Got Freedom? Part 3

Welcome to Leading the Way, featuring the solid Bible teaching of Dr. Michael Yusef. Today, Galatians chapter 2, in a series, Got Freedom? You'll see how sometimes believers end up turning toward legalism and losing focus on God's grace and his mercy, and how that can impact your spiritual growth.

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Here now is Dr. Michael Yusef to begin. The last message in the last part of chapter 1, we saw the Apostle Paul way of combating the Satanic Gospel that came in and infiltrated the Church of Galatians, that says that Christ is not enough for salvation, that you have to keep some ceremonial rituals. They misled these beloved friends of Paul whom he led to Christ and brought them salvation, and the way he was combating these miserable legalists is by telling his testimony, by giving his spiritual biography, and he started in the latter part of chapter 1 and he continues here in chapter 2. He basically gives more details about his testimony, he gives more details about how God worked in his life, how the Lord Jesus worked in his life, how he handled the relationship with the other Apostles, how he himself was behind the bars of conformity and man-pleasing, but then Christ came into his life and he set him free.

And so here in chapter 2, as Paul continues the details in first 10 verses, verses 1 to 10, he said that I received the gospel and my apostleship not from anybody, I received them directly by revelation from the risen Lord Jesus Christ when he confronted me on the road to Damascus. And so what does God do? He raises up a man who was a tough persecutor of Christians, he raises a zealously anti-christian man, he converts a man who was renowned for his stubbornness and stubborn faithfulness to the wrong cause. He transformed the life of a man who would be willing to die for his convictions wrong as they were. He takes a man who was passionate enemy of Christ and Christianity and Christians, tried and true, and he turns them into the Apostle Paul.

Think about this with me. Had it not been for the tenacity and the stubbornness of the Apostle Paul making sure that everyone and every church that he went to and that disciples themselves understood what grace is all about, what liberty in Christ was all about, had he not been that kind of a tenacious person, Christianity possibly, I can't prove it to you but I am convinced in my heart possibly would have died by the second generation as a Jewish sect. Now I'm going to tell you why I'm saying that from Scripture right here from this passage because even the chief disciple, the chairman of the board and the CEO of all the disciples was prone to cave under pressure and wanted to conform to the pressure. Peter was prone into falling in the traps of being really concerned what people think of him that was more important to him and and you see it again and again and again this is Achilles heel they're constantly getting him off track. Peter was prone to being intimidated by the pressure around him although Peter was given the privilege, the unique privilege, he was called to be an apostle to the Jews. God deliberately gave him the privilege of seeing a special revelation from heaven of a sheet coming down with food that's not allowed to Jews and that way God said to him because I want you to baptize the very first gentle Christian Cornelius read it in the book of Acts chapter 10. He was given these incredible privileges and yet he tended to fold like a bad souffle.

Have you ever met a bad souffle? I have and that is why Paul said I rebuked Peter to his face not behind his back to his face. Paul whom God called for such a time knew that hypocrisy and he understood hypocrisy and he recognized hypocrisy when he saw it and by the way just as an aside hypocrisy is a word that comes from a Greek origin which means wearing a mask and pretending to be what you're not. That's what the word hypocrisy means and Paul condemned hypocrisy no matter who is practicing it even if that hypocrisy was part of the great chief of all disciples Peter and so Paul went to Peter James and John not for approval. In verse 9 he says he went and he received the right hand of fellowship. What is that right hand of fellowship? You see in verse 9 it's a Middle Eastern custom indicating a total agreement. Total agreement.

Some of you old enough to remember the good old days when men made multi-million dollar deals by just shaking hands and they trusted each other to keep not look for loopholes but to keep the word. Please hear me right these Judaizers they are like cultural Christians of today. They really are. They just like our cultural Christians of today. Make no mistake about it cultural Christians give Christianity a bad name. They were not orthodox Jews for they claim to follow Christ. They were not orthodox Christians for they rejected that salvation through grace alone.

