Sermon
You were called to be free Galatians 5 1-13
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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You've tuned into a mega church. We are people hungry to
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encounter God through worship and His Word being witnesses to
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the world around us. We pray this teaching blesses
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you and trust God will reveal Himself to you in a new way
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today. And.
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If you need prayer for healing or breakthrough, or to find out
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more about Omega, get to our website or Facebook page through
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the links below. So we continue our series on the
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book of Galatians. We are into chapter 5.
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Before I go into the message, I want to give you a story of a
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man who was sentenced to 20 years of prison.
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So he finished his 20 years. The warden walks into the cell
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one day and says you have finished your sentence.
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Now you are free to go. Unlocks the thing, takes away
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the chains from his feet and hands, and you're free.
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But this man, what is he doing? He's still walking around with
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handcuffs on his hands in his home.
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He has handcuffs, goes to market, he goes with handcuffs.
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He still shuffles as if his ankles are chained.
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You know, he's feeling his legs all the time.
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He still asks permission before moving.
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Can I go to the bathroom? Can I go to do this?
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He is asking for permission. Why?
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That's what he did for 20 years in the prison.
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So he is continuing to do the same way.
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He still sleeps on the floor because he is used to it.
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Hard floor? Why?
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You got a nice bed? Why did you sleep on the bed?
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I am used to it. I like it on the floor.
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What's wrong with this man? Is he enjoying his freedom?
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He is not enjoying his freedom. Some of us are like that, some
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of us are like that. A friend finally says to him,
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why are you living like a prisoner?
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You are free. And he says to him, yes, I know
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I am free. But the chains feel familiar.
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Sometimes we want to have the familiar feeling.
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We want to feel nothing with new.
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We do not want to enjoy anything new.
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We want things to remain the same Before you know Christ,
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Whatever you do, you continue to do after you know Christ.
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But Jesus did not die on the cross so that you can be a
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prisoner to sin, Satan and the devil.
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No, he has come and died upon the cross to set you free.
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So this chapter 5 was 1 summarizes all that Paul has
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been teaching in the last four chapters.
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He is summarizing it with one single sentence and is giving a
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preview into what is going to talk more later on in the in the
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chapter and in chapter 6. So he says it is for freedom
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that Christ has set us free. The Greek word is Ulotharia.
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Ulotharia is basically freedom. You are set free.
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He bought your freedom basically with a great price.
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So what is this freedom in Christ?
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Ulotharia is a freedom or liberty to do or not to do
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something. You are free either to do or not
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to do. But before you become a
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Christian, you are doing or most of the time something wrong just
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because it feels good. But now you are set free from
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the dominion of Satan, dominion of sin.
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Over your life. Jesus has come to give you
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freedom to do the right thing, not the wrong thing.
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So now we have to keep our freedom.
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And one of the things about the freedom is we are set free.
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We our freedom is to obey, not freedom from obedience.
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We are we have a freedom to obey.
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Before we did not have the freedom to obey.
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Even though you know something is right, you do the wrong
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because you are not free. There was a principle of sin
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inside that will drag you down that Paul talks about in Romans
Romans 7 chapter mention
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Chapter 7. Not freedom from obedience
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because you became a Christian. You don't have to obey God
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anymore. Doesn't mean that that doesn't
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mean that. So the whole world is subjected
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to slavery because of sin of Adam and Eve.
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When Adam sinned, God walked into the God of Eden asked where
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are you guys? They were hiding.
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Why are you hiding? Because you are naked.
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Who told you are naked? Did you eat the fruit I told you
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not to eat? Yeah, we did eat.
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So they are now covered with leaves and come before God.
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Why did you do it? This woman, she deceived me.
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So why did you eat this snake? He deceived me.
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So he begins with the snake, and he curses the snake and puts a
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curse upon the earth. Thoughts and things you will
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bring forward. So that curse on the earth is
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now being lifted. When Jesus died upon the cross,
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when he shed that blood on the Golgotha, the hill of Golgotha,
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He dropped the blood on that earth which was cursed.
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In the book of Genesis. He has put his blood and says I
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redeem you today by my blood I am buying you back.
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And still people are not yet reached with the gospel.
