[0:00] Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4. Like I said, last week we were talking about being a part of the family of God.
[0:14] And we were looking at chapter 3, verses 26 through the end of the chapter. Look with me at verse 26 of chapter 3 again. It says, For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
[0:32] You always got to add that last part. We're part of the family of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Now look down at verse 29. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
[0:50] Chapter 4. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all, but is under the tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
[1:05] Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
[1:25] And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a son.
[1:37] And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Let's have a word of prayer. Do you have any, Father? I pray this morning that you'd help us to further understand this idea of being a son of God, being a child of God.
[1:56] Lord, I pray that you would help us to understand that great privilege we have of being part of your family. The great privilege we have of being children of God.
[2:09] The great privilege we have to be heirs. Lord, you have blessed us in so many ways. And Lord, this one, this one's a big one.
[2:21] Help us to understand what we have in Christ. And the fact that we get the adoption as children of God. Lord, open our minds, open our hearts, open our ears this morning to hear what you have for us.
[2:36] In Jesus' name, amen. One of the great, great truths of the Bible, one of the great truths of our study so far in Galatians, is that chapter 3, verse 26.
[2:49] Look at that again. He says, For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. When we think of believing in Christ, we often think of, I'm saved, I'm on my way to heaven.
[3:04] And that's a great thing. When I think about being saved, Jesus Christ coming into my life, I think, man, I got someone to help me through this life.
[3:15] I may face a lot of different things, and people may not always be there for me, but Jesus will always be there for me. But then I think, because of Jesus Christ, I am now part of the family of God.
[3:30] Think of everything that brings with it. Think of what it means to be part of the family. And he gives us this great truth. And having stated that truth here, he goes on into chapter 4, and he expands on that truth.
[3:46] What it means to be a child of God. So what does it mean? We're going to look at three different things this morning. This is probably going to be one of the shorter messages you'll ever hear me preach.
[3:57] But, first thing he tells us, he says, look, as a child of God, we have a position as heirs.
[4:09] We have a position as heirs. And what does an heir get? An heir has a right to future inheritance. Think about that.
[4:21] I am a child of God, and I have a right to future inheritance as a child of God. He talks about that in those first few verses.
[4:32] And then down in verse 7, he mentions again the fact that thou art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. See, as long as I'm an heir who's a minor, you know, an heir who's a minor, they don't have control over their inheritance.
[4:54] They're going to be lord of all of it someday, but right now they don't have complete control of it. Example. I'll give you two examples from the same family. King Charles has a son named William.
[5:08] William does a whole lot of the royal duties now, more than his father does. But he's still not quite got all the inheritance yet.
[5:22] His father will determine when that happens. Now, when he dies, William will automatically get it. But I've also heard lately rumors that Charles has some physical things going on, and he may transfer the power to William before that time, before he passes away.
[5:39] Whenever he chooses, he gets to transfer the power to William. William has three kids. They are all heirs of the kingdom.
[5:51] Now, do they have the power to go out and do all kinds of things with that airship? No. They're all under what? Ten?
[6:01] Twelve? There's three of them under that age. They don't get to go out and do anything they want. Matter of fact, I was reading somewhere. Do you know how much those kids are worth? Wow.
[6:13] Charlotte, the girl. I think I was reading. She's worth like 500 million. And she's like 10. But, but, I don't know about the boys.
[6:25] But, they can't do anything with all that money yet, unless Daddy says it's okay. They someday will be the heirs of the throne and heirs of everything.
[6:36] They're heirs now. But, they don't necessarily get to do everything. But it's going to be theirs, all of it. How does that affect us?
[6:48] Well, we'll get to that in a few minutes. We're the heirs of what God has. In Ephesians chapter 2, verse 13, it says this.
[6:59] But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometime far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. When Jesus Christ went to that cross, he made it so that we can have access to the throne room of God.
[7:15] As a child of God, I have access to the king. As a child of God, I have access to the throne room. I can go in and talk with him at any time.
[7:26] Ephesians 2, 18 says this. For through him, we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Father, we have access to God.
[7:37] I can go and talk to him at any time. We'll talk some more about that in a few minutes. But I can go to him, and I can talk with him, and I can tell him what my needs are, and I can tell him what I'm thinking, and I can listen to what he has to say.
[7:51] Because he is my Father. Now, if I have the right to an inheritance, whenever you have rights, there are also responsibilities.
[8:04] We have a responsibility to pass traditions. A responsibility to pass traditions. Look at verses 2 and 3. It says, He says, He says, The child is under teachers and governors.
