Christ Has Come To Make You Heirs

Galatians 3:26–4:7 and the Promise of Sonship

Please take your Bibles and turn to the book of Galatians and chapter 4. If you were sitting in a high church today, and we are somewhat a form of that this would probably be one of the New Testament readings from the occasion the Sunday after.

The.

Christmas The incarnation of our Lord, so this text is keeping with the season believe it or not here in Galatians chapter 4. I'll begin reading in verse 26 of chapter 3 this is God's holy and infallible word.

Galatians 3 26. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free.

There is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs According to the promise. Now I say that the heir as long as he is a child does not differ at all from a slave Though he is master of all But is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by 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 had come God sent forth his son Born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons.

And Because you are sons God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying out Abba.

Father.

Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son and If a son than an heir of God through Christ. Please pray with me. Oh Lord We thank you for your word and we thank you that you are the Lord of all creation.

As we have read and sung today Lord you are the one who takes away our sin and our shame and the sting of death. You have reversed the curse. And Oh Lord We rejoice today to know that we are no longer slaves But our sons and even more than that we have the inheritance.

We are joint heirs with Christ The Lord. I pray that this would be impressed upon our hearts and it would fill us with joy and gladness. And I ask all of these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

Please be seated. No doubt you have been running on some of the energy of This great time of the year and had great celebrations together as the family and very much enjoyed our Christmas Eve Service together and I hope that you or you are blessed in the Lord when you consider the great works of Incarnation.

Well, what happens now is we forget and we move on and then January has been our our theme to think about The kingship of Christ. It's a very good January theme to consider will be reflected in the music and some of the liturgy elements.

But today we focus on our privileges.

The.

Inheritance the Airship that God has provided for us in Christ. Christ came to save us from our sin. Christ came to Sanctify us to make us holy. Christ has come to convey us into glory. But he's also come to share with us the Unincalculable wealth of his kingdom.

He's made you a heir a joint heir with himself in the riches of his kingdom. You are an heir of God Through Christ. I put a simple outline in Slack if you have need to reflect on it at another time. But here are the three elements that I would like to consider under this heading today.

First God sent forth his son. That is derived from verse 4 of chapter 4. God sent forth his son. God sent forth his son. And there's some rich theology and those five words. God sent forth his son. Secondly to redeem you and this kind of makes a continuous sentence.

The outline points to redeem you that you might receive the adoption as sons. And we need to look into that concept a little bit. The idea of adoption and.

Finally as.

Sons you are an heir of God. Through Christ as sons you are an heir of God through Christ. Now what's happening in the book of Galatians. We don't have time to do a summary of all the teaching. But it's important to remember the context in order to have a proper understanding of what's happening here in our section.

There are Judaizers who have come into the church at Galatia and they have said things like you must be Circumcised in order to be a Christian. You have to observe the Jewish law in order to be a Christian.

And in fact, it seems that we could we may be able to do this if we have time. The false teachers were seeking people not so much to follow after the law of God, but to follow after them. Come follow us.

We're the keepers of the law. We are the real Christians or we are the real people of God and Paul has some very stern and strong words to rebuke this false teaching. They were placing an obstacle an impediment between the people in Christ the very Obstacles the walls of separation that Jesus Christ had come to tear down.

It's a great evil. So let's consider it here. One of the off-quoted I Don't know who said this originally. I've seen it in two older authors from the 1800s and 1700s and it's modern paraphrase that probably stretches back to someone like Augustine or someone like that and The the statements very fitting for us today and in this time of year.

The Son of God became the Son of Man. That the sons of men might become the sons of God. It's one more time. The Son of God became the Son of Man. That the sons of men might become the sons of God. It's a very crisp summary of what Jesus Christ has done coming in the flesh, isn't it now today?

We think a lot about justification. The declaration that we are righteous in Christ we we think about our sins. Have you meditated lately on your sins? Oh. How vast they are how deep they go how wicked they are.

And this could be a cause for discouragement. Why are we not making the progress in the faith? But but our our Christian minds tell us that that Christ has conquered sin and death and we say hallelujah.

Amen, and we say my sin no longer hangs over me because it's been laid upon Christ. That's a great thing, isn't it? And we also think about our progress in the faith and the sending of the Spirit and the work of progressive sanctification very important.

But what gets lost in all of this is the dramatic conveyance from a place of slaves of sin if you're a Gentile Strangers to the covenant of promise all the way to Sonship and forgiveness and even more so than that that every rank-and-file.

