me again tonight to Galatians chapter 4. We'll be looking tonight at verses 12 through 20, and God willing, next week we'll look at the allegory that Paul finishes the chapter with. The title of my message this evening will be Paul's Request. Paul's Request. And you see his request in verse 12. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am. That's his request. Brethren, be as I am. We ended last week with Paul expressing his concern that those in the churches here of Galatia, maybe that his labor had been in vain.

And I mentioned what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 in verse 58, for as much as you know, your labor is not in vain in the Lord. A person who labors serving the Lord Jesus Christ, a believer, a child of God, Sunday school teacher, deacon, preacher, faithful church member, laborer, serving the Lord. Your labor is never in vain, serving the Lord. Whatever it is that the Lord gives you to do, whatever your hand findeth to do, do it with all your might, the wise man said. What Paul means here is, and I try to give this example, and I know some men that this would be true of, men who have preached the gospel for years in a particular locality, faithful men, and yet have seen very few converted, very little fruit for their labor. Their labor for those people to whom they minister, where they minister, for them, it's in vain, but not for the preacher. Not for the preacher, the person who labors in the Lord.

Our labor is never in vain. But you notice when Paul said in verse 11, I am afraid of you. Speaking of these believers in the churches of Galatia, professed believers, I should say. Speaking of them, things had taken place that caused them to make that statement.

I'm afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Now, his labor was not in vain in serving the Lord, but for the people of Galatia. For them, they didn't profit by his labor, by his ministry. It was in vain for them if they turned from the gospel of the free grace of God that he had preached among them, and embrace the teaching of these false prophets or teachers who had come among them trying to mix works with grace, then his labor for them would have been in vain.

Notice what he was concerned about in verses 9 and 10. This is a little repetition, but you turn to the weak and beggarly elements. That's what he was afraid of. After hearing the gospel of the free grace of God, now they're turning to the weak and beggarly elements, which we know the rudiments. of the law, the rudiments of the truth. And then he said, you observe days and months and times and years. And all of that, of course, refers to the ceremonial part of the law of Moses, the days and the months and the years and so forth and so on. You are observing that. They would mix grace and works. This is what these false teachers were teaching and bringing among them, to mix works and grace, which is an impossibility. Listen to this verse in Romans 4 and verse 16 and think about it.

Therefore, for all he'd said before in chapter 4, actually before that in chapters 3, and four of Romans, giving the example of Abraham. Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto righteousness. Gives the example of David. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Therefore, after giving those examples, it is of faith that it might be by grace. What does it mean, it is of faith? What is the it? It is a faith, it's justification. That's what he's dealing with, isn't it?

How man, as we've just finished singing, a sinner, how a sinner may be just with God. That's one of the oldest questions in our Bibles, in the book of Job. Job asked that question. And every thinking man should ask that question. How may I be just with God?

Well, Paul said, it is a faith that it might be by grace. Now, salvation is by grace. And if it's not by faith, then it cannot be by grace. If faith is a grace, you don't labor, you don't do anything. It's like, it's been illustrated, the empty hand, right? The empty hand, and someone puts a coin in it, a gift in the hand. The hand did not contribute anything to the coin. No, it came from the goodness of the person who put the coin in their hand. The hand just received it.

What a picture of grace. You know, God pictures grace in so many ways in the scripture. I was thinking yesterday about tasting. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. The sense of taste. Taste. That's one of the ways that he pictures faith, isn't it?

Look. You look at me right now. You're not exerting any work. You just look. I believe Brother Cody Groover illustrated that one time by saying that when a person awakes from sleep, he's been asleep, he just opens his eyes. He doesn't make a decision to open his eyes. He just opens his eyes. You know, they picture this as a decision for Christ. No, it's faith in Christ. When God grants faith, a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thought about the words, some of the words of the hymn that Augustus Toplady wrote many years ago. I don't know if you've read much about Toplady, but he was contemporary with John Wesley, and John Wesley lied about Toplady. He spread lies about him, saying, well, he's denied now that God's grace is sovereign, denied particular redemption and election. And the top lady was very, very sick and he somehow was able to drag his body to that church where he was a pastor and deny everything that John Wesley had said about him.

But anyway, in that hymn, the second verse, could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal, no languor, no, these for sin could not atone. Thou must save, and thou alone. In my hand, no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. And by cross, of course, he means Christ and his work upon the cross, didn't he? Later in this letter, Paul will say, God forbid that I should glory save and the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let's look at these verses tonight. Verse 12, brethren, I beseech you be as I am for I'm as you are. You have not injured me at all.

