You'll open your Bibles to Galatians
chapter 4. I was thinking of Brother Henry,
and I remember him coming to preach for us the first time
in 1988. And I was thinking, well, here's the old man teaching
the young man something, you know. And Henry at that time
was just shy of his 62nd birthday. And I now have just turned 60.
So, kind of come full circle here. And been up there a long
time. I got one story, quick story
to tell before we go to the scriptures here that kind of encapsules
the benefit that I received from my years in Ashland and my association
with them and with Brother Mahan. I went to Bible school. I've
got a degree in pre-seminary Bible. I kind of joked that the
only degree I got was one to prepare me to go to more school
and I never went. But Bonnie and I, during that
my senior year, it was her freshman year, we attended a reformed
Baptist church in Dayton, Ohio. And I was kind of enamored of
the preacher, very intelligent man. And, you know, when you're
in the academic environment, that's what you get impressed
with. And near the end of the year there, he was telling me
he wished I'd stay in that area and help him out. But I said,
no, I'm going to go home, going back to West Virginia. He knew
where I lived. He said, well, there's a man,
a church across the river in Kentucky, a man named Henry Mahan. I've been in conferences with
him. Maybe you want to check him out.
So I did. I went back home. And it'll be 38 years this summer
when I first started attending there. And every year, Bonnie
and I would go back and visit that preacher in Dayton. First
year I went back, he asked me, what do you think of Henry Mahan?
And I said, well, he repeats himself a lot. That's really
what I said. He repeats himself a lot, but
he's good. And the next year I went back
and he says, what do you think of Henry Mahan? And I said, he
repeats himself a lot and I'm starting to catch on. And I sure
appreciate that repetition of Christ, Christ, Christ, till
I saw it, till I knew it. And I said one story, I just
remember one thing that was said there and I was, my mind wanders
even when I'm speaking it wanders and it wanders when anybody's
speaking. I was kind of wandering on one
Sunday morning. And yet, it pierced my mind when
I heard these words, if Christ paid my debt, I don't owe it. And that wraps it up right there. And I'm thankful. Thankful for
that blessed truth. In Galatians chapter 4 verse
19, we read this, My little children, of whom I
travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." Now,
salvation is a grand and glorious work. Much more grand and glorious
than you and I know, really. But it's grand and glorious because
of the depths to which it will go to find someone to save. All the way to us. and it's grand and glorious for
the heights to which it takes these people. Now I'm sure heaven
is a wonderful place. I'm sure it's full of glories
we cannot imagine, but did you realize heaven's not the great
blessing? It's not. Salvation's not so
much about where we shall be as what we shall be. When the
Bible talks about predestination, I remember someone writing a
book one time, predestined to hell? No. Well friends, the Bible
never says we're predestined to heaven either. It says we're
predestined to two things. To be made like Christ and to
be adopted into God's family. Our salvation's not where we
shall be, it's what we shall be. We shall be in the likeness
of God's Son. God's gospel finds the very worst
of men and gives them the very best of blessings and makes them
worthy to receive those blessings. Makes them into the kind of person
that has a right to those blessings. Makes them like his only begotten
son. Our hope is wrapped up in this,
in two things. Our great blessing. to be with
Christ and to be like Christ. And brethren, if heaven was an
awful place, it would be glorious to be there if we can be there
with Christ and be like Christ. It's not the place, is it? It's
the person. Always has been, always will
be. When we step back and we look
at the whole panorama of salvation, it gives us a great comfort,
doesn't it? Through the preaching of the gospel, we see the beginning
of it, and we see the end of it, and our hearts are encouraged. But we don't live in that panorama.
We live in the present moment. And from the present moment,
we don't see it all. I mean, and Paul put it this
way, No man hopes for what he already has. Well, our salvation's
a hope, and what's that say? We don't have it yet. We're still
reaching out. We want more than what we have. Now, we're guaranteed everything,
but it hasn't been put in our hands yet, has it? In fact, we
might feel Maybe that's not the right word. We see so little
in ourselves that we might consider a work of salvation, we might
wonder if it's been begun, let alone finished. Same thing when we look at others,
if we bother to do so. Believers are pretty much like
everybody else in the world. Their lives go on pretty much
like everybody else. We are born into this world,
we live a while, we grow old, and we die. That's the pattern
everybody follows and the only distinction is how old you get
before you die. I only guess a couple of people
have missed that particular thing with Enoch and Elijah. Everybody
else has followed that pattern. Paul had some doubts about the
Galatians. He says in verse 20, and far
as I know this is the only people he ever said this about. He said,
I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice for
I stand in doubt of you. The things he was hearing about
then that was going on there made him stand in doubt as to
whether they knew God. And that's why he says, I travail
again till Christ be formed in you. He uses two metaphors, two
figures of speech to describe what he's talking about. He talks
about I travail in birth again. That's a likeness to pregnancy
and birth and he says it's like I'm like a woman trying to give
birth again and I've never done that but I've been around a couple
of times when it happened and I know this, it's a lot of work.
