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Sons and Heirs By Richard Wilson

Let's open our Bibles to the passage before us on the 26th verse of chapter 3 of Galatians.
And in this passage we have these words.
And it's somewhat of a conclusion, or an opening of a new section if you like,
but very often the argument of the Apostle Paul is taken up in other parts
and people can't help but see similarities between the book of Galatians and the book of Romans.
And it does look very like it here because the theme of Romans 7 somehow is completed
at the end of chapter Romans 7 and that same theme is also completed at the end of verse 25 here.
And then he picks up this idea of sonship and we find that Romans 8 deals with our sonship,
our adoption in Christ Jesus.
And so it could be said that here we are opening the book of Romans at chapter 8 if you like.
And here the Apostle establishes these words,
There is neither male or female, for you are all one in Christ.
And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Now as we looked to the ministry of the Law,
and as the Apostle Paul has been looking at a number of issues relating to the Law,
the Galatians who began so well with Christ in the first missionary journey that the Apostle
was the evangelist and who called these people out of darkness into the marvellous light
according to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They would put their faith in Christ who had died for their sins,
who had been crucified publicly so that they would see that he was indeed the Lamb of God
that atoned for their sin.
But others had come in amongst them and bewitched them, had turned their hearts,
and they said, Now really you have begun well, you Galatians, you Gentiles,
but you need to understand that this Gospel is a Jewish Gospel.
This Gospel is about the promises that were given to the Jewish people,
and that you must understand that if you are going to mature in this faith
that was once delivered under the saints, you need to become more Jewish,
you need to become more given to the traditions and the laws of God's people.
And so what they were saying really was that you've got to trust not only in Christ,
but also the traditions, the standards of the life of God's people,
the Apostle Paul has resolutely spoken to them, he says,
O foolish Galatians, you are acting foolishly here, you're not acting according to the Gospel,
you are falling into the same trap as the people of God in Israel
and were so roundly condemned by the Saviour himself,
and that you are falling into a trap that is called legalism.
Now legalism is putting your faith in the law or in the institution
rather than in the author of our salvation.
And he says a person that is going to walk in the ways of God
are going to be people who walk in a living faith, in a living spirit,
not according to the works of the law, but according to the works of the Spirit
that lead us to Christ, who is the one who is able to give us life eternal.
Now he's been saying this in many ways.
He has drawn a contrast between the promise and the law that was given some 430 years later.
The promise was given to Abraham, the covenant was established,
the last will and testament was established with Abraham,
and they were living not in a law but in a promise of a seed,
not the seeds, not the children, but the child that was going to come forth
and to fulfil the covenant that was established with Abraham.
And so the Apostle Paul says, and what is the purpose of the law?
Because everyone that the law says, as written in the book,
he says, unless we do everything that is in the law, he is accursed.
Cursed is those that are written in the book of the law, who hang on a tree.
And so he was saying here that therefore we need to be careful
that we are not putting our trust in the wrong thing here,
we are putting our trust in the one who is able to give us life.
But the purpose of the law was good.
He says in a place that the law was given that the transgression might increase.
In other words, we might understand that we are needy of a saviour
rather than a system of teaching.
If we are trusting in a system of teaching,
that would only just give us an enlightened manner of life.
It could not give us life itself.
And so Christ did not come as a teacher,
He came as one who redeemed us and gave us life to live for His glory
and to do the works of God that are accomplished not by the flesh but by the Spirit.
That's a major thrust of what the Apostle Paul to this date has come to bring to us.
Then he brings another layer of argument upon the whole thing.
A Christian is first and foremost a transformed person from the inward parts.
He is a person that is a new creature in Christ.
And he describes the Christian not merely as somebody who is associated
with a company of people that are called the nation of God's people,
but he speaks in terms that we are all sons of God.
He uses this terminology in terms of being adopted into the family of God,
although the word adoption is not used here,
but it is certainly used in the 8th chapter of the book of Romans.
And so here we find that the effectual work of God by means of the law
will only lead us to Christ and God our Saviour.
And having led us to Christ and God, we put our faith in Christ, not the law,
and therefore we are now able to establish a relationship with the living entity,
the one who is the fulfiller of the covenant,
the one who is able to give us new life.
And that's what it's all about.
Christianity is receiving life eternal.
A heavenly infusion of new life is upon us.
Therefore our relationships between the law and Christ are no longer
the law is a tutor teaching us about Christ,
but now we are those who have received a spirit,
a spirit of adoption that cries up to our Father, Abba, our Father.
