GALATIANS 4:1-11 YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Galatians 4:1-11 You Are A Child Of God Through Faith In Jesus

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. As we're here in the book of Galatians, we're dealing with the subject of legalism.

And the whole letter is to the churches that are in the region of Galatia, really correcting this issue. And Paul started out Galatians really strongly saying, I can't believe that you're turning away from the gospel. And it's important for us. And every time we go through the book of Galatians, it's a strong reminder for us of how bad legalism is.

And it's very easy for us to kind of have a watered down idea of legalism in our minds and in our hearts. And so Galatians is really good for us to kind of stir us up and refresh us in the reality of how bad legalism is. You need to know how bad it is. You need to run from it. You need to flee from it. You need to protect yourself against legalism.

And Paul here, as he's correcting the Galatians and calling them back to right relationship with God, he's astonished that they've turned away. And again, he declares it's another gospel. It's not the gospel of life. It's not the gospel that brings salvation. Now, legalism for us, it's usually connected in our minds to, you know, the Levitical Old Testament, the Levitical laws, and the

It's easy for us to kind of assume that we're not participating in legalism because, you know, maybe we're not doing the sacrifices, you know, or maybe we're not following these other laws, you know, strictly or this or that. But I would encourage you to consider legalism in this way. Let me give you some warning signs for us that legalism begins to creep up in our lives and we can recognize it when we are convinced that God should bless us

Because, and you can fill in the blank there, of some aspect of your life, some aspect of your walk with God that you expect that God should bless or that God should work in your life or that God should answer your prayer because, and you insert some reason there, it's a recognition or it's an understanding that there is some reason in me that should cause God to work and to bless me.

it's evidence of that legalism beginning to creep in. Where I began to expect God to work because I have been good. When I become proud of how good I am, when I become proud of the way that I walk and the things that I do, I have allowed legalism to sink into my heart and I begin to operate in my relationship with God on the basis of how well I perform.

Now, I think just as valid, another important signal that legalism has taken root in my heart is not when I'm proud of how good I am, but when I stay away from God because, again, fill in the blank. When I avoid God, when I stay away from God, when I don't spend time in prayer, when I don't ask God for help, when I don't ask God to work because of this situation, because of that situation, or when

When I expect God not to work because of this and because of that, these are all evidences and it's cause for us to examine our hearts to see, has legalism taken root? It's easy for us. It's kind of a natural tendency for us that we will gravitate towards legalism.

And so we need to be on alert and we need to allow the book of Galatians to call us back to not a works-based relationship with God, but a faith-based relationship with God, a grace-based relationship with God. Well, as we look at verses 1 through 11 here in chapter 4, I've titled the message tonight, You Are a Child of God Through Faith in Jesus.

And one of the many things that Paul is addressing as he's correcting the legalistic movement that has taken root in their church is their understanding of their relationship to God. And he's explaining here, you're a child of God. And it really flows from chapter 3 in Galatians chapter 3, verse 26. He says, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. He's explaining, look, your relationship to God as a child of God

is based upon your faith in Jesus, not in your performance of some things, not in your keeping of some laws, not in, you know, your diligence in some disciplines and regulations. You are a child of God through faith in Jesus. And you need to know that. You need to hold on to that and remember that God gives you that status. He gives you that position.

We're told in John chapter 1 that as many as received him, that is Jesus, to them he gave the right to become children of God. That we have this special relationship to God and special connection to God that is completely based upon our faith in Jesus Christ.

And our trust in him is the basis for us to be children of God and to have that kind of relationship with God. And so as we look at this passage, there's four things for us to know about our relationship with God as a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Four things to help us understand our status and our position as his children. The first thing we'll look at is verses one through five. Here's point number one tonight.

you reach full maturity in Jesus. You need to know that in order for you to reach full maturity as a believer spiritually, you need to know that that's always going to be found in Jesus.

What you need in order to reach maturity is found in Jesus. Now, Paul starts out with an illustration here in verses 1 and 2. And so let's take a moment to understand this illustration that he's giving. In verse 1 again, it says, Now I say that an heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all.

but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Here he gives us the illustration of a child. And this word child doesn't just mean a descendant of, but it speaks specifically to the idea that the child is a minor. So the child is not of legal age, not a full adult, right? But that they are under the guardianship

of parents, but in this case, in this illustration, the parents are out of the picture now. And so although this child is an heir of all that the parents had, the child does not get full control of those things yet. The child doesn't have full access to those things yet. Instead, he says the child is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

And so you can picture this like going back to the Old Testament kings, right? There are many times where a young man would be like 12 years old and he would become king. And you're like, well, you know, what does that mean? You know, is it a 12-year-old ruling? No, the 12-year-old is not making the laws, right? The king, he is the king, but he's under guardianship until he's of full age, right?

