64. Bible Study Series Part 5: Galatians 5

Welcome back, everybody, to the For Freedom podcast. For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. We're going to get into that verse in just a little bit. I'm on. But it's good to be here. James, how are you doing, man? Doing good, John. How are you? You having a good time? It's been a while. John, man, who slayed that message last week on the podcast? I think someone, man, they just went field, I mean, base hit. What am I thinking here? Last second home game winner shot. I mean, knocked it out of the park on that message. You're ridiculous. It was good stuff, John. It's good stuff. Well, we'll see how people, I mean, I know that there's pushback. Like, it's not a podcast. It's not a sermon. It's a podcast. It's not a podcast. It's a sermon. But, I mean, you know, somebody, one person got some help from it, and that's what we'll do. We got one lined up from James if we have a time where we can't get together. We got a couple things we're trying to get lined up. You want to give a sneak peek of what's going to happen in two weeks, John? Nope. I don't know what's going to happen in two weeks. Well, we think it's going to happen in two weeks. What we're doing this Friday. Oh, I don't know. I haven't even talked to my wife yet. Oh, never mind. We're just going to wait on that. There's your sneak peek right there. We do want to let you guys know, if you're listening, hey, we're going to be in April. So the third week of April, I think the third week of April, right, John? It is April 19th, 20th, and 21st because my birthday is 20th. That's right. So in that April 19th, 20th, 21st, we, me and John, are going to be in Kentucky, in Louisville, Kentucky, at the Together for the Gospel Conference. And we want you guys to join us. We're going to do a little meetup there. I know we've got at least one other person that has said they're going to be going there. And I've been in contact with some friends of mine. And so we're going to try to get a time where we can meet up maybe on that 20th on John's birthday and try to find some free time in our schedule to be able to get together and hang out and have a good time. Maybe do a little bit of a live recording while we're there. Maybe a Q&A with Dr. Holyfield. We never know what may happen while we're there. John loves those Q&As anyways, and so we'll definitely do some fun stuff. So hopefully you can come and meet up with us in Louisville, Kentucky. If you've been thinking about going, this may be a time to go ahead and register. And it's going to be a good time. It's the last time that Together for the Gospel is going to be going on. And so we're looking forward to it. So hopefully you can join us as well. Yeah. James is actually going to put it on the RFP Facebook community group. And throw it out there for anybody that would like to get the word out. But, yeah, we're going to try to do a little RFP meetup. And this is some of the speakers that's going to be at T4G. You've got Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist in Washington, D.C. Sinclair Ferguson, a good Scottish guy. David Platt, the author of Radical. Alistair Begg, another good Scottish guy. I really love Alistair Begg. That's who I'm excited to hear. He's good. John Piper and H.B. Charles. H.B. Charles is always good. Shai Lien is another one I'm excited about hearing because I love his music. Kevin DeYoung and Ligon Duncan. Guys, if you've never heard Kevin DeYoung, be prepared for your mind to be blown. He is a guy that, man, every time he speaks, he says something that makes me say, wait, what did he just say? Because he's so cerebral, I guess would be the term. He gets you thinking, and he's a very educated man. And I really, really, really wish I had Ligon Duncan's voice. Yeah, he's got a good one, too. Oh, yeah. Well, that's coming up in April, and so we'd love to see other people of the RFP family there. And we hope you reach out to us and let us know you're going. Yeah. And we'll get some more details and figure it out, what we're going to be doing as it gets closer. But now we're going to jump into our episode of Galatians 5. So I think we just need to roll that beautiful bean footage. Hmm. I do not mean to be mean. I do mean to be mad. You obey your pastor. If you ain't got the King James, you ain't got, hey, you don't have a King James. You don't have a Bible. You don't have a Baptist church. I still believe there'd be a cold day in hell before I get my talents from a woman. I'm a preacher. The young preachers that do love God get pulled off in the Calvinist. And I'll fight it. I'll fight it. I'll fight you in the parking lot over there. I'll get personal with you. When you got dressed today, you dressed deity. This is the For Freedom Podcast. A podcast that is part of the RFP network. That seeks to bring freedom in Christ. From the spiritual abuse of legalism in the independent fundamental Baptist movement. Now here are your hosts, John Hollifield and James Saifert. And so fundamentalism is designed to unpack the idea of authority from Scripture. The problem with that is that that's not the defining principle in Scripture. It is a part of Scripture. But the defining principle in Scripture is love. And now I'm not saying that all men who sit under that teaching will become abusive. But what I'm saying is the ones who are abusive will be drawn to that sort of teaching. I don't want to give people just a list of things they can start doing differently until they have a heart out of which they're going to be doing those things differently. Bitterness is different from hurt. I would say that hurt or even abuse does not have to result in bitterness. James, what do you think? You think we need to re-edit that intro? Maybe make one of those a little louder. But other than that, it's a great intro, John. Oh, so you don't think we need to die it down because it's a little bit too much? No, never. Maybe add a little more spice to it, John. More spice. A little more spice to that beautiful bean footage, baby. Yeah, that's right. Come on. Okay. I love listening to our intro. That may be a little vain of me to say. But it gets me going, man. And it makes me, like one of our listeners said on one of the comments, it makes me feel like I'm about to go to war. I'm just ready to attack everything. And so that's where it's at. That's what it makes me feel like. So that's good. Well, we're going to talk a little bit. The reason to understand that is because when Paul goes to Galatians, Paul really is talking about spiritual warfare against the idea of legalism. And so it sort of connects that way. And that's where we're going to go now. We're going to jump into Galatians chapter 5. We've been doing a Bible study series here and there, going through the book of Galatians. And we've covered chapters 1 through 4. And this letter was written by Paul to many churches in the region of Galatia. And after Paul had been there on his missionary journey, many had come to Christ and established some churches, he left. And after