Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): Believer in Christ, you are already free in Jesus. Believe it, receive it, and live like it. That is next on Abounding Grace.

In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus warned us, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to us in sheep's clothing, but are really vicious wolves." They are all around us, aren't they? Whether it be on social media, knocking on our front door, or even in the church we attend. Today on Abounding Grace, we will see the need to be careful and why we are to avoid them. Pastor Ed Taylor will encourage us to enjoy the freedom that is ours in the Lord. We will be in Galatians chapter 4. We will start off with a word about generosity.

Pastor Ed Taylor: I step back because this is a pretty convicting passage for me personally, and perhaps it will be for you as well. I step back and I look at my life in general, especially compared to when I was not saved. I would conclude, and I think there would be people close to me that could confirm this, that I am a generous person. I would consider myself generous. I like giving. I like blessing. I want to grow in it for sure. I have a desire to help when I hear a need. I want to see people's pain relieved, and the list goes on. I would say that I am a generous person, especially for the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But we all have our limits. I have my limits. God is continually bringing things into our lives to test our limits. If we are not careful, all sorts of things come up. "Have I not been generous enough?" There is no such thing as generous enough. The whole word generous means you go above and beyond. Jesus would teach us that. He says this is a principle of the kingdom. This is something that is equal among all of us. We can all follow that when someone asks for our jacket, we give them our tunic too. We give them more, above and beyond what would pour out completely beyond our limits, although we do have our limits.

I started thinking as I was preparing this Bible study, "Would you give an eye to someone that needs an eye?" You can ask that question of yourself. Because you are in your Bible or doing your devotions, you are probably going to say, "Of course I would." But I have learned over the years that I do not give that answer anymore. When I asked this question of myself a few weeks ago, here is the answer I gave: I do not know. I hope I would, but I do not know. I guess I would find out if the situation presented itself, but I really do not know.

I would like to think I am generous. I would like to think I am a giver, but in that scenario? I do not know. You can back off from something so dramatic. That is what makes this relationship so sweet, such a dramatic offering. I wonder if someone in Galatia offered it to him. Maybe they got a doctor in town to see if it was even possible. But as we are looking to grow in the things of God, you have to understand your limits, but you also have to admit them before the Lord and give Him space to move the line.

No matter where you are in your walk with the Lord, or in relation to generosity and giving, God wants to move the line. He wants it to be more. In the church, there is this reputation that it is more than giving to the church or more than tithes. There is always that phrase: tithes and offerings. What is the offering that God wants from us? He wants our eyes. He wants our ears. He wants our life. He says to lay yourself down as a living sacrifice.

I am grateful that God would put these things before us to test us because we are growing in our relationship with Him. It takes time and testing. He puts these people in our lives, these situations, and these opportunities. He uses what is happening at work, in your neighborhood, in the culture, and what you are reading or watching on the news so that He might move the lines and we might become closer to Him.

When we come back to Paul's relationship, this is a man's relationship with other men and women in a real, gospel-oriented relationship. He asks, "How have I become your enemy? I do not understand it. Why is your situation all of a sudden become about me?" Either you do it to yourself or the enemy does it. A false teacher has to do two things in order to gain you. Number one, they need to create some kind of confusion where they can be the answer to your confusion. Number two, they have to separate you from people that tell you the truth. They have to separate you from the people that tell you the truth so that you have complete loyalty to them.

Sometimes that is false teaching, but sometimes it is just you. You separate yourself from people that are going to tell you the truth because you just do not want to grow or you do not want to admit that this is a place in your life that God is wanting to grow you. It has to be someone else's fault. It is always someone else's fault or some situation, and it can never be you. If that is the phraseology you are thinking or living out in your life right now, that is a red light for your spiritual growth. You will make no progress if that is where you are at. You will be more susceptible to believing lies about situations, even to the point where you think a friend is an enemy.

Here is what happens in verse 17: "They zealously court you." That is a phrase describing that they want you to follow them. They are doing much in your life to gain your loyalty. They zealously court you, but not for good. It is not good, even though you might be flattered and enjoy the attention. It says, "They want to exclude you that you may be zealous for them. But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you." There are the two pieces. They are going after you to draw you after themselves, and they are also wanting to exclude you from those that would tell you the truth.

It is important that we recognize this because this is the work of false teachers. This is how they operate. Paul says you should be careful of the legalists who want to court you so that they can exclude you, drawing you after themselves. There are always people that come through wanting to draw you after themselves. They are not welcome here to do that. They are not welcome to take advantage of you as a flock for their own thing. This is the house of God. You have come here to worship God, not follow someone. It is easy to be taken advantage of, even with language like, "It is for your own good."

I was with Marie this week and we went to Walmart. We got out of the car and there were two Mormon missionaries in the parking lot arguing with someone or trying to convince someone with their open Book of Mormon. I was just going to Walmart. They are not in the DVD section in Walmart anymore because the DVD section does not work. They hit the parking lot. I was walking and Marie said, "You want to go and talk to them, don't you?" I said, "Yeah, but it was a bad day for me. I just did not have the energy." I just said a quick prayer for them and went in to do whatever we needed to do.

I already know what is going to happen. They are going to ask some question that is going to lead to some confusing thing, and they already know the answer to that confusing question because they have been trained to do this. You have to be so careful because it is in the confusion that someone takes advantage of you. It is a very well-rehearsed script. You can tell the difference when someone shares with you their script or their life. A script is easy to hear. You need to be careful, especially when it comes to theology and who God is.

