Grace From Galatians (9 Of 19)

They are more interested in trying to make us all Republicans or all Democrats than they are in trying to help the people that put them into office.

President Bill Clinton seemed to be the exception to this rule, he seemed to have other interests.

Illus: The story is told that Hillary Clinton went for her annual exam. After the exam, the doctor told her that she was going to give birth to a child.

Hillary couldn't believe the news and stormed out of the doctor’s office. She rushed to her limousine and picked up the phone to call the Oval Office. “You got me EXPECTING AGAIN!” “How could you be so careless?"

There was a silence on the other end. Finally, she heard Bill's voice: “Who is this?”

But generally in the political arena, the chief concern for most politicians seems to be trying to convert us to a particular political party.

The same thing is true in the religious realm. There are a lot of religious groups that are more interested in trying to make us all Baptists, Methodists, or Pentecostals than they are in trying to win the souls of lost men.

They very seldom have true conversions take place, and that is not a real concern, JUST AS LONG AS THE MEMBERSHIP ROLL GROWS!

But it is obvious as we read the Book of Galatians that Paul had a SINCERE CONCERN FOR THESE GALATIAN CHRISTIANS.

When Paul left these Galatians that profess to be saved, many of them returned to their old lifestyle. When this happens, there are two things for us to consider, such as:

(1) Some have never really become born-again, so naturally they are going to return to their old sinful ways.

2 Peter 2:22 says this about some, “…The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”

The reason that some return to the path of sin after they made a profession of faith, is because they have never truly come to KNOW HIM and been BORN AGAIN! This may be the reason some of these Galatians were returning to their old sinful ways.

Illus: They went into the baptistry as dry sinners and when they came out, they came out as wet sinners.

We have to always consider that this might be the case when a person makes a profession but returns to their sins. But we also have to consider-

(2) Some have truly come to KNOW HIM, but they have been influenced by SOMEONE or SOMETHING that is now causing them to head in the wrong direction.

As we look at this passage closely, it is obvious that Paul is baffled as to which of these two categories these professing Galatians fit into.

HOW CAN WE KNOW THAT WE ARE SAVED?

One of the ways we can tell that we are truly a child of God is that we PERSEVERE.

But some of these professing Christians in Galatia were not persevering. They were going back to their old way of living.

Galatians 3:1, we read, “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?”

In other words, SOMEONE HAD GOTTEN TO THEM!

Illus: One man said he likes it when flu and cold season comes. He said once he finds out he has the germ, he finds everyone he does not like, and shakes hands with them.

Illus: During the flu season, many know the danger and they take flu shots to protect themselves from these deadly viruses.

Some mistakenly think we get colds from cold weather. But this has proven to be not true. For example, they tell their children not to go outside without a coat or they will catch a cold.

The only way that cold weather causes us to catch a cold is because when cold weather comes, we do not go outside, we stay inside with others who have these germs.

When cold weather comes, one family member can come into contact with a germ, and soon that one person will give it to every member of the family, and perhaps none of them went outside in the cold.

During cold season, we become vulnerable to the flu because of the people we associate with.

Paul wanted these Galatian Christians to know that someone they were hanging out with had contaminated them.

Paul shows his concern for these Galatians by giving them A REMINDER that they have been saved from the old life of sin.

In our last message we saw that Paul gave them A REMINDER. He also shows his concern for them by giving them -

II. A REMEDY

I like remedies. We all have things that we face that we do not know the REMEDY for. I do not know about you, but I find it frustrating dealing with people that do not have a remedy.