In Galatians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul continues with
his admonition, his reproof, and his encouragement to these
professing believers in this area called Galatia to be firmly
entrenched in the truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The
grace of God in Christ. Don't be moved away from the
Gospel. You know, I was thinking about
as I was studying for this lesson over in the book of Hebrews,
in chapter 13, and I'll just read this to you
where in verse 9 it says, Be not carried about with diverse
or various, different, and strange doctrines, strange meaning foreign
doctrines, foreign to the gospel, foreign to the word of God, foreign
to the scriptures. And he says, for it is a good
thing that the heart be established, firmly established with grace. And that's what the apostle Paul
is desiring for the Galatian people, that they who have heard
the gospel, They who have learned it and professed to believe it,
that they might be established in it to the point where they
can't be moved away from it. Remember he said in Galatians
1, I marvel that you're so soon moved away from the gospel, from
him that called you. And so that's the whole purpose
of this. And Paul was being very frank
with them. He was telling them the truth.
He was saying, look, If you move away from the gospel, from Christ
and Him crucified, and from the hearts established with grace
to this legalism of these Jewish professors, these false preachers,
then you never were saved to begin with. You never knew Christ. You never knew the grace of God.
And I know that's hard, Paul's saying. I know that's hard truth,
but it's what you need to hear. And that's why he asked the question
there in verse 16. Am I therefore become your enemy
because I tell you the truth? Paul's saying, I'm the best friend
you've ever had. Because you need to know what
the seriousness of the problem. And like I mentioned last week,
it's like the doctor who tells you the truth about the disease
you have so that you can seek the cure. I would venture to
say that no, well, I'll say no good doctor enjoys telling his
patient that you have a deadly disease. But he knows that if
he doesn't tell you that, that's sure death. Well, this is the
same way in the spiritual realm of the gospel. So Paul goes on,
look at verse 17. He says, they zealously affect
you. That's the false preachers. These
legalists, these Jewish legalists. They're zealous. They're enthusiastic. They zealously affect you, but
not well. He says, yea, they would exclude
you, and literally that word you there should be us. It's
an objective pronoun. It was added by the King James
translators. And he says that they would exclude
us that you might affect them. And then he says in verse 18,
but it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing,
and not only when I'm present with you. Now here's what's happening.
He's saying these false teachers were trying to win these Galatians
over. And they were passionate to do
it, they were enthusiastic about it, but their zeal, that's what
zeal is, and this is not supported by a good motive. It was not
zeal for the glory of God in Christ. Paul himself was zealous. He
desired that these believers be zealous, but not for their
own works, not for their own pride, not for their own self-righteousness,
but for the glory of God in Christ. And you know, any time a preacher
promotes salvation or justification before God based on anything
other than Christ's righteousness alone, the motive is his own
glory. The motive is their own glory.
It cannot be the glory of God. The glory of God is wrapped up
in the salvation of sinners totally by grace through the blood and
righteousness of Jesus Christ. So any other message cannot glorify
God, cannot exalt Christ. It's meant to glorify and exalt
sinners and the preacher. And that's what Paul's saying.
And their method exposes them. What he says there, go back to
verse 17. He says, they would exclude us, what that literally
means. What it is, is they want to shut
the people off from Paul so that they can control the people.
And they'll say things like, don't talk to Paul, don't listen
to Paul. Now, you know, I've had that happen. Preachers will
want to stand against you, and they'll tell people, well, don't
talk to him. You know, I have never told anybody not to talk
to another person. If they have a differing opinion
or a different view of scripture, you go talk to them and make
them back up what they say with the scripture. That's what to
do. I don't want to shut you off
from anybody. I want you to be skillful in the word of righteousness
so that you can discern good and evil. I want that for myself.
But I'm not here to shut you off or to say, now the only one
you all can talk to is me. Well, that's crazy. And that's
the method of these false Jewish professors. But Paul writes here,
he says that it's good to be zealously affected in a good
thing. Now, what we learn here is obviously
religious zeal and sincerity are not always good things. Look
over at Romans chapter nine. And you're familiar with these
scriptures. Romans chapter nine, he talks about the Jews, Israel,
back down in verse 31 of Romans nine. And he says, look at Romans 9.31,
he says, but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
hath not attained to the law of righteousness. What is the
law of righteousness? Well, it's the righteousness
of the law. In other words, it's righteousness that adheres to
the standard of the law. Whatever the law says, whatever
meets its conditions and standards and requirements and stipulations,
that's righteousness. And they were seeking, they were
following after the righteousness of the law, but they didn't make
it. They fell short. They didn't
attain it. And verse 32 asks the question,
why? That's what wherefore means.
