← ArchiveSunday, August 23, 2015DateAugust 23, 2015Speaker—TextGalatians 4Passages in this sermonEphesians 11:19John 15:162:24John 3:162:56Galatians 4:4–716:47Galatians 4:419:42Galatians 4:622:42Romans 8:15–1724:10Romans 8:2326:30John 1427:46TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00Hey, good. Thank you. If you see I'm hobbling up here, it's because I've kind of pushed the envelope trying to get in shape and I've tweaked my knee pretty bad. And so it's just been worse than the last couple of days. And, you know, when you're hurting, you shouldn't push it. And I kept0:28pushing it. And so my wife gave me no sympathy whatsoever this morning whatsoever. So I'm begging some of you to show some sympathy here in the next hour or so. But anyway, thank you, Greg. Thank you for that beautiful song, one of my favorite songs. And he made me cry singing, He Knows My Name. What a tremendous, tremendous song. When you really think about the Lord Jesus Christ knows every hair on your head. He knows every hair that you've lost off your head. He knows every hair that you've changed color0:57of over the years. He knows every sparrow. He knows everything. And surely He knows our name. Amen? It's because we are not orphans of God. So today, as we unpack this word grace and we unpack the word adoption, I took the text from Ephesians chapter 1. And I will go to that text in a moment. But I think I should set us up a little bit in understanding what Ephesians is all about. And it's a phenomenal,1:26phenomenal book, Riches in Christ Jesus and Our Responsibility in Christ Jesus. If you broke down the book of Ephesians in the six chapters, first three is our riches and the second three is our responsibility in Christ Jesus. But when you look at chapter 1 of Ephesians, it's marvelous doctrine of election. Now that's a term that a lot of people get all wigged out over. Doctrine that has confused1:51most of us and confounded most of us. A seminary professor, a friend of mine, a professor of expository preaching said to me one day, he said, try to explain election and you may lose your mind. When you really start thinking about this whole term, election, you might lose your mind. But he said this, but try to explain it away, you might lose your soul. Now all Christians agree in this room. I believe2:18all Christians in this room believe that salvation begins with God first and not with man. John chapter 15 verse 16 says, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. In the Bible, election is always unto something. It's always unto, we are elected unto something, unto salvation. It's always, it's a privilege that carries a great responsibility. So if you're elected, if you are one of the elect,2:44like Moody says, Lord save the elect and then save some more, you know, I believe beyond a shadow of doubt that anyone that calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I believe that John 3 16 is quite clear about that, but we need to understand that election is unto something. This mystery of the divine sovereignty and human responsibility will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever be solved on this side of3:09glory. We will never fully understand all of this. We think we might be able to understand it. We can surmise what it might be. We can debate about it in which I think sometimes the debate is healthy. I think in academia, it's very healthy that we debate these type of issues, but both of the divine sovereignty and our3:30human responsibility, both are taught in the Bible and both are true and both are essential for Christ followers. All three persons of the Godhead are involved in salvation. As far as God the Father is concerned, you were saved, you were saved when God chose us in eternity past through Christ Jesus. As far as God3:54the Son is concerned, you were saved when he died on the cross for our sins. As far as God the Spirit is concerned, you were saved when you and I yielded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and received Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. So what began in eternity past was fulfilled in time present will be continued4:20fulfilled for all of eternity. So I think we needed to have some foundational truth there to help us understand this entire process called adoption. I draw our attention to Ephesians chapter 1 beginning with the fourth verse through the eighth verse. I'm going to read the New Living Translation version. I'm going to refer back to New American Standard from time to time, but I'm going to give you the New Living Translation4:47because I think it gives us some language that we need to understand. Even before, verse 4, he made the world. Now, if you go back to the New American Standard, just as he chose us in him before the foundation or he made the foundation of the world. God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us as his own family by bringing us to5:14himself through Jesus Christ. That is what he wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure. Now, I want you to just let that bathe over you just for a second. He wanted to do it and it gave him great pleasure to adopt us as his children, part of his family. So, we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out5:37on us who belong to his dear son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his