Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14808 - It’s Foolish To Leave Grace - Galatians 3:1-9

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#14808 - It’s Foolish To Leave Grace - Galatians 3:1-9 · 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 to Galatians
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chapter 3 as we start a new chapter today looking at the 1st
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9 verses Galatians chapter 3. The title of our Bible study is
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It's foolish to leave Grace. It's foolish to leave grace.
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That's what many of the believers in the churches in the
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Galatian region, that's what they did.
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They believed a false teaching that the gospel was more than
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simple faith. And one thing we've learned in
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our study in Galatians thus far is this, if you add anything to
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the gospel, it is no longer the gospel.
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Anything to the gospel in order to be saved, it is no longer the
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gospel. And you have this group of
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believers that were eternally changed by the faithfulness of
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the missionary journey of Paul. The Holy Spirit working through
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him, comes to the region, preaches the gospel, lives are
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changed. And when you know it, in just a
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short amount of time, false teachers come in with a false
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message of works. It was more than faith.
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They said in order to be saved, they taught you must be
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circumcised and keep the entire law of Moses.
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Basically what they were saying was that in order to be saved,
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you needed to become a Jew first, then God could save you.
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And as we'll see in a moment, Paul addresses that and he says,
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oh, no, no, no, no. God's heart has been for the Jew
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and the Gentile from the Garden of Eden from the very beginning.
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You know, a lot of mistakes happen in our lives because we
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don't think about what we're doing or we don't think ahead.
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We're in a season or in a moment.
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What we might say, we're not paying attention.
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Think about how many mistakes you've made because you weren't
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paying attention. This is the realm where where
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we're distracted, where we're preoccupied, lost in our
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thoughts. And this is where accidents
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happen, mistakes occur and problems arise.
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It's not just in the physical realm, but it can happen in the
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spiritual realm as well if you're not paying attention.
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You and I, we become very vulnerable to being taken
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advantage of, just like the believers, or at least some of
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the believers in the churches in the Galatia region.
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Paul hears about it and his heart is broken.
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So he takes his pen in hand and he writes them a letter.
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It's a strong one. It's a strong one because he
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loves them and what they're involved in.
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It requires a necessary word that would shake them back into
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reality because not only have they begun to follow a false
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teaching, which is bad enough. I mean, this is their eternal
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life that's at stake, but they've also turned on Paul, the
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man that God used in their lives.
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They had begun to believe lies about Paul because the enemy
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wants to distance you from people that God has used in your
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life. People that have, God has used
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to deliver the truth to you. So you're reading this letter
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and it's pretty strong. It's strong because they had
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left grace. They left the simple for the
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complicated. They left the true gospel for a
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false 1. And so here's another strong
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phrase in verse one. It says, oh, foolish Galatians,
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who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth before
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whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as
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crucified. There's a series of questions in
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the next 9 verses that we're going to look at, but I want to
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highlight four of them as key. He's going to ask four key
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questions of the believers there to kind of grab their attention.
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This is question number one. Who's bewitched you?
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Or you could say what has happened?
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Who has lied to you? Who has seduced you?
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Who has LED you astray? Paul is not saying by using this
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word that they got involved in black magic or astrology.
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Or he's not saying that he's using it in the sense that they
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had come under the spell of some false teaching.
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He has what is going on? Who has bewitched you?
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But he begins by saying, oh, foolish Galatians now calling
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someone foolish is very strong as well.
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As you were reading ahead, you may have paused here and said,
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now wait a minute, isn't this what Jesus forbid us to do when
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he said don't call anyone a fool or Raqqa?
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Don't do that. And I would say, no, this is not
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what Paul is doing here. He is not calling them idiots,
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He is not demeaning them. He is not speaking in
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unrighteous anger. What he's trying to do is grab
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their attention and call upon the foolishness of the decision
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that they made. The word actually has the idea,
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and it suggests to us that Paul is acknowledging to them their
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intelligence, that they're smart, but they're not using
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their intelligence the right way.
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Today we may appeal to someone's common sense where you know they
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know, but they're not operating in common sense.
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They're not making the right decisions of the knowledge that
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they have. And he says, what is wrong with
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you guys? Who has bewitched you?
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Who has influenced you? And by the way, this word
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foolish in the Greek, Jesus used it as well.
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You can jot it down in Luke chapter 24 verse 25.
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So we know the word can be used without sin because Jesus said
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this. Oh foolish ones and slow of hard
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to believe in all the prophets have spoken and now it's being
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used again in the context of belief.
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Why are you believing a lie? Strong words, but I believe Paul
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wants their full attention. He wants them to listen
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carefully. Now sometimes you might feel
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this way towards someone that you love and you care for.
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I think of the person that commits their life to Christ,
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someone you've been praying for, someone that you love, someone
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that you have invited to church, and finally they give their life
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to the Lord. They start going to church, they
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start praying, they're reading their Bible.
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Your conversations are changing. You're talking about the things
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of God. You're praying for one another,
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you're enjoying life. And then out of the blue, out of
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the blue, they get hooked into some group, some cult, some
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weird teaching, and they're not walking in fellowship with you
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anymore. And it frustrates you.
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You're like, what has happened? You know, you're now wanting,
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hey, let's read the Bible. Well, you know, we're not
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supposed to read our Bible before 2:00 PM.
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What? Where'd you get that from?
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Well, I was just reading the scriptures and it says, right?
