Let's seek the Lord in prayer
and ask his blessing on the service today. Gracious, gracious, gracious
Heavenly Father, thank you for the strength you give us each
day. Thank you for this place where we can come and worship
you in spirit and in truth. Lord, I pray that you be with
me as I preach and proclaim the gospel, that you give me a door
of utterance, Lord, where I can proclaim your gospel boldly.
And I know it's not by might nor power, but by thy Spirit,
saith the Lord. And so I pray, the Holy Spirit,
that you give me the words to utter, and that you give me grace
and strength. And Lord, that as you take these
words, that you apply them to the heart of your people. Give
them hearing ears and teachable spirits, and oh Lord, may they
rejoice in these wonderful truths that we're going to look at today,
this morning in Sunday school and this morning in the main
service. I pray you be with me for both
services, that you be glorified and magnified, and all that I
may proclaim Christ and Him crucified, the only Savior of sinners. And
Lord, we who are your people, we love you only because you
first loved us. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay. Open your Bibles again to Galatians
chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4. The name
of the message is zealously affected. Zealously affected. Last week, last week's study
from the first chapter of Galatians took us down to verse 16. We talked about how Paul asked
the Galatian believers this searching question. He said, am I therefore
become your enemy because I tell you the truth? My oh my. Remember we had looked and all
he did was preach the gospel to them, didn't he? That's all
he did. And he says, am I now your enemy because I told you
the truth? Because I'm telling you that you need to stay away
from these Judaizers? And I'm setting before you again
the truth of the gospel of a complete salvation in and through Christ
alone, plus nothing for man. And he says, am I therefore become
your enemy? Because I tell you the truth?
Paul clearly, through this exhortation we've been looking at, has an
abhorrence to the false gospel. Any perversion of the true gospel
of grace, and he is going to stand firm, and he's going to
say something. He's not going to let it pass.
And this warning given to the Galatian saints was recorded
in the scriptures not only for their benefit, beloved, but also
for ours, too. Right now it's as applicable
to us as it is to them. Because there's all kinds of
people out in the world teaching false Gospels. And they may say
you have to do something or this or do that. And it varies what
they say you have to do. It varies, but anything, again,
that adds works to man's salvation is a false gospel. And Jesus Christ, he's redeemed
his people from the curse of the law. That's a truth that
we can hold on to, beloved. That's a truth that we can hold
on to. And don't let anyone, don't ever let anyone, beloved
God, turn your love and your eye of faith away from Christ
to yourself. Don't ever let anyone do that. And this warning's in here for
us, for our learning again. So we're to guard against that
stuff, because in our everyday life, we're gonna run across
people who are, believe in false Jesuses. There's another Jesus,
the scripture says. And there's another spirit. And
there's another gospel, the holy scriptures say. And that's the
false gospels, beloved. So we're to be aware of that. And Jesus Christ is the fulfillment
of the law. He fulfilled every jot and tittle
of the law. There's nothing left for us to
do. It's completely finished. And
he satisfied God's justice so fully, right, and so completely
that God raised him from the dead. And what did the Father
say of our Savior when he was baptized? This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. And he's pleased again, you hear
me say this all the time, but I keep saying it, he's pleased
with everyone who's in him. So if we're in Christ, God's
pleased with us. That's wonderful. We just shake
our heads, man. It's almost too much for our
brains to handle, but it's truth. It's truth, beloved, so let us
rest in that. Let us trust in that. Let us
remind ourselves in our mind as we meditate upon the things
through the week that we learn on Sundays and Wednesdays. Let
us meditate upon these truths. It's important for us to think
about these truths, too, through the week and meditate upon them
and bring them home to us. I'm complete in Christ. I'm complete
in Him. So Paul's saying, why do you
want to go back to those weak and beggarly elements, right?