And then he assumes the throne and all of the responsibility that comes with it. Or you could imagine today, you know, if there was a wealthy person and they went to be with the Lord, but left behind

children, heirs who were minors, that, well, there would be perhaps a trust fund, right? And the children wouldn't have all of the resources yet. You know, the 10-year-old couldn't take the debit card and, you know, just go on a shopping spree. No, there would be this guardianship that would be established to take care of the children until they were full age. Now, they were the heirs, but

And in a way, all of those resources are theirs. It belongs to them, but they're not a full age yet. They're not able to receive the benefits from all of those resources. And so this is the picture that Paul is painting here. Picture this heir. He's a child. He's a minor. He's really not that much different than a slave or a servant in the household. I mean, he benefits from being in the house. He's provided by all of those resources that the parents had.

And even though he will grow up to be the master of all, he's a lot like a servant because he's told where to go and given an allowance perhaps. He's, you know, given structure and his schedule is defined by others. He doesn't have the full freedoms of an adult because he's a child. He's under that guardianship and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

Now that's an interesting thing to consider, the time appointed by the father. In Roman culture, it was a little bit different than Jewish culture or Greek culture. There was the rites of passage, right? The coming of age. You might be familiar with the bar mitzvah for Jewish boys becoming men. And it would be the time that they were under the law. And there's a bat mitzvah for the girls to become women. And so there was these things. It was predefined times.

But in Roman culture, it was a little bit different. It wasn't a set age. It was when dad said it was time. Dad set the time when a young boy would grow into a man and now be responsible as an adult within the household and within the community. When the father decided it was right, it was a time appointed by the father, then the boy would go through this ceremony, this process, and then would be declared to be

legal adult, a man. They didn't have quite the same kind of ceremony for girls. It was similar, but instead of a ceremony on its own, it would only take place when the girls were married. But they would still go through this process. And this process would include things like giving up a toy. And you could imagine, right? So here's the boy coming with this toy. All right, I'm laying aside my toy and I'm becoming a man now. And

A girl would bring her toy, right? And she would lay it aside. I'm a woman now and I'm getting married. Another thing that they would do is they would change their clothes. They would wear a certain type of clothing that was for children while they were children. But once this ceremony took place, once they transitioned through this, then they would put away those clothes and they would put on adult clothes that they would then continue on to wear for the rest of their life.

This is the culture that Paul is addressing here in Galatia, the Roman culture. They would understand the time appointed by the father, that there is this transition from being a minor to being an adult and being responsible and having access to the resources that are yours and that belong to you. It would fit together nicely for them. Now, one other illustration that we might consider to help us understand this, and in all my years of ministry,

teaching the Bible, I would have never guessed that I would use this illustration. But you can think about Britney Spears. I would never use an illustration about Britney Spears. I don't think. I can't think of any time. But, you know, there's the thing right now, Free Britney. You probably, well, maybe you haven't heard about it. But if you have, then you know what I'm talking about. Because there is this thing called a conservatorship.

that she is under, where there is a guardian established over her by the court system. And so it's a legal concept. And the guardians, well, they have control of her finances, much like a adult and minor type of relationship. And so her life and her finances are controlled by this conservatorship that is established.

And so she doesn't get to have her say in, you know, her resources and how they're used and when she uses them and where she goes. And there is this established structure preventing her from all that does belong to her, but it's not hers yet. She's not able to benefit from directly or direct those things. And there is this guardianship that is established.

This illustration helps us to understand our position outside of Christ. So moving on to verse 3, Paul says, So just as there is this minor child or this person who is under this structure of guardianship, in a similar way, he says, this is how we were. We were in bondage, though, to the elements of the world.

So the guardian that we were subject to was not a person, but it was the elements of the world. Or another way, as Paul will continue on to address it, it was the law that we were subject to. These fundamental things that God has established, the universal laws that God has established, we were in bondage to those things. And so in that way, the law was our conservator, our guardian, right?

that ruled over our life. Every human being is under the law, even if they don't know the law, even if they don't, you know, try to follow the law. The law is what rules over us outside of Christ. Again, referring back to Galatians chapter 3 verse 22, Paul says, "...scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus might be given to those who believe."

