Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Galatians chapter 4. We're going to continue our study
in Galatians chapter 4. The name of the message is, until
Christ be formed in you. Until Christ be formed in you.
We'll continue our study in Galatians chapter 4. Again, we're in the
section of this chapter where Paul is pleading with the Galatian
believers. they've been bewitched by the Judaizers, the false teachers.
And to turn away from the perfect finished work of Christ, the
Judaizers have come in and said, you must do this to be saved,
follow the Mosaic laws and be circumcised. And Paul sets before
them the truth once again. And he tells the believers to
look away from the false teaching of the Judaizers and just continue
to look to Christ. Because there's no hope outside
of Christ, is there? We add anything of our works
into the finished work of Christ, it's no longer grace. It's no
longer grace. Now it's very evident from the
way Paul's been speaking to the Galatians in this short section
that we've been studying, which will be Galatians 4, 16 to 20,
that he just has such a heart for the Galatian believers. Remember
the Lord used him to establish these churches, to start them
up. He went in, he preached the gospel, and the Lord did the
saving. Churches were established in
this region. It's a province, it's a Roman province of Galatia,
and it was once just a bunch of tribes. warring tribes that
really didn't unite until the Romans came in and then they
tried to unite and they kept having divisions among themselves
and the Romans just wiped them out. There was that one point
where they had hit them so hard with the Roman army that there
was hardly any young men left. They had taken that much of a
toll on the population. So they have seen Paul face-to-face. They are, remember this too,
they're eyewitnesses of his preaching. And they're earwitnesses too,
right? They've seen and heard him. They've seen him and they
know him. This isn't just someone who's
writing to them who's never seen them face-to-face. This is someone
who actually has been in the trenches with them and knows
them and they heard him preach Christ. Could you imagine that?
They heard him preach Christ. And all we have to do is listen
to a gospel preacher to know the message that he preached,
right? Because the message never changed, has it? The men are
different nowadays. And there's no apostles now.
There's just preachers. But the message has never changed.
Never at all. Not at all. So they were eyewitnesses
to his preaching and proclaiming Christ Jesus to hell deserving
sinners. Let's read verses 16 to 20. He says, am I therefore
become your enemy because I tell you the truth? So he's just bringing
this fact before them. Because I tell you the truth,
am I now your enemy? So obviously the Judaizers had spoken evil
of him. And even some of the brethren
maybe had got caught up with the Judaizers and started to
say things. And then, of course, you have
false professors as well who would just run with it and throw
whatever they could at him. They doubted his apostleship. They doubted his message. And
he loves them so dearly. And we're going to see it. Look
at this. They zealously affect you, but not well. Yea, they
will exclude you that you might affect them. So these Judaizers
would go so far as excluding the brethren, which means to
toss them out of the church. You don't agree with me? There's
the highway. Now, that's awful. That's awful,
isn't it? You see something like that going on in the church,
there's something wrong. There's definitely something wrong. There's
definitely something wrong. Because what are we to be about? When someone comes back, you
open your arms and you love them. And you treat them as if they've
never left. Right? That's how it's supposed to be. We are to have short memories. Think of how long suffering the
Lord is with us. Right? Makes it easy for us to
forgive others, doesn't it? Even if they've wronged us. Look
at this. He's going to talk about being
zealous, right? He says, but it is good to be
zealously affected always in a good thing and not only when
I am present with you. So he's going to tell them, he's
telling them here, it's good to be zealous for the gospel.
