Participants: Mollie Steenson & Brian Hamilton & John Dinzey & Jill Morikone & John Bradshaw
Series Code: 17HC
Program Code: 17HC000010A
|
00:40 Happy Sabbath everybody.
00:43 Happy Sabbath! You know, first and foremost 00:45 I want to welcome all of you to 3ABN's Fall Camp Meeting. 00:50 And have we not had some of the most beautiful 00:53 weather? And the anointing of the Lord is in this house. 00:57 And so... and for all of you that are watching 01:00 or listening on 3ABN Radio 01:03 one of the most amazing things that I have discovered 01:09 about the Seventh-day Adventist church: 01:11 Hal and I have traveled a good deal 01:15 and when we were in India on Sabbath morning looking at 01:18 the Sabbath School lesson 01:20 it was the same quarterly and the same lesson 01:24 that we were studying here. When we were in Russia, 01:27 Pastor Bradshaw, it was the same thing. 01:29 So all of you from around the world, just get your Sabbath 01:33 School quarterly. We are going to have an 01:36 incredible Sabbath School today. Haven't you enjoyed 01:39 the book of Galatians? Amen! And you know, it's been exciting 01:43 and learned so much. And then next quarter 01:47 we're looking at the book of Romans. 01:48 So I'm looking forward to that as well. 01:51 Before we start our Sabbath School 01:54 I would like to introduce the panelists. 01:56 First we have to my left Brian Hamilton. 01:59 Brian, it's so good to have you here. 02:01 Good to be here. And John Dinzey. 02:04 Good to have you here. It's a great blessing to be here. 02:07 Jill Morikone. Thank you so much. It's a privilege 02:11 to open up God's Word and share together. 02:13 And everybody knows our Pastor John Bradshaw. 02:16 Pastor Bradshaw, it's so good to have you here. 02:18 Thanks, Mollie. Good to be here. Happy Sabbath. 02:20 Well Happy Sabbath to you. 02:22 Before we go into the lesson 02:24 I would like for us to open in prayer. 02:26 Now we prayed. I would almost say that 02:28 every one of you have already prayed this morning. 02:31 But I'm going to ask John Dinzey if he will please 02:34 to open in prayer this morning. 02:35 Let us pray. Our loving heavenly Father, 02:40 we thank you so much, Lord, that today 02:43 You have blessed us with the breath of life. 02:46 We thank you that we can come before You in Jesus' name 02:50 and we pray that You will bless us as we study together. 02:53 We ask for Your Holy Spirit to give us the words to speak 02:57 and we pray that in all things Your name may be glorified 03:00 and Your children edified here and around the world. 03:05 We ask for this in Jesus' name, Amen. 03:08 Amen. So if you have your quarterly 03:11 turn to the 14th lesson and also you with your Bibles 03:16 turn to Galatians and we're going to start 03:18 in the 6th chapter. 03:21 Now our memory text is Galatians 6:14. 03:25 And something that is our custom 03:27 is that we all read our memory text together. 03:31 So will you join with us, please? 03:33 It's Galatians 6:14. Let's read that together. 03:37 "But far be it from me to boast 03:40 except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ 03:44 by which the world has been crucified to me 03:49 and I to the world. " 03:51 You know, before we start into Sunday's portion 03:55 of the lesson I wanted to just kind of give us a little 03:59 foundation of why Paul wrote this letter to the... 04:03 or wrote this letter which is what we know 04:08 as the book of Galatians. 04:10 Now remember: Paul is the apostle to whom? 04:14 To the Gentiles. 04:16 Now Paul had been to a province, an area 04:19 known as Galatia. 04:22 And so he had established... It doesn't say how many churches 04:26 he had established in this area. 04:28 We know at least probably two or three and possibly more. 04:32 And Paul was an apostle. Now here is what an apostle does. 04:36 An apostle, builds, establishes, and then leaves. 04:42 Now what Paul had done was he had built, 04:45 he had established, he had appointed. 04:47 As his custom was he would appoint elders or leadership 04:50 in those churches and then he would be about 04:53 the Lord's business. He would go to establish churches 04:57 in other areas of the world. 04:59 So now, in the church there at Galatia 05:02 something started happening. 05:04 There were men that were coming 05:08 and they were teaching heresy. They were called Judaizers. 05:13 Now knowing Paul's temperament 05:16 do you think this set well with him? 05:19 It upset Paul to no end 05:21 that these men were coming in and teaching heresy. 05:26 Now here's what they were teaching: 05:28 they were teaching that these Gentile believers 05:33 couldn't be members of the church. They couldn't obtain 05:36 salvation unless on top of accepting the Lord Jesus Christ 05:42 as their Lord and Savior they were? Circumcised. 05:47 They were adding to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ 05:53 a portion of the law: 05:56 the law of being circumcised. 05:58 Now this upset Paul to no end. 06:03 And so Paul... remember this was a long time ago. 06:07 And so the way Paul had to deal with this, 06:09 the only way he could deal with this... 06:10 he couldn't just hop a plane and fly to Galatia 06:13 and get these things straightened out. 06:16 What did he have to do? 06:17 He had to write a letter! 06:19 And thank goodness, was Paul a prolific letter writer. 06:23 Now I kind of likened this to Danny Shelton. 06:28 I use him as an example quite often. 06:31 But Danny built and established 06:34 Three Angels Broadcasting Network 06:36 with the understanding that we would present a message 06:40 that would counteract the counterfeit: the undiluted 06:44 three angels' messages. 06:46 That is what this ministry was built and established 06:50 to proclaim. So let's just say 06:52 that Danny has to go somewhere else in this world 06:57 and do other work for the kingdom of God. 07:00 And he turns 3ABN on and what does he see? 07:04 Somebody teaching heresy. 07:07 Now do you think that's going to sit well with Danny? 07:09 No! Now what's Danny gonna do? 07:12 He's going to hop a plane! 07:14 Paul couldn't hop the plane so he wrote this letter. 07:19 Danny wrote a book, though! 07:22 Paul wrote letters... Danny does write books. 07:26 He's written some incredible books as a matter of fact. 07:28 So Paul viewed this heresy as an attack on the very 07:33 essence of the gospel itself. 07:36 Because what the Judaizers were saying: 07:40 the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ plus something. 07:43 Now, what does it take to become a child of the Living God? 07:48 The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! 07:50 What Christ wrought out for us at Calvary and nothing else. 07:55 Paul was incensed and he knew he had to respond 07:59 so he wrote the letter. 08:01 Now, these writings of Paul: were they effective? 08:05 They're so powerful and effective 08:08 that even the great Reformer... 08:11 Who is the great Reformer, Pastor Bradshaw? 08:14 Well there were many, but the great great Reformer 08:16 would be Martin Luther. Martin Luther! 08:18 What was he reading when he came to the realization 08:22 or the understanding of justification by faith? 08:25 What book? Well, in particular he was reading Romans 08:28 and he was also reading Galatians. Um-hmm. 08:30 Luther was reading Romans when that verse leapt off the page 08:34 at him. It came back to him as he was walking on his knees 08:36 up Pilate's staircase: "the just shall live by faith. " 08:39 So Luther was a New Testament man 08:43 and his time spent in the gospel... 08:46 You know, imagine life without Luther... 08:49 where we'd be today. Someone's going to say there was 08:51 another Luther. But imagine the church today 08:54 without that contribution. We'd be in an altogether 08:56 different place. Yes. And the message of 09:00 righteousness by faith. It's very important 09:03 to the Seventh-day Adventist church, is it not? 09:06 That's the foundation. It's foundational. 09:09 And because of Martin Luther grasping this great truth 09:14 the whole world has changed. It'll never be the same. 09:18 And we thank the Lord for that and we thank the Lord 09:21 for this letter. And I just wanted to give you a little 09:24 foundation as to why Paul was writing this letter. 09:28 Now the portion of the scripture that they are allowing me 09:31 to address today is Sunday's portion. 