This is my sermon text on Galatians 5:7-12. This message was delivered on May 20, 2012 at Hillcrest Baptist Church. This is a verse by verse exposition which deals with false teachers and the need to know Scripture. There is no audio (I forgot to record it). Text only.
SERMON TEXT:
GALATIANS 5:7-12
V.7:
Paul added the imagery of a race to the list of metaphors that he was using.
Paul notes that the Galatians started off good, just like many Christians, but were eventually lead astray.
Someone hindered them and they left the truth.
They were now trying to complete the race by their own legalistic effort rather than the grace of God.
Most new Christians are zealous and interested only in the truth. Sadly though, the more mature among us rarely take the time to disciple, encourage, teach sound Bible study habits to new Christians.
As a result, each succeeding generation seems to see a smaller percentage of mature Christians.
This is a real problem, because it makes the job of the false teacher much easier than it should be.
Consider the following quote from J.C. Ryle:
“Let us read our Bibles in private more, and with more pains and diligence. Ignorance of Scripture is the root of all error, and makes a person helpless in the hand of the devil. There is less private Bible reading, I suspect, than there was fifty years ago. I never can believe that so many men and women would have been “tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine,” some falling into skepticism, some rushing into the wildest and narrowest fanaticism, and some going over to Rome, if there had not grown up a habit of lazy, superficial, careless, perfunctory reading of God’s Word. “You do err not knowing the Scriptures” (Matt. 22:29). The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home.” – JC Ryle
We should be diligent to know Scripture, and to teach it to others, lest we produce a generation who does not know what the truth is.
Such a generation will believe anything. . . and. . . there are plenty of people out there who are willing to teach them “anything”
V.8:
These people were being persuaded, or led away.
Paul made it clear; however, that their current leading was not from God.
They were being influenced by false teachers of a false gospel, not by the one who called them.
Our calling is from God, not man. He does not call us into bondage, He calls us into grace.
2 Timothy 1:8-9
1 Peter 1:15
False teachings cannot come from Jesus, since He is truth:
John 1:17
John 14:6
Revelation 6:10
Revelation 19:11
Satan is the father of lies:
John 8:44
We need to be able to recognize these lies.
V.9:
A small lie is just as dangerous as a big lie, maybe even more so, because the big lie is often easier to spot.
A small lie can often work its way in, undetected, and eventually destroy everything. Take rat poison, for example:
99.99% harmless ingredients and .01% poison.
The good stuff attracts the rat, while the minute amount of poison goes undetected. However, that tiny amount of poison kills the rat.
We must strive to keep pure doctrine!
V.10:
We can be confident of being right minded, but only through Christ. Any other way is a death trap.
We can only remain right minded if we keep out the doctrines and philosophies of man.
All too often, we simply view the Bible as a “good book,” and good “guidelines” by which to live your life.
Simply a good book or simply guidelines, leave the Word of God open to other philosophies to either supplement it or replace it.
The word of God stands on its own, and we are not to add anything to it. Doing so makes us liars.
Proverbs 30:5-6
Jesus is the Living Word, and the embodiment of God’s grace, and His Grace is sufficient.
2 Corinthians 12:9
He and His word are sufficient, they need nothing else!
We can also be certain that the false teachers will bear God’s unrelenting wrath.
2 Peter 2:3-9
V.11:
Paul had been accused of still preaching the law as a means of salvation, specifically circumcision.
He argues that if that were the case, then the judaizers would not be persecuting him.
The sad reality is that some people will take anything you say, and twist it around in order to support their agenda, even when they know it’s not true.
It’s frustrating, but we must be prepared to deal with it, and we must always chose our words wisely, doing so will at least make it harder.
V.12:
If circumcision is good for salvation, why not go all the way!
By saying this, Paul notes the absurdity of works based salvation. It always takes more and more to achieve it.
What an awesome and wonderful God we serve, that doesn’t require this of us!
Isn’t it nice to know that God protects His children, will punish those who deceive us, and deliver us from His wrath.
What an awesome God we serve!
In Defense: The Blog 
Posted on May 24, 2012
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