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Welcome to our series in the book of Galatians.

I start with a story I've been reading, I've seen snippets of in the past one or two weeks. Uh, there's a famous wedding, a very publicized wedding in India, the wedding between Anand Ambani and his wife Radhika. And this is very prominent in the news because apparently this wedding and all the pre-wedding celebrations cost the family some $600 million. That's a lot of money.

Out of that $600 million, $10 million are given to Justin Bieber for him to come and perform for them in this private event. Well, $600 million is a lot for people like us, of course, but maybe it's small change for the Ambani family. Mukesh Ambani, the father, uh, is worth upwards of $100 billion.

Where did he get all this money? Well, he inherited it, a lot of it, and the company Reliance Industries from his father Dhirubhai Ambani. And it reminds me of how people, many people in this world today are rich, because they have inherited that wealth from their fathers or from their parents. Forbes say that roughly one-third of the world's billionaires were handed down their fortune from their elders.

And maybe you are sitting right here and say, aiyah, I was born in the wrong family. I should have been born in a billionaire's home. Well, don't be sad because the Bible does tell us we are heirs, and heirs not just of earthly wealth, which ultimately fades away, but of heavenly blessings above.

The Apostle Paul told us in Galatians 3 verse 29, and if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. So the Bible tells us for those who are joined in Christ, those who are in Christ, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are part of Abraham's offspring, and therefore the promise given to Abraham applies also to us. We become heirs, heirs of righteousness, spiritual life, of the eternal life in a land that is to come, all because of Jesus.

What does this heirship mean? Well, Paul is going to tell us more in Galatians chapter 4 verses 1 to 11, the passage we have just read. In a sense, Galatians 4 verses 1 to 11 is like a summary of all that we have read and learned in Galatians 3. How the first half of Galatians 3 speaks about that righteousness by faith, not by the works of the law.

And the second half of Galatians 3 speaks about how the law is totally impotent to save and to grant life. And how it all culminates in Jesus, in Christ. We receive all these things as heirs because of the promise.

So we're going to look at the heirs of God in this few verses here, and there are three points. And I like to warn you, first of all, the first point is the most difficult and the most technical. So if you are able to tahan the first point, the next two points will be a breeze. And therefore, I urge your attention for the first point, alright? And so let's begin, let's buckle up and get ready for the ride in these 11 verses.

1. Example

The first thing Paul would write to us about being an heir of God is that he gives us an example of this heirship. What does this look like? What does this mean? He begins with an example so that the Galatians are familiar. The example here is about the nation or the people of Israel, the Jews. He begins with the Jews.

But just before we look at Israel in particular, he lays down a principle. He says, I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. Now this is a simple logic. An heir in those days don't get to control anything, even though he is the lord or master of everything, ultimately.

But when he's a child, he doesn't get to control anything yet. So in that period of time, he is like the slave, no different. Don't have control over anything. And things change only at the date set by his father. So maybe at the age of 21 or whatever, before that, he doesn't control anything, the assets are controlled by the guardians and the managers.

Now I know some of you have great memory, and so when you see the word guardians, you're very excited, aiyah, this is the exact word you preached about last Sunday, right? The paidagogos, the custodian, the child leader, who prepares a son from 6 to 16. I say you have great memory, but unfortunately, the word here is not paidagogos.

Even though the ESV, the Bible translators, have translated it the same as guardians. The Greek word is epitropos. The first word, the second word is oikonomia, and they refer to different roles that people take up to manage and to steward, I think, the assets and resources that the heir is about to inherit.

Now are they very material at the end of the day? Are they very significant for us to be fussing over paidagogos or epitropos or oikonomia? Not really. But the whole idea, the main point here, I'm just trying to say, is that an heir, though he will inherit everything, at this point of time in his childhood, is not in control of anything until the date set by his father.

