STUDIES IN GALATIANS

�� The author of a tract entitled Come To Jesus got engaged in a theological dispute, and he wrote another publication in which he cut his opponent to pieces with razor sharp sarcasm.� He let a friend read it and then asked if he had any suggestions for a title.� His friend said, "How about Go To The Devil by the author of Come To Jesus."� The author recognized the inconsistency and responded to the rebuke by not publishing the product of his anger.� Be ye angry and sin� not said Paul.� That is a easier thing to preach than to practice.� Many men of God have failed by displaying improper anger.� Moses let out a burst of rage and it cost him the privilege of entering the promised land.� Jonah's character will always be marred by the fact that he was angry at God's mercy being shown to those who deserve judgment.� The fact is, it is very hard for any servant of God to keep a proper balance, and be able to hate sin and love the sinner.

�� The book of Galatians is an example of the fact that it can be done.� This is the only letter we have by Paul that was obviously written in anger.� Paul was fighting mad as he dictated this Epistle.� He reveals more of his emotions in this letter than anywhere.� He is angry at the Judaisers for trying to get the Galatians to give up their liberty in Christ and go back under the law.� He is angry and frustrated at the Galatians because they are so foolish as to even consider such a move.�

�� Henricksen writes of the Epistle, "The spiritual atmosphere is charged.� It is sultry, sweltering.� A storm is threatening.� The sky is darkening.� In the distance one can see flashes of lightning....when each line of verses 1‑5 is read in the light of the letters occasion and purpose the atmospheric turbulence is immediately detected."� Every commentary points to the atmosphere of anger surrounding this letter.� Paul uses restraint in the first few verses, but as soon as he gets through the introduction he lets go with both barrels, and in verses 6‑9 he blasts both the Galatians for their folly in listening, and the Judaisers for their folly in preaching a perversion of the Gospel.� Let them be cursed says Paul, and then he repeats it for emphasis.�

�� Paul is angry because he loves Christ and the church too much to see it injured by the folly of man.� A study of this letter will not only help us grasp better what we have in Christ, but it will help us also to see just what we should get angry about as believers.� We are too often angry at the wrong things, and not angry about the things that made Paul angry.� Jesus and Paul both got angry when other people were being robbed of their liberty by legalism.�

�� Paul did not thank God for the Galatians, or for anything about them, as he does in all of his other letters. It is not only what he writes but what he leaves unwritten that tells us of his anger.� There is a legitimate place for anger in the Christian life, and even toward fellow Christians.� If it is handled properly it becomes a powerful blessing.� Paul's anger that motivated him to write this letter changed the course of human history.� We must grasp something of the background of this letter before we study its contents, or we will never come to appreciate its contents.�

�� All of the first Christians were Jews, and as Jews they continued to live under the law of Moses even as Christians.� They did not immediately throw off the Old Testament, for it was their Bible, and the law of Moses was still their guide, and the temple was still their holy place of worship.� Most all of the leaders of the early church were also Jews.� When Paul began to bring Gentile converts into the church, and establish Gentile churches, the Jewish leaders felt it was their duty to go to these Gentiles and make it clear to them what was required of them to be good Christians. �These Judaisers, as they were called, were sincere Christians, in many cases, who wanted to make sure the Gentiles obeyed the law of Moses.�

�� The problem was that they cast doubt on the sufficiency of Christ.� They said that faith in Christ was not enough, for you must also keep the law.� This was confusing to the Gentile Christians, but they had no basis to argue with men of authority.� They assumed that they must know what they were talking about, and since they wanted to do what God demanded they began to conform and make their Christianity a part of the Old Testament system of law.�

�� When Paul heard this he was angry, for this action robbed the Christian of the liberty that Christ brought, and put them back under legalism.� Galatians is the great proclamation of religious liberty in Christ.� G. Campbell Morgan said, "The essential message of the letter has to do with liberty."� Hendriksen called Galatians, "The Christian Declaration of Independence."� If Paul had not written this letter and fought against those who sought to lead Christians back into bondage to the law, Christianity may have become a mere branch on the tree of Judaism. Christians would have been just another sect like the Pharisees and Saducees.� Thanks to Paul the church escaped from the bondage and limitations of the law, and launched out into the vast uncharted world of the Gentiles with a message of good news to all people.

�� If Christianity would have had to require circumcision and dietary regulations of the law of Moses, it never would have had a universal appeal.� The whole mission and history of the church depended on Paul gaining a victory on this issue.� That is why this letter is one of the most revolutionary documents in the history of mankind.� We are what we are today in large measure due to this letter.� Wilbur M. Smith put it, "Had the Judaisers in the early church been allowed to force the Christian Gospel into a Judaistic strait jacket, the church would have always remained weak, narrow, and small, and you and I possibly would never have heard the Gospel."�

�� Merrill C. Tenney wrote, "Few books have had a more profound influence on the history of mankind... Christianity might have been just one more Jewish sect, and the thought of the Western world might have been entirely pagan had it never been written."� No wonder Luther loved this book so dearly.� It was the battle cry of the Reformation.� The battle Paul fought was fought all over again, and thanks to Paul's letter Christian liberty won out again over legalism and bondage to law.� Luther said, "The Epistle to the Galatians is my Epistle.� To it I am as it were in wedlock.� It is my Katherine."� I don't know how Katherine his wife felt about this competition, but thanks to Luther's love of Galatians.� We are under Protestant liberty rather than legalistic bondage.�

�� The value of this background is that it makes this letter exciting to study because it has already been a major influence in our lives, even if we have never read it.� The truth of this letter has benefited us even without us knowing it.� It becomes even more precious, however, as we enter consciously into its riches.� In our study we are not trying to understand something that is irrelevant, but we are trying to gain a deeper appreciation of what is highly irrelevant to our lives so that we can apply it more fully and personally.� A knowledge of this book will add greatly to the joy and liberty that is ours in Christ.� It will protect us from getting sidetracked in a world of many voices, and it will make us more effective communicators of the Gospel of grace.�

�� There are two extremes that people fall into in their search for the ideal life.� The one is legalism and the other is license.� The first says touch not, taste not, handle not, and the second says eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.� Neither of them represent the biblical path to the abundant life.� Paul in this letter shows us that the way to get the best of both of these extremes, and avoid the dangers of both, is by liberty in bondage to Christ.�

�� If you are a slave to anyone or anything but Christ you are in bondage, but if you are a slave to Christ, you are the most free of all people.� If the Son shall make you free you are free indeed.� You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.� This is what the Galatian letter is all about.� It is the Christian guide to the balance life of liberty.� Charles Erdman divides the book into three sections of two chapters each.� The first two deal with the Apostle of liberty; the second two with the doctrine of liberty, and the last two with the life of liberty.� We have then in this letter a personal, doctrinal, and practical perspective on Christian liberty.

�� Paul begins with the personal, and he exposes his soul for all to see.� We get to see Paul as never before.� We get to see him when he is angry and frustrated, and in a state of shocked bewilderment.� In the letter to the Philippians all is peace and joy, but in this letter we see him on the battlefield engaging the enemy.� His whole ministry is at stake, and the foundation of the Gospel is at stake, and he fights with all the weapons at his disposal.� The very fact that this letter exists teaches us plenty.�� It destroys completely the idea that the saints of God are meant to be happy little islands isolated from the turmoil of the world.� This letter shatters that myth and shows us that Christians are to be right in the middle of the battlefield.� There are always forces trying to move Christians off center and get them to go to one extreme or the other, and so we must constantly fight for liberty and balance.�

�� One of the paradoxes of life that stands out here is the fact that it was other Christians who caused Paul his grief and heartache.� Paul could glory in his sufferings at the hands of unbelievers for the sake of the Gospel, but there was nothing to rejoice about when Christians perverted the Gospel and tried to ensnare others, and destroy his work and authority.� The Judaisers accused Paul of getting so involved with the Gentiles that he had gone astray and had forsaken the law of Moses.� They cast doubt on Paul's authority and threatened to undermine all he had done in bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles.�

�� All of this was done by sincere Christians who disagreed with Paul and his approach to the Gentiles.� We see the paradox of Christian history here.� Most men of God have their greatest problems, not in relation to the world, but in relation to other groups of Christians who disagree with their emphasis.� Being stoned and blasted by the world is almost pleasure compared to the criticism and folly one has to endure from others within the kingdom.� Paul would have been able to say amen to this poem:

To live above with the saints we love

Oh that will be glory.

But to live below with the saints we know

That's a different story.

�� Galatians is a record of just how serious and harmful the battles can be within the body of Christ when any portion of the body gets off center and begins to teach anything that robs Jesus of His sovereign role as all‑sufficient Savior.� Liberty in Christ means that there is only one requirement to be a Christian, and that is faith in Christ.� Any other requirement is imposed by men and is a threat to both our liberty and the sufficiency of Christ as Savior.� It is sad but it is a fact of life that the fight for Christian liberty and balance is as much a fight with other Christians as it is with the world.

�� As Christians we are constantly facing appeals to jump on the bandwagon of other Christians and go off the deep end of one extreme or the other.� Satan knows there is great power when the church is united and that it becomes weak and ineffective when it fights itself and create division.� That is why the church is constantly being broken into divisive groups who have their own pet theology, and that is why it is so important to study this letter of Paul that will help us stay on the right track and maintain our liberty in Christ.�

2. AN APOSTLE OF AUTHORITY�� Based on Gal. 1

�� Charles Dickens tells of how men react to bad news.� Martin Chuzzlewit learns that the 50 acre tract in America in which he had invested all his savings turns out to be a hideous swamp.� He sinks into a fever because of his sorrow, but Mark Topley who savings were also sunk in that same swamp refuses to be overpowered by calamity.� He gives himself a blow on the chest and says to himself, "Things is looking as bad as they can look, young man.� You'll not have such another opportunity for showing your jolly disposition, my fine fellow, as long as you live.� And, therefore, now is the time to come out strong, as never!"

�� This is the very kind of positive thinking that must have gone through Paul's mind when he heard that his investment in the Galatian church was threatened. He had preached his heart out to these people, and now they were ready to forsake their freedom in Christ and enter into the bondage of the law.� Paul could have thrown his hands up in despair and given up on the Galatians.� He could have layed down and died of grief at his loss and the terrible fickleness of human nature, but instead he said, now is the time to be strong.� If ever I spoke with authority to defeat the forces of evil, it must be now or never.� Paul did not greet bad news with an attitude of defeat, but with an attitude of determination to never admit defeat.� This letter was his weapon, and it has been the primary tool for many a victory since.

�� Paul must have said I'll never have a greater opportunity to defend the Gospel of grace than this, and so I must come out strong now or never!� The first thing Paul does in this letter is to defend his authority as an Apostle.� Paul usually just states the fact of his authority, but here he is fighting those who reject his authority, and so we see the letter is different right from the start.� We usually skip through Paul's introductions with little attention.� Quite often the preface or the introduction is skipped to get right to the body of a book.� I use to do it all the time until I realized that the key for a full appreciation of the book is often found in the introduction.� Information on the author and his or her background, and what they had in mind in writing the book, can make the book so much more meaningful.�

�� The Bible is often boring to people because its historical setting is not grasped.� We cannot see how it relates to our lives because we have not taken the time to understand its original setting and the purpose for which is was written.� We must be able to enter into the emotions of Paul's letter and understand what he is doing if we are to appreciate its relevance for today.� The best of Bible students have their dry days, however.� John Bunyan wrote in his Grace Abounding, "I have sometimes seen more in a line of the Bible then I could well tell how to stand under, and yet at another time the whole Bible has been to me as dry as a stick; or rather my heart has been so dead and dry unto it that I could not conceive the least dram of refreshment, though I looked it all over."

�� We cannot escape the dry spells of life, but these are of little consequence in our lives if we develop the habit of finding refreshment at the fountain of the Word regularly.� One of the ways to add value to Bible study is to get all the information you can on the author and his purpose.� We want to do just that with this letter to Galatians.� The more we can understand Paul's feelings and intentions the more meaningful this letter will be.�

�� Let's begin with the name Paul.� We all know that Paul's name is Saul in the book of Acts when he first appears on the stage of biblical history.� After his conversion and his appointment as God's ambassador to the Gentiles he is called Paul.� Many have assumed that his name was changed, but the likelihood is that he had both names from birth.� This is the conviction of men like J. Gresham Machen and John Brown, who are great scholars on the life of Paul.� Their reasoning makes sense.� As a Pharisee it was natural for Paul to go by the name of Saul.� This was his Jewish name, but when he became Apostle to the Gentiles it was equally natural for him to go by his Roman name of Paul.� He was a Roman citizen by birth, and so it is likely that he was given this Roman name at birth.� Paul means little or small, and is a name more likely to be given to a little baby than one given to a grown man at the time of his conversion.

�� God chose this man even before his birth to accomplish the great task of getting the Gospel to the Gentiles, and one of the ways of preparing him �was to see that he was born in Tarsus, a great Gentile center, where he would be exposed to the very people and culture he would spend his life reaching.� He had his Roman citizenship at birth, and likely also his Gentile name of Paul.

AN APOSTLE.� An Apostle is one sent with the authority with the one who sends.� There are other words for send in the New Testament, but this word for Apostle stresses that the one sent has the authority of the one who is sending, and is also fully responsible to the sender.� In Heb. 3:1 Jesus is called the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.� He spoke to us more directly from God than did Moses, and he speaks directly to God on our behalf.� The term Apostle carries in it the idea of highest authority.� Communication with an Apostle is dealing as direct as possible, unless it be face to face.� Jesus bestowed the highest dignity on his Apostles when He said in John 17:18, "As the Father has sent me into the world, so send I you."� An Apostle is one who speaks for Christ directly, and with His approval and authority.

�� Paul says his authority is not for men.� He does not waste any time before he gets to the real issues.� He begins to defend his authority immediately.� He says right off that he is not an Apostle because of human agency, but he has his authority directly from God.� You don't go around defending your credentials like this unless someone is attacking them.� Paul is making clear he is equal with the twelve Apostles in authority.� It is obvious that the Judaisers have tried� to undermine Paul's ministry by attacking his authority.� They apparently accused him of being a maverick who has gone off on a tangent and whose doctrines threaten to overthrow the foundations of true religion, by which they meant the Old Testament laws.

�� They could say that Paul was not chosen by Christ as were the other Apostles.� They said he received his authority from men.� These were very serious charges, and you can see how easy it would have been to get Gentiles to question Paul's authority.� Who was he to tell them what God required when others were telling them the law of Moses was their foundation?� Paul knows that the cause of Christian liberty in Christ depends upon the Galatians respect for his authority.� If they are not convinced that he bears the authority of an ambassador sent directly by God, they will follow those authorities who are coaxing them to submit to the law of Moses.

�� The first major issue of this letter, therefore, is the issue of authority.� Either the Galatians are obligated to obey the revelation that God gave to Moses, or God has given a new revelation of liberty in Christ through the Apostle Paul.� Which they follow depends upon their being convinced that Paul is truly God's spokesman, and not just the agent of men who are sponsoring a new approach to religion.� There is probably no issue that is more relevant to every age than the issue of authority.� Everything we are and believe is based on some authority.� The authorities we accept determine what we become.�

�� If we accept the authority of the book of Mormon, we will be Mormons.� If we yield to the authority of the Koran, we will be Mohammedan.� If we buy into the views of Jehovah Witnesses, we will become one.� We are creatures of authority.� We do not swallow color liquid by the tablespoon because we have studied its nature.� We take it on the authority of others who say it will help a problem.� Because this is so, it is very important to determine the validity of any authority.� We cannot afford to just accept any authority.� We have an obligation to investigate and prove the worth of any authority.� Paul makes this clear by the very fact of the existence of this letter.� It is in large measure a defense of his authority.� He did not just say he was an authority.� He had to prove it and demonstrate the validity of his claim to be a spokesman for God.

�� We take Paul's authority for granted, but the early church did not.� They had no New Testament to go by.� They had only the Old Testament and Paul was challenging the authority of its laws.� That is why he had to show to the Galatians how God worked in his life, and how the truth of the Gospel makes the law obsolete.� He had to show by sound argument and historical facts that it was so.� He had to show them how his battle for the truth of Christian liberty even won out over the Apostle Peter.� This was the kind of evidence that was necessary to convince them that his authority was equal to the Twelve.�

�� Paul is not being proud in this letter when he speaks of the other Apostles as adding nothing to him.� If you don't know the great issue behind this letter, you might think that Paul had little respect for the Twelve when he visited them in Jerusalem.� In chapter 2 Paul refers to those of repute and in verse 6 says, "What they were makes no difference to me, God shows no partiality."� You can only grasp what Paul is doing here when you know that he is defending his authority as an Apostle equal to the other Apostles.� God chose him for an unique ministry to the Gentiles just as He chose Peter for a ministry to the Jews.� Paul is not being disrespectful, but he is trying to show that the Judaisers are wrong when they deny his authority, and say it is of man.� He proves it is of God by showing that the other Apostles had to acknowledge his authority.�

�� All through history the primary battle has been the one over authority.� Paul won out and the New Testament became the primary authority for the church.� In time there were traditions that came to have an equal place with the Scripture as a source of authority in the church.� What the early church fathers believed was quoted as an authoritative guide, and not because it was necessarily biblical, but because of who they were.�� The church began to substitute the authority of men for the Word of God.� The church places men's interpretation of the Word of God on a level equal to the Word itself.� This robbed the Word of its authority, and put it into the hands of men.�

�� One of the purposes of the Reformation was to restore the Word of God to its place as the soul authority for faith and practice.� Whatever can be demonstrated to be biblical becomes authoritative for the church.� Many groups claim to support all kinds of contradictory ideas on Scripture, however, and, therefore, there is no way to escape the need to appeal to reason.� We must give sufficient evidence to show that a view is truly the message God has conveyed through His Word.� Paul defends his authority by appealing to evidence.� The mind must be convinced before any authority can be accepted.� Reason is not the ultimate authority, but it is necessary to combine it with the revelation of God.�

�� Our minds must be persuaded concerning any view of Scripture before we can honestly accept a view as the Word of God.� We must demand of any interpretation what Paul gives to the Galatians to support his teaching on justification by faith, and that is reasonable evidence which makes it superior to any� rival claim.� Paul goes into all sorts of arguments to show that faith in Christ alone is all that God requires, and that the law is now obsolete as a means of salvation.� He gives the Galatians evidence to satisfy their minds.� He knows that the truth can only survive by minds being persuaded that it is in fact the truth.�

�� So often Christians give the impression that the truth of God's Word is different than any other kind of truth, but not so.� It must appeal to and persuade the mind before it is believed and submitted to as authority.� Several centuries ago Cotton Mather, the great American Puritan, gave this as the Puritan view of the relation of reason and revelation:� "The light of reason is the law of God, the voice of reason is the voice of God. We never have to do with reason but at the same time we have to do with God, and our submission to the rules of reason is an obedience to God., As often as I have evident reason set before me let me think upon it. Therein the great God speaks to me."

