Galatians chapter 5, verse 6, starting at verse 6 through verse 12, Galatians chapter 5. 6-12, Paul still fighting with the Judaizers via his letter in chapter 5, verse 6, actually start at verse 5. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. You did run well. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? We're in Galatians 5, verse 8. If you're listening online, this persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord that ye will be none otherwise minded, but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment. Would not have wanted to be that man, whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. I would that they were sorry even cut off which trouble you." May the Lord's blessing to the reading of his word, the encouragement to stand. Secondly, was the endangerment of slipping starting in 5 to 6. And verse 5, we saw the doctrine they are to wait for. That means to look forward to the connection really is the return of Christ. We are to be looking forward to that. Philippians chapter 3, verse 20, Hebrews 9, 28, 1 Corinthians 1, 7. Now, how does one wait in this verse? Question 21. He waits by faith through the Spirit. That's how we're waiting. We're waiting, we're believing that Christ is going to return. Jehovah's Witnesses says He came back in 1914, I believe it was, but we know He has not come back. There were the the people in the 1860s, it was, I think it was, who sold all their belongings, dressed in white, and climbed the top of the trees because someone had predicted the Lord was coming back. They even have, you can go to Amish country even today and see this giant chair they made for the Lord to sit in when he arrived on the earth. And so, but it was really, really, I forget what the person's name was that started that, but it became then Seventh-day Adventism, rolling right into that. And so we find then that we're looking for, by faith, that he's coming back. Verse six, now it's sort of new, we start with that part, but for Jesus Christ, or in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision. In your notes, we find that circumcision then refers to the Jews, and uncircumcision refers to the Gentiles. Ephesians chapter, just a couple pages over, 411, Ephesians 411, Ephesians chapter, sorry, verse 211, 211, Ephesians 211, In whom, maybe it's not Ephesians, I think it is Ephesians 2.11, I'll get my right place on here. Wherefore remember that ye being in the time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hand. So whether you had actually had the physical procedure or not, you're Gentile, you're uncircumcised. And so that's their idea. If you remember in 1 Samuel 1736, David says to Saul, thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this, what kind of Philistine was he? Uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them. And so it wasn't so much about if he'd had the procedure or not, it was you're not a Jew. So you're not part of the covenantal people, the Jew, and that circumcision is part of what God, the covenant, had arranged with them. And so you're not part of us. So you are part of the uncircumcision. It's sort of contemptuously said of the Gentiles. Question number 22. Paul emphasizes that the old barrier between Jew and Gentile had been abolished by whom? And, of course, that was Jesus. The barrier of, we're going to work for our salvation, is now replaced by, no, it's salvation by grace through faith. In Christ, then, everything boils down to simply faith and sublime hope. Now, that hope is not like, I'm hoping, like I'm hoping tomorrow that the line won't be long in the drive-thru so I can get through and get on time. That's the hope. No, this is the assurance. The assurance that was manifested, not the law, but a law of love. We are saved by God's grace through faith and not of any self-effort. The true story is told of an aspiring artist who was commissioned finally to do a large sculpture for a famous museum. At last, he had the opportunity to create his masterpiece. So he was in his studio, and he started working, working, and it kept getting bigger and bigger and larger and larger. And finally, he was done. It's a beautiful place, beautiful piece. But to his horror, He couldn't get it out the door. And they couldn't tear the wall off because of where it was located. So he had to leave this masterpiece in his own studio for him to look on by himself. That is the fate of all human religion. Nothing a person does to earn God's favor can leave the room of this earth where his self-made works are created. People who have worked all their lives to earn their way to salvation, it's the whole world is going to go, is right here. By the way, it's all going to be burned up eventually. We find that the uncircumcision Gentile, circumcision are the Jews. The Enlightenment of Scripture then, 7 and 8, we see a running there in verse 7. Ye did run well. Question 23, had they started out, gotten off to a good start? And yes, the believers in the Galatian area, Galatian believers there, had started out well, and Paul was commending them there. You