Good evening, let's all stand together and sing hymn number 489. 489. Number 489. Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name. I am so wondrously saved from sin. Jesus so sweetly abides within, There at the cross where He took me in.

Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! There to my heart was the butterfly Glory to His name O precious fountain that saves from sin I am so glad I have wandered in There Jesus saves me speak with. Glory to His name. Glory to His name.

Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name. Come to this fountain so rich and sweet, Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet, Plunge in today and be made complete. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name. Be seated.

We'll sing hymn number 39. Hymn number 39. The third verse there in the second to last line, if you don't have it written in already, we'll sing, this is my father's world. The battle has been won. Jesus has died. God is satisfied. Oh, the wonders of his grace. this is my father's world and to my listening ears all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres This is my father's world.

I rest me in the love of rocks and trees, of skies and seas, when the wonders roll. This is my father's world. The birds their carols raise, The morning light, the lily white, Declare their Maker's praise. This is my Father's world He shines in all that's fair In the rustling grass I hear Him pass He speaks to me everywhere This is my Father's world O let me ne'er forget That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is my Father's world, a battle has been won.

Jesus has died, God is satisfied, all the wonders of His grace. Galatians chapter 4, Galatians chapter 4, finished up chapter 3, we're going to move into chapter 4. I'm going to read verse 29 of chapter 3 down to verse 7 of chapter And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now I say, the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all. But he 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 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 the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, wherefore thou no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Oh, Lord, our blessed, blessed master, our Lord Jesus Christ. And God, our father. Lord, we read your precious word. But Lord, we have no power to do anything with it unless you bless us with the Holy Spirit.

And Lord, I thank you that you allowed us to meet here on this night. Thank you for the ones that, by your mercy, was able to come out and be with us. And we pray for those who, through sickness and frailty and Not able to be here, Lord, we pray for them. Pray for Helen, pray for Rick. And Lord Jesus, we ask that you'd meet with us tonight. God, you'd please meet with us. Meet with us wherever we are and all your Lord's people, wherever they're meeting tonight. God be with them. Lord, we need you.

Oh, that's why we come, because we have a need. We have a need. Our bodies get tired. Our mind gets weary. And Lord, but we come because we have a need. We need to hear from you. We need a touch of grace. We need some mercy. We need some strength. We need some faith. We need the things that only you can give us. So meet with us tonight. Bring glory to yourself. And please, please, oh God, have mercy on our children, on our grandchildren. We ask these things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. M number 314. 314. I am thine, O Lord, I have heard thy voice and adored thy love to me. But I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to thee. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord.

To the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, To Thy precious pleading side. Consecrate me now to thy service, Lord, By the power of grace divine. Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, And my will be lost in thine.

Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to thy precious bleeding side. Pull the purity light of a single hour, that before thy throne I speak. When I kneel in prayer and with Thee, my God, I commune as friend with friend. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died.

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. There are depths of love that I cannot know, Till I cross the narrow sea. There are heights of joy that I may not reach, Till I rest in peace with Thee. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side.

You know, it says there in verse 29, if you be Christ, if you be Christ, that's the key to everything in the Bible. If you be Christ, if you belong to Christ, if he is loved by him, chosen in him, redeemed by him, kept by him, And to be Christ, if you be Christ, look what he says, then you're Abraham's seed, you're a descendant of Abraham. You're one of those that God counted righteous, and we inherited a promise. We inherited a promise. And that promise God made to his son. God made this covenant that the promise was in, and that promise was in his son.

But then he goes on, now you remember, chapter verses and things are just, they're man-made. And then he says, heirs according to the promise. Now I say, I'm going to explain this. Now I say the heir, though he were heirs of promise. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, different nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father. Now I say, he's going to explain himself here.

A child, as long as he's a child, his father may have all the wealth in the world, may have a wonderful wheel, a wonderful covenant for him, have a wealth waiting on him, but as long as he's a child, he can't inherit that. He can't have it. And he's in there though, but he's no different than anybody else in the house, a servant in the house, maid in the house, or anybody else.

And why does he have to do that? Because even though he is going to inherit everything, everything, he has to be taught. Ain't that what it says? But under tutors, he has to be taught. He has to be instructed. He has to, he has to be governed, you know, governed. He has to have government over him. He has to be disciplined. He has to be taught and has to be instructed until the time that the father says, now is the time for you to be the inheritor. Now's the time.

