Chapter 4. We covered one verse this morning. Galatians 4, 6. And I want to review for you now just the essential meaning of what we were trying to cover here this morning. What Paul is doing here in the third chapter of Galatians and the fourth chapter of Galatians is he is contrasting the old covenant with Israel with the new covenant that has now come in and he's kind of flips back and forth between us and them. He's proving that the Gentiles now have come in to the blessings and that the old covenant never really was the best and final covenant even for the Jews. It was always designed to be temporary. It was always a prelude to the real covenant that Israel themselves was going to come into. But what his argument is that If the Old Covenant was never the real and final and complete thing for the Jews, why are the Galatians thinking about going back to it? It doesn't make sense, and that's what he is talking about. Now you'll see, look at Galatians chapter 3 and verse 23. It says, before faith came, and another way to state that might be before Christ came, We, you see it says we, we were kept under the law. We the Jews were kept under the law, shut up under the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster, not theirs but ours, to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith And after faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. All of that he's talking about, we the Jews. Then he turns to the Gentiles in verse 26 and he says, for ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Not only us, we're not the only ones that are children of God by faith. You are as well. For as many as you, as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male or female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." Then he flops back, first part of chapter four, now he's going to talk about Israel again and how they were a child. Or I should say, we, he uses it in that sense. Look at verse 3. Even so, we, when we were children, were under bondage under the elements of the world. And 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, we the Jews, might receive adoption of sons. And now we came to the verse that we saw this morning. And he flops back to the Galatians now and he says, and ye are sons. In this new covenant, the Gentiles are sons as well. Ye are sons. God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. I want to turn back to my notes where I left off here this morning and just plow right forward. I started to share with you that God took the initiative in the process of salvation. It says that God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. That's really a statement that says that God takes the initiative. He's the one that does it. He sends the Spirit into your heart. You don't reach out and grab Him, but He reaches out and grabs you. So in verse 6, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. Now, I'd like to say that a Christian has a very good sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit in his heart. This is not something that you should be unaware of. This passage seems to indicate that when God does come into your heart, when He does a work in your heart, that you have a sense of it and a knowledge of it. It's not something that's hidden to you. You don't just go about your daily life like you always did with no awareness of Him. It says that God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying, Abba, Father. Now, when God sheds forth the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we become the temple of the Holy Spirit. He's working inside of us. Scriptures tell us that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Back in the old times, the Jews, they had this outward temple, didn't they? But you remember, everything that the Jews had was sort of a picture. In the reality of things, under the new covenant, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, just like the cloud came down on the tabernacle and dwelt in that old physical temple. God dwells within us now, so He resides in us. And in this verse it says that he cries, Abba, Father. And by that it means that we cry, Abba, Father, by His influence. That's kind of the force of what it's saying. He causes us, the Holy Spirit causes us to have a tender sense that we belong to God the Father. we have a very real and continuing sense that He is our loving Father. And we address Him, when we do address Him, we address Him in a very family kind of way. He's no longer this austere, judging God like He was under the law. But now he is a loving and a tender father. And we think of him in the sense of a daddy. That's kind of what Abba Father means. It was their way of saying daddy instead of father. And all of this being a result of the Spirit being shed abroad in our hearts Christians have an inner assurance of the grace of God. Why is that? It's because the Holy Spirit has work to work in our heart. He actually is present in our minds and in our hearts. And therefore, we have this sense that we stand in grace. We walk in grace. We have assurance that God treats us with grace. We have a good sense of the overwhelming grace of God in our lives. And if you find a man who does not have that concept of grace, no understanding of the extent of his own sins, no true feel for the vastness of the forgiveness of God in his own life, then you found a man