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It's like, no, no, no, no, you weren't just reading the
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Scriptures. Somebody taught you that because
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that doesn't sound like it comes from the Lord and you want to be
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able to be to say to your friends, hey, that is not from
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the Lord. Somebody taught you that you
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watch some YouTube video, you watch some real on TikTok.
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You were gain that knowledge through some pamphlet somebody
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gave you, but that did not come from the Lord and you have a
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strong word for them. Why not because you don't love
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them, but because you do love them a lot.
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And I would go so far to say this, the more you love, the
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stronger the word because you have that permission in their
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life. You have that relationship so
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you can give a strong word. That's where Paul is here.
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Come on guys, what's going on? And by the way, just a side
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note, do you know as a Christian, as a follower of
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Christ, as a born again believer, you have a brand new
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target on your back. You are now a target of every
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weird cult and ISM that's out there.
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And I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but the
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Colts almost always go after believers because their message
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has no power and no attraction out in the world toward them.
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But it has no hope, no life, no substance.
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But to a believer who wants to follow God, who's sincere, what
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happens? They come to your door, they
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show up at work, they hit you up at Starbucks and they they want
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and you got to understand this. Those in cults are trained in
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this singular point. This is what they're the goal is
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you ready? They are trained to confuse you
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because if they can get you confused, your confusion will
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lead to vulnerability. And when you're vulnerable,
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there's a good chance you will trust the person that's next to
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you that promises you they can take you out of the chaos.
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And that's their MO. They're trained to do this.
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So they'll say, well, do the first question usually they'll
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ask is, are you a Christian? Yes.
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Then they'll go, where do you go to church?
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Because that will give them the angle that there's going to
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take, where do you go to church? Like what do you believe?
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And then they'll go, well, it says this and this and this, and
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they're teaching you wrong. And don't you know, and you're
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like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
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And they'll find some obscure passage in the middle of
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Leviticus somewhere without any context, without any
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instruction, without any understanding, and you're
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reading it and go, I've never saw that before.
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Well, of course you never saw that before.
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You're like 4 year old, weeks old in the Lord.
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You're not in Leviticus yet. Or some of you are in your
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yearly reading and you skip Leviticus.
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I know, I know, I can see it on the app.
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It's not easy, but they want to get you confused so that they
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can be the solution to your confusion.
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And that's what happened with the Galatians, no doubt.
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Oh, you're saved. Wow.
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Well, Paul told us that Jesus died for us.
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And if we if we believe that, we're saved.
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Oh, really? Well, did you know that's not
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the complete gospel? I have a more.
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Well, tell me what it is. Well, you need to be
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circumcised. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
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Hold your horses on that one. You need to be circumcised.
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And you need to keep the whole law.
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What law? I didn't know.
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I'm not. What do you mean?
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Well, let me show you it's important that you realize the
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new target that is on your back, because the devil is an expert
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thief and destroyer and would love to replace your simple
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faith with a complicated layers of nonsense that isn't the
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gospel at all. And you have to be careful who
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you give your ear to and who you listen to and who you trust.
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We were just standing in Berea not a week ago.
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Literally standing in the city of Berea and we were reminded
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from the scriptures in that place, at the synagogue there,
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we were reminded that those in Berea were more fair minded than
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those in Thessalonica. And this is how they were
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described. They had a readiness and an
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eagerness to receive the word of God, which is a little different
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than the believers in Thessalonica.
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They were eager and ready, but also they received the Word with
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all eagerness and readiness and tested everything that they
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heard by the Word of God. That's why it's important for
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you to read your Bible and pray everyday.
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You want to train your ears to hear the voice of the Lord.
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What does the voice of the Lord sound like?
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It sounds like the very words that you're reading in the
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Bible. That is the voice of God.
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The Word of God is inspired. It's living and powerful,
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sharper than any 2 edged sword. So as you're reading the
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scriptures, the Holy Spirit is training you.
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So when somebody comes to you with something, go whoa, whoa,
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whoa. That does not even sound like
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God. That doesn't my spirit you have
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the Holy Spirit in you does not bear witness with that man's
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spirit there. That is not true.
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I don't know. I do not need I, I was saved
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without the law. I don't need to keep it.
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God did the work. He is the finished.
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It's his finished work, not my works because notice what he
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says in verse 1. He says, first of all, when you,
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when you're under the spell, you're seduced by false
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teaching, the first thing that happens is you don't obey the
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truth. You have left the truth.
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What's the truth? The Galatians left that they
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were saved by grace through faith that they left it.
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It was too simple for them. Now they're out getting
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circumcised. Now they're going to spend more
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time learning the law than they are enjoying the Lord.
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So why are they learning the law?
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Not because they want to train themselves to hear the voice of
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God. They're learning the law so that
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they can attempt to keep it so that they feel like they stay
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saved. But they left they not obeying
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the truth. When you and I read the Bible,
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we're reading it because we we have fall in love with the
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author. We want to know who he is.
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We want to hear his voice. We're not trying to keep some
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standard of righteousness. We have the righteousness of
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Christ in US and upon us already, and we enjoy it.
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How? By faith.
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And faith comes by hearing, and hearing by what?
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The word of God. And it's a beautiful cycle to be
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in as God builds you up. So number one, they weren't
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obeying the truth. But then notice they also
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weren't emphasizing the crucifixion.
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They weren't thinking about the finished work or Jesus dying on
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the cross. It says before whose eyes Jesus
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was clearly portrayed among you is crucified.
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Because this is what happens when you exchange grace for any
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kind of legalism, any kind of workspace relationship with God.
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You no longer talk about what God has done for you.
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All you talk about is what you have done for God.
