In this enlightening episode of Classic Christianity Radio, Bob George delves deep into the Apostle Paul’s teachings from the book of Galatians to unravel the complexity of mixing law and grace. Through vivid analogies and compelling discourse, Bob highlights the modern-day church’s struggles with adhering to traditional law while living under God’s grace. Discover the profound implications of attempting to mix these two paths and why pure grace stands distinguished from the law.
Put Jesus first in your life. Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George. Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, let’s turn to the second chapter of of the book of Galatians. As we opened up the study together over the last couple of weeks, we have seen the attitude of the Apostle Paul toward the commingling of law and grace, of trying to commingle law and grace together and make it work. I’ve said so many times that grace is like pure milk and law is like pure chocolate and you mix them together and you have chocolate milk. And that is what we have basically in Christendom today is chocolate milk religion, a commingling and a blending of law and grace. We’re saved by grace, but you live under the law. And nothing could be further from the truth, and nothing could be any more into the heart of Paul than to get people to see that you stand today in grace. You’ll never stand before the seat of the law, only of the seat of grace. And so the Apostle Paul had just finished kind of annihilating Peter for his hypocrisy. It says in there that when he came to Galatia and he met with the Gentile believers there, why, he was eating pork chops with the best of them. And then all of a sudden the people from Jerusalem came, from the church of Jerusalem, and he acted like he didn’t even know a Gentile and started living over there with the people under the law because they were fearful of those people. Now that shows you that if a system can get so strong, a religious system can get so strong, that an apostle like Peter, And then it says even Barnabas can be fearful of this establishment. That is a tough establishment. And that is how tough religion can get. That if you, I don’t care whether you’re Apostle Peter or who you are, if you don’t follow what I’m telling you, you’re going to be cut out. Now, how can an apostle fall for that? When in essence, they are the final word in regard to the interpretation of the Word of God. When Jesus left this earth, he left 11 men with the interpretation of the word of God. That if you wanted to know what the word meant, those were the people you went to. They were the final authority. They’re the ones who wrote the scriptures that we hold in our hands today. And yet the system can get so strong that they fear it. Can you believe that? And that is exactly what we have today, that The system, the establishment, whoever they are, whoever named them, God knows. But they have gained so much so-called political power in the name of God that the apostles themselves were fearful of them. That is an unthinkable thing to me. And yet that was true. And it says right there in the scripture that when the people from James came, the church from James, that was a Jerusalem church, they feared God. and therefore went over and acted like they didn’t even know a Gentile. That’s strong stuff, folks, and it shows you how strong religion and religious leadership can become in a person’s life. Now you know why people who are members, as an example, of churches that will say, if you don’t belong to my church, you’re going to go to hell, why they will hang in there, and they’re scared to death of their leadership. Because of this very same type of thing. It makes no difference what the word of God says. It’s the traditions of man. That have gained control into the mind of man. And they follow blindlessly. Into whatever human beings say. Now. Going into verse 15. If we who are Jews by birth. Now he’s basically been talking about the Gentiles. Now he’s talking about the Jews. We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. Isn’t that imagined? Now you see what he thinks about us? See, we talked about three categories of people in the Bible from God’s vantage point. Only three categories. Jew. Gentile, and the Ekklesia, the called out ones, born again people. Made up of who? Both converted Gentiles and converted Jews. So the world, from God’s standpoint, is divided by Jew, Gentile, that’s every other nation of the world besides Jews, and Ekklesia, born again believers. So he refers to the entire world, apart from the Jewish world, as Gentile what? Sinners. Now, I think in this room that probably includes all of us. There may be a Jewish person here. If they are, you’re on the other side. But we were referred to as Gentile sinners. Now, some people resent that. Don’t call me a sinner. And you can almost tell right now by listening to that how you responded. Something in your gut saying, don’t call me one of those. I’m basically a good person. It’s like our congressman was asked, do you think you’re moral? Yes. Well, that’s the way we are. I’m basically a good person. I just raped three people and killed a few, but I’m basically, deep down under the skin, a good person. And that’s the flesh, isn’t it? Because God says there isn’t anybody good except Jesus Christ. So we need to understand that. No, we’re not good. We just think we are. But God says no one is good but God alone. Now, so we’re called Gentile sinners. And now he says, know that a man is not justified. Now, he’s talking to Jews now. are not justified by observing the law. Now, did