Why didn't they make it? What was wrong? Where did they
come short? Well, they sought it not by faith. Now, what is it to seek righteousness
by faith? Well, it's to seek it and find
it in Christ. You see, people think that faith
is somehow the substitute for righteousness. It's not, meaning
they're believing. If you seek righteousness by
faith, that means you're seeking it according to God's command,
God's direction. And what does God say about righteousness?
Well, we don't have it, and the only way that we can find it
is in Christ, the merits of his obedience unto death. But they
didn't seek it that way, verse 32. But they sought it as it
were by the works of the law. That's how they sought it. And
they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Now he's making a reference
back to the Old Testament, the book of Isaiah chapter, I think
it's in your, if you got a concordance in your Bible, it'll probably
say Isaiah 28. But there's other passages in
Isaiah where he talks about Christ being a stumbling stone. And
he says in verse 33 of Romans 9, as it is written, behold,
I lay in Zion, a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Now that's what it is
to seek righteousness by faith, is to believe on Jesus Christ
as the Lord our righteousness. But look at verse one of chapter
10. He says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. I bear them record, they
have a zeal of God. Now there's that zeal. but not
according to knowledge. Zeal without knowledge is deadly. And what knowledge do they have
to have? Verse three, 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 for
Christ is the end. And you know that word end is
the same word that means finished, complete, perfect. It's the same
word or a derivative of the same word that Christ used on the
cross in John 19.30 when he said, it is finished. Christ is the
end, the finishing, the fulfillment, the completion, the perfection
of the law, of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So
there's zeal. Truth with, listen, religious
zeal and sincerity are not always good things. So here you have
these fellows back over here in Galatians four. They're serious
about what they're doing. They're not, as some would say,
just playing church. They're zealous in their purpose. And their purpose was to win
these believers over, or these professing believers over, to
their way of thinking, to say that yes, we're saved by the
grace of God, but you have to add this. You have to add circumcision. You have to keep a day. You have
to do this, that, and the other. You have to stop doing taste
not, touch not, handle not, Paul wrote in the book of Colossians.
Christ is your Savior, but you've got to do this, you've got to
do that. Now isn't that the kind of message
that most people are hearing today? Now think about it. Yeah, we're saved by grace, but
you've got to be baptized. Well, you need to be baptized
if you're a believer, but not for that reason. You understand
what I'm saying? Not for righteousness. Not to
earn or gain your acceptance before God. We're accepted in
Christ. We have no righteousness but what Christ accomplished
on Calvary. And baptism doesn't add to that.
My joining the church doesn't add to that. It doesn't even
appropriate it or make it effectual to me. That's all his work. So
this salvation by grace but you have to is a false message. And
people are zealous in it, aren't they? They're sincere, they're
serious about it. But not, but as Paul wrote here,
he said, but not well. And it's not well unless it leads
you to Christ and him alone for all salvation, all forgiveness,
all righteousness, all eternal life and glory. If it leads you
to him alone, then it's well. You know, and now we could go
to the opposite side of this and say truth without zeal and
sincerity is sham profession, but zeal and sincerity without
truth is deadly. It's idolatry. It's self-righteousness. Paul spoke of himself in Philippians
chapter three and verse six as having a zeal, but it was an
unholy zeal. Remember he said concerning zeal,
persecuting the church. He was so zealous in the Jews'
religion that he was determined to wipe out anything that he
looked at as heresy, which at that time was Christianity. And
of course, we know what happened to him. He said back in Galatians
1 and verse 14, he profited in the Jews' religion above many
of his equals in his own nation, being more exceedingly zealous
of the tradition of my fathers. Paul is telling them back then,
he said, these things that these Jewish false teachers are trying
to get you to buy into, he said, I was more zealous in that than
they were. And he says now, in Philippians
3, remember he said, now I count it all but loss. I count it all
but done that I may win Christ and be found in him. The scripture
speaks of our Lord's zeal. Psalm 69, nine, the zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up. That was fulfilled in John chapter
two when the Lord drove the money changers out of the temple. It
was his zeal for the glory of his father that caused him to
do that. The scripture speaks of Christ's
zeal in Isaiah chapter nine when it talks about the child born
and the son given. And it says, the government will
be upon his shoulders. And verse seven says, of the
increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end
upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it,
to establish it with judgment and justice, that's what righteousness
is, from henceforth even forevermore. And it says this, the zeal of
the Lord of hosts will perform this. That's zeal for the glory
of God. When a sinner comes to believe the gospel, when a sinner
is brought by the Holy Spirit to look to Christ for all salvation,
then that unholy zeal that we have by nature in religion and
religious efforts becomes the zeal of the Lord of hosts. It
becomes zeal for the glory of God. That's the issue. Well, look at verse 19. Now,
we'll read verse 18 again. But Paul said, it's good to be
zealously affected always in a good thing. That's the glory
of God in the salvation of sinners. And not only when I'm present
with you. In other words, Paul's saying, if I come down there,
I don't want you to change just for me. Just because Paul's here. Now we better act like it's all
of grace. But now when Paul leaves and
the Jewish false teachers come in, we'll change for them, you
know. Hey, I know people like that. Certain preacher comes
in, certain preacher says something, then they go right with him.
