Misuse of the Law Compromises the Gospel

Transcript

GR 2099
10/15/2017
Misuse of the Law Compromises the Gospel
Galatians 4:8-11
Gil Rugh

We are in Galatians, chapter 4, in your Bibles, Galatians and the 4th chapter. Paul is proceeding to challenge and correct the Galatians because of the confusion that has come into the congregations of the churches in the region of Galatia. Remember Galatia is a region, we’ve checked it on maps and you can check it again but he established churches there on his first missionary journey.

The most important thing when dealing with error is to have a firm, clear understanding of Biblical truth. The church tends to drift when they lose their grasp and clear understanding of Biblical truth because if you don’t have that as your foundation how are you going to recognize error? And this is what seems to be happening in the church at Galatia influenced from Jews, perhaps locally, who have come into the area. We call them Judaizers because they want to blend and mix obedience to the Mosaic Law with faith in Christ. So Paul is pointing out this error and as true with any error you begin to wonder, “are the people you are dealing with true believers or did they just make a profession without understanding” and that is where he is coming to in the book of Galatians.

Before we go further in chapter 4 why don’t you turn back to the book of Acts? It was in chapters 13 and 14 of the book of Acts, if you remember, that Paul established these churches on his first missionary journey and I just want you to note the context and the mix that is here.

As Paul made a practice when he went into a new area, he would start out in the synagogues with the Jews. He was a Jew. He had the Old Testament background that should have prepared the Jews for the coming of their Messiah. He could show from the Old Testament Scriptures that Jesus was the prophesied One. You have that contact but since Israel was put under judgment by God many of the Jews continued their rejection. It doesn’t mean all the Jews did. We saw in the Day of Pentecost thousands were saved. There would have been Jews there for the feast but now with Paul, the Gospel is being carried out to Gentiles, the church having been established in Acts chapter 2. But here, when he went into the region of Galatia carrying the Gospel, he went into the synagogue.

So verse 5, chapter 13, you see his pattern on his way to Galatia and then what happens when he gets to Galatia. “They proclaim the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.” And then they are going to proceed on and down to verse 13 where they are going to then move from the island up into the region of Galatia and up into that area to establish the churches.

Come on down to chapter 14 for time. You will see what happens in Iconium, one of the cities in Galatia. “They entered the synagogue of the Jews together and spoke in a manner that a large number of people believed, both Jews and Greeks but the Jews who disbelieved” (or disobeyed, perhaps better didn’t believe) “stirred up the minds of the Gentiles embittered them against the brethren.” So the Jews’ opposition to the Gospel has an impact on the Gentiles and the Greeks here as they are called – the non-Jews. So the city is divided and Paul continued in the cities and you come down to verse 7. “They preach the Gospel.” They continue to preach the Gospel and then they return, revisiting the cities.

You see there is a Jewish element and these Jews that are trying to say, bring these Jewish influence to corrupt the churches in Galatia – some of those could have been coming from outside regions as they plagued Paul. The Jews would follow. Try to stir up trouble. Try to undermine. The biggest difficulty came from within. There is persecution from without, clearly unbelievers, unbelieving Jews as well as unbelieving Gentiles who persecute. Paul ends up being stoned as you are aware in chapter 14, verse 19 when Jews come from Antioch and Iconium. They win the crowds and they stone Paul. He is miraculously restored to health after being left for dead, being stoned but a great danger comes from within.

You know the devil is a masterful tactician. He doesn’t just give up. He will persecute and attack with unbelievers from the outside but even a more effective strategy is to have some Jews, for example, profess faith in Christ and then say, “Now Paul has moved on and their influence is there. You know there is more to this. It is important you trust in Christ but your salvation and the work of God in your life is not complete until you also commit to the keeping of the Law.”

So this kind of corrupting influence and we know that is what is going on because immediately in chapter 15 of Acts you remember there is a counsel held in Jerusalem to try to settle this issue. While you are here, chapter 15 opens up: “Some men came down from Judea again teaching the brethren ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you can’t be saved.’” And this kind of permeating influence.

