Galatians chapter 4, we're looking specifically this evening at verses 12 to 20, the Apostle Paul's paternal appeal to the Galatians. Remember last week we saw his concern for the Galatians, which came in fear over verses 8 to 11. He is fearful for them. Their current trajectory is not good.
They are in danger of turning from the Lord Jesus Christ, turning to the Judaizers and their emphasis not only on faith, but faith plus words. So he expresses his fear for them in verse 11. He says it very candidly. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.
He continues with his concern for the Galatians in verses 12 to 20. Here it comes, though not so much as a fear for them, but rather as an appeal to them. based on their experience together, the apostle and the brethren, the people of God in the Galatian churches. And it shows something of the heart of the apostle. So while this section doesn't necessarily advance our doctrinal understanding of justification, it ought to inform us about the heart that is concerned with such issues.
So we're going to pick up reading in verse eight of chapter four. He says, But then indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years.
I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. Brethren, I urge you to become like me. For I became like you. You have not injured me at all.
You know that because of physical infirmity, I preach the gospel to you at the first. And my trial, which was in my flesh, you did not despise or reject. But you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. What then was the blessing you enjoyed?
For I bear you witness that if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Have I, therefore, become your enemy because I tell you the truth? They zealously court you, but for no good. Yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.
But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I have doubts about you. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman.
But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar, For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children. The Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear.
Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor. For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, even so it is now.
Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? Cast out the bond woman and her son for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free. Amen.
Let us pray. Blessed God, we pray for the ministry of Your Spirit as we look at Galatians 4. Teach us something concerning the heart of this man of God. Help us to not only be earnest contenders for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints, but to do so with a view to Your glory and with a view to the good of men's souls.
We pray, Father, that You would just fill us now with Your Holy Spirit. We know in our generation, in our current age, there is a lot of theological debate. pray God in heaven that you would just help us to engage in such things with love and with affection and with a genuine desire to promote your glory. We ask through Christ the Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, this particular section doesn't necessarily advance our understanding of the doctrine But the apostle, by way of personal appeal, by way of a reference to their experience together, is teaching them and highlighting something about his own heart and his disposition toward that. It's been a helpful passage for me because it is easy to want to contend earnestly for the faith. We need to remember that there's real people involved. There are real casualties when men follow after strange doctrine.
There are real problems when people entertain heresy. And if we don't keep this in mind, we will relax instead of fighting for the faith and doing so lovingly. So Paul teaches us, not just sound theology, by way of didactic or teaching with reference to his writing. But he also teaches us by way of his own personal example.
And that's what we find here.
Sermon Outline Announced
I'm going to break this section up in two places. First, verses 12 to 16, a reminder of their filial relationship. A reminder of what they had together on his first visit amongst them. And then secondly, a warning against their involvement with the Judaizers.
Verses 17 to 20. Remember, Judaizer is a term depicting those who came to the churches that Paul had preached at. And they said, it's good to believe on the Lord Jesus, but you must also keep the law. You must also become circumcised.
You must keep the ceremonies of Moses. not simply for a cultural reason, but for acceptance with God. That's why it's such a grave error and a grave heresy, why it is so disconcerting to the apostle. Looking back for just a moment in verse 10 of chapter 4, he says, you observe days and months and seasons and years. Again, he is not militating against any recognition of a particular day.
He highlights his thought on that in Romans chapter 14. He is against the idea that our observance of a day or of a month or a season or a year somehow gains us acceptance with God.
Justification by Faith Alone Defined
That is legalism. That is attaching works to faith in order to gain our justification before God. And that is what is wretched. Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins and counts us as righteous or accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.
That word alone was one of the center points in the Protestant Reformation. Rome taught faith and words. The Reformers said faith alone. And they got that from the Apostle Paul.
He emphasizes our acceptance with God is not based on our performance, but on Christ's performance, Christ's obedience to the law, Christ's sacrifice at Calvary, Christ's resurrection. When we believe on Him, we have acceptance with our God.