the Jews think that they were justified by observing the law? That’s why they were observing it, is to think, that will make me justified in the sight of God. Paul said that there was no one who obeyed the law like him. He was without equal. But he said, all of a sudden, I looked at the law and it said, don’t covet. He said, all of a sudden… When I read, don’t covet, sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by that commandment, stirred up every kind of covetous desire in me, and I died. I recognized something. I’m dead. It didn’t mean he died spiritually that day. He recognized his spiritual death. And so that was the purpose of the law. Not only to show me that I’m a sinner, but to show me the consequence of being a sinner, which is what? Death. And until I see my death, why would I ever turn to Him for life? See, I can see that I’ve sinned a little bit and need forgiveness and turn to Him for forgiveness. But that’s not the issue. That’s not the problem of man is sins. The problem of man is the consequence of sin. Which is what? Death. Death has to be cured. Forgiveness. Sin has to be forgiven. Death has to be cured. So you don’t cure a dead man by forgiving him. You cure a dead person by giving him life. And that’s the meaning of the resurrection. Now… He says, no man will ever be justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Now, that shows you right there. If you’re going to be justified, then you’re going to have to be justified by faith in who? Jesus. Not justified by faith. I see a lot of times say, I got faith. Great. So does Satan. What do you have faith in? It’s not my faith. It’s the object of my faith. And it said before, faith is like swallowing. I can swallow food and live, and I can swallow poison and die using the same mechanism that I swallowed food to live. So it’s not swallowing that enables me to live. It’s swallowing food that enables me to live because I can swallow poison and die. So it’s the object of our faith. It’s not how big my faith is. It’s how big my God is. And you have some religions that are out trying to talk and brag about how big our faith is. And if you had just big enough faith, you could grow your leg back. And so you need big faith. Well, no, you don’t need big faith. Having big faith is an insult to a big God. And I love what Major Thomas said about that. He said, somebody asked him one time, how many weeks a year do you travel? He says, well, probably 49, 48 weeks. He said, how long do you take your wife with you all the time? No, oh no. How often do you take your wife? Well, maybe half the time. You mean you’re away from your wife half of the year? Yeah. Do you trust her? Oh, implicitly. Wow, what faith. Well, he said, I’d hit him in the nose. I don’t have big faith. I have a great wife. And when you’re saying, I got great faith, you’re insulting my wife. And that’s true. It’s not my faith. It’s the object of my faith. None of us have big faith. Jesus said, if any of us had faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains. I don’t think too many of us have moved those lately. And so that shows us the size of our faith. Somewhat smaller than that of a mustard seed. So I don’t need big faith. I have a big God. So he’s saying to us that we have put our faith in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ. Not in religion. Not in being a Christian. Not in being a Catholic or a Protestant. But my faith is in the person of Jesus Christ. Now, so we too have put our faith in Jesus Christ. Who’s he talking about there? The Jews. We too put our faith in Jesus Christ that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law because by observing the law, no one will be what? Justified. How many people will be justified by observing the law? None. Okay. So do you want to be justified? I mean, wouldn’t that be nice to be justified? To realize that you have been justified in the sight of God. It’s all over. Then you say, how are you going to do that? By what? Faith in who? In Jesus Christ. Now, verse 17. Kind of a confusing verse. If while we seek to be justified in Christ. Now, let’s put it this way. Do you have to seek to be justified in Christ? No. But were there people seeking to be justified by Christ? Well, how would you do that? Well, by formulas. And as Amy said, formulas are for babies. I’m seeking to be justified. Well, what do you have to do? Well, you have to, you know, when you pray, pray by Acts, A-C-T-S, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. That’s pushing the right buttons. That’ll get you to God. Have you ever heard that one? Is that a formula? Who’s it for? Babies. There’s no formula to get to God. How do you get to God? Well, if you’re in Christ, you talk to Him. Now, how would you like it for your kid to say, well, the only way you get what you want is to go talk to Dad with Acts. So he comes up and says, well, let’s see, A, adoration. Oh, Dad, you’re wonderful. Never seen a dad like you in my life. Sweetest human being we’ve ever seen. Oh, I adore you. Let’s see. See, confession. Dad, I’ve been a worm. I know I don’t deserve anything, but you’re so good to me, and you’re so wonderful. Let’s see. Thanksgiving. Lord, I thank you. I thank you, Dad, that you’re my dad. Now supplication. Can I get the car? And your dad’s sitting there saying, you dumb kid, what did you go through all that stuff for? Why didn’t you just ask for the car? You don’t have to go through all this formula stuff. You don’t have to come in and con me and put all this stuff on me about how you adore and your confession. Just ask for the car. And I’ll tell you no.
