(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

In a song with sweet accord, join in a song with sweet accord. Bend us around the throne, and fuss around the throne. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Let those great blues to sing, who never knew our God. The children of the heavenly king, the children of the heavenly king, may speak their joys abroad, may speak their joys abroad. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets. Before we preach the heavenly news, before we preach the heavenly news, we'll sing on the golden streets, or walk the golden streets. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. We'll let our songs abound, let every deer be dry. We're marching through Emmanuel's throne. We're marching through Emmanuel's throne. To Pharaoh, worlds on high, to Pharaoh, worlds on high. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. All right, let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father of God, I just want to thank you for another year of coming here to celebrate Thanksgiving in your household with your family, with your children. And I thank you for this, church, Lord, and I pray that everything be done for your glory tonight as we sing and worship your name. I pray that the sermon that is preached now will edify us. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, for the next song, song number three. Song number three, Jesus Paid It All. Song number three. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength indeed is small, child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me, thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sing and let the crimson stay, He washed it white as snow. For now indeed I find my power and I belong. Can't change the left response and melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sing and let the crimson stay, He washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I whereby thy grace to claim. I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary's land. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sing and let the crimson stay, He washed it white as snow. And when before the call I stand in you complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my lips shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sing and let the crimson stay, He washed it white as snow. Thanks so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you don't already have a bulletin, lift up your hands nice and high. One of our ushers will come by and get you guys a bulletin. On the front we have our Bible memory passage, Psalm 146, and we're starting this new one, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord O my soul. Now, we are having a dessert fellowship tonight, but that does not stop kids from double dipping and getting ice cream on top of that. So you can quote the verse of the week, you can get ice cream and the dessert, and pretty much you'll be ready for Thanksgiving, okay? So there you go. On the inside we have our service and soul winning times, as well as our church stats. We also have a list of our expecting ladies. Please be praying for those that are mentioned. We have our prayer list, and we try to go over that every week. If you have prayer requests that you would like added in the bulletin, just please email those. Those are the best way to send that in. And we try to update once a week, so make sure to keep sending those in or update us. We have the Nagaras continue to pray for the upcoming MRI for Miss Lucy's mother's tumors. Brother Cameron Hall's leg, been praying for it to be healed. Also, Brother Matt Pendleton from Faithful Baptist Church, we've been praying for his brain cancer. Jeff Goodwin was asking for prayer for his brother-in-law David, his salvation and cancer treatment. Oscar Devias was asking for prayer for his job. Miss Garcia was asking for prayer for son-in-law's family, and that they would station in San Antonio. So that's a lot closer, all right? And then also we're praying for Brother Stewart's health. Brother Alberto, we're praying for his mother's passing, just the family that'd be comforted and that you would just help them during this time of difficulty. Also, Miss Zimino will pray for her health and then pray for Brother Suhail for his travel safety. When are you headed to the Philippines? Friday, when are you coming back? Okay, wow, January 2nd. Okay, so he's going to be gone for a while, pray for Brother Suhail as he's out there. Why are you traveling? No, I'm just kidding. And so that'll be exciting to have him back whenever he gets back. We'll go ahead and say a quick word of prayer for everybody that was mentioned in our bulletin. Thank Heavenly Father for our church for this meeting tonight. I pray that you would help all of our expecting ladies with their pregnancies. Please allow their children to have a normal progression and that they would have an easy delivery. I pray that you would also help our church family that has a lot of health concerns and issues. I pray that you give them a speedy recovery, that you give them peace during this time of affliction. Please help our brothers and sisters that don't go to this church that are struggling with health concerns. Please, if possible, give them a miracle. Please help them and their families. I pray that you would help our church family with their jobs and the favor that they need. Please help the Hernandez family with the passing of a loved one. And I pray that you would keep our church family safe as they travel and you'd help them to have opportunities to preach the gospel. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. On the back, we have our church reminders. Below that is upcoming events. You made it, the Thanksgiving dessert fellowship. And man, I walked by the table and it was tempting to already dig in, but I'm excited. As soon as we're done with the service, we'll try to have a line form over on this side and then just kind of walk down and come out through this way. So as soon as we're done preaching, you know, a couple hours from now, we'll be able to go through that hallway and you'll get some of those desserts. And so thanks to everyone who brought a dessert. And this is just beforehand. I'm already saying thank you. So also, December 2nd is our ladies' Christmas party. So we do this annually. If you would like to attend, please sign up. Also, it is nurselings only, so you men need to be willing to volunteer to watch the kiddos December 6th is our Christmas caroling. December 10th is our Dallas soul winning marathon. And so one note is there is not going to be a Thursday soul winning time tomorrow. So any soul winning tomorrow would just be on your own. There's not an official soul winning time or anything like that. And so that's pretty much all I have as far as announcements right now. We'll go ahead and do our third Psalm. Psalm of the week, our third song, Psalm 150. Sing along as Brother Alberto leads us, Psalm 150. That's Psalm 150 in your white handouts, or you could turn to your Bibles to Psalm 150. Psalm 150. Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty hacks. Praise him according to his excellerations. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise him with the high, sultry and hard. Praise him with the timbrel and dance. Praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals. Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything I have read. Praise the Lord. Praise him aboard. Praise God the Father. Praise God the Son. Praise God the Holy Ghost. Praise God in three verses. All right, as we turn to our Bibles to Galatians Chapter 3, turn to your Bibles to Galatians Chapter 3, as the offering plate goes around. Galatians 3, the Bible reads, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you. This only would I learn of you. Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith. Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit? Are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? If it be yet in vain, he therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith, even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, for seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law, it was added because of transgressions. Till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. For ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father God, we thank you for Galatians chapter three, Lord, and for the doctrines inculcated in this chapter. I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit and enable him to explain this chapter to us. Lord, give us ears to hear and minimize distractions in the room so we can learn as much as possible during this Bible study. We love you. And in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Amen. We're in Galatians chapter three. Look at verse one. The Bible says, O foolish Galatians, who have bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ have been evidently set forth, crucified among you. Now, verse number one is a question. If you kind of notice this, and also it's a very strong rebuke. The Apostle Paul, and often consistently throughout Scripture, rebukes are found in the form of a question where essentially the person is asking all these different questions to kind of put people in a state of mind as to realize like they're doing something wrong or doing something foolish. Honestly, this is a pretty consistent rhetoric in the Bible. If you think about Job, when Job is confronted with the Lord, and he comes out of a whirlwind, he just pretty much just starts asking questions. He's just like, hey, where were you? And were you here? Were you there when I laid down the foundation of the earth? And were you there when I did this? And when the Lord Jesus Christ was on the earth, and he's arguing with the Pharisees or disputing the Pharisees, he's constantly asking them questions. And they'll ask him a question about like, hey, where did you get this authority? And he's like, I'll ask you a question. And he's like, hey, if you can answer my question, then I'll answer your question. And really, we kind of just see this consistent theme of a lot of just questions being asked. And of course, it's kind of a double dip because not only is it a rebuke in the sense that you're trying to essentially allow these people to realize you're mad at them, frustrated, or then you make a change, but also the question itself is driving the rebuke. And it's really saying like, have you not thought about this question? Have you not even considered this idea? And he himself is trying to draw a connection to the fact of if you already know the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, then what's the point of all this works-based junk that you're wrapped up in? Now, of course, chapter three, it's not like this letter was written in chapters. It was a single letter written to the Galatians. And we have a lot of context that we've already gone through. But in chapter one and chapter two, we kind of already realized that the Galatians, these churches in this area, had been infected with a false gospel. They'd been infected with someone coming in and perverting the gospel of Christ, adding to the gospel of Christ, teaching some kind of a works-based salvation. And we had seen that circumcision was something that was being brought up as something that was being added to being saved. And, of course, the apostle Paul is trying to make it clear, hey, if you've got to be circumcised, then you've got to do everything. And if you've got to do everything, then what's the point of the crucifixion? And so he kind of has a lot of setup in chapter one and two. And then finally, by chapter three, he's just laying into these people. I mean, he's just like, oh, foolish Galatians. Now, of course, another thing you have to realize is when he started this epistle, he didn't start that way. Go back to chapter one and look at verse one. Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren which are with me of the churches of Galatia, grace be to you, and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that a little bit different tone than we have here in chapter number three when we're kind of setting up? So, of course, you have to understand something about biblical preaching, these epistles. It's not that the apostle Paul hates the Galatians. It's not that he wants them destroyed. It's not that he isn't on their side. Of course, that's why he starts the epistle in chapter number one, making it clear, hey, grace be to you, meaning he wants them to have God's grace in their life. What is grace? Unmerited favor. They're a bunch of screw-ups, though, and they've got a lot of serious problems that he needs to address, but he wants God to give them grace, and he wants God to not punish them for what they deserve, and so, of course, he's on their team. He's on their side. He likes these people. Otherwise, he wouldn't be writing a letter under them. He wouldn't be wasting his time with them, but just because he loves them and just because he cares for them and he wants the best for them doesn't mean he's also not going to use a really sharp, rebuking tone to try and assist them into getting things right, and I liken this unto what we call hard preaching. You know, if you just took out some of my preaching just randomly, someone might be like, oh, man, it just seems like he hates the church or he's angry all the time or he's really frustrated, your pastor or your preacher or something like that. You know, that's taking the preaching out of context because, of course, a preacher, the only reason he's up here rebuking the congregation at times is because he loves them, is, of course, he wants good for them. He wants God's grace for their life, but realizing that you sometimes are not going to get the grace of God, you need a sharp kick in the pants, you need a rebuke every once in a while, you need to be corrected, you need that hard preaching because true love is going to be expressed through someone correcting you, and, of course, the punishment should fit the crime. If you're going to call someone a fool, that's not really just a soft type of rebuke or a soft correction. I mean, this is a harsh rebuke, this is a stern rebuke, and he's very angry, he's very upset because this is not something to be messed with. You know, this is not, the gospel is not something that we take lightly, it's not something that we just say, well, you know, they're a little off on the gospel, whatever, you know, God bless them. You know, that's one of those things where you just, you start screaming at the person. You know, it's kind of like your children, you know, if your children, you know, hit each other or they steal a toy or they sneak a cookie or something like that, you don't want your reaction when dealing with them to be the exact same as if they were in the middle of traffic and there's an uncommon, there's like a truck coming on, right? That should be a little bit different type of tone, attitude, you know, how you approach your children in that type of a manner because that's a more serious, life-threatening error that they're making there being in the road, whereas hitting their brother, taking a toy, whatever, yeah, that needs to be disciplined, it needs to be told no, we need to correct that, but you don't want to always just have the exact same tone in every single situation and you want the punishment to fit the crime. So if the apostle Paul is fitting the crime here, I mean, this is the most serious crime, he's gonna bring a really serious rebuke and he's screaming at them and, you know, in my mind, he's just like, maybe it's just because I'm reading this Bible and it says foolish is all caps, okay? So it's like, I don't know if it's in yours or whatever, but I'm just saying, I'm reading this, he's just like, oh, foolish Galatians, you know? I mean, this is not some light thing here. This is the apostle Paul getting very animated, very upset and, you know, he's kind of asking a lot of questions here, like who's bewitched you? What does to bewitch mean? Well, it's found another place in scripture. Keep your finger, go to Acts chapter eight for just a moment, go to Acts chapter eight. There's really only one other place that this is kind of mentioned, this phrase of bewitching. But of course, witchcraft, we think of spells, magic, sorcery, or other ways that the Bible describes it. Sometimes witchcraft or magic is kind of a catch-all phrase for something that you can't explain or tricking someone or deceiving someone or doing something that's not observable by natural means. There's something unnatural about it. And we have in chapter eight of Acts another guy who bewitches people. Look what it says in verse nine. But there was a certain man called Simon which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one. So we have a person here bewitching a large group of the population, and it says he used sorcery. Look what it says in verse 10. To whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the great power of God. Now, some people would think that, oh, well, if someone claims to be of God, then they must be of God. But notice this guy is using God as a pretext, even though he's not really of God, using then witchcraft, which does not have anything to do with the Lord, to bewitch people into thinking that he's great, into thinking that he's wonderful, into thinking that he's somehow some special person and that they should all give heed unto him. And notice again that the whole purpose of this is basically to just kind of elevate self. Right? I mean, the bewitching, what was the point of the bewitching? To think that he is great. And of course, as you read that old chapter, it's really clear that Simon the sorcerer, even though he gets saved eventually, he still has the same problem because he wants to pay money to the apostles to get this power. Leo lay hands on people, and they basically are given the gift of the Holy Ghost. But again, why does he really want that power? The apostle Peter figures out he doesn't want that power just because he loves people and really wants to help him. He just wants to be in charge again. He wants the fame. He wants the recognition. And frankly speaking, if we go back to Galatians, chapter number 3, and we think about this context here, who's bringing in this false doctrine is the Judaizers. The Judaizers are the one bringing in the false doctrine of, hey, you've got to be circumcised. Hey, you've got to keep the law. Now, why is it that they would bring this in? Well, as you study the Bible, you'll see that the Pharisees and the Jews, they were always mad at Jesus and the apostles because they were envious. They were envious that the people cared what they had to say. You know, Paul coming to town, then their normal church service is running like 25, and all of a sudden Paul comes in, it's running 250. And they're like, what in the world? Everybody wants to hear what Paul has to say. And so out of envy, they wanted to destroy Paul. They got mad at the situation. So of course you get these pockets of churches with all these people. What are the Judaizers coming in? They're wanting to become powerful again, the leader, the one in charge. Oh, let me tell you. Oh, you've got to get circumcised. Come follow me and come. Let me tell you about all this doctrine. So of course false doctrine almost always has a motivation to draw fame for yourself. And the apostle Paul, he doesn't really care about fame. He's coming into a town, getting a bunch of people to see him leaving. You know, he's not benefiting really from any of this. It's these guys that are leftovers, these Judaizers that want to stick around and rise to the top and be, oh, look at me and I'm this leader and I'm the one in charge. This is what I have to say. So of course that's the motivation behind why they are doing the bewitching. And so of course you always have to check the motivation. Why is it that someone is saying the things that they're saying? Why is it that they're teaching this particular doctrine? Does this doctrine benefit them in any kind of way? Does it elevate them? You know, when Muhammad gets the Quran and he says, oh, well, actually since I'm a prophet I get to marry multiple women. It's like, well, is that like because it benefits you or is that really a message from God? You know, it's like you have to kind of start asking these questions. Like did Joseph Smith really get told he could marry lots of different wives just because he's special or is this just a false prophet trying to benefit himself and basically lifting himself up? And so of course, you know, we want to make sure that all the preaching always lines up with the Bible and checking the motive. Like why is the person preaching the thing that they're preaching? Is this just out of a selfish ambition? Is this just for them? Or is it because it's what the Bible is saying? Is it