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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Dear God, thank you for the service today You may be able to gather here and worship together. Please bless it. Help us all be edified from the bastard spirit All right, let's turn to our next song. It's all number 89 It's already nine this Jesus care 89 on the first Jesus Oh Oh Oh Oh All right, great singing good to have y'all here with us at Strong Old Baptist Church this Wednesday night At this time we'll go through announcements. So if you don't have a bulletin just hook your hand up real high and One of our ushers will get you a bulletin If you open up to the first page, you'll see the service times listed there is always Sunday morning at 10 30 Sunday evening again At 5 p.m. Wednesday night 7 is a Bible study We got the so many opportunities listed there as well as the TV salvations and The baptisms for the month as well as for the year If you have any salvations to report to slip your hand up real quick To for on Monday and brother Lance on a week ago Wednesday That would have been the 22nd Anyone else All right, very good keep up the good work Preaching gospel Jesus Christ down there at the bottom of the page. We have the offering totals received through the month of May Before we continue on with the normal announcements There's a some kind of a water leak in that back room where the foosball table is that little kind of playroom that's right over here So just I guess kind of stay out of that. I'm gonna try to suck more water out today. We noticed it on Sunday I looked up we have the AC unit up there, but everything seems dry It doesn't seem to be anything coming from our equipment or anything that I can tell I know the landlord already knows about it. He's been out here So, I'm not sure exactly what's going on at this point if it's plumbing it's his problem if it's other stuff it might be ours so It does smell a little starting to smell a moldy in there I sucked up as much water as I could on Sunday We're gonna do the same thing again tonight, but just just keep the kids out of there. It's off limits We should probably put a sign up there just says, you know, stay out keep out something like that I got not an exit sign. I could probably put one of those up Anyways, and then I guess we've been having an ant problem too. So We should probably go through the whole building There's been a few leftover things, you know, we have food as prizes The stuff that's packaged and sealed should be all just fine But if you notice stuff that's just sitting out and sitting open and this is also why it's also very important to get all the garbage is out At the end of Sunday night service as well as Wednesday night services, too So we've got bait stations that work really really well when we notice the ant problem But it's also very sticky stuff. So again parents try to make sure your kids can stay away from them We try to put them as far out of the paths of where people are normally stepping and things try to hide them as much as possible But if there's a you know where the ants are literally coming in a lot of times it's by these doors Just be aware of that because it's a big stickiness mess when that stuff spills out You don't want the kids getting into that or stepping on it and getting in your shoes and stuff either So just another thing to be aware of and then Also, you know if you bring food here and leave it, you know, at least occasionally check through and make sure you don't just leave stuff sitting in there I found a few science experiments recently So take care of your stuff, right? We're not at the point yet where I'm gonna have a policy of just saying okay every week stuff's just getting thrown away But we'll get there if it gets out of hand So try to just pay attention to your own things when you bring them in just do a check I'll probably announce that again on Sunday if I remember everyone just kind of checked the stuff make sure you didn't leave stuff there Because I don't know whose stuff is whose or whatever. So I don't want to throw stuff away, especially if it's good But at the same time we can't just have it just sitting in there forever. So appreciate your help with that I think that's all of the extra little housekeeping things Continuing on here with the prayer requests Continue to pray for all the ladies that are with child of course for the pregnancies Continue to pray for everyone who still has a lot of very serious health problems that they have been dealing with here A lot of very very serious problems Looking to see if we have any updates on anyone Ms. Juana sent a letter again and She's still waiting here back for her daughter and she says that she's doing much better and is excited about the church plant So we're happy to hear about that and then Does anyone have any updates for people who are on the prayer list? Leslie? Today she did? That's good news Rosie Miller had pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital on Sunday morning and Now she's been released today. Do you know how she's have you heard like how she's doing or just that she's released? Okay Good good. Appreciate your prayers there. Apparently she's doing much better Anyone else have any updates? Alright very good If you would like to drop off a prayer request you can get the cards over by the front door on the bookshelf There should be some prayer request forms there you could fill out drop it in the offering plate or hand it to me leave it on my desk Try to get it to me if you leave it places I may or may not see it I try to pay attention to stuff But sometimes my desk gets pretty messy and I might not notice it so Either drop it in the offering plate or hand it to me directly and we'll make sure we get your prayers into the bulletin On the next page of course congratulations to the Carter family Roman was born May 22nd You can see all the stats there everyone's doing well so we're happy to hear about that May challenge so two days left you got Thursday and Friday for the month of May hang in there Right stay strong if you've made it this far through the month Then I mean what's two more days right you've you've probably already broken the addiction cycle and you've made it past that So I also just encourage you to not jump right back into a bunch of old habits that might not have been the best in the first place At the end of the beginning of June so but don't forget June is Saturday June 1st So the attempt to give the gospel to this one person begins on Saturday so if you're going to participate in that challenge Which I encourage you to don't forget about that on Saturday if I remember I'll try to post it to our social media Just to keep people aware because hey you could be on social media again on Saturday And then the new church plant Greenville so we're I've got a lot of plans We're finalizing the service times this week so I've been in discussion with brother Carter on that And it may or may not be it probably won't be the same as what we have here For Sunday services but we're we're discussing that right now but we're looking at a grand opening of July 7th So that looks to be the date I'll have it the official announcement on Sunday So plan on July 6th being the soul winning marathon and July 7th being opening service Over in Greenville and the week one week prior to that we will be having if people want to volunteer to help We'll be moving a bunch of stuff that's going to be stored here like all the chairs other