Episode 63 - Galatians - Part 8

Speaker 1 00:00:07 Hi, and welcome to the unveiling. I'm Tim, one of the hosts, and along with Andrey and Mark, we are three guys discussing the one true gospel. We hope you're encouraged by this episode. Let's dive right in. Speaker 2 00:00:23 Hello and welcome. It's us, it's you, we're here. This is the unveiling. This is episode 63. To title of today's episode is Galatians. We are on part eight. I promise we're gonna end this one eventually. So <laugh>, now, now that you've put it out there, mark, I don't know, we, we, well anyways, for those of you following along, we're picking up this week in Galatians the fifth chapter, starting at verse 10. And I'm gonna dive into the verses and, and get through the first couple. And the, since most of what we're gonna be talking about has to do with the rest of this chapter. I do wanna address these verses and what's going on here, just so everyone has an understanding. And of course, you guys chip in and chirp in if you need to. But, uh, once again at chapter 10, Paul starts off with saying, I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. Speaker 2 00:01:25 The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves. So this is, this is not the happiest little section of anniversary. Um, but let me just refresh your memory. The, the letter de Galatians really has, was written with three main points in in mind. One, uh, Paul was defending his authority and his message. Two, uh, he was trying to correct and address the bad teachings that were being spread throughout the Galatian churches by the Judaizers who wanted to mix law with grace. And finally, he, uh, he wanted to reiterate the one true gospel and the grace message throughout the church. Speaker 2 00:02:26 So those three things are almost all wrapped up here in these three little verses. He starts off by saying, oh, I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. That goes back to where we were last week. He, he was, uh, straightening out the fact that we don't need lock when we have grace. And in fact, if you try and mix them, then grace is no use for you. So he's saying, I, I, I'm confident that you are gonna continue in that point of view. Uh, and he follows that up with brothers and sisters. Here's a, a defense of what he's preaching is his brothers and sisters. If I am preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? Well, he's not preaching circumcision. He's preaching grace and not works, which circumcision was just their, their reason for, you know, arguing with him. Speaker 2 00:03:14 So he's not preaching that. He's not preaching mixing long grace are preaching search circumcisions. So he is saying, if I was, uh, they, you know, they would have no, they owe no reason to persecute him, but they are persecuting him. So, and finally this line sounds a little harsh to modern hears when he says, I wish they'd just go out and castrate them. Smore was, but understand that this is the kind of language that was used in itch ancient times. Yeah, it's hyperbole. He's not actually wishing that they would go out and castrate themselves, but ibel, I believe that in saying that, what he is trying to say is that, uh, their teachings are so harmful and destructive that they would be way better off completely removing themselves from the Christian community, right? So I've talked a lot here, guys. I've given you my view. What do you, what, what say Speaker 3 00:04:04 You, well, first of all, that was a great synopsis, Tim, thank you for that. I'd like to try to add a little bit more to it from, we, we know a lot of things about what's going on here in Galatia between Paul and the Galatians and the Judaizers, not just from Galatians, but he alludes to things in other of his epistles, and especially the historian loop captures it in the Book of Acts. What the judaizers were continuously doing in there, we'll say, for lack of a better word, fight against Paul and against the gospel of justification by faith alone, was they were, they would badmouth them at time and spread lies to try to recruit his followers, followers of the one true gospel. And you know, one of those other examples was they were spreading around that by preaching grace. That, uh, it's all Christ, it's everything in his cross and our faith in him that they were giving people a license to sin. Speaker 3 00:05:06 And they were saying that he was teaching that you should go out and sin more so that the grace of God and his glory might abound more. That's one of them. And the other thing they were saying about him that we know was that they were telling to try to steal the Galatians away from, from him and from the one true gospel, they were preaching the lie that he was preaching circumcision. That, Hey, you know what? Because I could just, you know, I try to get in their heads a little bit, but just imagine if you're a Galatian who has been following, Paul has seen the miracles, came to Christ by the spirit of God, and just seen all these wonderful things and even had been persecuted for that gospel, here comes the Judas along and just, just completely changing everything. It would mean a lot, lot to them if they said, Hey, you know what, your leader, Paul, the one who founded this