Galatians (7)

IT’S TIME TO GROW UP!

In chapter 4, Paul explains the glorious reality of what it means to be God’s children and how awful it would be to forfeit such a privilege.

I believe the church of today much like the Galations are not living in reality they are the children of God and they are living as slaves and not enjoying those privileges.

he warns his readers not to listen to the false teachers seducing them away from Christ and back into slavery to the law rather than freedom in Christ.

One of the tragedies of legalism is that it gives the appearance of spiritual maturity when, in reality, it leads the believer back into a “second childhood” of Christian experience.

THe most immature christians I have ever met are from legalistic mindset.

They have a problem with pride, as if the way you dress makes you spiritual you can dress up a corpse but it does not make it spiritual.

The bible you set on your coffee table doesn't make you better.

I believe in the authority of the scripture I showed someone yesterday the superiority of the kjv

But that doesn't make me better

Doctrine does not make me better.

I am not going to get to heaven and the Lord say John and charles wesley you are out and cummings is in because he is right doctrinally and you are off.

There are people that read modern bibles that are better christians than I am.

Some of them can't even read.

They have a problem with people comparing themselves among themselves, it is not wise.

They can point to the problem but they are not much for a solution

A problem without a solution is a complaint.

Listen I get fired up about this.

Stop looking down your knows at your brothers and sisters in christ and love them and be an example to them serve them and build credibility with them so your words and influence mean something.

No one is going to be inspired by a judgmental legalist.

Inspire people. Love them. Stop trying to put yourself on a throne.

Remember you have to stand before God.

How do you think that will go for you?

Respect their christian liberty. Look at where they are going not at were they are.

The Galatian Christians, like most believers, wanted to grow and go forward for Christ; but they were going about it in the wrong way.

It is the same of Christians today who get involved in various legalistic movements, hoping to become better Christians.

Their motives may be right, but their methods are wrong.

They thought the Law would make them better Christians.

Their old nature felt an attraction for the Law because the Law enabled them to do things and measure external results.

Itis a lot easier to measure the length of your hair than to examine your heart.

Legalism leads to a plateau why do you go back to legalistic people and they have not grown in the last 400 years?

As they measured themselves and their achievements, they felt a sense of accomplishment, and, no doubt, a little bit of pride.

They thought they were going forward when actually they were regressing.

Such people are in a situation similar to the airplane passengers who heard their pilot announce: “Our navigator has lost our position, folks, and we have been flying rather aimlessly for over an hour. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that we are making very good time.”

Paul takes three approaches in this section as he seeks to convince the Galatians that they do not need legalism in order to live the Christian life. They have all they need in Jesus Christ.

He Explains Their Position ()

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.

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

But when the fulness 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.

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Here he explains your position in the body of Christ

We were adopted We were made his child

But it is in a way that was different than in our society when a person adopts a child

When they do that they still have different Dna even though it is a loving picture of what the Lord does

the Lords adoption is much more than that.

When a person adopts a child they still have a different look. They have mannerisms that came from somewhere else.

And there will always be the knowledge that there is a difference not one that love can’t overcome not one that has to be a problem

Nto one that inhibits love but there is a difference between an adopted child and a natural born son at least genetically.

Now I am not trying to offend anyone but I am illustrating how much better the Lords adoption is

However the Lord does something extra special in his adoption process.

He puts his spirit in you

Now God is a spirit and the bible says he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit

When he adopts us he gives us his nature

Called the new man the hidden man of the heart

The holy spirit into our hearts

Human adoption he will never have my nose my eyes

But look at this rom 8:29

You see adoption puts us in the body of Christ with all the privileges as a natural child.

We are the children of God by faith in Christ, born into God’s family. But every child of God is automatically placed into the family as a son, and as a son he has all the legal rights and privileges of a son. When a sinner trusts Christ and is saved, as far as his condition is concerned, he is a “spiritual babe” who needs to grow (); but as far as his position is concerned, he is an adult son who can draw on the Father’s wealth and who can exercise all the wonderful privileges of sonship.

