I want to read the first seven
verses. 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 Even so, when we were children, we 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 you 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."
One of the most difficult things I think there is in believing
the gospel, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, being a Christian,
one of the most difficult things And that aspect is being satisfied
with Christ alone. Not only being saved initially
by him, but always looking to him daily for your salvation.
As you look back through the history of the Bible, as we look
back through the history since the New Testament, if we know
anything about church history, one of the things that has afflicted
Christianity is this very thing about leaving Christ for something
else. I was at the funeral, and an
old friend of mine and Joe's, we went to school with. She came
down from here in Indiana. She lives just the other side
of Indianapolis. I was standing there in front of the casket
and she came up to me and she said that she was going to Florida.
She was meeting some other religious folks there in Florida and I
asked her what they were doing. And she said, we're going there
to celebrate Holy Sabbath and the Feast of Tabernacles. I thought,
my soul, what's that about? I thought Jesus Christ abolished
all of that. And she would never deny Christ. But her whole problem is this. She's left Christ for the ceremonial
law. She's left Christ for something
else. That's what our study is today.
Paul likens the Jewish church here in verses 1 through 3. As a child, he said, you look
back on the Jewish church in the Old Testament. the Jewish
church from the time that the Lord gave them the ceremonial
law and the moral law. Paul said they are like children.
They are like a child. That church was like a child.
And Paul said when you think about a child, though it be its
master's son, a child is under tutors and governors. Now, we
still have this in some places in the world today. There are
rich people and mighty people who sometimes give their children
at least in part for somebody else to raise and to teach them.
Sometimes we call them nannies. We have a friend of ours who
used to be a nanny. She cooked for the family. She taught the
children. She taught them manners, respect
for the parents, and so on. But these tutors and governors
were very strict. The kings and rich people. They would hire these governors
and tutors, these teachers to come in, and they would say,
I have this five-year-old child, and I want you to teach him some
manners. They're my child. I'm the king, but they don't
know how to act. If you have to beat them, you
can read some accounts of these tutors and governors, and they
actually beat the king's son. They made them subject. The king
didn't want to be embarrassed. So he put them under tutors and
governors. And here is Paul's meaning of
this. He had gone down here to the Galatian church, before there
were churches. He had preached the pure gospel
of the grace of Christ to them. And they had heard it. And they
had believed it. And now they were beginning to
want to go down and keep the Holy Sabbath. They wanted now
to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. They wanted to be circumcised
and keep these holy days. And Paul said, you've left Christ.
You've left Christ. You've left the whole meaning
of the law and you've left the meaning of grace. And look here
what he says to them. Look here in chapter 4 and look
here what he says in verse 9. He said there in verse 8 that
When we did do service to them which by nature are no gods in
verse 9, but now after that you have known God, or rather are
known of God, how turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements
who are unto you desire to be in bondage? What were they doing? Verse 10,
you observe days, the Sabbath days, the new moons, the holy
days. months and times and years. He tells them in chapter 5, you're
circumcised. There are certain meats they
weren't eating anymore, certain things they refused to drink.
They washed their hands often. These Judaizers that came down
here to this Christian church and says you must be converted
and live after the strict lifestyle of the Jews. So Paul comes here
in verses 1-3 and he says, listen, here is what the law was for. It was a tutor. It was a governor. It kept the church of old, the
Jewish church. It showed them who they were.
It chastised them. It ruled over them. But now something
has happened. Something has happened. We're
not under that tutor anymore. What was the law for? Look in
chapter 3. Look in chapter 3 and look in
verse 23. But before faith came, before
the object of faith came, before Christ came, look at this. We,
that is, we Jews, the Church in the Old Testament, we were
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come,
after that Christ is come, We are no longer under a schoolmaster. You remember that big controversy
in Acts chapter 15 when Paul and Barnabas got into a feud
with those Pharisees about how we are saved? Are we saved by
Christ? Are we saved by faith in Christ? Or do we have to be circumcised
and keep the law of Moses? And they had such an argument
about that, they went back up to Jerusalem, got all the apostles
together, and Peter was so upset by this, he got up and he stood,
and this is what he said, Why do you tempt God to put a yoke
upon the necks of those Gentile believers, and us too, which
neither we nor our fathers were able to bear? But we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus we shall be saved
even as they." What is the law? What was all the ceremonial law?