09:33 And it's Paul's own hand, so I want you to... 09:37 Again, we're in Galatians chapter 6 09:42 and we're looking at Paul's own hand. 09:46 Paul would dictate a letter to a scribe. 09:50 The scribe would actually write the letter 09:53 but something that Paul did was at the closing of the letter 09:57 he would always write a portion of the letter 10:01 from himself. So Galatians 6:11 says 10:05 "See with what large letters I have written to you 10:10 with my own... " What? "with my own hand. " 10:14 So you know, in looking at this 10:17 evidently he had written it large. And because we haven't 10:22 seen it personally with our eyes 10:25 or he didn't go on to explain that, you wonder 10:29 why exactly he was writing it in large letters. 10:32 But how many of you text? 10:35 Or even do e-mail? 10:37 When you put something in caps, what does that mean? 10:42 You want people to pay attention. 10:44 It's kind of like yelling with the typewriter. 10:48 So I'm going to say that for Paul to say 10:52 "Look what large letters I am using here" 10:55 it was because he was saying: "Pay attention! 10:57 I want you to look at this! " 10:59 Now Paul wrote 13 of the books of the New Testament. 11:05 How many books are in the New Testament? 11:09 Twenty seven. So he was a prolific writer. 11:14 So in the books of the New Testament 11:19 his closing remarks in these thirteen books 11:22 aren't always the same 11:24 but they're usually quite similar. 11:27 However, in his closing remarks in the book of Galatians 11:31 there are two significant differences 11:34 and I wanted to go over those differences. 11:36 The first significant difference is: 11:40 in the other letters he's very personable. 11:44 His closing remarks address specific individuals. 11:48 However, in the book of Galatians 11:51 he's polite but formal. 11:53 Now think about this: when you're polite but formal 11:56 that's not a lot of warmth going on, is it? 12:00 So you ask yourself: why would Paul be 12:03 polite but formal? The fact that those converts 12:08 that he had labored so diligently with 12:12 were turning - the way he words it is: "to a different gospel. " 12:18 Now that... he... Again Paul... Paul was a little... 12:23 he could be a little feisty, could he not? 12:26 And so he was seeing that these people 12:30 he had labored so diligently with 12:32 were turning to another gospel. 12:34 So go to Galatians the first chapter. Turn in your Bible 12:37 to Galatians the first chapter. Let's look at verses 12:41 six through eight. Galatians 1:6-8. 12:45 Paul says: "I marvel that you... " 12:50 Now he's talking to these believers there at Galatia... 12:53 "I marvel that you are turning away so soon 12:57 from Him who called you in the grace of Christ 13:01 to a... " What does he call that? 13:04 "a different gospel which is not another. 13:08 But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert 13:12 the gospel of Christ. But even if we 13:15 or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you 13:20 than what we have preached to you 13:22 let him be... " What's that word? 13:24 "let him be accursed. " 13:26 I love the Amplified Bible. I study out of that. 13:30 There was a time when I only quoted the King James. 13:33 But I started studying the Amplified Bible 13:36 so guess what started happening? 13:38 I started trying to quote the King James 13:41 and I would get King Amplified in there. 13:44 You just... whatever you see... What you behold you become. 13:48 So what I was studying that's what I started quoting. 13:51 So the word accursed: here is the definition 13:55 out of the Amplified Bible. 13:57 The word accursed... "let him be accursed... " 14:00 Anathema, devoted to destruction, 14:04 doomed to eternal punishment. 14:06 So what is Paul pronouncing on these Judaizers 14:10 that are coming to try to give another gospel 14:15 or this heresy to these men and women 14:18 there in the churches at Galatia 14:20 that he has labored so diligently over? 14:23 He is saying: Anathema, doomed to eternal punishment. 14:27 Anathema means a ban or a curse solemnly pronounced 14:33 by ecclesiastical authority 14:35 and accompanied by excommunication. 14:39 And you know, in this time 14:41 if you were excommunicated what that spoke to you was 14:44 you had no hope of heaven. 14:46 So Paul is serious about 14:49 these men that were coming and teaching this heresy. 14:53 Not only does Paul say that 14:56 "anathema... let him be accursed" in verse 8 14:59 he repeats it then in verse 9. 15:04 Paul's strong sense of justice is coming through 15:07 loud and clear. "The Word and the Word only. " 15:10 Is that what Paul was saying? 15:13 "The Word and the Word only. " 15:15 That would be sola scriptura. How many of you 15:18 hold with that? Sola scriptura! 15:21 The Word and the Word only. 15:23 It doesn't matter what your traditions teach 15:27 nor what your experience may have been, 15:31 sola scriptura... correct doctrine is all that matters. 15:36 Correct doctrine always takes precedence. 15:41 Paul cares about these deceived believers. 15:45 Were the believers in Galatia listening to this deception? 15:50 Some of them were falling into this deception. 15:53 He cares about these believers. 15:56 He does all he knows to do to get their attention. 16:00 Now the second thing that's different in this letter: 16:04 his final words are usually just closing remarks. 16:09 In this letter he continues beseeching these believers 16:14 in Galatia to turn from their foolish ways. 16:17 And he says he was doing it again 16:21 with those large letters. 16:23 He wanted these wayward Galatians to return 16:26 to correct doctrine and lay aside their heresies. 16:31 Even in the very closing of the letter 16:34 he once again addresses the issue that is so strongly 16:40 on his heart. Look at verse 15. 16:43 He says: "For in Christ neither... " What? 16:46 What is that word? 16:47 "In Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision 16:52 availeth anything but a new creation. " 16:57 The Word and the Word only. It doesn't matter... 17:01 Let me say this again: 17:03 Ladies and gentlemen: it doesn't matter 17:06 what our traditions teach us. 17:09 It doesn't matter what we may have experienced. 17:13 If it's contradicting the Word of God, 17:16 it's not the truth. Amen! 17:18 The Word is the truth. Anything that contradicts 17:22 the Word of the Living God is a lie, 17:24 and the lie - in light of the truth of God's Word - 17:28 will fall to the ground how often? Every time 17:32 in light of the Word. Sola scriptura. 17:34 This Word and the Word only. 17:36 Pastor Hamilton. OK. 17:40 Well. I have Monday's, and Monday's study 17:46 along with Tuesday's was on the subject of boasting. 17:52 Boasting in two different things, though. 17:55 Boasting in the flesh versus boasting in the cross. 18:01 And I believe Bro. Dinzey' s got the boasting in the cross. 18:05 You've got the better one. 18:08 I have the boasting in the flesh subject. 18:11 There were two different motives we'll find out 18:13 as we study these two days. 18:16 The boasting in the flesh motive 18:18 was a selfish motive. 18:20 The boasting in the cross 18:22 was a motive of love. 18:24 Two different motives; two different subjects of boasting. 18:29 So let's look at the text for Monday 18:33 and that's found in Galatians chapter 6 verses 12 and 13. 18:39 And by the way, this is the part of the book of Galatians 18:43 where Paul is wrapping things up. 18:47 And his normal practice in his letter as he wraps things up 18:51 is to be a bit "warm and fuzzy. " 18:54 You know, "Tell Sister So and So... you know, tell her 18:57 Hi or give her my love. " 18:58 Or: "I'm thinking of Bro. So and So. " 19:00 And you know, he ends his letters with... 19:04 with "warm fuzzies" you would say. 19:07 With expressions of love. 19:09 But Galatians he started out hard-hitting 19:14 and he doesn't end lightly either. 19:18 And so there isn't the "warm fuzzies" that you would normally 19:21 see in his letters. So Galatians chapter 6 19:24 and verses 12 and 13. 19:28 "But as many desire to make a good showing 19:32 in the flesh... " Did you hear that? 19:36 "A good showing. " That ought to talk a little bit 19:39 about motive here. 19:41 "These would compel you to be circumcised 19:44 only that they may not suffer persecution 19:48 for the cross of Christ. " 19:51 Another interesting little phrase there: 19:54 "May not suffer persecution. " Verse 13: 19:56 "For not even those who are circumcised keep the law 20:02 but they desire to have you circumcised 20:05 that they may boast in your flesh. " 20:10 OK... so that's the text. 20:14 Paul gives us some hints even before this 20:19 on the very same subject of motivation. 