Mighty Lord, Foolish Galatians (part 3)

Bethlehem Bible Church iconBethlehem Bible Church

2 views

0 comments

Repentance (part 4)

00:01
Oh Lord, we thank you for our salvation. We thank you for the joy
00:06
We get to remember the work and person of Christ even today the Lord's Day the resurrection To be reminded of the sufficient work of Christ and to gather together
00:17
Oh Lord to encourage one another to love and good works. We thank you for this privilege.
00:22
We thank you for this honor We pray that you would sanctify us today those of us who are redeemed by your grace
00:30
I pray that you'd sanctify us through the study in Galatians and For any who's not saved.
00:35
I pray that you would grant them eternal life Through the through your power and through your grace in Jesus name.
00:42
I pray. Amen so last week we finished
00:49
Galatians chapter 2 and we ended by talking about What happens if you add to the gospel?
00:59
We briefly I gave you an example of a pastor in Alabama There was loud outcry here when
01:06
I said what he had to say Which was essentially he said you need to add to the person and work of Christ you need to believe in certain political systems in order to be fully saved and we looked at What Howard Paul would respond to any person who would add to the gospel of Jesus Christ?
01:28
He would call them foolish as he did in Galatians chapter 3 verse 1 and he would
01:35
Pray or claim that that person Who adds to the work of Christ should be accursed that he should have the judicial wrath of God come upon him
01:48
Today I'll go through Galatians 3 I'll speak very briefly about 4 5 & 6 very briefly.
01:54
You don't have time to develop the whole thing But I will before I do that I want to quickly clarify something
02:02
Who understands the difference between legalism and gnomism based on especially what
02:10
I've taught in the last few weeks from Galatians? Excellent. Thank you legalism as Bob said and as Paul defines it is any kind of justification
02:23
Stating believing that you can be justified made right with a holy God By observance of any kind of law in Galatians.
02:31
It's specific to Jewish law observance of Jewish law Keeping of Jewish law in order to be right with God.
02:38
That's legalism Gnomism is different from anti -gnomian ism. The two are different and I'm told that there was some confusion about that gnomism as defined in Galatians is
02:50
Trying to live a Christian life by following Jewish laws So after you've got saved
02:57
It is the Judaizers was literally stating that after you get saved you need to get circumcised and you need to start following the old food laws and dietary restrictions in order to be fully saved in order to be sanctified and That's completely different Eventually a gnomistic lifestyle a lifestyle is based on rules and laws
03:19
Particularly in the from the Jewish laws will lead back to legalism will lead back to legalism as We turn our attention today.
03:29
Is that clear before we start three and dive into it? Okay Galatians chapter 3 verse 1 to 5
03:38
Paul literally starts by saying Oh foolish Galatians And then in if there's a key word that we can pull out of Galatians chapter 3 verse 1 to 5
03:48
It's supplemental that is Paul is annoyed and disturbed and concerned that The Judaizers are trying to add to supplement to the grace of God supplement to the work of the
04:04
Lord Jesus Christ by adding laws They Judaizers believe that faith in Christ was necessary in a great place to start
04:13
But they claimed it was not sufficient in order to be fully blessed and completely saved you need to Continue to follow the
04:21
Jewish laws Paul then talks about the whole conversion of The Galatians he says this in Galatians 1 to let me ask you only this
04:31
Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish verse 3 having begun by the
04:39
Spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain?
04:47
Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you? So do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith
04:55
Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness If you look at his stone he's sarcastic here he's sarcastic
05:08
We saved by faith in Christ or were you saved by a derence or following the law well, which one is it?
05:16
Does God require justice? maybe Yes, he does does
05:23
God require legal righteousness forensic righteousness Yes, he does was the purpose of the
05:32
Jewish law to appease the wrath of God No, as we look at 319, we'll see exactly what the purpose of the law is and He says it
05:44
Why then the law Galatians chapter 3 verse 9 it was added because of our transgressions
05:52
We'll look at this more it but briefly what was the purpose of the law to expose our sin to show our sin
06:01
So what is the role if any? of the law post -christ's life death and resurrection
06:11
God requires legal righteousness and Jesus Christ alone provides that legal righteousness completely fully
06:22
Whether in Justification or in sanctification it is Jesus Christ.
