Welcome back to Books of
the Book and we have been
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studying the book of Galatians
and we are in Galatians
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Chapter 6 and I want
to look again at verse 12.
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The apostle Paul is
making a point that these false
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teachers who had seduced
the Galatian church wanted
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"to compel them to be
circumcised only that they may
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"not suffer persecution
for the cross of Christ. "
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We are talking about the
tendency Jim, that we have
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to want to avoid living
in such a way that draws out
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the opposition of the world.
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We talked about in 1
Timothy, sorry 2 Timothy 3:12
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where it says all who live
godly in Christ Jesus shall
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suffer persecution and I
think there are probably a
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our viewers that are aware,
I have talked and read many
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articles from many
different denominations and
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nondenominational
churches that have recognized a
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tendency in recent years
that Christianity has become
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more and more secularized.
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The reason is because, we
will say we are just trying
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to be more
accessible to the world.
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Trying to reach the
postmodern world and these types
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of things, but I fear the
reality is just exactly what
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Paul is saying here,
we do not want to suffer
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persecution for our belief.
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So some of the things
that have happened is social
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drinking has become more
acceptable in the Christian
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world where it used to be
that drinking was something
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a Christian when do,
they didn't smoke, they didn't
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drink and now they say
that was back in the old days.
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It's a lot easier when you
are out to work with someone
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to just do what they are
doing and you can justify
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that by saying I'm just
trying to fit in and you
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avoid the persecution.
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That's right, and secular
music, rock concerts, and
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there's Christian rock
today and things like that
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honestly has concerned
the number of people because
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it used to be these
things were considered only
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secular and worldly and
now they are finding their way
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into the church and again I
fear whether it be fashionable
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dress, or
whatever it happens to be.
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It is a desire to avoid
that persecution that comes from
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being different from the world.
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This is what Paul ascribes
this false teaching of the
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Galatians, these false teachers,
these Judaizing teachers
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that is what he ascribes it to.
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Their desire to really
avoid the offense of the cross.
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That is exactly right, and
then right after saying that
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in verse 12, which is
where we have been reading.
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It says that they try to
compel you to be circumcised
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only that they may
not suffer persecution.
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In verse 13 it says,
"for not even those who are
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"circumcised keep the law,
but they desire to have you "
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circumcised that they
may boast in your flesh. "
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He is trying to help them
to see, be careful who you are
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trusting here, back in the
days of Jesus he said to those
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who are at that time
following and yet critically
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analyzing his ministry, he
said to speak about the law
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of Moses yet none
of you keeps the law.
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Why is it that
you try to kill me?
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They were in the
process of planning to kill the
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Son of God and yet they
were promoting themselves as
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law keepers and so
here that is what the
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apostle Paul is saying.
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These people that you
are trusting are pushing
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circumcision, but they are
not keeping the law themselves.
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There are various different
ways that we could look at
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that, but is just another
point to show that this idea
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is that circumcision was
a substitute for obedience.
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That is what was really
happening with these false
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teachers. - that's
right and I think that is an
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important point that our
viewers need to understand.
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The concept from so many
is that these Galatians were
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wanting to go with
this gospel of circumcision,
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they were obedient.
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And repeatedly Paul has
brought out that they were
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everything but obedient,
they did not keep the law.
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He makes that point very
clear here, they were not
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law keepers because they
were trusting in the flesh.
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So he builds on that
in verse 14 where he says,
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"but God forbid that I
should boast except" because
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they were boasting in
the flesh, but he says,
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"God for bit that I
should boast except in the
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"cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world has
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"been crucified to
me, and I to the world. "
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That's powerful, and this
verse is an allusion to an
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Old Testament verse in
the book of Jeremiah and
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maybe we can turn there
to Jeremiah 9:23 because the
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apostle Paul seems to be
taking the language directly
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from Jeremiah and in
verse 23 of Jeremiah 9 is says,
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"thus says the Lord: let
not the wise man glory in his
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"wisdom, let not the
mighty man glory in his might,
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"nor let the rich man
glory in his riches; but let him
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"who glories glory in
this, that he understands and
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"knows Me, that I am
the Lord, exercising loving-
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"kindness, judgment, and
righteousness in the earth.
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"For in these I
delight, says the Lord. "
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So that is a very clear
parallel where he said I am
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not going to glory
anything, the apostle Paul said.