he left, some people came in, known as the Judaizers, and began to teach, basically adding to the gospel that in order to keep their salvation and their standing with God, that they also must be circumcised. And so this started to take over the churches. One of the other things that they did was they started to denounce Paul as being an apostle and running Paul's name through the dirt. So Paul writes this letter to the churches in the region of Galatia. And he is upset from the get-go and writes some pretty strong language. In chapter 1, he is just straight at them. You know, how did you go through this? People who come to you with another gospel, you know, it's not another. And they need to be accursed. He goes into chapter 2 and he begins to tell some personal stories about him and Peter. He talks about the Jerusalem conference out of Acts 15 first. And then he talks about this story where he actually stood up to Peter's face. And against Peter sort of making a legalistic position whenever the men of Jerusalem from James' church came in and saw him sitting with Gentiles. And then at the end of chapter 2, he starts going into some doctrine. It's where we get that wonderful, wonderful verse. And verse 20, And then when you get into chapter 3, he starts talking about the difference between law and grace. And he goes into talking about using an Old Testament illustration. So you got more doctrine in chapter 3. And then chapter 4, he continues on with the illustration talking about slavery and heirs and being children of God. And that's what we covered last time. He uses the illustration of Hagar and Sarah and their offspring. And correlates that over to our position in Christ. And this brings us to chapter 5. And quite honestly, James, chapter 5, verse 1, really sort of belongs in chapter 4. The transition to talking about something else really doesn't happen to verse 2. But verse 1 is there in chapter 5. But you know what? Before we jump into breaking this down, let's read the chapter. Why don't you start off and you read through verse 13 and I'll finish it up. All right. Why don't I read 431 just so we can get that context. So it bleeds over a little bit. It says, So brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman. For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore and do not submit to any yoke of slavery. Look, I, Paul, say unto you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obliged to keep the whole law. You were severed from Christ. You who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view. And the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves. For you who were called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. James, as we say most of the time when we start this out, I don't know how we're going to get through all this. This may be the first one where we split up. So, first, I mentioned earlier about how the first verse really is a continuation of the previous chapter. And then verse 2 really goes on with the thought of this chapter. But the first church, the first verse is the thesis statement of Galatians. And it's our thesis statement for our podcast, Galatians 5.1. You know, for freedom, baby. For freedom. For horsemen. Let's go. Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore. Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. What do you think about with this verse? This is one of those verses, John, that gives us sort of a thesis as our entire life is following the gospel. Not only the book of Galatians. Not only this podcast. But there is nothing that is holding us into slavery. There's nothing that is holding us down if we are in Christ. If we are living a life that is pleasing and honor to Christ, he has set us free. And all the Bible, as the Bible says, the old things are passed away. And behold, all things have become new. And that's what it's saying here. The freedom that Christ has given us has set us free. And we can stand firm, therefore. We can be firm on that thought. We can be firm in knowing that Christ has set us free. There's confidence in knowing that Christ has set us free. And we don't have to submit to any yoke of any slavery. And it's just so freeing, so liberating. Hopefully we'll be able to talk more about our story, me and your story here in a couple of weeks. But to know where we came from and to know the legalism that has held us down. And so many times the oppression that people tell us all the time how they couldn't be happy just going to church because they had to follow these five 17 steps of rules to obey and listen. But knowing that there's that freedom that Christ gives us, we don't have to live in that bondage that so many times legalism does to us. Yeah, that's good. I want to look at it. I've got a couple of quotes here sort of breaking it address this verse. Chuck Swindoll said, Freedom in Christ means also to be freed from the law's curse. Christ set us free so we could bask in the benefits of his salvation, living out our freedom in Christ without guilt or condemnation. That's so good. Weersbe goes on to say, To go back to law is to become entangled in a maze of do's and don'ts and to abandon spiritual adulthood for a second childhood. I think that's probably my favorite quote that we've gotten written down for this first part. Because how many times, and as parents, John, I think we're guilty of it. Sometimes we'll say, don't do that or do this. And we can, as parents, we're human. We, we make mistakes and, and our kids can sometimes get confused, you know, especially when you're on your firstborn and you're trying to figure out and navigate life. And you say, don't do this, but then they're allowed to do it and they get confused. And this is really what it's talking about here. It's legalism comes in and, and you're set free, but then all of a sudden you've got these don'ts and, and you're going back and forth and you begin to get confused in your mind. And you're abandoning, like it says here, spiritual adulthood for childhood. So I love that quote of, of all of them on that first part. Yeah. And this next one by Swindoll says, as it goes back to what we were talking about, a minute ago about, uh, about going to war. Swindoll said, don't surrender your freedom, defend it with your life. Man, that's right. And then MacArthur said, like an animal loosed from pulling a plow, we should not seek to be hooked up again. So this is, this is it guys. I mean, we, it's, it's, and it's easy because our, our sinful tendency is to drifts too legally. Yeah. In many ways. And whether it's legalism that is putting something on someone else or, or legalism on our own hearts that puts extra burdens upon ourselves, but this, then go ahead. I think the big thing, John is it's comfortable to be under someone else's authority. I mean, you think about the children of Israel, they were set free from Egypt, the most oppressive time that they ever were. And one time of heartache came and they said, Hey, let's go back to oppression. Let's go back to what we know is, it may be hard, but we