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Galatians 1-4:8 shows the battle between Judaism and the Truth of God
Fred R. Coulter—July 25, 2020
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Greetings, brethren! Welcome to Sabbath services! Presented by the Christian Biblical Church of God, and we're dedicated to restoring original Christianity for today, and in understanding the Word of God!
Many parts of the Word of God are very easy to understand, especially for young people, the book of Proverbs. We have a special series designed just for that: Proverbs for Youth. We will do just a little bit in the book of Proverbs so that we can cover some things that are really essential, not only for children, but everyone; however, for children wanting to know:
- what is right
- what is wrong
- what is good
- what is evil
So, the first chapter is very interesting, because one of the first things that all children are confronted with is friends, and friends may not turn out to be friends and not such good people! We have a warning of it right here:
Proverbs 1:10: "My son… [that includes daughters as well] …if sinners entice you…"—lead you into something that is not right!
- What should your answer be? NO!
that's just like growing up
- What's the most famous word that you hear? Probably the first one when you were very, very young was NO! Don't do that!
- Why is that?
You need to realize that when you're born there's nothing in the mind. The physical brain is there, but you haven't been taught anything, so you don't know right from wrong.
That's why your mom and dad are there—or whoever is taking care of you—and they want you to do what is right. So, the first thing they will tell you when you start to do something wrong is no!
As you grow up, God expects you to say no on your own. That's important! But most people like to blame others, and that goes clear back to Adam and Eve!
"…do not consent. If they say, 'Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood…'" (vs 10-11). That's taking it to the extreme in this case: murder.
"…we will watch secretly for the innocent without cause" (v 11)—or they could say:
- Let's get this person here and we'll go beat him up!
or
- We know that nobody lives in this house, so why don't we go see what we can steal!
That's when you yourself have to say NO! Let that be your first word to keep you doing right.
However, don't use the word no wrongly. Don't tell your parents, when they tell you do something, 'No, I won't do that!' because that's not right!
So, they say, v 12: "Let us swallow them up alive as the grave, and whole, as those who go down into the pit. we shall find all precious substance; we shall fill our houses with plunder" (vs 12-13).
In other words, 'We're going to get something for nothing.' I'm going to tell one on my son David:
One day David found a silver dollar. He went down to K & S to buy something when it was grocery store and the owner called me. He said, 'I have your son down here and he's got a rare silver dollar.' I came down and sure enough.
It doesn't pay to try and get something for nothing! You can't do it, it won't last.
A good program that you can watch, if you're old enough to watch it, I Almost Got Away With It! That's quite something! It will show you exactly what this proverb is talking about, that they will do evil and continue to do evil thinking that they can make it right.
That's the first lesson, then the next thing they say is: v 14: "Cast in your lot among us, and let us have one purse." Let's have a gang! That's what it's saying.
Here's the warning, v 15: "My son, do not walk in the way with them! Keep back your foot from their path, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood" (vs 15-16).
That's exactly how people get into trouble. They do have the Juvenile Hall for delinquent or sinning children. So, you need to understand what God wants. So, here's what He tells us:
Proverbs 3:1: My son, do not forget My Law, but let your heart keep my commandments." So, the first thing you need to do is memorize the Ten Commandments of God, the long version, because that tells you all of the commands! If you learn it when you're young, it will always be there. That's what you want because God's blessing will be there upon you.
Here's what it's going to do, v 2: "For they shall add length of days, and long life, and peace, to you."
- Do you want to live long?
- Have you heard of friends that die?
Some of them do stupid things! I'll tell you a little secret: Even those of us who are adults, we pray that God will keep us from doing stupid things, because human nature is just that way!
Verse 3: "Do not let mercy and Truth forsake you…" What is Truth? The Word of God!
Here's what you are to do, figuratively speaking, but it means to put it into your mind:
"…bind them around your neck; write them upon the tablet of your heart" (v 3).
- What will this do?
- Why should you do that?
There are a lot of kids you're going to come in contact with that don't believe in God, or they go to a church that doesn't really understand God. That causes problems! Here's what it will do IF you do God's way:
Verse 4: "And so you shall find favor and good understanding…"—you will be smart! Do you want to be smart? Get the things concerning Proverbs and go over it; that will help you.
