Indeed, in Christ alone, and certainly that is what you will see in the text that is before us today. And so I'm going to ask you to please remain standing, out of honor for God's Word, to take your Bibles and turn to Galatians chapter 4. It's the book of Galatians, the fourth chapter. Scripture reading will begin in verse 8, and I'll read through verse 12. Sermon, however, will go all the way to or through verse 20. Scripture reading is just verses 8 through 12. Let me remind you once again, when we come to this portion of scripture, remember Paul has been arguing with these believers. You know, why? Why would you, when you're a son and daughters of God, because of your faith in Jesus Christ, being in Christ, why would you even think of going back to being under the law? Remember verse 7, he said, And if a son and an heir through God, Well, then why would you want to go back to being under the law? That's what he says now, beginning in verse 8. Listen to Paul. He says, Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do indeed thank you for your word. We recognize that your word is truth. And so, Lord, we ask that as this truth is declared, we ask that you would bless the preaching of your word. We ask that it would go forth powerfully. We ask, as the psalmist asks, that you would open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things. Bless us now, Lord, we ask, for your great glory And for the good of your church, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. You may please be seated. When I moved here to Southern California quite some time ago, I had a friend. In fact, her name was Bobby. And Bobby had a husband who to date is clearly the most brilliant person I have ever met. He, at the time, he was 28 years old. He was a professor at USC. He had received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in physics, that's what he's a professor of, when he was 22 years old, Phi Beta Kappa. 22 years old is when most people, if they're diligent, are graduating from college. He got his PhD at 22. By the time he was 28, after MIT, he went to SRI, that Stanford Research Institute, then came to USC. By the time I met him, I think he was a tenured professor of physics at 28 years old. I was over at their house, and I noticed that on their shelf, they had this little ceramic Buddha. little ceramic thing, and I could see that it wasn't just a cultural artifact for decoration, because I could see the remainders of little incense sticks that were there, that clearly they had been burning before this little Buddha. And so I asked him, I said, well, what is that? He said, oh, it's our Buddha. So what do you do with it? And they said, just as serious as can be, oh, well, we burn incense to it. And I don't remember whether it was, and we ask for things, and it gives it, or we ask for enlightenment, and we get enlightenment, or whatever. Most brilliant person I've ever met burns incense to this Buddha. Men and women, last week Derek read Psalm 115. The psalmist in Psalm 115 is contrasting the one true God with idols. And he says this, our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. In other words, our God is sovereign. He can do whatever he wants. But then he says this, their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak. They have eyes, but they cannot see. They have ears, but they cannot hear. They have noses, but they cannot smell. They have hands, but they cannot feel. They have feet, but they cannot walk. They cannot make a sound with their throat. And then having just contrasted the one true God with idols, the psalmist then makes this appeal to his readers. And he says this, oh Israel, trust in the Lord. Well, people, that's what Paul has been doing in this book. That's what he's been doing in these four chapters, is making an appeal to these people. Why? If you're sons and daughters in Christ, why would you want to go back to being under the law? In fact, when we come here to verse 8, Paul's formal argument for salvation by grace rather than by works is finished. But as one man says, he says, Paul seems unwilling to end the discussion without a direct and indeed lengthy appeal to the Galatians. And so you're going to see here now the clear appeal of Paul to these people. An appeal to live out who they are as sons and daughters of God. And the way you'll see that is we'll divide it up this way. We have Paul's amazement After that, we have Paul's fear. After that, we have Paul's appeal to these people, and then the illustration he uses. But first, Paul's amazement. I say amazement when I saw that porcelain Buddha on the shelf of my friend's home, and heard from their own lips why it's there, I was amazed. Amazed, not in a good way. I was amazed. And remember, throughout this letter, Paul is amazed in the same way. Remember chapter one, verse six, he says this. He says, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel. I said it before, that word amazed means to marvel, to wonder at. I marvel that you would do such a thing. Well, once again we see Paul referring to his amazement of these Galatians. Before they came to faith in Christ, they were slaves. In verse 8 he says this, Now people, that's understandable. They didn't know Christ. They hadn't heard the