Preventing a Trespass

We are doing a verse by verse study through the book of Galatians, and as we continue in our study of this book, we come this morning to Galatians chapter 4, verse 11, essentially, and, my goal this morning is to cover verses 11 through 20. And I'm going to warn you guys ahead of time that this message is going to be, something of a downer. the title of the message is an apostle in Agony. An apostle in agony, and by the time we are dismissed this morning, I promise you that you will feel, all of us will feel some of this agony of the apostle.

Paul, as he is writing this section of the book of Galatians, makes a confession to the Galatians that reveals something. Of how he is feeling, he says in verse 19 of chapter 4, I am in labor. Paul reaches for the most painful metaphor that he can think of, and all God's women said, amen, and says to the Galatians, this is what I am feeling. And, and, and I think in a sense Paul is experiencing these pains of labor throughout the entire letter, but it's especially in this section that we notice a Change in Paul's tone.

Beginning in verse 11 through verse 20, Paul moves from talking theology and talking gospel and reasoning and presenting propositional truth about the gospel, to get very personal in this section. and everyone who studies this passage makes note of this. if you look in this section of all the times you see the pronoun I, my, or me, and all the times you see the pronoun you, you would say that this is clearly the most personal, Emotionally intense sections of the book of Galatians.

So if Paul is in labor as he's writing Galatians, the labor pangs really intensify in this section of Galatians.

And one of the things I've noticed, I am married to a woman who's had 4 children, is that when a woman is in labor, she speaks differently. she behaves differently. she speaks to her husband differently than she does when she is not in labor. We have a relative, for example, who, when she was in labor pains at the hospital, she physically, beat her husband and, was upset with him for doing this to me, she said.

so, but see, when a woman does that, If she's in labor, somehow we make allowance for that, because we understand that there is terrific pain that is being experienced. And so, as we come to this section of Galatians, we're, if Paul is saying, I am experiencing spasms of pain, we're not surprised that in this section of Galatians, he speaks, differently. We're also not surprised if he's truly, Experiencing spasms of pain. To hear him read in Galatians 5:12, I wish those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.

Paul is angry, he is upset. He is in the midst of spasms of pain as he writes Galatians and especially in this very intense and personal section of the book of Galatians. And so you ask, what is it that is causing, Paul, these spasms of pain, and the answer is a different gospel. It really upsetting Paul as he writes the book of Galatians, and namely the Galatians attraction to this different gospel is extremely painful for the apostle Paul, whose life was given over to the declaration.

Of the true gospel. He says in Galatians 1:6, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him, speaking of God for a different gospel. In chapter 1 verse 8, he speaks of a gospel that is contrary to what we have preached. In chapter 1, verse 9, he speaks of a gospel that is contrary to what you have received.

And this is troubling to Paul that the Galatians are being seduced by this different, gospel. And guys, if you learned nothing else this morning, at least learn these two things that in the 1st century and in modern times, there are other gospels out there. All right. There is the one true gospel of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, where we look at Christ's donation to our salvation and say, I'm not going to add anything to that, because that's all that needs to be donated.

And so I will simply place my faith in him to be my savior, and I will be saved by him and not by my own works of righteousness. That is the true gospel. But there are other gospels out there in the first century, and in our day that include Jesus in their message, but they add to Jesus works, or contribution. Contributions that we make in addition to what Jesus did to our own salvation.

We need to be alerted to this fact that there is the true gospel and there are other gospels out there being preached by those who claim the name of Christ. And we also should learn from Paul's example that it should matter to us which gospel people are believing. We shouldn't say, well, they're naming the name of Christ and I applaud that, and so I'm not going to say anything against that. All gospels are beautiful as long as they include Christ.

Was that Paul's mindset? No. If you preach Christ, but you added something to faith in him in order to be saved, Paul says that's a different gospel, that's a twisted gospel. That is the gospel contrary to what it is that I preach, and Paul was extremely concerned over that.

I, I received this week a gospel tract in the mail. I mangled it because I had it in my pocket. which way are you traveling? And I thought, well, I'll read this and see what they say is the way of salvation.

They start off in this brief tract with a story, and the whole theme of it is which way are you traveling? Are you traveling towards life or traveling towards, destruction. But listen to their way of salvation. The road to heaven requires a fundamental change in our thinking.

