Dr. Michael Youssef, beginning this episode of Leading the Way Audio. The more legalistic a person is, the less spiritual he is. The more externally focused the person is, the less inwardly victorious that person is.
Listen to me. No one in the whole world would have understood this than the Apostle Paul himself, because he lived in both worlds. He knew the deadly effect of rituals and legalism, but he also experienced the great joy of the power that comes from freedom in Christ. Are you living in full freedom in Christ? Welcome to Leading the Way, where you'll hear the biblical teaching of pastor, author, and passionate international evangelist, Dr. Michael Youssef.
Up next, Dr. Youssef guides you to the words Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, where he addressed legalism, words that speak loudly today to many churches that have fallen into this same trap. Now, if you've missed any messages from the Got Freedom series, you can catch up so easily. Just visit ltw.org and stream online. You can also sign up for the podcast or download and use the Leading the Way app.
More information about all of these at ltw.org. Right now, listen with me as Dr. Youssef begins. Today we come to this last in the series of messages entitled God Freedom from the Epistle to the Galatians. And here the Apostle Paul basically builds that conclusion on a wonderful principle, a principle that is as true as God in heaven himself is true, sowing and reaping. You cannot sow bad habits and reap good character. You cannot sow bitterness and hatred and expect to reap love and friendship. You cannot sow dissipation and overindulgence and reap healthy body.
You cannot sow deception and reap confidence. You cannot sow neglect to the word of God and then want to reap well ordered life. Look with me please at chapter 6. I have divided this chapter into three sections of sowing different seeds. In the first five verses, he tells us about sowing seeds of relationship, good seeds in our relationship with one another. And then in verses 6 to 10, he tells us about sowing good seeds into our own life, in our conduct, in our walk with Christ. And thirdly, in verses 11 to 18, he talks about sowing seed of standing firm on the truth of the word of God. And no matter who compromise, you stand firm and refuse to compromise. Sowing good seeds for our relationship with one another. It is an impossibility to live the Christian life in isolation.
It is an impossibility. You cannot survive any more than you take a log of fire out of the fireplace and set it aside by itself. A Christian life must be lived in community. And Paul says that it is the responsibility of the spiritually minded believers to gently endeavor to help those who have fallen into sin. Remember I told you a few messages ago, the question is not how you fell or how a person fall, but what you do when you fall.
That's really the important question. And when a Christian falls in transgression, it is the responsibility of those who are mature, for those who are spiritual to restore him or to restore her. I'm only too aware of the fact that there are some people who refuse to be restored.
At that point your responsibility has ended. But I want you to notice here in verse 1, the word caught. Someone, if someone is caught, what does that mean? It's an important choice of word on the part of the apostle because it does not refer to somebody who is deliberately, somebody who is habitually, somebody who is without any contrition, sinning, without conviction.
The word here is referring to someone who is caught off guard. Someone who has flirted with sin and says, oh, I'll never fall, as often the case they do. This is someone who is trying to live the Christian life by their own hard work, by their power, by their own strength, and it's always the case they fall. This is someone who has been deceived by false belief system, by false teaching, and then they fell. When that happens, the apostle Paul said those who are mature in the faith, they need to start sowing the seed of restoration in the life of that individual.
The word restore also an important word. It is borrowed from the medical world back then from the Greek language. It is a word that is used when a doctor sets a broken bone.
It's a word that's used when a doctor puts a dislocated limb back in its place. Verse 2, carry each other's burden and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. He returns to the central theme of the whole epistle namely grace and spirit versus the law. Spirit filled life versus legalism. Spirit filled Christian always help people take off the load of people.
A legalist always adds to the loads and the burdens of people. Because in his faithful ministry, the apostle Paul himself felt burdened. He was so devastated at times. He experienced adversity. He experienced discouragement. He experienced deep concern for other people and then watching and his heart literally broken over them. And all of that used to weigh him down.
It weighed him heavily and therefore he did not need a bunch of Judaizers to come in and load on him. He wanted somebody to encourage him. And so he tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 particularly verses 5 and 6 talking about his discouragement. He said this body of ours had no rest. We were harassed on every turn.
Conflicts on the outside, fears from within. But God who comforts the downcast comfort us. How? Listen carefully because this is important. By the coming of Titus. By the coming of Titus.
Listen to me beloved. There is a time in each of our lives when we all need a Titus in our life. There are other times when you need to be a Titus to somebody else. And that is why verse 3 Paul said in Galatians 6. He said if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing. He deceives himself.
Now listen this doesn't fit very well with our egalitarian. What do you mean I'm nothing? Don't call me nothing. I'm somebody. I'm something.
Right? He is saying if we do not lift another's burden. If we think that we are too high and mighty to lift the burden of others.
If we are too full of ourselves to stoop down and lift somebody's burden. Then we have an inflated opinion of ourselves. And that is why he said don't compare yourself with others. Comparing yourself with somebody else is going to do one of two things. Either you are going to get depressed. Or you are going to have an inflated ego.
