Understanding Grace Pt 4

when giants come calling my my god is so much bigger than troubles i face but why would i rich his old face he fills the streets to save nation the songs of faith we sang through doubt and fear we'll see that it was worth it turns to wipe away our team the heroes of the faith thousands generations one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that you are lord amen amen lord this morning god we just want to give you thanks we just want to express our gratitude to you father god just for all the ways that you take care of us for all the ways that you look out for us all the ways that you provide for us, God, for all the ways that you just, that you love us, Father God. God, you are so good to us

and so holy, God, and we just want to lift praise to you this morning, God, and express our gratitude. Would you guys stand with me? Lord God, we just want to lift, God, we give you praise because you're worthy of all praise. God, you are so good to us. Lord, accept, accept praise, God, accept thanks. God, you are so good to us. You are so kind and so faithful.

Just give you thanks for everything. God, there's no words that can truly express, God, how truly grateful we are for what you've done for us. God, this morning I just pray that as Pastor Ryan comes, God, I just pray that your Holy Spirit, just be with him, speak through him. God, speak to our hearts this morning, God. Let your word go out with power and let it accomplish the

purpose for which you sent it, God. We love you, Father. We praise you and we thank you. All God's people said, amen. Let's have some fellowship. Good morning. If you could begin the process of finding your seat, grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements. Oh, that's right. Okay. A handful of announcements for you. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad you

could be here this morning. You are correct. There are no bulletins. The copier is revolting against us currently. And we were going to go ahead and try to make some copies that we'll call them subpar quality, but the quality was so subpar that they were unreadable. So we did not have any bulletins for you. A handful of things to take note of. First of all, National Day of Prayer on May the 4th. Hey, may the 4th be with you. That'll be the

right time to pray. On May the 4th at 12 p.m. at Wilson Park Rotunda, there will be a gathering that the Ministerial Alliance is putting on for the National Day of Prayer. So come join us for that. And then there is a men's conference coming up May 19th through the 21st at Camp Horizon. And I emailed out first thing this morning. That link to everybody. So that did go out to everyone. And then the other thing is a reminder

that there is a potluck this coming Sunday, April the 30th potluck and kickball. So come on out and join us for that. Bring a dish to share and we will have some good fellowship and fun together as a body. Hopefully it'll be a little warmer than it is this morning. So for our responsive reading, we are going to be in Psalm 23. Psalm 23. Looking at the new American standards so we sound the same. As always, there should be

one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 23, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 23. Make sure you're there. Perfect. Psalm 23, a Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd. Shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. You have anointed my head with oil. You have anointed my head with oil.

My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And Father, we come to you now and we praise you for being our good shepherd. Father, the one who leads us, guides us, directs us, supplies for us, restores us, and is always with us. Father, what a blessing that we can know you. And what a

blessing that you know us. And what a blessing that you know us. And what a blessing that you know us. And so, Father, I pray that you would speak to us now through your word this morning. Open up our eyes, open up our ears, and open up our hearts to receive what you want us to receive from the Holy Spirit this morning. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in

your Bibles to the book of Galatians chapter four. Galatians chapter four. I'm just thinking of a story where a young man named Peter did something that was kind of badly wrong. But the boy Even in small town Arc City. Okay, quick show of hands who all Facebook live yesterday and watch that entire situation that took place on a street. Yes, you're my people. I was right there

with you too. I was like, Oh, she got out of the car, right? I mean, we're just following, that, that whole thing. Now, listen, my heart goes out, especially to the kid that was in there. I want, I was very glad it was a peaceful resolution, but I was just like, dude, even in Ark City, we can't escape the craziness of the world, right? Like it just, there's just a spirit

of the age right now that is just, that is just wild. And so it's, it's good to know that even though the spirit of the age is wild, God's word is unchanging. And so we get into God's word because it is our place where we find our stability and our understanding of God. So we have been going through our study of understanding grace. And today we come to part

four of understanding grace. And really Paul begins to share with us his concern and his heart for the Galatian people. As a matter of fact, this, this section that we're going to cover verses eight through 20 is going to break down three ways. He's going to ask them, don't go back. Don't go back to the, to the bondage. He's going to say, he's going to tell them to

instead become like me. And then he's going to ask them to remember the love. And so we start off in verse eight, as he encourages them, don't go back. Verse eight of chapter four says this. However, at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those things, which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God or rather to be known

by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be slave, to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. Now, just by way of backdrop, as we came, came into this, remember, he told us last week, he told us that we are now sons of God, adult sons with the full rights and privileges of being an adult son. As a matter of fact, in verse six, it says, because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba father, therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. And if that's who

you are, he says, why would you go back? To what you were. And that's what he begins to talk to them about. He starts off by reminding them of who they were. However, at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods. He says at that time, you did not know God. Now we're going to talk about this in just a minute about the fact that we know God and God knows us, but that's who