And that's the way it was with Abraham and Isaac. Abraham had two children, two sons. One of them was by flesh and the other by promise. Now the one of promise, you remember when Eliezer went to get a bride for Isaac, he says, my father hath given everything to his son.

But now he had to wait to be weaned. He had to wait to be instructed, had to wait to be taught. And then he went down there and told him, said, my master has given everything to his son. And that's the way it is with us. God has everything for us in Christ, but we have to be taught. We have to be governed, we have to be disciplined. And then until the time that the father says, it's time for me to make them to know what they inherit. Make them to understand the promise that belongs to them.

And oh my, it's like the prodigal. It's like the prodigal. He come to his father and said, father, give me all the goods that's coming to me. You know, you've got all this wealth, you've got all this power, you've got all these things. Give me the goods that's my part, my portion.

And he was holding up the faucet. Okay, here it is. Well, away he went. He went into a far country. He had the inheritance. He had what the father gave him. But what did he do with it? He wasted it. He partied and wasted his own riotous living. And what happened to him then? Then he come to his senses, starving, hungry. He had to be disciplined, taught. Then he come home hungry and starving.

He got to thinking, boy, my father. Oh, my father, the servants in my father's house, they have more than I have. And he said, I'm going to go back and I'm going to become a servant. Oh, I sinned against my father, sinned against heaven. But when he got home, how was he treated? See, that's the thing. That's the thing. He wasted it all. And that's what we've done.

We wasted everything God gave until the time appointed of the Father. And the Father appointed a time for us to see some things. And you know, we're heirs according to a promise. And the child, though until time appointed by the Father, he don't get the inheritance. You know, that's why the scripture says, the Lord knows them that are His. And He called us with a holy calling, not according to anything we ever done. But He made us to understand that the grace that He gave us was in Christ with before the world began. When did we find out we had this? We weren't born with it. How was we taught? How was we instructed?

Through the scripture. Grown up, we started out as children. And God brings us up. And oh my, and I'm going to tell you something. We were always God's children. When that, when that particle went home, he was always a son. He was a wayward son. He was wasted son. The father said he is lost and now he's found. He is dead and now he's alive. That's how I viewed Him. And oh my, we were always God's children, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Look what it said here in Galatians 3,

23. Now listen to this. But before faith came, before God gave us faith, we were kept under that law. Now when he talks about the law, he's talking about us trying to be justified by the Ten Commandments, or by some kind of work that we do. But we were kept shut up with the faith that afterwards, and this is how it's got to come to, it's got to come as revealed. Wherefore the law, the law written in our hearts and in our conscience as Gentiles, and these Galatians are Gentiles.

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster. We had to be instructed, had to be taught. With the types and the pictures and the shadows. Shut up! Shut up! The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. Now listen to this. Bring us unto Christ for one reason. That we can be justified by what he did. Oh my. We shut up. Why would we shut up? Till the time appointed by the Father. And when the Father appointed the time, time for them to get their inheritance, time to find out what they've got. And then look what he says in verse 3.

But even so, even so, when we were children, now we've always been children, but we were children. were in bondage, in bondage, though we were children, were kept under the elements of the world. Now, when we talk even as children, we were in bondage under the elements.

That's basic principles of the world. Paul said in Colossians, they're weak and beggarly elements, rudimentary. That means that they're just basic things. And you know why? Because they, these elements of the world, this is, we're talking about the world of religion is what he's talking about. Because they were outward, all these things were outward, had to do with the flesh, had to do with obedience, had to do with us doing something. And they were worldly things, you know, like offering animal sacrifices, different washings that people had. and different dietary laws that people had. And they thought those were the things that would justify them and make them acceptable. But Paul says they're weak. They're beggarly. They got no power. They're worldly things.

And anything that comes from the world and the elements, it's like a child learning the ABCs. That's what elements mean. And the rudimentary thing, you gotta start with A, B, C, D, E, you know? And that's what he's talking about, that's the elements of the world.

And oh my, and we were in the same condition as the world, we were lost, though we're children. And oh my, elements, rudiments of something, someone, you know, and this is another thing, this is some other elements of the world. You know, though we were children, we were lost, had no bondage, You know, some people think that philosophy.

