Exchanging Freedom For Slavery - [Galatians 4:8]

Lord we just thank you and we praise you for an opportunity to dig a deeper into your word

Lord for so many people who Don't even have that opportunity in this world today

Lord what a blessing it is That we can all have the Word of God in our own hands to study it for ourselves

And Lord, you don't obscure it to a point that we can't understand it Lord we thank you for this place that we have now of worship that we can come here freely as often as we would like And hear and feast on your word and Lord.

I just ask that you will use me as a vessel Lord I am but a mere man Who's proclaiming your word and I ask that you would receive the glory and the honor and the praise?

For anything that comes out of this message, and we just ask this in your holy and precious name Amen, I want to thank

Dan also for reading our Old Testament reading this this evening So I'm going to open with a couple questions, and we're going to dig into our passage actually if you've looked ahead already

We're going to be looking in the book of Galatians And it's Galatians chapter 4 and we're going to be looking at only one verse verse 8

But I still have 40 to 45 minutes of text so bear with me on that Don't think it's going to be quick, and you're going to be out here in about five minutes

But prior to that. I just want to ask a couple questions and get things rolling a little bit here I Want to ask you here if any of you have either received something that they felt was so precious

That they would never ever want to give it up. Give it away or have it stolen Think about that in your minds something that is precious and dear to you

Think of that one item Maybe this object has a great monetary value

Maybe this object has no monetary value, but it has great sentimental value But it has value to you, and it has it's very important to you

Could be a family heirloom it could be an antique it could be that special piece of jewelry Maybe that someone has handed down Picture this item again in your mind as we go through the message

Now let me ask you the question with that in your mind What would you think if you were to give me that gift?

And I were to turn around and exchange it for a bag of play money, or let's say

I exchange it for A big toy gaudy plastic ring because it looked more valuable more important than what you might have given me

Those objects that I exchanged it for this toy jewelry Or this bundle of play money

May have appeared at face value to be more valuable than what you gave me But you would think that such an exchange would be mere foolishness

It would make no sense You would wonder how I could ever believe to do that Today what you're going to hear is about a group of churches.

It's the Galatian churches as we're going to be in the book of Galatians Who are making this type of exchange this exact type of exchange?

They were willing to exchange their newfound liberty in Christ that Paul had delivered to them for bondage to the world and materialism and works -based religions as we'll see

Such an exchange Reminds me often of that one expensive gift that you may buy your child if you have children

Or those who don't have children, but have watched little children open up in a Christmas gift They get this very expensive gift sometimes and yet when it's opened unwrapped taken out of the box

They run right to the box and that's what they want to play with is the box They don't care about the gift itself.

They want to play with the box And we look at that and we say that's just amazing. How could they think of playing with a box?

I've just spent a fortune on this toy. That's now over in the corner yet They're getting so much enjoyment out of playing with this box

It may seem silly as an adult as it often does but the box is invaluable to the child

Which is amazing Adults often base objects worth on his monetary value

Which is what we've worked to get or to do yet the child sees it for something they get out of the object that they're playing with and This is exactly how the

Galatians received Paul's message. They wanted the box that Paul delivered regarding the gospel message

But they didn't want the complete contents or they thought the contents were incomplete They wanted additional things as we'll see as we go through our text

The Galatians were not mature enough in their faith to see that adding to the gospel message is mere foolishness and folly as we read in the

Bible They desired to accept a false gospel That was enslaving them to the things of this world

Imagine yourself in a locked damp cold dreary dark

Prison cell or a dungeon if it is a better picture With shackles upon your wrist

Jesus Christ comes walking in unlocks the door unlocks your shackles and Yet your desire is to reach over to something that's familiar and pick those shackles back up and put them upon your wrist

Why would you ever want to re -enslave yourself after becoming free? and This is what

Paul was arguing with the Galatians as we'll see in our check in our text Turn with me in your Bibles if you haven't already to Galatians chapter 4 and please look with me at verse 8

As I read the text think of the eternal freedom you yourself may be exchanging today tonight

For the bondage of the world Listen what Paul tells the Galatian churches about their desire to give up freedom for slavery follow along in your

Bibles as I read, please Paul says in verse 8 However at that time when you did not know

God You were slaves to those which by nature are no gods pretty simple text

But it is such a simple text I actually studied quite a bit more when I was initially putting this message together And I kept as Dan knows kept removing and removing or moving because I had so much

Text that I really wanted to focus in on verse 8 So I want to give you some background information that I think is Critical and understanding a little bit of what we're gonna be looking at here in our verse as background

I'd like to cover just two questions and these are two questions I asked myself when I was looking at this text and that was well why was

Paul writing to the churches in Galatia one and Second what does the however if you see the word?

