Evening Celebration - Keswick at Portstewart - Thursday 10 July 2025 - Dai Hankey

 EVENING CELEBRATION KESWICK AT PORTSTEWART

THURSDAY 10 JULY 2025 - DAI HANKEY

GALATIANS 4 VERSES 4 TO 7

These verses start with the word "but" - I would love to write a book on the best "buts" in the bible. That little word means something comes in and changes the trajectory of what has been written. Paul is writing to the church in Galatia. They have been saved by grace but somehow the bad habit of trying to bring religion into their Christianity. Circumcision for instance should be included in Christianity. Peter even got caught up in this. Paul was writing to tell them to stop adding things to what Jesus has already done. In chapters 3 and 4 Paul is saying that Jesus has done everything for you to be forgiven and accepted, that they are on their way to heaven. Why are they now going back to the old way of doing things? Religion is not the exclusive domain of religious people. People wanted rules, laws, what you should and not doing, a tick box system. Not much has changed - we ask ourselves 'am I doing everything right, am I wearing the right clothes, have I attended my church this week, do people see how generous I am?' There is nothing wrong with that but we add things in. I want us to look into the passage as Paul tries to correct this thinking. We do things to impress God. Paul wants to put an end to that. The good news is not about what we do or not do but rather what God has done in Christ by sending his Son and Holy Spirit. Galatians 4 verse 4 and 5 - when, how, what, where and how. 

Verse 4 "But when the fullness of time was come God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." Jesus came at just the right time. It was no accident he arrived. He came at the right time. He not only came at the right time. Remember when Jesus was at the wedding in Cana of Galilee and they ran out of wine. His mother came asking for Jesus' help  and he told her "my time has not yet come." Jesus was working to a divine agenda. So the when is God's perfect timing.

The who is the Father sending the Son. The gospel is all about Jesus. He is the answer. The gospel is not about you nor me, never any human being. The good news revolves around Jesus. He was sent forth to save those who couldn't be saved. Why would Jesus come if we could save ourselves. we are incapable of fixing our broken lives, saving our souls. The gospel starts and finishes with God. He decided how to save us and when to save us. "Born of woman, born under the law." Jesus came as a human being into this world. We cannot say you don't understand it. All the pressures and strains I have God understands. He came in the person of Jesus. He understands. he came as a man, as a human, as you and I are. Jesus knows what it is like to sweat, struggle, tired, toil, to be surrounded by people who do feel pressures. There is no other God who can relate like us. He is able to comprehend what we are going through. He was also born under the law. God gave the law in the Old Testament to show us this is his standard. When we look in the mirror we say to ourselves how righteous and good we are. We compare ourselves with other people. If we want to get to heaven on our own merits it is very simple - be perfect. We are in trouble under the law. Jesus was born under the same standard. It applies to him as to us. He passed though with flying colours. It was important to him to prove he would be the representative we need.

The what of the gospel. I find the gospel so exciting. Verse 5 "to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." What does that mean? Turn to Galatians 2 verse 16 "yet who know that a man is not justified[a] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified." Paul is saying none of us will get to heaven. We fall short. We can argue with who is better than who but we fall short. Look at chapter 3 verse 10 " For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them.” If we want to try and get to heaven without Jesus it is not possible. Since Adam sinned in Genesis 3 everything that is messed up in this world is because of that sin. The curse of the law hands on all of us. Galatians 3 verse 13 " Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree” This is the epicentre of what Christ came to do. He did some amazing stuff but none of his miracles, walking on water, changing water into people, bringing people back from the dead - none of that. It .was to save those who are under the curse. To be our representative. To hang on a tree. Chapter 3 verse13 and 14 " Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree”—that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Look at 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." God the Father made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. The way Jesus redeems us is by bearing our sin so that we might become righteous. As Jesus hung on the cross he became sin. Jesus absorbs all the sin of those he was going to save into himself. The punishment we deserve Jesus takes it all on our behalf. Christ became sin. He uploaded all of your stuff and said 'I will pay the price' so that we might be redeemed. Isn't it amazing God's forgiveness of sin. The other half of the gospel is this - Jesus then takes and uploads his righteousness into us. The beautiful thing is - we get forgiveness. Every last bit of our sins was future paid. He also gives us his righteousness as a gift. If you put your faith in Christ he does not see all your mistakes any more. Faith in Christ. He sees his son's reflection in you. He accepts you with the exact same love as his son. It is finished, paid in full. The miracle - he takes me not from innocent in his sight but to the righteousness in his son. God loves you and accepts you. However bad we have been, whatever thoughts you have about how bad you are as a Christian, God loves you because you are in Christ. Romans 8 verses 1 to 4 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[a] he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Set free from the power of sin. The penalty God accepts - as if fulfilled the righteousness required by the law. Galatians 4 verse 5 "to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." Jesus did that because he wants us to receive something - the gift of adoption. One of the beautiful things in the bible is love - it is a choice, not a decision. God chose to adopt us, to cleanse us, forgive us, to bring us into his family. Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 3 " And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." By nature everyone of us was born a child of wrath deserving God's just judgment for our sin. That is who we are. All by nature. In Galatians we read God wants to add these children of wrath into the family of God. Incredible - God says 'I know what you are like and I still want you.' What does he want us as - adoption as sons. The sons are the ones who have got the inheritance. When the bible speaks of our adoption it means he wants to share all he has with us.  He has invited us into that. John 17 - Jesus wanted his disciples to share in the glory we have shared in eternity past. He is keeping his end of the deal. I have stuff with you, I want to bring you into my family. God sends the Son. The Son came to redeem us from the curse of the law, to make us his Sons. Verse 6 "And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Because God has accept you, adopted you, so that you share his resources God has sent another gift - the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Notice how much of the Trinity is involved in these verses. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes into our hearts. He takes up his residence in God's people. He comes in and says 'right then what is wrong here?' Yes he does convict us of sin, commits to make us learn more of Jesus and show us how to be obedient. We see there is one more specific thing in this passage - we can cry Abba Father. That is who we truly are - children of God.