Sermons on Galatians - FROM PHYSICAL CIRCUMCISION TO THE DOCTRINE OF REPENTANCE (II)

Once we look at Galatians, we can see that there were certain areas with which the Apostle Paul especially struggled. Influenced by the faith of circumcisionists, there were many in the Galatian churches who were deceived by the false teaching that one had to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and to receive circumcision to be saved. He suffered troubles because the gospel of the water and the Spirit could have been perverted by the circumcisionists who had been teaching that receiving physical circumcision was the right thing to do. The Apostle Paul put forth his efforts exhaustively to correct the faith of those misled. So, he warned the circumcisionists by saying, “Do not teach them as such. You will be cursed by God if you believe and witness thus.”

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Did you have a good dinner? This is the first time that we haven’t held any sporting events while holding our revival meetings. Our ministers and I were so tired and exhausted that as soon as we went into our rooms, we collapsed and fell asleep. Perhaps we are all too stressed out and feel very tired in both body and spirit these days from having labored so hard to serve the gospel.

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I have dealt with some issues in Galatians so far, but to address the Book of Galatians more in-depth, I still need to give more sermons. It’s because the Word in Galatians is that much abundant with spiritual lessons that must be dealt with.
The background that made the Apostle Paul inevitably write the Epistle to the Galatians was as follows: As there were some circumcisionists in the churches of Galatia who had come in from Judaism, they were confusing the faith of the believers in the true gospel of the water and the Spirit. That is why the Apostle Paul said, “The gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11-12), and he also described himself as “an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead)” (Galatians 1:1). The Apostle Paul made it clear that neither the gospel he had nor his apostleship came from man, but from God.

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Today’s Scripture passage says that if a brother’s trespass is revealed, we should restore such people in a spirit of gentleness, and examine ourselves. We must first examine our own faith.
In the Christian churches without the gospel of the water and the Spirit, there usually is a set of rules called “Church Discipline.” At such churches, when a member or an officer commits a sin, a tribunal is opened and disciplinary reprimands are issued. So according to the gravity of the offense, in the case of church officers, reprimands such as suspension from office, dismissal, deposition, and expulsion are issued, and in the case of laymen, such censures as admonition, rebuke, suspension from Communion, and expulsion are issued.

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This evening, in the Word of God from Galatians 6:11-18, I would like share the Lord’s grace with you. As we have seen so far in the Word, as well as in this passage, we can once again see how the circumcisionists had thrown God’s Church into great spiritual confusion, and how the Apostle Paul suffered great travail at the hands of the circumcisionists that had come into these churches of Galatia. That’s why Paul was angry.
The Apostle Paul first pointed out the circumcisionist’s hidden motives. The reason they advocated physical circumcision was three-fold: First, to be approved by the Jews; second, to avoid being persecuted by their own people; and third, to boast of their faith. That’s why Paul said in Galatians 6:12-13, “As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.”

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In the last part of Galatians, the Apostle Paul said especially, “From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 6:17). What Paul meant here is that people shouldn’t try to receive the remission of sin through their legalistic faith, nor claim to be sinless. He said that no one should trouble him anymore, particularly since he explained sufficiently how it was a mistaken belief for the circumcisionists to try to become God’s people by receiving physical circumcision. In other words, Paul told them not to weigh him down or exhaust him with such wrong beliefs.

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