Radio Broadcast Tuesday 07/30/2024

Classic Christianity – Book of Galatians P2 (07-30-24)

The Apostle Paul’s Matter-of-Fact Message to the Galatians

~ Folks, when Paul wrote the message to the churches in Galatia, he was as subtle as a meat cleaver. Which is to say, he told it like it is, and didn’t pull any punches. There are some today that get so bent out of shape when you tell them things matter-of-factly, that they will say things like, “that is not being very loving” as though Not telling Truth is somehow more loving. How much sense does that make to not tell the truth, or to beat around the bush, or to be so watered down in what a person says, that the reader can take it to mean many different things any way they want to believe, instead of being told exactly as it is? Jesus told things as it is, and because of that the Edomites had Him killed on a cross. Jesus called these Edomites, being of their father the devil. They were NOT of the tribe of Judah, nor were they Hebrews or Israelites. They were infiltrators, just like today we have infiltrators in the church and great pretenders in the world, it is important to understand there were infiltrators in Temple worship in that time period. Actually, when Jesus arrived on the scene at that point in time, the Edomites had taken over temple worship completely and had made it a den of thieves. That’s why it is important to understand who Jesus is actually talking to in the proper context, in the Word of God. And the Spirit will have to reveal that to you. By the way, Jesus said that about the temple having been transformed into a “den of thieves.” And folks, that is NOT hyperbole either. So you can see that Jesus pulled no punches. Jesus, God in flesh, spoke Truth and as such darkness does not like hearing the light of truth. John 3:20 It does not like being exposed.

“And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Matthew 21:13

“Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would have loved Me, for I came forth from God and am here; for not even have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.

Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you desire to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he might speak falsehood, he speaks from the own; for he is a liar, and the father of it. Now because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me!

Which of you convicts me concerning sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; because of this, you do not hear, because you are not of God.” John 8:42-47

And Paul also knew of the infiltration first hand of these types of people directly into the early churches, and around the world. Paul called things out exactly as it was. And just like Jesus, Paul did not beat around the bush either. For Paul faced direct opposition by these evil people, just as Jesus did, and as we also do today.

And be not surprised, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” 2 Corinthians 11:13-15

And it is so important to understand, that the TRUE church built by God is Not any building. It is NOT some denomination or sect of Christianity. It is NOT Catholic, it is NOT Protestant, it is NOT some religion in the world. The TRUE church is made of the body of believers in Christ Jesus everywhere today.

Nothing is as it seems today. Things are much much worse than you can see or imagine. We live in a world of great deception, where groups of people have taken over in identity theft, pretending they are something they are NOT. Pray to God for wisdom and understanding in ALL things. Don’t even trust in your own understanding of anything either. Go directly to the source for ALL wisdom and understanding, God, the Holy Spirit, if He does live in you. And if He doesn’t live in you, accept Jesus today for what God in the flesh has done for you at the cross, and He will give you eternal life at this very moment in time when you place faith in Him.

As we have said numerous times, don’t believe what anyone says and don’t even trust in your own understanding of things, but verify for yourself in the word of God to see if what is being said is so. Be a Berean today. Verify for yourself and allow the Holy Spirit to teach you ALL Truth. Learn the truth of the Word of God, and be bold for the very foundation of Jesus and what he did on the cross. Don’t let religionists and Satan whisper in your ear, “don’t rock the boat” for that is nothing more than being wishy-washy in the proclamation of TRUTH. Be bold as Paul, who also prayed for boldness from the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel boldly as he should, especially as he faced head-on collisions with all types of people that didn’t want Paul to proclaim Truth. “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will boldly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it fearlessly, as I should.” ^{Ephesians 6:19-20}

Paul, an apostle—not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, the One having raised Him out from the dead— and all the brothers with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, the One having given Himself for our sins, so that He might deliver us out of the evil age having come presently, according to the will our God and Father, to whom be the glory to the ages of the ages. Amen.

I am amazed that so quickly you are deserting from the One having called you in the grace of Christ to another gospel, which is not another, except there are some who are troubling you and are desiring to pervert the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel out of heaven should preach a gospel to you contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let him be accursed! As we have said before, even now I say again: If anyone is preaching a gospel to you contrary to what you received, let him be accursed! ^{Galatians 1:1-9}

Pray to God:

Do you really want to know the WHOLE Truth of what is going on today?

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

Lord Jesus, teach me the truth of the world today and give me the wisdom to know the truth and identify the lies of the devil. Thank you God.”

