Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: The only way anybody starts the Christian journey is by faith. We cross the line and commit our lives to Christ. We embrace Christ's salvation for us by faith. It's God's grace, and we receive it by faith. And then every step after that in our spiritual journey is a step that we live by faith.

Announcer: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Galatians. Let's listen in as JP delivers the message, Freedom Reigns.

JP Jones: Walking in the freedom that Christ has given to us is not going to be an effortless experience. There is a spiritual battle that we are all in. There are spiritual forces that are opposed to us. There is spiritual teaching that will enslave us. So have your eyes open. Be wise so that you can avoid any kind of bondage.

The particular bondage the Galatians dealt with was the bondage of legalism. Paul says, mark my words, I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. See, he's writing to an audience of Gentile believers who were not circumcised. Physically, they weren't circumcised. They put their faith in Jesus Christ, and now these Judaizers came down and said, you've got to buy into the whole system of Jewish law. You've got to follow all these rules and regulations. You've got to worship on these certain days, and you've got to keep these certain practices. And above all, you've got to be circumcised, because that's what it's all about.

You see, the theology behind this teaching is a theology based on externals, rather than a theology based on internal transformation. Galatians is telling us that false teaching in its various forms can be reduced down to a system of works. Any system, any religious option that presents itself to us that is about our works, our efforts, our contribution, denies the principle of grace and it will enslave us.

You see, one of the things that we've been coming back to over and over again in our study of the book of Galatians is really there's only two ways of approaching God. One is what we bring to the table: my obedience to rules, my following of rituals, my good works, my contribution. And the other is what God does for me. Works or grace? The flesh or the spirit?

Paul is saying to the Galatians, don't go back to a system that Christ delivered you from, that Christ saved you from. And if you submit to the outward expression of circumcision, you're buying into the whole theology that it's about works. Now interestingly enough, and this is what's so deceptive about false religious systems, is that circumcision initially was a great thing.

Genesis chapter 12, Abraham receives this promise from God, a promise of blessing. Throughout the book of Genesis, God renews this promise. Genesis 15, he renews it again, and Abraham responds to it with faith. And we're told that Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness because he believed the promise that God made to him. His whole spiritual status before God was transformed and he became a righteous person in God's sight. Why? Because he received grace by faith.

That's the biblical principle for salvation, Old Testament and New Testament. For by grace you've been saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not as a result of works, lest anyone should boast. Abraham believed God; it was credited to him as righteousness. Genesis chapter 16, God renews the promise again, and Abraham believes it again. Genesis chapter 17, God makes the promise to him again, Abraham believes it again.

And God says, okay, I'm going to give you a sign that will set you out and your descendants out as the people who believe my promise, as the people who've been declared righteous on this principle of grace through faith. And that sign is the sign of circumcision. So the outward physical sign of circumcision was a reminder to Abraham and to all of his offspring that they believe God's promise.

But from when that sign was originally given in Genesis 17 to the time when Jesus comes on the scene around 30 AD, and the Apostle Paul is writing the book of Galatians around 50 AD, the whole sign had become perverted. And it was no longer a symbol of faith; it was all about the sign. What was at first a good thing had become a bad thing because of the thinking around it, you see.

The thinking was no longer, I'm saved by grace through faith, I have a relationship with God on the principle of grace through faith. The thinking was, I've got to perform this sign. I've got to jump through this hoop. I've got to do this religious act. I've got to keep these rules. I've got to buy into all this tradition. And that's what Paul says we've been saved from, and he's warning the Galatians, don't go back to it.

In fact, he says, if you follow through on the sign, circumcision, you're buying into the whole system. And if you buy into the whole system, well Christ is of no value to you because you're really not trusting in Christ; you're trusting in your works. Let me ask you, what are you trusting in? I doubt if many of us are having our arms twisted to be circumcised these days. That's probably not happening.

But there might be spiritual pressure that you have felt in the past, maybe you feel it today, to some kind of spiritual act. Maybe it's join a church, be baptized, practice certain spiritual disciplines, follow certain holiness rules. You know, don't drink, dance, or chew, or go with girls who do, those kind of rules. Maybe you think by keeping those, they make you more spiritual.

See, any type of behavior, action, discipline, whether it's in the Bible or just man-made, if our trust is in the act, if our trust is in the act, it is legalism. Our trust has to be in Christ alone. Christ is the only one who can save me. Christ is the only one who can make me spiritual. Christ is the only one who can change my life. And if I trust in what I do, I'm not trusting in Christ.

We need to wisely avoid the bondage of legalism. Paul said it this way earlier in the book of Galatians, in Galatians chapter 3: those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under a curse. In fact, they're under God's curse, for the scripture says, cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God's book of the law. So it's clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law, for the scripture says, it's through faith that a righteous person has life.

This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, it's through obeying the law that a person has life. But Christ has rescued us from that curse that is pronounced by the law. He hung on the cross for us, and the Bible says, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. For through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing as he promised to Abraham, so that we are believers and we will receive the promise of God's Holy Spirit through faith.

