We're going to stand together. A mighty fortress is our God, the whole world never failing. Our helper He amid the flood, the mortal bills prevailing. For still our ancient foe, The sea to work us full, His craft and power are great, And armed with cruel gaze. On earth is not his equal. If we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our side. The men of God don't choose me. Thus ask who that may be. Christ Jesus, it is he. For Sabbath of his name. From age to age the same, and we must win the battle. And though this world, with devils filled, Should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness thrills, we tremble not for him. His reigns we can endure, for though his doom is sure, one little word shall help him. above all earthly powers, the thanks to them abideth. The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us guideth. Let woods and kindred go This mortal life also The body they may kill God's truth abideth still His kingdom is forever. Now we have a number of visitors this morning, so I want you to take just a moment. Turn around, bring one another. I'm going to give you about 60 seconds. Okay. Let's begin with prayer this morning. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day that you've given us, the opportunity for your corporate body to come together to worship and to honor you and to give you praise. We thank you, Father, for this study that we have in Galatians, the opportunity, Father, to be reminded of the purity of the gospel that we have a responsibility to defend. May this indeed be the hill upon which we plant the flag, that, Father, that nothing could distort it. But yet, Father, there are those that would come in even into our world to be able to take it and to change it, to add to it, and to delete from it. Might we be great warriors. And may the words that Paul give to the Galatian believers be words that your Holy Spirit brings to us in this 21st century. And may we, Father, be marked by those who hold sacred the gospel and the purity, Father, therein. In the Son's name we do pray. Amen. So for you that are coming in to us, we are in the 11th teaching period of the book of Galatians. And we're navigating ourself having coming out of chapter number three, going into chapter number four. Now, as we go through this one, a reminder to you exactly that if you're looking for an overarching theme in Galatians, it is that salvation is by the free grace of God, received through faith, in the righteousness of Christ apart from any works of the law. Now, when we begin to look at its purpose, we can look at it and there are many ways to carry it, but I've chosen these words to give you a three-fold purpose of the book of Galatians. One is to emphasize the very heart of the gospel, justification by faith alone in Christ's righteousness apart from the works of the law. Second, it was to call these Galatian believers, who Paul would say in the first chapter, chapter number 6, I am so perplexed, I'm so amazed, I am so irritated, that you so quickly have moved from the Gospel upon which I had taught you. Had not the work of the Holy Spirit been granted to you? You were indwelled just as the other believers had? And as he did this work, did he do not great miracles within the congregation? Were your lives not being changed? Would you now allow? these false teachers to come in and to persuade you that you need something more than Christ and Christ alone. And so He calls them to prove the reality of their spirituality through living by faith in Christ, in which is the fruit of the Spirit which will abound. And in chapter number six, we'll have the opportunity to look there in detail associated with the fruit of the Spirit, the representation of the gospel living in us day by day. And third, let there be no doubt that Paul came in his full armor. with all the word to be able to present and to attack and to destroy the message of the Judaizers by showing that what they gave was a false gospel. Because it is a gospel that had moved from the work of Christ on our behalf, His perfect record, given to our imperfect record, that we might stand right before God. And that is all, not the work of circumcision and not the work of other things of the law. And so when you look in regards to the synopsis, we have to look and say, what is the contribution to the redemptive revelation of God? So, the occasion of this writing is that there is an insidious influence that is occurring within this church. There are those that came from Jerusalem that perhaps were members of this local congregation. And there were those that were continuing to come back and forth that they might be able to say, yes, we believe in Christ. We believe in His death and His burial and His resurrection. And we embrace the gospel. But Paul missed the mark. He didn't give you all of it. And so we're just simply here sent by God. to share with you the remainder of that message. They were arguing that to be truly saved, one who professed faith in Christ also had to submit to circumcision, and indeed to the entire ceremonial law that was there. And so this is a heresy, if you remember, we looked at, that the Jerusalem Council would address in Acts 15, but it would continue to trouble churches. We've talked about the fact that that includes the church of the 21st century, as there are so many that would simply say that it is not sufficient for Christ, Christ alone, Christ by faith alone. So, he's gonna come with apostolic authority. He spends time in those first two chapters laying out the argument, presenting, if you will, why he is indeed an apostle sent from God, the