Right, so turn with me then to
Galatians chapter 3. I want to look at the verses
from 26 down into chapter 4 and verse 7. And the theme this morning
is the children of God. The children of God. Now, in
literature, an often used tool of literature is the story of
the Rags to Riches. You know, the Rags to Riches
story. Take for example Oliver Twist,
who is born in impoverished conditions, ends up in Fagin's gang, and
into all sorts of evil ways, and is rescued out of that situation
by his estranged grandfather. And of course, he's actually
the son of a very wealthy family. Or you could say, Luke 15, the
parable that we read, the prodigal son, taken from his existence
of eating the pigs will, the food fed to the pigs, and brought
and had the best robe put upon him and the fatted calf killed
for him. Well these verses in Galatians
3, 26 to 4, 7 they tell a rags to riches story too but it's
on an eternal scale and it involves people like you and me not literary
figures people like you and me ordinary people sinners sinners
deserving of condemnation Sinners in that horrible miry pit of
sin made heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Lifted up,
set upon a rock, clothed with the righteous robe of Christ,
given all the glory and all the privileges and all of the riches
that come with the inheritance of God in Christ. This is a rags
to riches story. Making sinners into the children
of God. Do you know that you are a sinner? Oh, people all over the world
will acknowledge, yes, I'm not as good as I should be, but I'm
not as bad as the next man. And they have all sorts of degrees
of goodness and badness. And virtually everybody thinks
that they're good enough for God in some respect and that
there's no way that God would ever condemn them to hell because
they're good enough as they stand. But you know, God, the Holy Spirit
comes and he convicts individuals, you and me, and shows us what
we are in the sight of God, that we're sinners. I keep quoting
it. A sinner is a holy thing, a sacred
thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so. This is something that the Holy
Spirit reveals to you. That you're a sinner before God.
That you're justly condemned in the sight of a God who is
perfectly good and holy. A God who is perfectly just and
righteous in all of his ways. And you have offended him. And
I have offended him. And I have not just upset him,
I have deeply, profoundly offended against the justice and nature
and character of the Eternal God. And I deserve only His just
and righteous condemnation. And I see His law, if I didn't
know it, I see His law drawn in the sand, clearly. And I know
I'm a transgressor of that law every single day in thought and
word and deed. I know that even when I do my
best things, I'm sinful because I think of them as my best things.
I think of them in a high way. I have a good view of myself.
I pat myself on my back. And I'm a sinner before God.
And that law, which some see as being a means to life, that
law I see only as something which makes my sin obvious and condemns
me. And like a schoolmaster, it drives me to Christ because
I see in the Scriptures the revelation of Jesus Christ. I see Him revealed. I see the whole of history in
this creation centers on Him, Jesus Christ, who He is, what
He has done, who He has done it for. That He is the eternal
Son of God, that He's God the Word, God made flesh, the God-Man. What He has done, He's laid His
glory aside and He came to this earth to be the substitute for
sinners, to stand in the place of a multitude known to God precisely,
but an innumerable multitude from our point of view, from
our perspective, as innumerable as the sand on the seashore cannot
be counted. He came to represent them, to
be perfectly holy, to establish righteousness, so that when they
pursue righteousness, for without it no man shall see the Lord,
they find it one place only, in the Lord Jesus Christ. In
Him is that righteousness which makes us acceptable with God.
And then He bore the sins of His people. every sin of all
of His people in all time on the cross. He who knew no sin
was made sin that we, those people, might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He didn't die for all sins, He
died for the sins of His people. Known only to the Father from
before the beginning of time and He paid a perfect penalty
and in doing that He has saved to the uttermost those who come
to God by Him. He brings them all. The Holy
Spirit comes and brings them all by faith to see Him and know
Him. This people chosen before time
began in the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.