things that need to go to the building If people you know and you know some people could maybe help load a truck here And other people might want to help unload the truck in South Carolina or I mean obviously you could do both But you know it's a good opportunity just some of the people who are closer that way might just want to come and help out to unload People who are closer here could stick around and just help load would be great I'll give you all the the time when we're going to be doing those things will be very helpful And yeah we've got a plan so all the the demo work will hopefully be done next week Getting the flooring put in and a bunch of work done so things are moving right along with the church plant We've got the Bible memory passage there Hebrews 11 did anyone not get their prize for verses 1 through 20 of Hebrew 11 that that completed it Anyone here not get a prize that that deserves one for that all right and then down at the bottom of the page Of course the upcoming events June 22nd 23rd is our six year anniversary as a church And then we'll update of course the grand opening there on the back we've got the birthdays and anniversaries through the month of June And there's one more event coming up, and I didn't really post it, but I'm gonna be traveling to Canada next week To Winnipeg the sure foundation Baptist Church could be ordaining brother weeb who's been The evangelist there he's gonna be ordained pastor so it's gonna be come an independent church a week from Sunday And I'm gonna be preaching Friday night. I'm just a turnaround trip for me I'll be right back here nothing changes for our church, so I'm flying out Friday and come back Saturday, so a Little bit of travel going on there, but that should be a lot of fun, and that's about it for the announcement So I'm gonna turn the service back over to brother Peter who can lead us our next song Oh In the blood There is Would you be wider There's one You do service Oh You Church while the offering plates are being passed around if you please open your Bibles Galatians chapter 4 Galatians chapter 4 As we do customer Galatians chapter 4 Now I say that the heir as long as he is a child Differ nothing from a servant though He'd be lord of all but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father Even so we when we were children were in bondage under the elements of the world But when the fullness of the 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 might receive the adoption of sons and Because your sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba father Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ Howbeit then when you knew not God you did service unto them which by nature are no gods But now after that you have known God or rather are known of God How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements where into you desire again to be in bondage Ye observe days and months and times and years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain Brethren I beseech you be as I am for I am as ye are you have not injured me at all You know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first In my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not nor rejected but received me as an angel of God Even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness you spake of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you but not well. Yea, they would exclude you that ye might affect them But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not only when I am present with you My little children of whom I travel in birth again until Christ be formed in you I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you Tell me ye that desire to be under the law do ye not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons the one by a bondmaid the other by a free woman But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh but he of the free woman was by promise Which things are an allegory for these are the two covenants The one from the Mount Sinai which genderth to bondage which is Agar For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all For it is written rejoice thou barren that barest not break forth and cry thou that travailest not For the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband Now we brethren as Isaac was are the children of promise But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so it is now 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 free woman So then brethren we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free Let's pray, Brother Austin can you pray for us? Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for all the good things are in your word, Lord, and all the knowledge we can learn from it So thank you for the new church plant that is coming up, I pray it shall bless it I also pray, Lord, that you will build past burdens to your Holy Spirit I pray boldly that you will work more now so that you can hear your word Amen Alright, Galatians chapter 4, let's just do a real brief recap here of chapters 1, 2, and 3 Just to try to keep the context because, I mean it's a short book, there's only six chapters And it's all about the same thing, I mean it's pretty much, you just want to make sure that we keep everything in the right light, in the right context There's a lot of great doctrine to get into, but being mindful of the overall context is very important Galatians chapter 1, that letter opened up, there was a serious problem going on at the church And people were teaching damnable heresy, they were adding works of salvation Apostle Paul said, let them be accursed, right, and he kind of establishes himself as an authority with the churches of Galatia And in chapter 2 he talks about how there's no difference between the Jew and the Gentile And he confronted Peter to the face, and that salvation is a real salvific chapter Chapter 2, about how it's not of the works of the law, and it's only by grace, and very, very clear on that And then, of course, in chapter 3 he gets more into being like a child of God and a child of Abraham And goes into the Abrahamic covenant here, because the specific thing that was being added as works was circumcision We learn that from chapter 2, and next week we'll be getting more into circumcision specifically So, we're digging into chapter 4, where the first verse reads Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all And we're going to get into these verses here, these first few verses talking about being an heir, and that goes along with being a child Having an inheritance within the home, within the family, comes just by virtue of being born into that family Did children receive the inheritance of the father? And what he's explaining here, though, now, is that The heir, so it's the person who's going to be receiving, and he's talking about a great household here, a household that has servants There's workers, other people in the household, and then you've also got family members within this household And he's saying, as long as the heir is a child, like they're still growing, they're still learning, they're still completely under subjection, they're not some adult child This is talking about a youth child, as long as the heir is a child, he's no different from a servant And that makes sense, your parents are going to be putting their kids to work, like you're in the household, you're going to be working just like our servants are working We don't have this, but if we had maids, if we had other servants to come in and