74. Bible Study Series Part 6: Galatians 6

I do not mean to be mean. I do mean to be mad. Those that criticize this kind of preaching, they don't like authority! If you ain't got the King James, you ain't got... Hey, if you don't have a King James, you don't have a Bible. And it'd be surprised. Son, don't go to sleep while I'm talking. Hey, hey, hey, don't you lay your head back. I'm important. I'm somebody. I love you. You know I love you. Have I convinced you I love you? You better nod your head yes, are you? Come on, put it right there. Stay awake and you listen to me. I still believe if you have cold day and healthy, I get my balance with a woman. I'm a preacher. When you got dressed today, you dressed deity. This is the For Freedom Podcast. A podcast that is part of the RFP network that seeks to bring freedom in Christ from the spiritual abuse of legalism. Now here are your hosts, John Holyfield and James Saifert. And so fundamentalism is designed to unpack the idea of authority from Scripture. The problem with that is that that's not the defining principle in Scripture. It is a part of Scripture. But the defining principle in Scripture is love. And now I'm not saying that all men who sit under that teaching will become abusive. But what I'm saying is the ones who are abusive will be drawn to that sort of teaching. I don't want to give people just a list of things they can start doing differently until they have a heart out of which they're going to be doing those things differently. But I think bitterness is different from hurt. I would say that hurt or even abuse does not have to result in bitterness. Welcome back to the For Freedom Podcast. Podcast to help you escape legalism and get great advice, great help on things in your life. And so I want to welcome you back to this wonderful podcast. And we are excited about finishing up today our Galatians series. It has taken us, John, I don't know how long, but it's taken us many, many months to figure, to get through this with everything that we've had going on in the podcast world and with our lives. But we are excited about finishing up today. And we're excited about the future of what we've got going on. We've got several great interviews lined up. We're going to finish our crossover events that we had. We've got three new podcasts in the network. And so we're going to be adding them to our crossover lineup. And then we've got a couple other great interviews that we've got coming down the pipeline that we are excited about. John, last week's episode was such a great episode with Jonathan Smith with Are You Hooked Social Media. I think it's so relevant for us to be able to talk through that and talk through someone who is in-depth in the social media area. And so I'm excited that we were able to get that interview lined up. But, John, you've been busy these last couple of days. And how's things going over in the Tennessee world? Yeah, doing good. Church going well and things God's been doing, blessing us over here. And just, yeah, trying to keep up with it, counseling, pastoring, and studying and preaching. So doing all that stuff and then finding some time to jump on here with you. Looking forward to things. Excited. I don't know when this is coming out. Okay, so just be honest with you. We're recording these things like way early. This is coming out last week in August. Okay, last week in August. In September. In September. Last week in September. So by the time this comes out, the Lord of the Rings Rings of Power show is going to be like in full swing. But when we're recording this, it comes out tonight. So I'm pretty pumped about that. Excited about it. First two episodes dropped tonight. I'll be honest with you. I'm one of those fans that's a little skeptical. I'm like, oh, you better have that music bearer hit right. It's got to have that feel. I don't know what they're going to do. But at the same time, I'm looking forward to it. I personally believe if you can include Fellowship of the Ring to The Return of the King as one whole movie, that's the greatest film ever made. Yeah. I saw that advertised the other day, and we haven't had a chance to discuss that. But I'm excited. Hopefully I'll be able to watch it. I think my wife's actually out of town tonight. So I'm going to be by myself bacheloring it up with the kids. So I may turn it on and watch it. So that'll be a great time. Have you seen the Lord of the Rings movies? Yeah. I haven't seen the Hobbits yet, but I've seen all the Lord of the Rings movies. Okay. So the Hobbit's good. The Hobbit, the problem with the Hobbit is it's not as big a story as the Lord of the Rings, and it came afterwards. So they tried to make the Hobbit bigger than what it actually, the story actually is. But if you look at the Hobbit on its own, it's actually a decent film series. I really like The Desolation of Smaug, the second one. John, what did your wife think of the Lord of the Rings? I don't know if she's completely watched through them. She can't stand it. My wife couldn't either. Yeah, she can't stand Gollum or Smeagol or whatever you want to call him. She didn't like the storylines. She didn't like any of it. Oh, man, it's great. Yeah, I've enjoyed watching them. I like the extended editions, so that's like four hours a movie. Yeah, John, he's in there to win it, baby. Hey, we're a couple of weeks away when this episode comes out of the For the Sake of the Gospel Conference. Me and John are going to be there. We are going to have some free books to give away. We're going to have some free material for