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When the going gets tough … quit?

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Back in 1918 the Dodgers called up a player from the minors to pitch in part of a doubleheader game.

His name was Harry Heitmann.

His dream was to play in the big leagues, as part of a major league team.

He had worked his way through the minors and now finally made it big time.

On July 27, 1918, his call came, and he made his major league debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

His dream didn’t turn out very well.

He faced 4 batters.

2 of them tripled and 2 of them singled.

After the fourth batter got on base, Harry had enough, and he walked of the field and headed to the showers.

He left the stadium and joined the Navy.

As far as his baseball record goes, those 4 batters all scored, so Heitmann retired with an ERA of infinity.

Things certainly were tough for Harry Heitmann.

He faced hard times.

And when they came … he quit.

We will face hard times, and the question is how will you respond to those hard times.

Often, the temptation is to run away or quit.

To give up.

To go back to something that you are more familiar with.

But what you are familiar with is not always the right thing or a good thing.

Israel is a great example of this.

After the 10th plague in Egypt, Israel was released from their slavery and headed towards the Red Sea.

They got to the Red Sea, and looked behind them and saw Pharaoh and his army coming.

Do you remember Israel’s response?

They didn’t cry out to God for helo.

Their response is recorded in , “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? … For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

When hard times came, they seriously considered going back to Egypt and becoming slaves again.

A little later, Israel made it to the edge of the Promised Land, and they sent 12 spies into the land to spy it out.

The report of the land was great.

It was a land flowing with milk and honey.

But then they saw the people that lived there, they were said to be giants.

And again the people grumbled.

says, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!”

Again, they thought things would be better back in slavery, rather then live in the land that God promised.

Why Egypt?

Why this temptation to go back into slavery?

Because it’s something they are familiar with.

It’s something that they knew.

It’s not a good thing, but they know it.

The same thing can happen to us.

You are turning to Christ, and things are starting to get hard.

Temptation gets harder.

There is a fight for purity.

You are now wrestling with sin.

Life gets lonelier.

You don’t join your old friends in sin.

And you begin to want to go back to what you are familiar with.

You feel the pull into old sins.

Maybe you just want to run away from everything.

How do you continue?

This is something similar to what the Galatians are facing.

The Judaizers have told them they need to go back under the law.

This reminds me of people who have grown up in Catholicism.

They’ve been away from it, but life has started getting a little stale.

There is this tug to go back to Catholicism’s mystical ways.

They remember the smells of incense and the robes of the priests and they want to go back to it.

They forget the grace that they’ve received in Christ.

They forget learning that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone.

Their fondness for tradition, overshadows the truth they know in Jesus, so they go back.

In our text, Paul is pleading with the Galatians to remember something.

To remember:

What they’ve experienced.

What they’ve been rescued from.

And remember, those who’ve labored over them.

This text should serve as an encouragement, for those of you who struggle.

You’re like Harry Heitmann, and you’ve been knocked around, and you want to quit.

You are like the Israelites and you’re tempted to go back into the slavery of your sin.

You miss things that you know and you want to go back into them.

That’s what this is about.

First, Remember what you’ve experienced.

You see this in verse 9, “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back ...”

What have you experienced in Christ?

You are known by God.

That’s a pretty wonderful promise.

You are known by God.

Being known by God means something.

Paul pastorally is writing to the Galatians, and reminding them of what they have experienced.

Conversion is not just a moment where you make a decision.

But conversion is really the work of God in your life.

Back in he says that they had begun by the Spirit.

Conversion happens because of the Spirit doing something within you.

Before you could ever rightly respond, the Holy Spirit had to do something within your life.

God had done something to you.

What is it that He has done to you?

In verse 9 it says that they are known by God.

To be known by God implies a close intimate knowledge and friendship.

To be known by God in this sense is to be loved by God.

We often talk about the love of God, but what does it mean to be loved by God?

First it means that He knows you.

Have you ever met someone famous?

This is someone that you admire.

Maybe you see them on TV or in a sport.

As a kid, I used to like getting autographs.

I met Dennis Miller from Saturday Night Live, and had him sign a program from the function we were at.

My favorite encounter was Tony Gwynn from the San Diego Padres.

I had him sign a couple baseball cards.

But if you were to find Dennis Miller or Tony Gwynn, and ask them if they knew me … sadly, they wouldn’t even know my name.

They might be able to recall the event … maybe, but certainly wouldn’t remember me.

They don’t know me.

Amazingly, God knows those who are His.

I mean He knows them.

