The Inheritance of Sonship

[0:00] Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your provisions for us. You have granted us the free gift of salvation at the cost of your Son on the cross of Calvary. We thank you for adopting us as your sons and daughters.

[0:13] We thank you for providing our basic needs of food and shelter. Lord of the universe, today we are mindful that those who have been devastated by fire.

[0:24] May you comfort them and be with them in a special way. We pray for rain to extinguish these fires that are plaguing our province and our country and elsewhere. We pray for those who are suffering the ravages of war and we pray that peace would reign in their hearts.

[0:40] We also pray that you would reign in the hearts and minds of world leaders that peace would reign in their lands. Most important of all, we pray that you would reign in our hearts and minds so that we may truly live as your sons and daughters.

[0:55] These things we pray in the precious name of the Prince of Peace, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Earlier this summer, I preached a series of sermons on sonship based on Romans 8.

[1:09] And first of all, we looked at the freedom of sonship. The first we preached, I preached on freedom of sonship from the first part of Romans 8. We've been set free from bondage to the law, from bondage to sin, bondage to death, and bondage to fear.

[1:25] Then we looked at the promise of sonship from the middle part. And we've written the reason for sonship that it was necessary because the sin and decay had entered the world. Then we looked at the hope of sonship, that redemption of our bodies.

[1:38] And then we also looked at the present reality of sonship, the presence of the Holy Spirit in life. And then the third sermon on Romans 8 was the victory of sonship, where we learned that through the power of God, we can overcome hardship and disaster, sin and temptation, persecution and tribulation.

[2:00] Now, we're going into a different passage in Galatians. And I'll read that right now.

[2:11] Galatians chapter 3, verse 27, 26, sorry, to chapter 4, verse 7. So in Christ Jesus, you were all children of God through faith.

[2:22] For all of you were baptized into Christ. Have floated yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free. Nor is there male and female, for you all want and crush Jesus.

[2:33] If you belong to Christ, then you're Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. What I'm saying is, as long as an heir is underage, he's no different from a slave, though he owns a whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.

[2:47] So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when this set time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the adoption to sonship.

[3:03] Because you were sons, God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, the spirit who cries out, Abba, Father. So you're no longer a slave, but God's child.

[3:15] And since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Look at different aspects of sonship here. First, I want to look at the unity of sonship. First, it begins with, we are all sons.

[3:29] You're all children of God through faith. All of us who have confessed Jesus Christ to Lord and Savior are sons of God. And then it continues on.

[3:42] For you are baptized into Christ, or clove yourself with Christ. Not this summer, but the summer before. I really learned the kind of thing with baptism. And the analogy kind of struck home to me.

[3:54] The analogy of baptism with a wedding kind of thing. Because, yes, you can, you don't have to have a big wedding in order to get married.

[4:08] In some case, in our society, you can just move in together. And people will, some way, will consider that the same thing. But there's a lot to be gained by going before family and friends, gathering in church, or something like that, to celebrate your love for one another.

[4:26] The same thing is true with baptism. You can be a Christian if you confess Christ as Savior and Lord without being baptized. But there's a lot to be gathered, gained, by getting in front of family and friends, and confessing your love for Christ.

[4:42] He said, this summer that was brought home to me in a fair. I was called back to the last church I served, because there was a couple that wanted to get married. Interesting enough, they'd been living together for years.

[4:54] But they'd become Christians, and they decided they should get married. They'd even had a legal ceremony. So, in the eyes of the law, they were married. But they still wanted to get married in the church, in front of family and friends, to show their love for one another.

[5:11] So, I did that. I sort of did it. An unofficial, but official, marriage ceremony. There was no legal thing to it, but they were married.

[5:22] In the course of talking over with them, premarital counseling kind of thing and stuff, I talked with them about the idea of baptism, and they expressed some interest.

[5:33] And when I was called back to that church a little while later, because I heard that somebody wanted to get baptized. And it wasn't at all a surprise that it was the husband. He wanted to get baptized.

[5:45] And also heard that they wanted to dedicate their children. They'd had twin girls. So, I baptized Gage, and it was kind of nice.

[5:59] And then, just as I was about to get out of the water, his wife came running up to the front, and she wanted to get baptized as well. So, I said, take off your shoes and climb in.

[6:13] And I baptized her. And then, later, that same service, I dedicated their children and some others in the church. You see, they knew that just living together wasn't enough.

[6:30] That having a nice, quiet ceremony wasn't enough. They wanted to get married in front of everybody. And they knew that just saying in private, they accepted Christ as Lord and Savior wasn't enough.

[6:42] They wanted to get baptized in front of family and friends. It's very important to testify before others what Christ has done for us. Very important.

[6:55] The verse continues about unity. Verse 28 is a very often quoted verse. There's neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor there's male and female, for you're all one in Christ.

[7:08] And think about who said that. Obviously, Paul, and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But think about that. Paul had been raised in an atmosphere of Jewish exclusiveness.

[7:22] In fact, he was a Pharisee. And you know what the term Pharisee actually means? It means separated ones. Pharisees lived apart from everyone else so that they could live in strict observance of the law.

[7:37] And they shunned everyone that wasn't that. Wasn't strictly. And yet Paul came and said, No, neither Jew nor Gentile nor slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus.

[7:52] Yes, all the barriers that would normally divide people are brought down. We're all one in Christ. Ephesians 2.15 says, By setting aside in flesh the law with its commands and regulations, his purpose was to create in himself one humanity out of the two, thus making peace.

[8:11] All distinctions are wiped out in Christ. All distinctions should be wiped out, period. I mentioned 40 years of ordination.

[8:24] I preached in some interesting churches. One of the ones was a black church. It's very interesting when you're the only white face in the congregation and you're in charge.