we are before coming to the knowledge of our Lord and savior. We do not know God. Therefore we are enslaved to everything else that's in the world. You and I were created for a purpose. Uh, I saw this t-shirt last night. I thought it was actually a sweatshirt, but I love the saying on it. Um, it says you were made on purpose for a purpose because the idea is

this. God knew what he was doing when he made you and he made you for a purpose to know God, but because of sin, our purpose was destroyed. Our purpose was damaged and we did not know God. And therefore, when we did not know God, our longing for something, our longing for something deeper than ourselves caused us to be enslaved to all of the things of the world. He says,

that's who you were at that time. You did not know God. Instead, what you were is you were slaves. You were slaves to the things that are not gods. When Paul arrived in the region of Galatia, the region of Galatia was known for its idolatry. As a matter of fact, there were idols on every corner because much of the Roman empire was the exact same way. There was idolatry everywhere.

Pagan idols that were worse worshiped oftentimes in the most horrific ways and required great sacrifices of the people. He says, that's who you were. When I came to you, when I came to you, you were enslaved to those things that were not gods, but let's bring this down to us. So what does it mean? Enslaved to those things, which are not actually gods. Well, number one,

I think it means that oftentimes people are enslaved to some sort of pagan idols. As a matter of fact, our world is full of idolatry right now. And I'm not even just talking about the material things that we tend to worship. There's idolatrous things that go on everywhere right now. There's the idolatry of Islam. There's the idolatry of Buddhism. There's the idolatry that goes along

with psychology and education. There's all kinds of idolatry that's out there and people are enslaved to that. People are following after those things. And before you came to know Jesus Christ, you follow some aspect of idolatry in your life. But the second thing that they were enslaved to is they were enslaved to the flesh because they were slaves to their fleshly desires

and could only do what their fleshly desires said. But then the third thing that they were enslaved to and we can have a tendency to be enslaved to is the law, whether it was the Mosaic law or whether it was the law of their conscience or whether it was the law of their gods. We're all enslaved to the law. He says, at that time when you were slaves, you did not know God.

Instead, you were enslaved by all the things which are by nature, no gods. But now, but now that you have come to know God or rather to be known by God, but now that you have been set free, but now that you have been set free, but now that you have been set free, but now that you have been set free from all of that idolatry. And what is the greatest sign of the fact that we've been set free from idolatry? Well, if when we were slaves to the things of the world, we did not know God, then once we've been set free from those things that we were a slave to, now we know God.

Again, it's our purpose. It's what you were created for. It's why people are constantly seeking for meaning in their life. They're seeking for meaning in their life because you were created to know God. And if you're not fulfilling the purpose that God has given to you, then you're then you will find a way to fulfill your purpose in the empty things of the world. He says, but now

you have come to know God. By the way, that is salvation from our perspective. Salvation from my perspective is knowing that now I know God. And the great thing about walking with Jesus is that while I came to know him at one point in time in my life, when I accepted him as my Lord and savior, I have spent every day since getting to know him. And I've been able to do that. And I've

known him better because all I began that day was a process, a process of knowing God. But not only that, not only is it salvation from my perspective, because now that I have come to know God, but I love the fact that Paul includes this, but not only that, rather to be known by God. That means that God knows me. That means that God knows my name. He knows who I am. He knows the real me.

Listen, it's one thing for me to know God, but it's a whole other thing for God to know me because that's salvation from God's perspective, right? And there's just nothing more wonderful than me knowing everything that there is to know about God and knowing that he, he knows my name and he knows me. As a matter of fact, we're told a couple of different places in scripture. We talked about this Wednesday night in the book of Revelation, but we're told a couple of different places in scripture that, do you know that your name has actually been changed? Do you know that

in the book of life since before the foundations of the world, it just took you a little while to find it. It just took you a little time to fit. There's my name right there. Yeah. I know God and he knows me, but it's even better than that. I don't know about you, but the more I get to know about me, I don't like me and God knows everything about me and he likes me anyway. And he's like,

I'm still going to, I'm still going to know you. I'm still going to be your, I'm still going to be your father. I'm still going to be your savior. I'm still going to be the one that you can come to with everything because I know you and I love you anyway. He says, but now you have been set free. And now that you have been set free, the third thing we see here is why would you return to slavery? He says,

but now that you have come to know God or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak, worthless, elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? He says, now that you know God and God knows you and you've been set free, why would you go back? Why would you go back to that? Why would you go back to that slavery? You know what?

