Why Then the Law? (Gal. 3:15-22)

I am not a Jew; I was born a Gentile. I did not become a Jew when I was saved; I became a Christian. The Bible divides the world of mankind into three categories: Jews, Gentiles and Christians. "Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God" (1 Cor. 10:32). We must remember these distincions when we discuss the matter of the Mosaic Law. Being a Gentile, I have never been obligated to the Law of Moses. However, that does not mean I am lawless and have no obligation to God. Now that I am a Christian, I am under a new law, the laws of Jesus Christ. My rationale for this is that I am now identified with the with Jesus who is called "thy seed" (Gal. 3:16) and to whom the Abrahamic promise was given. But many people still claim that the Mosaic Law is important and must be followed. God's Word states that "as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse" (Gal. 3:10) but "Christ [by his work on the cross] hath redeemed us from the curse of law" (3:13).

Why then the Law? (3:19). God gave it to heighten our understanding of His standard and the seriousness of transgressing that standard (Rom. 4:15). So, when God said, "Thou shalt not bear false witness" (Exo. 20:16), a lie was seen to be what it is: an overstepping or transgression of the law of God. A Gentile does not have the Law but he sometimes instinctively does the things that are in the law (Rom. 2:14-15). The reason for this seems to be that he is made in the image of God (James 3:9). Certain moral duties, imparted by that divine image are written in his heart and are manifest in his moral decisions and judgments. Having a conscience, he is obliged to respond favorably to God's self-revelation in nature and to fulfill certain basic duties that personal creatures owe the Creator, i.e. worship, gratitude, and service. When Paul preached to pagans, he did not use the Mosaic Law to bring them under the conviction of sin (Acts 14:6-18; 17:15-34; 24:25). Rather, he reminded them of their creaturehood (Acts 17:24-26) and their guilt of dishonoring God by neglecting to seek after Him (17:27) and by regarding Him to be less than what He is (17:24-25, 29). He also declared their duty to seek the Lord (17:27), repent and prepare for coming judgment (17:31).

Under New Management (Gal. 3:15-22)

When I was saved on January 4, 1953 several things happened to me that I later discovered as I grew in grace. For example, I learned that salvation was never granted on the basis of Law. I learned also that I had been justified before God on that day and thus any relationship to old Adam and to the law ceased; I was adopted into the Lord’s family; I was enrolled under a new rule, i.e. a new covenant. It became my first duty to obey my heavenly Father, not as a slave but as a child. In fact, I was to obey as a beloved child. It would now be an offense to Him if I intimidated His will in any way. Did He call me to seek fellowship with other Christians? Then it is at my peril if I neglected it, for I would be disobeying my Father. I was to do it, not because the law says, “Love thy neighbor,” but because Jesus says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” and this is the commandment that He has given to me, “that ye love one another.” Did He command me to seek to become like Jesus? What a joy it became to do so as I studied His Word and spent time with Him in prayer. Was I told to distribute to the poor? Then I was to do it, not because love is a burden which I dared not shirk, but because Jesus taught, “Give to him that asketh of thee.” Did the Law say, “Love God with all your heart”? Then I could look into the very eyes of that demand and reply, “O commandment, Christ has fulfilled you already. I have no need, therefore, to fulfill you for my salvation.” But I did, and ever since have rejoiced to yield obedience to Him because God is my Father now and He has a claim upon me.

Redeemed from the Curse of the Law

Just what makes people think they are able, by their own efforts, to gain God's approval? While we're at it, let's ask another question and then answer them in the same order. What makes people think that Jesus, by His own effort on the cross, secured their salvation? We have both groups of people all around us. What say you?

First, let's talk about people who are good people and genuinely sincere in their belief that their goodness will earn them God's approval. There is a beautiful church next to our condo. But it doesn't stand alone and empty. Every day early in the morning neighbors flock there for their devotions. They really believe they are going to heaven because they are good people, even though they have rejected the grace way. Sadly they are not aware that God says, "As many as are of the works of the law [relying on rule-keeping to be justified before God] are under the curse." (Gal. 3:10) Unwittingly, they have placed themselves under the wrath of God because they have chosen a legal system that they cannot keep and they have rejected God's plan of gracious salvation through faith alone in Christ alone. In Galatians 3:10-12 Paul states that the Law cannot save.

The other group believes that Christ died for their sins and that His work, not theirs, is sufficient before God. They believe this because God said it was so. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written 'Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree [Christ's cross]. (Gal. 3:13) In this verse I find four very comforting truths: (1) God justifies the sinner by being moved over his hopeless condition, (2) God justifies the sinner by providing Christ as his perfect substitute, (3) God justifies the sinner by removing his curse and, (4) God justifies the sinner through faith alone in Christ.

Salvation is by Believing, not by Achieving

This "justification by faith alone" doctrine that the Apostle Paul believed and preached, does it have any grounds at all in the Torah? Or is this a message that he made up? The Judaizers believed the latter; many of Paul's disciples in Galatia were heading that way too; but Paul is adamant. He sets out in Galatians 3:6-12 to prove that his doctrine is God's. It originates and is deeply rooted in sacred Scripture. It is a central theme, not only in the New Testament message, but of the Old Testament as well. We need to keep stressing this in our day as Paul did in his. Many today believe that Old Testament religion was a religion of law and not gospel. If the false teachers wanted to reach back to Moses, Paul could go back further to Abraham, the esteemed ancester of the Israelites. He lived in a period prior to the law, the temple, and circumcision. In fact, he was even a Gentile before God called him! There, in the first book of the Bible, Paul finds the patriarch simply believing God's promise. What distinguished him as a man of God is that he simply took God at His Word. On that basis God justified him (Gen. 15:6). He did not win right standing with God by his own efforts. It was given to him as a result of his faith. The implication is obvious. Abraham's children are those who, like him, are trusting God to do for them what they have given up trying to do for themselves. Then Paul appeals to Scripture for a further point. Not only was Abraham justified by faith, he is definitely linked to the Gentile peoples. "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3b). Reader, if you have never received Christ as your Savior, then hear this. The truth of justification, which was anticipated so clearly long ago, has now become visible and available in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed, everyone who believes are even now blessed along with Abraham. They are enjoying God's favor because they are believing God just as he did. The only demand God makes on you in connection with salvation is the trusting attitude of faith.

Using Scripture to Deceive

It is hard to believe but it is nevertheless true that some preachers "lie in wait to deceive" their hearers (Eph. 4:14). They even use Scripture to do it by misinterpreting it. Satan used this tactic when he tempted our Lord in the wilderness. He had been defeated on each of the first two attempts and so the enemy said in effect, "O.K. If I can't win by opposing him then I'll win by joining him." And so he quoted Scripture, from Psalm 91. But, he conveniently misinterpreted it for his own advantage (Luke 4:10-11). The Lord recognized this ploy and warded off the attack with another Scripture.

This tactic was used by the Judaizers in the early church. They believed that faith in Christ, though crucial, was not enough for salvation; believers had to observe the ceremonial law to be approved by God and to be welcomed into the family of God. They used Scripture to teach this. Had not Abraham, who received the promise that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed (Gen. 12:2-3), been commanded to be circumcised to be part of the family of God? (Gen. 17:10) This reference to Abraham and to Scripture made a lot of sense to the Jewish and Gentile believers. But, if the Christians of that day carefully studied their Scriptures, they would have discovered the deliberate misinterpretation. The Judaizers conveniently forgot an event that took place ten years after the promise and fourteen years before the command to be circumcised. At that time Abraham was challenged to believe that even at his advanced years, he would have a child who would be the seed of a great nation who would produce the Messiah. Scientifically, this was impossible. But faith takes God at His Word. "He believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). This means that Abraham was saved by faith alone - fourteen years before he was circumcised. Paul concludes, "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham ... So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham" (Gal. 3:7, 9). Friend, don't give up precious gospel truth to people whose major self-appointed task is to lead you astray. They will even use Scripture to do it, but it will be abused.

A Personal Remedy for Deserting the Faith

In 1965 a teenager began to attend our church services. He showed an interest in the Bible and gave every evidence of salvation. However, he left us after several weeks to join with the Mormons who had convinced him that he needed more than just a trust in the cross work of Jesus Christ for his salvation. How tragic! His experience represents that of thousands who desert the pure gospel of grace for a false form of Christianity that presumes to improve on the finished work of Christ. Some look for a second work of grace; some, for a commitment to the Lordship of Christ some time after being justified; still others, the baptism of the Holy Spirit which is evidenced by one's speaking in tongues.


In Galatians 3:1–5 the Apostle Paul reminds his readers that a believer's experience of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the Holy Spirit, and of God the Father are uncontested evidence of having been graciously made acceptable to God through personal faith in the perfect, complete work of Christ, apart from any human supplement. John McArthur states, "Although experience in itself is not entirely reliable evidence of spiritual reality, it is nevertheless a powerful apologetic when closely linked with and built on scriptural truth. Because genuine Christian experience verities the gospel of grace, the inspired apostle was led by the Holy Spirit to use it as an effective means of defending the doctrine of justification by faith." In 3:6-4:11 he will deal with the scriptural truth but here in 3:1-5 he helps to draw us back to the pure gospel if ever we were to stray by directing us to a few questions. (1) Was I justified in any other way than by believing in the cross work of Christ? (3:1) (2) Did I receive the Holy Spirit, our greatest evidence of final salvation, in any other way than by faith in the gospel and at the same time as my justification? (3:2-4) (3) Did the Father grant me, as He had promised, the Spirt power for victory over Satan, sin and the world in any other way than by faith in the gospel of grace (3:5)? If not, then how could I hope to enhance any of that out of my own insignificant human resources?

