PMCBC

Ecclesiastes 12:13

Introduction

• Fear.

• For years people have strived to eradicate it.

• Many have researched it, fought it, and campaigned to remove its influence from our lives.

• Even the famous quote by President Franklin D. Roosevelt calls attention to it: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

• Voices across all platforms shout that we need to find ways to overcome fear, and we can find hundreds if not thousands of self-help books designed to do exactly that.

• Since the late 1980s people everywhere have worn clothing with the words “No Fear” printed boldly across it.

• We seem adamant in our quest to eliminate all fear from our lives.

• This crusade seems sensible, noble, and prudent; and while on many fronts it is, the truth is, not all fear is bad.

• So, why the obsession?

• It could be that it stems from lumping all fears into one big category under the label of “harmful.”

• But, is this assumption accurate?

• First, it is important to acknowledge that there are indeed destructive fears, even when they seem sensible.

• If we fear losing all our money and possessions, we will likely obsess over them and become misers and hoarders, worshiping our money and assets over everything else.

• If we fear losing a spouse, we will cling to that person too tightly or be suspicious of their every action.

• Either way, it leads to resentment and eventually damages the relationship.

• It we have a fear of missing out, it might cause us to chase new excitements and new experiences, but it will be at the expense of healthy community, real connection, and the beautiful peace that accompanies commitment.

• If we fear for the safety of our kids, we will likely thwart their growth by smothering them or by fostering prodigal behavior.

• The list is seemingly endless.

• On the other hand, constructive fears produce beneficial wisdom.

• The fear of falling two thousand feet off a cliff gives us the wisdom not to step too close to the edge, where we might slip.

• The fear of a grizzly bear’s power gives us the wisdom not to threaten the mother bear’s cubs.

• The fear of a third-degree burn gives us the wisdom to put protective mitts on our hands when removing a pan from the hot oven.

• And yet, constructive fear, although beneficial, can also be perverted and diminish our lives.

• Left unchecked, the fear of falling can keep us from getting on a plane, thus grounding us.

• The unrestrained terror of that grizzly bear can deprive us of a pleasant walk in the woods, and the fear of burning ourselves could keep us from turning on the oven and enjoying a home-cooked meal.

• The real question we should be asking is, “What do we fear most?”

• This is a much better inquiry than focusing on how to annihilate destructive fears or manage constructive ones.

• It’s a wise question, and if properly answered, it puts all other fears into perspective and enhances our lives—both now and eternally.

• It illuminates the path to a good and fulfilling life.

• The Bible has much to say about fear, and the building block is this: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7), and not just any wisdom, but God’s wisdom.

• That’s not a bad place to start.

• So, consider this: What if fear—rightly aimed—is a virtue?

• What if the fear of God is the paradoxical path to an authentic relationship with Him?

• And what if this holy fear is what truly opens us up to the fullness of life that Jesus’ followers have experienced through the centuries?

• What if this fear eradicates all other fears—the fear of starting your own business, the fear of what your government will do, the fear of what will happen to your children, the fear that ahypochondriac suffers from, the fear that causes mental illness or depression?

• As we begin our journey, please allow me to make four statements of truth:

o We are human, and we will fear.

o The awe and fear of God is way deeper, more beautiful and more intimate than many dare imagine.

o The fear of God swallows up all destructive fears.

o The fear of God is the beginning of everything good.

• Let me remind you that the Bible tells us—about 365 times—to “fear not.”

• This leads many Christians to conclude that God does not want us to fear.

• But these verses refer to destructive fear.

• Additionally, we can point out that there are almost 200 verses in the Bible that encourage us to “fear God.”

• And here’s the unfortunate part: In our quest to try to eliminate any fear in our lives, this area of faith has been left unexamined, untried, and without benefit.

• The fear of the Lord is more glorious, more awe-inspiring, and even more joyous than we could ever imagine.

• As we continue, I want to show you how rightly directed fear—specifically the virtue of fearing God above all else—opens up the path to a life beyond what you have ever imagined.

• And it’s only then that we are able to boldly address anything that life may throw at us.

• In the words of Charles Spurgeon, “The fear of God is the death of every other fear; like a mighty lion, it chases all other fears before it.”

• Let’s start with an exploration of how awesome our God is.

I. A Choice Jewel

• “Fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel, given only to…those who are greatly beloved” (John Bunyan).

• What if you were told of a hidden virtue that in essence is the key to all of life?

• It unlocks the purpose of your existence and attracts the presence, protection, and providence of your Creator.

• It is the root of all noble character, the foundation of all happiness, and provides needed adjustments to all inharmonious circumstances you may face.

• Firmly embracing this virtue could lengthen your life, procure good health, ensure success and safety, eliminate lack, and guarantee a noble legacy.

• Sound too good to be true?

• If presented with this reality, most might sneer and retort, “No such virtue exists!”

• Yet every promise above was written by undoubtably one of the wisest men to ever live, and even more, he wrote these words under the inspiration of our Creator—and His words are infallible!

• However, prior to Solomon’s departure from this life, he fell from the bliss he wrote about because his heart deserted the Source of his wisdom and he consequently strayed from the path of living water.

• This wise man achieved a level of success, fortune, and fame that was unmatched before and has not been experienced since.

• Kings, queens, ambassadors, and high-level leaders would travel great distances to be in his presence, hear his insights, witness the excellence and unity of his team, and be impacted by the innovation that produced his nation’s great strength and wealth.

• He was so impressive that one queen didn’t believe the reports she heard prior to her visit.

• However, after spending time with him, she exclaimed, “But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!” (1 Kings 10:7-8).

• From what we read, the people he led were happy and effective in their endeavors.

• Poverty was nonexistent, every family in his kingdom owned their own house and garden.

• History reports the people, “were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy” (1 Kings 4:20).

• They lived in peace and safety.

• As time passed, however, this notable leader eventually stepped away from what fueled his achievements.

• He became wise in his own eyes and deemed it no longer necessary to heed the wisdom of this virtue.

• He lost his way and eventually became a bitter cynic.

• He was not the only one to suffer from his misjudgment—so, too, did those he led.

• To him, life was meaningless.

• He wrote an entire book depicting the scope of life’s pointless existence; to him, all was vanity.

• This one man, in a relatively short time, plummeted from the highest heights of success to the deepest recessed of a flagrant pessimism.

• Many psychologists today would diagnose him as suffering from a severe case of manic depression.

• How could one man span such extremes?

• The good news: His story doesn’t end in the depths of despondency.

• He eventually returned to life’s most important virtue.

• His final chapter in his book gives a glimpse into his recovery.

• He ends his book by writing, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

• He concludes, “For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

II. Show Us the Way

• The prized virtue is none other than the fear of God.

• The writer King Solomon, declares it as the prerequisite to a fulfilling, abundant life.

• We read in Psalm 25:12, “Who, then, are those who fear the Lord? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.”

• This path is uncommon because, sadly, many believe as King Solomon did in his dark hours, that their own wisdom is what brings success and happiness.

• Holy fear keeps us connected to the wisdom of our Creator—the only One who knows what enhances us and what undoes us.

• Holy fear’s importance so vastly trumps all other virtues that Scripture identifies it as Jesus’ delight (Isaiah 11:3), and just as incredible, “The fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure” (Isaiah 33:6).

• Stop and ponder this for a moment: It’s God Almighty’s delight and treasure.

• Astounding!

• Solomon didn’t fully realize the value of godly fear, even though he taught it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit!

• Therefore, it was possible for him to be drawn away from it.

• Prior to his fall, godly fear wasn’t his treasure or delight; it wasn’t an immovable foundation for his motives and actions.

• In stumbling, experiencing folly, and finally recovering, he more fully grasped the magnitude of its power.

• In a similar light, the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

• Paul understood the importance of treasuring the wisdom entrusted to him by God’s Spirit and not making the same tragic error as King Solomon.

• The hidden truths of God’s covenant were revealed to him, which would free multitudes, but if he didn’t see godly fear as invaluable and firmly embrace it, he too would also end up a hopeless cynic—unfit, unapproved, and rejected as a counterfeit.

Conclusion

• Embracing godly fear as our most prized treasure empowers us to remain under submission to truth, and in so doing, it keeps us on the path of life, which brings remarkable rewards.

• In a time when most regard fear as detrimental or damaging, to declare the fear of the Lord as a beneficial and prized virtue seems counterintuitive.

• However, based on the authority of Scripture, we can assume that when we embrace it, we will be empowered to remain on the path of life.

• Here we will experience true intimacy with God and life-altering benefits—one of the greatest of which is being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

• Amen!

Galatians 6:11-18

Introduction

• It was Paul’s custom, after dictating a letter, to take the pen and write his own farewell.

• His standard signature was, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

• But so concerned was Paul that the Galatians get the message of this letter that he took the pen and wrote an entire concluding paragraph with his own hand.

• “Look at the large letters I write with my own hand!”

• Why did Paul write this paragraph, and why did he use such large letters?

• The Holy Spirit inspired him to add these closing words to give one more contrast between the legalists and the Spirit-led Christians, to show that the Spirit-led believer lives for the glory of God, not the praise of man.

• And he wrote in large letters for emphasis: “DON’T MISS THIS!”

• Paul wanted to make it clear that something important was written, that he was not simply end the letter in some conventional manner.

• Paul’s intent was to show the believer that living under the law and living under grace were diametrically opposed to each other.

• It is not just a matter of “different doctrines,” but a matter of two different ways of life.

• They had to choose between bondage or liberty, the flesh or the Spirit, and living for self or living for others.

• Now he presented a fourth contrast: living for the praise of men or the glory of God.

• He was dealing with motive, and there was no greater need in our churches today than for an examination of the motives for our ministries.

• We know what we are doing, but do we know why we are doing it?

• A good work is spoiled by a bad motive.

• Paul approached this delicate subject in an interesting way.

• The legalists wanted to subject the Galatian believers to circumcision, so Paul took this up and related it to the work of Christ on the cross, and also to his own ministry.

• In this paragraph, Paul presented three “marked men”—the legalist, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the apostle Paul himself.

I. The Legalist (6:12-13)

• Paul did not have anything good to say about the legalist.

• He described him and his kind in four ways.

• First of all, they are braggarts (vv. 12a-13b).

• Their main purpose was not to win people to Christ, or even to help the believers grow in grace.

• Their chief purpose was to win more converts so they could brag about them.

• They wanted to “make a fine impression outwardly” even though they did no good inwardly.

• Their work was not done for the good of the church or for the glory of God; it was done for their own glory.

• While it is certainly not wrong to want to win people to Christ, or to see the work of the Lord increase, it is definitely wrong to want these blessings for the glory of man.

• We want to see more people sharing in our ministries, not so that we can count people, but because people count.

• But we must be careful not to use people to further our own selfish programs for our own glorification.

• Second, they are compromisers (v.12b).

• Why did they preach and practice circumcision and all that went with it?

• To escape persecution.

• Because Paul preached the grace of God and salvation apart from the works of the law, he was persecuted.

• The Judaizers tried to make the Christians think that they too were Christians, and they tried to make the followers of the Mosaic law think that they too obeyed the law.

• Consequently, they escaped being persecuted by the legalistic group for their identification with the cross of Christ and its devastating effect on the law.

• We are prone to look at the cross in a sentimental way.

• We wear crosses on our lapels or on chains around our necks.

• But to the first-century citizen, the cross was not a beautiful piece of jewelry; it was the lowest form of death and the ultimate in humiliation.

• The proper Roman citizen would never mention the cross in polite conversation.

• It stood for rejection and shame.

• When Paul trusted Christ, he identified himself with the cross and took the consequences.

• To the Jew the cross was a stumbling block, and to the Gentile it was foolishness.

• The legalist, emphasizing circumcision rather than crucifixion, won many converts.

• Theirs was a popular religion because it avoided the shame of the cross.

• Third, they are persuaders (v.12a).

• The word compel carries with it the idea of strong persuasion and even force.

• This is “sales talk” that convinced the Galatian believers that legalism was the way for them.

• Whenever Paul presented the Word, it was in truth and sincerity, and he used no oratorical tricks or debater’s skills.

• Paul was not a politician; he was an ambassador.

• Fourth, they are hypocrites (v.13).

• “They want you to submit to the law, but they themselves do not obey the law.”

• The legalists belonged to the same group as the Pharisees about whom Jesus said, “They say and do not” (Matthew 23:3).

• Of course, Paul was not suggesting that the Judaizers should keep the law, because keeping the law is neither possible nor necessary.

• Rather, he was condemning them for their dishonesty; they had no intention of keeping the law, even if they could.

• Their goal: winning more converts to their cause.

• They wanted to report more statistics and get more glory.

• Yes, the legalist is a marked man; so, when you detect him, avoid him.

II. Jesus Christ (6:14-16)

• Paul kept coming back to the cross.

• “If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing” (Galatians 2:21).

• The wounds of Calvary certainly make Christ a “marked man,” for those wounds mean liberty to those who will trust Him.

• The Judaizers boasted in circumcision; but Paul boasted in a crucified and risen Savior.

• He gloried om the cross.

• Certainly, this does not mean that he gloried in the brutality or suffering in the cross.

• He was not looking at the cross as a piece of wood on which a criminal dies.

• He was looking at the cross of Christ and gloried in it.

• Why would Paul glory in the cross?

• He knew the Person of the cross.

• Jesus Christ is mentioned at least forty-five times in the Galatian letter, which means that one third of the verses contain some reference to Him.

• The person of Jesus Christ captivated Paul, and it was Christ who made the cross glorious to him.

• The legalists did not glory in the cross of Christ because they did not glory in Christ.

• It was Moses—and themselves—who got the glory.

• They did not really know the Person of the cross.

• He knew the power of the cross.

• To Saul, the learned Jewish rabbi, a doctrine of sacrifice on a cross was utterly preposterous.

• That the Messiah would come, he had no doubt, but that He would come to die—and to die on a cursed cross—well, there was no place for this in Saul’s theology.

• The cross in that day was the ultimate example of weakness and shame.

• Yet Saul of Tarsus experienced the power of the cross and became Paul the apostle.

• The cross ceased to be a stumbling block to him and became, instead, the very foundation stone of his message: “Christ died for our sins.”

• For Paul, the cross meant liberty from self, the flesh, and the world.

• In the death and resurrection of Christ, the power of God is released to give believers deliverance and victory.

• It is no longer we who live; it is Christ who lives in us and through us.

• As we yield to Him, we have victory over the world and the flesh.

• There is certainly no power in the law to give a man victory over self, the flesh, and the world.

• Quite the contrary, the law appeals to human ego, and encourages the flesh to work.

• And the world does not care if we are “religious” just so long as the cross is left out.

• In fact, the world approves of religion—apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• So, the legalist inflates the ego, flatters the flesh, and pleases the world; the true Christian crucifies all three.

• He knows the purpose of the cross.

• It was to bring into the world a new “people of God.”

• For centuries, the nation of Israel had been the people of God, and the law had been their way of life.

• All of this was preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ.

• One purpose of the cross was to bring in a new creation.

• This “new creation” is the church, the body of Christ.

• The “old creation” was headed by Adam, and it ended in failure.

• The “new creation” is headed by Christ, and it is going to succeed!

• The first Adam disobeyed God and brought into the world sin, death, and judgment.

• The Last Adam obeyed God and brought life, righteousness, and salvation.

• Adam committed one sin and plunged all of creation into judgment.

• Christ performed one act of obedience in His death on the cross, and paid for all the sins of the world.

• Because of Christ’s victory, we can “reign in life” through Jesus Christ.

• In other words, the believer belongs to a “new creation,” a spiritual creation, that knows nothing of the defects and limitations of the “old creation.”

• Another purpose of the cross was to create a new nation, “the Israel of God.”

• This is one of many names for the church found in the New Testament.

• Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit” (Matthew 21:43).

• Peter identified that nation as the family of God, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9).

• This does not mean that the church has permanently replaced the nation of Israel in the program of God, but only that the church is “the people of God” on earth today just as Israel was in centuries past.

• What a rebuke to the Judaizers!

• They wanted to take the church back into Old Testament law, when that law could not even be kept by the nation of Israel!

• That nation was set aside to make way for God’s new people, the church!

• Believers today may not be “Abraham’s children” in the flesh, but they are “Abraham’s seed” through faith in Jesus Christ.

• They have experienced a circumcision of the heart that is far more effective than physical circumcision.

• For this reason, neither circumcision nor the lack of it is of any consequence to God.

III. The Apostle Paul (6:17-18)

• There was a time when Paul was proud of his mark of circumcision, but after he became a believer, he became a “marked man” in a different way.

• He now gloried in the scars he had received and in the suffering he had endured in the service of Jesus Christ.

• The contrast with the legalists is plain to see: “The Judaizers want to mark your flesh and brag about you, but I bear in my body the brands of the Lord Jesus Christ—for His glory.”

• What a rebuke!

• Paul was not claiming that he bore the five wounds of Calvary on his body.

