We have a copy of the scriptures this morning. Let me invite you to turn to the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians. And as I noted last week, we're continuing this study through Paul's epistle to the believers in Galatia. And we're looking at the final two chapters. Chapters five and six focus upon ethics, whereas chapters one and two of Galatians was Paul telling his story is his biography, really, as an apostle, in order to, I think, claim his authority as an apostle. And then chapters three and four were primarily about doctrine, particularly the doctrine of justification by faith. In the final two chapters, the theme is ethics, which is the application of doctrine in our practical living. And so that's what we're meditating upon in these final two chapters. This morning, we're looking at Galatians five, and I'm going to be reading verses six through twelve. Let me invite you, as you're able to stand in honor of the reading and the hearing of God's word. Galatians chapter five, verses six through twelve. The Apostle Paul writes. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Ye did run well. Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded, but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off. which trouble you. May God bless the reading and the hearing of his word again in this place, and let's go, Lord, together in prayer. Gracious God, we thank you for this good deposit of your revealed truth, and I ask, Father, you would give us the light of the Holy Spirit, just as if we go into a dark room, we need to turn on the lights to be able to see. We need the illumination of the Holy Spirit. in order to understand your words. Send that to us. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. And you may be seated. Again, these last two chapters, I think, are bringing home, Paul's bringing home, okay, in light of the doctrine of justification by faith, that we are saved not through our works, but by faith alone in Christ. What are going to be the ethical, implications of this for how we live out our lives. And if we could take a turn from the old Francis Schaeffer book, How Should We Then Live? Here, Paul is going to admonish the recipients of this letter because he thinks they've gone down the wrong path. He thinks they have adopted a false persuasion. They've adopted a false belief and the false belief, I went back and read verse six, which is where we ended last week. The false belief of these teachers who had infiltrated the church was that you need Christ plus circumcision in order to be saved. And so he had boldly stated in verse 6, for in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. And I think that last part, by love, he's wanting to remind them, yes, salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, but it will work itself out in the loving actions of those who are saved. That's not the basis of our salvation, but it is an overflow of the fact that we are saved. And again, Paul is going to continue now in our passage to reinforce this admonition This exhortation that the Galatians had accepted again, this false persuasion. He starts out in verse seven saying to them, ye did run well, ye did run well. And he starts off really here with a sports metaphor, doesn't he? Then he talks about living the Christian life as being like running a race. And if you ever read much of Paul's letters, you know that there are quite a few actual sports metaphors that are in Paul's epistles. Sometimes we think of him as this, you know, pale one person. You get the sense that from reading Paul's letters, he probably was an athlete, at least in his younger years, actually to survive all the things that he survived, shipwrecks and beatings. He was probably a quite athletic man and perhaps even before he became a believer, as a youth, he probably was engaged in lots of athletic events. In Philippians 3.14, he uses the metaphor of running a race and pressing towards the mark or the goal or the finish line. He says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3.14. One of the best-known passages where he uses a sports metaphor is 1 Corinthians 9, 24 and following, where he says, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but that one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. You're in a race. You're seeking a prize, a goal. Don't be lazy. Don't be haphazard, he say. Then he goes on. First Corinthians nine, twenty five. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. So what he's saying, you know, the athletes, they go into training, they they sit down the training table, certain things they exclude from their diet. There are certain activities that they exclude themselves from because they want to get themselves in shape. And he's saying as a Christian, there are certain things you're going to have to abstain from so that you might build yourself up spiritually to be in the right shape to be able to strive after the prize. 