Now you turn in your Bible once
again to Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4 and we'll
begin reading at verse 4. When the fullness of the time
was come, God had determined from all eternity the day, the
hour, the moment, the second, the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ appointed decreed by God Almighty. He sent forth the Lord
Jesus Christ. God Almighty manifest in the
flesh, made of a woman. Imagine that. God who inhabits
eternity inhabited a body of a man, the God-man mediator,
made of a woman, made under that law, His own law. He's the one
that had given the law, but made under that law, subject under
that law, and He came to redeem them from the curse of the law.
Notice it says, them. We believe and preach a particular
redemption, a definite atonement for God's people, God's sheep. To redeem them that were under
the curse of that law, subject to judgment and condemnation,
we stood guilty under that law. But He came to redeem us from
the curse of the law that we might receive this blessed adoption. Adopted into the family of God. He's made us sons of God by His
special sovereign election. We call that electing love. Electing love. Distinguishing
love. Adopted into His family. And
because you've been made sons of God, by His sovereign choice,
by His sovereign mercy. God sent forth the Spirit, the
Spirit of His Son into your hearts, Christ in you, the hope of glory,
and it causes us to cry in our heart, He is our Father. This One who is God Almighty,
Almighty God, sovereign over all thing creation, Providence
and in salvation this one who rules and reigns over all things
he is our father He's our father who works all things well for
us very well of him and through him and to him are all things
to whom be glory both now and forever verse 7 he says wherefore
thou art no more no more a servant but a son of And if a son, we've
been made an heir of God, a joint heir with the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been made an heir of God,
an heir of all spiritual blessings, all forgiveness, all mercy through
the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Seeing it is true that every
covenant son is made an heir of God through Christ Jesus,
no longer a servant of sin, We've been set free from the curse
of the law, no longer under the judgment of the law, no longer
seeking justification by the deeds of the law, but blessed
and accepted in the Beloved. in the Lord Jesus Christ, no
longer seeking salvation by the deeds of the law, no longer seeking
God's favor by what I do or do not do, but blessed of God to
find sweet rest and comfort and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. Now, that's what we have been
made by His sovereign grace. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Wherefore, no more a servant,
but a Son, a Son of God, an heir of God through Christ. This is
what we are by His grace, sovereign grace, sovereign mercy. And then
He gives us a stark reminder of what we are and what we were
by nature. How be it then when you did not
know God? Now, there was a time when I
didn't know the truth. There was a time when you did
not know the truth and the living God. There was one time we were
born in sin and death and ignorance, having no idea who the true God
is. How be it then when you did not
know the truth, when you did not know the true and the living
God, you may have been very religious. I certainly was. I was very religious
and lost. How be it when I did not know
God, I was still very religious and I did service unto them which
by nature are no God at all. I was a base, gross idolater
having no idea of the truth of salvation in Christ Jesus, had
no idea of who God really is. I'd never heard the truth. I
grew up in works religion and they had another God, another
Jesus, another Spirit and another gospel, not the gospel, of God's
grace in Christ Jesus. If you hold your place there
and turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and this is all of
us by nature, even if you weren't involved somehow in organized
religion, you were still left to yourselves, you were nothing
but an idolater of self, worshiping self rather than the true and
the living God. But He delivered us from that. Notice over here
in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Notice what he says here. Verse
1, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you
ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles,
unbelievers, carried away under the dumb idols even as you were
led. That sums up false religion,
dumb idols. who cannot save a flea. An idol cannot help us. An idol
cannot put away sin. A false gospel cannot help us.
It is the truth that sets us free. It is a God of truth that
sets us free. And he reminds us what we were
by nature. You did service unto them which
by nature are no God. He says again over here, don't
turn, let me just read it to you over here in Ephesians chapter
2. He reminds us, verse 12, that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens, idolaters
from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope, and without God in this world. That's us by nature. That's us as we are born, born
in sin, shapen in iniquity. You did service unto idols, which
by nature are not God at all. Now look at verse 9, but now,
there's that big word in scripture, but now, something's happened,
but God who was rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead and in sin. But now, after
that you have known God, or rather, are known of God, and here's
this question he poses to them. How do you turn again back, back
to weak and beggarly elements of the law? Back to the law.
