Galatians. And while you're doing that, there's just several things I could not pass up commenting on. We all enjoyed Pastor Whitaker's short sermon last night. All of us that speak behind the pulpit should someday we should learn not to say I have a short sermon because it's the short ones that are always longer than all the other ones. I remember just a few weeks before saying my missionary report probably won't be as long as Pastor Whitaker's normally are. And then I went on and talked about lots of places for a long time. So learn that. That's some of the benefits of being in a local church college. You get to see the real mistakes happen right in front of you. Not that it was an excellent sermon. It really was. I truly enjoyed it and And almost forgot that he said it was going to be a short sermon. But he said it a couple of times. And I was tempted to look at my watch and say, how short is this sermon? Anyway, China debt to me seems like a very exciting possibility. I'm not saying that you should just everybody has a couple thousand dollars to drop and just go. But when Brother Ray mentioned that to us while we were on the trip, five weeks immersed in a culture completely foreign from your own, hard language training for about four hours a day. You say, well, I don't feel called to China. Well, if you're called anywhere, you're probably going to have to learn the language there, and it'd be good experience to see what it's like to have to learn another language, even if you only learn enough to buy some chopsticks. You still, the experience of of learning language and the importance of learning language. I'm sure he'll give this illustration, but I'm going to beat him to it because he told it to us. There's Americans in China that are dealing with Chinese and think that they're getting very far with them because the Chinese want to learn English. There was a man that they thought was ready to be a pastor, and when when they had started a conversation in Chinese with the man was three or four minutes in the man had said, you know, I'm just in this to learn the language. He didn't even know whether the man was saved. But he was going along in English so he could learn English and the mentality, the understanding between the American and the Chinese English was blocked by the language barrier enough so that the American thought he was ready to be a pastor. And in Chinese, the man said, I'm not really. I don't care about these things. I just want to learn how to speak English. So language training is very important. And then. I mean, of course, anyway, his philosophy of mission seems to be very much like ours. And it would be a great experience for anybody, even if you're not planning to be a missionary, just to see if you're going to be a pastor and working with missionaries out of your church or people come through. You want to know what's it like? What should I expect of a missionary? You can go to China for five weeks in the summer and see that Eddie Ray is the model missionary, but you get some good training that way. And then Mr Mitchell. Says he has. Song sheets in his briefcase. Now this is an old one is I just let you in on something inside joke here when we were in college we often had a speaker who had something in his briefcase to we never thought. we never saw it because it was not at least as briefcases here it's right over there but if you need it now I'm right at the service because you may never see that I want them on it in the proverbial briefcase back in the dormitory and someday I'll bring it one hundred and thirty. languages that the Bible is not translated into or something like that. And it's it's it's in my briefcase. Someday you may see it. So that that's where he's got me. And then we mentioned Brother Van Hoose as a graduate. And Neil, you might want to get to know Brother Van Hoose before he leaves, because now you are still older than he is. But he was pretty much older than all his professors when he was in school, too. So. So you might have a common bond there. He was in the military also. So I'm sorry, which would. Army reserves. You saw the haircut, you thought Marine Corps. Well, so neither of you in the Marine Corps, so you might be able to get along. You have common, you know, common enemy. Well, let's let's enough enough rambling. Galatians chapter four, you know, in in most of Paul's writings, He follows, if you're in Paulian Epistles, you're going to see this, and maybe it's been pointed out already, or maybe you just recognize it from your familiarity with the Scriptures. Paul normally follows a doctrinal, then practical pattern, or a theology and then application. Throughout his Epistles, he starts normally, the beginning of the book is doctrinal teaching theological argumentation whatever and then then it doesn't leave us with just that. Then he says OK so what does that mean in our walk. And he goes from doctrinal to practical or theology to application. The passage we're looking at today. And the four and actually four verses that we looked at the last time I was with you are neither doctrinal or practical necessary. They're not application and they're not very doctrinal in it. There's a wide range of emotion and it's personal. It's really personal. It's more than personal, but it's personal. Let's read. Let's go ahead and start in verse eight, even though our text was actually verses 12 to 20. But we'll start in verse eight just to remember what we looked at last time also. How be it then? When you knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, or for you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am. For I am as ye are, ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first, and