Sound Doctrine

Host (Male): Everything we need for life and love is found in one place, God's wonderful word. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: I have nothing for you. This has everything for you. Every dot, every tittle is for us. It is manna from heaven to feed us, to strengthen us. If you go somewhere and you don't get this word, you better get out of there cuz you're going to get nothing out of that church. Everything is in the word. You need to go where the word is being taught. Don't get ripped off.

Host (Male): This is Sound Doctrine, the radio ministry from Calvary Chapel Downey. Currently, Pastor Jeff Johnson is leading us through Galatians verse by verse. Here in America, we consider it a courtesy to open and close a door for another person. Some of us guys forget that about the fourth or fifth year of marriage, right? Today, we'll observe God opening and closing doors for his children, and specifically the Apostle Paul. God sovereignly orchestrates the events of our lives, and that could be a great comfort to know. Here's Pastor Jeff with more from Galatians chapter 4.

Jeff Johnson: We're in Galatians, so if you want to turn to Galatians chapter 4. But to start out, I just wanted to mention this scripture in Philippians 3:5. He's Paul's saying about himself, I was circumcised the eighth day, talking about a Jew. I'm a Jew. I did everything right. Stock of Israel, tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews. As touching the law, man, I was a Pharisee. Man, I was on. Not only was he those things, but he sat under the feet of Gamaliel, and it's a very very prestigious place to be in his school there on the southern steps of the temple.

He was taught by this this Jewish scholar, and he had the best teaching. Well, he also became a brother, didn't he, in the Lord. And he was a pastor, he was an evangelist, he was a missionary. He was a lover and follower of Jesus. He was a dad, he was a husband. He was on the Sanhedrin. You have to be married. He wrote Ephesians 5. Come on, give me a break. See, a guy that read you know, if if you ever read Ephesians 5, you know this guy had to be married. He had it down.

So he said, follow me because I'm following Jesus, and Paul's seeking those who are in this region, Galatia, to wake up. He wanted to see the gospel in them. He wanted them to see the gospel in him, the good news. He didn't want it to be ripped off from them, and and here's this warfare that was going on between those in Galatia and the Judaizers, those legalists. Do you remember in Acts chap- just jot it down, Acts chapter 20, when Paul was there at that leadership conference there in Miletus. In verse 24, he said, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

And that's what he was doing in Galatia. He was bringing forth that good news to these guys because some were trying to rip it off from them. And then over in verse 32, he says, and now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are set aside, sanctified. So this is the gospel of grace. That's what Galatians is. To let them see to even backslide even a little bit, to even go back from where they were when Paul first came to them and gave them the gospel and they received it.

Even to backslide a little is to give Satan a victory and a foothold, and it's to hurt the body of Christ. So he was exhorting them, and rightly so. We find ourselves in Galatians in chapter 4, and remember verse 12, he said, brethren, I beg of you be as I am, for I am as you are. You know, verse 13, how through infirmity of the flesh and so he all of a sudden gets into this incredible background that we get to see here, that he was brought into their presence with something going on in his flesh.

I preached the good news unto you at the first. So I beg of you, brothers, be as I am because I'm as you are, or put yourself in my place, okay? That's what he's saying here. Remember how you used to respond to me? Remember when I first came to you? Very important. He's reminding them. Paul shares this personal physical problem that he had, and I think that those Judaizers that were trying to win these these this region over actually, all the churches in the region, and they would come to them and they would say, Paul is weak.

Paul is not who you think he is. The man is sick, man. He's got all kinds of problems. Why should you listen to someone like that? He's probably got a lot of sin in his life, and that's why he's so sick all the time, and that 's why he goes through it. Oh man, that 's pretty interesting, isn't it, as they try to win them over. So he's right up in front and he says, yeah, I had a problem. Probably it was very a repulsive problem in how he looked and very humbling to him. It seems to me that it drew him to them.

In other words, because of his sickness, he came to this area. Remember in Acts chapter 14, let me just read it to you in verse 19. It says, and there came there certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the people and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, leaving him as dead. Paul didn't have it easy. He preached the gospel and he was stoned many times. I mean, this time he was left for dead. Now stones have its effect on your body. I don't know. I mean, gosh, they actually showed some you- YouTube stuff or not YouTube, it would be just on on various um what was it on?

Facebook or something, I don't know it. I saw there where they were stoning a woman. Just came across it. It's horrible when you come across if you if you peruse it. But it it's a horrible thing. And it kills you. They left him for dead. But then it goes on in verse 20 and it says, how be it as the disciples stood around about him, he just got up and came into the city, and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby. And then it says, and when they had preached the gospel to that city and taught many, they returned again to Lystra, to Iconium, and Antioch.

They came to the area and region of Galatia. So it could have been during this time. Some say he got sick with a physical infirmity, some say a bodily weakness that he ended up in Galatia to recuperate, just to kick back and and to try to get better. What was his sickness? I don't think it matters, but it's always good to kind of think about that. What what was he sick of? Um it it was mentioned that it was depression because him serving. Do you get depressed if you serve the Lord? Well, you can because the enemy doesn't want you doing that, so it'll get you thinking this and thinking that and and try to get you all oppressed and depressed.

