WEBVTT 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:24.879 We're looking at Acts 20 and from verse 17 to 38. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:30.800 And we're looking at this as an introduction into Paul's letter to the Galatians. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:37.200 Now this particular section in my Bible is titled Paul and the Ephesian Elders. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:46.159 And from Militius he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:01:07.359 And when they were come to him, he said unto them, ye know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:29.519 And that and that how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:45.920 And now behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and affliction abide me. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:02:00.959 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. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:10.240 And now behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:23.439 Wherefore, I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:35.840 Take heed therefore unto yourself, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:43.840 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not spurring the flock. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:50.960 Also of your own soul shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. 00:02:51.599 --> 00:03:01.599 Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn every war every night and day with tears. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:14.479 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:19.120 I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:27.840 Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:41.840 I have showed you things how that so labouring ye might ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:04:01.680 And when he had thus spoken he kneeled down and prayed with them all, and they all wept sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they would see his face no more, and they accompanied him onto the ship. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:05.599 May the Lord add his blessing to this reading of his most precious word. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:13.599 Galatians have been a difficult book to study for many reasons. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:19.279 I I I I opened and started thinking it was a simple book. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:26.800 It would be Paul just telling his congregation uh how to behave. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:28.240 And it's not. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:33.040 I've titled this Paul's Broken Heart. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:35.839 And I feel that brokenness. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:42.399 The father's anguish behind Galatians, because Paul had created the church at Galatia. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:47.600 My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and I pray you are in Christ. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:50.240 Today we begin our journey. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:52.800 Paul's letter to the Galatians. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:56.879 The letter unlike others in the New Testament. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:07.680 It's sharp, it's urgent, it's motioned, it is at times almost painful to read, and it was meant to be. 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:18.399 Because Galatians is not the voice of aologian, a distant theologian, it is the cry of a spiritual father whose children are in danger. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:23.439 And if we miss that, we will miss the heart of the entire letter. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:28.160 Galatia, you see, was not just Paul's church. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:35.920 Sorry, Galatia was not just a church, it was Paul's church. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:43.120 Paul founded many churches, but Galatia was different. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:06:04.959 When he first arrived among them, he was physically weak, perhaps ill, perhaps exhausted, perhaps wounded, and he reminds them, ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preach the gospel unto you at the first. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:06.879 Galatians 4.13. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:13.279 They did not despise him, they did not turn him away, they welcomed him with open arms. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:22.240 Paul says they received him as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus, Galatians 4.14. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:24.639 It's extraordinary language. 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:32.160 This was not a polite congregation listening to a visiting preacher. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:40.319 This was a people who loved him, cared for him, and embraced him in his weakness. 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:46.399 Paul says, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:48.639 Galatians 4 15 again. 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:57.759 This is the language of the church holding their pastor in deep affection. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:03.920 This is the bond of a father to his children. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:12.399 The crisis in Galatia was not doctrinal, or not only doctrinal, it was personal. 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:23.279 When Paul writes to Corinth, he deals with immorality, division, pride, and chaos. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:27.360 But he never says he fears for their salvation. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:33.120 When he writes to Thessalonica, he comforts. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:35.680 When he writes to Philippi, he rejoices. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:38.240 When he writes to Rome, he teaches. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:44.639 When he writes to the poor people of Galatia, he bleeds. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:08.079 And why? 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:12.720 Because the Galatians were not simply misbehaving. 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:17.279 They were turning away from the very gospel Paul had given to them. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:24.000 They were listening to teachers who said, Paul's gospel is incomplete. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:25.040 It's not right. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:28.240 Paul's authority was inferior. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:31.839 Paul's apostleship was questionable. 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:35.840 Paul's message needed correcting. 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:39.679 This was not a theological disagreement. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:43.279 This was relational betrayal. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:46.960 The children were turning from their father. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:52.879 And Paul's sharpness in response to them is a sharpness of love. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:56.559 Galatians contains some of Paul's strongest words. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:02.960 He opens with, Oh, you foolish Galatians, who have bewitched you. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:07.279 If any man preach another gospel, let him be accursed. 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:11.679 But these are not the words of a harsh man. 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:15.519 These are the words of a desperate man. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:21.279 A father shouting to a child who is walking towards a cliff does not whisper. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:24.720 He raises his voice because he loves. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:28.480 Paul is not angry because he is authoritarian. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:32.480 He is anguished because he is attached. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:37.840 This is the tone then of the letter to the Church of Galatia. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:45.440 The gospel, the hope that we have in Jesus Christ is at stake. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:50.799 And his children, the Church of Galatia, are at risk. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:59.679 The Judaizing teachers were not simply adding a few Jewish customs. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:06.240 These were guys that would come around and they would go, You've got to be circumcised and you've got to follow the Lord of Moses. 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:09.519 They they wanted to make it the gospel plus. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:13.519 They had to be Jewish before they could be Christian. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:20.320 But what these Judaizers are doing is they're redefining the gospel. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:27.279 And they were saying these things, and these are things that are still said in many churches today. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:29.759 Christ is not enough. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:32.720 Grace is not enough. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:35.279 Faith is not enough. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:39.919 And you must add works of the law to be truly accepted by God. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:45.039 And Paul sees this for what this truly is. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:51.360 It's not making people closer to God, it's a return to the slavery of the Old Testament. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:56.799 A return to chains, a return to fear, a return to the old life. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:01.759 Christ died to free them from those chains. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:06.799 Christ died to free each and every one of us from those chains. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:14.879 And anybody who tries to take you back to those systems is working against the gospel. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:18.000 And so Paul fights as I fight. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:21.440 Not for my reputation, not for his reputation. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:25.039 My reputation's in tatters most of the time, anyway. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:29.120 But I fight for your very souls. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:33.360 I argue for your souls. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:36.799 Just as Paul did. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:41.200 I don't see myself as a Paul, I see myself more of a Peter. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:50.960 But your souls and the souls of all my people that I know, my community are my responsibility. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:54.399 What does this mean for us today? 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:00.799 Galatians is not a cold theological treaty. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:03.279 It's a pastoral cry. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:09.840 It is the cry of a man who knows what it is to love people deeply and to watch them drift away. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:13.200 It is the cry of a shepherd who sees wolves approaching. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:18.080 It is the cry of a father who sees his children being misled. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:23.840 And it is a cry of the Holy Spirit through Paul calling the church back. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:26.000 But back to what? 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:38.399 Back to the simplicity of grace, back to the sufficiency of Christ, back to the freedom of the gospel, and back to the joy of being called God's children. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:42.159 And this is why Galatians matters today. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:55.200 Because every generation, and we live in such a generation, every generation faces the temptation to add something to Christ. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:01.360 To make salvation about Christ plus something else. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:06.559 To turn the gospel of grace into a system of performances. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:11.919 And every generation needs Paul's voice to call us back. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:22.799 And for you in my own church, as we begin this series next week, I want to hear, I want us to hear Paul's heart. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:26.799 I actually want you to hear my cries as well. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:33.200 Not for his anger, not for his sharpness, not for his rebukes, but for his love. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:39.279 His fatherly love, his protective love, his wounded love. 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.279 Because that is the heart of God towards his people. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:51.919 God is not indifferent when we drift, he is not cold when we wander, he is not silent when we are deceived. 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:59.279 He calls, he warns, he pleads, he pursues, and he does it because he loves. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:17.840 Let us hear the voice of a father calling his children home. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:21.440 Let us hear the voice of a shepherd protecting his flock. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:25.919 Let us hear the voice of the Spirit calling us back to Christ alone. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:36.960 And may we, like the Galatians once did, receive the gospel again with joy, with humility, and with the freedom that only comes with grace. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:37.919 Amen.