Let me read the first 11 verses here, and then we'll ask
the Lord to bless His Word. Paul says here in verse 1, Galatians
4, 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 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. And because ye are sons,
God has 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. How
be it 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?
He observed days and months and times and years. I am afraid
of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Our Father, we pray that you
would bless your word. Enable us this morning to worship
you in spirit and in truth. Enable us to give unto you the
glory due unto your name. And our Father, we thank you
for your mercies. We thank you for all the blessings you've
given us, especially the blessings we have in Jesus Christ. And
what we pray for ourselves this morning, Father, we pray for
your people throughout this world. I pray for the ability to rightly
divide the word of truth this morning. I pray that you would
send it forth in power and to the heart of your children. Our
Father, we ask these things in Christ's name, and amen. I titled this message, The Law
and the Air. or the teacher and the student.
This is what Paul is dealing with. Now in chapter 3, Paul
dealt with the end of the ceremonial law. It's no longer needed, it's
over. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment
of all the types, all the pictures, All the, as Paul said here, the
elements, you are under the elements of the world. He's talking about
ceremonial law. You are under the types, all
those pictures, the animals, and all those were types. They
were just elements used from this world to picture the Lord
Jesus Christ. You're not under that no more.
And that being so, don't, that's what Paul's saying, don't reestablish
what God has put away. Don't reestablish what Jesus
Christ has fulfilled. Also at the end of chapter 3,
Paul ends with the believer being Abraham's seed and heirs according
to the promise. You're not heirs according to
law, you're heirs according to promise. You're already heirs. You know, God saving me didn't
make me an heir, He saved me because I am one. He saved me
because I am an heir. There's something very important
here that just, it's never stood out. It never stood out to me
before until this week. And I hope I don't forget it.
I'm good at forgetting things. Okay, so now Paul, listen, and
this, get this in your mind, get this in your mind. Paul is
going to use Israel under the Old Testament, under the Old
Testament economy, under the law. He's using Israel as an
immature child. Look at this as one person growing
up, being tutored, instructed, disciplined. And when they're
finally grown up, they are released from their tutor, their teachers. They're free. In Christ we're
free. He put an end to our tutors,
the types and pictures of the law. We don't need them no more,
or the types and pictures of Christ in the law. So he says
here in verse 1 and 2, he speaks of the heir. This is who he's
speaking to, the heir. When he's a child, he's no different
than a servant. though he be Lord of all, though
he's heir of all things, yet when he's a child growing up,
he's no different than a servant." In other words, he is under bondage
to the teacher, to the instructors, to his parents. The parents are the instructors
and the child, when you think about it, the child is in a sense
under bondage. You don't just do what you want
to do as a child, do you? Not if you have good parents.
If you have good parents, you don't. You've got to be home
at a certain time. You've got to do certain chores.
Why? Because mom and dad said so.
They are the teachers. And this is Israel. God put them
under a tutor, under the ceremonial law for their instruction and
for ours. We look back and read this, it's
instructions to us. So the heir, when he's a child,
is no different than a servant. And the reason is because he's
under masters and tutors, instructors, teachers, and he's disciplined. He's under them until the time
the father appoints. There comes a time that you grow
up. There comes a time you don't
need the teachers and instructors no more. I'm not under the tutelage
of my parents anymore. You know, there was a time I
grew up and left home. I just matured. That's what it's talking
about, matured. I grew up and matured. I didn't need them anymore.
So here, Israel, listen, Israel was under the ceremonial law
for an appointed time. And we see that in verse 4. But
when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law. But they were under
that for an appointed time by the Father, until Christ should
come and put an end to it." And here in verse 3 and down to verse
9 or 10, he makes the application of what he's talking about here.
He gives this example of a child being under a tutor, under teachers,
And then the child grows up and he's not under them no more.
So Paul says here in verse 3, even so we, who's he talking
about? He's talking here about the Jewish
believers under the Old Testament. There were believers among Israel. Not all of them believed. There
was a stiff-necked people, but there were some that did believe.
They believed. Even so we, that is we Jew, we
Jewish believers were like children in understanding. They were the
infant church state is what they were. They were like infants
and they was an infant church state is the way Paul was setting
them forth here. And God taught them, He taught
them, the ones who believed, He taught them through the types,
the ceremonies, the pictures, all of those things that pointed
to the Lord Jesus Christ, He taught them by them. They were
the instructors and teachers at that time. As He says there
in one place, that you were kept under bondage, you were kept
under these tutors. But when the appointed time came
there in verse 4, when the appointed time had come, which God had
appointed in the covenant of grace, God appointed the law, the types of pictures,
for a certain amount of time. It was just for a limited amount
of time. It was not for always. It had a time limit on it. And
God put that time limit on it in the covenant of grace before
the world began. When he made this covenant with
Christ, before Christ came into the world, this pictures and
types and all this was given for a certain period of time. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, made of a woman, not made of a sinful man, not conceived by the seed of
a sinful man. God is His Father. The human
nature of the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit
in the womb of a virgin. He was a real man, a real representative,
a real substitute. Made of a woman, that's what
he's talking about. He came in the flesh. He's talking about
God Almighty came in the flesh. And he was also made under the
law. He's subject to the law, the
same law you and I are subject to. He was subject to it. He's
subject to the civil law. He was subject to the law of
the home. He's subject to the ceremonial law. He is subject
to the moral law as the man and as our surety. Made of a woman,
made under the law. He was subject to the law. And
it's for this purpose, in verse 5, to redeem them that were under
the law. It doesn't say to try to redeem
them, does it? It says, "...to redeem them."