Cuz he can't possess you, but he can oppress you, you know, bum you out. He knows that cuz greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. So there's no Christian that is ever going to be demon possessed. It's ridiculous. Light and darkness doesn't hang out in the same place. When the light comes in, darkness flees. Thank God for that, huh? So some say depression, some say kidney stones because they remember there in Corinthians he said, I have a I have a thorn in the flesh. And I'm leaning towards that because I had one of those thorns.

In fact, I had two of them. No, now I recently had one, so I had three of them. Three stones, kidney stones. It's in the side and it brings you down. It really puts you down. It's really painful. Thorn in the flesh he called it. That's definitely that. Others say due to the climate in the area, he could have had malaria because that was spreading in that area, a lot of water. Whatever it was, Paul preached through it to the Galatians because when he got to Galatia, he preached the gospel to them. Many Gentiles got saved.

And this is the good news. Over in Matthew chapter 23, Jesus confronting those scribes and Pharisees they said, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you pay tithe and mint and anise and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These you should have done and not leave the other undone. In other words, yes, make sure you give your tithes and offerings, but what about judgment? What about mercy? What about kindness? What about love? We're to love others, we're to have mercy. We're to experience his peace and his presence when we are in our own Gethsemane, when we're saying, Lord, not my will, but thine be done.

We're to bear our pain with our thorns. Paul did. I mean, the Bible teaches that we're going to go through stuff. We're going to get sick. We're going to have problems in that area. Why? Because we're in a sinful world, and these bodies are breaking down. They're just made that way. And on our Jericho road and on our journey through this world, we're to hear and we're to hel- see and help those in need, aren't we? We're to be good Samaritans. Actually, 1 Corinthians chapter 13 tells it like it is. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I'm a tinkling symbol.

Though I have all the gift of prophecy that to underst- understand all you know, mysteries and all knowledge, though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, if I don't have love, I have nothing. And though I bestow my goods to feed the poor and I'm active in reaching out, and though I give my body to be burned and have not love, profits me nothing. And then in verse 8 of 1 Corinthians 13, he says love never fails. Oh God, give us that love. Give us that love. So he Paul even though he was sick, down and out, going through it, he gave the love of God to those in Galatia.

Now notice verse 14 of Galatians 4. He says, and my temptation, which was in my flesh, you despised not nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God even as Christ Jesus. Whoa. Where is then the blessedness, the feeling you spoke of? I mean, wow, you really you know, were moved. For I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have even plucked out your own eyes and had given them to me. Wow. You know, just the just the Paul giving them the gospel and them just being filled with God's love and and receiving the good news.

What an event. And he was weak physically. And he said, you didn't spit on me cuz spitting back then was, you know, you sick dog, you you got sin in your life and you know, and and people would spit on on those that were uh sick. There's a really, you know, you know, saying, ugh, get away from me. But you received me. You would have given me your your own eyes. So it it there's something maybe that was happening in his eyes. You would have done anything to help me. The Judaizers were there to rip off the sheep.

The Judaizers were there to steal away what Paul had given them. But all the interaction that they had with Paul. And Paul didn't allow his limitation, his sickness, to limit him. But he used it for the glory of God. And he went forth with it. He didn't allow it to hang him up or make make an excuse. I can't go. I'm sick. I can't go. I I have infection in my eye. I can't go. I got a headache. I you know, I would man, we can come up with some doozers and and some many of them.

That's right. You 're sick. But he didn't allow that limitation to stop him doing what God wanted him to do. I think that's interesting. Lord, help us not to be limited by some things that we go through. We've got to persevere, don't we? I mean the the ancients of old, the you know, the disciples, all those that we're following after, they persevered through great sicknesses, great persecution. And then we get a little rain and we say, I can't go to church. It's raining. What? Are we a bunch of spoiled brats or what? Look what's going on in the Middle East.

Look what is happening in our world today. Should motivate us to say, we're suffering nothing in the physical. Oh, we're getting it spiritually. Cuz they don't don't get me wrong. We're in the modern day Egypt, man. We got everything pulling on us. Remember the octopus that seeks to suck away our lives in Christ. It's around us and it is doing its work, but we need to persevere. And yes, we have limits. But let's don't let it limit us from what God has for us. So it may be his infirmity was in his eyes. Over in look at uh chapter 6 of Galatians verse 11.

Now, how many have your Bibles? Hold them up. Look around you, guys. Look who is studying God's word. Now if you don't have your Bible here today, you're forgiven. But I next time you come here, I want you to see with your Bible. Okay? We study God's word. We go verse by verse, sometimes word by word. So why do you do that? Cuz you I have nothing for you. This has everything for you. Even Paul's sickness in his eyes and stuff, yes. Every dot, every tittle is for us. It is manna from heaven to feed us, to strengthen us.

