Would you turn to the Book of Galatians? I feel like I haven't been here in forever. Just a note, after the meeting in Marysville in California, we drove down the coast of California, and we had a garage apartment in Carmel. Yeah, Carmel. And it was right by Brad Pitt's house. Didn't see Brad. Verse 12 Galatians chapter 4. Brethren. I beseech you. Be as I. For I, as you, you've not injured me at all. You know how, through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation, which was in my flesh, you despised not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness you speak of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the gospel of your son. How we thank you for your word. How we thank you for the salvation that's in Christ Jesus. How we thank you for the perfect righteousness that. All your people possess even your righteousness before you. How we thank you for the complete forgiveness of sins. How we thank you for the riches of your grace. Lord, We're so thankful that you're God and beside thee is none else. And we would ask that you would meet with us, that you'd speak in power from your word to our hearts. Reveal yourself to us. Be with all your people wherever they meet together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. The churches of Galatia humanly speaking, were founded during Paul's first missionary journey. And he loved these people, and he's horrified by what he sees taking place with these people. Look in chapter one, verse six, he says, I'm marveled I marvel, I'm utterly amazed that you were so soon removed from him that called you to the grace of Christ unto another gospel. In chapter three, verse one. Oh, foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? Look in chapter four, verse 11. I'm afraid of you, lest I bestowed upon you labor in vain. Now, what if the apostle Paul said something like this to me? Put yourself in their place. I'm afraid of you. I'm afraid that what I've done has been a waste of time with you. What if he said that to this church? I'm afraid of you. That it's all in vain. That's a sobering thought, isn't it? And I pray that every one of us will take this to heart when he makes this statement. Look what he says in Verse 12, brethren, I beseech you be as I am, or be as I, for I am, or I as you, you've not injured me at all. Now, what does he say? Be as I. Galatians 2, 19. I, through the law, through the law being honored, am dead to the law that I might live under God. I'm crucified with Christ. I love that thought. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I don't frustrate the grace of God. I don't render it null and void and meaningless. For if righteousness came by the law, then what Christ did was a waste of time. He died in vain if my righteousness came by my personal obedience. Now he says to the Galatians, be like me. Be crucified with Christ, dead to the law. Be saved the way I am, because I am as you. And what does he mean by that, I am as you are? He said, I'm saved the same way you were saved, a Gentile dog. Me being a Jew, I'm saved the way you were saved. I think of what Paul said in Galatians chapter 15 or what Peter said in Acts chapter 15, verse 11. He said, we believe by the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, we shall be saved as Jews, even as the Gentiles saved by grace. Now he says to these Gentile believers, I became as you, I was saved the way you were saved. The way a Gentile saved without their works only by grace, you be as me verse. You have not injured me at all in, in you being saved like me and me being saved like you, it's been no damage to me. Verse 13. You know how through infirmity of the flesh, I preach the gospel unto you at the 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. Now, what was Paul talking about when he says, you know how that through infirmity of the flesh, I preached to you through weakness of the flesh. Well, he said to the Corinthians, I was with you in weakness. and in fear, and in much trembling, but you'll notice he said in verse 14, and in my temptation, which was in my flesh, you despised not nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God. Where is then the blessedness you spake of? For I bear record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given unto them unto me. Now, most people think that what Paul's talking about is he had a problem with his eyes. that rendered him offensive looking. And some people have thought that this came about through him being on the road to Damascus, where the scripture says the sun, when the Lord appeared to him, he appeared to him above the brightness of the sun. And he was blinded, wasn't he? Remember, he couldn't see. And some people think that perhaps this did permanent damage to his eyes, because you and I can't even imagine what's brighter than the sun. And the Lord appeared to him above the brightness of the sun. He was blinded. And some think this did permanent damage to his eyes. And he would have been offensive looking, uh, maybe some kind of something running out of his eyes and it would have been hard to look at. Now, look what Paul says, you know, how through infirmity of the flesh, I preach the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation, my trial, which was in my flesh. So it appears that he's talking about his eyes. My temptation, which was in my flesh, you despise not nor rejected, but receive me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. You receive me the same way you received Christ himself. And that's a remarkable statement, isn't it? You received me as an angel, even as Christ Jesus. This is how much you rejoiced in the message you heard. My appearance was inconsequential. You loved the message. You received the message. I want you to turn to Romans chapter 10. Now this is Paul quoting from Isaiah 52, seven here in Romans chapter 10, verse 15. How should they preach except they'd be sent as it is written. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Now I love this. Feet. Not his face, not his voice, feet. Feet are pretty much, you're not identified by your feet, are you? The emphasis is the feet is what brings the message of the gospel. How beautiful are the feet? Not the face, not the voice, the feet. If we took a picture of everybody's feet here, nobody would know who it is, would they? I'd like to have a photograph of everybody lined up here. Let's just take a picture of the feet. All you have is feet. They're feet. I'm thankful for feet. I'm thankful to be able to walk, but feet are feet. And this is, this is not to blow up. How beautiful are the feet of them and the emphasis being the gospel that is brought. Now he says, you received me in spite of my offensive looks. You receive me as an angel of God. You receive me as Christ Jesus because of the message that was preached. Now, what happened? He says to the Galatians, what happened? Verse 15, where is then the blessedness you 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." Now, what happened to this blessedness that had been? It's gone, he says to the Galatians. They had become very critical of the Apostle Paul and questioning his authority, questioning his apostleship, and that happened throughout the New Testament. People always questioning Paul. And he says to these people, where, what happened? Where's the blessedness. Now, if you wanted to find a reason to criticize Paul, the apostle Paul, you could have found some, just like if you're wanting to find reasons to criticize me, you can find plenty of reasons. Just be around me for 10 minutes and you'll figure out a number of them. Um, Paul had come under their. criticism and their suspicion and they lost the blessedness. They didn't see him the way they used to see him. And the reason is they didn't see the gospel the way they used to see it. Where is the blessedness that you speak of now? These Galatians had been duped by these false prophets that come in the church. And these were men that had came from the church of Jerusalem. I mean, they had James as their pastor. This was a gospel church and certain came from James and duped these people. Look in Galatians chapter one, verses eight and nine. Or verse six, I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ and to another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert, would change the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which you've received, let him be accursed. Now, what happened to them? They went from being hearers over the feet that bring this glorious message to judges and critics of Paul. What happened? Where is this blessedness that you spake of? I bear record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Now, what caught my attention about thinking about this passage of scripture is the word blessedness. Blessedness. You know that word is only found three times in the New Testament. Blessedness. It's found here and it's found twice in the book of Romans. Blessedness. It's the noun form of the adjective blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. What happened to this blessedness? that you once seemed to have. Now, they were seeking to leave the gospel, removed from the gospel, removed from justification. Now turn to Romans chapter four. I want us to spend the rest of our times considering this blessedness that they were removing themselves from. In order to understand Romans chapter four, we're going to have to go back into Romans chapter three, verse 19. I'm going to read this without making much comment on it, but listen carefully to what Paul is saying. Now we know. I love the way he says we know. Every believer knows this. He's appealing to their God given knowledge. We know. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law, is the knowledge of sin. Have you ever understood that? The Ten Commandments, every one of them say, you're guilty. You've broken the law. You and I haven't kept one commandment one time. Amen? Amen. But now, Verse 21, but now the righteousness of God without the law, without your personal obedience to the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets. This is what the scripture is always taught. This is what the old Testament teaches. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. But there's no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified. Now this is where the Galatians were going wrong. Being justified freely by his grace. through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus whom God set forth to be a propitiation, a sin removing atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus, where is boasting then? It's excluded by what law of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes. Of the Gentiles also seeing it as one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yay. We establish the law. What about Abraham? Where's he fit in, in all this? What shall we say that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found that he had established the great truth of justification. I hope no one in here will ever hear of how God can be just and justify the ungodly and think, I've got that down. Let's go on and move on to something else. This is the most glorious, God exalting, God glorifying, faith giving truth. how God can be just and justify the ungodly. That is what he has just presented. Where does Abraham fit in, in all of this? What shall we say that Abraham, our father, is pertaining to the flesh, hath found? Now Abraham, of all the men in scripture, I believe him to be the most important, as far as men go. Abraham is called the father of the faithful. Abraham is called the friend of God. Abraham was the one that the Lord revealed himself to when it didn't seem like there were anybody else on the earth that believed. Abraham, what about him? Verse two, for if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory. Now, what does works mean? Well, Paul lets us know in Galatians four that when Abraham and Sarah said, well, God's promise won't come to pass unless we do our part. I'm going to go into