can remember now the dynamic days of the first journey of Paul and Barnabas, and then John Mark, and then John Mark was not there. So those first dynamic days and all the things recorded there in the Book of Acts, So they had a good start. Second word is then hindering, not only running, but hindering in verse seven as well. But who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? In your outline, we find the hinder then means that which was used to people breaking up a road or putting an obstacle in the path. Who broke up the road along which you were making such good progress? Now, we would often, especially in the summer, you'll see roadwork ahead. And I'm sure Mr. Dickens really loves the roadwork ahead signs, because you might have to stop for a while. But can you imagine? People who are intentionally, now you may think they're doing intentionally now, but they're intentionally putting things in your way so you have to slow down, go take a detour, et cetera, et cetera. And that is the idea here. They said, that was what Paul was asking. He knew all too well the natural dangers and difficulties of the Christian life. But what about the deliberate obstructions, if you would? Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? Who's causing the problems? 24, what is Paul wanting to know? Who it is, the man or the man who were deliberately putting up those roadblocks in the way for the new believers? Can you imagine how frustrating it would be? You've led people to the Lord, they've gotten saved, they've gotten on fire, they're serving the Lord, and as you left, somebody comes in, the wolves in sheep's clothing come in, and before you, sheep's, sheep, that could be sheep's, yeah, sheep's clothing, wolf in sheep's clothing, yes, because it's possessive. Sheep's clothing, they come in, and before you know it, the people are leaving what you've told them, and worked so hard to tell them, and they've gone backwards in their Christian walk. It's like, we're going to use this Sunday, but it's like when you've heard the truth, anything less is regressive. So like I was studying today, Oreo cookies have been, for the longest time, the best just as they are. It's perfect. So now we have 85 different flavors of Oreo cookies. I'm telling you, you can only progress if you're getting better. Anything less is a digression. So we've gone backwards now. So everything they brought, oh, this is not an improvement. See, to be progressive, it has to be an improvement. We've gone from the rotary dial phones, the ding, or call wife. We've gone from that to progress. God set forth in Genesis chapter one and two, marriage is between one man and one woman. That's perfect. Gender is stopped. Relationships are stopped. So to add anything else is not progression because the perfect order has been set by God. It's only digression. from the perfect of what's perfect. So we'll talk about that more on Sunday. But here he said, deliberately obstructing the way. And who sent these obstacles? Well, verse eight answers, I know who it wasn't. This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. It wasn't God. God is not the author of confusion. He is not. He wants, and it's very clear in scripture, how one becomes those Christ's personal savior. Somebody was persuading them, whoever it was, the arguments had not come from God. The devil, by the way, can quote the Bible, and nearly every cultist appealed to the Bible to give credence to their errors. It's like a little bit of truth and a lot of error, or a lot of truth and just a little bit of error, and it gets you sliding down this road, and then it gets you trapped. Bless you, bless you, bless you. 26. What big change now for some dispensational? Was it affected by Calvary and Pentecost? We're going from number five, law, to dispensation number six, grace. In the past, Moses, the Mosaic Law, they're following the law, following God, following Jehovah, and now Christ has come, the veil's written too, and now we are still continuing to be in and thankful for it, the age of grace. We are saved by grace through faith. But now Judaism is null, void, old hat, it's passé. Number four, then, is the encroachment of slanderers. In verse number nine, we see a warning, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Throughout Scripture 27, what is leaven used as a symbol of? Sin, symbol of sin, exactly. Corruption, it spreads furtively, secretly, and unseen, and permeates nearly everything. You can put potatoes in a, we used to have a potato bin that got smelling so bad that we had to, I think we threw it out, because somehow the potatoes smell when they start rotting. Does it get into, I think it gets into the wood or something, because, boy, you put your nose in there, like, whether there's taters in there or not, it's like, whoa, man, don't take that top off that potato bin. 11 is like sourdough. It's introduced a little bit of sourdough into the loaf. Before you know it, it's the whole thing taken completely over. Now, I know yeast is supposed to work that way, but we find that error in the Christian world