We must repent of our past sinful behavior and commit ourselves to follow the restricted highway. Of holiness. So, if you want to be saved, You repent of your sin and commit yourself to walking on the highway of holiness. I'm reading it.

I'm going, where is Christ? And so, a paragraph later, I rejoice to see his name mentioned, but listen to what they say. God sent Jesus, His Son, to live here on earth as an example of how to walk the road to heaven. He demonstrated a life of holiness.

And they never say anything in this crap about the greatest contribution Jesus made, and that was the giving of Himself in death. I can just imagine Jesus reading this, and he's like, Aren't they going to talk about what I did? Aren't they going to talk about the greatest sacrifice that I made, but it's nowhere in this tract. The focus instead is on you to walk a path of holiness.

This is a different gospel. Also, another example, several months ago, I was doing some research on the Eastern Orthodox Church and, I was on a website that, presented itself as an official, website for the Orthodox Church in America. And, I was reading their theology and I also, in doing that was looking for somewhere on the website where they explained what a person needed to do to be saved. I could not find, that question answered and so I wrote to a guy on that website, the communications director of, the Orthodox Church, and I sent him an e-mail, and in the e-mail, I asked him this question.

I have been reading your website and cannot find the, Answer to the question, what must I do to be saved? Could you answer this for me or direct me to where the question is answered on your website? Thanks so much. All right.

I figured that's a safe question to ask, right? the, the question is asked in the Bible. It was answered in the Bible. and so this is the safest of all questions to ask.

What must I do to be saved? Well, a few days later, I got an email reply from This man and in his reply, he says this, Orthodox Christianity, unlike Protestantism, does not dwell on this particular question. And as much as Christ promises that as the savior, he will indeed save those who love God with their whole heart, mind and strength, and love their neighbor as themselves. So he would say, Jesus is the savior, and he will save you if you love God with all of your being and love your neighbor as yourself.

What did Jesus say? Jesus said, if you wanted to sum up the whole law, it's in two commands. Love God with all your being, love your neighbor as yourself. Essentially, the message of this man is if you want to be saved by Jesus, you must fulfill the moral law of God.

He goes on to say, we do not fret over what do I need to do to be saved, understanding that as we confess Christ as the Son of the living God who came into the world to save sinners, and as we live according to what he clearly outlines in Matthew 25, He as Savior will lead us to salvation. Christ. Clearly shows us in his words in life, how we are to live, and he promises that if we live accordingly, he will save us. Hence, we focus on living as Christ teaches us to live, and let him deal with saving us, since he is the savior, and that is what he came into the world to do.

I find it interesting that he began by saying, we don't fret over this question. we don't dwell on this question of what must I do to be saved, but by the time he's done with his answer, he's given a list of things that we need to do to be saved. We need to love God with all of our being, love our neighbor as ourselves, confess Christ as the Son of the living God, live according to Matthew 25, and live according to the words. Example of Jesus.

That is his answer to the question, what must I do to be saved? In his entire reply, nothing was said about the cross. Nothing was said about Jesus' donation of himself in death, dying for us in order to be our redeemer. Nothing is said about faith and believing.

in him. Now, in a, in a way, faith is implied when he says confess Christ is the Son of a living God. But as far as faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross, nothing is said of that. Now, compare his reply to Paul's reply.

The Philippian jailer says, what must I do to be saved? And what does Paul say? Does he say, well, we don't dwell on that particular question? No, he doesn't say that.

Paul says that, the first thing out of his mouth, believe, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. His point is, you can't do anything. You want to know what you can do to be saved. You can't do anything to save yourself.

All that is left for you to do is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And in believing in him, you will be saved. That is the gospel. In Romans 4:5, Paul says, now to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

In Galatians 2:16, Paul says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be. Justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, since by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. See how redundant Paul is? He would say, how, how much more clear can I be that we are not saved by works that we contribute, but only by faith in Jesus.

That's why Paul begins Galatians, after his introduction to. by getting the Galatians to focus on Jesus, he says, Christ gave Himself for our sins so that he might rescue us. Paul is like, you guys are thinking about what you can donate to your salvation and be circumcised and do these Jewish regulations. I want to start my letter by having you look at Jesus and look at what he donated toward your salvation.