We saw, considering with Don Faulkner on Thursday evening,
that picture of a Lamb as it had been slain. Always in eternity,
it's the Lamb as He has been slain and the Father looks upon
the Lamb and there He sees the penalty for sin paid. and justice
satisfied. Before time, chosen in Him, slain
from the foundation of the world, redeemed by Christ in human history,
as we'll see in that well-known verse 4 of chapter 4, when the
fullness of the time was come. Redeemed by Him when He bore
my sin in His own body on the cross. And then, in time, we
who were dead in trespasses and sins, we who were children of
wrath just as the others, the Holy Spirit comes. And He wakens
the conscience. And He causes alarm. And He shows
us our state before the living God. And He brings us to see
the things of Christ. He points us to the One who says,
Look unto Me, all you ends of the earth, and be saved, for
I am God and there is no other. That's Christ speaking. That's
Christ speaking. Nobody else. Christ speaks, look
unto Me, for I am God and there is no other. And He brings us
there and He teaches us and shows us And it's because He chose
us in Christ from before the foundation of the world that
we're brought to faith, which is not of yourselves. It is the
gift of God. It's not the other way around,
as we saw last time. It's your trust in Him alone
for eternity. Do you feel a need to be in Him? Well, hear what He says. You
know these verses. Come unto me, all you who labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. No one who comes
to Him will in any way be cast out. No. Salvation is purely
of grace, but it's free grace. And if you're a soul that is
hearing this, and has a conscience that's disturbed by it, and you're
seeking peace with God, look to Christ. Look to Him. Come to Him. Seek His forgiveness. See in Him all the cleansing
of all of your sins. Because it says this, there is
nothing to keep you away. In the gospel, we used to sing
a hymn. It's not in our hymn books. The gospel's trumpet sounds and
it goes on about free grace. And if free grace, why not for
me? And that's the same. All of you
listening to this. And if free grace, why not for
me? The only testimony you need to
be in the Lord Jesus Christ is this. It's not I am good enough. It's not I have done these penances.
It's not that I'm of a certain character. It's not that I come
from a certain background or go to a certain church. It's
this. I'm a poor sinner. A nothing at all. No hope in
me. Absolutely none. Not my family ties, my connections,
my wealth. Nothing. My social standing.
I'm just a poor sinner. and nothing at all but but don't
stop there but Jesus Christ he is my all in all in everything
absolutely in everything and so then turn to these verses
in verse 26 of chapter 3 Paul says this you are all the children
of God by faith in Jesus Christ all of you If you have faith
in Jesus Christ, you are the children of God. That's all the
confidence that you need, that you are a child of God. How do
you know you're one of those for whom Christ died? Whom the
Father gave to the Son before eternity? How do I know? What
arrogance for me to know? All I know is this. I know whom
I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that
which I've committed unto Him against that day. That's the
confidence. I believe Him. Nothing from me. He gave me that gift of faith,
but I believe him. That's the confidence that you
need. That you're a child of God by faith. You're all children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. It's not based on law works.
You know what law works are? Those things that you think make
a difference in your value and standing before the eternal God.
That's what it is. Anybody that thinks that for
justification, for sanctification, they're in law works. Law works
do not sanctify you. The Lord Jesus Christ sanctifies
you. It's His goodness, it's His grace
that sanctifies you. Not based on law works making
you more acceptable or more valuable to God. But based on the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. Not based on your faith in Jesus
Christ. Your faith in Jesus Christ is
the sign of it. It's the means by which you experience
it. The thing that saved you is the
faithfulness of Jesus Christ when he did all that was necessary
and so then we see these lessons in this passage that we're all
one by faith in Jesus Christ all one in Christ and that we're
heirs of God with him so then verse 27 says this for as many
of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ
baptized into Christ and putting on Christ You see, what is baptism? Baptism literally means an immersion
in water. It doesn't mean sprinkling, it
means an immersion in water. And what it is, faith in the
heart, that faith which is a heart thing, which is experienced in
the heart, as you look and you see and you believe the Lord
Jesus Christ, is publicly witnessed by baptism in water. It's an
identification. It's a union. It's a commitment
and it's a declaration that I am in Christ. He is mine and I am
his. I belong to Jesus and I want
the world to know that. I want anybody who will come
and witness to see that, that I am in him and he is in me.
It's just like marriage is a public testimony of the commitment of
one man to one woman, that one woman to that one man. They're
saying, look world, we want you to know that we are going to
live together in a life of total intimate commitment to one another.