06:28
We depend on It is not the law in any way or any particular rule
06:36
Paul is telling the Galatians as in 3 1 2 5 that if you are under the law, you're controlled by the law
06:43
That if you are controlled by the law you are controlled by the flesh But he tells them you are free.
06:49
You've been set free by the work of Christ. Why are you going back into a life?
06:55
That is trapped Controlled by the law They are to be controlled by the
07:02
Holy Spirit Controlled by the Word of God through the daily work in decessory work of Jesus Christ Paul is working through the inspiration of the
07:12
Holy Spirit. I like to call this move a genius move the way he uses the verses here
07:18
In Galatians 5 he tells us what happens if you live by laws What happens if you live according to the flesh?
07:27
What's the result? Read Galatians 5 18 to 24 and if you if you read it if you look at it
07:36
He says this in verse 18
07:43
But if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality impurity sensuality idolatry sorcery and Then in verse 22, he says but the fruit of the
07:57
Spirit is love joy. Peace patience Generalist verse 24 and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires to clarify he's talking about Libertinism here living a according to the flesh and controlled by the flesh but his stress here is
08:20
If you try to live a life according to the law This is what your life will look like This is what this is the best human beings can offer
08:30
God The best we can offer on our best day. We thank
08:39
God for his salvation Christ Jesus We thank God for the indwelling spirit
08:45
Without the indwelling Spirit of God without the work of Christ None of us can be controlled by the
08:52
Spirit. None of us can please God But that initial pleasing that initial appeasing of the wrath of God comes first and foremost through the person and work of Jesus Christ Not by anything else
09:07
We're about to get into Galatians chapter 3 verse 6 to 14 It's Abraham time
09:15
Nowhere in the New Testament. Do you see so many Old Testament passages 6 to 14 of chapter 3?
09:22
it is loaded with Old Testament passages and verses and It's pivotal this section is pivotal for us to understand
09:30
Christianity Remember Galatians is one of the earliest Christian books written and It is fundamental to New Testament theology if you're struggling with justification
09:42
Sanctification law grace faith the person and work of Christ. Here's a good book to sit down and study
09:53
Let's look at the Abrahamic Covenant briefly and see what it spoke about. Who was Abraham? Good question, right?
10:00
Who was Abraham the father of the
10:07
Jewish nation? Okay, I'm gonna go into a little specific history here, right?
10:12
He after Noahic flood we see the Noah's Noah's descendants You can see the descendants listed in Genesis chapter 10 one of Noah's son is
10:22
Shem Shems great great great Multiply that by 100
10:29
Genesis 15 2 to 3. This is Abrams Doubting mocking response to God telling him that he will be his refuge and strength
10:41
Gary Thank you this response one, which is filled filled with doubt
10:47
Filled with almost a mocking tone. What me at this age? Sure Okay, here's an heir of mine that could be the future heir the response reminds us that Abrams not
10:59
Sinless that he is weak and we can see his attitude It is not a great response
11:05
But look at God's response in Genesis chapter 15 5 With great patience and great power.
11:12
This is what the Lord God Almighty says as Many as the stars in the sky
11:19
So will your descendants be after hearing this?
11:25
Abraham did trust God even though we're about to see its brief and at this point God attributes
11:32
Abrams faith to be righteousness and we see that Use in Galatians chapter 3 as well
11:39
And this is what he says in Genesis 15 6 and he believed the Lord and it was counted to him as righteousness all good
11:46
So what happens after Genesis 15? Those of you are listening Genesis 16 and then after that Genesis 17
11:58
But there's a reason why I'm saying this the sequence matters The sequence matters
12:04
After the promises of Abram after the promises God makes Abram in Genesis 15, he doubts again
12:13
And he listens to his wife Sarai and he impregnates the maid
12:19
Maids name is Hagar Hagar gives birth to Ishmael Can I say that what
12:27
Abram did was absolutely despicable It was wrong.
