Have you ever considered royalty? Now, we see since the queen died in England
that now there's a new king. But have you ever considered
what it would be like to be royalty? We are what the royals used to
call peasants, right? Back in the days. But you know,
that's really not what we are. Do you know that I'm looking at
a bunch of royal people? I'm looking at royalty. I'm looking at heirs of God. in joint heirs with Jesus Christ. I'm looking at people who like
me would be called peasants by those who in the world are called
royalty. And here we are, the richest
people in the world. We have far more riches than
anyone in Christ. We have a boundless amount of
riches, spiritual blessings. Not like the name it and claim
it false teachers say, but justification. We've been redeemed by the blood
of the lamb. We've been purchased, we're now
heirs of God. Purchased by the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if one is part of a royal
family, it's a great honor, isn't it? It's a great honor to be
part of a royal family. And here we are, God's people,
part of a royal family. We don't have an earthly king,
do we? We have a heavenly king, far
more important than any earthly king in this world, who sits
far above any earthly king in this world. Turn, if you would,
to Revelation chapter 1. We are the body of Christ. We
are the born-again, blood-washed saints of God. Do you know what
we call a royal priesthood? A chosen people? And you know,
we have no claim to the royalty that's being bestowed upon us.
We have absolutely no claim to it. We weren't born royalty, were
we? No, we're born dead in trespasses and sins. But we were heirs and didn't
even know it. We had no clue who we were. And we don't have any idea who
the rest of the elect are, do we? Therefore the gospel is preached
and goes forth, and God saves whom he wills. My, oh my, look at this in Revelation
chapter 1, verses 4 to 8. John to the seven churches which
are in Asia. Grace be unto you and peace from
him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from
the seven spirits before his throne. So who do we serve? We serve the one who is, who
was, and is, and is to come. That's who we serve. We serve
the king of kings and the lord of lords. We're adopted children
of God. The royalty of royalty. That's
what he is, isn't he? He's the king of all kings, right?
He's the king of kings and the lord of lords. He's royalty like
no other. It says, and from Jesus Christ,
who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the
dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Look at that.
Unto him that loved us. How long has he loved us for?
For eternity. What did he do to manifest his
love? He redeemed us. He washed us
from all our sins, beloved, in his precious, precious blood.
It says this, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, given
his own life. and hath made us kings and priests.
We poor little sinners, yeah, kings and priests, unto God and
his father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. Behold, he cometh with the clouds,
he's coming again. We don't know when, we don't
know the hour of the day. I don't even look for signs,
I just know he's coming. He's coming again. He says here,
Behold, He cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him.
Every single eye. There won't be one that doesn't
see Him. Saved and lost, they're going to see Him. And they also
have pierced Him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail
because of Him. They're going to say, Oh, cover us from the
wrath of the Lamb. They're going to ask the mountains
to fall down upon them to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb. I like what one commentator said,
he said the first time he came as a lamb, the second time he
comes as a lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah. My oh my. It says I am the alpha and the
omega, this is Christ speaking. The beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come,
the Almighty. Look at this one, Revelation
1, 6. And hath made us kings and priests unto God. We're royalty,
beloved. We don't even know it. We don't
feel it, do we? We know we're not worthy of it. It's not something
we sought after. And even so, we still don't feel
that way, do we? But we're heirs of God. Isn't
that amazing? That's amazing. And it's God. Notice it's God. We don't make
ourselves this. It's God who made us kings and priests. It's
God who's made us that, not us. Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter
chapter 2. You know, earthly royal families are made up of
people who are born into a royal family, right? Or one marries into the royal
family, but they become a duchess or a duke. But the royal family
really is the ones who are born into that family. But we belong to a royal family
that's not of this world. We belong to a heavenly royal
family. We belong to the royal family
of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That's who we
belong to. We're His. Look at this in 1
Peter chapter 2, verses 9 and 10. But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people. that ye should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light." Where were we when God called us? Darkness. We see it right there,
right? Were we saying, God, get me out
of this darkness? No. We were loving the darkness. God, notice it says God called
us out? God did it. He did it. He called
us out of that darkness. We ran to Christ, didn't we?
