Matt Slick Bible Study, Gal. 4

Galatians 4 and the Law as a Tutor

Oh, yes, oh.

Well, that was the greatest Bible study we've ever had too bad the camera wasn't on. And we're gonna have to do some stuff here and review it I guess. Remember once we did that at a Bible study the guy left went to the bathroom and it came back.

I said everybody when he comes back just say that was great. And we did that this one guy goes. It was great we all left All right. So we got a few people there. We're gonna pray. We'll just jump right into Galatians chapter 4 Instead of reading the whole thing.

We're just going to go in and start go verse by verse. Okay, Lord Jesus Thank you for this evening and Just ask Lord that you would bless it and bless the study and bless the people here and the people listening.

I asked Lord that you would open up our hearts in your mind so the truth of your word that we would learn of you and Be changed by the truth of your word. We give you. Thanks Lord. We praise you and thank you for the opportunity to study your word.

We ask us the Lord in your name. Amen. All right. So Galatians chapter 4 now. Okay. So what we've already gone over. We took a week off. I did the Greek study and that was. You'd like the Greek studies were interesting on a real low level, but you've got an idea what it's like Was interesting.

Okay, and So Galatians is a really important book. We've already gone over some of the particular so we're going to go into some more stuff here. There's a lot to cover and we'll just go slowly and go for an hour or so and then quit and continue on Next week.

All right. Hi, Nina Oz Remy Canadian Brian Pratt. Welcome you guys in All right. Let's go to Galatians 4 1 now. I say as long as the heir is a child He does not differ at all from a slave. Although he is the owner of everything All right.

So we talked member in Galatians chapter 3 24 to 27 the law is a tutor that leads us to Christ. Do you guys remember that? And were you here for that? The law is a tutor you guys weren't here for that.

So let me review that briefly so in a in an ancient Greek household the The owner the master of the house was was a male, of course. And the family basically followed his lead and they would often have slaves.

But the slaves weren't the kind that were beaten and whipped and starved. He you know, they had their own rooms they were trusted members of the household to a large degree and some of the slaves were actually used as Tutors to teach this the master's children the owner of the house his children which meant that any slave who was trusted with the child of the master had a very high standing and There was even a social standing that went with it.

And so when a child was taught by the tutor and he so to speak graduated what would happen is he would be given a white robe and A white robe was or a robe was the designation of his graduation now we when we graduate, you know college seminary wear a robe and We have you know the cap and their traditions vary and stuff.

And this is why he said in Galatians 3 says you've been clothed with Christ. You've been baptized and he's talking about there is not that baptism is saving you. But he's relating it to the issue of the law is a tutor that leads us to Christ because the law Instructs us about us about our inability and our guilt.

Once we realize that we've graduated to the place of grace and we're clothed with Christ in that baptism. It's a play on words and the people who used Galatians 3 27. You know, you close yourself all human baptized close yourself with Christ see you're saved by baptism.

They rip it out of its historical cultural context. They don't understand what's going on. But that's a part of the The background here because it says I say as long as you're an heir the heir is a child.

He does not differ at all from a slave. Although he is the owner of everything the heir the child was even to obey the slave the slave would say no you do this. You don't do that. But of course the heir was the one who was gonna inherit everything and was the ultimate, you know Boss so to speak it would be but it but for a time it wasn't that functionally and so.

Both the slave and the child were under the care of the master and in this case The illusion is being drawn to the law as that master. But the law is a difficult task master. Because the law is interesting.

It brings about the opposite of what it requires. It says be holy and then shows you where you're not holy. It says be good and it shows you where you're not good. It says don't lie and reveals to you.

You're lying so the law brings about the opposite of what it requires requires perfection and holiness and beauty and goodness and Brings about the opposite because it kills you the law reveals your sin.

The law exposes exposes your sin. The law exposes how bad you are. So the law is interesting in that it brings about the opposite of what it requires. Okay, so now as I say as long as the heir is a child.

He does not differ at all from the slave though. He's on the owner of everything. First two, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So when he was the father said, okay.

