Dr. Jay Snell Newsletter Feed and Free BonusesPart Two
Bible Proof That Your Unworthiness Has Nothing To Do With Your Right and Ability To Receive The Healing and Prosperity That God Promised You In The Abrahamic Covenant
CHAPTER THREE
If The Unworthiness Peddlers Are Right, The Death of Christ is The Stupidest, Most Evil Act in History
Dr. Jay Snell Newsletter Feed and Free Bonuses
In this chapter, we see Paul refuting the Peddlers of Unworthiness on every hand. He refutes them concerning their view of mixing religious flesh works to receiving the Holy Ghost, mixing religious flesh works to living a perfect or complete spiritual life, mixing religious flesh works to the occurrence of miracles and mixing religious flesh works to obtain the clearance of all the guilt of all their sins.
I've been showing you the problem of The Unworthiness Peddlers that Paul faced in the church in Galatia. When you read Paul's letters to the other churches he started, you'll find that this same problem popped up everywhere he went.
I shared with you earlier what the purpose of the Law was. It was to enable the Jews to maintain the blessings of Abraham. But when you begin reading the New Testament you find that the Judaizers had separated the Law from Abraham's Covenant, perverted it, and made it into a total religious system - where you earned your way to heaven. That was never the intention of the Law. It cannot be done. So then when these people, these Judaizers, said that Gentiles had to receive Christ plus do the works of the Law, Paul began to refute their teachings
Did Christ Die For Nothing and Who Made Such A Fool Of You?
Look at Galatians 2:19-21,
19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20 I am 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.
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
If you are going to hang onto a doctrine of salvation by works, then what is the point in Christ's death? If righteousness comes by works, Christ died in vain. Paul told the Galatians that they were frustrating the grace of God when they did this. The word translated "frustrate" literally means "to make void".
This is the problem that Paul continued to run into. The Jews kept wanting people to work for their salvation, and Paul said, "If that's the case, Christ died for nothing." What is the point of Christ's death if I still have to earn my salvation? It's either by grace, or it's by works - but not by both.
Look at Galatians 3:1,
1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
He asked them, "Who bewitched you and caused you to stop believing that Christ's death was enough for your sin problem? Who did this to you? What ever they did, they have absolutely bewitched you! Christ has been openly declared to you - that He was crucified for you. Who messed up your mind?"
There are many, many well meaning people that believe in a salvation by works. It is as false now as it was then! For if that's the case, Christ died in vain. What is the difference in the Judaizer in Paul's day saying, "You've got to receive Christ, but you also have to work", and someone today saying, "You've got to receive Christ as your Savior, but you also have to work?" What's the difference?
Either Christ's death took care of the sin problem, or it didn't. That's what Paul is trying to get across to the people. He calls them foolish. That's a nice way of saying, "You bunch of fools! Who got to you?" I'm not trying to be ugly, I'm just paraphrasing what Paul said. "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth...
What Does Religious Flesh Works Have To Do With Receiving The Holy Ghost, Living A Perfect Life, Experiencing Miracles and Getting Total Clearance of The Guilt of All Your Sins? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Then in verse 2 he begins to use illustrations. Look at it.
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
In other words, "How did you get the Holy Ghost? Did you work?" Brother, you can work until you're blue in the face and still not get the Holy Ghost. You get filled with the Holy Ghost by hearing the message of faith - by hearing and understanding the fact that the Holy Ghost has been given, receiving Him as the third person of the Godhead, just like you received Jesus the Son of God as the second person of the Godhead - by believing that He is, and then acting on it. See How To Exercise God's Megaton Power Now.
So what does works have to do with receiving the Holy Ghost? Nothing! Do you see where Paul is coming from? He is combating this Judaistic system.
Then he goes on to say in verse 3,
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
The word translated "perfect" means "complete" or "having come to the end of a process." Is there any religious flesh work that you can do to bring yourself to the end of the process of the Christian experience? Not according to Paul. "Is there anything that I can do by way of religion that will make me stand complete before God? If so, what is it?" This is what Paul was asking the Galatians.