~ “And I saw the difference between the old and the new, and how the old has been replaced now with a new covenant, and we live today and stand today in the grace of God that has done what? Replaced the law of God to who? Believers, not for unbelievers. They are still under the law of sin and death. Are they not? But when we have been released from that law of sin and death, we now live under the law of Life. And the Old Covenant goes to the old to the to the lost, and the new covenant is where we, as saved, live. Now you go back with that understanding, and you study the book of Galatians. Now you know what Paul means. So why don’t we go into the book and see if we can shed some light on it. …

… Now he says to those people, Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age. Now was that back then? Yes. Is it now? Absolutely. Is this age of ours evil? Or is it not? I mean friends, I cannot believe what’s going on in the world today. I mean, I’m ready to go back to the 50s. I cannot believe it. You have the promotion of every perverse action on the face of the earth. You have denominations debating whether they should allow homosexual pastors. Why would you be debating that? I mean, why don’t you debate whether you ought to have adultery pastors or pedophile pastors? What’s the debate about? And we’re debating those in denominational churches who call themselves Christians. You have every type of sin going on under the sun flaunted in front of us every day of our lives, and we’re expected to sit back and never give in to any of them. Any of you can sit here today and say you’ve never given into any of them? Any hands, no arms. It’s out there, folks, it’s out there in abundance.” ~ Bob George

Bible Study Booklets

Join Bob George in this chapter by chapter exposition of the letter to the Galatians. Available for download the complete series on the Book of Galatians. The Letter to the Galatians is key to understanding Law and Grace, the new covenant, and being one in Christ Jesus.

Announcer 0:12
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Bob George 0:29
And I saw the difference between the old and the new, and how the old has been replaced now with a new covenant, and we live today and stand today in the grace of God that has done what? Replaced the law of God to who? Believers, not for unbelievers. They are still under the law of sin and death. Are they not? But when we have been released from that law of sin and death, we now live under the law of Life. And the Old Covenant goes to the old to the to the lost, and the new covenant is where we, as saved, live. Now you go back with that understanding, and you study the book of Galatians. Now you know what Paul means. So why don’t we go into the book and see if we can shed some light on it.

Galatians 1:1. Paul, an apostle, sent not from men nor by man. Paul is saying, I was not sent to do what I’m doing by anyone except Jesus Christ. I was not ordained by men. I don’t have any ordinate ordination papers. I did not graduate from cemetery seminary, excuse me, and so I don’t have a degree. It’s amazing how impressed we get with these degrees. And of course, if we don’t earn one, then we get honorary doctor’s degrees, and then insist people call you doctor. It is sickening, but we love degrees and titles, don’t we? Paul says, I don’t have a title from anybody there isn’t anybody that told me to go, come to you there when they wanted sent me to you. I don’t have any degrees that you’d be interested in. Gentiles. I came to you sent by God and by God alone. And folks, I love what major Ian Thomas said. He said, These people come down and say, Oh, I’m called to preach. Said, No, you’re not. You’re not called to anyone except Jesus Christ. Now he may send you to preach, but you’re not called to preach. You’re called to Jesus, and then Jesus sends you to minister wherever he wants to send you. And there are many people who are called to preach, and unfortunately, never been called to Jesus yet, and they’re all over the place. And I could name you some funny stories about that, but we think I’m called to preach.

When Amy and I had the big blowout that we had, that was a big blowout, and after it cooled off a little bit, we went out walking in the hills there of Whittier, California, and I said to her, honey, sometimes I feel like I ought to go be a preacher. Now I just come from the bar feeling I’m called to be a preacher. Well, that’s pretty good qualification for it. Amy’s comment was, well, why don’t you go be one? I didn’t realize I was being called unto Jesus. I wasn’t being called to preach or to go be a preacher. I was being called to him. Didn’t know it until later. So the first calling and the only calling of God is come onto me, and then I’ll send you where I want to send you. So you’re not called to preach. You’re called to Jesus. And a lot of people get the idea I’m called to preach, and so don’t, don’t tell me to wash windows. I’m a preacher. Don’t tell me to paint a room. I’m a preacher. And now I get up and preach. That’s all I do. I just preach. No one cares whether I preach or not, but I preach. Very few people are listening, but I preach, and folks, that’s a misconception that is totally in the Word of God, in the Church of Jesus Christ today, people called to preach instead of called to serve. Jesus served, whether he preached or not, he served people in love, and that’s what he called us to do, serve people in love. So he’s saying to them, I wasn’t sent to you by any man, nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God, the Father who raised him, Jesus from the dead, and all the brothers with me to the churches of Galatia.