Down in verse 5: “Some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed” (they had professed faith) “stood up saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, direct them to observe the Law of Moses.’” Now we have something more difficult. When unbelievers are attacking, it is clear. Now stand against the opposition to the truth. It is clear, opposition to the truth but the attacks that come from within, that is a little more confusing. Here you have Jews who profess to have faith in Christ telling you “You need to keep the Law.” And these Gentiles, obviously it is a Gentile region, these would primarily be Gentiles. Paul is carrying the Gospel out into the Gentile world including Jews in his preaching but his focus is to the Gentiles. God had told him He was going to send him to the Gentiles. But now you have Gentiles and they are being told by these Jews who profess to believe in Christ that that is not enough. You need to believe the Law which God gave and now you have confusion.

So you come back to the letter to the church at Galatia and where we are. Paul sees this as a very serious challenge to the Gospel and so he has to take them back and remind them of what the Gospel is, what the Gospel does. So adding something to the Gospel does not help, it corrupts.

Remember he started out very bluntly and firmly: “Even if an angel from heaven preaches another gospel he is condemned to hell.” He is anathema. So Paul has been working to show them in chapter 4 particularly, where we have been in chapter 3 and chapter 4, God’s plan of salvation has always been by faith, all the way back to Abraham. So these Jews as well as Gentiles are clear.

The Mosaic Law is out of the picture when it comes to how you are saved. It never was a way of salvation. Salvation has always been through faith in the revelation God gives. Abraham is being the key example in chapter 3 as we progressed in chapter 3 and into the opening verses of chapter 4. He showed them what you have in Christ.

When Jews lived under the Law it was a time of bondage, slavery in that sense, immaturity, and childhood. Now they never were saved by keeping the Law; that’s why he went back to Abraham, remember? Now he is taking them, sometimes you know you are dealing even in the church and you have to say, “Let’s go back to the basics here.” And that is what he is doing with churches at Galatia.

Now what did you get when you believed in Christ? In chapter 3 he told them in verse 2 and verse 3, “You received the Holy Spirit by simple faith in Christ.” And he went on then to show why the Law was given. It was added because of the ongoing sin to be like the constitution governing all aspects of the life of Israel. It wasn’t given to be a way of salvation. The way of salvation was the way that Abraham was saved but it was to govern their life and conduct to prepare them for the coming of their Messiah who would be the Savior that could provide the fulfillment of all that was promised in the covenant God made with Abraham. We have become sons of God through faith in Christ.

The Jews have moved from that condition and immaturity, Jews like Paul to full sonship with all of its privileges, not bound under these governing rules and going to God through a priest and through the priest, the high priest and the representing. Now we have been brought into the position of sonship. We are not under those restricted guidelines and this is true for Jew or for non-Jew as he said in chapter 3, verse 28: “It is not a matter of being a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free man you are all one in Christ.” It doesn’t mean a slave is no longer a slave but the issue of salvation in our relationship to God is through Christ and on that we are all on level ground. We are all the same. It doesn’t matter whether you are rich or poor, male or female. You have the same wonderful relationship as a son of the living God and an heir of all that is promised so chapter 4 opened up, “In Christ.” Now look, if you have all that, what do you think you are going to the Law for? So Paul is trying to drive home, you have the intimacy of son-ship in the opening verses of chapter 4. Christ came at the right time so verse 5: “He might redeem those who were under the Law;” driving home the point, if the Jews couldn’t be redeemed by the Law, why are they telling Gentiles to get under the Law? Same argument we noted, remember with Peter in that Acts chapter 15 counsel. Why would we want to put the Gentiles under the Law when we Jews couldn’t keep the Law? Christ came to redeem those who were under the Law. Well if those who were under the Law, the Jews couldn’t be redeemed by keeping the Law, why would we Gentiles want to go back under the Law that the Jews couldn’t keep? That is going backwards. That is the argument.

Verse 6: “Rather you are sons and because you are sons God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, ‘Abba! Father,’” that relationship of intimacy, closeness. A closeness that the Jews under the Law did not have, even believing Jews did not have the relationship of intimacy. The believing Jews in the Old Testament had to come to God what? Come through the priests; the Day of Atonement to the High Priest to offer that sacrifice. That is the way you came. There were guidelines, restrictions. You were being treated, if you will, in that state of childhood, immaturity. You didn’t have that intimacy, Abba, Father as we talked about. You come directly to God with boldness to the throne of grace.

So “you are no longer a slave but a son. If a son then an heir through God,” in chapter 4, verse 7. That being the case Paul is somewhat exasperated with a combination of concern for the true spiritual condition of those that he thought he had led to Christ and a frustration to them.

