Turn with me in your Bibles to
Galatians chapter four. Paul has just declared the adoption
of the Lord's people by the grace of God alone and the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he's correcting the notion
that the law had anything to do with that. So he asks them,
why would you return to the law if it only brings bondage, as
we're going to see here? Why would you go back to the
weak and beggarly elements of the world. Why would you return
to that which cannot produce life? This is what he's correcting
in them. They are drawing back to the
law and their previous traditions. And that's what a lot of people
do whenever they come to the knowledge of the truth. I heard
a message one time, and I can't remember who it was. I think
it might have been Henry Mahan. But he said, when Lazarus came
forth, He was bound hand and foot, and the Lord had to say,
loose him and let him go. And so whenever we come forth,
the Lord brings us forth, calls us out of darkness into light.
There's gonna be some grave clothes that the Lord's gonna have to
shed, or we'll continue in our vain traditions, or we'll continue
in our old way of thinking. And Paul's correcting all of
this old way of thinking, saying, no, this is not okay. These are
Judaizers that came in, and a Judaizer is someone that is a lawmonger.
He's putting them under the law, saying you have to do this as
evidence, of your salvation. This is alive and well today. This is very much alive and well.
This is not something that died off. Most men and women want
to see something, all men and women want to see something physical,
something they can boast in. And Paul's saying no. No, it's
not that we know God, it's that he knows us. That's the important
part. It's not that we keep the law,
but that Christ is the end of the law because he fulfilled
righteousness. I've titled this message, Known
of God. Now let's read this before I
talk too much more. Galatians 3. And verse eight
says, no, I'm sorry, Galatians four, Galatians four, verse eight,
I wrote that down wrong. How be it then when you knew
not God, you 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 or back to
the weak and beggarly elements whereunto you desire again to
be in bondage? You observe days and months and
times and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have
besowed upon you labor in vain. He's saying. He's saying what
we know to be true. If our righteousness is by the
Lord Jesus Christ, if our redemption is entirely based upon the finished
work of Christ, and we believe that, if our sanctification is
Christ alone by his spirit, if our justification is by his finished
work on the cross of Calvary, why would you want to go back
to bondage? Why would you want to go back to the law? who can't,
it can't set you free. It can't make alive and it can't
prove anything. The law is not a rule of life
for the believer. The law is fulfilled in the person
of Christ. If you want to fulfill the law,
look to him, look to him. That's what he's saying here.
I'm reminded of the Children of Israel, their bondage that
they were in in Egypt. Now they, They were in the wilderness
for 40 years, and they prayed and prayed and prayed, Lord,
deliver us from Egypt. Lord, deliver us from bondage.
Lord, deliver us. Send to deliver that you promised.
They prayed and prayed, and the Lord did finally, didn't he?
He sent Moses. And what did they say whenever they got in the
wilderness? We loathe this light bread. Can
you imagine the Lord giving you, well, he does spiritually give
us bread every day, doesn't he? This is, Lord, give us this day
our daily bread. That was the prayer of the Lord.
Now, I know that's physical, but it's also spiritual as well.
The Lord is our bread, and the Lord tells us in John chapter
six, right here next hour, that he said, I am that bread that
came down from heaven. I am that manna. Moses didn't
give you that bread, but my father, which is in heaven. It was a
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. But they hated it. Why? Did the
bread's texture change? Did the bread's consistency change?
Did the bread's flavor change? It was exactly the same. Why?
Because we know it's a picture of Christ and it says, Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. So what changed?
Well, they did. Their taste changed. They would rather have the garlic
and the onions of Egypt than to have the bread of life. That's
the picture there. They desired those things and
they murmured and they complained. And are we so different than
they are? That's the sad part, isn't it? So many times we are
prone to wonder, prone, there's a song, prone to wonder, Lord,
I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart,
Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. If he
doesn't seal it, then we won't be kept. If he doesn't keep us,
we'll be, we'll wander away from him. And that's what has happened
here in Galatians, is that the children of the Lord, and there's
true believers here, Paul wouldn't be writing to them. He is telling
them, I'm afraid for you lest I bestowed my labor on you in
vain. You're returning back to the law. You're going back to
Egypt. There's nothing there but slavery. Remember the hard
bondage that they were in. the suffering and the pleading
and the begging and the tears shed, but now because you're
in the wilderness and you don't have, this is, don't go back
there. Lord's, Christ is all. Christ is all. That's what Paul's
telling these people here. And unless the Lord enables us,
unless the Lord causes us and makes us see that, we will never,
never see that in and of ourself. Thankfully, in spite of us and
despite us, despite the flesh's best effort to try to run away
from what the Lord has done on the inward parts, what the Lord's
done in the inward man, try to fight against it. Scripture tells
us the outward man perisheth, but the inward man is renewed.