son and forgave our sins. He has shown kindness on us along with all wisdom and understanding. I love what the New American Standard Version says because I want you to see some of6:02these other phrases that he says in verse 5. He predestined us to adopt to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of trespasses according to riches which he lavished. Now, I love that. We don't ever say that word around6:31here much anymore, do we? We don't say, well, we just lavish. He lavished, he lavished his love. He lavished his love upon us in all wisdom and insight. Before I give you the message truth, I want to ask God to bless the unpacking of his word today and help us understand how important it is for us to rivet into our souls the adoption that we have in Christ Jesus. Would you pray with me? Father God, I pray, Lord Jesus,6:59as we unpack your word today, let the words of my mouth and a meditation of my heart, Lord, be acceptable in your sight. Lord, we love you. We praise you. We thank you for what you're about to do in this place. Lord, do your work in this place. Do all your work in this place. And I pray, Father, that we walk away from this place understanding that adoption is for us all. And God, I pray as we understand your blessing7:26that it was all predetermined before the foundation of the world that you loved us and you sent your son to die for us. And we are, have a responsibility to proclaim that to the top of our voice throughout the world, around the world, in every aspect of our lives. And Lord, we ask you to do your work in our7:50place, in our lives today. And we give you all the praise and all the glory and all the honor. In Jesus name we pray. And the church said, Amen. The message truth. The only way one gets into God's family is by regeneration or being born again, being regenerated, having a complete change of your life,8:11being born again. We enter into God's family by regeneration, but we enjoy God's family by adoption. We enjoy God's family by adoption. I have a board member, he actually is our chairman of our ministry board, and he is a lawyer. And from time to time, he has to execute a will. He has to execute the will.8:35He has to open it up between the family members and all of that. And he called me one day not long ago and said, I had the most unusual execution of a will. I said, really? He said, yes. He'd been one of my clients for many, many years. And I knew some of what he was doing, but I didn't know to the extent. And so he had executed his will. He opened it up and I'll change the name to protect the innocent, so to speak. He read these words, I, John Jones, being a sound mind and body, spent it all.9:05He left nothing for anybody else to have. I think that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to just spend it all. It'll take me about 25 minutes to do every bit of that. I can go to Walmart or Dollar General and buy every bit of it and spend it all, because that's about all the money I've got right now. And so I told Seth, I said, you keep on messing with me, boy. I'm going to spend it all. And he just smiles at me because he knows I don't have a whole lot to spend. So, but this guy spent it all. Now,9:35when Jesus wrote his last will and testament to the church, he made it possible for sharing his spiritual blessings and his spiritual riches. Instead of spending it all, Jesus Christ paid it all. Instead of him spending his last willing testament, he paid it all at Calvary's cross. When he wrote us into his will, he died so the will would be in force. Then he rose again that he might become heaven's10:01advocate or heaven's lawyer to make sure that the terms of the will were being correctly followed or correctly executed. So today I want us to unpack this passage of scripture. And we're going to do some cross references to help us understand that because I want to give us three blessings from God, the Father. Number one, God changes our family. Now, some of you are excited about that because you don't even10:28really like the family that you got, right? You don't like the family that you got. You get frustrated with them sometimes here on this side of glory. But you see, when we come into God's family, God changes our family. Back to verse four, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ Jesus to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Now, it doesn't say God chose the select elect few. It says God chose us.10:57That means everybody in this room, God demonstrated his own love towards us. And while we would get sinners, what? Christ died for us. Believe on the name of the Son of God and thou shalt be saved. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." So God changes our family. Now, how does that11:21happen? Because he planned to love us. He planned before the foundation of the world. Pack up to verse four again. Even before, even before, just as he chose us, New American Standard says, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that he should be holy and blameless before him in love. He11:42predestined us. He planned this. Everything was planned by God. Let me tell you something. Gather in here close and listen to me closely. Nothing gets by God. Nothing. That ought to make a mannequin shout hallelujah, you know? Because we can just take rest and we're in God's family that nothing, no matter all the12:08situation going on, no matter what's going on in our world, God already knows that. Why? Because he is a sovereign God. He knows all things that are going on and he's present all the time. So he's all knowing and he's omnipresent. He's omniscient and he's omnipresent. So even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us regardless of who we are. He loved us. So he planned it12:37all out. He knew exactly where Bethel Baptist Church was going to be at this moment in time. He knew that you were going to be without a permanent senior pastor when Chris walked away to go to work with SCORE. He knew everything about it. He knew the whole sequence of events. God knew that. Why? Because he planned it that way. Amen. Now, here's what happens. We kind of take charge and become God, don't we? We kind of want to make it our plan sometimes. But when we surrender to13:07the Lordship of Jesus Christ and say, "Jesus Christ, you are Lord of my life, you are Lord of this church, we understand that you have a massive, amazing plan for us." So he planned to love us. Secondly, he also paid the price to love us. Pick it up in verse 5. God decided in advance to adopt us as his own.13:28He decided well in advance. Now look around at some of your neighbors. Yeah, he adopted them. I know some of you wives are looking at your husband and said, "Boy, God did not know what he was getting when he got this guy." Yes, he did. That's why he's God, because he loves everybody. For God loves the whole13:52world. Amen. Even the ones that are ugly, like me. Folks, let me tell you something. He paid the price for us. God decided in advance to adopt us as his own family by bringing us into himself through Jesus Christ. That is what he wanted to do. And it gave him great, great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear son. So he planned it and he paid the price14:21for each of us for each and every one of us. And thirdly, he pursues us with his love. Pick it up in verse 5 again. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own by bringing us into himself through Jesus Christ. That's what he wanted to do. And it gave him great pleasure. Now let me ask you something.14:48Do you pursue those things? Do you always pursue those things that you are most passionate about? Right? Right? In a few weeks, we're all going to get real passionate about a few things, aren't we? And we're going to divide this room up. Right? We're going to get real passionate for those who are the haves and the have-nots. Right? And I'm not going to say which one of the haves. Amen.15:15But we're going to get real passionate about that because that's what we are about right here in the deep south, man. We love college football just about as much as we love anything else in the world. And there's some shaking your head no, but you'll just get right with God one day and come on board with us. Amen? I mean, some of us really love it. And some of us are passionate more than we ought to be. We love that more than we do anything else in our own personal lives. Folks, let me tell you something. We will pursue to the nth degree all the necessary information about all these athletes that we have15:44no relationship whatsoever with. We want to know everything, all the stats, and we can read them all. Every now and then I'll flip over on the talk radio show programs and listen to the call-in guys in about two calls and I'm done. Because these knuckleheads have absolutely no idea. They didn't even go to either one of those schools, but yet they talk about how they would have called those certain16:09plays on that sideline while they sit in their loser chair and watch it on their big screen tv in their man cave. Folks, let me tell you something. They are pursuing that that they're most passionate about. Well, God pursued us with his love all the way to the cross. Man, that ought to make us all shout hallelujah. God changes our family. That's a blessing. Number two, God changes our status.16:36Now, I want to take that from Galatians 4:4-7. I want you to listen to me. If you want to flip over a couple of pages, it's right there. But when the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent, verse 5, God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law17:02so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father." Verse 7, "Now you are no longer slave, but God's own children, and since you're his child, he has made you his heir." That is so exciting,17:30isn't it? Not only did God change our family, but God has changed our status. Y'all know that I have a son. I talk about him every now and then. I love that knucklehead. I do. He's a great kid. I love that boy. But when he was a little bitty tight, before he could really walk,17:59he was one of those chunky monkey babies. You know what I'm talking about. I mean, he had ham hocks for legs, man. I mean, he was just a chunky monkey. And he walked, but sometimes he'd fall. Instead of getting, trying to get back up, he'd just scoot. He'd just scoot along. And so we kind of nicknamed him Scooter. And so I know he's going to be fired up that I've told y'all what we called him. Because every now and then, you know, he'll be 25 in December, and he sure doesn't want me to