You know it is like your children. Sometimes you get exasperated. “What don’t you understand about what I told you?” That is the way Paul is having to deal with the Corinthians. “What don’t you understand about what I told you? This is not complicated. It is clear. There is no excuse for you to be drifting off course here and the fact you are drifting” Paul is going to say, “If this continues I am beginning to question whether I really wasted my time and whether you really are saved.” So that is what we are dealing with in verses 8 to 11.

It is that combination of concern and frustration because if you go back to the Law of Jews, or put yourself under the Law as Gentiles, going back to that which has already served its purpose, which never was for salvation, you have abandoned Christ. In fact by the time we get to chapter 5 he is going to tell them in verse 4 just to jump ahead, “You have been severed from Christ you who are seeking to be justified by Law. You have fallen from grace.” That is where you go then you are unsaved. You have never been saved. You have abandoned salvation by grace through faith. You have committed yourself to being saved by works and the Jews never were and certainly no Gentiles who decide to adopt the Law are going to be saved that way either.

So verse 8, back in chapter 4. “However, at that time when you did not know God you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods,” are no gods; “However, at that time when you did not know God.” The contrast is with verses 6 and 7: “Because you are sons, God sent forth His Spirit into your hearts, Abba Father therefore you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son, an heir of all that God has promised; however, at that time when you did not know God.” Let’s go back again when you were unsaved, when you didn’t know God. Before coming to Christ they had no true knowledge of God. That is the reality of their condition.

Now, there is the knowledge of God and there is the knowledge of God. You are aware. Everyone knows God in one sense. You want to jump back to Romans chapter 1 so there is no misunderstanding. In Romans chapter 1, verse 18: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because that which is known about God is evident within them” or among them. God made it evident to them. So they know God, verse 21 “Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made.” So verse 21: “Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God.” Obviously the knowledge there is something of that innate knowledge of God. We were created in His image, why? No matter why, they have found that the most isolated pagan people had some form of religion. There is that conscious awareness there is a supreme being and the creation reveals Him and so in that sense, that general revelation, everyone knows God but there is that personal relationship with God and sometimes distinguish knowing about God and truly knowing Him which you as believers know the distinction.

Before their salvation they may have been a very religious people. In fact some of those in Galatia wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas when they saw the miracles they could do but obviously they didn’t understand the Gospel yet.

Martin Luther, a great reformer put it this way. “If all men know God, how can Paul say that the Galatians did not know God prior to the hearing of the Gospel?” I answered, “There is a two-fold knowledge of God, general and particular. All men have the general and instinctive recognition that there is a God who created heaven and earth, who is just and holy and who punishes the wicked. How God feels about us, what His intentions are, what He will do for us or how He will save us that men cannot know instinctively it must be revealed to them.”

So it is sort of like Psalm 19. You have general revelation in the first half of the Psalm then you have specific revelation. So no one can be saved without hearing the Word of God but all men know God. They suppress that knowledge. So Paul talked about they didn’t know God.

Come back to Galatians 4 verse 8: “The time when you did not know God.” So you didn’t know Him as your God, as your heavenly Father, as your Savior through Christ you were in spiritual ignorance. “That time when you did not know God, You were slaves to those which by nature are no gods.” Now this is going to be true. An important comparison here that we want to grasp because he is going to say – we will summarize it before we look at the details, putting yourself under the Mosaic Law as a way of salvation is no different than the pagans putting themselves under their pagan religious convictions. There are just various forms of slavery. Now that is not to disrespect the Mosaic Law but it never was a way of salvation. The purpose it has, it did have, was completed so now to require it as a way of salvation is no different than the pagan activities of the pagans. That is what he is going to say. “You were slaves to that which were by nature no gods.”

Slavery is the characteristic of the unbeliever. He’s enslaved to sin. He’s enslaved to the devil. The unbeliever thinks I wouldn’t want to become a Christian, I like my freedom. He has no freedom. “He that sins is the slave of sin,” Jesus said. Jesus said to the very religious Jews, “You are of your father, the devil. You do his will.” So the picture here of slavery; “You were slaves to that which by nature are no gods.”

