Invasion of Legalism pt 2 & 13-15 Called Unto Liberty
Galatians 5:7-15 · Bob Eckel · Oct 3, 2010
Galatians (2010), No. 39
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926216277974

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So I'm going to finish up what Randy had started two weeks ago. And I listened to his lesson for the most part yesterday, kind of get a feeling where he left off. And I think today to kind of set the stage for our lesson, let's go back to Galatians 5 verse 1. And we're going to read down through 15. So what we're going to do, I have a couple of slides for last week to finish up. And then I'm going to go into 13 through 15, which is the new lesson for today. So we'll cover both. And Roy, just so the materials on the web are consistent. I felt like we should do this so there would be a consistent pattern of Galatians teaching on the web. I talked to Randy or emailed him during the week. He felt that we could just go ahead and skip to this week's lesson, but I think the issue of circumcision needs a bit of a final touch and then we'll move into today's lesson. So Galatians chapter 5, verse 1.

Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with this yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. Ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of uprightness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith worketh by love.

You did one well who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth. This persuasion cometh not out of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded. But he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whoever he shall be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the cross ceased. Would they even cut off who trouble you?

For, brethren, you have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. But by love, serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another."

Boy, some strong language. Thirteen through fifteen, I think, is really powerful stuff. But to put it into context, which is today's lesson, let's finish off last week's idea of just a little bit eleven. Let's just say, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Let's kind of discuss that for a second. How do you interpret that? What does that mean? A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

Have you heard sometimes on Christian radio or something, I used to hear this all the time, is that some people are confused as to whether leaven is good or bad. I mean, is leaven good or bad? Just historically in terms of Israeli tradition. No, leaven is not good. Nothing righteous about leaven, right?

Think of the Passover feast and all the unleavened bread utilized, Bud? A cake of yeast makes a whole batch of bread. Not all bad, is it? Are we hearing a different interpretation? Tom, your thoughts? Leavened. No, because I think To Bud's point, the point is just that it doesn't take much leaven or yeast to make a whole, I mean, many loaves of bread. And so I think it's just an analogy that he was using that they used unleavened bread for many of their ceremonies.

Passover Feast? Right, so they wanted to make sure no leaven was in the bread. But it has nothing to do with good or bad, it just means that if there's even a little touch, it will affect the whole batch. But why was the Passover Feast without leaven?

Stan? Well isn't, I always heard, and I believe, that leaven is used by Christ as an analogy or metaphor or parable of the teachings of the Pharisees or Law. And so if you use that here, then Levin is not good. Levin is false doctrine or false teaching, and it only takes a little of that, just like Levin, to destroy the whole belief system picture.

I think we've grasped the concept. I don't want to spend a lot of time here, but just a touch of law, really, then you're really under law, right? And when we're under law, we fail. And I think in context, where we're going today with the lesson, both finishing up from two weeks ago and also today's lesson, this is incredibly important.

So with that principle, verse 11 says, and I brethren, if I still preach circumcision, by the way, circumcision is an ounce of leaven here, right? I mean, it's one part of legal ways of pleasing God. Why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross is ceased. That's not a question mark. Then it has the offense of the cross ceased. It's a statement. So let's look at this now. Due suffers present passive indicative. So it's factual. And at the time, Paul is suffering persecution. And perhaps the Judaizers, to promote their doctrine, accused Paul of teaching circumcision in some places. And let's kind of look at this now.

So we have a series of verses. Roger, Acts 16, 3. Margaret, 1 Corinthians 7, 18 through 20. Pat, 1 Corinthians 9, 20. And Bud, can you do Galatians 5, 2? So we'll read those in order, because I think the order is appropriate for this interpretation. So Roger, Acts 16.3 maybe sets the stage a little bit about why he's being persecuted. Go ahead and read Acts.

Paul wanted this man to go with him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts where they all knew that his father was a Greek. Okay. So, I mean, we could read more of that text, but the idea here is to kind of you know, as Rome, you do what the Romans do, and with the Jews, having this guy circumcised really made the Jewish, you know, if you will, conglomerate understand that Paul still recognized Jewish ways, and he was a Greek, but yet he pleased the Jews by having this guy circumcised. So perhaps that's the basis by which Paul is still receiving persecution because of his position on circumcision.

