Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14801 - Jesus Has Set Us Free - Galatians 1:1-5

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#14801 - Jesus Has Set Us Free - Galatians 1:1-5 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bibles, would you?
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To Galatians chapter 1, Galatians chapter 1, and I've
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been taught our Bible study today.
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Jesus has set us free. Or you can say Jesus has set you
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free. I can say that, or you can say
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Jesus has set me free. And that is the theme of the
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book of Galatians. It's always exciting to start a
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brand new book of the Bible, to start studying it as a church
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where we open up to the very first verse.
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We start in verse one and we're going to work our way through
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all six chapters, verse by verse, chapter by chapter.
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We may even pause along the way to look at a word to focus in on
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an important topic. But over the next few months,
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our studies, and I would say the next few years, our studies will
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take us through 5 of Paul's letters.
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We're going to look at 4 prison epistles written in a Roman
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prison, starting with this one in Galatians.
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That which was not written in prison, many people believe it
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was written in the city of Antioch.
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Remember the new headquarters for the Gentile church.
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But Paul, he takes pen in hand and writes to the churches in
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Galatia because false teachers had come in and troubled them
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and distracted them and confused them.
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Galatians was written was the 1st letter that Paul wrote again
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from Antioch. The other letters we're going to
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be looking at is Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and
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Philemon that were written in a Roman prison.
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But many believe Galatians was written first around AD
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50515253. In that range, there was an
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urgency in the heart of Paul to send this note to the churches
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as Paul had established. Remember on his first missionary
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journey, Paul had established and planted these churches.
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And when you think of churches in the area now, Galatia is a
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region, not a city. So there are many different
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cities in the region of Galatia, which happens to be modern day
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Turkey today, a large area. He planted churches.
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They weren't huge churches. They were small gatherings,
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maybe like house churches. 10:20 30-40 people spread out in that
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region. The letter isn't addressed to
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one church, but to many, even including ours.
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And something horrible happened. Something horrible happened to
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the believers, a group of Jewish believers.
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If you're taking notes, you can jot it down.
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We already met them. They are the Judaizers.
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These are the ones that followed Paul around and try to ruin his
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ministry, tried to undermine his ministry.
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As soon as he left the Galatian region and the churches there,
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as he established them, these Judaizers, Jewish believers,
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came in and corrupted the message of the gospel.
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They tried to add to it, warping it severely.
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The Judaizers were undermining the authority and the teaching
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of Paul, and they demanded that the Gentile believers keep the
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Mosaic Law in order to be saved. So the issue that Paul is
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dealing with in the letter of Galatians is no small issue.
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It's very significant. You know how we use that phrase
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that we in some things or even in most things, we need to learn
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to agree, to disagree or disagree agreeably.
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This is not one of those areas that we can disagree on when it
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comes to salvation. It's not what you think and not
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what I think. It's what God thinks and it's
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not debatable. There's only one way of
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salvation and it is not by works.
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It is by the grace of God. Let me show you.
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Turn over to the Ephesians. We'll get to Galatians soon
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enough, but turn just over to the right to Ephesians chapter
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2. This is the very essence of
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salvation, which brings us to the place where we're thinking,
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man, I wonder if the Judaizers were even saved.
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And you really need to call into question their salvation in
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relation to what they were teaching.
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Because notice in verse 8 of chapter 2 in Ephesians, it says
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for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
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yourselves. It is what does your Bible say?
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It is the gift of God, not of what does your Bible say works?
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It's not of works, lest anyone should boast.
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Salvation is thoroughly a work of God and not of your own
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works. So a way to say that, and we'll
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get into that when we study Ephesians, but a way to think of
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that is this. You are saved not by good works,
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but for good works. There are works in life that
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comes out of us, but that's not how you're saved.
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And you remember the Judaizers really narrowed it down to one
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thing for the Gentile believers, for the male Gentile believers,
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and that was if you want to be saved, you have to be
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circumcised. And you go like, whoa, slow
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down, slow down. That's the old covenant.
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In the new covenant, that's not a requirement for salvation.
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You can't even keep the Mosaic Law.
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So if that was a requirement for salvation, nobody would ever be
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saved because the law doesn't save you.
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It reveals the need that you need to be saved.
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And we'll get into all that in our future studies.
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What these men did is they brought in organized religion.
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They replaced relationship with religion.
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And if you're taking notes, there are always 3 Rs related to
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organized religion that you want to watch out for.
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Number one, there are rules to follow.
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Secondly, there are regulations to keep.
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And thirdly, there are rituals to practice and they were
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bringing in their rules that you must follow and they were
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bringing in their regulations that you must keep, and they
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were bringing in their rituals that you must practice in order
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to be saved. And that's the key because in
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and of themselves, rules to follow, rules aren't bad.
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Rules are very healthy. They define relationship in in
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life. God says, hey, you know, these
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are the rules. These are the this is how our
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relationship is defined. This is how I want you.
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I am God and this is how you relate to me.
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In and of themselves, rules are not bad.
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I mean, when in the top 10 commandments, when it says do
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not steal, that's not bad and don't lie, that's not bad.
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It becomes bad when it is a religious expression in your
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mind to say I must do this in order to be saved.
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The alternative is no, you do it because you are saved.
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You desire to please God. Regulations and of themselves,
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they're not bad rituals. I mean, we have rituals here at
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this church. We have regular religious
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rituals. I'll give you one right now.
