Galatians 5:11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.
12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
Many today are deceived into thinking that if everything is going good then they must be on the right track. They also believe that if there is trouble, the one being attacked must be wrong.
We see that in politics. Mr. Carney is able to deceive politicians to leave their party and join his corrupt party. The mainstream media is paid for by our tax dollars and they are a propaganda machine for the communist Liberals. They are telling us that the Conservatives have a major problem and that problem is their leader. The world only looks at people through the lens of the world. They do not care about morality. We have no good men in politics today. We also have no good women, but women should not be in politics anyway.
In religious terms, the secular churches seem to run quite smoothly. They teach all kinds of heresy, but the people like it. There are a few true churches and they teach sound doctrine. There are a few people who appreciate sound doctrine, but there are many who do not want to hear the truth. Those who take some interest in religious matters conclude that if the preacher would preach a more palatable message, more people would attend his church.
What we have come to accept is that God is a figment of our imagination. We determine Who He is and we do not want a holy God.
In our text Paul is still dealing with doubters. The Galatians were still not convinced that they had been following a lie. They still believed the false teachers. They were still called brethren, but they were babes who could not grow at present. It seemed some of them assumed that even Paul was preaching that circumcision was necessary for salvation. They were not truly listening to his message. They assumed that because God expects good works from His children, that good works must be necessary for salvation. Paul asked the readers why he was suffering persecution, if he was preaching the same message as the Judaizers? If he was preaching the same message as they were, then the offence of the cross would not be there.
Many lost people like the cross. People have crosses on the wall of their house. They have earrings and necklaces with crosses. However, the cross does not mean much to them. It is like a good luck charm. They never stop to consider why Jesus went to the cross. They skip over the gruesome whipping He received prior to being nailed to that cross. Why did He suffer so? They do not see the wickedness of sin. Drinking, smoking, cursing, dancing, carousing, licentious living and more is all ok. ‘Jesus does not mind that’, so they think. They might attend the odd religious service where they are entertained by a false teacher and they like it. When they attend a funeral the false teacher knows how to pick verses that will make the lost feel good and think that God is pleased with them as He is with the dead sinner. That is the cross most people think about.
Paul had been preaching the truth about the cross. He was being persecuted for doing that. Yet the Galatians assumed he was teaching works salvation.
In verse 12 Paul was directed by God of the way God thinks. God would rather have false teachers gone. He could remove them all in a moment of time. One day they will all be gone. They will all be in torment in the lake of fire. God is longsuffering. He gives man the opportunity to choose life or death. The fool, and there are many of them, chooses spiritual death because it feels good to the flesh. The wise person chooses life because it is good for the soul.
In verse 13 Paul reminded the readers that they were called into liberty. Liberty is not doing whatever you feel like doing. Paul warned that liberty is not to feed the flesh. There are many things that a person can do. We listed some sins that the society fully accepts. They say “drink in moderation”, but you do not need to abstain. They warn against smoking but still sell the poison and tax it heavily. The world is a mess and most people like to live in that mess.
Paul says true saints live to serve others. They love others and want to see others know the peace of God. You cannot know the peace of God by living in sin.
In verse 14 God simplified the law for us. We don’t need a long list to check off. We need to love our neighbour as we love ourself. If I do not want to be corrupted by sin, I don’t want my neighbour to be corrupted by sin. I cannot control what my neighbour does. We have the freedom to choose life or death. However, we pray for our neighbours. We seek to set a good example before them. We are willing to talk to them about what is important. We genuinely care for others.
Many people shut the door to the truth. They demonstrate their hatred for God and take it out on the person who speaks the truth. That is what Paul faced and it is still true today.
In verse 15 we see the turmoil that is caused by those who hate the truth. There was a competition of who was the better legalist. Paul was not the legalist. It was those who had accepted the lie of works salvation that were the legalists. We are living in a time now when most people do not care about how a person lives. Just leave me alone and you can do as you please. Everybody should be happy if there is a wild party going on sometimes. If you don’t like it, just leave for a while and come back when things quiet down.
In Paul’s day, there were still some standards even among the wicked. There was squabbling taking place among these deceived people. They were devouring one another with their disputes among one another. The world has no solution to this problem. God has one. When we are set at liberty in Him, the fighting stops. Saints love one another. Saints want to help one another to grow in the Lord. Sometimes speaking the truth will hurt, but the saved person will consider what is being said and because they are saved, the indwelling Holy Spirit will move them to heed the truth. Ungodly people hate the truth and will avoid it.
Which one are you?
Pastor Bartel