Welcome to Books of the
Book, I'm Pastor Mark Howard and
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the director of the Emmanuel
Institute of Evangelism for
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Michigan Conference of
Seventh-day Adventist a training
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school to train people
how to share their faith,
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as well as the Pastor of
the Gobels Seventh-day Adventist
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church in Gobels Michigan.
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I'm here with my
co-host, my brother Jim.
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Yes my name is Jim
Howard and I am also a Pastor in
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Michigan Conference of the
Detroit Metropolitan and South
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Lyon Seventh-day Adventist
church and I'm excited to
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study the book of
Galatians with you today.
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Today we are, as Jim has
mentioned, we have been studying
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the book of Galatians.
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In our last study together
we were talking about the Seed
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of Abraham and what it
means to understand and receive
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the Seed of Abraham,
actually to become sons of God.
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That was the point
that Paul was getting to.
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We are going to
pick up on that today.
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I want to tell you today
of all the topics Jim in the
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book of Galatians, this is
one of the most precious as it
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really brings out the
heart of our own spiritual
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experience and the
affection of not only God,
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for us but us for God.
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We're talking about
being slaves or sons today.
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So what we are going to
do is begin in Chapter 4,
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but we are going to recap
in Chapter 3 of Galatians.
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If you have your Bibles
with you I would encourage you
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to turn with us, we are
in the book of Galatians.
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You go to the New Testament
Scriptures Matthew, Mark,
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Luke, John, Acts, Romans,
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1 and 2 Corinthians and
then the book of Galatians.
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In Galatians were going to
Chapter 3:26 and the apostle
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writes, "for you are all
sons of God through faith in
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"Christ Jesus. For as
many of you as were baptized
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"into Christ have put on
Christ. And there is neither
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"Jew nor Greek, there
is neither slave nor free,
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"there is neither male
nor female; for you are all
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"one in Christ Jesus.
And if you are Christ's, then
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"you are Abraham's seed,
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"and heirs
according to the promise. "
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The idea here is Paul
talking about how we can become
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sons of God
through faith in Jesus.
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There is a lot to the
sons of God that can really
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make a world of difference,
the world of difference,
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in our own spiritual
experience and I think that is
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where we are going to go here.
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Yes that is exactly right.
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Right after this passage,
and the news and we need
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to review this is because
after the end of chapter 3
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the apostle uses an
illustration to talk about
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the importance of being sons.
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So what we are wanting
to do is to keep reading.
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Let's read verses 1-7
together and that will be the
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framework from
which we will study today.
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Verse one says, "Now I
say that the heir, as long
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"as he is a child, does
not differ at all from a slave,
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"though he is master
of all, but he is under
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"guardians and stewards
until the time appointed
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"by the father. Even so
we, when we were children,
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"were in bondage under
the elements of the world.
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"But when the fullness of
the time had come, God sent
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"forth His Son, born of a
woman, born under the law,
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"to redeem those who were
under the law, that we might
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"receive the adoption as
sons. And because you are
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"sons, God has set forth
the Spirit of His Son into
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"your hearts, crying out,
'Abba Father!' Therefore you
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"are no longer slave but
a son, and if a son, then an
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"heir of God through Christ. "
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Now this is a powerful
passage of Scripture and he is
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contrasting hear Mark, the
idea of a slave with a son.
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He is trying to tell the
Galatians you want to be sons,
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and it is not just a suggestion.
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That is something we will
draw how right from the start.
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If you look at that
last verse 7, it says,
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"therefore you are no longer
a slave but a son, and if a
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"son, then an heir
of God through Christ. "
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This seems to be a tradition
of being an heir of God
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through Christ. - that's right!
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If we are a slave
you are not an heir.
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The only way to become an
heir is to be a son so this
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is very critical to understand.
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What is the difference
between being a slave and being
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a son? And how is it
that we can be a son?
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One aspect of this
I just think about how
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meaningful it is, it touches
my heart to think about the
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fact that Jesus, when
referring to God said we should
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pray our Father
who art in heaven.
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I mean when you think
about other religions, world
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religions and their
deities, you don't see the same
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bond of affection that God
is asking us to call Me Father.
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Call Me Father, it denotes
that there is more than just a
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servile relationship
here, it denotes there is an
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affection here, there is
a bond, a union and God is
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calling us to that union
in this passage of Galatians.
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Absolutely, we are going
to unpack this, these 7 verses
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are so full of instruction.
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I want to go back to verse
1 and look at the first few
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verses here, Paul is
making a point of what happens
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in the growth of the Christian
so let's start in verse 1
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and then I'll comment.
