We are in Galatians chapter three.
If you would like to turn there. Galatians chapter three. Like all problems that happen
in the church, It's always a man's opinion. It's a man's opinion,
and not the truth. Truth doesn't cause the problem.
Man causes the problem. Truth will set you free. That's
what Christ does. He sets his people free. But
when a man doesn't like the truth, and that opinion contradicts
the truth, that causes a problem. That causes a problem. Well,
a problem has arised here in Galatians The Church of Galatia. And as we heard the first hour,
we use the same text versus. So we already know what that's
going to say. But I'm gonna read it a minute. But Paul's clarifying
some things about this issue. And I love the fact that in studying
this every time that there is a problem, I'm always the problem. Can you agree with that? Can
you understand how that Mindset works because that's that's how
it always seems like in life. It's like I'm the problem and
it's true because we're in the flesh. We're sinners, but Paul's
telling these men No, just because you're Jew doesn't that doesn't
mean you're God's chosen people unto salvation You're God's chosen
people under the old covenant law. You're the God's chosen
people to receive the promise You're the God's chosen people
that the seed of the Savior would come through the Messiah, but
that's it. It's not unto salvation and And then they thought that
they were the circumcision of Abraham because they were actually
circumcised. And Paul's clarifying, saying,
no, this is all spiritually speaking. This is a metaphor. This is a
mystery. It's not something that we can understand or see with
our own eyes. It's something that's done in
the heart. Ain't that what the Lord told the children of Israel?
He said, circumcise of the heart. He said, not the outward side. He says, it's the circumcision
of the heart that the Lord does. As I said, the first hour, and
there's going to be some echoes of the first hour's message,
and that's OK. If you're anything like me, you need to hear it
again and again so we don't forget. But when we begin to look on
outward things as part, or as evidence of salvation, we're
not looking to Christ. You can't be looking to Christ
and looking to self at the same time. It's not possible. It's
not possible. Either we're looking to Christ,
we're trusting in his grace, resting in his finished work,
believing on him by his faith bestowed, or we're looking to
ourself as some part of our salvation. Some part of our salvation. That's
what Paul's getting across here to these people. It means we've
missed Christ if we're looking to ourself. We've missed him.
And he is salvation. So missing him is missing salvation.
This is what Paul's pointing out. So let's read this, Galatians
3 verse 26. There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female,
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then
are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. I've
titled this message, Who Are God's Children? Who Are God's
Children? And if you look at verse 26 again,
it says, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Ye are all the children by faith
in Christ Jesus. I'd like to ask us three questions this morning.
Who are the children of God? Why are they the children of
God? And how are they the children of God? And in answering those
three, I pray the Lord will show us who his children are. Why
they're his children and how they're his children. Our world
in general has a false hope that everyone is a child of God. We're
all God's children. And God loves everybody. And
Jesus died for everybody. And this is not true. It's not
true. Christ died for his people. God
loves his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and all those found in
Christ. That's who God loves. God's love
is very conditional. God's love is not unconditional.
God's love is completely conditioned on the Lord Jesus Christ. I've
got to be found in him. Not having my own righteousness
which is of the law, we heard the first hour, but the righteousness
which is by the faith, the faithfulness, the faith established by the
Lord Jesus Christ, freely bestowed upon the Lord's people by grace.
That's our hope. That's our hope. Everyone is not children of God.
Jesus Christ did not make a way in order for everyone to be saved. Christ is the way of salvation
to his people. He said, all that the Father
give me shall come to me. And he that cometh to me, I'll
in no wise cast out. Remember earlier, I said the Lord doesn't
turn away a mercy beggar. He that cometh to me, I'll in no
wise cast out. He promised, if you need Christ, come to him.
He said, I won't cast you out. I won't cast you out. Well, how
do we know that God doesn't love everybody? Well, Romans 9 tells
us clearly, when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even our
father Isaac, for the children not yet being born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand not of works, but of him that calleth.
It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it
is written, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Jacob, have
I loved? Esau, have I hated? Somebody
said, well, he's talking about the nation Jacob and the nation or
the nation Israel. No, he's talking about Jacob
and Esau. He hated Esau. Why? He didn't choose to love
him. He's God. It was his choice. will naturally hate us if we
are in sin, because he hates sin. He hates iniquity. He's
a God of hate, perfect holy hatred, just as he's a God of perfect
holy love. You can't have God one way. Many of his attributes are beautiful
and of themselves. If there's ever a gospel that
is preached that changes an attribute of God, it's not the gospel.