• Rather he was affirming that he had suffered for Christ’s sake and he had on his body the scars to prove it.

• In the days of Paul, it was common place to brand or mark followers of other gods or goddesses.

• In the same way, Paul was “branded” for Jesus Christ.

• Paul comes to the end of his letter and closes the way he began: GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Galatians 6:1-10

Introduction

• The story has often been told about the message the founder of the Salvation Army sent to their international convention.

• General William Booth was unable to attend personally because of ill health, so he cabled the delegates a message containing one word: “Others.”

• In the popular comic strip “Peanuts,” Lucy asks Charlie Brown, “Why are we here on earth?” He replies, “To make others happy.” She ponders this for a moment and then asks, “Then why are the others here?”

• “One another” is one of the key phrases in the Christian’s vocabulary.

• “Love one another” is found at least a dozen times in the New Testament, along with “pray for one another,” edify one another,” and “prefer one another,” “use hospitality one to another,” and many other like admonitions.

• In the section before us, Paul adds another phrase: “Carry each other’s burdens.”

• The Spirit-led Christian thinks of others and how he can minister to them.

• In this section, Paul describes two important ministries that we ought to share with one another.

I. Bearing Burdens (6:1-5)

• The legalist is not interested in bearing burdens.

• Instead, he adds to the burden of others.

• Listen to the words of Acts 15:10, “Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?”

• This was one of the sins of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day: “They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:4).

• The legalist is always harder on other people than he is on himself, but the Spirit-led Christian demands more of himself than he does of others that he might be able to help others.

• Nothing reveals the wickedness of legalism better than the way the legalists treat those who have sinned.

• Call to mind the Pharisees who dragged a woman taken in adultery before Jesus.

• Or that Jewish mob that almost killed Paul because they thought he had defiled the temple by bringing in Gentiles.

• A contrast in aim is apparent.

• The spiritual man, on the other hand, would seek to restore the brother in love, while the legalist would exploit the brother.

• The word restore means “to mend, as a net, or to restore a broken bone.”

• If you have ever had a broken bone, you know how painful it is to have it set.

• The sinning believer is like a broken bone in the body, and he needs to be restored.

• The believer who is led by the Spirit and living in the liberty of grace will seek to help the erring brother, for “the fruit of the Spirit is love.”

• When Jesus sought to be a physician to the sinful, He was severely criticized by the Pharisees, and so the spiritual believer today will be criticized by the legalists.

• Instead of trying to restore the erring brother, the legalist will condemn him and then use the brother to make himself look good.

• The legalist rejoices when a brother falls, and often gives the matter wide publicity, because then he can boast about his own goodness and how much better his group is than the group to which the fallen brother belongs.

• This is why Paul admonished us, “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other” (Galatians 5:26).

• The word provoke means “to challenge to a contest, to compete with.”

• The believer who walks in the Spirit is not competing with other Christians or challenging them to become “as good as he is.”

• However, the legalist lives by competition and comparison, and tries to make himself look good by making the other fellow look bad.

• A change in attitude is needed.

• The Spirit-led believer approaches the matter in a spirit of meekness and love, while the legalist has an attitude of pride and condemnation.

• The legalist does not need to “consider himself” because he pretends he could never commit such a sin.

• But the believer, living by grace, realizes that no man is immune from falling.

• Listen to the words of 1 Corinthians 10:12, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”

• He has an attitude of humility because he realizes his own weaknesses.

• But there is a second contrast: he knows the love of Christ in his own heart.

• “The law of Christ (v.2)” is “Love one another.”

• “Tender loving care” is not a modern invention, because Paul is urging it on believers in this passage.

• How much we appreciate it when the doctor uses tenderness as he set a broken bone.

• And how much more should we use “tender loving care” when we seek to restore a broken life.

• It takes a great deal of love and courage for us to approach an erring brother and seek to help him.

• Jesus compared this to eye surgery (Matthew 7:1-5)—and how many of us feel qualified for that?

• In reconciliation, it is more important to win the lost than to win an argument!

• The legalist, of course, has no time for this kind of spiritual “soul-winning.”

• When he hears that his brother has sinned, instead of going to the brother, he shares the sad news with others and then condemns the brother for not being more spiritual.

• The Judaizers were guilty of boasting about themselves, their achievements, and their converts.

• They usually did this by comparing themselves with other.

• But such comparisons are sinful and deceptive.

• It is easy to find somebody worse off than we are, so that our comparison makes us look better than we really are.

• Christian love would lead us not to expose a brother’s failures or weaknesses, not matter how much better it would make us look.

• A man “should test his own actions” (v.4) in the light of God’s will and not in the shadows of somebody else’s achievements.

• “Each one should test their own actions. They then can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load” (vv.4-5).

• There is no place for competition in the work of God, unless we are competing against sin and Satan.

• When we see words like “best, fastest-growing, biggest, finest” applies to Christian ministries, we wonder who is getting the glory.

• We should be careful about making comparisons, because when one member of the body is blessed, it blesses the whole body.

• There is no contradiction between Galatians 6:2 and 5, because two different Greek words for burden are used.

• In Galatians 6:2 it is a word meaning “a heavy burden,” while in Galatians 6:5 it describes “a soldier’s pack.”

• We should help each other bear the heavy burdens of life, but there are personal responsibilities that each man must bear for himself.

• The following illustration will help clear up this confusion.

• “When your children were young and of school age, there may have been a time that you needed assistance from your neighbor to get your children to school when you had car trouble. But it is wrong to assume that my neighbor would assume my responsibilities as a parent that only belonged to me.”

• That is the difference.

• It is wrong for me to expect somebody else to be the father in our family: that is a burden (and a privilege) that I alone can bear.

II. Sharing Blessings (6:6-10)

• Just as one another is a key phrase in the Christian vocabulary, so is the word fellowship.

• In Galatians 6:6, we see “the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.”

• From the very beginning of the church, sharing was one of the marks of Christian experience.

• The Greek word has now worked its way into our English vocabulary, and we see the word koinonia here and there in religious publications.

• It simply means “to have in common,” and refers to our common fellowship in Christ, our common faith, and even our sharing in the sufferings of Christ.

• But often in the New Testament, koinoniarefers to the sharing of material blessings with one another.

• It is this that Paul had in mind in these verses.

• He began with a precept, urging us to share with one another.

• The teacher of the Word shares spiritual treasures, and those who are taught ought to share material treasures.

• We must remember that what we do with material things is an evidence of how we value spiritual things.

• “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).

• Because the apostle Paul did not want money to become a stumbling block to the unsaved, he earned his own living, but he repeatedly taught that the spiritual leader in the church was to be supported by the gifts of the people.

• Jesus said, “The laborer is worthy of his hire” (Luke 10:7).

• But we must realize the spiritual principle behind the precept.

• God does not command believers to give simply pastors and teachers might have their material needs met, but that the giver might get a greater blessing.

• The basic principle of sowing and reaping is found throughout the entire Bible.

• God has ordained that we reap what we sow.

• Were it not for this law, the whole principle of cause and effect would fail.

• The farmer who sows wheat can expect to reap wheat.

• If it were otherwise, there would be chaos in our world.

• But God has also told us to be careful where we sow, and it is this principle that Paul deals with here.

• He looked on our material possessions as seed, and he sees two possible kinds of soil: the flesh and the Spirit.

• We can use our material goods to promote the flesh, or to promote the things of the Spirit.

• But once we have finished sowing, we cannot change the harvest.

• Money sown to the flesh will bring a harvest of corruption.

• That money is gone and can never be reclaimed.

• Money sown to the Spirit will produce life, and in that harvest will be seeds that can be planted again for another harvest, and on and on into eternity.

• If every believer only looked on his material wealthy as seed, and planted it properly, there would be no lack in the work of the Lord.

• Sad to say, much seed is wasted on carnal things and can never bring glory to God. 

• Of course, there is a much wider application of the principle to our lives; because all that we do is either an investment in the flesh or the Spirit.

• We shall reap whatever we have sown, and we shall reap in proportion as we have sown.

• Listen to words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:6, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”

• The believer who walks in the Spirit and “sows” in the Spirit is going to reap a spiritual harvest.

• If his sowing has been generous, the harvest will be bountiful, if not in this life, certainly in the life to come.

• Having given us the precept and the principle behind the precept, Paul now gives us a promise.

• “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

• Behind this promise is a peril: getting weary in the work of the Lord, and then eventually fainting, and stopping our ministry.

• Sometimes spiritual fainting is caused by a lack of devotion to the Lord.

• Sometimes we faint because of a lack of prayer.

• Luke 18:1 says, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”

• Prayer is to the spiritual life what breathing is to the physical life, and if we stop breathing, we faint.

• It is also possible to faint because of lack of nourishment.

• “Man shall not live on bread along, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

• If we try to keep going without proper food and rest, we will faint.

• How important it is to “wait upon the Lord” to get the strength we need for each day.

• The Scripture tells us “at the proper time” we will reap a harvest.

• Often, the seed that is planted does not bear fruit immediately.

• Each day we ought to sow the seed so that one day we will be able to reap.

• But we must remember that the Lord of the harvest is in charge, not the laborers.

• Sharing blessings involves much more than teaching the Word and giving of our material resources.

• It also involves doing “good to all people” (Galatians 6:10).

• The Christian is to return good for evil, and to do this in a spirit of Christian love.

• Actually, the Christian’s good works are a spiritual sacrifice that he gives to the Lord.

• As we do “good to all people,” we must give priority to “the household of faith,” the fellowship of believers.

• We must strike a balance between giving the household of faith and to the world around us.

• We must remember that we share with other Christians so that all of us might be able to share with a needy world.

• The Christian in the household of faith is a receiver that he might become a transmitter.

• As we abound in love for one another, we overflow in love for all men.

• This is how it is meant to be!

John 20:1-10

Introduction

• If the Gospel of John were an ordinary biography, there would be no chapter 20.

• If you read biographies, almost all of them conclude with the death and burial of the subject.

• You will not find in any biography where it describes the subject’s resurrection from the dead!

• The fact that John continues his account and shared the excitement of the resurrection miracle is proof that Jesus Christ is not like any other man.

• He is, indeed, the Son of God!

• The resurrection is an essential part of the Gospel message and a key doctrine in the Christian faith.

• It proves that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Acts 2:32-36; Romans 1:4) and that Hisatoning work on the cross has been completed and is effective (Romans 4:24-25).

• The empty cross and the empty tomb are God’s “receipts” telling us that the debt has been paid.

• Jesus Christ is not only the Savior, but He is also the Sanctifier (Romans 6:4-10) and the Intercessor (Romans 8:34).

• One day He shall return as Judge (Acts 17:30-31).

• From the very beginning, the enemies of the Lord tried to deny the historic fact of the resurrection.

• The Jewish leaders claimed that the Lord’s body had been stolen from the tomb.

• This statement is absurd, for if the body was stolen by His followers, how did they do it?

• The tomb was guarded by Roman soldiers and the stone sealed by an official Roman seal.

• Furthermore, His disciples did not believe that He was to be raised from the dead; it was His enemies who remembered His words (Matthew 27:62-66).

• They certainly would not have taken the body!

• The last thing they wanted was anyone believing that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead.

• If His friends could not steal the body, and His enemies would not, then who took it?

• Perhaps the disciples had “visions” of the risen Lord and interpreted them as evidences for the resurrection.

• But they did not expect to see Him, and that is not the land of psychological preparation from which hallucinations are made.

• And how could more than five hundred people have the same hallucination at the same time (1 Corinthians 15:6)?

• Did the followers of our Lord perhaps go to the wrong tomb?

• Not likely.

• They carefully watched where He was buried (Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55-57).

• They loved the Master and were not likely to get confused about His resting place.

• In fact, as the women approached the tomb, they were worried about who would roll back the heavy stone (Mark 16:1-3), so they were acquainted with the situation.

• As to the foolish argument that Jesus did not die, but only swooned and was later revived, little need to be said.

• It was proved by many witnesses that Jesus was dead when His body was taken from the cross.

• Later, He was seen alive by dependable witnesses.

• The only logical conclusion is that He kept His promise and arose from the dead.

• But the glorious truth of the resurrection was not understood immediately by even His closest followers.

• It gradually dawned on these grieving people that their Master was not dead, but alive!

• And what a difference it made when the full realization of His resurrection took hold of them!

• For Mary Magdalene it meant moving from tears to joy (John 20:1-8), for the ten disciples it meant going from fear to courage (John 20:19-23); and for Thomas it meant moving from doubt to assurance (John 20:24-31).

• With Mary, the emphasis is on love; with the ten, the emphasis is on hope; and with Thomas, the emphasis is on faith.

I. Faith Eclipsed (20:1-2)

• Mary Magdelene and several other women agreed to go to the tomb early on the first day of the week, so that they might show their love for Christ in completing the burial preparations.

• Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had been forced by circumstances to prepare His body hastily, and the women wanted to finish the task.

• Their great concern was how to get into the tomb.

• Perhaps the Roman soldiers would take pity on them and give them a hand.

• What they did not know was that an earthquake had occurred and the stone had been rolled back by an angel!

• It seems that Mary Magdelene went ahead of the other women and got to the tomb first.

• When she saw the stone rolled away from the door of the tomb, she concluded that somebody had broken into the tomb and stolen the body of her Lord.

• We may criticize Mary for jumping to conclusions.

• It was still dark, she was alone, and, like the other followers of Jesus, she did not believe that He would return from the dead.

• She ran to give the news to Peter and John, who must have been living together at a place known to the other believers.

• Perhaps it was the Upper Room where they had met with Jesus.

• Mary’s use of the pronoun “we” is interesting, for it included the other women who at that moment were discovering that Jesus was alive!

• The women left the tomb and carried the angel’s message to the other disciples.

• It is significant that the first witnesses of the resurrection of Christ were believing women.

• Among the Jews in that day, the testimony of women was not held in high regard.

• “It is better that the words of the law be burned than be delivered to a woman,” said the rabbis.

• But these Christian women had a greater message than that of the law, for they knew that their Savior was alive.

• Mary’s faith was not extinguished; it was only eclipsed.

• The light was still there, but it was covered.

• Peter and John were in the same spiritual condition, but soon all three of them would move out of the shadows and into the light.

II. Faith Dawning (20:3-10)

• John 20:3 suggests that Peter started off first to run to the tomb, but John 20:4 reports that John got there first.

• Perhaps John was a younger man in better physical condition, or perhaps John was just a better runner.

• Nevertheless, both men deserve credit for having the courage to run into enemy territory, not knowing what lay before them.

• The whole thing could have been a clever trap to catch the disciples.

• When John arrived at the tomb, he cautiously remained outside and looked in.

• Perhaps he wanted Peter to be with him when he went into the burial chamber.

• What did John see?

• The graveclothes lying on the stone shelf without any evidence of violence or crime.

• But the graveclothes were empty!

• They lay there like an empty cocoon, still retaining the shape of Jesus’ body.

• Peter arrived and impulsively went into the tomb, just as we would expect him to do.

• He also saw the linen clothes lying there empty and the cloth for the head carefully rolled and lying by itself.

• Grave robbers do not carefully unwrap the corpse and then leave the graveclothes neatly behind.

• In fact, with the presences of the spices in the folds of the clothes, it would be almost impossible to unwrap a corpse without damaging the wrappings.

• The only way those linen clothes could be left in that condition would be if Jesus passed through them as He rose from the dead.

• John then entered the tomb and looked at the evidence.

• “He saw and believed.”

• When John wrote this account, he used three different Greek words for seeing.

• In John 20:5, the verb simply means “to glance in, to look in.”

• In John 20:6, the word means “to look carefully, to observe.”

• The word saw in John 20:8 means “to perceive with intelligent comprehension.”

• Their resurrection faith was now dawning!

• It seems incredible that the followers of Jesus did not expect Him to come out of the tomb alive.

• After all, He had told them many times that He would be raised from the dead.

• Early in His ministry, He had said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19).

• After His resurrection, the disciples remembered that He had said this; however, His enemies remembered it too.

• He compared Himself to Jonah, and on two occasions clearly announced His resurrection.

• His last week of ministry He again promised to be raised up and meet them in Galilee.

• What kind of faith did Peter and John have at that stage of their spiritual experience?

• They had faith based on evidence.

• They could see the graveclothes; they knew that the body of Jesus was not there.

• However, as good as evidence is to convince the mind, it can never change the life.

• Those of us who live centuries later cannot examine the evidence, for the material evidence is no longer there for us to inspect.

• But we have the record in the Word of God, and that record is true!

• In fact, it is faith in the Word that the Lord really wanted to cultivate in His disciples.

• Peter made it clear that the Word of God, not personal experiences, should be the basis for our faith, as recorded in 1 Peter 1:12-21.

• The disciples had only the Old Testament Scriptures, so that is what is referred to in John 20:9.

• The early church used the Old Testament to prove to both Jews and Gentiles that Jesus is the Christ, that He died for sinners, and that He arose again.

• The gospel includes “and that he arose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4).

