Are You Living in the Flesh

 The Flesh Versus the Spirit

 Book of Galatians Chapter 5 Verse 19 through 26

 Many people will not like what I say, but when we die, we finally shed this flesh that has hindered our relationship with Jesus Christ.

 It is then buried till it returns to the dirt God made us from, or more so today it is burnt in an oven till it is nothing but ashes.

 What had Paul said in last week’s lesson?

 Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 

 I believe our soul says "good riddance" to that sack of flesh at our death.

Our flesh is the cause of most of our pain!

 The works of the flesh show us just how strong the flesh is!

 Sin is first committed in secret, but by and by will work to the surface and advertise itself in shameless publicity.

 In the First Century all the Rulers such as Tiberias, Caligula, Nero, Domitian were monsters of vice and cruelty, and they only got away with it because the people they governed were equally corrupt.

 We can say the same about the Biden years he was not only corrupt and could not have gotten away with it, if all those around him were not also corrupt.

 Our nation will suffer for years because of this just as we do because of this flesh we live in unless we get the help of the Holy Spirit.

 *****Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 

Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 

Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

 After we are "born again" into the family of God we are expected to be more like Jesus Christ and Jesus would never have done any of these things written in this Scripture.

 Adultery is being sexually unfaithful to a husband or wife. It can also be looking on a man or woman to lust after them.

It does not matter if it is in person, in magazines, in books, on the beaches or anywhere else, it is all adultery if you are married to a wife or husband.

 Fornication includes all forms of immorality and sexual acts. Premarital sex, adultery, and it also includes looking upon a man or woman to lust after them, in person, in magazines, in books, or anywhere else. We can be attracted to the opposite sex without lusting after them.

 Uncleanness is moral impurity. Doing things that dirty, pollute, and soil life.

 Lasciviousness is filthiness, indecency, shamelessness. Unrestrained evil thoughts and behavior. Giving in to lustful desires.

It is those who know no restraint. Those who have sinned so much that they no longer care to hide their wrong. They become slaves to filthy words, induced body movements and immoral handling of people.

 Idolatry is the worship of idols, whether mental such as false gods, or made by man's hands.

It also includes to worship of ideas and devoting time and energy to something other than God.

Now it does not include enjoying the life God has given to us as long as do not put things before our worship of Him.

 Witchcraft also known as sorcery, the use of drugs, or of evil spirits to get control over the lives of others or even over your own life. It would include astrology, palm reading, seances, fortune telling, crystals and any other form of witchcraft.

 Hatred is enmity, hostility, animosity. It is hatred that lingers for a long time, a hatred that is deep within. We have seen many express this hatred for our new president.

 Variance is strife, discord, contention, fighting, struggling, quarreling, wrangling against another person to get something such as a position, or promotion, or property, or recognition, doing whatever it takes to get what he is after.

 Emulation is jealousy, desiring to have what someone else has.

 Wrath is a burst of anger, indignation, a violent explosive temper with explosive reactions. Boiling emotions but these things do not usually last.

 Strife is conflict within yourself, struggling to cope and including a party spirit.

 Seditions are division, rebellion, standing against others, splitting off from others.

 Heresies is rejecting the fundamental beliefs in God, Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, the Church. Holding on to some teaching  which is not true.

 Envying goes beyond jealousy. It is wanting the things some other person has and begrudging the fact that they have them. That wants those things taken away from that person and wants that person to suffer because they have lost the things they cherished.

 Murders is to kill; to take the life of another person and it includes abortions for the sake of getting rid of that child.

It is God who made us and it is only He that has the rights to our living and our death.

When we take away God's right then we deserve God's punishment which is death.

We must still understand the Providence of God. Nothing happens without His knowledge, and He allows it to happen, or he does not allow it to happen for His own purpose.

 Drunkenness is taking drink or drugs to affect your senses for lust or pleasure. Intoxicated, using drugs seeking to loosen moral restraint for bodily pleasure.

 Reveling is carousing around, indulgence, and pleasure, wild parties, drinking parties, indulging in feeding the lust of your flesh. Orgies.

 And all such things that are like these things that are named!

 God has already judged those persons who do these things or take part in these things that they will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven less they come to Jesus and repent of those things.

 God is righteous and He expects us to live righteous lives to be accepted by Him.

 People say they are saved.

Some people even go to a church or some so-called church of false teaching.

They may even talk about Christianity and defend their beliefs.

 However, they go out and live their lives like they always have giving in to the flesh.

 They forget that being Christian is trying our best to be like Jesus Christ!

 Many of them feel that God will forgive them no matter what they do, and he will but there must be repentance.

 Many of them think they have already done enough so that God is pleased with them.

 Most people believe that God will just accept them no matter how they live their lives.

 God is not some Father who allows His children to do as they please.

 Grace is not a license for God's people to do wrong!

 God's New Heaven is made for true believers.

 If we cannot do our best to live a pure and righteous life, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God!

 Rev 21:27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. 

 All those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior are then filled with the Spirit of Jesus and will live accordingly.

 There should be a great difference in a true Christian from their old life that is in the past.

 *****Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 

Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 

 As Christians we cannot be perfect as long as we are in these bodies of flesh but having the Holy Spirit living within us we should be more like Him.

 He gives us the strength to repent of our old lifestyle and here He gives us this passage.

 Notice immediately He says the "fruit" and not the "fruits" of the Spirit.

 We should have not just one or more of the traits but all of these traits.

 Love: the Greek word used here is "Agape" .

This is brotherly love like that love our Heavenly Father shows to us. It also includes affection.

This love is not distinct but includes all the rest of the things that are mentioned here.

 One of the greatest problems in our nation, in our world, and even in our churches, is that there is no natural affection for one another anymore. Hatred is in far too many spots in our lives today.

 Rom_1:31  Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

2Ti_3:3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

 We should have a natural affection within us for all the people of our world and that should include goodwill and benevolence for one another.

 Joy: The Greek word used here means cheerfulness, calm delight, gladness, in fact exceedingly glad. This is not a selfish emotion but as the Sun whose rays warm gladden all people.

 We must understand that being a Christian is not a set of facts. It is not a list of good deeds.

Being a Christian is a disposition of the heart.

 Peace: The Greek word used here is being at true peace with us resting on the knowledge of our future and our true hope in the truth of God.

 Longsuffering: Brings us that dreaded word patience.

 One of the greatest uses of God’s patience was in the days of Noah that while Noah built the Ark that saved eight people Noah also preached to the world of that day around him for one hundred and twenty years and no one believed the Word of God.

We can also say the same for God today. There is really no other prophecy left that needs to be fulfilled before the "Rapture" of the Church, yet God patiently waits for that last soul to be saved before the return of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ to get His Gentile Bride.

 1Pe_3:20  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

2Pe_3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

 If God can be so patient, then how can we not be the same?

 Gentleness: all these words describe our Savior, but this word gentleness is so wonderful. When we read the Gospels, we cannot help but see the gentleness that the Lord Jesus showed to all the innocent. He showed true kindness to those He touched with His life while He was upon this earth.

 Tit 3:3  For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 

Tit 3:4  But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 

 Faith: Faithfulness does not doubt God!

