Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): It is foolish and dangerous to leave the grace of God. So, stick close to Jesus, as Pastor Ed explains.

Pastor Ed Taylor: I think it was Norman Geisler that said this. At least that's where I heard it first. I love it. It's so good. Somebody comes to you with some new revelation. He said this: "If it's new, it's not true, and if it's true, then it's not new."

The Bible says there's nothing new under the sun. So if you know the word of God, you won't be ripped off. And that's something to remember next time somebody comes and says, "Oh, I have this new revelation of God, a new thing. Nobody's ever found, nobody knows about it yet except me, and now you." You just say, "No thanks."

Instead, choose to stick it out with the grace of God through faith. You may not know everything yet. You may not have even read the whole Bible yet, but you know Jesus.

Guest (Male): The simple gospel is so liberating, but many today refuse to believe or try to add to the good news of how we are made right with God and kept by His spirit. Hello, welcome to Abounding Grace. We're so very glad you've joined us.

On our last broadcast, we were reminded that we're made right with God by faith in what Jesus did at the cross on our behalf, and that salvation is a gift to receive, not achieve. With more on this liberating truth from Galatians chapter 3 and verse 4, here is Pastor Ed Taylor.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Notice in verse 4 now: "Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain?" This is another question. Another question that's important that he draws them back. They want to now add works. They want to live their life in a legalistic way with God. They're going to live their life not thinking of the crucifixion but works. He says, "Okay, let's talk about the miraculous work of God. Do the miracles of God come because of the law or faith?"

It's of course faith. He moves on from the spirit to the work of the spirit. He goes, "How does the work of the spirit happen in your lives? Is it because you're a good person, because you're a good Christian person, because you've done many good deeds?" Sometimes you live your life where you think that there's a measurement in your life that if you get to the top, let's say your measurement 10 is the best, 1 is the worst.

Most of us live in 4, 5, 6. We just go up and down, up and down. But you think that the only way you'll please God, and you think that the only way God will keep His promises, and you think that the only way that you're going to make it into heaven is you're a 10 every day. You live a very frustrated life, don't you? Because you're not living the truth.

If you're a zero today, God loves you. If you're 2, God loves you. If you're 5, God loves you. If you're 7, God loves you. If you're a 10, no, he really, really, really, really loves you? No, of course, He loves you.

You see, those numbers represent how much you enjoy the love of God. You want to enjoy the love of God? Then live out your life in such a way that you respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in your life. Let God live His life through you. Because you have to ask, "Okay Ed, what about works? What about good deeds? Doesn't God want good deeds?" Oh yes, for sure. Just make sure it's in the right way.

You and I, where good deeds and works come into play in our lives, is not to save us so that you now earn something and God owes you. Do I need to say it out loud? I think I do. God owes you nothing. Romans says He owes man nothing. No, He doesn't owe you. We are not saved by good works, but rather we are saved for them.

We get to participate in this new life that God has given us. We get to enjoy it. We get to live in such a way where life has so much more meaning and we care for others more than we've cared for ourselves. It's amazing. So he comes back to the miraculous. And you'll remember you can jot it down in Acts chapter 14 that in Lystra a tremendous miracle took place. There was a lame man from his birth that God used Paul to bring healing into his life.

The whole city was amazed. They started to worship Paul and Barnabas. Paul wanted nothing to do with it, Acts chapter 14. And how did this wonderful miracle happen? This is something that those in Lystra could relate to. How did it happen? Was it the works of the law? No. It was faith. It was faith. It was the grace of God. I mean, when you think, it wasn't even because of the lame man's faith.

He didn't have any faith. He's another guy that just woke up like he did every other day, lame. But it was God giving Paul the faith to pray over him and bring healing into his life because God was ready to heal that man. And if it wasn't Paul, God would have used someone else. It didn't happen because the lame man was super spiritual or lived a 10 life his whole life or was in some special place in God's kingdom. It just happened because of the grace of God.

It's the same with us entrusted with ministry and serving in God's church. It's not because of anything we have done. It's not because we have gone to school and we've studied and we're so early on in the ministry. This was easier for me to believe in some ways because early on when I was serving, I didn't know anything. I hadn't even read the Bible and I was already serving God.

I was in the process of reading the Bible, but I was already serving God. I was already praying with people. I was already sharing the gospel before I even read the whole Bible. I just wanted to be used of God. But fast forward now, I've been doing this for 30 years. It would be easy for me to come and go, "Well you guys don't understand what kind of pastor you have. I have studied so much. You should see the marks on my Bible as I fall asleep in my Bible studying just for you. And I have learned so much. And that is why God uses me."