But only because he called us out of that darkness. Isn't that
wonderful? It's all him. Salvation's of the Lord. It's
all him. And look at that, a chosen people,
a chosen generation. So on this earth, I remember
reading Robert Hawker and he said, he said, we are, out of
our generation, we're chosen by God. Isn't that amazing? We're chosen by God. It's absolutely
amazing. Chosen by a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Peculiar people. Why? That we should show forth
the praises of Him. That we should glorify Him, beloved.
We who never glorified Him before, now we glorify our great God.
We worship Him. We give Him all the glory. Because
we saw that it all belongs to him, right? In Revelation 1,
6, and he hath made us kings and priests unto God and his
Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. All the
glory goes to you, Lord. And then look in verse 10 of
1 Peter chapter 2. Look at this. Which in times
past were not a people. You remember before we were saved?
We didn't know God, did we? We had no idea who he was. We
had no clue. Turn if you would to Galatians
chapter 4. I'm going to bring this out. I brought it out in
Sunday school, and it's fitting right here. Because look at that.
It says there, which in times past were not a people, but are
now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but have
now obtained mercy. Look at this in Galatians chapter
4. Look at verses 8 and 9 of chapter 4. What Paul's doing,
he's writing to Galatians, and they're being bewitched by the
Judaizers. And he's going to tell them what
they were in the past. He's going to bring forth what they were
in the past. How about then when ye knew not God, ye did service
unto God, which were by nature, or which by nature are no gods?
See that word new, not God? That means not aware or to be
aware. We weren't aware of who God was. So he's bringing forth by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God again. In the Greek, it's idol, which
means to be aware. So we were not aware of God.
We didn't know him. We had no idea who he was. Now
look at verse 9. But now, after that ye have known
God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak
and beggary elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
See the word known twice in this, right? But after that ye have
known God, or rather are known of God. More importantly, right?
We know God, but more importantly, he knows us. Now, we would think that's the
same word, but actually, in the Greek, that word there, known,
is gnoska. And it means to become aware
of, to know, and to know in an intimate way. Now we know God
in an intimate way. We never knew him before. We
weren't even aware of him before. So what Paul's saying to the
Galatians is, you cooked up all these gods of your imagination.
You didn't know the one true living God. But now, now you
know him. Why do you want to go back under
that legalistic bondage? Because the Judaizers were trying
to bring him back under the law. Why? So you have one word, Aido, which
means to be unaware, or to be aware, we had no clue. And then
you have Gnoska, which means to know intimately. Isn't that
amazing? Now we know God. But more importantly,
he knew us, he knows us. Intimately. And now we know him. It's wonderful. Makes you want
to shout. And look at verse, let's go back
to 1 Peter, verses Verse 10 in chapter 2. And look at this. Brings even more light to this
verse. Which in times past were not a people. A people who weren't
even aware of God. Right? But are now a people of
God. He's always known us, but we
didn't know Him. Until we were born again. Now
we know Him. We're given faith, now we know
him, right? But are now the people of God, which had not obtained
mercy, but have now obtained mercy. We were dead in trespasses
and sins. Now, I ask you, beloved of God,
have we not obtained mercy in and through the Lord Jesus Christ?
Has God not been merciful to us? Oh, more than we could ever
measure. More than we could ever measure,
beloved. And see there, back there in
verse 9 of 1 Peter, chapter 2, it says a royal priesthood. Do
you know what that means? It means royal in the Greek.
But it means this, belonging to, appointed. Appointed. Belonging to. And it says this,
suitable for the king. That ties in with Colossians
where it says we're made fit. We're made meet. which means
qualified, which means fit in the Greek, qualified and fit
to be in the presence of God. In and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's just wonderful. Just wonderful. So let that sink
in for us. We are members of the royal family,
God's royal family. And we're not in this family
by birth, but we're appointed by God from eternity to be in
this family. Isn't that wonderful? Has nothing
to do with our doing. As a matter of fact, in our natural
state, we were like, I don't want nothing to do with that.
I don't want nothing to do with God. And here we find out that God's
appointed us to be part of his royal family. in Christ and through
Christ. That's the most important part
right there. In Christ and through Christ and by the shedding of
his precious, precious blood to redeem our souls. Oh my. Now some families, some
royal families in this world can be quite snobby, can't they?