People that come out of prisons and don't ever want to do go back to prison. You know why? Because they were enslaved. They were, they were bound in those times. Why would I go back? Why would I go back to those things that destroyed me? Why would I go back to those things that held me? Why would I go back to the sins of the flesh that caused me nothing but guilt and shame? Why would I go back

to the pagan idolatry that left me in a place of never really knowing if I was safe? That left me never really knowing if I was secure? Why would I go back to a law that I could never keep? Why would I go back to a list of rules that I could never keep up with? Why would I go back? But you know what we find? Oftentimes as a dog returns to its vomit, as it says in the Proverbs, so a man returns to his sin. And before we get real worked up with

the Galatian people and say, why would they go back? I want you to ask yourself, why do I go back? Keith Green used to sing a song, so you'll want to go back to Egypt. Really, that's what the children of Israel wanted to do, right? Things got hard on their journey and they were like, let's go back to Egypt. And Moses is going, why do you want to go back? You were enslaved there. And so he says, why, why would you do that? And then I want you to notice

what he, how he describes it. He says, why would you go back to Egypt? Why would you go back to Egypt? He describes the things that they would go back to. He describes them in four ways. He describes them as weak and worthless and elemental and enslaved. He says, why do you want to go back to those things that are weak? Those things that had no power to bring any sort of deliverance in

your life. Why would you want to go back to those things that are worthless? By the way, I really like the New King James translation of this word. The word is beggarly that's used in the New and the Old King James. There's just, it's a fantastic word because it absolutely presents what we'd be going back to if we went back to the law or any of the things that we would go back to. So, I want you

to notice what he says. He says, why would you go back to the things of the sin of sin is we would go back to worthless beggarly type things. Why do you want to go back to being a beggar? Why do you want to go back to those things that are elemental? Those things that are rudimentary? Why do you want to go back to the ABCs? Why do you want to go back to the basic things of life? Listen, now that I've

enjoyed steak, I don't want to go back to chicken tenders, right? I don't want to go back and have a kid's meal again. I want the real things. He says, why do you go back to the things of sin? Why do you go back to the basic things? And then, of course, I think the most powerful word there is, why would you go back and be enslaved? Why would you put yourself back in that place? Paul asks them these

things because that's exactly what they were doing. Because though they had been set free from their idolatry, somebody came in and told them something that appealed to their flesh, that appealed to part of them, and they decided they wanted to go back into a type of slavery. This time it was called the Mosaic Law. He says, why do you want to do that? He again describes it a

little bit different. He says, you observe days and months and seasons and years. What does he mean by those things? Well, when he says, you observe days, he's talking about Sabbath days. You see, they were saying, if you want to be a Christian, you also have to make sure that you keep the law and observe the Sabbath. After all, that's what God told us that we were to do. Now,

listen, I want you to understand something. I absolutely think you should observe the Sabbath. Matter of fact, I think you should observe the Sabbath every day. You know that? Because your Sabbath rest is Jesus Christ, and you should rest in Jesus Christ every single day. That means Saturday's your Sabbath, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, they're all your

Sabbath day. Because now Sabbath is not a day of the week. Now Sabbath is a position that I live in because I am living in rest. But why turn it into just one day? Listen, if you feel like you need worship God on Saturday, that's great. But worship him every day. You're not bound to one day of the week. He says, you observe days, and you observe months, or new moon festivals. You observe seasons like

Passover and Pentecost. You observe years like the Sabbath years and the Jubilee. And in doing all of these things, we have to understand something. They weren't realizing that they were all fulfilled in Christ. Now, listen, we've had Passover staters here, and it's not because we were observing it according to law. It's because we were remembering what Jesus did in his finished work on the cross,

because it points out everything that Jesus did. You don't have to keep all of those any longer. You don't have to keep up with your laws any longer, because you're not bound by those. Why go back and be bound? And so I've been thinking about this. Why is it that some people find themselves drawn back to things like legalism, drawn back to things like ritualism, drawn back to so many things that they don't even know about? Why don't they know

many of these things? Why is there such a draw to our flesh? Because, brothers and sisters, I need us to all understand something. We all have that tendency to make laws for ourselves. We all have tendencies to either want to observe the things that are written in here that are old covenant laws, or create some of our own. Why is it that the Galatian people were drawn to that? Why is it

that we were drawn to that? And I've probably shared this before, but I felt led to share it again. I believe that there's two reasons why. Number one, because it appeals to an attitude of God. Number two, because it appeals to an attitude of God. Number three, because it appeals to an attitude of superior knowledge. It appeals to an attitude of superior knowledge. Listen,

we all want to think that we know more than everybody else. You say, that's not true. Yes, it is. It's who we all are. It's who we all are in our flesh. And if I can all of a sudden say, listen, I have found the way that we're actually supposed to be following God, and this is the way that you're actually supposed to do it. How'd you come up with this? A lot of study.