• What Scriptures did Paul and John have in mind?

• Paul saw the resurrection in Psalm 2:7, “I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have become your father.’”

• Peter also referred to Psalm 110:1, “The Lordsays to my lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’”

• The statement “he will see his offspring and prolong his days” (Isaiah 53:10) is also interpreted as a prediction of Christ’s resurrection.

• Jesus Himself used the prophet Jonah to illustrate His own death, burial, and resurrection (Matthew 12:38-40), and this would include the “three days” part of the message.

• Paul saw in the Feast of First Fruits a picture of the resurrection, and again, this would include “the third day.”

• Some theologians see the resurrection and “the third day” in Hosea 6:2, “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.”

Conclusion

• After His resurrection, our Lord did not reveal Himself to everyone, but only to selected witnesses who would share the good news with other.

• This witness is now found in Scripture, the New Testament, and both the Old Testament and the New Testament agree in their witness.

• The law, the psalms, the prophets, and the apostles together bear witness that Jesus Christ is alive!

• Peter and John saw the evidence and believed.

• Later, the Holy Spirit confirmed their faith through the Old Testament Scriptures.

• That evening, they would meet the Master personally!

• Faither that was eclipsed has now started to dawn, and the light will get brighter!

• Amen!

Matthew 26:57-27:26

Introduction

• After Jesus was arrested, He was taken to the house of Annas, the former high priest who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest.

• Annas, a shrewd Politian, was something of a “godfather” in the temple establishment.

• Jesus then was taken to Caiaphas and, in the morning, to the meeting of the Sanhedrin.

• They turned Him over to Pilate who tried to put Him under Herod’s jurisdiction.

• But Herod sent Him back to Pilate.

• Matthew centered his attention on four persons who were involved in the trial and suffering of the Lord.

I. Caiaphas (26:57-68)

• According to Old Testament law, the high priest was to serve until death.

• But when the Romans took over the nation of Israel, they made the high priesthood an appointed office.

• This way they could be certain of having a religious leader who would cooperate with their policies.

• Annas served as high priest from AD 6-15, and five of his sons, as well as Caiaphas his son-in-law succeeded him.

• Caiaphas was high priest from AD 18-36, but Annas was still a power behind the throne.

• Both Annas and Caiaphas were Sadducees, which meant they did not believe in the resurrection, the spirit world, or the authority of any of the Old Testament except the five Books of Moses.

• It was the high priestly family that managed the “temple business,” which Jesus had overthrown twice during His ministry.

• Of course, these men were most happy to lay hands on their enemy.

• Caiaphas had already made it clear that he intended to sacrifice Jesus in order to save the nation.

• The high priest hastily assembled the Sanhedrin, composed of the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes.

• While the men were gathering, Caiaphas and his assistants were seeking for witnesses to testify against the prisoner.

• They had already determined that He was guilty, but they wanted to go through the motions of a legal trial.

• Since no honest witnesses could be found, the leaders arranged for false witnesses to testify.

• The law of Moses warned against false witnesses, but even the religious leaders twisted God’s Word to accomplish their selfish purposes.

• That there were two witnesses fulfilled the letter of the law.

• But that they deliberately lied broke both the letter and the spirit of the law.

• These witnesses cited a statement Jesus had made early in His ministry: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19).

• It was a serious matter to speak against the temple; this very charge later led to the death of Stephen.

• When confronted with this charge, Jesus remained silent.

• This was a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:7, which says, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.”

• Jesus could not deny that He made the statement, and yet neither could He explain the spiritual meaning of the statement to this group of worldly-minded men.

• In His attitude toward His enemies, Jesus set an example for us to follow.

• When Caiaphas saw that the false charges were not incriminating Jesus, he took another approach.

• He put Jesus under oath.

• In our day of repeated perjury, and carelessness with the truth, we cannot appreciate the solemn importance that the Jews gave to oaths.

• This, of course, was according to the law.

• Caiaphas knew that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, so he put Him under oath to declare this.

• The clever priest knew that Jesus could not avoid replying.

• Jesus did affirm that He is the Son of God.

• He applied to Himself Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13, both of which are messianic passages.

• In there two quotations, Jesus predicted His resurrection and ascension and His return in glory.

• This would mean salvation to those who trust Him, but for Caiaphas it would mean condemnation.

• Without even considering the evidence, Caiaphas passed the sentence.

• The treatment given Jesus after the verdict had been reached was certainly illegal and inhumane.

• Of course, all of this only revealed the wickedness of the priest’s heart.

• At the same time, it fulfilled the messianic prophecies of Isaiah 50:6, which says, “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.”

II. Peter (26:69-75)

• Peter had been criticized for the following “following him at a distance,” but that was not his mistake.

• His mistake was that he followed at all.

• He was supposed to get out!

• Jesus had warned Peter that he would deny Him.

• Jesus had also quoted Zechariah 13:7, which states that the “sheep shall be scattered.”

• Finally, Jesus had expressly commanded the disciples not to follow: “let these men go” (John 18:8-9).

• If Peter had listened to the Word and obeyed it, he would never have failed the Lord in such a humiliating way.

• The apostle John was also a part of this failure, for he had followed Peter and gotten both of them entrance into the high priest’s house.

• Jesus had warned them to “watch and pray” lest they enter into temptation.

• Peter’s denial of Christ was the climax of a series of failures.

• When the Lord first warned Peter that he would be tested by Satan, Peter affirmed his faith and his ability to remain true to the Lord.

• In pride, Peter argued with the Word of God!

• He even dared to compare himself to the other disciples and affirmed that, though they might fail, he would remain true.

• The fact that Peter was standing by the enemy’s fire, warming himself, indicates how defeated he was.

• The denial was even more humiliating because two of the interrogators were servant girls.

• The third challenge came from a man, one of the bystanders, but Peter failed again.

• This man was a relative of Malchus, the man Peter had wounded, as recorded in John 18:26.

• So, Peter’s impulsive deed caught up with him, even after Jesus had repaired the damage.

• Mark’s account of this event indicates that the cock would crow twice.

• After the third denial, the cock crowed for the second time.

• This means that the first cock-crowing was a warning to Peter, and he should have left the scene immediately.

• The third denial and the second cock-crow climaxed the test, and Peter had failed.

• The crowing of the cock reminded Pater of the word of Jesus.

• Had Peter remembered and obeyed the word, he would never have denied his Lord.

• It was at that time Jesus turned and looked at Peter, and that look of love broke the apostle’s heart.

• Peter went out and wept bitterly.

• After His resurrection, Jesus met privately with Peter and restored him to his discipleship.

• Jesus also restored him publicly.

• Peter learned some important lessons during that difficult experience.

• He learned to pay attention to the Word, to watch and pray, and to put no confidence in his own strength.

III. Judas (27:1-10)

• The Jewish counsel reconvened in the morning and delivered the official verdict against Jesus, so that the people could not say that their hastily called night meeting was unlawful.

• Now all were able to attend.

• It is likely that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea either did not attend or abstained from the voting.

• But the Jews did not have the authority to exercise capital punishment, so the prisoner went to Pilate, the Roman procurator.

• Only he could sentence the prisoner to death.

• At this point, Judas returned to the scene.

• He witnessed the official trial and sentencing of Jesus and realized that He was condemned to die.

• Judas’s response was one of remorse and regret.

• The Greek word translated “seized with remorse” in Matthew 27:3 indicates, not a sorrow for sin that leads to a change of mind and action, but a regret at being caught, a remorse that leads to despair.

• Peter truly repented, and Jesus restored him.

• But Judas did not repent, and this led him to suicide.

• Judas had sold Jesus for the price of a slave, as recorded in Exodus 21:32.

• In desperation, he threw the money on the temple floor and left.

• The law would not permit the use of this kind of tainted money for temple purposes, as recorded in Deuteronomy 23:18.

• The leaders were careful to observe the law even while they were guilty of breaking it.

• They used the money to by a “potter’s field” where Jewish strangers who died could be buried properly.

• Why did Matthew relate this event to a prophecy in Zechariah 11:12-13?

• One possible solution is that his prophecy was spoken by Jeremiah and became a part of the Jewish oral tradition.

• It was later written by Zechariah.

• The prophet Jeremiah definitely was involved in the purchase of the field and also with a potter’s house, and a burial ground.

• Matthew may have been referring to these general facts as background for the specific prophecy written by Zechariah.

IV. Pilate (27:11-26)

• Pontius Pilate was the sixth Roman procurator to serve in Judea.

• He was not liked by the Jews because he did things that deliberately violated their law and provoked them.

• He was not above killing people to accomplish his purposes.

• Pilate’s position was always rather precarious because of his bad relationship with Israel and because of Rome’s changing policy with the Jews.

• The Jewish leaders accused Jesus of three crimes.

• They claimed that He was guilty of misleading the nation, forbidding the paying of taxes, and claiming to be a king.

• These were definitely political charges, the kind that a Roman governor could handle.

• Pilate focused on the third charge—that Jesus claimed to be a king—because this was a definite threat to Rome.

• If he could deal with this charge properly, Pilate could please the Jews and impress the emperor at the same time.

• “Are You the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked.

• Jesus gave him a clear reply: “You have said so.”

• Was Pilate thinking of “kingship” in the Roman sense?

• If so, then Jesus is not that kind of a king.

• Jesus explained to the governor that His kingdom was not of this world, that He had no armies, that His followers did not fight.

• Rather, His kingdom was a reign of truth. 

• This conversation convinced Pilate that Jesus was not a dangerous revolutionary.

• “I find no fault in Him,” was Pilate’s decision.

• The decision was made to follow a custom of the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.

• The crowd chose Barabbas.

• Pilate wanted to solve the problem but not make any definite decision about Jesus.

• As a Roman governor, he was pledged to uphold the law.

• But as a politician, he knew he had to get along with the people.

• Every decision Pilate made forced him to make another decision, until he was the prisoner of his own evasions.

• He questioned Jesus further, but He made no reply.

• The decision to release Barabbas had a high level of failure.

• Pilate had calculated that the crowd would reject Barabbas, but he was wrong.

• Pilate took three steps in an attempt to exonerate himself.

• First, he washed his hands and declared that he was innocent of any guilt.

• Second, he stated clearly that Jesus was a just person, that is, not worthy of death.

• Third, he offered to punish Jesus and then release Him, but the rulers would accept no compromise.

• Finally, the religious rulers used the one weapon against which Pilate had no defense: “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar” (John 19:12).

• At this, Pilate capitulated, had Jesus scourged, and delivered Him to be crucified.

• As Psalm 22:16 states, “they pierced my hands and my feet.”

• Jesus was made a curse for us, for “cursed is every one that hangs no a pole” (Galatians 3:13).

• But still God was at work in fulfilling His divine purposes.

Conclusion

• Pilate knew that he was right, but refused to do anything about it.

• He was “willing to please the people.”

• Judas yielded to the devil in his great sin.

• Peter yielded to the flesh when he denied his Lord.

• Pilate yielded to the world and listened to the crowd.

• Pilate looked for an easy way out, not the right way.

• He has gone down in history as the man who condemned Jesus!

Galatians 5:13-26

Introduction

• At the close of an important speech to Congress on January 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt shared his vision of the kind of world he wanted to see after the war was over.

• He envisioned four basic freedoms enjoyed by all people: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

• To some degree, these freedoms have been achieved on a wider scale than in 1941, but our world still needs another freedom, a fifth freedom.

• Man needs to be free from himself and the tyranny of his sinful nature.

• The legalists thought they had the answer to the problem in laws and threats, but Paul has explained that no amount of legislation can change man’s basic sinful nature.

• It is not law on the outside, but love on the inside that makes a difference.

• We need another power within, and that power comes from the Holy Spirit of God.

• There are at least fourteen references to the Holy Spirit in Galatians.

• When we believe on Christ, the Spirit comes to dwell within us.

• We are “born after the Spirit” as was Isaac.

• It is the Holy Spirit in the heart who gives assurance of salvation; and it is the Holy Spirit who enables us to live for Christ and glorify Him.

• The Holy Spirit is not simply a “divine influence”; He is a divine Person, just as are the Father and the Son.

• What God the Father planned for you, and God the Son purchased for you on the cross, God the Spirit personalizes for you and applies to your life as you yield to Him.

• Let us look at three ministries of the Holy Spirit that enable the believer to enjoy liberty in Christ.

I. The Spirit Enables Us to Fulfill the Law of Love (5:13-15)

• Let us read Galatians 5:13-15.

• We are prone to go the extremes.

• One believer interprets liberty as license and thinks he can do whatever he wants to do.

• Another believer, seeing this error, goes to an opposite extreme and imposes law on everybody.

• Somewhere between license on the one hand and legalism on the other hand is true Christian liberty.

• So, Paul began by explaining our calling: we are called to liberty.

• The Christian is a free man.

• He is free from the guilt of sin because he has experienced God’s forgiveness.

• He is free from the penalty of sin because Christ died for him on the cross.

• And he is, through the Spirit, free from the power of sin in his daily life.

• He is also free from the law with its demands and threats.

• Christ bore the curse of the law and ended its tyranny once and for all.

• We are “called unto liberty” because we are “called into the grace of Christ.”

• Grace and liberty go together.

• Having explained our calling, Paul then issued a caution: “Don’t allow your liberty to degenerate into license!”

• This, of course, is the fear of all people who do not understand the true meaning of the grace of God.

• “If you do away with rules and regulations,” they say, “you will create chaos and anarchy.”

• Christian liberty is not a license to sin but an opportunity to serve.

• This leads to a commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (v.13).

• The key word, of course is love.

• The formula looks something like this:

o Liberty + love= service to others

o Liberty-love= license (slavery to sin)

• “I have an extra day off this week,” Carl told his wife as he walked into the kitchen. “I think I’ll use it to fix Donna’s bike and then take Larry on that museum trip he’s been talking about.” “Fixing a bike and visiting a museum hardly sounds like exciting ways to spend a day off,” his wife replied. “It’s exciting if you love your kids!”

• The amazing thing about love is that it takes the place of all the laws God ever gave.

• If you love people, because of your love for Christ, you will not steal from them, lie to them, envy them, or try in any way to hurt them.

• Love in the heart is God’s substitute for laws and threats.

• On a much higher level, the Holy Spirit within gives us the love that we need.

• Apparently, the Galatian believers were lacking in this kind of love, because they were “biting and devouring each other” and were in danger of destroying each other.

• The picture here is of wild animals attacking each other.

• This in itself if proof that law cannot force people to get along with each other.

• No matter how many rules or standards a church may adopt, they are no guarantee of spirituality.

• Unless the Holy Spirit of God is permitted to fill hearts with His love, selfishness, and competition will reign.

• Both extremes in the Galatian churches—the legalists and the libertines—were actually destroying the fellowship.

• The Holy Spirit does not work in a vacuum.

• He uses the Word of God, prayer, worship, and the fellowship of believers to build us up in Christ.

• The believer who spends time daily in the Word and prayer, and who yields to the Spirit’s working, is going to enjoy liberty and will help build us up in Christ.

• I encourage you to ready 2 Corinthians 3 for Paul’s explanation of the difference between a spiritual ministry of grace and a carnal ministry of law.

II. The Spirit Enables Us to Overcome the Flesh (5:16-21, 24)

• Let us read these verses.

• We need to consider dividing this section of Scripture into three different areas of interest.

• First of all, the conflict (vv.16-17).

• Just as Isaac and Ishmael were unable to get along, so the Spirit and the flesh are at war with each other.

• By “the flesh,” Paul did not mean “the body.”

• The human body is not sinful; it is neutral.

• If the Holy Spirit controls the body, then we walk in the Spirit, but if the flesh controls the body, then we walk in the lusts of the flesh.

• The Spirit and the flesh have different appetites, and this is what creates the conflict.

• Note that the Christian cannot simply will to overcome the flesh.

• “They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want” (5:17).

• It is this very problem that Paul discusses in Romans 7:15, 19: “I do not know what I am doing. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

• Paul is not denying that there is victory.

• He is simply pointing out that we cannot win this victory in our own strength and by our own will.

• Second, the conquest (v.18).

• The solution is not to pit our will against the flesh, but to surrender our will to the Holy Spirit.

• This verse literally means “But if you are willingly led by the Spirit, then you are not under the law.”

• The Holy Spirit writes God’s law on our hearts so that we desire to obey Him in love.

• Psalm 40:8 says, “I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”

• Being “led by the Spirit” and “walking in the Spirit” are the opposites of yielding to the desires of the flesh.

• Third, the crucifixion (vv. 19-21, 24).

• Paul now lists some of the ugly “acts of the flesh.”

• The flesh is able to manufacture sin, but it can never produce the righteousness of God.

• Listen to the words of Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

• This list in Galatians can be divided into three major categories.

• The sensual sins (v.19).

• It goes without saying that all of these sins were rampant in the Roman Empire, as well as they are today.

• The superstitious sins (v. 20a).

• These sins remind us that we are to worship God and love people.

• Putting other things ahead of God is the root of these sins.