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

What we were: children in bondage (vv. 1–3)

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.

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

No matter how wealthy a parent may be the child cannot enjoy that wealth as long as he is a child.

In the roman world children of wealthy people were cared for by slaves

As long as he was a child he was like the servant

No matter who his father was, the child was still a child, under the supervision of a servant

The father commanded the servant and the servant commanded the child.

In verse 3 paul says that was the spiritual condition of the jews under slavery.

So when they went back to the law or legalism

They went back to bondage and infancy and immaturity

Elements means basic principles the abcs

For years the Nation of israel was learning their abcs but when the alpha and omega came it was time to go from memorizing the alphabet to reading

The law followed the Israelite into every corner and dealt with him upon every point;

it had to do with his garments, his meat, his drink, his bed, his board, and everything about him.

It treated him like a boy at school who has a rule for everything.

Now that faith has come, we are full-grown sons, and therefore we are free from the rules that govern the school of the child.

We are under law to Christ, even as the full-grown son is still under the discipline of his father’s house; but this is a law of love and not of fear, of grace and not of bondage.

or like a young man not yet arrived at years of maturity, and is kept under restraint.

When Jesus came, His great birthday was the day of the coming of age of the Church:

believers remained no more children, but became men in Christ Jesus.

Jesus by His first advent brought the Church up out of her immaturity and her tutelage into a condition of maturity, in which it was able to take possession of the inheritance and claim and enjoy its rights and liberties.

Here is the keys now you are ready to drive

Not legalisiam lor licentiousness but maturity

What God did: redeemed us (vv. 4–5)

But when the fulness 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.

The fulness of time refers to the time when the Lord was ready to send his son into the world to die

Jesus would always refer to his time my time is not yet come but your time is always ready

The demons knew about this time

Are you come to torment us before the time

Historians tell us that the Roman world was in great expectation, waiting for a Deliverer, at the time when Jesus was born.

The old religions were dying;

the old philosophies were empty and powerless to change men’s lives.

Strange new mystery religions were invading the empire.

Religious bankruptcy and spiritual hunger were everywhere.

God was preparing the world for the arrival of His Son.

From the historical point of view, the Roman Empire itself helped prepare the world for the birth of the Saviour.

Roads connected city with city, and all cities ultimately with Rome.

Roman laws protected the rights of citizens, and Roman soldiers guarded the peace.

Thanks to both the Greek and Roman conquests, Latin and Greek were known across the empire. Christ’s birth at Bethlehem was not an accident; it was an appointment: Jesus came in “the fullness of the time.”

(And, He will come again when the time is ready.)

In the days of noah

The days of lot

That is the days of Today

The women's jezebel has invaded the church

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

Paul is careful to point out the dual nature of Jesus Christ that He is both God and man. As God, Jesus “came forth”

I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

but as man, He was “made of a woman.” The ancient promise said that the Redeemer would be of “the woman’s seed”

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Jesus fulfilled that promise

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Paul has told us who came—God’s Son;

he has told us when He came and how He came.

Now he explains why He came: “to redeem them that were under the Law” .

Redeem it means “to set free by paying a price.”

A man could purchase a slave in any Roman city (there were about 60 million slaves in the empire), either to keep the slave for himself or to set him free.

Jesus came to set us free. So, to go back into the Law is to undo the very work of Christ on the cross. He did not purchase us to make us slaves, but sons!

Under Law, the Jews were mere children, but under grace, the believer is a son of God with an adult standing in God’s family.

A child can't inherit he can't enjoy the wealth he is under a guardian

But an adult enjoys the family and can inherit and has liberty

What we are: sons and heirs (vv. 6–7)

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

the entire Trinity is involved in our spiritual experience:

God the Father sent the Son to die for us, and God the Son sent His Spirit to live in us.

The contrast here is not between immature children and adult sons, but between servants and sons.

Like the Prodigal Son, the Galatians wanted their Father to accept them as servants, when they really were sons ().

