WE ARE THE ADOPTED SONS OF GOD

Proclamation:

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.  Because you are His sons, God sent The Spirit of His Son into our hearts, The Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’”  Galatians 4:4-6 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by the apostle Paul, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to the believers in the church at Galatia.  Paul begins this chapter by continuing his discussion regarding believers being heirs to the promise of God.  He states that Christ came into the world and lived under the law in order to save us from the law and the world.  To all who believed in Him, He gave the power to become the sons of God. (John 1:12) 

Application:

All believers can rightly be called “a child of God”.  We may be adopted, but we are still children of God.  That entitles us to all of the benefits of “sonship” including being able to call Him our “Father.”  That is why Jesus, The Christ, said that we can pray to Him and say, “Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name …” (Matthew 6:9 and Luke 11:2)  We have The Spirit of God within our hearts from the moment that we believed.  That also makes us heirs to the promise of Abraham. (Galatians 4:7) 

SO THAT I MIGHT LIVE FOR GOD

Proclamation:

“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in The Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  Galatians 2:19-20 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by the apostle Paul, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to the believers in the church at Galatia.  Paul begins this chapter by recounting his acceptance by the apostles. (Galatians 2:1-10)  He then recounts an episode where he confronts Peter for his non-Christ-like behavior. (Galatians 2:11-18)  Peter would eat and fellowship with the Gentiles until some of the other apostles arrived, then he separated himself from them and other believers, including Barnabas, followed his lead.  After this, Paul states that he is no longer under the law because Christ died and rose for him.  Now he lives his life for Christ and walks by faith in The Son of God.

Application:

As believers, our behavior is always under scrutiny, by non-believers and by other believers.  When we do wrong and sin, we can cause those who follow us to stumble and fall into sin, as Peter did.  We are not to return to our old ways and follow non-Christian customs in order to gain the favor of man. (Galatians 2:14)  We need to recognize The Spirit of God within us and to live our life as a good example of Christian behavior.  We are justified by our faith in Christ and not by our works or customs.  Christ was crucified once for all of us and for all of our sins.  There is no need for us to be crucified or to crucify Him again.  He died for us so that we could live with Him in the future.  So, let us live for Him now.

We Must Be Born Again

"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.  He came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know You are a teacher who has come from God.  For no one could perform the miraculous signs You are doing if God were not with Him.'  In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'  'How can a man be born when he is old?' Nicodemus asked. 'Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!'  Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and The Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but The Spirit gives birth to spirit.' "  John 3:1-6 (NIV)

The Apostle John, the disciple who referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved, (John 20:2), recorded this encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus.  Jesus told him that in order to enter the kingdom of God, one must be born again.  When He was questioned about that statement, Jesus explained that after one's physical birth of the flesh, there must be a second birth, a birth of one's spirit by The Holy Spirit.

Once we believe that Jesus, The Christ, is The Son of God who was raised from the dead, and accept Him as our personal savior, (Romans 10:9), then and only then will we be indwelt by The Holy Spirit and be born again. (Ezekiel 36:26, John 14:17, Romans 8:11, and 1 John 3:24)  After we accept Christ into our lives, we receive The Spirit of God in our lives and we are changed.  We are born again and we become new creatures. (2 Corinthians 5:17)  This is the basis of our salvation and it is a gift from God. (Ephesians 2:8)  We must be born again. 

Teach Me To Do Your Will

"Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground."  Psalms 143:10 (NIV)

King David wrote this psalm and asked God to teach him, and help him to do God's will.  He asked that The Holy Spirit would lead him in the way of uprightness, to a place of safety and protection where there was goodness. 

David prayed in good times and in bad times.  He asked for God's instruction, guidance, and direction to ensure that he would obey the will of God.  He wanted The Spirit of God to be his guide.  We would do well to follow David's example.  All to often we do things and go places without first praying to God for His guidance and direction, to be sure that we are following the will of God.  We should pray that His will be done in our lives.  In the model prayer that Jesus taught His disciples, He said pray to our Father in heaven, "Thy will be done." (Matthew 6:10 and Luke 11:2)  We need to recognize the fact that if The Holy Spirit is not driving the bus that is our lives, then the devil is driving it.   

Once Enlightened Always Enlightened

"It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in The Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of The Word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying The Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace." Hebrews 6:4-6 (NIV)

The unknown author of the Bible Book of Hebrews made it clear that once a person was saved, they would always be saved.  Their future sins would not cause them to lose their salvation.  Only by willfully renouncing Jesus Christ could they ever be lost, and from that loss there could be no return. 

Once we are held in the palm of His hand, we can never be plucked out.  It is possible to be exposed to the gospel and walk among Christians for a while and not be saved. (Matthew 13:3-24)   Jesus said, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62) A number of people followed Jesus because of what He could do for them, not because they believed in Him.  Those people were not saved.  Once saved, always saved.  We may lose out on some rewards and miss out on some blessings by our behavior, but we can never lose our salvation.

All Who Hear You Won't Believe You But Don't Believe Them

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  This is how you can recognize The Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.  This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.  You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.  This is how we recognize The Spirit of Truth and the spirit of falsehood."  1 John 4:1-6 (NIV)

In his old age, the Apostle John wanted to advise the Christians not be believe every person or spirit that they hear.  He gave them a way to test what they hear, to see if it is of God or not.  He also told them that not everyone will want to hear what they have to say because they are children of God.

We are in this world but not of it.  The God who is within us has overcome the world and He is greater than the spirit who is over this world.  We have to understand that everyone that we talk to is not going to want to hear what we have to say.  Talking about Jesus, The Christ, will turn some people off and it will upset others.  Some will want to argue, but don't engage them.  Just let them know that you disagree and "shake the dust off your shoes and keep on stepping" as a testimony against them. (Luke 9:5 & Matthew 10:14)  Our job is to tell the world about Christ, The Holy Spirit does the conviction, convincing, and converting.

God Lives Within Us

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?  If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him;  for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple."  1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV)

In this letter to the Corinthian Christians, the Apostle Paul told them that they themselves were the temple wherein God resided, not some physical building.  Their bodies were the temple of God and should be treated as such.

That is a lesson that we should be aware of today.  From the moment that we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, The Spirit of God took up residence inside of us.  Our bodies are God's temple.  With that in mind, we should be much more careful about how we treat and care for our bodies.  We also should be careful how we treat God's other temples, other Christians.