Latest / 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast / Bewitched by a False Gospel | Paul's Urgent Warning (Sept 14)

Transcript

Bewitched by a False Gospel | Paul's Urgent Warning (Sept 14) · 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast

• 0:00
  Listen to these words of Paul. He says, I am
• 0:05
  shocked that you are turning away so soon from God,
• 0:08
  who in His love and mercy called
• 0:13
  you to share the eternal life He gives through Christ. You are already
• 0:16
  following a different way that pretends to
• 0:20
  be the good news, but is not the good news at
• 0:24
  all. You are being fooled by those who twist and change
• 0:27
  the truth concerning Christ. These words are
• 0:31
  so true even today.
• 0:34
  What is that different way that pretends to be the good news?
• 0:39
  How is the gospel twisted and changed
• 0:43
  concerning Christ? Listen in today as
• 0:46
  we begin the book of Galatians and unpack this
• 0:50
  to see how this applies to our lives today.
• 0:53
  Welcome to the Daily Audio Torah. Today is September
• 0:57
  14th. Now let's continue our journey reading through the entire
• 1:01
  Bible in one year. This week we are reading from the New Living Translation
• 1:05
  for the Old Testament and for the New Testament.
• 1:11
  Deuteronomy 27:1-10.
• 1:18
  Then Moses and the leaders of Israel gave this charge to the people:
• 1:22
  Obey all these commands that I am giving you today.
• 1:25
  When you cross the Jordan River and enter the land the Lord your God is
• 1:28
  giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster.
• 1:33
  Write this whole body of instruction on them when you cross
• 1:36
  the river to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land
• 1:40
  flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your
• 1:44
  ancestors, promised you. When you cross the Jordan,
• 1:47
  set up these stones at Mount Ebal and coat them with plaster,
• 1:51
  as I am commanding you today. Then build an altar there
• 1:54
  to the Lord your God, using natural, uncut stones.
• 1:58
  You must not shape the stones with an iron tool.
• 2:01
  Build the altar of uncut stones and use it to offer burnt
• 2:05
  offerings to the Lord your God. Also sacrifice peace
• 2:09
  offerings on it and celebrate by feasting there before the Lord your God.
• 2:13
  You must clearly write all these instructions on the stones coated
• 2:17
  with plaster. Then Moses and the Levitical priests
• 2:21
  addressed all Israel as follows: O Israel, be quiet
• 2:25
  and listen. Today you have become the people of the
• 2:29
  Lord your God, so you must obey the Lord your God by keeping all
• 2:33
  these commands and decrees that I am giving you today.
• 2:41
  Isaiah 15:1-18:7.
• 2:46
  This message came to me concerning Moab.
• 2:50
  In one night, your cities of Ar and Kir will be destroyed.
• 2:54
  Your people in Dibon will mourn at their temples and shrines,
• 2:57
  weeping for the fate of Nebo and Medeba. They will shave
• 3:01
  their heads in sorrow and cut off their beards. They will wear sackcloth as
• 3:05
  they wander the streets. From every home will come the sound of weeping.
• 3:09
  The cries from the city of Heshbon and Elelah will be heard
• 3:13
  far away, even in Jahaz. The bravest warriors
• 3:16
  of Moab will cry out in utter terror. My heart
• 3:20
  weeps for Moab. Its people flee to Zoar
• 3:24
  and Iglath-Shalisha. Weeping, they climb the
• 3:27
  road to Luhaith. Their crying can be heard all along
• 3:30
  the road to Horonaim. Even the waters of Nimrim are dried
• 3:35
  up. The grassy banks are scorched and the tender plants are gone.
• 3:39
  The desperate refugees take only the possessions they can carry
• 3:43
  and flee across the Ravine of Willows. The whole land of Moab is
• 3:47
  a land of weeping from one end to the other, from Elim to Beer
• 3:51
  Elim. The stream near Dibon runs red with blood,
• 3:55
  but I am still not finished with Dibon. Lions will
• 3:58
  hunt down the survivors, both those who try to run and those
• 4:02
  who remain behind. Moab's refugees at Siloah
• 4:06
  send lambs to Jerusalem as a token of alliance with the king
• 4:10
  of Judah. The women of Moab are left like homeless
• 4:14
  birds at the shallow crossings of the Arnon River.