Yeah, it's time you are now gonna be you know in the high place in the house. So the guardianship was until the father of the house Released that child from the slaves authority. Because the slave could say he's qualified.

He's ready. The father had to okay it this was his job verse 3. So also we while we were children Notice how he's relating now this whole image of the law as a tutor that lead us to Christ and the slave and the children Relationship.

So also while we were children Were held in bondage under the elementary things of the world. So he what Paul is doing is he's laying a brilliant case here for something. What he's doing is showing the Requirements of the law Has already went over Galatians 3 23 through 27 until Christ sets us free from that law.

So we're under the obligation of the law until Christ sets us free from the law. We'll talk about how that's done. So the Jews were under obligation, which is why the Judaizers here in Galatia. What they wanted to do was have the the Galatians Be circumcised get under that law.

To be under that law is the obligation to follow the legal requirements so Verse 4 but when the fullness of time came God sent forth a son born of a woman born under the law. Now, let me ask you guys a question.

I already have the answer Unanswer, what does it mean when it says the fullness of the time? What do you think it means? So I just want to get you guys involved a little bit. You can give me all the wrong answers.

Let's start with Dave. Hmm. What do you think it means. The fullness of the time came God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law. Okay, so What would be the fullness of the time? When When what?

There you go the fulfillment of the prophecies the times that were right. There are a lot of prophecies in the Old Testament, you know, Isaiah 714 born of a virgin His name will be be a mighty God. Isaiah 9 6 Be born in Bethlehem that Micah 5 to Be from the house of David.

I forgot with it with where that's from. But it also through the lineage of Abraham Genesis chapter 12 so also As it says we're gonna get into this Galatians 4 for this is important good notice it says When the fullness of the time came God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law.

So just to do it I typed in Google. What does it mean to be born under the law? So I want to see what people had to say about it because you know, I brought my stuff out see if I any ideas out there and Didn't really learn anything new except that this one guy said Jesus was not born under the law.

And he actually quoted Galatians 4 for no Jesus was not under the law as I now I'm okay I'm gonna check this guy out and I'm it's a pastor of a church and find out it's a cult. But it's interesting that this guy said well Jesus was not born under the law.

But if I was debating him I said, but it says he was born under the law. It's what it says, yeah, but it doesn't mean he was born under the law, but it says he was born under the law. I've done that with people in debates before and impromptu debates, but it says, you know.

Now I see the same thing over but it says did you do and but it says it'll go on for three minutes I'll go but it says I do it over and over this I've done it many many times like that and I'll tell people you know, I am doing that because it says.

It's what it says, you know, it's not that hard but sometimes people want to make it hard now. Sometimes you do have to go into deeper stuff. Okay, but anyway. So what was some of the requirements of being born under the law if you're a male?

Circumcision so with Jesus circumcised. Yes, he was he had to have someone he would call God, right? God the Father my Lord my God, right he would do that. Jesus also said in John 14 28 said the Father's greater than I.

And well, I got a question. Wait a minute. Isn't Jesus God in flesh? Yeah, if he's God in flesh, you should be equal to God, right? How then is it that the Father's greater than him if he's God in flesh anybody have an answer.

Because he's the son. Well depends on what you mean by that because that's not a bad answer if we could expand it. Because I'm the right track, but what does it mean? What? Positionally. Right, so I'm greater than my wife.

Positionally in this marriage according to Scripture, but I'm not better than her. Which were both humans. It's just a positional difference. So Jesus was positionally under the law and Hebrews 2 2 9 says made for a little while lower than the angels so the Father was greater than him because he was made under that law as Someone under the law.

He was required to fulfill the law and he did first Peter 2 22. He never sinned. So he fulfilled the law perfectly. Now I'm gonna ask a question. This is a fun question. How many of you? Think that maybe.

Possibly you've actually kept the law perfectly for let's say up to five seconds. Maybe when you're firstborn, maybe I think maybe when I was in a car accident unconscious and I see you. But even then I don't know, you know so we understand that The standard of perfection could it should be achieved by God only and though we might think highly of ourselves.

