Shabbat Shalom everyone. Please open your Bibles to the letter that Shaul Paul wrote to the Galatians, the believers in the region of Galatia. Today we are going to look into the fourth chapter of the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter 4. We have covered much of the book of Galatians thus far, and we arrive to the fourth chapter, which is also an extremely important chapter. And today in this ministry meeting, I would like to deal specifically with the first 18 verses of Galatians chapter 4. Once again, I just want to remind you that any one of us who is a student of the Word of God, it is essential for us to study the whole scripture we need to study from genesis bereshit to revelation chazon every word of god is edifying is a blessing to the people of god and if we study the whole scripture the whole you might say the whole canon of the word of god it will help us understand better the plan and the program that god has number one for israel number two for the assembly the church the ecclesia and number three for the whole world in which we live in the apostle shaul paul was this kind of a man he was a man that was chosen by god for a specific ministry to be the apostle to the uncircumcision to the goyim to the gentile world and this man by the name of shaul paul affected so many lives by simply preaching the message of the Besorah, the Gospel.

Well, Galatians is an important letter to study. And I'd like you to follow me as I'm reading these first 18 verses for this ministry meeting. And I'm reading Galatians chapter 4 and verse 1. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, 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. But when the fullness 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.

And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, thou art no more a servant, Galatians 4, verse 7, but a son. And if a son, then an heir, an heir of God through Christ, through the Messiah. How bit? Then when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? You observe days, and months, and times, and years. I'm afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.

Brethren, Achim, I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as ye are, ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preach the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye despised not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus, as Mashiach Yeshua. Where is then the blessedness ye speckle? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth they zealously affect you but not well yet they would exclude you that ye might affect them but it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not only when I am present with you.

And I'm stopping here with verse 18 of Galatians chapter 4. You remember, beloved brothers and sisters, that when we began the study of the letter that Shaul Paul wrote to the Galatians, we knew already the reason why Paul had to write this very serious letter to the brothers and sisters in Asia Minor of the region of Galatia he wrote this letter to the Galatians because he was very much concerned because already in the early days of the assemblies of the church of the ecclesia false teaching began to creep in And while it is true that there was a transition in the early days of the Hebrew believers who became believers in Yeshua, the Messiah, and they needed to go through a transition, but the Messiah came for the whole nations of the world to form what is known today as the body of Christ, the ecclesia, the body of Messiah.

Israel, our people, did not accept Yeshua at his first coming, and the future regeneration and restoration of Israel had been postponed. And in this present time, since the time of Acts 2, until the present day, the gospel is being presented to all the nations of the world, Jew and Gentile, Yehudi, V'goi, who believe in Yeshua HaMashiach, They are part of the body of Messiah, the body of Christ. But, as it is in every generation, whenever God is working, Satan is working. Whenever God introduces his truth, the enemy comes and saw things that are not sound and biblical. It happened in the history of our people Israel.

False prophets have a reason in our people Israel's history. Just look at the history of the whole Tanakh, the whole Old Testament. You find out how many problems Israel have experienced when false prophets, false teachers, people who taught false things have been introducing to the nation, and the nation have gone after that. Well, it's the same thing in the church age today. Whether it happened 2,000 years ago or whether it's happening today, it's the very same danger that exists in every generation. When you turn away from the word of God, you find you open yourself to the things that are not found there. So what happened in Acts chapter 15 and verse 1?

A certain man which came down from Judea, from Yehudah, taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised, after the manner of Moshe ye cannot be saved. Now, as I mentioned it many times, that will exclude many of you who are not Jewish here, who are not circumcised, who are not keeping the law. It will exclude many in a world they would say they are not saved. But we know, as the Galatians know, that our salvation is entirely dependent upon the finished work of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, and faith in Him and faith alone. But the problem is that in every generation, someone comes with some suggestion.

And you see, can you imagine? Some came down and they said, unless you are circumcised Galatians, Gentiles, believers in Yeshua, we know you believe that Yeshua the Messiah, but you are not quite there. You must be circumcised, you must keep the law, you must keep this, you must keep that. And today, in the professing church, in the latter days of the church age, we have people tell us, you must be baptized, you must be keeping certain rules of the church, or rules of this group, or rules of that group. And the apostle Shaul Paul wanted the Galatians to understand that their standing before God is no more and no less than on the basis of faith in the finished work of Yeshua the Messiah.

So he writes to them the letter to the Galatians because why? Many of them began to say, wait a minute, maybe I'm not saved. I'm not forgiven. I got to keep that. I got to do this. I'm not quiet there. And Paul was saying to them, brethren, I came to you. I share the gospel with you.

