Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / November 26 - Galatians 4

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November 26 - Galatians 4 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here and it's the 26th of November
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  which is a Wednesday and right in the middle of the week.
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  I am delighted that you have taken this moment to stop the
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  busyness of the world, which is getting pretty busy right now as
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  boy, we are less than a month away from Christmas and you and
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  I, friends, we are going to sit before God.
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  Holy Spirit, open up our hearts so that as we read your words,
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  our identity can be clear, that we find it in you and your love
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  for us and not the changing machinations of this world.
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  All right friends, let us do it. Let us read together Galatians
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  chapter 4. Think of it this way.
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  If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young
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  children, those children are not much better off than slaves
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  until they grow up. Even though they actually own
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  everything their father had. They have to obey their
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  guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.
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  And that's the way it was with us before Christ came.
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  We were like children. We were slaves to the basic
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  spiritual principles of this world.
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  But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a
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  woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for
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  us, who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his
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  very own children. And because we are his children,
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  God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting
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  us to call out ABBA. Father, now you are no longer a
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  slave, but God's own child. And since you are his child, God
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  has made you his heir. Before you Gentiles knew God,
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  you were slaves to so called gods that do not even exist.
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  So now that you know God, or should I say now that God knows
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  you, why do you want to go back again and become slaves once
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  more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this
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  world? You were trying to earn favour
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  with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or
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  years. I fear for you.
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  Perhaps all my hard work with you is for nothing.
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  Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do
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  in freedom from these things, for I have become like you,
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  Gentiles, free from those laws. You did not mistreat me when I
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  first preached to you. Surely you remember that I was
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  sick when I first brought you the good news.
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  But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you
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  did not despise me or turn me away.
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  No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an Angel
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  from God or even Christ Jesus himself.
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  Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then?
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  I'm sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them
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  to me if it had been possible. Have I now become your enemy
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  because I'm telling you the truth?
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  Those false teachers are so eager to win your favour, but
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  their intentions are not good. They are trying to shut you off
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  from me so that you will pay attention only to them.
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  If someone is eager to do good things for you, that's all
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  right. But let them do it all the time,
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  not just when I'm with you. Oh, my dear children, I feel as
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  if I'm going through labour pains for you again.
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  And they will continue until Christ is fully developed in
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  your lives. I wish I were with you right now
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  so I could change my tone, but at this distance I don't know
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  how else to help you. Tell me, you who want to live
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  under the law, do you know what the law actually says?
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  The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave
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  wife and one from his freeborn wife.
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  The son of his slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring
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  about the fulfilment of God's promise, but the son of the
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  freeborn wife was born as God's own fulfilment of his promise.
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  These two women serve as an illustration of God's two
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  covenants. The first woman, Hagar,
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  represents Mount Sinai, where people received the law that
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  enslaved them. And now Jerusalem is just like
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  Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in
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  slavery to the law. But the other woman, Sarah,
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  represents the heavenly Jerusalem.
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  She is the free woman, and she is our mother, as Isaiah said.
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  Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth break
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  into a joyful shout. You who have never been in
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  labour. For the desolate woman now has
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  more children than the woman who lives with her husband.
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  And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the
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  promise, just like Isaac. But you are now being persecuted
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  by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the
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  child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born
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  by the power of the Spirit. But what did the Scripture say
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  about that? Get rid of the slave and her
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  son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the
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  inheritance with the free woman's son.
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  So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave
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  woman, we are children of the free woman,
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  Our Lord. It's so easy for us to feel like
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  we are on the outer and that we have got to work hard to earn
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  our way into the centre. Whether it be in our work, in
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  our study, in our friendship groups, in our extended families
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  or even in your Kingdom. It's so easy to feel on the
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  outer, but here we hear your assurance that says we are not
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  on the outer. We are not born to anyone other
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  than our true spiritual mother, born into this freedom that you
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  have gifted us. Jesus my Lord, I pray that this
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  assuredness, that this rock solid identity that we can be so
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  confident in, that that would be the foundation upon which we see
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  ourselves and understand the world and our relationship with
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  you. Thank you that it's not 1/2
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  hearted or temporal relationship that we have with you, but it is
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  one of absolute certainty validated for eternity.
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  You're a good God and we are so grateful for all that you have
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  done for us and all that we are able to be in you.
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  So we pray this in that saving name of Jesus, Amen.