That's our lesson for today for all of you young souls, and I hope you learn.
*****
Now for all of us old codgers here, we're going to study something a little more in depth and complicated. It starts out rather simple. Here's another concept that you need to always understand, everybody understand this:
- You cannot improve on God!
That's what people like to do! They like to add things to what God has already given.
- Do not think that you're going to do something for God that is 'good' when it's not in the Word of God!
This is how false religion comes about!
We find in Mark 7 something very important. All the physical things that we do, IF they're not in accord with the Word of God, cannot substitute for what God says!
One thing they say about the Sabbath, I heard a Protestant say it, 'It says one day in seven.' Do you find that in the Bible? No! It says, 'Six days you shall work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath.' So what they say is a little twisting of that. It's not one day in seven, it's the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath!
Otherwise, with one day in seven you could take any seven days and any day for what you want to make as your day of worship.
Notice what Jesus said about the traditions of the Jews, and this becomes important because this is the greatest problem in Galatians. We're going to go to Galatians again and see how this wrongness—under the guise of righteousness—really destroys any relationship with God.
Mark 7:6: "And He answered and said to them, 'Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it is written…'"
What is a hypocrite? Someone who does something that is not right, knowingly!
"…'This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me'" (v 6). God wants everyone to love Him with all their heart, mind, soul and being!
Notice what it is and think about this in relationship to all the rioting and things right now. All of those who belong to ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter and other organizations like that think they are right in destroying, looting and pretty soon killing! That's the opposite of what God wants. Their hearts are far from God. In fact, they want to destroy everything concerning God.
But for those who are 'religious' Jesus says, v 7: "But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." Doctrine is teaching, and doctrine is very important when we get to Galatians.
Verse 8: "For leaving the commandment of God…"
This tells us that when you get all human regulations telling you what to do, sooner or later you're leaving the commandments of God!
- Have the Protestants left the commandments of God?
- Have the Catholics left the commandments of God?
Likewise with all the rest of the 'religions' of the world!
You need to remember and memorize the Ten Commandments, because that will help you think!
"…you hold fast the tradition of men, such as the washing of pots and cups; and you practice many other things like this'" (v 8). There are a lot of different things today!
Here's what happens; here is how people get in trouble, even thought they may have a façade or covering of religion:
Verse 9: "Then He said to them, 'Full well do you reject the commandment of God, so that you may observe your own tradition.'"
This was the battle with the New Testament Church. It wasn't the battle between Catholics and Protestants, or Muslims; it was a battle between Judaism and their traditions and the Truth of God as found in the N.T. Church.
We will see what Paul writes about it, then we will get into something that will be a little technical. But that's all right; just because something is difficult doesn't mean that you can't understand it, it just means that it takes a while longer to understand it. We can understand these things if we apply the Word of God!
Galatians 1:6: "I am astonished that you are so quickly being turned away from Him Who called you into the grace of Christ, to a different gospel." That's what we have today, many, many different gospels!
Verse 7: "Which in reality is not another Gospel; but there are some who are troubling you and are desiring to pervert the Gospel of Christ."
What as that? To bring in the physical things from the Old Covenant and to bring in the traditions along with that. The physical thing they wanted to bring in was mandatory circumcision for all men. That's an outward, fleshly thing that was in the Covenant with Israel!
We're going to see that the Covenant with Israel was not a covenant to eternal life. But the covenant with Jesus Christ is to eternal life!
Verse 8: "But if we, or even an angel from heaven, should preach a gospel to you that is contrary to what we have preached, LET HIM BE ACCURSED! As we have said before, I also now say again. If anyone is preaching a gospel contrary to what you have received, LET HIM BE ACCURSED!" (vs 8-9).
Here's something for everyone, but especially for everyone who is a teacher:
Verse 10: "Now then, am I striving to please men, or God?…."—good question!
- IF you please God among men who want to please God, everything will be fine
- IF you want to please God among men who are against God, you will seem like the off-scouring of the earth
That's the seeds of martyrdom!