Reminder of Their Relationship Together
So let's look at this reminder of their relationship together in verses 12 to 16. First, he exhorts them. Notice in verse 12,
Become Like Me: Free from Legal Observance
Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. The relationship. Become like me because I became like you.
Some of the commentators explain this as sort of a family relationship. Like father, like son. Paul had been brought in in such an intimate circle that they were like family with one another. But I think the direction is actually a different one.
When he says that you are to become like me, I believe he means free from Jewish observances with a view to acceptance with God. Become like me in your insistence upon acceptance with God by faith alone. Become like me with reference to our standing before God. We are not brought into His presence because we perform well.
We are brought into His presence because Christ performed well. Become like me with reference to the issues of faith and words and law and justification. And then when he says, for I became like you, I believe he means free from Jewish observances with a view to acceptance with God. Paul behaved like a Gentile so that he could win Gentiles.
Look back at Galatians 2 at verse 14. He says, But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, If you being a Jew live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus. when he says, even we. He's saying, even we Jews are like the Gentiles, believing solely in Christ for acceptance with God.
It's not through our observances. It's not through looking at the high holy days. It's not through circumcision. It's not through the ceremony specified by Moses.
It's by faith alone. So that when he says be like me, he means free from Jewish observances. When he says I became like you, he means free from Jewish observances. This is the thought in 1 Corinthians chapter 9.
Verses 19 to 23. He says, For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win them all. Now this passage, unfortunately, has been taken to mean, you know, I ought to get a nose ring, and I ought to get, you know, a bunch of tattoos, and I ought to shoot heroin, and I ought to be like everybody else so that I can win them to Christ. I ought to be just like everybody out there so that they'll see me and want to believe the gospel.
That's not what he's talking about. insofar as it does not compromise or put himself into sin, insofar as he does not relinquish the fact that he is a godly man under Jesus, when it doesn't come to compromising issues of faith and acceptance with God, he will be like a Gentile, if necessary. That's the thrust. That's the direction. He says in verse 20, and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews.
To those who are under the law as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law. To those who are without law, as without law, not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you." Think that's what he's referring to here. In this, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. when he made his first missionary journey, when he went to these cities in southern Galatia, he did not preach to them observance to the Mosaic ordinances for their acceptance with God. He became like a Gentile. He told them it's belief alone in Christ alone for your acceptance with God most high.
Vincent Chong says, therefore, his personal appeal to them is I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. Paul lived like a Gentile when he was among them. Consistent with his message, he did not insist on following Jewish customs and regulations for himself, nor did he impose these upon the converts. Now he pleads with the Galatians, become like me, as one who affirms and practices a gospel of justification by faith in Christ apart from circumcision, the works of the law, or Jewish customs and regulations." That's the direction that he is going in.
That's what he's exhorting them to. He's in essence saying, reject the Judaizers, reject the emphasis upon the Mosaic ceremonies, and follow me. Not because he's Christ. but because he's actually accurately teaching them the truth. Notice as well what he says.
You have not injured me at all. You've not injured me at all. His concern is for his converse well-being and ultimate salvation. Paul's not here fighting for his reputation.
Paul's here not on some vendetta to fix these people that have turned from following him. He's not out to get them because they have somehow discouraged him in terms of his own place in redemptive history. He is concerned for these people. He understands that the stakes are high.
If they follow the Judaizers, they show themselves apostate. They show themselves as having never entered in to that state of grace. And so he is concerned that they don't fall prey to this attack. But as far as Paul's concerned, it is not his well-being that is in view here.
It is not his reputation. It is not his esteem. That is not what drives the apostle. It's their salvation.
It's their well-being.
Paul's Physical Infirmity and Their Reception
Notice their history together. Verses 13 to 15. It's an amazing thing. It was because of a physical sickness that Paul went to preach there.
There's been several reasons, several thoughts on what this actually means. One said, Paul contracted malaria in the low-lying territory of Pamphylia and made his way up to the high country around Pisidian Antioch to recuperate. If you read the autobiography of John G. Payton, didn't he do that?