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You have a ritual that on Sunday mornings you show up to a
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particular building for worship at a particular time.
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That's a ritual. That's not bad in and of itself.
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It would only be bad if you go, hey now, are you a say, are you
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saved? Are you born again?
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And you would say yes. And I would say why?
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And you would respond, well, because I go to church every
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Sunday. That would be bad.
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You're not saved because you go to church every Sunday.
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You go to church every Sunday because you were saved.
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It's the other way around you, you know, we read a Psalm
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together. That's a ritual we have in our
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church where we open our Bibles together.
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We stand and we read together the Bible.
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That is not, that's not a bad thing.
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Reading the Bible is a good thing.
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It becomes bad when it's a religious expression, when that
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is the way you relate to God, where you measure your own
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goodness and righteousness by your behavior.
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That is where it becomes bad. And Paul, he's upset and he's
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frustrated and was even personally hurt to see the
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church hurt. And that makes sense.
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He should be upset. Any good pastor, any good leader
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should be upset when the people that he serves are taken
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advantage of, when the people that he serves are lied to, when
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the people that he serves are take, you know, they're being
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fed a false teaching and they believe it.
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He should be upset. He he's looking at them and he
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said, I, I need to correct this. I can't go there, but I can
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write a note. And it's true.
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You know, the Galatians, they were fickle.
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We know in Acts chapter 14, you know at 1 moment they want to
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worship Paul and Barnabas. On another moment they're
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stoning Paul. They're fickle.
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So they've got ears that are itching and they're listening to
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different people, but still, it still hurts.
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Any pastor that would see their church hurt by false teaching or
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getting taken advantage of should be hurt and frustrated
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and have an emotional experience.
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So Paul takes his pen in hand and he begins to write a letter
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to them. Galatians is known as the Magna
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Carta of Christian Liberty. We're going to learn a lot about
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freedom in Christ. We're going to learn a lot about
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grace and the importance of grace and how it's accessed
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through faith. Paul will lay out a beautiful
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picture of the believers justification by grace through
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faith. That technical word that we
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studied many years ago in Romans will come up again now in
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Galatians justification by faith.
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Notice with me Galatians chapter 3.
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We will get to chapter 1 eventually, but again, this
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introduction is going to lay a long foundation for all of our
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future studies. So notice in chapter 3, verse
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11, it says, but that no one is justified.
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Or some of your Bibles might have a note declared righteous.
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Nobody's declared righteous. Nobody's in a right relationship
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with God. Nobody is justified.
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And another way to remember the word justified is to think of it
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just as if I never sinned. That's the declaration of God
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over your life through the blood of Jesus Christ.
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He sees you just as if you never sinned.
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You are cleansed and you are washed by the blood of Jesus
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Christ. No one is justified by the law
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in the sight of God, He says, for the just shall live by
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faith, a very important truth. This is a quotation directly
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from Habakkuk chapter 2 that just shall live by faith.
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It's repeated again in Romans chapter one, verse 17, and we
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learned it and studied it in depth when we were in Hebrews
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chapter 10, verse 38. It's a powerful truth that a
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person, a man or a woman is saved, brought into a right
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relationship with God, declared righteous, justified not by
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works, not by the law, but by faith.
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It's a powerful verse. If you believe that one truth,
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it'll revolutionize your life. It changed the life of a man
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that might be familiar to you, a man by the name of Martin Luther
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the father, one of the fathers of the Protestant Reformation.
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He's reading along, moving along, and his religious
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experience works and being taught that he's justified by
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works. And he starts to read his Bible
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and he sees this and he goes, this is amazing.
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And it stirred up in him such a tremendous desire to see this
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truth lived out that he launched the Protestant Reformation.
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It transformed another man that's more familiar to you from
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our recent studies. It transformed a man by the name
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of Saul, Saul of Tarsus, who was on his way to Damascus breathing
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in murders and breathing out threats in his life.
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This verse transformed him. It took Saul of Tarsus and
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transform them into Paul the Apostle and it can transform you
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as well as you learn to live by faith.
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It'll bring a radical change in you as you fully realize and
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recognize the blessing of a faith relationship with Jesus
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that just shall live by faith, not by rituals, not by rules,
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not by regulations. As we go through our study in
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Galatians will be reminded on more than one occasion that it
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seems to be a little easier to live by lists.
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Some of you are list people and you would just like to know
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you're a newer believer or you've been walking with the
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Lord for a while. Just like I just want to know
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what to do pastor. I just want to know what are the
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what, what things and if I had a list already ready for you to
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say, OK, I have an answer to that.
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Here are 10 things that you should do the rest of your life.
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You know what that would make you?
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It would make you a list follower.
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That's all you would care about. Number one, number two, number
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three, Oh, I didn't do #4 what a horrible person.
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I'm #5 number three, Number one. All you would pay attention to
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is a list. I would be creating in you.
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I would be a poor leader if I gave that to you.
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I would be creating in you now a relationship with a list instead
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of a relationship with the Lord as He leads and He guides.
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That's the kind of freedom that you experience by grace.
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You live by faith, not by lists. You live by faith, not by rules.
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And Paul will make that abundantly clear in our study in
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Galatians. Let me give you a couple
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outlines if you're taking notes, just a different couple
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different angles of how to look at this book, what it might be,
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and I'll outline it for you. The first one is chapter 1 can
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be seen as Paul's reception of grace, where he got it.
