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The Amish Voice 3
2. OBEY THE TRUTH, FOR GOD DOES NOT CALL YOU
TO ERROR (v.8).
Note how concise and forceful this statement is; it is direct and to the
point: “This persuasion does not come from him who calls you!” The
Greek word is
persuasion
. Any persuasion, any position, any
teaching that leads away from the truth of Jesus Christ is not of God.
God and God alone determines how He can be approached, and He
has determined it. A person approaches Him through the
righteousness and death of His Son Jesus Christ. There is no other
way to be justified and saved other than by His Son. There is
absolutely no other way to approach God. Therefore, any person
who teaches otherwise is teaching a false doctrine; the person’s
persuasion or teaching is not the persuasion of God.
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts
4:12).
QUESTIONS:
1. Who tends to be easily persuaded by false doctrines? Why?
2. How can you know the truth? What can you do to protect yourself
from false teachers?
3. Has your knowledge of the truth helped you to resist temptation?
If you had not known the truth, what would have been the result?
3. OBEY THE TRUTH, FOR A LITTLE UNTRUTH
CORRUPTS THE WHOLE (v.9).
Leaven stands for evil and corruption, fermentation and infection. It
takes only a little leaven to permeate and influence the whole lump
of dough. So it is with false teachers. (Remember, Paul was referring
only to the ringleader in this present passage.) One false teacher can
inject his false teaching into the church, and it will soon permeate
and influence the whole church. This is what Paul and Scripture are
proclaiming. If the Galatians did not root out the false teaching, the
whole church would soon be corrupted and the truth would be
destroyed. Jesus Christ would no longer be the focus of attention.
The church and its people would be focusing upon their rituals,
ceremonies, and good works instead of upon Christ.
They would be trying to approach God through their own goodness
and merit. Jesus Christ would soon be placed on the back burner, de-
emphasized, and lost sight of by many. His prominence and the
absolute necessity of His righteousness and death would be
diminished and downplayed. This always happens when false
teaching is allowed in a church. The only answer to false teaching is
what has been stated: root it out.
“Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of
the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of
the Sadducees” (Mt.16:12).
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the
world, and not after Christ” (Col.2:8).
ILLUSTRATION:
Is there any way you can avoid the corruption that falsehood brings
to your culture?
There once was an “old fashioned” prophet who came to a large
city. His agenda was pretty simple, “Repent or perish!” At first
glance, many of the city’s residents listened to his sermons. But after
a few days, they went back to doing what they wanted to do.
Listening to this prophet was not on their list of things to do.
The prophet did not stop preaching. Every day he would stand in the
market place and preach to those within the sound of his voice. A
shopkeeper approached the prophet and asked, “Why are you still
preaching? No one is paying any attention to you.” The prophet
narrowed his eyes and responded, “I’m preaching so their hardness
to the gospel will not change me!”
Are you allowing a little evil into your life each day? Or do you bind
yourself to God so closely that it has no room to get in? Don’t
compromise and allow the leaven of the world to water down the
gospel. Keep on preaching the truth. The more you speak it and hear
it, the more you will live like a Christian believer ought to live.
QUESTIONS:
1. What secret sins do you need to confess to the Lord right now?
Remember, He wants to cleanse you and forgive you (1 Jn.1:9).
2. We cannot hide our sins from God. Why do some people think
they can fool God?
3. What kind of advice would you give to someone like the above
illustration describes?
4. OBEY THE TRUTH, FOR THE MINISTER OF GOD HAS
CONFIDENCE IN YOU (v.10).
What an amazing statement! When you think about all that has been
written in the book of Galatians (the terrible attacks against Paul
himself and the seriousness of the false teaching that had threatened
the church), Paul’s confidence in the Galatians is shocking.
However, note exactly what he said: his confidence is “through the
Lord”; that is, the Galatians could overcome the false teaching only
through the Lord. Through Christ they could conquer the situation
and come out victorious. In fact, Paul had confidence that the
churches would heed his warnings and turn back to the Lord and
begin to obey the truth.
APPLICATION:
The only way false teaching or any other difficulty in the church can
be handled is “through the Lord.”
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and
to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be
glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and
ever” (Jude 24-25).