Actually, I'm going to start
reading in Galatians chapter 3, starting in verse 26 and go
to verse 6 of the fourth chapter of Galatians. Let's look at that
this morning. Obviously, Paul writing to the
church at Galatia, the sheep, the bride, the remnant, For you
are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be
Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. Now I say that the heir, as long
as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be
Lord of all. but is under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the father. 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. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Abba, Father. As we look a little
closer at this section in Galatians, the last part of chapter 3 and
the first part of chapter 4, it becomes evident that there
is no hierarchy in the church of God. Now there are varying
gifts, and we recognize those as we can. For the apostle says
in verse 28, you are all one in Christ Jesus. And like I say,
we have differing gifts, differing abilities, but we are all one
in Christ. And just a thought here, If we
could get a handle on this, if we could receive this by the
Holy Spirit of grace, what unity there would be in the church,
what togetherness, what mutual respect for each other would
be experienced. Why is there so much discord?
Why so much love of many seems to be waxing cold these days?
Why so much strife, conflict within the very Church of God?
Well, the rottenness of this flesh. The rottenness of this
flesh, this old man who will never get any better, who will
always want his way, he always wants self first, I was reading,
I can't remember, maybe Henry, anyway, it was about Demas, and
that needs to be a warning to us. And he said, you know, Paul
said, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present evil
world. And one reason why it grieved Paul, and Henry said,
I know a little bit about this, and I do as well, as we all do. We have people whom we've loved,
and then they're no more. They come, and then they don't,
you know, for whatever reason, having loved the present evil
world. Maybe a job sounded better. So
they got promoted where the gospel wasn't preached. He gave several examples, but I
did think it was very interesting. One of the last things he said
is Demas just couldn't get over Demas. Maybe he wanted to secure
funds from the church for himself, and he wanted a large number
of people so he'd compromise the gospel. Whatever the situation
was, He forsook the gospel. He loved the present world. The
world pulls at everyone. So this is our flesh. But if
we can see one another in Christ Jesus, that will end strife,
that will promote love, unity, and peace in his bride, in his
church. We are to be servants one of
another. Now Paul builds on this. He says,
you are all one in Christ. You are all one in Christ. He
builds upon this. Look at some of the words, wording
that he used. Verse 29, and if you be Christ,
then are you Abraham's seed and heirs. You're heirs together
of the grace of God. And these heirs, this is according
to promise. So all believers have this in
common. We're heirs. And it's all by
his grace, which we'll see later. Well, look at what he says then
again in verses one through five of chapter four of Galatians.
I say that the heir, as long as he's a child, differs nothing
from a servant, but he's under tutors. He says, so we were children
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 adoption. Adoption of sons and daughters. Adoption. We're sons and daughters
of the grace of God. We have this in common. That's
the unity when we gather together. It's more than just an outward
going through the motions. I hope that's not the case, but
it's a true, vital link, union, abiding with Christ, desiring
to gather together because we're adopted in the same family. And
I'm not talking about those who don't preach the gospel, and
Paul dealt with that earlier. But, and then look in verse four,
he settles once and for all how we were redeemed. 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. In the fullness of time, was that your time? Or God's
time? Did you decide? Did you decide? Did you walk an aisle? Were you
baptized when you were a baby? Well, I bet when you were sprinkled. Did you decide? Did you decide? Was this fullness of time was
come God? He initiated the whole thing.
This whole thing of salvation is an initiation By God, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We didn't initiate anything. We'll see this a little bit later.
Not ours, not our time, not once we decided for Jesus. God chose
us in Christ. He chose the time. He chose the
place in time, and he chose the means in time, and he got himself
all glory. He got himself all the glory.
Now we, by free and sovereign grace in our beloved, are the
sons and daughters adopted. He uses that word adopted in
several places in the scripture, many places actually. Purely
by unmerited favor, we were adopted purely by undeserved kindness,
We are adopted purely by unconditional generosity. Not of us. No. By exclusively God sending
His only begotten Son. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth His Son. That's how we're redeemed. We're
not redeemed by Muhammad. We're not redeemed by Joseph
Smith. We're not redeemed by any other. There's one name.