church actually preaches circumcision just like we do. Speaker 3 00:06:04 That would just be a way of stealing them away. You know, what's much more logical and less of an attack on Paul and more like getting them to come to that to follow their ways. And uh, Paul, Paul really says it great here, when, when he kind of sets up, uh, he says, the one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. So if all they had ever heard from the Apostle Paul was the one true gospel, and now the Judaizers saying, oh, Paul preaches you need to add circumcision in the law, that would've been confusion. And then Paul, just in his great logical, um, law using the laws of deduction, says, wait a minute, if that were true, then why are they persecuting me? Me, if I was preaching the same thing as they are, they wouldn't persecute me for it, but they are. So he's just making a great point there. Um, so I'll stop there, Raj, kick in if you'd like. Speaker 4 00:07:05 Yeah. So, uh, here, I know Tim, like I mentioned, the language is very severe. Uh, you know, from the whole tone of the, uh, book of Galatians and everywhere, you know, uh, what Paul is communicating is it's, uh, he's using very severe language to say that, you know, dis thing is totally wrong, right? If you mix law with gospel, it is an abominable sin. And he's saying, you know, you have to bear judgment. You know, one thing I want to quickly take our attention to is among all the letters, right? The one church we see is the most sinful church. Most cornal church is Corinthians right? And rest of none of the other churches, you know, had that kind of really bad sin going on. But, you know, look at the way Paul starts the letter to the Corinthians, this real quick. Paul called you in a of Jesus Christ through the will of God. Speaker 4 00:08:00 And so our brother, unto the church of God, which is at current to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus call to be saint with all that in every place, call upon the name of our Lord Jesus, both their and ours grace, be to you and peace from God or Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given to you by Jesus Christ. That in everything you are enriched by him in all utterance and knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind no gift waiting for the com coming of all Lord Jesus Christ. And compare that with Galatians, right? You know, people who think you know, they're so holy, you know, by mixing the law, you know, we are, uh, enhancing the gospel. Speaker 4 00:08:45 Look at how Paul starts. He just says, you know, in a third words, grace and peace to, to be to you. And then he directly jumps to in verse six, I marvel that you're so soon removed from him who called you to the grace of Christ and to another gospel. So Paul is so frustrated and angry, and he's using severe language because they have moved away from the gospel to another gospel. And there is no other name under which we can be saved. You know, basically by doing this, they're keeping people from getting saved. And that's why he's using such a severe language. Even in, we see that in chapter three, he says, so foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? And here he, we see the language like, uh, you know, go and emasculate yourself, right? If you're going to circumstance yourself by not go all the way. Speaker 4 00:09:33 So the point here is he is saying that, you know, whatever you're doing is extremely wrong. And he's using all kinds of language to say that, Hey, you know, what you're doing is not right. Not only you are, uh, not doing, uh, what is true, but you're also deceiving the church. I think, uh, nowadays, uh, I think real quick, mark, uh, I think we take it so lightly nowadays, mixing works with gospel mixing love with gospel. We, I think it has become such a common place. I wonder, you know, if people even read this, how severely, you know, Paul is saying, don't do that. Speaker 3 00:10:07 I think that's an awesome point, RJ, and really lights up <laugh> a bulb in my head. And it just so relevant to the church nowadays where their main focus is sin, trying to get you to stop sinning and just look at Paul's reaction, as you pointed out with the Christians about sin, was, was much less than his, his concern over messing with the gospel. Yeah, perverting the gospel. And modern churches don't get that. So much of their energy is trying to get you to stop your sinning. Yeah. But the only thing is, the only way you are ever gonna have less sin in your life is to listen to Paul and trust in Christ completely so that you live by this spirit. And, and one of the things I think I mentioned today in our signal ping pong match we have every day in texting is that the longer we do this podcast, the more and more I see that perverting the gospel is not a little thing, it's a dangerous thing. Speaker 3 00:11:12 In fact, Paul calls it a perversion with serious consequences. He calls it making Christ of no effect falling away from grace. Uh, he says that he will not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness could be gained by the law. Christ died for nothing. So when we, we try to add even one thing, it's like we're saying what either Christ died for nothing or what he did wasn't