gospel. In fact, now remember, there are different Greek words that mean to know. One is oida, means to know factually, just to know the facts about something. The other one is gnosko, and gnosko means to know personally. to know intimately. That's the word that Paul uses there, is genosko. And Paul says, before, you didn't know God personally. You didn't know Him intimately. But after Paul preached there, then they came to know God intimately. Personally, which makes Paul's amazement even greater because verse 9 he says, 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? Do you remember last week I said that I like the King James version of verse 9 better? My translation says weak and worthless and elemental things. King James says weak and beggarly. I like that much better. Weak means, you know, it has no power. The law has no power. It can't save you. And beggarly means it has no riches. It cannot bless you. All it can do is keep asking of you and asking of you. Remember Psalm 115 that I mentioned in the beginning? Where the psalmist contrasts the one true God with idols? Well, 500 years ago, Augustine, the great Augustine, commented on Psalm 115 because it was quite prevalent in the world in which he was living 500 years ago, idol worship. And he noticed this, he noticed that some of the bigger idols, little rodents would actually make their home in the idol. And people would have to come along and shoo the little mouse or rat or whatever out of the idol. And Augustine observed that and he said this, he said, that he may frighten away a living beast from his own God, and yet worship that God, who cannot move himself, as if he were powerful, from whom he drove away one better than the object of his worship. Think about that. The idol needed you to shoo the little mouse out of there because he couldn't do it himself. And Augustine says, and then you go worship the very idol that had the mouse in there. And you don't see anything wrong with that. You see no contradiction in that. And he said, you just drove away an object more worthy than that object that you worship. Because at least the little mouse can hear, little mouse can walk, little mouse can squeak, but your idol can't do any of that. So Augustine marveled that anyone would do such a thing. Well, people hear Paul marvels that anyone would want to go back. to being under the law. When the law is weak, it has no power. It can't save. When the law is beggarly, it has no riches, it cannot bless. And so Paul marvels that anyone would want to go back to that. Now notice Paul says, you desire to be enslaved all over again. People think of the prodigal son. You know the story. Father's wealthy, has his two sons. The younger son says, you know, Dad, give me my inheritance now. I want to go out and I want to live it up. I want to experience life. I've had it here on the farm. And so his dad gives him his inheritance. And he goes, you know the story. He's squandered his wealth. He's poor and hungry. And Luke chapter 15 tells us this. that he says, I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men. People, he says, I don't deserve to be called your son. Make me one of your servants. What happens? Well, again, you know the story. Luke 15, 22 tells us this. But the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and has come to life. He was lost and has been found, and they began to celebrate. Now, men and women, What would you think of that son if when they're putting the robe on him and the father's putting the ring on his finger, if that son said, oh, no, no, wait a minute, dad, you got it all wrong. While I was away, I had time to think. And I don't want to be your son. I desire to be a servant of yours. I don't want to be a son. Take this ring, take this robe. That's not what I desire. Would you not marvel at that? Well that's exactly what these Galatians are doing. Remember verse seven. Last week Paul said, therefore you are no longer a slave but a son. And if a son and an heir through God, your sons and daughters in God, by grace through faith in Christ, why would you desire, why would you want to go back to being under the law which is weak and vaguely? So naturally Paul marvels at these Galatians. And now he moves from marvel So now we see Paul's fear, and his fear is quite logical. Verses 10 and 11. You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. In other words, your religion has deteriorated into just outward ritualism and formalism. No longer the free and joyful communion of God's children with their father. So naturally, Paul's fear is, all his work with them, all his preaching, all of that is for nothing. Now remember, at this point, they haven't rejected the gospel. They're just being persuaded by these false teachers, and it's looking good to them to go back to being under the law, but they haven't done it just yet. Because if you look at chapter 5, verse 2, Paul says, Behold I, Paul, say to you, that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. If you do this, if you go through with this. But they haven't done it yet. They're on the fence, basically. But Paul's fear is legitimate. All that preaching, all that work, for nothing. I think I've told you before that Long before I moved down here, I was discipled