• Some interesting facts about the word witchcraft.

• It comes from the Greek word with means “the use of drugs.”

• Our English word pharmacy is derived from this word.

• Magicians in Paul’s day often used drugs to bring about their evil effects.

• Of course, sorcery is forbidden in the Bible, as are all activities of the occult.

• The social sins (vv. 20b-21a).

• The person who practices these sins shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

• Paul is not talking about an act of sin, but a habit of sin.

• There is a false assurance of salvation that is not based on the Word of God.

• The fact that the believer is not under law, but under grace, is no excuse for sin.

• If anything, it is an encouragement to live in obedience to the Lord.

• But, how does the believer handle the old nature when it is capable of producing such horrible sins?

• The law cannot change or control the old nature.

• The old nature must be crucified (v.24).

• Paul explains that the believer is identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.

• Christ died for me to remove the penalty of my sin, but I died with Christ to break sin’s power.

• Only through the Holy Spirit can we “put to death” the deeds that the flesh would do through the body.

• The Holy Spirit is not only the Spirit of life, but He is also the Spirit of death.

• He helps us to reckon ourselves dead to sin.

• We have seen two ministries of the Spirit of God.

• Let us look at another one that helps us overcome the flesh.

III. The Spirit Enables Us to Produce Fruit (5:22-23)

• It is one thing to overcome the flesh and not do evil things, but quite something else to do good things.

• The legalist might be able to boast that he is not guilty of adultery or murder, but can anyone see the beautiful graces of the Spirit in his life?

• Negative goodness is not enough in a life; there must be positive qualities as well.

• The contrast between works and fruit is important.

• A machine in a factory works and turns out a product, but it could never manufacture fruit.

• Fruit must grow out of life, and, in the case of the believer, it is the life of the Spirit.

• When you think of “works” you think of effort, labor, strain, and toil; when you think of “fruit” you think of beauty, quietness, the unfolding of life.

• The flesh produces “dead works,” but the Spirit produces living fruit.

• And this fruit has in it the seed for still more fruit.

• Love begets more love!

• Joy helps to produce more joy!

• Jesus is concerned that we produce “fruit…more fruit…much fruit,” because this is the way we glorify Him.

• The old nature cannot produce fruit; only the new nature can do that.

• The New Testament speaks of several different kinds of “fruit”: people won to Christ, holy living, gifts brought to God, good works, and praise.

• The “fruit of the Spirit” listed in our passage has to do with character.

• It is important that we distinguish the gift of the Spirit, which is salvation, and the gifts of the Spirit, which have to do with service, from the grace of the Spirit, which relate to Christian character.

• It is unfortunate that an overemphasis on gifts has led some Christians to neglect the graces of the Spirit.

• Building Christian character must take precedence over displaying special abilities.

• The characteristics that God wants in our lives are seen in the ninefold fruit of the Spirit.

• Paul began with love because all of the other fruit is really an outgrowth of love.

• This divine love is God’s gift to us, and we must cultivate it and pray that it will increase.

• As you progress down the list, we see that each one leads to an increasing awareness of the wonderful character of God and how He wants us to reflect that character to the lost world around us.

• It is possible for the old nature to counterfeit some of the fruit of the Spirit, but the flesh can never produce the fruit of the Spirit.

• One difference is this: when the Spirit produces fruit, God gets the glory and the Christian is not conscious of his spirituality: but when the flesh is at work, the person is inwardly proud of himself and is pleased when others compliment him.

• The work of the Spirit is to make us more like Christ for His glory, not for the praise of men.

• The cultivation of the fruit is important.

• Paul warns that there must be a right atmosphere before the fruit will grow.

• Just as fruit cannot grow in every climate, so the fruit of the Spirit cannot grow in every individual’s life or in every church.

• Fruit grows in a climate blessed with an abundance of the Spirit and the Word.

• “Walk in the Spirit” means “keep in step with the Sprit”—not to run ahead and not to lag behind.

• This involves the Word, prayer, worship, praise, and fellowship with God’s people.

• It also means “pulling out the weeds” so that the seed of the Word can take root and bear fruit.

• The Judaizers were anxious for praise and “vainglory” and this led to competition and division.

• Fruit can never grow in that kind of an atmosphere.

Conclusion

• We must remember that this fruit is produced to be eaten, not to be admired and put on display.

• People around us are starving for love, joy, peace, and all the other graces of the Spirit.

• When they find them in our lives, they know that we have something they lack.

• We do not bear fruit for our own consumption; we bear fruit that others might be fed and helped, and that Christ might be glorified.

• The flesh may manufacture “results” that bring praise to us, but the flesh cannot bear fruit that brings glory to God.

• It takes patience, an atmosphere of the Sprit, walking in the light, the seed of the Word of God, and a sincere desire to honor Christ.

• In short, the secret is the Holy Spirit.

• He alone can give us that “fifth freedom”—freedom from sin and self.

• He enables us to fulfill the law of love, to overcome the flesh, and to bear fruit.

• Will you yield to Him and let Him work?

Galatians 5:1-12

Introduction

• “Paul’s doctrine of grace is dangerous!”

• This was the cry of the Judaizers, saying, “It replaces law with license. Why, if we do away with our rules and abandon our high standards, the churches will fall apart.”

• First-century Judaizers are not the only ones afraid to depend on God’s grace.

• Legalists in our churches today warn that we dare not teach people about the liberty we have in Christ lest it results in religious anarchy.

• These people misunderstand Paul’s teaching about grace, and it is to correct such misunderstanding that Paul wrote the final section of the letter, chapters 5-6.

• Paul turned now from argument to application, from the doctrinal to the practical.

• The Christian who lives by faith is not going to become a rebel.

• Quite the contrary, he is going to experience the inner discipline of God that is far better than the outer discipline of man-made rules.

• No man can become a rebel who depends on God’s grace, yields to God’s Spirit, lives for others, and seeks to glorify God.

• The legalist is the one who eventually rebels, because he is living in bondage, depending on the flesh, living for self, and seeking the praise of men and not the glory of God.

• No matter how you look at it, legalism is an insidious, dangerous enemy.

• When you abandon grace for law, you always lose.

• In this first section of chapter 5, Paul explained what the believer loses when he turns from God’s grace to man-made rules and regulations.

I. The Slave—You Lose Your Liberty (5:1)

• “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

• Paul has used two comparisons to show his readers what the law is really like: a schoolmaster or guardian, and a bondwoman.

• Now he compared it to a yoke of slavery.

• You will recall that Peter used this same image at the famous conference in Jerusalem, as recorded in Acts 15:10.

• The image of the yoke is not difficult to understand.

• It usually represents slavery, service, and control by someone else over your life; it may also represent willing service and submission to someone else.

• When God delivered Israel from Egyptian servitude, it was the breaking of a yoke, as recorded in Leviticus 26:13.

• The farmer uses the yoke to control and guide his oxen because they would not willingly serve if they were free.

• When the believers in Galatia trusted Christ, they lost the yoke of servitude to sin and put on the yoke of Christ.

• The yoke of religion is hard, and the burdens heavy.

• Christ’s yoke is “easy” and His burden is “light.”

• That word easy in the Greek means “kind, gracious.”

• The yoke of Christ frees us to fulfill His will, while the yoke of the law enslaves us.

• The unsaved person wears a yoke of sin; the religious legalist wears the yoke of bondage; but the Christian who depends on God’s grace wears the liberating yoke of Christ.

• It is Christ who has made us free from the bondage of the law.

• He freed us from the curse of the law by dying for us on the tree.

• The believer is no longer under law; he is under grace.

• This does not mean that we are outlaws and rebels.

• It simply means that we no longer need the external force of law to keep us in God’s will, because we have the internal leading of the Holy Spirit of God.

• Christ died to set us free, not to make us slaves.

• To go back to the law is to become entangled in a maze of “do’s and don’ts” and to abandon spiritual adulthood for a “second childhood.”

• Sad to say, there are some people who feel very insecure with liberty.

• They would rather be under the tyranny of some leader than to make their own decisions freely.

• There are some believers who are frightened by the liberty they have in God’s grace; so, they seek out a fellowship that is legalistic and dictatorial, where they can let others make their decisions for them.

• This is comparable to an adult climbing back into the crib.

• The way of Christian liberty is the way of fulfillment in Christ.

• No wonder Paul issues that ultimatum: “Do not be entangled again in the yoke of bondage. Take your stand for liberty.”

II. The Debtor-You Lose Your Wealth (5:2-6)

• Let us read 5:2-6.

• Paul used three phrases to describe the losses the Christian incurs when he turns from grace to law: “Christ will be of no value to you at all” (5:2); “is obligated to obey the whole law” (5:3); “You…have been alienated from Christ” (5:4).

• This leads to the sad conclusion in 5:4, “You have fallen away from grace.”

• It is sad enough that legalism robs the believer of his liberty, but it also robs him of his spiritual wealth in Christ.

• The believer living under law becomes a bankrupt slave!

• God’s Word teaches that when we were unsaved, we owed God a debt we could not pay.

• Jesus made this clear in His parable of the two debtors, as recorded in Luke 7:36-50.

• God’s grace, because of the work of Christ on the cross, is able to forgive sinners, no matter how large their debt may be.

• Thus, when we trust Christ, we become spiritually rich.

• We now share in the riches of God’s grace, the riches of His glory, the riches of His wisdom, and the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8).

• In Christ we have “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3), and we are “complete in him” (Colossians 2:10).

• Once a person is “in Christ,” he has all that he needs to live the kind of Christian life God wants him to live.

• The Judaizers, however, want us to believe that we are missing something, that we would be more “spiritual” if we practiced the law with its demands and disciplines.

• But Paul made it clear that the law adds nothing—because nothing can be added!

• Instead, the law comes in as a thief and robs the believer of the spiritual riches he has in Christ.

• It puts him back into bankruptcy, responsible for a debt he is unable to pay.

• To live by grace means to depend on God’s abundant supply of every need.

• To live by law means to depend on my own strength—the flesh—and be left to get by without God’s supply.

• Paul warned the Galatians that to submit to circumcision in these circumstances would rob them of all the benefits they have in Christ.

• Furthermore, to submit would put them under obligation to obey the whole law.

• It is at this point that legalists reveal their hypocrisy, for they fail to keep the whole law.

• They look on the Old Testament law the way a customer surveys the food in a cafeteria: they choose what they want and leave the rest.

• But this is not honest.

• To teach that a Christian today should, for example, keep the Sabbath but not the Passover, is to dismember God’s law.

• The same Lawgiver who gave the one commandment also gave the other.

• Earlier, Paul had quoted Moses to prove that the curse of the law is on everyone who fails to keep all the law.

• We must remember that no amount of obedience can make up for one act of disobedience.

• To boast about keeping part of the law while at the same time breaking another part is to confess that I am worthy of punishment!

• Now we can better understand what Paul means by “fallen from grace” (5:4).

• Certainly, has was not suggesting that the Galatians had “lost their salvation,” because throughout this letter he dealt with them as believers.

• No, to be “fallen from grace” does not mean to lose salvation.

• Rather, it means “fallen out of the sphere of God’s grace.”

• You cannot mix grace and law.

• If you decide to live in the sphere of law, then you cannot live in the sphere of grace.

• The believers in Galatia had been bewitched by the false teachers and thus were disobeying the truth.

• As a result, they had become entangled with the yoke of bondage, and this led to their present position: “fallen from grace.”

• And the tragedy of this fall is that they had robbed themselves of all the good things Jesus Christ could do for them.

• Paul next presented the life of the believer in the sphere of grace.

• This enables us to contrast the two ways of life.

• When you live by grace, you depend on the power of the Spirit; but under law, you must depend on yourself and your own efforts.

• Faith is not dead; faith works.

• But the efforts of the flesh can never accomplish what faith can accomplish through the Spirit.

• And faith works through love—love for God and love for others.

• Unfortunately, flesh does not manufacture love; too often it produces selfishness and rivalry.

• No wonder Paul pictured the life of legalism as a fall!

• When the believer walks by faith, depending on the Spirit of God, he lives in the sphere of God’s grace; and all his needs are provided.

• He experiences the riches of God’s grace.

• And, he always has something to look forward to; one day Jesus shall return to make us like Himself in perfect righteousness.

• The law gives no promise for perfect righteousness in the future.

• The law prepared the way for the first coming of Christ; but it cannot prepare the way for the second coming of Christ.

• So, the believer who chooses legalism robs himself of spiritual liberty and spiritual wealth.

• He deliberately puts himself into bondage and bankruptcy.

III. The Runner—You Lose Your Direction (5:7-12)

• Let us read 5:7-12.

• Paul was fond of athletic illustrations and used them often in his letters.

• His readers were familiar with the Olympic Games as well as other Greek athletic contests that always included footraces.

• It is important to note that Paul never uses the image of the race to tell people about how to live the Christian life.

• A contestant in the Greek games had to be a citizen before he could compete.

• We become citizens of heaven through faith in Christ, then the Lord puts us on our course, and we run to win the prize.

• We do not run to be saved; we run because we are already saved and want to fulfill God’s will in our lives.

• In the beginning, the churches at Galatia did “run well.”

• They had a deep joy that was evident to all, and were willing to make any sacrifice to accommodate Paul.

• But now, Paul was their enemy.

• What had happened?

• A literal translation of Galatians 5:7 gives us the answer: “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?”

• In races, each runner was to stay in his assigned lane, but some runners would cut in on their competitors to try to get them off course.

• This is what the Judaizers had done to the Galatian believers; they cut in on them andforced them to change direction and go on a “spiritual detour.”

• It was not God who did this, because He had called them to run faithfully in the lane marked “Grace.”

• Then, Paul changes the figure of speech from athletics to cooking.

• Why was this?

• In the Old Testament, leaven is generally pictured as a symbol of evil.

• During Passover, for example, no yeast was allowed in the house.

• Worshippers were not permitted to mingle leaven with sacrifices.

• Jesus used leaven as a picture of sin when He warned against the “leaven of the Pharisees” (Matthew 16:6-12), and Paul used leaven as a symbol of sin in the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 5).

• Yeast is really a good illustration of sin: it is small, but if left alone it grows and permeates the whole.

• The false doctrine of the Judaizers was introduced to the Galatian churches in a small way, but, before long, the “yeast” grew and eventually took over.

• Small things do not overpower a church, but if allowed to grow, they will quickly overtake a group of believers.

• Every Christian has the responsibility to watch for the beginnings of legalism, that first bit of yeast that infects the fellowship and eventually grows into a serious problem.

Conclusion

• The believer who lives in the sphere of God’s grace is free, rich, and running in the lane that leads to reward and fulfillment.

• The believer who abandons grace for law is a slave, a pauper, and a runner on a detour.

• In short, he is a loser.

• And the only way to become a winner is to “purge out the leaven,” the false doctrine that mixes law and grace, and yield to the Spirit of God.

• God’s grace is sufficient for every demand of life.

• We are saved by grace, and we serve by grace.

• Grace enables us to endure suffering.

• It is grace that strengthens us so that we can be victorious soldiers.

• Our God is the God of all grace.

• We can come to the throne of grace and find grace to help in every need.

• As we read the Bible, which is “the word of his grace,” the Spirit of grace reveals to us how rich we are in Christ.

• “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” (John 1:16).

• How rich we are!

Galatians 4:19-31

Introduction

• We parents never seem to outgrow our children.

• When they’re little, they’re a handful, but when they’re grown, they’re a heartful!

• Someone once said, “When they’re little, they step on your toes; but when they’re grown, they step on your heart.”

• This is what Paul was experiencing as he tried to help the Galatian believers with their spiritual lives.

• When he had first come to them with the gospel, he had “travailed” spiritually to see them turn to the Lord.

• But, after all, the Lord Jesus had travailed on the cross to make possible their salvation, and Paul’s travail was nothing in comparison.

• But now the Galatian Christians were falling back into legalism and a “second childhood” experience, and Paul had to travail over them again.

• He longed to see Christ formed in them, just as we parents long to see our children mature in the will of God.

• Since the Judaizers appealed to the law, Paul accepted their challenge and used the law to prove that Christians are not under the law.

• He took the familiar story of Ishmael and Isaac and drew from it basic truths about the Christian’s relationship to the law of Moses.

• The events described actually happened, but Paul used them as an allegory, which is a narrative that has a deeper meaning behind it.

• Perhaps the most famous allegory in the English language is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, in which Bunyan traces Christian’s experiences from the City of Destruction to heaven.

• In an allegory, persons and actions represent hidden meanings, so that the narrative can be read on two levels: the literal and the symbolic.

• Paul’s use of Genesis in this section does not give us license to find “hidden meanings” in all the events of the Old Testament.

• If we take that approach to the Bible, we can make it mean almost anything we please.

• This is the way many false teachings arise.

• The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to discern the hidden meaning of the Genesis story.

• We must always interpret the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament, and where the New Testament gives us permission, we may search for hidden meanings.