�� Paul certainly believe this, even though he knew the mind of fallen man was depraved and its wisdom folly. He urged Christians to let the mind of Christ be in them and to be transformed by the renewing of their minds, for it is the mind that he appeals to all along in defending his authority. He calls them foolish for not seeing the obvious evidence of the truth of the Gospel. He goes to great length to make it clear to them that God has demonstrated in his life the truth of the Gospel he preaches. Evidence and argument is what this letter is all about.� He spent his life in debate and argument proving that Jesus was the Messiah and that we are saved by faith in Him.

�� What does this mean for us today? It means that the power of persuasion is the greatest power their is for the capturing of men's minds. Men will accept as their authority for life that which has enough evidence to persuade them that it is God's Word to them.� Christians who are truly concerned about the truth will be open to new light, and be ever in search for more evidence to support his convictions.� No Christian can have a valid reason to oppose scholarship and the search for more light to give us a better understanding of the Word of God. It is not the Bible only that is the Word of God, but the Bible rightly interpreted and understood. Many texts of the Bible are used to teach error and even heresy.

�� Paul got his revelation direct from God, but it comes to us through the agency of men. His Greek letters have had to come to us by means of men who put it into English. In a day of many translations we need to recognize that none of them are the final authority.� We need to study all that the Bible says on an issue and not just take any text and build our theology on that. We need to examine all the evidence and be fully persuaded in our minds that a certain teaching is the Word of God.� If opinions differ, then we need to weigh the evidence for the different views and choose that which is most reasonable and which has the most evidence to support it.� We are in the same boat as the Galatians who had to weight Paul's reasons for his authority. This is part of what it means to be loving God with all or our minds.

3. A LIVING AUTHORITY base on Gal. 1:1ff

�� A Christian school teacher offered a dollar to the one who could give her the name of the most famous man in history. She wanted them to say Jesus, of course. They all began to shout out names like Washington, Lincoln, Edison, and Columbus, and finally a little Jewish boy said Jesus. When he came up to get his dollar the teacher asked him, "You are a Jewish boy, why did you say Jesus?" He said, "I wanted to say Moses, but business is business."

�� Paul was under great pressure to choose Moses also as the greatest authority in the realm of religion. The Judaisers demanded it and were accusing him of error in not giving Moses his rightful place. Paul, however, also felt that business was business and his business was to exalt the Living Christ to the place of supreme authority. The issue of authority was crucial to Paul and has been ever since. John R. Stott wrote, "After the question of religion itself, which involves the nature of God's being and activity, the next most vital question is that of authority." It was a key issue in the life of Jesus also. The people heard him gladly because he spoke with authority and not as the scribes.

�� When Jesus was about to leave this earth he said, "All power in heaven and on earth is given unto me..." The Greek word is exousia which means authority. Jesus is the final and ultimate authority in the universe. It is Paul's goal to see that Christians put Jesus where He belongs, and that is in the place of supreme authority.

�� Sir Bernard Lovell, Prof. Of Radio Astronomy at the University of Manchester tells of the financial troubles they had in construction of the radio telescope at Jadrell Bank. One of his colleagues said to him jokingly, "Why don't you issue a gramophone record with some strange noises on it and claim that you have received messages from intelligent beings on the planet Mars? The sales would be immense and our financial problems at an end!" Dr Lovell responded that our authority and careers in scientific research would also be at and end." Any authority that cannot hold up under investigation will collapse and that is why any ideas than men to endure has to be supported by unimpeachable authority.� That is why Paul begins his letter to the Galatians by stating that his authority is not based on the sand of human sources , bur on the solid rock of the will of Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead.

�� Paul makes reference to the resurrection of Christ n this first verse, not just because it is a precious truth, but because it is so relevant to the battle he is fighting here. He wants to establish right from the start that there is a great contrast between the authority of those who oppose him and himself. His authority is not the dead letter of the law, but the Living Lord. The Judaisers look to a book, while he looks to the author of the book, and that is the risen Lord who is guiding his people into new light. He has fulfilled the law and now has a new and final revelation for his people.

�� Paul knew he had an advantage over his opponents because of the Living Christ. They tried to make it sound like he could not be equal with the 12 Apostles because he was not selected by Christ in his earthly ministry. Paul countered that argument by reminding them that he was the only Apostle selected by the risen and ascended Lord. His was the only appointment made directly from heaven.� Imagine that your mother left you with a note to shovel the driveway when you get home from school. And as you are getting ready to do it she comes home and says never mind the neighbor is going to do it with his power mower. Would you ignore the living revelation of this change of plans, or would you persist in keeping the letter of the law that you have in print? You would recognize that the note has been made void and obsolete by the living voice of the author of it.

�� Paul's reference to the risen Christ is not incidental, but is a vital factor in Paul's defense. It is the living authority of Christ as opposed to the dead authority of Moses that is the issue here. The mere claim is not enough in itself, however, for if it was we would be obligated to listen to the authority of all the cults and false teachers who make great claims to authority.� Paul goes on and gives evidence to support his claim. This whole letter is an appeal to the minds of the Galatians. Paul is saying "Look at the facts of my life and examine the doctrines that I preach in the light of the way God has worked in history. Then you will see it is nothing short folly to reject the truth that I have brought to you."

�� Once the authority of Paul was established and the truth of the Gospel of grace was established, then those who followed him did not need to receive their authority directly from Christ. It does not make any difference who preaches the Gospel now, for it is the revelation of God, and even if one does not believe it, if he preaches it there can be results for the kingdom of God. It is the power of God unto salvation, and an atheist could explain the Gospel to someone and they could receive Christ as Savior and have eternal life.� The authority of the Gospel no longer depends upon the authority of the people who preach it. It did with Paul, however, and that is why this defense of his authority is such a vital factor in the history of the church.� It was a battle that Paul had to win, and we can all thank God that he did.

�� Paul did not abuse his authority, but took the matter very seriously.� When he wrote to the Corinthians on some issues of which he had no direct word from Christ he made it clear that he was only sharing his enlightened convictions, and not speaking with the authority of a spokesman directly from God.� Only a man with a very high view of his responsibility as a spokesman for God would call attention to the fact that he did not always speak with equal authority.

�� Many godly people through the ages have spoken with deep conviction on every subject under the sun.� We can respect their convictions, and possibly even agree that they were right in the context of which they spoke.� However, the Christian of today cannot rely on the authority of people of the past.� The battle of the Reformation was over the issue of the authority of the church and its decisions of the past.� The Catholic church took the position that it could never be wrong in its official teaching.�� This has been a tough view to defend in the light of the folly of the past.

�� The Reformed position denied that absolute authority of the church.� The Westminister Confession states it clearly.� "The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error.....all synods or councils since the time of the Apostles, whether general or particular, may err, and may have erred; therefore, they are not to be made the rule of faith or practice, but to be used as a health in both."

�� It is a hard paradox to accept sometimes, but the fact is, the only way to keep Jesus and His Word as our absolute authority is to be constantly questioning the authority of those who claim to speak for Him.� It is a sign of immaturity to never question authority.� The child whose parents tell him there is no God, and that religion is of no value, will never be a mature person if he does not question that authority.� The child whose parents tell him his church and his denomination has all the truth,� and that all others are wrong, will never be a mature Christian if he never rebels against that authority.� No Christian is truly mature until they come to the point where they live under the direct authority of the living Christ.�

�� The goal of the Christian home, and the ministry of the church, is to bring people to this point.� I don't want my children to believe the Bible is God's Word because I say so, but because they have themselves listened to God speak to them through it.� A parent and a pastor is something like the law, which was an instrument or school master to bring people to Christ.� The goal is not to get people to believe them, but to believe Christ and submit to His authority.� If we do not accomplish this, and send youth off into the world believing only on the basis of the authority of men, they will be tempted to overthrow that authority, for it is not based on their experience with the living Christ.� It is based on the experience of others.��

�� A teacher can tell students that Shakespeare is great, but they will leave school and never read Shakespeare again unless they experience the greatness of his writings.� So it is with music and every other subject.� The student can be told of how wonderful Beethoven is, but they will never really know in a lasting way until they experience the wonder themselves.�� So it is in our relationship to Christ.� He must become for us what He was to Paul, and be a vital living authority in our lives.�

�� The Greek word for authority is exousia which means, "Out of that which is ones very own."� Only the Christian who settles the issue of authority can have any authority and assurance.� I can be told that God forgives me, but that will not bring peace of mind unless I accept the forgiveness personally.� I must enter into the direct authority of God's Word, and not try to live on the basis of indirect authority.�

�� We have spent a lot of time looking a this issue of authority because it was the key issue in the battle Paul is fighting in this letter.� It is also a key issue in each of our lives.� The only way to avoid becoming a legalist is to keep ever conscious of the fact that the living Christ is our ultimate authority.� The philosophy popularize many years ago by Sheldon in his book In His Steps is valid yet today.� Keep asking yourself in all the decisions of life, "What would Jesus do?"

�� There are many moral issues that Christians must struggle with that have no specific answer in the Bible.� We are in the same boat Paul was in when the Corinthians asked him about a number of issues concerning marriage problems.� In I Cor. 7 he admits he had no specific revelation, so he had to wrestle his way to a conclusion seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.� In Rom. 14:5 he says of issues like meat offered to idols and observance of special days, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."� The point I am trying to drive home is this:� When we have no written authority to determine our position, we must come to a decision based on evidence and argument.� We must be persuaded in our minds that our conclusion is consistent with the mind of Christ.� Only then are we loving God with all our mind, and only then are we acting responsibly under the authority under the living Christ.

4. THE PESSIMIST AND THE OPTIMIST� Based on�� Gal. 1:4

�� Sam Levenson told of how his father took the 6 children, chained hand to hand, through a museum.� Suddenly, in irritation at the slowness of their progress, he said, "Look kids, if you're gonna stop and look at everything, you ain't gonna see nothin."� Anyone who has been in a large museum can understand the paradox.� When my father‑in‑law and I had only a few hours to get through all the buildings in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., we had to practically run.� We felt the full force of the fatherly wisdom, and we knew we couldn't stop to see everything, or we wouldn't have seen anything.

�� The Bible is even more vast in its treasures than any museum, and we don't have an infinite amount of time to examine them, and so this truth applies to our study of the Bible.� Grace and peace are two of the greatest treasures that can be found in the Word of God, but we are not going to stop and look at them now.� We are going right to verse 4 which is an exciting verse because it gives us a view of life from Paul's perspective.� This verse shows us that the Christian view of life is a paradox, for it is both pessimistic and optimistic.� The Christian can combined these two opposites in his mind at the same time.� We want to examine them one at a time to see how this can be so.� First let's look at Paul's‑

I. PESSIMISM

�� Paul refers to this present evil world, or this present evil age.� The Greek word is aeon, and it refers to the world as viewed from the standpoint of time and change.�� It is this present transitory era.� It is present as distinct from the original creation, and the final state of things.� The present world is disordered, and not the kind of world that was, or will be.�

�� Keep in mind that Paul was talking about the first century.� It is foolish to talk about the good old days of the church.� The church never did live in good days, and never has, for the present evil age covers all days from Paul's time to ours.� If you wish you would have lived in Paul's day, you will only be wishing yourself back to an evil age.� If men could travel back in time, no matter where they stopped, they would still in be the present evil age where Satan reigns in the hearts and minds of rebel men.�

�� That sounds like kind of pessimistic view of life, and the reason it sounds that way is because it is.� Every generation of men have added another chapter to the history of evil.

My granddad viewing earth's worn cogs,

�� Said things are going to the dogs;

His granddad in his house of logs

�� Swore things were going to the dogs;

His granddad in his old skin togs

�� Said things were going to the dogs.

�� Author unknown

�� There is no way to get back to the good old days, because they are nowhere back there.� The good days are all out ahead, for the best is always yet to be for the believer.� Paul was a positive thinker, but he was also a realist.� You do not have deny the reality of evil to be an optimist. Christian Science has tried that road, and the latest statistics tell us they are failing.� You cannot deny the reality of this present evil world and fool most people any of the time.� Evil is real, and the� Christian who is wise and honest and not pretend it isn't so.�

�� Paul believed in evil and in its power.� He suffered much pain and sorrow because of the opposition of men, and that was not even the worst of it.� The real battle was not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual forces of evil.� Paul warned believers of many dangers of life, and he urged them to put on the whole armor of God.� The Christian does not dwell in a paradise, but on a battlefield.� In any war there are casualties on both sides, and Christians do suffer in the battle of light against darkness.� The point I am getting at is that the Christian does have a legitimate pessimistic perspective.� It is a present evil world, and all around us the forces of evil are active, and they often succeed in making life miserable for the children of God.

�� It was Paul's honest awareness of the reality of evil that made him so concerned about his converts.� He was writing this very letter because of the threat of evil to destroy the fruit of the Gospel.� In chapter 6 he urges them to bare one another's burdens, and to rescue the fallen brother.� This implies that we live in a present evil world where the battle never ceases.� Paul saw all of the reality of life's evil, and he experienced much of it against himself, but he never became a sour pessimistic skeptic like so� many who have suffered.� For example, Mark Twain summed up human experience in these pathetic words.�

"A myriad men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle

�� for bread; they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble

for mean advantages over each other.� Age creeps upon them;

infirmities follow; those they love are taken from them.� At

length ambition is dead; pride is dead; longing for release

is in their place.� Death comes at last‑the only unpoisoned

gift earth ever had for them‑and they vanish from a world

where they were of no consequence."

�� History is filled with men who were so captivated by the reality of evil that they could not see beyond it.� Out of their dark and dismal perspective came philosophies that have multiplied the world's miseries.� Schopenhaur and Neitzsche were so pessimistic that had they been God they would have drown the world and done it up right with no ark.� Their pessimistic views of life produced men like Hitler who could feel that might is right, and its every man for himself.� When you see only the power of evil, you submit to that power, and you become yourself and instrument of evil.� This leads to either self‑destruction, or the destruction of others.� Dorothy Parker expressed the minds of many pessimists in poetry.

There's little in taking or giving,

There's little in water or wine;

This living, this living, this living,

Was never a project of mine.

Oh, hard is the struggle and spare is

The gain of one at the top,

For art is a form of catharsis

And love is a permanent flop.

And work is the province of cattle

And rest's for a clam in the shell,

So I'm thinking of throwing the battle‑

Will you kindly direct me to hell?

�� It is not likely that a believer would fall so low as this, but it is possible for a believer to get so entangled with the pessimistic view of life that he become a hindrance rather than a help.� It is possible for a Christian to be part of the problem instead of part of the answer.� Stewart Hamblen, after his conversion to Christ, said that his greatest stumbling block was not his old cronies out in the world, but the skeptical Christians waiting and watching for him to stumble.� He said, "Nothing in the world is more beautiful than a new Christian before he has gotten around some old Christians."� Hamblen is himself in danger here of getting overly pessimistic.� Not all old Christians are a hindrance as he implies.� Pessimism is a� real and legitimate perspective, but unless it is balanced by a strong Christian optimism, it becomes a terrible perversion in the Christian life.� We need to look at how Paul balanced his pessimism concerning the present evil world with a positive optimism concerning deliverance from it.�

II. PAUL'S OPTIMISM.

�� Paul says in this first verse that it is possible to experience the grace of God and enjoy peace, even in this present evil world because Jesus gave Himself for our sin to deliver us from it.� This doctrine of deliverance is what brings the sun of optimism into this dark world.� The deliverance is just as real as the sin.� The pessimist is right, but so is the optimist, and that is why the Christian with the total view is both.� If the Christian is looking at the present evil world, he must naturally face the facts and be skeptical about man's schemes to bring about a paradise.� He knows the sinful nature of man will corrupt every ideal that humanism can create.

�� On the other hand, when the Christian looks at the cross, and sees what Christ has done for man's sin he is an incurable optimist.� He recognizes that every man can attain perfection and paradise in Christ.� There is an answer, and there is a way out.� Deliverance is possible from this present evil world, for that is what the Gospel is all about.

�� Shopenhour was a terrible pessimist, and he said if he could conduct the optimists through the hospitals, prisons, and battlefields of the world they would soon lose their optimism.� He knew of the reality of evil, but what he didn't know was the reality of deliverance from evil. Christian optimist like Paul are not unaware of the tragedy and misery in the world.� On the contrary, they are the ones who are doing something about it, for they know something can be done.

�� The pessimist only complains in despair and adds to the darkness, but the Christian optimist brings light into the darkness.� It has been Christian optimists that have done more to relieve human misery around the world than anyone else.� They have labored in the realm of medical missions, prison reform, aid to orphans, widows, and the handicapped.�� The heroes of history have been optimists who did not hide their head in the sand and deny evil, but who looked it square in the face, and by the grace of God brought deliverance.

