Heirs According to the Promise

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. I'd like to speak to you this morning a little bit about the believers' inheritance. The believers' inheritance.

Heirs According to the Promise in Galatians 3

So if you would, please turn to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3, Paul is writing to the church members of Galatia that they are heirs according to the promise. Another verse that came to mind while I was preparing 2 Corinthians 1 20 tells us that all the promises of God in Christ are yes and in him, amen.

So for those in Christ, we are part of God's family. We are his children. Therefore, because we are God's children, we have what? An inheritance. So we'll be looking at verses 26 through 29 in just a moment.

But there's several important concepts that are brought out here. Paul is speaking about the believers' inheritance. Also, the unity the Holy Spirit has brought about in the church where Jew and Gentile are brought together in one body.

But first, there had to be this coming of age, so to speak, where we are brought into a state of maturity through faith to where now Christians are pictured as adult children in the father's house with all the privileges that go along with that.

Before we begin, let's open in a word of prayer. Our father, as we approach your word this morning, ask that you would give us ears to hear and hearts to receive. Give me the ability to teach and may all that is said glorify you and your only begotten son.

For it is through faith in him that we have been received into the household of faith. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. Galatians chapter 3 verses 26 through 29. Speaking to believers, Paul writes, 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. So if you remember, as we've been going through the book of Galatians, the whole reason Paul wrote this letter was because the false teachers known as the Judaizers had convinced many of the people that they had to obey the law of Moses in order to be saved.

In order to be saved, you need to obey the law, in particular circumcision. And what did Paul do? He identified that as a different gospel. Instead of salvation by grace through faith, many of the people were now trusting in their own works.

So the question then came up. Okay, what's the purpose of God's law then? If the Lord did not give the commandments, if he did not give the law in order for people to be saved through the law, what was the point of the law?

Paul answered that question in chapter three, verse 19. What did he say? The law was added because of transgressions. And then look at verse 22. He says, but the scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

He's confined all under sin, right? That's the bad news. That's the bad news. As someone once said, to the prideful, you preach law. To the humble, you preach grace. So to the proud and to sinners, the purpose of God's law is to show them that they're really not as great as they think they are.

The purpose of the law is to show them that they have fallen short of God's glory. For example, if somebody looked at the Ten Commandments and said, oh, I have kept all of these from my youth. Well, that person's self-righteous and they're deceived.

They do not understand who God is. They don't even really understand who they are. On the other hand, if a person looks at the commandments and they say, oh, I've broken them. And I realize now that I stand guilty before God.

And they come under that conviction of the Holy Spirit. Once you understand that bad news, then and only then are you prepared to receive the good news of God's grace. So that's really the purpose of the law.

Another person once said that laws were made to be broken. Well, that's not really true, is it? But it does happen. So the law is also referred to. Look at verses 24 and 25. The law is also referred to as like a teacher.

Well, how so? It says, therefore, the law was given or the law was our tutor. 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.

So the law is a tutor. Or as the King James puts it, the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. So the law serves a purpose. And once a person understands all of that and they mature, they start understanding, then you no longer need the tutor.

Right.

Let me use this illustration. When a child is very young and mom and dad go out, that child needs a babysitter.

Doesn't it?

Yeah, it does. Because the child needs the babysitter to keep them in line. Because if left to themselves, little kids get into all sorts of trouble. Now, they don't look at it that way, do they?

No.

Most little kids would like a little more freedom. You know, they'll have ice cream for breakfast. They'll chase the cat around the house. They might decide I can cook dinner myself, turn on the stove and burn the house down.

So we all understand why little children need someone there to keep them in check.

Right.

Well, the law was given for a similar purpose. Mankind needs to realize he is not capable on his own. Mankind needs assistance from God whether he wants to admit it or not. So the law is there to show people their sin and therefore their need for a savior, their need for Christ.

Now, once you get from here to there, Paul describes it in Galatians, the way he's describing it. It's a coming of age. It's a maturity, a process there that once you're at that point, you no longer need the tutor.

You no longer need the schoolmaster. Look at verse 3, verse 26 again, for you are all what? Children.

Okay.

Does someone have something else? You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. I'm glad you said that because some translations do say that, that we are all children. But that really kind of gives the wrong idea because a Christian is no longer a little child.

Right.

A Christian is described as someone who's of full age, an adult in the father's house with all the privileges that go along with that. So much so that we're already talking about an inheritance.

Right.

A little three-year-old doesn't care. They don't even know what an inheritance is. So they're not thinking along those lines. Once you're an adult, I mean, it's at least in the conversation. So the promise, what is this inheritance?

We'll get to that. But rest assured, if you're a believer in Christ, you have an inheritance from your heavenly father. The promise of God to believers is brought out here. We are heirs according to the promise.

So Christians enjoy great privileges, great freedom that come along with this maturity, privileges that, quite frankly, the Old Testament believers didn't really have. Let me give some examples of that.

As New Testament believers, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We have the faith once for all delivered to the saints. The Old Testament saints had this much. We have this much. They were under the law.

We are under grace. We have a better covenant based on better promises, and we have a better mediator. Moses was a great man, a great man of God. But we have the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. They have the promise of the Savior.

And let's face it, most of the people in the Old Covenant didn't even really understand a lot of that. We actually have the Savior, Christ in us, the hope of glory. We are in a covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

And it's so much greater than what they experienced in Old Testament times. The Israelites, in some ways, were more like servants where we are sons and daughters. That's so much better, right? When thinking of all that, it's so much better.

Look at verse 27. Paul says, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ, you have put on Christ. So how do you get in? You're baptized into Christ. There's the spiritual baptism that happens first, and then the water baptism is a symbol of the spiritual baptism.

But when you consider all of this, and when you understand how much greater the New Testament is, or how much greater the New Covenant is, how much greater grace is, it would seem crazy to want to go backwards, right?

Why would anyone want to go back to that? And yet, that's what the Judaizers were doing. They were convincing people, no, no, no. You need to go back under the law. Back under the law. Are we under the law today?

Okay, no.

Paul in Romans says we're under grace. So grace is better, but let me just say one thing about grace. Grace is not a license. Grace is not a license. Yes, we have freedom. We don't have all these restrictions and regulations, you know, offerings to make and sacrifices to keep, and the feast days and the Sabbaths, and I'm not saying that those things are bad, but when you look at God's law, it was quite burdensome, or at least it became what they made of it.

It became quite burdensome. I'm not afraid to say I'm glad we're not under that system. Are you glad you're not under it? You don't realize how good you have it. So all I'm saying is that the new covenant is better.

Grace is better, but grace in this newly found freedom that we have is not freedom to do whatever you want, because with great privilege comes what? Great responsibility. I was thinking about this. Have you ever noticed that some of the Old Testament believers, even some of the great heroes of the faith, some of these guys were real, I should be careful what I say, some of these guys were real rascals, some of the things that they did, and I'm not going to say that they got away with things.

I'm not going to say that, and I don't want to use this verse out of context, but Acts 17 verse 30 says, speaking of the old times, and the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.

So I only say that to say this, that New Testament Christians, if anything, we have an even greater responsibility to live godly lives. I don't know where this idea came from, but it's definitely out there.

I've heard it my whole life, where people view grace or the new covenant, almost like God is lowering the bar. Have you encountered this? I know some of you have. You know, God in the Old Testament, he was pretty harsh, but in the New Testament, he's kind of softened up a little because of grace.

I don't know where that idea came from, but it's totally false. God has not changed, okay? God has not changed. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is immutable. I am the Lord, I changeth not.

The only thing that has changed is the covenant. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornett Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornettChurch .com.

We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.