Galatians 4. And we'll look at
verse 5. We'll look through this first
few verses, but our main text, I guess, will be found in verse
5. The Scripture says, "...to redeem them that were under the
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." And that's
the title of my message, The Adoption of Sons. The Adoption
of Sons. Now as I've read through this
book many times, I cannot help but see the passion of the Apostle
Paul in this letter. This letter is unlike any of
the other letters that the Apostle had written in this book of Galatians,
because this book is Not like you would read in Romans. In
Romans, we have a set of building blocks. And the apostle takes
one argument and he carefully places it together upon the next
and the next. And you could build the great
scheme of the gospel through the book of Romans. But in this
book, it's more like an ocean one. It comes in in force and
it goes back out. Paul is really passionate in
this letter. But we must understand that there
is There is a scheme. Paul does have a manner in which
he is going, and it does, if you look closely, you can still
find his building blocks in this book. And although it may seem
that Paul is going over and over the same thing, as though he's
trying to hammer this thought home of justification by faith
without the law, Though it seems that he is just hammering on
this one theme, yet it is in order and is connected one point
upon another. Last week, we saw the result
of the Spirit of God. We saw that the Spirit of God
has blessed us who believe in that He has imputed the righteousness
of God to us. that we are blessed with faithful
Abraham, and that the blessing is that our sins were not imputed
to us, but they were imputed to Christ our Savior, and His
righteousness was imputed unto us. The blessing of Abraham. We have the blessing of Abraham
tonight if we believe. And we saw that the Spirit has
made us free from the law. The Spirit of God has made us
free from the law, and that law was our schoolmaster to bring
us to Christ. But after the law came, after
Christ came, we are no longer under that schoolmaster, under
that disciplinarian. We're no longer under the law.
Oh, the blessing of justification. The blessing of justification
is that He has set us free. He has set us free. We who are
once enslaved to the law and its demands have now been set
free and given the imputed righteousness of Christ by His blood. He has made us free from the
law. And this thought of justification
is the thought of a guilty slave, a guilty sinner being set free
and being declared justified. But Paul wants us to show us
another aspect of this relationship. The relationship we have with
God is not just one of a guilty slave who has been set free,
is it? The aspect that we have been
set free as a slave is true. We have been set free. We were
guilty, but because of Christ. and His righteousness and His
blood, we have been set free. But the text here shows us a
closer kinship, a closer bond, a closer relationship to God
than that of a slave and a master. For He has set us free and also
has made us sons. You know, the more I've studied
this about the adoption this week, the more I've seen that
the adoption has really been left out by a lot of great men
who have written great books on justification and the blessings
of justification, but they left out the blessing of adoption.
The blessing of adoption. It's one thing for a judge. It's one thing for a judge to
take the place of a guilty killer and take his sentence upon himself
and undergo his sentence, but to think of the grace that that
same judge would take that guilty sinner and make him his son. That's altogether different,
isn't it? But that's what God has done for us. That's what
God has done for us and all those that are born of the Spirit of
God. Is this not our case who believe in Jesus Christ alone?
Are we not sons of God? Yes, we are. Glory to God, yes
we are. Verse 26 of chapter 3, For you
are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. How sweet the sound to a sinner's
ear. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. That sounds good. That sounds
so sweet. Oh, forgiveness and pardon are
sweet, but how much sweeter is it to know that I am a son of
God. I am a son of God, that He took
a sinner such as me and He made me His son. What a glorious thought. What a glorious thought. He took
me, He took you from an alien family and He brought us into
His own family. He brought us and made us sons. I was reading that song, I'm
a child of a king. I'm not a child of a king, I'm
a child of the king. I'm a child of the King. With
Jesus my Savior, I'm a child of the King. So tonight, I want
us to look at this aspect of the covenant blessings, which
is the adoption of sons. Adoption of sons. To redeem them
that were under law, that we might receive the adoption of
sons. Now, Paul, in this text, had in mind a Greek family, a
Roman family. in this illustration. And in
this illustration, it would be as one child who had a father,
and his father died and he left a will. And in the will, they
would normally stipulate who was to be the governors and tutors
of that child until he came up of age. They would set out in
their will who it was that was to be the one to guide him, to
look over him, to watch over him. It was said, guides, governors,
and tutors. And that's what Paul has reference
to in verse 2. In verse 1 he says, Now say that
the 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. This is what we were. This is what we were before we
came to Christ. We were all, as other men, walking
according to the course of this world, following after our own
lusts, deceived and being deceived. If you were a Jew, you were under
the law of Moses. If you were a Gentile, like us,
we were under the law that was written in our hearts by God. But I'll tell you what, there
was no difference between any one of us. We were all lost. We were all lost. We were all
enslaved and under the tutors and government of the law. The law of God. And believer, we differed nothing
from a servant. When we were lost, there was
not any difference in us. There was no difference in us.
