Relapse from Liberty – Liberated by Faith: A Study of Galatians – Part 2 – Dr. Charles Stanley

Are you trusting in Jesus or your good works? Dr. Stanley continues his examination of Paul’s letter to the Galatians in “Relapse From Liberty,” as he guides us through Galatians 1:6-10.

Despite already enjoying the liberty that is theirs through Jesus Christ, Paul admonishes the Galatians for returning to a works-based hope of salvation.

Dr. Stanley tells us that many of today’s Christians have chosen the same path: leaving a life of grace for a life of laws. But these laws were added by man, not God. Our Father has called us to a life of grace, not because of anything we’ve done but out of His absolute love for us.

This message is part of the series “Liberated by Faith: A Study of Galatians”

For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to www.intouch.org/watch

with a message from God’s word here’s Charles Stanley turn to Galatians chapter 1 and this is the second message in our series and tonight a relapse from Liberty and Paul is discussing the believer’s freedom all through this book many of God’s people are hung up in bondage about what people think about them about the expectations they believe that God has over them and they’re living in constant defeat not recognizing that they’re their own personal problem so in this book he gives them some solutions

to the problem of human bondage that is living in spiritual and mental bondage to things that God never intended for us and you recall the first five verses we talked about last week a declaration of freedom and tonight a relapse from Liberty that is having already begun to enjoy the Liberty that is THS in Christ Christ Jesus and if you look over in uh chapter 5 and remember what he says in verse one he admonishes them to Stand Fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ has arist tense once and for all made us free and be not entangled again

with the Yoke of bondage and you see when a person is saved and is liberated by God’s grace and then goes back to try to live by the rules and try to live by the expectations of others and self impos rules and laws that they think they ought to live up to they get themselves in bondage and the vast majority of God’s people are living there so that is not where the Lord wants us to live and the second uh paragraph of Galatians 1: 2 or beginning in verse 6 is an incident where the Galatians relapsed from the Liberty that

the Lord had provided for him and so I want us to read verses beginning in verse 6-10 so Paul says having introduced the whole book he says I’m Mark that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ but though we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be a cursed anathema as we said before so say I now

again if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received let him be accursed for do I now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men for if I yet please men I should not be the servant of Christ So In this passage he’s talking about the relapse from Liberty so the first thing I want us to notice here is this and that is the realization of this relapse here’s what Paul realized when he got word from the churches there in galatia he realized something was going on that these people

whom he had won the Christ who had indoctrinated them in the faith they were beginning to talk about going back and keeping the law they were beginning to talk about the necessity of circumcision and he realized that something was going on and that something was they were about to be entangled again once again in the very bondage from which Jesus Christ had delivered them and so he’s writing this uh to speak to them and so let’s look at two or three things here first of all the affection he says I Marvel that you

are so soon removed now when he says removed what he’s talking about here is this watch this he says I Marvel he said I’m surprised in fact he says I’m really surprised that you are so quickly having been saved by grace having known the truth and having not been saved very long that you are so soon doing what he says removing yourself from Grace back into law which is to say you are turning your back on what a life of Grace means a life of unmar undeserved favor and acceptance from God you’ve been adopted

into his kingdom you’ve been redeemed by his love you have the inheritance of Jesus Christ you have all that God has provided for you and you didn’t do anything to get any of that so he says what you’re doing is you have received the gift of God you have received the life of Grace which is a life of freedom and liberty all of God’s work we are simply responding by receiving his gift he says you’ve turned your back upon that and now you’re contemplating and some of you have already is begun he

says you’re going back into a life of bondage he says what you’re doing is he say you leing the life of freedom and liberty and going back in the same old entanglements from which God saved you through the cross he’s saying to them do you realize what you’re doing that the one thing that you wished for and dreamed of and never believed could possibly be true you found in Jesus Christ and now you have allowed somebody to misinform you and now you’re creeping back to your old way and he says what