In Paul's day, they wanted to add to faith in Christ such things as circumcision and keeping various aspects of Moses’ Law. Today the Peddlers of Unworthiness try to add things like baptism etc., etc., etc.
"You've got to be baptized."
"I have been."
"You've got to go to church."
"I do."
"You have to tithe."
"I do."
"You have to win at least one soul to Christ."
"I have."
"You've got to pray."
"I do."
"How often?
Etc., etc., etc., etc.
Can a religious flesh work complete me before God? How many works does it take? What kind do I have to do? Can religion complete me? No, it can't. The Spirit gave us our beginning in Christ (v. 3 "...having begun in the Spirit..."), because the Spirit changes us from the inside out. So why do you want to shift gears and think that you can complete your Christian experience by works?
These are pointed questions. Many times in churches and in our own personal Bible study, we don't stop long enough to frame questions, and when we do frame them, we don't stop long enough to get answers. Did you receive the Holy Ghost by works or by faith? Did you begin your Christian walk by works, or did you begin by a supernatural act of the Spirit? We began by the Spirit, of course. So what makes you think you can complete your Christian experience by religious works? And, even if you could complete your Christian experience by works of some form or kind, you still have to answer this burning question: How many works and what kind?
James, said it this way in James 2:10,
10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
If I don't kill somebody or slander somebody, and I don't bear false witness, but I steal something, I can still go to jail for that offense. James said that if you keep all of God's law but break one point, you're guilty of it all - you can still go to hell for the one.
So, do you want to work for salvation? The people who hold to a doctrine of works for salvation are people who have never reasoned through the logical and Scriptural ramifications of their theological system. Paul is asking these questions, and you need to answer them for yourself! These same questions are still raging today up and down America, for there are many denominations that still believe the same way as the old Judaism that was infiltrating the churches that Paul started nearly 2000 years ago.
So if you started in the Spirit, what work, and how much of it will complete you in the flesh? The answer is obviously NONE.
Look at verse 5,
5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
When we lay hands on people and see them healed, is that healing done by our works or the fact that we obey what the Bible says, which is, "They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." Mark 16:18. That's an act of faith, not works. Paul is showing from every direction the ridiculous position that these dear people were in, because the flesh cannot please God.
Look one more time at Galatians 2:16,
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.
Remember what the word "justified" means - cleared of all guilt. You CANNOT be cleared of all your guilt by working. Yet that is what was being taught by the Judaizers (Peddlers of Unworthiness) in the Galatian church. The question is, "How can it be true today on the part of many denominations when it was untrue in the days of the Bible? What's changed?" I am grateful to God that I don't have to measure up by the works of the flesh, for if I did I wouldn't make it! And neither would you.
We come full circle back to, "Which sin does it take to send a man to hell, and how many times must he commit it?" James said, "Only one sin committed only one time."
What if I commit that sin and lose my salvation and then repent of it. Could I be saved again? According to the logic of The Unworthiness Peddlers, the answer is emphatically, "NO." Taking their view of Hebrews 6 proves this. This passage is one of their favorite scriptures that they use to make you believe that you can fall away and lose your salvation. Later in this book we show why this passage does not teach that you as a Christian can fall away and lose you salvation. But for just a moment, let us assume the Peddlers of Unworthiness are right in their view of Hebrews 6. If they were correct, their view would require Christ to die for every individual sin itself and he would have to die for each individual act of each individual sin. For if one sin and each individual act of that one individual sin can put you in hell, that means that Christ's death didn't cover either the individual sin or each individual act of that individual sin the first time - so it won't cover it the second time! It will require His death over and over and over again for each individual sin and/or each individual act of each individual sin. Christ never would finish climbing the cross, being nailed to it, dying, and being resurrected. He would have to do it for every individual sin and every individual act of it. This is the logical conclusion of Hebrews 6 according to the views of The Peddlers of Unworthiness.