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" Now I say that the
heir, as long as he is a child,
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"does not differ
at all from a slave,
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"though he is master of all
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"though he is master of
all," so here you have a son,
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but he is in the same
relation as a servant would be.
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Paul is going to talk
about what that means as we go
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to verse 2 where he says,
"does not differ at all from
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"a slave, even though he is
master of all," because he is
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heir of what his father
owns, "but he is under guardians
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"and stewards until the
time appointed by the father. "
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And then he says in
verse 3, "Even so we,
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so he compares us, our
experience from slave to son.
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He compares us to this
child who is under guardians and
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stewards and says, "Even
so we, when we were children,
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"were in bondage under
the elements of the world. "
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- what's that talking about?
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And these elements of
the world, it's beneficial to
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us as the apostle Paul
uses the exact same language
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in the book of Colossians
so if we go forward past
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the book of Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians and
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Colossians 2:20 we
are going to see a similar
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illustration that will
help us to grasp what he
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is pointing out.
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Colossians 2:20,
notice what Paul says here.
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"Therefore, if you died
with Christ from the basic
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"principles of the world,"
now I know in Galatians it said
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elements, but in the Greek
language these are the exact
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same terms that
are a being used here.
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Some Bibles will
even say rudiments.
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A rudiment in the Greek are
talking about the very basic
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building blocks of
learning, your ABCs if you will.
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So basic principles
of the world he says.
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Let's start in verse 20
again, "therefore, if you died
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"with Christ from the
basic principles of the world,
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"why, as though living
in the world, do you subject
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"yourselves to regulations
- Do not touch, do not taste,
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"do not handle, which all
concerns things which perish
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"with the using-according
to the Commandments and
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"the doctrines of men?"
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Now you know Paul is
talking about how when we are
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children in Galatians and
were under these elements of
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the world until the
time appointed by the Father.
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What some people have done
unfortunately, not grasping
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what he is trying to say
is that they have read into
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this and said all oh yeah, do
not taste or touch but what Paul
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is saying that when you
come to Christ you shouldn't
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have any regulations,
you don't need to obey God's
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commands anymore, you are
led by the Spirit as if the
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two would be
conflicting or contrary.
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What he is trying to say,
let's take a practical example.
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I have children Jim, you
have two children and I have two
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children and when our children,
you viewers at home, some
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of you have children, or you
are children and what a child
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is under his parents, but
parent as that child is growing
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up makes certain regulations.
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Do not taste, do not
touch, right? Don't touch that!
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Don't eat that! Right? The
basic elements when you are
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growing up you have certain
restrictions and regulations.
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For example, this one is
probably fairly common for a
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parent is I don't want you
playing out in busy traffic.
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That is pretty easy and a
no-brainer to a parent, however;
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I know with my children
and maybe with your children,
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sometimes the
children say, but why?
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Why can't I go out
and play in the road?
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They don't
understand what I understand.
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They don't understand the
danger we as parents understand.
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So we make these
restrictions and regulations.
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Now here's the question,
is that for the purpose of my
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regulation don't play in
the traffic, but why my child
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becomes of age, my son
turns 18 I can say hey content
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yourself, play in
busy traffic all you want.
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Go get hit by a
car for all I care.
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Is that the idea? No! The
reality is what I am hoping
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for is that those basic
principles that I lay out as a
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parent will become a part of
his reasoning process so when
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the child matures, instead
of having to be told what to
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do all the time, it will
be in his heart what to do.
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And this is what the
Bible is trying to express here
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with these basic
elements of the world.
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One other thing I want to
see there and Colossians 2
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he says in verse 21 again,
" Do not touch, do not taste,
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"do not handle, which all
concerns things which perish
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"with the using-according
to the Commandments
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and "doctrines of men?"
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And then in verse 23 he
says, "these things indeed have
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"an appearance of wisdom in
self-imposed religion, false
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"humility, and
neglect of the body,"
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Now he is talking about those
things in the spiritual life
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having using certain
outward and regulations.
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It is not outward religion
and we will talk about that.
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Outward religion is
part of inward religion,
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but there are those who
can have outward religion
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with no inward religion.
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And here he says, they
have an appearance of wisdom,
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but he says, "but are
of no value against the
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"indulgence of the flesh. "
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So here Paul is saying, I
don't have an issue with outward
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regulations, but problem is
that your outward regulations
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are not
addressing the real issue.
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That is your heart is uncir-
cumcised and you are carnal.
