Book of Galatians - Ch. 2, Vs. 11-Ch. 3, Vs. 29 (06/24/2001)

We're honored to have Jackie and Andrew something -or -other here with us.

He's going to be speaking in the morning and afternoon. All right.

Galatians 2 .11. But when

Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was to blame.

We have Peter making a mistake. Although this will answer the question whether the

Jew is still under the Mosaic Law as we go through this mistake.

Far before that certain came from Judea, from...

Let me start over. Far before that certain came from James.

Now, the first church had James. They didn't have churches in every town as we find.

But Peter did eat with the Gentiles. This was strictly forbidden by the old

Mosaic Law. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

Paul was a great one to stand for what he believed. And for those in leadership that were believing wrong, he...

Well, look who's coming in. Glad to have you with us.

And other Jews disassembled with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

Joy, what's dissimulation mean? Dennis, what's dissimulation mean?

Verge, what's dissimulation?

You thought what? Well, it could have been all of that.

Tell them, Diane. Well, it's all of that.

Alright, hypocrisy. He, dissimulation is changing, moving away from what you once avowed and now you're not.

And he did this in front of Paul. This split the church, affected the fellowship and homes and business.

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel,

I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the

Gentiles, and do not as the Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as the

Jews? His first question was, why are you doing this? You're not doing what you were doing yesterday.

Let's take, let's put some words in Peter's mouth. This is not scriptural, this is something that could have happened.

But Peter saw that Paul ate with the

Gentiles. And in eating with the

Gentiles, he noticed that he was, they had a pork roast. And Peter, after the supper, he followed him outside and said,

Paul, I see that you were eating with the Gentiles. He said, yes.

And you were eating pork. He said, that's right, boy, it's good, you ought to come join us.

So, the next meal, Peter sets down to some pork chops.

And very, very hesitantly, he took a bite of the pork chop.

Well, he told Paul, he said, this is good. Boy, what are they going to have the next meal?

So, Paul invites him to come back. And they had a pork roast.

And Peter was just eating away. But the next meal, breakfast.

Now, this was, he made it through breakfast, ham and eggs. And then we come to the noon meal.

Peter rushes in, he's going to get a seat at the Gentile table. But he sees out of the corner of his eye some people from the

First Church. And he just zips right on by and walks around the room and over and sit down at the

Jewish table, like that's all what he intended to do in the beginning. Poor Peter.

He did not do right. We who are Jews by nature and not sinners as the

Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Now, he has included in that verse, we have been saved by the blood of Christ.

And there is no works that will justify you. No works at all.

Peter knew this, but he was for fear of the James gang.

He decided to not eat with the

Gentiles. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Does faith, does works produce faith, or does faith produce works?

Do works produce faith, or does faith produce works?

Faith produces works. Then, why couldn't it be works produce faith?

Dennis? Alright. Does faith exercise you, or do you exercise faith?

Greg? Do you all agree with that?

Does anybody agree with that? Do you know what

I ask? Does faith, do you exercise faith, or does faith exercise you?

Say again. The faith of Christ is given to us. Alright.

If it were the other way, you could call faith up anytime you wanted. That's not true.

You cannot exercise faith just when you want to. Faith of Christ imputed to us so that we can exercise faith in him.

The faith of Christ is imputed to us.

Let's go back in our history, I don't know how long ago, a year ago.

What does impute mean? Roger? Alright.

Jesse, what's impute mean? Alright. What you said was, what all of you said was right.

Impute is that it's credited to your account, but you don't own it. But you're held responsible for it.

You're a steward of it. For if I build again the things that I destroyed,

I make myself a transgressor. What's Paul talking about here? If I build again the things which

I destroyed. Dennis? Alright.

Alright. Turn to Hebrews 8, 18. Greg, will you read 18 and 19, please?

Hebrews 8. Well, once again,

I've messed up. Let me read it, whatever it is. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto

God. It's only by the blood of Christ. For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto

God. I, therefore, the law.

For I, therefore, the law, am dead to the law. Paul says, I'm dead to the law.

Was the law dead to him? Joy? No, that's what

I said. I'm asking you the question again. He's not dead to the law.

Well, that's true. He's dead to the law. But is the law dead to him? Alright.

The law is not dead to him, but he is dead to the law. He cannot ignore the moral law that's written in our hearts.

Romans 6 .11, I hope I got that right. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto

God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, but that you should obey it in the lust thereof.

Let not your sin reign in your mortal bodies. Let is a bookkeeping term.

It means you can do it. You'll have to do it. Every day you have to fight the battle. It's not once for all.

It's continual. John 1 .3

.22, And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him. Because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

And this is his commandment. That we should believe on the name of the

Son, Jesus Christ. And love one another as he gave us.

In those two verses, you have the embodiment of the whole law.

Look at this. John 3 .22, And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him.

Because we keep his commandments. Plural. Commandments.

There's an S on the end of that word. We keep his commandments. Now, can you literally every day keep his commandments?

You yourself. Verge? No. Well, and this is his commandment.

