Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
This podcast is purposefully crafted to serve as a reminder for born-again believers about our identity in Christ. It seeks to deepen our comprehension of the profound power and potential inherent in the Gospel that has been entrusted to us. In this show, we will delve into various contemporary challenges confronting believers and provide biblical insights to diagnose these issues.
Hello, everyone. Today, we are continuing our study on Galatians as we have been doing for quite some time. So today, I'd like to dive into Galatians chapter three, and let's read from Galatians chapter three verse one. Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Before whose eyes was Jesus Christ publicly portrayed as crucified?
Speaker 1:That's Galatians chapter three verse one. We know that in Galatians, Paul is reprimanding the Galatians for turning to another gospel. It's not really another gospel, but rather it is a perverted gospel in the sense that it is devoid of the freedom that is in Christ Jesus, but it adds a lot of rules and regulations. So Paul is reprimanding the Galatians and now he's saying, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Who has bewitched you before whose eyes was Jesus Christ publicly portrayed has crucified?
Speaker 1:So Paul is saying here that how could you be so senseless Because that word, the Greek word translated as as foolish is an anotos, which means senseless. How could you be so senseless? Now we see this all the time. We see that even though many of us may preach grace, there is this way in which we can be pulled into some sort of legalism even without we knowing about this. There are more people believing in legalistic Christianity than grace, but it is easy to kind of pull someone over by different means, and it is sneaky that way.
Speaker 1:I've titled this legalism is sneaky because of that particular reason. And one of the reasons by which you can fall into that is by not really seeing, the Bible as a whole from old Testament and new Testament. If you just look at the Bible, just open the book and see a few verses, just read that and see and and think that is what the Bible reading is about. And chances are that you might fall into the trap of legalism. You might think it's the Bible is all about a bunch of do's and don'ts.
Speaker 1:But the Bible has made it very clear that you need to live in the fullness of God, and that is what God wanted from the very beginning. And by not understanding these truths, you can fall into that trap. The second way by which we can fall into the trap of legalism is by listening to people who can make grace seem inferior. You must have heard the terms like cheap grace, and they make it seem as if the more freedom there is in Christ Jesus, it is cheap. But it's not cheap.
Speaker 1:It was paid by the blood of Jesus. Whatever you do, whatever kind of righteousness that you try to earn with your own efforts is cheap because that is your righteousness. It has no value. It cannot even, it cannot even pass through the law. And how can it actually go and stand before the righteousness of God?
Speaker 1:And also, we see that the legalistic people always try to make that we don't measure up. When we go with a legalistic person, so let's say to a church, they and if the church practices freedom, the legalistic person might actually say, hey, you're joking a bit too much before the service starts, or you're not praying before the service starts, or you haven't fasted that morning. And that sort of the freedom in which the grace person lives, he might be able to say, hey, I don't have to do all that because I have the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I come with the anointing. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1:I'm one with the spirit of the Lord. Now, when you say that it, I'm pretty sure that the legalists will roll their eyes. There he goes again. And sooner or later, whatever you tolerate, right? It seeps through and you start seeing you entering the field of legalism.
Speaker 1:And why is that so? And that makes point that takes us to point three by your need for approval. One of the things, and it's not just about grace versus legalism. If you're planning to stand on the truth, no matter what the truth is, the only way by which you can stand is by making sure you're not gonna be bogged down by other people's opinions. Because more often than not, people will not agree with you.
Speaker 1:But if you know that something is the truth, it is important that you stand by it. When Jesus walked on this earth, he was not swayed by other people's opinions. He was not swayed by people pleasing. I have fallen to the trap so many times of people pleasing. I'm a recovering people pleaser and I've known the problems that are there in people pleasing.
Speaker 1:So let's say your family disapproves of your idea of grace, your understanding of grace, even though it's absolutely scriptural. You try to if you've been like me, you try to mix between legalism and grace and try to portray as if you are actually someone who is spiritual. You are someone. You're not a wayward person looking for an excuse to find to do sin. And even Paul actually fell into this, and he was trying to win over the Jews and he even had his head shaved when he went and met James.
Speaker 1:Right? So he was trying to appease the Jews. So sometimes we can get into that trap. We can fall into that trap. We have to understand that not everyone is going to accept the reality of the truth.
Speaker 1:Not everyone is going to read the scriptures and see what is there in the Bible. A lot of people are just going to take whatever their pastor says. And a lot of people find it hard to change their theology because of their age or because of their position. They might be a pastor at a certain church. Now, if they changed their understanding on their view on that's a healing, grace, security of salvation, those sorts of things.
Speaker 1:Now they, they have a certain security when it comes to their ministry, they're getting their paychecks. And where will that go? And so there's a lot of uncertainty and people don't like uncertainty and those kinds of things happen, right? Sometimes we can fall into those traps of people pleasing. And based on that we can put our need for approval.
Speaker 1:We can create a mixture of grace and legalism. And that's why we need to be thick skinned. We need to be thick skinned and we need to understand that it doesn't matter if the whole world is against us. It doesn't matter because what we should believe is the truth. Remember when Paul, when he went and sought leaders in the church in Jerusalem, and he was like, even if they don't agree with me, I don't care.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's not what he said, but like something along these lines. And he said, I mean, I don't care much about man's opinions. This is what he meant. He was saying, I know the truth. I know this is true.
Speaker 1:I've seen in the scriptures. I've experienced it. Now I don't care what other people say. I will live by that truth. So if you are in grace, you need to understand that people will ridicule you.
Speaker 1:People will say that you are trying to look for an excuse to sin. People will say that you are not like the person next door or the person who is ultra spiritual, who is wearing white clothes and who's who's clean shaven and who fasts every other day and who goes for these all night prayer. And they say that they are more spiritual, but it doesn't matter. I mean, opinions are not what gets you to heaven. Their opinions don't matter.
Speaker 1:Your point, as Paul later says in Galatians chapter five verse 10, it says that is to live in the freedom and use that freedom to love others. You don't have to care about what other people think. And, I hope this encourages you. And we need to understand, that don't let them bewitch you. Don't let them pull you away.
Speaker 1:That's what happened to these these Galatians. They fell into the trap of legalism, and they always and and Paul was very angry at them. And I hope this blesses you. God's grace be with you.