1 Corinthians 7. 1 Corinthians 7, 18-20. Is any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments of God.

Let any man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Fine. So, yea or nay? Doesn't make any difference, does it? So, if you're not circumcised, no need to. If you are, don't have it undone. I mean, this is all legacy stuff, right? Yeah, that might be a tricky operation. Okay.

First Corinthians 9.20. 9.20? Yes, please. And to the Jews I became as a Jew. that I might win Jews to those who are under the law, as under the law that I might win those who are under the law. So how would we interpret that in relationship to circumcision? I mean, do you think Paul went to be circumcised to please the Jews? Well, he did in the case of Timothy. He did. He did there.

And I think that's what the Acts 16.3 passage suggests. Yeah, but Paul had already been circumcised under the law, right? I mean, he's just saying, you know, that gets me in with you guys. This is where I've come from. This is the way it used to be. But by the way, as Margaret said in First Corinthians, it's useless. But yet, I'm one of you, right?

Galatians 5.2. Okay, so the idea of those who are not circumcised, and by the way, five, two through six deals with this whole concept. We taught that a month and a half ago or a month ago. Circumcision in its own right is worthless. But yet if you're circumcised, no big deal. But here, apparently Paul is being persecuted because they're accusing him of promoting circumcision.

I think Act 16.3 speaks to that in part. But anyway, what we have here is pressure on Paul to really respond to the Judaizers who are around him. Could Paul have responded differently to this type of pressure? You say they accuse Paul of teaching circumcision. Would they not be accusing him of teaching uncircumcision? I'm just on your side, I'm just trying to understand.

Well, if I still preach circumcision, I think they're saying that at times he had preached circumcision and they're using perhaps Acts 16.3 to represent that. And I'm reading the verse for what it says. If I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? So are you saying that he's really preaching uncircumcision?

I'm wondering if he was accused of that. Well, I think what he's doing is he's presenting grace for all it's worth. And the fact that the cross, in fact, took care of the offense. And what is the offense? The offense is not obeying the law, is it not? And the part of the law was circumcision. That's the way I'm interpreting this. Dan, yeah.

I think the higher point of this is the fact that the Jewish people thought that they were saved because they were descendants of Abraham and the covenant of God through Abraham was circumcision, a sign of the covenant. So basically they were saying that they were saved because they were descendants of Abraham. That's the problem here, and that's why the offense of the cross, because you aren't saved because you're descendants of Abraham, but you're saved because of your faith and belief in Jesus Christ and his redemption on the cross. Yeah, in fact, that led right into what the great offense of the cross to the Jews was Christ as the atonement for sin, was it not? So that's the sign of Abraham and the fact that they're saved through Abraham. That's the problem, not circumcision. Well, bringing Abraham in here is fine. It's not in the text, but it's certainly true of the legacy of who the Jews saw themselves being under Abraham.

But the offense of the cross is nothing other than the law being made dead. I mean, the cross was sufficient to atone for sin. Propitiation, perhaps, a stronger term. And if that was true, then the whole Jewish system of ordinances would have already perished, right?

So, you know, keep in mind the purpose of the law is what? It has been forever. The law is our schoolmaster to what? It shows us our need for Christ. It really does. So circumcision is just an outward sign of an inward commitment that I'm going to try to keep the law to please God. Like I've told you before, this orthodox Jew I rode on a plane all the way to Sydney with and heard how he was keeping the entire law. He couldn't see any area where he was falling short. We could have told him right there. I tried to convince him that he was falling short by the power of the spirit.

All right, good. So, you know, you can maybe interpret this that he's preaching uncircumcision. If I still preach circumcision, I think the Jews are accusing him of having him be a proponent of circumcision historically. Now the message has changed. Circumcision is fine. And that's what these verses said. Circumcision is fine if you've been circumcised. It just doesn't have any merit. The purpose of the circumcision is the tradition of Abraham. Abraham, stand right. I agree with that. I think that's who he's speaking to. And the Judaizers are living by the ways of the law. And that's their view of salvation.

First Corinthians 1.23, but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews, a stumbling block. And there's a great foolishness. I think this is a stumbling block. The idea that something has replaced the ordinances and legal ways that they've ultimately tried to abide by for all these years. All right. And legalists always seek to add to the cross, don't they? I mean, there's always got to be something more than just the cross and all that it stands for and represents.

Ah, Bob? Yes? That's a little under eleven. Yeah, it really is. I think circumcision being a part of something else. Correct. And I think circumcision is used here because it was such a part of the tradition of the Jewish faith. Today's circumcision is totally meaningless to us. I mean, we don't relate to that at all.

