The Anatomy of a Gospel Emergency

Well, it's good to see all of you, Here today and now is the time in our worship where we open up the word together. And to that end, I want to invite you guys to turn in your Bibles to the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians. Today, we are beginning our series on the Book of Galatians.

And ultimately, we're gonna end up going through this book verse by verse as we normally do. And we're not gonna exactly do that this morning because what we're gonna do this morning is introduce the book. And if you want to give a title to the message for this morning as we introduce this book, it would be The Anatomy of a Gospel Emergency. The Anatomy of a Gospel Emergency.

Think about what an emergency is. I've used that term all the time, but I was thinking this week, what is an emergency? And I looked it up in the dictionary, and an emergency is a sudden, generally unexpected occurrence or set of circumstances demanding immediate action. Well, that's what we're going to observe actually happening that Paul is responding to in the book of Galatians.

How many of you have ever been involved in an emergency either as the victim or the helping in a situation like that? OK. I was reminded this week of an emergency that occurred 12 years ago. It was on a Saturday night, and my daughter, oldest daughter Brooke was about 5 or 6 at the time, and my son Brendan was 4 at the time.

And it was a Saturday night, and they had been out in the backyard playing and then they were called in and they were getting their baths to get ready for Sunday. And in our family, we all bathe once a week. That's Saturday night before. Saves water and but anyway, they were doing that and as they were both engaged in that, suddenly they both began to cry and complain of their stomach hurting, and then they both began to vomit a lot.

And, and then when it seemed like the contents of their digestive tract had been emptied, they continued to heave, just without, without any remission. And then lo and behold, it was not empty. More stuff came up and it was just, as it progressed, it increasingly frightened my wife and I. And so they're crying and they're heaving and vomiting and We began to try to address this situation and think about it, parents, what would you do if two of your children both started throwing up at the same time?

I don't, I don't know exactly what you would do, but I, I do know that you would start asking questions, right? Something has happened. This is just a really strange coincidence. And so we began to ask them, what were you guys doing?

Did you guys eat anything? We're thinking maybe it was something they had for supper, but couldn't have been that because they were the only two having these symptoms. And as we were asking and seeking for the source of this problem, We remembered that earlier in the evening, Brooke and Brendan had come in from the backyard and Brendan had mushrooms in his hand. That they had picked from our backyard and he had said to his mother, Look, Mommy, mushrooms, we can eat them.

To which she replied, No, you cannot eat them. You throw those away right away and wash your hands, which he did, but he did not inform her that they had already eaten the mushrooms. Well, we didn't know that, but we remember, oh, earlier tonight they had the mushrooms in their hands. Maybe that's it.

And so we began to inquire, did you guys eat those mushrooms that you had brought into the house? And they said, no. And we thought maybe they're lying. Let's press them further.

And we kept asking. They kept denying that they had eaten the mushrooms. Then we began to think that maybe they're afraid they're going to get in trouble for eating the mushrooms, and so they're lying to us to protect themselves. And so we assured them, we said, Listen, you're not going to get a spanking.

You're not going to get in trouble if you ate the mushrooms, please, we're not, we're not going to do anything against you. We just need to know so we know how to help you. Did you eat the mushrooms? No, we didn't eat the mushrooms.

So they're crying and it's getting worse. We can't identify the source of the problem. Finally, it dawned on me to ask the question in a different way. So I said to them, in my great wisdom, I said, Did any mushrooms get in your mouth?

To which they replied, yes. So they did not eat them, but, they just, how mushrooms do that, they can just get in your mouth. So once we knew that we knew what the source of the problem was, and we ended up because it wasn't getting any better, we figured the mushrooms are still in there or the poison is still in there, and we got to get them to the hospital and so we put them in the car and we raced down here to Riverside to the Kaiser to get them there and as we're going, I couldn't go fast enough because we felt like we were losing them.

there were a couple of points where I'd hear Donna in the back seat.

