Exploring the Foundations of Galatians

SPEAKER 01 : 0:00

Greetings to the brightest audience in the country, and welcome to Bob Enyart Live. As I sit here today, I’m reminded again that this is our second to last week on KLTT Radio. For decades, this station has been the home of our ministry. I think of my dad, Pastor Bob Enyart, sitting behind literally this very microphone that I’m two inches away from. And I think of all the sharing of the gospel that’s been done through this microphone, walking through God’s word with you. I think of the laughter, the debates, the victories, and the many moments when God moved powerfully through this program It’s a bittersweet season for us. The bitter part is obviously saying goodbye and this chapter, it’s meant so much and now it’s ending. But the sweet part is that our ministry, we’re not slowing down. No, not at all. We are growing further and growing faster than ever before. Today, we are reaching more people than we ever have. The Enyart Theology YouTube is reaching millions of people. Real Science Radio on YouTube is reaching millions of people. Our daily podcast at kgov.com is reaching hundreds of thousands of people with these downloads. Through these platforms, God is allowing us to edify believers and reach unbelievers. People who may never have tuned in to Christian Radio before, he is multiplying the ministry that we have been with here on KLTT for so long. It’s both humbling and exciting. I want to personally invite you to come with us into this next chapter. You can listen to our daily podcast at kgov.com. You can get all of our Bible studies at www.inyart.shop. And this is especially the way to be close with my work, Dominic Inyart. You can follow me on YouTube at Inyart Theology, the Inyart Theology YouTube channel, or the Real Science Radio YouTube channel with Fred Williams and Doug McBurney. producing high quality content that reaches millions it is costly and so if you’re able we would be grateful for the support you can subscribe to the youtube channels you can donate you know one time or monthly monthly donations is what really really helps us continue or and this is the best thing of all that you can do for us as more power than any anything else you can do is you can pray for us eagerly you can pray to god that we would have wisdom that we would have boldness and that we would walk with the wisdom of serpents, but with the gentleness of doves. That is the most important thing you could ever do to support us, is to pray for us. My email is enyarttheology at gmail.com. E-N-Y-A-R-T theology at gmail.com. If you want to share any favorite memories of our time here on KLTT, or if you have any questions about transitions in the ministry, you can email me again, enyarttheology at gmail.com. And as a farewell gift to you all during these final broadcasts, we are airing the Plot Bible Overview. This is the life’s work of my father, Pastor Bob Enyart. It’s a study that has helped… Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of believers worldwide understand scripture as one unified story and grow closer to Christ. Today, we are airing the fourth segment that we have aired here on KLTT Radio. We’re airing this as a parting gift right before we leave, and we pray that you are blessed by it. and that you are moved to continue with our ministry. Hey, may God bless you, and let’s jump right into the plot. This is the fourth segment ever aired on KLTT Radio.

SPEAKER 02 : 3:49

Paul had achieved a victory by his wisdom and his understanding of God’s message and through his ability to work well with the leaders. He came respecting them and humbly and privately saying, not disputing them openly because he could have marched into Jerusalem and saying, I am the apostle Paul. I teach Christians not to keep the law. And there might’ve been a riot among the Christians, but he went privately and he brought a man to be the test case. And the apostles did not force him to be circumcised. Now, what does that show us? It shows us there was a doctrinal tension. It was there. It’s as plain as could be. But almost the entire Christian church has refused to acknowledge it. I’m not saying that they find little ways around it to discount it. I’m saying they don’t even know it’s there. Christians throughout the land and the world do not know these doctrinal tensions are in the New Testament. They don’t know. They read the Bible, some of them, sometimes. And when they get to these passages, their eyes glaze over and they just skip them. Paul sought their right hand of fellowship, we’re told in Galatians 2.9, and he received it. And the 12 apostles, they confirmed Paul’s authority as an apostle to the Gentiles. And his godly discretion achieved the desired result. And there was a unity of an overall purpose, even though there was some disagreement or some difference as to how they administered their own fellowships. There was an overall unity in raising up Jesus Christ, teaching men to believe in him, but the 12 in Jerusalem did things a little differently than Paul did. And there’s a reason why, and we’ll understand it by the time we finish the seminar. But we first have to recognize the plot. See why we use that word, the plot? What is the plot? It’s the major events of the storyline. And major events in the storyline of the New Testament is that Paul comes along and starts having disagreements with the 