It's not the gospel. That's what Paul's saying here.
You're now saying that the blood of Christ is not enough because
you need to be circumcised. Or you're saying because they're
Gentile and they're not Jew, they're not good enough. Paul
says it's neither Jew nor Greek. It's neither the religious, it's
neither the educated, it's neither circumcision that availeth anything.
It's Christ is all. That's the message. That's the
message. I heard somebody say, well, he
loves the sinner and he hates the sin. No, he hates the sinner.
He hates the sinner. The soul that sins shall die.
He hates the sinner. You say, well, I thought that
Lord has to show us we're a sinner. Yeah, he sure does. But does
he not also show you the Savior when he shows you that? Which
means he sees you in Christ, which means he's always seen
you in Christ and never seen you as a sinner. That's the point.
That's the gospel. You've never seen my sin? No.
No, it's gone. It's gone. How do you know that?
Because he said, I cast it as far as the East is from the West,
never to be remembered again. He put it away. He's the only
one that can make something out of nothing. And the only one
that can make something absolutely disappear. He made sin vanish,
gone. He paid the price. The sin would
be taken, be remitted. Who are the children of God?
They're the elect of God, elect of the Father given to the Son
before time ever began for the purpose of redeeming them. John
3.35 says, the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things
into his hand. I've already quoted this once,
but all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and he that
cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. Who are the children
of God? Those who were given to Jesus Christ before time ever
began. Those who were elected by the
Father, those who were chosen unto redemption, those who were
predestinated unto eternal life by the Lord before time ever
began. To further the point I'm trying
to make here about the Lord not loving everybody, or everybody's
not the Lord's children, the Bible itself is not written to
everyone. The Bible is a love letter from
our Heavenly Father to His people. This is God's word to His people. This is a lamp unto our feet,
a light unto our path. There's a our, there's a us,
and there's a them. Who are the us's? The one that God has called
us to believe. We get no glory in it. And who's
the them? The ones that God leaves to themselves. That's the them.
In 1 John, chapter two, it starts out, John says, my little children,
I write unto you. Who's the little children? I
just told us the ones that God elected before time ever began.
Those are the little children of God. Those are the ones that
Jesus Christ loves. These are the ones that the Father
loves, my little children. And he says in John 3, one, behold,
what men are of love, the Father hath bestowed upon us that we
should be called the sons of God. Therefore, the world knoweth
us not because it knew him not. Well, if everybody's a child
of God, then why wouldn't the world know us not? Because everybody's
not the child of God. Those whom the Father loved.
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called the sons of God. The next part of
that says, brethren, now are we the sons of God. And it doth
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he
shall appear, we shall be made like him, for we shall see him
as he is. Now are we the sons of God, right now. Nothing has
to happen for us to be the children of God. If we're a child of God,
we've always been a child of God. He's the one that did that.
There's never been a time we weren't a child of God. Think
about that. You say, well, there was a time
I was dead in trespasses and sin. Absolutely, but that sin
had already been paid for. The Lord just didn't let you
know about it yet. You're seen in Christ, even in that moment.
Isn't that what David said? From my mother's, Lord knew me
in the womb. In the womb, the Lord knew me. Children of God are the elect
of God, by the choice of God, by the purpose of God, by the
power of God, and by the grace of God alone. It's his choice,
it's his power, it's his purpose, it's his will, and it's by his
grace alone. It's his grace alone. Brings us to our second question.
Why? Why are we the children of God? We talked about elections, sure,
we talked about those are the ones that are, but why are we
the children of God? Well, I think I just said it
by saying it was according to his determinate counsel, according
to his will, before time ever began. Some may say because I'm
a good person, is that why I'm a child of God? Maybe I don't
do this, or maybe I don't do that. I don't go here, I don't
go there. Maybe I go to church more. Maybe I read my Bible more.