20:22 These teachers that have come in: what are their motivation? 20:25 What's in their heart? Why are they doing what they're doing? 20:29 And so if you turn to Galatians chapter 4 verse 17 20:35 there's another little hint as to their motivation. 20:39 In fact, it's pretty glaring. 20:41 "They zealously court you 20:43 but for no good. Yes, they want to exclude you 20:47 that you may be zealous for them. " 20:52 Now I'm going to do something I don't normally do 20:55 in that I'm going to read this out of a version called 20:58 The Message Bible, OK? 21:01 I don't study with this one. 21:03 It's a bit freewheeling but it's very expressive. 21:08 "Those heretical teachers go to great lengths to flatter you 21:13 but their motives are rotten. 21:17 They want to shut you out of the free world of God's grace 21:20 so that you will always depend on them for approval 21:23 and direction making them feel important. " 21:29 See... now... back to Galatians chapter 6 verse 12: 21:35 "As many as desire to make a good showing 21:40 in the flesh. " So the motive that's coming out here 21:44 is somehow to gain approval. 21:48 If they court you and they get you into their court 21:52 and compel you to be circumcised 21:54 their motive for doing it isn't that they're winning you 21:58 to the Lord... their motive is that they can boast. 22:02 They can gain approval of men or even maybe God 22:07 by what they're doing. 22:08 You see, the motive is a bit twisted there. 22:13 I'm intrigued by this: "Only that they may not suffer 22:18 persecution of the cross of Christ. " 22:22 That takes me back to Galatians 5:11. 22:29 I think that's the verse I'm looking for. 22:32 "And I, brother, if I still preach circumcision 22:36 why do I still suffer persecution? 22:39 Then the offense of the cross has ceased. " 22:43 So some of the motivation 22:45 for the pushing of the circumcision 22:49 was a motivation of not wanting to suffer. 22:54 See, Paul suffered by presenting the cross of Jesus. 22:59 That was not a popular subject to address: 23:03 the cross of Christ. 23:05 That brought persecution both from the Romans 23:09 as well as from his fellow Jews. 23:12 And these people were trying to be Christian, 23:15 stay Jewish, and not suffer any kind of persecution 23:19 as a result of it. And so that was part of the motivation 23:23 is to... You know, if you were... 23:28 if you were a convert to Judaism one of the main signs of it 23:34 for males was circumcision. 23:36 And the Romans didn't always treat people justly, 23:41 but they let the Jewish people practice their faith. 23:44 And if you could prove that you were Jewish 23:46 you were safe. 23:49 And so this was a safety issue you might say. 23:53 And so that was another motivation. 23:57 Verse 13: "For not even those who are circumcised 24:02 keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised 24:07 that they may boast in your flesh. " 24:11 It was kind of like having a trophy. 24:14 Now you folks maybe don't have this temptation 24:18 quite like some of us who are pastors or church leaders. 24:23 But there's a great temptation for us 24:26 to climb the ladder of success in spiritual things 24:31 by our trophies... the number. 24:35 "Oh, I just baptized 500 here last week! " 24:40 You know? Something like that. 24:42 Now, praise the Lord that 500 were baptized, right? 24:44 Amen! But is my motive for the baptizing 24:49 selfish for praise of men? 24:53 Or is my motive for baptizing 24:56 that souls are saved in the kingdom 24:59 and praise God for what He has done not what I have done. 25:03 But they were boasting in what they were doing. 25:07 How am I coming on time? Am I still OK? 25:10 You're OK. OK... all right. 25:12 So what had brought us to this point? 25:15 How come these, maybe outward appearing well-meaning 25:21 Jewish Christians coming into Galatia... 25:24 what was the whole history of the background of that? 25:28 Have to go back a little ways. 25:30 You think of from the time of Moses 25:33 up to the time of Jeremiah 25:37 the big temptation for God's people 25:42 was the worship of graven images. 25:44 They kept falling back into that. 25:46 You know, Moses is up getting the Ten Commandments 25:50 and what were they doing down below? 25:52 Worshiping graven image. 25:56 So when they were taken by Nebuchadnezzar 25:59 into Babylon they were cured forever 26:06 of the worship of graven images. 26:09 As I thought about that whole subject, too, 26:11 it wasn't the theology that was attractive to them... 26:17 it was the worship practice 26:20 that they were enamored with. 26:22 Think about that. 26:24 In the Christian world today 26:27 are we being enamored by the worship practices 26:32 of secularism? Entertainment industry? 26:36 And is that creeping into the church and its worship practices 26:40 today? That's almost like worshiping a graven image 26:44 you see. But they were cured of that. 26:46 When they came back from Babylon 26:49 they set up synagogues all throughout the land 26:53 and they assigned teachers, scribes, and priests 26:56 to teach. Not only reading, writing, and arithmetic - 26:59 that type of subject - but they also taught 27:01 the Word of God... the law. 27:03 They were very zealous for the law. 27:05 And that was good. 27:08 But Satan always takes the good and tries to pervert it. 27:11 And this happened again. 27:13 They began to lose sight of the purpose 27:18 of the ceremonies and the rituals and the practice 27:22 at the temple. They began to lose sight of its 27:24 meaning and actually began to look to the services 27:29 and the temple and the priests as the ticket 27:33 for salvation... instead of what they all meant 27:37 and in the Messiah that would come. 27:40 They gloried in the services; they gloried in the temple; 27:43 they gloried in the priesthood and not in the Savior... 27:47 not in the Messiah. 27:49 And so as they lost their "spirtualness" 27:51 formalism crept in. 27:54 They added laws upon laws to help us sort of keep God's law. 27:59 Man-made traditions. Jesus had something to say about that. 28:03 "The Pharisees and scribes asked Him... " This is Matthew 28:06 chapter 7 verses 5 to 9. 28:08 "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the traditions 28:12 of the elders and eat bread with unwashed hands? " 28:16 Not hygiene issues let me tell you. 28:18 "He answered and said to them: 28:20 'Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites. As it is written 28:24 these people honor Me with their lips 28:26 but their heart is far from Me. 28:29 In vain they worship Me teaching as doctrine the 28:32 commandments of men. ' " 28:35 So that's what the Jewish faith had deteriorated into. 28:40 As you come into the time of Jesus it was formalism. 28:44 It was ritual without meaning. 28:47 And so now here these Jewish people become Christians. 28:52 They accept the Messiah 28:55 but they have all this baggage of formalism. 28:57 I find it interesting God wiped all that out 29:00 in the New Testament era. 29:02 The only ritual we have is footwashing, 29:06 the Lord's Supper, and baptism. 29:08 All the rest... wiped away because He knew our tendency 29:12 to worship the service and not the Savior. See? 29:15 So that's kind of the background that was leading to 29:18 why these men were where they were at 29:21 doing what they were doing 29:22 and why Paul was resisting it 29:25 vehemently... vigorously. 29:28 And so anyway if we're to boast 29:31 let's boast in the cross... let's boast in the Savior 29:34 and not anything about what we do. 29:37 Now I have two things that I took as a... 29:41 a lesson for us today. 29:43 As we go out to present the gospel it's important 29:47 that our message is spot on. 29:51 You see, their message was not on. 29:53 They were off on their message. 29:56 But not only did we have a right message 29:58 we have a correct motive. 30:01 Amen! That's what I took from the lesson on Monday. 30:04 Very good. Pastor Dinzey. 30:09 I am blessed to talk about Galatians chapter 6 verse 14. 30:14 I think at first I started looking at it 30:17 and I said: "Well, there's really not much here. " 30:19 But as you dig you begin to see wonderful things 30:22 in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14. 