Book of Galatians - Ch. 4, Vs. 30-Ch. 5, Vs. 1 (08/06/2017)

The Prayer for Salvation, Righteousness, and Guidance

Okay, we're ready to go? I think we'll start this morning with a prayer. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for providing yourself in the form of your Son, Emmanuel, God with us, as a substitute for us to bear the punishment for our sins and to give us his righteousness.

Thank you for providing Jesus the way and the only way to salvation. Jesus saith, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Thank you, Lord, for giving us this time and this place to assemble together to study your word and to worship you.

Lord, take this lesson, mold it, make it be what each person needs to hear. Take this assembly and mold it and make it into a church of your liking. And take me and make me, mold me more in the image of your Son.

And finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. We're going to start with Galatians 4, where we left off last week. 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.

Now that was quoted from Genesis 21, 10. Wherefore she, that Sarah, said unto Abraham, cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even Isaac. Now last week we ended with this thought.

Maybe Sarah was a little harsh. After all, Ishmael was also Abraham's son. And in fact, Sarah herself was a party to the decision to help God obtain an heir for Abraham. Do you think God needed any help?

And now she changes her mind. Doesn't seem quite fair, does it? But what we need to understand is that the purpose of the Holy Spirit in including this passage is more than a simple narrative of the history of the patriarchs.

It is more importantly used to illustrate the fact that those who are attempting to be justified on the basis of keeping the law will be cast out of God's presence forever. Now that's where we left last week.

And we were getting ready to look at another account. This one in the New Testament. And it will illustrate the same point. The point being, if you are attempting to justify yourself or to be justified on the basis of the works that you do, you will be condemned to be separated from God forever.

The Centurion's Faith and the Gentiles at Table with Abraham

Well, let's look at it. Matthew 8, verse 5. And this is going to, I'll warn you ahead of time, lead us off into another side venture. But I think we will, in fact, get through Galatians 4 today. We only have two verses.

So this is one of them. So I think we'll get through Galatians 4. So here we are. And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching him and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof. But speak the word only. And my servant shall be healed.

For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this man, go. And he goeth. And to another come. And he cometh. And to my servant, do this. And he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled.

And he said unto them that followed, verily I say unto you, I have not found so great a faith, no, not in Israel. We're going to come back to that later. That's where our side venture is going to go. But to continue, he says, and I say unto you that many shall come from the east and the west.

That's identifying those not part of the chosen people. That's identifying the Gentiles. That's identifying for the most part, you and I. And maybe for the total part, I don't know. Many shall come from the east and the west, the Gentiles, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness, and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And now for my first question. Are all of the children of the kingdom cast out?

Ma 'am? He did save some of them. I thought you said he didn't save some of them. Oh, okay. You did say that. It does not say some of them. Does it say that some of them will not be cast out? It doesn't say that either, does it?

Which children do you think are cast out? I'm sorry? Well, the Jews as a whole, but does that include every individual Jew? No, it does not include every individual Jew. We know that all through the course of time, Jewish people have not been all cast out.

So which ones do you think are cast out? Those who are attempting to be justified on the basis of keeping the law. Those are the ones that are cast out. Now why do you think that? Why do you think that those are cast out?

Because you can't be both a child of the promise and a child of the law. That's what this verse is about. You must be one or the other. That's the entire point of this verse. I'll re-read it. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture?

Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman, who is that identified as? The son of the bondwoman. Those are the children of the law. It's a child of the law. Shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.

And who's that? That's a child of the promise. You can't be both a child of the law and a child of the promise. Now earlier on in Galatians, he talked about this. Paul did. He says, is the law then against the promises of God?

So what do you think? Is the law against the promises of God? No. He said, heavens forbid, God forbid. That's the strongest negative you can have in the Hebrew language. That is the ultimate of no. It's no you can't.

It's the law and the promise are not enemies of one another. They ask Spurgeon, how do you reconcile? And he says, you don't reconcile, friends. For if there had been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness would have been by the law.

If a law was given that you could obey and you could therefore get life, then there would be no need for the promise. You could have done it by the law. Did anybody do it with the law? Christ did. And because he did and he gave us his victory, then we all did.