She was in the back with Brooke and Brendan, and she would like, be trying to wake them up because they were coming in and out of consciousness. I remember as I'm driving, turning around and I see Brendan and his head is rolled back and his eyes were closed, then they opened and his eyeballs had rolled back in his head, and I'm thinking I'm gonna, we're going to lose these kids. We got them to the hospital. They rushed them in the emergency room and they ended up pumping their stomachs with charcoal and hooking them up with an IV because they were so dehydrated and put a tube in their mouth, and about 30 minutes later, I remember standing over them and there was black around their mouth from the charcoal and a tube in their mouth and their vital signs had begun to stabilize and we realized they're going to be OK.

that was an emergency. And think about it, the earmarks of an emergency situation, it required immediate action. It also provoked a lot of emotions in my wife and me, fear, perplexity, astonishment, a lot of passion. Our hearts were just racing and pounding.

in addition to that, we asked questions. You, you need in a situation like that to identify what is causing this problem. And once we knew that, we then had an idea of what we needed to do. In fact, after we got him to the emergency room, the doctors sent me back to the house to get a sample of the mushroom so that they knew exactly what mushroom it was and that they could further address the situation if, if need be.

But those are some of the normal earmarks of an emergency. The normal rules of courtesy and behavior just are thrown out the window. Everything changes in a situation like that, and we see exactly that in this gospel emergency that is going on in the Galatian church. By the way, let me define a gospel emergency.

As I define it, you'll probably observe that you've had a few of these this week. it is any development or set of circumstances that lures you away from gospel truth and leaves you thinking and acting contrary to the gospel. How many of you have had a gospel emergency this week? OK, it's happened to me.

and you probably know of others that that has happened with this week also, and maybe you were there to help them, but it is any development or set of circumstances that lure you away from gospel truth and leave you thinking and acting contrary to the gospel. this is what has happened to the Galatian believers. Paul had planted this church. They were doing great.

And now they are being seduced away from the gospel. And they are in very dire straits spiritually, and even relationally, as we're going to see, and Paul is experiencing a whole range of emotion. We're going to see him pounding them with questions, trying to figure out what was going on, and to reason with them. and Paul is taking immediate action.

Now, as we break down this gospel emergency by way of introducing this book, here's the three things I want us to do this morning. I want us to look at what the Galatians were like before the emergency, how they started in their Christian walk. We're going to look at At what they were like before the emergency and we can actually learn that from the book of Galatians. Then we're going to learn secondly what went wrong and then thirdly we're going to begin to see how Paul responds.

Now kids, those of you that have the outlines, I apologize for this. You, you won't need to fill in anything until we get to that third part, how Paul responds. And there's 7 responses on your paper, you're only going to get to fill in 2, OK? because that's as far as we're going to get.

But think about it. All you got to do is write 2 words and you get a piece of candy. So that's a great deal. All right.

so in the first part of this message, don't be fretting over, where do I fill in the blank because it's going to be a while before we get to those two blanks that you need to fill in. But anyway, looking at the Galatians and how they started off in their Christian walk, let me give you A number of descriptions of them before the emergency occurred. Number one, they had heard the gospel. they had heard not just the gospel, but the pure gospel, and they had heard it from the apostle Paul himself.

Imagine, your testimony being, yeah, I came into the Lord, I was living in paganism, but, the apostle Paul, met me, I, I, I met him, out in front of our temple. the God I worshiped, and, and he shared the gospel with me, and, and I accepted the Lord. Imagine having That personal encounter with the apostle Paul as a part of your testimony. The Galatians did that.

They had heard the pure gospel from the apostle Paul. Paul says, as he's reflecting back on his time with them when he was there in person, he speaks of the gospel which we have preached to you. And in chapter 3, verse 1, he speaks of his preaching ministry. He says of them, he says, You before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

And we can learn something about Paul's preaching ministry. It's evident that as Paul preached the gospel to them, that he very vividly in a detailed fashion depicted the suffering and the death of Christ to such a degree that the Galatians would have felt as if they were right there at the foot of the cross observing it all as it takes place. That's how vivid his presentation was. So Paul just with great passion and clarity and vividness had preached the gospel to them.

And then secondly, we learned that they had actually received that gospel. They didn't just hear it, but that they received it. Guys, it's not good enough to just hear the gospel. There are people who throughout their lives will have heard thousands of hours of excellent Bible messages.

They will have heard hundreds of hours of clear gospel presentation. And they will burn in hell forever. Hearing the word, hearing the truth does not save a person. You need to make a decision to receive that into your life.

And the Galatians actually made that decision. Paul speaks of the gospel in chapter 1, verse 9, as that which you received. So they heard the gospel, it was preached to them. And then they received that pure gospel that Paul had preached to them.

