Galatians
4:21-5:1-6
While the purpose of a Last Will and Testament may be good at the time, they often become outdated or overlook something important. I was the executor of the last minute will of a fellow missionary, signed as we left to take him to the hospital. Only twelve days later, he had died. And it was up to me to take over his estate, which was really very simple. He had already changed his banking affairs into his wife’s name, and they rented their home, but it was unknown to me that he had advanced money to a friend and they had bought an automobile while they were in America for a short trip. I only learned when the license had to be renewed that it even existed and was registered in his name and not the friends. Circumstances change, a will needs to be kept up to date. Two of our daughters drew up wills that if anything happened to themselves, we would be responsible for their children. Those children are all now married and have families of their own. That portion is no longer needed. We used to have a will that was going out of date, so we, living in Texas now, changed to a much more flexible Revocable Living Trust, and a pre-paid cremation service.
Are you aware that God made two separate wills?, not for His death: but for ours. We know them as the Old Testament, and the New Testament. Times have changed since the first, the Law.
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? (Luke 16:29)
GOD’S FIRST WILL, LAW
We all know the account of God giving Moses the ten commandments on Mount Sinai. They were inscribed, on stone. Their purpose was to guide and prepare his people for the Messiah whom He would send when the time was right. The apostle Paul used the wives of Abraham to explain this difference, but even today many seem to have missed the point, and we find the dispensations mixed in the teachings of many cults and churches. Three or four come readily to mind, but remnants still remain in many church doctrines. The Zion Christian Church of Africa, the Mormon practices, the Seventh Day Adventists, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to mind, but there are many more who teach things which were really for the Old Covenant.
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. (Genesis 16:15, Genesis 21:2)
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, (Romans 9:2, Galatians 4:29, Genesis 17:16, Genesis 18:10, Galatians 4:28, Hebrews 11:11)
24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— (1 Corinthians 10:11, Deuteronomy 33:2, Galatians 4:3)
25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—
THE CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGED
But now, beginning with the founding of the Lord’s own people, the Messiah has already come, and the whole picture is changed. The Old covenant was ruled by law, and did not remove the sins of the people. Their sacrifices only prepared them for the final blood sacrifice, that of His Son who would die because of our sin, and offer salvation through obedient faith. This began in the old Jerusalem, and from there to the entire world. Today we can become Christians because of the grace of God. The word “grace” means “undeserved, or unmerited good favor.” That is totally different from the commandments of the Law. Christianity is based on Love, not Law.
26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. (Hebrews 12:22, Revelation 3:12, Revelation 21:2,)
27 For it is written: (Isaiah 54:1)
“ Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. (Galatians 4:23, Romans 9:7, Galatians 3:29)
29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. (Galatians 4:23, Genesis 21:9, Galatians 5:11)
The world which looks at Christianity through the eyes of Law, can not understand love.. We love Him because he first loved us. “And now abideth Faith, Hope, Love, and the greatest of these is love.” “By their love, ye shall know them.”
30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” (Genesis 21:10, Genesis 21:12, John 8:35)
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
GOD’S SECOND WILL, GRACE
Galatians 5
Christian Liberty
The key word of the second covenant is “Grace.” No man can buy grace, no man deserves grace because of good works. Yet good works is at the heart of many churches. One does good works because of his love, not for “points” with God. In the words of 1 Corinthians 13: we read, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I have become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” To which James adds, “:Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” People know who and what we are by what we do.
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. ((John 8:32, John 8:36, Romans 8:15, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 2:4, Galatians 5:13, 1 Corinthians 16:13,Acts 14:10, Galatians 2:4)
2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. (2 Corinthians 10:1, Acts 15:1, Galatians 5:3, Galatians 6:11)
3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole (Luke 16:28, Acts 15:1, Galatians 5:2, Romans 2:25)
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. (Hebrews 12:15, 2 Peter 3:17)
If for religious purposes you keep a part of the Old Covenant, Paul says, you are obliged to keep all of the law. In such case you are “fallen from grace” because you are seeking salvation through works, not through Christ.
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. (Romans 8:23, 1 Corinthians 1:7)
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Galatians 3:26, 1 Corinthians 7:19, Galatians 6:15, Colossians 1:41, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, James 2:18, James 2:20, James 2:22)
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READ THE BIBLE THROUGH AGAIN IN 2011
SEPTEMBER
18th. Sunday – Isaiah 43, 44, Galatians 3:15-29, Psalm 108:1-5
19th. Monday – Isaiah 45, 46, 47, Galatians 4:1-16, Psalm 108:6-13
20th. Tuesday – Isaiah 48, 49, 50, Galatians 4:17-31, Psalm 109:1-15
21st. Wednesday - Isaiah 51, 52, 53, Galatians 5, Proverbs 23:10-18
22nd. Thursday - Isaiah 54, 55, 56, Galatians 6, Psalm 109:16-31
23rd. Friday – Isaiah 57, 58, 59, Ephesians 1, Psalm 110
24th. Saturday - Isaiah 60, 61, 62, Ephesians 2, Psalm 111
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THIS WEEK'S SCRIPTURE
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Galatians 5:22
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