A look at passionate words from the Apostle Paul with Dr. Michael Yousaf. Paul here in Galatians chapter 4 is in anguish. And if he was living today, I'm convinced that he would say, I'm in anguish over 21st century Christians. He's in anguish because he wants them to come back to their first love.
That's why he's in anguish. Hello and welcome to Leading the Way audio with pastor and author Dr. Michael Yousaf. Today Dr. Yousaf helps you better understand words that Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, words speaking into freedom in Christ. Leading the Way is listener supported, meaning that Dr. Yousaf relies on God's provision through your prayers and generosity. Learn ways to stand with him and ministry teams.
Give us a call 866-626-4356 or you can visit ltw.org. Listen with me now as Dr. Michael Yousaf begins today's teaching. What I'm holding in my hand here is a glove. Now the glove by itself is very flat and it's kind of limp and useless really. I cannot do anything with it. I can't grasp anything with it. It can't move really.
It has no life or dynamism in itself. But it's still a glove. Now I want you to remember that because I'm going to compare the glove with a Christian today.
But I want you to notice now the difference. When my hand goes inside the glove, it comes to life. It takes the shape of my hand.
It takes the movement of my hand. As my hand moves, the glove moves. My fingers and my thumb cause this glove to come alive. Then when I show you first, everything my hand can do, this glove can do, right? Why? Because my hand is formed inside the glove.
And the glove takes on the shape of my hand. Now today I'm going to submit to you that 21st century Christians in the west are like this glove. Anemic, ineffectual, defeated and immature. They may have started well but then they got stuck in a spiritual ditch somewhere. They may have started well but their growth got stunted. They may have started in God's power but then they end up with self-help and self-positive thinking.
Why? Paul gives us the answer in Galatians chapter 4. I want you to know as you're finding it in your Bibles that verse 19 of Galatians 4 is the bedrock of the entire chapter. It is the foundational stone of the whole chapter. My little children for whom I'm again in pains of childbirth until Christ is what? Formed in you.
What does that mean? Here's the glove again. My hand is formed in this glove in the same way. We are only effective when Christ is fully formed in us. We are only having power in life to defeat sin, having victory in life when Christ is formed in us.
We can only bear fruit when Christ is born in us and formed in us. And Paul here in Galatians chapter 4 is in anguish. I wish you get the depth of the meaning of that word, anguish.
It is the most, the greatest pain a living person can experience, more than physical pain. And if he was living today, I'm convinced that he would say, I'm in anguish over 21st century Christians. He's in anguish because he wants them to come back to their first love. He's in anguish because he wants them to get away from this falling away from the truth. He's in anguish because he does not want them to rely on self or God does not want them to rely on legalism.
He does not want them to rely on performance. He is in anguish because he wants them to see that Christ is formed in them. And it wasn't happening.
It wasn't happening. That's why he's in anguish. In fact, the entire chapter, what he does, he makes an appeal to them. And that appeal, he does it in three ways. First by reminding them of their first love. He reminding them of their first relationship to Christ when they came from sin to Christ. He's reminding them the first 11 verses.
He reminds them of that relationship. Secondly, in verses 12 to 18, he's reminding them of the personal relationship that he had with them in the past. And then he finally reminds them in the third part with verses 20 to 31.
He reminds them of the covenant of grace. He tells them, first of all, as he reminds them of how when they came to Christ, they ceased to be slaves. They become sons and daughters of the living God, sons and daughter of the most high God, not slaves. He said some of you were slaves to the gods. Others were slaves to dead religions. Others were slaves to sin and guilt and pain. But now, when you come to Christ, you have become sons and daughters, not slaves. Our Lord Jesus Christ paid dearly for that liberation which most of us take it for granted. Our Lord Jesus Christ paid dearly for that redemption. He paid dearly for our salvation and our adoption. And he does not treat us as slaves. He treats us as brothers and sisters. And he told us to look up to heaven and call his daddy Abba.
It's the most endearing term in the Hebrew language. And that's why Paul said, he said, the Christian life is not about trying harder. That's for car rental motto. The Christian life is not some rituals or some list of dos and don'ts. It's not ceremony.
It's not performance. It's not self-help. It is not through the dead end street of legalism. It is a matter of repenting and then accepting the grace of God. It's a matter of accepting the gift of eternal life.
It's a matter of signing the adoption paper. It's a matter of repenting of my sins. It's a matter of accepting the privilege and the responsibility of our inheritance. What happened with the Galatians and the Galatian congregation is happening to so many Christians today. They forget the royal adoption and they settle for being paupers. They forget their priestly position and they behave like beggars.
