Father, we thank you for this time to be together around your holy word, and we thank you for the gospel of your free grace and for the Lord Jesus Christ and everything he did to save us from our sins. We thank you for hearing our prayers for Sam, and I thank you for how much you helped him and how you've carried that family through this really difficult trial, and I pray that you would Bless him with a full recovery and give him a real strong sense that you saved his life. And I just pray that you would use this in his life to help him to grow in grace and help us to see that you are indeed the God who answers prayer and helps us when we call upon you. And we thank you that we can trust you no matter what the outcome, but we do thank you that this one had a good outcome, the one that we asked for. Lord bless us now as we look at the text of your holy word, help us understand it accurately and correctly. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, Galatians chapter four, we are on verse 17. And as you're turning to Galatians 4, 17, just to kind of remind you of where we are, Paul was reminding them of the reception that they gave him when he was there, planting churches in that area. The Book of Galatians is different than Paul's other letters, because it's not written to one individual, and it's not written to one church. It's to the churches of Galatia. Galatia's a whole region in Asia Minor. But he heard that they had, at least in his thinking, and I think it's always a wise thing to agree with him, that they had departed from the true gospel. And how had they departed from the true gospel? adding work to faith in Christ as the means of justification before God. And the principle that he lays down in Galatians is that if you add anything at all to faith in Christ as the means of being right with God, then that's another gospel, it's no gospel at all. And as I said, pretty much every verse in the book is him trying to pound that point home even harder and harder and harder. And he really, really hits the point And he knows, he knows that he's coming across real strong here. Okay, look at verse 16 again, you see it? Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? For how many of you here has that at times been a life verse? By telling someone the truth, they despise you. You basically become their enemy by trying to tell them the truth about the gospel, about how to be right with God, how to be saved. Okay. Yeah, yeah sure And yeah, we the reason we say that God does the choosing is because he does but it's also that's what it means to be saved by grace and If God is not the one who chose us then it's not grace and in the final if salvation hangs decisively Upon us then it's not grace so Okay, all right, let's look at verse 17. Now here he talks about kind of the character of these Judaizing false teachers. They zealously court you, but for no good. Yes, they want to exclude you that you may be zealous for them. Okay, so these teachers were not quiet, were they? They were zealous, they were aggressive in pushing this false gospel. It's always surprised me how aggressive and how zealous purveyors of heresy can be, and how much they will push it. And church history gives many examples of individuals like that, who were very zealous, who wrote hymns to deny the deity of Christ. Anyone here ever studied the history of the Arian controversy over the deity of Christ? And what do we know about Arius, the false teacher? He had a different Bible. He what? Didn't he have a different Bible? Do you exclude parts of it? I've not heard that. Maybe Marcion. Yeah. He called Jesus was created. How did he spread that? By song. There was a time when he was not. La dee da dee da. Yeah. He was a great hymn writer. And he spread heresy by really catchy hymns. We also know from the historical records that he was tall, dark, and handsome. He was very articulate. He was very winsome. Had a really great personality. And he was killing people with heresy, with a Jesus that was something less than God that couldn't save anybody. Okay, so they zealously court you. The bad guys rarely are quiet and meek and mild. They are aggressive and pushing false teaching. So that's why he's saying that they are courting you. I mean, what do you think of when you think of someone courting someone? Pulling out all the stops, right? What was that, Chris? What was that? Exactly, yeah. Trying to woo them, trying to smooth talk them, right? Yeah. Whereas if you're a Christian, you're not really trying to court people or schmooze them into the kingdom. Our job is really just to be faithful to the message. We want them to hear the truth. It might convert them, it might not. But their reaction, in the final analysis is God's doing. And so we're not trying to schmooze people into the kingdom. All right, look at verse 18. But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. Okay, what's he kind of implying there? I'm laboring to bring you forth again, to make you, birthed in Christ. He's basically saying it didn't work the first time, obviously. You hear what he's saying? He's saying to them, I don't think you guys are Christians. That's pretty offensive, isn't it? I mean, look at it. My little children for whom I labor and birth again until Christ is formed in you. I would like to be present with you now and change my tone, for I have doubts about you. Doubts about what? Whether they're saved or not. Think about the contrast between what Paul is writing to these churches here in Galatia and what he wrote to the church in Corinth. What was going on in Corinth? All kinds of divisions. What else? All kinds of immorality, sexual immorality, like the grossest kinds imaginable. What else? Getting drunk at the Lord's Supper. By the way, you can't do that on Welch's. Just thought I'd throw that out there for your consideration. You can't drink enough Welch's to get loaded off of it. Getting drunk at the Lord's Supper, there's division, factionalism, sexual immorality, what else? Suing each other, and before the public judges, non-believing judges, and there's all kinds of really big problems going on in that church, but he never talks to them like this. And yet we would tend to probably be more like, look, if there's all this horrible stuff going on, that's probably not a church. And we tolerate serious theological error as if it's not a big deal. We should be just like this, though. We should be just as big as sticklers for this as the apostles were. It's gotta be faith in Christ alone for someone to be a Christian, okay? What they have to be relying on to go to heaven is the finished work of Christ alone. and nothing else, nothing in addition to him or alongside of him, okay? And that's the only way we can have assurance anyway. Okay, now he moves into yet another argument. Look at verse 21 and following. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh. Okay, who's that? Ishmael. Okay, and how was Ishmael conceived and born? That's right, through the Egyptian bond servant, Hagar. And so, was there anything miraculous, was there any divine intervention in the conception of Ishmael? No. Okay, so that's why he says, so he was born according to the flesh, by natural, normal means. That's an allegorical way of presenting, that's works. Salvation, okay? And then he goes on from there in verse 23. And he of the free woman, through promise, in other words, miraculously, which things are symbolic, for these are the two covenants. the one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar. Now, that doesn't mean that the Sinaitic covenant by nature just gives birth to bondage. It was the Jewish misunderstanding of it that gave birth to bondage. How did they misunderstand the Sinaitic covenant? What did they, I'm sorry? What did they think the law had been added for to that covenant? To be the means of their getting into heaven, right? And remember, what did Paul argue earlier in Galatians 3 about covenants that human beings make? Can someone come along and add more stuff to him later? How did God swear he was going to save his people way back in Genesis 15? Remember what he did? He swore by the integrity of his own divine nature, by the severed halves of the animals. Remember that? He passes through the pieces. And Paul's argument is that the Jews misunderstood why the Ten Commandments were given. And they really thought that that had changed everything. And now we got to keep this stuff in order to go to heaven. And yet, well, listen, the reason the Ten Commandments were given is the same reason we still have them today. They are to be the very means by which we evidence that we are God's people. Always remember the prologue. What is the prologue to the Ten Commandments? It's vital to understanding them correctly. Yes. The prologue is, I am the God that redeemed you. For us, it's the same thing. I am the God that redeemed you, therefore live a thankful life of gratitude to me by keeping my commandments. Not, if you keep my commandments, I'll redeem you. And that's what the Jewish people did with the Ten Commandments. And that's why he's saying, if you look at that covenant that way, that the commandments are there to save you, you're going to be in bondage. Why? To be saved by keeping the commandments is what I have to do. Keep all of them? How often? What about this little issue of original sin? How would that factor into this? That's right. that the instant that I began to exist in my mother's womb, justification by law keeping is off the table already. Why? I got to start out sinless if I want to do it. Okay? And that's why theologically, Jesus cannot have what? A human father. Can't. If he did, he'd start out like us. He'd be already sinful. Forget it. But he's got to enter into that broken covenant of works and keep it. That's why the virgin conception, virgin birth of Christ is so important. Okay, so I love the illustration. Isn't that a brilliant illustration? Ishmael is conceived by natural means, Isaac is conceived miraculously. And he says that's basically the two ways of salvation. If you try to be saved this way, you're always gonna be a spiritual child of Ishmael. But those that believe the promise are the children of Isaac. Okay, so look at verse 25. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children. What's he talking about there? Corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is, what does he mean by that? Most of the Jewish people, yeah. They're in bondage, why? Because they are the spiritual descendants of Ishmael. Like, can you imagine how offensive that would have been to them? To say that? Okay, look at the rest of the passage, look at verse 26. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all, for it is written, rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear, break forth and shout, you who are not in labor, for the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now." What was Ishmael doing when Isaac was weaned? Remember, it seems like a little passing detail in the narrative, but it's highly significant. He was mocking him. And the Hebrew there really means almost threatening him physically. And that is one reason that Abraham eventually needed to send them away. Because Ishmael was an antichrist, a persecutor of the church. And the way he was conceived and born into the world is, allegorically speaking, is the way that all legalists are. They despise those that love the true gospel and will persecute them. Remember I mentioned to you guys last time, The Apostle Paul, everywhere he went, he was lied about. Everywhere he went, he was slandered by legalists and by people that taught a false gospel. How did they lie about him? What did they say about him? That's right. Did he ever say that to anyone, even once? But he taught that you're justified by faith alone and that your works have nothing to do with it. And so everybody lied about him. People said, you're teaching people to forsake Moses. Okay, listen. In Acts 21, just listen to this. Beginning at verse 17, and when he had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, you see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. But they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses. Did he ever do that? Never. But they said that he did because he taught that keeping the law can't save you. Every preacher of the true gospel will be lied about like this today. If you get it right, you will get this slander said to you. In fact, Martin Lloyd-Jones, y'all ever heard of him? Martin Lloyd-Jones, one of the greatest preachers in the last 150 years, said, if you do not regularly have this charge leveled at you, that you are an antinomian, that you're telling people they can live like the devil and still go to heaven, if people don't say that about you, you're not getting the gospel right. Because everywhere Paul went, people lied about him like that. And today, people