It's however in some Bibles is translated formally in other Bibles at the very first word in verse 8

So I want to look at those two things quick before we get into the text itself So first why was

Paul writing in the church the church is in Galatia? First I also want to state that the term

Galatia is not a specific church It is actually a region that covers the coast of the

Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea It's what's most commonly known today as modern -day Turkey Some of the cities

Paul would be in have would have been writing to at these churches would have been In the cities of Derby Lystra Iconium and Antioch to name just a few

I'm sure you're familiar with most of those But those all fall in this term of Galatians other than some of the other

Bible texts that are written to a given Church, this is written to a group of churches Paul is also it's critical to know

Paul is also writing to churches that already know Christ They wanted to know more about Paul's teachings the fact that Paul was preaching

Christ is all when the fact that Paul was preaching Christ is all one needs for salvation to these churches during his missionary journeys

Seem too simple for the Galatians to accept and what's amazing is

Paul now sees as he's taken this message during his missionary journeys to these churches He finds himself later in the book of Galatians now writing to them to address

The embarrassing false Gospels that they're starting to look at embracing that comes from the

Judaizers Now when you hear the word Judaizers Most of you probably know but let me give you a little bit of background on the

Judaizers really quick The Judaizers were a group of Jews That were really on the heels of Paul during all of his missionary journeys and they were going around to the various churches that Paul had planted and others had planted that were

Christians and They were actually saying you have to to be a Christian You first have to become a

Jew or follow the Jewish practices. You're gonna have to be bound to the law There's no way that God would be pleased in Christ alone

But he would be pleased in the works of the law the works of Judaism This group taught that even if you wanted to become a

Christian not even just to become a Judaizer that one needed to follow these rules The Galatians were told by the

Jews that they must seek the things found in the Old Testament Jewish laws their rules the regulations and Their traditions in exchange for the freedom.

They already now have in Jesus Christ The Judaizers would be considered in their day the great legalists

They were clean on the outside, but God saw their hearts which he says were full of dead man's bones

The Galatians were not mature enough in their faith

To understand what was coming to them was a false gospel and Paul was writing this letter to state that Paul wants his readers to understand how silly it is that when they're free from the bondage of the law and sin in Jesus Christ How could you ever want to turn your backs and go back to sin and legalism again found in the world

It was pointless Paul in verse 9 of our text

Just below what we are what we're covering actually says to the Galatians that the things apart from faith in Jesus Christ are weak worthless to gain

God's favor weak and worthless So Second what is the however refer back to this is important.

We need to understand in context what the however here refers back to When you come across such a word in your own

Bible studies you need to ask yourself, what is this referring to? What is this pointing to? Often it's a translation transition from one idea to a contrasting idea found somewhere else around the text

For example, if I said this to you you look very nice today However Or if I said something like I think my boss was very fair in his decision to give me that small raise however

Or you may say something like honey that dinner last night. That was excellent and I can't look over there because she'll think

I'm however So you get the idea that The use of the word however

It's clear that there's a concept that this is referring back to and we need to understand that before fully engaging in our text

It's like playing the game of Jeopardy Paul in our text that we're looking at is giving us the questions and we need to know the answers to which he's referring to So we're gonna quickly look at verse if you look up now in your

Bibles in verses 6 and 7 We have the answer to the question Paul tells the

Galatians that they're no longer slaves of the world, but free as children of God in Christ Nothing more is needed to be added.

It is complete Their chains have been removed the cell doors left standing wide open and all they need to do is walk out

Look with me quickly at these two verses as I read them Galatians 4 6 says and because you are sons

God has sent the spirit of his son into your into our hearts crying

Abba Father So you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son than an heir through God And yet the next verse he talks about he talks about slavery, which is what we're looking at Here Paul says that the

Christian is a child of God. You're a son You're an heir of the true and living God and after being adopted into the family

Why or how could you ever become or desire to be a slave again to the teachings that the

Judaizers were bringing? Paul is posing this question to the Galatians and I pose it to you today

With the context understood. Let's get into actually our verse here in Galatians 4 8 If you'd like an outline if you're taking notes and you like an outline to kind of follow along with what

I'm going to be covering First I want to discuss Well, why was Paul so upset with the

Galatians? Seem simple Second why did the

Galatians not learn from their past Paul asks? And third why would the

Galatians serve quotes no gods in exchange for the one true God? So first let me cover

Why was Paul so upset with the Galatians desire as I saw it almost to be more spiritual?

