We need to talk… There’s a glaring/foundational truth about salvation through Jesus Christ that is tough to process. Folks even might think this, “Matt, you just can’t say that. People won’t understand. People will have problems with that.” And those things are true but what I have to tell you is still true, so… we need to talk…

James said in James 2:17, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead…,” essentially faith without works is dead AND, equally as true, is this controversial TRUTH, grace without works is still grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

This is alarming, problematic, perhaps even divisive and yet we still need to talk about it because it is critically important and without it, you simply don’t have the truth… You are acceptable to God and have been made right with God because of what Jesus has done for you and God’s favor on your life and your soul and your spirit…, your belonging to Him and Him belonging to you is founded upon and sustained alone by grace.

“Now that you are a child of God, here’s what you must do today to be accepted by Him,” is a contradiction of grace. Grace is grace apart from works and this truth confuses us and even enrages some. But this truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is a truth you can’t get away from. I’ve tried. Karma makes much more sense to me… Consequential realism makes much more sense to me. But being saved and having my sins forgiven unto eternal life is to be baptized, fully emersed, into grace and grace alone…

This truth, grace… it’s like that jerk in the pickup that rides your bumper at 85 miles per hour on the highway until you get out of the control lane (the fast lane) and let them by…. I see it ALL the time! HA! They won’t settle down. They won’t give up. Every time you notice them in your rearview mirror, they freak you out… and yet there they are, just like this fact on grace, until you yield to it. If salvation has come by grace through Jesus, then it has only come by grace through Jesus.

Faith without works is dead but grace without works is still grace. Paul said in Romans 11:6, “If by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise, grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace…” This is so difficult because we all believe in Karma and to an extent, Karma is a fundamental law of the world. We deserve our consequences. We get what we deserve. This is even a biblical truth! Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap…” Deuteronomy 28, blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience…, And but, BIG BUT here, no one gets what they deserve with God…. Not ever Jesus…

So, walking by faith is entirely important. Showing forth fruits of salvation is entirely important. And that’s a completely different topic…. Grace is grace. Faithfulness is the determinant in how my life, testimony and walk with God will go. Grace, the blood of Jesus, is the 100% reason I walk with God at all…. And this is the thrust of Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia. It’s by grace you have been saved, through the placing of your faith, the saying of “YES” to Jesus Christ, and not of works… You didn’t work unto your right standing with God, therefore you are not the worker of your right standing with God, and then the obvious conclusion is that your works cannot remove you from right standing with God. And throughout the rest of your life, because you belong to Him, you get essentially what you do not deserve…, all of His attention and love and mercy and approval… And that is grace and it infuriates some… but it’s still true…

Think it over, chew it over, you are welcome to add whatever you’d like to what I’ve shared, but whatever you add cannot contradict this truth… Because its true… so work it out for yourself. Faith without works is dead, AND, grace without works is still grace…

Galatians Chapter 4 Verses 1 – 2

· Paul is making a point that during the time of the Old Covenant, the nation of Israel, and really all peoples, the world, was under bondage of the requirements of the law… A slave is in bondage to his master. And Paul is making the point that while we were under the law, absent of the New Covenant, even as children of God, heirs of the Kingdom of God, there was an immaturity, and unreadiness that made us no different than slaves. Kept in bondage of sorts, under guardians and stewards (the law and the prophets), why? Because we could not operate on our own…

· Children are wonderful, they are adorable and amazing and we love them so much, but they don’t know what is good and right from what is bad and wrong. They need boundaries, they need instruction and they need constant protection and provision. And almost different for every child, at some point, (hopefully), they begin to do what is right without having to be told. They begin to value what you value, see what you see, and do what you do for them, for themselves. And in that they are growing up, from child to adult…

· While we were without the indwelling presence, leadership, guidance, wisdom and knowledge of the Holy Spirit, this was the condition of the children of God. Kept under bondage, under guardianship of the law and the prophets…, what’s right, what’s wrong, what we ought to do, what we ought to not do…, but in the Roman culture of that day, a boy would be legally recognized as a man not based on age but based on the proclamation of his father. Paul borrows from that and says the same as the children of God, “until the time appointed by the Father.”

· In the New Covenant, in the coming of grace through Jesus who fulfilled the law in the place of all of us, (so that God would be able to send His perfect Holy Spirit to abide within the law-fulfilled and therefore law-abiding heart of mankind. We read of this in Hebrews 8:8-13, “Finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand (child talk) to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”

Galatians Chapter 4 Verse 3

· “Elements of this world.” That is the literally, the principles of how the world is ordered… Think the letters of the alphabet, atomic building blocks of physicality, the material that makes up everyday life… This is the Old Covenant… Sinful man under perfect law… but with the coming of the New Covenant, Jesus reveals grace apart from works. Check out Matthew 5:43-48, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ (That makes total sense) But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you (GRACE), that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Basic elements of this world) For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Galatians Chapter 4 Verses 4 - 7

· Born of a woman indicates deity as Paul does not say born of a man…, which in those days would have been far more obvious to them then to us… Remember Jesus said of Peter in Matthew 16:17, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah…?” Acts 13:6 speaks of a false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus? In those times your last name was essentially, “Son of” and then your father’s name. They would have picked up on Paul making reference to a divine birth, not of an earthly father but of the Heavenly Father…

· And, born under the law indicates humanity. One that came to redeem indicates the Messiah, the Savior of the world…, so this masterful statement Paul puts together reveals the fully God and fully man, one that was fully equipped to fully fulfill all of the law and the entirety of the debt of all mankind, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

· This is huge. This word for adoption is huiothesia and it carries the idea of adult adoption. Taking a slave and adopting them legally as a son and an heir. Adult adoption by the wealthiest Master…, why would He ever do that? For God so LOVED the world. The world that was against Him, could really do nothing right in terms of His perfection, but because of His love… He gave… Jesus came forth, that anyone that would choose Him would HAVE, inherit, possess, it would become theirs…, everlasting life… GRACE and grace alone!