Superficial Believers

I don't know what the percentage is, but I dare say that evangelical churches are filled with superficial believers. They live only to experience spiritual "highs." In seeking for good feelings, they have missed the truly joyful, happy, satisfying life. Make no mistake about it, there are wonderful feelings in the Christian life, but they are found only in knowing and obeying God's truth. True happiness comes as John McArthur describes it as the product of a "humble pursuit of God's truth and will and of conformity to it."

The first century had their share of such believers too. Paul speaks of them in Galatians 3:1-5. "O foolish Galatians!" (Gal. 3:1) "Are ye so foolish?" (3:3) "Foolish" is such a harsh word! But the Apostle was not calling them stupid. The word that he used here means "no mind" or "no understanding." The Galatian saints failed to use their spiritual intelligence when faced by the unscriptural, gospel-destroying teaching of the Judaizers. They were not using their heads. They were lazy! They had foolishly fallen into Judaistic legalism because they had stopped believing and applying the basic truths of the gospel that Paul had taught them and by which they had been saved.

We are neither saved nor sanctified in the Christian life on the basis of good feelings or attractive inclinations. Both are on the basis of God's truth in Christ. Christians who rely on self-oriented emotions instead of Scripture-oriented minds are doomed to be "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." (Eph. 4:14). When they judge an idea on the basis of how good it makes them feel or how nice it sounds rather than on the basis of its harmony with God's Word, they are in serious spiritual danger.

Questions to Ponder:
1. What do you think attracts most people to cults: (1) They are intellectually convinced the doctrines of the cult are true. (2) They find its teachings and practices appealing. Support your answer.
2. Does Paul's appeal to the Roman saints in Rom. 12:1-2 apply to "foolish" saints today? How?

Justification by Faith Alone

Twice Paul describes the Galatian saints as "foolish" in the space of three verses (Gal. 3:1, 3). A. T. Robertson, a Greek scholar, defined that word as "without sense" or understanding. In Romans 1:14, 21 Paul uses this term in speaking of pagans. How, then, does he speak of Christians as being without sense? Sometimes we believers can be so influenced by the world that we think like them, or as in this case, we don't understand the basics of Christianity like them. This is tragic! The confusion in Paul's day - and in ours - is over justification by faith.

Justification is one of the great benefits for trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation. It is a forensic term and envisions a courtroom with God as the Judge. The Bible often speaks of God as judge. To name a few, Abraham called Him "Judge of all the earth" (Gen. 18:25) and Paul called Him "the righteous Judge" (2 Tim. 4:8). Here is where the problems over this doctrine begin because people question how a holy God can announce a sinner righteous. Charles Ryrie (Basic Theology, p. 299) points out that there are only three options for God as sinners stand in His courtroom. He must condemn them, compromise His own righteousness to receive them as they are, or He can change them into righteous people. And if He does the last one, then He can announce them righteous, which is justification. However, Ryrie clarifies, "any righteousness the sinner has must be actual, not fictitious; real, not imagined; acceptable by God's standards, and not a whit short." Here's how God did it; it's all found in Galatians. We will be safeguarded from such confusion if we remember these. (1) His plan centered in Jesus Christ, not in human work (2:16). (2) The prerequisite is faith in the now-revealed Jesus Christ (2:16). (3) The price is the blood of Christ (2:21), a great cost to Him but a free gift to us. (4) The position established for the believer is union with Christ. This is what makes him righteous (2:20). And (5) the pronouncement is righteousness for the sinner who believes in Christ (3:6).

Questions to Ponder:
1. How does Paul's appeal in 3:1-5 validate what he argued for in 2:15-16?
2. What "Christian" rules seem to be important in your circles? Why?

What Makes Christianity Tick

Martin Luther stood alone, like the Apostle Paul, valiantly defending the great doctrine of justification by faith, the doctrine which is at the core of Christianity. He defined a Christian as, “not somebody who has no sin, but somebody against whom God no longer chalks sin, because of his faith in Christ. This doctrine brings comfort to consciences in serious trouble.”

Paul's defence over the same issue took place some 1500 years before Luther. Paul "withstood him [the Apostle Peter] to the face" (Gal. 2:11). There was no unity here. No peace! But Paul was not the problem, though he instigated the troublous moment. It was Peter and he had to be rebuked! His behavior of separating from fellow believers on the basis of race was totally disconcerting to Gentile believers and, I might add, very dishonoring to the Lord. Paul uses the pronoun "I" twice, once in reference to Peter (2:18) and the other, to himself (2:19). In the first he points out Peter's problem of building again by his behavior what he destroyed (a legal system for approaching God). He knew better. He was saved by faith alone in Christ, not by keeping the Law - just like the Gentiles. In the second, in his own person, Paul gives us an excellent description of the mysterious life of a believer. He is crucified, and yet he lives. At the time of His salvation he was united to Jesus Christ, who now lives within the saint. The old man is crucified (Rom. 6:6), but the new man is living; he is dead to the world, and dead to the law, and yet alive to God and Christ; sin is mortified, and grace quickened. What Paul contended for is what we must today. Justification (being declared righteous by God our Judge) by faith alone makes no sense to most people. Surely, they say, we must do something about sins that remain in our lives! Paul answers this more as we will see in our continuing study of the rest of Galatians. For now he points out that he is avoiding two great difficulties:

1. That he did not frustrate the grace of God, which the doctrine of the justification by the works of the law did. "And if by grace, then is it no more of works." (Rom. 11:6)
2. That he did not frustrate the death of Christ, whereas, if righteousness come by the law, then it must follow that Christ has died in vain. Why should He be appointed to die, if we might have been saved without it?

The Harmful Influence of Careless Hypocrisy

In the November issue of Our Daily Bread was an article for the 24th entitled, Careless Preachers. Its substance was summarized in the final statement, "It's a mistake to think that we can impress the world by compromising with it." The great Apostle Peter did just that and was called to task for it by another great apostle, Paul (Galatians 2:11-13). His hypocrisy influenced a great many of the saints in the Syrian church in Antioch. Even the great Barnabas began to compromise because of Peter's actions. This is serious. Unsaved people may not be so much against Jesus as they are against hypocrisy. We repeatedly hear scoffers say, "The church is full of hypocrites!" Of course, it seems to be a good ploy to get out of their own responsibility to face up to the gospel. But let's not ignore that statement and dismiss it without taking heed lest they be true. We tend to think that it's not true of us. But let's think again. How many times have we been like the woman who glanced through her window, only to see a nosy, noisy neighbor approaching her door! Her young, impressionable children heard her as she grumbled, "Oh, no—not her again!" Whereupon she opened the door and gushed insincerely, "How very nice to see you!" Our lips and our lives often preach a mixed message. Let us be careful lest some of our friends are influenced by our careless hypocrisy.

Contending? or Contentious?

A collision happened in the early church in Antioch of Syria. It's a collision that has happened time and time again between people who disagree. In that case (Gal. 2:11) two of the most outstanding apostles, Peter and Paul, did battle. Paul states, "But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed." In doing so Paul was entering on dangerous territory because many others in history had tried to do battle with their fellows, only to fail. Proverbs 26:21 reminds us that "as charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife." Those “who stir up dissension among brothers” (Proverbs 6:19) are on the same list of things the Lord hates. Contentious hearts look for things to criticize and for opportunities to tear down a person, program, or idea. They destroy the essential commodities of happy and productive relationships, i.e. trust, thinking the best of others, and loving attitudes. It’s no wonder that Paul warned the Christians in Galatia about the danger of this kind of talk. He wrote, “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other” (Galatians 5:15). We need to watch our attitudes with others. But Paul was doing just that and he entered into battle in order to restore Peter. Peter's compromise needed rebuke and Paul gave it. God is at work, even in the most trying circumstances; what could have been a tragedy, He used for His glory and for the strengthening of His church. By this Paul was our example of his exhortation in Galatians 6:1, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering theyself, lest thou also be tempted."

That the Truth of the Gospel Might Continue

None of us can doubt the Apostle Paul's sincerity when he declared about the false teachers who were stirring up trouble among the saints, "To whom we gve place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you" (Galatians 2:5). He was dead serious! He was willing to die for "the truth of the gospel." The gospel of grace was critical to him then and it should be critical to us today. Let me illustrate. A friend of mine was overwhelmed with guilt when he committed a sin. He confessed that sin to the Lord whose promise in 1 John 1:9 is "he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." He does that in grace but my friend felt that he needed to do more. So the following Wednesday he stood before the church to announce that he and his wife were going to the mission field. I knew his motive; others did not. He missed the idea that Paul fought for - the concept of God's free grace for getting saved and maintaining a Christian life. I had the opportunity later to deal with and help solve his problem. My ideas were Paul's and went along the same lines that I recently discovered in the April 2008 issue of DJ Online News. The article was entitled Guilt and Grace. I use their outline as a young lady helped her own brother who had sinned.

(1) She, like the Lord Jesus, came alongside him. She dispelled his fears by assuring him of her prayers and her struggles with similar sins.
(2) She, like the Lord Jesus, reminded him of God's grace. He was holy and blameless in God’s sight, not because he had obeyed God perfectly, but because Christ paid the penalty for his sin on the cross. More than that, God had clothed him with the perfect righteousness of Christ. He no longer held his sin—including the one he currently faced—against him.
(3) She, like the Lord Jesus, didn't discount his sin. She encouraged him to identify and accept responsibility for his sin. Knowing what God has already done for him and how He viewed Him in Christ, he was able to deal with his sin appropriately.
(4) She, like the Lord Jesus, pointed him to the Holy Spirit. She encouraged him to ask God to give him the strength and will to trust and obey Him, which He has promised to do through His Spirit.

