beginning in verse 23. Paul says, Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise." Let's pray. Father, as we come to You, in light of the reading of Your Word and at this time as we look at this passage together. Lord, we come to You as beggars. And we ask, Lord, that You would help us to understand the great truths that are in this passage. Father, I feel like I am inadequate to even convey all that is here in this passage. But Father, I pray that You would give me the strength, give me the words, and Father, may in all of my feebleness, Father, I pray that Your Spirit would take the preaching of the Word this morning. And Lord, You would open eyes and hearts to see the truths that are found in this passage of Scripture. Father, do not withhold anything from us, but open our eyes to behold these things, because Lord, we cannot understand the things of You, the things that are spiritual in nature, apart from Your Spirit. And so we ask now that You would just give us understanding into Your Word. And Father, I pray that You would set our hearts to rejoice this morning in what we find in this passage of Scripture. O Lord, we ask these things in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. You may be seated. The book of Galatians, I went over the context several times with you, and you know by now, if you've been following along and been here, you know what is going on in the book of Galatians. Basically, it boils down to this. There is the way of man, and then there is the way of God when it comes to salvation. The Galatians, who were a number of churches that Paul had established on his first missionary journey, They had become captivated by the teachings of these false teachers that had risen up among them. These false teachers were telling them that Jesus is not enough, that you need to go on and you need to keep the law and you need to be circumcised. And so they were adding to the Gospel. They were adding to the way of salvation. There's only one way of salvation, and that is through Jesus Christ. Faith alone in Him and His finished work. And there's nothing that we can add to that. And the Apostle Paul knew that. And so he writes to the Galatians to show them the sheer folly of falling into this false teaching. which is not another Gospel. It is nothing but a false Gospel to believe that Jesus isn't enough, that we have to somehow work and add to the work of Christ. And Paul's argument, let's just go through it again, because we don't want to miss this. I want you to think about Paul's argument here. He's been laying out here Two ways of salvation. One that's really not a way of salvation, and one that is the true way of salvation. Paul in chapter 1 and verse 6 through 10. If you'll remember back to that section of Scripture, remember what he said to them about this gospel that they were hearing from these false teachers. He says that it is not really a gospel at all. There is not another gospel other than the gospel that we preach to you, which is Christ and Him alone as the way of salvation. And Paul warned about this false gospel. He warned that it would trouble you, that it was a distortion of the true gospel. He warned that if anybody preached another gospel, that they would be accursed. And then Paul lays out in verse 11, to the end of chapter 1, the gospel that he preached. It was not a gospel that originated with man. It didn't come from Paul. It didn't come from the apostles. But it came by a direct revelation that God had given Paul on the road to Damascus. There God had opened his eyes graciously, called him unto salvation, and gave him the Gospel, the good news of salvation, that salvation is in Christ and Him alone. Then in chapter 2 we learn that when Paul went to Jerusalem, we find there that the apostles, they affirmed this message that Paul was preaching. That that was indeed the Gospel that God had given to man. That Christ alone can save. And so they gave Barnabas and Saul the right hand of fellowship in verse 9 of chapter 2. But then we found in verse 11, Peter got out of line. We find that he got out of line. The circumcision party came while they were at Antioch, and he began to pull away from the Gentiles. And Paul warned Peter. He's like, what are you doing? What are you doing getting caught up in all this hypocrisy? Because we know, as he says in verse 16 of chapter 2, we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. That's the only way of salvation. Then he appeals to the experience of the Galatians to make his argument that there is only one gospel, one way of salvation. In chapter 3 and verses 1-5, we find Paul appealing to their experience. Their experience in receiving the Holy Spirit. He asked them, did the Spirit come to you by the works of the law or by hearing of faith? Then he goes and moves from the experience the Galatians had to something that was more tangible, something that is more solid and true, and that is the Scriptures. And he appeals in v. 6 all the way down to v. 9 to the story of Abraham. And he shows us that Abraham was not saved by circumcision. He was not saved by works, but Abraham, as v. 6 says, believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. He looked to the promises of God and he believed. Then we find in verse 10, all the way down to v. 14 of chapter 