30:26 Now I'd like to read this from the King James Version 30:29 and then we'll go to the New King James Version 30:31 so you can see a little difference in the translation. 30:35 "But God forbid that I should glory 30:40 save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ 30:43 by whom the world is crucified unto me 30:46 and I unto the world. " 30:49 Now when you go to the New King James 30:51 you see these words where it says: 30:54 "But God forbid that I should boast... " 30:56 Here comes the word boast instead of the word glory. 30:58 "except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ 31:01 by whom the world has been crucified to me 31:03 and I to the world. " 31:06 But we read from the lesson something similar to this. 31:10 This is from the Revised Version. "But far be it from me 31:14 to glory... to boast... " There's the word boast. 31:21 "except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ 31:24 through which the world has been crucified unto me 31:27 and I unto the world. " 31:30 When you see the words "But God forbid" 31:32 the two Greek words here are interesting because 31:36 in the King James they use the words "God forbid. " 31:40 It's really a strong declaration because the word theos 31:44 which means God is not really in the Greek. 31:48 It is two words that are trying to express strong 31:53 declaration to say something like 31:56 "Be it far from me... " "Oh, may it never be 32:00 that I should glory except 32:04 in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. " 32:07 So Paul is saying: "I'm not going to boast about anything 32:10 except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. " 32:14 And that is something marvelous to consider. 32:18 When you consider the Jewish mind 32:21 to them it was offensive to think 32:26 that the one that they expect to be the Messiah 32:31 was crucified on a tree or a cross. 32:36 To them it was a horrible thing 32:39 because you read in Galatians - earlier in Galatians - 32:43 and it's Galatians chapter 3 and verse 13: 32:48 "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law 32:52 being made a curse for us for it is written 32:55 'Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. ' " 32:59 So the scribes and the Pharisees 33:02 they were very happy that Christ was crucified 33:06 on a cross because it was a message to the believers 33:11 in Christ: "This man is cursed. " In other words 33:15 there's no possible hope for the person hung on a cross. 33:21 They are lost; no way to redeem them from that. 33:24 So they were trying to discourage the followers 33:27 from continuing to follow Jesus. 33:30 So: "Cursed be anyone that is hung on a tree. " 33:34 So... But Paul is saying: "Boast in the cross? " 33:39 Now what was it to the Roman mind? 33:42 The Roman mind thought that dying on a cross 33:45 was such a horrendous, horrible thing 33:48 that a Roman citizen was of such dignity 33:51 that even though he committed horrible, heinous crimes 33:56 they would not put him to death on a cross. 34:00 This was reserved for those that were not Romans. 34:04 So it was a horrible, horrible way to die. 34:07 I don't know if you've ever looked into dying on a cross. 34:10 But it was a horrible horrible death; a slow, torturing death 34:15 that would normally take days. 34:18 And you're hung on a cross. Imagine that you're 34:22 somewhere hot. You've been somewhere hot Pr. John Bradshaw. 34:27 And there are insects coming at you and you can't 34:31 do anything about it. Your hands are nailed to a cross. 34:36 You can't do anything. 34:38 So it was a horrible horrible way to die. 34:41 And as you slowly began to die you imagined 34:44 the animals become interested in your death 34:46 because that means a meal is coming. 34:49 So it was a horrible horrible way to die. 34:51 And so... But Paul says: "God forbid 34:55 or far be it from me that I should boast! " 34:59 Let's talk about boasting for a moment. 35:01 I don't know if anyone here has ever boasted. 35:06 But people talk about things they are happy about 35:11 and they rejoice about or they... 35:14 you know there's a verse that says something similar to 35:17 "Pride cometh before destruction and a great fall. " 35:20 "A haughty spirit... " yeah... "before a great fall. " 35:23 I remember when I was much younger 35:26 way back on the horizon before... and the horizon was 35:29 the falling of hair... and my hair was black. 35:33 Now think way back. Not too way back because I'm not 35:36 that old... but there I was a teenager 35:39 and we were doing some exercise... some exercises 35:42 in this place. And we were lifting our legs 35:47 in some way and I said: "Hey, I'm pretty good at this! " 35:51 "I'm doing really good at this! " 35:54 And I was looking at the others. I said: "Boy, I'm doing better 35:56 than they are! " And some people taking a tour came in 36:00 and for some reason I said: "I'm doing good; they're 36:03 going to see me. " And I started doing it a little fancy 36:06 and my foot slipped - the one that was on the ground - 36:10 and there I went: blap on the floor. 36:14 Now what do you think happened to me at that moment? 36:18 I was not as happy as before; 36:20 I was not as rejoicing as before. 36:21 My boasting became an embarrassment. 36:25 So for us as Christians 36:30 boasting should not be a part of our experience 36:32 either by words or by actions 36:35 because people lose sight of Christ. 36:40 And we remember the scripture that says: 36:43 "Let your light so shine 36:46 that they may see your good works 36:48 and glorify your Father which is in heaven. " 36:52 And so this is what we should do. 36:55 Our words and our actions should glorify our Father 36:59 which is in heaven. 37:00 Now I'd like to go to this part about the cross. 37:04 Oh... the cross. And what was really Paul talking about here? 37:10 Was he just talking about the cross itself? 37:12 The instrument upon which Christ was crucified? 37:15 No, he's talking about Christ dying on the cross: 37:20 the atoning sacrifice of Christ 37:23 which means salvation unto everyone that believes. 37:28 Because the Bible says that "God so loved the world... " 37:32 So when you think of Paul saying that I should boast 37:35 but in the cross you have to think that he's talking about 37:39 Jesus Christ dying on the cross for his sins. 37:43 For my sins... for your sins. 37:45 And so when we think of the cross we see... 37:48 think of Jesus dying on the cross we see 37:50 a God that loves us so much - 37:54 so great is this love - 37:57 that He's willing to give His Son 38:00 to rescue us from condemnation of sin 38:04 and from the wages of sin... which is death. 38:06 Christ took our place. WE should have been on that cross. 38:11 We DESERVE to be on the cross but Christ took our place. 38:16 So that's why Paul is able to say 38:19 "I can boast in the cross of Jesus Christ. " 38:24 And THAT is something to really boast about! 38:27 And so we can tell the world about Jesus. There's a song 38:32 that says: "Take the world and give me Jesus. " 38:36 Take the world and give me Jesus. 38:39 The early Christians really didn't look for attention 38:44 to themselves. They looked to bring people - people's eyes, 38:48 people's thoughts - to Jesus Christ: 38:51 the Author and Finisher of our faith. 38:54 Because the Bible says that there is salvation 38:59 in no other name but Jesus. And they knew that. 39:04 There's no salvation in the sacrificing of animals. 39:08 There's no salvation in any other name under heaven. 39:14 There are some people that name certain names and 39:17 I'm not going to go into that because we have very little time 39:21 but the only name by which we can be saved 39:23 is Jesus Christ - Amen! and Him crucified. 39:29 Because if you take out from history the fact that Christ 39:34 died on the cross to save us 39:36 you might as well blot out the sun... 39:39 take the sun out of the sky. 39:42 And then there will be no light to shine upon this earth. 39:45 This earth will be complete darkness. 39:47 And this earth still has light and grace because Jesus 39:52 died on the cross for us. Amen! 39:54 And that's why you and I have hope today. 39:57 That's why you and I can say 40:01 "Lord, forgive me for my sins. " By looking to the cross... 40:05 The Father looks... When a sinner comes to the Lord 40:09 the Lord looks at the sinner 40:11 but looks at Jesus dying on the cross for the sinner 40:16 and we can be accepted as the Bible says 40:19 "in the beloved. " And that's why the worst - 40:23 the worst, the very worst - if you consider yourself the worst 40:26 there's hope as you look to Jesus. 