Remember, we looked at that, strengthless. Weak was strengthless. Beggarly was destitute. And the elements are the law. He says, why do you want to go
back to those? There's no salvation in those. So again, he's setting
forth before them that Christ is the only way. Let's read verses
16 to 20 today. We're gonna read just a short
portion. Our verses will be verses 17 and 18. He says here, am I
therefore become your enemy? He's writing to the brethren
at the Galatian churches who are being affected by these Judaizers. Am I therefore become your enemy
because I tell you the truth? See, word must have got back
to Paul. Some dear faithful saint must have sent a letter or something
back to Paul, who wasn't excited with the Galatian churches and
said, there's something going on here. We've got these people
come in, and they're telling the folks that you have to be
circumcised along with belief in Christ to be saved. And so
Paul, again, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, and it's
amazing how the Holy Spirit of God has impinged these words.
But who's the real author again? The Holy Spirit, right? So these
are words from God to the church, of which we're a part of right
now. Individually. Church isn't the building, right?
The church is the body. The people. Who God's called
out. So this is written to us, just
as much as it's written to the Galatian churches. It says, am
I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
They zealously affect you, but not well. Yea, they will exclude
you. They went so far that they're
going to exclude anyone who doesn't agree with them. They're going
to say, out the door you go. my way or the highway. That's
what they're going to say. And so the people who side with
Paul, they're either going to leave or they're going to stay
in there. Right? Oh my. And Paul's preaching the
gospel. They would exclude you that you
might affect them. But it is good to be zealously
affected, always in a good thing. If you're standing for the gospel,
that's a good thing. If you're standing for the truth,
that's a good thing. If you're standing on the complete,
finished, sinless, holy work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
you're redeemed by his blood and nothing else, that's a good
thing. That's a good thing. And not only when I am present
with you, he's saying, you're standing not only when I'm with
you, but you're standing when I'm without you, too. He's telling
him, you've got to stand on your own. You've got to stand. And he 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 and to change my voice for
I stand in doubt of you. Now he's not speaking of the
whole Galatian church there, but he is speaking of those who
have been seduced and bewitched by the Judaizers. He said, I'm
standing in doubt of your profession now. Notice he doesn't say they're
not brethren, he just says, I'm doubtful. I'm doubtful. Now that's from a man's perspective,
right? He says, I'm doubtful. I'm in
doubt of you. We're gonna look at 19 and 20
next week. Now, Paul, we see here, brings
forth the fake devotion of the Judaizers in verse 17. They zealously affect you, but
not well. They would exclude you that you
might affect them. Here, Paul's speaking of the
false teachers disapprovingly, isn't he? He's speaking of them
disapprovingly. And he's speaking about them
as disapprovingly as possible. He says, and notice something
here. Notice something here. He didn't
even mention their names. He's not going to give them anything.
He's not even going to mention their names. The Galatian churches
already know who they are. Why should I even mention their
names? Whoa, that's strong, isn't it? Not even going to give him
credence. Not even going to give him any
worth. Let him alone. Leave him alone.
Let him sit in it. He don't even mention their names. By deliberately ignoring their
names, he's saying that such wicked men as those who preach
righteousness by works in the flesh must not even have their
names mentioned, much less their doctrine. Ain't worth the time. My, that's strong, isn't it?
That's strong. And this is inspiration by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit doesn't even
mention their names, doesn't even mention their doctrine. Just leave them alone. That's
a scary place to be. When God leaves someone alone,
that's a scary place to be, beloved. That's a scary place to be. And
these false teachers, they were courting the saints of God. They
had pretended zeal, like they were so zealous. Obviously we
see that. They were zealous about what
they believed. It's all false. It's all fake. You know what
they're looking for? They're looking for recognition.
They're looking for a following. That's what they're looking for.
They're looking for power over other people. That's the bottom line. Is control
and power over other people. That's what their goal was, to
make disciples following their own false beliefs. My, oh my. And it all is beguiling flattery,
that's all it is. Smiling, putting their arms around
folks, patting them on the back. beguiling flattery from these
folks. It's not real. When we give each
other a hug and when we say we love each other, it's sincere,
isn't it? As believers. But this was all just for them
to get their foot in the door and get people to follow them.
My. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians.