12:32
It was sinful and it reminded us of How sinful he was? What was
12:38
God's response? Was it wrath eternal separation that God abandoned the promise he made to Abraham Was God shocked?
12:49
No Genesis 17 1 2 2 so this is after 16.
12:54
We just finished 15 initial promise 16 He sins and impregnates
13:00
Hagar 17 1 2 2 Genesis When Abram was 99 years old the
13:06
Lord appeared to him and said to him. I am God Almighty Walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly
13:17
The later verses go into detail about the Abrahamic Covenant and introduces Circumcision which is at the core of the
13:25
Abrahamic Covenant Now here's what the Jews didn't get the Jews don't get it today and the
13:32
Judaizers in Galatia didn't get this either They didn't understand
13:37
That Genesis 16 came between 15 and 17 They believed that Abraham's standing and covenant with God came from Abraham's righteousness
13:49
They were convinced about this They forgot and if you look at certain Jewish historical books, there's no record of what he did with Hagar They move away from it
14:03
Abram sinned Constantly doubted God it was God's mercy God's power and faithfulness.
14:10
That was the force behind the Abrahamic Covenant It wasn't circumcision or any act of Abraham Abraham's observance of the law could not could not reconcile him to God and Abraham's observance of the law
14:23
Could not reconcile his posterity his descendants. They could not be saved either
14:30
The law could not do anything Paul is a genius. He uses
14:35
Genesis 15 6 perfectly in Galatians 3 6 To show that the true sons of Abraham With those who have faith in the redemptive work of the
14:46
Lord Jesus Christ The true believers don't depend on the law or any of their own works But they depend on the atoning work of Jesus Christ The Sun as sons of Abraham by faith the promise
14:59
God made to Abraham still stands It applies to anyone who believes in God and his son in Jesus Christ and the
15:08
Judaizers were telling the Galatians No, you do not belong to the promise Paul disagrees and is making it clear that you
15:14
Gentiles you Galatians You belong to the promise you two are blessed fully because of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
15:23
I Think the Galatians were happy about that. They felt relieved it applies to all and And then
15:33
Paul moves on to talk about the crucifixion in verses 10 to 14 of Galatians 3
15:38
He begins Galatians 3 1 by talking about the crucifixion as he ends the section
15:43
He comes back to the crucifixion and he says this Christ became a curse
15:50
Why so that sinners could be set free from the curse? The promise
15:55
God made to Abraham did not just apply to Abraham's direct descendants or just to the
16:01
Jews It applied to the Gentiles as well It was meant for all and Paul asked this question in 15 to 18 of chapter 3.
16:12
How can the mosaic law? Which came four hundred and thirty years after the promise was made to Abraham after the
16:19
Abrahamic Covenant was established How can it have any effect on the covenant the
16:27
Judaizers wanted the Gentile Christians To supplement their faith in Christ with Torah observance
16:36
The Judaizers wanted Gentiles who were not part of Israel in any manner They wanted them to be circumcised and submit to the law
16:46
Paul hated any mingling of work of Faith and law he hated it.
16:53
It discredited the work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit and What we see in verses 1 to 18 is
17:00
Paul arguing against Legalism in 1 to 18 and he says this if you look at it
17:07
If you summarize what he's saying any person with a Jew or Gentile who embraces legalism Cannot truly be accepted by God why?
17:16
Because he's depending on his own work or work of the law and not work on the Lord Jesus Christ and Now from verse 19 to chapter 4 verse 7.
17:26
He turns his attention to gnomism which is any
17:31
Person who claims to be a believer who claims to state that Jesus Christ's work is sufficient
17:37
But in order to be sanctified you need to return to the Jewish law That person follows gnomism and the
17:44
Judaizers were demanding this of the Gentile believers It caused confusion
17:51
It caused chaos in the church Now there are two functions of the law.
