Note: Here are the notes from the
conclusion to last Sunday’s sermon on Galatians 5:7-12:
“This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you”
(Galatians 5:8).
Did
the Judaizers who infiltrated the Galatian churches really believe that
circumcision would save you (cf. Acts 15:1)?
Didn’t they believe in Jesus? Didn’t they just want to be zealous in
keeping God’s law as they understood it?
Yes, there might have been something good about their zeal for obedience,
but on the whole it was wrong. They
mixed truth with error, and so made the whole of their belief structure
wrong. They thought they had it right,
but they were wrong. All false religions and all false cults believe with great
sincerity and most often with great fervor that they hold the truth. But this does not mean they are right.
Under
the influence of the Judaizers, the Galatians had adopted a false persuasion. It did not come from God.
Now,
as I noted last week, the problem in the modern church is no longer
circumcision. But we still do battle
with works righteousness. This may take
many forms. Our “circumcision” is
anything we think we must add to the cross work of Christ to really be saved.
Conservative
Christians are particularly prone to get into these types of traps. How do we shake ourselves loose from false
persuasions?
1. We should
practice discernment, making use of all the resources God has given to us. These resources include first
and foremost Scripture, along with meditation, prayer, and the church
(especially her elders and teachers, including the written works of godly men of
the past and confessions of faith).
Consider the words of the apostle John:
1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many
false prophets are gone out into the world.
2. We should
take time. We should
not make hasty decisions. There are few
decisions in life that cannot be helped by taking adequate time to make
them. There is a logical fallacy called
“the fallacy of exigency” which says you’ve got to hurry up and make a decision
because time is running out. Politicians
and lawyers use this fallacy to bring about decisions before folk have time to
think through all the ramifications of their actions. Consider, however, the wisdom of Solomon:
Ecclesiastes 5:2 Be not rash
with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing
before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy
words be few.
3. We should
strive to be stable and consistent, rather than erratic and inconsistent. We should not be like a Christian butterfly
flittering and fluttering from one conviction or practice to another and never
settling anywhere for long. We are not to be double minded, as James said:
James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all
his ways.
As
Paul puts it in Romans 14:5 when addressing disputable practices: “Let every
man be persuaded in his own mind.”
Friends,
let us avoid the pitfalls of false persuasions that the Galatians fell
into. Most importantly, let us look to
Christ and to him alone for our salvation.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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