Ultimately, the truth is we're not going to raise our hand and say yeah, I'm doing pretty well according to God's standard even in our sleep even in a hospital. Unconscious, even when we're born. We had to be careful because we do not know even the depths of our own depravity and but but God does and What's amazing is?

He chose to save us anyway. You know as I love that saying I've said so many times on God I'm glad that God predestined me from the foundation of the world because if you look at me now, he wouldn't pick me.

I love that because it's an admission of what we are internally as being Vile and foul and touched by sin and all that we are and yet God has loved us. But nevertheless. So the father was greater than he because he was made under the law Galatians 4 4 Made for a little while lower than the angels Hebrews 2 9 and in Philippians 2 5 through 8.

He emptied himself. Now we don't know what that emptying means. It's another topic we can get into. But we don't want to say that he's less than anything than God now. What I'm also going to do is is go through a little bit of stuff.

I did a study once on What was necessary I didn't do all of the study super in-depth, but I found a few things What was a requirement according to the law for Jesus to be sacrificed?

Well, what's up.

Had to be a lamb. Oh The candle out. Okay. In Exodus 12 3 it has speak to all the congregation of Israel saying on the 10th of this month. They are each to one to take a lamb for themselves. According to their father's household a lamb for each household and that's to be a sacrifice.

In John 1 29 the next day. He saw Jesus. That's John the Baptist coming to him and said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the center of the world was the lamb because the lamb was taken into the person's home and Cared for as a pet and Then it was killed.

And it kind of a traumatizing thing. But it's meant to show the trauma of the crucifixion. Leviticus 17 11 for the life of the flesh is in the blood and I've given it To you on the altar to make atonement for your souls for it is by the blood.

For it is it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement. And he was 914. How much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God? Cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God.

The priests makes atonement. Leviticus 420. He shall also do with the bowl the bowl just as he did with the bowl of the sin offering just. Thus he shall do with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them and they shall be forgiven.

And he was 723 to 24. The former priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing. But Jesus on the other hand because he continues forever ever holds his priesthood permanently.

So he was the priest who made atonement. This is all according to the law. The sacrifice was to be without blemish. We know Jesus was already Old Testament Scripture. Deuteronomy 17 1 you shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep.

Which has a blemish or any defect for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God. I reminds me I was talking to the Christ Adelphians once it's a cult similar to the Jehovah's Witnesses. There are very few of them, but I had an encounter with them for about a year.

It was really interesting situation, but nevertheless they would say that Mmm, give me that Jesus had his sin nature, but he never sinned. They had a sin nature, but he never sinned and I was looking this was like 20 years ago.

How am I gonna deal with this? You're gonna think about this. What scripture? Can I go to? Deuteronomy 17 1 you shall not have a blemish and they said well he never says we didn't have a blemish and I said Let me ask you a question.

Is having a fallen sinful nature a blemish? They couldn't answer because they say no, of course it is. You have a fallen a sinful nature, but you just never sinned that's a blemish on the sacrifice it's impure and Stuff.

So a lot of times my history of verses and scriptures are Arrived at in situations like that. So sometimes I quote a verse there's memory there's associations with it from evangelism and various things.

Kinsmen Redeemer, this is Leviticus 25 47 through 49. Now think about Jesus in this now if the means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes it sufficient and a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you or to the descendants of A stranger's family then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold.

One of his brothers may redeem him or his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him or one of his blood. Relatives from his family may redeem him or if he prospers he may redeem himself a Kinsman Redeemer.

The family members could redeem that slave. So I have three brothers and you know. My mom and dad, you know, let's say that we were all of us live in the same house in that culture. One of them sold himself into slavery.

Servitude for a couple of years to pay off the debt. Well, if my youngest brother did that if I was the older one I am I would have that obligation or even the option Of being able to purchase him back.

It wasn't. I didn't owe him but the purchase was due to the work That could be provided by him in that service, which is why it says a slave is his money. That's why it says that in the Bible. And so the issue here is then that I could redeem him.