I've really learned, gained a lot of knowledge that not just everybody else in the world has. And so I'd like to share this with you, right? That's what we all like to do. That's who we are as human beings. And those of us that slip back into this legalism are usually not content to keep it to ourselves. We're usually content to share it with everybody else around us. After all, we've received

this superior knowledge and we want everybody else to know it. But it always appeals to our attitude of superior knowledge. Number two, it appeals to an attitude of God. Number three, it appeals to an attitude of prideful self-reliance. It appeals to an attitude of prideful self-reliance. There's an old song that says something along the lines of, at the cross I come with nothing in my hands. Something along those lines are the lyrics to

this old hymn. And J. Verda McGee said, too many people are saying, at the cross I come with everything I need in my hands. Because they think I've got everything that I need, to be who I'm supposed to be. Prideful self-reliance. And that's what it appeals to. And that's why we have a tendency to slip back into these things. And so as we see legalism come up, as we see it begin to take root in our heart, we need to say, why do I think I have superior

knowledge? Why do I think I'm better than everybody else? And then we need to repent and we need to move on. And so he says, to go back. The second thing he says is this, become like me. Notice what he says in verse 11. He says, I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. I beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. There's two major

statements that he makes here. The first major statement that he makes is, I fear for you. I fear for you. I think this is one of the most important statements that he makes here. The places where we see the heart of Paul revealed in this letter to the Galatians is that this is not an angry man who is writing to a church who's not done what he's told them to do.

This is a heartbroken friend who sees the people that he loves falling into something he knows they may never recover from. He says, I fear for you. Literally, that word means I'm afraid for you. I fear what the outcome of this is going to be. I fear where you are going to end up in your walk with the Lord. I fear that you are going to end up back in this place of slavery, and you'll be worse off than when you started. I am afraid for you.

And why am I afraid? I'm afraid that I have labored in vain. By the way, that word labored means to labor to the point of exhaustion, because that's what Paul did when he went to these places. He labored to the point of exhaustion. He said, I worked so hard to deliver the truth of God to you, and I'm afraid that it was all in vain. Everything that I have done is in vain. I got to tell you, I understand where Paul's coming from

here, because once you work with people for a really long time, you see that some of them move on and have a deep walk with Jesus Christ, and they become servants of God. And then you see that so many of them walk away from the things of God, and they go right back into the things that enslaved them. And there's nothing that keeps you up at night more. Than knowing that the people that you poured your heart into have decided that they want to be enslaved by the worthless, elemental, beggarly things of the world again. He says, I'm afraid for you, that all the work that I've done is in vain.

And then the second thing he says is, I beg you, or I beseech you. Now, some of the translations here say, imitate me. I really prefer the New American Standard on this one, because I think it carries more the idea of what he has to say. He says, I beg of you, brethren, become as I am. Now, what does he mean, become as I am? Is Paul at this point in time saying he's perfect? Listen, if you read any of

Paul's other letters, you know that that's not what he's saying. As a matter of fact, he's going to write to the Philippians, I have not yet attained, but this one thing that I do, forgetting what's behind, I press on. I don't think he's writing about some sinless perfection that he thinks that they're not. I don't think he's writing about some sinless perfection that he thinks that they're not. I don't think he's writing about some sinless perfection that he thinks that they're

that he wants them to become like. He's not saying you should look at the way I live my life and become like me because I'm the perfect example. No, he's saying I've been set free from the law. I've been set free from legalism. As a matter of fact, I love the way the Amplified Bible translates this. It says, become as I am, free from the bondage of ritual and ordinance.

Free from the bondage of ritual and ordinance. Do you know that if tomorrow I said, hey, next week, let's meet on Friday instead of Sunday, do you know what would happen to everybody in this church? You would fire me. You would be like, Sunday's when we meet. Now listen, I understand the early church met on Sunday. There's nothing wrong with meeting on Sunday, but what if for one

week we chose to meet on Friday? There's nothing extra holy about Sunday. There's nothing extra about this day of the week. As a matter of fact, what if I said next year, we're not going to celebrate Easter on Easter Sunday? Let me put it a different way. We're not going to celebrate Easter on Easter Sunday. We're not going to celebrate the resurrection on what the world calls Easter

Sunday. We're going to celebrate it three weeks later. Would you be like, see, that means you're bound by ritual and ordinance because you think there's something extra holy about Easter Sunday when the world says this is the day that we celebrate the resurrection. Listen, brothers and sisters, you should celebrate the resurrection every Sunday. Matter of fact, every day ought to

be resurrection Sunday for you. I remember somebody saying one time, Easter Sunday, that's sort of like the Super Bowl for you pastors, right? And I was like, I mean, I guess so because we usually have bigger crowds on that day. But quite frankly, every day is Easter, man, because every day Jesus is alive. Every day I wake up and go, thank you, Lord, that you're alive

because if you're not, I have big problems. If you're not alive, then I may as well eat, drink, and be merry because tomorrow's the day I die. Because every day is Easter. But are we that bound by ritual and ordinance? He says, some people, he's not going to say it here, he's going to say other places in scripture, some people put one day above another. I think of every day as the same. I think of every day as the same. Are you bound by

ritual and ordinance? He says, become like I am. I'm not bound by those things any longer. I was at one time. I was exactly like you. Paul could say that confidently because he was a Jew among Jews. He was a Pharisee among Pharisees. As far as keeping the law, he considered himself perfect. But he had still missed the point. And if we start putting ritual and ordinance

above knowing Jesus, we've missed the point. He says, become like I am because I've been set free from all of that. After all, I became like you. Now, what does he mean? I became like you. Well, again, I go along with the amplified translation on this when it says, I became like you, a Gentile when I met you. I was acting just like the Gentiles. In other words, I met you where you are.