Now again, to the churches of Galatia. Were these churches of Galatia, buildings down on the corner of walk and don’t walk with steeples and stained glass? Were that, was that what he’s talking about? No, there weren’t any buildings like that back then. What was he talking about? The church who met in homes. We just talked about that, didn’t we in Romans, the church that’s people who met in homes, the home isn’t the church, the church could have been meeting under a tree. You don’t call the tree a church. People who were gathered together for the study of the apostles teaching and for fellowship and for prayer. That was the Church of Jesus Christ, people who met daily in those days, daily for the apostles teaching and for fellowship and prayer. It was not an entertainment center. It was not a place that you go to meet friends so that you might find a husband or wife someday. It was a place where you went for one purpose only, to learn the apostles teaching to fellowship with people of like mind and to pray together. Now, isn’t that complicated? And that was the church, not in buildings, in homes. There were no buildings, just homes where people met in. So when he says that I am preaching, I’m writing to the churches in Galatia, he was talking about all of the different homes where people were meeting in, because in a city of any magnitude at all, distance certainly was a problem in those days. They didn’t have Volkswagens to go to church in or anything else they you had to either walk or you went by mule. But the matter, the fact of the matter, is that they met in homes in different parts of the city, and so he was writing to those homes and to a leader in that home who would be called a teacher could be called a pastor and an elder in those days, was not someone in this setting. It was a person in Galatia who went from home to home to home to be sure that the teaching was online and true and in line with what had been taught by them, by Jesus and the apostles. That was what an elder was. Now today, in most churches, you become an elder by the size of your pocketbook, and then, after a while, you run the church, and so but in those days, an elder was merely a man who was mature in the Lord. He was not a new Christian. He said, Don’t make new Christians into this kind of leadership, a mature person who knew the word of God, who understood the meaning of the word of God, whose life expressed Jesus, and that man would be named to go around and to check up on these different homes. And obviously you’d do the same in your own wherever you happen to be meeting. But the main job was that of supervision.

Now he says to those people, Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age. Now was that back then? Yes. Is it now? Absolutely. Is this age of ours evil? Or is it not? I mean friends, I cannot believe what’s going on in the world today. I mean, I’m ready to go back to the 50s. I cannot believe it. You have the promotion of every perverse action on the face of the earth. You have denominations debating whether they should allow homosexual pastors. Why would you be debating that? I mean, why don’t you debate whether you ought to have adultery pastors or pedophile pastors? What’s the debate about? And we’re debating those in denominational churches who call themselves Christians. You have every type of sin going on under the sun flaunted in front of us every day of our lives, and we’re expected to sit back and never give in to any of them. Any of you can sit here today and say you’ve never given into any of them? Any hands, no arms. It’s out there, folks, it’s out there in abundance.

The young people today that are going to schools are going to school in a totally different atmosphere than when any of us who are over 50 ever went to. When I grew up, the biggest discipline problems in school was chewing gun and gun and running in the halls. Today you’d be running in the halls to keep somebody from shooting you. I mean, it’s it’s just a different world in which we live. And yet, guys, everybody says, oh, man, if God doesn’t condemn America, he’s gonna have to apologize for Sodom and Gomorrah. Have you heard that one? We haven’t even come close to Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet, now we’re trying. But when you know the sin that was taking place back in. Paul’s days in the heathenistic countries of Greece, in Turkey, in these places, we haven’t even seen sin yet because it was rampant, much more so even than it is today. We just see more of it because of media.

So he says that he has rescued you and me from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now Paul is saying, I’m astonished now he’s going to start meddling. I’ve complimented you now I’m going to start meddling. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all.

Now, folks, again, this letter was going into the province of Galatia, into many, many different home studies. And so this gospel that was different than what Paul had preached was spreading all over. It was everywhere. And Paul is saying that I am absolutely astonished that you people are so quickly deserting the one who called you and Who’s that, Jesus. They’re deserting Jesus and are turning to a different gospel, which he says is no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. Folks, you know what evil is? A perversion of good, that’s all it is, a perversion of good. God comes in with the good and evil comes and perverts the good into something else. Did God in His scripture, and when God hung on a cross, did he die for just some of your sins, or did he die for all of them? Then how could you come up with a scripture, or how could you come up with a gospel that says, then you can lose your salvation?

