2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and Introduction to Galatians

Brethren, we've been doing a study on the Epistles of Paul. We have started with Thessalonians because Thessalonians was the first Epistles that Paul wrote. As a very point of review, you may go on to the website and look under Paul's Epistles under my name, and you'll find those immediately. But as a matter of revision, let's very quickly just summarize that after Paul had a difficult visit in Thessalonians, and he went to where he had been in Corinthians, where he had a difficult visit, then he went to Thessalonians. And then from Thessalonians, he decided then to encourage the brethren about a few issues from Corinthians. From Thessalonians, I mixed myself up a bit there, and from Corinthians, he wrote to the Thessalonians to encourage them after a tough visit in Thessalonians. And the first book of Thessalonians was basically about questions that they had about the return of Jesus Christ. So that was the first book.

And also there were certain problems with a few people that were busybodies. They were going around and just not working and just getting into everybody's people's lives and interfering and things like that. So he wrote that letter with a little bit of correction. Now, as you know, when you write something, there's always somebody that comes back to you and says, but you said this! What do you mean by that? You know? So now he had to write a second letter, which was 2 Thessalonians, addressing some of those maybe misunderstandings. And so in the first chapter of 2 Thessalonians, he encouraged the Thessalonians, and he gets straight into the purpose of the letter to address some misunderstandings they still had about Jesus Christ's return. And then he says that he will come and he will execute judgment on the earth, and he will punish the wicked. And therefore, then he concludes chapter 1, saying, remain fightful till the end. Therefore, remain fightful till the end. Then he gets into the second chapter, where he addresses two key events before the return of Jesus Christ. And the first one is there's going to be apostasy, it was a falling away, and second, there will be a man of sin, which he calls the the son of perdition, which is elsewhere, for instance, in 1 John chapter 2 verse 18, referred to as the Antichrist. Then he also we know that he says that and the false prophet, that will be the one that Jesus Christ will destroy on the light of fire.

He also adds that this mystery of iniquity, this false teaching, is already at work.

And as John, in 1 John chapter 2 verse 18, says, many Antichrists will come, so the two go hand in hand. And Paul then describes in 2 Thessalonians, and let's just look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 10, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 10, and he basically describes how people will be deceived, saying that they did not receive the love of the truth. It says there in verse 10, and with all an unrighteous deception amongst those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth. So, and what is the truth? Well, one of them is that Christ is the Holy One of God. We read in Mark 1 verse 24, and about who Christ is, and there's many scriptures that address that point. But basically, therefore, it says in verse 11, for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. Now, what is the lie? We can speculate.

But in the context about a man of sun is revealed, an apostasy, we can see that very probably the lie is what this world has about who God is, who Christ is, doctrines like the Trinity, and concepts of saying, well, you just believe in Christ, and you are saved. That's a lie. So, it is possible that's what he was referring to as the lie, which is this whole mystery of iniquity, this whole concept that you can do wrong, but you'll be saved. That is incorrect. That is a lie. That is a deception.

And that's what the apostasy is all about, and that's what the man of sun will come about with different towns of different interpretations of that, but that's what it will come about.

So, he says, therefore, hold fast in verse 15. Therefore, stand fast and hold the traditions that you've been taught, what you know, what is solid, and the truths that we know in the church. Then he gets on to chapter 3. Now, this is where we had stopped. We are in Lexington, in the previous studies, we stopped at the end of chapter 2. And so, let's go on now, read the section. It says, finally, brethren, pray for us. We're reading from verse 1 of chapter 3 and 2 Thessalonians, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified just as he tees with you. Indeed, brethren, we all ministers in God's church. We all need your praise that the truth of God may be preached and glorified. Indeed, there's many false prophets out there. And speaking about that just reminds me, I want to thank Mr. Hoover for going so carefully through the prayer requests. And I want to mention to you that Mr. Gary Petty is also very ill-colored, so please pray for him as well. Very, very ill. So, I don't know the degree of the illness, but please do pray for him. But again, back to the concept here.