by a man who had been a missionary to China and Taiwan, Dick Hillis. He was the founder of Overseas Crusade. Great privilege to be discipled by him. And I asked him once, I said, Dr. Hillis, what is your greatest frustration in ministry? I was going into ministry, I wanted to know. And he said, without hesitation, he said, oh, all the time. that I've put into individuals only to watch them turn away from the true faith. All the time I've put into villages and so forth in Taiwan to have them reject that gospel. Paul's fear is not so much himself, oh, that worked for nothing. His fear, notice, is for them. I fear for you that they'll reject the gospel. and go to seeking their own righteousness through the law. Legitimate fear. Now Paul's appeal, verse 12. He says, I beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. What does that mean? It's somewhat difficult to determine because there isn't a lot of information here. But certainly we know his appeal is this. If you were a slave, And now in Christ you are a son, how can you go back to being a slave again? How can that look good to you? And when he says, become as I am, undoubtedly it must mean Paul wanted them to be like him in his Christian faith. Like him to trust in Christ alone. Like him to enjoy Christian freedom. In fact, all Christians should be able to say that very thing, that we want unbelievers to be like us, that we're so at peace in Christ, that we have so much joy being in Christ, that we want other people to be just like us. But what does he mean when he says, for I also have become as you are? Well, this is most probably a reference to his visits to Galatia, where he put himself in their place and identified with them. Although he was a Jew, he put himself in their place as Gentiles. Just as he writes in 1 Corinthians 9, when he says, To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law. that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. Paul has just made his appeal to them. And now in the rest of this paragraph, he contrasts their attitude of him before the false teachers. before those false teachers came with their attitude of him now. These are very sobering verses. Look at verses 13 and 14. Look at how their attitude has changed. Verse 13, 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 my bodily condition, you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself. What's he talking about? Obviously Paul had some bodily affliction, perhaps a disease, some ailment, some physical deformity, something. Whatever it is, it made him difficult to look at. Because Paul says, it was a trial to you in my bodily condition. Whatever that bodily condition was, it made it difficult for his listeners. Some have reasoned that perhaps he got malaria. that in Pamphylia, lower region, there's all these swamps and so forth, perhaps he got malaria, and because of the malaria, he sought the higher altitudes, which is where Galatia is, and that's that bodily affliction brought him there. Perhaps that's it. Perhaps he had a terrible fever that he preached through, and they just ached for him as he labored through that fever. Whatever it was, it seems to involve poor eyesight. which is why verse 15 says, 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. In other words, they could see the affliction he had with his eyes. They loved him so much they would have taken out their own eyes and given them to Paul. That was their attitude toward them, but not now. That was before. Men and women, and if I get emotional during this, forgive me, but have you ever experienced that? Have you ever experienced what Paul is going through right here? That feeling of someone who really loved you before and now all of a sudden they seem to just despise you? I have, five years ago at this church. People who I had great fellowship with for like 15 years. Some who I'd gone to Europe with. Two people who I had shortly before gone to dinner, they were gonna go to Rome, they wanted to know the places to visit. We had a delightful time at dinner and I'd tell them, here's where you should go. All of a sudden, went from loving me to I don't know what else to say, despising me. And I, Gina will tell you, I sobbed at times. And I wondered what is behind this? Could it really be preaching through John's gospel and Calvinism? Could that really be what is behind all of this? Really? Listen to Paul, verse 16. So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? Man, before you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me, and now I'm your enemy? Is it all because I told you the truth? These verses leap off the page for me. I find them quite emotional, and I feel Paul's anguish here, and I hope you do too. So now he contrasts his attitude toward them with the false teachers. Here's Paul's attitude that he has, and he's going to contrast that, but here's the attitude the false teachers have towards you. Look at verse 17 and following. They have personal motives. 