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He's going to explain where he learned the doctrine of grace #2
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Paul's presentation of grace, where he now will reveal in
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chapter 2 how he presented it and how he's teaching it in
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chapters 3 and 4. This is Paul's instruction on
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grace. He's going to give the doctrinal
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support of where grace comes from in the Word.
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And then the final chapters, chapters 5 and 6, Paul's
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application of grace. Now, what do you do?
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Now that you've learned something, what do you do?
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And by the way, you're going to notice a shift in our teaching
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because for the last many years we've been studying the book of
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Acts, and the book of Acts is known as narrative.
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It basically when you're reading Acts, it just says they did
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this, they did this, they went here, they went there.
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And as a pastor, you teach through narrative, and you're
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just kind of following along with them and you're digging out
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from what they're saying and what they're doing, the
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doctrinal points. We've shifting gears now away
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from a portion of the Bible known as narrative now to a
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portion of the Bible known as epistles or letters.
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And the epistles and letters are more, and you might want to jot
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this down, it's a fancy word, but I'll explain it to you.
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The epistles and letters are more didactic, didactic.
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That word just means teaching. They're much more doctrinal and
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usually the letters are split in half or close to half, where the
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first part is very doctrinal, explaining the substance behind
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the teaching, and then the second-half is applicational.
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You have to train yourself because we are more.
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We are attracted to action before doctrine because it just
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is easier. I want to do something because I
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love God, but I don't really need the doctrinal support of
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it. But the Bible says I want you to
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understand why before the what, and that's what the letters will
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do. You're going to understand the
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why before the what. And that's why Paul ends with
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application. Here's another way, an outline,
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another way to look at it. And this is in three sections.
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Chapter 1 and 2 are personal. Paul gives his own experience
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with the gospel and the gospel of grace #2 Chapters 3 and 4 is
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doctrinal, and that is the biblical explanation for grace
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over legalism. And then chapters 5 and 6 are
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practical, personal, doctrinal, practical.
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Where now? How is your life changed by
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grace and how are you to live it out?
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In Galatians, Paul will warn against abandoning the gospel
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for a fake gospel. He will uphold the significance
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of grace. He will teach us the real reason
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for the Mosaic Law, that none of us are saved by law.
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And finally, Paul will make sure that we understand this because
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it was once said, if a pastor teaches grace properly, then
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there will be that sense where you also need to explain that
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grace doesn't equal permission to sin.
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And Paul will make that clear because if you're thinking,
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well, if I have freedom and this, this thought is very
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prevailing in the especially in the Western church, but I think
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all the way across the board. And that is, well, if God does,
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for if God Forgives and he does, and if I confess, he'll forgive
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and he will. And if the blood of Jesus Christ
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cleanses me from all sin, past, present and future, then I can
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just sin all I want and just ask God to forgive me.
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And that would be a wrong application of the doctrine of
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grace because the wages of sin is always death.
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Sin is always going to separate you from God.
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It's always going to harm you. It's always going to wreck you.
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And so grace doesn't give us permission to sin.
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It actually motivates us to stay away from sin when we think of
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all that God has done for us. OK, chapter one, verse one,
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Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through
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Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and
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all the brethren who are with me to the churches of Galatia.
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Now you know when you're writing a letter how you usually start
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with dear so and so and then you write the letter and at the end
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you signed your name sincerely or you know, best regards and
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then you sign your name. In the ancient days they did
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just the opposite. They signed the letter 1st and
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that's why Paul starts with his name.
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I want you to know, as you're opening this letter, it's coming
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from me, Paul. And then he identifies himself
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as an apostle. As he's writing, Paul opens his
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letter with a with a predictable opening his name.
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But then he addresses himself as an apostle, which is interesting
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because in his other letters he would often refer to himself not
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as an apostle, but as a servant. Paul, servant of the Lord, a
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Doulos, a willing servant, a joyful servant of the Lord.
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He would do that in Romans chapter 1.
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He would do that in Philippians chapter 1, but here in
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Galatians, because his authority was being undermined and his
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authority was being challenged. He wants just everyone to know
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I'm writing to you. This is Paul and I'm an apostle
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and it's important. Now if you're writing in your
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Bible, you want to circle the word apostle.
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It's the Greek word apostolos, ASP or APOS T0L 0S apostolos.
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When you have the word apostle in the English, this is known as
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a transliteration. All that means is they took the
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Greek word and they just made it English.
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That's it. Because what you're reading
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right now in the Bible, those of you that are new to the Bible in
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the English, you're reading a translation of the original
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language in the New Testament, starting with Matthew all the
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way to Revelation. The New Testament was written
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originally in the common modern day Greek of the 1st century
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known as the Koine Greek. The Old Testament was written
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originally in the Hebrew language.
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Today we have a translation into the English.
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And this is a transliteration of the word apostolos.
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Another word that we do that with that's pretty common is
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baptism. The Greek word for baptism is
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baptizo. And so they couldn't find an
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English word for it, so they just tried to call it as close
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to the Greek as possible. This word has two meanings.
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In a broad general sense, the word apostolos means messenger.
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It means someone that's sent. In the 1st century, it was used
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to describe a messenger who was sent from a king.
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He was representing a king with the King's message.
