Fallen From Grace | Galatians 5:1-12

[music] >> Galatians chapter 5 verse 1 and verse 2. The Apostle Paul writes, "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." Now, in verse 31, and I'm going to develop a bit of an introduction in chapter 4, notice what he said. He said, "Brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free." So, he's been establishing our relationship with Christ. We're not under the law. We saw last time we were together here in chapter 4 that he was speaking concerning the the law in the Old Testament and the new relationship we have through faith and by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And so, he had made it very clear that we are not under Jewish law. We're free in Jesus Christ. And what he's going to be doing now in the next next several verses, first six verses of chapter 5, is he's going to be exhorting them to reject the false teachings that are entering into the church. I mentioned to you before, and some of you have been with me as I have said this, but very early in the history of the church, it wasn't too long um but very very early in the history of the church, false teachers began to creep in. People who are bringing a different gospel, a different message. And they began to creep in and began to influence and infiltrate the church. There's a truth that is called the gospel that comes from Jesus Christ, and then there's error that comes by mixing different things with the gospel, and that's what's taken place here. And people have entered into the churches there in this region of Turkey that is referred to as ancient Galatia, people have come in and they have been bringing in false doctrine. And so in the first few verses of chapter 5, Paul is exhorting them to reject the false leading false doctrine that leads to bondage. It leads to them being slaves to a system that can't set them free. And that's what he's exhorting them to here when he says in verse 1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." That's what he's speaking about. So he's telling them they need to stand fast in liberty and the freedom that comes through Christ. The word stand fast simply means keep on standing. Keep on standing in the freedom that Jesus has given to you. He's saying hold fast, persevere. Persevere in the freedom Christ has given you. Remain free in Jesus Christ because Jesus set you free. Remain planted firmly in the freedom you have. The freedom that you have over the domination of sin. The freedom you have over the fear of death. The freedom you have over the fear of judgment. The freedom you have over the spiritual captivity of Satan. Stand fast in the grace of God, the joy that comes. And the grace that overcomes the demands of the law. So he's saying stay free and don't be entangled. The word entangled is simply means don't be ensnared. Don't Don't be trapped. Stop being held in a yoke of bondage is what he's saying. So I want to develop that with you for a moment because he uses the word yoke in verse 1, a yoke of bondage, and that actually has significance. Because the yoke is a term that the the Jews knew at that time. It was a term that to this day, I looked it up as I was preparing the study, and I wanted to see if this is a word that is commonly used in modern Judaism, and it is. The word yoke speaks about the religious obligations that that you take upon yourself. It The yoke, when the Jews were speaking of it, the yoke symbolizes accepting God's commandments as well as his laws for your guidance in life. The yoke represents the acceptance of the covenant of God. And so, when you look at a yoke, a yoke represents something that connects, and it's something that directs. It was used to harness an animal so so that it would labor under the direction of a master. That's what the yoke was used for. And so, what has happened is it's it's representing something. It represents the the that two wills are now working as one will. So, Jesus came to set us free from a yoke. A yoke, he says, that would produce bondage. Because what Jesus wanted to do is he wanted to make it possible for us to be directed by him in all of our life. He came to give us life, and he gave to give us his grace so that we might have faith in him and be set free from this bondage. And And that's why Paul is saying, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. Do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage and the obligation of fulfilling all the demands of the law." God has given us grace. In Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 through 30, Jesus said this. He said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. You will find rest for your souls, for he says, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." And so he said, "Take my yoke upon you." That's an invitation. That's an invitation for us to connect to him, and that's an invitation that we might take our life direction from him. And what he was saying is cease your striving to achieve what you cannot have without me. You see this useless striving is the way that unsaved people live. They're striving for something they can't have. They're striving to have peace, and they're striving to have joy, and they're striving to have love and fulfillment and all of those things, and and they're searching in all the wrong places. And Jesus is saying, and Paul is making it clear, that these things that that you desire come through Christ and no other way. And so he's saying, you can you cannot have these things unless you're yoked together with me. In the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes chapter 2, verses 22 and 23, the writer says, "What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days, his work is pain and grief. Even at night his mind doesn't rest. This too is meaningless. Striving to have and never obtaining." And Solomon says, "And even at night, his mind is constantly, how can I get what I want?" And he's saying, "It's meaningless. It's vanity. It's worthless if you don't have the Lord." And