my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessing that ye speak of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. And I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. They zealously affect you, but not well. They would exclude you that you might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing. And not only when I'm present with you. My little children of whom I travail and birth again, so Christ be formed in you. I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you. I want to speak today on true zeal, true zeal. Do you remember the story in Second Kings? Second Kings 10 verse 16. The man said, Come see my zeal for the Lord. I'm not going to analyze that story on anything, but I want to recognize that what he said he had is what we must also have. Come see my zeal for the Lord. He said he had zeal for the Lord. That's what we need to have. And zeal is mentioned here in this passage. And we'll get to it. I want to start in verse 12, though, it says, Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as you are. You have not injured me at all. It says be like me. This is he's on a personal level. You see, he's not talking about himself and his relationship with them and and their relationship with other people. It's personal relationships. He's not going to build. Well, he says, be as I am. What what had he done? We said, well, for I am as you are. He had accommodated them. There are things that they had in their in their culture that he had addressed when he was there with him. He had he had put up with things about them or something like that. And he said, look. Look beyond individual differences. OK, be as I am. I am. I am as you are. You have not injured me at all. It says move beyond personalities. It says this attitude that I have is not based on personal injury. Now we could think. that Paul, looking as we think back about all we've read and learned through the book of Galatians, Paul went to these churches. He preached the gospel to him as we'll see in the next verse or two. They received the gospel from him as it was from Jesus Christ. They are his children in the faith. And now all of a sudden they've turned quickly away from what he's taught them. And he could say, you know, I thought I thought you respected me more than that. And we can say that a couple levels and the what he's saying is I'm not saying this that I'm just a personal level. This is personal language, but it's bigger than personalities. It's bigger than personality issue is bigger than person says you not injured me. It's not like I'm going around with my feelings hurt because you're off doing something. He says I am hurt, but it's not because it's not my personality. It's not my ego that's hurt because you've done this. The issue is bigger than my ego. The issue is bigger than than personality. You have not injured me at all, he says. He says, you know, verse 13, you know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel to you at first and my temptation, which was in my flesh, you despise not nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. So he says, remember when I came to preach the gospel to you at the very beginning, the first time you ever heard it. Remember how I had infirmity in my flesh and a lot of people would would debate what this is. I tend to think that he had something that was something wrong with his eyes that made him visually. You didn't want to look at him. It was hard to look at him and he had this infirmity in his flesh. I think it's had something to do with his eyes because later he says you would have given your own eyes for me. Doesn't have to be that but something about him. He had an infirmity in his flesh, something that they had to overcome, that they did overcome, that they disregarded this temptation or this trial that was in his flesh. They did not despise. They didn't reject him because of that, but they received him as an angel of God. And then even a step further, not just an angel, but even as Christ Jesus himself. Christ, and this is just a side note, Christ is greater than the angels. In Colossians, he fights the heresy of that problem. But we see that Christ is greater than angels. And so he says, remember, you accepted me because of basically because of what I was preaching. You didn't accept me because I was good looking. I had problems in my flesh, but you received what I spoke as the word of Christ himself. Then, verse fifteen and sixteen says, Where is then the blessedness he spake of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes. He says, What happened to all that enthusiasm you had? What happened to all the happiness you had? Where is this blessedness? You are so happy to receive the gospel from me. You are so... You loved me. So much, you would have plucked your own, you'd have sacrificed anything for me. You'd have plucked your own eyes out for me. If it had been possible, you'd have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Am I now therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? What happened to your happiness, he says? You'd have given anything, even your eyes. Remember the love that you had for me? See, this is a personal level of communication. Remember the love you had for me? Remember the zeal? that you had for me? He says, am I now your enemy? See, the Judaizers, these people that had come in, probably from looking at the Bible here, says they told you that I didn't give you the whole story. They came along and said, yeah, that's all right. But really, you need to add this to the gospel. And really, you need in order for you to your say, but in order for you to grow closer to God and in order for you to be a real Christian, you've got to do this. You've got to