Doesn't matter what it is. Then another one comes in, they
go right with him. No, Paul says, I want you to
have that good zeal constantly. And how's that gonna come about?
Well, look at verse 19. He says, my little children of
whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. Christ formed in you. I think
years ago I preached a message on that and I called it the point
of no return. Because here's the thing about
it. If God the Holy Spirit in power brings you and me to the
point where Christ is formed in us. That word form, you've
heard the term morph or metamorphosis. That's what the Greek word is. It's morph, morpho, morpheo. It means to change, reformed. And what he's talking about here
is a change that cannot be unchanged. See, this is not being a chameleon.
You know what a chameleon is, it goes to whatever background
it's in, it changes color. This is a change, this is a permanent
change brought about by the power of God that cannot be undone.
And that's Paul saying to them, this is what I desire for you.
This is when you get to the point of no return. You're there and
you can't go back. You can't go back to legalism.
You can't go back to conditional salvation and false religion.
And the reason is, is because God the Holy Spirit has brought
you to that point of no return. And Paul says that, now he has
a zeal. He said, my little children of
whom I travail in birth. He, you know, oftentimes when
the scripture speaks of like, for example, the death of Christ
on the cross, it's a painful thing. And in Isaiah 53, that's
what it does, the travail of his soul. What it's doing, it's
using the metaphor of a woman in childbirth going through that
process of pain in labor to bring forth a healthy child. And that's
what Paul is saying about himself in his ministering to the Galatian
people. to these professing believers,
he said, I'm in pain, almost, in my desire to see you come
to this point, or be brought to this point by the Holy Spirit.
So I travail, just like the birth pains, I travail in birth. Now
Paul doesn't have, you know, he knew he didn't have any power
to birth them again. You know, the Bible says you
must be born again. And this Christ being formed
in us begins with the new birth. I've been talking about in the
messages on John 16 about being convinced of sin. Once you're
convinced of sin, you can't be unconvinced. Now you'll learn
more about it. You'll grow in grace and knowledge.
Today I'm gonna be talking about being convinced of righteousness.
Once you're convinced of righteousness, you won't be unconvinced. Now
again, you'll learn more about it as you grow in grace and knowledge. You'll be more confirmed, even
more convinced we can say. And then next week, I'm gonna
talk about being convinced of judgment. Once you're convinced
of judgment, you can't be unconvinced. It begins in the new birth. But
we grow in grace and knowledge. Now, when you look at these Galatians,
Those who never truly believed the gospel but were just mere
professors of religion or of grace, Paul was saying to them,
I'm travailing, I want you to be born again. Paul couldn't
do it. No preacher can birth you again,
but that's what I desire for you. If there's any sitting in
the audience, any watching the program on live streaming, my
desire through the preaching of the gospel, if you're not
born again, that God the Holy Spirit will intervene and give
you life. And for those who were true believers,
who had been born again, who were just being diverted away,
and believers can be diverted away for a while, Just like,
remember David said, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.
David didn't lose his salvation, but he lost the joy of it. And
because of lack of teaching, lack of knowledge, lack of growth,
believers can be diverted for a time. Paul's saying my desire
for you is that you be confirmed and established in what you know
is true. So you understand that. So he
says, I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.
When Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter three and verse
five, he spoke of those who have a form of godliness, but deny
the power thereof. Well, this right here in verse
19 of Galatians four is not a form of godliness with no power. If
Christ is formed in you, then that's the power of God unto
salvation. But to have a form of godliness and deny the power
thereof, that's an outward form of religion and morality, maybe
even a profession of grace or even sovereign grace, but it's
not salvation. It's mere professions, even of
truth, but it's a form. But this indicates here, that
change of mind, that change of heart, that change of life, That
can never be unchanged. And until a mind and life in
complete harmony with the mind and life of Christ is set within
us by the Holy Spirit, we can't say Christ is formed in us. But
the formation of Christ in us begins, as I said, in the new
birth. It's strengthened as we grow in grace and in knowledge
of Christ. I want you, Paul's saying, I
want you to be so firmly entrenched in the truth of the gospel of
salvation by the grace of God, through the Lord Jesus Christ,
based on His righteousness alone, that you cannot be swayed away
from it. You cannot be diverted from it.
And look at verse 20. Now he says, I desire to be present
with you now and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of
you. Well, the apostle didn't enjoy speaking to them in rebuke
and admonishment and warning like this. He wanted to speak
to them with the voice of approval and commendation. He stood in
doubt of them because they'd been moved away from looking
only to Christ as the author and finisher of their faith.