3, the folly of trying to live by the law and trying to earn God's salvation that way. For Paul says in v. 10, for all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law and do them. And then the question might be raised, well then Paul, why in the world did God give the law? Why in the world would God give the law to Moses there on Mount Sinai? Well, he explains that in verses 15 through 22, which we looked at last time. And Paul explained that the law, it was never intended to save. But it was added, verse 19, why then the law? It was added because of transgressions. Until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made. In other words, it was put in place until Christ came. It was put in place to show men their sin, to drive them to Christ. That has been Paul's whole argument in this whole book of Galatians, in these three chapters, is that, look, here's the salvation that you're trying to accomplish by the works of the law, and here's the true message of salvation. And look at the utter folly of trying to earn salvation by doing something, by something you can do, by doing works of the law. It's only by faith alone. That's Paul's argument all the way through that there is one Gospel and there is only one way to be made right with God. And that is by faith alone in Jesus Christ. As we come to this passage this morning in verse 23, we see Paul here finishing up one of his train of thought that we looked at last week in regards to the purpose of the law. Here Paul is going to finish that up and then he's going to go into the benefits of faith. I entitled this message, Once Under the Law, Now in Christ. And we're going to see the benefits of that. And I want to camp on that, the last part of these verses, because I want you to see what comes to us when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. But let's begin here this morning in verse 23. Paul says in verse 23, in ending his thought on the law. He says, Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming of faith would be revealed. In verse 23, and if we were to look on to verse 24, which we will look at in just a moment, Paul uses basically three metaphors in describing the law. He pictures the law as a jailer who is held as captive. He envisions the law as being like a prison that has imprisoned us. And then we'll see in v. 24, the law is like a guardian. A person who is like a slave, which we'll see in a moment, who would watch over a child until he reached adulthood. But here in v. 23, Paul begins by saying, now before faith came, we were held captive under the law. What in the world does Paul mean here that before faith came? Before the law, didn't Paul say that Abraham was justified before God by faith alone? Wasn't that Paul's whole argument back in verse 6? That Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness? So what is all this talk now about, Paul says here, before faith came, we were held captive under the law. Was there no faith in the Old Testament? Is that what Paul is saying now? Was he contradicting himself now, saying that there was no faith in the Old Testament until after the law? Is that what he was saying? Was there a time when faith came? Well, that's not what Paul is saying at all when he mentions the word here, faith, in v. 23. If we were to go and look at how the word faith is used in Scripture, we find a few different meanings when it comes to faith. Let me explain what I mean here. First of all, we know that Paul in chapter 3 has been talking about faith. The faith of trusting Christ and Him alone for salvation. And that is faith. That's one way to look at it. Galatians 2.16, Yet we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. But that's not how Paul is using this word here, faith, at least directly. There is the other way, in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 23. There it said of Paul, who became a Christian, he who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. So the word faith in Galatians 1.23 refers to that body of teaching, that doctrine that was being conveyed and taught and preached. That's what Galatians 1.23, how it's basically defining faith. So we have two ways in which faith is being used here. Faith that is preached, the doctrine of Christ and the gospel. And then Galatians 2.16, the faith that we have in Jesus Christ. So here when Paul says in verse 23, when he talks about faith coming, he said, now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. We find here from the context what Paul is talking about. He's referring to that age. He's referring here to two time periods. There was that time period of the law from Moses until Christ. And then he's referring to that time when Christ came on the scene of human history. He's referring to that time. Remember the promise that God had made to Abraham that in his offspring or his seed, Through Him, He would be a blessing to all the nations. And Abraham looked forward to those promises. And that promise that was viewed dimly in the Old Testament. now had come to pass with the coming of Christ. It was seen more fully. And so when Paul says, now before faith came, he's talking about that time period before Christ came. You say, well, how did you get that? Well, look at these verses. He says, Before faith came, we were held captive under the law. Imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until what? Faith came? There he says, until Christ came. in order that we might be justified by faith. So what Paul is talking about here in verse 23 is that time before Christ had been revealed, when the gospel was what they viewed dimly in the Old Testament was made known fully when Christ appeared, that time period before that, he says here of that period, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming of faith, would be revealed. Notice how he describes that time period in human history. Before Christ had come. Now, men were still justified by faith alone, but there was a time, the law, God used that time period to drive men to show the nation of Israel their sinfulness. To show mankind their sinfulness and how they needed a Savior. It was there to prepare them for Christ, for the arrival of Christ. The ceremonies that they kept in the Old Testament were types and shadows. And the substance, the true reality of those things were found in Christ. All of those things pointed to Christ. But the law could never save. It could only point us to Christ. And Paul says here, And using the metaphor, he said, we are captive under the law. In other words, the law, though it was given to Israel to show them, or first of all, to separate them from the pagan nations around them, and to preserve them from the idolatries of the nations around them, it also held them captive. because it showed them their sin. Even though it was there to prevent them from becoming like the pagan nations, and it did in some ways put a fence around them, it also proved to be a curse to them. Because when they were given the law, the Jews could not keep the law, and neither could we. No one could keep the law. Now, the law was good, and it was holy, and it was righteous. And the problem was not with the law, but the problem was with sinners. And the instrument that God had used, which was holy and righteous and good, it became an instrument of condemnation, judgment, and death. For it exposed and revealed to them their sins. And there in verse 23, like a military guard, the law kept a strict and watchful eye over sinners. And as verse 23, further implies, it kept them imprisoned. Instead of treating them as good and righteous, the law treated them as criminals, exposing their sin. But thankfully in this verse, Paul speaks here of another day, a day when the coming faith would be revealed. A day when Christ the Savior would come into the world to save sinners from the curse of the law. That is what Paul is referring to here in verse 23 about these two time periods. There was the law that held men, held Israel, it held them captive and imprisoned, It was before that faith, a revealing of Christ had come. But that day was going to come, and indeed, it did come, and has come. And thankfully, Christ has come into this world to provide salvation for sinners. What Abraham and others by faith looked forward to and longed for, that day came and God fulfilled His promises. And every promise that God had made was yes and amen in Jesus Christ. And that day had come. Now, before we move on here, I just want to summarize what Paul has been saying, lest we get lost in all the details. What Paul is showing us here, once again, is that the law could not save. It could only imprison us. It could only hold us captive, like a watchful guard over us, just show us our sin. And no matter where we go in the world, We could not escape the prison that we were in under the law. You see, there are people who think that, well, I'll just go off on some escapade and go to some other part of the world, and I can do whatever I want. No restraints. There's no one there to watch me. But yet the law is there to watch, and the law is there to hold a person captive. It shows them their sin. Nowhere in the world can you go and escape the judgment of God. The only place we can go is to Christ, and that is it. The law imprisons us, and it holds us captive, and the whole world is silent before God. They stand guilty and condemned. But thankfully that day of Christ has come to redeem us from the curse of the law. Now, to go on and look at the other metaphor that Paul uses in describing the law, let's look at verse 24. We've seen that the law is a jailer, has imprisoned us before Christ was revealed. In verse 24 it says, So then the law was our guardian. Or some of your translations say tutor, or if you have the King James, it says schoolmaster. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. Here's another metaphor that Paul uses in describing the law. And I think the better translation is guardian or tutor, but I'm going with guardian here. Because in the New Testament, what Paul is referring here to is a practice that would take place among the rich people in ancient Greece and Rome. If you were a wealthy person, you would have a child, a newborn baby, and that baby would be under the care of a wet nurse who would then turn that child over to an older woman who would become the child's nanny until about age six. And then at that point, when the child became six years of age, that child was then handed over to a guardian who was a servant, a household slave. And they would hand their child over to that servant, and that servant would take care of that