you guys to take and to help you out in your spiritual journey. I was able to get about 40 copies of Praying Through Your Bible put out by Crossway. Great book. Read it. Going through it with our deacons right now. And so hopefully you'll be able to come and get a free copy of that. And then, John, in January, big news here. Lord willing, if everything works out, I'm going to possibly be in Israel in January with the RFP guys. I've got approval from our pastor. I've got approval from our chairman of our deacons. So I just have to get the collective deacons to approve that. And if they do, then I'll be hitting the yes button to my deposit and paying for pretty much most of the trip there that first time. So super excited about this, about going to Israel, going to the Holy Lands, and being able to hang out with the guys and some great group of men that are going to be there. So really, really excited about seeing the Bible come to life and to be able to see the Mount of Olives, to be able to see Calvary, to be able to see all of the things that we read about in Scripture and to be able to have mental pictures of that. So pretty stoked about that myself. I'm going to laugh if it gets completely booked up by the time you get the approval and they're able to go. I'm going to be so mad. But I should get approval by next week or the week after when we're recording this, the second week of September. So we'll see. John looks, he's pretty excited over there about me going to Israel too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it'll be fun. I'll be interested in talking with you whenever you get back. Yeah, maybe we'll do a recap episode of how things went. And I'll definitely be sharing social media pictures and showing all those things off. So, John, anything else you got? Yeah, just sign up for that for today, the Gospel Conference in November, rfp.org. Go there. You can find the registration there. And we want to meet you there. We want to worship with you. It's going to be a fun, exciting time. And I think we'll jump into our topic today. We are going to finish, finally, finish our Bible study topic on Galatians, the book of Galatians. So we've gone through the entire book. And so now we're in chapter 6, Galatians 6. If you have not followed through with this study and you're just picking up listening to us now, you can go through and find some of those episodes that are earlier. But the book of Galatians is one of the letters that Paul wrote. There's a little bit of differences of opinion on when this letter was actually written. It could have been written in three different instances, somewhere around 52 A.D., somewhere around 60 A.D., and then somewhere around 49 A.D. If it was written in 49 A.D., then it was most likely Paul's first letter to the churches that we have recorded in Scripture. I tend to believe and take of the opinion that it was Paul's first letter. It was Paul goes on his missionary journey, and he sets up these churches in the region of Galatia. So this was a letter written to multiple churches in this region. And gets sick while he's there, pretty sick, and then he leaves after he recovers, and he heads back to Jerusalem. And shortly after he leaves, he realizes that some people called the Judaizers have come in, and they have been teaching a false gospel, a gospel of law, to the Galatian Christians there in those churches. One of the things that they were teaching was that in order to be right with God and have their salvation secure, they needed to get circumcised. So Paul writes this letter, and in chapter 1 he goes through a very quick reading, really a whole lot quicker than what he normally does, because he wants to get right into the subject because he's pretty hot. He's pretty excited about this. And he says that if anybody, whether it's him or an angel, preaches another gospel than the gospel that was preached to them when Paul was there, then let them be damned and accursed, or anathema, or anathema, however you want to pronounce that. But it's basically like, you know, that is a condemnable offense is preaching another gospel. One of the things that the Judaizers did too is they attacked Paul's apostleship. So Paul goes into the rest of chapter 1 and into chapter 2 defending why he is an apostle, and why he is carrying the message of God. And he tells some stories about the Jerusalem Council, about a confrontation with Peter in chapter 2, on why adding to the gospel, adding law to your salvation is a problem. He talks about how he confronted Peter when Peter was trying to do the same thing. In chapter 3 and 4, he gets into some doctrinal matters, and in chapter 3 and 4 he talks about, you know, the difference between the slave and the free, the bondwoman and the freewoman, Peter uses the example between Abraham and Sarah and Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael, and just lays out some theology and doctrine in those next two chapters. Chapter 5 he moves to practical, and that's sort of what we've covered. Last time we were in this was covering chapter 5. It's where we get walking in the Spirit. It is for freedom that Christ has set you free, so therefore do not go back to a yoke of bondage. Don't go back to the yoke of slavery. And then he talks about the deeds of the flesh as compared to the fruit of the Spirit. And that brings us to where we're at today, chapter 6. Exactly. Great recap, John. And you can find those again on our podcast, and you can also find the video on YouTube if you like that format, you want to see us discuss and talk through things, you can go there and check it out. And so let's conclude this today, John, with the reading of the Scripture, and then we'll break it down for you today. John's going to read the first nine verses, and then I'll jump in and read 10 through 18. All right, Galatians chapter 6, verse 1. Brothers, reading from the ESV this morning. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then we have opportunity. Let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. See what large letter I have written to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing of the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cost of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised. They may boast in your flesh. Be far, but far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be unto them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear in my body the mark of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you in spirit, brothers. Amen. Yeah, so we get to this... Last chapter. My internet connection is messing up a little bit, so you might have to edit that. All right. Okay, no problem. So, John, we get this... John, we get this last chapter, and Paul sort of brings the practical. He brings everything back into this last chapter, and he really brings it home, I think, in the middle of this chapter on some sowing and reaping, which we're very familiar with. And so we'll get to that in a minute. But he gives what we consider here the final instruction to the church in Galatia. And he begins to pour out sort of his heart, his final feelings here to the church. As you said here, this first letter. And so there's a lot of passion here, a lot of thought that he put in. And I love how he said, you know, with his own hand, a large letter that I'm writing to you. And so we see here that there's personality, there's actual sake done here for this church that he's urging them. And so we jump in, John, to the introduction of the church, the instructions to the church in verses 1 through 10. And we're going to break that down into a couple of ways. John, start us off in verses 1 through 5, sort of the responsibility here. Yeah, so the last chapter sort of breaks into two sections. You have the final instructions to the church, first 10 verses. The last several verses are final warning. And as Paul normally does in his letter of benediction. All right, so a farewell. So in verses 1 through 5, we have a responsibility given to us for those struggling and falling. Verse 1, he says, he goes from chapter 5. Let me look back at chapter 5 in the last passage. He goes from, if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. See, he's flowing from the root of the Spirit and walking in the Spirit and living by the Spirit and then going straight into, all right, what about dealing with those that are caught in transgressions? Because it's going to happen. What if those people who have found themselves and they're confronted with their sin? Some point to this as information that we have on church discipline. And we have Matthew 18 for church discipline. We have 1 Corinthians 5 for church discipline. And now we get to this a little bit. And so this gives us sort of a framework for church discipline. And that is that church discipline is supposed to be restorative. It's supposed to be something that we restore people back. That's the spirit that we approach church discipline. Not, aha, we got another sinner, let's kick them out. You know, not going after them, trying to be the sin police. But no, this is an example of how we are supposed to lovingly care for people that are an open sin when they are inside in the church. And it says that we should restore them in a spirit of gentleness. All right, so if they repent, we are to look at restoring. Now, the word that is used here, the Greek term is that of restoring, is that of like resetting a broken bone, right? It's, you know, you've ever broken a bone, James, and you go to the doctor and they have to put it in a cast, right? I've never broke a bone, but I was there where my brother broke a bone. Oh, for real? You play football and you never broke a bone? Never. I've got a healthy bone. My wife has never broke a bone either, Lord willing. Hopefully I'll never break one. But I was there with my brother on September 11, 2001, when the Twin Towers were attacked, and he fell off of a clothesline pole and broke his arm. He broke both bones in his left arm. And I was the only one there because all the brothers and sisters were in school. Mom and Dad were at work. And I was there when, John, they had to reset that. And they put his fingers in a vice and they dropped it and his bones re-clicked back in together. And you're talking about hearing someone scream in pain when that happened. I was there and it was a traumatic experience when I was in seventh grade. He was in fifth grade. And so, yeah, that restoration is a painful experience sometimes. And it takes time. Yeah. Yeah, it does. It takes time because once you reset the broken bone, you know, you put it in a cast, and you have to sit there and keep that in the cast for a period of time, right? You let it heal. And so that's the idea whenever we're restoring somebody is that it's going to take time. It's going to let them heal. These churches that say we're going to restore this brother and put him right back into the message, put him back into the leadership and preaching and that kind of stuff is hogwash. Yeah. All right, that's an old country term, means the slop to pigs eat. Okay? That's right. It's