We're looking at chapter 11. We're going to read verses 4
to 15. And again, remember that this
is written by Paul and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. And
he's warning all saints from the time of this writing until
the Lord Jesus comes back. And we are told that Satan's
messengers appear as angels of light. Oh, they don't come in like wolves. They're wolves in sheep's clothing.
That's what they are. They disguise themselves as sheep,
but they're actually wolves. See, because if someone came
in and just started spouting all that stuff, we'd know right
away, wouldn't we? That's wrong. But they come in,
they infiltrate, They sit for a while, could be years, we don't
know. And then, they're exposed by
what comes out of their mouth. And we know that the scripture
says, out of the abundance of the heart, what? The mouth speaketh,
right? Look at this, though. This is
incredible here. Again, remember, this is by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verses
4 to 15. For if he that cometh preaches
another Jesus. So right there we see there's
another Jesus. Look at that. Verse 4. 2 Corinthians 11, 4.
There's another Jesus. That's what the scripture says
right here. For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus. This
Jesus didn't finish the work. Right? This Jesus Paul's writing
about, this another Jesus, he's done everything he can, now the
rest is up to you. This Jesus that he's speaking
of is up there wringing his hands because he can't do nothing. Not our Jesus, right? Look it,
he says right here, there's another Jesus whom we have not preached. Paul says, I don't preach that
other Jesus. I preach Christ who finished
the work. I preach Christ who's the eternal God, glory within
humanity. I preach that God himself, Paul
says, redeemed us. Because in the book of Acts it
says that God with his own blood purchased the church of God.
That's the God-man, isn't it? That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
So he says here, for if he that come preaches another Jesus,
whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit,
oh, there's another spirit now. Well, not the Holy Spirit of
God, but there's another spirit. I warned my friend about that.
He went to his church getting knocked down and all that stuff.
I said, that's another spirit. That's not the Holy Spirit of
God. That's another spirit. That's
another Jesus, right? Look at that, another spirit
which you have not received. Or another gospel, which Paul
says in Galatians in the first chapter is not another gospel,
right? It's not good news, is it? Because the gospel is good
news. And the good news for sinners like you and I is that Christ
did it all. Oh, hallelujah. That's good news. Because I can't
save myself, can you? But Christ saved my soul, praise
his mighty name. Yeah, so there's another gospel.
He says, look at this, which ye have not accepted. See, God's
people, after we're born again, blood washed saints, we won't
accept that gospel. Now, if we just made a mere profession
and not truly being born again, we're going to be swayed then.
We may even be carried away. But God's true people, his elect,
will not be deceived. Now they can get caught up in
all kinds of stuff. I'm not saying we can't. We can get caught up
in all kinds of stuff. Right? But God's ultimately going
to bring us back. He will. Look at this. Which you have not accepted,
ye might well bear with him. For I suppose I was not a whip
behind the chiefest apostles. But though I be rude in speech.
I guess Paul was rude in speech. Look at that. He fits right in
with all of us, doesn't he? My. Right? Think back how we
used to be. Think back how we can be, right? My, rude in speech, yet not in
knowledge. That's what he's talking about
before he was saved there. But we have been thoroughly made
manifest among you in all things. Have I committed an offense in
abasing myself? that she might be exalted because
I preached to you the gospel of God freely. Look at that.
No cost, free. Christ did it all. He did it
all. Free grace. I robbed other churches,
taking wages of them to do you service. And when I was present
with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man for that which was
lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied.
And in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome
unto you, and so will I keep myself. As the truth of Christ
is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions
of Archaea." What's he boasting about? Christ. His boast is Christ. That's who he's boasting about.