I told you the truth that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that only if you believe in the son of god yeshua hamashiach the messiah of israel and the savior of the world you will be saved if you only believe if you only believe and they believed but like with us we are so quickly are being swayed and you remember in chapter 3 of the book of galatians in verse 1 you remember what he said to them in chapter 3 and verse 1 he was puzzled and he was so sad and he says to them all foolish Galatians Galatians 3 verse 1 who has bewitched you that you should

not obey the truth before whose eyes Yeshua the Messiah has been evidently set forth crucified among you somebody must have bewitched you and tricked you to cause you to turn away from the simplicity of simply believing upon the person and the work of our lord yeshua ha-mashiach and so he was writing to them in the first two chapters we said that he presented his personal experience you might say he gave his personal and biographical argument and he says listen here i am i am the one who rejected the messiah at first but god revealed himself to me and i could see that yeshua is indeed the messiah and you remember where he said to them

how he persecuted the assembly in chapter 1 and verse 13 he says you have heard of my manner of behavior my manner of life in time past in a jewish religion how that that beyond measure i persecuted the assembly of god and i wasted it before i became a believer in yeshua i have persecuted the church of god and of course we understand he never persecuted non-jewish believers.

He only persecuted his own Jewish brethren who became believers in Yeshua, the Messiah.

And you remember he took the letters from the city of Jerusalem to take to Damascus in order to bring those wayward Jewish souls who have accepted Yeshua because he opposed the believers of the body of Messiah, the Jewish believers, his own flesh and blood brethren who became believers in Yeshua and how eventually he was called to become a servant of the Lord and as he mentioned he says in verse 15 of Galatians 1 but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and he called me by his grace God called me he saved me he brought me to himself and now I want to serve him I'm teaching the message of the

gospel and I cannot stand the fact that there is false teaching presented before you galatians he's saying unto them and so in chapter 1 and chapter 2 he presented really his biographical experiences his own personal experience but then in chapter 3 and in chapter 4 in which we are studying now a shaul paul presented before the galatians five arguments as to why salvation is not on the basis of law keeping or circumcision or baptism or any works of men but only on the basis of faith in yeshua the messiah and so we learn in chapter 3 and verse 1 that he gave them scriptural argument and from verses 1 to 14 he went back to

the hebrew scriptures and he showed them how abraham believed god and it was counted unto him for righteousness abraham didn't do anything more than just believe what god said and embrace the truth of god and god declared him righteous then less ministry together he gave them logical argument or logical reason as to why salvation is on the basis of faith alone and not at all of works or works of the law and today beloved brothers and sisters he give them a third and a fourth reason as to why salvation is entirely based upon the work of our lord yeshua the messiah and not upon the basis of the works of the lord and he already

told them in chapter three that a person that the reason that the law was given to our forefathers the people of israel was in order to show them sin and when they're going to see sin and their sinfulness and their failure there it will drive them to the sacrifice and they will recognize that the sacrifice was given to us as a type and a picture of the coming of the mashiach who will come in the fullness of time we read last time in galatians 3 verse 19 wherefore someone might ask why then the law was given for what's the purpose the law was given and he gave them an answer he said it was added

because of transgression it was added to reveal sin when god says don't do it and i do it i have violated the law sin is the transgression of the law first john chapter 3 every time you and i have violated whether it is the law of the land or whether it is the law of god we under curse under judgment that's why it was necessary to provide sacrificial system which were a type of the messiah and finally the messiah has come to deliver us from the guilt and from the failure of fulfilling the requirement of the law so now beloved brothers and sisters notice this is chapter 4 very interesting Shaul Paul give additional two

arguments or two reasons as to why it is essential to believe in Yeshua in order to be recognized justified rather than to try to do the works of the law in order to be recognized by God as just because by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified why because god's law is holy god's law is spiritual god's law is impeccable the problem is because man by nature is a sinner and he violated the law of god so now let's move along chapter 4 of galatians verses 1 to 18 the apostle paul continued to give instruction to the galatians that their salvation and the sanctification is not based upon law-keeping, but upon their

faith and relationship with the person of our Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah.