I tell you how it works. You compare yourself with somebody who is far better than you. You are going to get depressed. You choose somebody who is really having a hard time. And you compare yourself with them.
And you are going to feel man I'm a big shot. I'm not as bad as he or she. That's why he said don't compare yourselves with each other. God does not compare us with one another. God does not come to me and say why don't you be like so and so?
Why don't you like to be like so? Now parents sometimes make that mistake and it's a terrible mistake. When they tell their children why don't you get to be like your brother? Why can't you be like your sister?
It's a horrible mistake. But listen to me. A long time ago I came to the conclusion there is always going to be somebody who is better than me in every aspect of life.
And as long as you understand. As long as you get to the point of saying look there is always going to be a better doctor. There is always going to be a better lawyer. There is always going to be a better worker. There is always going to be a better preacher.
There is always going to be a better business leader. When you do that you will be at peace. And always plant good seeds in your relationship with each other. Plant good seeds secondly in your own personal conduct.
Look at verses 6 all the way to 10. And here comes this principle I told you is as real and as true as God himself is true. If a farmer wants a harvest then he must go to the trouble of telling the soil. Nurturing the soil. Planting the seed. Watering the seed.
I mean and then harvesting diligently. And here is something else a farmer knows. That if he wants cotton he ain't going to plant wheat. And then sits back and says well I really want cotton.
He can't do that. You get what you plant. If you plant wheat you get wheat. If you plant cotton you get cotton. Another thing a farmer knows. That is if he wants a rich harvest he's got to plant generously.
Not sparingly. Listen I know through the years I've met people who would kind of nickel and dime God. And then they said why am I not blessed?
Why God is not? He said if you want to plant you want to harvest you sow generously. But this principle works spiritually as well. I know this is a hard principle for modern America. I really do.
I do understand it. I mean we are living in a time where everything has got to be instant. Instant news. Instant quick weight loss.
Instant this and instant messaging. I mean everything is instant. But farming is not an instant business. Everything has got to be quick now. That doesn't work that way with God. Years ago I saw a sign that says antiques manufactured while you're waiting.
I said that's about said it all. There are some people who join a gym and they go for two weeks working hard. I mean putting in the hours. And two weeks later they look and they don't look like whatever they want to look like. And they get discouraged. Think about this. It just takes time.
It takes time. There are some people who tithe for a couple of months and say oh God has blessed me. Isn't it like I said you open the windows of heaven and he'll bless you if you tithe? Read my lips. Try the flop machine.
You'll get a better odds than that. God is not talking about this instant stuff. God says you keep on doing it. You keep on sowing. You keep on sowing. You keep on sowing. And then in due course you're going to reap a harvest. Harvesting and sowing and reaping requires patience, perseverance, long suffering. A farmer does not sow the seed. And then two weeks later he said I wonder how that seed is doing. So he goes up and digs the soil to look and see how the seed is doing.
Listen, even a city slicker like me knows that it doesn't work that way. There is a season for sowing. There is a season for growing.
There is a season for harvesting. And the apostle Paul said don't be deceived. God cannot be mocked.
Some people have seen it with those two eyes. They honestly think that they can outwit God. Don't sneer at God. Don't think that you can violate God's principles with impunity and get away with it.
It will not work. And that is why sowing and reaping is an eternal principle. Now this is important. I don't want you to miss what I'm going to tell you. Our character is shaped by our conduct. And our conduct is shaped by our choices that we make.
Do you choose to obey or do you choose to do it yourself? You sow a thought, you reap an action. You sow an action, you reap a habit. You sow a habit, you reap a character.
You sow a character, you reap destiny. This is another way of what the apostle Paul is saying. That if you sow to the flesh, you will reap confusion.
You're going to reap pain. But if you sow to the spirit, you're going to reap well-ordered life. Verses 9 and 10. Paul assures us that the Christian life that is lived in the spirit. The Christian life in which Christ is being formed in us. The Christian life is not a spectator sport.
Everyone expected to be a player. Every believer is a minister of God's grace. Every believer is a sharer of the good news. But also Paul is realistic enough to know that in serving, in giving, even though it is in gratitude to God that still you get weary, you get tired.
And I can testify to the fact that it took me years to learn this lesson. There are times when I am down emotionally, spiritually, for whatever reason. Or physically at times. Those are the times when the devil lines up all his guns. All of them.
Not just some of them. All of them. And he starts shooting at you. He will shoot at you. When you're tired.
When you're emotionally and spiritually exhausted. And he starts shooting at you. And he does it differently with different people. I mean you got it differently from mine. I'm sure.
Because when he attacks me, he tells me that I'm shadow boxing. That I'm just wasting my time. Nobody's listening. No one is impacted. Nobody cares. It's entertainment where it's at right now. Nobody concerned about biblical truth anymore.
You're just wasting your breath. But then when the Lord picks me up, I line my guns against on him. And I start shooting on him without mercy. I remind him very quickly that I am on my way to heaven. Where I'm going to reign and rule with Christ.