A lot of the royals are actually kind of snobby people. They kind
of look down at everybody else. Not God's people. Not God's people. We say, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. We say, I don't get what I deserve. I've received mercy. And this
high privilege comes from God and God alone. We're sinners
saved by grace, by the mercy of God. We've obtained mercy
now, haven't we? We've obtained mercy, and we know it. We have
no right to be in this royal family based upon anything we
think, say, or do, do we? Nothing. But it pleased God to
send his son to save us from our sins, and we had no clue
we were his. No clue at all. And we are now
made suitable to be in the King's presence by the blood and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Suitable to be in the presence
of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Isn't that amazing? Sinners, such as we. It's a miracle
of God, beloved. It's a miracle of grace. Clothed in the royal righteousness. That's what Christ, Christ's
righteousness is royal righteousness. He's the son of the King. And
we're clothed in his righteousness. And the father sees us and he
says, he's mine or she's mine. They're robed in the righteousness
of my son. Oh, my. And who puts a robe on
us, beloved? God and God alone, Christ. He's
the one who puts a robe on us. Isn't it wonderful? Oh, now on Earth, there's only
a few that are born to royal families. When you consider the
percentage of people who are royalty on this Earth, it's only
a few. But when you consider the amount
of people who are in this family, it's a number that no man can
number. Isn't that wonderful? and of
every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. We have three nations
here represented today. We have Canada with Annie and
I, we have France with Brother Daniel, and we have the U.S.
There's three nations right there that God's, you're mine. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful. My, so the royal
family of God is, It's a number that no man can
number. Scripture tells us. And you know, out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation, God has a people. Isn't that
wonderful? There's no Jew or Gentile. We're all the family
of God. It's amazing. When we get the glory, there'll
be people from every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. Can you imagine
what that's going to be like? And we'll all be saying, worthy is
the Lamb. We'll all be shouting. who washed
us in his own blood. My, what a king. What a savior. And we're kings and priests before
God, beloved. And all those who the Father
gave Christ are appointed by our great God to be clothed in
the royal righteousness of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Word of God incarnate. And we're adopted into the family
of God. And each child of God, born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and granted
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, will be drawn by
an irresistible power of God, the Holy Spirit. We're all part
of this royal family, no matter what our standing is in this
world. And we're all equal. We're all
equal. You ever hear someone say, well,
yeah, when I get to heaven, I'm going to have a shack and try
to be real humble. I'm just going to have a shack
in the corner and it's not going to be a whole lot. We all say,
receive the same reward Christ. We're all roped in the same righteousness,
the righteousness of Christ. All the blood-washed saints of
God have the same standing before God, and that's only in Christ. Oh my. So how can sinful men
and women like you and I become the sons of God? How do we enter
into this glorious relationship? We're not the sons of God by
nature. By nature, we're dead in trespasses and sins because
we fell in Adam. But it's true that we've been
heirs of God from eternity. Scripture brings that forth in
Galatians chapter four. In God's mind, in his sovereign
plan, we were heirs. But that which, always remember
that which God has purposed and planned must come to pass in
time. That's why we live in this world.
That's why God invented time. So that his redemptive plan could
be worked out. See, Christ was outside of time
and space, wasn't He? As the Word of God. He entered
into time and space. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth His Son. Where did He send Him from? Heaven.
He sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem us out from under the law. Galatians chapter 4. So we have no ability to save
ourselves. We cannot make ourselves the
sons of God. We've got no power. We're strengthless. We're destitute. We're beggars. And it's wrong for someone to
say that we have the power to make ourselves the sons of God,
because we don't. We don't. God must make us that. Listen to this, what the scripture
brings forth in Ephesians 2, 3. It says, you are by nature
children of wrath, even as others. That was our state. That's how we came into this
world. And in the epistle of John, or the apostle John says
in his first epistle, he says, the children of God are manifest
in the children of the devil, whosoever does not righteousness
is not of God. So all of us by nature are born
dead in trespasses and sins and unable, unable to save ourselves. Children of wrath, sin is hereditary,
runs in the family of Adam, and all of us are sons and daughters
of Adam. The apostle says, in this condition
and conduct and state, Jew and Gentile, we lived and walked
in the lusts of flesh, being bound up by our sin with no hope. With no hope. We fulfilled the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, And the reason we did this? Because
we were the children of wrath by nature. Our sin. That's our biggest problem. Is our sin. Even after we're saved. Right? You still struggle with sin?