It's a lot of work And, you know, Paul, as a preacher of the gospel,
it was a lot of work. He preached, he prayed, he wrote
letters, he agonized in his heart over these people. He did not
have this attitude while he believed in the sovereignty of grace,
no doubt. He did not have this attitude, whatever will be, will
be, whether it ever happens or not. He was not uncaring about
what happened to these people and the course they were taken.
And he was willing to extend himself to his full stretch in
their behalf. It was a lot of work. It was
focused work. Paul wasn't doing this and that
and the other. He said, I determined to know
nothing among you save Christ and Him crucified. When a woman's
in the hard labor of birth, I'll guarantee you there's nothing
else on her mind. She wants to bring this child into the world,
and that's what Paul's saying. I'm focused. This is it. This is all I'm about, says Paul.
Pain and anxiety. He once referred to the care
of all the churches. In other places, that word care
is translated anxiety. It's where, I believe, the same
word where Peter says, cast all your cares upon him. But Paul
had these cares. Anybody who preaches the gospel
has this care. And you can imagine this, that
if a woman has gone through the process of pregnancy and come
to the point of travail, the only thing that's going to satisfy
her is a fully formed, healthy baby brought into this world.
And that was all that was going to satisfy Paul. And then he
refers to another aspect of pregnancy. He kind of backs up in the timeline.
and turns the process around on him. He said, I'm in travail
till Christ be formed in you. Now, it didn't mean Christ being
formed in them Himself personally. Why? Well, Christ is already
formed. And if He's in you, He's in you fully formed. So He's
not talking about the person of Christ Himself. Rather, He's
talking about that newborn spirit that has been reborn by the work
of God's grace and created in true holiness and righteousness
to be like Christ. And it has been brought, the
seed has brought forth one and it's beginning to mature. Now
this illustration of salvation under the likenesses of pregnancy
and birth tells us a few things about God's salvation. First
of all, it tells us that salvation is the giving of life. I grew up, the religion I grew
up in, salvation was always described in terms of hell and heaven,
and you making a choice about which one you want to go to.
The scriptures say it's the difference between death and life. And the
opening work of God's grace in every one of His people is this,
to give them life. Salvation involves many other
works. It involves the work of election. It involves the work
of redemption. But the first work in us is the new birth,
the impartation of spiritual life. You see, man was made in
the image of God. And people argue about what that
means. Well, I'll take it this way. The Bible says God is spirit. Man is the only animal with spirit. I like my dog Ziggy, but he has
no clue about God. Why? He's not a spiritual creature. And God is spirit. Man was made
like the animals. We got bodies like the animals
do. Most of the time we're at the top of the food chain. But
what makes us unique in this creation is that God breathed
into us a breath of life, a different kind of life, a spiritual life
that enabled us to know Him, to fellowship with Him, love
Him. And when man sinned, that nature
died. That's why it says the natural
man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. Why? Well,
they're spiritually understood and they don't have that nature. Salvation is the giving of life
and this life within us is not always seen, not by others. When a woman first conceives
seed, nobody knows it. Takes a while before it shows
outwardly. It grows and matures, doesn't
it? And this maturity, when it has reached perfection indeed,
but maturity in our lives is what Paul means by this Christ
formed in you. Because in as much as we are
predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ, you can
be certain that every work of grace is aiming in that direction. That's the growth in grace. Now,
what does it mean then for Christ to be formed in us? What is he
talking about? What does it mean to have this
spirit within us that is like Christ? I suppose a lot of things
could be said, and I certainly don't have time to say all of
the things this could mean. But here's what I think is the
chief of it, and I think what Paul is getting at in the book
of Galatians. It means for Christ to be formed
in us is for us to have the attitude of Christ in His approaches to
His Father. It's for us to relate to our
Father which is in heaven. the same way Christ did. Let
me show you or refer you to a couple of scriptures. In Galatians chapter
4, you can be turning there. Now remember the Lord said to
His disciples that when the Spirit came, He would take the things
of Christ and show them to us. And notice how Paul describes
this work of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 4 verse 6. And because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Now when the Spirit comes and
takes the things of Christ and shows them to us, what's He showing
us? That we are sons of God and may
call upon God just as Christ did, Abba, Father. That's why
our Lord, when they said, teach us to pray, He didn't, the Lord
didn't say, well, begin with, oh, great God, maker of heaven
and earth, and all this. No, those are all true descriptions
of our Father. The Lord taught us to pray our
Father. He taught us this relationship
with God that nothing but the grace of God could ever give
us. Peter says, you address as Father the one the rest of the
world must address as judge. Isn't that a blessing? In Romans chapter 8, I did read to you, yeah, Galatians
4.16, but if you look over at Romans 8 verse 15, once again another description
of the work of the Spirit and what He's teaching us. For ye
have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, what? Abba, Father. The heart that cries out, Abba,
Father, is Christ formed in you. That's the whole message of Galatians,
isn't it? Quit acting like slaves, start acting like sons. Slaves
must grovel before a master. Slaves must work or they get
nothing from the master. Sons walk freely into the presence
of the Father and receive everything from their hand. There were those
legalists came into Galatians and said, no, you got to work.
