I mean, take your Bibles and
turn back with me to Galatians, Galatians chapter 4, Galatians
chapter 4. And as I was studying this again,
I could not help but know this letter is not exactly like the
other letters the apostle wrote. If you look at the book of Romans
or the book of Corinthians, they seem to be building on things. It was more of a reasonable letter. Matter of fact, the book of Romans
in some legal early 1800s or so, they were teaching logic
and reason from the book of Romans because how it builds on one
thing. But this book here is a message
of love and compassion. This is a message from the heart
of a pastor who is concerned about the congregation. You remember
the Judaizers had come in, this congregation where he says later
on, he said, when I came to you, you would have plucked out your
eyes for me. You love the gospel that I preached. And now soon after I've left,
these people have come in and turned this upside down, teaching
you a false gospel and you've received it. And now then I've
become your enemy. This is a very, a message of
love, a message of, of desire that they should turn. It was
a message of zeal from the apostle Paul. And so we may not see all
of the building blocks, but they are here. And tonight, I want
us to focus on this theme that he began back in verse 23. He says, but after faith has
come, we were kept under the law, shut up, unto faith that
should be afterwards revealed. Wherefore, the law is our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But after faith is come, we are no longer under schoolmaster,
for we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."
He's starting to give the theme here of those who are under the
covenant of promise. Those who are not under the covenant
of the law, but under the covenant of promise, Don't you know this,
that you are children of God? This is a message and a theme
of love and joy. Those who are under the law are
likened unto servants, slaves. But those of us who are under
the covenant of grace, we are not slaves. We are sons. See how much better it is to
be under the covenant of grace? He's showing the great benefit
of being under the covenant of grace. Being under the covenant
of law, you were under a schoolmaster. You were under, and we're going
to see, under tutors and governors. Under the elements of the world.
You're in bondage. If you're under the law, you're
in bondage. But those who are not under the
law are not under bondage. In fact, we are free sons, sons
of God. And so then when you take the
thought of justification, one who has been guilty has now been
justified before God. One has been guilty, has now
been set free, but Paul desires more earnestly to show the relationship
with God is more than just a master to a slave. He didn't just justify
you as a slave. He justified you and made you
a son. Made you a son of God. And so he says, for we are all
children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. How sweet is the sound
of that? Does that cause your heart to
be overfilled with joy that God says you're my children? How
do you feel about your children? How do you feel about those in
your, those little ones, those ones in your family? If you don't
have children, you have others have children. How do you feel?
They bring joy to your heart. This is how God feels about you.
You are his children, his children. So how sweet is this that Christ
has paid all to make us his children? How sweet is the blessed pardon
and forgiveness of sins, but how much sweeter is it to know
that God loved you so much that he made you a son. Made you a
son. We sing that song, sometimes
I'm a child of the king. Do you believe that? Do you believe that? Are you a child
of God? A son of God? Song says, With Jesus my Savior,
yes. Yes, in Christ my Savior, yes. I am a child of the King. So
tonight I want us to look at this concerning the adoption
of sons. The adoption of sons. Now let's
read in chapter 4 together. He says, Now I say. He's going
to continue this thought of sonship. He said, Now I say that an heir,
as long as he is a child, differeth 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 the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made under the
law, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
are under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons
in this text. Now Paul has in mind a Greek
or a Roman family when he's talking about this because he is speaking
to a Greek church. So they would understand something
about adoption, about adoption. And so you have this father,
keep this analogy in mind, there was a father and he had some
sons Here he adopted some sons, and in his will he had left them
everything, and then he died. And these little children, though
they're heir of everything the father gave them, as long as
they're children though, they could not receive it until the
time the father had willed it. There was a time that the father
would say the children should inherit everything, but until
that time he appointed rulers or governors, tutors over them
and they were just like every other child in the house. Now
the slaves had children just like the father had children. And what they did in these large
houses is that they put them all under the same rulers. So the slave children and the
heirs all work together. There's no difference between
them. And so that's what he has in
mind. And this is what we were before Christ came to us. We were like everyone else. Paul says, even so we. We were
just like that. Our Father had willed to give
us everything. Yet, when we came into this world, we were no different
than the slave children. By nature, we were no different.