Now the Jews were “enslaved to the Law” we saw in chapter 3. They were like children. They were held in custody under the Law. So in that sense the Law was its own form of slavery. It wasn’t a way of salvation but it did bind the Jews to certain obligations. Now the Law was good in that sense in that it revealed it and if they had placed their faith in God and trusted Him as Abraham did, then their activities were accepted, but remember Isaiah chapter 1 God tells the Jews what? “Quit bringing your sacrifices. Quit going through these religious observances. It just antagonizes Me because you don’t really believe in Me.” So you see the Jewish activity became a form of its own paganism because they really didn’t have their faith in God. They had their faith in going through a ritual. That is no different than the unbeliever does with his pagan activities. “You were slaves to that which by nature are no gods.” So these Gentiles in Galatia, they were enslaved to their religious convictions. They had put themselves under obligation to their gods, small ‘g’, to their slavery.

Come back to Jeremiah 10. You know we have today, you shouldn’t make fun of other people’s religion. The prophets didn’t know that and I don’t think we ought to go around mocking just to antagonize people but it is ridiculous foolishness. I am not saying people don’t seriously pour themselves into their religion and they will go to great extent. We have people giving their lives thinking they are going to arrive at their own concoction of heaven and its blessings. It’s foolishness. It is very serious foolishness.

Look at what Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 10. “Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not learn the way of the nations. Do not be terrified by the signs of heaven. Although the nations are terrified by them for the customs of the peoples are delusion because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They decorate it with silver, with gold. They fasten it with nails, with hammers so they won’t fall over.’” That is a great god. You better nail it down, he will fall over. It is like a scarecrow in a cucumber field. They can’t speak. They must be carried. They can’t walk! “Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.” It is the worship of nothing in that sense but it also more serious than that.

Come over to I Corinthians chapter 8 and then we will go to chapter 10. I Corinthians chapter 8, Paul says and this is the issue in the Corinthian church carrying their knowledge to an unbiblical extreme and being unloving and uncaring. There is nothing wrong if you decide you don’t want to eat certain things or you do want to eat certain things. The law of foods is not in it and we want to be careful.

We talk about people that write on health and you don’t want to put that in your body it is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You will defile your body. That is why they used to tell us when we were young people, “You don’t want to smoke. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.” Would you want all that smoke in there with the Holy Spirit?” Jesus said, “Nothing you put in your mouth defiles you, spiritually.” I am not saying it is a good thing to do those things. There may be reasons related to health; when you make them spiritual reasons, now you have crossed the line. Now I know somebody is going to go out and say Gil said you can smoke and do whatever you want. Well, that is not what defiles you spiritually unless you are convinced the Lord wouldn’t want you to do it, then it becomes sin for you.

So what he is talking about here in verse 4: “Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one” so the issue as we have talked about in our study, sometimes they would offer the food before it is sold in the marketplace to an idol, their god. Some Christians thought, “Well you shouldn’t eat that then because it has been offered to an idol.” Other believers said, “Well of course you can eat it.” Remember Jeremiah 10? An idol is nothing so in reality they offered that food to nothing so I am going to enjoy it.

When he said in verse 4, “We know that there are no such things as an idol in the world, there is no God but one.” So even if there are so called ‘gods’ whether in heaven or on earth indeed there are many gods and many lords because people have created their own gods and worshipped in a variety of ways, for us there is but one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ but you have to be sensitive to where weaker Christians are and that helps govern our conduct but it is not because there is anything. In reality an idol is a piece of wood. You don’t have to be afraid of it but there is the other side of that too so come over to chapter 10. He wants there to be a balance and a clarity in their thinking.

He used Israel as an example and you share like we just did with the communion service. There is a spiritual activity going on when we join in worship there. So what made the elements we shared in a little bit earlier was not the physical elements themselves but the worship and recognition here of what is going on.

So Paul says after that kind of elaboration, verse 16: “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread,” and then uses Israel when they truly came to worship the sacrifices and so on offered that joined them together in worship of the true God.

Verse 19: “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No; but I say,” now here is where the danger comes when you become joined in worship. “I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons.” Behind all false worship is demonic activity. Now we’ve got to be careful. I don’t want to get caught up in false worship so I want to be careful that I don’t swing to the other side. An idol is nothing. Things sacrificed to idols are nothing. That is true but when I join in a worship connected with that so we’ve got to be careful because there is more to it. It is true that idol is just a piece of wood but in the worship of that piece of wood there is a spiritual activity going on with worship directed to the demon who is behind the false worship.

