hi I'm Jim Staley with passion for truth ministries I'm glad you could join us today today we are going to dig in to one of the most popular books in the Bible but by far probably one of the most misunderstood books of the Bible it's the book of Galatians it's a book that was written right after or right during the time that Paul wrote the book of Romans and so there's a lot of similar terminology that are found in the book of Galatians as there is in the book of Romans but before we start we're going to actually not start in the book of Galatians because like I said one of the things that's incredibly important if we're going to understand any kind of book is to find out what the context is who the author is who is the receiver from the author what did they believe where did they come from and quite frankly where are they going so we're gonna actually start in first Peter 1:1 and that will give us a clue of who these people from Galatia really are and then we're gonna take a introductory sidestep to give some context of who these people are it is so critical to understand who the people that are in Galatia are that Paul is talking to because if we don't know who they are we're going to absolutely read into the text who we think they are which can drastically affect the outcome so let's get started if you want to turn with with me to your in your Bibles to first Peter chapter 1 verse 1 we'll read this it says Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ or we're gonna refer to him in this series as Yeshua the Messiah Yeshua is just simply his Hebrew name and I prefer to be called by my real name so let's call him by his Peter an apostle of Yeshua the Messiah to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia both inia elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Yeshua the Messiah grace unto you and peace be multiplied you know there some in credible hits here right here in the first two verses of first Peter which are going to help us dissect who these people are in the book of Galatians a matter of fact it says right here that they are strangers that are scattered in these certain cities and Galatia happens to be one of these cities that these particular people are scattered or dispersed your might your version might use the word dispersed then it comes up with this very strange term which has caused a lot more controversy it's called elect says they are elect according to the foreknowledge of Elohim or Yahweh so don't you think that would be in being very important and very studious for us to find out exactly who these people are because they are number one elect and number two they are strangers well those two terms are opposing terms in biblical language and will I'll explain what that means in just a minute but before we get started I want you two to completely understand that when we talk about scriptural terms we must use the right biblical dictionary well what do I mean by that Jim well there's a lot of different things that you can use you can use Christian Bible dictionaries you can lose use online encyclopedias you can use anything that you want to help you get the right definition but I'm gonna submit to you that we use the exact same dictionary that the Apostles and the disciples who wrote the New Testament used and did you know that they have recently discovered this new first century dictionary that the disciples used and amazingly it was called the Tanakh the Old Testament that was the only scripture that was available when Galatia was written when the book of Galatians was written matter of fact it's important for you to understand that when the New Testament was written you're talking 40 to 60 to 90 plus years after the death of our Messiah when these words were written down so when when when Timothy says when Paul says that all scripture is worthy of doctrine reproof and way of righteousness there is only one scripture available at the time and that is the Old Testament the Torah and the prophets and the writings so we are going to be referring when we define things which which is critical when we are doing biblical hermeneutics is to define exactly what the author is trying to say we are going to be using the only definitions that they grew up with the only dictionary that they had which was the Old Testament so let's get started first of all one of the words that we need to describe or define is Strangers another word is scattered and another word is elect and without doing literally we can do a whole series on these three words so what I'm gonna do is I'm going to refer you back to a teaching that I did that you can get on the website passion for truth comm it's called identity crisis it is the most fundamental most foundational teaching of all the scriptures you cannot understand two thirds of the Bible will be shut up to your understanding if you do not understand the teaching of identity crisis so I encourage you to get that I'm going to give you a little thumbnails just so that we can get into the book of Galatians and we can work through it and you'll kind of understand a little bit more where we're coming from okay strangers scattered intellect hold on to that thought and we're gonna come back to that okay now I'm going to draw attempt to draw the country of Israel on my handy-dandy okay Israel a long time ago back in the time of Solomon was split into two countries in the north it was called the house of Israel now originally Israel was made up of all 12 tribes he had 12 tribes made up all of Israel after Solomon it was stripped it was a stripped of his ten tribes you had ten tribes in the north and you had two tribes in the south you had Benjamin and Judah in the south and you had the