Galatians 5: God Truly Wants His People to be Free

Class Outline:

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True freedom awaits our decision to cast our cares. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re in the resident congregation turn off your electronic devices and put them away. Let this be a place where you aren’t distracted by the world.

 

Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

 

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…an intimate, local Christian Church with a worldwide impact.  My name is Pastor Rory Clark.  Thanks for listening to this Bible lesson!

 

Why did God the Father create Barah Ministries?

 

Barah Ministries is provided by God for the benefit of both unbelievers and believers.  We give unbelievers the gospel message…the good news concerning Jesus Christ’s salvation offer.  We teach believers in Christ the Word of God…the Bible…the inerrant Canon of Scripture…so those who study the Word can have a deep, intimate, and personal relationship with the Lord.

 

Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and He is God.  As believers in Christ, we affirm His Deity by placing our faith in First Corinthians, Chapter 8, Verse 6…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 8:6a

…for us believers in Christ there is but one God…the Father…from whom all things come…and we exist for His good pleasure…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 8:6b

…and there is but one Lord (God the Son)…(who took on human form as) Jesus…the Christ (the Jewish Messiah)…by which Lord are all things created… and we exist through Him.

 

At Barah Ministries, we introduce people to the Lord.  We make a difference by teaching the Word of God verse-by-verse from the Lord’s perspective and not from man’s perspective.  You’ve probably heard the Lord’s Prayer as…Our Father… who art in heaven…hallowed be thy name…and the rest.  The real Lord’s prayer is John, Chapter 17.  On the night before He was crucified, the Lord prayed for His believers.  One aspect of the prayer concerned the Word of God.  In John, Chapter 17, Verse 17 the Lord makes a request of His Father…

 

JOHN 17:17

Sanctify believers in Christ in the truth (set them apart with it for Your privileges)…Your Wordis truth.

 

At Barah Ministries we encourage believers in Christ to gather themselves together with other believers to study the Word of God instead of doing Biblical study alone.  Being with like-minded people is immeasurably valuable.

 

God’s enemy is Satan, whom God made ‘the ruler of this world’ for a finite period of time.  He is a deceiver who hates everyone in the world, including you and me.  In John, Chapter 12, Verse 31, the Lord says…

 

JOHN 12:31

“Now judgment is upon this world…now the ruler of this world (Satan) will be cast out (he will be dethroned from ruling planet earth at a future time).”

 

Satan’s strategy against the human race is religion, designed to make us either indifferent or antagonistic to God.  In Matthew, Chapter 23, Verse 15the Lord castigates those who are religious…

 

MATTHEW 23:15

“Woe to you scribes and Pharisees…you hypocrites!  You travel around on

sea and land to make one convert to your religionand when he becomes converted, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are!”

 

Religion deceives many into thinking they are saved when they might not be…and it works really well!  Billions of people are deceived.  Satan send liars to teach about a counterfeit Christ and a counterfeit gospel message.

 

The Word of God is the truth, and it illuminates Satan’s insidious deceptions.  As believers in Christ, we are in union with Christ, and we havethe victory over Satan through our Lord, who has overcome the world.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Truly Wants His People to Be Free

 

LESSON INTRODUCTION

 

When parents have children, oftenthey want to mold the children into exact replicas of themselves.  Because each of us is unique, this can never work.  One reason children rebel against their parents is they don’t like being constricted in this way.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect parent.  He wants each of us to discover our uniqueness through freedom of choice.  In today's lesson, as we transition to the study of Galatians, Chapter 5, we'll learn the Lord's motivation for having the apostle Paul write the letter to the Galatians.

 

OPENING SONG INTRODUCTION

 

Let’s hear some music!  The Lord went to the Cross to provide freedom for all His creatures.  Yet He certainly doesn’t want us to use our freedom improperly.  First Peter, Chapter 2, Verse 16 says…

 

FIRST PETER 2:16

Act like free people act…and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil…but use your freedom to become bondslaves of God.

 

Austin French sings to us about the glory of being free in his song FREEDOM HYMN.