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Not everyone, everyone believes in Jesus.
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When everyone believes in Jesus Christ, when he comes back, then
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the whole creation which is under curse, is going to be set
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free into the freedom. Your freedom is linked to the
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freedom of the universe, the creation.
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When you are free, the world goes free, the earth grows free,
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the mountain goes free, the trees go free, the animals go
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free because Jesus is setting you free.
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So don't think what happens if I believe and don't believe if you
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believe it's going to impact the creation.
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Romans 821 says the creation itself also will be set free
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from its slavery to corruption, into the freedom of the glory of
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the children of God, into the glory of the children of God.
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Those words are powerful words, glory of the children of God.
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You do not have a glory when you are in sin, but when you believe
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in Jesus, God puts His righteousness upon you.
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And when the righteous robe comes upon you, you are covered
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with the glory, the glory that Adam and you had before they sin
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when they did not need the clothes.
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That glory covers you now, it doesn't mean you walk without
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clothes. Now I am not saying that the
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point I am trying to make is that glory covers you.
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That glory covers you. Is there anybody who wants to
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shout Hallelujah for that? Freedom should edify others.
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You are not free just to please yourself, to work for your
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benefit, to live for your pleasure, to live for your own
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comfort. No, this freedom that Jesus is
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giving you is to edify other people, to help other people, to
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lift them up. Those who are burdened, you go
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and give them a shoulder and put a hand under their arm and pull
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them up, those who are going down.
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Because that is the heart of God.
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That is the heart of God. The world is pursuing its own
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pleasure, its own comfort, its own profit.
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But Christians are called to live for others, and that is how
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they know the love of God through your life.
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But the world doesn't know the love of God.
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But when they look at you and when they reach out and help,
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they see God's love. Somebody is waiting to be helped
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by you. Somebody is waiting to be
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comforted by you. Somebody is waiting to hear the
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words of the good news through your lips.
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Somebody is waiting for the change to be shattered.
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Somebody is waiting to be let out of their prison.
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Why you who have believed in Jesus has the power to help, to
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power to set people free to share the gospel.
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So you see the same thing is repeated twice in verse 1.
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He says it is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
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Stand form then and do not let yourself be burdened.
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Again the same thing he talks about in verse 13 and verse 13.
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He says you, my brothers, were called to be free.
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You are called to be free. Tell somebody you are free.
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Give them a high five who is sitting next to you.
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Say you are free, shout it. You have to be excited about the
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word of God. I am telling you, you must get
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excited about the word of God. So verse 13 says you are called
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to be free. But again, that freedom is not
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to use freedom to indulge in sinful nature, rather serve one
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another in love, so one another in love.
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That is the purpose of being set free.
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Before you know Christ, you live for yourself.
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After after you know Christ, you live for others.
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It's very, very simple. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are
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given to serve other people, not yourself.
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If you have a gift of healing, you don't go every day put your
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hand on your head and pray for healing for yourself.
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You go lay hand that hand on somebody and say be healed.
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You don't talk to yourself and say every demon come out, it's
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good. You can self deliver yourself,
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but how long you do it? That authority is to set other
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people free. Say in the name of Jesus be
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loose, be set free. So every gift of the Holy Spirit
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is given so that we will be set free from our selfishness and so
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other people. That is the heart of God.
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Purpose of God in everything he does is outward from inside out,
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not from outside in. Like we are not like sponge
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receiving and receiving and receiving always In India, you
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know we are very selfish people. So when somebody comes home, you
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ask the question, what have you brought to give me?
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What do you want to give me? Any gift you brought sweet
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packet. You know, some people don't go
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just like that, visit somebody and that's our culture.
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You know, you take some fruits or sweets or something like
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that. So it's just the way of doing
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things, you know, culture sometimes, but we are not born
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by any culture. So we don't we go without
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anything in our hands now. Just joking.
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So anyway, so that is what we have to, we shouldn't be always
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receiving, but should be giving. Giving, What can I give you?
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How can I help you? Word of comfort, word of
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encouragement. Let's just do it liberally,
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generously because we have been set free.
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You are not under obligation, but you have that inward power
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to love people as they they should be loved basically.