Do you desire again to be back under legalism? Back under bondage? Back under ceremony? When Christ
has set you free, if indeed you are free, you want to go back
to that bondage? God forbid. You see the argument
here? God forbid. It is only by the
miracle of sovereign grace that we know the true and the living
God, that we've turned to God from our idols to serve the true
and the living God, and it's only by the grace of God. He
is the one who has made us to differ. Had not God intervened
in my case, I'd still be in the Rocky Mountains of northern Utah,
still worshiping idols and thinking I was pleasing God, seeking salvation
by the deeds of my hand, rather than through the merit of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Who made me to differ? He did. His sovereign mercy intervened,
and had He not intervened, I'd still be there today." It's grace
who has made us to differ. But now, after you have known
God, or rather, better still, are known of God, how do you
turn again back to these weak and beggarly elements? Now, we
do know Him. We can say with the apostle,
I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed unto him. We do know him, but I like
to talk about how not only that we do know him by grace, by revelation,
I like to talk also about how he knows us. Now, he's known
us a whole lot longer than we've known him. How long has he known
us? Well, from eternity. If you find over here In 2 Timothy
2, 19, 2 Timothy 2, 19, the foundation standeth sure,
the foundation of God standeth sure. What is that foundation
of God? God said, Behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation of stone, a tried stone. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God, it is certain and sure, having this seal, this certainty,
the Lord knoweth them, that are His. He knows them that are His. Let everyone that name the name
of Christ depart from idolatry, depart from iniquity, depart
from that which is dishonoring to Christ and dishonoring to
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preacher, are you saying
we should have nothing to do with false religion? Absolutely. Shun it like you would a plague.
Shun it and be done with it. We know Him only because He first
knew us from all eternity. We read about this over in Romans
chapter 8, don't we? Turn over there. Romans chapter
8, verse 29. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He called. And whom He called, them
He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. For whom He did foreknow, He
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn Lord among many, many brethren. Our Lord said of Jeremiah, Before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew you, and I ordained you to be
a prophet, to be a prophet unto God. You see what He's saying
here? Back to the text. But now, after you have known
God, we do know Him, the true and the living God, we do know
Him by His grace, we do believe Him, we do trust Him. But He
said, but rather let's talk about God knowing us in that covenant
of grace. How He's loved His people from
all eternity. How He has chosen us unconditionally
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that being so, we know him
and he knows us. And then he asked this valid
question. How can you turn from that? How can you turn from that? How can you turn again back to
the weak and the beggarly elements, back to the law? Where into do
you desire again to go back to legalism and back to bondage? Oh, the folly. the folly and
stupidity in gratitude to turn back to the law when you've been
set at liberty in Christ Jesus. Do you think the weak and beggary
elements can be compared to the power and glory of the gospel
in the Lord Jesus Christ? Make that comparison. The weak
and beggary elements to the glorious power and liberty and the salvation
we have in Christ. Is there any comparison? Not
at all. How can you go back to the weak
and beggarly element when you've been set free? The gospel is
the power of God and the salvation, not the law. The law does reveal
sin, but the law does nothing to remove sin, does it? The law
declares that it's guilty, but it does nothing to put away that
guilt. He says, verse 10, he says, you observe, you observe
days, certain days and months, that are spelled out under the
law of God. These days, Sabbath days, these
months, these times, these years, He said, I'm afraid of you, lest
I bestowed upon you labor in vain. You see all the laws fulfilled
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You talk about days, the Sabbath
day, the Lord Jesus Christ is a fulfillment of that. He is
our Sabbath rest. I'm not observing a Sabbath day. Every day is the Lord's day.
I rest in Christ. He is my rest. He is my Sabbath. And these months, these new moons
and the beginning of months for a special sacrifice, the atonement
and these other sacrifices, all these shadows have passed away
and now we have not a picture of atonement, we have atonement. We have substance, not shadow. We have substance in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our atonement. Turn over here, if you will,
to Colossians chapter 2. We don't look back to a shadow. We don't look back to the weak
and beggarly. We look to the person. Our Lord said, I didn't
come to destroy the law. I came to honor the law. Look
what he says here in Colossians chapter 2. I like this here. Verse 13, And you being dead
in your sin, and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." Blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, talking about the law, and took it out of the
way, mailing it to His cross. having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them himself." Is the word there. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of a new moon,
or of a Sabbath day. You going back under the law?
You observing days and times and years and months? No wonder
he says, I'm afraid of you, which are a shadow of things to come,
But the fulfillment, the body, the substance is Christ. Salvation in a person. The Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, I'm afraid of you. Thank
God we're no longer under the law. Turn to Hebrews 10. Hebrews
10. Dead to the law through the body
of Christ. No longer under the shadow. We
have the substance. We have the fulfillment of it.
