Trascrizione completa di Do Not Return to Bondage — Adopted as Sons and Daughters (Galatians 4)

very church that Paul founded. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:14.400 I can, as an aside, I can relate strongly to this because of how this place has affected since I came. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:18.319 I mean, I arrived here twenty odd years ago. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:21.920 I don't think any of you were here then, baby accepted. 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:25.600 Um and it was a very different church. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:28.079 In fact, I wouldn't have called it a church at all. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:30.319 It was a social gathering. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:35.360 And you had people in the pulpit that sang that, I think is a good way to put it, Linda. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:37.600 Um you had people that came. 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:51.680 I actually remember asking one minister from uh it's a Church of England church by ancient racehorse, asking him to preach on the book of Ruth, and he couldn't do it. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:54.160 And I'm going, how can you not preach on Ruth? 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:56.399 It's one of the simplest books in the Bible. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:01.680 Even if you take the the core statement of whether thou goest, I will go. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:03.040 You know that very famous phrase. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:04.959 And he couldn't preach on it. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:07.120 And nobody seemed to care. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:11.759 And I've been through your you know, I often say this and I laugh about it, but it's quite seriously. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:15.199 I have a deep attachment to all of you. 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:17.439 There are times when I love you dearly. 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:24.720 There are times when I'd like to strangle you dearly, you know, but there are times when I and but generally I'm concerned for all of you. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:29.040 What I like about it, no, you're okay, you're all right, Gary. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:36.720 Yeah, what I like about it is that you talk to me, so I actually know an awful lot about you to a point. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:43.839 As much as you want me to know, but it allows me to pray for you, and I can focus my prayer for you, you know, and I can practice. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:46.480 There are things that I do that I wish I hadn't done. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:47.759 What's that great phrase? 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:54.160 Um those things I I have done, those things that I ought not to have done, and I've not done those things that I ought to have done. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:59.439 And I'm rambling and I apologize, as Scott would say, I'm I'm I'm uh wibbling. 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:06.959 And sometimes, though, like Paul, there's a need for sharpness. 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:10.800 And in Paul's words, he has to be sharp. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:14.800 And we hear something different. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:20.959 You see, I hear a voice of Paul as a spiritual father here. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:26.000 He's pleading with his people, those are he guided towards the Christ. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:29.839 I've actually written he brought the Christ, but I don't like that phrase. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.160 And he's asking them, don't abandon the liberty. 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:36.959 You've got to remember that these Judaism have come around. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:41.360 He's saying to them, look, don't abandon the liberty of the gospel. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:50.000 Don't think you've got to be circumcised, you've got to follow these ceremonial laws that these people say you have, otherwise you can't follow Christ. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.839 Christ came to remove all of those sins. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:08.800 Don't return to the bondage of idols of faith or the bondage of the idols of the law. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:31.360 He's pleading almost on his knees to the very people he brought to Christ and to the liberty of Christ, and not to return to the worship of man-made idols. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:38.079 Now, when I talk about idols, people may think I'm talking about statues, but every anything can be an idol. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:44.000 You know, I've you you can make anything you could maybe go into a Sunday road at an idol. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:49.680 It's something to be do that gets in the way between you and talking to God. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:53.600 That makes sense. 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:58.000 You know, any uh I I can't remember who wrote it, but it's a it's a wonderful piece. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:17.040 I read it in a Ryle document I wrote where he goes, when you uh actually I think it's trying to fly punto the evangelical Protestantism, and he goes, If you place anything between man and God, the thing you place between becomes an idol. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:19.839 That can be a church. 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:34.000 If you come to a church where the gospel isn't preached, where Jesus Christ sacrifice for your sins isn't raised above it, the cross isn't raised, need the repentance of sins isn't clearly stated. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:37.519 That church is an idol. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:44.639 You see, we we forget that the church is you people and me. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:46.559 Not the building. 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:50.240 I don't wish to upset anybody, but the building's nice to have. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:55.039 But if we were to sit around in George's front room, that would be a church. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:09:05.519 If we were to go to um Ian's Little House of In Ray, that would be a church. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:09.039 It's where the people are that becomes the church of Christ. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:12.240 And what is this plea that Paul tells? 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:14.399 Well, we've got it in the first three verses. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:19.200 Paul begins with an example his hearers would instantly recognize. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:27.200 In the world of the first century, he uses this great idea of a child and a slave. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:39.519 Now, I've