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So in a very generic and broad sense, it describes a believer,
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all of us, someone who's sent by God, every single one of us
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could say that we are one sent. We are apostles in the general
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sense, but in a very strict sense.
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This word is used in the New Testament to describe 13 people,
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13 people. You remember there were 12
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apostles following Jesus, minus Judas and the addition of one.
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Now there's debate on who that 13th is, but I fall on the
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conclusion that Paul was the 13th apostle and in the
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strictest sense, these 13 have the capital, a apostle.
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There are no apostles in the strict sense today.
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There are no apostles on the earth.
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The qualifications for an apostle is that you had to see
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the risen Christ. There is no one today that is
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seeing the risen Christ or have authenticating signs and
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miracles and we're with Him. There have not been apostles
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like that since no one would qualify today.
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There is no such thing biblically as Apostolic
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succession where it continues on now 2000 years ago, someone can
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say today I'm an apostle just like those apostles that were
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with Jesus. That doesn't exist today.
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There are no apostles today in the strictest sense.
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There's no one on the earth speaking with Apostolic
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authority, even though there are many today that say they are.
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And you need to understand this. This is very popular in a whole
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segment of the church today where there are many today that
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claim to be apostles, but it's not biblical.
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You'll hear people on the radio, on church, on YouTube, on TV, on
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on X on Facebook, Instagram, all over the place claiming to be an
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apostle speaking with Apostolic authority, but they are not.
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It doesn't exist. What they're trying to do is
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place themselves in a higher authority than you.
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They're trying to take upon themselves titles and positions
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that do not belong to them. You can jot it down, but I think
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Paul was writing about this group of people when he wrote in
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Second Corinthians Chapter 11. In verse 13 he says that such
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are false apostles and false and deceitful workers transforming
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themselves into apostles of Christ.
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And not recognizing this truth is what got the Galatian
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believers in trouble. They accepted this authority.
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They accepted this false authority of this Judaizers that
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weren't apostles at all and began to listen to them.
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Paul says that Jesus is the one who appointed him, and the Bible
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tells us in Hebrews chapter 3 that Jesus is the apostle
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capital A. He is our Chief Shepherd and our
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Apostle Paul's authority came directly from God and not man.
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Those who desire, and this is important for you to realize in
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our current day construct, that those who desire to bring people
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under a legalistic religious bondage will often magnify and
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amplify authority. They'll make that the big deal.
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They'll lead with authority. They'll lead with titles.
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I am not going to ask for a raising of the hands or any
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agreement today, but I wonder how many are listening to me
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here and also online or on the radio that that have ever worked
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for someone that always emphasized their authority and
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title. And they were very hard to
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follow because they weren't leaders.
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They were just saying, you go, how do you know how, how did how
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did you know that they were always at well, because they
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would go around the office and say, I'm the junior, junior,
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junior, junior, junior supervisor now and you must
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listen to me. They're like, come on, bro, you
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were just working with me yesterday.
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Like, come on, you. They gave you authority to take
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out the trash. That's all you got.
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Now, you know, we were doing this job together and now you're
24:59
the junior, junior, junior, junior supervisor.
25:02
All right. And while they may have some
25:05
kind of position, they lost relationship because now they're
25:09
not connected with you anymore. Instead, between you and them is
25:13
authority. And they demand that you respect
25:17
that authority. And the whole relationships get
25:19
changed. That's not the way of Jesus.
25:22
But many people lead that way today.
25:25
They will draw you to themselves through authority.
25:28
You'll hear it, you'll see it. You might even drive through
25:30
town. I've seen this before on the
25:32
Marquis or on the LED signs. There'll be an invitation.
25:35
Come and hear Apostle so and so and they mean it like he's some
25:39
kind of Apostolic, like he's some kind of big deal.
25:42
And I'll just let you know, I don't know the guy.
25:43
I've never met him, but he's no big deal.
25:47
He's no big deal. Matter of fact, he's probably
25:50
less of a person you would want to listen to if how he leads you
25:54
is by making sure you know who he is.
25:57
Just follow me. Know me because I'm Apostle so
26:00
and so. No, no, you're not.
26:02
You're actually not apostle so and so.
26:03
You're not Bishop so and so. You're just a brother and you're
26:08
just a sister, and together we meet in the Word of God.
26:12
Does God give authority in the church today?
26:15
He does. He gives delegated authority.
26:17
But if you're in a church where you have men leading you with
26:20
authority and titles, you're in the wrong church because the
26:25
Bible says that the church is to be led by servant leaders.
26:29
That Jesus gave the motto on Mark chapter 10, verse 45, where
26:32
he says he came not to be served, but to serve and to give
26:36
his life a ransom for many. You go well, wait a minute,
26:39
pastor, there are times where I see your title or I may you may
26:42
have asserted your authority and there are times where authority
26:45
needs to be asserted, but it's almost always in a time where we
26:50
trying to convince you to what the Bible says.
26:52
You see the authorities in the Bible, not in the person.
26:56
So if you sit down with me, there may be a significance
26:58
where I am a pastor of this church.
27:00
I am an elder in this church. And so here's what I'm trying to
27:03
do. We have the Bible open.
27:05
We're reading the same thing. It's clear as day, but you
27:08
refuse to to submit to the authority of God's Word.
27:12
When you refuse to submit to the authority of God's Word, then
27:17
it's important that you have the authority of God's Word asserted
27:21
in your life again, and we beg you and we pray for you.
