After the death of Elvis Presley it was fairly common to read headlines in Tabloids: “I was Elvis’ Love Child” or “Elvis’ Ghost is My Father”. Many people claimed to be related to “The King” either for the prestige or for the possibly of getting a share of his inheritance. A radio station in Detroit, MI even offered the opportunity that for folks to do just that. If you sent in 2 dollars and a self-addressed, stamped envelope, they would send you an authentic birth certificate claiming Elvis as your father. For that price, you too could become a child of Elvis. A child of the King. The certificate claimed to entitle the bearer to “appear on any talk show in the country” and apparently 2000 of Elvis’s “children” bought in and got the birth certificate. Of course, the birth certificate was bogus, and everybody knew it! But they didn’t expect to be real. It only cost $2. (Con Wolfe)
But our text today tells us that God has offered us a REAL birth certificate. Galatians 4:3-7 tells us we “were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”
If you’re a Christian, you’ve been bought with a price. Jesus died for you, so that you could be adopted and become a child of the King.
My son is adopted. We got the opportunity to make him our child even before he was born, so when he was born he got a REAL birth certificate with his name on it.
Now before he was born, our lawyer (being a lawyer) noted that our son’s biological parents were short people, and that was always the possibility that he might not only be short, but perhaps have some physical or mental abnormality. If that happened (he asked) would we still want him? (Pause) Well, yeah!! We wanted him just as he was.
Now, the first thing I want you to notice about what Galatians is telling us is this: God wanted you! And He wanted you just as you are. And God was willing to adopt you even with all the deformities and scars that sin had made in your life. In Ephesians 2:3 Paul told the Ephesians they “once lived in the passions of (their) flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” They (and you and I) “were objects of wrath,” but Ephesians 1:5 says that “In love (God) predestined us for ADOPTION as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:4,5)
One person put it this way: “God loves us just the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way” (Adrian Rogers)
But now notice, Galatians 4 tells us we are NO LONGER slaves but heirs through God. The best that radio station in Detroit could offer for their adoption papers was the right to appear on any talk show in the country. But by contrast – we are heirs of God. In I Peter 13-5 we read “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade— kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power”
Like I said, my son is adopted, and if there’s any money left over after I die, he gets his share. And as much as I’m able, while I’m alive, I will shield him from danger and pain. But I’m just – mortal. I’m mere flesh and blood. I don’t have nearly as great an inheritance to give him as God has given us. And I can’t nearly protect him as much as God can protect us. I’m a child of the King. I have value; I have purpose; and I have a place in heaven. I have all of that - and MORE - because of Jesus.
Now that said, you and I have got to understand that there are people out there who would take advantage of us and rob us of what God has given us. There are people out there who will try to sell you on THEIR BRAND of Christianity - THEIR VERSION of what being a Christian is all about. Paul wrote: “They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.” Galatians 4:17
There are false teachers who want to “Shut you out!” In other words: they want to cut you off from God’s people and God’s church. They want to lure you away from your church, so that you can become a part of THEIR FLOCK.
Notice, these false teachers aren’t necessarily doing what they do for money. They’re doing what they do so that you’ll “make much of them.” They like the prestige of having followers who listen to them. Paul warned the Elders from Ephesus that: “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to DRAW AWAY DISCIPLES AFTER THEM.” Acts 20:30
Did you catch that? They distort the truth, and they teach something “distinctive” - something different than what the Bible teaches - so that they can draw away people to follow them.
If you’re not careful, these folks can steal away the gift God has given you. They are dangerous people! Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” Matthew 23:15
The Pharisees were the false teachers of the day - and they were the religious mainstream! So you need to be careful.
ILLUS: Have you ever heard of people getting phone calls from the “Credit Card” Company? The caller tells them there’s a problem with their card… and to confirm who you are they’ll need your credit card #, your Social Security #, your Address, etc. so that they can make sure it’s really you that they’re helping.
So, should you give them that information? (Pause) No? But why not? Because they’re crooks. They don’t care about you. They just want your personal info so they can rob you of everything you own.
You’ve got to realize there are false teachers out there who will do the same thing. They’re on TV, radio, YouTube - they even have popular religious books for you to buy (and people do buy their books). If you listen to them, they might even rob you of your salvation!
You’ve got to protect yourself from folks like that! But how do you do that? How do you protect yourself? Well, 1st and foremost you read your Bible. In Acts 17:11 we’re told that “the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”
Every day, the Bereans examined the Scriptures to check on what Paul was teaching. My point? Don’t take my word for stuff. Read your Bible and make sure that what I’m telling you is true. Don’t just take the word of that TV evangelist, popular writer or admired teacher, etc. Because some of them are false teachers. READ YOUR BIBLE! Make sure that what they teach is in Scripture.
As a 2nd line of defense -if you’ve gotten to the point where you trust us - ask us to help. You’ve got good Elders here, good Sunday School teachers, and you’ve got serious Bible students here. There’s a lot of people here you can trust!
The point is, your salvation is too important to leave it unguarded. In fact, your salvation was such a precious gift that God invested a lot of time and effort into getting it ready for you. Galatians 4:4-5 says “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
What does that mean - “When the fullness of time had come?” It means that God put a lot of thought and effort into your salvation. Do you remember the birth certificate we talked about earlier that the Detroit Radio Station offered? It only cost $2. It couldn’t have been that hard to put it together. But when God sought to adopt you… it cost Him His son.
One of the most intriguing images I’ve seen in the Old Testament is the contrast between how much effort God put into creating the heavens and the earth vs. the effort He had to put into our salvation.
In Psalm 8:3-4 David wrote that he marveled “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
Creating the world was just “finger play” for God.
But when it came to our salvation: Isaiah 52:10 tells us God rolled up His sleeves “The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.”
This even shows up in the contrast of Jesus compared to the founders of other world religions. For example, the man we refer to as Buddha showed up on the world stage about 500 yrs. BEFORE Christ was born. But before Buddha was born – no one ever said a man like him would be born in the city he grew up in; or that he would teach what he taught; or that he would died like he died. Buddhism is a major world religion, but its founder simply popped up in history. Buddha was a mortal man who came up with what he thought was a good idea, and his followers built a religion around his teachings.
Then the man we know as Mohammed was born about 500 yrs. AFTER Christ. But before Mohammed was born, no one ever said he would be born in the city he grew up in; or that he would teach what he taught; or that he’d died like died. Islam is a major world religion – but Mohammed just popped up in history. He was a mortal man who came up with what he thought was a good idea and his followers built a religion around his teachings.
But when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the whole of Israel was looking for a Messiah. They were looking for a King who would fulfill 100s of prophecies, and those prophecies told about where he’d be born, what He’d teach, and how He would die. And they told that the grave would not hold Him – He would rise from the dead!
God spent a LONG time setting things up so that when Jesus was born, lived, and died, so we’d know He was the one we were to look for. And that was the heart of Peter’s message at Pentecost. Peter spent a great deal of time explaining why Jesus was the one they’d been waiting for: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:36-38
My point is this: God sent His son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Because God did all that you and I have the opportunity to be a child of the King. In fact, there’s a great old hymn that declares that (sing with me):
(Chorus) “I’m a child of the King, a child of the King: with Jesus my Savior, I’m a child of the King!
(Verse) “I once was an outcast, stranger on earth, a sinner by choice, and an alien by birth, but I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down, an heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown.”
(Chorus) “I’m a child of the King, a child of the King: with Jesus my Savior, I’m a child of the King!”
INVITATION