The scriptures confine everybody under sin. We're all under this guardianship of the law and none of us can keep the law. That's the problem with it. And so the scripture confines all of us to the law that we could all have the opportunity for salvation and forgiveness by faith in Jesus Christ. But in this position as a minor under the law, we are unable to access the spiritual riches that are available to us.

We're unable to access the things of God that we have access to if we believe in Jesus Christ. And so we're unable to enjoy relationship with God because we're under the law. We don't have access to those rights, to those resources, spiritually speaking. And so Paul is painting this picture here to help us understand what we have in Christ is so incredibly freeing and valuable and

That we would never go back to that bondage again. Verse 4. Now as Paul talks about here being adopted as sons or being adopted as children...

This phrase, this terminology speaks to maturity. So we're no longer talking about a minor who is under the guardianship and control of someone else, but instead this adoption as sons is speaking of us becoming legal adult children of God. And so he says, when the fullness of the time had come, then God sent Jesus,

Born of a woman, born under the law. So Jesus, although he is God, he became man. He lived a sinless life under the law, died even though he did nothing wrong in order to redeem, verse 5, those who are under the law. That's us. So he came into the system, lived under the law, according to the law, lived a flawless and perfect life in order to redeem us and to bring us out of

of that kind of bondage, bring us out of that guardianship that was the law. And so believing in Jesus changes our whole relationship to God. It changes everything. It's not that, okay, I was trying to be good, I was being really religious, and then I found Jesus, and so then everything got a little bit better.

No, no, like I was, you know, doomed to judgment because I couldn't keep the law. I was bound under the law. I tried to approach God. I tried to know God, you know, in these methods and rituals and religious type things. And then when I believed in Jesus, all of that was washed away. Everything changes believing in Jesus so that we are no longer under the guardianship of the law, no longer bound and limited by the law.

But as believers in Jesus, we come to maturity. It enables us to exercise freedom and to access our resources. Again, Galatians chapter 3, all of these are tied together. Paul is still talking about the things he was talking about in chapter 3. In verse 24 of chapter 3, he says, Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

That tutor is not just a, you know, here, let me spend an hour with you and help you with math. But that tutor was the guardian. They were under a guardian. Outside of Christ, we're under the guardian of the law. And the purpose of the law was to bring us to Jesus, to show us Jesus, that we might be justified by faith. The law doesn't make us right with God. That idea of being justified, that's the idea of being right with God. The law doesn't make us right with God. Rituals

laws, rules, regulations, discipline. It can't make us right with God. The only way to be right with God is by faith in Jesus Christ. And once we believe in Jesus, he says we're no longer under a tutor. It doesn't, okay, we believe in Jesus and now we're better equipped to then keep the law and stay under that guardianship. No, we're outside of that guardianship now.

Faith in Jesus Christ delivers us, sets us free, brings us to maturity. Now, just like a teenager who is entering into adulthood, right? And there is this transition time. And although legally you might be an adult, right?

You don't act responsible right out the gate, right? A lot of us, it takes us a long time. And some of you are still waiting for some of us to grow up, right? Even though we've been of legal age for a long time. It takes all of us a while to grow up. We first get our freedoms and we start using them for things that are not beneficial and not helpful. But as we mature, again, just speaking about real, just real natural life. As we mature, we begin to use our freedoms, right?

things that benefit us. You used to use your freedoms to stay up all night. Now you use your freedom to go to bed early, right? Like you start to transition from all the things that you thought were going to be so great, you know, once you were free and you're able to, you know, you explored those things and you found out they weren't as great as you thought. And then later on you find yourself like following, you know, practices that other boring responsible adults practice and

Actually, it's better if I go to bed at a reasonable hour and don't stay up all night playing video games. I find myself free to do things that are beneficial. Now, one of the tragedies, of course, is that people oftentimes for their whole life use their freedoms to engage in things that are harmful and not beneficial. And so that's one of the dangers that kind of freaks people out about this whole argument that Paul is presenting.

If we're not under the law, then what if you or me or someone hears this and says, well, I can use this freedom that I have. I'm not under that guardianship anymore, so I could just go do whatever I want. And that clearly is not what Paul is saying. And if that is the intention of our heart and the mindset that we have, we need to understand that our heart is really wrong.