27:25
And if you're unwilling to submit to the authority of God's
27:27
Word, then you will not be able to enjoy the fellowship of God's
27:31
people. You will not be able.
27:34
That's called church discipline, and it is necessary and it's
27:38
needful, but that's not where it begins.
27:41
That's the last resort in begging you to come back to the
27:47
Lord. You don't want to live under a
27:49
legalistic authority. You don't want to have to to
27:53
find yourself in a position where the relationship with the
27:57
leadership is always about their titles and their positions.
28:00
So we're just brothers and sisters in the Lord doing what
28:03
God has called us to do. And listen, for those that are
28:05
in have delegated authority in this church, in this church.
28:09
I have delegated authority. You have delegated.
28:11
For those of us that have delegated authority to our chief
28:14
shepherd, to our chief apostle, remember this.
28:17
Only God can anoint and appoint spiritual leaders in this
28:22
church. The best that we can do is
28:25
recognize that that's the best that we can do.
28:27
We can't convey that we can't give that we can't.
28:31
We don't have anointing to give you some apostles.
28:33
You know, if you come with me, I'll give you my anointing.
28:36
Bro, I don't want your anointing.
28:38
It's man centered. I don't want anything to do with
28:40
that nonsense. I want the anointing of God.
28:43
I want the approval of God. I want the strength of God.
28:46
I want the wisdom of God. I want the favour of God.
28:49
I don't want some man's anointing.
28:51
Well, you know, if you give to us and you follow me and you
28:53
come to our, we can extend our No, no, keep it, keep it,
28:58
actually repent of it so that you can come to the place where
29:02
in Psalm 75 seven, it says that God is judge.
29:06
He puts down 1 and exalts another.
29:09
You can't exalt yourself. I mean, you can, but you're not
29:12
going to last very long. You know, you can come with your
29:15
gifts and you can come and you can raise yourself up into a
29:18
position, but that's not from the Lord.
29:21
You don't want that, even though sometimes in your flesh you want
29:24
it in your spirit. You want the Lord to do what he
29:26
wants in your life. And when we lay hands on someone
29:29
here or we're praying for someone here, the best that we
29:33
can do is recognize the hand of God in someone's life.
29:37
That's what we're doing. We're saying to you, if we have
29:40
the brother up here, say, I want to introduce you to our newest
29:42
pastor or our newest leader. What we're saying to you is that
29:45
we see God's hand in his life and we trust that God has sent
29:50
him to us to help lead and serve this congregation.
29:54
That's all. We're not conveying authority.
29:56
We don't have any authority to give.
29:58
There is nothing in the Bible this is important church.
30:01
There is nothing in the Bible that gives anyone man the
30:04
ability to pass on some sort of anointing or ministry to
30:08
another. Only God can do that.
30:11
And that's where Paul's is like, look, I'm a leader in the
30:15
church. I'm an apostle.
30:16
I'm in the strictest sense. I'm one of an exclusive group of
30:20
13, which are only 12 at a time. And that's how I'm writing to
30:24
you. You got to understand these guys
30:25
are coming. They're lying.
30:27
They're saying they're apostles, they're saying they have
30:29
authority, but I'm telling you right now, God's hand has been
30:32
upon my life. You guys remember when we came,
30:35
we planted that church. He says it's through Jesus
30:38
Christ, verse one, the Father who raised him from the dead.
30:41
And I'm writing with all the brethren that are with me.
30:43
We have the affirmation of the church with me.
30:46
He's writing notice plural to all the churches in Galatia,
30:50
verse 3, Grace, grace to you and peace from God the Father and
30:57
our Lord Jesus Christ. Another word to mark the word
31:01
grace. It's the Greek word charis or
31:04
charis CHARIS. It's a beautiful word in the
31:08
Greek. It has all the pictures of
31:11
loveliness, of joy, of pleasure, that which affords delight and
31:17
sweetness. It's a beautiful word that was
31:19
used to describe something that was fun, enjoyable, sweet,
31:23
lovely. That's how it was used in the
31:25
1st century. There's also a technical
31:28
biblical definition for this word when it's used in the Bible
31:32
and it's used in relation to salvation.
31:35
Here's what it's describing. It's describing God's unmerited,
31:40
unearn, and undeserved favor upon man.
31:44
That's what he starts. Grace.
31:46
Grace is an important topic in the book of Galatians.
31:49
It's mentioned 7 times in six chapters and you'll see like a
31:53
beautiful diamond, all the different facets of grace.
31:57
This is where He leads. He leads with grace.
31:59
He doesn't lead with condemnation.
32:00
He doesn't lead with judgement. He leads with grace.
32:03
I give you it was a general greeting, by the way.
32:06
It was a very general greeting, but in the context of the
32:08
letter, he's very intentional. I want to start with grace, the
32:14
favor of God upon you. The the biggest issue of the
32:17
Galatian believers is they have forgotten Jesus Christ, who's
32:22
been so gracious to them. They got their eyes off of Jesus
32:25
and on man. I'm the authority man.
32:28
These false teachers that had a strong word, a strong convincing
32:32
argument for them, and the grace of God always brings us to a
32:37
place of worship. Now, a great way to remember the
32:40
word grace, what it means is to just use the word GRACE.