got it in my head, and I'm not sure this is right, so another little aside, little aside, most aside, um, is that actually I think in the Greek the idea of child and slave are exactly the same. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:43.120 They both have the same rights, that is to say, none at all. 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:47.360 They both have to do what they were told they could both be punished. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:56.240 And in my head, I actually think there's a similarity in the word that was used to explain both a child and a slave, but I could be wrong there. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:01.039 Neither was free. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:13.120 A slave lived under the authority of a master, and a child, as all children do, live under the authority of parents. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:25.039 But and it's one of those books of the Bible, if the parents were wealthy enough, the child lived under the authority of a tutor. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:40.960 Neither, because of the laws of the land at that time, neither was free to live their own life. 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:48.480 And Paul's point is simple enough, and it's not a point I make to use often enough. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:51.440 Before Christ we were all in bondage. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:11:04.240 We were they were bound under the law, they were bound under the elements of the world, bound under anything that claims our loyalty apart from God. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:08.080 I want you to take that bit into your minds tonight. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:18.480 To be bound under the law, because this applies as much to you now as it did to the church at Galatia. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:22.480 This one line sums up the argument. 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:36.240 Bound to anything that claimed your loyalty apart from God. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:39.919 Yeah? 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:41.279 You get that? 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:49.679 So what I'm saying here is if you allow anything to get in the way of you and God, then you're in bondage to it. 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.159 You're a slave, you're not free. 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:55.919 So God has to come first. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:07.200 That's why, as evangelicals, we would exhort you, exhort that's a great word, exhort you to read the Bible when you get up in the morning. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:15.519 Before you do anything else, before you go to the bathroom, unless you have to, before you have your breakfast, open the word of God. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:19.120 Before you go to sleep, open the word of God. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:25.360 When it comes to going to church, if anything gets in the way, just think about it this way. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:33.600 The devil will throw things at you to stop you from We've all been there. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:36.480 We've all done it, we've all felt for it. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:40.480 We have to plan our days. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:46.960 We have to stop anything getting in between us or between us and God. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:48.320 That's not just coming together. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:51.919 That's a private prayer, that's a private study of the Bible. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:54.639 Everything. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:13:04.000 Anything that stops you talking to God, gets in the way between you and God, is a piece of bondage. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:15.600 And that exactly the same argument that I would put to you that Paul is putting to his church in Galatians, so it's not you. 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:19.519 Don't think oh he's just picking on me because whatever. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.039 I'm actually reading from the word of God here. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:27.519 God recognizes this is a problem. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:44.799 And he sent Christ to free us from the problem, to free us from that bondage of man-made rules that stop us dealing with God directly without any need of an intercessor, without a need of a priest or a vicar or whatever. 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:49.919 I'm putting rules in the way that don't need to be there. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:53.679 In verses 46, there's a promise. 00:13:53.759 --> 00:14:01.360 Then Paul lifts up his eyes to the gospel and says this, and he's talking here about the birth of Christ. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:06.080 When the fullness of time came, when God was ready. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:11.519 Another aside, when God was ready. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:15.840 Notice when God was ready. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:21.440 Not when man was ready, not when he was ready, not when George is ready. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:25.440 God does things when he is ready. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:34.240 Because he is supreme, he is the maker and creator of all things, and we are just a creature. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:57.759 So, for Paul to write, when God was ready, in the fullness of time, God made the promise in Genesis 1, Genesis 2, sorry, and goes, When God is ready, in the fullness of time, he intervened in this world and he sent his son. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:05.759 There are many that say Christ comes of his own accord, but Paul is actually saying something different here. 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:24.480 He is saying that God sent his son, born of a woman, so a natural birth, born under the law, because the law demanded that women give birth in pain because of the sin of Eve and Adam, born under the law. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:27.600 Why? 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:35.279 So that all of those who are under the law, which is all of us, could be redeemed. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:45.679 Christ had to know what our condition was like, what rules we had to live by, both men and women, so that he could free us from them. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:57.039 So he had to be born as God made man under the law, so that those under the law can be made free, redeemed. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:03.919 Paul's argument is raised ashar. 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:14.879 If Christ came to redeem the Jews from the Mosaic law, then why would Gentiles want to go and be put