Now again, go over to 1 John 3. I've been going over this
passage again because of something that I'm
writing. And the whole issue, look at
1 John 3. And here's the thing, let me
reemphasize it. I'm not just trying to be repetitive,
but I want us to be able to understand this. And I want us to be able
to be prepared for when we're approached with things like this,
the false gospels, the false professions. As I said before,
to be skillful in the word of righteousness so that we can
discern good and evil. You know, I know some people
who have more discernment than others and others who have less
discernment. The ones who have less discernment
are more gullible. They're more open to error. But here's the thing about it.
Paul said, now I stand in doubt of you. Now when he says that,
I'm not saying you're lost. But he's simply saying that could
be the problem. I'm not saying that you're just
a mere professor and not really saved, but that could be the
problem. And he's writing to recall them, to recover them.
Remember in the book of Galatians, he speaks of recovery. James
speaks of recovery too. When a brother or sister in Christ
is diverted off the gospel, we're to seek their recovery. Now it
may be. Sad to say, it could be that
they never truly believed the gospel. But we're to seek their
recovery. Over in 1 John 2, in verse 18,
John deals with that. He says in verse 18 of 1 John
2, he says, little children, it's the last time, the last
age, that's the New Testament age, that's what we're living
in. As you've heard that Antichrist shall come even now, there are
many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time, verse
19, they went out from us. Did some of these Galatian believers
just totally reject the gospel? I don't know. Scripture doesn't
say about them specifically, but there were some here that
John said did. He's writing to churches here
in 1st John, 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, he's writing to people in Asia
Minor, same area around where Galatia was. And he says, they
went out from us, they left the gospel, that's what he's saying.
But they were not of us. Now those who were recovered
in Galatia, what do we know about them? They were true believers,
they just got sidetracked. But those who left and went with
the Jewish professors, those false preachers, they never were
of us. For if they'd been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. You see that? Is that what that said? If they
had been of us, they would have continued with us. I think that's
what it says. I don't see no problem with that.
That's it. But they went out. that they
might be made manifest, made known, exposed, that they were
not all of us. And then he says, but you have
an unction from the Holy One and you know all things. That's
the work of the Holy Spirit in Christ formed in you. And he
goes on to explain it, but jump across the page there to 1 John
3. And he tells us here, true believers,
true children of God, who have been born of God, who have been
born of the Spirit, who have Christ formed in them, so entrenched
in them, in their heart, by the Spirit of God and by the truth,
they cannot totally leave Christ. Now again, they may be diverted
a little bit, but they cannot totally apostatize. That's the
word of the New Testament. They cannot totally fall away
and totally leave the gospel of God's grace in Christ. And
here's what he says. Look at verse nine, 1 John 3.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Now what's he
talking about? Well, he's not saying that when
you're born of God, you don't sin anymore. First of all, the
scripture says otherwise. And secondly, if you're honest,
you know that's a lie. Somebody who takes that verse
and says it that way. There's only two ways that, well,
there's really only one way we can say we do not commit sin.
We know sin is not charged to us. We know that because Christ
took our sins, they were charged to him, and nothing can be charged
to God's elect now. We have righteousness imputed.
And so we stand before God without charge. But what he's talking
about is the sin that he brought out over here in 1 John 2, those
who went out front, they left Christ. And what he's saying,
if you're born of God, you can't leave Christ. How do you know
that's what he's saying? Well, look at the next line in
verse nine. For his seed remaineth in him. Now, who is Christ's seed? That's his children. That's the
seed of Abraham, that's the generation. That's the people of God, whom
Christ, whom God chose from the foundation, whom Christ redeemed
and who've been born again. Now his seed remaineth in him,
in Christ. We remain in Christ. If you're
born again, you're gonna stay with Christ. And he says, whosoever
do, in verse nine, he says, and he cannot sin, he cannot leave
Christ. He's a sinner saved by grace
and why can't he leave Christ? Well, he's just a he's just a
good Person. No, he can't leave Christ because
he's born of God Christ has been formed in him Christ has been
formed in him as the Lord his righteousness And he knows he
has no other righteousness And you know, that's to me that that
brings to mind What is the only ground, not only of salvation,
but the ground of assurance? Somebody says, well, you know,
I just can't have any assurance of salvation. Well, that may
be because you're looking to the wrong place or to the wrong
person. You see, my assurance of salvation
is not in anything in me, how good I am, try to be, or want
to be, or how good I preach, or try to preach, or want to
preach. My assurance is in how good my savior is, how powerful
he is, how gracious he is. And that's the only hope of salvation.
And once we're convinced of that, that's Christ formed in us. All
right.