Nothing in us that would cause God to save us. Was there any different in our
conduct, in our actions, in our righteousness, in our obedience
with the rest of the world? No. Sad to say there was no difference,
no difference at all. There was nothing that would
cause God to bring us into His family. There was nothing that
would ever cause God to own us as a child. All we like sheep
were gone astray, the Scripture says in Isaiah. In Ephesians
2, we walked according to the course of this world. We had
our conversation in time past, fulfilling what? The lusts of
our flesh, the desires of our heart, which were wicked and
evil, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
We were wicked. And we that have been saved,
we know that there was no difference in us It would cause God to adopt
us into His family, other than by His wonderful, matchless grace. Only by grace can we see how
it is that God would adopt us into His family. If the Scriptures tell us there
is no difference between us and others, then why is it here that
we are called children? You notice that? I read over
that several times and I was noticed that. Now I say that
the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from the servant,
though he be Lord of all. How is it then that we were children
even under bondage? Because when I was under bondage,
I didn't know it. I didn't know I was a child.
Did you? No. We were like everybody else. There was no difference between
us. But yet God says it here, we were children. Why? Well,
that has to answer the question, when did this adoption take place? When did the adoption take place?
The answer to that question explains it. Because our adoption is one
that is eternal. Our adoption is one that was
an eternal adoption. We were children of the King
even before we knew we were children of the King. The adoption of
God is eternal and therefore it is a free act of God's electing
sovereign love. Flip over to Ephesians 1. I know
you know this, but I want you to see this because I think it's
very important. When you read this verse, I want
you to look at verse 4. This we know, according as He
hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him. I want you
to stop right there. and take the two words, in love,
and they should go with verse 5. Remember, in our version,
these verses are divided by the translators. But the two words,
in love, should go with verse 5. Read that. Verse 5, just like
that. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. You see, the love goes with the
adoption. It goes with the adoption. In
love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ. To the praise and the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. Oh, the wonder of His love. Of His love. The love of God
to predestinate such unworthy souls for adoption. In the eyes of God, we were His
children before there were any children. Before there was a
world, God said, you are My children by adoption. Why? Because He loved us. Because
He would. Because He would. He loved us.
Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Praise and glory to His grace,
to the grace of God wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. God's grace and purpose to save
some of Adam's fallen race Before there was a fallen race, He determined
to save some. That's amazing. That's unfathomable. We can't reach it. We can't find
the bottom to that. No matter how hard you think
about it, we can't wrap our arms around it, can we? That's God. He chose a people that He would
love and adopt as sons. This reveals to all men that
adoption is never based upon merit or status or blood or anything
in this life. Your adoption was never based
on anything but the love of God. That's it. Because of God's mighty
grace. And know this, Not everyone are children of
God. This world would like us to think
that God has everybody as His children. Everybody is a child
of God. No, everyone is the creation
of God. Not everyone is a child of God. Matter of fact, our Lord Jesus
Christ in John 8, verse 44 says, "...you are of your father the
devil." Well, how can they be children of God if their father
is the devil? No, my friends, God has a children,
all right, and these children were His from before the foundation
of the world. You who believe were His, and
your adoption was secured long before you came into the scene.