They served up some sort of a lukewarm water that made people sick for they were neither Jews nor Christians. Please listen carefully every one of us can be tempted to say that could never happen to me right. I could never fall for that trap I could never fall in the Judaizers era. Be careful because here's the truth none of us are mean that is why it is a moment by moment walk it's hour by hour it's day by day and in nearly 40 years in the ordained ministry I have seen people fall into that era again and again and again to my heartbreak and we see it in the scripture from Cain who wanted to please God his way he wanted to come to God his way all the way to the chief disciple Peter who compromised the truth of the gospel for the sake of pleasing others and being accepted by the Judaizers and beloved if the great disciple the chief disciple Peter was not immune don't ever think that you are. Pride comes before the fall be very careful. It's a universal temptation it really is it's a common to all human beings but here's the question here's the question how do you spot the symptoms how can you squash it before it becomes a problem how how you do you can you begin to observe it and and see the beginning of it in your life and the life of others listen carefully the moment you begin to see your self-worth based on your accomplishments or your achievements or your net worth or your success or your good works or whatever it is if it is your brilliant mind and your great opinion the moment you begin to place your self-worth there or anywhere else other than Christ and his grace that's the beginning of the danger that's the beginning of the danger you've heard me say this my children have heard me say this that I'm a father who made lots of mistakes but often we parents we as parents unwittingly communicate this misconception to our children that's why I'm grateful to have another chance with my grandchildren correct all the mistakes I've made we often base our approval or lack of approval on their performance we innocently and subtly it really is it's not something we plan on it with that which are innocently so subtly we do it without realizing we we communicate that their worth is tied up on their athletic performance or in their academic performance or on their popularity or in anything other than the Christ who dwells in them please don't misunderstand me this is very different from communicating to them the importance of good work ethic the importance of doing everything that they do diligently the importance of developing good character the importance of developing good self-discipline that's very different but the message that we communicate to them while they're young they will grow up to develop as a habit in later life but the next question is this how do we stop it's one thing to spot the symptoms another thing to say well how do I stop this Christian masquerading how can we start living an authentic Christian law how can we live as authentic believers in the Lord Jesus Christ how can we step out of that mask and the answer is this we must fully moment by moment in our life embrace our Liberty in Christ we must fully understand what grace is all about when Peter temporary lost sight of the grace of God Paul had to confront him Paul had to confront his vacillation his compromise and inconsistency think about this think about this Peter made some of the most profound pronouncements most profound pronouncements by a special revelation from heaven he recognized that Jesus was the Christ before anybody else because when he said who do you say that I am he said you're the Christ the Son of the Living God Jesus said to him he said Peter you did not get that on your own God revealed it to you just think about this he was with Jesus on the matter of transfiguration with John and James and there he saw Elijah and Moses Peter boldly proclaimed Christ on the day of Pentecost three thousand people were converted Peter was capable of great pronouncements and yet he was capable of great failures he ought to be a great encouragement all of us I know he's an encouragement to me the very man who by special revelation declared that Jesus is the Christ tried to stop Christ from going to the cross the whole purpose for coming and that is why at that moment Jesus said to him get behind me Satan the man who was ready to die for Christ he denies him three times and even after the resurrection and he saw the resurrected Lord when Jesus delayed his second appearance he basically took the disciples fishing that was not for fun that was going back to the old jobs said okay let's quit let's give up and verse 16 Paul challenges the Galatians here's what he basically saying to them no matter who fails no matter who falters no matter who stumbles no matter who temporary fails to comprehend the grace of God you must stand firm in your Liberty in Christ look at verse look at that verse 16 verse 16 we know most assuredly we know for a fact that man is not justified by observing the law but by faith in Jesus Christ because by observing the law no one can be justified now he goes from the ceremony to the Ten Commandments the ceremonial law which was completed fulfilled in Christ to the Ten Commandments in the sense he's saying no amount of performance can ever make us righteous none why because the root of our sinfulness does not lie in our actions but in the fallenness of our heart our very basic problem is not what we do but what we are even when we try to change our activities thinking that's going to help us even when we try to change our behavior we think that will help or even when we try to change location thinking that if you go from this location or from this circumstance to another yet you'll be able to overcome that will not happen because we are powerless over that nature unless Christ power works in us and delivers us only the grace of God can make the difference but we fool ourselves the Bible makes it clear not just here but everywhere that the Ten Commandments really act as a mirror when you hold the mirror is held before everybody every human being ever lived on the face of the earth the mirror when it's held up to us it tells us what we look like and what God requires now I don't know about you but I'll wake up in the morning and I look in that mirror I get a fright where who's that old man but I also know that the mirror cannot cleanse me the mirror cannot shave my beard the mirror cannot comb my hair it only tells us what we like you see the mirror is supposed to drive