1 Corinthians 9, 26, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one who beat at the air. Now he brings in a boxing metaphor. I'm not just shadow boxing all the time. I'm not just punching the air, but I am really engaging in that which is physically vigorous to edify me. And he's applying that spiritually. And then he says 1 Corinthians 9, 27, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway, even as the athlete gains mastery over his body so that he might win the prize. So Paul is saying I as a Christian must gain mastery. And I think he means literally over my body, over some of my passions, my appetites, lusts. I must gain mastery over it, lest I preach to others godliness and I'm not that way in my own life. And so I make Christianity a laughingstock and I become a hypocrite. So, he uses these athletic metaphors. It's disputed whether or not Paul wrote Hebrews. If he wrote the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 12.1 says, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily doth beset us and let us run with patience. the race that is set before us. And there I think when he talks about the cloud of witnesses, he talks about the athlete going into the arena, where there are the crowds there, maybe at the end of a marathon in the Olympic, Summer Olympic Games. where it ends with them entering into the stadium and all the witnesses are there. And Paul's saying, when you're living the Christian life and you're running the race, there's an unseen cloud of witnesses. All the saints have gone before and all the angels watching you. And now run and persevere in the race so that you might finish and win the prize, he's saying. Likewise, again, kind of looking at Paul's use of athletic metaphors, in 1 Timothy 4, 8, he says this, For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things. It's okay to exercise. There's nothing wrong with that. It's not sinful. It's not unlawful. It profits a little. Bodily exercise profits a little. But Godliness is profitable under all things, Paul says. Now, again, I say all that to say that Paul is fond of athletic metaphors. Let's go back to Galatians 5. So it's not surprising, then, that he says to the Galatians, ye did run well. But it's kind of a question interpreting this. Did Paul really think that they had run well? Given everything that we have heard thus far, does Paul really think that they have run well? And the answer to that is no. But the problem is they think they have been running well. They think they have been competing well. And so Paul is actually taking their stats and probably even their pride and the folly of it. And he's saying, well, let's let's examine this a little further. You saying that you run the race? Well, let's look and see what happens. And so he follows up and says, who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? The word he uses here for to hinder in Greek is egg cup, though. Which literally means to cut into. And so he says, you think you're running well? Well, who is it that is cut into you or cut you off so that you have not obeyed the truth? The New International Version renders this verse in this way. It says, who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? And so the image here is saying, you're saying you've run well, as far as I can see. You were running well, perhaps, but then somebody came along and elbowed you and knocked you off the path and dislodged you from running the race as you should. And probably what he's thinking about here are what? The false teachers who came in, the false teachers who came in and said, you need to be circumcised in order to be saved. Faith in Christ alone is not enough. You need to keep the Old Testament dietary laws. You need to add these laws, rules, and man-made regulations in order to be saved. You need to add those things. And they have been like runners who have jostled them and cut them off. I don't know how many of you have become fond of watching the Winter Olympics over the last couple of weeks. But one of the events that's kind of fun to watch is the short track speed skating. Have you seen any of that? It's amazing. They start off, you know, four or six people. That's a really short track. They're just going around and almost every race, there's a crash and people are always jostling. And sometimes the person who might be in second place and then somebody will come along and there'll be a collision. Somebody will cut into them and they will knock them out. And so Paul has that similar sentiment here in addressing the Galatians. He had preached to them the pure gospel of Christ. And then these interlopers come along and told them you need Christ plus works. And they had dislodged them. They had caused them to be disqualified from the race. And so Paul offers then in verse 8 this very frank evaluation. He says, This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. This persuasion. What is the persuasion he's talking about? He's talking about the fact that the Galatians have become convinced that they need circumcision and probably other acts of obedience to the Old Testament law, like keeping the dietary laws or keeping the Old Testament holidays, that they need these things in order to be saved. And Paul is saying this is a false persuasion. It does not have its origins with God. In fact, he says here distinctly in verse eight that it cometh not of him that calleth you. Anytime we read here in a passage from Paul, the English word call, it's the Greek word Kaleo. We think of the doctrine of the effectual call. That's what he's referring to. This idea that you need Christ plus circumcision or Christ plus work. does not come from the person who extended to you the effectual call through the preaching of the Word, that's the external call, but the Spirit's internal compulsion to be drawn to Christ. This did not originate with the God who extended to you the effectual call. I think of what's called the golden chain of redemption in Romans 830, where Paul writes there, moreover, whom he did predestinate them, he also called and whom he called them. He also justified and whom he justified them. He also glorified. That's the golden chain of redemption. the one who called you, the one who justified you, the one who is sanctifying you, and the one who ultimately will glorify you, has not taught you that you need to add anything to Christ in order to be saved. You don't need to be circumcised to earn your salvation. Paul continues then to