Galatians 1:1-10 Overview | Paul the Apostle | Judaizers | Circumcision

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June 7 Sermon at Covenant Reformed Baptist Church.

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The reading of the Word comes from Psalm 2. I'll give you all a minute to start in there.
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If you want to stand, stand. Why do the nations rage at people's plot and vain?
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The king of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying,
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Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs.
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The Lord holds them in derision, and He will speak to them in His wrath and terrify them in His fury, saying,
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As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree the
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Lord said to me. You are my son, and today I have begotten you. Ask to me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.
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You shall break them with the rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore,
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O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the
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Son, lest ye be angry, and ye perish in the way. For His wrath is quickly kindled.
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Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. Save me,
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O God. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. I don't know about you, but when it's red like that, it fires me up.
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That was me too. So there is a quick announcement that I forgot to say earlier.
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We did, with last week's offering, we bought a bunch of song books, and we're still waiting for them to get here.
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So right now, we're kind of still struggling with those flimsy things that God needs.
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So we've got 16 more coming, and hopefully we can get another 16 soon after.
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And also, we want to tell you, if you're here today and you plan to give, we have a box back there, but if you're here today and you're not able to give, you are the gift.
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We want you to know that. We appreciate y 'all being here and being a part of what we believe
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God is doing. So we're going to be in Galatians 1, verses 1 -10.
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So this week, we're just doing an overview of Galatians 1, 1 -10. And last week, I expositionally walked through Galatians 1, 1 -5.
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And I mentioned last week how this is the shadow cast over the whole book.
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So as you're reading Galatians, if you can go back and just look at verses 1 -5 of chapter 1, everything in here is mentioned in these very short passages.
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So today, we're just going to kind of give an overview of that, and we're going to look at verses all the way down to 10.
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Alright, so now in Galatians 1, 1 -10.
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Paul, an apostle, not from man nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the
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Father, who raised Him from the dead. And to all the brothers who are with me, to the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God the
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Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our
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God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever.
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Amen. I am astonished that you are so quickly disordering
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Him who called you in the grace of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel.
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Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to disorder the gospel of Christ.
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But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one preached to you, let him be accursed.
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As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching a different gospel, a gospel contrary to the one you receive, let him be accursed.
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For am I seeking the approval of man or God? Or am I trying to please man?
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If I was still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
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I have been listening to this in my ear all week as I work.
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I've been constantly listening to this book over and over and over and over.
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I feel like I've been baptized in Galatia. It's running over me.
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On my YouTube channel, I'm going through the epistle of 1
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John. These two are kind of fighting in my head.
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When someone asks me a question, I have two answers I want to get. I feel like they're bursting forward.
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Do I answer them in Galatians or do I answer them in 1 John? You have to excuse me because I feel like I'm going a little crazy doing two different books at one time.
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Here soon, I'm going to be flying up to New York. There, I'm going to be teaching on 1
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Timothy, the qualifications of an elder, the mystery of godliness, and also teaching from 1
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John. The Bible has just been coming in me. I've been trying to let
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Galatians be the overrunning factor at the moment. I might give some 1 John answers by mistake today.
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Please forgive me. Paul's letter to the Galatians is his first formal letter.
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It's believed that he wrote 13 of the books of the New Testament. I say believed because I believe he wrote
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Hebrews. We can have that debate if y 'all want to. I believe there's 14 books that he wrote.
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This is the first one chronologically. This letter is a defense of justification by faith alone in Christ alone.
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It's coming against the heresy that has placated the Galatian church.
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It's by these false teachers who are called the Judaizers. The Judaizers came preaching another gospel.
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They came preaching this right here. You can see it in Acts 15. Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.
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I'll do that again. This is what the Judaizers were preaching to the Galatian church and to everyone they come in contact with.
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Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.
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This letter is not the only letter that the Judaizers show up in.
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They also show up in Titus chapter 1. In Titus chapter 1, Paul calls in insubordinate, empty talkers, and deceivers.
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So Paul, speaking about the qualifications of an elder, he says this, He must hold firm to the trustworthy word taught as so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
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For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially those from the circumcision party.
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They must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what ought not to be taught.
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So what was they teaching? That you must be circumcised according to the law of the custom of Moses for you cannot be saved.
