FROM SLAVES TO HEIRS

Lesson 8 for November 19, 2011

SONS AND HEIRS OF GOD (Galatians, 3: 26-29)

HEIRS BEFORE CHRISTSLAVES (Galatians, 4: 1-3)

HEIRS AFTER CHRISTFREE (Galatians, 4: 5-7)

GOD SENT HIS SON (Galatians, 4: 4)

TURNING BACK (Galatians, 4: 8-20)

SONS AND HEIRS OF GODGalatians, 3: 26-29

We are sons through faith (v. 26) We are sons through baptism

(v. 27) We have “put on” Christ (v. 27) We are all equal (v. 28) We are one (v. 28) We are heirs according to the

promise (v. 29)

According to Paul, how are we related to God?

HEIRS BEFORE CHRISTSLAVES

Galatians, 4: 1-3

Before the first coming of Jesus, the believers were in bondage under the “elements of the world”; that expression can be translated as the “fundamental religious principles of the human race“.

During all the Old Testament time, the Jewish were in bondage under the law, just like a slave is in bondage to his master. God demanded that they kept legal precepts, like an underage boy must obey his guardian.

“The sacrificial offerings, and the priesthood of the Jewish system, were instituted to represent the death and mediatorial work of Christ. All those ceremonies had no meaning, and no virtue, only as they related to Christ, who was Himself the foundation of, and who brought into existence the entire system. The Lord had made known to Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the ancient worthies, especially Moses, that the ceremonial system of sacrifices and the priesthood, of themselves, were not sufficient to secure the salvation of one soul”

E.G.W. (Lift Him up, January 10)

GOD SENT HIS SON

Galatians, 4: 4

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians, 4: 4)

•Jesus wasn’t born in an arbitrary moment in history. During a short period of time, the “pax romana” created the necessary circumstances for the Gospel to quickly spread all over the world: peace, a common language, easy transportation and a common culture.

“when the fullness of the

time had come”

•God didn’t send an angel, He sent Himself in the person of His Son.“God sent forth

His Son”

•That is, Jesus was completely human although He was God.“born of a

woman”

•He was Jewish and obeyed the law without sinning; furthermore, he carried our condemnation.

“born under the law”

GOD SENT HIS SONGalatians, 4: 4

It was necessary for Christ to assume our humanity because we could not save ourselves. By uniting His divine nature with our fallen human nature, Christ legally qualified to be our Substitute, Savior, and High Priest. As the second Adam, He came to reclaim all that the first Adam had lost by his disobedience (Rom. 5:12–21). By His obedience He perfectly fulfilled the law’s demands, thus redeeming Adam’s tragic failure. And by His death on the cross, He met the justice of the law, which required the death of the sinner, thus gaining the right to redeem all who come to Him in true faith and surrender.

HEIRS AFTER CHRIST

“To redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians, 4: 5-7)

FREEGalatians, 4: 5-7

We were slaves,

condemned under the law

We were adopted as sons

of God

We are no more slaves, but free

sons and daughters

Jesus redeemed us at the

cross

We receive the Holy Spirit and we accept God as our

Father

We are heirs of God,

thanks to Jesus!

“All the paternal love which has come down from generation to generation through the channel of human hearts, all the springs of tenderness which have opened in the souls of men, are but as a tiny rill to the boundless ocean, when compared with the infinite, exhaustless love of God. Tongue can not utter it; pen can not portray it. You may meditate upon it every day of your life; you may search the Scriptures diligently in order to understand it; you may summon every power and capability that God has given you, in the endeavor to comprehend the love and compassion of the heavenly Father; and yet there is an infinity beyond.

E.G.W. (The Signs of the Times, April 12 1910)

WE ARE SONS AND DAUGHTERS

OF GOD!!!

You may study that love for ages; yet you can never fully comprehend the length and breadth, the depth and height, of the love of God in giving His Son to die for the world. Eternity itself can never fully reveal it”

TURNING BACKGalatians, 4: 8-20

“But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain” (Galatians, 4: 9-11)

Once the Galatians were free in Christ, they turned back to their previous state and started to keep all the Jewish rites and feasts. They turned back to the “elements of the world” (v. 3)

Could that happen to us today? Have we forgotten we are sons and daughters of God by His grace and try to obtain the right of being called sons and daughters of God by ourselves?

“God wills that all men should be saved; for ample provision has been made, in giving his only-begotten Son to pay man’s ransom. Those who perish will perish because they refuse to be adopted as children of God through Christ Jesus. The pride of man hinders him from accepting the provisions of salvation. But human merit will not admit a soul into the presence of God. That which will make a man acceptable to God is the imparted grace of Christ through faith in his name. No dependence can be placed in works or in happy flights of feelings as evidence that men are chosen of God; for the elect are chosen through Christ”

E.G.W. (Signs of the Times, January 2 1893)