warn these false teachers, and he warns them by giving them what we could call a one verse parable in verse nine, where he says, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. And what he's talking about here is that these apparently few false teachers were able to come in and in a short period of time. They were able to sow seeds of discord and doubt in the purity of the gospel and to ruin basically a short period of time all that Paul had been able to establish among them. Of course, the image here with the leaven is just a little bit of the leavened dough or a little bit of yeast that is mixed into the whole mass of bread dough will be able to infiltrate it and influence it and make it to rise. And so Paul is saying just a little bit of false teaching can get mixed into the whole lump and spread its nefarious influence throughout the whole. Not to produce something good, a loaf of bread, but to produce something ruinous. It can ruin, poison the whole. By the way, this is one of those places where I think it is shown that Paul knew directly the teachings of our Lord from the Gospels. Because if you look through the Gospels, you'll notice that this is a metaphor that Jesus often used in his teaching. Remember, he often talked about the yeast of the Pharisees. In Matthew 16 6, Jesus said, Take heed and beware the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Likewise, in Luke 12 1, it says he began to say to his disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Also behind this metaphor was the idea of the Jewish practice of the Passover. And at the Passover, you had to get all the leaven out of your household. You had to make unleavened bread, and so you had to remove any sign of leaven or yeast that would influence the bread that was going to be baked. And so it becomes a metaphor also for spiritual purity. Do not tolerate false teaching. Do not tolerate false doctrine, because if you let in just a speck of it, It will have an influence out of all proportion to its actual size. And we see this in First Corinthians, chapter five, six through eight, where Paul wrote there, Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump. as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." It's that same image again that he's using here, this one verse parable. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. You've let in a little false teaching, you've let in a little malice, you've let in a little impurity, and it's ruined the whole. The image that came to mind when I was thinking about this verse was the report recently of the chemical spill in Charleston, West Virginia. Back on January the 9th, they initially said, I think, 7,000 gallons, and now they're saying 10,000 gallons of this chemical, MCHM. was leaked into the water supply. 10,000 gallons, that might seem like a lot, but really that's not a lot when you consider the thousands of gallons of water that flow in any river constantly passing by, particularly someplace like West Virginia, where there are lots of mountains and lots of water supply. Somehow, the 7,000 to 10,000 gallons got put into the water supply up there, and it ended up affecting, they say, nearly 300,000 people. In fact, they're still testing. a month later. And they're tracing. And this chemical is so powerful that when it's found, I think, in more than a one to a billion proportion, it can have an influence upon people who ingest it or wash with it and so forth. They still have it. Just a little bit, a little bit of leaven leavens the whole. A little bit of false teaching can infiltrate and can ruin the whole body and harm thousands. And so this is the kind of warning that Paul is giving to the Galatians here. He goes on in verse 10. And you got to love Paul. He is a spirit inspired communicator. If one type of rhetoric doesn't work, he'll try another. If berating you and admonishing you and shaming you doesn't work, he'll try cajoling you. And so he's got his full arsenal, his full arsenal, spirit inspired arsenal things to soften the hearts of the Galatians. And here in verse 10, I think he begins to change course in his rhetoric as he says to them in verse 10, I have confidence in you. Through the Lord. That she will be none otherwise minded. Rather, they continue to chide them. He expresses confidence in the fact. I think that if they are truly saved, if they are truly converted, that they will eventually see the light, they will be convinced of their error, they will repudiate it and they will return to the truth. I have confidence in this Paul says. And the key part is the little preposition there. I have confidence in you through the Lord, in the Lord. I have confidence that that you will see the light. You won't go on thinking I need Christ plus circumcision. You will understand eventually that that is wrong. And I don't think Paul is using here some kind of reverse psychology like we sometimes use with our children. You know, I have confidence you'll choose the right decision, which is mine. I don't think really he's doing that, but I think he truly is expressing here a confidence in what we call the perseverance of the Saints. Again, it's the idea that if you're really saved, if you're really converted and if you're really among the elect, eventually, even though you may galley with something that's not right, eventually you'll be drawn away from it. And you will be drawn back to the truth. So the confidence that he's expressing is not really in the Galatians, is it? It's not really in who they are, but it's a confidence in the Lord to be able to save and keep his own. I have confidence in you through the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded. In other words, that you will not think