Now this doesn't mean going out in the street and grabbing people
by the lapels and screaming at them. It doesn't mean that at
all. We live our lives before the
world, don't we? As believers. The scripture says
we're living epistles. Written by God. We live our lives
before the world. We live our lives before our
family members. Right? We live our lives before our
friends. That's what this is talking about. But he's saying
don't only be like that in church or when you're gathered together.
but let this be your life. Christ is our everything, isn't
he? He's our everything, all. He's our all in all. So he's
saying here, don't just be zealous when I'm there preaching to you,
but be zealous when you're at home. Be zealous when you're
driving down the road. And all this is is just a love
for Christ. to be zealous about him, to hunger
and thirst after righteousness, as the Lord said in Matthew chapter
5. He says, My little children, he
calls them that because he was used by God to bring the gospel
to them, 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. So again,
Paul says in verse 18, to be zealously affected, always in
a good thing. Again, godly zeal shouldn't just
be reserved for public worship, should it? It's our life. It's
Christ who's our life. Isn't it wonderful to get together
with believers and start talking about the Lord and your heart
starts burning within you? Isn't that wonderful? There's
nothing like it, is there? Other than hearing the gospel,
of course, where we just rejoice Oh my. So Paul, what Paul is
telling them, don't just be zealous for the gospel when I'm with
you, but be zealous for the gospel when I'm not with you too. Because
now, see what's happened? When he's not with them, these
Judaizers have come in, right? And affected them. Well, if you're
zealous for the gospel, you're going to say, that's a lie. Right? Because being zealous
for the gospel, too, is just having the gospel constantly
before us. Who's Christ? It's not, you know,
religion takes things, don't they, and just warps it. See,
some folks think you've got to be out there in the street corners
holding signs up and all this stuff. It doesn't mean all that.
It doesn't mean that at all. Again, it means just living your
life before the world. In Christ. In Christ. And I know I fall far short in
doing that. I know that. We all know that,
don't we? But we just live our lives in
faith, don't we? We live by faith and not by sight,
don't we? That's what we live by. And God
is, remember, even when we're not faithful, God's faithful.
Isn't that wonderful? See? We just need to remember
that. Religion just takes a hammer
and bangs you over the head with it. I've been there. It's awful.
I want you guys to leave here rejoicing in Christ. Rejoicing
in our Savior. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord to his preachers. The only way I can bring comfort
to anyone is just to preach the gospel. Of myself, I can't comfort
anyone, but I'll tell you what, this gospel can comfort God's
people, can't it? And it does. And it makes us
zealously affected, doesn't it? My, it's wonderful. I remember,
just a quick little story, I remember Vicki and I coming home from
the first conference we ever went to, the first Bible conference
we ever went to down in Rescue, California. It was a five-hour
drive there, and a five-hour drive back. Huh? Seven, seven hours. Seven hours
there, seven hours back. Well, Donny Bell was there, and
Don Fortner, and Milton Howard, and Gene Harmon, and it was somebody
else too, I can't remember. Yeah, there's five of them, I
thought there were four of them. Well, anyways, these guys had, I got
together with them and they sent me out as a preacher, but that
was the first conference we'd ever been to. On the way home,
We didn't stop talking about the conference all the way home.
It felt like an hour drive for seven hours. We were so excited,
so filled with zealous, just excited about the gospel. Because
we had never experienced that before. And it wasn't the men,
it was the message. It was listening to all those
gospel messages that we just talked about the messages all
the way home. all about Christ. And it was so exciting. I'll
never forget that. It was amazing. And that's what
that means. And then, of course, you live
your life before your family members and your friends. So
no matter what day it is, we should always be zealous. Always
be zealous for God. Listen to these scriptures here.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Admonish each other. Rejoice. Sit with your brothers
and sisters and just talk about the Lord and your hearts will
just light up. It's amazing. And whatsoever things you do
in word or deed, right? Everything. do all in the name
of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Making lunch? Thank you, Lord,
for this food. And nobody else has to be around.
Nobody else has to see you. Right? You guys are talking about
the birds. I sit in my back porch and just
praise God for the birds all the time. They're so beautiful.
It's so wonderful, and like you guys were saying, the individuality
of all creation, the beauty in it all, our hearts are just filled
with joy over that, because we know the Creator, don't we? We
know the Creator. My oh my. Giving thanks to God
and the Father by Him. And then our Lord tells us in
the writings of Peter, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and
be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you
the reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
Have any good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you
as of evil doers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your
good conversation in Christ. That conversation there is your
lifestyle. Remember I told you about, you let your conversation,
what's that one? Let's turn there. Hebrews. Let's
turn there. Hebrews chapter 13. I don't want to mess this up.