They forget their prophetic call and they regress to performance. And Paul said in verse 11, he said, I fear for you that somehow I have wasted my effort on you as if to say all of the miles that I have traveled, all of the beatings that I took, all of the loneliness that I have suffered, all of the illnesses that I've experienced, all of the imprisonments, all for nothing if you depart from the truth. So he first appeals to them by reminding them of their first relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ when they received salvation from his hand. Then secondly, he reminds them of his personal relationship with them, past personal relationship with him. And Paul, I mean he uses some very, very emotional words if you understand the language.
I mean this is very emotional. You see, Paul enjoyed close fellowship with him, with these believers in Galatians. They were like family to him. They really were. But now because some people came and lied about them, about the apostle Paul and his teaching of the truth, because some people came and deceived them by lying to them and falsely accusing the apostle Paul, their relationship with him, not his with them, but their relationship with him chilled.
Have you ever been in a situation where a relationship got chilled? See in the first three chapters, he argues logically. He argues intellectually. He refutes the false teachers. But then he takes a moment. He takes a deep breath and focuses on the personal relationship that he had with them. Listen, I think personally the apostle Paul understood human nature far better than any psychiatrist, any psychologist.
God bless you, it's fine. But I'm telling you this man understood human nature like very few people. And Paul understood, he understood empirically when he makes a strong refute like he did in the first three chapters, what the miserable Judaizers did.
He knew the Galatians are going to put up their defensive mechanisms. And when you put up a defensive mechanism, you're not hearing a thing a person is saying. When people become defensive, they cannot hear you. You can be talking until you're blue in the face. Oh, you see it in marriage between husband and wife.
Don't help by your husband. You know it's true. When one or both put up the defensive mechanism, they're talking past each other. And that can go for days or sometimes for years sadly. You watch it happen between parents and children. When the kids put up their defensive mechanism, they're not listening. It happens between believers.
When they put up their defensive shield, no matter what you say is falling on deaf ears. And so Paul wisely takes him back. He takes him back to the spiritual friendship and fellowship that they have shared once. He takes him back to that personal warmth of relationship. He takes him back to their kindness and their gratitude to Paul that they showed toward him. He takes him back to their selfless love by which they ministered to the apostle Paul. He takes him back to the joy and excitement by which they received the gospel for the first time. He takes him all the way back. And that is why in verse 19, Paul refers to them literally the word says, my little children.
And let me tell you something. Culturally, this is not a condescending term. It sounds like, you know, he's putting them down, my little children.
No, no, no. Culturally, you've got to understand it is the most endearing term that he could use. My beloved precious ones. In fact, the apostle John uses that term a lot but not Paul. Paul only uses it very seldom.
Why? Because he wants to assure them of his love for them. Please hear me right. Whenever you are dealing with a wayward and a compromising Christian who refused to come back to the truth, who refused to believe the truth, who are living in disobedience in the wilderness of that disobedience, sometimes it's important to appeal to their emotions. I'm not making the stuff up. I'm telling you what Paul did. It's important to appeal to the past relationship.
It's important to appeal to the joys of past friendship and fellowship. And Paul is saying to them, I love you. I love you so deeply. I love you genuinely. My love for you has not changed. Your love for me has, but my love for you has not. I love you because I don't want anything from you. My love for you is pure. My love for you is so deep that I am trying to warn you of the trouble and the consequences of what happens when you depart from biblical truth. Because my love for you is genuine.
It's real. And because of that, I am not just giving you another opinion. I'm not just giving you another idea. I'm not just giving you another philosophy. I am telling you the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Now, beloved, in our witness, in our exhorting of others, winning the argument should not be your final aim.
There are many times people win the argument, but they lose the person. Our aim should be speaking the truth and yet in love. And that's why verses 13 and 14, Paul said, instead of being revolted by my illness when I was with you, you cared for me so deeply. You ministered to me so lovingly. You served me with all your heart. He's telling them that it was a privilege for him and an honor to experience their love for him because they received him like they've received Jesus Christ himself.
And that's saying something. Paul brought them the good news. Paul brought them peace with God. Paul brought them and taught them the grace of God. He brought them the joy of salvation. He brought them the truth that sets them free from sin and guilt.
And in gratitude, they served him so lovingly, so selflessly. He said, but why then? Why is this chill in the relationship? Why?