Singular. That we should believe on the name of his

Son, Jesus Christ. And love one another. We keep his commandments. Plural.

By keeping the commandment. Singular. So that means who keeps them?

Who kept them? Jesus Christ kept the commandments.

We keep them in the eyes of the Father. By being in him.

All we have to do is keep the commandment. Now, I say that's all we have to do.

It's not that simple. It's a battle every day. So I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless

I live. I'm crucified with Christ on the cross, but I'm alive.

Now, Diane, how can that be? All right.

That's right. All right.

Now, I am crucified with Christ. That's a death. Separation.

Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

And the life which I now live, in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.

Who loved me and gave himself for me. So Paul said in that verse, I died when

Christ died, I resurrected when he resurrected, and I am in him forever.

It's no longer self -centered. It's now

Christ -centered. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then

Christ is dead and vain. If righteousness come by the law, there would be no need for Christ.

But there was a need, because righteousness does not come by the law. There is no salvation for a sinner who depends in the least upon works.

There is no salvation in a person that depends upon works, or the idea that they must make the first move as a means of gaining salvation.

I had a Baptist preacher in this town. Tell me, yes, salvation is of the

Lord, but we have to make the first move. How can you?

You can't. Morality declines with the decline of faith.

Is that true? Morality declines.

You know, we in this church, you sitting there, we live a good conservative life.

But according to my grandfather, it's a liberal life. According to his grandfather, it was ultra -liberal.

Yet we consider ourselves fundamental and conservative.

O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

You've been bewitched. What does that word mean? Andrew?

That's right. You've been made to see something that doesn't exist. How many of you ever did that?

No one? Did you know that in the darkness of night you can stare at one position long enough and you'll see something move?

This is perfect. It's a good job. Bewitched.

Bacchathio. To speak ill of one. To slander. Trance. To bring evil on one by foregoing praise.

Or an evil eye to charm or bewitch. O foolish

Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes

Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you.

Now, the word evidently. Not Russell.

You sat right back there. I'll get it in a minute.

Roger. Now, I forgot the question. What does the word evidently mean,

Roger? Alright.

Prografo. It's the same as you posting a public notice. It's seen you.

Posted before people. Two, three, two.

This only what I learned of you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

That's a good question. Paul says, did you receive what you have by the works of the law or by faith?

The world reasons from experience to truth. As you went to school, you were experiencing truths and finally you learned it.

The word of God reasons just exactly opposite. You have to believe it to know it.

The word hearing refers to an act of hearing a message or to the message that is heard.

Here, in this verse, it is the second.

This only what I learned of you. Received you the spirit by the works of the law or by hearing of faith?

By the hearing of faith. Are you so foolish?

Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Well, if works are no good, they cannot for salvation.

They cannot promote you into salvation. Works cannot complete that which it did not start.

Then are you made perfect by flesh? By the law? No. Do you spend your time going to church every time doors are open?

Do you feel guilty if you don't go? It's a flesh.

This is a flesh. If you feel guilty because you didn't go, it's a flesh.

Do you think people are going to hell if you do not tell them about Christ? No. No, you have to do nothing to go to hell just like you do nothing to go to heaven.

If you think that you saved somebody by giving them the message, that's a flesh.

Now, you give them the message, you may have assisted in bringing them, but it's

Christ that gives out salvation. Can you make yourself perfect by what you do or what you do not do?

No. No way. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Without the law coming first, as it did, we would never have known sin.

Do you get the full impact of that? Without the coming of the law.

That's why the law had to come first. To make us aware of sin. What if there had been no law?

Diane? Like the stop sign. When the stop sign says 35 miles an hour, we just drive any mile an hour we want.

And all of a sudden that sign pops up, 35, and we recognize this is the law and we go 35 miles an hour and we go.

There's consequences all right. The law is the sign of that to come.

Romans 7, 18. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.

For to will is present, but how to perform that which is good

I find not. And he can't find it in the flesh. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please

God. Romans 8, 8. They that are in the flesh.

Romans 14, 23. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat.

Because he eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Anything not of faith is sin. Second Timothy 1, 9.

He who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus, before the world began.

So, Virg, before there was ever a world, he gave this to us.

He accepts nothing that is not of him. He gave you salvation.

Now when you come along, the time is right to be born. You're here. He expects back that salvation.

Galatians 3, 4. Have you suffered so many things in vain, if it be in vain?

He, therefore, that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

He, therefore, that preaches to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you.

Does he do it by the law or by the hearing of faith? How does faith come?

By hearing. All of you heard about it. Faith comes by hearing of the heart.

And only if that's a new heart given to you by God. You cannot hear the word unless you're subscribed to the service.

You cannot hear it unless you are in Christ, unless you have heard of Christ.

You hear it with an ear of understanding after you're saved. Even as Abraham believed

God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know you, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are children of Abraham.

We are the children of Abraham. Not according to the flesh, but according to the

Spirit. Genesis 15, 6.

And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. Again, I have to ask, he believed in the

Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. What was it that was righteousness?

Belief or faith? Faith. He counted it, faith, in God for righteousness.

