Open your Bibles if you would
again to Galatians. Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4. The name
of the message is, I besiege you. I besiege you." Now in this
section here, we're going to see Paul's heart for the Galatians. He's going to pour out his heart
for them. And the word besiege means to plead. So he's going
to plead with the Galatians. They're in grave error. Some
of them, not all of them, some of them in the church are in
grave error. They've followed the way of the Judaizers. And
note in this epistle too, he doesn't say they're not brethren.
He just says, today he's going to say, I'm afraid of you. That
I labored in vain. So now there he's starting to
say, he's starting to say, did the Holy Spirit do a work? I'm
afraid that he might not have, if you follow these Judaizers,
that he might not have done a work, that it may just be mere religious
profession. And of course that's not for
all the brethren in the Galatian church, that's just for the ones,
we have to remember this too, that this is written to all the
churches in Galatia, but the warning is for those who are
standing fast to continue to stand fast, But the warning is
to those who are starting to be swayed by the Judaizers. Starting
to be swayed back under a system of the law of bondage. And we'll
continue our study in here. This book is written to the churches
of Galatia, which is a Roman province. It's a Roman province. It used to be the Gauls were
there, and these are the Gauls who he's writing to. They were
tribal people split into many different tribes and regions,
and they actually united to fight the Roman Empire, but they were
defeated. It took years for Caesar and
his armies to defeat the Gauls, but eventually they overcame
them. And now Gal, or Galatia is now a province of Rome. And they also learned Greek. I remember reading about this.
They learned Greek. They established, they embraced the Roman culture.
So they started to do away with some of their older things, and
they embraced the Roman culture. They also embraced, they never
let go of their own gods a whole lot, because that was the way
they were back then. But they did embrace the cultural
aspects that helped them advance their society, such as the way
the houses, the architecture and things like this, roads,
Roman roads being built too, which allowed fast travel and
things like that. Now last week we looked at verses
8 and 9 where the Holy Spirit of God brought forth by the pen
of Paul that the gods which the Galatians were worshipping before
they were saved were no gods at all. They were no gods at
all. And the service they rendered
to those false gods was useless. And we see that here. Let's read
verses 8 to 12. And we're going to see that in
the first two verses. Halibate then, when you knew
not God, you did service unto them which by nature are no gods. So he's saying those gods you
serve, they're no gods. They're rock and stone. They're
figments of your imagination. And then he says, but now, after
that ye have known God, look at that, and a quick thing, quickly,
see that word halibate when you knew not God in verse 8? The
word know there is idol. It means to be aware. They were
not aware of who God was. Was that not our natural state?
We weren't aware of who God was, right? And then the word in the
next, in Galatians 9, the word for knowing there, twice used
twice, is genoske, which means to know. To know, an intimate
knowledge. So they were unaware of who God
was, and now they can perceive him. That's another underlying
definition of that word, genoske, to perceive. Now they perceive
him. It's true for us, right? We didn't
know God, now we know him. But more importantly, they're
known of God. That's the key part in this verse
here. Look, it says, but now that you
have known God, Gnoskod God, perceived Him, know Him, or rather
are Gnoskod of God, more importantly, God knows you. And He's known
us from before the foundation of the world, because we're His
sheep. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful. How turn ye again
to the weak, and beggarly elements wear until you desire again to
be in bondage. My oh my. See that word weak
in verse 10? That's strengthless in the Greek. So strengthless, they couldn't
save themselves in their natural state. Now they're turning again
to the strengthless things of the law, which cannot save them.
The law has no strength to save anyone. And then it says beggarly
elements there, that's destitute in the Greek. Absolutely destitute. Where unto ye desire again to
be in bondage, bondage there is slavery. So look at that. Strengthless, destitute, slavery
is what bondage under the law brings. He's saying, last week's message
was bondage again. Why are you going back to bondage?
Why go back to slavery when you've been set free? When you've been
set free. Then he says now, you observe
days and months and times and years, which was all part of
the law. I am afraid of you. lest I have
bestowed upon you labor in vain. Brethren, I besiege you, be as
I am, for I am as ye are, ye have not injured me at all. So
we see here Paul pleading with the Galatians. Again that word
besiege, brethren, notice he calls them brethren too. I besiege
you, I plead with you. I plead with you, he says, be
as I am, which is trusting Christ and Christ alone. Trusting in
the finished work. Trusting in the one who finished
the work, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because remember last week we
looked and I mentioned that salvation is Christ. Christ is salvation.
