Part 4 of 5 in series on Galatians given on May 26, 2011.

<p>Part 4 of 5 in series on Galatians given on May 26, 2011.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

AudioVerse

Norman McNulty

Galatians and the Gospel

Galatians 1—Another Gospel

Galatians 2—Justified and Crucified

Galatians 3—The Law in Galatians

Galatians 4—Two Covenants

Galatians 5&6—Flesh Versus the Spirit


Good morning. Let's have a word of prayer and we'll get started. Father in heaven, we thank you for another day. We thank you that we can have another moment of time to open up the word of scripture and we pray for a special blessing. As we look at Galatians chapter 4 this morning, I pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.

So, we've looked at the first 3 chapters in Galatians. Galatians chapter 1, we saw that Paul reminded the Church of Galatia that he was an apostle called by God to preach the gospel, and he marveled that they were so soon turned to another gospel different than the 1 that he had taught them. And then he tells his personal testimony last half of chapter 1, first half of chapter 2, of how he was a Jew exceedingly zealous, persecuting the Christians, and if anyone knew the law of the Jews, Paul did. And then after his conversion he talks about how the Apostle Peter, despite what he knew, got carried away or influenced by Judaizing Christians, and in other words he had the fear of man and Paul stood up to him. And he then clearly shows what salvation is, what justification by faith is, and that in order to have salvation, we must be crucified with Christ, that the gospel is a gospel of surrender.

And then in chapter 3 he tells the Galatians that you have been bewitched. Christ was set before you, crucified among you, And yet you have turned to a different gospel. And 1 of the things I thought about, even since yesterday, was that when we see Jesus crucified on the cross, that really motivates us to surrender our lives to him. And so then he goes through in chapter 3 talking about Abraham, how he received righteousness and the covenant that God made with Abraham. And then he talks about the law and how it was the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but once Christ came we saw him as the demonstration of the gospel, and therefore those who have put on Christ are Abraham's seed, not just literal Jews.

So that's what we've seen so far. Now we're going to look at chapter 4 today, and if you look at the end of chapter 3 he says if you be Christ this is verse 29 then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise so when you accept Christ you become an heir of salvation and so he continues on with that in chapter 4 verse 1 he says now I say that the heir as long as he is a child differeth nothing from a servant though he be Lord of all but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father so the obvious example would be for for example Trinidad used to be a colony if you will of the United Kingdom And you have Queen Elizabeth right now. When she was much younger, she had her first son, Prince Charles, and he's been heir to the throne for quite some time now. But if, for example, Queen Elizabeth had died when Prince Charles was 2 years old, Prince Charles would be king of England, he would have been, but he would not have had the knowledge or ability to carry out the function as king.

But he would have been the king, but he would have had tutors and governors overseeing him until he grew up so that he could function in that role properly. What Paul is saying here is that, look, when you are a child of God, And because of what Christ did as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world making a means for salvation We became heirs of the kingdom of God from the very time that We have the potential to be heirs and if we accepted Christ even before he came we had the potential to grow up to be a full mature Christian with the knowledge of God. But before Jesus came and gave a full demonstration we were in the dispensation of this world like children who needed tutors and governors to train us. And what he's teaching us is that, or what Paul is saying here is that the law was our tutor and governor until the time appointed. So the law was our tutor, our governor that we were under until the time appointed of the father.

And then continuing on in verse 3 it says, even so when we were children we were in bondage under the elements of the world. Now I looked this up in the Bible commentary, and where it says we are in bondage under the elements of the world, what you see here is Paul is clearly connecting being under tutors and governors with being under bondage to the elements of the world. He says, even so. So it's a clear continuation. He says, just as children are under tutors and governors if they are an heir to the throne, Even so, we were in bondage to the elements of the world.

And if you look at what the commentary says, it shows that the elements of the world, the word for elements here actually describes the laws that guide the world that we live in. And so what Paul is actually talking about is we were under bondage to the law when we were children before we had a full demonstration of who Christ is, we were in bondage under this law. And then the contrast becomes very clear, verse 4, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. So notice this, because Jesus came we received the adoption of sons, we became heirs. Now this is the amazing thing about being an heir.

