You would open your Bibles to
Galatians chapter four. That's where our lesson will
be taken from this morning, Galatians chapter four. Before we begin,
let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
that out of your rich, abundant mercy and grace and provision
for your people, That you've given us another day to gather
together and to worship you. And Father, how I beg of you
that this morning you would give us a time of true worship. That
you enable us to forget about all the thoughts and cares and
worries and even the joys and pleasures of this life. Let us
forget about those things for a time. And to set our affection
on things above. We pray for a heart of worship,
Father, that you give us a heart that worships you as you ought
to be worshiped, that thanks you and praises you as you ought
to be thanked and praised. And Father, we thank you for
this place. How we thank you for a place that you provided
we can meet together and worship with unity and love for one another
without fear of reprisal or Anything from this world, Father, we're
thankful. And I thank you for each home that's represented
here. Father, how I thank you for each
one of these brothers and sisters that you've gathered together.
I pray your richest blessing be upon our homes, that you'd
leave, that you'd guide, that our homes would be places where
Christ is king, where Christ is worshipped and talked about,
and he's preeminent in all things, that our homes be an example
of a place where grace reigns. Make us a gracious and a loving
people and show that to each other, I pray. Father, for all the countless
many blessings that you've given us, we do thank you. But in this
flesh, we freely confess we are poor and needy creatures. And
we pray that you'd meet our need according to your wisdom and
goodness to your people. We pray that you'd comfort those
who are brokenhearted, that you'd lead those that are confused
and in darkness and hurting. We pray that you heal those,
Father, that are sick and need you especially at this time. These cases seem so difficult
to us, but how thankful we are that they're not to thee, that
you can do all things and that you do all things well according
to your purpose, your eternal purpose for your people. Father
again, we pray you bless us, bless us in this hour, bless
us in the worship service, that you give us a time where you
speak to us through your word, we pray. For the glory of our
Savior's name, the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray and give thanks,
amen. All right, Galatians chapter
four. Now Paul wrote this letter not just to one church, but to
several churches scattered throughout the region of Galatia. And he
wrote to make this point clear to the believers, the different
churches who would read this letter. This is his point. The
believer is free from the law. In Christ, we're free from the
law. And we're never truly free until we surrender our all to
Christ. We've got to surrender to him
in order to be free. So a believer is free from the
law. I'll tell you what that means.
We're not governed by the law. not motivated by the law. A believer
is governed by and motivated by love, by love for Christ and
his love for us. Now, the law put us in constant
slavery, constant fear. The law put a burden on us that
we're not able to bear. And once Christ has set you free,
from that awful condition. Once you've been set free from
the burden of that message of the law that's constantly beating
you up and telling you what you've got to do, you've got to do better,
you've got to do more. Once you've been set free from
that and you've heard the message of grace, free grace, free salvation
in Christ, and you're free from that awful condition of slavery
to the law, why would you ever turn from that freedom and joy
in Christ to go back to the fear of the law? Why would you do
that? That's what he's asking them. In chapter three, verse
one, he says, Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Who's
twisted your mind and cast a spell on you that you should not obey
the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set
forth, crucified among you. Once you've seen, once God's
enabled you to see Jesus Christ and him crucified, why would
you ever look away from him and look back to anything else? That's
what he's asking them. And I can imagine the Apostle
Paul sitting down to write this letter. And he's very worried.
He's very worried about anyone who would turn from freedom and
grace and return back to the bondage of the law. He says,
there's something wrong with you if you do that. And he's
very worried. Paul preached to these people.
He knows him. He loves him. He's very worried.
He stands in doubt of anyone who would turn away from Christ
to look anywhere else. He doubt, he rightfully doubts
their salvation. And he asked them, how can you
do this? How can you turn from Christ
back to the weakness of your own works? He said, that's absurd.
Look here in verse nine of Galatians chapter four. He says, but now
after that, you've known God or rather are known of God. How
turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements? Where into
you desire again to be in bondage? How can you desire to go back
to bondage once you've been made free in Christ? That's his question. And he gives us an example of
what he's talking about beginning in verse one of chapter four.
