Why Paul Says Grace Beats Law — Galatians Chapter 4 Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to see everybody in again this afternoon, and even though Oklahoma has been hot, hot, hot, hasn't it? But we're glad you're here, and we just trust that the Lord will bless our time together this afternoon. For those of you out on television, of course, we always like to welcome you right into our class, and we appreciate when you write and say, I just feel like I'm sitting in the back row. And I guess that's exactly what we're trying to put across. We want you to be a part of this as a study, and we always emphasize we're not on any one denominational line. We do not attack others. We're just simply going to teach the Word, and you may not always agree with me. You know I expect that, and we don't have to. Except on some of the basic fundamentals, of course, there is no room for argument. But there are places where we can have disagreement without being disagreeable. But whatever, if we can just succeed in getting folks to get back into a study of the Word on their own, and not just sit and let other people throw stuff at you, and you not knowing whether it's right or wrong. You know I always like to give the example. How true it is, I don't know, but I once read one time that when young folks go in and begin their work with the U.S. Treasury Department in view of going against counterfeit money, for the first 6 months of their employment they do nothing but study legitimate American bills. Well the idea is that if you know what the legitimate looks like, a counterfeit will just pop right up in front of you. Well now I use that as the same way with the Word of God. If folk would just know what the Bible says, and know it forwards and backwards, then when this counterfeit stuff comes along you'll see it right away. And so that's really my main purpose. Alright I guess I always have to let the folks know, we have new listeners every day, that we do have all the past programs are available on video, audio, and the little printed page as they'll usually show it on the screen. But anyway those things are available if you're interested, there they are. If you're interested in any of this material which is just simply word for word from the programs, you call us or write to us and we'll get them to you. Okay back to the Book of Galatians chapter 4. We stopped in our last program in verse 14, and so we'll just move right on up to verse 15. Remembering always that the Book of Galatians is Paul proving that we're not under the Law, we're under Grace. Oh it's so appropriate even for today. And so we're really going to hit it today, that we're not under the Law, we're under Grace. Verse 15. Galatians 4. Now what was the man saying? That there was such a bond of affection between these pagan Galatians who had come under Paul's Gospel, and the transforming power of it. They loved the man in spite of his physical inadequacies, and he had them. And he said it was in such a degree, and that's why I feel he had an eye problem, they would have given their healthy eyes to replace his sickly ones, because they had such a love for him. He says to the Thessalonians, and I think this is typical of all of Paul's converts, with the exception of some of the Jewish believers. But whenever he went into a pagan community, it was all steeped in idolatry. But when they heard his Gospel message, here is the result. First Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9. And this says it better than I ever could. "...for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you." When he came into this strange, pagan, Greek city of Thessalonica, and he said, what entering in we had unto you, and how you turned from idols to the living God. Doesn't that say it all? He came into this strange city with no fanfare, no trumpeting introductions, and he merely began confronting people with the Gospel of the grace of God, how Christ had died for their sin. And they believed it, and they turned from their idols to the true and living God. Now back to Galatians, it was the same way. They had entered into such a joy of their salvation, realizing that it was all of grace, and then as happens all the time today, and I see it over and over, whenever we have a new believer who comes under the power of the Gospel, and they've come away from all of this other stuff, and they enter into a salvation by grace, what happens? Oh they start getting bombarded with all of the pressure to come back. I had a phone call again just this morning where the poor man was just beside himself because he had come out of this false teaching. I won't name the particular organization, but he says, I've come out of it, and I've seen the truth of the Word as you teach it. But oh he says, the pressure, the constant pressure to come back to where he had been before. And listen, this is not new. The Galatians were under the same thing, and Paul says, Here you were in such a state of blessedness, you had such a love for me, you would have plucked out your own eyes to be replacement for me. And now then he says in verse 16, "...and am I therefore become your enemy?" Simply because I'm continuing, now I'm paraphrasing it for emphasis, because I'm continuing to give you the truth. But should I show you what the truth did? Turn again, come on to the right to 2 Timothy chapter 1. Now listen, if you think you get discouraged sometimes, and you wonder why you or I or anybody else cannot have the results that we'd like to have, listen, it's always been that way. That's why I don't get discouraged. My land, when you come to the flood out of I think 4 or 5 billion people on the world, 8 out of 4 or 5 billion, you get to Jesus at the end of His 3 years of earthly ministry at least in the area of Jerusalem, how many? 120. And that's next to nothing. And all the way up through Scripture it's never been that way. And so here again, look what happened to these converts that Paul had brought out of paganism. You want to remember, Galatia was in Asia Minor. Always remember geography when you read Scripture, because geography and history all fits together with the overall working of the Holy Spirit. Now look what happened in 2 Timothy chapter 1. Verse 14-15. 2 Timothy 1. Now verse 15 is the one I wanted. 