anything other than the truth, this is a mammoth Trust in the Lord. We should recall this should we should recall this verse if we ever have friends or loved ones in the Lord who get caught up in doctrinal beliefs or practices that are either clearly false or that set off alarm bells that they might be false. This would be a good verse for someone who has a friend or loved one who's got into something you think might not be right in belief or practice. I have confidence in you through the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded. I've listened recently. There's a church group in Texas and I've written about it on my blog that is taking on some cult like qualities. And there are a lot of young people. In fact, one of the alarm bells for this church is Most of the people in it are in their 20s, and the elders are only in their 20s in the church, so-called. And there are a lot of people who have been attracted to it, people who have grown up in evangelical Christian churches, and earnest young people, and some of their parents are just distraught because their children have gotten mixed up with this. Maybe they need to listen to this verse. Paul could say, I have confidence in the Lord. If you're really His, that eventually you'll be drawn away from this, you'll be taken back to the truth. Again, this is what we call the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. We see it in places like Philippians 1.6, where Paul says, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus. Or in John 10, 27 and following, where Jesus said, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. See, parents or us, we're teaching our children, we're trying to teach them what we think are biblical truths, and we don't want them eventually, when they become older, to drift into error. You know what our greatest safeguard against that is? That is they're actually converted. Because if they're actually converted, if they're actually part of the elect, you know who's going to keep them in the faith? The Lord himself is. That's not to say we should do everything that we can to try to rightly teach them, get them in the right church and hearing the right doctrine and get the right books in their hands and educate them and all those things. But, you know, if the Lord deals with their hearts and they're converted, you know, he's going to keep them in the end. He's a whole lot better keeper than we are. He's a whole lot better watchman than we are. Now, on the other hand, Paul also expresses his supreme confidence in the justice of God. And in the fact that God will deal justly and righteously with the false teachers who have introduced this another gospel to the Galatians. That's the other side of this in verse 10. Look at the second half of verse 10. But he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment. whosoever he be. That's the other part of the confidence he has. God will keep the elect, but God will also righteously and justly judge the false teachers. The verb here for those who trouble you in Greek is terrasso. It means disturb, terrify, frighten. It's used to describe stirring up water. Those who have stirred up the waters. And Paul used this same verb exactly in Galatians 1.7 to describe these false teachers. He talked of the gospel, the another gospel that they had preached in verse 6, and then he says in verse 7, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Now he's going to go on and say here in Galatians 5 10 about them. Those who trouble you shall bear their own judgment, whoever they be. Paul is affirming here that God will not spare false teachers. Jesus said in Luke 17, too, that it would be better for one who offends or scandalizes one of the little ones, one of the immature Christians to have a millstone hung around his back, his neck, and to have him be cast into the sea. And in the book of Jude, in Jude verse 4, it speaks of false teachers who crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. It's just a reminder, a little book of Jude, 2 Peter is a reminder of this, that God will deal with false teachers. Just as God is no respecter of persons in salvation, he is no respecter of persons in judgment. Notice at the end of verse 10, he says he will judge those who are troubling the Galatians, whosoever he be. Paul says false teachers will be judged no matter who they are, no matter what worldly credentials they hold. There are going to be many people who have stood behind pulpits and have been professors in religion departments, there are going to be many teachers who are going to be held to account for what they have said. And it's a quite fearful thing to say. Just notice, Paul isn't holding anybody else to a standard. He's not willing to be held to himself. Look back at Galatians 1.8, where previously he said, But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Paul is saying, if I come back and I tell you that you need Christ plus some other practice or action, let me be accursed. If there seems to be an angel come down from heaven and preaches to you that you need Christ plus some other practice to be saved, let that creature be accursed. And we all know from what Paul said in 2 Corinthians, sometimes Satan can masquerade as an angel of light. And so here, Paul is addressing, again, in two ways, confident in the perseverance of the saints, confident in God's justice. Here we see both sides of that in verse 10. Paul is saying, Don't take the word of any man based merely on his reputation or appearance, but ask whether or not his teaching measures up to the revelation of God in Scripture. In verse 11, then Paul seems to be addressing a different kind of charge or accusation. I think there's some back story