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Encouragement for the journey from God’s Word. Today's Scripture: Galatians 3:23-4:31 / Psalm 62
Good Wednesday to you.
Here we are in the middle of the week already.
We're halfway through our week of vacation Bible time, and we're
praying for the Lord to bless that time in the lives of boys and girls.
The theme of this Bible school, by the way, has to do with the glory of
God, showing boys and girls that God is a God of glory.
He shows that in his creation, but particularly the theme of this week
is taking them through God's call of Moses,
and then the plagues upon Egypt, and then delivering his people from bondage in
Egypt, giving them the law on Mount Sinai, but then culminating it all on Friday in
the glory that is in Christ Jesus.
It will be a good week, and we're praying for God's spirit to open hearts,
and ears, and blind eyes, that children might see God
for who he is, and see Christ for who he is, and see themselves for their need of
Christ.
Be praying with us for that fruitful week in Bible school.
Our Bible reading for today is in Galatians, and we're reading in chapter 4, and there's this wonderful
couple of verses in the early section of that chapter that,
for one thing, magnifies the sovereignty and the providence of
God.
Verse 4 begins this way, it says, When the fullness of the time had come, God
sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.
When the fullness of the time had come, that tells you a lot,
doesn't it?
That tells you that there was a plan in place, and that tells you that there were things that had to
occur before just the right time came for the incarnation, for
God to become flesh and dwell among us.
God, in his sovereignty, established when that time would come, and in his
providence, he ordered the affairs of the world to bring about
circumstances that would be a perfect time for Jesus to
be born, and so it was.
It would not have been better for Jesus to have been born a thousand years earlier or five years later.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, he was born
at just the right time.
God sent forth his Son.
This is the initiation of God that is prompted by his heart of love and
his amazing grace, that he would send his Son to redeem us from our
sins.
This is what the passage goes on to say.
Why did he do that?
Why did God send his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
born into this world to be fully human, under the
obligations and responsibilities of a Jewish boy and a Jewish man, born
under the law?
Why?
So that he, as the God -man, might perfectly fulfill that
law, that he alone, as the only one ever on this planet, would obey that law
perfectly, that he can then fulfill it.
So that when it comes time for him to offer himself as a sacrifice on
our behalf on the cross, he could be a spotless, sinless man,
taking our sin upon him, that his righteousness might be imputed to us.
His whole purpose, God's purpose in sending his Son, Christ's purpose in coming into this world, is
clarified in verse 5, to redeem those who are under the law,
to the end that we might receive the adoption as
sons.
Christ gave himself not simply to redeem us from our sin, but to
secure our adoption into the family of God.
If you think about it, God could have, if he wanted to, in his grace, he could
have had Christ be sacrificed for our sins and deal with
our sins, save us from those sins, and then
pretty much be arm's length from us, just kind of
tolerating us from a distance.
But that's not what he did.
He not only redeemed us from our sins, but he adopted us into his
family, adopted us as his children.
The blessing of that adoption is brought out in verses 6 and 7.
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying out, Abba, Father.
One of the benefits of being adopted into the family of God, because you've been
redeemed from your sins, is that you can call God your Father.
Let's be clear, not everyone can do that.
Not everyone can do that.
Only those who have been adopted into his family have the right to be called
the children of God, and to therefore call him Father.
There is no such thing as the idea that everybody is
a child of God.
If you want to use that as a description of having been created by God as human
beings, I understand that.
But let's be careful that we don't give a false idea.
The person who is a child of God is one who has received Jesus Christ, the
Redeemer, as his Savior, and has been adopted into the family of God,
and has the right now to be called a child of God, and therefore to call God
your Father.
That's why you can pray to him and say, our Father who art
in heaven.
There's another benefit and blessing to this redemption that is ours in Christ Jesus.
It says in verse 7, therefore you're no longer a slave.
You're not a slave to the law, you're not a slave to sin, but you are a son.
If you are a son, then you are an heir of God through Christ.
There is an inheritance that God promises you, that is secured for you, that
is guaranteed for you, because of that redemption that is
in Christ Jesus.
If you are a child of God, rejoice in those benefits today, that God in his
grace has redeemed you by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He has adopted you into his family.
He has given you the benefit of being his child and calling him your Father.
He has promised and secured for you an eternal inheritance that
will never fade away and that no one can ever take from you.
Bless God for his wonderful, amazing grace.
Father, today we do bless you.
We do thank you.
We thank you for the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus.
Thank you for his paying the price for our sins in his own blood,
in his own body on the cross.
Thank you for the benefits that accrue to us adoption into your family, calling you our
Father, a promised inheritance.
Thank you for your amazing grace.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
We'll have a good rest of your Wednesday, and I trust God will bless you richly in it.
Good day.