• 4:18
  Help us! they cry. Defend us against our enemies!
• 4:22
  Protect us from their relentless attack! Do not betray
• 4:25
  us. Let our outcasts stay among you. Hide them from our enemies until
• 4:30
  the terror is past. When oppression and destruction
• 4:33
  have ceased and enemy raiders have disappeared,
• 4:37
  then David's throne will be established by love.
• 4:41
  From that throne, a faithful king
• 4:46
  will reign, one who always does what is just.
• 4:50
  And write: Is this Moab,
• 4:54
  the proud land we have heard so much about? Its pride and
• 4:58
  insolence are all gone now. The entire land of Moab
• 5:02
  weeps. Yes, you people of Moab, mourn for the delicacies
• 5:06
  of Kir-hareseth. Weep for the abandoned farms
• 5:10
  of Heshbon and the vineyards at Sibmah. The wine from
• 5:13
  those vineyards used to make the rulers of the nations drunk.
• 5:17
  Moab was once like a spreading grapevine. Her tendrils
• 5:22
  spread out as far as Jazer and trailed out into the desert. Her shoots
• 5:26
  once reached as far as the Dead Sea.
• 5:30
  But now the enemy has completely destroyed that vine.
• 5:34
  So I wail and lament for Jazer and for the vineyards of Sibmah.
• 5:38
  My tears will flow for Heshbon and Elelah, for their summer
• 5:42
  fruits and harvests have all been destroyed. Gone now is the gladness,
• 5:47
  gone is the joy of harvest. The happy singing in the vineyards
• 5:50
  will be heard no more. The treading out of grapes in the
• 5:54
  winepresses has ceased forever. I have ended all
• 5:58
  their harvest joys. I will weep for Moab,
• 6:01
  my sorrow for Kir-hareseth will be very great.
• 6:05
  On the hilltops the people of Moab will pray in anguish to their
• 6:09
  idols, but it will do them no good. They will cry to the gods
• 6:13
  in their temples, but no one will come to save them. The Lord
• 6:17
  has already said this about Moab in the past, but now the Lord says,
• 6:21
  within 3 years without fail, the glory of Moab will be ended,
• 6:25
  and the few of its people will be left alive.
• 6:29
  This message came to me concerning Damascus.
• 6:33
  Look, Damascus will disappear. It will
• 6:37
  become a heap of ruins. The cities of Aror will be deserted.
• 6:42
  Sheep will graze in the streets and lie down unafraid.
• 6:45
  There will be no one to chase them away. The fortified cities of
• 6:49
  Israel will also be destroyed, and the power of Damascus
• 6:53
  will end. The few left in Aram will share the fate of
• 6:57
  Israel's departed glory, says the Lord Almighty. In that
• 7:01
  day, the glory of Israel will be very dim, for poverty will
• 7:04
  stalk the land. Israel will be abandoned like the
• 7:09
  grain fields in the Valley of Rephaim after the harvest. Only a
• 7:13
  few of its people will be left, like the stray olives left on the tree
• 7:16
  after the harvest. Only 2 or 3 remain in the highest branches,
• 7:21
  4 or 5 out on the tips of the limbs. Yes,
• 7:25
  Israel will be stripped bare of people, says the Lord,
• 7:28
  the God of Israel. Then at last the people will think
• 7:32
  of their Creator and have respect for the Holy One of Israel. They will
• 7:36
  no longer ask their idols for help or worship what their own
• 7:40
  hands have made. They will never again bow down
• 7:43
  to their Asherah poles or burn incense on the altars they
• 7:47
  built. Their largest cities will be as deserted as overgrown thickets.
