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

Paul’s doing all he can; so am I, to help you understand who you are in Christ. You’re a son of the living God; you are a species from another realm. Why do you want to go back and live under the law? Any law? What law? How big a law? I want to go back to something, if I may, and I want to pick it up. Would you go back to chapter 2 with me? I had planned to come back to this passage at the end of the conference and go through it once more, but I think I’d better do it right now. For through the law, I died through law. I died to the law so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. Now then, brothers and sisters, this says as clearly as it can say that there’s law and grace and there’s death and resurrection, and what is your present relationship to the law? Well, one thing that has happened in your relationship with the law is that you’ve been adopted from the law, but here Paul says it in another way and much more powerful way, and that is: you have died to the law.

Have you got a big cemetery here in Memphis? One of those really big ones where everybody gets buried, or do you have lots of little ones? Got a big one. What’s its name? Forest Hill Memorial Park. That’s where the dead are. Well, let’s go out to Forest Hill for just a moment, shall we? And let’s look around and see if we can find a sign with a little arrow pointing down to the people there that says, “No smoking.” And another one, “Residents of Forest Hill, no walking on the grass.” Another one that says, “Taxes are due April 15th.” And another one, a great big one, put up by some fundamentalist. “Thou shalt not steal.” And another one, ordinance 1228b, “No committing adultery.” And another one down a little further. “Thou shalt not kill”, and this is all for the residents of Forest Hill.

Are you going to find anything like that down there? Did you know there are more dead people on this earth than there are living people? Did you know that? No. There are more people who died who’d been born than are presently alive. Not many, but a few more. I believe that is correct. Which ones are freer from the law? Now tell me, tell me who? The dead ones. The freest people on this planet from the law are the dead ones. I challenge you to go any place on this planet and find one ordinance, one law, one statutory, anything, one municipal code, what else is there? Resolution or anything else on any statute books of any city, any province, any state, any nation, any empire on this earth, passed on and to the people who are dead. They don’t pay taxes. They don’t get pulled into court. They have no demands placed upon them by law of any kind. All law ends with death. Are you clear?

Well, you are dead to all law and all ordinances. But you mean the Mosaic commands? No, sir. I mean, my dear friend, I mean every statue on the wall on the courts in Memphis, Tennessee. You are dead to them. Now, you’re not prepared to hear this. That’s fine. You’re going to hear it anyway.

You have died to all law, and all law has died to you. Law is walking around among the living. Ordinances are walking around among the living. Municipal ordinances are walking around among the living. And the law cannot find you; you died in Christ. Now, I am telling you, I’m going to make this as plain as I can. I’m not the first person to make this statement. I’m not going to be the last. I hope I will not be the last radical who ever lived. You, as a believer in the sight of God, are not required to obey any law on the face of the earth today. None of them, because you’re dead to them. In God’s ordinance, in God’s eyes, you are not required to obey any of them. By the way, do you know that there are some studies in judicial human history, in the works of human law, in which this statement is discussed, that this is a Christian teaching? It is understood to be a Christian teaching.

Paul says in another place, there’s only one reason we obey the laws of men today. And that is only one reason that we obey the laws on all the statute books of all the states, provinces, nations, cities, villages, and rural areas. Only one reason. Do you know what it is? You don’t even know. Where you’ve been all your life. Who’s been preaching to you? Who’s been sharing the scripture? Which Bible have you been reading? You obey them for one reason and one reason only. That you do not become a stumbling block to them, because they cannot understand this. Therefore, because they are blind, you do it for their benefit and theirs alone. But in the sight of God, you, dear Christian, are free from everything. This means that tonight, when you leave here, you can go as far as the Lord is concerned, because, as you have been crucified with Christ, you can go home at 100 miles an hour. You can. Now, then, the man who stops you may not be able to see an indwelling Lord, nor understand that you have been crucified with Christ, and you can refuse to pay the fine. You will end up in jail. We shall come to visit you, but we will understand that you are free from that law. You are. I’m going to say it again. Maybe that’s not where we ultimately end up, but brother, that’s where you start. You are a child of the living God, belonging to another kingdom, with another citizenship, with another genetic structure, with another life form, and your citizenship belongs to another place, and if you please, another planet. You are an alien and a sojourner here. This is not your home, and you’re not even a species of this creation. Praise the Lord. Amen.