1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,160 Thank you, Brass. 2 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:17,440 And now would you please open your Bible with me to the book of Galatians. 3 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:26,400 Galatians chapter 3. 4 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:35,080 The comedian Lily Tomlin made this statement. 5 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:45,600 She said, I've always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific. 6 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:53,280 Within the heart of every human being there is the longing to be somebody, to find some 7 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:57,180 significance in this life. 8 00:00:57,180 --> 00:01:04,800 Many find it in ways that are only for this life, but how wonderful to find a significance 9 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:09,760 in this life that extends into the next. 10 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:18,960 Today we're going to learn that the Christian has become somebody in Jesus Christ, his Lord. 11 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:26,960 The Apostle Paul is building a case in chapters 3 and 4 of Galatians for his doctrine of justification 12 00:01:26,960 --> 00:01:31,640 by faith alone. 13 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:36,840 He adds to the series of arguments that we've been looking at now for several weeks, one 14 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:43,920 that relates to the position or to the status of the Galatian believers. 15 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:50,640 But there's a status that is enjoyed by everyone who has been justified by faith and who therefore 16 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,840 has a right relationship with God. 17 00:01:53,840 --> 00:02:04,280 Essentially, what Paul urges them to do and urges us to do is to remember who we are, 18 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,760 to remember who we are. 19 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:16,080 Believers are sons, not slaves, he says. 20 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:21,240 So don't live beneath your position. 21 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:28,880 Believers in Jesus Christ are sons of God, not slaves. 22 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:34,220 The Apostle Paul expresses two realities in the text that I'm going to read, beginning 23 00:02:34,220 --> 00:02:39,040 in chapter 4 and verse 1. 24 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:46,440 Now I say as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave, although 25 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,720 he is owner of everything. 26 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:55,040 But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the Father. 27 00:02:55,040 --> 00:03:01,320 So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage. 28 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:09,440 We were enslaved, says Paul, under the elemental things of the world. 29 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:17,480 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born 30 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:23,920 under the law, in order that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might 31 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:27,600 receive the adoption as sons. 32 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:34,680 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, into 33 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:39,560 our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 34 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:46,760 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. 35 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:54,560 However, at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature 36 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:57,380 are no gods. 37 00:03:57,380 --> 00:04:04,640 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that 38 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:12,800 you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be 39 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:17,240 enslaved all over again? 40 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:21,840 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 41 00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:28,400 I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. 42 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:34,120 There are two realities in this text that the Apostle Paul points to. 43 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:41,560 First he points to their past reality, a reality that might be summarized in this statement, 44 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:46,600 they had been held as slaves. 45 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:50,520 The Apostle speaks of them as children. 46 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:56,520 The word that he uses here means an immature baby. 47 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:07,560 He says, whatever your potential as a child, as an immature baby, your status is the same 48 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:09,700 as that of a slave. 49 00:05:09,700 --> 00:05:14,120 You have no rights and no privileges. 50 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:19,440 Now it's difficult for us today to understand what Paul is saying here, but those from the 51 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,880 Roman world understood. 52 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:28,880 Those who were minors, those who were considered immature babes, had no standing at all in 53 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:35,520 the family, even though the child may be the heir of everything. 54 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:41,800 The child was considered no more in status than a slave, even like the slave that might 55 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:48,640 be appointed as a tutor over him, to bring him and to teach him and to mature him to 56 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:52,120 that point of maturity. 57 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:58,760 The child had no rights or purposes or privileges. 58 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:03,480 Whatever his potential might have been for the future, he was counted no more than a 59 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:05,800 slave. 