Following after our lust, deceiving and being deceived. If you were
an elect and you were a Jewish child, you were under a schoolmaster,
which was the law. You were under the schoolmaster.
But if you were a Greek, you were under the law, which he
calls the elements of the world here. What is that law? It was
the law written in their hearts, written in our hearts. You see,
so the Jews had a law. And the Greeks had a law as well. And both were in bondage to those
laws. Law of Moses was never intended
for Greeks. It was never intended for the
Gentiles. It was intended only for the nation of Israel. But
yet the Greeks were not without a law. The Gentiles were not
without a law. They had a law. It was the law
written on their hearts. And yet Paul says, look, I don't
care if you were a Jewish, if you were an elect Jew or an elect
Gentile. You both were under tutors. You
both were in bondage under the law. And you were no different
than anyone else around you. We differed nothing. Look, that's
what he says. He differed nothing from a servant,
though he'd be heir of all. When we were lost, Was there
any difference between us and the others? Was there any difference in our
conduct, our righteousness, or our obedience that we should
merit the adoption of sons? No. Isaiah said, We all like
sheep have gone astray and turned everyone to his own way. In Ephesians 2, he said, and
you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
He said, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in time past. We
all had our conversation. In the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
This is what we were by nature, haters of God. Haters of God. Now listen, I
was raised on the gospel. When I was a kid, I think it
was seven years old when I first heard a gospel preacher. I was
about seven years old. And I've been hearing gospel
preachers, true gospel preachers, ever since that time. Did that
make me any different than anyone else in this world who had never
heard a gospel preacher? No, we all had our conversation
in time past under the lust of our flesh, serving the prince
of the power of the air, that spirit that worketh in the children
of disobedience. See, there's no difference. We
that have been saved, we know that there was no difference,
and yet, it was by the grace of God that he made us sons. You are a son of God. It is by
the grace and power of God that you are. The scriptures tell us there
is no difference between us and others. Why does it call us children
even when we are in bondage? Look at that in verse 3. It says,
even so, even so we, when we were children, were in bondage
under the elements of the world. We were children. The Jews were under the law of
Moses. The Greeks were under the law of conscience. Neither
could be freed from their law. We all were in bondage. Have
you noticed something about... I can't really tell any difference
between modern Christianity and worship of Zeus. You know why? Because modern Christianity,
what they have all in common with every other religion is
this, works. Modern religion is all about
earning favor with God. And that's not freeing, that's
bondage. Why? Because you can't ever earn
it. There's never an end to it. We
all were in bondage and yet, listen, even when we were in
bondage, what does He call us? He calls us children. We were
children even while we were in bondage under the elements of
the world. And so then, when did this take
place? When were you made a son? First of all, I want you to know
this, your adoption, your adoption has taken place in eternity. In eternity. According to the will and covenant
of God, God purposed that you be a son. If you are a son, deny
it. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, listen,
it is because God purposed it. God purposed it. We were children
of the King even before we knew we were children. We were adopted sons even though
there was no difference in us by nature. We were all fallen sons of Adam
just like everyone else. So the adoption of God then is
eternal and therefore it is a free act of God's grace that we are
sons. If you're a child of God, listen,
There is nothing you've done to earn it. It's God that willed it so. God
purposed it. Go to Ephesians chapter 1. You
see this most clearly here. We know we've read this multiple
times. Ephesians 1. Verse 4, according as he hath
chosen us in Christ. Paul said, I'm going to bless
God. I'm going to bless the Father. Why? because He's made me heir
of everything. He says give me all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He's made me an heir
of everything. Why? According, this is why,
according as He had chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. This is that will and testament
of God that you should be holy and without blame before Him.