Faithfulness does not begin with God and then back off!

Faithfulness does not walk with God then give in to the lusts of the flesh!

Faithfulness begins with God and continues with God!

 We should ask ourselves are we trustworthy enough to get into God's New Heaven!

 1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. 

 Meekness: Once we realize just how great is our God then we should have no problem submitting to God and realizing just how tiny we are in comparison. Meekness means we understand the "Providence of God", His preserving and governing of all things. If we are going through something we do not like, then God has His reasons and we need to learn from each event and come out stronger.

 Eph 4:1  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 

Eph 4:2  With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 

Eph 4:3  Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 

 Temperance: Every time we see temperance everyone always goes to alcohol which the Lord says do not even look at.

 Pro 23:29  Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 

Pro 23:30  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 

Pro 23:31  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 

 Temperance here means self-mastery over all the indulgences of the flesh, self-control in all respects in this life.

 1Co 9:25  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.

 If we have read the Bible, we know that there are no written laws against doing any of these things.

 Laws are never made for those who obey the laws! Laws are written for those who break the laws. It seems our government is confused about this.

 1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 

1Ti 1:10  For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; 

1Ti 1:11  According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. 

 What is the difference between a Christian and those in the world?

 *****Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

 The Lord Jesus Christ took our flesh with its sin and it was nailed to the cross with Him and we are now to wear His righteousness as our flesh.

 If we truly belong to Jesus Christ there will be a noticeable change from what we were!

 We become the property and the possession of Jesus Christ.

 We come to Christ to be delivered from our enslavement from sin, from death, and from judgment.

 We want to be saved from our flesh of this corruptible world.

 Paul says: Rom_8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

 To mortify is put our old flesh and the deeds of that flesh to death the day we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.

 No Christian should be doing the same old sins they were doing before their salvation.

 This is the greatest problem in the church today along with many behind the pulpits who were never called of God.

 The seminaries have forgotten the truth of God and are become useless in the work God has given us to do.

 Crucifixion is a lingering mode of death, and it may take us all awhile to yield to the Spirit but it does not take long because the Holy Spirit is all powerful.

 We are to be dead to sin.

We are to crucify the old man.

We are to abolish the whole body of sin with its passions and its lust!

 This death is a condition of our New Birth!

 The Holy Spirit lives within each Christian and being a Christian is being like Jesus Christ.

 *****Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a person of the Holy Trinity which is our God, so if we live to God let us walk in the Holy Spirit.

 2Co 5:15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 

 Rom 14:7  For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 

Rom 14:8  For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. 

Rom 14:9  For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. 

We only have a short time to be usable to God, we need to live as the Holy Spirit directs us to live and He will never direct us back into sin.

*****Gal 5:26  Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. 

We all stand on level ground at the cross. God will direct our lives for His purpose the remaining of our days if we are willing to giive Him contrrol.

If God does not call us to something specific, then we already have the Scriptures which gives us our directions.

We should be very careful not to grieve the Holy Spirit.

Envy is not a fruit of the Spirit but is a great sin that will tear us down and make us useless in the work of God.

In everything we do we are to give God the glory!

Amen

Christian Liberty

 The Liberty of Jesus Christ

 Book of Galatians Chapter 5 verses 1 through 18

 The Book of Galatians can be called God's message of liberty, but the entire Bible can be called God's message of liberty.

 Liberty is best described as the opposite of servitude or bondage and applies to those who are set free from this oppression.

 Joh 8:34  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 

Joh 8:35  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. 

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. 

 Some people just enjoy being in bondage to this world!

 Some people think of nothing else but sin!

 As Christians, we do not have to worry if we are good enough because we will never be good enough, no matter how badly we try to impress God.

 We simply cannot impress God; we have no righteousness in ourselves.

 Jesus Christ secured the ideal righteousness for us!

 The Lord Jesus Christ bore our judgment and our punishment for having broken the Laws of God, which is death.

 This is the message of the Gospel!

 The Churches of Galatia thought they understood this until they began to listen to the false teaching of some Judaizers from Jerusalem.

 The message today is that we must stand fast in the liberty that our personal relationship with Jesus Christ has given to us!

 *****Gal 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 

 To stand fast is to stand our ground.

 It simply means to keep the position we have taken with the Gospel and never give ground to falseness.

 We are able to stand fast in our argument of the Gospel because it is the truth of the Scriptures and the truth of Jesus Christ!

 The truth is always the truth!

 Rom 15:12  And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. 

Rom 15:13  Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

 Spiritual liberty cannot be affected by outward circumstances unless we allow it!

 A great man of God said: our liberty has no emperor, nor a prophet, nor an angel from Heaven, but Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son has obtained it for us.

 This is the thing the Devil will try to take away from us to place us back in bondage to this world.

 It is sin that is a burden to carry, and it is not a burden to carry the liberty of Christ.

 Mat 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

Mat 11:30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

 Jesus Christ has freed us from the bondage of the law, so we must stand fast in the liberty that He has provided for us.

 Anything else is turning our backs on Christ and our Heavenly Father!

 We can only approach God through the work that Jesus Christ has done for our salvation!

 It is a complete waste of time to try any other way, and we jeopardize our chance to get to Heaven.

 Gen_6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man.

 Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 

 The Law is not God's way for us to be justified!

 *****Gal 5:2  Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 

Gal 5:3  For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 

Gal 5:4  Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 

 The Apostle Paul is speaking in the power of an Apostle of Christ here.

 It is not the fact of circumcision!

 Paul was circumcised and every Jew in the Church of Galatia was circumcised.

 Circumcision happens every day in some hospitals because it helps to keep certain diseases from spreading, but not everyone is circumcised for one reason or another.

 Paul had been talking to the Jews in these churches but now he is talking to the Gentiles who had it in their mind that they would have to first become Jews before they could become Christians.

 For these Gentiles to become proselytes of Judaism would imply that they were seeking salvation by the Law which is sealed by circumcision.

 There is no advantage for a man to be circumcised or not circumcised in seeking a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

 A wise man said" ‘He who submits to circumcision does so because he stands in fear of the law, and he who so stands in fear of the law distrusts the power of grace, and he who distrusts "Grace" gains no advantage from that which is so distrusted’.

 When we start trusting in rituals, then we will find no profit in Jesus Christ and our relationship with Him will end!

 It is the job of the true preacher to warn us when we go against the Grace of God!

 Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 

Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 

Col 1:29  Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. 

 It is a fact if you trust in the Laws of Moses to get you to Heaven, you will not get there.

 It is a sad fact that all those who fall into the trap of legalism to impress God will fall from Grace.

It is a sad fact that all those who depend upon rituals to gain forgiveness of sin will fall from God's Grace.

It is a sad fact that all those who invest their lives in religion will fall from God's Grace.

 GRACE still means God's Riches At Christ's Expense!

 Remember Hagar and her son Ishmael were banished from God's Grace and cast out into the world.

 False teachers are just that false teachers with a false message looking to derail your relationship with Jesus Christ.

 Every so-called denomination has been infiltrated with such people who serve the Devil.