[8:37] Really interesting. But aren't... And that... That people are people. Everywhere. We shouldn't exclude people because they don't like us.

[8:50] That's why it struck me as terrible that people were making comments that Kamala Harris was somewhat unqualified because she's not a white male.

[9:02] I mean, what? We know... We've... In Alberta, we've embraced the idea of female leadership. In fact, on last election, we didn't have any choice. We had to elect a female as our premier whether we wanted to or not.

[9:19] You know, we should all... These barriers should not be part of our life. They're ridiculous. They make no sense at all. We're all one in Christ and we should be one period.

[9:33] And we also want to talk about the transformation of sonship. And I'll talk about... He says, for I'm not saying as long as an heir is underage, there's no difference for slave although he owns a whole estate.

[9:47] See, in Jewish and Roman and much of society back then, there was a distinction made between when you were a child and when you were an adult.

[9:59] They usually had ceremonies to mark these occasions. And it talks about guardians and trustees. Under Roman law, a son, even though he was heir to the whole estate, was subject to a guardian until he was 14 and a trustee until he was 25.

[10:18] Even though he had... He was heir to an incredible fortune, he still could not make any legal decisions. Same was somewhat true today, but not quite. In courts of law, sometimes they do listen to children, but we still...

[10:33] We don't have the marked time of like... At different times, you know, like at 16, you can get a license, but at 18, you can vote and so on. And that varies...

[10:45] Things like that vary from province to province and so on. We don't have those clear distinctions, but there then they did. And there's also a clear distinction between a slave and a son. What he's saying is if you were not...

[11:00] If you hadn't confessed Christ as Savior and Lord, you're in a sense still a slave under the law. But by confessing Christ as Savior and Lord, you became a son. And there was a radical transformation.

[11:13] There is no more radical transformation there can be from a slave to a son. It's an incredible transformation. And what Paul is saying too then, here is that sons should not live as slaves.

[11:31] One of the things that strikes me is in the parable, what's called the parable of the prodigal son. In some ways, it might be called the parable of the older brother. The older brother, when he's waiting outside talking to his father while the son is enjoying the banquet, and he says, he says to his father, all these years I've served you and I haven't gotten a fatted calf or anything.

[11:56] And the father says to him, all I had was yours. Mentioned that he divided up his things when this younger son asked. The older son made the mistake of living like a slave when he was a son.

[12:11] And we must never make that mistake. We do not lead to live under slavery and to the law, the rules and regulations, all those kind of things because we're sons.

[12:23] And as mentioned before, all of us are sons. Neither male nor female because we're all sons. All of us had the full inheritance. Back then, only males could inherit. That's why Paul is clearly saying, using the term sons.

[12:37] Talked about the unity of our sonship, the transformation of the sonship. Now I want to talk about the proof of our sonship. Romans 8, 14 says, for those who are led by the spirit of God are children of God.

[12:50] We're children of God. And because we're children, we can err. He says in verse 6, because of Galatians chapter 4, verse 6, because you are sons, God sent the spirit of his sons into our hearts, the spirit who cries out, Abba, Father.

[13:08] Very interesting term. It's what he also used in Romans 8. We've talked about it there. Abba. Abba was a very term that Jesus used in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was a cry of the heart.

[13:22] The cry of, you know, really when he's praying out to Father, if it's possible, take this from me. And it's more like he's saying, Dad, I don't want this.

[13:34] But not my will, but yours be done. It's a prayerful cry of the heart. Romans 8, 15 says, the spirit you receive does not make you slave, so you live in fear again.

[13:45] Rather, the spirit you receive brought about your adoption of sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father. That great cry. And it's that by the Holy Spirit, we can call out to God as Father.

[14:01] Romans 8, 26 says, in the same way, the spirit helps us as a weakness because we do not know what we ought to pray for. But the spirit himself intercedes for us with wordless groans. Prayerful cry of the heart.

[14:13] It's interesting to read through the Old Testament. Even the great saints of God never addressed God as Father. Moses, who spoke with God face to face.

[14:26] Abraham, who was called the friend of God. And David, who was called the man after God's own heart, never addressed God as Father. But when Jesus came, he came as the Son of God to make his sons.

[14:42] And how did he tell us to pray? Our Father in Heaven. Amazing. We can come close to God.

[14:53] In the Old Testament, there was all these barriers. You had to make all the appropriate sacrifices. And only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies. And not only once a year after making sacrifices for himself.

[15:04] But when Jesus was crucified, that barrier was ripped apart from the top to bottom so that all of us could approach God. We can get so close to God.

[15:16] Reminded the story of a, during the time of Abraham Lincoln, there was one soldier who'd been wounded and trying to get in touch with the president.

[15:27] And he was barred, totally barred. And he was talking and he happened to be talking to a young man. He says, well, talking about his problems. And the young man said to him, said, follow me.

[15:38] Okay. He followed him and went right into the thing. And then, as soon as they got into the, into the Oval Office, Lincoln said, what's your problem, son?

[15:51] See, the son was able to go before his father that the soldier could not. But we can go before the father because of what the son has done for us.

[16:03] We can get close to God. We are all part of the family of God. The barriers that divide us can, should disappear. We've been transformed from slaves to sons.

[16:18] And we have the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide and empower us. Let us live of sons. I preached three sermons on sonship. I got one more coming up later on in August.

[16:30] And after that, there'll be a test. And there's a very simple test. I won't be administering it. But the test is whether or not you're actually going to live as sons and daughters of God.

[16:45] That's the test. And that's all that really matters. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the awesome privilege of being your sons and daughters. Help us to live as your children.

[16:57] For it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[17:09] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[17:20] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.