is not supposed to work that way. So what needs to be done? Question 20. What needs to be done? You've got a loaf that's... How do we stop the spreading? You put it in the oven, heat it up, and then it gets pretty more, and it's raised, etc. The bread must go into the oven. John Phillips says, by its third generation, every new movement born of revival of the Spirit of God needs a fresh moving of the Holy Spirit if it is to survive. First of all, with the first generation, it's conviction. That's your first white conviction. Those who see it, embrace it, and propagate it with zeal, and they're willing to die for it. They give all they have had to it. Did you know that in North Korea, I just heard last week, you can be executed for having one verse of scripture in your possession? One verse executed. If they want to, they can do that. That's conviction, willing to die. Second generation is conviction becomes a belief. Second blank, belief. has been taught these truths. They have heard the first generation tell the tales of battle and fire and sword and persecution and pioneering and the price that has been paid for these truths. And they brought up in them and drilling in them, made to memorize them and urged to accept them for themselves. And they do so, but not with the same fire and fervor of the first generation. They believe, but not the same fervor. Third thing, then when the third generation, what was the first generation is a conviction, and to the second, a belief, has now become an opinion, is your blank opinion. Aren't we so there? My opinion's as good as your opinion. We're gonna talk about it again that Sunday morning. What I believe about this, what you believe about that. Well, what does the Bible say? That is the singular issue. You and I have got to come back. What does the Bible speak? How does it speak to this issue? Truths are now lightly held. Compromise is acceptable. Things are watered down. Distinctives disappear. It's like on the shore of the ocean. True stories told that there was people were having, were wrecking their boats, and one group got together and said, we're going to have a life-building station. And so they had a life-building station, and they started, and they saved a lot of lives. A couple of generations later, the life-saving station had morphed into a club. So some people took their, and it went up a little while longer. And they started a new life-saving station. And the first little while went good. And then they got new people in there, and it became more of a club. And the next group, but a third started a third one. And that's sort of what we're not careful we're gonna happen here in our own country. It's already happened. First, the sharp edges are blurred. You're blank, blurred. Then new ideas are introduced, things that would have been made. The first generation, top of page three, turn over in its grave. The third generation tolerates with smiling ease. The power has gone. Leaven permeates. The drive is gone. The talk of renewal. New methods are tried. More money is poured in. Projects are announced. Doctrines are tinkered with. The emphasis on education, the Holy Spirit moves out. Error moves in. But revival is needed, not renewal. Revival. Revival does not come, people drift away, and some kind of phony counterfeit revival is accepted. We have a church that's drifted off the bedrock truth of God's Word is absolutely the standard for our life and practice. So what I feel now has become such a large part of how people interpret even the scripture. Summary is this, Paul could see the deadly leaven at work in Galatia. It was spreading. It was not even the third generation yet. This particularly virulent, which means extremely severe heresy is your blank. Already was permeating the Galatian churches. Virulent, thank you. Paul was alarmed. All he could do was write, warn, your blank, and pray. Write, warn, and pray. I found this little Dennis DeHaan thing. One little sin, what harm can it do? Give it free reign, and soon there'll be two. Then sinful deeds and habits ensue. Guard well your thoughts, lest they destroy you. I'm sure it was in the Daily Bread at one point. Little sins won't stay little. Little sins won't stay little. That was the warning, verse nine. Secondly is the worker in verse 10. I have confidence in you through the Lord that ye will be none otherwise minded, but he that troubles you shall bear his judgment whosoever he be. So Paul's confidence in their making the right decision came from what source? The Lord. What does it say there? I have confidence in you through the Lord, that the Lord will help him to make the right decisions and not be carried off by the Judaizers into obeying the Mosaic law. Again, the rendering could also say, I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. Paul does not say, again, the confidence was in the Galatian believers, and that our confidence has to be in the Lord, does it not? Even today, it's what the Lord can do through us, not what we can do on our own. We understand that. He's confident they would filter out the persuasive