Doing or Done Gal 1:1- 5 Part 3

Well, good morning, everybody thank you for being here this morning and Hello to our church family extended. We miss you all and and Look forward to the day when we can See each other's faces and and there's plenty of trust me.

There's plenty of room to Distance to scatter here as well. So just keep that in mind, but glad you're here and welcome to those that haven't Seen us or heard us before thank you for tuning in. I Wanted to thank the folks that are that are always helping every week and behind the scenes and for Tim on the soundboard and the canes for music and and just and sound in the back also and just we're blessed by and Richard playing his instrument and Kate and it takes Takes everybody as a whole to bring all this together.

So no one person can do it so I thank you for everyone and for your commitment and For your dedication in allowing us to be here, so thank you. As an announcement, we're going to be having our annual little slightly delayed Meeting church meeting it's going to be on February 14 immediately following the morning service.

So just to be aware for the folks that aren't here today We won't be recording that that's we don't record that type of meeting. We record our services. But if you'd like to come there is again There's ability to distance here and to kind of scatter around the room.

So keep that mind, but We'd like to have you here if you're able to come. So Let's open our service in prayer, please join with me, please Lord God, we thank you father for Gathering us together Lord near and far that we might lift our voices that we might sing praises to your name father, we thank you Lord for Allowing us to gather that in these trying times.

There's a lot of difficulty a lot of strife and uncertainty and and a lot of tension Lord in our government In work lives and family lives church life father in many ways at large father, we Know that you are Lord overall that you have it.

There's a plan and we must rest in the hope that we have in you father Lord calm our hearts now Lord. Let us set aside those things that Distract us the things that get in the way of us and our fellowship and our worship you of you father and that we might be brought to the throne of grace Lord and That we can worship you father freely and openly and we just thank you again for this morning father.

So bless our time. We commit it to your care in Christ's name. We pray. Amen. I wanted to read a psalm before we Begin singing. This is a praise to the king of all the earth. This is a psalm 47. And it starts off to the chief music Musician, which some believe is the Lord himself and as the Psalms are really a poetic poems are sacred poems.

Oh Clap your hands all ye peoples shout to God with the voice of triumph for the Lord. Most high is awesome. He is a great king over all the earth. He will subdue the people's under us and the nation's under our feet.

He will choose our inheritance for us the excellence of Jacob whom he loves Sila. God has gone up with a shout the Lord with the sound of a trumpet sing praises to God sing praises. Sing praises to our king sing praises for God is the king of all the earth sing praises with understanding God reigns over the nation's.

God sits on his Holy Throne. The princes of the people have gathered together the people of God of Abraham for the shields of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted. Amen, and as we're called to do in God's Word, let us sing praises to him.

Let's stand together, please and.

Corporate Worship and the Call to Praise

Sing come. Christians joined to sing. Amen.

And we're gonna end this hymn as amen because it really it's a prayer to our Lord. So think of that as we're singing through this. Every blessing to my heart to seek my grace. Streams of mercy never. Ceasing call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some Melodious on it some by claiming Praise to. It's the bonnet name of God's redeeming love. Hither to this place. And I know Thy hand will bring me safely home by thy good grace Jesus. You are me with his precious To grace.

How great a debt strain to be just like a fetter. Take and seal it seal it for the courts of. We didn't practice that one. So amen. I'll worship the King. I should have warned him about that. No worship the King.

Thank you, please be seated. Mr. Tim is gonna come forward with this morning's scripture reading.

The Human Condition and Justification by Faith

Romans 3 10 to 26 as it is written. None is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together. They have become worthless. No one does good not even one.

Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood in. Their paths are ruin and misery in the way of peace.

They have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law. So that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Provide the works of the law. No human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

For there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward is a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time. So that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

We're gonna continue our singing this morning with our great Savior. So Stand with me again, please Show us Christ. Amen, please be seated pastor John.

Doing Versus Done in the Gospel of Galatians

Well, praise God. Let's open our Bibles to Galatians chapter 6 if you're at home, I encourage you To please do the same. God's Word will not return. Boyd. I don't know if you heard that the very famous Interview personality Larry King passed away this week.