I read about this man. His name is Zhang Yudong, someone in China, and he's a businessman, and he has built an empire selling this mala gluten snack, and it's called Spicy Prince Mala Strip. I am told you can even buy it here in Singapore via Shopee. Well, he runs a successful business. Uh, rack, he has this sales of up to $100 million a year, so real big business.

But the interesting thing is he never allowed his son to know how rich their family is. So he raised his son in a simple flat, sends him to a normal school, and lies to his son, his family is in debt to keep the company afloat. So the son, Zhang Zilong, never knew he was born into a rich family until he graduated from university at, I think, 21, and now he says being rich is quite good ah.

He gets to enjoy the wealth, and he says, my goal is to help my father in his business. So for a long time, he was raised like any other kid, oblivious or ignorant to the fact that he's actually very well to do.

Well, in a sense, not quite the same thing, but in a sense, an heir who is supposed to inherit everything for a period of time in his life does not enjoy nor employ the wealth that he has.

Paul takes this principle of heirship and says this is the case for the people of Israel. Let's look at how it works. He says, in the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. Now Paul talks about we, and I think the we here refers to the people of Israel, the nation as of that point of time.

And I know that because in Galatians 2, we read about Paul saying, we ourselves are Jews by birth. He carries on this idea in chapter three, how the Jews were held captive under the law for 1,400 years. From the time of Moses to the time Jesus would come, they were in a sense, under the law. They were in a sense, like children.

Now the word children, if you could recall last Sunday, is the word nepios, which is to be a young child, an infant, a minor. So though Israel should possess everything, the blessings, they have not really been able to enter into the blessings because not the right time as yet, nepios time.

So at this stage, they were enslaved, they were trapped. And as we follow the book of Galatians, we understand that the nation of Israel was actually trapped in legalism. What is legalism? Legalism is trying to obey God's laws in our own flesh in order to gain a right standing before God.

Let me be very clear, obeying the law is not a bad thing. It's the right thing, it's the good thing. But obeying the law becomes a bad thing when you try to do it in your own flesh and if you try to do it to earn favor or to prove yourself before God, that is the problem. So the nation of Israel for 1,400 years were given the law, they abused it, they misused it. It was supposed to reveal to them their sin, not remove sin, but they took it as the means of justification.

And so, the Bible says they were at this period of time trapped in legalism. Paul calls this the elementary principles of the world. Now that word elementary principles is actually just one word in the Greek which is the word stoicheia. Sounds like something you buy from Ikea, but it's not even your stokke baby chair.

But stoicheia simply means basic elements. That's the meaning, basic elements, basic things, the ABCs of anything. In those days, you can talk about the ABCs of the language, of the grammar, it can be the ABCs of material world, earth, air, fire, water, or it can be the basic rules and principles.

I think in this context, Paul is talking about legalism as a basic principle of the world, the operating system of religion in the world. So, Paul is saying, we Jews, for a period of time, were like little children. We are not ready to come into the blessings of God. Why? Because for these 1,400 years, we were all trapped in the basic operating system of religion, which is legalism.

And what is legalism? Trying to obey God in our own flesh to earn a right standing before Him. This is doomed to failure because this is a principle of the world. This is not from God. And so Israel was like a nepios, a little child, not ready to receive or inherit the blessings until there is a date set by the father. So far you can get it? If you cannot get it, then go back YouTube and watch lah, because it's too long to explain again, alright?

So we, Israel, are like heirs. For a period of time, we are under the epitropos and the oikonomia. We own everything, but we don't control anything. Not yet time. So we are like a nepios. We are trapped, trapped in legalism. We kind of misunderstand God's intention, and we try to earn God's favor by doing things in our own flesh. And it's doomed to failure. Cursed is everyone who tries to obey the law, because no one can keep the whole law. So we were enslaved to this basic principle of religion of the world. That is our problem. That's why we cannot inherit the blessings as yet.