so what happens? Well, we cease our striving when we confess our sins, because when we confess our sin and receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can now have peace. We can have peace with God, because peace will occur when we yield ourselves to the Lord and we seek his forgiveness and receive it. When we confess our sins and stop fighting God, God extends his grace to us and we can have peace. And and that peace is the result of trusting in Christ and having faith in him. That's why Paul in in chapter 5 of the book of Romans, when he was writing the Roman church, that's why Paul in verse 1 had said, "Since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us." So, Jesus' invitation is for all who labor. When he said this, "Come unto me, all you labor." The word labor speaks of those who are utterly exhausted. It's for those who are heavy laden, those who are carrying a heavy weight. The burden of a guilty conscience weighs you down. The burden of of carrying the guilt and not having any way to get rid of it will weigh you down. It's a source of much depression and sorrow of heart. It loads you, like it says in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 4, "A sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children who are given to corruption. They've forsaken the Lord. They've spurned the holy one of Israel. They turned their backs on him." And so, what's the result of turning your back on God? The Bible would say, "You're burdened. You're loaded with guilt." So, when we reject the rest that Jesus offers, our life remains difficult. In Proverbs 13:15, it says, "Good understanding gives favor, gains favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard." And so, because of this, Jesus invited us to come to him. And what was his promise? He had said, "His promise is, I will give you rest." The word rest means I will revive you as from labor or from a long journey. Your long journey will be over because you can now rest. That's the point he's making. And that's why he had said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I'm gentle and I'm lowly." So, he's speaking about the yoke of the law. And the yoke of the law was a great burden. They couldn't bear it. They couldn't succeed. So, Jesus sets us free because he came to fulfill the law and he did it on our behalf. And that's why when we come to faith in him, we can be set free from our own efforts and we can find peace and rest in him. What we could not do, he has done. So, we enter into rest with him. We have peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ. And when we have peace with God, the striving ceases and now we can rest in him. And that's why he had said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me." Accept my teachings. Because in my teachings, those teachings reveal how you're saved. He says of himself, "I'm gentle. I'm lowly in heart. And you're going to find rest. Rest in me. As you rest in faith, you will find rest for your troubled soul. Why? Because my yoke is easy. My burden is light. My yoke is built out of kindness. And my burden, what I require, is not too heavy. Rest in me." In the Old Testament book of Jeremiah 15:16, the prophet said, "Your words are found and I ate them. Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. Your words are found and I ate them. And your word to me was the joy and rejoicing of my heart." When John the Apostle was writing what is called First John, in the fifth chapter, the third verse, he said, "This is the love of God that we keep His commandments." But he went on to say His commandments are not burdensome. His commandments aren't burdensome. Because when you love the Lord, you want to do what pleases him. And it's not burdensome to do those things. It's a work of love. When you serve the Lord and you do the things he is pleased with, it's a work of love. It's something that refreshes you and gives you joy to do. So many years my wife would make me dinners. You know, not every woman cooks and I get that and not every woman should cook, but No. Just teasing. And when we first got married, uh there's a certain certain dish that I like, uh steak picado steak picado. And uh Marie had never cooked. Marie was not a cook. She was a college student and her mom and took care of her and family and uh Marie didn't learn to cook. I was her guinea pig. And so, like many of you men, you know, did you gain weight the first month? I gained 20 lb the first month when I got married. And so, uh Marie didn't know how to portion things at that time, so she just gave the whole thing to me and there I I just eating it and you don't you don't say to your your new wife, you know, this is too much. You just eat and get fat and that's what I did. But she made me steak picado cuz she knows that I like it and problem is she used some pretty hot chilies and she put the whole bunch of them in and there's this and it was hot and and I remember eating it with with sweat sweat coming down my face and uh and tears and I said, "Oh, I'm just happy." And I was. Oh. Well, she learned over over the years how to cook in in a way that we both were pleased with and is my favorite cook, obviously, to this day. But the work, it's a lot of work. Some of you know, and I I obviously there's another Mexican dish, chili chili rellenos. My my wife makes the very best. But it takes her all day to make them. All day. And it takes me like 10 minutes to eat them all. I mean, it's just an amazing thing. But she learned how to cook, but the labor she was doing was not out of anger or out of I have to. It was a labor of love. So, when you love what you're doing, it's not work. What you love what you're doing is a joy. When you love the Lord, when you're doing what he commands, it's not work. It's a joy to your heart. Your words I found, I ate them, and caused my heart to rejoice. You see, so his commands aren't harsh. They're not burdensome. Oh, I wanted to go out and get drunk tonight. What a bummer I can't. I wanted to commit