Christian.

Enjoys the inheritance of the firstborn son because the firstborn overall creation has Made himself one with us and shared his inheritance with us. It's quite a spectacular thing. So today we're not thinking about the penalty of sin as much we must always keep it in mind.

We're not even thinking as much about our progress in sanctification daily. We must be putting sin to death, but today we are basking in the glow that we have been made joint heirs With Christ Christ has come to make you.

Heirs.

Let's look at verse 4. What may be lost because of time is the idea that a great thing in redemptive history has happened. It's not business as usual with the covenant people of God. There's something dramatic that has taken place.

It says when the fullness of the time had come. Why was Jesus born in 6 BC 4 BC? Whatever it was. Why was that the time? That was the fullness of time. That was the time when Jesus must come in the flesh.

Why was he born that I don't know but it is the fullness of time. The creation was groaning. The people were crying out. They were heavy under the burden of sin just like they were in the Egyptian Exodus.

But God in his infinite wisdom and his providence Determines that this is the time. This is the fullness of time. This is the occasion. We've just celebrated that Christ would come. I Want you to look at that next phrase at the fullness of time in redemptive history accepting John the Baptist again over 400 years without special revelation.

Reminiscent of the Period of time that Egypt would be. I mean Israel would be captive enslaved in Egypt 400 years. Quiet God not speaking the Ark of the Covenant not in the temple. The people of God wandering in the wilderness again spiritually false teaching in their midst, but then God sent forth his son.

Now the thing I want you to take away from this. That's a pretty simple phrase. But this language and the grammar Intimates that the son who was sent existed before. Think of John 1 in the beginning was the Word.

The Word was with God. The Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. So the one the son who was sent is none other than the second person of the Trinity the pre-existent God the second person of the Godhead of the Trinity Jesus Christ.

And God sends him forth the next phrase Born of a woman so his eternal divinity is established. He is himself God of gods. He's very God of very God. Begotten not made all of those wonderful truths from the creedal statements.

God has sent forth his son the second person of the Trinity born of a woman born of a virgin and That born of a woman speaks to his real humanity he put on his Human nature in the incarnation and that's very good news for us.

Because.

The God who is Transcendent is now eminent his transcendence isn't lost. But his nearness is very real and in fact now that he's come in the flesh I and you can be one flesh with him. I can be united to him.

I Can have that bone of my bone flesh of my flesh union with Christ. That's what the Bride of Christ has with Christ now, this is why and how we can be heirs. Christ is so united himself to us and our cause.

That he has made it possible and yeah, even more than that. He's made it actual that we would be united to him. He was sent forth from God the eternal the monogamous eternal Eternally begotten Son of God born of the Virgin Mary and Then the last phrase born under the law.

Now, this is very important in our context because The law is what the Judaizers are appealing to in order to be the righteous and earn your standing. Before God you have to be circumcised. You have to keep the Jewish law.

But we have here the Christ coming and he's born under the weight of the law and He accomplishes and fulfills it perfectly. The first Adam was given a simple command and I believe The law of God was written more thoroughly on his heart and he failed the test.

The law was added because it says in Galatians because of transgressions. But before the the formal codification of the law there were promises made. And even stretches back to Genesis chapter 3 that the seed of the woman we've talked about it in the Advent season.

I'm not going to rehearse that again, but the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. There's something that predates even the Mosaic economy. Let's go back to chapter 3 really quickly.

Go back to chapter 3 of Galatians. What if I said to you? Well, hopefully you would throw me off the pulpit, but if I said to you today That you have to earn God's favor or you can earn God's favor by the keeping of the law.

You'd say it does not follow because there is none who have done that save Christ, right? Salvation is hopeless if it's achieved by men keeping the law because no man, but Christ has done it. There is no salvation there and it was never intended to be that and that's what the Judaizers are doing.

They're saying the way that we are righteous. Oh that faith in Christ is important. But the way that we are righteous is we keep his commandments and God views us as being righteous in his sight. Let's see the curse of the law.

Look at Galatians 3 verse 10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse for it is written. Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them so in order to be Blessed in this law-keeping scheme you have to continue in all the things with a perfect precision.

Nobody does that and here's the problem. We we wrongly sometimes Characterize this as legalism. The legalist doesn't have a high view of God's law. He has a low view. Because he believes he can attain it.

And that God would be obligated To accept him because of his righteousness that he performs. The antinomian has no regard for the law. That's unimportant. Both are grievous errors both minimize the significance and importance of God's law verse 11, but that no one is justified by the law on the side of God is evident.