you’re doing is you’re leaving the life of Grace and going back to the life of law now there are a lot of Christians who do the same thing you hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and somebody says to you how are you saved they say for by grace are you saved God’s unmar love and favor towards you the power to receive God’s goodness and love and mercy you just receive by faith all that God has given to you on the grounds by which we to receive that salvation then what do we do having received it by faith we do the natural

normal thing then we try to figure out what we can do to deserve it now we don’t realize that we don’t use that terminology but we start doing things whereby we can deserve to be saved young lady called me this week she came by to see me and she says uh I want to be saved and she says I think I already have been saved she says here’s what I did she says I was saved in a certain church and as soon as I was saved I knew that I had to start serving the lord going to church giving my tithe and doing everything I could to keep saved I

said now give me that again she said and she went right through the same thing again I said you mean and she says and by and also she said I had to be baptized and she said I knew I had to be baptized if I were going to continue to be saved and she says the problem is I’ve done all those things and she said I’m just as miserable as I was before that happened she said I I think I’ve been saved she says but man she says I’m not free she says in fact I’m so entangled she says I’m so under this

thing this load she says I believe I probably need to get baptized again she says is the place in Sunday school I can teach she just went right through all of these things because this young girl 26 years of age somebody told her if you’re going to be saved you’ve got to be saved you got to be baptized You’ got to serve the Lord you’ve got to do all of these things what they did they put a yoke of bondage on her and so they said to her you saved by Grace plus many works and faithfulness to your denomination and I

want to tell you my friend if you never hear of another denomination has nothing to do with being saved not one thing in fact anything anybody tells you you must do after you’re saved is added by man not by God otherwise what are we doing it is God plus something we do so he said to them he said I’m amazed at you he said I instructed you I taught you and you you receive the message that I gave gave you and now you’re going back circumcision keeping the law and all the rest and he says all of that is in

absolute vain now notice the word he uses here in verse 6 he says I Marvel that is I’m surprised that you so quickly so quickly removed that is you have be the word removed here means to become of another mind your mind has been changed he says from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel now listen when he says he called look if you will in Romans chapter 8 for just a moment in verse 30 he says he called you into the grace of Christ in Romans 8:30 listen to what he says he says moreover whom he did

predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also Justified and whom he justified them he also glorified look in second Timothy look at this verse before we talk about it second Timothy CH 1 and verse n because the word calling here isn’t just hey come on it isn’t that kind of a word he says in 2 Timothy 1:9 speaking of the Lord who ha saved us and called us with a what kind of calling a holy calling not according to our what works but according to his own purpose and what Grace which was given us in Christ

Jesus when before the world began now listen if that’s what God’s provided what in the world can I do for something he’s already provided before I ever got born how in the world can I add anything to something that was already given to me before I was born look at that verse again he says he has saved us AR Tense one time saved us called us with a holy calling not ACC calling to our works listen you know what that means he did not call you into Grace because of anything you would ever do you see some

people say well I’ll tell you why God saved me he looked down through eternity he saw the good works I would do he just applied them to my account before I was ever born that’s why he saved me I want to tell you my friend that is pure heresy is what that is and yet there’s some folks who will tell you that’s the truth notice he says who has saved us and called us with what kind of a calling a holy calling not according to our works but watch this according to his own purpose and and Grace which was

given us in Christ Jesus before the world began the word calling here means to be called for a definite purpose it isn’t just say hello it is to be called with a definite purpose so when he says that God has called us God through Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit has called us into a life of Grace and when I comprehend the meaning of the life of Grace I will not work for God for his acceptance I will not work for God for his favor I will not work for God to please him I will not work for God of the motivation of fear I will

wanted and desire to work for God why out of the motivation of Love driven by love because I love him because of what he’s done for me not because if I don’t God is going to do something real drastic in my life God doesn’t want us living in fear and under bondage he wants us to live in perfect Freedom listen you and I have been accepted on the basis of what according to 2 Timothy 1:9 upon what basis have we been accepted the grace of God the pleasing purpose of the Lord so we don’t have to go around in bondage now listen that

doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tithe and you shouldn’t attend church we ought to do all of those things and a lot more things but motivated by love not because we’re afraid of what God’s going to do and if this is going to happen and that’s going to happen our motivation ought to be loved so Paul is saying you Galatians he says I’m absolutely surprised that you have moved moov so quickly from the unmar favor and freedom and liberty of Christ into another gospel now listen Paul says here’s why