And then thirdly, we learned from Galatians that they had received the Spirit by faith. So they believed in the gospel that Paul had preached to them, and at their moment of faith they had received the Spirit of God. Paul says in Galatians 3:2, Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing with faith, having begun by the Spirit? What's assumed here is you've the Spirit.

Now, how did it happen? Did it happen by works or by faith? No, it happened by faith. So they had received the gospel.

And upon receiving the gospel, they had received the Spirit. Let me say a quick word about the gospel Paul preached to them, because this is what's at stake in this passage, or in this book. Paul came to them, and he said to them, Christ has died for your sins. And he took upon himself the wrath and the judgment of God that you deserve for your sins.

And now you, whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, if you just believe in Jesus and place your faith in Him, your sins will be forgiven. You will become a child of God, you will be saved and have a relationship with God, just like that. to the Jews, he said, I know you think you're one of God's children because you're a Jew. Just want to let you're not.

You have to believe in Jesus. I know you've been eating kosher food all your life, and obeying all these ceremonial, things in the law, and you've been washing your hands and doing all this stuff and abstaining from Gentiles and, and trying to obey the moral law as best you can. I want you to know you're 100% condemned under that law. You're not one of God's people until and unless you believe in Jesus.

and then Paul looked at Gentiles, and he said, I want to let that you don't have to become a Jew in order to have a relationship with God. All you need to do is believe in Jesus, and instantly you have a relationship with him. So that is the gospel. and it takes humility to embrace that, but Paul had preached that to them, and Jews and Gentiles in the Galatian region said, that's the message for me.

And they put their faith in Jesus, and they received the gospel, they believed in it. And then in an instant, they received the Spirit by faith. so they're starting great. We also see in Galatians that they had suffered for the gospel.

Understand that there were many Jews who hated this message. And can you understand why? They despise this message. They believed all along, we are the people of God, and, and we've been obeying the law.

And in fact, they believe God gave them the law because they were better than other nations. and the other peoples of the world. And so here they are living so rigidly and to the best of their own ability, performing works of righteousness, and believing they're children of God as a result of that. And the first slap on the face is to be told that they're not children of God.

But then the second slap is to hear Paul speaking to Gentiles living in total immorality and paganness. And Paul says, all you have to do is believe in Jesus, and you become a child of God. That infuriated the Jews, and they persecuted Paul. They stoned him.

They beat him. They imprisoned him. They hounded him almost every step of his ministry. They hated this message and they not only attacked Paul.

Paul says later in this book, I bear in my body. The marks of the Lord Jesus, as he writes this letter, he's got, he's got scars on his body that he's received from the hands of the Jews and others. The Jews not only attacked Paul, but then they attacked those who believed in Paul's message, and they had done that and that Galatians had suffered. In fact, look at how he says this Galatians 3:4.

Did you suffer so many things in vain? They didn't just suffer, but they suffered so many things. So in quantity and in quality, they experienced a ton of persecution. So, so far, so good, man.

They hear the pure gospel, receive the pure gospel, they receive the Spirit by faith, and they're holding to that message so tightly that they're being persecuted by the Judaizers who are enemies of this message, but they're willing to suffer. Not only that, but we learn that they had experienced miracles in their midst. No doubt miracles that had authenticated. and validated the truth of Paul's gospel message to them.

Paul says in Galatians 3:5, So then does he who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, so Paul is referring to the fact that actual miracles had taken place among them, displays of the power. power of God, whether it be healing or whatever, these Galatians, no doubt when Paul was among them, he preached the pure gospel and then actually performed miracles of healing and what have you to where they could see God's power clearly on display and see that. Paul's message was validated by these miracles.

So they've heard the gospel, received the gospel, received the spirit, they've suffered for the gospel.

They've experienced miracles. Not only that, guys, but they were happy. They were happy in the gospel. And we know that because in chapter 4, verse 15, Paul says, Where then is that sense of blessing you had?

So at one point before this emergency came along, they had a sense of happiness. And this word that is translated blessedness is the same word we find in the Sermon on the Mount Blessed are the pure in Spirit, and so forth. And it literally means to be not just happy, but enviably happy. OK, if, if a person is blessed, let's say I am blessed in the biblical sense of the word, what that means is, is that I am experiencing such blessing and happiness and contentment in God.