Peter said it was a yoke that brought us into bondage. It was a schoolmaster to show
us our need of Christ. To bring us to Christ. That's
what it was. And after that Christ has come,
we don't need that schoolmaster. All we need the schoolmaster
for now is to just look to on occasions and still see Christ
is what we need. We don't need to go to Florida
and observe Holy Day, however they do that. We don't need to
observe the Feast of Tabernacles, however they do that. I wonder
if they have a priesthood. If you had the Feast of Tabernacles,
you had to have a priesthood. You had to have a priest. You
had to have a tabernacle. I wonder if they're living in
tents. You just wonder, don't you? They go down there observing
these things, thinking they're serving God. But what are they
doing? Bringing their conscience in
bondage. I tell you, it's an easy thing
to leave Christ. It's an easy thing to leave the
gospel. It's so foreign to this world. It's so foreign to our
natures that we leave the gospel so easy. Paul said, I marvel,
I absolutely marvel that you have so soon left the grace of
Christ for another gospel, which is not another. It's not another. It just pretends to be. But it's not another. How easy. Somebody said, why do you fellas
dispreach the gospel? Because people forget it. We
leave it. That's why we have to hear it
over and over and over. I had a pastor one time, and
he used to get up, poor thing, and apologize for preaching what
he thought was the gospel. I want you to be patient with
me now if you're here and you're saved, because there's some lost
people here, and they need to hear the gospel. I've been preaching
for 30 years. Ain't nobody here this morning
needs to hear the gospel any more than I do. Because that's
how easy I leave the gospel. Paul comes here now in verse
4. That's what he set up. These tutors. The law is a tutor. It's governors that ruled over
the church of old. Even over the church of old.
The true church in the Old Testament, the Jewish church, they had to
be subject to the law. They had to be circumcised. They had to take sacrifices to
the priest. But look what he says now in
verse 4. Boy, everything Paul says now
has changed. In verse 4, But when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son in the fullness
of time. He said in verse 3 that you were
in bondage under the elements of this world. And that's all
the law was, elements of this world. What does he mean, elements
of this world? Well, what in the world? What
in the world was the ashes of a heifer? What in the world was
the blood of bulls and goats? They were things of this world,
and they just kept them in bondage, keeping feast days. That's just
things of this world. But now, he says, in the fullness
of time, Christ has come to deliver us and them from these tutors
and these governors, from this bondage. After that faith has
come, after that Christ has come, you are no longer under a schoolmaster. Boy, I tell you what, you and
I, to appreciate this epistle, we'd have had to have been a
Jew. We'd have had to have been living in this day and saw the
expression on the Jew's face as they read this epistle. Christ
has come. And you are no longer under the
ceremonial law. Christ has come and he has abolished
the ceremonial law. And oh, they were confused. And they got angry. I just wonder
how my dear friend would have felt if I hadn't been standing
there in front of my brother-in-law's casket greeting people. and trying
to concentrate on that, I wonder how she would have felt if I
had just had time to take a minute to say that all you're doing
is bringing yourself into bondage. All of that's been abolished
by the Lord. I wonder what she would have
said. I bet you could have saw an expression
on her face. of confusion and anger. After
a while, she was driving from the west side of Indianapolis
all the way to Florida, Panama, Florida, to celebrate that thing. You think she wasn't sincere? These Jews were sincerely trying
to keep the law. And here comes the Apostle Paul,
and what does he say? Why, Christ has abolished all