He is salvation. We trust in a man, the man Christ
Jesus. He is our salvation. He finished
the work of our salvation, but He is our salvation. He's the
one who saved us. Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Timothy chapter 4. Now, in these words, again, Paul's
concern of the Galatian churches is brought forth. He knew they'd
been infiltrated by the false teachers, and he says in verse
11 that he's afraid for them, lest he labored in vain. And
in 2 Timothy here, chapter 4, Paul had done before the Galatians
that which he had commanded Timothy to do, which was what? To preach
the gospel. See, in order to combat error,
we preach the gospel. we preach the gospel. And God,
he does, he does his will, and he does, he takes those words,
we gospel preachers, we preach the gospel, and somewhere between
you and I, the Holy Spirit gets a hold of those words, blesses
you with them, or saves. Isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful. But he does his will. And he
commanded Timothy to do what he did, to preach the gospel
in season and out of season, and to reprove and rebuke and
exhort with all longsuffering. Look at this, 2 Timothy chapter
4 verses 1 to 5. I charge thee therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
dead at his appearing and his kingdom. The Lord's coming back
again, isn't he? It says it right there, at his
appearing. And at his appearing, Right? It'll be very public. It won't be private. As we looked
at on Wednesday night, it won't be private. He's coming back.
Everyone will see him. No secret rapture. Everyone will
see him. Everyone. It's very, very public. And look at this. And he's going
to judge the quick and the dead. So people who say, I don't believe
in God. Well, you're going to see him. Right? And you're going to be judged.
by the perfect man, the man Christ Jesus. The man Christ Jesus,
oh my. And look at that though, and
is appearing in his kingdom, hallelujah. He's coming back,
beloved, he's coming back. Now look here at his exhortation
to Timothy. Preach the word. Preach the gospel. First thing he says, preach the
word, preach Christ. Be instant in season and out
of season. When you feel like it and when
you don't feel like it. That's what that is. When you
feel like it and don't feel like it, you still preach the gospel
no matter what. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering
and doctrine. I think the key in this verse
here too is long-suffering. How long-suffering is our God
with us? We're to be long-suffering to
one another, aren't we? Oh, it's wonderful. and doctrine. And that's speaking of Christ.
That doctrine speaks of Christ. So preach Christ. Preach the
word that testifies of Christ. Exhort, reprove, rebuke. And
I don't have to come up here and hit people on the head with
a hammer. I don't do that. That's the Holy Spirit's job.
All I'm to do is preach the word. Right? And when I come to a text,
I preach that text. Right? Not skip over it because
it might offend some folks. No. Just preach the gospel. Preach
it, right? And the Holy Spirit will teach
us and guide us. He will rebuke us. He will reprove
us, right? And He will exhort us through
the preaching of His Word. And He does it, right, with long-suffering,
doesn't He? He does it with long-suffering
for me. My oh my, it takes me a long time to learn something.
I'll tell you that. It does. I know the Lord's long-suffering
with me. And I'm sure he is with you,
too. Look at this. For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine. The time will come when they'll
say, no, I don't believe that. I don't believe that at all.
I'm going to go over here. They got music. They got all
this other stuff. They got all these other fancy
things. And they tell me all I've got
to do is make a decision. They won't. They won't. they
won't endure sound doctrine. I love what Spurgeon said, God
can save you without you moving a muscle. It's a hard work, right? But God uses the preaching of
the word, doesn't he? He uses the preaching of Christ
and him crucified. The problem is, not a lot of
places is preaching Christ and him crucified anymore. And trust
me, I've listened to a few. They're not. You know, someone
will say, oh, this guy over here, and I'll pull him up, and I'm
like, oh, man. I got a friend of mine, he's
always recommending me these different preachers, and I listen
to about five minutes, and I say, I gotta shut it off. There's
nothing there. There's nothing there. And I'm
not being high and mighty either, because you know I'm not like
that. If someone's preaching the gospel, I wanna hear it.
I want to hear it. I'm gonna rejoice if someone's
preaching the gospel. But if they're preaching what
I gotta do, or what someone's got to do, it don't take but
five minutes for me to shut that off. And so for you too, right? Because you just know that's
not right. That's not right. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts they
will heap to themselves. Teachers have an itch in the
ears. They want teachers that will
tickle their ears. Tom, I'll never forget what you said that
day we were out for breakfast and you said, the reason that
people recoil at what we gospel preachers preach is because we
don't bring anything to the table. That's exactly right. That's
so true. And I'm gonna keep saying that
because there's so much truth in that. That's why they won't
endure that preaching because it offends their pride. Surely
there's something for me to do. No, Christ did it all. That's
the wonder working power of God. That's what makes us rejoice,
that we're just receivers of this mercy and grace. And we
just go praise God for the finished work of Christ. He did it all. See, God's brought us low, beloved.