And that was his infinite self in death. And guys, as long as our eyes are fixed on Jesus, and what he gave towards our salvation, we will be forever cured of ever thinking that we should donate anything in addition to that. No one fully looks at Jesus, his infinite beauty, his infinite glory, holiness, and love, and perfection, and sees the giving of himself and death. No one looks at that and says, I think I need to add something that I can contribute.

Anyone who thinks they can add something is not seeing the glory of the contribution of Christ to their salvation. But the Galatians were being bewitched. They were under the spell of a false gospel that said, Yeah, believe in Jesus, but be circumcised and follow some of these other Jewish regulations that are found in the law, and you can then truly be saved. And so the Galatians were deserting God for this different gospel that they were enamored by.

Some of them. We're beginning to observe days and months and seasons and years on the Jewish calendar, feeling like they had to do this in order to be saved. Their attitude towards Paul has dramatically changed. They now view Paul as their enemy, and they are wanting to be under the law.

They're actually attracted to this gospel that includes Jesus and the law, and they're wanting to be underneath the law back in bondage to the law. And so Paul is In labor over this. He's experiencing spasms of, of pain and grief over this. And Paul, essentially, here's what I want us to look at this morning.

We see 6 responses of Paul to the wayward Galatians who are being seduced by a false gospel. 6 responses of Paul to the Galatians. And the first response is, we're going to cheat a little bit. The first response is not found in this particular passage, but it's everything that has led up to this passage.

The first response, Paul to the wayward Galatians being seduced by a different gospel as he repeatedly speaks the true gospel to them., in chapter 3, verse 1, Paul says, who has bewitched you? He says, it's like you were under the spell. You guys have been hypnotized. And so it's as if these Judaizers are dangling their false gospel in front of the eyes of the Galatians, and the Galatians are mesmerized by it.

Paul, in writing Galatians, is squeezing himself in between. The Judaizers and the Galatians, and he wants to dangle the true gospel in front of them, to break the spell of the false gospel, because the gospel has the power to do that. And chapter one, like I said, he starts talking about Jesus, what Jesus has given, given Himself for our salvation. He repeatedly talks, even to the point of being redundant, that we become righteous before God by faith in Him, just like Abraham, completely apart from works that we might contribute.

We are not justified by the works of the law, but only through faith in Christ Jesus. Jesus died. He died to redeem us. That is what saves us.

And even as we saw last week, let's just review this very quickly. He says to the Galatians, four gospel truths, God sent His Son to be your redeemer, to redeem you from your former life of slavery. God sent Christ so that you could adopted as God's Son, and then God was not content to just redeem you and not content just to adopt you. God knew that left to your own devices, you would never have a clue about the fullness of the glory of what it means to be a son and to have him as your spiritual heavenly Dad.

And so God sent the Spirit into your life and into your heart so that you could experience the fullness of your sonship and be left exclaiming, Oh, Abba, Father, And in chapter 4, verse 7, he says, God made it happen that you are heirs of even greater glories than what you have already experienced. Now think about this guy. He says Paul presents the gospel and the passage we looked at last week. Look at his language, verse 4.

When the fullness of time came, God, that's the subject. God is the actor. He is the initiator. God sent for His Son.

God is the one. who gave his contribution to our salvation, and what he gave was His Son. And then look at verse 6, because you are sons, God, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. So God donated his Son, God donated his Spirit towards our salvation.

Look at verse 7. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, you are an heir, Through whom? Through God.

And that's how it ends. It begins, Paul's gospel presentation begins with God, who is doing all the acting and all the contributing, and it ends with God. Salvation comes from God, and it is accomplished through God. It is God, who is the alpha and the Omega of our salvation.

He is the one who has accomplished it. And Paul is seeking to dazzle them with the glory of God, who is the actor in our salvation to where the only thing left for us to do is say, I believe. I trust in him and in his son and the work that he has done to accomplish my salvation. So, Paul repeatedly speaks to them in this letter of the true gospel.

There's a second response of Paul to these wayward Galatians being seduced by a false gospel, and that is he lets them know that there is cause to be afraid. He lets them know that there is cause to be afraid. This is what sets him off on this emotionally charged section of Galatians. He says in verse 11, I fear.

For you. Paul was afraid and he tells them so. I am afraid, he confesses to them. I am, I am experiencing fear right now, and what I'm fearful about is I am afraid for you.