 When we deny the Lord Jesus Christ, who was sent from Heaven with a mission to provide "Justification", then we have lost any opportunity to reach the true Promised Land, the New Jerusalem.

 We cannot add to or take away from the message of the Gospel!

 To deny Jesus Christ is to deny His righteousness, His death for our sins, and His resurrection to show His power!

 We should remember our Lord Jesus took all the sins from the beginning of our world to the end for every soul and took them down to Hell for them to remain there throughout eternity, why would anyone want to live in that place?

 What will be the story of every false teacher who mixes a little bit of Grace with a whole lot of falseness when they face Jesus, the God they say they worship?

 Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 

Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

 That woman who confronted our New President should think about these things before it is too late for her!

 What in the world does the world do with the teachings of the Apostles especially the Apostle Paul when they study the Word of God except to ignore them?

 The Word of God has to be rejected in many denominations today for them to do as they are doing. God have mercy on them.

 What is the truth, they will be accursed!

 In the first Book of Galatians, we read:

 Gal 1:8  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. 

Gal 1:9  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. 

Gal 1:10  For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. 

 Who do we owe our life eternally to?

 *****Gal 5:5  For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 

Gal 5:6  For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. 

 Over and over again we see that it is "our faith" in the work the Lord Jesus Christ has done for our salvation sharing with us "His Righteousness" that we can please God.

 There is no other way to please Him!

 Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 

 If we do not have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ we will burn in Hell throughout eternity!

 Any hope for righteousness comes by the Spirit of Christ who so many in terror call the Holy Ghost.

 The Holy Spirit is our Divine source of "faith" and "spiritual life"!

 It is a fact that no false teacher has ever felt the Holy Spirit, and never will they unless they repent and claim Jesus Christ!

 Php 3:20  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 

Php 3:21  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. 

 We can also say that those who preach a false message have never felt the love of God or His Son!

 *****Gal 5:7  Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 

 We must understand that the truth will always be the truth!

 We live in a world where our government and our corporations think it is best to hide the truth.

 Paul tells these Galatians that they began their Christian life, but someone hindered them and we must realize that this is a favorite tactic of the Devil to immediately attack baby Christians and any Christians.

 He still does this today and he frightens some so much that they never return to their race with the Christian Life, and that race will be over.

 Jesus said:

 Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 

Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

 We see this happening at these churches in Galatia and it happens in every church today.

 When we stop living for Christ, we put our lives in jeopardy.

 When we run for Jesus Christ, we must run well and stand on the truth of God!

 Php 2:16  Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. 

 *****Gal 5:8  This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 

 We must have a clear understanding that we are called by the Holy Spirit and He will never lead us to error but He will lead us only to the Lord Jesus Christ!

 Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 

 Any teacher that teaches otherwise is teaching a false doctrine.

 All those out there today who throw out the Scriptures of the Apostle Paul and teach some other doctrines are also teaching a false doctrine.

 All sinners who come to the Lord Jesus must then repent of their past life and walk like Jesus walked and taught!

 There are no exceptions, and the Holy Spirit does not make mistakes!

 Just a little false doctrine can ruin any church!

 *****Gal 5:9  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 

 "Leaven" stands for evil and corruption, fermentation, and infection.

 It takes only a small amount of "leaven" to influence a whole lump of dough.

 So, it is with false teachers!

 They only have to twist and change a few Scriptures to change the meaning of what God intended.

 We live in a world where you have to be careful when you pick out a new Bible because so many are changed to reflect the beliefs of certain people rather than the truth of God.

 The KJV is the English Bible that most closely reflects the meaning of the Textus Receptus, the original Scriptures before they were changed by the Catholic Church after the revolt of Luther.

 Most of those Bibles that are printed for English-speaking people today, who say they just want to make them easier to read, and also change the meaning of certain Scriptures.

 I avoid all of them and stick to the KJV.

 All Scripture must focus on the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Redeemer, or it is false Scripture.

 The Scriptures are not about our goodness or our own works.

The Scriptures are not about rituals, ceremonies, or good works instead of our Lord Jesus.

 The absolute necessity of the Lord's righteousness and death and being born of a Virgin and His resurrection cannot be diminished or downplayed.

 The false teacher will always downplay these things.

 *****Gal 5:10  I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

Gal 5:11  And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. 

Gal 5:12  I would they were even cut off which trouble you. 

 If we stand by the written Word of God the true pastor will stand with us!

 Paul had confidence that these churches in Galatia would do the same because the Lord would remain on their side.

 Because the Holy Spirit lives within us, He will awaken us to false teaching if we listen to Him!

 Paul believed that these churches would read and understand this great letter he had sent to them.

 Paul always sent someone with the letters he wrote or caused them to be written, with someone he trusted to read those letters to the church.

All letters to the church were read in all churches.

 We can be sure that every false teacher or preacher will stand before God and God will send them to the hottest part of Hell and to even a hotter part of the Burning Lake of Fire.

 Jud 1:24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 

Jud 1:25  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

 False teachers only tell lies!

 God will hold up His true Pastors!

 Rom 14:4  Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 

 Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? 

 Salvation can only come through the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Only Begotten Son. through Him only!

 Paul's sermons had never veered from these facts!

 What Paul had done before his conversion was irrelevant!

 Paul was now a "Born Again" child of God just as any other saved soul!

 We must understand that there is no punishment too good for a false teacher!

 1Pe 1:17  And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: 

1Pe 1:18  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 

1Pe 1:19  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 

1Pe 1:20  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 

1Pe 1:21  Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. 

 *****Gal 5:13  For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 

 We must not forget that we are free from laws, religion, and rituals.

 We do not have to work to secure God's approval and acceptance.

 We are acceptable to God because He loves us as His own Son Jesus.

 We cannot ever become perfect, no matter how good we do!

 Many people question "Christian Liberty" but our liberty does not ever give the freedom to sin just because we are under the "Grace" of God.

 Our faith will always be the key to our relationship with God!

 We are free in Christ, free from the law, free from restraints, and free from works.

 We live in Christ, move in Christ, and our being is in Christ.

 When God looks down from Heaven, He should be able to see His Son dwelling inside us!

 If we are slaves, we are slaves to our brothers and sisters in Christ and free to call on the lost world with the truth of God.

 Joh 13:4  He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 

Joh 13:5  After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. 

 Joh 13:14  If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 

Joh 13:15  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. 

 *****Gal 5:14  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

 Every law that has been ever written can be satisfied with love!

 Love does not take advantage of any people.

Love will not be used by people to fulfill their own purpose.

Love will not hurt someone else any more than we would hurt ourselves.

Love endures everything without weakening.

 Rom 13:8  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 

Rom 13:9  For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

Rom 13:10  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

 *****Gal 5:15  But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. 

 To bite and devour is to act like a wild beast and this is a picture of Satan.

 1Pe_5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

 When we act like Satan, we are certainly not being Christian (like Christ)!

 *****Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 

Gal 5:18  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 

If we go against the Holy Spirit, we will only cause harm to ourselves.

The answer to conquering the lust of the flesh is the Holy Spirit!

Our flesh will always fight for dominance over our being and this is why God gave us a new Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

The flesh is very strong and difficult to control but it is not as strong as the Holy Spirit.