He was down by the water and then he moved up to a higher elevation so that he could avoid sickness. Maybe there's some merit to that particular issue. Paul's in Pamphylia, he gets malaria, he relocates so that he will be in a healthier place. Also, the words translated, you did not despise, have been taken literally, you did not spit out.
I think the new American standard contains that in the margin. The word literally that we read, you did not despise, can be literally said, you did not spit out. And related to the practice of spitting to avert the evil eye or to exercise an evil spirit believed to be the cause of certain afflictions, including epilepsy. And then as well, the statement of verse 15 concerning their eyes has been taken to show that Paul suffered from ophthalmia or some other infection in the eyes, but the text does not tell us, one way or the other, what's in view.
It tells us that they met, first of all, because of a physical infirmity. Paul was sick. He had an issue. He had a trial.
He had something wrong with him. That brought him into the sphere of these particular believers, or people, rather, in the southern Galatian region. Note the sovereignty of God in this. I mean, just imagine this.
Your salvation depends on or hinges upon some man getting sick so that he'll come to your particular village. God is orchestrating all these things. God has his elect out in the world. He will send the gospel.
He will call them to himself. And in this particular instance, this is what's going on. Notice what he says as well in verse 14. He says, and my trial.
It's literally and your trial, which was in my flesh. and your trial. The idea being is that Paul either looked so repulsive or he had such an infirmity, perhaps he might have been contagious, that they didn't want anything to do with him. Or it would have been expected for them not to want anything to do with them. One commentator renders it this way.
And though my illness was a temptation for you to reject me, yet you did not despise me nor disdain me. You see, these brethren have some history. These Judaizers are new on the scene. They've come and said, Paul's decent, but you need to keep the ceremonies of Moses.
Paul says, do you remember what brought us together initially? Do you remember that I was sick and I came into your villages? Do you remember that my very appearance was a trial to you? But instead of you casting me out, instead of you rejecting and shunning me and thus shunning the gospel, you received me unto yourself.
You listen to the preaching, you listen to the word, and not only that, you receive me as an angel of God. Some have tried to link this with Lystra in Acts 14, when Paul and Barnabas were preaching and the natives came and fell down before them and praised them as having been angels. I don't know that that's a legitimate stretch or a legitimate connection. But regardless, when he comes, they received him as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
So they have history together. Judaizers have come along new on the scene and they are uprooting this relationship.
Paul's Concern Is Their Salvation, Not His Esteem
Now, when Paul says you have not injured me at all again, it's not his self-esteem. It's not his self-respect. It's not his preacher of the month status. But I'm sure there was a great deal of pain in his heart.
You know when you've effectively or tried to effectively minister to somebody and then they turn away because they found some new teaching that's heretical? That's disconcerting. It's difficult. If you've ever discipled somebody and you've been one-on-one and you've shared the gospel with them and you try to teach them what the Bible says and you grab them by the hand and you meet with them and you're concerned for them and you're praying for them and then you watch some television preacher hear something on the radio and poof, they're gone.
That's tough. He says, you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Calvin says the papists want us to receive them as angels and as Jesus Christ. He says, well, when their when their their conduct is a bit better, then we'll receive them as angels.
And when they preach to us sound truth, we'll receive them as Christ Jesus. That was a good side note by John Calvin there with reference to the papists. But they have a history here. They have. time spent with one another.
So when you look at this whole epistle, this is in many respects the rub. These guys are turning from one who preached the gospel to them and the power of the Holy Spirit to a bunch of guys who have come along that really don't want their well-being. That's another one of these shocking realities that happen in this world. A man can be invested and genuinely desire the good of somebody.
What did the Judaizers want? We'll see it in more detail as we proceed. They court you zealously. They're after you.
Why? Because they want you to follow them. It's not that they want you to follow Jesus. They don't want you to follow God.
They don't want you to honor the Lord. Rather, they are seeking to gain followers after themselves. That's very grieving that these sorts of things go on. Notice they didn't shine.
They receive them as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. And then notice in verse six of 15, what then was the blessing you enjoyed? I bear you witness that if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Now, this mixed with what Paul writes later in chapter six, when he says in verse 11, see with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand, seem to indicate some sort of a problem with his eyes or it could simply be an idiom.
