THE AGONY OF DECEIT (GAL 5:7-12)

SERIES: FREE AT LAST, PART 18

GCEFC: MARCH 7, 2010

INTRODUCTION

1. You know that false teachers have been around a long time. There was one with Eve back in the Garden. The false teaching she believed created some serious issues for everybody.

2. Generally people are gullible. Which prompts them to believe what is false. This was demonstrated in 1997 by a student who won the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair.

3. He wanted to show how gullible people are regarding fears about our environment.

4. In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control of the dangerous chemical “dihydrogen monoxide,” a serious environmental threat.

5. He gave a number of reasons why this chemical was so dangerous.

a. It’s a major component in acid rain.

b. It can cause severe burns in a gaseous state.

c. Accidental inhalation can be lethal.

d. It contributes to erosion.

e. It decreases the effectiveness of automobile brakes.

f. It’s been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients.

6. 43 people out of 50 signed the petition supporting a ban of the chemical. But of those surveyed, only 1 knew that dihydrogen monoxide is actually…water.

7. Unfortunately, false teaching and gullibility occurs in the spiritual realm too.

a. We saw this back in 1978 with Jim Jones’ People’s Temple in Guyana.

b. We saw it in 1993 with David Koresh’s Branch Dividians in Waco, Texas.

c. We saw it in 1997 with the Heaven’s Gate Cult. This group believed the earth was about to be recycled, the only hope being escape in a spaceship coming behind the Comet Hale-Bopp.

8. In the next section of GAL 5, we see how false teaching works. How it leaves out the truth. Or distorts the truth. And how it can lead the spiritually gullible astray.

A. SPIRITUAL FALSE TEACHING CAN TRIP US UP

1. Paul begins V7 by saying to the Galatians: You were running a good race.

2. Paul liked athletic metaphors. He especially liked the metaphor of running. He used running to illustrate living the Christian life.

3. But he never used running to illustrate entering the Christian life. It was an illustration of sanctification—but never of justification.

4. But after commending the Galatians for running a good race, he says: Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?

5. This expression cut in was a military term meaning to set up an obstacle. In the context it means who cut you off in the race? Who cut in front of you and tripped you up?

6. You may remember the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, when the favored Mary Decker was running in the women’s 3000 meter race for the gold medal.

7. Her rival, Zola Budd of Great Britain, was running next to her when they made contact, causing Decker to fall to the track, injuring her hip, and eliminating her from the race.

8. This is the idea in the phrase. Paul is saying to the Galatians: You were doing so well. You were running great. But someone cut in on you and caused you to stumble.

9. He says “who” did this? But the question is rhetorical. He knew it was the false teaching Judaizers who were the cause.

10. So what truth had the Galatians stopped obeying? The truth that justification and sanctification are not achievements—but rather gracious acts of God’s Spirit.

11. The critical belief in the Christian life is that it’s all by God’s grace. That we’re justified by grace through faith. And we’re sanctified by grace through faith.

12. This is truth we must believe to be saved. And truth we must believe to be sanctified. To believe something else is to believe something other than the truth.

13. The cutting in and the tripping up, was the false teaching that we contribute to our salvation and sanctification through our good deeds and law keeping. That we’re the power behind the change because we keep the religious rules.

B. FALSE TEACHING DOES NOT ORIGINATE WITH GOD

1. So where does false teaching come from? False teaching comes from any number of places. But we’re to understand from V8 where false teaching does not come from.

2. V8: That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. The one who calls you into the truth is not the one who teaches what is false.

3. ISA 45:19 reminds us: I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.

4. The teaching that salvation and sanctification come through good works and keeping the law did not originate with God. It originated with those opposed to what God originated.

C. A LITTLE FALSE TEACHING GOES A LONG WAY

1. There’s a good chance that Paul’s readers would have thought he was overreacting. That he was blowing this thing out of proportion.

2. So what’s wrong with adding a little bit of law to grace? What’s wrong with adding good works and law keeping to God’s gift of salvation? Where’s the harm?

3. So Paul reminds them of the proverb: A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough. In other words, false teaching spreads and grows.

4. An untruth or false doctrine may start in a small way. It may have a modest beginning. But in time it can spread and corrupt everything.

5. It only takes a little bit of yeast to raise an entire batch of dough. So false teaching must be identified and corrected before it causes serious and permanent spiritual damage.

6. The idea of downplaying a lie reminds me of the serpent’s strategy with Eve: Did God really say that?

7. But false teaching is never a small thing because it can lead to a big thing. What we hear and read can influence what we believe. And what we believe influences everything.

8. Because what we believe eventually finds its way into what we do. We may fake it for a while. We may fool people for a season.

9. But in the end, our core values come through. Eventually we live out not what we claim to believe—but what we actually believe.

10. Paul understood this well. Which is why he came down so hard on the false teachers. He knew they were the gateway to the downfall of the Galatians.

11. But false teaching doesn’t always come from without. Sometimes it comes from within. As Pogo famously said: We have met the enemy and he is us!

12. We have a way of being our own false teachers. We have our own strategies.

a. Just this once isn’t going to matter. It’s not like it’s a habit.

b. Nobody will ever know. And if they don’t know, then what’s the harm?

c. It’s just a small lie—not a big one. So what’s the problem?

13. Sometimes the lies we tell ourselves are more harmful than the lies others tell us.

14. It doesn’t take much yeast to raise a batch of dough. It doesn’t take much false teaching to divert us from the right path. A little false teaching goes a long way.