Just in case you ever believe that about me or anyone else, there's actually a truth in the Bible you need to come back to over and over. Let me share it with you. First Corinthians chapter 1 in verse 26 says, "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." And we pause there and go, "Well, that's kind of offensive. What do you mean? I've got education and I've studied."

This is being used of God. Let me just say those of you, because I know in the room there are very well-educated, incredibly smart men and women that excel in so many areas in life. The Bible does not diminish education in any way, neither do I. When I was raising my kids, I had this instruction for them: Get as much education as you can, as fast as you can, and for your old man, as cheap as you can.

Because that's a door opener in this world. When you navigate through the world, many of the facets of where God wants to take you, where God wants to use you. I mean, if you're a doctor here today, thank God you went to school. Thank you very much. I'm so glad. I do not want to hear, "Well, I was a doctor because I got my degree online." No, is there another doctor in the house?

We want you to have education. That's not the point here. God is not diminishing any kind of education, but He wants you to remember that even those of you that excel in this world, even those of you that are well-educated engineers, even those of you, you can't take credit for what God has done in your life. "Oh, but you don't understand, I've studied so much." Okay, well how did God provide for that?

"Well you don't understand, I'm involved in some of the most important intricate things and I do this and I send rockets into space." Great, that's wonderful. But where did you get that brain from again? And breathing, where did that come from? Life, where did your life? It's the grace of God. We can't take credit. And just in case we want to take credit, especially in ministry, just serving the Lord, in verse 27 it says, "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty."

I find no greater explanation of God using my life in ministry than this right here. I indeed stand as a testimony of this scripture that God has chosen the foolish things of this world. There's no really rhyme or reason of why someone like me or some of you would ever be used of God except for His grace. And it makes me only love Him more and serve Him more, not out of obligation but out of joy.

My life given to Him because He's the one that gave me life. Don't forget the miraculous doesn't come because of good works or keeping the law. They saw a miracle even before some of them were saved. Now notice in conclusion now to finish this section, he gets to the place of Abraham in verse 6 because Abraham along with Moses, very revered, very respected. And Abraham being thrown around as someone you've got to follow Abraham in order to be saved.

Well, notice he'll describe that in verse 6: "Just as Abraham..." and notice what's emphasized "...believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham." It's not the bloodline, it's the faith line that matters. Nobody's born a believer. Nobody can take that sense of, "Well you don't know my heritage." Your heritage is important as it is, when it comes to the things of God, it's only faith that brings you into a right relationship with Him.

It's only faith. So anyone that's of faith are the sons of Abraham. And this was a big deal in the life of Jesus, remember in His ministry? Remember what He said? This is what almost got Him stoned. Remember what He told them? "Before Abraham was, I am." Because He was getting to the root of they had replaced faith in God with faith in man, even a good man like Abraham or Moses, which is also something that many fall into today, following men and not following the Lord. Following false teachings and not following the truth of God's word.

What happens is you become in a place where most days in our life, they're not super high emotion, most days in our life are what I would call ordinary, normal, and mundane. Just normal life. It's not too exciting. It's not way up there. It's not way down there. It's just life. I go to work, I see a soccer game, I go to buy ice cream, whatever. It's just normal, I go shopping, got to replenish the refrigerator, it's just normal stuff like everyone else.

And this is where ears start to itch and the enemy always loves to scratch that itch of believers. And there are so many different ways you can do that now. If this is your very first time here, welcome, I'm glad you're here. Very first time listening on the radio, fantastic. You're in a church that every time you show up, we're going to teach you the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter.

That means in Galatians, it's a little bit shorter book, but it's probably going to take us 20-25 Bible studies to finish Galatians. So that means if you go off and visit another church for a couple weeks and go, "Well maybe we'll go back and see what they're into," guess what we're into? Galatians. And then you go, "I'm tired of Galatians, I'll come back when they're done." Okay, come back when we're done because we're going to be right in Ephesians next, and that will take longer. It's a bigger book and we're going to pause in a few times.

And so it's just normal. You go to Bible study after Bible study. Well that wasn't much, that wasn't much, I didn't get it. And it's just normal, normal stuff. But that is life. Life is very normal. It's not always the highs and the lows, although we do get a few of them. Some significant highs, some significant lows for sure, but most of life is just mundane.

And we need to learn that God is the God of the high as much as He's the God of the mundane, and He uses it all. You don't need to have some hyper-spiritualized experience to be right with God. As a born-again believer, you already every moment of every day are already right with God because of what Jesus has done in your life. And He will redeem even the mundane.