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We see them again appear in Philippians chapter 3. Paul tells us in verse 2, he says,
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Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evil doers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh.
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The Judaizers were those who put their confidence in the flesh. Their confidence was not in Christ.
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It was not in their faith. They didn't live by faith. They lived by what they could do. And it was to please
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God they mutilated the flesh. So they lived according to this law of Moses.
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This custom. Excuse me. They said, Yes, Jesus is the Messiah.
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Yes, He died on the cross, even for my sins. But you must be circumcised.
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Yes, all that's true. Brandon, we want a part of this. But you must be circumcised.
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There's no way out. They came to the Judaizers. They came to the churches of Galatia.
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After Paul had visited the region of Galatia, and he was planting churches, they came and they started sowing tares among the wheat.
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That's what this is. It's gospel. It's tares among the wheat. And though they probably thought they were doing the work of God, they were doing the work of Satan.
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They came to undo what Paul had already done. Trying to discredit him by saying that he was a man pleaser.
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They said he was a man pleaser because he was removing the law from the gospel.
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Oh, he's just a man pleaser. He don't want to tell you that you have to be circumcised. He's speaking to grown men.
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He's speaking to grown men that are not Jews, that have not been circumcised. He's trying to please you.
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Telling you that you can come and be a part of this, and you don't have to be circumcised. So they were accusing him of being a man pleaser.
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And you can see in verse 10, Paul gives a defense. Chapter 1, verse 10.
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For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am
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I trying to please man? If I was still trying to please man,
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I would not be a servant of Christ. In his defense, he says,
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If I was trying to please man, I wouldn't be a servant of Christ. In turn saying that these people are the ones really trying to please man.
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So they are not a servant of Christ. Verse 1,
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Paul tells us this. He says, verse 1 of chapter 1. Paul, an apostle, not through a man nor through men, but through Jesus Christ and God the
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Father. It seems that this heresy that has placated the church has got
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Paul's apostleship being questioned. We need to understand that Paul didn't become an apostle by ordinary means.
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We looked at that last week. He did not see the baptism of Jesus by John, and he did not see the resurrection of Jesus.
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But when we looked at it last week, I think I made a good case, a good argument, that Paul is an apostle.
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Because we looked at the three things that an apostle would have to experience in order to walk in that ministry.
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And that was that they had to be taught by Jesus. There was a three year period where Jesus was teaching these disciples.
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They would have to have saw Him after His resurrection. They would have to have been there to see the risen
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Christ in His glory. And they would have had to have been sent out. Matthew 28.
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All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Now go! He's sending His disciples out.
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And last week we made the case that Paul was taught by Jesus. And as we get into Galatians, we find that was three years.
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And that Paul did see the risen Christ. Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 26,
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I believe. It explains that. And that Paul was sent out by Christ.
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We also need to note that this experience cannot be replicated. This is something that cannot be repeated.
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What happened to Paul cannot happen to someone today. If you're ever approached by someone, we touched very little of this last week.
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If you're ever approached by someone who says that they are apostles, but it's not through man, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the
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Father, don't believe them. Don't believe them.
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If you've been around the church long enough, and I know most of you have, I'm probably just preaching to the choir, you've heard of what's called the five -fold ministry.
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Am I by myself or this? You've heard what's called the five -fold ministry. And it's the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers.
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Ephesians 4, verses 11 -12 says this. And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building the body of Christ.
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So those that believe in the five -fold ministry will say, see? He gave the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers.
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If God gave it to the church, He's not going to take it away. So that's the article.
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It says it right there. It's clear. God gave it to the church. In Ephesians 2,
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I don't know how they can interpret chapter 4 without bringing in chapter 2.
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Chapter 2 says this. 2 .18 -20 For through Him, we both have access.
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Both meaning Jew and Gentile. Through Him, we both have access in one Spirit to the
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Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets
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Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure is being joined together rose in a holy temple in the
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Lord and in Him you also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the
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Spirit. The apostles and the prophets are the foundation.
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This floor is a foundation. It says that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone.
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He's what holds it all together. It says that the apostles and prophets are the foundations.
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It doesn't say that the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers are the foundations. It says that the apostles and the prophets are the foundation of the church.
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We as good reformed people, some of us are good, right?
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We believe that the church is not just a foundation, but it has walls, it has ceilings, it has a roof that is being built.