[8:28] We are learning. We are growing. We are becoming more and more like Christ as we grow in the things. The children of William are becoming more and more like mom and dad as they grow.
[8:40] They are becoming more like the king as they grow. Because they are learning the traditions and things of that realm. They are also learning how to make wise decisions and things of that nature.
[8:55] He says, As a child of God, I am going to grow. And as a child of God, I am going to become an adult. And as a child of God, I am going to grow and be what God wants me to be.
[9:09] I am going to be in his image. Now, the spiritual condition of the Galatians before Jesus Christ, they live like the rest of the world.
[9:19] But now that Jesus Christ has come in, they have teachers like Paul who is teaching them. They have teachers like the Holy Spirit who is teaching them.
[9:31] Getting them ready to be everything that God wants them to be. See, before this, whether they were Jews or Gentiles, it didn't matter.
[9:42] They were kind of boxed in. What do I mean by that? They lived by rules and regulations. The Jews, remember, they had 636 different laws that they were supposed to keep.
[9:55] And if they didn't keep those, they weren't really part of God's family. Can you imagine having to keep 636 laws? We have trouble with 10.
[10:08] Those are the 10 commandments. Then you take man's laws. I won't ask you to raise your hand, but how many of you actually do 25 miles an hour down High Street in Ellsworth?
[10:20] If you do, you're getting run over. Okay. So actually, I slow up traffic. You slow up traffic. Okay. There's one in every crowd. Huh?
[10:31] That's called impeding traffic. That's called impeding traffic. So, we break laws all the time. And they were trying to earn their salvation on keeping laws.
[10:43] And that just wasn't working. And then Jesus came. He gave himself. gave them a way of salvation. A way of justification.
[10:54] A way of just as if I had never sinned. A way to be one with God and on their way to heaven. So, they had a position as heirs.
[11:11] Second, because of Jesus Christ, we have our pardon. A pardon through Christ. And notice what he says in verses 4 and 5. He says, But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
[11:34] We received a pardon from God. We received a pardon from God, made in his time. Did you notice what it said there in verse 4? We use this all the time at Christmas time.
[11:46] But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. God chose the moment that Jesus Christ was coming into this world.
[12:01] He chose the moment that he was going to be born of Mary. And the thing about it is, remember, Jesus came, born of Mary, by a miracle of God.
[12:15] Joseph wasn't involved. Sin comes through man. No sin in Christ. So, Christ comes sinless. He lives his life sinless.
[12:28] He goes to the cross sinless. Pays the price for our sins, even though he was sinless. And God said, in my timing, you're going to be made a part of the family.
[12:43] And we are. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes in, and we become part of the family. God, we'll talk some more about that in a minute. We are pardoned by his timing.
[12:55] We are pardoned in his way. In his way. What way is that? Well, verse 4 again. The end of it says, he was made of a woman.
[13:08] No sin, because no man. Under the law. To redeem them which are under the law. We are, his way is through redemption. Christ made us and cleansed us by the work of Jesus Christ on that cross.
[13:24] So, the source of our sonship is God's true son, Jesus Christ. He came so that we could be able to join the family.
[13:35] Ephesians chapter 1, verse 7 says this, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. I want you to notice a couple things there.
[13:46] In whom we have redemption through his blood. Not us. Nothing we've done. It's through his blood. The forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.
[13:59] It's his grace that has done this for us. It's nothing that we do of ourselves. I cannot be good enough. I cannot think good enough. I cannot act good enough. I cannot be the proper type of person that I should be.
[14:13] Because I have a sinful nature. Because I have a man's blood in me. Jesus came born of a woman by the miracle of God. He was sinless. He says, look, you came to Christ by Jesus Christ.
[14:30] What did it say back there in verse 26 of chapter 3? For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. That's how you get to be a part of the family of God.
[14:43] And because of that, by his righteousness, we also come because of adoption. By adoption. Through adoption. The word adoption is an interesting word.
[14:56] If you're going to look at the word adoption, look at the Greek manifestation of it, where it comes from. It means two words. Son. And to place. We've been placed as sons.
[15:10] As children. In the family of God. When we come to Jesus Christ. And we ask him to be our savior. We ask him to come into our life. His spirit comes into us.
[15:21] And when his spirit comes into us, we are placed in the family as a child of God. That is just a fascinating thing to think about. All it takes is me believing what Jesus Christ did.
[15:38] All it takes is me believing that Jesus Christ came from heaven. Was born here on earth. He rose. Was raised. Went to the cross.