do work at my house, well guess what, my kids would still have work to do Right, they would still be getting, and they'd be under authority and everything else, and they're not just going to be bossing around everyone else No, you're just like the servant, right, the servant listens to the commands of the head of the house, well so are the children going to do the same thing So even though the children one day will be inheriting all of that, and they're going to be theirs, and they will be the ones And they are in line to have that authority, and to have that place, and to have that property, it's not, as long as they're a child, they're no different from a servant And that's what he's expressing here, he says in verse 2, but he's under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father So until dad says it's time, okay, now you're going to no longer be like a servant, you're no longer a child, you're going to have standing and have place in this inheritance Until then, you're under tutors, you're under governors, you have to listen to people that have authority over you Verse 3, but he's going to relate this now spiritually, even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, maid of a woman, maid under the law, to redeem them that were under the law That we might receive the adoption of sons, and that's a spiritual application, as he's saying, well look, we also were in bondage And as he mentioned before, that the child, as long as he's a child, even though he's an heir, he's under tutors and governors, is similar to us when we're unsaved We're under a law, we're under bondage here, verse 24 of chapter 3, right, because again, the context matters a lot, near the end of chapter 3 in verse 24 Bob reads, Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith But after that faith is come, we're no longer under schoolmaster, for you're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus So a lot of the same language there, using the same application in the direct context of, hey, as a son, you're just like a servant Because you're under tutors, you're under governors, well similarly, spiritually, we're under a schoolmaster We're under the law, but that law is supposed to point us to Christ and ultimately to be justified by our faith And similarly, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son there in verse number 4 of chapter 4 Made a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons Verse 6, And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ And now he's likening this, you know, getting saved and becoming the son, to like the son that grows up and is no longer the servant in the household But then also becomes that full, rightful heir Well, when we're born again, we become sons, and what a great, I mean, what great, what an honor it is that we could even be called the sons of God Right, it's just kind of amazing that God opens up that relationship for us to be brought into his family as we're spiritually born again And we become his adopted children, especially, you know, a holy God, a perfect God, a righteous God And we're his creation, and we're, you know, poor and wretched and miserable and, you know, sinners And we are so far from being holy, so far removed, yet God wants to have that relationship with us and did everything for us And he doesn't even require us to do anything to be in his family other than receiving the free gift Other than putting our trust in Jesus Christ, so it's not our own works, it's nothing that we can do or earn or achieve There's no high standard that God's putting on us and saying, okay, if you can get to this point, then you can become my son Right, then I'll treat you as a son, and he's saying, no, you just gotta receive this gift, you just gotta put your trust in Jesus And now you are born into this new spiritual family, and not because you're born, because you're a child of God, you have an inheritance And this is another reason why eternal security is true Right, because once you're born into the family, you can't be unborn, you don't ever leave the family, God doesn't kick you out of the family You are a child, you're a child forever, you're an heir, you have an inheritance, you have that already there for you, you're an heir of God Through Christ And in chapter 3, again, just for the context, verse 18, the Bible says, for if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise The inheritance is a promise, the inheritance is not based on anything that you do by doing good, by keeping the law, by doing all these good things It's completely separate, the inheritance, by definition in Galatians 3, is totally separate from the law It has only to do with being a child, it has nothing to do with being good And the biblical distinction here is important, because humanly speaking, you may have families where different things are appointed in an inheritance based off of what you do But this inheritance and this house that you go to be a part of, the house of God, the kingdom of God, is not based on your work That entrance in and that inheritance that you receive is only based by being a son and it's of promise Now of course, God gives rewards for the good work that you do, absolutely, you get eternal rewards that will be with you forever Your entrance in, the fact that you have a place, that there's a place reserved for you, is solely through inheritance, and that inheritance is only by promise It's not any works of the law, it's not anything like that, it's totally separate from that The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 15, and for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament They which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Hebrews references what's already stated here in Galatians chapter 3 and 4, that not only is it a promise, but it's a promise of eternal inheritance It's not temporary inheritance, it's not well, you also have to be good, no it's a promise and it's eternal inheritance It's something that lasts forever, it's something that you can never be disinherited from, it's eternal And it's a promise, so God doesn't go back on his promises 1 Peter chapter 1 also refers to this inheritance in verse number 3, the Bible reads Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you Who are kept by the power of God through faith and the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time That inheritance is incorruptible, it can't be changed, it can't be corrupted, it's there and cannot decay, it cannot rot, it cannot be taken away It's undefiled and the Bible says it fadeth not away and it's reserved in heaven for you You have a reservation in heaven, the moment you get saved that reservation stands, that reservation is there, that reservation is held and it's kept by the power of God So can anyone break the power, is anyone stronger than God? No. Are we stronger than God? No. God made a promise, God can't lie I mean, over and over and over again we see this, you know, it's a little, it's sad, it's so mind boggling that so many people fight against the doctrine of once saved, always saved That fight against the doctrine of this eternal security of the believer, yet it's so clear and it's stated in so many different ways And it's consistent throughout all these different books of the Bible, I mean, we're looking at an inheritance, we can read about it in Galatians, we can read about it in Hebrews, we can read about it in 1 Peter Besides all of the other places that reference our eternal security in many other