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Except for the cross of
Jesus Christ and here he is
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drawing from the fact that
back in the book of Jeremiah
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it tells us not to glory in
wisdom, or might, or riches,
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but only to glory in knowing Me.
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That is a powerful thought,
in other words the cross of
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Jesus Christ is how
we come to know God.
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It is through the cross that
we find out that Jesus Christ
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wants a personal
relationship with us.
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That He is willing
to give His life for us.
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The love of God is revealed
through the cross of Christ.
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So if we want to know God
intimately, we find that in the
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cross and if we can know
and understand God, that is what
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we should glory in.
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All of these other things
are given to us by God which is
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why many times those who
are wise, those who are mighty,
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those who are rich are not
the ones who come in through
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the Gospel and there is
one verse or passage in the
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New Testament
that touches on this.
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I thought maybe I could just
read that together with you.
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1 Corinthians, so if you
go to the New Testament Mark,
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Luke, Matthew, John,
Acts, Romans and 1 Corinthians.
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In Corinthians 1:26 it
says, "for you see your calling"
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this is the apostle Paul
again, "for you see your calling
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"brethren, that not many
wise according to the flesh,
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"not many mighty, not
many noble, are called. But God
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"has chosen the foolish
things of the world to put to
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"shame the wise, and God
has chosen the weak things of
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"the world to put to shame
the things which are mighty;
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"and the base things" that
word base means insignificant,
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insignificant things, " of
the world and the things which
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"our despised God has
chosen, and the things which are
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"not, to bring to nothing
the things that are, that no
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"flesh should
glory in His presence.
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God wants us recognize our
need and so those who end up
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being called, He calls
everyone but those that respond
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to call end up being those
who recognize that they are
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not the smartest, not the
richest, not the most popular.
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In many people's eyes they
may be insignificant, but they
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seem to be the ones who respond
to the call to come to the
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Gospel feast because they
won't glory in the presence
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of God, and God needs
all the glory to come to Him
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because He is the one who
has provided all these things
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for us, if we take glory
for ourselves, if we have some
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sort of sense that we are
greater or better than others
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then we can never truly
understand what the cross of
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Jesus Christ means to us.
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You know Jim that is
the thing about this.
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When we are talking
about not boasting in anything
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that is in us, it is hard
for us sometimes to constantly
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admit that in my
flesh dwells no good thing.
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Then we tend to want to
think that we are worthless in
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God's sight and it is a strange
dichotomy where God wants
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us to realize this is
your fallen condition.
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But I love you where you
are and I am going to do for you
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what you can't do for yourself.
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I believe the apostle Paul
really magnifies that point
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in 2 Corinthians 12, and here
Paul sharing his own experience
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and this is one of the
most precious passages.
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It is one of the most
encouraging passages to me in
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Scripture, this has been a
blessing in my experience and
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probably many of our viewers.
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It says in 2 Corinthians
12:9, Jesus is speaking to Paul
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I have read
letters here in my Bible.
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It says, "and He said to
me, My grace is sufficient for
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"you, for My strength is
made perfect in weakness.
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"Therefore most gladly
I will rather boast in my
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"infirmities, that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. "
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So the idea here is that
you could say, sometimes people
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say I'm not worth anything,
I'm not good at anything.
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Praise the Lord because now
I can boast in the fact that
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in my weakness God's
strength is made perfect.
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He goes on in verse 10
to say, "if therefore I take
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"pleasure in infirmities,
in reproaches, in needs,
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"in persecutions, in
distress, for Christ's sake.
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"For when I am
weak, then I am strong. "
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Why? Because when I am
weak I recognize my need of
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Christ and cling
more firmly to Him.
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Right, and when that
power of Christ is resting upon
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him it can't be denied.
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The power of a changed
life, taking someone who
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is weak, taking someone
who is sinful, taking someone
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with none of this high
exalted stature in the eyes of
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the world, is the very
evidence of Christ's power than
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the Gospel of Christ is
worth all the world to us.
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So it is very weakness
that we have that causes Christ
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to be uplifted. - that is right!
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You know I think we need to
go back briefly, to Jeremiah
00:10:30.33\00:10:34.60
Chapter 9 where you
recall that we were looking at a
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passage where the apostle
Paul seemed to be drawing his
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language from and we
talked in verse 23 and 24 about
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how we shouldn't glory in
wisdom, or might, or riches,
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and then in verse 24 it
said we should glory in the fact
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that we understand and know Him.
