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Galatians chapter number five, beginning verse number one, the Bible reads, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. You are fallen from the grace, for we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Now this passage starts out with very powerful proof that if you are trusting in salvation through Jesus Christ, but you're trying to add works to that, that you're not saved. Because he's saying that those who are going out and getting circumcised in order to be justified by that work of the law, he says these people, Christ is of no effect unto them. I mean that's pretty clear that these people are not saved. And if he says you're fallen from grace, they're clearly not saved by grace here. They're not saved because they're trusting in faith plus works. At the end it says in verse five, For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. See a lot of people think that because faith is all that is necessary for salvation, that basically everyone who believes in Jesus is saved, even if they think that they have to do works also. So just as long as they believe in faith and maybe they're just doing the works kind of just in case, you know, go out and do the works just to kind of cover all their bases. But wait a minute. Paul's saying, look, if you're circumcised, if you're going out and getting circumcised, that shows that you're not trusting in Jesus Christ by faith alone. You think you need to add that work of the law. The other thing that we can get from this passage is that circumcision is not something that we practice in the New Testament. I mean, if circumcision, physical circumcision were a New Testament practice, then it wouldn't very well make sense for Paul to use such stern language telling them, don't get circumcised. I mean, if it was something that we were supposed to do. But yet today, the vast majority of Christian parents are circumcising their children in America. And it's just because of the fact that there's been a lot of false doctrine out there about this subject where they think that in the New Testament, we're supposed to continue to observe some of these things that have been done away in Christ specifically. And it's also just something that's been done by tradition. It's a cultural thing. And really, it only goes back to around the 1950s. You see, in my grandfather's generation, the men of this country, Christian, American men were not circumcised. But starting after World War II, a lot of the doctors in this country were Jewish and they brought in this practice of circumcision under the guise of, oh, it has health benefits. That's what they tried to say. Well, this is something that we're doing not for a religious reason, but for the health benefit. We're just going to pretty much circumcise everybody. And that's why after World War II, all the babies started being circumcised for many decades. And then it's been in the last 10, 20 years that people are starting to question this and say, wait a minute, why in the world are we being circumcised? We're not Jewish, right? We don't practice the religion of Judaism. And by the way, Judaism is a wicked religion, okay? It is not the religion of the Old Testament. It is not biblical Old Testament faith, not at all. Jesus made it clear. He said, if you would have believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he spake of me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words? So Judaism is a religion for people who have made a conscious decision to reject the word of God, reject Jesus Christ, and in the process, they're rejecting God the Father. Because the Bible says, if you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father. He that acknowledged that the Son hath the Father also. So these Christ rejecting, unbelieving Jewish doctors brought the process of circumcision into the American mainstream in the mid 20th century. But there is really no reason for New Testament Christians today to circumcise their children, which is why I do not circumcise my children. I do not recommend that anyone circumcise their children. And in fact, I'll even go a step further. I believe it is unbiblical to circumcise your children. That's where I stand on it. Now, you know, obviously, a lot of people are circumcised just because of the culture. And you know, here's what the Bible actually says about it in Galatians 6, if you want to just flip over the page. I'm sorry, is it in chapter 5? There we go, verse 6. I said chapter 6. Chapter 5, verse 6, sorry. For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. So here, he's saying, whether you're circumcised or not doesn't really matter. This is why I don't buy the health benefit, because it says right here that neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision. Basically, what God's saying is it doesn't really matter. So if you're here tonight and you're circumcised or you're not circumcised, it doesn't matter. Don't even worry about it. Who cares? So I don't buy into this health benefit, but I also don't buy into the health detriment. You know, there are some people out there who will go the opposite direction, like, oh, circumcision is so horrible. Well, if it was so horrible, then God wouldn't have commanded it in the Old Testament. He wouldn't have had his people doing it for thousands of years if it was so horrible. So we want to make sure that we don't buy into that fraud either. The Bible says that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything. It really doesn't matter whether or not you're circumcised. But in the first part of the chapter, he's really using harsh words about it for people who are doing it for a religious reason. These are adults that are going out and getting circumcised because they think that they need to do that in order to get into heaven. This is like those people in Matthew chapter 7 who came to Jesus at the last day and say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me that work iniquity. So people who are trusting in their works, like those people in Matthew 7 who are saying, Lord, let us in, we've done works. They're not saved. Right. You can't believe in Jesus and trust in your own works. That's not salvation. Because believing in Jesus doesn't mean to just believe that Jesus existed. Believing in Jesus means your trust is in Jesus, your faith is in Jesus, you're believing in him as your only way to heaven. See, a lot of times people misunderstand the term believe in. Okay. So let me just explain this. If I said to you, I believe in aliens, okay, which I don't, but if I said, I believe in aliens, I'm basically saying that I believe that aliens exist when I say that, right? But let's say, for example, you're going to take a big test tomorrow. Okay. And I came to you and said, hey, listen, man, I believe in you. Now, am I saying I believe you exist? No, it's different, isn't it? I'm saying I believe in you, meaning I have faith in you. I'm trusting you. I believe that you're able to do what you've set out to do or what you've said you're going to