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

The flesh is contrary to the Spirit!

The longer we listen to the Holy Spirit the stronger we will be, but we will be vulnerable to our flesh as long as we are in these bodies of flesh!

The Holy Spirit will always give us the power to walk away from the lust of our flesh!

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 

Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

It is our love for one another here in this church and any other church that keeps us focused on the things the Lord has given us to do after our salvation and discipleship.

Amen

Can We Work Our Way to Heaven

 Isaac or Ishmael

Book of Galatians 4 verses 21 through 31

The way to Heaven is not by any work from us nor by any law; this must be clear to us.

 We are also very wrong if we think God needs our help to further the Gospel.

 God does not need us at all!

 In Luke 19 the Lord Jesus had these words: Luk_19:40  And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

 It is we who need our Heavenly Father and He offers us opportunities after He saves us.

 Our life becomes our testimony as we live to be more like our Savior.

 Jhn_12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

 There are two words that we see in our lesson today that we need to understand.

 1) Promise.

2) Patience.

 First promise: It takes God's wisdom to understand His promise.

 1Co 1:20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 

1Co 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 

1Co 1:22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 

1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 

1Co 1:24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, "and the wisdom of God".

 We can have no wisdom without the Spirit of Wisdom which comes by the Holy Spirit and a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and in this we will have the power to work on patience and other important things.

 Eph 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 

Eph 1:19  "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power", 

Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 

 There is no wisdom of God without a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ which gives us the Spirit of Wisdom which is the Holy Spirit!

 Now let's look at the word patience as it pertains to God.

 We already know that God is never late, but He is always on time.

 Patience:

 Listen to these words from the Apostle Peter:

 2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 

2Pe 1:6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 

2Pe 1:7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 

2Pe 1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, "they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ". 

 Patience is something we will work on most of our lives because we live in this sinful and wicked world!

 God has promised Heaven only to those who believe in His Son and have patience till He returns!

 Now let’s look at our lesson today:

 *****Gal 4:21  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 

 All those who approach God by the Law or by works of goodness or religion are legalists or religionists.

 Every one of them needs to understand what they are doing because they will never reach Heaven this way!

 They need to understand the implications of what they are doing!

 This is why the Apostle Paul was pouring his heart out to these churches in Galatia.

 This is also an example for us to not just push away those of legalism, nor those who are religious, maybe we need to show them the "love of Christ" that is within us.

 This will not be easy!

 We are never better than any of them, we are just better off, and they need to understand why.

 Paul's final attempt to win these souls he went back to the Scriptures.

 The first five books of the Old Testament were considered the sacred law to all Jews and Paul used these same passages to show these churches the error in their way of thinking.

 This is also a great example for us as we tell the lost about the truth of Jesus Christ.

 We must try to tell those who are lost how to escape the bondage they do not realize they are under.

 *****Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 

Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

 If we have read the Bible, we all know this passage of the Old Testament.

 Abraham, who is the father of all those who believe in the promises of God!

 It is by the same faith that Abraham had that we can be saved!

 We must just believe what God says and understand that God keeps His promises.

 Abraham had two sons at this time though he later had others after the death of his wife Sarah.

 The Jews understand that they are descendants of Sarah. This is still in effect today.

 Abraham had two sons before Sarah died.

 One was born of Sarah who was Issac.

 This was a great miracle of God because Sarah had been barren all of her years and far past the time when she could conceive, until the birth of Isaac.

 God had promised Abraham a son by his wife Sarah and Sarah just could not believe what God said, or she wanted to be sure that God's promise to Abraham was true.

 The greatest lesson we can learn here is that God does not need our help to keep His promises!

 It is still a sin to go against the Word of God and trying to help God is a sin!

 God does not need our help; God simply wants us to believe in Him as did Abraham.

 Isaac was the Son of Promise, but there was another son who came before Isaac and his name was Ishmael.

 Sarah had become discouraged from being barren and she had a slave girl who was bought or given to them by a Pharaoh of Egypt.

 Sarah had no patience and thought God needed her help and sent Hagar this young slave into her husband Abraham, and she conceived, and Ishmael was born to this bondwoman.

 This is the basis of Paul's message to these Galatians.

 Paul reminded us of all of this:

 Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 

Rom 4:18  Who against hope "believed in hope", that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 

Rom 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: 

Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 

Rom 4:21  "And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform". 

Rom 4:22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 

Rom 4:23  Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 

Rom 4:24  But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 

Rom 4:25  Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. 

 Isaac was born after the order and the process of nature to fulfill the promise of God, just as our Lord Jesus Christ after the promised seed was planted.

 Sarah had a miracle birth, and our Lord Jesus had a miracle birth both of by the "Promise of God".

 Ishmael was still a precious child as much as any child until influenced by his mother and rejected by Sarah.

 None of these things were the fault of Ishmael, and we know God made a promise to Hagar concerning Ishmael.

 Ishmael was conceived in sin when Abraham listened to his wife and went against God's Law.

 Exo_20:14  Thou shalt not commit adultery.

 This thing has broken up more marriages than anything else in this world.

 Again, we cannot help God keep His promises, and this is the basis of a works doctrine.

 *****Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 

Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: "for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband".Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 

Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 

 We should understand that these things the Apostle Paul is teaching are teaching in allegory and there are not many such places in the Bible where this happens. 

The Lord Jesus used typology in some of His teachings but not allegory.

 To allegorize is to say what is either designed or fitted to convey a meaning other than the literal one, or words adapted to another meaning.

 As believers, we accept the Word of God as the literal truth so we must be very careful if we try to do an allegory with the Scriptures

 It is best to leave these things to true Bible Scholars who know when to use them.

 We cannot ever change the truth of God to mean something else!

 The Apostle Paul was a Bible Scholar and He was speaking to mostly Jews who were once confirmed in Judaism and were trying to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and had received some false teaching from Judaizers who were trying to derail the Church.

 It is far better if we use typology rather than allegories!

 Paul was saying that in these two women Hagar and Sarah we can see the Two Covenants.

 The Covenant of Law and the Covenant of Grace.

 Some preachers might use the word dispensations.

 The one from Mount Sinai, which is the Law and applies to Hagar, and the other from Mount Sion which is the Covenant from Heavenly Jerusalem, bearing the children of liberty and this is Sarah.

 Mount Sinai is where Moses saw the burning bush and received his call to lead the Israelites out from the bondage of Egypt and represents the covenant of the Laws of Moses that were intended to lead all of Israel to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, but the Jews refused to take that step.

 Mat 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 

 Mount Sion is a reference to Heavenly Jerusalem. 

 Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 

Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

 It is the New Jerusalem that is our home, the home of those whose chains of bondage are broken by Jesus Christ and are now the children of God!

 It is the New Jerusalem which is that Eternal Spiritual City that God promised to all who approach Him by "faith".

 God's "Grace" and the promise of our Heavenly Home are both free to those who have faith in the work of Jesus Christ for our salvation.

 Jerusalem on earth is a place of turmoil and laws and has never been at peace and will only see peace for a while when the Lord Jesus returns

 We have no work to do to get into our Heavenly Home but only believe in the Word of God!