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And it's a very miserable way to live because some days are
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better than others. So on the good days, you feel
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good, on the bad days you feel bad.
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But on both days, by faith in the grace of God, you can feel
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exactly what God has for you as you remember what He's done for
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you, His finished work. It's because of what He has
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done, not what we have done. And let me just say in this
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section, as we go forward, it's going to be simple and
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repetitive. And I just want you to be
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careful on things that are simple and repetitive.
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We tend to just neglect them. We tend to overlook them.
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I think of Christian cliches. Christian cliches get dismissed
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as cliches, but actually they are filled with amazing truth
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that you don't want to overlook. I was thinking of a Christian
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bumper stickers. There's all kinds of them.
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But some of you have this bumper sticker on your car.
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God is not finished with me yet. Can I get any men on that?
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Well, you probably need it because you're driving, but it's
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right there. God is not finished with me yet.
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And we just said, oh, it's a bumper sticker.
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No, that's the truth. God is still working in your
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life and when you have a bad day, you look at that bumper
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sticker and you remember it is what God has done for you, not
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what you have done for God, that he is at work in your life.
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Philippians chapter one, verse 6.
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He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the
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day of Jesus Christ. And so it gets relegated into a
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little saying that's easy to remember, and then those little
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sayings become cliches and then cliches get dismissed.
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Do not dismiss the truths as simple as they might be, because
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when you believe the truth of God's word, your life changes.
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When you believe a lie, your life also changes.
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So here notice with me in verse 2, this only I want to learn
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from you. So here's another question.
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Question #2 First question was what's happened to you guys?
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You know, don't, don't you remember how you were saved?
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It was the crucifixion of Christ, the resurrection.
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Now the second question #2 is I want to learn this from you.
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Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the
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hearing of faith? That's a great question.
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Not only how were you saved, but how were you empowered by the
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Holy Spirit? How how did you receive the
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Spirit? Was it because of your good
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works? The answer is no.
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Or is it because of faith? And of course it was faith.
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They simply believed. Can you just think for a moment?
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The city of Galatia, the people there got up one day and they're
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just going about their day. Take a shower, get some
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breakfast, you know, head out, go to work, spend the day, come
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home, say hello to the kids, catch a soccer game, whatever.
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It's a normal day, Normal day after normal day after normal
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day. Pagans, heathens, no care and
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concern for God. They're not even thinking about
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it. They're just living life.
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And then on that day, Paul shows up and he goes into the
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synagogue, goes into the marketplace, and what does he
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do? He preaches the gospel.
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They hear it. They believe their life is
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forever changed and a church is planted.
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That's how it happened. They were just living life.
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They weren't waking up in the morning.
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What happened to my lamb? I was going to sacrifice it to
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God. Where's my lamb?
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What does Leviticus 13 say again, honey, None of that.
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They didn't have any care or concern for the things of God.
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They were saved by faith. They were received the Spirit by
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faith. They simply believed the gospel
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and we know it wasn't by works. Before Paul came, they didn't
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have any. They were heathens.
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They were pagans. They weren't living for God.
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Isn't that the testimony of most of us?
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We weren't living for God when He exploded in our lives.
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It was His appointed time. We didn't know that, but God did
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all along. It was His appointed time and we
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had got up that morning. I remember for me like it was
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yesterday, I didn't go. I didn't wake up on the
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Wednesday. I was saved thinking I was going
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to get saved at all. I was living life, trying to
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keep a marriage together, worried about going to jail
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again and paying my fines and all.
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I had a lot on my mind, but getting saved was not one of
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them. But God knew.
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And so when God would ask me, Ed, do you think you're all your
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good works? Do you think that's what's going
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to make you right with me? How did you receive the Spirit,
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Ed? Was it your works or was it by
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faith? And we're like, oh Lord, of
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course it was by faith. It started that way.
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It continues that way, and it's going to end that way.
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That was question #2 notice verse 3.
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This is kind of a sidebar question.
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He says, are you so foolish having begun in the Spirit and
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now you're trying to be made perfect by the flesh?
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Now it's just kind of a side thing.
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It's not really a question that's going to draw out from
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him. It's just another rebuke.
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You guys understand what you're doing.
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You, you you started out. God started something in your
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life. You think you're gonna finish
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it? I I know that sounds silly.
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I I really do. I I know we're like, I can't
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believe it. How would but you know, this is
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a trap. Many people fall into movements
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of God. This happens to movements of God
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all the time. It starts with a revival and God
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is just doing amazing things and His Holy Spirit's being poured
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out on cities and States and all around the world.
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But then something happens and men get involved and try to
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control it and enforce all these man made laws and the movement's
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dead. It started in the Spirit, but
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now it's trying to be perfected by men.
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It won't happen. Churches do this.
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Churches will start as a sovereign work of God and then
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somewhere along the way, men jump in and try to organize it
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and set it up and, and then a lot of churches die that way.
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Even whole denominations have died that way.
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And people, people do the same thing.
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You and me happens to us all the time.
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God start something and then we think we can improve upon it.
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We think we can help God out a little bit.
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They go, oh, come on, Ed, That doesn't happen, really.
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Do you remember Abram and Sarai received that great promise from
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God? You're going to have a child.
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They're in their 90s though, so Can you imagine?
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Just put yourself in their sandals for a moment, 90 years
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old, fading into the sunset, wondering what the future.
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And then God speaks and goes, you're going to have a child.
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You look over at Sarah and say, Nah, not going to happen.
