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Man, this morning, we're continuing Galatians, the title of my sermon this morning is, am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Am I become your enemy, therefore, because I tell you the truth? So in chapter four here, there's a little section where the apostle Paul sort of takes a break from the doctrine that he's been laying on them, and of course, he's been preaching about how salvation is by faith, it's not by the deeds of the law, and that also the deeds of the law are not something that we should be doing in the New Testament when it comes to things like circumcision and the dietary restrictions and so forth. Those things are done away in Christ. Those were our schoolmaster back when we were under the law before Christ came, but now that the schoolmasters come, we're no longer under the law, we're under grace. So we've already been talking about all that in the past, but he takes a break from that and sort of makes an emotional appeal here in Galatians chapter four, and that's what we're going to be talking about this morning. Am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth? So it says in verse 11 there, I'm afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. I'm worried about all of their Judaizing tendencies and circumcision and kosher and all that kind of stuff. But then he says in verse 12, brethren, I beseech you, I'm pleading with you, I'm begging you, he's saying, be as I am for I am as ye are, you have not injured me at all. Now what does he mean here when he says be as I am for I am as ye are? Well, he means a couple of different things. First of all, the Apostle Paul was born and raised a Jew, and he's speaking to the Gentiles in Galatia, and this goes back to his whole argument, he's saying, look, we're the same. In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile. We're all one in Christ Jesus, he said at the end of chapter three. So he's saying, I'm as you are. You know, there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek, so be like me. If I'm not keeping the Jewish law, if I'm not keeping the Old Testament ordinances, then why would you? When I'm the one, if anything, that would be doing it, being born and raised Jewish, I'm not even doing it, so why don't you do it as well? But not only that, when he says be as I am for I am as ye are, you could also just look at this as saying, look, I'm a human being, right? I'm just like you, we're both people here. I'm setting an example, I'm trying to follow in Christ's steps, and you should follow me as I follow Christ, because I'm an imperfect, sinful human being who is trying his best to serve the Lord and follow Christ, and I want you to be the same way, I want you to follow me. Then he says at the end there, he says, you've not injured me at all, and what he means by that is, you haven't done me any wrong in the past, you haven't done anything to hurt me in the past, and that makes sense in light of what he's about to say in verse 13. It says, you know how that through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at first, and my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Now what does Paul mean here? He obviously had some kind of a physical infirmity in his flesh, and the Bible's not specific about what that was, but he had some kind of a physical ailment, some kind of a sickness, or a disease, or an injury, and we don't know exactly what that was. Now the Apostle Paul talks about something similar in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. It's probably the same thing where he talks about how he was given this infirmity in his flesh that was the messenger of Satan to buffet him, and it was something that God used to keep him humble. But when he showed up the first time to preach the gospel to the Galatians, because he visited the church of Galatia a couple different times as we see in Acts chapter 16 and Acts chapter 18, apparently when he first showed up to preach to them, he was dealing with these physical problems. He was sick. He was diseased or injured in some way, and it says that through infirmity of the flesh, he preached the gospel unto them at the first. And they did not despise the temptation which was in his flesh, meaning that they didn't look at him and say, oh, look at this weak, sickly cripple or whatever he is, and then somehow think that that makes him not a real messenger from God, or that he's not really a true apostle because why would he be so messed up physically? He said, no, you didn't despise the temptation or the testing or the trials that I was going through in my flesh. He said, but rather you received me as an angel of God, as a messenger from God. You received me as a messenger from God, even as Christ Jesus. Even as if Christ had shown up and preached to you. That's how you received me. Now that's actually appropriate that they would have received him as an angel from God because he was an angel from God. The word apostle literally means messenger just like the word angel means messenger. And so he's an apostle of Christ. He is a messenger from God. He's speaking the word of God. And so that was correct. But then not only that, it says they received him as Christ Jesus. Well here's the thing. He's speaking the word of God. And so in that sense, he's like Jesus Christ in that he's preaching truth. He's preaching God's word. So that's how they received him in the past. And then it says in verse 15, where is then the blessedness you speak of? He said, look in the past, you talked about being blessed by me. In the past, you received me as a messenger from God. You didn't despise me. You received me even as you would have received Christ Jesus. And you spoke in the past about being blessed by me. You haven't injured me in the past. And then he says this, for I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. He said, man, back when I first came and preached to you, you guys were so affectionate toward me. You loved me so much. You cared about me so much back then that I myself will testify that I think that if it would have been possible, you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me. Now that's pretty extreme. If you've ever been blindfolded, you know that it's kind of unsettling if you're used to being able to see suddenly to be blindfolded, right? I mean, giving up your eyes would be giving up something that's one of the most valuable things that you have, your sight, right? Now there, of course, there are people in this world that are blind and they've had to learn how to deal with that and how to get through life. And it's a challenge to get through life without being able to see. But for those of us who can see, obviously our eyesight would be one of the dearest things that we have. So saying, man, you would have taken out your eyes and given them to me is a pretty extreme statement about the love and affection that they had for the apostle Paul. Now this has led some people to believe that maybe his infirmity or his sickness or his disease had something to do with his eyes. You know, some kind of an infection