child, and that child would remain in their charge until they reached adulthood. And at that point, the child would gain freedom and become an heir. While the child was under the care of the guardian in the ancient world, or that household slave, the duty of the guardian was to supervise the young child on behalf of the parents. The guardian instructed and taught the child manners, taught them how to act when they were out in public, how to sit down, how to eat food, basically how to behave. Though some of them were no doubt kind, and I'm sure at times there was a great bond between that child and that guardian, many times, and even from extra-biblical writings, we find that many children look to those guardians as mean and harsh. Why? because they held their feet to the fire. These guardians had the ability to use physical force or corporal punishment as a way of keeping the child in line. They would discipline them by tweaking their ear, cuffing their hands, whipping them, caning, and even pinching them. So as you can imagine, many times the children would probably have been scared of these guardians. Because these guardians only represented the law, is what these guardians did. They represented a strict lifestyle. And it wasn't until the child became an adult that they reached freedom. When the child reached adulthood, they gained the freedom, and though they might remain friendly to the law, they were no doubt no longer bound to that guardian. They were friendly to it, but they were no longer bound because a new age, a new day had come in their life. They had reached adulthood. And so when we go to verse 24, and we find that Paul is saying here of the law that it was our guardian until Christ came, that's the imagery he's using in describing the law. The law was like that guardian that was over us, and it was showing us the right way, and it was strict and very judgmental. But as we know, the law could not save. But there came a day in time. There came a day in history. There came a day in our life when that guardian was no more in our life as far as being under that guardian. That day came when faith came. That day came when Christ appeared. When Christ appeared upon human history. That day came for you and I when we placed our faith in Jesus Christ. When we trusted Him and Him alone as Savior and Lord of our life. That was what the law could do. It could not save. It could only prepare us for that time. It could only point us to Christ. That's all it could do. It could never save us. But notice verse 25. Paul speaks of that day that has come, and we will see here the benefits of that day. He says, but now that faith has come. We are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith." In other words, Christ has come into the world. The long-awaited promise given to Abraham has come. We are no longer under a guardian. A new day has dawned. Our coming of age has arrived. Now that age of faith has come which we know is Christ." And notice that here Paul, he incorporates himself. He puts himself in the same position. He says, we, including himself in this, we are no longer under a guardian. And Israel was under the law, but when Christ came, they were no longer under that guardian. And the same is true, as I said, of everybody who has had faith in Jesus Christ. The promise of justification by faith alone has now been fully realized in the coming of Christ. And for all who have placed their faith in Christ alone for salvation, Paul says here in verses 25-26, but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God. through faith. In other words, if your faith is in Christ, you are no longer under the law, it no longer can condemn you, it no longer pronounces a penalty over you. As Romans 8, 1-5 says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemns sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Now before we move on, I want to make note of something here. First of all, Paul has primarily been speaking about that duration of the time of the law, historically speaking, that time that has come and gone for the believer now that Christ has appeared. Christ fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law for every believer, and those who are in Christ are no longer under its curse. They are no longer condemned by the law. But what about those who have never come to faith in Christ? Has that age gone? Is the law no more? Is that what Paul is saying here? Absolutely not. If you are not a believer, now you may believe in God, you may believe in Christ, but if you've never trusted in Christ alone for your salvation, then you are still held captive by the law. The law still pronounces its penalty over you. It still pronounces judgment over you. And it says of you that you are condemned because you violated God's law. And the only hope for you is to come to Christ in faith. To trust that He has done everything possible, not possible, but everything that God required to fulfill the law on your behalf. He is the One who has lived the perfect life. He is your righteousness. He has been condemned. And He paid the price upon the cross. He bore the wrath of God. All of those things. He did those things, and if you put your faith and trust in Christ, then there will be no more condemnation. The prison gates will come open, and there will