We can be thankful for the gospel of grace that Paul fought for and helped to make available today.

Defending the Faith, A Risky Business

Life is full of risks. We take risks from the moment we step out of our bed. We take a risk when we decide on a marriage partner. We take a risk when we grow children. We take risks when we get in our car and hit the roads. Without risks we would never make progress. An old Chinese saying states, "He who stands all day on one leg never goes anywhere." Buffalo Bill said, "I had many enemies among the Sioux; I would be running considerable risk in meeting them." But meet them he must. The same was true with Paul who preached a pure gospel of grace. He would not allow for any legal rule to be added to the gospel. As such, the gospel became available to both Jew and Gentile alike. The old faithful Jews did not readily accept that new gospel. They claimed that God's people must keep the ceremonial law. Except for a two-week period when he became acquainted with the apostles Peter and James in Jerusalem, Paul did not go to that city for 14 years aftter his conversion. It took special instructions from the Lord by revelation (Gal. 2:2) for him to go as a representative to the Jerusalem Council. But when he went Paul took a risk by choosing Titus, an uncircumcised Gentile who was now a Christian, to accompany him But notice Paul's actions. He was so very-well balanced. A Christian who is willing to take risks does not mean that he is care-free. He should be directed by the Lord and act in a well-balanced way. Paul was fair with the apostles by laying out the gospel as he understood it and preached it (Gal. 2:2); he was also wise in that he asked for a private meeting with the apostles (Gal. 2:2). A public meeting with such a sensitive issue would have been a needless offense. Brothers and sisters, we need to be willing to take risks under God's leadership, but in doing so to be fair and wise in all we do.

Questions to Ponder:
1. How do you feel when your beliefs are contrary to popular opinion? What would you have done in Paul's place?
2. Would it matter to you if Paul's argument had failed? Why or why not?

One Truth, One Church

Unity is of crucial importance to God. It exists in the Godhead; it exists in the church universal; it exists in the gospel. But the unity of the apostolic gospel in Paul's day was under attack. Judaizers, false teachers who stirred up trouble in the Gentile churches, taught that besides the gospel that the apostles in Jerusalem preached, there was another that Paul should be preaching to the Gentiles. They claimed that the Gentiles needed to go beyond mere faith in Christ crucified. They needed also to observe the Law of Moses just like faithful Jews would. In Galatians 2:1-10 Paul recounts an incident that was critical over this issue. It took place in a council in Jerusalem about 14 years after Paul was saved. The gospel of grace that he and the apostles preached was carefully examined. Both Paul and the apostles in Jerusalem had already had tremendous and effectual ministries among the Gentiles and Jews. There was a happy ending to that council because it was determined that two gospels did not exist - only one. How important that is! Again, in another passage, Paul emphasized unity when he encouraged the Ephesian saints to practice it in their assembly. The basis for their unity is the same basis for ours, i.e. the unity found in God, the church and the gospel. He said, "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (Eph. 4:4-6) It is fashionable today to speak of the theologies of the New Testament - the Pauline, the Lukan, the Johannine, the Petrine. The implication is that there are fundamental differences between them. This passage from Galatians teaches us that the only difference was in the audiences. The Jews may have been circumcised already but that did not give them an edge on salvation. The apostles in Jerusalem preached the gospel to Jews and they who believed were set free from the bondage of the Law. Paul preahced to the Gentiles and they who believed, though not circumcised, were promised heaven simply on the basis of grace. They were not obligated to live after the Law that could not save any one. How thankful we can be!

Questions to Ponder:
1. Do you think Paul would find modern Christian rules more justifiable than the Jewish ones he opposed? Why or why not?
2. Suppose God called you to share the gospel with people of a different culture. How would you decide which American Christian practices could be abandoned and which could not?

Story-Telling and a Hostile Crowd

I forget who said it but someone was referring to controversy when he stated, "No matter what you say or write, there is no controversy until someone does not agree with you.” It is to our benefit that Judaizers did not agree with Paul for now we can learn from the controversy over salvation by grace or by human works. Paul deals with his antagonists in three different way, each one being a way we should use when people disagree with us. In Galatians 1-2 he answers them personally, with stories from his own experiences; in chapters 3-4, doctrinally; and in chapters 5-6, practically. Since our thoughts have brought us to Gal. 1:10-24 we should note his story-telling practice. Personal stories have a particular charm because they cannot be refuted by a hostile crowd. We might call the stories our personal testimony. Every believer has a unique testimony that he should use over and over as he witnesses to people. This is particularly useful with those who may otherwise disagree with our message. Jesus used story-telling amny times to his hostile audiences. See Luke 15, the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son, where Jesus thus exposed the hypocrisy of those who criticized his association with the lost. Peter used story-telling in Acts 11 to defend his action in speaking the gospel to Gentiles (Acts 10). Paul uses it here in Gal. 1:13-24. He speaks of his pre-conversion days (1:13-14)and states the obvious, i.e. that he did not learn salvation by grace alone through his commitment to legalistic Judaism. At the time of his conversion (1:15-16a) God revealed the risen Jesus to him (v. 12; 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:8; Phil. 3:12) and he learned that salvation was by grace alone. His story continues because after his conversion (Gal. 1:16-24) he "conferred not with flesh and blood." Rather, Jesus Christ was his sole teacher during a period of three years in both Arabia and Damascus and he learned that salvation was by grace alone. When people disagree with your message, try story-telling, your own personal testimony.

Questions to Ponder:
1. If you had to argue for the reality of the gospel by giving one example of how faith in Christ has changed you, what would you share?
2. In what way is your experience of Christ an important part of your witness to others?

Fight the Good Fight but Watch Your Attitude

Paul is an apologist - a defender of the faith. In fact, he is probably the apologist par excellence of all church history. The book of Galatians is one apologetic document that came from his pen. Every serious Christian should focus on this wonderful work. We can learn much about how to defend the faith just by studying it. For example, it becomes obvious that Paul's defence of the faith was never meant to do what only the Holy Spirit can do, namely bring people under conviction of "sin, righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8-11). It is basically meant to strengthen believers. For sure, it is never meant to win an argument against an unbeliever. Josh McDowell stated, "Apologetics is not for proving the Word of God but simply for providing a basis for faith." (Evidence That Demands a Verdict, p. iii). McDowell makes the amazing observation that though the majority of those to whom he has spoken did not deny his evidence, they did not accept Christ as Savior and Lord. "This is not because they were unable to believe - they were simply unwilling to believe." (op.cit.p. i) In Galatians 1:10 Paul showed a right attitude in approaching people with the evidence concerning the truth of Christianity. We need to watch our attitude. Then in verses 11-12 he spoke to the Galatian saints who had been troubled by the Judaizers who claimed to be the true Christians. They had been influenced by suggestions that he made up his own gospel. In another article we shall see where this all went.

Questions to Ponder:
1. Why do you think Paul focused on helping the saints in the Galatian churches rather than on the unbelieving Judaizers? Was this a departure from his normal evangelistic outreach?
2. How has evidence for the truth of Christianity affected you?

People-Pleasing Preachers

People-pleaser! The very term is meant for life outside the church. Clowns are people-pleasers! Wily politicians are people-pleasers! Hollywood actors are people pleasers! But are preachers and Bible teachers clowns, wily politicians or pretentious actors? They shouldn't be! God tells us that there will be teachers who will be just that. The Word prophesies of congregations that "will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." (2 Tim. 4:3) The people may praise the scholarship, the rhetorical skills and the ability of people-pleasing preachers to manage large churches. But do churches really respect the integrity, the honesty with God's Word or any convictions of those preachers? I cannot imagine that they do! True respect is given to those leaders most representing the One who is our Lord and Savior. The Apostle Paul is such a man who demanded respect. He had been charged with preaching a gospel that was too easy. He was thus pleasing the people to draw in the crowd. The Judaizers who were troubling the Galatian churches taught that the gospel is improved if the Mosaic Law, as hard as it might be to obey, is added to the death and resurrection of Christ. But Paul insists that he was not being a people-pleaser by preaching the gospel of grace. "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." (Gal. 1:10) We displease God by trying to please people.

Questions to Ponder:
1. Why is it often tempting to try to please people? Why does this seem so important?
2. Is it always wrong to shape what you say according to your your audience's feelings? Why or why not?
3. This week, how can you avoid displeasing God by trying to please people? Think about some of the activities you will face.

How God Looks Upon a Distorted Gospel

I was only one year old in the Lord when a Christian cultist confronted me with the teaching that Christians must follow the laws of Moses. He said that we must keep the Saturday Sabbath. When I denied that, he left me with these words, "Well, I guess I'm a better Christian than you." This denial of the gospel of grace is what Paul faced in Galatia. Judaizers claimed authority from the Jerusalem church and were teaching that the Law must be added to the gracious work of Christ. The new Christians in the Galatian churches believed them and were in the process of deserting the Lord Jesus. This horrified Paul and so he moved quickly to offset the false teaching. He said, "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Gal. 2:21) To teach that human works contribute to salvation is to suggest that Christ's work was insufficient and needed to be improved on. The real question Galatians 1:6-9 poses is not why Paul became so incensed by this error, but why we, confronted with even deeper error in our own day, seem not to be shocked or dismayed at all. We accept it as a natural thing. Paul was a principled man and it has been through principled leaders like him that we have any Christianity at all today. Our easygoing tolerance is the sort of thing that could destroy it. Do you remember what the Lord said of those who cause believers to stumble? "And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea" (Mark 9:42)

Questions to Ponder:
1. Can you think of some modern perversions of the gospel?
2. How can one discern what is really true and avoid being led astray?