Paul at one time was a slave to his own religious system as most of you who have read Understand he was the chief.

He was one of the chief leaders of the Jewish religious system He knew exactly what the Judaizers were bringing him He was one of the leaders as we saw he even says himself

He is a Pharisee of a Pharisee of the Pharisees and a Hebrew of the Hebrews After his conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus Paul understood the freedom

Which only comes from having a personal relationship with God found in Jesus Christ his son he could never go back to once what held him bound for so many years to legalism and Works based religions

He was now free he was set free It needs pointing out that the churches in Galatia were most likely not from Jewish descent either the region itself as many state

These churches came from pagan backgrounds pagan traditions pagan religions pagan teachings so a view here

Many of you here may be asking the question. Well. Why was it so bad to embrace Jewish religious customs did not

Jesus himself? Follow these customs when he was here on earth Would this not at least have given the

Galatians some moral code which they could have followed which would have been different from their pagan religions Were these customs better than the enslavement that they had to their earlier past pagan religions?

They were not attempting to remove Christianity But they wanted to add Judaism to Christianity, which is what the

Judaizers were teaching Such blendings of religious teachings was often a pagan practice in the day

They just wanted to assimilate Judaism into Christianity So let me try to answer the question of why the

Galatians Wanted to embrace such a false teaching and why it was bad in Paul's opinion, and there's two reasons

Paul covers First he talks about in the scripture that it removes the need for Christ in redemption

If you have a works -based religion it removes that If salvation is by any means apart from Christ or if Christ plus something else saves you

The act of redemption and the suffering of Christ upon the cross is made null and void

I Think that would have upset Paul quite a bit The Galatians wanted something they could do or add to Christianity to make it more complete in their opinion

They liked their bondage to works from their past pagan ways and they had trouble accepting the freedom

Paul was preaching to them in Jesus Christ Maybe it reminded him more of their earlier days

This is one reason why so many people even today have a problem accepting Christianity the human body naturally wants to add

Something else to Christ and what he did on the cross for sin and yet the only thing

That you can take to the cross For salvation is your sin Jesus said on the cross as he died it is finished

There's nothing more. There's nothing needs to be added. It is complete The Galatians were a group of immature

Christians willing to accept any strange doctrine It seemed that came their way and Paul was very upset with that The Jewish laws were seen as a mere supplement to the redemption that Christ paid on the cross for their sins

It was more like those people who don't eat a well -balanced meal and instead they eat a vitamin

Thinking that it is a supplement. It is something they can add to What they think might be incomplete

This is what the Galatians were looking to do The Galatians believed that Paul brought a good message, but it was not complete they wanted what the

Judaizers were also bringing to them and This is exactly what the Judaizers wanted the Judaizers wanted to ruin

Christianity and to ruin Paul's reputation by spreading a false gospel Believing your works merit

God's favor completely removes the need for Christ's death and resurrection on the cross It turns the gospel message on its head

Paul says that only Christ's work on the cross and his resurrection from the dead are Necessary to merit

God's favor nothing else for there is no other name under heaven by which you must be saved the

Bible says and Paul says that salvation is of God through Christ and not of your own works

And why is this Paul says this is true so that not one of us not one of you can boast in your own works here today of being saved and This leads into the second point of why

Paul would have been so upset Regarding the Judea the acceptance by the Galatians of the

Judaizers teachings Secondly works brings glory to man and not God the rightful receiver of all of our glory

If man has the means of working for God's favor. He has something to boast in Could the

Jews boast that they were the greater nation and this is why God selected to them They could it would be a lie based on what scripture tells us

God actually selected the nation of Israel. He said because they were the smaller of the nations

If salvation is of the Lord alone You have nothing you can boast in and every work based salvation system elevates man to God by doing something

Yet Christianity is the only one where God has lowered himself and come into his creation

To save men the Galatians were not able to properly discern basic Christian truths from false teachings it appears

How often do those of us who have kids feel disappointed when we have? Over and over and over repeatedly told them something and they seem to ignore it

Now put yourself in Paul's position if he's telling them over and over and over the gospel message, and they want to embrace

Judaism and the Jewish traditions It was their eternal destiny it had nothing to do with their temporal destiny

So we've looked at two reasons why Paul would have been upset with the

Galatians for embracing the teachings of Judaism of the Judaizers Next Paul wants to discuss their past Paul wants the

Galatians to see If they were truly better off trying to merit God's work through their own acts and works

Instead of accepting the teachings that Christ was the only way which Paul was preaching

Let's look at what Paul has to say about a pre Christians Past or pre Christians life actually or a

Christians past Paul essentially was saying in Galatians 4 8 don't you remember your past?