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You look at yourself and go, Nah, we are way beyond having
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kids. That'll never happen.
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But you have faith in God, OK, God.
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OK, if you say so. And then you expect, you know,
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she's going to wake up pregnant tomorrow or next week.
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And it doesn't happen and it doesn't happen and it doesn't
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happen. And that's what throws us on.
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We're very eager at times. We can wrestle with the flesh
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and doubt. We really want to believe God,
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and we will believe God. But then it doesn't happen as
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fast as we thought it would. And we interpret that as maybe I
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heard wrong, or maybe God was wrong, or this is more common.
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You know what, honey? Let's help God out a little bit.
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And there was a discussion between Abram and Sarai.
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So I don't know if this is going to happen, but I do think I do.
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I do know a way it could happen. Hagar, my maidservant.
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You know what, Abram, if you go into her, she can produce for us
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the promise of God and knucklehead, Abram said sure had
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sexual relations with Hagar and Hagar had a son.
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Remember his name Ishmael. Ishmael, do you know there's a
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lot of little Ishmael's running through this service right now
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that represent you and me trying to help God out a little bit.
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Just help God out a little bit. I heard the promise, but now
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it's not happening. So God, I think I can help you.
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Do you know Ishmael is the source, is a main source of the
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tension that exists in the Middle East even to this day,
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this moment. Because the promise wasn't
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Ishmael through Hagar. Hagar.
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The promise was Isaac through Sarai.
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Why? Because Isaac is name means
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laughter. God wanted to shock them and
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surprise them and for all generations and also through
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Isaac bring joy and happiness into their life.
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Through the promise, He had a plan and a purpose.
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And as we mentioned earlier in Philippians chapter one, verse
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6, being confident of this very thing, church.
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This is a word from the Lord for someone who's just ready to jump
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in and help God out. That's how you came to church
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today. You're already planning it.
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Maybe you don't use this language, but you're already
23:17
planning it. You already got the plan going.
23:19
You know what God said, you trust what God said, but it's
23:23
not happening in the timing that you want.
23:25
So you're going to help God out a little bit.
23:27
Here is the word of the Lord being confident of this very
23:30
thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete
23:35
it until the day of Jesus Christ.
23:37
Do not help God out at all. This might shock you, but God
23:44
doesn't need your help. He doesn't need your help at
23:47
all. He will finish it.
23:49
He will complete it. You don't need to help him out.
23:52
You don't need to jump in to bring things to pass.
23:54
All you need to do is what you did the first moment of your
23:58
spiritual birth. And what was that belief?
24:04
Trust Him. Trust God with your life.
24:09
Notice in verse 4. Now have you suffered so many
24:16
things in vain? If indeed it was in vain, this
24:21
is another question, Another question that's important that
24:24
he draws them back. They want to now add works.
24:27
They want to live their life in a legalistic way with God.
24:30
They're going to live their life not thinking of the crucifixion,
24:32
but works. And he says, OK, let's talk
24:35
about the miraculous work of God.
24:36
Do the miracles of God come because of the law or faith?
24:42
Of course it's faith. He moves on from the spirit to
24:45
the work of the Spirit and he goes, how does the work of the
24:48
Spirit happen in your life? Is it because you're a good
24:50
person, because you're a good Christian person, because you've
24:53
done many good deeds? Like sometimes you live your
24:55
life where you think that there's a measurement in your
24:57
life that if you get to the top, let's say your measurement 10 is
25:00
the best one is the worst. And you know, most of us live in
25:04
456. We just go up and down, up and
25:06
down. But you think that the only way
25:08
you'll please God and you think that the only way God will keep
25:11
his promises. And you think that the only way
25:13
that you're you're going to make it into heaven is you're a 10
25:15
every day. You live a very frustrated life,
25:18
don't you? Because you're not living the
25:20
truth. If you're a 0 today, God loves
25:24
you. If you're 2, God loves you.
25:29
If you're 5, God loves you. If you're 7, say it with me, God
25:35
loves you. If you're A10, No, he really,
25:39
really, really, really loves you.
25:40
No, of course he loves you. You see, those numbers represent
25:45
how much you enjoy the love of God.
25:48
You want to enjoy the love of God, then live out your life in
25:51
such a way that you respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit
25:56
in your life. Let God live his life through
25:58
you. Because you have to ask.
26:00
OK, Ed, what about works? What about works?
26:03
What about good deeds? Doesn't God want good deeds?
26:05
Oh, yes, for sure. Just make sure it's in the right
26:08
way. You and I, where good deeds and
26:12
works come into play in our lives, is not to save us so that
26:18
you now earn something. And God owes you.
26:22
So look what I've done for you, God, You owe me.
26:25
Do I need to say it out loud? I think I do.
26:28
God owes you nothing. Roman says he owes men nothing.
26:35
No, he doesn't owe you. We are not saved by good works,
26:39
but rather we are saved for them.
26:43
We get to participate in this new life that God has given us.
26:47
We get to enjoy it. We get to live in such a way
26:52
where life has so much more meaning and we care for others
26:57
more than we care for ourselves. It's amazing.
26:59
So he comes back to the miraculous and you remember you
27:03
can jot it down in Acts chapter 14, that in Lystra a tremendous
27:07
miracle took place. There was a lame man from his
27:10
birth that God used Paul to bring healing into his life.
27:15
And the whole city was amazed. They started to worship Paul and
27:18
Barnabas. Paul wanted nothing to do with
27:21
it. Acts chapter 14 And how did this
27:24
wonderful miracle, this is something that those in Lystra
27:27
could relate to. How did it happen?