The contrasts are easy to see. For example:

The son has the same nature as the father, but the servant does not

The law could never put God's nature into you all it could do was show you your need for it

So when you go under the law you are denying the nature inside of you and he is giving the old nature the flesh an opportunity to work for it.

Stop trying to become and start being

Stop trying to make the flesh please God

Serve him in the spirit

Remember you are not a body that has a soul

But you are a soul that has a body

You are living the christian life body first instead of soul first.

The more laws you put on yourself the more you will fail the more discouraged you will get.

But when you start living as the new man it is easier

I am a son of God I enjoy his word his fellowship I enjoy righteousness

I wish I could explain it to you

I wish you would get it paul is saying

It is so simple that most of us miss it for so much of our lives.

Tea

The son has a father, while the servant has a master

No servant could say father to his master

When the sinner trusts Christ, he receives the Holy Spirit within, and the Spirit tells him that he is a child of the Father

It is natural for a baby to cry,

but not for a baby to talk to his father.

When the Spirit enters the heart, He says, “Abba, Father”

Enabling us to do what is not natural

Abba is a word that is the equivalent of our English word “papa.” This shows the closeness of the child to the Father.

No servant has this.

The son obeys out of love, while the servant obeys out of fear

The Spirit works in the heart of the believer to quicken and increase his love for God.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love” ().

“The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy [Spirit]” ().

The Judaizers told the Galatians that they would become better Christians by submitting to the Law, but the Law can never produce obedience. Only love can do that.

“If ye love Me, keep My commandments

The son is rich, while the servant is poor.

We are both “sons and heirs.” And since we are adopted—placed as adult sons in the family

we may begin drawing on our inheritance right now.

God has made available to us the riches of His grace

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

the riches of His glory

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

the riches of His goodness

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not

knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

and the riches of His wisdom

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

and all of the riches of God are found in Christ

In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

WILLIAM Randolph Hearst, the great publisher, read about a painting and became greatly interested in it. Desperately desiring to own this painting, he sent his people all over to try to locate this painting but they couldn’t find it anywhere. A year later, out of the blue, one of his employees came to him and told him that the painting had at last been found. Hearst, excited about the discovery, asked where it had been all this time. His employee said, “It was in your basement. You’ve owned it all the time.” Mr. Hearst had never read the ledger that had record of everything he owned. He did not understand the wealth that he already possessed. Many believers operate their lives never fully understanding all of the blessing that is available to them in Christ.

The son has a future, while the servant does not

While many kind masters did provide for their slaves in old age, it was not required of them. The father always provides for the son

The children ought not to lay up for the parents but the parents for the children

In one sense our adoption is not final but we have the earnest of the inheritance the spirit

second stage in our adoption corresponds to the Roman practice when a man adopted someone outside his family to be his son. First there was a private ceremony at which the son was purchased; then there was a public ceremony at which the adoption was declared openly before the officials.

We have experienced the first stage: we have been purchased by Christ and indwelt by the Spirit.

We are awaiting the second stage: the public declaration at the return of Christ when “we shall be like Him” ().

We are “sons and heirs,” and the best part of our inheritance is yet to come (see

He Laments Their Regression ()

Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

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?

That was the pegan gods they served

They were slaves to them and they were not even real

In the bible we find the gentiles sacrificing their children to Bail

Cutting themselves

Offering their substance to these images that were not even real

Motivation was fear

What can cause a person to throw their child into the fire fear for themselves

So backwards I will sacrifice my own child for my own good instead of giving myself for my child

The heathen gods you give yourself to me but our God gave himself for us first than requires us to give ourselves to him for love not for fear.

Did you like that life no it was terrible

Why are you turning back to it ?

He Seeks Their Affection ()

But then they had trusted Christ and been delivered from superstition and slavery. Now they were abandoning their liberty in Christ and going back into bondage. They were “dropping out” of the school of grace and enrolling in the kindergarten of Law! They were destroying all the good work the Lord had done in them through Paul’s ministry.

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.