He says, 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 he's under
tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Now, this is the example Paul uses. There's a rich man. He's
got lots of money, lots of land. He's got a big farm, huge cattle
farm, huge orchards. And he's very wealthy. And the
man's got one child, one son, his only child. And that child
is the heir of everything his daddy owns. He's going to get
it all someday. But right now, he's just a boy,
four or five years old. Now he's there. He's there. One day he's going to own it
all. But right now, his father's not going to allow him to have
any control over that farm. That little boy can't say, tell
you what we're going to do. This year we're going to plant
corn on this field, and we're going to plant beans on this
field. That's what we're going to do. And then we're going to take
this herd of cattle over here, we're going to sell them. And
that bull, we're going to sell him. And we're going to go over here,
and we're going to buy all these calves, and we're going to buy that bull. His father's
not going to allow him to make decisions like that. He's not
equipped to do it yet. He can't do that yet. He's got
to learn a lot of things before he's able to. He's just five.
He's just a little boy. Now he's the heir of everything,
but he's not old enough to take possession of that inheritance
yet. His father's not going to turn it over to him until the
father says it's time. So in the meantime, until the
father decides, OK, now it's time to turn everything over
to my son, that boy's got a lot to learn before he can take possession
of his inheritance. He's got to learn about that
farm. He's got to learn how to run it. He's got to learn how
it works. And if his daddy's smart, I'll tell you what he'll
do. He'll start that boy at the bottom of the totem pole. He's
going to start him out shoveling manure out of the horse stalls.
That's where he's going to start. Instead of deciding where he'll
plant beans and corn What he's going to do is he can go plant
beans and plant corn where somebody else tells him to do it. He's
going to learn how to plant. He's going to learn how to take
care of the horses and clean them and do all those things.
And farmhands, just uneducated farmhands who just are servants
of his father are going to be over him. They're going to be
in control teaching him and telling him what to do, how to do it,
when to do it. If he's supposed to be planting
beans and he's over there sitting under the shade tree watching
the clouds, that farmhand, that uneducated farmhand, he's got
three teeth in his head, is going to come up to that boy and say,
hey boy, get busy. Get your lazy butt up and go
over there and clean. Go over there and plant. Go do
what I told you to do. Don't let me catch you doing it again.
And he can talk to that boy that way because even though he's
the heir of everything, right now he's at the bottom of the
totem pole. He's learning. Somebody's got
to teach him how to work, how to work on that farm. Somebody
else is going to teach him how to read and write and do math
so he can keep ledgers someday. Somebody else is going to teach
him about land management. Somebody's going to teach him
when it's time to rotate your crops, when to switch around
your beans and corns and things. Somebody's going to teach him
about animal husbandry. But now that's going to take
a lot of time. And once those farm hands that tutored him and
taught him everything he needs to know about how to run that
farm, maybe he's up in his late 20s or early 30s, his father's
going to say, now it's time. And he's going to turn that farm
over to his son. And his son is going to know
how to run it all because he's spent the time learning everything
that's necessary. And Paul tells us that's exactly
what happens to God's heirs. God put them under the law to
tutor them. to teach them very important
lessons that we need to learn before we're ready to receive
Christ, before God will reveal Christ to us. That's what he
says in verse three. Even so we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world. Now God's elect
have always been God's elect. They've always been children
of God. They just didn't know it. And I'll tell you what, they
sure didn't feel like a child of God when they were under the
tutor of the law. The law is a tough taskmaster,
and they just didn't feel like children of God when they're
under the bondage of that law. But God put them under the bondage
of the law, so the law would be the tutor to teach them the
things that they've got to learn. The law has got to teach us several
very important lessons before we'll ever come to Christ. The
law's got to teach us, number one, that God's holy. Now, you
and I cannot come into the presence of God just any time we want
in any way we want. God's holy. Even Moses could
look on God and live. Even Aaron could come into the
Holy of Holies any time he wanted to. He can only come when God
told him to. Once a year on the Day of Atonement,
he'd come into the Holy of Holies, but not without blood. He had
to come the way God told him because God's holy. The law's
got to teach us that. Second, the law's got to teach
us that we're sinners. God gave us the law to show us
this. We can't keep it. We're totally
unable to keep the law. So the law is our tutor, teaching
us we need Christ to be our obedience or we'll not have any. Thirdly,
the law teaches us we've got to have a high priest. We can't
be our own high priest. Somebody else has got to do that.