who has not had the Holy Spirit shed abroad in his heart. Did you know that the very purpose of God in saving sinners is to... Let me just ask you, what is the purpose of God in saving sinners? Pardon? Yes, Ephesians chapter 1, to the praise of the glory of His... What? Grace. To the praise of the glory of His grace. He chose us before the foundation of the world. Why? To the praise of the glory of His grace. God wants to demonstrate how gracious He is. And therefore, He sheds the Holy Spirit abroad in our hearts. And we have this sense that God is gracious to us. We better have that sense. Otherwise, we're always walking under the law. And we know that we can never please him, we never be accepted on that basis. But God sheds forth the Holy Spirit into our hearts, it says, and we cry, Abba, Father. All right. So the conclusion of the message this morning was that Christ has come and taken the Jews out from under the old covenant. There's no doubt about that. that when Christ died he took the Jews out from under that old covenant, that legal system, and he has fulfilled his new covenant promise to the Jewish elect by putting his law in their minds and in their hearts. Where did he write it before? Where did he write his laws in the Old Covenant? Tables of stone. This time he writes it in their hearts and in their minds and he makes them thereby a part of the gospel kingdom of Christ. But God has gone beyond the exclusivity of the Old Covenant and has included the Gentiles in the New Covenant. He brought them by very different roads to the cross. But they got there at the same time, and the new covenant encompasses both groups, the Jews and the Gentiles. And this is proven by the fact that God has given the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles in verse 6. So that's where we left off this morning. Now, just very briefly here this afternoon, we want to take a look at Paul's fear for the Gentiles. You'll see that in verse 11. It says, I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Now, Paul is arguing in Galatians chapter 4 that if God has redeemed the Jews out from under the law, if He has done away with the law with respect to them, If he has brought them to a better way in Christ, if they have grown out of childhood and come to maturity of sons, if they are no longer servants but heirs in Christ, if they have been taken out of the bondage of the law, if Christ has removed the schoolmaster from them, then don't let anyone tell you that you should put yourselves under that old law. That's what Paul is telling the Galatians. The Mosaic Law, as we talked about this morning, was a pre-Christ religion. Yes, those Jews who rejected Christ kept right on under that law. And they are kept there not by the precepts of Christ, but by their own choice, because Christ came to redeem them. from under the law. But they have voluntarily stayed under the law even though God says that the law condemns. Even though God says the law is done away. And these Judaizers who have rejected Christ are telling the Gentiles now that they also must put themselves under the law. Isn't that silly? And so they come to these churches and they say you must be circumcised. And Paul is angry at such a thing. Teaching such a thing flies in the face of the pure gospel of grace in Christ. And Paul has proved in Galatians 4 that even the Jews themselves are redeemed from the law in verse 5. It says to redeem them that were under the law. Do you see that? Look at verse 5 once again. It's good to look very carefully sometimes. It says, 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. Not are, but were. Now, if that pre-Christ law system is no longer applicable to the Jews, then it should not be applicable as well to the Gentiles. You will notice that the Jews have been made sons in verse 5. You see that? That we might receive the adoption of sons, no longer children, no longer minors under a schoolmaster. And the Gentiles have been made sons in verse 6. And because you are sons, both groups have been brought into the family as mature sons and as full heirs. both share equally in the kingdom of Christ. That old system has been done away, and if it is done away, then it is not still there. And if it is not still there, then the Gentiles cannot be under it." Pretty simple logic there, isn't it? Now the Jews may have been offended, though, that after such a long service under the law that they stood no better than the Gentiles in the gospel. Now the Gentiles never had to bear that old yoke of the law. The Gentiles were never slaves to the law, at least not the Mosaic law. The Gentiles lived in utter ignorance and uncontrolled depravity, while the Jews were disciplined daily by that old schoolmaster. And the Jews might have thought it was unfair that under the gospel they stood on equal footing with the Gentiles. You can imagine how they may have felt. After all, the Jews labored for 1,500 years under the law, and then when the promises come true in Christ, the Gentiles are invited in as well. Some think that the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is pertinent to this Jew-Gentile question. Let's take a look at that. Let's take a look at Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20, Jesus was telling a parable here. Starting in verse 1, Jesus says, For the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is a householder. which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard, and he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came, that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more, and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour. And thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.' But he answered one of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way. I will give unto this last, even as unto thee." So the last to come were, if we relate this to the Jews and the Gentiles, the last to come was who? The Gentiles. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? So the last shall be first. And the first last, for many be called, but few chosen." There's lots of different interpretations of that, but in our context, perhaps the Gentiles receive the better end of the bargain, don't they? Because they didn't work all day long. like those that were first. And therefore, just for our instruction, that's a parable that perhaps relates to this question of God bringing in the Gentiles at the last moment. Galatians 4, 7 says, Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son than an heir of God through Christ." Now in that verse he's talking again about the Galatian converts. Notice that when they came in they also were not a servant but they were sons and more than a son they were an heir. God made the Gentiles heirs of Christ and heirs of God right along with the Jews who had been under the law for 1,500 years. Now let me introduce the next few verses here in Galatians by establishing that they principally apply to the Gentiles as well. Now we're going to be looking at verses 7 through 11 And if you just read the face of this, there are some things in here that make you think perhaps it's talking about the Jews. But I believe it's clear that it's talking about the Gentiles here. So let's establish who verses 7 through 11 are talking about. Wherefore thou, that's the first clue. We're using the third person pronoun. Wherefore thou, talking about the Galatian converts, are no more a servant but a son. This indicates that Paul is changing his focus from the Jews in verse five to the Gentiles starting in verse 6 and forward. Now here's description of the subjects in verse 8. Look at verse 8. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. This description sounds like the Gentiles. It does not sound like the Jews. He says, when you knew not God. This is an apt description of the Gentiles. The Jews knew God. The Jews had the law. God spoke to the Jews over the course of centuries. God delivered the Jews many times with great miracles. They were the one nation in all the earth that did know God. The characteristic of the Gentiles was that they did not know God. They did not have His law. God did not speak to them. God left them to their own devices. And notice what Paul says about them. You did service, in verse 8, unto them which were by nature no gods. So even though the Jews often fell into idolatry and worshipped such false gods as Baal and Ashtoreth and others, this would seem to be more accurately descriptive of the Gentiles. The Gentiles worshipped anything and everything because they did not know God. They worshipped men. They worshipped beasts. If it crawled on the face of the earth, they were prone to worship it. This is where depravity will take you when God turns you loose. Take a look at Romans chapter 1, and let's take a look at what the Gentiles did. Romans chapter 1, starting in verse 22, speaking to the Gentiles and of the Gentiles, it says, we'll start in 21, because that when they knew God, that is a general revelation of God there. When they knew God by general revelation, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things." So they started making images of all these things. Man and beast and birds and reptiles and this type of thing. And they worshipped these things. So that's descriptive of the Gentiles. Look at 1 Corinthians 12.2. You see another reference, 1 Corinthians 12.2. And this is typical of the Gentiles. 1 Corinthians 12 says, You know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. So there's another reference to the fact that the Gentiles worshiped these images or idols. Verse 11, back in our text of Galatians 4, look what it says there. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Now, who is Paul talking about there, obviously? He's talking about the Galatians. I'm afraid that I came and preached the gospel to you and labored so that you would understand the pure gospel of Christ. And I'm afraid I've done it all in vain because you guys are now wanting to start practicing these rituals of Judaism. So based on all that, it seems to me that Paul is speaking to Gentiles in verses 7 through 11. So let's interpret it that way. And let's start in verse 7. It says, Wherefore thou art no more a servant. This is a principle that was first learned in relation to the Jews. It was the Jews that were servants under the law. It was the Jews who were in bondage to the law. But the principle is also applicable to the Gentiles. Paul has shown how the principle works in the life of the Jews. And now he is saying in verse 7, but thou art no more a servant. The Gentiles did not have the Mosaic law, but they had law. They didn't have that law, but they had law. There was a dark image of the law that was written in their consciences. Take a look at Romans 1.19. Romans 1.19 teaches us that even the Gentiles had some knowledge of God and of His law. It says, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, the Gentiles, for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." So they're held to a standard and God has written that law in a general way in their hearts. Flip over to Romans 2.14. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, What law did they not have? Mosaic law. But when they do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves which show the work of the law written in their hearts. There was at least some standard that the Gentiles had and they did that standard that they didn't just murder everybody. And they didn't do those things because they had a law written on their hearts. Now, their nature was pretty much unrestrained and they did do badly. Nevertheless, when they did bad things, what was it that convicted them in verse 15? Their conscience. And how is it that they had a conscience that convicted them? It's because God put it in their conscience. And their thoughts, the meanwhile, accusing or else excusing one another. When they did right, their conscience and their mind excused themselves. When they did wrong, it convicted them. And therefore, the Gentiles had law. in that sense. So although the Mosaic law applied first and foremost to the Jews, it also applied to the heathen in a moral way. The moral law of God, of course, is universal. All men have a sense of the moral law of God. God has written it in our hearts. So in this sense, the Gentiles had the law of God, and when the Gentiles committed all manner of sin, they were seared in their consciences because their consciences convicted them. So in this sense, the Gentiles were servants of the law as well. They were in bondage to the moral law of God, and their consciences accused them when they did wrong. When they committed murder, their conscience told them it was wrong. When they committed fornication, they knew it was wrong. And they were in bondage to that law that told them that they were sinners against God. And Paul says, Thou art no more a servant. You see? The Gentiles, just like the Jews, are no more a servant. No longer in bondage to the the restraint and the requirements of the law. They've been set free from the guilt and the penalty of that law. Just as the Jews were brought out from the condemnation of the Mosaic law, the Gentiles were brought out from under the condemnation of the moral law of God when God saved them by the gospel. They were no longer servants. but free men, free in the grace of Jesus Christ. You see? You see how the story of the Jews carries over to the Gentiles in principle. Also, he says in verse 7, Galatians 4, 7, you are a son. You're no longer a servant, but a son. What? The Gentiles have also been raised to this level of sonship, just like the Jews? Yes, you're no longer a servant, but a son. You might have thought that the Gentiles would have occupied some lower rank than the Jews in the gospel kingdom, but not so. The Jews are sons in verse 5, and the Gentiles are sons in verse 7. Paul is very adamant that the Gentiles come right into the kingdom of Christ on equal footing Galatians 3, 26 through 28 comes into play here. Take a look at that. It says, For ye are all. What does he mean there? Jews and Gentiles. Ye are all in Galatians 3, 26. The children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as you have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. And skip on down. For ye are all. one in Christ Jesus. Not only are you not servants, Gentiles, and not only are you a son, Gentiles, in verse 7, you are an heir of God. This is the same language that is used to describe the blessings upon the Jews. You remember? That little allegory that we had in Verse 1 of chapter 4, the same applies to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are no longer servants, they are sons and they are heirs. Now, just a word about heirs here. A servant is not an heir, but a son is an heir. And a son, think about this, a son is not an heir normally. by virtue of his accomplishments or his good works or his deeds. But a son is an heir by virtue of his birth. He didn't do anything to deserve it. He's just an heir because of his birth. The son of a wealthy man isn't wealthy by his own work, but he is an heir to a fortune. The moment he was born, he was a son and an heir to a fortune. In exactly the same way, the moment we are born into the kingdom of God, we are sons. The moment that we are born again and made alive in Christ, we are heirs. We are not heirs by anything that we have done. but we are mere beneficiaries of the grace of God by being born into His kingdom. So who do we have to thank for the fortune that is ours by inheritance? We have Christ to thank for everything. Now think about this. We are not heirs of some rich and mighty man, but we are heirs of God. We are heirs of the Almighty Creator of all things. If a person could ever appreciate what it means to be a son and an heir of God, he would count as dung the riches of this world. The world itself and all of its riches is chunk change in comparison with our heavenly blessings. We have quite a few older people in our congregation, and what are they going to do with a million dollars? What good is a mansion here in this world when you will leave it behind in just a little while? This is why Paul said, I greatly desire to depart and to be with Christ. See, Paul had a glimpse of it. Paul, I'm sure, was taught and maybe even had a vision of the great glory that we're going to experience in heaven. And he said, I greatly desire to depart and to be with Christ. This is actually the great hope of every Christian, for when we depart this world and go to the next, it will be an end to all of our miseries and the beginning to all of our happiness. Paul said, for I am in a straight betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better, Paul said. Note that Paul says we have these things through Christ. You notice that? Take a look at verse 8, 7. Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, Gentiles, but you're a son. And if a son, you're an heir of God through Christ. You always notice that how Paul says in Christ, by Christ, through Christ. This is undoubtedly to show that eternal blessings come only through Him. They do not come through the law. If we could ever get that in our heads. It does not come through the law and it does not come through a law. It does not come through a legal system. It does not come by trying to earn it. It does not come by trying to reform. does not come by law at all or by works. They do not come by rituals and ceremonies, but they come through Christ and through Christ alone. If Paul ever talks about righteousness, he always says it's by Christ. As often as he speaks of grace, he speaks of Christ. If there is any good thing to be had, like adoption or inheritance or spiritual blessings, it is by Christ. Jesus Christ is everything. Whatever we have, it is by and through Christ. If you leave Christ out, all you have is empty religion. But you have fullness and unspeakable riches through Christ. Now, I'd like for you to briefly take a look at the theological error of the Gentiles. They were listening to the Judaizers and they were returning, apparently, to the dictates of the law, the Jewish law, believe it or not. And here's an interesting thing. The Gentiles were never under the Mosaic law. We all know that, right? The Gentiles were never there. And yet look what Paul says in verse 9. After that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements? Now the weak and beggarly elements we've all previously defined as the law. Isn't it interesting here that the Gentiles who were never under the law, Paul says they are turning again to the weak and beggarly elements. He says you are observing days in verse 10 and months and times and years. That sounds like the Jewish regulations, doesn't it? Why does Paul say that they are returning to the law when they were never under it? Here is the explanation. I saw this with several commentators and in particular with Martin Luther in his commentary. He brought this point out. It makes a good point. The law without Christ, that's what the law was to the Jews. It was a legal system without Christ. They rejected Christ when he came. They had no intention of making Christ the object of the law. Their law was law without Christ. The law without Christ is a form of idolatry. Judaism, with no view to Christ, is as much idolatry as all of those former evil practices of the Gentiles. Remember the Gentiles, they worshiped the images of birds and reptiles and beasts. And now the Gentiles are going back to another form of idolatry, which is really the same thing. It is a Christless Judaism. And so now that they are putting themselves under the law, they are actually returning to idolatry. Christless Judaism is nothing but idol worship. They worship the animal sacrifices. They worship the rituals and the ceremonies. They have made a God out of their religion. And their religion is not the true God. And it appears here in our text that Judaism is equated to the idolatry of the ignorant Gentiles. Now here is Paul's argument. Before you knew God, you Gentiles served things that were not God's. How is it that after you have come to know God, you want to go back to worshiping that which is not God? That's kind of what he's saying there when he says you're returning again to the weak and beggarly elements. All right, we'll close by showing you Paul's fear here in verse 11. Paul is afraid that all of his labor was useless. This may be one of the great fears, I think, of all preachers, maybe even pastors. Sometimes they don't see any fruit. In fact, sometimes they see regression. People take in the gospel for a moment and then they fall back. Sometimes their condition is worse than it was before. And Paul looked at all of his work and he feared unless his work was in vain. So that's what Paul is complaining about in verse 11. He's hoping to goodness that his work has not been for nothing. All right. Well, we'll stop right there. That takes us through Galatians 4.11. We'll pick up with 4.12 next time. Alright, stand with me please. Father, we come to You now. We thank You for this day. We thank You for the help that You've given us to come to church. We thank You for a place where we can come and worship You. We pray, Lord, that You would help us to honor You in all that we do. May we magnify Your Word above all the other words of this world. May the Gospel ring out. May we understand the gospel better from day to day. May we live by it. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.