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So this is all about the freedom.
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There is so much we see. Let's not walk around with
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handcuffs, let's not sleep on the hard ground.
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Let's not ask for question. No.
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Am I free? Can I go to market now?
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Can I go to this mall now? Can I buy this?
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Can I? No, no, no.
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We, you have been set free. We have to know that we are free
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and that is a very big issue because many Christians don't
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think they are free. Ask yourself when did you feel
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free in your mind? When did you feel free in your
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spirit? Do you feel it always?
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If you don't feel it always, it is time to say I want to remind
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myself I am free. I don't want to forget it.
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I want to remind myself every day I am set free, I am free.
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I am free, I am free. This is very important.
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Why it is important? When you know that you are free,
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only then you can help somebody. If you are not free, you cannot
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help anybody. We cannot help anybody.
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That's the thing. So genuine freedom expresses
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itself in spirit directed worship.
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This is another benefit of we, we have been worshipping God,
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praising God. You know one of the things is
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when you are set free, the freedom will bubble from inside
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and bring a spirit directed worship.
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You will worship God in spirit and truth because you are set
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free. Human nature is not to worship
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God. Human nature now is not to bow
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to God. Human nature is in rebellion
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against God. But when you are set free, the
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that miracle happens and you bow to the Lord.
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You worship him. You ascribe dominion, authority,
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power, glory to Him. He's worthy.
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He's worthy, He's worthy. He's holy.
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He's holy, He's holy. To say that you need to be set
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free. If you are free, you will
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worship Him. So what is Paul fighting in his
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time is that there were a group of people who are Judaizers who
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are trying to pull these Christians and tell them you had
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to obey the Mosaic Law. You cannot forget the Torah.
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You cannot forget the the seven festivals.
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You have to do it. You have to do it.
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You should go through circumcision.
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This is again and again and again.
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They were fishing for people in the Christian community.
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The Gentiles are coming to know God.
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They're trying to impose Torah, impose the festivals, impose
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circumcision, and Paul was fighting it.
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That's why he says you have been called for freedom and stand
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firm. He says stand firm in your
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freedom, stand firm, say stand firm.
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You need to know you're free and you have to stand firm in it so
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that nobody will come and push you to make do something other
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than be free and submit yourself to don't let yourself be
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burdened again by yoke of slavery is comparing life under
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the Old Testament, the Mosaic law as slavery and the life in
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Christ is freedom. Am I clear here?
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So recently I came across somebody who is a Messianic Jew,
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Messianic Jew. Previously I thought Messianic
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Jews are nice bunch of people. I do not think differently now.
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But I found that different kinds of Messianic Jews, not just one
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kind, several kinds. The first kind they agree with
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Paul. They say we are set free by the
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death of Jesus, by his resurrection, by his burial and
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resurrection. We are set free and we believe
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in Jesus. We have no problem with the the
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set of Messianic Jews. They continue to follow their
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culture, like follow the festivals, do other kinds of
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things together as a fellowship. We have no problem with this
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Messianic Jews who believe the Bible, basically the New
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Testament. They were living just with the
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Old Testament. Now they accept both old and new
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number problem. There is another bunch of
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Messianic Jews who believe that Paul is mistaken, his gospel is
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not correct, it is not true. They think that he has preached
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the wrong gospel. I feel sorry for that bunch of
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people. And there is 1/3 category which
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is in between these two. And there are many other shades
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of all these three you have. If you meet 10 different
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Messianic Jews, they may have something common, something
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different. But what I want to say is in
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whatever way you want to go back to the law, you are going back
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into slavery. Are we clear here?
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Jesus has set us free and He has poured out Holy Spirit so that
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we can obey the law joyfully from inside.
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Because you are free, you are not forcing yourself to do it.
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I have to tell the truth. I have to tell the truth.
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Oh no, no, no. I have to do, it is so difficult
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for me. It is not like that You have the
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Holy Spirit who who is inside you, who helps you to tell the
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truth, always joyfully, freely. But they, those people, they are
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still under the law, they place themselves.
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It is just like walking around with handcuffs.
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Basically. The example I gave you is the
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messianic juice. Most of them, except the first
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group, they impose the law on themselves.