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And so as good reformed people, we believe that the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teacher was then still being built as the walls.
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The structure that's coming up and it's still now under that authority of being built.
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So if someone says they're an evangelist, hallelujah on that, believe it. You can be an evangelist, a shepherd, and a teacher by yourself.
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By yourself. You can hold all three of those positions by yourself. But you cannot be an apostle.
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The Bible makes it clear. You had to have seen the baptism of Jesus to the resurrection of Jesus.
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But in that, you would have to have had an experience. You would have to have been taught by Jesus.
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By yourself, taught by Jesus. You would have to have seen Him rose from the dead.
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You would have to have been sent out by Him. We take Paul at his word because in the
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Word of God it says that Peter himself testifies that what Paul has written is
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Scripture. And only apostles can write Scripture. Only.
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They speak for God. So we need to understand as we get any further, what happened to Paul is special.
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It's unique. It can't be replicated. And so Paul is taking it very serious that these
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Judaizers have come in, they have uprooted, they're planting tares among the wheat and they're discrediting him saying that he's a man pleaser.
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So he lived in what we call the Apostolic Age. If you would turn your attention to Galatians 2 verse 21.
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Galatians 2 verse 21. Do I now notify the grace of God for righteousness, for through the law, when
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Christ died for no purpose. That's his defense.
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His defense for this false gospel is that if righteousness were through the law, if you could do something to obtain righteousness, if there was something in yourself that you could conjure up and do,
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Christ died for no purpose. So everything that we know about Christ, about God being on His throne,
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Psalm 14, Psalm 51, and He looks down from His throne and He sees that no one seeks
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Him. So what does He do? He becomes a man and person of Jesus Christ.
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You hear me preach through Isaiah. I preached Isaiah 6 not long ago. And I talked about how
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Isaiah was enamored. He saw Yahweh on His throne and how these angels were worshipping
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Him. They were covering their face and they were covering their feet and they were flying at the same time and they were looking at one another, reminding each other how holy, holy, holy
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God is. And as they were reminding each other how holy
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He was, the ground, the temple floor started to shake. And how
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I have yelled loud outside of places, preaching on the streets, inside places, and I've never shook anything.
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I couldn't make my water bottle shake. And with all my power, I've pleaded with man, reminded him how holy
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God is. And I've never been able to shake anything. And these angels... Paul Washer says that if one of these angels was to walk into a room with you, you would fall down and worship it out of ignorance.
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And what we worship in ignorance worships God all day long. So Paul gives us defense.
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Paul gives us defense. But we see He's given us defense because if Christ came, and He died for no purpose, if we can obtain it through the law, that the
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God that sat on that throne, if you read John 2, it tells you that who
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Isaiah saw was Jesus Christ. That when Isaiah, in his inner eye, could see
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Yahweh, or whether he was in the temple, John 12 says that's Jesus Christ.
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So as God, in Psalm 53, as He's looking down,
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I believe this is Jesus Christ. I don't believe this is the Father looking down. I believe this is Jesus Christ looking down from the stone.
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He sees that no one seeks Him. So He Himself became a man. The way your hand fills a glove,
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God fills a human body. And He is saying that if we can obtain righteousness in and of ourselves, all that's for no purpose.
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For no purpose. Other teachers say that when
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Paul wrote this book to the Galatians, that he didn't give them a good accommodation.
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You know, like you read Corinthians, he says something good about them. It's kind of like when you're reading in Revelation, you're reading as Jesus was writing to the seven churches.
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He says something good about five of them. When there was two, he didn't say anything good about them. He just went in straight rebuking them.
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And so, preachers say that Paul doesn't say anything good to the
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Galatians in his opening of this letter. But I don't see that.
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Like I told y 'all last week, his greeting, the way he greeted them. Listen to his greeting.
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Verse 3 Grace to you and peace from God our
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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us to his present evil age.
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He says grace to you and peace! Grace! Peace! That is a Christian greeting. At that time,
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Christians would greet each other and say grace and peace to you. You have been saved by grace. You have peace with God through faith.
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And Paul is knowing this heresy has placated the church. He still speaks to them as Christians.
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He says grace to you and peace. And then he reminds them of what true salvation is.
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Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins.