ways, right, but just the fact that you're a child, the fact that you're an heir, the fact that you have an inheritance It's undefiled, it doesn't fade away, it's incorruptible, it is eternal, it is reserved I mean, show me the verse that says all of a sudden, well you lost your inheritance now, you lost your eternal inheritance because you sinned Show me the verses that talk about any of the things that would be removing the spiritual eternal life gift and the entrance into heaven, you can't find it You can't find it The best you can be able to find is the physical inheritance of the children of Israel being taken out of the land But again, why did that happen? Through their unbelief, because they were going after false gods Not because they lost their salvation, but because they didn't have their trust in the Lord, which is a picture of Hey, in order to be into God's promised land, in order to receive that inheritance, you have to have faith, you have to believe Right, that's all that's showing, and when they don't believe, and when their faith isn't there, physically, the people are out of the land And you know, when they do believe, God brought them back in, and that's the history we saw To reinforce that truth of you have to have the faith in the Lord in order to be in his land And think about it, they did, they've committed a lot of sins and were wrong in a lot of different areas over time But it's not until they start going after other gods, when God gets angry enough to cast them out of the land And just have them taken captive, that's always the point that is the breaking point for the Lord Turn to Acts chapter 26, keep your place here in Galatians, and turn to Acts chapter 26 This is also just kind of interesting because throughout, you know, the book of Galatians is written to the churches at Galatia Which are Gentile churches, right, and there's a lot of teaching in the book of Galatians And clarification on the difference between Jews and Gentiles That in Christ, there is no difference, and that outside of Christ, they're absolutely, it doesn't matter if they're a Jew And in fact, we're going to see here too that a lot of the persecution comes from the physical seed From the non-believing Jews against the believers, but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself But the fact that these Gentiles are receiving an inheritance by virtue of just being a child of God, right And in chapter 3 it says that, I don't want to misquote it, and if you be Christ, then Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise That's how chapter 3 ended, right, so if you're Christ's, you're already a seed, you're a child of Abraham And you can partake of the inheritance, you partake of the blessings, you are just as if you are that child of Abraham And you're there for all the blessings and the promises to reap of, even though you're in Galatia Even though you're a Gentile, that doesn't matter because you're in Christ, which makes you a child of God And this is what the Apostle Paul is called to do, Acts 26 verse 15, this is the Apostle Paul recounting his interaction with Christ on the road to Damascus Verse 15 the Bible says, And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness Both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee So who's he being sent to? The Gentiles To do what? Verse 18, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light And from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive the forgiveness of sins And inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me The Apostle Paul's job was to go to the Gentiles and to preach that they have an inheritance in Christ And that same, that's the inheritance that was promised to Abraham Why is that important? Because it totally debunks all the claims of physical Israel The physical Jews that are claiming to have, oh well, we're the children of Abraham and we're the children... You're like, no, you're not You know what, the people in Galatia were though And all the other Gentiles are in Christ, they're the seed, they receive the inheritance, they have an inheritance coming to them But you don't if you're not in Christ Because that's what matters and that's what God's been trying to hammer home from the beginning From when he even issued that covenant to Abraham Like that's what it's been all about this whole time It's about that being a child of promise, being a spiritual seed, being a child of God through faith It's always been the important part Again, there is a difference in the Old Testament, there was separation, there was the physical nation of Israel, there were all these different things But the spiritual truth and the underlying spiritual truth has always been there And the salvation has still always been by grace through faith It has never been by physical genealogy, never Let's go back to Galatians chapter 4 verse number 8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods 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 So he's bringing up now, he says look, before you knew God, you did service unto them which by nature are no gods You had other gods, you had other religion, you were doing service to these other gods But they didn't know, he's saying before you knew that, of course that's how you lived, you just had these other gods, which by nature they're not even gods They're fake, they're phonies, but he says but now after that you've known God, and this is very specific Obviously he could have said, but now after that you're known of God, but this is included in here for a reason To draw this special attention to this after that you've known God, but what's more important, it's not even as important that you know God, but that you're known of God That's what matters the most, because knowing God is something we're continually trying to do And there are people who could know God in a sense, they could know even what salvation is, they could know what the gospel is They could repeat the gospel to you, but they might not be saved There are people who reject the gospel, but they could know the gospel and still reject it, right? That is not as important as God knowing you, because what does God say to those that don't enter in, like in Matthew chapter 7 He says, depart from me, I never knew you Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you And in fact, let's just turn there real quick, because the type of people he's talking to are exactly the people who would say, I know God I mean, no kidding, this is the group of people, this is not, in Matthew 7, this is not a group of people Like, is being referenced, first of all, with the Galatians that are just worshipping Baal or worshipping some other god Maybe they have some Nordic gods, maybe they're worshipping some other Celtic gods, whatever other gods there are Roman gods, Greek gods, all these other, Zeus and Apollos, all these other people Other fake, phony gods That was the state of the Galatians before they heard about Christ and got saved But there's a people who will claim to know God, but they're not even saved And in verse number 21 of chapter 7 of Matthew, the Bible says, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord Shall enter him in the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven So he's saying, not everyone that saith unto me So who are they talking to? The Lord They're not talking to an idol, they're not talking to some other, you know, false god It's the Lord, but he's saying, look, not all of them are going to enter