going to benefit others? And that's a good check sometimes to know if something's true or not. Is it really benefiting the person or is it simply what the Bible is saying? But of course if this whole group of people could be bewitched by a false teacher, stands to reason that people could bewitched today. And I'll say this. I believe there's a lot of Christians that are bewitched today who are allowing false teachers and false preachers and bad churches to beguile them, trick them, and they end up going to churches where they hear a lot of junk. They hear a lot of garbage. They hear a lot of confusing things. It's pretty evident when you go soul winning because you'll run into people who sometimes give you like a bad answer about how to be saved at first. But then as you ask them a few more questions or you test them a little bit further, you end up realizing they're actually saved. But they just repeated a bunch of garbage that they've probably been hearing or listening from this church that they've been going to. And so of course it's not that this chapter doesn't exist today. I believe it exists in large. That a lot of Christians are bewitched. A lot of Christians are getting confused and mixed up and allowing themselves to hear a bunch of junk when it comes to the gospel. And we don't want to be a church like that. We don't want to be a church that gets sucked into the Judaizing and the false gospel. You know, we already have the gospel clear and we don't want to let the next generation even slip. So we're going to keep preaching the exact same thing, keep bringing it up. Look what it says in verse 2. This only what I learn of you, receive you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. So again, another question. He says in verse 3, are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the flesh? Notice that he also says begun in the spirit. Meaning that salvation is nothing to do with the works. Why? Because they began in the spirit. And of course that spirit came by the hearing of faith, not by the works of the law. So of course in every single area, even at this time, the Bible teaches that they had Jews and they had the law, because the law was read in every single city. And so it's not like they didn't have this religion, quote unquote, of Judaism going around with the law, with the Bible and everything like that. But no one was saved. No one was getting, no, the Gentiles weren't getting saved by hearing the law and by just having people get up and teach them works-based salvation. He's saying, hey, when we walked into town, when the apostles showed up and we preached you Christ crucified, that's when you began. That's when you got saved. Why would you think that your whole life, having this works-based salvation, getting you absolutely nowhere, and then someone shows up in town and you get saved, you would go back to that thing that never got you saved in the first place. And you know, it reminds me of this. When you go and get a Catholic saved, but then they go back to the Catholic church. It's like you've been in the Catholic church for 20 years and you were never saved. They never told you how to go to heaven. They never gave you anything good, and then you got saved by faith, not by anything that had to do with the Catholic church, and then they just go back to the Catholic church and you're just like, what are you doing? It's like, it's stupid, it's foolish, as the Bible says. It's really just a bad practice and people do it. I guarantee there's tons of people that get saved through door-to-door soul winning, and then they go back to their bad church. They go back to the same bondage that they were in and the apostle Paul is rebuking the Galatians for having done the same thing, where they basically got saved, but then they just allow themselves to get sucked back into Catholicism or whatever nonsense that they are being sucked into at this point. And he says in verse 4, Have you suffered so many things in vain? Have it be yet in vain? And what he means by this is, look, when people became Christian in their areas, they would suffer a lot of persecution, you know, a lot of public rejection. The Jews would be mad at them. Of course, the Jews at this time, I don't know if this is hard for you to understand or not, but the Jews at this time control the economic situation of their area. So like, you know, commerce, banking, politics, all of it's like in the hands of the Jews. So when you become a Christian, you're basically being ostracized from the marketplace, from a lot of the buying and the selling, from, you know, all the different things that are going on. And of course, you know, it's like, what's the benefit of all this if it really didn't benefit you at all? You know, it's like basically saying like, if you became a Christian, you suffer all this persecution from being a Christian and believing in the gospel by faith, but then it really just works anyways, what was the point of that? You basically just suffered all that in vain. There was no point in you even doing this. Verse 5, He therefore that ministers through the Spirit and worketh miracles among you, doeth he by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. So, again, he's asking all these different questions and I'm trying to give you some kind of an idea of what he's alluding to. But essentially what he's trying to say here, I believe, is that when someone came into town and all of y'all got saved and you started this church, was it one of these guys that was preaching the law like we've had for decades or was it someone coming in with a completely different message preaching salvation by faith? And he's saying like, the person that's ministering to you, the person that's doing all the actual works, was he preaching this law junk? Was he preaching this Judaism? I mean, because think about this. When the apostle Paul and some of these guys came in, they would heal the entire town. Like everybody that was sick, they would just lay in and they're all recovering. And he's trying to say like, hey, who got everybody healthy? Was it this guy, Paul, or was it this Judaizer over here that's never healed anybody ever? Is it this Judaizer that's never taught you anything good out of the Bible ever? Is it this Judaizer over here that didn't even get you saved? Or is it the guy that got you saved and physically healed and set up the church and changed everything? What he's trying to do is he's trying to say like, why would you listen to this guy that's done nothing for you as opposed to the people that have done everything for you? Like every single miracle, every single thing that you've been ministered to from the Spirit itself, that's where you should really go to for your learning, for your education, and not reject the guy that gave you all of the clear doctrine for this bozo, this Johnny-come-lately, this person that's, you know, we don't even know where he showed up from, this is the Elihu, just like, who is this guy, you know, that darkeneth counsel with words without knowledge? It's like, this guy is an Elihu, stop listening to him. Now in verse six, he says even. The word even means specifically. Okay, so he says specifically as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So he's saying just like we're ministers of faith, specifically also Abraham was someone who the Bible attributes everything about Abraham to his faith, not some kind of a work of the law. And of course, Abraham's a great picture because Abraham was born before the law. Abraham's way before the law, and this is very specific. Because God wants you to understand that salvation by faith was before the law. So of course, we use a picture like Abraham and Abraham is the father of our faith and he's the one that we look to. And notice that Abraham, his salvation was because he believed God. He doesn't say Abraham was righteous on his own, Abraham did a bunch of works. He doesn't say Abraham offered Isaac and sacrifice on the altar. No, it says Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him, or it was accounted to him, it says imputed in Romans 4, it was accounted to him for righteousness. So what does that mean? It means that the only reason Abraham is righteous is because he believed in God. He doesn't say that he's righteous based on anything he did. He doesn't say Abraham was really sorry for his sins, he changed his life, he was willing to change his life, he did some good thing, he's from the right family. Nope, just believed. That's it. He's like, well, how does that work? It's called faith. Faith is no works. Faith is just simply just trusting in the Lord and trusting in God and that's how you get to heaven. It's what is your faith. Verse 7, know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. So why is he bringing this up? Why is he trying to say like, hey, remember Abraham's by faith and you know all of his children are? The ones of faith. Why is he bringing this up? Because there's Judaizers coming around saying, we're the seed of Abraham. And he's saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, eugolations that have believed in Christ, y'all are the seed of Abraham. These Judaizers, they're not even the seed of Abraham because Abraham is of faith and the children of Abraham are also of faith and the apostle, I'm sorry, and the Lord Jesus Christ made it abundantly clear that if they had believed Moses, they would have believed him for he wrote of him, right? And he's basically saying, look, you're not of your father, Abraham. You're of your father, the devil. Why? Because they were the seed of the serpent. They're not the seed of Christ. They're not the seed of Abraham. And of course, Abraham's seed is a picture of Christ. We're going to get there in this chapter. And we are of that same lineage spiritually. Physically, it doesn't matter. According to the Bible, physical descendants has nothing to do with anything. God's not a respecter of persons. It's never really mattered at all if you actually understand the Bible. Somebody told me one time, oh, I couldn't even serve God in the Old Testament because I'm not a Jew. And I'm like, what are you talking about? How about the book Ruth? And it's specifically a female, and I'm thinking, have you ever heard of Ruth the Moabitess? It's like, that's such a foolish idea. What about this? How about before Judah was even born? No one was a Jew. I mean, do you not even realize that Jew doesn't even just mean