But something is going to change. In verse 4, Paul says, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son. Now is the date set by the Father. Now is the time for Israel to enter the inheritance. This is the time, the Bible says, is the fullness of time. So again, I want to say, paralleling this with the inheritance idea, this is the date set by the Father, no more like a slave or like a child, but now ready to inherit the blessings.

And this fullness of time is inextricably linked to the coming of Jesus Christ, God's Son. Now, this idea of fullness of time is spoken of, for example, by Jesus in Mark 1. The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. So this is the time of blessing. And what do you do? Keep the law? No. Repent and believe the gospel, which is the Good News of Jesus Christ dying and rising to save you from your sins.

This fullness of time is also spoken of in Ephesians. Set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him. Jews and Gentiles, doesn't matter anymore. As long as you believe in Jesus Christ, you are gathered as part of the body of Christ.

Now, there are people who try to guess why is 2,000 years ago, the fullness of time? Some say because the Roman road systems are developed. Some say because they use a common language. Some say the spiritual condition then is dire and people are longing for a saviour.

Well, those are suggestions, but I don't think they are explicitly mentioned in the Bible. All we are know, all we are told is God has a timetable. He's never early. He's never late. It's always at the fullness of time. So at this particular juncture, God sends forth His Son. Jesus is sent.

Now, this is before, Jesus existed before He was born, right? He sent forth His Son to be born of a woman. In other words, this is a phrase that speaks about the pre-existence of Jesus Christ, but He's now come into the world born as man, born of woman, and born as a Jew, born under the law, born in a nation of Israel.

And the purpose here that He is sent, born into this world, is to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. So the coming and the sacrifice and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so that this can be accomplished, blessings may come unto the people in that we receive adoption as sons.

Now, this adoption language, I hope you see, is a subtle shift from what Paul has been talking about in verses 1 and 2. Because verses 1 and 2 is about a natural-born child growing up to receive the inheritance. But now Paul escalates this, as it were, to be someone who was originally not part of the family, now brought into the family to inherit the wealth. He ratchets it up another notch. This adoption of a huiyos, adoption of sons, a mature son.

Now, in those days in Rome, it is not uncommon for people who are rich and powerful to adopt adults. Today in Singapore, we adopt, a lot of adoptions are little children. But in those days, they adopt adults so that they may continue the business or run their empires. Why? Because when you adopt a kid, you do not know how the kid is going to turn out. Right?

When I have my two sons, I do not know how they're going to turn out. Actually, I'm quite surprised how they're turning out. But when you adopt an adult, you kind of know what kind of person that man is going to be. What kind of character, what kind of personality, what kind of competence.

So Augustus Caesar, for example, was adopted by Julius Caesar to be his heir as an adult. So this is something that was commonly done. So Paul uses this idea, not a natural born child, but someone outside the family, God is going to bring into His family. Wow. And this idea of adoption is unique to Paul in the Epistles. No one else writes about it. And Paul uses the idea of adoption to speak of the great privilege of the people of God. W

e were not part of God's family, but now we can be, you know? We now are part of the heirship. Imagine Mukesh Ambani come and tell you, eh, you be my son ah. O, okay, okay, okay, I, I, I get adopted, I get this wealth. Well, we are adopted into God's family because of Christ.

And it's not just an adoption of a normal guy, but I think an adoption of a slave, because he says to redeem those who are under the law. In those days, slaves, in order to be freed, has to be paid for. So you pay a price, that's the word redemption, to set them free. So the idea here is, we were slaves to sin and to the law. At least that's the nation of Israel. They were slaves.

But Christ came to pay for their sins, set them free from sin and legalism, and God adopts them into His family. That is the amazing generosity of God. Jesus redeemed the Jews, just as Paul had been saying, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

Now, just a little, for the geek or the nerds here, uh, just a little rearrangement of the verses in that I show you verses four and five combined together. Uh, someone noticed a nice little picture in that if you rearrange this a little, you would see that there is a mirror image in these words, or a chiasm in these words, in that God sent forth His Son, and the flip side is that so that we might receive adoption as sons.

