Let's open up our Bibles to Galatians
chapter 4. We're going to continue our study
here. In Galatians chapter 4, last week we looked at how we're
redeemed by the shedding of Christ's precious blood. And it was so
wonderful. It just leaves us rejoicing.
And what a comfort that is for us. What security there is under
the blood. God says, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. No wrath. It's already appeased.
My, so wonderful. We are just so blessed in the
depths of mercy when we contemplate the fact that Christ redeemed
us with his blood, gave his life for us. He who is God incarnated
in the flesh did that for you and I, his people. It's just...
It leaves us in awe, doesn't it? It leaves us in awe. And
then when we learn that at the perfect time Christ came into
this world, made of a woman, conceived by the Holy Spirit
of God in Mary's womb, but it was at the exact fullness of
time. And when we apply that to our salvation too, that we
were saved at the exact second that God wanted us to be regenerated
and to know that day for Him to reveal Himself to us. Some
of us might not be able to remember that exact day. I can't put an
exact day on it, I'll be honest with you. But I just know I believe
now. I didn't believe here and now
I believe. Isn't that wonderful? My oh my.
It's just, yeah, I was once blind, now I can see. I was once dead,
and now I'm alive in Christ. And it's the same for you. Isn't
that wonderful? And God's so merciful and gracious to us.
So what wisdom when we find in these words, when we contemplate
the fact that Christ gave his life for us. We contemplate that
and think that God himself became a man, right? Something he wasn't. To redeem us. To redeem us out
from under the law by the shedding of his precious blood. And think
Think of the merit and value of Christ's redemption. That
it not only saves our souls, but it saves all the elect of
all the ages. Think of the merit of that. And
we're saved based upon His merit, right? We have no merit at all. no merit at all to stand before
God. But in Christ, it's by His merit, by His work, that we stand
in the presence of God, that we can now boldly come before
the throne of grace. Right? It's wonderful. And think of this, again, think
of the merit and value, think of the value of Christ's redemption.
It's not only saved you and I, but it's saved a number that
no man can number. From sea to sea, beloved, out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. That blood, that
blood is being applied for the forgiveness of all our sins.
It's wonderful. And He offered His blood before
God, didn't He? See, He died before God, didn't
He? And He offered Himself up to God as the sacrifice for our
sins. All we are is sinners. We have
nothing to offer God. Nothing to offer God in our own
to gain merit and favor with Him. But, oh, Christ, He offered
Himself up for us. So all the merit and favor we
have before God is all in Christ by His redeeming us, by His precious,
precious blood. It's so wonderful. So let's contemplate
this. this infinite greatness of the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read verses 1 to 7 again
in Galatians chapter 4. Think of this. His blood washes
us, washes us clean from all our sins. It's wonderful. Now I 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. Even so, we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world. So there is our
natural state, beloved. That's what we are. And we know
from Ephesians 2 that we were dead. Like graveyard dead. Dead. Spiritually. And then it says this. Even so,
when we were children, we're in the bondage under the elements
of the world. But when the fullness of time has come, God sent forth
his son. What a miracle. God sends his
son into this world. The word of God becomes a man,
made of a woman, made under the law, made under the law to live
that perfect life for you and I, that we could never do. Look
at this, to redeem them, to purchase us. purchase us. What? That we're under the law. That we might receive the adoptions
of sons. And because ye are sons, God
has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. That's Father, Father. That's
Father in the Hebrew and Father in the Greek. In this text. Abba is a Hebrew word. And Father
there is a Greek word. Father, Father, in both languages,
mine. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. I was going to do verse 6 and
7, but as I was putting this message together, there was so
much in verse 6 that I thought, well, we'll do verse 7 next week. But I'm going to read verses
6 and 7 together, because they do tie in together. And it says,
And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of
His Son into your hearts, crying, I have a Father. Wherefore thou
art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Look, these are statements of
fact. Now, we don't feel that way, do we? But these are statements
of fact about us, beloved. Because we're sons, God sent
His Spirit, not because of anything we did. But because we're sons. Because God chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. And then look what it
says. He sent the spirit of his son
into our hearts crying, I have a father. Wherefore thou art
no more a servant, which he mentioned in verse one, right? But a son. We've been adopted into the family
of God. And if a son, then an heir. These
are statements of fact. He's not saying, well, maybe.