Part of what he's saying is I'm afraid about the direction you're heading for your own welfare, but he's also saying, I fear for you. In other words, you guys don't seem to have the sense to fear and be afraid, so I'm going to be afraid for you. Parents, what that's like. With your, especially younger children and even sometimes older children, they don't have the maturity in the sense to be properly afraid of things that they should be afraid of.

Somebody, though, needs to be afraid for them, and it is up to us as parents to be afraid for them and to express that so that we teach them to fear and be afraid of the things that they should be afraid of. The Galatians, they were just moving right towards this different gospel, and they're not even afraid at all. And Paul says, someone's got to be afraid here. I am afraid.

I am afraid for you. And then look at this. This is very unsettling. He says, I am afraid for you.

I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. My fear is ultimately that my ministry to you was for nothing. A complete waste of time without any value, without any profit at all. Completely in vain.

Paul in chapter 5, I'm going to read this and I know it may unsettle some of you to, to hear this read, and many of you are going to go, Pastor Milton, explain this. What does this mean? I'm not going to explain it today, but we're going to get to this passage in a few weeks, but it, it at least alerts us to the fact, of, of some of the things that Paul was afraid of for the Galatians. He says to them in Galatians 5:2, behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit.

to you. In other words, Christ will be of no saving benefit to you. And then he says, you have been severed from Christ. You who are seeking to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace.

Here's the three things Paul is terribly afraid of, that they will make decisions with regard to this different gospel, to where Christ will be of no saving benefit to them. They will be severed from Christ by virtue of the decisions they make, and they will have fallen. From grace. And you say, well, Pastor, does this mean a believer can lose their salvation?

I told you not to ask. We're not going to get to that today. We'll get to that in a few weeks. But guys, just understand these three things are bad things.

They are things legitimately to fear on behalf of those who are believers that are being seduced and brought under the spell of a false or a different gospel than the gospel of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. And so Paul is afraid and he tells them so. There's a 3rd response of Paul to the wayward Galatians, and that is he begs them to become as he is and to be free of bondage to the law. He begs them to become as he is and to be free of bondage to the law.

Look in verse 12. Paul says, I beg of you. This denotes passion. I am begging of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are.

Now, what does that mean? What Paul is conveying is there was a time where I was very much unlike you. I was a Jew. You were Gentiles.

You were living without any thought of the law. You were not living under the bondage of all the ceremonial aspects of the law and trying to to live in obedience to the law and all of its provisions and regulations. There was a point where you were. Completely free of the law without showing any regard to the written law of God.

I, however, was over here as a Jew, living in slavery to the law in bondage to the law, seeking to be righteous before God based on my obedience to the provisions in the law. However, I met Jesus, and I saw his righteousness that was greater. than anything I had attained. And I said to myself, I want that righteousness.

And so I took this righteousness, and I threw it aside, and I came out from underneath the law, and I am now in Christ, and I walk in Him, and I live in Jesus, and I am experiencing freedom from my old bondage to the law. And I'm freely walking in Jesus. And in a way, I've become like you. You used to not be under the law, like I was, and I met Jesus, and I now live my life free of regard to bondage to the law.

I'm not living underneath the slavery. To the system of law and now I'm here living free of that law that I was once bound to, and I see you guys who were over here with me a few years ago, you're now moving towards the very law that I stepped out from underneath. And so my, I'm begging you, become as I am. Come over here where I am living free of bondage to the system of the law and the workspace righteousness that it, it proposes.

Become like me and live in freedom. He, he words this specifically in chapter. Verse 1 where he says it was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

That would be Paul's own commentary on really what he means in verse 12 when he says, Become as I am, for I have Become as you are. He's pleading with them to become as he is and to be free of bondage to the law that right now they are moving towards and increasingly coming under, the bondage of. There's 1/4 response of Paul to the wayward Galatians and the choices they were making, and that is he describes and he questions the change that has come over them. this is very touching.

Look at the end of verse 12. Paul says, you have done, or literally you did me no wrong. Paul now is beginning to reminisce, back a few years ago when he was with them originally, preaching the gospel to them at the beginning, he says, you did me no wrong. And he would say, what, I can't say that of all the churches.

The Corinthian church, I can't say to them, you did me no wrong, because they did wrong me when I was with them. They didn't give me a dime to support me and to meet my needs. I had to, Work at a side job in order to generate income to meet my needs when I was there. But I can say of you Galatians that when I was with you a few years ago, you absolutely did me no wrong in any way, shape or form.

