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If you please take your Bibles
and open with me to the book of Galatians, be in Galatians
chapter three. verse 26, and we'll actually
go through, Lord willing, chapter four, verse seven this morning. Galatians chapter three, starting
in verse 26. We've come to this particular
section of Galatians on the heels of Paul's comparison of the law
and the promise. And as Paul was explaining last
time, the purpose of the law in verses 19 through 24, he made
it clear that humanity was held captive. We were imprisoned.
Like an underage child, we were under the law as a guardian until
the coming faith would be revealed. And Paul then concluded his discourse
on the law in verse 25 by saying, but now that faith has come,
we are no longer under a guardian. In other words, we are no longer
underage children, as it were. We have reached maturity through
faith in Christ. And this leads to the wonderful
conclusion that we'll be focusing on today, verse 26. In Christ
Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. Through faith
in Christ, each and every believer has been adopted into the family
of God. And this is wonderful, wonderful
news. Well, let us pray, and then we'll
read our text together. Father, I plead with you to pour
your spirit out upon us now. Would you anoint the ears of
those who are under the sound of my voice? Those who are your
children, Lord, would you comfort them with this great truth that
they are adopted sons through faith in Christ? Lord, for those
who are outside of Christ, would you make membership in your family
so appealing to them? that they flee to Christ irresistibly
and find life. Do all that and more we pray
for your glory in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Let's read
our text. We're gonna be starting in 26,
but let's begin our reading at verse 23 to gain a little bit
of additional context. Galatians chapter three, starting
in verse 23. Hear the word of God. 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's,
then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. I mean that an heir, as long
as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the
owner of everything. But he is under guardians and
managers until the date set by his father. In the same way,
also, when we were children, we're enslaved to the elementary
principles of the world. But when the fullness of time
had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under
the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might
receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God
has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying, Abba,
Father. So you are no longer a slave,
but a son. And if a son than an heir through
God. Amen. Chapter 12 of our confession
of faith is only a single paragraph, but it is a potent paragraph. And I wanna read that for you
now. Chapter 12 of adoption. All those that are justified,
God conferred in and for the sake of his only son, Jesus Christ,
to make partakers of the grace of adoption. By which they're
taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and privileges
of the children of God. They have his name put on them.
They receive the spirit of adoption. They have access to the throne
of grace with boldness. They are enabled to cry, Abba,
Father. They are pitied, protected, provided
for. And they're chastened by him
as a father, yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption. And they inherit the promises
as heirs of everlasting salvation. What a list of privileges that
we have as children of God. Well, as we go through these
verses this morning, my prayer is that God will cause you to
appreciate all the more this grace of adoption, that he would
impress upon your mind and that he would comfort your soul with
the words of verse 26, that in Christ Jesus, you are all sons
of God through faith. And to help guide our examination
of this passage, I've established three headings for us. Firstly,
chapter three, verses 26 through 29, we see true sonship, true
sonship. Next, under our second heading
in chapter four, verses one through three, we see a temporary slavery,
temporary slavery. And finally, under our third
heading in chapter four, verses four through seven, we see a
Trinitarian salvation. Trinitarian Salvation. So those three headings once
again, True Sonship, Temporary Slavery, and Trinitarian Salvation. Let us begin first with True
Sonship. Look with me again to verse 26.
For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. Again, Paul begins here by giving
us the glorious conclusion to the preceding verses. Before
faith came, we were held captive under the law. We were imprisoned
until the coming faith would be revealed. The law was our
guardian. But now that faith has come,
we are no longer held captive under the law. We are no longer
imprisoned. We are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are
all sons of God through faith. Now this, brothers and sisters,
is the glorious doctrine of adoption. When we look at what theologians
call the ordo salutis, or the order of salvation, that simply
being man's way of dividing up the different stages of the way
of salvation, when we look at the order of salvation, we see
something like this. There is God's eternal election
and predestination of his elect people. There is the effectual
calling of God's elect people in time. There is regeneration
and renewal by the Holy Spirit. There is conversion, where the
person who has been regenerated exercises faith and repentance. There is justification, God's
declaration that this sinner is now righteous in his sight.