That's the will of God. The will of God was to put you
in union with His Son and then Make you holy. That's the will
of God. What's his motivation? In love. In love. Why'd God do that for
you? Because he loved you. He loved
you. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. unto the adoption of children
by a very specific means. He's going to adopt you, He's
going to make you holy, He's going to make you a son. How? By Jesus Christ. By the work of another. Now why would He do that? According
to the good pleasure of His will. I don't know. Paul says, other
than I know the good pleasure of His will, I don't know any
other reason. According to the praise of the glory of His grace
wherein He, He did something, He hath made us accepted. Do you feel accepted? Go look in the mirror in the
morning and just say, oh, you accepted one. I can't see it. I can't see it
physically. I don't feel it often. Very rarely
do I feel accepted. That's alright, because He made
me accepted. He did that. Where? In Christ. He made me accepted in the Beloved.
Oh, the wonderful love of God that predestinated us, who are
such unworthy souls, predestinated us to be sons. predetermined,
preordained us to be sons. Oh, the love of God. If we with ink the ocean fill
and were the skies of parchment made, Every stalk on earth a
quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of
God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain
the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. The love of God, how deep. I don't know how much he loves
me. I don't know. You can't measure that kind of
love. However high the love of God
is, it never dips. It never changes. You say it
about your love. Our love changes with the wind,
doesn't it? Changes with the circumstance. If I'm having a
good circumstance, I might love you a lot. You do something wrong
to me, I might not love you so much. I don't dare judge God's
love base like that. If God ever loved me from eternity,
he will always love me to eternity. And he will never cease to love
me. And it was this love that took a son of Adam's fallen
race and determined to make us sons. This reveals His love. He made us accepted before ere
there was sin. God purposed that we should be
holy sons. This reveals to all men that
this adoption then is not based on merit of the child, but wholly
based on God's amazing grace. So when were you adopted? When
were you made a son? From eternity. Why were you made
a son? God willed it so. Out of love
He determined that I should be a son. Second of all, this adoption
always comes with a price. Adoption always comes with an
adoption price. All those who were adopted in
eternity, listen, were determined to be adopted by the same way,
by Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ. That is, all
that were chosen were chosen in Christ who was then made surety
for the sons. He was the only one by which
all of the elect should be made holy, justified. You that are
believers in sons, how were you justified? By what grounds may
you stand before God without sin? Jesus Christ. There's only one
ground for me. There's only one hope for me.
It is the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is the
one who came to pay the adoption price. So God determined this, but it
was not enough for God to determine it. Christ must actually do it. This price must actually Be paid. God talks about His will in Isaiah
46. He says, I'm God and there's
none else. There's none like me, declaring the end from the
beginning, from ancient times, the things that were not yet
done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. That's what God says about His
will. When God determines to do something, He says, I'm going
to do it. Whatever it is I've determined to do, I'll do it.
You remember he gave the illustration next about Cyrus calling a ravenous
bird from the east. I'm going to call a man that
doesn't know me. And I'm going to open the gates
of treasures for him, and I'm going to cause him to be king
over the whole known world. But I'm going to cause him to
do that for one reason, to save my people. And then he tells us that that
man Cyrus, he's gonna use him as a picture of Jesus Christ. He said, my righteousness is
not far off. My righteousness, what are you
talking about my righteousness? That's Christ. My salvation is
not far off. My righteousness shall come to
Zion. Isn't that what happened? When
Jesus Christ came into the world, He came where? He came to Zion,
just like God purposed. For Israel. God's going to save Israel, not
that physical nation, but His spiritual people. So what God
determined Christ to do, Christ must have come and done it. And
so it is with Christ God before determined to adopt his sons
in Jesus Christ being the means God appointed the time in which
he would come and fulfill that work. Look back at your text.