We are, or Christ was born under the law so as to redeem those who were under the law. Is this very important? Not really, but just for you to take note.

So, Paul wanted to speak about heirship. He's going to talk about the Galatians, but he begins first with the Jews. He says that the nation of Israel is a picture of adoption. In what sense? In that prior to the coming of Jesus Christ, most of Israel were not blessed because they were stuck and trapped in legalism.

They were like little children, not ready to inherit, nepios. But the time to inherit blessings came when Jesus came, and that is the date set by the Father. That is the fullness of time. They are now free from the epitropos and oikonomia. And Jesus came to redeem them from slavery to the law and from sin.

So, his point, Paul has been making throughout the epistle, the letter, is that justification is not by the works of the law. It's not when they were stuck in legalism, not when they were nepios. But justification and blessings come only at the coming of Christ by the promise and by faith in the promise.

So, that is our first point. You can give yourself a round of applause for surviving it. Go ahead! You survived the most difficult technical point, alright? I think, well done. Now, if you don't understand what it all means, I say go back, check YouTube already. We got to move on, alright? So, using the example of Israel, hey, guys, blessings are via faith, not by the works of the law. Get that?

2. Experience

Then let's apply it to you guys, to the Galatians, to the Gentiles. Because verse six and seven, Paul talks about your own experience, the Galatians' own experience. He says in verse six, and because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

So, I think he shifts from first person, we, to second person, you, by saying, you are sons, referring to the Gentiles, to the Galatians. And he's saying that the Gentiles and the Galatians, though they are not Jews, are equally God's sons because of faith in Jesus Christ. And this sons is the word huios, which is, I think, to be distinct from nepios, to say that they are now mature and they inherit the blessings.

So, because of faith in Jesus Christ, you Gentiles are now adopted also into the family. You receive the blessings of God in the Gospel and you know that by the experience of having the Spirit of the Living God sent into your hearts. Now this is very, I think, reminiscent of what we read in chapter 3, verses 1 to 4.

That's why I say chapter 4, verses 1 to 11 is a good summary or recap of chapter 3. So throwing back to chapter 3, we receive the Spirit not by the works of the law, but by the hearing with faith. So Paul alludes to that. You are heirs and co-heirs because you have received the Spirit. God has already given the Spirit to you. And you receive the Spirit, you were justified by faith and not by the works of the law.

And you know you have the Spirit in you because you cry, Abba, Father. Now, when we read the word Abba, there are people who tend to think of this word in a very casual, Papa, Papa, Papa, uh, I, I think it means dad, abba, father. But I, I hope we don't take that word to mean that we can be casual or flippant when we relate to God.

So this is a word that speaks about intimacy, but not about flippancy, alright? So he says, because you believe in Jesus, you inherit the blessings, God sends His Spirit, there is this intuitive affection and assurance and joy and confidence that God is your Father, Abba, Father. You, you can call Him, Abba, Father.

The word Abba is an Aramaic word used by the Jews in those days. The word Father is Greek. And so there are some people like Wesley who says these two words kind of reflect the common cry of Jews and Gentiles alike in calling out God as our Father. Interestingly, this is how Jesus calls God in the Garden of Gethsemane as recorded in Mark chapter 14.

So God has sent His Spirit into our hearts. For those, again, who are a little bit more nerdy kind, you may like to note that there's a Trinitarian allusion here, God, Spirit, and Son.

So because you're sons, God has sent His, sent the Spirit into your hearts, and that shows you, that attests to you that you're no longer a slave who has possession of nothing. You now have the Spirit of God. So you're no longer a slave because you're now a son. And because you are a son, you are also an heir. And all this is, Paul reminding us through God. Not what you do, not what you deserve, not what you earn, but freely given through God.