60 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:11,880 So Paul is saying to them, whatever your past, you were a slave. 61 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:12,920 Who are these slaves? 62 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:17,360 He describes them as those who do not know God in verse 8. 63 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:22,720 In saying it that way, he is talking about all of the Galatian Christians up until the 64 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,120 time at least the gospel had been preached. 65 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,720 They were all slaves. 66 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,120 And to what were they enslaved? 67 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:37,400 Well, Paul seems to have two groups in mind as he writes these verses, going back a bit 68 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:43,200 into chapter 3 and then into what we read in chapter 4. 69 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:48,400 Paul seems to have in mind, first of all, the Jews who had now come to Christ, but who 70 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,000 before had been enslaved. 71 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:58,880 He sees them as having been enslaved to the law, to the law of Moses. 72 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:05,960 He describes them as shut up by the law, as in bondage to the law. 73 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:11,920 Then the apostle is thinking also of the Gentiles who had now come to Christ in Galatia. 74 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:19,920 And particularly of them, he says, you are in bondage to the elemental things. 75 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,440 That's how the New American Standard Version puts it. 76 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:28,000 You will see that used in verse 3 and again in verse 9. 77 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:34,840 He says, you Gentiles have been enslaved to the elemental things. 78 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:42,560 That is the very basic things in the pagan ideas and mythology. 79 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:49,920 These basic elements referred to the fire, water, air, and earth that were often associated 80 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:56,340 in those days, especially with the worship of idols and false gods, associated with these 81 00:07:56,340 --> 00:08:02,380 basic elements as they saw in that ancient world. 82 00:08:02,380 --> 00:08:10,160 And so Paul is thinking here of those false deities that the Gentiles had worshiped, associated 83 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:15,440 with the elements of nature. 84 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:21,960 I think he is talking about demonic powers, spiritual powers that were associated with 85 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:28,640 this false worship in the temples of the gods and goddesses of the Greek and Roman world. 86 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:34,880 The spiritual forces of darkness under the control of Satan. 87 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:40,400 He is saying to the Gentiles, you in your past religious experience were actually in 88 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:45,480 bondage to powers that you're ignorant about. 89 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:51,040 You think you worship the elements, but in fact you're worshiping what's behind the worship 90 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:55,800 of the elements, and that is the powers of darkness. 91 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:03,200 Not as interesting to me that Paul says both to the Jew and to the Gentile, you were enslaved. 92 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:08,200 We might think it different that the Jew, rather, having had the law, would have an 93 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:13,560 advantage, and certainly there was an advantage in one sense. 94 00:09:13,560 --> 00:09:21,840 But Paul here says that in terms of relationship to God, both the Jew and the Gentile were 95 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,300 in bondage. 96 00:09:24,300 --> 00:09:30,760 Not that the law and pagan worship was equivalent. 97 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:35,880 The law, as we have seen before, had a good and noble and holy purpose. 98 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:41,440 But I think Paul's point here, by implication, may well be that the law, even though it was 99 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:50,040 good and holy and given by God, could be used by the devil as much as he would use pagan 100 00:09:50,040 --> 00:10:00,240 worship to hold people in spiritual bondage, because the law can be abused. 101 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:06,160 And that's how most of the Jews in those days were using the law in an abusive way, 102 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:11,400 thinking that by keeping the law they were earning merit with God. 103 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:20,160 Paul says that is as much bondage to the soul as worshiping demons that are associated with 104 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:24,760 the false idols of pagan mythology. 105 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:32,040 Paul's point here is that every sinner is a slave to something, be it even to his own 106 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:37,140 religious pride and self-righteousness. 107 00:10:37,140 --> 00:10:45,200 And Satan is the slave master who keeps all sinners in bondage and in ignorance. 108 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:52,040 Paul having painted the picture of their past reality says, now let me get this again, you 109 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:56,480 want to return to that? 110 00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:02,000 You want to follow the teaching that leads you back into the bondage that you had in 111 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:03,000 the past? 112 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:12,880 In essence, he's saying, pardon me if I'm a bit confused by this. 113 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:17,440 The apostle Paul then points to their present reality. 