D. DUPING ISN’T INEVITABLE

1. But in the case of the Galatians, Paul was still hopeful. He says in V10: I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view.

2. Remember, the Galatians haven’t defected YET. They’re close, but they haven’t quite bought the false teachers’ lie.

3. Paul’s confident they’ll resist the temptation to abandon the true gospel for a false gospel.

4. Notice where Paul’s confidence rests. He says he’s confident in the Lord. Again we see the emphasis on what God does in us rather than on what we do for God.

5. When he wrote the Philippian believers he said: for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good pleasure. And: being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…

E. FALSE TEACHERS WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

1. In the second part of V10 Paul notes that those responsible for the misleading and the false teaching will be held accountable for it.

2. He says: The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever it may be. It makes no difference who the false teacher is—he will not escape judgment.

3. This reminds me of Jesus’ words in LU 17:1: Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.

4. And James gives this warning in his letter: Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

5. As with most things in life—with increased opportunity comes increased responsibility—and so increased accountability.

F. TRUTH TEACHERS ARE PERSECUTED BY FALSE TEACHERS

1. In V11 we see that truth teachers are persecuted by false teachers: Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

2. Apparently the false teachers had claimed that even Paul was teaching that circumcision was a requirement for salvation. So where did they get such an idea?

3. Maybe because Paul had Timothy circumcised in ACTS 16. Timothy’s father was a Gentile, while his mother was Jewish—which made Timothy Jewish.

4. So in order to not offend the Jewish people among whom he was working, Timothy was circumcised. Remember, Paul said that circumcision was neither here nor there.

5. There was no harm in doing or not doing it—per se. But if done as a means of commending oneself to God by religious ritual—then it was wrong and to be resisted.

6. But in Timothy’s case it had nothing to do with his salvation or his sanctification. So Paul had no problem with it.

7. Like baptism and communion. These observances don’t save us. Nor do they hinder our salvation. But we should know why we do them and not violate their purpose.

8. So the false teachers were apparently saying that Paul was wishy-washy on the question of circumcision. One day he’s for it—the next day he’s against it.

9. But notice his response to the charge: If I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?

10. The focus of the argument and the attacks centered on the fact that Paul opposed circumcision as a means of justification and sanctification.

11. If he was not opposed to it—the false teachers wouldn’t be harassing him. He would be on their side. But the persecution continued—proving that the charge was bogus.

12. And if he taught justification and salvation through circumcision—there was no longer any offense from the cross.

a. The cross was repugnant to the Jew. The idea that the Messiah would be crucified on a pagan Gentile cross was revolting and offensive.

b. Remember how Peter reacted when Jesus announced he was going to Jerusalem to be crucified? MT 16: Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ This shall never happen to you!’

c. So if Paul preached circumcision—a means of salvation apart from the cross—then the offense of the cross was gone—no more offense.

d. But the cross is potentially offensive to Gentiles too, because it offends human pride. If Christ died for me on the cross—it means I’m worthy of death myself.

e. The cross shows the measure of my sin and the depth of my sin. It means that my justification is outside myself and I have no ability to bring it about.

f. Not many people are comfortable with total and utter helplessness and condemnation before a holy God. So they resist what the cross means and what it stands for.

g. But Paul did neither of these things. He preached the cross of Christ clearly, boldly, and without compromise. So again, the charge is absurd and senseless.

G. FALSE TEACHERS’ PROSPECTS ARE BLEAK

1. The last verse has caused some stir over the centuries. It looks like Paul takes a cynical, sarcastic, cheap shot at the false teachers in V12: As for the agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

2. We might wish the translators had left this verse out. It seems harsh and insensitive and crude coming from someone who was none of these things.

3. In this part of the ancient world a cult developed known as the Cult of Cybele. Cybele was a mother goddess of nature and fertility in Asia Minor.

4. The cult became extinct by the 6^th century, but flourished in Paul’s time and in Galatia.

5. You don’t want me to get into it, but entrance into the priesthood of Cybele was through castration. There’s a good chance this was why Paul included the thought.

6. He’s likely just pressing the Judaizers’ theology to its logical conclusion. If a ceremonial cutting ritual is the door to salvation—why not take it to its logical limit?

7. If circumcision contributed to a man’s righteousness and holiness—why not press the matter further? So castration would be the ultimate achievement of righteousness.

8. Of course, the Jews and the Law of Moses were extremely opposed to this practice. But rest assured Paul’s point would not have been lost on them.

CONCLUSION

1. This section of Galatians reiterates what Paul already said. That rituals and law keeping—whether they be circumcision, dietary codes, or religious festivals.

2. And we could add our own like baptism, communion, confirmation, and legalism.

3. These all stand for human achievement. What we accomplish by our own good works. But the gospel stands for what God did for us through the completed work of Christ.

4. Everyone must choose.

a. You’re either trusting in your own good works to save and sanctify you.

b. Or you’re trusting in the grace of God and your good works to save and sanctify you.

c. Or you’re trusting in God’s grace alone apart from your own earned righteousness to save and sanctify you.

5. It all comes down to what we believe. Whether we trust in what the Bible declares.

6. Or whether we’re trusting in some false teaching. Maybe as ancient as what the Judaizers taught. Or something much more modern.

7. Like Paul, I’m confident in the Lord that you will take no other view than the truth as proclaimed in the Word of God.