32:47
If you can remember, that's called an acronym and you
32:49
remember the word grace. This is what it means
32:51
biblically. You ready God's riches at
32:55
Christ's expense. God's riches, that means all
33:00
that he's given to us has come to us at the expense of Jesus,
33:05
His blood that was shed. We enjoy the pleasure of God
33:09
because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of
33:12
Calvary. Our sins have been forgiven and
33:15
washed away. There's nothing that stands in
33:17
the way of you and your Heavenly Father.
33:20
Because you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
33:23
the righteous. Right now in Christ, you are
33:27
righteous. Why?
33:28
Because of your good works. Because you've been so strong
33:33
this week. Well, you know I'm right with
33:34
God because I read my Bible every day this week.
33:37
No, you're right with God because of the blood of Jesus
33:39
Christ. And you read your Bible because
33:42
you love God, not because it makes you right, because of what
33:47
Jesus has done to make you right.
33:49
Now you get to enjoy all the privileges of relationship.
33:54
Notice not only that He says grace to you and peace from God.
34:01
Mark that word peace. It's the Greek word Irene.
34:05
It's spelled this way, EIRENE. We're going to look at quite a
34:10
few of the original words in these letters because they're
34:13
very important. That's what makes a letter
34:14
different than narrative. As we're just kind of walking
34:17
through, we didn't stop too much at at words, but in a text like
34:22
this, in a letter, we're going to look at quite a few words.
34:24
And this word piece is very important.
34:26
It has the idea in the 1st century, it means a state of
34:31
natural or national tranquility. It basically means a state
34:35
without war. You're not at war with anyone.
34:38
And it was used to describe countries that weren't at war.
34:40
They were in a place of peace. They were enjoying Irene.
34:43
They were having a time of peace.
34:46
But it's also used in the Bible to describe your relationship
34:49
with God. Once you've experienced the
34:51
grace of God, you know what The very next thing you enjoy is
34:54
peace with God. You're no longer fighting him.
34:57
You're no longer at war with him.
34:59
You're no longer running from him.
35:01
You're no longer in a position against God.
35:04
You were immediately in a position with Him.
35:08
Grace always precedes peace, not the other way around.
35:14
Grace will always lead you to peace.
35:17
Peace never precedes grace. Always follow.
35:20
Someone once said that grace is the fountain, but peace is the
35:24
stream. And so you receive the goodness
35:27
of God, not because of your own works, but what He has done
35:30
because of the cross of Christ. And what is the result?
35:33
You're at peace. No more war, nothing to hide.
35:38
You speak the truth, you walk in the truth.
35:40
It's, it's like, it's like the Galatians have become prodigals.
35:45
You know, they had left the comfort and the enjoyment of
35:49
their home and their peace with God.
35:50
They abandoned God's peace because they abandoned God's
35:53
grace. And you know, those of you that
35:56
are praying for your prodigals in your home right now and your
35:58
family that have left, what are they?
36:00
They're always your kids, right? They're never going to stop
36:02
being your kids ever million years.
36:04
They will never stop being your kids.
36:06
But what did they? What did they stop by their
36:08
choice to leave? They stopped enjoying you.
36:11
They stopped enjoying your home. They stopped enjoying the peace
36:15
that was theirs. It's the same thing that happens
36:17
when you sin. And when I choose to sin, I
36:20
abandoned peace. I choose war.
36:25
When I choose sin, I choose a position of being an adversary
36:29
with God. I choose a position as a
36:32
believer being an enemy of God, and therefore my peace is stolen
36:37
away from me. But really, it wasn't stolen.
36:39
I gave it away willingly. No one sends by accident.
36:45
And here the Galatians, God is God is calling them back through
36:48
Paul to grace and the peace that's theirs.
36:52
Let me just say this, and we don't have much time to develop
36:54
it, but I do want to share this question.
36:57
If today you're not experienced as a believer, you're not
37:01
experiencing the peace of God, maybe it's because you're
37:05
relating to God very legalistically.
37:08
You're relating to him in such a way where you, you would rather
37:12
beat yourself up, you would rather live in condemnation.
37:15
You would rather have a list. And because you failed at the
37:17
list, God could never forgive you.
37:19
God can never receive you. Because you know, people can be
37:22
like that. People will not forgive and
37:24
people will. People can be like that.
37:26
But then we project that on God, and you've lost your peace
37:30
because you walked away from grace.
37:34
You forgot that it's all Him, it's all him.
37:37
When were you saved? When was I saved?
37:40
You know, when I was saved and my worst I was lost as lost
37:45
could be. I was in the height of rebellion
37:49
against God, and yet God loved me still.
37:52
How much more now as his child wooing me back to himself.
37:58
If you don't have peace in your walk, maybe you're just very
38:00
legalistic. Maybe you're antagonistic.
38:02
Maybe you're antagonistic against any anything that's
38:06
outside of the little box of your theological construct where
38:10
you've got it all figured out. I meet people that way.
38:12
They just got it all figured out and they just want to argue and
38:14
defend their little box. Defend their little box when
38:16
God's in. I mean, it's, there's a big
38:18
world out there for you that's filled with grace and freedom,
38:23
where you can relate to me as you are.
38:24
And you come, you come to me. God says, and I, I will do the
38:29
work in your life. You know how many times you'll
38:33
think if, if I want to follow God, I've got to clean up my
38:36
life. And really, it's the other way
38:38
around, isn't it? You follow God and he'll clean
38:41
up your life. You follow God and he'll deliver
38:44
you. You follow God and he'll forgive
38:46
you. He'll cleanse you, He'll release
38:48
you. It's not what you can do.
