WWUTT 1776 No Longer Slaves but Heirs (Galatians 4:1-7)

In Jesus Christ, we are no longer slaves under the law. We're no longer slaves to our sin.

We have been set free and we've been made fellow heirs with him of his eternal kingdom.

When we understand the text. This is when we understand the text, a daily study of God's word that we may be filled with the knowledge of his will.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We need to jump back a little bit in our study of Galatians.

I'm coming back to Galatians 4, one through seven because apparently I didn't have a sermon recorded on that section.

And then tomorrow and Wednesday, we're gonna pick up where we left off with a sermon entitled, have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

That's the question that Paul presents in verse 16. So let's look today at Galatians 4, one through seven.

I'm reading from the LSB this time, the legacy standard Bible. This is the word of the

Lord through the apostle Paul writing to the churches in Galatia. Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave, although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and stewards until the date set by the father.

So also we, while we were children, we were enslaved under the elemental things of the world.

But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

And because you are sons, God sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying,

Abba, father. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son.

And if a son, then an heir through God. So coming back now to verse one,

Paul says, I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave, although he is owner of everything.

So we're talking about one who belongs to the father, whom he intends to pass everything on to.

The father is going to pass everything onto his son, but the son is not yet old enough to receive all of that.

So therefore there's no difference between the son and the slave. The slave doesn't own anything. The son doesn't own everything, but he is an owner of everything in the sense that all of this has been entrusted or promised to him.

So whatever the father possesses is going to be handed to the son. So he's under guardians and stewards until the day set by the father, that's in verse two.

Now, this is talking about us because we're referring to the doctrine of adoption here that through Jesus Christ, we have been adopted into the family of God and we become sons and daughters of God.

This is not referring to Christ, who is the son and to whom

God has given all things. That's certainly true, but there are other passages that talk about that.

This passage in context is not referring to what the father has given to God, the son, even though he is heir of all things.

When we read in Colossians chapter one, for example, about how Christ is the firstborn of all creation, that does not mean that Jesus is the first created being in God's created order.

It means being the firstborn that God has given all the rights of the firstborn to the son.

So Jesus receives everything that the father gives to him. And he is authority overall.

As Jesus says in Matthew 28, 18, before he leaves his disciples, he says to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

The father has given those things to the son. Now, when it comes to our position as heirs, we likewise receive everything that the son gets.

Consider in, let me skip to another passage, but let's look at Titus chapter three.

Now, this is one that I've taught from frequently and have said to people, memorize this section because it's a good sort of a blueprint on sharing the gospel with other people.

Let's consider Titus chapter three, beginning in verse three for we ourselves also were foolish.

We were foolish. We were disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another.

But when the kindness and affection of God, our savior appeared, he saved us, not by works, which we did in righteousness, but according to his mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the

Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

And so being heirs with Christ, we get all the stuff the king gets, which is just a wonderful aspect of the doctrine of adoption.

I just don't think that we think about a whole lot. We, being adopted into the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ, are fellow heirs with him.

We have gone from being rebels. We rebelled against the throne. We rebelled against God.

And what we deserve for that was destruction. We deserve nothing but to be eternally separated from God and under his punishment forever.

And yet by his mercy, he has not given us that, right?

He's not given us what we deserve, which is to the proclamation of his mercy, he has given us his son.

And not just in the sense that Jesus was given and died on the cross for our sins, although that in itself is incredible enough, but raising him from the dead, he's made us fellow heirs with him.

We're not just forgiven our sins. We're made recipients of the kingdom of God.

And so all of this is promised to us in Christ Jesus. We are recipients of it now.

We're owner of everything, as Paul says in Galatians 4 .1. Even though it hasn't been actualized for us, we haven't ascended to glory.

We read in 1 John 3 that we will see him as he is because we will be made to be like him.

Well, we've not yet become that. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that what we will be is not yet what we are, but we are a bare kernel.

And that seed, as Paul illustrates, must die, be put into the ground, and then it becomes something else.

So we must put off the mortal and then put on immortality. And that hasn't yet happened for us.

In chapter 13, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, one day we will see him face to face, and then we will know just as we are fully known, but we're not yet there.