�� Jesus entered this vale of tears to die for the sins of man, and to offer a way out of all the evils of this present world.� In Luke 4:18 Jesus read a prophecy from Isaiah that He said He came to fulfill.� "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.� He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed."�

�� This present evil world is heading toward a day when the kingdoms of this world shall be the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.�� Meanwhile, even in the midst of evil the Christian is an optimist because he has a message of hope and victory to offer the world.� Sin has been conquered, and those who trust in Christ will be delivered from this present evil world.�

�� Paul suffered as much as any man because of the sin and folly of man.� He spent much time in the darkness of a dungeon because he sought to spread the message of light.� It was indeed a present evil world for Paul, but he could still sing in the dungeon because he was an optimist.

Despite the ancient evil;

Despite the jaws of darkness;

Despite the fear of death,

Rage, O world, snarl and spring:

Calm and confident,

Here I stand and sing.

�� Author unknown

�� Paul would not allow the reality of evil to rob him of his joy in the reality of deliverance from evil.� Too often the Christian allows the negatives of life to get his goat.� That expression comes from a practice of owners of high‑strung race horses.� They kept a goat in the stall with these sensitive horses because the very presence of the calm and relaxed goat help the horse to relax.� On the day before a very important race a rival would steal another owner's goat.� This would make the horse nervous so it would not run at its best.� Someone got his goat. The world gets our goat when it so overwhelms us with the reality that it is a present evil world.� We often take our eyes off Christ, and we forget that in Him we can have peace and joy, for He has overcome the world.� We must always keep the whole picture in mind so we can always be both pessimists and optimists.�

5. THE ATTRIBUTES OF OPTIMISM� Based on Gal. 1:5

�� Bob Harrington tells of how he was standing on the street preaching when an angry bartender took a mug of beer and poured it on his head.� He said to the bartender, "Come here."� When he came over he said to him, "I want to thank you for that."� The bartender said, "You want to thank me for that?"� "Yes," said Harrington, "I want to thank you for that because it makes me realize I am saved.� If I didn't have the Lord in my heart I would have stomped you through that blacktop."� The bartender responded, "I'm glad you are saved too preacher."�

�� The real test of your Christian character is how you react to negatives.� If you meet negatives with negatives, your life has not risen above the level of the world.� To get angry at one who is angry at you is the path of least resistance, and is a path the weakest can travel.� It takes spiritual strength to be kind to one who is angry, and to be patient in a time of affliction.� Anyone can say praise the Lord and hallelujah when all their dreams are coming true, and they don't have an enemy in the world.� Unfortunately, that state of life doesn't last long, if it ever comes.� Therefore, the real test of Christian optimism is seeing in how a believer reacts when the road gets rough.�

�� This letter to the Galatians gives us a beautiful opportunity to see how a great optimist like Paul reacts to negatives.�� His labor is being undone, and all his fruit is threatened.� Everything seems to be going against him, and he is under heavy attack from the Judaizers.� There is no question about the fact that he is deeply disappointed at the turn of events in the Galatians church.� He is clearly aggravated and angry.� Now is the time to look at Paul's attitudes to see the foundation for his optimism.� It was easy to be optimistic in his letter to the Philippians.� He could overflow with rejoicing, for they were doing wonderful in their growth in grace.� The Galatians church is a different story, and it is here that we should look for the clues as to how to be an optimist in negative circumstances.�

�� In verse 5 Paul ends his introduction with a doxology.� He reaches a high note of positive optimism before he plunges into the negative task of rebuke and defense.� This doxology is the point from which Paul launches his attack, for it is the basis for his incurable optimism.� He has to fight a battle on the level of this present evil world, but as he just stated, in Christ we are delivered from this present evil world.� In any battle the forces that control the high points have the advantage.� Paul makes it clear in his introduction to this battle that he is about to enter that he does so from the high point of advantage.� The very Gospel he is defending is a Gospel of deliverance from the world.� He will not be fighting on the level of those who attack him with their narrow, limited, and pessimistic views, but on a level far above that, which is made possible by Christ who enables us to rise above the world.�

�� This deliverance from the low level of the world, which is bound by sin, to the heights of freedom in Christ is, says Paul, according to the will of our God and Father.� Just knowing it is God's will that the Gospel of deliverance is a reality assures Paul that he cannot lose in his fight for its defense.� He ends with the doxology in which we see three attitudes expressed which become the foundation of an incurable and unchangeable optimism.� First is‑

I. THE ATTITUDE OF PRAISE.

�� "To whom be glory forever and ever."� The glory is for both the Father who willed it, and the Son who won it.� What has been accomplished by Christ is a fact that can never be altered, and whatever evil perversions enter the world, nothing can change the fact that the Gospel of deliverance is a reality.� Knowing this, Paul gives this victory shout of praise, even before he begins the fight.� You cannot defeat a man who knows he cannot lose, and the man who knows that is a perpetual man of praise.� As long as a believer maintains a proper perspective on what God's will has already accomplished he cannot help but have an attitude of praise.�

�� Glory has many meanings in Scripture, but here it is synonymous with praise.� Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, means praise be to the three Persons of the Godhead.� Glory often refers to the dazzling splendor of His nature also, but that never changes.� Paul is not referring to unchangeable glory of God, but to that glory or praise that God receives from men because of their deliverance from the present evil world.� This is a glory that can vary in quantity, quality, and intensity.� Paul uses this phrase so frequently it is as if it was his constant prayer that believers enter more often into the realm of praise.� If the Galatians would have constantly praised God for their deliverance in Christ, they would not be tempted to rely on the law for their deliverance.� A breakdown in praise can lead us into all kinds of foolish things, but an attitude of praise keeps us ever dependant upon God, and every in a state of optimism.

�� In Rom. 11:36 Paul ends that chapter with these words:� "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.� To Him be glory forever.� Amen."� He ends the letter to Romans in 16:27 with, "To the only wise God be glory for evermore through Jesus Christ!� Amen."� We cannot look at all the praises which Paul offers to God, but just a few of them show why Paul was an optimist no matter what.� Every time he thought of the completed redemption he had in Christ, that no circumstance on earth could ever change, he broke forth into a doxology of praise.� When he wrote to Timothy about how God chose him as the chief of sinners to be an example of His grace to others who would believe and receive eternal life in Christ, he could not hold back the praise, and he concluded in I Tim. 1:17, "To the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.� Amen."�

�� When he thought of his own deliverance from the present evil world he praised God.� In the second letter to Timothy he faced so many negative circumstances.� He faced death in prison, and he knew the time of his departure had come.� Demas had forsaken him, and others had departed also.� He was almost totally alone, and no one was there to defend him.� He had left his books and parchments behind at Troas and apparently had nothing to study.� If ever a man had reason to be down in the dumps and pessimistic it was Paul in those circumstances.� Everything seemed to be against him, but how does he end the paragraph?� Listen to II Tim. 4:18, "The Lord will rescue me from every evil and save me for His heavenly kingdom, to Him be the glory for ever and ever.� Amen."�

�� We note that Paul was not a Pollyanna optimist‑one who says all is well, and everyday in every way its getting better and better.� Paul could face honestly the facts of life, and admit that everything was rotten and all wrong.� Sometimes the circumstances of life were almost totally negative, but still he was an optimist because he had an attitude of praise.� He could praise God, not for the circumstances, but for the fact that circumstances cannot alter the fact of what was accomplished in Christ for our salvation, and for the fact that no matter what we endure in this life, we will enter into the fullness of our salvation in the heavenly kingdom.� The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, and that is what we see Paul doing in every aspect of his life.� He would have enjoyed singing‑

Thee we would be always blessing,

�� Serve Thee as Thy hosts above;

Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,

�� Glory in Thy perfect love.

�� That phrase, "Praise Thee without ceasing," is so characteristic of Paul that it leads us to a consideration of the second attitude that he expresses that is a key to his optimism.

II. THE ATTITUDE OF PERMANENCE.

�� Forever and ever are the recurring words in Paul's praise.� Paul's concept of praise to God is never temporary.� It is never based on what may be today, but gone tomorrow.� Christian optimism must be based on permanence.� This is what we mean by living with eternity's values in view.� You can remove some parts of objects and still have the object.� You can remove the arm of a chair and still have a chair; you can take the cover off a book and still have a book; you can take a bumper off a car and still have a car.� There are some qualities of an object you cannot remove, however, and still have it.� If you take away the length of a book you have eliminated the whole book.� If you take away one side of a triangle you do not still have part of a triangle‑you have a non‑triangle.� It just isn't a triangle anymore.� All sides of a triangle are essential to its existence.

�� The point of all this is to make it clear that the Christian faith ceases to exist once you remove permanence. Permanence is as essential as Paul's optimism as is any side of the triangle.� Remove permanence and all is gone.� Forever and forever is what makes Christian optimism relevant in the present evil world.� Paul said in I Cor. 15 that if Christ had not conquered death, and if our faith in Him is for this life only and not forever, then our faith is vain, and we are yet in our sins.� In other words, if there is no forever and no permanence, then we are not delivered from this present evil world.� Without an eternal perspective there is no basis for Christian optimism.�

Since our dying race began,

Forever was a leading light of man.

The good, the true, the pure, the just,

Take the charm "For ever" from them,

And they crumble into dust.

�� Author unknown

�� As Christians we need to challenge the world with this attitude of permanence.� It is the basis for our hope, but it is also a necessity for men to be logical.� If there is no forever in man's concept of the future and his destiny, then he is forced into some very pessimistic conclusions.� If time is all we have, then there are turtles and trees who have more life than man, and man cannot be considered the highest and most noble creature on earth.� He is the most complex, but the great redwoods of California lived for centuries longer than man, if he has no forever.� That means they have achieved a life span far superior to man.��

�� Even greater yet are inanimate objects. They never need to die at all, and so they come closest to what man hungers for, which is perpetual existence.� Louise Untermeyer expressed this paradox in poetry.

�"Eternity it thrust upon a bit of earth, a senseless stone,

A grain of dust, a casual clod.� Receives the greatest gift of God.

A pebble in the roadway lies‑It never dies.

The grass our father cut away Is growing on their graves today.

There is no kind of death to kill the sands that lie so meek and still.

But man is great and strong and wise And so he dies."

�� Man does not die because he is great and strong and wise, however, but rather because he has fallen.� But Jesus has delivered fallen man, and He can reverse his downward destiny and enable man to rise to newness of life, and eternal life, and glorify God forever.� If a man denies this hope, he must confess to be less than the sand in his shoes, and the rocks in his driveway.� Forever is what enables the Christian, like Paul, to praise God even when the present evil world threatens to crush them.� The now can never rob us of the forever, and so we can rejoice and be optimistic under any circumstance.�

�� "To whom be glory forever and ever, Amen."� Paul had an attitude of praise, and an attitude of permanence which kept him in a state of perpetual optimism.� You note that Paul always ends his doxology with an amen.� That final word expresses the third attitude which completes the trinity of attitudes that Paul has as the foundation for his optimism.�

III. THE ATTITUDE OF POSITIVENESS.

�� Amen is a word we use often, but seldom think about as to its meaning.� For all practical purposes it simply means the end.� We use it as a verbal period to indicate we are done praying.� It is the last word.� Sometimes it is used to conclude a sermon also.� One pastor had a message that went on until it was getting unbearable.� At last he paused and said, "What more my friends can I say?"� Someone in the back shouted, "Amen!"� Amen can be a very positive word even when it is used this way, for it can mean, thank heavens its all over.� We will now conclude, is a phrase that cause many of mind to utter amen.�

�� This is not the way Paul is using the word, however.� He is just begun his letter, and it is far from over.� His prayer was only a couple of words, and so obviously no one could be weary of its length.� Paul's amen is an expression of his positive conviction concerning what he has just said.� Paul is glad and thrilled that God should be praised forever and ever, and the amen is his commitment to be one who gives God the glory forever and ever.� Amen means, so be it, or let it be so, and let me be a part of what I have just prayed.� It is a positive affirmation.� You only use the word to express a firm commitment.� If I said a few scholars have speculated that there is a remote possibility that we will praise God in heaven, no one will shout amen, or even think it.� Amen expresses a certain conviction, and not a speculative hunch.

�� Amen is an expression of positiveness, and not a mere verbal symbol of signing off, like saying goodbye on the telephone.� It means, what I have prayed I believe is authentic, and so be it. �What you are saying by your amen at the end of a prayer is, I really mean it.� When John Knox cried out, "Give me Scotland or I die!"� his amen at the end of his prayer meant, "O God, I mean it with all my heart, let it be so."� Paul ends his prayer with this amen as a positive attitude of optimism that is assured of an answer.� Optimism is not saying that God is in His heaven, and all is right with the world.� It is never all right with the world.� Optimism is saying that even when all is messed up there is hope for the world, and certainty for eternity.� We are Christian optimists, if we, like Paul, can have these three attitudes at all times in this present evil world.�

6. STRIVING FOR STABILITY�� Based on Gal. 1:6

�� Back in the early part of the 20th century some architects in Washington began to visualize how the Jefferson Memorial ought to look from across the lake when reflected in the water.� They decided it would be best to cut down the fringe of cherry trees that threatened to obscure the view.� A group of women in Washington heard about it and dedicated themselves to protect those trees given to our nation by Mr. Ozaki of Japan.� They were so outraged at the scandalous sacrilege of destroying such beauty that they actually went to the scene and tied themselves to the trees with robes and chains.� The architects were awed, and the woodchoppers were scared stiff.� Margaret Applegarth in reporting on this story concluded, "The city was charmed by the uproar.� And of course the cherry trees themselves bloomed safely from April to April, year after year."

�� The Apostle Paul could have read a story like that with a great deal of appreciation, for the emotions of those women must have been very much like Paul's emotions as he wrote to the Galatians.� Some crack pot officials have come into the church in Galatia with the intention of cutting down the tree of life.� That is, they planned to remove the cross of Christ from its central place in Christianity.� It seems that to them it was obscuring the view of the law.� Just as the Washington officials wanted to remove the living beauty of the cherry trees to keep the cold dead stone of the memorial in view, so the Jewish officials of Paul's day wanted to remove the real roses of redemption by grace, and the living lilies of liberty in Christ, in order to keep the cold dead stones of the law in view.�

�� When Paul heard of this he was as outraged as were those sensitive and sensible ladies in Washington.� He is angry with the Judaizers and amazed at the Galatians for listening to their false gospel.� In verse 6 we see Paul expressing his first negative emotion in this letter.� It is translated by a variety of words.� Some have it, "I am amazed."� Others have, "I am astonished, I marvel," and one has it, "I am dumb founded."� Paul just cannot comprehend the profound folly that would lead men to exchange liberty for bondage.� It is beyond him how people can, without threat and compulsion, but voluntarily give up the Gospel of grace for the gospel of law, which he says is no gospel at all.�

�� Paul has suddenly become aware that even Christians can be very fickle, and they can waver from a position of stability so easily.� It is good that he discovered this, for now it is a matter of public record, and all Christians are thereby informed.�

Christians can develop along two different lines in their thinking and attitudes.� They can become so vacillating and variable that they are tossed about by every wind of doctrine that comes along, or they can develop along the lines of a steady, settled and unwavering stability.� In this context we want to consider Paul's condemnation of the one and his call to the other.� Consider first‑

I. THE CONDEMNATION OF THE SPIRIT OF FICKLENESS.

�� The fickle persons are those who allow their emotions to be their guide.� This leaves them with a very unreliable guide, for emotions can be so unstable and inconsistent.� I have watched clever salesman demonstrate a potato peeler or tomato cutter with such skill and efficiency that I felt like buying one even though I didn't need it.� My emotions were captivated by a job well done.� The cults operate on this same basis.�� They know well what they have to offer, and it sounds so good to seeking hearts.� Many are captivated by the skill and efficiency of their presentation. The Judaisers were men who were skilled in the law, and they could make a deep impression on those who were not educated as they were.�� They were successful because there are so many people who have a fickle spirit.� They commit themselves to one thing this year, and next year they are off in a totally different direction.� They are always being moved by their emotions to go in new directions.�

�� Joseph Parker wrote, "We are amazed at fickle religious people, because they make such fools of themselves.� They are always finding some new little pieces of paper on which there is written something they cannot make out, but which perfectly entrances them by the brilliance of its genius."� Such people are consistently inconsistent, and they are like sitting ducks for all the cults and religious racketeers who make a fortune selling religious junk and secret formulas for instant happiness.� Paul has to fight this fickle spirit in Christians constantly, and he urges, "Be ye steadfast and unmovable."

�� Paul was amazed that anyone could be so unstable as to forsake the solid rock of the Gospel for the quicksand of the law.� Such a spirit of fickleness makes building a solid life in Christ impossible.� He would have said amen to Byron's lines:

I hate inconstancy‑I loathe, detest,

Abhor, condemn, abjure the mortal made

Of such quicksilver clay that in his breast

No permanent foundation can be laid.

�� Paul, and all of the writers of Scripture condemn the wavering and inconsistent spirit of fickleness.� The only way to avoid this defect in human nature is to give heed to his second point.

II. THE CALL TO THE SPIRIT OF FIRMNESS.

�� Stability is an absolute essential for building a Christian life pleasing to God.� The Gospel of salvation by faith in Christ is the Rock on which a Christian must build.� It is so solid and unchangeable that nothing is to be allowed to alter our confidence in it.� If an angel appeared to you and told you there is another way to be saved apart from faith in Christ, Paul says we are not to believe it.� He says any with that message are to be cursed.� Paul is using strong language because he wants it to be clear that no one could possibly miss his point.

�� The Gospel of Christ is absolutely unchangeable.� When Jesus said from the cross, "It is finished," the foundation was firmly laid forever, and nothing in the universe can change it.� Paul believed in change, and he was a man who loved variety and new methods.� He could be all things to all men, but he had a foundation that never varied.� A person who cannot stand change is doomed to be very unhappy, but the person who does not have a stable unchanging foundation is doomed to be even more miserable.� Those who are free to enjoy change most are those who know there are some things that will never change.