 

MUSIC

OPENING SONG

Let’s Sing the Lord’s Praises

 

FREEDOM HYMN

Austin French

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father, thank you for making us free…thank you for the sacrifice of Your Son who went to the Cross to die for our freedom…thank you for the gift of faith which allows us to place our complete confidence in You…thank you for teaching us through the Word of God how to be great Christians…to trust You for everything and to trust ourselves for nothing…and thank you for God the Holy Spirit who leads us into all the truth…He is our rudder in this lost and dying world…

 

…as we study today’s message, bring together for us all the things you’ve been teaching us about false teachers and false teaching…boil all the messages down into the simplicity You use to keep us unconfused…give us the spiritual eyes to see the deceptions we’ve allowed ourselves to be victims of so we can gravitate away from deception into Your truth…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Truly Wants His People to Be Free

 

LESSON PART ONE

 

We continue our study of Paul's letter to the Galatians in Chapter 5.  We'll study the first fifteen verses of Chapter 5, verse-by-verse, to get an understanding of the importance of freedom as God wills it for His creatures.  If we were to select one verse in the letter to the Galatians that is the main message of the letter, it is Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 1.  Let’s hear the whole passage before we begin to dissect it…Galatians, Chapter 5, Verses 1 to 15…

 

GALATIANS 5:1

It was for freedom that Christ set us free…therefore, keep on standing firm in freedom and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

 

That's the main message of this letter.

 

GALATIANS 5:2

Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.

 

GALATIANS 5:3

And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.

 

 

 

GALATIANS 5:4

You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law…

you have fallen from grace.

 

GALATIANS 5:5

For we believers in Christ, through the Spirit by faith, are waiting for the hope (the absolute confidence) of (our imputed) righteousness.

 

GALATIANS 5:6

For in union with Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything…but faith working through unconditional love means everything.

 

GALATIANS 5:7

You (Galatian believers) were running (the race of the spiritual life) well…WHO hindered you from obeying the truth?

 

GALATIANS 5:8

This persuasion did not come from the Lord who calls you.

 

GALATIANS 5:9

A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.

 

GALATIANS 5:10

I (Paul) have confidence in you who are in union with the Lord that you will adopt no other view…but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

 

GALATIANS 5:11

But believers in Christ, if I still preach circumcision (as the Judaizers claim), why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the Cross has been abolished.

 

GALATIANS 5:12

I wish that those who are troubling you would mutilate themselves.

 

GALATIANS 5:13

For you were called to freedom, brethren…only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh…instead, through unconditional love serve one another.

 

GALATIANS 5:14

For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your

neighbor unconditionally as you love yourself…unconditionally.”

 

GALATIANS 5:15

But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

 

Let's begin our verse-by-verse study of this passage to see what Paul is saying to the foolish Galatians.  Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 1…

 

GALATIANS 5:1

It was for freedom that Christ set us free…therefore, keep on standing firm in freedom and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

 

As we know, the people in the churches Paul established in the Galatian region (which is modern-day Turkey) are believers in Christ.  They are people who are saved through investing their faith in Christ for salvation.  Once a believer is saved it is for all time.  Because an unchanging God saves us, we cannot ever lose our salvation.John, Chapter 10, Verse 28 says…

 

JOHN 10:28

“…I (the Lord Jesus Christ) give eternal life to believers in Christ…and they will never perish…and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

 

Galatians, Chapters 5 and 6 is Paul’s transition from the doctrinal to the practical.

 

The Judaizers came in after the salvation of these believers in Christ to disrupt their confidence about being saved.  They introduced a false gospel that involved doing works to be saved, and they contended that without doing these works there is no salvation.

 

It’s the same today.  Satan, the enemy of God, and his demonic forces use every trick in the book to get believers in Christ to doubt their salvation. Paul made it clear in the first chapter of the letter to the Galatians that the false gospel must be disregarded.  In fact, he was a little stronger about it…Galatians, Chapter 1, Verses 8 and 9…

 

GALATIANS 1:8

But even if we…or an angel from heaven…should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you in the past…he is to be accursed (he should be eternally condemned in the Lake of Fire)!

 

 

GALATIANS 1:9

As we have said before…so I say again now…if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received from me…he is to be accursed (he should be eternally condemned in the Lake of Fire)!