of that. That was for the Old Testament Jewish Church to bring
us to Christ. And now, in the fullness of time,
God has sent forth His Son. Everything's changed now. You
know, that's why they hated the Lord Jesus Christ. He confused
those Pharisees and scribes to death. Do you remember what He
told the Pharisee, the lady at the well? Remember what He told
her? He told her, she said, Our Father
said that we should worship God in this mountain. And you Jews
tell us that Jerusalem is the place to worship. And remember
what the Lord told her? He said, Woman, I want to tell
you something and I want you to believe me. The time is coming
very soon when you will neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem
worship the Father. All the people gathered from
all over the world for their feast days, to offer their sacrifices. He said, that's not going to
happen much longer, because I've come to abolish every bit of
that. They that worship the Father
must worship Him, not but keeping tabernacles, not but keeping
the Sabbath holy, but they must worship Him in spirit and in
truth. And boy, the Pharisees were confused
and they hated him. They were angry at him because
he has come to abolish the schoolmaster. He has come to shut the schoolhouse
down. And how in the world do we expect
to be saved now? And they hated him for it. That
which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. And
I want you to notice here how Paul in verse 9, did I read that
to you in chapter 4, verse 9? I want you to notice here how
he defines, how he describes the ceremonial law. I mean, they
gloried in that ceremonial law. They gloried in keeping the Sabbath.
They gloried in circumcision. They gloried in their feast days.
But look here what Paul now says about it, but now after that
you have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn you
again to the weak and beggarly elements? The Jews said this
law is our glory. Paul said Christ has put it away. He's abolished it. And now all
it is is weak and beggarly. This is what confused the Jews,
and why they thought that Jesus Christ wasn't an imposter. He's
a liar, they said, and called him all sorts of names. Because
here was a man that came out of Galilee from a very poor family,
and he came down here to Jerusalem, and he says, basically, I'm going
to abolish this law. Something new is coming. And
they thought, who do you think you are? You poor, ignorant man. You've never sat under us to
be educated, and here you are. You think that you're going to
abolish the ceremony of law? Who do you think you are? Where
are you from? And boy, Luther says here in
verse 4 that this was a thunder clap, as Luther used to call
it. by Paul against these Judaizers. Notice how he says this in verse
4. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth His Son. What a thunderclap that was!
Who do you think you are? I'm sin of God. Where did you
come from? I'm from heaven. Boy, that was
a thunderclap, wasn't it? No, you've come on your own.
You've taken a mission on your own, and you must be against
God because you're trying to abolish the law of God. No, Paul
said, God sent His Son. Oh, there's so much confidence
and assurance in this. Remember the Lord Jesus? He often spoke of this when the
Jews confronted Him, that He was an imposter. And listen to
what He said in John 8.42. They were professing to be children
of God and obeying God. And here's what He said. The
Lord Jesus said to them, He said, If God were your Father, you
would love Me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me. He sent Me. What a thunderclap
against these fellows. God sent me. I'm just doing what
He sent me to do. How many people tell us today
that there are many ways? There are many ways to heaven.
There are many ways back to God. And God is just hoping that all
of us will find our individual way back to Him and come to Him
by that way. It may be keeping Holy Sabbath.
It may be observing the Feast of Tabernacles. But if it's your
way and you're sincere about it, that's God's way for you.