That a third party looks at my life and says, wow, I would love to have what he has. Whatever he is, I, I wish that I could experience that. It means to be enviably happy, enviably blessed. It gets the attention of others, and others observe this happiness.

So the Galatians heard the gospel, received the gospel, received the Spirit, they're suffering for the gospel, experiencing miracles. And not only that, but even in the midst of their suffering, there's something about them. They have this blessedness, this happiness that's in the Lord and in the gospel that is observable to others, even to those that are persecuting them. You guys ever been there?

You ever been just so filled with God's grace and just believing in his love for you? And that he chose you before the foundation of the world and relishing that relationship with Him and knowing your sins are forgiven, you're under God's gracious favor at all times because of what Jesus did, not because of what you have to do from day to day. Have you ever been in a place where there's just this very strong sensation of blessedness? That's observable to others.

I think many of us have experienced that. Well, that's what the Galatians were experiencing. Not only that But we see that they were running well. This was a church on the move, an advancing church.

They were heading in the right direction and they were heading quickly in the right direction. He says in chapter 5, verse 7. You were running well. So what it means to run.

The difference between running and walking is that when you run, you're taking larger strides more rapidly, so you get further more quickly when you are running. And so they were running. They weren't just walking, they were running and moving forward, learning more about God and about His grace and about the gospel. They were running in the sense of accomplishing things, furthering God's kingdom and leading souls into the kingdom.

This was a church on the move. This was a church that was running forward towards the prize in a way that would have been notable to others, so they were happy in the gospel. They were running well. And then the last thing I want you to see about how they started off and how they were before this emergency developed, they loved Paul dearly.

They loved Paul dearly. And imagine the affection that they would have for Paul. If if someone brings a message like this into your life, that leaves you feeling this great sense of blessedness and, and joy and contentment. And that makes you realize I've got a relationship with God.

I don't deserve it, but I have it by grace. And if you're truly enjoying all of that, what are you going to think? How are you going to be towards the person who brought you that message? You're going to love them.

Or her. And that's the way they were with Paul. In fact, as you learn in Galatians in chapter 4, Paul reflects back on his time with them, and he basically says, Hey, remember how I was sick when I was with you? I was with you with a bodily illness, and that actually was a burden for you, but you didn't mind that burden at all.

You guys took care of me. You were happy to do it. In fact, you would have plucked out your own eyes for me. We don't know what the illness was.

But Paul was saying you, you guys would have done anything and you did do anything you could in order to help me in my affliction. That's how you used to be towards me. So they had heard the gospel from the apostle Paul, received it, received the Spirit by faith. They suffered willingly for the gospel.

They experienced miracles that validated the gospel. They were happy in that gospel, experiencing blessing, and they were running well, and they had great affection for the apostle Paul. Sounds great, doesn't it? Well, what went wrong?

See, wouldn't it be great if this all described our congregation? If it did, put your helmet on, because this church catches the devil's eye. And he doesn't look at a church like that and say, OK, I lost. I'll go pick on some other church now.

No, this church becomes a target. And that's what happened to the Galatian congregations. So what does the devil do? What ends up happening?

What went wrong? And so now this is the second section of the message. What went wrong? Well, first of all, we know from Galatians that somebody is distorting their understanding of the gospel.

Some have come into the church. We know it was more than one individual. although there was probably a ringleader because Paul uses the singular sometimes. but somebody along with the help of others has come into the church and has distorted their understanding of the gospel.

Paul says in Galatians 1:7, there are some who want to distort the gospel of Christ. So they're perverting it, they're changing. The gospel. Now, it's interesting to observe what the distortion is, as you read through Galatians and even the book of Acts.

The distortion that's occurring here is not. Yeah, I know Paul said Jesus is the way of salvation, but we want to let that that's not true. Buddha is the way of salvation, or the god Zeus is the way of salvation. That would be a distortion.

But that's not the distortion that's taking place here. The distortion is this. You believe in Jesus and we do too. Jesus is the only way of salvation, man, we affirm that.

the cross is essential for salvation. 00, we thank God for the cross of Jesus Christ. Because it is only through the cross that we can be saved. We're saved by faith in Christ.

Oh, we, we believe that, brother. We, we are right in lockstep with you. We believe salvation is through Jesus, through faith in Jesus, and through the cross. But there's just one difference.