disgusting. It's ridiculous. Okay? It is not biblical. Yeah. And what I really like, one of the commentaries I was reading, I can't remember who it was, used this term, and I really liked it. I wrote it down. He said that there is a thought of restoration, restoring someone, not exploiting someone. Too often in our day, we've gotten to this point where we get dirt on someone and we say, you know what? How can I exploit this for my benefit? How can I exploit this for my gain? And Paul is literally saying this contrastly. He said, don't exploit. Don't try to take someone who's fallen and who's been hurt in the ministry, who's been hurt in their spiritual journey. Because it's going to happen. And he goes on a little further into saying, lest this happens to you, one day you're going to fall into sin. You're going to do something that's wrong. You're packaged in a sinful body and you're going to do something wrong. And so instead of exploiting it, restore it. Because what would you want done for you in that situation? You would want restoration. You would want healing. You would want these things of healing elements to be done. You wouldn't want someone that had, going back to your analogy of breaking their bone, for a doctor to come in and say, you know what? We're just, I'm busy. I can't deal with your broken bone. You're just going to have to live with it. Yeah. You would want him to come in and do everything he could to heal that, to restore that, instead of just leaving it broken. And too many times we leave people broken and hurting and we don't restore, we exploit for our own benefit. And so he really urges them in this restoration. And then he goes on a step further because he says, yes, this is going to happen to you. And so in verse three, begin to bear one another's burdens and in doing, I'm sorry, verse two, and in doing so, you're going to fulfill the law for if anyone. So, so we begin to think of this bearing one another's burdens. And too often the legalist says, I'm not going to bear your burden. I'm going to add to your burden. I'm going to continue to pile more and more and more stuff on your shoulders. And so not only are you struggling with this broken bone, but now you're having to carry extra weight. And what Paul was encouraging the Christians to do here is he's saying, hey, don't exploit, restore. And as you're restoring, go in and help that burden out. Maybe take a couple of things off their plate, help their life, help them in this journey of Christianity to have a lighter load, bear that burden, take this weight off. And that burden literally is a weight. It's one that's saying, literally taking a sack of weight off of them so that their journey is lighter. And so when we begin to ask ourselves, are we fulfilling the law of Christ? Are we restoring? Are we bearing someone's burden? Or are we just adding more and more and more stuff on them? So eventually they're going to collapse and give up. Why do we think that we see this culture of deconstruction that we've talked about, we're going to talk about more in a couple episodes, of people just leaving Christianity? Because all of a sudden, all we've done is we've began to add more and more stuff on them to where they just say, you know what? Forget it. I'm done with this. I'm done with all these extra rules and all these extra things that you keep putting on me. And all of a sudden, they give up on the Christian journey because we didn't come alongside them and help them out through discipleship, through bearing one another's burdens. Yeah. And one aspect is some people say that this seems like Paul's contradicting himself in verse 2 because it says, bear one another's burdens. And then in verse 5, it says, everyone must bear his own burden. So is Paul not contradicting himself in this text, like right after each other? And the answer is no, he's not contradicting himself. Because in church, in the church, we are supposed to help bear burdens with others. You know, somebody comes to church with a burden, and they should be able to share it with you. They should be able to cry on your shoulder. They should be able to hug you. And they should be able to find some solace and comfort with other believers within the church. And in that way, you are helping them bear that burden because they're not doing it alone. But in a sense, you know, there's a little bit of weight on you because you have these other people's problems on your shoulders, right? But at the same time, you can't go live their life. That problem's not your problem. It's theirs. So they must, in a truth, they must bear their own burden. But as it is in a church, we are to come alongside and help each other with the bearing of those burdens. So it's not a contradiction. It's a dual truth in reality. And so we go from bearing burdens to humility in verses 3 and 4. For if anyone thinks he's something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. Okay? So we see this here. It says that, you know, when you think you're something and you're nothing, you know, you're deceiving yourself. Wow, do we have a lot of this in the church. People that, y'all, they would never say it. But how do we act? How do we carry ourselves? How do we behave? How do we talk like we are something when we are nothing? Yeah. And this humility, it's hard. It's a difficult thing. It's one of the things I struggle with, honestly, in and of myself, being humble. And, you know, I want to be right. I want to be this person that people can come to and they can trust and rely on. And there is a lot of