Part X on Galatians Study

Ephesians 4:32
"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath (already) forgiven you."    So #1: the key to understanding the Scriptures is to whom the particular text is written to. It's high time that we get a fresh view of this again, because we want to remember that when God called Moses up into Mount Sinai there in Exodus, God gave the code of conduct and the Levitical Law to Moses and Moses took it down the mountain and gave it to the Nation of Israel. So Israel came under the Law. Not the rest of the world, just the people of Israel. Now in our day what many don't know is that there are whole denominations or religious groups stuck in that same first covenant administration under a legal system of works, self reliance, ceremonies, Sabbaths, new moons, holidays and the likes.The very things that Paul in this letter warns not to do or practice as it brings the wrath of God upon those who do. And we may ask why? Because to do so makes us lawless, wicked and enemies of God.


But, as Romans 3 says, all the world came under the condemnation power of the Law and proved that no one is righteous, no not one. But so far as the mode of operation of the Law, it was only given to the Nation of Israel as their corral, their pen to keep them away from the spirit of the world, an elementary or primary school. To separate them as a people unto God for training and their learning of their need for righteousness and holiness through obedience but they failed to hear what it was saying. They made it a religious form of legalism which became bondage because there was no way of escape provided for in it. Then as we're going to see as we get into Galatians and Paul's account of his apostleship, we find that Paul is the central character and to that man was revealed these doctrines not of Law, but of Grace. And Grace is for primarily the Gentiles, but it also includes the Hebrews. Though not called or spoken as such it is the New Covenant of Grace and the cornerstone of our system of faith plus nothing. A Hebrew today can be saved under Grace as well as a Gentile. But it is primarily God's time of calling out Gentiles the setting of them apart unto Himself just like He did with Noah and Abraham from among the unbelieving world. Now then, Paul's message, as we saw in our brief look at the first two letters to the Corinthians, was to the pagan world. Paul could come into those abject pagan people with nothing but the Gospel of the Grace of God and they would come out of their paganism and become believers (or as we normally like to use the term "Christians," although that word has certainly lost its real meaning). Today almost everybody, and anything can be called a Christian. So now let's begin in verse 8.

Galatians 1:8
"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, (and we just showed this Gospel which is, that Christ died for us, was buried, and rose again, and if they preach any other than that to us for salvation) let him be accursed."   Now that's a horribly strong word. Paul, speaking through the Holy Spirit, is not just talking about maybe ending up 15 or 20 years in prison, he's not talking about capital punishment. Paul is talking about an eternal separation from God, an eternal doom to these people who are corrupting and are perverting the pure Gospel of Grace. Hey that's enough to scare anybody. Now verse 9. And again whenever we see the Scripture, whether it's Paul or Moses or the prophets or wherever, if it repeats something we're to take special note. It's there for the purpose of getting our attention. So here this warning is again in verse 9. 

Galatians 1:9
"As we said before, so say I now again, `If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, (from the lips of this apostle) let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment).'"   Now Paul wasn't talking there out of meanness, or out of envy of some other ministry. He was writing by inspiration of the Spirit, and the Spirit is making the emphasis that if we adulterate and if we pervert the True Gospel, then we are accursed. Now we know apostasy is a terrible thing. Most people don't even know what apostasy means. What is apostasy? Is that something that the apostles taught? No, it has nothing to do with the apostles. Apostasy is turning the back on the revealed truth of Scripture and on God for He IS the revealed Truth. 

We were in the library on Lee Universities campus not long ago and picked up a little booklet by the old radio pastor, J. Vernon McGee who has now gone on to be with the Lord. And the little booklet was copyrighted in 1971. In this booklet he was rehearsing a conversation that he and the president of Moody Bible Institute at that time had had. They were in a Bible conference out in Los Angeles, and during that week of Bible conference he and the president of Moody, and a couple of more well-known theologians were visiting with each other, and the president of Moody made this statement. Now remember the time element (1971) That man made the statement that he could never envision the apostasy of the Church at that time. He had no idea that the Church would be into such apostasy short of being in the Tribulation. Now that's only been 41 years ago. But the man had blinders on as some of the older men such as William Law saw its corruption back in the 1800's. What would the man think today? We don't think they could handle it. But you see we've been programmed to see all this creeping in and we just sort of roll with it. We accommodate it, but listen we are in such a state of Apostasy that it's alarming. And why can't people see what these verses say. They're under the condemnation of being accursed for perverting God's Gospel. Now move on to verse 10.

Galatians 1:10
"For do I now persuade men, or God? (who is Paul serving? Well it's certainly not men, because like us, he didn't draw a salary. Paul didn't have to be beholden to anybody. If he needed some money, he went out and sewed some tents or possibly made saddles didn't he. So Paul didn't have to worry about losing his pay, he didn't have to serve men.) or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." (Now that's a pock in the eye of allot of pastors and teachers these days as they bend over backward to serve men. Men with deep pockets and political influences of some kind usually in their denominational structure.)

Now that's quite a statement isn't it? Hey, we can't serve both, we cannot please God and man, Jesus said we can't serve two masters because the one you love the most you put before all others. But listen, this apostle says that there is no way that I am out here suffering imprisonment, suffering beatings, suffering shipwrecks, suffering cold, and heat, and nakedness - all the things we've looked at back there in II Corinthians chapter 11. He says I didn't do that just to be serving men. Paul did that because he was the bond slave of Christ Jesus. Now that reminds us of a verse in the Book of Ephesians chapter 3. Let's turn there for a moment, and this, of course, is the whole motivation of this apostle.