If, if we could just add one thing. Do everything you're doing. Believe in Jesus, but You need to be circumcised. In order to really be saved.

So the distortion is they're adding one thing to the gospel. We know that from the book of Galatians because Paul talks about circumcision a lot, but we also know that the early church battled with this heresy because even in Acts 15 at the church of Antioch, the first Gentile congregation. And here's all these Gentiles believing in Jesus and saying, man, we got a relationship with God, we're saved. And we didn't even have to become Jews.

We can relate directly to God. But it's not long before some people, Jews come down from the Jerusalem church, and they began speaking to these Gentile Christians who had believed in Jesus. And they say to them, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. They're like, oh, I'm saved.

Isn't God great? And they're like, no, you're not. Because you have not been circumcised. And they're actually telling these Gentile believers, you're not saved, you're not saved, because you have not been circumcised.

As you read Acts 15, and you go into verse 2, you learn that Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them. They were very unhappy by this addition to the gospel. Paul views this as a distortion. Paul's belief is if you add One thing to the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ alone, you add one single work to that and begin to believe that this is what a person needs to do in addition to believing in Jesus in order to be saved, you've completely changed the gospel.

And it's a distortion. And so Paul is saying that someone is distorting your understanding of the gospel. That's what's going wrong. And look at some of the words that he uses.

He uses the word disturbing twice. There are some who are disturbing you. The one who is disturbing you. And chapter 1, verse 7 and 5, verse 10, and that means to agitate, to shake back and forth.

And so imagine these believers, they're happy, they're blessed in the Lord, and they're just giving thanks to God for this relationship and salvation that they're enjoying from him. And all of a sudden these people come into the church and say, you're not saved. You're not saved. And they're agitated over this.

We also see the word troubling, which means to unsettle. Paul speaks of those who are troubling you in chapter 5, verse 12. This word unsettle could mean to be driven out of one's dwelling place. And so I like the translation unsettle.

Because they were in the gospel, and they got stirred up and agitated, and now they're being moved out of the gospel, unsettled away from the gospel. We also see the term bewitched. These believers have allowed themselves to be bewitched by this distortion. This word bewitched means to cast a spell over somebody, and they come in with this distortion of the gospel, and the Galatians are mesmerized by it.

They're like, oh. Maybe we've never been saved and maybe we need to do this, and they're seriously contemplating going ahead and getting circumcised in order to just make sure that they're saved. Paul uses the word hindered. He says, who hindered you from obeying the truth?

He says you were running well, literally, who cut in on you? To keep you from obeying the truth, they were running the race of obedience to the truth of the gospel, and these Judaizers came in and tripped them up, just cut right in front of them, slowed them down, tripped them up as they were running for the Lord. And so some people have come into the church that have cut in on them, hindered them, tripped them, bewitched them, troubled them, disturbed them, and they did all of that by distorting their understanding of the gospel.

What else went wrong?

Well, what else that went wrong is that the Galatians are being foolish and letting themselves be led astray. See, Paul had warned them that this would happen. And then it happens. And everything I've already described could have happened in the Galatians could have said, what, you guys are heretics, and we don't believe your message.

Get out of here. But they didn't do that. They were foolish and letting themselves be led astray. Paul says in chapter 3, verse 1, You foolish Galatians.

In chapter 3, verse 3, he says, Are you so foolish? He says, so they, this word foolish literally means unthinking. He says, you unthinking Galatians, you are, are you so foolish that you would allow yourselves to be led astray. So some people have come in distorting their understanding of the gospel, and the Galatians have foolishly allowed themselves to be led astray.

What else went wrong is that as we see this progressing, As we see this progressing, we see that the Galatians are right now at the time of Paul's writing of this epistle, in the process of deserting God for this different gospel. Paul says, you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, chapter 1, verse 6. So they're being enamored by this other message. They're beginning to believe that it's true.

And Paul says, you're deserting God, you're deserting the God. Who called you by the gospel that I preached to you. And also, they are actually turning back. we learn in Galatians 4:9 that they're turning back to their former lifestyle, whether it's Judaism or paganism.

Paul says, how is it that you are right now in the process of turning back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? Imagine how this would play on the different Galatians. A Jew who got saved and believed in salvation by grace would begin to think, Man, I've really blown it. I've turned away from the law.