In fact, you did so many amazing things for me because of your love for God and the gospel. Look at what he says in verse 13. that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time. Now, we, we would love to know more of the details of this.

The call is indicating to them, That the whole reason I ended up in the region of Galatia was because I was physically ill. Now, some say that the illness was epilepsy. Some say that the illness was some eye disorder, painful, eye disorder that Paul suffered from. Others say that on his first missionary journey, Paul, they landed in Pamphylia, which is, in the southern part, of modern, Day Turkey, and that's the lowland swampy regions and, and some say that it's possible Paul could have contracted malaria there.

We know that something really negative happened right in that region because when they got there, John Mark left and went home to his mommy in Jerusalem. so we don't know all that transpired, but we know that there was some grave difficulty there in Pamphylia, and Paul then went from there into Galatia for the very first time, and Paul is alerting us here to the fact that it was not his original plan to go into the, Regions of Galatia, but he went there because he was sick. His plans changed because he was sick.

Some commentators suggest that Paul went to the highlands of Galatia in order to recuperate because the environment there would have, been ideal for recuperation.

However, Paul did not go up to Galatia and say, I'm just going to lay around and recuperate because I'm not feeling well. No, Paul's like, what, I am desperately ill. I need someone to care for me. I'm going to go up here to the, the, High altitudes of the region of Galatia to recuperate, but I'm sensing this is God's providence that I'm actually coming here, which was different than what I originally planned.

So with whatever strength I have left in me, I'm going to preach the gospel. This guy was a machine. I, I'm just amazed at his passion for the gospel. And so look at what he says in verse 13.

that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time. He got there and whatever strength he had, he preached the gospel to them. And guys, the implication, especially when we get into verse 14, is that whatever Paul's illness was, it was severe enough to where he required care from the very people he preached the gospel to. Hey, let me tell you the gospel, and isn't this great?

Yeah, I, do you believe it? Yes, I believe it. They pray and they receive Christ, and Paul's like, by the way, can you care for me because I am very, very sick. And not only that, but many commentators suggest that there was something repulsive about Paul's sickness, and we can observe that from some of the language that he uses in verse 14.

Naturally, people would have been repulsed at the sight of the apostle Paul. Some say that, if whatever he was struggling with was affecting his eyes, that perhaps there was pus coming from his eyes or, or whatever, but anyone looking at him would have observed something repulsive about him. But look at what he says in verse 14, and That which was a trial to you in my bodily condition. My sickness was not just my trial, but it became your trial, because you had to provide care for me, but you did not despise or loathe.

That word despise you, you didn't despise me because of my condition and because of my appearance that would have naturally turned somebody off, not only to me but also to my message, but he also says you didn't loathe, literally, you didn't spit. In this day, this is weird, but if someone had epilepsy and were having a seizure in a way that was evident to people, the normal response was people would spit at that person because they viewed that person as being under the possession of an evil spirit, and they would spit on that person to ward off the evil spirit.

Like the evil spirit would be scared of spit, but that's just, that's just one of the things that people did. And Paul's like, what, I, I, I wouldn't have been surprised if some of you would have just like despised me and said, I don't even want to hear your message.

Look, look at the condition you're in. It looks to me like you're under the judgment of God. And so I'm not all that interested in what you're having to say. And he's also saying you didn't loathe me.

You didn't despise me. You, you didn't spit at me and, and view me actually as being under God's judgment and, and having an evil spirit. And my physical condition proved to be a trial to you. But he says you guys did not despise or loathe that.

In fact, just the opposite. You received me as an angel or a messenger. of God, and as Christ Jesus himself. You guys perceived, because God's spirit awakened you to this reality, that the message I was giving you was a message from God on high, and you received me as a messenger of God.

In fact, you received me as Christ Jesus Himself. we've heard of the royal treatment. Paul would say you guys did better than that. You gave me the divine treatment.

You received me and treated me as Christ Jesus himself. And Paul's not relishing this, saying, hey, I want you guys to remember, remember how much you used to love me, how much you used to like me. the, the focus is not on Paul as an end in itself. Paul says, I gave you the true gospel and you loved me for it.

You viewed my message as a message from God and so therefore, you viewed me as a messenger of God, and you received me as you would Christ Jesus Himself, because that's where your affections were upon him. And you loved me because I spoke of him. Paul is reminding them of their former gospel loving days, when they received the gospel and love the gospel, and we're so passionate about the gospel, that even if all God did was send them some sick, repulsive person who is suffering with some great physical ailment.