Paul opens verse 8 by asking the question to the Galatian churches Because he knows they've now received the gospel and he's

Questioning whether they truly received it or not if they look to their past. How could they ever want to be? Chained and bound again in legalism

So what does the Bible say you were like before being transformed by the power of God? You'll find the answer to this in the first chapter of the book of Romans.

You can turn there if you would like We're gonna cover five traits out of chapter chapter 1 of Romans I'm sorry chapter 1 of Romans 1 and this section of Romans most of you are familiar with is

Really about the state of the unregenerate man and today you are either in this state

Or if you are like the Galatians, you've already received Christ This is a picture of your past and Paul wants to remind you of what your past was like Because if you remembered your past you would never want to go back so quickly.

I'm going to cover five traits First you suppress the truth of God in Romans 1 18 through 19

The Bible says in Romans 18 through 19 1 18 through 19 that the natural man suppresses knowledge of God Even though it is plainly evident to everyone

Because of Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden your natural inclination is to do what is unrighteous

Instead of what is righteous and pleasing to God No matter the amount of quote good quote you may attempt apart from God The Bible says that all such efforts are but filthy rags in the sight of God Every work prior to salvation is but filthy rags as Isaiah 64 says

The Bible says every person knows deep down in his or her heart that God exists and we are without excuse as we stand before God It says you are made in the image of God and this is why deep within us and in our conscience convicts us

That there is a God But mankind being spiritually dead to sin as we read in the scriptures would rather suppress this truth and instead follow after their own desires their own lusts

These desires lead you only into slavery and ultimately if not repented of to hell itself

So the first thing Paul wants the Galatians to remember about their past is that every one of them knew God existed before They were saved

This is why they worship pagan gods in their spiritually dead state Paul wants them to know how idolatrous it is for them to return to their pagan ways and Try to desire

God's favor through meritorious works Secondly Romans 121 says that you did not desire to honor or give thanks to God for all he has done

But instead you turned your backs on God and embraced the desires of your own heart and worldly things

So even if you felt or that you knew that God existed you ignored God you didn't honor him.

You turned your back on him And because you suppress the truth of God in the past You were you had to fill this void with something and the

Galatians were trying to fill this void with idol worship worthless achievements And now adding the works righteousness

To the list of the eye to the look to their list of idolatry How are you filling your spiritual void today?

Have you filled it with something other than Jesus Christ the only rightful? one to fill that void

Not only were you not honoring God, but Paul says in Romans 5 10 That prior to your justification in Christ each one of you were personally at war against God Prior to salvation you could not do one good thing in the eyes of a holy and just God every act every desire every thought

Was in direct contrast to the plans of God What you intended for quotes good prior to becoming a

Christian was actually done for the good of the kingdom of darkness and not the kingdom of light Paul wants the

Galatians to see just how worthless and self -centered their acts of works righteousness are to their salvation worthless third

You were a fool in the eyes of God as Romans 1 22 says Did you know before salvation

God considered you a fool? It says it right there Because of your prideful your boastful your wicked self -seeking nature

You may think yourself to be wise he had God declares you the exact opposite prior to salvation Paul was telling the

Galatians that in their past they were fools, but now they are children of the living and all -powerful triune

God Why or how could you want to add anything? To his saving work in your own life

Why would you want to go back to being a fool when you're now a child of the King in air?

Only a fool would good would get down on his hands and knees and place the shackles that have been released back on his wrist and closed the prison door after being released by the

King of Kings Paul next says Point four in Romans 1 25 you exchange the truth his truth for a lie

Forth Paul says in Romans 1 25 that you were so foolish you exchange the truth For a lie straight out of the pit of hell

Prior to salvation you were a slave to the devil and your desires were only for yourself and the things of this world and nothing more

Does it not seem silly that someone would return or exchange a thing of great wealth for something worthless?