under bondage and go into it? 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:20.799 Why would anybody who doesn't have to go to prison volunteer to go to prison? 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:22.639 Because that's what being in bondage means. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:23.759 It means you're in prison. 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:29.679 So those Jews that were in bondage are in prison of the law and engaged by the law. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:35.919 And then you've got the Gentiles in Galatia going, you've got to come and join us in prison. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:39.039 Paul's going, why? 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:45.759 Why do you want to imprison yourself by the law? 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:49.840 The ceremonial law. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:56.399 Then comes this great declaration of verse 6. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:01.200 You don't because they trust in Christ. 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:07.119 You don't, because you trust in Christ. 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:21.039 You are, they were, the ones in the future will be, if there are any, adopted into God's family. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:29.759 And because of that, you can cry, Abba, Father. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:34.400 Little aside, did you know the greatest curse in the Lord's Prayer? 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:36.640 You know the Lord's Prayer has a curse in it. 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:40.960 Do you know the most dangerous part of the Lord's Prayer? 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:44.480 Millions say it every day and condemn themselves. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:47.200 The opening phrase. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:49.440 What's the opening phrase of the Lord's Prayer? 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:51.680 Our Father. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:57.119 How dare people who know not Christ call God Father? 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:04.079 They should be on their knees begging forgiveness, but they have no right to call God Father. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:11.680 Only those who are in Christ who are adopted sons and daughters, higher than the angels, have a right. 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:12.720 That's you guys. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:17.200 You have a right to get on your knees and go, or even actually, you don't even have to get on your knees. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:23.519 You have a right to stand up and look at God and go, our Father, Abba Father. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:30.079 The rest of the world says it, and the rest of the world are condemned by it. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:41.359 All of those places where they have this ritual of saying the Lord's Prayer, and I cringe every time I hear it, because I think of the condemnation that people are pouring down on themselves. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:45.200 Because they know not who Christ is. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:53.839 This, you see, is the very heart of Christian identity. 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:57.680 We're not slaves. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:18:59.440 We're free. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:00.960 We're not servants. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:16.000 We, you, me, us, and everybody else who puts their trust in Jesus Christ are the sons and daughters

by adoption of a living God. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:21.759 Think about what that means. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:39.759 Because what that means is that when Christ returns through the crack through the clouds, as Revelation tells us, he's going to gather up the sons and daughters of God that are still alive, still walking the earth. 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:41.519 Matthew dies. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:49.920 And there'd be people out there saying, Well, I'm a Christian, but I don't go to church. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:52.160 But you can't be a Christian and not go to church. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:53.839 Sorry, it doesn't work. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:20:01.839 There are people, unless there are obviously there are sometimes reasons why you can't, but if you voluntarily try to avoid church, you can't call yourself a Christian. 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:07.200 I'm a Christian, but I don't believe Christ died on the cross, you're not a Christian. 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:11.839 I'm a Christian, but I don't believe in the virgin birth, you're not a Christian. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:14.720 Don't know what you are, but I know what you're not. 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:21.279 You see, the thing is, a Christian believes the book. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:24.160 We are people of the book. 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:36.400 The book, unmarked, not distorted, as it is, good, bad, and ugly, from our point of view. 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:39.119 The tough part, the easiest part. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:47.440 If you take anything away from this book, as the warning in Revelation gives you, then we suffer the punishment of the book. 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:51.680 And opposite, if you add to it, we suffer the punishment of the book. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:54.559 Revelation 1921, I think it is. 00:20:57.119 --> 00:20:58.960 What's a fulfillment of the promise then? 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:00.880 Verses 7 to 11. 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:04.640 And Paul presses the point home. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:15.119 If they are sons, if they are sons, then they are heirs and heirs of God through Christ. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:26.799 No longer a servant under bondage, not a son under tutelage, but an heir of God through and in Jesus Christ. 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:33.200 And then Paul does something that many would say is mean, but I think is quite appropriate. 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:34.960 He reminds them of their past. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:39.200 Before they knew God, they worshipped idols. 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:43.039 Things that were no gods at all. 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:49.920 And as I said before, we're not talking here little statues, we're talking about anything that gets in the way, anything that distracts us from God. 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:59.759 But now they know God, or rather they are known by God, and yet and yet. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:22.240 Yes and this is where I feel for Paul and I I know what he's going through because I have the same problem this time and yet after everything Paul has taught them after everything Paul has said after all the work Paul has done they're being tempted to go into bondage. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:38.000 All he's taught and all he profess all they profess they want to give it up and go back and be servants. 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:42.480 It's like you guys go, we're all gonna become Roman Catholic. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:53.279 We're all gonna go off to the local Catholic church, we'll all say mass, we'll all go into a little box and confess to a priest, we'll all take the bread and believe the temptation of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:58.079 We'll all sit down and say, Hey, a merry full of grace and light account because that's what we have to do. 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:02.960 That really is problematic. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:06.480 There's a lot worse going on. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:10.559 Oh Rachel Bachel. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:14.319 This officer, one of the two ones in the temple. 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:16.960 The other ones on the docks. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:21.200 When they were playing today, there were 35, 40 odd thousand people. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:24.240 How many of them do you think are gone to church tonight? 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:29.039 They are in bondage because they're in bondage to the poor. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.400 And there are people in here who know more who are in bondage in other places. 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:39.839 Paul confronts the issue directly. 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:48.400 They are observing Jewish feasts, feast days, as if they were binding upon Christians. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:49.279 Do you want to do it? 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:50.960 And you want to do it at your own free will? 00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:52.319 Absolutely fine. 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:54.880 But don't think you're forced to do it. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:01.839 Observate observances are not not required, never required of Gentile believers. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:07.839 And Paul is scared that their return to such practices will undo everything he's done. 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:19.440 Can you imagine how Cranmer and Latimer and Ridley and Hooper and all of the reformers, all the lollars of itself, if they saw the state of the reform church today? 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:28.480 You know, on the back we have the banner which has that famous line by play the man master written by the lights of the candle, maybe a little bit blown out in England. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:31.119 I wonder what he would think if he could see it now. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:36.880 I've been reading Cramley's Homily, started reading Cramley's homily. 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:48.640 All men and women who put effort in to us being able to be here tonight and in other places. 00:24:48.960 --> 00:25:02.640 And yet the great majority, even in the Church of England, are turning their back on that wonderful gift of freedom in Christ Jesus and returning to the bondage of slavery of the Roman

Church. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:20.319 See, when Paul speaks of adoption in Galatians, and again another slight side, he is describing the moment God brings us out from under the old guardianship of the law and gives us the full status of sons and daughters. 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:26.640 It's a legal declaration that we now belong to him, with all the rights of ours. 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:32.400 Hebrews, as we'll see later on, carries the same truth but shows it from a different angle. 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:36.000 Instead of the legal picture, Hebrews gives the family picture. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:44.799 Christ is the true son, and through him we become his brothers and sisters, the children God has given to him. 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:47.920 Galatians tells us what God has done. 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:49.039 He has adopted us. 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:52.480 Hebrews shows us what our adoption feels like. 00:25:52.960 --> 00:26:03.920 And we stand before Christ as members of the same household, sharing his access, his inheritance, and his father. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:06.880 Two voices, one reality. 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:17.440 In Christ we are no longer slaves, no longer strangers, but beloved children, welcome fully into the family of God. 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:29.920 Paul then, and this is a personal view, Paul invested himself deeply in the Galatian church. 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:38.240 It was, in a very real sense, his church, a congregation of Gentile believers who had received the gospel with joy. 00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:47.519 He shouldn't needed to have worried about them adopting Jewish traditions after being fulfilled by Christ, yet false teachers. 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:51.920 In his case, Judaizers, I don't know what I would call them. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:58.960 Arrived with persuasive arguments and impressive credentials. 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:04.880 Yet doctors, people claim to be doctors, people the reverend, new name, and people love their titles. 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:07.759 People of knowledge. 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:09.920 I'll call them that. 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:15.920 Possibly temple trained, theological college for another term. 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:24.960 Very dangerous to a fledgling church when they needed, when they had no need, uh no shepherds, shall I say, to guide them. 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:28.720 Paul's fear, you see, is not academic. 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:35.839 It's a fear of a parent watching a beloved child under wander towards danger. 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:43.440 The green man stopped flashing, the red man's showing, and the child has walked out in front of the traffic. 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:49.039 His heartbreaks at the thought that all his labor may be undone. 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:52.079 And then you turn the mirror towards us. 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:58.400 Human nature gravitates towards what looks powerful, successful, and impressive. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:01.920 And yet the Church of Christ is the very opposite. 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:08.559 We follow a crucified Lord, a symbol, as the hymn said of suffering and shame. 00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:14.079 We lay aside idols of gold and silver, we honor authority, but we do not worship people. 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:17.839 We live simply, faithfully, and quietly. 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:29.279 Christianity, you see, is the complete opposite of what the world expects and demands, and that's why the world is not our friend. 00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:37.759 And sometimes, you know, we read Paul's letters, and we think he's a hard-headed theologian. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:52.720 But at this stage in this letter, there's a very different picture emerging of an apostle crying out for a child that's in great danger. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:29:04.000 Here we see not the stern theologian, but the grieving father, the wounded pastor, the shepherd who fears for his flock. 00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:28.880 These first eleven verses of Galatians four call us to remember who we are, not slaves, not servants, not bound by idols, not bound by ritual, all the expectations of the world, but sons and daughters of God, ers through Christ, filled with the Spirit who cry Abba Father. 00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:32.960 Paul's plea to the Galatians is Christ's plea to us. 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:35.359 Do not return to bondage. 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:39.599 Stand fast in the liberty wherein Christ has made you free. 00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:40.559 Amen.