I've not been obeying all the, doing all the festivals and the rituals, and I've been relating to God based on Paul's Gospel. Now I'm being told a person has to be circumcised to be saved, and And such individuals are beginning to look back at the law and say, Well, man, maybe, maybe I should be practicing all this stuff. And we know from Galatians that some of them were actually going back and beginning to practice all the festivals, and they're getting more and more enmeshed in the law.

But also, even some of the Galatians who were Gentiles saved out of paganism, imagine how this would play with them.

Just imagine you're just going great guns for the Lord, and you just love God and, and you're experiencing blessedness in Him. And then imagine someone coming up to you that automatically commands a certain degree of respect. And they say, oh, You obviously don't know this, but you're not saved. And then they explain their case in a way that leaves you like Maybe they're right.

I thought I was saved. Here's what God's done in my life, but if I was never saved in the first place, all of that was not even for real. That wasn't God. And if it's not God that's done all this in my life and the miracles, I saw them.

That I don't even know what to think and losing their confidence in the gospel, even those Gentiles saved out of paganism are beginning to revert back to their paganism. They're so frustrated. It's like, I don't even know. When you lose your confidence in the gospel, sin and your former life begins to look more appealing, and they're beginning to be seduced back even to their paganism.

So they're deserting God for a different gospel. They're turning back to their former lifestyle. We also know from chapter 4, verse 15 that they lost their sense of blessing. Paul says, Where then is that sense of blessing you had?

You had this, and now it's not there in your life. Where did it go? Where is that sense of blessing that you had? it is possible, guys, to be a genuine child of God experiencing great blessing in the Lord, a sense of happiness and contentment in Him on Monday.

And then on Tuesday to have lost that. It's totally possible. It happens all the time, and we know this by experience, but we also see on the pages of Scripture, these are genuine believers who were walking with a sense of blessing, and now it's gone, and Paul is saying, where did it go? They lost that sense of blessing because they were caused to lose confidence in the gospel, the gospel of grace, salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, by the grace of God alone.

They've lost their confidence in that, and so now they're not happy anymore. And what happens, this happens to you as it does me when you're in gospel mode and you're sucking gospel fumes and you're just enjoying God's grace. That affects the way you relate to other people, doesn't it? You got grace to give, you want to give blessing, you want to minister, you want to love.

But when you're out of that mode, What happens to your relationships? Well, I know for me, when I get out of gospel mode, I get really cranky. And that affects my relationships and that's what happens here. We see another thing that went wrong, and that is that they now view Paul as their enemy.

Because they're like, well, yeah, I'm saved. I'm saved. And they're like, Oh, no, you're not. And let me explain.

And by the time they're done explaining, they're like, well, Paul said that all I needed to do was believe in Jesus. And it was salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. And they're like, well, Paul, Paul is going around saying that, but he's wrong. And they didn't just attack Paul's gospel, they attacked his apostleship.

They started running him down, and by the time they were done with these Galatians, many of these Galatian believers now view Paul as the enemy. Paul is the one who must have lied to them. And Paul is like in Galatians 4:16, man, I've been speaking truth, the truth of the gospel to you that God has called me to give. Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

How did this happen? How did I become your enemy? Have you ever tried to minister to a believer, and you spoke truth to them? Lovingly, kindly, even gospel truth.

But you were treated as their enemy. They responded to you as if you're their enemy, when all you've tried to do is speak truth to them. Paul knows what that's like. He's now their enemy, and he's like, what did I do wrong?

I spoke the truth to them. So they now view Paul as their enemy. And then the last thing that's gone wrong is that they're turning on each other. They're turning on each other.

When we're, when we're in the gospel. And experiencing God's grace, we have so much grace to give. It affects the way that we treat other people, the way that we speak to other people, the attitudes that we display towards other people. But when we get out of the gospel and we begin to think and act differently than the gospel and we lose our confidence in biblical gospel truth.

That affects the way that we treat other people. And what's happening in this congregation is that these Christians, chapter 5, verse 15 are biting and devouring one another. Paul says, if you are present tense right now, biting and devouring one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. One commentator says this verse right here provides a window.

Into the Galatian congregation. And you can, you look through this window of chapter 5, verse 15. And what you see is Christians that have been moved away from the gospel. They're not believing gospel truth.