in his eyes or something. I don't know if that's necessarily the case because it could just be that taking out your eyes and giving them to me is just a saying like, hey, you would have done anything for me. You'd sacrifice anything for me because your eyesight is obviously so precious. So they went from being willing to pluck out their own eyes and give them to the apostle Paul to now seeing him possibly as an enemy. Look at the next verse. He says, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. So you know, first you, you loved me, you received as angel of God, as Jesus himself, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. And now am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth. So he brings up the history that they've had just because it's so shocking that they would now turn on him like this, especially in light of the fact that he is the one who is right and he is the one who's telling them the truth. It's not like Paul has strayed into false doctrine so they have to make the difficult decision of making a break with Paul. No, Paul's telling them the truth that he has always told them and now all of a sudden he's their enemy for telling them the truth. It's shocking in light of how loyal they've been to him in the past. Now Paul is not saying, Hey, listen to me because we have history. Listen to me cause I'm Paul. I'm right cause I'm Paul. I'm right cause I'm your buddy. That's not the idea here because remember back in Galatians chapter one verse eight, what did he say? Well though we ourselves, if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, let him be a curse. He's saying, look, if I preach lies, then even let me be a curse. So he's not just saying, just believe me because I'm the apostle Paul cause I'm your old pal. That's not what he's saying. It's ultimately about being on the side of truth. Am I become your enemy therefore because I tell you the truth. I'm preaching to you the truth. I'm right. And that's why it's so shocking that you would go from being so loving, so affectionate, so zealous for me. And now all of a sudden I'm become your enemy just for simply preaching the truth to you. It's quite shocking. Now if you would flip over to first Corinthians chapter four, first Corinthians chapter number four. And while you're turning to first Corinthians chapter four, I want to talk a little bit more about this verse. Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. You know, sometimes preaching the truth can make enemies. You would think that telling people the truth is what people want, but many people don't want the truth. They want lies. They want to be told what they want to hear. It's like those in the Old Testament who said to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, prophesy smooth things, prophesy deceit. There are a lot of people, they don't want to necessarily hear the truth. They want to be told what they want to hear. They want to be made to feel good. And as Christians, it's our job to deal in truth. We are supposed to love the truth. Jesus Christ is the truth. God's word is truth. And we as Christians should be the greatest lovers of truth in this world. And so therefore we should be people who tell the truth. And sometimes this could mean telling uncomfortable truths unto friends or family. Now obviously we should speak the truth in love, but sometimes we have to preach some uncomfortable truths, don't we? You know, there are people out there who just flatter everyone and they just always tell them you're doing great, looking good, you're on the right track, you're doing well. But that isn't what it means to be a teller of truth. In fact Proverbs 28, 23 says, he that rebuketh the man, and what does rebuke mean? To tell someone that they're wrong. He that rebuketh the man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flattereth with the tongue. So in the long run, telling people the truth could actually make them like you more than just in the short term telling them what they want to hear, just flattering them and always giving them a positive answer. Sometimes in the short run it can damage the relationship to tell the truth, but in the long run rebuking someone who's clearly in the wrong is the right thing to do. Because at the end of the day, it's about what's best for that person. If you truly love someone, you want to do what's best for them, which means telling them the truth. Telling them the truth is ultimately best for them even if it makes them mad at you in the short term. So as a pastor, I get up and I preach things that make people mad. And it could even make good people mad. Even godly Christians could get mad at something that I preach. It could make people that are my friends mad at me because maybe it hits a little close to home because all of us have sin, all of us have weaknesses, all of us have blind spots. And so sometimes the pastor might hit on something that just hits a little too close to home with us and it's like, ouch, but we needed to hear it, didn't we? We need to hear the truth. And so as a pastor, I have to preach things that are true, that might hurt a little bit, that might make people upset at me. It could even cause people to leave the church. But here's the thing. Do I just hold back on truth or maybe soften my stance on things that are popular in our day? You know, maybe soften my stance on drinking or divorce or soften my stance on drug use or whatever. You know, just in order to not run people off or should I tell the truth, maybe hurt some feelings, step on some toes and let the chips fall where they may. And in the long run, hopefully those people will have more favor toward me in the long run. Hopefully as they realize that I was right, they would say, hey, you know what? Pastor Anderson, he didn't just have it in for me. He wasn't just trying to hurt me. He was actually trying to help me and he actually just cared about me and saw that I was going down a dark path. That's why he rebuked me. If I'm preaching against the sin that you're guilty of, number one, I probably don't even know that you're guilty of it. So I'm not necessarily thinking about you and thinking, well, brother so-and-so needs this one. You know, I'm probably not necessarily directing it at a specific person or specific groups of people, number one. But number two, even if I were specifically directing something at you, that would just mean I love you. That would mean I care about you enough to tell you that you're wrong. Because you know what? If I don't care about somebody at all, I'm not even going to bother wasting my time trying to straighten them out. I'm just going to walk away. I would literally just say, you're not even worth my time to even preach a sermon about you or to even walk up to you. The fact that I'm actually caring enough to deal with your situation, it actually shows love even though it might not feel that way at the time. And so it's worth it sometimes to, I mean, it's always worth it to tell the truth. But whenever we alienate people through the truth or they become our enemies because of the truth, well, you know what? That's