Galatians – Wayne Barber
Hi, this is John Ankerberg and today I want to present to you my very, very good friend, Dr. Wayne Barber. For 18 years he was pastor of the huge Woodland Park Baptist church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was co-teacher with Kay Arthur for 14 years at Precept Ministries. He studied with Dr. Spiros Zodhiates and co-hosted with him the national radio and TV program “New Testament Light” for 10 years. Wayne has taught the message of living grace, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, all around the world. He is president, founder and principle speaker of Living Grace Ministries. And in February 2011 he returned to Woodland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as senior pastor. Wayne has authored several books. The most recent one is entitled Living Grace: Letting Jesus Be Jesus in You. And he’s also co-authored the Following God series of studies published by AMG. I hope that you’ll enjoy listening to Dr. Wayne Barber.
The Gospel of Grace – Part 1 – Gal. 1:3-5
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Dr. Wayne Barber
We’re going to be looking at verses 3-5 today as we talk about the gospel of grace. The apostle Paul has stepped forward as God’s authority. You see, God’s Word has been challenged. Anytime error gets around us God’s Word is challenged, and Paul is the man. He held up his badge. He says in verse 1, “Paul, an apostle.” God’s Word is so precious and God had these men called apostles in that day. These are the ones that gave us the New Testament. The kind of apostle that the apostle Paul was, was unique in his day and non-existent in our day.
The Tragedy of Deception – Gal. 1:6-8
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Dr. Wayne Barber
What we’re going to talk about today is the tragedy of deception. Isn’t it interesting in our lives how many times we deal with the symptom and we never deal with the problem. We’re always dealing with the symptoms, felt needs, instead of real needs in our life.
Paul in Defense of Paul – Part 1 – Gal. 1:10-24
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Dr. Wayne Barber
We’re going to see Paul in defense of Paul. He doesn’t do that much. He does it in 2 Corinthians when he even says there “I’m doing something foolish.” But, you see, he has been falsely accused. He has been backed into a corner and now he’s going to come out and defend himself.
Paul in Defense of Paul – Part 2 – Gal. 2:1-11
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Dr. Wayne Barber
We are talking about Paul in defense of Paul, and this is part 2 of that. Over and over in chapter 1 Paul defends the gospel; over and over, because he is building a platform. Well, what we saw last time and we are seeing today is Paul defending Paul.
Paul Confronts Peter – Gal. 2:11-19
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Dr. Wayne Barber
We are going to be looking today at Galatians 2:11-19. In case you have not realized it, the apostle Paul was in no way a politician. Have you picked that up? When he stood in Peter’s face there, he did not mince any words, did he? It did not matter what was politically correct, buddy, he wanted to stand on what was biblically correct.
Christ Lives in Me – Part 1 – Gal. 2:20
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Dr. Wayne Barber
Verse 20 is all we’ll be looking at today. It says, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself up for me.”
Christ Lives in Me – Part 2 – Gal. 2:20-21
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Dr. Wayne Barber
He’s testifying that at salvation there was a death. The death warrant to our right to live as we please was signed at salvation. Our right to live as we choose was done away with. Paul is saying that the Law is no longer his master, but the Lord now is his Master. Christ coming into his heart broke Paul’s independent spirit to live as he chose to live.
The Foolishness of Denying Christ – Gal. 3:1
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Dr. Wayne Barber
So what is this foolishness we’re talking about? It’s when we know something but we choose to willfully ignore it. So it’s out of shear frustration that Paul says, “O foolish Galatians.” He didn’t mean to demean them. That’s not what he’s doing.
The Means of Our Salvation – Gal. 3:2-7
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Dr. Wayne Barber
The means of salvation and the means of sanctification is a Person, not a system of works, but a Person, and that Person is the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to make sure we understand this in the message of Galatians. He is the good news.
The Means of Our Sanctification – Gal. 3:6-11
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Dr. Wayne Barber
Now he’s headed on toward something else, but that’s where he is right now. Salvation is not by works. This is the gospel. This is the message that we have to take to work with us, to take to our neighborhoods, to take around the world.
Free to Be What God Wants Me to Be – Gal. 3:12-18
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Dr. Wayne Barber
You see, most people even today, would agree that, yes, faith alone in Christ alone is the means of salvation, but that’s where they run into a brick wall. Now what? How do we live now? And that’s Paul’s argument as he begins the third chapter of Galatians.
The Purpose of the Law – Gal. 3:19-25
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Dr. Wayne Barber
I want to make sure you’re listening to me—everything, everything that God does, He does with a purpose, even when He gave the law. We have seen some pretty negative things about the law, but I want you to know it had a purpose to it.