I’m disappointed here’s why I’m surprised I’m surprised first of all because it’s happened so quickly and secondly he says I’m surprised because you have moved from the truth of the Gospel into a heretical Doctrine now what is that well let’s look at this passage for a moment look in verse six now and see uh two words here he says the last phrase of that verse says unto another gospel in the Greek heteros all right verse 7 which is not another in the Greek Alo now what here’s what it

means I Marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel listen that is another of another kind and heteros here is from the we get our word heterodoxy which means false Doctrine he says I’m amazed that you move from the gospel of Liberty the Gospel of Freedom no longer entangled and no longer under bondage he says I’m surprised that you are so soon removed from that gospel unto another gospel he says another of Another Kind listen he says which is not aros’s gospel that is

one just like you’ve been experiencing in Liberty he says but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ now listen but though we are another angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be a cursed now here’s what he’s say you have removed yourself you have deliberately walked away from Freedom absolute freedom in Jesus Christ Liberty in him you’ve walked away from that back into the entanglements and bondage and

he says what you’ve done he says you’ve gone into a false Doctrine because what you’ve heard is not really another gospel at all it is error it is heresy he says but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Jesus Christ now I want you to notice the word here when he says when he speaks of the Gospel verse 7 which is not another gospel but there be some that would trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ that word is yelon which means the good news now watch this let me show you why you can’t have but

one gospel he says verse 6 I Marvel that you have so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ un to another good news let me ask you something how many of you know any other good news besides Jesus Christ so they can’t be but one gospel verse 7 which is not another good news but there be some that would trouble you and would pervert the good news of Christ he says what they’re doing is distorting twisting it turning it just a little bit in order that you may be subverted when I read the survey of the

men who are in Seminary who are being trained to preach the gospel who don’t believe in God who don’t believe in the Virgin birth who do not believe in Genesis who do not believe in Adam and Eve as persons who do not believe the Bible is divinely inspired and who believe that it’s full of Errors I want to say to you you talking about people who are going to suffer people out here in these churches who are going to have placed upon them the laws that men are going to have to give because if you don’t know Jesus Christ and Liberty and

Freedom by Grace what in the world can you preach the only thing you’ve got to preach is Law and that’s why we’ve got churches that are just born down nobody’s excited about Jesus Christ I want to tell you something if I had to wake up on Monday morning thinking that I had to keep all Ten Commandments on Monday and God is going to strike me dead if I had to keep everything Jesus said in The Sermon on the Mount if I had to go through the Ten Commandments and keep every one of them in order to be pleasing to God

acceptable to God and to keep my salvation I’m here to tell you I tell God take me home tonight because I know I can’t do it and neither can you what is a man going to preach if he doesn’t know the grace of God what is a man going to preach if he doesn’t know freedom and liberty in Jesus Christ the only thing he can do is put people under bondage and I can tell you I can remember the time when I thought man if you didn’t come to church you just flat backsliding or if you didn’t do this and

you didn’t do that and you didn’t do the other you just backsliding on God you said now what that sounds like you’re preaching an easy gospel I haven’t got of that part yet not preaching an easy gospel I’m just simply saying this listen and here’s what I’ve discovered I read this statement by Martin Lord Jones who probably is one of the greatest English preachers of our time he was the Queen’s pastor and Eng a great great man of God somebody asked him in his Bible studies on Friday night he says what

they said why don’t you preach to the Book of Romans he kept putting him off so finally he said well when I understand Romans 66 I’ll preach through the uh Epistle of Romans and he must have been in his 60s or somewhere there about before he ever started he’s a wise old man of God here’s what he said in reading through chapter 6 and he has a whole volume on chapter six here’s what he said he said if you listen now because I read this and I thought now wait a minut I really got to think about