in the kingdom Verse 22 says, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name Now if someone's preaching and prophesying in the name of the Lord, wouldn't you think that person would say, yeah, I know God, I know the Lord Of course they would They'd say, I know God, and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works But see, when he says in that day, it's the day that they would It's the day of their death, it's the day they would enter into heaven And they're not being let in, but this is their answer, this is their reasoning They're saying, but look, God, didn't I preach, didn't I cast out devils, didn't I do all these great works for you What do you mean you're not going to let me in, look at everything I did And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity And why did he never know them? Because they were never born into his family Because they never became his children, because they never put their faith in Jesus Christ Because they were trusting in their works, as is evidenced by their response to, you're not coming in Now if God were to say to me, if I killed or were dead, and I was confronted by God And God said, I'm not letting you into heaven, you know I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say, but God I passed through your church for so long God I tired there, I'm on my paycheck, God I did this, God I did that, I would say, God but I trusted Jesus That would be the first thing on my mouth, God I trusted Jesus, he paid for me, what do you mean you're not letting me in Which is why he's not going to say you're not welcome in, because I did accept Christ But this is why these people are rejected, and it's also why he said I never knew you Because they're trusting in their works, they never got saved, they thought all their good deeds, and it was for the Lord, it was for God They would have said, hey I know God, but no, you know what's more important, that God knows you Because if God knows you, you're getting in But like this, hey I never knew you, gone You're a bastard and not a son Great distinction here in verse number 9 in Galatians But now after they have known God, or rather are known of God, but now he's asking this, like look, you're known of God, you're saved How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage Like why are you going back to this stuff, there's this stuff that you should know better because you got saved You know, you had done service unto them which by nature are no gods in the past But now it's like you're going backwards, why, verse 10 says you observed days and months and times and years And you know there's two different ways that you can look at that, that verse 10 Because there are the observers of times which is tied in with like witchcraft and stuff like that And that very well is probably what he's referring to here, that they're just kind of getting back into this other stuff Like why are you getting into this bondage and this nonsense of being observer of times But you could also though, and this might be applicable as well, observing the days and the months and the times and the years With a lot of the feasts and the other things in the Old Testament that you're observing the new moons, observing the feast days Observing all of that stuff that has been done away in Christ So there's that aspect too, and that's also as a strong possibility of being what he's talking about Because they seem to be being Judaized, right, with the bringing in of the circumcision and this other stuff That it's more likely, in my opinion, that this is talking about all the observation of all these other feasts And here's one of the reasons why you don't observe the feasts, because all the feasts require sacrifices And it's heretical to be offering up a sacrifice after Christ now has already been offered as the sacrifice Because he's the sacrifice of all sacrifices, he's the one to end all of them All the sacrifices in one way or another represented and pictured the coming Christ that was going to be the sacrifice made once for all And once that's happened we no longer need any of those other sacrifices And of course there was a change of the law because of the change of the priesthood And all that is explained in the book of Hebrews But here he's going, okay, well, you know, why are you going back to this stuff, verse 11 I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor and vain Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as you are, you have not injured me at all And he says I'm afraid of you because he's starting to doubt even their salvation And it's not because they're involved in just sin, it's not because there's drunkenness It's not because of anything like that It's literally because of the faith, because of what they're stating And what they're following as far as like, even in regards with salvation We're talking about circumcision and stuff and we're like, whoa, wait a minute I thought you guys were saved, now I'm starting to doubt If you're saying you gotta keep these circumcises that are to be saved, were you even saved to begin with? If you're starting to say these things, if you're going back now and looking, you want to observe days and times and months and years It's like, you saw the truth about this before, so why are you going back to this? Did you even really get it? Did you even really see the truth about this if you're going back to these things now? It would be like, think about someone getting saved that was a Catholic They get saved, they're going to church, and then all of a sudden they're just like Yeah, you know what, I think I'm going to go back to Catholicism or something I think that's right, I'm going to start bringing in They have a lot of good things and we're going to start, I want to start instituting that stuff here You kind of be like, dude, did you even get saved? There's such a dramatic difference between that You just be going like, no, I think I need to be confessing my sins to people Hold on a second though, you already know that Jesus is the mediator You've already learned that So you can see, I'd be standing in doubt of people like that too Just going like, wait, I don't know that you got this, I don't think you understood this And now he brings up, even just at the beginning when he first approached them with the gospel In verse 13 it says, you know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first And he's talking about his own infirmity Like he was not doing well, he physically was impaired and had a problem Yet he still went and preached the gospel, by the way, he still did the work of the Lord Even though he's got an infirmity, even though he has a problem, even though he has some physical ailment He says, in my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye despised not So even though he clearly has a problem, and as I'm going to show you just in a minute I think the problem was in his eyes, had something to do with his sight I don't know exactly what it was, if it was maybe he had some disease But it was something that seemed to be outwardly visible Because they didn't despise it, or it required maybe just a lot of help or something Because why would they despise something unless it was pretty obvious that he had an issue Like why would he even bring up that you didn't despise me for it Unless it had some kind of major impact or a major part of him being there, his presence So whether it's just an outward thing, an outward manifestation, just like oh man that's gross Or like