Maybe if you do this or do that, these are statements of facts.
We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. He works in us
and moves in us. There's an operation in us. Gives
us a new heart that hungers and thirsts after Christ now. And
that's because we were sons. You ever think of that? Why me?
Because you're sons of God's choosing. That's why we have the answer
to that question. We always ask, why me? Because
God chose you. Because it pleased God to choose
you. Isn't that wonderful? This is just amazing, isn't it?
Because we all say that. We all say, why me? Why? Oh, why? Because you're sons. because you're your sons. We're gonna find out today in
Sunday morning, we're the hidden ones. We're the hidden ones of
God. Hidden from the world, hidden
even from ourselves before we were saved. We're the hidden
ones of God. As Vicki brought it, as a hen
hides her little chicks when a storm's coming. That's how
we are in Christ, hidden. Isn't it? Oh, it's beautiful.
So all believers, all of us, what this is bringing forth is
that all believers are adopted into the family of
God. How? In and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only way. That's the
only way. And because you're sons, what
made us sons? God chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Now our finite minds can't grasp
that truth totally, but we believe it, don't we? By God's grace,
we say, this is incredible. God chose me. Do you remember
when you played baseball or hockey when you were kids and you're
picking teams? And because of my hips, when
I played baseball, I was one of the last to get picked. When
I played hockey, I was one of the first because I played goalie
and everybody likes to get a goalie, right? But in baseball, because
of my hips, I couldn't run very fast. So I always chose last,
which didn't bother me. At least I got to play, right?
That's all that mattered to me, was that I was going to play. But God chose us in Christ, before
the foundation of the world, based upon nothingness. And that's
why we're born again. Not because of anything we've
done. That's why we're made willing in the day of God's power. Because
he chose us in Christ. What mercy. What mercy we see
on display here. God sends his son into the world,
sent by him to redeem us. That means to give his life for
us. And then He's redeemed our eternal
souls. He's obtained eternal salvation
for us. And because we're sons, He sends
the Spirit to us. Remember He said, I'm going to
send you a comforter. There's that promise fulfilled
right there. I'm going to send you a comforter. My. And we were chosen before the
foundation of the world. We were redeemed by the Son of
God. The second person of the Trinity redeemed us, purchased
our eternal souls. And He was sent again by the
Father to save us from our sins. And at the point in time, again,
we were born again by the Holy Spirit of God, by His power,
not by anything. We got no power. We have no power
to save ourselves. We have no power to regenerate
ourselves. None. At that point in time, the Holy
Spirit came into our hearts, and because we were sons, that's
why he came. Why does he pass by one and save
another? There's a son there. There's
one over there. There's one over there. Christ said, I'll give my life
for the sheep, right? Now, we don't know who they are, so we
preach the gospel to everybody, right? And God does his work. We just leave it. This is the
thing. Leave it in the hands of the Lord. Salvation's his
work. From beginning to end, it's his
work. We're just, we are receivers
of this wonderful grace and mercy that's immeasurable. You can't
measure it. And we all testify of that, don't
we? This grace, this mercy, we can't
plumb the depths of it. We look down into it and we say,
oh, from eternity, and there's more and more and more, because
this love is everlasting love. It's a love that you cannot find
the bottom of it. My. In verse 6, look at this,
and because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of
His Son into your hearts, crying, have a father. Look at this,
look at this phrase right here in verse 6, because you're sons. God has sent the Spirit of His
Son into our hearts. Why, one might ask, well, why
did God send the Spirit of His Son into the hearts of His people?