All true ministers need these prayers. We are few, we are just a few elders in the church that are gods that are faithful, and we need your prayers. And in verse 2, that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked man, for not all life. That the ministers, so it's talking about ministers, may be delivered from unreasonable man and wicked. Now, this in a way is an introduction, although yeah, it's the last chapter, but it's an introduction to the second problem that was occurring in Thessalonians. Remember, there were two problems. One is misunderstanding about the coming of Christ, and two, there were some people, they were just lazy and then they don't want to work. And in the concept of ministers, some of those people that don't work, and are in a sense like busybodies, drain the resources of the ministry. Because the ministers are continuously going to these people and say, stop it, but they don't stop it, because it's in their nature, and they don't get it. And they're becoming unreasonable about this. Put it another way, unmanageable, or persons out of their place, or put it another way, disorderly. People that are not under discipline, not self-control, particularly of their tongues, and things of that kind. So, you can read this both ways, and usually the Bible has got a lot of things, often, that things are presented in a way, that you can also read it at the second layer, like a duality. So, even though he is talking about, in a generic principle, he is going to be narrowing down that generic principle to specifics that fall within that generic principle. So, we need to look at this as a generic principle out there. They are unreasonable and we can man, but now he's saying he's going to address an issue, a problem.

So, let's go on reading in verse 3. But the Lord is thankful. Okay, so that ties down to the last verse, the last word of the previous verse, where he says, we can man, for not all have faith.

Or we could say, they're not all of faith, or they're all not trustworthy. You know, if a person is loose in the tongue, you need to be careful how you talk to that person, because you know that is going to be misinterpreted and told to somebody else. Albeit kind of truthful, but just a little off the mark that will create a different perception. And we have to be careful. These, in a sense, these people, we got to be careful with them. And that exists people in the church, because he's talking about brethren in the church. And so we have to be careful. But we remember that God is faithful. In other words, God is truthful. When God says, yes, it's yes. When he says, no, it's no. It's no. He does not lie. That's why we can trust in him.

That's why we can believe in his promises. Because if God promises something, that is unmovable.

That is a fact. He is faithful, because he does not lie. That's why we can believe in him, and we can trust him. That's why we can have faith in God, because he does not lie.

So, you go, Sonja, for the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

It was God will protect us from Satan's wows, or tricks, or traps. Now, there are many satanic traps. We live in a society today that everything people talk, it kind of becomes an argument. Whether it's vaccines, or whether it is masks, or whatever it is, you get all this thing. In the end, it's a satanic trap.

We don't have anything to borrow, because we just need to be careful how we cite certain things, and avoid certain things. So, let me just mention very briefly, four key important traps that Satan uses regularly. And you can do a study about it. And as I say, there are many other traps. But let me just mention four to keep in mind. Number one, a rebellious, angry, and hostile spirit. Man, that is a satanic trap. Just to be rebellious, to be angry, and to have this hostile spirit. Whatever people say, oh, someone, it's got this tone of intensity. We gotta turn it down. A second trap, a proud and unwillingness to forgive. It was a spirit that is proud and unwilling to forgive.

We had a sermon a couple of weeks ago about humility, which is the opposite of being proud.

We really gotta watch that out, because Satan wants us to have a big head in whatever way.

And part of that is an unwillingness to forgive.

An unwillingness to forgive. I heard some people say, I cannot forgive him or her. We gotta be careful with that, Brever. We gotta be careful with that.

Now, there is a third big, let's call it, a trick, or trap, or wile of Satan. A third one, a big one, is a spirit of being unsatisfied, discouraged, and depressed. We really have to be careful with that, because there's a lot of that in the world today. There's a lot of that in the world today. Now, I don't dispute that some people have health issues and chemical problems. That is a different issue. I'm not talking about that. But there is a lot that we can do by managing our thoughts. And fourthly, Satan wants you to compromise. To compromise with sin.

There's always going to be some sort of an excuse to say, but God will accept this little thing. This little thing is fine. You've got to be careful, because that's one of Satan's tricks. So, brethren, we need not fear Satan, because we have God in our side.

And God is so powerful.

