Adopted in Christ10/6/2024 Galatians 4:6-7 ~ “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” How quickly do we forget our close union with God the Father? There are many woeful believers in Christ who nurture their own griefs and sorrows, knowing that they can never measure up to the glory of God. Romans 3:23 is an ever-present companion that says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Yet they do not go on to the very next statement and embrace the overwhelming grace of Christ, “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). Have you done as 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 entreat? “Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” Have you fled from the world and are now united with Christ? Then, my dear Christian, you are a child of God—a co-heir with Christ—and brought into such fellowship with the LORD that you will now never be separated from Him. Our text begins with the declaration, “And because you are sons.” Why does Paul make this amazing assumption? Simple: because they were redeemed in the LORD Jesus. Galatians 4:4-5 states, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” If you belong to the LORD Jesus, you have received adoption as sons and now you no longer belong to the fallen family of the devil. Jesus Christ, our great High Priest and King of kings came in love to receive upon Himself God’s judgment on your behalf. And by faith in Him, you have received adoption into the family of Christ. And, beloved, there is no agency in all creation that can nullify the adoption record that is kept in Heaven for you. Paul speaks of this in Philippians 4:3, “Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” If you want a test to know that you are adopted and now have God as your Father, ask a simple question: do you love the LORD Jesus? Jesus said in John 8:42, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.” Our LORD said that those who hated Him were “of their father the devil” (see John 8:44). And our text today becomes even richer in Divine promise, for we read, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” Not only do we know through the redemption paid by Christ that we can be the adopted children of God, we also now understand that God has set Himself in us, sealed us and marked us as His forever. His Holy Spirit, dwelling within, is our guarantee. 2 Corinthians 5:5 says, “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” Take a moment, dear Christian, and dwell on this tremendous truth. You are no longer of this world any more than Christ was of this world. The values, intrigues and longings of this world are left behind in the adoption of your life in Christ. You now belong to a new family, a heavenly one. An adopted child, leaving behind the broken existence of his former life will not long to go back to that which was empty. Brought into the family with a loving Father, all the former things are considered dust (see Philippians 3:8). And with the Holy Spirit within us, we cry “Abba, Father!” It is the familiar echo of a young child reaching out to his father for all the love that is his by right of family. And then we learn that our belonging to God the Father through Jesus Christ our LORD is enriched even more, “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” Our Heavenly Father has brought us in, not as slaves but as sons, and not as vanquished sons, but as those who will receive an inheritance. We are “heirs through God.” It would be enough to serve as a beggar on the streets of glory, knowing that we are within earshot of the King of kings. But that will not suffice for the LORD God Almighty. He will not have His children still wallowing in the trenches of dismay, but will bring them in to the throne room of glory and seat them with Him on high. So, beloved, do not despair. We may have to walk through the trenches of suffering in this world, sharing the same road with our LORD Jesus. Yet, that road will take us to glory. And as we are already adopted by the Father, someday soon we will be with Him in His kingdom forever. In His Grace, Pastor Michael
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