gospel message not shaped by man, but shaped by God and the teachings that he received when he was in Damascus for three years directly from Christ in the work of the Holy Spirit. That he had only spent 15 days with any of the apostles and there were only two that he saw. One was Peter and one was with James. And so he says, this is a message given to me by God. And so he sets the claim that the gospel is not a mixture of law and grace, excuse me, and gospel and justification. And then you remember he said, even if an angel were to come, if an angel were to speak any message other than the message upon which you have received and experienced, may that angel be accursed. May that man be accursed. May these false teachers implied be accursed. May they be damned because they give a message that is different. And so faith, we are united in Christ, in his death and his resurrection. That the Mosaic law had not in fact undone the doctrine of justification by faith. but rather served as a schoolmaster as it went to Moses for the law. And so we find ourselves having gone through chapter number three, and we see that the apostles, Paul surveys 2,000 years. He shows the relationship between three great figures of biblical history, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus Christ. He explains that there is a promise that has been given to Abraham to bless all the families of the world. He explains how Moses was given the law and that didn't annul the promise, actually made it more necessary and urgent. And he explains how this promise is fulfilled in Christ. So, as we began in Colossians number 4, we talk again in terms of the fact that He's going to come and in chapter 4 we're going to see that He says, The central truth that justification is not by the works of the law is steadfast. The stake has been driven in the ground. In fact, if it is a stake, he has taken the hammer, and you don't see the stake anymore. It's gone into the dirt. That is how firm he is. He takes, and if you remember, we looked at verses one through 11, and when we looked at verses one through 11, he deals with a series of contrasts. He contrasts man's condition under the law with his condition in Christ Jesus, and based on this contrast gives an impassioned appeal about Christian life in eight through 11. He says, once you were slaves, Why in the world would you want to return to the bondage of the law? You have been set free in Christ. Now that does not negate that in the Christian life we are going to obey the moral law. We are going to obey that because it is a truth that is manifested in the life of one who has been dwelt by the Holy Spirit and the work of sanctification being set apart and maturity is there. Now in verses 12 through 20, he deals with coming to them and he moves out of the way of being the theologian, the defender of the faith, the one that has spoken harshly, has spoken in terms of very emphatically and very direct. And we see the side of Paul which is one that he could describe himself as a mother who has been in labor. It is in this section that we see that he is going to speak to them as children different from, if you remember, at the beginning of chapter one, he says, I'm an apostle, this is who is with me. He summarizes in two verses the gospel message, and then you expect to say, oh, I'm so glad to be here, and you are such wonderful saints. He says nothing. He goes directly into the issue that is there. And so, we will look at that. Now, This is Galatians chapter 4. So let me read it to you. Now I say, as long as a heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave, although he is owner of everything. But he is under guardians and managers until the day set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world, that when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Because you are sons. God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. However, at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. And you remember as we looked at that verse, What he said in that is that, did I labor with you? Did I teach you? And it had no effect. So he then says, I beg of you, I beseech you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong, but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time. And that which was a trial to you in the bodily condition, you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself. Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness that if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth. They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner. And not only when I am present with you, my children, with whom I again in labor until Christ is formed in you. But I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I'm perplexed about you. So, Paul. all head and no heart are what some might have said as they read the first beginnings and paragraphs of this letter. Clearly, Galatians 1 through 3, we've been listening to Paul the Apostle, but now he begins, and we see Paul as one would call him the passionate lover of the soul. So, if you remember, we looked at this verse, and we said, listen, become like me. In the context following his agonized complaint that the Galatians were turning back to the old bondage from which Christ had redeemed them, this intensely personal appeal can only mean one thing. He wants the Galatians to become just like him. in his Christian life, in the faith, and in the belief that Christ is sufficient, nothing other than faith. He wanted them to be delivered from the evil influences that were there, these false teachers, and to share his convictions about the truth as