Absolutely personal, intimate commitment to one another. And
the marriage is not this big party where you spend thirty-odd
thousand pounds having the biggest jamboree that anybody ever had,
which is what it has become, and flying off to somewhere exotic
where nobody that you know can see you do that. Marriage is
a public declaration amongst those that you live amongst that
you're making this commitment. So is baptism. It's that declaration,
that public declaration of commitment to Christ. And so he says, as
many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
He's not saying, ah, there'll be some of you in the church
that have been baptized and those that have not been baptized and
some that have put on Christ and those that haven't. He's
saying, if your faith is in Christ, you will express it in baptism.
and you will put on the Lord Jesus Christ it's a picture like
the priest you know the priest before he went in to do the priestly
offerings would wash himself he had to go through certain
ceremonial washings and then he would put on the priestly
robes those elaborate priestly robes which was so full of symbolism
and so Paul is saying here that if you're in the Lord Jesus Christ
if you're in. Baptism doesn't make you in Jesus
Christ. It doesn't make any difference. It's just a public declaration.
But if you're there, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. You have put
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You've put on his righteousness,
as the father put that robe round the prodigal son. You've put
on the righteousness of Christ. You're clothed in him, his atonement. His protection, His care, His
keeping, His riches are all yours, you've put on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And verse 28, there is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither
male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. All distinctions of race, colour,
sex, male, female, social and commercial standing, nationality,
intellect, But think about it, you know the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the most profound thing ever written by the pen
of man, the most profound thing, and yet the lowest intellect
can see it and grasp it and rest in it. I'm a poor sinner and
nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. And yet you
try and plumb the depths of it, and who has ever plumbed the
depths, found the bottom, found the extent, found the width,
measured the length and the height and the breadth of the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus. We can't. It's immense. But without
any barriers of intellect, you are all one in Christ Jesus.
However wealthy or poor you are, of what value society might regard
you, they're of no effect in the Church of God. This is true. In the Lord Jesus Christ there
is no difference. You are all one in Christ Jesus. No distinction of sex. Now that
doesn't mean that there aren't distinctions of role. Black people
are still black people. White people are still white
people. Men are still men and women are still women. And there
are different roles. But in terms of standing as a
saved object of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the
Church of God there are no differences. Society has tried to legislate
for years and years and years, 50 years or more now. Society
has tried to legislate and there's nothing wrong with society trying
to legislate, to take down artificial and unfair barriers in society.
But society cannot legislate for the hardness of the human
heart. And the hardness of the human
heart means that, if anything, it's just as bad as it ever was.
I heard an item on the radio this morning about racist chanting
on football terraces, and how absolutely it is, it's revolting,
it's horrible, the things that one group will chant at another
group, you know, about Muslims, or about Jews, or about black
people, or about whatever else it might be. That goes on in
2008 on our football terraces, on a Saturday afternoon. You
cannot, you can legislate as much as you like, but you cannot
actually change the human heart within the Church of God. There
is no difference. All one. in Christ Jesus. And
if so, verse 29, if you be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and
heirs according to the promise. If you're in Christ by faith,
you've seen it by faith, you're in Christ by faith, you've seen
that all that he has done is on your behalf, if so, you are
Abraham's spiritual seed, that seed that was promised. You are
in the seed, capital S, And you are one of the seeds that are
in him. You are his spiritual seed. You are the Israel of God. That's what it says in Galatians
chapter 6. It refers to the Israel of God. Not national Israel. There remains so much confusion
today. There remains so much political
turmoil today. There are so many so-called Christian
churches that are making such a thing politically about the
national state of Israel. And it's a political disaster.
The whole thing is a political disaster. It really is. Look,
the state of Israel and the Jewish people as such are not the people
of God. They've been cast off forever.