false teaching in your outline. Again, Philip says, he appeals to them. He expresses his face to them. I'm sure, he says, that you will not take that final fatal step. Paul knew that no genuinely born-again believer would repudiate the gospel in the way the Judaizers were demanding. The majority of the Galatian church seems to have been wavering, as you're blank, wavering at the time Paul wrote this letter. My sheep hear my voice, and they know me, and they follow me. That's a paraphrase that he says there. But that's what they're following him. If you truly know Christ, you're going to follow him. Certainly, anyone who knows Christ is not going to take that final step into Judaistic apostasy, if you would, after they've read that letter. Can you imagine the conviction coming on the new believers as they read this letter to the whole group? I want to crawl. I said crawl under the chair, crawl under the bench, crawl under whatever, crawl under the tent, crawl out of the tent. So if no one sees me, it would be probably quite embarrassing. I put a couple of little notes in there concerning apostasy and backsliding. Now apostasy and backsliding are not the same thing. The Christian can backslide. We call it backsliding. We call it you're straying from the perfect will of God in your life. You've got sin in your life. You've not lost your salvation, but we call it backslidden. I remember Adrian Rogers says, if you're not winning souls as much as when you first started, then you're backslidden. And we're all backslidden, probably. To the group of pastors I was there, he was very much a soul winner, he was. We find that apostasy, though, is only an unbeliever can become an apostate. Apostate is a person who has been enlightened to the truth, but who turns away from that. He repudiates and embraces some kind of error. The apostate crucifies afresh the Son of God and puts him to open shame. We find that in Hebrews, I believe. It's impossible to renew that kind of a person. A backsliding person is here, Pence. I would say it very simply that way. If you are involved in sin, and you know you're doing wrong, then you repent. You're truly born again. If you never repent, you're probably not saved. Because John would say you're not saved. So the truly born again person, I believe, is going to at least feel a huge amount of guilt. and he's going to be repentant over his sin. Paul's question 29 then, I'm sorry, we've overpassed that one. From the outline, page three, Paul is confident that not a single truly born-again Galatian believer would apostatize into Judaistic heresy being so zealously propagated in the midst. We want you to turn. The believers are going to say, no, we're not going to do that. Only those who are not truly born again So when Josh Harris, a former pastor a couple years ago, said, I'm no longer a Christian. Well, he never was one in the first place then. You see the difference there? Some would say, well, now he's lost his salvation. Well, he never had it. The Bible says, I mean very clearly, if you're truly born again, you are saved for eternity. We have eternal life, everlasting life. But there are many who have, oh, look at Judas Iscariot. Judas Iscariot was so good at his job, when he left the upper room, no one ever says, oh, there you go, I knew it was him all along. There he goes, I just knew it. No, he went out, is it me, is it me? wondering where he's going. They never even clicked. He was such, I had given the, in my thinking, he was carrying the purse. You know, between Mr. Womack and myself, I'm gonna trust Mr. Womack, so I'm gonna let him carry the purse. If I trust him that much, between him or somebody else, you know, I'm gonna trust him because, and so they, so he was a very much a, had a big facade going on, if you would. People today have that. Question 29. Was Paul confident that the one causing the problems would be held accountable? Yes, he was. It says in verse 10, but he that troubles you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. The word troubleth there is interesting. It's the same as in John 5-7 when the angel would come and trouble the water. In John 11-33, Jesus' inner anguish as he was troubled at the death of Lazarus and the sorrow of Mary and Martha. It's in John 1-14, let not your heart be troubled. Trouble, you believe in God? In Acts 17.8, used of the agitators who tried to make trouble for Paul at Thessalonica, the idea is to disturb mentally or cause a deep emotional disturbance and thus refers to an unsettled mind. It was Herod when he heard the wise men He was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. That is the idea. So to be troubled, you're like, man, what's going on here? And so the terror of the disciples on the water is a strong word, deeply upset. So he says here, for he that troubleth you, deeply upsets you, if you would, shall bear his judgment. Top of page four, this was what the Judaizers were doing in Galatia. They were upsetting the faith of Paul's converts, and Paul was having none of it. He hands them over to judgment. It made no difference who they were. I think probably Paul had a good idea who it was. Perhaps somebody had written him a letter. Maybe a carrier pigeon, I'm just teasing. But maybe he sent him a letter, or maybe he got in word. Word travels quickly, even back in that day. Maybe two or three months later, he's found out who it was. Maybe it's the same people who's followed him from town to town to town and stirred up the people against him. Maybe there's a ringleader who's doing that. He doesn't say, he doesn't have to say, this person, I would not want to stand in his sandals when he stands before God. Warning, worker, and there's a wonder in verse 11. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. The teacher at Moody Bible Institute for a long time, Kenneth Weiss, renders it this way, and I, brethren, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I, in spite of this fact, still being persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been done away or amplified, but brethren, if I still preach circumcision as some accuse me of doing as necessary to salvation, Why am I still suffering persecution? In that case, the cross has ceased to be a stumbling block and is made meaningless, done away. Question 30 then, what might the Judaizers have been trying to persuade the Galatian believers about what Paul was still teaching? That he was teaching circumcision. Can you imagine now, Paul is so over that. I like what Philip says, advocating for circumcision indeed. No, he wasn't. Persecution, he was facing the same persecution because he was teaching against that. But false religion has always been and will continue to be the most aggressive and dominant persecutor of the church. Satan fights God and satanic religion fights the true faith. Example, Islam. 31, if Paul would simply advocate for circumcision, what might cease, or at least cease greatly lessen? Persecution. He said, you know what? I've been thinking it through. And God's given me, sent me news this last night. God sent me a new message that, yes, you Gentile believers, you must go back under the law. You must be circumcised if you're male. And you must do all these things to keep this. See, well, then maybe the persecution will stop. Well, then probably that persecution on another side. So Paul's not going to compromise. No, I'm going to teach what God has shared with me. And you and I, we must, when we make decisions for our children, as a family, as a couple, we've got to be sure it's what God wants us to do. He's got to be involved in it all. precisely because he refused any compromise with legalism, that he was the constant target of persecution. And now to say that he was supporting persecution, well, question 32 might lead us to why that. Consider Acts 13.3, 13.3 it should be, why did Paul have Timothy circumcised? I'm turning over there, we've got five minutes yet. Acts 16.3, why did Paul have Timothy? How would you respond to that out there listening? Why did Paul have Timothy circumcised? To be a what? An example, to be able to witness, to be able to have a ministry with the Jewish people. 16.3, him, would Paul have to go forth with him and took and circumcised him, being Timothy, because of the Jews which were in those quarters, for they knew all that his father was a Greek, but his mother was a Jew. So it was a special situation. The Holy Spirit makes clear Paul's motive that he might have a witness, a testimony with the Jewish people, not just Gentile but also Jewish people. It was not in any way that he circumcised Timothy because he thought circumcision was essential to salvation. No. It was part of, I'm going to behave like this so I can have a relationship with the people I go to. It's like perhaps if I was going as a missionary, and if I had to go to missionary, everybody had to have a full head of hair on top of their head, I'd be out. But perhaps I was going to missionary, Bill and I both could go now, and even Andrew and I could go now, and even Mr. Lawrence, but he had to have a beard. He had to have a beard, so I'm going to start growing a beard for maybe the second time in my life because I'm going there because they only talk to people who have beards. So Timothy's going to have a ministry to the Jewish people because he's signed on with them. He's had the circumcision done to him. And so now they say, well, you're Jewish. And they couldn't say now, well, you're half Jewish. Why haven't you done that? He goes, well, I've got the cover. And now let me tell you what the Lord says. Let me tell you how to truly know the gospel. And so that's why Paul did it. Not that he would be saved. That's the Judaizers saying that. Paul, no. So had Paul or Saul, question three, at one time preached circumcision? Yes. Before salvation? Such a charge now, though, was nonsense, nothing of the kind, the offense of the cross, everything about whom scandalized the Jews, do you think? Everything about who? Jesus. I mean, he's born in Bethlehem, a lowly peasant woman, adopted of a son of a laborer, despised Galilean town of Nazareth. He was the right... that he had never recognized