How often? Day by day. So this flesh is dying day by
day, and the new man is renewed day by day, all by the Lord.
All by the Lord. He keeps his people. Scripture
tells us you're kept. by the power of God through faith
unto salvation. This is good news if you see
yourself a sinner, you see yourself a sinner, we're kept by his power. The children of Israel, and it's
true of us as well, they were given food and water by the hand
of God every single day, except the Sabbath day, but they were
given double on Friday so that they could put up for the Sabbath,
Saturday. Gave him water out of the rock.
He took care of them. Do you know their shoes? Their
shoes never did wear out. 40 years? Walked 40 years on
a pair of shoes? I mean, ain't no man-made material
that can do that. It's the Lord that did that.
What about their clothes? Their garments never wore out. There was no way for them to
get more clothes where they were, but the Lord kept them. What
is that a picture of? It's a picture of our righteousness.
It never withers. It never changes because it's
found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's saying,
don't look at circumstances. Don't try to look at what you
can see. Don't look at your keeping of the law as evidence of your
salvation. Don't return back to bondage. Look to the righteousness
of Christ. It never is. It's unchangeable. It's unchangeable. Look to him
for justification. Look to him as your justification.
Look to him for your sanctification as your sanctification. And if
the Lord enables us, we will. And if he doesn't, we can't.
The flesh cannot do that. Paul gives us, although all these
things are true about us and our own belief, Paul gives us
assurance. God's elect. It's not that, well
let's read this together. Verse eight again. How be it
then when you knew not God, you did service unto them which by
nature are no gods? But now after that ye have known
God, and then he changes this and says, or rather are known
of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements,
whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? What is our hope?
that God knows us, that we're a chosen people, a royal priesthood. That's what he was referring
to Jacob in Isaiah when he said, I've bought thee, I've redeemed
thee, thou art mine. Why? Because he was known by
God. Two things are very true. It's
not what we know, it's whom we know. But it's also not that
we know God, but that he knows us. Because if he knows us, we're
gonna know him. You think about the words that
he says to those non-believing people in judgment on judgment
day, and they stand before him and say, but Lord, we kept your
law. We did this. We were the circumcision. We are this. We are that. We
cast out demons in thy name. We've been faithful to church. We've tithed. We've done all
these wonderful things in thy name. What does he say? What
does he say? Depart from me. You that work
iniquity, I never knew you. Brethren, what an honor, what
a privilege to be known of God. What a blessing by grace alone
that he would choose in the covenant of grace before time ever began
to redeem a people to himself, to know them, to know them as
his bride. This is what that word no means
knowing your wife. This is a glorious truth of his
gospel to be known of God. What a what a gift of grace. What mercy. Well, the scripture
tells us clearly here in his love, not that we love God, but
that he loved us and sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to
be the propitiation for our sin. That's our hope, isn't it? That's
our hope. So how do we know God? Well,
to know God is to know God's the first cause of salvation. He is the alpha and the omega
of salvation. He's everything in between. He
saved us, his people, his chosen people, without our input, without
our opinion, But if he'd asked us, we'd objected to it, but
didn't ask us, did he? He saved us in spite of ourself, despite
of ourself, all for his glory and all by his grace. If the
Lord. doesn't save a man that way,
the man's not saved. A man can't choose to become
saved. I was talking to somebody one
time, and I've used this analogy a lot, but salvation is a choice,
is what I told them. I said, it's just not yours or
mine, it's God's, and they never came back. They wanted that ability
to choose, which was a, it's a illusion. It's an illusion. The flesh can only choose that
which is in its nature to choose, which is what Eve chose. You
think we would have chose any different if we'd have been in
the garden? No. No, certainly not. To know God means we bow to Him
choosing. We bow to Him as the sovereign
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. To know God is to see Him as
He is by faith. And the glorious news is one
day we'll see Him as He is and be made like Him, be conformed
to His image. That's when we get to experience
glorification. As far as God's concerned, it's
already happened. We just haven't experienced it yet. To know God is to know He chose
to become a man, not just any man, but the God man, 100% man,
100% God. He chose to become surety for
His people. He chose to become their substitute
on the cross of Calvary, taking their place, bearing their shame,
bearing their sin and His own body upon the tree, taking our
sin, scripture says, the handwriting of ordinances that were against
us, taking our sin out of the way, nailing it to His tree.