In other words, there's something that is transformed within us
that has given us a sense of family involvement with God our Father.
Now here we are those that now enjoy an entirely new status.
We are those that enter into the very family of God
and that we have received less of what is called an inner work
that comes through other graces.
But now as being adopted into the family of God,
we have a new relationship, a new status that is called the children of God
or a child of God.
Now adoption is distinct but never separate from the other graces
of justification and sanctification.
A person who is justified is always a son of God.
There is a distinction, a person who has truly been justified,
he's been declared righteous on the basis of the finished work of Christ upon the cross
and that we have put our faith in the Lord Jesus.
We are therefore a pardoned people.
We have been set free from the condemnation of the law
and we are now able to come out of the prison of our sin and death
as acquitted people, set free from the law
and that we are now able to be free people living in the Kingdom of God.
But this means that anybody who has experienced the justifying work of God
also have a new relationship in terms of our family connection.
We have now moved from the father of the devil who is the father of lies
and now we serve God the Father who has been introduced to us through God the Son
and has been awakened within us that we are able to cry up to our Father
as Abba our Father with the spirit of adoption.
It is a judicial act, this act of adoption.
It bestows a relationship or a new status of standing before God
that is not generated within us but is giving us a new nature or character
but it does give us a new disposition, a new point of contact
that God is our Father and our relationship thus is so sealed.
Those who are adopted into God's family are also given a spirit of adoption
whereby they are able to recognise their sonship and exercise the privileges which go with it.
Now in Romans chapter 8 we will see just this.
It says in verse 15 of chapter 8 that
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear,
but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we are called out, Abba Father.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
And if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,
if indeed we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together.
So here there is a work of God's grace within our hearts
that respond spontaneously and inwardly that we are indeed the children of God.
This is probably the biggest and the most forceful argument that we are the children of God.
We by nature arise within our heart and we know that we know that we are the children of God.
And there is something deeply instilled within us
that the Spirit of God has awakened us to our sonship before God.
Now that is inexplicable except that the grace of God has done that in our heart.
God is God to us and we have a relationship with God
that could only be put there by the spirit of adoption.
I hope there is some encouragement to us.
It certainly is to me.
I cannot think in any other way.
I cannot feel in any other way because God is God to me.
Now that's one of the most strongest inner knowledges
that we are indeed the children of God.
Now I can't explain it any other way except that it is an inner feeling.
Christianity is far more than a feeling.
But you know that you belong to your family
because you are able to say concerning your father that I belong to that family.
So it is when we become Christians there is an immediate and distinctive cry of the heart
that we are indeed God's children.
Now adoption in the days of the Apostles' time
was not exactly the same as we know it today although it does include it.
Adoption here is referring to something that is far more common
than what you hear of people adopting children into their family.
It can be illustrated by a boy's passage into adolescence or into manhood.
In Judaism shortly after his 12th birthday he became a son of the law
whereby he put off childish things and it was called his bar mitzvah.
And then once after that he was responsible for his own actions at law.
And anything he did he could be charged and condemned if he broke that law.
This is as early as 12 years old.
In other words if he did anything before that time he was responsible for his parents
and his parents took the responsibility.
After that time he went through this rite of passage as it were
and he was responsible for all his actions.
If he accidentally stole something or accidentally murdered somebody
he would be under the full weight of the law.
It was called, as it were, he was a son of the law.
And in Greek culture a minor came of age a little bit later
and entering into full responsibility as an adult.
But a festival known as the Appolito was actually where he gets the word adoption from,
was a child's passage from the care of his father to the care of the state
and was responsible to the state for his actions.
It was a rite of passage as it were.
And he became not something automatic,
it was actually a ritual that indicated that he was now in his majority.
He has come of age.
And so in Roman law the time of coming of age for a son,
the father might have a discretion as he set the time for maturity
but there was obviously a time for him to do the same thing.
And before he was the son by birth
but now when he went through this legal passage,
rite of passage, he was under the guardianship and stewardship
until the time appointed by his father,
which are the very words that are spoken of in these passages.
In verse 26,
you all through faith, that is the life of faith in Christ,
see the kind of thing that he was driving at this point here.
In other words there is a point of time where he is referring to here
that you are all sons of God through faith in Christ.
For as many of you that were baptized into Christ
have put on Christ.