"…Or am I motivated to please men? For if I am yet pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (v 10). They may claim to be, but they're not!
Verse 13: "For you heard of my former conduct when I was in Judaism…"
Go to the book of Acts and you find out that he was persecuting the Church, hauling people off to prison. He even consented to the death of others. Judaism stated right there what the problem is.
"…how I was excessively persecuting the Church of God and was destroying it; and I was advancing in Judaism far beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more abundantly zealous for the traditions of my fathers" (vs 13-14).
What did Paul say of himself in 1-Timothy? That God had mercy on him who was the sinner, because that's how he looked at it when he was persecuting the Church!
Let's understand something about the covenant with Israel! It was centered around the tabernacle or the temple. In the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. Outside of that was the Altar of Incense, and further removed was the burnt offering altar.
Everything in the Old Covenant was based on the obedience to the letter of the Law, and focused directly to the temple. At the temple God put His presence in the Holy of Holies. With Jesus Christ, the whole thing changes:
- no longer have a temple on earth, but one in heaven
- no longer have any animal sacrifices or sprinkling of blood, because we have the sacrifice of Christ
We're to believe in the sacrifice of Christ!
- no longer is there a presence of God in the sanctuary, but we have God in us with His Holy Spirit
How do we get the Holy Spirit in us? Repentance, baptism and believing in Christ!
The Jews couldn't understand this, especially those deeply steeped in their traditions. Remember when Peter first went to Cornelius? Peter said, 'You know it's unlawful for a man that is a Jew to keep company of another one, or to even associate with him.'
That was a law of man! So, God obliterated that law by converting the whole household of Cornelius, and they received the Holy Spirit! How did they receive the Holy Spirit? The same way the apostles did when they received it! So, they had to conclude that God was now dealing with the Gentiles.
2 is very interesting, because Peter was the one who went to Cornelius' house. Yet…
Galatians 2:11: "But when Peter came to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be condemned." Why is this so important? We'll find out!
Verse 12: "For, before certain ones came from James… [brother of Jesus] …he was eating with the Gentiles…. [just like he did when he stayed with Cornelius] …However, when they came, he drew back and separated himself from the Gentiles, being afraid of those of the circumcision party."
The circumcision party was the party that wanted to follow the traditions, and the sacrificial laws. With the New Covenant this can't be.
Verse 13: "And the rest of the Jews joined him in this hypocritical act, insomuch that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy."
Why would they separate themselves? They think they're better, more righteous, because they looked at all Gentiles as unclean; if they were circumcised, they were common. In the synagogues, they had a separate area for the proselytes; that's what they were called. There was a division and strata of people that God did not want to have. They got carried away with it.
Our righteousness does not come from doing human commandments! That's the whole key. Our righteousness comes from doing the commandments of God! The central focus of our belief is Jesus Christ with God the Father in heaven above, Who gives the Holy Spirit. The truth of the New Testament is this—don't forget it—every single individual who has the Spirit of God has direct access to God the Father through prayer and Bible study!
That doesn't mean that you don't need teachers; the ministry is supposed to be teaching, teaching the Word of God!
Verse 14: "But when I saw that they did not walk uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in the presence of them all, 'If you, being a Jew, are living like the Gentiles, and not according to Judaism… [which is separation] …why do you compel the Gentiles to Judaize?"
The only way that they were to be separate would be by the Jewish tradition, not by the Law of God! Here's the thing, they thought that if they separated from the Gentiles they would be more righteous and God would think more greatly of them than the Gentiles. Not so! God is not dealing at the temple level on earth; He dealing at the temple level from heaven above down to us!
Verse 16: "Knowing that a man is not justified by works of law…" That's what that separation was! Every tradition of the Jews required a work of law. This was to make them righteous, even if it transgressed the Law of God!
Justification means right standing with God! How are we put in right standing with God? Through repentance and receiving of the Holy Spirit! Then to overcome the law of sin and death—which we have to, that's our overcoming—we are justified, not by doing a law, but by repentance!