So in the first 11 verses, he gives them the first argument, and he gives them an historical argument. Historically, he looks back, and you notice how he speaks here, it's so beautiful, because in these verses, Paul presents historical reason, in other words, pointing to the past giving of the law and its purpose. Notice we read in verse 1, 2, and 3, what he showed them, what we were, and specifically he's speaking about us Jewish people, before Yeshua the Messiah came. He says, look at this, what he said in Galatians 4, verse 1. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

Even so we, and he's speaking about the Jewish people, because we, Paul, speak about himself as part of the nation of Israel who were under the law. He says, even so, we, when we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world. In other words, what he's really saying, that it's just the same like in a normal situation in a home city. When a father and a mother have a child, and he's going to be the heir, He's going to be the one in Hebrew, we call it yoresh. He's going to be eventually the one who's going to inherit everything that the parents have.

But as long as he's a child, they're not going to give him all the inheritance because he's still a child. And therefore, verse 1 said, a child is not different than a servant, though he be Lord of all. He own everything that his parents possess, but he's still a child. He cannot use them. He doesn't receive them from his mom and dad. Then he continues, but as long as he's a child, he's under tutors and governors until, notice, until the time appointed of the father. In other words, what God does or what the father would do, he will put that child of his under his servant, And that servant will care for the child, train him, teach him, instruct him until he will grow up and become mature in responsibility.

You know, even today, think about it. Even those of us who are Jewish who had bar mitzvah. In Hebrew, we call it bar. It's in Aramit, bar, son. Mitzvah means commandment. Every Jewish family today, when our children become 13 years of age, we have a special occasion for them and we call it Bar Mitzvah son of the commandment you become a true and of age in which you are now no longer under responsibility of your father and mother but you are a son of the commandment you are responsible before God it was so in biblical days in a time when Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the families of our own people, the people of Israel, there was a time in which the child that was born is really no different than the servant.

Even though he was Lord and owner of all the wealth of their parents, but he didn't get it until he grew up and came to be of age.

So Paul is saying to the Galatians, Galatians, I want to explain to you from an historical argument and historical reason as to the fact that you can understand why the law was given to Israel to lead them to the coming of the Messiah and it's something very similar to like a child that was born who is the heir of all but he doesn't get all the possession until he become of age mature he's under the responsibility of the servant who helped the father and he's under notice the word in verse two is under tutors and under governors the word for governors is pkidei habayit in hebrew or manim and pkidei habayit if you remember we

read it earlier in chapter 3 verse 24 wherefore the law was our school masters to bring us unto the mashiach unto the messiah and the word a school master in the greek is pedagogos in the hebrew it is oman or minute one that will train us and train us and instruct us in order to finally bring us to a day of maturity when we can appreciate what god has in mind or what the father and the mother has in mind for us so we can take the pleasure and the possession that god has for us so a child of a wealthy man cannot enjoy the wealth that he has from his parents as long that

he is a child he is waiting the day of maturity then the father can head it over to him so verse three the apostle paul shaul says we that is israel our jewish people with whom the law was made on mount sinai he says we also as what as a child we were kept under the law until the mashiach have come i'm reading verse three again even so we when we were children were in bondage under the elements of the world and the word for elements here in the greek word or in the greek language simply mean under the abc you know when a baby go to school or when a young child going to

kindergarten then he learned or she learned aleph bed gimel that they don't they don't start with zed or with tough in hebrew they start with a b c d e and then they continuing to learn the alphabet so the law was reminding us of the it was the elements the aleph bed the a b c that ultimately was supposed to lead us to the Mashiach so every time you read the law and the law has to do with Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy all those all those books you might say were speaking to the world but to Israel specifically and leading them Israel the Mashiach is going to come you celebrate a Shabbat he's

going to give you Shabbat rest eternal rest you celebrate Passover he will come to redeem you you kill an animal upon the altar he will come to die for your sin the mashiach is coming the messiah is coming and the law was like a picture book for our own people that god gave specifically to a chosen nation israel to instruct them of the coming of the Messiah.

Now, sadly, if you turn with me to Exodus for a moment, Exodus chapter 19 and Exodus chapter 24, I want to read just one or two verses there that are very important. I just read them recently, and you know that law was given on Mount Sinai by God through an angel that we have learned through moses to the people of israel and so in exodus chapter 19 in the first a few verses verses six seven and eight we find out that moses when the law was given in exodus chapter 19 we read in verse 6 exodus chapter 19 and verse 6 look what we read look what israel said when God gave our people the law on Mount Sinai.