114 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:24,920 Their past reality was that they had been held in bondage as slaves, but their present 115 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:32,560 reality is that they were now adopted as sons. 116 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:40,360 In the Roman world of Jesus' day, a young man achieved legal status when he became an 117 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:43,140 adult. 118 00:11:43,140 --> 00:11:48,280 At that time in his life, whatever the father appointed as the right time, as the Romans 119 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:54,520 viewed it, the young man was taken into the public forum. 120 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:59,640 And there on the public platform before the citizens of the city, the father would say 121 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:05,800 something like this, this is my son. 122 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:08,600 He has now come of age. 123 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:15,640 He inherits my name, my property, and my social position. 124 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:23,280 And then he would take off the toga that the boy was wearing called the toga protexta, 125 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:29,980 and he would put upon him a new piece of clothing called the toga virilis, which was the coat 126 00:12:29,980 --> 00:12:33,640 of a man. 127 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:46,680 That public act making his immature child a man, a son in the family, was called adoption. 128 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:53,440 And that is the image that the Apostle Paul is drawing upon here when he says that God 129 00:12:53,440 --> 00:13:02,280 has given us adoption as sons. 130 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:04,320 Sons are those who have come of age. 131 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:10,480 And here in the context of what Paul is saying, to come of age means to come to that place 132 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:20,000 in life where one places his faith in the promise of God that is found in Jesus Christ. 133 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:26,280 Paul says that's what it means to come of age and to be adopted as a son. 134 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:32,240 It means that you have come out of the bondage of being an immature youth associated with 135 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:41,560 slaves, and now you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. 136 00:13:41,560 --> 00:13:46,960 And in doing that, you have been adopted as a son. 137 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:54,740 Now Paul gives to us the means by which God causes this new position to become a reality. 138 00:13:54,740 --> 00:14:01,820 He tells us how it is possible that God could give us this change of position. 139 00:14:01,820 --> 00:14:03,240 He says it happens this way. 140 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:09,040 In the first place, God Himself sent forth His Son. 141 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:18,080 He is talking here about the incarnation, the coming of the eternal Son of God into 142 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:25,100 our world in human form, which he explains by some modifiers to this idea. 143 00:14:25,100 --> 00:14:31,260 He says this happened in the fullness of time, verse 4. 144 00:14:31,260 --> 00:14:39,280 That relates to what Paul said in verse 2 when he speaks about the date set by the Father. 145 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:45,880 He says, at the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son at the very moment that God 146 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,560 had prepared the world. 147 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:58,720 God used the Roman peace and the Roman roads by which the gospel could be spread to help 148 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:03,240 prepare the way for this fullness of time. 149 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:10,120 He used the contribution of the Greeks, especially in their language, Koine Greek, which had 150 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:13,640 become like English is in our world. 151 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:18,560 It was sort of the universal common language. 152 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:21,140 And so the Greeks gave their contribution. 153 00:15:21,140 --> 00:15:29,760 The Jews gave their contribution of the belief in monotheism, in one God, and the law of 154 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:32,480 God. 155 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:38,480 And when God saw that everything had come together, the contributions of the Romans, 156 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:44,520 the Greeks, and the Jews of that day, in the fullness of time, He sent forth His Son, whom 157 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:52,400 He describes as being born of a woman, a very significant phrase on several accounts. 158 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:58,040 In the first place, it shows us that Jesus was authentically human. 159 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:05,040 He just didn't come into the world and appear as a man, but He was born into the world. 160 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:09,440 Secondly, He was born of a woman. 161 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:12,360 We would say, well, of course. 162 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:18,240 You see, women in that day were considered inferior. 163 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:26,200 And so Paul does not hesitate to show the association of Jesus in His birth as one born 164 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:28,160 of a woman. 165 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:36,900 Furthermore, there is the reference back to Genesis 3.15, where Jesus fulfills that promise 166 00:16:36,900 --> 00:16:44,520 of the seed of the woman, who would come to crush the head of the serpent, though He Himself 167 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:49,840 would be bruised in the process, speaking about the suffering that He would endure on 168 00:16:49,840 --> 00:17:00,040 the cross, but through which suffering He would defeat the powers of Satan, the serpent. 