And then there is adoption, membership into God's family, sanctification,
and finally, glorification. I think if we're honest, our
tendency at times is to prioritize justification when we are thinking
of our salvation. And this is certainly proper
because without justification, we have no forgiveness. We have
no hope for eternity. But as important as justification
is, and as important as Paul thinks it is, because after all,
justification is the main emphasis of this entire letter to the
Galatians. But for as important as justification
is, I think we too often neglect the doctrine of adoption. But Paul, here in verses 26 and
following, he's not going to let us forget the doctrine of
adoption. For in Christ Jesus, you are
all sons of God through faith. Now the all here, you are all
sons of God, it refers to all the believers in Galatia. And by extension, it refers to
all believers of all time. It refers to everyone for whom
faith has come as we read in, excuse me, in verse 25. If faith
in Christ has come for you, then you are a son of God. And Paul's
use of the word sons here is intentional, and it's important
for us to understand. Now, to be sure, Paul is not
speaking here only to the men in Galatia. No, he's speaking
to all for whom faith has come, all who have faith in Christ.
He's speaking to both men and women. But the cultural significance
of being a son is what we need to grasp here. And this can be
a challenge for us because we live in a very egalitarian age. We like to flatten out the differences
between men and women and pretend like they don't exist. But it
wasn't so in the ancient world. In the ancient world, sons were
the heirs of their father's possessions. This right was generally not
granted to daughters, but to sons alone. So in using this
expression, sons of God, as he's speaking to the believing men
and women in Galatia, Paul is making clear that the inheritance
that comes through faith is not reserved for a certain class
of Christian, but it's given freely to all who have faith
in Christ, both men and women. Again, in Christ Jesus, you are
all sons of God through faith. Now, something else we should
notice here, if you'll remember, earlier in verse seven, Paul
declared that it was those of faith who were what? The sons
of Abraham. But here he goes further. Those
of faith are the sons of God. Paul is upping the ante, as it
were, here. Not only are the believing Galatians
sons of Abraham, more foundationally, they're the sons of God. And
the same is true for you and for me if we, as Paul says next
here in verse 26, are in Christ through faith. Now as we're reading
Galatians, we always have to keep in view this contrast that
Paul is holding up for us to see. From the middle of chapter
two through the middle of chapter five, Paul is contrasting faith
and works. And he's arguing for the supremacy
of hearing with faith over and against works of the law as it
relates to receiving the inheritance of justification. So when Paul
says that in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith,
He's reminding the Galatians once again that the message that
they've fallen prey to, the false gospel of the Judaizers, that
faith plus works is actually what makes a man or woman right
before God, Paul is once again tearing down this false gospel.
It is through faith alone that one is justified, and it's through
faith alone that one becomes a son of God. This is not a privilege
that can be earned through law-keeping, but it is a right that is to
be received through faith alone. So believer in Christ, because
faith has come for you. By the mercies of God, you are
a true son of God. You have been adopted into the
family of God. And Paul goes on next to highlight
three aspects or three privileges, if you will, of true sonship,
three privileges of adoption that are true for you who are
sons of God through faith. Firstly, to be a true son of
God is to be in union with Jesus Christ. Look with me to verse
27. For as many of you as were baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. Now the ordinance of baptism
is symbolic of the believer's union with Jesus Christ by faith. It's symbolic of the believer
having been crucified with Christ, having been buried with him,
and then having been raised with him to walk in newness of life. The true son of God is the one
who has been baptized into Christ. As Paul says, if you've been
baptized into Christ, you have what? You have put on Christ. So by baptism, we put on Jesus
Christ. Now, we need to remember for
a moment that Jesus, his sonship is different than ours. Christ
is the Son of God by virtue of eternal generation. He has been
the Son of God for all eternity. And the same isn't true for us.
