Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
Ye did run well......you were keeping to the course, you were making steady progress.
You were putting forth a reasonable amount of effort.........
Paul is saying, At one time you had taken this to be your lifes work, your goal, your ambition, That which was worthy of your best efforts.
Gal 5:7
who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
HINDER, "to cut into" was used of "impeding" persons by breaking up the road, or by placing an obstacle sharply in the path; hence, metaphorically, of "detaining" a person unnecessarily,
For the Galatians, it was the Judaizers, who were trying to persuade them to go back to the works of the law, or the flesh, they were mixing law works with grace.
The danger of this is, that when one believes his righteousness with God is attained by his works, he is fallen from Grace, which brought salvation apart from any works of the flesh.
Worldly enticements Hindered the escape of Lot’s wife
Gen.19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Worldly possessions Hindered the rich young man from discipleship....
Mt.19: 16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
Natural earthly concerns robbed martha of the presence of Jesus.
Luke 10:40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou care that my sister hath left me to serve you alone? bid her therefore that she help me
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
*****Cumbered means to........
to drag all around, i.e. (figuratively) to distract (with care):
be driven about mentally, (b) to be over-occupied, too busy, about a thing
Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
Weights, as well as sins, hinders our progress....
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
*****Weight, meaning........ a mass (as bending or bulging by its load), i.e. burden (hindrance): whatever is prominent, a protuberance, a bulk, a mass;
hence, a burden, a weight, an encumbrance
There're many of us who are not necessarily carrying around a load of sin, but we are trying to run this race with all the excess weight!
We are still going in the right direction but we are letting those weights hinder us!
Paul realizes something here and he relays it to us in the scripture **there is other things beside sin that slows us down.......
LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT THAT'S HINDERING YOU!!!!!
When we are slowed down by the weights that hinder us.........It takes us longer to see -THE WILL OF GOD
FULFILL OUR CALLING
FIND PEACE AND JOY OF THE HOLY GHOST!!!
WEIGHTS CAUSES US TO BE HINDERED!!!!!
Ye did run well, who or what hath hindered you? What have you allowed to break your stride? What or who have you allowed to come between you and the lord,? What has caused you to feel as though you no longer need to give 100%
What weights are you tolerating in your life? What excesses of the flesh have you given your permission to?
What unchristian feelings or attitudes have you given place to and allowed to harbor in your heart?
(Pride) (anger) (resentment) (self pity) (indifference) lukewarmness?
Sometimes storms come into our lives, not always as it were from the devil to destroy us, some storms are allowed by God to save us, to deliver us from the things that are holding us back, and breaking our stride, and distracting us from the goal.
Acts 27:18-19 Paul the apostle is In the midst of a Great storm.
18 And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;
19 And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. (The furniture, the utensils).
The bible says everything that can be shaken will be shaken and only those things ........ Sometimes it takes a storm to show us what is unnecessary in our lives, sometimes the things that we are the most proud of are the first things to go in the middle of the storm.
Sometimes we need to lighten the ship......sometimes we allow our hearts to pick up excess baggage and we need to lighten the ship but it’s not until we feel that it is a matter of life or death that we actually take the initiative and get rid of it.
Sometimes the storm comes to reveal the enemies of your destiny.
If you feel like you are going through a storm, it may be time to lighten the ship.
Who hath hindered you?
What has hindered you?
There are things in this life that at times slow us down, and some of these things we have no control over.
But there are other things that hinder our progress in God that are things that we simply allow and we must choose to lay them aside and get back to running this race with a 100% commitment.
Satan is credited with many things in the bible. He is an accuser, a murder, a liar, a sifter and yes..... He is also a Hinderer. I want to show several ways that Satan hinders us.......But remember..... we should not let anything hinder us here!!
I. Satan Uses SIN to Hinder US.
2.Satan Uses STORMS to Hinder US.
3. Satan Uses SICKNESS to Hinder US.
4. Satan Uses SASTISFACTION to Hinder US.
5. Satan Uses STRIFE to Hinder US.
6. Satan Uses SPORTS to Hinder US.
7. Satan Uses SHOPPING to Hinder US.
8. Satan Uses SELFISHNESS to Hinder US.
9. Satan Uses SEPARATION to Hinder US.
It may be that the most tragic words on the unbeliever’s tomb will be.....I would’ve accepted Christ, but Satan hindered me.
LAY ASIDE THE WEIGHTS THAT HINDER YOU!!!
WILL THIS BE YOUR NIGHT TO GET RID OF THE WEIGHTS THAT ARE HINDERING YOU???
GOD IS READY TO LIGHTEN YOUR SHIP BY THROWING AWAY THINGS THAT ARE HINDERING YOU!!!
WILL YOU ALLOW HIM TONIGHT????
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