But how did we get righteousness? Not by what we did, but by what he did. The righteousness was given by the promise. Now I want to go venture away from the main thrust, and that is the comparison of law and promise.

Children of the promise, children of the law, we will get back to it. But I want you to think about the comment that Jesus made in this section of Matthews when he said, I have not found so great a faith, no, not in Israel.

Remember that? When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said unto them that followed, verily I say unto you, I have not found so great a faith, no, not in Israel. And I told you I'd come back to that. Well, now we're there.

Think about that a minute and consider some instances of great faith. I've listed a couple and I know that you guys know a lot more. More faith than the woman who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus' garment.

She had great faith. She had such a great faith that she felt like if she could just touch his garment, she'd be healed. But she thought she had to be, she thought she had to touch his garment. Okay. Well, she healed.

She was healed. But was it because she touched his garment or because Jesus simply chose to heal her? Now I'm not going to ask you at this point why he healed her. I want to save that question for a different person.

But you might consider why it was that Jesus decided to heal her. Well, there's always a bit of compassion to it. Jesus looks and sees and looks with mercy and compassion and chooses sometimes to heal.

Sometimes he doesn't, but he always looks with compassion. He did. He did. He felt the power go out of him. Mm-hmm. No, that's not because he didn't know. That's because the people around him didn't know.

He wanted everybody else to know. He wanted everybody to know that the woman, I mean, they might not even have known that she was healed. This was not like the blind man who suddenly could see or the lame person that could suddenly jump up and run around.

Now, this was probably something that they would not have noticed happened. That's right. And so she had less faith than the centurion had, didn't he? The centurion says, you don't have to do a thing.

You don't have to go there. You don't have to be there. You just have to say it and it'll be done. She thought she had to get up to him and touch him. And she did. And she was healed. Okay. Okay. I think we've agreed that the reason he healed her is because he chose to.

Absolutely. Absolutely. That's right. And it showed that she had great faith. She had enough faith to think, if she touches the garment, she's going to be healed. That's great faith. That's a lot of faith, but it's not as much faith as the centurion had, who knew he didn't have to touch, be there, anything, he just had to say it and it was done.

Okay. Now, I want to put this in because Brother David warned me of this, not directly me, but warned himself of this. It's important to note that the touching of the garment did not heal her, but it's just as important to know that it didn't prevent her from being healed.

I think she was. Yes. And, and there's, and there's, and there's some, that's correct. That's part of it. Yeah. And, yeah. And let me, let me add one more thing. She was in an unclean state. She was unclean and she could not come and touch him, but she thought she could get away with touching his garment.

That's right. I mean, anyhow, I didn't mean to cut you off. I didn't want to lose that thought and it does kind of tie back to the difference between the promise and the ritual. I suspect it is, but I hadn't given any thought at all to that.

Okay. That pretty much has dealt with all the things I want to deal with about this lady. I'm going to go to another more instructive healing. Yes. Yes. I think that's a fantastic idea as long as you're not, you don't give it any, that you give it no, that you give it no supernatural powers.

But maybe they wouldn't buy it if they'd had no supernatural powers. I don't know. There was a guy up in Tulsa that did that. Soul of the water. What was his name? It doesn't matter. Let's not get off that there.

I'll get trapped forever. Mark two, verse one. Now, this is a more instructive healing, I think, or it was more instructive to me than the healing of the woman. So I'm going to actually read it and look at some issues.

Mark two, starting at verse one, and again, he entered into Capernaum after some days and it was noised about that he was in the house. And straight away, many were gathered together in so much that there was no room to receive them.

No, not so much as about the door. And he preached the word unto them. And they came unto him, bringing one sick of palsy, which was born of the four. And when they could not come not unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was.

And when he and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed where in the sick of the palsy lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, whose faith, their faith, that would be the of the four and also of the one, the sick man, as well as the four that let him down.

They had enough faith to know or to believe that if they took the roof off and let him down on the rope, that Jesus would heal them. So they had faith. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven.

Why did they let the man down? I'm sorry. What did they believe? They did heal him. They let him down to be healed. Oh, brother David, you're saying that there is a healing going on here. A spiritual healing.

Looks like it. A physical healing, too, but just not yet. What did Jesus do? He said, his sins were forgiven, but there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their heart. Why does this man speak blasphemy?