Married multiple times. Very interesting Inside story on him. I don't know if you recall but there was a period of time where he was doing a number of shows interviews. Having to do with Christianity and is Jesus the only way he had married a Mormon woman.

And there's a very well-known nationally known pastor in Southern, California prolific author and a member of his church was on the staff of Larry King's show and he was a producer and So they were looking for somebody to come in and give the other side of the coin they had Catholics on there.

They had a some I mean over many many shows. They had one time an Episcopal bishop that that was a lesbian. All these different kinds of things and of course Intuitively growing up in a Judeo-Christian culture.

Larry King knew that there was something quite not right with that. You know a lesbian priest. So He had this pastor on the show to have a biblical response to these different issues and So Larry King heard the gospel from this man many many times and he clearly gave the gospel you can find some of the shows on YouTube and It's just amazing and I read a little thing yesterday.

Where somebody or maybe Friday, I'm not sure when he passed but The the writer of this little article that he had passed. He says who knows. Towards the end when he knew that the end was coming. Did he not trust the Lord Jesus Christ?

As his Lord and Savior, wouldn't that be a blessing to see Larry King one day in heaven? Because he heard the biblical gospel that we're talking about and that we're going to be finishing up this little Series of messages we may stay in Galatians through chapter 1.

I'll see how the Lord leads but we're gonna finish up today doing verses done and We're gonna start at the back of Galatians. So you need to be in Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6 and I'm gonna pray and then we'll get started Galatians chapter 6 in just a moment.

Father how thankful we are for this day and for your many many blessings God. That we can be together that we can gather together like this worship you. We are so thankful to see other human beings to talk and to be able to share.

What's going on in your life? How did you spend your week? What's going on with this one? What's going on with that one to be here to encourage one another? We're so so very thankful God we give you all the praise.

We give you all the glory father and commit this time in your word to your care. Show us Christ. We pray in Jesus name. Amen so we're gonna finish up our exposition of the first five verses of Paul's epistle to the Galatians and the goal of this series of Messages is to anchor us in certain important doctrinal truths as we head into 2021.

You remember we've read from Ephesians chapter 4 we've read from Ephesians chapter 2 about the Importance of in the church having unity unity and doctrine what we practice what we believe what we hold to.

We looked at verses that stress the importance of Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone, right? Being the cornerstone of the building and the Apostles doctrine being the foundation the stones by which and we are living stones.

Being built up into a holy holy temple to the Lord. False teachers known as Judaizers had infiltrated the churches of Galatia. We don't know how many churches there are there were. Maybe four maybe five there's a region in modern-day Turkey.

If you look at a map and you look at Turkey Galatia is in central the area of Galatia that we're talking about here is in central modern-day, Turkey and This letter is basically a rescue attempt by the Apostle Paul of These new Christians that were being deceived and led astray.

From the biblical gospel that the Apostle Paul had preached there. He spent maybe at most 16 to 18 months starting these churches and take a look at Galatians chapter 6 verse 1. Brethren if a man is overtaken in any trespass.

You who are spiritual? Restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness considering yourself lest you also be Tempted so this is instruction about body life in the church. This is not a general Exhortation to Christians everywhere, although it could be taken that way.

This is the local church if a man or a woman in your church Is overtaken in any trespass? You who are spiritual in our case the victors the heralds the the days that the men spiritual in this church and Ladies, it would be.

Barb. Thank you, she says I didn't sign up for that. John yeah. She didn't. I'm just you know volunteering her. Restore Such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Considering yourself lest you also be tempted bear one another's burdens and So fulfill the law of Christ.

What law? The law that we're to love the Lord our God with all of our heart soul mind and strength and what love our neighbor as our self right and Jesus put the two of those on equal footing and See, I read these verses to you because I want to ask a question in light of those verses just think about somebody you love for a moment and care about and they have done something harmful or They were considering doing something wrong or harmful.

What would you do? To try and convince them not to do it. What lengths? Would you go or suppose you're close to someone and you know that they grew up in church and They're thinking about marrying an unbeliever even though 2nd Corinthians 614 says specifically Believers are not to marry unbelievers and you knew that they were thinking about this and they had great feelings.

What would you do? How would you what lengths? How would you go about convincing them that this would be a mistake? How would you go about trying to convince them not to do it. How far and to what lengths would you go to to try to warn them?