Our sonship began at a particular point in time, and it began when
what? when we heard the gospel with
faith. It began when we put on the Son of God by faith, and
that putting on of Christ by faith, it is symbolized in our
baptism. So for as much as we must deny
the heresy that the ordinance of baptism somehow regenerates
a person, again, after all, remember, what is Paul's point of this
letter? Chapter 2, verse 16, Paul says
that we know a person is not justified by works of the law,
but through faith in Christ. Works of the law, whether that
be the positive laws of the old covenant, the chief of which
being circumcision, which is what the Judaizers were making
such a big deal about, or whether that be the positive laws of
the new covenant, baptism, the Lord's Supper, works of the law
in either covenant will not justify a person. In fact, remember what
Paul said, if you rely on works of the law, you are what? You're
under a curse. So we have to deny the heresy
of baptismal regeneration. However, we must also deny the
idea that baptism, when it is mixed with faith, is nothing
more than an empty sign. To be sure, without faith, water
baptism is powerless. It is an empty sign if it is
not mixed with faith. But when it is mixed with faith,
It is a means of grace by which our union with Christ is sealed
and confirmed. Now, I know for a fact that there
are some of you here in this room who are wrestling with the
question of your status before God. Have I trusted in Christ? Have I placed all my hope for
eternity in Christ? Is my faith really strong enough
in Christ? Now, if that is you, I want you
to consider that the ordinance of baptism is commanded by the
Lord Jesus, in part, for what reason? To strengthen your faith.
Yes, it is true. By being baptized, you are publicly
professing to be a disciple of Christ. But I would submit to
you that baptism is not only, or even mainly, something that
you do. Baptism is a means of grace. Like the Lord's Supper, it is
an instrument. It is a channel that God uses
to pour out his grace upon his children to confirm and strengthen
their faith in Christ. So if you are wrestling with
this question today of, have I placed my faith in Christ?
Is my faith strong enough? to consider church membership
and baptism? Do I take that next step, or
do I wait until I've seen enough fruit in my life, until I've
seen enough works that make me somehow acceptable before God?
If this is you, if you can honestly say that you are trusting in
the Lord Jesus Christ to save you, if you know that you have
no other hope besides Him, and yet you are not pursuing baptism,
then I would suggest to you that you are in sin. And beyond that,
that you are withholding from yourself what would otherwise
be a great blessing to you and a strengthening to you of your
faith. For as many of you as were baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. If you have been adopted by God,
you are in union with Jesus Christ. Again, baptism being a sign and
confirmation of this union. Next, in verse 28, we see that
to be a true son of God is not only to be in union with the
Lord Jesus Christ, it is to be in union with other believers. Look with me there. Verse 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. Now, as we mentioned earlier,
in the ancient world, class distinctions were the order of the day. And
the Judaizers, despite their outward profession of faith in
Christ, they had not broken away from this cultural trend. And
remember how in chapter two, Paul recounts the time that these
same Judaizers came to his home church in Antioch while Peter
was visiting. And we remember that even Peter
was drawn back into this pre-Christ prejudice that led him to forsake
eating with the Gentile Christians in Antioch. And Paul had to publicly
rebuke Peter for what? For walking out of step with
the gospel. And so Paul's emphasis here in
verse 28 on the unity of believers in Christ is in sharp contrast
to the prevailing structure of the ancient world. And Paul declares
here that as it relates to true sonship, as it relates to adoption,
there are no ethnic distinctions, neither Jew nor Greek. There
are no legal or social distinctions, neither slave nor free, and there
are no gender distinctions, no male and female. All this to
say is it relates to true sonship, to adoption. God is no respecter
of persons. There is no distinction between
different types of people. And when we think about this,
the same is true for the judgment of God, isn't it? The Bible says
that all have sinned, both Jew and Greek, all have sinned, and
fall short of the glory of God. Well, in the same way, as it
relates to adoption, 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. The only distinction is faith. Do you have faith? If so, then