Abraham was living one day, Genesis chapter 12, it says in verse 1 that God spoke to Abram. He wasn't keeping the law. He wasn't doing any good deed. He was just living life. But He spoke and He gave that word. Notice, let's read on. Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him for righteousness. It was given to him. That word "accounted," it is an accounting. It was given to him. It was put in his ledger. It was deposited in his bank account to be saved.

And now you follow and I follow in verse 7 in his footsteps by faith. And verse 8, the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith is what he promised in Genesis 12. And by the way, do you know who the nations by faith are? Well, you, Gentiles. Do you know it's been in the heart of God to save every tribe, tongue, and nation from the very beginning?

That is not just a new covenant concept. It is the very heart of God. Every tribe, tongue, and nation, every language, every skin color, every socioeconomic level, every country, every jungle, every person, God's heart is that none will perish, that they will come to faith. It is not exclusive to just the Jewish people, although it starts with the Jew but it branches out to everyone else.

But Abram here, Abram is just a Gentile. God spoke to him: "Get up, leave your country. I'm going to use you. I'm going to make a... I'm going to bless all the nations through you." Already the Gentiles are going to be reached with the gospel. It's His heart, it's His desire. Which those that remember, what is the error that came into the Galatian churches?

The error is not just circumcision and keeping the law. Technically what they were saying is that in order to be saved, you have to become a Jew first, proselyte convert, then God can save you. And what Paul's teaching is untruth. And now he's taking back, "What are you talking about? How does Abraham get saved then? How does Abram this pagan get saved? Was it the works of the law?"

In no way could Abram be saved by the works of the law. Why? You Bible students know. Why? The law didn't exist yet. Got a couple hundred years till Moses comes on the scene. There's no law to be saved by. It was relationship. And by the way, the law saves no one. It only reveals, as we've learned in Galatians. The law doesn't even save you. Who saves you? God. How? By grace. Through what? Your faith, just like Abraham.

And Abraham's and God's speaking to him is saying, "You know what? That's just another picture. I want to reach the world." But you know it started in the Garden of Eden? Adam and Eve decided to rebel against God. They run away from His presence, don't want to be in relationship with Him anymore. They recognize that they're sinfully naked now and what do they do? "We got to cover up! We got to cover this up. We cannot be running around the garden like this. We do not want the hippopotamuses and the giraffes seeing us like this."

And they find fig leaves. Oh, I bet you that was fun, covering up with them. Itchy and uncomfortable and making a bad situation worse by trying to help God out a little. Do you hear a theme? When you leave the gospel, you make a bad situation even worse as you continue to walk away from Him. But what does God do?

God does not leave them in their sinful condition, but He provides for them a covering by the sacrifice of an animal which would become a picture and a type of coming of Jesus Christ who would be crucified, buried, and rose again the third day. That we have the fullness of the message now, but we see the pictures throughout the scriptures. It says in verse 8 that God preached the gospel to Abraham. Same gospel we hear. Same gospel. There's not two gospels, three gospels, five gospels. There was only one.

In you, all the nations shall be blessed. I'm your savior. I'm your provider. I'm your forgiver. So he says in verse 9, "So those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham." For you Bible students, you want to take some notes down and God's heart to reach the Gentiles is all throughout the Old Testament. You can jot it down.

The whole book of Jonah is about God reaching the Gentiles. Ruth, reaching the Gentiles. Deuteronomy chapter 32, Second Samuel chapter 22, Psalm 18, Psalm 117, Isaiah 11, Romans 15, Genesis chapter 12. It's all throughout the scriptures. It's God's heart. The same thing can be said of you and me. Faith is not new. Grace is not new.

Back in Genesis, it was by faith. In Exodus, by faith. Leviticus, by faith. Numbers, by faith. Psalms, say it with me, by faith. Isaiah, by faith. You name the book, it was always by faith. One gospel. And you know what's discouraging in some ways for the Judaizers, for the legalists that came into Galatia and were jacking with people's lives?

Because it's one thing the enemy wants to go after you physically. And the enemy would love to take you mentally and take you out emotionally. But you know who he's going after? He wants to take you out spiritually. Ruin your eternal life, not just your temporary life. He wants to ruin you eternally. And here's what's sad to me as I was thinking about this.

The Judaizers, the false teachers, they come into town with this false teaching. You want to know something? Just as much as it was by faith with Moses, by faith with Abraham, all the men and women that come before us, it's always been by grace through faith, always, always, always. For the legalists, it was by faith as well. They refused to believe it. And instead wanting to use the sincerity and the love of people to take advantage of them, which God strictly forbids over and over and over throughout the scriptures.