And that's what we want to hear preached, isn't it? That's what
we desire. We desire to hear that kind of
preaching. Oh my, we love it. And look at
this, he goes on and says, and they shall turn their ears from
the truth. We see that happening even now. And you see, this isn't
anything new. Sometimes we look and go, oh,
it's so bad now. It was bad then too, wasn't it?
You see, there's nothing new under the sun. There's nothing
new under the sun. my oh my we think well well surely
it was it was so bad they were there was so much stuff going
on and weird stuff you know how we're a roman society i won't
even talk about how roman society was and the things that they
did they were no different america's no different nothing new under
the sun absolutely nothing god's still sovereign yep Yep, that's
what we have to keep our eyes on, right? Now, should we pray
for our nation? Absolutely. Pray for our leaders,
pray for our nation. I really appreciated Neil last
week praying for the nation. It's so important. Brian does
it all the time too, and Tom, and all the guys do, Travis,
because it's important. It's important that we lift up
this nation. The reason we have the freedom is because God has
us here in America, where we now have freedom to assemble,
right? When so many other people don't. And that's a blessing
from God. So we pray, Lord, please keep
it that way. We know there's all kinds of stuff going on,
but please keep it that way. Keep it the most important thing
for us to meet, right? to hear the gospel, preach and
proclaim. Comforts our soul, doesn't it? Comforts our soul. Oh my. So he says, and they shall
turn away their ears from the truth and be turned into fables.
But watch thou in all things, and do afflictions, do the work
of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." Preach the
gospel, and preach it to them all. Zane and I were talking
about this yesterday. He goes, man, you preach to everyone.
I'm like, yeah, that's how it is, right? Preach to all of them.
We don't know who the elect are. I'm going to preach the gospel
to everyone. Say, sinner friend, come to Christ. That's all. You're
looking at a bunch of sinners here, just saved by the grace
of God, right? Come to Christ. Come to him.
Flee from him. He's the only hope for sinners.
Oh my. And those words there were the
last words that Paul wrote to Timothy before he died. Those were the last words that
he wrote. And Timothy was his son in the ministry. They were
like David and Jonathan, those two. They were so close. And he writes these words to
this young pastor. And he did the same for the,
he did the same for the Ephesians. If you look in the book of Acts
and his closing words to the Ephesian elders, he did the same
thing to them too. He exhorted them to keep, he
said, there's gonna be wolves come in. And you stand firm and
watch. See the preacher, we're called
to preach the gospel and to watch. And same with all of us are to
watch for errors in the church, right? We don't want anything
disturbing our unity, do we? And what unity we have now, it's
absolutely amazing. I was telling Norm the other
day, I said, my, the growth in the church is absolutely incredible. And the peace and the unity we
have become. We are joyful with each other. We stay after service
and talk. Zane was talking to a friend
of his and telling her how we either stay sometimes for an
hour, people said, and talking. It's wonderful. It's wonderful,
beloved. It fills my heart with joy, I'll
be honest with you. It does. It does. I love it. I love it. This is where we can
come and be with brothers and sisters who are going through
the same thing we are, right, in Christ. Same struggles, maybe
just a different form, sometimes exactly the same struggles. It's
just incredible. My, it's wonderful. And these
words that he writes to Timothy, they form a binding oath of every
faithful gospel preacher. As these words, the Holy Spirit
is the true author, and he makes an unmistakable assertion of
the duties of those who labor in the gospel, which is to preach
Christ and Him crucified. Preach the word, in season and
out of season, no matter what. Preach Christ. Lift Christ up
to your hearers, no matter what. And by God's grace, I'll try
to do that all the time. You know, we have right on our
bulletin, we preach Christ and Him crucified. That's so important. That's the main thing. That's
the main thing. Preaching Christ. And we preach
a risen Savior, don't we? My oh my. So we see Paul, how
much he loved these Galatian believers. And he was watchful
over their souls and he faithfully declared to them that the perfect
sinatoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he'd done it all.
And he calls them brethren. He calls them brethren. Now let's
look at verse 8. Look again. How about then when
we knew not God, or when you knew not God, you did service
unto them, which by nature are no gods. Again, the word no in
there is either which means unaware. They were unaware of the true
and living God. They had no idea who he was.