You sin more than you want? Yeah, we do, don't we? Oh, we
do. But we're thankful that we're
forgiven, aren't we? We who are the people of God.
We're so thankful we're forgiven. So how then does this mighty
change come upon men? How do we go from being children
of wrath by nature to being called the sons of God? You must be born again. You must be. You must be born
again. Galatians 3.26 says, You are
all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, Of him
are ye in Christ Jesus. John 1.12 says, As many as receive
Christ to them, give ye power or privilege to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name. You must be born
again, and that's an operation of God. That's nothing man does. That's an operation of God, isn't
it? God must do a spiritual operation on our hearts. Give us a new
heart. Not a physically new heart, but a new heart that hungers
and thirsts after righteousness, after God. And God's people were part of
the body of Christ. He's the head, and we're the
body. And we're united in him. We're
one in him. And when God looks at Christ,
he sees no spot, right? So when he looks at those who
are the body of Christ, we're part of him, aren't we now? We're
his body. He's the head. and wear the body,
and us being clothed in his spotless righteousness, God sees no fault
and no blame. Born again by the Holy Spirit
of God, given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed
in the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ, and God says, I don't
see no sin in him. I don't see no sin in her. They're covered in my son's righteousness. All I see is Christ. Isn't that wonderful? What a
salvation. What wonderful news for sinners. What wonderful news for sinners.
In our natural state, did we know anything about God's family,
about being kings and priests? We didn't know nothing, did we?
We had no idea. Even when our Lord first saved
us, we didn't have no idea we were kings and priests, did we?
We were just like, oh Lord, praise you, you saved me. And then as
we grow in grace and the knowledge of Him, we learn more of what
He's done for us. And it's remarkable. It's absolutely
remarkable. And it's all in the Scriptures.
It's nowhere else. Some man tries to tell you something
that's not in the Scriptures, or a woman, say that ain't in
the Scriptures, I'm not going to believe that. Or if somebody tries to tell
you something, where is it here? I have a friend, I always ask him.
He gets a little upset with me, but that's okay. He'll be saying
something, popping off about something. I said, where is that
in the scriptures? When you find it, bring it back, show me, and
I'll believe it. Right? We were talking one time
about altar calls. This is just, man will use anything,
right? And where's all the calls? He
said, when you find all the calls in the Bible, or you find men
praying a prayer to be saved, other than God be merciful to
me, the sinner, right, and follow along some man's prayer, and
you show me in Scripture, I'll believe it. He'd never been able
to show me in Scripture, because it's not there. See? It's not
there. So this is our, this, make sure
this is our final authority. If it's in here, we're going
to bow to it, aren't we? We're going to bow to it if it's in
here. If it's not in here, we'll just say, away with that. I want
nothing to do with that. Nothing to do with that at all. I've had the world pull over
my eyes too many times before I was saved, and sometimes even
after. Right? Because we take people
at their words, don't we? Until we find out if they're
right or wrong. Oh, my. So beware of the deceptive notion
that men and women are in heaven, even whether they have faith
in Christ or not. People say, well, that fellow, he was such
a good guy. He was such a good person. Surely
he's in heaven. Why? Why? Well, because they
were good. Well, there's none good. No,
not one. You know, I can say with confidence that Sister Kathy,
Brother Newell, and other saints that have went
on before us, Sister Marsha, I can say with confidence Brother
Jim, Brother Dan, Or Brother Richard,
I mean. Not Brother Dan. Sorry, Brother,
you're still with us. We're thankful. Brother Richard,
Sister Irene, they're in glory. Because they professed Christ. They professed Him. Now, only
God knows if it was real, but it sure looked real, didn't it?
Yeah. And they were resting and trusting
in Christ alone. But when someone's telling you
that you gotta do something to be saved, There's nothing we
have to do to be part of this royal family, beloved, but look
to Christ. Anytime someone's telling you
you gotta do something, they're lying to you. I'm telling you,
they're lying to you. They're telling you that you
have to do something to be saved. I don't care what it is, I don't
care how small it is or how big it is, it's a lie from the pit
of hell. Salvation is of the Lord, period. It's all Him. It's all Him. Nothing based upon
what we've done. Nothing at all. My oh my. They're none good. I'm
just a sinner saved by grace. That's all. And God is the creator
of all mankind. He created all things. He's the
great first cause of all things. There's a lot of secondary causes
that happen in this world, but he's the first cause of all things.