know it's safe. We know what we're expected. We know what we're going to get up and do. They enjoyed the, I guess the knowledge of consistency, I guess, but they were okay with being in bondage. And so many times we, as Christians want to be, we would not say we want to be in bondage, but it's easy to have a set of rules and regulations. And so I'm just going to follow those things. And I know that I can do my own check marks. I know that I'm doing right. And so life is good. Yep. Well, then Paul drifts the conversation and starts talking about the area of circumcision. All right. And he gets straight up because, and this is something you have to understand because this is important in the context of what he's talking about. But circumcision was a part of Jewish culture and part of the law. And so verse two, he says, look, I, Paul say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. Basically what he's saying is mark my words. He's asserting every bit of his personal and apostolic authority here. He's saying, listen to me right now. Then in verse three, he says, I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. And, uh, either it's circumcision. That is all, all that it currently stood for in Judaism as a way of salvation of Christ. It's the circumcision of Christ. You can't have it or Christ. I'm sorry. You can't have it both ways. Yeah. You know, either you're going to do this the old way or the new way. There's a reason, James, why it's called the new covenant, the new covenant. And the old man and new man. I mean, there, there is this, this thought of it. Yeah. And so then he talks about verse four, justification by circumcision, James. Well, and he gets to this point where, uh, and I think this may have been one of our, when we began in chapter one, where we talked about some problematic things is fallen from grace means of losing your salvation. Well, read the verse, read the verse. Verse four. It says, if I can find out, you are severed from Christ who you, who would be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. So is this talking about losing your salvation? Is this talking about losing your salvation? John? Is the Paul saying here that these guys were once believers, but because they're accepting circumcision now as a means of getting, coming to Christ, that now they have fallen from grace. They have, they have lost their salvation. They're no longer saved. Is that what he's talking about here? Through our study here, John, uh, we, uh, we believe this is not the intent of what Paul is saying to the Galatians. Nope. Uh, Paul is not talking about eternal security here. He is contrasting law and grace. He is, he's taking the effects of law, circumcision and the effects of grace. Cause he begins to start out in verse four. He says, you who are severed from Christ, this is grace there who have been justified to gain grace. And then we're going back to the law. So he's making this comparison back and forth to say they have fallen from grace is not to say that they have fallen from salvation. Uh, Paul says, if you choose the way of salvation instead of grace, then Christ has no benefit to you because you are choosing. To follow the law. So his benefits of Christ. Yeah. So what he's saying is, if you're going to add a bunch of legalistic things of how you're supposed to live by, then you have nullified Christ's work in your life. You're no longer growing in Christ. Now think about this. Think about this very, very carefully. What Paul's getting at here is that when you have wrapped yourself up in a life of legalism, your sanctification, your growth process growing in Christ has stunted. Oh, you may look good. You may do all the great things. You may do all kinds of different things and people may come to you, but you're not growing closer to Christ. You've cut Christ off from your growth in Christ. That's what he's talking about. This is not true for our salvation, but it is true in living the Christian life. Grace is God's free blessing that he gives to us as we live our daily life of faith in him and obedience to his word. Yeah. And this is so, so vital. You know, when you think of even a plant, even a plant who is out in the weather, if you begin to isolate that plant away from nutrients, away from sun, away from water, away from fertilizer, the plant naturally doesn't grow anymore. It actually begins to decrease in its value, value, or it's not going to produce any type of fruit, which we're going to talk about later. And so in our spiritual life, when we begin to nullify ourself from God's grace, when we begin to nullify ourself from God's nutrients, you can say we begin to ourselves fall back into the trap of legalism, which is what's happening here. What he's talking about. Wiersbe actually said to Wiersbe said, it means fallen out of the sphere of God's grace, which is basically the same thing we've been saying. Another reason, James, final reason sort of why we don't believe verse four is Paul speaking of losing your salvation is it contradicts so much other scripture in the New Testament. It does, especially, uh, John 10, you know, John six. So, it, yeah, there's just, there's just too much scripture, honestly, that, that, that reinforces that truth. Yeah. So then acceptance through faith, he counteracts this. He's talked about how you're trying to go at this with circumcision. And in verses five and six, he talks about acceptance through faith. Read those, James. So five and six, again, it says, uh, for through the spirit by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith through what faith, working through love. John, we can, we can even for sake of what we're doing for in Christ, neither church attendance nor non church attendance counts for anything. For in Christ, neither. Any type of legalism you want to put in there, wearing skirts, not wearing skirts, music, you're going to listen to not, anything that you do counts for anything, but only faith working through love. Uh, and so when we begin to look through this, we begin to see that the true faith is the root, which always leads to the works, uh, followed in time by love. And so when we think through this, this acceptance becomes through the faith that Christ has given us into the faith that we are in him is where we're planted, where we're growing and what we're producing. I like that illustration that you brought up earlier from verse four about the plant, because here it's sort of like that as well. True faith is the root. It leads to works, the shoot, like you said, followed in time by love, which is the fruit. All right. So if true faith is the root, this is what's going to spring forth. But if legalism, if the list of do's and don'ts is the root production, doesn't happen. Yeah. And if it does happen, it's not going to be producing the fruit that we're going to talk about later. Yeah. It's not going to be producing the true love that Christ has given us. It's going to be oppressive. It's going to be more legalism toward other people. It's going to be judgmental. It's going to