Hebrews 10 verse 1. Christ paid our sin debt. Christ
has set us free. The law having a shadow of good
things to come, and it did. It was a picture of good things
to come. What are the good things to come? Christ. Blood atonement. The Lamb of God that takes away
our sin. The law having a shadow of good
things to come and not the very image of those things can never
can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year,
continually make the comers thereunto perfect, for then would they
not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshipers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sin. But in those
sacrifices there is remembrance again made of sins every year,
for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should
take away sin." Now let's look at the fulfillment of this. Find
Hebrews 10 verse 14. It says, "...for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." By that
one offering. There were many offerings under
the law, many priests under the law that never put away sin,
but this man, this man, look at Hebrews 10 verse Verse 10, Hebrews 10, 10, we'll
back up and read there, "...by the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices," here's that word again, "...which can
never take away sin." You want to go back to that, which can
never take away sin? and forsake the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the only one who can put away sin? You see his frustration
in seeing them defecting from the gospel back to the law? Oh,
but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool. For by the one offering
he had perfected forever, them that are sanctified." And he
says, verse 17, "...and their sins and their iniquities will
I remember no more." Now where remission of these is, there's
no more, listen, there's no more offering for sin. No more offering
for sin. To forsake this sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no other remedy. There is
no other Savior. There is no other gospel to forsake
this way. There is no other way of salvation. Christ is not a way, He is the
only way of salvation in Him. Christ is the end of the law.
Will you hear me? He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that trusts Him. Oh, that's good news. I like
that. I like that. Well, you know, people say, well,
if you don't give folks some rules and regulations that they'll
just live like they want to. Let me tell you something. God's
people do live like they want to. Their want to has been changed. Their want to is to serve the
Lord Jesus Christ, motivated not by fear of punishment, motivated
not by promise of reward, but motivated strictly out of love
and gratitude for Him. We love Him. And because we love
Him, we serve Him. That's what he's saying here.
You observe days, months, times, and years? Oh, not the believer.
We're not looking for assurance in days, times, months, and years,
are we? We're looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ who is enthroned, exalted. We look to Him to fulfill all
things and provide all things for us fully and freely and eternally
in Christ. No wonder he says in verse 11,
I'm afraid of you. I'm afraid of you. I'm fearful
for you. And I would be fearful for any
who at one time say that they have embraced the gospel of God's
grace in Christ Jesus and want to dabble in false religion and
dabble in that which is contrary to the gospel. I'm fearful for
those folk who try to justify those who are in false religion,
who try to justify them as being saved when they're idolaters.
Now let's just be plain about it. I'm not going to try to justify
someone who hates God and hates His gospel and hates His Lord.
Are you? That's contrary to the Scripture.
That's contrary to God. I'm afraid of you, lest I bestowed
upon you labor in vain. Now, God's servants never preach
the gospel in vain, but some Some who give an outward agreement
to it, they do in a way vainly believe the gospel instead of
steadfastly believing the gospel. But we don't preach in vain.
Paul's concern here is one of apostasy, departing from the
loyalty to the gospel. And that's what apostasy means.
It's defection from one's former loyalty, an apostate. an apostate
defecting from steadfastness in the gospel. Now here's the
great danger for these folks and for any. It's a great danger. Going back to the law was the
denial of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, wasn't it? To go
back to the law is a denial of the coming, of the sacrifice,
of the glory, of the beauty, of the successfulness, of the
victory that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a denial of the
gospel. Go back to legalism and back
to bondage. That's exactly what it is. Now
look what it says in verse 12, Galatians chapter 4, verse 12,
"...Brethren, brethren, I beg you, I beg you, I beg you. He still holds out possibility
that some of these people here were just temporarily sidetracked. He doesn't call them apostates.
He says brethren. He's thinking the best and hoping
the best and praying for the best, is he not? Brethren, I
beg you, be just as I am. Behold, be just as I am. For
I am as you are. You've not done injury to me.
I beg you, be as I am. What's he saying there? I am
what I am by the grace of God. Be just like me, a sinner, saved
by God's sovereign saving grace in Christ Jesus. Be just like
me. That's what he's saying. I want
to be just like Paul, don't you? A sinner, a chief of sinners,
saved by the grace of God alone. And then he said, do as I do,
counting everything lost, that I might win Christ and be found
Him not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ Be as
I am do as I do and I am as you are Dead to the law through the
body of Christ seeking no favor Seeking no righteousness by the
deeds of the law in Christ resting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone
And then he says you've not harmed me. I Rather, you've called into
question the wisdom of God." Isn't that what he's saying there?