[15:50] Buried. Rise from the dead. Sends back into heaven. And I can be part of the family of God. He says, you just believe in me and what I have done.
[16:02] See, according to scripture, we become members of the family as soon as we are saved. As soon as we ask Jesus Christ to come into our life, the Holy Spirit places us. Gives us a legal standing.
[16:13] I'll talk about that in a minute. He gives us a legal standing. As being part of the family of God. We are adopted into his family. And it begins and ends with our salvation.
[16:25] So, I'm... So we're going... Show the next one, Angel. I have a provision.
[16:38] I've been pardoned. I now have... I'm a part of what Jesus has done. I've been part of the family. And as a part of the family, I have provisions that have been given to me.
[16:52] As a part of the family, you have provision. You're in the family. You get food to eat. You get a roof over your head. You get care. You get this and that and the other thing.
[17:04] There are provisions for being part of the family. When we become part of God's family, he provides for us. And one of the great things he provides is the comfort of the spirit.
[17:15] The comfort of the spirit. What do you mean by that? Well, the Holy Spirit comes into our life. He is going to take care of us and meet our needs and help us. Romans chapter 8 verses 15 and 16.
[17:27] It says this. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. We... When we were born... We were born as sinners.
[17:39] We were talking about there earlier. And as sinners, we had one destination. And that was hell. He says, but now you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.
[17:52] But you have received the spirit of adoption. Whereby we cry, Abba, Father. He says, when you accept Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes into your life, you don't have that fear anymore.
[18:03] You're not going to hell. You're on your way to heaven. You have God's promise. If you accept Jesus Christ, if you become a child by faith in Christ Jesus, he says, you now don't have to worry.
[18:21] You have a home in heaven. It's been taken care of for you. He says, you don't have that spirit of bondage, that spirit of fear. You've been adopted into God's family, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
[18:33] Remember from last week? Abba, Father. Daddy, Father. We have a father. That is great.
[18:45] We have a father who takes care of us, who provides for us, who gives us the needs, are taken care of, that we have need of and everything. We have a father. But father's kind of a formal term, isn't it?
[18:55] He says, no, you have Abba, Father. Daddy, Father. There's a commercial on TV, probably you've seen. I don't remember if it's the Shriners Hospital or the St. Jude Hospital, but one of them.
[19:13] And there's this little girl who's coming out and she's walking on the walkway and she's looking out of the parking lot. And you hear her going, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.
[19:23] And she's running out. It's a small parking lot, thank goodness. So she's running out in that parking lot and he's getting out of the car and she's full bore to get to Daddy.
[19:39] We have Daddy, Father. We have someone who loves us, who will take us in his arms, who will hold us, who will take us through the roughest of times and be right there for us.
[19:55] He says that spirit that you get helps you to understand that you have that kind of a father, that you have a dad. He bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
[20:07] When we accept Christ and the Holy Spirit moves in, that comfort that comes from the knowing that I have someone who will never leave me nor forsake me.
[20:18] I have someone who's always going to be with me. I have someone who loves me beyond anything I can do. He loves me no matter what.
[20:32] Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13. In whom ye also trusted, after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Okay, he says you trusted him after you heard the gospel, the word of truth, which is what you hear from the gospel, which is what you hear from the Bible, which is what you hear me preach about almost every week.
[20:51] I will mention the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says you trusted in that, and then what? In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
[21:07] What does that mean, that I've been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise? He says the Holy Spirit comes into your life. He tells you you're part of the family of God.
[21:18] How do I know that? Because the Holy Spirit is there telling me that all the time. Back in the old days, they used to have seals. They would take wax.
[21:30] They're sending a letter or something to somebody or a document or something. They'd take wax, and they'd milk wax and put it on the paper, and then they would stamp it with a stamp that they had or with a signet on their ring.
[21:42] They would stamp that thing. They showed who the person was, showed what their title was, showed everything about them. This has been sealed by this person. He says the Holy Spirit of God has sealed you.
[21:56] When you ask Jesus Christ to come into your life, he has sealed you to be a part of God's family. The adoption papers are taken care of.
[22:08] They've been sealed. Then he goes on in verse 14, and he says, Ephesians 1, 14, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the adoption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory.
[22:25] What does that mean? The earnest of his inheritance. You ever buy a car or house? You put a down payment. Down payment is signed that, yes, I do want to do this.
[22:40] Yes, I do want to go through with this. Yes, I plan to go through with this. You make the down payment, and then you make payments from then on. But when you make that down payment, you sign those documents, they're sealed.