 This is why the Covenant of Grace is such a wonderful thing that comes from our Heavenly Father through the Lord Jesus Christ!

 Isaac was a child of promise and every believer in the Lord Jesus is also a child of promise!

 God made a way for mankind to inherit the Promised Land, and this true Promised Land is not upon this earth.

 Rom 4:13  For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 

Rom 4:14  For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: 

 Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 

Heb 11:14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 

Heb 11:15  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 

Heb 11:16  But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. 

 *****Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 

 In the Book of Genesis chapter 21, we can read the story of how Ishmael had been mocking Isaac for some reason, and Sarah the mother of Isaac saw him.

 Sarah told Abraham it was time to send that bondwoman away with her son.

 Persecution is not specifically mentioned but any insult is considered to be persecution.

 Legalism persecutes and enslaves believers.

 We are mocked throughout this world because we accept the Word of God as the truth and believe God's promises.

 Ishmael ridiculed, mocked, and persecuted Isaac.

 When we try to approach God in the flesh, with our own energy and our own effort, we are rejecting the Grace of God as the means of righteousness.

 We cannot build credit with God!

We cannot try to get recognition from God!

We cannot work to get God's approval!

We do not have it in our power to gain acceptance and praise of God beyond "faith"!

 All persons in the flesh refuse to accept this fact and they will never make it to New Jerusalem.

 We are in that Age of Persecution today!

 2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 

2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 

2Ti 3:14  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 

 What did God tell Abraham?

 Gen 21:12  And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 

 *****Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 

 We can see that legalism was cast out and can have no inheritance with God!

 I believe that most of us in the Church know but not many Jews, that Judaism and Christianity are utterly and forever irreconcilable.

 The Jews must accept Jesus Christ in faith just as any other non-believer!

 The Law and the Gospel are two entirely different concepts!

 God will never accept anyone who approaches Him by law or by works!

 No matter how much good and how many good works we present to God on the Day of Judgment God will ask, "What about my Son Jesus" and they will be cast from God's presence.

 What has God done for our salvation?

 God loved us enough to send His own Son to die for us, in our place.

 A simple prayer would be: Father you are my Savior and Lord. I believe with all my heart that your Christ did die for me and I surrender all I am into His keeping. I know that it is your Righteousness and your death that paid for my sins. In Jesus’ name Amen.

 God's promise: Tit 3:4  But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 

Tit 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 

Tit 3:6  Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 

Tit 3:7  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 And the results:

 *****Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. 

The Lord Jesus Christ has freed every believer from the curse of the Law, which ends in death, and eternal separation from the God who made us all.

Amen

The Privilege of Being in the Family of God

 The Privilege of Adoption into the God's Family

 Book of Galatians Chapter 4 Verses 1 through 20

 Our lesson does a great job of presenting the truth of Faith and the Grace of God and being adopted into the family of God.

 All our lessons have been good this quarter.

 I may go a little bit differently today as I usually do.

 We know some churches of Galatia were teaching that a person could be saved by the Law, the Law being the Laws of Moses.

 You know that title itself should tell us that the law was lacking.

 The Bible is best stated as the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

 These churches had allowed some Judaizers to come in with a false teaching and they had turned from the teaching of "faith" by the Apostle Paul.

 They now felt they could be saved by being good, doing their best, and being religious.

 Being religious means people who have given themselves to religion and are so influenced by it that they are different from the world.

 Christianity means we are a follower of the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith!

 Christianity is a personal experience with our Savior!

 We should all do our best to be good according to the Word of God.

We all should be faithful in worshipping God and in a good church.

 We must not think this is the means of our salvation!

 The Bible is very clear and forceful, that doing these things does not save a person!

 When we get alone with God, “are we” speaking to Him as a maturing Christian or as a baby Christian?

 He knows what we are and none of us can be perfect until we meet Jesus when He returns, and He will return!

 If we ever want to get to Heaven, we had better know that we must be perfect, and perfection only comes with a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ!

 Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

 In the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, He explained the big difference in just obeying the Law and the truth of God.

 There is a big difference between obedience and holiness!

 The big difference in being a Christian is, “we do not need a written list of laws because we have the Holy Spirit living within us” and He will put His laws in our minds and write them down in our hearts.

 Heb 10:15  Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 

Heb 10:16  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 

Heb 10:17  And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 

Heb 10:18  Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 

 In the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the perfect conception of love, and this is what He wants from us.

 *****Gal 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

Gal 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

 Under Roman law, a child was an infant until they were seven years old and were a child until they reached the age of twenty-five.

 During this time a bondservant would be the one to teach that child or be responsible for taking that child to the tutors or a schoolmaster.

 During this time, these children “had no say so in the affairs of their father” even though they were heirs to whatever their father owned.

 In this, they were no different from a bondservant who would never be an heir.

 Only after maturity does this person become a true heir and then lord of that property of his father.

 Even if that father no longer lived that guardian or governor would direct that heir until he reached the proper age, and the heir had no power to make those decisions concerning his inheritance.

 The father could and would determine that period of time before that heir had the authority over his own inheritance!

 We can see that even though this son was an heir and a future lord, he was no more than a slave until that time set by his father.

 Caesar had ruled that under the Gallic tribes of Galatia, the father had sole power of life and death over his wife and children.

 *****Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

 There was a time when the entire world was under bondage to one nation, or another as described in the Book of Daniel.

 Daniel 2 Verses 37 through 44.

 To the Jews, this bondage meant the sacrifices, the rituals, and the sacrifices of the Old Testament that directed all the facets of Jewish life.

 It meant philosophy and the traditions of men, and their teachings.

 It meant the ordinances, rules, and regulations of men, including the oral law.

 It meant all the laws of the Old Testament.

 It was impossible to keep all those old laws.

 Act 15:10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

 Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

 All things of religion will choke the life out of Christianity if we allow it!

 The elements, of the world mean the things of this world that we use to get right with God and try to secure the favor of God.

 This also includes anything we can use to justify ourselves to God, anything we can do through our own efforts, and we will never get close to God doing these things.

 But there came a time when God decided it was time to change the things that brought us under bondage to this world.

 *****Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

 The fullness of time here represents the time that our Heavenly Father decided to begin the Church Age and end the Age of the Law as the schoolmaster.

 The Age of Grace began.

 Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

 We can say the fullness of time is the time appointed by God and was foretold by the true Prophets of God.

 We should know by now that Jehovah God is in control of all the things in this world.

 This world lives every day under the providence of God!

 God's preserving and governing of all, by means of second causes.

 Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

 The Lord Jesus Christ is the glue that holds His creation together!

 When the first part of our Savior's work was completed, He went back to His throne in Heaven until the Church Age reaches its fulfillment and then He will return.

 Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Heb 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

 There should be no doubt that we are in these last days.

 The Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth to deliver this world from sin!

 This was His sole purpose, and He completed that work.

 Today Jesus Christ walks “in our bodies” until He returns to Redeem us.

 Jesus was not some angel!

 The first coming of Christ was not by chance!

 Jesus Christ came in the timing set aside by God the Father!