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And don't miss this. And to deliver us from this present evil age. Christ is reminding them that the only work that has paid for your redemption, the only work that has paid for your redemption is the finished work of Christ.
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All week long, for the last three or four years,
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I've been watching everything I can, reading all the books I can about expositional preaching.
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How is it done? How did they do this? How does John MacArthur do this? How does
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Steve Lawson do this? And what I've discovered, he always says that the meaning of the text is the point of the text.
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And so all week long, because I have to work, so I can't really spend the hours that I would like to spend.
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All week long, I'm thinking in my mind, what's the meaning of the text? What's the point of the text? And I believe the point of the whole book is spelt in verses 1 through 5.
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I could never unread or un -understand what I've understood in these past two weeks because of these first five verses.
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I don't know how many times I've read this book. When I worked, there was a period of time where I was listening to the
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Bible as I worked on High Speed. I was going through the Bible every four weeks.
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Like zoom. Like I was getting through it. Like I was just saturated in it.
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And this week, I've been listening to it slowly. Like it's been Paul. An apostle.
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Not from. Like I've been listening to it slow. Trying to get it in. And I think
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I can understand it better when it's fast. I'll be honest with you. I've been trying to get it in.
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And I do. I believe these first five verses are casting a shadow over the whole book.
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And I believe the meaning of the text at the point of this whole passage is this.
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Verse four. I believe verse four lays out the whole book. Who gave
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Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our
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God and Father. So Christ gave
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Himself to deliver us from this present evil age. And I don't know if y 'all went back and listened to last week's sermon.
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If you haven't, I would suggest, because I'm just giving a quick overview of what we did last week.
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Next week, we'll do exposition through 6 -10. Verse 6 -10.
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So last week we talked about the present evil age and how the Bible speaks of it as this age or present age.
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We talked about how the rabbis at that time believed that they were living in what's called this age.
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And that when the Messiah comes, He would usher in the age to come. So the rabbis believed they were in this age.
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The Messiah comes. Now we're in the age to come. Now they don't believe Jesus is the
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Messiah. So they still believe we're living in this age. What the Bible calls this age.
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Paul was a rabbi. Paul still believes that Jesus is the
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Messiah. So he's speaking of this present evil age is going to end.
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So he believes that Jesus is the Messiah. So the Messiah is ushering in the new age. We saw last week in Hebrews 9, which
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I got some pretty good feedback from it. We saw in Hebrews 9 how the temple, the then standing temple, represented, it was symbolic for the present evil age.
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As long as that temple was standing, it was still that age.
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Alright? So the Bible deals with this. Old covenant, new covenant.
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This age, the age to come. The kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. I'll say that again.
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There's the old covenant. Then there's the new covenant. There was this age. Then there's the age to come.
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Then there's the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. I believe, me, standing before you,
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I believe we're in the new covenant. This is the new covenant of my blood, Jesus said.
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I believe we are in what the Bible calls the age to come.
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I believe we're in the age to come. I don't want to say new age because that's got a lot of bad vibes in it.
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And I believe we're in the kingdom of God and not the kingdom of Satan. I believe God is sovereign and He's in control.
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And He has all authority. Jesus says all authority in heaven and earth is given to me. Not me,
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Jesus. He says it's given to me. Now go. He sent them out. So right here, as we read in Scripture, there seems to be an overlap, if you will.
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So there's a period to where there's the present evil age and the age to come have overlapped.
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And so right here, if you can see that middle right there, if you can see that right there, I believe there's a period of 40 years where there was a period where the present evil age was still standing.
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Paul speaks about the present evil age. This is what Jesus has come to rescue us from. The present evil age.
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And the new covenant, the new age, not new age, but the age that was to come has appeared.
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And it's there at the same time. And I believe that when the temple fell, oh covenant, oh this age and the kingdom of Satan fell with it.
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And it's no longer here. We are in the new covenant, the new age, and the kingdom of God.
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And I believe that this is what Galatians is teaching. And if you hang with me, you can judge for yourself whether I'm right or wrong.
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Alright? Alright, so I hope y 'all hang with me. Alright, so as we look at the
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New Testament and the Scriptures, we see that there's an overlap. And the overlap,
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I believe, is from 30 A .D. to 70 A .D. So we need to understand that the temptation for the
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Jews. So as we're reading this, we need to understand one thing. If you know anything about the book of Hebrews or the book of 1
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John, they tell you the same story. 1 John, he says, they went out from us, for they were not of us.