That is so clear. He redeemed them that were under
the law. Who's He talking about? The heir. He's talking about the heirs.
He's saying that the heirs that were under the law, this law
that was given for a time, that the Son of God came, born of
a woman, that He might be our kinsman-redeemer, He had to be
our kinsman, It has to be the same nature that sin has to be
the one that dies. It can't be an animal dying for
a man. It had to be a man dying for a man. But it had to be the
God-man. It had to be the God-man. And he came to redeem the heirs. You and I were heirs before the
world began. to redeem them that were under
the law. Not try to, but to redeem them
is what He came for. Jesus Christ came into this world
and purchased our freedom from the law. The law owned us. The law had a claim on us, you
know that? The law had a rightful, legal claim on every one of us. Every one of us. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into this world, took upon
Him flesh and blood, that He might shed His blood and redeem
us, purchase us back from the law. He did this. And He did it also for this purpose,
that being redeemed from the law, being purchased from the
law, the curse of the law, we might be adopted. We might be
adopted. You cannot adopt my son. He's my son, he's at home, but
I tell you what, if I'm gone and he doesn't have a parent,
you can adopt him, can't you? But you're not gonna adopt him
as long as he's mine. Well, the law had a claim on
us, and Christ took care of that claim. And now we can be adopted,
we can be adopted as children of God, as sons of God, and we
can be made to realize the riches that we have in Christ, the riches
of God that he has for us in Christ. We can now realize that
because he has legally adopted us. God has legally adopted us. We're his, we're sons of God.
We are sons of God, listen, we are sons of God by election.
He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
That's a beautiful, beautiful doctrine. God chose us. He chose us to be sons, He chose
us to be heirs of all things. I'm just, the older I get, I
was telling this to Vicki, we were talking yesterday on the
phone. The older I get, the more I realize how important it is, I said,
to know the Lord Jesus Christ and to just seek after Him and
know all the things that I have in Him as much as I can in this
life. I have, and you have, a rich,
rich inheritance that God has given to us. You know, if my
parents, they leave an inheritance, when my mother passes away, there'll
be an inheritance, they'll leave us an inheritance, but that's
temporal, isn't it? If your parents leave you something,
mine leaves me something, sooner or later it'll be spent, or I'll
die and I'll leave it to mine. But the inheritance that we have
in Jesus Christ is eternal. It's an eternal inheritance.
It will not fade away. It's laid up in heaven, the Scripture
says, for you. It's for you. That we might be adopted. We
are adopted as His sons, we are elected as His sons, we are chosen
by grace, we are purchased, we are born of God. I mean, you're
talking about covering all the bases. Adopted, elected, purchased,
and born of God. We're sons of God in every way.
In every way. And we have full rights of sonship. We have full rights of sonship.
Being joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Now listen. In verse 6. This is so powerful. This is
so powerful. And because ye are sons, God
has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father, not to make you His son." Now
get a hold of this. God did not send the Holy Spirit
into your hearts to make you His son. He did it because you
are His sons. That's powerful. You take false
religion, take Arminianism, it has God making us His sons. If we believe, if we repent,
if we do this, then God makes us His sons. The reason you believe
God, the reason you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
here's the reason why. You are sons. Not to make you
sons, but you are. That is powerful. That's powerful. You know, I have, I believe God.
I believe God. As me and Paul Mayhem was talking
yesterday, I said, I said, Paul, I believe God because I can't
help it. We were talking about a certain scripture. I said,
I can't help it. You believe God because you're sons of God.
That's why you believe God. He that is of God, heareth God's
words. And sooner or later, the son
or daughter, and he's speaking here of the daughters too, sons
and daughters of God, you're going to hear and believe because
you are sons, you are children of God. That's very important. All this is done for you and
in you because you are sons, not to make you a son. It's because
you are. That's very important. Now he says in verse 7, "...Wherefore,
because of this, you are no more servants under tutors, because
you are sons." You're no more under a tutor. You're no more
under the law of ceremonies. You are free as sons. The Lord
Jesus Christ has come. It's like the child has grown
up and matured, And now you're ready to graduate.
You're ready to leave these elements of the world, these types and
pictures. Basically it's saying the church
in its infant state has grown up. Now Christ has come and we've
been set free from the tutor. I thought of this this morning.
I thought, you are free as sons to enjoy the blessings of your
Father through Jesus Christ. The teacher has been retired. The teacher has been retired.
The types of pictures, all those ceremonies that were teachers,
they've been retired because the real has come. The one they
spoke of is here. We don't need them no more. You
and I don't need them no more. We don't need these types of
pictures now. We have the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus Christ has come. We know the One that the teachers
were pointing to. We know Him. And we don't need
Him no more. We are mature. There's a sense
of maturity here. And that's what he's talking
about. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son. You've grown up, you've matured,
and if a son, then you're heir of God through Jesus Christ.