observe this law or you've got to follow this rule. You've got to do all these things. And we love Paul, but he didn't really tell you the whole truth. But he did. And that's what he says. Am I now your enemy because I tell you the truth? He's saying these people are pitting you against me. They're saying, well, you shouldn't you shouldn't listen to Paul. He didn't really tell you the truth. But he said, no, I did tell you the truth. So others told you that I didn't give you the whole story. And so now I'm your enemy. I shouldn't be your enemy. Remember how much you love me. Remember what how you turn from idols to serve the living and true God. Remember all these things. I gave you the truth. I'm not your enemy. And then verse 17 and 18 says they zealously affect you, but not well. Yeah, they would exclude you that you might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected, always in a good thing. And not only when I'm present with you, I want to focus on this. Slightly with these verse that the words here might be confusing or might not be. I wouldn't say confusing, but might not be completely clear. What does it mean they zealously affect you? I think that phrase means they have a zealous affection for you. OK, these Judaizers, they came in these false teachers came in and they were very they showed. A lot of attention to these Galatian Christians. They wanted them to be their convert converts. They did. They had great zeal. They went to two extreme ends and means to try to convert these Christians to what they believe. And they were very zealous about. In fact, they'd point to their zeal. I said, look how much we look, how ardently we believe this. Look at how much zeal we had to point to their zeal as evidence of the truth of their position. How could it not be true? Look how look how strongly we believe this. And they give you lots of attention, so they zealously affect, they have zealous affection toward you. But not well, he says. But not well. Their zeal is not for your good, he says. Sure, they have zeal, and they'll even point to their zeal as, look, we must be right. Look how zealous we are. But that's not right. Their zeal is just so that they can get followers, just so they can get converts. They don't really care about you. They care about themselves. If they can say their purpose is wrong, if they can say, look how many people follow us, then that vindicates their position. We see this around. This was the false or the misunderstanding that was a Galileo said to the he said, you know, if this if if this grows, you're not going to be able to stop it. It must be of God. Now, God does bless his things and grow them. But just because something is big and has lots of ardent followers doesn't mean it's right. The Jehovah's Witnesses have lots of followers, and they're dynamic, and they're artists, and they're more, I would say, at least from the looks of things, they're more zealous about knocking on doors than most Christians are. More than I am, sadly, I guess I would say, but I see them out there more than I see myself out there. I guess when I see them, I'm out there, so maybe I'm not. But anyway, you understand the point I'm saying? Just because somebody has zeal, just because they have a lot of followers, doesn't make it right. And we can point to areas closer to us than the cults also. Just because somebody yells really loud, doesn't make it right. I'm not saying it's wrong to yell loud. But many times, you know, the joke or the stories told of a guy who's preaching a sermon says, and has a little note there, says, yell louder. Support is weak here. The theological support, the biblical support for what you're saying is weak, so just say it even louder. Say it with more passion. Say it with more zeal. Therefore, it must be true. Again, I'm not trying to say you hear somebody speak loud, and with zeal it means it's wrong, but just because it's loud, And with zeal doesn't make it right. The more and just because there's a lot of followers doesn't make it right. The world has a lot of followers. OK, so they they they have zeal for them, but not for their good. Their zeal is for their own vindication. They would exclude you. He says they would exclude you. What does that mean? Well, they want to separate you from me. Um, he says they recognize that you love me because I brought the gospel to you. And so they're going to, they're going to exclude you from me. You're going to, they're going to put you, they're going to try to pit you against me and me against you and make up some difference between us. Because as soon as they can discredit me, then you'll have to follow them. They're there. I'm here. Um, I'm discredited and they have all this passion and zeal. So of course you should follow them. This is the tactic that they were following. So it says they would exclude you. They're trying to separate you from your attachment to me. They know you respect me. Once they can discredit me, they'll have you to themselves. Not here. Paul is admitting that it's not just the Galatians who are at fault in this problem. But throughout this, you can use this passage. You can see that he's very frustrated with them. Also, it's not just the Judaizers that are the problem. We can't just sit and look at our problems and say, well, I have this problem because of them. But at the same time, we don't have to say, I'm the only reason for this problem. We do have influences from around us. That's why we need to watch who the influences are that we have on our lives. So he says, they would exclude you. They want to separate you from the truth that you've known, from me. that ye might affect them, that affection so that the idea there is so that you will have affection