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SPEAKER 02 :
Well, we got formulas, don’t we? And we say, well, if you go to church and you tithe, that’s how you get justified through Christ, because obviously Jesus is there. So there’s a lot of different ways in which we can seek to be justified by Christ. So he says, while we’re seeking to be justified in Christ, in other words, I’m there, but I’m seeking to be justified, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners. Now, how does that become evident? While you’re seeking to be justified by faith, or justified in Christ, Could God reveal to you that you’re not saved? Absolutely. Say, man, you’re working at this. Are there people in the Christian world that are working their way to God? In the name of who? Christ. So what are they doing? They’re seeking to be justified through what they’re doing. Are there people like that? I mean, think it through, folks. Have you ever been that way? You know, if I go to church, I’ll make it. And then we think God may hopefully grades on the curve. I mean, there’s no such thing as one black mark is it. He’s grading on the curve. So maybe if I can do more good than bad, I’ll get there. What are you doing? Seeking to be justified in Christ. I’m no longer trying to obey the law, but I’ve got these things that I’ve got to do. And it becomes evident that, hold on a minute, you’re a sinner. You’ve never been saved. Well, it says, well, if that’s the case, well, then does that mean that Jesus, that Christ promotes sin? I mean, is he promoting this? Is seeking to be justified in Christ, and I see that I’m a sinner, does that mean he’s promoting my sinfulness? No, he doesn’t need to promote your sinfulness. The law does that. The purpose of the law is to show you that you’re a sinner. The purpose of the law is to show you you’re dead. Jesus doesn’t do that. The law does that. And so he’s not promoting this. He said, absolutely not. But if I rebuild what I destroyed. Now, what did Paul destroy? What did Jesus destroy? What did they nail to the cross? The law. If I rebuild the law after I’ve destroyed the law, then I’m going to prove I’m a lawbreaker. Because if I bring the law back as a child of God… I’m a lawbreaker. Why? Because you can’t keep it. Am I right or wrong on this, folks? How many of you as a Christian have ever brought the law back into your life? What did it prove to you? You’re a lawbreaker. It certainly didn’t prove that you’re good. And then we say, well, you come to Christ and he’ll, as we say in Texas, hep you to obey the law. Well, you don’t need hep, you know. He didn’t come to hep you to obey the law. He came to show you you’re dead under the law. So that you’ll walk in a newness of life being led by the Spirit of God who lives in you instead of by laws written on stone. Now, folks, Paul wasn’t confused, neither is God. And God didn’t write something to confuse us. So when God says in His words, you’re no longer under the law, if that meant, well, they’re just part of the law. I think he’d have probably explained that rather than leave us in our confusion, wouldn’t you? But when the law is used, what does that mean? It means the five books of Moses, called the Pentateuch, called the law, singular, law. So when he’s saying you’re no longer under the law, what does that mean? You’re no longer under the law of who? Moses. Now are the Ten Commandments included in the law? Are you under the law? Are you under the Ten Commandments? Not as a child of God. You’ve been freed from the demands of the law so that you could walk in a newness of life, no longer being led by the law that kills, but by the Spirit that what? Gives life. Now folks, think about it for a moment. Can you separate the law from the punishment of the law? If you do not have punishment for the law, the law is meaningless. Am I right or wrong? If there was no penalty for a violation of the law, you may as well not have the law. So if you’re under the law, you’re under the punishment of the law. Now, if you are lost, are you under the law? And are you under the punishment of the law? Which is what? Death. When you are saved, you are freed from the law and the punishment of the law so that you can walk alive in the newness of life, which is what? Christ Jesus. Are we together? Now, how can you walk in both of those? I’m going to walk in grace, but I’m going to pull over a little law. Now, not a lot, Bob. But I do need the law of tithing. So let’s bring tithing over here. And we’ll just have a little tithing mixed in with the grace. What did it say about that? A little leaven spoils what? The whole loaf. You bring one ounce of it in, even circumcision, Paul says, and you have voided Jesus. Do we see the principle? You bring in an ounce, it becomes a pound. Now that’s why there was no toleration at all in the heart of the Apostle Paul, which means none in the heart of God, for the commingling of law and grace. You’re either under the law, dead, or you’re under grace alive. That’s why it says if you’re under the law, you’re under a curse. What is the curse of the law? Death. So if that’s where you want to be, by your faith be it unto you. But you’re dead as a hammer. So Paul is dealing with this. Now, if this was not important, why would he deal with it? Why would he deal with it? Why would he just say, you know, come on, a little bit of stuff doesn’t hurt you. Why? Because the power of sin is where? In the law. And it says that for sin shall no longer be your master because you’re no longer under the law, but under what? Grace. Which means when you’re under the law, who’s your master? Sin. So this is not something to mess around with. This is cut and dried stuff, black and white. You’re under the law or you’re under grace, but don’t commingle them. Because it’s