Because we're sons. Because Christ redeemed us. Because
the Father chose us in Christ. See, the Trinity works together,
don't they? Somebody said, well, where's man's decision there? We're made willing in a day of
God's power. The Holy Spirit, do we willingly
run to Christ? Absolutely. No one will deny
that. But only because we're made willing and because we're
sons, right? The Spirit comes into our heart,
grants us faith and repentance before God, right? Because faith
and repentance are like the same side of a piece of paper, just
opposite sides. and we were granted faith and
repentance before God, and we believe. By God-given faith,
we believe. We believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ because we're sons. That happens only because we're
sons. This makes salvation so incredible. I understand because
I was there, but I don't understand because of what I know now. Why do people kick against the pricks of election.
It's so wonderful, because we know we would never have chosen
God. But He chose us, and because
we're sons, He sends the Spirit into our hearts. Now we cry.
Did we cry Abba Father before? No, we didn't. I didn't even
know the word Abba, to be honest with you. Abba Father we cry now. Father,
my Father, What mercy you've had upon me in Christ. My, and note here, note here.
The spirit of God is not, this is key too. The spirit of God
is not sent into our hearts to make us sons. It's because we're
sons. God's made us sons. You see? Let's read it again. And because
you're sons. It doesn't say, God sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into your heart. It doesn't say, God sent
forth the Spirit of His Son and now you're sons. No, it says,
and because you're sons. Brother Zane, God chose you before
the foundation of the world in Christ. And because you're His
son, He sent the Holy Spirit of God into your hearts. And
that's true for every one of us. That just leaves us in awe,
doesn't it? It just leaves us in awe. It's
incredible. So the Spirit's not sent into the hearts of God's
people to give them a relationship by which they might become children.
We're already God's people. Even when we're dead in trespasses
and sins, we're already, because you're sons, God sent forth the
Spirit. This is incredible. What love, what forgiveness,
what mercy is found in Christ Jesus our Lord? This is immeasurable,
like I said earlier. And the reason, again, that the
Spirit's sent into hearts is because we're sons from the foundation
of the world. We were chosen in Christ. That's
undeniable, isn't it? It's in Scripture, Ephesians
1, verse 4. Because they were sons, God in
His grace and His mercy, and that's all it is. It's grace
and mercy, number one, that Christ redeemed us. It's grace and mercy,
number one, that God chose us in Christ. It's grace and mercy,
God's grace. and God's mercy that Christ redeemed
us. And then again, look at this
whole trinity in action, right? It's God's grace and mercy that
the Holy Spirit is sent into our hearts, whereby now we cry,
Abba, Father. Christ in us, the hope of glory, beloved. We didn't
have that before. Why can we get such peace? We
can be anxious one minute, and then we can get such peace the
next. That's the Holy Spirit of God working in us, beloved.
And we've all experienced that, haven't we? It's amazing. God's peace, that he sheds abroad
in our heart is remarkable. And even when, if we're up, Christ
is with us. If we're down, Christ is with
us. If we're in between, Christ is with us. All the time. Here
never leave us, nor forsake us. Never. Never, ever, ever. Oh my, because they were sons,
God in his grace and mercy sends the spirit of his son, which
was promised again in John, spirit of his son into our hearts, and
we cry, Abba, Father. Well, someone might say, well,
where is that? Where's that found? Turn, if
you would, to Ephesians chapter 1, and then put your finger in
Romans chapter 8. Where's this found that talks
about God's mercy and grace shown to we who are sinners before
the foundation of the world? Where's this found? Ephesians
chapter 1. Let's read verses 3 to 6. Blessed,
no wonder Paul wrote these words like this. Again, these are words
of the Holy Spirit of God. He's been inspired to write these
words, right? Always remember that the true
author of the whole scriptures is God, the Holy Spirit. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now we just look at
that and go, praise God. He's wonderful. But it continues,
look at this. According as he has chosen, that
means to choose in the Greek, there's no way to get around
it, that means to choose. And Paul's writing to believers,
remember? He's not writing to the world, he's writing to believers.