it is in Jesus, and about the liberty of Christ that has set us free. He says, because I also have become as you are. And when he says that, he says, listen, I came to you in the initial visit that I had with you. And when I came to you, I came to you and I did not stand aloof. I did not, at a distance, hold you back. I came and I embraced you and I loved you and I gave you the precious message of the Word. And we truly fellowshiped with one another. we broke the table of the Lord with one another." He says, listen, As he would say in the Corinthians, to the Jews I became as a Jew so that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law as under the law, though not being myself under the law, so that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are without law as without law, though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ. so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some." He loved them. It wasn't a pretend. It wasn't, so I'm going to act this way around you so that you will like me. I like people to like me. And so sometimes to be liked, I will give an individual what I think they want. He's saying, be careful. I want you to be like me, truthful, honest, upright, and do not be swayed by these Galatians. So he says, I beg you. In this paragraph, then, he moves from this appeal to them. And he writes both their attitude to him. And he talks about, what was it like when I first came to Galatians? And how did you receive me? How did I feel about that? What were your actions toward me? And then to look at his attitude to them in the latter part of the chapter. Now, he is going to do a series of contrasts once again. In this section, Paul draws a contrast. In 13 through 16, he contrasts their attitude toward him in the past. with their attitude to him now, as he is writing to them, and then he's gonna contrast his attitude to them with the attitude adopted toward them by the false teachers. So let's look at that. So he would say, you've done me no wrong. He says, I've got absolutely no complaint about how you treated me. I came in, I came in a little unexpectedly, and here I was brought to your doorstep and you opened up the door and you gave to me hospitality. Now, when you gave to me this hospitality, he says, But you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time. He reminds them that I wasn't well and I didn't look so good. Paul's physical weakness and disfigurement appears that it initially was a trial to the Galatians. He would say, and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition, you did not despise or loathe, but you received me. It says, hey, listen. I was in bad shape and I didn't look good. There are many that will speak in terms of the fact that Paul had an eye condition. We don't know that for sure. Then Randy will say that. The eye condition was one that it just continually ran. And so there was a disfigurement that was there within his face, sometimes as he talked, that he was weak, that he was tired, and he's saying, even looking like this, you embraced me. Now, he says, how did you embrace me? He says, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself. So you stop for a moment. So they see Paul and says, as an angel, even maybe Jesus Christ himself. Paul does not take offense to that. He doesn't say, time out. You remember there was a time when there were those where he visited that tried to worship him and he rebuked them. But here, he understands he is an ambassador of Christ. He is one that has been sent. So as they see Paul, so do they see Christ. It is the same for us in worship. When we worship together, the man who preaches and teaches the Word, we must look at them and we must see that the Holy Spirit working within our lives are being used as an instrument to speak the very Word of God to our hearts. And so they took Paul seriously and he did not rebuke them but accepted him. There was one who would say, hey listen, there are... going to be this situation. He says, he who receives you receives me, in Matthew 10, 40. So in receiving Paul, the Galatians quite rightly received him as Christ's voice, for they recognized him as an apostle, a delegate of Christ. So he says, where then is that sense of blessing? you have. He's saying, hey listen, it appears things have changed between us. I thought I was your brother. I thought we had a bond of fellowship one with another. I thought you loved me. as I loved you in Christ, things have changed. Where is the sense of happiness that you felt when we were together this Thanksgiving? Perhaps some of you were around the table and you looked around the table of those that you had not seen for some time. Was there not a happiness there in terms of the fact of being once again together? He says, did I misinterpret what I believed to be true? That what? For I bear you witness that if possible you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. He says, there's a radical change that is here. Was this not indicative of the esteem in which I was helped by you? And then he asked in verse 16, so have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? The one they had received as God's angel, as God's son, they now regarded as their enemy. Why? Well, Scott answers in this way. Simply because he had been telling them some painful home truths. rebuking them, scolding them, spondulating with them for deserting the gospel of grace and turning back into bondage. When the Galatians recognized Paul's apostolic authority, they treated him as an angel as Christ Jesus. But when they did not like his message, he became their enemy. Listen, you think that