A figure of speech. How do we describe somebody who's very generous and very nice? We say, oh, they'd give you the shirt off their backs, wouldn't we? He's such a nice man, or she's such a solid lady.
She would, or he would. We don't want she to. We want him to give you the shirt off his back. Look at the extent of their love.
They would take their own eyes out and give them to the Apostle. So while his esteem and his reputation and all that is not the concern here, there is an ache in his soul because he is witnessing firsthand defection, departure and apostasy from people who know better. They at one time would have been willing to pluck their eyes out and give them to the Apostle Paul. That was the extent of their love for this particular brother.
All that to say it is easy for people to get led astray by false teaching and view with suspicion those who have faithfully ministered to them. We need to guard against this temptation. It is easy to be led astray. It is easy if we are not on our guard, if we don't know our Bibles, if we are not examining daily the things that we are hearing, we can be led astray.
And then look at suspicion or look at people that we should love and esteem suspiciously. This is the whole purpose of 2 Corinthians. You ever read 2 Corinthians and you wondered why is Paul defending himself so vehemently in this letter? Because people had gone to Corinth and said, Paul really doesn't love you.
Paul's not really concerned about you. Paul isn't an impressive guy. He doesn't have good oratory skills. He's nothing to look at.
He's not the power preacher. He doesn't wear the power tie. He's not into power religion. He isn't a super apostle.
Follow us. That's why in 2 Corinthians, for so much, he defends his apostleship. Because in that instance, as in this one as well, if he is discredited and the opponents win and he won't let that happen. So that's a reminder of their relationship.
Now,
Warning Against the Judaizers
notice, secondly, a warning against their involvement with the Judaizers or just just for a moment, look at verse 16. Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? That's a tough statement. Not a tough one to exegete or understand, but it's a tough one when you realize that sometimes people get to the point where they get mad at you because you're telling them the truth.
I mean, isn't it great when you tell somebody the truth, they say, yeah, you're right. I'm a wretch. I should believe the gospel. Is that normally what happens?
No. Normally what happens is, who do you think you are? Who do you think you are telling me about my sin? Who do you think you are using the term lost?
What's this word saved? That implies bad things about me. You talk about damnation. People don't like you when you tell them the truth.
Now, you would hope that within the churches of Galatia, it would not be the case that Paul would become their enemy because he tells them the truth. We need to guard against this as well. Sometimes some people might tell us things that are hard to deal with. Sometimes somebody might tell you something that is difficult to process.
Let's just use a real analogy that we can all relate to. If somebody were to say to you, man, your breath reeks, you probably wouldn't be thrilled. You wouldn't say, yay, I love allitosis. That's what I'm about.
It's how I roll. I try to be as offensive as I possibly can. No, it's offensive to you. How dare you tell me that my breath smells?
You're invading my personal area. You are encroaching on my esteem. What happens in the spiritual realm as well? Somebody might say to you, you know what?
You're getting dangerously close to a pattern of iniquity. getting dangerously close to indulging that sin instead of dealing with it. What happens? Is it the case that all the people of God say, thank you, faithful are the wounds of a friend. I bless God for you.
No. How about the husband and wife relationship? Wife musters up the courage to say, honey, you need to lead this family better in the things concerning God. Oh, what do you mean?
I'm so busy. I got all the... Just deal with it, man. We spend so much time defending our honor, defending our integrity, defending our excellence, when we should say it is a whole lot worse than you can even imagine.
Thank you for reproving me so that I can deal with this. In disarrangement, because Paul told the truth, they were now looking at him with eyes of suspicion. He has become the enemy. He wants to hold us back.
He wants to keep us down. He doesn't want us to be everything that we can be in Jesus. It's an amazing dynamic that occurs. People get Very irritated or upset with the current regime when somebody new comes in telling them things they want to hear.
Well, let's look finally at this warning against their involvement.
The Judaizers' Strategy Exposed
Notice the Judaizers strategy. Verse 17, they zealously court you. You know what I think of when I see that? I think of a young man who's in love with a young woman.