38:50
We're not saved by good works. We're saved for them and God
38:55
begins to work in places that only He can work.
38:58
The Galatians needed to be reminded of the beauty of
39:01
relationship with Jesus that they left behind.
39:04
They had exchanged grace and peace of God with rules and
39:07
regulations. They had exchanged grace and
39:10
peace of God with condemnation of legalism.
39:13
Let me show you. Go over to chapter 5, verse
39:15
four. He says it very clearly what
39:18
happened. Chapter 5, verse 4, Paul says
39:22
you have become estranged from Christ.
39:26
You who attempt to be justified by the law, you have fallen from
39:31
grace. This is the common theme of most
39:38
men and women that are under the bondage of legalism.
39:43
We're going to be talking a lot about and learning a lot about
39:46
legalism in our study, but let me give you a quick definition.
39:49
Erwin Lutzer I think does a great job.
39:50
Let me quote him. He says legalism is self
39:53
righteousness. It is the belief that God is
39:56
satisfied with our attempt to obey a moral code.
40:00
Legalists keep the law for self glory or to merit some reward.
40:05
They do not keep it because it expresses the desire of their
40:08
heart. Legalism always deals with the
40:12
motives of the heart. It's always an issue of the
40:15
heart. Am I obeying God because I love
40:18
Him? Or I am I obeying God for
40:21
outward show because I'm afraid? Am I living for God because I
40:26
love him and I know he loves me? Or am I living so I can show
40:30
somebody or give some like have some kind of outward show for
40:33
people instead of like, no, Lord, it's just between you and
40:36
me. I love you, you love me, and I
40:38
give you my life. It's always a matter of the
40:41
heart. And our hearts will be revealed
40:43
during this study, and the surprise of the room will be in
40:47
every service. Just how much legalism is in the
40:50
room? You might have grown up with it.
40:53
You might have been raised with it.
40:55
And not even religious legalism. Parents, again, we can't.
40:59
I can't develop it now because we're going to be out of time.
41:01
But parents, I beg you, please do not oversee your home
41:06
legalistically. It's a love relationship with
41:10
your kids as you disciple them and as you help them along the
41:13
way. You got to remember for most of
41:16
you, when you brought that baby home, that baby, what did that
41:19
baby do for you anyway? Nine months was sucking the life
41:24
out of you and making you tired. And then it came out and starts
41:28
screaming and yelling and soiling itself and demanding,
41:31
demanding, demanding. And what did you do if you love
41:34
that little thing? It's like, this is the best.
41:37
I can't believe you're so nervous, you're so careful.
41:39
You're just protective and loving and something switches
41:42
along the way. Whereas you're disciple in your
41:46
training. If you're not careful, your
41:48
relationship now is just enforcing, just enforcing rules.
41:53
You're not doing the rules. You're not doing the rules.
41:55
And you do that long enough. There's separation.
41:58
That's how you get with God. If you think God's just a rule
42:01
enforcer today, then you're living in a way where you don't
42:05
understand He loves you. He loves you as that screaming,
42:08
crying, pooping baby that you are and we just got to keep
42:13
changing your diaper over and over and over again.
42:16
He loves you. He cares for you.
42:21
And in a nurturing, loving environment, the response of
42:24
that baby, our response is love. Love always he gets more love in
42:31
a real relationship. Love always draws out love in a
42:36
real relationship. So be careful.
42:39
Notice finally in verse 4 it says, Speaking of Jesus who gave
42:44
himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this
42:48
present evil age according to the will of our God and Father,
42:52
to whom be glory forever and ever.
42:54
Amen. I love this word deliver.
42:58
I looked it up today. The word deliver is the same
43:00
word that Jesus uses to describe when he says if your if your
43:04
right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
43:07
Same word, deliver it, get rid of it, take it out, deliver.
43:11
You have been delivered. This is the essence of grace.
43:14
You have been delivered from this present evil age.
43:18
And by the way, we need to step back for a second and let's let
43:20
the Bible say what it is. The age in which you live is
43:24
evil and this always, this always shocks me.
43:29
I shouldn't, but I see when I see it in my life, I see also
43:32
see it in the church's life. When you embrace this culture
43:36
that hates you, the culture hates you.
43:41
The culture is designed to destroy you and take advantage
43:44
of you. This culture in a spiritual
43:46
realm hates your Savior. You know, if Jesus, you know
43:50
well, you know if Jesus came back today with all the
43:52
technology, he'd be more so, so much more successful.
43:55
No, if Jesus was here in this generation, they'd kill him too.
44:00
They hate Jesus and they hate you.
44:03
And yet so many of you take in and embrace this culture like
44:07
it's your friend. And the Bible says it's your
44:10
present evil age. Paul would even say it gets
44:13
worse in Second Timothy 3. He would say that in the last
44:16
days, perilous times will come. And so you, you consume the
44:22
media of this culture, the music of this culture, the attitude of
44:25
this culture, the thinking of this culture, the education of
44:28
this culture. And I just want to remind you
44:30
today, brother to brother, brother to sister, this present
44:33
age is evil. And if you sow to the flesh, you
44:39
will reap corruption. It will catch up to you.
44:43
It's evil. There's nothing in this.