Paul would have these believers, these professed believers, to be as he was because he was like them. In other words, Paul confesses there was a time, there was a time in my life, he might say it like this, when I gloried in my obedience to these rites and ceremonies that you're turning to. There was a time in my life, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day. You know that list in Philippians chapter three. But when Christ revealed himself to the apostle Paul, he was able to say, I count all of these things but garbage, but dumb, that I may win Christ, that I may be found in Christ.

Be as I am, because I'm like you. When he said that, I believe we realized that most of the, many if not most of the members here were Gentiles. And they had never been under the law, the ceremonial part of the law of Moses. And Paul says, I'm like you. I'm like you. Be as I am because I'm like you. I've renounced that. And my hope is built on Christ and Christ alone. He saw that Christ had fulfilled the Levitical law.

All of those rites and those ceremonies, they were pictures, were they not? They were pictures of Christ. Once Christ has come, we don't turn to those pictures, no. Paul said he counted all things but loss, rubbish, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. To know Christ, to be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is of faith. The faith of Jesus Christ. He had become a Gentile with respect to these ceremonies. They didn't mean anything to him. At one time they had. They sure had.

But whether a person is a Jew or a Gentile, if he's a Christian, if he's a child of God, Both equally were chosen in Christ. Both were equally redeemed by the blood of Christ. Both have the same eternal life. And both have hope of glory, whether you're a Jew or Gentile, whether you had these ceremonial rights or not.

And then Paul said, you've not injured me. That kind of. It stands out, doesn't it, in that verse 12? Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am. For I am as you are. You've not injured me at all. What is he saying here? When you turn back, or turn to, not turn back for the Gentiles, but when you turn to these ceremonies, it's not me, it's Christ. It's Christ that you would injure. by denying that these ceremonies, these rites have all been fulfilled, complete in Christ. Let's read on. You know how, verse 13, you know how through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the first, and my temptation, which was in my flesh, you despised not, nor rejected, but receive me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

Where is then the blessedness you spake of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" Now, Paul wrote this letter We believe from Corinth.

He had been among the churches of Galatia two times, his first, his second missionary journey. You notice in verse 13, that word first, very last word. You know how through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the first. In other words, the first time that he had come among them, He was very sick.

Whatever this infirmity was, no one knows. And it's foolish to conjecture what it may have been. But we know that doesn't keep people from doing so. But I look at things like this. If God had wanted us to know, he would have told us. Isn't that so? If God had wanted us to know what this infirmity was that Paul suffered from when he first took the gospel among the Galatians, he would have told us. But we do know this, and we know it from the word of God, that generally, and this is still true in many countries and among many peoples, that if a person is sick, they automatically think that they've done something wrong.

They're suffering because they've done something against God. Remember the Jews, the disciples of the Lord. This is in John chapter nine when they went out of the temple and they passed by that man who was born blind. Remember what their question was? Did this man sin or his parents?

That was just generally the idea. If a person was sick like Paul was with whatever infirmity he had, then it must be that God was punishing him. the Jews and the Gentiles had this idea. Paul reminds them that even though he had come among them and he was sick, and that's generally the way people think about a person sick, that's not the way they received him. No, no. They received him as if he were an angel of God. as the Lord Jesus Christ.

The gospel message that he brought among them, what is the gospel message? It's good news, isn't it? It's good news, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And how did he give him? He gave him to be our substitute, didn't he? He gave him to be the surety of the everlasting covenant. He gave him to be the the sin bearer. He gave him to be the redeemer for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That's good news, isn't it? The good news isn't that you've got to do this and you've got to do the other. That's not good news. Why? Because we can't do what the law tells us to do. What's changed? What's changed? When I first came among you, you received me with open arms. And it wasn't because they received him necessarily, but they received him because he brought the gospel to them.

You know, I've known different ones over the years that have been saved under one man's ministry or another, and that man always has a special place in the heart of God's children. The man that God used. You hear me speaking about Ralph Barnard. I know God used him in my life, and I'll never forget that. I'll never forget that.

When I heard him quote a verse, Luke 19 and verse 10, for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. And he's going to seek and save everyone. He's going to find everyone that's lost and save everyone. And I realized for the first time, Salvation is not in my decision. It's in what God does for me, not what I do for God. It's good news. It's good news.

Paul said, you cared for me so much, notice in verse 15, that if it were possible, your eyes How precious is eyesight, right? I think about your mother. How precious is eyesight? How could you show your love and concern more for a person than if it were possible to give that person your eyes? And Paul said, that's the kind of love you had for me. That's the kind of concern and care you had for me. You would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.

Well, notice this question in verse 16. Am I therefore become your enemy? Because I tell you the truth. What does he have reference to? I believe he has reference to what he said before in this letter and what he's going to say. that he, as a friend, told them the truth. I was reading one of the writers this week, and he brought up the example of Nathan, the prophet Nathan.