just requiring a lot of extra help or something to that effect He's saying, hey the temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not nor rejected So you didn't reject me, you didn't reject anything I had to say because of my ailment, because of my problem He says, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus Like when I came and preached the gospel to you even though I had this problem, you welcomed me with open arms You received the message, you received me just as if of our Christ Is what he's saying Verse 15, where is then the blessedness ye spake of? For I bear you record, and he's lifting him up and giving him credit here saying I bear you record that if it had been possible ye would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me And this is one of the reasons why I think he had a problem with his eyes Because why else would they pluck out their eyes unless he was having some problem with his own eyes And he's saying like look, you guys were so receptive and so hospitable and so welcoming to the message To me, hey if it were possible you would have given me your eyes He's like, don't you remember this? Did you remember when I preached the gospel to you at the first? Remember when I came here? Remember how you received me? Do you remember all this stuff? Like what are you doing now? How have you fallen so far? And even at the end of Galatians in chapter 6 and verse 11 he says Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand? So a lot of his epistles were written penned down by other people And then he would sign off on those epistles at the end with his signature, with his phrase Kind of showing that it was authorized like the apostle Paul was the one dictating these words It's still the word of God and being given to these other churches But this letter to the Galatians he wrote this one with his own hand And he's saying you've seen how much I've written to you This is a lengthy letter that I've written to you and I've written to you with my own hand I think this also speaks to the fact that he probably had that problem in his flesh Because still with his eyes it would be harder for him to write But this was so important, this speaks to the apostle Paul and his heart and his desire to get through people They say you know what, no I'm going to write this There's going to mean more coming from me from my hand written to you here Like pouring out himself to this letter to the Galatians Why? Because he cares about them so much One more reference to his, you don't have to turn there, you can stay in Galatians 4 Of course 2 Corinthians chapter 12 he references being buffeted by Satan And I believe these two are probably tied together, it's probably all the same type of thing I don't think, because some people might agree with me that it seems to be a problem with his eyes I've heard some people conjecture that maybe it's because when he was on the road to Damascus When he saw that great light of Jesus that that caused some problems in his vision because of the light and the blinding light And he was blind for a few days But that doesn't make sense to me because it would go against every representation, every symbolic use of going to the light and going to Jesus and Jesus is the light To receive damage from looking to Christ doesn't fit at all in any parable, in any symbolic reference So I don't think that holds water But what makes more sense is what we see in 2 Corinthians 12 verse 7 Where it says, unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations There is given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me and he said unto me my grace is sufficient for my strength is made perfect in weakness Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my affirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me So it makes a lot more sense that Satan's the one that hurt him, Satan's the one that's injuring him And of course he's viewing this as a good thing in the sense that okay I'm not being too lifted up with pride I'm not getting too full of myself, this happened, but it wasn't God who made this problem in his eyes It was Satan who buffeted him, just like Job was not hurt of God, he was hurt of Satan Satan was the one attacking him, not God So anyways, this all seems to tie together well Galatians chapter 4, let's keep reading verse 16 And we can see the love, we can see the outpouring and sincerity in this letter Verse 16, now he says am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth And you know, let this verse sink in just in general Don't become enemies with anyone who's trying to tell you the truth This is an important lesson because sometimes the truth can hurt and can cut real deep And we all are vulnerable to this or have the potential for being hurt too bad by what we hear And the more true something is, the more likely it is to hurt, especially if it's something that you're wrong about If you have a problem in your life and you're in the wrong and someone points that out or calls that out to you That's going to feel like it hurts real bad But don't treat that person as your enemy Whether it be a preacher preaching the word of God or a friend or a loved one or whoever it may be The apostle Paul is like look, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth And the things that he's saying, I mean they're kind of harsh, right? He's being blunt, he's being honest with them going like what is going on with you guys Did you receive the blessing of God through the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? You didn't receive the gifts of God through the works of the law, you received them by faith And you received salvation, you understood salvation through Christ and by faith and now you're trying to add these other works He's like I'm standing in doubt of you, what am I your enemy now because I tell you the truth? And what it seems like was happening, again even with chapter 1 and the opening where he's establishing his own credibility Establishing his apostleship to the church, verse 17, look down at verse 17, he says They zealously affect you but not well So these people who've been bringing in this heresy about the circumcision, about following the law, all this other stuff They were zealous and they were zealously affecting them like oh yeah man we're going to serve God and being real zealous about it He says they zealously affect you but not well But they were probably then also, I mean they definitely were pitting him against the doctrine of the apostle Paul Because the apostle Paul wasn't teaching this stuff Which in turn is going to maybe cause them to despise him a little bit When he's saying hey at the first you didn't despise me at all Even when I had this problem, even when I had this physical ailment, you welcomed me, you were happy, you were glad, you received me well But now you got them, now you got these guys, he says they, they zealously affect you but not well He says yay they would exclude you that ye might affect them So they don't care about you, ultimately Verse 18 but it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing It's good to have zeal, it's good to be zealously affected in things that are good It's good to be, you know, worked up to do some great works and things like that in a good thing And he says and not only when I am present with you Verse 19 my little children of whom I travel and birth again until Christ be formed in you I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you And again, you know, there's