And so that's the same sort of a concept that Paul is illustrating here in Galatians 4. We are a child, we are children of God.

We are heirs and therefore owners of everything, though we have not yet received everything.

Verse two, but he is under guardians and stewards until the date set by the father.

Now, in strictly legal terms, this would apply in two different ways. Either the father would therefore say, this is no longer mine, it is now my son's.

And he is now head of the household, he is now possessor of everything. And then the son, or the father rather, who is unable to take charge, who may be feeble, maybe he is just older, maybe he's just in retirement, however you want to perceive that.

He's not the one that is overseeing all of that anymore. He's passed it on to his son. That's one possibility.

Second possibility is that the father has died. So the father dies and then passes that on to the son.

And it could be according to his will. I possess everything until I die, the date that is set by the father, and then it's passed on to his son.

Now, this is just a strictly legal illustration that Paul is using here in Galatians 4, 1 and 2.

He's not applying this in a literal sense as though to say that the father,

God the father dies and then we receive everything. This is just an illustration, just to illustrate that we are fellow heirs with Christ and we are given promise of everything, though that had not yet come until the time that is set by the father.

Now, up to this point, I've kind of been, I've been saying this in terms of, we as Christians now are heirs with Christ, though we don't receive everything, the whole kingdom, in the sense that we dwell in glory forever.

We don't receive that until we die and go be with the father or Christ comes back, whichever one of those events comes first.

And then on that day, we will be with the Lord forever in glory and there in his heavenly eternal kingdom, in the new heavens, in the new earth even, then we have received the kingdom and we dwell in it and we have been glorified ourselves.

Now, I've been speaking about it in that sense. Paul doesn't necessarily mean it in that sense though, here in Galatians 4, 1 and 2.

Going on to verse 3, So also we, while we were children, were enslaved under the elemental things of this world.

Now, of course, we could argue that we're enslaved to that now, we live in these fleshly bodies. These bodies are decaying and we're going to die.

We probably feel the effects of our decay every single day, but Paul has something else in mind, verse 4, born under the law so that he might redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

So what are we talking about here? Are we talking about our being glorified? No, we're talking about our being saved.

This is not in reference to Christ's second advent, which is what we're presently waiting for.

This is in reference to Christ's first advent, which has already happened. So when the fullness of time had come, according to the date that had been set by the father,

God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law.

So you have Jesus Christ who put on flesh and dwelt among us, as said in John 1.

Born under the law, he fulfilled all the law and the prophets. Remember Jesus' statement in the

Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Jesus, even born under the law, was circumcised on the eighth day as the law required.

Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, the statement that he made to John.

Jesus obeyed perfectly the will of the father, which no one had ever done before Christ and no one has done since.

So that in Christ Jesus, we would receive his righteousness, both his passive obedience and his active obedience.

Have you ever heard these terms before? Christ passive obedience is in reference to his paying the penalty for sin, his atoning death on the cross.

His active obedience was fulfilling the precepts of the law. That's what we mean by passive obedience and active obedience.

And by faith in Jesus Christ, we not only receive his passive obedience, that his blood has covered over our sin, but we also receive his active obedience and that we would now live a life according to the life of Christ.

As is said in 1 John chapter 2, whoever keeps his word truly in him, the love of God has been perfected.

By this, we know that we are in him. The one who says he abides in him, ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked.

And we receive that from God whenever we put our faith and trust in Jesus. Our sins are atoned for and we are clothed in his righteousness that we may live righteously just as he is righteous.

If we do not live in obedience to the commands of God, as said in 1 John chapters 1 and 2, then we are liars and the truth is not in us.

If we say we love God, but we do not obey him, then we're not really God's children.

As Jesus said to the Jews in John chapter 8, you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires.

What the devil does rather than what the father has said. Now that doesn't mean we must obey in order to gain that adoption.

We have been adopted by the grace of God through faith that we have in Jesus Christ. That adoption is already guaranteed and sealed for us.

We affirm or prove our adoption by what we do, by our living, by our obedience unto the

Lord. Peter says this also in 2 Peter chapter 1, affirm your calling and election by living in obedience to God's commands.