Oh, that's Christianity. Well, yeah, we just, by the Holy
Spirit, this is the only religion. You know, we can have many, there's
many, many gods, the scripture says, but there's only one true
God. But now I want us to peek into the particular glory of
the gospel of grace and that's found as we're going to be for
the rest of the services verse six. Let us peek in the particular
glory of the gospel of God's grace and note there's no glory
in ourselves or in any but giving all glory honor and praise to
him. Look at how this starts verse
six and because you are sons Because you are sons, I have
several questions. Did anyone here choose to be
born? You're all sons, and you could
say daughters, female believers, sons and daughters. Did anyone
here choose to be born? Did anyone choose what gender
you were gonna be? Did we even decide who our parents
were? No. That, I guess in a nutshell,
is the gospel of the grace of God. He did all the work. He sent you the gospel. He caused
you to believe the gospel, caused you to repent, be baptized, and
follow the gospel wherever it is, wherever it's preached, wherever
it's housed. No, but now, because we are sons
and daughters, and he says in 2 Thessalonians, God hath from
the beginning chosen you. He hath from the beginning chosen
you because you are sons. God has sent forth his spirit.
We see the Trinity in this verse. God sent forth the spirit of
his son. The Trinity is usually never
very far away from these teachings of the Scripture. And because,
this is the glory of God, because you are sons, how did you become
a son? By the grace of God. He redeemed. He redeemed. He redeemed. The whole Trinity is involved
in our salvation unto life. Now look with me a little bit
in this verse a little bit more specifically. Because you are sons, God has
sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying
Abba Father. And what I like about this is
there's no words wasted. We talk and we talk and we talk. There's no words wasted. This
is all under inspiration. God the Spirit. He is called
the Spirit of Christ for He comes to us from Christ. His office,
the Spirit, is to testify of Christ. He is to glorify the
Son and show the things of Christ to us. John chapter 16. John
chapter 16. Verses 13 and 14. John chapter 16, verse 13 and
14, talking to the Spirit. How be it when He, the Spirit
of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall
not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He
speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me,
for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it to you. He, the Holy Spirit, is also
said to convince us of sin, convince us of our need of righteousness,
and gives us a correct sight of Christ and His judgment. John
chapter 14. I think I messed this one up. Yeah, it's back in John 16. I went through these this morning.
John 16, verses 7 through 11. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It is expedient for you that I go away, says Christ.
For if I go not away, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will not come
unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him, he comes from Christ, send him unto you. And when he has
come, he will reprove the world of sin. and of righteousness
and of judgment, verse nine, of sin, because they believe
not on me, of righteousness, because I go to my father and
you see me no more, of judgment, because the prince of this world
is judged. So the first thing in our, the
second thing in our text in verse six of Galatians four, and because
you are sons, that wasn't done by yourself. It was done by the
outside agency. God sent forth the Spirit of
His Son. God the Spirit. And look at what
it says. Of His Son into your hearts crying.
Then He gives us a cry. A cry. to continually cry after
our Heavenly Father. Just as every healthy child cries
after its mother, so does the healthy newborn believing soul
cry after Jehovah God. And this is very important. People
try to separate a believer and prayer. You can't do it. If you
don't pray, you're not a believer. There's no conversion. Turn with
me to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9, just one example. Acts chapter 9, starting in verse
1, the conversion of Saul. And Saul, or Paul, yet breathing
out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the
Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters of
Damascus to the synagogue that he found of any of this way,
the way of the gospel, the way of the truth, whether they were
men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And
as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there
shined right about him a light from heaven. He fell to the earth,
and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is
hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling
and astonished, said, Lord, what will you have me to do? You see,
his will is already bending to the will of the Son. That's what
conversion is. It's acquiescing. a bending, he makes us willing
in a day of his power. This is what we see here. And
he trembled. He says, what will you have me to do? And the Lord
said, arise, go to the city and it shall be told thee what thou
must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing
a voice, but seeing no man and saw a rose from the earth. And
when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they led him
by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days
without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. And there was
a certain disciple, Damascus, named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a
vision, Ananias. And he said, Lord, here am I.
Another acquiesce to the Lord's will. And the Lord said unto
him, arise and go into the street, which is called Straight, and
inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For, behold, He prays. Don't know what to do? Turn television
off. Don't know what to do? Put away
that good book, not this good book, and pray. And pray. Every converted soul will and
does pray unto God and Christ. As I said, and I was reading
some commentator, and they said, no prayer, no conversion. because
the heart prayer shows a new birth has occurred. A new birth
has occurred. Where does God put this cry?