 He did not come one day early, and He did not leave one day late. He is always on time!

 Jesus Christ was born of a particular person, at a particular time, in a particular way, and under a particular system, the Law.

 Jesus was subject to the same system in which He came to save all the world from it.

The world had been specially prepared for His first coming!

 The Law had done its work.

The world was full of spiritually starved people ready for a change.

The world was at peace under Roman rule.

The world was under the Greek language making communication possible no matter where you went.

The Romans had built roads everywhere making travel easier.

 God's messenger, John the Baptist, was in place.

 Mar 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

Mar 1:2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

Mar 1:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

 Heb 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

 Why did Jesus come? He came to redeem God's people!

 God's people are all those who have "faith" in the work of Jesus Christ!

 Every believer becomes the adopted sons and daughters of God!

 *****Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Gal 4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

 When we trust in the work of Christ for our salvation we receive the Holy Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit.

 Paul asked these Galatians: Gal 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

 These people knew they had never felt the presence of the Holy Spirit until they heard the preaching of the Apostle Paul.

 Because we have the Spirit of Jesus living within us, God looks upon us as His sons and daughters.

 What is the first thing we should do?

 2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

2Co 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

 We cannot allow the remnants of our past to influence our new life!

 That unclean thing is what is called an idol.

 As we come out from the world we begin to meet our true family, the family of God.

 As we have learned earlier, the Holy Spirit is somewhat like a downpayment on our eternal life, until Christ returns to take us home.

 We become heirs and sons because of our faith in Jesus Christ and the Grace of our heavenly Father!

 1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

1Pe 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

 Then the last time will be the day of the Rapture of the Church, the end of the Church Age.

 Chapters 2 and 3 and the first verse in Chapter 4 of the Book of Revelation.

 The word adoption means to place us as God's sons and daughters, and He will never release us back into this wicked world.

 1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

 For many days now, we will be telling ourselves we just want to go home.

 Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

 We are no longer servants to this sinful world.

 *****Gal 4:8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

 I believe every one of us agrees with this verse.

 There is no God but Jehovah who can change one thing on this earth!

 When we look back on our old lives before our faith in Jesus, most of us do not like who or what we were.

 We may have had knowledge of God, but we did not know Him in a personal way, and this is what God wants from us, a personal relationship.

 We did not know life until we met Jesus!

 We served the false gods of this world until we met Jesus!

 Many of us worshipped that almighty dollar because the things of this world are only idols.

 Eph 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

 We were in bondage to the things of this world.

 Now we know better so, why in the world would we ever want to go back into that lost world?

 *****Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

 It is a privilege to know the truth of God, a privilege we had better not abuse.

 We should also understand that God knew us before we were even born on this earth.

 In some places in the Bible, it shows that God talks to us while we are in the womb of our mothers.

 God will not do for one that He will not do for another! Only He knows what is best for us.

 It is a humbling fact, that God cared enough to send someone to us to tell us about Jesus and the Gospel.

 There is nothing in this world that can give life.

 Heb 7:18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

Heb 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, “but the bringing in of a better hope did”; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

 The Apostle Paul is not condemning the observance of these things but teaching them that God will never justify them for observing these days.

 Bondage to these things forfeits the liberty of the Gospel!

 We are not bound to observe any ritual of any church.

 The only things Jesus said for us are Baptism and the Lord's Supper, but even these things cannot justify us.

 We do these things because our Lord did these things, and He said to follow Him.

 So, we follow Him in Baptism, and we partake of the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him.

 Paul knew that these churches in Galatia were about to turn back to the Law and Paul was doing His best to tell them how foolish this was.

 Every religion in this world is a religion of works!

 People trying to please their god making these religions, religions of works.

 The only thing that pleases God is "faith" in the work of His Son for our salvation!

 Once we decide that we need to do something to make God love us, we are headed for trouble.

 Heb 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

Heb 10:39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

 We are walking a dangerous path when we turn our backs on God!

 When we speak to some in the church who seem to be losing their faith, we must remember they are still our brothers and sisters in Christ and the children of God.

 *****Gal 4:12 Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.

 Paul has not been too harsh to these churches because they are still family notice the word brethren.

 This is an example for us all. Our own Pastor preaches hard, and some may not always agree with the message, but we had better remember that he is a minister of God called to preach the messages God has given him by the Holy Spirit.

 He is also a brother in Christ who is in the same family as all God's children.

 If He does not preach God's message, then he will answer to God.

 If we do not listen to that message and apply it to our lives, Jesus may remind us of that when we meet Him in the clouds.

 Every message is real when it matches what God has said in the Scriptures.

 We do not have to abide by any message that goes against the Word of God!

 Paul was being criticized for his messages of truth when it was the Judaizers who had the false message.

 Even now Paul did not treat them as his enemies.

 Paul assured them that they had not injured him, they had only injured themselves.

 God gives us this time after our salvation to earn rewards given to us when we get to Heaven.

 These rewards are far more than the promised Mansion and eternal life.

 We can even be blessed as we witness for the Lord Jesus Christ here on earth.

 God has all these things in mind when He sends a message to our Pastor for him to preach to us.

 *****Gal 4:13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.

Gal 4:14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

Gal 4:15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

Gal 4:16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

 Even on a bad day when our pastor is feeling bad, he will always give us the truth of God!

 Our Pastor is never ever our enemy!

 Paul had a physical affliction that bothered him from time to time and he asked the Lord to remove it, and the Lord said to him, "My Grace Is sufficient" for it to overcome your weakness.

 When a true man of God is preaching full of the Holy Spirit, God's power to him will overcome all his deficiencies.

 It is the message that is important, not the physical condition of that man of God!

 When Paul first came to these people he was welcomed with open arms.

 It was the legalism of the Judaizers that made things change.

 This is what a false message does. It will cause friction in that body of believers.

 Many a church has split for these same things.

 1Ti 5:17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

 Tit 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

Tit 3:9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

Tit 3:10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

Tit 3:11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.

 Verse 15 also hints to us that the physical problem that Paul had was with his eyes.

 The people who reject the truth of Jesus Christ are outside the church.

 We are not to hate them, but we must know this fact and witness to them if we are able.

 Notice it said if you have witnessed to them at least twice then you are not obligated to go that person a third time but someone else can go.

 It was the Judaizers who were religionists who were Paul's true enemy and the enemies of the Church!

 *****Gal 4:17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.

Gal 4:18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.

 Notice Paul did not mention names. Everyone present knew who Paul was referring to.

 Gal 1:7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

 All those who pervert the Gospel of Jesus Christ are false teachers!

 We must always be on guard and reject false preachers and teachers.

 These Judaizers were very zealous in their work, trying their best to reconvert as many of the Jews as they could and convert any Gentile to Judaism who listened to them.

 They did not care if they got saved or not.

 Their goal was to stop Christianity in its tracks.

 Most of the world is trying to do the same today but this is impossible!

 The very first thing they will try to do is to discredit that Pastor (preacher) who teaches the truth.

 False teachers try to focus people on the law, work, effort, rituals, sacrifice, and rules.

 False teachers reject the Grace of God.