So we'll go to Hebrews. Hebrews 13 verse 5. Hebrews 13
5. See where it says there, let
your conversation, conversation there is lifestyle in Greek.
Let your life, let your life be without covetousness and be
content with such things as you have. You ever hear me, now you
guys constantly hear me say this because this is one of my life
verses here. You constantly hear me say here, never leave thee
nor forsake thee. This is where it's from. And
in the Greek, it's triple negative. Never, not ever, never. Look
at this. For he has said, God said this,
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. But conversation there is our
lifestyle. Our life. Our life before, again, we're
living epistles. So let us be zealous no matter
where we are. You know, we're soldiers for
Christ. We really are soldiers. We're going to endure hardship,
aren't we? And each one of us in this room who are believers,
we've endured hardship, haven't we, in our life? Some will never
know about it, but the Lord knows it. Some things we've locked
up in our hearts that no one else will know, the hardship
that we've endured from others. And we don't have to tell anyone.
God knows, doesn't he? He knows. He knows. And we still
continue to be zealous for Him, don't we? Just resting in Him,
trusting in Him, living our life before Him. My! You know, our Lord's Apostles
and the New Testament preachers, they turned the world upside
down, the Scripture says, as they went out. My, oh my! And what did they do? They just preached the Gospel.
That's all they did. They just preached the Gospel.
Preached Christ. And we can't change the heart
of natural man, but God can. God can. And knowing how we were before
we were saved, it'll give us compassion with others. It'll
give us compassion with others. Let's look at verse 19 here now. Paul writes here, my little children,
we left off and we did 17 and 18 last week, so 19 and 20 today. It 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. I was thinking about just
doing a whole sermon just on Christ being formed in us. And
what that is, that's being born again. Christ in us, the hope
of glory. And that's an operation of God.
Doesn't come about by praying a prayer or walking an aisle
or shaking a preacher's hands. It's a work of the Holy Spirit
of God. That's exactly what it is. It's an operation of God
and Him alone. He said, I desire to be present
with you now. So Paul calls these Galatian saints little children,
and they were babes in Christ. And I believe, several other
commentators believe, I was reading a grace preacher who I know he's
not preaching anymore. He's in his 80s now. Brother Harmon from Rescue. He was mentioned, he says, I
think that Paul loved these Galatians like his own children. Like they
were his own children. He had a father's love for them.
And I tend to think he's right. I think he's right. He just loved
them dearly. It's evident in what he's saying
here. He calls them my little children. Why? Because he was
the instrument that our Lord used in delivering them from
darkness. And he's concerned for them just as if they're his
own children. You know, God uses the preaching of the gospel to
draw in his saints, all by his power and all by his glory, for
his glory. But he does use clay pots to
preach to other clay pots, right? And we all got a bunch of holes
in us, don't we? We're leaky pots. But that's
what he does, that's what he uses, right? It's amazing. It's amazing when you think about
it. But it's all according to His power and His might, because
salvation's of the Lord. And true Christian love is put
in the heart of God's preachers by God Himself. He puts a love
for the people in the preacher's hearts. That's why you guys hear
me say, I love you, like you're my family. And it's true. You
are my family. You are my family. And it's God,
and think of that, I didn't know any of you 10 years ago. And
look what the Lord's done. Now that's amazing. He's so good,
isn't he? That's amazing though. God is so good to us. And he's
given you a love for me, and all of us have a love for the
gospel. That's incredible. And I feel like I've known you
all for 50 years or 100 years. Isn't that true? You feel like
that with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Like you've known
them your whole life? You almost forget what your life
was like before, because now you're with your... Well, you
know, old grace preachers used to say, that's because you've
got the same Father. That's because you've got the
same Spirit. And that's, hey, same Abba. Yeah, that's right.