It's called a kinsman Redeemer a family member. Jesus, of course is a kinsman Redeemer for Israel. Okay, and then we can go to the book of Ruth. Which is another thing about Ruth being redeemed by the kinsman Redeemer.

Which is a type of atoning thing and stuff you'll get into that. So in Exodus 12 11 through 13 the Passover now. You shall eat it in a manner with your loins girded your sandals on your feet your staff in your hand and you shall eat It in haste it is the Lord's Passover.

Well, I will go through the land of Egypt on that night. I will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. I am the Lord.

The blood shall be for a sign for you at the houses where you live. And when I see the blood I will pass over you and no plague will befall you. Or to destroy you when you strike the land of Egypt when I strike the land of Egypt.

All right. So let me ask you a question. I Want you to think of the door if you think of it like a door here you entered this house. We have one two three four. We have a bottom thing but generally in that culture you often did not.

Often did not have a bottom plate. It was just dirt and sometimes they did have a full four things, but doesn't really matter. The blood was put on three pieces of wood. Now there are three pieces of wood on the cross.

The vertical piece the horizontal piece and what not the footrest close. The thing over his head the piece of wood that had to charge against him. Jesus Christ the Son of God was what he claimed to be in Hebrew.

The first letter of each of those words was yo, hey, Vod. Hey, Yahweh, and that's what the Jews said. Pain that he said he was the Son of God because they recognized that issue, but nevertheless. So the blood of the lamb was put on the door.

Jesus is called the door. Three pieces of wood and the blood. So whoever was in went in through that door would not be killed. The firstborn would not be killed, right? What if an Egyptian. Filthy vile pagan Egyptian had gone into one of those houses when the angel death came over.

Would he be saved? Yes, he would have. Anybody. Anybody who have gone in through that door which represents the shed blood of Christ the lamb. Anybody would pass through that door would be saved. Jesus says on the the way the truth of life.

He says on the bread. He was on the door, right? Incidentally in Noah's Ark, how many people entered the ark. Eight? Thank you very much. And how many doors were on the ark? One door who closed that door.

God who opened that door? God he went in he closed the door and then after the flood God opened the door. God opened it. They didn't open it and close up themselves. God did it and they came out. So they went through the one door into the ark, what does that ark represent?

Jesus who's the one door they went in and they were safe inside of there. It's another representation of Christ. So Jesus fulfilled the law now in John 5 39 Jesus says you search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life.

But is these that bear witness of me all of the scriptures about Jesus? Now here's a little tidbit of information there may not be helpful to you. It'll be informative, but it may not be helpful. All sermons should ultimately point to Christ.

Because the entire Bible does so back in seminary I was assigned a verse by my preaching professor and it happened to be 2nd Chronicles 20 and in 2nd Chronicles 20 Some bad guys were coming down the Jebusites the cause of her rights the gesundheit's that everybody was coming down from the north to destroy Israel and God said don't worry about it.

The battle is not your the battles is mine and so they trusted God and God caused confusion to occur over. The enemy they were routed they killed themselves each other and Israel was redeemed. God said it's not your battle.

It's mine. So when I wrote the sermon and I preached the sermon in class, which is pretty intimidating to do. To your student peers your professor you're being graded. It's a difficult thing. But nevertheless so when I did that he gave me an a-minus and He made a note and I remember that I could tell he was being generous.

I went over to his house. I still remember this and I said what's wrong with my sermon? He was he knew I was very shy about preaching in front of the people. You know, it's pretty intimidating now I'm not but.

And he told me he said Matt you preach moralism. I said, well, what do you mean? And it was really interesting what he said. He said you just taught about being good. I said, well, yeah, it's what it's about.

It's about being good. It's about Trusting God and you trust him and they were delivered and he so he said Well, where's Jesus in there? I said, but Jesus isn't for the there to you know, 1500 years or whatever.

So he's not there. He goes. Yes. He is because the Bible is about Jesus, right? What. Yeah, and we struggled back and forth. I mean I struggled he was being very patient with me. And he said something to me.