A lot of people believe these things. I say that often because
it's very, very true. And it's very predominant in
this society that we live in. People look for outward evidences
all around themselves to justify themselves before God, even though
they don't have a clue who God is. No, I'm not a child of God
because of something I did. And that's the point. Why am
I a child of God? It's nothing that I've done. It's everything
he has done. It's not in my choosing, it's
in His choosing. It's not in my death, it's His death. It's
not my righteousness, it's His righteousness, freely bestowed
by grace. Scripture's clear, there's none
righteous but God, and they that are in the flesh cannot please
God. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. The flesh
is utterly sinful, completely worthless when it comes to spiritual
things. Pertaining to spiritual things,
we can't do anything spiritually with these hands. Can't, everything
I touch I defile, why? Because the flesh, flesh is enmity
against God. That means it's hostile towards
God. I mean, if two countries are
hostile toward each other, they hate each other, there's no love
there. Flesh hates God, that's what he's saying. If we can look at ourself and
find one reason that God should save us, we have a righteousness
outside of Christ. We can look at ourself and say,
okay, the Lord should save me because of this or because of
that. But do you know who doesn't do
that? The Lord's children. The Lord's children say, unworthy,
unclean, have mercy on me, the sinner. I see no reason in myself
why you should save me. I cannot obligate you. I cannot
restrain you. I cannot constrain you. My only
hope is free grace. Here's your grace, that's it.
That's what the Lord's children are made to say. So why are we, God's elect, the
children of God? Because of his determinant counsel,
because of his purpose, because of his own will and grace given
to his people before time ever began. He chose to predestinate
his people to the adoption of children. Turn with me to Ephesians
chapter one, one book over. I hope we're able to enter into
this because this is glorious. Ephesians 1 verse
3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. First thing I want
to point out is that word hath. Anytime you're reading your Bible
and you see the word hath, that means something that's already
happened. God hath blessed us, past tense, already done, with
all spiritual blessings, all of them, all of them, in Christ
Jesus. Already, we've already been given
all the blessings in Christ right now. according as He had chosen
us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will. to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace." See, God didn't
just elect a people and then leave them to themselves. No,
He predestinated them to the adoption of children. He predestinated
them to be conformed to His image. He said, I'm gonna make you perfect.
I'm gonna make you holy. That's what He's talking about
here. that we should be holy and without blame before him.
When? Right now. Right now we're the sons of God.
Right now we're holy and without blame before him in love. How
is that possible? Well, because we have redemption through his
blood. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to what? The riches of his grace. This is the children of God we're
talking about here. This is God's chosen people. He loves, and I love this, his
adopted children, he loves them equally. That means, do you know
parents, you ask a parent, which child do you love the most? Most
parents will give you the answer, well, I love them all the same.
Well, one that's sick usually is the one we love the most.
I mean, Regulus gets the most attention. But truth be told, some parents,
they have favorites. I came from a house that had
some favoritism. It was kind of difficult as a
kid. And I wasn't the favorite. I was the one that didn't listen.
Strong will, had an opinion, not good, you can't do that.
But the point I'm making is God doesn't look at you and love
you based upon you. He doesn't look at me and love
me based upon me. This is good news because he doesn't have
a favorite when he looks at you and I. His favorite's the Lord
Jesus Christ and when he sees us, he sees the Lord Jesus Christ,
so we're his favorite. Do you understand that? He doesn't
have favorites. Plural, he has one favorite, it's the Lord Jesus
Christ and he sees his people. as the very righteousness of
Jesus Christ because of what he accomplished on the cross.
That's the benefit. He talked about the spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. That's the benefit of what Christ
accomplished. That's the benefit of being a
child of God. That's what his children get
to enjoy, being righteous right now, being holy right now, being
justified right now. Not in this flesh, not what you
see, but in the new man, created in righteousness and true holiness. Our Lord loves each and every
one of his chosen people as much as he loves his son because he
sees his people in his son. Perfect love, it's a perfect
love. Therefore he predestinated us,
or I guess I should say because he predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of his son. That's why we bear his image
before the Father. You know what that means? All the blessings,
I talked about spiritual blessings in heavenly places, all the blessings
that Christ received of His Father, the Lord has given to His people
also. The Lord has given to His people also. Is Christ not heir
of everything because of who He is, being the Son of God?
He is, isn't He? You know what we are? Heirs of God and joint
heirs with Jesus Christ. I want you to think about that
for a second. Turn with me to Romans chapter eight. I'll show you
that. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Jesus Christ. You mean whatever the Lord's
gonna get, I'm gonna get? And what is it that you want? Him. Just him, that's all. He's the
reward, I don't want anything else. Romans 8, verse 14 says, For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear. Now that bondage is talking about
the law. Remember the law puts you under bondage, the curse?
We looked at that a few weeks ago. But you have received the
spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. 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. For I reckon the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of
the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
but by reason of him who hath subjected the same hope, because
the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption unto the glorious liberty of the children of God. This is what the Lord accomplished.