You were a child of His. Second of all, our adoption is
one that is present. It's one that is present. All
those that were adopted in eternity were adopted the same way. We
were all adopted the same way. We were adopted because of the
love of God. But how we were adopted was the
same way. By Jesus Christ. That's how. That's how we were
adopted. That's how we were brought into
the family. That is, all who were chosen
in Christ who was to be the surety of all the elect. He was the
one by which all those elected could be made holy and without
blame before Him. The only way we could be made
holy and without blame before Him was by Jesus Christ. Was
by the cross of Christ. You see, but it was never enough
for God to determine to do it without accomplishing it, was
it? Think about this. Is there anything
God has determined to do that He will not accomplish? Is there
any decree of God that God has said, I will perform this, and
yet it not come to pass in time? No. Everything God decrees, He
does. He does. Take Cyrus, for example. He decreed Cyrus, that wicked
king, to deliver the nation of Israel and to rebuild his temple
hundreds of years before he was born. Was it not going to come
to pass? Was there a chance? Was there
just a slim hope that it wouldn't come to pass? Oh, no. When God
decrees something, He always brings it about in time. It's
the same way with our adoption. You see, God decreed our adoption,
and it was so in eternity, but yet God must bring it to pass. And He did by Jesus Christ. God before determined to adopt
us by Jesus Christ, and therefore at the appointed time, He came
to fulfill all that was required for the adoption. Look at that
in verse 4, end of our text, Galatians 4, 4. But when the
fullness of time was come, 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,
that we might receive the adoption of sons. As I said before, oh the grace
that drew salvation's plan, oh the grace that brought it down
to man. This is what God was doing with
Christ as He brought the salvation down. The great grace that brought
it down to man. In the fullness of time, at the
appointed hour, at the predestinated time, God sent forth His Son
that He had decreed to come from all eternity. Here we have in
view the condescension of the eternal Son of God to become
a man. You see, it was by man that sin
entered in and it must be by man that righteousness come. So God sent His elect, His anointed,
His Christ, His Son to be the mercy seat for all of His adopted
children. How then was this done? He was
made of a woman. You see, this was the fulfillment
of all prophecy in the beginning. The Scripture says that the seed
of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent. You see, the Scripture says that
a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. The Scriptures must be
fulfilled. Christ came as the seed of the
woman. He was born of the virgin so
to escape the corruption of the seed of Adam. The eternal Son
of God came into the world as a man and was made bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh. He felt hunger. He felt pain. He felt grief. He felt tired. He felt everything that we feel,
yet deserved none of it. And we deserve more than we get. but he deserved none of it and
took it upon himself. He took the pains of life and
the weakness of sinful flesh, excluding sin, and the Spirit
of God had prepared him this sinless body, but it differed
nothing from any other man." I'm sure you see all these paintings
of so-called Jesus with a halo on His head as though men could
separate Him from some other man. They couldn't tell by looking
at Him. If you were standing in the presence
of Christ in that day, you looking at Him could not tell a difference
between Him and any other man standing around. The only way
you could tell a difference is by what He did and what He said.
He did the miracles and you could say, that's something different.
You can hear His doctrine and you say, that's something different.
There's something different about Him. But by seeing him, you couldn't
tell. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people." See,
the people of Jesus' day knew no difference. My friends, when
you saw him, you would have saw nothing but a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. You wouldn't have saw a happy-go-lucky
dancing Jesus, would you? No. He was a man of sorrows. Why? That He might be a merciful
and faithful high priest to us. Have we any trials or temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We
have a faithful high priest who understands our infirmities. He understands our pains. our
griefs and our sorrows. And as being made as a man, he
was naturally made under the law. He was made to seat himself
underneath that Jewish law of Moses. And when he was under the law,
what was the result of the law? What was the result of his being
under the law? He successfully obeyed the law
in every point. This is important to us because
his obedience to those who believe in Christ is our obedience. He's given his obedience and
righteousness to us. We failed the law, but He has
passed the law. He's fulfilled the law of God
and honored it to the highest degree. And He obeyed God in every way,
including death. He was obedient even unto death.