Why? Why is that chilling relationship taking place now? The lies of the Judaizers. They not only brought them falsehood and false teaching, but they also brought false accusation of the apostle Paul.
Paul was quick to express his feelings of love to the Galatians believers even though they turned on him. That's because he did not view them as villains. He viewed them as victims. Listen, he did not minimize the responsibility for falling in that trap and believing the lie.
He did not minimize that. But you see, his longing was for restoring them and not just for winning an argument. In fact, Paul uses here the most incredible term that is used today to this day in the Middle East when you talk about a person gouging his eye to give it to you. I mean, I know it doesn't make sense here, but trust me, when Paul used it, it made a lot of sense. It is still in some cultures still makes a lot of sense. It is the most incredible thing that you can offer somebody is you take your eye and give it to them.
It's far stronger than saying I'll die for you. Sadly, the Galatians fell in that trap. Oh, the Judaizers probably used some flattering words where all Paul is such a crash guy who just said what he thought and plain talking guy and they spoke with soft words, flattery.
They bewitched them. Paul did not want the Galatians to be his followers. He wanted them to be the disciples of Jesus. He loved them enough to tell them the truth. And that is why he would not back down not one iota. And that is why he comes to this foundational verse, verse 19. He says my relationship with you has no other motive other than your salvation, your good, your growth in Christ, you be having Christ formed in you. That's all I want.
That's what I live for. And he says that's why I'm in anguish over you as one anguishes over in a childbirth. And then now he says I'm actually anguishing twice over delivering the same baby. Imagine the pain of childbirth. Now men don't even cry.
It's all right. We will never get it. Just take the women's word for it.
It's indescribable pain. And Paul is saying I'm going through this anguish over you again because you've wandered away from the truth like a faithful mother. The Apostle Paul wanted to see that Christ is what?
Please hear me right. The reason Christ want to be formed in us because he cannot be formed through performance. He cannot be formed through religion.
He cannot be formed through rituals because Christ cannot be formed in us when we ignore his will and do things for our God of business for ourselves because Christ cannot be formed in us without surrendering to him our all. And that is why we have no option but to surrender if we want Christ to be formed in us. And the reason Christ wants to be formed in us because he wants to replace our weakness with his strength. He wants to replace our folly with his wisdom. He wants to replace our greed for his grace. He wants to replace our lust for his love. He wants to replace our problems with his peace. He wants to replace our jealousy for his joy. He wants to replace our cowardness with his courage.
That's why. Don't just give him a portion, one or two of the fingers. Give him all of the hand to fill the whole glove. So he reminds him of the relationship with Christ. He reminds him of his personal warmth and friendship with him. And then finally, he reminds him of the covenant of grace. And what he does in these 11 verses, verses 20 to 31, he uses an allegory. Now, allegory is something I grew up with. In the Middle East, you always use allegories. They always give it to you in allegory form.
And you just have to figure it out in your head. Jesus did the same thing with parables. But let me summarize it for you. He said Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac is the son of promise. Ishmael is the son, the result of Sarah and Abraham contriving, trying to improve on the will of God, doubting the promise of God. And so the slave woman Hagar produced Ishmael.
Listen to me. We the believers in the Lord Jesus, we are like Isaac. We're children of promise. We're children of the covenant of grace. We're the children of mercy and forgiveness. Why on God's earth do you want to become Ishmael, the son of a slave woman? We're the children of Sarah, the free woman.
Why would you want to be a child of a slave? And so the question is this. How do you become a child of grace? Now after grace is a different story. How do you become a child of grace? There may be one person here today who hasn't even taken that first step. You might be into churchianity, you might be into religion, but you really have never understood what it means to be a son or a daughter of grace. How do you do it?
I want you to read my lips. Say, you come to him in repentance and allow him to be formed in you. There is now 50 steps or 20 steps or 10 steps. You don't need to have willpower.
It's not keeping certain rules and certain days and certain this or certain that. All it takes is a repentance and surrender. And surrender means you give him your all. You give him your all.
Your all. You give him your plans. You give him your will. You give him your agenda. Hold back nothing.
Hide nothing until he's formed in you. Thank you for taking time to listen to this episode of Leading the Way Audio. And if you missed any portion of Dr. Yusef's message, you can listen online at ltw.org.
Listen with the Leading the Way app or you can subscribe to the podcast. Well, I know that you know that you're blessed. I mean, freedom is still a privilege in most of the West. You're free to walk into any church, to share in worship. But many in this world live in fear.
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