And he says, according as he, being God, had chosen us in him,
that's in Christ, before the foundation of the world. That's
before the foundation of the world. That's not figurative
language, that's real. That's literal. Before the foundation
of the world. My. Why? That we should be holy
and without blame before him in love. See, that's the final
destination, isn't it? When we're glorified, we'll be
without blame before him in Christ. We're already without blame before
him in Christ in the flesh right now because our sins are forgiven,
even though we're still sinners. But there'll be a time, beloved,
when we will appear before him holy and without blame. And this
is why we're being conformed to the image of the sun right
now. We're stones being made ready. He's chipping away at
us, right? While we're here on this earth. Oh, look at this. Having predestinated us unto
the what? The adoption of children. That's
what we're looking at. That's what we're looking at
in Galatians chapter 4. The adoption of children by Jesus
Christ. According, or by Jesus Christ
to himself. Look at this. There's what you
said, Dave. According to what? the good pleasure of his will.
My, that's spectacular. And here's our cry, right? To
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the blood. Paul's contemplating these, right?
And then he just breaks out and prays. His heart's overflowing. Oh, my. Now turn, if you would,
to Romans chapter 8. Oh my. And then we're going to go back
to Galatians chapter 4 right after that. So we saw there,
having predestined us into the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
and that all happened in eternity. Romans chapter 8 verses 29 and
28, for whom he did foreknow, He also did predestinate. What? Now people say, well, I don't
agree with that predestination stuff, or I don't agree with
that election stuff. Let me have a question for folks like that,
if they profess to be believers. You got something wrong with
being conformed to the image of the sun? Nope. Nope. No argument there. Nope. No argument there. Nope. Not at all. that he might
be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Oh, he called us in time, didn't
he? And whom he called, them he also justified. We were justified
by Christ. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. There's our final destination,
to be with him wholly and without blame, in love. Let's go back
to Galatians chapter 4, verse 6, and we'll read that again. This is clearly a work of God
that we have in this verse. We've seen that we're heirs in
verse 1, and that's by God's choosing. And then we've seen
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And now we see regenerated
by the Holy Spirit of God. Look at this, and because you
are sons, verse 4, or verse 6, I mean, sorry, Galatians 4, 6.
Oh, this is a work of God. God sends. God sends. Notice
that, too. God sends. He sent His Son, and
now He's sending the Spirit. Isn't that amazing? What love.
What love for God has for His people. And because you are sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. He did it. This is a work of
God, beloved. It's not a work of man. It's
not man deciding. Although, again, we run to Christ.
Look at this. Into your hearts cry an Abba
Father. We see God in action, don't we, in this verse. We're
being acted upon. It's wonderful. One minute we're
living a life in our dead and trespasses and sins, not caring
for God, not caring for anything, and then we're regenerated by
the Holy Spirit of God, and now we're just praising His name.
We don't understand everything, do we? We're a little baby. When the Lord first saves us,
we're like a little wee baby. And it's Him that has us grow.
Right? It's Him that has us grow and
learn. He molds us into the image of
His Son. It's His work. It's the fruit
of the Spirit, not the fruit of the flesh. It's the fruit
of the Spirit. We know what the fruit of the
flesh is, right? It's already, we're going to see that when
we study Galatians 5. My oh my. But this is, this is
wonderful. This is God acting upon us. He
sends forth the Spirit of His Son. He sends the Holy Spirit
into the hearts of His people. This is wonderful. And there's
nothing in our text or anything in the whole of God's Word that
even hints on something that man has to do to be adopted.
Nothing. It's all God, like we see here.
It's all God. It's all Him. That's mercy, isn't
it? So think of that now. Think of
the love that we have for the Savior now. We never had that
before. Now we love Him. God sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. And we cry, Abba Father,
my. Again, we have no merit in ourselves
to receive the Holy Spirit of God, nothing. Turn if you would
to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. We're not saved
by any works of man of any kind, not the will of man, not by the
obedience of God, God's laws. It's because we are sons. God
sent the spirit of his son into our hearts. Now, we desire to
be obedient to God now, don't we? Of course we do. Of course,
we hate our own sin. Do any of us want to sin still? We don't want to, do we? But
we do, unfortunately, because we're sinners. But it's not our
desire anymore. And when we do sin, we're convicted,
aren't we? But praise be to God, beloved,
we have a Savior. He's washed us from all our sins.
