Bondage, Deliverance, and not turning back

Introduction:

in chapter 4 of our study of the book of Galatians we see the book switch a bit to a new subject...

it starts down the same road of proving we are JUSTIFIED BY FAITH ALONE and it switches around verse 7 to an appeal to the saved to live the faith we claim in our lives....

and this is an important topic to be honest because while some are saved very few actually live out their faith in their life...

again its not about the law…

so its not about going to church even though we are called to corporate worship of god it doesn’t save us

its not about baptism or the lord supper even though we are called to observe the ordinances they don’t save us

its not about doing this or doing that salvation is about forgetting whats logical and simply believing in the savior as our personal savior

and all that is great stuff, but what do we do then?

so many are claiming christ but so many don’t live for christ… and this is where it kind of gets tricky for some of us because we need to live our faith and glorify our savior in our lives...

people have forgotten how important it is to live for god and to live by faith and lets be honest living by faith isn’t easy especially in a world that shuns faith in God or adhearance to the Bible...

but just because it is is hard doesn’t mean we should not do it… the truth is if something is hard it is usually worth doing that much more...

we know what was happening at the time here in Galatia...

people where teaching that you are saved by law and by religion

people should be “good people” but being a good person doesn’t make us acceptable to god no matter how you look at it

people should be in church and serving locally with a bodies of believers, but that wont get you into heaven

we should always be doing the best we can do and live a life that honors God, but unless you’re saved you are not honoring god you are only honoring yourself

and after we are saved we should live rightly for god and not turn back…

but before we get to that we have to look at an awesome idea that this passage puts out which is the Fullness of time....

look at the text with me:

I. The time of bondage (v1-3)

Galatians 4:1–3 KJV 1900

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:

the illustration here is short but very descriptive… and heir who was a young child is under the care of guardians, trustees, or managers until the time appointed for him to get his inheritance

and until that time he has no more rights than a slave,

we were slaves under the elements of the world

A. what are the elements or elementary things of the world

its the elementary notions or ideas about god and the various ways man tries to approach god...

letting scripture interpret scripture (which is what we need to do in all situations) heres what that means:

it means the first principles of the Word of God or the sacrifices observances and rituals of the old testament ()

its the opinions or traditions, or teachings of men ()

its the adherence to the zodiac signs and star movements ()

its the yoke of bondage we place on us by legalistic rules and rituals ()

its the observance of the holy days of the jewish religion ()

we use all these things and think they make us right with god when in reality all these things separate us form god...

the law is fulfilled in christ and we need not adhere to it to be right with god or to commune with god because we can’t keep it and when we try we turn to pride when we use the law to show our goodness...

ritual and ceremony are all man dependent but a real relationship with god is dependent on god not men

church membership is great but it doesn’t make you a better christian it only gives the ability to worship corporately which we are called to do anyway

astrology is man taking the creation and elevating it to a spot of an idol and following after it and not god

religion and philosophy are always influenced by men and often take us away from the sufficiency of Scripture and adds opinion to it

we have said it over and over again here in this study but christ came to fulfill the law and all these approaches are approaches that don’t go through the savior who came to save men

man was ubnder bondage then because the fullness of time had not yet come...

we place ourself under bondage today because we are too prideful to take the bible as it is and we add to it with our “ELEMENTS” or our opinions

its like we drank all the milk god had for us in the bible and instead of moving on to meat we add chocolate syrup or strawberry syrup and call it something else....

but the truth is its just milk and along the way someone added something too it…

and guess what when we add sugary syrup to milk we take away some of the good thats in the milk for us...

AND THATS WHAT LEGALISM IS IN THE CHURCH… ITS SUGARY SYURP ADDED TO MILK… LOOKS GOOD BUT ITS NOT AS GOOD AS STRAIGHT FROM THE SOURCE...

and their isn’t anything wrong with liking chocolate milk but we need to move on to some meat in our churches and leave the legalism alone

because we are pacing ourselves back under bondage when the time already came for freedom

II. Time of deliverance (4-7)

Galatians 4:4–7 KJV 1900

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.

this one of the great passages of scripture dealing with the mission or work of God’s son...

understand here that god had prepared the world for the coming of Christ and that god sent him to deliver man not condemn man because we were already condemned under the law

he wasn’t to be a tool for politicians like he is today he was to be the savior of man...