This is important as well. I guess you could say this is
almost, not the steps, I'm not gonna say that, but this is opening
of the glory of God and salvation, how God saves a sinner. Look
at what he says back in our text in Galatians. And because you
are sons, not of yourself, not of our, we are doing, God sent
forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, into your hearts,
always where it is needed most, where grace, faith, and hope,
and love, and all true religion is centered, in the heart. Talk
is cheap. Solomon said, my son, give me
your heart. My son, give me your heart. Turn
with me to 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse
27. 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 27. This is Samuel's prayer to the
Lord. For thou, O Lord, verse 27, of
hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will
build thee a house. I'm sorry, this is David. Therefore
hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto
thee. And it doesn't have to be a long,
massive, Lord save me ere I perish, Lord help. These are just classic.
Spirit-led prayers And in Luke we don't have to
turn there but in Luke chapter 18 in verse 1 well, let's turn
there Luke chapter 1 I'm sorry Luke chapter 18 18 in verse 1 And Christ spake a parable unto
them, to this end, that men ought always to pray and not faint." You can pretty well tell how
well we're doing spiritually by how often we pray. I will
say that from experience. And look at verse 7 of the same
chapter. And shall not God avenge His own elect which cry, that's
what we're talking about, He gives us a cry, Day and night
unto him, though he bear long with them. Cry day and night.
That's prayer. That's prayer. Fourthly, what a glorious and
honest, precious cry it is. Look at what he says back in
our text in Galatians. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying
Abba, Father. I wish I had the wherewithal,
the articulate ability to say what this is. It's Father, Father. That's what Abba is. It's Father,
Father. We see the same cry in Romans
8.15. You don't have to turn there,
I'll read it to you. Romans 8.15 But you have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father, the spirit itself bearing
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. That's
what amazing. We do not, we cry, Abba, Father. We do not cry to an angel. We
do not pray to an archangel. We do not pray to the saints.
We do not pray to another person born of a woman. We pray to God,
the Father, blessed forever. We cry, Abba, Father. Who cries this? We. We, the children of God. sinners born that way we While
we were ungodly we proud self-absorbed we enemies of the grace of God
and his darling sons, but now We're made fully aware of our
sin nature. We're crying for mercy from the
father of mercy Abba father Abba father this is this is the life
of a believer. Always? 100%? But, just as, I was reading an
article by somebody today, he said, we're all different, just
like snowflakes, you know, they're all supposed to be different,
we all have different personalities, but this is a general, this is
what a believer will do. Why? Because we're all the children
of God by faith, in Christ Jesus, in a singular, a particular person
who did for us what we could never do for ourselves, satisfied
the law, honored justice. By the shedding of blood, there
is forgiveness of sins. Abba Father. This cry, Abba Father,
says Luther, overcomes the horrible cries of the law, sin, death,
and the devil, and it pierces the clouds and the heavens and
ascends up into the ears of God. And I add, he hears it. Why does he hear it? Because
he put it there. He put it, he put that cry in
our hearts. Now, in closing, the happy conclusion
of this whole matter. Verse 7, Wherefore, man, woman, boy, and girl who
trusts Christ, believes in Him, and will not have anything else
to reign, thou art no more a servant, but a son, a daughter, And if
a son, then an heir of God through Christ, the heir receives all
the blessings. It's as though God, when he will
bless us in heaven, it's like we're the only ones there. It's
like we have his attention. And when we pray, we have his
attention. And the hundreds of thousands of elect are praying,
but he hears specific prayers. And he will bless us with the
benefits that we have in Christ are right. And it's like there's
nobody, it's like it's just... I'll never forget, we tried to,
this is the only example I can think of, we tried forever to
get Henry to come and preach. Years and years and years, and
he was always too busy, had something going on. Then he retired, and
he came out here two years in a row. And when I talked with
him and fellowshiped with him, He made me feel like I had never
missed a day. I've never experienced that before,
but it was, I had his undivided attention. I had questions, had
four pages of questions, and he sat down and answered every
question, every question spiritually, scripturally, but he made me
feel as though I didn't miss anything he had said before.
That's a small way, our Lord, but He delights
to hear His people. He delights because He's put
that Spirit in us. We cry, Abba, Father, Father,
Father. And we're all one in Christ.
May the Lord bless us to see one another in Christ, to act
like, to believe, to trust him, and not be self-serving. Because this work, whether I'm
up here or somebody else, this work is so much more important
than me. But we're together. We're sheep. Sheep gather together. They like
to gather together. They're gregarious creatures.
And we surely are. And when we go out on our own,
that's when danger is going to happen. Well, Lord bless the
reading of those words. Bruce, would you close us, please?