Our heart is way off and we really need to ask God to work in our heart and bring us back to a correct understanding of what it means to be free. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. And so we are free from this guardianship, but there is a misuse of that freedom that we should not pursue.

But there also is the true and real use of that freedom that we should be all about. Again, the point, even though I'm talking about a lot of different things here, there's a lot in this passage. Point number one this evening is you reach full maturity in Jesus. You need to understand that you are of full age as a believer in Jesus. You're not under the law.

You're not bound by the law, whether that be the Levitical system or rules and regulations that are set in place by people around you or by your own self in regards to your relationship with God. You're still bound by the law, you know, in reference to the speed limit. You know, you're still bound to some laws in that way. But in your relationship to God, you're set free from legalism. Now, one of the things that

really makes this hard for us to understand is legalism is typically pitched as a way to improve spiritual things. If you really want to grow in your relationship with God and then there's these, you know, things to follow and things to do and requirements. And for sure there are things that God wants you to do, right? And so that's why it can be a bit challenging for us and it's easy for us to slip into legalism because God says, I want you to spend time with me in prayer,

And we say, okay, great. So I make a schedule and I make a rule and I make a discipline. And so now I'm going to pray every day at this time. Well, God wants you to spend time in prayer, but that might not be the right approach that he wants you to take because now, oh, you missed your time of prayer. So you don't pray the next day because you didn't pray yesterday. So now you're on timeout because you missed the prayer, you know?

We so easily slip into this legalistic nature where now, hey, I've been praying every day. So now I can expect God to do this and work in my life in this way because look at what I've been doing. You need to understand you reach full maturity in Jesus, not in the law, not in the keeping of rituals and regulations, but it's your relationship with Jesus, your faith in Jesus.

that brings you to maturity, that sets you free from those things. But again, it's often pitched and creeps into our mind as a way to benefit ourselves spiritually by heading into this rules and regulations and laws. I was thinking about this in the sense of like a video game, right? If you're starting a video game, typically your first time playing, there's some type of tutorial level,

Right? You start out, you don't play the real game. You play the, okay, here's the controls, here's how to fire, here's how to move. And you have this like, you know, simple basic thing that you have to complete in order to learn how the game works so that then you can start to play the game. You will never master a game just playing the tutorial level. If you just stay there, you're not going to beat the game. You're not going to win the game, right? You're not going to master the game if you just stay in the tutorial level.

And sometimes we get it backwards and we think that Jesus is the tutorial level. He's the intro. We get that going. Okay, now we're good. Now we can move on to the rest of spiritual life. But that's backwards. Jesus is not the tutorial level. And then you move on to the meaningful levels. No, no, no. The law is the tutorial level.

The law is the tutorial that teaches you that you cannot be good enough, that you're always going to fail no matter what convictions you're trying to follow, no matter what rules and regulations you're trying to follow, you're always going to fall short because you are sinful. That's the tutorial level of the law to teach you you can't trust yourself, you can't rely upon yourself, you can't rely upon your goodness, you can't base your relationship with God on your performance. And once you get that, then you get to start with level one,

And Jesus isn't just level one. Jesus is the rest of the game when it comes to spiritual life. And for the rest of our lives, we're exploring that relationship to Jesus and what it means to know him and walk with him and allow him to work in our lives. You reach full maturity in Jesus. He's not the tutorial level. He's the game. He's the full thing, the full package. And for the rest of our lives, we will be pursuing a better understanding of who Jesus is.

and a closer relationship with him. That's how we benefit spiritually. That's how we, well, really get access to all of those resources that an heir has. And what are those resources? Well, let's move on to consider a couple more things.

I spend a lot of time in the first point. I always do that. It's pretty regular. Okay, so don't panic and think that I'm going to spend all that time on these next couple points. We're just going to look at these to get a glimpse of some of the things that we have in Christ. So the second point to consider is found in verse 6. You have access to the Father like Jesus. Verse 6 says this, And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father.

Paul here is he's building this logical argument. Again, he uses the illustration of a minor child who is an heir coming into maturity and receiving all of the benefits of that inheritance. Now he goes on to say of us, because you are sons, because you now have this status and you are mature in that you have access to God by faith in Jesus Christ, you

Well, God has sent forth the Spirit. You have received the Holy Spirit, he is saying. It's part of the process of being born again, right? You are born again. The Holy Spirit regenerates you, gives you life. And you have the Spirit in your heart. It's the Spirit, he says, of his Son. You have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus in you, crying out, "'Abba, Father.'"

