SONS OF GOD
TEXT:
Galatians 3:26-4:7
I. ALL WHO TRUST IN JESUS ARE SONS OF GOD
26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, (NIV)
A. SONS THROUGH CREATION –VS- REDEMPTION
1. God is the Father of all men PHYSICALLY through creation
2. God is NOT the Father of all men SPIRITUALLY (as through redemption).
3. 1John 3:10 (KJV) “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”
4. This verse clearly teaches that some are children of the devil rather than of God.
5. In our text, notice the words: “through faith in Christ Jesus”
6. The “all” of this verse refers to the list of people mentioned in the next verse.
7. We are “all” saved the same way – through faith in Christ Jesus.
8. John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (KJV)
9. ILLUSTRATION - FAUCETS WITHOUT PIPES
Lawrence of Arabia participated in the Paris peace talks after World War I. Several Arab leaders came with him to Paris and stayed in the same hotel. When they went into their bathrooms they were amazed to find unlimited running water. By simply turning the handle on a faucet, they had an unlimited supply of water. When they got ready to leave Paris, they stold the faucets and hid them in their luggage. They thought the faucets magically created the running water. When they told Lawrence of Arabia what they had done, he laughed. He explained that the faucets were useless without pipes to a source of water. In the same way, a person who’s not connected to Christ is not connected to the Father. God has no spiritual sons who are not sons by faith in Christ Jesus. No one comes to the Father except through Christ (John 14:6).
B. SONS IN CHRIST
"27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." (NIV)
1. Please notice that there is absolutely no mention of water in this verse.
2. What are we baptized into according to this verse?
3. Is it into water or is it into Christ?
4. For all of you who were baptized into Christ.
5. Water baptism is the outward act of public confession of faith in Christ but this is different.
6. The central message of Galatians is salvation by faith alone, plus nothing!
7. Paul is not adding an ordinance to the plan of salvation.
8. He is explaining what happens to us when we put on Christ.
9. We are spiritually immersed into the life of Christ.
C. SONS IN SPITE OF DIFFERENCES
"28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (NIV)
1. There were three great divisions in the Roman world:
a) racial and religious—Jew and Greek
b) social and class—bond and free
c) man’s world and woman’s world
2. But in Christ there is no such distinction.
3. We are all one in Christ.
4. ILLUSTRATION - WHAT BRINGS US TOGETHER?
A television documentary described the commitment of the Zionist element in Israel. The film showed thousands of Jews returning to their ancestral land. They came from all over the world—speaking different languages, wearing different clothes, eating different food. Acknowledging these differences, one Jewish man explained, “What we have in common is so much more important than what separates us.” What a lesson for those who wear Christ’s name? Divided by opinions, traditions, and culture, we likewise have something more in common: we belong to Jesus!
II. WE ARE SONS BY ADOPTION (4:1-7).
"4:1 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.
2 He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.
3 So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.
4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law,
5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." (NIV)
A. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CHILD AND A SON
1. Childhood refers to our condition in God’s family, while adoption speaks of our position.
2. Through regeneration one enters into the family but by adoption he enjoys the family.
3. The circumstances leading to childhood are private, while those dealing with adoption are public.
4. A child is under guardians, while an adopted adult has full liberty.
B. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SERVANT AND A SON
1. A servant retains his old nature, while a son enjoys that of his father.
2. A servant has a master, while a son has a father.
3. A servant obeys out of law and fear, but a son out of liberty and love.
4. A servant is promised no inheritance, while a son can legally expect to inherit all things.
5. ILLUSTRATION - NO LONGER JUST A SERVANT
John Wesley was an honor graduate of Oxford University, an ordained clergyman in the Church of England and orthodox in theology. He was active in practical good works, regularly visiting the inmates of prisons and workhouses in London and helping distribute food and clothing to slum children and orphans. He studied the Bible diligently and attended numerous Sunday services as well as various other services during the week. He generously gave offerings to the church and alms to the poor. He prayed and fasted and lived an exemplary moral life. He even spent several years as a missionary to American Indians in what was then the British colony of Georgia. Yet upon returning to England he confessed in his journal, “I who went to America to convert others was never myself converted to God.” Later reflecting on his preconversion condition, he said. “l had even then the faith of a servant, though not that of a son.” Wesley tirelessly did everything he could to live a life acceptable to God, yet he knew something vital was missing. It was not until he went “very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street” one evening that he discovered and claimed true Christian life. “I felt my heart strangely warmed,” he wrote. “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” He was no longer just a servant. Now, he was a son!