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Bob George 13:37
Where is that going to come from? What is that, what is that doctrine? It’s a perversion, a perversion of what? Of truth. Jesus came and said, I give you what kind of life? Eternal life. A person comes along and says, no, no, you don’t have eternal life. You can lose it, then you can you, if you can lose eternal life, can you call it eternal life? No, have to call it temporal life. Did he come to give you temporal life, or did he come to give you eternal life? Eternal life. People come along and said, You got to come and get baptized in my church before you’re saved. What is that? Well it is a perversion. A perversion of what? Perversion of the truth where Jesus says, You come to be by faith. Paul said, I’m glad I didn’t baptize any of you, Crispus and Gaius, the household of Stephanas, I baptized some of you. I didn’t come to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Now, if baptism was in the Gospel, could you make that statement? I didn’t come to preach the resurrection, just the cross. What would you say to me? I’d hope you’d all leave. You’d say you’re perverting the gospel. Would you not? Because I’m alleviating part of the gospel. And so when people come along to say, we have to be baptized to be saved, you’re adding to what Paul said was the gospel. I didn’t come to baptize. I came to proclaim the Gospel. And baptism isn’t in the Gospel. The Gospel concerns the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, Jesus. That’s what I came to preach, not getting dunked in water or sprinkled with water, but Jesus, so what is that teaching? It’s a perversion of truth.

Now people can come along and say, Oh, you’re just arrogant because you believe those things. Well, if that’s the case, so be it. But I think I can back it up with Scripture. And I think I can back it up with divine logic, the logic that God gives you when His Spirit lives in you. You can come along with all kinds of things. You have to become a Jew in order to be saved. That was what was one of the main things that was taking place then, is that true? You have to get circumcised before you can be saved. Is that true? No. So what were they doing? Well, they were perverting the gospel. And so in all of these things, we could go on and on and on with hundreds of them, you got to worship Mary to be saved. Is that true? Do they find in the New Testament worship Mary? Somebody called me one time saying, why don’t you talk more about Mary. I say I talked about Mary in proportion of what she’s written of in the Scripture about two times. She was a woman who was greatly blessed. She was chosen by God to bear the Son of God in her womb. You and I are blessed by God by having Jesus living in us 24 hours a day. Which would you rather have, him in your womb or in your heart? Not asking that question to you guys.

And so we have to understand that. But people go down and they put their worship and other things. People put their worship in their leaders. They worship Luther. They worship whoever it might be, Billy Graham, whoever it might be, Calvin, then said, Paul, what’d Paul say when they tried to do that? Said, cut it out. You weren’t baptized in my name. Who’s Apollos, who’s Paul, who’s Peter, we’re just servants. Are they big deals in the Christian life. Now, folks, I want to tell you something. You can make yourself a big deal, and people are dumb as dirt who just follow along like that’s true, and all you got to do is just get a stupid looking robe and a hat on your head, and boy, people will flock to you and by the millions, and look like you’re holy. Yeah, you can play that game if you want to. But in the Bible, folks, there is no distinction between laity and the pastor, none at all. So we put ourselves we dress ourselves up, and people wear their collars on backwards, and like McGee said, it’s a sign they’re walking in the wrong direction. You can do all of those things. Wear your black suits. Wear all that tote to do what? Set yourself apart, to make yourself holy. I got news for you. Wear robes. Often wondered, well, I went to church to pastor who wore a robe every Sunday. What are you wearing that thing for? Don’t you have clothes to set you apart, makes you holy? Amy went to church and she called it a big bubble up there. You know, they had this big thing, this thing up there that built way up where you come and stood this big pulpit type deal overlooking everybody. Why? Makes you look important. And people fall for that and think you are. They ought to interview the people’s wives, or just hang around one of those guys long enough just to see how holy we all are. You can put on those things and not know the Lord from a lamp post. And put on a robe, put on your collar, put on a hat, whatever it might be, and people follow you like your God Himself. Am I right or wrong guys? What does that show us about us? Dumb as sheep. That’s what Jesus called us, wasn’t it? Sheep. Dumbest animal on the face of the earth. They’ll just walk right over a cliff following somebody else.

And we have to understand folks that without his discernment, we are lost. God gives you and me discernment, and this book is about discernment. I’m astonished that you were so quickly deserting the one who called you. I’m astonished to them, where’s your discernment? Why can’t you identify error when it smacks you right in the face? And I have to say that Satan is unbelievably clever, so I’m not diminishing him. So Satan don’t get on me more than you do, not diminishing you. He’s very clever, and those smooth, talking, flattering tongues and all that can get around. And man, have you deceived in a minute. Now you just think this, you’ve got to be the neatest guy that God’s ever created, since, since Jesus Himself. And we can get deceived by them.