If you go somewhere and you don't get this word, you better get out of there cuz you're going to get nothing out of that church. Everything is in the word. You need to go where the word is being taught. Don't get ripped off. Galatians 6:11. You see, Paul says, how large a letter I have written unto you with my own hand. What did that mean? Does that mean that he wrote big cuz he couldn't see very well? I don't know. I'm just throwing that out to you. Someone said in one of the commentaries that it's possible it's perpetual pink eye that he had.

And can you imagine just having a just break out in both eyes, how you would look? Because he said, there's something about his when you looked at him, it was kind of repulsive. He was pretty sick. Vision is hindered. But the Galatians did not despise or reject Paul when he came to them in this position, in this what looked that whatever was on him. They embraced him and they embraced the grace of God. That was in the beginning when he first came to them, they said, this is good news. God's amazing grace, unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor.

This is great. It frees us from the law and the Judaizers trying to lay the law on us and say, you've got to do this, you got to do that, you got you can 't do this, you can't do that. No, we're free in Christ. Even though his in his infirmity disfigured him, they received him. Now verse 16, I he says, I am I therefore your enemy? So remember he's writing to them because he heard these things, horrible things the Judaizers were doing to them. And they started to side with him and they started to you know, kind of come against Paul in a way.

He says, am I your enemy just because I told you the truth? At one time you were embracing me, you embraced the gospel, you embraced the grace. But what has happened to you? Now then I'm I'm an enemy? Listen, Paul knew that they needed the word of God. They needed the truth to set them free. We need the truth this morning so we're not deceived by the Judaizers, by the by those legalists. They're all around us that would pull us away from the truths that does free us. Jesus said, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

That's why we need to be in the truth. If you're not in the truth, then you're being you know, held in bondage. And everything around you and what people are saying in this world is all about bondage. It's all it's all Satan's work, man. This keeps us clean. It keeps us right there in the truth. And he was giving them the truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Learn of me and you're going to be blessed. So you need this truth. A pastor needs to be respected and loved or his message won't have a sweet taste.

And that is true. Paul had both respect and love. He taught them God's word, so he was God's messenger. Notice what he says in verse 14 at the end. They called him what? As an angel of God. Or check this out, as Christ Jesus was coming to them. Wow. Why would they say that? Because he brought them the word. It was direct from God to them. And they said, we love you, Paul. You're giving us the word. And they embraced. You're like an angel. Verse 17, they zealously who's they? The Judaizers. They zealously affect you but not well.

Oh no no, these guys aren't looking for your well-being. Yea, they would exclude you. They would lock you out, man, if they could, that ye might affect them. And so that they're trying to you know, they're actually the envious. The Judaizer they were envious at the Galatians cuz they were running around with the grace of God and the freedom of the Lord. And when they saw that, they said, let's let's lay a trip on them. And they came just to do that, to rip them off, man. Oh, you think you're saved? Oh no no no, remember what Moses said.

And and and just putting a trip on them, feel them make them feel guilty. Interesting. Beware of the affections of the legalists. They want you exclusively, cults, just the way they run, how they do their thing. They'll court you, they'll even love you you know, in a superficial way. They're always glorifying themselves and then they'll devour you. They want your total allegiance. They want you to love them back and follow them not Jesus. You get it? Look to us, we will lead you. We will break the scriptures to you. We will lead you into truth, you know.

Oh, watch out. They're not for good, Paul says. The cults call this love bombing. Did you know that? The cults do this all the time. They go, let's go love bomb them. So this poor love out on people in various ways. Uh they know what they're doing. They know how to win people over, give them attention, support, affection. It's love for prospect is what it is. They're going to get something out of it. That's why they do what they do to gain a member. These Judaizers wanted to make the Galatians into super a super spiritual group of legalists.

They wanted to get this whole region locked up and get them to follow. Yes, Jesus. Yes, you need Jesus, but you have to have this and this. Legalism endorses this zeal for the group. In other words, we are the elite. We are we are the spiritual ones. We're one of the few. We're the spiritual marines, so to speak. We're radical for Jesus. We always carry our cross and take on special assignments because remember we are the few.

Host (Male): Legalism shows itself in many forms, as Pastor Jeff Johnson just pointed out. Legalism is also counterintuitive to the gospel message that we are saved by grace and grace alone. This is Sound Doctrine, and you've just heard part one of a message from Pastor Jeff Johnson in the fourth chapter of Galatians. If you enjoyed today's message from Pastor Jeff Johnson from the book of Galatians, I'd like to remind you that you can hear it again on several different venues. First, you can go online to sounddoctrineradio.org where you can hear today's study and more, as well as make a donation to this radio outreach.

That's sounddoctrineradio.org. You can also listen to us at oneplace.com and through the Sound Doctrine radio podcast app. And of course, speaking of podcasts, Sound Doctrine can be heard wherever you enjoy podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Be sure to join us again next time we meet for another encouraging and challenging study from Pastor Jeff in the book of Galatians. You're on Sound Doctrine presented each day by Calvary Chapel Downey.