Same Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, I love
it. I just get so excited about that. And we've been taught by God
that we're now born again, adopted children. Turn if you would to
John chapter 17. Do you know that the Heavenly
Father has the same love for you and I, beloved, as He has
for Christ? Now that's amazing, isn't it?
But you know it's truth. John chapter 17. We're going
to see here from the words of our own Savior. And He's going
to tell us that the Father has loved us like He's loved Him.
And this is truth proclaimed. Oh my, this is, I remember the
first time I saw this in John 17, I bet leapt in here coming
in to preach this message. Oh my goodness. It's so, it's
so, now this is gonna show us, this is gonna show us that our
Heavenly Father is not anything like our earthly Father. And
that the love that we even have for our own family and our brethren
even, doesn't even compare to the love God has for us. This
is wonderful. John 17 verses 21 to 24. That
they may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee. They
also may be one in us. That the world may believe that
thou hast sent me. Now, one quick thing. As we're reading this,
Think of the love that Paul has for the Galatians. Now, that's
been put in his heart by God, just like the love we have for
each other has been put in our hearts by God, and the love we
have for Christ, and the love we have for the gospel has been
put in our hearts by God. And keep that in mind, too, as
we're reading this, too. And the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one.
He's the head, we're the body, right? I in them, look at that. Remember in our text Paul is
saying, Christ be formed in you, right? I in them and thou in
me that they may be made perfect in one. Now we're sinners to
the core even after we're saved, aren't we? But in Christ we're
perfect. That's why God doesn't count
our sins against us anymore. Oh, isn't that wonderful? I was
talking to a sister the other day, and she was saying, you
know, we were talking about how this one fellow told me, he says,
yeah, I'm not that bad of a sinner. And I said, I'm like, here we
go, right? Buckle in. And I said, how's
your dream life? I said, you probably dream the
most wicked things like I do and like everybody else does. Right? And he just put his head
down and he goes, you're right. I said, we're sinners from, again,
top of our head to the bottom of our feet. And that's just
our dream life. Not let alone anything else.
My oh my. And then we get talking and he
was telling me about this fellow that goes out and asks people
if they lie. And he says, well, then you're a liar. And he says,
have you ever lust after a woman? He says, then you're an adulterer.
Because that's what the scripture says, right? See, we're all guilty.
We're guilty. We're absolutely guilty. And
then he tried to make himself not as much of a sinner as everybody
else. So we started talking about his dream life. Oh, my. What great forgiveness we have
in Christ, beloved. This is something that we're
still grasping, and I don't think we'll fully understand it until
we get home to be with the Lord. Zane, you said how sinful sin
is. We have no idea how sinful sin really is. It's so bad that
the Son of God had to die for it in our room and place. My,
look at this though, I in them and thou in me that they may
be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou
has sent me and has loved them, look at this, here we go, as
thou has loved me. What did our Lord just say there?
He just said to you and I, beloved, that the Father has loved us
as he's loved Christ. Now that's unchanging love. That's
everlasting love. That's eternal love. That's the
love of God. That's true agape love. That's the truth proclaimed for
you and I. Let us rest our heart on that. God the Father loves me as he
loves Christ. My Father, now look at this,
I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, when did he give
us to him? In eternity, be with me where
I am. Now God's gonna answer the prayer
of his son, isn't he? Because he's God too. Where have
all our beloved brothers and sisters went? They're with him. Without a shadow of a doubt. They're with Him. That's what
He says here. That where I am, that why? That
they may behold my glory. Oh, we're going to see the Redeemer.
We're going to see Him face to face like we see each other face
to face. which thou hast given me, for
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. So what, what,
look at that, look at that little nugget there. He says, he says
in the verse before that the father loves us as he loves Christ. And then Christ just tells us
that the father's loved him before the foundation of the world.