169 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:04,520 He also describes Jesus as being born under the law. 170 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:08,640 That is, Jesus was born into a Jewish home. 171 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:15,120 He was born as a Jew, and as such was subject to the rituals and to the judgments of the 172 00:17:15,120 --> 00:17:17,220 law. 173 00:17:17,220 --> 00:17:22,080 He came under the law. 174 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:26,080 But that brings us to the next part of His wonderful statement about how Jesus, or how 175 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:29,760 God accomplished our adoption. 176 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:36,800 And that is, not only did He send forth His Son, but He redeemed us who were under the 177 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:40,720 law. 178 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:47,960 His Son was born under the law that through His death He might take the curse of the law 179 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:51,640 upon Himself and redeem us. 180 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:57,800 Paul has talked about this already in chapter 3, as we've seen a few weeks ago. 181 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:07,000 And Paul is saying here that Jesus in doing this gave us freedom from the law. 182 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:15,400 He came under the law's obligations and its bondage, and then paid the price for us 183 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:23,040 who were cursed by it by becoming our curse on the cross for us. 184 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:28,660 He paid the price and then led us out from underneath that bondage. 185 00:18:28,660 --> 00:18:31,120 You get His point, don't you? 186 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:36,320 He is saying to them, then why do you want to go back to that bondage from which Christ 187 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:42,800 set you free? 188 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:50,400 I will show that I am a man by saying to you that one of my favorite movies is Braveheart. 189 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:58,280 That is not a favorite of most women because it is pretty gory, but men like gory stuff. 190 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:00,160 And I like Braveheart. 191 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:11,480 Not so much the gore in it as the story of this very brave Scotsman, William Wallace. 192 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,080 And who after seeing, how many of you have seen the film? 193 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:19,480 Well, there are a few women too who have seen it. 194 00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:31,600 One of the stirring points in that film is when William Wallace cries out, freedom! 195 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:38,880 He was willing to lay down his life for the freedom of his people. 196 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:49,020 Dear folks, our great champion is Jesus Christ who came into our world, identified with us, 197 00:19:49,020 --> 00:19:53,240 and then purchased our freedom. 198 00:19:53,240 --> 00:20:04,360 Having done that, he placed us into his household as sons, as those who are full grown and mature 199 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:08,680 and have all the privileges of an adult. 200 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,240 A wonderful thing. 201 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:17,280 Edson Rogers was the son of a wealthy farmer. 202 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:25,920 Edson was a strapping young man who went off to service for Virginia in the war between 203 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:29,200 the states. 204 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:34,760 He met as a friend in the course of the war another man by the name of Robert Sawyer. 205 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:37,640 They became best buddies. 206 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:44,360 They fought together for a number of years until near the end of the war when Edson Rogers 207 00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:49,800 was mortally wounded. 208 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:58,280 His very best buddy was there as he lay dying. 209 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:08,160 He said to his buddy, Robert Sawyer, I want you to go to my home and I want you to tell 210 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:14,120 my parents of our friendship. 211 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:18,080 Robert Sawyer said, your parents are very wealthy. 212 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:19,080 They own a plantation. 213 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:20,080 I am nobody. 214 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:22,480 I am a very poor person. 215 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,600 They would never believe me. 216 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:34,320 So Edson with his dying strength took out a piece of paper and scribbled a note to his 217 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:40,560 parents introducing Robert Sawyer to them. 218 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:43,800 Shortly after that he died. 219 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:51,840 A few months after the war was over, Robert timidly made his way to the mansion where 220 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:55,480 the Rogers family lived. 221 00:21:55,480 --> 00:22:04,120 Indeed his clothes were shabby and when he got there he expected to be rejected. 222 00:22:04,120 --> 00:22:10,520 But as he was being turned away he handed the letter to the butler and the butler took 223 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:15,120 the letter to the Rogers. 224 00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:17,760 As he was leaving he was stopped. 225 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:20,280 The father said, Bob, Bob, come back. 226 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:22,760 You must not go. 227 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:25,840 We want you here. 228 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:28,560 He was invited into their home. 229 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:35,480 They got acquainted with Bob and there came the day when Robert thought it was appropriate 230 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:37,480 that he should leave. 231 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:43,640 And again Mr. Rogers said, No, Robert, we want you to stay. 232 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:45,200 Edson was our dearest treasure. 