12. And they have to be resolved. That’s a major event. It’s sort of a plot twist. Because from the time of Abraham on, every Jew would be circumcised. And not only the Jews, but even the Gentiles who came to the Lord had to be circumcised. And Jesus was circumcised. And then Paul gets saved and he says, don’t be circumcised, you’ll be cursed. That’s a plot twist. That’s a major plot twist. So we’re going to use that to figure out how to resolve all these other debates. Can you lose your salvation? Can you not? You’re going to go through the tribulation or are you not? You got to keep the Sabbath or you don’t. Now, Paul… wrote the book of Galatians and it may have been the very first book written in the New Testament was very early and it might have been the first in that book he starts out by strongly emphasizing that he had little contact with the twelve apostles prior to the Jerusalem Council he strongly emphasizes that he hardly even knew them why would he do that You know, Paul took his first missionary journey, and he established churches in southern Galatia, in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. And on his first missionary journey, after he established those churches in Galatia, probably when he was in Corinth, he wrote a letter to the Galatians. probably in about the year 47 AD. And if that’s true, and that all looks real solid, then Galatians is very likely the first book written in the New Testament. And whether it was the first book of the New Testament or not, but especially if it was, it begins in the most unlikely of ways. What I’m going to do, if you could just listen, I’m going to quote a few passages out of Galatians 1, then we’ll turn to it and read them together. But I first want you to just listen to them because they’re dramatic passages. And they’re among the verses that are overlooked generally by the church. Paul distanced himself from the 12. He stressed that he had little to do with them. His ministry and their ministry were virtually separate. They had almost no overlap. And he emphasized that. Why? Why? Why emphasize that? You’d think he’d want to sort of take their authority and credibility and sort of tag along with that. and ride their coattails to some extent. They had been with Jesus for three years. They had been at Pentecost. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus told them they would sit on 12 thrones ruling over the 12 tribes of Israel. Their names are on the 12 walls, the foundations around the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation. These are key men in God’s plan. Why would Paul distance himself from them? But that’s what we see he does. So first I’ll read a few of these passages, then we’ll read them together. And maybe I won’t even give you the verse references, but I start out in Galatians 1, 15 and 16, 17. But here we go. When it pleased God that I might preach Christ among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer… with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. Right? You hear that? Paul says, when it pleased God that I might preach Christ among the Gentiles, I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received the gospel from man, nor was I taught it. Now, who was it that was teaching the gospel back then? Who was preaching the gospel? It was the twelve. But Paul says, I did not receive the gospel from man. Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ. He writes, I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea. Now that’s where Jerusalem is in Judea. And that’s where the 12 minister. And I use the 12 as a general term, even though, you know, James had been murdered by Herod. But Paul says, I was unknown by face. What does that mean? They wouldn’t even recognize me if they saw me. Then after three years, I went up again to Jerusalem to see Peter and I remained with him 15 days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. Now concerning the things which I write to you indeed before God, I do not lie. He’s stressing that he had virtually no contact with the 12th. He didn’t go to Jerusalem. He didn’t meet with those who were apostles before him. I’m not lying. Why would he stress that? If you make that kind of a statement, it’s because you’ve just said something that’s desperately important and you want people to believe what you’re saying. Why would he make that kind of emphasis on, hey, I didn’t hang with the apostles. I didn’t hang out with them. They didn’t hang out with me. You’ve got to believe me. Well, let’s read those same verses together. Just so no one thinks they’re taken out of context or misquoted. Galatians, we’ll just read verses or excerpts through the first half of this chapter. Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ. Okay, go to verse 11. Verse 16. when it pleased God to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. So he’s setting down the groundwork because in the next chapter, he’s going to have a dispute with Peter. He’s going to call Peter a hypocrite. He’s going to say that Peter was not being straightforward about the gospel. Those are heavy accusations to make against the twelve. And through this whole gospel, he’s going to distinguish the message he has with those of the twelve. So in order to do that, he wants to lay the groundwork saying, I was not a disciple of the 12. I didn’t hear the gospel from them. I got it straight from Jesus Christ. When God decided to send someone to the Gentiles, he chose me. He sent me to preach among the Gentiles, but I did not immediately go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles. I didn’t go to them. verse 18. But then three years later, then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem. Okay. So he becomes a Christian. And for three years, he’s going through Arabia and he goes to Damascus, but he doesn’t go to Jerusalem. Three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and and remained with him 15 days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. So he says, it’s true. I did go to Jerusalem. I didn’t go for three years, but then I went and I only stayed there two weeks and I only saw Peter. That was it. Well, except for James, the Lord’s brother. But I saw none of the other apostles. Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed before God, I do not lie. I’m not lying. This is the truth. Paul, what are you getting so worked up about? It’s important to him. It’s important and it’s crucial for us to understand how to resolve the doctrinal differences between Paul and the 12th. But if we want to make believe there were no doctrinal differences, then we never will see the solution and we can’t solve our problems today. There was a difference between Paul’s ministry and that of the 12. And that’s why Paul emphasizes, I got started on my own. I’m not the 13th apostle. I’m not the replacement for Judas. I’m not going to sit on one of the 12 thrones over the 12 tribes of Israel as Jesus promised the 12 they would. I have a different ministry. I’m telling people, don’t keep the law. And through these efforts, even the 12 have agreed with me that my converts should not keep the law. Hmm. This is pretty interesting. Now, in this seminar, many have seen things in the Bible that they’ve never had noticed before. And that’s exciting because Jesus said in Matthew 13, 52, that a teacher of the scriptures is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old. And the Bible is always new. And we can never fully exhaust its truths. So I want to encourage you, if we’re going through and you’re seeing stories and verses and entire chapters that, like, where did that come from? Well, it’s always been there, but it’s been hidden in plain view as a nugget of truth to bring us joy and answers for our questions. Now, I’d like to take a little bit of a sidetrack to talk about God a little bit in reality and some cliches that we as Christians have heard and most Christians believe. The first cliche, and I want to do this in order to lay a groundwork about a groundwork concerning God so that as we go on, we’ll be able to more readily accept the stories that we’re going to read in the New Testament and even the Old. We’re told by Christians… that God cannot change. There are three verses in the Bible that tell us God cannot change. Hebrews 13.8, Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today, and forever. And Malachi 3.6, I am the Lord thy God, I change not. In James 1.17, that there’s no variation or change within the Father. Those verses refer to God’s righteousness, right? his holy character. God does not change in that he’s always faithful and true and good. But it was Aristotle, the pagan philosopher, who taught that God is immutable, that he cannot change in any way. And I’d like you to consider that issue. I’m going to try to prove to you two minutes that God can change and that he does change and I’m not going to use an obscure verse out of the book of Nahum but point only to the gospel that God the son became flesh and dwelt among us had God the son always through eternity past been a man or did he become flesh he became flesh the incarnation of is a true event in history. It really occurred. God the Son had not always become flesh, but he became flesh. To do that, he humbled himself. He emptied himself, Philippians 2. Is humility, humbling yourself, is that a change? To empty yourself? Those are change words. To become flesh is a change word. To say that Christ had always been flesh is heresy because God existed as a spirit through eternity past, Father, Son, and Spirit. God was a spirit, but God the Son became flesh. To say that he never did become flesh is antichrist, the apostle John tells us. So God the Son became flesh, he changed. And then, even more so, on the cross, he became sin for us, Paul writes. And he became a curse for us. Galatians 3.13 and 1 Corinthians 5. He took on our sin. He became sin for us. And then Paul writes in Timothy that then Jesus Christ was justified in the Spirit and reunited with the Father. So now he’s Jesus Christ the righteous. These are powerful changes. A God who cannot change could not become the Savior. Couldn’t be. But a God who could become flesh and take our penalty, that kind of God is the living God who changes. And I realize a God who cannot change, a stagnant God who’s unable to change, is at the foundation of much of Christian theology. It’s tragic. That foundation was laid by the Greeks who taught a God of providence who could not change at all. That’s a weak God who can’t change. It’s not a strong God. God hates change. the idols of stone. He says, they’re the gods who can’t change. He says, they can’t speak. They can’t move. They can’t react. They can’t do anything. And God hates those dead gods who can’t change. But Christians have somehow been deceived into taking the living God and describing him as a God who cannot change in any way. And in so doing, undermining the power of the gospel that God became flesh and took on our sin, a changing living God. Another cliche that I’d like to address just very briefly is that there’s no time in heaven. Who here has ever heard that there’s no time in heaven? Could you raise your hand? I’d love to get an estimate. Okay, wow, whoa, whoa, whoa, that’s a good, that’s over 50%, right? 