Authentic Christianity Loves the Truth

Appreciate Brother Eddie for leading our songs this morning, as well as all of our men for leading in our worship today. We’re very thankful for all of those good servants that we have here we can depend upon to help us conduct our worship services.

Well, this morning we’re going to continue our thoughts regarding authentic Christianity, and so let’s open to the book of Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4, and we’re going to be looking at the first part of this chapter in regard to authentic Christianity loves the truth.

Now remember that the book of Galatians was written to combat false teaching that had come into the churches in that day. And this false teaching was that you had to be circumcised according to the custom of Moses and that you had to keep the law of Moses.

And this issue was discussed in Acts 15. And as we read through the book of Galatians, we understand that it is teaching us about authentic Christianity. And that authentic Christianity means going back to Christ and staying with Christ. And in thinking about this issue, Acts chapter 13, verse 39, talks about how that by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

And so, why authentic Christianity? Why do we want to discuss this topic? Well, the answer is simple, because so many are not practicing authentic Christianity today. They have departed from the truth, just like those churches of Galatia had departed from the truth, and were looking at another gospel that they shouldn’t have been looking at. So many today have done that.

And how do we then restore what is broken? We’ve got to come back to the original pattern, just like if we were to have an old building that had been broken down and been ravaged by time and weather and other things. How would we restore it? We’d have to go back to the original plan.

And we find the original plan for authentic Christianity right here within the Word of God. And so as we study the Word of God and learn the Word of God and apply it to our lives, we then are able to restore Christianity within our lives.

The Bible is that pattern that we need to follow in order to be authentic Christians and to practice authentic Christianity. Now, this morning, we see that authentic Christianity loves the truth. And we’re going to be talking about that topic as we work through verses 8 through 20 of chapter 4. But first, let’s set the context. Remember, in our previous lesson, we talked about how authentic Christianity means that I am a child of God and that Christians are children of God.

Now, the Apostle Paul wants to make a point regarding this in chapter 4 in relationship to the truth and loving the truth and being freed by the truth. Now, this is what he says in verses 1 through 6. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is a master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the appointed time by the Father. Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father.

Now the conclusion he draws here is this, therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. So when those in Christianity, those who had come out of Judaism, were under the law of Moses, they were slaves to those elements of the world he talks about here in this text.

But now that God has sent His Son, we have come out of that. We are free. We are children of God through Jesus Christ. No longer slaves, but now children. And if children, then we are heirs of God through Christ.

Now, this is an important point that he starts off with because he is making the point that we are not in bondage, we are not in slavery, but we’ve been set free by the truth of Jesus Christ. These who were here in the churches of Galatia had abandoned the gospel for the comfort of formalism.

Now, what do we mean by that? They had gone back to that which they could check off. They had a checklist religion. Are you circumcised? Okay, check. Have you done the commandments? Okay, check. Have you done all of these things? Okay, check, check, check. Okay, I’m good. And they had abandoned Christ for this sort of formalism.

And it’s easy to do that today as well, just to practice this sort of checklist religion. But Christ came to set us free from that kind of bondage. He says in John chapter 8, verse 32, “…and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

That sort of bondage to that formalism, to that checklist religion, it is just another form of slavery. And we want to be free from that. We don’t want to be in a kind of relationship that is simply characterized by just being in bondage to these elements of the world that Paul discusses here. But rather, we want to be free in Christ.

Now, in order to do that, we’ve got to love the truth, and that’s what we’re going to talk about this morning. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Authentic Christianity loves the truth, and that’s what we’re going to discuss this morning.

Our first point is this. Authentic Christianity loves the truth because it embraces truth. Now, let’s look at these verses here in Galatians 4, 8 through 11. It embraces truth, but then indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not God’s.

But now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

Now, Paul’s point is that before we believed the gospel, we embraced lies. Now, the Gentiles served idols, which are not gods. You serve those which are by nature are not gods, he says here. And this was a slavery. It was a bondage to non-existent things. It was a bondage to that which was a lie.

And Paul taught everywhere he went not to be enslaved to idols, not to believe in false gods. 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 9. They themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

We turned away from falsehoods and we’ve turned toward truth. You see, that’s what Christianity is about, giving up the lies that we believe in bondage to the world and embracing the truth that is Christ. An idol is nothing, 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 4. In that day, it was idols. Today, it’s idols of the heart. Anything that competes with Jesus Christ is an idol, and we’ve got to abandon it for the truth of Christ.