Example: the Catholics confess their sins to a priest, not to God! The priest says, 'You do 200 hail Mary's and 200 our fathers and you're forgiven.' That is a work of law based upon a tradition of the Catholics!
Same way with the Jews here; their tradition was a law that you could not associate with Gentiles. So, Peter and those with James all got carried away, which shows you that at Jerusalem they had problems understanding justification, otherwise they wouldn't have done it.
So, all right standing, or justification, comes from God the Father and Jesus Christ in heaven above! And the way that you receive forgiveness is not doing something to compensate for it. That's what the hail Mary's and our father's are with the Catholics. They are doing a work of law, tradition of man, to compensate for their sin in order to be forgiven. Not so!
The way we are forgiven is upon repentance through the blood of Christ, and that justification comes from God in heaven above down to each one of us! It does not come because we do some sort of set law.
What if one of the priest told one of the athletes now that you have to go out and do a thousand pushups, then you'll be right. NO!
- What does God look to?
- What does repentance involve?
We also find this in many of the Psalms, and it's why David was a man after God's heart, because he constantly looked to God directly. As a matter of fact, in his house he had the Ark in a special room, and in this special room was a special tent attended to by the priests, so he could come right in front of that tent and see the Ark.
Spiritually speaking, that's how it is with us. When we get on our knees and say, 'Our Father…' we're connecting directly to God in heaven above, anytime that we say that.
I've showed you a demonstration on how some of these modern devices work. This is what they call 'an alarm bob.' You have to set it when you're in the house and you set it in case someone tries to break in, and the alarm will go off. The one we have is a powerful alarm; it's a real screamer! The other day Jonathan forgot to turn it off and…
Yesterday morning I needed to go outside on the deck and I forgot to turn it off. As soon as I opened the latch, the thing goes off! I scurried over to where I had this 'bob' and there's a button that you press and gives a little signal and you can see it because there's a little light that flashes and it's red.
There was something else with the setup that they had, because right after I turned it off, I got a phone call from the alarm company, that 'your alarm went off, but we see that used the proper button to turn it off so we won't call the police.' Think of that! That one move set the alarm off, it was screaming in the house and sent a message to where the alarm company is and they knew that it went off and they called right away. All of that was by electronic microwaves!
Similar to what it is with us when we pray! We don't see God; we don't feel God. We may feel a little activation of His Holy Spirit from time to time, but we have faith that God does hear! We have belief that He will act for us. Why? Because we repent!
What was the greatest thing that a man did for God, which God told him to do and gave him the plans? The man was Solomon, and he built the temple! In the physical realm there is nothing greater that you can do than that, and when they had the temple God gave them the plans, and God blessed as long as they were doing what they should.
Isa. 66—let's see what God says. This is compared to doing works of law, not connected with Truth and repentance. Truth and repentance will bring you forgiveness; works of law does not! That does not go to heaven, to the Throne of God.
Isaiah 66:1: "Thus says the LORD, 'The heaven is My Throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is the house that you build for Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all these things My hand has made, and these things came to be,' says the LORD…." (vs 1-2).
So, you build a temple for God, what do you build it out of? Something already that God created! You get the stone, the gold, the silver, the copper, the wood and everything. That's all what God created, all physical.
God wants repentance! That's greater than the temple!
"…'But to this one I will look, to him who is of a poor and contrite spirit and who trembles at My Word" (v 2).
Someone who is not haughty and exalted and understands their weakness, and that God is God. That's what repentance is about, and that goes directly to God whenever you pray!
Just like with your smart phone; a lot of people follow along the sermons on their smart phone. He's got the Bible and I have the printed Bible. He has exactly what I have. Where is that stored? In some computer service company where they have servers, which help the computers operate. He, at anyplace anywhere on the earth, can turn that on, make a phone call and reach anybody anywhere through the system of microwaves.
Likewise he can do Bible study anytime by just starting the Bible program and it will bring it right up; you choose the book and whatever you want to study and it's right there.
Likewise with us! God wants that direct connection!