For the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith. But the man who does them shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Having become a curse for us. I want to read that again.

I Pointed this out at the outset in different words. There is a curse hanging over us. But Christ has redeemed us from the curse and how has he done it? Having become a curse for us. The best sermon that R .C. Sproul has ever preached is.

His.

Preaching on the curse motif of the atonement. You want to hear a good sermon by R .C. Sproul? The best one he's ever preached I believe is him explaining the curse motif of the atonement. Which speaks to this very thing?

So the idea of law-keeping as a means of righteousness. It's never been its intention. And in fact, it's practically impossible. Only Christ has done it but yet the Judaizers are saying this is how we're right with God.

We get circumcised. We keep all the ceremonies. We tack on faith in Christ, but we're really concerned about these things. Christians can do this. People who are great at keeping the Sabbath they start taking their Sabbath keeping as their righteousness.

The psalm-singing churches whom I love. I'm so in tune with those brethren, but that becomes their right. They only sing psalms. They're the righteous ones. We can do that for a host of things. The grave danger for us.

Our righteousness is found in Christ alone. We have no righteousness our righteousness is but filthy rags. But we do have a righteousness because of Christ. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law and here it is.

That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Now what's lost on us about Abraham is such an important figure the patriarch of the patriarchs.

We have forgotten. That though he can trace his genealogy just a couple of generations from Noah. His grandfather is Shem and you think okay. Noah's in the godly line by the time. Abraham is a 75 year old man going from Ur and the land of the Chaldeans up to Haran in the north country, which is now Syria.

He was a pagan polytheist. Don't forget that. His dad his family they were pagans. It's likely that father Abraham worshipped the moon God. So Abraham's righteousness comes because God does something with a he calls Abraham.

He gives Abraham faith. Abraham his only response is the Reflexing of new life. He believes God and it's accounted to him for righteousness. This is very important if we're appealing to the Mosaic law.

We're really appealing to the promises given to Abraham. But when we investigate the promises given to Abraham, it sounds like new covenant blessings in Christ and faith and This is what seems to be lost in the thinking of the Judaizers in Galatia.

Listen again beginning in verse 15. Brethren I speak in the manner of men though. It is only a man's covenant. Yet if is confirmed no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.

Do you notice in your Bibles the capital S? That is a very important translation feature for us in English. He's not talking about just natural descendants here. He's talking about his descendant who happens to be the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see for Adam and Eve and Enoch and Seth and all of these people for Abraham for Sarah. They needed Christ as a Savior. They needed salvation from on high and at the right time in the fullness of time.

God sent forth his son. Not to Abraham verse 16 again in his seed where the promises made he does not say antecedents as of many but as of one and to your seed who is Christ and this I say that the law which was four hundred and thirty years later Cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ.

That it should make the promise of no effect you see. It's the promise for Adam for Eve. For Abraham for Sarah, it's the promise. The promise is Christ. It's no longer a promise but God gave it to Abraham.

By promise it continues again, I'm trying to set the stage for you to see the importance of our sonship and Our new identity as heirs of the kingdom. What purpose does then does the law serve it was added because of transgressions?

Till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now mediator does not mediate for one only but God is one. So we could read Galatians and say well this law we have to throw it out because it's contrary to faith in Christ.

That's absolutely false. What does Paul say is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life truly righteousness would have been by the law.

But the scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came we were kept under guard by the law. This is important for our context kept.

For the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ. That we might be justified by faith, but after faith has come we are no longer under a Tutor. Now what the Judaizers in Galatia are doing is they're saying you guys have all of this liberty and freedom in Christ.

You think but now you have to go back under the tutor. You have to go under the schoolmaster again. Now I want to point something out to you, which you might see this seems utterly ridiculous, but this is really what they're arguing for.

They're arguing for an older man like me to go back to kindergarten. Imagine me showing up at kindergarten. I'd love snack time. I love taking a nap. Those parts would be good. I would breeze through the ABCs.

I got those. It's utterly improper for me to go back there because I have progressed past. Those childish times and and there's something bigger here happening from a redemptive historical perspective.

The two covenants that are going to be mentioned in here in just a moment. Referring to Sarah and Hagar. What Paul is saying is the whole time that we were under the law. It was driving us the the schoolmaster of the law was pointing us and pushing us to Christ that we might see him and we might see our righteousness in him.

The law debased us the law Stripped us bare and caught us running through the streets without covering. And we see we need to run to Christ that we might be covered in his righteousness and clothed in his holiness.