That's what they tell us. But what does the Bible say? One way. It's through the Son
of God. How do we know? Because God sent
Him. Did God send my friend down to
Florida? No. But we got in the Bible that
God sent His Son. Isn't that so comforting? Isn't
it so reassuring? When somebody asks you, you tell
me that you're saved by Christ alone? Yes. And here's what I find in the
Bible. That's God's will to save a man by Christ alone. God sent him for that very purpose. Listen to John chapter 6 and
verse 37 and following. Listen to this. All that the
Father gives to me, he shall come to me. And him that comes
to me I will in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. The Father sent him. Why did
the Father send him? Why did the Father send him? I want to know, don't you? He
goes ahead and tells us in the very next verse, to do the will
of him that sent me, and this is the will of him that sent
me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing. But raise it up again at the
last day. And listen to this, this is the
will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son,
have you ever seen the Son? Have you ever seen him in the
Bible? Have you ever seen him in his gospel? Have you ever
seen him through the eyes of faith lifted up upon the cross? Have you ever seen him exalted
into heaven? He that seeth the Son and believeth
on him, trust him, hath everlasting life." And I'll raise him up
at the last day. God sent His Son. And why did He send Him? To save
us. To save us. How comforting and
reassuring that is. They shall cry unto the Lord,
the Lord God, because of the oppressors, and He shall send
them a Savior, a Great One, and He shall deliver them." Boy,
I tell you, it's a blessing, and it's so comforting when you
find out that on purpose, God is the very One who sent His
Son. Oh, did He come? Sure He came.
Did He come willingly? Absolutely He came. The Son of
God came, but He came because He was sent. And it's wonderful
to know that the eternal God sent His Son, sent His Son. And when you find out that He
sent Him to be a great Savior, to deliver us. Now, God not only
sent His Son, but when He sent Him, God had already determined
how he would come, and the conditions he would live under, and what
he would accomplish. God determined all of that. First
of all, God determined this, how he would come. And look at
it again. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman. That's how God determined that
he should come. And let me say this before I leave this, in
the fullness of time, God has a time. God works on time, but
it's his own time. And there were many righteous
men, many faithful men, waiting and praying that Christ would
come long before he came. It was 4,000 years from the time
that the Father promised that He was sending the Son until
He actually came. But He did not come until it
was the fullness of time. I say that for this reason. You
may be under severe trials. You may be going through some
bad things. But I tell you what, your times
are in His hands. He has a time that you should
be warned. He has the time to call you and
save you. He has the time to put you in
trials. He says how long those trials
will last. And He has the day that He'll
take you from this world. Your times are in His hands. And when it seems like you've
been there a long time, and your way is dark, and the valley is
long, and the hill is steep, just remember this, your times
are appointed of Him. Be patient. And leave it to Him
to bring you out and through in His own time. Don't we look
back now and think, Lord, I'm glad You came just when You came.
Father, thank You for sending Your Son just when You sent Him. You know more about the times
than we do. You know more about what we're going through than
we do. Oh, give us grace, give us patience to give ourselves
over to You. Our times are in Your hands. But he said here when the fullness
of time had come, and the first thing he says here, he was made
of a woman. The Son of God came down from
heaven and he became what he was not before. He was conceived
in a virgin's womb, he was nourished there, he developed there, and
this woman brought forth a man-child. with a real body and with a real
human soul, as much God as she held him in her arms as he was
before he came. He never ceased to be what he
was, but he was something now that he had never been before.
He was Mary's son. He was our brother, if you will,
in our very humanity, real humanity. Why was he made of a woman? Because
the scripture says, as by one man, sin entered unto this world. And by that one man, sin and
death passed upon every one of us. All the effects of sin of
this one man. Even so, by the obedience of
another man, the righteousness came. upon all men in Christ
to justify us. What is Paul saying? He is saying,
by one man, you and I were ruined. We were made sinners. And by another man, we must be
saved. We were lost in one man, and
by another man, we must be saved. God does not save us as individuals,
and by that I mean this. He doesn't look and say, I'm
going to watch you and see how bad you are, and I'll judge you
for it to see how good you are, that you can be saved. You know
how men are lost. You know how men are condemned
because of their association with Adam. By one man, we're
all condemned. You know how people are saved?
By our relationship to one man. One man got us into this mess,
another man must get us out of it. Adam got us lost, what must
Christ do? He must save us. But He must
do it in a real way. It can't be pretense. It's got
to be a man who now comes and obeys the law, honors the law,
to deliver us from the curse of that law. He had to be a real
man. Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians.