That was my natural state. Was it yours? Then look at verse nine. But
now after that you have known God, or rather are known of God,
how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto
ye desire again to be in bondage? So he's saying, why are you turning
back? And think of this, too. The Gentiles were never under
the law. Now, we're all under the law.
But the law was given to the Jews at this time, right? Even though we're all under the
law, that law was specifically given to the Jewish nation. So they weren't under it in the
sense of like the Jewish nation was, but they were under it in
God's eyes. But he says, why are you going
to go back to that? And again, but now after you've
known God or rather are knowing of God, how turn you again to
the weak and beggarly ailments wherein you desire again to be
in bondage? Again, knowing in the Greek is
ginoska, means to know, to perceive in intimate knowledge. Weak in
the Greek again means strengthless, beggarly means destitute, and
bondage means slavery. Why are you going back to that?
See, that's what people do who profess Christ or a believer. Now, I'm not going to say believers
can't get tangled up in this stuff, because they can. I'll
tell you what, they can. They can get tangled up in stuff.
That's why we're warned here. Right? Otherwise, the Holy Spirit wouldn't
have it this often if it wasn't possible for us to get entangled
in it. I'm not meaning stay in it, but we can get entangled
in it, can't we? And that's what happened. Some
believers got entangled in this stuff. And then look at this, he says,
you observe days and months and times and years. Verse 11, I'm
afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor and vain. Brethren,
I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as you are, and you have
not injured me at all. Now these believers were very
close to Paul. He had labored among them. in
the gospel, he had established these churches, so he knew them
personally, too. And we can tell the plea that
he's giving them that his heart is going out to them. He knew
them. He'd been in the trenches with
them, beloved. He'd seen them convert to Christianity,
and he had seen them persecuted for what they believed. He had
witnessed that. He had witnessed the ostracization
of them by their families and maybe by their employer, or maybe
refusing to sell. Say one was an idol maker saying,
I can't do that no more. My, oh my. What if he was the
only idol maker in town? He said, I ain't doing that no
more. Well, there'd be a lot of hatred
toward him, wouldn't there? Because he'd be like, I can't do that
ever again. My oh my. So they'd been treated, they'd
suffered for their faith after the Lord had saved them. And
Paul loved the people of God, so when they erred, he let them
know, and that's what he's letting these Galatian believers know,
that you're in error, the ones that are following the Judaizers.
You're in error. And he's only doing it because
he loves them. He loves them, they're God's people. My oh my. And because of this he was criticized,
he was misunderstood, he was misrepresented. Some of the Judaizers
had started to say, well, he's got no authority. That's why
he opens up the epistle by saying, I'm Paul, you know, and by Christ
I'm a preacher stating his authority. My oh my. And all through that
though, think of this, all through that, that being misrepresented
by the Judaizers and by some of the people turning against
him, he never stopped loving them. He never stopped loving them.
We're called to love our enemies, aren't we? No matter what. And we're called to forgive our
brethren 70 times 70. That's a lot of times. That's
a lot of times, and look what he's doing. He's putting that
love in action, isn't he? He's putting that love in action.
One grace preacher said, the greatest blessing that God can
give to any community is a faithful gospel preacher and a church
wherein the gospel is freely proclaimed and boldly upheld.
And the most terrible curse that can be bought upon any society
of man is for God to stop the mouths of his servants. How clearly
this is proven both in the word of God and in history. So Paul
doesn't want these churches to fall away. He wants the gospel
preached and proclaimed. That's his desire, right? For
the gospel to go forth and these believers to be edified and built
up in Christ. And they were blessed to have
a church. They were blessed to have preachers. Right? My oh
my. The Apostle Paul, he was a faithful
gospel preacher, wasn't he? He was faithful. That man was
faithful. My oh my. And he always set before
the church Christ and him crucified. Always. Every time he got a hearing,
he set forth Christ. And after he had left the Galatians,
because he was there starting the churches there, then these
false teachers had crept in. Teaching lies. My oh my. Let's read verses 8 to 12 again.
Again, he's writing to the born-again, blood-washed saints of God. And
he says to them in verses 8 to 12, Howbeit then, when ye knew
not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods,
but now after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God,
how turn ye again to the weak and beggary elements, whereunto
ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months,
and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I bestow
it upon you labor and vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as
I am, for I am as ye are, and ye have not injured me at all.