He zealously courts. He puts on his best behavior. He puts on his shirt ties, sprays himself with cologne. He's respectful to the parents.
He's respectful to her. Everything is great. Everything is hunky-dory. He's zealously courting her.
Why? Because he wants her. He wants to marry her. He wants to engage in wedded bliss with her.
Well, the same idea is present here. But he highlights the fact that it is for no good. It's not like the man of integrity going after the woman. It's like the serpent.
It's like the snake. It's like the one zealously courting you, not for good. You see, that's what's at stake. Paul sees the spiritual reality involved.
If they add works to faith, they are damned. Sometimes fear, we don't see it in such stark reality today. Oh, they're just Roman Catholics who teach faith plus words. Oh, it's just the new perspective on Paul that teach faith plus words.
It's just the new federal vision theology, faith plus words. They are highlighting that our acceptance with God in some way depends upon us. That rips the teeth or guts right out of justification by faith. Paul saw they zealously court you, but for no good.
Notice this. Yes, they want to exclude you that you may be zealous for them. Like the prey animal focusing or the predator focusing on the prey. What do they do?
They don't attack the whole mob. They try to exclude them. They try to get them isolated. No, don't follow Paul.
Don't listen to Paul. Don't listen to what he has to say. They want to exclude them from Paul and thus exclude them from Christ. Why?
Not for high and noble purposes. No, so that you may be zealous for them. When all is said and done, these guys want money. They want prestige.
They want a following. They want disciples who call them Reverend Pastor, Doctor, Sir, or whatever it is. That was fair. That's what these guys were about.
They want to exclude you that you may be zealous for them. F.F. Bruce says they want to gain adherence for themselves and to shut them off from fellowship with Paul and, in effect, from fellowship with the Christ, whose apostle Paul is. In Paul's eyes, to seek justification by legal works, as the Galatians were being urged to do by the troublemakers, was to be severed from Christ.
Look at that in chapter five. Verse four. Let's just pick up reading in verse one, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing again.
This isn't some cultural health whatever. It's not just this is the way we do things because we like to be cleaner or whatever. That's not the issue here. The issue is religious insignificance.
It is to keep the law of Moses for our acceptance with God. Look at what this obliges a man to. If you first say yes to circumcision, notice verse three. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
It doesn't stop there. That's why they were following days and months and years. That's why they were celebrating the Jewish High Holy Days in an attempt to gain favor with God. You don't just keep a little bit of the Law of Moses for your acceptance with God.
It has to be complete. It has to be total. It has to be thorough. And that's the glory of the Gospel.
Because none of us have done that. None of us can do that. But Jesus Christ did. So by faith in Him, we are justified.
Notice in verse four, you have become estranged from Christ, separated from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace. It's not an Arminian doctrine that he's setting forth there. You can be in a state of grace and be saved and then fall from grace and not ultimately make it.
He's talking about the categories. If you are to be in the state of grace, do not bank your resources on law. To go now into the law category is to fall from grace. So these guys had diabolical motives in their heads and in their hearts and in their minds.
Again, back to chapter four. They zealously court you, but for no good. Yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. He says it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I'm present with you.
The problem isn't zeal. I wish everybody was a lot more zealous than we are. Remember Phineas, that man that was marked by the zeal of God, who takes that javelin and he shoves it through that Israelite and the Midianite woman. God commends him for that zeal.
I am not suggesting that you go out and do that, but God commends him for his zeal. We saw this morning Jesus cleansing the temple, turning the tables, driving out the animals. What does it say? They understood that zeal for God's house had eaten him up.
You take Paul the Apostle, was he zealous? Absolutely. You take George Whitfield, was he zealous? Absolutely.
C.H. Spurgeon, zealous? Absolutely. Any man of God worth his soul is zealous.
That's not the problem. Zeal in good things is a good thing. But zeal when you are trying to shipwreck the faith of people, that's wicked. That's horrible.
That's evil.