Give you one more. Someone you love. Maybe it is a brother or sister in Christ. Maybe it is a fellow member at your church and We're talking about a professing Christian someone that would say are you a Christian?

They would say yes and And they start getting into some false teacher on the radio or TV or Reading some paper or a book that a pastor I'm putting that in quotes is Teaching heresy there. They're reading the books.

How would you go about Rescuing them from that error now if you can kind of get in that mindset for a moment and You would be getting a little bit into the Apostle Paul's frame of mind as the Holy Spirit Led him to write this letter and this is because this letter is the Apostle Paul's Attempt to rescue new Christians that he had led to Christ.

He didn't get to spend three years like in Ephesus. He led people to Christ there. He planted the church there and he spent three years discipling them day and night. He was a tent maker during the day late into the night.

He would preach and teach. They didn't have a New Testament, right? All he had was the Old Testament and the revelation Christ had given to them while he trained him after the road of Damascus in The wilderness.

We don't understand any of that, but he spent hours late into the night. He would work all day as a tent maker and then hours into the night grounding the church at Ephesus in in doctrinal truths about the Christian life in the church and how the Church should be and in Acts it tells how he when he said goodbye to them warned them with great tears about these wolves that would come in and Seek to devour them.

So here God leads him to write this letter and He hadn't been in these churches very long and he had preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. He had preached a biblical gospel and these false teachers that that scholars refer to as Judaizers had infiltrated these churches they were drawing believers away from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul writes this letter In attempt to rescue these young neophyte Christians from this error.

Which was an error that was destined and bound to take them back into bondage the very bondage that Jesus faith in Christ had released them from and relieved them from Jesus came to set the captives free not put them into bondage.

The gospel takes the yoke of the law off of our back. Amen. These false teachers were teaching things that put people back under the law put the yoke of the law. Not the higher law that Christians are under in Christ.

But back under the Mosaic laws and the do's and the don'ts. Which was an error that would rob God of his glory and was a false Gospel error that added human effort human works to something the biblical Gospel and grace by faith frees us from now.

Apostolic Authority and the Divine Origin of the Message

Galatians 1 1. The last few weeks we've been answering a question how can we grow as a church body as we look at 2021 and firm up our understanding of the gospel that Jesus Christ preached and died for and That the Apostles also preached and died for.

How can we? How can we get a better appreciation of the importance of being correct and Accurate and right on the gospel from the first five verses of this letter. And you might remember we started two weeks ago with the point by understanding the hyper critical difference between doing versus done so this group of teachers Allegedly Jewish Christian converts.

In other words, we're talking about professing believers who were Jewish. These these these teachers had come into these churches of Galatia and The Galatian churches were primarily Gentile churches. Remember all the early believers in the book of Acts almost all of them initially were Jewish.

It isn't until you get to Acts chapter 10 and Peter's vision of the unclean and the clean things where you have a man named Cornelius who is a Gentile. Gets saved. You may have had others but the first documented one was a man named Cornelius and Then you see the gospel.

Start with the Jews and move into the Gentiles and then you come to Romans chapter 1 verse 16. I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is a power of God unto salvation to all who believe. To the Jew first and what also to the Greek.

Then you come to Ephesians 2 that we read last week and you have this wall. That separated Judaism from Gentiles and Greeks. You have that wall being torn down in Christ where the two become what one?

Okay. So these Judaizers were Jewish coming into Gentile sheer churches and They're teaching these early Christians. Well Christ basically Christ is not enough. Oh, you're saved you trusted Christ. Paul was here.

We're here now to add to that teaching and They added doing things required under the law. Saying you really haven't arrived. You're not really there until you do these other things. That's one of the roots of the heresy of the Pentecostal Church.

You need to understand Christ is not sufficient. Christ is not enough. You need this other experience. It's all the way back. They also taught that Paul had not preached a full or a complete gospel. That Jesus wasn't enough to say you're almost there by the way.

Read Colossians sometimes same thing the Gnostics came in and said you got it, but there's a little more. You need this deeper understanding. Study Christian science sometime. Study the unity school of Christianity sometime.