Your heirs of God and joint heirs of Jesus Christ, you have been
delivered from the bondage of sin, the bondage of the law,
the bondage of Satan, and the bondage of self. Now you can't
see that yet because we're still in this flesh. But one of these
days, we're going to lay this corpse down that we have carried
on our back, this creature of dust. is gonna go back to the
dust and we're gonna awaken his likeness. That's why he said
the glory that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy with the glory that shall be revealed. It's in there now.
It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's gonna be revealed.
What a glorious day that'll be. We're joint heirs with Jesus
Christ. What is his inheritance? What
is it that he doesn't own? He owns everything. You know,
I used to say this, uh, probably said it here a couple of times.
He owns the scripture says he owns the cattle of a thousand hills.
And being from the South, we always said he owns the taters
in the hills too. He owns it all. He owns it all. And we are
joint heirs with him. He alone is our salvation. He alone is our righteousness
and our justification. Cautions 3, 4 tells us, when
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear
with him in glory. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then ye shall also appear with him in glory. When we lay down this corpse,
we'll see him as he is, we'll be conformed to his image, we
will appear we will be glorified." That's what you were reading
about, Al. He said, Lord, Father, give me the same glory I had
with you before the world ever began. He just got done saying,
I've glorified you, and I've glorified them with the same
glory. Think about that. He's going to glorify his people.
Well, we're glorified now. We just can't see it. We're in
Christ now. You're glorified. But we haven't
experienced it yet. This is what he did for his elect
people, Children, I go back to Galatians 3 with me. So who are the children of God?
They're the elect of God, chosen of the Lord before time ever
began and given to Christ in the covenant of grace. Why are
they the elect of God? Because God predestinated them
to be to the adoption of sons by his own good pleasure and
will. Let's read this 26 through 29 again to get some understanding
before we give our last point. For ye 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 nor female. For ye are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if ye so, if ye be Christ,
then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. The last question I have for
us is how are we the children of God? How are we the children
of God? become a child of God? How can
a sinner be a child of God? How can that which is unclean
be made clean? How can the unjust be made righteous? Job 25 verse 4 says, how then
can a man be justified with God, or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? always prompts a response to
the natural man. The natural man says, well, maybe
I should do something. Is that not the natural man's
response? Maybe I should do something. Maybe I should choose God, or
maybe I should try to do this more. Maybe I should do that
more. Maybe live a good Christian life. You ever heard that one?
Maybe I should go to church more, read my Bible more. Maybe I should
start dedicating myself more to God. That's the fatal error of false
religions, what that is. Who does that point to? It always
points to self. It always points, it doesn't
point to Christ. We are the children of God by
grace alone. We are the children of God by
his choice. We are the children of God by his, uh, his finished
work on the cross of Calvary. We're the children of God by
his resurrection. We're the children of God because we were placed
in Christ before time ever began. We are not the children of God
based upon what we do. We're the children of God based
upon what he has done. When he was made sin for his
people, we were made the righteousness of God in him. You know what
the scripture says in Romans chapter eight verse one? I quote
this often, I know I do, but I love this verse. There is now
therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Are you in Christ? You are if
you're his child. You're in Christ Jesus right
now. Therefore, there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
You know why? Because you don't walk after
the flesh anymore. You walk after the spirit. He's not saying if
you walk after the flesh, then you won't have, you'll be condemned. Or if you walk after the spirit,
you won't be condemned. That's not what he's saying. You don't
walk after the flesh because the Lord's given you a new man
and a new nature that looks to him. That believes on him. Believes
in perfect righteousness and true holiness. It looks to him
in all things. Now most cannot realize the blood
actually accomplished something. The blood actually accomplished
something. Men, somehow, the twisted lie
of our adversary, even from the garden, is you could be God,
but men believe they can make the blood of Christ effectual.
And the blood of Christ is effectual now. It doesn't need our help.