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Even though Christ is the fulfillment of the law, Jesus
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was not against the law. You read his words in the
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Matthew, in the book of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
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His words when you read he is not against.
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He said I came to fulfill the law.
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Every dot, every jot, whatever it is, I have come to fulfill it
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because He fulfilled it on your behalf and my behalf on behalf
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of the Jewish people. We no longer are bound by it.
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We are no longer going to be justified because we obey the
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law. We are justified because we
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believe Him who fulfilled the law for you and me.
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So these people, I mean, do not want to say too much about them,
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referring to them, but we are set free from the law.
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Basically, we are not going into slavery again.
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That's why Paul says don't submit yourself, stand up, stand
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firm, don't be burned again by yoke of slavery that is going
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back to the Old Testament. Cool.
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And now he is not done with just saying that.
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He said it once. Now second time he's saying what
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is he saying? Mark my words, I, Paul, tell you
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that Christ will be of no value to you at all if you let
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yourself be circumcised. Second time.
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Third time, verse 3. Again.
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I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he
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is obligated to obey the whole law.
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Same thing he is saying three times.
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Why is he, Why is he doing it? There is a tendency in every man
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to win the favour of God by doing something good, by doing
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something good. It can be a simple thing like
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coming to church for some people can be to win the favour of God,
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or you want to pray, or you want to read Bible, or you want to
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give or you want to do anything just to win the favour of God.
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There are lots of people. If you say you pay $100 today,
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tomorrow God will give you $1000, you will have 1000 people
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come rushing to the front and give you $100.
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Why? Because the human nature wants
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to be dominated and He wants to win the favour.
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Am I communicating here? That is the fallen nature.
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It is not a redeemed nature, it is a fallen nature.
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Because of that fallen nature, the prosperity gospel people
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have a field day. They are becoming billionaires
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because they know how to get the money.
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They appeal to the fallen nature and say, hey guys, do you want
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more money? Give some.
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By the way, that is not what I prepare to speak.
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It is just flowing with the teaching.
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So cool. And again you see I declare to
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every man, OK, so there is a slide there in the in the drive
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for the 1st 6 verses. So when I read through the
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passage, I said I need to make sense out of it, I need to
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grapple with it. I have to make it simple.
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I should have some way of understanding what all this is
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all about. See, why do we need a story in
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the beginning? That story is going to nail
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everything so that you can hang a coat on it and you can hang
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anything you want on it. So that is we that is why we
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need a story. So here is again a picture of
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trying to understand what Paul is saying.
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Worst one, he says freedom. Christ has set us free for
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freedom. Christ has set us free.
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And then on the right side you see, do not be burned again by
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yoke of slavery. So that is antithesis.
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This is thesis. That is antithesis.
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This is a statement. The opposite of it is if you
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are, if you do not have this experience, you are going to
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have that experience. You will be slave.
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You will be in slavery because you are set free.
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Do not go go back into slavery. Verse 2 If you let yourself be
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circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.
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Jesus died in vain for you. So powerful.
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So, as I mentioned, is another set of people who want to obey
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the law in every form of it. Are those people who make the
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death of Christ of no value to them.
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If you value the death of Christ, if you value his life
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for you on the cross, you will not go back to the law anymore
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because he came and fulfilled it on your behalf and my behalf.
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Are we together here Cool. Let's go forward in verse three.
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If you let yourself be circumcised, you will be
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obligated to obey the whole law. It's not just one thing is 100
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things or they say if you take the whole book of all the five
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books of Moses Genesis to Deuteronomy.
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There are about 616 commandments, something like
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that. Circumcision is only one.
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And these people who want impose the Jewish system, they say you
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must be circumcised. They are telling the Gentiles,
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they are telling anybody for that matter, you must be
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circumcised. But Paul is saying if you get
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circumcised, you have to fulfill not just the 10 commandments,
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all the 616 commandments. Am I here together?
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So God has set us free. Why do you want to go back into
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your slavery? That's his, that's his argument.
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Basically, again, trying to be justified by law.
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Verse 4, you are being alienated from Christ.
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You are separated from Christ. Christ death has no meaning to
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you. You will not be justified by
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works. You will be justified by faith.