are so afraid of easy believism, of the idea that, well, man, we sound like we're saying you just tip the hat to Jesus, walk an aisle, and you're going to heaven. Is that what we're saying, though? The idea of an unrepentant Christian who's not a disciple of Christ is a non-category in Scripture. It doesn't exist. If you're a Christian, what are some of the marks that you're a Christian in the Bible? I'm sorry? The fruits of the Spirit. They will always be born by the Holy Spirit if he's present in you. What else do we know a Christian is like based on scripture? Love for God, love for other believers. Sorry? You will do good works, that's right. You have a hunger and thirst for the word of God, sure. I'm sorry? You will be persecuted, you will be despised for your Christian. If you stand up for it, if you actually make it known to people, that you disapprove of certain things that are in vogue in your society, yeah, they're gonna despise you for that. Is it possible someone could be a true believer and not have any of those fruits or any of those marks? Of course not. Impossible. So watch out for the constant drift towards new forms of legalism. Every generation has to deal with it. But if you keep these distinctions clean in your thinking, Are good works the fruit or the cause of our salvation? They're the fruit. Are they in any way the cause? Our good works? Really, in no way? In no way at all? Okay, man, you guys just think you can just live like the devil and still go to heaven, don't you? All right, look at chapter five. Yes, sir. Is that is that going too far to say that is a Okay, if you back up to verse 25 there, verse 25, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem, so there's the same word, which now is, and is in bondage with her children. There, Jerusalem is referring to national Israel, national Jews, ethnic Jews, who for the most part did not believe in Christ. So there you have kind of an earthy usage of the word Jerusalem. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. Yeah, I think that's probably the invisible church, is the mother of us all, in that sense. Would that be like the one people of God? Yes, throughout the whole world. Yeah, not brick and mortar local church with elders on the street corner, although it wouldn't include that. But it could be what you're saying, though. The organizational church, in a sense, is the mother of all who are saved in the world, because they have the ordinances of God and the word of God. Yeah, I was just thinking, too, you were asking earlier, to be a member of a church normally. There's exceptions, but normally, if you're a member of the church, you know, you're a custom of God, you're a custom of the covenant, you're a custom of your elders. Maybe I'm reading too much into that, I probably am, but it seems like it might be a reference to the visible church. There's a real question, I want to leave. Yeah, think about, I was just, as you were saying that, think about this. In scripture you have references to Israel, meaning the nation of Israel, which for the most part rejected Christ, and then you have the Israel of God, which is all true believers who are the true spiritual Jews. So you have earthy usages of Israel referring to the nation, then you have spiritual usages that refer to all Christians. Okay, like we are the true Jews through faith in Jesus Christ, right? Same thing, Israel is used like that. The word Zion is used like that. Zion is a reference to the city, but also to the church as a whole throughout the world. Jerusalem's the same way. Jerusalem here is used referring to the nation of Israel on earth, but then there's a spiritual usage of it referring to the true citizens of the true Israel of God that are part of the true city of Jerusalem. Okay, so it's just gonna depend on context, it's usage there. So, good question. Okay, any other thoughts on that? He's gonna say at the end of Galatians 6, he says, peace be upon the Israel of God. And what does he mean by that? Yeah, all true believers throughout the world, you know, peace be upon the Israel of God. Okay, he's not talking about, you know, the nation of Israel there, but the true Jews. Okay, Galatians 5, so he's kinda done arguing all the ways he's wanted to argue here. He called him a bunch of fools at the beginning of Galatians 3, and goes line after line after line, argument after argument after argument. The giving of the law did not change the promise. The giving of the law did not change the promise. You who wanna be under the law, you're gonna end up being the spiritual descendants of Ishmael, he's telling them. So then he says in verse one, stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. So when he says Christ has made us free, free in what way here in this context? Free from the law. That's right, free from the law's curse, but also free from the law as a way of trying to save ourselves. Because if the law is put upon us as a way of salvation, it's only a yoke of bondage. And it can only do one of two things. Think about in the medieval church, you were either stuck up and Pharisaic because you thought you were pulling it off, or you were like who? Luther. You were neurotic, depressed, and about to lose your mind, right? All forms of legalism can only produce those two kinds of things. All forms of legalism either make you a Pharisee because you actually are dull enough to actually think you're doing it or you become neurotic and depressed and about to go nuts like Luther was. And so that's why he's saying stand fast. Once you understand the gospel, you hold fast to it and you go to war anytime someone denies it. Is it? Yeah. Keep standing firm. Don't be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Don't let anyone add anything to faith in Christ, or add new ingredients to what faith is. Don't let anyone do that. Stand fast, it's Christ alone. Okay, verse two. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you, that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And what does that mean? Every single person in those Galatian churches said, if you had asked them, do you believe in Jesus as your Savior? They would have said, yes, I do. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior. And what else have they done, though? They also need to be circumcised. And Paul says, if you do that, do they really believe in Jesus then? They don't. Okay? Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7, 22 and following? Many shall come on that day and say what? Lord, Lord. I believed in you. We did that. We did this. I did this. I was faithful. I did whatever. And he says, depart from me, I never knew you. Okay, so adding anything to faith in Christ as the means of being right with God and getting to heaven destroys the gospel completely. And that has always been true. And it's vital that we get that, okay? We've shared the gospel with people out on the streets before. I've had people tell me directly, you make it sound too easy. You make it sound too easy. Because what are they expecting the message to be? Now how do you answer that if someone says, man, you just make it sound too easy? What do you say in response to that? There's nothing that we can do that would ever do anything. Yeah. Even if you were to live perfectly now for the rest of your life, that's just doing what you're supposed to be doing or anything that you've already done. People don't see how evil they really are. They don't see how sinful they really are, and they don't know who God is. If they did, if God, by His grace, opens their eyes and opens their mind to understand His holiness and their sin, they will trust in Him then. Yes, sir. Jesus did the hard part. Yeah. Yeah. Jesus did the hard part. I like that. I'm going to remember that one. He did the hard part. Another possible response is, if it's so easy, why are you resisting it so hard? Yeah. Why is it so unattractive? These are good. Yes, that's right. The law has got to do that work in our hearts first. Okay, so adding anything to faith as the means of being right with God and Christ will profit you nothing, he tells them. Verse three, and I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. Okay, so in the final analysis, what everyone needs to understand is that there are two and only two ways that a person can be right with God. Number one, they keep God's law perfectly their entire life or they trust in the finished work of Christ. If you say, well, God gives me help and gives me grace and then helps me do good works, what happens in that situation? That's right. If you think that your works do something, you are a debtor to keep the whole law. Christ will profit you nothing. And verse four, you have become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, not works, by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love. So here's the big question. So we're justified by faith and not by our law keeping, not by anything that we do. What is faith in Jesus Christ? What is faith in Christ? What does that mean? I'm sorry Yes Remember when I took evangelism explosion training years ago Those two diagnostic questions are just perfect because you will find out what a person really believes in if you ask those two questions First question is do you know that you have eternal life? How does a Christian answer that question? Yes Okay, if you died and stood before God, why should I let you into heaven? What would you say? I'm sorry? The work of Christ, and that's it, right? I mean, you can find out right away if someone's a Christian or not. If it's my faithfulness to Christ, what about that? Exactly. That they've been unfaithful sure To John Wesley it was yeah Christians Christians don't actually send they just make mistakes and judgment So that's what it is to believe in Jesus to believe in him means that what you're relying on to get you past that final judgment Is his shed blood and his righteousness and nothing alongside of him or in addition am I beating a dead horse here? I feel like I've had to address this issue throughout my entire ministerial life and life as an elder over and over and over. It's just, no matter what, there's always a denial of it coming from somewhere. And it's like, you gotta make sure that this is clear. Because, I'm sorry? Yeah, yeah. Yep. There's a really good book called The Reformation's Conflict with Rome, Why It Must Continue by Robert Raymond. And he has a section in there on, we actually looked at that, remember, the apostolic fathers and their doctrinal trajectory. And he gives a number of quotations from historians of Christian theology. And one of them makes the statement, had Paul lived for one century after he wrote Galatians, his indignant wonder and anger would have increased a hundredfold at the direction that the church had gotten on. So it was pretty ugly early on there. It really there are high watermarks along the way and there are guys that get that get it correct Along the way, but it really isn't until you get to Augustine that Augustine Well, why do you think Augustine understood the gospel as well as he did? Yeah, he was he was a really bad person before he came to Christ and he understood it's God's grace alone that had saved him and so he's he's a real important person in the history of Christian thought and Okay, let's press on here, look at verse seven. You ran well, who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. That gives me the chills every time I see that. What is leaven? What? Yeast. How much leaven do you have to put in dough to make it rise and make it good? Just a teensy tiny little bit? Anyone here ever watch The Wiggles? Remember The Wiggles? Remember Crunchy Munchy Honey Cakes, the song? Crunchy Munchy Honey Cakes. I remember saying to Amy one time, we should make these. Because the song is a recipe on how to make it. And she would always say, there's not even a leavening agent in the recipe. And I'm like, what is a leavening agent? And she explained it to me. But I didn't know anything about making bread. But she used to have a bread maker. And you just put this tiny little pinch of that stuff. And it's actually alive, isn't it? Isn't it like an organic thing? That's right. Because you had pet yeast for a while, didn't you? We're like, you want a pet? Here, you can have a can of yeast. One of the kids drank it, I remember. Really? That's funny. They ate your pets. So a little lovin' lovin's a whole lump. What does that mean, when it comes to like false doctrine and things like that? Mm-hmm. That's what Luther and Calvin, the reformers, they all said, man, you mess this one up, it's gonna trickle down and kill everything in its sight. Like, this is the center point. If this thing is wrong, if you get justification wrong, if you get how you're declared righteous before God on the day of judgment, you're gonna get everything else wrong. Remember what Luther said, this is the