Famous last words

New electives, another item. Those are beginning in January, which may seem a little surprising. It's not that far away. First one, and all three of them are new, who you are in Christ. And that is something, matter of fact, a comment was made when I brought this up earlier this morning in one of the classes. Boy, that's something that isn't taught enough. Amen.

So this is a wonderful opportunity. And by the way, I need to insert a little thought here. One of the ways that we go about picking the electives here is we want, intentionally, we want you to have a hard time choosing. And so we figure if you don't have a hard time choosing, we haven't selected them very well. So anyway, if it's tough, that's great.

Now, who you are in Christ, a fantastic thing to study. If more believers knew who they were in Christ, we wouldn't have so much spiritual amnesia around here, right? So, who you are in Christ is a great study. The Gospel of John, really exciting for me to have this offered. And this study will go into this fourth gospel, centered on believing. A marvelous study ahead for those there.

The next one, biblical anthropology, and no, we won't be looking at old bones or looking at strange cultural practices. This is instead, what does the Bible say about man? That's what this is about, followed by biblical counseling. And I wouldn't exactly just cross yourself off the list of candidates for that, because it may surprise you what scripture says about biblical counseling.

So we'd like to make sure you're aware of those. There are sign-up sheets, who would guess, in the lobby. And so feel free to avail yourself. When you sign up, and especially you sign up early, it really helps us because we have to figure out materials and who's going where. And even some cases, we found out, well, that's not a good one to offer. And we like it to be hard for you to choose. But if we have nobody choosing, that tells us, well, maybe we need to pick another topic or book. So signing up is real helpful. Okay. Now into our passage. This is the final passage. of the Book of Galatians. And as these cartoons show, the end is near. Today is it for the Book of Galatians and our study.

If you need to catch up with any of the handouts from the past, you can see Nancy. Nancy, raise your hand there. And Sue, you amidst us, you can see Sue here. And I think even Sue Ellen, she in our midst. Sue Ellen can help out as well. So any of those three ladies. What's that? Yeah, the rack in the coffee room also has some. So see those first. If you don't find it, then you can see one of these ladies, and they'd be glad to help you.

Galatians, expand and explain. I had this announcement in here. We didn't quite get that copied off, so we'll have that available next week. What we did is we prepared something that is similar to what we prepared for the book of Philippians several years back, and that's all the expanded and explained for the whole book, all in one document. So you could actually read through it and use it as a helpful study note. Okay, now into the passage. Here we have this first verse, 611, that Wayne read for us here.

And in 611, interesting thing for him to write, Some people have read this and seen in it an indication that Paul had an eye problem, and that's why he wrote with large letters. And in fact, that may be the case. However, I think there's some indications that there may be other reasons why he wrote this the way he did. It's possible that there's a more normal explanation to why he would sign the letter in the manner that he did here. It is typical, as we read through Paul's letters, for Paul to have a scribe write for him, and then for him to end up with a final note of his own. And let me give you some examples.

Here is 1 Corinthians, of course, the Galatians passage we've got, and Colossians 4.18, and 2 Thessalonians 3. In each of those cases, he says, with my own hand, I'm writing this. So the indication is, here's a scribe who has written the majority of the letter, and now towards the end he is finishing off with a personal note. And there are a few different reasons for his doing that, and let's take a look at those. Now, in the secular world it was common, as a matter of fact, to find letters of the time where they would have a scribe writing, and then just as a sort of a final note, the person who was dictating up to that point would then take the pen and write in their own hand. And here's an example from that time where there's one kind of writing and then another just to finish it off. And it was for a few different reasons.

One was just to authenticate it. Yes, this really is from me. How could you tell otherwise if it wasn't a fake letter? And even in our own era, we've got fake letters. It was one way to authenticate. It was also a way to make it personal. Yeah, I had a scribe write most of this, but I personally am signing this at the end. Why? Just so you know, this is from me to you. Even if I had somebody else write the bulk of it, this is from me to you. This is something that's personal, not just official or something to be done.

Paul seemed to follow this pattern, and he talks about large letters. There's a good chance that what that means is he went to capital letters at that point in time. And it's interesting. We have that practice pretty much with internet usage. The custom has come to be that capital letters are shouting. I'm not sure he was intending to shout. But he was intending, I think, to make some emphasis here. Interesting, as I looked this up, this concern for, is this a real letter, came up repeatedly in one book. Make that two.