�� The ideal Christian is one who can fit in well in almost every setting and be amazingly flexible in relation to people and issues, and yet never leave the slightest doubt as to their loyalty to the Lordship of Christ.� Nothing could separate Paul from the love of Christ, and nothing could cause him to deviate to making Christ central in all He did and taught.� The stable Christian is a Christ‑centered Christian.� This is where the Galatians were failing.� They were taking their eyes off Christ and His cross, and they were listening to the clever appeals of men.� What happened to them explains why Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper to be perpetually observed until He comes again.� Jesus knew about the fickle spirit of man and his ability to forget.� He said, "Do this in remembrance of me," because he knew that history would be filled with appeals to make something other than His death the foundation of faith.�

�� No one ever risked their life to get the works of other great authors into the hands of the lost people of world, but many have laid down their lives to get the message of Christ's death for man's sin into the hands of people all over the world.� The poet has Christ asking:

Canst thou love me when creeds are breaking,

Old landmarks shaking

On earth and sea?

Canst thou restrain the earth from quaking,

And rest thy heart in me?

�� Millions of stable believers in troubled times all through the centuries have answered by their steadfast love and loyalty, "Yes!"� Helen Keller said our worst foes are not belligerent circumstances but wavering spirits."� May God help us, as we focus again on the cross, to be people who build on the solid rock foundation of loyalty to Christ, and thereby be always striving for stability.�

7. CAN A CHRISTIAN BE CURSED.� Based on Gal. 1:8

�� The war between the states ended as it did in large measure because of Stonewall Jackson's defeat by his own men.� Jackson was fighting brilliantly, and he had the entire Eleventh Union Corps on the run.� He then planned his strategy for the final blow.� He was within half a mile of the one road over which Hooker's whole army must retreat.� He was in a position to destroy the main Federal Army, and it looked like nothing could stand in his way.

�� Riding forward with a few officers, his own men mistook the party for enemy cavalry, and they fired.� Jackson was hit and carried back to a field hospital where he lay unconscious.� He was unable to share his plans for a glorious victory, and so the chance for it passed and never returned.� It has been true time and time again through history that men have been their own worst enemies.� This has been true for the church as well.� Very seldom has the church been injured or stopped by outside forces.� Usually outside opposition has helped the church to grow.� The real enemy of the church has always been division within.�

�� Religious wars have been the most fierce, and more Christians have died at the hands of other professing Christians than by any other group.� All of God's prophets were killed by God's own people, and finally they even killed His Son.� The majority of the great martyrs in Christian history were killed, not by atheists or unbelievers, but by those who professed to believe in the God of the Bible.� It is a paradox, but the fact is, Christians have suffered their greatest defeats at the hands of other Christians.�

�� Quite often it has been the case that powerful unbelievers, or hypocritical believers, have been able to stir up Christians against one another.� Hitler was able to get many thousands of Christians to fight against other Christians.� The point of this is to introduce us to the perplexing issue of just who the Judaizers were who were disturbing the Galatians, and just what did Paul mean when he called a curse down upon them?� Paul uses the strongest language he ever used in this passage, and we need to ask some questions about it.� We need to ask if Paul is consigning the Judaizers to eternal damnation by this curse.� He says, "Let them be anathema.� What is the meaning of anathema?

�� Paul used it of himself in Rom. 9:3 where he expresses deep emotion.� "For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsman by race."�� Obviously Paul had no real desire to be accursed, but he expressed just how deeply he loved his own people and longed for their salvation.� If Paul was willing to be accursed for the sake of unbelieving Jews, then it is likely that his curse upon the Judaizers is not a wish for their damnation.� If it is so interpreted, then Paul is so mad that he is not being consistent with his own teaching.� He wrote in Rom. 12:14, "Blest those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them."� Paul goes on just a few verses later and tells of how he persecuted Christians and tried to destroy the church.�� It was only by the grace of God that he was not accursed, for no one deserved it more than him.� But God forgave him, and we cannot doubt that Paul would rejoice in other Jews repenting of their folly and trusting in Christ for their salvation.�

�� It must be possible to be accursed and yet still repent and be free of the curse.� If not one could make one mistake and be in a hopeless state.� In Gal. 2:11 we see that Peter stood condemned, and even Barnabas.� Paul's great friend and companion were persuaded by the Judaizers to compromise the Gospel of grace.� We know these two were true believers, and yet they were persuaded to become enemies of themselves and of the Gospel.� It is likely they were persuaded because the Judaizers were very godly Christian men who had compelling arguments.� It is hard to believe they would be willing to listen to non‑believers.�

�� They would argue that Jesus was circumcised, and if we follow the Lord in baptism, why not in circumcision? Lets be consistent they would argue, and they were able to get even these strong believers to waver and be confused. The point is, these Judaizers� were not godless men with no interest in the church. They were believers who were out to save the church from Paul's Gospel, which abandoned the law and let the Gentiles into the kingdom of God all too freely by grace. The battle was an internal one among believers, and this makes a big difference in how we understand Paul's curse.

�� If you have any doubt about the Judaizers being true Christians, all you have to do is to study Acts 15. That whole chapter deals with the great controversy of believers over grace and law. The Judaizers lost the controversy, but there is no question about their being believers.� Verse 5 says, "But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up, and said, 'It is necessary to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the law of Moses.'" It is possible to be a believer who is still a legalist who tries to modify grace with the law. This was not a gathering of leaders to consider the views of non‑Christians. It was to considers the views of those who were sincerely convinced that they were defending the will of God by trying to impose the law on the Gentiles.

�� So what does this mean in the light of being accursed, as it applies to believers? Paul included himself, Peter, the angels, and anyone who preaches a different gospel. Is Paul hoping that all who disagree with him will go to hell and be damned forever because of this curse? Not at all. He is not hoping to populate hell by these strong words. Their purpose is to prevent both abuse of the Gospel and acceptance of any abuse or perversion of it.� Jesus had to get severe with Peter once and said to him, "Get thee behind me Satan," right to his face. Peter was allowing himself to be a tool of Satan to oppose the will of Christ. Believers can fall into dangerous error, and they can be used by Satan to hinder the truth.

�� Paul's purpose in Acts 15 and here is to get the Judaizers to fully grasp what the Gospel of grace is all about, and to get them to stop perverting it with legalism. The use of anathema here needs to be seen in the light of the three degrees of its meaning. 1. It can refer to the being cast out of the synagogue as a warning to repent. 2. It can mean a death sentence, which is a taking of their physical life. 3. It can mean the infliction of God's wrath in the day of judgment. Any one of them can apply to a believer, and Paul may have had all three in mind here.

�� In the synagogue it meant that one was excommunicated, and it came to have this meaning in the church. By the fourth century anathema meant a heretic was excommunicated from the church. This is likely the meaning Peter had in mind when he used anathema in connection with himself in Mark 14:71. "But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know the man..." In Acts 23:12 it is used in connection with a strong oath. "..the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul." Both Peter and these Jews failed and brought on themselves their curse. Obviously they were not condemning themselves to hell.

�� In the light of this usage of the word, Paul, no doubt, meant that the Judaizers were not to be welcomed into the church. They were to be excluded, cut off, and rejected as men bearing a message that contradicted the Gospel. Let them be anathema, or keep them out of you fellowship, for they will pervert your faith. They were to be rejected because they were contaminating the Gospel.� John says something like this in II John 10, "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into the house or give him any greeting." In other words, we are not to give ear to, nor support to, those who pervert the Gospel with legalism, or any other perversion. Let them be anathema. Let them be excluded from fellowship and support.

�� If this person is a believer, they will have to change when they see they are rejected, or they will have to face the judgment of God in the final day. They are condemned, but not damned. It can be so serious that the death sentence can be involved. Paul writes in I Cor. 5:5 about one who was perverting his sex life, and it was known in the church. He said, "You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."� He would be ultimately saved, but he was to lose his life in judgment for his perversion. He suffers the curse of anathema and is cut off from the church and life, but he is not condemned to hell.

�� Paul's point here in Galatians is that anyone who perverts the Gospel is to be accursed. They are to suffer the condemnation of the church so that they will repent. If they do not do so, they must suffer the judgment of God. Does this happen to believer? Yes it does, and there is a whole history of believer who have had to suffer this curse because of their perversions of the Gospel.

8. ENEMIES OF OURSELVES� Based on� Gal. 1:6‑9

�� Saint‑Exupery was a French aviator who wrote a number of books that have been an inspiration to many.� He was recalled to military service in World War II.� On July 31, 1944 he was flying an observation mission in a plane with no guns.� He was shot down that day by a young man from Germany who was writing his doctrinal thesis.� Believe it or not, he was writing his thesis on the works of Saint‑Exupery.� When the young gunner learned that he had shot down his own hero, he went to pieces and had to be taken to a psychiatric hospital.� All he could say was, "I killed my master, I killed my master."

�� This true story is a perfect illustration of how men can become the enemy of that which they most love.� This perplexing paradox began in the Garden of Eden where man was persuaded to take sides against himself and spoil paradise.� Sin might well be defined as man's incredible ability to be persuaded to cut his own throat.�� All God wants for man is for his own good, and yet he is so easily persuaded to forsake God's plan and follow a path that leads to sorrow.� Man is his own worst enemy.� It is easy to say, when you do that which makes you an enemy to yourself, that the devil made me do it, but the fact is, you are held personally responsible for the choices you make.

�� Paul is amazed that the Galatian Christians would choose to desert the Gospel of grace and turn to another gospel.� He is absolutely astonished that men can voluntarily decide to be enemies of that which is most precious and beneficial to them.� Here are people who are actually joining the forces of those who threaten to destroy them, and like the young German gunner, they are in danger of opposing Him that they most admire.� Paul is trying to save them from themselves.� He does not let them off the hook by saying the devil made you do it.� Paul is fully aware of the power of Satan, what he does not always assume that Satan is to blame for the folly of believers.� They are responsible agents who can be guilty of foolish choices on their own.�

�� Paul is dealing with two categories of people in this paragraph, and both of them are considered to be free agents who can do something different from what they are doing, and so they are responsible for their decision.� The two categories are the deserters of the Gospel, and the distorters of the Gospel.� We want to look more closely first at‑

I. THE DESERTERS OF THE GOSPEL.

�� Paul is appalled that they would alter the altar before which they bow, and change from the cross of Christ to the law of Moses.� The KJV has, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed."� The RSV has, "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting."� The Living Bible has, "I am amazed that ye are turning away so soon."� Stephen's Epistles of Paul in Modern English has it, "I am surprised that so soon after your conversion you should have deserted the doctrine of grace."�

�� Paul is actually accusing them of desertion from the army of Christ.� They are turning from the Captain of their salvation and are marching under another banner in which Moses is their commander.� The issue here is not the great battle of Calvinism and Arminianism concerning the once saved always saved theme.� There is no question about their salvation, but rather their loyalty to Christ and the Gospel of grace.� When we get to the distorters of the Gospel we will see that even many of them are saved men.� There is no doubt as to their love of Christ, for even Peter and Barnabas were persuaded by them to joy their ranks.� The battle in Galatians is not between believer and unbeliever, but ones priorities.� Is Christ central, or is the law of Moses still first in the Christian life?�

�� What these deserters of the Gospel are illustrating for us is that it is possible for a believer to become an enemy of the one he loves most.� It is possible for a born again Christian to be persuaded to follow a false cult, for example.� He may love his Lord and yet join forces with those whose doctrines subtly undermine the centrality of Christ.� He is a deserter taking shots at his own master, and he may not even be aware of his folly, as were the Galatians before Paul enlightened them with this letter.

�� Martin Luther's greatest discouragement in the Reformation was due to the ease with which Christians yielded to seducing spirits.� He complained that after long labor to build up people in the faith some man will come along who has heard two sermons and read a few leaves in the Scriptures and by his eloquent persuasion lead them contrary to the authority of the Word.� So frequently did this happen that Luther was convinced that the Germans may have been descended from the Galatians.� He writes in his famous commentary on Galatians, "Some think that the Germans are descended of the Galatians, neither is this divination perhaps untrue, for the Germans are not much unlike to them in nature.� And I myself also am constrained to wish to my countrymen more steadfastness and constancy, for in all things we do, at the first we be very hot, but when the heat of our affections is allayed, anon we become more slack, and with what rashness we begin things, with the same we give them over and utterly reject them."�

�� To run alternately hot and cold is better than a state of lukewarm indifference, but it is still a dangerous and unstable way of life, and can lead true believers to desert the Gospel and follow after some perversion of it.� It happened in Galatians, and has happened time and time again through history.� It is not a hypothetical issue, therefore, but a very real one, and a very relevant one in our day of multiplying voices from the world of the cults and the occult.�

�� An innocent child of God can be seduced into just about anything you can imagine.� It is amazing that it is so, and that is why Paul was amazed at the Galatians, but it is true.� Some studies show that the major target of the cults is young males from conservative Christian churches.� Eric Linklater titled his autobiography The Man Upon My Back.�� It was himself, of course, and he was saying that he was his own worst enemy.� This is so often the case, and that is why Paul will stress in this letter the need to crucify the self, and gain freedom in Christ from the self‑centered and self‑dominated life.� When self is on the throne a man is his own worst enemy.� He becomes the most obstinate obstacle in his way to becoming a victorious Christian.�

�� Let us learn from the experience of the Galatians that true believers can be deceived into becoming deserters of the pure Gospel.� Let's now look at Paul's treatment of‑

II. THE DISTORTERS OF THE GOSPEL.

�� It is obvious that Paul feels that to fall away from the Gospel is bad, but that to pervert the Gospel is worse.� As Jesus said, "Temptation must indeed come but woe unto them by whom they come."� To fall away and be deceived is foolish and dangerous, but to be the cause of the deception is fatal and damnable.� We see a distinction in levels of sin in the way Paul treats those who distort as over against those who desert.� It is far worse to be a teacher of heresy than to be a believer of it.

Many innocent but gullible people fall for all kinds of subtle error, but they will not be severely judged for their ignorance.� Those who proclaimed the error, however, will suffer severe judgment, for their guilt is much greater.� There is a great difference between being stupid and sinful.� Paul says the Galatians have been stupid, but the Judaisers have been sinful by distorting the Gospel.�

�� If a patient takes some medicine that causes a great reaction and they become sick because of it, the patient is not condemned for doing such a stupid thing.� It is the doctor who prescribed the medicine who is responsible.� He may not have known the consequences either, but he is the one accountable, and so it is with the Judaisers.� Many of them loved Jesus, and many were, no doubt, superior to the Galatians, but they were more responsible for the consequences of their trying to add the law to the Gospel.� Keep in mind that Paul is dealing strictly with the Gospel.� He is not denouncing all who disagree with him as if he was the final authority on every issue.�

�� Paul was a very gracious and flexible man who could see life from many perspectives.� On issues where Christians differ he urged them to let every man be persuaded in his own mind.� It is unfair to look at this passage and label Paul as narrow minded.� He is only narrow on this basic issue of the Gospel.� He knows that it is the foundation, and if that is� not solid, it is vain to build anything at all.� Paul is not opposed to variety in the structure, for he clearly teaches that there are many different gifts in the church, and there will be a great variety of labors, services, and methods of building the church.�

�� If Paul was narrow, it was at the point where all believers must be narrow, and that is on the issue of the Gospel.� Either we are saved by the sacrifice of Christ for us, and by means of faith in His sacrifice, or we are saved by some other means such as obedience to the law.� The first is good news, and all alternatives are other gospels which are not good news at all.� It is no vice to be narrow on an issue like this.� It is a very definite vice not to be narrow.� What kind of a doctor will he be who would take all of� his patients over to a medicine cabinet and say to them, "Take any of the pills you like.� They are all good for something."� Such a man would be a failure as a doctor, and so is the man who says that all religions have some good, and so choose any you like.� What he says maybe just as true as the statement of the doctor, but what you need is not some good.

�� You need a very specific good.� You need medicine to cure your particular problem.� You need a means whereby your sin can be forgiven so that you can have fellowship with God.� In other words, you need a Savior.� Only the man who offers you what meets your real need is a good and virtuous man, and to be that he must be narrow.� He must give you the specific medicine you need, and he must preach to you the Gospel of salvation by grace.� Narrowness is the greatest of virtues when there is only one Way, and one cure.� Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father but by me."� Paul is blessedly narrow on this issue, and all of us must be so to be truly virtuous people striving to do good to all men.�

�� I stress this point because it is too easy to feel it is a virtue to be narrow on everything, and this is just not so.� Billy Graham wrote an article many years ago on what ten years had taught him.� He wrote, "Ten years ago my concept of the church tended to be narrow and provincial, but after a decade of intimate contact with Christians the world over I am now aware that the family of God contains people of various ethnological, cultural, and class, and denominational differences.� In groups in which my ignorant piousness I formerly frowned upon I have found men so dedicated and so in love with the truth that I have felt unworthy to be in their presence."�

�� Paul, the world traveler, learned this truth much more quickly than did Graham, for he was called to minister to the Gentiles of the world.� The point is, let us not hear Paul condemning all who disagree with him, but let us hear him denouncing those who distort the Gospel.� What Paul is doing is an example of the paradox of a very virtuous narrowness.� There is also the vicious vice of narrowness, and we distort Paul's words ourselves if we use this passage to justify our condemnation of those who differ with us.�

�� Now let us look briefly at just exactly what these who distorted the Gospel were doing.� In Acts 15:1 we have a clear description of the message of the Judaisers.� "But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.'"� The distortion was not a denial of the cross, but an addition to the cross.� It was a Gospel of faith in Christ plus obedience to the law.� They were obviously sincere for they wanted people to be saved, and they were convinced they had a better way.� Like most who preach error, they no doubt felt superior to those who were trusting Christ alone for their salvation.� Luther quoted a German proverb, "In God's name beginneth all mischief."� This was the spirit that Paul fought with all the forces of his authority, for it was a distortion of the Gospel, and a denial of the cross as an all sufficient saving work.