Aaron and his sons couldn't get the job done. We need Christ
to come as our great high priest. Fourthly, the law teaches us
we've got to have sacrifice. We've got to have a high priest
that he's got to have somewhat to offer. But the sacrifices
that the law requires are just elements of the world. They can
never take away sin. All those animal sacrifices remind
us. It seems not put away yet because
I got to keep offering another one and another one and another
one. The law tells us, teaches us we need a sacrifice that will
put our sin away. That's what the law is teaching
us. Fifthly, the law teaches us we need a Sabbath rest, or
we're not going to have any. The law requires us to rest on
Saturday, but we can't do it. So we need a Sabbath rest. We
need someone to come and be our Sabbath rest, to give us rest.
The law teaches us we need a prophet. We need somebody to tell us about
God. Somebody's got to speak to us
about God, from God. We need that prophet. Moses,
who wrote the law, won't work. He failed, didn't he? Moses struck
that rock twice. We need that prophet. That's
what the law is tutoring us. And the law uses the elements
of the world to put us in bondage, to teach us these things. The
Old Testament law, the Old Testament ceremonies, the Old Testament
sacrifices, all required elements of this world, didn't they? And
they're just worldly elements. But the law used those things
not to actually put away sin, not to actually appease God's
anger, but they used those elements of the world simply as pictures
of Christ, to point us to Christ. Not that we'd keep doing those
ceremonies and sacrifices, but so that we'd look to Christ who
did accomplish everything God required. Never forget this. Those elements,
those worldly elements, cannot save us. All they do is point
us to Christ. The manna that fed the children
of Israel those 40 years in the wilderness, it was just bread. That's all it was. It was nothing
more than bread. If you leave it till morning, it's going to
turn moldy and get bugs in it. So we need Christ, the true manna
from heaven, the true living bread that gives us spiritual
life. All the rivers of blood, those high priests, just kept
slitting those animals' throats. All that blood drawn and poured
on those animals, all those around that altar was a bloody, bloody,
bloody place. But it was just animal blood.
It never took one sin away. So we need Christ who comes with
pure blood, with perfect blood that will put away sin. The Old Testament law required
many, many, many washings. The priests were constantly washing
in that brazen labor out there in the courtyard of the tabernacle,
because they kept getting dirty. They kept getting dusty. They
had to wash. But all that washing, it never took away sin. It took
dirt off their hands and feet, but it didn't do anything about
their soul. It kept showing us we need to be sanctified in Christ.
Christ is the water of sanctification. He's the water of regeneration
that cleanses the soul and gives us spiritual life. That's what
the law was constantly teaching the Jews, constantly tutoring
them in while they were under the law. And you know, the Gentiles
at the same time, they didn't have the law of God, did they?
They didn't have the Mosaic law and all the Ten Commandments
and all those things. That was only given to the Jews.
But you know, at the same time, the Gentiles were in bondage
too. They were in bondage to the elements of the world. It
wasn't God's law, but it was law they made up. And anytime
man makes up some law, some way of approaching God, we always
put ourself in bondage to elements of this world somehow. Because
that's all we know. By nature, all we know is this
flesh. We don't know anything spiritual.
We're dead spiritually. All we know is about the things
of this world. So we put ourselves in bondage
to the elements of this world. I tell you what just comes so
naturally and easy to every human being. If I want God to accept
me, if I want to approach God, man says I know how to do it.
Touch not, taste not. things of this world. I'll deprive
myself of pleasures from the elements of this world in order
to make God happy with me. I won't watch TV. I won't go
to dances. I won't watch movies. I won't
wear clothes that are in fashion. You know, I won't drink alcohol.
Man's religion is a religion that just speaks to the elements
of this world. Listen to him. I'm telling you.
What do they talk about? The elements of this world. Money.
You want more money? They'll tell you how. Deprive
yourself and give and do all these different things that God
give you more money. They talk about the health of your body.
I always wonder what do they do after they talk about the
health of the body all the time, somebody dies. What do they say
at their funeral? Well, he'd still be here, but
he couldn't do what he's supposed to do, you know. But that's what
they talk about because that's what this flesh is interested
in. They don't talk to you about
Christ. They talk to you about how to
have a better life on this earth. Well, what do you do when it's
over? All these things are what Paul called in verse nine, beggarly
elements. They're just beggarly. There's
no spiritual value in them at all. And if you get them, you
know what you're left? You're left a beggar. That's
all it is. And that's what the law is given
to us, to teach us, to tutor us. Now, once the law has made
you utterly miserable, then you're ready to appreciate free grace
in Christ. That's what Paul says in verse
four. But when the fullness of 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. Now, God sent his son. A child
was born. but a son was given. He was sent
from his father. And he was sent on a mission.