All of them. We've been redeemed. Oh my, Christ has redeemed us,
and now we're sons. We were always God's sons in
His mind, but in time and place when we're regenerated, born
again, the Scripture says we're adopted into the family of God. Look at John 14, verses 16 to
18. And I will pray to the Father,
now this is the words of Christ, right? He's going to give comfort
to His disciples here, and we see this fulfillment in the verse
we're studying today. And I will pray the Father, and
he shall give you another Comforter, capital C, that's the Holy Spirit,
that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth. So
he's the Comforter for God's people, and he's the Spirit of
Truth. What's he going to do? Whom the
world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him, but ye know him, look at this, for he dwelleth with you. and shall be in you. I will not
leave you comfortless. I will come to you. And he is
the one who teaches us, beloved, the things of Christ. All we
know about Christ, this is why, as in that sermon that you gave
me, saying there's no room for boasting. There's no room for
us to boast in anything. In what we've learned, there's
no room for our boasting. Everything we know about Christ
is a gift. It comes to us from mercy, God's mercy. And then think of this, even
in our lives, whatever vocation we did, God gave us the knowledge
to do that so that we could live in this world. Isn't that amazing?
Isn't that amazing? And we're all different, we all
do different things, and here we are. Now we're one in Christ,
right? From all different walks, different
personalities, and here we are, one in Him. My God is so good to us. He's
so good to us. Let's go. Oh, see that verse
there in John 14, 18? I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you. In the Greek literal Bible, it
says this. I will not leave you as orphans.
Well, that sure ties into our verse, doesn't it? I am coming
to you. You're not an orphan. No. We won't come. Yeah, exactly. We won't come to Him. So He comes
to us. I'm going to read that in the
Greek literal again. I will not leave you as orphans. I am coming
to you. And then look at Galatians 4.6.
Go back there again. I'll read that Greek literal
Bible again. Let's turn back to Galatians
4.6. This is just magnificent. This is just magnificent. I'll read John 14, 18 again.
He says, I will not leave you as orphans. I am coming to you. We know in John, in John 14 there,
we just read that he's going to send a comforter, right? Won't
leave us comfortless. We'll always have the comforter
with us. Look at this. And because you are sons, I'm
not going to leave you as orphans. Right? God has sent the spirit
of his son into your hearts. He come to us. Right? crying out of a father. Isn't
that beautiful? Isn't that beautiful, beloved? My, because you're sons,
you are God's promised children. We are God's promised children,
beloved. By God's choice. By God's choice. And because Christ redeemed us
with his blood, because there is therefore now no condemnation
to us in Christ Jesus, nothing can be laid to the charge of
God's elect. Nothing. That's amazing. That's grace. That's mercy. Isn't
it? That's just incredible. And now we cry, Abba, Father. Let us never lose sight of these
important truths. Turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter 3. Look at this. Galatians chapter 3, verses 2
and 3. This is beautiful. It ties right
in again with our verse. Because you are sons, God sent
forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, I have a
Father. Look at this in Galatians 3, 2. This only will I learn
of you. Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by
the hearing of faith. Was it by something you did? Or was
it by God's power? Right? Are you so foolish? And remember, they're being bewitched
by the Judaizers. And he says, again, this is the
words of the Holy Spirit. Are you so foolish? Having begun
in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? No. Flesh
can't make us. All our flesh can do is, it's
our worst enemy, isn't it? It just leads to death. But praise
be to God, we're born again. God, by the miracle of the new
birth, sets his children free. We're free. We are free indeed. Free in Christ. My. Free from the power of Satan. Free from the power of darkness. Free from the power of sin. Free
from the power of self. My. Free from the curse of the
law. all in the Lord Jesus Christ
in him alone. This is a miracle performed by
God under the preaching of the gospel. Wow, it's absolutely
incredible. So Paul is setting forth here
before the Galatians the foolishness of the Judaizers in saying that
one could be justified by their works because it's all the work
of the Spirit of God. It's all the work of the Trinity.
