Welcome to another
episode of Books of the Book.
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My name is Pastor Mark
Howard I am the director of
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the Emmanuel Institute
of Evangelism in Michigan.
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For the Michigan
Conference Seventh-day Adventist
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as well as the Pastor
of the Gobels Seventh-day
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Adventist church and I
am here with my co-host,
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my brother Jim.
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Hi my name is Jim Howard
and I am the Pastor of the
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Detroit Metropolitan
and South Lyon Seventh-day
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Adventist churches
and I'm glad to be here.
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Will we have been studying
in the book of Galatians
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and what is happening
here is that this church in
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Galatia is a church of
the apostle Paul raised up
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and somebody else came in
and began to preach a false
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Gospel that really
turned the church upside down.
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The apostle has come in
to address the situation.
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We are in Galatians
Chapter 3 today and we are going
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to begin there Galatians
to 3:1 so if you have your
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Bibles I would encourage
you to jump in here with us.
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The New Testament after the
Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke,
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John, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2
Corinthians, and then Galatians.
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Galatians 3:1 and the apostle
starts out here and says,
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"O foolish Galatians! Who
has bewitched you that you
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"should not obey the
truth, before whose eyes Jesus
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"Christ was clearly portrayed
among you as crucified?
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"This only I want to
learn from you: Did you receive
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"the Spirit by the works
of the law, or by the hearing
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"of faith? Are you so
foolish? Having begun in the
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"Spirit, are you now
being made perfect by the flesh?
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"Have you suffered so
many things in vain? if indeed
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"it was in vain? Therefore
he who supplies the Spirit
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"to you and works miracles
among you, does He do it by
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"the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith?
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just as Abraham believed
God, and it was accounted to
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"him for righteousness. "
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Not something we want
to grasp here which is
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interesting Jim, he
brings it up 2 times.
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This problem in Galatia
came in, in what he calls the
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hearing of
faith was interrupted.
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In verse 1 there it says,
that they had obeyed the truth
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but they had stopped obeying
the truths when the hearing
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of faith had stopped.
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- they had
switched to the works of law
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as a means of justification.
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I know for our viewers,
if our viewers are reading
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in the New King James
Version, but if you are reading
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in a version like the
English Standard Version, the
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New International Version,
or some others it cuts off
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that last part where it
will read basically who has
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bewitched you and it doesn't say
you should not obey the truth.
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So we picked the same idea
up in Galatians 5 where the
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apostle makes the same
point again as it is in that
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translation or those
translations I mentioned.
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Galatians 5:7 notice
what he says, "you ran well. "
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Past tense. You had been
faithful, you ran well, but
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he says, "who hindered
you from obeying the truth?"
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So the point were wanting
to pick up on here is there
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is something about
this hearing of faith.
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We are going to be talking
about this today about what
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the hearing of faith is.
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While the people possess
the hearing of faith, they were
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obedient to the truth.
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But when they lost the hearing
of faith and began to turn
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to the works of the law, they
actually became disobedient.
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Which is interesting. -
it's just the opposite of what
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you would think because when
you think about the works of
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the law, you think law,
obedience and you think of the
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focus not on faith but on
obedience. - that's right!
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The reality is that according
to the epistle of Galatians
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when they began to focus
on the works of the law as a
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means of justification,
what they did was stop obeying
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the truth and this really
is not that surprising when you
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read the other
epistles of the apostle Paul.
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He draws it out in other places.
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I would like to point
to one of them and it is in
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Romans 10:1 he brings up
this same point and it starts
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this way, "brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God
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"for Israel is that they
may be saved. For I bear them
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"witness that they
have a zeal for God,
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"but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant
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"of God's righteousness,
and seeking to establish their
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"own righteousness,
have not submitted to the
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"righteousness of God. "
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So they were establishing
their own righteousness and
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it was a way for them to
not submit to the righteousness
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of God, so in many
cases. - there was an obedience
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it was actually a
substitute for obedience.
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Yeah, it was an obedience
to a standard that they had
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set up and they are the
ones who determined what was
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important and what wasn't
instead of trusting what God
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said was
important and what wasn't.
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That reminds me of another
example in the Old Testament
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Scripture in 1 Samuel during
the reign of Israel's first
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King Saul 1 Samuel 15,
Saul had a habit of doing that
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very thing of substituting
his own standard for God's
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standard and thinking that
would answer to the obedience
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that God was looking for.