just life because we have to keep telling the truth, we have to keep preaching the truth. And so what Paul's getting at here though and what we can learn from this passage in Galatians 4 is that it's even possible to become alienated from really important people in our lives who we once loved dearly or even the person who led us to Christ, right? And that's the case with Paul. It's like Paul has preached the gospel to them. Paul has led them to Christ. Paul has been very dear to them. They loved Paul to the point where he says, I believe you truly love me to the point where you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Like that's how much you love me. He's like, I believe that. He's not doubting. He's not like, you never loved me. He's saying, no, no, no, I understand. I believe that you truly did love me back in those days. And that's why it's so jarring and shocking that you, I would now become your enemy because I tell you the truth. But what the Bible is showing us that it is possible for people to become alienated from people who were very important to them once in the past, even the person who led them to Christ. It's kind of shocking, right? Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 14. It says, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you. For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I've begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. So here the apostle Paul is making an appeal that, hey, wait a minute, you got all these people teaching you the Bible. But at the end of the day, I'm the person who won you to Christ, so you should be listening to me. You should be following me. Now I remember my dad taught me this a long time ago, this thing of when you win someone to Christ, a lot of times they'll want to continue going to the church that they were already going to before you won in the Lord, right? So let's say we're out knocking doors, we're out soul winning, and they're going to some non-denom church. It's not necessarily bad doctrinally. Maybe on paper the doctrine is Baptist, which a lot of non-denominational churches are actually just a Baptist church in non-denom clothing. They're basically just disguising the fact that they're Baptist. Now truth be told, a lot of these non-denom churches are Pentecostal churches that are disguising the fact that they're a Pentecostal church, and so they could go either way. But a lot of them are Baptist, where they're believing salvation is by faith, eternal security is a believer, the inerrancy of scripture, they actually have good doctrine on paper when it comes to the fundamentals of the faith. Now if they're of the Pentecostal brand, they're trusting a workspace salvation, you can lose your salvation. I've never met a Pentecostal that didn't believe you could lose your salvation, which is just a thinly veiled workspace salvation. You know, Jesus made the down payment, but you have to keep making the payments every month and living right, and now I'm saved, now I'm not, now I'm saved, now I'm not type of a doctrine. But a lot of these non-denom churches, yeah, they're good on paper, on paper, their statement of faith would be pretty much what we believe, except for the fact that they're not really preaching clearly, they're not preaching any doctrine, they've got some wrong Bible version and watered down sermon to the point where the truth of the gospel gets so cloudy and so obscured, people can go there for years and not even figure out how to be saved. You know, they could go there for decades and still be unclear on these things, even though somewhere on a statement of faith it's all written down what salvation is, and it's even correct in many cases, right? So here's the thing, when we win someone to the Lord like that, you know, my dad taught me this, that basically he would say to these people when they would sometimes want to continue going to their old church after they get saved, he would sometimes ask the question, well, you know, did that church get you saved? How, wait, how long have you been going there? Okay, so you've been going there for this long and they never got you saved, and you were going there how long again? And did they get you saved? No. And it's kind of like, think that through for a minute, something's wrong with that church. If you can just go there for years and they never win you to Christ. They never preached the gospel unto you. They never made salvation clear unto you, and you just went there for years, right? And so the idea here is that there's something legitimate about the person or the church that won you to the Lord, not to say that they're perfect, not to say that they're going to be right about everything, and not to say that they're not going to necessarily apostatize later or something like that. But there's a pretty serious argument to be made for the legitimacy of the person or church that won you to Christ. That's pretty powerful. God has for sure worked through them. And the evidence is that here you are, you're saved. I mean, look, it's one thing to do a fruit inspection of some pastor or preacher or church or institution. You know, it's another thing when that fruit inspection involves looking in the mirror and looking and saying, I'm the fruit of this ministry. I'm the fruit of this teacher or preacher. That's not something that should be taken lightly or cast aside lightly. And what's the Apostle Paul saying? He's saying, you know, you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, right? All kinds of books and commentaries and YouTube videos and people out there that are teaching the Word of God, but yet you don't have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus, I've begotten you through the gospel. He said, hey, yeah, I know there's all these wonderful preachers out there, but did you remember the fact that I'm the one who won you to Christ? You know, that should mean something. That should count for something. And so because of that, I beseech you be followers of me. He's saying, you know, some of these other people out there that are teaching, maybe you're not mature enough to recognize that they're false teachers, but I am. And I'm warning you not to follow these people, not to get sucked in by these people, not to get sucked in by the Judaizers and false prophets and false brethren. And he's saying, you know, one person you know is legitimate is me. I'm the one who won you to Christ, for crying out loud. And the Apostle Paul, you know, also says things like this in the pastoral epistles when he says, you know, thou is fully known my doctrine. He says to Timothy, you've, you know, look, you know, me, you know, the word of God, you've known the word of God from a child. You've known the Holy scriptures and you've known me who preached it to you. And so be followers of me. Now a lot of people don't like this thing of, you know, be followers of me, but it's in the Bible, right? First Corinthians four 16 be followers of me elsewhere. Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ in Galatians. We just saw it where he said the same thing. Be as I am for I am as you are. Be like me. Follow me. Let us be an example unto you. He says in Philippians, be followers of me and mark them which walk so that you have us for an ensemble, right? Follow us. A lot of people in our day have bought into this thing of, well, I'm not going to follow any man. And this is like a popular thing in our culture of, you know, I don't follow any man. I only follow God. Basically what they're really saying is I am superior to all human beings. The only human being or yeah, the only human being that's superior to me is Jesus. So that's the only person I can follow, right? There's 8 billion people in this world. I'm superior to them all. Jesus is my own. To find a superior, I have to look to Jesus. That's what they're saying. That's really how prideful it is. My friend say, well, I can't follow anybody. I can't learn from anybody. I'm just, I just follow Christ because no one else is worthy of being followed by me because, you know, Jesus is the most high and I'm the close high type of mentality. Okay. And that's a wicked mentality. Okay. Because of the fact that there are lots of people that we can learn from. There are lots of people that we can follow and the Bible is crystal clear that it is appropriate and right for us to follow Christian leaders, men of God that he has ordained for us to follow. I mean, all throughout the Bible. There's following Moses, there's following Joshua, there's following Elijah. You know, we can go down the list. It's always that way. And Paul says, what, four, five, six times, follow me, be like me, follow me. Saying I won't follow any man is just saying I'm carnal, I'm prideful, I'm puffed up, and I think I'm better than everybody else except God. So I can only follow God. You know, I will humble myself to God, but no one else. Well, no, we should humble ourselves to God first and foremost. He's the ultimate one we're following. He's the most important one we're following, but we should also be willing to follow other examples here on earth and listen to other teachers and preachers here on earth. None of us is above following an example or listening to teaching and preaching from man. God uses men of God to preach the word in our lives and we need to humble ourselves and take advantage of that and not think that we know everything, okay? Now this, go back to Galatians 4 if you would. This kind of alienation from the person who won us to Christ or alienation from teachers and preachers or important people in our lives who've helped us greatly and influenced us greatly in the past, this kind of alienation comes from outside, comes from an outside source. And that's what we're going to see in the next few verses. And by the way, when we talk about being alienated from important people like this, it's not just pastors that we're talking about. It could also be someone like your parents and maybe your parents won you to Christ. Like in my case, I got saved first and foremost through my parents. It was my mother specifically who won me to Christ. Obviously they took me to church and so I'm indebted to lots of pastors and Sunday school teachers over the years that I learned from in church but ultimately I learned the most Bible doctrine from my parents and ultimately I am saved first and foremost among human instruments as a result of my parents than anyone else. So I would look to my parents as being in this same category but not only the person who won you to Christ but just the person who's taught you the Bible, the person who's been influential in bringing you up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, right? And so what is it going to take for you to be alienated from the person who won you to Christ, alienated from your former pastor who had blessed you and taught you and helped you to grow? Even if he didn't win you to the Lord, he still taught you and caused you to grow to new heights in your Christianity. God used him in your life for years or your parents who for years took you to church, taught you not just the Bible but just taught you lots of wisdom about life and so forth. What's it going to take for you to be alienated from these key people in your lives is that someone else comes in and bewitches you, right? That's why Paul said to the Galatians, you know, you did run well, who hath hindered you that you should not obey the truth? He said that they've been bewitched. Who has bewitched you? Who has hindered you? Who has come in and done this? Because wicked people will be the ones who alienate you from right teaching and preaching and right influences in your life. So look at Galatians chapter 4 verse 17. So we just finished in verse 16, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. Then in verse 17 it says, they, now the they are the bad guys, the Judaizers, the false teachers, the false brethren, the false prophet, the people who were troubling the Galatians and that had dragged them into false teaching. They zealously affect you but not well, yea they would exclude you that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not only when I'm present with you. Now this is kind of a tough little passage here, trying to wrap your mind around some of the wording there in verse 17 is a little bit tough so I'm going to try to break this down to you because it's kind of a hard verse. What does it mean here when it says they zealously affect you but not well, yea they would exclude you that ye might affect them. What's going on here? Well I think part of the best way to understand this is to understand the word affect is sort of tied in with our modern noun affection because this is kind of an old usage of the word affect. Because we use the word affect in 2023, we're just talking about influencing or having an impact like hey that doesn't really affect me or you know hey this seasoning affects the flavor of the food or whatever. It just means like to influence it or to change it or push it in a certain direction. And yes that is kind of what it means here but there's also an older usage of the word affect that has to do with you know basically stirring emotion in someone, feelings. Like for example we would talk about being affectionate right or having affection. Okay what? What does it mean if I have great affection for someone? You know it means the fact that you know they affect me emotionally right? If I show affection I'm showing the effect that they have had on me emotionally. I'm showing love. I'm showing that I care right? And so I hope that helps a little bit here as we break this down. They zealously affect you. What does that mean? Look you have to understand also and I know I'm getting kind of complicated here but it's a hard verse and I don't want us to miss the important truth of this verse because it is an important truth and so I don't want us to you know get lost in the difficulty of the language and then we don't get what Paul is saying here because it's important. Okay first of all let's remember also that the word zealous and the word jealous are virtually the same word and not just because they sound virtually the same but they also mean almost the same