Look at the story of Job. Satan could only do, if Job would, God said, up to YAH and no more.

So, that's why it says, YAH, in verse 3, but the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. It was from Satan. So, we must not doubt that.

Because when God says, you will do it.

You will do it.

Let's move on, on to verse 4. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you. Now, this is encouragement, because saying, I believe that God's Holy Spirit, through Christ, is working in you. So, I have confidence towards you, if you obviously are being willing to submit, to listen to Christ. So, I have confidence that you indeed are both that you will do, a bigger part of both, that you do and will do the things we command you.

Now, think about it.

The things we command you. Who's we?

It's the ministry in God's church. In this case, it was an apostolic command, an apostolic instruction.

Now, there is a spirit in the world today.

No one is going to tell me what to do, much less the minister. We've got to be careful.

Indeed, we have to discern the truth. I'm not saying don't. But we need to have a spirit of humility and listen to the leadership in the church, because they care for your well-being. They are there for the joy, for your joy and our joy.

So, we're not there to be dictators, but for your joy. But for your joy. Now, it says, I know that you will do the things that we tell you. But it doesn't even say I'll tell you. We command you.

Now, verse 5.

May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. The motivation, the motive to obey His love.

And ministry is only the desire for your well-being.

And so, it's only God in a way that can direct you to His love through His Holy Spirit. And it says, may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God through God's Holy Spirit and into the patience of Christ.

Where even sometimes it takes patience.

It takes patience.

And look at verse 6.

But we command you.

Now it gets to the point. Now, remember verse 4 says, it said, we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you.

And now in verse 6 it says, but we command you.

So, He's saying, I know you'll do it, but yeah, it's what I want you to do it. You see, I know you'll do it if I tell you, but yeah, it's what I tell you that I would like you to do it. Pay attention.

In other words, yeah, we have an apostolic command from an apostle.

It's just not a recommendation.

It's not a suggestion. It's a command from an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Paul himself, an apostle of Christ.

We command you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother.

That means people in the church.

Who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which He received from us.

Some people say, oh, traditions are wrong.

If traditions are man-made against God's laws, they are wrong.

But if traditions are godly according to God's principles, there's nothing wrong with them.

And not according to the tradition which He received from us. So, yeah, we have people that are disorderly.

Now, this is very interesting because the word disorderly comes from the Greek word atactos, which means unruly, insubordinate. So, he's tying that to that concept of being unreasonable that we read in verse 2.

Being unreasonable, in other words, being not listening to that instruction.

So, Yahya says, disorderly atactos.

What is he talking about, disorderly?

Well, it's interesting that in the previous letter, in 1 Thessalonians, in chapter 5, he used the same word.

And if you just turn one or two pages back in your Bible, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 14, he says, now we exhort you brethren, and warn those who are unruly atactos.

Comfort the frame, the comfort the faint heart that upholds the weak and patient with all.

And he is actually talking here about people that are not working, that are lazy.

As I mentioned, in the first letter, you address two issues, a point about people misunderstanding the return of Christ. And secondly, some people say, well, because Christ is coming soon, I don't have to work. I'll just draw out my money, and I don't have to work, because Christ is coming soon.

And we can see, in 2 Thessalonians, he's addressing the same issue, but now in more detail.

He says, we command you brethren, verse 6, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us, in other words, atactos, in a way that is unruly insubordinate.

And the excuse was that Jesus Christ was coming soon.

Yes, he corrected that, yes, Christ is coming soon, but there's still a lot of things to happen. He mentioned that in chapter 2, there's a falling away, and there's the man of sin to be revealed, and therefore he was saying many things to happen. And we know through scriptures there are a number of things to happen. I have gone through a number of sections in prophecy, and I'll be going again in a few sermons ahead, going through some of those things as preparation to trumpets and the feast. But yeah, he continues then in verse 7, for you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly atactos amongst you, because you know he was not one that was living of them. He was working as a tentmaker, and he was receiving tithes from other congregations. I'm not going to cover all those details now, but he was still working. So he deliberately, in Thessalonians, he worked, he didn't receive money from them to preach, and therefore he said, follow my example.