Sons of God – Gal. 3:26-29
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Dr. Wayne Barber
Now in Christ Jesus we are made sons of God by faith. And that’s what we are going to look at today. It is through Christ that we are set free from the bondage to the law. We’re completely set free. So when a person chooses to go back and be religious again he has just simply chosen his flesh over choosing Jesus to be Jesus in his life. When we trust Christ as our Savior, we enter the family of God.
Sons and Heirs – Gal. 4:1-7
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Dr. Wayne Barber
We’re seeing what happens the moment a person receives Jesus into their hearts. You think about it, you don’t really feel this. You really don’t feel it. You’re not aware of that. You just know your desperation and you cry out to God and there is a change immediately in your heart. But sometimes it takes a while for us to fathom what actually took place the moment we received the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior. How awesome it is to know that we learned in chapter 3, at the very moment of receiving Him, we become sons of God.
Son or Slave – Gal. 4:8-12
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Dr. Wayne Barber
Christianity and the Christian life—and I hope we understand this from the text that we have been studying—is all about Christ. It’s all about Christ. It’s about me learning to say yes to Him, and you, all of us, and letting Jesus be Jesus in us, letting Him be the life in us, manifesting His character through us.
Who Are You Listening To – Gal. 4:12-18
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Dr. Wayne Barber
Paul is the spiritual father to these spiritual children there in Galatia. He’s the one who took the message to them and he feels a responsibility to them. He has watched them turn and go the wrong way. He has corrected them. He has done everything else, and now he takes a different approach.
The True Teacher – Gal. 4:19-20
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Dr. Wayne Barber
This is what the heart of every teacher should be, and by teacher I don’t mean ecclesiastically, from the pulpit, necessarily. The word “teach” in scripture simply means to communicate what God has taught you of His grace to somebody else. That’s all it is. It’s a communication. It’s a sharing. Witnessing in that definition could fit there.
Flesh Versus Spirit – Gal. 4:22-31
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Dr. Wayne Barber
He’s going to take them back into history and dig up some bones. He’s going to try to get his point across in a different way. Paul has clearly tried to help the Galatians understand that they are already sons of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was not through any work that they could do. Works don’t cut it; the works have to be that which God does through us, and so salvation is not based on any work that we do ourselves.
Freedom – The Power to Do as You Should – Gal. 5:11-17
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Dr. Wayne Barber
Freedom is never the right to do as you please, and you’re going to see that today. He’ll address that. But freedom is the power to do as you should. When I allow Jesus and His Word to control my life, then it’s no longer me, it’s Jesus living in me.
Be Led By the Spirit – Gal. 5:16-18
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Dr. Wayne Barber
What is the priority of our walk with Christ? He says in verse 16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit,” notice the words, “and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” Walk by the Spirit. The way in which we experience the freedom that God has given to us in Christ and then it’s going to be expressed in love relationships with one another, in servant love, is by walking by the Spirit.
The Sexual Deception of the Flesh – Gal. 5:19
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Dr. Wayne Barber
Well, in our text today we’re going to start seeing the baggage that goes with religious flesh. When you choose to do things your way, when I choose to do things my way; this is for all of us. The rest of this stuff somehow is going to start surfacing into our life. It lurks in the shadows of religious flesh. It’s always there. No matter what name you put to the flesh, it’s still flesh. And what we need to realize as we get into this list is a very important thing. If you find somebody whose lifestyle is characterized by what we’re going to look at in verses 19-21 then you have to understand that person does not know Christ, and Paul says that.
The Superstitious Deception of the Flesh – Gal. 5:20
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Dr. Wayne Barber
Not only does the flesh lead us into sexual deception, which is this crazy idea that grace means you can do whatever you want to do—living grace is never that—but it also leads us into a superstitious deception. I want to make sure you understand something. In the two choices that we have, we have the choice of worshiping God and walking in truth or we have the choice of worshiping our flesh with a good name behind it, and being superstitious.
The Social Deception of the Flesh – Gal. 5:20
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Dr. Wayne Barber
Not only is there sexual deception of the flesh, superstitious deception of the flesh, but another part of that package that we buy into when we go that religious route is the social deception of the flesh. Flesh causes all of our relationships to become fake and counterfeit.
Restore Such a One In a Spirit of Gentleness – Gal. 6:1
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Dr. Wayne Barber
How do you deal with a brother who has fallen into the trap of sin, whether it be religious sin, whether it be religion, or rebellious sin? It doesn’t matter. How do you deal with a brother? How does the Holy Spirit of God look like in you towards others that have been found out to be in sin? How does that happen? How does a believer walking by the Spirit deal with another’s sin?
Christ’s Love in Us – Gal. 6:2-5
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Dr. Wayne Barber
Today we look to see more of what God’s love looks like when it’s manifest in the family of God. When individuals begin to choose to walk by the Spirit, willingly led by the Word and by the Spirit of God, what does this look like in the body of Christ?
