So today's teaching is going to be part one of a new series that I've titled Simply Helping the Hurting.

One of the reasons for choosing this title is that as I was preparing my heart before the Lord to teach this chapter,

it became abundantly clear to me that there were Christians in those churches there in Galatia

who were really hurting.

They had been seriously hurt, and they had been seriously hurt at the hands of these legalists that Paul refers to as they were called then the Judaizers.

And what these Judaizers slash legalists had done is they had infiltrated the church is undetected, stealth, as one translation renders it in the text.

And in so doing, they had harmed and injured the believers by burdening them with the requirements of the law, namely and specifically that of circumcision. In other words, they were saying they were teaching falsely teaching, that in order to be truly saved, you had to be circumcised.

And if you weren't circumcised, you were required under the law of Moses to be circumcised in order to be saved.

And this had done so much damage to these Christians, to these churches.

And to me, it explains why it is that the apostle Paul, who, as I think you know, was so protective of the flock of God,

seemed to be so harsh in his rebuke of these legalists.

You might remember that the Apostle Paul said, I wish they would not stop at circumcision.

I wish these Judaizers would go all the way and be castrated. Oh.

Well, at first read, you might think, Paul, whoa, where's the love?

Seemingly disproportionate.

That's kind of harsh.

Well, nothing could be further from the truth. I've heard it said this way.

With cases like this, you need to deal with them mercilessly before they deal mercilessly with you.

And by the way, that goes for sin too. We must deal mercilessly with sin before sin deals mercilessly with us and it will.

It's only a matter of time. And this is what Paul knew and he knew what was at stake here.

The very survival of these churches was at stake here. Now, thankfully,

here in chapter 6, Paul is turning a corner of sorts and he goes from exposing the legalists

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