enough. We gotta keep working. So that was a killer point you made there. And that's not one you would just see from reading one one of these books alone. But when you see the way he reacted to sin, not that we're belittling the effects of sin or saying sins not bad, it hurts people, but it's not near as damaging as a false gospel Speaker 2 00:12:02 Is. Well, I don't want to belabor these couple of verses too much, but if you'll indulge me, one last short comment that is that back in the day when Paul was writing this letter, there were many cults and sects and organized religions where castration was actually a part of the works. You had to prove that you were worthy of that cult sect, religion, whatever you want to call it. So it's not, it wasn't really an unheard of thing. What's not something we talk about today or do that much today so that it's modern ears don't quite grab that right way. Now, under the heading Best Laid Plans, we said as we started today, let's not sit here on these three verses too long, <laugh> cool. So, um, I'd like to go ahead and move on unless someone's gotten another point they need to add Speaker 3 00:12:52 Before we move on. I'd like to just address that one line there. In that case, the offensive of the cross has been abolished. That's a really good line. I mean, I'll, I'll touch on it quickly because we actually did, when we, uh, did our debunking, that's one of the things that we debunked what the offensive of the crosses. And it's a very, I think, a really rich discussion point. Why don't you read it and then we'll talk Speaker 2 00:13:16 About it. So Mark, you're talking about verse 11, brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished. Speaker 3 00:13:27 This is such a misunderstood line, and I'll just remind our listeners, uh, that we have a episode on this, uh, on in our debunking Christian miseries. Uh, but I just wanna touch on it because of the way Paul words it, you have to really sit and contemplate on, on it. But first of all, we already talked about the fact that they were accusing him of preaching circumcision. And he's saying, wait a minute, if I would be doing that, I'm preaching what they're preaching. Why am I still being persecuted? And then he goes on to say, if I were to do that, I would remove the offense of, of the cross. So what was the offense of the cross and how would it remove it if I started preaching law? It's because what's offending the judaizers is that Paul was not preaching law. So, so when I've had many pastors, um, attack me in social media when I talk about the one true gospel and say, oh, you're trying to remove the offense of the cross, and yes, the cross is an offense, and you know what, yes, I am <laugh>, but not to you. Speaker 3 00:14:36 You're the one, the cross is meant to offend because you're the one who thinks by adding their own works, they're gonna gain more righteousness. The offense of the cross is to the religious self-righteous, as I just mentioned, it's not meant to be an offense to unbelievers. Who were the people that flocked to Jesus, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the sinners, the people that hated him were the religious self-righteous. So he and the cross were obviously an offense to them, but not to the other. And that's because the cross is the most beautiful picture of God's grace. There could be. Yes, it also symbolizes justice in his fulfilling of the law, but it's the law that is meant to offend. It shows us that we're sinners and nobody likes that. Right? Nobody wants to hear that. But until we understand that, we're not gonna see our need, our desperate need for a savior. So, so that's just that 180 degree factor. Again, the offense of the cross is grace. It's not the law. Speaker 2 00:15:37 Well, thanks for that, mark. And just in case the listeners are keeping score, that would be episode nine of our podcast. Part One, things I Used to Know, and in the debunking Christian myth, the true Offense of the Cross. And also if you're interested in still learning more, I believe I did a blog post about that recently. Come check out our website, let us move forward, starting at verse 13. You, my brothers and sisters were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather serve one another. Humbly in love for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command. Love your neighbor as yourself. If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. That seems like a good place to stop because there's two big, big points here. Number one is here's that age old, uh, argument about grace is a license to sin. Speaker 2 00:16:32 Yep. Also been addressed by this quite a podcast quite a bit. And also I wanna remark on first 15 I, you guys probably like me, have been involved in a bad church split. I'm saying I'm using air quotes, no one can. Sure. Uh, and man, I will tell you what, nobody can get mad and cut down other people as effectively as a bunch of, of more air quotes, Christians going after each other in church over some organized religion piece. You know, I mean, it's, it can get, it can get everything short of bloody, especially verbally. It's Speaker 3 00:17:09 Terrible. And then they wrap it all in spirituality, like, you know, we're, we're