And that’s why, when we come here on Sunday, we don’t come to get a political message or to get some viewpoints. We come to do what? Study the apostles teaching, not my teaching, not Jehovah’s Witness teaching, not Mormon’s teaching, not the Catholic’s teaching, not the Baptist teaching, but study the Word of God. You say, Well, how am I supposed to know what it means? Ask the Spirit to reveal it to you. Now, has he promised to do so? You know, the only thing that keeps you from being able to understand the word of God is not wanting to. That’s all it takes. I don’t want to. I’m not interested. That’s all it takes, because God says I’m there forcing it on you. I’m there with it in your face every day of your life. The only thing that keeps you from not understanding the meaning of the word of God is you’re indifferent. You don’t care. And I am convinced that if we sat down and each and every person in this room individually sat down and had a heart to say, Lord, I want to know you. I want to know everything about you, we’d get together a year later, and we’d be almost 100% in our understanding on this without a teacher, just the Spirit.

And so Paul is challenging these people. He said, I don’t understand what’s taking place here. You’re turning to a different gospel, which is no gospel at all. And these people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. Now look what he says about this, folks. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned. Is that, is that nice language? No, Paul, you’re not being politically correct here. I mean, that’s that’s harsh stuff, and you’re supposed to be a gracer. Do you know what some people get the idea about grace is, forget what truth is, just, just take it all. You know, doesn’t matter what somebody does. Just let go. That’s not grace, That’s stupidity. If that’s what Grace was, what did they have elders for? To go around and say, You’re teaching the Bible wrong. You’re teaching truth wrong. And we have that idea that grace is you never say a harsh word to anybody. What happened to the Apostle Paul with Barnabas seemed to me, they had a pretty good riff. What happened to the Apostle Paul with Peter when he comes in and said, You’re a hypocrite, you’re slopping down those pork chops are the best of them here till those Jews got here. Now you act like you wouldn’t look at one if it would taste one of it hit you in the face. Said you’re a hypocrite. Folks, that’s strong language, but it’s truth. And we look at Grace as just let her all that’s not grace. Grace is truth. You cannot separate Jesus from grace and truth. He was full of grace and truth. And if you’ve got grace, you’ve got truth, and you have truth, you’ve got grace. And it’s not always happy. I think God has a little grace, don’t you think maybe he might know what grace is? What about these, this scripture that sits down and says, You foolish, idiotic Galatians, what’s wrong with you God? That didn’t sound very Gracy to me. You see what I’m getting at, folks, we’ve got these funny ideas as to what grace is. Grace hits you right between the eyes to let you know you’re wrong. Your attitude is wrong.

And so he said, even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach, let him be eternally condemned. That’s a strong statement, folks. Now we use this, of course to say, Well, he’s talking about Mormons. You can get away with that. Those are those Mormons over there that that angel appeared to Joseph Smith and taught him the Bible. So that didn’t apply to me. Paul said, I wouldn’t care if an angel came down teaching the gospel different than what we preached. I don’t care if it’s to the Mormons or who it’s to let them be eternally condemned. Now that, incidentally, is what happened to the Mormon church. Their Mormon Bible is written as a result of Joseph Smith, who supposedly saw an angel come down and put some binoculars in his hands and looked into these Egyptian hieroglyphics and then translated them into King James. Did you get that these Egyptian hieroglyphics were 1000s of years old, supposedly, but he translated them into King James. It didn’t come out to about 1500 and you got how many people sucked into that stuff, folks, where God was merely a man who elevated himself to be God, and you can do the same thing. You just keep working that hard enough you can become God. And you poor women, if you’re married, you’re not going to go to heaven unless your husband calls you out of the grave. So you better get along with your husband. Better be obedient to him, because he’s not coming out, if you don’t.

I had a lady who grew up in a Mormon religion, was married and had a husband, mean as a Hornet, and she left Utah and moved over into El Paso area and caught the radio broadcast over there, and came to understand the grace of God, just how you talk about someone happy. And her husband was chasing her all over the place, trying to get her back, and he finally found her one day, and he said, If you don’t come back to me, I’m not going to call you out of the grave. She said, If you called me out, I wouldn’t come out anyway.

So folks, there’s all kinds of gospels out there. Aren’t there? I mean, there’s, there’s hundreds, I bet we can name hundreds of gospels that are out in the world today. And he’s saying, even if an angel should come and preach one of those other gospels to you, other than the one we preach to you, let him be eternally condemned. That shows you the heart of Paul that was given to him by the heart of God. And that is, you don’t tolerate another gospel. You don’t tolerate another gospel.

Announcer 27:11
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