�� It is like a disease to be cursed says Paul.� They want you to be circumcised to be saved, but in reality they way to be saved is to cut them off and trust in Christ alone.� If you cut yourself off to be saved, you are cutting yourself off also from the grace of Christ.� May God cut off these who distort the Gospel is the cry of Paul, and may He bring you deserters of the Gospel back to a trust in Christ alone for assurance of salvation.� John Morley said, "Every man of us has all the centuries in him."� All the folly of believers in the past is still present and still possible.� Each of us can be enemies of ourselves yet today, and we always are until Christ alone is central in our faith, and Lord of our life.�

9. PLEASING TO GOD� Based on Gal. 1:10

�� Probably the most magnificent estate in the Western World is the California ranch of William Randolf Hearst.� It is not a mere matter of film like the Ponderosa, but it is a matter of fact.� It covers a quarter of a million acres of land, and stretches for 50 miles along the coast of the ocean.� Uncounted millions have been spent to purchase castles; ship them to America; erect them, and furnish them.� Paintings of the most famous artists hang on the walls.

� ��Dale Carnegie said his collection of wild animals makes Barnum's Circus look like a side show.� Herds of zebras, buffalo, giraffes, and kangaroos roam over the hills, and thousands of exotic birds fly among the trees.� Lions and tigers roam in his private zoo.� With the 30 million he inherited from his father, plus the millions more he has earned by his own energetic labors, he has been able to do many extravagant things.� Naturally such a man as this was well known, but the fact is, millions never heard of him until his daughter was kidnapped.� That crisis thrust him into the public mind, and details of his life then became public property.�

�� The point of this is that the same thing happened to Paul to make him the greatest of the Apostles, and one of the best known men in all of history.� Like Hearst, Paul already had credentials that made him well known among a certain group of people, but crisis thrust him into the arena for the whole world to see.� The attempt of those who opposed him to kidnap his churches, and turn them into modified Jewish Synagogues is what produced the crisis.� Paul fought back to save his churches, just as Hearst fought to save his daughter.� The Judaizers were brain washing the Gentiles, and they were persuading them that they must be Jews first to be Christians.� Paul wrote Galatians as an antidote to that poisonous thinking.

�� The point is that crisis and conflict made� Paul write, and by his writing give us details of his own life and character that have made him a household name throughout history.� Had there been no crisis Paul may have disappeared into obscurity.� Conflict and trouble is what made Paul famous, for he fought the good fight, and he became victorious.� There is just no way to be a hero and a conqueror if you never face a conflict or battle.� Out of Paul's conflict came this Epistle, and it gives us so much biographical information about Paul.� It is the closest thing we have to an autobiography, for in Galatians Paul has to defend himself in order to defend his Gospel.� The result is a delightful treasure of personal history, and insight into his character and conversion.

�� The first thing I observe in chapter one is Paul's stress on his death to self.� He says it in 2:20 that he is crucified with Christ, but he reveals the reality of it in his attitude long before he wrote that.� Here in 1:10 he asks two questions which tell us clearly that one of the basic areas of conflict was all about.� He is asking, "Am I seeking the favor of men or of God?"� The obvious implication is that Paul's opponents have charged him with being a men pleaser.� They were saying that Paul makes the Gospel easier for the Gentiles, but he does not care about the law of God.� They are saying to the Galatians, "It is winning your favor that really matters to him, and he will drop the law of God if necessary to win your allegiance."� Paul is an ego‑maniac is what his enemies are saying.� He is all things to all men alright, because he wants to please everybody regardless of how he abuses the law of God.

�� This was a very serious charge against Paul's character and motives, and you can see why it was necessary for Paul to defend himself.� The circumstantial evidence gave the Judaizers a fairly strong case, and the uninformed could be easily led astray.� The Judaizers accused Paul of inconsistency and compromise in order to please men.� He preached circumcision when he was among the Jews, and he denounced it when he was among the Gentiles.� For they wanted exemption from this Jewish custom.� We see this was a major charge in Gal. 5:11 where Paul is defending himself by writing, "But if I, brethren still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted?"� Paul tells us that his enemies have accused him of preaching circumcision when it is to his advantage.�

�� Paul is being called a false prophet who changes the Word of God to please men.� If circumcision is repulsive to Gentiles, Paul just throws it out to win their approval.� Paul is a "peace at any price" man say his accusers.�� Paul faced the same problems that all men of God have faced when they become widely used of God.� Fame brings power, and because power can be so easily abused, it is presumed to be abused by opponents of the one who has it.� Every great evangelist has been accused of pleasing men to make big money.

�� Paul had to face the same problem with the Thessalonians.� He wrote in I Thess. 1:4‑6, "But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, so we speak, not to please men, but to please God who test our hearts.� For we never used either words of flattery, as you know, or a cloak for greed, as God is witness, nor did we seek glory from men, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as Apostles of Christ." Paul bent over backwards, and even made tents on the side, so as to rob his enemies of a basis for criticism.

�� It is impossible to please everyone, of course, and so Paul choose it as his master motive to please God.� There is no way to get away from the paradoxical nature of life, however, when you get into the realm of trying to distinguish between pleasing God and pleasing men.� The paradoxical nature of it makes it possible to use the evidence for or against you.� Pleasing men can either please God, or displease Him.� Pleasing God can either please men, or displease them.� It gets as complex as the weather.� The poet wrote‑

People freezing long to burn up;

Burning up, they long to freeze.

No wonder weather's temperamental,

People are so hard to please.�

�� Paul had to be something like the weather.� He had to be something for everyone, and yet never pleasing to everyone.� The very fact that Paul defends himself shows that he is trying to please the Galatians.� He wants to satisfy their minds that the charges against him are false.� In so doing he confesses that his past life was in fact basically an effort to please men.� All of the versions I checked have Paul saying in the closing phrase of verse 10, "If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ."� Knox has it, "If, after all these years I were still courting the favor of men..."� Weymouth has it, "If I were still a man‑pleaser."�

�� No wonder Paul gets so personal in this Epistle.� The Judaizers knew his past, and they knew he was a self‑centered egotist as a young Pharisee.� They knew he cared only for his own reputation, and his chief motive was to get ahead by pleasing men.� It is no wonder that Paul makes so much of his counting all his prizes of his former life as so much garbage or dung compared to knowing Christ.� Paul had a radical conversion of his nature.� He use to be everything his enemies said he was, and Paul had to work hard in life, and in his writings, to overcome the record of his past.� He was a man pleaser, and that reputation clung to him and haunted him as a Christian.

�� Paul says here, however, if I were still what I used to be, I would not be a servant of Christ.� This is not to be misconstrued to mean that a servant of Christ does not please men.� The fact is, Paul pleased millions, and he goes on doing so just because he was a faithful servant of Christ.� The point here is, Paul is defending himself against the charge that he modifies the Word of God to fit the situation.� He is charged with being the author of situation ethics where you mold the demands of God to fit the weaknesses of those you seek to reach.� Paul says, if I was really like I use to be, I would not be a servant of Christ.� I never would have left Judaism to be a Christian if self‑glory was my motive for serving Christ, for he has made me hated and persecuted by Jews and Gentiles alike.�

�� Paul just let the most severe words that ever flowed from his pen lash out at the Judaizers.� He said, "Let them be accursed."� He is being severe to both his foes and friends in this letter to demonstrate that pleasing men is not his motive.� He cares not for anything but to please God.� He will speak the truth as it is in Christ whatever the cost to himself, for pleasing God is all that matters to him now.� Paul persecuted the Christians in order to win approval from his superiors, and gain social status, but he is not now fighting the Judaizers for the same reason. �His motive is to defend the Gospel of Christ, and to please God whatever it does to his own reputation.

�� All through the New Testament we see Paul as a man of suffering.� He was hated, stoned, imprisoned, and had to depend upon others for his support.� He could have gone off on his own in the world, and he could have become a man of independent wealth and fame, but he gave up all that to be a servant of Christ, and this meant a cross, and a daily dying to self.�� This life of Paul was a necessity to reveal how real his conversion was.� No one can say so literally as Paul when he said, "I am crucified with Christ."� The paradox is that by not pleasing men, and pleasing Christ instead, Paul became more famous than he could have ever dreamed.� He has pleased more men than all of the Apostles put together.�

�� St. Jerome said, "If it is possible to please both God and men as well, we should please men as well; but if we cannot please men without displeasing God, we should please God rather than men."�� When Peter and John were charged not to preach in the name of Christ they had to choose to obey men or God.� To please their own rulers, or to please their Maker and Redeemer were their options.� They chose to please God and suffer the displeasure of men.� Both of them, however, urged Christians to live in peace with all men.� We need to make it clear that it is no virtue to make men angry at you, and displease them, or be in conflict with them.� It is only a virtue when doing the will of God is the cause for the conflict.� When there is no conflict with God's will, the Christian in under obligation to please men, and to live peaceably with all men in so far as he can.� Paul is famous for both his conflict with men, and his cooperation with men.� Both are legitimate, for both can please God, and pleasing God is to be our goal.

�� Dr. A. J. Cronin was a practicing physician in a small Welsh community.� He worked with a nurse who for 20 years gave of her life to serve the people.� The doctor was somewhat disgusted at the small salary she received for her selfless labors.� One night after a strenuous case he sat with her drinking a cup of tea.� "Why don't you insist on a extra pound a week at least," he said to her.� "God knows� you're worth it."� She smiled and replied, "Dr., if God knows I am worth it, that's all that matters."� Dr. Cronin said in a flash, "I suddenly realized that her whole existence in its service and self‑sacrifice was a dedication, a perpetual testimony to her belief in a Supreme Being.� And in a flash of understanding I sensed the rich significance of her life and the comparative emptiness of my own."�

�� Her master motive was to please God, but in so doing she did much to help and please men.� If we dedicate our lives to be pleasing to God, we will, like Paul, be constantly both pleasing and displeasing to men.� We ought, therefore, not be moved by either of the criticism or the praise of men.� We� need to examine our lives daily to be sure we are pleasing to God, and make that our master motive.� It is easier to please God than to please men, for what is good and right will always please God, but doing what is right, and doing your best, will never always please all men.�

�� John Woolman in his journal records a conclusion he came to as a servant of Christ.� "I saw at this time that, if I were honest to declare that which truth opened to me, I could not please all men."� Herbert Swope wrote, "I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure which is: Try to please everybody."� Men of wisdom, however, have learned to listen to those whom they do not please, and often they have found that they needed correction, for what displeased men was not pleasing to God either.

�� A. W. Tozer in his book The Divine Conquest writes, "The way it works in experience is something like this:� The believing man is overwhelmed suddenly by a powerful feeling that only God matters; soon this works itself out into his mental life and conditions all his judgments and all his values.� Now he finds himself free from slavery to man's opinions.� A mighty desire to please only God lays hold of him.� Soon he learns to love above all else the assurance that he is well pleasing to the Father in heaven."�

If I could heap up treasured store

From every foreign strand,

And all the prizes of success

Retain within my hand,

Unless my Father's smile I know,

I'm still a pauper here below.

�� Author unknown

10.� REVELATION FROM HEAVEN�� Based on Gal. 1:11‑12

�� The third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, is most famous for being the author of the Declaration of Independence.� Many have pronounced it a document inspired from heaven, and there is much reason to believe that it has the providence of God behind it.� Jefferson, however, took his authority too seriously, and he decided to make his own version of the Gospels.� The Jefferson Bible, as it is called, reveals the gospel according to man.� Jefferson cut out all the parts he didn't like.� He did not see how the supernatural could fit into his world‑view, and so all mention of the supernatural was eliminated.� He did not let the Word of God lift him to its level, but instead he cut the Word of God down to his level, and he created the Bible in his own image.� His Bible ends at the tomb with no resurrection.

�� This is the very thing the Judaizers accused Paul of doing.� They said that he has cut out the law and made a gospel according to man.� Paul labors this point in his defense, and he makes it clear that his Gospel is not from man.� Is origin is from God and not in his own mind or the minds of others.� Man is exceedingly clever, but if a gospel has its origin in man, it is built on sand. It cannot be trusted to last. It will perish and leave all who trust in it to be left empty. Most all of the religions of the world have grown out of man's search for meaning. Many have developed beliefs that are worthy of admiration, but they have their origin in man rather than God. And nothing less than a word from God can be adequate to give us assurance.

�� Man is constantly seeking for origins. He wants to know the origin of the universe, and of man, and of beliefs. The assumption is that if you can know the origin of something that you can know its purpose and value.� There is truth to this, and so there is validity to man's quest for origins, but man is so prejudice that he usually decides before hand what he is going to prove.� Many who set out to discover the origin of the universe really only want to prove that it didn't come from God.� If you are determined to ignore the evidence you can make most any theory sound possible.� It is like the man who set out to show that English is the oldest language of man, and that all others were derived from it.� His theory to explain the origin of a famous Latin phrase went like this:� "One day Caesar entered the senate chamber and Brutus asked him, 'How many sandwiches did you have for lunch Caesar?'� And Caesar replied, 'Et two Brute.'"�

�� Those of you who doubt the truth of this theory likely do so on the basis of history.� The study of history is absolutely essential for those who wish to avoid the snares of false but clever explanations of origins.� Paul knew this also, and that is why the longest section of this Epistle deals with history.� He gives us a fairly detailed account of his own history and the history of his relationship to the other Apostles.� All of this was essential for the establishing of his own authority and of the authority of the Gospel he preached.� If the Judaizers could establish that the origin of his authority was in man, then they could force Paul to submit to that authority. Paul, however, shows that his authority is from God and instead of him being submissive he was used of God to rebuke Peter, who was the highest human authority in the church.

�� It may be hard for us to appreciate the distinction that Paul labors to establish. What difference does it make whether he Gospel came through men, or direct from God?� So often people argue over distinctions that make no difference.� Ogden Nash reveals the folly of those who love excessive distinctions.

I give you now Professor Twist,

A conscientious scientist.

Trustees exclaimed he never bungles!

And sent him off to distant jungles.

Camped on a tropic riverside,

One day he missed his loving bride.

She had, the guide informed him later,

Been eaten by an alligator.

Professor twist could not but smile,

You mean, he said, a crocodile.�

�� There is a difference, but who can be persuaded that it was relevant to that situation?� Paul, however, is dealing with a very relevant distinction. �If his Gospel is not from heaven, then it cannot compete with the law of Moses, for he received it direct from God.� Unless the Gospel has the same origin as the law, then the law must remain the standard of life for all believers.� The Judaizers are convinced that this is the case, and that is why they remain loyal to the law and persuade others to do so as well.

�� Paul must establish that God has selected him just as He did the prophets of the Old Testament.� He was to bring a new message to God's people.� It was not a message he learned in school, but a message he received direct from God.� God actually used Paul rather than one of the other Apostles who walked with Christ, and who sat under His teaching, to be the main expounder of the Gospel of grace.� This does not mean that Paul did not learn anything from men.� Obviously he learned much of the life of Christ from men.� He would not have been so zealous in persecuting Christians if he did not know what they believed about Jesus being the Messiah.�

�� In verse 12 Paul asserts that the Gospel he preached came by direct revelation.� Jesus spoke to him directly just as he did to the 12.� This was after the resurrection and the ascension.� As far as we know this was the last time Jesus broke into history to communicate with any person directly.� Many have had visions of Jesus since then, but none has been given a unique message as was the case with Paul.� John was caught up into heaven to receive the revelation of Jesus, but in Paul's case Jesus came to him in history.�

�� Paul implies that his understanding of the Lord's Supper came to him by direct revelation and not through the accounts of men.� In I Cor. 11:23 he writes, "For I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread....."� Paul has the distinction of being the only other author beside John who received direct revelation from Jesus.� The others were inspired in their research and writing, but only John and Paul had this direct revelation and personal encounter with the ascended Christ.�

�� What they experienced was what all believers will one day experience, for this very same word for revelation, which is apokalupsis is used to describe our encounter with Christ when He comes again.� That will be a day of revelation for all of us.� In I Peter 1:13 Peter writes, "Therefore gird up your minds, be sober, set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."� Every believer will then experience what Paul experienced, and like John, we will see the King in His beauty, and we will be like Him when we see Him as He is.�

�� This word for revelation means an uncovering.� It is a revealing of what has been hidden.� We live now in the age of the hiding of the glory of Christ.� John could say, "We beheld His glory," but we must look to the second coming before we will behold the revelation of His glory.� In I Peter 4:13, "We rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed."� The revelation of the second coming will not only be an uncovering of the hidden Christ, but it will be an uncovering of the hidden values of the Christian faith.�� Peter tells Christians to rejoice in their trials, and in I Peter 1:7‑8 he writes, "..So that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.� Without having seen Him you love Him, though you do not now see Him you believe in Him and rejoice with unutterable and exulted joy."�

�� Both the full glory of Christ and full salvation of man will be uncovered when Christ returns.� The point is, both are now hidden and covered.� We must depend upon the revelation others have had until we experience it for ourselves.� Paul is saying that he has had just such a revelation.� He has had a glimpse of the glory of Christ, and Christ has opened up to him the glory of the Gospel.� What has been hidden for all the ages has been uncovered for Paul.� The Galatians had to be persuaded of this to believe his Gospel over the authority of the law.� Until Christ comes and we have a revelation of our own, we are dependent upon the revelation of Paul.�� This is especially so in those areas of conflict between law and grace.�

�� If Paul's Gospel is not true, and we are all responsible for keeping the law, then most of us are sunk mighty deep.� The only basis we have for not keeping the Old Testament laws is the new revelation we have, which is expounded primarily by Paul.� The Judaizers could not accept the fading away of the law.� The Jews were taught all their lives that the law of God was eternal.� It was God's greatest gift to man, and the law was inseparable from God Himself.� The Jewish Midrash has a parable to illustrate just how much God loved the law.�

�� A king had an only daughter, and a noble from another kingdom came to marry her and take her back to his kingdom.� The king said, "I cannot bear to part with my daughter.� Yet I cannot say to you that you cannot take her away for she is thy wife.� But show me this kindness that wherever you go prepare me a chamber that I may dwell ever near my daughter."� God said to Israel take my law, but wherever you journey make me a house where I may dwell and be ever near it.� That is the kind of teaching that is not easily forgotten.� The law in Judaism is God's final revelation, and that is why they could not then, nor now, accept any new revelation that goes beyond the law.�

�� The law existed before creation in Jewish theology, and it would exist to eternity. To forsake it was to be cut off from God's people. The law was the bread and water of life the rabbis taught. It was the light of the world to the Jews. Then Jesus came and taught that he was the bread of heaven and that he was the light of the world. This is what Paul was teaching, but you can see why it would be hard for Jews to be open to this which was such a radical departure from what they had believed all their lives. The only way a Jew could depart from the law as the basis for his salvation was to believe that God has spoken a new revelation, and that is why Paul strives so hard to convince all concerned that the origin of his Gospel is not man but God.