I was working.

Verse 8, nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day. Then we might not be a burden to any of you. It was follow our example. We were not disorderly, we were not atactos, and be careful with those brethren that are atactos. Verse 9, not because we do not have authority. In other words, what do you mean you do not have authority? We do not have authority to receive tithes from you. Of course, we have authority to receive tithes from you. But to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us, we did not use the money you gave us. As for instance, let me give you an example.

I go to Brazil, I go to Angola, I go to Portugal. I do not use the tithes from those people in those countries. Yes, I use tithes from people in the States to fund me to help the Portuguese brethren in the country, but I don't use their tithes. Their tithes are used solely to help the preaching of the Gospel in those countries. And that's basically what Paul was saying. Verse 10, For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

So he's talking very strongly now about a problem that he suddenly touched in his first letter, but he didn't get it. Now he's not pulling any punches, and he's saying, stop being disorderly, stop being people that don't work. Listen to the apostolic authority. YAH is a command. Work!

And let's continue reading in verse 11. For we here, there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, a taktos, in other words, being unruly, not working, not working at all, but are busybodies, wherever I don't think is being politically correct. He is being straight to the head and says, guys, you gotta work. I came from South Africa. I lived in South Africa, so I'm going to use now a South African expression. And you're not going to understand it first. I'm not talking in tongues, although I'm talking in a different language, quote-unquote. So I am talking in a tongue, but I'm going to say something in Afrikaans, and then I'm going to translate it into English. The Afrikaans word or sentence is which means you guys must work.

And that's what he's saying. And that is what? An apostolic command. Verse 12. Now, those who are such, we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. I think that is strong. That is straight to the point. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. For the rest of you, for the others that are not of those, don't stop doing the right thing. Okay. Verse 14. And if anyone does not obey our word in this episode, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed.

In other words, the way I understand it is be careful with too much fellowship with that person, to put it just simply. And therefore, that way will bring an awareness to him that he needs or her, that he or she needs to repent in love. That's a simple interpretation that I'll put into it. Verse 15. Yet, yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

In other words, don't completely, outrightly divorce yourself from him.

But there must be a right, godly approach that we have to just be careful but still somehow, in brotherly love, with the right words at the right time, provide some positive, loving encouragement for that person to repent.

And then he concludes with a blessing saying, now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. The salutation of Paul with my own hand, because he, as we understand, he had a problem with his vision and he couldn't write the whole letter, but he just signed it at the end. Because there are a lot of people making false letters signed away from Paul and therefore to give an authenticity to the letter, he would just sign it at the end to show it was his. So the salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every pistol, so I write the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. So that's how he wrote and concluded that message to Thessalonians. So that was during his second missionary trouble, during his second travel. Then, during that trip, he then traveled to Ephesus. Turn with me to Acts 18 verse 11. Acts 18 verse 11.

So as I said, I'm covering the Ephesus of Paul, so I'm going to go on to the next one that we believe he wrote. I'll say we believe, because some people may have different beliefs. We believe that is the case and we can prove it biblically. So let's look at Acts 18 verse 11.

And it says, and he continued there a year and six months.

That was Corinth teaching the Word of God among them. And that's where he wrote first and second Thessalonians. And then, a little bit later, in verse 19, and he then came to Ephesus.

And this we believe, that's probably when Paul wrote the next letter, which is the letter to the Galatians. So it was either he wrote there at that time, or in verse 22, because it says, and when he had landed as a caesarean, so he went back to Jerusalem, and then he went back to Antioch, which represents the end of his second journey, his second mission trip. So Antioch, that is the Antioch, there are two Antiochs in the Bible, so there's one in Central Turkey, and there's one which is this Antioch, which is in Southern Turkey. And this Antioch in Southern Turkey basically was very probably where he had his own base. And from there, that's where he went to the missionary trips, and he would come back to this Antioch in Southern Turkey. And therefore, it's possible that he could have written the book of Galatians in Antioch at the end of his second journey before the third missionary trip.