• 7:52
  They will become like the cities the Amorites abandoned when
• 7:55
  the Israelites came here so long ago. Why?
• 7:59
  Because you have turned from the God who can save you. The Rock
• 8:03
  who can hide you. You may plant the finest imported grapevines,
• 8:08
  and they may grow so well that they blossom on the very
• 8:11
  morning you plant them, but you will never pick any grapes from them.
• 8:15
  Your only harvest will be a load of grief and incurable pain.
• 8:20
  Look, the armies rush forward like waves thundering toward
• 8:24
  the shore, but though they roar like breakers on a beach,
• 8:28
  God will silence them. They will flee like chaff scattered by
• 8:32
  the wind or dust whirling before a storm.
• 8:35
  In the evening Israel waits in terror, but by dawn its
• 8:39
  enemies are dead. This is the just reward of those who plunder
• 8:43
  and destroy the people of God.
• 8:46
  Destruction is certain for the land of Ethiopia which lies
• 8:50
  at the headwaters of the Nile. Its winged sailboats glide
• 8:54
  along the river. And ambassadors are sent in fast boats down
• 8:58
  the Nile. Go home, swift messengers! Take a
• 9:02
  message to your land divided by rivers, to your tall,
• 9:05
  smooth-skinned people who are feared far and wide for
• 9:09
  their conquests and destruction. When I raise my
• 9:13
  battle flag on the mountain, let all the world take notice. When I
• 9:17
  blow the trumpet, listen! For the Lord has told me this: I will
• 9:21
  watch quietly from my dwelling place, as quietly
• 9:24
  as the heat rises on a summer day, or as the dew forms on an
• 9:28
  autumn morning during the harvest. Even before you begin
• 9:31
  your attack, while your plans are ripening like grapes,
• 9:35
  the Lord will cut you off as though with pruning shears.
• 9:38
  He will snip your spreading branches. Your mighty army will
• 9:41
  be left dead in the fields for the mountain birds and wild animals
• 9:45
  to eat. The vultures will tear at corpses all
• 9:48
  summer. The wild animals will gnaw at bones
• 9:52
  all winter. But the time will come when the Lord Almighty will receive
• 9:56
  gifts from this land divided by rivers from this tall,
• 9:59
  smooth-skinned people who are feared far and wide for
• 10:03
  their conquests and destruction. They will bring the gifts to the Lord
• 10:07
  Almighty in Jerusalem, the place where his name dwells.
• 10:16
  Galatians 1:1-24.
• 10:21
  This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not
• 10:25
  appointed by any group or by human authority. My call is from Jesus
• 10:29
  Christ himself and from God the Father, who raised
• 10:33
  Jesus from the dead. All the
• 10:37
  brothers and sisters here join me in sending greetings
• 10:40
  to the churches of Galatia. May grace
• 10:44
  and peace be yours from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus
• 10:47
  Christ. He died for our sins, just as
• 10:51
  God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this
• 10:55
  evil world in which we live. That is why all
• 10:58
  glory belongs to God through all the ages of eternity.
• 11:03
  Amen. I am shocked that
• 11:07
  you are turning away so soon from God, who in His love and mercy called
• 11:12
  you to share the eternal life He gives through Christ. You are already
• 11:16
  following a different way, that pretends
• 11:20
  to be the Good News but is not the Good News at
• 11:25
  all. You are being fooled by those who twist
• 11:29
  and change the truth concerning Christ.
• 11:34
  Let God's curse fall on anyone, including myself,
• 11:38
  who preaches any other message than the one we told you about.