Since by man came death, By man also came the resurrection from
the dead, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ Jesus
shall all be made alive." He was made of a woman. Ain't that amazing? The only
difference between him and you and me, he had no sin. He was absolutely holy. Holy, holy. He had no sin. He could not sin. But I tell
you, he was as much a man as any man in here this morning.
A real man. A real man. And notice this next
phrase. Not only was he made of a woman,
Paul loves this word, he was made under the law. This is what the poor world don't
understand today. The poor ignorant world don't
understand this. the necessity of Jesus Christ being made under
the law. You and I, by our very birth
and by our practice, are under the law of God, and therefore
we are condemned. He says that in chapter 3 and
verse 10. As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse, for it is written, is everyone
that continueth not in everything that is written in the book of
the law to do that. We are under the law by our nature and by
our practice. And because we are lawbreakers,
we are condemned, we are cursed. Jesus Christ had to be born under
the law and keep the law and fulfill the law in order for
the law to free us. And this is what this poor world
don't understand. They know nothing about the strictness,
the severity of God's law. That God can just save us because
He loves us. God can just forgive us because
He's so good and kind. But what about the law? I was
going to Tennessee and I was listening to the radio, and down
there somewhere there had been four convicts that had escaped. And they caught three of them
and sent them back to jail and said, they're going to prison
now for a long time. But one of them is still loose. He was
still running around out there. And don't you think he thought
within himself, boy, I'm free now. I've got her made. I'm free. But was he free? The
law was on his trail. They know who he is, and they'll
keep on his trail until they find him, they arrest him, and
off to prison he goes, and he'll lose what he thought was freedom. Ain't that a good picture of
lost people today? They think in their minds, boy,
I'm so free. I am so free. I can just come
and go as I please, and when I get ready, I can do this or
do that. Is a lost man free? You know something? He's running
from the law. And he may not know he's guilty.
He may not know the authority is on his trail, but I'm telling
you, they are. And the best thing any lost man
can do is just turn himself in and plead guilty and seek if
there is any mercy and merit of somebody else that can deliver
them from the curse of the law that they find themselves under.
The whole problem with the lost humanity is this, and I heard
a man say this the other day, and I thought, boy, that's a
good statement. And they need to be asked this question. What
will you do with your guilt? It's not a matter of whether
we're guilty or not. That's been settled, hasn't it?
Here's the question, what will you do with your guilt? Will
you deny it? Will you die with it? Or will
you come and face the court and plead guilty and seek their mercy
and merit in somebody else to save you? That's what Paul is
talking about. That's what he's talking about.
was born of a woman, made under the law. And how does He redeem
us from this law? Well, look in verse 13 of chapter
3. Look at this. Chapter 3 and verse 13. Here's
why it was necessary for Christ to be made under the law. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. How did He do that? Being made a curse for For it
is written, Cursed is everyone who hangeth on a tree." Paul loves this little word,
made, made of a woman, made under the law, and now he says he was
made a curse. Made a curse. I hear another
good illustration. Brother Larry gave me some preaching
tapes and I hear another good little illustration. This fellow
had three circles on a chalkboard. He said, if you can imagine this,
you've got three circles. The first circle represents God.
And you just draw a circle, and there's nothing in that circle.
It's clean. There's no marks there at all.
And there was another circle, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it
was all clean. There was no marks in it. And
the third circle represented man. And he said, if this circle
represents you, how many chalk marks would you put inside your
circle? Just a few? A bunch? And he said, here's
the best thing to do. And he just filled it up with
chalk. It's nothing but just full of
blackness. And he said, here's what must
take place. Here we are with our circles filled with blackness. And here Christ is and His circle
is holy and pure. This circle full of blackness
must be transferred over to this circle. And he that hath no sin
thus must be made sin. And all the whiteness of this
circle must be put over here in this circle that is full of
blackness and make it white. Christ who kept the law who honored
the law must now die under the penalty of the law. And therefore, that way, and
that way alone, he can redeem us from the curse of the law. Isn't that what he says here
in chapter 4? In verse 5? He was made of a woman, made
under the law. Why? in order to redeem them
that were under the law. People are afraid to plead guilty.