• Otherwise, we must accept the plain statements of Scripture and not try to “spiritualize” everything.

I. The Historical Facts (4:19-23)

• Perhaps the easiest way to grasp the historical account is to trace briefly Abraham’s experiences as recorded in Genesis 12-21.

• Using his age as our guide, we will trace the events on which Paul based his argument for Christian liberty.

• At age 75, Abraham is called by God to go to Canaan; and God promises him many descendants.

• Both Abraham and Sarah wanted children, but Sarah was barren.

• God was waiting until both of them were “as good as dead” before He would perform the miracle of sending them a son.

• At age 85, the promised son has not yet arrived, and Sarah becomes impatient.

• She suggests that Abraham marry Hagar, her maid, and try to have a son by her.

• This act was legal in that society, but it was not in the will of God.

• Abraham followed her suggestion and married Hagar.

• At age 86, Hagar was pregnant and Sarah gets jealous!

• Things are so difficult in the home that Sarah throws Hagar out.

• But the Lord intervenes, sends Hagar back, and promises to take care of her and her son.

• When Abraham is 86, the son is born, and he calls him Ishmael.

• At age 99, God speaks to Abraham and promises again that he will have a son by Sarah and says to call his name Isaac.

• God appears again and reaffirms the promise to Sarah was well.

• At age 100, the son is born.

• They name him Isaac, which means “laughter” as commanded by God.

• But the arrival of Isaac creates a new problem in the home: Ishmael was a rival.

• For fourteen years, Ishmael has been his father’s only son, very dear to his heart.

• How will Ishmael respond to the presence of a rival?

• At age 103, it was customary for the Jews to wean their children at about the age of three, and to make a great occasion of it.

• At the feast, Ishmael starts to mock Isaac and to create trouble in the home.

• There is only one solution to the problem, and a costly one at that.

• Hagar and her son have to go.

• With a broken heart, Abaraham sends his son away, because this is what the Lord tells him to do.

• On the surface, this story appears to be nothing more than a tale of a family problem, but beneath the surface are meanings that carry tremendous spiritual power.

• Abraham, the two wives, and the two sons represent spiritual realities, and their relationships teach us important lessons.

II. The Spiritual Truths (4:24-29)

• Paul now explained the meanings that lie behind these historical events; perhaps they are best classified as shown in the chart below.

• Paul began with the two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, and explained that they illustrate our two births: the physical birth that makes us sinners and the spiritual birth that makes us the children of God.

• As you think about this and read Genesis 21:1-12, you discover some wonderful spiritual truths about your salvation.

The Old Covenant​​​​​​TheNew Covenant

Law​​​​​​​​​Grace

Hagar the slave​​​​​​​Sarah the free woman

Ismael, conceived after the flesh​​​​Isaac, miraculously 

​​​​         conceived

Earthly Jerusalem in bondage​​​​Heavenly Jerusalem, 

​​​​​which is free

• Isaac illustrates the believer in several particulars.

• First of all, Isaac was born by God’s power.

• In fact, God deliberately waited twenty-five years before He granted Abraham and Sarah their son Isaac.

• Second, Isaac brought joy into their lives.

• His name means “laughter,” and certainly he brought joy to his aged parents.

• Salvation is an experience of joy, not only to the believer himself, but also to those around him.

• Third, Isaac grew and was weaned.

• Salvation is the beginning, not the ending.

• After we are born, we must grow.

• The child does not enjoy being weaned, but he can never become a man until it happens.

• Fourth, Isaac was persecuted.

• Ishmael caused problems for Isaac, just as our old nature causes problems for us.

• Ishmael created no problems in the home until Isaac was born, just as our old nature creates no problems for us until the new nature enters when we trust Christ.

• In Abraham’s home we see the same basic conflicts that we Christians face today: 

o Hagar versus Sarah=law versus grace

o Ismael versus Isaac=flesh versus Spirit

• The Judaizers taught that law made the believer more spiritual, but Paul made it clear that law only releases the opposition of the flesh and a conflict within the believer ensues.

• There was no law strong enough either to change or to control Ishmael, but Isaac never needed any law.

• It has well been said, “The old nature knows no law and the new nature needs no law.”

• Having explained the significance of the two sons, Paul turned to an explanation of the two wives, Sarah and Hagar.

• First of all, Hagar was Abraham’s second wife.

• God did not begin with Hagar; He began with Sarah.

• Hagar performed a function that was temporary, and then moved off the scene, just as the law performed a special function and then was taken away.

• Second, Hagar was a slave.

• Five times in this section she is called a “slave woman.”

• Sarah was a freewoman, and therefore her position was one of liberty, while Hagar was still a servant. 

• Third, Hagar was not meant to bear a child.

• Abraham’s marriage to Hagar was out of the will of God; it was the result of Sarah’s and Abraham’s unbelief and impatience.

• The Judaizers were trying to make Hagar a mother again, while Paul was in spiritual travail for his converts that they might become more like Christ.

• No amount of religion or legislation can give the dead sinner life.

• Only Christ can do that through the gospel.

• Fourth, Hagar gave birth to a slave.

• Ishmael was “a wild man,” and even though he was a slave, nobody could control him, including his mother.

• Like Ishmael, the old nature (the flesh) is at war with God, and the law cannot change or control it.

• Remember, Hagar represents the law, and Sarah represents grace.

• Fifth, Hagar was cast out.

• It is impossible for law and grace, the flesh and the Spirit, to compromise and stay together.

• God did not ask Hagar and Ishmael to make occasional visits to the home; the break was permanent.

• The Judaizers were trying to reconcile Sarah and Hagar, and Isaac and Ishmael; such reconciliation is contrary to the Word of God.

• It is impossible to mix law and grace, faith and works, God’s gift of righteousness and man’s attempts to earn righteousness.

• Finally, Hagar never married again.

• God never gave the law to any other nation of people, including His church.

• For the Judaizers to impost the law on the Galatian Christians was to oppose the very plan of God.

III. The Practical Blessings (4:30-31)

• We Christians, like Isaac, are the children of promise by grace.

• The covenant of grace, pictured by Sarah, is our spiritual mother.

• The law and the old nature (Hagar and Ishmael) want to persecute us and bring us into bondage.

• How are we to solve this problem?

• First of all, we can try to change them.

• This must fail, for we cannot change either the law or the old nature.

• In John 3:6, we read, “Flesh gives birth to flesh,” and, we might add, it will always be flesh.

• God did not try to change Ishmael and Hagar, either by force or by education; neither can you and I change the old nature and the law.

• Second, we can try to compromise with them.

• This did not work in Abraham’s home, and neither will it work in our lives.

• The Galatians were trying to effect such a compromise, but it was only leading them gradually into bondage.

• False teachers today tell us, “Don’t abandon Christ; simply move into a deeper Christian life by practicing the law along with your faith in Christ.”

• Invite Hagar and Ishmael back home again.

• But this a path back into slavery.

• Galatians 4:9 says, “But now that you know God-or rather are known by God-how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?”

• Third, we can cast them out.

• This is what we are supposed to do.

• The nation of Israel had been in bondage under the law, but this was a temporary thing, preparing them for the coming of Christ.

• Now that Christ had come, the law had to go.

• Jesus Christ, like Isaac, was a child of promise, born by the miraculous power of God.

• Once He had come and died for the people, the law had to go.

• Paul quoted Isaiah 54:1, applying his words to Sarah, who was barren before the birth of Isaac; but also applying it to the church.

• Sarah had been barren, and she tried to become fruitful by having Abraham marry Hagar.

• This failed and brought only trouble.

• The law cannot give life or fruitfulness; legalism is barren.

• For the early church to go back into bondage would mean barrenness and disobedience to the Word of God.

• Because it held fast to grace, the church spread across the world in fruitfulness.

• The old nature loves legalism because it gives the old nature a chance to “look good.”

• It costs very little for Ishmael not to do certain bad things, or to do certain religious deeds, just so long as he can remain Ishmael.

• For seventeen years Ishmael caused no trouble in the home; and then Isaac came along, and there was conflict.

• Legalism caters to Ishmael.

• The Christian who claims to be spiritual because of what he doesn’t do is only fooling himself.

• It takes more than negatives to make a positive, fruitful spiritual life.

• No doubt the Judaizers were attractive people.

• The carried credentials from religious authorities.

• They had high standards and were careful in what they ate and drank.

• They were effective in making converts and liked to advertise their accomplishments.

• They had rules and standards to cover every area of life, making it easy for their followers to know who was “spiritual” and who was not.

• But the Judaizers were leading the people into bondage and defeat, not liberty and victory, and the people did not know the difference.

Conclusion

• Thank God, the Christian is set free from the curse of the law and control of the law.

• “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son” (Genesis 21:10).

• It may pain us deeply, as it did Abraham; but it must be done.

• To attempt to mix law and grace is to attempt the impossible.

• It makes for a frustrated, barren Christian life.

• But to live by grace, through faith, gives one a free and fulfilling Christian life.

• What is the secret?

• The Holy Spirit.

• And it is this secret that Paul will share later in this book.

• Meanwhile, you and I need to beware lest Ishmael and Hagar have crept back into our lives.

• If they have—let us cast them out!

Galatians 4:8-18
II. He Laments Their Regression (4:8-11)
· What really happened when the Galatians turned from grace to law?
· To begin with, they abandoned liberty for bondage.
· When they were ignorant sinners, they had served their false gods
and had experienced the tragedy of such pagan slavery.
· What are some modern-day false gods?
o Education
o Beauty
o Comfort
o Substances
o Family
o Religion
o Science
o Money
o Self
· But then they had trusted Christ and been delivered from superstition
and slavery.
· Now they were abandoning their liberty in Christ and going back into
bondage.
· They were dropping out of the school of grace and enrolling in
the kindergarten of law!
· They were destroying all the good work of the Lord had done in
them through Paul’s ministry.
· The phrase weak and miserable forces tell us the extent of their
regression.
· They were giving up the power of the gospel for the weakness of
law, and the wealth of the gospel for the poverty of the law.
· The law never made anyone rich and powerful; on the contrary, the
law could only reveal man’s weakness and spiritual bankruptcy.
· No wonder Paul weeps over these believers, as he sees them
abandon liberty for bondage, power for weakness, and wealth for
poverty.
· How were they doing this?
· By adopting the Old Testament system of religion with its special
observations of “days, and months, and seasons, and years” (v.10).

· Does this mean that it is wrong for Christians to set aside one day a
year to remember the birth of Christ?
· Or that a special observance of the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost,
or the blessing of the harvest in autumn, is a sin?
· Not necessarily.
· If we observe special days like slaves, hoping to gain some
spiritual merit, then we are sinning.
· But if in the observance, we express our liberty in Christ and let
the Spirit enrich us with His grace, then the observance can be a
spiritual blessing.
· The New Testament makes it clear that Christians are not to legislate
religious observances for each other (Romans 4:4-13).
· We are not to praise the man who celebrates the day, nor are we to
condemn the man who does not celebrate.
· But if a man thinks he is saving his soul, or automatically
growing in grace, because of a religious observance, then he is
guilty of legalism.
· Our evangelical churches have many different kinds of observances,
and it is wrong for us to go beyond the Word of God in comparing,
criticizing, or condemning.
· But all of us must beware of that legalistic spirit that caters to
the flesh, leads to pride, and makes the outward event a
substitute for the inward experience.
III. He Seeks Their Affection (4:12-18)
· Paul was a wonderful spiritual father; he knew just how to balance
rebuke with love.
· Now he turns from “spanking” to “embracing” as he reminds the
believers of their love for him and his love for them.
· At one point they were willing to sacrifice anything for Paul, so great
was their love; but now he had become their enemy.
· The Judaizers had come in and stolen their affection.
· We all would want Paul to be more explicit in describing his physical
affliction.
· We can only speculate as to what the physical affliction was.
· Nonetheless, Paul was accepted by the Galatians despite his
appearance.
· They saw the Lord glorified through Paul, and that was all that
mattered.

· To them, he was an angel of God.
· It is a wonderful thing when people accept God’s servants, not
because of their outward appearance, but because they
represent the Lord and bring His message.
· Now Paul asked them, “Where, then, is your blessing of me now?”
(v.15).
· Paul knew what had happened: the Judaizers had come in and
stolen their hearts.
· One of the marks of a false teacher is that he tries to attract
other men’s converts to himself, and not simply to the truth of
the Word or to the person of Jesus Christ.
· It was not the Judaizers who originally came to Galatia and led them
to Christ; it was Paul.
· Like the cultists today, these false teachers were not winning lost
sinners to Christ, but were stealing converts from those who were
truly serving the Lord.
· Paul had proved to be their loving friend.
· He had “become as they were” by identifying himself with them.
· Now they were turning away from Paul and following false shepherds.
· Paul told them the truth, but the Judaizers told them lies.
· Paul sought to glorify Christ, but the Judaizers glorified
themselves and their converts.
· “Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What
they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for
them” (4:17).
· A true servant of God does not “use people” to build up himself
or his work; he ministers in love to help people know Christ
better and glorify Him.
· Beware of that religious worker who wants your exclusive
allegiance because he is the only one who is right.
· He will use you as long as he can and then drop you for somebody
else—and your fall will be a painful one.
· The task of the spiritual leader is to get people to love and follow
Christ, not to promote himself and his ministry.
Conclusion
· “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies
kisses” (Proverbs 27:6).

· Paul had proved his love to the Galatians by telling them the truth; but
they would not accept it.
· They were enjoying the “kisses” of the Judaizers, not realizing that
these kisses were leading them into bondage and sorrow.
· Christ had made them sons and heirs, but they were rapidly
becoming slaves and beggars.
· They had lost the experience of salvation—they were still
Christians; but they were losing the enjoyment of their salvation
and finding satisfaction in their works instead.
· Sad to say, they did not realize their losses.
· They actually thought they were becoming better Christians by
substituting law for grace, and the religious deeds of the flesh for the
fruit of the Spirit.
· Question: Is your Christian life moving forward into liberty or
backward into bondage?
· Think carefully before you answer!

Galatians 3:1-14

Introduction

• As we begin a study of Galatians chapter 3, we are amazed at the strong writing from Paul.
• We need to realize that Paul is in a battle!
• He was out to prove that salvation is by grace alone, and not by the works of the law.
• His opponents had used every possible means to try to capture the churches of Galatia, and Paul was not going to fight them half-heartedly.
• The apostle was no amateur when it came to debate, and in this chapter, he certainly proves his abilities.
• His logic is unassailable.
• Paul used various arguments to prove that God saves sinners through faith in Christ and not by the works of the law.
• He began with the personal argument (3:1-5) in which he asked the Galatians to recall their personal experience with Christ when they were saved.
• Then he moved into the scriptural argument (3:6-14) in which he quoted six Old Testament passages to prove his point.
• In the logical argument (3:15-29) he reasoned with his readers on the basis of what a covenant is and how a covenant works.
• We shall explore these three arguments and make proper application.

1. The Personal Argument (3:1-5)
2. The key to this section is in the word experienced (3:4).
3. “Have you experienced so much in vain?”
4. The argument from Christian experience was a wise one with which to begin, because Paul had been with them when they had trusted Christ.
5. Of course, to argue from experience can be dangerous, because experience can be counterfeited and they can be misunderstood.
6. Subjective experience must be balanced with objective evidence, because experiences can change, but truth never changes.
7. Paul balanced the subjective experience of the Galatian Christians with the objective teaching of the unchanging Word of God.
8. Let us look at the word foolish.
9. In Galatians 3:1, Paul says, “You foolish Galatians!”
10. In Luke 24:25, Jesus says, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”
11. When Paul uses the word foolish in 3:1, the word that is used means “spiritual dull,” while the word Jesus used in Luke 24:25 means “a godless person.”
12. Paul was declaring a fact: Jesus was warning against verbal abuse.
13. Paul reminded then that they had truly experienced a meeting with God!
14. Paul also reminded them that “before your every eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.”
15. Paul openly presented Christ to the Galatians, with great emphasis on His death for sinners on the cross.
16. They heard this truth, believed it, and obeyed it; and as a result, were born into the family of God!
17. “So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?” (v.5).
18. The Holy Spirit is mentioned eighteen times in this epistle and plays an important part in Paul’s defense of the gospel of the grace of God.
19. The only real evidence of conversion is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.
20. Listen to Romans 8:8-9, “Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.”
21. What does it mean to be “in the realm of the Spirit?”
22. First of all, the Christian should walk in the Spirit by reading the Word, praying, and obeying God’s will.
23. If he disobeys God, then he is grieving the Spirit, and if he persists in doing this, he may quench the Spirit.
24. This means that the Spirit cannot give him the joy and power that he needs for daily Christian living.
25. Second, believers should be filled with the Spirit, which simply means “controlled by the Spirit.”
26. This is a continuous experience, like drinking water from a “fresh stream.”