He says, but when the fullness of the time was come, when the fullness of the time
was come, what God do, he sent forth his son, made of a woman,
made under the law, for what purpose? To redeem, to receive,
made under the law, that we might receive, what? The adoption of
sons. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span at Calvary when Christ came into the world. See the
fullness of time is the appointed hour. The predestinated time that God
would send His Son and all that time from the fall of Adam until
the hour of His coming. Everything pointed to it. Every prophecy, every law, every
picture, all of it pointed to Him. Now
the Jews in the Old Testament, they believed in His coming.
They received the adoption of sons before He actually paid
the price. By faith they knew He was coming
to pay the price. And they believed in Him as He
was coming to pay the price. And I'll tell you this, when
he came, he came at the appointed time. And he came to do what? He came, he says he sent his
son at the appointed time, listen, made of a woman and made under
the law. Now why would this be written
here? Because when Christ, here we
have a view then of his condescension. The eternal son of God was come
to be made of a woman. Why is that vitally important?
Because we needed a man to redeem us. We needed a man to provide for
us righteousness and obedience to the law as a federal head. Why? Because that's how we fail.
That's how you fail. That's how we all fail, by a
federal head. How then should we be restored?
God said you're going to be restored by another federal head. Where
do you see that? Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter
5. So we see Christ was made of
a woman, why? That he should be our federal
head. This is how we were adopted, friends. This is how we were
made sons, by Jesus Christ. Look at Romans chapter five. Look at verse 12. If I ever get there. Romans chapter
five, verse 12. Wherefore is by one man, now
who's that? Wherefore as by Adam, a man,
sin entered into the world. What's the result? Death. Death
by sin. What does it have to do with
us? So death passed upon all men. Why? Why'd death come to
me? For all have sinned. Now listen,
death came upon you because of his sin. So when he sinned, we
all sinned. You understand that, right? It's
exactly what it's telling you. We all sinned in our federal
head. Now I think everything else is
a parenthesis down to verse 18. Look at verse 18. That's how sin came in the world,
that's how death came on us all, by a federal head. Therefore,
as by the offense of one judgment came unto all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one is a free gift unto all
men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. You see then how then we were
going to be adopted, how we were going to be holy, is by the work
of Jesus Christ, by a federal head. And so then, how was this
done? He was made of a woman. He was
made of the woman. This is to fulfill the promise
that the Messiah would be the seed. Remember, this is the first
prophecy, wasn't it? It was the very first prophecy
after sin came, after man fell. God said the seed of the woman,
thy seed, he's talking to Eve, and he said, thy seed, the seed
of the woman, is going to crush the head of the serpent. And he, the serpent, shall bruise
his heel. That's how he is going to save. He's going to come into this
world to do away with sin. And later on, Isaiah said, Behold,
a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt call his
name God with us. That's what you're going to call
him? Because it is God. The Son of God came into this world from a virgin's
womb. The eternal Son of God came to
this world as a man. He was made bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh, and He took upon Himself the pains of
this life, all of the weakness of sinful flesh, excluding one
thing, sin. Only sinless man there was. And the Spirit of God prepared
Him a sinless body, that differed nothing from any other man. You know, when Jesus walked around,
you get this idea that as he walked around, somebody could
just say, man, look at that guy. He got a halo over his head or
something, something very different about this man. They didn't see
anything different about this man. There was no outward difference. As a matter of fact, the scripture
says he wasn't pleasant to look upon. The Prophet and the writer of
Hebrews says this, wherefore in all things it behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren. It was necessary for him to be
made like us, to be a man. Why? That he might be a merciful
and faithful high priest. You see that's what a surety
is, that's what a mediator is. It's a high priest, someone to
offer gifts and sacrifices for us to God. Someone to mediate
between us and God. Someone to offer an atonement
that's acceptable to God for us. Jesus Christ was made of
a woman, made under the law, so that he might provide everything
the sons of God needed. Everything you need to be a son,
Christ provides. What do you need? You need righteousness.