Who Says?

Galatians 1:1-9 Because he was not among the original twelve, Paul needed to defend his apostleship in ways that they did not. In I Corinthians 15:6-8 he states that he met the same requirement for seeing the risen Lord as they. However, in Gal. 1 he adds other arguments because his attackers, the Judaizers, were undermining his ministry in the Galatian churches. They claimed that he was a spurious, self-appointed preacher and therefore, his "strange teachings" needed not to be listened to. Contemporary liberal Bible scholars and theologians join them in maintaining that none of the apostles were special. Like other humans what they taught and wrote was based on their own human insight and understanding. Every believer has his own experiences of what is often called “the Christ event.” The Roman Catholics join evangelicals in denying that liberal teaching. However, Roman Catholic dogma adds a different and equally damaging doctrine. It maintains that the church wrote the Bible and is therefore a higher authority than the Bible. The church can therefore add to or modify Scripture as it sees fit, and its ecclesiastical pronouncements are held to have the same spiritual and moral authority as Scripture-even when they clearly contradict scriptural teaching.

Questions to Ponder:

1. How do you think Paul would answer the liberals of today who deny any special divine inspiration and authority to the writings of the apostles?
2. How do you think Paul would answer Roman Catholic dogma who claim that the apostles spoke to the church on behalf of the church?

The Gospel of Justification

Galatians 1:1-9 The Apostle Paul wasted no time in addressing his readers with chit chat. He abruptly went to the meat of his epistle, i.e. defending the gospel of grace. In 1:8 he boldly declares, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. " One of the benefits of that gospel message was justification (3:8) and so we could call it the gospel of justification. Justification is an act of God that takes place in the life of every believer at the time of his new birth. He thereby is forgiven all sins and is declared righteous before God. Any other gospel would not be an act of God but simply a creation of fallen man no matter how ingenious the system.

Can man possibly do by his working what Christ has done by His working?

1. The unsaved person stands _______________ before God. (Rom. 5:16, 18; John 3:18)
2. The unsaved person is without acceptable _____________. (Rom. 3:10, 23)

The theologian, Floyd Hays Barackman, describes justification as "the act of God whereby He acquits the gospel believer of the divine verdict of condemnation and declares him to be righteous." (Practical Christian Theology, Practical Press, Bible School Park, NY, p. 267). What could be better? No more condemnation before God! Only righteousness before God! That's the standing of the believer in Jesus Christ.

A believer's justification gives him advantages in daily living over non-believers. What are they?

1. Since God has forgiven us of all our sins by acquitting us of condemnation, what attitude should we have daily?
2. Since God has declared us righteous in Christ, what should we do daily?

Freedom from Sin; not Freedom to Sin

The last two chapters of Galatians are devoted to the sanctification of the believer. Individual freedom runs wild in evangelical circles today but it is not the freedom Paul taught. Instead of a sovereign God who draws men to Himself (John 6:44) and builds them up spiritually by the Word of God (John 17:17) churches now practice a holiness of their own making. The humanistic doctrine of individual freedom of choice, not God-given faith, has led to methods calculated to pressure people into making a decision. Charles Finney said, "Religion is a work of man" and clearly he regarded revivals of religion as a work of man as well.(Pearcey, Total Truth, p. 289) Contrary to being in charge of one's own growth in holiness, Paul taught that a civil war is raging in every believer’s experience (5:16-18). The only way we can find victory and bear fruit to God is to line up behind the Spirit and allow ourself to be led by Him (Gal. 5:16-18). In this manner spiritual fruit will appear in our life and ripen to maturity. If we desire to have the qualities listed in Gal. 5:22-23, then we may be assured that the Holy Spirit is leading us. But just a warning: Be careful not to confuse your subjective feelings with the Spirit's leading. In a day which features the new morality, we can hardly question the extreme relevance of Paul's teaching on holiness.

Questions to Ponder:
1. From your own experience, describe what it means to live by the desires of the sinful nature (Gal. 5:16-18).
2. Now by contrast explain what you think it means to live by the Spirit.

Will the Real Gospel Please Stand Up?

The central chapters of the letter to the Galatians, chapters three and four, explain the nature of salvation. People use the term "gospel" very loosely. A reader of Scripture in a formalistic church may call the passage he is assigned to read "the gospel." Is It? Another may refer to the gospel as the set of rules Christians must live by. Is it? Thankfully not because that is what has turned many off organized religion. This begs the question, just what is the real essence of the Christian message? Christianity is personal faith in Jesus and a living, continuing relationship with Him. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 defines the gospel as the main work of Jesus Christ during His days on the earth. "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Christ took our place on the cross. He became a "curse" for us (Gal. 3:13). The marvel in the gospel is that His work is 100% sufficient for mankind. Simply by trusting in Him and accepting His finished work on the cross, we are justified in God's sight. Those united to Christ by faith belong to the people of God and have become heirs of the promise given to Abraham (Gal. 3:25-29). They are part of a new community based on grace and mercy, in which all that divides men in a fallen world can no longer divide them.

Questions to Ponder:
1. The main argument of the Judaizers was that Gentiles had to become Jews in order to become Christians. How did Paul expose the flaw in this argument as found in 3:6-9?
2. The law has two functions. There is both a positive side and a negative side to the law. What are they according to 3:18-19?

Truth on Trial

Christians are forced to defend their faith. They always have. But it's different today. We no longer live in the biblically oriented America that existed for the past four centuries. Ours is atheistic, pagan and cultic. Pluralistic, our culture tolerates false doctrine. The belief is that every person is his own authority. Each of us is independent; we determine truth for ourselves. There is no central authority for truth; there is no absolute truth. This is no small matter; it is a critical problem. Eternal life hangs in the balance. "We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?" (2 Cor. 2:15-16) How we live and what we teach will make a difference in whether people obey the gospel or meet Jesus in the fire of judgment, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."(2 Thess. 1:7-8) This is why Paul was so provoked at the false teaching in Galatia. It was another gospel and would bring eternal ruin to those who embraced it. What strong words he spoke, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." (Gal. 1:8)

This means that the question of authority is a most critical one for us today. Who are we to believe? Who or what has the right to command our obedience? To whom has God delegated His authority? Paul answered the question for the Galatians by asserting his authority as an apostle of Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:1, 11-12, 15-16). Paul's answer can help us today. The church of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20). It is an apostolic church. It bases its teachings, not on human ideas and traditions, but on the teachings of its Lord's apostles. The Bible is God's own Word. It follows then that they who subject themselves to the Bible, subject themselves to God. The Bible is not a mixture of human opinion but the repository of divine truth.

Questions to Ponder:
1. Paul defends himself in Gal. 1:11-2:14. Why must he do that?
2. What evidences of true apostleship does Paul present in Gal. 1-2?

What a Lukewarm Christian Looks Like (Rev. 3:14-22)

Wasting their opportunity to influence their city, the congregation in Laodicea became like their city. The church took on the temperature of their surroundings. We call that lukewarmness. How cruel we are to the One who delivered us from this present evil world when our present life shows no difference from that world! We need to know how Christ views lukewarmness.

• First, He spoke unhappily about The Condition of Lukewarmness (3:14-15). Sadly, this was their condemnation because they could not see it. Christ’s verdict in verse 15 is the exact opposite of the church’s own evaluation and expectations. Their deeds were “neither cold nor hot.” That expression may refer to their lack of zeal (v. 19) or their uselessness, for Christ says, “I would thou wert cold or hot.” Be careful not to suppose that Christ meant I wish you were either spiritually cold (i.e., unsaved or hostile) or spiritually hot (i.e., alive and fervent). Could Christ ever wish someone were unsaved or hostile? Heavens, no! Don’t read our contemporary use of words into the vocabulary of first century Christians. They did not use the same terminology as we do today. We understand “hot” in spirituality to mean “on fire for the Lord.” But they didn’t. What they understood was the mixing of cold and hot to make “lukewarm.” That is to say, they were useless to Christ because they were complacent, self-satisfied, and indifferent to the real issues of faith in Him and of discipleship.

• Then, He spoke graphically about His Counter Reply to Lukewarmness (3:16). He says what the citizens of the city understood. Insipid water induces vomiting! And so Christ’s reaction is “I will spue thee out of my mouth.” That statement doesn’t take much interpretation. Christ hates a Laaodicean attitude of indifference to matters of faith. With such an attitude, He must deal harshly. To be a Christian means to be useful to Christ. But to be Laodicean means to be useless.

Why is this important? Lukewarmness can be a very self-deceiving spiritual state. The lukewarm ones may partially answer the call to the claims of the gospel. They may think it good form to be a Christian. They may marvel at something of God’s grace. They may profess to be believers, having been baptized and become members of the church. Some of them may even have confessed Christ as Savior and fallen into line in service as a duty, but they have not come to the place where they see the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Check out your spiritual life. Is Christ really your Savior and Lord?