I didn't live according to the customs of the law when I came to you. I was completely content to eat a ham sandwich. That's basically what he's saying. I was completely content to live that way among you. I met you where you were. And isn't that a wonderful place for us to be as believers in Jesus Christ, to be willing to meet people where they are, to be able to meet people on

their level, and from that point, to show them Jesus? He says, would you become like me? Because I became like you, and I just want you to be free. He then goes on to tell them to remember the love. He says in verse 13, but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time. And that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition, you did not despise or loathe,

but you received me. As an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself. Where then is that sense of blessing that you had? For I bear you witness that if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them.

But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner. And not only when I am present with you, my children, with whom again, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you. But I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone for I am perplexed about you. Now, as he tells them to remember the love, the first thing he tells them to remember is the love that they at one point in time had for him. Remember this

Galatian letter is not just a defense of grace. It's also a defense of Paul. Because as we know, if you want to defame someone's message, the best thing you can do is defame their character. And so that's what these false religious teachers had done to Paul. So there's a little bit of defense of his own ministry that's going on there. And so as he says, I beg you to become like me. He says, you know, that it was

because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time. What does he mean by that? Well, many people believe that when Paul arrived in the region of Galatia, the first time it wasn't on purpose. It wasn't because that's where he intended to go. He actually intended to go further, but something physically had happened to him. As a matter of

fact, Paul was at one of his weakest points physically that he'd ever been at when he ministered in Galatia that very first time. Some believe that perhaps he caught some sort of a malaria, some sort of a, uh, some sort of a disease that caused him physical issues. And interestingly enough, it was at that point in time in Galatia, when Paul was at his physically weakest point that one of his sidekicks, John Mark decided, Hey, this is a little bit too much for me. Then he bolted and went back home. So not only is he physically weak, but he lost

one of his helpers. He lost one of his sidekicks because they left him behind. The Galatian people had loved him. He says, you know, that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached to you the first time. Now, a lot of people want to know what was this bodily illness. A lot of people also want to know along those same lines. In second Corinthians, what was Paul's thorn in the flesh? Many believe they're exactly the same

thing. It's not given to us what this physical illness was. It's not given to us what his thorn in the flesh was. All we can do is speculate and then give it to God from there. But this is what we do know. It caused him to be very weak, caused him to preach the gospel in a place where he hadn't originally intended to. He says in verse 14, that it was a trial to you in my bodily condition.

In other words, it, it made him not the most attractive speaker or person to look at, but they still loved him anyway. He says, you did not despise or loathe me, but instead you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself. There's something to be said for these Galatian people here. Many, and I'll throw in with them, many believe that there was some sort of an eye disease that Paul had.

That perhaps the eye disease that he had caused him not only to not see very well, but perhaps caused some sort of oozing sores around his eyes that caused his eyes to be a little funky to look at, which is why he says you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me, which is also probably why he didn't write his own letters. He dictated them. And then he would sign with big letters at the end because he had such a hard time seeing. Many believe that's what it is. Is that what

it is? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I tend to throw in with that, given those two points, but, but it could have been anything he says, but is loathsome as I was to you. You still received me like an angel as Jesus Christ himself. You know why? Because no matter

how he looked on the outside, he brought them the message of peace for their inside. He brought them the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I think in today's world, it's important for us to look. It's about the message that we bring. It's not about the aesthetics because in our world today, we've kind of made it about the aesthetics. We've kind of made it about the look. Again,

there's a page that I follow on Instagram. It's called preachers and sneakers. And it points out the incredibly expensive things that so many of these celebrity pastors are wearing. And you're going, I'm pretty sure Paul's going to write a letter at some point in time. There needs to be a letter written because if you're spending $3,000 on a pair of sneakers,

we probably have some problems going on here. He said, you didn't care how I looked on the outside. You only cared that I brought the message of the gospel. You only cared about that message. Therefore, you received me like an angel as if I was Jesus Christ himself. He says, where then is that sense of blessing? Where's that love that you used to have for me,

where I bear witness that if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. He says, remember the love that you have for me. And then in verse 16, he says, so have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? Am I now your enemy because I told you the truth? Am I going to become your enemy now because I'm confronting this area of sin in your

life? And can I just go ahead and tell you something? When you tell people the truth, you're probably not going to be able to tell them the truth. You're probably not going to be able to probably going to become their enemy. In the world we're living in today, when you tell the truth, you become an enemy. Let me give you a little bit of something that's going on in the news right now.