be hateful. It's going to be bad rhetoric. It's going to be judging. It's going to be you looking at yourself and saying, man, I'm, I'm guilty of this. I'm looking at, man, can you believe that guy over there and how he's dressed coming to church? Yeah. Because that's what it produces instead of coming into a church and saying, man, I'm so thankful that person's here today. Listen to the word of God versus a judgmental attitude toward that person. It changes even in our mindset of how we even look and talk to other people based on the beginning, the root and what produces from that root. That's good. That's good. I like what Swindoll, he said some differences between living in the flesh and living by faith. He gives two, two differences. Number one is our approach to personal righteousness is different. Our approach to personal righteousness is different. You know, we're not, no longer gauging and trying to achieve personal righteousness by how we look. It's basically where our heart is. And number two, our lives become characterized by, not by laws, but by love. Are you known by love or your standards? Are you known? Are you known by how much you love others or how much you're separated from others? Reminds me of a song right now, John, that we're about to sing for Easter. The Crabb family, I think first recorded it. And then the Clark family saying it, but it's called my king is known by love. And man, it's a such a powerful song because it goes through and talks about what other kings are known by. And then it goes into Jesus and what he's known by. And ultimately, what are we going to be known by? So great song. It just, when you said that, it reminded me of it. So I wanted to interject that. Verses seven through 15. We begin this talk of how we interact with one another, a serious talk with one another. And verse seven through nine, Paul uses a statement and he says, you were running well. I've heard, I think a couple of pastors preach a message on that in chapel when I was in Bible college. John, do you remember that message? You did run well. Yes. Uh, that was, he was actually talking about this passage right here. Yeah, he was. And it was, uh, by the great Tony Shirley, Tony, Tony Hudson, not Shirley. And, uh, he preached, you did run well, but what hindered you? And so we get this statement, who hindered you? And, uh, MacArthur says this, the question seems rhetorical designed as most rhetorical questions, not for purposes of information gathering. And really this is the whole point, but to make the reader think about, what about himself? The first and most obvious. Yeah. Hold on for, before you read the next part. So I, one thing that I want to point out that he starts to do here is he starts to, he's going to talk about one another. He's going to talk about how we interact with others, but he starts off by talking about the Judaizers. And essentially, if we broke it down on a simplest level, what were the, the Judaizers were false teachers. The Judaizers were false teachers. And so he addresses them here. And he's, can I say this? Paul's pretty strong about it. And probably a lot stronger than you and I would ever be. Maybe, maybe we would get that strong sometimes, but I think it's surprising to people. When you think about how we're supposed to be loving in Christ and that kind of thing, how strong Paul is towards these false teachers. So I think it's important, James, that as we cover these few verses, we recognize that he is addressing these false teachers specifically, and then give some things for them. And so the, the first and most obvious characteristic of a false teacher is that they distort and hinder the truth. Are you distorting the truth? Are you keeping the truth from being taught? Yeah. And then MacArthur continues on to say the first and most obvious characteristic of a false teacher. Think about this in your own life. Think about this as you evaluate yourself. A couple of weeks ago, we had a great talk about what, how to find, help. I'm looking for a church, help. I'm looking for things in my life. And we talked through some things. The first and foremost, obvious characteristic of a false teacher, the false church, someone who's preaching false gospel is that they distort and hinder the truth. Are people hindering the truth in your life or in the life of people around you? Because it contradicts what they think is right based on what the Bible says is right. And so when we begin to view the world and, and the things around us begin to put a lens on of, are people distorting the truth? Are people hindering the truth from prevailing? How many times has a situation been brought up where someone tries to cover up something? That's hindering the truth. It's covering up. And so when we, as Christianity, when we, as Bible believing Christians, we want the truth to go forward. What's going to hinder the truth? Who hindered you? What hindered you? You can even say that. What hindered you? People hiding the truth. That's what's going to hinder the work of God in any situation. Yeah. And then in verses eight through 10, he goes on. Are they going to, how are they going to be handled? Are they going to be punished? Verses eight through 10. I'm going to read those three verses. This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view. And the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. First, we have a characteristic of a false teacher. Verse eight is their ungodliness. He says, this persuasion is not from him who calls you. Listen, this stuff is not coming from the godly. It's coming from their ungodliness. Then a persecution, a third characteristic of false teachers is that they contaminate the church, spreading heresy among both true believers and would be believers. He says a little leaven leavens the whole lump. They're not, listen, false teachers want to spread their poison. They want to spread their wrong message. They want more followers to themselves and they're going to spread it. And then in verse 10, a fourth characteristic of false teachers is their destiny. What does he say? I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view. And the one thing who is trouble, the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. Yeah. God's going to, God's going to take care of her. Yeah. And then we move to verses 11 to 12 and, um, Paul's admonition in verse 11 and 12, verse 11. But if I brothers still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been removed. And MacArthur lays out, I think a final characteristic from this and, um, fall from false teachers. And that is they persecute true teachers. They persecute true teachers. Yeah. And that is the, those are some God. This is what Paul's laying out for us. Four or five ways to identify people in your life, characteristics in your life that are people around you who are leading you astray. Ungodliness, contaminating the church, false teachers deny their own judgment. And then ultimately they're persecuting true, true religious teachers who know the Bible, who follow scripture, who