Those handwriting of ordinances, that was contrary to us, and
yet He took it. And what did he do with it? He
fulfilled everything necessary in order for those handwriting
of ordinances to be taken away forever. Now we have a new history.
Now we have a new history. When you know God, how do we
know God? Because he knows us. That's first
and foremost, most important. But to know God is to know that
salvation is of the Lord, that he did everything necessary for
the salvation of his people. Everything. Everything, just
to know everything pertaining to the gospel is completely based
upon God, completely based upon God's choice, completely based
upon cause and effect. You and I, we're not the cause
of salvation. We just get to experience the
effect of salvation. We get all the benefits in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the cause. He just allows
us to be the benefactors of the cause. Even our knowledge of him is
the result of him knowing us before time. Our knowledge of
him is entirely based upon him knowing us. If he doesn't know
us, we won't know him. He won't reveal himself, but
if he knows us, he will reveal himself. I love the fact that before time
he knew his people in election. He knew his people in predestination.
He knew his people in love. He knew his people in redemption.
He knew his people in every way that was necessary for when the
fullness of time came, Christ became a man. And he lived a
perfect life in our room instead, so that we might know him in
the same way that he knows us. We know him in redemption. We know him in election. We know
him in justification and sanctification, don't we? This is what it means
to know God. And if we know God, it means
he knows us. Second Timothy 2 19 tells us this. Nevertheless,
The foundation of God, stand assured, having this seal, the
Lord knoweth them that are his. He knoweth them. Therefore his
people know him now. Well, and I've already said my second point, but that's okay. In what way do we know him? We
know him as Alpha and Omega. We know him as Sovereign. We
know him as Holy. We know him in every way that he knows us now, because
he knew us first. He knew us first. We know him
as Righteousness, as Holy. We know him as Jehovah Sitkin
You, the Lord our Righteousness. How is it that we know him that
way? Because he first loved us, he first knew us, and predestinated
us to be conformed to the image of his son. That's what the scripture
tells us clearly. And I love the thought, and I've
said this too, but very soon we'll know him in glorification.
We'll know him in glorification. Therefore Paul's saying to them,
why are you returning to the former, the weak and beggarly
things of the world? If you know God, it's because
he knows you. And if he knows you, you know
him in all these ways, if he's revealed himself to you, why
would you return to the bondage of Egypt? Why would you go back
to the law? Why would you go back to bondage, he says? Oh,
there's freedom in Christ. What did the Lord say? Come unto
me, all you that are labored and are heavy laden, I will give
you rest. Not work, rest. And he says, take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, You
shall find rest to your soul for my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. Why is the yoke easy and the
burden light? The works finished. The works,
there's nothing left to do. That's what he's, that's what
Paul's saying to these Galatians. You're working and it's, you're
just putting yourself under bondage. Stop working. Rest on the Lord's
Sabbath. We know that they're returning
to the law, but notice their other fault in verse 10. You
observe days and months and times and years. We have a lot of holidays
in this country, don't we? And a lot of those holidays were
institutionalized by either the Catholic church or pagans. And
yet we put names on them. And men have made them this or
made them that. And he's saying, you're observing
times and days and weeks, months. You're observing all these things.
They're going back to the law, just like the Jews used to do
under the law in the Old Testament. Do you remember when Christ was
upon the earth? He at one time he came and it said and now was
the time of the feast of the tabernacle They literally would
leave their house. They would get into a tent that
they would make outside and For an entire week they would they
wouldn't go back in their house and it was a picture of them
leaving Egypt leaving the bondage of Egypt, which would be the
house and being in the wilderness. That was the picture there. But
that was one of the times that they would observe. They would
observe the Passover. They observed this. They observed that. He
says, you're still observing all these times. None of those
are bringing glory to God. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Don't go back to the law. And
although Well, let me tell you this, weak, while you turn to
the weak and beggarly elements of the world, weak means without
strength. The law has no strength to redeem. It has no strength
to make alive. And beggarly literally means
a beggar, means a beggar. And in scripture, if you're a
beggar, You're not of royalty. You're not a son. You're not
a son. That's what he's saying. He's like, the law cannot make
you a child of God. The law cannot make you a child
of God. It cannot save you from your sins. It cannot redeem you.
