Good morning and welcome in. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from Galatians chapter 4.
In the book of Galatians the Apostle Paul was getting concerned about those in the church who were trying to combine Christianity with Judaism. They were attempting to go back into the Old Testament and try to keep some of the things from which they had been set free by Christ.
Gal 4:8-11
8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
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?
10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
2000 years later there are still some people who profess to be followers of Jesus who are trying to do the same thing. Instead of enjoying the freedoms that Christ has given us, they simply desire to go back into the bondage of Judaism in an attempt to be justified by the law.
The Apostle Paul was a minister of the New Testament, not of the letter of the law. The Apostle used to be a Jewish Pharisee who understood Judaic law very well but he turned away from it all in order to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and get forgiven for his sins. He knew in his heart that there was no salvation in the old testament law because nobody had kept it perfectly, including himself. He refers to the old testament as the ministration of death.
The purpose of the law was to convict us of our sinfulness so that we would go to Christ Jesus for forgiveness, but once we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we are no longer under the law anymore, but we are under the law of liberty. Jesus frees us from the demands of the old testament. So when people in the church were making an attempt to go back into the law from which he had left, the Apostle took issue with that.
Gal 4:19-26
19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
The only way that we can end up entering into heaven someday is by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. He died on the cross is a propitiation and atonement for the sins of men. The Apostle Paul understood this and became a Christian. Christ Jesus has freed us from being in bondage to the law.
Gal 4:30-31
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
As a Christian we accept Jesus Christ as our savior. The law cannot save us, it only shows that we are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. As a Christian we believe that it is by grace that we are saved for we are justified by faith in Him.
Gal 5:1-4
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Those who profess Christianity as their faith who decide to go back into Judaism are not trusting in Jesus completely for salvation. We cannot be justified through the law of Moses.
Acts 13:38-39
38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Nobody had kept the law perfectly, and no one can today either. Eventually you were going to make a mistake from which you would have to be forgiven with God to make it into heaven.
Gal 6-13-15
13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Certain men were telling early Christians that they had to be circumcised otherwise they would not be saved by God. Circumcision was required in the Old Testament while baptism is required in Christianity.
Acts 15
15 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
Peter spoke to them about this issue.
10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
Christians are freed from the yoke of the Old Testament. Remember it isn’t possible that the blood of animals should take away our sins, they were simply done for a period of time as a covering until Jesus would die on the cross and shed his own blood for the complete remission of our sins.
There are many people today who still attempt to combine Judaism and Christianity with each other, feeling that they will become a more righteous person because of it. The Bible is clear that we are all sinners and then there are none righteous no not one. We have to trust and have faith in the one who died on the cross for our sins. He is the Lamb of God whom God sent to this earth as a Savior to cleanse our hearts and our consciences of sin.
Christians are freed from the bondage of the Old Testament law.
Jesus Christ has given us a liberty pass!
Let’s think about those things for today and Lord willing, we can talk some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤
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