times, John, to be honest, I do boast in myself. I do boast in who I am and what I can do. And too many times I begin to do that. And then all of a sudden, as this verse says, I begin to deceive myself and I begin to say, you know, in and of myself that I am nothing and I am all alone in this journey. And my wife is really good about making me, notching me down a little bit. She'll come alongside and she'll say, hey, you're getting a little too big for your britches there. And so there is this having this accountability and she's really honest in that area, sometimes too honest and it hurts me. But it brings me to the point where I have to understand, OK, what am I just doing this for my honor and for my glory? Or am I doing this because I do love this person? Am I doing this because Christ says that we should love one another? And so, therefore, I'm going to come alongside. I'm going to bear their burden. I'm going to restore and I'm going to help them. And then John, as you said, in verse five, we'll continue through this. He says, for each will have to bear his own load. And this simply is just, as John alluded to already, our responsibility. What are we doing in our own responsibility to take care of our own stuff? We have to deal with our own problems. Yes, we can have someone that's going to help us. We can have someone that we can go to. I go to John. I've got several other men that I go to that I begin to talk through situations. I talk through things that are going on in my life. They give input. But ultimately, I have to be the one that executes what I'm going to do there. And so, we bear each other's burdens. But in the end, we are responsible for our own. I can't say, John, I'm dealing with a Joe Church member. I'm dealing with whatsoever that's going on in their life. Why don't you fly over here to North Carolina and you come and go ahead and take care of that problem for me? This would be a lack of responsibility. And so, in this journey, we have to take responsibility for our own actions and for our own burdens in that sense. I do want to give a quick explanation of verse 4 because I think that might confuse some people because it says, But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. Is this verse teaching that it is okay to boast if we produce good work on ourselves? I want to read something that MacArthur wrote about explaining this verse. He says, A believer's first responsibility is to examine himself to be sure his own attitudes and life are right in the eyes of the Lord before he attempts to give spiritual help to others. Then, and only then, will he have reason for boasting in a proper way. If anything remains for boasting after honest self-examination, it will be that which induces boasting in the Lord. Amen. Yeah. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. It is Christ. Anything good that is done in me, it's Christ. Yeah. You know, and that's who we boast in. So this brings us to, we have a responsibility to teachers in verse 6. Let the one who has taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. This is basically, you know, you see this theme in the New Testament where we are to take care of teachers. Now, there's a way that this can get way done wrong, and we see this in prosperity preachers. We see this not just in prosperity preachers, but evangelical preachers that live on extravagant incomes. That is never the intention. It's never the intention. But Paul does say that, and even instructs in 1 Timothy and other places, that those who teach should be taken care of by the congregation, because they've got to spend more time in study and in the word than others do. Okay? It doesn't mean that others don't study, because this one guy does it, but because this person has to do more time study, they need help with their material possessions. They need help with material needs. Okay? So, basically, the church shares in those things, and the teacher, the preacher, should not be living by higher extravagant incomes than the rest of the church by any means. But I think there is a principle taught in the New Testament that, you know, the church should financially take care of its pastors. Yeah. And I like how I think Wiersbe said that there is a sense of sharing blessings here. You have been blessed, and so we share that. And this is a principle for all of us in our life of sharing what God has given to us with those who are less fortunate, with those who are in need, and just simply doing what we can in our community. But then he goes on to this thought of the sowing and reaping. Very familiar passage on here. We've talked about it. I'm sure you've heard it before. And so, simply, Paul states here in verse 7, Do not be deceived. God will not be mocked. For whatsoever a man sows, that will he reap. And then he goes into this thought of, if you're going to sow to the flesh, you're going to reap corruption. You're going to reap things that are going to be of flesh senses. And then he says, if you sow to the Spirit, then of the Spirit will you reap eternal life. And then he begins to say, do not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up or faint, or some of those familiar statements. And so, as we think through that, as we think of this sowing and reaping, we must understand that whatever we do put out there, in the sense of farming, I'm in a farmland, in a farm community, in a rural area in North Carolina, where we, you can't turn down a road and not see a tobacco farm. You can't turn down a road and not see a corn field. So, we see this principle