Many of you know who Matt Walsh is. Matt Walsh is a writer, blogger, radio host with the Daily Wire, and he's out telling the truth. And one of the things that he's telling the truth about is transgenderism. As a matter of fact, he has produced a movie called What is a Woman, where he goes through all of the thoughts that people have about transgenderism. Do you know

that his email has been hacked? Emails for the last 20 years have been hacked into. You know why? Because has he become an enemy because he's told the truth? Yeah. Are you going to become someone's enemy when you tell them the truth? Sometimes. That doesn't mean you stop telling the truth, but it does always mean you better make sure you do it in love. He says, if I become your enemy because I

told you the truth, and unfortunately, the answer at that point in time is yes. But you have to decide something. You have to decide that telling the truth is more important than popular opinion. I listened to a wonderful teaching yesterday by Charles Stanley. Charles Stanley, who, by the way, is home with Jesus now. He is. He is home with Jesus. Man, here's the one thing I hope.

I hope that in heaven, he still has that sweet Atlanta accent, right? I hope that didn't go away now. I hope that didn't go away now. I hope that didn't go away now. I hope that didn't go away now. Now, brothers, I can't do it. Anyway, it's amazing. But I listened to this teaching. In the heart of the teaching that he was giving to these kids at Dallas Theological Seminary was this.

Obey God and leave the consequences with him. And that's the way it is with telling the truth. We have to tell the truth and trust God with the consequences that are going to go along with it. My father-in-law was down here two or three weeks ago for Easter, and he said, sometimes I get concerned for you. I said, why do you get concerned for me? He goes, because you tell the truth and I'm afraid you're

next. And I said, well, it is what it is. It's what I was always scared of. So let's just take it from there because I know I'm going to be somebody's enemy for telling him the truth. And for you all, it may not be on a large scale like it is for Matt Walsh. But if you confront someone in their sin, you might become their enemy for telling him the truth. Do you know what I've always found is that if the truth really takes hold in their heart,

they will eventually... They will eventually come back to you and they will say, thank you for telling me the truth. I'm sorry that for that time I was your enemy. I'm sorry that I treated you the way that I did when I told you the truth. So don't stop doing what you're doing. Keep giving it out. Well, then he goes on to tell them about the false love from false teachers. He says, they,

which of course are the ones who are the false legalistic teachers. He says, they eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they will not give you the truth. And he says, they will not give you the truth. They will not give you the truth. And he says, they will not give you the truth. And he says, they will not give you the truth. And he says, they will not give you the truth. And he says,

to shut you out so that you will seek them. He says, these are, this is false love from false teachers. Now I thought that this was kind of interesting. And I want to draw two parallel points with this. Number one, I think we get three really good clues and to understanding how to identify false teachers. I think we get really good clues into understanding how we can

identify those who would want to pull us out of the truth and bring us into bondage. And this is important for us to know because there are believers in Jesus Christ all the time that fall into the bondage of false teaching. They get led away by false teachers. And the moment that you think that can't happen to me is the moment that it's going to happen to you. And so you need to

always have your eyes open. There's a reason why 50% of the new Testament is, Hey, beware of false teachers. This is how you can identify false teachers is because you and I have a tendency to fall for the false. And so he says, they eagerly seek you. They wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. Those are the three things that I want to point out to you. Identifying false teachers. Number one,

they eagerly seek you. Let me put it to you this way. Beware of flattering words. Beware of flattering words. Now, some of these false teachers may seek you by riding up to your house on a bicycle. These false teachers may seek you, uh, by having a little name badge and telling you about a brand new, uh, uh, an additional gospel that nobody else has seen just yet. After all they have,

remember, here we are again, they have superior knowledge, right? Because that's what it plays to in our flesh. Some of these false teachers are going to do things like that, but what they're going to do is they're going to eagerly seek you. As a matter of fact, they're going to make you feel like the most important person in the world because they're not going to leave you alone.

They're going to come after you. They're going to come after you. They're going to come after you. Now it's good to be sought in a commendable way. He's going to point that out in just a minute, but this isn't commendable. What's going on. This isn't beneficial. What's going on because false teachers begin to seek out. And you know where false teachers always

seek out their converts in the church. False teachers never go to win converts from the world. They're always looking for people in the church because Satan listen, wants to divide the church. He wants to destroy the church. He's content. He wants to leave people of the world in the world. They're looking for people that are in the church. Okay. So number one, they're going to eagerly seek you. Number two, they're going to

isolate you. Notice what he says. They will shut you out. They will isolate you. They want to pull you away from fellowship. They want to pull you away from the church, away from brothers and sisters in Christ, away from those who would strengthen you in your faith, who would reveal the truth, who would point out what's false. They want to isolate you from those things. Listen, brothers and sisters, if you are watching

Bible teachers on YouTube and they tell you, you don't need to go to church, turn it off because that's false. I know people who will not bring their families to church because they feel like the church is not what they're supposed to be a part of. After all, it's full of a bunch of hypocrites. You're darn straight. The church is full of a bunch of hypocrites. We're all hypocrites.