Who can forgive sins but God only? Now I highlighted that. And I want to point out again, I think I mentioned this. I lost track. I may have mentioned this to Diane. She and I were talking about this.

They were right about this. Who can forgive sins other than God? Who can forgive sins other than God? Nobody. So they were right about that. And immediately, Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, why reason ye these things in your heart?

Whether it is easier to say to the sick of palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee, or say, arise, take up thy bed, and walk. Look at verse 10. But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.

He saith to the sick of palsy, I say unto thee, arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it in this fashion.

Healing as Sign Gifts and the Glory of God

Okay, now the question is, why did Jesus heal the man that was let down through the roof? To glorify God? Oh, there was some compassion. He had some compassion on the man. They had great faith, and he wanted to reward it.

The Jews require a sign. Now interestingly about this, if I said to you, your sins are forgiven, you might know, and if I were God, I would know. Who else would know? But if I said, Mark, you've never walked before in your life, get up and run to the back of the room, and you got up and run to the back of the room, everybody would know.

So why did God, why did Jesus heal the man let down through the roof? So ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. That's why. Now what does that tell you? Somebody just told us earlier today the punchline of the whole thing.

What does that tell us? If Jesus has the power to forgive sins, then who is Jesus? Jesus is God. Now it's very important to know that the glory went to God. Not to the poor, not to the poor because of the faith they had for tearing off the roof and letting him down, not to the one that wanted the poor to carry him there so he could tear off the roof and let him down, but to God.

We're going to deal more with that in a little bit. And I think that's very important too. That's why I'm not sure that we'll get very far into chapter five. I originally was going to, go ahead and you got to, I took it out.

Absolutely. That's what I, that's what I believe. In fact, what I was going to say is even the disciples, let's take a disciple. How many disciples verified their discipleship by doing a healing? Most of them, Peter and John did.

They've got a whole paragraph on that, a whole chapter on that, that I'll mention, but not read. A whole set of that, how many, how many disciples could forgive sin? None. Only God could forgive sin. So there is a difference between this healing, this spiritual healing and any other healing.

Yes, ma 'am. But to get healed of body, I'm going to ask you a question. Remember the story when you had the, I think it was three men healed at once. It was 10 men healed at once. So it'd be worse than I thought.

And one came back. Now, my thought would be nine were healed bodily and one was healed bodily and spiritually. But that's just my guess. And please take my guesses as my guesses. Don't read anything more into them than should be.

Okay, we're going to deal more about the glory going to God in just a minute, but I want to finish this thought first. I titled this little portion, Signed Gifts. Are they for today? Specifically, is healing a gift for today or better worded, is healing something that happens today?

Let's just answer that question. Is healing something that happens today? Yes. If it is, for what purpose? To glorify God. Why did Jesus heal in the previous passage? So that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.

So this healing in part took place because to do something whose effect could be seen in order to verify something whose effect could not be seen. And that is Jesus could forgive sin. So he healed the man so that you could see the result of the healing to verify the purpose of the whole thing, that he could forgive the sin which you couldn't see.

In short, to prove that Jesus was God. So that's one reason healing takes place. When God does it, when Jesus does it, to prove he's God, to show he's God. Not to prove he's God, to show he's God. Sometimes healing took place to verify discipleship.

And I told you, Peter and John in Acts 3, there's a whole chapter where, you remember, silver and gold have we none, but that which we have, we will give to thee. And so they all were, and so he was healed and everybody was amazed.

There's a whole story about that. That was to verify that Peter and John were real apostles, real disciples of Jesus. Now, since healing was sometimes done to verify discipleship, did anyone other than Jesus and the disciples ever heal anybody?

I'm sorry? There were people, I guess, I'm not sure which verse you're referring to. I do have a verse labeled Mark 9, 38. And I'm going to have to extend the thought to, and John answered him saying, Master, we saw one, did I tell you what verse this is?

It's 9, 38. And John answered him saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name. And he followed not us, and we forbade him because he followed not us. How did Jesus respond to that? He said, forbid him not, for there is no man which can do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me, for he that is not against us is on our part.

So, I want to reform my question. Do you think that healing is something that can occur today? So, we agree that it can. Is it, you think, to validate discipleship? If you are a healing preacher and you say, I am a man of God because I can heal, the glory goes to you, and we'll get to that in just a minute, not to God, and it is not a valid validation.