• What is The Cause of Lukewarmness (3:17)? Startled at the intensity of Christ’s digust, we also ask, Can a genuine believer become lukewarm? Not likely. Christians are useful; lukewarm Christians are useless. It goes far beyond their indifference. Christ’s words in v. 17 indicate it is their ignorance. “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” They were blind to their real condition. Observe the way this indictment is related to the general condition of the city – rich in material possessions and self-sufficient. The spirit of the surrounding culture had crept into the congregation and had paralyzed their spiritual life. It is difficult to know whether the church was boasting in its material wealth or in its spiritual wealth. Many commentators cannot conceive that it was material wealth but there are many saints today who measure their blessings from God by their material possessions. Nevertheless, they had misread their true condition. They are not, as they thought, “rich” and “have need of nothing.” They were in fact “wretched and miserable.” How can Christ say that? He explains by the next three words. They were “poor and blind and naked.” Contrast their condition with that of the saints in Smyrna who were very poor materially but rich spiritually (2:9). Lukewarmness, then, does not refer to the laxity of Christians but to the condition of not really knowing Christ as Savior and Lord and thus being useless to Him.

• Finally, let’s consider The Cure for Lukewarmness (Rev. 3:18-19). The Laodiceans could be helped only if they obeyed Christ’s commands: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” Notice that His three commands correspond exactly to the self-deceptions of the Laodiceans. “Gold” was the city’s source of wealth. The true Christian knows differently. His riches are found in Christ alone. Their shameful nakedness was to be clothed, not by purchasing the sleek, black wool of Laodicea but by buying from Christ the “white clothing” that alone can cover shameful nakedness (Rev. 16:15). For those who were blind to their true condition, the “Phrygian powder” was useless. They needed to buy “eyesalve” from Christ so that they could truly see. These three figures all point to the Laodiceans’ need of authentic salvation. All is not lost even though the state of the church verges on disaster. Christ refers to His “love” and associates that with His “rebuke” and “chastening.” Prov. 3:12; 1 Cor. 11:32; Heb. 12:6 He spits out those He does not love and “rebukes” and disciplines those who hear His voice. The difference is in their response.

A Proud Church in a Proud Society (Rev. 3:14-22)

Pride was the fault of Nebuchadnezzar, the Old Testament Babylonian king (Dan. 4). Pride was the fault of Herod, the New Testament ruler of the Jews (Acts 12:21-23). As a result God made the first man insane and the second He killed Such judgment has happened many times over throughout history. The reason is God’s utter hatred for pride. “I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech” (Prov. 8:13). In Revelation 3:14 the Lord Jesus is identified as “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” As such, to a proud church He appears with all certainty, finality and ultimate authority. The principle is just this: A people who are proud and think they need nobody’s help are a people who are doomed to failure.

• First, let us consider A city too rich and too proud for its own good (3:14). Of all the seven cities represented in our Lord’s letters to the churches one stood out for its wealth. That was Laodicea. They accumulated riches by becoming an important center of trade and communication. In addition, they produced a fine quality of famous glossy black wool. So wealthy was Laodicea that after the great earthquake of A.D. 17, which destroyed it, the people refused imperial help in rebuilding the city, choosing rather to do it entirely by themselves. Incidentally, they also had a famous school of medicine, and a special ointment known as “Phrygian powder,” famous for its cure of eye defects. However, their wealth could not change the fact that the city had poor water. It came from one of two sources, either from hot springs or from a cooler source. But both were over six miles away leaving the water lukewarm after traveling through a long aqueduct from those sources. Their wealth could not solve this water problem.

Why is this important? Many people think money can buy them anything, including happiness. No one questions the value of wealth. It provides us a dimension of well-being, security in the event of emergencies. However, it also provides the occasion to become self-sufficient and very proud. So, wealth could be our undoing. Mark Twain saw this at the end of the 19th century. He said, “The offspring of riches is pride, vanity, ostentation, arrogance and tyranny.” During that same era another great man, the Englishman Samuel Butler, stated, “The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance.” Our present society has become arrogant and proud in many ways. Does that make us ignorant to our precarious position? God says it does. “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18). We must learn that our wealth cannot buy us everything.

• But in that proud city is a church. That’s a good thing because the city needs some godly influences. Jesus said, “Ye are the salt of the earth … Ye are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:13-14). He then encourages His disciples to let their light so shine that men, in seeing the Christian’s good works, would then glorify God. But something was wrong with this church. It did not influence the city; the city influenced it and so we have … a lukewarm church. It was the same temperature as the city in which it lived.

And so, secondly, A church too rich and too proud for its own good (3:14-22). They even make the claim, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” (3:17). How similar is that to the claim of the city! We must remember that money isn’t everything. Jesus continued His thought in Matt. 5:13 when He stated that believers are the salt of the earth, “But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Remember, there is one thing the rich city could not improve on – their poor water. The same is true of the church. This church was lukewarm. We will reserve that thought for next week.

Why is this topic important? We cannot deny the fact: Our American churches are wealthy. How do we treat that? Is there any place in God’s plans for money? Can He approve of us if we have money? The answer is to be found in Luke 6:1-15. Practically every commentator agrees that the parable of the unjust steward refers to how wise ungodly men are in the use of their money for their temporal and finite needs. Without question the moral of the story is that Christians should make wise use of all of their resources for what is eternal and everlasting. It is also believed that the unjust steward had probably illegally charged these men interest which he buried in the initial debt, and intended to keep this money for himself. If this is correct, the steward was not reducing the amount his master was to receive. The master, in seeing the manner in which the steward relieved the burden of others to put others in his debt, commended the steward. As Christians, we should use our resources, both monetary and spiritual, to relieve the burdens of the poor and those in need so we may be well received into the kingdom of heaven. The whole point of teaching here is to appreciate values. The unjust steward began to value temporal things. We should value the good in spiritual and eternal things. The lord saw a valuable prudence in his steward. The Lord Jesus teaches us to look to the future—to invest in eternal securities. Our goods should be laid on the altar that we may have an abundant entrance into eternal life. We are not to trust in riches but are to use them as means to a desired end. If we trust in riches, we become a servant to mammon (money), a servant to the god of greed. If we trust in God the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, then we view our money as a gift of God and realize that the best use we can make of our money is to use it so others may be brought to Christ.

Verse for This Week: “I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech” (Prov. 8:13).

Your Step for This Week: Choose someone you know who is proud. Develop a list of what you see as symptoms of his pride and why he would be proud.

Prayer for This Week: Help me, Lord Jesus, to be humble in my service for You, not holding on to any wealth you have granted me but to use it for Your kingdom.

Taking Advantage of the Open Door (Rev. 3:7-13)

The church in Philadelphia was a model church. Our Lord Jesus commended them (1) for faithfulness with opportunities given to them (3:8a), (2) for spiritual competence (3:8b) – “thou hast a little strength” and so they depended all the more on Christ, (3) for faithfulness to the Word (3:8c), and (4) for evidence of their faith (3:8d). There are reasons why we can say they were a model church and that we could be as well.

A faithful church looks above at who Christ is (3:7). The saints at Philadelphia knew whom they served. But how could others see that? Rev. 3:8, 10 informs us that there were three ways, namely their "works," the remarkable labor though they had "little strength," and their "perseverance." How do these prove whom they served? The answer: what people saw is but the natural product of three graces abiding in every Christian. They could not see faith, love and hope (those divine graces given to every believer at his new birth and exercised by faithful believers who are looking above). However, they could see what each one produced. All three graces and their fruits are mentioned in 1 Thess. 1:3. “We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NIV) In the case of the Philippian saints, their love for Christ produced good works (v. 8), probably meaning that they were involved in spreading the gospel to those around them. Jesus seems to be assuring them that their "open door" of opportunity was one of evangelism and that it would continue. Their faith in Christ transformed their weakness into power (v. 8; 2 Cor. 12:9; Isa. 40:29). They realized that they must turn to Christ to find strength when their own natural strength was limited. Little strength is probably a reference to their numbers; they would not be weak spiritually since Christ would not open a door for spiritually weak Christians. Furthermore, they had hope in Christ because perseverance is always the result of Christian hope.

If you are faithful, you will give evidence of God-given Christian virtues. But it is also possible to pretend by producing, in your own natural strength, what you think those virtues will produce. It is critical that you look up; that you draw all your strength from Christ; that you make the distinction between faith in your faith (a subjective attitude) and faith in your Savior (an objective attitude). Likewise, also, your hope and love must be in Him, not in something you conjure up. This subject begs this question: What are you feeding? Your God-given faith, hope and love or your human, selfish pride that boasts of activities and forgets that Christ is the fruit inspector?

A faithful church looks around at what Christ is doing (3:8). They see what He is doing and they join in to assist Him in that work. Jesus commanded His disciples to do just that, “Look on the fields; they are ready to harvest” (John 4:35, 38, 41). The saints in Philadelphia saw this as an opportunity and a stewardship and so they entered the “open door.” They were “small” in number but not in spiritual strength. The world saw nothing attractive in them. However, the Lord was glorified in them because they “kept” the Word of God.

Too many of us Christians never see an open door. We never see opportunities for witness. That isn’t what happens when people first come to saving faith in Christ. They have zeal. They willingly leave their comfort zone. How sad it is that as the generations go on the zeal wanes in many lives! Here's a warning: men, by their arrogance and ecclesiastical or political position and actions, will strive to shut out true Bible believing believers from effective service. At such a time don't forget Christ’s power and authority. Men may bind us, as they did John and Paul, but God’s Word is not bound (2 Tim. 2:9). The Lord holds the key to opening doors to ministry as well as the door to the hearts of men. Where are we in the scheme of things? Are we witnessing? Are we trusting Christ for it?