Now, Paul's perplexed because it seems like the Galatian churches
are ready to sacrifice the blessings of the gospel, which is full
redemption by the blood of Christ, right? They seem like they're
ready to sacrifice that for following these Judaizers. That's why I
say, why are you going back to bondage? You're free. You're
liberated. Why go back to slavery? Why go back to slavery? And remember
who the true author of these words is. Paul's just a penman. The Holy Spirit's exhorting them,
telling them, why are you going back there? Beloved, we're free. We're free
in Christ by the blood of Christ. We've been set free from the
bondage of our sins, from the bondage of workspace religion,
which we were all in trying to, and I guarantee all of us at
one time were trying to justify ourselves in our natural state. Thinking we were good. Oh my. We weren't good. But they seemed
ready to give up all this. They were now, Paul just said
before them that they're sons of God now. And because they're
sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son. Now they cry, Abba
Father. Remember he said all that before.
He said, you look like slaves and now you find out you're heirs
of God. You're ready to sacrifice all
that? Oh my. My, oh my. They were ready to
return to their former state of slavery. And Paul's heart
was breaking over this. I'll guarantee you, his heart's
breaking. One of the hardest things for preachers, and I've
talked to several different preachers about this, is when people leave
and they don't tell you why they left. It's heartbreaking. It's absolutely
heartbreaking. Because you have no idea. You
have no idea why. You think, what happened? What
did I do wrong? See? Gospel preachers take it
personally. Because we love you. Because
we love you. You're family. My oh my. And it's hard just to see people
leave sometimes. It's just hard. It's very hard. It's hard on the body too, isn't
it? It's hard on the body as well. My oh my. This body's experienced stuff
in the last 10 years, which has been incredible. And here you
are still. By God's grace and mercy, preach
Christ to me. Preach Christ. Just keep telling
me about Christ. Well, as long as I got breath,
I'll keep telling you about Christ. Oh, my. Lord willing. My. And so in verses 8 and 9,
Paul brings forth again what Christ has done for them. They
were idolaters at one time. They'd been saved by his free
grace and mercy in Christ out of the heathen idolatry that
they were in. My oh my. Listen to this. I'm going to
read something. This verse has always struck me because I see
myself through this and see if you see yourself before salvation
in this. And I love what Paul says. He's
going to say, and such were some of you. That's me. Listen to this. If you want to
write it down, it's in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 to 11. It
says this. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. What a list, right? We can see ourselves all through
there, can't we? Listen to what he said. And such were some of
you, Now listen to this, but ye are
washed. You're washed. But ye are sanctified. Oh, I love this. But ye are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Hallelujah. What a Savior. And such were we. And now we're
washed, beloved. We're washed clean in the precious
blood of Christ. Wash clean. Vicki and I were
talking about some stuff in our past the other day. And it was
stuff that we're not happy about. And you know what I said to her?
Bake a cake. I said, praise God. It's all
under the blood. We remember it, but God don't
remember it anymore. And we gotta keep reminding ourselves,
don't we? It's all, think of the most shameful thing you've
done. Not hard for us to think about those things, is it? All
washed under the blood, beloved. Cleansed. And don't remember
it anymore, if you can. It's gone. God says, I don't
remember any of your sin. None of it. No more. My son paid for it all. Oh my! We are the most blessed people,
I'll tell you what. And so these Galatians, they've
been delivered from all the adultery by the grace and mercy of God.
Now let's look at verse 9 to 11 again. But now, after that
you have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye
again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire
again to be in bondage? Ye have observed days and months
and times and years. I am afraid of you. lest I have
bestowed upon you labor in vain." Now Paul was shocked. We can
see by these words that Paul was shocked that these men and
women who had experienced such rich and bountilous grace at
the hands of God would now turn again from the riches of Christ,
which is what we have, we have the riches of Christ, back to
the bondage and to the elements of the law. The law is so weak. It's so weak. It's utterly incapable
of helping anyone. It can't bring joy, can it? No,
you look at the law and you think, oh my gosh, I'm doomed. It don't
bring joy. No. Some preachers call it the ministration
of death, which it is. It says the soul that sins, it
must die. That's what it says. Praise God,
Christ died in our place as our substitute. So it can't give
life, can it? No, it can only slay. It can't
give joy. It can't give joy. It can't give
peace. There's no peace with the law.