adultery. Wow, it's burdensome I can't. No, it's the joy of your heart. And so Jesus' burdens that he gives to us, well, all of that is light. It's not heavy at all. It's something that is is a joy for us to do. It's something that is a pleasure. So, Jesus sets us free from the bondage of the law. So, Paul is making it clear very clear. He's saying, um and he's speaking by the way when he says in verse two, "Indeed I Paul." He's he is speaking with what is called apostolic authority, but he's saying something that's very important. I Paul say to you that if you become circumcised, listen, Christ Christ he is saying it will profit you nothing. Now, he's speaking with this authority. What I'm saying has tremendous importance. Paul is saying, "Listen and understand. If you are circumcised, you're rendering the death of Jesus as and his resurrection, you're accounting it as useless. You're rendering it useless. Why? Because you cannot combine the Jewish law and Christianity. It is either one or it's the other. If you're circumcised, what you're doing is you are pledging yourself to follow the entire law of Moses. And by doing that, you're committing yourself to keep the law, the entire law. And you are saying you don't need Jesus to be saved. Why? Because you're relying on the law of Moses and all the commands, circumcision, and all the rest, and you're rejecting the grace of God in salvation. Remember in chapter 2 verse 21, I do not set aside the grace of God. If righteousness comes through the law, Christ died in vain. I don't set it aside. I do not frustrate the grace of God. I do not set it aside. If you think that keeping the law, Paul is saying to them, is going to put you into heaven, have a relationship with God, you're not understanding the death of Jesus. If you think circumcision will gain you any merit, you're wrong. Because the death of Christ is sufficient. And you don't add to it. You don't You don't add works to grace. See, you don't add works to be saved. When when my firstborn daughter, Corrine, was born, Marie came from a very, very strong Catholic family. Very strong. And so when Corrine was born, my mother-in-law asked us, asked Marie, are you going to baptize the baby? And Marie said, "No, Mama, we don't baptize infants." And so I'll never forget Marie's mama saying, "Well, just in case." So there was this mentality that well, what if you're wrong? This will act and it's adding works to grace. Baptism doesn't save you. We just had a baptism just a couple weeks ago and I was pointing that out. We are not saved by the washing of water upon our dirty skin. It's a clean conscience that we have before Christ. We're saved and therefore we're baptized, but we're not baptized to be saved. And so, what happens is when you begin to add works to grace, you're undermining the grace of God. That's what Paul is dealing with and he's making it very clear that Jesus' death on the cross to die for our sin, the lamb of God who took upon himself the sin of the world, that's sufficient. So, circumcision, getting to the law, cannot benefit you beyond what is already provided for you by Christ. In 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 3, the apostle said this. He said, "By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence." And so, what he's speaking about here in verse 2 again, "If you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing." What he's doing is he's speaking to two factions or two peoples in the church body who are there receiving teaching. And so, he's saying to think that circumcision will benefit you will ultimately leave you doomed because circumcision is a pledge to keep the entire law in order to receive justification from God. We saw it in chapter 3. We saw it in verse 10 when he had said, "As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. It is written, 'Cursed is everyone does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." And so he made it very clear that circumcision, if you are resting in it, will leave you doomed because you have to keep the entire law. So on the one hand, there are people in the church who are being influenced in this way, who are unsaved or being influenced. And to others, they're already saved. And to them, he would be saying to think circumcision is needed is to quench the work of grace in your life. You're not going to experience spiritual growth if you add works to grace. If you're circumcised, you'll never attain full knowledge of the depth of grace because you're going to only rest in the things that you've done. And grace points you to something you couldn't have done, which gives you a greater appreciation in the work of God. But if you think that you're being obedient and therefore your obedience has helped you to be saved, you're misunderstanding the whole purpose of God's grace to show you it's unmerited favor. And so if you go out and get yourself circumcised, you're adding law to grace, and it doesn't work. Verse 3 says that. He says, "I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he's a debtor to keep the whole law." To live under any of the law as a way of getting right necessitates you obeying all of it. And to obey part of the law is to disobey that part that you're not obeying, and that makes you guilty. You see, in James chapter 2 verse 10, it says, "The person who keeps all the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws." So I may not steal, but if I lie, I've broken them all. I may not do one thing, but if I do the other, and there's all these commands, I'm guilty, and that's what the scripture says. I'm guilty as a sinner It's just as if I broke them all. So you cannot keep one law and not another, and therefore, if you're going to be a debtor, you have to keep the whole law, and you can't be. And so, as a result of that, verse 4, you've become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by law, you've fallen from grace. Now, let's develop that for just a moment. He said, you've been estranged. The word estranged, you've been loosed