He was sent to redeem his people from their sins. And he came
to accomplish that redemption by taking the place of his people.
That's why he had to become a man. He had to take the place of his
people and do what they could never do. Now the Lord Jesus
is God. Yet he was made a real man. That
man, Jesus of Nazareth, is God. But he was made a man, made under
his own law. So he was obligated to keep that
law as a man. He had to do it perfectly. And
he wasn't doing it for himself. He was doing it for his people.
He was doing it as a representative for his people because they could
never keep it. And that's what he did. He came
and he endured every demand of the law. He was made under the
law. He was made under the 10 commandments
and he kept every one of them in thought and word and deed
perfectly. He was made under the ceremonial
law. The ceremonial law, if you care to read it, you have to
block out some time because it takes up pages and pages and
pages and pages of your Bible. I couldn't remember them all.
Christ kept them all. Even as an eight day old baby,
he kept that ceremonial law, circumcised the eighth day. He
went to every feast day. He observed every Sabbath because
he was made under the law and he did it for his people. Look
over in Hebrews chapter two, I'll show you that. He came and did this for his
people as our high priest, Hebrews two verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
hath the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. For verily, he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren. that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. And
that's exactly what he did. John Gill says when Christ came
and accomplished all that, he put a period at the end of the
law, a period, a punctuation mark saying, that's the end of
the law. That's the end of the sentence.
Move on to the next sentence. That sentence is finished. It's
finished because he kept it all. And the Lord Jesus Christ, after
he worked out a perfect righteousness for his people by obeying God's
law perfectly, he went to the cross to redeem his people. He
bought back his people from the curse of the law by paying the
price the Tudor demanded. And he paid it with his own blood.
He paid it with his life. He did everything that Tudor
demanded so that his people could go free. See, you can't go free
from that tutor until you've satisfied all the requirements
of the tutor. We can't do it. We can't keep
one law. But Christ did. He kept it all
perfectly, so we're free from the law in Him. And now we are
full-fledged sons and daughters of God, full-fledged heirs of
God with all the rights and all the privileges of sons. No longer
are we the heir under the tutor of the law. Now the believer
is a mature son and daughter of God. We've been adopted into
God's family by his grace. We've been born into his family
by the spirit and the new birth. And that gives God's people a
very, very special relationship with our father. This is very
sweet. Look here at verse six. And because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Now we're sons and daughters
because Christ dwells in our heart by His Spirit. But we're
not a child because the Spirit came to us. No, the Spirit came
to us because we're already children. That's what Paul says here. Because
you are sons, that's why God sent His Spirit into your heart.
And because we're sons and daughters, We cry Abba Father. Now this
has a couple different meanings. First, Abba is the Greek word
for father. And father is the Hebrew word
for father, Abba Father. And what that tells us is Christ
is the savior of sinners. Sinners, not Jewish sinners,
not Gentile sinners, sinners from all over the world, not
just the Jews. There's grace and adoption for
the Gentiles too. God has adopted a bunch of babies
that didn't look like him. Not one of them looked like him,
did they? Whether Jew or Gentile, they did. You know, our Lord
Jesus was a Jew, but he saved a bunch of people that didn't
look like him. He saved Gentiles too. You and I don't look like
the man, Jesus of Nazareth. We don't look like him at all,
but he's adopted us, didn't he? But spiritually, None of his
children look like him. They're all dead in sins. They're
all black with sin. He's perfectly holy and clean,
yet he's washed them. He's adopted them. He's caused
them to be born into his family and he's made them part of his
family in an intimate, close relationship like you have with
your family. And that means something very
special. I love this. Abba. is the Arabic word that's
made up of just very basic sounds in that language, used to mean
father. In our language, we would use
that word like our babies learn to say dada. Dada, much to a mother's chagrin,
usually is the first word a baby learns. And for a while, that's
all that baby can say. I'm telling you, that's enough.
I remember when that's all my daughters could say. That was
enough. It was enough to always get my
attention. It always gripped my heart. And
this must be the most intimate, pure form of communication there
is between a child of God and our heavenly father. Dada. I can't say everything just right.