A. the son of God was “MADE OF A WOMAN”

He came into the world just like all men came into the world through a woman

but he was “SENT FORTH” by god through that woman and he was “HIS (or god’s) SON”

God spoke the word and the woman conceived

and this is the virgin birth we are talking about here… but we are seeing through scripture that God’s son was sent to save man

B. the son of God was “BORN UNDER THE LAW”

jesus had to live under the law in order to secure the perfect righteousness of the law for man

he had to obey the law in every single precept

and he had to stand before god as the perfect and ideal man

he had to be the Embodiment of Righteousness

he had to do what no man had ever done and could never do and thats secure the ideal righteousness and perfection so that the ideal and perfect man could stand for all men before god

he sent his son to redeem man not oppress man or to hold us down

he didn’t come to reshackle us in a new prison or put us in bondage to a new master

he didn’t come to give us more rules we couldn’t live up to he came to save men through faith and faith alone

and once we are redeemed we are made into sons of god (like we talked last week)

not we will be children of god its that we are children of god if we are saved....

and once we are redeemed we get the assurance of being accepted by god through the spirit of his son

the spirit dwells in our hearts ad gives us a personal relationship with god

its so personal that like christ cried out ABBA FATHER we can cry out ABBA FATHER

and we are made heirs...

but our sonship and our heirship come only through the son of god…

so again we are saved by faith alone through christ alone… its not about you or men its all about the glory of god...

and then the text goes on because we have been in bondage, we have been delivered, and now we need to not turn back… to legalism or to living sinfully

III. don’t turn back

Galatians 4:8–11 KJV 1900

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? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

A. remember your former life (8)

(remember when you were not a believer)

the unbeliever doesn’t know god

that means he doesn’t know god in a personal way and god’s spirit doesn’t dwell in the unbeliever...

the unbeliever doesn’t experience a lot of things because they don’t have God indwelling them

(they don’t experience) his divine nature or his real presence or assurance

nor his care, love, life , or power

and they defiantly don’t have his confidence or provision in their life

the unbeliever doesn’t have the day to day experience of knowing god?

how many of us have experienced god moving in our life? the unbeliever doesn’t get that at all and they never will until they get saved

look here the unbeliever serves false god’s because they don’t know the real god

people have a natural desire for god thats why so many in the world have created false God’s (hinduism, tribalism, naturist, Catholicism, and on and on i could go…)

they make up a god of their mind and they go with it because they don’t know the real god and all that false god is is another yoke of bondage and chain of slavery people put on them self

man serves gods that by their nature are not gods.... they did it then and they still do it today

people get this idea in their mind and they simply go with it....

the like the idea and they follow that idea and at the end of the day that idea with send them to hell...

do good, be good, and live good still sends us to hell and no god but god will ever save a single man...

just cause they call it god doesn’t mean they are god…

the only god is the god of the bible from genesis to revelation and all other gods are mans creation… and mans creation are created from a sin filled deprived sinners mind...

and sin only brings fourth more sin… what we need is the righteous holy god of the bible in our life to see real change and experience real salvation...

B. look at your present life (9a)

if you're saved you have been given the awesome privilege of really knowing god…and you are known by god

when we accept christ as our savior and really believe in him we come to know him on a whole new level...

the new knowledge of him is an intimate and real knowledge that only comes from real salvation

we are not the worlds we are the saviors and we are to separate to that knowledge of the savior look at this:

2 Corinthians 6:17–18 KJV 1900

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

2 corinthians

christian listen to me… we need to be looking at our lives and asking ourselves if we are out from among them (the world)

we need to understand that we are partakers of the great privilege of knowing god and being known by god

we need to be in communion with god and serving god with our lives...

C. consider your turning back (9b-11)

the Galatians had turned back to the elementary things which we talked about earlier...

they were going to a system of legalism or works to be seen as acceptable to god

they were using rules and regulations of to measure their righteousness

they were seeking god through paths man had invented and we know how that turns out right?

and they were doing exactly like we do today and we measure our righteousness by looking at our own efforts and our own accomplishments...

backsliding doesn’t have to be reverting back to pagan worship because most christians backslide into legalism before they ever get to false worship

keep in mind the law and all other approaches are weak and helpless in saving man and are worthless when it comes to saving men...

today we go back to traditions just like they did...

“old paths” teachings and special days and all these other things we place as holy ...

music and styles of worship become gospel when only the gospel is the gospel

and think what we want when we try to please god through al this we eventually see we cannot...

sin only brings more sin and the law points out sin and the law accuses and the law separates us from god...

only faith and grace can bring us into a place of a relationship with god...

a life spent chasing the law is a wasted life...

every approach of men to god that isn’t through faith in christ will always fail and lead to death and condemnation....

Conclusion:

salvation only comes one way… even if you think it should be this way or that way it only comes if we go through it God’s way...

and the only way god will accept man is if we approach him through faith in christ alone...

and once we are saved we are called to live a life that glorifies god and the first step of that is looking at our life before and after our salvation…

and then we need to consider our life and where we are falling back into legalism or falling back into sin in our life...

we need to be aware of our situation and we need to be honest with ourself....

are we saved? are we living rightly?