Paul’s Letter to the Gauls (Galatians) – Intro

Now, here’s what I would like to ask you to do. If you have a Bible, read chapter 1 tonight. We’re going to come back here in the morning, and we’re going to take chapter 1, and we’re going to find out what the first five paragraphs of the Christian faith ever written about said. We’re going to find out what was on the heart of a church planter and what kind of things God’s people, so primitive, so unlearned, were exposed to in their early Christian life. I want you to become that illiterate, please. Become one of the brothers who got circumcised or who are out obeying the Sabbath. He won’t work on Saturday anymore. He won’t even get out of his room anymore on Saturday. Has to cook his meals on Friday, sits there, and eats. He and his wife won’t come out. I want you to be one of the brothers who are trying to draw up a big calendar so they can follow for seasons and times. I want you to be one of the brothers who run a fever because he got infected from being circumcised. I want you to be one of the brothers…it happens all the time. I want you to be one of the brothers who refused to be circumcised and who are getting looked down upon because you didn’t get circumcised. I want you to be one of those brothers, I’m sure a lot of you like this, who are not obeying the Sabbath, and you’re really getting fish-eyed stares in the meetings.

In fact, last week, an argument broke out right in the middle of the meeting between the circumcised and the uncircumcised parties. By the way, Blastinius is not there anymore. The roots of this thing have been left there. The church is battling this thing, and the gospel is at stake, but this is not the gospel of salvation that’s at stake. It’s the gospel of Christian living that is at stake. And the opening to eternal things and things of heaven and rich things and glorious things in Christ. These are the things that are at stake. For if we go back to the standards of moral conduct, or to the standards of group pressure, or to any kind of standard of dos and don’ts, we shut off the wellsprings of Christian growth. We begin with liberty, and by the way, we end with liberty.

Well, you’re going to have to trust me a little bit. You’re probably going to go home shaking in your boots after this. You’re going to have to trust that I know what I’m doing. I really do, but I also want you to know something else. I’m not going to come to the end and say, “Now I want to qualify this.” I will take Paul’s…Paul qualifies what he says in one sentence, and that’s all I’m going to do. One sentence qualification, and the rest of it was all on this side and none on this side. It’s downright frightening how much trust he was putting in those Galatians to follow the Lord Jesus Christ with all their hearts. I am going to put that trust in you, modern Galatians, and let us see if we too cannot be set free from the law that we ourselves put ourselves under. Tomorrow morning, Galatians 1. You have a question? Yes, brother.

Well, they are brethren that are false, or they are not brethren because they are false. We have that choice, don’t we? We’ll never know. That’s the answer. We honestly, brother, will never know if they were really saved or not. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt; I think they’re converted, and I think they are totally false in what they’re doing and know it. They have to know in their heart. Paul knew that because he had been a false Jew. That brother knew in his heart before he was converted. He was not fulfilling the law, but he was working hard to get somebody else to. Is it not true that you tend, if you’ll listen to your heart, you tend to say, “This is the gospel. It works for everybody but me, but I’m a special case. So, we will ignore me, and I will go out and make sure the rest of you understand because you are not a special case, and I’m going to show you how to live the Christian life even though I cannot live up to it. We’re going to explore that concept. It lives and breathes today. In fact, it is hiding well in Memphis, Tennessee. Alright. Question. Yes, sir.

The question is, had Peter already seen his vision of the Gentiles being clean? The answer is absolutely yes. Absolutely yes. And yes, he took up for Paul in Jerusalem to his credit. The old boy had been rebuked by Paul of Tarsus, and he had capitulated just as when the Lord had rebuked him for some of his…he gave in. I don’t think he (Peter) preached any kind of legalism in Antioch. I believe that brother was preaching grace. But what was he doing? What was going on in Simon Peter when he got up and sat down with those Jews over in one corner? That is one of the most fascinating questions to me in the whole world. What was going on inside of Simon Peter when he got up and moved over there at that table? And the answer, I think, is very revealing to all our hearts. And it may surprise you. Yes.

All my books on Galatians imply that the Lord enables me to obey the ten commandments and fulfill them. If you start there, you will be leavened. You will be leavened. And I have heard stories about this Jewish movement, several of them of Jews who are going back to the law who are believers. It’s an old story. Frankly, that’s not my burden. I happen to be a heathen. I am a gentile, uncircumcised heathen, and I’m concerned about you heathen. I’m not concerned about the ten commandments; I’m concerned about the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th commandments that you yourself have invented and put yourself under.

Questions? Anybody? Nine o’clock tomorrow morning; try to read Galatians 1 before then. If you possibly can, get a copy of The Early Church, part two, and begin reading it. I think it’s important. Dear brothers and sisters, if you will get the book of Galatians into you, the first piece of Christian literature ever penned, the rest will come easily. The rest will come easy. Alright, stand up and tell us what we’re going to sing.