1. The Scriptural Argument (3:6-14)
2. Paul turns now from subjective experience to the objective evidence of the Word of God.
3. We never judge the Scriptures by our experience; we test our experience by the Word of God!
4. Paul uses the Old Testament to prove that salvation is by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law.
5. Paul began by quoting Moses to show that God’s righteousness was placed to Abraham’s account only because he believed in God’s promise.
6. When the sinner trusts Christ, God’s righteousness is put to his account.
7. More than this, the believer’s sins are no longer put to his account.
8. This means that the record is always clean before God, and therefore the believer can never be brought into judgment for his sins.
9. We stand alone as believers before God.
10. It has well been said, “God has no grandchildren.”
11. Our salvation experienced is not inherited!
12. Furthermore, Paul emphasizes that “all nations will be blessed through you.”
13. This is in reference to the fact that salvation is open to “all peoples,” including the Gentiles.
14. The true “children of Abraham” are not the Jews by physical descent, but Jews and Gentiles who have believed in Jesus Christ.
15. Salvation could never come by obedience to the law because the law brings a curse, not a blessing.
16. “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
17. This is a direct quote from Deuteronomy 27:26.
18. Paul next quoted Habakkuk: “The just shall live by faith.”
19. This statement is so important that the Holy Spirit inspired three New Testament books to explain it; Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews.
20. The Judaizers wanted to seduce the Galatians into a religion of legal works, while Paul wanted them to enjoy a relationship of love and life by faith in Christ.
21. For the Christian to abandon faith and grace for law and works is to lose everything exciting that the Christian can experience in his daily fellowship with the Lord.
22. The law cannot justify the sinner; neither can it give him righteousness.
23. The law cannot give the gift of the Spirit, nor can it guarantee that spiritual inheritance that belongs to God’s children.
24. The law cannot give life, and the law cannot give liberty.
25. Why, then, go back to the law?
26. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit” (vv.12-14).
27. These two verses beautifully summarize all that Paul had been saying in this section of Scripture.
28. Does the law put sinners under a curse?
29. Then Christ has redeemed us from that curse!
30. Do you want the blessing of Abraham?
31. It comes through Christ!
32. Do you want the gift of the Spirit?
33. This gift is available to all, including Gentiles!
34. All you need is in Christ!
35. There is no reason to go back to Moses.
36. In Galatians 3:13, the word redeemed means to purchase a slave for the purpose of setting him free.
37. By shedding His blood on the cross, Christ purchased us that we might be set free.
38. The Judaizers wanted to lead the Christians into slavery, but Christ died to set them free!
39. Salvation is not exchanging one form of bondage for another.
40. Salvation is being set free from the bondage of sin and the law into the liberty of God’s grace through Christ!
41. Why would any believer deliberately want to choose bondage instead of liberty?
42. Going back to 3:1, they were bewitched.
43. The word means, “to cast a spell, to fascinate.”
44. The Galatian Christians became bewitched because the Judaizers appealed to the flesh.
45. The flesh loves to be “religious—to obey laws, to observe holy occasions, even to fast.”
46. There is nothing wrong with these things, but when believers begin to measure and compare themselves with others, they loose sight of the movement of the Holy Spirit.
47. The true believer compares himself with Christ, not other Christians.
48. There is no room for pride in the spiritual walk of the Christian who lives by grace; but the legalist constantly boasts about his achievements and his converts!

1. The Logical Argument (vv. 15-29)
2. The Judaizers had Paul in a corner.
3. He has just finished proving from the Old Testament that God’s plan of salvation left no room for the works of the law.
4. But the fact Paul quoted six times from the Old Testament raised a serious problem: If salvation does not involve the law, then why was the law given in the first place?
5. Paul quoted from the law to prove the insignificance of the law.
6. If the law is now set aside, then his very arguments are worthless because they are taken from the law.
7. Our faith is a logical faith and can be defended on rational grounds.
8. While there are divine mysteries in the faith that no man can fully explain, there are also divine reasons that any sincere person can understand.
9. Paul was trained as a Jewish rabbi and was fully equipped to argue his case.
10. In this section of Scripture, he makes four statements that help us understand the relationship between promise and law.
11. First of all, the law cannot change the promise (3:15-18).
12. The word promise is used eight times in these verses, referring to God’s promise to Abraham that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
13. This promise involved being justified by faith and having all the blessings of salvation.
14. The Judaizers implied that the giving of the law changed that original covenant of promise.
15. Paul argued that it did not.
16. The covenant made to Abraham was made by God Himself.
17. But Paul revealed another wonderful truth: God made this promise, not only to Abraham, but also to Christ.
18. “And to his seed, Christ” (3:16).
19. In the final analysis, God made this covenant of promise with Abraham through Christ, so that the only two parties who can make any change are God the Father and God the Son.
20. Moses cannot alter this covenant!
21. The Judaizers wanted to add to God’s grace and take from God’s promises.
22. They had no right to do this since they were not parties in the original covenant.
23. Second, the law is not greater than the promise (3:19-20).
24. The law was temporary!
25. “It was added…until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come” (3:19a).
26. With the death and resurrection of Christ, the law was done away, and now its righteous demands are fulfilled in us through the Spirit, as Romans 8:4 states, “So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ.”
27. Third, the law required a mediator (3:19b-20).
28. When God gave the law to Israel, He did it by means of angels and through the mediation of Moses.
29. Israel “received the law by the disposition of angels” (Acts 7:53).
30. This means that the nation received the law third-hand: from God to angels to Moses.
31. But when God made His covenant with Abraham, He did it personally, without a mediator.
32. God was revealing to Abraham all that He would do for him and his descendants.
33. A mediator stands between two parties and helps them to agree; but there was no need for a mediator in Abraham’s case since God was entering into a covenant with him, not Abraham with God.
34. “God is one,” therefore there was no need for a go-between.
35. Fourth, the law was not given to provide life (v.21).
36. Certainly, the law of Moses regulated the lives of the Jewish people, but it did not and could not provide spiritual life to the people.
37. If life and righteousness could have come through the law, then Jesus Christ would never have died on the cross.
38. But Jesus did die; therefore, the law could never give the sinner life and righteousness.
39. It was “worship of the law” that led Israel into a self-righteous religion of works, the result of which was the rejection of Christ.
40. Fifth, the law was given to reveal sin (3:19a, 22).
41. It is here that we see the way that law and grace cooperate in bringing the lost sinner to Jesus Christ.
42. The law shows the sinner his guilt, and grace shows him the forgiveness he can have in Christ.
43. The law is “holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12), but we are unholy, unjust, and bad.
44. The law does not make us sinners; it reveals in us that we already are sinners.
45. The law is a mirror that helps us see our “dirty faces.”
46. It is grace that provides the cleansing through the blood of Jesus Christ.
47. We do not achieve salvation by keeping of the law!
48. Finally, the law was given to prepare the way for Christ (vv.23-26).
49. The word “guardian” is used in a very interesting way.
50. In many Roman and Greek households, well-educated slaves took the children to and from school and watched over them during the day.
51. Sometimes they would teach the children, sometimes they would protect and prohibit, and sometimes they would even discipline the children.
52. By using this illustration, Paul was saying several things about the Jews and their law.
53. First, he was saying that the Jews were not born through the law, but rather were brought up by the law.
54. The slave was not the child’s father; he was the child’s guardian and disciplinarian.
55. So, the law did not give life to Israel; it regulated life.
56. The Judaizers taught that the law was necessary for life and righteousness, and Paul’s argument shows their error.
57. Second, Paul said even more important: the work of the guardian was preparation for the child’s maturity.
58. Once the child came of age, he no longer needed the guardian.
59. So, the law was a preparation for the nation of Israel until the coming of the promised Seed, Jesus Christ.
60. The purpose of the law was to create a sense of guilt and need!
61. The law cannot change the promise, and the law is not greater than the promise.
62. But the law is not contrary to the promise: they work together to bring sinners to the Savior.

Conclusion (3:27-29)

This will be Paul’s theme in the next section of Scripture.

With the coming of Jesus Christ, the nation of Israel moved out of childhood into adulthood.

The long period of preparation was over.

While there was a certain amount of glory to the law, there was a greater glory in the gracious salvation of God as found in Christ.

The law could reveal sin and, to a certain extent, control behavior, but the law could not do for the sinner what Jesus Christ can do.

To begin with, the law could never justify the guilty sinner.

“I will not acquit the guilty” (Exodus 23:7); yet Paul stated that God “justifies the ungodly” (Romans 4:5).

King Solomon, at the dedication of the temple, reminded God to condemn the wicked and justify the righteous, and this was a proper response in light of the holiness of God.

The trouble is, nobody was righteous!

It is only through faith in Jesus Christ that the sinner is justified—declared righteous–before God.

Furthermore, the law could never give a person a oneness with God; it separated man from God.

There was a fence around the tabernacle and a veil between the holy place and the Holy of Holies.

Faith in Jesus baptizes us “into Christ.”

This baptism of the Spirit identifies the believer with Christ and makes him part of His body.

Water baptism is an outward picture of this inner work of the Holy Spirit.

The phrase clothed yourself with Christ (3:27) refers to a change of garments.

The believer has laid aside the dirty garment of sin and, by faith received the robes of righteousness in Christ.

But, to the Galatians, this idea of “changing clothes” would have an additional meaning.

When the Roman child came of age, he took off the childhood garments and put on the toga of the adult citizen.

The believer in Christ is just a “child of God”; he is also a “son of God.”

The believer has an adult status before God—so why go back into the childhood of the law?

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith” (3:26).

What a tremendous claim!

The law created differences and distinctions, not only between individuals and nations, but also between various kinds of foods and animals.

Jesus Christ came, not to divide, but to unite!

This is glorious news for all of mankind, rich and poor alike.

We are all the same before our Lord and Savior!

The Pharisee would pray each morning, “I thank Thee, God, that I am a Jew, not a Gentile; a man not a woman; and a freeman, and not a slave.”

Yet, all these distinctions are removed “in Christ.”

Finally, the law could never make us heirs of God.

God made the promise to “Abraham’s Seed,” and that Seed is Christ!

If we are “in Christ” by faith, then we too are “Abraham’s seed” spiritually speaking.

This means that we are heirs of the spiritual blessings God promised to Abraham.

Christians today are enriched spiritually because of God’s promise to Abrahem.

This section of Galatians is valuable to us as we read the Old Testament Scriptures.

It shows us that the spiritual lessons of the Old Testament are not for the Jews only but have application to Christians today.

In the Old Testament we have preparation for Christ; in the Gospels, the presentation of Christ; and in the Acts through Revelation, the appropriation of Christ.

Your Christian life ought to take on new wonder and meaning as you realize all that you have in Christ.

And all of this is by grace—not by law!

You are an adult son in God’s family, an heir of God.

Are you drawing on your inheritance?

Introduction
 What if I told you that every moment of your life, whether you realize
it or not, you are engaged in An Invisible War a battle waged not with
swords or guns, but through subtle influences, whispered lies, and
unseen forces tugging at the very fabric of your soul.
 It is a war older than humanity itself.
 A cosmic struggle between light and darkness, between the forces of
good and the forces of evil.
 And whether you acknowledge it or not, you are already on the
battlefield.
 But here’s the real question: Are you fighting back or are you
unknowingly surrendering today.
 We are diving into one of the most overlooked yet crucial aspects of
Christian Life, Spiritual Warfare.
 Many dismiss it as superstition, while others live in fear of the
unknown.
 But what if I told you that the Bible doesn’t just acknowledge this
battle it, commands us to fight in it.
 And more importantly, it gives us the weapons to win.

I. The Origins of Spiritual Warfare
 To understand spiritual warfare, we must first go back way back to the
very beginning before humanity, before the world as we know it.
 There was a rebellion in the heavens.
 The Bible tells us that Lucifer, a being of immense beauty and
intelligence, led a revolt against God fueled by pride.
 He sought to elevate himself above the Creator, saying in Isaiah
14:13-14, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above
the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the
utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the
clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
 But God cast him down along with a third of the Angels, who followed
him.

 This rebellion set the stage for a cosmic conflict that has raged ever
since.
 And when God created mankind, Satan saw an opportunity to
corrupt, to destroy, to turn creation against its creator.
 The first Battlefield was the Garden of Eden.
 The first casualties Adam and Eve.
 From that moment on, it has been entangled in this war.
 And Satan’s tactics haven’t changed.
 He still lies, he still deceives, he still manipulates.
 But here’s the good news: God has never left us defenseless.

II. Recognizing the Enemies Strategy
 One of the greatest tricks the enemy ever pulled was convincing
people that he doesn’t exist.
 If you don’t believe you’re in a battle, you won’t fight.
 And if you won’t fight, you’ll lose by default.
 Satan works subtly.
 He won’t always show up in dramatic ways, but rather in small
unnoticed compromises, temptations that seem harmless,
distractions that pull you away from prayer, doubts that make you
question God’s goodness.
 He operates through deception, discouragement and division.
 The Apostle Paul warns us in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is
not against flesh and blood, but against the authorities, against the
powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.”
 This means your enemy isn’t just a difficult coworker, a toxic friend, or
even corrupt world leaders.
 There are spiritual forces at work behind the scenes influencing
hearts, minds and entire nations.
 But if we remain ignorant of his schemes, we make ourselves easy
prey.
III. The Armor of God
 But God, In His Infinite Wisdom, did not leave us vulnerable.

 He provided us with the armor of God, a set of spiritual weapons
designed to withstand and overcome the enemy’s attacks.
 Paul describes this in Ephesians 6:13-17, “Therefore put on the full
armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able
to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with
the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted
with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition
to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish
all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
 The belt of truth, because deception is the enemy’s primary weapon.
 Truth is your first line of defense offense.
 Know God’s word and you won’t be easily swayed.
 The breastplate of righteousness.
 Sin leaves us vulnerable, but righteousness guards our hearts.
 Living a holy life is protection in itself.
 The gospel of peace shows readiness when you stand firm in the
Peace of Christ.
 The enemy can’t shake you.
 The shield of Faith.
 Doubt is Satan’s fiery Dart.
 Faith deflects his lies and accusations.
 The helmet of salvation.
 Your mind is a Battleground.
 Salvation reminds you who you belong to.
 The sword of the spirit.
 God’s word is the only offense weapon used to fight back against
Satan.
 In the wilderness, equipped with these you are not defenseless, you
are a soldier in God’s Army, empowered to stand firm and fight.

IV. Prayer, the Unseen force that shakes Heaven and Earth
 Too often we treat prayer as a last resort, when in reality it is our
greatest weapon.

 Through prayer, we invite God into our battles.
 We call upon divine intervention.
 We align ourselves with his will.
 James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and
effective.”
 Jesus himself demonstrated the power of prayer spending entire
nights in communion with the Father before pivotal moments.
 If the Son of God needed prayer, how much more do we.
 Satan fears a praying Christian because a praying Christian is a
connected Christian and a connected Christian is an Unstoppable
Force.
Conclusion
 Wake up and fight.
 Spiritual warfare is not a distant concept.
 It is happen happening now in your life, in your mind, in your world.
 The enemy doesn’t take days off and neither can we.
 But we are not victims, we are warriors, so I ask you again, are you
fighting back or are you surrendering?
 Equip yourself, stand firm, and remember, the victory has already
been won through Christ.
 The question is: Will you claim it?

Galatians 4:8-18

II. He Laments Their Regression (4:8-11)

● What really happened when the Galatians turned from grace to law?

● To begin with, they abandoned liberty for bondage.

● When they were ignorant sinners, they had served their false gods

and had experienced the tragedy of such pagan slavery.

● But then they had trusted Christ and been delivered from superstition

and slavery.

● Now they were abandoning their liberty in Christ and going back into

bondage.

● They were dropping out of the school of grace and enrolling in the

kindergarten of law!

● They were destroying all the good work of the Lord had done in them

through Paul’s ministry.

● The phrase weak and miserable forces tells us the extent of their

regression.

● They were giving up the power of the gospel for the weakness of law,

and the wealth of the gospel for the poverty of the law.

● The law never made anyone rich and powerful; on the contrary, the

law could only reveal man’s weakness and spiritual bankruptcy.

● No wonder Paul weeps over these believers, as he sees them

abandon liberty for bondage, power for weakness, and wealth for

poverty.

● How were they doing this?

● By adopting the Old Testament system of religion with its special

observations of “days, and months, and seasons, and years” (v.10).

● Does this mean that it is wrong for Christians to set aside one day a

year to remember the birth of Christ?

● Or that a special observance of the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost,

or the blessing of the harvest in autumn, is a sin?

● Not necessarily.

● If we observe special days like slaves, hoping to gain some spiritual

merit, then we are sinning.

● But if in the observance, we express our liberty in Christ and let the

Spirit enrich us with His grace, then the observance can be a spiritual

blessing.

● The New Testament makes it clear that Christians are not to legislate

religious observances for each other (Romans 4:4-13).

● We are not to praise the man who celebrates the day, nor are we to

condemn the man who does not celebrate.

● But if a man thinks he is saving his soul, or automatically growing in

grace, because of a religious observance, then he is guilty of

legalism.