do. That's what believing in. So when we believe in Jesus, what do we believe? That he's able to do what he said he would do, that he's our savior, that he's our way to heaven. We're putting our trust in Jesus. In fact, the Bible will use the words faith, believe and trust interchangeably. Flip over if you would to Ephesians chapter one. It's just a page or two to the right in your Bible. Look at Ephesians chapter number one. It says in verse number 13, Ephesians 1 13, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. Now this is a great passage here because it helps to define the word believe as trusted. Okay, now some people will say, well, the trusted is in italics in verse 13. Well, the trusted is coming from verse 12, because it says in verse 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that, ye heard the word of truth, et cetera. Don't be one of these people that says, well, that's an italics, throw it out. Okay, this is what a person who is ignorant of Bible translation would say. Well, that's not in the original, take it out. But here's the thing, there is a difference between Greek and English. They're two different languages. So sometimes when you bring something into a new language, it takes more words to express the same thing in that language. For example, when you translate anything into Spanish, it's usually about time and a half as long as it is in English. You ever wonder why they talk so fast? It's because they have to say time and a half as much to get the same point across. So when you translate things into Spanish, they get longer. So if you want to, for example, dub a movie into Spanish, you have to cut out whole sentences or talk really, really fast in order to make it fit. So it's the same thing between Greek and English. They use different amounts of words to say the same thing. It's not that the King James Bible is just pulling this word trusted out of thin air. It's pulling it from verse 12. But the way the English language works, it has to be restated in verse 13 in order to make sense. See in Greek, there are sentences that don't even have a verb. Well, you know what? That's not going to fly in English, is it? We need a subject and a verb in every sentence, okay? Different rules of grammar. So don't be one of these people that thinks that you're so smart that you know more than the 54 experts who translated the King James Bible because you looked at a Greek book once for a couple days or because you took a couple semesters of Bible college Greek. And you run into these people all the time who tell you, well, you got to go back to the Greek and all the King James is wrong here. And these people could literally not even order food in a Greek restaurant. They wouldn't even be able to ask for extra tzatziki on their gyros, okay? But yet they're going to sit there and tell you, well, unfortunately, the King James is an error here. You know, and pastors do it all the time. And literally 99% of these guys, probably 99.9% of these guys are not fluent in the language or anywhere near being fluent. But they know more than all the experts who were fluent who translated the Bible in the early 1600s. But, you know, that's kind of a rabbit trail. But the point is here, he says you trusted him. And then it says that you believed in him, right? It's showing that those two things mean the same thing. And also I want to point out that it says that when you trusted, when you believed in Christ, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now, what's the promise? The Bible says this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life. The promise is eternal life. We're sealed by the Holy Ghost. And how long are we sealed for? Until the day of redemption, it says elsewhere. Here he says that we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory. What's the purchased possession? We are. We've been purchased by the blood of Christ. And God has given us the earnest of the Spirit. Now, what's an earnest? Earnest is a down payment. And when we say the word earnest as an adjective, we mean that someone's being very serious. They're sincere. Well, when you're going to buy something and you put down some earnest money, it basically means that you're serious. It means that you're sincere. It means that you're not just saying you're going to buy something and you're really not going to buy it. It's putting your money where your mouth is. Well, Jesus here has made a promise that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. When someone believes in him, trust in him, they're sealed until the day of redemption. They're sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. They have that earnest of salvation that basically is going to seal them until the redemption of the purchased possession. The redemption, according to Romans chapter 8, takes place at the first resurrection, what's known as the rapture, okay? That is where the redemption takes place. So this thing about losing your salvation, there are so many different scriptures to prove this thing false, that you can lose your salvation. So many scriptures say we have eternal life, we have everlasting life. I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. But right here, this is so powerful because it teaches that we're sealed by the Holy Spirit and that it's the earnest. It's the spirit of promise. Was God going to break that promise? God's going to put down that earnest and then just walk out of the deal? No way, because God is not a liar. And the Bible says in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. Did he say I'll never leave thee or forsake thee or not? And those that are damned, what did he say to them? Depart from me, I never knew you. Not I used to know you, I never knew you. Another great verse is John 3 18, where it says, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed. Past tense, he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. They've never believed in him because once you've believed in him, you're sealed. Once you trusted, you're saved, you're sealed, you're secure and he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. It's that simple. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. I mean, we can go on and on and on. All the verses that say that it's eternal, that it's everlasting, that it's forgiven, that our sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. We've been passed from death unto life. You know, we shall not come into condemnation. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. I mean, just over and over promise after promise after promise. But there are people out there who teach, hey, you can lose your salvation. And even though they'll try to conceal it, it always comes back to something with works. Because they'll even try to say, oh, well, you don't lose it by being bad. You know, you don't lose it by not doing the works, but, you know, you can walk away from it. It's like, well, what does that mean? But then they'll turn around and say, well, but, you know, when you get out of church and start living an ungodly life, that's clear that that shows that you're walking away from it. It's like, what? Doesn't even make sense. And then they say, well, but what if you stop believing? Yeah, but the Bible says if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. And if we stop believing, could he say I never knew you? And if we stop believing, could he say he hath not believed in the name of the only Son of God? No, you couldn't say that if you stop believing. And here's the thing about that. The Bible calls being saved being enlightened is another term that he uses about being saved. Why? Because when you get saved, it's like a light bulb comes on. You understand the word. You understand things. Well, once you've been enlightened, you're not going to sit there and go back to the darkness. You know, it'd be like when you're a kid if you were taught that Santa Claus is real and then later you find out that he's not real, you're not going to then as an adult say, you know what, I'm starting to believe in Santa Claus again. See, when you believe the lie of Santa Claus, then you find out the truth, your eyes are open, you see the evidence, you're not going to go back to the stupidity of the lie. Well, look, it's the same thing. Once you believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit moves into your heart, he's going to guide you into all truth. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we're the children of God. Your eyes are open, you're enlightened. The veil has been removed. And so you're not going to be like, oh, I'm going to go back to believing that everything came from a big explosion and came from nothing. It's not going to happen, friend. So this whole thing, but even if you did theoretically, you'd still be saved because even if we believe not, he abideth faithfully, cannot deny himself, he can't break his promise, he can't break his word. On and on. Now, there are a few verses that people will use to try to grasp at straws to say that you can lose your salvation, okay? And of course, it's never a clear scripture that comes out and says, hey, you know, these people believe, but now they're going to hell or something, you know, or now they no longer have eternal life or whatever. But they'll take verses and try to twist them to try to teach you can lose your salvation. And at the end of the day, these people are always trusting in works to save them. Even if they say, oh, it's not works. It's not works, but you just can't live however you want. Well, you don't have to do any works, but you do have to stop doing bad things. You do have to repent of your sins. So they always have some angle to try to make it to where it's something other than believing in Jesus, where you have to do something or change something about your lifestyle or yada, yada, yada. Well, you know, one of the ones that they'll bring out ironically is from Galatians 5 where we are, because you're like, why did Pastor Anderson just leave Galatians and go off on this thing? Well, go back to Galatians, because first of all, I wanted to show you that about believing and faith and about why these people aren't saved because they're trusting faith plus circumcision. And look, if faith plus circumcision doesn't save you, guess what, faith plus baptism, faith plus church membership, faith plus your good works, faith plus Buddha, faith plus Mohammed. Look, whatever you're trusting in addition to Jesus, hey, that's not gonna work. You have to believe with all your heart to be saved, meaning that Jesus is where all your faith is, not some of my faith in Jesus and some of my faith in something else. You know, one way that I like to illustrate, and this is a carnal illustration, but let's say with gambling, and I've never gambled in a casino or anything, I've never played this before, but they play roulette, right? And they have all the different numbers and they put the money on the different numbers, right? Well, here's the thing, it's sort of like this. What if you said, well, I'm gonna put some of my money on this number, some of my money here and some of my, so I have multiple chances to win, right? But here's the thing, with Jesus, you gotta put all your money on Jesus, where if he doesn't come through, you're through. That's what it means to have faith in Jesus. So basically you have to put all your faith in Jesus. You can't say, well, I'm trusting Jesus as my savior, but just in case I'm gonna go out and get circumcised, catechized, you know, and I'm gonna do some other thing. You know, you're basically covering all your bases. There are people who do this. They're like, I'm a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, what, it's like, whoa, just cover it all. Pray to everybody, something's gotta work. No, you gotta put it all on Jesus. You have to turn from Buddha to Jesus, turn from Islam to Jesus. You have to turn from Hinduism to Jesus. You can't mix and say, well, I'm living a good life and believing in Jesus, something's gonna get me there. No, no, no, you gotta put all your faith and trust in Jesus and do the good works because we want to, because we're commanded to, to get rewards, but not as a way to get to heaven, okay? But ironically, here's one of the verses that people will point to, to say, hey, you can lose your salvation. And it's so ridiculous because these are the same people who are teaching that your life has to be a certain way in order for you to be saved. Look at verse four. Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, you're fallen from grace. So they'll look at that verse and the way they interpret that is, well, if you fell from grace, that means you used to be saved and now you're not saved anymore. But here's what's so ridiculous about this. He's, who's he talking to you to? Those that are justified by the law, right? Pay close attention. This is real important. He's talking to those that are justified by the law. So what are these people trusting to get them into heaven? Their works, their deeds, their adherence to the law, following the law, right? And he's saying they're the ones that are not saved. Christ has become of no effect unto you. But you'll say, but wait a minute, pastor. It does say that Christ has become of no effect like he used to have an effect or, well, it does say that they've fallen from grace. But hold on a second. Let's stop and look at this verse again. It says, Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. Now, stop and think about this for a second. Is anybody really justified by the law? So when he says you're justified by the law, are they really justified by the law? Or are they justified by the law in their own minds? Think about this. Because the Bible says that nobody is justified by the law. No one can be justified by the law. Hey, if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. He just finished saying that. Romans chapter three nails this to the wall. Romans four, Galatians two and three have already been covering this. We've already been reading all that. So here's the thing. Basically, we're talking about from people's mental perspective. We're not talking