Galatians 4

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We all become children and heirs of God through
Jesus Christ

• Galatians 4

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The law was our tutor while we were children
treats heirs and slaves the same!
heir slave
Slave heir
The law gave direction and put restraints on
everyone until the faith of Christ came.
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The Jewish nation as a child
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Law gave us direction and made decisions for us

• Do not touch
• Do not taste
• Do not handle

We dont have a say in the decision and it may
not be our choice!
Like raising children
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Christ helped us graduate beyond the law (5-6)

• When the fullness of time had come
• God sent forth His Son
• Born of a woman law of sin death
• Born under the law curse of the law
• To redeem those under the law (under its curse)
• So we can receive adoption as sons

We have grown up and matured so we can make a
choice to love Gods way of life and choose it
for ourselves. He adopts us as His children by
faith.
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We are adopted into Gods Family

• God has sent the spirit of His
  son into your hearts Abba,
  Father (6) from Jesus in the
  garden (Mk 1436 Rom
  815)
• No longer slaves to law,
  but sons (7)
• Heirs of the promise through Christ

Paul sees both Jews and Gentiles adopted into the
Family of God, through Jesus Christ. None of us
are heirs by birth.
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Turning back to slavery (8-11)

• You did not know God served those
  which by nature are not gods
• Now after you have know God or rather
  are known of God (like Abraham in
  Gen 1819)
• Gods election (Rom 9)
• Return to the weak beggarly elements (rituals
  of the law or paganism both are the same!)
• You desire to be in bondage (human nature likes
  it!)
• You observe days and months and seasons and years
  the rituals (v.10) a religion based on the
  calendar!
• Pauls afraid he may have labored for them in
  vain (11)
• Urges them to become as Paul is under the grace
  of God (12)

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You first received me as an angel

• Pauls illness (thorn in the flesh)
  caused him to preach in Galatia
  (might have been malaria)
• You didnt despise or reject me (Isa 53)
• Paul revealed the sufferings of Christ to them
• Received Paul as an angel, as Jesus himself
• God blessed them at that time when they would
  have done anything for Paul (15)
• Now that Paul has pointed out they have changed,
  some claimed he was the enemy (16)

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False motives of the Judaisers

• 17 They (Judaisers) zealously
  court you, but for no good (not for
  your good) yes, they want to
  exclude you (from Paul his gospel), that you
  may be zealous for them (in rituals of the law).
• 18 But it is good to be zealous in a good thing
  always, and not only when I am present with you.

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My little children (19)

• Paul was going through labor pains trying to have
  them reborn as children of God by grace

Paul would like to be with them and change his
tone, but he has doubts about them (20)
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The Allegory of Hagar Sarah
Hagar Ishmael
Sarah Isaac
The two covenants
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Hagar the Egyptian

• Sarais maid belonged to Sarai
• probably got her while in Egypt (Gen 12)
• Probably younger than Sarai
• Name means flight and twice she runs
• Conceives by Abram God did it!
• Now everyone knows Sarai is the problem!
• Hagar despised Sarai before a child was even
  born! pride envy collide a bit like
  Rachel Leah
• Hagars poor response cost her in the end

For three things the earth is perturbed, yes, for
four it cannot bear up For a servant when he
reigns, a fool when he is filled with food, A
hateful woman when she is married, and a
maidservant who succeeds her mistress. Prov
3021-23
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Not all of Abrahams offspring are children of
Abraham by Faith

• Romans 96-8
• 6 But it is not that the word of God has taken
  no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of
  Israel,
• 7 nor are they all children because they are the
  seed of Abraham but, "In Isaac your seed shall
  be called."
• 8 That is, those who are the children of the
  flesh, these are not the children of God but the
  children of the promise are counted as the seed.

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Gods Election
One man, two women
In Isaac your seed shall be called (Gen 2112
Rom 97)
15
Jacob I have loved,
Gods Election
but Esau I have hated (Mal 12 Rom 911)
One man, one woman
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The Allegory of Hagar Sarah
Hagar slave Ishmael of the flesh
Sarah free Isaac thru promise
The two covenants
From Mt Sinai Children are slaves Jerusalem
which now is Driven by fear
From Mt Zion (above) Children are free Jerusalem
to come the mother of us all Energized by love
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Gods Election not of works

• Romans 911, 15-16
• 11 (for the children not yet being born, nor
  having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
  God according to election might stand, not of
  works but of Him who calls),
• 15 For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on
  whomever I will have mercy, and I will have
  compassion on whomever I will have compassion."
• 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him
  who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

None of us deserve adoption into Gods family.
Thank God, appreciate the privilege and live like
you really want it!
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Gal 427 quotes Isa 541

• For it is written "Rejoice, O barren (Sarah
  Jerusalem above), you who do not bear! Break
  forth and shout, you who are not in labor
  (children by adoption)! For the desolate (Sarah)
  has many more children than she (Hagar) who has a
  husband."

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We are children of Promise (28)

• Expect persecution now, just like Isaac
  received from Ishmael (29)
• Dont depend on your fleshly genealogies
  (which family you come from)
• Faith can save anyone no excuses!
• We must walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham
  (Rom 412)

Expect chastening (Heb 125-11). God is treating
you as His children so you can share His holiness.
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What does the scripture say? (v.30)

• Sarah was right to cast out Hagar!
  (Gen 2110)
• God had this included in the Bible so the
  allegory would be complete

Gods election!
Sarah understood that not all the natural
descendents of Abraham would inherit the promises
God intended to pass through Isaac
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So then, brethren, we are not children of the
bondwoman but of the free
In Galatians 5 we will look at how our freedom
should impact the way we live now!
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