17:57
Can anybody say what the functions of the law are? Very good Those are two excellent points. One is to expose us and the other one is to point us to To the
18:06
Lord Jesus Christ and the way Paul uses it here. It exactly comes to that I'll get to that in just a minute anything else that you know about the law.
18:13
Amen it again the Probably getting ahead of myself here, but it brings us so low
18:21
That we look up in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the function of the law In Galatians 3 as we look at verse 21 and onwards we see that it has to To define it further way.
18:33
It has two functions One is it has a condemning function and the other one is it has a supervisory function
18:39
It condemns Essentially what Paul says in 21 is if you could attain righteousness by some kind of law living
18:48
Such a law would exist it would exist if you could be
18:55
Right with God if you could be perfect by some kind of law keeping a law would exist But that's not the function of the law
19:03
Not to make you perfect. It condemns you it exposes your sin It shows our guilt and sin before a holy
19:11
God It condemns us and more accurately reveals that we're condemned in Verse 24
19:17
Paul tells us about its supervisory function So then the law
19:22
Galatians chapter 3 verse 24 So then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith
19:32
What is that? That the law acted as a very temporary temporary restraint
19:42
Until who came until Christ came The law is
19:48
God's revelation. Do we disagree with that? The law is God's revelation It's fun, but it's function.
19:54
It's important to understand. It had a condemning role and a temporary supervisory role
20:00
But here's what the Judaizers didn't get and sometimes we get confused about The law could never and will never be a supplement to grace
20:12
God saved us by showing his unmerited favor By giving us grace
20:19
The law could never add to the unmerited favor that God gives us never
20:27
In fact, all it do does and all it was meant to do was to beat us up It brings us so low that the only place we can go is to look up in faith
20:39
To the Lord Jesus Christ That's that's all it makes us do that's the function of the law
20:47
We depend on Christ alone for grace forgiveness justification and yes from freedom of the curse of the law
20:58
Christ had come to Israel. The Messiah has come and had come he was crucified
21:03
He had risen the laws function came to an end with the coming of the
21:09
Messiah This is what brought Martin Luther so much joy
21:17
This is when he realized true freedom Because even at that time and within in the
21:24
Reformation time there was so many laws in the Catholic Church That he being a
21:30
Catholic monk Keeping most of it or trying to keep most of it could not quieten his guilty conscience
21:38
He could not When he understood the purpose of the law and saw that justification was by faith alone in Christ alone he was joyful and he was one of the main forces behind the
21:53
Protestant Reformation and Galatians was the book that he used and So did
21:59
John Calvin and several other reformers Christ was sufficient
22:05
Christ can free sinners from sinners from slavery to sin law and death and Christ alone
22:11
Now many Christians and many churches today will loudly oppose Legalism, but very very few oppose
22:21
Gnomism, so they think by holding on to the law in some degree that they are more pious
22:29
Than other people But what Paul is saying here is any kind of gnomistic living
22:37
Any kind of dependence on the Jewish law and circumcision on food law dietary restrictions
22:42
Sabbath name it Is to show that the person is not dependent on the
22:48
Lord Jesus Christ or on in the Holy Spirit questions comments
22:56
Charlie So he addresses some of this in five and six when he deals with libertinism, right?
