that they had allowed these legalizers to saturate them with “their version” of the gospel (Gal. 1:6-10).

Perversion is described in the Bible as leaven. It cannot be allowed to permeate the church. It only takes a pinch. Jesus refers to this in the parable of the leaven in Matthew 13:33 where it says, “Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”

Notice v.10, “I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.” Paul here expresses his optimism that they will overcome this testing. There is nothing like a few words of affirmation! It’s been said that a pat on the back will take anyone another mile.

Notice also, “…he who troubles you shall bear his judgment…”. Mark 9:42 says, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.”

Notice v.11, “And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.” The cross is the offense. When Jesus gave Himself as the sacrifice for sinful man he became the only way to God! John 14:6 says, “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Unfortunately, that’s not the story that you’ll get today. Actually, Christianity is offensive in our culture today. People are bothered by the narrowness of one way to heaven. They prefer to think that there are many ways to the same place. The writer of Proverbs says in Proverbs 16:25, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”

Stand Fast

Let’s pick up our study today in Galatians 5:1 where it says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” In other words, this is the culmination of everything that we have been talking about for the past several week, “Don’t be tempted to go back under the Law.” It will do you no good. Why does Paul spend so much time talking about this? - Because we have a tendency to do it!

Notice vv.2-6, “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” In other words, if you are keeping the Law to find your justification (salvation), you’re trusting in the wrong thing. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Now, lest any of you should think to himself, “Oh, that’s not describing me.” Let’s think about that for a moment. I can’t judge you in this, but you can judge yourself. Paul encouraged us in 1 Corinthians 11:28 to examine ourselves. He also said in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves…” With that in mind, “Why do you do what you do for God? Do you do it because you think that you will gain or keep your salvation? If so, Paul is talking to you! He is actually giving you a stern warning. Don’t you think for one minute that by keeping one aspect of the Law (I.e. circumcision, baptism, the Sabbath) that it will save you. The Law never could and never will be able to save you. If it could have, Jesus would not have had to come and die on the cross in your place because you could have saved yourself. I don’t think so.

Quote by Dr. Adrian Rogers

With the recent passing of the stimulus bill by the house, I am absolutely amazed at the direction this country is taking. The ignorance on the part of the masses is staggering. I write this from Washington, D.C. where I just toured Mt. Vernon, the home of our first president, George Washington. This is not the America that he lived and died for. Dr. Adrian Rogers once said, "You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

Children of Promise

For the last two weeks, we ventured off the path to take a look at the two sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac was the child of Abraham through Sara while Ishmael was his child through Hagar. Today, we get back to Galatians 4:24-25 which says, “Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar (Hagar). For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.” Now he says that these two relationships of Abraham can be compared to the Law and Grace. The Law was the covenant of the Old Testament and Grace was the covenant of the New Testament. The Law was given at Mount Sinai and it gave birth to bondage. Grace was first taught on the day of Pentecost and gave birth to freedom. So, Jerusalem had been under the bondage of the Law up until Jesus came and offered them freedom.

Notice v.26, “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” The Jerusalem above represents heaven or Sara. The promise was that the Seed would come through Sara (Genesis 12). The “Seed” was fulfilled in Jesus Christ who was a descendant of Isaac (Genesis 3:15). So, Sara represents Grace as that through her womb literally came Grace through Christ.

Notice v.27, “For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.” This is actually a promise to the Gentiles that because of Jesus Christ, they too will be given the opportunity to enter into the very same salvation that was offered to the Jews. We must remember that the Jews had some real issues with Jesus and his teaching about the Gentiles being able to receive the same salvation that they were offered. As a matter of fact, this verse, which is a quote from Isaiah 54:1, promises that at least initially, more Gentiles would come to Christ than Jews.

Notice v.28, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” We are the children of promise in that we have received the promises that were made about Jesus Christ and the salvation that He offers.

The Tale of Two Brothers, Part 2

Last week, we left off talking about two brothers: Isaac and Ishmael. The descendants of Ishmael are the Arabic people (Muslims) and the descendants of Isaac are the Jews. They despise each to this very day. The entire Middle East is in constant turmoil because of these two brothers! It’s all over the nightly news every evening.

When the Bible speaks of Ishmael, it says, “And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” Another way of saying that verse is, “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers" (Genesis 16:12). Doesn’t that sound exactly like what is happening in the Middle East right now?