And that's what God sent them to give them the gospel.

They're like, what, we'll take it, and we'll take care of him, and we will receive him as a messenger of God and as Christ Jesus himself. What a passion that they once had for the gospel. Now, this is the hurting Paul that comes out in verse 15. Hey, where then is that sense of blessing you had?

What's happened between us, that sense of blessing, happiness in the Lord, and in Jesus Christ, and how that sense of blessedness was directed towards me as the messenger that spoke to you of Jesus and salvation through him. Where did it go? Where is it that sense of blessing you had? how sometimes, guys, you, I know this has happened to me.

You get in a bad place spiritually, but you lose historical perspective and maybe you're, you're just going through a season where you're not thinking right, you're not focused on the gospel, you've lost your joy in the Lord, and, and you're, you, you're, you've even lost sight of anything to compare that to. But then in that difficult low season, you pull out your journal from a few years ago, and you just start reading, And you just so love God and those journal entries and you're rejoicing in His grace and forgiveness and, and, and you're moved by what you read from your former self.

A few years earlier, and the remembrance of that awakens in you a passion to, I want to go back to here because I was blessed here and I'm not here. And now that you can see that vivid contrast, it has an awakening effect on you.

How many of you would say that that type of thing has ever happened to you? OK. That's what Paul is hoping for here, because what, the Galatians are not experiencing blessing right now. They don't have a sense of blessing.

In chapter 5, I believe in verse 16 or verse 15, Paul literally says you guys are biting and devouring each other. They're unhappy. They're cranky, they're agitated, they're disturbed, they're unsettled, and in their relationships with each other, they're taking it out on each other and they're chewing each other to pieces and and devouring one another. They've lost that sense of blessing.

And, and Paul, they, they've gone to this false gospel, they're moving towards it, and all this stuff now, they've lost that blessing and in their relationships, they're being affected. Paul, though, is writing them a letter, and he's like, remember how you guys used to be towards me, that sense of blessing that you had, and your passion for the gospel. Paul is hoping that some of the Galatians would go, oh, I remember those days. It's less than, I'm cranky now.

I want to go back. I want to go back. OK. Paul says, where then is that sense of blessing you had, for I bear you witness that if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.

This makes some say that perhaps Paul's disorder or physical ailment was, had affected his eyes, and maybe that is so. But at the very least, this was an expression that was used from time to time to speak of someone willing to do anything and everything. On behalf of another person. We talked this way today.

I might say to someone, what, I would give my right arm to help you in this situation. And you don't take that literally, and if you heard me saying that to someone, you wouldn't say, I guess that person must have had a problem with their arm, with their right arm. No, you would, you would understand that I'm saying I would give anything to be able to help you in this situation. And that's the effect of this expression.

You guys would have literally plucked out your eyeballs for me if that would have actually been helpful for me. You would have sacrificed nothing or anything for me and would have stopped at nothing to help me and to bless me and to treat me as you would a messenger of God, an angel of God in Christ Jesus Himself. And now verse 16, another question, have I become your enemy? By telling you the truth?

This is how you used to be towards me, and now you view me as your enemy. Why? What have I done? The only thing I've done is I told you the truth, the truth of the gospel.

And I've suddenly become your enemy. What has happened? So Paul describes and questions them regarding the change that has come over them and even their view of the gospel, their love for the gospel, their passion for the gospel, their love and their care for Paul, and the hope of awakening them to this past blessed season that they would hopefully want to go back to. Well, there is 1/5 response of Paul to The way we're Galatians, and that is he tells them the truth about those who were preaching a false gospel to them.

what guys, we live in a day where there are evangelical pastors who specifically will explain their philosophy of ministry and say, I don't want to speak against anybody. I don't want to be negative. I just want to be positive in my ministry. And what, it's great to be positive, and we need to be positive about Jesus and about the pure gospel as it's presented.

And in God's word, the scriptures, we need to be positive about, about virtue and about things that God is pleased with. But if we're going to be positive about those things, we also must be negative at times against that which is untrue, that which is a false gospel, that which is a contrary gospel, and even speak negatively about those who are advocating a false gospel. Paul does, an inspired writer of scripture, takes some time to speak against those who were advocating a different gospel.