First of all, we're Gentiles, saved by grace. And what I put here is, and those who propagate the message of grace need to learn to accept being persecuted. I mean, we're persecuted actually by our fellow believers, aren't we? We're going to get into this more in terms of today's lesson about the liberty we have in Christ.

The problem with the law under grace is that man gets no credit for anything. It's just by our faith that we accept the fact that the cross was sufficient to get rid of ordinances and laws and legal ways of pleasing God. And when we're under grace, man takes no credit.

But under law, you always say, how well I've done keeping this aspect of all these ordinances. It's hard, isn't it? Because we're proud. We want some credit for doing good things for God. Change is always hard, but when it comes to your belief system, it's really, really difficult.

And I, for these Judaizers and stuff, I mean, that just had to be so, so different, so wrong for them. And with race, with the law, you had a measuring stick. I mean, you, and just throw that away and say, I take no, I don't know how to measure this. You know, I followed 610, but I got these other three that I have to work on. There's a matrix.

With grace, there is none. You have to just accept it and not do it. I thank God each and every day that a sinner as disgusting as me has been accepted by Him. I take no credit here at all. I think as we grow in grace, we see increasingly how ugly we really are. We didn't have to get rid of it. We didn't have to change our view. We didn't have to get rid of it. That's right.

We didn't have that tradition, but I would contend that the unsaved Gentile and many believers still have a legal system that they're responding to. Stan? And along with that, that's why Paul, he said many things, but two of them stick in my mind. One is he said, I am judged by no man. So in other words, that goes along with what Pat said.

He's being judged by Christ. And then he goes into Philippians and he said, to live is Christ to die is gain. So in other words, he's living all the time. And I'm sure if you look at that word, it's probably active, resonant, indicative, because that's how he lives his life. Not because other men are looking at him or he's trying to please other men, but because his entire life is centered into the fact of pleasing Christ, because he's the judge.

So without the law, God accomplishes what he tried to do at the very beginning, and that's through faith. We focus on God. Right, and think of what John said in this epistle. What three things does God hate? Lust of the eyes, Law. Lust of the flesh. Law. And what's the last? The pride of life. And I think of those three things, they're all three very powerful in terms of the flesh and appealing to the flesh, but for the pride of life, taking credit? I mean the world system measures our responding to the responsibilities and quote ordinances of the workplace, the home, and everything else we do. And that's all legal. The man or the woman walking by grace ignores these legal principles because the Christ nature is sufficient unto itself to have these things be glorifying to God. Whole different message.

But if we didn't, and I'm not, don't get me wrong here, but if we didn't have the law, we wouldn't know what sin was. It's a schoolmaster. Just like the world today. walking around, picking out things from all these different books that we read and saying, well this man says that this is good, but this man says this is bad, so which is which? Well we wouldn't know if it wasn't for the fact that God sent us the law so that we could define sin.

And now that it's been defined, we can go to the next level. Right. In addition to that, when Jesus said it's finished, he had three pretty important words to emphasize. Right. completed the payment of debt, the law no longer existed, and our whole salvation depends on it. You know, and it's amazing because it is finished to us means a tremendous amount because of the epistles that have followed the Gospels. I mean, Christ in himself and particularly in the book of John has revealed all these truths in part, but Paul finished it off, didn't he, and Peter and John and others in the epistles. We're privileged.

Galatians 5.12, I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off. Well, cut off literally means to emasculate themselves. This is pretty graphic. And if you really drill down in terms of what this means, this is more than circumcision. This is castration. Now, my question to you, and by the way, this is a pagan tradition of castration. Should we interpret this literally?

So he's saying those people who are troubling you, who's he speaking to here? Troubling you, who's you? Well he's talking about the Judaizers. He's talking to the believers there. Yeah, talking to brethren. In fact, we see that in the next verse. Brethren. Believers. Bob? Yeah. That same word used in Daniel, which is interesting. I'd have to go back to see if it's literally the same word.

But it does say that the Messiah would be cut off, which would mean also the fact that he would have no descendants and his name would no longer be in the lineage And Jewish people had, and I'm not saying that's what this means, but it could mean this, the fact that they would be cut off, they would have no children, they would have no continuance of their name, which was an extremely important thing for the Jewish people. So it could literally mean both. Yeah, so I say it also could be meaning to be cut off from the body of Christ. So how do we interpret that?