So that puts the writing of Galatians sometimes between the year 52 to 54. 52 of the Christ, or current year, era to 54. And that is 52 if he wrote it in Ephesus, and 54 if he wrote in Antioch at the end of his second trip. Now, let's get a little bit of context why he wrote Galatians.

So, let's put it into context. What was happening in the church?

The church was grown. Initially, as you know, like Christ said, to the Jew first, and then to the Gentiles, right? So first grew up in Judea, and then from Judea it grew up, and then maybe 19 years later, or let's say two decades later, then Paul was used to go into Gentile areas, into initially Turkey in the first trip, and in the second trip he threw Turkey, then he was guided to go to Europe, in other words, Macedonia and Greece. So, the gospel was going up to the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles.

How's people coming to the church? Think about it today. To understand better, we have to look at what was happening, and compare it to what's happening today. When you get people coming into the church, what do we find? We find that we, as we come into the church, we have a lot of ideas that are not correct, and we have to slowly learn the truth, learn the truth, study the Bible, and let's call it, wash out those incorrect things. It takes time. It takes time, because as you first come into the church, you learn the thing, and yeah, this is great, and then some months later you learn something else, oh yeah, that's right, that makes sense, and then a little bit later, and other things, great. Now you get into the church, you baptize, there's you baptize, and you're still learning in the church, you're still learning in the church, and which means you have still a few things that are wrong, but you don't know they're wrong, you're doing with good intent, but over time you start realizing, hey, I've got to change this as well.

As Jews came into the church, initially there was a temple, there were sacrifices offered, yeah, they believed in Christ, they became members of the church, but they still did their offerings, and they still had circumcision, because from the time Christ came, inclusive counting to the destruction of the temple was exactly 40 years, right? Inclusive counting, like circumcision is eight days, it's inclusive counting, and Pentecost, count 30, inclusive counting, so there was 40 years from AD 31 to AD 70, inclusive counting. Now, we're talking about the year 52, remember? So, it was like 31 to 52, what is that? 20 odd years after Christ's death, but in 50 there was still another 20 odd years to the destruction of the temple. So, we had Jews coming into the church, believing and practicing deep ceremonial law, but they were in the church, and there was no reason for them to understand that this was wrong.

Then, Paul went out to these areas, and these Gentiles came along, and a number of miracles got showed by giving the Gentiles the Holy Spirit, and they had not been circumcised, and things like that. You know that, right? And so, Paul and Peter, first Peter, they realized what's going on. God is giving to Gentiles the Holy Spirit as well, and the opportunity to salvation. Now, they were initially, imagine from the paradigm they came to the paradigm that God is guiding them to understand that you are not justified by works of the law. What I mean by the law? I mean the ceremonial law. You are not justified by burning or killing a lamb, or a goat, or a bull. You are justified by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now, this took time for people that had been ingrained with this sense of birth to comprehend. I think you can understand. And so, in good faith, as Paul went out, and these Gentiles were coming along and getting into the church, these Jews came along behind Paul, Jews. I'm not being anti-Jewish. I'm not being anti-Semitic. I'm just saying there were people in the church of a Jewish descent with an approach, which was with the ceremonies that they had believed all along. And they instructed in a Bible to do. And they said to these newly converted Gentiles, you have to do these things. So, when Paul came back from the first missionary truck, this became a big issue. You remember that? And then he had to go to Jerusalem. And that's where you read Acts 15, the Jerusalem Conference, round about AD 49, AD 49, Jerusalem Conference, that what do we do?

You see, even the leadership in the church, we're not sure. And then God, through the power of His Spirit, inspired at the Jerusalem Conference, it says, this is what we will do. These Gentiles don't have to be circumcised. The Gentiles don't have to keep the ceremonial law. But Gentiles must do away with their pagan practices. You read that at the end of Acts 15.

And so they got a letter, and they went out, encouraged, and then Paul started the second missionary truck. Now, in the second missionary truck, he went through Turkey, and then God's Spirit led him to go into Europe. You know, it was Macedonia and Greece. And when he was there, he started getting news from Galatia that Jewish people in the church, but of Jewish background, were going into Galatia and saying, guys, you've got to keep the ceremonial law.