And so when the fullness of time came, let me come back to verse 4 again here in Galatians 4. When the fullness of time came,

God sent forth his son born of woman born under the law so that he might redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons.

This is to say that we were previously under the law before Christ came.

But it is also to say that we were under the law before we came to faith in Christ.

For you were not automatically in Christ when you were born. You were of your father,

Adam. He was your federal head. But now it's by faith in Christ, you have been adopted into a new family.

You've been born again and born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, as said in John chapter 1.

And your father, your federal head is no longer Adam, but it is

God. The federal head specifically is Christ. So your federal head is not

Adam. That's the federal headship we're born under. And therefore everything that had come upon Adam, including the curse and his sin nature was passed on to all of his offspring, including us, since he was our federal head.

But being born again in Christ, we're in a new family with Christ as the federal head and God as our father.

Consider also these words as I come back to Titus once again. This is in Titus chapter two, beginning in verse 11.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us that denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great

God and savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.

In Christ, we've been redeemed from lawlessness and we are promised this glory that we will receive when we join him forever in glory.

We are purified and we are his possession and we are zealous for good works.

We desire to walk in the righteousness of Christ because he's clothed us in his righteousness that we might live unto him.

As Paul said previously in Galatians 2 .20, I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me. And the life

I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

And we're coming back to that concept again here in Galatians 4 .1 -7. He might redeem those who were under the law that we might receive adoption as sons.

And then this wonderful verse in verse six, and because you are sons, God sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts.

Again, not living according to the previous heart that we had, the heart that was of the world, the heart that was of stone, living with hardened hearts that were in rebellion against God.

That was who we were when we were born. That was our nature to rebel against God. But as said in Ezekiel 36, and we have now received a new heart and been sprinkled with water and caused to obey his statutes and be careful to obey his rules.

Therefore, the spirit of his son is sent into our hearts crying, Abba, Father.

We call upon him as father. We don't rebel against God. We desire

God through this new spirit that has been poured into our hearts.

Abba, Father. And it's said that this is like the chatter of a small child, like trying to call

God daddy. That's not what that means. It's just simply the Greek word and the Aramaic word side by side for father.

Abba is the Aramaic. That was how the Jews referred to him. Father is the Greek, pater.

That was how the Greeks referred to him. It's to say that Jew and Greek together, we are children of God.

We have been joined together into one family under Christ. Therefore, verse seven, you are no longer a slave, but a son.

And if a son, then an heir through God. And we come back to recipients of the promise.

We receive all things through Christ. We have been made fellow heirs with him.

And previously we were no better than a slave as said again, back in chapter four, verse one, the heir is a child.

He does not differ at all from a slave, although he is owner of everything. We were slaves to the law, but now in Jesus Christ, we're no longer a slave.

We're sons. It's as though the slave has been adopted and been made an heir, an heir through God that we would receive all things that even the father has given unto the son.

And what a beautiful thing that is, that we may rejoice in God and continue to live in obedience to the father.

If we want to be worthy sons and daughters of God, then we desire to please our father who is in heaven.

And once again, as we had read in 1 John chapters one and chapter two, that if we are in Christ, we must obey

Christ. We must walk in the same manner as he walked. As said in chapter one, verse eight, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So let us live unto the Lord, not unto the world, not unto the passions of our flesh, certainly not unto the devil.

We live unto God today. Heavenly father, we thank you for this word.

We thank you for the promises that are entailed in this, that we've become a fellow heir with Christ of his eternal kingdom.

But when we understand what the implications of this are, it means that we must walk as Jesus walked.

We must put off the passions and the desires of our flesh. We must no longer pine for the lusts that we were previously in before we came to God.

We must not be after the things that we see the world going after. We must not speak the same way.

The words that come from our mouth don't reflect the world, don't sound like the world.

We sound like we speak the language of another nation. And that is the holy nation that we're a part of now in Christ Jesus, the nation of God through faith in him.

And so continue to purify us and build us up, help us to build up one another, the church, as we walk in these days, anticipating and looking for the appearing of Christ, our savior, when we may join him in glory.

That second advent that we're now looking forward to. Thank you for the gift of your son.

May we live for him today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening, and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word, when we understand the text.