all the way back to Adam? Adam wasn't a Jew. Abraham wasn't a Jew. Abraham's Hebrew because he's of that lineage. All the names really are just related to the father. Jews are from Judah. That's where you kind of get that lineage. You get that name or whatever. But again, your physical descendantry has no impact on being saved, going to heaven. It's simply faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he's saying, hey, we're the children of Abraham, verse 8, and the Scripture foreseeing, meaning looking into the future, that God would justify, and this is a good phrase, the heathen. Who are we talking about? The heathen, through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. So he's saying, way before this would ever happen, way before the Gentiles are going to get saved, way before the heathen are going to get saved through faith, God already knew this and already told Abraham this, and had preached the gospel to Abraham, and he's saying, what did he say? In thee shall all nations be blessed. You know, it's so funny that the so-called Jews today would always point to Abraham and the blessings of Abraham, and they're like, well, we're special because of this covenant with Abraham. But notice that the covenant is with all nations. He doesn't say with Israel. He doesn't say with the Jews. He doesn't say with a specific group of people that are Christ-rejecting. It simply says all nations. And of course, this particular verse says the heathen. You know, what's being emphasized here is non-Jews, quote-unquote. The Gentiles are the ones, the ones that are not from the descendants of Judah. He's really highlighting and saying those are the ones that God was really thinking about when he gave the covenant to Abraham. Isn't that funny? It's like, they think that that covenant's about them, and the Bible's saying God wasn't even, God was not thinking about you. He was specifically not saying you. He was specifically thinking about the heathen when he said that. And it's like, this is yet what many churches teach today as Zionism. They will go to Genesis, and they will go to chapters 12 all the way through 17 and everything, and they'll just sit there and teach you, oh yeah, that Jew in Israel, you gotta bless him because God made a special covenant with him and God doesn't want you to curse them and anybody that blesses them is blessed and anybody that curses them is cursed and you know what, we can't change the covenant that God made with Abraham. And it's like, look Bozo, that covenant was for me. That covenant was for the Gentile. He wasn't talking about the Jew, okay? It was really, if you think about it, more about the heathen. And he's saying in verse nine, so then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Now let's prove a few things that we've said here because I've also heard this, there was no gospel before the New Testament. And I'm like, okay, then what did Jesus preach the whole time he was there? I'm pretty sure he was preaching the gospel before he died, right? I mean, he consistently did that. You can find that all in the New Testament. And they're like, well, okay, Jesus. Yeah, but you know who preached the gospel before Jesus did? John the Baptist. John the Baptist had preached the gospel. Hey, you wanna know who else preached the gospel? Go to Romans chapter number four. We have lots of people that preach the gospel and it's so stupid to say that the gospel didn't exist until the New Testament. Obviously the physical manifestation happened at that climax between the Old and the New Testament, but people were preaching it all the way back in Genesis. And of course the gospel theme is interwoven to every chapter, every single aspect of the word of God, every part of the Bible. But Romans chapter number four says in verse six, even as David also described the blessedness of the man unto God and puteth righteousness without works. You know what that is, folks? That's the gospel. So you know who preached before John the Baptist? David. You know who preached before David? Abraham. Look what it said in verse one. What shall we say then that Abraham our father is pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what sayeth the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto righteousness. So again, the Bible's making it clear. You know who preached the gospel? Jesus, John the Baptist, David, Abraham. I mean, it goes all the way back. It's not like the gospel just started 2,000 years ago. It's the everlasting gospel, as the Bible describes. The gospel has always been true. It's always been the only thing that would give anybody access to heaven, too. There's no other option. There's never been another option and never will be another option. The gospel is the central message of all eternity. Everything in eternity is hinged on the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is just, you know, in every part of creation is really just giving glory to the gospel. You know, even just light and dark. You know, and the Bible describes Jesus Christ as the light that shineth in the darkness. And of course, everything, the sun rising every single morning, the fact that we plant stuff in the ground and it grows is the gospel message. I mean, the Bible describes how the seed goes in and it dies and then it sprouts new life as a picture of the gospel. Because every single aspect of our entire life and everything in the Bible and everything throughout history, it's all about the gospel. The animal sacrifices were a picture of what Christ would do. Every single thing that we have is all about the death, throne, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Everything. So to then say, oh, we didn't have the gospel, this person's a liar. Go to Romans 10. You're pretty much there. Just look to the right a few pages. And it says in verse number three, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves in the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now, what I want to point out here is notice what it said in verse three. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness. So does that mean that God's righteousness didn't exist at that time? No, they already had God's righteousness. They were just ignorant of it. It's not that it wasn't there. They were just unsaved, Christ rejecting in the Old Testament, so they being ignorant of it didn't seek for it. But it's not that it wasn't there. It's not that it didn't exist. It's not that they couldn't have access to it. It's that they just weren't willing to believe in Christ. What were they wanting to do? They were not willing to submit themselves unto the righteousness of God. Notice that they had the opportunity to submit themselves to the righteousness of God. And what is the righteousness of God? Well, the Bible tells us, verse four, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So, hey, at all times they had the opportunity to submit themselves and be saved. This also illustrates for me the only emotion I can find in the Bible tied to salvation. The only emotion I believe you can ever say is necessary for salvation is humility. Because why? The Bible says they had to submit themselves. Right? You have to be willing to submit. You have to be willing to receive Christ. You have to be humble enough to say, it's not what I do, it's what he did, and accept that as a free gift. You know what? There is no such thing as like, well, I'm really sad, I'm really mad. You could have any range of emotions. I don't care. You could be happy. I mean, it's called the good news, folks. It's so weird, bizarre to me, when Christian preachers want to get up and say, you have to be super sorry about the good news. I'm giving you the best message ever, and if you're not weeping about it, then you're not saved. It's like, well, then is it good news? But let me tell you something. Repenting of your sins isn't good news. You should be weeping. If you have to repent of all your sins to be saved, you better start crying right now, because hell's going to hurt for a long time. But you know what? They didn't come preaching any bad news. They came preaching the good news. Then all you have to do is just believe on Christ, and you're saved. You just have to be willing to humble yourself like a little child and say, I can't do anything. Please just give me eternal life. And you get it by faith. That's what the Bible says over and over. Go back to Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter three. It's nice that the Bible's just so consistent that you can constantly notice new things, even out of the same old chapters. It says in Galatians chapter three, verse number 10, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not, and all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Now, the Bible had said, I want to read verse nine, too. It says, so then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. So we're blessed with faithful Abraham, but the contrast in verse 10 is those that are of the works of the law, meaning people that are trying to be righteous by the law, by doing good, by turning from sin, by doing all these other things. The Bible says that they're cursed. Cursed. And they're under the curse of the law. Because you have to do everything. That's why repenting of your sins is so stupid. Because it doesn't say repent of the big sins. It doesn't say repent of the sins that you think people know about. It says if you don't do every single thing perfectly, you're cursed. I mean, it's called the letter of condemnation. Why? Because you read it, and you're like, whoa, I'm cursed. I mean, it's like, well, I didn't do that one. Yeah, but you do this one, then you're cursed. I mean, there is no such thing as, well, you know, I've done 99% of it, so I'm good. You have to do 100% are cursed. That's how it is. Just like in America, you can follow every law perfectly, but you break one law, and you're a criminal. It's not like you have to break every law to be a criminal. You break one law, and you're a criminal. You tell one lie, you're a liar. You break one commandment. You're a sinner deserving of hell. You're cursed. And the only way to be broken from the curse is to accept the salvation that's through faith. And the Bible makes it very clear that these people who are coming around teaching the law, they're cursed. You don't want anything to do with these people. I mean, didn't he even say that in chapter one? He said, if any man preached any other