The Scriptures clearly state it. I know what I'm saying will
make a lot of people very mad, but that's true. That's what
the Scriptures teach. There are Jews amongst the Israel
of God, for from every tribe and tongue and kindred He will
bring His people. But that one nation is not in
any way special today. What did we read in Romans chapter
9? Stephen read it for us earlier. Verses 6 to 8. Romans 9, verse
6. But it is not that the word of
God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel, the
Israel of God, who are of Israel, the nation of Israel. Nor are
they all children, because they are the seed of Abraham, because
they are Jews. But in Isaac, your seed shall
be called that is those who are the children of the flesh those
who would claim descent physically from Abraham these are not the
children of God but the children of promise in Christ are counted
as the seed the scriptures are quite clear absolutely plain
about this so then let's move on heirs of God chapter 4 says this as my microphone keeps
sliding down the Lectern. Chapter 4 says this, 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. But when the fullness of the
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 hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. heirs of God. These children,
if you're by faith you're a child of God, you are an heir of God. And a joint heir with Christ
is what Romans 8 says. All equally qualified to inherit. Do you know that? Do you realize
that? You need to realize it. If you're
a child of God by faith, you're one in Christ Jesus, you are
all equally qualified to inherit. There are not degrees of inheritance,
because the qualification is not in what you are or what you
do as works of sanctification, so-called, it's in Christ alone. He is the qualification of his
people for eternal inheritance. And all are inheritors of the
same reward promised to Abraham. Genesis 15 verse 1 says this,
God speaks to Abraham and he says, Don't be afraid. I am your
exceeding great reward. God is the exceeding great reward
of the believer, of Abraham and of all of his seed. God is that
exceeding great reward. What does that mean? What does
that mean? The same God that all the religions believe? No. The
God who is alone revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in
Him. It's in Him that we experience
that reward. It's Christ who is our reward. He is our exceeding great reward.
Jehovah, Tzidkeno, our righteousness, the Lord, our righteousness.
All of those other names, I can't remember off the spur of the
moment. Jehovah Nisai, Jehovah Rahar,
and so on. The Shepherd, the Banner, all
of those glorious names of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the
reward of His people. He is the Banner over us. He
is our Shepherd who leads us. He is the Lord, our righteousness.
He is our sin offering. He is the Lamb of God who takes
away the sins of his people. And there are no degrees of reward
of inheritance for the sanctifying law works of Christians. There
are not. And those passages that seem
to be saying that, you must read them in the light of the context
that they're set in and in the light of other scriptures that
are absolutely plain. There are no degrees of reward.
God, in Christ, is the reward of his people, our exceeding
great reward. But you see, what these verses
1 to 3 of chapter 4 are saying is that for a time it doesn't
seem like that. For a time it seems as though
we are. These children of promise are
under bondage. For Old Testament saints living
under the law, under the legal regime of the Old Covenant, in
the temple worship and all of the rites and the ceremonies
and the civil laws And for New Testament saints, before they
come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When they're living as
the rest of the world lives, coming under conviction of the
law, being driven to Christ, but not yet apprehending that
all the fullness there is in him. Children and servants, he
speaks about here, a child differs nothing from a servant. Though
the child is Lord of all, he's the inheritor of all, but yet
it doesn't appear like that to him. for a time. No difference
between the child and the servant, they both do as they're told
in the household, or they face the consequences of not doing
as they're told, there's no difference between them until the appointed
time. So you who are in Christ, you
were in bondage to the same laws that all are subject to. It's
that law that's written in our consciences that Romans 1 speaks
about. even though you were always an
heir of God in Christ from before the foundation of the world yet
in time before you before you have faith in Christ you're under
that law, you're in bondage to that same law and you who have
not believed you are under the same bondage to law it doesn't say that you're not
children of promise You are, as Paul says in Ephesians chapter
1, I think it's verse 3, children of wrath, just as the others.
For a while, there's no way to tell. It's only exercising of
faith that shows the difference, but waiting for the appointed
time. And in verse 4, we have this glorious statement of God's
timing in history. When the fullness of the 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. In history, at the time when
all the prophets said it would happen, all of the prophecies
looking forward to it, Christ came into the world. At the right
time, a body was prepared and he came to be a man, to stand
in the place of mankind, to bear sins, to earn righteousness.
Christ, the Word of God, became a man to redeem men. And then
in verse 6, look, And because ye are sons, God has sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. There's another time. There's
a time when Christ came to redeem, which was the right time. And
in each individual's case, you're under bondage to the law, you're
a child of wrath, even as the others, as it would appear. But
in eternity, you're a child of God, and at the right time, God
sends forth his Spirit. the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. And the Holy Spirit makes you
alive to your adoption. And all the legal rights that
go with that status of the adoption of God. What are those legal
rights? All the riches of glory that are in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Scriptures say this right the way through. He, God, the
Holy Spirit, will teach and bring God's people to Himself. This
is what His The Word says, in Isaiah 54 and
verse 13, the Prophet says this, "...and all thy children shall
be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children."