Without it, you can't be a son of God. You must be sinless to
be a son of God. This is what Christ provided,
righteousness. By his obedience to the law,
he became a faithful high priest to make reconciliation for our
sins, to make an atonement for our sins. And so as Jesus walked, nobody
saw any difference in his appearance as a man He felt all the pain
and grief, yet without sin, and he did this all under the law. Now listen, I've read the law.
I understand some of it. I'm telling you, some of the
things that are written in that law, do you realize how much that
you would have to actually obtain in your mind, constantly having
to do this, and not just do it, but love it. while you're doing
it. None of us could do this. The
Pharisees, how many extra laws they did try to tack on to this
and they never got it at all. That the law was not just deeds,
it was from the heart. And here's Jesus Christ coming
into the world as a man and his whole heart, his whole soul was
sat on loving and serving God in obedience to the law. You
realize he never broke one commandment? Not in thought or word or deed. He perfectly... Jesus was a man under the law. And what was the result of our
being under the law? Failure. That's all I can say.
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of... That's what the law has done for us. But this
man, this man, he was just doing what was natural to him. Do you
realize it was not complicated or hard for him to obey the law
of God? For me, it's like mind-blowing. I can't understand it. But for
him, it was natural. He was doing what was naturally
in him to do. Obey God, honor him. And in doing so, he did two things. In being made under the law as
our federal head, he did two things. First of all, he obtained
righteousness for us. Now as Adam sinned, we all sin. Now listen to this. If you're
in Christ, when He obtained righteousness, you were righteous. You were righteous. And secondly, after He had obtained
righteousness by His obedience, that also qualified Him to be
the Sacrificer. Remember the Lamb? What did the
Lamb need to be? For the Passover lamb, what did
it have to be? It had to be spotless, didn't it? He had to qualify
himself to be made the sacrifice. And therefore Christ came not
to provide just our righteousness, but to reconcile us to God by
His death. By His death. Do you see what
it costs to make you a son of God? The Lord Jesus Christ took your
sins in his own body and God poured out his total
anger and fierce wrath on our substitute to redeem them. That's what he
says. He was made of a woman, made under the law to what? To
redeem them that were under the law. Why? That we might receive
the adoption of sons. There was no other way. There
was no other way. God could not die. But only as the God-man could
he redeem us from under the curse of the law by paying the redemption
price, paying the adoption price. And he alone paid it in full. I want you to know this. You
that are sons of God, what do you owe? Nothing. It is paid in full. See how free
this is? The law demands you to pay everything,
and you don't have anything to pay. Remember those debtors,
those creditors? One owed five dollars, one owed
five million dollars. You know what they both had in
common? None of them had anything to pay at all. So whether you're
a great sinner or a little sinner, it doesn't matter. You have nothing
to pay. But here's the freeing thing.
If you are a son of God, you have nothing to pay because it's
already paid. The redemption price has already
been paid. So we see that our adoption is
eternal. We see our adoption has been bought. Thirdly, we
see that our adoption is presently taking place in time. Everyone God chose to adopt,
everyone Christ purchased will, listen to this, experience the
adoption. That's what he says in our text,
that we might receive the adoption. I despise the idea that Christ
paid a generic price for everyone, and yet not everyone will receive
it. No, he paid a price for a specific
children, and every one of his children will receive what he
bought. What is that? The adoption of
sons. And as we believe we were purposed to be sons, as Christ
already paid the redemption price, yet before we came to faith in
Christ, there was no difference, we were like children that were
under governors and tutors, differing nothing from the other children.
So in that illustration I set out before, the father that had
made his children heir of all things, who died, He put them
in his will and under tutors and governors, but he also appointed
a time for them. There was an appointed time that
they should receive their inheritance. Even so, our
father has appointed a time that all his adopted sons are going
to experience their inheritance. They're going to receive it.