doctrinal article upon which the Christian church stands or falls. Remember that? Why did he say that? Because this is the doctrinal article upon which we stand or fall. Okay, you've gotta get this right. When you die, and I've been with people here at church when they've died, and you talk to them about this. What are you trusting in for your salvation? What are you trusting in for your eternal life? The answer needs to be clear. And as I've said to you many times, if you get it wrong, it's not my fault. Because I've really tried to make sure that there's no possible way you're gonna do that, okay? Okay, look at verse 10. I have confidence in you and the Lord that you will have no other mind, but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. Okay. If he preached any form of work salvation, would he have been persecuted? You know, I had the pleasure of helping a liberal abandon her liberalism. She didn't come to know Christ, but she told me that I was a bigot and psychotic and crazy. We used to trade books when I was a computer programmer, and she gave me a book on whatever weird liberal stuff, and I gave her Michael Horton's book on the Apostles' Creed. She came back to work, so you're one of those, huh? that thinks if you don't believe what you believe, you're gonna burn in hell for eternity, and said, yep, that's right. And we talked and talked and talked, and Christianity is all about people being nice to each other, and it's about loving one another, and it's about being gracious and giving. And I challenged her, I said, would you do me a favor? Just your Bible, just read the book of Acts. and look at the sermons that the apostles preached. Is that what they said? Did they just go out and go into the cities and say, everybody be nice. Start being nice to each other. And she came back and said, okay, you're right, that's not what they did. They went out and told people to repent of idolatry. I said, exactly, exactly. Their message was not, if that had been their message, would there be Christianity today? No. There's always been plenty of moralists crisscrossing the globe telling people, be nicer to each other. But they went out and said, you need to repent and believe in Jesus or you're lost, or you will die in your sins. You will go to hell forever. If Paul preached circumcision, if he preached any form of works righteousness, would he have been opposed? Anybody? No. It's only the true gospel that gets opposed. It's only when you tell people, you're so bad, you can't do anything at all to save yourself. And in fact, You have to come to God on God's terms, which are, you have to abandon all trust, all hope, all reliance upon your works or anything you do, and cast yourself only on the finished work of Christ, and any other way will not work. Okay, that's the message. That's why Paul says, he calls the cross an offense. You know what that word is in Greek? Is that skandalon? See it in verse 11 there? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. Skandalon, isn't it? If I still preach circumcision, scandal on. Scandal. Why is the cross a scandal? It scandalizes people. It's the ultimate testimony to human helplessness, isn't it? That you can't do anything. That no suffering, no sacrifice on your part can do anything at all to make you right with God. Nothing. And I love that. Look at verse 11 one more time. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, if I preach that It's your covenant faithfulness. It's your works. It's the whole life lived. That's what N.T. Wright, that's how he says it. The whole life lived in Christ. If I preach that it was Jesus plus what he's doing in your heart, no one's gonna persecute you then. Because you know what? That's what everybody already believes anyway. When you talk to the non-believer, when you talk to someone at the flea market or downtown Kingsport, what do they already think? Who's going to heaven? If you're nice, if you're this, if you, whatever, I guess, go to church, if you feed your neighbor's pet iguana when he's on vacation, things like that. And Paul says, if I preach that, why am I persecuted? Why would I be persecuted then? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. And then verse 12, here's a life verse that we need to make plaques out of. I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off. What's he saying there? That's right. You guys like circumcision? I hope the knife slips. That's basically what he says. The term means to make someone a eunuch. That's pretty mean, isn't it? As I've said to you all, Paul would be unemployable if he was alive today. Why would he say that, though? Why would he say something so hardcore like that? Why? He's angry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So just think about like this along those lines. Think about the things when it comes to the Christian faith, when it comes to your walk with the Lord, what makes you angry? Does anything make you angry? When it comes to spiritual things, does anything get your blood going like them fighting words when it comes to the truth, anything? That's one thing about false gospels. I try to think what would really like make me upset? I've always thought about Amy when she's pregnant. Someone walked up to Amy when she was pregnant and kicked her in the stomach and pushed her down on the ground in front of me. Do you think I'm gonna say, I'm sure you had really good reasons for doing that. And brother, I just wanna understand where you're coming from, because I'm a gracious and loving guy, so let's go get a cup of coffee together. Or is it gonna evoke a little bit more pathos than that, you think? False gospels, insults to our Lord's sufficiency of his work ought to provoke us a little bit. It should get us going a little bit. It should make us, say, yeah, them fighting words, I believe in the all sufficiency of what my Lord suffered to save me. And I'm not okay with that being. mixed with the chump change of human beings, as if their works could avail before God at all. Yes, sir? Well, here, this is also inspired fighting words. Good point, that's a good point. The Lord inspired these very words of Paul, which are seen as so mean. That's how serious God takes this. That's right. Yep. It's better to offend them than deceive them. You'll have a lot more friends if you do that though a Lot more people will like you if you don't tell them the truth if you don't stand your ground for this stuff if you're more Quote-unquote tolerant when it comes to errors on the gospel now Are there some doctrines of the faith that we can be that we should be a bit more tolerant on? Okay, like head coverings Do we need to throw down, draw pistols, have church splits over that? No, okay. Is everything in Scripture important? Yes, but not everything's equally important, is it? But nothing is more important than this. When you're treading on the holy ground of the atonement of Christ and the cross of Christ and what that accomplishes and how it's applied to us, there's nothing, there is literally nothing in the entire universe more important than that, nothing. And that's why Paul wrote such a strong letter about it. Okay, look at verse 13. For you, brethren, have been called to liberty. Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word. Even in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, beware, lest you be consumed by one another. I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Okay, so how do we do that? There's a lot that could be written about that in the rest of Scripture, but how do we walk in the Spirit? We're told if you walk in the Spirit, you won't fulfill the lusts of the flesh. How do we do that? Being in the Word of God, because the Spirit of God works through the Word, okay? Pray without ceasing, yes. be with other believers, go to stuff, attend stuff, have fellowship with people. One of the worst things that a believer could ever do is isolate themselves from other people. And everything in me wanted to do that when I was younger. I'm an introvert, I don't like, I'm shy. You gotta overcome that kind of stuff and be with people and rub against other people and rub each other the wrong way sometimes and learn how to get along with people and things like that. like the sacraments? Yeah, sacraments. That's something, we talk about that a lot. We often don't think about the pursuit of holiness in terms of the Lord's Supper, but that should be one of the first things we think of. If someone, if you're thinking, I'm desirous of more holiness in my life, make sure you're always there for communion. Make sure you're there for the Lord's Supper. I think it was Calvin who called it the visible gospel. It always comes after the spoken gospel. It is a visible representation of Christ crucified for you. But if we do it too often, that's just superstitious, right? Yeah. Okay. Calvin thought we should do communion like five times a week. Just like prayer. If you pray too much, it's meaningless. If you talk to your wife too much, it gets old. I'm kidding. Okay, look at verse 17. I like verse 17. Verse 17 is like a one verse summary of Romans 7, 14 to 25. It's like one verse. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Okay, y'all ever had days where you had the best of intentions that day to like do all kinds of spiritual things? You didn't do the things that you wanted to do, and then other days that you do, and other days you make more progress, and other days you have better days, but there's that war, isn't there? Okay, verse 18. But if you're led by the Spirit, you are not under the law, meaning as a covenant of works for salvation, or its curse, okay? Are we still under the law in terms of we're obliged to obey it? Of course, okay? And have you ever heard that someone say, well, we're not under the law, we're under grace? Okay, remember listening to interviews done at the Christian Booksellers Association years ago. Can you name the 10 commandments? And these Christian book publishers are like, why would we do that? We're not under them anymore. We just live by the cross. We're not under the law. What's wrong with that way of thinking? What was that? That's right. We are under the law as a rule of life, okay? The law cannot inflict its curse on us any longer, why? Jesus took it away, okay? And yet the law is there for us to show us how to live our lives and to glorify God, but it's vital. It's actually, if we were not under the law anymore, would we need a savior? It's because we are under the law still, we're obliged to obey it, that we need Christ to save us. Yes, sir? Plus the law isn't random, it reflects the character of God. Yeah, yes, yeah, that's a great point Yeah, think about the opening verse of Ephesians 5 be imitators of God as dear children so to emulate his character Yeah, we want to tell the truth and have integrity and you know all those commandments That makes us more like him and then those groups that make a division between the Old Testament law and the laws of Christ, not realizing that it was Christ who gave the law in the Old Testament, because he is truly God. Some of Martin Luther's counselors did that to him. They said, Luther, quit worrying about the law, just love God. And Luther, of course, being a student and a Bible reader, what is the summation of the law? to love God, love your neighbor, okay? Telling someone to love God is not good news, is it? That's bad news, that's why we need a savior, because none of us does that the way that we should. Now, as a Christian, do you love God? I do. And in prayer, I'll tell God, I love you, Lord. And it's painful to say that, because I know that I don't the way I should. But that's one of the things, don't you long to be in heaven where you will love God the way you're supposed to finally? and love the Lord Jesus the way we really should, completely unhindered by sin and by ill motives and everything else. Okay, look at verse 19. So here we get, how many of you memorized The Fruits of the Spirit when you were a kid? Okay, anyone listen to the album Music Machine? Music Machine. Really? Have patience, have patience. Don't be inside. You guys, no one knows those songs? Do you know that song? Okay, wow. Well, you guys can be thankful you were spared from that torture. But the thing is, see, they're all taught to us as imperatives, like, you better have love, you better have joy. I'm like, I'm trying to have joy. Like, if I grunt hard enough, I can have joy or something. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. Like, you better have these things. And yet, we know from looking at this passage we're about to look at, The works of the flesh, that's the works of our sinful nature that it gives rise to, but then the fruits of the Spirit mean the fruits of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If he's present, all of those fruits will grow. They might not seem very big or ripe to us at first, but they will be there. So look at verse 19. The works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, Fornication, uncleanness, lewdness. Isn't it amazing the first four are all sexual sins? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, Envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Okay, so anyone here ever been envious? So you're not gonna inherit the kingdom of God then. I've had Roman Catholics point this out to me before. Have you envied before? Yeah, then those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God, too bad. What's this passage really telling us? Exactly. Okay, elaborate on that, Craig. Elaborate on that a little bit. Yeah, there's a difference between being enslaved to a sin that is your master, that you take all your marching orders from it, and struggling with it as a Christian. Okay, David, what are David's greatest sins that we know of? Adultery and murder. Okay. Yet did David commit adultery and murder every three months for 25 years? No, now that doesn't mean that those sins weren't weren't very serious. They were and he paid for them for the rest of his life And his family did his kids did I mean it was multi-generational got hit by that that collapse into sin but David did not practice those things and in the sense of he lived in them day and night his whole life and The thing about King Saul, what was the sin that just mastered him his whole life? Envy. Envy, yeah, of David. And selfish ambition, too. Selfish ambition which led to envy. I mean, that was what he practiced. That just owned him his whole life. It drove him crazy. It did. Insane all the way to the point of witchcraft and ultimately what? Suicide. Suicide. Okay. So there's a huge difference between being enslaved to sin, where that's all you live for, and being a believer who's struggling with sin. But just like he said earlier, don't let this verse here, these two verses stand by themselves. I mean, look at two verses earlier, verse 17 again, see it? The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. Who is this talking about, a believer or an unbeliever? A believer. And these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Remember what Paul says in Romans 7, 15? For the very things that I hate, I do. Are the things that you hate that you find yourself doing sometimes? Sure. Okay, so there's the works of the flesh, that's what characterizes those that are unbelievers. Verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Now, I really think it's very important that we understand Why is he going through this here? To deflect the charge that he is teaching antinomianism, the idea that we don't need to worry about the law or works or anything like that. What he's saying is if you are a Christian, these things will be in your life. There will be love there. There will be joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, self-control. Those things will always be there to some degree. And verse 24, great verse. and those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. And that's an ongoing work that we fight for. We have to crucify the old version of ourselves and crucify the flesh and fight against those simple desires with the godly weapons that he's given us. How do we fight the good fight against our sins? That's right, that's what strengthens us. That's right. Yep. You gotta have people that you talk to, people that you're accountable to, you gotta have people that you pray for, that pray for you, that check on you, that send you texts and check on you to see how you're doing, and you gotta do that for other people, and it's, we gotta, iron sharpening iron, and we gotta fight that good fight to do that, to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. Okay, verse 25. If we live in this spirit, let us also walk in this spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another, so really great counsel there from Paul. All right, let's begin chapter six, and we'll just do a little bit here, then we'll stop. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. What does he mean by you who are spiritual, restore such a one? Yes, meaning you're a believer. Anyone here ever heard of Lewis Barry Chafer, founder of Dallas Seminary? He wrote a book called He That Is Spiritual, based on this, arguing there's first-tier Christians who have accepted Jesus as their Savior, and then there's second-tier Christians who have accepted him as Lord. Those are the spiritual ones. Shay's shaking his head. You don't buy it, huh? What he's really saying here, I mean, think about it. In light of what he's been saying to this group of churches, he's telling them, I'm really questioning, did I labor in vain? Have you suffered in vain? I have doubts about you. I mean, he's telling them, I'm not sure you guys are even Christians. So verse one, and look at it again. If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, meaning you who are true believers, few though you may be in these churches, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. You who are spiritual, meaning the true believers that are there, the ones that really do trust in Christ alone. But consider yourself, lest you also be tempted. Why is that there? If you're near trying to help someone out of some kind of serious sin, why do you have to, you know, consider yourself, take heed to yourself, lest you also be tempted. Why is that there? Yeah, you could easily be drawn into stuff that you get near. Okay, someone here, I don't know if there's someone in the room right now, but someone was telling me about someone who was a really great evangelist and would go to the worst parts of town and go into brothels and really low places and would go in there and talk to people and led a lot of people to Christ and eventually ended up getting hooked up into the drug scene and prostitution and everything else. You think, now, you gotta admire someone that's got the guts to go into the darkest parts of of a city to try to win people to Christ, but you would definitely want to be careful doing that, right? Yeah, you wouldn't want to go by yourself. You want to go two by two or three by three or whatever. Yes, sir. Yeah. The trespass of what? Yeah. Point, Jim. That's good. All right, verse two. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. In other words, do that. Help each other out when you sin and bear each other's burdens. How many of you like to avoid pain and heartache and things like that? I really do. And yet when people go through it in your church, you're supposed to not avoid it. go be there with it and feel it with them. Which means you're gonna feel a lot more. A lot more rejoicing and a lot more difficulties too. When people go through really hard things or losses or whatever, we weep together and we rejoice together. So. That's right. And that's how we bear those burdens is by praying for each other. Okay, I love verse three. If anyone thinks himself to be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work And then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load. Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever a man sows that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good. For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Isn't that such an encouraging verse? Don't grow weary while doing good. I mean, they were just like us. They probably, again and again, thought, what's the point? All this effort and nobody's listening, nobody seems to care. In due season we shall reap if we don't lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. And verse 11 is the reason that a lot of people think Paul had an eye problem of some kind. See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand. As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Isn't that amazing? For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. Let me translate that for you. They wanna have altar calls and put notches on the belt and put articles in the newspaper about how many people they got saved. Rather than waiting to see if God the Holy Spirit will convict people and grant them faith, it's let us get you to do this. If I can get them circumcised, I can count you as somebody that I saved. I can count you as someone that I can boast about. I can boast in your flesh. Isn't that horrible? Yeah, look at verse 14. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Isn't that a great verse? We have no grounds for boasting when it comes to being right with God except in the cross. And the world's been crucified to me and I to the world. Verse 15, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. See it there again? Okay. Because who are the true Jews? Whether they're Gentile or Jewish ethnicity, all believers in Jesus Christ are the Israel of God. Okay, and verse 17. From now on, let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. You know what that word is? Stigmata. Y'all know what the stigmata is? Historically, what is the stigmata? It's superstitious silliness, but it's a long-standing tradition. Yes, sir. It's a Roman Catholic idea of people who are so devout that the very wounds of Jesus start showing up on their bodies. Like start showing up on their hands like you'll see pictures that I'm serious Google Padre Pio Sometimes Padre Pio was a stigmatic. They call them st. Francis of Assisi supposedly was the first one so devout the scars from the crown of thorns the marks on the back from the scourging the Nail prints and the hands and the feet start showing up. They have bandages on their hands with like blood and you see them preaching and all the people are looking at them like they're so devout, they're so amazing. What I find fascinating though is in the history of the stigmatics, it was believed for most of Christian history that people when they were crucified were crucified through the palms of their hands. And what did they discover by actually unearthing real crucified people? Where did they actually put the nail in the wrist? Okay, if it's in your hand, your hand's gonna rip and it's gonna fall off, but the two bones in your wrist here, if they put it through here, it'll actually hold you on there. Isn't this interesting? As that was discovered, the stigmatic smirk started migrating from here to here. That's called pious fraud, okay? What is Paul talking about? I bear on my body the marks of Jesus, meaning I've been beat up just like he was. That's really all he's saying. Okay, I got beat up real bad. How many times did he get the 40 lashes minus one, three? He was beating broads and he got beat up a lot. Okay, so verse 18. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, amen. Okay, so there's Galatians. You see why Luther called it his Katerina Bombora? He called the book of Galatians by his wife's name, because he loved it so much. And he said that every Christian should memorize the whole book. And even towards the end of his life, Luther lamented that the gospel was already starting to drift off again in churches. It wasn't being emphasized the way that it should. So, always got to be going back to that. And like, brother, you got to do that like once every six to eight weeks when you're preaching. Got to hit that again. Oh, the church at Ephesus, yeah, in Acts 20. He knew it, yeah. Can you imagine that? You know this guy's an apostle, you know he saw Jesus, and he's standing there crying, telling the elders that he trained there for three years, I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And warning them, shepherd the church of God which you bought with his own blood. So you gotta watch out for wolves. You gotta watch out for them, What was it this reform stage make a shirt where there's like a shepherd with a dead wolf under his foot or something like that? Yeah Elders in the church, so you you shepherd the sheep and you kill the wolves Wolf killer in training yeah, all right any other thoughts or comments Isn't Galatians a great book? I just love how crisp, clean, and clear he is. It's Jesus Christ alone who saves us, and how dare we think it's anything in addition to that, to his blood and righteousness that could make us right with God. All right, let's close in prayer. Father, thank you for this time to be together again. Thank you for the gospel. Thank you for everything that the Lord suffered. We're so thankful that by his shed blood and by his righteousness imputed to our legal account that we have that gift of righteousness upon us. Help us to live lives of gratitude to you, loving your law, loving your commandments, seeking to see them all grow in our hearts and lives and our day in and day out existence. But always knowing that even the most sanctified Still fall far short of your glory and that our only hope is always and only in the blood and righteousness of our Savior that we receive by faith Alone by trusting in him alone and pray this in Christ's name. Amen Thank y'all