You Can’t Turn Back

(Galatians 4:8-11)

When we are called to come to Jesus Christ, there is only one way that we can go.

Forward! You can’t go back, nor should you want to go back.

If we seek to go back or even if we mistakenly think about our past and wish we could be “back in the good ole days,” then we are not walking properly with the Lord. We have been set free from the things of the past and the evils of our past lives, and to think we can return is to make a serious mistake. In fact we can be trapped or fooled into old ways just as the Galatians were, and Paul warns us in these verses as he did to them at that time.

Fooled into going back

The Galatians were going through some difficult times spiritually. The whole of Paul’s letter to the church was pointing out the problems that they had been fooled into accepting as truth that was in fact a mess of lies.

In these verses Paul shows how they have been tricked into looking backwards, and also where the source of this trickery has come from.

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods; 9 but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days, and months, and seasons, and years! 11 I am afraid I have laboured over you in vain. (Galatians 4:8-11)

This trickery is satanic. We are shown here that the Galatians church have “turned back” to the “weak and beggarly elemental spirits.” These are the demonic spirits that control the lives and times of this world. These are the spirits of bondage that want to keep people under the thumb for evil purposes. These are the spirits that want to condemn you as sinners and keep your mind filled with guilt, shame and condemnation. These are the evil spirits that want you to be enslaved to all of the things Jesus Christ died to set you free from.

Do not give into them for one moment!

Notice how they manifested themselves in the Galatians experience. The Galatians had forgotten that they were set free from sin and from the law, and they were turning back to the things of the law.

They were seeking to, or beginning to observe religious days, months, seasons and years. They were marking religious days as if they are important to their religious lives. They were looking at the keeping of religious days as if these would make a difference to their lives as Christians.

Does this happen today?

Do you think that this same issue is happening today? Of course it is!

Look at the way some Christians observe days that are supposed to be Christian in nature, and in many cases do not even have a biblical reference.

Think about the season of Lent for example. This is supposed to be a fast in the period leading up to the Easter celebrations, but there is no biblical requirement for this to occur. Lent is not even mentioned in the bible…not anywhere! It is a false event designed to fool people into thinking they are being devout to the faith, but provides no practical advantage to your religious life at all.

And while we are about it, we are not called to even celebrate Easter, and most of the well known aspects of Easter such as giving of eggs, are of pagan origins.

Yes, we must remember and celebrate the sacrifice of the Lord, but we do this during the time of the breaking of bread, which is how Jesus told us to remember His death and sacrifice. He said nothing about Easter celebrations, nor did His disciples as they spread the gospel in the early church.

Christmas is no better as it too is not required in the Bible. Jesus was not born on December 25th as it is too cold at that time of year for shepherds to be in the fields tending their sheep at night. All of the Christmas celebration items, such as burning the yuletide log, Christmas trees, mistletoe and so on, are of pagan origin.

The point here is that if these things are not of God, and you are following blindly in the practice of these things, then you are not worshipping God or the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you are not worshipping God, who are you worshipping when you follow these false practises?

You are doing what the Galatians did. You are worshipping the “…weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose slaves you want to be once more.”

Harsh words? You bet! But these things need to be said to understand the power of things that may seem innocuous and the impact of them on your Christian walk. Paul was certainly concerned enough about these things to be severely upset with the Galatians church, stating that he had “laboured over them in vain.” That is, he had wasted his time with them because they were accepting what was false and believing it was truth.

You can’t go back

The fundamental principle underlying all of this was stated in verse 9 of this section

…but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again. (Galatians 4:9)

The issue here is that the people had stopped moving forward with Christ and had turned back into the ways of the world. They had ceased progressing and were slipping back into old lives, old ways and old forms of worship that were not of God and would strip away all that Christ had done for them when they first believed.

Think of what you personally have escaped from in your former life before you were a Christian. Do you really want to go back to that life?

I know that some people do struggle with such questions. The walk of a Christian can be difficult at times because we are standing in opposition to the evil spirits that rule this world subversively. We are seeking a better world and a better life, knowing that we will receive it in the future when the Lord returns.

But we also receive freedom from sin, law, guilt, condemnation, shame and all other negatives of this world now. In their place we receive the love, joy, kindness, mercy, compassion, grace and freedom of the Lord. We receive His constant support in times of trouble and can take all of our issues, problems and anxieties to Him in prayer, knowing that He listens and He is working in our best interests.

The gains we receive are so far ahead of the things we left behind that they are not worth making the comparison.

And if you want some more examples and information about the problems of looking or turning back to your old life, meditate a while on these words from the Lord.

“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)

Think about a farmer on a tractor pulling a plough to prepare a field for planting. If the farmer drives the tractor looking ONLY in the rear vision mirror, how straight do you think his furrows will be? Do you think he will even end up at the destination he chose if he can’t see the way forward?

Of course not! And it is the same with us who walk with Christ. You can’t go back. If you look back you don’t know where you are going and you will stray from the straight and narrow path that we all must follow to walk with the Lord.

Think also about this verse for a while.

Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. (John 12:35)

Notice in this verse that this projects the concept of continuous movement. We walk with Christ, who is the light, but the darkness also follows us along. The darkness is not still but it moves forward following the light.

If you stop your walk with Christ, the darkness will catch up and envelop you and you will not be able to see the way forward.

How much worse then if you were to look back and seek to go back, hastening your path back into the darkness. We are called to walk with Christ and that means a continual progression forward with Him.

You can’t go back. The past holds nothing for you but pain, anguish and death. The future holds life, freedom and peace. You can’t go back.

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