other ten tribes in the north the southern kingdom was called the house of Judah now Jim why is this so important well you're gonna see why this is so important how this relates to the whole entire book of Galatians well back in 586 BC what we find is that the house of Israel excuse me 722 BC because they broke the covenant and they did not obey the commandments Yahweh decided to divorce the Northern Kingdom and allow them to be taken into captivity into Assyria the southern kingdom you would think would have learned from her northern sister but she didn't she actually went into captivity in 586 BC now many of you are probably familiar with this one because they went into Babylon but now here's the key here's the key the key is is that we have to understand why there is such thing as Jews today and and not such thing as Dan eyes or Asher i'ts or or NAFTA lies you know all of these different tribes that were in the Northern Kingdom where are they and where did the Jews come from this is significant because here's why is because when going back to the chalkboard when the northern kingdom was taken off into captivity into Assyria Yahweh said that he is going to disperse them and scatter them into all four corners of the earth and he calls Israel his sheep and he specifically calls the northern kingdom the lost sheep this is going to be very critical so the lost sheep get taken into Syria and then they get scattered throughout all the world the known world that time and ended up in all four corners of the world they never came back the southern kingdom the house of Judah on the other hand after 70 years in captivity they were allowed to come back to Jerusalem why is this so important because the only reason why we have Jews today is because the southern kingdom came back the word Jew comes from Judah it does not come from the word Dan okay or Asher Naphtali or in it's a car Zebulon any of the other northern tribes it comes from the house of Judah so we are missing technically the northern kingdom which is called the house of Israel is completely missing they went and they became scattered sheep dispersed into all four corners of the word the world it's called the dispersion or the diasporic okay so I want you to remember that because when we get into the book of Galatians that's going to be very important now here's the big problem is that yahweh has a law in the torah that says that if you divorce a woman if a priest divorces his wife for adultery he's not allowed to marry her back it's against the tor no matter what he cannot marry her back she actually has to die for her to get out from underneath the law of adultery so that she can marry someone else legally so when you get to the New Testament we have a this is called a mystery of the Old Testament is the fact that the Northern Kingdom was divorced how are we gonna solve this very simply in a nutshell and I spent an hour and a half going through this through identity crisis but a nutshell Yahweh has to send the bridegroom to die for his bride matter of fact Yeshua says he only came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel because he came to die for his bride to set her free from the law of adultery so that when she rose again from the grave she would be allowed to marry him again and that marriage is the marriage supper of the Lamb that's what it's all about and so when you come into the New Testament you're going to see this concept of the lost sheep the parable of the 99 the prodigal son it has nothing to do with most of what we think it has to do with it has everything to do with he has two nations two sticks Ezekiel 37 two trees that were split from one olive tree one cultivated one wild he is grafting them both together into one new man of Ephesians chapter 2 so that's what it's all about ladies and gentlemen is about the connection of the house of Judah with the house of Israel in the hand of Messiah okay so as we walk through the scriptures and we look through these we want to understand them we have to keep that in the back of our minds matter of fact let me pose a question of all the epistles of Paul and Paul was a rabbi and he was apostle to what he calls the Gentiles it's it's very critical for you to understand that the northern kingdom was called the Sheep that lived among the Gentiles listen to this it says in Jeremiah 50 verse 17 it says Israel is like scattered sheep the Lions have driven driven him away I will surely assemble all of you a Jacob I will surely gather the remnant of Israel I will put put them together like sheep in the foal like a flock in the midst of their pasture they shall make a loud noise because of so many people in Ezekiel 1116 says therefore say thus says Lord God although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles although I have scattered them among the countries yet shall I be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone so big clue here anytime you see the word dispersed or scattered you are completely talking about the northern kingdom most 95% of it is talking about the northern kingdom so now let's take that concept let's move it into the New Testament when get to let's pull back up first Peter again when we pull up first Peter and it says Peter an apostle of Yeshua the Messiah to the strangers the word there is to those that are Gentiles to the Gentiles scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia the key word there is scattered a moment we think we see scattered it cannot be talking about anybody else but the Northern Kingdom and the key to understanding that are the the proof behind that is the very next word elect you see like I said in the very beginning when we are going to understand the