Raise you up from the evil sleep, bear you on the bread of dawn, make you Well, good morning and welcome back to the Chester ARP Church devotional podcast. Clint Davis, your host. Hey, thanks so much for joining us. We're in Galatians chapter four this morning. Galatians chapter four, beginning in verse eight and following. This is what Paul writes to the church in Galatia. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn your back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. Brothers, I treat you. Become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you." Now this is the heart of a man who is writing to a group of people who have been a burden to his heart. Not a burden in a bad sense, but a burden on his heart. He's concerned about them. He is listening to what they have to say. He is praying for them. He is trying to convince them. of the right way. You know, you think about this maybe in your own world, maybe you have a child who's wandered away. That child is a burden on your heart. Not because you dislike the child, not because you're angry with the child per se, but you're worried about the child. You're concerned for the child. You see the child making erroneous judgments and you're concerned about what those judgments are going to do for the long-term future of that child and his family or her family. Or maybe you have a friend who you are simply pouring out your heart to. You're hoping that they'll come to grips with the realities of their lives and see the unwise nature of the choices they're making and the harm they're bringing on themselves and the family of those closer to them. They're a burden because you have a burden for them. I shouldn't say they are a burden. You have a burden for them is the better way to put it. You have a burden for them. You want them to see them come back to the Lord. You want to see them come into a proper relationship, not only with the Lord, but a proper relationship with others. You want them to make wise decisions. You want them to be productive citizens, right? You want them to get their lives together as it were. Well, Paul was concerned about this church because they're being led astray by false teachers who are seeking to turn the Jews back to Jews and bring Gentiles and make them Jewish converts in order to truly be Christian. And Paul's saying, this is a burden for you, burden for me, because I have a burden before the Lord for you. You didn't know God, you were enslaved to those elementary principles. We said that last time, but the mosaic law and the paganistic expressions of religion to the gods, the pagan gods of the Roman, Greco-Roman world. But now that you've come to know God, or rather be known by God, so you didn't know God, but now you do know God because God has made himself known to you because God knew you. I think that's a really cool thing. We know God because God made himself known to us. The reason God made himself known to us is because God knows us. 1 John chapter 4 says that we love because he first loved us. We know him because he made himself known to us, and he made himself known to us in a way that we could understand because God knows us. He says, how can you turn back to that other stuff? You know Jesus. You know God. You're living in relationship with Him. You're heirs of the promise. You are inheritors of the eternal kingdom of God in Christ Jesus. You've been saved by grace through faith. The Spirit at work within you. You're crying out, Abba, Father. And you're going to turn back to that? Now you're observing days and months and seasons and years. I'm afraid I may have labored over you in vain. This is not a, I don't like you. This is a, I'm heartbroken for you. There's a burden on his heart before the Lord for these people. He goes through the second part of the passage we read. He goes into a discussion about how he first met them in the middle of a bodily ailment. He preached the gospel of them at first. He had to stop there and preach because of an issue there. Though I was a child to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What has become of this blessing, this relationship we have? For I testify to you that if possible, you would have gouged your eyes out for me and given them to me had I needed them. And yet now, you're saying that I've become an enemy to you for telling you the truth? And then he says, they make much of you, but for no good purpose. They being the false teachers. These false teachers are building you up, scratching your ears, but for no good purpose. They're leading you astray and they're turning you against me. They want to shut you out, that you make much of them. And he says, what they're trying to do is create, they're flattering you so that you then flatter them. And so they gain control over you and pull you away from the truth. For me, it fundamentally isn't work of the devil when someone comes in and pulls Christians away from the truth of God. Paul says, I'm in anguish of childbirth until Christ is for me. And he's not talking about this burden is causing him great anxiety and pain and anguish because he loves these congregation. He loves a small congregation so much. I wonder if you were in that previous example where I talked about a mother and a father longing for a child or a friend longing for another friend to return to Christ. You know what Paul's saying here. It's a burden, it hurts, it's deep down. We don't want to see people wander away. We want to see people come back to the truth. And if you're wondering today, I want to see you come back to the truth of God, just as Paul told to the church in Galatia. This is Paul's heart that they return to Christ. I'm perplexed, he says. I would love to visit you. I could change my tone. I'm perplexed. I don't know what's happened. He says at the beginning of chapter three, oh, you foolish Galatians, who has tricked you? And that's it. question, who has bewitched you, is the word he uses. I just went back in my Bible. Who's bewitched you? Who has sucked you in? Who has pulled you away? For you knew Christ. Why do you want to return to these elementary ways? That's a great question. Why would we want to return? We know Christ. Let us stand firm on Him and live to the glory of Jesus. You guys have a great day. God bless you. Catch you next time. ♪ Love don't make me cry ♪