Grace From Galatians (4-19)

Isn’t it amazing how children, in the short time they have been here on earth, seem to think they are able to accumulate more knowledge than us old timers who have been around 60 or 70 years?

But in all fairness, I have met some parents whose children were smarter than they were, and that does not say much for them!

Illus: They remind me of the blonde pilot that decided she wanted to learn how to fly a helicopter. She went to the airport, but the only one available was a solo-helicopter.

The instructor figured he could let her go up alone since she was already a pilot for small planes and he could instruct her via radio.

• So up the blonde went. She reached 1,000 feet and everything was going smoothly.

• She reached 2,000 feet. The blonde and the instructor kept talking via radio. Everything was running smoothly.

• At 3,000 feet the helicopter suddenly came down quickly! It skimmed the top of some trees and crash landed in the woods.

The instructor jumped into his jeep and rushed out to see if the blonde was okay. As he reached the edge of the woods, the blonde was walking out.

"What happened?" the instructor asked. "All was going so well until you reached 3,000 feet. What happened then?" "Well," began the blonde, "I got cold. So I turned off the big fan.”

There are some parents that are dumb.

But there are some children that are that dumb also.

They think they know it all when really they do not!

For example, some young boys grow up hating girls, but when they finally realize that girls are something special, and they have that first kiss, they become experts on love. That is, they know more about love than both Mom and Dad put together….hmmm!

Sometimes it is that way in the Christian life. God the Father tells us things and we, the children of God, think we know more than He does.

For example, in this scripture passage the Lord tells us that His way is the way that leads to life, but living our life in the flesh leads to death.

Many of God’s children simply do not believe that.

Let’s look at the two views in this scripture passage, and I want to show you that GOD THE FATHER DOES KNOW WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT!

I. OUR WAY IS THE WAY OF DEATH

You would never know that by the way some folks believe.

For example, many ascribe to the view that we mortals basically are good.

In fact, we are so self-righteous that we can stand before the Holy God of heaven in our righteouness.

After all, most of us do not:

• Rob banks

• Commit adultery

• Lie and cheat

• Get drunk

• Fail to pay our bills

Basically we are good people!

The Bible has something to say about that. Look at Proverbs 14:12, we read, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

One of the hardest things to do in this life is to convince someone that something is wrong when they think it is OK!

When we were growing up, sometimes our parents accused us of having hard heads.

That is, they were insinuating that our heads were so hard that nothing that they were telling us would penetrate them.

And the children of God are this way, some have such thick heads nobody can tell them anything.

• There are many who truly believe, “I am OK, and you are OK!” But that is not correct.

• Others make the mistake of thinking, “Well, I know I am not right, but if we do the best we can, that will suffice!”

Listen, if our standing before God in our righteousness was sufficient, then the Lord Jesus dying for our sins would be meaningless.

Look at what Paul says in Galatians 2:21, we read, “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”

If our righteouness is SUFFICIENT, His death would be all in VAIN! OUR WAY IS THE WAY OF DEATH.

II. HIS WAY IS THE WAY OF LIFE

Look at verses 16-20, we read, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”