Don't go back to it. It's just bondage. Now, although
the rebuke is for them and their traditions, then we can apply
this today. We don't put one day above another. You'll notice regardless of what
the day is on the calendar, whenever we come to worship, the gospel
is preached. The gospel is preached. We don't
recognize, and I'm not saying don't enjoy certain holidays.
Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. We don't observe them
as a responsibility to God as part of our salvation. That's
what I'm saying. We don't celebrate Christmas
as any part of salvation. We don't celebrate Easter as
any part of our salvation. We look to Christ, who is the
one that died of the past over at Easter time. We look to Christ
who was born at one time, but it more than likely wasn't December
the 25th. Do you see what I'm saying here? We look to him as
all our righteousness, all of our hope. And to esteem one day
above the other, that doesn't glorify God. Why do you think
the Lord didn't tell us when he was born? Because we would
worship the day, not the person. We would make it about self.
And is that not what's happened in society, even if it is the
day that he was born? But that's what men will do.
Anything to draw attention to self. Now, am I against these
holidays I've mentioned? No, not at all. So don't leave
here thinking, oh, boy, pastor, you've been to my house. I put
up a tree. You won't see a nativity scene.
That's idolatry. That's a graven image. We don't
do that. He's telling them, he's telling them clearly, Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness. Christ is the, don't go back
to the law, don't go back to vain tradition, which is what
I'm describing in our day and time. Most of the things that
we cling to are vain tradition. They're not, and it's the same.
It's, it's either the law, the moral law, the civil law, or
the ceremonial law. It's how we live our life, how
we treat others, or how we approach God. Those are the three. That's
how the law can be summed up as those three. And if we're
doing anything that is any cause of our salvation in our mind
or after salvation, something where we can see evidence of
our salvation. No, we're just putting ourself
under bondage. We're just putting ourself under
bondage. The Lord says you're free. You're free if you look
to Christ. If he's enabled you to, look
to him and be free. Rest in what the Lord rested
in, his Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what honors our Lord?
Preaching Christ alone. That honors the Lord. Preaching
things to do that men do, that doesn't honor the Lord. But you
know what else it does? It strips the flesh, and we're
gonna hear this the next hour. I titled that message, Why Men
Hate the Gospel. It strips the flesh of all its
hope in self. All pride is abased. All arrogance is abased. All
glory is gone for my flesh. Now Christ gets all the glory.
He's going to get it anyways. But the Lord causes us to give
him all the glory and salvation. It completely abases the flesh's
ability to boast. And you know it's true, we were
of such men and women boasting, you got that wrong, I know this
is right, or debates back and forth, or look at the life I'm
living, look at what I don't do. I used to do that, you ever
heard that before? I used to do that. Oh, well,
since I got saved, I don't do that anymore. That language isn't
in the scripture, first of all. No one gets to say, I got saved. Lords, no, we don't say it that
way. When the Lord saved you, if you're his, he's on the cross
of Calvary. It was in eternity in time. And if you're his, he's
saving you every day from yourself. But you understand what I'm saying.
Salvation's of the Lord. It's not what we can see. It's not what we can, glory in
ourself, preaching Christ alone honors the Lord, and it abases
the flesh. This is why Paul's saying, I'm
afraid of you. He fears that the gospel has
not taken root. You remember whenever the Lord
talked about the seed, the sower of the seed, and how some fell
by the wayside, some fell on stony ground, some fell and they
were choked out by the thorns, and then some fell on good ground.
Well, Paul is concerned that the seed didn't fall on good
ground. And we're going to hear the second hour. They loved him
so much that they were willing to take their, he said, you would
have took your eyes out and give them to me if you could have.
And he's saying, but now you despise me. Why? Because I tell
you the truth. It's not that you know God, it's
that God knows you. It's not that you keep the law,
but it's that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
It's not that you can see evidence. Christ's finished work is our
evidence. God hath saved his people from
their sin. The resurrection is evidence
of justification in Christ Jesus alone. Don't go back to the law.