about from God's perspective because nobody's justified by the law in the sight of God. So basically, Paul is saying, well, look, you guys aren't saved. Like I don't consider you guys saved anymore. You guys are falling from grace. Like I thought you guys were saved and now you're not. Okay, but it's not that they lost their salvation. It's that they never were saved. But it's that Paul thought they were saved. And now Paul doesn't think they're saved anymore. He doesn't know for sure because people were mixed up in this to varying degrees in these churches of Galatia. That's why in chapter four, he said, I'm afraid of you lest I've bestowed upon you labor in vain. He's saying, you know, I'm concerned that you're not even saved. He said, I'm travailing again in birth until Christ be formed in you. Meaning he thought he'd already won them to Christ and now he's going back and doing it again. It's not that they need to get resaved. It's that now he's convinced that they weren't even saved in the first place. So to sit there and take this verse and basically turn the whole rest of the New Testament on its head that swore up and down a whole bunch of different ways that we could never lose our salvation. To say, well, Christ has become of no effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the law. You're fallen from grace. Doesn't make any sense because if they lost their salvation, let me ask this, then how did they lose it? How did they lose it according to this? By trusting in works. That doesn't make any sense. Okay. Because if they trusted that it's by faith, they're saved, they're sealed, it's done and they can't lose it. So period. There you go. It's talking about from man's perspective because is anybody justified by the law in the sight of God? No, this verse is from man's perspective. Man sees the outward appearance. Okay. Look at verse number. I just think it's so funny though that they would turn to this. These bunch of work salvation peddlers would turn to this scripture, which is one of the most powerful scriptures teaching. Don't trust works. It's all by faith. And then just pull one verse out of context. This proves you can lose your salvation. You know, I watched a video because I was just looking up one time. Just what verses are people using to say you can lose it? You know, so that I could do a sermon where I would refute these. And this guy had a video about here's a, you know, X amount of verses that teach you can lose your salvation. He read this verse and he said, well, see, these people were trusting faith, but then they started trusting work. So they lost their salvation. Then like three minutes later in the same video when he's in another verse, he's like, see, if you don't do the works, you lose it. It's like, whoa. But see these people, they're just lying. So they'll just take any scripture, twist it for the moment, whatever they want it to mean at the moment to teach their doctrine. But if you read the totality of the new Testament, the evidence is overwhelming that salvation is by faith alone and that it's eternal life to all those who believe. The Bible says in verse number six, for in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith, which worketh by love. Look at verse five, for we through the spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Very strong message throughout the whole book of Galatians. Look at verse seven. You did run well. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you, a little leaven leaveneth the whole love. Now, what does he mean by that? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. What he's saying is that they didn't get this from reading the Bible. They didn't get it from Paul's preaching, this doctrine that you're justified by the law, this doctrine that faith is not enough to save you, that you have to do works. He's saying, you didn't get that from me. You didn't get that from the word of God. And you didn't get it by anybody who was a saved preacher of God. So he's saying, who is it? Who hath hindered you that you should not obey the truth? A little bit later, he says in verse 12, I would, they were even cut off which trouble you. So he's saying, look, I know that there are false prophets in there that are teaching this stuff. I know you're not coming up with this junk on your own. Somebody has come in. And of course, Paul was right. There were false brethren that had come in and they're teaching all this Judaizing doctrine and all this work salvation doctrine. But notice the statement that he makes there in verse eight, or I'm sorry, verse number nine, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Now in the four gospels, you'll see Jesus say, take heed of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And it says that he spake of the doctrine of the Pharisees when he said they're leaven. Now, what does it mean a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Well, this is when you use yeast or leavening in bread. And it's basically a living organism. Okay. It's a bacterial thing that's multiplying and growing. So you really only have to buy it once. Okay. And you don't even really have to buy it once because there's a way to make your own leaven where you take a jar and you put flour and water, put the cheesecloth, put it outside in the bushes. And there's a way to get the natural bacteria in there from nature and make that leaven. And then once you have that leaven, it keeps multiplying. We have this in our refrigerator right now. It's called the bread starter. And so she's got the bread starter and she takes a scoop of that and then she adds the fresh flour and water and makes a loaf of bread, puts it back in the fridge and she feeds the starter every day. You have to keep feeding it with fresh flour, fresh water to keep it alive. Otherwise it will die. Okay. But you only need a little leaven and it leavens the whole lump. And then you can keep adding fresh and it just keeps leavening and leavening and leavening and leavening. It'll go on forever. You don't ever have to get new. So what's the Bible saying here? Well, it talks about in first Corinthians chapter five that they had the sin of fornication in the church. Okay. And he said, you got to get that fornicator out of the church because a little leaven leavens the whole lump. So sin is like leaven in the sense that it spreads. It contaminates the whole group. Okay. When you have people living in fornication, that's going to spread, drunkenness, whatever. He said, get these people out of the church. Well, he also says it about bad doctrine, not just sin, but bad doctrine. Now we can see how sin spreads because one person sees another person sin and then they follow that bad example. Well, with doctrine, he says a little leaven leavens the whole lump. And I believe that the reason that he says this is because one bad doctrine leads to another. See, all the doctrines of the Bible are connected. So when you get one false doctrine, it has a domino effect where it affects other doctrines. Okay. So we have to be very careful to keep our doctrine pure