Let's turn again to the epistle
of Paul to the Galatians and chapter 4 and we'll read four
verses verse 15 16 17 and 18 The epistle of Paul to the Galatians
chapter 4 reading verses 15 16 17 and 18 Where is then the blessedness
she spoke 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. Am I therefore become your enemy
because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but
not well. Yea, they would exclude you that
ye might affect them, but It is good to be zealously affected,
always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. What a blessing it is to have
the Word of God before us and to realize how, although it was
written to the church at Galatia, it obviously has reference to
the church of God right through the ages and down to us today.
So remember the Apostle has been speaking to the Galatians about
how they were desirous to still follow the ceremonial law of
Moses and to not believe the great and glorious gospel that
the Apostle Paul was so able to preach and to set before them
the glory of it, and the freeness of it, and to be able to declare
it unto them. And it would seem, therefore,
that when he preached it, it was received with joy. And they spoke of the blessing
it was to them. And now it seems that they were
not in that position. And he's reminding them. that. He says, where is then the blessedness
you spoke of? Well, it's good if we are able
to speak of the blessedness, the favours that God has done
to it. And he says, just to confirm
that, for I bear you record that if it had been possible, you
would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. they were so thankful for the
word of God which had been preached to them but now they'd gone back
and they were relying upon their own works really because they
were turning again to the ceremonial law and they were trying to therefore
justify themselves and not relying upon the justification of Christ,
which the Apostle had spoken so clearly to them. And therefore
he comes and he asks the question, am I therefore become your enemy? Because I tell you the truth. He asks them whether they were
therefore not believing that which he had preached to them,
and because of that they were opposing what he's spoken and
because of that how they become his enemy well we might say well
that's all very well that was written of course in those days
when it was and it's very true and it's very right but how does
it apply to us today well it applies to us today perhaps in
this way sometimes we can receive the word with joy and then what
happens or the parable of the sower, it's very descriptive
and one of the elements of that was that it fell among thorns
and it was choked and therefore the result was there was no true
lasting profit and the Lord brings that to the position that the
cares of this world and the deceitfulness of sin and the things of this
world choke the word and it becomes unprofitable and whereas it was
truly blessed at one time but what's happened is the world
has crept in and how we have to be aware of that today in
our lives we can pass through a time of blessedness and may
it ever remain with us But there may be those times of temptation
when we find we are taken up with the things of time and the
result is we turn away from the blessedness of the truth of God. Perhaps sometimes we need questions
to be put to us as to whether we therefore have gone away from
the truth and perhaps like the Apostle Paul says, Count the
things of God as an enemy because they don't please us. They don't
please us as they did well That's what the Apostle was concerned
about. But nonetheless He was faithful in proclaiming and preaching
the truth. He did not veer away from it
It was his life and what a blessing therefore if the truth of God
given to us in his word is indeed life to our souls and that which
we really desire to press after and to follow after. And then
he comes and he says they zealously affect you and he's referring
there of course to the men of Judah following Judaism and he's
pointing them to the fact that they were zealous in following
the law and following it as much as they could and they were influencing
those Galatians which the Apostle had been so thankful to have
been able to preach to and now he says they were zealous after
these things which were wrong and we find it today in many
areas of Christendom people are zealous wrong things not good
things and they may think they're zealous after the things of God
but in fact they're zealous after the things which do not profit
and they follow the things of the world and they bring the
world into the church and therefore they have a wrong zeal a wrong
zealousness And so the apostle asks the question, he says, they
zealously affect you, but not well. And it's easily to be wrongly
affected by so-called Christians who appear to be zealous, but
not zealous in the good things, not zealous in the truth of God.
No, they turn away to those things which are fanciful and just please
the flesh. And so he says, they zealously
affect you, but not well. Yea, they would exclude you that
ye sought after them. But then he says, but it is good
to be zealously affected always in a good thing. Again that's
a mark of direction that is easy to be without any zeal. Just be content to jog along. in the things that we do with,
perhaps in the churches, we're content, but here the Apostle
Paul sells them. It's a good thing to be zealously
affected, always in a good thing, and not only when I is present
with you. You see, he didn't want them
just to kind of impress himself, just to do those things which
were pleasing to him when he was there. But he wanted them
to always be zealous in good things, and those things which
the apostle had spoken to them. And when he wrote to the Romans,
hence the reason why I read the 10th chapter in the Romans, he
says, For I hear, I bear them record, that they have a zeal
of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. We need to ponder these things
to see whether, first of all, whether we have any zeal for
the things of God, and then whether we have a right zeal. whether
we have a wrong zeal. If we have a right zeal, it will
be for the honour and glory of God and for the salvation of
souls. May we therefore, by God's grace,
examine ourselves whether we do come under the right category
and not under the wrong category which the Apostle is bringing
to the attention of the Galatians, so they might be rectified in
the way that they were walking in their Christian life, but
it might be in that right and good way which was for the honour
and glory of God.