be true freedom in your life. Now, if you are a Christian, I want you to notice here the four benefits, the four things that are found in Christ. When I was a young boy, I remember after I got saved, I remember sitting in church, And typically, a lot of times, unfortunately, services were geared only towards the unbeliever. And so there wasn't much there for the believer. It was always kind of like a revival or crusade trying to get everybody saved. And there's nothing wrong with that. We want to see people come to know Christ. But I remember sitting there as a boy, and there was always the appeal to the lost person, but not much appeal to the believer. And I sat there in church, and I would think, Is this it? God sent Jesus and He saved me now, but what now? Is that it? Is it just I'm waiting around to die? Beloved, in the Scriptures, there is a ton. The Gospel is not just for when you become a Christian. It is for your entire life. Look at the implications here of the Gospel for your life if you are a believer. Verse 26. Paul says of the faith is come, we are no longer under the guardian. He says in verse 26, For in Christ Jesus you were all sons of God through faith. Do you see here what this verse implies? He says, in Christ Jesus, through faith, you were all sons of God. First of all, this verse implies that there was a time when we were not sons of God. The Bible makes it clear that not all are sons of God. You hear this sometimes. You hear people say, well, we're all sons of God. Humanity is the children of God. No, we're the creation of God. God has created every single one of us, but not all are children of God. For example, Romans 5.10 implies that before faith in Christ, we were enemies of God. Ephesians 2.3 states that before we were Christians, we were children of wrath. We were under the wrath of God. John 8.44 and 1 John 3 reminds us that every unbeliever, every person that is outside of Christ is not a child of God, but a child of the devil. We find that in several places in Scripture. So, here though, we see that those who have placed their faith in Christ are sons of God. No longer are they enemies of God. No longer are they children of wrath and children of the devil. Something has taken place in them. Now we are sons of God. But let's take this a little bit further. This verse implies that there is only one way to become a child of God. For in Christ Jesus, You are all sons of God through faith. Do you see that? The only way that you can become a child of God is by faith in Christ Jesus. It is only through Christ and faith in Him alone that we become children of God. John 1.12, as many as received Him, He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name. Notice here that it says, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God. The word all here does not mean all. Not every single person on this planet, as we've already looked at, are children of God. Who are the all here? Those who have put their faith. in Jesus Christ. All doesn't mean everyone is a son of God, but every race, every nation, every person and every people group that have placed their trust in Christ, they are children of God. They are sons of God. Now, there's yet another thing this verse implies. Once we are not a child of God, we were a child of the devil, but once we place our faith in Christ, what happens? We're now a child of God. What does that mean? What is Paul getting at here? Well, in other passages we find this doctrine called adoption. That is what Paul is getting at here. This verse reminds us of that beautiful doctrine of adoption. Reminding us of the awesome privileges that come with being adopted. Now, what does that mean? My children are adopted. It means that I love them. They are my children. Everything that is mine is theirs. They receive an inheritance. I love the old confessions of faith, the Baptist confessions of faith. In the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, in that section on adoption, it says this, in describing what adoption entails. It says, all those that are justified, that is, those who have been graciously adopted by God, now, quote, have access to the throne of grace with boldness. Before, when we were a sinner, God doesn't listen to the prayers of sinners. Only the prayer of crying out to God to save them. But now, we as children, we have access to come boldly to the throne of grace. We can go to God. He's no longer an enemy and a judge. Now, He is a friend. He is our Father. The Baptist confession there goes on to say that we are enabled to cry, Abba, Father. He's not just God, He is God. But now He is our Father. And think about all that that word entails. I am a Father. My children can come to Me. And them coming to Me, I pity them. I protect them. I provide for them. All of those things are bound up in fatherhood. I want to listen to them. I want to hear them. As a father, it goes on, it says, of this adoption, we are pitied. We are protected. He protects us from the evil one. He keeps us from going astray. He provides for us. We don't have to worry now. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount? Don't be anxious for anything about what you'll eat or what you'll wear. God provides all of these things, doesn't He? Seek first the Kingdom of God. He not only does that, but He chastens us. He disciplines us. If you are not a child of God, then God's not going to discipline you. But if you are a child of God, just like my children, I discipline them because I love them. And God does that to us as well. He never cast us off, but we are sealed into the day of redemption. As Ephesians 1.13 says, we have been given the Spirit of God as a seal of redemption. A seal, a guarantee. We also receive the inheritance, the promises, as heirs of everlasting salvation. That is what is bound up in this verse 26. All of those who have faith, they are now in Christ, now are sons of God. So we've been adopted. We're now children of God. But yet there's more. Look at verse 27. For as many as of you were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Water baptism by immersion is a beautiful picture of what happens spiritually when a person comes to Christ. Every believer is to be baptized as a public profession that they are now following Christ. However, that isn't the type of baptism Paul is referring to here. Paul in this passage is referring to the spiritual baptism of being identified with Christ, with an immersion into the life of Christ. In other words, a believer has now been clothed in Christ, and their whole way of life has now changed. They no longer lived how they once did. Let me read to you Romans 6, not the entire chapter, but Paul speaks about this union we now have with Christ. What is true of Him becomes true of us. He says this in Romans 6. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into His death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For the one who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Do you see what Paul is saying here? You have been united with Christ. You've been baptized into Christ the moment you put your faith and trust in Christ. And so the life that Christ lives, His resurrection life, what is true of Christ becomes true of us. He was raised from the dead, defeating the power of sin and death, and the same thing has happened to you. Death and sin no longer has dominion over you. You now can walk in the newness of life, in holiness and in righteousness, because you have been united to Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. You've been baptized into Christ. There's a third thing. Look at v. 28. He says in v. 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. So once again, when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, unity happens. Unity happens among the body. Remember Peter early on in chapter 2? What did he do when the circumcision party came in? who were saying that, hey, more than Christ, you need to be circumcised in order to be saved. He began to separate. Barnabas began to separate from these Gentiles who had not been circumcised. There was division among the body instead of unity. But what does the Gospel do? The Gospel, it breaks down all barriers. And notice the three barriers that Paul mentions here. Neither Jew nor Greek, that is ethnic barriers. There is neither slave nor free, that is social and economic barriers. There is no male and female. The physical barriers. All of those things, all those things of pride, the Gospel destroys. And it is the Gospel that brings unity. We live in a day and age when the liberals on TV are saying, we need racial reconciliation. Oh, we need to incorporate the Muslims. We need unity and this and that. But you notice how it never brings unity? It only brings more division. Their pathway to unity. There is only one way to unite people. There is only one way to break down all of those classes that bring about pride. And that is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are a church that is centered upon the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we understand these things, there will be unity that you cannot break. There will be unity, it doesn't matter if people are black, white, purple, whatever. There's going to be unity. If there's rich and poor within the congregation, if you have a church that preaches the Gospel, and people know the Gospel, and this has truly happened to them, that they've been identified with Christ, there's going to be no barriers. It's going to bring about unity. And that's what Christ does amongst His people. Now, there's not unity with the unbeliever, because the unbeliever does not submit to Christ. But among those who know Jesus Christ, there will be unity. Many times in some of the short-term mission trips that I've taken around the world, I remember one of the things that's always stood out to me. I can go to a country where a man has grown up in a totally different lifestyle. He's a different color than I am. He speaks a different language. And he's living in a country that's different than mine. But yet, when we find out that we're Christians, guess what? There's automatically this unity, this brotherly love, this hospitality between us, this love for one another, because we're both centered around one thing, and that is the Person of Jesus Christ. We must be careful here though in this verse. The last part of it says there's neither male nor female. Some will use this passage to say that men and women can have the same roles. No, they're equal. They're equal before the foot of the cross. They both need Christ. God relates to them equally, but yet