call18:28him Scooter anymore. I mean, he's Seth now, you know. He's a college graduate about to start working on a master's degree, and he doesn't want to be called Scooter any longer. And so every now and then, in front of his girlfriend, just for a little sport, I'll say, hey, Scoot. And she'll look at me, Scoot? I said, yeah, that's short for his nickname is Scooter. And she just laughs, and she calls him Scooter. And then I get the I from Seth, you know. But you see, we changed, he changed his status once he18:57grew up. He grew up, and he grew up out of that status of being Scooter. He liked it when he was a kid being called Scooter. But now that he's a college graduate about to get a master's degree, he sure is Seth Daniel Moran. No, he's not Scooter Moran. No way, right? He wants that status changed. You see, when God reaches down and gives us the regenerate heart, when he reaches down from the19:24halls of heaven and gives us salvation, he not only changes our family, but he changes our status. You see, adoption happens three ways. Number one, it requires somebody that comes along at the right time. Somebody has got to come along at the right time. So notice with me in Galatians chapter four, verse four, but when the right time came, God sent his son. Over the next couple of19:49minutes, you're going to notice there's three God-sents right here. In this particular passage, there are three God-sents. Adoption requires somebody who comes along at the right time. For 20-plus years, I was considered, what you would quote-unquote, an itinerant evangelist, traveling across the country, preaching revivals in camps, crusades in conferences, etc., etc. And I still believe in evangelism. I still20:16believe in giving public invitations for people to come to faith in Christ. But there were times that I would go to churches that were not as exciting like Bethel Baptist Church. They were, you know, out there in the backwoods somewhere. And there was nothing wrong with that. They had to have churches out there as well. But they invited me to come speak. And I took every opportunity. If I could work it in the schedule, I didn't say no, no matter what size it was or where it was. I would go. And so I would go, and I would preach, and I would preach, and I would preach. And Brad, I would give that public20:45invitation. And the cold shoulder would come out, the cold faces, the stone faces. And I'd get so mad. My goodness, I've taken time out of my schedule. And I presented the evangelistic message, inviting you to come to faith in Christ. And one day, my wife was with me, and she finally said, when are you going to get over this? God has got to do the work, not you. You're just the messenger.21:06If they say no to Jesus, that's on them, not you. It's not about you. I said, well, honey. She said, no, there ain't no honey. Evangelistic message is inviting people to faith in Christ. They will either receive it or reject it. It's not about you. Adoption requires somebody to come along at the21:30right time. And at the right time, when we were saved by his glorious grace, God came along at the right time by sending his son to die on the cross for our sins. Adoption requires somebody to come along at the right time. Adoption requires someone who possesses the right qualifications, the right qualifications. Here's that second God sent. Verse five, God sent him to buy freedom for us22:00who were slaves who were slaves to the law so that he could adopt us as his very own children. Adoption requires somebody to come along at the right time. Adoption requires someone to possess the right qualifications. Anytime that we've ever heard anybody adopting any child that needed a home, they came at the right time. They came with the right qualifications. They had to go through a vigorous22:28background check and they have the right qualifications. And thirdly, adoption requires somebody who has the right resolve. Pick it up in verse six of Galatians chapter four, verse six. And because we are his children, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, prompting us to call out Abba father. And now22:49you are no longer a slave, but God's own child. We have several friends of ours that have adopted, a younger friends of ours that have adopted children from various parts of the world. My former pastor's got two adopted children, one from Kazakhstan and one from China. He has two biological children, two adopted children. You see, God sent David and Heather Platt. God sent some of you in this room that have adopted23:18children at the right time. You came along at the right time to adopt those children. You had the right qualifications and you had the right resolve. So God sent you, God gave you that opportunity and you stuck it through the bitter end. And no longer was that child enslaved to the world and no longer we enslaved to sin, but God sent his own son to die in our stead. That's the resolve that Jesus adopts23:41every one of us too. So God changes our family and God changes our status. And thirdly, and I'm fun, I'm through. God changes our future. He changes not only our family, our status, but he changes our future. Romans chapter eight, verse 15 through 17 in the New Living Translation version. Listen to what it says.24:10One of the great books. Paul writing to the