to this. And so in chapter five, verse 11, he says, And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? And from this, we can glean that apparently Some of the false teachers had claimed that what they were teaching, the need for circumcision was in line with what Paul preached. They were saying, oh, what we're telling you is just what Paul said. Paul also preached that you need to be circumcised in order to be saved. In other words, they were saying, Paul's a legalist just like we are. Paul preached works righteousness just like we're preaching. Maybe they even called attention to the fact that During Paul's second missionary journey, as it's recorded in Acts 16.3, Paul had circumcised Timothy when he joined him on that missionary journey. But when we look at Act 16, three, where it says Paul had Timothy circumcised, we must remember that Paul did not say this was necessary for Timothy's salvation, but he probably did so because he did not want it to be a stumbling block in Timothy's ministry and Paul's own ministry to his fellow Jews. In fact, it fits with what we can call Paul's incarnational philosophy of ministry. which he lays out in 1 Corinthians 9 19 and following where he says, For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself a servant unto all that I might gain the more. And under the Jews, I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without the law, meaning Gentiles, as without the law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without the law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And so the point is, perhaps some people have taken Paul's incarnational philosophy of the fact that he had Timothy circumcised, the fact that in some circumstances Paul would live according to Jewish custom in order to have an opportunity to preach Christ. They said our preaching is the same as Paul's. And Paul's going to respond to that here, he's going to say, wait a second, this is a false accusation and it's an intentional misunderstanding of my ministry. So he says, and I, brethren, notice he still calls them brothers despite the disputes that they had. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? And here's Paul's response. Listen. If I'm in line with these Judaizers, why are they persecuting me? Why are they opposing me? If I'm preaching that The gospel is calm in Christ, but it doesn't really mean anything. You just keep living like a Jew. Then why am I being persecuted? Why am I being cast out of synagogues? Why am I being harried by civil officials? Why am I being accused of being a troublemaker? Not only does the presence of persecution that Paul is undergoing prove that he has in no way preached the necessity of circumcision, But more powerfully. Paul also points to the fact that he's continuing to preach the scandalous message of the cross. If I'm preaching, you need to be circumcised to be saved, Paul is saying. Then I'm no longer preaching the cross, and guess what, friends, I am preaching the cross. So he says in the verse 11, then is the offense of the cross ceased. If I'm preaching you need Christ plus circumcision, then the scandal or the offense of the cross is nullified. If I preach salvation by works righteousness through circumcision or anything else, then I am no longer preaching the cross. What was the significance of the preaching of the cross? Paul outlines this in 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 22 and following where he says, For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, Palaio, effectually called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men. and the weakness of God is stronger than men. The scandal of the cross was that God saves men not through their external piety, not through their works of charity, not through their mental working out of right doctrine, but God through Christ saves people by the bloody death of a righteous and perfect man upon the cross. The cross plus nothing equals salvation for the elect. Paul is saying, if I'm preaching circumcision, I'm not preaching the offense of the cross any longer. The last thing that Paul says here is probably the verse that's most discussed about this passage. Maybe the one you might be most familiar with. Paul says here at the end to these Judaizers, of these Judaizers, I would, they were even cut off, which trouble you. I would they, the they here is the false teachers, the troublers. He says, I wish that they were even cut off. The verb he uses here is apokopto. Apo in Greek is a little prefix that means from. Kopto means cut. I remember earlier, the egg copter meant to cut in the runners who cut in. Now he's saying, I wish those who trouble you were apple copter. I wish they were cut off. That word literally means to cut off. It also has the sense of to mutilate. And in the Greek language, it also has the sense of to castrate. Paul is essentially saying they care so much about circumcision. They're being so legalistic about circumcision, I wish they would just go the whole nine yards and emasculate themselves. So the New International Version reads like this, as for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves. Indeed, it's very vivid language that Paul uses here. And as I've already noted, there's a little bit of a play on words, perhaps. These people who cut in upon you, I wish they would just be cut off, Paul says. Now, what do we say about this verse? In our modern day, there's so much emphasis, particularly related to ministry, on a therapeutic view of ministry. We ministers are supposed to be seated in a chair, like psychologists, we're supposed to be good counselors. very affirming, good hand holders. There's also more and more a kind of a feminized view of