These are all basically there's nothing new under the Sun. Read Ecclesiastes all false teaching. You can go back and you see it in the past, right. And Where does it all start? Genesis chapter 3. Did God really say and my answer is yes, he did.

It's right here. Amen. He really did and I can trust it. So the watershed difference Between the gospel false gospel. The Judaizers were teaching and every other false gospel ever taught or preached. From the beginning can be distilled down to what?

Doing versus what done. Christ did it all or you want to put it another way. Jesus? Only versus Jesus plus Jesus plus the sacraments. Jesus plus Baptizing this baby Jesus plus going through confirmation.

Do you understand? It's all Jesus plus. So, how can we better understand the foundation that Paul lays for this rescue attempt of the Galatian Christians and applied to our own Relationship to Christ second by under better understanding the distinguished writer of Galatians and we covered this last week.

So just very quickly a couple quick reminders for one. We've seen the unique way that Paul begins This letter compared to his other letters found in the New Testament. We also examined his office in the church.

He was an apostle take a look. He was an apostle not from men. Nor through man, by the way, the Judaizers, you know what they did. You'll see it later in the letter. One of the things they did is they said we were sent by by the Apostles in Jerusalem.

No, Paul was sent by who? Jesus Christ and God the Father. Who raised him from the dead? So an apostle is one that is sent with delegated authority from Jesus Christ. This letter was written by someone with delegated appointed and Designated authority and the giver of that authority was Jesus Christ himself and Notice that he added Through Jesus Christ and God the Father what who raised him from the dead.

So basically what Paul does at the beginning of this letter is he plunges? Into a discussion of two core vital issues at stake as he begins this rescue attempt number one his Apostolic authority and number two his divine message the divine origin of his message and What he declares in no uncertain terms if both of these critical issues both his apostolic authority and the divine origin of his message.

Both are centered on and flow directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was called to be an apostle. The medium and means by which and through which this call came was Jesus Christ. Paul is an apostle through Jesus Christ and God the Father and I showed you last week.

I hope maybe you remember grammatically and theologically this statement when he says through Jesus Christ and God. Grammatically and theologically he is putting them on the same level. God The Father is God God.

The Son is God God. The Holy Spirit is God, but he doesn't say that there. We can build that another time so these opening verses if you ever want a proof text that Jesus is divine if the Jehovah Witness knocks on your door and He wants to tell you Jesus is a good teacher, but he's not God.

Maybe he was you know a rabbi. Well, you can say well, whatever. What are you gonna do with this? Through Jesus Christ and God the Father right? You've got all kinds of proof texts. That's one now just in case The Galatian believers because remember how this was done.

Was when a letter like this in the early church came to the church. What would happen is the elders the pastors would get up I got a letter from Paul and Then they would sit there for weeks and weeks and weeks.

This is all they have. There's no New Testament. You understand you got Old Testament, but you don't have a New Testament. So this is like gold Paul wrote us and then the elders and the pastors would sit there and read the letter publicly.

So he has your attention. You got these Judaizers in the church. I Was there I was there not from men not through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and then he says by the way if you have any Question in your mind all the brethren her who are with me.

Okay. I am NOT a gospel Lone Ranger. All the brethren that were with me then and all the brethren that are with me now. Confirm and affirm what I'm about to say. So what you want to think about when you look at these verses is this is kind of an anchor.

If you drift here on these issues You will wind up a ground on the rocks of error when it comes to the gospel and when it comes to Understanding and applying this letter to our lives. You're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

So, how can we grow and firm up our understanding of the gospel that Jesus Christ preached and died for and also that the Apostles preached and died for how can we get this better? Understanding and appreciation of the importance of being right and together and have unity about the gospel in these opening verses number three finally.

By better understanding the gospel centered greeting To the churches of Galatia verse 2. Grace to you in peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil age.

According to the will of our God and Father to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. This is a gospel centered greeting that is centered on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a gospel centered greeting that further Reinforces in brief the biblical gospel.

Remember I told you last week doing versus done. Right the biblical gospel. Remember I've mentioned more than once the book of Romans Boiled down to what the book of Galatians right Galatians you you read Galatians.

It's like the condensed version of Romans. Okay. Now you have now you have these two words grace and peace, right? Grace and peace you find this greeting in 12 of the epistles that he wrote. Grace is a it's a vitally important word in the New Testament.