thing. If you study both of those words throughout the Bible zeal, zealous, jealous if you study those words as they're used in scripture and just look them up in the dictionary you're going to see these words are very closely related. They come from the same root words and so this idea here of they zealously affect you is that basically they want to, they're very jealously and zealously wanting to create an emotional response in you right they zealously affect you they really want to get in tight with you and have mutual affection with you okay. They want to create this emotional response in you and get you all fired up. You know you could say that they they zealously motivate you but it's not in a good way not well though because this could be a good thing that's why he says in the next verse he says well it's good to be zealously affected always in a good thing right there's nothing wrong with having mutual affection between the the person who's teaching and the person who's being taught or or between brothers and sisters in Christ having mutual affection zeal for one another being excited about a friendship or a relationship or a camaraderie or being excited about a church being emotional and letting that stir you up and motivate you toward the truth and good doctrine and preaching and doing right hey that's good that could be good but it's also possible to be zealously affected but not well meaning that just because you show up and everybody's so nice everybody's so loving everybody's so caring everybody's so affectionate everybody's so excited and there's so much excitement that doesn't necessarily mean that we're talking about truth or that we're talking about something that's of God because they do zealously affect you but not well yay they would exclude you and what does that mean they would exclude you what does exclude mean it means to shut out right so if I excluded someone I'm basically shutting them out and saying you know you're not you're not part of the group here now obviously they're not excluding them from their own group because they're zealously affect them they want them in their group what they're trying to do is exclude them from the Apostle Paul's influence they're trying to carve out followers from the Apostle Paul's following they're trying to carve out their own little following and shut them off from any outside influence everybody understand shut them off and draw away disciples after themselves away from the Apostle Paul's influence shut off from the Apostle Paul's influence and carve out this little faction for themselves and this is not the only scripture that talks about this we can compare this to other scriptures in the Bible but it says they zealously affect you but not well yay they would exclude you that ye might affect them so basically that's kind of the tricky part that ye might affect them it's like they want to stir up this emotional response in you so that you can stir up that emotional response in them and everybody else is shut out and it's like we're just buddies and we're just egging each other on and hey you're so awesome and I'm so awesome and aren't we awesome and we can all just be kind of all fired up and we're kind of this elite group that's jealous and zealous and it's just us and it's us against them that's kind of the idea of this passage okay and so this is what false teachers do let's get some other scriptures that back this up you don't have to turn there but in Acts chapter 20 verse 29 it says for I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock it says after I'm gone these wicked false prophets are going to come in also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them what's the motive for false prophets and false teachers who will speak perverse or crooked or wrong things it's so that they can draw disciples away after them that's their goal to exclude you and just have that zealous affection be between just you and them and exclude the apostle Paul exclude the person who originally won them to Christ exclude good Bible teaching they've had in the past and carve out this new following you see it's sort of like the sodomites you know the sodomites can't reproduce they cannot reproduce right they cannot produce biological children so what do they do they want to basically adopt someone else's biological children that they can corrupt and be an evil influence upon have their little faggot family okay so sorry to have spoken that way in the house of God actually I'm not sorry but anyway here's the thing though okay it's the same thing with false teachers spiritually false teachers false prophets they cannot win anyone to Christ they're not even saved how can they win someone to Christ how could they start a Baptist Church and win about people to Christ and bring in a bunch of people and they're not even saved and everything brings forth after its own kind and guess what a corrupt tree can't bring forth good fruit a good tree can't bring forth evil fruit right the trees known by his fruit so the false prophets the false teachers they can't actually go out win someone to Christ from scratch get someone saved from scratch and then have their following built on people that they actually reach all they can do is go in and take someone else's converts right and basically draw away disciples after them by enticing them with some doctrine some exciting exotic or enticing them with zealous affection they're so loving they're so kind they're so nice they're so cool they're so fun fill in the blank whatever charisma they use to try to bring people into their sphere of influence but they're not reproducers they're recruiters right we said that about the sodomites hey they're not reproducers they're recruiters well guess what false prophets aren't reproducers either they're recruiters if they do reproduce they just reproduce more false prophets they reproduce more rotten false teachers but as far as how they affect saved Christians because saved Christians do get sucked into their sphere of influence that's why the Apostles have to keep warning us as saved Christians not to get pulled over into these wrong doctrines by them they're recruiters they're bringing you over to that that's all they can do okay Jude says something similar in verse 19 you don't have to turn there but it says these be they about false teachers these be they who separate themselves sensual having not the spirit so again they want to exclude you they want to draw away decide away disciples after them they want to separate themselves and pull off and have their own group their own faction their own new cult or whatever you want to call it but it's not a spiritual desire to accomplish something it's sensual why is it sensual because they want to form a separate faction not for spiritual reasons but rather for reasons of ego pride you know things like variants emulation seditions to use biblical language see for them it's all about their human feelings and it's about personality and it's not about the truth it's not about the Word of God in fact if you would flip over to Galatians 6 you're there in Galatians 4 look