And the idea that Paul is declaring here, the things that he is saying is that you have access to God, you have access to the Father like Jesus, because you have the Spirit of Jesus within, because you have believed in Jesus. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father. This idea where Paul is saying, Abba, Father,

It's not a formality or a formal way of addressing a father. It's the idea of having that personal and real connection to a father. It's easy for us to, again, slip into a more formal relationship. We know that God is our father in the general sense, right? But this isn't speaking about that. This is speaking about us being able to come to God as our dad, right?

Being able to approach God and come to God as our dad and saying, dad, here's what's going on. Dad, what do you think about this? Dad, what do you say? That there is this relationship that we have with the Father because the Holy Spirit dwells within us. And it's the same relationship with the Father, the same access to the Father that Jesus enjoys. In Mark chapter 14, verse 36, Jesus says, Abba, Father,

All things are possible for you. Take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but you will. There in the Garden of Gethsemane, under the greatest pressure the world has ever known, Jesus, he came to his father in prayer. And he said, Abba, Father. Again, speaks of this personal connection. Now having this access...

to the Father. It doesn't mean everything always goes amazing and we never have problems and nothing ever hurts and nothing's ever difficult because in this prayer, Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane about to go to the cross, right? We understand it's an excruciating time for him, but he has this close connection to the Father. And that's the point. In our lives, we're going to face difficulties and things that ultimately are for our good and God will use for good, but we have access to the Father and

in the midst of it. We're able to approach God. We're able to talk to God. We're able to walk with God, no matter what's happening in our lives, not on the basis of the law, so that we, again, don't stay away because we haven't been so good. I haven't been so faithful, so I can't come to God in this time of pain and hurt because, you know, I haven't been really good and diligent about my Bible reading, or I haven't been to church very much, or, you know, whatever rules and regulations that we are impressing upon ourselves that are keeping us from God, we throw those out.

Those are the tutors, the guardians of old. In Christ, we have full maturity and we have access to the Father like Jesus so that no matter what is happening in our lives, we can call out to God. Again, the Spirit cries out, Abba, Father, right? The Holy Spirit is crying out that we have this opportunity. The Holy Spirit is yearning for us to draw near to the Father, to know Him, to hear from Him.

You have access to the Father like Jesus because the Spirit of Jesus is within you. He's opened the way. He's paved the way. And so you're excited and rejoicing in things? You can share it and celebrate that with your Abba Father. You're hurting and going through difficulty? You can share that with your Abba Father. You need something? You can ask Him.

You want something, you can ask him. You're confused by something, you can talk to him about it. You're angry about something, you can talk with him about that as well. He's your Abba Father. He's your dad. You can just run into his arms anytime you want to, as much as you want to, as often as you want to. He's your dad because you've believed in Jesus Christ. You have the Holy Spirit within crying out, Abba Father. Pastor J. Vernon McGee says, my friend, let me assure you,

if you're a new believer or a weak believer, that you can have an experience as a son of God because sonship comes to you through faith in Jesus Christ. When we're a new believer, when we're a weak believer, when we've failed as believers, we still get this privilege. It's a relationship with God. And the law doesn't change our relationship to God. It doesn't eliminate our access to God, our failures, our sinfulness.

Our pride, it doesn't change the fact we've believed in Jesus Christ. And so we have access to the Father, like Jesus. We can come to him as much as we want, as often as we want. We can hear from him and listen to him as much as we want, as often as we want. We have this complete freedom. This is never found under the law. There is no set of rules and regulations that give you this kind of access to the Father. It's only found here.

by believing in Jesus Christ and what he accomplished for us upon the cross. Well, coupled with that, here in verse 7, he gives us point number 3, and that is, you are promised eternity with Jesus. You are a child of God through faith in Jesus, and that means you are promised eternity with Jesus. Verse 7, he says, therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

You're no longer a slave. You were under bondage. You were under that guardianship, but you've been delivered from that by believing in Jesus. Now you're a full age, maturity. You may not be fully mature yet, but you're on the road towards maturity. And if you're a son, if you're a child of God, that means you're an heir of God, he says, through Christ. By believing in Jesus, you are an heir of God.