If you are His, He has known you before you were even something.

says that Jesus knows his sheep, and He knows them by name.

If Dennis Miller remembered me, it’d be as the little kid with the girl voice.

Jesus on the other hand knows you.

He knows your name.

He knew you before you were born.

He knew every day of your life.

He even knows the day that you will die.

Your death will never catch God by surprise.

We live in a sea of people.

Often we feel lost in the crowd.

Insignificant.

Just a faceless number in our nation.

And that no one will miss us if we are gone.

Yet, to God He knows us, and He even knows us by name.

But not only does He know us, but He chooses to love us.

The love of God is a predestinating love.

It’s a very specific love.

It’s not a conditional love.

A conditional love says, “I will love you if you do this.”

But conditional love is not how God loves us.

His love for His people is unconditional, it’s one of grace.

When there was nothing good in us, He choose to love us, He chose to give us grace.

His love for us was not based on our actions, it was given before we were ever here.

says, “In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.

Notice that His love does something.

In love He predestines us.

Why is this important?

It reminds us first that salvation is all of God.

He receives all the credit in your conversion.

This means that your view of God becomes even bigger.

Your worship of God becomes more comprehensive, because He’s responsible for it all.

It also encourages us when we are feeling unworthy.

When you have that pull that tug to go back to your old ways.

When you feel as if you are a failure and unworthy of the love of God, we must go back to where His love for us starts.

It never started with you how well you followed Him, or being perfect.

You were never able to woo God’s affections with your good behavior.

Because the Bible says:

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

On top of that says we weren’t trying to win God’s favor.

We weren’t even seeking Him.

His love for you began in eternity past, before you were alive, when God sovereignly and purposely chose to love you despite who you were.

This is someone that you admire.

As a kid, I used to like getting autographs.

I met Dennis Miller from Saturday Night Live, and had him sign a program from the function we were at.

My favorite encounter was Tony Gwynn from the San Diego Padres.

I had him sign a couple baseball cards.

But if you were to find Dennis Miller or Tony Gwynn, and ask them if they knew me … sadly, they wouldn’t even know my name.

They might be able to recall the event … maybe, but certainly wouldn’t remember me.

They don’t know me.

Amazingly, God knows those who are His.

I mean He knows them.

If you are His, He has known you before you were even something.

says that Jesus knows his sheep, and He knows them by name.

If Dennis Miller remembered me, it’d be as the little kid with the girl voice.

Jesus on the other hand knows you.

He knows your name.

He knew you before you were born.

He knew every day of your life.

He even knows the day that you will die.

Your death will never catch God by surprise.

Not only does God know you and choose to love you, but His love is demonstrated and accomplishes something.

God has shown His love for us in the sending of the Son to die for us.

says “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Let’s be serious, my love for God doesn’t do a whole lot.

It doesn’t cause the sun to rise in the morning or for the sun to set at night.

My love for God doesn’t change the shape of nations or the alignment of the stars.

But God’s love … it does something.

It has substance to it.

The love of God has substance to it, it does something.

It is demonstrated in Jesus laying down His life for those He loves.

Specifically, it is demonstrated in Jesus laying down His life for those He loves.

And those He died for, this is where it does something, those that He died for … have had their sins completely removed.

And if their sins are removed then there is no more fear of:

Death

Judgement

Or Hell.

All this is fine and good, but how do you know that God knows you.

How do you know that God knows you, that you’ve been predestined and that Jesus has died for your sins?

answers that very question.

“But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”

Your love for God shows the work that He has done in your heart.

This is part of your experience.

Because naturally we don’t love God.

But when you see your own heart change for God then you know that He has worked in your life.

Knowing that your heart has been changed.

Knowing that you have repented.

Knowing what Jesus has done for you.

This all confirms what He has done for you.

I love what Jesus says in the middle of , “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

God chooses and God predestines.

And you can know that you have been chosen by God, when you bear fruit.

Repentance from sins.

Serving Him.

Using your gifts.

This is confirmation of the work that He has done within you.

Remember these things.

Not so you can boast or pat yourself on your back.

But so that you can say, “Thank you God for what you have done in me.”

The next key to staying the course is to Remember what you’ve been rescued from.

The Christian life can get hard at times.

There is a pull to go back to something you are familiar with.

There’s that saying, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” and that may be true of your old life.

You think of the fun.

You think of the adventures.

And you forget how bad things really were.

Even many Christians feel this way about their former life.

They have a hard time accurately describing their former life and their former sins.

They’re willing to say they’ve sinned.