Calvin has given a very good articulation of the three uses of the law. I know many of you are Familiar with this. I'm just gonna give you a brief summary of each of those uses to see how suitable the law is for The people of God, but it's never been intended to be the means of salvation.

The first Use of the threefold uses of the law is the law is a mirror. I Hold up this word to my life. And I see all of the defects of my funny-looking face. I See all the deficiencies. The Word of God pierces my heart and I read it and I meditate upon it and I see that I'm wanting.

I'm lacking righteousness. I see in this word the perfect righteousness and holiness of a holy God. Augustine said that the law orders. That we after attempting to do what is ordered and so feeling our weakness under the law may learn to implore the help of.

Grace.

The law.

Reveals our weakness so that we might seek Christ. It is a schoolmaster. And he's harsh and he slaps us with on the knuckles with his ruler that we might be Driven to Christ. That's the first use of the law.

And that first use there is no salvation for you. There's no righteousness for you because you aren't Second. The second use is to restrain evil. There have been people that you've encountered in your life who have sought you harm, but their conscience Restrained them because they didn't want to pay the consequences.

They know that they would go to jail. People have wanted to harm you most likely. But the law and its restraint of evil holds them back. By means of its fearful Denunciations and the consequent dread of punishment it curbs those Who in less force have no regard for rectitude and justice.

This is the second use of The law. It's a good use. But then there's the third. The third use of the law is to reveal what is pleasing to God. The Christian delights in the law of God as God himself delights in his law the the Christian.

By faith in Jesus Christ is the one who's able to have the proper Relationship to the law because he sees in Christ alone his salvation. He sees his need of Christ. He's driven to Christ. He runs to Christ.

He believes on Christ and then he says this law is Felicitous. It's it's good. Because this conveys the the holy mind of God and I long and I hunger and thirst for righteousness. So I want to now go follow After Christ and walk in his footsteps.

And.

Do that which is pleasing?

To God.

The Jewish people the economy the cultists of the Jewish religion they were under guard. They were under the tutelage of tutors. Waiting for the revelation of Jesus Christ, but we just celebrated it this week, but Christ has now come.

He's come in the flesh. He's fulfilled all righteousness. He's come and he's died a satisfactory atonement atoning death for our sins on the cross he triumphs over the grave over sin and death and the curse in the resurrection and.

Even now he's sitting at the right hand of God reigning and ruling waiting for his enemies to be made a footstool. How can we go back to as if none of that? Incarnation. God sending forth his son never happened.

Very appropriate for us today, isn't it to think about that?

Well.

The time is running short. I need to go down to the second point. Look at verse 5. The fullness of time had come God sent forth his son the richness of theology God and his Christ and his divinity Christ and his humanity.

The hypostatic union of Christ the union of those two natures in one person. All of that theology all that systematic theologies here in the exegesis of Galatians 4. Look at verse 5. It says to redeem those Who were under the law?

His.

Blood is the purchase price of our redemption. He has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Remember when Jesus and his parents we learned this early in the Advent season. They went to the temple to pay the redemption price for the firstborn.

So that the Levites could support and go in the place of the firstborn son and serve for God in the temple and the temple. Service that was the economy. That's a structure. Lamb or a pigeon or two turtle doves those those offerings had to be named to be made to redeem the firstborn.

But now the firstborn himself has come to redeem those who were under the law and it's curse and it's penalty. It's dread that we might receive the adoption as sons now in Sunday school a couple weeks ago.

I told you about the verbal plenary basis of scriptural interpretation. And it's so amazing to me after digging into this with a little bit more depth than you might in your cursory reading. That Paul employs language that doesn't exist in the Hebrew.

And it's very fitting for this occasion. This kind of adoption for sons comes right out of the Greco-Roman world where in this economy an adopted son when he's of age a price could be paid documents could be made with the court and he has all the rights and privileges of a son and Paul says my audience knows what it is.

They can see it with their eyes. These Judaizers don't understand it. I'm going to invoke this Greco-Roman principle to prove my point that Christ has done it. Very powerful. They're trying to cling to Hebraisms.

He says I'm gonna speak in language. You don't even have at your disposal almost. He redeems those who are under the law. That we might receive. The adoption of sons. There's a great old movie. I Can't watch anything made basically after 1960.

It seems I can't enjoy it. So there's a great picture of this in the movie Ben-Hur if you never seen the movie or read the book Ben-Hur. There's a picture of this Adoption principle you familiar? Does it ring a bell at all?