So Galatians 5, 9, and 10 really relates to what we read this morning. Galatians 5, 9, and 10 really relates to what we read this morning. So, I mean, the idea is it could be spiritually cut off to or at least separated in terms of the fellowship. If this persecution is coming within the church, I sense that it wasn't. I sense it was coming from the Judaizers who may or may not have been saved, but maybe not saved. In a way, just like Genesis 17, 14 and Acts 15, 1. So, Tom, can you get your Old Testament with you? Okay, let's not call on you then.

Stan, Genesis 17.14 and Roy, if you could do Acts 15.1. We'll try to put this into a little interpretation in terms of this cutting off.

Genesis 17.14, the covenant of circumcision. Any uncircumcised male who has not been circumcised in the flesh will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. Isn't it amazing in the absence of circumcision under that time of Abraham and his tradition being established, you're cut off if you're not circumcised, meaning separated. Here we're not talking about emasculation, we're talking about actually being separated or cut off from the body.

Acts 15.1.

Acts 15.1. And certain men who came down from Judea, taught the brethren and said, except a bit, you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved.

All right, so what I'm going to do now is drop this down and pull this week's lesson. Just as a side note, do you want both of those on the web? Does he want them on the web? I mean, he's getting to the essence of it. Yeah, he says so it would be a good continuation.

Alright, now we're called unto liberty, and I think here's the triumph and the victory. In verse 13 it says, For you, brethren, have been called to liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For you, brethren, important emphasis. He's talking to believers here. This liberty is for none other but the believer. So these are people saved by grace, not by law. And he's cautioning them not to, in fact, use this as an opportunity for the flesh.

We're called to liberty. Liberty is really affirmed on a footing of grace is kind of the best interpretation of this. It's a foundation. The liberty is really sourced from the principle of grace. And that's the way we need to look at this. What's this mean to you, this idea that we're called to liberty?

Well, Bob, if you were going to say, if you were going to define the law, you would probably, one word you could use is bondage. Good. Okay, so if you are no longer in bondage, you would be free. And that, another word for freedom would be liberty, so. Okay, we in fact are going to be bond slaves under liberty too.

It's interesting as we go forward now. But this liberty is, you know, sourced from a different principle, isn't it? Let's kind of drill down here a little bit more. Look at this. Because we're free, this freedom is a privilege not an evil. If I will interpret it kind of based on what Christ said, I'll make you free and you'll be free indeed. That freedom, what's that freedom for? What's that liberty for? To be an instrument of righteousness. Okay, good. It's a freedom to live a life free of sin, isn't it? It's not a liberty to sin.

An opportunity of the flesh. That's what it says here, right? Opportunity, pretext or occasion of the flesh. A military term used to indicate a base for operations. So opportunity really is kind of steeped in law in its own right. Romans 7, 8, but sin taking opportunity. by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead." So again, this opportunity is, if you will, a privilege to live in the flesh and serve evil for everything it's worth. But now we're talking about not using this liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. And what's the alternative?

Well, the verse says, through love serve one another. And serving here is this bond servant kind of service. So I guess the question I often ask, how are you doing here? I mean, if we're free, we have liberty, and the principle is grace, not law, then how's this happen? Well, I always like that.

Before we were slaves, we could not do what was right. But we thought we were doing what's right, right? I know, it's incredible. Under Adam, we thought, well, maybe I can do right here if I'm really, really good. But under Grace, we are now free to do what's right. We have the capacity to do what's right. And how do we do this?

Well, because he has given us a relationship to himself. We believe what he's revealed. I think that's it. God's revealed this relationship of being what it is. Do we believe that or do we not? But it is true whether we believe it or not. It is true. But we have a responsibility and that's to respond by faith.

Do we believe we're new creations in Christ Jesus and walk by the power of the Spirit so the glory is His? Or do we say, no, I'm going to contribute to this a little bit on myself, right? This is hard, I think, because we all kind of, this inner nature, this sin nature, this flesh, it always wants to show up and take credit for stuff.

God said, you don't need that stuff anymore, bud. We're looking for a license to sin is what the deal is. Well, we've got plenty of room for that. It's not considered and that's what we're using that race and everything else. Right. A license. I think it's. Yeah. Right. It's one thing to say that. And there's that small part of our lives each and every day that maybe he's one that's lived by grace and faith and not by the flesh.