at Galatians chapter 6 verse 12 because again we're talking about these same false teachers who want to exclude you they want to draw away disciples after themselves they separate themselves it says in verse 12 as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh they constrain you to be circumcised only less they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ for neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law but they desire to have you circumcised why that they make glory in your flesh this is a very carnal sensual motive it's about boasting ego pride it's about they desire to be teachers of the law understanding neither what they say nor where they affirm they want to have their little following they want to be in the ministry for all the wrong reasons they want to have you over for a Bible study not because they love the Bible but because they're trying to build a following and trying to pull away people from legitimate biblical preaching and influence so it says in verse 18 of chapter 4 I'm just wrapping up with this part in Galatians I'm going to get to the application verse 18 but it's good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not only when I'm present with you my little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you now what does he mean about until Christ be formed in you earlier he said you know Christ liveth in me right the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God it's it's Christ living through me and what he's saying is he wants Christ to live through them as well and this road that they're going down is the opposite of that going back into bondage back into superstition as opposed to walking in the spirit the freedom of the spirit following Christ and so forth and so he is zealous as well you know oh they're zealous well guess what I'm zealous too I'm like a woman in labor giving birth over here you want to understand how I feel about this you understand how zealous and how affected I am I'm like a woman in labor over here try it travailing in birth until Christ be formed in you that's how invested I am just think about you know a woman who's in labor is pretty invested there's only one way out it's you know there's no you don't get halfway through and be like alright I changed my mind I'm done you got no you got to finish there's only one way and it's I mean that's how invested Paul is that's how deeply he feels this situation just like a woman feels those birth pangs he says I desire to be present with you now see you know he wrote them a letter apparently he's not able to be there physically he wishes he could be there in person instead this letter is the next best thing he says I desire to be with you now and to change my voice for a stand in doubt of you he's saying you know as I'm writing this letter I don't know how you're reacting to this I don't know if I'm getting through to you I don't know if I'm not getting through to you because I can't see you I'm not physically there I'm just writing a letter I mean are you so foolish he asked at the beginning of chapter three I don't know are you this stupid I don't know is chapter one gonna get through to you chapter two chapter three I mean I'm wrapping up with chapter four hopefully you're getting it right now but I I don't know I wish I could be here physically with you and then I could change my voice cuz right now his tones a little bit harsh he's calling them fools and and you know rebuking them pretty harshly at times but now in this section he's kind of softened up and said man I thought we were you know I thought we were cool you would have taken your eyes out and given them to me so now he's saying you know I want to be present with you I could change my tonal voice basically and so that I could actually be nice to you because you're getting it but if you're not getting it I'm still mad because these Judy eyes are so full of baloney and it's wicked and it's against God and it's lies and I'm gonna fight it till the bitter end so that's what he's saying so that's that's the text that we looked at you know we went through this verse by verse in Galatians you know chapter 4 we went from verse 12 to verse 20 and kind of broke down some some kind of tough stuff there so I hope I didn't lose you in the sermon because some of it was a little bit tough getting it you know getting in looking at every word and breaking it down and everything so now let me just give you the the application the moral of the story so if anything frustrated you about what I've said so far then hey you know let's just start over right now hopefully you got everything I explained hopefully it made sense to you hopefully it was clear but here's the bottom line that we all need to take away from this okay and that is how do we look at authority in our lives right whether that's the pastor whether that's our parents whether that is a husband how do we look at the authority in our lives what's a biblical way to view these important influences or authorities that we have in our lives now or that we have that in the past right because I'm not living at home with my parents anymore but that's an authority that I had in the past right pastors that I'm no longer a member of their church but in the past those pastors were used by God to be a blessing to me and so forth so this could be present or past authorities or important influence in our life number one we should look at them with respect and where am I getting this from what we just read as an angel of God right he says look you received me as an angel of God you didn't despise the infirmity of my flesh and let's face it all of our authorities that we have in our life are not gonna be perfect they're all gonna have some kind of a weakness some kind of a problem some kind of an imperfection or fault but he says look you didn't despise the infirmity of my flesh but you received me as an angel of God and we need to understand that these authorities in our life are angels of God okay Romans chapter 13 makes it clear that God has ordained these people in our lives as ministers of God whether that's our parents whether it's a pastor these are messengers of God they've spoken to us the Word of God and we should respect them because of the fact that God has used them to teach us and instruct us and speak to us the Word of God or even if they're not even saved and they don't even speak the Word of God you know obviously if you're a child you're to obey your parents your parents still represent God in that they're your earthly authority and God has commanded you to obey them your husband if you're a woman and you're married your husband is your earthly authority that you're supposed to reverence your husband and be obedient to your husband in all things that's what the Bible says why because he represents God he represents Christ even the boss at work deserves respect as being part of God's authority structure on this planet okay there are authorities that he has put in place in different spheres of influence that we should respect so number one we should give authorities respect as the angel of God that they