Paul’s Letter to the Gauls (Galatians) – Chapter 4

You who are in Galatia, please remember: this is the first piece of Christian literature ever written. Nobody has ever known these things before, and they are quite interesting in their wealth. We have already learned things about flesh. We have learned things about Jerusalem. We have learned things about Christ, being in God, being in Christ, and being out of faith. These are profound spiritual things taught to illiterate people. It’s incredible what a deep gospel these people had been exposed to before this letter was written. You know, we’ll never know what Paul actually preached to them, but he wrote this letter. Everything in this letter is new. This does not reflect what he preached in Galatia when he raised up the churches, but it is also laid on top of what he taught them. Now, obviously, there are some things he wishes he had said because he would have prepared them for the coming of this man, Blastinius, but he’s doing it now in this letter. This is the first piece of Christian literature ever written. I’m going to tell you something else. In my judgment, this piece of literature right here got Paul of Tarsus killed.

If we believe tradition, and I do in this case, he was beheaded in Rome, but he was sent there by plots by the Jews. There is no question in my mind whatsoever that this letter got copied and sent all over Judea. Think of yourself as a Jew, whether you be saved or lost, whether you be a devout Pharisee or a believing Christian. Read this, and what would you think? People read this, and they hit the ceiling, and here in this chapter are some of the reasons they hit the ceiling. Ooh, this is some chapter. You are a child. You’re just like a slave when you’re a child. You do whatever’s told you. Even though you’re going to grow up and be the owner of everything, right now, there are guardians and managers taking care of you until you’re 21 or 18 or whenever your father said you were old enough. The father has set a date; on that date, you will be considered ready to receive your inheritance. Now, in a way, this is talking about you and me, but in another way, it is talking about over a thousand years when time waited for Jesus Christ to come.

Even those people who were under the law were like a slave as a child waiting for the fullness of time, waiting for the hour when the seed would appear. They waited throughout their entire lifetimes, and they waited as slaves because the Father’s time had not yet arrived. Fortunately for you, Galatians, the time arrived within your lifetime, and you’re very fortunate. Isn’t that wonderful? You don’t have to wait as a child under slavery. So, you, while you were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. I do not fully understand what that means. That might be the law, or it might be the things of this world. I do not know. I have a tendency to believe that he is talking about simply “do this, don’t do this.” The most elemental things that could possibly have to do with anything spiritual, you were held there. But when the father’s time came, the time set for the heirs, when the fullness of time came for the child to be a grown man, when that time came, God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and put Him under law. He grew up under Mosaic law, and as you know, fulfilled that law, and therein released us to the promise of Abraham in order that he might redeem us, those of us who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Now, I’m coming back to what I said to you this morning. You have been under law, yours or man’s or Moses law, but now a new element has stepped into this picture, and the element is sonship, and it is sonship of God. The element of divinity has been introduced here, but it is more than the element of divinity. It is the element of realms. The law is only good for and affects human beings. Did you follow me? Elephants do not live under the law of Moses. Trees do not live under the law of birds. Birds do not live under the laws of angels, and sons of God do not live under the laws of men. You do not belong, as it will become evident, you do not particularly, specifically, belong to the human race. Oh, Gene, but I am a human being. You sure look like one, but you have organs inside of you that human beings don’t have. You’ve got parts in you that other people don’t have. You’ve got the Father in you. Humans don’t have the Father in them. You’ve got the Son in you. You have the Holy Spirit in you. You have their witness within you. You have the Life of God Himself in you. You have a living spirit in you. Humans don’t have that. They have a dead spirit. You’ve got a living spirit in you. That’s not all. Somewhere deep down, buried inside of you that nobody can find, so small, so tiny, somewhere buried inside of you, waiting to burst forth at its proper time, at the sound of a trumpet, is a body that is glorified. That is not the outward flesh, but a body made and fashioned in the image, in nature, in the substance, in the very element, in the molecular structure that Jesus Christ’s present glorified body is in. Are you following that? Those are things that you have and are not part of the fallen human race. These are the things that go up to make you a son of the living God. We will find out in a moment that this has to do with realms. Realms. You do not belong to this realm, and you are not subject to the laws of this realm.

When the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son. Where did Son come from? From the very bosom of God, born of a woman, therefore under law, in order that He might take you and me out from under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Now, the first thing He did was He adopted us as sons. Now, that’s a legal thing. He legally adopted you. Who did He adopt you from? Now help me here. I’m going to talk to these people over here. Most of you people I don’t know. Who did he adopt you from? Who did the Lord come and adopt you from? Talk to me. You don’t know. The first Adam. Try again. Sorry. Satan. Try again. The world. Try again. Adam, try again. The natural realm. Try again. Well, He has adopted you…He came and adopted you from the law. He came and adopted you from the law. Now, listen. Really, folks, that’s wonderful. He saved you from your sin. This has to do with Satan and all those dark things, but I’m trying to get you to understand what this book right here is about. This book is about law and grace and death and resurrection. You were under the law whether you were Jew or Gentile. He came and adopted you from the law. The very living God came and said, “I like this one. I’m going to take him.” And the law said, “Well, he never has been able to do anything I’ve told him to do, so you can have him.” Or maybe the Lord took him, and that’s really what happened. The Lord took him from the law by nailing the law to the cross. Came and adopted you, and now you’re a legally adopted son, but that’s not where He stopped. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart, crying Abba Father.

Now then, He has gone from legal judicial adoption of sonship to genetic birth as sonship. You now have the divine nature. The Spirit of His Son has come into your heart and has come into your inner being. He dwells within you and has become one with you inseparably. Now you have the divine nature. We have become partakers of the divine nature. But wait, you’re not supposed to know that. That hasn’t been written yet. Just know that the Spirit of His Son has come deep inside you. How do you know? How do you know? There’s a cry of a Father. There is a witness. The one who came inside of you cries out to His Father. He cries out to His Father. Now you were taught to pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” I wish we could do something with that prayer. That prayer was not for you, and it was not for me. It was for the twelve apostles to pray until the day of Pentecost. Why we are still praying an answered prayer is beyond me. Not for you. It’s not for me. It was fulfilled fully on the day of Pentecost. Our Father came down from heaven. Hallowed is Your name. Your kingdom has come. Your will has begun on earth as it is in heaven. You have given us this day, those of us living in common here in Jerusalem, and who were living out there in common in Galilee, you gave us our daily bread. You have now forgiven us our debts and our trespasses there on Calvary, and we have forgiven those who have trespassed against us. You have led us out of temptation, and You have delivered us from the evil one.  For Yours is the kingdom, the authority, and the glory forever and ever. Praise Your name.