If you do, you're just bringing yourself under the elements of
the world under bondage again, under bondage. To know God is to. Be known of
God and therefore taught of him taught who he is taught what
he's accomplished. Taught that salvation is completely
completely of the Lord and it can only be received by grace
through faith. The Scripture tells us in that
not of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of works. Less any
man should boast if it was up to us if we could do something
where we could see OK now. I know. that I'm a believer because I
do this or I don't do that, we would boast about it. He said,
no, it's not of yourself. Look to Christ. I know whom I
have believed. It's not what I know, it's whom
I have believed. And why do we know him? Because
he first knew us. He first knew us. Well, we've seen how we know
God and we've seen in what way we know God. Finally, What does
it mean to know God? And I think I've covered all
of these at each time that I've made a point. It means you know
salvation. See, Christ is salvation. Salvation
is not something we attain. Salvation is not something we
earn. Salvation is not something we merit. Salvation is not something
we choose. Salvation is a person. Salvation
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And to know God is to know his
salvation. The scripture is very clear that
what the Lord had purposed, Christ Jesus accomplished it on the
cross of Calvary. He is the Lord's Sabbath, he
is the Lord's salvation for his people. This is what it means
to know him, that salvation is all by grace. To know God is
not just to know God, it's to know the Lord Jesus Christ who
is God, to know him as God. A lot of people think the Lord
Jesus Christ is just baby Jesus meek and mild in a manger. That's
not true. He's God. He's the incarnate. Godhead bodily, the Trinity bodily,
that's what the Godhead means. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
the God-man. It's 100% man and 100% God. You'd say, well, that doesn't
make sense. No, it does not. But faith doesn't ask questions.
Faith believes Christ in what the Lord says. And the only way
I can believe that is if the Lord causes me to. To know God is to know the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's the result of his finished work. You know, to know him is not
the cause of his work to be finished. Once I know him, now his work's
finished. No, no, no. If I know him, it's because I've
been made to see his work was finished. The scripture says
before time, before the world began, his works were finished.
That's something else we don't understand, do we? This is why
we come to him for his eternal life. Now in closing, I want
to turn to John chapter six. We're going to read, um, verse
44 through 51. And this is the Lord speaking. And I'd mentioned earlier, I
actually said, I was going to, we're going to look at this next
hour, but I forgot it's in this one. Uh, that's my mistake, but
the Lord just told him I'm the bread of life. your fathers did
eat manna in the wilderness. I am that bread come down from
heaven." He got done telling them, except you, he's about
to tell them, except you eat my body and drink my blood, you
have no part with me. They're thinking he's talking
about cannibalism. That's what they're thinking and say, they
don't understand. But as he's talking about all this, the Jews
are murmuring because he said, if you look at 41, the Jews then
murmured at him because he said, I am the bread which came down
from heaven. And they couldn't see him, he's
God, and they literally can't see him. He says, is this not
Joseph and Mary's son? Is this not, we know who this
is. How do you say he come down from heaven? Well, here in verse
44, the Lord says this, no man can come to me except the father
which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the
last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the father cometh to me. Not that any man hath seen the
father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the father. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting
life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am
the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. which I'll give for the life
of the world. The bread that I give, let me read that again, verse
51. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. of
the world. And then it asks, well, how's
he going to give us his flesh? We don't understand that. To
be known of God means that we see the Lord Jesus Christ as
the bread of life, as the bread of life. And to be known of God,
to know God, is his choice. That's what the Lord is saying
here. No man can come to me except the Father which sent me draw
him. If the Lord does not draw us
to himself, we'll never know who he is. So to know him is
to know him as the bread of life. And I love the fact that here
he says, your father's a deep man in the wilderness and they're
dead. And then when he was talking
to the woman at the well, he said unto her, if you knew who
had asked you, give him drink. You'd asked of him and he to
give you a living water, living water. Uh, And she was like,
well, Lord, give me this. Give me this. I'll take it. The
Jews and the, that was a Samaritan woman, but the Jews here and
the Samaritan woman, she was talking to God just as the Jews
were. They couldn't see him. They didn't
know him. Why? Because he didn't allow them
to. He didn't draw them. He didn't call them. He didn't
make his word effectual to them. To know God is a privilege, a
God-given privilege by grace. What amazing love the scripture
says. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us that we should be called the sons of God. Brethren, now are
we the sons of God. He knows us. He knows us, his
people. How glorious. It's all the work
of God. Do you know why the Jews here
could not comprehend God's word? The same reason? that the Galatians
were called up and everything, they were called up because it's
not by the works of man, it's not by the works of the flesh,
it's not by the will of man, and it's not of blood of man,
but of God, of God. That's what he tells us in John
chapter one. Our law keeping can't make us
believe we know whom we have believed in. And because he hath
known us from eternity, with everlasting love hath he drawn
us, drew us, We know him. We know him. This is what it
is. This is what it means to know God. Let's pray. Father,
we ask that you would take your word and bless it. Try understanding
in Christ's name. Amen. Let's take a break.