(break)
Let's learn a very important thing. We're talking about religious works of men, traditional religious works, anything that person would do without a repentant heart is so worthless. The Word of God is so important, because that's how we are to live. After all, we are being trained to be the sons and daughters of God to rule the world! We need:
- the thoughts of God
- the Spirit of God
- the forgiveness of God
- the instructions of God
"…'But to this one I will look, to him [or her] …who is of a poor and contrite spirit and who trembles at My Word" (v 2)—meaning that you:
- keep the Word of God
- follow the Word of God
Those who don't:
- even if they come to the temple
- even if they offer a sacrifice
- even if they… in whatever situation
Here's what God says:
Verse 3: "He who kills an ox is as if he killed a man…" If your heart is not repentant and right, what is it?
"…he who sacrifices a lamb is as if he broke a dog's neck; he who offers a grain offering is as if he offered swine's blood; he who burns incense is as if he blessed an idol…." (v 3).
What does God do when people in the name of God go against God?
"…Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions…" (vs 3-4). Your own evil thoughts will be your punishment! How about that?
"…and I will bring their fears upon them because when I called…" (v 4). If you have the Word of God and you've been called into the Church…
"…no one answered; when I spoke, they did not hear. But they did evil before My eyes and chose that in which I did not delight" (v 4).
That's how God views this situation back in Galatians.
Galatians 2:14: "But when I saw that they did not walk uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in the presence of them all, 'If you, being a Jew, are living like the Gentiles… [which he was before the ones from James came] …and not according to Judaism…"
That's the whole key in the first three chapters of Galatians: Judaism!
"…why do you compel the Gentiles to Judaize?…. [by making them eat separately, and that's a law of the Jews] …We who are Jews by nature—and not sinners of the Gentiles—knowing that a man is not justified by works of law" (vs 14-15). That was work of law of the tradition of Judaism!
That does not make you right with God. Justification means to be in right standing with God! "…by works of law"—which has nothing to do with commandment-keeping, the commandments of God!
Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace…"—God's mercy, goodness, kindness and everything about God is given to you!
"…you have been saved through faith… [believing in Christ] …and this especially is not of your own selves… [you didn't do it; God called you and you answered the call] …it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship…" (vs 8-10).
True Christianity is God working with our heart and mind and is molding, guiding and directing us, and building the character in us that we need for the resurrection. He is working in us:
- through His Spirit
- through His grace
- through His laws and commandments
"…His workmanship being created in Christ Jesus unto the good works…" (v 10)—between works of law and good works of God! The good works of God are based upon the Word of God and the commandments of God.
"…that God ordained beforehand in order that we might walk in them…. [showing that it is a way of life] …Therefore, remember that you were once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by those who are called circumcision in the flesh made by hands" (vs 10-11).
Since God is dealing with our mind, the circumcision required under the covenant with Israel has no meaning!
- Did they even know that they—though they were circumcised in the flesh—sin? Yes!
- Why? Because they didn't have the Spirit of God and they weren't willing to obey in the letter of the Law!
Verse 12: "And that you were without Christ at that time, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off are made near by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, Who has made both one… [not separate] …and has broken down the middle wall of partition" (vs 12-14)—the commandments of men!
Verse 15: "Having annulled in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments contained in the decrees of men…" That also applies to all of the Gentile religious laws!
"…so that in Himself He might create both into one new man, making peace; and that He might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, having slain the enmity by it" (vs 15-16).
This is to bring us all in to a spiritual relationship with God, where you don't have to go to a temple, you don't have to do a certain law, you have to have:
- a contrite heart
- tremble at the Word of God
- you have the Spirit of God
and God is with you!
Can anything else in the world replace that? No! Couldn't replace it! That's why we went to Isa. 66 to show that not even a temple.
Verse 17: "Now when He came, He preached the Gospel—peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have direct access by one Spirit to the Father" (vs 17-18).
Here's what Christ told the woman at the well, John 4. A little background on Samaria: there was a rebellion of the priest during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah and they were the ones who had married 'strange' wives, which the priests and Levites were forbidden by law to do. So, Ezra and Nehemiah made them separate. Some of the priests did not want to separate, so they went to Samaria. Samaria during the days of the Persian Empire was a separate jurisdiction from Judea. What they did is make a temple very similar to the one in Jerusalem, and they kept the first five Books of the Law.