233 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:47,800 He was everything to us. 234 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:56,440 Now won't you come into our home and be our son in his place? 235 00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:58,960 And he did. 236 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:02,200 And what was it that made the difference? 237 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:08,960 Robert was the name of Edson with whom Robert was associated. 238 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:17,280 And friend, you and I have been adopted into the family of God because of our identification 239 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:23,240 with the name of Jesus. 240 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:29,480 It is because of him that the Father says to you and to me who have received him and 241 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:40,520 who are therefore identified with him, I bring you into my family as my own son. 242 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,600 Adoption in the biblical context doesn't really mean what we think of with adoption, 243 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:50,600 but I came across a great story that I've got to share with you about a first grade 244 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:54,480 teacher whose name was Debbie Moon. 245 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:59,520 She was discussing the picture of a family with her first graders and a little boy in 246 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:04,280 the picture had a different color of hair than the other family members. 247 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:11,920 So one of the first graders suggested that this little boy must be adopted. 248 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:18,080 Another little first grader, a little girl by the name of Jocelyn said, I know all about 249 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:22,480 adoptions because I was adopted. 250 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:28,680 Well, the teacher said, what does it mean to be adopted, Jocelyn? 251 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:34,120 It means, she said, that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy. 252 00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:38,520 Isn't that great? 253 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:43,320 That gives you the emotion at least of what adoption is to God. 254 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:50,200 He brings us into his family as an act of his heart of love for us. 255 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:54,800 He gives us the result of this new position that we have as well as the means for it in 256 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:56,960 verses 6 and 7. 257 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:02,280 He says as a result of this, we have the indwelling of God's Spirit. 258 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:10,720 He says, now you're sons and God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son in our hearts. 259 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:18,680 As a result of being adopted into God's family, we have the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 260 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,440 I was going to talk more about that in chapter 5. 261 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:30,240 Secondly, he says, we have identity as God's Son because now we can cry out as the Spirit 262 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:39,880 tells us, Abba, Father, we have identity with the Father. 263 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,880 We can call him Papa, which is what Abba means. 264 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:57,200 It's an Aramaic expression for Daddy or Papa, a term of great intimacy and dearness. 265 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:02,400 Now that we've been adopted into God's family, we have identity with God's Son and we can 266 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,840 address the Father as Abba. 267 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:11,360 Furthermore, he tells us because we've been adopted into God's family, we have inheritance. 268 00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:18,560 For we're not only sons of God, he says, because of that we are heirs. 269 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:24,560 We will inherit with Jesus Christ all things. 270 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:33,160 For he shares all things with those to whom the birthright belongs. 271 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:39,240 One of the great hymns in my opinion of the Christian faith is the one written by Charles 272 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:44,040 Wesley entitled, Arise, My Soul, Arise. 273 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:46,720 Shake off thy guilty fears. 274 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,880 The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears. 275 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:58,080 Before the throne my surety stands and my name is written in his hands. 276 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:01,720 Then the last verse says, my God is reconciled. 277 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,960 His pardoning voice I hear. 278 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,640 He owns me for a child. 279 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:11,120 I can no longer fear. 280 00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:21,280 With confidence I draw nigh and Father, Abba Father, cry. 281 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:25,680 Every person listening to me right now lives in one of these spiritual realities we've 282 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:28,240 talked about this morning. 283 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:31,240 Which reality is yours? 284 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:36,960 Are you a slave or a son? 285 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:41,520 In some of his writings Warren Wiersby contrasts sons and slaves. 286 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:49,980 He says the son has the same nature as the father, but the servant, the slave, does not. 287 00:27:49,980 --> 00:27:56,860 He says the son has a father while the servant has a master. 