27:29
Was it the works of the law, say with me church?
27:32
No, it was faith. It was faith.
27:37
It was the grace of God. I mean, when you think it wasn't
27:41
even because of the lame man's faith, he didn't have any faith.
27:45
He's another guy that just woke up like he did every other day.
27:49
Lame. But it was God giving Paul the
27:52
faith to pray over him and bring healing into his life because
27:57
God was ready to heal that man. And if it wasn't Paul, God would
28:00
have used someone else. It didn't happen because the
28:03
lame man was super spiritual or lived A10 life his whole life.
28:06
It was in some special place in God's Kingdom.
28:09
It just happened because of the grace of God.
28:13
It's the same with us entrusted with ministry we and serving in
28:17
God's church. It's not because of anything we
28:19
have done. It's not because we have gone to
28:23
school and we've studied and we're so like early on in the
28:27
ministry, this was easier for me to believe in some ways because
28:30
early on in when I was serving, like I didn't know anything.
28:33
I hadn't even read the Bible when I was already serving God.
28:35
I was in the process of reading the Bible, but I was already
28:38
serving God. I was already praying with
28:39
people. I was already sharing the gospel
28:41
before I even read the whole Bible.
28:44
I just wanted to be used of God. But Fast forward now, I've been
28:47
doing this for 30 years. It would be easy for me to come
28:50
and go. Well, you guys don't understand
28:52
what kind of pastor you have. I mean, I have studied so much.
28:58
You should see the the marks on my Bible as I fall asleep in my
29:03
Bible studying just for you and I have learned so much and that
29:08
is why God uses me. I was like, come on now, just in
29:13
case you ever believe that about me or anyone else, there's
29:16
actually a truth in the Bible you need to come back to over
29:19
and over. Let me share it with you.
29:20
First Corinthians chapter one in verse 26, it says for you see
29:26
your calling brethren, not many wise according to the flesh, not
29:31
many mighty, not many noble are called.
29:34
And we pause there and we go, well, you know, it's kind of
29:36
offensive. What do you mean?
29:38
I've got education, I've studied and I OK, whoa, listen, this is
29:42
being used of God. Let me just say those of you,
29:45
because I know in the room, they're very well educated,
29:47
incredibly smart men and women that excel in so many areas in
29:53
life. The Bible does not diminish
29:56
education in any way, Neither do I.
29:59
When I was raising my kids, I had this instruction for them.
30:02
Get as much education as you can as fast as you can, and for your
30:08
old man, as cheap as you can, because that's a door opener in
30:13
this world. When you navigate through the
30:15
world, the many of the facets of how where God wants to take you,
30:18
where God wants to use you. I mean, if you're a doctor here
30:21
today, thank God you went to school.
30:24
Thank you very much. I'm so glad I do not.
30:27
Well, you know, I was a doctor because I got my degree online.
30:30
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
30:32
Is there another doctor in the house?
30:34
We want you to have education. That's not the point here.
30:37
God is not diminishing any kind of education, but He wants you
30:40
to remember that even those of you that excel in this world,
30:43
even those of you that are well educated engineers, even those
30:46
of you you can't take credit for what God has done in your life.
30:52
So what? But you don't understand.
30:53
I've studied so much. OK, well, how did God provide
30:56
for that? Well, you don't understand.
30:59
I'm, I'm involved in some of the most important and intricate
31:02
things in the and I do this and I send rockets into space and I
31:05
look great. That's wonderful.
31:06
But where, where did you get that brain from again and
31:10
breathing, where did that come from life?
31:15
Where did your life? It's the grace of God.
31:18
We can't take credit and just in case we want to take credit,
31:21
especially in ministry just serving the Lord in verse 27, it
31:25
says God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to
31:30
shame the wise God has chosen the weak things of the world to
31:34
put the shame the things that are mighty.
31:37
I find no greater explanation of God using my life in ministry
31:42
than this right here. I indeed stand as a testimony of
31:47
this scripture that God has chosen the foolish things of
31:50
this world. There, there's no really rhyme
31:53
or reason of why someone like me or some of you would ever be
31:57
used of God except for His grace.
32:03
And it makes me only love Him more and serve Him more.
32:06
Not out out of obligation, but out of joy.
32:11
My life given to Him because He's the one that gave me life.
32:17
Don't forget the miraculous doesn't come because of good
32:20
works or keeping the law. They saw a miracle even before
32:25
some of them were saved. Now notice in conclusion.
32:30
Now to finish this section, he gets to the place of Abraham in
32:33
verse 6 because Abraham along with Moses, very revered, very
32:38
respected, and Abraham being thrown around as someone, oh,
32:43
you know, you've got to follow Abraham in order to be saved.
32:46
We'll notice he'll describe that verse 6 just as Abraham, and
32:50
notice what's emphasized, believed God and it was
32:54
accounted to him for righteousness.
32:56
Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of
33:01
Abraham. It's not the bloodline, it's the
33:05
faith line that matters. Nobody's born a believer.
33:09
Nobody can take that sense of well, you don't know MyHeritage.
33:13
No, no, your heritage is as important as it is when it comes
33:16
to the things of God. It's only faith that bring you
33:19
into a right relationship with him.