When we think about what Paul was saying in these Scriptures, we will come out with a doctrine of the grace of God. It's all God, and none of me. Jesus Christ's death paid it all, or it paid nothing. If His death paid for all but one sin, He might as well have stayed in heaven, because that one will get you. If His death didn't cover that one, it would require Him to die again and again and again. And according to the logical conclusion of the views of The Unworthiness Peddlers concerning Hebrews 6, for this to be the case, it would be impossible to renew a person again to repentance.
The thing that irritates me is we get so caught up in religious hype, in some of our churches. We get so caught up in hype that the substance of God's Word goes out the window. The average Christian goes through life thinking that if he can make enough noise everything will be all right, and it is NOT all right! When we start to think about the blood of Christ and the death of Christ, and then we begin to see what the Bible writers said, we have to believe Christ's death covered it all, or it didn't cover anything.
Christ's blood is powerful enough to overcome every sin that a Christian could ever commit, or that blood is totally powerless! And if it didn't cover it all, He's going to have to come back and die for that one sin over and over again. This is an insult to the Blood of Jesus. Even the blood of a bull lasted a year in the Old Testament. But, according to the views of The Unworthiness Peddlers, the Blood of Jesus doesn't have enough power to last 10 seconds before they tell you that you have lost your salvation and are therefore, unworthy to receive healing and prosperity. See How To Exercise God's Megaton Power Now.
The Peddlers of Unworthiness can't have Hebrews 6 both ways. Therefore, according to their interpretation of this passage, it is impossible to renew a man again to repentance by works - a man who had salvation and lost it is eternally damned to Hell unless Jesus comes back and dies again, and then comes back and dies again, and then comes back and dies again, and then comes back and dies again, etc., etc., etc.
Galatians 3:5 asks the question, "Are the miracles done among you done by works or by faith." I'm telling you that it's by faith, or it's by nothing! Works won't get God to do one thing! But FAITH moves God to work on your behalf.
In verse 6 Paul talks about the Abrahamic Covenant, because the Abrahamic Covenant is the foundation of everything we are, have, and believe. If you remove that Covenant, like most modern theologians have, you don't have anything. But when you understand your relationship to this Covenant, you'll see that it is a Covenant of grace which contains healing, prosperity and well-being for your family in addition to the salvation of your soul.
What Is The Difference In Faith and Believe?
Now look at verse 6.
6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Now let me tell you the difference between "faith" and "believe". Faith is information that God gives you in advance that lets you know His will on a given subject before He ever moves a peg concerning that subject - it's advance information. Believing, on the other hand, is simply walking out the information that He has given to you.
This verse says that Abraham believed God. This simply means that Abraham had some advance information from God about this Covenant. When it says that Abraham "believed" God, it means that he began to walk out what that advance information was. The moment that he began to walk out that information, the Bible says that God counted it to him for righteousness. The word "righteousness" is the same word "justified", which means the clearance of all guilt. So Abraham's guilt was cleared because he believed God enough to walk out the information that He gave him. See How To Obtain Abraham's Blessings by the author for a complete explanation of what faith is and how to exercise it.
The Bible says, in the form of advance information, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever WALKED OUT that information, or believeth on Him, should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. Now the moment I do that, just like Abraham, it is counted to me as righteousness or the clearance of all my guilt. It's not Christ plus works, it's Christ, period. Just like Abraham believed God and God counted it to him for righteousness, when you believe God, God counts it to you for righteousness - exactly the same way He did for Abraham.