Let's look at Romans 6.18. Donna, could you take a look at that for us?

And 1 Corinthians 9.19. Gail, would you read that for us, please?

Romans 6.18.

Being then made free from sin, he became servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members, servants, to uncleanness and to iniquity, unto iniquity, even so now yield your members, servants, to righteousness and to holiness. Okay, alright, so a different kind of servitude. Gail?

1 Corinthians 9.19 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain them more. Okay, still bond slaves, but to a whole different person, a whole different principle. And what's the source of this behavior, this not taking this liberty as an opportunity for the flesh? If the alternative is a different kind of life, what's the source of the behavior?

Well, it's the Holy Spirit, isn't it? I mean, remember Romans 7 came out of Paul's accepting the truth that he'd been crucified with Christ and buried with him in baptism unto death and risen with him in newness of life. But now he's trying to put the law to this new truth that he's identified. And Romans 7 is the story of the frustration of trying to still put legal principles to this new life we have in Christ.

So Galatians 5.16, we're going to begin next week, I think Roger's on for this next week, going to start this whole wonderful section of Galatians that deals with the power of the Holy Spirit and the life of the believer. So that's the source. I mean, we're crucified, risen, and positioned above, but now somebody else has to show up by which our faith is enacted. That bond-servant to the liberty we have free from sin is the Holy Spirit-led life. And that's to empower the new nature for who He is.

Verse 13, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Isn't this so very interesting? All the law is fulfilled in one word. And what's that one word? Love. Now, how you do it at love? I mean, present, passive, indicative. This has been fulfilled. This concept of the love that we have for one another, loving our neighbors ourselves, in fact, has been fulfilled. So how do we interpret that?

Well, go back to Leviticus 19.18, you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. So my response to that is under law, this was meant to convict a true human impossibility, right? Loving your neighbor as yourself?

How's the flesh do with that? You know, I like this, and I remember somebody who was part of our Bible study for years who argued with me left and right on this, is that you don't have to like your neighbor, you just have to love him. Donna's smiling because she knows exactly who I'm talking about. And that name will not be mentioned here.

Loving your neighbor ain't a power of the flesh, is it? this agape love, unequivocal, under all circumstances, that ain't anything in the human nature. And in Leviticus, God's saying to these Jewish people, you need to love your neighbors yourself. Oh, and this guy on this plane, I guess he was doing okay at that, right? I don't know, he was by himself. I don't know, maybe he had no neighbors.

So is it any more possible as believers in the flesh? I mean, what I'm saying here is that under the law as an unsaved Jew or as unsaved Gentile, this is impossible. As believers now, under grace, Are we doing any better in the power of the flesh than we were as unsaved people?

Stan? It brings to mind when the guy came to Jesus and he said, and he was talking to him, and he said, I have done all those things of the law. And what do I do now to be saved? You know, Jesus just turns around and I can just see the look in his eyes. That's like putting the camel through the eye of a needle. Okay, so if you've done all these things, take your money and give it to the poor.

And here's this guy, he had to look at that and say, well, how did I get all this money? Maybe I didn't follow all the rules of the law because to have this much money, I probably took advantage of some people. I probably had weighted scales. And maybe this money that I have, maybe it just shows the fact that I didn't follow the law. Hopefully that he walked away thinking that.

I hope so. I think that was Christ's intent, right? What an answer. What an answer. Just go give your money to the poor. I mean, if he would have got it rightly and it would have been given to him, Christ wouldn't have given him that answer. That's a good example. That's good.

He thought he was, but just like all of us, He wasn't. And some of us do it in large degrees, and some of us do it in small degrees. But none of us make it, because we're all autonomous individuals. And see, loving someone else as an autonomous entity is a contradiction. It's an oxymoron. It really is. Because your priority is yourself when you're autonomous, and the other person who is autonomous has the same priorities. So you have this constant conflict when it comes to human nature. I mean, it's just ingrained in the fact that we have our own will and we have our own identity.

And it takes you back to the role of the high priest behind the veil in terms of ultimately making people realize that they're not loving their neighbor as God had called them to, and that was at least for a time in atonement, right? The sacrifice of bulls and goats, however, can never take away sin.

So in a sense, this command that God had given was simply a legal document to show them the impossibility of ever responding to this. And now there's the law of Christ. Are we under a new law? Well, what's the law of Christ? It's bearing one another's burdens to fulfilling the law. And is that something we do in the flesh? We're supposed to get circumcised, right?