Notice, “…and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” That is a prophecy that the descendants of Ishmael will always be in the midst or dwell in the presence of their brethren, the children of Isaac. And so it is today. Down through the years the children of Isaac and Ishmael have dwelt together. But, they have never gotten along. The Jews and the Arabs have never gotten along together and that is a matter of proven historical fact.

Genesis 25:18 says of Ishmael, “His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt… And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.” (NIV). The NAS translates that last part of the verse, “he settled in defiance of all his relatives.” Again, you need only watch the evening news tonight to see that this is true.

On another note, as a result of this, the Bible says in Zechariah 12:2, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about….” This verse is being fulfilled before our very eyes. Any man who has difficulty believing the Bible should not have to look any further than the Jew. The Jew and his homeland of Jerusalem has already become the “cup of trembling” to the nations. The whole world thinks that if they could just bring peace to Jerusalem, the world be a better place. Biblically speaking, that is not going to happen until King Jesus returns.

The Tale of Two Brothers, Part 1

Let’s pick up our study in Galatians 4:19-20 where it says, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.” Paul is once again expressing doubt as to their salvation.

He goes on to say in v.21, “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” Now Paul begins to make a comparison of Law and Grace yet again. Why so much comparison? Because they didn’t get it! Even today, many still don’t get it. They tell you that they are not trusting in their good works to take them to Heaven, but then you turn around and their doing something that they think will better their chances of getting there!

In v.22, “For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.” Now Paul is going to compare Law and Grace with Hagar and Sara. He is going to compare Hagar to the Law (the bondmaid) and Sara to Grace (the freewoman).

He goes on and says in v.23, “But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.” This is a comparison between Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was born to Hagar and was a child of the flesh. Why? – Because Abraham’s faith had lapsed. God had told him and Sara that He would indeed give them a child in their old age. However, after waiting for awhile, they decided to take matters into their own hands and Abraham went in to Hagar (Sara’s handmaid) to have this promised son. That was the wrong answer because later Sara did conceive as promised, and had Isaac, the promised son. Thus, Ishmael is compared to the flesh and Isaac to the promise.

Many do not realize today the gravity of this mistake that Abraham and Sara made. The descendants of Ishmael are the Arabic people (Muslims) and the descendants of Isaac are the Jews. They despise each other. As a matter of fact, the entire Middle East is in constant turmoil because of these two brothers! Have you watched the nightly news lately?

New Bible Study

I just uploaded Revelation 12:7-13:10 from tonight's class. God bless each of you. Remember that we will not be meeting for the next two weeks. Next week will be the start of the revival and the week after, I will be in Washington.

Am I Now Your Enemy?

Today, we pick up our study in Galatians 4:16 where the Apostle Paul says, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” He had just questioned their salvation in the proceeding verse and most likely felt compelled to do so because of their apparent eagerness to place themselves back under the Law of Moses after they had been freed from it through faith in Christ. Now, in this verse, he assumes that he had angered some of them and says, “Am I your enemy because I’m telling you the truth?”

After eighteen years in ministry, I am still absolutely amazed how quickly people can turn on you when you confront them with the truth. Years of friendship can be dismissed over one little incident. It seems like the more you’ve done for them, the faster and angrier they turn (2 Corinthians 12:15). I’ve always said, “You can pat them on the back 99 times and correct them once and they’ll hate you forever.” How sadly true. What an arrogant society in which we live in which no one can humble themselves to accept correction. The Bible says in Proverbs 27:6, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”

It reminds me of that movie with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicklaus called a “Few Good Men”. In it, Cruise, as a young Navel officer, asks a seasoned old Marine played by Nicklaus for the truth. Nicklaus responds, “You can’t handle the truth!” Unfortunately, that is true for most people. One pastor friend told me once, “If you’re going to give them the truth, do it small doses.”

He goes on to say in v.17, “They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.” What he is trying to say is, “The legalists are making an impression on you but they don’t want you to make an impression on them. In other words, their arguments are one sided.

Then he says in v.18, “But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.” It’s not a bad thing to be “affected” by others, but just make sure that it is in something good and not what these guys (the legalists) are trying peddle off on you.

New Recording Revelation 11:11-12:6

I have just posted tonight's Bible study!