1st and 2nd Thessalonians. 1st and 2nd Thessalonians repeatedly has the statement, from us, from us, from us, and no other book has that pattern. No other pair of books has that pattern. Paul seems greatly concerned that they get the right message from the right person. Somebody appears to have faked a letter to the Thessalonians, causing them alarm, making them think, the Lord's already come. Ah, I've been forgotten. No. Here's 2 Thessalonians. Three times he comes up with it. In the first instance, he even talks about a letter as if from us, a fake letter that caused some great alarm.

And so that's an interesting pattern there. But it underscores why Paul would have written a sort of a personal note at the end. Certainly to be personal, large letters for emphasis, but also a constant concern, is this the real thing? Or is somebody sending a fake letter? This is the real thing. I, Paul, am writing this with my hand, as I always do.

Now, as we look at this, we get the insights from this. Paul is being very personal with this. He wants the people in Galatia to know, I'm not just talking about some doctrinal thing as if it's some sort of hypothetical issue. We're not talking about law and grace as if it's sort of an academic matter that will debate among academics. No. He is saying, this is personal. And that's why I personally am putting my hand to this and letting you know and writing with emphasis. I want you to know that I personally am concerned for you in this matter. that whether you stand under law or stand under grace isn't hypothetical, and it's not just a power play. I personally care, he's telling them.

He's also underscoring this. I want you to make sure that this is really from me. This isn't some bogus correction. This isn't something to cause trouble. This is definitely from me. Not only is it personal, it's certainly from me and I the one who originally taught you and the one sending this letter.

Thirdly, he was being emphatic. He did make this note about large letters different from all the other letters. Nowhere else did he make a particular point of it. And so he was really being emphatic with these people. I really most certainly care about you people personally. I want you to know this is really from me. And the points that I have to make here are not only to be looked at carefully and not ignored, but the things I'm about to tell you are also exceedingly important. Now, bear with me here. And let's sow a little curiosity for the rest of the passage.

Alright. Verses 12 and 13. As we look at those and step into the rest of the passage, Paul begins to make a contrast a sharp contrast, and he's looking at motivations. Now, motivations can be something hard to judge, right? Especially in somebody else. But I think he's seen something pretty clear in the information he's gotten. And that's why he feels safe in talking about motivations. He had certainly talked about his own, and he's going to talk about his own some more. But he's starting to make a sharp distinction between those motivations of these false teachers, the legalists, and his own motivations. He's going to lay that out clearly for these people.

He starts off with those who desire to make a good showing. Now this word translated to make a good showing, it's a compound word put together that basically means to put a good face on it. Those who desire To make a good showing are those who want to just put a good face on it. They want to make it look good. They're concerned with appearances. That's what matters to them.

How does it look? Ever have this question posed to you? How do I look? That's exactly the question that these legalists are asking. How do I look? How do I look? That's all they're thinking about. Then these legalists wanted to impress other people specifically, interestingly enough, the other observant Jews, likely the ones back in Jerusalem, back at headquarters, so to speak. Those were the folks they wanted to impress.

The pressure towards legalism isn't really righteousness, but notice this, and he's going to underscore this later, it is part of the world system. Got that? The pressure towards legalism is part of the world system. The world system likes to underscore legalism.

It's not from the Lord. This word translated compel or in the King James's constraint indicates that these legalists were continuing, especially in the verb tense this comes across as, they were right then continuing to apply pressure. They wanted to force the issue. They wanted to force the kind of behavior.

Why? Because we've got people to impress back in Jerusalem, so you have to do this. That's why they were wanting to force the issue and trying to compel the Galatian believers to conform, to knuckle under, to do what they said. And here's where he gets, here's their avoidance motivation. The Legos were applying great pressure to these believers in Galatia. Why? They themselves were afraid. It was fear. It was fear that was motivating them. They themselves were afraid of being on the receiving end of great pressure from somebody else.

Let's picture it this way. Here's the sledge and a chisel and the rock. How are we going to picture that? The Jewish leaders are the sledge, the hammer. They're the ones that are ultimately applying the pressure from the outside. These are the Jewish leaders, probably back in Jerusalem, who are saying, we want all those people out there to conform to the law of Moses.

Next, we have the chisel. These are the legalists from Galatia. They're getting the pressure, and so they're passing it on. These are the legalists. They are the ones doing the chiseling, the ones in between the Jewish leaders and the ones from Galatia. It's the believers in Galatia that are on the receiving end of this chisel, that are getting the pressure and being told, you'd best conform to the shape that we have in mind.

And so that's the picture that we're getting from Paul's presentation here. The believers in Galatia were getting the pressure from these legalists, from the false teachers, so that the false teachers could avoid getting pressure from the leaders back in Jerusalem. Now, think about this question. What would happen? This is sort of pondering here. What would happen if the legalists were to fully and openly, we're talking completely, acknowledge the totality of what Christ did? Christ's accomplishments for us are completely adequate.

