For example to understand that, we have to consider a dictator like Saddam Hussein. Why did he use intimidation, torture and death as a means to control the people of Iraq? The people in Iraq were afraid to say anything bad about him for fear that he would have them killed.
Illus: Let me give you an example. During the Persian Gulf Crisis, Secretary James Baker went to Iraq. He met with Teriq Azis, (similar to our Secretary of State) one of Saddam Hussein’s main men. Secretary Baker met with him to try to stop the Persian Gulf War before it got started. Those in the meeting said that Azis spoke with great confidence. But Secretary Baker pulled out a letter from President George H. Bush and asked him to give it to Saddam Hussein. He read where President George H. Bush told him he had to disarm. As he read the letter, those present noticed that his hand began to shake. When he had completed reading the letter, he laid the letter on the table and said, “I can not give President Hussein this letter!” And He didn’t!
WHY DIDN’T HE GIVE IT TO HIM? Because he knew that those in the past that brought him bad news were killed. He knew to deliver that letter would cost him his life.
Dictators hold their people in check by using torture and death.
Also, there are people today who belong to the cults and they have been so brainwashed by the cults that they are afraid of leaving them, because they think they will spend eternity in a devil’s hell if they leave.
The false religions hold their members in check by putting them under bondage. If they do not do what they are told, they will lose their salvation. Undeniably, fear is a motivation.
Illus: The British had an organization that Americans are now considering adopting. It seems that in England, they had a men's club called Bachelors' Anonymous. It was highly successful in making men fear or even hate marriage.
The club provided a unique way to treat the problem of bachelors wanting to marry. They send over a mother-in-law in nightgown, hair curlers, and a mud pack.
When it comes to fear, we have to consider that sometimes it does not motivate people.
Illus: I think about the church service that was about to start. Everyone was in their pew, chatting about their families, jobs, etc. when suddenly Satan appeared at the front of the church.
Fear fell on the congregation like never before. In their rush to get out the back doors, people jumped over pews, trampled one another, and flew through the doors at record speeds. When the dust settled, the only ones left in the auditorium were Satan and one older gentleman, who did not seem at all concerned that Satan was standing directly in front of him. Now this confused Satan a bit, so he walked up to the man and said, "Do you know who I am?"
To which the older gentleman replied, "Yup. Sure do."
Satan said, "Aren't you afraid of me?" The older gentleman replied, "Nope, sure ain't."
Satan was quite perturbed at this so he got right in the man's face and asked, "And would you mind telling me why not?" The older gentleman replied, "Been married to your sister for 48 years."
Fear is a motivation that works many times, but those who promote fear as the way of holding the congregation under bondage forget something, that is, the strongest motivation in this world is not FEAR but LOVE!
This is why the Lord said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments..” Notice, he did not say, “If you fear me you will keep my commandments.”
In the verses in this passage, Paul deals with this STRONG MOTIVATION that moves Christians.
The Judaizers had been teaching that if they wanted to please God they had to obey the law. We recognize that as the children of God, we are not justified by works, but by grace.
HOW DOES PAUL DEAL WITH THIS?
I. HE USES IMAGERY
Look at Galatians 4:1, we read, “Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all.”
Paul gives us the image of a child who is an heir to everything his father has. While a young child might be an heir, he has to have someone to “tutor” him.
Look at verses 2-3, we read, “But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.”
The image of the child is a picture that shows that while the child in the Old Testament is an heir to all things, God had to send the law (governor) to govern their life until the proper time came.
God sent the law to GOVERN the children of God. It was never meant to be a SAVIOR, only a “guardian” to show Israel what was RIGHT and what was WRONG!
Look at verse 4, we read, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
Notice, this verse tells us He came in the fulness of time:
• Made of a woman
• Made under the law
That is, when Christ came he was under the law.
WHY IS THAT SIGNIFICANT?
He had to live under the law, He had to obey every single law and stand before God as the perfect LAMB OF GOD.
After establishing this, Paul draws his comparison.