us to the shower just as the commandment drive us to Christ and Christ alone can cleanse us and redeem us and save us and justifies us Christ alone can empower us to live a life of obedience you see the function of the law supposed to drive us to Christ and after Christ cleanses us by his blood we will think the mirror is a great invention before cleansing we may curse the mirror before cleansing we'll hate the mirror before cleansing we may try to remove the mirror out of public life just as they doing today we're doing today in America remove the Ten Commandments away because it makes us feel guilty we cannot stand looking at the mirror but after the blood of Christ cleanses us from unrighteousness we bless God for the mirror we thank God for the mirror but the fact still the same Jesus and Jesus alone is the only one who kept the commandments perfectly so that everyone who would come on his coattail will be saved do you know what the most destructive thing about legalism is you know what the most destructive part of the effective legalism is it undermines the power of the cross it really does it undermines the power of the cross if we could be saved by rituals or anything else then Christ died in vain and that is why look at verse 20 Paul said I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me the life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me I looked at that verse which is really the key verse for the entire chapter 2 and I said that's a sermon by itself when Paul said I have been crucified with Christ now some people through the years have misunderstood that they thought there must be some experience that you have to have where you don't experience sin anymore no here's a construction of the language without trying to get complicated it is an action that has taken place but its results its effect continues on and on and on that could we say I have crucified and I continue to crucify I continue to be crucified with Christ day by day I continue to be crucified with Christ every day every moment of every day now believers I want you to ask yourself this question this is very important if you want to understand this verse this key verse verse 20 ask yourself the question do I comprehend that the Christ who dwells in me goes with me everywhere I go when I go to places that may not honor him do I comprehend that he goes with me when I see things that I am not supposed to see that are dishonoring to him he's seeing what I'm seeing his hearing what I'm hearing Christ lives in me and that's what keeps us holy not our meager efforts if there's somebody still struggling with that question still under the burden of legalism that you have to be this or do that in order to be saved I want to share a story with you I pray to God that it will help you be delivered it doesn't matter whether you've known Christ for a long time or you're just learning about him in August of 1833 the British Parliament voted what is known as the slavery abolition act and at that moment the British Empire abolished slavery that very day but in those days and that radio no telegram no internet no texting no none of that stuff the trans-oceanic communication were no faster than the fastest ship and it took eight weeks of a sail ship to sail across the Atlantic from England to the West Indies right after the slavery abolition act passed Parliament a ship sailed from England to the West Indies and by the time it reached the West Indies was October and in that October the ship anchored on the port city and the captain of that ship stood at the railing and there in front of him hundreds of African slaves and he said the following he said free free free you are all free hearing the news the freed slaves cheered and they threw off the chains but the truth is this they were free back in August in August the slaves were declared free yet it took two months when they labor him as slaves though Parliament declared him free two months earlier they did not know that they were free until the ship arrived many of us are like those slaves God declares free that we are free over the power of sin we are free over the power of temptation we are free over Satan we are free from all of the chains that try to chain us but sadly there are many people don't know they don't know they continue to toil under the slavery of legalism conformity addiction and desire to be accepted and by culture and by society so there may be someone here today you have not been set free you laboring under the slavery of whatever it is your legalism may be I don't know what it is you heard the news that you've been liberated in Christ I don't know where you are I don't know if you that where you get your counsel but I can tell you on the authority of the Word of God that Jesus has set you free and you can experience it today thank you for taking time to listen to dr. Michael Yusef local pastor international evangelist and teacher on leading the way audio listen to more content from dr. Yusef online at LT w.org with the leading the way app by subscribing to the podcast and more you can find details on all of these at LT w.org now I'm sure that many of you have an audio player of some sort probably your phone and it might hold music for your commute or your workout audio books maybe some messages from dr. Yusef and other strong Bible teachers I hope well now think of the blessing it is to just put on your headphones turn up the volume in the car shut the world out for a few minutes especially to regain focus on God's Word that's why we are so excited about the expanding ministry and the distribution of leading the way navigators all around the world navigators are little solar-powered mp3 players that we load up with the Bible and messages by dr. Yusef in one of many local languages like Arabic Spanish Russian Chinese and they navigate listeners through the basics of the gospel also steps toward growth and maturity in the Christian life in fact many are calling these little devices pocket missionaries because of their effectiveness in delivering the gospel and encouraging growth and discipleship reaching people that local missionaries are not able to get to this is just one of the many ways that leading the way is being obedient to the Great Commission using technologies to reach the lost to equip the Saints around the world so stand with dr. Yusef in reaching the unreached and the unchurched participate in our open door campaign won't you consider partnering with dr. 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