 

After the Galatians became believers in Christ, the Judaizers came in to recommend that these Galatian believers go backward to be under the Mosaic Law…the Law they were just freed from by Christ.  Paul says NO…Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 1…

 

GALATIANS 5:1

It was for freedom that Christ set us free…therefore, keep on standing firm in freedom and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

 

The Galatians had a choice, according to Paul…freedom…or the yoke of slavery.  What is a yoke?  It’s a device hung around the necks of animals, and it is used to lead them in the direction you want them to go.  The Judaizers were offering the Galatian believers such a yoke.

 

At the Cross, the Lord freed us from the. Yoke which included a host of maladies.  He freed us from the problem of sin…Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 12…

 

ROMANS 6:12

Therefore (in light of the Lord’s work on your behalf at the Cross) do not keep on letting sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts...

 

He freed us from the tyranny of “yokesters” and from the fear of death…Hebrews, Chapter 2, Verses 14 and 15…

 

HEBREWS 2:14

Therefore, since the children of God share in flesh and blood, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself likewise also partook of the same (becoming flesh and blood… 100% true humanity)…that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death…the devil…

 

HEBREWS 2:15

…and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

 

Are you afraid to die?  Can liars successfully dupe you about who the Lord is?  If so, you certainly aren’t paying good attention to what is being taught in this ministry.

 

The Lord freed us from Satan’s control…First John, Chapter 3, Verse 8…

 

FIRST JOHN 3:8

…the one who practices sin (as a lifestyle) is of the devil…for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

 

He freed us from guilt…the feeling of not being good enough and the feeling of always falling short…Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 23 says…

 

ROMANS 3:23

…all creatures have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

 

We aren’t good enough…but the Lord made His believers righteous at the moment of our salvation.  As June Murphy would say in one of her latest songs, the Cross Made Us Good Enough!  Amen?  No believer in Christ who feels guilty about sinning can say they understand unconditional love and the things the Lord did at the Cross.

 

So who did God do all these freeing things for?  You and me!  Yet here’s how the Bible describes us…Jeremiah, Chapter 17, Verse 9…

 

JEREMIAH 17:9

“The heart of mankind is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick…

who can even comprehend the depths of our depravity?”

 

James, Chapter 3, Verse 6 describes how we use our mouths…

 

JAMES 3:6

And the tongue is a fire…the very world of iniquity…the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body…and sets on fire the course of our life…and is set on fire by hell.

 

It’s laughable that any of us would think we could impress God enough with our

own works to save ourselves.Yet that’sexactly what the lying Judaizers

propose…that we can contribute to saving ourselves.  A yoke of slavery.

 

Galatians, Chapter 5, Verses 2 to 4give the bad news for those who choose to follow the Judaizers back into slavery to rules, rituals and the Law…

 

GALATIANS 5:2

Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.

 

When you depend on your work in your relationship with God, you reject the work of Christ on your behalf.  That’s ridiculous.  The Judaizers wanted the Galatians to be more Jewish.  Being in union with Christ makes you as Jewish as you can become!  Wearing phylacteries, and yarmulkes, observing holy days like Hannukah and the Feasts of Booths, and keeping the Sabbath do nothing to impress God.  Rituals, rules, and laws send us back into the slavery the Lord freed us from.

 

In Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 2, Paul is saying to the Galatian men…if you let yourself be circumcised, and think of it as a condition of salvation,then the Savior is of no value to you.  If you're counting on laws, rules, and rituals to save you, Christ is of no value to you.  If you trust yourself for your salvation, it is a disaster…Christ is of no value to you.  When you believers in Christ are evangelizing…do you make these facts clear?

 

Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 3…

 

GALATIANS 5:3

And I (Paul) testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.

 

613 laws are part of the Mosaic Law.  How can anyone remember them all?  When you count on the Law, you're obligated to keep ALL the laws…every one…all the “thou shalt nots.”  But the truth is you can’t keep a single one.  Once you break one law, you are a lawbreaker, guilty of breaking all the laws.  God’s grace and the Mosaic Law are like oil and water.  They just don’t mix.  This is slavery to the highest degree.  What do you prefer?  Grace…the freedom to make mistakes without guilt…or the yoke of the Law which rubs your face constantly in how bad you are?