And we think about before we embrace the gospel, we embrace lies, but after the gospel, what is our condition? We know and are known by God. We have truth now. Now think about what the truth gives us today. John chapter 1, verse 18. John writes, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Jesus Christ tells us who God is. He gives us the truth about God. And so we can know God through Jesus Christ. And through Jesus Christ, we can be known of God, as the Apostle Paul says. Because God knows the heart.

Acts chapter 15, verse 8. In 2 Timothy 2, verse 19, we read, Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands having this seal. The Lord knows those who are His, and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

So we have truth. We can know God, and through truth, God knows us. He knows that we are His children. What relationship is greater than that? Think about the relationship of a father and a child. Who knows the other better, the father or the child?

Well, of course the father knows the child better than the child knows the father. And why is that? Because the father has been on earth longer. He’s had more experience. He knows that relationship better, and the child is just learning and growing. The father knows the child so much better than the child knows the father. And because of that, you can have a relationship based on truth and not on lies. When God knows us, and when we trust Him to know us, then we have a relationship that is based on truth. Think about 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13.

For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. What does the father do for the child? The father guides the child. The father teaches the child. The father gives the child truth. The child has no knowledge. Where does that knowledge come from?

Education, instruction, teaching from the Father. And so also in our relationship with God. He teaches us. He helps us. He gives us the truth through His Holy Word. And we need to embrace it. We should not turn away from the truth back to the weak and beggarly elements that Paul discusses here in Galatians 4, verses 9 through 11. What were these? They were these feast days of the law of Moses, he mentions, days and months and years.

This is a symbolic way of saying that any system that is invented to replace faith in Christ is something that we should not adhere to. If we are trusting in some system, we’re not trusting in Christ. In essence, a system of some kind or another is just a self-imposed list of things that we hold ourselves accountable to and that we follow. It’s really just trusting in self. It’s not trusting in Christ. And we end up re-enslaving ourselves when we do this.

Think about what Jesus says here in John 8, verse 34. Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. Sin enslaves. Anything that is not Christ will enslave us. Those weak and beggarly elements of the world that Paul discusses here.

Anything that we would substitute for Christ becomes a system of slavery. Romans 6 and verse 16 says, Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey? You are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness.

In 2 Peter 2, verse 19, Peter would warn about the false teachers who would come in and try to promise liberty, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.

So many things can take the place of Christ in our life if we are not careful. And returning to those other things, like the churches in Galatians were doing, was just a return to another lie. They had come out of lies when they rejected idolatry and came into Christ, but now they’ve gone back to the old lies, and they have just substituted another system for Christ.

We must embrace the truth. And embracing the truth means embracing Christ. But then secondly, authentic Christianity preaches truth. It preaches truth. Look at verses 12 through 16 here. Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. You know that because of physical infirmity, I preached the gospel to you at the first. And my trial, which was in my flesh, you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. What then was this blessing you enjoyed?

For I bear you witness that, if possible, you have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Have I therefore become your enemy? Because I tell you the truth. Paul’s preaching was something that they had received when he initially went there and taught them the gospel.

But now that these false teachers had come in and deceived the brethren, they were counting Paul as an enemy. And all he was doing was telling them the truth. Well, authentic Christianity preaches truth, and it does not apologize for preaching the truth. Now, in order to preach the truth, we’ve got to do several things. First of all, we’ve got to set a good example.

Now, Paul made this clear here when he says that I became like you, you became like me. And the point that he’s making there is that we have good examples in Christ. We need to follow those examples. Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ, 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 1.

1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 6, “…you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit.” Followers, imitators, good examples. And when we follow good examples, we become a good example.

Matthew 5 and verse 16 says, “…Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” And so, authentic Christianity preaches truth by being a good example. But then also, authentic Christianity preaches truth despite setbacks.

Now, think about all the setbacks that the Apostle Paul had within his life. He had a physical affliction, and he discusses that physical affliction here, something to do with his eyes, and when he came to preach, he had problems with his eyes, but he preached the gospel despite those afflictions, and the brethren, he said of the brethren there, you would have taken your eyes out and given them to me if that were possible.

That’s how faithful they were upon the initial hearing of the truth of the gospel, but now they had turned away from that. And Paul wants them to come back to it. But when we’re thinking about authentic Christianity preaching the truth, it does so regardless of the problems, regardless of the setbacks, regardless of the difficulties that may arise.

And the Apostle Paul had so many difficulties, labor, stripes, prisons, death, beaten with rods, stone, shipwreck, perils of water, perils of robbers, of his own countrymen even, and in the sea and among false brethren. He had weariness, toil, sleeplessness, hunger, fastings, cold, nakedness. Think about all the setbacks. And yet, he continued to preach the gospel.