from, you've been separated. That's what the word means. When he says fallen, it means to lose your grasp on something and drop away. What's the point? You cannot live by grace and the law at the same time. To be justified by law is to reject the grace of God. Now, how does this work? Well, there are two ways that we can look at this when he speaks in that way. Well, one, every church service that was held from almost the beginning, not from the very beginning, from the very beginning and initially when the day of Pentecost came, the Holy Spirit had baptized those who were in the upper room, and the message was preached, and 3,000 were saved. Initially, they were all believers who had gathered together. But over time, there would be visitors who would come to church services. So, it developed very early in the history of the church where people would show up, but they were not necessarily Christians or committed to Christ at all. They would come with an interest. It happens to this day. That's why when giving invitations, that's why people get saved. Cuz they're not saved. They come to church, they want to hear the message. They've been invited, whatever the reason, but they're there, and that that's been going on for centuries. They came to church, and so there's a group of people that will be in a church meeting, and so, if they're listening to the message, and so, what they're doing is they're observing the life of Christians and hearing the message of the gospel. And as they hear the message of the gospel, the word of God is being explained and they're being exposed to grace, but that doesn't mean that they personally embrace it. I went to Bible study. I heard the word of God prior to being saved. I listened to it. I appreciated it. I liked the people who were all seated around me. I thought it was a unique place, a great environment, enjoyed the worship music that they had. Everything about it except for one thing, I was not saved. So, you can do that. You can go and you can appreciate everything except except you don't embrace the gospel and that's what happens in every church service. They have a personal they they lack a personal experience with the grace of God. They don't understand that. That's why when Paul was writing to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, he said, "As God's fellow workers, we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, 'In the time of favor, I heard you. And in the day of salvation, I helped you.' And he went on to say, 'I tell you, now is the time of God's favor. Now is the day of salvation.' Don't just listen, act upon it. The more you hear without receiving, the more hardened you are to the message. The more you hear it, the harder your heart will become. Some people will hear the message and they'll say, "That was true." Other people hear the same message and they say, "I can't believe that." The same sun that melts wax will harden clay. The same message that reaches one person is rejected by another. Many years ago, many years ago, over 30 years ago, I was teaching out of 1 Corinthians and I was in a portion of scripture that began to speak concerning various sins. And one of the portion one of the sins mentioned was the sin of homosexuality. And going through the word of God, you're going to encounter these passages and you are instructed by God to teach it and that's what I do [clears throat] and I taught it. And I pointed out what Paul was saying, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who practice such things will not don't be deceived. I got a a letter a couple weeks ago. That's when they used to actually write. Do you remember remember those days? They would write. Didn't have a text messages and email. She wrote me a letter. And it was a woman. She says, "I was at your church a couple of weeks ago with my my girlfriend. She was a lesbian. She says, "I was there with my girlfriend. And you taught this passage. I'd never heard that before, so I went home and I thought about it." She said, "I spoke to my my girlfriend she was living with. She said, "I spoke to my girlfriend. And my girlfriend said, that's just his opinion." She said, "But Pastor David she said, I read the passage to her and I read it again and she said, that's not his opinion. That's what it's saying." She said, "I want you to know something. I want you to know that I accepted Christ. I want you to know that my girlfriend has moved out from my house and I'm now following Jesus Christ because the truth sets me free." >> [applause] >> And then later on she moved up north to another state and she wrote and she said to me, "I got married. I have children. And so the Lord did a great work in this young woman because it's teaching about the grace of God. And it's not just somebody's opinion, it's the truth. And what is happening is these false teachers are entering into the Galatian churches and are changing the gospel. And that's a terrible thing to do and he develops that, but on the one hand you'll have believers who are receiving, you'll have in the same congregation you have people who reject. You have people who reject. In this fellowship I've had so many people and sometimes they're they're not very nice when they reject. There was somebody who was standing back there who was standing up and he was and he you know, he gave me what you we used to call the California howdy. Um he flipped me off. And he started yelling and swearing at me and as he was walking out the door. And I said, "John, you should never do that. It's a bad testimony, you know, but I mean I've had that so many times, so many times I don't want to hear this and so they'll listen to everything else except the truth. I don't want to hear this. But it's the truth that sets you free, you see. And so this one woman is saying, "That's his opinion." The other one said, "No, I embrace it." And it transformed her life. You can have unbelievers, people who haven't received Christ in the same room. Some are receiving, others not. And so what he's