Brethren, if you will, we'll
be turning to Galatians chapter 4. What if this morning the Lord
saved someone? We ask that often. Lord, come
to us. Call your people out. Bless them.
Give them hope in Christ. Break their hearts. Keep them. What if He did that today? Each time we look at this book
of Galatians, I want to remind myself and I want to remind you
the purpose of this epistle. Paul is writing to believers.
He is writing to people that Christ died for that had foolishly
and in error turned back to doing something. They turned to their
own hands. They turned from Christ. Paul was correcting them because
he loved them. What they were doing was wrong,
but He loved them. And He corrected them because
it was His duty. He was the one that preached to them. The Lord
sent Him to minister to these people, to tell them who Christ
was, and it was His duty to correct them. Tell them what they were
doing was wrong. And it's not His duty to fix them. The Lord
does that. He's just there to tell them.
Send the message. I want us to look here at all
of chapter 4. Paul asks these airing blood-bought
children of God, he asked them five questions. I ask you these
five questions. I ask me these five questions. I've seen this happen several
times over the years. I've seen people sat faithfully
underneath the sound of the gospel, underneath the faithful pulpit,
and they've walked away. After decades, and they said,
my nephew graduated seminary. I'm going to go sit with him.
Or they just turn, and the excuses vary greatly, but there's always
one excuse. They're turning from Christ. That's the problem. But does
this apply to those people that are our brethren, and they've
physically gone from us for a season? Yes, it applies to them. But
does it apply to me standing here talking to you? Does it
apply to you sitting there? Years ago, Brother Henry was
preaching. There was a man that was there
that was faithful. I envied him. He took notes like
a machine. And I felt guilty. I said, well,
I need to start taking notes. And that man is diligent. And
for years he sat there and listened earnestly with zeal. And you know what? One day he
set that notebook down. He looked up and he set it aside.
He heard something. I pray we can hear something.
Paul asks these believers here in Galatia, reminds them who
Christ was, and he asks them five questions. They're in verse
9, Galatians 4, verse 9. Paul asks them, says, since you've
heard of grace in Christ, how can you walk away from Him? How
can you walk from Him, from cross back to bondage? Galatians 4,
9. But now, after 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? Look, this last week, they were
taught correctly who God was, but God knew them. What does
that mean when God knows me? He knows who I am. He knows what
I am, knows what I'm capable of. Nothing. And he knows me
anyway. But we turn back to those weak
and beggarly elements, back to bondage, back underneath the
law. Why would we do that? Second question is verse 15.
Where is then the blessedness you speak of? That doctrine that
we run to, whether it's physically outside of this building or we
run to it in our minds and our hearts. Does it give comfort?
Does it give peace? Where's that blessedness they
spoke of? In verse 16, Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell
you the truth?" Paul says, are you mad at me because I'm telling
you the truth? Faithful brethren tell you the truth. Do you get
bad at them? Verse 21, he asks, do you understand what you're
going back to? Do you know what that law really says? Galatians
4, 21. Tell me ye that desire to be under the law. Do you not
hear the law? Haven't you heard it? Paul asks all these questions,
and then he asks the question that each of us should ask ourselves
and remind others to ask. Verse 30. Nevertheless, what
saith the Scriptures? I want us to go through these five
questions today and look at them a little deeper. I hope the Lord
will shed light on some things. Teach us how to address those
brethren that's left for a season What to ask then? And what to
ask ourselves? What do I ask me? While I was
studying this, what did I ask me? I asked myself these five
questions. It's important. Galatians 4 and verse 9, Paul's asking, Since you've heard
of grace in Christ, how can you walk away from him and back to
bondage? Galatians 4 and 9, 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." Why would you want to be in bondage
to those things? We looked at that last time, the elements. Weak
and beggarly things of works are elements. And they're all
earthy. It's all the water, the different
washings that was required, what to drink, what not to drink.
Things from the dirt, the meat, what they could eat and what
they couldn't eat. Fire for the burnt offerings. Time. The days were observed. Months. When to work, when to rest. Sabbaths. All the things we can see, do,
and feel. Things of the earth. But we are earthy. Physically,
we're mostly water anyway. We came from dirt, we return
to it. We have a fire of self-righteousness and self-serving in us. It burns. We sin against God all the time.
As long as that clock's spinning, I'm sinning. We count solely
on what we can see and what we can feel. We want an experience.
We want to see somebody else have an experience. But why would
we turn from Christ back to that earthly thing, back to ourselves,
what we are? We want something to do. We want
recognition. Pride gets us done. Well, the
Lord saved me and He did all these things, but I came to Him.