Scriptures you must define them by the scriptures and the only scriptures available at the time were the Tanakh the Old Testament and we call the Old Testament the Hebrew Scriptures and the only people that are called the elect in all of the scriptures is Israel and the only people that were elect that were scattered and divorced is the Northern Kingdom so what we're finding out here in the book of first Peter is giving us a very big hint that the people in Galatia are most likely none other than the northern ten tribes who are divorced from the covenant who became Gentiles and so there are two sets of Gentiles ladies and gentlemen there is the Gentiles that are true pagan Gentiles were Gentile means out of covenant they're out of covenant never where Israelites and then there are what we just found out in Ezekiel the Israelite Gentiles the Israelite that became Gentiles so both of them are out of covenant now this is another piece of information that's really important for you to understand is in the first century the house of Judah the Jews of the day which were called Israel because there was nobody left but the house of Judah they couldn't stand the Israelite Gentiles because they were out of covenant and they were paid they were to them they were dogs and wild beasts and four-footed animals and they had laws and decrees that kept the the any Gentile pagan or not from ever being a part of the Covenant so this is a big mystery how is Yahweh going to solve this will he solved it by sending them bridegroom his son Yeshua the Messiah died for his bride and now you have the Apostle Paul rabbi Xiao rule is going around from city to city and guess where he ends up he ends up in the synagogues and he ends up on the street corners and he says I have good news the mystery has been solved has it ever made sense to you how thousands and thousands of emphasis alone a hundred thousand believers supposedly pagan Gentiles some Jewish rabbi walks into town and says hey there's another Jewish rabbi that died for your sins if you stop what you're doing repent and come and follow him you'll be saved and these Gentiles who hate the Jews just up in arms except this Jewish rabbi Messiah I don't think so it makes a lot more sense that these quote Israelite Gentiles knew exactly who their lineage was and they knew exactly what he was talking about and it became really good news because now no longer were they separate and scattered from in Pontus Galatia and out of covenant they had the a way to come back to the Covenant and that's what they're gonna do they're coming back to the Covenant through the good news the good news is the curse has been broken you are not you are no longer an adulteress and you can come back to the covenant so I know that was a long introduction and I apologize but it is that critical as we work through this series to understand the book of Galatians is to understand first who was written to so let's get started Galatians chapter 1 verse 1 I will be reading from the NIV and sometimes I may switch back to the King James Version it says Paul an apostle sent not from men nor by man but by Yahshua the Messiah and God the Father who raised him from the dead in all the brothers with me to the churches in Galatia grace and peace to you from God our Father and a Lord Yeshua Messiah who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from present evil age according to the will of God and Father to whom be glory for ever and ever amen I'm astonished that you are so quickly dessert so he gives them a real quick introduction and he starts rebuking them okay how would you like this guy to be your pastor he's very straightforward I'm astonished that you are so quickly dessert deserting the one who called you by the grace of Messiah and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all it's no good news at all evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Messiah so bottom line the gospel of Messiah what is it we know from the mystery that there was a curse placed on mankind especially the bride that she was not allowed to come back because she broke the law and the good news was is that the penalty of the law had been taken care of so the term under the law which we're going to find out what it means in just a moment but under the law coming from Romans is no different than than what it means today when you were under the law you did something wrong when you are under the law that means you were under not only its jurisdiction but that you were under its punishment so if you do something wrong you are under it you're like you're under someone's thumb so he says that she says he says in verse eight but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you let it be eternally condemned as we've already said so now I say again if anyone is preaching to you a gospel other than what what you accepted let him be eternally condemned this is serious issue they're starting to move away from what Paul shared with him which was the good news am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God or am I trying to please men if I were still trying to please men I would not be a servant of Yeshua I want to know brothers that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up I did not receive it from any man nor was I taught it rather I received it by revelation straight from Yeshua the Messiah for you have heard of my previous way of life and Judaism how I intensely persecuted the Church of God and I try to destroy it I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age was extremely zealous for the traditions of my father you catch that that's very important there is there is the zealousness for the law and then the traditions