 

 

Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 4…

 

GALATIANS 5:4

You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law… you have fallen from grace.

 

What a chilling indictment…to be a believer in Christ and to be severed from Christ…to fall from grace.  This is not a commentary about a believer’s salvation.The Galatians are saved.  Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 38 and 39 say that believers in Christ CAN’T be severed from God once they are saved…

 

ROMANS 8:38

For I (Paul) am convinced…that neither death nor life...nor (elect) angels nor principalities (demons...fallen angels)…nor things present nor things to come...nor powers...

 

ROMANS 8:39

...nor heightnor depth…nor any other created thing…will be able to sever us believers in Christ from the unconditional love of God the Father…who is for us through our union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Being severed from Christ and falling from grace is a choice a believer in Christ can make after salvation.  We can believe liars who tell us we have to work to please God once we are saved.  That's false.  That robs you of freedom.  remember what Paul said in Galatians, Chapter 3, Verse 3?

 

GALATIANS 3:3

Are you Galatian believers so foolish? Having begun your salvationby the baptism of God the Holy Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

 

Instead of taking on this yoke of slavery, we need to keep on trusting the Lord for everything.  Jeremiah, Chapter 17, Verses 7 and 8…

 

JEREMIAH 17:7

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust IS the Lord.”

 

JEREMIAH 17:8

“For he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream…and it will not fear when the heat comes…but its leaves will be green…and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.

 

We trusted Him for salvation.  We are free when we trust Him for everything else.  The Lord can make quite imperfect people produce fruit…the fruit of the Spirit…fruit that makes a huge difference in Satan's kingdom here on planet Earth.

 

When we return from the break we’ll take the offering, and then we’ll continue our verse-by-verse study of the first passage in Galatians, Chapter 5.

 

FIVE-MINUTE BREAK

NOBODY

Casting Crowns

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Truly Wants His People to Be Free

 

OFFERING INTRODUCTION

 

Nike has it right about athletics…JUST DO IT!  At Barah Ministries, we have a suggestion about generosity…JUST GIVE IT!  In Proverbs 3, Verse 9 the Lord says…

 

PROVERBS 3:9

Honor the Lord from your wealth…and from the first fruits of all your produce…

 

The Lord doesn’t need us to give.  He wants us to want to give as a reflection of Him.  Don’t ever underestimate the power of your giving.

 

When you give to Barah Ministries you change lives.  You may neverhear how you make a difference while you are here on earth, but God knows the impact your giving makes and hopefully, He will share it with you when you get to heaven.

 

You can donate to Barah Ministries on the website…on the APP… through the mail…or in person.  If you're having difficulties donating, just let me know!

 

Let’s welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with one of his always inspiring offering messages.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

MARK 15:34

At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

 

OFFERING SONG

THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU

Instrumental Version

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Truly Wants His People to Be Free

 

LESSON PART TWO

 

The Galatians had a problem many Christians have today.  They got sucked in…duped…by people with charismatic personalities.  It’s always easier to follow people than it is to follow the Word of God.  Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 5…

 

GALATIANS 5:5

For we believers in Christ…through God the Holy Spirit…by faith…are waiting for the hope (the absolute confidence) of (our imputed) righteousness.

 

How do we make progress in the spiritual life?  Through God the Holy Spirit by faith and by hearing the Word of God.  Romans, Chapter 10, Verse 17…

 

ROMANS 10:17

So faith comes from hearing…and hearing comes by the Word of the Christ (the Jewish Messiah).

 

God the Holy Spirit and faith are the roots of our unconditional love provided by God.  Psalm 1, Verses 1 to 3…

 

PSALM 1:1

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked…

nor stand in the path of sinners (unbelievers)…nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

 

PSALM 1:2

But his delight is in the law of the Lord…and in the Lord’s law the blessed man

meditates day and night.

 

The law of the Lord is freedom!

 

PSALM 1:3

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water…which yields its fruit in its season…and its leaf does not wither…and in whatever he does…he prospers.