going to kill you. Now, if I rebuild, here I’ve been freed from the law, I’m now under grace. But now I rebuild the law system in a grace system. I’m going to prove I’m a lawbreaker. How can you be a lawbreaker unless you’re under the law? If you’re under grace, can you be a lawbreaker? Not unless you’re rebuilding what you destroyed. So you’re not a lawbreaker. What are you? Are you under grace? Where are your sins? Behind the back? What? Do you ever see them again? Is God dealing with you on the basis of sin and death anymore? No condemnation awaiting you belong to Christ Jesus. The law of the spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Do you ever sin? Well, what do you do with that? Just ignore it. Is that what you do with it? Just ignore it. No big deal to me. I’m not under the law. No, you’re under grace, aren’t you? Now, what does grace say to you? Bob, you just acted like an idiot. That’s why I think today sin, the best definition I know of sin is stupid. You are acting totally contrary. Your thinking is off. And Bob, you let your thinking go off and you’re going to be mastered by what you’re thinking. Because as a man thinks, so is he. I live in you to redo that dumb head of yours. Because if that head had a brain in it, it wouldn’t need renewed. And so I live in you to renew your mind. Now your mind is getting bombarded by every bit of garbage that’s in the world. Every time you turn on television, it’s bombarded. Every time you drive a sign and see a billboard, it’s bombarded. And because of the world in which you live, and especially this information age that we live in today, there’s a lot of great information out there. And you can have access like that. You need a continual dose of renewing of your mind every moment of the day. Now that doesn’t mean you sit and read your scriptures for 24 hours. But it means when you do, absorb them so that you can meditate on what truth is. Because once you have truth in you, it’s there. So I don’t need it in front of me anymore. It’s not that I don’t need a renewal of it. But it’s there and it’s also here and here. So now I can meditate on it. And that’s what he’s saying to us. You need to learn to meditate on the word of God, on the truth of the word of God. And what the word of God is going to say, just like we’ve talked before in Ephesians, if you’ve been stealing, that’s one of the big ten. But are they under the big ten? No. So they’re not under the big ten. If they were and said they’re stealing, what would the wages of that sin be? Death. So they’re not under that. So what does he say to you? If you’ve been stealing, cut it out. Go to work. God forbid. God forbid. Work with your hands and then take what you earn and help people in need with it. Now, when have you had your mind renewed? When you go to work? Well, part of it. When have you had your mind renewed? When you quit stealing. Why? I don’t need to steal anymore. My father owns a cattle on a thousand hills, can sell one any time he wants to. He’s promised to give me everything I need for life and godliness. I don’t need to steal anymore. Used to like to steal, but don’t need to steal. Why? I’m a child of God. I’m being cared for by my Heavenly Father. Now I’ve gone to work and made some money. Lord, see how obedient I am? He said, no, there’s something else that you forgot about. What’s that? Take some of the money you make and help people in need with it. Now when I do all of that, have I completed the deal? Has that been complete now? Have I done what God said to do? Quit stealing? Gone to work? Work and taking some of the money that I’ve earned and help people in need with it. Completed the action? You see anything in there about you are out of fellowship with God? See anything about that in there? Now, if it isn’t there, why do we have it there? You’ve sinned and you’re out of fellowship with God. You’ve got a black mark and you need to get it erased. Isn’t that what’s taught? Isn’t that what’s taught? And so how do you do that? Well, you’ve got to confess your sins to God. And then that erases the black mark. So you can go steal again. Go back next week, steal again. Confess your sins. Erase the black mark. You can just keep that up forever. Go to Mass. Go to whatever it might be. Do it as long as you want to. Is there anything about renewing your mind in that kind of a theology? No, it’s just being diligent to confess your sin. And that’s why everything is, you’ve got unconfessed sin in your life. It doesn’t matter if it’s your sin, that’s okay, just confess it. Just be sure you don’t have unconfessed sin in your life. It’s okay to have sin there, just not unconfessed sin. And so you’ve got the Catholics at their Catholic at your confession booth every week, and you’ve got the Protestants at their 1 John 1-9 every day. And God’s sitting up in heaven saying, do you people have a brain in your head? Did you not hear me say from the cross, it is finished? Do you not know that no man will ever be justified in the sight of God through obedience to the law, but only by faith in Jesus Christ? And faith in Jesus Christ is that I’m going to continue to forgive you. Faith in Jesus Christ is that I’ve forgiven you. You are a forgiven person. The moment you step out of Adam into Christ and Christ steps out of heaven into you, you’re a forgiven person. Just like you’re a saved person. And the only thing that you can do to that is say thank you. There’s only one response that I have when the Lord Jesus Christ cries out and says, Bob, I took that away at the cross. You say thank you. Now, Lord, I can enter into his presence, calling him Abba Father and receiving mercy in my time of need and to receive instruction.
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Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