of the elders to separate parts but but when God who set me apart from Bert and call me by His grace was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles the I did not consult any man nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus then after three years I went up to Jerusalem I'm in verse 18 if you're following along to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him 15 days I saw none of the other apostles only James the Lord's brother who is the president of the Church in Jerusalem I assure you before God that what I'm writing to you is no lie I'm telling the truth later I went to Syria and silicium I was personally unknown to the churches of you Judea that are in Messiah they only heard the report we're just setting all this up and just reading we'll get into the juicy stuff here in a moment the man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy and they praised Yahweh because of me so now in chapter 2 it says fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem this time with Barnabas I took Titus along also I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles but I did this privately to those who seem to be leaders for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain one of the things that people accused Paul of is being a maverick someone who is not under authority that doesn't submit himself to even an examination or a challenge and I think right now we're seeing that that we know for a fact through Paul's writings he's definitely straightforward he definitely will say what he thinks exactly how he he thinks and when he thinks it but he's also he recognises the power of unity he recognizes the right hand of fellowship he recognizes that without going to Jerusalem and digging through their mind and making sure that they're on the same team it will inhibit the message of the father so it says when I went response to revelation set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles but I did this in privately so they make sure he didn't run in vain verse 3 yet not even Titus who was with me was compelled to be circumcised even though he was a Greek now wait a minute how did we just jump into circumcision he's just says that he went up to Jerusalem because he got a revelation from Yeshua to go there and he wants to make sure that he did not run the race in vain and it seems like we're missing some information because all of a sudden he says yet not even Titus was compelled to be circumcised even though he was a Greek now I don't know if we're missing information or not but it does seem like we're coming in the middle of a conversation but what does this mean because that's ultimately the most important what does verse 3 mean when it says yet not even Titus who was with me was compelled to be circumcised even though he's a Greek one thing that's important to know when you're dealing with Paul's epistles is that there is a battle going on matter of fact 2/3 of the New Testament is about this battle including Acts chapter 15 which is the Battle of what does it mean to be saved what does it mean to actually have salvation and how do you do that because in the first century there were seven steps to converting to Judaism and sometimes it took as much as a year to do so and they believed that they were the only ones that had salvation of course their definition of salvation is far different than the than our definition of salvation but they believed they were the chosen ones and converting to Judaism was a way of becoming part of that chosen people so there was a major disagreement among Paul and the disciples about what did it mean to be saved there was a circumcision party in a part of the believers in Yeshua of the first century and they believed that not only did you have to believe in Yeshua but like many religions today or sects of Christianity they believe it you have to do something else and there's something else was that you had to play by their rules you had to continually do the traditions and the doctrines of the elders and you had to be circumcised and keep all of the law of Moses to be saved not for a way of righteousness or our walking in in in your salvation or a way of life they defined salvation as doing all of these things that the law tells you to do which we know is impossible to do no one can do it perfectly and there's no way that you could ever inherit salvation by doing anything our salvation rest in Yeshua alone keeping the commandments is just a way to tell him that we love him okay and so what's happening is the second that Paul walks in the door imagine this they already believe that he is a maverick and the second he walks in the door they're already on him that they're he's not doing what they want him to do and he says that we were not convinced we are not even remotely going to give them one minute to be compelled that we had to be circumcised in order to be saved and he says Titus was not even compelled to be circumcised but but the context is always about salvation it's not about whether or not it's the right thing to do or not it is about he's not compelled to be circumcised to be saved and the reason why is because the moment that he gives in to circumcision just like we're going to see a little bit further here that has to do it with salvation the moment that he agrees with them now the circumcision party is going to emit a notch in their belt and he is going to fall under their jurisdiction and he they are going to brag that now Titus is one of their converts and not one of Paul's convert so there's a big battle going on here between these quote Christian groups or these believers in Yeshua these sects of Judaism on which is the right thing which is