�� Paul was a very unique man. God had to have a man who was trained in the theology of the Jews and who fully understood them to communicate that Jesus had fulfilled the law and made it obsolete. God needed a specialist to do this very difficult task. Paul was superior to the other Apostles in his training and in his ability to communicate. Jesus had much that he could not communicate to his disciples, but Paul was able to grasp the fuller revelation and pass it on to the believers in the churches. Paul became the mouthpiece of the ascended Christ. He was the instrument through whom Jesus uttered more completely the consequences of his coming into history.

�� Jesus came to break down the wall between Jew and Gentile, but he could not accomplish this in his own ministry. He used Paul to accomplish this goal. Paul's life was an extension of the life of Jesus. No man was more qualified to be the representative of Jesus to both Jews and Gentiles. Paul was used to do things that Jesus could not accomplish in his earthly life. He could do this because he received this revelation from heaven.�

11.� FROM THE WORST TO THE BEST�� Based on Gal. 1:13

�� Mary Marrow had just arrived in China as a missionary when the Boxer Rebellion broke out in 1900.� The leaders of China blamed the missionaries for the problems of the land, and mobs began to violently persecute the Christians.� They were dragged from their homes and forced to stomp on a cross or they were killed on the spot.� Mary had come to China to serve these people and see Christ exalted through her life, and she is what she faced.� She didn't even have a chance to learn the language.� When she heard the angry mob approaching the mission compound she was frightened.� She prayed that God would give her strength as so not to shame the other missionaries.

�� Suddenly she did a shocking thing, it was even a shock to her, for she ran out of the door and faced the mob.� She cried out, "I am no good here!� I speak such poor Chinese.� So kill me.� Save all those inside, for they have healed your sick, taught your children, and they love you.� Tomorrow you will want them back again, and so kill me quickly."� The soldiers were amazed at the courage of this girl, and they froze until their captain stirred them up.� Then they attacked and killed her on the steps.

�� A memorial service was held in the states for Mary.� She had gone out with such great dreams, but at such a bad time that she died before she could do anything.� Twenty years went by and Mary was almost forgotten.� Then one day a well‑known Chinese General by the name of General Fang came to the mission headquarters and told them this story.� He had been one of those vengeful soldiers who killed Mary.� For 20 years he had lived with her words echoing in his mind, and the vision of her courage painted on his eyes.� He asked himself how she could have been so brave, and when he heard of the Bible he got a copy and read it.� He was searching for the answer to Mary's courage.� He became a Christian and joined the church, and he became well known all over China as the Christian General.� He purchased Bibles for his soldiers and had classes for them.� Wherever he and his army went in China the crops and the women were safe.� Mary Marrow's life had not been in vain after all.� She didn't even learn the language, but her life made an impact on masses because through her a man of violence became a man of peace.

�� This true story has several paradoxes.� It illustrates first of all that sometimes God uses those who do the least to accomplish the most.� Because this is so we need to be faithful with our little, for God in sovereignty may use it for great things.� The second paradox is that quite often the worse people become the best people.� Never get so disgusted with a zealous servant of the devil that you forget that they may become a choice servant of God.� And intolerant, bigoted, violent man can become an apostle of love and peace.� This is precisely what Paul tells us about himself.�

�� Paul tells us in verses 13 and 14 that he was always a very religious man, and he was zealous in his commitment to Judaism.� Paul becomes a great example of both the danger and value of being religious.� Sometimes we tend to assume that being religious is good, but the facts of history tell us that religious people have written some of the bloodiest chapters of history because of their zeal without knowledge.� Religion can actually be a great tool of the devil.� Jesus blasted the Pharisees for their zeal in traveling the world over to make one convert, but when they win him they make him more a child of hell then themselves.

�� Paul was one of those fanatical Pharisees who was literally working like the devil for the Lord.� He violently persecuted Christians, and all the while was convinced he was doing it for the glory of God.� Fanaticism always does evil with the conviction that it is good.�� Finley Dunne said, "A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks the Lord would do if he knew the facts in the case."� William James said, "Fanaticism is only loyalty carried to a convulsive extreme."� Nothing is so sure of its self as fanaticism.�� Jesus knew the fanatical zeal of the Jews, and He knew there would be men like Paul persecuting His church.� He warned the disciples in John 16:2, "They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God."�

�� Jesus fully understood the paradoxical nature of religious conviction.� It can persecute the people of God and blaspheme the name of God, and all for the glory of God.� There's not a crime known to man that has not been committed for the glory of God in the minds of those who do them.� Paul only persecuted Christians because he was zealous to protect the law of God.� He would not have been a great man in Judaism had he not been intolerant of what threatened the foundations of Judaism.� It is important that we recognize that Paul was just like those who killed Christ.� Jesus asked His Father to forgive them for they didn't know what they were doing.� Paul also did not know what he was doing when he destroyed Christians.� In I Tim. 1:13 he wrote, "I formerly blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him, but I receive mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief."�

�� In his own mind Paul was convinced he was doing good when he was doing evil, and this does make a difference as to how God judges a person.� God looks at the motive and not just the outward action.� Folly because of ignorance is a different category from willful evil.� If your child buys you some bubble bath and you discover you are allergic to it and break out, you do not scold the child for the gift.� But if a child knows you are allergic and slips in to add some to your bath water, then your anger at this deliberate mischief is justified, and some degree of wrath is legitimate.�

�� We need to keep this distinction in mind, for God does, and it makes a world of difference in how we interpret Paul's life.� As rotten as were the things that Paul did, he obtained mercy because he was convinced that what he did was right.� We are not trying to whitewash Paul's past, for he did not do that himself.� He was guilty of the sin of fanaticism and extremism. ��Whatever his thorn in the flesh was, his thorn in the soul was the memory of his zeal without knowledge.� He was never free from the vision of Stephen having the life knocked from him as he held the garments of those who stoned him.� Paul spent much time in prison, and he must have often relived the experience of his past when he threw many Christians in prison.� Paul was ever conscience of his former folly, and he freely shared it.� Here in verse 13 he says to the Galatians that you have heard of my former life.� Practically everybody had, for Paul shared his personal testimony everywhere he went.�

�� When Paul went to Jerusalem and to the temple the crowd heard of his presence and a riot was started.� Paul's life was in danger because they wanted to kill Paul, and he fully understood their anger.� When he stood up to defend himself he said this in Acts 22:3‑4, "I am a Jew born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as you all are this day."� In other words, Paul understood their zeal in wanting to destroy him.� He goes on to say, "I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women."

�� Paul gives even more details of his bloodthirsty zeal against the church when he defends himself before king Agrippa.� This is his testimony in Acts 26:9‑11:� "I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth and I did so in Jerusalem; I not only shut up many of the saints in prison, by authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them.� And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities."�� There is no doubt about it, Paul was a religious fanatic, and one of the most dangerous men the church has ever had to face.� What a paradox!� The man most responsible for establishing churches all over the world was the great destroyer of the church.� Fanaticism always goes to extremes.�

�� In the 19th century the immorality was wide spread and there was reaction against it.� Lady Gough, the Emily Post of her day, gave this advise to respectable people:� "The perfect hostess will see to it that the works of male and female authors be probably separated on her book shelves.� Their proximity, unless they happen to be married, should not be tolerated."� We can laugh at this extreme perspective, but you have to admit it was an extreme that began with a good motive to protect Christian morality.� But it could so easily lead to the evil of persecuting those who did not comply, and this could make a capital offense out of a mere triviality.�

�� History is filled with blood baths due to people who make their whims the will of God.� Violators of the will of God they say should be destroyed, and so when their whims are violated they set out to destroy those who will not conform.� This should make us extremely cautious to how we use the Old Testament as a basis for our actions today.� Many times the church has appealed to God's command to destroy people in the Old Testament as a basis for persecuting non‑conformists.� Paul thought he was just like the heroes of old who were destroying idolaters when he persecuted the Christians.� When he became a Christian, however, he never again advocated violence in dealing with those who were enemies of the truth.� Paul fought heresy with great zeal, but as a Christian leader he never held the garments of Christians while he watched them stone a heretic.� He fought error with great zeal, but he never once implied that any should be imprisoned or harmed physically for their error.

�� Paul's attitude became the very attitude that makes America the land of religious liberty.� True Christians do not approve of violence against those who do not believe.� Christianity, however, has been perverted time and time again.� One of the saddest records of history is of how Christians have gotten even with the Jews for killing Jesus.� The cross was a sign of terror to the Jews all through the middle ages, for it represented hatred for them.� During the Spanish Inquisition thousands of Jews were killed and their property taken over by the church.�

�� Nowhere does Paul advocate violence as the answer to the problem of heresy.� Paul's answer is the book of Galatians.�� It is the answer of argument, persuasion and discussion.� These are the methods that are the basis for the Christian battle, and these are the methods that are the basis for our country having true religious liberty.� Paul's conversion has a great deal to do with the religious freedom we have as Americans.� Had he brought over into his Christian life the attitudes he had as a Jewish leader, Christianity would be like all other religions where persecution of those who differ is common.�

�� The Koran, for example, gives us an idea of how Moslems are to deal with unbelief.� "When you encounter the unbeliever, strike off their heads, until you have made a great slaughter among them.� Verily, if God pleased, He could take vengeance on them without your assistance, but He commands you to fight His battles."� Most religions feel it is right to destroy those who do not believe, and whenever Christians have come to that same conclusion they have fallen to the sub‑Christian level.� Henry Buckle in History Of Civilization in England wrote, "It is an undoubted fact that an overwhelming majority of religious persecutors have been men of the purest intentions, of the most admirable and unsullied morals.� Such men as these are not bad, they are only ignorant..."� Paul admits that he was ignorant, but his conversion to Christ changed, not only his concept of the truth, but his concept of how truth is to be preserved.� It is not by persecution but by persuasion and by a life that demonstrates it to be superior.

�� In contrast to other religions where vengeance is given into the hands of persecutors, listen to this series of advise from Paul to the Romans in chapter 12:14‑21:�

v. 14� "Blest those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them."

v. 17� "Repay no one evil for evil."

v. 19� "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God..."

v. 21� "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

�� Paul was a good and godly man as a Jew, but his intolerance made him an instrument of evil.� He was a good man at his worst, and many godly people have been followers of that unconverted fanatic.� May God help us to listen to Paul and observe the change Christ made in him, so that we can be followers of him at his best.� Paul never saved anybody as a fanatic destroyer of men, but no one has won more than Paul the Christ‑like fighter for truth.� Jesus changed Paul from the worst kind of religious person to the best kind of religious person.� May God help us to be like Paul at his best.

12.� THE TIMING OF CHRISTMAS� Based on Gal. 4:1‑7

�� Timing may not be everything, but it is plenty.� At the dedication service of the Statue of Liberty a boy was to wave a flag indicating that Senator William Evarts had finished his speech.� This way the signal for men high in the head of the statue to let go of a giant French flag, which in turn was the signal for the vessels in harbor to let loose with their whistles.� Unfortunately, the Senator paused too long, and the boy thinking he was finished set all this commotion in motion.� The Senator never did get to finish his speech.� Wrong timing ruined it for him.

�� On the other hand, the graduating class of Harvard in 1949 became the most successful group of graduates in history.� It was because of the longest, richest, and most wide spread peace time boom the modern world had ever seen.� The 49'ers, because of the timing of their entering into the economy, became rich.� One out of 5 became millionaires by 1974.� They became the leaders of the upper branches of American enterprise.� They became the chairmen and presidents of the largest companies and colleges.

�� The same thing happened to the class of 1915 at West Point, but for the opposite reason.� Because of the timing of the two World Wars, this class was called the class the stars fell on.� Many of them became generals, and one by the name of Eisenhower even became president of the United States.� Timing really does matter.� It is by precise timing that God works in history and in our lives to do wonders without miracles.

�� A pastor's wife back in the 70's was selected to be on the $128,000 Question.� It was a popular TV show in Canada.� She and her husband needed money badly, and so they prayed for guidance.� She got to the $16,000 level, but they needed double that, so she agreed to come back the next day.� Before the show the next day she relaxed by walking through one of Toronto's malls.� She picked up a book and leafed through it.� She found a page that listed all the plays of Agatha Christie and their opening dates.� This was the area her questions were in, and so she read the list through.� That night her $32,000 question was to list titles and opening dates of the plays of Agatha Christie.� She did not know these answers before that day, but she had picked them up in the mall and was able to win $32,000.� She felt that God had given her what she needed, and she refused to continue out of greed to get more.� She called it a miracle, but it really wasn't.� It was a matter of perfect timing, and that is what we call providential.�

�� The point of all this is, it is time for us to focus again on the birth of our Lord.� It is time to focus on that incredible and incomprehensible miracle of the incarnation.� The incarnation was a miracle, but so many of the events surrounding it were providential.� That is, they were all a matter of precise timing.� Paul makes timing an issue in Gal. 4:4 where he states, "But when the time has fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.� What we want to see is that though timing may not be everything to Christmas it is plenty, and a focus on the timing of Christmas events can be quite revealing.

�� The whole of history had to be coordinated to bring about this event with precise timing.� Caesar had to give his order for a census at just the right time so as to get Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem at the time of her delivery.� The angel Gabriel had to come to Mary at the right time.� It was just 6 months after Elizabeth became pregnant with John the Baptist so she could have the consolation of another woman in her trying time.� Her own conception had to be timed to fit the scheduled delivery when she was in Bethlehem.

�� It was the right time in history for Jesus to come.� The whole world was prepared by Alexander the Great to carry the message of Christ to all the world.� He made Greek the common language of the world so that the Gospel could be carried to every land in that common language.� Timing plays a role in the shepherds being in the field, and the wise men seeking for a star.� Timing is the name of the game in the biblical events, and in the celebration of these events.� Consider for example,

I. THE TIME OF THE YEAR FOR CHRISTMAS.

�� Dec. 25th was a time of celebration long before Jesus came.� This was the time of the year when the sun began to return to the northern hemisphere, and the days began to get longer.� Up to that point the darkness seemed to be winning over the light, and it was pushing the light back further and further.� The sun was in retreat, and seemingly headed for defeat, but now there is a reverse process, and the sun if coming back.� On the basis of this observation, the ancient Persians and the Romans selected Dec. 25th as a day of celebration for the victory of the sun.� From a Christian point of view, not even looking at the birth of Christ, this fact of nature is a very positive one.� If you enjoy sunlight and longer days, and all the life that spring will bring, and all the beauty of summer, then it makes sense that Dec. 25th is a valid cause for celebration.

�� The early Christians were not anti‑sun.� This was their holiday too, but they saw in it a chance to exalt the greater Son‑the Son of God, who was the Creator of the sun of nature.� They adopted this holiday as their day of celebration of the coming of the Son into history to bring light to a world in darkness.� They made this pagan holiday a Christian holiday.� There are many who lament that Christians have been following a pagan custom by celebrating Christmas.� This criticism is true if Christians celebrate by abuse of their bodies in drunkenness.� But just the fact that celebrate the birth of Christ at the same time as pagans have always celebrated the ascendancy of the sun is no basis for criticism.�

�� This type of argument is folly.� One just as well argue that all Christians should give the eating of breakfast because studies show that it was a pagan meal.� The Mafia and prostitutes, and drug addicts all eat breakfast somewhere between 6 and 9 in the morning.� Therefore, we are exhorted not to conform to the world, and so we ought to give up eating breakfast until closer to noon.� This is obviously foolish reasoning, it is also folly to reject the celebration of the coming of Christ on Dec. 25th because the pagans celebrated that day also.� It has always been a pagan holiday, and it always will be until Christ comes again.� The Christian has the choice of adding Christian content to the day and the season, or of just ignoring it all together.�

�� Making Christmas mandatory would be a legalistic effort rejected by the New Testament.� No Christian is obligated to keep Christmas in any special way.� It is no where even hinted at, let alone required in the Bible.� Paul writes in Col. 2:16,

"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration or a Sabbath day."� In Rom. 14:5 he writes again, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers everyday alike.� Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind."

�� If Christians want to ignore Dec. 25th, and make no big deal out of it, they are not in least out of God's will.� But if they want to fill the day with Christian content, and put Christ in Christmas, that too is the Christian privilege.�� It is a matter of freedom and not a matter of law.� If you want to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Dec. 25th, it is a matter of good timing, for it is nature's time to give light the growing power over darkness.� There is no better time of the year to illustrate the coming of light into the world in Christ.� In other words, the Word of God and the world of God are saying the same thing in harmony at this time, and so the timing of Christmas is providential.�

�� It is a very weak argument to reject the Christmas celebration on Dec. 25th� because of the pagan origin of that day being a holiday.�� Christians use the common names for the days of the week even though they have a pagan origin.� Sunday is the day of the Sun.� Monday is the day of the moon.� Tuesday is the day of Triva, a child of Woden the supreme god.� Wednesday is named after Woden.� Thursday is for Thor another of his children.� Friday is Woden's wife Frigg.� Saturday is from Saturn.� None of the days are named after anything Christian.� All are pagan gods and goddesses.� Our culture is a mixed bag of pagan and Christian influence.