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So he says, OK, you will be alienated from Christ.
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Don't do it, my friends. But these people are saying
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Paul's gospel is wrong and they want to keep doing the law.
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Am I here together? So when you come across somebody
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who says Messianic Jew, you have to make sure what kind of
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Messianic Jew there? If they don't agree with Paul,
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give them a salute, say goodbye. If they agree with Paul, good,
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we have fellowship. Next I put the do there again.
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He repeats himself, trying to be justified by law.
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You are falling away from grace. These are incompatible things.
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Justification by faith and practicing the law incompatible.
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You do 1. The other one you cannot do at
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the same time. I was looking at the word is
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truth exclusive? It is exclusive.
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Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life.
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That is where he stop. He is the way, the truth and the
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life. What he says that is final and
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anything else, what he does not say is false.
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What he says is truth. It is exclusive.
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And when you say Jesus is the Saviour, you are saying all
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other philosophies, all other religions are false.
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That is why people, some people do not like Christianity,
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because it claims to be an exclusive faith.
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It excludes everybody, and that is what it is.
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You cannot have in the Old Testament you have the
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Philistines captured the ark and put it to the temple of Dagon.
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And when they came in the morning, the Dagon's idol was
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fallen down. They put it back again, put some
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more nails and next day they come again.
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Its fallen on this time, neck is broken off, it is rolled and is
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come on the threshold. Hands were cut off.
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These two are incompatible. Yahweh Ishwa cannot coexist with
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any other God, any other philosophy, any other system.
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He is an exclusive God. You have to worship Him as an
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exclusive God. He is the truth, He is the
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light, He is the way, He is the bread.
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He is everything to us. You can't be a Christian and be
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going to meditation. You can't be a Christian and go
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into yoga. You can't be a Christian and go
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into sacrifice of our offer to idols.
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You cannot do these things because it is an exclusive claim
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on your life. When you believe in Jesus, you
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belong to Him. He belongs to you.
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That's a bond. There's a covenant there.
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There is a relationship there. There is a truth there.
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There is freedom there and you move out of it.
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You move into slavery was fine by faith.
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We we eagerly await through the Spirit for the righteousness for
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which we hope. There is a righteousness you
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receive now, but there is a complete righteousness.
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When he appears, we are going to be like Him, we are going to be
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like Jesus when you see him face to face.
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So we have already and not yet. I am telling my friends this
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phrase. I learnt it long time ago, 30-40
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years ago already and not yet and it is not going to change.
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I have gone through so much of theology and discussion in my
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mind with other people. These words are not going to
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change. There is an aspect of Christian
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life which is already done in Christ.
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There is an aspect which is going to unfold in the future.
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You have the Holy Spirit already now, but there will be a time
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when you will be in the Spirit always.
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You are. They should be a set free from
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sin now, from dominina sin now, but not the presence of sin but
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in the future. We are going to be set free from
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the presence of sin. Sin will not be there where you
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are going in the future, right now.
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It can be in the community, it can be in the family, it can be
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the society anywhere. Presence of sin may be there,
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but you will be saved, delivered, set free, that
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dominion broken over your life. But the future, even the
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presence of sin will not be there where you are going.
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So these are already and then not yet.
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Are we here agreeing? Let us say already and not yet.
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Powerful statement. You will remember after 30 more
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years you will say this man preached 30 years ago.
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It is true. I am telling you now in Christ,
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neither circumcision or uncircumcision has any value.
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It has no value at all, Paul says.
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But why are you talking about if it has no value?
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Why would you let people do whatever they like?
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Because when they do whatever they like, they are going into
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slavery again. But in itself it does not mean
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anything. Circumcision has no value.
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Uncircumcision has no value. What matters is that love
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expressed through faith. If you have faith, you must
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express it through love and that's what is all important.
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Only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
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One more slide please. I just put them in red to
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distinguish, that's all. No other purpose.
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I wanted one in my notes. I wanted to see differently, so
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I put in a different color. So verse 7, you are running a
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good race. Who cut in on you kept you from
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obeying the truth. He is Paul is giving you an
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athletic figure of speech here. Say you're running fast.