You know, there's a there's a fellow named Brandon Kraft. He has a podcast and he deals with so many things. He says, you know, you can you can find him under pristine grace. And he makes some awful, awful, wonderful podcasts. But the thing is that he'll ask the question. He'll ask the question, you know, how much does a man has to know to be saved? How much doctrine must he know? How strong must he be? How dedicated must he be?

And all these things. He deals with spiritual issues. But the thing is, is that people think that just because they're Calvinist, that makes it all right. And they'd have philosophy. Everybody's got some kind of philosophy. They, you know, they philosophize about the beginning of the world, the existence of the world, who God is and what God's not, and this God and that God, and they have philosophy. And they have philosophical discussions. And oh my, then there's this thing called vain deceit. Oh, I'm somebody. And that's just nothing but deceived in yourself. It's vain to think that you're somebody when you're nothing. And oh my, but they have vain deceit. And then there's self-righteousness. and all keeping of the law and morality and God's many. But none of those things, they thought this is better than having faith in Christ. But there's nothing better than faith in Christ. Never.

I don't know how many of y'all remember, oh no, Clarence Poor, big Clarence. He's a big old boy. And a fella got up and preached one time and she says, you know, there's more in the Bible than Christ. The old big Clarence, he weighs about 300 pounds now. He met him in the pulpit and said, there ain't nothing in the Bible but Christ and you just lied on to us and everybody else in this building. He met him at the pulpit, didn't even get out of the pulpit yet. Clarence said in front of everybody, and that's the way it is.

Go ahead and have your weak and beggarly elements. We need something strong. We need something with a foundation. We need something that'll hold us up. not some old sorry philosophy or self-righteousness or vain deceit or morality or anything else. And oh my, but I tell you, Paul isn't condemning the law, but oh no, when he says we were in bondage, he isn't condemning the law, but teaching that man cannot be justified by observing the law. It just can't happen. And when a person thinks they can be justified by anything, But how much they know, how much they've learned, how long they've studied, and how long they've been saved. Anything that a man looks at and believe that this is the power of keeping, of works generally, to justify or go to the law to sanctify themselves, that's the basic element of the world. And instead of saving a man, it brings him into bondage. Brings him into bondage. Oh, I got, you know, I'm saved by Christ, but I gotta go to the law to be sanctified. You're in bondage.

Don't purify you. Oh my. And I tell you a law, any law is never satisfied. Never satisfied. You can't, you know, they say you gotta pray, but you know, when you're under that, pray more. Oh, I gotta pray. You gotta give more. You got to be devoted more. You're not attending service as much. And that's why it can never, ever satisfy a person's heart and soul. And a Jew with his law or Gentiles with their gods, both tried to be accepted by God Almighty by acts of worship, sacrifice, and devotion. And all it does is bring people under bondage.

But now watch what happens now. But when the fullness of time was come, when the fullness of time was come, I love, this is that promise we got. God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. There was a time, everything, God does everything on time. You know, he told Abraham, I'll visit you at this time. God does things on time. Not our time, but his time. And oh my, but when that fullness, time got full, it need not nothing more time, no more, not another second, not another minute. And what did God do? He sent his son. We didn't ask for him. We didn't desire him, God sent him. Here I'm in the bosom of the Father, go and declare me, go and tell men about me, go and tell men who I am and you'll be me in the flesh. And oh my, oh my, and then oh my, he was made.

You know, everybody's been, You know, two men and a woman get together and they have children. Well, Christ was made the only soul ever made in this world that was the seed of the woman. Everybody else come from the seed of a man. But Christ was the Holy Ghost, conceived him in his mother's womb, and that's why he was sinless, that's why he come from a virgin, that's why he was sin of God, that's why he come in the womb of that woman, is so that he would be made like unto us, sin accepted. You know what we produce when we produce children?

Sinners, just like ourselves. But when Mary was conceived of the Holy Ghost, he brought first the sinless son that ever lived on the face of this earth. And that time got full. We've been going through it in Luke, you know, when Mary Gable said, you're going to, in a time, God's going to visit you. Oh, my. And I tell you, oh, bless his name. You know, God sent his son.

You know who he sent him for? For the heirs? For the children? For those that were in bondage? So if you're Christ, when the fullness of time was come, God said, I'm going to send him. I've kept him in bondage all this time. Now it's time to teach him. Time to come and instruct them. Time to let them know their inheritance. And oh my, made of a woman. And then look what it says, made under that law. Oh my.

