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Genesis 11:27-13:1

We begin our study of our foundational member of faith Abram and how the Lord graciously called him out of a pagan and idolatrous civilisation, Ur of the Chaldeans, and led him to the promised land.

God made gracious promises to Abram and to his offspring. He would make Abram’s name great and would make of him a great nation, despite the fact that he was an old man, his wife was barren and the promised land was already occupied.

Abram stumbled in his belief of God’s promises and made some terrible choices, leaving the promised land, giving away his wife and deceiving the Egyptian pharaoh.

However, it is God’s plan to bless all nations through the offspring of Abram and despite Abram’s stumble, God’s plans will never fail.

 

The completed Galatians series for 2019 is now available at:

Galatians

This has been a wonderful series of teaching from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia in which he argues that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.

Leviticus 19:19; Galatians 5:13-24

How do we escape from enslavement to sin and get right with God legally?

Before we are born again, we are enslaved to serving ourselves rather than serving others. We live self pleasing lives in total rebellion towards God.

Now that we are born again, how do we deal practically, as physical creatures, with the practice of sin in our daily lives when our flesh is so weak. Even though our sins have been dealt with, past, present and future, that doesn’t give us free licence to sin and continue to indulge the flesh.

How do we put our new found freedom into practice without gratifying our sinful desires?

Are we relying on the Law to keep us in check or are we walking with and depending on the power of God’s indwelling Spirit to change us?

There is only one way to defeat the flesh and that is through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, so that Gods Spirit will bear fruit in us.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Genesis 21:1-21; Galatians 4:8-3

Paul hung out with the Galatians during a time when he needed medical assistance. They were unbelievers but they gladly received him as an angel of God and even as Jesus Christ even though he was a trial to them.

Paul preached the gospel to the Galatians and they believed. but when he left them, others came in and were suggesting that Paul hadn’t told them the whole story.  They flattered the Galatians and drew them away after themselves.

Paul is now appealing to them by letter to remain faithful and not re-introduce law keeping practices which are weak and worthless principles of the world; a return to a form of slavery.

Law keeping is ineffective in dealing with our sin!

Paul is in anguish over the Galatians and desperate to be with them so that he could labour again (as in giving birth to a child) to help them understand this vital truth.

Genesis 15:1-21; Galatians 3:15-4:7

If people want to inherit the promises God gave to Abraham, it won’t be based on moral performance.

Our inheritance must depend on something far superior.

It won’t be based on how well we keep the law which can never achieve righteousness. 

The law shows us that we are imprisoned by sin and that anyone who depends on law keeping for righteousness is under a curse because they cannot keep the law. 

It isn’t possible to keep the law!

If we can’t be made righteous by keeping the law, why was the law given?

Genesis 12:1-8, Galatians 3:1-14

Jesus was seen to be put to death by the Romans using the most cruel method they knew how. They slowly tortured criminals to death by crucifixion. Jesus suffered great shame and agony, both physically and spiritually when he was cut off from the Father, in a way we can’t fully comprehend. He did it because he loved us and so that he would obtain our freedom from slavery!

Can we possibly add to that which Jesus has finished by His death and resurrection? It’s our natural tendency to try to gain favour with God by doing good works or acts of penance, instead of simply trusting in Jesus for our salvation. Galatians chapter 3 is clear that we can’t be made righteous by keeping the law, only through faith.

Abraham wasn’t justified by the law (which didn’t come until over 400 years later!), or by circumcision, which wasn’t given until after he was declared righteous. He was justified because he believed God’s promises and it was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6 & Romans 4:3). )

It is no different for all who believe God and trust in Christ. Salvation can’t be obtained through works of the flesh; it is through faith in Jesus alone.

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?  Galatians 3:1-3

 

Exodus 32:1-14, Galatians 2:11-21

Our guest speaker this week is Brian Harvey from PYV.

Are you trying to please the wrong people and trying not to cause offence to anyone?

It may seem good and right to live your life, aspiring to reach a very high standard of excellence, but who are you trying to please?

If your standard is less than perfection, then it doesn’t matter how good your intentions are, or how virtuous you may become through your own efforts to please God; they will be in vain.

Our salvation isn’t achieved by pleasing others or trying to live a good and moral life. 

Trying to keep the law to achieve righteousness will always, and has already ended in failure. 

It doesn’t matter how good you are at law keeping, it is useless to save. No one is ever justified by trying to keep parts of the law.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to find salvation. It is the only way to be made righteous by God.

Galatians 1:10 – 2:14

What is the source of truth?

When someone makes truth claims, it is incumbent upon them to reveal their source so that the facts can be verified and so that we aren’t deceived.

Paul makes his case for the true gospel in his letter to the Galatians.

The gospel he preached was not second hand information received from other Apostles in Jerusalem. His doctrine was received directly from the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

There was such a miraculous change in Paul from persecutor of Jesus’ followers to being the God appointed Apostle to the Gentiles, that the truth of his conversion account and what he preached is validated.

Can there be two gospels? One for Jews and another for Gentiles? Is Paul teaching a different gospel to that of the Apostle Peter?

Paul clearly isn’t trying to please men of authority within the church, but his Lord. He knows that what he is preaching is the truth and he is not afraid of calling out those who are being inconsistent and hypocritical or trying to bring new Christians back under the law.

Some Jews are seen by Paul, separating themselves from Gentiles and treating them as inferior. They were distorting what had been accomplished by Christ’s finished work, and so he exposed their hypocracy.

Only Jesus is the true source of the gospel.

Acts 13:26-52, Galatians 1:1-10

One of the highest virtues of our culture is tolerance. Trying to find the lowest common denominator to try and get along. Often the pursuit of truth is set aside to accomodate the personal feelings of others.

The truth of the gospel is unchanging.  There is only one gospel. It can’t be added to or taken away from to make it more palatable to the hearer.

The Apostle Paul and his co workers write to the Galatians to remind them of the true gospel. He is astonished that they are so quickly deserting the only one who can save them; turning to a distorted gospel.

Sometimes we don’t feel guilty even though we are.  We are all legally guilty before God because of the sins we have committed against him.

We are only justified through Christ alone who gave himself to deliver us, according to the will of our God and Father. 

Why do we continually try to add to Christ’s finished work by selectively reintroducing and trying to obey parts of the old Mosaic law?

Are we slaves to Christ or are we simply trying to please others through an outward display of morality?

It is so important to understand and live out the true gospel, because this is how we will honour our Lord and Saviour and truly be more loving to others in our culture.

Daniel 11:2-12:13

What possible comfort could there be in knowing when bad things are going to happen?

We see history unfolding as the truth of the vision of the future is explained to Daniel. After the exiles to Babylon return to Jerusalem the problems will continue.

The faithless Jews amongst the Israelites will give up on the Holy covenant and will side with Antiochus. The faithful will stand firm and take action.

This is a pattern of things to come. An enraged man of lawlessness who will oppress those who seek to worship the true and living God is yet to come, but he will be destroyed by the Lord Jesus Christ and all those who have their names written in the book of life will be raised to everlasting life.

Our comfort is in knowing that God is in control.