If you look at Romans 8 specifically, it talks about how yes, Jesus is the Son of God, but when we accept Jesus as our Savior, we also become heirs of God. So just as Jesus is the Son of God, we can become heirs of the same promise. And that's the wonderful message of salvation. Now here's what Paul is saying, and this is interesting. He says, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman." That means Jesus was made a human being.

Not only that, it says He was made under the law, which means that He came in human nature with the kind of human nature that we have. He was made under the law, specifically to redeem them that were under the law. And you know, sometimes people will say, well, Christ couldn't have taken our nature because that would then mean that he needed a savior. Well, Paul says, Christ was made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. So Christ obviously didn't need a Savior, but he came in the humanity that we have to redeem us, that we might receive adoption of sons.

And Paul continues, because you are sons God has sent forth the spirit of a son into your hearts crying Abba, Father. So when we become sons of God we enter into a relationship with God where we see God the Father as a loving God, who sent his Son to give us salvation. Verse 7, Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Howbeit then when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. And then notice verse 9, he says, But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

So Paul is saying this, look, these laws brought you in, you were in bondage under these laws. They were the laws that were like tutors and governors until the time was appointed that Jesus would come. They helped you to gain a knowledge of who God was, but you were a servant to those laws, so to speak, until you had a better demonstration of who Christ is. And now that Christ has come, he has made it possible for you to be an heir of God through Christ. So why then would you go back to the things that you were in bondage to?

The weak and beggarly elements of the world. And a practical illustration is this. Many of us had a time in our lives where we were in the world. We lived by the laws of the world and according to the principles of this world. And then a time came in our lives where we saw Jesus as our Savior, we accepted Him, we received salvation, and we felt that freedom that came in Christ.

And as so often happens with many Christians, they backslide to the things they once were in bondage to. And the question is why would you go back, why would you desire to go back to the things that you were in bondage to, that you were delivered from? So just as the Galatians, so it is today. And then Paul specifically talks about the things that they were in bondage to. So this is very clear that the Jewish Christians were affected.

Verse 10, you observe days and months and times and years. I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." What are these days, months, times, and years he's talking about? These were the Jewish ceremonial feasts that were on specific Days of the year and these Jewish Christians were teaching them. Hey when Jesus died on the cross Yeah, he brings salvation, but you still need to keep the Jewish ceremonial system You can continue to keep all the feasts and the ceremonies And all of those things which the feasts by the way were based on the monthly cycle of the moon So when he says days and months the feast days were based on the new moon and you can see that in Colossians chapter 2 And Paul says I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain and there's still people today there's actually a strain within even our church who are teaching in order to receive the seal of God you must keep the feast days of the Jewish system but Paul saying you observe these days I'm afraid of you lest I have bestowed labor upon you in vain.

And then he goes on in verses 12 through 15, he speaks about how when he came, and even though he had an infirmity in the flesh, which was the fact that he had poor eyesight, he preached the gospel. He talks about how they were so blessed by his preaching that if they could have, they would have given their eyes to him. They were so blessed by his message. He's like, remember that time? Because now they're turning away from what he taught.

He's like, remember when I preached to you? You were so blessed by my preaching, even though you knew that I had an infirmity in my flesh and that I couldn't see very well, you were so blessed and you knew that God was speaking through me, you were willing almost to give your own eyes to me. But you couldn't of course, that's not humanly possible, at least at that time. So then he says, and he says, I was received as an angel of God even as Christ Jesus. That's verse 14.

Verse 16, then he says, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? And you know, we need more pastors and teachers to just tell the truth, to not be afraid of men, and to just preach people-pleasing sermons who perhaps they have helped lead someone into the truth, And now they see the person turning away from the clear teachings of truth, but they don't want to offend them and so they just preach watered down Pleasing smooth messages and people just come to church feeling good about themselves and walking away feeling like they're just fine. But you know, Jesus at times, he would speak right to the heart. It wasn't like everything Jesus ever said just pleased everyone. There came a time when Jesus gave a message of separation.

So Paul says, Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? And now he's speaking of the Jewish Christians. He says, They zealously affect you, but not well. Yea, they would exclude you that you might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.