Now we have to be aware so I don’t want to go to a church service unless I was there as an observer and to critique it for some particular purpose but going and joining in that and saying, “Well, it is nothing so it is alright if I go ahead and go through the motions of worship because in my heart I know it is nothing.” But wait a minute. When I join in a worship activity there is demonic activity in all false worship so you can’t get away from the spiritual activity going on in worship. In the worship involved it is either worship of the living God which has to be done through Christ and so on or it is the worship of demons and the devil. That’s why Paul will write to Timothy and caution him about the doctrine of demons.

So verse 21 while you are in I Corinthians. “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?” Are you stronger than Him? Are you trying to stir the Lord up against you? He requires our worship. There is no middle ground on that.

So you see how he has created the balance. He agrees an idol is nothing. There is only one God. So in that sense, the things the Gentiles may have offered to their idols, if I buy that food in the marketplace that is not an act of worship but don’t swing the other way and think it is nothing to join with others in the worship and that pressure was there in those days. If someone gets saved in a family and the family are idol worshippers it is just like if you have come out of a religious background your parents felt strongly about how they raised you and you think well now I know that is not true. It is hard to leave that. So you could swing to the other side and say, “Well, there is only one true God so all this worship is the worship of nothing so it is alright if I go and join in it to make my parents or my family or whoever happy,” and you have the best of both worlds. No, no, no because the worship going on is the worship of the demons.

Now if you are a child of God and you are going to worship someone other than God, you belong to Him. You provoke Him to jealousy. As a believer you don’t want to do that. That brings the discipline of God on you. Do you think you are stronger than the Lord? So you have to measure things and be careful.

We don’t take the time here because when you come over to Galatians we have here the same kind of thing that Paul had to deal with the Corinthians. There are times when he expresses himself. You know, I don’t know. The Corinthians, you know, some of you are you really saved or aren’t you? Here is where he is with the Galatians.

So we are at verse 8: “These are by nature no gods.” But verse 9: “But now that you have come to know God;” so the contrast. “At the time when you didn’t know God you were enslaved to those practices and conduct” just like the Jews were enslaved to the Law. So there is a comparison there. But now you have come to know God, have that true personal knowledge of God and he immediately adds, “Or rather to be known by God.” You don’t want a misunderstanding here because the Galatians seem to get confused more easily than they should. The salvation you have in Christ was initiated by God. That is the point he is making.

Jesus said in John 17: 3 “This is eternal life that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” but then in I John chapter 4, verse 10 “In this is love; not that we loved God but that He loved us.” We do love God but we weren’t the initiators in that love. “God loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation” (the satisfaction) “for our sins.” So we have come to know God because He knew us. He is the initiator is the point. To be known by God is to be chosen by Him. On another occasions we have looked back here. You are familiar, the Old Testament. The word ‘to know’ speaks of intimacy was used of the sexual between a husband and a wife. Adam knew his wife in a way of expressing that closeness. So when used of God and His people, it expresses God’s favor being put on them.

Amos chapter 3, verse 2 God says to Israel, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” Well He is omniscient. He knows all the families but “know” with that intimate knowledge of personal favor. So some of the translations translate it, “You only have I chosen.” Because when He put His favor on Israel He knew them so that they might come to know Him, belong to Him is the picture. God is the divine initiator.

Come back to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, verse 29, verse 28: “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God.” And remember “you love God because He first loved us, to those who are called according to His purpose.” And he unfolds how God worked; “Whom He foreknew.” There is our word, ‘to know.’ Foreknow, to know ahead of time. It doesn’t mean God just looked ahead. God placed His favor on us individually and then when He did that He predestined us. Then He called us. Then He and you can go on, justified, then glorified even though the glorification is yet future it is also dealt with as an accomplished fact. So it begins with that knowledge, that favor put on us and a number of other passages but we won’t take time to look at those. We have done that on other occasions.

It is important that we are clear on things like the knowledge of God. When in Amos 3:2 God says, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth,” it is clear what nation did God choose. The Old Testament is replete with the emphasis that God chose Israel. Not because of anything in them, He just chose them.