They now view Paul, the truth teller as their enemy. And you see these Christians fighting with one another like wild animals. They are biting and devouring one another and consuming one another. This is what happens.

In relationships Where the gospel is not reigning supreme. This is the behavior. The behavior that even Christians engage in when they're not believing gospel truth, they bite, and they devour with their words, and with their attitudes, their brothers and sisters in the Lord. I've seen marriages where husband and wife are biting and devouring one another, tearing each other apart.

And that is always the result. of them moving away from Living and breathing the atmosphere of the gospel. I've seen brothers and sisters in the Lord over the history of this church, biting and devouring one another, the way they speak to one another, to each other's face and speak about each other. That happens because they have moved away from confidence in the gospel and experiencing God's grace.

And so we see how the Galatian church has degenerated. They were running well, experiencing God's blessing, believing in God's grace. And now their gospel got distorted with just one small tiny addition. Isn't that amazing?

It's not don't believe in Christ, believe in Zeus, and now all this is happening. No, it's believe in Jesus and all this that you're believing, but can we just change 1% of it? You need to do this one thing. In other words, your relationship with God is based on your performance.

And so it gets that tiny distortion. And now they hate the apostle Paul and they're tearing each other apart. That's how significant the gospel is. And if you're at a place right now in your life and in your relationships, where you are a biting, a biting and devouring person, My, my call to you is come back to the gospel.

Come back to the gospel, devour the gospel and you won't devour people. Sink your teeth into the gospel truth, and you won't sink your teeth into people. You will experience God's grace as you believe gospel truth, and it will profoundly affect the way that you speak to, and speak about and relate to those people that are in your life. And so the church was starting well, doing great as we've seen, and now this, and this is a gospel emergency.

So how does Paul respond? There are 7 responses. We're going to look at just 2, and then we're going to wrap it up, OK. Response number 1.

Paul is amazed. And he tells them, so Paul is astonished. He is amazed, and he tells him, so this is a seasoned veteran in ministry, who knows even Christians well enough to know. Yes, they're saved, but I know they're going to screw up.

Because even the good I want to do, I don't do the evil I hate, I find myself doing it. And so I know that even these Galatian Christians, after I leave, I know they're going to send, they're going to mess up, and I expect this. But Paul did not expect this. He is amazed.

When I was in seminary, I was specifically taught along with my fellow students, never show shock. Or amazement at people in your church. And that was in the context of, like when you go visit someone in the hospital, You never walk into a room and look at the person and go, and Even, and I have to tell myself this when I visit any of you in the hospital, I, I tell myself, what, no matter how bad they look, they may have gotten hit by a car, which has happened and got thrown off their bike and they're, like what happened with Chris Johnson, before I went to see him, I just don't show shock.

Whatever you do, don't show shock.

And then you just walk in and even if your heart is pounding and you're like, oh my goodness, this is terrible, you don't show that because it would freak the person out. Paul is showing freely shock. I, I am shocked. I am amazed.

He says in chapter 1, verse 6, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him. I, I was with you not long ago. And now you're doing this. I can't believe this.

I am shocked by this. In chapter 4, verse 20, go there very quickly. Paul says, I wish to be present with you now, to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. In other words, I am at a loss.

I don't. I don't have an explanation for why you could be here. And now you are here. I am amazed.

I'm stunned. I am perplexed by this. In fact, you see this, not just in Paul saying it, but we would know this by even Paul's tone in the letter. Paul asked a lot of questions.

just so you can get a feel, parents, Have you ever had a child that just did something that totally baffled you? Like I, I, I can't. It, it, it's happened to parents that and, and kids, it'll happen to you when you have children, that you'll say something to one of your children. and, and your child the very next day will turn around and do something and you're like scratching your head going, I, I, I can't even begin to run the math on this.

How, how, how did you do this? What, what were you thinking? Were you thinking at all? And that's, that's literally the type of response of Paul.

In fact, look at this. He says in chapter 3, verse 1, you foolish Galatians, you unthinking Galatians. and then in verse 2, this is the only thing I want to find out from you. He's like, just, OK, help me out.

Just tell me this one thing. Answer this one question. Chapter 3, verse 3, are you so unthinking? chapter 3, verse 1, he says, who has bewitched you?