Faith was enough for them too, but they come with some new revelation. It's always that way, some new revelation. That temptation to raise up for yourselves teachers that will scratch that little itch in the normal mundane times of life. "You mean Ed, it's just read your Bible and pray every day?" Yeah, just start there. Just start there. Just open up your Bible and go, "God speak to me."

You want to train your ears to hear the voice of the Lord? The voice of the Lord sounds like when you read the Bible. That's what it sounds like. You're just reading through and it's like, "Oh okay, okay." I can't tell you how many times someone has come up to me with something and I'm go, "You know what? That's not... that doesn't sound like God."

"No, no, pastor, I was reading last night and this is just the new revelation I came up with." No, I don't think you came up with that on your own. I think someone taught it to you. Who taught you that? And usually there brings two responses. One is very defensive. And by the way, you know God is really working on something in your life when you become very defensive. You just know you've got to let you put your defenses up because God's touching that.

And so they come to, "Oh no, I've made... I just read..." I say, "There's no way you came up with that on your own. Somebody taught you. You saw some video, you came up with something." And that response is just a battle so that the Holy Spirit can get ahold of their hearts because now they're dishonest with me.

So whatever they're into now, now they're being dishonest. They don't need to be dishonest with me. They don't follow me. I'm not their savior. But because they brought it to me like it's something new, they didn't learn that in the Bible. They learned it from a man or a woman falsely. Or the other response is, "Yeah pastor, I came on this video popped up. I didn't even ask for it on YouTube. I was watching something else and it popped up. So I clicked it. It sounded interesting. I clicked the next one, I clicked the next one. And now that's all I've been doing was studying from this guy."

And I'm like, "Hey, stop it. It's not true. It's not the voice of the Lord." How do I know the voice of the Lord, pastor? Read your Bible every day. You'll deposit God's word in your heart. And here's what happens. You have the Holy Spirit in you. And the Holy Spirit in you can bear witness with Himself in someone else.

The Holy Spirit indwells every true believer, so that when someone gives you something, the Holy Spirit in you can say, "That is me," and you can go along in agreement. Or the Holy Spirit says, "No, no, stay away from that. That is not true. Because remember, you were just reading it." And you're like, "Oh man, that doesn't sound like... so you're saying that in order to be saved I got to get circumcised? Yeah, I don't... like that's... I've never heard that before."

Well, let me explain it to you. No, no, don't explain it to me. I'm not interested. Because the Bible says that I'm not saved by works, Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8, 9, and 10. The Bible says that. That's the voice of God. God says that I'm not saved by works. Practicality says I'm not saved by works. The miraculous says I'm not saved by works. Abraham's faith says I'm not saved by works. Do you get it yet? The voice of the Lord through the scriptures today. Why would you guys be so seduced by that? Come out from under it.

I think it was Norman Geisler that said this. At least that's where I heard it first. I love it. It's so good. Somebody comes to you with some new revelation. He said this: "If it's new, it's not true, and if it's true, then it's not new." Right, the Bible says there's nothing new under the sun. So if you know the word of God, you won't be ripped off.

And that's something to remember next time somebody comes and says, "Oh, I have this new revelation of God, a new thing. Nobody's ever found, nobody knows about it yet except me, and now you." You just say, "No thanks." Instead, choose to stick it out with the grace of God through faith. You may not know everything yet. You may not have even read the whole Bible yet, but you know Jesus.

You know His faithful work in your life. You know your testimony. You remember when you were saved. You remember when you received the Holy Spirit. You remember as you watched the miraculous. You stick close to Jesus because as we've learned today, it is foolish and it is dangerous to leave the grace of God. Amen?

Guest (Male): This is Abounding Grace, and Pastor Ed Taylor is leading a study of Galatians right now. You can hear these radio programs on our website anytime at aboundinggraceradio.com. Today we'd like to recommend Pastor Ed's book, Letting Go of Your Past. It ties in so nicely to this study of Galatians.

Can you think of something that occurred a while back that is continually plaguing you? Maybe someone did something to you that really hurt, or you did something that you're ashamed of. God wants to set you free, no matter what you've been through or what you've done. I think you'll find this book encouraging and helpful. Request a copy of Letting Go of Your Past today when you give a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Call 877-30-GRACE or order online at calvaryco.store.

And please remember, we are listener-supported. We'd very much appreciate your standing with us. If the Lord is leading you to take an active role in this ministry through either a one-time gift or ongoing support, please visit us online at aboundinggraceradio.com or call 877-30-GRACE. Well, that'll do it for today. Come back next time when Pastor Ed will pick up where we left off in Galatians, here on Abounding Grace. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church, Colorado, here in Aurora.