the right way to go we're going to pick up here in a minute we'll be right back with more of Galatians and we'll get into the rest of chapter 2 when we return hi and welcome to passion of truth ministries I'm Staley I'm glad that you're joining us this afternoon we are working our way through the book of Galatians and last time we left off where Titus was fiat was not feeling compelled to be circumcised because he did not want to give in to the pressure from the circumcision party that believed that you had to be saved you had to do all of the works of the law so we're gonna pick up and in verse where where we verse 11 I believe no we're gonna pick up right in verse 4 and that because of false brethren unaware they who were unawares that were brought in let's switch to a different version they're infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom that we have in Yeshua the Messiah to make a slaves and again the freedom that they're having is not freedom from keeping the law it's freedom from legalism that they're talking about we do not give in to them for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you as for those who seem to be important whatever they were makes no difference to me God does not judge by external appearances those men added nothing to my message on the contrary they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles just as Peter had been given the task to preaching to the Jews for Yahweh who was at work in the Ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews was also at work at my ministry into the Apostle to the Gentiles James Peter and John those reputed to be pillars gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace that was given to me the power that I had to speak into the lives of the Gentiles they agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the Jews and all they asked is that we would remember the poor the very thing that he was eager to do why because remembering the poor is love it's compassion at the very foundation of the entire law when Peter came to Antioch I opposed him to his face this becomes one of the most misunderstood scriptures in all of the New Testament we're getting ready to tackle right now so bear with me and hopefully we'll get through this and come out on the other side with better understanding so in verse 11 Peter came to Antioch I opposed him to his face because he was clearly in the wrong before certain men came from James talking about the circumcision party he used to eat with the Gentiles but when they arrived he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision party now I don't know about you but if we read carefully there is nothing in here about what's on the menu there is nothing in here that says what they ate how they ate or where they ate they're certainly not even in inference that they're eating anything unclean yet I have heard pastor after pastor teacher after teacher used this first and say listen look Peter is actually eating shrimp and lobster right here and ham sandwiches with the Gentiles I have literally heard people say that when nowhere in the scripture does it say what they were eating it simply says that he is eating he used to eat with the Gentiles well it's very important to know to help the context to know that there was an oral law that the Jews had that said that you were not allowed to fellowship with that with that which they considered to be unclean you cannot even walk through the threshold of a Gentile person's house or you would be unclean it was called unlawful it was against their law it was not against the law of Yahweh the Torah it was against their oral law of course that's what Acts chapter 10 is all about is Peter tells Cornelius who is in the process of converting to Judaism hapy Cornelius don't worry about it I know it appears as if I'm breaking or a law but I'm not because Yahweh has shown me not to call any man unclean okay all right so he says he says the other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy in other words over the course about imagine several hours that Peter and the circumcision party is there you can imagine how uncomfortable Peter is because he knows he is breaking the laws that the circumcision party holds so dear so Peter was over here eating with the Gentiles and thus the Gentiles who look up to Peter as an apostle they believe that Peters on their side they believe that Peter is is condoning the idea that you are saved through faith that you cannot do anything to be saved in other words if you are doing something for the purpose of getting saved or keeping your salvation then you are quite frankly adulterating the Word of God and you are basing your salvation based on your own blood and not the blood of Yeshua and so Peter believes what what Paul believes which is that you are not saved through keeping the Torah you are saved through Yeshua you only keep the commandments to prove that you love the Lord which is what James says show me your faith without works I'll show you my faith by keeping the Torah the word and the only word in the New Testament when there was no New Testament is the Torah which is why sometimes I will switch those those two were English words back out so what's happening is Peter he says when I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel I said to Peter in front of everybody he's getting ready to humiliate Peter and call him out on the carpet he says you are a Jew yet you you live like one of us you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew how is it then that you force the Gentiles to follow Jewish customs now at first glance this appears as if Paul is saying listen you're a Jew you live like a Gentile the Gentiles