I read about this man called Nicholas Puech. He's 81 years old, and he is famous because he is the fifth generation descendant of Thierry Hermes. Thierry Hermes is the founder of the luxury fashion brand Hermes. You know what is Hermes or not? Not Hermes or Channel or Gucci. It's Hermes, French word, French name. Very famous and very rich.

Now, Nicholas Puech is estimated to be worth upwards of $10 billion. But why is he in the news? Well, he's in the news because it is said that he is going to adopt a son. 81 years old, adopt son! But he's going to adopt his gardener, to be his son. His gardener is married with two children, and he's going to bequeath a, a significant portion of his wealth to his son, the gardener. Aiyah, I wish I was a gardener, man.
All that, free! Now, obviously, perhaps the gardener has done something right. I do not know. But the point is, this gardener, no matter what he does, would never be able to earn that amount of money on his own anyway. But it's given out of grace.

It reminds us of how we today deserve nothing. We earn nothing. We are not like the gardener, even in the eyes of God, we are enemies. And yet, God would send his son to die for us, set us free, bring us into his family, call us sons, and say that we are heirs and co-heirs with Jesus Christ.

How do we know this for sure? Because God has already sent His Spirit into your hearts. You know it. That's the tremendous privilege of a Christian.

Adoption, a concept quite unique to Paul in the Epistles, is displaying here the magnanimity, generosity, the goodness of God to save His enemies and to bring them into His family, destining them for great blessings to come.

We used to sing a song, I'm Adopted, and these are some of the lyrics in the chorus. I'm adopted, hallelujah! I've got, alright, I think the T's are missing. I've got a new song. I'm adopted, hallelujah. I finally belong. I've got a brand new family overflowing with love. I'm a child of my Father above.

Interestingly, this week in our social media channels, I read a story, a post on our church social media, about adoption. So let me show you what it says. A puzzled teacher sat before two brothers who were her new students. I think there's a mistake with the forms you've filled. How is it possible you're both born in the same year but three months apart?

The older brother replied sheepishly, it's because one of us is adopted. The teacher held back her surprise. She composed herself and asked, that's special. Can you give me a clue which one, which of you it might be? The brothers looked at each other and shrugged. Speaking again, the older boy said, we don't know. Dad and mom have never told us. They've always cared for us the same.

When God adopts us into His family, He loves us. He loves us fully in Christ. We are heirs and co-heirs with Him.

I know there are families here who have adopted children. And I've seen the way you care for your child. I can't tell. I can't tell at all that they are adopted. In fact, maybe I can. I see you love them even more. And God loves us fully as His adopted children. Why? Because Jesus and what He has done.

So the heirs of God we see in Galatians 4:1-11, begins with an example about the nation of Israel. Blessings are not achieved by the works of the law. That's nepios age, that's enslavement time. Blessings come at the time set by the Father, the fullness of time with the gift of Jesus Christ to save you from your sins.

Then we looked at the experience that Paul appeals to amongst the Galatians. You are heirs of God because God has already sent the Spirit into your hearts. So if God has already done that, why would you turn to legalism? And that's the exclamation we need to see in verses 8 to 11.

His exclamation, in fact, is how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elements, elementary principles of the world whose slaves you want to be once more? How, why would you do that, now that you are a full-grown, mature son" So he says in verse 8, formerly, last time when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not God.

So clearly this is speaking to the Galatians. They are Gentiles. And the Gentiles generally do not keep the Mosaic law. They do not know. But what they do is that they worship other gods. They worship idols. We call this idolatry or we call this paganism. So Paul says last time, you Gentiles are pagans. You are idolaters. But everything changed because verse 9, but now, now is a big change. You have come to know God. You have found God. You have believed in Him.

But Paul quickly self-corrects. Actually, no, no, no, no, no. Not that you found God, but rather you are known by God. God found you. We, we like to think that, O, I found God. It's, it's because I was tender-hearted, I sought God. Hey, Paul corrects himself and says, no, I don't think the emphasis, the decisive factor is that you chose God. The decisive factor is that God chose you. You are known by God. You're chosen by God.

