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Galatians 2:12
For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
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Paul is reminding the Galatians of what happened between himself, Peter and others in Antioch because the same thing was now happening to them there in Galatia. The freedom and liberty we have in Christ Jesus will always be under attack by those who do not accept Him, or those who have, but refuse to follow Him through faith in His work at Calvary alone. Peter was enjoying his new freedom in Christ and fellowship with the Gentiles, who in times past would have never eaten with them or have eaten what they eat. Peter was learning that the Kingdom of God is NOT what you eat and drink (Romans 14:17), but rather Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit.
Peter was moved away from his liberty and freedom in Christ through fear which came into his heart and moved him into a place of hypocrisy, as others also were of course moved into this sin as they followed him. The fear of man brings a trap with it (Proverbs 29:25), while the fear of the Lord brings a strong confidence to those who have it (Proverbs 14:26-27). The same thing was now happening in the Galatian Church and when this happens, the Lord sees it as a moving away from Him who has called us (Galatians 1:6), and a falling from His Grace (Galatians 5:1-4). Paul reminded Peter that day in Antioch before all who were there that we are justified by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not our works. Always remember that Peter was Righteous, but the problem the Lord had with Peter was that his CONDITION/works was NOT the fruit of his POSITION. This is very important to the Lord!
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7/2/2020
“then drew near to Him all the Publicans and sinners for to hear Him. And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying, This Man receives sinners, and eats with them (Lk. 15:1-2).
The point of the three Parables in this Chapter, “The Parable of the Lost Sheep,” “The Parable of the Lost Coin,” and “The Parable of the Prodigal Son,” is God’s joy over repenting sinners. They unveil the sentiments of His Heart and not those of the repentant sinner, as is usually taught. He did not sit still in Heaven pitying sinners, just as the shepherd, the woman, and the father did not idly bewail the lost sheep, the lost silver, and the lost son. The word “found” (15:24) reveals the Divine activities in secret in the conscience and heart of the prodigal. Christ left the starry crown of Heaven for the thorny crown of Earth in the activity of the love that seeks the lost till it is found.
The shepherd rejoiced, the woman rejoiced, and the father rejoiced. Such is the joy of God when sinners come to Jesus. This Grace is a Grace that seeks and a Grace that receives. The first two Parables describe the former; the third Parable, the latter. Grace convicts the conscience, but attracts the heart.
The measure of that Grace is the measure of the love that begets it. The son’s reception and position were decided by the energy of that love, and not by the measure of the son’s repentance. The father’s position decided that of the son. All was measured by the sentiments, not of the prodigal’s heart, but of the father’s heart.
The stupidity, the insensibility, and the depravity of the sinner are expressed in the three Parables. If the doubling of the dream to Pharaoh (Gen. 41:32) assured its certitude, how much more does the trebling of this Parable make certain the attitude of God’s heart to lost man!
(The information on the three Parables was derived from George Williams.)”
— Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
First love is the love and confidence the Christian extends towards Christ when they first claim Him as Savior. It is the simplest of choices. A choice to depend upon another for salvation, sanctification, provision, health, and security; for all the affairs of life. First love contains the knowledge of our inabilities and the expression of faith in God’s willingness to do for us all that is needed in every circumstance. First love sees the simplicity in God’s redemption plan and does not fail to enter into it, never fearing that God will not honor His commitment to us. As our relationship with God matures we become more active in the work of the Lord and there is a natural carnal tendency to begin to trust in self. When this occurs we encounter the potential of leaving our first love. The simplicity disappears and the thoughts that somehow we are managing our own life and ministry present themselves. With this comes the doubt, the fear, and the agony of being in charge. But God wants us to stay where we were at the beginning. He calls us to return to our “first love” experience. Has your relationship with the Lord become too complicated? Why not return to the simplicity and peace of “first love!”
1 John 4:9 - In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Galatians 2:13
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
The other Christian Jews there also dissembled, which means they also played the hypocrite along with even Barnabus. Dissimulation means hypocrisy. Be sure you notice that when ANY SIN is taking place, it is something that CARRIES US AWAY through the lust of our own hearts (James 1:14). Away from what? Away from walking in the Grace and expression of Christ we have received. When the fear of man is moving us, it is always in the wrong direction and others are being affected, but when it is the fear of the Lord moving us, it is always in the right direction, and again others are being affected.
Peter was learning, but was still not quite SURE of what he had received, even though he had preached Christ on the Day of Pentecost and watched over 3000 become Christians. We are growing in our assurance as Christians, or we are growing in the wrong direction as our fear of other things CARRY US AWAY. Everyone is an example to others, and we are all being followed even when we do not realize it. We are either becoming the gospel (Philippians 1:27), or we are becoming like those who are not becoming the gospel. Look to the cross again today and you will find the renewed mind and strength you need to escape the fear of man, and to be found walking SATISFIED in the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 19:23).
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7/3/2020
On July 4th, 1986 I had been born-again for 6 months. My whole life had been transformed by the power of a risen and living Savior. Everything in my life had changed. I had been freed from the penalty of my sin and I was experiencing power over sin. The alcohol had disappeared. The drugs were gone. Even tobacco use had been eliminated. The Lord was leading me, teaching me, changing me every day. Then I came into the knowledge that there was a second subsequent work of the Holy Spirit that could grant great power for service. I heard that this experience could produce an even greater relationship with the Holy Spirit than I currently enjoyed. I was excited. As a believer we should believe for and desire every gift promised to us in God’s Word. That July 4th I attended a Church service where the Preacher preached on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. I answered the altar call and was filled with the Spirit with the initial physical evidence of speaking with other tongues. The Baptism with the Spirit is for all believers. If you desire it and you believe that it is for you, you can receive it by faith.