They'll do anything. I mean, men and women will do
anything other than just come to God and say, I'm guilty. I'm
guilty. Not knowing that the Lord Jesus
Christ came to save nobody but guilty people. Are you under
the law? Are you condemned under the law?
Well, here's the good news. He was made of a woman, made
under the law, made a curse to redeem them that were under the
law. Disacknowledge our guilt. Somebody
asked a preacher friend of mine one time, he said, what do you
know about the law? What's your position on the law?
He said, guilty. Guilty. That's my position. Guilty. You plead guilty, and
then there's a Savior that has redeemed men and women from the
curse of the law. Go ahead and put up the sign
in your yard and say, we stand behind the Ten Commandments.
And we're going down to Florida to observe Holy Sabbath. Go ahead
and plead that if you want to. But I'm telling you, you won't
be saved there. Christ didn't come to help people
keep the law. He died upon Calvary's tree to
redeem us from it. From it. You can't be saved by
it. You must be saved from it. And
there ain't but one that can save us from it. And that's Jesus
Christ. And I tell you, it took everything
He could do to do it. With strength enough, but none
to spare. The cross. The curse of the cross. But notice this now back in our
text again. He doesn't stop here with the
negative aspect of our salvation. He goes on in verse 5, and look
what else he says. Not only that he redeemed us
from the curse of the law, that's a negative aspect of our salvation.
But look what else he says. That we might receive the adoption
of sons. See, Christ didn't come just
to deliver us. He never stopped at just delivering
us. Oh, He's going to do something
wonderful for us. Not just deliver us, but now
in order for us to receive the adoption of sons. You know the Apostle Paul is
the only one that talks about adoption. And you know what adoption
has to do with, don't you? It has to do with legally being
made someone's child. And Paul, he knew something about
the law. Boy, he was a scholar. He had studied the Old Testament,
and he knew something about the strictness of it. That's why
he said, I've got to keep it. I've got to keep this law or
I'm going to be judged and condemned. He knew something about the legality
of the law. And he knew something about adoption. Adoption is something that takes
place legally. You go down to the courthouse
and you have to have all the names transferred to your name
when you adopt a child. Let me state some things about
adoption. First of all, is this not true that a child that's
adopted has all the rights of a biological child? I tell you
what, and I've been told this. I don't know if this is so or
not, but I've been told this. You can deny your biological
child. It's much easier to go to court
and do that than it is to deny an adopted child. I mean, it's
on record there at the courthouse. This child is adopted. What does
that mean to us? To know that we've been adopted.
That means the court of heaven. The court of heaven has nothing
against us being children of God. It's all on record. Am I a child of God? The devil
says you're a child of God. Well, go up there to heaven and
check the records. And you see, if I'm not justly a child of
God, and I have all the rights and you have all the rights of
the children of God. Secondly, what does it mean to
be a child of God? Why does people adopt children?
Because they want children. They love children. Why did God adopt us? Because
He wanted children. He loves children. Obviously,
that's why He has children. Who does parents adopt? Whoever
they want to. I've never seen a little infant,
and I've never heard of a little infant come knocking on somebody's
door and say, would you please adopt me? Who is it that adopts? It's the parent, isn't it? And
they're the ones that go searching for who they're going to adopt.
Now, down here, you'll see a sweet little infant, and you'll say,
boy, they're so appealing. God's not that way. He finds
some of the most wretched, ugly children you've ever seen in
your life, and He said, that's the one I want. I'm going to
adopt that child right there. But who does He adopt? Whoever
He wants to. Whoever He wants to. Why do parents
adopt? Because they want fellowship
with children. They want to share their life
with children. They want to leave a child, their
inheritance. There have been old people died,
and one of their biggest regrets was, I don't even have a child
to leave my inheritance to. It's not going to be that way
with God the Father. Because He's adopted a whole
bunch of children. And you know what He's going
to do? He tells us that in verse 7. He says, you are my heirs now. I
can leave you everything I have. Heirs of God. And I want you
to notice this. There are two things about adoption.