I'll never forget. He said Matt the sermon you preached Could you have preached it in a Mormon Church because he knew my My apologetics could you preach it as a Mormon Church just as you preached it. I Thought about it.

I said the light went ding. What you know, you're right. I could have and they wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. He says you're right. And he says where's Jesus and I Said I'm gonna go work on this.

We had to preach the same sermon again, and I got an a-plus. He just he says very good job because what I discovered in the text was The reason God intervened in the battle to save Israel was so the Messiah could be born.

That's the whole purpose. This is battles. Not yours. It's mine. He's I'm gonna take care of this. See God is the one who's in control. God's one is responsible and the battle is not yours. It's mine.

This was mine. I'm taking care of this because it was about ultimately about you sitting here. I preached it. I preached a sermon before several times since then it's about you sitting in the chairs. I say Because without Israel being there the Messiah wouldn't have been born and you go to hell.

So it was an movement of the enemy to destroy Israel to destroy us. And so this was Christo centric preaching. Everything in the Old Testament is about Christ the Ark Adam and Eve in the garden Joseph in jail with a baker and the winemaker which is resembling communion all these things are there and so we have to make sure that we Know that Christ is the one who the scriptures are about.

It's quite a bit of a tangent from the text About me made under the law, but that's what the truth is. He's under that law. He Perfected he was able to accomplish the law Perfectly in the areas that we could not which is in every area.

He did everything perfectly and The law points to him and all the Old Testament is about him as well. It's amazing. First five so that he might redeem those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons.

So he became under the law. So that he would redeem those who were under the law. That's us. He took our place. He became one of us. Now, let me ask you what other religion do you know of where God himself?

Does what's necessary. For the people that need to be redeemed. There's nothing in Islam. Allah just simply says here's some rules and he arbitrarily applies them. And you can make it to heaven or not make it to heaven, but God's not involved in Mormonism.

God is three separate gods. The Trinity is three separate gods. There's a God the Father a God the Son another God the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost actually. And then there's the mother goddess. Then there's the God who exalted that God for another planet.

But any rate so Here in Mormonism, for example God the Father sent another God the Son to sacrifice so it wasn't himself and Only in Christianity is the one who's offended the one who forgives. And this is a thing Because we remember offense.

And we retain offense and it shapes our theology that shapes the theology of the false religious systems. Because think about Muhammad in order to be forgiven of an offense. There are things you got to do and there's actually talk in the Quran about scales of right and wrong and good and bad.

Of course, there's Nothing we can do at all. Ever in any way to add to our salvation to add to the work of Christ. There's not a single stinking thing we can do period whether thought intent or deed because everything that we are and everything we do is touched by sin and Therefore it's everything we are and everything we do being touched by sin is now unacceptable to the infinitely Holy God.

Only the Christian theology teaches this that the surpassing glory and greatness of God is such that we cannot even begin to fathom it or reach it in any way and He then becomes the one who takes care of it for us.

That's only in Christian theology. So only in Christian Christian theology. Do we have the true? Incarnation where the one offended is the one who pays and redeems. No other theological system has that so therefore only in Christianity.

Do we have what's truly called grace? Unmerited favor. Unmerited if I could get to heaven by being sincere or by following the law in any way. Then Christ didn't need to die. That's Galatians 221. We already went over that.

But he did die. Even the faith that we have by which were justified Romans 5 1. Having therefore been justified by faith even that faith is granted to us by God. Philippians 129. So sometimes I'm talking to the cults.

I'll say do you take credit for your believing now? It's a trick question because we do actually do the believing but when I say do you take credit for it? What I'm trying to get them to admit is their boasting in their wisdom and their arrogance of How they are the ones who are wise enough to pick God.

I'm trying to get them to see that now. Do we actually do the believing? Well, yeah, we do. God regenerates us. He enables us. We actually do the believing if we didn't do the believing. We couldn't be justified.