the, we're God's people and you're the her heritage Kevin <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:17:19 So yeah, there's, there's a lot in three little verses there. Speaker 3 00:17:22 Yeah. And, and just as one who's been in ministry pretty much my whole life, mostly full-time, um, one thing I've noticed the longer I'm in ministry is that what the church is preaching totally affects the relationships and the culture of the congregation. The churches that I've been a part that have bitten and devoured each other, the worst by far were those that were, were preaching this mixed gospel of works and grace, because works and the law don't do anything but divide and separate people and cause them to judge one another. Speaker 4 00:18:00 Yeah. I just want, if I may want to make one point here again, I think, you know, some of the assumptions and misinterpretation when we read that, you know, you are called to liberty and only do not use a liberty as an opportunity to indulge, indulge the flesh, right? So I think in our minds, immediately we jumped to, okay, don't use a liberty to go out and sin. That's how we interpret it. Again, you know, like Mark said, we are not encouraging people to go and sin, but we have to read everything in context. So if you go back to Galatians chapter three, verse two says this, only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by hearing of faith, or is so foolish having begin in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Speaker 4 00:18:48 Obviously the context is being made perfect by the flesh. He is equating with going back to the law. So again, you know, flesh does result in sinning, but if you look at it in context, she's saying that, you know, your call to liberty, but don't use that liberty to go back under the law. That's what is a context, you know, it's not, I think we directly jump into thinking, oh yeah, don't use this liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. We think, oh yeah, don't use this liberty to go out singing like crazy. But again, the context here is don't go back to the law. You are free to go back to the law, but don't do that. Speaker 3 00:19:22 Yeah. That, that's a great point, aj. And I think he means he's using the larger definition of flesh, which includes sin, because the flesh is really about our abilities, our own autonomy to do what we want. So that would include, you know, either trying to fulfill the law or just going out and sin. So what I love about this too is I'm sure Pauls knew that when he wrote this letter to the churches in the provinces of Galatia, that the gala, that the Judaizers were going to get a copy of it and they were gonna read it. He knew that, and I love that here he's heading them off at the past. He knows what their objection's gonna be because it's the same old hat and, and he's just heading 'em off at the past and saying, yes, we are free in Christ, but we do not use it to indulge the flesh, you know, either by trying to add works or, or allowing ourselves to sin. Speaker 3 00:20:18 Th and that's the whole key to this is that's not what the true gospel leads to. It doesn't lead to us sin more. It actually is the power of sin. Paul said, which is the sting of death, he said that it's the law that arouses our sinful passions. And there's a ton of other scriptures that j it's a paradox, I'll give you that it doesn't seem like it be right as the way we look at the world. You know, it's a world if you really to think that, that the law would lead to sin, but that's the truth. It's grace that frees us from it. Speaker 4 00:20:51 Yeah. One quick point on verse 14, you know, for all the law fulfilled in this one word, you shall love your neighbors yourself. You know, when we think about holiness, you know, more often we detach it from law. But clearly, you know, here fulfilling the law is basically loving your neighbor as yourself. So the holiness is nothing but law. I think sometimes we don't make that connection. For us, holiness is like mostly, yeah, I don't do this, I don't do this, I don't do what those people are doing. That's what we think is ho is and thou, but if you really look into it, holiness is nothing but love. You know, when you love your neighbor as yourself, you're being holy. Speaker 2 00:21:31 You know, Ajay, I live in the flesh and there are people in this world I cannot of myself love, and therefore I have to let the spirit love those people through me. It's one of my little tiny checkpoints. If I, you know, if I'm dealing with somebody who I'm really unhappy with them or you know, whatever, and I can't love them, am I still being loving towards them? Then I know I'm walking in the spirit, because that's not from me, that's from God. Speaker 3 00:22:00 Absolutely. Yeah. Speaker 4 00:22:01 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:22:02 So let's pick back up here. I'm gonna start at 16 now. So I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for the flesh desires. What is contrary to the spirit and the spirit, what is contrary to the flesh? They are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want, but if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Who wants to start that Speaker 3 00:22:28 One? So one of the things I I