can't stand the Jews and they don't keep the Torah so it seems as if he's saying you are a Jew but you don't keep the Torah but when you win how can you tell the Jews or the Gentiles to live like Jews well if you look carefully really what he's saying is this is that Peter you are a Jew yet you live with us and believe that you are saved only through grace and faith in Yeshua but by getting up from the table and going over to your cronies from Jerusalem the circumcision party because you live through spirit of fear you're afraid of them the action that you just took is insulting the very people that you gave the right-hand fellowship to you are telling them that they are not saved because the moment you got up from the table and you went up to the circumcision party you just by your actions you spoke far more words through your actions than you ever did through your mouth you are literally saying that you agree with the circumcision party that you should not be fellowshipping with the Gentile believers in Yeshua and the moment you did that you just switched sides so now you become a hypocrite in one day you were telling them by fellowshipping with the Gentiles that you believe that you were saved by faith in the same day you just switch sides to the circumcision party and said you were not saved by faith you are saved by keeping the Torah how can you possibly be a Jew live as the Gentile believers do in the freedom of with Yeshua keeping the Torah only not the oral law how can you switch sides and the moment that you switch sides you are compelling the Gentile converts to keep the Jewish customs not the Torah you're compelling them that they're not saved and that they actually have to keep the Jewish world law you are a hypocrite and that's why he says in the next verse he says you know that a man is not saved by observing the law but by faith in Yeshua so we too have been have put our faith in Yeshua that we may be justified by faith in Yeshua and not by observing the law because observing the law no one will be justified no one is saved by observing the law no one is up saved by observing the law so Peter how can you switch sides like this and teach the Gentiles that are tell the Gentiles they're not saved and that they are only saved by following the law you need to choose which side that you're on Peter that's exactly why Paul got so upset is because these Gentile believers they looked up to Peter they trusted Peter and Peter is letting them down by switching sides we need to know what we believe know why we believe and stick to it for God has not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power love and self-discipline something that Peter apparently has issues with and that's why Paul is calling them out on the carpet so I hope you understand this particular scripture a little better he's not saying that that Peter is saying that we have the right to not keep the law anymore he is simply telling him you're being a hypocrite okay all right let's continue verse 17 if while we seek to be justified in Yeshua the Messiah it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners does that mean that Christ promotes sin remember first john 3:4 says that sin is the transgression of the law so let's read that again from that perspective so if why we seek to be saved in Messiah it becomes evident that we are not going to be able to keep the law we're going to actually be breakers of the law if it becomes evident that we ourselves break the law does that mean that Yeshua promotes breaking the law absolutely not and I my NIV version says absolutely not Yeshua does not promote breaking the Torah it cannot be any more clear in my opinion he says if I rebuild what I destroyed I prove that I'm a sinner what's he saying here for through the law I died to the law that I might live for God you know I used to be a Christian apologist and I used to take this scripture and say that listen Paul used to keep the law and he's saying that if I go back and keep the law and I believe in the Torah I'm proving that I'm the sinner not at all the whole context is about what it means to be saved remember we have to decide who's talking who is he talking to and what are they talking about we've already established that the entire book of Galatians revolves around what does it mean to be saved most like the other books that Paul writes and so the whole context about what it means to be saved and so Paul used to believe that you are saved by all the works of righteousness of the Pharisees in the rabbinic traditions so he says if I go back and rebuild that doctrine which I destroyed he's like I remove the the blanket of the Messiah that is covering my sin and I prove that I'm a lawbreaker and now the law will kill me because it looks to destroy anyone that breaks it the only reason why the law does not kill you if you are believer in Yeshua is because for the law you're already dead if you're crucified when Christ you're already dead for through the law I died to the law he's gonna explain it right now so that I might live for Yahweh I have been crucified with Messiah nevertheless it is not I who live but Christ in me in the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me you see how that works when you are crucified with the Messiah you're dead from the perspective of the law you're dead it cannot come up and kill you if you're already dead it cannot condemn you if you're already dead because when you are dead you're dead but according to that's from the perspective of the Torah because you broke it but from the perspective of Yahweh creator God you are alive you've never been so much alive because once you recognize that you need the Messiah and you