Maybe you should stop cherry picking scripture and tell all of the truth. Read all of Galatians 4 Randy! Galatians 4:18,21-29 [18]But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. [21]Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? [22]For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. [23]But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. [24]Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. [25]For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. [26]But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. [27]For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. [28]Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. [29]But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
If God did not want me to keep the commandments, it would need to be very plainly and boldly explained to be the case. That is who God is as per John 14:2. He tells us what we need to know. God very plainly and boldly told us to keep His commandments. There is no instance where God clearly and plainly tells us He changed His mind. Galations 4 was written by Paul and is notoriously complex because Paul was very smart. I am not smart, so God, who wants to save everyone in a world of mostly uneducated and unintelligent people like myself, must make abundantly clear what is required. Galations 4, or any other scripture, does not clearly express that the commandments are no longer necessary. If the commandments are no longer valid, sin no longer has a definition (1 John 3:4) and ceases to be a thing. This means that we no longer need Jesus to save us, that Satan was unjustly cast out of heaven, and that God was wrong. If the law still stands, then it makes sense for Jesus to come. Instead of doing away with the law and its punishment, Jesus takes the punishment for us, and the law still remains, but now when God looks at us and compares our lives with the standard of the ten commandments, He sees Christ in place of our disobedience, and lets us enter heaven. Through this method, God is merciful and was correct all along. For a detailed explanation of Galations 4, please see this link: www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/media/e/865/f/6/t/broken-promises---part-1 I've extracted a piece of the transcript for ease of reference: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Old Covenant was an agreement between God and Israel. God promised to bless Israel upon condition of obedience to Him. Exodus 19:5,6. The Ten Commandments were the basis of the covenant. The agreement was made "concerning all these words of the law." Exodus 24:8. God wanted to write the Ten Commandments on the heart in the Old Covenant but the people said, no, we can do it ourselves! They relied on their own works instead of letting God do it with the power of the Holy Spirit. The weakness of the Old Covenant lay in the fact that it was dependent upon the promises of the people. "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." Exodus 19:8. The faultiness of the Old Covenant did not lie in the commandments over which it was made, nor in God's part of the agreement, but in the human element. "For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. . . For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." Hebrews 8: 8,10. There it is, friends; that is the New Covenant. It is just that plain. It is just that plain. Under the New Covenant God does that which men tried and failed to do under the Old Covenant. In other words, God makes the promises instead of the people. They could not keep their promises to obey because they were weak in the flesh, and God's commandments are holy. So they fell short under the Old Covenant. Under the New, God promises to live in their hearts and provide the strength and miracle grace to obey. Paul gives a perfect example of these covenants in Galatians 4:21-24. He says, "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar." When we understand this allegory, this story of Abraham and his two sons used here to illustrate a point, we will be off to a good start in understanding the two covenants. Those of you who are familiar with Abraham's experience will know what I mean. God told Abraham and his wife, Sarah, that they would have a son. They both felt that Sarah was too old to become a mother. With his wife's consent, Abraham had a son by Hagar, a servant woman. Abraham and Sarah had good intentions. They were trying to work out the right thing, that they should have a son, but in the wrong way. The Old Covenant likewise was trying to do the right thing, obey God's laws, but in the wrong way. God did for them what was impossible without His help. He gave them a son in their old age. It was the same thing that they had tried to do in ways of their own devising, ways that God could not accept. God showed them that human strength and human works can never obey the spiritual laws of God. But the miracle powers of God worked in Sarah to produce a son. Even so the miracle grace and power of God spiritualizes the Christian so that he can obey the law of God. The New Covenant was a "better" covenant, not because of better laws, but because of better promises. In the place of human promises the New Covenant has God's promises. Under the New Covenant it is not the works of the flesh, but "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27. The Old Covenant was by works. The New Covenant is by faith in the promises of God. But the New Covenant does not do away with the Commandments. Rather, it makes it possible for us to keep them through Christ dwelling in our hearts. Paul forever settles this question: "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Romans 3:31. Some who have not made a thorough study of the matter have felt that the law was the Old Covenant. Then they reason that because the Old Covenant has been done away with, therefore the law has been done away with also. The error of this line of reasoning becomes apparent if we put the words "Old Covenant" in Romans 3:31 in place of the word "law." It would then read, "Do we then make void the Old Covenant through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the Old Covenant." This, of course, is absurd. You can't void and establish at the same time. No, the Old Covenant was not the Ten Commandments. But it was the agreement between God and the people concerning keeping those commandments. Going back to the experience of Abraham and Sarah, we find that it required a supernatural act of God to bring the child of promise into being. Just so, because the flesh is weak, man cannot attain to the righteousness of the law in his own strength. All attempts on the Old Covenant basis of "we will do" will produce only children of bondage. But when the heart is yielded to God, when the Holy Spirit writes the law in the tables of the heart, then, by the working of God's power, "the righteousness of the law" is "fulfilled in us." Romans 8:3,4. Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, represents those who are born after the flesh and are "not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Romans 8:7. They try to do the right thing in the wrong way and they fail. Isaac represents those who are born after the Spirit, in whom the righteousness of the law is being fulfilled. So it is the commandment breakers who are the children of bondage. Only the commandment keepers are truly free. Do you see? The commandment keepers are free from the finger of the law that condemns them for their sin. For when you keep the commandments there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Jesus has paid for your sins and you love Him and keep His commandments. Those under the curse or condemnation of the law are the commandment breakers. They are under the curse because the law condemns them for their sins because they are unwilling to keep God's law. In closing let me give you a simple illustration that will help you to remember the difference between these two covenants. A man asks me to build a house for him. He gives me the plans and specifications. There are ten specifications having to do with the number of rooms, size of rooms, type of materials, etc. When the job is finished, he will give me the sum of $100,000. When the house is finished, I call the man and ask for my $100,000. He comes over to look at the house and finds that I have not followed the specifications regarding the size of the rooms. I keep reminding him that it is pretty good otherwise, but he keeps harping on the specifications. This annoys me, so I say, let's burn the specifications and then every thing will be all right. That is just what people say about the Ten Commandments, God's specifications. Let's throw them away and then everything will be all right. Everybody is breaking them anyway. But the trouble is not with the law, but with the people. The Bible says, "For finding fault with them. . ." (the people). Hebrews 8:8. God was all right, and His Commandments were all right, but the people were all wrong. Now getting back to our illustration: under the New Covenant the owner says, I am the master builder. We will start all over again, but this time I will stand right by you and see to it that every specification is carried out. We will work together and when the job is finished according to specifications you will get your $100,000 as we originally agreed. You see, the new arrangement doesn't change the specifications. It doesn't change God. It does change us. It is the most wonderful thing in all the world how Christ can come into the heart and transform the life.
Amen, Pastor Skeete 🙏 Truth Matters
Galatians 4:16
King James Version
" Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"
Maybe you should stop cherry picking scripture and tell all of the truth. Read all of Galatians 4 Randy!
Galatians 4:18,21-29
[18]But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.
[21]Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
[22]For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
[23]But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
[24]Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
[25]For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
[26]But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
[27]For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
[28]Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
[29]But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
If God did not want me to keep the commandments, it would need to be very plainly and boldly explained to be the case. That is who God is as per John 14:2. He tells us what we need to know. God very plainly and boldly told us to keep His commandments. There is no instance where God clearly and plainly tells us He changed His mind.
Galations 4 was written by Paul and is notoriously complex because Paul was very smart. I am not smart, so God, who wants to save everyone in a world of mostly uneducated and unintelligent people like myself, must make abundantly clear what is required. Galations 4, or any other scripture, does not clearly express that the commandments are no longer necessary.
If the commandments are no longer valid, sin no longer has a definition (1 John 3:4) and ceases to be a thing. This means that we no longer need Jesus to save us, that Satan was unjustly cast out of heaven, and that God was wrong. If the law still stands, then it makes sense for Jesus to come. Instead of doing away with the law and its punishment, Jesus takes the punishment for us, and the law still remains, but now when God looks at us and compares our lives with the standard of the ten commandments, He sees Christ in place of our disobedience, and lets us enter heaven. Through this method, God is merciful and was correct all along.
For a detailed explanation of Galations 4, please see this link: www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/media/e/865/f/6/t/broken-promises---part-1
I've extracted a piece of the transcript for ease of reference:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Old Covenant was an agreement between God and Israel. God promised to bless Israel upon condition of obedience to Him. Exodus 19:5,6. The Ten Commandments were the basis of the covenant. The agreement was made "concerning all these words of the law." Exodus 24:8.
God wanted to write the Ten Commandments on the heart in the Old Covenant but the people said, no, we can do it ourselves! They relied on their own works instead of letting God do it with the power of the Holy Spirit.
The weakness of the Old Covenant lay in the fact that it was dependent upon the promises of the people. "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." Exodus 19:8. The faultiness of the Old Covenant did not lie in the commandments over which it was made, nor in God's part of the agreement, but in the human element. "For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. . . For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." Hebrews 8: 8,10.
There it is, friends; that is the New Covenant. It is just that plain.