 Today false teachers claim some imaginary powers that they do not have and work for the money they can get from those who trust them.

 Today God does all healing without the help of some mediator.

 The power of healing belongs to God Himself and He does this work through prayers!

 The true preacher seeks to focus people on this Almighty God who gave us a plan for salvation.

 It is His plan and there is no other plan than His that will work!

 God's plan works only through the Lord Jesus Christ. These are His conditions, and we must not question His plan!

 The Lord Jesus said: Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

 Jesus also said: Mat 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

 Rom 10:3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

 Those who deny the truth of Jesus Christ are all antichrists!

 2Jn 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

2Jn 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

2Jn 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

 *****Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

Gal 4:20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.

 We as a church should welcome those Evangelist and Missionaries who preach the truth and in our church our Pastor makes this selection, and this is the way it should be in every Gospel church.

 There is only one Gospel!

 The true preacher seeks only to help believers.

 The true preacher considers all believers as his dear children.

 The true preacher will guard the church from error.

 The true preacher’s heart is tender and warm, protecting and providing for the church.

 Most people think of a growing church as one that adds many new members, but the truth is a growing church is a church growing in its relationship with Jesus Christ and His Heavenly Father who becomes our ABBA Father

 Nothing else in this world is more important than our relationship with our Savior.

 These are the same ones who are God's children!

 Amen.

God Is My Father

 The Schoolmaster Is No Longer Needed

 Book of Galatians Chapter 3 Verse 19 through 29

 As we read these Epistles to the Galatians, we can ask why the Laws of Moses were then given.

 We know there were teachers in the Galatians church who taught that a person must be justified, and we must.

 1) They taught that if that person did the very best he could and honestly tried to obey the Law of God and do much good then he could be justified.

 2) if that person practiced religion, by keeping all the rituals, keeping all the ceremonies, keeping all the rules of the church, then he could be justified.

 3) If he submitted to the basic ritual of the church, circumcision, church membership, baptism, and whatever else they thought of, they could be justified.

 None of these things are bad things, but keeping these things will not justify anyone in the eyes of God!

 Only the Lord Jesus Christ can justify any individual!

 The Lord Jesus said you could wrap up all the 613 laws of the Jews into two laws:

 Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 

Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 

Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

 Then Jesus said:

 Jhn_14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Jhn_15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

 It is only by love that we can show our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!

 It is only by love that we can show we truly believe in the Son of God!

 When we truly love someone, we would never do anything to harm them in any way, and we would listen to what they say.

 It is in our believing, truly believing, in the work God's Son has done for our salvation, that we can be justified!

 When everything in this world goes sour, our faith must remain in the Lord Jesus Christ who died, so that we can live.

 If we cannot believe that God has everything under His control,  we will never trust Him.

 This is where our faith kicks in.

 The fundamental act that saves anyone is “faith” in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 What is the will of God for every individual on this earth? It is the will of God that all mankind be saved.

 1Ti_2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

 This is why the Devil tries to keep us at odds with one another.

 God the Father accepts our faith for righteousness just as He did Abraham.

 1) The law was given to make us aware of sin.

2) The law was only temporary.

3) The law was not given by God, but through a mediator, therefore it is inferior.

4) The Law has no power to give life.

5) The law declares that the whole world is a prisoner to sin.

 The law is usually a designation of the law God gave to Moses.

 1) There is civil law which is given for the responsibility of neighbors.

2) There is the ceremonial law which legislated Israel's worship life.

3) There is the moral law which we call the Ten Commandments.

 It is the Ten Commandments which God identified as God's timeless standards of right and wrong.

 In all the Jews had 619 laws covering everything in their life.

 We must understand that it is by "Sound Doctrine" that we will see life-changing behavior that is based upon love.

 1Jn 2:10  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 

1Jn 2:11  But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. 

 1Jn 3:14  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 

 We know that love has just about left our world, and this world has become a place where lust dominates people's behavior.

 Eph_2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

 This is easy to see, and abortion is the result of lust.

Lust is the power behind all immorality!

 We need to take these things seriously for without love we see nothing, but compromise and we just cannot compromise the truth of God with the ways of this world as we see going on today.

 Just how do we know that by the Law no one can be seen as righteous?

 *****Gal 3:19  Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

 1) The law condemns so it cannot give life.

2) The law was temporary commencing with national life of the Jewish people.

3) The law was not given immediately, like the promises to Abraham, but by mediator, Moses, in the presence of angels.

4) The law was a contract between God and man, with life depending on the total fulfillment of its terms and not like a promise.

 The law was added but not to interfere with God's Promise to Abraham.

 Rom 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 

Rom 5:21  That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. 

 The law was only the knowledge of sin!

 Rom 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 

 That sin could appear as sin! Most people know what sin looks like even if they will not admit it.

 Rom 7:13  Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. 

 The strength of sin is the law!

 1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

 The law was not given to restrain or to punish sin, nor to show us how evil this world has become.

 The laws are given to show us that evil is already in this world and is very active in this world.

 If our politicians would only understand this, they would go back to the Ten Commandments to make us aware of just how wicked and evil our world is today.

 We already know that "seed" which was to come, is in fact, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Promised Messiah.

 Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

 The seed of Abraham is the same seed of the woman! It was no accident that both of these passages use the same singular form of the word seed.

 We can also say that the seed of the snake, who was taken over by Satan, will show up one day as the Antichrist which may not be far off.

 In fact, he may already be on the scene. We should also understand that Satan has had a wicked individual ready from day one because he does not know what day the Lord will return.

 We could name off all sorts of wicked and evil men, but we all know this is true.

 1Jn_2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

 1Jn_2:22  Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

1Jn_4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

2Jn_1:7  For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

 The law was ordained by angels:

 Deu 33:1  And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 

Deu 33:2  And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. 

Deu 33:3  Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words. 

Deu 33:4  Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.

 This was the teaching given to all the Jews:

 Act 7:51  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 

Act 7:52  Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 

Act 7:53  Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. 

 Of course, we know that this was Stephen, and these Jews picked up stones and murdered a great man of the early church.

 The Apostle Paul was aware of what happened to Stephen because he was an eyewitness though he never threw one stone.

 Paul did not know for sure if this same thing might happen to him.

 Gal 2:2  And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. 

 The leaders of the Church in Jerusalem were solid in their convictions, as was the Apostle Paul and we must be the same.

 The law was added because of transgressions, till the "seed", the Messiah, should come.

 Once the Messiah came the law was to be set aside!

 Now the perfect life that Jesus led is our model on how we are to live because only the Lord Jesus had the willpower to keep all those laws in what was referred to as "The Law".

 We know that the Law is still in place for all the unbelieving world!

 *****Gal 3:20  Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

 The fact that the "giving of the law" a mediator was needed marks the nature of that transaction as a compact entered into between two parties.

 The law came from God, but it was given by angels and then from angels to mankind.

 Deu 33:2  And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. 

 Act 7:38  This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: 

 A Mediator implies that there were two parties God and man.

 Then Moses became that mediator between God and man.

 The law was given secondhanded, but not the promise of God.

 When mankind broke the covenant of the law, then the law had no meaning other than good words to live by!