What if they said that? including that we've died to the law, that's what he said in Galatians 2.19, including that we've died to the law, accomplishing our salvation, and that our spiritual growth from that point of salvation on is entirely by grace. What if the legalists were to do that? What if they were to do that? Persecuted. That's what they would do.

And that's Paul's point. if they were to fail to apply pressure to the Galatians, to the believers in Galatia, they would be persecuted. So to avoid, out of fear of persecution, that's why they're applying a pressure. They're thinking if we can get those Galatian believers to conform to the pressure that we're putting them under, then we'll avoid persecution and the leaders back in Jerusalem will be happy with us. They won't They won't be pushing us out and persecuting us. But this is reality. Verse 13. The legalists were hypocrites. At best, and this is giving them the benefit of the doubt, they would do the externals of what the law commands. But inside, it wasn't reality. It wasn't happening.

It was just put a good face on. It was how does it look? What are the appearances? That's what they cared about. Interesting thing about this verse, the way it's written. In the Greek, the emphasis is on your, on your flesh. They're doing this, but the focus is on you, on your flesh. Making you react so that their situation is better. Making you do the work so that they look better. and stand out as better off. The final part of verse 13. Here is where he really points to their motivations and desires. They desire to have you circumcised so they may boast in your flesh. The legalists wanted the Galatians as trophies to put on the mantle. Ah, boy, look what we caused them to do. We just got trophies. Ever see Christians with notches on their Bible?

That's what these guys were doing. They were saying, boy, we get to get a trophy on our mantle, or I'll put it another more Jewish way, they wanted award patches on their yarmulkes. For all these people, for all the snipping they were doing, they figured, hey, that's great. I put that as a circle on the yarmulke. They wanted to have awards that showed. They wanted to have these people as awards that they could brag about. Make them look good. Now verses 14 and 15.

With this one, Paul switches to his own motivation in contrast to the legalists. He spent a couple of verses there laying out, here's the way the legalists see things. That's their motivation. That's their viewpoint. That's what they desire and what causes them to act the way they do and to say the things they say. Here he's saying, now let's shift over to my motivations, since those have been called into question. Because that's one thing that legalists would do. The Galatian believers would say, but Paul said, and they would say, oh, but Paul's got this problem. Paul's motivated this way. Paul's motivated that way. So Paul says, well, let's talk about my motivations then.

The motivation of the legalists was centered in themselves. We don't want to be persecuted. We want to look good. They didn't want others to put them under pressure. They didn't want the Jews to come and put pressure on them. So we want to look good. We want to come out okay in this. The focus was on them. One of the things that's clear, Paul was not playing a focus on the external marks of the human body. Okay? Isn't that clear? Paul is saying he's not urging them to go get marked this way or do that to your skin or anything else. Okay? And so I symbolize that with this.

This looks pretty ugly, but it's a whole lot easier to put on the screen than a circumcision. Nor was he responding to pressure from others. Worldly pressure was not Paul's issue, and he's going to make that abundantly clear here. He says, I'm not responding to pressure from the world. I'm telling you what I learned from Jesus Christ, personally. That's his point. I'm not motivated to try to look good, believe me. and he's going to give good evidence of that.

He wasn't insisting that anyone conform to some external standard that just doesn't matter, doesn't make a lot of difference. If I were to insist, for example, everybody at Holly Hills has to come in here with bright green socks. You've got to have bright green socks on, of course. And you're thinking, what difference does bright green socks make? And the reality is, you'd be right. I should not insist on bright green socks.

So we won't. Now, may it never be. This is a phrase that shows up several times in the book of Romans as well. May it never be. Sometimes translated, God forbid. Just not even sort of what we're looking at. Paul's boasting wasn't anything about himself. unlike the Judaizers who were trying to get some kind of a scorecard marked up, trophies, awards on their yarmulkes. Paul wasn't doing that.

He was only saying if there's any credit to be given, it goes to Christ. If there's any glory to be pointed to, it's Christ's. That was his point. This word cross that he puts a focus on here was a word that was shameful in that day. If you're trying to look good, that's not the word to use. If you're trying to sound good to people, that's not the word to use. Paul says, I don't care. Glory in the cross, in Jesus Christ and what he accomplished on the cross, that is what counts. That is what matters. And I'm not trying to please anybody. I will, however, point to Christ, whether the world's impressed or not.