Well, that is a step closer to true religion, isn't it? I'd like to take it just a slightly different tact and go to Matthew chapter 7, verse 21. Matthew 7, 21, now I said slightly different tact. We're going to, if anybody ever in a sailboat, you've got a place you're going, and it's going over here, and you don't go over there, you kind of go over this way, because that's the way the wind lets you go, and then you turn around and you go a different way, but you still got your main goal in sight.

We still have our main goal in sight, but we're just heading in a different direction. That will just give you time to find your place. Matthew 7, 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wondrous work. Now, I'm not going to finish right there.

I'm going to stop for just a minute and ask you, did Jesus tell them, no, you didn't do these things? He didn't tell them that, did he? What does that imply? That they did it. They did cast out devils in his name.

They did prophesy in his name, and in his name, they did many wonderful works. But what he did say is, then I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye doers of iniquity. Yes, sir. Yes.

Yes. Yes, and there is another point that I think is worthy of consideration. The healer in the church, in spite of the fact that they may have never claimed the glory, they got some glory. The other people looked on them with respect and awe, saying, I mean, this is a great thing.

Uh-huh. They're right. Yes, and that's the issue. Not that they claimed the glory, but that they still got some glory. Yeah, and here's the important question. Who gets the glory? If it is God that gets the glory, it is a wonderful work.

When I said wonderful works that we did in your name, in thy name done many wonderful works, if God gets the glory, it is a wonderful work. OK, people are actually, yes, that's correct. See, I don't think so.

No, because he identifies as that's what it is. He says, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. Yes. Yeah, and I think so. I can accept the fact that it's a wonderful work in the sense of an awesome work, but not in the sense of a great work.

That's correct, Marianne. I think so. I think that's correct. I think that's correct, Marianne. Absolutely. So they are claiming the glory for it. Yeah. Diane, I think so. Yes, and I'd like to add one more thing.

After the end of Job, God restored everything to him even more. And he can do that, but that's correct. But in the case of Paul, he didn't. He said, my strength is sufficient for you. So he restored Job, and he said to Paul, just deal with it.

My strength is sufficient for you. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. And subject to the limitations that God put on him in the beginning. Absolutely. And Job and Paul are probably two examples of that. Job restored, and Paul not restored, but both in the will of God.

But if the glory goes to you, when they said, hath we not, hath we not said, and that's where I was going to go next. Hath we not said, and the glory goes to you, then it is a work of iniquity. Well, we are going to finish this verse today, this chapter today.

Remember where we were, Galatians 430, 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. And one last time, the purpose of including this passage was to illustrate that those who are attempting to be justified on the basis of what they do, the keeping of the law, will be cast out of God's presence forever.

So, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Now, that's the last verse in chapter 4. I'm going to do one verse in chapter 5, and I'm not even going to deal with it much, because there's no chapter divisions in the scripture.

So, right after this, it says, so then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Stay fast, stay where you are, because of the benefit of being free from the law, as a way of salvation, not to mention the fact that you can't achieve it anyhow. To be delivered from the curse that the law presents, or pronounces on the sinner who has been striving unsuccessfully to achieve his own righteousness, but has now embraced Christ, and is delivered to the salvation granted him by grace.

And then one last thing, entangled again in the yoke of bondage. The Jews referred to the yoke of the law as a good thing. It was the essence of true religion. If you were to deal with the Roman Catholic Church, the rituals and the law is the essential of the religion.

Very structured, very much. Southern Baptists, not so much so, but just a little bit. And we'll get to that too. But Paul argued that for those who pursued the yoke, as a way of salvation, it was a yoke of slavery.

It was a yoke of bondage. If you perceive the law as a way of salvation, the law becomes not a yoke of freedom, but a yoke of bondage. Now, can you pursue the law? Absolutely. Should you pursue the law?

Yes. Should you think that your pursuit of the law will make you saved? No. I think you're right. I think unless we're free, we are not in a position to pursue the law. We pursue the law because we're free, not to become free.

Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for all our many blessings. Protect us, keep us, and thank you for bringing us into your will. Thank you for choosing us. Thank you for making us want to serve you.

Go with us through the next services. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.