23:02
So what happens if you have no control of your thinking and you just live your life based on the flesh and there's a certain
23:10
Result of that kind of thinking and living But Paul's argument here is we're not to be restrained or controlled by the law we are to be controlled by the
23:19
Holy Spirit and Such thinking comes because of the power behind that is
23:26
God We know that the force behind justification is the Lord Jesus Christ But I think there's a lot of doubts as to the work of God and the and the work of the
23:36
Holy Spirit in sanctification It's somehow reduced when we look at it. Whereas in fact, though there is so much
23:44
The fundamental force and power behind our sanctification is the Lord Jesus Christ and is the
23:50
Holy Spirit so Paul's argument here and what I'm trying to get at is that it starts there and then as as as you think more led by the
23:59
Holy Spirit you obey out of love for him as Opposed to the other way we use it as a means for self -justification
24:08
So the Sabbath that's a big question because Sabbath he talks about it in Hebrews right about Nomism as defined in Galatians deal specifically with circumcision and Sabbath and as Bob said the food laws
24:21
So we know about the Sabbath. It was meant to give rest and the rest in Christ has accomplished the rest we'll ever need
24:30
So it's accomplished it Christ has already accomplished it. So why are there some who?
24:35
Take it literally as the law and and live it There are Sabbatarians for instance who push extremely hard on this.
24:42
I know someone won't eat on that day, right? Why because they don't believe that Christ has fulfilled the whole law.
24:49
No, no. No, you're very clear So what was the purpose of the Sabbath was to separate the Jews? Right to give them a time of rest so that they could focus on God We don't see that pushed in the
25:01
New Testament If we don't see it, in fact Hebrews says that the rest has come in Christ Jesus, so it's over That's what we do see in Hebrews so I My response would be there should be no dependence on that on the
25:17
Sabbath. I look for it. Yes I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm not
25:22
I'm not sure what I'm what I'm sure about is What Paul is trying to say here is that The Judaizers wanted the
25:30
Gentiles to behave in a certain way because they were so afraid of their liberal thinking and Judaizers were convinced that the only way to live an ethical life is if you follow these additional rules
25:41
Paul's argument that these laws are already Fulfilled in Christ Jesus therefore depending on it would mean that you that's
25:48
Christ's work is not sufficient. I Think that's what I would say Hope that helps in 26 to 29 of chapter 3
25:58
Paul talks about being in Christ He now is turning away from the uselessness of the law to the power and work of Christ and therefore what it means to be in Christ Believers have a status change and what he's saying in 26 or 29 is it's new new new.
26:14
It's a new relationship We're sons of God Adopted we're clothed with Christ and he says there's neither
26:21
Jew nor Greek Nor neither slave nor free no male nor female with the coming of Christ the loss function has come to an end
26:31
Being under the law has been replaced by being in Christ Galatians 329 and if you are
26:40
Christ's then you're Abraham's offspring Heirs according to the promise Why does
26:45
Paul say this? Because like I mentioned before the Judaizers are saying in order to be under the
26:51
Abrahamic Covenant and to be fully blessed You needed to be circumcised and observed the Torah Paul's argument is that Faith in Christ is sufficient and belonging to Christ is
27:03
What relates the Gentile believers to the Abrahamic Covenant and not circumcision?
27:09
It is what we proclaim. It's what Christians proclaim being in Christ It's a center of what we proclaim and essential in our everyday lives
27:17
We may find it easy to reject legalism But unless we understand who we are in Christ Unless we understand our new position in Christ we will revert or keep reverting back to a gnomistic lifestyle and And and Paul can't stop in verse 4 1 to 7 as he wraps up the section on gnomism
27:40
When the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son Born of woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as Sons and because your sons
27:55
God has sent the spirit. This is Galatians 4 6 God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying
28:02
Abba father So you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son then an heir through God no longer slaves
28:11
But sons to God Adopted through the person and work of Christ laws the laws
28:18
Supervisory and condemning role or not condemning role. That's not over but its guardian role is over And he goes on to say there's a certain kind of thinking that you had a
28:30
Galatia when you were not saved He said in verse 8 He says in verse 8 of chapter 4 formally when you did not know
28:37
God you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods But now that you have come to know
28:43
God or rather to be known by God How can you turn back again to the weak and worthless?