You've not injured me. You've not questioned me. It's
God that you've offended. You've called into question the
very wisdom and glory of God. If righteousness is by the law,
then Christ is dead in name. You remember the argument from
Galatians 2.21. You've sinned against God by
trying to add to the completed salvation that's in Christ Jesus.
What a sinful thing to do. Trying to add to the Lord Jesus
Christ by something I do, something I have merited or some righteousness
that I have. Do I add that to the Lord Jesus
Christ and make salvation complete or salvation complete in Him
alone? The Scriptures teach this. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily and in Christ we are complete. My faith does not add to salvation
in Christ. Faith simply receives the Lord
Jesus Christ who is everything in salvation and we rest in Him. My faith doesn't complete salvation. My faith doesn't make His atonement
effectual. My faith which is God-given,
receives Christ Jesus as everything in salvation. You've not done
injury to me, but you have insulted God." You see what he's saying? Now, verse 13, he said, you know,
you know this. You remember this. He's reminding
them. He said, you know how through
the infirmity of my flesh, verse 13, I preached the gospel unto
you at first. At first. Paul was the first
one that came in this area of Galatia. He came preaching one
thing. Remember He said, I'm determined
not to know anything among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
He preached that message showing and proving and alleging that
the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the Christ of God, the one that's
promise of God, the one that's sin of God, and He did come and
He did fulfill all righteousness. of the law, that He did put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself, that He is a victorious Lord,
exalted and seated enthroned in glory. He is a successful
Christ. Now hear Him and bow to Him and
believe Him. And some of those folks were
given grace to do just that. You know how through the infirmity
of my flesh, the weakness of my flesh, I preach the gospel. And there's just one, the gospel
unto you at first. The gospel of Christ preached
unto them was the instrument, the instrument and the means
that God used to draw them. It wasn't the power of Paul.
Paul wasn't a powerful speaker, an eloquent man. As a matter
of fact, he discounts all that if you turn back over here to
1 Corinthians chapter 2, remember? He says, you didn't despise my
weakness, my infirmity and my flesh. You see, it's not the
oratory ability of the preacher that's the power of God and the
salvation. It's the gospel itself that's the power of God. It's
the Word of God itself that's the power of God and the salvation.
I Corinthians 2, 2. I Corinthians 2, verse 2, "...I'm
determined not to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and
in fear, and in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the demonstration,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Now, how do you
preach the gospel in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power? Now,
I know what religious folks say, well, that man really preached
in the demonstration of the Spirit. If he's not telling the truth,
he didn't preach that way. He got exercised up in the flesh
and he got worked up in the flesh, but that's all he did. How does
one preach the gospel in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power? Simply
telling the truth of God. Truth of God's Word. The truth
of salvation. That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, in the power of men, but in the power
of God. The power of God. Your faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. See what he's saying here? Now
back to the text. Galatians chapter 4. You know
how through the infirmity of the flesh I did preach the gospel
unto you at first. And many of them believed this
gospel of God concerning thee, Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what the gospel's all about. The gospel's not about you. The
gospel's about Him. It's Him. It's all about Him.
But verse 14, in my temptation or my weakness, which was in
my flesh, you did not despise me, you did not reject me, but
you received me as a messenger of God, even as you would the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That's saying a whole lot. That's
saying a whole lot. At one time they had such appreciation
and interest in the gospel They looked over his weakness, over
his firmities of Paul's flesh. They rather received him as a
minister of God, with a message of God, as an ambassador of Jesus
Christ. But something happened. Verse 15. These enemies of the
gospel came among these people, and the first thing they tried
to do was discredit Paul. They said, he's not really an
apostle. He really wasn't sin of God. He didn't have the message
of God. Where then is the blessedness,
the happiness that one time that you spoke of? What happened? For I bear record at one time
you would have plucked out your own eye if it had been possible.
You would have gone to great length and great sacrifice to
have the gospel to continue with you. Where's that blessedness? Where's that happiness that you
used to rejoice in and to speak of? For I bear record that if
it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes.
I think that's maybe why some people think that Paul's infirmity
in the flesh was his bad eyesight. But I don't know that's the case.