these, the reference is I'm traveling in birth again until Christ be formed in you Like he's already now starting to talk to him like I don't even think you guys are saved I'm standing in doubt of you like how could you possibly do this? I must have to, you know, bring forth that birth again So he's traveling and working again and just going in depth about salvation and about the gospel and about the free gift As he did for the first three chapters like he's just bringing all this stuff up again like I'm traveling again I want Christ to be formed in you because apparently you didn't really get it And he's saying this, you know, to make a point Although I think he honestly does believe that they're actually saved But he's using this language to just drive home like how serious this is And that it is a possibility that they might, you know, actually not be saved too That he's gonna work real hard to make sure, hey if I've got to travel and birth again just to make sure But he's not saying I'm traveling and birth again because they lost their salvation and they were born again But now they're not gonna be born again again Okay, that's not what is going on here He's just talking about he put forth all this work before and all this travail To what he thought was bringing forth that new life and getting him saved, right And now he's doing it again So obviously there's still only one new birth So if they didn't get saved before and they get saved now there's a one birth And if they did get saved before, even though he's talking about travailing and birth again You know, they're already saved, they're not gonna be born again again The context makes sense You have to real read and have a little bit of understanding And not just, not pick apart these verses too much either You know, just read it in the context and get what the sense is from that Verse 21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? And this is where I'm gonna spend, obviously, the remainder of the sermon on this point here Cause he's specifically calling out now their desire to add the law to their salvation To introduce now these works of the law He's like, don't you even hear the law? Cause what does the law bring? The law is what makes you a sinner At the end of the day, the law is what's showing you, you need a savior That's what the law is doing, so now why are you trying to bring that back in? You've already been freed from that through Christ, why are you trying to bring that back in? As if you need that as part of your salvation Because you can never do that Verse 22 By a bond made, the other by a free woman But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh But he of the free woman was by promise The bond woman was Hagar That was the bond servant, that was Sarah's servant That's who, when Sarah came up with this plan to have a child because she was already old God had already promised a child But they were getting a little anxious to have a child Sarah's getting anxious so she pitches it to Abraham Says hey, how about you take Hagar and I'll have a child through her, like a surrogate So Abraham agrees with this, and they have that child, and that child was Ishmael But then, God's like no, that's not the child of promise, that's not who I was promising you That's not the inheritor, that's not who the heir is, that's not what I was telling you, I told you you have a child, that's not Ishmael You are going to have a child, and Sarah had a child of course in her old age, and Abraham was of old age And that's Isaac, and that's who was born by promise, Sarah was the free woman, these are the two people And I preached just recently on Ishmael too, so I kind of covered a lot of this then But we're going to go over it again since we're in this chapter Verse 24 says, which things are an allegory Now look, these events really happened, but there is a much greater teaching about this It's an allegory for these are the two covenants And look, there's two covenants, what's another word for covenant, is a testament So there's two testaments, there's an Old Testament and a New Testament, right, there's an Old Covenant and a New Covenant And he's saying that these two events, these two children, these two women are representative of the two covenants And he spells out the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai And what covenant came from Mount Sinai? The Ten Commandments, right, the law, Moses received the law from God literally at Mount Sinai The one from Mount Sinai which genderth to bondage And which woman is representative of that? Agar Who is that, the bond woman, who is that born after the flesh And this is so clear, but I've literally heard this, because of verse 25 For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, oh so that's the Saudi Arabians, that's the Arabians That's who the Ishmaelites are, and that's who these other, you know They're wild, they hate God, that's who all these brown people are over there Who is this going to be representative of if it's talking about the Old Covenant, the old law that was from Mount Sinai? It's the Jews It's the physical seed, it's of the flesh When I say the Jews again that can be real ambiguous, there's a lot of different ways you can understand that when I say the word Jews You could be talking about, which I was, talking about the physical Jews, the physical, the fleshly seed But obviously within all of the Jews, especially in the Old Testament, you had believers and unbelievers You had both, you had a mix, so you had spiritual Jews, and physical Jews, and just physical Jews that weren't spiritual Jews You had a mixture of both, so you really got to be careful, I think in preachers I ought to be careful about that too And the way that you're going to know has to be by the context here So it's already said that the bond woman, the son of the bond woman was born after the flesh The physical seed, the physical nation, the physical Jews, all pertain to the law And that was evident even up to Jesus day, in the New Testament we see the Pharisees and the Sadducees And what were they all talking about? Well we're a child of Moses and we follow Moses and we follow the law and all this other stuff And they weren't trusting in the Lord, they didn't receive Christ because they didn't believe God They didn't believe the Lord, they didn't believe in his word, they clung to the law, but they were really just in bondage They rejected Christ, they rejected salvation by grace through faith, and they fought those all by the law Which makes them children of the bond woman, which makes them children of Hagar In this allegory, that's who they are Which is why he says this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, which is funny because then people teaching us must not continue to read And answer to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children Jerusalem, which now is, are the unbelieving Jews, is who he's talking about in that day That's where the power was, that's where, you know, obviously were there believers in Jerusalem? Of course there were There was a church in Jerusalem, there was believers in Jerusalem, but by and large, still that wasn't the majority of the Jews It was a minority that were believers in Christ, right? The vast majority, which is why the Bible says Jesus came on his own, his own received him not Because it's talking about the majority, it's talking about the vast majority of the people Sure, there were thousands that believed, sure, but thousands out of how many? Right, I