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That's right, you can't just
do things because someone is
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telling you to do them,
you are going to have to embody
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it yourself. - that's
right and we have seen it and I
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have done it, I'm a child
who my parents try to raise
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right, and what
happened I grew up.
00:11:05.00\00:11:07.91
I had those principles growing
up, but what did I do when
00:11:07.95\00:11:10.76
I got older? I said I don't
think it's important that I
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do those things and it
wasn't in my heart to do them.
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I went against what my
parents had taught me to do.
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Exactly, exactly and you
know. - and that's what's going
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to happen when
it's not in your heart.
00:11:22.11\00:11:23.08
Umm Hmmm and back in Galatians
4 there is another passage
00:11:23.09\00:11:26.28
that touches on this idea
of the elements of the world.
00:11:26.32\00:11:29.48
I thought maybe we
can look at that too.
00:11:29.51\00:11:30.94
Galatians 4:8 it says,
"but then, indeed, when you did
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"not know God," so he is
talking to these Gentiles
00:11:36.34\00:11:41.61
believers, there was a time
when they didn't know God and
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"served those which
by nature are not gods. "
00:11:44.47\00:11:46.71
They were into
idolatry, pagan religion.
00:11:46.75\00:11:48.92
vs. 9. "But now after you have
known God, or rather are known
00:11:48.95\00:11:52.58
"by God, how is it that
you turn again to the weak and
00:11:52.62\00:11:55.50
"beggarly elements, to
which you desire again to be in
00:11:55.54\00:11:58.56
"bondage? You observe
days and months and seasons and
00:11:58.59\00:12:01.58
"years. I am afraid for you,
00:12:01.61\00:12:03.60
"lest I have
labored for you in vain. "
00:12:03.63\00:12:06.08
Now to think about this idea
of serving other gods, these
00:12:06.11\00:12:11.55
Gentile believers at one
time believed in gods that were
00:12:11.58\00:12:18.12
idols of wood and stone
and planets or whatever else.
00:12:18.16\00:12:24.15
The Sun, so when they
thought about serving God it was
00:12:24.19\00:12:30.15
all from a servile relationship.
00:12:30.19\00:12:32.84
They had a fear over
war relationship with God.
00:12:32.88\00:12:36.42
They did things out of
fear, or they do things only for
00:12:36.46\00:12:38.97
the reward that
will come from serving.
00:12:39.01\00:12:41.17
So what they did and
everything they did as a way of
00:12:41.21\00:12:43.48
appeasing god, nothing in the
heart, no affection for their
00:12:43.52\00:12:49.22
god they just had to do
with their god had to say,
00:12:49.25\00:12:51.50
or what their
god told them to do.
00:12:51.54\00:12:55.29
So what he is saying here
is do you want to go back to
00:12:55.32\00:12:58.29
that? Do you want to go
back to a servile relationship.
00:12:58.33\00:13:01.26
The apostle Paul is not
here against the idea of
00:13:01.30\00:13:04.26
observing things, like
you were saying a moment ago.
00:13:04.29\00:13:07.72
But the idea of observing
things whether it is days or
00:13:07.76\00:13:11.16
months or seasons or
years or anything else as a
00:13:11.19\00:13:13.95
replacement for a genuine
heart religion with Christ and
00:13:13.99\00:13:18.62
with God, so some people
try to say this is saying that
00:13:18.65\00:13:23.25
the Sabbath is unimportant.
00:13:23.28\00:13:24.81
I don't think that is the case.
00:13:24.84\00:13:26.30
Well that's not even
in the context of all.
00:13:26.33\00:13:29.13
The apostle Paul no
problem with the observances
00:13:29.17\00:13:32.42
because he observe the
Sabbath and we today observe the
00:13:32.46\00:13:35.83
communion, we observe baptism
we have of observances and
00:13:35.87\00:13:39.21
there's nothing
wrong with observances.
00:13:39.25\00:13:40.81
Yep we get focused on the
observances in this passage we
00:13:40.84\00:13:43.71
are missing his point.
00:13:43.74\00:13:44.84
That's right, and it
will take us away from the
00:13:44.87\00:13:47.28
understanding that a
servile relationship is what the
00:13:47.31\00:13:49.61
apostle Paul was
speaking against.
00:13:49.64\00:13:51.18
We need to dig into
this a little bit deeper,
00:13:51.22\00:13:53.18
but before we do we
have to take a break.
00:13:53.22\00:13:56.06
So right now take
a couple minutes and
00:13:56.09\00:13:58.90
we will be right back with you.
00:13:58.94\00:14:00.27