First of all, there are two things about being sons of God. There
are two ways to be sons of God. First of all, there is adoption.
That is the legal aspect. And then, there is being spiritual
sons of God. by a new birth, a spiritual birth.
See, when you're adopted, you're a child legally, but you don't
have the nature of your father, do you? You don't have the DNA. But I'm telling you, the new
birth changes every bit of that. There's where you're given the
very nature of your father in heaven. So look at what Paul
says in verse 6. And because you are sons adopted,
God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts."
He says in verse 4 that God sent forth His Son into this world,
and now he says in verse 6, God sent forth His Spirit into your
hearts. He's a sending God, ain't He?
He's just always sending. Sending, sending, sending. Sending
blessings our way, does He not? sending mercy, sending help in
the time of need. He just ascended in God. He sent
forth His Spirit. I want you to notice this. I
won't keep you much longer, but I want you to notice this phrase.
This is one of the most amazing things, I think, that I've ever
read. And I thought about this now for a few days, and I thought,
this is astounding. This is one of the most amazing
statements I've ever read. In the last portion of verse
6, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. Crying, Father, Father. Notice
how condescending the Holy Spirit is. I mean, this is God. God has sent forth the Spirit. That's the Holy Ghost. The eternal
God. who is one with God, the third
person of the sacred Trinity. Yet, notice the nature that the
Spirit assumes, the Spirit of His Son. This is amazing. This is amazing. Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. And He humbled Himself and came
down here. And now what does the Spirit
do? He humbles Himself and comes to our hearts as the Spirit of
the Son. And He brings with Him the true
nature of the Son, because look here what He says. He is crying,
Father, Father. Can you believe that? I mean,
here He is. Here He is, the sovereign Spirit
that's everywhere. And what's He doing? He's sobbing. He's sobbing. Can you get a hold
of that? He's in our hearts and He's crying,
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. It's Him doing that. That's the
most astounding thing I've ever read in my life. Father, Father,
the Spirit. Oh, how condescending. Condescending. Taking on the nature of the Son. And notice this about it. He sent the Spirit unto our hearts. Into our hearts. He's a Spirit that's everywhere.
He's God because He's in our hearts. He must be the Holy Spirit. But can you imagine this? He's
in your heart? We talk about the Lord Jesus
when He came to this sin-cursed earth and what He had to put
up with. All the temptations, all the harassment, all the sin,
all the radical, and how loving He had to be and how patient
He had to be. And you know something, he never
left this world until he accomplished the purpose for which he came.
But look now at the Holy Spirit. If Christ came into this sin-cursed
world, where does the Spirit come? Into our hearts. And you know, I think sometimes
that he has to put up with more in our hearts than Christ had
to put up with in this world. Look how patient he has to be. Look at the warfare against him. The flesh lusts against the Spirit. That word means to war against. How patient he has to be. How
loving he has to be. And you know something? He will
stay in here. He'll never leave the elect of
God. He'll never leave a believer.
until He has accomplished His purpose. And what is it? He has sealed them unto the day
of redemption. And what's He doing now? You
know what the Spirit is doing now? He's come unto our hearts,
and He has so integrated Himself into our souls and our spirits
that He's causing us to cry just as He cried. Listen to Romans 8, verse 15
and 16. You have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear. You are not going down to Florida,
keeping holy day, tabernacle day. When my poor friend leaves
there, she is going to be so convicted if she has any sins. She is going to be so guilty
under bondage. You have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear. But listen to this. You have received the spirit
of adoption whereby We cry. We cry. In Galatians 4 it says
he cries. And now it says we cry. He so
come into our hearts as a spirit of adoption and integrated himself
into our souls, our spirits. Now we're crying with him, Father,
Father, Father. How could a Christian ever be
proud? How could we ever get arrogant? Aren't we amazed at ourselves?