28:50
elementary principles of the world whose slaves you want to be once more you observe days and months and seasons and years
29:00
Verse 11. I'm afraid I may have labored over you in Wayne This is where Paul ends the
29:08
Galatians central theme Galatia the book has a central proposition. It's found in chapter 2 verse 15 to 21
29:15
It was Expanded in chapter 3 verse 1 to 4 11 and now he's finished the central proposition
29:21
It's it's over and the old and the way he ends it. I Fear I've labored among you in Wayne.
29:28
That's the way he ends it. He talks about his concern about them They're in turmoil.
29:33
They're confused and they are disoriented and The way he ends it
29:39
Chat verse 12 to 20. He he adds some more passion to it some more emotion
29:45
Not that this book is not already filled with passion and emotion But look at 12 to 20
29:51
He ends that section by talking by likening himself to a pregnant mother and Essentially what he says is it's like I gave birth to you or Galatians Prematurely, it looks like you needed more time
30:09
To grow in Christ. It looks like you needed more time to be in the womb So that you could understand
30:15
Christ better and that he could be fully formed in your heart Now that is a hard thing for a man to think about Isn't it getting pregnant no matter what happens in today's world
30:29
It is so hard for us to understand but it is the heart of a pastor It's the heart of an evangelist who has great concern for those who are under him
30:38
He wants them to turn and to believe in Christ and he begs them.
30:43
Stop listening to the Judaizers The importance of 21 to 31 is to be in Christ and he's saying the mystic lifestyle will eventually lead to legalism and is not required to be fully blessed and Then we go into Sarah and Hagar here.
31:02
The Judaizers are arguing that Hagar Ishmael and Paul and the
31:09
Gentiles are all related to Abraham in some kind of tangential fashion that there's no direct relationship and They're saying that Sarah Isaac the
31:19
Jews and the law which they considered very highly Would directly related to God and Abraham But Paul uses their analogy and twists it and presents it to them in another fashion
31:32
He uses it completed differently. He says who are Abraham's true descendants those who believe in Christ and in his life death and resurrection and know and believe that Christ is the only means for full and final justification the
31:51
Jews were continuing to push the Jewish law to the Christian gospel and Paul keeps pushing back and that's when
32:01
He turns his attention from no liberalism and gnomism and goes into Libertinism in Galatians 5 and 6
32:11
Paul talks about the importance of Believers understanding who they are in Christ and to be controlled by the
32:18
Spirit But here's what's so important for us to understand legalism and gnomism which eventually leads back to legalism and Libertinism all end the same way
32:37
Anybody knows how it ends up what how it looks like in the end Bob?
32:44
slavery destruction total destruction
32:52
Legalism which is works of the law libertinism, which is works of the flesh At the end of the day will only end up in total and utter destruction it doesn't
33:04
Redeem us it doesn't improve or change our stance with God It'll end up in total and utter destruction for legalism and libertinism are alike in that this is what one commentator said in that they both fail to appreciate or experience the freedom of new existence in Christ and So both result in a sorry end on the other hand the
33:34
Holy Spirit who is God himself the third person of the Trinity He counteracts legalism and gnomism the
33:42
Holy Spirit counteracts libertinism and the Holy Spirit enables the believer To live to please
33:49
God and to do good works that are beneficial to other believers Paul says this in Galatians chapter 5 or 16
34:02
And I already read this before but it's important that we keep this in our mind as we think on works of the flesh
34:08
But I say walk by the Spirit that means to be controlled by the Spirit that is that means you need to be justified
34:15
Which is a work of God that means you're fully depending on the Lord Jesus Christ and depending on the
34:20
Word of God that's what it means to be walked to walk by the Spirit and You will not gratify the desires of the flesh
34:28
For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh
34:34
For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do
34:41
But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law
34:49
Question how many of you have been married at BBC got married here pastor Mike pastor
34:54
Steve Does anybody else do anyway two of them anybody got married here? Pastor oh wow look at that.
35:04
I didn't know that see pastor Bob A hundred years ago. Yes, I thought you were like 200 200 300 years old
35:13
That's great. Anybody else who got married here. My wife and I got married here Charlie to you up and well, okay, you married them all
35:27
Okay All right Yes And there have been a few weddings.