Except, you know, he didn't create evil. Religious people or people in
the world will say, well, how come God let sin happen? Well, because it was all part
of his redemptive plan. But he wasn't the author of it. No. He's full of grace and mercy. Full of grace and mercy. And
he allowed that to happen, he allowed the fall to happen, that
we might be redeemed, beloved. Because otherwise we'd have perished
in our sins. How merciful is God, not only
to save we who believe here, But all the elect of all the
ages, a number that no one can number, all because it pleased
him to do so. My, my, oh, my. God is so good. So being born
into a so-called Christian family can't make you part of the body
of Christ. Repeating a prayer cannot make
you a child of God. Following the Romans road cannot
make you a child of God. You must be born again. That's it. You must be born again. If you're born again, then you
believe. Then you're going to rest and trust in Christ. And
we who are the redeemed, we who are born again, will tell you
that one minute we didn't believe, And the next minute we did. By
the grace and mercy of God, that's what it was. One second I was
dead in sin, the next second I was alive in Christ by being
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And I didn't even ask
for it to happen. Did you? God did it, didn't he? Isn't
that wonderful? And you know when we do cry out,
God save me? Well, the Spirit's already done
His work. He's already done His work. You
must be born again. The Lord didn't say you must
have faith first. He said you must be born again. And then
you're going to have faith. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Isn't that wonderful? See, what
we preach here What we preach here leaves nothing for man.
And that's what man doesn't like. Because it wounds their pride.
Surely there's something for me to do. No, there's not. Just
look and live. And if you look savingly, it's
because God's done a work in you. It's wonderful. Well, surely it can't be that
simple. My daughter asked me, it can't be that simple, Dad.
I'm like, yeah, it is. Just look, just look to Christ. May God give you the grace to
look to Christ. She goes, is that simple? I said, yeah. I
said, men complicate it, don't we? Men complicate things. We
think we have to do something to be saved, but we don't. We
need to just look to Christ. He's done it all. If there was
something for us to do, God never would have sent his son, right?
Why would he need to then? If there was something we could
do to save ourselves, God the Son would have never come. But
because we have no ability, because we're strengthless, because we're
destitute, because we're beggars, mercy beggars, God sent his Son
to save us from all our sins. Oh my. And we had to hold fast to the
doctrine of Christ and salvation in Him and Him alone for sinners,
by a perfect, complete, sin-atoning work performed by Him and Him
alone. The Lord Jesus Christ did it
all. And that's what we're going to
remember today, too, when we partake of the Lord's Supper.
We're all going to be, all of us, all of you, and me too, we'll
be testifying, Lord, you did it all. You did it all. My oh my. You know, there's no inheritance
of glory without sonship of God, without the sonship of God. There's
no sonship to God without a saving interest in Christ. There's no
saving interest in Christ without personal faith in Christ, which
is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. That's God's truth right there.
That's God's truth. We're not to move from that.
That's why we don't have people bow their head and repeat a prayer
or walk an aisle. That's why we don't do that stuff.
That's why the call to come to Christ is in the message. When
you hear me say, flee to Christ, that's the call, right? That
goes out to everyone. That's called the general call.
The preacher given the general call. And you know what? God
makes it effectual. I can't do nothing. All I can
do is trumpet the message out. God saved me, he can save you
if you look to him. And all who will look to him will live. And he's able, he's able to save. Ask yourself, ask yourself today,
are you truly acquainted with Christ? Are you united with Christ
in your heart? It's a searching question, but
it's a good question, isn't it? Who are you trusting in? Are
you trusting in something you've done? Or are you just hesitating
and thinking, well, you know, maybe tomorrow. What if tomorrow
never comes? Right? My oh my. I remember when, after the Lord saved me. You've
heard me tell this story before. I went around telling folks,
the Lord saved me. And they said, well, you were saved before when
you were at that church there. And I said, no, I wasn't. No,
I wasn't. And he said, sure you were. And
I said, am I not the only one who knows if I was saved or lost?
Yeah. And I said, I wasn't saved. But
now I am. Now I am. Oh, I was religious
but lost. My, oh, my. There are lots of
folks in the squalor in that situation, isn't there? You must
be born again. You must be born again. My oh
my. So ask yourself again whether
you're truly acquainted with Christ, united with him in your
hearts. If not, you may be very sure
that you're not an heir of God. You're not yet born again. You're yet in your sins. God's
your creator, but you're not yet reconciled to him. He's not your pardoning father.