● Our evangelical churches have many different kinds of observances,

and it is wrong for us to go beyond the Word of God in comparing,

criticizing, or condemning.

● But all of us must beware of that legalistic spirit that caters to the

flesh, leads to pride, and makes the outward event a substitute for the

inward experience.

III. He Seeks Their Affection (4:12-18)

● Paul was a wonderful spiritual father; he knew just how to balance

rebuke with love.

● Now he turns from “spanking” to “embracing” as he reminds the

believers of their love for him and his love for them.

● At one point they were willing to sacrifice anything for Paul, so great

was their love; but now he had become their enemy.

● The Judaizers had come in and stolen their affection.

● We all would want Paul to be more explicit in describing his physical

affliction.

● We can only speculate as to what the physical affliction was.

● Nonetheless, Paul was accepted by the Galatians despite his

appearance.

● They saw the Lord glorified through Paul, and that was all that

mattered.

● To them, he was an angel of God.

● It is a wonderful thing when people accept God’s servants, not

because of their outward appearance, but because they represent the

Lord and bring His message.

● Now Paul asked them, “Where, then, is your blessing of me now?”

(v.15).

● Paul knew what had happened: the Judaizers had come in and stolen

their hearts.

● One of the marks of a false teacher is that he tries to attract other

men’s converts to himself, and not simply to the truth of the Word or

to the person of Jesus Christ.

● It was not the Judaizers who originally came to Galatia and led them

to Christ; it was Paul.

● Like the cultists today, these false teachers were not winning lost

sinners to Christ, but were stealing converts from those who were

truly serving the Lord.

● Paul had proved to be their loving friend.

● He had “become as they were” by identifying himself with them.

● Now they were turning away from Paul and following false shepherds.

● Paul told them the truth, but the Judaizers told them lies.

● Paul sought to glorify Christ, but the Judaizers glorified themselves

and their converts.

● “Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What

they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for

them” (4:17).

● A true servant of God does not “use people” to build up himself or his

work; he ministers in love to help people know Christ better and

glorify Him.

● Beware of that religious worker who wants your exclusive allegiance

because he is the only one who is right.

● He will use you as long as he can and then drop you for somebody

else—and your fall will be a painful one.

● The task of the spiritual leader is to get people to love and follow

Christ, not to promote himself and his ministry.

Conclusion

● “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies

kisses” (Proverbs 27:6).

● Paul had proved his love to the Galatians by telling them the truth; but

they would not accept it.

● They were enjoying the “kisses” of the Judaizers, not realizing that

these kisses were leading them into bondage and sorrow.

● Christ had made them sons and heirs, but they were rapidly

becoming slaves and beggars.

● They had lost the experience of salvation—they were still Christians;

but they were losing the enjoyment of their salvation and finding

satisfaction in their works instead.

● Sad to say, they did not realize their losses.

● They actually thought they were becoming better Christians by

substituting law for grace, and the religious deeds of the flesh for the

fruit of the Spirit.

● Question: Is your Christian life moving forward into liberty or

backward into bondage?

● Think carefully before you answer!

It’s Time to Grow Up, Part 1

Galatians 4:1-7

Introduction

● One of the tragedies of legalism is that it gives the appearance of

spiritual maturity when, in reality, it leads the believer back into a

“second childhood” of Christian experience.

● The Galatian Christians, like most believers, wanted to grow and go

forward for Christ; but they were going about it in the wrong way.

● Their experience is not too different from that of Christians today who

get involved in various legalistic movements, hoping to become better

Christians.

● Their motives may be right, but their methods are wrong.

● This is the truth Paul was trying to get across to his beloved converts

in Galatia.

● The Judaizers had bewitched them into thinking that the law would

make them better Christians.

● Their old nature felt an attraction for the law because the law enabled

them to do things and measure external results.

● As they measured themselves and their achievements, they felt a

sense of accomplishment, and, no doubt, a little bit of pride.

● They thought they were going forward when actually they were

regressing.

● Such people are in a situation similar to the airplane passengers who

heard their pilot announce: “Our navigator has lost our position, folks,

and we have been flying rather aimlessly for over an hour. That’s the

bad news. But the good news is that we are making very good time.”

● Paul took three approaches in this section as he sought to convince

the Galatians that they did not need legalism in order to live the

Christians life.

● They had all they needed in Jesus Christ!

I. He Explains Their Adoption (4:1-7)

● Among the blessings of the Christian experience is adoption.

● We do not enter God’s family by adoption, the way a homeless child

would enter a loving family in our own society.

● The only way to get into God’s family is by regeneration, being “born

again.”

● John 3:3 says, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of

God unless they are born again.”

● These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ!

● The New Testament word for adoption means “to place as an adult

son.”

● It has to do with our standing in the family of God: we are not little

children but adult sons with all of the privileges of sonship.

● We are the children of God by faith in Christ, born into God’s family.

● But every child of God is automatically placed into the family as a

son, and as a son he has all the legal rights and privileges of a son.

● When a sinner trusts Christ and is saved, as far as his condition is

concerned, he is a “spiritual babe” who needs to grow; but as far as

his position is concerned, he is an adult son who can draw on the

Father’s wealth and who can exercise all the wonderful privileges of

sonship.

● We enter into God’s family by regeneration, but we enjoy God’s

family by adoption.

● The Christian does not have to wait to begin enjoying the spiritual

riches he has in Christ.

● Galatians 4:7 says, “So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child;

and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”

● Paul reminds his readers of three facts about adoption.

● First of all, what we were: children in bondage (vv.1-3).

● No matter how wealthy a father may be, his infant son or daughter

cannot really enjoy that wealth.

● In the Roman world, the children of wealthy parents were cared for by

slaves.

● No matter who the father was, the child was still a child, under the

supervision of servants who guarded them.

● The servant was commanded by the master of the house; and the

child was commanded by the servant.

● This was the spiritual condition of the Jews under the age of the law.

● The law was the “guardian” that disciplined the nation and prepared

the people for the coming of Christ.

● So, when the Judaizers led the Galatians back into legalism, they

were leading them not only into religious bondage, but also into moral

and spiritual infancy and immaturity.

● Legalism, then, is not a step toward maturity; it is a step back into

childhood.

● The law was not God’s final revelation; it was but the preparation for

that final revelation in Christ.

● It is important that a person knows his ABCs, because they are the

foundation for understanding all of the language.

● But the man who sits in a library and recites the ABCs, instead of

reading the great literature that is around him, is showing that he is

immature and ignorant, not mature and wise.

● Under the law, the Jews were children in bondage, not sons enjoying

liberty.

● Second, what God did: redeem us (vv.4-5).

● In Galatians 4:4 we find these words, “But when the set time had fully

come.”

● This refers to that time when the world was providentially ready for

the birth of the Savior.

● Historians tell us that the Roman world was in great expectation,

waiting for a Deliverer, at the time when Jesus was born.

● The old religions were dying; the old philosophies were empty and

powerless to change men’s lives.

● Strang new mystery religions were invading the empire.

● Religious bankruptcy and spiritual hunger were everywhere.

● God was preparing the world for the arrival of His Son.

● Paul was careful to point out the dual nature of Jesus Christ, that He

is both God and man.

● As God, Jesus “came forth” (John 16:28); but as man, He was “born

of a woman.”

● The ancient promise said that the Redeemer would be of “the

woman’s seed” (Genesis 3:15); and Jesus fulfilled that promise.

● Paul had told us who came—God’s Son; he has told us when He

came and how He came.

● Now he explains why He came: “to redeem those under the law”

(4:5).

● Redeem means “to set free by paying a price.”

● Christ did not purchase us to make us slaves, but sons!

● Under the law, the Jews were mere children, but under grace, the

believer is a son of God with an adult standing in God’s family!

● Perhaps at this point a chart will help us understand better the

contrast between being a “child of God” and a “son of God.”

The Child The Son

by regeneration by adoption

entering the family enjoying the family

under guardians the liberty of an adult

cannot inherit an heir of the Father

● Third, what we are: sons and heirs (vv.6-7).

● Once again, the entire Trinity is involved in our spiritual experience.

● God the Father sent the Son to die for us, and God the Son sent His

Spirit to live in us.

● The contrast here is not between immature children and adult sons,

but between servants and sons.

● Like the prodigal son, the Galatians wanted their Father to accept

them as servants, when they really were sons.

● The contrasts are easy to see.

● The son has the same nature as the father, but the servant does

not.

● When we trust Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us and this

means we are “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

● The law could never give a person God’s nature within.

● All it could do was reveal to the person his desperate need for God’s

nature.

● So, when the believer goes back into law, he is denying the very

nature within, and he is giving the old nature (the flesh) opportunity to

go to work.

● Remember, the son has a father, while the servant has a master.

● No servant can ever say “Father” to his master.

● When the Spirit enters the heart, He says, “Abba, Father;” and in

response, the believer cries, “Abba, Father,” which is the equivalent

of calling God papa.

● No servant has this.

● Also, the son obeys out of love, while the servant obeys out of

fear.

● The Spirit works in the heart of the believer to quicken and increase

his love for God.

● Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commands.”

● Third, the son is rich, while the servant is poor.

● We are both “sons and heirs.”

● And since we are adopted—placed as adult sons in the family—we

may begin drawing on our inheritance right now!

● God has made available to us the riches of His grace, the riches of

His glory, the riches of His wisdom—and all the riches of God are

found in Christ!

● Finally, the son has a future, while the servant does not.

● While many kind masters did provide for their slaves in old age, it was

not required of them.

● The father always provides for his son.

● 2 Corinthains 12:14 says, “children should not have to save up for

their parents, but parents for their children.”

Conclusion

● In one sense, our adoption is not yet final, because we are awaiting

the return of Christ and the redemption of our bodies.

● Some scholars think that this second stage in our adoption

corresponds to the Roman practice when a man adopted someone

outside his family to be his son.

● First, there is a private ceremony at which the son was purchased;

then there was a public ceremony at which the adoption was declared

openly before the officials.

● Christians have experienced the first stage: we have been purchased

by Christ and indwelt by the Spirit.

● We are awaiting the second stage: the public declaration at the return

of Christ when “we shall be like him” (John 3:1-3).

● We are “sons and heirs,” and the best part of our inheritance is yet to

come!

Born Free!

1. Galatians 1:11-24
2. Introduction
3. “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist,” wrote Emerson, and many a thinker agrees with him.
4. The English art critic John Ruskin said, “I fear uniformity. You cannot manufacture great men any more than you can manufacture gold.”
5. The German philosopher Schopenhauer wrote, “We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.”
6. Francis Asbury, first bishop of the Methodist Church in the United States, once prayed at a deacon ordination, “O Lord, grant that these brethren may never want to be like other people.”
7. Sound familiar?
8. It is good to meet a man like Paul who dared to be himself in the will of God.
9. But his freedom in Christ was a threat to those who found safety in conformity.
10. Paul’s enemies pointed to his nonconformity as proof that his message and ministry was not really of God.
11. “He claims to be an apostle,” they argued, “but he does not stand in the apostolic tradition.”
12. It is this misrepresentation that Paul answered in this section of Galatians.
13. His nonconformity was divinely deliberate.
14. God had chosen to reveal Himself in a different way to Paul.
15. In Galatians 1:11-12, Paul stated his theme: “I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.”
16. Both his message and his apostolic ministry were divinely given.
17. Therefore, anybody who added anything to Paul’s gospel was in danger of divine judgment, because that gospel was given by Jesus Christ from heaven.
18. The best way for Paul to prove his point was to reach into his past and remind the Galatian Christians of the way God had dealt with him.
19. Paul stated that his past life was already known to his readers, but it was obvious that they did not fully understand what those experiences meant.
20. So, Paul flashed on the screen three pictures from his past as evidence that his apostleship and his gospel were truly of God.
21. The Persecutor (1:13-14)
22. “For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.”
23. Paul began with his past conduct as an unconverted Jewish Rabbi.
24. In this historical flashback, Paul pointed out his relationship with the church and to the religion of the Jews.
25. He was persecuting the church and profiting and progressing in the Jewish religion.
26. Everything was going his way, and he was rapidly being recognized as a spiritual leader in Israel.
27. It is interesting to note that “Saul of Tarsus” was persecuting the church, “consenting” to the murder of Stephen, and breaking up families by putting believers in prison.
28. Paul actually thought that Jesus was an impostor and His message of salvation a lie.
29. He was sure that God had spoken through Moses, but how could he be sure that God had spoken through Jesus of Nazareth?
30. Everybody knew that this brilliant student of Rabbi Gamaliel was well on his way to becoming an influential leader of the Jewish faith.
31. His personal religious life, his scholarship, and his zeal in opposing alien religious faiths all combined to make him the most respected young rabbi of his day.
32. Then something happened: Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the church, became Paul the apostle, the preacher of the gospel.
33. This change was not gradual; it happened suddenly and without warning.
34. Saul was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians; a few days later he was in Damascus preaching to the Jews that the Christians were right!
35. How could the Judaizers explain this sudden transformation?
36. Who caused the change in Paul?
37. The change had to have come from God!
38. It was humanly impossible for Rabbi Saul to become the apostle Paul apart from the miracle of God’s grace.
39. For the Judaizers to deny Paul’s apostleship and gospel was the same as denying his conversion?
40. Certainly, Paul was preaching the same message that he himself had believed—the truth that had changed him.
41. But no mere human message could affect such a change.
42. Paul’s argument was conclusive: His past conduct as a persecutor of the church plus the dramatic change that he experienced proved that his message and ministry were from God.
43. The Believer (1:15-16b, 24)
44. “But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. And they praised God because of me.”
45. Having discussed his past character and conduct, Paul went on to explain his conversion; for, after all, this was the crucial thing in his life.
46. Let us look at five key points that Paul makes explaining the characteristics of his conversion experience.
47. First of all, God did it.
48. “It pleased God…to reveal His Son in me.”
49. Whenever Paul spoke or wrote about his conversion, it was always with emphasis on the fact that God did the work.
50. In Jonah 2:9, we find, “Salvation is of the Lord.”
51. Second, God did it by grace.
52. “and called me by his grace.”
53. Salvation is by God’s grace, not man’s efforts or character.
54. Grace and called go together.
55. Whoever God chooses in His grace He calls through His Word.
56. We marvel in the fact that we were “chosen…in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).
57. Third, God did it through Christ
58. “to reveal His Son in me.”
59. When, on the Damascus Road, Paul saw his own self-righteousness, as well as reputation and recognition: but he did not have Christ!
60. Paul saw his own self-righteousness contrasted to the righteousness of Christ.
61. He quickly realized what was missing.
62. “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ” (Philippians 3:7).
63. God revealed Christ to Paul, in Paul, and through Paul.
64. The “Jews’ religion had been an experience of outward rituals and practices; but faith in Christ brought about an inward experience of reality with the Lord.
65. This “inwardness” of Christ was a major truth with Paul.
66. Fourth, God did it for the sake of others.
67. God chose Paul, not only to save him, but also to use him to win others.
68. Election involves responsibility.
69. God chose Paul to preach among the Gentiles the same grace that he had experienced.
70. This, in itself, was evidence that Paul’s conversion was of God; for certainly a prejudiced Jewish Rabbi would never decide of himself to minister to the despised Gentiles!
71. Fifth, God did it for His glory.
72. “And they praise God because of me.”
73. As a fanatical rabbi, Paul had all the glory a man could want; but what he was doing did not glorify God.
74. Man was created to glorify God, and man is saved to glorify God.
75. Bringing glory to God was ever a compelling motive in Paul’s life and ministry.
76. It was the glory of God that motivated Paul, and this ought to motivate our lives as well.
77. Paul has pictured himself as a persecutor, and has reviewed his character and conduct.
78. He has also pictured himself as a believer, reviewing his conversion.
79. He now presents a third picture.
80. The Preacher (1:16c-23)
81. “my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went to Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report; ‘The man who formally persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.’”
82. What were Paul’s contacts with other believers after he was converted?
83. This is the question vital to his defense.
84. Paul had no personal contacts with the apostles right after his conversion experience on the Damascus Road.
85. Galatians 1:16c says, “my immediate response was not to consult any human being.”
86. Th logical thing for Paul to have done after his conversion was to introduce himself to the church in Jerusalem and profit from the spiritual instruction of those who had been “in Christ” before him.
87. But this he did not do—and his decision was led of the Lord.
88. For if he had gone to Jerusalem, his ministry might have been identified with that of the apostles—all Jews—and this could have been a hinderance to his work among the Gentiles.
89. At this point we need to remind ourselves that the message of the gospel came “to the Jew first.”
90. Our Lord’s ministry was to the nation of Israel, and so was the ministry of the apostles for the first few years.
91. The death of Stephen was a turning point.
92. As the believers were scattered, they took the good news with them to other places.
93. It remained for Paul to carry the gospel to the Gentile masses, and for this reason God kept him separated from the predominantly Jewish ministry being conducted by the apostles in Jerusalem.
94. Paul did not immediately go to Jerusalem.
95. Where did he go?
96. He reviewed his contacts and showed that there was no opportunity for him to receive either his message or his apostolic calling from any of the leaders of the church.
97. He went to Arabia (v.17b)
98. This was after his initial ministry in Damascus.
99. Instead of “conferring with flesh and blood,” Paul gave himself to study, prayer, and meditation, and met with the Lord alone.
100. He may have spent the greater part of three years in Arabia, and no doubt was involved in evangelism as well as personal spiritual growth.
101. The apostles had received three years of teaching from the Lord Jesus, and now Paul was going to have his own opportunity to be taught of the Lord.
102. He went back to Damascus (v.17c)
103. It would have been logical to visit Jerusalem at this point, but the Lord directed otherwise.
104. Certainly, it was a risky thing for Paul to go back to the city that knew he had become a Christian.
105. The Jewish leaders who had looked to him as their champion against Christianity would definitely be after his blood.
106. The return to Damascus and the danger it brought to Paul’s life are further proof that the Jewish leaders considered Paul an enemy, and therefore that his experience with Christ was a valid one.
107. He finally visited Jerusalem (vv.18-20)
108. This was three years after his conversion, and his main purpose was to visit Peter.
109. Paul had a tough time getting into the church fellowship.
110. If his message and ministry had been from the apostles, this would have never happened; but because Paul’s experience had been with the Lord Jesus alone, the apostles were suspicious of him.
111. He stayed in Jerusalem only fifteen days, and he saw only Pater and James (the Lord’s brother).
112. Thus, he received neither his message nor his apostleship from the Jerusalem church.
113. There simply was not the time nor the opportunity.
114. He had already received them both directly from Christ.
115. He returned home to Tarsus (vv.21-23)
116. Again, the record in Acts explains why.
117. His life was in danger in Jerusalem, just as it had been in Damascus.
118. As Paul went through Syria, he preached the Word, and when he arrived in Cilicia, his home province, he began to evangelize.
119. Historians have concluded that he remained there perhaps seven years, until Barnabas recruited him for the work in Antioch.
120. A few believers in Jerusalem knew Paul, but the believers in the churches in Judea did not know him, though they heard that he was now preaching the very faith he had once tried to destroy.
121. In light of Paul’s conduct, his conversion, and his contacts, how could anybody accuse him of borrowing or inventing either his message or his ministry?
122. Certainly, he did receive his gospel by a revelation from Jesus Christ.
123. Therefore, we must be careful what we do with this gospel, for it is not the invention of men, but the very truth of God.
124. Conclusion
125. Modern day “Judaizers” like their ancient counterparts reject the authority of Paul and try to undermine the gospel that he preached.
126. In Paul’s day, their message was “the gospel plus Moses.”
127. In our day it the “the gospel plus” any number of religious leaders, religious books, or religious organizations.
128. Many people say, “but God has given us a new revelation.”
129. Paul has the answer for them: “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”
130. When a sinner trusts Christ and is born again, he is “born free.”
131. He has been redeemed—purchased by Christ and set free.
132. He is no longer in bondage to sin or Satan, nor should he be in bondage to human religious systems.
133. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
134. Amen!