gospel unto you than that which I have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Why? Because he is accursed. He's currently cursed because he's not saved, and just let him continue being cursed. You know, have nothing to do with this cursed fellow because, you know, why would you want to do anything? Why would you want to be cursed? Verse 11, but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. It is evident. I like how the Bible words these things. You know, the apostle Paul doesn't, you know, hold back anything. He's like, hey, we already know that this is not true. This is super clear. It's evident, meaning that there's no question, there's no doubt in our mind, there's no opportunity. You know, there's so many churches today, the Catholic Church, that will teach that salvation is by works. I mean, they just get up and they just say, salvation is by works. And if you believe that it's by faith alone, you're an anathema maranatha. That's what the Catholic Church's official doctrine says. People who believe in salvation by faith are an anathema. And they're supposed to be rejected of the church, and they're damned. But notice the Bible says it is evident for the just shall live by faith. It doesn't say it works. It doesn't even say maybe. It doesn't even say we're not sure. The apostle Paul's saying it's evident that the just shall live by faith. Now, this is also mentioned in other places in Scripture. Go to Romans chapter 1. Go to Romans chapter number 1, and we'll see this Bible, the Bible mentioning this phrase again, the just shall live by faith. And let's get a better understanding of this phrase. Look at verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there it is, the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. So notice that the Bible is giving us the answer to what this even means. Because some people say, like, what does that mean? Just believing and being saved. So the Bible talks about, in Ephesians, how we're quickened, meaning made alive, because your inner man is dead, spiritually speaking. And the moment that you believe on Jesus Christ, you become alive. You're quickened. You get that new birth, and now you live by faith. That's what it's saying. So, of course, I didn't get that new birth by circumcision. I didn't get that new birth through baptism. I didn't get that new birth through some kind of a work. I got that new birth through faith. And so I live by faith. That's what that means. The just, and of course I'm just. Why? We'll look at chapter three, and we'll see the reason why I'm just. Verse 26. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him, which believeth in Jesus. So you know what? Christ is the really just one, but then he justified me, and I'm just because I believed in him. And that's where I get my justification. And of course, if you look at a lot of doctrinal statements online, they'll sometimes break out salvation in all these different categories. They'll kind of talk about justification and sanctification and all these different processes that are happening. Well, justification is almost always even by every, like everybody kind of agrees on this, is just what it takes to be saved. Like what is the definition of makes you right with God? Because that's kind of what justify means, to be kind of declared righteous or to be considered right with God. And justification is and always has been by faith alone. There's no other option there. When it comes to sanctification, there is a definition of sanctification that happens at the moment of salvation where you've been set apart and made holy and made new by God, and so you're sanctified immediately. And the Bible will even talk about people as just being sanctified. You know, I think in Corinthians, it just is like we're the sanctified. Corinthians chapter one, I think it's like verse two or verse one, it's just saying we're the sanctified. So of course, in that moment that we believe you're sanctified. But of course, then the Bible also then later describes a sanctification process that happens through a Christian's life and trying to draw closer to the Lord walking in the Spirit and becoming more like Christ, being more set apart, more holy every single day is a process of sanctification. And of course, what works salvationists love to do is to conflate sanctification with salvation. Meaning, oh, well, I should be walking in newness of life. I should be trying to repent of my sins. I should be doing good. Of course you should be, but that has nothing to do with justification. Sanctification is a lifelong process that you'll never be perfect at. Justification is the moment you believe you had that perfect righteousness of salvation and you are justified in God's sight. And we don't want to conflate those two things. Of course, in the inward man, you've been made new and you're holy and you're righteous and you're a new man, but you have that old man and he's not righteous at all. Okay, go back to Galatians chapter number three, go back to Galatians chapter number three. So we talked about the justification here in verse 11. We're talking about, are you going to heaven or not? And of course it's evident that we get that through faith. Verse 12, and the law is not a faith. That's an important verse. What is it saying? The law, we're talking about the law of Moses here specifically. And he's saying the law of Moses does not give you a righteousness through some kind of a faith aspect. The law is by sight. And what do you mean by that? Well, because the law is just laid out very clearly. Do this, don't lie, right? Thou should not bear false witness. So it's like, how do I know if I'm doing right or not? You just do exactly what it says and it just gives you a plan and you don't have to wonder. All of the law is just kind of laid out and so it's just, you have righteousness through just doing what the law says. Because if you do everything in the law perfectly, then you're righteous. But that's not really a faith because you don't have to trust in anything, you're not hoping for anything, you just know for a fact. You just know for a fact, you do everything exactly on the list, it's just righteous. The problem is you can't do that. The problem is you'll fail at that. The problem is you'll never have true righteousness through that because none of us are Jesus Christ. So of course by falling short, then we need another option. And we get that option through faith, meaning that we're trusting in Christ. Of course faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, we understand that we can believe the things in the Bible, but the law itself is not some faith-based transaction when it comes to righteousness, it's a just straightforward type of righteousness, okay? It says in verse number 13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disanaleth or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made, he saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which is 430 years after, cannot disanal, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law, it was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid, for if there had been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith, which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that, faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster, if we were all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Now I read a long section here and I wanted to read it because I want to keep with this previous thought that I had and use an analogy to kind of help us better understand. And then I'll dig into some of those other verses I read through. But what did we read in essence? What we read in essence is the fact that the Gentiles are saved through faith in Christ. That's what it said in verse 14. And there was a promise made to Abraham and his seed about inheritance, about being the children. And he's saying very clearly in verse 16 that it was to thy seed singular, which we understand is Christ. And that the law which came after could not change this promise that was made way before the law was even given. So we had a promise to Abraham given to him and Jesus Christ that salvation of the heathen would be by faith. And then we had the law coming after. And then he's saying, now we're no longer under this law, that law was a schoolmaster to bring us into Christ, but now we're no longer under that. And so we're all just children by faith. So what does all that mean? Well, I think that the best way to kind of understand this is through the analogy of a bicycle, okay? And why I say a bicycle is just kind of helps with this picture, all right? If you think about a bicycle and you put some training wheels on it, the training wheels represent the law, okay? Now, of course, riding a bicycle takes a certain level of faith. Faith that you know what you're going to do, because if you don't know how to ride a bike and you get on it and you don't know how to ride a bike, you're going to face plant or you're going to follow, you're going to hurt yourself. But here's the thing. Does it take faith to ride a bicycle with training wheels? No, because anybody, I mean, you can put your little toddler on a bicycle with training wheels and they can ride the bike. Why? Because it's going to stand itself up, right? So it doesn't take any faith to ride a bicycle with training wheels because the training wheels are doing the job that the faith is supposed to be doing, okay? And being able to actually do it. If you actually knew how to ride the bike, you don't need the training wheels. So, of course, what he's trying to say is that, hey, before Christ came, y'all as a group of people, the children of Israel, they didn't know how to live. They didn't have any way to know like what's right, what's wrong. They didn't have all this stuff. And so they're given the law as a schoolmaster to basically kind of teach them how to have some semblance of righteousness. Try to kind of teach them about how to live right and how to do good. And, of course, why does it say that the law was even given? Well, it said in verse number, let's see, yeah, 19. Wherefore then served with the law it was added because of transgressions. So why does someone give you a rule? Because you're breaking it. Think about the church reminders. Have you ever noticed the church reminders? There's a reason why there's so many. It's because people are running in the church. It's because they're playing on the