Paul's Epistles - Galatians
Part 10 – LEGALISM
Pastor Bruce A.
Shields
House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
INTRODUCTION
Paul has explained to the Galatians in the
last few chapters that they were heading down the wrong path, the wrong way of
thinking.
We are told in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that appears to be right,
but in the end it leads to death.”
Proverbs 16:2 says, “All the
ways of a man are clean
in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.”
The Galatians church lost their way, and
strayed from the truth.
James 5:19-20 “brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander
from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the
error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of
sins.”
Clearly, any “brother and sister” that
strays (or wanders) from the truth (which is the Word of God, or Jesus, which
is the Word made Flesh!), they are in danger of death (second death) because of
their multitude of sins!
Paul, wanting to help the Galatians
church, and save them from the err of their way, wanted to turn these brothers
and sisters whom have now become “sinners”
as the scripture tells us, back to the truth, and save them from the second
death (Judgment Day) and cover (with the White Garment of Christ) their
multitude of sins! (So they will not be visible on Judgment Day)
Paul and Peter bump heads as Peter is the
Apostle who allowed the false teachings and misdirection of the Galatians
church to take place, by giving in to peer pressure from the circumcised group
trying to teach you needed to obey certain ceremonial laws IN ADDITION to
Christ to be right in God’s eyes.
However, this was NOT what Jesus taught,
and therefore was a false teaching.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE Galatians 4:8-20
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it
that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be
enslaved by them
all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
12 I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong. 13 As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached
the gospel to you, 14 and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat
me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of
God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15 Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if
you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What
they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be
so always, not just when I am with you. 19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is
formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I
am perplexed about you!
I.
NOTHING OTHER THAN
CHRIST
a.
You were slaves to ungodly things before your
salvation
i. In their unredeemed
state, they were slaves to heathen superstition
ii. We are
all slaves to some sort of sin when we are unredeemed
b.
Now you are known by God
i. Knowing God through
Salvation and acceptance of Jesus Christ
ii. Because
we know Him, and He knows us, we have the Holy Spirit
iii. The
Holy Spirit gives us the strength and power to turn from sin
1.
The Great Commission
a.
Go into all the world preaching the Gospel
b.
Baptize in name of
i.
Father (Old
Covenant)
ii.
Son (New Covenant)
iii.
Holy Spirit
(Strength of God)
c.
THEN teach them to obey all I command
2.
It is only AFTER we receive the Holy
Spirit that we are capable of obeying all tat Christ commands.
iv. Once we
know God, and He knows us, we receive the Holy Spirit and have the ability to
turn away from sin and obey all that Christ commands.
c.
Do not be enslaved to the old ways again
i. The Galatians
however were returning to their old ways
ii. This
was a “choice”, because they did have the Holy Spirit and the strength and
ability to turn from it.
iii. The
circumcision group, or Judaizers, were trying to convince the Galatians to
return to the LAW
iv. Legalism
comes from the bondage of the LAW and is no longer a requirement in the New
Covenant.
v. To take part in the
Old Covenant, we MUST abandon the New.
1.
This was the issue Paul struggled with
until he discovered the secret was to turn away from the Old Covenant and cling
to the New and simply trust in Jesus as all we need for Salvation.
vi. Paul
states in verse 10, “you observe days, months, and times, and years.”
1.
The Judaizers attempt at getting the
Galatians to be law-keepers in conjunction with Christ…which cannot work
II.
BE LIKE ME, FOR I
AM LIKE YOU
a.
You accepted me in the beginning and believed
i. The Galatians loved
Paul when he first came with the Gospel
ii. And he
wanted them to be like he was, free from the bondage of salvation by works
iii. Paul
also states, “I am like you”, which is a message he spoke of often.
1.
Paul taught that although he was an Apostle,
he was not above anyone.
2.
The Judaizers (like the Sadducees and
Pharisees) wanted praise, acclimations, honor, for others to “look up to them”
as higher, more important. It was their pride.
3.
Paul says, NO, although I am an Apostle, I
am still subject to the SAME biblical doctrine as you!
b.
As an angel of God, or Christ Jesus Himself
i. When Paul first
came, they treated him with respect, as an angel of God, or Christ Jesus
Himself
1.
Not that they worshipped him, rather, the
respect, and acceptance.
c.
Where is your blessing of me now?
i. All has changed now
that Paul is correcting them.
ii. The
honor, respect, all gone.
iii. This is
one of the reasons the tone of the letter has been so harsh
iv. Paul is
reprimanding his children for the err of their way
v. He tries to explain
to them “why” the Judaizers are trying so hard to win them over.
I can
testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and
given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the
truth?
They were choosing to be blind to the Truth…
III.
THE JUDAIZERS ARE
ZEALOUS TO WIN YOU OVER
a.
To alienate you from us, so you will have zeal for
them
i. They wanted to be
praised
ii. They
wanted the old way back!
b.
It is fine to be zealous, if the purpose is good
i. Paul should know,
he was a zealot for God
ii. However,
Paul understands that being zealous, if not for the purpose of good, can have
terrible consequences.
iii. “It’s
good to be zealous, and to do so always, not just when I’m around…”, but it
MUST be for good!
c.
My dear children
i. Paul exclaims he is
AGAIN having the pains of childbirth UNTIL Christ is formed in them.
1.
They had turned their backs on Christ,
returning to their old ways
2.
They lost what they had, and Paul was
trying to win them back to Christ
3.
He was once again, hurting for them in
their state of being once again unredeemed, until they could once again have
Christ Jesus in them
CONCLUSION – I am perplexed about you!
Paul could not
understand how the Galatians could turn their back on the Holy Spirit and the
New Covenant.
They turned their
back on the Holy Spirit, and replaced Him with the LAW, which only condemns and
leads to death.
Any self-professing
Christian, who turns from the Truth of the Gospel of being saved by Grace
through Faith in Christ and His work at the cross, is replacing the Spirit of
God with something else, just as the Galatians did.
We must allow the
Holy Spirit to do a work in us, and allow His strength to keep us from the old
ways, so we can avoid the pitfall of our old selves.
The Galatians
failed because they allowed false teachings, things that contradicted the
teachings of Christ.
All we need is
Christ, and His Word. Anything else is meant to cause confusion, which is from
the author of confusion himself, so that we may, like the Galatians, find ourselves
out of the New Covenant, and back into the Old.
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