have a proven track record of understanding scripture. They are going against them. Uh, and so these are some, some guidelines for us to use some checks, some, some visual things to keep in your mind to be able to check off and say, okay, that doesn't sound right. This says, this is red flags, warnings, guidelines. They're going to pop up in your life, uh, which is so important. Uh, Johnny, anything else where we move on to the next verses 13 to 15, uh, verse 12 says, I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves. That's what I'm talking about. What's a strong language. Yeah. I mean, Paul was very strong in this. What, what's the context of what you're talking about here? Circumcision. He says, you know what? I wish those who are false teachers that are doing this to you would go the whole way with circumcision and just cut it off. Yeah. That's what Paul, did you really just say that? Yeah. Paul said that. And it's an inspired scripture. You know, James, I was listening one time doing some research for King James only as I'm, and I was listening to Sam Gip teach and he was talking about like giving an example about how, um, newer translations really are. He says, he's like these new translators. This was his point. The new translators are perverted. Yeah. They're perverted. And he, his example was he goes to Galatians five, 12. And in the King James, I think it says, I would, they were even cut off, which trouble you. Yeah. And Sam Gip says, what does that mean? And he talks about how he believes that that is just simply talking about kicking someone out of the church. They get churched. They've been excommunicated. And he says, these guys write in these new translations, not just cut off, but they're, they're emasculated. And he's like, that's perverted. And I'm like, dude, read the context or better. Yeah. How about this? Look up the Greek word. No, quite honestly, the King James is a little bit more explicit. Yeah. You just cut it off. Yeah. You're so true. All right. So now we're going to move to verse 13 and 14. Yeah. 13, 14. It says again, read it to recap your memory for you who were called to freedom. Brothers only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another for the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Yep. James, you know, when you go through a lot of the scripture and new Testament, whenever you're instructed to either avoid something or instructed to do something, you should always be able to find a put off and put on. When the Bible is telling you not to do something, it's also going to tell you to do something again, to replace it with put off and put on. And so I think we see this here in verses 13 through 15. We see a put off and a put on. And in verse 13, he's there, we're getting the put on first. And what is he wanting us to put on? He's wanting us to put on love for the, through freedom. He wants us to put on the love serving one another. And he explains that in verse 14, the law is fulfilled in one word, love your neighbor as yourself. Yeah. Swindoll said our freedom in Christ is true freedom, but it's freedom with a purpose. And I like this one. Liberty should result in love, not legalism or license. Yeah. Those are two niches of the same, same truth. You know, you have liberty, not liberty to go and enforce new laws and legalism and not liberty to go and do however you want and live in sin like license. Yeah. And how many times, John, uh, in scripture, does it say people are going to know that you're my disciple by the clothes you wear, by the words you say, by the way your haircut is, by the tattoos on your arms? No, people are going to know that you're my disciple, by your love one for another. Yep. That's how they're going to know that we're a follower of Jesus because we have true love. We have religions. We don't have this religious made up fake love. We have love that is undefiled love that is truly from the father that we can show because we have been redeemed by that love. And that right there is the gospel. My friend, my friend, that right there is allowing the freedom that Christ has given us to embark that to other people to say, man, how in the world are you able to love right now? Well, but because we have that freedom in Christ to be able to give that love. So that's the put on. The put off is sort of, uh, in verse 15, let's read it. I didn't read it as we were going through verse 15. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. So this is this put off. This is this thought of legalism. Uh, as a result of legalism, what does the church begin to do? We begin to fight and we begin to feud. We begin to argue about the color of the carpet or the type of toilet paper. And we've been in those churches before, uh, the church is divided. The church is set apart from each other. They are biting and devouring one another. The church and the community of faith are on the verge of destruction and legalism treats people harshly and often, if not more times than not leads to division. And that was by Max Anders. And, and, and listen, we have got to get to the point where we stopped destroying ourselves. We stopped killing brothers and sisters and we build the body of Christ up. How often in our lives do we hear of another brother or sister fallen? And we just begin to attack them instead of love the families, love the people that are in that community. You know, when, when things happen, yeah, it's a tragic situation for the church, but there's still people there. There's still people that are going to be harmed. There's still people that need to be loved. And that is our job to build one another up and to love one another, not to bring division. Yeah. And, and you know, honestly, that was happening with these churches. These, the legalism had crept in and what was going on is that they were now fighting and devouring one another. Why do you think that is? It is because whenever you attach legalism and enforcing extra biblical standards on other people, then people get puffed up with pride and begin to start judging others. Oh, you're not doing this. You're not doing this. You're not doing this. And then they're offended. And now they're going at it with each other. Then you have policemen that are trying to police those standards. And now they're like devouring one another. They're first the body remarks. Now they're devouring one another. Yeah. And it's, it's awful. And that's what was going on. It's a time bomb waiting to be ticked. And it's not, it's not what the church is supposed to be, which is a loving community that fellowships with one another. But how often when that explosion does happen because there's biting and there's bickering, is there people that are hurt that didn't even realize that that was going on? Well, quite, quite honestly, a lot of these places, you learn real quick to toe the line or there is going to be that. And so it looks on the surface like everything is a loving fellowship and community. But if you question things, if you step out of line, if you're not doing exactly what