love about these two paragraphs here is that first of all, the Apostle Paul tells us, do not use your freedom to indulge the fre flesh. He also tells us to serve one another humbly in love. It's not enough to serve one another. We need to do it humbly. And then he says, love your neighbor as yourself. Now, to me, if he just ended there, our natural inclination, my natural inclination is to try to do that, to try hard to do that myself. We already know, we, we, we, none of us are righteous. Not one, not one of us have the ability and the strength to do these things, but he doesn't leave us hanging in 16, he says, so I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. That's the answer. Speaker 3 00:23:21 And, and one of the questions I always ask myself when I read something and we're about to come up to something like this that seems, uh, law oriented or works oriented, or we try hard to do, I al I always say, stop. But how do we do that? It's all about the how and there's a de delicate balance, uh, you know, between our power doing something and doing it in the power of the spirit. That's where we wanna be. And Paul just right then gives us that how, and I'd encourage all of our listeners and all of us, when you read something difficult that seems like the law, like you doing to say, wait, but how do I do that by living in the grace of Christ Paul told us at the beginning of this book. Speaker 4 00:24:07 Yeah. So, you know, I want to get into more specifics, right? You know, I've been actually thinking about it myself, you know, for many, many years. Oh yeah. Everybody comes and says, Hey, walk in the spirit. You'll not fulfill the lush of the flesh I've been hearing for many years. Right? Then how do we walk in the spirit again? I think, uh, mark, you touched upon it, uh, but I think, you know, for some, you know, people think, you know, walking in the spirit is okay, spirit is there. He is walking next to me, he's in the front, I am in the back. He tells me something I have to obey, right? And if I don't obey what the spirit tells me, then again, you know, I'll not bear fruit. So it again, becomes another form of law or a tasks master, or the spirit is telling me to do this. Speaker 4 00:24:51 If I do this, okay, I will be blushed. If I don't do this, okay, I'll not be blushed. Or if I do this, I'll bear the spirit. So again, we are separating ourselves from the spirit and making spirit another form of a commandment, a command giver. But, you know, that's how I used to think of it. But again, you know, we don't need to go any further than Galatians itself. He actually talked about in, in chapter three what specifically what walking in the spirit is. So I'm going to read it if you bear with Muriel quick, uh, uh, Galatians chapter three, starting from verse one. Oh, foolish Galatians, who has beed to you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or hearing of faith? Speaker 4 00:25:39 Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit now we are being made perfect by the flesh. Have you suffered so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain again, he says that right? Therefore, he who supplies the spirit and works miracles among you. Does he do it by the works of the law or by hearing of faith? It's a rhetorical question, right? The answer is hearing of faith, and it says, just as a Abraham believed God, and, um, it was counted to him for righteousness. So how do we walk in the spirit? It's by hearing of faith, basically believing the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, believing what we hear Bible says, you know, faith comes by hearing, hearing comes by the word of Christ. So simply by hearing the gospel, hearing and hearing and more hearing, that's a walk in the spirit. Speaker 4 00:26:26 You know, the more we hear, the more we understand who we are in Christ. We are the righteousness of God in Christ. We are the children of God, and we have an inheritance. And Christ himself is our life. And in fact, it also, uh, mark your favorite, favorite, uh, scripture, second Corinthians Chapter three, beholding the Lord Jesus Christ has in a mirror, right, we are changed from glory to glory. It doesn't say from sin to glory or sin to holiness. We go from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord, we are transformed by the spirit of the lot. So walking in the spirit simply involves walking by grace like, uh, mark said. But again, it is through faith, just as we have begun by faith, we also continue to walk by faith, believing the gospel. We, we are saved by believing the gospel. And we continue to hear the gospel every day and believe, and when we put our eyes on our lodge, Christ, the Spirit goes to work in us. It is, that's how we walk in the spirit. So I just wanted to bring it about Speaker 3 00:27:29 That's an amazing point, aj, and it just, it just blows me away. That's another whole level. Mankind has got such an inclination, such a default setting of wanting to work for everything that you can even turn the Holy Spirit being led by the Spirit as just another commandment, <laugh>, you know, where all the word of God and the law was, was his word. So I I just love that. And second Corinthians three says that the new covenant in