But remember, Paul already had that letter saying, and Acts 15 had already happened.

But that teaching was still being in people. Now, were these people evil? No, they were. They had been in the church for a few years. They had come from a Jewish tradition that all these years that it says, you've got to do these things. You've got to have these offerings. So in good faith, they were doing that, but they were not understanding it fully. And therefore, they were causing a problem to the Gentile converse. And so Paul had to write a letter to them, to the brethren in Galatia, to tell them, listen, you are justified by Christ's blood in faith, not by the blood of a bull or a goat.

That is basically the theme of the letter to Galatians.

Now, understand something else.

The people that were coming into the church were initially of Jewish background, but there were also people coming into the church a decade or two, let's say two, say about 19 years after that, 19 years cycle, the Gentiles came in, whatever. Anyway, Gentiles were coming into the church, and just like the Jews came into the church and brought with them their Jewish understanding, and please, I'm using the word Jewish carefully because I don't mean that Jewish is bad. I'm not being anti-Semitic. I'm just saying that some of the beliefs, and particularly some of the traditions they had, were not exactly as Moses and God inspired. Even Christ said, there's some of your traditions that are not right. So they were bringing these things and trying to inject them into the church. But remember, Gentiles were also coming into the church, and therefore Gentiles were also bringing into the church pagan ideas.

And so we had two extremes. Let's say you are in the center of the church, and you had an extreme right, quote-unquote, the right wing between inverted commas, bringing in these Jewish things. That is the majority of the letter to Galatians about that. But understand, they were also coming in people into the church from paganism with pagan ideas, which they brought some of those ideas. And Paul does mention in the book of Galatians as well, some of those things that are coming in as well. So sometimes Paul in his letters is talking about this group. Sometimes in his letters he's talking about that group. You see, the Gentiles were bringing things and saying, well, we can do all these things. And that's basically predominant what's happening in Christianity today. It's all those Babylonian ideas, Gentile, Gnostic ideas, in filtering into the church became Christianity, and the majority of Christianity today is the side.

And this is what happens when people come into God's church today.

In good sincerity, they still bring with them some of those beliefs that over time they realize, oh, I better change, and I better change, and I better change. So this, I think, it helps you to understand the context of Galatians. I'm talking about the context being the context of the situation or what was happening in that region at that time. So it's like the historical context.

And so we have today people like Martin Luther and others saying, well, the Book of Galatians is my lover because they misinterpret the Book of Galatians, like Peter says. They misinterpret a lot of Paul's letters, and they're misinterpreting them to give them a reason not to obey God's laws. But Paul was saying it's the ceremonial laws that he was talking about.

He was not talking about God's laws like the Ten Commandments and God's early days and the Sabbath and that. He was talking about that those ceremonies were not necessary because we are justified, which means we are made right with God. Justified means we are made right with God freely. So that's basically what the context of the Book of Galatians is all about. So let's just start a little bit into the Book of Galatians. So let's turn to Galatians, and you might want to keep tabs on it.

We're just going to start a little bit into the Book of Galatians, and then we'll continue that at another time. But as I mentioned, verse was written at the end or towards the end of the second trip. One of the justifications why I say that is, for instance, in Galatians chapter 4 verse 13.

In Galatians chapter 4 verse 13, And you know that because of physical infirmity, I preached the gospel to you at the first. In other words, I preached the gospel to him. There was he was he was having physical problems. He had been stoned, and he came there. He preached to them. He had physical infirmities, and that was the first time that he came there with two regulations. But why did he say the first? Because there must have been a second.

Otherwise, you would have said, I preached to you. Not at the first. Because there was a second, and that is one of the reasons, that's one of the implications that therefore his second trip was the one that's described in Acts 16 after the Acts 15 conference, that he went back from Antioch through Turkey, through the area of Galatia, which is central eastern Turkey.