and doctrine that has, as the Bible says, uncorruptness. We don't want to let that corruption in because it'll affect other doctrines. Now, this is a perfect example. Here we have people bringing in two things that he's been warning us about in every chapter of the book of Galatians so far. Number one, they're bringing in work salvation. And number two, that was the other gospel he warned about, justification by the law. And then they were also bringing in this Judaizing type of a doctrine where they're telling them to observe the days, the months, the years, the holidays, the Sabbaths, circumcision. You know, they're following the traditions of the elders. They're separating themselves from the Gentiles and not eating with them. He talked about that in Galatians chapter two. So he's talking about this Judaizing doctrine. And this is what we see manifested today on a grand scale as the Hebrew roots movement. And this thing is everywhere. It's everywhere. You know, it's all over the internet. People like Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, John Hagee. But even beyond that, there are all kinds of dress-wearing, shofar-blowing, you know, Hochflemming, whatever, Shalom, Shabbat, people all over the place teaching this stuff. And we were at the homeschool convention and just was just doing some soul-winning. And just multiple people were mixed up in this thing amongst the homeschoolers. It's just, it's everywhere. It's just, it's the popular, trendy doctrine. And the Bible talks about people who are tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. And this is one of those things that's kind of a trendy doctrine right now. And in fact, it's a doctrine that was trendy in Paul's day because of the fact that Paul mentions this as being a popular doctrine and that those who stood against it would be unpopular. That's the way it's always been. For example, look at verse 11 in this chapter. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. You know what he's saying right there? That if he preached circumcision, he would not be persecuted. Everybody see that? He's saying, look, if I'm preaching circumcision, then why am I being persecuted? He's saying, look, who told you that I teach this stuff? If I taught it, I wouldn't be in jail right now. He's saying, and I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I then suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. When is the offense of the cross ceased? If he preached circumcision. Why? Well, let's get the context. Back up just a few verses to the end of chapter 4. Verse 28, now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then, he that was born after the flesh, which is Israel after the flesh, the Jews, according to Galatians 4, persecuted him that was born after the Spirit. Even so it is now. So according to verse 29, the Jews persecuted the Christians. Now, does that ring true with what we read in the Bible? Absolutely. Because in the book of Acts, there's one group persecuting the Christians. Only one group. Acts from chapter 1 to chapter 28, there's one group that is the group that just keeps persecuting the Christians, and that is the Jews. But is that what you hear in most churches today? Do you ever hear anything about that? I mean, you get a whole book of Acts just teaching it over and over and over. They go to a town, they start soul winning, and then the Jews come and stir everybody up, get the Gentiles mad, get them arrested. And everybody has heard in Sunday school and in church a million times, oh, the Romans persecuted the Christians. The Romans, oh yeah, the Romans, right? Can somebody show me that in the Bible? The Bible's a long book. Can somebody show me that, please? That's because it isn't there. But what is there? The Jews persecuting the apostles. The Jews attacking the Christians, killing the Christians, persecuting the Christians. Who's persecuting them in Galatians 4? Look, it's consistent in the Bible the whole time. That's who's doing the persecuting in the New Testament. But we have just completely ignored that today because we've been brainwashed by a media that is owned by Jews. Okay, you say, oh, how dare you say that? It's true. So basically, we get all of our materials and all the famous preachers and TV preachers are all allowed on TV by these gatekeepers who basically are only going to allow a pro-Jewish, pro-Israel type message. That's why you don't hear these type of sermons. That's why 90% of Christians today think that circumcising your kids is great. That's how I grew up thinking that, you know, being taught that. I mean, that's why you never hear anything about the Jews persecuting the Christians. And the Jews will tell you, if you talk to them, you know, we interviewed four rabbis for our film. They'll tell you, the Jews have never persecuted anyone. That's what they'll tell you. Oh, we've never persecuted. We're always the victim. We're always the one being persecuted, you know. We haven't persecuted anyone. Well, is that what the Bible says? Because in the Bible, you guys kept killing Christians and persecuting Christians and doing all this stuff. You know, what's going on with that? Where's the disconnect? Now look, I'm not saying that the Romans didn't persecute the Christians. That's not what I'm saying. All I'm saying is you're never going to read about that in the Bible. Because in the Bible, in the book of Acts, you know, that's history. I'm not a historian. I don't have any interest in history that's written by Jews anyway. You know what I mean? That run the bookstore. So, you know, my point is, the only thing we can really trust is the Bible. I mean, does anybody here think we should trust a history book and give it the same credence as the Bible? And look, I'm not saying that other groups haven't persecuted Christians. Of course, look, the world has always persecuted Christians in general. But there's been one group that has been the instigator in the Bible, and that was the Jews that were instigating that persecution, biblically speaking. And in the book of Acts, the Romans keep rescuing the Christians from the Jews. And remember when the Jews are going to rip Paul in half? And then the Romans come and save him. The Romans are constantly coming in with soldiers, and then somebody swears, hey, we're going to kill Paul, this group of Jews. And then, OK, let's get 200 Roman soldiers to protect the Apostle Paul. I mean, the last verse of the book of Acts is that where, you know, the Romans have Paul under house arrest in Rome waiting to see Caesar, and he's allowed to preach the gospel, and he's allowed to see all his friends, no man forbidding him. You know, but we're told that during the time of the book of Acts and during the time of the book of Romans, oh yeah, man, the Christians are being thrown to the lions during that time. They're being lit on fire during that exact time. Look, that would have had to happen after the Bible was written, because otherwise it would have been mentioned in the Bible. And it wasn't mentioned in the Bible, OK? So this is the thing. You've got to