I don't understand everything just right. I've got notes and
I can't say everything just right. But in my prayers, I can cry
Abba, Dada. That's going to get the attention
of my heavenly father. I'm very simple, very childlike. I need him just like a child,
an infant needs his parents. But that's the sweet relationship
that a child of God has with our heavenly father. Why on earth would you ever quit
that sweet, intimate relationship with your heavenly father and
return back to the bondage of the law that doesn't care anything
about you? Why would you do that? Being a child of God is the greatest
honor a son of Adam can ever have. So why would you go back
to the law, which constantly beats you, which constantly shows
you your wickedness and your sin and your disobedience. Why
would you do that? That's what Paul asked in verse
seven. He says, wherefore, because of that, 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 you knew not God, you did service unto
them, which by nature are no gods. Now you who believe you're
not servants, you're not slaves anymore, you're mature sons and
daughters of God. Now, if you're a son, if you're
a daughter, why are you going about trying to earn something
from your father? Just like that farmhand's got
to earn his paycheck. Why are you going about serving
your father in the same way that old farmhand serves your father?
He's serving him out of money. He's serving him if he's a slave,
he's serving him out of fear because he has to. If he's a
hired hand, he's just serving him for a paycheck. And if he
works real hard, The reason he's working real hard is he wants
a raise. It's not because he loves the father. Why are you
serving your father like that slave does? Serving him out of
love like a son. That's what Paul's saying. If
you're a child of God, you already have everything God has for your
sinner in Christ. You already have it all. So why
are you trying to earn something from God through the law, just
like you did when you were under that tutor? Now here's the illustration
that Paul uses to make this point to answer his question. Why would
you ever turn from the freedom that you have in Christ to go
back under the bondage of the law? Verse nine. But now after
you have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn you
again to weak and beggarly elements? Or until you desire again to
be in bondage? Now here he says after that you've
known God or rather are known of God. Believers do know God. God saved you, you know him.
He's revealed himself to you and you know him. Certainly we
know in part, just a very small part, don't we? But we do know. We know him. We see through a
glass darkly, but we do see. But I tell you, I know God, but
now my salvation depends on God's knowledge of me much more than
it does my knowledge of him. My real comfort is this truth.
God knows me. Not really so much I know Him,
but He knows me. So I tell you, I'm gonna get
Alzheimer's disease, I'm gonna forget. Now He might be the last
thing I forget, but if I live with that disease long enough,
I'm gonna forget. But God never forgets. The only
thing God says He's ever forgotten is the sin He put under the blood
of His Son. If He knows you, He's not gonna forget you. That's
eternal life. If God knows you, He's revealed
Himself to you so that you know Him, you trust Him. You can rely
on Him. Even if you get dementia and
forget your own name, you can rely upon Him. He'll never forget
you. Look over at 1 Thessalonians
1. But once you've known God, I want you to look what happens
when Christ is revealed to the heart. Once you know Him, you'll
turn to Him. That's what Paul tells the church
at Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you. When you heard
the gospel, when we entered in unto you and Christ was revealed
to you, how you turned to God from your idols to serve the
true and living God and to wait for his son from heaven, whom
he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from
the wrath to come. See that Paul says, we came preached
to you. You turn from your idols. You turn from your bondage. You
look to Christ. Now, how can you ever turn away
from him? If you've ever got a view of
Christ, how can you turn from him? If you turn away from Christ
to trust in something else, something's wrong, something very wrong.
It's just like these rich man's son. Paul began all this with
this rich man who's got this son who's heir. He spent all
that time being trained by that stable hand. He spent all that
time working out in the field under the rule of that cruel
three-toothed farm hand, you know. But finally, the father
says, it's time for my son to take possession of his inheritance.
It's time for him to be the governor of all my estate. It's time for
him to quit shoveling out horse stalls. It's time for him to
quit doing the planting. It's time for him to start running
this operation. Somebody else can do all that
stuff. And that young man takes over, and he's in the big house
for a while, you know, he's got him a big desk and a big office,
he's making all the plans and keeping all the ledgers. And
one day that son goes back out there to the stables, and he
starts shoveling manure. And he waits, he keeps waiting
on that stable hand to tell him what to do, and he won't do anything
until that stable hand tells him to do it. And the neighbors
look at that son and say, what is wrong with that boy? He's
the governor of all. He doesn't have to do what that
stable hand tells him to do anymore. He's the heir. He's the governor
now. He's free from that because he's made a ruler. What's wrong
with him that he'd go back under the rule of that uneducated,
cruel man? Something's wrong in him. Well,
Paul says the same thing is true about someone who turns from
freedom in Christ to go back under the bondage of the law.