But oh my, if you know him, remember to know him, if you can know
him, because he's revealed himself
to you. Oh my, rejoice, beloved. Rejoice. You're part of the royal
family. You're part of a chosen generation.
You're a people redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. You're an
heir of salvation. My. Turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. You know the sinner? The sinner
who comes to Christ For forgiveness of all their
sins, we'll find a forgiveness so great, so incredible, that
all your sins are forgiven. A pardon that you couldn't even
imagine, so great. A pardon so great. That's what
we've found, haven't we? We sinners who've come to Christ
by God's grace and mercy, we found a God ready to pardon. We found a merciful God. And
now we cry with Peter, we've obtained mercy. We cry with Paul,
we've obtained mercy. We've obtained mercy, beloved.
And we found acceptance acceptance by God in Christ, the forgiveness
of all our sins. And now we found out that we're
heirs of salvation, all according to God's grace. Kings and priests,
who would have imagined that a peasant like me could be such? But God says it's true. Are you still in awe? Are you
still in wonder that this is true? Look at this in Galatians
chapter 3, starting in verse 26 and we'll go to Galatians
4 verse 7. Now Paul's writing this again
to the Galatian church who've been dealing with Judaizers,
people who are trying to get them back under the Mosaic law.
or twist them under the Mosaic Law, that they would be in bondage,
saying that there's no salvation outside of it, along with Christ.
And Paul is holding forth justification by Christ alone. One of the five
solas of the Reformation. Justification by faith. In Christ,
right? In Christ alone. Look at this. And look at how he words this,
too. He's writing to these believers. They are being bewitched by the
heirs of the Judaizers. He's not saying, well, you're
a bunch of unbelievers now. Look what he tells them. For
ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. So
in his correction, he's not saying, well, you've been cast away.
No. He's reminding them again of
their high standing. in Christ. And this is an honor. For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. And again, he's writing to the
Galatian churches, so he's writing to specific people, born-again,
blood-washed believers. You're all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. There's the key there, right?
By faith, and there's the key, in Christ Jesus. For as many
of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Now look at this, I love this, verse 28. This just makes my
heart leap. This is so wonderful. There is neither Jew nor Gentile,
there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female,
for you are one in Christ Jesus. Isn't that wonderful? As I said
last week, people make differences by races, right? They say, oh,
this race and that race. Do you know, that's wrong. We're
the human race. That's what we are. No matter
what pigmentation of our skin is, we're the human race. That's
how God looks at us. Now, you say that, people go
squirrelly when you say that. But it's true. We're all humans. We just have different pigmentation
in our skin. That's all. That's all it is.
But look at this. Isn't this wonderful in Christ?
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. There's neither
Jew nor Greek. That's Jew or Gentile. There's
neither bond nor free. So there's neither slave or free
man. We're all free men, right? There's
neither male nor female. For you're all one in Christ
Jesus. We're his body, you see? All those distinctions that man
makes disappear in Christ. They just disappear. All the
dividing things that man makes just disappear in Christ. They're
gone. You know? There's in one of the,
I think it's in Colossians, he mentions the Scythians. The Scythians
were the worst of the worst barbarians. They drank blood out of the skulls
of their enemies after they killed them. They were just brutal. It says, Scythian, bond or free. There's some Scythians the Lord
saved. Oh my! That's mercy, beloved! That's
such mercy! Oh, we can't measure it. Oh,
so here we go. There's no, we're one in Christ.
That's what he's bringing forth is the unity that we have in
Christ. Now look at this. And if ye be Christ and ye are
Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. My oh my, he's telling us there,
we're spiritual Israel. That's amazing. Now look here,
here we go. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child,
differeth nothing from a servant. So the heir there, when we're
a child, which that is the state when we're in our natural state,
we're dead in trespasses and sins, we do not know Christ,
right? That's our natural state. But we're still called an heir.
