Galatians Chapter 3 and 4
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
If you have your Bibles please turn to
Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
Before we dive to deep into the scripture’s for today, I want to review the examples of the grace of God that we have laid out so far in just this Epistle. These are not in a particular order and it is also not an exhaustive list of the graces of God, only those that we have seen in Galatians so far.
Freedom from the law
Justification by faith
Forgiveness of sins
the Holy Spirit
We are about to add another one to this list with the next set of scriptures. But even the Old Testament is a given to us by the grace of God. The Law was not given as a penalty. Quite the opposite actually. It was given to us as protection until Jesus came to us and true faith was revealed. You know one of the most shallow objections to the Bible is that it is essentially a list of things you can and cannot do. While that is somewhat true there are prohibited actions in the Bible. That is a simplistic way to look at it. And it is also true that people have used the Bible in nefarious ways.
However when we start really digging into the Old Testament laws and the New Testament teachings of Jesus, perhaps we should start looking at them as ways that God protecting us from ourselves. We live in a culture that is mostly secular. How is that going so far for our society? Is our society better off by marginalizing the word of God. It doesn’t take a lot of degrees or research to realize that we aren’t. Israel rejected God, and wanted a king just like the other countries around them. How did that work out in the Old Testament? It was a mixed bag of success and failures but the Israel never reached the same heights it did with King David. It would go on to be conquered and finally Rome would take down the last temple.
This is one of the reason that Jesus uses discipleship together with the Gospel to change people’s lives. It is a very difficult feat to accomplish to legislate morality. It is a very difficult thing to change people’s lives on a large scale but the Gospel has the power to transformer lives. This is why Jesus calls us to go and teach His word. People change one at a time, it is one of the reasons that Jesus only had 12 disciples. So that they could learn from Him and then in turn to teach others.
Even Jesus laid down tough teachings that are meant to show us how to live but also to show us that the way God wants us to live to much deeper than just following a set of rules.
I want to show you one of these tougher teachings of Jesus that is there to protect us and help us live a Godly life.
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
I thank God all the time for His grace and His mercy. That is not a single person that can follow this command with Jesus in their heart. Anyone that says “You fool” will be in danger of the fire of hell. I have definitely said worse that you fool. But the teaching is deeper than just how we talk to each other. I want you to think about how much effort it takes to be angry. How much effort it takes to hate someone or something.
The only outcome that will happen is the hardening of your heart which pulls you away from God. Imagine if you only took these two verses and tried to put them into action in your life, what would your life look like? That is what Paul is trying to show the Galatians, these things are in the Bible because God loves us, because God wants to protect us and because it leads to a Godly life.
Now let’s get to the next example of Grace that comes from the cross
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Today is Father’s day. I did not plan this sermon around Father’s day. We started Galatians and it was my day to preach and this is the scripture we landed on. I found that to be pretty interesting. It was not planned on my part.
So in Jesus we all become children of God. This is honestly mind blowing to me because and it also validates Paul’s entire point of justification by faith. There is no way to earn this, an adoption is solely based upon the parent or guardian. Thus God is in complete control of this and yet with our belief He makes us co-heirs with Jesus. Through Jesus we are able to become heirs to the promise made to Abraham.
Now think about that for a moment. Abraham, the patriarch of all of this. You are now part of that line. The promise that God made Abraham roughly 4,000 years ago, you are part of that now. I don’t know about you but that is unreal to think about.
All are one in Jesus. Jesus is the high priest, He is the leader and we are all equal as one. In a world divided there is a reason the Gospel continues to prove to be counter-cultural, proves to be the true unifier of people. Because it doesn’t matter what we look like. It matters where we put our faith. If you are a brother or sister in Jesus, then you are my brother or sister. We live in a time in which the traditional family unit is there anymore. We are there though, we need to be the spiritual leaders, or be the brother or sister that people need. I pray that you had a great father in your life and if you didn’t, I know how that feels.
But here is the truth no one can compare to the true Father. Look at all He has done for you in your life. Look at the grace and the way that He takes care of all of us. The true epidemic is a spiritual one
People are more connected than ever and yet we are more lonely than ever. The answer isn’t a new app or a new way to text. The answer is the Gospel. The answer is small groups, the answer is finding fellow believers in Jesus.
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
The time had come for Jesus to come. Every person’s spirit cries out for Abba. What God has done for his children , when you sit down and look at it, is unbelievable.
No longer are you a slave to sin, and it isn’t just breaking the bondage of sin. God takes it one step further and you become an heir.
So now we can update this list of graces that God has bestowed upon us
Freedom from the law
Justification by faith
Forgiveness of sins
the Holy Spirit
5. Adoption as a child of God
God has taken the things in our lives that has broken us and through faith made us whole again. This is why every miracle was not simple a physical healing. Jesus healed every part of the person. When I look at these list of graces from God, Jesus is still healing us fully today. We have the power of the holy spirit. We have forgiveness in our lives, we have freedom. We have people in our lives, Christians brothers and sisters. These are all things that we can experience each and every day when we devote our lives to following Jesus.
Let us pray