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1 Samuel 15:22, Samuel had to
address Saul, God had commanded
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Saul through the
prophet Samuel that he was to go
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against his enemies and he
was going to the Amalekites
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to war against them
and to leave no one alive.
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It was an idolatrous
nation and they were not to take
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any spoils, it was customary
in those days to capture the
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foreign king because
then you could take glory to
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yourself because
you conquered that king,
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but God said leave nothing.
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Well Saul comes back from
that battle and he brings the
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livestock with him and
brings the King with him.
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He feels like he has done
what God has commanded him.
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So Samuel addresses him here
as he sees this and he says,
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In 22, "has the Lord as
great delight in burnt offerings
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"and sacrifices, As in
obeying the voice of the Lord?
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"Behold to obey is better
than sacrifice, and to heed
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"then the fat of rams.
For rebellion is the sin of
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"witchcraft," and if you
are reading along at home
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you'll notice that
'as' is italicized.
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That means it is not
there in the original.
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It would
originally read like this,
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rebellion is the
sin of witchcraft.
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He says who has bewitched
you? The issue is the exact
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same thing, Saul instead of
obeying the voice of the Lord
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was making certain personal
sacrifices and obeying in
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some areas instead of
rendering a full obedience.
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He was setting
his own standard up.
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You could say Saul was here
seeking justification by the
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works of the law, he
was coming up with his own
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idea and as long as he
did what he felt was the most
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important stuff that God
was asking him to do, it was
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okay if he weaved in
a little bit of his own.
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Really when we look at
this situation we find that
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sometimes we can set
certain things that we do that
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we are comfortable doing
and we are okay with doing,
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and those become what we
feel is most important because
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we are okay with them.
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By doing that it becomes a
substitute for obedience with
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our whole heart and our
whole life and that is exactly
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what happened back in Galatia.
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Circumcision became a
substitute for obedience.
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That's right and people
think of it as the opposite.
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They said no circumcision
was obedience, but it was only
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obedience in the context of a
heart that was surrender to God,
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where the flesh of the
heart was cut away right before.
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That's right, if you look
at it Paul was not doing what
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so many today would say he
is all you really need to do
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is believe, and this
whole idea of circumcision, law,
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that is unimportant
you just need to believe.
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Let's be honest about
this, if the apostle Paul was
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giving you the option,
or if you have the option
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to either just
believe and that is all
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you have to do,
or be circumcised.
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Which would be the
easier route? Well just believe.
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Circumcision was not exactly
a pleasant experience to go
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through. - not at all
is specially in a day that
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didn't employ a lot of
anesthesia or anything else.
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That's right, so clearly
Paul was not giving a just
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believe Gospel, he was a
gospel that called on them to
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do more than just
render this external obedience.
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And let's just clarify because
I know there will be some
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who will say my Bible says
he says just believe in the
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Lord Jesus
Christ. What we mean by a
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just believe Gospel is not
what Paul means when he says
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he believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and be saved.
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This is what we are greatly
talking about in the rest of
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our time here, but we
are addressing a belief that
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excludes obedience and
that is not a biblical teaching.
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We are going to
see that very clearly.
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The fact is you are saying
here this is something we see
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repeated in the
history of Israel.
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I'm thinking about Matthew
23 and the religion of the
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Pharisees and it
says in Matthew 23:23.
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"Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites!"
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Now that word hypocrite
comes from a Greek word that
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means an actor or a stage
player, you guys are actors,
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you are pretenders
that your religion.
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"Hypocrites! For you pay
tithe of mint and anise and
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Cumin, and have neglected
the weightier matters of the
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law: Justice and Mercy
and faith. These you ought to
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have done, without
leaving the others undone.
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Jesus didn't have any problem
that they were paying these
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tithes on these very
minute herbs, very small herbs.
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They were very particular,
Jesus never condemned the
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Pharisees for being a
particular, what the problem was
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is that they were over do
certain areas of obedience
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to compensate for what
they didn't want to do. So for
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example if they didn't
want to obey in one area they
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would figure well, I'll
go to church twice a week.
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- then they added their
own laws to that to make it
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okay. - if I'm with my
neighbor's wife but I will go
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to church more often and
pay more money and that may
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sound crazy but we do
that very thing today.
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That's what the Galatianism
was, we substitute what we
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feel is obedience instead
of rendering obedience in
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those areas we just don't
want to render obedience in.
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I think you hit the point
which is where you want to
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and where you don't want to.