• 11:42
  Even if an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other message,
• 11:46
  let him be forever cursed! I will say it again: If anyone preaches
• 11:51
  any other gospel than the one you welcomed, let God's
• 11:56
  curse fall upon that person! Obviously,
• 11:59
  I am not trying to be a people pleaser. No, I am trying
• 12:03
  to please God. If I were still trying to please people,
• 12:07
  I would not be Christ's servant. Dear brothers and sisters,
• 12:11
  I solemnly assure you that the good news of salvation which
• 12:15
  I preach is not based on mere human reasoning
• 12:19
  or logic, for my message came by a direct
• 12:23
  revelation from Jesus Christ himself. No one else taught
• 12:27
  me. You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish
• 12:32
  religion, how I violently persecuted
• 12:35
  Christians. I did
• 12:38
  my best to get rid of them. I was one of the most religious Jews
• 12:43
  of my own age, and I tried as hard
• 12:47
  as possible to follow all the old traditions of
• 12:50
  my religion. But then something happened where it pleased
• 12:54
  God in His kindness to choose me and call me
• 12:59
  even before I was born. What undeserved
• 13:03
  mercy! Then He revealed His Son to
• 13:07
  me so that I could proclaim the good news about Jesus to
• 13:11
  the Gentiles. When all this happened to me,
• 13:14
  I did not rush out to consult with anyone else,
• 13:17
  nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before
• 13:22
  I was. No, I went away into Arabia
• 13:25
  and later returned to the city of Damascus.
• 13:30
  It was not until 3 years later that I finally went
• 13:34
  to Jerusalem for a visit with Peter and stayed there with him for
• 13:40
  15 days, and the only other apostle I met at that time was James,
• 13:44
  our Lord's brother. You must believe what I am saying,
• 13:47
  for I declare before God that I am not lying.
• 13:51
  Then after this visit, I went north into the provinces
• 13:55
  of Syria and Cilicia, and still the Christians
• 14:00
  in the churches in Judea did not know me personally.
• 14:03
  All they knew was that people were saying,
• 14:06
  the one who used to persecute us now preaches the very faith
• 14:10
  he tried to destroy. And they gave glory to God because
• 14:15
  of me.
• 14:20
  Psalm 58:1-11.
• 14:25
  Justice. Do you rulers know the meaning of the
• 14:28
  word? Do you judge the people fairly?
• 14:32
  No! All your dealings are crooked.
• 14:36
  You hand out violence instead of justice. These wicked
• 14:39
  people are born sinners. Even from birth they have fled and
• 14:43
  gone their own way. They spit poison like deadly snakes. They are
• 14:47
  like cobras that refuse to listen, ignoring the tunes of the
• 14:51
  snake charmers, no matter how skillfully they play.
• 14:55
  Break off their fangs, O God! Smash the jaws of these lions,
• 14:59
  O Lord! May they disappear like water into thirsty ground.
• 15:03
  Make their weapons useless in their hands. May they be
• 15:07
  like snails that dissolve into slime,
• 15:10
  like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.
• 15:13
  God will sweep them away, both young and old,
• 15:17
  faster than a pot heats on an open flame. The godly will
• 15:21
  rejoice when they see injustice avenged.
• 15:25
  They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked. Then at last
• 15:29
  everyone will say, there truly is a reward
• 15:33
  for those who live for God. Surely there is a God who judges
• 15:37
  justly here on earth.
• 15:43
  Proverbs 23:12. Commit yourself
• 15:47
  to instruction; attune your ears to hear words of knowledge.
• 15:52
  I want to speak to you today from our reading in Isaiah,
• 15:55
  and then we're going to jump into the book of Galatians.
• 16:02
  In Isaiah, there was a particular verse that really jumped out at me today,
• 16:07
  and it is found in verse
• 16:11
  5 of chapter 15— or actually chapter 16—
• 16:16
  where it says When oppression and destruction have ceased
• 16:20
  and enemy raiders have disappeared,
• 16:23
  then David's throne will be established by love.
• 16:27
  From that throne, a faithful king
• 16:31
  will reign, one who always does what
• 16:35
  is just and right.
• 16:39
  This is a reference, a signpost pointing
• 16:43
  us to Jesus Christ. Jesus is in the direct
• 16:47
  lineage of David, and it
• 16:52
  tells us that David's throne will be established by love. So when Jesus
• 16:56
  rules and reigns from Jerusalem when he returns,
• 17:01
  his throne will be coming from Mount Zion, and it
• 17:05
  will be established from, from love, by love.
