Galatians 4:6-7 Podcast
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6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4:6-7)
The justice and law of God demanded that man be punished and excluded from His presence for our rebellion. In order to adopt sinners into his family, God sent His Son to die a cruel death on the cross of Calvary. The Cross of Christ stands between Law and Grace.
In v.6, the Apostle Paul uses an Aramaic word, "Abba." Jesus spoke this word to address His Father, in spite of the fact that virtually no one in Jewish culture referred to God as such. God gave us His very Spirit who enables us from a heart of deep conviction to cry out to Him, “Abba.”
The Holy Spirit wrote the word of God and It is He that enables us to understand the word of God. Only the Holy Spirit can teach us the word of God. And, in the word of God, we discover the heart of God. And, the Holy Spirit is crucial to the execution of God's plan.
I have three sons. I remember when the oldest of the three was born. I could not resist the love in my heart for my son. In fact, he could not do anything to change the fact that I love him. Then, we found out that we were going to have another son. I worried if I could love him like the first son. Sure enough, I love my second and my third son, just as much as my first. And, I could not deny my love for my three sons.
God is the same with me and you. He can not deny His love for you and me. He loves us because of His capacity to love, not our capacity to earn His love. There is a special place in the heart of God for you. You must believe this ... then you will have a heart for God.
The Holy Spirit is crucial to our relationship with our heavenly Father as our Abba. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us a heart for God. It is in 1 Samuel 13 that the phrase "a man after God's own heart" is used of King David, the second king of Israel.
To have a heart for God means that I have realized that God has a heart for me. It is the response of the heart that has been captured by the intense and never ending love of God for me.
I close with the scene in Luke 18 when children were brought to the Lord Jesus. The disciples were put out by this because children had no place in their society. Then Jesus tells the disciples “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” They had a place in the father heart of God.
Oh, to be defined by God's love for me more than I am defined by my love for God. The expression of this in our lives is seen when we live our lives as children not as slaves. The freedom and security of the lifestyle of a beloved child is the result. We do this because we see the father's heart for us.