In other words there has been a transaction that has taken place
from being under the law and being under the tutoring of the law
to the time that we have gone through that passage of adoption
and now are under the responsibilities as sons of God
through faith in Jesus Christ.
You can see that there is an actual point of time
where we pass through from one administration to the other
and as children of God we have now actually received a new position before God.
We are under now the administration of the Spirit,
not under the administration of the mediating work of the law,
instructing us of the need for Christ.
Now we have passed from that into a new status,
a new position with God where we are all sons of God
through faith in Jesus Christ.
And he goes on and he says that all in Christ
have this new status as sons of God that you were baptized into Christ.
I should have put that dog outside.
Now this might help to understand where this whole thing is going
because he says not some, not just the heads of the family,
not just the keen eyes within the church,
but everyone is personally responsible before God as sons of God
because all of you have been baptized into Christ
and having put on Christ there is neither Jew or Gentile or Greek,
there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male or female,
for you are all one in Christ.
Now the number of times this verse is used
to somehow give a complete egalitarianism to the Christian faith
and there is no distinction among Christians here on earth at all,
and particularly in relationship to women's ordination
and all that sort of stuff,
has nothing to do with such matters of church order
but has everything to do with becoming children of God
and being adopted into Christ.
We have passed from being under the tutoring of the law
into the administration of grace that comes through Jesus Christ alone
and that passage, that rite of passage is baptism itself.
Now we're talking about here a ritual baptism
that speaks of a greater baptism
that is referred to in being baptized into Christ.
Now this being baptized into Christ, baptism is one of its biblical meanings,
is that we are made united to Christ or brought into Christ
and when it uses the word here in Christ,
it means we are united to Christ, we are fused into Him,
as my hand is somehow connected to my arm and my arm connected to my body.
So we as a member of Christ is connected organically
but as a branch is connected to the vine,
so my hand is connected to my body
and that's what it means here is that we are united to Christ
in this indissoluble and organic manner.
My hand cannot do without Christ or my body
for it is connected so intricately that it lives
because it is connected or united to my body.
So we in Christ are baptized into Christ, united to Christ in such a manner
that we cannot live without Christ.
You understand my point there.
And this is simply the point that the apostle is driving home here.
All are in Christ.
If you are a Christian, you have to be in Christ, you have to be united to Him.
We have passed from being somehow disconnected or merely associated
with the covenant people of God and some kind of learning experience.
We have now come under the tuterage of the law of God.
We have realized that we have needed the burden of our sin dealt with.
We have come to the cross of Jesus Christ and we have gazed upon Jesus.
Our sins have been forgiven, never to be remembered anymore.
And now we pass as a passage of life from being under the tuterage of the law
to now being in Christ where the very nectar of life
flows into our spiritual lives and we actually live and move
and have our being in Christ.
There we see something of the glory of salvation.
And so here it is not referring to that external baptism,
but that symbolism of baptism actually speaks of our union with Christ.
And this baptism we cannot do without.
If we are not united to Christ, we are not one of His.
And therefore baptism is deliberately used, not circumcision,
because circumcision could not be referred to as our union with Christ.
Circumcision could only point to Christ as the One who was to be cut off for us.
And that's what happens in circumcision.
The necessity of the spilling of blood has been cut off for the cleansing of our sins.
And so here it could be described that baptism speaks of our union into Christ
as it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10,
if we just open that passage there,
where the same word is used but in relationship to another.
1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 2.
I'll take it from verse 1.
Because this imagery of baptism is used here.
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware
that all our fathers who were under the cloud all passed through the sea
and all were baptised into Moses into the cloud in the sea.
And they all ate of the same spiritual food and all drank of the same spiritual drink,
for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them
and that rock was Christ.
Now how can a people of God be baptised into Moses?
I have the imagery of being dumped into Moses.
Now that's not what was met.
If we saw it that way we would not understand.
They came under the tutorage of Moses.
They came and were merged with Moses.
They were intricately one company of people under the headship of Moses.
So we become one company of people under the headship of Christ
and united and symbolised beautifully in baptism
that we are united to Christ with one baptism, one Lord and one faith.
There is not more than one baptism.
One baptism, one Lord and one faith.
And so baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit
refers to our being regenerated.
The one baptism that is absolutely necessary for each one of us
is that we must be born again, regenerated from the inward parts.
And as the Spirit comes down upon a person,
so the baptism of water should come down upon us
and cleanse us such a way that we are regenerated
and that we are circumcised on the inward parts without hands.
