Galatians 4:1-11, Living Free Series

Living Free

Galatians 4:1-11

Intro.

* Illustrations are almost always a necessity when it comes to getting a point across

* Not only did Jesus frequently use illustrations but the Apostle Paul did as well.

* Sometimes a single illustration is worth a thousand words.

* Preachers sometimes struggle with communicating clearly the message of Scripture

(Joke – Penguin Breakdown) We preachers are sometimes like the …(A) truck driver had to deliver five hundred penguins to the state zoo. As he was driving his truck through the desert, the truck broke down.

After waiting by the side of the road for about three hours, he waved another truck down and offered the driver $500 to take the penguins to the state zoo for him.

The next day, the first truck driver arrived in town and saw the second truck driver crossing the road with 500 penguins walking in single file behind him.

The first truck driver jumped out of his truck and said, "What’s going on? I gave you $500 to take these penguins to the zoo!"

The second truck driver replied, "I did take them to the zoo. And I had money left over, so now we’re going to see a movie."

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Joke – Occasionally, I feel like the message just didn’t get across.

(I read about) A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly cold winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon forty years earlier. Now, because of their very hectic schedule, it was difficult to coordinate their travel plans. So the husband left Minneapolis and flew to Florida on Friday, and his wife was going to fly there the following day. The husband checked into the hotel, but unlike when they were there the first time forty years earlier, there was a computer in the room and he decided to send an email to his wife. As he typed out the address, however, he accidentally made a

one-letter mistake in the email address.

Meanwhile, in Houston, Texas, a Baptist pastor had just had a heart attack and died. His wife returned home from the funeral and decided to check her email, thinking that there might be messages from relatives and so on. After reading

the first message, she screamed and fainted dead away. The widow’s son rushed into the room and found his mother on the floor. He then saw the computer screen, and here is what it said:

"To my darling wife, I know that you are surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you’re allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I’ve just arrived and checked in. I see that everything’s been prepared for your

arrival tomorrow, and I look forward to seeing you then. I hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

"P.S. It sure is hot down here!"

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* I trust Paul’s message will be simple and easy to understand. I do pray for the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our heart and let us see clearly this message from Paul to the Galatians.

* In this chapter Paul will show the great advantage we have now, under the gospel, above what they had under the law.

* He begins with the illustration of a child under the age of receiving an inheritance.

* Though by birthright he owned the whole estate, nevertheless he was kept in subservience like a slave in that he enjoyed no freedom and could make no decisions.

I. Our Past v. 1-3

* Children in bondage and in spiritual and intellectual darkness

A) Days of darkness v. 1

* Children have limited insight and knowledge.

* Living under the law was like living with limited knowledge

* The law was holy, just, and good, but it was incomplete.

* There were things the law could not do.

* The law was not God’s final revelation, it was a part of God’s progressive revelation of Himself.

* The primary purpose of the law was to show sin to be exceedingly sinful that we all would know we are guilty before God and to motivate us to pursue the grace of God.

Rom 7:7-13 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. (8) But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. (9) For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. (10) And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. (11) For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. (12) Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. (13) Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.