Look at verse 3, we read, “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.”
Notice the words, “Even so we”. WHAT DOES HE MEAN BY THAT?
Even as the Jews were under the bondage of the law, the law also places us under bondage. The same law that condemned them also condemns us.
The law was not intended to be a SAVIOR, but a GUARDIAN to show us what is right and what is wrong.
WHAT TRAPPED US?
Paul said, “Under the elements of the world.”
The elements that Paul is talking about is the law that constantly condemns them and us. He refers to the law as the “Elements of the world”.
The word “elements” is the word “Stoicheion” (Pronounced as “Stoy-khi'-on”) which means something orderly in arrangement.
There is nothing wrong with the Mosaic law. The only problem is, IT IS PERFECT and we mortals are not! Only He who came in the fulness of time to obey it completely is perfect.
God knew we imperfect mortals could not keep a perfect law. God gave the law, not as a means of salvation, but as a tutor to govern our lives showing us what is RIGHT and WRONG!
The law (tutor) has no power within itself to save!
Paul used the IMAGE OF A CHILD (heir) to show us how the law was placed here to INSTRUCT us in WHAT IS RIGHT and WHAT IS WRONG. HE USES IMAGERY and -
II. HE USES INHERITANCE
It is not the law that delivers us, because the law has no power within itself to save anyone. This sets the stage for our only Deliverer, Jesus Christ the Lord.
Let us see the glory of our great Deliverer and what He has accomplished for us. Let’s consider THREE things.
A. CONSIDER THE DELIVERER
The emphasis which Paul makes is upon Christ our Redeemer. He wants the Galatians to see that it is not the works of the law that delivers a sinner from bondage, but it is the work of Christ alone.
He reveals to us that Christ’s coming was a work of God’s grace. First, let’s look at-
1. THE TIMING OF THE DELIVERER
Look at verse 4 again, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
Notice, the Bible tells us He was, “Made of a woman.”
The Catholics teach that Mary is deity, the Bible says she was a woman. The only difference between Mary and any woman in this congregation was that she was favored of God to bring forth His Son.
While she was on earth, in the fulness of time, God used her to bring forth the Savior. It was at this TIME, “God sent forth his Son.”
The words “Sent forth” imply He came with a mission.
The words “sent forth” convey the idea of going forth from someone with authority, to accomplish a specific task. Our Lord came to the earth for a very specific purpose.
We could not live up to the law that told us what is RIGHT and WRONG. It placed us under the curse and we were condemned to die.
The idea conveyed is that the Sovereign Lord worked in history to bring about just the right setting for His Son to be born - “the fulness of the time.”
2. THE IDENTITY OF THE DELIVERER
Paul identifies the Redeemer as the Son of God: “But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son.”
• It is this Son whom the Father sent into the world. “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Col. 2:9).
• It is of Christ that Revelation 5:12 says, “…Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”
It was not mankind that called Jesus from Heaven. It was God Himself, who sent forth His Son to accomplish our redemption.
3. THE ENTRANCE OF THE DELIVERER
HOW DID HE COME?
• The ancient Docetics denied that Jesus had a human body at all, stating that His body was merely ghost-like or a phantom. They could not conceive of God touching matter which they construed as evil.
• Some Gnostic Christians taught that “Jesus brought with Him a celestial body from heaven, passing through Mary as a drop of water goes through a pipe”. [T. George NAC, 303].
• A similar view was embraced by some early Anabaptists in which they claimed that Jesus “took nothing of His substance from Mary” [T. George, Theology of the Reformers, 281].
But Paul wrote that Jesus Christ was “born of a woman,” that is, of the very substance of humanity. Paul is stressing that Jesus:
• Had an actual human body like ours
• Faced the same kind of temptations that we face
This was necessary if He was going to bear the punishment due to humanity.
He came the way all of us came, but the difference is He was born of a virgin and He lived a SINLESS life!