You see, in time, the Holy Spirit comes and teaches God's children,
and takes them out, and puts a new heart within. John 6, 45
says this, Jesus speaking these words, "...it is written in the
Prophets, and they shall all be taught of God." every man
therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
unto me you see Jesus says everyone that's heard and has learned,
where's he learned it? of the Father comes to me Hebrews
8 verse 10 this is quoting Jeremiah 31 verse 34 for this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith
the Lord I will put my laws into their mind and write them in
their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be
to me a people." Christ came at the right time in history
to redeem his people. In each individual case now,
in this gospel age, the Holy Spirit comes and takes you, a
child of wrath, even as others, dead in trespasses and sins,
and makes you alive and teaches you the gospel of Christ. And
so then, verse 7, Thou art no more a servant, but
a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Is your faith in Christ? Are
you looking to Christ alone? If that's the case, the Scriptures
clearly say, you are no more a servant, but a son. If you're
looking to Christ, you are no more that child of the household,
you are full grown, you've come to maturity in Christ. You are
no longer a servant, but a son. You have come of age. You've
been given the key to the door, as we would say. God's appointed
time has passed for you. You've come to faith. You see
these things. You're a child. You're a son
by adoption. You cry out, Abba, Father, because
the spirit of his son is in your heart, crying out, Abba, Father.
God's appointed time has come. You are a son, and so you are. an heir of God through Christ. John Gill says this, this is
a privilege, being a son of God, being a child of God, and when
I use the term son, of course, it's irrespective of human sex,
neither male nor female, it's a child of God. This is a privilege
that exceeds all others. It is better to be a son than
a saint. Angels are saints, but not sons. They are servants. It is better
to be a child of God than to be redeemed, pardoned and justified. Those are glorious things, but
it's better to be a child of God. It is a great grace to redeem
from slavery, to pardon criminals and justify the ungodly. But
it is another and higher act of grace to make them sons. Do you see what he's saying?
If you've got plenty of money, And we still have slavery in
this country. I guess we do in some places, they would say.
You can go down and you can pay the price of release of that
slave. That's one gracious thing to do. But how about adopting
that person? Say it's some little girl that's
been brought over here for illicit purposes and you pay the price
of her release. But then you don't just leave
her there. You adopt her. You make her your child. You
give her all the legal rights of your household. and of the
inheritance and of everything that's yours, you adopt her.
Oh, it's another higher act of grace to make them sons, and
which makes them infinitely more honourable than to be sons and
daughters of the greatest potentate on earth. You see, you could
be adopted into the royal family or wherever it might be, but
oh, it's not on a comparison, it's not on the same plane as
being made a child of God through grace in Christ. What a privilege
to be called the sons of God. You know, I lament the cold,
hard state of my heart most of the time. That I'm not walking
in the delight. You know, sometimes I get a new
thing and I have to... I get annoyed with myself because
I walk around for a few days, you know, the family will know
what a pain in the neck I am about my new camera and how much
I love my new camera. and I'm always pointing out what
nice features it's got. And I lament the fact that I
don't live my life every minute, glorying in the fact that in
Christ I am a child of the living God and an inheritor of His grace
because it's that that speaks to this lost generation. You
know? So that people will ask you for
a reason for the hope that is in you. We shouldn't live like
slaves under the terror of the law. But we should, we must enjoy
the glorious liberty of the children of God. Not my words, Scripture's
words. The glorious liberty of the children
of God. Now, what if you're not a child
of God? Well, let me just ask you a simple question. What keeps
you from believing Christ? Is it your fitness for Him? Is
it your unbelief? Well, cry out with that man in
the Scriptures, Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Is it
your fears? God delivers them out of all
their fears. Is it your burdens? Come unto
me, all you who labor and are heavy laden with a burden of
sin, and I will give you rest. Hear what Jesus says, the one
who comes to me I will in no wise cast out. Well, we'll sing
our closing hymn.