As we get into the last part of verse 14, this is the last mention, and it's appropriate, it's the last passage, of the identification truths in the book of Galatians. We've been through several. And something else I found very interesting as I looked at this, this is a place where Paul, as he did earlier in chapter 2, states the identification truths in the first person. Isn't that interesting? He could have just stated it as this applies to all of us and in some places he did even in the book of Galatians, but in Galatians 2 20 and here It's very interesting how he puts it very personally And I think that's one of the ways that Paul underscored how personal this was to him This wasn't something he was saying Look, I want you guys to do this even if I don't But he was looking at it and saying Certainly, this applies to you.

But let me tell you, this begins with me. It is my very life that is impacted by this. I consider it true of myself. I don't ask you to take on and to understand and to live by anything that I myself wouldn't live by. And He does that here. Through which, that is the cross of Jesus Christ, the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. In this case, it's about identification with Christ and his crucifixion. Crucifixion means death, and death is separation.

There's a separation that went on. As a matter of fact, multiple separations that went on at the cross. It's interesting, the people that were standing there, they just saw a man who had been beaten badly, nailed to a cross. They didn't understand that there were multiple separations taking place.

Christ not only took the sins of the world upon himself, all of them, every last one, but he also, Christ also, because we're identified with him, separated us from things. And we'll take a look at that briefly as to what that is. Certainly underscores here the world. So we are dead in relationship to, translate that, we are spiritually separated from. And by the way, this isn't a temporary thing. This isn't just for five minutes. This is an eternal thing. We are eternally separated from. The sin nature and the sins. The sin nature, first 11 verses of Romans chapter 6. separated from, eternally, the sin nature, joined to Christ.

And sins, 1 Peter 2.24, both the sin nature and the sins that come from it, we have been separated from. We are separated from the law. Romans chapter 7, first six verses, Galatians 2, 19. Separated from the law, positionally, forever. We are not temporarily separated from the law. We are not separated just slightly or partially. We are totally, completely, eternally separated from the law.

And finally, as Paul makes the point here, separated from the world. The world is what brings the pressure of legalism. Paul says, I've died to that. Not only have I died to the law, I've died from that pressure. I've died in relationship to the world. So what does that mean to you and me? Died in relationship to the world? Wait a minute, where am I standing here? What does he mean by that? What's he talking about?

All of the things that the Lord accomplishes in our lives at the time we believe, and essentially it's actually been done before, but realized in this life at the time we believe, our eternal position in Christ. Matter of fact, who we are in Christ, that elective that's going to start in January, that's going to cover all the things about who you are in Christ forever. It is our realization of it over time. That's the food for growth. That's growing. It's realizing what is true at the moment that we're saved. We realize the awesomeness of what the Lord has done and accomplished.

But the world's pressures, and they may be intense, but the world's pressures, they just mean less and less to me. Why? I realize my identity is not tied up into what other people say that I am. My identity is not impacted. Who I really am, eternally, is not impacted by that pressure. And the pressures that this world has are going to go away.

It's going to fade. Gone. Terminal. They'll be gone. Who I am in Christ, that's going to go on forever. That's what matters. That's what counts. In 1 John, that was an elective we had a couple years back, 1 John, It says, this world is passing away. As a matter of fact, that along with other messages carried across in 2 Corinthians 5.17, this world is passing away. The pressures of this world, what counts to this world, what this world values, all those are passing away. They're terminal.

It is our life in the Lord who we are in Christ, including being crucified to the world that is forever. When Jesus Christ is present with all the saved of all time in the new heavens and new earth, you think this world's ideas and values are going to matter?

Not even sort of. Not even sort of. It'll be His person that will occupy us. We will be enthralled to no end with who He is. And what this world has to say and what pleases this world will make a lick of difference. Verse 16 here. Now, look at this. There are some things that might cause us some question. Maybe even you look at it and you go, oh no, why did he say that? He could have gone the whole book without saying that. Those who walk by this rule, ah! Peace and mercy upon them and upon the Israel of God.

What's that? Maybe there's some anxiety just from looking at that. But, let's take a look at that. I don't think you have to worry about it. Now, going into the details, this word is intended as a blessing. See that middle line there? It's a blessing. So that's one thing. It just causes us to relax. It's a blessing intended for our benefit.

Beyond that, after several chapters here of telling the believers that they're not under law, it would be a little strange for him to say that, OK, now I've got a rule for you. Now I've got a law for you to live by. No, that's not what he's doing. This word rule means a principle with this definition.