Acts 13:52 - And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
Galatians 2:14
But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a
Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
This is a very powerful and very revealing scripture which points out that when the Child of God has their faith in the cross and there alone, they are walking upright according to the Truth of the Gospel, and CAN SEE those who are NOT. This is why we are seeing a FEW today who are teaching scripture in the Light of the One who said that He is the Light of God’s Word (John 8:12), reproving and rebuking all that is not upright according to the Truth of the Gospel. Only through faith in the cross of Christ does the Holy Spirit give one eyes to see (John 3:3-5), therefore when we begin trusting in anything other, we go blind (2 Peter 1:9) once again. Peter wrote that because he experienced it first hand.
While one’s faith is in anything other than the cross, such as the Purpose Driven, The Government of 12, or any other of the golden calves men have brought into the Church, they walk in blindness with only a deceiving FORM, but no power (2 Timothy 3:5). To think we need something other than what God has provided for us in Christ and His atoning work at Calvary, is to tell God, “The Cross was not enough.” Until the Church returns to faith in the Cross alone, there will be no repentance granted, for repentance can only take place as one acknowledges the Truth (2 Timothy 2:24-26), which is Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. The Cross is what God did in Christ to save and to transform all who will believe upon Him. Anything else is a self transformational ministry and is of Satan (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Trust Christ and HIS WORK at the Cross and you will find the power of God you need daily, as it is called Grace!
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7/4/2020
When we come to Christ as a lost sinner, we admit that we cannot save ourselves and that we are totally dependent upon Christ and what He did for us on Calvary. God evaluates the repentance of the heart, the brokenness of the spirit, the humility of the soul, and He washes us clean. He makes us whole. Today, as a believer, there are still things held within our beings that need to be changed. Some are stubbornly hidden within the deepest confines of our souls. Some bobble up to the surface, easily seen and recognized by others. So acknowledging again the impossibility of “me changing me,” I plunge myself one more time into the cleansing power of the Cross. It is here, where by faith, I experience the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. He gives me grace for the day and removes a small portion of the unchanged side of me, seen or unseen. This stands good until tomorrow, when heavy with need, but strengthened by faith, I turn once again to faith in God’s marvelous redemption plan. This is where my spirit soars free and burdens are removed and I experience the cleansing, healing, empowering, reality of the Cross, one day at a time.
Philippians 1:6 - Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Galatians 2:15
We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
Let’s not forget the reason The Holy Spirit is here through the Apostle Paul writing the Church in Galatia of this specific scene that took place in Antioch. Again, it is because the same scene was playing out among them, and God was reaching His merciful hands toward them to keep them from falling from grace and possibly losing everything they had received. This verse is the first words in a message to Peter so everyone else could also hear.
Paul begins his message reminding Peter and the other Jews present that they were born into the status of being a Jew, and had received all the blessings of the Lord poured out upon them as God’s people. They had the Patriarchs, The Law, The Prophets, The Promised Land, and they should know better, but the Gentiles didn’t know the first thing about God. They had only recently believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It was very easy for the Gentile Christian converts to follow the Jews because they had been the people of God for a very long time. The problem was and remains to this day to be that unless the Jews accept Christ, they cannot be an example of anything to us who are born again Gentiles, but rather we were saved by God to make them jealous (Romans 10:19, 11:11). Don’t be as the Galatian’s and fall for the trap of trusting in anything other than Christ and His sacrifice at Calvary for you.
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7/5/2020
Everything that the believer receives from God is a benefit or a result of what Jesus did at Calvary. When a person first comes to Christ and expresses his faith in Him as Savior, that individual is saved because of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross. The Cross made an eternal bridge that spans the gap between heaven and man. Everything we receive from God must travel across that bridge before it becomes availabl...e to the Christian. Therefore, it is of the most vital significance that we maintain the proper object of faith. Things that we receive as a result of Jesus’ finished work must not become the object of our faith. For instance, the ability to have direct contact with God through prayer is a benefit of the Cross. Freedom from sinful activity is a benefit of the Cross. The ability to understand the scripture and receive enlightenment from the Holy Spirit is a benefit of the Cross. The baptism with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other tongues is a benefit of the Cross. If we fail to maintain the proper object of faith (Christ and Him Crucified) there are serious consequences which will allow sin to dominate once again in our lives. So look to the Cross and live!
Galatians 6:14 - But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Galatians 2:16
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
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Paul continues his loving rebuke toward Peter and all the others who had followed him into hypocrisy, reminding them all that no one is justified before God by works, because works are what we do. Rather, anyone who is justified before God, it is exclusively BY THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST, and yes it does mean here what Jesus did at the cross by Grace (Hebrews 2:9) through faith (Galatians 2:20). It is His faith and Grace we have access to only when we are trusting in what HE DID for us by Grace through faith AT THE CROSS, therefore we receive “The measure” of HIS FAITH (Romans 12:3, Galatians 2:20), and are saved by HIS GRACE.
It is so easy to fall from Grace and to live again as though we are under the Law, and this surely happens when we are not trusting in the very work of Christ, meaning His death for us as the atonement for our sins, plus every ounce of Grace needed daily in our lives. There is such a great deception concerning this very thing today. The story of Cain shows us that God will accept nothing from man outside of their faith in the cross of Jesus Christ. No worship, no giving, no service, no not even what some call love toward Him. If everything we do to serve God, even loving Him is done by faith, but we realize one day that our faith has been wrong, WOW, what a realization that I haven’t really been loving God with the love He shed abroad in my heart when I was born again!! This is happening all across the world right now among God’s people and my prayer is that those who are following this daily commentary will be able to sense the conviction of the Holy Spirit just as Peter, Barnabus and the others did on that day when they were rebuked.
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7/6/2020