saying here is if you're a believer and you're starting to do this kind of thing, what you're doing is removing yourself from a place that God can work with you. You're falling out of that sphere where God will work with you because to live a life under the law removes yourself from the joy of salvation and what you end up doing is quenching the Holy Spirit and you move from a place of being blessed by God. You see, grace is a revelation. It's a revelation of the essential nature of God. The Bible says that God is love. And as a loving God, God desires us to be blessed by him. In Deuteronomy 5:29 in the Old Testament, "Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always so that it might go well with them and their children forever." So, because he desires to bless, he makes provision to do so by grace. So, grace is the source of salvation and blessings to those whom the Lord loves. In Ephesians 1:7, Paul said it like this, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace." And so, with that in mind, Paul says you've fallen from grace. To attempt to serve God by the law renders you ineffective and ultimately results in being shelved from service to him. You cannot preach grace and the law simultaneously. You're quenching the Holy Spirit if you're a believer and you're doing that. So, he goes on in verse 5 and he says, "For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." You see these people who are called Judaizers, well, the Judaizers' hope was righteousness based on the law and not by faith in God. It's the Spirit who makes faith effective. It's the Spirit who makes righteousness real. And Christians rely on the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Though we're still in the flesh, we long to the day when everything is complete. In our daily life, we go through hardship, we go through trials, we have to deal with these things. That's true. But it produces a longing for all things to finally come to completion, to finally put off this body of death, to enjoy the freedom that we have in seeing him face to face. In Romans 8:23, we believers groan even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory. For we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We too wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children including the new bodies that he has promised us. And so that comes not by our works, that comes by his grace. And that again is his point. Verse 6, "In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love." When you're saved, it doesn't matter if you are circumcised or are not circumcised. You're saved because of faith and grace coming that that comes from God. And so what really matters is notice verse 6 is faith working through love. It's not the outer cutting away of flesh. It's not the rigid observa- observation of the law of Moses. It is faith. It's faith that is founded on the love of God. It is faith that is demonstrating that we have a relationship with God because we love him. And we love others. If somebody says I love God but hates his brother, he's a liar. John says. How can he say he loves God whom he's not seen when he hates his brother whom he can't see? So one of the things that is very obvious about a person who knows the Lord is that they have a love for God and love for people. In in the book of Matthew in chapter 22 verses 35 through 40 uh Matthew writes, "One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question. Teacher, which is the great greatest commandment in the law?" Then Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments." What is it that sums up what God's intent for us as as as human beings? He says, "Love me with all that you have and love other people." And today obviously people say, "Well, if if you really love other people, you leave other people doing what they do." And that's not true at all. If you love people, you tell them the truth. Even if sometimes the truth hurts. And the truth does hurt. The truth can be The word of God can be like a sword. It can be like a a scalpel a surgeon's scalpel and it slices. It's clean, but it removes the things that shouldn't be there. And those of you who've gone through surgery and had things removed, you know that. The surgeon's scalpel by wielded by a skilled doctor, the surgeon's scalpel removes something that can destroy you, that can kill you. And the word of God does the same thing. It removes those things that are destroying you. So, when the word of God is being taught properly, it's setting you free. So, carefully keeping rules and laws, well, they're not going to provoke you to love and care for other people. It doesn't do that. You may you may be scrupulous. During the time of of of Jesus, Jesus pointed out the the way that the Pharisees of his day acted. You know, he said they dress in a certain way, they pray in a certain way, they do certain things. They're They do these things to be seen by others. He says, "But that's not the way it's supposed to be with you." And Jesus would speak to them and he did it and he's the one who can do this. And he spoke to them with firmness and very often he referred to them as hypocrites for what they were doing. They were play acting. Why? Because he said everything is is on the outside, but it's not really on the inside. He says, "You don't really desire the things of the spirit. You don't desire the things of God. You simply are acting as if you're righteous when in fact you're a hypocrite because you're wearing certain clothing and praying in certain ways and standing in certain areas and giving in certain times. He says, "And all of that is to be seen by men. That's not your heart. You don't love people. You won't lift up a your finger to help them. You don't have a heart." You see, so the the way that you demonstrate your love for God is you love others. That's how the Lord says it's going to demonstrate the reality of your faith. And that that was the lesson. And some people have a difficult time, I've said this before, but my mom said, "I love