A faithful church looks ahead at what Christ will do (3:9-11). When a person enters into a living relationship with Christ, he can count on several blessings. J. Hampton Keathley, III lists these in his lesson on Rev. 3:7-13.
(1) Comfort concerning their persecutors (3:9). The Lord refers to “the synagogue of Satan” in Philadelphia as the location of their persecution. Satan owned the synagogue whether the Jews recognized it or not. He was the head and the power behind the scenes. The Lord pointed this out in John 8:41-47 where He made it clear that merely calling themselves Israel did not constitute the Jews God’s people. To be a true Jew in the biblical sense one had to have the hope and faith of Abraham. Abraham was the possessor of faith in the promises of God to him and faith in the coming Messiah. Since faithful believers will reign with Jesus Christ and share in His throne, these persecutors will in essence have to fall down at the believer’s feet (Phil. 2:10-11; Heb. 2:13).
(2) Comfort concerning the Tribulation (3:10). Two very important items need to be emphasized. First, note that this is not a reward only to the faithful in Philadelphia, but to the church as a whole. This is clear from 3:13 which broadens this as a promise to the churches at large. All believers are to listen to these messages and their warning, exhortations, and promises and act accordingly. Second, the promise is “I will keep you from the hour …” i.e., from the Tribulation. This is very specific and carefully described in the Greek to emphasize and clearly teach the pre-tribulation rapture of the church. The preposition “from” has a special usage that means “escaping trouble you are not presently in.” See its use in Acts 15:29 and James 5:20. The promise of Rev. 3:10 is a two-fold guarantee: of not only being kept from the trials of the Tribulation but also from the very time period – “the hour.”
(3) Comfort concerning the imminent return of Christ (3:11). His coming is promised to be “quickly.” This means “suddenly, unexpectedly, without announcement” and not necessarily soon. It implies imminency and so the charge here is to “hold fast,” a warning against spiritual carelessness and carnality.

It helps to look ahead. We will then live in the light of His coming, and hold fast to Him in faith and service. His coming means examination and rewards. So, only those who look ahead will be ready for the exam. We’ve read the last chapter and so we do not have to fear the evils that are taking place today, as if God’s plans were being upset. What do you see ahead?

Verse for This Week: "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35)

Your Step for This Week: Develop a list of your activities this week that proves you are a faithful child of God.

Prayer for This Week: Help me, Lord Jesus, to be faithful as you are. Teach me how to order my life for faithful living.

Chosen on Purpose for a Purpose (Rev. 3:7-13)

The days of the Great Reformation were special days. They were days demanding great people, people of courage, people of purpose, people on a mission. For example, the French Calvinists (c. 1547) called Huguenots, were committed to upholding Truth. They were faithful in their witness to the belief that justification was by faith alone. For this they were persecuted fiercely. Their enemies also had a purpose – to rid the earth of evangelical Christians. Special courts were set up to try heretics, who were often burned at the stake. As martyrs multiplied, so also did evangelical Christianity spread. These were aided by massive mission efforts from Geneva. This illustrates the truth that people, Christian or nonchristian, with purpose have a reason for living. They get up in the morning, rolling up their sleeves, ready to work for their cause. It is interesting that the Lord chose to plant a church on a mission in a city that had a history of mission. Our passage in Revelation 3:7-13 begins with the city first.

The city of Philadelphia was a city chosen on purpose. It was located due west some 25 miles east of Sardis and about 100 miles east of Smyrna and ideally situated as a gate to the provinces of Lydia and Phrygia. There was a highway from the Aegean Sea that traversed through Smyrna, Sardis, Philadelphia and into the two eastern provinces. It was the Pergamenian king Attalus II (159-138 BC) who had been given the name "Philadelphus," which means "brother lover" because of his love for his brother. He established the city and gave it the task of spreading Greco-Asiatic culture and language in the eastern part of Lydia and in Phrygia. So the city may well have been founded for a social purpose. The great Christian archaeologist, William Ramsey, stated that the city “was a missionary city from the beginning, founded to promote a certain unity of spirit, customs, and loyalty within the realm…” The city successfully carried out its mission as is evidenced by the fact that the Lydian language ceased to be spoken in Lydia by AD 19 and the Greek language took over. Phrygia was a different story, however. It was not converted to Greek.

Why is this important? Our great country of the USA, like Philadelphia, was established to fulfill a purpose. What purpose? History tells us that those who landed on our shores had the aim of evangelizing the pagan natives of the land. Contrast this with the purpose of the Spaniards who landed first in Central and South America. Their goal was to get gold. Later our country was constituted with the words in its preamble, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The purpose of our land was and still is to carry out justice, ensure peace, provide common defense, promote the welfare of all citizens and secure freedom. Successful? Yes! Within this context colleges were born. In the 17th century, Harvard University began as an Indian College to educate Native Americans. Princeton University goes back to its establishment by "New Light" Presbyterians and was originally intended to train Presbyterian ministers. Indeed, Mission Statements are essential but what good are they if not maintained?

Begs the Question: Do we know what God intends for us as a nation? Is it our intent to see that it is accomplished? Am I contributing to the advance or the demise of my great country? What must I do? What can I do?

The church in Philadelphia was a church with mission. She was reminded of this in the first few words. “These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth.” For the first time in all the letters Christ identifies Himself in words that were not quotes from chapter one. This fact makes this a special church. The Lord goes out of His way to claim deity for Himself. He claims to be “holy” and “true,” words used in the Old Testament for Jehovah, Israel’s covenant God. In calling Himself Jehovah of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ guarantees blessings to His people. Furthermore, the activity of this God is to hold “the key of David.” This is a reference to Isaiah 22:22 where the Secretary of the State of Israel, Shebna, who had held the key of David was removed and his office given to another, Eliakim (22:15). The term refers to having complete control over the Messianic kingdom of David. Rev. 3:7 introduces Christ as the only One who holds control over the Messianic kingdom. He alone brings people into the kingdom of God. When the Lord Jesus gave His Mission Statement to all churches at the time of His ascension (Matt. 28:18-20) He prefaced His remarks by saying something identical. “All power is given unto me in heaven and earth.”

Why is this important? Any Christian who is looking forward to the fulfillment of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants has been introduced to Christ for citizenship in Christ's kingdom. He "opens and no one will shut, and [He] shuts and no one opens." He is the One, the author of the opportunity of salvation. He is in possession of the gates to heaven and the gates to hell. This is His present activity, not just His ability. Men cannot claim this. Pagan gods like Janus, the two-faced god, cannot havethis. Even the pope who assumed this power cannot do it. Only the Lord Jesus who gave mission to every Christian can claim such authority. He does not even pass this key over to Christians. It is His alone, but when Christians carry out their purpose of witnessing, they can do so knowing that genuine results come from the sovereign God, their Savior.

Begs the Question: Do we have assurance of salvation? Are we faithful in our witness to the Truth?

Verses for Today: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations …and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matt. 28:18-20)

Your Step for Today: Thank the Lord for introducing you into His kingdom. Pick out one person with whom you can share the gospel and trust the One Who holds the keys to that person’s future.

Your Prayer for Today: Give me confidence in your ability, Lord. And, also, in your present activity as I witness to the lost.

Promised and Visual Hope for Dead Churches (Rev. 3:1-6)

There is no person who can speak to our hearts as the Lord Jesus can. If He must rebuke us, He comes first with love and compassion that we, by the grace of God, should seek to follow after Him. Notice this method in each of the letters that we have considered. Each church, except the one in Smyrna, needed rebuke but He first commended them for their good actions (2:2-3, 13, 19). He is not a tyrant waiting to judge us harshly if we do not follow His leading. He wants us to be like Him and so He deals gently with us in our faults. However, there is a difference when we come to the church in Sardis (Rev. 3:1-6). He had nothing good to say to them. What about His reference to good deeds in 3:1? That is not a commendation; it is His complaint, as we learn from 3:2. There is something seriously wrong here in Sardis. This is a sad and startling complaint come from the lips of our Lord. Three principles will help us in our duty to watch what good things we have in Christ.

The first principle is that a church can be dead. This is where any church must begin. Each must ask the question, Are we a dead church? The church in Sardis was dead (3:1) as evidenced in their works that failed to please Christ (3:2). Why did Christ use the term “dead” for Sardis when He did not for the churches in Thyatira and Laodicea? Did they not also have serious problems? I suppose it is because neither of them had ever known such glory as the Sardian believers did at the beginning. Now they had nothing. It is like the contrast between life and death. Just as the city had a significant fame as a royal city, and now was nothing, even so the church’s loyalty and service to Christ was in the past. Now they were nothing. They had “a form of godliness but [denied] the power thereof” (2 Tim. 3:5).

Why is this important? The great majority of Christendom today has only the form of godliness. They have no power. For example, how much of Protestantism today knows in practical experience the truth of justification by faith which was the Bible doctrine upon which Protestantism was founded? Very little! It is a truth that has been lost to vast areas of organized Christendom. The Reformation began well but later deteriorated into different religious systems. Where Truth is absent the religious body is spiritually lifeless. Many of those groups are today working toward an organic union that Protestants and possibly Roman Catholics will call Christian. But if they succeed in doing this, they will still be dead. It is a far cry from the “unity of the Spirit” spoken of by Paul in Eph. 4:3 and the unity Christ prayed for in John 17:21-23. In their organization, they will still be dead.

Begs the Question? Are we dead – without knowing it? Do we break the bread at Communion and at the same time feed upon Him? We have worship services, but do we really worship? What about our giving to the Lord’s work? We may give regularly, but do we do it out of a sense of duty or because we love the Lord? How about our prayer lives? And our work on church committees? Is it pleasing to Him? Does not God speak of of a?

