A Striking Family Resemblance Series

A STRIKING FAMILY RESEMBLANCE

Galatians 3:26-4:7

S: Sonship

Th: Grace-Full Living

Pr: WE ARE GOD’S CHILDREN.

?: How? How is it observed?

KW: Characteristics

TS: We will find in our study of Galatians 3:26-4:7, three characteristics that show how we are God’s children.

The _____ characteristic that shows we are a child of God is we are an…

I. ILLUSTRATION (3:27)

II. INDIVISIBLE WHOLE (3:28)

III. INHERITOR (3:29-4:7)

RMBC 7/16/00 AM

INTRODUCTION:

ILL Notebook: Heir (Any more questions?)

Josie Firstbrook and her husband had adopted their son, Eric, from Korea. When he was 5, they were having lunch at a restaurant, and Eric made conversation with a boy at the next table. At one point the boy asked Eric, “Why don’t you look like your mom?” “Cause she’s a girl,” he replied.

1. Who do you look like?

I know that it’s not pretty, I find myself looking more and more like my dad.

Now, he thinks that I am looking better all the time, but I am not so sure that he has the right perspective on the matter.

Dad has always liked to line up the Decker noses as he puts it.

He thinks that they are distinguished.

I think they just cover a lot of space that could be used for other purposes.

Dad also thinks its funny that I have become bald sooner than he did.

I actually fail to see the humor in that.

Well, I must admit it.

There are some striking resemblances between me and my father.

But there is a more important question this morning than “Who do you look like?”

It is…

2. Who do you want to look like?

TRANSITION:

We come back to our study on Galatians today.

You have had a breather for a couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago, Pastor Will did a wonderful job speaking to you about being a member of the family of God.

It was a message that corresponds well to our theme today.

Last week, Pastor Dick Murphy brought a superb admonition to us to be encouragers like Barnabas.

Now we come back to our study to the letter Paul wrote to churches in the region of Galatia.

And here is the context…

1. CONTEXT: Paul is defending the essential message and application of the gospel.

As we have noted before, Paul is defending himself against a group called the Judaizers.

The Judaizers were a group of very conservative so-called “Christians” who had come into the church after Paul had left and contradicted his teaching.

They were taking what Paul said, and twisted it.

In fact, he called their gospel, no gospel at all.

For they were teaching a form of legalism that equates works with faith.

The people in Galatia were told that the way to be right with God was to believe in Jesus and follow the right set of rules.

They were bewitched into thinking that you start the Christian life by faith, but you complete yourself by works.

Paul considered this impossible and ludicrous.

His conclusion was that this nullified grace and dishonored Christ.

This is the background for the text we are studying today.

In today’s text…

2. We are discovering how God puts us in relationship with Him.

The Judaizers agreed that the relationship began through Christ’s work on the cross, but it was also absolutely dependent on what we do.

Their intentions, on the surface, were not so bad.

They did not want to lose the authority of the revelation of God that we find in the Old Testament.

So, they were also requiring circumcision and the dietary laws that the Jews practiced.

But, as Paul points out, this was a misreading of the purpose of the law.

The law’s purpose was to show our sin, not prevent it.

For instead of being a preventative, it aggravated it.

This aggravation was to cause them and us to seek a different way.

It was to get us to see our hopelessness.

Paul has good news for us in all of this.

Our situation is not hopeless.

Because we are in Christ…

3. WE ARE GOD’S CHILDREN.

We are God’s children, period.

It is not dependent on what we do.

It is dependent on who we are in Christ.

There are those that say that we are all God’s children.

And to that I say, yes, God is our Father in that He created us, and yes, all human beings are brothers and sisters in that we share the image of God in man.

But spiritually speaking , we become sons and daughters only by grace and through faith.

Note our text…

(26) You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…

It comes through faith in Christ Jesus.

There is no other way.

I also want you to note that we are called “sons.”