Jesus, I just it's people I hate." And I said, "Mama, that's that's just not the way you do it. It's not the hating people, Mama." But people do that. People people will say, "Well, I'm a good Christian person, therefore therefore therefore you can't this and you can't that and you shouldn't this and you shouldn't that." And their whole life is filled with you can't do this to other people, when in fact it's the grace of God that set you free. It's God's grace that makes you brand new. When I got saved, people weren't running up telling me don't do this and don't do that. What they were saying is, "You you need to do this. Love the Lord with all your heart." And cuz when you fall in love with Jesus, when Jesus begins to work in you, the things that used to hold you down are going to be let go of, and that's a fact. That's how it works. So, Jesus said the way that people know that you're really one of mine is if you love one another. He said the entire law and prophets hang on to these two great commands, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. And so it's faith in Christ that that enables you to fulfill the requirements of the law. And so he's saying to them that they need to reject false doctrine. But now he moves on and exhorts them to reject false teachers. In verse 7 he says, "You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion doesn't come from him who called you. A A little leaven leavens the whole lump. You ran well. Now Paul knew who it was who was influencing him. their false teachers who have come in. So he says, "Who is it that's hindering you from obeying the truth?" And he goes on to say this persuasion doesn't come from the one who has called you. The word persuasion it speaking concerning the effort of the Judaizers to influence them and they're yielding to it. A genuine teacher, then I'll say this briefly. A genuine teacher never knowingly teaches error, knowingly. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 3 and 4, Paul said the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We're not trying to please men, but God who tests our hearts. A true minister has a fear of God and wants to rightly divide the word of truth and he doesn't want to lead the person into error. His desire their desire is to see people set free by God's truth and that's why you rightly divide the word of God and present it as it is. And so he's making it very clear that these false teachers are not doing that. Notice what he says in verse 9, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." A little leaven little yeast permeates and contaminates the entire lump of dough. In this particular context, leaven refers to bad teaching infecting the church. Remember in in Matthew in chapter 16, Jesus had warned his men to be wary. He said, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Beware of them, these religious groups. Beware of the leaven." Well, his men were talking amongst themselves and they said, "He must be mad at us because we forgot to take bread." And that's the the depth of insight his men had. He's mad at us. We forgot to take some bread. But in Matthew 16 verse 12, it reads, he didn't warn them about the leaven of bread. He was warning them about their teachings. He warned them about their doctrine. He was saying, reject the doctrine because it infects and because it permeates. Paul would be saying the same kind of thing. Reject this a little leaven leaven's all the whole church is going to be infected by this mixture of law and grace. You need to reject it. Because of a true teacher desires the church to be developed in their faith. When Paul was writing the Ephesians in chapter 4:11-13, he said, Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. And so he's saying, I want you to grow into full faith. I don't want you hindered. This false doctrine is permeating and infecting. He goes on in verse 10, I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will have no other mind. But he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. And I brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. And he says something very strong here verse 12, I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off. This He is saying this to the members of the church you haven't been affected and infected by this false doctrine. That would be the largest percentage, by the way, of the church. And as he says this, and you'll see this in a moment, what he is saying, when he says, "I could wish that I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut them." That's a pretty strong thing to say. Now, he's saying this, why? He's saying this because he loves them and he's believing the best for them and he doesn't want them infected by bad doctrine and he's encouraging those who haven't been seduced. So, in one way he's encouraging and the other way he's rebuking. And he's saying this. He's saying to the majority, "You have not gone astray. You've remained faithful to Christ. I have continued hope that you'll remain true to the gospel, but verse 10, he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is." This leading you into error has a proper response, judgment. Now, Jesus said in Luke 17:1 and 2, "It's inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come. It would be better for him to have a millstone hung round his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. When you go to Israel, there's a place that we go, Capernaum, and there is a millstone there as an exhibit. The millstones were huge. They were used to grind the grain and they they could weigh like 3 to 500 lb or more. And so, that was the point he was making, would be better to have one of those things tied around you and dropped into the Sea of Galilee than to offend one of these little ones who believe in me. And so, this is how his heart was. These people are offending and stumbling the believers. And so, he says in verse 11, "If I still preach circumcision, why do I suffer persecution?" Now, this takes a moment for me to develop because you