131215 Heirs According to the Promise

Galatians 3:23-29  Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. ²⁴ So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

As Paul moves towards an explanation of the Son of God coming into the world we move towards Christmas Sunday. First of all he wants his beloved Galatians to see what the purpose of the law really was. The Galatian Christians are receiving very strong teachings about the need to keep the law of Moses. In our day it is not so much the Old Testament law we are challenged to keep but instead the false teachers are demanding good works in an effort to receive salvation. All the law can do for us is prove that we cannot keep it. Our good works are never good enough because all our righteousness is like filthy rags. The law, or our efforts, teach us that we need a Savior.

The law of Moses was designed by God to serve as a guardian for the people of Israel and hold them in bondage. The law kept them the same as if they were…

Confined by a guardian. Since the law cannot be fully kept and none of us can ever live up to our own standards of goodness it is…

A hard task master. Listen to Paul’s explanation of how he struggled with covetousness under the law. He would not have known that covetousness was wrong without the law. The law itself is not sin. Instead, indwelling sin is with all of us as sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. And that indwelling sin works to keep us in bondage under the law. Listen while I read, Romans 7:8-9, But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.

As soon as he became aware of the commandment, “You shall not covet…” He began to experience all kinds of covetousness. The sin of covetousness grew more and more powerful as he tried to live in obedience to the law in the flesh. The law became a cruel taskmaster. Always demanding and never providing the ability to complete the task.

Paul was a Pharisee living according to the strictest rules of the Jewish religion and he failed again and again. The more he struggled the harder life became. He, along with many others, failed to understand that the only proper relationship to God is by faith. Hebrews, chapter 4, tells us that the people of Israel failed to live up to the law because it was not united with faith. Hebrews chapter 11, makes it very clear that the only way to be related to God is by faith. Faith was the relationship at work beginning with Abel and continuing through all those who pleased God up until the time of the writing of Hebrews. Of course, faith continued from that time forward to be the only way we could please God. It was always true!

The law has always been a cruel taskmaster for those who have not come to faith. But for those who have come to faith in all generations the law is…

A loving guide. Listen while I read 1 John 5:3-4 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴ For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Let me share with you what I recently read in a sermon by John Piper: ”And the law works that way today, too. If you don't have a heart to trust God and rely on mercy, the law will feel like a burdensome, offensive, deadening job description given by a harsh schoolmaster. But if you do have a heart to trust God and rely on his mercy, then the law will feel like a much-needed and desired prescription from a wise and beloved Physician. What the law is for you depends on what you are toward the Law-giver.”

Faith is given to us by God to enable us to do godly works. Doing good works does not produce faith. We are not made Christian by what we do instead, it is…

 Based on our relationship. Listen to Romans 8:14-17 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

We are not sons and daughters of God because we are Baptist, Methodist, Catholic or any other religion, or denomination. We are children of God because the Spirit of God has caused us to be born again to a living hope. God’s Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ — the church of the Living God.

The bondage of the law, or works based salvation, leads to slavery and fear. Instead of the spirit of slavery we receive the Spirit of adoption as sons. We are able to say, “Abba! Father!” Because we are no longer under the law. The law was our schoolmaster, or guardian, bringing us to realize that we cannot be good enough to please ourselves much less to please God. When Christ came into the world there was a change in everything related to fellowship with God.

And then faith came.
Good works cannot change the heart. This is not just a New Testament idea listen while I read Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Now, what does that have to do with works versus faith? Simply this, works salvation is based on human ability. We are saved by grace through faith and not of works. Works salvation causes a person to live in pride and pride always goes before destruction. I have met many who are very proud of their good works and have no humility at all. Folks that is not what God intended for us. He intends that we live by faith and not by our strength.

Does Paul mean that there was no faith before Christ came? Obviously not! Paul himself recognized the existence of faith throughout Old Testament history. I believe what he intends here is that preaching the law brings very few to faith and preaching the gospel brings many, especially Gentiles, to faith. Good works never brings a person to salvation. When they are done in the flesh they just simply cause pride and haughtiness. As Jesus said, “They already have their reward.” Those “good works” do not count toward salvation but…

Instead, good works grow out of a changed heart. Listen while I read Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We are to do good works there is no question about that. We have been made over again, or born again, so that we can live out the works that God has planned for us. Without a changed heart — which the law never could produce — none of our good works have any value so far as salvation is concerned. The works that count are…

Caused by the grace of God. Look with me at Ephesians 2:4-9. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

When we come into this world as sons and daughters of Adam and Eve we are dead in sin. Rather than destroy us, and he certainly had the right to, God has made us alive together with Christ. Not only has he made us alive with Christ but he is also raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places. Please note that this is clearly past tense. This passage of Scripture does not say that he will someday raise us up with him and someday seat us with him in the heavenly places. This passage clearly says that he has already raised us up and seated us with him in heavenly places. He has done that so that he can show his immeasurable grace to us throughout eternity. We are not saved by good works. We are saved by God’s grace through faith that he gifts us with. This salvation gives us a new heart and a new mind making us able to do works that are pleasing to God.