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But then notice verse 25,
and the apostle Paul I believe
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purposefully is drawing the
language out of this passage
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because his hearers
probably knew exactly
00:11:04.03\00:11:06.90
where this was going.
00:11:06.93\00:11:08.23
At least the Jewish Christians
in that day would recognize
00:11:08.26\00:11:12.53
exactly what that
language was coming from.
00:11:12.60\00:11:15.24
Jeremiah 9:25, "we hope
the days are coming, says the
00:11:15.27\00:11:18.81
"Lord that I will
punish all who are circumcised
00:11:18.84\00:11:21.98
"with the uncircumcised. "
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Now what that means is that
the apostle Paul was drawing
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language that was
connected with circumcision.
00:11:28.72\00:11:30.89
It was the exact issue that
he was dealing with in Galatia
00:11:30.92\00:11:33.76
He was essentially saying
you can't glory in circumcision.
00:11:33.79\00:11:36.59
Here there was no distinction
made even back here in
00:11:36.62\00:11:40.06
Jeremiah. -well he says
further in the next verse 26,
00:11:40.13\00:11:42.86
"for these nations are
uncircumcised, and all the house
00:11:42.90\00:11:45.67
"of Israel are
uncircumcised in heart. "
00:11:45.70\00:11:47.67
That's right, that's
right so again circumcision is
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nothing, uncircumcision
is nothing, keeping the
00:11:50.57\00:11:53.34
Commandments of
God is what matters.
00:11:53.38\00:11:54.91
It is interesting sometimes
when people hear Galatians
00:11:54.94\00:11:57.88
I have met people who have
made this point that when you
00:11:57.95\00:12:00.78
want to talk about the
importance of obeying God you
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are teaching a Christ
plus something gospel.
00:12:03.62\00:12:06.02
We have already gone over
Galatians Chapter 3 of where
00:12:06.05\00:12:08.99
it says the Gospel is the
schoolmaster to lead us unto
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Christ, you take the law
out and you don't need Christ.
00:12:12.03\00:12:15.13
You don't need the Gospel,
what is the good news for a
00:12:15.16\00:12:18.23
person who is not
condemned by the law of God?
00:12:18.27\00:12:20.07
The whole idea is that the
law and the Gospel go hand-in-
00:12:20.10\00:12:23.04
hand so the price plus some
thing gospel, no the Gospel is
00:12:23.07\00:12:25.97
the answer to the condemnation
that comes from law.
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If we are justified by
faith, we know that faith
00:12:29.08\00:12:32.05
establishes the law, so
there is no adding the law to
00:12:32.08\00:12:35.98
Christ because the
law is embodied in Christ.
00:12:36.02\00:12:38.72
If you have Christ in the
heart than the law is going to
00:12:38.79\00:12:41.49
be lived out in our life.
00:12:41.52\00:12:42.96
You know Jim, Paul hits
the heart of the matter in
00:12:42.99\00:12:45.56
Philippians 3:3 where
he writes, "for we are the
00:12:45.59\00:12:48.73
"circumcision who worship
God in the Spirit, rejoice
00:12:48.76\00:12:51.77
"in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. "
00:12:51.80\00:12:54.80
That is an excellent verse.
00:12:54.84\00:12:56.37
You know we have come to
the end of our study of the
00:12:56.40\00:12:59.27
book of Galatians and I
can't think of no better way to
00:12:59.31\00:13:01.81
conclude what the apostle
Paul was trying to tell those
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believers, rejoice in Christ
Jesus and that is the heart
00:13:04.91\00:13:07.88
of the Gospel and these
believers have begun to put
00:13:07.92\00:13:10.82
confidence in the flesh and
sought to live the Christian
00:13:10.89\00:13:13.86
life without a
union with Christ.
00:13:13.89\00:13:16.02
But what that union with
Christ then the Spirit of God
00:13:16.06\00:13:19.23
comes in and being born
of the Spirit of God we can
00:13:19.26\00:13:22.30
live out the law that they
were so zealously trying to
00:13:22.33\00:13:25.37
keep but never could.
00:13:25.40\00:13:26.97
Thank you for joining
us and may God bless you!
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