What is an heir? An heir is one who is promised an inheritance. You are one who is guaranteed an inheritance, the inheritance of God through Jesus. Paul says it a different way in Romans chapter 8 verse 17. He says, "...if we're children, then we're heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." We are heirs because of our relationship to Christ.

and our attachment to Christ. We are joined together with Christ. And so his inheritance is our inheritance. His inheritance is your inheritance. As a believer in Jesus, you've attached yourself to Jesus. The inheritance that he will experience and receive and be blessed with for all of eternity, that's your inheritance. You're a joint heir with Christ.

Now that doesn't mean you become God or anything like that. But the eternity that he experiences is what you will experience. Let me ask you to consider that. How great of an eternity do you think that Jesus will have? I think it's going to be pretty awesome, right? Better than we could imagine or think. That's your inheritance. His inheritance is your inheritance. Your joint heirs. You receive that inheritance together. We share in his inheritance.

It's a promise to us. We're heirs because we're children, because we have believed by faith in Jesus Christ. No rules, no laws, no set of disciplines can accomplish this for you. It's faith in Jesus Christ. Knowing him, walking with him, relationship with him is what gives you these incredible benefits.

You can't access these resources. They're not yours to claim as a minor under the law, as those who would go and try to approach God on the basis of our works or stay away from God on the basis of our failures. We'll never get to experience these resources, this access to the Father by faith in Jesus Christ, this promised inheritance because we're joint heirs with Jesus. No, it comes first.

It comes from our relationship to him. It comes from our faith in what he has done on our behalf. Well, finishing up in verses 8 through 11, we get the fourth point to consider this evening, and that is turning from Jesus as reason for concern. These are some incredible benefits to consider. This is not, you know, all of this doctrine that, you know, we would understand there's much more that we could spend time considering. Paul goes on to delve into more things in chapter 4, but

Considering all that we have in Christ and considering our natural tendency to slip into a legalistic relationship, I thought it'd be appropriate to consider verses 8 through 11 and be reminded that turning from Jesus...

slipping back into bondage to some system or rules or regulation. There's real reason for concern in that. Verse 8, here's what Paul says, But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now, after 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. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. You see that there in verse 11? Paul says, I'm afraid for you. I'm concerned for you. I'm concerned that I labored for you in vain because you have turned from the gospel to another gospel, which is not the gospel, and you've brought yourself back under bondage.

Bondage to weak and beggarly elements. Weak things you're trying to practice. Now, as he talks about observing days and months and seasons and years, he's talking about going back into the Levitical system, following these rituals, following these, you know, things that were established there in the old covenant. The Judaizers who said, hey, believing in Jesus is cool, but you got to follow the law too. They were just really making an impact there in the region of Galatia.

And so they got people all signed up for, yes, we got to keep the feasts. We got to do these things and approach God this way and follow these things. And they were trying to have a better relationship with God by these legalistic approaches. And Paul says, you have it so backwards. After you have known God...

Or he says, better put, been known by God. You have this access to God in relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ. Why are you turning to the weak things that could never provide what you have in Christ? I'm afraid for you, he says. I think this is interesting to consider. And it kind of hit me today as I was reading through this again, preparing for tonight. I had to like stand up and walk around and think a little bit for a little bit because I was like, here's Paul afraid for them. He says, I'm afraid for you.

This is something of real concern. This isn't, you know, just like, hey, you know, it's probably a little bit better if you don't do that, you know, but no, no, this is truly concerning. I'm afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. What stirred up this concern? What stirred up this fear in Paul? You know, it wasn't that they had struggled with sin. And so he said, oh, I'm so, you know, concerned for you. I'm so afraid for you because there was this issue of sin in your life.

Because you struggled in this way or you fell in that way. Paul's concern for them was stirred up. He was afraid for them because of their approach to God. That's really interesting to consider because, you know, a lot of times there is this mentality, this idea like, hey, as long as you're sincere in your approach to God and you know what I mean? Like you really honor God and you try real hard, you know, like that's good and God will honor that. But Paul says, look, I'm afraid because you're trying to,

to get closer to God in this way. I'm afraid for you because you're trying to draw near to God. You're trying to ask God to work in your life. You're trying to get blessings from God by your efforts. That's not a little thing. And again, let it be a reminder for us of how bad legalism is. Going back to chapter one, Paul says, it's not a gospel. It's not a gospel.