God has set us free from the principle of law, of works, of rules, of externals. And he's warning us that if we look to those things to make us more spiritual, we are separating and disconnecting ourselves from Christ. We're cutting ourselves off from the very power to change our lives when we trust in ourselves and we trust in rules. We're no longer trusting in Christ. And if we're no longer trusting in Christ, we've disconnected ourselves from the very power that God makes available to make us new people.

If we were all to go on a trip to New York and do the standard tourist stuff, we make all the stops and we go to the Statue of Liberty and we go to where the towers were and we go down to Broadway and then we go over to the Empire State Building. We go into the lobby of the Empire State Building, and our tour guide says, well, you've got two choices. You can climb the steps to the top, or you can take the elevator and I'll push the button and we'll go up there.

Which would you rather choose? Climbing the steps all the way to the top of the Empire State Building, or just getting on the elevator and letting it do the work for you? Well, if you think about it at all, you'd say, I'll get on the elevator. Why? Because my gosh, think of the effort it'd take to climb the steps. That is exactly what people do, spiritually speaking, when they try to make themselves more spiritual by their own good works.

Step after step after step after step. Boy, I hope I make it to the top. This is killing me. Step after step after step. When we trust in rules, you see, we're not trusting in Christ. Christ is the one who saves us, and Christ is the one who makes us spiritual. Now, does that mean that it's just kind of, hey, I'm just going to let go and let God? I'm just going to sit back and let go. Oh, I'm living in grace. I'm just going to let God change me. I don't have to do anything because nothing I do matters anyway. So I'll just kind of do whatever I feel like doing and say I'm living by grace.

Not at all. Obedience is a part of the grace-led life. Faith always works itself out in obedience. But the issue is the heart. The issue is the heart. See, the heart in legalism is, it's all about me. The heart in obedience of grace is, it's all about Christ. And so Paul says in Galatians chapter 5 that what I'm teaching you about not getting involved in legalism does not mean that you are not part of the obedient life. In fact, the very opposite is true.

He says this in Galatians 5 verses 5 and 6: but by faith we eagerly await through the spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. We need to proactively live by faith. See, the only way anybody starts the Christian journey is by faith. We cross the line and commit our lives to Christ. We embrace Christ's salvation for us by faith. It's God's grace, and we receive it by faith.

And then every step after that in our spiritual journey is a step that we live by faith. Faith is accepting what God says is true. Faith is receiving what God has provided. Faith is acknowledging God and acting upon what we know to be true. Faith is action. By faith, we eagerly await through the spirit the righteousness for which we hope. You see, when we live by faith, we put ourselves in a position for the Holy Spirit to transform our lives.

Second Corinthians 3 says, where the spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom, and we all with unveiled faces behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. We are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory, even by the Lord, the Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit who transforms us, and the Holy Spirit transforms the person who is coming to God on the basis of faith.

Hebrews 11 says without faith, it's impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that seek him. We in faith believe what God says is true, that what we couldn't do on our own, Christ has done for us. In faith, we receive what God provides, the righteousness of a transformed life produced by the Holy Spirit. And in faith, we act upon that by expressing our faith in love. That's what it says in Galatians 5:6. Faith is expressed in love.

I've shared this story here, you probably have heard it either from me or from someone else about the guy who crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope. I've heard that story and I didn't know, is that just one of those stories that you hear kind of told, or is there any truth behind it? There actually is truth behind it. I looked it up and there was a guy named Charles Blondin. This is what I got off the Wikipedia Encyclopedia on the internet.

Charles Blondin's real name was Jean-Francois Gravelet. He lived from 1824 to 1897. He took the name Blondin from the owner of a circus in which he first worked. Blondin was probably the best-known tightrope walker of all time. He especially owed his celebrity and fortune to his idea of crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope. The tightrope was 1,100 feet long, it stood 160 feet above the water.

He accomplished it first time in 1859. He did it a number of times and he did theatrical variations. He did it blindfolded. He did it pushing a wheelbarrow. He did it on stilts. He did it carrying a man on his back. He did it one time where he stopped in the midway and he fixed an omelet and ate it and then walked the rest of the way across. My gosh, can you believe this? Well, the story about Blondin is that one time he's doing the deal where everybody's gathered around watching him go across the tightrope.

And how many, first time he does it, he says, how many think I can do it? A few people raise their hand. He walks across and back; they all cheer. He says, how many think I can do it pushing a wheelbarrow? And then more people cheer, and he pushes and comes back. And then he goes, alright, how many think I can do it pushing the wheelbarrow with a man in it? And everybody cheers. And then he says, okay, who'll get in the wheelbarrow? And everybody backed away.

Well, you see, faith isn't just saying, I believe you can do it. Faith is getting in the wheelbarrow. It's getting in the wheelbarrow. And what Galatians 5 says is, the Christian action of grace, the obedient action of grace, getting in the wheelbarrow, is love. We by faith are awaiting the spirit-produced righteousness within us, and circumcision or uncircumcision doesn't mean anything. It's faith expressing itself in love.

