1. Galatians 1:10 - “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying
to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Galatians 1:14 – “And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my age among my
people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.”
If Paul was so “extremely zealous” in following the wrong path, should I not be
even more so “extremely zealous”, knowing that I have the truth?
Galatians 1:15-16 – “But when He who had set me apart before I was born, and who
called me by His grace, was please to reveal His Son to me”
God set me apart before I was born. He put a plan for my life in motion before I
was born, before I was conceived. I did not and do not deserve His plan, but He has
called me to it. Not because I deserve it, but to remind me just how much I don’t deserve
it, and to show His grace and mercy and love in extending His arms to me. His plan is
His plan. It will be revealed to me in His time, when it pleases Him to show it to me.
Galatians 2:2 – “I went up because of a revelation and set forth before them (though
privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the
Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.”
Your faith is made sure by your fellowship. When good counsel and wise friends
(spiritually wise) agree and confirm your beliefs, and are in harmony with the voice of
the Spirit, you can be sure of your convictions. When you find something in Scripture
you’ve not seen or realized previously, always verify your interpretation with the godly
fellowship you trust.
Galatians 2:11-14 – “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he
was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the
Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the
Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The
other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy, even Barnabas was led
astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to
Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew.
How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”
If those who were considered to be “pillars” of the faith could be caught in
improper and perverted doctrine, all the more believable it is that we today can fall into
the same trap.
We must NEVER compromise the truth and the message of the Gospel in order to
please man or to attract members. To adopt such a “seeker-sensitive” theology is simply
putting a pretty face on ugly heresy.

2. ALWAYS confirm your convictions by remaining actively engaged in fruitful
fellowship with men and women of good counsel. They will help to keep you pure, as
well as confirming or correcting your beliefs and convictions.
Galatians 2:16-21 – “know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in
Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by
faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because y observing the law no one will be
justified. If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves
are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I
destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I
might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives
in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained
through the law, Christ died for nothing!
Justification by faith, not works. We believe in Jesus Christ so that we may be
justified through our faith in Him and His power, not through works of “righteousness”
according to the Law, carried out within our own power. No one will be justified by
works of the law, because the law of God is perfect and without loopholes, and
completely contrary to our sinful human nature.
The law cannot justify, it can only condemn. In modern society, obeying
the law does not make one a good person, but simply a slave of the law. Law cannot
make a person good or righteous, it can only identify crimes and condemn those who
commit them. The same is true of the Law of God.
The Law makes all of humanity equal, for ALL have transgressed against
the Law, and are thus guilty of the Law. It is the Law which shows us our NEED for
Christ Jesus. Christ is our salvation. He is our advocate before the court of the Law. He is
our public defender, our lawyer we can’t afford and do not deserve when we know we are
guilty of the crimes we are accused of.
Christ took the Law’s death sentence in our place, so that we could live. Christ
came to Earth and lived His life within the confines of the Law, and died on the cross,
bearing the transgressions against the law of all men on His shoulders so that we did not
have to be slaves of the Law any longer. Because He satisfied the Law and satisfied the
requirement for death for the sins of all mankind, we are no longer obligated the Law. We
are now obligated to Christ, who freed us from slavery to a master we could never satisfy.
But if we continue to live by the law, attempting gain our salvation, to be justified
by the keeping of the law, then Christ died without cause, for if our righteousness could
be obtained through the law, Christ would not have had to do it for us.
But He did. And for that, I’m glad.