I found Him. Remember last week, David didn't
find the Lord, but the Lord said, I found Him. He came to David,
didn't He? But are sinners saved by grace
or by works? Are we saved because of these
earthy things? These things in us? Not just
the law, what's in us? Are we saved by our own hands
or are we saved by grace? Did the Lord do a work in us?
There in Galatians 2.21, Paul says, I do not frustrate
the grace of God. For if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Somebody says you have
to do something. That's as simple and as strongly
worded as I could imagine. That's our answer, isn't it?
We're saved by grace. We're saved by Christ alone.
Paul's asking these people there, he said, I ask you, and I ask
myself, how can we turn from salvation through Christ back
to that bondage of the law? Why would we want to do that?
I was thinking there have been some pardons lately, and there'll
be some more as the election season goes on. But if an inmate
was on death row, And they were pardoned. You are sentenced to
death. You've got a few months left,
maybe a few days. And the governor came in and said, you're pardoned. It never happened. You're free. Go do what you want to do. And
that person left for a while. They'd be happy when they come
out of that prison, wouldn't they? Oh, they'd rejoice. They'd hug
their family. They'd go back to doing what they did before,
go fishing or whatever they liked. And they'd be happy, free, freedom,
have liberty. And if that person said, you
know what? Put me back in that jail cell. I want my lawyer. I want to go through the appeal
process. I think we can overturn this verdict. Put me back in
that jail. We would put them in a place. It wouldn't be a
jail, though, would it? We'd put them in a hospital.
That person's crazy. And we understand those things.
The average person understands those things. That's what these
foolish Galatians were doing. That's what we do. How logical
is it for us to have total freedom from the law? There's no more
condemnation between man and God. And so you know what? I
want to do something. Put me back under that law. I
want to observe Sabbaths. I want to make myself holy. I want to sanctify myself. The
Lord did everything else, but I'm going to do that last 2%.
That's illogical. It's crazy, isn't it? That's
insulting to our Master. If Christ accomplished all the
work and we put our hands, Brother Gabe had a good reference. He
said, you're folded clothes and a small child come in. So I want
to help offshore, honey. Come on, help, help fold clothes.
And they fold the towels up and then they leave. What do you
do as soon as they leave? You fold those towels back, don't
you? Because it wasn't done right. We can't do right. We can't keep
that law. And for us to say that we can
is to say that Christ can't. Paul asks that question. He asks
again there in Galatians 4 verse 15. Where is then the blessedness
you speak of? That doctrine you're turning
to, those works you're turning to, do they give you comfort?
Does it give you peace? Does it not make you happy? I
said before, the word happy comes from happenstance. It means every
now and then. People aren't supposed to be
happy all the time. It's not normal. It's not what
the word means. But what was this blessedness they talked
about before, these Galatians? What blessedness has a believer
talked about? That first love, when we first
learned it, what did we talk about? God justified us. We didn't do
it, He did. The Lord has not imputed sin
to us. Our warfare is over. That's blessedness,
isn't it? That's being blessed. Be turning
to Isaiah chapter 40. I want to read you something
out of Psalm 32. David wrote, Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit
there is no God. Paul reminds these Galatians
that they used to speak of these blessings. That was what they
were blessed in. That was the new song put on
their lips. And he asked, where'd it go?
Where did that new song go? We start seeing someone sitting
underneath a false gospel and we ask them, does that message
comfort you? Often they say, well, he, he
says some good things. It's pretty good. That's what
you hear. Or they'll comment on things
outside the heart. Well, they got a lot of children's programs.
They got a lot of activity for the young people. They got a
lot of groups. I got a lot of friends there.
No comfort in that. Look in Isaiah chapter 40 verse
1. Here's what we're to tell them. Comfort ye my people, saith your
God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. That her iniquity
is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. We've received double. The song
says the water and the blood from my wounded side, which flow
be of sin, the double cure save from wrath and make me pure.
Lord didn't just save us. He's gave us a new spirit that's
holy. It says there in verse three, the voice of him that
crieth in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall
be exalted. Every mountain and hill shall
be made low and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough
places plain and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and
all flesh shall see together for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it. God's true messengers comfort
cross sheep by what means. How can I comfort you? I can
hug you. I can cry with you. But what's true comfort? I give
you a message. I'm a messenger. And a messenger
doesn't make the message. I just deliver what the Lord
says. It says there, For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it. And what has He spoken? The war is over. Iniquity is
pardoned. You don't need to do anything.