He gets all the rights and privileges. And this is what's happened for the for the blessed people of God. Now the Jews are having a hard time with this. These are are not the sons of Abraham the way they are.

But we learned that Abraham is not even a son of Shem like he ought to have been. Abraham was a pagan called out of the land of the Chaldeans. He travels north to Haran then he comes down and he inherits.

He inherits Canaan. It's like he went from Paris to the wilderness. He was in a place of culture and grandeur and he had a place of status and wealth and he was sent to a desert. It was far better for him to be there to receive the inheritance of the land.

And to walk with the pagans, that's what the Christian has. We can go out and have the pleasures of the world, but we've been Redeemed we have a sonship and inheritance that it may be in this life and maybe in this moment.

It's a little bit harder, but oh, it's so much more wealth. It's so much better. Our adoption is the adoption as sons and this adoption as sons. And I can't stress this enough in the Hebrew world. It's also true in the Gentile world.

The firstborn son gets most of it. My son Jacob Tease him about this. He often Invokes this in our family discussions that he's the firstborn son and he has all the rights and privileges. Because he's the firstborn.

But my children now can have a good defense against him and say that the firstborn the real firstborn has Distributed his wealth to all of us. Because we're his heirs joint heirs with Christ. Look at verse 6 slaves of sin.

Jews and Greeks alike confined under sin. At the very best even though they might be masters of the house the the people the covenant people of God of Israel they were like slaves because they were under the Tudor.

I Imagine I wish my daughter Savannah was here. I imagine a literary tale from.

The.

1800s in England and the rich little girl had a governess. Almost picture the story can't you the rich little girl? She's maybe closer to the governess Than she is her own parents and the governess is this virtuous woman.

You can imagine a story, right? But in God's economy in his revelation with the revelation of Jesus Christ. We have a father and an heir and a prince of peace and a king of kings. Who's not relegated our care to governors and governesses.

He's not said go play somewhere where I can't hear you. He says come let me instruct you in the ways of the kingdom for you're going to inherit the whole world. This is why we can cry out Abba father.

We often reduce this to say daddy and that could be a little dicey. We can exclaim and cry out to God because we're sons we're heirs the righteousness of Christ has been applied to our account. Let's conclude the exegesis with verse 7.

Therefore you are no longer a slave. I want you to see the progression. Slave probably not treated so well having to do that hard work. He's taken from being a slave and this is true for every Christian.

Even privileged covenant children like ours. We've been taken from the slavery of sin and Given this gift of sonship. But we're not like little David. We're not the eighth or tenth born kid who everybody forgets about.

We are the sons and daughters who inherit the entire kingdom so we don't see how great this distance has been traversed by the people of God from slavery under the curse of sin and death.

To.

Sonship all the way to being joint heirs with the glorious one the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's happened when God sent forth his son a few words.

For.

Application will close. Christmas time is Actually still going on for many of you properly. But now we're distracted. We got to go back to the normal things work and such. I urge you to continue to meditate upon the incarnation of Christ.

Its importance spans the entire spectrum of.

Redemption.

Going back to the old ways would be like Abraham choosing Ishmael and Hagar over Sarah and the son of promise Isaac. Appeal to the flesh. Appeal to a work. We must continue to meditate upon the incarnation of Christ.

Second we always must remember those gospel essentials. Christ came to save to justify to sanctify to reconcile us to God, but He has also and this is what I want us to take with us today. He's transformed you from an object of wrath a vessel of dishonor.

And he's made you an heir of his kingdom. That is gospel good news this is a transformation like no other from deserving his just wrath to being a joint heir with Christ and inheriting his kingdom. And Who can even begin to plumb the depths.

How rich how wealthy is that kingdom? We labor over that which rusts and moths destroy. And We're inheriting the kingdom of God as his sons as joint heirs with Christ. That should transform the way you live every moment of every day.

And it seems you can ask the question. How great is the love of God for us in? Christ Jesus. But a word of Encouragement as we think about all of our blessings as members of the royal family it seems We have to to follow the royal etiquette.

We need to be putting sin to death because it's contrary to us. I've told you this a dozen times in the last couple years. We continue to say that we are as The people of God. It's more natural for us to sin than to walk in righteousness as the redeemed in Christ.

Our New inclination is to walk in righteousness. Walking in sin is the anomaly. A great victory has been won to convey us from that life of death to a life of righteousness. We're believing a lie that says we have to always be a miserable sinner.