for for them rather than for me rather than for the truth. OK, now I'm saying for me, but he says in the beginning that this is not a personal issue. He's using persons because you know what? As much as we want to think about theology being on a certain level, it comes down to people comes down to what you believe about something and people are always involved in it now. Good men rise above the personalities, but there's still people involved. Right, Paul said this is not just about me, but he was the one that taught them the truth and he was the one they were turning from. As they were turning from the gospel, so he says they want you to follow them wholeheartedly. They want your love. Like you loved me like you would have plucked your eyes out for me. They want your zeal to be toward them. Now he says. Zeal. Zeal is good. Verse. Verse 18. But it is good to be zealously affected. It is good to be zealously affected. Zeal is good, but what's the rest of the phrase? Always in a good thing. Zeal is good in good things and then kind of. It's not a snub, but then he then he just kind of. drives it home. He said it's good to be zealously affected, always in a good thing. And not only when I am present with you and this, this verse right here is that is kind of the foundation for the idea that I want to get across today. Now we could get through eight verses or whatever, nine verses. You could probably preach nine sermons or probably 900 sermons. But the point that I want to look at today is that true zeal It's good to be zealously affected, always in a good thing. And not only when I am present with you, Paul says you are following the truth. And I left. I went on to another church to give them the truth and how quickly you've turned from the truth. Remember earlier, I can't believe how you've how you turned from the gospel. Can't you be zealously affected about the truth? Even when I leave, can you stand on the truth of the gospel by yourself? It's good to be zealously affected, but not just by other people that have zeal, but by the truth itself. When I am not with you, don't be tossed by personality. Just because one person comes along or one person leaves, shouldn't shake the foundations of your faith. Don't be tossed by personal. Don't follow the most ardent pursuer. Then somebody somebody's going after you and they want you to be with them. If you. Let's just say that a young lady is of marriageable age and she has lovers. This is in the proper context. She's a good looking young lady. She's an admiral young lady. She is a good Christian young lady. And there's three or four guys that say she'd be a good wife. What does her and her father do? They say, well, he's the one chasing her. The hardest will go for her. No, it doesn't really matter who's the most ardent pursuer. There's more to it than that, isn't there? And in your Christian life, just it doesn't matter who's the most persuasive. OK, there are there are. ideas are people that are very golden tongue and a very persuasive and so because they are persuasive and they use a proper English and good rhetorical skills that there be worth listening to you think that be worth following. Or maybe they don't like they don't use proper English skills and they just know how to really hammer down on him. You appreciate that more than something else. Just because they're rough and gruff means they must be right. No, the zeal, the effectiveness of the argument, the most ardent pursuer is not the one that's right. And so that's it's good to be to be zealous in a good thing, not just when on your own or have zeal, but have it what? for the Lord, don't have zeal for zeal for zealousness. And then he says, my little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you, my children, he says, is still personal, very passionate to him. You're my children. As a as a father would say, listen to me. He loves them passionately. He has zeal for them. And then he says, then it's like a mother's love, he says, of whom I travail and birth again until Christ be formed in you. He says, I'm I'm going through pain and sorrow and I've gone through much and I've continued to until Christ be formed in you. He has he has ardent, fervent love for these people. He says, I desire to be present with you now. I wish I could be there because I can't really believe all this is true. He's very perplexed, confused. He doesn't understand how could you be so zealous for the truth and then so quickly move away? I want to be there with you. I can't believe this is really true. You don't really believe that. There's no way you could really be moving so far off from what we've said, what you've believed and turned to from that. I thought better of you. He says, I want to change my voice. For I stand in doubt of you. I stand in doubt of you. Is this idea? I don't understand what's going on. I'm perplexed. You remember in verse 11, the end of last time, I'm afraid of you. I'm afraid for you, lest I bestowed upon you labor and veins. As I think through this, I just you're you're in the beginning, he's writing to church to a church. He's writing to people who have accepted the gospel, he says. But as I think through all these things, have you ever done that? Have you ever thought about 30 thoughts at the same time? I imagine that Paul is doing this. He sees this and he sees this and all these things are coming together. He says, sometimes I don't I don't really know whether you're even saying how could somebody that saved move away from the gospel so quickly? Now, I don't believe that I'm perplexed. I don't understand that you would be that way. I wish I could be there with you now. To change my tone, but I have to keep this tone. Because of the things I