Paul's Maternal and Paternal Anguish
Notice his loving concern in verses 19 and 20. My little children for whom I labor and birth again until Christ is formed in you. I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone. I have doubts about you.
It's not that Paul sees two stages of Christian experience. It's not what he's saying here. He is saying rather. That if I'm sorry, let me just read a quote from Bruce, it is not that Paul sees two stages in Christian experience being justified by faith and having Christ formed within one.
It is rather that the one implies the other. The one implies the other and reliance on the law for salvation negates both of them, he says, my little children, for whom I labor and birth again and so Christ is formed in you. Look at the way he's speaking here. 1 Thessalonians 2 is almost embarrassing to the machismo bravado that we often like to display as men. I had a guy tell me once when I got here, oh, I just don't cry.
I'm just not going to cry. I'm not saying you need to go out and cry. I'm not telling you all you men need to go home and just weep. But Watson is right.
He says, you know, we can cry internally though the cistern isn't broken. It may not come out. Paul wept. Jesus wept.
Paul speaks in maternal language, not just paternal, not just the father of these people, but he speaks as a mother. An assistant of George Whitefield would be embarrassed because Whitefield cried so profusely during preaching. We've lost something of that. Again, I'm not saying a pastor should just come up and bawl his eyes out.
He's preached the Word with all his eyes up. Look at the tender language. My little children. He's gone from, I marvel, chapter 1, verse 6, and the pronouncement of anathema.
He's gone from, you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you. He's gone from, I fear for you, lest I have labor in vain, to this. My little children. For whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.
Paul's Affection in 1 Thessalonians 2
Go back again for just a moment or go forward again to First Thessalonians, chapter two. One of the first times I ever read this, I thought, man. He means business. He's really concerned.
He really cares because this matters. As we have been approved by God, verse 4, to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness, God as witness, nor did we seek the glory or glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were, notice, gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.
We need to remember this. It's easy to get into this doctrinal debate and forget the fact that we're dealing with real life people. Pastor Barcelos told me about a time when Dr. John Gershner spoke at Masters College.
Dr. Gershner, for any of you who know, was the mentor of R.C. Sproul, basically. And Gershner was up waxing on predestination, on foreordination, the election, sovereignty of God issues.
Then some kid asked a flippant question. And Gershner's response was, we're dealing with everlasting hell here. You don't make jokes. You don't play games.
This isn't something to laugh about. I think it was Edwards who said, we preach as men with one eye on the glory of heaven and one eye on the terrors of hell. That's Paul. We were gentle among you.
Just as a mother nurses her child. I mean, what more intimate, what more warm, what more beautiful picture can he possibly portray here? It's not this theology machine that runs into town or, you know, lets people have it on his blog. He is a man committed to the propagation of the truth of the gospel for the glory of God and the good of souls.
It affects him. He cares. He weeps. He's affectionate.
Notice verse nine. For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. We preach to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe.
As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. In the book of Acts, in chapter 20, when he's en route to Jerusalem, he stops in Miletus. He calls for the elders of Ephesus and he addresses those men of God. And it's interesting what he says.
He says in verse 19, And when they had come to him, he said to them, You know from the first day that I came to Asia in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. How I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house.
Grief Over Souls in Romans 9
Look over at Romans chapter nine. Romans chapter nine, one of those passages that reform types like to go to to beat up Arminians and Pelagians. We need to remember how he begins this chapter. We need to remember the kinds of or the kind of affection that he has with reference to the glory of God and the souls of men.
Notice in Romans 9.1, I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. All of this to say, Brethren, pray for Pastor Cam and I that we'd be more like Paul.
That's fair. That this would mark us, this kind of an ethos or pathos. For I could wish, he says, that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh. Paul had gone to synagogue after synagogue after synagogue.
He had preached Jesus as the Messiah and he had seen them reject. He had seen them turn away. He had seen them despise the Lord of glory. What does it do to Paul?
Does he say, oh, that's too bad for all of you? No, he says, I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. This needs to mark us as ministers of the gospel. It needs to mark all of God's people that we would function in terms of God's truth with a view to his glory and a view to the souls of men.
