 Prayer.  Review.  Vs. 16: “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?”  The truth that would make men enemies has been:  His Apostolic authority. Chapter 1.  The exclusive corner this gospel has on truth. 1:6-9.  No legalistic pursuits allowed. Chapter 2, encapsulated in vs. 21. Galatians is Paul’s only letter without a statement of commendation to the readers.  The free nature of saving faith. Chapter 3.  Jesus’ glorious fulfillment of the law, His fulfillment of all the promises, His complete removal of the curse.  That Jesus has brought all of the church into its inheritance.  The offense is the gift:  There must needs be a perfect righteousness in you. Romans 9:  Has Paul become your enemy through this teaching?  Perhaps to some there in Galatia he did. Perhaps today.

 “Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them.”  Love bombs are the tactic of many cults today. This is nothing new. Even among the legalists of the 1 st Century this was common.  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are,” Matthew 23:  Beware of offenses between you and the church’s reps.

 “It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.”  How many people “Act Christian” when the pastor is around?  What does that mean? What does that mean when it’s the pattern of someone’s life?  Washer and the “Good Southern Baptist” story.  How many of us can work without being recognized by others?  From where does our honor come? Matthew 6:1-6 is a Geiger-meter of maturity.  What about zeal?  Our master was very zealous: “So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” John 2:  It is advised WHEN GOOD: “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.” Proverbs 23:17.  It can be faulty: “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.” Romans 10:2.

 “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.”  How is Christ “Formed” in any man?  What Paul has taught them and us here is elsewhere related in Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:7-18.  Christ is rightly formed in you as you behold Him rightly through the word.  This is why sound teaching is so important.  Some, from the Bible, are asking people to behold-  A created Jesus. A mere creature.  An exalted Archangel.  A mere temporary mode of God’s life.  A good moral teacher.  One way among many to God.  One who helps you save yourself after a century in purgatory.  To be zealous to transform anyone into such an image is ultimately for no good. The gift of faith SpiritMindBelief No understanding BabyMaturityCommunicator By this faith a Christian believes to be true whatever is revealed in the Word because this Word has the authority of God Himself. Also, by this saving faith, a Christian apprehends an excellency in the Word which is higher than in all other writings and everything else in the world, because the Word shows forth the glory of God, revealing His attributes, showing the excellency of Christ's nature and offices, and also the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit in His workings and operations. - So the Christian is enabled to cast his soul upon the Truth he has believed, and to see and respond to the different kinds of teaching which different passages of Scripture contain. Saving faith equips him to perceive and obey the commands, hear the threatenings with fear and respect, and to embrace the promises of God for this life and the life to come. - But the first and most important acts of saving faith are those directly to do with Christ, when the soul accepts, receives, and rests upon Him alone for justification, sanctification and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace. –LBCF, Article 14.2.

 “How I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!”  By the works Paul had seen God do among them, he was amazed that they were turning away.  I don’t know what the change in tone is.  Let us be zealous in transforming into Christ. He is being formed in us and we in Him.  Zealousness for Jesus (in a good thing) produces-  A hunger and discipline in study.  A war against sin.  A zealousness to prove God. He delights in your asking.

See you next week. Invite a friend.