What he has already purposed and done for them. There will
come a time for every elect sinner to enjoy what God has willed
and what Christ has bought. Therefore, God has sent His Spirit. Look at this in here, verse 6.
Read this with me, and I want you to look at this very carefully
because it's worded specifically, its order is perfect. You don't
need to try to rearrange it because this is perfect. because you
are sons. God has sent forth His Spirit,
the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. It's not backwards. He didn't
say, God sent forth His Spirit, and then you were made sons.
No, you were already sons, and this is the reason God sent His
Spirit into your heart. You're already sons. You were
already purposed to be sons. You were already purchased sons.
And because you were already purposed sons, because you were
already purchased sons, God has sent forth His Spirit into your
heart. And what did you cry? Abba, Father. Tonight I have been reading the
last will and testament of God. that all who believe on Jesus
Christ and receive Him, God says they have the right. Isn't this something? We always
talk about what rights we got. I got the right. I got the right
to free speech. I got the right to a speedy trial. I've got a right, you know, all
those under the Constitution, you say those are my rights.
I got a better right. You can take away my speech,
you can take away my right to due process, you can take away
my right to the things of this world, but I got something that
trumps everything around it. Here it is. I have a right to
be called the sons of God, and you can't take that away. I got
a right to be called God's sons. I am God's son. I got a right
to. As many as received Him. Do you
receive Him? Do you believe on Him? Then you
have a right. You have the authority given
to you by God. Why? Because you were born. You were spiritually born. Not
of flesh. It doesn't have anything to do
with your parents. Not of the will of the flesh. It's not because
you chose to be a son. That's not why you're a son.
You have a right to be a son, not because you chose to. It
doesn't have anything to do with it. It doesn't have a right to be a
son of God based on the will of some other guy. I have a right to be called the
sons of God based solely upon the will of God who chose me
and gave me life. I believe because God gave me
the faith to believe. I was born of God. So if so, then the scripture
declares us to be a child of God. And so then, I want you to understand
this, when Paul again talks about us being children of God in this
text, he's talking about full-grown sons. Now, I know this, when
we are born again of God, we have levels of spiritual maturity
that every believer is different. Some are babes in Christ, some
are young men in Christ, some are fathers in Christ. So there's
spiritual maturity within the confines of being a child of
God. But in this, every one of us, it is true of us that we
all have a right to the promises and benefits of God regardless
of your spiritual maturity. Paul is saying when you're a
child of God, you have access to all of the benefits. Just
like in our illustration, again, when that appointed time come
for that child, he was heir of everything. He was heir of everything. And
so it is with us. Do I have any more access to
God than you? Do I have any more right to the
throne of God than you? Am I any more righteous than
you? Am I any more holy than you? Am I any more sanctified
than you? Am I any more justified than
you? No. Why? Because you are a son of
God just like me. My righteousness is Christ's
righteousness and your righteousness is Christ's righteousness. He
sanctified us, He justified us, He redeemed us, He gives us access
to the Father. So all of the rights and privileges
of sonship are yours, every bit of it, regardless of your maturity. I think our maturity, we understand
more of the access we have. If you grow in the grace and
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, God gives you to grow. You understand
more, but you don't have more, you just understand more. You've
always had it, you just didn't know it. And so when the child was young,
he was like a servant, but now we have reached full age. And
so it is with us believers, we now have full access to the grace
of God, the forgiveness of God, the mercy of God, the love of
God. And so when God sent forth his
spirit into your heart because you were a son, and you know
what, I was reading this today, that word Abba, in the Jewish, a Jewish slave
had no right to call any free Jew Abba. It means father. He's saying
father, father, really, but he's using this word to show this.
Because as long as you're under the law, you have no right to
call God father. Not in this endearing sense.