Application and Summary
Well, then he says at verse 20 in Galatians 4, I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone for I have doubts about you. Same kind of thing we get on email. Sometimes you write something and somebody gets all offended when you didn't mean it that way. All the emoticons notwithstanding, smiley face or whatever, they just still don't get it.
They think you're upset with them. He doesn't want that to be the case. He underscores the reality here. I'm not upset with you.
I don't hate you. I'm not angry at you. I'm concerned. I love you.
I want to see you finish. I want to see you happily connected to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So in summary, we learn from this passage the need for faithful ministers. We need men like Paul, we need men like Spurgeon, men like Whitefield, men like Peter, men like Isaiah the prophet, men like Malachi, men like Micah, men like Jesus, men like this, that have a genuine desire to advance the truth in a godly way.
There's a lot of heat. Or a lot of light, but not always a lot of heat, not the warm heat and affection that ought to punctuate our presentation of gospel truth. We need to have both light and heat. We need to have passion and desire, but we need the basket or we need to surround it in love and affection.
Paul was willing to be counted an enemy instead of compromising the truth of the gospel. We learn something else as well about the wickedness of false teachers. Be nice if they only stayed in the first century and plagued the churches in southern Galatia, but that's not the case. They're out there.
The reality of bad men, Bruce calls them troublemakers, bad men seems to summarize it as well, that are not concerned for your soul. They don't care. They have no desire whatsoever. They are zealous.
They are aggressive. They are persuasive. They are deceptive. They are dangerous.
The best way to guard yourself is to be a Berean. You're all familiar with the passage in Acts 17. These were more noble minded. Why?
Because they'd been to college, they'd been to seminary, they went online, they took courses. No, because they examined daily the things spoken by Paul to see if it was true. Paul wasn't offended. He didn't say, oh, keep your Bible shut and just listen to me.
Paul didn't say, thus saith Paul. Those Bibles were flipping. Paul was not offended. You search the scriptures, you test the spirit.
The best way to guard yourself against the counterfeit is to know the truth. Search the scriptures, read the confession, read good theology, understand doctrine, so that you don't fall prey to these troublemakers who don't want you to follow Christ, but to follow them. And then finally, if anyone here has not understood a word I've said, please forgive me. Let me just break it all down.
Paul's message, Paul's whole life, Paul's emphasis, Paul's desire was that you know these simple things. God is a holy God. He is righteous. He is pure.
He cannot look approvingly upon any evil whatsoever. Paul wants you to know as well that man is sinful. Man is corrupt. He taught in Romans 3, there is none righteous, no, not one.
There is none who seeks after God. There is no fear of God before our eyes. So if you're tracking at this point, you say, wow, that sounds like a miserable arrangement. God hates sin and I'm a sinner.
God hates sinners and I'm a sinner. Yeah, that's the bad news. But Paul never stops there. He goes on to the good news that Jesus Christ came into this world to do what we could never do, to live in obedience to God's law, to always do that which is pleasing to the Father.
To love the Lord as God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. To love his neighbor as himself. To continue in subjection to his earthly parents. To continue in subjection to an ungodly magistrate.
To ultimately be delivered up by the Father through godless men upon a cross. So that he could take the punishment due for our sins. He was put in the tomb and on the third day he rose again. And the Bible says that all of us who believe in him will have forgiveness of sins.
So if you haven't followed anything about Paul and his relationship with these Galatians, get this. God is holy. You're not. And you need Jesus Christ to save you from your sin.
And the way is by faith alone in Christ alone. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the heart of the apostle Paul. God, I pray that we would take these things to heart, that we would pray them in, that we would Be more like this brother, this man of God. And as well, Father, I pray that you would put us all on guard and to be watchful and to beware of men that would disrupt, men that would add works to faith in order for our acceptance with you.
God, I pray that we would love and rejoice in your truth. And we pray that you would just keep us on that narrow path. Forgive us, Father, that we are prone to wander and prone to leave the God that we love. I pray that you would keep us in check, that you would keep us under your blessed care and protection.
And we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.