It's an inexhaustible well of Rich theology about Jesus Christ and God it is God's free undeserved kindness towards sinners. Grace is God's spontaneous Unmade unmerited favor in action. It's God's freely bestowed loving kindness and work.

Bestowing salvation on guilt-laden sinners who turned to him for refuge. It is grace that directs lost sinners with with laser like accuracy to the salvation that God provides only through Jesus Christ and only Only to those who put their trust in him by grace through faith for salvation.

Grace is what God extended to Adam and Eve. He said if you take of that fruit, what are you gonna do? You're gonna die. Grace is what God poured out on Noah when God looked out in Genesis chapter 6 and saw the wickedness of all men's hearts and Tim read it the state of man in Romans chapter 3 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, right?

There is no one righteous yet. No one there is no one who seeks after God. It goes on to this litany describing the sinfulness of all men since the fall and God in Genesis chapter 6. He looks out on the world and the thought and intention of every man by the way, including Noah if you read the passage in Genesis, which we did.

But Noah found what favor God's grace. Grace is what happened to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus and Then complementing this word grace he says grace and what peace right? Which was often used to identify a state of well-being or or wholeness in the New Testament pay peace means a Restored relationship mended fellowship.

They go together under this banner of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Grace is extended by God to undeserving lost sinners and only then can someone have the peace that Paul talks about. Grace fits with peace.

Now secondly this gospel-centered greeting. It's a gospel-centered greeting because of the source of grace and peace notice the source they flow from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. This takes us back to verse 1 in Paul's radically transformed worldview and theology.

God the Father and Jesus Christ are now one. They're in Dissolubly united and linked together here just as they are in verse 1 grace and peace are from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul refers to God as a father no doubt laying the foundation later in chapter 3 beginning of verse 21.

Chapter 3 beginning of verse 21. He talks about the adoption that happens to believers in Christ. Look at chapter 4 verse 4, but when the fullness of the time had come God sent forth his son. Born of a woman born under the law look at this.

To redeem those who were under the law. That we might receive the adoptions as sons, so he keeps coming back to this to this Absolute Important truth that we must get about the gospel the moment that we add to Christ.

The moment that we add to grace. We're coming back under the law. You gotta do this. If you just had this if you just took communion more. And notice he calls Jesus Christ Lord. Not in verse 1 but in verse 2 our Lord Jesus Christ.

We learn when we read through Paul's others letters that this title for Christ was significant to Paul. He preached Jesus as Lord all the time. He told the Corinthians for we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord.

He told the Christians in Rome if we live we live to the Lord. In fact turn their Romans 14. Look at this Romans 14 verse 8 for if we live We live to the Lord and if we die We die to the Lord. Therefore whether we live or die We are the Lord's.

Remember who Paul was. Paul was the Pharisee of what Pharisees. But when he fell on the road on the ground on the road to Damascus and he heard a voice saying Saul Saul. Why are you persecuting me the Pharisee of Pharisees?

By the way who only recognized God the Father is Lord. Only God the Father was Yahweh that Christian hater and persecutor said on the road to Damascus with his eyes blind and his Friends that were traveling with him on the way to arrest those Christians with papers in hand said who are you?

Lord. See referring to Jesus as Lord. Demonstrates Paul's new theology his born-again understanding of the Godhead. Jesus is Lord Yahweh the Creator the Redeemer Jehovah the Covenant God who revealed himself to Moses in Exodus Chapter 3.

Paul worshiped Jesus and acclaimed and preached him as God back in Galatians grace and peace come from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. So a third reason why this is a gospel centered greeting is because Paul declares that Christ gave himself for our sins.

See. You cannot be biblically saved. Please. Listen to me. I gave you the four parts of the gospel. I'll give it to you again. There is a God Genesis 1 in the beginning what? God and that God is holy and Then there's the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3 and When you read Romans 3 there is this exposition of the total sinfulness of man.

There's no better interpretation of Romans chapter 3 there is none righteous. No, not one. Wait a minute. You mean that sweet little lady that gives money to the poor? That's not a Christian. There is none righteous.

No, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. You mean those sweet people that go to church every Sunday. To that church down the street. They have all turned aside. They have to kept together become but but I've never heard anybody.