of sowing and reaping in the world. And I say this often, especially when I'm teaching our young people, no one in here, as a farmer, would go out and plant a corn seed, and the next day come out and have a full-grown stalk of corn and ready to be produced and ready to be harvested. But so many times, we, in our spiritual journey, will want to plant one day and receive a blessing the next day. And sometimes we get this confused, because why would God do this in our spiritual journey, but yet He wouldn't do this in the physical world. And so, there is a thought here of, in due season, when we begin to plant seeds and we begin to plant our fruit, we begin to plant things in our journey, when are we going to reap this? And sometimes that may be months or even years later, where we do something wrong, and we plant to the flesh, and we reap that in the flesh later, and also in our spiritual journey. And so, He goes and He prefaces all this by saying, God's not going to be mocked. Let God be the judge and every man a liar. And so, we begin to take this thought, and we begin to say, God, you are ultimately the one that's going to allow me to reap whatever you have for me. And so, we have this responsibility of sowing to the Spirit. John, thoughts? Yeah, there's a lot of things on this passage right here. A couple of things about the law of sowing and reaping. Number one, you always reap directly from that which you sow. See, there's this idea going around that's been perpetrated within, you know, churches, that because you did some kind of sin, then whatever, like, bad things happen to you later on down the road is because you did this type of sin whenever you were younger. And that probably isn't the case. You know, that is more akin to karma, and that's paganism. Karma says, do a good thing, and a good thing will happen to you later. Do a bad thing, and a bad thing will happen to you later. That's karma. It's paganism. The law of sowing and reaping that is being taught here in this passage is that directly from what you sow, that you will reap. Right? Okay, so for instance, it is this, that if I develop an alcohol problem, an alcohol addiction, okay, and I'm drinking like crazy, but it lasts maybe 10 years of my life, and I get clean, and I get sober, okay, if 10 years later, after I've been clean and sober for 10 years, something happens and I lose my job, and I say, oh, it's because I drank for so many years and did sin. No, it's not. That's not connected. That's a different thing. Now, if I go to the doctor 10 years after I'm clean and sober, and he says, you have liver disease, then I know that's a direct consequence from abusing alcohol. Right? That is what sowing and reaping is. It has a direct correlation to what you have sowed. We have to be careful not to confuse the paganistic idea of karma with sowing and reaping. It connects. Now, here's another aspect of the law of sowing and reaping. What you reap will always be greater than what you sow. Yeah. James just gave the illustration. You sow a seed of corn, and what do you get out of it? A stalk of corn. Yeah, much bigger than a seed, right? A lot more from it. And so that's the thing. When we sow, whether we're sowing in the flesh or whether we're sowing in the spirit, we reap greater than that. And you already mentioned the principle that it happens over time. It takes time to grow. All right? So those three points right there on the law of sowing and reaping, it helps us quite understand it. Now, he says this. He says that for one who sows to his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. This word corruption is phthora in the Greek. It is sometimes used of decaying food, which turns from that which is beneficial to that which is harmful. All right? It is something that could have been beneficial that has now become harmful because of the way that we sow it. And so— I like how MacArthur puts it. He said that when left unchecked, when corruption is left unchecked, it makes a person progressively worse in his character. When sin is not checked, you continue to dwell in that sin and continue to go more and more and deeper and deeper in it. And that's why it's so important that we have this—again, he's building upon this thought, this restoration. If there is no restoration, if a pastor falls into sin, if a Christian falls into sin, and it is not checked, and it is not taken care of and restored, he's going to continue to go further and further and further and further in this sin to where eventually it's going to be a total corruption and there will be nothing salvageable. But when we begin to restore this, we begin to stop the corruption. We stop the decay, as MacArthur says. Yeah. And this brings us to another, in verse 10, responsibility to each other. So then we have, as we have an opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially those who are of the household of faith. See, we have a great responsibility to each other in the church, and how shameful it is that the church is not together with each other like we should be. Remember what Jesus did in John 13 when he washed the disciples' feet? He said, This is how the world will know you are my disciples, by the love you have for the world, the love you have for the unsaved. No. The love you have for each other. Yeah. And if they see anything, they should see how the church cares for its own. And sadly, we don't see that very often. Yeah. What did the RFP guys, the episode they did a couple weeks ago on eating their own? Yeah. Too often, again, it goes back to this first