As a matter of fact, if we do anything to it, attempt to do
that, we're discarding it. It's all we're doing. We're just
discarding it. The blood's never been offered to a man. It was
offered to God. When the substitute, our glorious substitute surety
soul was made an offering for sin. He bore our iniquity in
his own body upon the tree. He took our sin, nailing them
to his cross, taking them out of the way. He blotted out the
handwriting of ordinances that were against us, that was contrary
to us. You know what Scripture tells us in Hebrews chapter one,
when he had by himself purged our sin, he sat down, he sat
down. This is what he accomplished,
God was satisfied. Brethren rejoice, what he accomplished
that day means now we are the children of God because we are
in Christ Jesus right now. By the death, burial, and resurrection
of our glorious Lord and Savior, we have been now, by His will,
we've been born again of His Spirit, been sanctified by His
Spirit, been justified by His blood, by His death. The law
can't say anything to us. Paul's saying, don't go to the
law. You're missing the whole point. We're children of God
right now. You're trying to do something on top of that. Don't
do it. There's nothing we can do to add to that. You're the
child of God right now. Notice that what faith does really
quickly. For you are all the children
of God by faith. in Christ Jesus. Now sometimes
the scripture says by faith in Christ Jesus and sometimes it
says by the faith of Christ. Faith comes from Christ. He's
the source of it. He's the sum and substance of
it. Faith always looks to Christ. It never looks to self. It never
examines self. It never determines anything about self. It always
looks to Christ. So if you have faith in Christ,
that's because he's given you the faith of Christ to have faith
in Christ. Faith always looks to him. It
doesn't look to self. If you have this faith, he's
saying here, it's because you are the children of God. You
don't get faith to become anything. Understand what I'm saying here.
If you receive faith, it's because you have already been saved in
the covenant of grace before time, you were saved on the cross
of Calvary, and you're saved in time whenever he comes to
you, the needy sinner, and calls you by his grace out of darkness
into light when you're born again. He gives faith that just believes
him alone. So faith is not the cause of salvation. Faith is not the cause of your
child. are you becoming a child of God? Faith is the result that
you are a child of God. So it's not that we have faith
in Christ, then we become a child of God. It's that we are his
children chosen in the covenant of grace. Therefore, he gives
us faith in Christ Jesus alone for our salvation. Who are the children of God?
Well, those that God elected and gave to Christ before time
ever began, before time ever began, by his own will, by his
own purpose, by his determinant counsel and foreknowledge. Why
are we the children of God? Well, he predestinated us to
be conformed to the image of Christ. He predestinated us to
the adoption of sons. Rob and I were talking about
before service, he purposed to graft us in. Graft us in. I thought about that for a minute. I've never done much grafting,
but I know what it is. You take one plant. You do it
a lot with apple trees around here. You take an apple tree,
and you cut off one limb of the apple tree, and you put it on
another apple tree. You cut off another limb from
that one, and then you put that one on that one. And you graft them together. And
what happens? Well, it produces a new fruit, some kind of new fruit.
But is it the branch that gets any glory of itself? Is the branch
like, look at this fruit I have produced? No, it comes from the
vine. It comes from the trunk. It comes from the roots. See,
this is the glorious part of this God's salvation. Everything
he requires, he must provide. And he provides everything in
his son, the true vine. He said, I'm the true vine. You
are the branches. This is the children of God I'm talking about
here. That's what we are by the Lord's finished work. Who are the children of God?
Those that God elected and gave to Christ before time. Why are
they the children of God? Because God predestinated them
to the adoption of sons. Scripture says, by his own will
begat he us. By his own will. Begat, word
begat. That's that adoption. That's
that, Glorious, our Heavenly Father, gloriously choosing us,
making us alive. How? That was the last one. How are we the children of God?
Well, by the successful finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
by his precious blood that was shed on Calvary's cross, by him
satisfying the demands of God, satisfying the law, satisfying
justice, we have now been made the sons and daughters of God. By grace alone, by grace alone. Now these that have been given
the gift of faith. If you've been given the gift
of faith, he's saying here, for ye are the children of God by
faith in Christ. So if you've been given this
faith, you're looking to Christ as all of your justification,
as all of your redemption, as all of your sanctification, as
all of your wisdom. That's what faith does. It looks to Christ
for everything. And if you have been given this faith and you
can say that Christ is all in my salvation, these words are
for you. We're gonna read this again in
closing. I want you to, this is for you.
those who've been given the faith to believe Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 26, for ye 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
nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be
Christ's, then ye are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. That's what it means to be a
child of God. Be an heir of God. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for your word. We pray that you bless it to
understanding for your glory in Christ's name. Amen. In closing, let's turn to number
475 redeemed. Let's stand together. Redeemed how I love to proclaim
it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed through His
infinite mercy, a child and forever I am. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus
No language my rapture can tell I know that the light of His
presence With me doth continually dwell Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child and forevermore