35:33
I know Nathan you did too, right? So you guys have to let me ask you how did when premarital counseling?
35:40
Can you give me one book that they recommended assuming that those who were married here also got premarital counseling?
35:46
I know my wife and I did Can you tell me any of the books that maybe the elders sat down with you and read or questions?
35:53
They asked anything like that Anybody's bold enough to say yes.
36:00
Yes Good anything else? Any other books
36:11
What are the pastors primarily focused on? Did they give you 15 steps on how to be pure or?
36:19
hundred steps on how you should be How you should be following certain aspects of the law
36:29
May I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure pastor Bob didn't do this. But for me the elders for us my wife and I The elders made sure that we understood who
36:38
Christ is and who we are in him Yeah, there were some things that they told us about certain things that you need to be careful about.
36:46
Of course I'm not saying that's the case But if you're following the whole controversy that happened with Joshua Harris It is extremely sad to see
36:58
How many churches use that book? Has anybody read it before? Okay, we have one person who's read it
37:04
Charlie, too I read Tim Charlie's blog about it ten years ago and Tim Charlie's hit it on the on the on the spot.
37:13
What surprised me about that entire book was He pushed so many rules with almost
37:21
Little focus on Christ. Yes Christ name was used. Don't don't get me wrong It was used just like Sarah Young uses
37:27
Christ in her books But not the Christ that we know as God But it was the books were filled with rules and laws and very little on the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of cry being in Christ and the power of submitting to the
37:43
Lord It was all rules rules rules and my wife forwarded me an article this week written by an atheist commenting on what happened to Joshua Harris and This is what he said
37:58
He said I don't believe in God But I but I see this as hypocritical behavior
38:06
I saw this book as just any other worldly book and That is filled with laws and rules
38:14
When I thought even though I'm an unbeliever That Christianity was all about the person and work of Christ By the way, it's an atheist
38:26
He gets it Google Joshua Harris. He's more probably number three Anatheist gets it.
38:33
He's saying I thought Christianity was about the person and work of Christ And this whole book is dealing with the hundred rules and how you should
38:41
Think or not date. It's a good way to end, but I don't want to end with Joshua Harris.
38:51
I Looked up online to see if dr. MacArthur John MacArthur had anything to say about Galatians 5 and 6 and I'll end with this
39:02
In effect then he's Tom. He's talking about libertinism and legalism in effect then whether it be a matter of access to God a proper
39:13
Christian lifestyle or an outgoing loving expression of the Christian faith It is the spirit who both brings such things about and enables the believer to work them out in practice
39:26
There is of course Concurring activity on the part of the spirit and the believer in these matters
39:34
But nothing can be accomplished either by the works of the law or the works of the flesh
39:42
But only by reliance on Jesus Christ and the
39:47
Holy Spirit. I love it Comments or questions before we close?
39:59
Okay, let's pray. Oh Lord Jesus Christ.
40:05
I thank you and I praise you for Your amazing grace. What if you were to save based on works?
40:15
What if you did not have such a high standard? Or what if we tried to reach a high standard by ourselves?
40:25
Who could be saved? Who could be made right with you? We thank you for the sufficient work of Jesus Christ for his substitutionary death and his substitutionary obedience and for his resurrection and Today he alone is seated at the right hand of God the
40:45
Father It is in him that we have hope and it is on him that we depend
40:54
There's any here who does not know you. I pray that you would have mercy on them and grant them eternal life and for those of us who are redeemed, would you help us to submit to you more and more and even as we are
41:09
Tempted to look at ourselves and our lives and our obedience and Perhaps push our preferences and add to the gospel while we evangelize
41:20
Lord, I first asked for forgiveness and then I asked for help That you would help renew our minds that you would help us to submit to your word and submit to the
41:30
Lord Jesus Christ We pray that you would be pleased With the rest of the worship today here at BBC and that you would be honored in all our ministry