He's boasting about Christ. He said, no man's going to stop
me. And that's true by the grace of God, right? No man will stop
us from boasting by the grace of God. They can take our body,
but they sure can't take our souls, can they? Nope. So he says, no man's going to
stop me about boasting. And that's not a prideful thing. That's a giving God all the glory
thing. Because he knows, he knows if it wasn't for God's strength,
not by might nor power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. He
knows if that's not true, then he couldn't do nothing. Because
he said, who's sufficient for this to preach? I feel the same
way. You ask every gospel preacher,
we do not feel sufficient to do what we do. And we're not
on our own. God has to give us the strength
and the grace to do this. It's amazing. Oh my. He says, wherefore, because I
love you not, God knoweth, God knows I love you. But what I
do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which
desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found
even as we. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Look at that. People used to say when I was
growing up, oh, the devil's in them bars and the devil's in
all those places. And you know, he influences people. But you know where Satan is most
at work? In churches. In churches. He would love nothing
better than to destroy this work. But this is God's church. Right? I'm the pastor, but this is God's
church, right? We're all members of this church,
but this is God's church. And he's got angels, Satan's
got angels, or his ministers appear in his angels of light
all over the place. My oh my. Deceitful, it says
here. Deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. You ever hear somebody call themselves an apostle? They're
lying. There are no apostles anymore. You can label them right
there, a deceitful worker. People say, well, how can you
say that? Well, because the Bible says that. This word tells me about he who
is my life. And I'd rather tell someone the
truth than let them sit in that deception and think they're doing
OK. Oh yeah. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, look at
this, look at verse 15. Therefore, it is no great thing
that his ministers also be transformed as members of righteousness,
whose ends shall be according to their works. How do we identify
them? They add works to salvation. And it's subtle. I'm telling
you, it's so subtle. It's so subtle. Do you know this
whole decisional regeneration you hear me talk about? What
that is, is bow your head, repeat this prayer after me, right?
So number one, they're repeating someone else's confession, right?
And then the preacher says, well now you're saved. Where's the
Holy Spirit in that? Donny Bell said that to me one
time. We were talking about that. And he goes, where's the Holy
Spirit now? He was also talking about, you know how people say
that when the rapture happens, the Holy Spirit will be taken
out, right? That's one of the main things when they say when
the rapture happens, the Holy Spirit will be taken out. Donny
Bell goes, who's going to be saved then? How can anyone be
saved? It's impossible. Can't be saved
without the Holy Spirit. You see? So they've taken Holy
Spirit regeneration and replaced it with decisionalism. So who
has the power then? That's right. Over here, with
Holy Spirit regeneration, we're powerless. We have no power to
save ourselves, right? And that's scriptural, isn't
it? There's none righteous, no not one. There's none that seek
it after God. That's our state. Dead in trespasses
and sins. A dead man can't walk, a dead
man can't talk, a dead man can't even pray, can he? He can't. Or a dead woman, either way.
Can't do anything. That's how the Lord finds us.
That's why we need to be born again. We need life. Life. And then we're given faith
and we spend the rest of our lives saying hallelujah, praise
the mighty God who's, as Brother Tom said a long time ago, revealed
himself to me. Thank you, Lord, for revealing
yourself to me. Because I've never known you
before. And I'd still be groping around in the dark if it wasn't
being for the Lord revealed himself to us, right? All of us can say
that. And the false preachers, they
don't preach the finished work of Christ. They pervert the gospel. Paul tells us in Romans chapter
16, verses 17 to 18, he says, with good and fair speeches,
they deceive the simple. Listen to this. Now I beseech
you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions. in offenses
contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them."
We've seen Paul do that in this epistle, right? He's marked them.
And he's telling them, stay away from them and look to Christ.
That's what we've seen all through the first three chapters and
even into the fourth now. He just keeps building upon,
keeps building upon that truth, right? Look to Christ, look to
Christ. And then he says, for they that are such serve not
our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And by good words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the simple. You want to see these guys? And
I recommend it. It's hard. You won't last very
long. Turn the TV on. Isn't that talking about them
guys? What do they have to do? To fill the belly, right? I need
your money. And if you give me your money,
God's going to give you more money. Well, what's the natural
manner to say, I want more money? Right? And meanwhile, this guy's
laughing all the way home. Because he's not preaching God's
righteousness, right? Gospel preachers, we get up,
and we just love the Lord's people. We just want to preach the gospel.