40:30 And I would say to you that it is far better 40:34 for us to look to Jesus than to ourselves. 40:37 "By whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. " 40:42 So this is a decision every one of us has to make. 40:45 We talk about the flesh. 40:48 Some people boast in the flesh and their accomplishments. 40:51 But Paul is saying... When he says 40:55 that the world is crucified to me he's talking about 40:58 the flesh... the desires that this flesh may have 41:01 for the world. And that's why I go back to 41:04 you take the world but give me Jesus. Amen! 41:07 And I want to encourage you to continue 41:10 looking unto Jesus; the Author and the Finisher of our faith. 41:13 And we need to remember 41:17 Luke chapter 9 verse 23. 41:20 What did Jesus say in Luke chapter 9 verse 23? 41:24 Jesus said: "if any man will come after Me, 41:28 if anyone wants to follow Me, 41:29 let him take up his cross daily 41:32 and follow Me. " And this is what we all need to do. 41:37 Every day take the cross to crucify self 41:42 and follow Jesus. 41:44 And as we follow Jesus the closer we come to Jesus 41:46 the closer we realize that He died to save us 41:49 the closer we examine this subject of Jesus 41:54 dying on the cross for us 41:56 the more we will lose sight of self 41:59 and our accomplishments and our great things. 42:02 The more we talk about Jesus the better it is for us. 42:07 And I would say to you that the more you talk about Jesus 42:11 the more the holy angels draw near 42:14 and you will have an atmosphere of heaven wherever you go. 42:19 Amen! Wherever you go. 42:20 I would like to finish with this scripture 42:23 that we should know: 42:25 Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8-9. 42:27 "By grace are we saved and that not of ourselves. 42:34 It is the gift of God. " 42:36 And I would like to add the next verse just the first part: 42:38 "Not of works lest any man should boast. " 42:43 Let our boasting be about Jesus. 42:45 Let our glorying be about Jesus. 42:48 And let... the Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 23: 42:52 If anyone wants to glory let him glory in the fact that 42:55 God is saying that He "knows me and understands me. " 42:59 So I want to encourage you to look to Jesus 43:02 and lose sight of self. Look to Jesus 43:05 and find hope and salvation. 43:08 Amen! Thank you so much, Pr. Dinzey. 43:11 What a blessing! Hasn't this study in the book of Galatians 43:14 been an incredible blessing? I know it has ministered 43:18 to my heart and in my own walk with Jesus. 43:21 I think I have, Pastor Bradshaw, the best day of everybody here, 43:25 and that is not boasting. 43:27 I have "A New Creation. " 43:30 To me this is the most incredible topic! 43:33 The gospel is all about change. 43:35 The gospel is about God taking us 43:37 from the depths of sin and despair, the slime 43:41 and the pit and the mire of that 43:44 and pulling us out, cleaning us up, 43:47 justifying us, standing us before the Father 43:50 in right relationship with God 43:53 and transforming our lives. 43:56 Making us into the image of Jesus. 43:59 I have one verse here for Wednesday, A New Creation. 44:02 That's Galatians chapter 6 verse 15. 44:06 It comes right after what Pastor Johnny shared. 44:08 "For in Christ Jesus 44:11 neither circumcision nor uncircumcision 44:14 avails anything but a new creation. " 44:19 You know, it's incredible to me 44:21 because Paul in the book of Galatians... and we have talked 44:26 this on the panel and the entire quarter has been about 44:28 this. He has really dwelt on this subject of circumcision. 44:32 And we could say as New Testament Christians 44:35 "Well why is he getting hung up on circumcision? " 44:37 But you know what? Within the SDA church 44:41 we have some pockets... we have some things that 44:45 could be caught up in the same thing. 44:47 Believing that I am justified by faith 44:49 but I have to add some works 44:52 instead of understanding that we are justified by faith, 44:56 by grace through faith alone. 44:58 And nothing I do or don't do 45:02 can ever merit or earn any salvation. 45:05 So the message in the book of Galatians 45:08 is not just for the Galatian church. 45:10 The Judaizers came in and taught them that. 45:12 It's for you and it's for me. 45:15 This passage: "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision 45:19 nor uncircumcision avails anything but a new creation. " 45:23 Paul talks about it three different times. 45:26 There's three parallel passages 45:28 where he mentions circumcision and uncircumcision 45:31 do not avail anything. 45:32 We want to take a look at them and then we want to look 45:34 at how we can become a new creation. 45:37 So the first passage is one chapter back. 45:40 We're in Galatians 5:6. 45:43 Turn back just one page: Galatians 5 verse 6. 45:47 "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision 45:50 nor uncircumcision avails anything. " 45:52 You see that parallelism. 45:54 It's the same thing we just read in chapter 6 verse 15. 45:57 But this is different. It says: 45:58 "But faith working through love... " 46:02 It reminds me, Bro. Johnny, what you just read. 46:04 Ephesians 2:8-9: "By grace we are saved 46:08 through faith. " Let's jump down to verse 13. 46:12 Because some people say Paul's gospel is all about 46:16 freedom in Christ because we're talking about justification 46:19 and he doesn't focus on any of those works aspects. 46:23 Let's look at verse 13. 46:25 "You brethren have been called to liberty 46:28 only do not use liberty as an opportunity 46:32 for the flesh. " He's bringing some balance here. 46:35 "But through love serve one another. " 46:40 In the Greek there's a word added that's not here 46:42 in our English translation, and it's the word the. 46:45 It says: "through the love... " 46:48 indicating God's divine love... "serve one another. " 46:54 The word for serve in the Greek is the word 46:56 that would come from doulos meaning slave. 46:59 Through love - through God's love - 47:02 we're not called when we're freed. 47:04 We're justified. Paul says "you're walking in freedom. " 47:07 We're not called to stand in freedom and to do 47:10 whatever we want. 47:11 We're called to have God's divine love in our hearts 47:16 and then in turn serve other people. 47:20 Serve our brothers and sisters. 47:22 It's... The essence of the gospel is self-sacrificing love. 47:26 From the manger to the cross Jesus - His whole life - 47:29 He lived to bless other people. 47:32 And His whole life was about self-sacrifice. 47:35 You think about sin. It originated in heaven 47:38 with Satan with self-seeking. 47:42 But the character of God is the exact opposite: 47:45 self-sacrificing love. 47:48 The second one... We looked at the first parallel 47:50 "In Christ Jesus. " This is Galatians 5:6. 47:53 'Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything 47:56 but faith working through love. " 47:58 The second one was the passage we actually had for today. 48:01 That's Galatians 6:15. 48:03 "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision 48:06 avails anything but a new creation. " 48:10 Now that word for new in the Greek 48:13 means new, fresh, of a new kind, unprecedented, 48:18 unheard of. 48:20 You know... Have you ever met someone and all of a sudden 48:23 you say, you haven't seen them in a long time 48:27 and then you come back and you see them again 48:29 and you think: "Something's different about you. " 48:32 "There's something different. You used to do this. 48:36 You used to act this way. 48:38 You used to have this dark countenance 48:41 and all of a sudden I see Jesus... 48:44 I see a transformed character. " 48:47 When God gets ahold of you you know what happens? 48:50 He changes you completely. 48:52 We don't even look like the same person 48:55 we used to look like. 48:56 We are changed completely. 48:58 Those old habits, those old addictions, 49:01 that old way of thinking, 49:03 the old man of sin is put to death 49:06 and the new person comes out. 49:08 That reminds me of II Corinthians 5:17. 49:12 "If anyone is in Christ, he - or she - 49:15 is a new creation. " 49:17 The same word for new there. 49:18 Completely new, unprecedented, unheard of. 49:22 "Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become 49:26 new. " Now let's look at the third parallel passage. 