that one here’s what he said he says if you and I preach the Bible if we are true to the word of God if we preach the book just like God wrote it it will naturally sound like we are preaching an easy gospel when we say Jesus Christ died for our sins Jesus redeemed us Jesus adopted us all of these things that he has done and that our relationship to him is to be one to receive him and to glorify him he says when we understand the truth of what God has done for us it will sound to ears that are ill equipped like you say

that’s an easy gospel it’s all of God none of you it is all of God none of us but when you and I understand who he is when we understand who we are in him when we understand the Liberty that is ours in Jesus Christ what happens is the shackles and the bondage of the law are torn us under and we become freed to live and to serve him motivated by love doing more than we’ve ever done before no strain not the Frets not the cares not concerned about what people think therein is the freedom but when it is

first proclaimed it sounds like an easy gospel so Paul is saying to these people he says what’s happened here is that instead of having one gospel now you’re talking about two there is only one gospel everything else is heterodoxy that is it is false Doctrine and he says you to stay away from it lest you get entangled once again all right now the reason for their relapse why were these people going back into bondage let me ask you this how many of you could anybody ever convince you that you were unsaved here were some people who

received the truth but the scripture says that something had happened now there are two reasons they were willing listen two reasons they’re willing to give up freedom and go back to the law trying to keep the law and trying to do all these things number one was the appeal of the troublemakers from Jerusalem and you’ll recall we mentioned that the judaizers who believe that Paul what they were saying of Paul they said Paul you’re preaching an easy gospel You’re simply saying all they have to do

is to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and his death on the cross and they can be saved we believe that is the atoning death of Jesus Christ plus circumcision plus keeping the law and that’s the only way a person can be saved so the first thing that happens here is they begin to appeal to these young believers now let me show you a perfect example of this that is hideous in my eyes when people of different so-called denominations come into a church body not because they care about anybody’s salvation not because they want to see

anybody saved not because they want to see anybody serve the Lord not because they want to see the sanctification process going on not because they want to see God glorified but in order to steal converts and subvert minds and pervert the truth and distort the truth and say to them that listen have you ever heard so and so does your pastor preach on this maybe you’d let me share this with you and begin to say to them now listen if you want to be what God wants you to be trusting in the Lord’s fine but there’s some other things and

if you haven’t had this and this and this and this and this you don’t have it and you know what they do emotionally and spiritually they put people in bondage listen Paul if you’ll think about it he didn’t have any the tangents in his preaching did he he said God called him to preach the whole Council of God the whole counsil of God is based on Grace that God has provided in Christ Jesus everything that we are everything we hope to be in him so he says the problem here is the appeal of the judaizers who

have come to pervert now listen the word pervert there means to reverse it that and that’s exactly what they did watch this the word here means to reverse it Paul’s preaching had been by Grace he is saved not by man’s Works he says they have perverted reversed the truth now the word word would here means they desired to do it they willingly did it that is they came in purposely look if you will in Galatians Chapter 2 and verse 4 he says and that because of faults Brethren unawares brought in that is they slipped

into the church and nobody knew who came in privately for the purpose of spying out our Liberty which we have in Christ Jesus that they might bring us into bondage Paul says I’ll tell you why they came they came for the sole purpose of putting you back into bondage now friend listen you need to be extremely careful what you listen to and what you pay heed to because one little turn of some great biblical doctrines can put you in a great sense of bondage and I don’t have to go into all that and there are all

kind of those things going on right now people distorting the truth and putting people under bondage or giving them licensed to do what they please you see some doctrines God’s going to do it man has nothing to do with it he’s going to save some he’s sending some to hell man has absolutely nothing to do with it and you know what that does that just simply says well gives me license to sit and do absolutely nothing because whatever God’s going to do he’s going to do it whatever he’s not going to do he’s not