And now notice verse 19, he says, My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. And this is the essence of the gospel. Paul is saying, it is as if I am going through the pains of labor as I see you being deceived by these false teachers and I will go through if necessary what in a spiritual sense how women go through the pains of labor I will go through that experience and so you have the true experience of the gospel of Christ being formed within you and we need to labor for our brothers and sisters in the same way verse 20 I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you Tell me you that desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? So he's like those of you who you heard the true gospel but now you want to go back to being under the bondage of the law of having that as the means of salvation as opposed to Christ being the means of salvation.

He says let me give you an illustration, and here's the illustration, and for the interest of time I'm going to summarize what Paul says here in verses 22 through 26. He gives an illustration of how Abraham had 2 sons, Isaac and Ishmael. 1 was through Hagar, 1 was through Sarah. Hagar was the servant or bondwoman through whom Ishmael was born. Sarah was the free woman through whom Isaac was born by promise.

And Paul says this is an allegory of the 2 covenants. 1 is the covenant where people worked according to the flesh and said all that God has said we will do. The other covenant is the promise of God where God says through my power I will do something that is not possible. And in Abraham's case he says I will give you new life just as I will write my law into your hearts and minds and give you a new heart, which will give you a new life. And so what Paul says then, he says in verse 25, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, that's the Old Covenant where the law was written in tables of stone and notice it says and answereth and in the margin of the King James it says and is in the same rank with so Hagar is a symbol of the covenant at Mount Sinai which is in the same rank to Jerusalem, which now is.

So here's what Paul is saying. Those Jews in the literal Jerusalem right now are just like Hagar, which was like the old covenant given at Sinai where God's people said, we will try to do what you have said. And Abraham, when God said, you will have a child, Abraham said, okay, I can go according to the works of the flesh and I'll get this woman pregnant. Well, there was nothing shocking about that because Hagar was a child bearing age and that was the law of biology. But Sarah was past the time of child bearing age and God said I will do a miracle.

I will give new life in that which is impossible humanly speaking. And humanly speaking humanity cannot make a new heart. But God says, through my power, I will write my law or character into your hearts and minds so that you will have a new life. And so Paul is saying, verse 26, but Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all, is free. And then he concludes, verses 27 through 31, for it is written, rejoice thou barren, that bearest not, break forth and cry that thou travailest not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband." In other words, people who live according to the flesh are much more numerous than people who walk according to the Spirit.

Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise, but as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. Ishmael who was born after the flesh persecuted Isaac, and so it is now, those who walk according to the flesh persecute the Christians who walk according to the spirit. And then verse 30, nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

And so here in chapter 4, Paul makes it explicitly clear, if you are following the Jewish system which the Galatians were falling into, you are not following Christ. We as children of Abraham in a spiritual sense, We do not follow the Jewish ceremonial system anymore. We allow God to write his law into our hearts and minds, which is the symbol of how Abraham and Sarah were able to have Isaac when it was not humanly possible to do so, but through faith they believe the promise that God would give new life. And we, who are children of Abraham, through faith believe that God will give us new life and that is the new covenant. And what Paul is saying is, hey Galatians, if you do what you're continuing to do, you will be under the old covenant and if you stay under the old covenant, you will lose your salvation.

And so Paul loved them so much, he says, my little children of whom I travail in birth, again until Christ be formed in you, or in other words, until his law is written in your hearts and minds. So here we've seen in the first 4 chapters, and we're going to finish our study on Galatians tomorrow, we've seen in the first 4 chapters Paul has been contending against the false gospel and teaching what the true gospel is and so may we experience that true gospel as we Continue to move forward so do we have time for a closing hymn? We'll help her and then a closing hymn. Let's pray father in heaven thank you for how you have made things clear to us through scripture. May we be like Isaac, the child of the free woman.

May we have new life through faith, not through works of the flesh, but through faith and the promises of the power of God. So we thank you for your blessings to us and go with us this day. I pray this in Jesus name, Amen. Dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about Audioverse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audioverse.org.

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Series

Galatians and the Gospel

Galatians 4—Two Covenants

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Other Teachings in Series

Galatians 1—Another Gospel

19m

Galatians 2—Justified and Crucified

21m

Galatians 3—The Law in Galatians

25m

Galatians 4—Two Covenants

20m

Galatians 5&6—Flesh Versus the Spirit

20m

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