ministry. We were riding into the church before we got started this morning, had the radio on for a local mainline denomination church. It was actually a woman preaching the sermon there this morning. So there's a very feminized view of ministry. And some might might read Paul's words here and they might say, This is sub-christian. How can Paul possibly say, how can a Christian minister possibly say, I would, they were even cut off, which trouble you knowing the deeper implications of that? Some might say Paul had anger issues. He's just too harsh. He needs training and counseling. They might go searching for other places in Paul's writings where he says similar things. You want to you can find lots of this in Paul, quite frankly, look at First Corinthians 421. He says to the Corinthians with whom he's had lots of problems, he says, what will you what do you want? Shall I come unto you with a rod or in love and in a spirit of meekness? In other words, when I come visit you, should I bring a whip? Should I bring a belt to take you to the woodshed? Or should I come in love? Or even Galatians 3 1, where he said, oh, foolish Galatians. Should an apostle call anyone a fool? Shouldn't he be affirming? Now, I'm not trying to excuse real abuse, real spiritual abuse. There is real spiritual abuse that happens in churches. It happens in a lot of conservative churches. I'm not excusing that. But I am saying here in this place, Paul is writing as an inspired apostle. And his words here, the best parallel to them are the imprecatory souls. We talk about that when we sing the Psalms. A lot of times you come across some of the Psalms and you're like, whoa, where's the gospel in this? Psalm 137. Oh, Babylon, blessed is the one who takes your little nursing infants and dashes their heads against the rocks. And here Paul is expressing an imprecatory sentiment. And the thing about it is, I think it was so infused with the spirit of God and so infused with a sense of the righteousness of God and the holiness of God. That it issued out of him in an inspired warning against ungodliness. What we see in this is the degree to which a holy God hates false teaching and hates for his precious lambs to be misled and to be abused. Those who preach falsehood, Paul says they should be cut off and they will be cut off. What did he say earlier back in chapter five in the second half of verse 10? He that trouble you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he shall be. Well, we've worked through the passage, and as John reminds me, like clockwork, we got to come to the conclusions or the gleanings or the spiritual points. And I threaten to add to my normal three points a fourth things that apply to John Beach. But let's see what kind of what kind of applications that we can draw upon this today. It's over lunch last Sunday. We're talking about last week's passage. Ron and I were talking about it and we were talking about wondering about did the Judaizers really believe that circumcision could save you? They were saying you've got to believe in Christ, but they were saying you also should obey the law. So weren't they being righteous and were they really that misguided? Didn't they believe in Jesus and then they were just extra zealous in wanting to keep the law? Yes, we might say that perhaps there were some things that were right about what they were saying. As Christians, we do want to obey God's moral law. We do want to be obedient, but They mixed in enough error with the truth that it made their whole belief structure wrong. They thought they had it so right, but they were wrong. That happens a lot of times in the field of your spiritual belief. Sometimes you think you've got everything right. And then later on, you come to understand that you had some things wrong. All false religions and all false cults believe that they have the truth. And they hold their beliefs with great sincerity and often with great fervor. You ever had a discussion with a Jehovah's Witness or with a Mormon? They sincerely believe and they fervently believe that what they hold to is true. But all their sincerity and their fervency doesn't mean that they're right. The Judaizers had a false persuasion. Paul nails it in verse 8. This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. The persuasion, the conviction you have does not come from God, no matter how sincerely you hold it or how fervently you hold it. Now, I noted last week The problem in the modern church today, the problem for believers today is not any longer about circumcision. That was the problem in the first century. But we still do battle with works righteousness, do we not? And particularly conservative and even particularly even reformed circles, because we're very conscientious and we want to be so faithful, we want to be faithful to God's word, there are things that come up. that we can latch on to, just like the Judaizers latched on to circumcision, and we can say this belief or this practice must be essential to the Christian life. And it can be all manner of things. I mentioned a slew of them last week. It could be head coverings. It could be women must wear dresses. It could be no television in your house. It could be no attending secular movies. It can be you've got a homeschool, you've got to discipline your children according to this newest parent manual that's come out from the latest Christian guru. And we can latch on to particular kinds of things and say, I need Christ. Plus, I need these modern varieties of circumcision. Essentially, in order to be saved. And in fact, what we're really saying is I need to add something to the crosswork of Christ in order to be saved. And this is why Galatians, I think, is in the New