And so this baptism of Christ requires not only a regeneration
but it means that we must be forgiven of all our sins
through the work of justifying work of God's grace.
And if this has happened then it is part and parcel
that the other grace of adoption has also taken place in our hearts.
No wonder we are able to cry out to God our Father, Abba our Father,
because the Spirit witnesses within our own spirit
that we are the children of God.
And so there is a fundamental thing there that is taking place.
And it says here,
As many of you that were baptized into Christ, we put on Christ.
In other words, he is now using that imagery of putting on Christ
and putting off the old man.
So the whole work of sanctifying grace is also depicted here as well,
because one without the other is not a valid thought.
And so he is describing and overlaying these graces upon graces
that every Christian has as we walk with Christ and are found in Christ.
And so he says here that having put on Christ,
for all of you have put on Christ's righteousness,
that is, his justifying grace,
and that we are declared righteous legally,
our status has changed in our relationship to the law.
And secondly, you have, as the old Westminster Shorter Catechism says,
been received into the number,
and that is the number of Christ,
that have the right to all the privileges of the sons of God,
says the old Shorter Catechism.
Wonderful way of describing it.
We have been received into the number
and have all the privileges of being sons of God.
And not only that, but we walk in his likeness as a result of these things.
So these graces are giving us a newness of the likeness
that is in the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so this is the context of verse 28,
as we see it there.
This is the basis of what he was saying here.
It's no good saying, I'm just the wife in this family,
and therefore my faith depends upon my husband's purity of walk and his prayers.
Now you walk before God personally,
and I hope with the assistance of your husband.
Now here we find the children are also of the same situation.
You might say, I've grown up in a Christian home,
and therefore that makes me Christian.
Now you must walk through the passage of life,
or the rites of passage,
and you also must come to a personal relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ as well.
Because there is no distinction.
All must come to Christ
and be what your baptism was expressing.
Whether it be in the past,
or whether it be something that you do in the future upon profession of faith.
Whatever you do, it must be something that is you personally involved.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, nor slave nor free, nor male or female.
You are all one in Christ.
That is the basis of this whole thing.
And therefore anybody that professes to be Christian,
and leaves Christ out of these things,
is really just part, I can't imagine it.
Somebody who is growing as a Christian,
will grow in his relationship with Christ,
will learn more of Christ,
and will express more consistently the graces of Christ in your life,
if we are genuinely saved.
And so this particular position that we find here,
is by and in Christ that all are sons and heirs.
And he goes on here, finally he says,
heirs according to the promise.
And this reference that he speaks of here,
is a reference that we spoke of earlier on,
where Abraham offered up Isaac on the hill in the country of Moriah,
and Christ wrote his last will and testament.
Remember we looked at that some weeks back from this pulpit.
We find that the covenant, or the last will and testament,
was established and then some 430 years later,
that the law was formally given to God's people,
not to annul the covenant,
but to lead us to that the covenant was made.
And we find that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ,
might be given to those who believe.
And if we believe, that's a sure fire safe way,
of understanding that the work of God's grace,
is indeed real in our lives.
And as we grow in that grace,
we grow to maturity in Christ,
and as we grow into maturity in Christ,
we will be ever increasingly more like our Saviour,
in all graces and spiritual development.
And so at adoption, that is,
at that point of time that we pass from being under the tutoring of the law,
and now under the administration of the Spirit,
that we cry out to our Father, Abba our Father,
now from that point on,
we will be those that receives into the number,
and we come to the very life of Christ,
and then we will know that we have something to live for.
Our inheritance is far greater than anything that can be achieved in this world.
That the ways are heavy for us in the time to come.
In heaven itself, as we live faithfully unto Christ,
there is a great weight of glory waiting for us.
And let us be those that treasure up things in heaven,
rather than things on earth.
And as we live for Christ's glory,
live by faith,
realising that the One who has died for us,
we are therefore co-heirs with Christ,
of all the glories waiting for Christ,
and we somehow are partakers of a kingly and even godly inheritance,
awaiting for us,
that far surpasses anything that we could ever gain here on earth.
What a salvation!
What a glory awaits for us!
This full inheritance is yet to come,
and we know that we have the first fruits of that,
because a spirit of adoption has set our ownership to these things,
right from the word go,
right at the point where we became Christians.
Some of us became Christians quite young,
and that spirit of adoption has been shed abroad upon us at an early age.
Others of us looked to a time later on in our lives,
and then we were adopted into God's family.