Would you exchange that family heirloom that priceless object that thing that you had in your mind at the beginning of this message

For something that came out of a gumball machine Seems ridiculous The churches in Galatia were facing this exact issue they were putting aside the true gospel and Exchanging it for a false one

No matter what you may believe the Bible says that apart from God you will always fall deeper and deeper into your own depravity

Here in verse 25 of Romans 1 we see that if left to yourself you'll worship things you create not

God The Galatians in their past pagan ways would have worshipped things created by God such as animals trees birds insects objects idols, but they would never have worshipped the one true

God who created all those things and He alone is the one and rightful receiver of all of our glory

Fifth and most powerful as I was studying And I have this titled as God saw you as dot dot dot if you look at Romans 1 29 through 32

It sums things up By giving a detailed list of the of what

God thinks about people who were lost apart from the saving work of Jesus Christ Hold on as I read this list before you were a

Christian Here's a picture of what you were unrighteous evildoers covetous full of envy murderous full of strife deceitful malicious gossipers slanderers haters of God insolent haughty boastful inventors of evil disobedient to parents foolish

Faithless heartless Ruthless and deserving of death. Do you see any of these traits in your life today?

Romans 3 23 is pretty clear says that all have sinned and fallen short of God's perfect requirement

We all deserve the death that comes from this list And not one of us have power in and of ourselves to stand before a holy

God without facing punishment for these sins If God allowed even one sin to escape his justice his justice he would no longer be a righteous judge

What would you think of a judge that let a child murderer or a rapist off for doing good things to others?

In an attempt to win the judge's favor after committing the act such a judge would be removed from the benches unrighteous and be disbarred

And this is the exact reason why God must judge and punish every transgression against him

It is his right Romans 6 23 says that the only punishment for sin is death and every one of your sins will be judged and you will either be

Found guilty and condemned to eternal punishment or your sins will be paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross

This list from the book of Romans chapter 1 contains some pretty strong words

But what better words can be used to describe one who is in direct opposition to God Paul wants the

Galatians to remember their previous state of bondage as was listed above He is questioning how they could ever desire to go back to what they had after getting freedom in Jesus Christ How could you embrace salvation plus the

Jewish laws which only bring condemnation? And death

The Bible says that the law itself cannot remove your sins It can only make you aware of your sins and condemn you of your sins

But only by the blood of Jesus Christ Can your sins be removed? Right now so we first covered why

Paul was upset with the Galatians and second we looked at Why we looked at how God sees mankind before salvation that was where Paul was asking the

Galatians Well, what about your past remember your past think back to your past? You've come so far.

Why would you want to go back? So we next asked he next Asks the Galatians the question of how they can go back to worshipping quote no gods as we see in our text

After receiving grace and mercy from the true God They had freedom, but they desired bondage.

They wanted the shackles again. It made him feel comfortable It took him out of their comfort zone

Paul still can't understand why the Galatians would desire such a bondage to worthless powerless created gods or practices and Paul after asking them about their past pagan lives wonders how the

Galatians could become slaves to a works -based religious system once again Paul is asking the

Galatians how they could so easily be convinced to accept the teachings of the Judaizers and how they could replace that freedom in Christ for slavery to Satan once again

Oftentimes the Bible contrasts man's thinking with God's thinking And I have to say if you're unaware

They're very different Here are just a few contrasts. I found while doing some study in my

Bible that I'll just read for you here The Bible says the law is powerless

The gospel is powerful The law is for the immature

Grace is for the mature. The world is poor

Heaven is eternally rich The world is foolish God is all wise

The world is temporal Heaven is eternal Man are mankind in its natural state as a slave to the world and sin

Yet in Christ there is freedom for the children and the heirs of God The natural man as we heard this morning looks outward

What do people look like? God the Bible says looks inward. He looks at the heart.

That's where he measures And with just a short list of contradictions, which one would you choose today?

Those of God's or those of the world's Seems almost foolish to choose the world's side

So Paul in verse 8 writes of the Galatians willingness to go from being free in Christ back to being a slave of the world

When I think of slavery, I have to think of the other side and what's the opposite of being slavery?

What is the one thing that all slaves strive and struggle for in most cases and that's freedom

They seek freedom from the bondage So what I'd like to do briefly is cover three freedoms one can expect as a

Christian that Paul uses the word Because Paul uses the word freedom here in verse 9.

He also uses the word slave in verse 8 We can relate the two and we can talk about the freedom even though we're looking at the slavery side

So this is kind of the opposite. So let's look at the other side of slavery. Let's look at the freedom that comes as That comes to a

Christian First it may surprise some of you to learn that even if you are here and saved and you are a

Christian Paul says in the Bible that you are not free So anyone who tells you you are free

You are not truly free as a Christian. You're no longer a slave of the world, but you are a slave of God You are his

Like many of the paradoxes found in the Bible God frees you as a Christian from the slavery of the world so that you can become a slave of his

Which in and of itself is very freeing Who would you rather be a slave to today?