But he's saying, look, when God sent his spirit into your heart,
You now have a right to call him Abba because you're not a
slave. You're a son. You're free. You're free. And I know this. There are many
sons of God that have not yet experienced their adoption. But I have this confidence that
they will. I have assurance that none of
the children of God will miss the experience of receiving the
adoption. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, all
that the father giveth me, listen, shall come to me. Without a doubt, I've told you
this many times, the church is always full. It's never empty. Don't, don't
let your flesh overrule this because it's just so. The church
is always full. And God has a people yet that
he will call. And when he calls them, they
will come. I want to end this with an illustration
of this text. We're like children in an orphanage. You have a child in an orphanage,
One day, a rich man comes to this orphanage, and he determines
to adopt. He's already determined to adopt
who he's going to adopt. And you see all these children. They're clean and well-behaved.
And he looks over in a corner, and he sees this child. He's
all dirty and filthy and ratty, very sickly. He sees this child as a rebellious
child. He's one prone to fits of anger
and rage. And as the rich father was looking
around over all the children, that dirty little child kept
following him and kicking him, spitting on the rich man, cursing
at him, yelling obscenities, and one
day, The child hears the news that the man had adopted him above all the other children. That he had come that day to
have paid the ransom price, the adoption price, and that one
day soon he was going to come and take that little boy home.
And the boy then sees the adoption papers that says, in full." And the boy begins to cry and
wonder how it is he could have chosen him. How could he have done such a
wonderful thing for me? I was dirty, I was unclean, I
was a rebel, I kicked him, I cursed him. And yet he came in love to buy
me. And then the boy begins now in
joy to tell others of his adoption. He shows them the letter of the
father and they begin to ridicule him, make fun of him. They don't
believe him. They say, you were the man, you
were the boy that kicked him. How could he adopt you? You were
dirty. We were clean. Surely he'll get
us. Isn't this how it is with us? Weren't we the boy dirty and
unclean? We were the one that kicked and
spit at God. And yet, in love, He had already
determined to adopt us. Sent us the letter written with his own hand, in
his own blood, paid in full. He sent his spirit into our hearts
that we should call him Father, love him, and serve him, and
honor him, and especially believe on him. Though we are ridiculed
and mocked and despised, yet we know this, because we are
the sons of God, we are heirs of all things. It doesn't appear that we're
heirs of all things, does it? Joanne, if somebody come to your
house and saw your house and said, would it appear that you
own everything? It just doesn't appear that way,
does it? I'm righteous and yet what? It doth not yet appear what we
shall be. Now my adoption's been sealed. But I tell you what, I've not
received the full measure of it yet. Have you? I know I'm heir of all things
in Christ. Why? Because He inherited all
things. I'm going to inherit all things
because I'm in Him. I'm one with Him. But I haven't
yet. In this life we suffer, even
though we are heirs of all things, we suffer. Yet Paul says, John
said, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but when he
shall appear. When our father comes to get
us from the orphanage, when he comes to get us, listen to this,
it is his will to make us trophies of his grace. Down here and among
this world, we are nothings and nobodies. You got that? Nobody really cares if we live
or die in this world. Nobody really cares. When we're
gone, nobody's going to remember we were ever here. And in a hundred
years, who's going to remember you were here? Nobody. But I'll tell you this,
when Christ comes again, they will remember. He's going to
set forth His children as the trophies of His grace. then it will be very clear to
everybody who His sons are. They're going to be shouting,
worthy is the Lamb who was slain. We're going to be giving all
the praise and glory to Him who made us His sons, chosen sons,
purchased sons, called sons. It says, kept sons. And one day we're going to be
glorified sons. I do hope that God would then,
why would anybody want to be under the law? This is the covenant of promise.
Everything I've told you is God's will and testament. It's a better
covenant. The law speaks only of slaves.
This one speaks of sons. Isn't it better? Why would anybody
want to go back to being a slave? I'm not a slave. I'm a son. Why would I want to go back under
a tutor, under the governors? Nope. I'm a son. Heir and joint
heir with Jesus Christ. I pray God will bless this to
you. Stand and be dismissed in prayer.