There are hearts in turmoil. My doom awaits me. And we're
not laughing about that either, right? It's true. It can't produce
righteousness, right? No. It cannot bring salvation
either. But praise be to God, we've been
saved by, and we've been redeemed by the one who has fulfilled
the law totally in our room and place. Totally, every jot and
tittle of it, he did it for us. And think of that, when he, here's
the God man, here's the Lord Jesus Christ, he's living his
life, he's totally pleasing God in everything he does. And he's
doing it for you and I, but also for a number no man can number. You know, when I start thinking
about that stuff, I just have to stop for a little while, because
my brain feels like it's going to just explode. But it's true,
isn't it? So he lived that life for you
and I as believers, but also all the believers, all the elect
of all the ages. And then when he died, he died
for all the elect of all the ages. Then when he rose again,
for our justification, he rose again for the justification of
all the elect of all the ages. Old Testament and New Testament.
There's no separation in the bride of Christ. I'll tell you
what, those Old Testament saints are the bride of Christ too. All the elect are the bride of
Christ. David, Joshua, Moses, People
say, well, the church started in the book of Acts. The church started in eternity,
when God chose the people in Christ. That's the elect of God. I remember reading the Spurgeon
Sermon on that, and then it just absolutely, it was called, if
you ever want to look it up, it's called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
It changed my whole view on that. He said all God's elect are from
the Old Testament to the New, and it was wonderful. It answered
a lot of questions that I had had. My, oh my, he's so, God
is so wonderful to us. And he says here, you observe
days and months and times and years, so they put themselves
under the bondage of the law. In the Old Testament, he's a
return to the Old Testament laws requiring Jews to observe certain
holy days and Sabbath days, which is brought forth in the Mosaic
law. And the Judaizers, again, were trying to impose these upon
the Gentiles, to whom such laws were never given. They were never
given to them. And it became nothing but legal
ritualism in human tradition. You know, that's the ruin of
man's souls. Legalism and human tradition
is the ruin of man's souls. Both of those things is awful.
So rejoice, we've been delivered from that. Now let's look at
verses 11 and 12. We see Paul's fear for the Galatians. But I
am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor and vain.
Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as you are. You
have not injured me at all. Notice the word afraid in verse
11. In the Greek that means to put to flight by terrifying.
He's terrified for them. You know why? Because this is
dealing with their eternal souls. Right? Preaching the gospel and
teaching the gospel is nothing to trifle with. We're dealing
with man's souls and women's souls. He's terrified. That brings out it even more,
right? He says, I'm terrified of you. My, oh my. It means to be struck
with fear, to be seized with alarm. He's alarmed and terrified
for them. And Paul, like every preacher
of the one true living God, knew that the servant of God never
labors in vain. We don't ever labor in vain.
Never. God's promised that his word
will not return unto him void. That's why he says, you not injured
me, you injured yourself. Oh my. He's speaking to those
who are following. He's not speaking to all the
whole church. He's speaking, he's writing to the whole church,
all the churches, but he's specifically speaking to those who are following
the Judaizers. Back to Moses. And he says, if
you persist in those ceremonies, ceremonies and human works, you,
you, you ruin the grace of God. You make it void and you're stomping
on the redemptive work of Christ. My oh my. And then they would prove, those
who truly went into that would prove that they were never saved
at all. Believers can't ever lose their
salvation. Right? Never. But there's some who hear,
but it's not really real. That's why we're to make our
election and calling sure, right? That's why we're to examine ourselves. You've heard me say that story
a lot, where that one guy told me I was saved because I went
to church with him years, and I said, I'm the only one who
knew if I was saved and I was lost. I was lost. I knew a lot
of doctrine, but I was lost. Praise God, he saved me now.
He saved me now. Let's close with Galatians 5. Galatians 5 verses 1 to 4. Look
at this. This is what we're to do. I love
this. I can't wait till we get to this portion. Stand fast. Right? We don't have to move
forward until the banner moves forward with the general. And
that's the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Stand fast. That's what
we're to do here. Stand fast. Right? Stand fast. What? Therefore in the liberty,
that's freedom in the Greek, freedom, wherewith Christ hath
made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
That's slavery in the Greek again. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. So
he's saying, if you're going to follow those folks, you're
disproving that Christ has never profited you. You were never
saved. Never saved. For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised, he is a debtor to do the whole
law. Look at that. You want to live
by one part of the law? You've got to live by it all.
Oh my. Oh my. Look at this. Christ has
become of no effect to you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you're fallen from grace. Praise God, we're justified
by Christ. And we say hallelujah, don't
we? Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ
for his mercy and for his grace. Dave, can you close us in prayer,
would you?