Jesus' blood grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is the ministry of the Spirit. Yeah. So if we're going to walk by the spirit, we have to stay under the new covenant, stay under the grace of God. The righteous will live by faith from first to last. And as you mentioned in Second Corinthians 3 18, 1 of my, probably my favorite Bible verses, and we all who with unveiled faces, meaning getting rid of the law, contemplate the Lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit. It, it's a hard thing for us to do because it's just so natural for us who wants us to be, to be holy and religious and, and try and do and do, where it's simple freedom and trust and belief in Jesus, in keeping yourself under his grace and love keeping your eyes on him. Speaker 4 00:28:54 That's an awesome point. Uh, Martin, Tim, you know, if I can jump in, I don't know waiting to say something, but just to add on to what he just, you latching onto a couple of things. One is, you know, the, like you mentioned second sentence, chapter three, last first, right? As you look at Lord Jesus Christ, as you con contemplate the Lord Jesus Christ, we are transformed by the spirit. Our part is to simply con contemplate, but his part is to transform us. We kind of, uh, try to switch it. You know, we try to transform ourselves. That's not what the Spirit is. Uh, the Bible is saying, we simply hear the word, believe the word set our eyes on our Lord Jesus Christ, and the spirit goes to work in us. And the second point, the awesome point you brought up, is, uh, new covenant versus the old covenant. We cannot walk in the old covenant and expect to walk in the spirit. So the old covenant only works by works <laugh>, it seems like <laugh> a repetition, but old covenant only works by works. And the new covenant only works by faith. So we need to understand it from first to last. It's all by faith. Speaker 2 00:30:00 Yes. Uh, beautiful point, aj, beautiful point, because anything that we, I've been caught in this trap myself with our podcast, there have been times where I've wanted to push to do things so badly because I, I thought I knew what was best. And, you know, um, I think I've had a harsh word or two, and I've, when I've been reminded, um, that, uh, you know, Tim is the Lord's Project and he'll bring, he'll do, and I, I'm, I'm, and I'm a I'm guilty of occasionally thinking that some people might be too heavenly minded to be any earthly good. So, um, for which I apologize guys. Um, but uh, yeah, it is anything, anything can become a work if you put it in front of your, keeping your focus, keeping your eyes on the gospel and Jesus Christ, and the true message of, you know, Jesus Christ and him crucified. Speaker 2 00:30:58 And you can do it in any walker, any part of your life. Amen. We're all, we're really all susceptible to that, to every human being on the planet. Amen. Yeah. Okay, guys. Um, let's pick back up. Uh, this is something I don't think we wanna harp on too much, but, uh, we all know what, what sin and works are, right? So, I mean, this is kind of, it's, it's, but it's a, it's a list that Paul gives us here. He says, the acts of the flesh are obvious. Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the lake. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Real quick point from me, and then you guys can take it. And that is that last line is that people who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Speaker 2 00:31:56 Now, we are Christians, we believe in Jesus, we know we're under grace, but we still live in the flesh, and we still live in the world, and we still trip up once in a while there, I've had acts of reto, I've had moments of rage and selfish ambition, and, and we've all seen all these things happen around us. When we go, when we stumble and we fall, the next step is not to stop and go, oh God, please forgive me and whip and beat ourselves and feel guilty. It, it is our job to stop however that happens, is God intervenes and says, Hey. And you go, oh yeah, okay. And then go, all right, Lord, focusing back on you and moving forward. David, as a David, king David was a great example of a man who screwed up royally, Speaker 3 00:32:42 No pun. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:32:44 Right? <laugh> more than once. And rather than sit there and whip himself and beat himself and agonize over his sense, he going, oh, okay. Picked himself up, dusted himself off, started focusing back on the Lord, and moved forward. He understood truly that he was forgiven. Now, these acts can cause problems in the physical real world with people and human relations, but they are not going to interfere with your relationship with God, who has already given you all forgiveness, who already loves you as much as he ever will. These, you know, that's, that's where the difference lies. And that for that particular line, Speaker 3 00:33:20 The con, I think it's important to look at the context of this whole section, which is, is life by the spirit. So, so these acts of the flesh aren't so much a list of sins for us to check off and make sure we're not doing as they are a litmus test and a definition to see whether we're walking in the spirit. That's the whole thing. Even if you're not doing