Drifting Into False Religion

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

Adoption, Inheritance, and Coming of Age in Galatians 4

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. So in Galatians chapter 4, part of what we are seeing here, I think, is a pastor's heart towards his people.

In verses 1 through 7, Paul is teaching and encouraging the flock these spiritual truths. And you know, there's a lot to be thankful for in the churches of Galatia. God was doing a work. But then in verse 8, Paul begins to express his concern.

So there were some good things, but then there were obviously some not so good things. And then in verse 20, Paul expresses his frustration. He says, I have doubts about you. And I think what he basically what he is saying is, I don't know what else to do.

Because many in the church were listening to the false teachers. They're listening to the wrong people. And Paul kind of confronted them about it. I'm sure some didn't really care for that. So I've titled this message, Have I Become Your Enemy Because I Tell You the Truth?

That's what Paul says. Look at verse 16. He says, Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? So he's trying to get through to the people, telling them not to listen to the false teachers.

And I would tell you the same thing. Be very careful about who you listen to. Be very careful about where you get your advice in your whole world view. Do not listen to false teachers, because the false teachers were turning the church against the Apostle Paul.

So as a shepherd of the flock, Paul loves the people. And he wants what's best for them. And he wants them to become more like Christ. So what he's doing, he's making an urgent appeal to the Christians in Galatia.

With that in mind, let's read again Galatians 4, starting in verse 1. He says, Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave. Though he is master of all. In other words, the little three-year-old, he may be the owner, technically, of the whole estate.

But it's not going to do him much good when he's that young. But he is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the Father. Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts.

Of course, this is the Holy Spirit, where we cry out, Abba, Father. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then you are an heir of God through Christ. If you remember, last week we looked at the believer's inheritance.

So Paul is kind of expanding on that point that we talked about last week at the end of chapter 3. Believers have an inheritance. We see that. We are heirs, right? Remember, the Bible was not, when it was written, it did not have chapter divisions.

So it's kind of the same thought flowing into chapter 4. So we had talked about this, how there had to be basically a coming of age. That's the concept here. To where believers are now pictured as adult sons.

Not children, not little children, but adult children in the Father's house. To where now we're talking about inheritance. We're talking about the privileges and the freedom that we have as adult sons of God.

So this whole concept of a coming of age, I think we're familiar with this a little bit. When a Jewish boy reaches age 13, what do they have for him?

Bar. Mitzvah.

Right, you've heard of a Bar Mitzvah. Where now he is officially a man, right? Well, in American culture we don't really have anything like that. But the closest thing we have of a coming of age is probably around ages 16 to 18.

You know, you get your driver's license. You get a job. You graduate high school. Go off to college. Of course, the legal age of an adult is 18. So we have some idea of this concept of a coming of age.

But spiritually speaking, when do you come of age? When do you mature spiritually? Well, basically it's when you put your faith in Jesus Christ. You have come of age. Christians are then adopted into the family of God.

Where, again, you are an adult son or daughter in the Father's house with the inheritance. And because of all of that, we are the children, spiritual children of Abraham. Heirs according to the promise.

So that same promise that was made to Abraham and to his seed, Jesus Christ, now we are part of all of that through faith.

Salvation by Grace Alone Through Faith Alone in Christ Alone

Here's the problem, though.

In the churches of Galilee, how are we saved? What's the gospel? Salvation by? You know it by now.

What is it?

Salvation by? There's grace alone, faith alone, in Christ alone. Well, I think there might be many paths to God. Wrong. Faith alone. Well, but salvation by faith plus works.

Wrong.

Faith alone. If there's works, then it can't be grace. So grace alone, faith alone, in Christ alone.

Amen?

Okay, good.

In Galatia, though, you weren't a child of God. You weren't in the family because of faith. No, to be a descendant or to be a son of Abraham, the Judaizers were saying you have to be circumcised. So in order to be in the family, you had to be circumcised and you had to obey the law of Moses.

Paul is saying that is not true. That, of course, is legalism. Faith in Jesus Christ is what matters, not circumcision and all these feast days and everything else. So we are saved by faith, faith alone, not the works of the law.

So the law of Moses was given. Why was the law given? Well, we talked about this last week, to show people their need for a Savior. And once we understand that, then we place our faith in Jesus. The law has fulfilled its purpose.

So Christians, we mentioned how Paul in Romans says, believers, we are not under law. We are under what?

Grace.