What does that mean? That means he's loved us before
the foundation of the world. My! We'd just stop right there, couldn't
we? Just out the door we go. We'd
be zealously affected with that. So marvel at this wonderful truth.
God doesn't love one of his children more than another. He loves us
all the same. Because he loves us in Christ. You know, moms and dads might
have favorites. God got no favorites. Well, he has one. That's his
son. Christ Jesus our Lord, the eternal
Son of God. And all that are in him, they're
all his favorites. Oh my, just incredible. So let's go back to Galatians
chapter Chapter 4, verse 19, he says here, my little children
of whom I prevail in birth until Christ be formed in you, I desire
to be present with you now. Now we men cannot understand
this. I don't care how much men try to say things, we cannot
understand the pain that a woman goes through in birth. We just can't, we don't know. We take our wife's word for it,
don't we? I've even heard of some brides as they're having
their babies. I've never experienced the same
thing. Their wife looks at them and goes, I hate you. I don't
know. I never experienced that. And
I'm thankful I didn't. But I've heard that. But they
don't mean that. It's just the pain is so agonizing. So Paul is telling us, he's agonizing
over these believers. Do you know that God's preachers
agonize? over over like like when we had
that issue happen it it filled me with agony beloved it's hard
isn't it it filled all of us with that we we were just shocked
and that's that pain that's that pain that if you feel my oh my
my oh my but you know God used it for good didn't he Brian and
Linda are here. Dave's here. Luke. Isn't that
wonderful? Just like all of us. Come here,
my little one. Come here, my beloved one. You're
mine. Oh, it's so wonderful. I'll tell
you. So Paul's travailing. He's in agony. And that's all
I can imagine. I've never, like I said, I imagine
it's agonizing. But it's wonderful at the same
time, right, when the baby comes. But that pain to get there. And
so Paul's feeling that just gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching pain for these
believers. Matthew Henry says this, the
woman is concerned, dedicated, involved in one purpose, that
is to bring forth a living child. She counts her sufferings and
pains worthwhile if she can produce a living, healthy child. The
apostle has no thought for himself, just like you moms had no thought
for yourself when you're having the baby. Your concern is for the baby's
health, right? He says the apostle had no thought
for himself but for them. All that he was concerned about
and dedicated to in prayer and preaching and suffering was that
Christ might be formed in them. And remember the Lord said I
in them in John 17? My, so he's travailing. In the Greek that actually means
labor pains at the birth of a child. Where pain is when a woman's
in travail. He's agonizing over them. But he has a hope for them. He has a hope for them. Oh my. My, oh my. And Paul didn't write off the
Galatians, did he? He didn't just write them off,
did he? No, no, he didn't write them off. He didn't say, well,
if you're going to turn again to those weak and beggary elements,
I don't want nothing to do with you. See, worldlings do that. False
religionists do that. False professors. You don't follow
my way. See you later. My, that's awful. That's an awful
way to be, isn't it? And here's Paul. They've turned
away from him. Not all the churches, but some
of the people in the churches, right? They've turned away from
him. They've said all kinds of awful
things about him. They've doubted his apostleship. And he's the
very one who brought the gospel to them by God's grace and providence. And here he is travailing over
them. What love, eh? What love he has
for them. You know, Zane, was it you that
we talked about Father forgive them for they know not what they
do? Yeah, we were talking about that. Think of Christ at the
cross right here. He's hanging on the cross. And he says, Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do. Didn't you say that some
commentators said that that was for all the people that were
there or something like that? Oh, was it? Okay. But it wasn't
for all the people that was there. It was for some of them though.