49:29 We're going to I Corinthians. I Corinthians chapter 7. 49:38 I Corinthians chapter 7 verse 19. 49:42 "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision 49:46 is nothing. " The wording's a little different 49:48 but it's the same principle. 49:50 He's saying the circumcision or the uncircumcision 49:53 is not the point here. But what is? 49:56 It says: "But keeping the commandments of God 49:59 is what matters. " Now Miss Mollie, when I first 50:02 look at that I think: "OK, keeping the commandments 50:05 of God... Paul is bringing in a different concept. " 50:08 He has been saying what matters: "Faith working through love; 50:13 serving other people, self-sacrificing love; 50:16 a new creation. " And now all of a sudden 50:19 he says: "I'm talking about the law. " 50:22 Keeping the commandments. Let's take a look. 50:26 Galatians 5... jump back to Galatians. 50:30 Galatians 5 verse 14. 50:32 We read verse 13 just a few moments ago. 50:34 Let's look at verse 14. 50:36 "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, 50:41 even in this: you shall love your neighbor 50:44 as yourself. " I think of I John 4:8. 50:47 "Whoever does not love does not know God 50:50 because God is love. " 50:53 The Ten Commandments are a transcript 50:56 or a picture of God's character. 50:59 And God is love. 51:01 So when Paul says here in I Corinthians 7:19 51:04 "Circumcision is nothing 51:06 and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments" 51:09 what is he saying? We are to represent 51:12 the character of God and God is love. 51:16 All three of these passages have the same import 51:20 and the same meaning. Now let's look in our remaining time 51:22 at how are we to be transformed. 51:26 You might be at home today 51:27 and you might be saying: "You know what? 51:30 I don't even want to be changed. 51:32 I like where I am right now. " And you know, Pastor Johnny, 51:35 I've done that. I remember once getting in a discussion 51:38 with my husband. It was a discussion. 51:41 And I was thinking: "You know what? I really don't 51:45 want to change. I know I'm in the right and things are... " 51:49 "You know, he needs to change. " 51:52 And I kind of wanted to wallow in that. 51:54 I don't know if you ladies have ever wallowed in something 51:57 like that? I wanted to wallow in that 52:00 like: "OK, I know I should be changing. 52:03 I know I should become a new creation 52:05 but I kind of like sitting where I am right now. " 52:08 Sometimes we don't have the desire 52:11 for a new creation or for a change. 52:14 And sometimes we have the desire but we have no power. 52:18 "God, I'm in addiction. " "God, I'm enslaved in sin. " 52:21 "God, I can't change... I want to but I can't. " 52:26 There is hope for you today. 52:28 Philippians 2:13... one of my favorite scriptures. 52:32 "It is God... " Not me; not Pastor John 52:36 or Pastor Johnny or Pastor Brian or Mollie or any of you. 52:39 "It is God who works in us both too will and to do 52:42 of His good pleasure. " Amen! 52:44 The word in Greek for will is desire. 52:47 So if I don't even have the desire to change - 52:50 if I'm wallowing in my funk - 52:52 what happens? God says: "I can give you 52:54 the desire, Jill, to ask for forgiveness... 52:57 to get out of what you were in. " 52:59 It... that's the first word. "It is God who works in us 53:03 to will... " That is, to desire... 53:04 and to do... " Do in the Greek is power! 53:07 God knows we don't have the strength to change ourselves. 53:11 We come to Him: He gives us the power. 53:14 So how do you and I become a new creation? 53:17 I think three things. Number one: ask. 53:20 Number two: accept. 53:22 Number three: allow. 53:24 Ask. Ask for His forgiveness. 53:27 I John 1:9. "If we confess our sins, 53:30 He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins 53:33 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. " 53:37 Ask for forgiveness. 53:39 Ask for Him to enter your life. 53:42 Revelation 3:20. "Behold, " He says, 53:44 I stand at the door. I'm knocking. 53:47 If anyone will open the door I will come in. " 53:50 Why don't you open up your heart to Jesus? 53:53 He's not going to force. He never forces. 53:55 Love does not force. 53:57 But He says: "Open up the door and I will come in. " 54:01 First step to becoming a new creation is to ask 54:05 for His forgiveness and ask for Him to enter your life. 54:08 Number two: accept His gift of salvation by faith. 54:13 Accept it. It is a free gift. 54:16 Grace means we get what we don't deserve. 54:19 He takes our penalty; He takes our sin 54:22 and He gives in exchange for that eternal life. 54:26 His righteous white robe. 54:29 Number three: allow Him to change you. 54:33 Surrender to His control. 54:36 Allow Him to do that work in you. 54:39 Let Him transform you. 54:40 One of my favorite scriptures: Romans 12:1-2. 54:43 "I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God 54:46 that you present your bodies a living sacrifice 54:50 wholly acceptable to God which is your reasonable service. 54:54 And do not be conformed to this world 54:57 but be ye transformed... " 55:00 Hold onto that word... 55:01 "by the renewing of your mind 55:03 that you may prove what is that good and acceptable 55:05 and perfect will of God. " 55:07 The word transformed in the Greek is metamorphosis. 55:11 God wants to change us from a caterpillar to a butterfly. 55:15 Real quick: Greg and I were... He loves nature... 55:19 And one morning he said: "Jilly, come look outside. " 55:21 And there was a caterpillar attached underneath the porch 55:24 railing - our front porch - and he was spinning his cocoon. 55:28 And every day we went out and we peeked. 55:31 Still there. We peeked. 55:33 Still there. On Sabbath - there has to be a lesson with that - 55:37 on Sabbath Greg said: "Jilly, hurry and come outside. " 55:41 And I looked outside and the butterfly was coming out. 55:45 That exemplifies the transforming grace of God: 55:50 what He does in your life and in mine. 55:53 How He changes us. 55:55 We wallow on the ground like a caterpillar. 55:58 We crawl in the dirt and the mire of sin 56:01 and He, by the power of His Spirit, 56:04 changes us and we come out as a butterfly. 56:08 By beholding Him. II Corinthians 3:18. 56:12 "We all with open face beholding as in a glass 56:15 the glory of the Lord are transformed... " 56:17 The same word metamorphosis... 56:19 Are changed. We're changed by beholding Jesus. 56:22 We're changed by the washing of the water of the Word. 56:26 We're changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. 56:30 So I don't know about you all today and you at home: 56:32 I want to become a new creation in Christ Jesus. 56:36 Amen! 56:46 I'll have the closing prayer now. 56:59 Would you say amen out there? Amen! 57:02 All right... Galatians 6. Thank you, Jill. 57:06 Verses 16 through 18. 57:08 This is the final stanza here. 57:12 Paul has written almost six chapters to the people 57:15 in Galatia and then he says: 57:18 "And as many as walk according to this rule... " 57:22 You understand what he's saying now. 57:24 The verse before that: "In Christ Jesus neither 57:27 circumcision availeth anything 57:29 nor uncircumcision but... " The butterfly! 57:35 "but as many as walk according to this rule... " 57:37 Notice what Paul is doing here. 57:40 He's pretty uncompromising in this letter to the Galatians. 57:43 "As many as walk according to this rule peace be on them... " 57:46 In other words, if you don't walk according to this rule, 57:49 no peace on you. 57:51 "and mercy and upon the Israel of God. " 57:54 "From henceforth let no man trouble me 57:57 for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. " 57:59 Then he signs off: "Brethren, 58:01 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits. " 58:04 And he writes: "Amen. " 58:06 I'd like to review with you where we've been this quarter 58:08 in the book of Galatians. I can't review in depth. 58:11 This is just grazing across the surface, but I'm hoping 58:14 it will bring us down to our final three verses 58:18 here at the end of the book of Galatians. 58:20 Paul begins and he says: "I marvel... " 58:22 "I'm just amazed. " "I'm astonished 58:26 that you've left the gospel that I gave you 58:28 and you've embraced something else which quite frankly 58:31 isn't even a gospel. " 58:33 This is very straight language. 