All things are yours. However, how be it then, when
you knew not God, you Gentiles, you did not know God, you did
service unto them which by nature are no gods. When you knew not
God, the Gentiles were in darkness for four thousand years. They
were in darkness. They were in darkness. Now they
had the law written on their hearts. You know, and there's
a sense in which they were in bondage to their conscience,
because the conscience accused them. You know, that law was
written on the heart. But they found, you know, the
conscience, listen, a conscience, an accusing conscience cannot
be quieted properly. except by the blood
of Jesus Christ. That's the only thing that can
really quiet an accusing conscience. That's the only thing that can
set you free, that can set your conscience free. Paul speaks
of a pure conscience. We worship God in a pure conscience.
If we worship God in Jesus Christ, we worship God in a pure conscience.
Apart from that, it's not so. It's not so. When you knew not God, you Gentiles,
you didn't know God, you were in darkness and you were in bondage.
You were in bondage to gods that were no gods. Now that's sad, isn't it? To
be in bondage to a god that doesn't even exist. That's what that
is, is superstition. You're in bondage to superstition.
But now, now, but now, After that ye have known
God, God has made himself known to you through the preaching
of the gospel." But then Paul says, or rather, you're known
of God. Remember the Lord said to those
who said, we've preached in your name, we've cast out devils in
your name. And he said, depart from me, I never knew you. But
he knows you. He's speaking here of a relationship.
You know God and God knows you. You're known of God. Here's a
question. I can see Paul shaking his head. This being so, you know God through
the gospel, the gospel that I have preached to you, the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ, what you have in Christ, the freedom you
have in Christ, the relationship you have to God in Christ. How? How can you turn How turn you
again to the weak and beggarly, then that's all they are. They're
just these types and pictures. They're just weak and beggarly
elements. There's no power in them. They
couldn't save you. They never saved one person.
How do you turn to the weak and beggarly elements of the world,
whereunto you desire again to be in bondage, whether it be
to the God of your imagination, or whether it be to the law of
ceremonies? How can you turn to that again
after you've been set free? After you have known the gospel,
how God saves sinners, how you can stand before God just and
justified, how can you turn from that? How can you turn from that and
go back into bondage? You gonna go back under your,
you gonna call your teacher back up and say, I need you to come
out of retirement? You gonna do that? I tell you what, I haven't
got one teacher in my high school years or all my years that I'm
gonna call up and say, I need you to come back and teach me
again. I'm like, adios. I ain't coming back and you're
not either. I have to say this, if I have
to call them back, I didn't learn much, did I? If I have to call
them back to be my teachers again, if the job didn't work the first
time, why do I think it's going to work the second time? And Paul's really painting a
picture here. He paints them as the heir. They
were under the law of ceremonies and types and pictures for a
while. They were tutors, they were teachers, they were your
master to instruct and teach you. But now that the Lord Jesus
Christ has come, the one they pointed to, the teacher has been
retired, you've grown up now, you're mature. And now we look
to Him and Him only. We know who He is. We know who
He is. Listen here, He says, you observe
days, feast days, you know, they was trying to observe certain
feast days. You observe days and months and
times and years, you've gone back under bondage. That's bondage. That's bondage. When you have
to observe, certain things, at certain times, you know, as a
religious ceremony, thinking that God is pleased with this.
Thinking that it has something to do with your acceptance with
God. He said, that's bondage. And
this is what you want to be under? You observe days, months, and
times, and years? And in verse 11, he says this,
and this is a powerful, powerful statement he makes. I'm afraid of you. I'm afraid
for you. If you continue on in this manner,
it's evident, it's evident you didn't understand the gospel. If you continue on in this manner,
My labor among you was in vain. It didn't do you any good at
all. Not at all. After I read that and I wrote
down this verse 11 here, I wrote down, Oh God, save us from everything
but Christ. Save me from everything but Jesus
Christ. It's like when they was on the
Mount of Transfiguration, they said, Lord, you want us to make
a tabernacle, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. And then then then they all they
disappeared. And then they saw Jesus only. And that's exactly where I want
myself and you to come to every week, every week. I want us to
see Jesus Christ only and everything else. I don't want to make a
shrine to this one or a shrine to that one. I don't want to
make a, it's the Jesus Christ only. You know, we dedicate anything,
we dedicate it to Jesus Christ only. I went through the other day
and I took these nameplates off. I took the nameplates off, it's
dedicated to this and this. There's one person here we dedicate
things to, Jesus Christ, and nobody else. If you're gonna
dedicate something in the name of, dedicate it in the name of
Christ, not in the name of I don't, you know, I love my mother and
father, but I'm not going to dedicate anything to the church
in their name. I'm going to dedicate it in His
name. It's the Lord's name. That's not being hard. That's
just being so. That's being so. Our walk, our walk, our talk,
now get this, our walk, our talk must match the gospel we preach
and believe. It has to. It has to. All right.