We just want to preach the gospel. We're not after money. Not at
all. We just want to preach the gospel
to you. My oh my. I told the men in the church,
if we ever got to a point where the church couldn't support me,
I'll just go find a job to work at part time or something. I'm
not here for the money. I love that you guys provide
a home for us and a living wage. I love that, but that's not why
I'm here. I'm here to preach the gospel. That's what's most
important, isn't it? That's what's most important.
My. So these false teachers, they
pretended. You remember I said the one thing that Satan can't
counterfeit is the love of God in Christ, right? He can't counterfeit
that. So they're zealous, and they're
pretending that they love God's people, but really, they're in
it for their own gain. They're zealously afflicted,
affected, but it's not for the right things. Their gain is their
belly. They speak flattery to the men
and women of God. And they also speak, you'll notice
something, they speak a lot of themselves. They speak a lot of themselves,
about themselves. Now we who are God's preachers,
we might mention things that we went through in our lives.
That's applicable to the text that we're preaching. But these
guys, they exalt themselves before you. They exalt themselves before
you. And it gives them an excuse to
be proud of their superiority over others. I remember one time I was talking
to one fellow in church, and I asked him why he doesn't let
other people do things. He says, because they don't do
it right. You know, that left the worst
taste in my mouth. That was awful. That was awful. And I said, what do you mean
they don't do it? Well, they can't do it like me. Oh, man. Good thing I don't have a match,
because your pride has burned down the whole town, man. Right? I know I've got enough pride
in me to burn down the whole building, right? Oh, my. My, oh, my. See, let us never
get to the point where We feel superior to others. You know
why? Because we're just a bunch of safe sinners. We all need
Christ the same way, don't we? See? But these false teachers,
man, they will exalt themselves. And verse 17 says, they go even
as far as excluding you. Now to exclude someone is to
cast them out of the church. Or say, basically, it's my way
or the highway. Out you go. They would go that
far. Anyone who disagreed with them,
there's the door. That's not the right way to be,
is it? I've told you all, I want you
to be Bereans. I want you to search the scriptures
with what I say. I want you to be Bereans. And
if you see something or hear something that you think, what's
Wayne talking about? You come talk to me. Right? My oh my. See, they had a pretended meekness
before God. And they would exclude anyone
who disagreed with them, including Paul. Paul the Apostle. One of the greatest preachers
of the New Testament. And they're like, we don't want
him around. Well, why not? Because he's identifying
their error, right? He's saying salvation's in Christ
alone, not by doing something you do. As a matter of fact,
I remember you read Galatians 5 a few weeks, a couple months
ago, and it says there, if you be circumcised, Christ profit
you nothing. Nothing. There's no profit. And
that's what we're going to see in chapter 5. He's going to say,
there's no profit for you. Because there's no salvation
in it, beloved. There's only salvation in Christ. My, they're
going to cast out a true sent gospel preacher. The Judaizers at Galatia were
trying to exclude and isolate the saints from Paul. You know
why? Because Paul's telling the truth, right? He says, am I becoming
your enemy because I'm telling you the truth? So the false teachers
are like, oh, don't go around Paul. See, they're protecting
themselves, aren't they? Because Paul's going to expose
them just like that. By his preaching. And Holy Spirit will expose them.
God will expose them. By the preaching of the gospel.
My, oh my. So there's zero enthusiasm. We're not to turn the Galatians
to Christ, these false teachers. No, but to make them disciples
of their own perverted gospel. And then they'd have them under
their control, wouldn't they? And once they had them under
their control, they'd have an iron grip on them. My, you know what they're doing?
They're doing what the scripture says, making merchandise of men's
souls. That's exactly what that is.
Those false teachers on TV and those false preachers out there,
they're making merchandise out of men and women's souls. That's just so tragic, isn't
it? So tragic. Now let's look at verse 18. But
it is good to be zealously afflicted or affected, always in a good
thing, and not only when I am present with you. So Paul's bringing
forth here that it's a good thing for us to be zealously affected. It's a good thing for us to be
zealous about God. It's a good thing. My. And he says, when I was with
you, you loved me. My, and earlier in this chapter
he said, you even perceive me as an angel of God. And he's bringing forth that
now because he's absent, that should not change their attitude.
