IN THE WORD DAILY

with Brother Rick

Galatians 5: 7- 9

  Ye did run well, who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?

V- 8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.

V- 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

As we discovered in the Paul's first epistle to the church in Corinth, the Galatian church also accused Paul of not being a true apostle. They claimed that Paul's gospel was not correct. There were heretics in Galatia who claimed that faith in Christ mixed with the keeping of the Mosaic law was the way to true salvation. Paul rebukes these heretics and reiterates the message of the gospel of grace. Paul preached the message of grace through faith in Christ Jesus, plus or minus NOTHING.

In our text, we see that the root of the problem of this heresy did not come from the circumstances of the times. They did not come from the oppression of the world. Notice in the text that Paul asked the question, WHO did hinder you? It was people, not circumstances who pulled believers away from the truth. Galatians 1: 10 says, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” In other words, Paul is telling these believers to keep their eyes off of people and keep them on the Lord. Keep your eyes off of circumstances and keep them on the Savior. Keep your eyes off of your problems and keep them on the problem Solver. Keep your eyes off of the world and keep them on the One who created the world.

As we move closer and closer to the day when Christ will come and take his church home, we must beware of those who will try to pervert the gospel of the grace of God and keep them in our cross hairs. It was people who spread the heresy that Paul is dealing with in this book. It was people who petitioned to have prayer taken out of schools. It was people who had the Ten Commandments taken off the courthouse property. It was people who took prayer out of the political arena. It was people who took Jesus out of the public eye. I have news for you friend, Jesus will not only be in the public eye, HE WILL RULE AND REIGN IN THE PUBLIC EYE FOR ALL TO SEE AND BOW AND WORSHIP. Take that to the bank!!!!!!!!

The point of the message is this: as we try to serve the Lord and live for God, we must keep in mind that we are in a spiritual battle and the devil uses people to get his work accomplished. Yes, he uses physical pain to abuse us. Look at Job, Satan covered his body with boils and sores, but Job kept on praising God. Yes, Satan uses financial destruction to steal our joy. Yes, he uses family tragedy to pull us away from the peace of God. But mostly, the devil uses people to accomplish his work. He uses family to discourage us from being faithful to church. He uses peer pressure to lead teenagers out into the world. He uses coworkers to rebel against biblical authority. If you will not obey parental authority, civil authority, and the authority appointed to us in the world, who you can see, how can you obey God, who you cannot see? Titus 3: 1 says, “Put them in mind to be subject to principalities, and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work.”

Paul's message to this church was simple. You cannot work your way into the favor of God. God gave up on the flesh in the garden of Eden. And we are at the mercy of Christ. We cannot approach God on our own merit. We cannot see God through our own eyes. We cannot please God in our flesh. 1 Corinthians 15: 50 says, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” Romans 8: 8 says, “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Our flesh profits us NOTHING. We are free from the power of sin today, not because of anything we did in our flesh, but we are free, because we trusted in the sacrifice Jesus made when he laid down his life and died for our sins. I'm not going to heaven today because I'm a Baptist. I'm not going because I turned over a new leaf. I'm not going because I go to the nursing home and visit the sick. I'm not going because I try to keep God's commandments.

I'M GOING TO HEAVEN BECAUSE I'VE BEEN TO CALVARY!!!!!!!!

The law has been satisfied, Jesus is our propitiation, and we are on our way home. Can't wait to get there. How about you?

Have A Blessed Day!!!