point that we talked about, exploiting instead of restoring. And exploiting their own, and eating our own instead of restoring, and again, loving and doing good to our own. I like how Luke wrote in Luke chapter 10, verses 25 to 27, I believe, where he is quoting Jesus, and Jesus makes a statement, Who is your neighbor? And he begins to go through, and he says, This is how they're going to know that we have love again, John, that we love one another and love our neighbor as ourself. And then he asks this question, Who is our neighbor? And he says, Anyone that's around you. Anyone that you're able to do good to is our neighbor. And we begin to think through this. I love how in this verse, in verses 10 and 11, he says, As we have the opportunity to do good to everyone. It's not just the church, and yes, the church is there. And then it goes on to say, Especially those in the household of faith. We should definitely take care of our own. But in the same time, are we doing it for everyone? Are we loving and showing love to everyone? Everyone that we have come in contact with. That's how they're going to know that we're a disciple. Yeah. John, let's go to the second point, the second part of it. So we begin the instruction to the church, this responsibility inward to the church. And then he begins to give this final warning, the final benediction, verses 11 through 18. He first gives this warning in verses 11 through 13, the warning about legalists. And Wearsby gives out four great things, four signs to identify a legalist in these verses. And I think they're really good. So I'll mention those and give John some opportunity. It says, Sees what a large letter I've written unto you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised. They may boast in your flesh. He writes down four things. How can you identify a legalist? The first is those who brag about themselves. Those who begin to say it is those who want to make a good showing. They begin to brag about how they are, what they've done, and begin to brag about those things of themselves. They begin to compromise things. He goes on to say they would force you to be circumcised in order that they may be persecuted for the cause of Christ. They begin to be persuaders. Not only are they compromisers, they are persuaders. And then the last sign of a legalist is someone who is a hypocrite, someone who would say, desire you to do one thing so that they ultimately can boast in their flesh. And so I think that's a great four points that we can look at in our lives as we begin to examine people, as we begin examining things in our life of saying how can we be warned about legalism and who is a legalist, and begin to have a filtering process to say, okay, is this person bragging, compromising, persuading me to do something that isn't biblical? And then ultimately they're a hypocrisy themselves. They're living a double life. So, John, what's your thoughts there? Yeah. The verse 11, he says, see with what large letters I'm writing to you with my own hand. This is a verse that could mean a couple of different things that maybe Paul was writing with a certain type of Greek letters. I tend to, there's a couple explanations for this, but I lean toward the explanation that Paul normally wrote his letters with what is called an amanuensis, which is sort of like a secretary. Paul dictated his letters, and this person wrote them down. And I believe that this letter, Galatians, was actually written by Paul's hand. And Paul is understood to have had bad eyesight, so therefore he was probably writing large letters. It is not the idea that Paul wrote a large letter. Galatians itself is probably not considered a large letter. When you look at the book of Romans, that would definitely be a large letter that probably Paul wrote, not Galatians. But I think that this is talking about like Paul wrote this himself with his own hand, and because of that he was writing letters larger so he could see them. And what James sort of did there on verses 12 and 13, you know, what Wearsby comments on that with the legalists I think is awesome. For even those who, verse 13, circumcise, do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcise that they may boast in your flesh. Oh my goodness. How many times have we seen that? Where the leaders lay down these laws for everybody, but they themselves don't keep it. You know, I think Brian was talking about, you know, a certain preacher, Tony Hudson, that was sit there and preach about, you know, different types of Christian music, but then turn on country in the car and say that's a good song. That's right. You know, hypocritical. God's anointing on that song, baby. Mary and I have been watching this documentary on Netflix right now on the Mormons, the fundamentalist Mormons and Warren Jeffs. And it's all these things, these rules that he had for these people, and then they find out when they catch him. Like, he's dressing like a normal person and going to Las Vegas and living it up. I bet. And it's like, what in the world? And that's what they do. Yeah. That's what they do. You know, they're that total sham. You know, rule. What is it you say all the time, James? Rules for thee, but not for me. That's right. And I take that from Michael Knowles, who says that often, and I'm sure he got it from someone else. But how many times have we heard that in the last two years? You know, a certain group of people can, we couldn't leave our house, but they're able to go and get manicures and pedicures and go into these fancy restaurants and they're still