It is just that plain. Under the New Covenant God does that which men tried and failed to do under the Old Covenant. In other words, God makes the promises instead of the people. They could not keep their promises to obey because they were weak in the flesh, and God's commandments are holy. So they fell short under the Old Covenant. Under the New, God promises to live in their hearts and provide the strength and miracle grace to obey.
Paul gives a perfect example of these covenants in Galatians 4:21-24. He says, "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar."
When we understand this allegory, this story of Abraham and his two sons used here to illustrate a point, we will be off to a good start in understanding the two covenants. Those of you who are familiar with Abraham's experience will know what I mean.
God told Abraham and his wife, Sarah, that they would have a son. They both felt that Sarah was too old to become a mother. With his wife's consent, Abraham had a son by Hagar, a servant woman. Abraham and Sarah had good intentions. They were trying to work out the right thing, that they should have a son, but in the wrong way. The Old Covenant likewise was trying to do the right thing, obey God's laws, but in the wrong way.
God did for them what was impossible without His help. He gave them a son in their old age. It was the same thing that they had tried to do in ways of their own devising, ways that God could not accept. God showed them that human strength and human works can never obey the spiritual laws of God. But the miracle powers of God worked in Sarah to produce a son. Even so the miracle grace and power of God spiritualizes the Christian so that he can obey the law of God.
The New Covenant was a "better" covenant, not because of better laws, but because of better promises. In the place of human promises the New Covenant has God's promises. Under the New Covenant it is not the works of the flesh, but "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27.
The Old Covenant was by works. The New Covenant is by faith in the promises of God. But the New Covenant does not do away with the Commandments. Rather, it makes it possible for us to keep them through Christ dwelling in our hearts. Paul forever settles this question: "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Romans 3:31.
Some who have not made a thorough study of the matter have felt that the law was the Old Covenant. Then they reason that because the Old Covenant has been done away with, therefore the law has been done away with also. The error of this line of reasoning becomes apparent if we put the words "Old Covenant" in Romans 3:31 in place of the word "law." It would then read, "Do we then make void the Old Covenant through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the Old Covenant." This, of course, is absurd. You can't void and establish at the same time. No, the Old Covenant was not the Ten Commandments. But it was the agreement between God and the people concerning keeping those commandments.
Going back to the experience of Abraham and Sarah, we find that it required a supernatural act of God to bring the child of promise into being. Just so, because the flesh is weak, man cannot attain to the righteousness of the law in his own strength. All attempts on the Old Covenant basis of "we will do" will produce only children of bondage. But when the heart is yielded to God, when the Holy Spirit writes the law in the tables of the heart, then, by the working of God's power, "the righteousness of the law" is "fulfilled in us." Romans 8:3,4.
Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, represents those who are born after the flesh and are "not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Romans 8:7. They try to do the right thing in the wrong way and they fail. Isaac represents those who are born after the Spirit, in whom the righteousness of the law is being fulfilled. So it is the commandment breakers who are the children of bondage. Only the commandment keepers are truly free. Do you see? The commandment keepers are free from the finger of the law that condemns them for their sin. For when you keep the commandments there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Jesus has paid for your sins and you love Him and keep His commandments. Those under the curse or condemnation of the law are the commandment breakers. They are under the curse because the law condemns them for their sins because they are unwilling to keep God's law.
In closing let me give you a simple illustration that will help you to remember the difference between these two covenants.
A man asks me to build a house for him. He gives me the plans and specifications. There are ten specifications having to do with the number of rooms, size of rooms, type of materials, etc. When the job is finished, he will give me the sum of $100,000.
When the house is finished, I call the man and ask for my $100,000. He comes over to look at the house and finds that I have not followed the specifications regarding the size of the rooms. I keep reminding him that it is pretty good otherwise, but he keeps harping on the specifications. This annoys me, so I say, let's burn the specifications and then every thing will be all right.
That is just what people say about the Ten Commandments, God's specifications. Let's throw them away and then everything will be all right. Everybody is breaking them anyway. But the trouble is not with the law, but with the people. The Bible says, "For finding fault with them. . ." (the people). Hebrews 8:8. God was all right, and His Commandments were all right, but the people were all wrong.
Now getting back to our illustration: under the New Covenant the owner says, I am the master builder. We will start all over again, but this time I will stand right by you and see to it that every specification is carried out. We will work together and when the job is finished according to specifications you will get your $100,000 as we originally agreed.
You see, the new arrangement doesn't change the specifications. It doesn't change God. It does change us. It is the most wonderful thing in all the world how Christ can come into the heart and transform the life.