It's done. Christ did it all. There's comfort
in like-minded people for a season. There's comfort in children's
programs for a season. There's comfort in physical exercise
of religion, emotionalism, to physically go through it for
a season. Those things fade. Comfort and
confusion come from the same message. Christ accomplished
everything. Christ is all. For the elect,
put in His charge, Christ saved them all and gave them a new
not righteousness in the sight of the Father. That's comforting. Same message to the unbeliever,
the one that rejects Christ as a substitute. Anger comes. Confusion of anger. To believer,
peace comes. I have peace. Christ is all of
our hope for salvation. All of our hope. Our only hope. Does that make you glad or does
that make you mad? Paul asks another question. There
in verse 16, Galatians 4.16. Am I therefore your enemy because
I tell you the truth? That's what these scriptures
say. Christ is our only hope. Does that make you mad? Are you
mad at me because I'm telling you the truth? The truth is what's
in this book. It's in black and white. The
truth that sets men and women free. Free from bondage. Free
from working. Free from judgment. Judgment
of the Almighty God. I'll turn over Matthew chapter
10. If I was preaching and everybody
in the world loved it, I'd need to go back to the study. I'm
probably doing something wrong. Matthew 10, verse 20. For it
is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh
in you, which speaks that truth. And the brother shall deliver
up the brother unto death. And the father, the child, and
the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them
to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake. That's our truth. The father's
name's sake. Christ didn't tell the truth
about Christ. People get mad. But he that endureth
to the end shall be saved. That truth of the person and
the work of Christ. That's what's in this whole book
is. From Genesis 1 to Revelation
22, it's Christ. It's the person of who He is,
what He's worthy of, His majesty, and His work, what He's accomplished,
what He's done. Not what He's trying to do. I
go to work and I try to do things. You go to work and try to do
things. Nowhere in these scriptures is it ever said that the Lord
tried to do something. He does. person of who Christ
is and the work of what Christ already accomplished. It's done. Paul's asking, is that why you're
mad at me? He says in verse 14 of our text,
and my temptation, which was in my flesh, you despise not
nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ
Jesus. Where is then the blessing that
she spake of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible
you would have plucked out your own eyes and had given them to
me." What's that mean? Paul had a thorn in his side
he prayed to the Lord three times to take from him and the Lord
said, my grace is sufficient, bear with it. And many people
a lot smarter than I am say that Paul probably had severe cataracts. I talked to an eye surgeon one
time that seemed to have some knowledge on this scripture and
he said he had scales on his eyes. He said at the time they
practiced through that cataracts, he was blind. And even though
it was, they could, other people could see that he had trouble
with his eyes. And he said, if you were able,
you would have plucked out your own eyes and gave them to me.
That's how, how well you received me, received me as Christ speaking
to you and you were happy. And where did it go? When this gospel was first preached
to these brethren, they received Paul, and they received that
message of Christ as the one preaching. They were so fulfilled. They were filled full. They were
rejoicing. And that turned to bitterness,
didn't it? The message does not change, but the attitudes do.
Either a proud heart is broken and humbled, or a proud heart
is made angry at the truth, and that's always unto death. A sinner first hears these things,
it will stir up some emotions. I was mad the first time I heard
it. I said, that ain't true. Couldn't be. That was just the
heart cracking. When it was good and shattered,
then I saw it has to be true. The only hope I have. It says
there in verse 16, am I out there for your enemy because I tell
you the truth? A man that stands up and lies
to everyone is not a friend. That's an enemy. We know that
in anything. If a politician stood up and
lied to you, well, that's not your friend. That's an enemy.
If a man stands up and tells the truth, he's a friend. Paul's asking you, he said, I'm
telling you the truth. Am I your friend or am I your enemy? Lies
put us deeper into bondage. Works make us have a harder struggle. It's more of a burden. It's a
bondage. The truth sets us free. Comforts us That's my desire here San Diego
Grace Fellowship. I want our feet to firmly be
planted on the rock. It's Christ Jesus. I don't want
us to stray from it. I Don't want us to stray from
the truth that we fell in Adam the truth that if someone's redeemed
it has to be redeemed by the blood of Christ and The truth that our resurrection
to glory is because of Christ's righteousness, because of his
completed work. Paul wants these people to know
this, and he wants them to know what they're getting into. So
if you want to turn to this law, are you sure you know what you're
getting into? You want to observe a Sabbath? Do you know what that
means? You have to keep the whole law. Now what are you getting
into? It says there in verse 21, Tell me, ye that desire to
be under the law, do ye not hear the law? You who want to carry that burden
yourself, do you not see how heavy that burden is? Do you
see that that weight of that burden will crush you? Verse 17 he says, They zealous,
speaking of those people that Preach false falsehoods to them.
