Paul’s Letter to the Galatians Chapter 1 – Grace vs Legalism in the Christian Life

How important is this? Well, you know, the gospel stood in the balance, but forget that. I want to ask you a question. At that moment, could Simon Peter have healed somebody? Could Peter have just switched right out of there into one more glorious meeting they had been having in Antioch? Could those Antioch Christians have walked out of there into a meeting place and had a real rip-snorting’ meeting with testimonies and Peter healing? Saints, it was over. It left with that one foot moving in that direction. Peter had stepped out of grace, and he was back into a standard, and the reality of the Christian faith died for him right there. I don’t mean that he had in any way altered his relationship to God. I am just telling you, saints…this is what I’m going to tell you…there isn’t any fun in obeying the law. Whether it’s the Jewish law or the Christian law that has been put on you, there’s no joy in it. Those people weren’t happy. Peter wasn’t happy. Barnabas wasn’t happy, and those poor Gentiles were just miserable. They didn’t know what was going on, but the operation of grace in all their lives had ceased.

Now, do an inventory of your own life, will you please? What are you living under? What are you living under? You cut that off just a second. I know that you should not judge me, and I should not judge you, and we’re going to talk more and more about that as we go along. By the way, we haven’t even got to Paul, but we’ll do that later. But I do want to say this to you: as best you can, live under grace, and if you’re going to live under bondage, keep it isolated to you. Don’t propagate it. Say, “Amen.” I know all of you are going to be watching to see what my wife is wearing. Don’t you dare mention this to her. (laughter)

I want you to consider that story I just gave. Please consider it for your own life, for mine, for yours. How much bondage are you into these useless, worthless things? Now, perhaps you’re saying, “But Gene, doesn’t the Bible say concerning that sister in Quebec and those gray people who came to visit us and the coat, doesn’t the Bible say that a woman should be modestly dressed?” And my answer to that is, if you begin there, your life as a Christian is over – in its joy and in its beauty. I talked about immorality. Doesn’t the Bible teach against immorality? Yes, but if you start there, you have no hope. You might as well be a Muslim. It’s a do-and-don’t-have religion.

My dear friend, you establish first and foremost, first and all, you establish your freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you work out from there. But Gene, that’s fearful and risky. Not nearly as fearful and risky as having a church full of people who don’t think of anything but dirt. Brother, make room in your heart for the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider these things because these were the things that were fought over in the first century, not about salvation, but the Christian walk. And we’ll go from here. It gets better and better.

Alright, let’s see if we can clean up the mess. What have I done here? Who knows what’s been done? You have a question?

Audience: What happens about working out our salvation with fear and trembling?

You know, brother, where is that verse? I don’t know. Is it Philippians? We all know where it is. Alright. First of all, brother, that is not in reference to your conversion. That is in reference to the totality of salvation, the whole act of redemption. Brother, there’s room for fear. There’s room for trembling. We’ll come to that in one little verse in Galatians, but you got six chapters, 149 sentences, going the other direction. I’m going to tell you again, if you don’t start with freedom, you might as well become the biggest legalist in the world. You’ve got to start with freedom, and that’s what Paul did. I want to remind you; I want to say it to you again. I want you to remember that this was the first piece of Christian literature ever set sail upon the face of the earth. What a radical, radical declaration it was.

These first-century Christians really were different. Saints, they were the only folks in human history who had ever been part of a quote “religion” that had not been tied to an ethical code—the first people in human history who were set free from all things. I want you to remember something about those Judaizers who sat over there in that corner. Is there anything in the Ten Commandments that says that a Jew is not supposed to eat with someone who is uncircumcised? The Ten Commandments. Where did that teaching come from? It came from a rabbi. Came from a Jewish concept of a Baptist preacher. It was manmade, and any gospel that is not the Lord Jesus Christ is manmade. I tell you, start with Him, brother, and the instincts of your Lord will resolve this problem, this situation.

Audience: Tell me, what do you recommend doing when you encounter temptation?

Oh, absolutely. I’m going to tell you all about that. There’s a sure cure for that, brother. You’re supposed to fast. (laughter) We’re going to stop.