But he's going to the lake of fire. Where he's going to suffer for eternity. I remind him that in heaven I'm going to see thousands of people. Have been rescued from sin and eternal judgment.
Because of the preaching of the gospel. While he and his demons are going to suffer for eternity. You don't have to be a theologian to realize that he does not like to be reminded of his future.
And he flees. You sow good seeds in relationships. You sow good seeds in personal life and conduct. Verses 11 to 18. You sow good seeds of standing on the truth of the word of God no matter what.
Obviously right at this point. The apostle Paul does something that is not normally done. In that culture when a person is dictating a letter to the scribe. And the scribe is writing it. The normal thing to do is at the end of the letter when it's finished. He takes the pen from the scribe and sign his name. But here with Galatians he's dealing with a unique problem. And so before he finishes the letter.
He grabs the pen from the scribe and he writes the last paragraph. And he writes it all in caps. Big letters. Want to make sure that they can see it.
Why? To emphasize the principle of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words he ends where he began. The secret power for Christian life. And the secret power for Christian life does not come from legalism.
Does not come from rituals. The secret power does not come from the external appearances. How people think of me. What they think of me.
How do I come across. The secret power of the Christian living is the inner filling of the Holy Spirit. The secret power of the Christian life is in growing in the grace of Jesus Christ. It is Christ being formed in us. It is in the manifesting of the fruit of the Spirit. It is living by the power of the cross of Jesus Christ.
And what that cross represents. Here's what he's saying. Here's what he's saying. The more legalistic a person is, the less spiritual he is. The more externally focused the person is, the less inwardly victorious that person is.
Listen to me. No one in the whole world would have understood this than the apostle Paul himself. This is not something he learned in a book. This is something he lived. This is something he experienced. Because he lived in both worlds. He experienced both worlds. He understood the realities of both worlds.
He knew the deadly effect of rituals and legalism. But he also experienced the great joy of the power that comes from freedom in Christ. Verse 15, the secret of the power is not in any ritual or religion or circumcision or keeping of this law or the other law. The secret of power is not in the external appearances. The secret of power is not outward exhibition.
No, no, no. The secret of power is not showing off. He says the secret of power is the change of the heart that only Christ can bring about. The change of the conduct that only when Christ being formed in us can bring about. The transformation of character that only yielding to the Holy Spirit can bring about. The secret of power is how you view the cross.
And he's not talking about the piece of wood that represents the cross or the gold ornament that you wear. He is talking about how you view what Christ did on the cross. How do you see it? It will make all the difference in the world.
It will make the difference between living in victory and living in defeat. How do you see the cross? Thank you, Lord. You died for me so now I can live any which way I want. How do you see the cross? Do you see it as a complete and finished work of Christ?
Needs no more to be done on your part or anybody's part. When you look at the cross of Christ, what do you see? When you reflect on the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, what do you think?
How do you live? Now, beloved, listen to me. There are some Christian teachers who teach that on the cross God did his part. But you have to do your part. Some even go as far as to say that your part is just as important as God's part. If not more important, because that work of the cross is not complete unless you complete it. That's taught in churches.
That attitude says that the cross is not complete, that the work of salvation is not finished on the cross. And Paul is saying that's falsehood. Don't fall for it.
Don't buy into it. Don't get sucked in with this type of false teaching. It is contrary to scripture from cover to cover. For on the cross, God did all that needed to be done.
All of it. And all you need to do is repent and stretch your hand and receive forgiveness and eternal life. And then live the rest of your life serving, giving, sacrificing.
Why? It's out of gratitude. Thanksgiving, nothing I could do that could have given me what Christ did on the cross.
And therefore I do what I do in thanksgiving to what he has done for me. Dr. Michael Yousaf, encouraging you to live fully in the freedom you have in Christ and Christ alone. Thank you for joining listeners worldwide for leading the way. Now, before our time is completely gone, I do want to mention a couple of free resources available for you from Dr. Yousaf. The first is a free monthly magazine from Leading the Way. It's called My Journal. In My Journal, Dr. Yousaf digs further into recently distributed messages, digging deeper into the meat of God's word.
And key staff share encouraging words for living a spirit-filled life in these challenging days. To get a free trial subscription started to My Journal, give us a call. 866-626-4356.
Call us right now or online, ltw.org. Now, in addition, consider signing up for My Devotional. This is a daily email where Dr. Yousaf guides you deeper into God's word, applying it to life and living in 2024. My Devotional is also available as an audio podcast. Trusting God's Promises by Dr. Michael Yousaf Throughout his time of hiding, Elijah looked past his circumstances to God's faithful provision.
Elijah's faith was securely rooted in his trust in God's promises, but many of us focus more on our troubles than we do on the God who can deliver us. So if listening is a better option, subscribe today wherever you get your content. Once again, ltw.org for more information. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yousaf. Connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org or through your favorite social media platform, including YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram, and more.