They zealously affect you, but not well. Those ones that's lying
to you, they've had an effect on you, but it's not a good one.
Men and women in this day, on the streets and in the pulpits
and everywhere, they tell everybody, lift yourself up. Choose to be
happy. Have an uplifting day. You can
do it. It's all up to you. You can carry
that weight and do it for God. You just have to try hard. You
can do it. There in verse 17 it says, They
zealously affect you, but not well. Yea, they would exclude
you that ye might affect them. Paul is saying they'll cut you
from me that you might be affected by them. That they could keep
you from that truth. They'll tell you anything. Keep
you looking to them. Verse 18 says, But it is good
to be zealously affected always in a good thing. A and thing
are italicized. It is good to be zealously affected
always in good. What's that good? Christ is the
only thing good we have in us. If we're zealously affected towards
Him and Him towards us, that's a good thing. It's always good.
He says, But it is good to be zealously affected always in
a good thing, and not only when I am present with you, my little children, of whom I
travail at birth again until Christ be formed in you. I desire
to be present with you now and to change my voice, for I stand
in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be
in the law, do you not hear the law? Paul is labored in these
things. He's prevailed, as in childbirth,
so these people could hear Christ. In the garden, Adam was morally
innocent. He wasn't holy. He had the ability
to sin, but he was morally innocent. He'd never sinned. He was perfect. Didn't know what sin was. Never
considered it. Wasn't a thought in his mind.
And he had one rule to keep. Don't eat of that tree. What
did he do? He hearkened to his wife and
he ate of that fruit, didn't he? If Adam can't keep the law, one,
how am I going to keep all of them? That's pretty proud to
say I could be better than him. I can do a better job than Adam
did. It's not enough to keep from murdering. We can't think
of murder. We cannot hate. That's the root
of murder. It's not enough to keep from
committing adultery. We can't think about adultery.
We cannot lust. That's the root of adultery.
We cannot covet. Jesse, if I, I'd like to have
a white van because the heat wouldn't, what gets hot in the
summertime. That's coveting, isn't it? Don't take much. I like them shoes. Why didn't
you get me some brown shoes? Wish I had something like those. We don't know. We don't know
what a mess we're in. That famous musician back in
the 50s and 60s was talking about the fall in the garden. I always
say a blind squirrel will find a nut on occasion. But he said,
speaking of that fruit in the garden, he said, the Lord said,
don't touch it. Don't think about touching it. Don't think about
thinking about touching it. We can't even think about thinking
about touching it. That's true. That's what it means. Follow the law. I was reading
through Exodus 20 and found this one word I thought I'd share
with you. The first commandment says, Thou shalt have no other
gods before me. You know what before means? You can't have any more gods
before THE God. Well, I can have Him and I can
have two or three other ones. It doesn't mean first. The word
before there, the Hebrew word, means above, according to, after,
against, among, because of, beside, between, beyond the time, by
reason of, concerning for, in, out, from, off, upon, over, or
under. We don't even know what that
law means, do we? That means there's no other God
but THE God. Our God IS God. There's only
one. If we look this clear into God's
law, it is clear that no flesh can justify themselves by the
law. No man or woman can keep God's
perfect requirements. We must need a substitute, huh?
Galatians 3 verse 11, one page over. Galatians 3 11. But that no man
is justified by the law and the sight of God, it is evident. It's obvious. For the just shall
live by faith. We have to live by faith. That's
where our life's going to come from. Do we need to walk in this
world in faith? We should, yes. Will the Lord
sustain us through His faith? Yes, He will. But our life, our
eternal life, it's by the faith of Christ. That's where life
comes from, His faithfulness. We need a substitute and faith
in Christ and His blood is the only way. If we put ourselves
back under the law, we put ourselves in the direct path of damnation. Paul has told all these things
to them there in chapter four, verse 30. He says, nevertheless,
what sayeth the scriptures? It makes no difference what one
man says over another. When I stand up and talk to you,
it makes no difference what I think my opinions are. It doesn't matter
what grandma's opinions are, what your opinions are. What
say the scriptures? What does God say about it? My
children argue sometimes, Mom, Dad said this. Dad told me to
do that. Dad told me to do this. They have their opinions, don't
they? We can laugh about those things, we're children. It matters
what Dad said. What does the scriptures say?