Testament. Because we keep going back to this book and we keep reviewing it. And we keep examining what we hold to and reminding ourselves, friends, if we're saved, It's only because of Christ. And it's only because of the cross. And if I'm leaning on anything else, no matter how wholesome, no matter how good it might be in some ways. If I'm leaning upon anything else and I'm trusting in that for my righteousness, for my salvation, I am Eric. If I'm really saved, I have confidence in the Lord. that I will not be otherwise minded. And I'll repent of that. And I'll turn back to Christ. Well, as I've noted, we conservative Christians are prone to get into these types of traps. How do we shake ourselves loose from false persuasions? And I want to suggest briefly just three ways we might shake ourselves loose from false persuasions. First of all, this is the most important. We should practice discernment. We should practice discernment. I really truly am surprised at how many of my fellow Christians sometimes they'll come to me with a book or a website or something and they'll say, oh, this is a great Christian idea or whatever. And just because it has the name Christian or quote some Bible verses doesn't necessarily mean it's rightly dividing the word of God. And so we need to be discerning. We have resources that God has given us to practice discernment. The best resource we have, of course, is the Bible, the key resource we have. And so anything that someone presents to us as a as a as a belief or a practice, the first thing we have to do and we have to ask ourselves, is it biblical? Can you show me book, chapter and verse? And can you show me not just one proof text? But can you show me a whole constellation of Scriptures that systematically teach this truth? And then I might go even further. I can use the resource of God's church. This is, friends, a big reason why we need the church. I can bring that idea or that practice into the body of believers. And over lunch or over the women's Bible study or men's gathering or fellowship, I can say, brothers, sisters, what do you think of this? And they can tell me. And then that's just that's using the church visible. But I also have access to the resource of the church universal. And I have access to all the great elders and teachers of the church. I can pull down Matthew Henry's commentary and I could pull out Matthew Poole's commentary and I can pull John Calvin's commentaries. And I've got a vast resource. of teachers and elders. I've got the living elders in my local church, too, that I can appeal to. Who have been given to the church to help people be discerning. I also have the resources of prayer and meditation. And so I should draw upon all these resources when some new idea or new practice is presented to me as something that is essential for the Christian life. John said in 1 John 4 1, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. The second resource that we have is time. We have time, we should take our time. We're presented with some new idea or some new practice, it might be something that's biblical and right, we should we should pursue, but We also shouldn't make hasty decisions. There are few decisions in life that cannot be helped by taking adequate time to make them. If you've ever studied logic, you know, there's a logical fallacy called the fallacy of exigency. It's often used by politicians and lawyers. And it's the idea of everything's urgent. We've got to make a decision now. We've got to make this quickly or all is lost. And usually when someone is doing that, they are manipulating you into making an uninformed decision. You have time. You have time to pray. Time to think. Time to read. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes five to be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven and thou upon earth. Therefore, let thy words be few. The third resource we have. Is that we should strive to be stable and consistent rather than erratic and inconsistent. We shouldn't be like a Christian butterfly who flitters and flutters from one conviction and practice to another, never settling anywhere for long. This is what the Bible calls being double minded. In James 1.8, James said a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. And so, friends. Here's our our our counsel is. Be stable, be stable, practice discernment, take your time, be stable. As Paul put it in Romans 14.5 when addressing disputable practices, let every man be persuaded in his own mind. Friends, let us avoid the pitfalls that the Galatians fell into. Most importantly, let us look to Christ and to him alone for salvation. And let us avoid any practice that tells us we need Christ plus something else. in order to be saved. Amen. Let me invite you to stand together. Let's pray. Gracious and loving God, we know that just like the Galatians of old, we are prone to false persuasions. And Lord, I ask that you would ground us in the truth of the gospel the truth of the scriptures so that we are kept in the faith, that we're not drawn to obscurity, to cult-like practices, but we would be drawn to the pure gospel. We would be drawn to Christ and the cross and the preaching of Christ and him crucified. And that would be enough. That would be enough for us. Help us to avoid the sin and the error of taking away from God's word. Ignoring things that are clearly there and help us to avoid the error of adding things that clearly are not there and making these a legalistic standard of obedience. Gracious God, again, we are we are prone to make mistakes in this area. We are weak. We need the strength of Christ. We need the guidance of your spirit. Grant that to us. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.