happens today in the 21st century church? Oh, I love what our pastor says. Well, he just said that he's coming to a text of scripture that people normally don't preach from because it's a hard text to hear. Well, why doesn't he just skip it? I mean, why do we have to deal with it? I mean, if everybody else skips it, and he knows it's controversy, and it's debatable, and oh, by the way, he even uses the term that it might step on our feet. Well, just don't step on our feet. Just don't do it. Because if he does that, I guess I'm not gonna like him. And if I don't like him, I'm gonna just have to leave the church. No, seeing in the 21st century, the truth of the gospel is as pure as it has ever been. The words of Scripture have not changed, and the way that the Holy Spirit, when they grab a hold of the man, to be the voice of God speaking to us has not changed. And there are difficult truths within God's Word. And so Paul, I'm sure would have said, Though this is hard, I love you. He'll say, oh, if I could just be there till Christ is formed in you. And so he moves. Now, he moves from a relationship between him and the Galatians. to the false teacher's attitude toward the Galatians. He talks about what is occurring. He says in verse 17, they eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. You see, if you look at the false teachers, and you take a couple of phrases, they eagerly seek you, they make much of you. They had an agenda, and their agenda was this. I'm not sure Paul's an apostle or not. He says he is, but he didn't walk with Jesus for three years. Now, we're from Jerusalem. We're in the inner crowd. I mean, we have access to the other apostles. And so we come from the home church in Jerusalem. We want you to think of us as being superior. We want you to think of us as ones who've got it all together and have pieced it together in such a manner that can give it to you, the reformed heritage of King James Version Study Bible that I talked to you about last week. And it's done on 1417. It translates these words as, zealously affecting. The goal of the Judaizers were to gain the support of the Galatians by isolating them from Paul, shutting the Galatians from all their influences, making the Galatians feel the Judaizers had a warm interest in them, but it was not for the right purpose. So, plain English. In order to win them to their perverted gospel, the false teachers fawned on them, and they fussed over them. These teachers' motive was to exclude the Galatians from the freedom that is in Christ, and they really didn't want the Galatians to make much of them. The false teachers weren't sincere. So Paul adds, It is good to be zealously affected in a good thing. So what was he doing by saying that? Reminding the Galatians that they had been rightly warmed toward him, but it had not been maintained. So Paul says, They're here to manipulate you. They're here to make you feel good, but all that feeling good is not going to allow you to grow in Christ. Because remember, we are talking that Paul is speaking to believers who have experienced salvation, but now are being carried away by every wind of doctrine that is coming their way. So Paul says, in terms of the fact, well, here I am. My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you. But I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I'm perplexed about you. These words, my children, likened himself to a mother. with great care over these children that he has raised in the faith. The point of this metaphor that is used in regards to Paul as a mother is not one that speaks in terms of dependence on him, but rather the struggle, the labor, and the effort for them. Oftentimes, We can be just like the Galatians. Something happens. We hear things. We begin to consider ourselves, oh, the grass is greener, perhaps on the other side. That is, they're the words that are being spoken to go so nice to the ear. And they look. They say, it's not going to hurt anyone if I just simply walk away and go somewhere else. But if one who is called in Christ to shepherd and to teach is of Christ, is being used by the Holy Spirit There is great pain and anguish when one of the sheep begin to move toward the cliff to get that little piece of grass that they think is greener. For that shepherd knows that when it goes to the edge of the cliff and reaches down, it is tumble and fall and will be hurt to its death. I'm reminded of the 23rd Psalm. And I remember reading this wonderful book by Philip Keller in terms of the Lord is my shepherd taking that. And he speaks in terms of the shepherd. And he says of the shepherd, for a sheep that would always be wayward. That would be the one that went to the very edge to reach down to get the grass. In order for that to stop, the shepherd would go and break the sheep's leg. And then he would carry that sheep until the leg was healed. Paul is saying my words may be difficult, They may be hard, but do you not realize that the gospel is your salvation, is your eternity, is your maturity mechanism in Christ? Therefore, I prevail for you. I struggle that you are where you are. And so, I am in labor until Christ is formed in you." You see, Christ is in you. But you are becoming more and more Christ-like. Remember your justification and sanctification. Those words come together in a beautiful union. that it is through the work of Christ only that you are set right by inheriting the record of Christ for perfectly fulfilling the law where you did not. And because you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells and it sanctifies you, setting you apart till Christ is formed in