stage. It's because children are not being supervised by their parents at all times, right? What if all of these things were happening all the time? I probably wouldn't even put them in the bulletin because I wouldn't even thought about it, right? So it's like why do rules get made? Rules get made because people are not doing these things. And, you know, you look in our country, there's some weird rules that people have. There's some weird laws. And whenever you read that law, you got to, someone did that. You know, it's like there's a reason why that law exists. It's because someone was dumb enough to actually try that, or was stupid enough to actually go down that road, right? And so, of course, you know, that's why God gave the law, as the Bible describes, as to basically help the children of Israel know, hey, don't sleep with an animal, right? You're like, why would someone have that law? Because people do that junk, right? I mean, why does the law say not to, you know, oppress your brother through usury? Because people do that. You know, why does it say not to lie and not to steal? Because people are doing that, and so he's trying to make it clear, like, that's wrong. You shouldn't be doing that. That is not the right thing to do, okay? Just like if you get on a bike and you don't know how to ride it, the training wheels are going to help you get through the motions of it, okay? And they're going to kind of help you. Now, of course, we have to realize is that once you can finally ride the bike, you're going to take those training wheels off. But you know what you're not going to take is the tires. You're not going to take the tires off. They're still there. You're not going to take the steering handle. You're not going to take that off. You're not going to take the chain. You're not going to take the pedals off. So, of course, the bike itself is going to be very similar. Also, you're not going to be doing a dramatically new motion. You know, the same motion that you were pedaling when you had the training wheels? Guess what? When there's no training wheels, you're still going to be pedaling the exact same, right? So then when we look at the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament, it's not like you're doing something different. You're still going to be doing... You're still going to not lie. You're still going to not cheat. You're going to still not commit adultery. You're going to still serve God. It's all going to be the same, virtually speaking. You're still going to be doing the same motions. You just don't have the training wheels kind of limiting you. And, of course, doesn't training wheels make it a little bit harder to ride if you actually know how to ride a bike? And it's a little more limiting and you can't do things. You know, it's kind of restrictive. Kind of makes me think of the Old Testament, where it's kind of just like no bacon. You're like, what's up with this? You know, it's got all these extra things on there, but it's like once you don't have the training wheels, now you can like pop a wheelie, you know? Can you pop a wheelie, though, with training wheels? I don't know. It'd be a lot harder, right? But it's like you can do all kinds of cool tricks and you can do flips and, you know, you're not as restricted. You can make the turns a little bit sharper, right? But, of course, you couldn't really do that with the training wheels. Just like in the Old Testament, it was a lot more restrictive. You know, Christianity was a little bit more restrictive. You know, in the New Testament, man, you can start eating bacon. You can start going wherever you want. You can talk with the Gentile. I mean, the sky's the limit all of a sudden, right? You kind of can do anything you want, but still within the realm of riding the bike successfully. And, of course, someone that comes along and says, hey, you know how to ride a bike? Let me put these new training wheels back on your bike. It's like, no. That's what the Judaizers are doing. The Judaizers are coming around, trying to put training wheels on everybody. They roll up on a bike with training wheels. You're riding the bike and you're just like hopping along. They're showing up with a little bike with training wheels on and they're like, hey, did you see my training wheels? You got to have these or you can't ride a bike. The impossible is like you were already riding the bike. Why did you then have to put training wheels on there? And he's like, anybody that's putting training wheels on their bike, I don't believe can ride a bike. And my analogy is he's saying, hey, you that think you have to keep the law to be saved, you're not even saved. He's saying, if you're trying to put training wheels back on your bike, you're not saved. And that's why he's so mad. He's saying, like, if you already know how to ride a bike, you would never, ever, ever put training wheels back on this thing. And, of course, you know, when I showed, Paul's like saying, when I showed up, I wasn't, I had no training wheels on my bike. You know, I was ministering unto you the spirit by faith. I was showing you how to ride the bike a better way. And, of course, you couldn't even ride the bike until I showed up and showed you how. You know, the training wheels were there to kind of just assist you to kind of get along. But now that I'm here and I've showed you how to ride a bike without training wheels, don't put the stupid things back on. You don't need the training wheels. They're not going to benefit you anyway. And, of course, that didn't even take any faith. That didn't even take any effort. That didn't take any practice. You know, people will take what this chapter means and apply it in all kinds of bad ways. Of course, I'm not saying we just take the Old Testament and we rip it out of our Bible and have nothing to do with it. Go to 2 Timothy, chapter number 3. Go to 2 Timothy, chapter number 3. No. Just like if I took the training wheels off my bike, I'm not going to then deflate the tires. I'm not going to then also just rip the cords, you know, off of my handlebar and just go straight metal. That happens naturally, right? You know, you accidentally rip the little grip off or something like that. I'm not going to get a stick and put it in the spokes of my bike while I'm riding it. Okay? So, of course, there's a lot of parallels that exist between the Old and New Testament. And, of course, we believe in both. It's not like I don't use the Old Testament for Scripture. We read it all the time. But look what it says in 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse number 16. Let's get some clear verses on this. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for a proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works. Anybody that attacks the Old Testament is wrong. Anybody that says, throw out the Old Testament, we're not under the law, get rid of the Old Testament is a liar. Anybody that says, oh, well, I don't want to profit from the Old Testament. Or, hey, you're in the New Testament, don't bring up the Ten Commandments to me. Now, wait a minute. What did the Bible say? It said that the Scripture was profitable for what? For correction. How are you going to correct somebody from the Old Testament without bringing up the law? What are you bringing up, correcting them on? You know, we bring up the law because it's just like the same thing. If you were riding the bike with the training wheels and your legs are going like this, and then all of a sudden you get on the bike and you're just like going like sideways or something, you're like, no, no, no, no. It's the same motion as this. Just like it's like, hey, why are you lying? Why are you printing marks on your body? It's like, hey, you know, the same Holy Spirit inside of me is telling me that's wrong in the New Testament, too. So guess what? You know, I know that's a fact because the Old Testament says it. And the Old Testament line of righteousness, hey, it doesn't say anywhere in here that that was fulfilled in Christ. Like, now get a seal tattoo on your face. Now, tat it up. Now, just print whatever mark you want on your body. It's super cool. And the New Testament, you know, that's false doctrine. We'll look at Calvinist and Jesus. James White and Jeff Durbin, their church, they'll get tattoos. Mark Driscoll had a tattoo parlor, I believe, in his church where you could just go and you could get a tattoo because they want to show you how cool they are and how the Old Testament doesn't apply anymore. Look, that person is riding a bicycle training wheels. That that person rides a short bus, OK? That person is not able to ride a bike by faith. And of course, we want to believe both the Old and New Testament. Yeah, I'm not under bait. I can eat bacon, so we're not under the law. I get that. I'm also not cursed because I'm going to go to heaven. But at the same time, you know, all those Old Testament laws and statutes and rules and reminders, they were written for me anyways. Go to First Corinthians, chapter 10. Let me prove that even further. First Corinthians, chapter number 10. And of course, the epistle to the Corinthians is written to Gentiles. It's a Gentile church. And First Corinthians, chapter number 10 says in verse number 11, Now all these things happen unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world have come. So now in the in this chapter, it's talking about all the Old Testament. Look at verse four. And all I'm sorry, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drink of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. He's talking about Moses, and he's saying, hey, all of those people that were with Moses, they drink of the same spiritual rock, which is what? Christ. Sounds like the gospels in the Old Testament then, huh? And it sounds like they were saved by the same thing we were saved by. And of course, it says in verse five, But with many of them, God was not well pleased. So they were saved, and God was still not pleased with them. Just like in the New Testament, you can be saved, and God's not pleased with you, okay? Not Joyce Meyer's book, If God's Not Mad At You. Look, God's super mad at her, and anybody in her church. For sure. That's just a fact. Fact. God is angry with Joyce Meyer. Fact. God is mad at every person that goes to Joyce Meyer's church. Fact. God is mad at anybody that sincerely reads her book. Okay. That is just a fact. Of course, you can have God be mad at you. You can