You've missed the point of the lesson, Stan. I want you to come back next week, please. So Romans 13a says, Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. So how we, again, that's entirely a spirit-led liberty we have, that it takes the pressure off. If we respond by faith, say, God, there's no way in this world that I'm going to love Roger as myself. I mean, but yet in Christ, I love him no matter who, you know, what path he takes or what he does.

That's a whole different ballgame. And it gives you a rest about loving and it allows love to occur for what it's really worth. Boy, so important. Love is part of the spirit of the law. the law of Christ, not the law of applying to the flesh for an opportunity to sin because we will always fall short. Look what the consequences are.

An opportunity for the flesh to live in this liberty of the flesh is giving us an opportunity to bite and devour one another and then ultimately to be consumed by one another. Bite means kind of to wound or to backbite, and if you will, it's kind of nibbling away at one another. And I'm just going to say gossip is one way to do this, but it can be in many, many other forms. But the term devour means really literally ruined. And so we kind of do this several ways.

I mean, the power of the flesh is to kind of tear other people down to make us look better. But then the devouring is ultimately the intent to destroy somebody else and just ruin them. And I'm suggesting here the verse says, beware or take heed lest you be consumed by one another. Complete annihilation of strength, of soul, of health of the body, of character and resources. That's the flesh played out to its ultimate. Devouring or ruining somebody else.

That's interesting. That fits the descriptions of Satan. Because in Job it talks about, God says, where have you been? He says, I've been roaming around the earth I think he said consuming. I think that word consuming is in there. And he's a roaring lion. So a roaring lion, what does a lion do? A lion consumes. It eats people.

And so this is what the evil spirits and Satan does. Causes us to do this. Does it to us and then through us, does it to other people. I mean, like when Jesus said, you are the children of your father, the devil. Okay, so they were acting in this manner. Why is Paul talking to brethren here? Is this possible? I'm not sure it is.

The sin nature has all of these capabilities. What's a perfect example of this in the body of Christ? How about church splits? I mean, is that kind of a very obvious way of consuming one another and trying to ruin the name of the Lord Jesus Christ under the umbrella of the body?

No one wins here, do they? I mean, is God glorified by these things? Yeah, when a church splits, ultimately there's one position versus another, and the one taking one position thinks he or she's right here, and the other one's wrong, right? But there's no victory here, is there?

I mean, I guess it's possible there is one side that's totally right and the other's totally wrong. But the worst part, Bob, is the fact that there are people who come out of that will never go back to church. Yeah. But where is the loss? Where does it occur? Reminds me of a story of two snakes that grabbed each other by the tail. They each swallowed one another up. It's kind of what this whole thing of devouring really relates to. Alright, it's not the outer, the inner workings of the law on the flesh.

So how as believers do we live in unity and love? What's the principle here played out in our day-to-day lives? And I guess the question I ask is, I often ask, how are you doing here in terms of this issue of nibbling away at one another and ultimately the goal is to conquer?

I think it has to be grace all the time. I have to go back to grace over and over and over every day. Because if I don't, I become critical of others. I'm too hard on myself. Yeah, really. The law is very convicting of us and others, isn't it? That was also the example of Jesus to the disciples when he washed their feet. I mean, the way you do that is I'm not saying I can, but the way you're supposed to do that is to be a servant to others. And if you become a servant to others, then you have control of this will that you have, your own selfish pride of life will, because you're a servant. And it's hard to be a servant.

It probably is. Even for a legitimate slave, it's difficult to be a servant. Well, my point here is we're not doing so well at this. What were our expectations anyway? Where's the strength and the power coming from? And we've been studying the book of Galatians. We're almost done here. We have a few more months, but back to Galatians 2, 20 and 21.

I've been crucified with Christ and it's no longer I that live, but Christ who lives with me in the life which I now live in the flesh. This is not the flesh, the sin. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God.

This is so important. For if righteousness comes through the law, through the power of the flesh, this opportunity for the flesh, then Christ died in vain." Oh, wow. I mean, Margaret loves 21. I think, you know, we put too much emphasis on 20, but we have to be reminded of 21. If the legal principles really are adapted and applied, Christ died in vain. Boy, that's a strong statement, isn't it?