Our salvation, our salvation is utterly and absolutely dependent upon the birth, upon the life upon the death, upon the resurrection, upon the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our salvation depends on Him from before He came, when He came, while He lived, when He died, when He was buried, when He was resurrected, and then when He went back on glory. Our salvation utterly depends on Him and everything about Him. And oh, our salvation depends on God coming into this world. Oh, the sun set. Oh, the time appointed. And our scriptures calls about his day. This is the day the Lord hath made. Abraham saw my day, and he rejoiced and was glad. This is the day of salvation.

And oh, made of a woman. Oh, our Lord Jesus Christ. know, I was going to have you look in Isaiah 714. You look at that when you get home. They asked for a sign. God said, I'm going to give you a sign. He said, A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel.

Oh, my. And our Lord fully identified. When He done that, He fully identified with us. I'm going to identify with my children. I'm going to identify with with those that I've made a promise to. I'm going to identify myself with them. And oh my, with our condition, I'll be weak. I'll be sleepy. I'll be hungry. And oh, I'll fully identify with them and with our condition that we were in. And there's two ways here that our Lord Jesus Christ identified with us.

As to our humanity, he became a man, truly a man. A man touched with the feelings of our infirmity, a sinless man, a perfect man, but yet a man, yet a man. And oh my, as to our humanity, made like unto his brethren. And then he was made under that law to do for us what we could not do. He rendered obedience to that law, satisfaction to that law, obedience to that law, civil ceremony, ritual, Ten Commandments, any way you look at it, he kept it all and satisfied God in every way.

And oh, my. And I tell you what, now, he is the end of the law for righteousness, not to doers, but believers. Oh, my. And I tell you, because of who he was, and so identified with us and our condition, he was able to redeem us, to redeem them, verse 5, to redeem them that were made under the law to pay our debt. by us out from under our bondage of sin and death and condemnation. And they redeemed us out from under that law. Oh, my. Made a curse for us to save us out from under the curse. Oh, my. I tell you what. Redeemed them that were under the law. And then look what else he says.

And that we might receive the adoption of sons. That's one of the things we're predestinated to in Ephesians 1. We're predestinated to the adoption of sons. Now, you know, everybody knows what adoption is. You go and you adopt somebody. That means you give them your name and they become entitled to what you have. You give them your name. But one thing you can't do is you can't give them your nature. God can do both. He said, I only got one son, but I'm going to have a multitude that no man can number. Well, how are you going to have them? I'm going to adopt them. I'm going to adopt them. I'm going to make them in my family. I'm going to put them all in my family.

But here's the thing. Not only does he adopt us to make us heirs according to the promise, but because we are sons, He regenerates us, gives us a new heart and a new will, and gives us His nature. And that's why we say, Father, Father. Oh, He received it. And listen to this. I love this here.

And because you are sons, because you are sons, what'd God do? He sent forth the Spirit of His Son, the Spirit of Christ. of his son into our hearts. And I read today that Abba is a Hebrew word for father, and then his father, and oh my, father, father. Oh, they gave, we got, we know receiving the adoption of sons because your sons God said, I've got to make them know they're my sons.

How am I going to do it? I send my spirit into their hearts. I'll let them know they're mine. I'll put my spirit in them. I'll regenerate them. I'll let my son take up his abide in them. And oh my, I tell you what, we received so much more in Christ than we ever began to any other way. Oh, we receive the nature of sons, heirs because of adoption. And oh my, how do we know we're sons then? In verse six, and because you're sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts. And first thing you start saying, oh Lord, my father, my father. You're my God, you're my father. You gave me a name, you gave me a life, you gave, oh my.

And I tell you what, look what it says over here in Romans 8, 9, 15, excuse me. Romans 8, 15. Romans 8,

15. You know I ain't been 30 minutes yet. I started at 8, 15. 6,

15. Six, just turned 6,

40. But I know you're tired, a lot of you work hard, but look what he says here. In verse 15. Now this is that bondage business. He says, for you, talking about believers, now you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. God didn't give us a spirit of bondage. He didn't bring us under any kind of bondage. You know, and when you're under bondage, you have a fear. How am I going to get out from under this?

But listen to this. But you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God. Look back over with me now. Oh, my. Oh, your sons, I said. I'm going to make them know they're sons.