even be considered wicked in the New Testament. Have you read 1 Corinthians, chapter number five? The guy that's sleeping with his father's wife, it says to put away from yourselves that wicked person is what the Bible says. You know, some people get so confused and say, Oh, I'm righteous. I can't do anything wrong. It's the New Testament. You're a liar. You don't even understand what the Bible is saying. But in this chapter, it's very clearly saying that these people were an example for us. Verse six. Now, these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Just saying, hey, all the stuff that they were doing wrong, we're not supposed to do that either. It's not like, oh, now I'm in the New Testament. I'm good. I can do whatever I want. You know, nuts to the Old Testament, nuts to the law. No, no, no, no, no. You're really just going to face plant again on your bicycle analogy. Go back to Galatians, chapter number three. Go back to Galatians, chapter number three. It's just a carnal example to kind of give you some idea. And, of course, the schoolmaster here is just a picture of the training wheels, kind of that schoolmaster. He's kind of trying to give you that instruction. But once you get saved, you don't need that anymore. Right? You don't need that in order to ride the bike successfully. So just in the same way of after I've been saved, I don't need to be under all of the Old Testament statutes in order to live the successful Christian life. Meaning what? I don't need to get circumcised. I'm saved by faith. I don't need to observe all of the Sabbath and the Holy Days because Christ is my Sabbath. I don't need to do an animal sacrifice because Christ is my once and for all sacrifice. So I don't need any of these training wheels anymore. Now that I've already learned all that, now that I've been saved, now that I have that faith, I don't need some schoolmaster to teach me that anymore again. Just like anything. Anything that you learn, once you've learned it, you don't need that again. Like Hebrews chapter number six makes it clear, you're not going to get people saved again. Right? So you know what I don't need anymore? A soul winner. I don't need a soul winner to come knock on my door and schoolmaster me into being saved again because I've already gotten saved. Right? So just in the same way, I don't need the Old Testament law to help me get saved again or to help me to learn that I need to put my faith in Christ. He's saying that's the point. One of the points of the Old Testament was just to help you realize you need Christ. Like, hey, you're a sinner. Because some people didn't think they were a sinner or they have a hard time understanding that point, the law will make that clear fast. Not only will the law do that, the law with all of its pictures and shadows foreshadowed Christ with the animal sacrifices and all the other pictures. So it's leading you into Christ. It's trying to get you saved. It's trying to help you realize, like, you need to be saved. Okay? And, of course, even when we go soul winning, we even follow that pattern to some degree because we say, hey, we're all sinners deserving of hell. And that's kind of our first step into recognizing the fact that you need a savior and you need to be saved from something. And so but once we get to that point and once we've understood that, I don't need that anymore. I'm good. I've learned it. Just like it would be silly for someone that's a professional to go back to school and then learn that profession. They should be the teacher. You know, they don't need to go back and learn that same profession. You know, we're not going to send Tom Brady back to college to learn how to be a quarterback. You know, we're not going to send Wayne Gretzky back to learn how to play hockey. You know, he's the master. You know, he's the guy that's going to teach you everything there is, right? So we don't need, you know, hopefully, God willing, the pastor doesn't need to go back to Bible seminary to learn the Bible. You know, hopefully the person that's saved doesn't need to go back to learn how to get saved again. He's already saved. So now that we're saved, we don't need that. Now, in verse 16, it said, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, he saith not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. Now, go to Genesis chapter 15 for a moment. Go to Genesis chapter 15. We have to understand that in the Old Testament, a lot of times when it brought up seed, it was not to Abraham's descendants, but rather to Christ. And of course, a lot of modern Bibles ruin this, including the New King James. The New King James will change the word seed to descendants plural. And it's so frustrating because it's like you read in Galatians chapter 3 where it's saying it's singular, and then you'll go into the Old Testament and it will be plural. And you're just like, how are you that stupid? To think that like, there's like the one time in the whole Bible saying there was one word in the Old Testament that was singular, and then you made it plural. And it's just like, you're an idiot. You know, that was an obvious bad translation, and they're not believing it. And they make contradictions in the Bible like that. Whereas in the King James, you know what it says when it says seed in Galatians? It says seed in the Old Testament too. They weren't like idiots and morons whenever that was written. And of course, what they do is they take away the promise from Jesus, and who do they give it to? Christ rejecting Jews. I wonder who came up with that doctrine. The synagogue of Satan took the blessing of Jesus Christ. You know, it makes me think of the parable in Matthew 22, the husbandman, where it talks about how let's seize on his inheritance, right? They want to take Christ's inheritance away from him. They want to take that away. And it's like, that's the picture here that we have in Genesis where they're literally trying to seize on his inheritance, take it away, and say it's our promised land. It's our land. But you know what's so stupid about that, and for Christians to even believe this is so bizarre, is the fact that the promised land today, so-called, the Holy Land, what we consider Jerusalem and Israel, the Middle East, where there's all this Palestinian conflict and there's all this stuff, it is more mine than any Christ rejecting Jews on the planet. I have more ownership and more right and more privilege to it. Why? Because I'm saved. Not because of some kind of physical descendant. It says in Genesis chapter 15, look at verse 5, And he brought them forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars that they'll be able to number them. And he said unto them, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. So, of course, this is quoted in Romans chapter number 4. And we see that the seed is going to be a great multitude. Now, of course, what is that real seed? That real seed is the saved. It is not the physical descendants. But go to chapter 17 and look at verse 2. Chapter 17, verse 2. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abraham fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Did it say just one Jew nation? No, it said many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee. You know, that's being quoted in Galatians as all nations. Verse 6. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generation, for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. So who is the covenant between? It's between Abraham and Christ. And then, of course, we get in on the package deal because we believed in Christ. So that land that was promised to Abraham is actually our land. It has nothing to do with some kind of tassel hanging, head bobbing, Christ-rejecting Jew. Nothing. They are the synagogue of Satan, as the Bible describes. Go back to Galatians, chapter number 3. And it's silly that Christians literally give money for them to rebuild the temple. But it's the anti-Christ temple that they're helping them build. It says in verse number 27, For as many as you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, therefore is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are one in Christ Jesus, and if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. So notice, if you believe in Christ, then we're heirs, according to the promise. Not according to some work we did, some kind of repentance. We're all saved by promise. And the promise is eternal life. And we got that by faith in Jesus Christ. And of course, we are now heirs. And to finish, I want to kind of just finish with two more verses. Go to 1 Corinthians, chapter 4. What is kind of just something we could draw from this passage? Well, we learned that the Church of Galatia got mixed up and worked salvation. And who did they get mixed up from? They got mixed up from a bunch of Judaizing bozos coming along, and the Apostle Paul made it abundantly clear in this passage, he's like, hey, look, these guys weren't the ones ministering the Spirit unto you. You know, the people that were ministering the Spirit unto you, they're the ones that you should be paying attention to. They're the ones that you should have been listening to. You know, the guy that's riding his bike without training wheels is the guy you want to learn how to ride a bike from, not the guy showing up with training wheels on his bicycle. Yet, they fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. You know, I even think today this happens a lot where a lot of Christians start getting advice from bozos. They don't think about, okay, where did I even learn all this good doctrine to start with? How did I even get saved? How did I even make the changes in my life? Where did I get that information? And then they'll just go to some junk source to then basically get perfected. You know, and it's like, that's a bad idea. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 15. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers. Now, Boyd, it doesn't sound like there's any new thing under the sun when he's saying, hey, you know how many people want to teach you the Bible? Ten thousand. Ten thousand. And look, isn't that the same today? I mean, there is thousands of churches in this area. Not only are there thousands of churches in this area, there's all these parachurch ministries, all these people that want to take you out in the woods and teach you how to get close to God, too. You know, it's the fellowship of the sword. It's like, yeah, but where did this bozo come from? Where did this guy come from? Why does he want to take me in the woods? You know, when a bunch of guys want to take you in the woods, beware of that, okay? That's where weird stuff happens. You know, where the women are hanging groves for the sodomites in the woods. You know, Bohemian Grove. I mean, why is it that you have to go in the woods to serve God? Be afraid of the guy that's taking you in a dark, wooded area to worship God or whatever. You know, that guy might be a freak, okay? But again, the point that he's trying to draw out is he's saying, hey, you have 10,000 structures in Christ, yet you have not many fathers. Meaning, it's not like the people that really started your faith that got you going in the right direction, the people that were before you, there's 10,000 of them. Why are you trusting all these Johnny-come-latelys and all these other people? You know, the apostle Paul is a father of the faith in the sense that he got saved before them, and he's the one that's coming and giving them the faith, and they're following after him. And again, he's trying to say, look, folks, follow me. Look what he says in verse 16. Wherefore I beseech you, be followers of me. Now, the apostle Paul was not shy to say, hey, even though you have 10,000 options, follow me. He didn't say, well, there's lots of good guys out there. There's lots of good options out there, you know. Just go eat anywhere, right? There's 10,000 barbecue places in here. No, no, no, it's like follow me to Heinz. It's follow me to Hurtado. You know, don't let the weirdos, you know. It's like you don't have any fathers in this doctrine, okay. Let me teach you this doctrine and then follow my faith. And the same should be applied to Christianity, that the person that got you saved is a good source for doctrine. I mean, if someone got you saved, that person's a great source or a great person to think like, I'm going to start following what this guy says. Of course, then beyond that, we might even have other people that have ministered unto us, people that have ministered unto us, and this specifically, the spirit. He didn't say those that administered food. He didn't say those that administered money. He didn't say those that ministered books. I know someone personally, and they like this stupid false prophet, Mike Murdock. Who's heard of Mike Murdock or no? His church, it's like every false prophet lives here. His church is like not that far from here or something like that. He has some stupid temple over there or something. I don't know. You can go find it. It's like in Halton City or something like that. But this guy was a TV preacher, and he was like real famous for this like $57 seed that you would plant by giving him money online or on TV or something like that. But the guy's a fake. The guy's a phony. But I remember talking to this person like, this guy's a false preacher. This guy's a lover of money. Here's a video of him saying verbatim, he loves money. And you think I'm joking, I'm not. Like Mike Murdock on television just said, I love money. If that's not a sign, then he said, I love new money. And he's like, I love $100 bills. Then he said, I've never seen a woman more attractive than a $100 bill. That's how you know you're a faggot, okay? Is when you think that a disgusting, filthy dollar bill is better looking than any woman, okay? That is ridiculous. The disgusting queer is getting up and saying this on television. Well, I talked to this family and they're like, this guy is a false prophet. I'm like, have you seen the video? It's obvious. And they're like, but he gave me a book one time for free. But did he minister the spirit unto you? You know, who cares what gift he gave you? You know, and of course that's why a lot of people go to these churches. They're like, well, they gave me turkey. They'll give you turkey on Thanksgiving. Manly Perry, his church will give you turkey on Thanksgiving. Hey, you could go get ministered to all kinds of different stuff. But wait a minute. Who is the faith that I'm supposed to follow? The guy that gave me the turkey, the money, or the book? No, the spirit. Meaning when you go to a church and you're getting fed spiritually, that's the person you're supposed to be listening to. You're not supposed to be going online and getting the bozo online to come tell you, you know, Robert Breaker with his little, you know, drawings or something like that. That guy's not ministering the spirit unto you. You're not supposed to be going. You know, there's all kinds of 10,000 structures of Christ. There's people that aren't even Christian. They'll tell you how to be spiritual. Alex Jones will teach you how to be spiritual and how to connect with the intergalactic four dimensions and, you know, plug-in and eventually we'll get all the demons or whatever. It's like, dude, that guy's trying to minister unto you, but you know what? Don't follow that guy's faith. That guy's riding a bike with training wheels, folks. Pink flaming training wheels. And I'm not going to follow that guy. You know what? And again, if you don't like me or my church, go find a church you can like, but if you actively want to come to this church, you should follow my faith, not the 10,000 structure options you have. You should follow Pastor Shelley and Pastor Shelley's faith and not get sucked in to all the garbage that's out there and get sucked in to all the online weirdos and online bozos. I'll even say it, take it a step further. There are people in this room you shouldn't listen to. We constantly have people in our churches being heretics, weirdos, and freaks and saying all kinds of stupid things. Hey, you want to learn a soul winning demonstration? Learn it from either me or one of our soul winning leaders. Follow their faith. You know, some random person in here that's taking five hours to prove that the Shroud of Turon is legit, look, that's a real experience. Someone told me their first soul winning experience at one of our churches, their soul winner argued with someone at the door about the Shroud of Turon for like 20 or 30 minutes or something like this. I was like, that's soul winning? It's like, no, no, no, no, no. That's how people get sucked into this junk is they're not following the right person. You know, of course, if I'm not following Christ, don't follow me. Paul didn't say follow me, period. He said follow me as I follow Christ. But at the same time, he also didn't say follow anybody else. He said follow me. He's like, at least I know I'm going to be doing the right thing. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 1. This is the last place I'm going to return. I know you're excited about this food, but you didn't come to be ministered food, okay? And even though you have 10,000 ministers of food here, okay, you have one serving up a spiritual dish this evening, okay? 1 Timothy chapter 1, look at verse number 7. Let's read verse 6 out of context. From which some, having swerved and turned aside into vain jingling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor where they affirm. Let me tell you something. There's a lot of people that have no idea what they're saying when it comes to the Bible, but they just want to be in charge. They just want to be Simon the Sorcerer. They want to be the Judaizer. They want to come along. They want to be the pastor. And you know what? When they can't be the pastor, then they just leave church and they'll say come with me and we'll start a new church and I'll be the pastor and I'll teach you and I'll educate you. And you're just like, no, no, no, no, no. Don't follow that weirdo off the cliff. Don't follow that bozo into some heresy land, you know? And of course, a lot of people will try to do this to you. You know, follow the people that have laid out the faith before you. You know, if you got saved by Pastor Anderson, follow Pastor Anderson. You know, you got saved by Pastor David Burzins, follow Pastor David Burzins. You got saved by Pastor Roger Minnis, follow Pastor Roger Minnis. You know, as they follow Christ. But you know, you come to this church and you've been ministered to spiritually, follow me as I follow Christ. You know what? Don't follow all these other weirdos and these idiots. Otherwise, you're going to be found getting rebuked hard like in Galatians chapter 3. You're going to show up. You're going to find yourself in a weird church with a weird group of people with a bunch of weird beliefs. You know what? If you follow the people that are actually ministering the Spirit, you're never going to be led astray. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for giving us the Spirit or giving us an opportunity to know what to do in this life. There's so many decisions we have to make. There's so much confusion. There's so many people that want to teach us something. But we understand that the Holy Spirit is one. There's only one truth. There's only one gospel. There's only one Lord. There's only one faith. There's only one baptism. I pray that we wouldn't get sucked in to all the junk that's out there, people that want to lead us astray. But rather, we would just humbly submit ourselves to those that have gone on before us, to those that are leading a righteous life and are trying to serve you, and that we wouldn't allow pride to distract us from following those who we should follow. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, for the final song, we're going to turn to our hymns to song number 413. 413. That's stand up, stand up for Jesus. Now this song is called Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus. So why don't we stand as we sing this song. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. Song 413. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. He's soldiers of the cross with high, His royal manner. It must not suffer loss from victory unto victory. His army shall he lead to every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. The trumpet call obey. True to the mighty conflict in this His glorious day. Ye that are men now serve Him against unnumbered foes. Their courage rise with danger and strength till strength upholds. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. Stand in His strength alone. The arm of flesh will fill you if you do not trust your own. Put on the gospel armor and watching unto prayer. Where duty calls for danger be never wanted there. God bless you. Let's have some fellowship.