We cannot let obstacles stand in the way of preaching the gospel. We’ve got to overcome evil with good, Romans chapter 12 and verse 21. And so authentic Christianity preaches the truth despite setbacks. And authentic Christianity preaches the truth by supporting those who preach.

Now think about what they did when the Apostle Paul came. What did they do? They supported Him. They would have given Him their own eyes. They were very supportive of the Gospel when He first arrived there. And how does Christianity support the truth? Number one, by praying for the preaching of the Gospel. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 1 says, Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified just as it is with you. We’ve got to pray for the gospel and the success of the gospel. We’ve got to support those who preach with words. 1 Timothy 4 and verse 13, Paul said to Timothy, Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. These are teachings and words that we’ve got to pursue. We’ve got to support those who preach by training those who can preach. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 2 says, “…these things that you’ve heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” And we’ve got to support those Those who preach financially. Remember what Paul said to the church at Corinth. I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. Gospel preachers need support. They need prayer. They need encouragement. They need training. And they need financial support. And we’ve got to always uphold and preach the truth of the gospel. And so authentic Christianity preaches the truth.

But then finally, authentic Christianity is zealous for the truth. And Paul talks about that zeal here in verses 17 through 20 and what zeal is not supposed to do and then what it is supposed to do. Now notice what he says. Talking about the false teachers who had come in among the churches of Galatia, he said, “‘They zealously court you, but for no good. Yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I have doubts about you.'”

Now, this zeal for truth. So authentic Christianity embraces truth. It preaches truth, and it is zealous for truth. But first of all, we want to note this, that zeal is not a tool for manipulating people. Now, that’s what these false teachers were doing. They were zealously courting you, but for no good, and they were trying to manipulate them through their zeal, and then exclude them, and then try to get them to love them by excluding them. Well, this is all people manipulation. That’s all they were trying to do.

Now we read about people manipulation in several passages in the scriptures. Zeal is not for manipulation. And the truth of the gospel is not for manipulation. 2 Timothy 4 and verses 3 through 4 says, “…for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.”

People like to be manipulated. That’s the bottom line. And sometimes they want to be manipulated because they would rather believe a lie instead of believing the truth. We’ve got to believe and uphold and support the truth, regardless what it costs.

And it may cost me my pride. It may cost you your pride. And that’s a hard thing to give up. But folks, we’ve got to tell the truth. We can’t manipulate people. We’ve got to live according to the gospel.

In 2 Peter 2, verses 1 through 3, Peter said, “…but there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction, and many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

By covetousness, they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time, their judgment has not been idle and their destruction does not slumber. So zeal is not a tool for manipulating people. That’s what false teachers do. We should not do that. But we must be zealous for good things.

And Paul says here that it’s right to be zealous for good, not for manipulating people, but to be zealous for doing what is good. In Titus chapter 2 and verse 14, we read that Jesus gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, So zealous for good works. We need to be zealous for good works, not for manipulating, but for doing good. In Hebrews 10, in verses 24 through 25, we read, Let us consider one another to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

And the number one way we can be zealous for good works is to exhort one another by coming together upon the appointed times and assembling together with God’s people and encouraging one another. We need to be zealous in good things. And there are so many good things we can be zealous in. And we must be zealous for Christ to be formed in us.

Now, Paul was concerned about the churches of Galatia that Christ was not being formed in them, but he wanted Christ to be formed in them. He was working with them. He related his efforts working with the churches of Galatia as one who is giving birth for Christ, that is, my little children for whom I labor in birth again. And what was the goal?

In you. Verse 19, we’ve got to be zealous for Christ to be formed in us. In Romans chapter 8, verse 29, it says, “…for whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be,” notice, watch it, “…conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

Truth works to form Christ in us. And that’s the goal. Colossians 3, verse 10, that we put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge. How? According to the image of Him who created Him. And that’s what we’re all striving for, that Christ be formed in us. And we must be zealous for that.

Paul said in Galatians 2, verse 20, “…I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Let’s be zealous for truth. Authentic Christianity loves the truth, and that’s what we need. We need to love the truth. It embraces truth, it preaches truth, and it is zealous for truth. Would you come out of the darkness of lies this morning and let Christ live within your life and bring His truth to you today?

That’s something we want everyone to do. Just like Paul said, laboring that Christ be formed in you. And how is that done? You’ve got to hear His Word and believe it. Repent of your sins, confess Jesus as Lord, and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.

Experience the new birth and then let Christ live in your life and Christ will be formed in you and God can accomplish what He is trying to accomplish with truth in your life. That’s what He wants done. And you can open your life to Him this morning by receiving His Holy Word.

If that’s something you need help with, we’d be glad to help you with that today and you can come forward and make your request known right now while together we stand and sing this song.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!