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I'm mean obviously you are
not going to create a standard
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of righteousness, or what
you believe is important around
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things that you do not
feel comfortable doing.
00:11:10.38\00:11:12.70
You end up choosing, if
you feel comfortable with that,
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that becomes important
and the other things well
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at least you are doing these
so why do I need to do these?
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He reminds me of what we
talked about in our last episode
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where we brought
up Cain and Abel.
00:11:21.81\00:11:24.45
Cain and Abel were both
worshiping God, they were both
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many things that God
had asked. Cain did not do
00:11:28.57\00:11:32.59
everything that God
had asked because he felt
00:11:32.62\00:11:35.09
I'm already doing these
other things and just because
00:11:35.13\00:11:38.04
I don't bring the
lamb that God asked for
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I am worshiping God, I
am doing these other things.
00:11:40.84\00:11:44.28
He didn't truly sense that
he had a need and he needed
00:11:44.32\00:11:47.72
to trust what
God was telling him.
00:11:47.76\00:11:49.58
He had too much
confidence in himself.
00:11:49.62\00:11:51.38
That is right and he
really wasn't obeying God.
00:11:51.41\00:11:53.92
- that is the point I
wanted to make because most
00:11:53.95\00:11:57.29
Christians typically
assume right off the bat the
00:11:57.32\00:12:00.63
Pharisees their big
thing was obedience.
00:12:00.66\00:12:03.95
But it is really interesting
if we go to John 7 and ask
00:12:03.99\00:12:11.39
the question of people,
00:12:11.43\00:12:13.72
Who was more obedient
Jesus or the Pharisees?
00:12:13.75\00:12:17.75
Which Jesus or the
Pharisees? It is hard for people
00:12:17.78\00:12:22.75
to answer right away,
here is how I worded it,
00:12:22.78\00:12:25.60
lets ask it that way.
00:12:25.63\00:12:28.44
Who was more strict in
their observance of the law,
00:12:28.47\00:12:30.49
Jesus or the Pharisees?
00:12:30.52\00:12:32.46
Oh, the answer is
the Pharisees were.
00:12:32.50\00:12:34.33
But if you come to John
chapter 7 and the words of Jesus
00:12:34.36\00:12:37.38
himself in John 7:19
Jesus said to the Pharisees,
00:12:37.42\00:12:40.06
"did not Moses give you
the law, yet none of you keeps
00:12:40.10\00:12:44.53
the law?" And yet if we go
to John 15 where Jesus speaks
00:12:44.56\00:12:48.96
Himself as he sits in
John 15:10, "if you keep my
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commandments, you will
abide in my love, just as I have
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kept my Father's commandments
and abide in His love.
00:12:57.11\00:12:59.80
Now the point to be understood
is, but Pharisees were
00:12:59.84\00:13:02.49
not obedient to the law of God.
00:13:02.53\00:13:03.97
They were obedient to their
concept of law God which was
00:13:04.00\00:13:06.98
vastly different, they
were obedient to their own
00:13:07.01\00:13:09.43
standard that they had set up.
00:13:09.47\00:13:11.13
They were picking and
choosing what they were
00:13:11.17\00:13:13.15
comfortable with and
leave in undone because
00:13:13.19\00:13:15.08
they were feeling
they were all right because
00:13:15.12\00:13:16.98
they had tipped
the scales as it were.
00:13:17.02\00:13:19.47
So when we are talking about
obedience we're talking about
00:13:19.50\00:13:23.23
a heart obedience
that God is calling for.
00:13:23.27\00:13:26.09
One more point that I
would like to add into that is
00:13:26.13\00:13:29.19
when it talks in Galatians
about this justification
00:13:29.22\00:13:32.25
that doesn't come
by the works of the law
00:13:32.28\00:13:35.44
but by hearing a faith.
00:13:35.47\00:13:37.29
We remember that in
Romans 3:31 it says by faith we
00:13:37.32\00:13:41.54
established law so the
only way to truly have obedience
00:13:41.58\00:13:45.76
is through faith, the
works of the law which is
00:13:45.79\00:13:48.56
an avenue apart from
Christ, there is too much self-
00:13:48.59\00:13:51.78
confidence and we can
never be truly obedient to God
00:13:51.81\00:13:54.97
when we don't yield
ourselves to trust Him.
00:13:55.00\00:13:57.75
That is absolutely right.
00:13:57.78\00:13:59.25
Well we have some of the
things we want to jump into here
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but we are going to
take a break and we hope
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you stay with us and
we will be right back!
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