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 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 am perplexed about you. Paul uses a word here, my children. Verse 19, before he's called them brethren, here he calls them my children. You know, in John's letters, he often says my children. As far as I know, this is the only time Paul uses it. At least here in Galatians, it's the only time he uses it. But it shows you the compassion he had for them. The false teachers are only there for themselves, he says, but Paul has genuine compassion for them. So men and women, let's apply this text to us today. I want you to notice five things. First, I mentioned a few minutes ago the doctrine of election, the doctrine that God is sovereign in salvation, a doctrine that is not very popular. And I guess I have enough friends, so let's lose a few more by looking again at verse nine. Notice what verse nine said in the very beginning. But now, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God. Paul is saying, you've come to know God, but it's almost as if he catches himself right at that moment and then quickly adds, or rather to be known by God. He quickly adds to make that clear. In other words, that's what came first is God's love of you. God knowing you. Romans chapter 8 verse 29 says, for those whom he foreknew, Gnosko, intimately, personally, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. And these whom he predestined, he also called, and these whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified. What's the point? The point, people, is that in your salvation, God should receive all the glory. That's the application right here. God should receive all the glory. Second, speaking of the glory of God, notice right there in verse 14. You see the glory of God. Paul was called by God as an apostle to declare the mysteries of God. Couldn't God have made him tall, dark, and handsome? I mean, he says, you know, I know that I was in this affliction. I know it was difficult for you to even look at me as I spoke. Couldn't God have remedied that? Couldn't he have made Paul tall, dark, handsome? Couldn't he have kept him disease-free? Couldn't he have given him the appearance and charisma of a Tony Robbins or whoever that guy is, you know, that makes his audience swoon, that everybody just, ah, listen to this guy, look at this guy. Yes, he could have. But instead, he gave Paul a thorn in the flesh. And remember, Paul didn't want it. And he pleaded with God for it to be removed. And do you remember God's answer? His answer was, no, my grace is sufficient in you. And not only that, it had a purpose. Even that affliction had a purpose. That purpose was to keep Paul humble. Men and women, why does God delight to use the weak? Almost, it seems, going out of his way to make Paul weak and disgusting. Why did he do that? We know, we're told, He delights to use the weak to confound the wise. Why is that? So that He gets all the glory. So that no one can say, well, it's the eloquence of Paul, it's the good-looking image of Paul. It's none of that. God gets all the glory. And verse 14, people should draw you. to worship and to glorify God. Third, we see in this text an example of true witnessing in verse 12. John Stott says this, He says, embedded here is a principle of far-reaching importance for ministers, missionaries, and other Christian workers. It is that in seeking to win other people for Christ, our end is to make them like us, while the means to that end is to make ourselves like them. If they are to become one with us in Christian conviction and experience, we must first become one with them in Christian compassion. We must be able to say with the Apostle Paul, I became like you, now you become like me. Fourth thing. a way of application, is I want you to see the illustration Paul uses. Because he appeals to the word of God. It's verse 21. He says, tell me you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law, for it is written. And then he goes to Genesis. Have we not seen as we've gone through Galatians Paul again and again referring to scripture? He makes his point and then he uses scripture to back it up. And he has pointed to Abraham and he has pointed to Moses and he goes through the scriptures to show them that this is true. People, that's what we should do. I heard R.C. Sproul say that when he talks to non-believers, non-Christians, what he does is he simply tries to take them through the whole scripture. Give them an overview of scripture. Listen to what he says. He says, I asked them to just suppose. They don't believe, but just suppose. He says, let's suppose there is a God, and let's suppose that that God is perfectly holy, perfectly pure, perfectly righteous, and suppose out of a spirit of love He created man and He made him special. Let's just suppose. And this God who created man special and created him in His own image and gave him a priority mandate to mirror and reflect His holiness, that the ultimate purpose of man was to glorify God, And suppose all men, out of a base spirit of ingratitude and out of a lust for power beyond their status as creatures, acted in total defiance. And suppose that that God, in response to man's rebellious defiance, instead of electing to destroy these ungrateful creatures, decided to provide a way for them to be redeemed. And suppose the first thing he did was to send messengers to this world, to once again call the people to respond to his commandments, and to announce the opportunity for forgiveness, and to call attention