Hagar. This was Sarah's suggestion to Abraham, go in to Hagar and we'll have a baby through her. God's promise won't come to pass unless we do our part. And Paul calls that Mount Sinai. If salvation is dependent upon you doing something first before God can do something for you, fill in the blank, whatever it is, that is salvation by works. That's all you can call it. Salvation by works. Now, if Abraham were justified by works, he'd have something to glory in. He could say, well, I'm saved because I did this. You know, free will is the ultimate demonstration of salvation by works. I willed this to take place. I did this. My will was involved. I did this. Salvation by works. You can't believe in free grace and free will. If you believe in free will, you reject free grace. If Abraham were justified by works, he'd had something to glory in, but not before God. For what sayeth the scripture? I love Paul's appeal. What's the Bible say? That's all that counts. What does the London Baptist confession say? Who cares? I mean, I really, what does the Bible say? I don't care what any human document says. What sayeth the scripture? What sayeth the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now, does that mean Abraham's faith was counted to him for righteousness? No. Doesn't mean that faith is not a substitute for obedience. And so you can't be God. You can't obey. So he'll go down a little bit and take faith instead. No. Abraham believed God, and this is the evidence of his righteousness. He believed God. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Can you see that I'm perfectly righteous? No. Can I see that I'm perfectly righteous? No. Am I perfectly righteous? Yes. What's the evidence? Faith. Faith in Christ. If you can look at your works and think, yeah, I must be saved. I'm growing. I'm having more victory over sin and I'm getting better. It's false. It's false. You can make a claim like that, but you're lying. Uh, the evidence of salvation, the evidence of being righteousness before God is looking to Christ only. What sayeth the scripture, Abraham believed God, Genesis chapter 15, verse six, and was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. Now, if there's something I do that causes God to do something for me, if he responds to something I do, it's God's indebtedness to me. He's got to pay me what he owes me. To him that worketh is the reward, heavenly glory, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. To him that worketh not, is that you? Salvation by works for you is impossible. If one thing is required of you to do before God can do something for you, you will not be saved. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him, that justifies the ungodly. All your eggs are in this basket. Christ Jesus actually made the way for God to be just and justify the ungodly. All your hope is in that. You know, I was telling Lynn while we were driving over here, I remember reading a man that he talked about this glorious thing of God being just and justifying the ungodly. And he said, most people will put that under the category of dull and uninteresting subject. I'm afraid that's true, but oh, I hope you see the glory in this. to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness." Now here's what that means, even as David also described the blessedness. There's the word, the blessedness. Remember, where is the blessedness you once spake of when you heard the gospel? This is the blessedness he's talking about, that they had left. Even as David described the blessedness of the man under whom God imputes righteousness without works. God imputes righteousness. Now the only reason God imputes righteousness is because you're righteous. And it was without your works. It was because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ being your righteousness. God making it that way to you're the very righteousness of God in Christ. Now this is what blessedness, what blessedness? Oh, I hope that we're shouting for joy in our heart at this blessedness. Even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without works saying, and he quotes Psalm 32, one and two, blessed are they. Whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin cometh this blessedness. There it is again. That's all three times. The word is used in the scripture. What blessedness? To have your iniquities forgiven. Blotted out, separated as far from you as the East is from the West. Now, how far is that? Infinite. Infinite. If you point that way, it's never going to come back around to this way. Separated as far as the East is from the West. To have your iniquities forgiven. To have your sins covered. And God's covering. is not like our covering. If I cover this, you don't see it, but it's still there. But when God covers something, it's canceled out and it's gone. That's what he blotted out our iniquities. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, they had lost the blessedness of this. Turn back to our text in Galatians 4. Where is then the blessedness you spake of? And they spake of it. Uh, he comes with these grotesque eyes, evidently that made it hard to look at him. And he still received as an angel of God, as Christ himself, his feet, they didn't look at his face. They looked at his feet. That means the message he brought. And you were so overcome with this message. what took place. Verse 16, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? That's a scary thought, isn't it? That these people would now look upon Paul as their enemy. Not in this blessedness, but as their enemy because he came telling the truth. I want to consider this in light of myself. Oh, may I, by the grace of God, never leave the blessedness of how God can be just and justify an ungodly sinner like me. Let me stay right there and see the blessedness of this. And that will enable me to look at somebody like Paul with his grotesque eyes and see nothing but his feet, the message that he brings. We're going to pick up in verse 16 once again next week. How you doing?