 

As believers in Christ, we are waiting for the day of righteousness when God completes what He started in us.  The Lord can do for us that we can’t do for ourselves.  That’s true freedom.  Letting the Lord provide everything so we can rest in His promises.  The Judaizers want to interrupt that serenity.

 

GALATIANS 5:6

For in union with Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything (it has no value at all…especially in the matter of salvation)…but faith working through unconditional love means everything.

 

What does the Lord want for His believers?  The Lord wants you to send your roots deeply into His unconditional love for you.  Listen to Paul’s prayer in Ephesians, Chapter 3, Verses 14 to 19…

 

EPHESIANS 3:14

For this reason, I (Paul) bow my knees before God the Father…

 

EPHESIANS 3:15

…from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name…

 

EPHESIANS 3:16

…that God the Father would grant you believers in Christ…according to His glorious riches…to be strengthened with divine power through His Holy Spirit indwelling the inner man…

 

EPHESIANS 3:17

…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…and so you may be rooted and grounded in unconditional love…

 

EPHESIANS 3:18

…so that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of unconditional love…

EPHESIANS 3:19

…and to know the unconditional love of Christ which surpasses knowledge…that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

 

God wants you to be free to be loved by Him…and He wants you to pass along His unconditional love to others.

 

Galatians, Chapter 5, Verses 7 to 12…

 

GALATIANS 5:7

You Galatian believers were running well…WHO hindered you from obeying the truth of the Word?

 

It’s always WHO.  Who is behind the infiltration of falseness within the Galatian churches?  The father of lies…Satan.  His emissaries convinced the Galatian believers to wander away from the truth.  Satan is always successful with people who allow themselves to be used.  Many of them are legalistic Christians.  When God’s meaning from scripture is changed it is a different “truth.”  In other words, it’s a lie.

 

GALATIANS 5:8

This persuasion of the Judaizersdid not come from the Lord who calls you.

 

Pursuing the lies of false teachers is rejecting God and His Word.  God doesn’t lie to us.

 

GALATIANS 5:9

A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.

 

Leaven makes dough rise.  The leaven of the Judaizers made lies rise.  God is not fond of those who cause believers to stumble by robbing them of the serenity of freedom.  Matthew, Chapter 18, Verse 6…

 

MATTHEW 18:6

…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

 

The Judaizers will suffer a fate worse than death in the eternal state.

 

GALATIANS 5:10

I (Paul) have confidence in those of you in union with the Lord…that you will adopt no other view (other than the true view of the Word of God)…but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

 

The Lord wants His believers to stay away from religious yokes because evil spreads just as leaven spreads.  A pinch of cocaine can become a one-thousand-dollar-a-day habit.  Our confidence is in the Lord…a Lord of love, mercy, and grace…our light…our protection from evil.  We are free to let Him do everything for us.

 

GALATIANS 5:11

But I (Paul), believers in Christ, if I still preach circumcision (as I am being accused of by the Judaizers), why am I still persecuted by them? Then the stumbling block of the Cross has been abolished.

 

Paul says…if the Judaizers think I am still preaching circumcision as part of salvation then why am I the bad guy to the Judaizers?  They are lying!  If I’m preaching what they are preaching then I am their friend.  But I’m NOT preaching what they are preaching.If I say, as they do, that you don’t need the Cross…then I would not be offensive to them.

 

Next, Paul says, “If you ask me what I want…”

 

GALATIANS 5:12

I wish that the Judaizers who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves (emasculate themselves during circumcision)…

 

Ouch!

 

GALATIANS 5:13

For you believers in Christ were called to freedom…only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh…but through unconditional love serve one another.

 

In other words, Christians…don't act like unbelievers.  Liberty is not a license.  Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 20 to Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 2…

 

ROMANS 5:20

The Law came in alongside of sinso that the transgression (law-breaking) would

increase…but where sin (law-breaking) increased…God’s grace abounded…overflowingall the more…

 

ROMANS 5:21

…the Lord provided grace abundantly in the presence of sinso that, as sin reigned as kingin death (our union from birth…“in Adam”)…even so…by means of the Lord’s grace…we believerswould reignas kingthrough righteousness (from our union with Christ…”in Christ”) to eternal life (the resurrection life) through our union with Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

ROMANS 6:1

What shall we believers in Christ say then face-to-face with these things? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

 

ROMANS 6:2

May it never be! How shall we believers in Christ...the children of a King…we who died to sin as an established fact at the moment of our salvation…still live in sin as if sin is still our master?