to the central motif of God's mercy. And then those people who were in disobedience first refused to hear those voices of the messengers of God, and then killed the messengers of God. Suppose that happened. And suppose instead of God reaching the boiling point of his anger and saying, well, that's it. You've had your chance. You are all going to hell. Suppose he takes another step. Suppose rather than sending a messenger, he decides to come himself. in the form of a man, an incoming decides not only to again repeat the message of a call to repentance and an invitation to eternal life, an invitation to experience total forgiveness, suppose in addition to that verbal announcement, this one who is God incarnate decides to pay the penalty for the sins of every person in this world himself. And suppose he takes upon himself all of the guilt and pollution of all mankind and goes to hell on behalf of other people. Suppose that happened. And then God said about his son, if you will honor my son and submit to him, here's what you have. I will totally forgive you of all your sins which you have ever committed in your whole life. I will reconstruct your body upon your death so that you will be able to live forever without pain, without sorrow, without sin, in a life of total blessedness forever. But I have one requirement, that you embrace my son. Now, suppose God did all of that. How would you respond to the person who came up to God and said, you haven't done enough? Why do I have to honor this one who died for me? Why can't I just honor one of his competitors? Why can't I just honor Buddha, who, by the way, was an atheist, who didn't believe in God, who only offers me enlightenment? Why can't you be satisfied, God, if I believe in Muhammad? who denies the deity of your son. Why can't I embrace Judaism, which is a conscious alternative to the messianic vocation of Jesus and involves a clear repudiation of your son? Why should it possibly matter to you, O God, that I would honor this one rather than any of the others? And he goes on, well, people may not believe there is a God, or that God is a holy God, or that man is accountable, or that man has sinned, or that they killed the prophets, or that Jesus was God incarnate, but certainly they ought to be able to see that if it's true that Jesus is God in the flesh, then there can be no other way. And Paul knows it is true. And he says, you know, and if we believe that, certainly the non-believers can understand why we preach the way we do, why we appeal to people the way we do to be reconciled to God through Christ. Naturally, if we believe that's true, what else can we do? That's Paul. And he keeps referring to Scripture to the whole of Scripture, just like R.C. Sproul, to make his appeal to these people. And so finally, fifth and finally, we see here what the Christian life is and how to live it. The Christian life, people, very simple, is the life of sons and daughters. It is not a life of slaves. The way to live the Christian life is to remember who and what we are in Christ. We need to keep reminding ourselves of who we were as slaves and who we are now as sons and daughters because of Christ. You're all familiar with John Newton. When he was just 11 years old, he went on a ship, to work on a ship. 11 years old, that's two years older than Luke. I don't think his mom was going to let him get on a ship when he's in two years from now and go work with those men out at sea. John Newton did. And then he became involved in what one person called, quote, the unspeakable atrocities of the African slave trade. He was, in fact, a horribly wretched man, a blasphemer. But on March 10, 1748, the ship that he was on in this horrible trade was in this horrible storm, and he knew, we're going to perish. My soul is going to be required of me. And so he cried out for the mercy available in Christ, and he found it. And he was truly converted. And he never forgot how God had mercy upon him, a former blasphemer. And so to make sure he never forgot who he was and who he is now in Christ, he had put on a board with large letters and then fastened to the wall above the mantle in his study the words of Deuteronomy 15, 15. Thou shalt remember that thou was a slave in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee. Remember you were slaves, but God redeemed you. Don't ever forget that. He had that put in his study so that he would never forget who he was and who he is now because of Christ. And as one commentator says, and with this I'll close, he says, if only we remember these things, what we once were, and what we now are, we would have an increasing desire within us to live accordingly, to be what we are, namely sons of God, set free by Christ. Let's pray. Father in heaven, how grateful we are for this glorious gospel. How grateful we are that you take us enemies of yours, blasphemers, And through your amazing grace, do the same work in us that you did in your servant, John Newton. to redeem us. O Lord, we thank you for that redemption. We know that it came at the cost of your own son on Calvary's cross. O Lord, indeed, may we live according to who we are, but never forget what we were. We thank you and we pray it in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.