And the new covenant is better, better promises, better mediator. And I said, you don't know how good you have it. Really, you really don't know how good you have it. We have greater privileges than the Israelites, more freedoms.

The Israelites were more like servants, were sons and daughters. So God has adopted us into his family through faith in Christ. And he has given us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee. Now, how do you know that you have the Holy Spirit?

And this could be a whole sermon in and of itself. But the Spirit is the thing you can spot. Hey, that's the guarantee.

I have the Holy Spirit.

How do you know you have the Holy Spirit? Well, has God changed your heart? Do you have desires since coming to Christ? Do you have desires that you didn't have before? Desires to serve God? Desires to obey God?

Do you hate sin? I mean, that's a pretty good indicator. Is the Holy Spirit within you? Doesn't mean you'll never sin. Doesn't mean you're perfect. But if you have the Holy Spirit within you, you will hate sin.

Even when you do it, you'll hate it. Okay, so the Holy Spirit is given as a guarantee. That's the evidence. So last time, we talked about all of that. And believers, our inheritance, which ultimately, I said, the inheritance is the world.

Christians, one day, will rule the world. I like that. I just want to stress that for a moment. One day, Christians, Christians will rule the world.

Well, I don't know.

Does the Bible really teach that? What did Jesus say in the Beatitudes? The meek shall inherit the earth. So when Jesus returns, He sets up His kingdom. It's called the Millennium, the 1 ,000-year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth.

Jesus will rule and reign. We will rule and reign with Him. That day is coming. So this is great spiritual truth that Paul is giving to the Galatians, and it is meant to build them up. So the problem, again, they were listening to the wrong people.

False Teachers, the Holy Spirit, and the Believer’s Assurance

Just a couple things that are brought out here. Being a child of God, right? We're children of God, adults, sons, and daughters. Well, Jesus is called what? The only begotten. So Jesus, because we're saying we're children of God, but at the same time we're saying Jesus is God's only son.

Well, how do you reconcile the two? Jesus is the only begotten of the Father. Jesus is equal with God. So Jesus is the only begotten. We are sons and daughters through what? What's the word? Adoption.

So we have been adopted into the family. So Paul tells the church all of this just to encourage them. One technicality here. I'm not saying that Paul was the pastor or held the office of pastor, but as an apostle, he was an overseer.

Paul had a shepherding role. And as a shepherd, he loves the people, wants to encourage the people. But he has his concerns. So now we're getting into the second part of the message, the concerns that he has for the body of Christ.

If you talk to any pastor or church leader, I think they'll admit this. There's always that love for the flock. But there's always a genuine care and concern for the flock. It's really a jungle out there.

You have not only false teachers. You have wrong ideas and influences coming at us from every direction. So a pastor, an apostle would have done this, a deacon, an elder. Christian leaders are concerned with all of these things.

So Paul is concerned with the welfare of the flock. False teachers are everywhere. And, you know, there's another type of false teaching that I want to talk about. It's really the indoctrination from society.

There is an indoctrination that comes from the culture, whether it's from government, whether it's from Hollywood, whatever. There is all these other influences. In all of this, along with false teachers in the church, they're trying to pull people away from Christ.

The devil uses all of these things to try to lure people away from Christ. What was the threat in Galatians? Well, Paul is talking about, who are the false teachers? What are they called? J begins with a J.

Right, the Judaizers. So Paul, like any faithful shepherd, he has this concern. Look at verse 8. He says, but then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now that you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you desire again to be in bondage?

You observe days and months and seasons and years. Paul says, I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. So Paul is reminding the people, before you got saved, you were worshiping things.

You were worshiping gods that were really not gods at all. What does he mean? They were caught up in false religion. And by the way, just because something isn't called a religion, it can still be a religion if people are devoted to ideas, right?

I could give plenty of examples. We don't need to go through all of it. But these people were caught up in false religion. And Paul sees that they're headed again in that direction. They're headed back into the direction of false religion.

And you say, well, with the Old Testament law, that wasn't false religion. Well, the way the scribes and Pharisees had twisted it, it became that. You know, it's sort of like Roman Catholicism today. There's so much truth in the Roman system.

I mean, there really is. I believe they have the right God and the right Jesus, and they have so much truth. But it's blended with paganism. So it's been corrupted. Well, that's kind of the way the Old Testament faith was.

It was all true, but it was corrupted with man's tradition. So he sees them going back under the law. You're headed towards false religion. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornickchurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.