We're saved by God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
beloved. It's a total work of Him. My. Romans 10, verse 17 says,
so faith is from hearing and hearing through the Word of God.
My. And let we who are the born-again,
blood-washed people of God always remember that having begun in
the Spirit, We cannot be made perfect by the flesh. Aren't
you happy the Lord took you out of any religion that was like
that? I'm so thankful. He didn't leave me in those messes
I got myself into. And now I've learned about God's
grace, his true grace, and how freeing and how liberating it
is, and how merciful God is. He sent a son, and then he sends
a spirit into our hearts, crying, I have a father. My gosh, it's
mercy upon mercy. for sinners like we. It's amazing. For by one offering
hath he yet perfected forever them that are sanctified. God's promised children have
been made perfect by what Jesus Christ has done for us. We're
sanctified. in God's sight by what Christ
has done for us, not by anything in us. So rejoice, beloved. We're made righteous in God's
sight in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all Him. It's
all Him. All Him. We're complete. We are
complete in Christ. I love that when Paul says that
in Colossians. We're complete. We feel so imperfect. And he says, you're complete
in Christ. Oh my, can it be true? Yes, God
said it, and it's true, isn't it? If God said it, it's absolutely
true. We are complete in Christ. The world looks at us and sees
a bunch of sinners, but praise God, we're complete in Christ.
And because we're sons, God sent forth the spirit of his Son into
our hearts. And now, now, beloved, we cry, Abba, Father. See that
word Abba there in the text? Let's read it one more time.
I've got to finish up with this because this is important. See
there it says, and because you are sons God sent forth the spirit
of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father. That word Abba in
the New Testament is only used three times. It's used here,
Then it's used over in Romans 8.15, for ye have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but to receive the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. That's Romans 8.15. Now I'll turn, if you would,
to Mark. This is, I think, the most important position where
this word is used. Oh, look at this. Mark chapter
14. We'll read verses 32 to 36. This
is the third time where this word is used. Third time as I
was looking it up. It's actually the first time
it's used in the New Testament, and in Romans, and in Galatians. But look at this. Our Lord's
in the Garden of Gethsemane, and He uses this word, beloved.
He proclaims the title of our great God in the Garden of Gethsemane,
Abba. Look at verse 32. And when they
came to a place which was named Gethsemane, and he says to his
disciples, sit ye here while I shall pray. And he taketh with
him Peter and James and John and began to be sore amazed and
to be very heavy. So all that's coming upon him. And he saith unto them, my soul
is exceedingly soreful unto death, tarry ye here and watch. And he went forward a little
and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the
hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba. Our Savior, our head said that.
And the body says it too, don't we? Abba. And he says the same
words here. Notice this. Abba, Father. All things are possible unto
thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I
will, but what thou will. Abba. Abba Father. The same cry. We cry the same
cry as our Savior cried. Abba Father. Because we're sons. God has sent the Spirit of His
Son, right? The Holy Spirit of God. Abba Father. My. Abba Father there, transliterated
from Aramaic is this, Father, my Father. Father, my father. My, what mercy God has upon us. In the word Abba in Hebrew means
father. The word father is a Greek word
for father. This shows here in our text and
where the Lord cried that both in Hebrew and Greek, God the
father is the father of both Jews and Gentiles. Isn't that amazing? What a little
nugget there, eh? This shows that He is the Father. God's people are a people out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. Abba, Hebrew, Jewish
Christians, Father, Greek, Gentile dogs that we are. We cry with the other believers,
Abba, Father, my Father, all because of the Lord Jesus Christ.