Galatians
The
book of Romans is Paul's masterpiece on
the study of grace, but the book of Galatians
is his strongest teaching on the subject.
Paul takes off the gloves and gets brutal
in his teaching about the grace of God.
I believe that a study on the grace of God
from the book of Galatians combined with
the teaching from Romans could be a one-two
punch that knocks out condemnation in your
life. Praise the Lord!
Paul wasted no time making his point in
his letter to the Galatian Christians. In
chapter 1, verse 6, Paul said, "I marvel
that ye are so soon removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto
another gospel." Paul used the terms "Gospel"
and "grace" interchangeably. The heart of
the Gospel is grace. Any deviation from
that is a perversion of the Gospel.
The Galatian Christians hadn't renounced
Jesus as being their Messiah, but legalistic
Jews had convinced them that they couldn't
be right with God by believing in only what
Jesus had done. They were being told they
also had to keep the Old Testament Law in
order for God to accept them. The same lie
is being propagated today, except now it's
said we have to be holy. We have to be holy,
or the Lord won't accept us or answer our
prayers, etc. That's not the Gospel.
In Paul's day, the issue was circumcision.
Today, the same legalistic message is being
preached using things like prayer, Bible
study, church attendance, and other actions
of holiness as necessary actions for God
to love and accept us. Faith in what Christ
did for us is enough. It is not what Jesus
did for us plus our actions of holiness.
Jesus plus anything equals nothing. Jesus
plus nothing equals everything.
No one argues that we shouldn't pray, study
the Word, go to church, etc., but any time
it's proclaimed that God is angry with us
if we fail to do these things, it's not
the true Gospel. That type of teaching puts
the burden of salvation on us and opens
us to the condemnation of the devil. This
is what Paul called a perversion of the
Gospel in Galatians 1:7. Then in verse 8,
Paul made one of the strongest statements
he ever made,
"But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him
be accursed."
The Galatians must've been shocked! How
could Paul say such a thing? He must not
have meant what it looks like he meant.
Therefore, just in case anyone missed it
the first time, Paul repeats his radical
statement:
"As we said before, so say I now again,
If any man preach any other gospel unto
you than that ye have received, let him
be accursed" (verse 9).
In our politically correct world today,
you don't hear many absolute statements
like these. How could anyone be so sure
of themself? Paul goes on to explain in
the rest of the first chapter that he didn't
get his revelation of the Gospel from any
man but directly from God. That's why he
was so adamant. There was no room for compromise
in the Gospel.
In chapter 3, Paul calls the Galatians foolish
for leaving the grace of Christ and going
back to relating to God based on their performance.
He also said they had been bewitched (Gal.
3:1). He reminds them how they had originally
put faith in Christ alone and received all
that God had for them through faith. Why
had they gone back into legalism? That's
a good question.
Paul then shows them the real purpose of
the Law. It wasn't to help us live a holier
life; it was to point out our sin to us
and bring condemnation so we would never
come into the deception that we could relate
to God based on our own performance. Amazingly,
the average Christian has totally missed
this fact and, instead, embraces the Law
as a good thing. The Law would be good if
we could keep it, but Paul reveals that
a failure to do the tiniest detail of the
Law makes us guilty of all of it. Instead
of receiving the blessing for obedience,
one small failure brings the curse instead.
The only way out of the curse is through
faith in Christ alone. Christ bore our curse
(Gal. 3:13).
Paul begins to summarize in chapter 5. He
starts by saying, "Stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made
us free, and be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage." The yoke of bondage
he is speaking of is the Law. He's saying
don't go back to trying to please God by
adhering to rules and regulations. The thing
that pleases God is faith (Heb. 11:6).
Paul says in verse 2, "Behold, I Paul say
unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing." What a radical
statement! That's saying that if our trust
is in something that we do to make us accepted
with God, then what Christ has done for
us will profit us nothing. This is exactly
what is happening in the lives of many people.
They know about Christ and believe that
He purchased their forgiveness of sins,
but they think they have to obtain that
forgiveness through some merit of their
own. That voids what Christ has done for
them. They get what they deserve instead
of what Christ did for them. What a shame!
They have fallen from grace back into trusting
in themselves.
Does all this grace mean we can just live
in sin? It means that God loves us the same
even if we live in sin, but Paul made it
clear in Galatians 5:13 that holy living
is still the right way to live: "For, brethren,
ye have been called unto liberty; only use
not liberty for an occasion to the flesh,
but by love serve one another." Grace doesn't
cause people to live in sin; it frees them
from the paralyzing effects of guilt and
condemnation so that they can live holier
accidentally now than they ever did on purpose
before.
What happens if a Christian does take God's
grace for granted and lives in sin? Paul
addressed that in verse 15: "But if ye bite
and devour one another, take heed that ye
be not consumed one of another." He is saying
that there are still consequences to sin,
but those consequences don't come from God.
Living in sin opens the door to the devil,
and he will eat your lunch and pop the bag.
We don't want that.
As much as possible, we live holy, but we
never do so in order to earn anything from
God. That all comes by grace. When we do
sin, we don't come under condemnation about
it and let the devil separate us from the
love of God. We simply repent, which means
we turn around and head in the right direction
again, all the while enjoying the unbroken
love of God.
I have a six-part album that teaches verse
by verse through the book of Galatians.
It's a powerful teaching. There are so many
more Gospel nuggets in the book of Galatians
than what I've been able to expound here.
There is also a 69-page booklet in the slip
cover of this album that has 470 footnotes
that I've written as well as hundreds of
references and the actual King James Version
text of Galatians. It's a powerful resource
tool for getting the revelation of God's
grace.
I encourage you to get this Galatians album
and book, and if you haven't yet ordered
the Romans materials, please do so today.
I believe these are some of the most important
resources we have ever offered. They could
literally change your life.
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