 

Believers in Christ are made a new creation at the moment of salvation.  We have the power of Christ indwelling us.  We don’t have to work to obtain salvation and we don’t have to work to maintain salvation.  The Judaizers say otherwise.

 

Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 14…

 

GALATIANS 5:14

For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor unconditionally as you love yourself…unconditionally.”

 

As part of our freedom, the Lord wants His believers to consider others as more important than self.Philippians, Chapter 2, Verse 3…

 

PHILIPPIANS 2:3

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves…

 

Legalists don’t understand this.  What are they doing?  Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 15…

 

 

GALATIANS 5:15

But if you bite and devour one another…take care that you are not consumed by

one another.

 

The religious argue with each other…the legalists consider themselves better than others.  The rules keepers, the scribes and Pharisees, crucified Jesus.

 

Believers in Christ reflect the unconditional love of their God…Matthew, Chapter 22, Verse 35…

 

MATTHEW 22:35

A lawyer asked Jesus a question…testing Him…

 

MATTHEW 22:36

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Mosaic Law?”

 

MATTHEW 22:37

And the Lord said to the lawyer, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’”

 

MATTHEW 22:38

“This is the great and foremost commandment.”

 

MATTHEW 22:39

“The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor unconditionally as you love yourself…unconditionally’”

 

Is this what the Judaizers were doing?  Did they infiltrate the churches at Galatia to love?  Or did they infiltrate the churches to divide them?  We must always be aware of the negative motives of those who wish to rob us of the freedom that comes from being Christians.

 

Some advice for all believers in Christ…Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 1…

 

GALATIANS 5:1

It was for freedom that Christ set us free…therefore, keep on standing firm in freedom and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

 

THE GOSPEL MESSAGE

The Good News of Jesus Christ’s Salvation Offer to the Human Race

 

The closing moments of our lesson today could be the ten most important minutes of your life.

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

He Wants You Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

If you don’t yet have a relationship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you have the chance to be precious in God’s sight…Psalm 116, Verse 15 says…

 

PSALM 116:15

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones (His saints…believers in Christ).

 

The fact that GOD WANTS YOU is a great thing to know as you get older because there will be a day when it is apparent to you that no one gets out of this life alive.  What’s going to happen to you when you close your eyes in this life?  Will you go to heaven or will you go to hell?

 

God has an enemy…Satan…the ruler of this world…and he creates counterfeit lifestyles to blind your mind…religions…to mislead you into thinking you’re on the road to salvation when you are not.  Roman Catholicism is one of those counterfeits.  Here is an excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church…

 

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (Paragraph 2010)

Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can MERIT FOR OURSELVES AND FOR OTHERS the graces needed for our sanctification…for the attainment of eternal life.

 

Satan wants you to think you can work your way to heaven, earning your own salvation.  He’s lying.  You can’t.  Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 6 says…

 

ROMANS 11:6

But if salvation is by grace, and of course it is, it is no longer on the basis of your works…otherwise grace (as a free gift from the source of God) is no longer grace (free).

 

If you have to work for a free gift then the work makes you deserve the gift.  In

salvation, there is no work you could do that is impressive enough to God to save

you.  Also, Satan wants you to think you can pray for the salvation of others after they have died.  You can’t.  It’s too late then.

 

The Lord provides us with the Bible to illuminate the path to heaven…John, Chapter 20, Verse 31 says…

 

JOHN 20:31

…these things written in the Bible have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ (The Jewish Messiah)…the Son of God (the Lord taking on human form)…and that by believing in Him you may have the resurrection life (eternal life) in Hisname.

 

The Bible contains the Lord’s exact thinking.  It is your “owner’s manual”

for life, and it obliterates the delusion that any of us are good people in God’s eyes.  The Bible says we’re all “bad people!”  Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 23 says…

 

ROMANS 3:23

…all creatures have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

 

Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 10 says…

 

ROMANS 3:10

…it is written, “There is no creature who is righteous, not even one…”

 

First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 22 says…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:22a

…all in union with Adam at physical birth (and that is every human being) are set to die the second death in the Lake of Fire…

 

Your condition at physical birth IS NOT YOUR FAULT, but it is your circumstance.