Notice verse 7,
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Hallelujah! I am a child of Abraham! Look at the expression "of faith". In this context, the word "of" is a Greek word which means "the source of something". And faith, remember, is advance information received from God to act upon. Whoever has his source or origin in information that he got from God, is a son of Abraham just as much as any Jew. Therefore, if I'm a son of Abraham, and we find in Romans 11 that as a Christian Gentile I have been grafted into the Abrahamic system, then I am entitled to everything that Abraham was entitled to. What was he entitled to? Salvation, healing, prosperity, and well-being for his family. And I am standing right in the middle of all of that, because I have my source in faith, not works. Based on that I, too, stand as a child of Abraham, right in the middle of that Covenant!
Paul Called The Abrahamic Covenant "The Gospel"
Look at verse 8,
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
I want to rearrange the word order of this verse so you can understand it better. "Through the scriptures God preached; He preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham." What is the Gospel? Pay close attention now. The Gospel was one of the first promises in the Abrahamic Covenant. Notice this expression - "He preached the Gospel to Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." "In thee shall all nations be blessed" is the eighth promise God made to Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant. And Paul says, "That is the Gospel." See What Are Abraham's Blessings Anyway?
Modern theology tries to eliminate a lot of things concerning this subject. It says, "The Gospel is the good news that Christ died." That's true, that is the good news. However, we need to see the background of the gospel. The Gospel, according to Paul, was the Abrahamic Covenant, because Jesus came out of that Covenant. Jesus Christ was the ultimate seed to whom these promises of Abraham were made. Paul said, "That's the Gospel." Notice what that Gospel is, "In thee shall all nations be blessed." Not just Jews, all nations.
So the Abrahamic Covenant is for Gentiles, also. Romans 11 says that Gentiles are grafted into the Abrahamic system, which Paul calls the Gospel. How can you separate what you are from what Abraham was? You can't! Therefore, when I know what was promised to Abraham, I also know what was promised to me. What was promised to him? Salvation, healing, prosperity, and well-being for his family. Therefore, those things are also promised to me, for the Bible says that I have been grafted into it. Paul said, "That's the Gospel."
The Bible is a perfectly woven tapestry from end to end, for Galatians 3:8 says, "God, through the Scriptures, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham." Everybody thinks the Gospel is a New Testament Christian phenomenon, and it is. But it began in Genesis 12 with Abraham. This is not my theology, it's Paul's, and he got it from the Holy Ghost.
The problem with so many of us Christians today is that we don't want to think.. We don't want to take the time to think the Bible through, because it's not easy. But once we think it through, it'll change our life.
The Gospel was one of the very first things God said to Abraham - "In thee shall all nations be blessed." That, according to Paul, is the Gospel. He's saying in this third chapter of Galatians, that what is happening now is simply the Abrahamic Covenant working itself out, for Gentile believers are now coming in, and they too, are sons of Abraham by faith - just like Abraham became a son of God, by faith.
God began to talk to Abraham and promise him many things. What did Abraham do? He began to walk it out, he believed it and so began walking it out. If you believe something, you act on it. Believing is not mental assent. Believing is not simply mind agreement. Believing is walking something out, it's acting it out. So when God told Abraham that He wanted him to get up and leave his father's house and go to a land that He would show him, Abraham obeyed - he got up, left his home, not knowing where he was going. He believed God, and God counted that action to him for the clearance of all his guilt - for righteousness.
Paul said that when God told Abraham, "In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed", that was the Gospel. So, if the Abrahamic Covenant is the Gospel then I need to know how it pertains to me. When I know that, then my life will be different. But until I DO know it, I just might fall for any strange Unworthiness doctrine that comes by.
Verse 9 says,
9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Are you of faith? Then you are blessed with Abraham. What did that blessing bring? The Hebrew word for blessing is Barak, which means the beneficial enduing of the power of God producing well-being in every area of your life. That word was translated by the Greeks as Eulogia which still means the beneficial enduing of the power of God to produce well-being in every area of your life. These words were picked up by the English translators and translated into English by the words, "bless, blessed and blessing", keeping the same meaning - the beneficial enduing of the power of God to produce well-being in every area of your life. So when the Scripture says that those of us who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham, it simply means that I share in the same blessing that he had, which generated for him salvation, healing, prosperity, and the well-being of his family. That's what my blessing is! Hallelujah! See What Are Abraham's Blessings Anyway?