when it comes to the roles of Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female, there are different roles that we play. The husband, as the Scripture says, is the head of the wife. The wife is to submit to the husband. I know that word submit gets a lot of negative baggage today, but it doesn't mean what the world thinks it means. But my point is this, we are all equal. We all participate in the body of Christ as one. But then there's one last thing, and we will close with this, verse 29. We've seen that we are in Christ. We are now children of God. We are united with Christ. We now are able to live a righteous life because of that union. We are now unified as believers. breaking down every barrier, and now we are heirs of Christ. Verse 29, And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. Notice it says, if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring. You say, well, I'm not a Jew. I didn't come from the loins of Abraham. Well, if you have faith and trust in Christ, then you are the true Israel. That's what the Bible says. Read Romans 9. Not all of Israel is Israel. It's the ones who have faith and trust in the Gospel, in Jesus Christ alone, who are the true offspring of Abraham. But notice here, it says that if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring. And what does that mean? Heirs according to the promise. Here we find that if we are in Christ, we are Abraham's offspring, and we are heirs. And what did we learn back in 3.16? In chapter 3 and verse 16, we learn this. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say into offsprings, referring to the many, but referring to the one. And to your offspring, who is Christ. So there Paul said that the promise came to Abraham And then it was found its yes and amen in Christ, who is the offspring. But now we find that we are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. We have access to the promises because of our faith. We have been united to Christ by faith. And so the promises that God gave to Abraham, the internal inheritance is ours. Yes, there was that plot of land in the Middle East that God had promised to the Israelites, but it went farther than that. We find in Hebrews 11 that Abraham looked beyond that. He looked to a kingdom whose foundations and maker was God. We find in Romans 4, these words in verse 13, "...for the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be the heir of the world." did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. God promised Abraham the world. This is why Paul could say in 1 Corinthians, I believe it's chapter 4 to the Corinthians, all things are yours. That's why in Matthew 5.5 it says, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit what? The earth. Everything is ours. The inheritance is ours. As people, citizens of this world, why clamber around and try to gather up as many things as we can in this world? Why act like the unbeliever who acts like this is it? Get all you can. Go out and take risks. Go out as though you are the heir of the world. Because that is the promise that is coming to you through Christ. of all the internal inheritance. Now, we don't have time to go into all of that, and I'm not for sure we even know all that is ours in Christ. We will be utterly amazed that day when we enter into eternity. But we have an inheritance. It's an inheritance of eternal salvation. Free from wrath and condemnation. A promised land ahead of us. This morning, if you are in Christ, think of all that is yours in Christ. You've been united with Christ. You have been adopted. There is unity now. There's no barriers. And you have an inheritance. And this all comes through faith. What an amazing act of love. Guys, do we not see what's going on here? We did not deserve this. But God gave this to us graciously through Jesus Christ. You may be here this morning and you're outside of Christ. None of these things apply to you until you are in Christ. You may be thinking that your attendance to church, your membership, or your baptism, or whatever saves you. The flesh profits nothing, but the Spirit gives life. It's only through faith in Jesus Christ that you can be made right with God. Stop trying to work and earn your salvation. That is blasphemy. That is breaking the first commandment. Only God can do that. Don't try to be God. Don't try to do something that only He can do. Christ has done it all. He came to redeem us from the curse of the law. The law pronounced a sentence over you that you're guilty. And the only way to be declared righteous, the only way to be declared not guilty, is through faith alone in Jesus Christ. And if that's you this morning, you're outside of Christ, trust Him by faith and repent of your sins. Turn from your sins and turn to Christ by faith. And these promises in Christ will become yours. Let's pray. Father, as we come to You this morning, Father, I feel like we have just barely skimmed the surface of all that is here in these verses. Father, help us to meditate upon these things and to think deeply about all that is ours in Christ. Thank You, Lord, for the love that You've showed us in Christ. And thank You, Father, for the great inheritance and the salvation that we have in Jesus. Lord, we praise Your great name. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.