are that God is using them in our lives to raise us or whatever they're doing in our lives to preach to us teach us whatever they've done for us number two is that we need to realize that they're human so number one we need to respect them number two when you realize they're human the possible say hey be as I am for I am as you are I'm like you so we need to realize that they're human that means we're not to put them on too high of a pedestal and start thinking that they're infallible because they're not infallible Paul even said even if I preach another gospel let me be accursed no one is above saying something wrong doing something wrong being wrong so number one we need to respect them as an angel of God but number two we need to realize that they're human and so therefore they are not infallible number three we should realize that they're human now that sounds like it's the same as point two but we should realize that they're human in the sense that they are not perfect so we need to cut them some slack and realize that they're human right so on the one hand we don't want to lift them up too highly and put them on too much of a pedestal but at the same time we also need to realize that hey leaders are human they're going to make mistakes because they're like us they're just human beings they're just men who put their pants on one leg at a time like we do and so therefore we should cut them some slack and not expect them to be a superman or superhuman you know the Apostle Paul is human and his humanity comes through in Galatians and in 2nd Corinthians and in other places where he gets emotional about these things because you know what he's a human being and you know what when you sit there and disrespect your pastor or your parents or what you know it's not like they're just so high above you that they don't have any feelings or something you could actually hurt your pastor's feelings you can actually hurt your parents feelings you could hurt your husband's feelings and you say well no you know they're these people they're just you know they're just like an adamant or something but no they're human right we're all human and so yes we should respect them number one number two we should realize they're human in the sense of not putting them on too high of a pedestal but number three we should realize they're human and cut them some slack because they're like us right and you know if you stop to think about it your parents are just like you they're you know and one day you're gonna be like them whether you realize it or not like they you know they used to be like you and you're going to be like them and that's hard to understand sometimes as a teenager but it's true eventually you will be like your parents and your parents used to be like you you're both in the same boat you're both human and so you need to try to see things from their perspective and realize that one day the things that they are saying to you you will be saying to your kids you really think that you're gonna have kids someday and just let them do whatever no you're gonna be worried about them you're gonna care about them you're gonna be trying to keep them under control just like your parents are trying to keep you under control so they're like you you're like them you need to realize that and they're human they're just trying to get through their day just like you are the pastor your husband your parents these people just have it in for you oh my husband has it in for me pastors got it in for me parents got it in for me boss at work's got it for me you know what those people they're all just trying to get through their day just like you are they're trying to get through their week they're trying to get through their lives just like you they're doing what they believe is right unless we're talking about just wicked people who just yay we're evil or something but I'm saying like you know they're just trying to do what's right they may not always be perfect but they're trying to do the right thing and just get through their life just like you're trying to get through your life and fourthly this we should see them as a purveyor of hard truths so number one how do we look at authority with respect as the angel of God number two as human not put on too high of a pedestal number three as human so therefore realize that they have feelings too you know they're trying to get through life as well they're like you cut them some slack you know realize that you're hurting them as well you feel like they're just harming you so well you know what you're also hurting their feelings but number four see them as the purveyor of hard truths that they are a purveyor of hard truths someone who dishes out hard truths unlike your peers who will often just tell you whatever you want to hear right so you're a teenager yeah other teenagers man they're not on my case also yeah because other teenagers don't care enough to give you those hard truths so often yeah you're gonna be surrounded by fellow church members peers whatever that just tell you what you want to hear whereas the authority that God has given you is a purveyor of hard truths you know it's so funny you see women go on social media and talk about how bad their husband is and oh and you know this is such garbage but you'll constantly see these posts of like oh my husband you know and here's what they'll start out by saying they'll say like he doesn't cheat on me he pays all the bills I'm a stay-at-home wife and mother so he's totally providing and totally faithful which are kind of the big things that the Bible's demanding husbands do provide and and be faithful obviously those are the big ones right but he doesn't help me with the housework he doesn't help enough with the kids he doesn't pitch in enough you know I'm thinking and then they'll talk about divorcing him and separating from him physically tormenting him hurting him separating from him leaving him locking him out of his own house like Fred Flintstone or something and and all these different things and and here's what's funny is just the multitude of comments from other little Jezebels like oh your husband such a jerk oh I can't believe they you know you got force him to do this force him to that you know nary a Bible verse to be found in these threads even though sometimes this will be in a Christian form or Christian group suppose a Christian the Bible doesn't come into play it's just these you know female dog wives that are basically just you know don't like the way that their husband does things or whatever and so then they turn to other wives to do what tell them what they want to hear well guess what you're always gonna be able to find somebody to tell you what you want to hear and a lot of how these false prophets and false teachers we saw operate is that they buddy up to you they get affectionate with you they love you so much they tell you what they're like Absalom they want to give you a kiss and tell you how wonderful you are that's what Absalom did to the men of Israel and so you're always gonna be able to find somebody that will back you up on divorcing your husband