Exodus chapter 19 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, God said to Moshe. And Moshe and Moses came and he called for the elders of the people and he laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commended him. But look what Israel said to the Lord. And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord had spoken, we will do. Did they do that? Look at the history of our fathers. Did you and I ever? All that the word of the Lord has spoken, we will do.

in verse 8 at the end and Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord you know what they should have said to the Lord God thank you for the unconditional promise that you have given to Father Abraham and we confess that we will not be able fully to do what you tell us and we ask that you will have mercy and grace provided for us but no all that the Lord has spoken we will do now turn to chapter 24 in chapter 24 notice in verse 3 at the end where before God gave instruction concerning the tabernacle in chapter 24 and verse 3 we read and Moses came and he told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments and all the people answered with one voice and said all the words which the Lord had said we will do in Hebrew, Naseh we're going to do it we're going to do everything you tell us to do and you know very well what happened that the first commandment that God had said thou shall have no other God before you they broke it right there and then when they built the golden calf Where is this man Moses?

Make us a God that we will have a God that we can worship and so on. Where is Moses? Their first commandment, they are broken. Look, let's continue in verse 4. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and he built an altar under the hill and 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes of Israel. Verse 5. And he sent young men of the children of Israel which offered burnt offering and sacrifice and peace offering of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of their blood. Listen to this, brothers and sisters. He made the Mount Sinai, the Harsinai, the Torah Moshe, the law of Moses, the covenant he made right there and then.

He took half of the blood and he put it in basin. And half of the blood he sprinkled on water. And he took the book of the covenant, here is Sefer Habrit, the book of the covenant of the law, and he read it in the audience of the people, and they said, here we go again, all that the Lord has said we will do and listen to even add, they said, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words. So in other words, what we learn, beloved brothers and sisters, that Israel says we are going to, you might say we make an agreement.

God, you tell us your law and we're going to obey it. They didn't recognize, like you and I don't recognize, that our hearts are deceitful. We cannot, we always fail somewhere, even if we mean to do that. We want to obey our parents. We don't want to lie. We don't want to covet. We don't want to murder. We don't want to bear false witness. We mean it. We really, really mean it. But when we look at our history, we fail in every one of them. All that the Lord has said we will do. You see, brothers and sisters, had they understood that the Abrahamic covenant was unconditional, just believe on what God said and on the person of God, and in our case today on the person of the Messiah, and you shall be saved.

I'll forgive you. I know your makeup. I know that you are a sinner. I know that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I love you. I will provide the Mashiach for you. That's the beauty of the gospel. So the Apostle Paul, if you go back with me, please, to Galatians chapter 4. And so he told them what we were before the Messiah came. We were, as it says here, we were in bondage under the element of the world. But now notice, in verses 4 and 5, what we were is one thing, but what God have done is another thing. He sent the darling of his bosom, Yeshua the Messiah.

And so notice how beautiful, Shaul Paul is explaining, he's a teacher of the word, he's expounding the scripture. He is saying to them now in verses 4 and 5, listen to these beautiful verses. But when the fullness 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. Mishpat banim in Hebrew. In other words, God knew all along that there will be a day whereby He was going to send the Messiah to this world. We read today Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14, The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel, God with us.

God already knew, but in the fullness of the time, He waited until the time that He knew, though man did not know. He knew that there will be a time in which the world will be ready to receive, as it were, the coming of the Messiah. Even though we know very well that the world did not accept the Messiah as a whole. Israel did not accept the Messiah as a whole. But in the fullness of the time, he says, in the fullness of God sent forth his Son. It says here that God sent his Son. In other words, this person by the name of Yeshua was already in glory, already the eternal Son of God, of whom we also read in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6, where it is a so beautiful verse that says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

A son he was given, as a child he was born. He is the eternal Son of God. That's why we believe in the triunity of the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Elohim ha'abba, Elohim ha'ben, Elohim ruach ha'kodesh. The triunity of the Godhead in the plan of God. God had a plan. That in a certain day, in a certain time in human history, he's going to send the son that shows us the divine nature of yeshua the messiah you know jewish people like we all had a problem is yeshua god is he divine you remember that's why in the feast of hanukkah they wanted to stone yeshua to say you are being a man making yourself god but beloved brothers and sisters if yeshua is not divine how can he become a savior you remember john chapter 1 says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god god sent forth his son god the son is a divine person who came down to this world he was sent by god the father to this world in the fullness of the time not too late not too early exactly as God planned it on a certain date Yeshua came to this world God the son was sent to this world and you notice in the same verse of Galatians 4 verse 4 not only that God sent his son but he was made or he was born of a woman that shows us the humanity of the Messiah.

He's not only God, divine, but he became a man. I had a problem with it many years ago. How can God become a man? Or how can a man be God? It's a dilemma. But that's why he had to be born of the virgin Miriam. The Holy Spirit of God placed in the womb of Miriam this babe, and God the Son as man was born into this world by a woman that never knew man. Her name is Miriam, a Jewish woman that gave birth to our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. She herself was puzzled when the angel came to her and said to her that she will be with a child.