verse Galatians 4.22, For it is written that Abraham had two
sons, one by a bondmaid, that's Ishmael from Hagar, and the other
by a free woman, Isaac, by his wife Sarah. But he who was of
the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free
woman was by promise. God promised Abraham that he
and Sarah would have a son. And Sarah was way past the natural
years of bearing a child. It was impossible. She couldn't
have children. And the Lord said, I'm going
to give you a son. And God promised it, and then God waited 25 years. And I know this sounds crazy,
but Abraham and Sarah got impatient. Could you imagine that? Waiting
25 years? No, of course they did. Sarah
came up with a plan. She said, well, the Lord's promised
this. She said, Hagar is my handmaid. She's my helper. You go to Hagar
and you have a son with her. Then you'll have your son. The
Lord promised something in Sarah. It didn't suit Sarah and she
turned from that promise. What did she do? Put the work
in her own hand. Sarah came up with that plan
for her to have a child with Hagar. And he did and they had
Ishmael. And it says there in verse 24,
Galatians 4.24, Which things are an allegory? What's that
word allegory mean? It's a story, a poem, or a picture
that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. That's the
whole Old Testament is the gospel concealed, and the New Testament
is the gospel revealed. So all these pic-nola and ark,
that's not something that makes pretty wallpaper for a children's
nursery. It's a picture of Christ. Says
there in verse 24, now, which things are an allegory for these
are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth
to bondage, which is Agar. This represents the law given
at Mount Sinai. For this Agar, speaking of Hagar,
is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem, which
is now and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem,
which is above, is free. which is the mother of all these
sheep that are Christ's. For it is written, Rejoice thou
barren that bearest not, break forth and cry thou that travailest
not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which
hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. You're either under the law,
We're under that promise of God. Either he made a promise or you're
making a promise to keep a law you can't keep. So what happened
with Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael is a picture, it's an allegory
of what happens when we stop believing on the promises of
God and we start trying to do the work for Him. We put ourselves
in bondage. The freedom and obtaining of
the children of promise was what Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac is. What was that? Waiting on God
to do the work He said He'd do. That's freedom. You see the difference
between men trying to do work for God and God accomplishing
His work Himself? Verse 29 says, But as then He
that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born
after the Spirit, even so it is now. Isaac and Ishmael could
not live together. The works of the flesh, Ishmael,
could not live in the same land as grace as Isaac. You can't
mix works and grace. Verse 29 says, Even so it is
now. Nothing's changed from the Galatians
to today, has it? You can't mix them. You can't
add one molecule of leaven to it. It won't work. Verse 30,
Nevertheless, what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman,
Hagar, 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. If a sinner
is going to be saved, he'll have to be saved by the person and
the work of Christ, by the promise of His blood, by the Spirit coming
into their heart and giving them life, giving them the ability
to trust in Christ's work and His faithfulness. If we bundle
up all of our works together and we throw them away, where
does that leave the center? Some people say, I can't stop
doing that. What am I supposed to do? Throw them away. I've got all these idols around
my house. They're not important to me. They just help me look
to the Lord. Really? It ain't important? Get
rid of it. Throw it away. What am I going to be left with?
You'll be left holding and clinging to Christ alone. God's Son is
all you have. I know people tell me that, so
all you got down there is Christ. I say, no, isn't it great? You
got everything. It's wonderful. I don't need nothing else. Boy,
I pray people that think they do need something else, I wish
they'd see that they don't. They in need of Him. If all you
have left is Christ, you have everything for eternity. Not
just for a season. What a blessing it will be. Let's
pray together. Father, we're so prone to wonder
and it's in our hearts to look to ourselves and have anxiousness and fear and trembling. We put ourselves under bondage,
Lord. Keep us to earn. Remind us often
what a completed work your Son's done. Give us a spirit, give us a new
life and trust His faithfulness. Allow us to know that that work's
over. The war is completed. We're complete in Christ. Keep
us always looking to Him. We'll be with our brethren everywhere
as they meet this morning. Save your people as you see fit.
Add to that church daily as it glorifies you. Give us the patience
to calmly comfort our brethren. Those that stray, allow us to
be a beacon of truth, Lord, the truth of Christ. Keep us always
looking to Him and allow us to point our brethren to Him. Comfort
those that are in trials and heavy burdens, Lord. Allow them
to know that You sent it. You'll give them the grace to
carry them to the end. It's in Christ's name that we
ask it. Amen.