It may have been, but it doesn't really matter. But the point
he's making is this. You would have gone to great
lengths, even so much so, to pluck out your own eyes. That's
saying a whole lot, isn't it? Cut off your right arm and give
me your right arm for the gospel. But he says something happened,
something has happened. Verse 16, "...Am I therefore
become your enemy from one who was so highly esteemed as a friend,
as a brother, as a minister of the gospel?" And now they counted
Paul not as a friend, not as an ambassador of Christ, but
they counted him as an enemy? But what a change! What a stark
change! I tell you what, I pray God would
never let this happen to us. I'm fearful, I'm fearful that
some folks have heard the gospel and have believed in Bain. I've
seen folks over the years, I've not been at this but 20, 25 years,
but I've seen some folks over the years who seem to embrace
the gospel and who seemed to rejoice in the gospel for a while,
and by and by they get interested in something else. Did they ever
really truly believe the gospel? No. They just simply got religious
for a while. Am I therefore become your enemy
because I warn you to remain faithful to the gospel because
I warn you to keep on believing Christ and resting in Him. Am
I become your enemy because I simply tell you the truth? Do you now
count me as an enemy? It is because I'm concerned for
you that I tell you the truth." False preachers no doubt labeled
Paul as an enemy, a troublemaker. He's a troublemaker. But Paul's
attitude is this, friend or foe, I'm determined to tell you the
truth. If you count me friend or foe,
I'm not going to change my message. It doesn't really matter what
you think of me. I hope you appreciate the gospel. I think you do. But friend or
foe, I'm going to tell you the truth. See what he's saying here?
And that's the determination of God's preachers. We don't
adjust our message We don't adjust our message to suit the folks.
God help us if we do. He says over there in chapter
1, if I preach the gospel to please men, I'm not His servant. We don't adjust our message for
different crowds. We don't preach one thing in
Pikeville and come up here and preach a different message. It's
the same message, the message of Christ and salvation in Him.
Now verse 17, I've got to quit. I'll look at these next two verses
just for a few minutes. They, these who would discredit
Paul and discredit the gospel, they have these Judaizers, these
false preachers, and I tell you, the woods are full of them. It's
no different in our day than it was in Paul's day. The woods
are full of preachers, false preachers. There's a few of God's
servants around that have been given grace to tell the truth,
but They zealously have affected you, but not well. It's not been well. Yea, they
would exclude us that you might affect them. Now what's he saying
here? These false preachers, with much
zeal and enthusiasm, have certainly affected you, but not for good,
but for bad. They would shut us out, that
you might be taken up with them. And that's their whole idea.
Their whole idea. I had a dear lady. It was part
of our congregation for 20 some years. And she seemed to embrace
the gospel. I want to think that she did. But when she got sick a couple
of years ago with dying with cancer, and these false preachers
prayed on her, and finally convinced her of being baptized in water
to be saved. And they took her in the hospital
as she was dying and took her and put her in the baptistry
and told her now that she was really a child of God and her
sins were washed away and all this and all this. It broke my
heart. It broke my heart. But these people, here's what
their motive is. She died Friday morning. Funeral
was today at one o'clock. And at one point she called me
to her house, this was a couple of years ago when she first got
sick, and she gave me all her funeral arrangements and wanted
me to conduct a funeral, even gave me the points of the message
to talk about the general call and the effectual call and the
call of going home to glory. But here's the motive of these
false preachers, and here's what they did. When she died, and
I read the obituary in the paper yesterday, and here's their motive,
here's their goal. They used her death to raise
money for their building program. That's wicked. That is wicked. Not only doing what they did
to her, convincing her, and pressuring her, and button-holing her, and
putting the screws on her to convince her that I'm a false
prophet, and that they need to baptize her into their church
in order to receive salvation. That's bad. That's wicked. But to use that lady and her
death to promote their financial gain is wicked. Wicked. And that's exactly what they
did. Don't send flowers, send money. Well, I didn't send either. I didn't send either. I couldn't.
Look at verse 18. It is good to be zealously affected
always in a good thing. Not only when I'm with you, not
only when I'm present with you, but it's always good to be zealed,
be full of zeal and enthusiasm for the gospel. It's always a
good thing. It's always a good thing to have zeal for the gospel.
It's even commanded of God to be committed to the gospel, to
the cause of God's gospel and God's truth at all times. Not
just when I'm in town, not just when the pastor takes notice,
the Lord knows all things, he looks on the heart. There is
not a word, David said in Psalm 139, there is not a word in my
tongue, but lo, O Lord, you know it all together. And Hebrews 4.13, all things
are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have
to do. But it is good to be zealous
always in a good thing, in a good thing. not just when I'm present
with you." God's people are. They are zealous for the gospel,
for the cause of God and truth in Christ.