That's not the gospel. That's not where salvation is. That's not the way that you get access to God and to all the benefits of knowing God. It's a serious thing and it should be cause for serious concern. Again, we need to be aware of and conscious of this tendency of ours to slip into legalism and protect ourselves from moving into a relationship with God where we're

It's based upon what we do and how well we perform. Some of the ways that we identify that, again, when I become proud of how good I am, just really pleased with, you know, how well I keep these things that I've set and keep these things that I've established and just really proud and amazed at how disciplined I am. There should be red flags, warning bells, alarms, sirens going off. It's a real cause for concern for me to base my relationship with God on how well I perform.

When I'm expecting God should bless me. Hey, I've been reading all week. When I go, hey, I read the Bible today and so I'm going to have a great day today. I started out with prayer. It's going to be a great day, right? I have this works mentality. It's backwards. It's wrong. I need to be concerned. That is not how you receive from God what he has for you. It's not on the basis of my performance. It's not on the basis of my works. When I find myself staying away from God,

I'm staying away because, well, I know what he's going to say if I talk to him. I'm staying away because, well, I've messed up and I don't deserve to hear from God. I don't deserve for God to work in my life. I don't deserve for God to deliver me from this situation that I've created. It's my mess. You know, I got to clean it up and then I can come back to God. When I slip into these mentalities of my efforts and my performance and my failures, Paul says, I'm afraid for you. I'm concerned for you.

That is not the way that God wants you to approach him. You're a child of God through faith in Jesus. And your victories and your failures don't change that relationship. Just as those of you who are parents, right? Your kids have victories and they have failures. You're happy about what they've done and you're disappointed about what they've done. All of that may be true, but it doesn't change that you're the parent and they're your child. And that love and that relationship is still there. It still exists in the same way.

Yes, we do fail. We do have shortcomings. Yes, God does want us to take steps of faith and to trust him and to have those spiritual disciplines, but they're not the basis by which we walk with him. They're not the basis by which we relate to him. They're part of our walk with him, but we need to be delivered from that bondage to those rules and regulations created by others, imposed by our own selves, whichever way we

Legalism takes all kinds of different forms in our lives. Let the Apostle Paul remind you, you're a child of God through faith in Jesus. You have everything that you have in Christ, everything that God ever wants to give you, it's not by performance, it's by your faith in Jesus. It's based upon your relationship to God by faith in Jesus Christ. You have full maturity in him. You're not under the bondage of that guardianship any longer. You are free. You are free.

Use your freedom wisely, but you're free. You're free to know the Lord, to walk with him, to talk with him, to access him, to trust in him, to move about as he leads. You're free. You have access to the Father like Jesus does. You're promised eternity with Jesus because his inheritance is your inheritance. You're a joint heir with Jesus. And so let's remember who we are in Christ, how we have everything that we have from God.

It's not by our works. It's not by our efforts, our performance, or our failures. It's by faith in Jesus Christ. Let's draw near to him, whether we think we've succeeded or whether we think we've failed. Let's trust in him in our high moments and in our low moments. Let's ask him for help in the good times. Sometimes we forget to ask God for help in the good times, right? Let's ask him for help in the good times and in the bad times.

Let's fill our lives with relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ. And anything else turning from Jesus, it's reason for concern. It's turning to a different gospel, a different approach to God. And Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this reminder this evening.

I pray, God, for each of us that you would work in our hearts to bring to light, Lord, if there is any area of legalism, of rituals, of rules, of works-based relationship with you and trying to earn your benefits, Lord, and your blessings. I pray, God, that you would reveal those things in our hearts, Lord, that you would help us to see and recognize where we've slipped into that mentality, Lord, that we might turn from it.

Lord, that we might be set free from that bondage and instead that we would turn in a loving relationship with you. Lord, that we would turn to know you, to walk with you on the basis of who you are, to reach out to you, to ask you to work, to look for you, to bless and to move on the basis of what you have done for us. Lord, if you have not held back your son, how much more will you provide everything else that we need?

And so, Lord, help us to stop trying to earn it and deserve it, but to receive it by faith in you. And Lord, we do desire that our lives would be lived out in a way that pleases you and honors you. And so, Lord, would you stir up within us by your Holy Spirit, your will, your ways, Lord, that we might walk with you and glorify you, not glorify ourselves by our performance, but glorify you because of your work in us.

And so, Lord, would you move in our hearts, move us forward in you, draw us nearer to you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.