 

The good news is that the Lord Jesus Christ did something about your problem…He has a plan for your salvation because He doesn’t want anyone to go to The Lake of Fire…Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 9 says…

 

SECOND PETER 3:9

The Lord is not slow about His promise of salvation, as some accuse Him of...instead, He is patient toward unbelievers…not wishing for any to perish (in the Lake of Fire) but for all to come to repentance (a voluntary change of mind about having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ).

 

So, how can you get to heaven?  RIGHT WHERE YOU SIT…RIGHT NOW…you can tell God the Father that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the moment of eternal life for you.  Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

ACTS 16:31

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved by God, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

The ONE WAY…the ONLY WAY to get to heaven is through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ…John, Chapter 14, Verse 6…

 

JOHN 14:6

Jesus said to the doubting apostle, Thomas, “I am the way (to salvation), and I am the truth (through the Word of God), and I am the resurrection life…and no one comes to God the Father (in heaven) but through believing in Me.”

 

Who is this God who saves you?  The apostle Paul describes the Lord Jesus Christ in First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verses 3 and 4…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:3

For I (Paul) delivered to you as of primary importance the gospel message I also received from God…that it was Jesus Christ who died for our sins according to the Old Testament Scriptures…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:4

…and that He was buried…and that He was raised from the dead on the third day…according to the Old Testament Scriptures…

 

Believing in Jesus Christ is your acknowledgment that you can’t do a thing

to get to heaven on your own.  You confirm that being "a good person" does not get you to heaven.  It's wiser to let God save you because once God does something, He never changes His mind!  John, Chapter 10, Verse 28 says…

 

JOHN 10:28

“…I (the Lord Jesus Christ) give eternal life to believers in Christ, and they will never perish…and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

 

You can’t lose your salvation.  If ANYONE tells you that you can lose your salvation, they are lying to you.

 

Many people in this world think they don't need a Savior because they are "basically good people."  These people are like those who defend themselves in a lawsuit.  The joke in the legal community is anyone who represents himself in a lawsuit has a fool for a client.  Acts, Chapter 4, Verse 12 says…

 

ACTS 4:12

“…there is salvation in no one else…for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved (except the name of the Lord Jesus Christ).”

 

Reject a relationship with Christ?  In Matthew, Chapter 25, Verse 30, the Lord shares the consequences…

 

MATTHEW 25:30

“Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness (the Lake of Fire) … and in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 

So, heed the warning in John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…

 

JOHN 3:36

“He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment…but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”

 

You can join me and a host of your believer friends in heaven when you close your eyes in this life!  Choose it now!

 

CLOSING SONG INTRODUCTION

 

Let’s close with music!  A God who offers you the freedom to choose and then lays down His life to ensure it can only be described with one word…LOVE.  John, Chapter 15, Verse 13 says…

 

JOHN 15:13

Greater love has no one than this…that one lay down his life for his friends.

 

Let’s listen to June Murphy sing about God and His DEMONSTRATED LOVE.

 

MUSIC

CLOSING SONG

Let’s Sing the Lord’s Praises

 

DEMONSTRATED LOVE

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Almighty God and Father…

 

Thank you for reminding all throughout the New Testament about false teachers and false teaching…since You had the writers of Scripture focus on this topic incessantly…in Colossians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, in the pastoral epistles of Timothy and Titus…and throughout the gospels…we know that this is something you want us to be on the alert for because listening to liars robs us of the peace of Christ which surpasses comprehension…

 

…teach us not to busy ourselves with the meaningless…teach us instead to obsess about Christ and His word, under the direction of God the Holy Spirit…so that we can have the freedom You intended when You sent Your Son to the Cross to die for us…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...Amen.

 

DISCUSSING THE LESSON AND PRAYER CIRCLE

 

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KEEP ON STUDYING THE WORD OF GOD!

 

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Thanks for listening!

 

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