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You you may be noticing that when you when you see them
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running on the track, the everybody is going but it
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somebody will try to overtake and come in front of them.
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That's what is Paul is saying. Who is cutting in on you?
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Sometimes it happens. You know, once I was going on my
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cycle bicycle and somebody cut in before me and I was thrown.
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Boom. I was flying like a bird in the
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next moment and hit some rocks. So it is going to be an
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accident. So what Paul is saying is you're
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running a race quite well. Who cut in on you?
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Who has stopped you? Who has obstructed you?
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Who has tried to do harm to you? That's what he's asking.
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Disobedience to the truth does not come from the one who calls
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you. When you move away from this
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freedom and go back to keeping the law until you do the law,
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you are going, you are not going to be justified.
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You are not going to be accepted by God, then you are you are,
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you are going back into slavery and this is not what is
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happening. This is this does not come from
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the one who calls you the God who called.
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He made a clear cut. Demos, I mean a distinction
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between the Old Testament is the Old Covenant and a New
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Testament, a new covenant. You cannot be belonging to the
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new covenant and be doing things of the old covenant.
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To make this truth very powerful, Jesus has talked about
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two different analysis parables he gave.
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Who will sow a old cloth on in? Who will sow a new cloth and a
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old patch? If you have some tear in your
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shirt those days you do not just throw away because it is a small
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tear. You put some cloth on it, patch,
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and then keep wearing it. One more tear, you put one more
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patch. But what the whole problem is
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when you put a new cloth on an old garment and stitch it up,
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and you wash it, the new garment will shrink, new patch will
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shrink, and the tear becomes worse.
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So if you want to patch up a old shirt, if you tears up, you have
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to find something that's already used, a piece of another shirt.
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That's not no good anymore. Take a piece of it and stitch it
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there. It will stay intact.
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I do not know whether it makes sense to most of us because we
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do not do these things these days, but do it.
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We do not do it. We just throw the shirt, go back
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and buy something. So that is that is those days.
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It was not that easy. Clothes were not so coming so
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easily. So people have to use it.
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So Jesus is saying if you have a tear in your garment, you do not
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put a new cloth as a patch because it is going to destroy
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your clothes. Same way he says who will put a
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new wine in a old wine skin when you have a wine skin made of a
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leather and you put the new one into it.
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If it is a old wine skin because the new one is bubbling,
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effervescent fermentation, gas are built up, it is going to
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burst open the skin. You will lose the skin and the
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wine. So he says new wine has been put
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into new wine skin. Why?
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It is strong enough to hold it. So you have both preserved the
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New Testament faith in Jesus Christ is the new wine.
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Jesus is the new wine. He is the new wine and you
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cannot put your body belongs to old old covenant.
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You are trying to do things according to the old covenant.
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You are hanging on for acceptance by God.
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By doing something good, you are putting the new one into the old
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wine skin. It will destroy you.
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So this well meaning friends of ours Besanic Jews, we have to be
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a little careful with them and we need to be gentle with them
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because God loves them. They are under blindness.
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They are under blindness. We you can talk to them.
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They won't listen to they will stop talking to you.
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The moment you say, hey, that's not right.
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They say you are wrong. Paul is wrong.
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I don't believe in it and don't want to have any fellowship with
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you. So goodbye, let's part in peace.
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You have done your job. We cannot convert everybody.
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Those, particularly those who are blinded required a light, a
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revelation. And until the Holy Spirit gives
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a revelation, we cannot bring them out.
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So that is where we leave the matter there.
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So let's go again back into He gives another example of a East
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Again, this is not something we do these days.
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Olden days. You want to make bread with
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yeast. You will have some dough in the
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house that ferments and you keep a little of the dough aside.
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When you make a fresh batch, you add the dough to the fresh
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batch. Why?
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By next day it becomes completely sour sourdough.
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So that is how they were, they were making bread.
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So he says if you put hide a little yeast in the dough, it
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makes a whole dough sour, it makes the yeast walks through
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it. So sin is like that.
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You allow little sin, little lie, little of this, little of
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that, little of lust, it is going to make ferment and spoil
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the whole dough, whole batch is going to.