It says, as long as he is a child, so when we're dead in trespasses
and sins, differing nothing from a servant, though he be Lord
of all. were heirs, we didn't know it, and you can't tell us
apart, you can't tell a sheep apart from a goat before they're
saved. There's just no way. But God
knows, doesn't he? God knows. He knows who's his. Look at that, though he be Lord
of all, though he be Lord of all, but as unto tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the Father. My, oh, my. Even so, when we were children,
we were in bondage under the elements of the world, that's
the law there. But when the fullness of time
was come, look at this, look at the mercy here. Now remember
I said time was invented by God so that his son could come into
this world to redeem us. Well he came in at the perfect
time. He came in not a second late, not a second early, but
at the fullness of time, because it says here, but when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth, where'd he come from? He came
from above, right? He came from heaven. He came
down to the sin-cursed world. I was listening to a sermon this
morning by David Pledger. He said something that was just
fantastic. He said, do you know the Lord can, the Lord, he can
relate to what we go through? He can relate to how this world
is. Do you ever think of that? You ever think of that? The Lord,
you know why? Because he was here. For 33 years,
David said, he walked this earth. He saw the cruelty of man. He
saw the depravity of man all around him. He's God. That's why it says he's touched
the feelings of our infirmities. He knows what we go through.
He's seen the pain and suffering. He's a man of souls acquainted
with grief. He came here to save us from our sins. And it says
here, but when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth,
God sent him forth, his son made of a woman, made under the law.
Why? To redeem them that were under
the law, that's us. We were under the law, we were
in bondage to the law. We were in bondage to our sins.
And he's, beloved, he's purchased us, he's redeemed us. And what
is that? Out from under the law. So does
the law have any claim on us if we're out from under the law?
We're free. And that's what Paul, in our
Sunday school, we're going to get to there in chapter 5, he's
going to tell them that you're absolutely free. Stand fast in
the liberty, the freedom, wherewith Christ hath made you free. And
be not again entangled with the yoke of bondage. We're free. We are the freest people in the
world. We can rejoice. We can rejoice, beloved. We can
be in the depths of despair and yet we can rejoice in the hope
that we have in Christ. Oh my. And what a hope we have. What a hope we have in Christ.
To redeem, that means to purchase us out from under the law. Now look at this. This is amazing.
And because ye are sons, So how long we been sons for? Well,
God chose us in eternity in Christ, but again, we needed to be redeemed,
didn't we? We needed to be redeemed out
from under the law. So that was purposed and planned
by God, comes to pass in time, right? Look at this. And because
you are a son, do you ever wonder why you're born again? And others
in your family might not be? What's because you're sons? What did God do? Look at this.
Sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying,
Abba Father. I said in Sunday School that
a couple weeks ago, Abba Father there, that's Greek and Hebrew.
Or Hebrew first and then Greek. That's Father, oh my Father. In two languages. In two languages. And now we cry, Abba, Father,
don't we? And look at this, wherefore thou art no more a servant, but
a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Your
royalty, beloved. Don't feel like it, do we? But
we are. We're part of the royal family of God. We weren't born
into it. We didn't deserve it. But God chose us. And we will
forever be in awe of that. Because it pleased him to do
so, the scripture says. That's wonderful. My, that's absolutely wonderful. All because it pleased him to
do so. God the Father is the source
of this grace and mercy. So marvel. That God should set
his affections on sinful men and women and admit us into his
family. All because of Christ. Is it
any wonder that the world doesn't understand us? Is it any wonder that they look
at us and go, what happened to those people? They don't understand. Because just like us, remember
Ido and Gnoska? We were unaware of who God was,
they're unaware of who God is. And when we tell them, now think
of this too, when we tell them of the one true living God, the
reason they recoil is because they've usually got a God of
their imagination, or they've made themselves their own God. Oh my. Now the Queen of England can
create a nobleman, right? And she can give, make a man
a knight. The King of England now, the
Queen's gone, but the King of England, he can create a nobleman,
he can make a knight. In religion, bishops can ordain
clergymen and priests. But think upon this, the queen,
religious, bishops, priests, all together, can all of their
own power make one a son of God. But God can do that. And he has. And he has. Only God and God
alone can take peasants and make us
royalty. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing. That's amazing grace. The man
or woman that call God their father and Christ their elder
brother, that man or woman, no matter how poor they are, no
matter how lowly they are in this life, never need be ashamed. Because as a child of the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords, They have received grace, mercy from the great God over all,
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Now they're part of
the royal family. What a miracle. What a miracle. Brother Brian, can