He went to David. You know the story. Thou art the man. Was he David's friend? Sure he was. Now, did it hurt to have to tell David that? Probably did, no doubt. But God told him to do it. He proved to be David's friend because he didn't tell him a lie. He told him the truth. And that's what Paul is saying here.

What I'm telling you, do I have to become your enemy because I'm telling you the truth that you cannot mix works and grace? That's not the gospel. What you're hearing now is not the gospel, Paul says. No, you're listening to men who are trying to mix works and grace together, trying to point you to something other than Christ alone. And then verse 17, Paul exposes the false teachers.

They zealously affect you, but not well. Oh, they've got a lot of zeal. They show a lot of concern, a lot of interest in you. They zealously affect you, but not well. Yea, they would exclude you that you might affect them. In other words, their purpose Their purpose is to separate you from the influence of anyone else, especially from Paul and those who ministered along with him.

And as I thought about this, I thought about this is the way cults work. A cult. Have you ever tried to witness to a Jehovah's Witness, a false Jehovah's Witness? They won't listen to you. They will not listen to you. And this is just the way cults work. They try to separate a person from any place or anyone where they might hear the truth and just indoctrinate them in their lies.

And that's what Paul is saying here. They're zealous, yes, but not for the glory of God and not for your spiritual well-being. No, they're zealous that you might follow them, that you might seek them or yes, follow them. And then in verse 18, Paul, he doesn't condemn zeal. Notice in verse 18, but it is good to be zealous by effect it always in a good thing and not only when I'm present with you. He's not speaking bad about zeal. I think, I speak for myself, I could use more zeal. I love to see people that are zealous in serving the Lord, don't you? Zealous, but Paul said it's good to be zealous in a good thing. And it's good to be zealous, not only, they were zealous for Paul when he was there with them, but now he's gone, he's somewhere else, and they don't have that same zeal anymore for him.

That same love and compassion and concern. My little children. by whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. He compares here the work of a gospel minister to that of a woman, a woman giving birth to a child. All the sorrows and all the pain that's involved in giving birth, she has one desired goal. And that goal is to bring a healthy baby into the world. That's her goal. And she goes through all the pain and everything else that's involved. You ladies know what I'm talking about.

The afflictions that Paul You read in Acts chapter 13 what he went through in Lystra, Niconia. Remember how they drug him out of town one time? They stoned him and the brethren gathered around him and God raised him up. And I believe this is so true. The only reason they stopped stoning Paul that day is they thought he was dead. Now what was he guilty of? He had preached the gospel to them. There was a man there that was laying on his feet, and Paul healed him. He had the gift of healing. He was an apostle.

And the people, because of their superstitions, they said, Mercury and Apollos have come down among us. Let's sacrifice to them. And they were gathering up the what was needed to offer sacrifice and Paul, he stopped him and he said, no, we're men, we're just like you folks. We're just like you. And the same people who had desired to sacrifice to him then desired to kill him.

Why would Paul go through something like that? I said the other night when my wife was speaking to Robin and she was telling us, Robin Heller, about some of the things that have happened to them since they've been back. I said, only the love of Christ would cause a person to go into that situation and stay there. That's what Paul is saying. in preaching the gospel and everything I suffered, just like a woman, her goal, her desire, her object is to bring a healthy baby into this world. And that was my goal. That is my goal. That men might be saved, that men might know Christ, that men might be delivered from the wrath of God, which is going to come upon the wicked. That was my goal.

Now Paul says again, again. He had labored like that for them in the beginning, but now he says it's necessary to labor again. Notice, until Christ be formed in you. Notice that. My little children, he spoke to them as his spiritual children, and God had used him. and bringing the gospel to them and they had believed and my little children of whom I prevail and birth again until Christ be formed in you.

Salvation is not in a creed. You can know a creed. You can have a good creed. It's not in a confession. You can have a good confession. It's not in a ceremony. And isn't it sad, isn't it so sad that we live in a day when so many people are deceived into believing that the waters of baptism, sprinkling a baby's head, that they're born into the kingdom of God.

That's sad. Salvation is having Christ formed in you. Brother Mahan, Henry Mahan, in his comments said, to have the life of Christ, the presence of Christ, and the spirit and mind of Christ, and the very glory of Christ created and formed in us. That's salvation. It's not just walking down an aisle.

And the last verse, verse 20, I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you. Paul said, I wish I could be there with you and see you face to face. I could sit before you or stand before you and we could see each other face to face. That's what I wish, but it was not possible. He couldn't leave Corinth at that time. He said, I have doubts. I'd love to have those doubts removed by you clearly declaring your faith is in Christ alone, not in these ceremonies, these beggarly elements of the law. May the Lord bless this word.