33:21
It's only faith. So anyone that's of faith are
33:23
the sons of Abraham. And this was a big deal in the
33:26
life of Jesus. Remember in his ministry,
33:28
remember what he said. This is what got almost got him
33:30
stoned. Remember what he told him before
33:32
Abraham was I am because he was getting to the root of they had
33:37
replaced faith in God with faith in man, even a good man like
33:41
Abraham or Moses, which is also something that many fall into
33:46
today, following men and not following the Lord, following
33:50
false teachings and not following the truth of God's
33:54
word. What happens is you become in a
33:56
place where, you know, most days in our life, they're not like
33:59
super high, high emotion that most days in our life are what I
34:04
would call ordinary, normal and mundane, just normal life.
34:11
It's not too exciting. It's, it's not way up there.
34:13
It's not way down there. It's just life.
34:16
I go to work, I, I see a soccer game, I go, you know, to buy ice
34:20
cream, whatever. It's just normal.
34:22
I go shopping, got to replenish the refrigerator.
34:24
It's just normal stuff like everyone else.
34:27
And this is where ears start to itch and the enemy always loves
34:34
to scratch that itch of believers.
34:37
And there's so many different ways you can do that.
34:39
Now it's just here in a church like this is your very first
34:43
time here. Welcome.
34:44
I'm glad you're here. Very first time listening on the
34:46
radio. Fantastic.
34:47
You're in a church that every time you show up, we're going to
34:50
teach you the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter book.
34:54
That means in Galatians, it's a little bit shorter book, but
34:57
it's probably going to take us 2025 Bible studies to finish
35:00
Galatians. So that means if you go off and
35:02
visit another church for a couple weeks and go, well, maybe
35:05
we'll go back and see what they're into.
35:06
Guess what? We're into Galatians and they
35:10
go, oh, I'm tired of Galatians. I'll come back when they're
35:12
done. OK, Come back when we're done
35:14
because we're going to be right in Ephesians next and that will
35:17
take longer. A bigger book and we're going to
35:20
pause in a few times. And so it's just normal.
35:23
It's normal. And you go to Bible study after
35:25
Bible study. Wow, you know, that wasn't much.
35:27
That wasn't much. I didn't get it.
35:28
And you just normal, normal stuff.
35:30
But that is life. Life is very normal.
35:35
It's not always the highs and the lows, although we do get a
35:39
few of them. Some significant highs, some
35:42
significant lows for sure, but most of life is just mundane and
35:48
we need to learn that God is the God of the high as much as he's
35:52
the God of the mundane and he uses it all.
35:56
You don't need to have some hyper spiritualized experience
35:59
to be right with God As a born again believer, you already
36:03
every moment of every day are already right with God because
36:07
of what Jesus has done in your life and he will redeem even the
36:10
mundane. Abraham was living one day.
36:13
Genesis chapter 12. It says in verse one that God
36:16
spoke to Abram, he wasn't keeping the law, he wasn't doing
36:20
any good deed. He was just living life, but he
36:23
spoke and he gave that word notice.
36:26
Let's read on. Abraham believed God, it was
36:28
accounted to him for righteousness.
36:30
It was given to him. That word accounted.
36:32
It is a, it's a, it's an accounting.
36:35
It was given to him. It was put in his Ledger.
36:38
It was say that it was deposited in his bank account to be saved.
36:44
And now you follow and I follow verse 7 in His footsteps by
36:48
faith. And verse 8, the Scripture
36:50
foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith is
36:55
which He promised in Genesis 12. And by the way, do you know who
36:59
the nations by faith are? Well, you Gentiles, do you know
37:05
what's been in the heart of God to save every tribe, tongue and
37:09
nation from the very beginning? That is not just a new covenant
37:13
concept. It is the very heart of God.
37:16
Every tribe, tongue and nation, every language, every skin
37:20
color, every socio economic level, every country, every
37:26
jungle, every person. God's heart is that none will
37:32
perish, that they will come to faith.
37:35
It is not exclusive to just the Jewish people, although it
37:39
starts with the Jew, but it branches out to everyone else
37:44
but Abram here, Abram is just a Gentile.
37:48
God spoke to him. Get up, leave your country.
37:50
I'm going to use you. I'm going to make, I'm going to
37:51
bless all the nations through you.
37:53
Already the Gentiles are going to be used, are going to be
37:57
reached with the gospel. It's his heart, it's his desire,
38:01
which those that remember. What is the error that came into
38:04
the Galatian churches? The error is not just
38:07
circumcision and keeping the law.
38:09
Technically what they were saying is that in order to be
38:12
saved, you have to become a Jew first, cross the light, convert,
38:17
then God can save you. And what?
38:19
Paul's teaching isn't true and now he's thinking back.
38:22
What are you talking about? How does Abraham get saved Then?
38:24
How does Abraham, this Pagan get saved?
38:26
Was it the works of the law? In no way could Abraham be saved
38:31
by the works of the law. Why You Bible students know why
38:36
the law didn't exist yet got a couple 100 years till Moses
38:43
comes on the scene. There's no law to be saved by it
38:47
was relationship and by the way, the law saves no one.
38:54
It only reveals as we've learned in Galatians, the law doesn't
38:57
even save you. Who saves you?
38:59
God how? By grace through what?
39:03
Your faith, just like Abraham and Abraham's and God speaking
39:07
to him is saying you know what that's just another picture.
39:09
I want to reach the World. But you know what started in the
39:11
Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve decide to rebel against God.
39:15
They run away from his presence, don't want to be in relationship
39:18
with anymore. They recognize that they're
39:20
sinfully naked now and what do they do?
39:23
We got to cover up that. We got to cover this up.
39:26
We cannot be run around the garden like this.