We get in the wheelbarrow when we live a life of love. That's faith. See, if there's no love in our lives, we are fooling ourselves if we claim to have faith. John said, how can you say that you love God whom you do not see when you do not love your fellow man that you do see? So Paul in Galatians 5, making this very strong argument not to submit to rules and regulations and legalism, is not saying, and don't worry about being obedient, and don't worry about loving people, just live any way you want and claim you're living by grace.

No, far from it. He on the one hand is saying, reject any bondage. But on the other hand he's saying, the real life of faith is a life energized by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's a life that becomes increasingly more righteous and it's a life that gives itself in love to others. And if it doesn't have those marks, it's phony. Reject it; it's false.

One last thing he says is that we need to prudently understand the outcome of false teaching and false teachers. Prudently. In other words, with eyes wide open, with a full understanding of the consequences. The concept of being prudent isn't really a word that we use a whole lot. When you read the Book of Proverbs, it's a term that's used a lot in there. Having prudence is kind of wisdom in action. It's being able to see the long-term consequences of short-term decisions.

And Paul is saying we need to have prudence with respect to understanding ideas and teaching and teachers. False teaching is not an insignificant thing. False teachers are not just misguided people. He says, you were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? Paul loves these athletic metaphors. I mean, if he was around today, he'd be TiVoing the game.

He loves sports analogies and he says, hey, you were running this Christian race. You started off on grace. Who cut in on you and told you you've got to finish the race on the basis of legalism? Verse 8, this kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. I can tell you one thing, God isn't the one who is the author of that kind of teaching. That does not come from Jesus, that teaching.

Verse 9, a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough. False teaching is like yeast. Just throw a little bit of yeast in dough and it affects the whole lump. Throw a little false teaching in a church and it can get the whole church in turmoil. Embrace a little false teaching in your Christian life and it'll ruin your whole Christian experience. This isn't lightweight stuff.

Verse 10, I'm confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Paul says, hey, I know you Galatians, you're getting confused a little bit, but I know you're going to get on track. But let me tell you, whoever it is that is bringing you these ideas, he's moving into judgment. God is going to judge people who lead his children astray.

Verse 11, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished. Paul says the message of grace in the cross of Jesus Christ, it's an offense to people. To some people, to the legalizers, to the Jews, it was an offense because it was telling them their rules didn't matter. It was all about grace and all about what Jesus accomplished for them.

To the Gentiles, it was an offense because it says it doesn't matter how smart you are, it doesn't matter. Paul says the first thing over in 1st Corinthians chapter 1, he says, you know, we preach Christ and him crucified. To the Jews, it's a stumbling block and to the Greeks, it's foolishness. But to those who are being saved, it's the power of God and Christ is the wisdom of God.

Verse 12, for those agitators, I wish they'd go the whole way and emasculate themselves. You know, it's interesting, NIV probably comes the closest in translating this. I think it's the New American Standard version says I wish they'd cut themselves off, kind of the idea of removing themselves. How can I be delicate about this? Oh, you know, why should I even try? Paul says this: he's being crudely sarcastic.

But he's speaking truth, and the issues are of such significance, he wants the truth to have that, oh, wow, did you really mean that? Yeah, I meant it, because of what I'm talking about. He says, these guys are telling you to be circumcised. For all that's worth and for what it really does, they ought to go the whole way and cut off their genitals. I mean, Paul would be a great men's retreat speaker, you know what I'm talking about? He would just say it and then not even worry about the niceties of the term.

His point is, he's of course inspired by the spirit as he's writing this. His point is, do you understand what's at stake? Because if you understood what was at stake, you'd be a whole lot more offended by false teaching than you would be by my crude expression. And that's one of the problems, I really think, with our Christianity today, our churchianity. We get upset about the wrong stuff. We get upset every now and then if somebody uses a bad word.

We get upset that people don't keep all the rules and dress the right way. We get upset if people enjoy certain things from this culture. Rather than having conviction about the stuff that really matters, that has eternal value. We waste whatever spiritual energy we have on stuff that doesn't even matter, rather than being fully committed to the stuff that does matter.

We need to be people totally sold out to the principle of grace and to the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and to living with absolute freedom in Christ and letting that freedom translate itself in love. Love for God and love for our fellow man so that we make a difference in this world. We make a difference in our community. We make a difference around the world because we're the most powerful agents of love this world has ever seen because we are transformed by grace and we're living in the freedom of Jesus Christ.

That's what really will make a difference when we start living that way and the church stands up and starts acting that way. And that can only happen when we understand our freedom in Christ. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. So let's not let anything take us back into a yoke of slavery.

Announcer: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just five dollars. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250. For your gift of twenty-five dollars or more, we'll send you our current teaching series on CD as a way of saying thanks. Join us again next time for more Truth That Changes Lives.