And she herself said, how can this thing be? Since I don't know a man. Well, if God the Son is going to enter into this world, He must enter into this world sin apart. There was no sin in Yeshua. All of us have sinned. and come short of the glory of God but he was a man that entered into this world sin apart and the purpose that he will enter into this world is was in order that he will become the substitute for all that have fallen astray that have gone astray that have sinned against God You remember what we read in the Gospel of Luke when Miriam was spoken to by the angel.

And she herself said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. In verse 38 of Luke chapter 1, when the angel said to her, Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Yeshua. He shall be great, he shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. But he was rejected at his first coming. He died on a Roman cross. But there is a day coming where He is going to reign over the throne of David.

But in this present day, He came in order to redeem people. His death was a substitutionary death when He died for us on the shameful cross. So when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, His divinity, made of a woman, his humanity, and then known as made or was born under the law. Galatians 4 and verse 4, what does that mean? That when Yeshua HaMashiach was born into this world, he was under the law as if all our people of Israel were at that time under the law. He didn't die as yet. So as a Jewish boy, he was circumcised in accordance with the law on the eighth day.

He went with his family to the temple to worship. He was obedient to his parents in the city of Nazareth. Yeshua lived in his life of 33, 33 and a half years, impeccable lives, sin apart. He was God, he was man, and he was a Jewish, Hebrew, Israeli man who lived under the law during the time that he lived on earth until he died. In fact, beloved brothers and sisters, he was the only man that ever fulfilled the law of God to the fullest. He said in Matthew 5, 17, Think not that I come to destroy the law, or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

You didn't. I didn't. Our forefathers didn't fulfill the requirements of the law, but he did. on behalf of all of mankind who will only trust in him because when we are accursed because we fail to fulfill the law, we turn to him and he is the blessed one who did fulfill the law. By believing on him, we have entered into forgiveness and redemption from God because of what Yeshua has done.

so that's why it says in Galatians chapter 4 and verses 4 and 5 what God did when he sent his son Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus the Messiah he sent him to redeem and notice his brothers and sisters Galatians 4 verse 5 to redeem them which were under the law you know what does that mean to redeem, to buy back Ligol we were under the law the law condemned us not because there was a problem with the law it's because we have a problem the law is perfect but the law said you're wrong you fail again, you fail again, you fail again so you deserve to die you deserve to be punished the Messiah had to come

so he will buy us back pay the price on our behalf that in other words he says that now and notice this brothers and sisters this is extremely important to redeem them which were under the law that we now Jew and Gentile together who believe on him might receive the adoption of sons no longer slaves but sons you remember in verse 1 it says now I say that the heir as long as he being a child he different nothing from the servant so when Yeshua came what he did he put us on the ground of sonship in other words brothers and sisters every one of us dear brothers and sisters are reckoned by the word

of God as sons and daughters of the father and therefore beloved brothers and sisters we are children of God we are sons of God and it is important for us to understand we became sons sons of the father sons of God only because we believed and accepted the work of the Messiah now you see the difference before the Messiah came Israel was in bondage under the elements of the world in other words they were still under the abc waiting the day when a mashiach will come but when the messiah has come they're no longer under this element of abc aleph bet gimel but we are now as he called them you receive the adoption of

sons and now he explained to the galatians who actually were not quite sure now that they are saved because of the influence that they have experienced by those who came and told them that they are not saved yet unless they are circumcised or keeping the law he told them listen you are now already sons and daughters of the father you have a relationship with the living god which is far higher than a relationship that is based upon law keeping and rules you have a relationship that is linked with the one that has finished the work on the cross on your behalf and so now he tells them in verses six and seven he said to

them look what those who believe in yeshua are now you see in verses one two and three what we were before the messiah came verse 4 and 5 what god did in order to bring us into a relationship with him when he sent the messiah and now look at this verses 6 and 7 what those who are believers in yeshua the messiah are now right now right now as believers notice it says in verse this is so beautiful in verse 6 and 7 the galatians our sons already and notice what he says and i'm reading these verses, verse 6, and because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your

hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Abba, Abba, it's the first thing that I've learned when I was born in Yerushalayim, when my mom and dad gave me birth, the first thing, the first word that came out of my mouth I was told Abba Abba it's your relationship with your father even though I'm sure we haven't did all the things that the father asked us to do but Abba and when we have you notice he's repeating Abba father doesn't mean that one time it's in English one time it's in Hebrew and so on it's like a repetition Abba, Abba I need you I'm with you I thank you for what you have done for me.