And by the way, if you want even more elaborate cases of this, read 2 Peter chapter 2, read the book of Jude.

There's some negative things in those books about those who were false teachers, and there's many other places. Philippians 3, Paul says to the Philippians, beware of the dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the false circumcision, the Judaizers.

He speaks, identifies them, and speaks against them so as to, help the Philippian believers to not be seduced by them. Paul does the same thing here. Look at verse 17. He says, they, the Judaizers, eagerly seek you.

And say, listen, I know what it's like. I know that it's a good feeling to be eagerly sought after and courted when people are really desperately trying to get you into their club and they want you on their team, and they're trying to spend all this time talking to you and influencing you. I know that that engenders a good feeling in you and, and it's a good thing to be eagerly sought. He's going to say that in verse 18, but he says they eagerly seek you, but not commendably.

Their motives are not pure. Here's what their motives are. He says they wish to shut you out, to shut you out of salvation, to shut you out of the kingdom of God, so that you will then seek them. Here you are walking with the Lord, experiencing blessedness in Jesus and believing in Him alone, and believing that you're a child of God, and these guys come along and say, hey, I noticed you seem really happy.

What are you happy about? Well, I'm a child of God. I believe in Jesus. Well, I'm sorry to tell you, you're actually not a child of God.

You're not really a Christian yet. Because you've not been circumcised, you've not obeyed some of the provisions that are in the Old Testament law. So, actually, you are still at this point, shut out of salvation. The Galatians were unsettled and disturbed by this, and they're like, oh, my goodness, well, I better do something about this, and I thought I was safe, but apparently I'm not.

What should I do? And the Judaizers were like, well, we're glad you asked, because we're here to help you with that. But you're going to have to follow us and look to us and seek after us and, and we will, we will disciple you and tell you all of the stuff that you're going to need to do, starting with circumcision and then, we're going to have to train you and, and all of the feast days and festivals and ceremonial, Provisions in the law in order to help you become more Jewish so that you can then actually be saved and be a child of God.

Paul says to the Galatians, here's the net effect of what he's saying in verse 17.

I know it's a good feeling to be eagerly sought after, but realize that these guys are only eagerly seeking after you so that you will eagerly seek after them. It's their own self-interest that ultimately they're serving. They, they don't love you. They don't care about you, the way I cared about you and coming to you and even though I was desperately ill, preaching the gospel to you.

In fact, Paul is actually alluding to the fact that when he was with them, he became like them. He lived like a Gentile when he was among them. He's like, hey, in my ministry, verse 12, I became like you guys, so that I could have a friendship with you. These guys aren't trying to become like you at all.

They're under the bondage to the law and they're demanding that you become like them. Their whole style of ministry is very different. They eagerly seek you, not commendably. But they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them.

And then Paul understands that he's a little defensive in verse 18, legitimately so. Some of the Galatians are like, well, Paul, maybe you're just jealous because you don't like the fact that other people are seeking after us and trying to minister to us. Paul says in verse 18, Listen, it is good always. to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner.

And not only when I'm present with you, I don't mind people seeking after you, trying to have a relationship with you, trying to be spiritual leaders in your life, trying to influence you, as long as they are doing so in a commendable manner. Seeking to help you to walk in the truth, and it doesn't have to be me, it can be anybody, as long as they are doing so in the pursuit of the truth and to help you to do that. Well, there's a 6th and final response, a call to, The Galatians who were being seduced and moving towards a false gospel, and that is he expresses a passionate love and concern for them which ultimately was born out of his passion for Jesus Christ.

Look what he says in verse 19.

My children, you could translate this, my little children, this is a term of affection and endearment. My children, with whom I am again in labor. he says I'm again in labor. What he's indicating is I was in labor before with regard to you.

And I think what he's alluding to is when I was with you guys originally, I was physically ill. It was not easy preaching the gospel to you and trying to minister to you. It was physically very difficult. I, I was a mess physically.

I was in great pain and suffering, and yet I was there, and I'm like, God, it's in your providence I'm here. I'm going to preach the gospel to these individuals, and, and my prayer is that you will put life in them and they will become children of God. So Paul would say, I ministered to you in my sickness, and as it were, in great labor pains, you were given birth to. but he says, I'm again in labor.