any of these, that doesn't mean you are walking in the spirit. You know, you could just be really good at not doing those. His whole point here is here that we need to remain in the spirit and in the spirit of Christ will remain in us. So I think that's more just looking at it as a litmus test. I think we gotta zoom out a little and see that he's, he's not trying. It's that how, again, how do you get to stay away from these things? It's by walking in the spirit, which AJ just went into, uh, told us how we do that, which is just belief in Christ, staying focused on him, not staying focused on his list to make sure we're not doing those, but staying focused on Jesus. And then he's gonna go on, as Tim's gonna show us right now, and, and say, not only won't you do these things, cuz it's not about what you don't do. Here's what you're going to do if you live in the spirit. Speaker 2 00:34:37 We'll pick back up at verse 22. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control against such things. There is no law. Those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit. Let us keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. And before RJ, I turn it over to you. I'm one of these guys, I, I don't know why I keep picking up on that last line. Let us not become conceited provoking and envying each other. It's don't compare yourself to where other people are. I can look at some people and think to myself, oh, they seem to have it so well together spiritually and all. I'm not, it becomes a work. It becomes self-righteousness when you, when you look at what someone else is doing and try to attain it. Now it's on you again. You are working at stuff. It's let gone put you where you need to be and bring you along with him as he needs you and he wants you. Speaker 4 00:35:43 Amen. Yeah. So Tim, I was actually, I wanted to bring your attention to verses 24, those who Christ have crucified the flesh with this passions and desires, and so those who belong to Christ. That is a key here. And uh, even in Romans chapter eight, it says, you know, if you, if indeed the spirit of Christ is in you, you are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit. So those who belong to Christ have actually left the realm of the flesh and enter the realm of the Spirit. It's like, you know, me coming from India to us, I'm no longer in India. So basically, you know, the works of the flesh that is talking about people who are still in the flesh and not in the spirit. They do all kinds of these things, but you know, they're just a result of where they are and who they are. Speaker 4 00:36:33 And eventually, you know, because they are in the flesh and flesh will never inherit the kingdom of God. That's what it's saying. So they will never, uh, end up in the kingdom of God. But the reverse is also true, right? The converse is also true. We who belong to Christ, we have already crucified the flesh. That means the flesh is dead. Our flesh is dead and gone. Our old man is dead and gone. So something that is dead, how can it inherit the kingdom of God? So it cannot. So our flesh is already dead and it is gone, and we are now in the spirit. In fact, the Bible says, Lord Jesus Christ already seated us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So we are already in heaven. So that is not something we have to worry about. Oh my God, if I do some of these things, you know, I will not inherit the kingdom. Speaker 4 00:37:19 That's not the point. The point is, you know, when you do some of these things, we just recognize, you know, that's not me. I used to, again, I'll give an example, right? You know, maybe in the Indian situation, I'm not badmouthing India <laugh> or I'll take any other country, right? So in that environment, I might be behaving in a certain way, but once I come to us, for me, there's no reason to behave like that. You know, when I behave like in a certain way, I just remember, oh, I used to be like that, but there's no reason for me to behave like that because now I'm in a new kingdom and that more need for me to behave like that. So we are already, our flesh is already crucified. That is behind us. The old man is already dead. Now we are in the new realm. Speaker 4 00:38:00 We are in Christ. And for those who are in Christ, the only thing we can expect is glory. We do not expect, uh, condemnation or hell anymore. Just, uh, one, uh, observation here, right in verse 19, it says, works of the flesh, you know, the works of the flesh is basically go and do something. Right? You, you're actually doing all these things, adultery, fornication, cleanness and all that. But when it comes to the spirit, it says, it doesn't say works of the spirit. The Bible says the fruit of the spirit. So with the fruit of the spirit, we really cannot do things. The only thing we can do is bear. And the only way we can bear fruit is, you know, if you abide in the wine, all a branch does is just sit in the wine, right? And the fruit comes off, comes out. Speaker 4 00:38:44 That's how it is. You know, we bear the fruit, you know, we don't work out the fruit or we don't work the fruits of the spirit. So I just wanted to say that. And one last thing, Tim, because we are, there are really good truths here. I think we need