going to eat their food. I'm not going to listen to those rules by the peasants. Come on now. And so all of a sudden, this is the same mentality. Okay. Paul is saying, watch out for those people who say, you must do this, but I'm going to do whatever I want to do because I've got this liberty that God has given me, but not for you. And so he's warning us about legalism. So then you come to examples, the example displayed by Paul in verses 14 through 16. But far be it from me to boast in the cross, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. So here he says that the only place that he has to brag, again, I said it earlier, is Christ. Anything good, it's Christ. Anything bad, it's me. Anything good, it's Christ. Pretty simple. And the world being in Christ, the closer you are with Christ, the closer, the less and less the allure of the world is. What is the wonderful old song? Turn your eyes upon Jesus. No. Look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his wonderful grace. How true that is. Verse 15, he says, neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision. But a new creation. What is the new creation? The old covenant sign of circumcision is gone. It doesn't matter if you're circumcised or uncircumcised. It does not matter because what is now the case in the new covenant is a new heart. It's the new creation. It is God birthing, being born again in you in salvation. That's what it is. And then he says, for those who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. What is the Israel of God? Israel was God's chosen people. This is God's. What is the church? The church is the called out assembly. It's God's people. So peace and mercy be upon God's church. I was listening to a friend of mine, a local pastor here. And he made a statement and he said, I guess this was maybe one of his, he started a little podcast. I was listening to it. And he said, the statement, he said, if you were to go to someone and ask them, what are you most informed about? What do you know the most about that you could talk hours and hours and hours on? What would it be? We started this podcast out by John talking about our movie junkies and how he knew all the Lord of the Rings stuff. And he could go on and on and on and on about Lord of the Rings. And with me, it's different things with sports and football and different, you know, I just, I love those things. But he said in Paul's writings, he basically boils down to the thing he knows the most about is the cross. That's what he lives in and lives for. He makes a statement. He said, except the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, which the world has crucified to me and I to the world. He begins to make the statement. The only thing I know now is the cross. I've crucified everything else. I've crucified the world. I've crucified the flesh and I'm living in the cross because I'm a new creation. And he begins to really dwell into this thought of, are we living in this new creation? Are we living in the cross daily? And he reiterates what Jesus says, crucify the flesh daily. He begins to go through this thought and he's displaying his life by saying, this is how I live my life. And then he goes on to give this great farewell simply by putting out the farewell of saying, it's all by the grace of God. It's nothing that I've done. It's nothing that I can say that I've done. For let no one, from now on, let no one cause me trouble. For I bear in my body the marks of Jesus, the scars that I've lived, the scars that I've went through for the name of Jesus. And then he says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you in your spirit, brothers. Amen. And so he goes through and he says that the superiority of the gospel over any man-made system is better than anything that we can live in. Absolutely. Absolutely. And Paul was a great example of that. He suffered for Christ. He was persecuted for Christ. He lived for Christ. And he had such amazing joy in Christ. And so he was concerned for his brothers. He was concerned for the church and the churches. He says in another place that he has such anguish over the churches. And we just see a wonderful example and such a great message for the church in the book of Galatians that Paul gave us. You know, a message of grace. And may we, going forward as believers, grab hold of truth. Stand for truth. Proclaim the truth. But always be seasoned and covered in grace as we do it. That's good. John, I'm great. I've enjoyed this study together. I hope you guys as our listeners have enjoyed this. Hey, it was great on our first episode back to be able to handle a question that one of our listeners had on biblical counseling. If you have a question like that, let us know. Shoot us an email. Shoot us a post or a direct message on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, wherever you may be following us. And let us be able to engage in those things. Like I said, we've got some great interviews coming up. But again, we want to discuss some things that are on your heart and some things that maybe you have questions with. And so, John, with that being said, do you have anything else? No, I think that covers it. Let's try to get our sign off right today. Grace and peace to all of you. And to God, not the pastor. Be the glory. Thanks for listening to the For Freedom podcast. To find more content like this, please visit RFPNetwork.org. To find more podcasts like this one, resources and meetups to encourage you on your journey. Thank you.

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