You cannot have belief as righteousness. And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through the law preached before the gospel unto

Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. The Scripture foreseeing.

Here we have the Scripture personified. The Scripture foresoe. Made no difference what the man saw as he wrote it down, but the

Scripture predicted the Gentile to be saved. So then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham along with faithful Abraham.

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written,

Cursed is everyone that continueth not in things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Everyone in this world that is not saved is under the law.

If you're not in Christ, you're under the law. And what does the law demand?

Death. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident.

For the just shall live by faith in our believing the cause or the consequences of our salvation.

The just shall live by faith. What does that mean by the unjust? They're under the law.

They're under a curse. The unjust are under a curse. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them.

The law cannot be by faith because it was a law. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying,

Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? The Jew at that time, my voice is about to give out, the

Pharisee, the Jew, we'll say Pharisee, predicts the

Jew, thought that what is it that I must do to be saved?

I have to do something. Stand on my head, crawl three miles on my knees.

I must do something. What did

Jesus answer him? Roger?

Well, that's true, but that's not what he answered here. No. Do what?

All right, and what was that? That's right.

Believe God. Believe God is all you can do. And that belief comes how?

He gives us the belief. Philippians 129. To you it is given, the belief.

Not only the belief, but suffering. He gives you the belief to believe.

You couldn't believe unless he gave it to you. That's right.

That's right. You just cannot. 13.

Jesus hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree, that the blessings of Abraham might come on the

Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Brethren, I speak after the manner of men. That simply means I'm going to talk like man to man now.

Though it be a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto.

If you have a contract with somebody, and you have agreed to the terms of the contract, and both of you sign it, one of you cannot change it.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds, as of many, but as of one.

And to thy seed, which is Christ. This promise was made to Christ.

You're in Christ. Romans 4, 13, for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not in Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

How do we know it was not through the law? Well, that's true, but this promise was given to Abraham.

How do we know it wasn't given through the law? Who's talking?

All right. Before the law. Some 400 years or so before the law.

And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was before 430 years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect.

The law was given 430 years afterwards. There's no way that the law is retroactive.

He cannot back up and control what was given to Abraham long before the law.

For in the inheritance, if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

He didn't have to give it to him. This was voluntary on God's part.

Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of our transgressions, our sins, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.

And it was ordained by angels in the hand of the mediator, in the hand of a mediator. Now, what was the reason of the law?

Transgressions. What is transgressions? Sin. So it was given because of sin.

You would never have known sin if the law had not been given. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

Is the law then against the promise of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

It's plain to see, since righteousness did not come by the law, then the law cannot bring salvation.

Is the law then against the promise of God? No. It supports it.

But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

Now we have the word all. What does the word all mean here?

All mankind. What's that mean? Jesse? Well, the 22nd verse.

But the scripture hath concluded all under sin. All human beings.

All of them are under sin. Is that not true? Absolutely. That the promise of faith by Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

To them. Who's them talking about? Us. Us 'ns might be given to his people because they believe.

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

Does the law remove or reveal sin?

Reveals it. Without revealing the sin, you'd never know you sin. So you see why the law had to come first?

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

This word schoolmaster is not teacher. The law was a schoolmaster.

It was the slave that took care of the young people, children, babes, until that slave could lead them to the schoolmaster.

The law was a schoolmaster. But after that faith has come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster.

Among the Greeks and the Romans, the name was applied to trustworthy slaves who were charged with the duty of supervising the life and morals of boys belonging to the better class.

The boys were not allowed so much as to step out of the house without before arriving at the age of manhood.

So the schoolmaster looked after them, kept them. The word kept,

I saw the 23, 4.

But before faith came, we were kept under the law. Kept, what's the word kept mean?

It's a military term. Guarded, protected, secure, everything.

So you, me, all of us were protected and kept and provided under the law until he notified us.

There was no way you were going to die before that. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

The Greek there says, for all sons of God, ye are through the faith in Christ Jesus.

For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. Now there's a good old

Baptist word, baptized. What in the world does it mean as used here, Greg?

What? Alright, read baptized as being placed into.

There's no water here, it's spiritual. Romans 6, 3, know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death.

We started our Christian walk in death, in Christ. He died on the cross.

We were placed in him at his death. There had to be a death to get rid of that old doulos, the old bond servant to Satan.

We were a servant of Satan. And it's called doulos, the

Greek word for that particular servant. We were free from that.

There had to be a death, you remember. Doulos means you're a bond slave and nothing can separate that unless you or your master dies.

So in this case, you had to die. And you did in Christ.

Christ died in the flesh. There is neither

Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond or free, there is neither male or female, for you all are one in Christ.

Among the Jews, there was a great disparency between the men and the women.

A man could shave his head, rend his clothes in the time of morning. A woman was not permitted to do that.

A man might betroth his daughter. A woman had no such power. The woman could not assemble with the men in the synagogues.

But under the gospel, they have equal rights. And if it be

Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

You are of Abraham spiritually. The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

Well, we'll stop there for today. Anything from anybody?