Hope That Does Not Disappoint

Isaiah 9:2-7

Introduction

• What does the Bible mean when it says that Jesus Christ is our “hope”?
• To begin with, in verse 1, the prophet continues the theme of light and darkness by announcing, “There will be no more gloom.”
• The Redeemer will come and bring to the world the dawning of a new day, as described in verse 2, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”
• We know that this prophecy refers to Christ because of the way it is quoted in Matthew 4:13-15.
• The geographical areas named in Isaiah 9:1 were especially devastated when the Assyrian army moved in, but these areas would be especially honored by the ministry of the Messiah.
• Jesus was identified with “Galilee of the Gentiles,” Matthew 4:15, and His loving ministry to the people brought light and joy.
• But the prophet looked beyond the first coming of Christ to His second coming and the establishing of His righteous kingdom (vv.3-7).
• Instead of protecting a small remnant, God would enlarge the nation.
• Instead of experiencing sorrow, the people would rejoice like reapers after a great harvest, soldiers after a great victory, or prisoners of war after being released from their yoke of bondage.
• Of course, some of this occurred when God defeated Assyria and delivered Jerusalem (Isaiah 37).
• But the ultimate fulfillment is still future; all military material will be destroyed because the nations will not learn war any more.
• Let us look at some joyous things to celebrate.

1. Jesus Is a Wonderful Counselor
2. A counselor is someone who, by imparting great wisdom and experience to us, can lead us out of darkness and confusion into light, out of danger into safety.
3. A lot of people embrace the role of counselor in our society, such as, school counselor, job counselor, marriage counselor.
4. This type of individual applies expertise to a situation and tries to bring light into situations that are dark to us.
5. This is what Jesus does.
6. He brings light into our darkness and guides us.
7. But notice that He is not just another counselor…He is a Wonderful Counselor.
8. Isaiah describes people who “are living in the land of deep darkness.”
9. They are not just walking through the valley of the shadow of death, but are living in the land of death…and yet the Wonderful Counselor brings light to their land, and guides them into life.
10. Oh, how we need a Wonderful Counselor in our day!

1. Our Hope Is a Mighty God
2. We have a God who does more for us than we could ever hope or expect.
3. “You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder (v.3).”
4. In this verse, we see God acting to multiply the people, satisfy the peoples’ needs and bring joy to their hearts.
5. Christ can do this for anyone because He is the Mighty God.
6. Listen to Ephesians 3:20, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”
7. Do you believe that this morning?
8. We should!
9. We should believe that we have the Hope of a Mighty God who is all-powerful.
10. We don’t just “wish” for His blessings, but we have hope that His blessings will be ours as we obey Him.

1. Our Hope Is an Everlasting Father
2. We are told in verse 6 that the government will be on the shoulders of this Child, and yet His kingship will not be like an earthly kindship, because He is not just a ruler, but an Everlasting Father as well.
3. In the time of Isaiah, when this was written, the kings were known as oppressors of the people.
4. In 1 Samuel 8:10-18, there is a description of how the kings of Israel would act toward the people, taking all of the best that the people had, their food, their livestock, their children and their servants for the use of himself and the government.
5. But the government of the Everlasting Father will be quite different.
6. In verse 4, we are told that the ruler has “shattered the yoke that burdens them,” thus, freeing them from their oppression.
7. Our hope in Christ is to be truly free in Him.
8. A lot of people think that Christianity is nothing but a bunch of “dos and don’ts” and that God wants to burden us with rules.
9. Nothing could be further from the truth.
10. God’s rule frees us from the things that burden and oppress us, and He protects and blesses us as our Everlasting Father.

How sad.

We Have the Hope of the Prince of Peace

Look at how Isaiah describes the state of the government under the Prince of Peace in verse 5, “Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.”

No more war, no more strife.

Revelation 21:3-4 describes the peace we have ahead of us, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’”

That’s what it means to have the Prince of Peace as your hope.

Jesus Christ is the Child that Isaiah wrote of—the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace…and yet many have refused to embrace the hope that resides in Him.

Hope That Does Not Disappoint

Isaiah 9:2-7

Introduction

• What does the Bible mean when it says that Jesus Christ is our “hope”?
• To begin with, in verse 1, the prophet continues the theme of light and darkness by announcing, “There will be no more gloom.”
• The Redeemer will come and bring to the world the dawning of a new day, as described in verse 2, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”
• We know that this prophecy refers to Christ because of the way it is quoted in Matthew 4:13-15.
• The geographical areas named in Isaiah 9:1 were especially devastated when the Assyrian army moved in, but these areas would be especially honored by the ministry of the Messiah.
• Jesus was identified with “Galilee of the Gentiles,” Matthew 4:15, and His loving ministry to the people brought light and joy.
• But the prophet looked beyond the first coming of Christ to His second coming and the establishing of His righteous kingdom (vv.3-7).
• Instead of protecting a small remnant, God would enlarge the nation.
• Instead of experiencing sorrow, the people would rejoice like reapers after a great harvest, soldiers after a great victory, or prisoners of war after being released from their yoke of bondage.
• Of course, some of this occurred when God defeated Assyria and delivered Jerusalem (Isaiah 37).
• But the ultimate fulfillment is still future; all military material will be destroyed because the nations will not learn war any more.
• Let us look at some joyous things to celebrate.

1. Jesus Is a Wonderful Counselor
2. A counselor is someone who, by imparting great wisdom and experience to us, can lead us out of darkness and confusion into light, out of danger into safety.
3. A lot of people embrace the role of counselor in our society, such as, school counselor, job counselor, marriage counselor.
4. This type of individual applies expertise to a situation and tries to bring light into situations that are dark to us.
5. This is what Jesus does.
6. He brings light into our darkness and guides us.
7. But notice that He is not just another counselor…He is a Wonderful Counselor.
8. Isaiah describes people who “are living in the land of deep darkness.”
9. They are not just walking through the valley of the shadow of death, but are living in the land of death…and yet the Wonderful Counselor brings light to their land, and guides them into life.
10. Oh, how we need a Wonderful Counselor in our day!

1. Our Hope Is a Mighty God
2. We have a God who does more for us than we could ever hope or expect.
3. “You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder (v.3).”
4. In this verse, we see God acting to multiply the people, satisfy the peoples’ needs and bring joy to their hearts.
5. Christ can do this for anyone because He is the Mighty God.
6. Listen to Ephesians 3:20, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”
7. Do you believe that this morning?
8. We should!
9. We should believe that we have the Hope of a Mighty God who is all-powerful.
10. We don’t just “wish” for His blessings, but we have hope that His blessings will be ours as we obey Him.

1. Our Hope Is an Everlasting Father
2. We are told in verse 6 that the government will be on the shoulders of this Child, and yet His kingship will not be like an earthly kindship, because He is not just a ruler, but an Everlasting Father as well.
3. In the time of Isaiah, when this was written, the kings were known as oppressors of the people.
4. In 1 Samuel 8:10-18, there is a description of how the kings of Israel would act toward the people, taking all of the best that the people had, their food, their livestock, their children and their servants for the use of himself and the government.
5. But the government of the Everlasting Father will be quite different.
6. In verse 4, we are told that the ruler has “shattered the yoke that burdens them,” thus, freeing them from their oppression.
7. Our hope in Christ is to be truly free in Him.
8. A lot of people think that Christianity is nothing but a bunch of “dos and don’ts” and that God wants to burden us with rules.
9. Nothing could be further from the truth.
10. God’s rule frees us from the things that burden and oppress us, and He protects and blesses us as our Everlasting Father.

How sad.

We Have the Hope of the Prince of Peace

Look at how Isaiah describes the state of the government under the Prince of Peace in verse 5, “Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.”

No more war, no more strife.

Revelation 21:3-4 describes the peace we have ahead of us, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’”

That’s what it means to have the Prince of Peace as your hope.

Jesus Christ is the Child that Isaiah wrote of—the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace…and yet many have refused to embrace the hope that resides in Him.

Introduction

• Habakkuk saw a nation headed for destruction.
• He saw the economy about to collapse.
• But when he looked up by faith, he saw God, and all his fears vanished.
• No matter what, he was thankful.
• In the spring of 1621, after having landed at Plymouth and survived the first hard winter, the Pilgrims weren’t doing very well.
• Many people died during the winter.
• Two Native Americans named Squanto and Samorset helped the Pilgrims learn how to survive in the new land by showing them farming techniques and by teaching them how to gather certain natural food from the forest.
• By the fall, things had greatly improved, and the Pilgrims had such an abundance of food that they decided to celebrate with a feast of thanksgiving.
• The Pilgrims celebrated by giving thanks unto God for His provisions.
• Today, Thanksgiving appears to be the only time that some people give Him thanks; but the Lord wants us to thank Him each and every day of our lives.
• At all times and in every situation of life, God wants us to do as Paul said in Ephesians 5:20, in which he declared, “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Think for a moment.
• Is our Thanksgiving rooted in an overwhelming praise unto God for our salvation?
• Or, is our thanks rooted in earthly things?
•  Do we rejoice in the God of our salvation as our strength?
• The question is really this: If the worst thing we could possibly imagine were to become true for us today, could we say, “Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will give thanks to God of my salvation?”
• The Thanksgiving holiday can be a misleading time, because some people will think that this is the only time to give thanks unto God.
• We need to understand that Thanksgiving is not just a day, but a lifestyle.
• It is the life that we are called to live in Jesus Christ.
• If we say “thank you” today, if we put on a thankful appearance on one day, but that one day is not an accurate representation of our lives, then we are not truthful before God.
• We should be thankful each and every day!
• If our thankfulness is rooted only in God’s “gifts,” but not in God “Himself,” then our thanksgiving is shallow and superficial.
• We must learn to rejoice in the Lord and take joy in the God of our salvation.
• We must learn to give thanks always, and in all things.
• Our Thanksgiving must be rooted in God Himself.
• The prophet Habakkuk provides us with an example of someone who understood “unconditional thanksgiving,” which is the kind of thanksgiving we should demonstrate.
• Let’s take a look at Habakkuk and see what we can learn from this man of great faith concerning giving thanks unto God.

1. Rejoice in the Lord Always (3:17-19)
2. “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”
3. Before we get started, we need to understand the context behind what the prophet was saying.
4. Commentator Warren Wiersbe says, “This is one of the greatest confessions of faith found anywhere in the Scripture. Habakkuk has faced the frightening fact that his nation will be invaded by a merciless enemy (which is Babylon). The prophet knows that many of the people will go into exile and many will be slain. The land will be ruined, and Jerusalem and the Temple will be destroyed. Yet, he tells God that he will trust Him no matter what happens!”
5. If Habakkuk had depended on his feelings, he would have never made this great confession of faith.
6. When Habakkuk looked ahead, he saw a nation headed for destruction, and that frightened him.
7. When Habakkuk looked within, he saw himself trembling with fear.
8. When Habakkuk looked around, he saw everything in the economy about to fall apart.
9. But, when Habakkuk looked up by faith, he saw God, and all his fears vanished.
10. These verses represent Unconditional Thanksgiving.
11. God’s love for Israel was definitely unconditional, as is His love for us.
12. In Deuteronomy 7:7-8 we read, “The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
13. God chose Israel because He was faithful to the promise He had made that he would make of Israel a great nation.
14. God is always faithful and ever-loving.

1. The Need for Consistency
2. We need to be consistent and faithful in giving thanks unto the Lord, because He is consistent and faithful in loving us.
3. The following example highlights this point: “An evergreen tree is always green despite the changes in weather around it. It is green in the heat of summer as well as the cold of winter. So also, our lives are to be characterized by an enduring thankfulness that is unaffected by the changes around us. When the heat of a pressured week or deadly cold of pain strikes us, we should stand ‘ever green,’ always thankful, regardless of that which surrounds us.”
4. The thanksgiving that Habakkuk spoke of is a thanksgiving not dependent upon any object, thing or circumstances, but it finds its source in God alone.
5. It is not dependent upon the things that God has given, but upon who God is.
6. In summary, Habakkuk would probably tell us, “Even if all my worldly comforts were taken away and God allowed my life to become desolate of any earthly east, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. I will return to His presence with thanks.”
7. He was proclaiming that his thanksgiving would not be infrequent.
8. It would not be shallow.
9. It would not only be given when things were agreeable and comfortable, but always, because his thanksgiving would be rooted in a profound, personal, and real experience of God’s salvation and of God’s present strength.
10. Let us remember the words of Job 1:21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
11. Bible commentator Matthew Henry, after being robbed once, wrote in his diary the following message about thanksgiving, “Let me be thankful. First, because I was never robbed before. Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life. Third, because although they took my all, it was not much. Fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.”
12. In Psalm 51:12, David said, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
13. Absolutely everything comes to us from God.
14. Our thanksgiving, if it is to be true and lasting, must go deeper.
15. Our thanksgiving must be “in” the God who has given all.
16. It must ultimately be a profound thanks unto God for His salvation, and for His grace to you and me.
17. So, how should we thank Him?
18. Habakkuk’s thanksgiving had no reservations in it.
19. The word “rejoice” in verse 18 means a “leap for joy.”
20. The idea here is of victory and calmness, rest and serenity, looking over all the land in victory.
21. Habakkuk spoke of an abundant, spiritual joy—unquenchable and victorious.

Amen!

Time of Reflection

When we consider this season of the year, we must reflect first on our salvation, and second, on God’s continued provisions.

Yes, thanksgiving is born in one place.

It is born when God has shown us that we are sinners, and when we realize His amazing love and grace.

One cannot be thankful until he or she realizes that we are all sinners destined to die an eternal death in hell; and then coming to find that we have been saved by grace because Jesus died for our sins on the cross.

One cannot be thankful until a person knows their sin and then experiences God’s amazing love and undeserved forgiveness.

Then, in knowing God and knowing His Son, Jesus as Savior and Lord, there is absolutely no condition which can ever come upon us in which we cannot praise the Lord, and take joy in the God of our salvation.