the rules say you're supposed to do, that biting and devouring comes right in. Yeah. True. True. So then we move to a second, the next section of the chapter. And this is scriptural talk about walking in the spirit. And he prefaces this first by talking about the battle that goes on. He sets against the flesh and the spirit. And so this is verse 16. But I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, but if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now, honestly, honestly, this is pretty simple. This is pretty simple. And that is, the spirit is opposed to the flesh. The flesh is opposed to the spirit. It's pretty helpful to understand. And he says, if you're living by the spirit, you're not going to gratify the desires of the flesh. What's your best defense against the flesh? It's walking by the spirit. Now, this is not some kind of mystical. I must have this feeling of the Holy Spirit and then I'll be ultra spiritual. No sin will ever defeat me. It's not what he's talking about at all. And we'll explain that in just a little bit. But when you get to verse 18, he says, if you're led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Why? Because listen, the law can do absolutely nothing to help you to live righteously. The law just lets you know when you're not living righteously. The law lets you know when you've done wickedly. And the spirit is what empowers you to live righteously. He says, if you're led by that, you're not under the law. You're living above the law. If I can say it that way, you're living over the law. Yeah. You're living by something more powerful than the law. That's so good. Yeah. And even to add to that point right there, John, and we've said it before, but Jim Neuheiser says it often, the DSM-5 says what a problem is. It gives a good definition of anorexia, anxiety, depression, but there's no solution to it. The law gives us a great definition of when we do something wrong, when we steal, when we kill, when we destroy. We, the law tells us that, but it's the spirit that gives us the liberty to overcome that. It's the spirit that empowers us to move on and to move over what the law is saying and to find redemption and to find grace and to find freedom in Christ. Yeah. Yeah. The answer to legalism is that the death of Christ set us free from the oppressive and pervasive mandates of the law. Now get this. The answer to legalism, the death of Christ set us free from the mandates of the law. The answer to license, using your liberty to just live any way you please in sin, is that the Holy Spirit is able to set us free from the oppressive and persuasive desire of the flesh. So what's the solution on both ends? What's the solution to legalism? And what's the solution to license? Six letter word, John. The gospel. That's right. It's the gospel. It liberates you from both. Yeah. And then from the battle that goes to the works of the flesh in verses 19 to 21, and he goes through and he lays out some very specific things that we can struggle with. The first he goes through and he says sexual sins, sexual immorality, which is porn or illicit sex activity, goes through impurity, moral uncleanliness, and then sensuality. This is speaks of sexual excess as he goes through and begins to talk through. Now the works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, immorality, and sensuality. And he lays these things out because if he wasn't clear enough before with emasculating yourself, he's saying, I'm going to, Paul is saying, I'm going to go as clear as I possibly can. And I'm going to lay out some specifics for you. I'm going to tell you some things that are going to be the works of the flesh. And then he goes through the sexual sins, the religious sins, John, what are the religious sins? And he begins to talk about. Well, it's also important to note that I think, I don't think this list is exhaustive. I don't think this is one just sort of like find out final list. I think that there can be other things put in this list. You will see Paul do this regularly in the new Testament. And there are things obviously that are on this, that are not on this list that are in other lists. Homosexuality is in the first Corinthians six, but it's not in this list. Murder, that would be a pretty hefty sin, but it's not in this list. So in the same way as with the fruit of the spirit list, they're not necessarily exhaustive, but they do give us a good idea. Now, James mentioned those. I did want to mention, make a little point on the word porniah. That is translated sexual immorality in the ESV. It's the first one. Porniah, whenever you see it used in scripture, it's basically talking about illicit sexual activity. All right. We, that's why we get the word pornography from, but I mean, this could be anything. So whenever you see condemnations of this, this is pretty much whatever illicit sexual activity is talking about. Or if you see like regulation of this, or this is for this reason, you need to understand that is not like one set boxed in definition. This is any type of illicit sexual activity. Now, the next one James said was religious sins. This is basically idolatry and sorcery. He says, I think it's idolatry and sorcery in the ESV. I think another translation translates sorcery, witchcraft. A couple of things. I mean, I could spend, I'm, I'm in the middle of doing a nine part series. Actually, I'm on the last message on idolatry and idols of the heart. So I could really spend a lot of time. I would, I would suggest if you want some, some clarification on idolatry and why it's there, you may say, well, that's sort of an outdated one. No, it's not. Go listen to our episode with Brad Bigney on gospel treason. Now, sorcery is the Greek word pharmakia, where we get our English word pharmacy, where we talk, we use pharmacy talking about prescription drugs. Sorcery here is the use of drugs for hallucinative reasons. It is basically escapism. It's becoming, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's the idea of using something or manufacturing something to come under the power of something else. And it's deemed a work of the flesh or a deed of the flesh. And it is deemed as wicked. Now, then he goes into, uh, you know, even personally, um, I was at the hospital last night till midnight because of someone in our church who wanted to escape with drugs. It's real. It's happening. It's not something that, that is, is people brag about, but it happens. And not only does it happen, it hurts people that are around them. Yep. You know, we were in a hospital last night with 15 people, family members crying because someone was trying to escape the reality of the world. And as a pastor, we're both pastors and we, we deal with these things. Uh, we're giving these as warnings because what seems harmless at first will eventually grow if it's not dealt with through the spirit. Yep. So then he goes into many societal sins. He says, uh, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and envy. And he mentions two others, but we'll get to those in a little