repent of your sins and you are dead in Messiah that's the first time that you became life that's why he says you're born again why because your old man was crucified see how it all makes much more sense in Christian jargon it makes way more sense when you understand that you're only dead because you surrendered to the Messiah and that's why you're alive and why the law cannot condemn you there's no condemnation for those that are in the tomb of Yeshua because you raised was she with Yeshua on that third day let's continue he says I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness could be gained through the law if salvation can be gained through the law Christ died for nothing all he would have said was a keep the law and you'll be saved you foolish Galatians who has bewitched you before your very eyes Yeshua the Messiah was clearly portrayed as crucified you saw him crucified how can you believe you're saved any other way I would like to learn just one thing from you did you receive the spirit by keeping the Torah or did you receive the spirit through faith in Yeshua that's what he wants to know tell me you who desire to be under the law do you not hear what the law says he says a little bit later are you so foolish after beginning with the spirit are you now going to try to attain your goal your salvation by human effort have you suffered so much for nothing if it was really for nothing does God give you his spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law or because you believe what you heard and he's not talking about a Greek 21st century Roman American Christian concept of belief because the demons believe in the shudder according to James and it doesn't do anything mental assent doesn't mean anything just saying that the couch I believe that chair can hold me up I believe that couch can hold me up that doesn't mean anything you prove your belief system when you sit down and put your feet up in the couch you believe that that chair actually can hold you up that's what true Hebrew belief system is is when you trust and obey and he says consider Abraham he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness what did he mean what he said he believed God God told him to leave his land and go to a place that he was going to show him I don't know about you but packing up your you know a million people and leaving is not exactly something that it would be an exciting thing to do especially if you had no idea where you're going but he did he picked up his belongings he tied everything to his camel taxis and he took off across the desert he believed God he proved that he believed Yahweh the moment he started packing that belief ladies and gentlemen that is the Hebrew belief you prove you what you mentally assent to by doing something James has the exact same definition when he says show me your faith without works and I'll show you my faith by what I do understand and that those who believe are children of Abraham those who do are children of Abraham the Scriptures foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham all nations will be blessed through you so those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham the man of faith all who rely on observing the law for salvation remember that's the whole context are under a curse why because it's written cursed is everyone who does not continue to do every single thing written in the book of the law the moment you put your hand in the cookie jar when you were two years old you broke the law if you will you are condemned to death the very first sin that you created that you did you are cursed and there's no way out of that verse 11 makes it clear clearly no one is justified before Yahweh by the law no one is saved by the law because the righteous will live by faith the law is not based on faith it's a system of instructions on how to keep from being cursed its boundary matter of fact I always give the analogy of an umbrella if you're in a rainstorm an umbrella comes in very handy I must submit to you that ever since Adam sinned we are in one long giant rain storm a terrible rainstorm and the umbrella is the law of Yahweh it is the instruction manual it is the boundaries that he sets for being dry and being wet and it is not the umbrellas fault if you decide to walk out from underneath it and go in the rain you cannot look back and say the law is by the umbrella is bondage and that's the reason why I am soaking wet and cold and freezing to have pneumonia no when you stay under the umbrella you are dry you are warm you are comfortable and you are secure the moment that you test that boundary and you feel those raindrops that's what the law is designed to do it is to show you where the boundary is so that you can be blessed that's its entire job what we've done is we've turned it into the curse we've said what's holy is profaned and we've called what is profane holy so what that is the purpose of the law verse 19 it was added because of sin the more sin the more we needed to know what the boundaries are it was added because of transgressions until the seed to whom the whole promise referred had come the law was put into effect through angels by a mediator a mediator however does not represent just one party but God is a God is God is one what is he saying here the law was put into effect until the seed and we know you the seed is Yeshua so are we saying is this saying that the law was until Christ just as he says later on it in Galatians again we are Greek thinkers we think this way linear points on the timeline the law is here Christ is here Yeshua is here the law was unto the seed it's no more but that's not what it's saying we're talking about Authority and he's