39:28
We do not want the hippopotamuses and the giraffes
39:31
seeing us like this. And they find fig leaves.
39:36
Oh, I bet you that was fun, covering up with them, itching
39:39
and uncomfortable and making a bad situation worse by trying to
39:45
help God out a little. Do you hear a theme?
39:48
When you leave the gospel, you make a bad situation even worse
39:55
as you continue to walk away from Him.
39:58
But what does God do? God does not leave them in their
40:00
sinful condition, but He provides for them a covering.
40:04
By the sacrifice of an animal which would become a picture and
40:07
a type of coming of Jesus Christ who would be crucified, buried
40:12
and rose again the third day that we have the fullness of the
40:15
message now. But we see the pictures
40:17
throughout the scriptures. It says in verse 8 that God
40:20
preached the gospel to Abraham. Same gospel we hear same gospel.
40:25
There's no, there's not 2 gospels, 3 gospels, 5 gospels.
40:29
There's only one in you. All the nations shall be
40:33
blessed. I'm your Savior, I'm your
40:36
provider, I'm your forgiver. So he says in verse 9.
40:39
So those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
40:44
For you Bible students, you want to take some notes down in God's
40:47
heart to reach the gospel. For God's heart to reach the
40:50
Gentiles is all throughout the Old Testament.
40:53
You can jot it down. The whole book of Jonah is about
40:57
God reaching the Gentiles. Ruth reaching the Gentiles,
41:01
Deuteronomy chapter 32, Second Samuel chapter 22, Psalm 18,
41:06
Psalm 117, Isaiah 11, Romans 15, Genesis chapter 12.
41:12
It's all throughout the scriptures.
41:14
It's God's heart. The same thing is can be said of
41:18
you and me. Faith is not new.
41:20
Grace is not new. Back in Genesis, it was by
41:23
faith, in Exodus, by faith, Leviticus by faith, Numbers by
41:30
faith, Psalm, Say with me by faith, Isaiah by faith, you name
41:35
the book. It was always been by faith, one
41:38
gospel. And you know what's discouraging
41:43
in some ways for the Judaizers, for the legalists that came into
41:47
Galatia and we're jacking with people's lives because it's one
41:51
thing the enemy wants to go after you physically.
41:53
And the enemy would love to take your, you mentally and take you
41:57
out emotionally. But you know what he's going
41:59
after. He wants to take you out
42:00
spiritually, ruin your eternal life, not just your temporary
42:05
life. He wants to ruin you eternally.
42:08
And here's what's sad to me as I was thinking about this, the
42:11
Judaizers, the false teachers, they come into town with this
42:14
false teaching. Do you want to know something
42:17
just as much as it was by faith with Moses, by faith with
42:19
Abraham, every all that, all the men and women that come before
42:23
us, it's always been by grace through faith.
42:24
Always, always, always. For the legalists, it was by
42:28
faith as well. They refused to believe it and
42:34
instead wanting to use the sincerity and the love of people
42:37
to take advantage of them, which God strictly forbids over and
42:42
over and over throughout the Scriptures.
42:44
Faith was enough for them too. But they come with some new
42:49
revelation. It's always that way, Some new
42:51
revelation, that temptation to raise up for yourselves teachers
42:56
that will scratch that little itch in the normal, mundane
43:00
times of life. You mean that it's just read
43:02
your Bible and pray every day? Yeah, just start there.
43:04
Just start there. Just reopen up your Bible and
43:07
go, God speak to me. You want to train your ears to
43:10
hear the voice of the Lord? The voice of the Lord sounds
43:12
like when you read the Bible. That's what it sounds like.
43:16
We're just reading through. And it's like, oh, OK, OK.
43:19
I can't tell you how many times someone has come up to me with
43:22
something and I'm go, you know what?
43:23
That's not that. That doesn't sound like God.
43:26
No, no, no Pastor, I was reading last night and this is just the
43:29
new revelation I came up with. No, no, I don't think you came
43:32
up with that on your own. I think someone taught it to
43:34
you. Who taught you that?
43:36
And the usually there brings 2 responses. 1 is very defensive.
43:41
And by the way, you know God is really working on something in
43:44
your life. When you become very defensive,
43:48
you just know you got to let you put your defenses up because
43:51
God's touching that. And so they come, Oh no, I've
43:53
may, I've just read. I was like, there's no way you
43:56
came up with that on your own. Somebody taught you, you, you
44:00
saw some video, you came up with something, and that response is
44:03
just a battle so that the Holy Spirit can get a hold of their
44:06
hearts because now they're dishonest with me.
44:09
So whatever they're into now, now they're being dishonest.
44:12
They don't need to be dishonest with me.
44:13
They don't follow me. I'm not their savior.
44:15
But because they brought it to me like it's something new, They
44:18
didn't learn that in the Bible. They learned it from a man or a
44:21
woman falsely. Or the other response is, yeah,
44:27
Pastor, I came on, this video popped up.
44:30
I didn't even ask for it on YouTube.
44:32
I was watching something else and it popped up.
44:34
So I clicked it. It sounded interesting.
44:36
I clicked the next one. I clicked the next one.
44:38
And now that's all I've been doing was studying from this
44:40
guy. And I'm like, hey, stop it.
44:43
It's not true. It's not the voice of the Lord.
44:45
How do I know the voice of the Lord?
44:47
Pastor, read your Bible every day.