So, the Samaritans had that system still going, but much paganized by the time of Jesus.
John 4:19: "The woman said to Him, 'Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, but You say that the place where it is obligatory to worship is in Jerusalem'" (vs 19-20)—which at that time was a true statement until the giving of the Holy Spirit and subsequently temple was destroyed!
Verse 21: "Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You do not know what you worship. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming… [tie right in with Eph. 2] …and now is, when the true worshipers…" (vs 21-23).
If there are true worshipers, what else do you have? False worshipers! He's telling her that she is a false worshiper.
"…true worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth; for the Father is indeed seeking those who worship Him in this manner. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in Truth" (v s 23-24)—meaning it's obligatory!
Eph. 2 tells us how we have direct access to God the Father and Jesus Christ in heaven above through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 2:18: "For through Him we both have direct access by one Spirit to the Father. So then, you are no longer aliens and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of the household of God. You are being built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Cornerstone in Whom all the building, being conjointly fitted together is increasing into a Holy temple in the Lord; in Whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit" (vs 18-22)—God's Spirit right in us!
That means that there is nothing physical that God recognizes when men come before Him. But suffice it to say, the Law of God in the letter—aside from the traditions—was to teach people, and that was to fill in the time until Christ could come. The Law was to be that teacher or tutor.
Galatians 3:25: "But since faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." Why? Where is the Law and commandment of God? Written in our heart and mind! That's the Higher Authority! Before Christ and the giving of the Holy Spirit, the Law and the Prophets were the authority. Now the authority is:
- God the Father
- Jesus Christ
- the Law and the Prophets
- the Gospels
and everything else that teach us how we develop the character of God!
Verse 26: "Because you are all sons of God… [not a citizen of a nation] …through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (vs 26-29)—of making the spiritual sons and daughters!
Galatians 4:1: "Now then, I say, for as long a time as the heir is a child, he is no different from a servant, although he be lord of all." You have to come to certain age before you're able to be baptized!
Verse 2: "But he is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed beforehand by the father. In the same way, when we were children, we were held in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the time for the fulfillment came, God sent forth His own Son, born of a woman, born under law, in order that He might redeem those who are under law, so that we might receive the gift of sonship from God" (vs 2-5).
Religion in the world is to have decent people who are not given to lawlessness. Being a son or daughter of God, you are preparing for eternal life! Everything is elevated to a higher and spiritual level, and that's called the sonship of God!
We have, when we receive the Holy Spirit—as Peter writes in 1-Peter 1—begotten again! That means that the Spirit of God is dwelling in our mind!
Then at the resurrection we are going to be born again from flesh to spirit. Just think of all of those who have been true Christians down through time. Everyone who has lost a husband or wife is going to be anxious to see what it's going to be like at the resurrection. Well, I'm right there with you, too. Sonship from God!
You can't get this from any temple or any building because it comes from God!
Verse 6: "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father.' So then, you are no longer a servant, but a son. And if a son, you are also an heir of God through Christ" (vs 6-7).
Think of that! An heir means that you are going to inherit the Kingdom of God!
Verse 8: "Now on the one hand, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to those who are not gods by nature."
Now from here on it gets very complicated. There are two elements going on with the Galatians:
- the Judaizers and circumcision
- their own pagan religion that they had before they were converted
that also means:
- living in the grace of God
- following the things that God wants
It's showing again that through this that they were involved in adding things to what they were taught! And we can't do that!
Scriptural References:
- Proverbs 1:10-16
- Proverbs 3:1-4
- Mark 7:6-9
- Galatians 1:6-10, 13-14
- Galatians 2:11-14, 16
- Isaiah 66:1-4
- Galatians 2:14-15
- Ephesians 2:8-18
- John 4:19-24
- Ephesians 2:18-22
- Galatians 3:25-29
- Galatians 4:1-8
Scriptures referenced, not quoted: 1-Peter 1
Also referenced: Sermon Series: Proverbs for Youth
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 7/29/20
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