So what's the message? Keep looking down. Boy, that's where the rest is. It's where the comfort is. And that's where the truth is. That who we are in Christ really enables us by the power of the Spirit. Roger's going to begin that next week. We're going to be for the next month talking about the Holy Spirit and how he enables the new man to ultimately live the law of Christ. The law of Christ is easy because it's lived by faith. where the law is an opportunity for liberty in the flesh is only a downward spiral and makes the cross everything but what it is.

Now, again, how are you doing at this? I think my take home message for myself and perhaps for you is quit trying to measure your performance. Quit looking at how am I doing. Look at who he is and everything he is and is in us and us in him. And then we start allowing him to be the metric of our performance, not ourselves.

The problem here I face, and I know we all face, is the world system measures our performance by the legal way, doesn't it? But you know, Roy, I go to work every day. And there's a certain expectation of my work performance of what that should look like. If I'm going to bring glory to God in my work, I have to at least perform to a level of their expectation, right? I don't think that's sin.

It says we all have our job places. You and Gail are both retired right now, so you're not being measured by the world system within a finite job. But all of us who are still employed, Donna, Roger, Stan, I mean, we all... We as citizens, we all have, you know, if we're irresponsible, then, you know, so there is some, that metric goes across the board, really, regardless of whether you're working or not.

But the measurement that we're living in, in that environment, should not be their measurement, but it should be Christ's measurement. So even though we're at work and we're going to be reviewed, and in the process the environment may or may not meet the standards they've set for us but most of the time I think it's going to exceed anything they've said. And the spirit I think tells me that that the life I live in my workplace, I want to be seen as somebody that comes from a different planet in terms of what my work experience looks like and how I'm being judged. And even though I'm being measured in the same way as everybody else, the glory's got to be outside myself.

Stan? That's why it's difficult to look at Jesus and the disciples after Jesus left, because they were teachers. And they were spiritual teachers, and it was just like being a pastor in a church. I'm not saying that's difficult, but you work under different standards because you don't have the merit system that judges you. So that's why it's important for me to look at... Well, you do. I think in some church systems you do have at least... But you know what I'm saying. It's not as demanding as it is in the world.

Okay, so then you have to look at some of the things where Christ talked to people who actually had real jobs, like Zacchaeus. what did Christ say to Zacchaeus and what was the response from Zacchaeus to Christ? Okay, what about the advice that Christ gave to the Roman soldiers? And he also gave to the tax collectors. He said, don't take any more than what is due.

I mean, when you look at, there are places in Scripture, they're a little bit scattered out, but there are specific points of advice to people who actually hold jobs and who are employed under the world system. and he's just saying be honest and use honest weights and don't take advantage of people and he was well aware of what the world system was and how difficult it was to work under it but there are principles just like the Bible has many principles. Not everything is given in the Bible word for word, but there are principles. And He gave many principles to those who do work. This being bond slaves to love and loving one another as ourselves is clearly looking like a legal ordinance, isn't it? But it's anything but that.

Because what He's taught us by grace is a Spirit-led life where God's glory is accomplished by our resting in the truth of who we are in Christ. And again, that Spirit-led life is what Paul recognized in Romans 8. There's no condemnation to us that are in Christ Jesus. And when the Spirit leads us, Roger's going to be teaching, then Randy, then me, we got a whole different experience ahead of us.

That liberty is not under bondage to serve the flesh. But it's an expectation of who we are in Christ lived out by faith. It's a whole different ballgame without we ourselves measuring how well we're doing. Isn't that great? It is. grace and rest apply to the day-to-day experience.

So if Paul's saying, gee, I'm persecuted for teaching circumcision, that's your problem, not ours. Those kind of people should be cut off. They're no longer really part of this new principle of the law of Christ. Boy, that sounds really overwhelming, doesn't it?

But the law of Christ is meant to give us rest and peace. commandment and going on to the next verse, and he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, a home in him. I mean, this is the environment that that's lived out. Thanks for reading that, Roy. That's great. Stan, would you close us in prayer, please? Could you close us, please? Sure. Thank you, Father, for the opportunity of meeting together in a free country. that's still free to religious beliefs.

I lift up the prayer requests that Rob mentioned at the beginning of the class and ask that they be accomplished in accordance with your will and that all of us can go out into the world this week with an enlightened mindset as far as how we are to live more in the image of Christ and to become more loving to our neighbors and to other individuals in our lives. I ask this in your name. Amen.