Come to Galatians chapter 4 again. “But now that you have come to know God or rather be known by God” now here is the problem, been brought into that relationship of intimacy with God – “how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?” That is the comparison he talked about. Remember in verse 8 they were slaves to that which is by nature no gods because most of these were Gentiles coming out of Gentile backgrounds. Now he says going back, turning back away from God because that is what happens if you are going to go back you, are going backwards.

It is the same point. You are going now to the Mosaic Law but the problem is you are enslaving yourself to something that could never save you. So you are creating your own way of salvation. It just gets more confusing because you are using something out of the Bible, the Mosaic Law. He said “they were slaves to that which by nature are no gods.” He is clearly talking to these Galatians in their pagan background but now you turn back and that word ‘to turn back’ is here used for conversion and here he uses it as going the wrong way. “You are turning back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved all over again.”

Wait a minute. We are not going back to our pagan enslavement and those practices and laws and regulations and rules which go with all false religions. We are going back to the Mosaic Law. It is the same comparison. Now again we need to be careful. The Law, we still benefit from the Law today in its application but this misuse of the Law, this application of the Law is no different than if you went back to your paganism. That is why he will tell them in chapter 5, verse 4: “You have cut yourself off from Christ if you commit yourself to the Law and circumcision.” You can’t have the mixture. That is where we started in chapter 1. This is serious business. We tend, and we like morality, so we tend to think, well people that talk about keeping the Law and all of that, well at least that is good and we can identify with that and we can get together with Catholics but at least we share some of the same moral convictions and that’s good and what we do is we compromise the Gospel which cannot be compromised.

So the letter to the Galatians is so crucial. These two verses, verses 8 and 9 where he tells them they were slaves to their pagan religious practices and now if you put yourself under the Law you have just turned and gone back to the same kind of practice. Well this is going at least putting yourself under the Mosaic Law that is an improvement. It is not an improvement because you have really made a way of salvation or something necessary for salvation that is contrary to the Gospel of grace!

That’s why Paul said, “I don’t care if an angel from heaven teaches this he is cursed to hell.” He will tell them in chapter 5, verse 4 “If you decide to follow through to complete conversion to Judaism” which would involve circumcision for the men “you have cut yourself off from Christ.” You have fallen from grace. You are trying now to be justified, declared righteous by God on the basis of your works. “Well I still believe in Christ.” Any mixture destroys it. You can’t believe in Christ plus. That begins to make maybe divisions and separations that we don’t want to but it doesn’t matter if we don’t want to. To see what he is saying here, “You are turning back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved all over again.” Well we Gentiles, we never were under the Mosaic Law, we never did try to keep that.

It is the same point where he is going, verse 10: “You observe days or months and seasons and years.” Just like religious practices, pagan practices. They have their certain observances, their certain rituals. The Law had a certain purpose. That purpose has been fulfilled. It doesn’t mean we can’t learn things from the Mosaic Law but you try to put yourself under the Law you just enslaved yourself all over again to that which never could save.

You have to be clear on this because you see what Paul says in verse 11: “I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain but returning to the Mosaic Law as necessary for salvation, turning away from Christ.” Well we don’t want to turn, we want to just believe in Christ plus require adherence to the Law. Sorry. If that’s what you want to do, you cut yourself off from Christ and all my labor and he uses the word here for labor, that kopiao that toil, that wearisome. Paul has poured his life into this, into his ministry with them and maybe it was all for nothing because if you are committed to the Law you have abandoned Christ. There is only way of salvation.

The things he mentioned here, days, months, seasons, years to look at different requirements under the Law but we are not going to take time to do that. It doesn’t mean you can’t eat certain foods or not eat certain foods. Jews that got saved and decided I still don’t want to have a ham sandwich. I know it has nothing to do with my relationship with God but I choose not to have the ham sandwich and perhaps it is because I want to have a better relationship with my family but I don’t want to imply to my family if they are Jews that I agree with you eating a ham sandwich would defile me.

So I have to be careful that I don’t use this as a way to compromise conviction. You know if I was Jewish and invited my unbelieving Jewish family over, I wouldn’t serve ham. Nor would I let them have the opinion that I agree with them that eating ham would defile my relationship with God. I am doing it out of respect for you. I am doing it because I have decided to continue not eating ham even though I know it has no impact one way or the other on my relationship with God. There are other factors that come in so I fear for you lest I have labored in vain.