hear from you. I stand in doubt of you. I don't understand what's going on. I thought better of you, but now you're following personalities. Now you're following just the latest, the latest thing that comes by that sounds the best. I just want to conclude by thinking of this idea of zeal, true zeal. I think probably Fairhaven is known and Fairhaven Baptist College is known as being a place of zeal. Maybe it's not the first thing up there, but it would be up there. We're excited. We're fervent. We drive hard at things. But you know what? Zeal is not everything. It's good to be zealously affected always. What? In a good thing. We have zeal for the Lord. We care about his word and his work. And that doesn't exclude personalities, but the personalities is not who we follow. We follow the Lord. Especially, I say, especially be wary of dynamic personalities. Dynamic personalities are not right or wrong because of their personality. Yeah, there's people here that have much more dynamic personalities that mean they're wrong. They have dynamic personality. Don't listen to them. No, I'm not saying that. But be wary if they point to their zeal as evidence that they're right. Do you understand what I'm saying? I mean, of course I'm right because I'm right. Of course I'm right because I believe this so fervently. That doesn't mean we're right as we line up with the Bible. Our zeal is for the Lord and for his word. So Dynamic personality is not right or wrong because of the personality. It's right or wrong because of what they believe, what they're trying to get us to do, what they're trying to, who they're trying to get us to follow. And so the point I think we should get from this is to grow a spiritual character ourselves. That continues after the personality is gone. Grow a spiritual character yourself. that continues after the personalities gone. I don't know and I'm not expecting to raise a hand but how many of you in your youth group. Your youth pastor moved on to take a church somewhere else or either for good or bad reasons. He left while you were in the youth group. OK. Now we have lots of our own youth group here and I don't think it's happened in you guys. But. That just just because the youth pastor moves on doesn't mean your spirituality should go down the toilet. OK, now that's what about. Moving out of your house now, many of you, you still respect your parents, but you're here. Home is where not here. OK, is your zeal for the Lord? Anchored and is it only possible because of your parents because of your home life? Now you've come to a place that should help support that. But what about when you leave here? What about when you leave here for good or bad reasons? What about when you leave here? If you when you graduate and you go out to be an assistant pastor somewhere, I'm speaking myself. I'm an assistant pastor. I can I can depend on the support of this church to help me in my zeal for the Lord. But what about Brother Van? Who's back there shaking his head? He's a pastor. What about you? You go back, you go, you graduate and you're out there on your own. Of course, you're not on your own. You've got the Lord and you've got friends to help you, but you feel like you're on your own. That zeal you have for the Lord has to be for the Lord. It has. You have to have a character, a spiritual character that lives for the Lord, regardless of whether Paul is present there with you or not. When you move on. You need to continue to live For the Lord, don't don't you don't you don't have to continue to punch in and out of your house when you move out of the dorm. OK, and I say it that way, because sometimes in all of our zeal, we think that we have to we think that because we punch in and out of the dorm and we've never got a demerit for not punching in and out of the dorm, that makes us spiritual. That shows our zeal for the Lord. That doesn't show your zeal for the Lord. If you're zealous for the Lord, you'll punch in and out. But that doesn't show you're zealous for the Lord. That doesn't show some spiritual character that's being grown up inside of you. Is your spiritual zeal based on something other than love for Christ? Remember Pastor Ricker's sermon last night? What is our desires for God's righteousness? Our desire is not to conform to a set of rules that makes us look like we're zealous for the Lord. Our desires for God's righteousness, your spiritual zeal based upon something other than love for Christ. Are your standards your spirituality? Is your service your spirituality? Is what you do is, you know, you're on the bus route, you're in the nursing home, you do all those things. Is that your spirituality? Is your church, is this location, is this? Are you spiritual because you're here? Are your parents your spirituality? Now, these are all areas of zeal, we can be zealous and we can love our family, we can love our church, we can love our ministries, we can love our standards. That's part of it. They're not bad in themselves, but they're insufficient of themselves. Let's have true zeal. Let's have true zeal. Come see my zeal for my standards. Come see my zeal for my church. Come see my zeal for the Lord. Come see my zeal for the Lord. True spiritual character. We want to try to grow that in our lives so that we can stand for the Lord even when Paul's not around. Let's pray. Our Father, we do thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the encouragement and challenge that it can be to us and for us. I pray that your word would again today speak to us and that it would help us and ask that you'd use the word in our students lives today. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Would you please stand your feet with your heads down nice close.