going to do and you see that is another Distortion of the truth totally out of bounds as if God will not use man so I want to say to you and you need to say to your children you need to be very very careful what you hear and if it isn’t balanced with a word then you need to throw it out let me tell you a second problem they had here listen the appeal of the judaizers first of all people slipping into the church and distorting the truth the second appeal here is the appeal of the flesh now watch this if we took a survey

right now you’d be surprised you may be even surprised about yourself if you had to ask this question how would you answer it I feel absolutely and totally accepted by God this very moment totally freed and accepted by almighty God right now if you don’t then what are you doing you’re looking for a way to find acceptance how does a man find acceptance before God he looks for something to do that would be pleasing to God that may appease God that may be some something good that he does in order to have God’s favor now here’s

what I’m I want you to see it’s so deceptive and I want to tell you my friend there’s so many God’s people hung up on this listen to me you can be save for 40 years and live in bondage all 40 years if you live under the bondage of believing that your acceptance before God is on a momentary minute by minute or decision by decision basis accepted now but I blew it then if my acceptance were based on conduct do you know what that means that means that my acceptance may change every time I have a thought

or every action I commit where would you be if your acceptance was positive negative positive negative positive positive positive positive negative negative negative negative what kind of life would that be you know what our problem is you know what has Us in bondage what has God’s people in bondage is our inability or unwillingness to accept what God proclaimed is absolute truth what is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is before you were ever born in Christ Jesus you were accepted in spite of everything he

knew about you if I was accepted by Jesus Christ God the father and God the spirit before the foundation of the world does it really make any difference whether anybody else accepts us or not absolutely not listen what matters most whether the world accepts you or God accepts you think about it he says he’s accepted Us in the Beloved you and I have been accepted in the Beloved listen he didn’t accept you on the basis of what you do he accepted you on the basis of a relationship with Jesus Christ The Living Lord so you see you can’t ever

change that and so Paul says these folks are perverting the truth and so you and I may feel more comfortable wanting to do something but we can’t look if you were in Romans chap 11 the two verses here I want you to check on Romans 11 if there’s anything that you and I need to teach our children it’s just what I’ve got through telling you right there Romans chap 11 listen to this he says now and if by Grace then is it no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace but if it be of works then it is no more grace

otherwise work is no more work you see he says you can’t have both if you’re saved by grace can’t be work if you’re saved by works can’t be Grace those two things are like oil and water they’re absolutely and totally incompatible all right if you will look in the Galatians Chapter 2 in the last verse of this chapter look if you will he says in verse 21 when you and I try to mix grace and works I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness comes by the law then Christ is dead in vain that means Doran

in the Greek which means to no purpose at all that is if we’re saved by works then Christ’s death has no purpose behind it so he says first of all the reason for their relapse was the appeal of the judaizers and secondly the appeal of the flesh the third thing I want you to notice here is his response to their relapse how did Paul respond all right he says first of all look if you will verse 8 but though we are an angel from heaven Yi that is evangelize speak the good news any other gospel unto you than

that which we have preached unto you let him be a cursed Paul says if a man’s preaching false Doctrine and perverting God’s people let let the Judgment of God be upon him listen the word a curse means here the word Greek word is anatha means uh refers to something that is delivered up to Divine wrath that is something that is presented for condemnation somebody that’s presented for God to judge them and notice he says it twice and as we said before perfect tense and let the effect remain so say I now again

if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received let him be a cursed God’s judgment upon him for perverting the truth distorting the gospel and causing God’s people to go astray now I want you to notice something he says there’s no exception he says if we are some Angel come along he says doesn’t make any difference he says let them be accursed now listen to how Paul defends what he’s saying here watch this for do I now persuade men of God or do I seek to please men for if I yet please men I

should not be the servant of Christ now he says look he says if you think what I’m saying is pleasing men that I can’t be the servant of Christ and you can’t please men at the same time please God so he’s saying to them I’m not making it an easy gospel he said I’m presenting the truth and the truth is that they’re accepted in the Beloved in Christ Jesus by Grace has nothing to do with their Works circumcision or all the rest and listen to what he says if I yet please men I should not be the servant