that he was the rightful heir to David's throne. They refused to pay him respect. The rabbinical rules, he didn't follow those rules. They didn't like him. They could not deny his miracles, but they found some way he works by the power of Satan. So everything about him scandalized them. It was scandalized by the cross, especially, that God would die. God can't die. I could probably ask a Orthodox Jewish person today, Christ can't be the Messiah because he died on the cross. My God doesn't die. So it was a scandal to think that Jesus was the Messiah. How was the cross received, 35, by the Romans and Greeks? Well, the preaching of the cross was an offense to the Jews, and it was nonsense to the Romans. The Romans and Greeks had a lot of gods, I believe, in that era. And so a Messiah, a Jewish Messiah? Paul knew the Calvary was enshrined as the greatest truth in the world. I remember when I was at the Tennessee Temple, 79 to 84, that they had the DYN radio, and I think it was Dr. Robertson had gospel dynamite. And that's what the gospel is. Only the gospel, you wanna know what can, only thing that's really gonna penetrate the problems of our country, it's the gospel of Jesus and people getting right with the God who made them. That's it, really, that's the only long-term solution. Man's solutions are not worth a hill of beans. It's God's solutions, it's the Christ. It's interesting, I was just thinking today as I was studying here yesterday, so many fail to think to a logical conclusion. If they reject the gospel and the God who gave it, what is your other option? How are you going to heaven? What's plan B, C, D, E? Where are you going to go? Only the Bible offers the salient truth of what life after death is with Christ and how to get to heaven and how to have eternity of joy and peace and all those things. Only the Bible offers that. So if you're taking that away, what is left? Confucianism, Hinduism, Orthodox Judaism, and all these other things, Christian science, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, all offering a false, and if you're in Hinduism, you want to simply go into nothingness. What's the advantage of that? I want to be alive. I want to be able to eat those Oreo cookies for eternity. And it won't put an ounce on my body either. But in heaven, because I'm going to be the same forever. Can you imagine that? Eat all you want, eat all the ice cream every day, every meal, and not gain an ounce, even a half an ounce? In verse 36, I got one minute, 36, verse 12. I would that you were even cut off which trouble you. I were that they were even cut off. What he's wishing then, the warning, the worker, the wonder, the wish is that they would be simply cut off means to apocopto. It means to amputate. It was used of cutting off Malchus's ear in John 18. The Judaizers wanted Paul's converts to be circumcised and submit to a minor amputation to enhance their religious standing. Paul says what they need to do, the Judaizers go all the way and emasculate themselves, literally, and then they would become eunuchs and then they would no longer, however, be according to the law and they could be cut off from the congregation having done that. That's what they should really do. If you're really serious Judaizers, go all the way and make the commitment. There was a group of a pagan society called the Cult of C-Y-B-E-L-E, a popular pagan nature goddess of Asia Minor, and many devout male worshipers in that cult castrated themselves, and all its priests were self-made eunuchs. Paul is not expressing a crude and cruel desire for the Judaizers' punishment. God would take care of that. But he wanted them, you know, why don't you be like the pagans who believe human achievement is the divine favor? Why don't you go in the position of self-mutilation so you can be the highest level? That's what he says to them. I wish that they were cut off, which troubled you, that they would really be serious about it, those who are troubling, and then they would not be able to even be part of the law. And Paul's problems perhaps would be somewhat solved. So what were the Judaizers, 37, trying to effect to cause Paul to use these words to cut off? They wanted to cut off the Gentiles from the body of Christ. Paul says, no, no, if you're really serious, why don't you become like these who emasculate themselves, and then you just be all in for your false teaching. And then once you do that, you can't even keep the law or be a part of the law, and his problem will be solved. Aren't you glad for the position of grace that we have today? We have our troubles. At least we don't have these people troubling us today. We've got others, but not these. Let us pray. Lord, we are thankful for Paul's truth, thank for Paul's determination to combat the false teaching of the day. Lord, I pray that you help us that we would combat the false teaching of the day. And a lot of ours is actually within the professing church. May we stand on what your word says and not go from that, not compromise with that. Give us safety now as we travel home, in Jesus' name I pray, amen.