• 17:08
  And so this verse is speaking
• 17:12
  about a future king. From this throne, a faithful king will
• 17:16
  reign, one who always does what is just and right. So that is
• 17:20
  a signpost pointing us to the Messiah, pointing us to Jesus.
• 17:25
  So now I want to jump into Galatians, and the book of
• 17:29
  Galatians is written by Paul.
• 17:33
  He begins the book by establishing his apostolic
• 17:37
  authority That his call did not come from any church or
• 17:41
  group or organization or synagogue or group of religious leaders,
• 17:45
  that his call is directly from Jesus Christ Himself and
• 17:50
  from God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead.
• 17:53
  And he says in verse 6, I am shocked
• 17:59
  that you are turning away so quickly from God.
• 18:03
  Who in His love and mercy calls you to share the eternal life He gives
• 18:07
  through Christ. You are already following a different
• 18:11
  way that pretends to be the good news but
• 18:16
  is not the good news at all. You are being fooled
• 18:21
  by those who twist and change the truth concerning Christ.
• 18:24
  His book and His words could not be more relevant than
• 18:28
  they are right now. Today.
• 18:32
  Basically, he is addressing the Galatians and saying, look, you've been
• 18:35
  bewitched. You have fallen from grace.
• 18:39
  This is a simple gospel. It's by faith that you're
• 18:43
  saved, not by works, so that
• 18:46
  no man will boast. You began in
• 18:50
  faith and you continue in faith. You do not earn
• 18:54
  God's favor by performance or by works
• 18:58
  or by doing religious things such as eating this
• 19:02
  kind of food and not eating that kind of food or doing this religious practice
• 19:07
  or, you know, He's coming against the spirit of religion,
• 19:11
  the spirit of works, the spirit of legalism.
• 19:16
  He's coming against all of that, and that does have a
• 19:20
  tendency to creep in into our churches and our congregations.
• 19:24
  It creeps in in the Hebrew Roots Messianic fellowships.
• 19:28
  It creeps into the mainstream Christian fellowships as well.
• 19:33
  Basically, he is exhorting, strongly exhorting
• 19:37
  the Galatians to come back to the simplicity
• 19:40
  and the purity of walking by faith.
• 19:45
  It's all by grace, grace, grace.
• 19:48
  It's all— Jesus did all
• 19:52
  of the work on the cross, and it's our job.
• 19:56
  The one job we have is to believe on Jesus Christ and
• 20:00
  that He is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for our
• 20:03
  sins. We believe on Him and then follow Him and be filled
• 20:09
  with His Holy Spirit. So we cannot fall into
• 20:13
  the works mentality. Of working for our salvation,
• 20:17
  of trying to earn and perform our way into heaven.
• 20:20
  None of us is good enough. All have sinned.
• 20:24
  All have fallen short of the glory of God. We are
• 20:28
  to walk in faith, come to Him as humble, broken, repentant sinners,
• 20:33
  asking Him to forgive us, asking Him to give us a
• 20:36
  new life and a new heart that we might follow Him in
• 20:40
  faith. We begin in faith and we continue in faith.
• 20:45
  So that's the setting, the context for who
• 20:49
  he's writing to and why he wrote the book of Galatians.
• 20:53
  We'll continue this tomorrow. Shalom.
• 21:09
  विहिष्मरेखा यह
• 21:19
  है आदुना
• 21:25
  है पनाविलका
• 21:30
  विकुन्नेका
• 21:34
  ישע אדוני
• 21:42
  נאב אליך
• 21:47
  וישא לך
• 21:52
  לך שבוע
• 22:02
  The Aaronic Blessing from Numbers chapter 6,
• 22:06
  24 to 26.
• 22:09
  Adonai bless you and keep you. Adonai make
• 22:13
  his face to shine upon you and be gracious to
• 22:17
  you. Adonai lift up his countenance upon you
• 22:21
  and give you peace.