Sermon Tone Analysis

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Joseph Smith — visited by angel Moroni, guardian of the golden plates which contained the book of Mormon

Muhammad — visited by the archangel Jibrīl, aka Gabriel, who spoke to him and gave him revelation that would start the Koran

A different gospel would be a different way of salvation.

A different means by which a person is justified before God.

Paul preached that we are justified in God’s sight through our faith, not through obeying the law God gave through Moses.

The Galatians were convinced by someone that faith in Jesus was not enough, that you must also follow the law of Moses.

In other words, Gentiles must place their faith in Jesus but if they don’t also follow the mosaic law then they will not be justified according to God and therefore not saved.

So faith was the way they became part of the family of God but carefully following the law was how they stayed in the family of God.

Paul clearly condemned this line of thinking and teaching.

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You cannot be made right before God through obedience to the Mosaic law.

Why?

Because it’s just like any law.

Law’s show that you are guilty when you break them.

Once you sin one time, the law then declares you guilty and therefore it declares you “unrighteous” not righteous.

None of us can be found righteous according to the law because all of us have sinned.

The only one who can be found righteous according to the law is Jesus who is the only man to have ever lived who did not sin.

So Paul said if we could be right with God through the law He had given to us thousands of years before, then Christ died for nothing.

If a way for us to be right with God already existed, then there would have been no reason for Jesus to come and die in our place.

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For all who “Rely on” the works of the law

This next section — Those who after accepting the grace of God through “faith” in Jesus then try to observe the law in order to stay “right” with God, Paul says separate themselves from Christ.

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Now throughout this whole letter Paul focuses mainly on circumcision.

Why?

Because circumcision was the sign of the Mosaic covenant.

It was the thing you did to declare to everyone that you have dedicated yourself to following the law.

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Notice he said here, you who are “trying to be justified” “by” the law

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And if you don’t know what that means you can ask me after service.

Paul’s point is clear.

If you continue to try to justify yourself before God through carefully following the law you do two things.

One - you fail to justify yourself because once you sin one time, you are now no longer justified you are guilty.

And two - you reject the sacrifice of Christ because by following the law and finding yourself guilty you then perform your own sacrifices in order to be right with God instead of accepting God’s own sacrifice of His Son as sufficient.

You know God sacrificed His Son for your sins but then you go out and continue to make your own sacrifices in order to atone for your sins, and Paul is saying - Don’t you see what you are doing?

You are rejecting Christ and his death and resurrection and you are trying to atone for your own sins.

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Old Testament saints were not justified by the law, they were justified by faith.

They faithfully followed the law because God told them to, but God gave them the law, not to provide a way for them to be saved apart from Christ but to point toward the sacrifice of Christ.

He taught them that only the death of the innocent can atone for the death of the guilty, but it must be voluntary.

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The law was given to the Jewish people as a guardian until Christ came.

What is a guardian and what do they do?

A Guardian is a wise person who protects someone under their care from others and from themselves.

The law was given to the Jewish people as a wise protector from outsiders and from themselves.

It watched over them and kept them safe and showed them what they must do and what they must not do.

It guided them and trained them and raised them up to be godly men and women, but it could not clear them of their guilt.

It showed them that a sacrifice would have to be made in order for them to be forgiven, but it could not provide that sacrifice for them.

And so Paul pleaded with the Galatians not to submit themselves again under that old guardian, the law, but to live in the freedom that Christ provided through His sacrifice and be free.

But freedom from the Mosaic law does not mean freedom from God’s moral law.

This is where many people today go astray and many in the first century church as well.

It has been a problem since the very beginning, because we carry sinful flesh and our flesh looks for any excuse and reason to sin.

Many see a conflict when you say, you no longer have to follow the Mosaic law, but you do still have to obey God’s laws not to sin.

But Paul saw no conflict and God saw no conflict and so we should not either.

Paul went on to say:

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All of these things that are listed as sinful.

How do we know they are sinful?

How do we know that God opposes these things?

We know them from the law.

We know God opposes these things because He condemns them in the law.

But someone who wants a license to sin will say, but God said we are no longer under the law and if we try to obey any part of it then we separate ourselves from Christ and are cursed.

But they are just looking for an excuse to sin.

They are not actually concerned about what God actually wants them to do and doesn’t want them to do.

They just want to be able to do whatever they want and feel secure at the end of the day that they will not be held accountable or face judgment for their living in sin.

God does not change.

He is the same God today as He was 3,500 years ago when He gave the law.

We know what God hates and what He considers sin through the law He gave us and He has not changed His mind.

Paul condemned trying to be justified by obedience to the law, instead of by faith in Jesus Christ.

He did not condemn studying the law in order to know what God considers holy and sinful.

God didn’t want everyone to live holy lives under the law and then after He sacrificed His Only Son because we sinned, then change His mind and decide that He no longer cares if we sin.

God still demands that we live holy lives after the sacrifice of His Son in the same way that He demanded that we live holy lives before He sacrificed His Son.

OT

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NT

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How do we know how to be holy.

God has told us in the law.

He has shown us what is right and wrong, and that has not changed.

To know that I am forgiven and made right in the sight of God because of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ does not mean that I now can live my life against Christ.

He has a plan for this world, and He has a plan for my life.

And His desire is for me to live in this world the way He did and fight back against the enemy and deliver people from the bondage of Satan and rescue people from the devastating effects of sin.

And it is nothing less than a direct rejection of Christ Himself to say to Him, I want you to save me when I die so that I won’t be punished in hell, but I’m not going to turn from sin, I’m going to enjoy it, and I’m going to devote my life to my own concerns, not yours.

I’ll see you when I die and when I need something from you.

When you treat God that way… to live your life concerned about yourself and call on God when you need Him but to ignore Him the remainder of the day and week and month, is to treat Him as your servant, instead of submitting yourself as a servant to Him.

We are His servants, He is not ours.

How many times have you been upset with God because you called for Him for some request and He didn’t come.

Or at least you feel like He didn’t.

He’s not our servant, we are to be His.

So ask yourself, How many times has He called for you and you didn’t come?

Far too many times than I’d care to share, if we’re all going to be honest.

We must stop treating God like our servant and we must start living as His.

After warning us not to use God’s grace and mercy as an excuse to reject His Son as our Lord through living in sin, he tells us to watch out, not only for ourselves, but also each other.

If someone does give in to temptation and sins against God, we are to try and restore that person gently, being careful that we don’t get sucked into their sin, but instead help them to repent.

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You are either saved or you are not.

If you are saved, then you have been transformed by the Holy Spirit and you desire to do what is right.

Your spirit and your flesh are at war with one another, but you have been made into a new creation by God.

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He has changed you and causes you to desire to do His will.

He gives you the power through the Holy Spirit to put to death the deeds of the body

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In the parable of the soils Jesus taught that His disciples are those who both are willing to suffer for Him and who turn from sin for Him.

Paul closes with these words.

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