The message and teaching of this church is that you are not to follow man. Your relationship is with Jesus Christ, and He deserves your complete 100% loyalty. He is worthy of all of your time and all of your attention. Certainly, God will use human beings in your life, but they are never to take the place of the Lord. You need to be careful of men and women zealously courting you and drawing you to themselves. It is not good. Let's turn to Titus chapter 3.

The church of Jesus Christ is not for you to use for your own purposes. The church of Jesus Christ is not for you to build anything. The church of Jesus Christ is to build the kingdom of God, to make heaven crowded, to help people in their worst days, to encourage people when they are hopeless, and to give generously so that God gets all the credit. On our radio program, we make it very clear that the call-in show is not for you to argue or share some weird doctrine that you have come up with after 50 hours on YouTube. We are not going to do it because there are thousands of people listening and we do not want them confused.

We are entrusted with the flock of God and we are to take care of them and protect them. It burns me to see people taken advantage of. That is not why you came here. You came to seek the Lord. Sometimes people come to church and stay in their cars. They stay in their cars because they can listen to the service there, but they are in proximity. The closer they get to the Lord, the stronger they are going to get. They are not here to be taken advantage of.

Until we find out about it, this is God's word to you in Titus chapter 3, verse 9: "But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law." That is exactly what the Galatians are dealing with. He says to avoid these, for they are unprofitable and useless. They are a waste of your time. They are also dangerous because they can confuse you. Somebody could use some obscure passage and say, "Did you know this was in the Bible?" In that moment, you are more vulnerable than you were.

Verse 10 says, "Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned." You have a responsibility not to get caught up in these dumb arguments. The word avoid means to place yourself at a distance from. We have a responsibility to obey this truth and stay away from false teaching. Sometimes you are not even looking for it. I am looking for a Bible study on YouTube and the whole right side is whacked-out stuff. Maybe there is someone behind the algorithms who wants to give you error. But they cannot give you error unless you click it.

It would be better to spend 50 hours just reading the Bible. It would be better to spend 50 hours praying and seeking the Lord than to be dabbling in things that will harm you. The Bible says to avoid them. We are not even going to get into that conversation. I have watched families destroyed by this stuff. The church is filled with people that just want to attack your simple faith. You just love God, you read your Bible, you are raising your kids in the ways of the Lord, and then you meet somebody in the parking lot who tells you that you are not a real believer because your church does not take communion correctly.

Jesus never told you exactly how to take communion. He said, "As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me." A brother came up after service and said he sat down next to someone on the light rail and they asked him what church he went to and then nitpicked communion. This stuff is real. There is always someone telling you that you are using the wrong Bible and that they happen to have the perfect one written by their organization. You need to learn to know Jesus. You need to follow Him. It is not about the day on which you worship or singing songs incorrectly. Do you really think God is going to make you try again because you missed a word?

God does not sound like that, but man does. You can make a joyful noise unto the Lord. A lot of kids have that stage of baby talk. Mom knows exactly what the kid is saying. Eventually, they are going to grow out of that. Do you think that inability to understand a child with baby talk would offend me? Nobody would stick around with a pastor who was offended by that because that pastor is not representing the heart of God. You just bring what you have. There are things to learn about Bible translations, but do not complicate things. Just read the Bible and pray every day. Worship God with a pure, clean heart. Love mercy and walk humbly with your God.

The Galatians had gotten away from it and made it like it was Paul's fault. Somehow Paul was the enemy for telling them the truth. In verse 19, he says, "My little children." I consider you my kids in the faith. That phrase is used a lot by John, the apostle of love, but Paul only uses it one time right here. It is in a place of pleading. He says, "For whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you." He describes the labor of the gospel like the pain of giving birth to a child. That pain leads to joy, but it is still pain. He says, "I am ready to go through that all over again to see you guys follow Jesus again. It is worth it."

Hard conversations are difficult. Because it is a letter, he can anticipate along the way that they are going to listen to him this time. I will labor all over again if it meant you would come back to Christ because you are worth it. The thrill of living in the spirit and pleading with men and women to leave false religion and follow the Lord once again is powerful and beautiful. I wish you were as I am now, enjoying my freedom in the Lord, enjoying the love that God has for me, and enjoying His grace and His mercy. Though a man falls seven times, he will rise again. The Lord will get you up and get you going once again if you keep your eyes on Him.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. We are going in and growing through a study of Galatians right now. You can hear this message again online at aboundinggraceradio.com or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen through our app by searching for Ed Taylor in the App Store or Google Play. Pastor Ed has a new book called Letting Go of Your Past. We all have some things in our past that threaten to undermine our faith and continually plague us, but we were not made to live in the past. God wants to set us free.

In Letting Go of Your Past, Pastor Ed shows you how to break free from former hurts and habits and start living in the freedom that Jesus alone provides. We will send you a copy when you support Abounding Grace with a gift of $25 or more. Our number is 877-30-GRACE. You can also order online at calvaryco.store. Abounding Grace is made possible through the generous support of our listeners. As we continue delivering God's Word one verse at a time, we are looking to our listeners for help. Together, we can reach people with the love and truth of Christ and make a difference in these last days. To make a secure donation, drop by aboundinggraceradio.com. Next time on Abounding Grace, we will continue Pastor Ed's study of Galatians. Thank you for listening today. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow as we open the Word together in search of God's abounding grace.