you. So you are Christ-like. So as you hear the teaching that occurs from the pulpit and from the Sunday school classroom, this is about equipping the saints for the work of the ministry of being Christ-like. Paul is expressing his deep and sacrificial love for the Christians. When's the last time we have been sacrificial with one another? I tell most anyone that I meet, that my most precious commodity is what? Time. When have you sacrificially said, I'm going to take this time and invest it in the sheep, invest it in the church, be there with the body of Christ, my blood, brothers and sisters. His longing to see them conform to the image, and he's perplexed. And as my mother often said, if she was in a situation that she was perplexed and the like, she'd say, I'm at wit's end with you. So he wishes he could visit them. He wishes he could change his tone from severity to gentleness, but he is not, because he loves them too much. So the difference between Paul and the false teachers are now clear. The false teachers were seeking themselves to dominate the Galatians. Paul longed that Christ be formed in them. The false teachers had a selfish eye to their own prestige and position. Paul was prepared to sacrifice himself for them to be in travail until Christ was formed in them. So. He is now going to move, and he's gonna move into a section of scripture where he is gonna use an allegory. Now, within this allegory, he is gonna take something and represent something with that. As he goes through these particular pieces that are in place, he is gonna remind them in regards to the fact of the law and grace. He is going to speak in regards to two posterities, two family trees that are created. Because a promise was given to Abraham and said, Abraham, As many as stars that there are, number of the seas that are in place, all of those things are gonna be your family and nation that's going to grow up. And we're gonna see Abraham, who looks, and out of perhaps impatience, frustration, desiring to get on with it, He's going to have a child birthed, not from his wife. And then God's going to do a miracle, a miraculous thing. And his wife, who is over 90 years old, are going to give birth. And they're going to be two sons. And these signs are going to represent something to the Galatians. But ultimately, there is going to be something that occurs as he is speaking to the Judaizers, the false teachers. Because to understand this text, you've got to know the Old Testament. And so he is ultimately going to throw them a curveball. And he's going to say, You're not from the lineage of Isaac. You're from Ishmael. Boy, that's going to astound them. And then we're going to unfold that. Now, I promised my wife, who is in charge of the nursery, that I would quit going past 20 after. In fact, we had a discussion about that last night. It was one of those discussions, you know, where you sit and you just listen, and you understand that there is nothing that you can say other than, yes, honey, that's exactly what I will do. Now, let me encourage you to do a couple of things. Let me encourage you that if you have not looked at our 1689 Confession of Faith. Since you read it as a member, some of you at the time came in and did not have to read it, but all the new members are reading through 1689, go to chapter number 7 and it's going to be covenant. There are going to be three paragraphs that are there, and you can read it in three minutes, but it's going to take you a lot longer than three minutes to be able to fully absorb what is there. The internet is a wonderful place, and so you can look up and say, Give me what is covenant theology. It's a number of things, but you're gonna look, and then you can refine it in terms of looking at in terms of federalism, a system, the process, the structure, okay, compared to the Westminster. You can look up the 1689 Confession of Faith, Remember these two names, Micah and Samuel Renahan. They do some wonderful, and Sam is great in what he does. I mean, he can become a little complex. This guy, Paschal Denal, I will tell you, I think I'm in my third reading. I'll probably have another 10. But I encourage you the distinctiveness of Baptist covenant theology, especially if you are from a Presbyterian background. You need to understand what we believe in terms of the covenant or you're going to see something different. The other thing that I can say because I've got 30 seconds is this. How you understand covenant impacts your entire reading and understanding of the Old and the New Testament. And the pastor's shaking his head, and that makes me feel good when he shakes his head. It's this that I can't deal with, okay? Only because I know that I just got something wrong. But please, please, because you cannot, as one who did not grow up in the Reformed world, this, in studying of this really has opened up a door associated with the understanding. So let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day, for the opportunity you give us just to be here. Father, now we go into worship. I pray, Father, that we might be stirred up, that we might come in this day seeking to see how you're going to work. May every scripture that is spoken this day penetrate our heart and give us pause to consider what it says. As your word is sung, may we not simply get lost in the melody, but may we, Father, as we give these words, may these words truly be ours that we are offering to you. And may the word of God as it is preached this day, may we respect it and honor it as words that come from you to us. And may, Father, it nourish us and change us. And in your name we pray, amen.