So are you. We're all just recovering hypocrites. When people want to pull you away from the church, they want to pull you away from your family. They want to pull you away from the people that are going to strengthen you. They want to pull you away from the community that's going to build you up, the community that's going to hold you accountable, the community that's going to tell

you that guy is false, which is exactly why they want to pull you away. You need to test everything that you're watching on some of these YouTube channels. You need to test everything that's being told to you and think, is it pulling me away from fellowship? Is it pulling me away from the body of Christ? Because if it is, it's false. Number three, they will point you to themselves, not Jesus. They will point you to themselves, not Jesus.

Notice what it says. They wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. Beware of those who will make themselves. Your world. Do you know what happens in some of the cults today? Some of them appear to be the most loving people in the world. After all, once they've isolated you from your family, once they've isolated you from your church, they have everything there. And on all outward

appearances, you go, man, they will take care of everything. They will make sure that I have all the meals that I need. They will make sure I have all the clothes that I need. They will make sure that I have everything. You know why? Because they want to teach you that they are your everything. But we know that we have one source and one supplier, and that's Jesus Christ. If somebody's

not pointing you to the true Jesus Christ, the Jesus of the Bible, who is God incarnate, who is the very son of God, but God in nature, who was fully God and fully man, who walked on this earth, who lived a perfect life and died a perfect death and rose again, and is the second member of the triune Godhead. If that's not the Jesus they're pointing you to, then that's not false. And if they're telling you that there's other saints that you need to pray to, because after all, they'll bring you closer to Jesus, listen, it's false. And if they tell you that there's a co-redemptorist who can also help out, I'm telling you, it's false. Speaking of rituals,

speaking of bondage, that's what they do. But you know what? I want to draw a second conclusion to this. Something second that I want to pay attention to, and it's because I work with young people. I work with kids a lot. I work with kids a lot. I work with kids a lot. I work with kids a lot. And I see relationships take place. And I see these things begin to happen. And all I could

think was, oh my gosh, those are the three characteristics of a controlling relationship. Those are three characteristics of an abusive relationship. And there are three characteristics that we should be on the lookout for with the young people that we work with in our lives, with the young people that we're around in our lives, with the kids that we're around in our lives. And so I want to point these things out to you. Number one,

they will eagerly seek you. These aren't going to be any different. You don't have to write down second words. They will eagerly seek you. They will give all kinds of flattering words. All of a sudden, you're the most important thing in the world and everything else is nothing. And listen, that will remain that way until they have that person. I have watched this happen in

the lives of young ladies. And I mean, you want to watch me come unglued about something? You show me a young lady in a controlling relationship like this, and I will lose my ever-loving business. Because it irritates me to no end. Because I see these poor young ladies who are sweet, wonderful girls that get taken in by guys who I don't want to tell you what I like to call them

because they started off by eagerly seeking them. And they used all the flattering words in the world, and they made them feel like that young lady is their world until they had her. And once they have her, number two, they isolate you. They pull you away from all of your friends. They pull you away from all of your family. And they make sure that you are alone all by yourself to where you have no one else to rely on.

Listen, because they want them to be your world. Because the third thing is that they will point you to themselves constantly. And dads, grandpas, grandmas, moms, friends, when you see this start to happen, you will at first be the enemy because you tell them the truth. You will at first be the bad guy. Because you've said, have noticed some unsettling things about your relationship,

and I need you to pay attention to them. And they'll go, you just don't understand. You don't know how much he loves me. You don't know how good he treats me. You know why? Because they've been convinced that they're the most important thing in the world. All those flattering words have taken place. All of that has happened, and they've been absolutely brainwashed. And it's

a situation only Jesus can do it. And at first, you'll be the enemy. But once you pull them out of that situation, and once their minds begin to be cleansed by the word of God, because brothers and sisters, if you know somebody in that situation, the only thing that will completely rebuild their identity, because that's what will have been lost, is the word of God. And the same is true when we see brothers and sisters get caught up into false doctrine. Listen, if you see somebody,

if you know somebody that used to come to church here all the time, and now they don't, I want you, you should ask them why. Now listen, if they're going to another Bible-believing church, I don't care. That's wonderful. You go where you're being fed. But if they're going someplace where there's some shepherding going on, or where there's some false doctrine going on,

then we need to deal with that. Right? We need to confront that situation, because we want to see them delivered. So he tells them about the false love. He says, remember, there's false love from false teachers. But then the third thing he does under this heading of remember the love, is he tells them about his own love for them. Paul's love for them. Notice what it says.