need to understand what he's referring to. Again, if I still preach circumcision, why do I suffer persecution? The offense of the cross has ceased. Let me share with you what he's saying. They're saying that Paul is still preaching circumcision. They're saying that he's still preaching the law. How could that have happened? Well, when you read the book of of of Acts, in chapter 16 of Acts, Paul went into that region here in where the Galatian churches were on his second missionary journey. And while he was there, a young man by the name of Timothy came to faith in Christ. Acts 16:3 says that Paul wanted to take him along on the journey. So, he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Gentile. His father was a Greek. Timothy was Jewish by race and training. Timothy was raised up in the Old Testament scriptures from his youth. By being circumcised, Timothy would be enabled to preach the gospel to the Jews. It wasn't so that he would be saved. It was to give him an opportunity to minister. It would seem that the Judaizers knew that Timothy had been circumcised, and they would then have used it to say that Paul was preaching circumcision. And Paul is saying, "That's not the case." He's saying, "If he was preaching circumcision, it would undermine the message of the cross because it's the cross of Jesus that causes stumbling to the Jews." In 1 Corinthians 1:23, we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. And so, he's saying, "I am not preaching circumcision." Timothy was circumcised, which enabled him to minister to the Jews who knew that his father was a Greek. It was not for salvation. It was enabling him to minister. So that he could go into the temple area where the Jews are allowed in order that he can have an ability to minister in the Jewish religion. Judaism or Jewishness is is is um comes from the mother. His mother was a Jew, and that's the whole point he's making. So no, I didn't circumcise Timothy so that he would be under the law. I circumcised him so he'd have an opportunity to minister to the Jews. And then he goes on and he says this, verse 12, "I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off." There are different ways to look at this. I'll give you three, and then we'll come to a close. "I wish that those who trouble you would cut themselves." What do you mean by that? Well, one, he's speaking of the ones who are agitating and disturbing them. He's speaking of the teachers who are bringing them into bondage, the ones who are disturbing their faith, the ones who are undermining the grace of God, stealing their joy. And because of this, he desires the false teachers to cut themselves off. What does that mean? Well, one, there are those who say when he says cut themselves off, it would mean that they would cut off themselves from the church. In other words, that they would separate from the church or be cut off, excommunicated. In Galatians 4:17, Paul said they wanted to exclude the Galatians from him and Jesus. Here he he's saying they should be removed from the church because they're leaven. So one, that may be what he's saying. Two, it could be a wish that the false teachers would be judged by God. Jeremiah 44:11, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will set my face against you for catastrophe and for cutting off all Judah." So, maybe it's that God will bring judgment, and then there's the third, and this is pretty heavy. That they would castrate themselves. Why would you say that? During that day, there was a cult called the cult of Cybele. And in the cult of Cybele, which was the earth mother, male followers castrated themselves. And after doing so, they were given women's clothing and assumed female identities. Does that sound familiar? Huh? The stuff that we see today is not brand new. This took place 2,000 years ago. Where people were dedicated to their faith and would go to extremes such as that to live out their true selves and worship, {quote} {unquote}, the the deity that they had embraced. And so, they were familiar with this. They were familiar with the rite of castration of males. They were eunuchs. They were making themselves eunuchs for the {quote} {unquote} god that they served. And there are many conservative scholars who say he's saying, "Why stop at the foreskin foreskin? Castrate yourself. Show your complete dedication." But the point he's making is these people are coming and they're undermining your faith, and they're trying to demonstrate themselves as being true followers, then why don't you go all the way and show yourself for what you really are. And what this is, and I'll close with this thought, it's and you it One commentator pointed it out, and I think it's true. He said this is an expression of the love that Paul had for these people to say something so strong. They're trying to uproot you. They're trying to undermine your faith. May they be dealt with severely. Remember, he began this letter by saying in Galatians 1:9, "As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you've received, let him be accursed." It isn't a lightweight thing to come and change the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's not a lightweight thing for you to to to modify it to suit your purposes. It it you it's something you receive by faith and walk in by faith, and it is the one truth that is above all things that are claiming to be truth because the gospel is the truth. When I first got saved, I was I wasn't more than a month old in Christ, and we had somebody come to the house, friend of mine's house, and he was part of some organization called the Self-Realization Fellowship. Some of you may have heard of it. The Self-Realization Fellowship. I'd never heard of anything like that in my life. And so, we were speaking, he and I. I was brand new believer. He was in the front room. He's doing some repair work, and I spoke to him, and I said, "Do you know, do you believe in Christ?" He says, "I'm a member of the Self-Realization Church." I said, "What is that? I've never