If you want anything from God, you gotta work. And Paul says,
oh, that's not Christ formed in you. No, sir. If Christ is
formed in you, your approaches to the Father are bold and free
and great things. In fact, if we look back at Mark
chapter 14, This will be the last scripture we look at, Mark
chapter 14. We'll learn a few things about
what it's like for a son to address his father. Our Lord's in the garden of Gethsemane,
and He's praying, and He knows what's coming. And He says in verse 36 of Mark
14, Abba, Father, all things are
possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless,
not what I will, but what thou wilt." Now, three things I see
in this prayer of our Lord Jesus that indicate the heart of a
son. First of all, confidence in his
father. Abba, Father, all things are
possible unto thee. Do you remember when you were
children, you thought your daddy could do anything? Of course,
we got older and found out they couldn't do everything. But you
know something, it doesn't matter how old we get in the Lord, our
Father can do anything. And that's one part of being
a son in the presence of the heavenly Father. to know that
he has the power to do anything. And that's, he can do anything
so far as relieving you of any trouble in this life, if he's
of a mind to, if he thinks it's wise, he can. There's no trouble that you face
that he cannot either remove it or make you strong in the
midst of it. He can do it. I read where someone
said, sometimes God calms the storm, at other times He just
calms His child. But either way, He can do either
one. But more than this, and this is the one that will cause
our anxieties, it's tough to think that people like us can
someday be like Christ. That's just hard to believe.
He can do it. We can't, He can. That's the first thing about
a son. He's got confidence in his father. Secondly, boldness
to ask anything. What our Lord asked of the father
was no small item. Let this cup pass from me. And you know, sometimes we reveal
how little confidence we have in the power of our Father or
the very fact that He relates to us as a father to a child.
You who are fathers, is there anything you wouldn't give your
child if you could and you thought it was wise? And does it bother
you when your children come to you and ask for really big things?
Do you ever chide your children if you think, well, that's asking
for too much? Wait a minute. They asked you because they believe
you can. What did one hymn writer, I think
it was a hymn writer wrote, he said, thou art coming to a king.
Large petitions which you bring. We honor God by asking for big
things. We honor His power to do them
and we honor His willingness to do them for His children if
we're willing to ask for them. Sometimes we ask for little because
we think we deserve little. Well, that's true. We deserve
little. But God has said, you're my child. Deserving is not the
issue anymore. To relate to God as Christ related
to his Father. And here's the third thing, is
to be in submission. Now you can ask for anything
you want. But the Lord went on to say, but not what I will. what you will. And this submission
is not just a resignation. It's a trust that the Father
will do the best thing. Why do we submit to the Father's
will? Not simply because we know He's going to do His will anyway.
We submit to His will because we know it's the best thing.
Even if it's not what we think is the best thing, we know what
He thinks is the best thing. Now, One more point to make here. Christ formed in you. That means
essentially to relate to God as a son to a father. But oh,
what our sonship cost. Do you know what our sonship
cost? It cost the Lord Jesus Christ His sonship. On the cross,
He says, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. He
says, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? And then He says, Father, into
your hands I commit my spirit. Did you notice a change of address
in that passage? It's Father at the beginning,
Father at the end. In the middle, it's not Father.
Why? Because if I can put it this
way, and you understand what I mean, he wasn't a son. He was
a criminal in standing before the judge. And for a time, he
lost his sonship that we for eternity may be sons of God. And to understand what that means,
and to relate to God according to the principles of a son to
a father, That is Christ formed in you. And if Christ is formed
in you, you are more blessed than anybody. The Lord add His
blessing to His Word.