They should still be zealously affected. He says, remember though
I'm absent in the flesh, I am with you in the spirit, right? I told Sister Karen this morning,
I said, you know when I'm at West, In June, I'll be thinking
about you all. Happens all the time. Ask any
preacher, when they're gone away, who are they thinking about when
they're away? The family back home, their brothers and sisters
in Christ. My, oh, my. And Paul's saying, you ought
not to reject me because of my doctrine by which you receive
from God. He's telling the Galatians that.
By God in his grace and in his power through the Lord Jesus
Christ, again by the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit,
he says you should not reject me because of the influence of
these evil men who are perverting the gospel. Look at verse 18
again, but it is good to be zealously affected, always in a good thing,
and not only when I am present with you. Now again, godly zeal
for the Lord Jesus Christ is good. It's good. It's good to be excited about
the Lord. It's a good thing. And Paul's saying here, not only
when I'm present with you, but when I'm not present with you
too. It's good. It's good for us. Oh my. Now godly zeal for the glory
of Jesus Christ and the furtherance of his gospel is a very good
thing. I told Vicki on the way to church
this morning, I said I'm so thankful for the folks here because you
guys are so behind sermon audio and everything and the gospel
going forth and you rejoice and I said I'm so thankful for that.
And why wouldn't we be, right? But I'm still thankful for that.
that the gospel's going out into all these countries and the Lord,
here we are, a little grape and almond. It's wonderful, isn't
it? My, it gets us excited. And godly zeal has nothing to
do with flamboyant preachers who jump from pew to pew. Donnie
Bell said when he was a Pentecostal, he used to jump the top of the
pews all the way down and all the way back. I'm thinking, now
Donnie, how did you do that? He said he used to run the pews,
but he says it was all just an act. It was all just an act,
he said. And Godly zeal for the Lord Jesus
Christ comes from the heart, doesn't it? It comes from our
heart, beloved. A changed heart. And it can manifest itself in
our conduct, in our attitude, in our speech, because it always
gives a verbal testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's
done. Always. Always does that. Always. And why does it give Christ all
the glory? Because he's the only one deserving of it. Right? There
ain't no one else deserving of our praise, except for God. And Christ is God, the Holy Spirit's
God, and the Father's God, right? And so we give him all the glory.
And why does it give Christ all the glory? Because he purchased
our eternal souls with his redeeming blood. That's what he did. He
purchased our souls. Oh, and think of this, too. How
can we not be zealous when we think that God, Christ himself,
sent the Holy Spirit to us? Now we cry, Abba, Father. Now
we praise the name of Father. My, we're born again. Give us
faith to believe on Christ, and Godly zeal fills our hearts with
genuine love for Christ, too. Genuine love that we now have
that we didn't have before. I was talking to my daughter,
I just love to talk about Christ to people. Is it so for you too,
when the Lord opens the door? It's wonderful, isn't it? We
don't force the door open, but when he opens that door, it's
a joy to talk to people about Christ. It's a joy. It's a joy to come here and fellowship. I love it. We stay afterwards
just talking. Tom was telling me a couple of
weeks ago, they were talking about rendering after I preached
on that we were rendered innocent. You were talking to, I think
you were talking to Travis and Karen, weren't you? And you guys
said, there's a lot of work in rendering something. Well, yeah,
that was awesome. I was like, man, I wish I had
that from your message. But think of that. He rendered us innocent
by his work. by his work on the cross, right? So we have a great love for him
now, don't we? Great love, great zeal for him
now. My. And godly zeal moves us to assemble
together to rejoice as brethren under the preaching of the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace. And godly zeal causes our hearts
to burn with excitement. Excitement about who Christ is. And you know what? He's coming
back. He's coming back. Godly zeal
causes our hearts to burn with excitement for that fact, doesn't
it? He's coming back, beloved. He's coming back for His bride
one day. Praise His mighty name. Brother
Travis, can you close?