But they aren’t willing to say that they deserved Hell in their sin.

They aren’t willing to fully agree with passages like or Ephesians 2.

And so we need to remember what we’ve been rescued from.

Look at Paul’s description of your old life in verse 9, “how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?”

Do you see his description of the things we loved in our former life?

They are described as:

Weak

Worthless

And holding us as slaves.

The things that we loved before were weak.

People are searching for meaning in life.

And look at how we spend our days?

It didn’t take much

They credit everyone but themselves.

They are quick to say that the reason why they sinned was:

Because of their friends.

Look at what we do to take our minds off of this world?

That it was peer pressure that swayed them.

People obsess over sports.

Others are willing to say that it was the devil who made them do it.

But none of that is really true.

But why?

It’s fun for today, but tomorrow it doesn’t matter.

The reason why we sin so easy is because it comes so naturally to us.

Will it be remembered?

Do you know who won the Super Bowl 10 years ago?

Probably not.

It was the Steelers.

It was such a big day.

Think of how many people waste Sunday after Sunday in front of the TV drooling over football games throughout the season.

How many people skipped church to watch a game?

How many people broke the 4th commandment?

How many people abandoned fellowship, just to be entertained, thinking that football was more important than Christ.

All that effort, only for us to forget who won the Super Bowl 10 years ago..

And as the season goes deeper, each game becomes more and more critical, until Super Bowl Sunday arrives.

Jesus said it’s not what comes into the body that defiles us, but it’s what comes out of the body.

The most watched event on television during the year.

Your life is made for so much more.

And does it matter?

In Ephesians Paul says that this behavior comes to us by nature.

You are created in the image of God.

If you are a believer, you have the Spirit of God within you.

It’s a part of who we are.

You have been gifted by the Spirit.

He has saved you for a purpose.

Do you know who won the Super Bowl 10 years ago?

The reason why it was so hard to fight against temptation before you were a Christian is because your body wanted the whatever it was that you were being tempted with..

You are a tool in His hand for serving Him within the church.

Probably not.

It’s our nature.

says that we are His workmanship, that there are good works prepared for us to do in service to Him.

It was the Steelers.

And yet, we waste our lives in things that are frivolous.

says that this is our passion.

It was such a big day.

The day is coming when everything that we see will be unmade.

And the things that we poured our lives into will dissolve like fire.

On that day what we do won’t matter.

All that will matter is Christ.

Our passions are weak.

They don’t last.

When that’s the case, you are weak.

CS Lewis once said “it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

The things that we love are weak, they will not last.

it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

What is it that you love the most in life?

Piper, John. Desiring God. Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2003. Print.

Will it last into eternity?

Because if it won’t, then it shouldn’t it be what you are living for?

Not only were our old desires weak, but Paul says they are worthless.

It’s interesting because the temptation says they mean something, that they are valuable.

And that is the lie of sin.

Sin deceives us, fooling us into thinking it is something.

In 1986 Geraldo Rivera had a television special. Al Capone’s vault was found and it was going to be opened on live TV>

It was aired on television and was the most watched event of that year.

30 million people tuned in to watch it.

People were eager to see something valuable in it.

People hoped to find treasure in there, maybe dead bodies.

A medical examiner was present in case dead bodies were inside.

And the IRS even sent agents there, in to confiscate Capone’s money.

This was television gold.

The vault was opened and it was empty.

There was dirt and a couple empty bottles.

People felt ripped off and mislead.

There was nothing there.

It was worthless.

There was so much promise.

That I need it.

But it was all a waste of time.

This is what sin does to us.

It lies to us, promising us riches and lasting happiness.

That if you return to it, all will be better.

When in reality it’s worthless, it’s counterfeit.

And if these old desires are worthless why go back to them?

There’s a Proverb, that says, “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.”

It’s foolishness to run to something that is so useless.

Not only is it foolish … but it’s gross.

And yet, this is what we are doing.

We are spinning our wheels, and burning out our lives for worthless things.

What needs to happen is we need to be reminded of the worthlessness of our past, and the incredible worth of Christ.

says that our best deeds are like unclean rags.

And so in order to see things rightly, we must see the great worth of Christ Jesus.

When Christ becomes the greatest treasure you have … then how can you care about the worthless deeds of our past.

If anything, we even become ashamed of them.

There’s a song that we sing on Sundays, All I Have Is Christ.

This song describes a right view of how to look back on our past, and what we have in the present.