So this is the bottom line - if Christ didn't die for all of this, then Christ died in vain. If my works can blow me out of the barrel after the supreme sacrifice of God was made for my sins, then Christ died in vain. Did Christ die in vain? Was the death of Christ a stupid act? Was it a whimsical thing that God thought up and demanded Christ to do knowing that it would have no lasting results? Was it? If it was, then Christ died in vain. This is what Paul was driving at.
Paul Was Battling A Group of Unworthiness Peddlers Who Based Their Teaching On The Complete Removal of The Abrahamic Covenant From Their Theological System
When you remove the Abrahamic Covenant from the New Testament you can make it say anything you want it to, or don't want it to. You can come up with all kinds of weird concoctions. But when you understand that there is only one system, that it's an everlasting system, that it is the system God gave Abraham, that it was and is the Gospel, and you've been grafted into it, bless God, it'll make you a different person. It'll bless you and build your faith.
This was what Paul was combating. He was combating a group of people who were setting up the Jewish law - that they had to earn their salvation when all the time they had it from birth. Those Jews were born with it. Remember, Jews did not have to get saved. They were born that way. Why? Because of the Abrahamic Covenant. When they got older and became accountable and committed a sin, they had to make a certain kind of animal sacrifice. When they made that sacrifice, their Abrahamic blessings continued. When they failed to make the sacrifice, the Abrahamic blessings shut down. But when they made it, the blessings continued for them.
When Christ came, He became the final sacrifice for sin under Moses' law, and when we receive Him as our Savior His blood covers the sins we commit after we are saved, which means, by faith the Abrahamic blessings just keep on running.
I talked once with an attorney who had been disbarred because of cocaine use. Everything blew up in his face. He has since gotten off cocaine, but he is still disbarred. He is working now for a few dollars an hour, because he can't get back into his law practice. This man was hung up on some theological questions, but he wanted to know about prosperity. He asked, "Why can't I get prosperous? If I could get enough money to pay off my debts, since I've been clean for this long, I could get reinstated to the bar and practice law." The Holy Ghost revealed to me that this is the way prosperity works. God does not want you to seek prosperity, but seek His will for your life. Find that will, get in it, do it, and prosperity will come as a result of it.
I'm convinced that it's imperative that we know God's will. If we don't, everything in our lives is up for grabs. We are not to seek prosperity, or this and that, but to know God and His will. Only then will we be happy.
Those of us who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. A lot of things that we do, and try to get God to put His blessings on, is nothing more and nothing less than asking God to bless our mess while we're doing "our thing" outside His will. God's not obligated to bless our mess. He is obligated to bless our lives as we function in His will for our lives. God's blessings would not be on me if I was a real estate agent, and I've sold real estate. God's blessings would not be on me if a owned a huge cleaning plant, and I owned a large cleaning plant. His blessings would not be on me if I was an automobile dealer, and I've been an automobile dealer. God's blessings would not be on me if I sold Fuller brushes, and I've sold Fuller brushes. God will only bless me as I'm doing what I'm doing, because this is God's will and design for me. See How To Obtain Abraham's Blessings.
How did God design you? Everybody isn't made the same way. Most people would be very uncomfortable behind a pulpit preaching the Gospel, but I'm very comfortable because I'm designed for it. But I would be uncomfortable doing what you're doing. God designs different people in different ways. Find out what God wants you to do, and get after it. This will bring prosperity, joy, blessings, and peace that passes all understanding.
Was Christ's death a stupid, whimsical act? Not according to Paul. And, in the next chapter, we shall see that healing and prosperity are your inheritance and that your feeling of unworthiness has nothing to do with your right to receive them.
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Date Last Updated:
February 27, 2008
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