Chapter 3, verse 4. Did you suffer so many things in vain? Chapter 4, verse 13, where is that sense of blessing you had? Chapter 4, verse 16, Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

And chapter 4, verse 21, Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? Chapter 5, verse 7, you were running well, who hindered you from obeying the truth? Parents Have you ever had a child do something that totally baffled you? And to try to learn, you're like, OK, so what were you thinking?

OK, just help me out. Tell me this one thing, and you're asking them questions, and they just sit there. And They have nothing to say and you're actually wondering, is anything going on up here? Anything?

I'm not even getting, I can't even tell this child is alive and and thinking, do they understand even the questions I'm asking? That's almost what's happening here and Paul is just, he's not there in person, but he's just drilling them like One thing I want to know from you, and are you so foolish and what, who has bewitched you, who hindered you? He is truly amazed and we see this in this letter, unlike any other letter that Paul writes in the New Testament. There's one other thing that he does, and we're going to close with this, and that is that Paul is pained.

And he tells them so. one of the great things about Paul. is when, when Christians really screw up like the Corinthians, and not just screw up, but now they're attacking Paul and they're coming after him like he's the problem. Paul doesn't just write them off and say, what, I'm done with you.

I'm going to focus on the church I'm at right now and invest in. He doesn't do that. Paul stays engaged, even though he knows it's going to bring enormous pain. Paul is pained.

How pained is he? Well, ladies, chapter 4, verse 19, my children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you. I am experiencing pain as bad as labor pains. And from what I hear, that's bad.

I've been there. I've been there when my wife is in labor, so I know exactly how bad it is. Just kidding. But, but ladies, you can connect with this.

Paul and the depths of his being is convulsing. With labor pains. But here's what I want to close with. Labor pains as much as they hurt.

are in and of themselves a sign of hope. Right? Because when labor comes, Yes, it's terrible. But that something good is on the way.

The labor will stop, and you will have a gift from the Lord. And so Paul would actually look at these labor pains that he's experiencing and actually see cause for hope. what, this really hurts, but I'm going to write this letter, and I'm going to appeal to them. I'm going to reason with them.

I'm going to call them back to the gospel. And what? By the time we're done, Christ will be formed in them. And they will be back inside the gospel.

And so when you're involved in a relationship with somebody, And they're not believing the truth. And maybe they're attacking you as you speak the truth to them, and you're experiencing deep travail inwardly, and experiencing that pain. It's easy to see that pain and go, I don't want to do this anymore. But Paul would say, well, this pain I'm experiencing is actually a sign that something good is on the way.

There's a birth that's taking place, a gospel birth. And so as we minister to one another, don't run from that pain. Embrace that pain and stay engaged. And know that a birth is taking place and God wants to use you.

In the life of that individual. Let me ask you to bow your heads. One encouragement It's easy when we're really down. And we lost the sense of blessing.

To look back on when we were. Experiencing God's blessing and say, well, that must not have been real or I would not be here today. No, it was real and don't ever let the devil take that away from you. But it's time.

In those moments to remember where you fell from, to repent, and to do the deeds you did at first. And also, guys, just a warning. I hope just from this message, and we're going to see this even more in Galatians, how important the gospel is, you get outside of the gospel. You're in a very scary place.

And you're going to act out in very scary ways. In the gospel, you're going to be full of blessing and love. Outside of the gospel, you're going to bite and devour and consume. And you're going to view people as your enemy who are not your enemy.

So if you're in gospel mode right now and just really believing it, please stay there. And be terrified of what you become when you're not there, and stay there. If you are acting out in some of the ways that we've seen that the Galatians were, don't look at that and go, I must not be a Christian, and then beat yourself up about that. No, let that, let what you've learned today, call you back to gospel grace.

Take in that grace. Believe gospel truth. And don't let the devil tinker with the gospel anymore and don't allow yourself to believe anything that is contrary to gospel truth. be rooted and grounded and steadfast in the gospel.

Lord, we have so much to learn and we are but in kindergarten on these things. We've chosen this book for many reasons, Lord, but we know that you've chosen this book because you want a gospel revolution to occur in our midst. And that we would see how critical this gospel is, how essential it is that we believe it, that we speak it to ourselves, that we stay inside of it, and how dangerous we are. And life is when we get outside of it.

And so as we go through this book, Lord, we say to you, speak, we are your bond slaves, and we will listen. To what you have to say to us. And we ask all of these things, Lord, in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said,