This salvation does not wipe out our human past or our human habits. What it does do is enable us to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord. So that one day when he appears we shall be like him because…

We have put on Christ.

Having put off the old man. We do not simply add Christ to our human nature. We must consciously put off the past. Listen while read Ephesians 4:20-22. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— ²¹ assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²² to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,

We often fall by the wayside in our struggle to walk with God. We still have all of our past habits and memories. Day after day we struggle with who we were in Adam. We were born self-centered. If you do not believe that watch a new baby until, and if, it gets trained to live in society. No one has to teach a two-year-old to throw tantrums. Many people apparently never are trained to stop throwing tantrums. That is part of the old self, or old man, that we are born with.

The old man, or Adamic nature, apparently lives in our brain and will always be with us so long as we walk on this earth. I know there are people who teach that we lose the desire and sometimes even the ability to sin. That has not been my experience nor do I believe it to have been theirs. We have to be constantly walking in faith towards God and putting aside the past habits that we were born with and others that we have developed on our own.

The country singer Patty Loveless has put out a song that teaches this truth. It is called “Two Coats”.

The words go like this:

Two coats were before me an old and a new I asked my sweet master, “Oh what must I do?” The old coat was ugly so tattered and torn. The other a new one had never been worn.
I'll tell you the best thing I ever did do. I took off the old coat and put on the new.
The first man was earthly and made from the ground we bore all his image the whole world around. The next was my Savior from heaven so fair He brought me this new coat you now see me wear.
I'll tell you the best thing I ever did do. I took off the old coat and put on the new.
Now this coat it suits me and keeps me so warm. It's good in the winter it's good in the storm. My savior has dressed me in a garment so rare He brought me this new coat you now see me wear. Thank you Patty!

We must put off the old man, earthly and made from the ground…

In order to be renewed. Listen to the next two verses Ephesians 4:23-24 Paul says put off your old self and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

When we come to faith in Christ Jesus we put off the old man and put on the new. We do this in order to be renewed in the spirit of our minds and to be able to put on the new self. Now in reality it is Christ that puts off the old and puts on the new for us. We can’t do it in our strength because our strength is flawed by our inherited human nature.

The “new man” is in reality a new nature that is shaped like his. Our life on earth is designed to put off the old and put on the new. We do this in the same way that we put off habits that we recognize as being offensive to others or not healthy for us. In order to end a bad habit it needs to be replaced by a good habit.

I have often told how I finally ended the habit of cigarette smoking. I smoked for about ten years and was pretty well addicted. I tried many times to stop. At that time a pack of cigarettes cost about twenty-five cents so I was not concerned about the money. What I had become concerned about was my Christian testimony. It dawned on me one day that people in the world might not listen to my testimony if I smelled like they did! So I would throw away my cigarettes and a little later pull into a gas station and buy another pack. I prayed and struggled and failed dozens of times. Then one day I saw a pocket Bible in a Christian bookstore. It had a zipper with a cross on the zipper pull. It fit right into my shirt pocket where I always carried my pack of cigarettes. I would find my hand automatically moving towards that pocket while at work and instead of finding cigarettes I found the Bible. So, I would take it out and read for a few minutes. After all, if I found cigarettes I would have stopped was doing and lit up. I simply replaced a bad habit with a good one. I put off the old and put on the new.

As Christians we have the responsibility to show the world our Savior. You may be the only Jesus that someone might see in this world. I do not mean by that that we are anything more than vessels that Jesus resides in.

In the same way that the moon reflects the light of the sun we have the responsibility of…

Reflecting our creator. See what Paul wrote to the Colossians. Colossians 3:9-10 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

If we put off the old self we have put off its practices as well. The one that Paul chooses here is the practice of lying. We know that is not the only practice that we have to put off. Paul wrote to the Corinthians …do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. ^{(1 Co 6:9–11)}

I do not know how many times I read this passage before I saw, and comprehended, the words “And such were some of you.” Before coming to faith in Christ this list of wrongdoing could apply to any one of us. Praise God, even though some of us were such as these, we were washed and made holy justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God. We are being renewed in the image of our creator.

Someone said to me this week that a person cannot change completely immediately and he was right. We are changed by the work of God in our life and that is good news. We cannot change ourselves instead we are changed by God’s Spirit. He is the gift given us by Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we know that when he appears we shall be like him. Since that is the case, we have lots of changes to undergo. The greatest Christmas gift was given in Jesus Christ in Bethlehem and by the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem.

When the baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem the angel told the shepherds not to fear because he was bringing good news of great joy. The good news of Jesus Christ should fill our hearts with joy because we have been delivered from bondage and brought into the freedom of the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Before Christ came mankind was in bondage to good works that never produced salvation. When Christ came he opened the door to salvation by grace through faith. I hope you have been set free. If you have not, I hope you will do so immediately because we never know which breath will be our last. Jesus says, “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” I challenge you to come to the Savior today! Let this Christmas have special meaning for you because Christ is born in your heart­!

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.