Paul’s Letter to the Gauls (Galatians) – Chapter 2

You have had so much law put on you, saints. I have listened to people preach, and you would think…Southern Baptists are the only ones who would appreciate this. You remember when you went to Sunday school, and there were seven little squares there? I have heard sermons preached on that to the point you would believe you could not possibly be a good Christian if you could not check all seven of those things. Can anybody remember what they were? You had to study your Bible. You had to go to church and Sunday school. You had to bring one with you, and memorize a Bible verse, and what? You had to put money in the little envelope that you were checking. And what’s another one? And you had to be on a visitation. Okay. Well, that’s about it. Man, alive. That’s bondage.

Audience: And that was at six years old. Gene: That’s right. You know, I never thought about that. We were getting that by the time we were three. Audience: It took 15 minutes of God’s time to get all that done. Gene: Is that right? 15 minutes. Oh, that’s right. The secretary had to record all that. Then, at the end of the day, we were graded. What was the grade for this week? We got a grade. Never got over 50 or 60%. 65%. You don’t even know what we’re talking about, do you? That will rank with any law ever invented by any Jew at any time in all the history of Judaism. Oh yes, it will, and it’s that damaging. That is bondage. Do you really think God cares? I mean, I want you to really consider that. That was manmade, brother, and yet it was preached as though it were the all-important thing. And “forsake not the gathering of yourselves together, as is the manner of some.” – that has piled more believers than I think any other verse in the New Testament.

Boy, listen. If I could have a chance to not forsake the kind of gatherings first-century Christians had, I wouldn’t forsake them, but to ask me to not forsake the kind of gatherings that Christians have in the 20th century is to ask me to do one of the worst things on earth I can conceive of doing. I don’t mind telling you all, I can’t stand going to church. First of all, the term is a contradiction in itself. I can’t go to church; church is a people, and that isn’t church. Bless your little hearts. I’m going to do it again.

The pulpit existed long before the Christian faith; it was called an ambo. The choir comes to us by way of the chants of the Greek choirs in the pagan temples. The pastor is a concept invented by Martin Luther. The service itself was invented by John Calvin in the city of Geneva. The pews came into existence soon after the Reformation. The church building was invented by Constantine in 323. The Sunday school was invented by Dwight L. Moody in about 1860. The stained-glass window was invented by Abbot Suger in the year 1200 AD. The sermon that is preached is actually a concept brought into the Christian faith by a guy named John Chrysostom in about the year 400 AD, when he brought Greek territory into the Christian faith. The sermon is basically not preaching, but the sermon as you and I know it basically came from Greek pagan oratory, and that’s everything that you see on Sunday morning. The reason it is on Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. is that Martin Luther got drunk every Saturday night and couldn’t stand to get up at 6:00 a.m. So, he made it 11 a.m. so he could get sober enough to preach. And all of those are historical, undeniable, and immovable facts. Now, why do you wish something like that off on me? I feel so good. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever done that, and I really feel good about that. It’s taken me 25 years to find every one of them. I mean, I have looked and looked and looked, and it has taken years to dig these things out. I’ve been so lucky to find some in some of the most unbelievable places. And those are the facts. Those are historical facts.

I’m trying to tell you…I’m coming back to my story now. Simon Peter got honest with the Lord and said, “We could not live the Christian life, the Jewish religion.” And Paul breathes a sigh of relief. Barnabas breathes a sigh of relief, but if everybody in that room but one (James) had voted yay and one had voted nay, one particular one, the nays would have won. Now everybody’s looking at him, and they’re waiting. He stands up. They tell us that he had calluses on his knees from having prayed. I really don’t want to even think about running around with people like that. I mean that. Why do I want to get down on my knees and pray till I have calluses on my knees? I want to fellowship with the Lord. I really want to fellowship with the Lord. I don’t have to do that on my knees. Not till I get calluses. I’m not against getting down on your knees. But saints, my land, He’s in me. He’s in me. James, God love him, changed the course of history, but I want to say one more thing about Peter before I say something about James. Simon Peter swung that meeting. Blessed be our God for what happened in that meeting. There were men there who knew a crucified and risen Lord. Give them all their credit, would you? I want us to take a moment and look at them. Peter, ignorant, unlearned, explosive, unstable, opinionated, and domineering, came out of his slip with the Jews, and he’s got his spirit functioning. He knows who he is. He knows where he came from. He knows what’s going on right now.

John: quiet, subjective, introspective, and explosive. Paul: intellectual, scholarly, stubborn, and obstinate. Barnabas: gracious, loving, forgiving, and comforting to a fault. He’s there for harmony, you know, peace at any price. I mean, that’s just his nature. I’m talking about their basic nature here, the way they came out of their mother’s womb. And James is a religious fanatic. Think about it, saints. There’s really no reason in the world why we’re here today living under grace when you look at that. I mean, it’s a miracle. Every one of those men had taken time to be in the face of God, and they had their spirits on straight. One by one, they showed the world: it is not I that live, but Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ gained that gathering and that meeting. Amen. Praise the Lord for every one of those brothers. Let us give them their dues and humbly thank God for what happened.

Then James stands up, and he jumps right past all possible points, and he says, “Brothers, I believe these people have risked their necks for the gospel of Christ. I believe we ought to send them home with a letter to Antioch, basically an apology, saying that the Gentiles do not have to be circumcised, and the only thing that we should ask is that they not drink blood and that they take care of the poor. And Paul says to James as James sits down, “Brother James, we won’t drink blood, and we’ll remember the poor.” They all agree, draw up a document, and, according to historical facts, this is as best as is known. Did you know that that letter is historically known to have existed until about the year 300 AD? That’s a fact. That’s not magic, and that’s not rumor; that’s a fact. That letter was kept and then disappeared, and we don’t know where it is, and I assume it was destroyed. That letter was kept for years and years, several centuries. They drew up that thing, and they signed it. Every one of them signed it, rolled it up, wrapped it in something moist, put it in a sheepskin, put it in a cylinder, and gave it to Paul and Barnabas, saying, “Take it home with you and read it to the church in Antioch.”

Now, just before that happened, Blastinius left Jerusalem and headed up to your church, to your fellowship. Are you following me? I hope you’re keeping all this together. He didn’t know that the letter had been written. He comes up and starts getting you folks circumcised. He doesn’t know that Paul and Barnabas got a cannon, big enough to blow a hole in anything he’s ever said. Paul and Barnabas return home and find that the churches in Galatia have gone over to the Judaizers or have been greatly influenced by them. And the reason nobody can understand when the book of Galatians was written, until I explain it to you right now, is that everybody says it could not have been written at this time because Paul makes no reference to that letter.

He’s just got home to Antioch. He finds out the churches have been perverted. He writes the Galatian letter. Why doesn’t he tell them what happened in Jerusalem? Why doesn’t he tell them? He’s got a letter with all their signatures on it.