�� The challenge of the Christian is not to try and weed out all the pagan influence, but to Christianize all that is pagan, and no where do we have a greater opportunity than at Christmas.� This is a time of year for us to redeem the time, and pack it full with Christ honoring, and Christ exalting events.� Proper timing of acts of love can have an impact in this season that they may never have any other time of the year.� This is true around the world where there are radical differences from our culture.� In Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries, they call Christmas Borodin, which means big day.� This is the biggest holiday of their year.� The timing is the best season of the year for people to celebrate.� In the rainy season they can't travel much for all is mud, but Christmas comes in winter when the roads are dry and hard, and so there is more getting out and communication than any other time.� It is also crucial for the poor because this is when their new crops come in, and without these they would have no money for celebrating.�

�� The timing of Christmas enables this vast populace of the poor to have the most enjoyable celebration of their toilsome year.� The timing of nature makes a world of difference all over the world.� In our culture we tend to love a white Christmas because the snow covers up the bare and black soil, and it beautifies the dead earth which is devoid of vegetation.� The whiteness and brightness of the snow is symbolic of the light of the world who came to save and cleanse, and to make sinners white as snow.� The point is, if� you are ever going to celebrate the coming of Christ into this world, this is the season in which to do it, for nature and revelation are in harmony saying that the time is just right.� The second aspect of timing we want to consider is‑

II. THE TIMING OF HISTORY FOR CHRISTMAS.

�� God did not say, as we used to in playing hide and seek, "Here I come ready or not."� He made sure the world was ready.� The timing had to be just right or the whole plan of God could not have succeeded as it did, and the celebration of Christ's birth become a world wide event.� We are not always ready for Christmas today, for there never seems to be enough time to do all we would like to do.� Some just put off their shopping until the last minute. Someone defined a man as a creature who buys football tickets three months in advance, but does his Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve.� We have all sorts of poor timing when it comes to Christmas, but the first Christmas was timed just right.

�� There were centuries of preparation for this event.� Jesus did not come into history until He did, because it was not yet the fullness of time, and it was not yet right.� God is a God of timing, and all had to be just right for the moment of the incarnation.� At the 250th anniversary of Harvard the freshman class marched in a parade with a large banner that read, "The university has been waiting 250 years for us."� The world had been waiting many more centuries for a Savior, and when He came He was like a sunrise after a long dark night.� Dr. Henry Van Dyke pictured all the prophets focused on this event like the heads of flowers turned toward the dawn to catch the light of the rising sun.�

�� The sun rises with perfect timing, and so also the Son of God came into this dark world at just the right time.� This Christmas gift was chosen, wrapped, and ready for delivery before the foundation of the world.� It was no last minute thought.� It was God's plan before He even created man, for He knew he would need a Savior, but he had to wait till the timing was right.� Dr. Luke starts his second chapter with this historical fact.� "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed."� All the details of the Christmas story revolve around the timing of this secular decree from the Roman Emperor.� Had he not made that decree just when he did, Mary and Joseph would not have been in Bethlehem when Christ was born, and none of the prophecy concerning the Messiah's birth would have been fulfilled.� The timing of secular history plays a major role in the sacred history of God's plan of salvation.� Do not ever assume that the secular world is all under the control of Satan.� God is ever at work in the secular whelm achieving His purpose.

�� It is fascinating to study the parallels of the life of Christ and that of this Caesar whose decree got his life started when God wanted it started in Bethlehem.� Augustus was born Sept. 23, 63 B.C. just before sunrise, and his birthday became a popular holiday, just like the birthday of Jesus.�

1. His father died when he was a boy, just as Joseph did when Jesus was a boy.

2. At 12 he was mature and wise enough to have delivered a funeral oration for his grandmother Julia, the sister of Julius Caesar.� Jesus was 12 when He was found in the temple interacting with the scholars of the day.

3. Both had a great genealogy going back to the noble of the past.

4. Both built empires that were world wide.

5. Both� had compassion on the poor.� One of the reasons Augustus needed the taxes that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem was because of his massive feeding program for the poor.�

6. Like Jesus, he also had compassion for the sick.� He took in many of the children of mentally ill patients, and he raised them with his own and gave them the same education.

7. He pardoned many who sinned against him, and let his political enemies hold high office again.

8. He fought for decency on the stage.

9. He was so loved by the masses that some Italian cities voted to make their official year begin with the anniversary of his first visit to them.� He received the title "Father of his country," and was to Rome what Washington was to us.�

10. Many celebrated his birthday over 2 days with festivities and gifts.

11. He died on Aug. 19th, 14 A. D. when Jesus was about 10 years old.� It is of interest that he died at 3 P. M., which was the same time of day that Jesus died.�

� ��I am not trying to make anything of these parallels, as if there is some deep revelation here.� I am just pointing out that the providence of God is far greater than what we see in sacred history alone.� The Christmas story brings the secular world together with the sacred, and we get a glimpse of how God is at work in that secular whelm determining the timing of events so as to accomplish his purpose.� Timing is a tool of God in all of history in both the secular and the sacred realm.� The practical application of this truth is in becoming aware that God is not just interested in our spiritual life, but He is also interested in our secular life, and He can work in it to be a blessing to many.�

�� We need to take timing seriously, and look for the ways we can do what is to be the greatest blessing.� Nadine Kolmodin is the wife of one of our retired pastors.�� She left her purse in a shopping cart at a grocery store, and when she walked back to get it she had the pleasant surprise of finding another lady who had found it and turned it in.� She was so grateful that she asked God to let her be that kind of blessing to someone else.

�� The very next week she went shopping and found a cart where a woman's billfold had been left.� She opened it, and found it full of cash.� She knew this was her chance to be a great blessing.� She knew how upset the owner would be when she discovered her loss.� She sat in her car near the cart and waited.� Many cars came by, but then a young mother with her toddler stopped and began looking from side to side.� This was the one she knew was the right one.� She got out and held up the billfold for the mother to see.� When the mother saw it she sank into the seat with the relief of great tension.� "Oh," she said, "It's all my Christmas money.� I was desperate."� Nadine told her that she had done the same thing last week and had prayed to be able to help another as she had been helped. "My prayer has been answered, and now you can thank Him too."� Blinking back her tears she could hardly express her gratitude.� With a Merry Christmas they parted, both of them grateful that they had been part of this story of love.

�� This is what Christmas is all about.� Love, that like the love of God, is looking for the leading of God to be where they need to be at the right time to do what they need to do to be what they need to be.� In these days before Christmas let our prayer be, "Lord, give me guidance and let me be a part of your providential leading in the many facetted ways you direct in the timing of Christmas.��

13.� CHRISTMAS AND THE CROSS�� Based on Gal. 4:1f

�� One of the great turning point days in the history of the Western world was June 18, 1815.� Napoleon and Wellington faced each other on the battlefield for the first and last time.� The history of Europe, and possibility the whole world, hung in the balance.� The weight began to shift in Napoleon's favor as many of Wellington's European troops deserted before the hardest fighting began.� Toward the close of the day Wellington was seriously outnumbered.� He looked at his watch and muttered, "Would to God that night or Bleucher would come."� To his delight Bleucher did arrive with his troops, and his coming through the balance in Wellington's favor, and Napoleon was defeated.� Historians ever since have speculated on what would have happened if Bleucher had not come.

�� This same speculation surrounds the coming of Jesus into the battlefield of history.� What if He had never come?� It would mean that we would live in a world with no Christmas, no cross, and no resurrection.� It would be a world with no Savior.� It would still be a pre‑Christmas world if Jesus had not come.� That was not a hopeless world, for people still had God's promise, but it was a dark world with no symbol of ultimate victory.� We have this symbol and assurance of victory because we live in a post‑Christmas world.� We live in a world with a cross and a Savior.� Without Christmas there would be no cross, for Jesus had to be born before He could die.� It is because of Christmas that we have the cross and all that it means.

�� As birth precedes death, so Christmas must precede the cross and be the basis for it.� One of the greatest gifts that comes to us from Christmas is the cross, and all of its benefits for time and eternity.� Christmas marks His coming, and the cross marks His conquering.� The two are so linked together that I will not be surprised if we learn in heaven that the timbers for the cross came from the very barn or cave where Jesus was born.� The two timbers that formed the cross are themselves symbolic of these two great events in God's plan.� The long timber plunged into the earth, yet pointing to heaven, represents the incarnation of the Son of God plunging from heaven's glory into earth's gloom to dwell with man.� The cross bar pointing in both directions represents the death of Jesus for the sins for the whole world.� The birth and death; Christmas and the cross are as linked together as the two timbers that formed the cross.� Both of these eternal events that transpired in time are needed to fulfill each other.

�� Christmas without the cross would not exist, for the birth of Jesus would not likely ever be thought of had He not died for the sin of the world.� The cross, on the other hand, would just be another case of capital punishment had the one who died there not been the virgin born Son of God.� Christmas and the cross need each other.� The cross is the final proof of the reality of the incarnation.� God really did become a man, and not just a fake or phantom man.� He came all the way into manhood, even to the point where He could die.� Only the creature dies and not the Creator, but the cross reveals that the Creator really did become a creature and experience death.� The cross confirms the message of Christmas that God really did become a man.� In doing so He became the hero that arrived on the battlefield just in time to save man and establish a kingdom of liberty that will have no end.� Paul in Gal. 4 reveals some of the basic strategy that links Christmas and the cross in His plan of redemption, and makes them both days of victory.� The first thing we see is‑

I. THE TIMING OF HIS COMING.� v. 4

�� In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son.� When the time was ripe and just right God started the first Christmas.� Jesus learned well from His father, for His strategy was the same with the cross.� He could have let Himself be crucified at any time, but He kept saying His time was not yet come.� Only when He could say that His time had come did He permit the crucifixion to take place.� Christmas and the cross have this in common:� They both took place at just the right time because timing is the key to victory.� Almost everything you see to convey the joy of victory over evil follows this pattern of right timing.

1.�� The cavalry comes just in time to save the wagon train or besieged fort.�

2. The hero arrived just in time to save the damsel in distress.

3. Reinforcements come just in time to drive back and defeat the enemy.

4. It is always just in time that the good guy foils the bad guys fool proof plan.

�� Almost all of the victories of good over evil have to do with timing.� God's providence in history is a matter of timing.� Mrs. Willard Lovell of Berkeley, California accidentally locked herself out of her house, and she was very frustrated wondering how she could get in without breaking a window.� Just then the mailman came with a letter for her.� It was from her brother in Seattle who had stayed with her the previous week.� In the letter he was returning the spare key she had let him use while staying there.� In the fullness of time God sent what she needed.�

�� Corrie Ten Boom in The Hiding Place tells of the night she was awakened by the German bombers.� She heard her sister Betsie down in the kitchen.� She got up and went down to have a cup of tea with her.� They visited as they heard explosions near by, and when it finally became quiet they returned back to their bedroom.� Corrie went to pat her pillow and let out a scream.� Something shape had cut her hand.� Betsie came running and they took her back to the kitchen to bandage her hand.� They also took the large ten‑inch piece of jagged shrapnel from her pillow.� Had Corrie not been awakened when she was, and had she not heard her sister and gone downstairs, the world would never had heard of her, and it would have lost one of its greatest female saints.� At just the right time God came into her life.�

�� Christmas and the cross represent the precise planning of God.� He never jumps the gun, or goes off half‑cocked as we do.� We so often wish we could speed God up and get Him to do things according to our schedule, but God has the patience to wait and go into action just at the right time.� Martin Luther once said what many of us have often felt:� "If I were God, and the world had treated me as it has treated Him, I would have kicked the wretched thing to pieces long ago."� Instead, after centuries of abuse and rejection, in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son and gave us Christmas.� After a life of abuse and rejection Jesus at the right time laid down His life and gave us the cross.� Christmas and the cross were both planned in eternity, but happened just when they did in time for the best impact on all of history.� The world into which Jesus came was a world united as never before.� The world had one language, which was Greek, and that is why the New Testament is written in Greek to reach the whole world.�� The world was under one government, which was Rome.� The result was a world where travel was easier and safer than ever before.� The Gospel could be carried to all nations where the Jews were scattered, and where they had established synagogues.�� It was just the right and best time for Christmas and the cross.�

II. THE TAILORING OF HIS CAMPAIGN.� v. 4

�� Jesus not only came at the right time, but He came with a tailor made campaign; one that just fit the situation.� He came born of a woman under the law.� Christmas was custom made to fit man's situation in bondage to the law.� The cross was also custom made to fit man's situation as a lost sinner with no sacrifice able to atone for his sin.� Christmas and the cross are tailor made to meet the specific needs of man.� In both cases God uses the element of surprise.� He gives us Christmas through a helpless baby, and He gives us the cross through a helpless condemned man.� These are the two roles Jesus plays in these two major events of history.� Nobody could ever dream that God would accomplish His plan of salvation for man with such unconventional weapons.� Earthquakes, tornados, fire and brimstone we would expect, but never a baby and a cross.�

�� It is a good thing God does not have to get His plan confirmed by the Pentagon or any other body, for nobody would have considered it a wise strategy.� It is alright to send spies out to infiltrate the ranks of the enemy, but it is too radical a risk to send the commander of the army to do so.� But that was the strategy of God's campaign to infiltrate the ranks of man.� He sent His Son to be reduced to the level of the weakness of a baby and actually become a man.� To win the battle with the forces that held man in bondage God had to provide a sacrifice to atone for man's sin.� It was the only way man could be set free and restored to the family of God.� Only a man could offer the needed sacrifice, and so the only hope for man was a perfect man.�

�� Had Jesus just dropped out of heaven as a full‑grown man, He would not have been a real man.� To be an authentic man in the same condition as the men He came to save He had to be born of a woman under the law.� He had to come all the way into manhood.� He could not just get His feet wet and take on the form of a man as He did in the Old Testament, and as angels have done in both Testaments.� He had to be a real man so that He could experience the two universals of birth and death.� Christmas and the cross are linked together because Jesus was born to die.� Christmas is tailor made to produce a man fit to accomplish what was needed on the cross.� At just the right time‑Christmas; just the right person‑the Christ child; just the right purpose‑the cross.� John R. Rice put it,

Jesus, baby Jesus, there's a cross along the way,

Born to die for sinners, born for crucifixion day.

Christmas was the launching of His campaign that would march Him to the cross with the assurance that He would be an adequate sacrifice for man's redemption.

�� Christmas and the cross identify Jesus with the masses of mankind who sense their need of a Savior.� He could have been born in a palace and died in a golden bed, but such a plan would be tailor made only for royalty, and this was not God's plan, for a whole world of common lost sinners needed a redeemer.� The campaign of Jesus is designed to motivate the masses of the oppressed to join His army and live in liberty and love.� Christmas and the cross both carry the message of freedom from bondage, darkness and sin.� Christmas and the cross are what they are because they are tailored made to fit the needs of mankind as a whole.�

III. THE TRANSFERRING OF HIS CONQUEST� v. 5

�� Not everything in the movies is consistent with biblical principles, but quit often we see the battle of good against evil.� Those with contempt for man are confronted by those with respect for man.� In the vast majority of cases the good guys win, and it is for the benefit, not just of themselves, but for many others.� What Jesus accomplished was not just for Him self.� He is already the eternal Son of God and the commander of the host of heaven.� He cannot get a promotion and rise any higher.� His whole campaign has nothing to do with self‑glory.� He came to conquer evil in order to transfer the blessings of His conquest to those who were victims of evil.�

�� Scripture says, "To as many as received Him to them He gave the right to become children of God."� Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, but He transfers to us the right to be God's sons.� Females are included as God's sons just as males are included in the bride of Christ.� To be a son means that you are no longer a slave in God's house, but you are part of the family of God.� This is the great gift God gives to us through the combined conquest of Christmas and the cross.� They both convey the common message that God cared enough to give the very best.� May God grant us the wisdom to get in on God's very best by receiving the Son and the salvation which He gave us on Christmas and at the cross.��

14.� THE MOTHER OF US ALL�� Based on Gal. 4:26

�� Mark Twain said as he read a mistaken account of his death in the newspaper that the report was highly exaggerated.� This statement will hold true for much of what is going to be said from pulpits across the land about motherhood.� It will be highly exaggerated because it will be unrealistic about the fact that mothers are really not un-fallen angels, but they are sinners like the rest of us.� Fred Smith put it like this:� "Many a minister on Mother's Day allows his emotions to run away with his ethics.� Glittering generalities fall from his tongue which, weighed in the balances, are found to be wanting in truth.� It is not required of any man that he become a liar for the sake of his mother on Mother's Day."

�� The facts allow us to choose either alternative of praising mothers or persecuting them.� After all, if its the hand that rocks the cradle that rules the world, then mothers had better stop rocking the cradles and take hands off, for their rule is shaking the very foundations.� Of course, it is unjust and highly exaggerated to suggest that mothers are the cause of the world's mess.� This is no more valid than the reverse exaggeration that deifies motherhood.� Motherhood, like every other human subject, stands under both the judgment and mercy of God.� It is a source of both good and evil.

�� Mothers are the source of life, but also of death since it was Eve who sinned and brought death into the world upon all her children.� Mothers are the source of so many of our blessings, yet mothers in their ignorance can be a cause for their children to be perverted in many ways.� Motherhood did not escape the fall.� Listen to the account of king Ahaziah in II Chron. 22:3, "He also walked in the ways in the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly.� He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

�� The mother of Salome compelled her to use her body in a dance to lure Herod into promising her the head of John the Baptist.� Here are just two of the many examples of how mothers guide their sons and daughters into the pit of damnation.� This did not end with Bible days.� You can read daily of mothers neglecting their children, or abandoning them.� The world is filled with evidence to smear the name of motherhood.� Just one more example comes from Edmund Bergler in his book Money And Emotional Conflicts.� He tells about the numerous problems in the world just because of inheritance in relation to parents and children.� He writes, "Through the course of the years I have analyzed many neurotics with the 'inheritance complex.'� They had mothers who acted as if their sons, daughters, sons and daughters‑in‑law had no life of their own but were born for the one purpose to please them, to cater to them, and to suit them exclusive of all others....� Said one such victims of his mother's emotional dictatorship, "I have either to postpone my life until my mother dies, or renounce my inheritance."