58:35 Paul is determined to help them see the seriousness 58:40 of their situation. 58:42 They have stepped off the platform. 58:45 See, here's what I maintain: 58:46 I maintain that when you step off the platform of the 58:49 truth of God's word you've just stepped into quicksand. 58:51 And there's no telling how far you're going to sink 58:55 or how far you're going to drift. 58:57 But you are going to sink and you are going to drift. 59:01 There's only safety in the Word of God. 59:04 See, there are some people who figure that they're smarter 59:06 than God. The first evangelistic series I ever held... 59:09 I cannot tell you where it was 59:11 because you might figure some things out. 59:13 If you know where it was then you're home and house. 59:17 First evangelistic series and I was preaching about 59:19 the 2,300 days very enthusiastically. 59:22 And a man of some great experience 59:24 came to me and he said: 59:26 "I used to believe that. " 59:28 He was a church member. "I used to believe that. " 59:32 And I looked, you know... I was still a little green. 59:36 Wasn't used to men of experience telling me 59:39 they used to believe the truth. 59:41 Said: "I used to believe the truth but I don't believe that 59:43 any more. I've studied and I've learned some different things. " 59:48 I said: "Man! You have to be 59:53 intelligent! You must be smart. " 59:58 And he first... First he took it as a compliment. 01:00:04 He said: "Well, I am a doctor you know 01:00:06 and you know... " I said: "No, no... really. " 01:00:09 "Ellen White believed this. 01:00:12 James White believed this. 01:00:15 J. N. Loughborough believed this. 01:00:17 John Nevins Andrews believed this. 01:00:19 Uriah Smith believed this. 01:00:21 The General Conference president believes this. 01:00:24 Evidently you know more than they do! 01:00:26 You must be smart. " 01:00:31 You know, he stopped and reflected on that 01:00:32 and then I think he figured out what I was getting at 01:00:35 and I figured out it was time for me to get out of there. 01:00:42 When you decide that you know more than the church 01:00:46 you'd better be right. 01:00:49 You're not... you are wrong! 01:00:52 But when you know more than the Bible commentary 01:00:56 and the Biblical Research Institute 01:00:59 and the church... Now I don't want to sound like 01:01:00 those folks where I came from that said: "Well we have 01:01:02 the magisterium and we dare not think otherwise. " 01:01:05 But my goodness, think of the hubris it takes 01:01:08 to think that you know more than the church. 01:01:12 That you know more than what's been revealed to us 01:01:14 in the Spirit of Prophecy. 01:01:15 That you know more than the collective wisdom 01:01:17 of everybody in your congregation. 01:01:19 Here were some people who knew more than the rest of the church 01:01:22 and for reasons that seemed good to them 01:01:26 they decided they would step off the platform 01:01:29 and Paul said: "I marvel! I'm astonished! " 01:01:33 He spoke as was spoken earlier 01:01:36 "Let these people be anathema 01:01:38 who don't believe the true gospel. " 01:01:40 And then he talked about his own credentials as an apostle. 01:01:43 He said: "I received these revelations. I didn't confer 01:01:45 with anybody. I got what I got directly from God. " 01:01:49 You understand the pressure he's putting on them here. 01:01:52 "What I got I got from God. 01:01:55 Where did you get what you got? 01:01:57 And what do you have that can possibly be better 01:02:01 than this revelation that I received directly from 01:02:03 the Almighty? " 01:02:05 So Paul kind of lays into them right from the start. 01:02:08 It's not until chapter 2 that he gets to the point 01:02:11 of circumcision. And he starts to say 01:02:15 or he says in Galatians chapter 2 01:02:17 "I received the gospel of uncircumcision. " 01:02:23 That's a really strong term. 01:02:25 "This gospel message that I have, the gospel of our Lord 01:02:29 and Savior Jesus Christ: it's the gospel of uncircumcision. " 01:02:33 "So what do you have? It cannot be the truth... 01:02:37 it cannot be right. " He talks about the time 01:02:39 in verse 11 he withstood Peter to the face 01:02:43 because Peter was in error, you know. 01:02:46 And I want to look with you 01:02:47 in chapter 2 starting from verse 16. 01:02:51 Let's look there. 01:02:53 Galatians chapter 2 verse 16 01:02:56 Paul says: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works 01:03:00 of the law... " He's talking about circumcision as the works 01:03:02 of the law. You're not justified that way. 01:03:05 "but by the faith of Jesus Christ... 01:03:07 even we who have believed in Jesus Christ... that we might 01:03:11 be justified by the... " What? "by the faith of Christ 01:03:15 and - what's that next word - "and not by the works 01:03:18 of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh 01:03:22 be justified. " Paul is really clear here. 01:03:25 You think this is a talk about circumcision. 01:03:30 It's not... it's about justification. 01:03:32 Wait! It's about salvation. 01:03:34 Let's take it a step further: it's about the gospel. 01:03:36 Paul's saying: "The gospel is at stake here! " 01:03:39 It mattered to him. This was Luther before 1517. 01:03:42 This was Luther before the castle church. 01:03:45 This was Luther long before the 95 Theses. 01:03:50 Luther was defending the gospel. 01:03:52 He wasn't attacking the church; he was defending the gospel. 01:03:56 He knew: "Ah, you could let the church teach whatever it wants 01:03:59 to teach but the church would be robbing people of the gospel 01:04:02 and we cannot let that happen. " Amen! 01:04:04 So Luther stood up and said "The people must know the truth 01:04:07 of the gospel. " 01:04:08 And Paul was doing the same thing here in Galatians. 01:04:11 "You've got to know the truth of the gospel. " 01:04:13 He goes on and he says in verse 20: 01:04:17 "I am crucified with Christ 01:04:19 nevertheless I live. 01:04:22 Yet not I, but... " What? 01:04:24 "Christ liveth in me. 01:04:26 And the life which I now live in the flesh 01:04:29 I live by the faith of the Son of God 01:04:32 who loved me and gave Himself for me. " 01:04:35 In contradisention to people who are living by 01:04:38 the works of the law, the works of the flesh... 01:04:40 whether it's circumcision or anything else. 01:04:43 Paul nails this! "I am crucified with Christ. " 01:04:48 So was he talking about circumcision? 01:04:49 He's talking about the gospel; 01:04:51 he's talking about justification; 01:04:52 he's talking about grace. 01:04:54 For he goes on and says: "This is how desperate 01:04:58 your situation is, Galatians. " 01:05:00 "I do not frustrate the grace of God. 01:05:03 If righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead... " 01:05:09 How? "in vain. " What you're doing is negating 01:05:13 the death of Jesus Christ 01:05:15 when you say that righteousness must come by 01:05:19 a work... a work of the law, a work of the flesh. " 01:05:22 Again, and Jill spoke to this eloquently when she said 01:05:25 "All right, we may not be hung up on this issue 01:05:27 but, boy, Christians today have their own issues. " 01:05:30 You know it's right to eat right. 01:05:32 It's right to dress right. 01:05:34 It's right to tithe right. 01:05:35 It's right to worship right, but you are not saved 01:05:38 by any of those things. 01:05:39 Once you are you become a foolish Galatian. 01:05:43 Dress as right as you can... modesty's important. 01:05:45 The world's forgotten that, but a uniform doesn't get you 01:05:47 through the gates. Amen! Eat as well and as healthily 01:05:51 as you can. That's good for you... that's GOOD for you! 01:05:54 But the road to hell is paved with egg substitute 01:05:59 and fake meat. 01:06:05 It's right to eat right, but the minute you think 01:06:08 you're better than anybody else 01:06:10 or closer to God or you've somehow earned favor with God 01:06:14 man, that blessing's turned into a curse. 01:06:17 You've got the right day. Well, congratulations. 01:06:20 The people who nailed Jesus to the cross had the right day. 01:06:24 But if that right day is being carried about by a person 01:06:27 who's still mean and hateful and angry and bitter and critical 01:06:29 and unconverted, that right day is going to come back 01:06:32 and bite you in the judgment. God's going to say: 01:06:34 "You had all this light... what did it do for you? 01:06:36 You didn't allow it to sanctify you. " 01:06:39 Because the truth is some- thing that will sanctify us. 01:06:42 Now I don't know but I think the clock here at 3ABN is faulty. 