2 Timothy 1. In other words it wasn't just Paul's idea, even Timothy and Titus and his other helpers realized it. 2 Timothy 1. This thou knowest, that all they who are in Asia, which would include Galatia remember, be turned away from me. In other words, how much effect did the letter to the Galatians really have in the long term? Almost none. Oh it's good for us, don't get me wrong, it's part of the Word of God. But so far as its impact on these Galatian congregations, it evidently fell on pretty much deaf ears, because several years later when he writes to Timothy, he has to by inspiration say that they've all turned against him. Well you know what I think they did? They all fell under legalism, and consequently none of those churches survived. They're in one of those cities left today. They've all fallen into the dust of history, and all because they refused to stay with Paul's simple Gospel of Grace. Sad isn't it? But listen, the world hasn't changed a bit. It's still the same way today. They just almost ridicule this concept of faith plus nothing. Where are you coming from? Well I'll tell you where I'm coming from, from the Book of Galatians. Back to Galatians chapter 4. So verse 16. Galatians 4. "...they zealously affect you, but not well, yea, they would exclude you, that you might affect them." Now in order to explain that, let's let the Scripture explain it. Let's come back to chapter 1. See a lot of these verses are kind of hard to comprehend. What is the Apostle driving at? They were beginning to believe these Judaizers who were coming in and demanding circumcision and law keeping, as over against Paul's pure Gospel of Grace. And what does he call it? Galatians 4. Verse 6. "...I marvel that you are so soon removed from him, that called you into the grace of Christ." And that's what brought them out of their idolatry, was Paul's Gospel of Grace. But what were they slipping into? The influence of another Gospel. Verse 7. "...which is not another." In other words, it's not something just totally different, but what was it? A perversion. Verse 8. "...which is not another, but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ." And although the perverters finally succeeded evidently, or Paul wouldn't have had to write that to Timothy, but he did write it. All that are in Asia, including Galatia, have turned against him. And so now if you'll come back to Galatians chapter 4, we're going to see how the Apostle Paul is going to miraculously use the Scriptures to teach us a lesson. If the Galatians didn't catch it, let's hope that we do. Verse 18. "...but it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you." In other words, when he was in their presence, and his actual physical presence was there, then evidently they could kind of hold everything together. But as soon as he'd be gone, then in would come the false teachers, like ravening wolves, and they would just simply tear these little congregations apart. Now verse 19. Here is one of my favorite portions of Scripture, and I've always told my class here in Oklahoma, if you're ever put on the spot to have a devotional for your Sunday school, or your women's group, or men's group, or whatever, here's one of the best ones you can use. Oh this is a dandy, and it's so easy to present. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. In other words, just like the mother's birth pangs of bringing forth that beautiful, innocent baby, Paul fell to these pagans who also had been transformed and had made a regular birthing process into the eternal things as a result of his Gospel, and he was thrilled by it. But oh, now they're in trouble. They're listening to false teachers, and he says, I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice, so that you hear what I'm saying. For I stand in doubt of you, because they were falling for this stuff. Now verse 21, and I want you to tell me, you who desire to be under the Law, you who desire to want to do something in addition to the Gospel, do you not hear the Law? For it is written, now I've told you over and over, whenever you see Paul use that term, what's he going to tell you? Where is he going to take you? Back to the Old Testament. And so we're going to go back there in just a moment, for it is written in the Old Testament that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, and the other by a free woman. Now of course most of you know what he's talking about, but there may be some out there on television that have never heard this before, so for their benefit we're going to go over it again, and that takes us back of course to Genesis, and I think I want to go back to verse 16. Now this is within a chapter or two of the Abrahamic Covenant, but of course years have been rolling by chronologically, and so Abram as we still know him here, has already been waiting 36 years for the promise of Genesis 12 to be fulfilled, and that is that he would have a son, and out of that son would come a special race or nation of people. Now then, 36 years of waiting, now don't get too impatient with the old fellow. I think we'd all felt the same way, that God had forgotten, never giving him the promise. That's a long time. I don't care what period of time in human history, 36 years is a long time, and no child. Sarai has no signs whatsoever of ever being able to have a child. And so finally she's the one that gives up first really. Now I'm not going to finish this in this half hour, so those of you on television, you wait. It'll come in the next half hour, and maybe the next one, but we're going to hold all this together, and we're not going to rush it. So Sarai said unto Abram, behold now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee go in unto my maid, and it may be that I may obtain children by her, and Abram hearken to the voice of Sarai. Now whenever we teach this back in Genesis, I always make the point that who is totally lacking in this conversation? God is. God hasn't said a word yet. All God has said is, I'm going to make out of you a nation of people, which had to start with a son. But here you see God hasn't said a word. And that's why when we get back to Galatians, this whole scenario of Hagar and Ishmael is called after the flesh. Isaac is going to be the son of the promise of God. See the difference? God isn't involved here. Now I know sovereignly He is. I know that the sovereign God had to be somehow or other controlling the flow of all these events, but nevertheless so far as the text is concerned, God has had nothing to say about having a child by the slave woman. So Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar and made the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, so that she could have a child by him. And of course she does. Now again I guess we have to understand the female of the species, and we have to understand the customs of the day, and according to the laws of Hammurabi the old Babylonian seer, if a wife could not have a child physically, then it was perfectly moral and upright in their culture to have a child then by a servant or a slave girl, and that's what they practiced here. They were not going contrary to the morality of their day, but on the other hand God has not told them to do it this way. But they did it in the energy of the flesh, and now of course the slave girl is with child, and now look what happens. Verse 5. Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee. I have given my maid into thy bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised. Now like I say, that probably enters in a little bit to the makeup of our female of the species, our women, but whatever. All of a sudden now, Hagar was literally making a fool out of Sarai, her mistress, simply because she was able to bear a child, and she wasn't. And it just infuriated poor Sarai, and she says, Now the Lord judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold the maid is in thy hand, do to her as it pleaseth thee. Bingo! What happens? Sarai kicks her out. Let's just put it in plain English. Sarai kicks her out. She says, Out of my house, I'll have nothing more to do with you. And so she dealt hardly with her. And so Hagar fled from her face, because after all Sarai was the boss, I guess we'd say. She was the mistress, and so Hagar the Egyptian slave girl fled. Now remember she hasn't had her child yet. Now then, the angel of the Lord. I've explained that often enough in this class. The angel of the Lord is Christ, or the God of the Son, in His Old Testament appearance. And so the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, out in the way to Shur, out in the desert. And verse 9, I'll skip verse 8 just for sake of time. And verse 9, the angel of the Lord, or the Christ, God of the Son, said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself unto her hands. Now that was a command from God. Go back to Sarai and Abram. No ifs, ands, buts about it. And the angel of the Lord, verse 10, said unto her, And I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that is coming out of Ishmael, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And so the Lord said unto her, Behold thou art with child, you'll bear a son, and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. So she goes back to the tent of Abram and Sarai, and I've explained it out to our Oklahoma classes. Iris and I had the privilege many years ago of visiting an Arab sheikh out in the desert of the Negev, and I suppose they were Bedouins. It was a rather interesting situation. He served us in what he called his tent, and there really wasn't much there. But out behind were four smaller tents. While he was fixing coffee for us, and we were sitting there, all pretty much the same size. They just about smothered Iris, trying to get the rings off her fingers, and just looking at her hair and everything, and she was just having a ball. But all of a sudden the old fellow just made one bark like a dog, and those kids were gone. Well after we'd had our coffee and everything, and we were able to roam around a little bit, we saw those four tents out behind his tent, and we found out that those were his four wives. So if you divide 24 by 4, they all had an average at least of about 6 kids. But it just immediately set the setting for this here. Now when we speak of Hagar coming back and dwelling with Abram, they weren't in the same tent. These women had each their own tent out behind, and that's what is evident as you come a little later when the Lord comes and says that they're going to have a child, and then Sarah was standing in her tent door as the Lord was dealing with them. Well just picture that in your mind, that out behind the main dwelling tent were the tents of these other wives. Now as you come over to chapter 4, we're not only going to see that the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken, and she conceived. Now remember she's 90, and Abram is 100 years old. 4. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare unto him, Isaac. Now do you see the difference? This child is the result of whose promises? Well God's promises. God has said that you're going to have a son, and you're going to call his name Isaac, which of course interpreted meant laughter. And so now we find that the promised child is finally making His appearance. The child of the flesh is still with Him, He's still there because that's where God told Hagar to go. But now you see it's coming to a head. Let's read on, we've got a moment or two left. 5. For Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare, Isaac. And Abram circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded. And Abram was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And that's why the word Isaac also meant laughter. And she said, Who would have said unto Abram that Sarah should be giving nurse to children? For I have borne him a son in his old age, and the child grew and was weaned. And Abram made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned." Now I always make a point that chronologically now, Isaac has to be five years old when he's weaned, which of course puts Ishmael up to about 18 or 19. He's not a little child anymore, he's at the end of his teen years. Now we've only got a minute left, and I'm not going to go any further because I don't want to lose the context as we move on. But again for just this last minute let's rehearse. Here we have God promising for 36 years that Abraham and Sarah will have a son, and nothing happens. Then finally after 36 years they take matters into their own hands, and they have a child by virtue of the slave girl, the Egyptian Hagar. And Sarah is so upset with her reaction to it, that she sends her away probably in almost a rage. And yet while she's out in the desert, the Lord appears to Hagar and says, you go back to Sarah's tent. Now I'm impressing that. I want you to see that God sent her back. And I want you at the same time to be asking the question, why? When it's going to be the same thing all over again. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick, is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. 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