Abba, my Abba. Abba, my Father. We can, and any one of us who are children here can say, boy, it's nothing like to go to Daddy, to Abba. And I can ask him for something. He's always going to love me. He will never forsake me. And even though I've failed him so much, he cares for me. He is my Abba. He is my Abba. And you see, beloved brothers and sisters, on the basis of the work of Yeshua, the Messiah, we can cry, Abba, Abba, my Father, my Father. It reminds me of what we read in Mark chapter 14, when Yeshua was there in the Garden of Gethsemane, Gatshmanim.

And remember when he fell upon his knees there in Mark chapter 14, we read there it's so beautiful in verse 35 and he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him and notice verse 36 and he said abba abba abba father all things are possible unto thee take away this cup from me nevertheless not what i will but what thou will you remember he cried to his father he said abba abba i'm going now you're going to judge me for the sin of this world if it is possible take this cup of god's righteous indignation against sin take it away from

me but nevertheless not my will but thine be done he wanted the will of god and you see beloved brothers and sisters god had brought us as believers not through the law of moses into that relationship though the law of moses is a holy and a righteous law it was never given to provide salvation it was given to drive our people of israel to the knowledge that mashiach will come mashiach will come messiah will come and he will pay the price of the curse that i receive because of my failure to fulfill the righteous and the holy law of God and so we read in verse 7 wherefore thou art no more a servant Galatians

4 verse 7 but a son and if a son then an heir an heir of God through Christ through the messiah you know what that means that all the wealth that yeshua the messiah is because of who he is and what he possesses the eternal son of god we because of who he is will enjoy the blessing that he has for the believer in our lord yeshua the messiah because of who he is and because of what he had done and therefore in verse 7 he says you are no longer you are now not a servant you are not a servant but you are a son and if a son you are an heir of

God through the Mashiach and so let's move along because in verses 1 to 7 Shaul Paul reminded the Galatians that they were now adopted as sons and that means for you ladies as well sons and daughters it's not limited to the male men but it's applied to all the people that trusted in Yeshua the Messiah Jewish Yehudim or Gentile Goyim everyone that ever trusted in Yeshua the Messiah he or she are the ones that are going to enjoy the airship all that which god has in mind for his own people now we continue now in verses 8 9 10 and 11 the apostle shaul paul continue and he is really sad because of the setback

that the galatians have shown in the fact that they haven't got a hold of the fact that salvation is only on a basis of faith in a messiah and not on a basis of works and look what he's saying to the galatians you can just feel the hearts of paul look what he's saying to them in verse 8 9 and 10 he said how bit in the english he says how bit but really he said formally meaning in days of all formally then when ye knew not god ye did service unto them which by nature are no God but now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God how turn ye

again to the weak and beggarly elements where unto ye desire again to be in bondage and then verse 10 he says you observe days and months and times and years he continues He says, I am afraid for you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.

Now, you see what Shaul is saying here, beloved brothers and sisters. He says, listen, I remember when I came to you many years ago, or a while ago, and I shared with you the message of the gospel. He says to them in verse 8, in past days, he says, When I came to you and told you about Yeshua, you were really worshipping idols. You see what he said in verse 8? Formally, then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no God. In other words, you know what, brethren of Galatia, you know what? Before I came to you, you were worshipping idols, and I came to you and I shared with you the message of the gospel.

You're worshipping gods which are no gods. In other words, you were really idol worshippers. And you had all this idolatry and witchcraft and all that which is involved with all these godless activities of the gods of this world, or those who worshipped the gods of this world, the idols and the paganism. Can you imagine Galatians? You were pagans in the past. You didn't know about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You didn't know about the God of the Scripture. You didn't know about the God of Abraham. You didn't know about the God of Moshe, Rabbeinu, Moses, the lawgiver. You're idol worshippers. But then he continued in verses 9 and 10, and he says, But now I don't understand, brethren.

He says, But now after that you know the true God. How can you go so far back to start to say, wait a minute. I'm not quite saved because someone came from Jerusalem who told me that I'm not saved unless I'll be circumcised. You see what the apostle is telling these brothers and sisters, and I'm reading now verse 9, but now after that ye have known God, this is the God of Israel, the God of the Scripture, or rather known of God. Not only that you know God, but God knows you. You have entered into a relationship with him. It says, how come you are turning again to the weak and beggarly element whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

I just don't understand, he's saying to the Galatians. How come? You know, you have entered into heirship, into now sonship. You are now became, as it says, you are no longer a servant, but now you are a son of the Father. You can cry, Abba, Avi, Abba, Abba. You have a relationship with God. So what in the world you are looking into now putting yourself under all sort of, as he called them here, weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bond. In other words, brothers and sisters, this is so important because sometimes we have to be so careful lest we think, if you and I think that observing certain things and we are hoping to gain spiritual merit by the Lord, we are mistaken.