44:50
You'll deposit God's word in your heart and here's what
44:53
happens. You have the Holy Spirit in you
44:57
and the Holy Spirit in you can bear witness with himself and
45:01
someone else. The Holy Spirit entails every
45:04
true believer so that when the somebody gives you something,
45:07
your the Holy Spirit in you can say that is me and you can go
45:10
along and agree or the Holy Spirit says, no, no, stay away
45:13
from that. That is not true because
45:16
remember, you were just reading it and you're like, oh man, that
45:18
doesn't sound like. So you you're saying that in
45:21
order to be saved, I got to get circumcised.
45:24
Yeah, I don't I, I don't like that's Brent.
45:26
Like I've never heard that before.
45:28
Well, let me explain it to you. No, no, no, don't explain it to
45:31
me. I'm not interested because the
45:33
Bible says that I'm not saved by works.
45:36
Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8-9 and ten.
45:38
The Bible says that that's the voice of God.
45:41
God says that I'm not saved by works.
45:45
Practicality says I'm not saved by works.
45:47
The miraculous says I'm not saved by works.
45:50
Abraham's faith says I'm not saved by works.
45:52
Do you get it yet? The voice of the Lord through
45:54
the Scriptures today, fool. Why would you guys be so seduced
45:56
by that? Come out from under it.
46:01
I think it was Norman Geisel that said this.
46:04
At least that's where I heard it first.
46:05
I love it. It's so good.
46:06
Somebody comes to you with some new revelation.
46:08
He said this. If it's new, it's not true.
46:12
And if it's true, then it's not new, right?
46:15
The Bible says there's nothing new under the sun.
46:19
So if you know the word of God, you won't be ripped off.
46:23
And that's something to remember next time somebody comes and
46:25
says, oh, I have this new revelation of God, a new thing.
46:28
Nobody's ever found. Nobody knows about it yet except
46:31
me. And now you, you just say no
46:35
thanks and instead choose to stick it out with the grace of
46:39
God through faith. You may not know everything yet.
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You may not even read the whole Bible yet, but you know Jesus.
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You know his faithful work in your life.
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You know your testimony. You remember you and you were
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saved. You remember when you received
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the Holy Spirit. You remember as you watch the
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miraculous, you stick close to Jesus.
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Because as we've learned today, it is foolish and it is
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dangerous to leave the grace of God.
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Amen. So, Father, I pray as we come to
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the communion table that we would remember today your
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finished work in our lives, That we would remember today your
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complete work in our lives, That you will keep every promise you
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have given us. You will fulfill every word.
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Not one word that you've spoken has ever gone unfulfilled.
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And so I pray for the impatient today.
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I pray for those that might even be connected right now with some
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weird teacher on YouTube or somebody caught their ear at the
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market and they're they're here physically, but they're really
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eager to find this new doctrine or, and sometimes it's not even
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a new doctrine, Lord, it's an old one that's all.
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Got a new wrapper on it. Just something to diminish your
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sovereignty, something to divine it, diminish your faithfulness,
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something to diminish you, period, so that you're no longer
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God in all your glory, but something lesser.
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Lesser than a teaching, lesser than a teacher, lesser than a
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system, lesser than a theology. And so forgive us, Lord, keep us
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safe and pure. If you're here today as the
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Church is praying and you've never been born again, I want to
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invite you to follow Jesus today.
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That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you
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believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
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will be saved. And so in the room today, or out
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online or on the radio, even downstairs, if today's the day
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that you want to respond. And that's what it is.
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It's a response to the work of Jesus.
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You're responding how by faith, you're believing that Jesus died
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for you. You're believing that his
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forgiveness is real. You're forgiving that he has
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eternal life for you. You're you're you're believing
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that God is your creator. There's so much involved in it,
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but it starts with a simple response to an invitation.
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Get up and follow him. And so if that's you today and
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you say, Ed, pastor, I want the forgiveness of my sins.
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I want that life that you speak of, would you just stand to your
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feet? I want to pray with you.
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And as you stand, there'll be pastors coming alongside of you.
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And this is for the first time, This is that sense of salvation
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and being born again. Today is the day of salvation.
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God bless you. Who else would say that's me?
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That's my life? You got up today and not
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expecting this. It was another routine day.
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Maybe even your routine on Sundays is church and here you
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are just a routine day. But God had something more than
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on just a routine mundane day. God bless you in the back.
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He wanted to draw you to Himself.
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He wanted to convey to you new life to be born again.
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Man can't do that. We can't do that, only God can
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do that. Who else would say that's me?
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Before we have communion and celebrate the death and
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resurrection of Jesus, this has to be taken care of.
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This is the time and this is the moment.
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Just stand on your feet and standing doesn't save you.
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By the way, you know what it does?
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It puts a core memory in your mind, something the Holy Spirit
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uses. That was the day and all the
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doubts come and all the difficulties come and all the
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issues come, the suffering. It's like, oh Lord, I remember.
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And so those of you that responded, let's do business
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with God, let's confess. Let me help you with that.
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You could say, God, I believe you sent Jesus Christ to die for
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me. I believe they buried him and
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that he rose again the third day.
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And I ask you to forgive me of all of my sins and give me the
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new life that you promised through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Help me, God, to turn away from my sinful past and to follow You
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with my whole heart, my whole life.
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I choose, I love that I choose to follow You.
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Father, pour your blessing and Your Spirit upon these men and
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women near and far, that today would be the glorious day of new
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beginnings. Truly from the heart You said if
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anyone comes to you, you won't cast them out.
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So all that come to you today, they're not.
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You're not pushing them away, you're not making them come back
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another time. Today is the day of salvation
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and may it be real, true and lasting in Jesus name.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.