Illus: John MacArthur sums it up well when he writes: He had to be fully God in order for His sacrifice to have the infinite worth necessary to atone for the sin of mankind. He also had to be fully man in order to represent mankind and take the penalty of sin upon Himself in man’s behalf. It was man who sinned, who was under the curse, and who was condemned to render his life forfeit to God. Jesus therefore could not have substituted for sinful man on the cross had He not taken upon Himself “the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). He had to be God to have the power of Savior, and He had to be man to have the position of Substitute [NT Commentary 108].
4. THE TASK OF THE DELIVERER
His task was clear from the start: Jesus Christ came as a ransom for many.
Look at Mark 10:45, we read, “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
The Lord came for many reasons. For example, He gave us the perfect example of living on earth. But the ultimate purpose was that HE WAS A RANSOM FOR MANY. He came that He might redeem sinners from the curse. He came for the cross, to bear the wrath of God on our behalf.
We CONSIDER THE DELIVERER, and we -
B. CONSIDER THE DELIVERER’S WORK
It is not the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ that saves us. It is His work at the cross that saves because He is both God and man.
WHY IS IT SIGNIFICANT THAT WE BELIEVE THAT?
Some people who claim salvation believe that Jesus is God and that Jesus became a man. This is essential, but this will not save anyone. There has to be a time that we trust in what Jesus Christ accomplished on our behalf if we are to be saved.
Look at verses 4-5 again, we read, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
These verses reveal two things about his coming. He came:
• To redeem those who were under the Law
• That we might become the adopted children of God
The word “redeem,” comes from the common terminology of Paul’s day.
Illus: It goes back to the marketplace where slaves were sold. It literally means ‘to buy out of the marketplace’ or ‘to ransom from slavery’. The slave had no way of personal deliverance in this case. He was held in bondage, hoping that someone might redeem him.
Redemption involved a PRICE and a PERSON to pay the price.
The price demanded to deliver us was the full measure of God’s wrath.
• Jesus’ death was not to inspire us to live better lives
• Jesus’ death was not to teach us to be sacrificial
His death was necessary for us to be saved, because divine justice must be satisfied.
The focal point of Jesus Christ being sent by the Father was to exercise His work as redeemer.
The slave is legally bound to his master until the price of redemption is paid. Upon the satisfaction of that price, the slave is freed.
This pictures our forgiveness and deliverance from sin. But Paul wants us to understand that there is more.
He does not stop with redemption. He also adopts us as sons!
To think that God would send His Son to bear my guilt before His judicious wrath is virtually incomprehensible!
These Galatian believers who were struggling with their salvation were reminded anew of the work of Christ that alone satisfies God’s demands in justifying sinners.
What does it mean to be delivered?
(1) WE HAVE A NEW STATUS
Look at verses 5-7, we read, “To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
Paul assures them they are no longer slaves, but sons. Adoption declares a new status for the child of God.
(2) WE HAVE A NEW NATURE
Natural adoption cannot do this. A man can give a child his name but he cannot give him his nature. Yet in our adoption as sons, we have been given a new nature in Christ.
Illus: Thomas Watson wrote, “Whom he adopts, he anoints; whom he makes sons, he makes saints. When a man adopts another for his son and heir, he may put his name upon him, but he cannot put his disposition into him…but whom God adopts he sanctifies; he not only gives a new name but a new nature” [233].
(3) WE HAVE A NEW ASSURANCE
Those who are redeemed and adopted can now look to God the Father and say, “Abba! Father!”
(4) WE HAVE A NEW CLAIM
Our text lays one more claim to those who are redeemed and adopted into God’s family. “Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
There’s more ahead! All the riches of belonging to God will one day be unfolded for the child of God. You are not meant to claim the world and its deceitful dainties as your inheritance. Paul is telling us to live like sons not slaves. Live as those who have an inheritance through God.
Conclusion:
Have you been adopted as a son? This adoption takes place only when we have turned from our sin and embraced Jesus Christ and His merits by faith.
I. HE USES IMAGERY
II. HE USES INHERITANCE