mean thousands out of millions, and I don't know what the exact number is, but I'm just saying, that's not a lot of people You can think, oh thousands is a lot, well, in what context, right? Thousands isn't even a lot in Atlanta Believers 26, but Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all And who's the us there? Believers. It's the mother of us all, because why? We're looking for the promise, the heavenly Jerusalem That real inheritance, that inheritance that matters, the heavenly Jerusalem, not the physical piece of land, not any of the stuff on this earth which is all going to pass away Verse 27, for it is written, rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry, thou that try bearest not, for the desolate have many more children Than she which hath an husband. Again, the contrast between the physical and the spiritual, the flesh and the promise You could have no fleshly seed, no fleshly children on this earth, but you could have many spiritual children when you lead many people to Christ and then send that huge blessing and bring more people with you to heaven than even worrying about being barren here in this earth and worrying about that flesh Verse 48, now we brethren, and again, just pointing that out, he's talking to the Galatians and he's a Jew physically and they're Gentiles and he's calling them brethren because they're all born again Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise and what do you hear Christians and non-Christians when they talk about you like, oh God promised us this land and God promised it No, you're not the children of promise, you're the children of the bondmaid But that's the Arabs, no, that's you, it's you Because they're following Muhammad, they're just going after other gods Again, by and large, right? But who is Hagar? Hagar is this Mount Sinai in Arabia in answer to Jerusalem Verse 29, but as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now And this is talking about the Jewish persecution of believers And you read through the, and he's talking about even so it is now He says it was then, there was a lot of persecution going on then, and now it also is going on Read the book of Acts And you tell me, is it the Gentiles that are coming down on the Christians? Is it the Romans that are coming down on the Christians? Is it any other group of people that you read about in the book of Acts that are persecuting the Christians? Or is it the Pharisees and the Jews that came from, you know, and they're following them all over the place and trying to shut them down Like that's who it is, just as before the Apostle Paul got saved, he was doing it Right, he was chasing them down and going to all these different cities and trying to shut them down and stamp them out while he was persecuting the Church of God And that's the way it goes, and even in a broader sense, you know The persecution is going to come from those that are not of the Spirit, those that are of the world are not of God And the things that are of the world, you know, Satan is the father of this world in a sense He's the, you know, the manipulator of this world Whereas God is the father of heaven and earth and of all things But, you know, his seed and the spiritual seed, the two clash, the things of the world and the things of the father Verse number 30, we're almost done Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bond woman and her son The son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman The physical seed, the seed of the flesh, they don't have an inheritance They're not heir So it's like Sarah literally cast out Hagar and Ishmael And she was like, I don't want them anywhere near my son They have nothing to do, Isaac is getting everything, Isaac's getting inheritance And when she wanted to cast him out, Abraham was a little conflicted because he loved Ishmael Right, he was his son And Abraham was a good father, he was a good man, and he cared about Ishmael And it wasn't wrong for him to care about him But God said, no Sarah's right though, you cast him out Because they don't have an inheritance He blessed them, he gave them stuff and sent them on their way, he took care of them But Isaac was getting everything He was getting the inheritance, he was getting, you know He was a child of promise And it was super important because obviously there's this great teaching in scripture on all these events And it had to be that way It had to be this way because God is proving a point, he's showing a spiritual truth That we can all learn from through this example And this is coming to light here in Galatians Especially it's just being spelled out so clearly So yeah, cast out the Bible in a sense This clearly is saying there is no special pass, there is no special ticket There is no, oh well they're Jews so there's none of that There's none of that And no one should treat them that way But you know what we do? Just because they're cast out here In the sense that they're not getting an inheritance By virtue of being a physical seed We still go after to try to persuade them to believe and become children of God Because they could be graft back into that olive tree And they could become children of God just like anyone else can through faith in Christ So we say cast them out, we're not just like, well just not have anything to do with them ever But the fact here is talking about they're not, they don't have an inheritance, they're not heirs The only way they could be an heir is by becoming a child of God Because they're not children of God until they put their trust in Jesus Christ So then brethren, again, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free Believers are children of the free woman, we're children of Sarah, we're children of Isaac And receive all the blessings that fall upon the children of promise Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word, thank you for the clarity Lord, I pray that you please help these truths to be spread abroad Where there's a lot of error in regards to this teaching And unfortunately it has a significant impact on the lives of many In politics and in war and in many other areas, dear Lord And I pray that you would please help the children of promise Help us, dear Lord, to be able to teach the truth on this matter And get it known and blazed abroad what the truth is So that we could ultimately lead more people to become adopted children That they could know what it means to be a child of promise, dear Lord And I pray that you would help us in that endeavor And that your name would be exalted and glorified throughout the earth We love you, in Jesus' name we pray, amen Alright, we're going to sing one last song before we're dismissed Brother Peter, will you please lead us? Right church, open up your windows to song number three Song number three, Jesus paid it all Song number three, on the first I hear the Savior say, thy strength indeed is small Child of wheat, just watch and pray Mine did be, thine all in all Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow For now with Thee I find Thy power and Thine alone Can change the left response And melt the heart of stone Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow For nothing good am I Whereby Thy grace You claim I wash Thy carcass white In the blood of Calvary's plan Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow And when, before the throne I stand in Him complete Jesus died, my soul to save Thine lips shall still repeat Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow