Day 20 - Heir by Pastor Philip Olubakin: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Heir Who Remains a Child

Galatians 4:1-2

The Bible says that an heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a servant — even though he is lord of all. Everything belongs to him in theory, but in practice he is under governors and administrators until the time appointed by his father.

An heir can be a child forever. There are people who could have stepped into what God has for them, but they have remained spiritual children.

Maturity in God does not come by years — it comes by light. You can be born again for decades and still be a spiritual baby. You can be in a Christian family your whole life and never grow past milk. Equally, someone can be saved for five months and already be more mature than people who have been in church for fifteen years. Maturity is a product of knowledge and light, not time.

The Story of the Inheritance

A man who is infinitely wealthy dies and leaves everything to his child. The administrators give the child 1,000 naira a day when he is five. They give him 50,000 when he is twenty. Then at thirty, they hand over the entire estate — planes in the hangar, companies, property.

Is the man richer at thirty than he was at three? No. The wealth was always his. But it was handed over progressively as he grew.

The Lord said to me once when I was on campus and extremely broke: son, you will never be richer than you are today. It sounded like a curse. But then he explained: as you grow in the things of God, as you grow in knowledge, as you grow in maturity — this inheritance is handed over to you. It was never withheld. It was waiting for you to grow into it.

Everything belongs to you already. But it is transferred to you as you grow.

Grow Up — The Enemy Exploits Immaturity

Galatians 4:7

Therefore you are no more a servant, but a son — and if a son, an heir of God through Christ.

As long as you stay a child, Satan will cheat you. He will take this, steal that, rob you of what is yours — because you do not yet know how to stand in your authority. But when you grow up in God, you begin to understand your authority in Christ, and you are able to insist on it.

Paul was furious with the Galatians because they were arguing over days and seasons — elementary things, childish debates — when they should have been walking in the full inheritance of sons. He said: I am afraid of you. I may have laboured over you in vain.