But God grants it to us just as he grants that we come to Christ. John 6 65. What we want to do however is hold on to our this is what we all do some way or another. Self-righteousness. We're all guilty of self-righteousness.

Self-righteousness is is like a multi-headed dragon that spits all kinds of vile lies. Self-righteousness says I can and I will. Or I've been wronged and I will not forget. What does God do? He's the one wronged and he says I will remember your sins no more.

And he's the one who took our place and bore our sin his body in the cross and died. This is Christian theology. This is the magnificence of Christian theology and it does not exist in any other system.

So therefore there are only two religions in the world just two. Christianity and all the others grace and works. Because all the others are combined with works. We're gonna get to Galatians 5 we're gonna spend more time on this and I'll go through and show you how Paul talks about grace and works and By one act one thing you're trying to be saved by works.

It's either all of Christ or it's not all of Christ. So it's called a true dichotomy. It's either the case that it's Christ did everything necessary. Or it's not the case that Christ did everything necessary.

There's no middle or no third option. It's called a true dichotomy. It's either all of it or not all of it. It's either the case of a or it's not the case of a that's it a true dichotomy. And incidentally, this is just for fun a disjunctive syllogism.

Means this is unrelated, but I'm gonna do this for fun. It's either the case that God created the universe or it's not the case that God created the universe. There's only two options. If either God did it or not God did I could say that it's either the case of the Christian God created universe or it's not the case of the Christian God universe created universe if you only have two possibilities.

Just two and a true dichotomy and One the one of them is removed by logical necessity. The other one is is made true if you can disprove one of them. The other one has to be true because you can't discount both of the only two options available make sense called a just on disjunctive syllogism, and I talked about it with the atheist.

Semi-regularly. All right, so he was made under the law. Was that it was you well, I sound like a metal thing hitting. I Think you coughed I was yawning or I cracked my ears, you know, it's a zigzags instant and it's not like metal crashing.

That probably not a good sign is it. I should admit it so now it's live. I said that so we can say yeah, there's something wrong with Matt. Well, we've already known that right? Yeah, that's right. Okay, so.

Adoption as Sons and Heirs by Faith

So, all right. Now notice what's going on here the law the tutor the slave the child under the law of the house. Under the lordship of the master of the house as well as a slave. Representing the law as a tutor to us.

We've graduated apart from the law we come to Christ because verse 6 You are sons. God has sent forth his spirit the spirit of his son into our height hearts crying Abba father. So now we're adopted. We'll get into that a little bit.

So the Trinity is manifested here to God as the father sent forth the spirit of his son. So the Trinity is involved here and we can cry out Abba father. It's somewhat equivalent of saying daddy. It basically only.

You know only a child. Raised by that, you know father would say daddy. You know and if one of my daughters or our daughters ever get married and I have a son-in-law I don't look from the call me daddy.

Right. I'd take him outside. We got to talk buddy. You call me great one or master or something like that, but not daddy. That's right. What? Good luck with that. Okay, and so. But yet, this is the term that that Paul is using because Jesus has used that term in Reference to a relationship with the father.

This is unheard of particularly in the Jewish mindset where the idea of the separation between God and his infinite greatness and us in our Depth of depravity and inability we don't call him daddy. That's disrespectful.

But this is what Jesus is teaching this is Paul saying why because we're adopted into that family legally when you're fully adopted. You can call him daddy. So, you know if Anika and I had adopted a child, you know young child, I would fully expect that child to call me dad.

I'd be fine. And that's that's fine because they're that child would be an heir. Just like biologically born because of the legal requirement the legal obligations law child slave freed from that law heirs.

According to the law heirs according to adoption right Verse 7 therefore you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son then an heir through God. So we've left the requirements of the law and we have been adopted by faith and Justified by faith, which is legal.

Sin is a legal problem. We're justified which is a legal importation of righteousness of Christ, which he did under the law legal legal legal legal, right and In Romans 8 15 for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again.

But you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out Abba father. That's Romans 8 15 and Paul saying the same thing here in Galatians 4 6 the legality that we have. He is trying to show everybody look the law you want to keep it.