Grace From Galatians (8 Of 19)

However, one of the saddest things in the Christian life is to see someone who professes to know the Lord but lives their life in such a way as to cast doubt on their salvation.

Illus: Evangelist Ding Teuling is often asked how many were converted in some of his meetings. He tells them he really does not know, but he can go back in about six months and tell you how many were truly converted.

Paul had led many to the Lord, but after he departed from Galatia and heard some things about those who professed to be saved, he began to doubt if they truly ever came to know the Lord.

• It is an amazing thing how SPIRITUAL some can be when the preacher is around, but once he is gone they head back to the hog troughs of sin

• It is amazing how SPIRITUAL some can be in church, but once they are outside of church they talk and live an entirely different way

When Paul left these Galatians that professed to be saved, many of them returned to their old lifestyle.

We have to always remember that with every POSITIVE ACTION there is a NEGATIVE REACTION. In everything there is a polar situation, there is:

• Up and Down

• In and Out

• Hot and Cold

• Front and Back

• White and Black

• Right and Wrong

• Fast and Slow

In the Christian life there is also a FORWARD and BACKWARD, and Paul was afraid they were going backward. Paul wanted these Galatian Christians to know that someone they were listening to had messed up their minds.

This is why Paul said to these same Christians in Galatians 3:1, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?”

Paul shows his concern for these Galatians by giving them-

I. A REMINDER

Sometimes we forget some very important things in our life. For example, we husbands sometimes forget our wedding anniversary.

Illus: An aged farmer and his wife were leaning against the edge of their pig-pen when she asked him what special day was coming up. He said, he did not know. The old woman wistfully recalled that the next week would mark their golden wedding anniversary.

"Let's have a party, Homer," she suggested. "Let's kill a pig."

The farmer scratched his head. "Gee, Ethel, I don't see why the pig should take the blame for something that happened fifty years ago."

Illus: One morning before going to work, a man’s wife said to him, “You know what tomorrow is, DON’T YOU!” He said, “Sure, how could I ever forget anything as important as that?”

He went to work, and all day he thought:

• Is tomorrow her birthday? I forget what day she was born.

• Is tomorrow is our wedding anniversary? I forget what day we got married.

To play it safe, the next day he bought her a new dress, a big box of candy, and a dozen red roses!

He gave them to her and she broke out into tears of joy and said, “Honey, this is the best “Ground hog” day that I have ever had!”

Sometimes we husbands have been known to forget our wedding anniversary. Fellows, some of you might want to know that the Internet now has a web site where you can record your anniversary and they will send you a reminder a few days before it takes place.

Out of love, we remind our children about dangers over and over again. Sometimes we remind them so many times that they say, “Dad, you told me that a hundred times.”

We do this because we know they might FORGET about certain things that we know that are dangerous. We are all forgetful!

Illus: Two elderly couples were enjoying friendly conversation when one of the men asked the other, "Fred, how was the memory clinic you went to last month?"

"Outstanding," Fred replied. "They taught us all the latest psychological techniques using visualization, and association - it made a huge difference for me." “If we could not remember something, we would associate it with something else and we would be able to remember it.”

"That's great! What was the name of the clinic?"

Fred went blank. He thought and thought, but couldn't remember.

Then a smile broke across his face and he asked, "What do you call that red flower with the long stem and thorns?"

"You mean a rose?"

"Yes, that's it!" He turned to his wife. . ."Rose, what was the name of that clinic?"

We often forget important things and need to be reminded. We need to be reminded of a lot of things, and SOMETIMES WE NEED TO BE REMINDED TO TRUST GOD!