He went there before he went to Greece and Macedonia. So that's one of the reasons we're probably why he did that. So let's go into Galatians chapter 1. It says, Paul an apostle, not from man, not through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. First he's saying, I was sent by God. I did not appoint myself.

This is a problem that happens today in religion. Many people say, I went to theology school, I've done this, and I'm a pastor, I'm starting a church. No, you don't start a church. God puts you in that position. So that is a point important that, and all the brethren who are with me. So he's greeting them and says, I am apostle of God and of Christ, putting that position through God and Christ, and the brethren that are traveling with me. And then he goes on and says, grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. So greetings to you from God and Jesus Christ.

He has an interesting point. Where is the Holy Spirit? If the Holy Spirit is a third person, twice in two verses, he says, from the Father and Jesus Christ, from the Father and Jesus Christ. So if the Holy Spirit was a person, that was a little bit of, let's call it neglect, but obviously it's not, as we know the Holy Spirit is not a person. But anyway, going on in verse four, Christ, who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.

Those of you that speak, you know a thing we encourage you to do is to have an SBS, a specific purpose statement, to define to the brethren when you talk exactly why you're talking. That helps people to understand where you're going.

And verse four, in a sense, is that he's telling them what the purpose of this letter is. Is that Christ is gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age and basically what he's saying is not a bull or a goat or a lamb or whatever it is, it's Christ. So he's actually basically addressing the purpose that Christ gave himself. Now look at the height says, gave himself. Now in the sermonette we heard about a favorite scripture. What is your favorite scripture? Well, one of my favorite scriptures is Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 8. And there you can see that Christ himself emptied himself from the position that he was of being in the form of God or that was not anything incorrect for him to be equal to God and he became a human being.

So again, he also says he gave himself. He was not forced him voluntarily emptied himself from being in the form of God to being the form of man. That's what he's saying. Yeah, it was Christ gave himself voluntarily to deliver us from this present evil age in a worse to justify it to justify it All right, now I'm cleaning up. I've got my pages mixed up here.

So, we have here what Paul is saying to them, giving a purpose of his mission, and basically saying Christ is who is going to justify us.

And then, continuing in verse 5, To whom the glory forever and ever. It was to whom be glory forever and ever. It was to Christ, to him that is to guide himself, and we need to give glory to him. Of course, glory to the Father, but he says, to give himself for our sins, according to whom be glory forever. So, it's glory to the Father and glory to Christ, glory to them for what they have done to us. Christ himself delivered it, and this was the Father's plan, and amen. That's what it is. And then he gets down to kind of a, let's call it, a point here, and he gets right down to the point. And going through this point, that's where I want to stop.

This is where I'll stop today. It's from verse 6 to verse 10. It says, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. I marvel that you are following a different message of good news, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. It was the good news of Christ. Now, obviously, we have the good news of the kingdom of God.

Yes, it's going to be the kingdom of God, which is a ruling kingdom, and we're going to be part of that kingdom. We're going to be in a family in that we're part of that royal family, but part of that message includes that Christ had to come and give his life for us. That's, in a sense, a sub-component of the gospel of the kingdom, but it is an important component for us to understand the message of what Christ did for us, the good news of what Christ did for us. They were perverting that gospel of Christ. How? By saying that you still have to kill lambs and goats and things like that.

They were going back to an additional component to what we have here. What do we have? You and I are made right with God freely by Christ's sacrifice. They were saying, but for you to be justified, you need to kill the lamb as well. That's incorrect. That's what Paul is addressing in this letter. He says, I'm surprised that you're doing that. Verse 8, but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel, any other good news to you, then what we preach? Let him be accursed. Again, as we've said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches another gospel to you, then what you have received, let him be accursed. So he's giving a double curse. Be careful. You don't want to believe that. You don't want to believe that you need something else to be justified with God. Christ's sacrifice is perfect. You don't need anything else. For do I now persuade man or God? Or do I speak to please man? For if I still please man, I will not be a servant of Christ.

We are justified by faith, by what Christ did for us. And this will go and we'll discuss that much further in a future sermon stroke battle study about the Christmas of Paul.