Why? That He might redeem us. See,
our adoption had a price. Our adoption had a price. It was free to us, but it wasn't
free to Him. He had to pay the price of our
adoption, which was His own precious blood. And He paid it in full. And He had to do this as a man
because God could not die. But as the God-man, He as a Redeemer
could die and suffer under the curse of the law. Only by paying
this redemption price could we be accepted as sons of God. And He alone paid that adoption
price and paid it in full. Is there anything lacking in
your adoption? Is there anything that you need to make up? Is
there anything that needs to be added to this adoption price? No. No, He paid the adoption
price for us in full. He paid it in full for all those
that God chose in eternity. And as we that believe were purposed
to be sons, as Christ has already paid the redemption price for
our sins, yet before we came to faith in Christ, there was
no difference to be seen in us. There's no difference in our
life, our demeanor, our soul. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. We were those children under
governors and tutors, under what Paul here rightly calls the elements
of the world. Let's read that in our text here. I'm going to read it in chapter
4. He says that in verse 3, even so we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world. And that taking into account
both Jew and Gentile, the Mosaic law and the law written in our
hearts, we were under that bondage. And there was no difference between
us, yet because of Christ, He had already obtained the adoption
price and made us heirs. We were heirs in Him. Like this
child, the dead father, He would put in His will for the child
to be under the tutors and until the appointed time that the child
would be made the Lord of the estate. There was an appointed
time for us that our Father had set for you and for me. There was an appointed time in
which He would come by His Spirit and by His Word and bring life
to our souls and show us that the price had already been paid,
the ransom had already been paid, that God had long before adopted
us into His family. But again, to appoint something,
God decrees something, it must come to pass. So therefore, if
anyone is to declare to be a son of God, he must believe. He must
come by faith to Christ. If he's not, He has no right
to be called an heir or a child. Therefore, God has sent His Spirit
to declare His gospel of Jesus Christ to His sons that we might
receive Him as our Lord and Savior. To as
many as received Him, to them gave He the right to be called
the sons of God. You see, tonight I'm reading
the will of God. I'm reading the will of God. All that believe on Christ, to
as many as receive Him, to He will give the right, the power,
the authority to be called the sons of God. Do you believe on
Him? Do you see Jesus Christ by faith
as the only atonement for your sins? Do you gladly embrace Him
and bow before Him? Do you see His work of salvation
by grace alone as your righteousness and acceptance with God? If so,
my friend, by the will of God, you are the sons of God. You have that right. You have
that right. that authority to be called the
sons of God. I would like also us to see that
this present adoption mentioned in our text is not one just of
a newborn son. I want you to see this. It's
very important. If you read John, And you read
his idea of sonship. What you're going to see is he
uses the word technon. And that is a son by relationship,
a son by birth. If you have my son that's sitting
in the back, he would be considered a technon. He would be one of
my own making. But the word here is different
than Paul uses. Paul uses a word that is associated
with a full-grown son. A full-grown son. Not one that
has just been born or a young child. He is dealing with a full-grown
son. And this is very important Because
what this is saying is, Paul is telling these believers that
when we have come into the appointed time of God's adoption, when
we have come to the experience of the adoption by faith in Christ,
what ends up happening is we are entered into all of the rights
and privileges of sonship, regardless of spiritual maturity. So if you are just coming to
Christ and you are a newborn in Christ by maturity, yet you
have the same rights and privileges as any mature son of God. You have the right to access
the throne of God. Anytime, anyplace. You see, that's
not just for mature believers, is it? No, no, it's for everyone. You see, eternal life is yours.