It doesn't matter what you keep. If you think that you're going to get merit, some gain from the Lord on the basis of keeping certain things, you will find out that you will have no gain if you do it in order to gain, hoping to gain spiritual merit as before the Lord. You know, it has always fascinated me. as sometimes, and we are guilty of that, we are keeping certain things, but our hearts are far away from the Lord. We are keeping a feast or a holiday, but at the same time we harbor hatred against somebody else. We are doing certain things and we think, oh, we are keeping this, but we don't judge our sins.

See how dangerous it is? It's extremely dangerous. It's extremely, extremely dangerous. Because our relationship with God, positional salvation, redemption, is number one faith in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. But our spiritual growth and maturity depended upon communion with the Lord. You think God is pleased when all week long we have nothing to do with Him? But then Shabbat, I got to go to the meeting. I got to keep Shabbat. All week long, I violated so many things in my life in relationship to him, but I keep Pesach. All day long, I was fighting and arguing and disobeying the Lord, but I keep Vesabuz. And you know, it's not only our Jewish problem, because in a Christian world they keep all sort of holidays Advent, Christmas Easter, Paul Monday, Good Friday and so on Lent and so there's all these holidays that in Christendom is being kept but how about the relationship with the Lord same Jewish problem same Gentile problem that exists throughout the history of since the days that the Messiah has come, there is always the danger of falling into the trap of assuming that our spiritual progress depends upon keeping things.

Now, mind you, I've got to make sure that I'm clear on that. Paul is never against keeping certain things, certain days and certain feasts unto the Lord. But be careful that keeping those days in order to gain spiritual merits before the Lord, we have to be careful that the basis upon which we do that is because we love the Lord and we're not doing it under so-called command, otherwise God will not be pleased with us. We're doing it out of love for the Lord and desiring to please Him. Look what Paul said in Romans chapter 14. Turn with me for a moment to Romans chapter 14. Lest you and I will think that Paul, he doesn't understand certainly.

Paul was a Jewish, Hebrew, Israeli man who understood very well the law and he understood the liberty that believers have in this present day of the church age, of the assembly. Notice what he says in Romans chapter 14 and verse 4. He says, Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth unto the Lord. And he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he does not regard it.

He that eateth, eateth to the Lord. For he giveth God thanks, and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and give God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord. We belong to the Messiah, Yeshua. He continues in verse 9. For to this end the Messiah both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But why dost thou judge thy brother?

Or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of the Messiah. For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account for himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. I mean, this is, to me, was fascinating reading it to see how balanced Shaul Paul was. He knew his Jewish brethren. He himself, as a Jewish man, himself kept many of the things that God had given to Israel under the law that God had given to Israel, but he never forced it on anyone else.

He never wanted the Gentiles now to say, I'm not saved because I haven't been circumcised or I haven't kept the law of Moses. They believed that Yeshua was the Messiah and they were accepted. They are now, as it says here, you are no longer a servant, but you are a son. And you are an heir of God through the Lord Jesus, through the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And notice the conclusion, it's so precious here. Go back with me to Galatians. In chapter 4, he continues, and he says in verse 10, he says, you observe days and months and times and years, and then he says in verse 11, he says, I am afraid of you.

In the King James, he says, I am afraid of you, but it should be like this, I am afraid for you. Why I am afraid for you? because it seems to be like I have bestowed upon you labor for nothing. I taught you the word. I shared with you that salvation is entirely upon faith in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And now you are retrieving. You are really going backwards by expecting. You really have a setback. You don't hold on to the liberty that you have in the person of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. No, I was reading a little bit about Martin Luther. He was that one that God had raised to believe in justification by faith.

Now, of course, he failed in the way in which he treated our own Jewish people who did not accept the Messiah. But when he nailed his thesis, there in Germany, saying that the just shall live by faith, he understood that salvation is not on the basis of what Rome was teaching, works system, but salvation is on the basis of faith, and faith alone. no more and no less faith in the person of Yeshua the Messiah. So, he gave them in verses 1 to 11, he presented before them an historical argument, historical reason pointed to the fact that the purpose of the law was ultimately to lead them, to bring them into faith in the Messiah and bring them into sonship.