to, uh, it's good to, uh, bring them out. Uh, in verse 25, again, I think we said, uh, I don't necessarily like the translation, uh, nothing against an ivy, but if you live in the spirit, let's also keep in step with the spirit. That kind of gives an idea a picture of, you know, spirit is in the front. I'm keeping in stuff. But, uh, in other translations it's says, you know, walk in the spirit. Walking in the spirit is, you know, we are already in the spirit, right? We are walking in Christ as Jesus walks, we are also walking. And this walk in spirit is again, by faith and not by the works of the law. So I just wanted to say that, Speaker 3 00:39:32 Well, this has been a great conversation. Time has flown by and I haven't kept track of it as well as I should have. So, uh, we are pretty close to the end guys. I want to give each of you a chance to summarize before we go, but before I let you do it, I'm gonna do it. I just wanted, uh, Ajay, I wanted to kind of say a little bit of what you just said. And that has to do with that the acts of the flesh are actions and the fruit of the spirit is not action. It's being Speaker 4 00:40:05 Amen. Speaker 3 00:40:06 The fruit is love. I, like I said earlier, I can't love everybody, but if I'm loving people in spite of myself, that's not me. That's the spirit. And it's not an action, it's an attitude. It's a, it's a lot of things. You know, these are things that will come from you. Joy, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithful. Those aren't things you can do. Those are things that you are. So who wants to go next? Well, I guess I would summarize, well, I'm gonna let the apostle Paul summarize here in, uh, Galatians five 18 after this whole book on very much dealing with what the true gospel is, works versus faith, um, and the spirit. Uh, he's dealing with all, all these issues he says here, but if you are led by the spirit, you are not under law. To me, that's the whole key to this book. Speaker 3 00:41:00 And in Galatians three, I'll remind us from our earlier episode that Paul said to the Galatians, he said, I'd like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? This whole book is about spirit or law, faith and belief or works. And he's making these comparisons back and forth many times. And, and to the detractors of this living by faith alone in your belief and what, who Christ is and in what he's done, they're constantly worried about, oh, it's gonna lead you to sin. You're not gonna be as good a Christian or as mature a Christian. But that would be true if by faith you only came out from under the law, where we don't come out from under the law into this void. We come out from under the law to come into the spirit. Speaker 3 00:41:57 And so for them to say that grace leads to sin, they are saying that the spirit of God leads to sin. That Jesus Christ leads to sin. That his grace, his cross, if we rely solely on that, leads to sin. And I can't tell you what the Apostle Paul would probably tell you to do to yourself, <laugh>, if you said that. So, so I wouldn't just rely on the spirit. That's the choice that we have. The whole world is under that choice. Do we put our faith in Christ? And if we're not, then we are responsible for the law to keep that law. And I might remind you, you have to do it perfectly from birth to Speaker 4 00:42:36 Death. Amen. Yeah. Yeah. For me, you know, I'm going to, um, bank on this verse, for lack of better words. Uh, verse 25, it says, you know, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. How did we live in the spirit, right? By faith, by grace, through faith. And he's saying the same way you live in the spirit, let us also now walk in the spirit. It is basically, you know, by faith again, through, by grace, through faith in Christ and simply by beholding our Lord Jesus Christ. That's very important, right? You know, when we see the cross, when we see the work of Lord Jesus Christ, when we behold is glory, when we hear the word of Christ and keep our focus on him, we are automatically walking in the spirit. We don't have to worry about am I walking in the spirit or not? Speaker 4 00:43:22 Our focus is, are my eyes on Jesus Christ and his finished work or on something else? As long as our eyes are on our Lord Jesus Christ, now we can be assured that we are walking in the spirit. We have come from the old covenant to the new covenant. We have come from the land of the old covenant to the land of the new covenant. You know, the law of the land has changed in the old covenant. The currency works in the new covenants, the currency, faith, if you want to get anything to done, you need to use faith. If you use works, it's not going to work. It's like, you know, I brought India currency to American currency, it's not going to work. Of course there's an exchange, but just an example. So this currency doesn't work at all. The currency of the new current is faith. So let us stay there, Speaker 3 00:44:10 Man. That's an awesome illustration. Yeah. Well, guys, like I said, this has been a great discussion and time has flown. So with that, I wanna thank everybody for listening today. We hope you've been uplifted and encouraged by today's word. 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