bit. Um, enmity is the attitude of mind that defies and challenges others. Yep. Strife is bitter conflicts. Uh, and just, you've, you've been part of strife where people don't get along and they just begin to conflict and conflict continues to happen. Yeah. And I think that, uh, some of us believers need to check ourself on how we're doing with those two on social media. Yeah. John, John had to delete his social media because he realized that he was, Oh, come on. Listen to him. Listen to him. He's just trying to, uh, air some, some grids. All right. Come on. I smack you upside the head if I was right there. Yeah, but you're not because you're a loser and you're in Tennessee. Uh, jealousy, uh, which is what John has often when I sit here with my chair, one and my cookout, um, it's forms of anger, resentment caused by covering, coveting for oneself, what belongs to someone else. And so that is jealousy. Yeah. Fits of anger is sudden unrestrained expressions of hostility toward others. Uh, rivalries, dissensions, divisions are pretty much self explanatory. It's, it's, it's creating these divisions among people. And dissent, uh, among people. Envy is wanting something, um, to, and ignore desire. It, it gets out of hand. And then he lists two, uh, two more that, or more like, uh, have to do with, um, uh, alcohol related. And that is drunkenness, which you, you go listen to the, the RFP guys on alcohol. Um, there are episodes on that. I mean, drunkenness is most definitely a sin. Here's an example. Of scripture pointing it out that it is sin. Well, this aspect of orgies and James and I'll try not to, we didn't give a warning about explicit language today, but I'll try not to be, I'll try to be appropriate and not explicit, but this is not probably what you're thinking about orgies, but in a way it is. Um, but the historical understanding of the term used here is not just what you may think today, but it has to do with a drunken sexual perversions. Um, and many times it was associated with a God of wine named Bacchus. And so this and its context is sort of combine what you're thinking of when you hear the term orgy with also, uh, only taking place because of, uh, drunken behavior. So drunken behavior is sort of the culprit that leads to these things. That's what this term is meaning with orgies. And so James, what is the result of these things? The result of all these things that is important to distinguish between the occasional indulgence in acts of the flesh. There are going to be times where we're going to sin and we're going to make a mistake. We're going to get jealous of someone's cheer one. We're going to get anger. We're going to envy. We're going to have dissension and disagreements. We're going to, there's going to be times where these happen, but it is a, but when it is a lifestyle characterized by the same, the word is used here in the verse. And it says do, uh, which could also be SV. The ESV says do. And I prefer the ESV. I like the ESV, but this is one where I prefer. I don't like that. They translated it that way. I don't know if it was the new American standard or maybe just, maybe the King. Let me, let me look it up real quick. And I'll read it in the ESV again while you're looking up. It says, I warn you, as I warned you before. So he's, he's going back again. He's reiterating what he said that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So, so it's this word do. Okay. So the King James and the ESV say do the, um, I think the, the new King James, I think the new American standard says practice. Yeah. And I think that's the better translation of the term. And this just simply means you've fallen into a sin. You've practiced it. It's not a lifestyle. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You got the, it's the opposite, James. I'm opposite. Well, look what he says. Look what he says. He says, those that do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Are we saying here is, is Paul saying again, is this another lose your salvation? Text. Is he saying that if you have been saved and you go and do one of these things one time that you've, you won't inherit the kingdom of God, it's done for you. No, what he's saying is, is those that practice this, this is their lifestyle. This is a lifestyle habit. Then they will. It was coming out wrong when I was saying it, but that's what I was trying to say. I know you were thinking that, but you were saying it the opposite, but that's what it is. It's, we're talking about the practice. So basically what we're saying is if this is characterized as a lifestyle of your life, or maybe many of these are probably not a believer. Unrepentant sin. Yeah. Yeah. And so this is something, but the contrast that over to the fruit of the spirit, the fruit of the spirit versus 22 and 23. And just let me say, I, one of the things that I love about Paul's writings is he does a lot of this, contrasting. Yep. He doesn't just, Hey, don't do these things. And he ends the book or ends the chapter. No, he's saying, look, these are the things that you shouldn't be involved in. And then he says, but what you should be involved in is this, the fruit of the spirit in verses 22 and 23, but the fruit of the spirit, what you should be practicing in is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. And against such, there is no law. Or bondage or slavery. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. And he begins to go through these nine fruits. These, these things that should be byproducts. As we go back to that illustration at the beginning, that root, the, the, the, the faith, the stock, which is the practice. And then the fruit, which is the product. This is what we're going through. These are the products that the fruit of the Holy spirit is going to allow us to have. And we know songs and we go through them and we know about them, but love and joy and peace. The peace is the heart attitude that is brought on from being right with God. As I'm going to be doing a funeral here in just a couple hours, and I'm going to be talking through Psalms 23 and, and the peace that Jesus gives us, it surpasses all understanding. And again, here, this is a heart attitude, the peace that the Holy spirit brings to us. John, what's the next one? Well, I also want to say about this being fruit. This is not something that you say, Oh, I need to work on my love. Yeah. I need to work on my joy. I need to work on my peace. No, what he's talking about here is that these things are the automatic outflow of the spirit being dominant in your life. Yeah. So if the Holy spirit is working in your life, it's not necessarily something that you have to consciously work on. This is the natural outflow of the Holy spirit in your life. So if you're, if you're being loving, you're being controlled by the spirit. If you're being joyful, you're being controlled by the spirit. If peace is that contentment is there in your heart, that's the Holy, that's, that's the walking and living by the spirit. It's not something like, Oh, well, tomorrow I need to think