be careful what you hear and what you believe. You know, we've got to get to the Bible to get our view of this world and not get our view of this world from the media, OK? Because the media is controlled by bad people, OK? So what do I mean by this thing of the little leaven leavening the whole lump? Well, when you get this false doctrine, this Judaizing false doctrine, which says, oh, the Jews are still the chosen people, and we need to look to them as our role models, and we need to speak Hebrew, and we need to blow the shofar, and we need to look at the blood moons, and we need to do all this stuff, you know, when we look to them, that's going to lead us into a whole bunch of other false doctrine. For example, the pre-tribulation rapture is a false doctrine, OK? The rapture, according to the Bible, comes after the tribulation. But here's the thing, there would be no pre-tribulation rapture doctrine if it weren't for this Judaizing doctrine, period. You say, well, why do you say that? Well, because in Matthew 24, it clearly says, and let's flip over there real quickly. In Matthew 24, it says, beginning of verse 29, it says, immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Now, anybody who's just reading the Bible without an ulterior motive, without an agenda, without being brainwashed in false doctrine, clearly sees here that Jesus Christ is gonna come in the clouds, a trumpet's gonna sound, and all the believers are gonna be gathered after the tribulation, not before. And you'll never find any scripture that says before the tribulation these things are gonna happen. Nothing. So anybody who looks at this, it's clear, right? There it is, after the tribulation, okay? But here's the thing. Now let's put on our dispensationalism glasses, okay? So if we put on our dispensationalism glasses and we look through the lens of this Judaizing, the Jews are God's chosen people, Israel, we look at this same passage now with our Jew glasses on, and here's what we see. Verse number 30, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. Well, here's the thing. All the tribes of the earth, that's the 12 tribes of Israel. See, when you take these off, it's like all means all. All the tribes of the earth. You know, that means tribes in Africa, tribes in Asia, tribes in North America. This is just all families of the earth, all nations. All the tribes of the earth. But the dispensationalist says, well, no, this is the 12 tribes of Israel. And you're like, what? All the tribes of the earth. And here's what I've had them say. Well, the only time the Bible ever used the word tribe, it's only talking about Israel. Lie, because it talks about the tribes of Egypt. Bam! So then, oh, you know, well, the tribe. Okay, so then we keep reading with our dispensational glasses on, and it says, they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory, and he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds. Well, the elect, that's not the saved. That's not Christians. That's the Jews. Of course, the Jews are the elect, because elect means chosen. And of course, we know that the Jews are the chosen people. Right? So this is, see how a little leaven leavens the whole lump? If you go into it with this attitude, oh, the Jews are the chosen. It's all about the Jews. The world revolves around the Jews. Well, then that's going to affect how you interpret it. See, it's impossible to walk away from this passage, believing in anything other than a post-tribulation rapture, unless you're messed up on the Jewish thing. That's where you get the pre-trib. That's why you'll find that if you can wake people up about what the Bible teaches about the Jews and Judaism, then it's like they're just, boom, they're post-trib, pre-wrath. It's like the next logical step, you know. Or if, you know, if you can get them to see the rapture, you'll get them to see the other. It's like the two things go together. Okay. So when we look at this passage and see the elect, see anybody who's just a Bible believing New Testament Christian who reads the New Testament knows that the elect is the saved. Why? Because there's so many verses that we quote all the time. How about this verse? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. If God be for us, who can be against us? Now, how many Christians have quoted that verse? If God be for us, who can be against us? And they're referring to us, not them. Okay. But then they turn around and say, oh, the elect, that's the Jews. No, no, no. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Whose elect? Those that are justified. Not those who are, you know, of Abraham physically, quote unquote. See, it's justification by grace, not justification by race. Okay. Election by grace, not election by race. Okay. That's where they get this false doctrine where, oh, the elect, that's the Jews. But then what about when the Bible talks about how God's gonna answer the prayers of his elect who cry out unto him night and day? Is that only for the Jews? Because I've heard a lot of Christian sermons about that passage. I've heard Christians say, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Why? Because we're God's elect. That's what it says. It's all right there. And again, I don't have time to go through all the mentions of elect in the New Testament. But if you look them all up, they're all talking about people that are saved. And in fact, many of them are talking about Gentiles specifically who are saved. That's what elect means chosen. Hey, were the Israelites chosen in the Old Testament? Yeah. Are they chosen in the New Testament? Nope. Because in the New Testament, to be chosen, to be elect, you have to be saved. And even the statement, many are called, but few are chosen, right? Many are called, few are chosen. Look up the parable where that statement comes from. It's about the fact that God invited Israel and they would not come. So then he turned to the Gentiles. That's who ended up coming and being elect. All right. Hey, that's a whole other sermon of itself. But that's just a great, go back to Galatians 5 if you would. That's a great example of how false doctrines go together. You know, you get messed up on the Jews. Now, every time you read scripture, you're going to see it through that false lens. And then you get mixed up on other bad doctrine and other wrong things and so on and so forth. And you'll see also how this Judaizing Hebrew roots type movement also goes hand in hand with works-based salvation, which is why you see these great groups of Messianic Jews. I have never met one that said that salvation was by faith alone without works. Every single Messianic Jew I've ever met, and I'm not saying they aren't out there. The exception proves the rule. Right. But I'm saying that everyone I've ever talked to was trusting in works. Every last one. You say, well, are you saying the Jews can't be saved? Of course the Jews can be saved. But you know what happens when Jews get saved? They become Christians. They're not Jews anymore. They're Christians now. Right? And throughout history, for the last 2,000 years, we've