Don't we hate ourselves for it? It's so contrary to the very
nature of our redeeming God. The Father humbles Himself to
behold the things that's in heaven. The Son humbled Himself even
to the death of the cross. And now the Holy Spirit humbles
Himself to abide in our hearts. And us be proud and arrogant? It's so inconsistent, isn't it? Father, Father, Father. How amazing. That's amazing.
You'd think it was amazing, too, if I could explain it to you.
But he goes on, one more thing, in closing. Look at this. Because
you're sons, you have the spirit of your son into your heart,
crying, Father, Father. But that's not enough. He doesn't
even stop there. Oh, what a great salvation, brothers
and sisters, we have. God sent His Son to redeem us
from one of the most dangerous situations you can ever find
yourself in under the curse of the law. Waiting to be put into
the prison of hell, and He sends Him to redeem us from that curse.
And not only to do that, but make us sons. Send forth the
Spirit of His Son into our hearts to seal us and spin all of our
life into this world. Father, Father, Father, you want
to know if you're a Christian? I'll tell you how you can know.
What's the cry of your soul? What's the cry of your heart
when you're alone in the stillness of night? What's the cry of your
heart? Are you lonely? In a crowd, are
you lonely? Is God your Father? Can you be
satisfied with anything but Him? Is the cry of your heart, Father,
Father, Father? If it is, you will be crying
that the rest of your life. But it doesn't stop there. It
doesn't stop with what God has made you in this world. But look
here in verse 7. Wherefore, you are no more a
servant, but a son. Your son by adoption, that takes
care of the legal aspect of it. But your son by your very nature,
you've been born again. And if a son, then look at this,
you're an heir of God through Christ. I love this word, an heir of
God. It means more than just inheriting
all God has made, or all that He can make. We ought to think
of a new heaven and a new earth and all God's going to create
in His house. It's going to be amazing. We
know so little of it. And whatever He creates anew
is going to be His children. He's going to say, come, you
can have it all. That's why I made it. I don't need it. It's yours. Come and inherit it all. But
you know being heirs of God means much, much more than that. It
means they will inherit God Himself. You remember what He told Abraham
in Genesis chapter 15? When the king of Sodom says,
you know, you take all my money, you take all the money, and you
just give me the people. Abraham said, I ain't taking
a shoestring from you, man. You ain't got nothing I want.
And he went on his way. And the Lord appeared to Abraham,
and He said, Abraham, fear not. I am your shield and your exceeding
great reward. I am not what I have, but I am. I am your portion. I am. You know, here we have very little
of God in us. Paul tells us that in Ephesians
chapter 1, we have an earnest of the Holy Spirit. That earnest
means simply a damn payment. If you buy a house for $100,000
and they say you've got to pay something down, you'll give $10,000.
It's just a small amount of the purchase price. We have an earnest
of the Holy Spirit, just a portion of Him, but there's coming a
day when we will be filled with the fullness of God. Can you
imagine that? Where blood and whatever other
chemicals makes up our being, you know what these bodies themselves
will be filled with in that day? You know what our souls, our
hearts will be filled with in that day? God. The Spirit of
God. Have you ever had the Spirit
just to come into your conscience, and oh, He just enlightened you?
Just for a moment of time, you see Christ, and you see His grace,
and you see His kindness, and His saving attributes, and oh,
just for a moment, you're caught up in glory, and then back down
you come to the darkness and to the earth again. Back in self,
sinful self. Well, there's coming a day When
the Spirit of God will completely flood and fill your being, you
will inherit God. And what else can you say than
that? You heirs, heirs of God. How amazing, how amazing. And
where did it all start? It started with God sending His
Son to redeem you of all people. Ain't that amazing? Ain't that
amazing? Let's pray.