SERVANTS OR SONS?

Sunday Morning:  July 20, 2003

Text: Galatians 4:1-7  "Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2. But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."

WE ARE SERVANTS

Galatians 4:1  "Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;"

CHRIST BECAME A SERVANT

Philippians 2:6-9  "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, . . ."

BELOW THE SONS OF GOD

Hebrews 2:9  "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels (sons of God) for the suffering of death . . ."

FULLNESS OF TIME

Galatians 4:4  "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,"

CHRIST WAS REJECTED IN THE FOURTH DAY

Hosea 5:15  "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early."

AWAY UNTIL THE END OF THE SIXTH DAY

Hosea 6:1-2  "Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

CALLING OUT GENTILES WHILE AWAY

Hosea 6:2 "After two days (2,000 years) will he revive us"

RETURNS IN THE SEVENTH DAY

Hosea 6:2  ". . . in the third day he will raise us (Israel) up, and we shall live in his sight."

CHRIST BEGAN HIS MINISTRY

Matthew 3:15-17  "And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized (a picture of dying to self), , , , lo, the heavens were opened unto him, . . . 17. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

AFTER TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS

Matthew 4:17 "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

GLORIFIED IN THE SEVENTH DAY

Matthew 17:1-5  "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother (few), and bringeth them up into an high mountain (heaven in type) apart, (on the seventh day) 2. And was transfigured before them: . . . 5. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." (A well done for service)

WE MIGHT RECEIVE SONSHIP

Galatians 4:5  "To redeem [purchase out from] them [saved Jews] that were under the law, that we (brethren 1:2) might receive [aorist active subjunctive] the [the position of a son] adoption of sons."

SONS OF GOD OVERCOME

Galatians 3:26  "For ye are all the children [sons] of God by faith in Christ Jesus. “(Can be translated: For all sons of God endure through the faith of Christ.”)

OVERCOMERS LIVE BY FAITH

1 John 5:4  "For whatsoever is born of God (not born from above) overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

IF WE OVERCOME

Revelation 21:7  "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be [future] my son."

IF WE CONTINUE IN THE FAITH

Acts 14:22  "Confirming . . . and exhorting them (disciples) to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."

SONS ENDURE

Galatians 4:6  "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the (Abba) Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Can be translated: “ and since sons endure, the God has sent the (Abba) spirit (not the Holy Spirit) of His son into our hears crying, Abba, Father.”

KNOWLEDGEABLE FRIENDS

John 15:15  "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you."

YET, SERVANTS

John 15:20  "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you (servants)…"

PAUL, A SERVANT

Romans 1:1  "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, . . ."

PAUL, A SERVANT NOT A SON

Galatians 1:10  "For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."

NOT YET SONS

Galatians 4:7  "Wherefore thou art no more a servant (this does not agree with common knowledge), but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." Can be translated: “Consequently (from verse 6) you are not yet a son but a servant, because if a son then an heir through God.”

DECLARED A SON BY HIS RESURRECTION

Psalms 2:7  "I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee."

DECLARED THE SON OF GOD

Romans 1:4  "And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:"

AT HIS RESURRECTION

Acts 13:33  "God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again (into the heavens); as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee."

SONS HAVE A SCEPTRE AND A KINGDOM

Hebrews 1:8  "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God [magistrates or judge], is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." (Ps. 45:6)

WAITING TO BE SONS

Romans 8:23  "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits [singular in number, Galatians 5:22-23] of the [Abba] Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption [placed as a son], to wit, the redemption of our body."

REDEMPTION OF THE BODY

Philippians 3:21  "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, . . ."

CONTINUE IN THE FAITH

Colossians 1:22-23  "In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 23. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, . . ."