60% or so? There’s even a hymn, when the roll is called up yonder and time shall be no more. Okay, and Christians believe that passionately. Those who’ve heard it or believe it, teach it, which are so many. You know, Revelation 8.1, the seventh seal was opened and there was silence in heaven for about a half hour. One guy in Denver recently said to me at church, he said, yeah, but what’s a half hour in all of eternity? And Jason Schreier, I think, shouted out 30 minutes, 30 minutes. That’s what it is. It’s a half hour. You know, the seventh seal was opened after the sixth seal by Jesus Christ. Not before. Just as when God rested on the seventh day, he rested on the seventh day after the sixth day. And the third day came before the fourth day. And then God rested when he was done. He didn’t rest before he started. He rested when he was done. Revelation 6.10 says, the saints who will be martyred in the tribulation, and they’re up before the throne of God, and they cry out, how long, O Lord, until you avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? They’re very cognizant of time and the passage of time, and they’re a tad bit impatient. Lord, we would like you to avenge our blood. And God responds in saying there will be delay no longer. God will punish the wicked soon enough. Jesus is in heaven waiting until his enemies are made his footstool. We read that in Hebrews. The tree of life, after God creates the new heavens and the new earth in Revelation 21, the tree of life bears 12 different kinds of fruit. Each kind of fruit comes ripe each month. So you can’t walk up to the tree of life and pluck a pomegranate and an avocado at the same time. They wouldn’t both be ripe. You could only get one or the other. Every indication is that there’s time in heaven. Every indication. So, but the Greeks, they liked the idea of a God outside of time, of no time in heaven. They liked that idea. But where does that idea come from? Well, I just wanted to throw out those couple of cliches with one third and last one. Judging, you can’t judge. You know, Jesus Christ teaches us, he says, don’t judge like a hypocrite. Judge not, lest you be judged, you hypocrite, Matthew 7, 1. Because of course we don’t want to judge like a hypocrite. We don’t want to do a sin and then condemn someone else for doing the same sin. But Jesus says, first repent, then you can judge your neighbor who’s doing that sin. That’s in Matthew 7. In John 7, 24, Jesus says he commands us to judge with righteous judgment. Commands us. And of course, in Paul’s writings, Corinthians, he says, do you not know that we saints will judge the world? We will judge the angels in the world, 1 Corinthians 6. And he says, Paul says, he who is spiritual judges all things and we have the mind of Christ. That’s in 1 Corinthians 2, 15 and 16. The men of Nineveh will rise in judgment against this generation and condemn it, Jesus said. And I saw thrones and those that sat on them and judgment was committed to them. The Bible teaches throughout that God’s people must judge the wicked. And Paul says, when he says, don’t you know that we will judge the angels?

SPEAKER 01 : 26:55

Stop the tape. Stop the tape. That was the fourth segment of the plot Bible overview. Every time I hear, I’m reminded of my father’s passion for God’s word and his life’s mission to help believers to truly see the Bible. as one beautiful, cohesive story pointing us to Christ. Even as we step away from KLTT, our ministry is thriving. In your theology on YouTube channel, we’ve reached about 5 million views. The Real Science Radio on YouTube, approaching 3 million views. Our daily podcast at kgov.com with hundreds of thousands of downloads. We are reaching millions of people now, and I want you to be with us for that ride. Visit www.enyart.shop to get the full plot study and all of our Bible studies. You can listen to our daily podcast on kgov.com and subscribe to our YouTube channels, Enyart Theology and Real Science Radio. If you want to help us continue creating content that edifies believers and also, you know, I don’t mean to give priorities, but probably more important than edifying believers is we share the gospel with hundreds of thousands of unbelievers. So if you can at all help us do that, please subscribe to the YouTube channels, donate, especially, you know, one-time donations are great, but monthly donations especially help us. But more important than either of those is pray for us. Please keep us in your prayers as we go through this tricky transition. My email is enyarttheology at gmail.com. If you want to share any favorite memories of our time here on KLTT Radio, or if you have any questions about the transition, you can let me know there, enyarttheology at gmail.com. Thank you truly for being part of this ministry and for walking with us through every season. This is Dominic Enyart reminding you to do right and risk the consequences.