 The God of promises is One and only One. Grace came as a gift to whosoever has the faith to reach out and receive it.

 The Giver is everything and the receiver is nothing.

 God the Father is the Bestower of the free gift to this entire world, and because He worked His Grace through His Son, is all we need to know.

 Is the Law then against the promises of God?

 *****Gal 3:21  Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 

 If God was the author of both the law and the promises, how can they be an opposition.

 The Apostle answers: If the law had given life, then there would be no need for the promises.

 Life was forfeited by sin, by breaking the law came death!

 The law was only words and rules!

 The law only injected the idea of behavior into the mind of man!

 As the descendants of Adam and Eve all we know is to rebel against the laws of God.

 The law demands obedience, but it leaves us on our own to comply or not to comply.

 The Lord Jesus Christ was the only person who fulfilled the covenant of the law between God and mankind.

 Mat 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 

Mat 5:18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 

 God had to poor Himself into the flesh of a man and then die to accomplish this for us.

 Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 

Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 

Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 

Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 

 It is the life of Jesus, that is now our standard for living, and not any law!

 *****Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 

 If we have a Bible written according to "Received Text" then that Bible will teach us that we are all sinners.

 That word concluded means: "leaves no means to escape".

 God says if we search all the Scriptures, we will find no other way to please God beyond 'Grace".

 This verse shows us all, that there is no other way to get to Heaven except by the "Grace of God"!

 Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 

 From the time we are born till the time we die, we are all lawbreakers and all under the penalty of sin!

 In fact, we are all as prisoners under solitary confinement as in a dungeon with no hope for life outside that cell.

 The one purpose the law had was, to encourage all mankind to seek Jesus Christ, that is, righteousness by "Faith".

 When we believe the work that Jesus did for our salvation, then Jesus will judge us righteous and each believer becomes a "partaker of the Divine nature of God!

 Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

 Before the Lord Jesus paid the price required for our sin, His blood, we had no means to become righteous in the eyes of God.

 We can see it took the Apostle Paul some time to straighten this church out after they had received some False teachings in their midst.

 Faith in Christ frees us from the penalties of the law.

Faith in Christ makes us the children of God.

Faith in Christ makes us one with God.

Faith in Christ makes us heirs to the promises of God.

 *****Gal 3:23  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 

Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 

Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

 In a real sense, the law is a prison for all mankind!

 We can all understand the full "Gospel" revelation of salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!

 The law is nothing more than a prison that binds us.

 1) The law shows us exactly where we fail.

The law shows us exactly where we come short in our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

 The laws tell us to do this and we in rebellion do that.

 It is like a speed limit sign. When we pass that set speed we are breaking the law. It is really very simple to understand, and we only have to do it one time.

 2) The law accuses and condemns us.

 Just as soon as we break the law, we are charged for it.

 The law is in black and white and there are no gray areas.

 We cannot say we did not break the law because that just drives us deeper into sin.

 Breaking the law leads to a life of conviction.

 There is no way we can know how many are running from the law today because they know they are guilty.

 3) The law has no life and no power to deliver anyone from the punishment due him.

 The law cannot deliver anyone from their sin.

 The bond to the law is perpetual. That person is guilty until the day they die, and the punishment is established.

 The only hope for man is for someone to appear with the power to release him before he faces that judgment.

 That someone has appeared, and His name is Jesus.

 We who need to be set free must accept His deliverance.

 The choice is ours! We can accept Him, or we can reject Him.

 If we do not believe that Jesus has the power to free us from our bondage then He will not!

 It is only "faith" that can give us the answer!

 The law was nothing more than a Schoolmaster, or a Guardian, to lead us to know that we need Christ.

 In the day of Paul, the Guardian was a trusted slave who had one job and that was to deliver the child they cared for to the Schoolmaster, then at the end of the day he would bring that child back to safety.

 This is what the law was supposed to do but the law had no power to do this.

 The law shows us that we cannot obtain righteousness by ourselves.

 We need to look to Jesus Christ, and we can be justified by our faith.

 Only, ONLY Jesus Christ can bring us face to face with God on good terms, the terms of Grace.

 The law can only take us to bondage!

 The law only points to us as the children of the Devil.

 Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 

Joh 8:45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 

 *****Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 

Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 

 How do we know that we are justified by faith, and not by the law, and not by doing the best we can?

 Because faith makes us the children of God!

 Joh 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 

Joh 1:13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

 God is stirred to adopt us because of the work of His Son.

 Faith causes us to focus on the Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ.

 God will accept everyone who focuses on His Son Jesus.

 God will not accept those who reject His Son Jesus.

 This is exactly what the Scriptures say, so why are so many in this world confused? False Teaching and False Preaching.

 When we honor the Son of God, God is well pleased!

 When we say the word righteousness then, we are talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.

 By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we become the children of God, and our Baptism was the sign of this relationship, though Baptism is not a requirement for our salvation.

 Baptism would be one of the first works we would do after our salvation.

 Once the Schoolmaster is no longer needed it is the life of Jesus Christ that becomes our Schoolmaster.

 Jesus is the pattern of what every person should be!

 When we give our faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, God clothes us in the righteousness of His Son until the day we receive our glorified bodies.

 When God looks down on us from Heaven, He only sees the righteousness of His Son, and He accepts us as His own children.

 If we belong to Jesus Christ, if we are a part of Him, who is the promised Seed, then we are the seed of Abraham. We are heirs according to the promise given to Abraham.

 We can call this adoption because we are placed as sons and daughters. After all, Jesus is the Son of God.

 We should understand that our Heavenly Father has complete power over His children as long as He lives, and He can never die.

 Adoption is a serious thing!

 Adoption is a permanent thing!

 Those who are adopted have all the rights of Jesus Christ the only Son of God.

 Those who are adopted have lost all rights in their old family and therefore a "new person", so new that old debts and obligations connected with their former family are canceled out and abolished as if they never existed.

 This is the meaning of being adopted into the family of God.

 We have a new relationship with God.

 Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

 We have a new Father!

 Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 

 We have a special relationship with all our other brothers and sisters.

 Eph 4:4  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 

Eph 4:5  One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 

Eph 4:6  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 

Eph 4:7  But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 

 We just become a new person.

 Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 

Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 

 We are ready to meet the One who gave us all these things when He died on Mount Calvary and then arose from that death.

 1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 

1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

 *****Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 

Our faith in Jesus Christ makes us brothers and sisters in Christ. We are one in Christ.

We are all together the Bride of Christ.

We all stand on equal footing at the feet of Christ!

The Lord Jesus Christ reaches out and embraces every believer, and it does not matter that we are so different from Him.

He treats us as His equal though we can never be His equal!

When we look at other believers, we know to treat them as our equals, and we all are equal.

When we look at other believers, we should be able to see the righteousness of Christ in them as God the Father sees in us.

We pay no attention to the color of their skin, their nationality, their sex, their social status, or any other difference.

Psa 119:63  I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts. 

*****Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. 

To be justified by faith we become heirs of the promises to Abraham!

Abraham was to receive God's blessings which include God's acceptance, God's righteousness, and eternal life in the New Heaven and the New Earth as a child of God.

Amen