The pain I feel right now is equal to, if not even greater than the labor pains I felt when I was desperately ill and among you in person. I am again experiencing spasms of pain, And here's ultimately what I want to see in you. Until Christ is formed in you, That's his passion. He's like, I want Jesus to become fully mature in your understanding.

I want your life to be such that when people see you, they see Jesus because he is fully formed, throughout the fabric of your life. I don't want, I want them to see Jewish regulations. I don't want them to see your own righteousness and your own obedience and to be impressed by that. I want Jesus to be the most prominent thing in your life.

I want Jesus to be your obsession. I want him to be your focus. Because as long as you are focused on Him, His infinite loveliness, and His infinite donation towards your salvation, you will be forever cured from ever thinking that this false gospel that is being preached to you has any merit at all. My pain is that I want Christ to be formed in you.

Verse 20, I could wish to be present with you. Right now, I'm not with you in person. That's why I'm writing this letter, but I wish that I were present with you right now so that I can change my tone. I would love to speak to you in a different tone than I'm speaking to you right now because I am perplexed about you.

Guys, this is really startling to me. To be perplexed means to be at a loss. The great apostle Paul, who spent time in the third heaven seeing things that he couldn't even tell people about, this is an inspired writer of scripture, and in the midst of writing inspired scripture, he confesses to the Galatians, I don't know what to do. I'm, I'm at a loss.

With regard to you, and it's as if he reaches a pause in the letter and he's like, I don't even know what else to say. I don't, I, I, I'm at a loss about them. I'm at a loss about what to say. But after a pause, I, I like this.

Look at verse 21, a thought occurs to him, another theological argument, and he's like, tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? And boom, he's off running on another theological argument from the Old Testament. And so his perplexity was solved in terms of, OK, I got one more thing that I can say to them, but at this juncture where we're going to close this morning, Paul is left saying, I, I, I'm at a loss. I, I don't know what to say.

I don't know even what to say to myself to give myself perspective on how you could walk away from this gospel. To this gospel. I, I am still frankly amazed that you would desert him for this other gospel that you are being seduced by. And so Paul in spasms of labor and agony and pain, is responding very emotionally and personally to these wayward Galatians that were moving from the truth to a false gospel.

Guys, let's just gather these thoughts real quickly and we're closing here. Let's realize from this passage that there are other gospels out there. Let's learn from Paul's example that it should matter to us which gospel people are believing. We should be committed to helping people believe in the one true gospel.

And if they are believing a false gospel, that should bother us. We should also work very hard to ensure that those we minister to are believing the one true gospel, and not some other gospel that adds something to Jesus, or takes away something from him. We should work hard to win our brothers and sisters back if they are being led astray by a false gospel. And we should be careful ourselves not to be seduced by a false gospel.

These Galatians were led to the Lord by the apostle Paul, discipled by him. He told them when he was with them, there's going to be guys coming, Judaizers, they're going to preach another gospel, and he even told them what to expect. Paul then leads them, and these believers in the first century church, trained and led to the Lord by the apostle Paul himself. get seduced by another gospel.

And if it can happen to them, it can happen to us. You say, well, how do I protect myself? Stare at Jesus, and don't stop staring at him, gaze upon Jesus, fix your eyes upon Him, who is the author and the finisher of your faith and the accomplisher. Of your salvation from beginning to end.

Study and celebrate his contribution to your salvation, and you will forever be inoculated from any other gospel that tells you that you must contribute something in addition to what he has done. Let's bow our heads. If you've never believed in Jesus, please just, look at the glory of this message. It's insanely good news that you can sin throughout your life and all those sins can be forgiven because of what God has done for you, that you might be saved.

If you are a believer, be obsessed with this good news. Keep your eyes on this good news, and it will protect you from the other gospels that are out there. Let's pray together, Lord God, there are dangers out there. There are other gospels that are out there.

We need to be protected. We need to protect one another. These other gospels can be very compelling intellectually, spiritually, and if we are not careful, even the best among us here at Cornerstone can be led astray. It's good.

And all of this is NS Lord. To go astray. May we be humbled by, these reminders as we have seen them this morning, And be spurred to greater focus. Upon the glorious gospel.

Of Jesus Christ. And we ask these things in the name of Jesus. And all God's people said, OK. what, I'm going to have my come up and make a few announcements and then I have an announcement that I need to read to the congregation from the elders.

But why don't you come up, Mike, and get us through some of these announcements.