And so now in the last verses, just bear with me, verses 12 to 18, Shaul Paul presents now a sentimental argument. He's seeking the affection of the Galatians. You know, he loved the Galatians. When the Galatians were adhering and listening to those who came and influenced them wrongfully, then we find out that there was a friction. You might say there was a division between them. And Paul wanted the affection of the Galatians. And three things I want to mention here from verses 12 to 18. Verses 12, 13, and 14, Paul reminds the Galatians of how he came to them and how they received him. Notice that, verses 12, 13, and 14, he says there, it says, Brethren, notice he called them Achim, brethren, Achim, I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as ye are.

Ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not nor rejected but received me as an angel of God even as Christ Jesus, the Messiah Yeshua. I'm looking back. I remember the time that I came to you. I was actually not feeling well.

i had an infirmity as he says here in verse 13 in verse 14 he says i had a trial which was in my flesh some believe that he must have been sick and yet he went to galatia on his first missionary journey galatia acts 13 acts 14 and he preached to these gentiles and he said to them yeshua is the messiah christ the messiah has come and his name is yeshua and you notice when he said them you would receive me you receive me as an angel of God even as as the Messiah Yeshua you receive me I remember those days something have happened the relationship in a sense was kind of broken because somebody

crept in and sow a seed of discord and Paul was saddened he said I came to you when i was sick and i preached to you the message of the gospel because i wanted to lead you to the messiah and you received me as an angel of god what happened why things are different now he continued he said in verse 15 and 16 he's appealing for the affection he said where, notice verse 15 where is then the blessedness ye spake of where is those blessed days for I bear you record that it had been possible ye would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me am I therefore become your enemy

because I tell you the truth he says I remember the days of old when you would take your eyes for me.

And that's why some believe that the infirmity of Shaul Paul may very well be the lack of ability to see clear. And he needed help even to go and share the message of the gospel because his eyesight was no longer the same. And they were willing to pluck their own eyes and say, here is Paul. We love you for what you have done. You shared with us the message of the gospel and you cared for us. But he said, what happened? Did I become your enemy because I tell you the truth? You know, brothers and sisters, listen. If somebody tell you the truth and you know he's right or she's right, you better take the truth.

then continue on with your own lie. Because only the truth will set us free. And thank God for brothers and sisters who know graciously how to come and tell us, you need to correct certain things in your life. And you know how quickly we are wandering. We are going astray. And thank God for these brethren who come and tell us, hey, dear brother, dear sisters, that's not right. go back to the truth of the Word of God. It is amazing because he says, I became your enemy because I tell you the truth. He wanted their affection back like it used to be in the days of old.

That's why in verses 12 to 18, he presents a sentimental argument, seeking the affection of the Galatians as in the days of old. And look how he closed this portion of the message. In verses 17 and 18, Paul concerned that the ones who influence the Galatians seek to cause a separation between him and the Galatians. He says in verse 17, they, and when he says they, He speaks about those false teachers who came and influenced the Galatians with a different doctrine. He said, they zealously affect you, but not well. Maybe they are zealously affecting you. They are coming with zealousness. They are affecting you, but it's not in the right way.

And yet they would exclude, listen, they would exclude you that he might affect them. In other words, they will exclude you, mean from me. You know, you remember the Proverbs that says that six things God hates and the seventh he really despised when one sowing discord among brethren. They were sowing, those, the they that he mentioned, they were sowing a seed of discord among the teacher, The apostle Shaul Paul and his, you might say, sons in the faith, the Galatians. So in verse 18, he says, but, here it is, they might do so, they might seek to cause division between you and I to exclude you from me, that he might affect them.

In other words, they would say, oh, listen, I got another one who thinks like me. I got another one who thinks like me. I got another one who thinks like me. In other words, they think they're going to get some points because they successfully succeeded to influence believer who understood at first the things of the Lord, salvation on a basis of faith in the Messiah, but have been diverted to another way in his life. So Paul concludes, and I will conclude, 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, brothers and sisters of Galatia, it is very good to be zealous in good things.

And not only when I am there, also when I am away. You know, it is amazing because as long as Paul was there, he stood the ground for the truth that salvation is on the basis of faith in the Messiah alone. But when he left, those false teachers came in and began to influence the brothers and sisters of the Galatians. Well, brothers and sisters, you and I are in the same need constantly to watch the truth of the Word of God presented before us and not allow false teaching to creep in. Can we say amen to that?