going to give us some great examples here in a few minutes in the next chapter about the transfer of authority that the law has authority over man excuse me as long as he lives so the law has authority over you until the Messiah shows up until the sheriff walks in the door the law is in charge but once the sheriff walks in the door the law is no longer in charge it doesn't mean that it doesn't have a place in life it doesn't mean that the instruction manual is not real it means that it no longer has authority over you verse 21 there we go is the law therefore opposed to the promises of Yahweh absolutely not for if a law had been given that could give eternal life then righteousness would have certainly come from the law but the scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner to sin now why is the whole world a prisoner to sin because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of Yahweh every one of us have broken the law of God which by default tells us without a shadow of a doubt that the entire world is subject to the Torah if it was only given to the Jews then the world would not be in sin because sin is the transgression of the law the whole world isn't a prisoner of sin so that what was promised being given through faith in Yeshua might be given to those who believed before this faith came we were held prisoners by the law locked up until faith should be revealed so the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law again this is a transfer of authority this has nothing to do with the laws done away with and has everything to do with the transfer of authority the law was put in place too as a as a police officer is keeping somebody in jail but once the sheriff comes along the police officer has to step down because there is a new authority a higher authority it doesn't mean that there is no more code of conduct it doesn't mean that there is no more instruction manual it simply means that there is no more the ability for the law to tell us that we are condemned there's no way that the law can condemn us and put us in jail anymore there is a new sheriff the true the one who wrote the law is in the room the one who is enforcing the law must step down that's why it says that if you belong excuse me that fate now that faith has come now that Yeshua has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law the law is the one that is supervising us because everyone is in jail everyone's in jail for breaking the law the law is the one that's supervising us but when the sheriff comes in town the law cannot supervise us any longer he says you are all sons of God through faith in Yeshua the Messiah for all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Messiah there is neither Jew nor Greek slave nor free male nor female for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua if you belong to Messiah then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise and he says this what I'm saying is this is that as long as an heir is a child there's no different from a slave although he owns the entire estate he is subject to the guardians and trustees until the time sent by his father so also when we were children we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world but when the time had fully come Yahweh sent his son born of a woman born under the law and by the way the meaning of that is this it is under the penalty of the law he was born under if there's anyone that was under the penalty of the law it was the Messiah not that he broke the law but remember he became the penalty for us he took all of our sins from the beginning of time to the end of time and he put him on his shoulders which makes him the epitome of the one that is under the law he was born under the law and from the day that he was born he was crucified already he was condemned to death because of the wages of our sin that he was making the penalty for he is going to redeem those who are under the law under the penalty of the law that we might receive the full rights of sons because you are sons god sent his spirit formerly when you did not know God excuse me God sent his spirit of his son into our hearts the Spirit who cries out I'm a father so you are no longer a slave you're no longer in jail the sheriff has set you free but you are a son and since you are a son God has made you an heir formerly when you did not know God you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods but now that you know Yahweh or rather are known by Yahweh how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles do you not wish to be enslaved do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again you're observing days and months and times and years ladies and gentlemen he is not saying that these Gentiles are going back to Judaism they never knew God to begin with it says right there they were serving other gods in their cults and every cult has Sabbath's and New Moon's and festivals and feast days he's saying that you were once enslaved by this religious system over here if you believe in this religious system these religious groups that believe that you were saved by doing something over here you're no different than when you were enslaved over here don't go back to the elementary principles of the world of slavery and legalism believe in Yeshua the Messiah that you were saved by grace through faith and you will not be able to boast like they are thinking that they are saved by the things that they are doing I believe ladies and gentlemen that we need to get back to the truth and I appreciate that you are taking the time to walk through the book of Galatians with us here today I'm Jim Staley with passion for truth ministries god bless you