The first verse says:

I once was lost in darkest night Yet thought I knew the way The sin that promised joy and life Had led me to the grave I had no hope that You would own A rebel to Your will And if You had not loved me first I would refuse You still

And the chorus says:

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

So fix your eyes on Christ, and see that He is who you need.

And the last way to describe our past life is as Paul says remember that we were slaves.

You know why sin came so naturally to you before your conversion … because you were a slave of it.

Remember those who’ve labored over you.

It was who you were.

It had control on you.

And you couldn’t stop.

Do you ever look back on your past sins, and remember it’s control over you?

It’s often times embarrassing.

How could something so weak and worthless have so much control over you?

Paul is pleading with the Galatians to remember where they come from, what they were.

John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, had a remarkable tale of slavery.

He was an only child, and his mom died when he was 7.

At the age of 11, he became involved in the slave trade with Africa.

He soon became hardened by his evil surroundings and tried to outdo those around him in sin.

He was then put himself into slavery, and became the abused slave of an African princess.

He was later rescued, but shortly after his rescue, at the age of 23 he was caught in a severe storm and feared for his life.

At the age of 23 he was caught in a severe storm and feared for his life.

He cried out to God for mercy and was miraculously saved.

This also sparked his own conversion to Christ.

He never wanted to forget God’s grace in freeing him from his slavery, but more specifically, his slavery to sin.

He never wanted to forget his own slavery to sin, so he had inscribed on his mantel, “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.”

And you too, think back on your sin.

You who are feeling like going backwards.

Abandoning Christ and returning to your former life, don’t let the lure of sin cause you to forget the true nature of sin and its:

Weakness

Worthlessness

And slavery over you.

You have been freed in Christ.

Lastly, Remember those who’ve labored over you.

We see a glimpse of Paul’s love for the church in verses 10-11, “You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.”

He’s watching the Galatians drift back into their former lives.

And he’s wondering, “Did I labor in vain?”

This one might seem a little selfish, but your Elders love you.

This is a strange job that I have.

It’s not a normal job.

I’m not trying to bring in as much money as I can.

I’m not trying to get as many people through the doors as I can.

My job is to care for you, to love you.

I have a weird job, in that when I come home at night, I don’t get to leave my work in the office.

I’m carrying your burdens.

I’m praying for you.

I’m thinking about you.

When I read my Bible and I learn something, it’s so I can help you.

The language of a pastor is to shepherd those in the church.

In fact, that’s what pastor means, it means to be a shepherd.

At the end of John, Jesus told Peter to feed the sheep and to tend the sheep.

My job is to care for you.

When we watch, when I watch a believer stumble into sin, or turn away from Christ … I take it personally.

Because I have labored over you.

I have studied for you.

I have loved you.

It hurts.

Some of you have jobs where you are expected grow financially.

You are required to see significant increases in business or you lose an account or maybe even your job.

Your boss makes sure that they are seeing growth, or he will hold you accountable.

Understand that my job is different, it’s to shepherd the church.

I am an undershepherd of Christ.

He is my boss.

And therefore, He will hold me accountable for the health of His sheep.

says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

I’m going to be held accountable for you.

When I watch a believer stumble into sin, or turn away from Christ … I take it personally.

Because I have labored over you.

I have studied for you.

I have loved you.

It hurts.

It’s not only painful to me, but it’s painful to God who has provided me to care for you.

To sit under faithful preaching and teaching, and ignore that, it’s not just an insult to those who have labored over you, but it’s also an insult to Christ who has appointed leaders over you.

Remember my effort to see you grow.

says, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”

Those who serve over you have been given by God for your benefit.

teaches us that the Holy Spirit appoints elders over the church.

Remember your elders efforts to see you grow.

So when you reject the leaders of the church, you aren’t just rejecting them, but you are rejecting a gift from the Spirit, someone appointed to care for the flock.

And as a side note, your elders are being trained in Biblical Counseling.

And we do this because we fear the Lord.

This means they are more available then ever before to shepherd you and care for you.

He has placed us here for you.

The Christian life can be challenging, don’t quit.

I’ll be honest, when a person in the church walks away it hurts.

But there’s also a bit of waste.

Look back on your life and remember God’s work in your life.

How your conversion happened.

A fear that I have labored of that person in vain.

How your eyes were opened.

How you understood God’s love.

And how you understood Jesus for the first time.

Do you remember that moment?

Remember these things.

Remember what you have been rescued from.

Remember the vanity and the emptiness of your sin.

Remember that you are not in this alone.

There are people over you who care for you.

They want to see you succeed.

And may we march forward in this life to the very end.