had Jews who've converted to Christianity for the last 2,000 years. It's been happening. Now, most of them don't, but narrow is the way, and some of them do. But here's what happens. Once they convert to Christianity, guess what? Then they're not Jews anymore. And then they don't tell their kids, we're Jews, we're Jews, we're Jews. They raise their kids like, we're Christian now. They get rid of that candlestick and the yarmulke and all that stuff. And then, pretty soon, hundreds of years go by and they forgot that they ever even were Jews. Because do you know what religion your great-great-grandparents were? You have no idea. So what we have today with the Jews are people who come from a long line of people who've been rejecting Christ for like the last 2,000 years. And they just keep sticking with that lie, sticking with that lie that says that Jesus is not the Messiah. Okay. And so it's not that we're anti-Jew anymore, that we're anti-Catholic. But I am anti-Catholicism, and I am anti-Judaism. So we should put it in the same category because news flash, Jew is not a nationality, it's a religion. That's why you have brown people saying they're Jews and white people saying they're Jews. You got blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jews in Hollywood. Why? Because it's an ideology, it's a religion. It has nothing to do with race. So they're not a race. What race are they? They're white. Look at them. How can I be racist against myself? But people say, oh, you're a racist, you hate Jews. How can I be racist against myself? I'm white. And we all have some Jewish blood mixed in us because they were scattered into every nation under heaven. That DNA went everywhere. So again, let's get back to Galatians 5 here. But the reason I'm dealing with this is because this is one of the great themes of the book of Galatians is warning about, hey, these people are going to bring in circumcision, they're going to bring in looking at the moons and doing all this calculation based on that and so forth. And we've seen it last month with these blood moons and all the hype around that, all the false predictions. Somebody said that the world was going to end today. But it's funny because a pastor came out yesterday and said the world's going to end today. It's like, look, this guy is a beginner at this, okay? Somebody needs to explain to the guy. If you're going to lie and make a false prediction, you're supposed to make it way in advance because you got to give time for the donations to come in, buddy. Hello. I mean, you don't say like it's going to end tomorrow because then you only have people listening to you for like 24 hours and then they're all going to be like, you idiot, it didn't happen. You got to do it like a year out, buddy, a year or two. You got to give time to make the book, sell the book, set up the website, get the donations, you know, then look like an idiot. Then, you know, you know, I mean, this guy's a bozo, like, it's going to happen tomorrow. And so it's like, oh, whoops. Oh, man, this guy is just a rookie mistake right there, buddy. You know, when you make false predictions, give it some time. Anyway, let's get back into the passage here. It says in verse number 11, and I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then, as the offense of the cross ceased, I would they were even cut off which trouble you for, brethren, you've been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. What's he saying? Look, salvation is by faith, but don't just go out and feed the flesh just because, hey, no matter what I do, I'm saved anyway. He's saying, no, don't use your liberty. You have liberty to do that, but don't use your liberty as an occasion to the flesh. And obviously, if you do that, God's going to discipline you and judge you anyway. But let's keep reading. It says at the end of verse 13, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Now this is a great scripture in conjunction with Romans 7. We don't have time to turn there. But in Romans 7, Paul talks about wanting to do the right thing, but he keeps finding himself doing the wrong thing. He's saying, I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I find another law warring in my members. Warring. There's a warfare going on in the believer between the flesh and the spirit. Between the new man, the regenerate Stephen Anderson, and the unregenerate, unsaved Stephen Anderson. See, when we get saved, our flesh stays the same, but we get a new spirit. Now at the resurrection, we'll get a new body, also new flesh. But in the meantime, we have an unsaved body and a saved soul and spirit. So there's a war going on between the two, where they're battling for supremacy. The flesh wants to be in charge, and the spirit wants to be in charge. The flesh wants to fulfill its lust, and the spirit wants to fulfill all righteousness. And these two things are not compatible. They're contrary one to another. So one of them's going to win, and one of them's going to lose. And so we have to decide in our lives whether the spirit's going to win, or whether the flesh is going to win. First of all, you have to get saved, because if you're not saved, it's just all flesh. But when you get saved, now there's this war going on between the spirit and the flesh, and you choose. Well, how do you choose which one wins? Well, you know, he says, walk in the spirit, and you should not fulfill the lust of the flesh in verse 16. How do we walk in the spirit? Well, the Bible says, be filled with the spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. He said, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. See, if we're drunk with wine, the Bible teaches we're not in the spirit. If we are singing hymns, reading the word of God, listening to the word of God preach, these are things to help us walk in the spirit. The Bible, God said, thy word is spirit, and thy word is life. Okay, so if we meditate on the word of God, sing the hymns, this is helping us walk in the spirit, praying in the Holy Ghost, the Bible says. But when we are just filling our minds with all the world's garbage, this is going to cause a walk in the flesh. And then the Bible says we're going to gratify the flesh. We're going to fulfill the lust of the flesh at that point. If we neglect our Bible, don't pray, we're going to be walking in the flesh. It's that simple. And the Bible says here, in verse number 19, well, verse 18 says, but if you be led of the spirit, you're not under the law. Meaning that if you're walking in the spirit, you're not going to be doing anything in violation of God's word anyway, so, you know, you don't need the rules in a sense, because you're already doing it of your own accord, because you're in the spirit. Not saying, hey, if you're walking in the spirit, it's okay to break God's law. No, if you're walking in the spirit, you don't break God's law, because you're not fulfilling the lust of the flesh, and you're going to be loving your neighbor. What does the Bible say in verse 19? Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these. So these are the type of things that characterize the flesh. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, just anything like that. Of the which I tell you before, as I've also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Now, some people will misunderstand this, and here's what they'll say. If you do anything on that list, you're not going to heaven. Okay? Now here's the problem with that. Keep your finger there and flip over to Revelation 21.8. Because what people will try to do is they'll try to single out the sins on that list. And say, well, you can sin and you'll still go to heaven, but if you do any of the sins on that list, you're not going to heaven. Well, here's the problem with that. That list is a pretty long list. And it pretty much covers everybody. Everybody's doing something on that list. But even if you're not doing anything on that list, it says and such like. So you're never doing anything like anything on that list. So basically, in order to not be doing anything like anything on that list, you would have to be completely sinless. Okay? Now, look what the Bible says in Revelation 21.8. It says, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. So people will try to take you to Galatians 5 and say, see, no drunkards will enter the kingdom of heaven, so therefore if anybody ever gets drunk, that shows that they're not saved. But what about if anybody ever tells a lie? Because this is saying the exact same thing. All liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. You say, well, you know, what does it mean, Pastor Anderson? Well, here's what it means. There aren't going to be any drunkards in heaven because before you go to heaven, you're going to stop being a drunkard. Why? Because the moment you die physically, your flesh will be gone and only the spirit and soul are going to heaven and they don't sin because they're regenerate. Only the flesh sins. So the moment you walk into heaven, you're never going to sin again. You're never going to have any of those works of the flesh. So that's why no one who does those things is going to inherit the kingdom of God because only perfect people are going to inherit the kingdom of God. But that's why we are going to be changed in a moment in the twinkling of it high so that we are made fit for the kingdom of God. See, it says that murderers will not inherit the kingdom of God. But you know what else it says? Flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God in 1 Corinthians 15. We're going to be changed. That's the whole point. But to say that this is saying that anybody who does any of these things is not saved, well, then you'd have to say anybody who commits any sin is not saved because it lists pretty much every sin or every category of sin. And the Bible says that that's not true. The Bible says if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. And if we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Even Paul talked about struggling with sin. I mean, there are all kinds of scriptures about struggling with sin. But let's keep reading. It says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. Meaning that if we walk in those things and don't walk in the other things, then we won't violate any of God's laws. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. But here's the key in verse 25. Here's the verse that sometimes people overlook. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Now what's this saying? Is this saying? Well, if you're saved and you have the Holy Spirit, you're automatically going to walk in the Spirit. Is that what it says? Automatic walking in the Spirit. No, no, no. He says let's do it. It's an admonition. He's telling them if we live in the Spirit, let's walk in the Spirit. He said a little bit earlier, right before this, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Why would he have to command that if it was automatic? Oh, well, if you're saved, you walk in the Spirit. Oh, if you're saved, no, no, no. You are being told to walk in the Spirit. But watch this. He says if we live in the Spirit. So are we talking about saved people or unsaved? These are saved people who are living in the Spirit. But he says those of us who already live in the Spirit, meaning we are saved, let's also walk in the Spirit. Meaning that it's possible to live in the Spirit and not be walking in the Spirit. That's why he even had to tell us that. Otherwise, verse 25 would be meaningless if everyone who lives in the Spirit is already walking in the Spirit. That would be meaningless at that point. No, he's admonishing us, look, you're saved, you have liberty, but don't use that liberty as the occasion to the flesh. Instead, walk in the Spirit, serve one another, love your neighbor as yourself. He says in verse 26, let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Why? Because those are fleshly attributes when we want to glorify self. When we envy other people. These are the works of the flesh, all right? What are the works of the flesh? Well, the things that are of this world, the Bible says, are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Well, wouldn't the pride of life be vain glory? Wouldn't the pride of life be envying one another? You know, wanting to be lifted up above your fellows, that is what pride is. Pride, lust, these are the things that happen when we're not walking in the Spirit. Is it automatic when we're saved that we just automatic? No, we need to make an effort every day. Paul said, I die daily. Jesus said, take up the cross daily and follow him. So this isn't a one time thing, salvation is one time. You're born again one time. But walking in the Spirit is something that we have to push that reset button every day. Every day we have to die to self, take up the cross, follow him. That's why we should read our Bible every day, pray every day, sing hymns every day. Why? To reboot spiritually so that we're not living in the flesh. You see people who are saved living an ungodly life, well, if they don't read their Bible, why are you surprised? You see someone who's saved, they never go to church and then they live a worldly life and you wonder, well, wait a minute, it's obvious why they're not doing right. They're in the flesh. When there's no Bible reading, when there's no prayer, when there's no soul winning, there's no church. I mean, it doesn't mean that they're not saved, just means they're walking in the flesh. But let us walk in the Spirit as believers at this church. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this chapter, Lord, the warnings, Lord. There's so much false teaching out there, Lord. This Hebrew roots movement, this Judaizing is ramping up, Lord, all around us. And Lord, so few preachers are attacking this lie, this false doctrine, because they're scared, Lord, but it needs to be called out for what it is. And Lord, help us to be secure and to understand what we believe about salvation being by faith and that it's eternal and that it's everlasting, Lord. And help us, now that we're saved, Lord, to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.