God or a slave of the world? What is the freedom? You have as Christians even as a slave of God I see these three freedoms and we'll cover these briefly

The first is you receive freedom in Christ We see that in Galatians 5 1 and 1st

Corinthians 7 22 through 24 First as a Christian you receive freedom in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins in exchange for the wrath of God which each one of us rightly deserves a

Christian can freely come before the throne of God on the day of judgment and Successfully plead their case upon Christ, which has already paid for it on the cross

Why would you ever desire to go back to a work system when you have been set free from the bondage of this world in Christ Christ has removed the chains and open wide the door so that sinners may enter eternity

Second In Romans 8 2 through 4 and Romans 6 22 as a

Christian you are free from the bondage of sin So no longer not only are you free in Christ? But now as a

Christian Paul wants them to know you are free from sin This doesn't mean that a

Christian will never sin No human can obtain perfection upon becoming a

Christian. That's ridiculous Only Jesus Christ was able to live the perfect and sinless life

God requires What it does mean though is that Christ's death and his resurrection made a way for you to overcome the power of sin in your lone life

Put your faith and trust in him today for that forgiveness Through the death and resurrection of Christ you always have a way out of any sin that may ensnare you

Any sin and always have a way out? God provides a way out of your temptations

You're no longer in bondage to the scent to the slavery of sin But rather Christ has set you free from this bondage

The power of sin is broken in Christ Jesus third as a

Christian You're actually free to bring glory to God. You are free to glorify

God Romans 6 16 As we saw earlier before salvation you hated

God you were at war with God you lusted after your own desires and Those desires were desires of the world you were a slave to sin

But as a Christian now you are free to glorify and bring glory to God You no longer want to bring glory to yourself or the things

God hates You no longer are at war with him as a Christian instead. You want to do the things which bring him glory

This is the reason you were created. I Like what the Westminster Shorter Catechism question one says and that is

What is the chief end of man and its reply to that question is to glorify God and enjoy him forever?

You were made by God to bring God glory and to only bring him glory

Let me ask you. How are you bringing him glory right now? How are you bringing him glory today? How are you bringing him glory tomorrow or next week?

How will you bring God glory? So first we looked at what made

Paul upset about the Galatians embracing the Jewish customs Secondly, we looked at what

Paul says in the book of Romans about the state of the unregenerate man Look to your past. He kept saying look to your past And lastly, we looked at briefly three types of freedom

That are the opposite of the slavery that they would have been bound to so are you a

Galatian here today? Are you trying to please God? By doing works you think will please him or bring you into a better standing with God Do you think that because you are a quote good person or you do quote good things?

God will receive you into his eternal presence of heaven Are you a person that thinks that if the at the end if the good outweighs the bad?

God will let me in because I tried Your works are but filthy rags as we learned earlier in Isaiah 64 apart from God Whether you believe it or not.

God is sovereign in all things Even if you don't worship him, even you try to run from him

Every one of us will one day stand before the Creator when we die and Each one of us will have to answer for every one of the actions we performed here on earth before God Only those claiming the blood of Jesus Christ will ever enter heaven

It is exclusive. Are you here listening to this message and you have not responded to the call of God in your own heart?

Today do you fall into one of those many categories you read about in Romans 1 is that not your past?

But that is your current state If this is the case remember the

Bible says that today is the day of salvation believe upon Jesus Christ and you will be Saved you will be declared not guilty before the judgment seat

If you are a Christian here today and you're attempting to win God's favor by following rules and regulations alone

Paul's message to the Galatians is for you. Also The Christian walk is not about pleasing

God by what you do But but that God is pleased

When your heart desires to do the things which are pleasing to him We need to remember and often we forget that being a

Christian is not a right We're not demanding a right to be a Christian. It is a privilege that's given to us by God So if you're here today and you know the grace and the mercy found in Jesus Christ Be thankful and thank

God If you do not know the freedom found in Christ and you would like to speak to someone

I'd be happy to speak to you or speak to one of the leaders About how you can be removed from the bondage of this world

Let's pray Lord Jesus, we thank you we praise you once again for having the opportunity to hear your word to dig into your word to try to understand your word or do we ask that You will just put it upon our hearts pierce our hearts

Lord for only you can with this message Lord we love you again for the opportunity

We have now to be here and we praise you in all things and we give you the glory the rightful heir of that glory in your only precious name