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So Paul is saying, hey guys, you know when you go we want to go
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back to the old law again. You are basically hiding the
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East in the whole new batch of dough, which is going to ruin
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the whole dough, is going to spoil the whole dough.
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Sin is like that. So he is giving one more example
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of that and then he goes back again.
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I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view.
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He is encouraging the Galatians. Please agree with me.
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Let us have the same kind of a view.
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Don't have any other view. Let's agree together.
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He is saying the one throwing into confusion will pay the
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penalty. Whoever he may be, whoever is
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teaching the wrong thing, whoever is trying to spoil your
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mind, God will judge that person.
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Is it a kind word, very nice word that Paul is saying?
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No, because truth is exclusive. It cannot coexist with untruth,
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with lie. So that is the reason why he
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talks about it. And then I am still preaching.
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If I am still preaching and some people said no, no Paul, you are
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still preaching circumcision. He says if I am still preaching
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circumcision, why am I being persecuted?
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Why is the offence of the cross? If I am preaching persecution,
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the offence of the cross is abolished.
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No one will be offended by the cross.
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So if we are going back to the law, we are making Christ's
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death of no value to us. We are out of grace, we are not
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in the covenant, we are playing with sin, and we are going into
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slavery. So many images in one little
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passage just to tell us that we ought to be very clear in our
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mind that Jesus is our Savior and we have nothing to do with
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the law. The old wine you can't put into
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new wine skin. A Gentile who is becoming
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believer is a new wine skin. You put the old wine, it is not
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going to work. Same way you put new wine into
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the old wine skin. It does not work.
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You need new wine skin. New wine.
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Jesus is the wine and we are the new wine skin.
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He comes in, everything is beautiful.
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The agitators who promote circumcision, Paul wishes that
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they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves.
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Why a little did of the whole thing that is, I added those
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words circumcision is a little skin is cut off.
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But he says why you want to cut a little portion, take the whole
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out, emasculate yourself, become a eunuch, because they will
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become unprofitable, will not be accepted in the in the community
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and they will be of no value. Basically he says just do not be
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satisfied with the little cut, get rid of the whole thing,
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become a eunuch. It is just he is angry.
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I see that that Paul is very angry towards these people who
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are promoting the law, obedience to the law.
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But we do we not obey the law? We do obey the law.
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Why? Because we have a new nature,
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the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in US, who helps us to do
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it right all the time, not because we ought to, but it is
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His nature. Our nature is change.
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We have a new power, we have a new energy, we have a new
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strength, we have a new vision, we have new purpose.
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And that energizes us, motivates us and pushes, propels us to do
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what the Holy Spirit wants us to do.
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That is why he says you have to show love, love, love.
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And that is how you, you, you approve these things.
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So let us conclude it. Verse 13.
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What does he say in verse 13? But you and my brothers were
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called to be free. But do not use your freedom to
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indulge the sinful nature. Rather, serve one another in
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love. Serve one another in love.
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This is very, very important. When we don't serve people, we
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become selfish. It's like a pond that doesn't
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have a fresh water coming in. You'll become stale and useless.
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God designed us to give out, share the gospel, do good
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things, help somebody who is in need, visit somebody who is
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grieving, send a meal to somebody who cannot make a meal.
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Whatever way. Show that love, Demonstrate that
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love. Why?
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The moment you keep doing that, you are a fresh pawn and when
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you don't serve others, you become a stale pawn.
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Mass will grow. It will be of no use.
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Shall we pray? Father, we thank you for this
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morning. We thank you for the price you
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paid to set us free. Infinite price.
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Because our problem was too big. Man cannot fix it himself.
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That's why you came into the world, died on the cross.
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We worship, we honor you, we thank you, Jesus.
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You are the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the whole
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world. We praise you, we praise you, we
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praise you for you. Cry out from the cross, it is
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finished. Every drop you shed on the cross
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is to set us free and help us to stand in freedom by faith in
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you, doing good things to other people to the glory of your
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name. In Jesus name we ask, Amen.
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Thanks for joining us at Omega. If you need prayer for healing
-
or breakthrough, or simply to find out more, please head to
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our website or Facebook page in the links below.