288 00:27:56,860 --> 00:28:03,740 He says the son obeys out of love while the servant obeys out of fear. 289 00:28:03,740 --> 00:28:09,180 The son is rich while the slave is poor. 290 00:28:09,180 --> 00:28:17,240 The son has a future while the servant does not. 291 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:26,060 Are you a slave still in bondage or are you a son who has been redeemed by Jesus Christ 292 00:28:26,060 --> 00:28:30,040 and made a son of God? 293 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:38,680 Paul in verses 12-20 goes on to speak about his personal anguish as a spiritual parent. 294 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:43,840 Every parent can identify with some of Paul's deep concerns here. 295 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:49,240 He says, for example, in verse 11, I fear for you that perhaps I've labored over you 296 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:51,440 in vain. 297 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:56,340 What parent has not, at least during the teenage years sometimes, said, I wonder if I've really 298 00:28:56,340 --> 00:28:58,600 done this right? 299 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:00,360 That's what Paul is saying. 300 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:05,960 I beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. 301 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:11,220 You've done me no wrong, he says, but you know that it was because of a bodily illness 302 00:29:11,220 --> 00:29:15,000 that I preached the gospel to you the first time. 303 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:22,220 And that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition, you did not despise or loathe, 304 00:29:22,220 --> 00:29:27,960 but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. 305 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:32,200 Where then is that sense of blessing you had? 306 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:36,520 For I bear you witness that if possible you would have plucked out your eyes and given 307 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:38,480 them to me. 308 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:42,720 Some say that that's an indication that Paul had eye problems. 309 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:47,280 Maybe it is, but it's also an expression that was common in those days, like the one we 310 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:51,120 have, he would have given you the shirt off his back. 311 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:55,680 Paul says you would have done anything for me, you loved me so much. 312 00:29:55,680 --> 00:30:01,360 Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth? 313 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:07,340 He says they eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out in order that 314 00:30:07,340 --> 00:30:09,240 you may seek them. 315 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:14,940 But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner, and not only when 316 00:30:14,940 --> 00:30:22,080 I am present with you, my children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed 317 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:23,760 in you. 318 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:28,720 But I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed 319 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:30,840 about you. 320 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:35,540 Anything in there that you as a parent can identify with? 321 00:30:35,540 --> 00:30:41,640 He appeals to them that they might rejoin him in fellowship, in spiritual freedom, that 322 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,640 they might forsake the bondage they've gone back to. 323 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:53,320 Have you ever appealed to your child to come back to where your child was at one point? 324 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:59,240 Paul is fearful that his labor may have been in vain. 325 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:03,280 He expresses the pain that he felt in his heart. 326 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:08,880 He says, I feel like I am in labor all over again for your sake. 327 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:17,320 He expresses his yearning and his wish that Christ might be formed in them, that he could 328 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:22,640 be there with them and discover for himself why he is so confused. 329 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:29,440 Maybe they could explain face to face their mistakes. 330 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:34,080 Paul is in anguish as he finishes the text that we read this morning. 331 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:37,560 It brings me to some final observations. 332 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:43,480 The first observation deals with the anguish of being a parent. 333 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,720 Becoming a parent risks heartache. 334 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:48,840 Did you know that? 335 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:51,400 It is a wonderful thing to have a baby. 336 00:31:51,400 --> 00:32:01,000 But, oh, if you knew the risk of heartache, some of the smiles would be tempered. 337 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:06,360 We as parents never stop caring about our children, do we? 338 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:14,160 But as they grow older, we do lose our ability to control them. 339 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:22,200 What we don't lose is our ability to hurt with the mistakes that they make in their 340 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:27,280 independence. 341 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:36,800 What can we do as parents who are in anguish for a child? 342 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:41,480 I am talking now about a child that is mature. 343 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,800 A child that perhaps even has married. 344 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:51,240 What can we do as we see the mistakes that our children make? 345 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:57,200 Let me suggest three things that I think arise from our text here and what Paul does. 346 00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:02,600 In the first place, we can speak truth in love. 347 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:09,200 We must never stop being the truth tellers to our children. 