I've never told a lie. I've never murdered anybody. I've never cheated on my wife. There is none who does good. No, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit.

There is no fear of God before their eyes and Then he sums it up for all have sinned and Fall short of the glory of God since the garden. No one born has a choice in this matter. When you share the gospel with somebody and you say if you were to die today.

Do you know for certain? That you will go to heaven and I'm telling you 99 999 times out of a hundred. The person says well, I hope so and you say oh really why? You know what comes next? Well, I'm a good person.

I try to be a good person. So My response is really that's wonderful. I Go to church, you know on Easter and Christmas. Oh, that's wonderful. I Say can I give you a little test? You know a good person test and they go, okay.

They say have you ever told a lie? I don't. I don't. I don't think I mean any kind of lie, you know, like a little lie and. And they they go. Well, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I've told a lie and and then I say Well, what does that make you human.

I no no, no, what does that make you Like everybody else and then I say well if I told you a lie, what would you call me a liar? They can't even say it then when you get them to say it, you know, right?

Since the garden right any parent knows That it's a child's bent to sin. I mean, I remember teaching our children not to tell a lie. Not to touch. Okay parents, you know this right? Don't touch. You know you're over here, right?

Don't touch that. Now did I teach him to touch it or did they touch it by nature? Do I teach him to like yeah, you need to lie to mommy and daddy. Okay, never tell him the truth. No, we lie what? By nature.

Because we're born what in sin and the wages of sin is death. What does every sin deserve? Every sin deserves God's wrath. God's curse because in this life and that which is to come Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 just past Galatians.

Ephesians 5 6 let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things what sin? The wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. The wages of sin is death and It's too horrible of a death to impossibly ever imagine it is a death that means eternal Separation from God and his goodness in a literal place called hell friends.

We need to understand Hell is forever and so is heaven both. So why what was the purpose of? Christ's substitution substitutionary death back to Galatians. He gave himself for our sins. That he might deliver us from this present evil age.

According to the will of God. This is a gospel centered greeting. Because it tells us why Christ died and see it's very interesting how the Holy Spirit puts it That puts the Word of God together. God's Holy Word tells us That this present age is a period in human history.

When I say this age, I'm talking about since creation until Jesus comes again. I didn't say last days I said this age this 7 ,000 year period of human history it the Bible tells us that this present age is a period when the devil blankets the mind and Literally blinds the minds of people so that they're in spiritual darkness go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4.

2nd Corinthians 4 verse 3. But even if our gospel is veiled, you know what it means to be veiled right a veil covers. It is veiled To those who are perishing. Whose minds the God of this world has what?

Blinded who do not believe lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God Should shine on them. Can I just give you a little Greek lesson? Blind in the Greek because the New Testament was written in Greek.

Blind means blind. Can you close your eyes and see anything? Well, if you close your eyes tight and I turn the lights off you'll see that distance. No blind means totally blind. You cannot see. I was talking to a lady in our church this morning about some of the Executive orders that are being signed regarding abortion.

How can the entire New York State? legislature Stand to its feet and applaud. When they passed a law in the state of New York. That you could kill a child. Abort a child after it's born. How could anybody pass a law?

That allows men who say I'm a woman today I'm gonna go into a girl's locker room and shower and she was shaking her head. That's she's struggling with this. She's overwhelmed at the wickedness how. It's right here.

Whose mind. The God of this age has blinded. Who do not believe less the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should shine on them. It's totally blind and This is the state of everyone who has been born since the fall in Genesis 3 a sinner cannot see they are dead in their trespasses and sin as far as the Reconciliation and the peace or the relationship with a holy God goes.

Are there good people in the world? Yes. Are there good people that are not Christian that understand the wickedness of a man going into a target? Woman's restroom. Yes. First John 5 19 puts it this way the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

Believers, we know what's going on in this world. We're we should not be surprised. We may be grieved in our heart, right? But it shouldn't surprise us and the devil exercises control over a sinner's life.

Everyone the whole world lies under the sway and the control of their father the devil. Friends before the road to Damascus Saul of Tarsus had no choice in what he was doing. He was a slave and he was in bondage and this is part of the message of Galatians.