A second principle is just as important. A dead church can be revitalized (3:2-3). The only hope for the Sardian church at that time and for Protestant churches today is to turn to the Lord “who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars” (Rev. 3:1). If the Sardian church is strong, it is because Christ has sent His Spirit to encourage and quicken the Sardian believers; if they are dead like the city, it is because in judgment He has withdrawn His Spirit from them. In fact, the Lord gives five imperatives that, if obeyed, would awaken the church to new life. (1) They must “watch” (3:2-3). The pastors must watch over themselves, know the state of their flocks, teach the Truth and see to it that the laws of Christ’s house are practiced. The members must watch over their own attendance, their observance of the ordinances and their prayer life. (2) They must “strengthen the things that remain” (3:2). They cannot strengthen good works nor the graces of the Spirit. But they can strengthen the Truths of the gospel that they embraced at the beginning. (3) They must “remember” (3:3). This not only refers to the doctrines of grace she had heard at the beginning but the manner in which she heard them [with attention, reverence, humility and without prejudice]. (4) They must “hold fast” (3:3) those doctrines though everybody else despises them and they are ridiculed as fanatics. (5) They must “repent” (3:3).

Why is this important? It is good that hope is offered to churches that are floundering. Some have recovered from the near-death experience and are showing signs of spiritual life. However, some do not. Sadly, the longevity of life for all evangelical churches is 50 years.

Begs the Question? How old is our church? How does she compare favorably with her beginning in matters of doctrine and practice? What past successes has our church had that might give us such comfort and confidence that we become careless? Are we moving forward? What excuses might our church give for no longer being a living, vibrant church?

Let’s go one step further and add another principle worth keeping. A dead church can revive and earn a reward (3:4-6). Paul refers to this principle in his discussion on marriage in 1 Cor. 7:13-14. He states that unsaved spouses and children are “sanctified” by the presence of the Christian in the home. He did not mean they were saved. The idea of sanctification simply means to set apart for some use. By the believer’s presence the unsaved in the home are set apart for a gospel ministry of the Holy Spirit. Here is the hope of the Sardian church. They had “a few people … who [had] not defiled their garments; and they will walk with [Christ] in white” (3:4). That remnant sanctifies the majority who were defiled. Who knows but the dead might live. Like the believers who are assured of being clothed in “white raiment,” the dead members might seek life in Him who has “seven Spirits of God.

Verse for Today: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” (Gal. 6:1)

Your Step for Today: In a prayerful attitude, ask the Lord what role you might have in helping your church overcome the tendency to lose life. Seek out one friend who will agree with you on this and help you to carry out that role.

Your Prayer for Today: Ask the Lord to make the members of your church sensitive to the Spirit so that they might know if they are just going through the motions spiritually and have no real spiritual vitality.

It Doesn't Pay to Copy the Failures of the World (Rev. 3:1-6)

Today we consider a new church in the list of seven that the Lord addresses. Verses 2 and 3 of Rev. 3:1-6 set the tone for today’s lesson: “Be watchful … If therefore thou shalt not watch.” Other versions have “wake up,” (NAS, NIV, NLT, RSV). I don’t like that translation because it loses the thought of a sentinel’s duty. “Watch” is better. The guard’s job is to be alert to encroaching danger and, if needed, to alert the others. The issue in Sardis has to do with failing to be alert, neglecting one’s duty. What was true in the history of the city was true of the history of the church there. Neglect! Dereliction of duty! The theologian and Bible teacher Dr. S. Lewis Johnson entitles this passage, “Sardis: a Model of Past Glory.”

I. Sardis, the city, neglected its duty and lost its glory. In the sixth century B.C. there was no greater city than Sardis. It was the capitol of the kingdom of Lydia. It was the residence of the kings of Lydia, Croesus being one of them. His name is proverbial for his immense wealth. Cyrus is said to have taken $600 million worth of treasure from the city when he captured it in 548 B.C. Its fertile land and its ideal location made it a very important commercial city. The upper city (acropolis) was on a hill that towered 1,000 feet above the valley. It gave the city an almost impregnable stronghold. There was no city greater, but this was all lost through the failure to watch. The acropolis was successfully scaled in 549 B.C. by a Median soldier and in 218 by a Cretan. The Ionians burned the city in 501 B.C. but it was quickly rebuilt and regained its importance. In 334 B.C. it surrendered to Alexander the Great. Just 80 years before Christ wrote this letter the city was destroyed by an earthquake and never recovered its former glory.

II. Sardis, the church, neglected its duty and lost its glory. There was a Christian church in this city. Indeed, most of the citizens worshipped at the temple of Artemis, the goddess of fertility, and honored Hera, the goddess of marriage and Demeter, the goddess of the fruits of the earth and paid their vows to the divine Roman emperor. However, God wonderfully raised up a company of believers in Jesus Christ who formed a local church. How glorious is that thought! God raised up a people for His name in a community of Jews and pagans. God built His church in that city but much like the city itself, they failed to watch and so, lost their glorious start. Jesus said, “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead” (3:1) “I have not found thy works perfect before God” (3:2). There was activity in the church, but the activity was not coming to perfection. They were not getting the job done. Nothing they had done from their beginning had succeeded in establishing and grounding them in the faith. Remember this church follows the one in Thyatira like the Reformation followed the Dark Ages when the Roman Catholic Church reigned. Martin Luther describes the church in Sardis as suffering from spiritual dry rot. That’s interesting since the church in Sardis describes the conditions following the great Reformation in the 16th century. The city’s greatness lay in the past; so did the church’s.

Why is this important? There are churches like this today. Their greatest moment was the fleeting blaze of their momentous beginning. Since then they have not amounted to much. There were several converted at first, they readily put up a meetinghouse and called a preacher. However, soon after that things began to dwindle. Some may have become discouraged from the ridicule of former friends. Others lost their time for Bible study, prayer, evangelism and the assembling of themselves with other believers.

Begs the Question? How can a church be dead and not know it? Do others see us or our church as alive? How? What are the evidences?

III. Sardis, the church, has a Savior who can restore them to former glory. The Lord identifies Himself as the One “who hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars” (v. 1). This is a reference to the Holy Spirit in the fullness of His power. See Isaiah 11:2. The Lord has that power as He comes to His struggling churches. The church can be reached only through the powerful Lord working through “the seven stars” who are the messengers or pastors of the churches. The pastors must be submissive to Him and they much preach His Word faithfully if the churches are to be revived. If they fail to “watch” and alert the congregation to the enemy, if they strive to avoid being offensive to their pagan environment, the church will die. Christ is able to restore us again.

So then, we must be vigilant. If we do not hold fast to Truth, we will lose the glory gained by those who preceded us. Next week we will consider the power that our omnipotent Savior gives to struggling churches.

Verse for Today: "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." (Acts 20:29-31)

Your Step for Today: List at least three ways that you can alert your Christian friends to the attacks of antichristian forces.

Your Prayer for Today: Pray that churches in our land may be vibrant in their Christian witness and continue to be able to worship, work and witness.

The Fallacy of Working One's Way Past Judgment (Rev. 2:18-29)

Every evil system has been founded on lies. The Nazis believed the lie of the superiority of the Nordic race; the Communists, the lie of the superiority of a classless, stateless society based on common ownership of the means of production; the abortionists, in the lie that fetuses are just tissue. The Church in Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29) denied a final judgment and so the Judge of all men, the Lord Jesus Himself, addresses them as the One who knows the future. He unveils lies believed by many members, which lies encouraged them in their denial. We must understand some aspects of these lies so we don’t believe them.

I. First, consider the nature of the lies in Thyatira (2:19-20). Lies are spawned by hell and those who teach them or believe in them are in league with Satan (2:24) who is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

The first lie was that people who have a reputation for good service need not worry about final judgment (2:19). This lie is not seen by a cursory reading of Rev. 2:19. There is no question but that the Church in Thyatira had a reputation for being a hard-working church. Even the Lord Jesus commends them for that. He comments on their “deeds,” “love,” “faith,” “service,” and “perseverance.” What could be wrong with that? If it stood alone, nothing. But the context of an ungodly church should make us look more closely. Their love is agape love, a love that only Christians can have. That love manifested itself in “service.” Their faithfulness is a gift that the Holy Spirit gives to His people (Gal. 5:22). That faithfulness manifested itself in “perseverance” during trial. From the beginning true believers revealed their divine nature by loving and faithful service to the Lord. And the church’s present state reflects “deeds .. greater than at first.” But, I might add, without the gifts of the Spirit. It appears that only the reputation is there. The Lord commends them because He wants believers to work for Him. But He is more interested in spiritual fruit than in reputation.

Why is this important? Any time believers tolerate unbelievers in their church while trying to serve their Lord the likelihood exists that those unbelievers will take credit for the good reputation of serving Christ. Until they become believers in Christ they will claim those good works as their right to pass the piercing eye of the Lord Jesus. The Bible clearly teaches that we are not saved by works. See Rom. 3:20, 28; Titus 3:5; Eph. 2:8-9.

Begs the Question: Should evangelical churches be involved in social work? Should Bible churches cooperate with non-evangelical churches in great humanitarian outreaches?