church at Rome says, "So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you have received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own child, a children. Now we call him Abba Father, for his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children." And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's24:36glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share in his suffering. So, folks, let me tell you something. There's going to be some times that we're going to go through some times, bad times. We're going to go through some heartaches. We're going to go through some difficult situations. We're going to have people get crossed with one another. We're going to have aches and pains and knee injuries, and we're going to have all kinds of suffering and pain. Why? Because Christ went through those same25:06sufferings here on earth, but we also share in his wonderful glory. We get to share in his wonderful grace and mercy and his wonderful glory. God changes our future. When we confess our sin to him, and we invite him into our lives, when we truly confess our sin to Christ, and we truly invite him into our25:29lives. He wipes away those sins, and he writes our name in the Lamb's book of life, never to be erased. He immediately changes our future. Our future is headed down a road of destruction. Our future is headed down a road of hell, separated from God's love for all of eternity. And now he changes our course, and we're headed towards glory. Every day that we live every breath that we take is one step closer than for us to25:57spending all of eternity in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ. So he changes our family. He changes our status. He changes our future. Two things. He promises us a full inheritance. Not a partial. Not a piece of it. We don't have to slice it. We don't have to slice it up with anybody. He gives all of us the equal share of26:25the inheritance. Romans chapter 8 verse 23. Notice what it says. "And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We too wait with eager hope for the day that when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us." Church, let me tell you26:54something. No more pain, no more sorrow, no more aching. When we step over and take our last breath on this planet, our next breath in glory, we will start beginning that process of spending all of eternity where no more sorrow, no more pain, no more aches, the full inheritance to worship him at his feet. Folks,27:22we, God changes our future. God promises us a full inheritance. And secondly, he has prepared for us us an eternal home. I love what John 14 says. Sometimes we just kind of read over this and and27:46just really kind of brush through it. But I want you to notice what it says in the New American Standard version of John chapter 14. It says, "My Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for myself. And where I am, there you may be also." The New Living28:08Translation is beautiful. It says, "There is more than enough room in my Father's house. If it were not so, I would have told you that I would have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you. When everything is ready, when everything is ready, I will come and get you. And so you will always be with me where I am."28:29The blessings from God the Father are, is that he changes my family. He changes our status. He changes our future. We get the full gamut of the inheritance. We get the full last will and testament of the inheritance of Christ Jesus because he's preparing a home for us. I was29:00thinking about this on the way over this morning. That phrase, "I go to prepare a place for you." Some odd, 2,000 some odd years ago, he left this planet, headed back to heaven to do just that. Six days and six nights to create the heavens and the earth that we walk on. We have some majestic29:26mountains. We have the Rockies, the Smoky Mountains. We have the flatlands, the badlands in the Midwest. We have the west coast and all the fruits and nuts of that place. We have all the beautiful things up in the northeast and we have all the guff and down through the Florida and through the panhandle, the white sandy beaches and our own guff coast. And as majestic as that is, and other places around the29:49globe, it only took six days and six nights. And now he's home preparing a place for us that is taking over 2,000 years to build. Can you imagine what it's going to be like when we step over into glory?30:11Folks, let me tell you something. When it gets tough, when the month gets longer than the money is holding out, when your aches and pains and wayward kids and disputes in the marriage, whatever it might be, realize that God changes our family. God has changed our status. But more importantly,30:38take hope that God changes our future. He is preparing a place for us. As a Christ follower, we don't have to wait. We don't have to begin to enjoy the spiritual riches that we have. We have them right now today to enjoy because He resides in us. Are you an adopted child of the King?31:04If so, then relax. Relax and enjoy the journey. If not, we have an opportunity for you right now to become that adopted child. Let's pray.31:23If not, we have an opportunity for you right now to become that adopted child. Let's pray.More sermons on Galatians →