heard of it." He says, "Oh, we believe that every religion religion has come from God. Every religion has some aspect of God that they are presenting to mankind. So, we take all the religions and we believe all that they say." And I said, "You do?" He goes, "Yeah." I said, "I've never heard of anything like that." And again, remember, I was a brand new believer. I was a brand new Christian. Never heard of Self-Realization, what it means, or anything like that. But he's saying, "We believe things that all religions because all religions bring truth." And I said, "Is that right?" I said, "I'm a Christian." He says, "Yeah." He says, "I believe in what Christ said." I said, "Do you?" He goes, "Yeah." I said, "But you you believe what everybody else says, too, right?" And he goes, "Yeah." So, I said, "Jesus said, 'I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Do you believe that?'" He goes, "Yeah." I said, "Then why are you doing these other things?" And I was a brand new believer. I did I was confused. How can you say you believe everything and yet you don't? How can you say you believe in Jesus Christ but you really don't? If Jesus said, "I am the way and no man comes to the Father but by me," how is it you think you're going to get there another way? How's that work? He said, "You know, I'm too busy to to talk." I said, "No, I just don't understand what you're saying. You get I said, don't you see that that's a contradiction? You can't do both. Jesus said, "Either you're for me or you're against me." But then he said, "The one who's for me is going to serve me. The one who's against me will scatter abroad." You make a decision who you're going to follow. Who's the Lord? Who's the savior? Do you believe his words? These These Galatians are being infected by intruders are saying there's another way. Paul said, "May they go all the way. Show their devotion. Castrate themselves and demonstrate their true faith." In fact, they won't because they don't truly believe these things because they don't understand the grace of God. He said, "Don't be infected by this garbage because it's leading you astray and I'm concerned for you." And every pastor has the same heart. Stay true to Jesus Christ. Hold fast to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the truth that sets you free. And Jesus said, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it'd be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea." Paul said, "Let them be accursed. Let them cut themselves off." And Jesus said, "Let them be drowned." That sounds pretty serious to me. How about to you? It sounds pretty serious to me. It's the truth that sets you free. Hold fast to the truth. Our Father, we ask that you would work in us to that end. That we would walk in the grace of Christ. All the blessings and the beauty and the joint, all of that that comes through you. May we never accept a message that takes us away from you, Lord. And may your Holy Spirit work in us to the degree, Lord, that we will see more and more truth that is unfolded in your word. Maybe May we be loving when we speak, and may we speak with with love. But may we never hesitate to do so. Lord, I pray for this church. I pray for us. That we would love you with all that's within us. And that we would love others. And even as John said, I give you a new commandment, that you should love even as Christ loved us. May we have that kind of love for other people and love them enough to tell them the truth and give them an opportunity. And holding fast to the word of life that you have given to us. May we not stray from you, Lord. May we not be those who come to a church service and walk out saying, "Well, whatever." May we be people who say, "I want to do that. I want to live like that. I want to be strong in Jesus." So, I pray for each one of us, Lord, that that would be true. As our eyes are closed and our heads are bowed, perhaps there are some right now in this room who need to get right with the Lord. And you need prayer. You may be a backslider or somebody who's saying, "You know, I need to come to the true Christ. I need to be right with God through him. The one who has died on a cross for me, who poured out his blood for me, who was buried but rose the third day for me, a sinner. I need Christ. Forgive me, Lord. And if you have a desire to have a relationship with him or return to him and need prayer, would you raise your hand and let me pray for you right where you're at? Just raise your hand then I might see you. Father, you see these hands. You know the reason why they're being raised to you. In Jesus' name, I pray that you would reach down and touch each person whose hand is raised to you now. May your Holy Spirit work in them. And may you have your way, Lord. May they sense your presence in a powerful way. May they love you now. May they learn your word, Father, walk in your truth, and share with others. And I pray this because it brings honor to you. We open up to you, Lord. Fill us with your presence. And we bless you. Thank you, Lord. You can put your hands down. And there may be some right now who are going through an illness and you'd like prayer. I'd like to pray for you if you'd like. Would you raise your hand and let me pray for you? Father, you see these hands. You know the reason why they're being raised to you. I I don't know what they're going through, but you do. And I ask that you would reach down and touch them, Lord. Whatever it is in their body that is in need of your touch, I pray that you would And I pray that you would bring healing. They're asking, Father. And I ask that you would just respond. May it be your will to touch them, Lord. And I pray that they might have a rejoicing that takes place as you do. We give you thanks now by faith. And Lord, we ask that you would do this because it brings you glory. And we bless you and we thank you. You can put your hands down. And Lord, I ask that you go with us as we're about to leave. May we not forget what you're teaching us. In Jesus' name, amen.