Because at the day of Pentecost, Zane brought this up, at the
day of Pentecost, they were saying, what have we done? What have
we done? Christ's prayer was answered
there. 3,000 souls. The Lord saved them. And remember the centurion? Truly,
this is the Son of God. He was the one who ordered those
men. I think we're gonna see that centurion in heaven. My oh my, truly this is the Son
of God. What a statement. Didn't never
heard him preach, but just saw how he died. And
just like that believing thief, remember? Lord moved on his heart. Lord, just remember me. We're
here justly, he says to that other thief. Just remember me,
Lord. Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. Woo! My, what a savior. What a redeemer. Now, other people
wrote that believing thief off, right? Oh, he's a scoundrel. Bingo. That's exactly right,
brother. Just like us. That's one of his jewels. He's
dying on the cross for his sins. My. The Lord's going to get all
the sheep, isn't he? He's going to get every one of
them. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. Let's read that
again. My little children of whom I
travail in birth, again, until Christ be formed in you, I desire
to be present with you. Now note those wonderful words.
Remember, Paul's writing these under inspiration of the Holy
Spirit of God. He writes, until Christ be formed
in you, Paul continued to prevail for these Galatian churches,
praying that Christ would be formed in them. And this is how
we should pray for our unsaved loved ones, our unsaved friends,
that Christ would be formed in them. All we do is plant the
seeds of the gospel, right? Just like a sower. Who gives the increase? God gives
the increase, doesn't he? God gives the increase. If he
causes the rain to fall on that seed, he gives the increase. And these words, until Christ
be formed in you, have the same meaning as being born again.
The same meaning as becoming a new creation, a new creature
in Christ. When God sends the spirit of
his Son into our hearts, he does that because we already have
eternal life in Christ. He already died for us. He already
obtained eternal salvation for us. See, the gospel preacher
is proclaiming a work already done. A finished work. Having obtained eternal salvation
for us, right? Now that has to come to pass
in time and space, which it did when Christ redeemed us on the
cross. And then that salvation becomes real for us also in time
and space, doesn't it? when the Holy Spirit regenerates
us. And because you're sons, not because you made a decision,
not because you did this or were baptized, right? Because you
were sons. How long have we been sons for?
For maternity? God sent the spirit of his son
into your hearts crying, I have a father. Oh my! Amen. Have a father. That's what
we cry. Oh my. To have Christ formed
in you is to be saved, to be a new creature in Christ. In
the new birth we're made partakers of the divine nature. Christ
in you, the hope of glory, right? We have a hope now we never had
before. And our hope is Christ. We never had that before. Oh
my. Oh my. A form of morality with
its laws and commandments is not eternal life. A form of religious
profession with its decisions, baptisms, creeds is not eternal
life. Eternal life is knowing God.
Having God revealed to us by himself. knowing God and Christ, and this
is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. John 17.3, the words of
the Master in his high priestly prayer. Eternal life is having
Christ in us. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life that
I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2.20. Right? Christ in me, the hope of glory.
Oh my. My. Remember what the Lord said
to those Pharisees? He says, you don't know me and
you don't know the Father. Well, God's people know the Father,
don't we? By grace. And we know who Christ is by
God's grace. Oh my. Turn to 1 John chapter 5 and
we're going to close here. I got more but I ran out of time
again. Look at this though. 1 John chapter 5. Salvation is
Christ in you. Again, the hope of glory. And
the life of God is Christ in us. Salvation is Christ in you. The hope of glory is Christ in
you. The life of God is Christ in you. Look at this, 1 John
5, 11 to 13. And this is the record that God
has given to us. Now God's given us a record.
Here it is. Right? His gospel. This is the
record that God has given to us, eternal life. And this life
is in who? His son. Nowhere else. Not in doing, no merit, not in
decision, not in walking in the aisle, not in baptism, right? It's in the son. It's in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He that hath the son, do you
have the son? Oh, rejoice if you have the Son.
He that hath the Son hath life. That's a fact. And he that hath not the Son
hath not life. There's the contrast. These things have I written to
you that believe on His name, that believe on the name of the
Son of God, that you may know, that we may know. We can walk
out this building Because our confidence is not at all in us. We've been born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. Who's our confidence in now?
It's in Christ, isn't it? And we may know that you have
eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son
of God. He is our life. He's our life. He's everything.
He's everything. Brother Dave, can you close us
in prayer?