about, Oh, I need to do this. No, this is the natural outflowing of the work of the spirit in your life. Think of a tree. Think of an apple tree. The apple tree doesn't get up and say, Oh, I've got to continue to make apples. No, it's an outflowing of the nutrients that's coming through the roots. That's into the tree that is pushing it out. That's good. And it happens automatically. That's just how it is. And so if we're living that same model of life in our spiritual life, as the natural world is, as I said, a couple of weeks ago, when I preached, God is not going to go against the natural. He created order. He created the natural order. Why would he go against that in our spiritual life? In the, in the work of, cause I'm in a big farm community. I said, none of you are expecting to go out and plant a tobacco leaf. Cause we're a tobacco area in North Carolina or a berry plant and expect the next day to have a full grown plant there. I said, so why is it that when we plant a seed of love or grace or goodness, we expect the next day to get a reward. If it doesn't work in the natural world, why is it going to work in the spiritual world? Well, another good aspect of that illustration is, is what are you sowing in your heart? Are you sowing deeds of the flesh? Are you going, are you sowing the spirit? You know, are you, are you cultivating spirit, the spiritual discipline practices, or are you cultivating, you know, the flesh practices and whatever is going to come out of that's the fruit that comes out of what's going on inside. Yeah. So you covered love, joy and peace. Yep. Patience is the next one. Patience, calm willingness to accept situations that are irritating, frustrating or painful. Then he says, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. Gentleness is the humble and gentle attitude that is patiently submissive. And every offense while being free from any desire for revenge. And the last one is self-control, which if I'm being honest, that's going to be my, my biggest one that I struggle with is self-control and losing my temper as a redhead, as a guy who, who, uh, he's a ginger, I'm a ginger. And, uh, it self-control is a hard one for me. And so this is one where I've really got to be in tune with the spirit because it's very easy for me to lose my control. My kids lose my control around other people because I'm not walking in the spirit. And the spirit, therefore is not producing the fruit of self-control. Um, and then in the last two verses, last three verses, he gives us the instruction about the spirit. Um, and he goes through here. Uh, we'll wrap this up very quickly as time has gotten away from us. But the instruction of the spirit, the last couple of verses, he begins to talk about Christians crucifying the flesh, getting rid of the flesh in our life and abolishing the flesh. In verse 24, he says, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. And he really gets to the thought of what are you following after? Are you following after the desires of your flesh? Are you following after the desires of the old man? Or have you destroyed that and crucified that and follow him after Christ? You put it to death. Yeah. You put it to death. And that's what John Owen wrote, writes about in his book, the mortification of sin, which I is one of my top five recommended books. John Owen, the mortification of sin by banner of truth and trust. Listen, you put it to death. I mean, you, you, you starve it to death. Yeah. And then he says, if we live by the spirit, if we, if we then, have life, how did you achieve? How did, or how did you gain that life in Christ? Well, the Holy Spirit regenerated you. All right. The Holy Spirit came. And so if you live by the spirit, you now have this life by the spirit. Let us also keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Yeah. And what's the, you see that put off, put on principle again. Yeah. He says, live by the spirit. Do not do this. What are these things to not do? Provoking one another, envying one another. Instead, put on the spirit of Christ, the spirit, the Holy Spirit. You know, there was something in one of the commentaries that I was reading by Max Anders, where he had a section on live by the spirit. And he says, the Bible does not define what it means to live, literally to walk by the spirit. Scripture never explicitly explains this figure of speech. But he goes on to say that the Holy Spirit works in us and at least, to do at least four major things. Says he illumines our minds to understand the truth of scripture. Number two, the spirit empowers us to be changed into the character of Jesus, to live the life of Christ would live if he were in our shoes. Number three, the spirit convicts us of sin. And number four, the spirit works in our hearts to cause us to want to do, want to do, the things God wants us to do. Yeah. Which is exactly how Paul ends this. You know, if you're walking in the spirit, you're not going to put yourself under the others. You're going to serve one another. You're going to love one another. Yep. So for freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. What'd you think, James? Good stuff. I enjoyed doing these studies. I hope our listeners enjoy as well. Let us know if you have enjoyed it. Reach out to us on social media, on each one of our, on each one of our, different handles. You can reach me personally. You can reach John at the for freedom on Twitter. You can also reach him on Facebook. If you want to send us an email, you can do that with the old school yahoo.com for freedom ministries at yahoo.com. We'd love to hear from you. And hopefully you will join us in Kentucky for our meetup. Up there. And looking forward to being up there with some of our friends and hearing great preaching, hearing great teaching, and really just been able to fellowship with one another. And so it's been good. Hope you've enjoyed this, John. Yeah. We got one more chapter in Galatians, Galatians chapter six, and we'll be working on that and getting that prepared. But I'll tell you what we'd like to know. Galatians has been more along the theme of what the podcast is about. But if you guys would like us, if you guys would like for us to continue to do going through books, like if we wanted to do another book study like this, where we go chapter by chapter, let us know. Let us know. If you think that would be something cool, we could do Ephesians or Colossians or something like that. One another, another Paul's letters. But we're about to wrap up Galatians. We got a couple of things down the pike. We're trying to get lined up and just busy, busy, busy. But thanks everybody for listening. And we appreciate all of your support. And until next time, James, to God, not the pastor, be the glory. Thanks for listening to the For Freedom podcast. To find more content like this, please visit RFPNetwork.org to find more podcasts like this one, resources, and meetups to encourage you on your journey. to find more information like this one, Thank you.

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