My children. My children with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you. I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. He starts off, and I love this tender phrase that he uses. John uses the same phrase when he writes, the epistle of first john he calls them my little children because they're they're his children in

the faith they're his kids they're the ones he spent so much time pouring into they're the ones he spent so much time loving on so much time telling the truth to so much time investing in he says my little children because this is a tender-hearted moment for paul he says my little children with whom i am again in labor until christ is formed in you what does he mean he goes let's start all over again i'm laboring for you again until christ is formed in you and i won't give up until christ is formed in you listen for us as pastors one of the things that we have to learn is to not give up until christ is formed in the people that we are laboring for until we

try to live for the Jesus ofיח it is kinship in a grateful life and i can say oh my god next to the truly see the character of Christ begin to develop. And until that character's developed to the point where God takes them home to be with him, because he says, that's good for you, you've graduated. Moms and dads, you should not stop laboring for your kids until Christ is formed in them. Don't give up.

Ryan, my kids are completely grown now. I don't care, you're not done discipling them yet. Pastor Dave from over at First Baptist, he put a post on Instagram the other day and I thought it was great. It was a good reminder for me. All of his kids are now grown and out of the house. He's got one still in college, but the rest of them are all grown and doing all kinds of crazy things now.

It's his son that's the Navy SEAL. And he says, you're never done discipling your kids. These are the verses I've been sending him every day this year. And he listed out his verse and I thought, what a wonderful reminder for me as a father with a teenager and almost teenager to remember that I won't be done when they graduate. I won't be done when they leave the house.

I'll be done when I leave planet earth. That's when I'll be done discipling my kids because I'm laboring for them until I see the character of Christ formed in them. You that have taken on ministries here in the church, especially teaching little kids, you're not done teaching those little kids. Even when they become big kids, sometimes they come back to you and they say, hey, I have some questions because you're not done laboring in them until Christ is formed in them.

He says, my little children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed. I wish I could be present with you. I wish I could be there with you. Why? Because I want you to catch the tone of my words. He says, I want to change my tone, but the idea is I want you to hear the tone that's coming out of my mouth. I want you to hear the tone in which I'm saying these things

because oftentimes we read tone into things, don't we? We read someone's tone into what they're having to say. That's why the most dangerous thing to do if you're going to communicate something really important is to text it. The best thing that you can do is to say it because we read tone into it. There's three components of communication. There is the content,

there's the tone and the nonverbal. Do you know that content makes up about 10% of communication? Some even say as low as 7% of communication. Nonverbal makes up, I don't know, 40 some percent and the rest of it's all tone. In other words, as it says, in the Proverbs, wisdom is only as good as the way in which it's presented. And Paul says, I wish that I was with you

so that you could catch the tone with which I'm saying these things. Because if you read this in the wrong way, Paul would come across very angry. But again, I don't think he's angry as he's writing these things. I think he's a heartbroken father whose son has fallen into sin, and he just wants to see them come out of it. I believe his tone goes all the way back to the tone

that God used with Adam and Eve in the garden when he said, where are you? To Adam and Eve when they were hiding in the bushes, covered in those fig leaves because they didn't want God to see them. I don't know how you usually read that tone, but I always read that tone kind of like Chuck Smith does, like a loving father that says, Adam, where are you? I think that's the tone that Paul's using here with these guys.

He says, remember the love that I have for you. You're like kids to me. You're like my own. And I wish that I could be with you right now because I want to continue to labor for you again. I want you to catch my tone. Why? Because I am perplexed by you. In other words, I can't understand where you're coming from right now. I can't understand where you're coming from.

Why? Because they'd been set free. And now they've gone back. Brothers and sisters, I'm going to close this morning the same way that I closed last week. If you've been set free, then live set free. If the son has set you free, then live free indeed. Because why would you go back to the slavery that was destroying you? Amen. Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow, bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I thank you for the time that we've had in your word this morning. Lord, I thank you that your word is so good to our souls. And Lord, though at times it may hurt, we know that it is a pain that brings about repentance. Therefore, ultimately it's for our best. And so Lord, continue the good work in us

that you have begun. Continue to speak to us through your word. Lord, may only the things of you remain. And Lord, may we live in the freedom to which you have called us. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. I cast my mind to Calvary. Jesus blessed. I see his wounds, his hands, his feet. My Savior, a cursing tree.

Messiah still.

Oh Father God, we look forward to the day when we can stand in your presence, God, and just sing praise to you face to face, God. Lord, we look forward to that day. We look forward to your coming, God. We love you, Father. We praise you and we thank you. In Jesus' name, all God's people said, Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.