Something's wrong with that person. And Paul tells us this too, if
you turn away from God to turn to something else, you have to
turn to something inferior. God's overall, He's superior
to everything. If you turn from Him, Christ
has been given all preeminence. If you turn from Christ, you
must turn to something inferior, right? Well, any idol we have
is inferior to God. Paul calls those idols weak.
And the word means impotent. They have no power. They have
no power to say. Who would want to turn to an
idol and trust in an idol that doesn't have any power to save?
He doesn't have any power to forgive your sin. He doesn't
have any power to keep you. He doesn't have any power to
protect you. He doesn't have any power to give you life. You think
of the power of our God to save. He saves to the uttermost all
that come to him through the Lord Jesus Christ. Why would
you ever turn from Him? And he talks about these weak
and beggarly elements. Beggarly means lacking. These
idols, they lack everything we need. They lack righteousness.
They lack mercy. They lack forgiveness. But in
Christ, we lack nothing. Well, why would we ever turn
from that all sufficiency of Christ to an idol that lacks
everything? Something doesn't make sense
there. In Christ, we have all things, everything. Why would you leave Christ to
go back to being a beggar with nothing? Now, I don't think anybody here
has a problem with bowing down to and worshiping or trusting
in a ceramic statue. But don't be deceived. Idolatry
is alive and well in our nature, in our first nature. And I tell
you, the main problem we have It's the idol of self. And that's
the idol we've got to so guard against trusting in. I give you
just a couple examples here in closing. These are things that
man does by nature, that we do service to these things that
Paul talked about in verse eight. If we begin to trust in our own
obedience to the law, we think that, well, Christ has saved
me by his blood and by his righteousness, but I can keep the law and do
some things to make God more pleased with me than he already
is in Christ. If we do that, you know what
we've done? We've made an idol out of our own selves. We've
made an idol out of our ability to keep the law. We've made an
idol out of ourselves, thinking we're the one that can do the
saving. Now guard against that. Don't trust that idol. You trust
Christ, our righteousness, who established righteousness for
his people. His righteousness is the only righteousness you
can ever have. If you try to add to it, you've ruined it,
and have not. And this is a trap even believers
fall into. We think, well, you know, I really
would like God to hear my prayer. This is very important. I'd like
for him to hear my prayer. I better do some good deeds. Before I go to him and pray,
I'm going to do some good deeds. I'm going to live right, you
know, for a couple of weeks, and then I'm going to go to him in
prayer and he'll be more likely to hear me. Now wait a minute,
you just made an idol out of your works, not your morality,
didn't you? Rather than trusting in Christ to be accepted in the
beloved. Then we think, and we think this,
because this is what the world says. Like, well, I need a raise
down there at work. Before I go ask my boss for a
raise, tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to increase
my giving. I'm going to start putting more money in offering, and that
way God will give me a raise. Haven't we just made an eye on
a lot of our works? Have we just made an eye on a
lot of our giving? Yes, we have. Instead of trusting in God to
provide, we're trying to do something to coerce God into giving us
something. Now, we ought to give out of a cheerful heart. God
loves a cheerful giver. We ought to give out of a cheerful
heart, but never so that God will give us more. We give out
of a grateful heart for what he's already given us. And then
last, we think this and guard against this. We think, oh, you
know, if I give up some pleasures of this life, there's some things
of this life I really enjoy, but you know, if I give them
up for a time, God will be more pleased with me. Isn't that what
the Catholics do with Lent? For however many days I'm gonna
give up something, God will be happy with me. I had a friend
in high school that gave up chocolate for Lent, and I was like, you're
kidding me. You think God's gonna make you
more pleased with that? And then it got to be a stressful
situation in those, was it 40 days? In those 40 days, we got
to be stressful. Well, then you need some chocolate
and God, you know, will count that. Really? But don't we sometimes fall into
that? I just give this or that up, you know, God be more pleased
with me. Tell you what we've done when we do that. That is
very, very, very serious. We made an idol out of our sacrifice.
Hmm. rather than trusting the sacrifice
of Christ to be all we need. Now, why would you ever want
to trust in something so weak and beggarly that we can do,
rather than trusting in Christ who's already done it all? That's
the trap that they fell into at Galatian. That's why Paul's
writing to warn them of that. So let's pray. Let's be vigilant
and pray that God will keep us from falling into that trap and
looking away from Christ. All right, Lord bless you.