�� We could go on and on looking at negative realities, but we are not interested in a down with motherhood campaign.� Our aim is to make it perfectly clear that all the bad things you can say about mothers will never alter the fact that we love them, praise them, honor them, and will continue to do so to the end of time.� Is this sheer, blind, unreasoning fanaticism?� Not at all. �It is our awareness that is bad as they can be they are still the best there is.� They have the potential for infinite good and love, and examples are numerous of their success.� There are Hannahs who dedicate their Samuels even before birth to God's service.� There are Eunices who train up their Timothy's in the knowledge of God's word.� God could find no better comparison than mothers when He sought to express His tender and compassionate nature.� In Isa. 66:13 He says, "As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you."� No one calls forth more gratitude and poetry than mothers.� Edgar Ellen Poe wrote to his mother:

In the heaven's above,

The angels, whispering to one another,

Can find, amid their burning terms of love,

None so devotional as that of mother.

�� No amount of negative evidence and change the positive evidence, and so we have in mothers a great paradox.� In them we have a class of persons who are a part of this evil world, but who are lifted up and exalted above the world because they are the objects of great love.�

There are thousands of stars that shine at night,

Thousands of flowers that make summer bright,

Thousands of dew‑drops the morning greet,

Thousands of birds with voices sweet,

Thousands of bees in purple clover,

But only one mother the whole world over.

�� Jesus had only one literal mother, but He did not limit the concept of motherhood to Mary.� He said that whoever does the will of God is His brother, sister and mother.� How often do Christian mothers ever think of themselves as mothers of Christ?� It sounds fantastic doesn't it?� Jesus makes the whole of the body of believers, one big family.� Now in our text Paul goes a step further and introduces and even broader concept of motherhood.� Paul says that the Jerusalem above is the mother of us all.� By all, of course, he means all believers, or all who are of the seed of Abraham.� Here is a mother we are hardly aware of, and yet it is a biblical truth of great value.� The Fatherhood of God is clear and well known, and that we also have a spiritual mother as the family of God is an obscure idea, for it is ignored and undeveloped in our thinking.

�� We need both a mother and father for our physical life, but we never consider that we need both also for our spiritual life.� If God is our Father, as believers, who then is our mother?� Who is this Jerusalem above, which is the mother of us all?� It is none other than Christ's own bride the Church.� The New Testament is clear on this that the Jerusalem above is the symbol of the Church.� In Heb. 12:22 we read, "But you have come to Mt. Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gatherings."� The Christian on earth is already a citizen of that heavenly city.� Paul says in Phil. 3:20, "Our common wealth is in heaven."� Much of the church is already in heaven with Christ the head reigning with Him over the universal kingdom from the throne in the New Jerusalem.� We who are here below are equally apart of this heavenly Jerusalem.

�� As Jerusalem was the center of Judaism, so it is the center of the church, which is the New Israel.� That is where our king reigns, and from which we receive our orders as the militant church.� This Jerusalem above, which is the mother of us all, is the whole body of Christ on earth and in heaven.� This is almost universally acknowledged.� Listen to the two great reformers.� Luther said, "Wherefore, Jerusalem, our free mother, is the church itself, the spouse of Christ, of whom we all are gendered."� Calvin said, "To the church under God, we owe it that we are 'born again'... and from her we obtain the milk and the food by which we are afterward nourished."�

�� This extremely complicated allegorical argument of Paul is filled with fascinating theological implications, but for us now we are only going to concentrate on his statement that the church is the mother of us all.� The Bible says that we must be born from above, but we never stop to consider the mother involved in this birth.� We never consider that the church is the womb in which the seed of the Holy Spirit becomes fertile and brings forth new life.� A child of God can only be born through the womb of the church.� The bride of Christ is the mother of us all in that no person can enter the kingdom of God apart from the church.� She is the instrument by which the new birth is made possible.

�� The Holy Spirit impregnated the church at Pentecost, and immediately she gave birth to 3000 children of God.� This fantastic fertility and fruitfulness is what Paul is getting at in verse 27.� The church is compared to Sarah who was barren, but who by God's grace gave birth to a son.� So the line of Abraham through Isaac was to be very fruitful, and even Gentiles by the millions would be born into that family line by the Spirit.� All Christians are fruit of the womb of Sarah, who is compared with the church.� We see the perfect continuity of the people of God in the Old and New Testaments.� The Jerusalem above is the new and the true Israel.� The Jews who have not accepted Christ have denied their heritage, for only those in Christ are of the seed of Abraham.�

�� Symbolism is confusing but fascinating, for if the church is mother of us all and we are the church, we are all a part of the concept of motherhood.� All of us as Christians are potential mothers, and we can give birth to new life when we are filled with the Spirit.� When the church is out of fellowship with God there is no fruitfulness, and new birth do not take place.� The success of the church depends upon good motherhood where we give birth and take good care of new children in the kingdom.� Honesty compels us to be just as clear on this mother as with our physical mother.� The conclusion will also be the same that the church, like mothers, has both good and bad points.� But Jesus has no other plan of salvation but that which the church offers to the world.�

�� Everything bad the world can say about the church is usually true, but there is no substitute.� As a manuscript from the Middle Ages put it, "The church is something like Noah's Ark.� If it weren't for the storm outside you couldn't stand the smell inside."�� The stench of self‑righteousness, pride and hypocrisy, just to name a few of the odors, are abominable to the nostrils of God.� The pettiness and inconsistency of believers is a burden to the saints themselves, but the fact remains, there is no alternative.� She is the one mother that God uses to bring new people into the kingdom.� To seek elsewhere for an answer to man's greatest needs is like jumping off the arch because you don't like the way the animals are behaving.� You stick with the Ark or you drown.� There is no other choice.� There is no other hope of salvation.�

�� Emerson said, "If I should go out of church whenever I hear a false sentiment I could never stay there 5 minutes.� But why come out?� The street is as false as the church."� The church is under attack from without and from within. �The evidence against the church is just as valid as that against motherhood, but it is folly to reject motherhood, for there is no other way. We have only one choice, and that is to love and honor the church, and to labor to bring her up to the ideal.� Each of us are a part of this mother, and each of us is responsible to make her what God wants her to be.� Christ died for the church, not because she was worthy, but because He loved her.� We are to live for her and fight for her, not because she is worthy, but also because we love her and her husband, the Lord Jesus Christ.�

�� All of its imperfections do not change the fact that it is the only body on earth, which represents heaven.� It is the only group in time with a message from eternity.� The Ark was the only vessel of salvation in the flood.� If you didn't like the wind blowing through the poorly fitted windows, or the leaks here and there in the side, you could gripe, but you had to stick with the Ark or perish.� We can complain about the false and follies of the church, but if this is all we do, and do not also defend, praise and serve her, we will drown in the sea of sin with no other vessel to rescue us.� On this day when we honor our physical mothers in spite of all their negatives realties, let us not neglect to love and praise the body and bride of Christ, which is the church, the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of us all.�

15.� THANK GOD FOR AMERICA�� Based on Gal. 5:1‑12

�� Governments often fear Christians because they have a loyalty to God which they put above their loyalty to government, and this limits their power to control.� Jesus started this by His famous response, "Render onto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are God's."� That was the beginning of the Christian duel loyalty to God and government, with the duty to God taking first priority.� And so when the Apostles were told by the authorities that they could not preach the Gospel Peter and John said to them in Acts 4, "We must obey God rather than men."� This has become a basic Christian value system.� The freedom to obey God is the number one priority of Christians in relationship to their government.

�� Whenever a government says that you cannot obey God because it is against our laws, the Christian church has said, "You have just become an idol demanding a loyalty that belongs to God alone, and we must resist."� This is the principle behind the history of our nations fight for freedom.� It has always been a fight to be free to obey God and be one nation under God.� It has been a fight against those who say we are a nation over God, and we demand supreme loyalty.� Long before the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War, this was the battle Americans were fighting.

�� Freedom is the very essence of the Christian life.� If you are not free to obey Christ and live in harmony with His teachings, you cannot truly be a Christian.� Therefore, the Christian is obligated to resist all attempts to limit that freedom.� Paul states it clearly in Gal. 5:1, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.� Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."� Paul was concerned about Christians being limited by the Old Testament law, but the principle applies to any form of limitation to religious liberty.

�� This is how the early Americans felt about the King of England.� They had established a democracy and loved the liberty of self‑rule.� For them to go back under the bondage of a monarchy would be like the Israelites going back under the bondage to Egypt after being set free.� The pastors of the early Americans were preaching freedom, and when Charles II of England heard that he tried to put a stop to it by demanding that only Episcopal clergy be allowed to form churches, and that only those church members be allowed to vote.� The King was going to get control of the church so that the state could dominate it and use it for its ends.� This is the goal of all governments in lands where the separation of church and state is not guaranteed by the Constitution, as is the case in the U. S.�

If the state can control the church they can eliminate the risks of religious liberty to their power.

�� When the Colonists refused to obey the King, he demanded that they give up their charter and submit to the King's authority.� The Puritan leader Increase Mather preached that it would be a sin to relinquish their freedom to the King, for it had been won by the sacrifice of faithful men.� The people voted not to submit, and the King was determined to force submission by sending troops.� He died before he did, but he started a strategy to undermine the colonies fight for freedom.� He sent Sir Edmund Andros to work at making the Episcopal Church a dominant force in the colonies, for it was state controlled.

�� He forced all shipping to be done by British ships, and so all trade had to be with England only.� The Americans said that this was an abuse of power, for the King is to serve the people and oppress them.� II Sam. 23:3 says, "He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God."� The King of England was not just, but had become a tyrant trying to rob Americans of liberties they had already won.� Christians recognized that revolution is a last resort, and so for decades they resisted such action.� The King of England got into other wars in Europe and let up the pressure, and so it was sort of a stalemate until George III came to power in 1760.�

�� His ego demanded total submission, and so he took it as his cause to crush the independent spirit of the Colonies.� He more than doubled the size of the British army in the Colonies to 7500 men, and then made the Colonies pay for them by increasing taxes.� The tax collectors paid themselves such high salaries that there was nothing left for the cost of the troops.� All the taxes went to pay for the tax collectors.� This was the same problem that made tax collectors a hated breed in the New Testament.� New taxes had to be leveled until the people developed a very ugly mood.� It was becoming pure robbery.�

�� The clergy preached many sermons on the injustice of it all, but King George, like Pharaoh, had a hardened heart.� Americans were being taxed by a government in which they had no voice.� They preached that the King had become a tyrant, and they had no more obligation to submit to him than to a pirate or highwayman.� He forfeited his right to be obeyed by becoming an enemy of the people.� They had the right to resist him as any other invader.� It was a matter of self‑defense.�

�� A showdown with the King was inevitable.� The persistent spirit of liberty had to be rooted out and so King George threatened more, and American preachers found more biblical basis for rejecting his authority.� On New Year's Day of 1773 the men of Marlborough made this public declaration:� "Death is more eligible than slavery.� A free‑born people are not required by the religion of Jesus Christ to submit to tyranny, but make use of such power as God has given them to recover and support their laws and liberties.� We implore the Ruler above the skies, that He would bare His arm in defense of His church and people..."�

�� Peter Marshall in The Light And Glory, dealing with the history of this period, says that even crown‑appointed governors, faithful to the King, wrote back to England saying, "If you ask an American, who is his master?� He will tell you he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ."� The cry was going up and down the link of American, "No King but King Jesus."� I never realized it before, but the fight for liberty in America was a fight for religious liberty.� It was a fight for the freedom to obey God rather than man.� This was the key theme that united the Colonies.� You might be thinking that this sounds more like a history lesson than a sermon, but I am trying to communicate that the history of our fight for freedom is a sermon.� It is a sermon on the providence of God, and a sermon on the priority of obeying God above all other authority.� It is also a sermon on the power of people who are united to win a victory for God established values.�

�� History is His‑story, and so it is full of sermons.� History shows us how injustice cuts its own throat.� The British tax laws were forcing many American tea companies into bankruptcy, and so you had the famous Boston Tea Party with Americans tossing tea into the bay.� The King demanded that the culprits be prosecuted, but none could be found.� So he punished all of Boston by closing her ports to all commerce in 1774.� This was to be a warning to all of the colonies that said, "Don't mess with us!"� This act of tyranny had the opposite effect.� It united the Colonies as nothing before.� This act ruined Boston financially, for it was the most prosperous port in America.� Out rage swept across the Colonies and every city began to send provisions to Boston.� George Washington himself sent 50 pounds, which would be near 5000 dollars in value today.�

�� William Prescott sent a message to Boston along with supplies and he used our text in his message.� He wrote, "We heartily sympathize with you, and are always ready to do all in our power for your support, comfort and relief, knowing that Providence has placed you where you must stand the first shock.� We consider that we are all embarked in the same boat and must sink or swim together.....Let us all be of one heart, and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free."�

�� This was the sentiment that King George had provoked in the Colonies.� Jesus said that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, and this was the major problem in the Colonies.� They were not united states, but they were divided by endless varieties of opinions.� But the Boston Tea Party and its consequences united them and made them realize they had to swim together or sink.� Patrick Henry at the dawn of 1775 said in the Virginia House, "There is no longer room for hope.� If we wish to be free, we must fight!� An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us.....We shall fight alone.� God presides over the destinies of nations, and will raise up friends for us.� The battle is not for the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.....Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?� Forbid it, almighty God!� I know not what course others might take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

�� The love of God‑given liberty united the people, and that alone made them adequate for the battle ahead.� If they had lack this unity, they never would have had a chance, for all the odds were against them.� King George had a well‑ trained army of 50 thousand men, and the best navy in the world.� The Americans had no navy at all, and they could only muster a little over 10 thousand for the army, and they were poorly trained.�� It was a David and Goliath conflict, but with a David who was nowhere near as good with a sling as the David of the Bible.� The British were disciplined and well organized.� The Americans were not, for they often just walked away from the battle and went home when they felt like it.

�� The war would have been over by lunchtime had the Americans fought by the British rules of war.� Had they lined up across from the line of red coats they would have been demolished in no time.� But the Americans had learned from the Indians the way to fight a superior force.� They would hide behind trees and rocks and fire as individuals at any enemy fool enough to be out in the open, which was just where the British were.� Americans owe a lot to the Indians who taught them many lessons in survival.

�� The British won 17 major battles, and the Americans won 22.� But it cost many thousands of lives, and a great deal of money.� Freedom is costly and that is why we need to celebrate the 4th of July.� It is a parallel to our celebration to communion.� We celebrate communion to remember the price paid for our freedom from the bondage to sin and its consequences.� We celebrate the 4th of July to remember the cost of our freedom from bondage to tyranny and unjust rule.� Freedom is the foundation for most all of our great holidays and celebrations.� Christmas is our celebration of freedom from isolation from God.� God came into history and made it clear that we are not alone.� God is with us in Christ our Emmanuel.� Easter is our celebration of freedom from the power of death.� Jesus liberated us from this bondage and gave us eternal life.

�� We do not think of the 4th of July as a Christian holiday and celebration.� It is more secular in nature.� That is why it is a blessing that is sometimes falls on Sunday, for then we have the opportunity to point out the Christian impact on the whole history of our fight for freedom.� There is danger in patriotism becoming a form of idolatry, but it is also possible to go the other way and fail to see the Christian duty to be patriotic.� Christians have played a major role in the patriotism of America, and we need to see it and be grateful for it, and then carry on that balance of love for God and love of country.�

�� My Country Tis Of Thee was written by the Baptist pastor Samuel Francis

Smith in 1832.� The Pledge of Alliance was written by another Baptist pastor, Francis Bellamy in 1892.� John Witherspoon, the Presbyterian pastor, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.� His Colony of New Jersey had elected him to the Continental Congress just a few days before they voted on the Declaration.� Witherspoon represented the churches perspective on this momentous decision.� He had been the President of Princeton where many of the leaders of the Colonies were educated, such as James Madison, who joined Thomas Jefferson in making religious freedom a reality in Virginia, and who went on to become the 4th President of the United States.�

�� Witherspoon had an impact on the lives of many of the early leaders of America, and one of them was John Adams the second President of the United States.� He was chosen by Congress to draft the proclamation for days of thanksgiving and other special occasions, for he would include in them the belief that divine providence was guiding this nation, and that the preservation of our religious heritage was crucial to success.� John Witherspoon wrote the Proclamation that George Washington gave after his great victory at Yorktown.� It went like this:� "Whereas, it hath pleased Almighty God, Father of mercies, remarkably to assist and support the United States of America in their important struggle for liberty, against the long continued efforts of a powerful nation:� It is the duty of all ranks to observe and thankfully acknowledge the interpositions of his Providence in their behalf."�

�� Witherspoon had a great impact on Washington, for they spent a lot of time together, and Washington became a firm believer that our nation could never remain strong and moral without the religious influence of the churches.� Witherspoon led other pastors into politics, but he was very strong in his conviction that politics had no place in the pulpit.� He never used his sermons to promote political convictions.� He felt this would an abuse of his position.� Only once did he break his own rule and bring politics into his message, and that was in 1776 when he defended the war for independence.�

�� He preached, "At this season it is not only lawful but necessary, and I willingly embrace the opportunity of declaring my opinion without any hesitation, that the cause in which America is now in arms, is the cause of justice, of liberty and of human nature.� So far as we have hitherto proceeded, I am satisfied that the confederacy of the Colonies has not been the effect of pride, resentment or sedition, but of a deep and general conviction that our civil and religious liberties, and consequently in a great measure the temporal and eternal happiness of us and our posterity, depended on the issue."

�� It was deep religious conviction that united the Americans in their fight.� Without this unity there would not have been much chance of their succeeding.� Christianity and liberty go hand and hand, and they are an unbeatable pair.� The practical lesson for us is to recognize that unity in Christ and in Christian freedom is still the winning combination that will lead to victory in any battle we face.� Get Christians united and you will have a force that the gates of hell cannot hold back.� Unity is also the key to the good life when the battles are over.� Psa. 133:1 says, "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity."� After the war was over this was a major struggle to achieve.� A common enemy had united them, but when that enemy was gone they began to experience division.� They were like the church of Corinth where they were saying, "I am of Paul; I am of Apollos; I am of Cephus, or I am of Christ."� The Americans were saying, "I am of Virginia; I am of New Jersey, or I am of Rhode Island, etc."� Every colony wanted to be independent and not united.