Going back to the slavery of these basic things whether they are in the Law or the slavery to your pagan practices. So the misuse of Scripture becomes the confusing thing. You can understand. There were some Jews in Galatia who would profess faith in Christ. Maybe they weren’t saved and they still think the Law is required. Maybe they were Jews who came from the outside, whatever, take you back is the same as taking you back to slavery.

Alright we have to stop here. Put up the points quickly is you would just to summarize what we have done, what we covered in these eight verses; First, the unsaved to not know God. We ought to have that clear in our minds. Don’t get confused. They don’t have the knowledge of God. They have the general knowledge of God that comes from being created in His image and the revelation He has given of Himself in His creation but they really don’t know God, have no relationship with Him. Their prayers go nowhere. The prayers of the unbeliever are an offense to God because they are in effect coming and telling God “I am here and it is on my basis.” I know some really humble people that are sincere in their religious conviction. If they were truly humble and sincere they would place their faith in Christ. So the unsaved do not know God.

Again, we don’t want to be offensive and someone is talking to me about their religion and that I want to lead that to a discussion about Christ and the only way to know Him. I don’t want to start out, “Let’s be clear. Your prayers don’t go above the ceiling and God never listens to you and blah, blah.” So it doesn’t mean we can’t be thoughtful, wise in our presentation but we don’t want to be confused in our mind or leave them in confusion. The unsaved do not know God. We did not know Him.

Number 2, the unsaved are slaves to false gods which is ultimately an enslavement to the devil and all false worship is the worship of the devil. Basically there are only two religious systems in the world, the worship of the true and living God and the worship of the devil. Since the whole world lies in the evil one they all join in worshipping him until the grace of God intervenes and they come to salvation and worship the true God.

Number 3, salvation is the work of God. Chapter 4, verse 9: “You have come to know God or rather be known by God,” and that gracious action of God in our wretched, lost state. You know when you are a believer for a long time you get to see yourself as not so bad and I am not a sinner. I was spared that and we get to think we weren’t as bad as some people.

“The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.” When God looked at me He saw a heart that was every bit as corrupt and wicked and rebellious as the most overt sinner but He intervened and when He placed His favor on me by His grace there is no other explanation, none of us were deserving. We came to know Him. Salvation is the work of God.

Point 4, religious ritual enslaves a person in false worship. So we want to be careful. A person who thinks they try to keep the Law they are enslaved in false worship. Good intentions don’t count. So religious ritual enslaves a person in false worship and Paul said “For you who claim to come out of paganism, the slavery in pagan false worship to turn and put yourself under the Law would just be another form of being enslaved in a false worship.”

Number 5, an emphasis on religious ritual is a cause of great concern. We need to be careful. Let me read what one commentator said, I thought he put it clearly: “Religious ritual has a fascination for many; pageantry, festivals, ceremonies and symbolism quickly capture the imagination. Religious feelings can be stirred by certain music or awakened by the sight of stained glass window or a spire. In contrast the emphasis on truth and faith and worship in the Spirit can appear drab and unexciting.”

We want to be careful. If the study of the Word of God, the focus on the work of the Spirit and worshipping God in the Spirit begins to become drab and uninteresting, I don’t know, I have lost my interest in it. We need to then get apart with the Lord and say, “Lord, my heart is growing cold. I need to get this straightened out.”

Some people think the solution is find a different place where it will be more exciting and then we have that spiritual formation movement and let’s darken the auditorium and let’s have some candles burning and the kind of music. You know we can control the emotions. The old rock and roll songs, not that I ever listened to rock and roll but said “Sad music always makes me cry.” So we can structure things. Sad movies always make me cry. We can control emotions. So we can do that religiously and then people go away thinking that they worshipped. That is why they build these cathedrals where you walk in and there is a sense of awe and then the organ plays and then you feel like you are in the presence of God. You may be in the presence of a spirit being, just not God. He has to be worshipped in Spirit and in truth but there is that draw to the physical so we want to be careful that we are clear and firm.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for Your Word. We realize that Your Word was given and preserved for us even now 2,000 years after the record was given and written because the dangers, the issues still confront us as we have even less excuse with the completed revelation and all the blessings that have come with that for failing to understand. May we be faithful and diligent in the handling of Your Word and faithful in our living out that truth. May we as a church be a pillar and support of the truth and faithful with that truth in what we teach and how we live we pray in Christ’s name, amen.