[22:54] That house, that car is yours. You may still be paying on it for a while to the bank and stuff, but when you walk out that day, you take the car with you. You sign the ones on the house, you can walk into that house and now claim it as yours.
[23:09] It's yours. He says, the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance. We have a guarantee by God himself that we have an inheritance that we are going to get.
[23:26] You say, I thought I had it already. You do, because the Holy Spirit made the down payment. You're going through this life. Holy Spirit, God going with you.
[23:39] I will never leave these when I forsake thee. I'm with you in the whole thing. But when we get to heaven, we get to see the whole fruition. We have a home in heaven waiting for us.
[23:50] We have riches beyond what we can possibly imagine. We have everything of God's because we are joint heirs with him. Which brings me to the second point, the covenant of sonship.
[24:03] One of the provisions is the covenant of sonship. We've been talking about covenants and this and then in Sunday school and stuff. God has made us a promise.
[24:14] He says, you ask Jesus Christ to come into your life. You have a promise from me that the Holy Spirit will come. He will seal you.
[24:25] He will be the earnest of what I'm planning to do. You know for sure, 100%, that you have a home in heaven. And I'm going to be there to help you every step of the way because I'm your dad.
[24:38] Whoa. Think about that. We are becoming adult. We're becoming what God wants us to be.
[24:49] We're living life according to what he has. And he says, you're an heir. Romans 8, 17. Romans 8, 17.
[25:00] One of my favorite verses. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
[25:15] He says, you are an heir of God. You are a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Just stop and dwell on that for a minute. I'm an heir of God.
[25:26] A joint heir with Jesus Christ. What in the world does that mean to me? It should mean everything. The world can offer me all kinds of money.
[25:37] We were talking earlier this morning. Some of us back there were talking about Elon Musk. Supposed to be worth 400 and some odd billion dollars. That's nothing.
[25:50] I am a joint heir with Jesus Christ. I'm an heir of God. That 400 and whatever billion dollars that he has is a drop in the bucket to what God owns.
[26:04] And he says, you're an heir. You have access. Why do we pray? Why do we go to God? We want his direction. We want him to understand. We want his understanding of the situation.
[26:17] So he would give it to us. So we understand what's going on. But we go to him because he can handle anything. He can take care of anything. He can afford anything.
[26:28] He can do anything. And we go to him as a child. We go to our dad and ask for his help. The earnest of the spirit is God's promise to us.
[26:40] The earnest of the spirit is the fact that we are a child of God. And one day we're going to receive the fullness of the adoption. The fullness of the inheritance.
[26:52] Thank God we've been adopted. Thank God we're a part of his family. See, when a child's adopted, think about what happens.
[27:05] Usually they spend some time with the family. Usually they spend some time, you know, getting to know people and stuff. Getting to know each other. And when an adoption takes place, the child wants to be a part of the family.
[27:17] And the family wants the child. They're choosing each other. God says, I want you all to be a part of my family. But you have to choose. Are you willing to choose me to be a part of my family?
[27:31] He says, I want to have you. I want you to be a part. And he says, to show you how much I want you to be a part of my family, I sent my own son to pay the price. I sent my own son.
[27:43] So he paid the price for you to be able to be a part of my family. That's how much I want you in it. Wow. You know, as Christians, so many times, I think we sit back and we just kind of, yep, I'm saved.
[27:59] Yep. Isn't that good? Isn't that great? Yep. Yep. Yep. I am a child of God. Joined here with Jesus Christ.
[28:11] I have been chosen to be a part. He sent Jesus Christ to pay the price. All I have to do is accept the fact that he wants me to be a part of his family.
[28:24] It's all in my court. What do I want? And who in their right mind does not want to be a child of God, to be a part of God's family?
[28:37] You know, it just amazes me how many people just let that opportunity go by. They don't care that they could be a part of God's family.
[28:48] God asks us, he says, here's the opportunity. Here's what has been done. Here's what's been taken care of.
[29:00] And here's what will happen afterwards. If you choose to become part of my family, here's what's going to happen afterwards. Would you like to be a part of my family? If you do, take what Jesus Christ did, accept it, make it a part of your life, and you can be a part of my family.
[29:20] Is there anything easier than that? But so many people let it pass by. You, this morning here as Christians, you understand that you are a child of God.
[29:36] A child of the King. Last week we sang a song, Child of the King. I guess we're going to do it again. Going back and forth between two, I think I'm going to go with that one.
[29:49] Thank you.