01:06:48 It goes extraordinarily fast! 01:06:52 So let me hasten on a pace. 01:06:54 Paul say in Galatians chapter 3 01:06:55 how do you get the Spirit? How do you get it? 01:06:57 And he talks about Abraham. Oh, he's appealing now 01:07:00 to the father... that's father Abraham. 01:07:03 He's appealing to... You know, if anybody knew anything about 01:07:06 circumcision it was Abraham. 01:07:09 And he goes back and he says: "Abraham 01:07:12 was made righteous by faith. " 01:07:15 He said: "If you've been baptized, 01:07:18 then you've put on Christ" he says later on in chapter 3. 01:07:22 He says: "There's no more Jew nor Greek, 01:07:23 bond nor free, male nor female. " 01:07:26 You've got to be careful how you toss that verse around. 01:07:28 Of course distinctions still apply but in Jesus you're one. 01:07:30 There's no advantage in terms of salvation 01:07:33 being one or the other... the other or the one. 01:07:35 We're all one in Christ Jesus. 01:07:37 And in Romans chapter 4 he says... sorry, Romans... 01:07:40 Galatians chapter 4 he says: "You've gone back to the weak 01:07:43 and beggarly elements. " 01:07:46 Man oh man, he couldn't have made this any stronger 01:07:50 if he could have. "You all have enslaved yourselves. 01:07:55 Why are you going to back to these things that are 01:07:57 worthless? " 01:07:58 Justification comes from God; what is grace anyway? 01:08:04 We are not saved by the works of the law. 01:08:08 And the Galatians weren't just saying 01:08:11 "You know, we prefer to do this. " 01:08:12 If you were to confer with your doctor when your baby boy 01:08:15 is born and say: "We just think this is right for our family. " 01:08:18 "No harm done. That's OK... no harm done. " 01:08:20 Paul wasn't saying this is some- thing that a Jew or a Gentile 01:08:23 should never ever do. 01:08:24 He's simply saying that "Now that you all have elevated 01:08:27 to the status of justification and righteousness and right 01:08:31 standing with God... Ah, we have a problem then. 01:08:34 That's not right. " 01:08:36 He appeals to them: "Have I become your enemy? " 01:08:39 Knowing by the time he gets to Galatians 4:16 01:08:42 he probably is their enemy now. 01:08:45 In Galatians 5:1 he appeals: "Stand therefore 01:08:49 in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free 01:08:52 and don't become entangled again with the yoke of bondage. " 01:08:57 Listen: when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior 01:09:00 and you repent of your sins 01:09:02 you call on Him to fill your heart with His presence: 01:09:05 that's salvation. And you may say: "But I'm not 01:09:08 the finished product. " Look around you. 01:09:13 I'm not the finished product. 01:09:15 That's why we grow in grace. 01:09:18 We grow in grace. We grow in grace towards the kingdom of 01:09:22 heaven. Certainly we're not the finished product. 01:09:24 And if you ever look in the mirror and say: 01:09:26 "Huh... I think I'm the finished product" 01:09:29 then you are deceived and you are deluded. 01:09:33 And now what you've said is: "Thank you, Jesus, for getting 01:09:36 me this far but I've got it from here. " 01:09:38 "I'm the finished product. " 01:09:39 "Let me run to the finish line; I can do this now. " 01:09:41 "Thanks so much for your help. " 01:09:43 Oh, we need Jesus desperately... desperately. 01:09:46 And Paul was saying: "Justification comes by grace. 01:09:49 By grace! Don't frustrate the grace of God. 01:09:52 Through faith, faith in Jesus, I have been crucified 01:09:55 with Christ, nevertheless I live. " 01:09:57 He talks about that beautiful salvation experience 01:09:59 that Philippians 2:13 elaborates on. 01:10:03 Where Jill quoted that beautiful, most powerful verse 01:10:06 of scripture. He says to these people: 01:10:09 "Christ has become of no effect to you. " 01:10:11 Can you imagine that? Of no effect to you. 01:10:15 So we'll look at these last three verses. 01:10:18 Paul says in verse 18 of chapter 6 01:10:23 and not chapter 3... verse 18. 01:10:25 Sorry... verse 16. 01:10:27 "As many of them as walk according to this rule 01:10:29 peace be on them. " That's the rule. He's... 01:10:32 He's clear about that. He says... I like this: 01:10:36 "From henceforth let no man trouble me. " 01:10:41 "I don't want to be bothered about this any more. " 01:10:44 I don't know if this is frustration coming through. 01:10:46 I don't know. Sounds a little bit like it. 01:10:48 I wouldn't charge him with that. I would say this is 01:10:50 just straight talk. "Let's not go over this ground any more. " 01:10:54 "Let's not bother with this any more. " 01:10:57 "For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. " 01:11:00 You know, the lesson asks a really interesting question. 01:11:05 The lesson says essentially 01:11:08 what has following Christ cost you? 01:11:13 You know, you could be living in a place 01:11:15 where you've lost your family 01:11:19 to be in the church. 01:11:21 You could be living in a place 01:11:23 where you lost your job... lost your life. 01:11:26 There are some countries where people escape across the border, 01:11:31 get baptized and they go back and they don't tell anybody 01:11:34 what they've done because if they did 01:11:37 they'd be executed. 01:11:39 What did Paul say in Romans chapter 8? 01:11:46 Just powerful: Romans chapter 8. 01:11:50 "For I reckon that the suffer- ings of this present time... " 01:11:52 verse 18... "are not worthy to be compared 01:11:55 with the glory which shall be revealed in us. " 01:11:58 I want to say this just very briefly. 01:12:02 For us... we're not suffering for Christ. 01:12:05 You know in India where they drag you out of your home 01:12:07 and maybe burn you in some villages 01:12:10 or in Iran where they'll take you and stone you, 01:12:12 in Egypt where they'll destroy your business 01:12:14 and run you out of town 01:12:17 yeah... that's suffering. 01:12:19 But for us... You know, you lost a job. Look at you. 01:12:23 You're well fed... you're OK. 01:12:25 There's someone who's in a snit with you. 01:12:28 You know, that's OK. Paul was stoned. 01:12:30 The marks that he wrote about in Galatians chapter 6: 01:12:33 he was stoned, he was beaten, he was whipped. 01:12:36 And he was able to say: "I reckon that the sufferings 01:12:39 of this present time are not worthy to be compared 01:12:42 with the glory that shall be revealed in us. " 01:12:44 Amen! Paul said they're really not much. 01:12:48 He said: "He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up 01:12:51 freely for us all, how shall He not with Him also 01:12:54 freely give us all things? " And then go on and read 01:12:58 late in Romans 8: "Who shall separate us 01:13:02 from the love of Christ? " It's powerful! 01:13:05 Paul's message was clear; 01:13:07 Paul's message was a message we ought to take on board. 01:13:10 Paul's message - God's message to us 01:13:12 today in the context of this lesson is Christ. 01:13:17 Thank you, Miss Mollie. Amen and amen! 01:13:19 And you know, our prayer for each one... 01:13:22 In Galatians 6:1 Paul says: "Brethren, if any man 01:13:26 be overtaken in a fault... " Our prayer 01:13:29 for each one of you and each one of us 01:13:32 is that God will "search me, O God, and know my heart. " 01:13:35 Isn't that where everyone is saying things can be hidden 01:13:39 is in our heart. "Search me, O God, 01:13:40 and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts. 01:13:43 See if there be any evil way in us 01:13:45 and lead us in the path everlasting. " 01:13:47 Would you like for that to be the prayer 01:13:49 over your life today? You know, we are about to take 01:13:52 a 15-minute break. First, I want to thank all of you. 01:13:55 You did an incredible job. 01:13:57 But we will be back here in the 3ABN Worship Center 01:14:02 in fifteen minutes. 01:14:03 And we're going to have Little Richard with us. 01:14:07 So in the meantime you that are viewing 01:14:09 or listening to 3ABN on media 01:14:12 we have Tim Parton that's going to be playing 01:14:15 some beautiful music. So we don't want you to go anywhere. 01:14:18 We'll be back again. I believe it's going to be two minutes... 01:14:22 or, pardon me, 17 minutes and 9 seconds. 01:14:26 We will be right back. In the meantime 01:14:28 God bless you; we love you. |
Revised 2018-02-22