disobeying your husband rebelling against your husband rebelling as your parents of course when you talk to your teenage buddies about how strict your parents are they're gonna agree with you they're not gonna be like well hold on just a minute your parents actually have a point that's not what they're gonna say okay whereas the pastor is gonna tell you those hard truths I mean you take that you take that garbage to the pastor and say oh my husband he's faithful he pays all the bills but I want to do this additional house work is he's just gonna be like no you're wrong obey your husband submit to your husband he's the boss he's the lord of that castle here's what scripture says and he's gonna tell you those hard truths and you say yeah but my husband's a jerk well what does that say about you that you married such a jerk and you know what if you married a jerk then you made your bed now lay in it that's called marriage it's till death does do part for better or for worse it's not always gonna be perfect fairy tale happy ending deal with it but that's a hard truth isn't it that's not what that's not what the women online are gonna tell you that's what the pastor is gonna tell you it's what the Bible is gonna tell you it's what your parents ought to be telling you unless you have these wicked evil satanic in-laws who are like oh poor baby come home to us you know your husband doesn't do enough laundry or whatever I don't care if I throw down and I don't do this but I don't care if I were to just walk into the house every day and just strip of my dirty laundry just throw it everywhere just throw it just just just just put it as many different places I can my wife is still married to me she's still my wife she's supposed to obey me submit to me follow me and I'm providing I'm faithful I'll throw my dirty socks wherever I want to throw them I'll squeeze the toothpaste from 78% into the tube if I want to because it's my house it's my toothpaste now look I don't do those things you know I like to think that I'm pretty easy to live with but the point is that these kind of stupid things these kind of petty things these kind of wrongheaded ideas that women get in their head yet they're gonna find other women to back that up and you know what we could we could flip it over if we wanted to talk about man and we could say that you know man could get their buddies to justify with them you know drinking up all their paycheck and and gambling and partying and going to Vegas and whatever yeah they're gonna find people to back them up on those stupid irresponsible wicked activities as well or on leaving their wife and trading her in for a different model you know which is super wicked in the eyes of God but they you could find somebody oh my wife you know I've had look I'm a pastor I've had women or excuse me I've had men come to me and say things like my wife doesn't love me she doesn't show and you know what I told them hard truths deal with it I'm sorry that your wife is as frigid as Antarctica but you know at the end of the day you married her that's your wife you got to deal with it it's not a justification for you to go out and find someone else but I guarantee you that they could just find oh well I mean the love is gone it's time to move you know you don't wanna be in a loveless marriage all your kids will be better off in a divorced home than in a loveless man that's a bunch of garbage okay charity hopeth all things charity doesn't give up hope charity keeps trying endures all things bears all things believes all things don't give up keep going it's a hard truth parents will give you hard truths about your life pastor gives you hard truths okay but your peers are gonna tell you what you want to hear so how do we deal with authority in our lives taking the example from Galatians chapter 4 we respect authority but we realize that authorities human and we realize that authorities job is often to lay hard truths on us and you know what some of the things that you're just so sure that your husband's wrong about or that your parents are wrong about or that the pastor is wrong about you know maybe you're the one that's wrong and so you should stop and ask yourself am I resisting this truth because it's not convenient for me because I don't like where it leads because I don't want to live with the ramifications of it or is that person actually wrong because a lot of times the person who's talking to you is actually right and you are just resisting that truth and authorities job is to give you hard truths so don't ever let your parents become your enemy because they tell you the truth don't let your pastor become your enemy because don't let anyone ever become your enemy because they tell you the truth and you know what it's better to follow the person who is speaking the truth than the one who zealously affects you who's not telling the truth and they really want you to zealously affect them but they're not telling the truth but they're liars you know I walk by the Jehovah's Witness Tower of Doom all the time they set it up in parks and on school campuses and so they got their little Tower of Doom set up and no one's ever talking to them no one talks to them so they talk to each other now I you know honestly though even though every time I see that Tower of Doom I just fantasize about destroying it in a different way I do look on the bright side and say hey at least they're not out knocking doors because knocking doors is actually effective I'd rather that they just stand here and fool around with their Tower of Doom with no one talking to them I mean if they knock doors someone might actually talk to them whereas they stand out there with the Tower of Doom and nobody talks to them so what do they do they talk to each other and so I again and again and again and again I see the Jehovah's false witnesses with their little tower and they're just hanging out and talking to each other and I'm just thinking to myself how can anyone be a Jehovah's Witness in the age of the internet it the information is out there the facts are out there the truth is other it's not that hard to research this stuff folks but you know what I always end up coming to the conclusion oh you know why they're a Jehovah's Witness because these are their friends because these are their buddies these are their relatives these are their friends that must be why and you know what that's why a lot of people are involved in false religion isn't it because of their friends they zealousy affect them they want to be zealousy affected by them but ultimately what matters is the truth so don't let the tellers of the truth become your enemies because they tell you the truth and don't get sucked in by some lovey-dovey lies from false teachers those pirates in a board of prayer father we thank you so much for this passage Lord and I pray that we would let the truth of what we learned today from Galatians really sink down into our ears Lord and that we would have a right view toward the people who've blessed us and have been a godly influence in our lives and toward our authority in general in Jesus name we pray men