348 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,900 Now we need to tell them the truth lovingly. 349 00:33:11,900 --> 00:33:17,440 We don't want to use it as a battle axe to beat them over the head with. 350 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:23,320 But we want to keep reminding them in gentle and loving ways of what the truth is. 351 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:27,840 Secondly, we can set a godly example. 352 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:34,040 We may not be able to control them at this point in life, but we can continue to set 353 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:41,320 a godly example before them that they cannot escape and which, God willing, they will someday 354 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:45,600 appreciate perhaps more than they are at this point. 355 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:51,960 And third, like Paul, we can show that we care. 356 00:33:51,960 --> 00:34:00,120 We can be in touch, not to interfere, not to cross boundaries that are inappropriate 357 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:06,560 at this point in life, but we can still be in touch to show that we love them, that we 358 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,120 care for them. 359 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:15,800 I think those are great lessons because we do have some parents today who are in anguish 360 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:21,640 over adult children who have gone astray from how they were raised. 361 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:28,120 Paul identifies with that and gives us here, I think, a marvelous example. 362 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:35,560 There's a second observation I want to make from the text, and that is becoming a backslider 363 00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:39,000 brings chaos. 364 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:46,560 Haven't we all learned this at some point in life in our times of backsliding? 365 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:48,400 Becoming a backslider brings chaos. 366 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,720 Look what it did to the Galatians. 367 00:34:51,720 --> 00:34:58,640 In verses 12 through 15, Paul says, remember what it was like back when? 368 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:02,280 He says, what's happened to your joy? 369 00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:06,280 Where's the blessing that you once knew? 370 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,040 The first thing that happens, or at least one of the things that happens to a backslider 371 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:11,240 is this. 372 00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:15,820 Blessings are forgotten. 373 00:35:15,820 --> 00:35:21,280 We forget our blessings when we backslide. 374 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:25,200 Somehow the devil just seems to put a fog into our minds. 375 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:31,680 And those things that we once enjoyed in Christ, we sort of just forget about them. 376 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:38,640 Secondly, friends become enemies when we backslide. 377 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:48,560 Paul says in verse 16, have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth? 378 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:54,560 This morning, if you're looking at your life and reflecting on the fact that some of your 379 00:35:54,560 --> 00:36:00,960 Christian friends who love Jesus are not your friends anymore, they seem more like enemies, 380 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:07,440 you need to stop and ask yourself why. 381 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:13,900 Because when we backslide, our friends suddenly become our enemies because they're telling 382 00:36:13,900 --> 00:36:16,480 us the truth. 383 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:23,240 Third, when we backslide, discernment is lost. 384 00:36:23,240 --> 00:36:26,320 Verses 17 and 18 talk about that. 385 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:29,680 Paul says, oh yes, these false teachers, they want you all right. 386 00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:34,760 They seek you, but their hearts are not right. 387 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:39,080 He says it's great to be sought, but make sure it's for a commendable thing, that the 388 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:42,740 motives are right. 389 00:36:42,740 --> 00:36:47,340 When backsliding, we lose our discernment. 390 00:36:47,340 --> 00:36:50,680 We make stupid judgments. 391 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:53,400 We misjudge people and their motives. 392 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:54,400 And what happens? 393 00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:57,120 We get ourselves into a mess. 394 00:36:57,120 --> 00:36:58,600 And that's my point. 395 00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:02,480 That becoming a backslider brings chaos to our lives. 396 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:07,840 It leads to spiritual disaster. 397 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:14,000 And so if this morning you identify with what the Galatians were doing in backsliding from 398 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:21,000 the Lord, understand that the course that you're on is only going to bring you trouble. 399 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:28,600 And what you need to do today is to turn around and go back in the right direction. 400 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:34,680 The final observation I want to make is this, that becoming a son grants spiritual privilege. 401 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:39,680 It is a wonderful thing to be adopted into God's family because it means in the first 402 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:43,480 place that we live in fellowship with the Father. 403 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:47,880 In verse 6, we can talk to Him as Papa. 404 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:49,180 That is not blasphemous. 405 00:37:49,180 --> 00:37:50,560 That is not irreverent. 406 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:55,080 The Spirit of God causes us to come to God with such intimacy. 407 00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:56,800 We live in fellowship with the Father. 408 00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:00,000 Second, we live in the freedom of the Son. 409 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:04,020 Paul is going to say later, you Galatians, get back to the liberty with which Christ has 410 00:38:04,020 --> 00:38:06,480 set you free. 411 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:10,040 A son lives in the freedom of the Son of God. 412 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:14,080 And finally, a son lives in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. 413 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:17,680 Paul is going to say later, if you've been made alive by the Spirit, now walk in the 414 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:18,680 Spirit. 415 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:23,800 Live in the fullness of the Spirit's power in your life. 416 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:31,660 The point is this, that if you are in fact in God's family, then live like it. 417 00:38:31,660 --> 00:38:36,840 Live in the dignity of your position, not beneath it. 418 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:38,240 For God has adopted you. 419 00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:44,160 He has brought you into His household with grown-up privileges. 420 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:49,000 Now make the most of your life's opportunities in light of that. 421 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:54,160 I close with a parable, the parable of an eagle. 422 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:58,480 While walking through the forest one day, a man found a young eagle who had fallen out 423 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:00,600 of his nest. 424 00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:05,000 He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat and behave like 425 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,280 the chickens. 426 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:12,480 One day a naturalist passed by the farm and asked why it was that the king of all birds 427 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:16,400 should be confined to live in a barnyard with the chickens. 428 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:21,480 The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, 429 00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:25,100 it had never learned to fly. 430 00:39:25,100 --> 00:39:28,720 Since it now behaved as the chickens, it was no longer an eagle. 431 00:39:28,720 --> 00:39:35,120 Ah, but the naturalist said he still has the heart of an eagle and surely he can be taught 432 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:37,680 to fly. 433 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:41,880 And so he lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, you belong to the sky and not to 434 00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:42,880 the earth. 435 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:46,240 Stretch forth your wings and fly. 436 00:39:46,240 --> 00:39:50,660 The eagle, however, was confused. 437 00:39:50,660 --> 00:39:53,420 He did not know who he was. 438 00:39:53,420 --> 00:39:58,080 And seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again. 439 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:03,280 The naturalist took the bird to the roof of the house and urged him again saying, you're 440 00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:04,280 an eagle. 441 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:08,600 Stretch forth your wings and fly. 442 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:13,920 But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and the world and jumped down once more for 443 00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,480 the chicken food. 444 00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:21,240 Finally the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. 445 00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:26,000 There he held the king of birds high above him and encouraged him again saying, you're 446 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:27,520 an eagle. 447 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:29,480 You belong to the sky. 448 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:33,360 Stretch forth your wings and fly. 449 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:41,560 The eagle looked around, back towards the barnyard and up toward the sky. 450 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:48,120 Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began 451 00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:50,800 to tremble. 452 00:40:50,800 --> 00:41:00,560 Finally he stretched forth his wings and with a triumphant cry soared away into the heavens. 453 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:06,040 It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia. 454 00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:10,640 It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. 455 00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:19,440 But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken again. 456 00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:25,200 My plea to you this morning is remember who you are. 457 00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:29,980 You are a son, not a slave. 458 00:41:29,980 --> 00:41:35,580 You were made to soar, not live in a barnyard. 459 00:41:35,580 --> 00:41:41,560 And so live in the dignity of a son of God. 460 00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:49,400 Let's pray together. 461 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:54,880 Father, the barnyard seems very comfortable sometimes to us. 462 00:41:54,880 --> 00:42:05,800 But, oh, may we learn that as your children adopted into your family as adults that we 463 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:12,000 are not meant to live in the barnyard, that we are like the eagle intended to soar into 464 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,560 the heavens. 465 00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:24,600 Forgive us when we live beneath the dignity of being the adult children of God. 466 00:42:24,600 --> 00:42:29,900 Convict us when we have backslidden, as did the Galatians. 467 00:42:29,900 --> 00:42:36,240 Lead us out of the confusion and the chaos and the disaster of that situation. 468 00:42:36,240 --> 00:42:43,840 And teach us what it means to live as your sons. 469 00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:48,040 In Jesus' name I pray, amen. 470 00:42:48,040 --> 00:43:15,040 Would you stand together?