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Hebrews, talks about that they keep falling back, and sacrificing.
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They say that they're Christians, but they keep going back and sacrificing. The temptation for the
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Jews was the Old Covenant. It was this age, the kingdom of Satan, where they had to sacrifice in order to please
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God. The louder the kids get, the louder
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I'll get. I can't help it. And they're not bothering me.
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So, the Old Covenant, the temptation of the Jews, was to go back and sacrifice.
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Yes, I believe in Christ. Yes, He is my Savior. Yes, He died. Yes, He rose. But I still need to slaughter a lamb.
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That's what the temptation is. That was the temptation. So, when you read
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Hebrews, when you read 1 John, you need to have that in mind. They went out from us, because they never were of us.
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Listen, God has never had two different people. One people.
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He brought in the New Covenant. He brought in the New Covenant. The New Covenant.
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The church was made of Jews. Jews. Now the Jews are trying to interfere and undo what
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God is doing. They're sowing tares among the wheat. They're sowing tares among the wheat by planting something from the oad in the knee.
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And the only thing that they planted, according to this book, is circumcision. That's it. You must be circumcised.
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That's all they brought forth, according to this book. When we read in Hebrews, it was sacrifice and animals and stuff like that.
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But right here, it was just circumcision. Even more, they were trying to add this to the gospel.
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So instead of Paul taking away something, they were adding something to the gospel.
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Relations 5, if you want to turn there, verses 2 -6.
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Paul says, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision,
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Christ will be no advantage to you. I want to read that again.
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I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision,
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Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.
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You are severed from Christ. You who would be justified by the law.
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You who have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
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For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith, working through love.
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If you accept circumcision, you have severed yourself from Christ. You have circumcised yourself from the new covenant.
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He just added that. We on this side, almost 2 ,000 years removed, we're like, this is circumcision.
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This is circumcision. That's something little to add anything to the gospel.
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Justification by faith alone. Faith alone. You circumcise yourself in Christ.
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You remove yourself from Christ. You become a curse separated from Christ. Let's read again verses 6 -10, chapter 1.
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So now that we have this background, we hear Paul's first response to this.
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Hopefully this time I won't get tongue -tied. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting
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Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.
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Not that there is another one, but there are some who would trouble you and want you to desert the gospel of Christ.
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But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one preached to you, let him be accursed, cut off, separated.
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As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you receive, let him be accursed.
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For am I now seeking the approval of man or the approval of God, or of God?
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Or am I trying to please man? If I was still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
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So He Himself gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age.
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The age of unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.
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You have John the Baptist who is said to be the greatest born among women.
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He's in the wilderness. He's baptizing. They call him John the Baptizer. He has people coming to Him and I'm asking
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Him if He's the Christ. Is He the Messiah? Are you the prophet?
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He says no, I'm not. But it says that He looks for... He sees someone. He sees
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Christ in the distance and He says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
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If you know anything about the sacrificial system... I believe
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I was talking with someone this week from this room about Yom Kippur.
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How they would take these two goats and they would sacrifice one.
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Immediately they would cut its throat and sacrifice it and pour its blood onto a container where they could take it to the
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Holy of Holies. And the other one they would pray their sins over and let it go loose.
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And that's where we get the phrase called the escape goat. And so this escape goat who had all the people's sins were prayed onto this goat, was let loose and they took the blood of the first goat and it would have to be the high priest and he would have to have anointed himself through the ritual.
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He would walk into the Holy Place and then he would go into the Holy of Holies and in the Holy of Holies there's what's called the
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Ark of the Covenant. And on top of the Ark of the Covenant is what's called the Mercy Seat. And the
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Mercy Seat was covering what was inside the Ark of the Covenant which was the Law of God, Aaron's rod which was budding, and manna.
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And so the priest would have to sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat. Well, Jesus Christ dying for our sins, dying as a propitiation, that word propitiation, if you take the
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Hebrew renin, the Greek Septuagint, if you take the Greek Septuagint and you look at the word
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Mercy Seat, it's propitiation. Jesus is our
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Mercy Seat. Not only is He covering us from that law that condemns us, but He's also the blood that gets spilled on it.