So since God chose you from your pagan past, how can you now turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world? So he says, you were pagans and God chose you and set you in a place of blessings. Why would you now turn back again to the elementary principles of the world? Why would you do that?

Now, you've got to remember the elementary principles is what we looked at just now in verse 3. I think this is referring to the religious operating system of the world. And in the context of Galatians, it's legalism. Obeying the law in your own flesh in order to get justification. So in the book of Galatians, Paul says, why do you need to be circumcised? Why do you need to keep the festivals? Why do you need to keep the law? Not that these things are bad, but why do you do these things to get yourself right before God, not realising that Jesus has already done it all? Why would you go back to these things? And why would you allow yourself to be slaves?

Hey, it's like a full-grown heir enjoying and employing all the resources and then saying suddenly, uh, I think I need to pass all the money back to the epitropists and the oikonomias. It's foolish. Why would you do that? These things, these legalistic things are weak and worthless. They are powerless and valueless in giving you justification and blessings anyway. So why would you turn back?

Now again, today a lot of little trivia for the geeks. Uh, something that I think is interesting is this phrase, turn back again. Why do you turn back again? Why did Paul use turn back again? Because the Gentiles were never legalistic to begin with. They were pagan. They were stuck with paganism, not legalism. So why does Paul say with regards to turning to legalism, say that they are turning back again?

Aah, I think the only logical way to explain this, is that Paul is in this verse equating legalism with paganism. As both are operating systems, basic principles of the religious world in this world. In that both are useless and powerless and weak and worthless and that both enslave people, that's all.

Legalism is a operating system not from God but of the world. It cannot save you and it only traps you. People just keep getting more legalistic. And it's actually the same when it comes to idolatry, paganism. It doesn't save you. You can worship many gods but it will never save you and the more gods you worship, the more you are enslaved by them.

So Paul says now that you have come to know God or rather God has come to bless you, save you, why do you turn to legalism like how you turn to paganism in the past? They both cannot save and they both enslave.

So I'm very scared of you guys. Why do you observe the days and the months and the seasons and the years? Why do you keep these things as if they are mandatory for your salvation? It's legalism. I'm so afraid that I might have labored over you in vain.

Maybe the best way to conclude the sermon is just to look at how Paul summarized it all, I think in a sense, in Ephesians 1. What's the message of the Bible? This is a good summary of the message of the Bible in love, amazing, generous, unconditional love. Love for sinners, love for enemies. Wow! In love. What did God do? God predestined us. This is where we are destined to be. He set this destination way ahead of time. That you and I who are chosen by Him will be adopted to become His sons.

That we who are aliens and enemies will be brought out of that slavery and not only that, brought right into His family to be His sons. So that we are heirs and co-heirs through Jesus Christ. Wow! Do we as Christians really have a reason to groan and to moan in this life? Do we struggle with our identity? O, what am I here for? Who am I? This is our deepest identity. I am a child of my Father above. You don't look like God, but you are, because of Jesus Christ and what He has done.

And if you're here today, you say, I want to be saved, I want to inherit the blessings, I want to find forgiveness and eternal life. I say to you, don't bark up the wrong tree. Don't go to idols, don't go to self-righteous legalism, but come to Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me. Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. The Bible commands you today to repent and to believe and may you be gloriously saved. Let's pray.

Father, we thank You for Your Word this morning. We ask that men and women will repent of their sin and self-righteousness and idolatry, so that we may turn to Jesus alone for this salvation in life.

We pray also for Christians that we would realise just how, how blessed we are, how favoured we are. And so allow us to then plunge more and more into the depth of Your love in adoption. May we then live out vibrant lives of faith and worship, joy and peace. Use us, dear Lord, also to reach out to others who have been known by You. And may they hear this same glorious Gospel and be wonderfully saved. So thank You. We pray all this in Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

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