He sends forth that Holy Spirit into our hearts, the Spirit of Christ himself. Oh, and then look what he says in verse 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant. You're not a servant anymore. You're a son. Verse 7 of Galatians 4. You're no more a servant, but a son. You're a son. Oh, my. And if you're a son, that means you're also an heir. Only the children inherit. And watch this. And if a son, then an heir, listen to this, of God, how do we get it?

Through Christ. Oh, boy, you think God made a promise to Abraham? He made a promise to Abraham of Christ. And we received that promise that God made to Abraham, Christ, and faith by him. And he sent forth the Spirit in our hearts and let us know that we belong to him. And, oh, my, every believer has this blessing. of the Spirit of Christ in a man. Oh, the Holy Spirit's called the Spirit of Christ. His Spirit didn't make us sons, but make us know that we were sons.

Oh, my. Bears witness to our heirship and our adoption by sons. I want to show you a couple of things, and I'm going to wind this thing up. Look over in 1 John 3. 1 John 3. This is what I'm talking about, this is what's going on. You keep Galatians in your left hand now. Look what he says here.

First John 3.14.

First John 3.14. We know, no, no, 3.24, excuse me, I'm sorry, I'm wrong first.

And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him dwells in Christ and Christ dwells in him and Therefore we know that he abideth in us. How do we know it by the spirit? He's given to us Now look over here in chapter 4 in verse 13 Hereby we know we that we dwell in him we live in Christ and Christ is in us and because he hath given us of his spirit. That makes the difference. It makes all the difference. Well, what does it mean then to be an heir of God? He said we're heirs, an heir of God. Joined heirs with Christ. Christ is the heir.

But God says, I have so much wealth. I am so wealthy. I'm so rich. The earth and heaven of heavens can't contain me. I've got so much. So much, I'm so wealthy that my son has everything and I'm gonna make all these people that I made promise to, to have the, to join heirs with him and they're gonna get what he gets. I've used this illustration so many times. You've got five people in a family and you, and your own inheritance comes along and they start digging up that pie. Your piece is, your piece is, your piece is, your piece is. But in Christ, we get the whole pie. Whatever Christ gets, it's what we get. How's it come? Because that's how rich God is. That's how rich God is.

It's like Rachel. When she got down, Rebecca got down there to see Isaac, she said, That's your husband. That's the one you've been promised to. Said, she jumped off and ran to him. And you know what? Everything he had, she had from that moment. And everything Christ has, we have through the promise. Huh? Oh, what does it mean to be an heir?

We have Christ as our Lord and master. Heaven as our position. Our language will be glory to God on high, praise be unto him who loved us and gave himself for us. Our dress is going to be the righteousness of Christ, and joy and peace will be beyond our imagination.

That's what it means to be an heir. And Paul the apostle says, though we see through a glass darkly, but then we're going to see face to face, face to face. We're heirs of God through Christ. Join heirs with him. Christ is the only begotten son of God. He's heir of all. And then God makes us sons because we're sons. He sent the spirit of his sons. We become sons of God. And he graciously, graciously saves his people and makes them understand what they got.

Look what we've already got. Imagine what it's gonna be when we get all of it. We just get a taste of it here. Imagine what we get when we get the whole possession. Oh my. There's just nothing like the word, just nothing like it. It just, it sets me on fire. It just does something for me, nothing else in this world does. I hope it does you. I hope it does you.

Our Father, oh, our blessed Savior, glory be to your holy name. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Blessed be your name. You made us sons of God. You sent forth the Spirit because we were your sons. You made us know we were your children. Made us know, and you made us since your son, to bear our sin, to bear our guilt, to bear our shame, to render obedience that we couldn't. And, Lord, we bless you for it. Oh, how we bless you. And, Father, we thank you that you sent your son. Oh, we thank you that you sent him.

God bless you, dear people. Those that's listened tonight and those that are in the service here, God bless them and keep them and preserve them. As I've prayed so many times, bless them in their getting up and bless them in their going out. Bless them in their morning, bless them in the evening. Bless them in their nights and bless them in their days.

And keep us all, keep us all cleaving and believing in our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, I'll see you Sunday, if nothing don't change. It's been a while. I'm looking forward to it. Lance Ellard was supposed to preach last Sunday, and he looked at the weather, but they come on anyway. Boy, we had the best time with them.