The second lie was that people who do not repent need not worry about final judgment. The most atrocious sins were being practiced by members in the church. The congregation had allowed a woman prophetess (a false one, according to Christ’s assessment) to remain in the church and to continue to teach the saints to indulge in “acts of immorality” and to “eat things sacrificed to idols” (Rev. 2:20). Her teaching was no doubt similar to that of the Nicolaitans and Balaamites at Ephesus and Pergamos. Such sins were common practices for guild members in Thyatira. If they were not practiced, the artisans would lose their trade and their livelihood. In order to expose her true character, the Lord labeled her “Jezebel” – the name of the Canaanite wife of Israel’s King Ahab. Jezebel had not only led Ahab to worship Baal but through Ahab had spread he teachings of idolatry throughout all Israel (1 Kings 16:31-33; 2 Kings 9:22).

Why is this important? There is an apparent disconnect today between Christian beliefs and practice. Where is the distinction between Christianity and the world? People say they have trusted Christ but little is said of repentance. See Rev. 2:21-22. For example, a TV news item reported that a porn model claimed to be a Christian. Her justification was that Adam and Eve were naked. How wicked! Only as true believers uphold repentance in their own lives and live a life of separation from sin will they have an impact on those who see no need for it. Trusting by faith alone without repentance will damn a person. Repentance is one of the most essential, and yet, one of the most neglected of all Christian teachings. It indicates a dramatic change in thinking and attitude concerning sin. But notice how prominent it was in the early church. Jesus taught it (Mark 1:15). When He sent out his disciples on a missionary journey, He told them to preach repentance (Mark 6:12). The last message the Lord gave to his followers on earth was that of repentance (Luke 24:47). It was the message that Paul gave to the elders at Ephesus (Acts 20:21).

Begs the Question: The Lord tells us we are to love the unsaved, but does that mean we are to shut our eyes to the wrong they may do or to be unequally yoked with them in church membership? How much does the church preach on repentance? Can a person be saved if he does not consider himself sinful?

II. Now let’s consider another aspect of these lies: the failure of the lies in Thyatira (Rev. 2:21-23). The Lord pointed out such failure in His parable of houses built upon sand. He said that the floods would wash them away (Matt. 7:24-27). This is what the Lord predicted would happen to the church in Thyatira if they did not repent. Christ will not let the teaching of this false prophetess go unchallenged or unjudged. Failing to repent, Christ would cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation. On a bed she sinned; on a bed she will suffer. She deceived others; she herself will now be deceived. Concerning the last days of this age, Paul wrote: “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13). And during the Tribulation, deceit and falsehood will reach a climax in the Man of Sin. Paul says, “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thess. 2:9-10). Jezebel’s children will be judged. They will be killed. They are the offspring of the apostate church which by the end times will have spread around the world. God’s judgment on them is that He will cast them into the Tribulation. This was true of the judgment of the ancient Jezebel, Ahab’s wife. She met her death years after Ahab died, but to the last she was scheming for herself against God. Her death was so awful, they could not find enough of her to bury.

Why is this important? People who boast about a strong refuge they have made of lies and deception will watch their refuge collapse. They may deny a final judgment but they cannot support it by hiding behind their lies. Judgment will surely come. Read of the lie that future Israel in the Tribulation will believe before judgment comes to them (Isaiah 28:15-17).

Begs the Question? How many neighbors and friends really believe in a coming final judgment? If the supreme court of the land declares an action to be legal, is it right? How do we know? Abortion? Capital punishment? War?

III. We probably should call the final aspect of these delusions the alternatives to the lies in Thyatira (Rev. 2:24-29). Each letter is addressed to believers who remain faithful. The letter to the Thyatiran saints is no different. They are called, “the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them.” The Lord encourages these faithful ones by saying, “I place no other burden on you.” They would not experience the Tribulation and judgments related to it as the others would. He challenges them, however, to “hold fast until I come,” that is, hold fast to the Word of God which in turn would preserve them from error and instruct them in righteousness. They did not know how long that might be, but they knew He was faithful and He would come. It would require perseverance on their part but the Lord offers hope at the end of the line. He promised the overcomers that they would rule with Him in His kingdom (2:26-27). The Lord also promises “the morning star.” This is a reference to Himself (22:16). The morning star appears between the twilight of morning and the full blaze of day. The believers were living in a time like the future Dark Ages. It was their twilight. But the Lord would appear in grace and truth as would later happen when the Reformers appeared, preaching the Word of God. This is pictured in the next letter, the one to the saints in Sardis (Rev. 3:1-6).

Countering Denials of a Final Judgment (Rev. 2:18-29)

The fourth letter from Jesus Christ is to the church in Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29). It introduces us to the subject of final judgment for sin. There were statements of personal and immediate judgment on the churches in Ephesus and Pergamos (2:5, 16), but not of final judgment. However, in each of the final four letters written respectively to Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea the Lord uses terms that in other Scriptural passages were found in the context of final judgment, the Day of the Lord. For example, in 2:22 He speaks of "great tribulation;" in 3:3, of His coming "like a thief;" in 3:10, of "the hour of testing;" and in 3:16, of being "spit out" of the Lord's mouth. Apparently these four represent churches that existed then, exist now, and will exist into the Day of the Lord when final judgment takes place.

Contrary to what the Bible declares, and to what the Lord Jesus reiterates here, most people think final judgment is unlikely. The Apostle Peter predicted this world-wide denial in 2 Pet. 3:3-4, 10:

Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking .. and saying, 'Where is the promise of his coming?' But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

Our present passage for consideration, Rev. 2:18-29, suggests two reasons for this foolish thinking. Today we will consider the first reason (2:18) of limited, human ability and unfounded hopes. Next week we will look at the second (2:19-29), namely the praise-worthy status of an individual or a church.

We can picture the unsaved masses in the world as typified by those "in Thyatira." Creatures, such as we, have no ability independently to know the future. If a choice is to be made as to whether there might be or might not be a final judgment, we naturally choose the latter, though we can't be sure. We think only like a man. We are not God. Humans can be deceived; God cannot. Notice the title Jesus claims for Himself, i.e. “the Son of God.” He uses this name to assert His proper Deity. He is of the same nature and has the same perfections with His Father. Now compare that title to 2:20 “the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess.” She may claim to be a prophetess but it is only a shallow claim. She neither speaks for God nor has the same perfections as He. No man is the vicar of God; only the incarnate Son of God. Add to her limited powers the many limited people that followed her teaching, i.e. she “leads my bond-servants astray.” They, too, are mere humans and do not think God’s thoughts. God is on the one side and humans, on the other.

Speaking as God, then, the Lord demands that He is to be known as the divine Judge of all men. Those who deny the final judgment need to meet the final Judge (John 5:22). He “has eyes like a flame of fire.” Certainly the One whose knowledge of the future is greater than any man's is the same One whose insight into the secrets and motives of man is greater than any man's. His mind is alive and sharp and penetrating through the darkness of every man’s state (Heb. 4:12). And while He is to be known by His enemies as the Judge who will expose every evil in man, He is also to be known by His people as the One whose feet is “like burnished bronze.” Feet refers to stability and that is what He, as the Judge, gives to every one of His disciples who face judgment. Because of Christ's strength God's judgment is averted and man's judgment against the saints is harmless. They will stand stable for eternity.

Those unsaved masses of humanity, typified in the city of Thyatira, are limited in their knowledge of the future so they cannot dogmatically say there is no final judgment. But also they are basically gambling on their denial. At the very best, their bold affirmation of no final judgment is an unfounded hope. Man is part of a world system that hopes such judgment is unlikely. Just consider the glory of the city of Thyatira. Can this all go up in smoke? See Revelation 18:8-19 Two treasures blind the masses to the true future, i.e. their heritage and their successes.

Thyatira's Heritage. After the death of Alexander the Great, his kingdom was divided up between four of his generals. One of these, Seleucus I, established the state of Pergamum in 282 BC. It was at this time that Thyatira became the eastern flank of Seleucus' kingdom and it was re-founded by him as a military outpost (the name Thyatira means 'the citadel or castle of Thya' and indicates that a settlement already existed there before Seleucus re-fortified it). It basically was a sentinel city. At times it was to protect Sardis from Pergamos. At other times it was to meet any enemy from the east, delay its advance, and warn the more important Pergamos. Thyatira was not a jewel worth fighting for except in the sense that it could be used to hinder an advancing army. The garrison stationed here would, therefore, have been composed of the more guerrilla-like warriors who would be less concerned with winning a war than with throwing the enemy into disarray and hindering its speedy onslaught. When our history has been one of averting disaster after disaster, why should we imagine that we cannot avert another? Man's reliance on his own strength will be his greatest downfall in that Day to come.

Thyatira's Successes. Commercially, Thyatira flourished. It became noted for the weaving, linen, dye, leather, and bronze trades. The city was well organized into trade guilds. Everyone in a trade had to be part of a guild. Each guild selected specific deities to worship. The guild members were then required to worship and support their guild's deity. In the guild's fellowship meals, food was first sacrificed to idols and, after the meals, orgies were a frequent occurrence. Those who refused such pagan worship essentially forfeited their right to practice their trade. To turn their backs on their guild's deities was a serious offense. Sometimes the guilds even profited financially from the worship of pagan deities. The guilds opposed Christianity since its spread meant a loss of business from formerly pagan worshipers. The citizens of the city could say, 'Hitherto my god has protected me; he will do so in the future.' But it won't happen. They will be judged by the Almighty God.

So then, the limitations of humans and their unfounded hopes mark their denials of a final judgment as suspect. Next week, we look at the fraility of a good reputation.

Verse for Today: "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment."

Your Step for Today: Discuss with your neighbors and friends the strengths of their country or their family. Talk about the history of those strengths and then about what the future holds in the light of them.

Your Prayer for Today: Pray that Christians may continue to be able to worship, work and witness in this country.