44:45
We live in a different now. Jesus told us that we're in this
44:48
world. We're not of this world.
44:49
We live in a different Kingdom while we're in this world.
44:52
You just got to be careful because it says here you've been
44:55
delivered, you've been plucked out.
44:57
This is the same Greek word that's used in the New Testament
45:00
to describe the deliverance of the nation of Israel from Egypt.
45:04
In order to be delivered, you leave.
45:07
You leave it behind. It's part of your past.
45:10
Paul, I think, knows exactly his time of deliverance.
45:13
It takes him right back to the road to Damascus.
45:16
He knows what kind of life he lived.
45:18
That was his deliverance. He he the Galatian believers,
45:22
they could remember what they were delivered from.
45:24
They remember when Paul came with Barnabas in Acts 14.
45:27
They remember the decision they made.
45:29
They remember the salvation they received.
45:31
They could remember. I remember.
45:33
I remember like it was yesterday.
45:35
I remember the whole environment surrounding how bad my life was
45:39
when I was invited to a church like this.
45:42
I was in this culture, man. The present evil age was my
45:45
present evil age. I lived it to its fullest as it
45:48
was destroying me day by day and destroying relationships and
45:53
destroying the people that loved me as well as the people that I
45:57
cared for. I remember what I was delivered
46:00
from. You were delivered from.
46:03
I mean in a in a simple way. I was thinking about how many
46:06
Amazon packages are on my front door.
46:09
They were delivered, right? They were delivered.
46:12
They were taken from. And by the way, I don't know how
46:14
they all get there. I don't order them.
46:18
I'm not sure where they're coming from.
46:20
They must be free. I never see the bill.
46:25
But you think about it, you get a box.
46:27
It came from somewhere. It was delivered from the
46:31
warehouse Delivery has two parts to it.
46:35
First of all, it's delivered from and second of all, it's
46:38
delivered to. So you and I were delivered from
46:42
this present evil age, but we also delivered into the Kingdom
46:45
of his light, into righteousness.
46:48
We were taken out of darkness and put in the Kingdom of light.
46:51
Delivered, delivered. You need to come from in order
46:55
to come to and Paul will develop that.
46:59
The gospel centers around this phrase in verse 4.
47:03
Jesus gave himself for us. The gospel centers around a
47:07
person. A person paid the price.
47:10
God in human flesh shed his own human blood as a means of
47:17
forgiveness to all who have put their faith in him.
47:20
God allowed his only son to be killed, murdered, tortured, so
47:26
that you and I could be delivered out of this present
47:29
evil age so that we wouldn't get tripped up by it.
47:33
Mess around with it, but preach the gospel to it.
47:36
All around us, the world is falling into hell.
47:39
Murders and massacres, child abuse and drug abuse, witchcraft
47:44
and Satanism, alcoholism and aimlessness.
47:49
I know this testimony is multiplied, but even last night
47:54
in our after service, I was talking to a young man who was
47:59
abandoned by both his mom and dad.
48:02
Just a kid. That's this present evil age
48:06
where moms and dads will lose the very thing that God created
48:10
them to do. That's our present evil age.
48:14
And I know some of you carry that pain in your own life.
48:17
This world has nothing for you. This world that we live in has
48:21
been and will continue to become more evil and evil.
48:24
But not all is lost. You know why sinners can be
48:27
saved? Did you know only sinners can be
48:31
saved? And that's the problem.
48:33
There is a problem. Let me let me address that
48:35
problem though, for those of you that are listening to me.
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The problem is not that there's so many bad people in the world.
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The real problem is that so many people think they're not bad
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enough. So when the word is word, evil
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is using, Oh no, no pastor. He's just like, oh pulpit
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pounding pastor talking about evil.
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I'm not that bad. No, let me tell you, you are
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that bad. Everybody knows except you, but
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you are that bad. The Bible says we've all sinned
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and fallen short of the glory of God.
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If only sinners can be saved and God declares all of us to be
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sinners, then the good news is, is that you can be saved today
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and you can be delivered from this present evil age and that
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you can have a life that is lived to please and honor and
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cherish the God who gave his Son, who that died, it says, and
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gave himself for our sins. The heart of the gospel is a
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person who paid a price for a purpose.
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He who made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might
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become the righteousness of God in him.
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And Paul says to the Galatians in his introduction, in his
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beginning, he's going to get right into it as you read ahead.
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But in the very Vinny, he says, look, remember grace, remember
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peace, but more importantly, remember Jesus.
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However you walked in here today, that's what you I commend
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you to remember the work of God in your life through the blood
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of Jesus Christ, that your eyes would in a very real way get
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back on Jesus and off of your circumstances, off of your past,
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off of the things that are hindering you and holding you
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back. That is robbing your joy,
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stealing your peace, and blinding your eyes from seeing
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the grace of God. Because once you get back to the
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simplicity of grace, unmerited, unfavored, unearned, you just
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come back to the place like a new believer, like a baby, where
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you're just being, you know, in a baby's mind.
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They don't even know what they're doing.
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They just know that they're being held and they just stay
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put. And I see that same picture for
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you and me. I just need to stay put and let
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the Lord hold me, lead me, guide me, and encourage me.
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Amen. Well Lord, thank you for your
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word today and the reality of learning it and growing.
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I know it's a lot to learn today, but we receive it by
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grace in Jesus name, Amen. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
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Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
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integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
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this week.