It's a basic truth. A basic truth. In the big picture, Paul throughout this letter had written about being justified. It is declared righteous by faith. Righteousness by faith. There had been a message in Galatians and those who studied Romans saw the same thing. Righteousness is by faith. Being justified is by faith. These verses before, obviously, had focused on Christ, His death on the cross, and that impact on each believer's identification.

But, you've got this word walk here. It's a different word for walk than is typical. Paul had blessed those as we look throughout this book of Galatians. He had blessed those who had walked, that is we said walking is patterning your life step by step, under grace through Christ. What does that mean? It means walking by the ministries, multiple ministries of the Holy Spirit.

Now specific, Paul used the word walk a lot throughout his letters. As a matter of fact, it's used many dozens of times throughout the New Testament. But interestingly, he chooses a word here that was only used four times in all of his letters, and he uses it twice in the book of Galatians. It's a different word for walk. The word that he used for walk here means like military people to walk in a line, walk together consistent with one another.

Isn't that interesting? So what's he calling for? This refers to our walking together consistent with one another as believers. So not just our individual walking, which is usually his point. In this rather unusual instance, he's talking about all of us walking together in fellowship with the Lord.

And what will that produce? We will all live a life consistent with the ministries of the Holy Spirit. That's what he's urging. We're to walk by means of the Spirit in the Spirit's oneness, in the Spirit's unity, and in the Spirit's consistency. Isn't that amazing? It's a call to walk together, not just your individual walk, but your together walk.

And finally here it says, upon the Israel of God. This word Israel shows up dozens of places in the New Testament, something like around 70 times. And in every other place, it means either the nation of Israel or the ethnic people of Israel or some group within Israel. And it literally means Israel. Now, I think that's the very same connection that he's making here, that he's talking about those of a subgroup of Israel. Now, specifically, Israel of God means those of ethnic Israel who are within the church.

I think that's what he's talking about. Now, there's more involved in this than we can possibly go into now. So what I would offer to you, there is a handout about a four-pager that's on the cabinet to the right. You can feel free to take that if that's of interest to you. And there is an additional link to even more information if you're curious about that and would like to pursue that.

All right. Now, verses 17 and 18, this is the grand finale. Here in verses 17 and 18, Now let no one cause trouble for me. Boy, what kind of statement is that? He wanted this scourge of legalism to end and the end of the questioning of his motives. Because after all, that's what the legalists had come in and done. As they introduced the legalism, they questioned Paul's motives. He says, this needs to all come to an end. I need no more trouble from this. He was going to give them dramatic proof, momentous proof. Paul had shown that his motivation came from Christ alone. He says, I preach Christ. And that's not a popular thing to preach, and especially the cross of Christ. Not even a popular word to use. I preach Christ, he says.

The legalists wanted others to make marks on their flesh. Paul could easily show and easily claim that he had marks in his own body that would prove his motivations. He was probably claiming the scars that came from persecution. Of the four cities in Galatia that he went to, only one of them, Derbe, did not offer him persecution. In one of them, Lystra, he was dragged and stoned and thought dead, but was not killed. Nonetheless, from the dragging and the stoning, he had scars to show for it.

In the Roman Empire, having brand marks that he makes reference to was used to mark slaves, to mark slaves. Paul claimed to be a slave while writing about his motives. Here's the very beginning of the book, the way he studied way, way back this last spring. In dealing with motives, what does he do? He says, I'm a bondservant of Christ. And he says, and I've got the scars to prove it. I've got the brand marks as of a slave to prove that I'm Christ and I obey him. And that's my motive. Brand marks were proof he was indeed Christ's bondservant.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen. Now, that might seem real simple, and you say, well, that's great. Let's move on. Well, but no, let's not. Let's take a look at that. We might miss the potency of Paul's words. What counted, he said here, was grace, not law. Walking by grace, not by law. He had underscored that, and he hits on it at the very last verse of the whole book. What counts is grace, not law. It was motivated from Christ and not from the world. What counts is spiritual, not just the external, not just the outside markings. There's no outside markings that you can do that will substitute for what's necessary spiritually.

And finally, he calls them brother, which, by the way, is a unique thing at the end of his letters. He calls them brother. He wants them to know, he says, I've said hard words to you, but it's because I care and I count you as my brothers. I count you as brother. I count you as of the same family.

He, like they, were dead to the sin nature and sins. He, like they, both having been baptized into Christ, were dead to the law. And he, like they, as he underscored in this last passage, was dead to the world. But the key thing, alive to Christ, alive to the Lord, is life.

Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage, we thank you for your life. We thank you for what you have done and for what you have accomplished. And it is for that that we want to praise you here this morning and give you honor and glory and thanks. In the name of Jesus, we pray these things. Amen.