Whether you're a newborn babe in Christ or whether you're a
mature believer, you have eternal life. It's yours. You have forgiveness. You have
righteousness. All these things are yours from
the very beginning of sonship. When you believe in Christ, all
those things, you come at the appointed time, you come as a
full-grown son. In other words, when this son
was come of age, he would inherit everything. When we come to faith,
it is though we have come of age, it is the time. And God
says, you are my sons and you are heirs of everything. Heirs of everything. Scripture
says, all things are yours. And what part of all things do
we not understand? What part of all things do we
not get? All things are yours. Everything. And take that as far as you want
to. Take that as far as you want to. All things are yours. When the child was young, he
was just like a servant, but now he's reached the appointed
time and now he is Lord over all. And so it is with us. We
have full access to everything. And number three, the adoption
is yet future. You see, we have this adoption
in eternity. Christ accomplished this adoption
in time by His redeeming blood. We come to faith in the present
time of our life and believe on Christ and we are adopted,
yet this thing is not done. This thing is not complete. Have you experienced everything
that God has for us? experienced the fullness of God's
salvation that Christ has already accomplished. No, no, we're waiting. Waiting, Paul says, for I reckon
that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us for the earnest
expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the
sons of God. He's waiting for the adoption,
waiting for the future adoption. It speaks of everlasting life,
eternal bliss, and all the things of heaven we've not experienced.
This world and its religion says God's plan for us is the best
now. Do you believe that? No way. This is not the best
now. We have a down payment. God's
give us the earnest of the Spirit, the down payment. But yet the
best is yet to come for us. The best is yet to come. We live in a time of suffering
and grief. We live in this sinful body of
flesh and these heavy chains of this flesh drag us down many
times. It's always trying to bring us
back under bondage, back under the elements of the world. And
we long to serve God, we long to love God as much as we can,
but this flesh... How many of you are successful
in loving God as much as you want to? Serving God as much
as you want to? I know we're not. One moment as though we could
reach to heaven and leave us alone just a second.
And we feel so down, we wonder if we ever knew God at all. We have realized our adoption,
but yet is not all manifest to what God has for us. And right
now, this world, it mocks us, doesn't it? It mocks our gospel. It mocks our Lord. And it says,
no, you can't be saying such things as you're a chosen vessel
of God. How can you be so arrogant? Not arrogant. Not arrogant at
all. Just saying what God says. Just
saying what God says. We were like children in an orphanage
that nobody wanted. And one day a man came into the
place and looked over all the children, and all the good children
were lined up in the front, teeth brushed, hair combed, everything,
and there was that dirty old kid in the corner. That was me. And as the man walked through,
the dirty kid started cursing and screaming at the man, kicking
him and spitting on him. The father, that man looking
over the children. One day, that child hears some
news. That man was going to adopt somebody. And his heart sank and he said,
I knew it couldn't be me. And then the lady come up and
she gave that child a piece of paper that showed he paid the
price of adoption and gave it to the dirty little boy in the
corner. And overwhelmed with joy, he
began to tell the others, look, I'm adopted, I'm adopted. And
all the others began to mock. Not you. Surely not you. How could you say that that man
would adopt you? And by and by, the little boy
received letters from that man of expressing his love and he
showed them again to the other children and they did nothing
but mock. My friend, we were the dirty
little boy and God came and He chose us. And He paid the price. And He says, one day I'm coming
to get you. And the world continues to mock
at us. Where is He? You said He's coming. Where is He? Where's your Father? Oh, He's coming. He's coming
to take me home one day. You see, my adoption, my adoption
is eternal. It was past, it's present, and
it's future. And so is yours, my dear believing
friend. Behold, John says, what manner
of love the Father hath lavished upon you, that you should be
called the sons of God." You. You. Sons of God. If that's not amazing, I don't
know what is. That's amazing to me. And it
should give us such great comfort and joy. And no matter what comes,
nothing affects that. Nothing. Why? Because God did it. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer. Gracious Lord, we thank you for
your word. Pray, Father, for your spirit
that it would take the word and apply it to our hearts that we
might give you glory and praise for all that you've done. Forgive
us, Lord, of our sins where we fail you. Please hold us close
by your side and never let us go. We thank you, Father, that you've
taken such unworthy vessels as we are, and by your grace has
made us vessels of honor, vessels fit to be the sons of
God. Glory to your name. Go with us
as we go our ways, in Jesus' name. Amen.