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He's the offering. He is our propitiation. He is who's satisfied.
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Propitiation in a layman's term is a payment for something done wrong. All of us have sinned.
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We have fallen short of the glory of God. We deserve death. Christ comes in, pays the payment of our wrongdoing.
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He's the propitiation. He's the payment, but He's also the Mercy Seat. He is who's covering us from this law that condemns us.
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He is our cover and we are covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Nothing in and of ourselves.
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And so John looks in the distance and he says, Behold the
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Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He's pointing to the
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Pharisees and to all those that are around him and says, that's the guy. That's him.
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He's the one. He is the Lamb of God. He has come to take away the sins of the world.
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And that's what Paul is reminding you. So what do you have to add?
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Circumcision? Circumcision? Man, if you hold to that, you cut yourself off from Christ.
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You cut yourself off from Christ. There is no purpose.
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So according to the book of Galatians, the Judaizers added circumcision.
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Circumcision is a different gospel. It's not a gospel. It's not a gospel.
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I'm going to read to you a passage from Hebrews. Forgive me as I read this because I read this in my head and get excited.
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In my head I'm screaming. This is not a lie. This is probably one of the passages in the
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Bible that just overwhelms me with information and excitement.
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And I just fall in love with God's plan every time I read this. So it's Hebrews chapter 12 beginning in verse 18.
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Let me get some water. Give you time to turn to that. Hebrews 12 beginning in verse 18.
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So I'm hoping this is going to tie together what I've said. If it doesn't, I have failed miserably.
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Verse 18. For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words may the hearers beg that no further message be spoken to them.
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For they could not endure it. For they could not endure the order that it was given. For even if a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.
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Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear.
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But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living
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God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the innumerable angels and festival gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who is enrobed in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkling of blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
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See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they would refuse him who warned them on earth, much less would they escape when they reject him who warns from heaven.
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At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, yet once more
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I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven. This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken.
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That is, the things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
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Therefore, let us be grateful to receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship and reverence and fear, for our
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God is a consuming fire. Our God is a consuming fire, and we must worship
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Him. I've got two minutes. I want to say this. We, at this time, are surrounded by people who are adding to the
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Gospel. They're adding to the Gospel. As someone that witnesses the people,
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Jehovah's Witnesses, listen to this. Jehovah's Witnesses, to gain salvation, you must exercise faith in Jesus and demonstrate that faith by obeying
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His commandments and calling on the name of Jehovah. Not Jesus, but Jehovah.
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You must have faith, but you've got to demonstrate it by obeying the law. They also believe that Jesus is
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Michael the archangel and is no part of the Godhead. Mormons believe that human beings gain salvation both through the grace of God and through their own actions.
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Part of the work of salvation has been done by the atonement of Christ. Part of it has been done by the atonement of Christ.
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And thus, human beings are guaranteed resurrection, but to obtain a full guarantee of eternal life, human beings have to do work.
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Nephi 25 .23 of their book of Mormon says this. He said,
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For we know that it is by grace we are saved after all we can do. After all we can do.
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They also believe that God was a man just as I am today on a different planet who obeyed
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Mormonism and became a God and that Jesus and Satan are spiritual brothers. What is that? Alright, Catholics.
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Oh, we're touching base now. Hold on. He's talking about Catholics. I'll go deeper than Catholics.
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Catholics. We are justified by grace, which is a free gift, but is received through baptism in Israel, through the faith that works for love, and through the continuous life of a
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Christian, and through the sacraments of reconciliation, of the grace of justification if it's lost.
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So you're saved, made perfect by baptism, an act, and if you sin, you have to do sacraments, you have to pray to the saints, pray to Mary.
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You have to do these things that's outside of Christ. Churches of Christ who have beautiful voices.
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Love y 'all. They have beautiful voices. They hold to what's called, we
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Baptists say that they hold to baptismal regeneration. They say that baptism is a necessary part of salvation.
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That you have to be baptized to be justified. Ladies and gentlemen, they're adding to the gospel.
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They're adding to the gospel. And then if you add circumcision, you sever yourself.
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If you believe in baptism by justification, you're drowning yourself. You're drowning yourself.
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You're drowning yourself. So, that was my application.
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I ran out of time. I love y 'all. If you're going to sing a song, if you have any questions,