First the Question: The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to the BELIEVER. Romans 5:5. The BELIEVER receives the Holy Spirit the very moment he BELIEVES the Gospel of his Salvation. True or False?
Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day
And now the answer to the LLM Question of 12-20-2011
Question: The BELIEVER in Christ is not justified by the Law before he is saved; nor is he justified by the Law after he is saved. True or False?
Answer: TRUE! To teach that Law mixed with Grace will in any way aid, compliment, or assist, in the justification of a BELIEVING sinner is to frustrate the Grace of God. And the mixed message is a perverted Gospel, another gospel, which subverts the soul, and is therefore ANATHEMA. Now, out of the 714 responses we received to this question, 96.6% of you got it right. Praise the LORD! Therefore, now, let us take a look at...
THE LLM STUDY OF THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS, CHAPTER 2, PART 3 of 3
In Galatians 2:11-14 we have the controversy between the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul. Notice the statement in Galatians 2:12, “Peter, fearing the circumcision.” Many have asked the question whether or not Paul was consistent in condemning Peter for his compromise and duplicity at Antioch when he himself sought to please the Jews, according to Acts 21:18-27, and went into their temple at Jerusalem, as a religious Jew, for seven days.
First let us state that there is no suggestion anywhere that the Apostle Paul ever confessed that he made a mistake when he visited Jerusalem and took his vow. On the contrary, immediately thereafter the LORD appeared to him and gave this message, “And the night following the LORD stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” Acts 23:11. Paul gives the explanation of his two fold ministry in 1 Corinthians 9:20-21. And here it is…
1 Corinthians 9:20-21, “And unto the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law, (being not, without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.”
What the Apostle Peter did was something entirely different. He tried to persuade the Gentiles to live as the Jews. It is very important that we recognize God’s sanction upon the two fold order suggested in Acts 21:25; that is, that during the Book of the “Acts” period there was one order for the believing Jew and another order for the believing Gentile.
We might ask the question why Paul should have referred to Peter’s act, at least, twelve years after it had happened. Surely he was led by the Holy Spirit to tell us of this dissimulation, and there was no malicious intent on the part of Paul to discredit the Apostle Peter. Now Paul comes to the very root of the trouble among the Galatians, the fact which he so clearly presents in the third and fourth chapters of Romans. These chapters should always be read with the Epistle to the Galatians. We quote…
Romans 3:28, and Romans 4:5-6, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the law.”, and, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his Faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works”
We also quote in connection with this Doctrine of Jurisdiction without Religion, the Apostle Paul’s statement in Romans 11:6, “And if by Grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise Grace is no more Grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more Grace; otherwise work: is no more work.”
In all of his writings the Apostle Paul insists that the believing sinner must be the workmanship of God WITHOUT doing any work, WITHOUT any religious activities, BEFORE he can be a workman for God, engaged in good works for God. The Holy Spirit would teach us, in the closing verses of Galatians 2, the truth of Galatians 5:4, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from Grace.”
The truth of Galatians 2:19 is also declared in Romans 7:1-6, the fact that the believer is dead to the law. Now we quote again Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
In the Epistle to the Galatians we learn that the believer is crucified with Christ FIRST to the law (Galatians 2:20), THEN to the flesh Galatians 5:24), AND THEN, to the world (Galatians 6:14).
If, the Christian is one who perfectly keeps the perfect law of God after he becomes a Christian, then there is no such thing as a Christian. But in this connection we are admonished and guarded by the truth of Galatians 5:13, “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion, to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Now we quote again, Galatians 2:21, “I do not frustrate the Grace of God; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
The believer is not justified by the law before he is saved; nor is he justified by the law after he is saved. To teach that law mixed with Grace will in any way aid, compliment, or assist, in the justification of a believing sinner is to frustrate the Grace of God. And the mixed message is a perverted Gospel which subverts the soul, and is therefore ANATHEMA.
“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!
So There You Have it!
Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short
Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.
In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry
Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
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