you are an adopted son of God. It doesn't matter where you are
from. It doesn't matter what color you are. It doesn't matter
how much money you make. It doesn't matter if you are
male or female. Again, this is why God calling
his adopted children sons is so amazing. In ancient Israel,
would a Greek ever be called a son? In ancient Israel, would
a slave ever be called a son? Would a daughter ever be called
a son? No. But in God's economy of salvation,
all are one in Christ Jesus. As it's been said, the ground
is level at the foot of the cross. And Paul, I think, is touching
here on the one new man that we read of in Ephesians chapter
two. That dividing wall of hostility
has been destroyed and Christ has created in himself one new
man in place of the two. So making peace. And what's more,
Christ has reconciled all types of believers to God in one body
through the cross, killing any and all hostility that may have
existed between different types of people when they were outside
of Christ. True sonship, true adoption is
to be united to all believers everywhere, regardless of differences,
and to be united to them in Christ. Now we have to acknowledge that
this verse has been abused by those who would seek to tear
down any and all distinctions in the created order of God. And that is a gross misuse of
this verse. In the created order, there are
different ethnicities. God created nations, which are
defined in large part by the ethnic makeup of those within
that nation. Spiritual union in Christ does
not destroy those ethnic realities. In the created order, people
have different legal or social statuses. For example, God created
civil government, where select individuals enjoy a higher status
and rule over their citizens. In several New Testament letters,
Paul writes and he addresses different believers of different
statuses, speaking to them at their particular station in life. He writes to children and parents.
He writes to slaves and masters. He writes to husbands and to
wives. Spiritual union in Christ does
not destroy and render null and void these different legal and
social statuses. Finally, in the created order,
there are two distinct genders, despite what you may have heard.
Genesis 1.27, God created man in his own image. In the image
of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Spiritual union in Christ does
not destroy the male-female distinction in creation. It doesn't. In the
created order, distinctions will always exist between different
ethnicities, between different legal and social statuses, between
men and women. Yet, as it relates to true sonship
and adoption into God's family, these distinctions are irrelevant. 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. Well, lastly, under this
heading of true sonship, we see that being a true son of God
is to be an heir according to promise. Look with me to verse
29. And if you are Christ's, then
you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. Well, the first three verses
of our passage, I believe, find their apex here. Notice the pattern
in the preceding verses. Verse 26, for in Christ, Verse 27, baptized into Christ. Verse 28, you are all one in
Christ. In Christ, baptized into Christ,
one in Christ. And now verse 29, you are Christ's. You belong to Christ, you are
his possession. Now please note that the if here,
and if you are Christ's, this is not meant as a question, but
as the logical conclusion of Paul's preceding statements. You are in Christ, you have been
baptized into Christ, you are all one in Christ, therefore,
for these reasons, you are Christ's. And because you are Christ's,
you are Abraham's offspring, you are heirs according to the
promise. Now we read in verse 16, we saw
this last time, that Christ is Abraham's singular offspring. And Paul is saying to the Galatians
here, because you are in Christ, because you have been baptized
into Christ, because you are all one in Christ, because of
your union with Christ, you are also now Abraham's offspring. And the logical conclusion for
the believing Galatians is that because they are Abraham's offspring,
they too are heirs according to promise. Now remember that
in verse 16, Paul was pretty clear that the inheritance, the
promise of justification and the gift of the spirit, it was
made to Abraham and it was made to Abraham's singular offspring,
who is Christ. He doesn't say anything in there
about that promise being made to us. But through Christ, the inheritance
of justification, the gift of the Holy Spirit, those promises
flow through Christ to his believing people. Because of your adoption
into God's family, you are a fellow heir with Christ. The promises
that are made to him are made to you by faith. Again, if you are Christ, then
you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. And so we've seen under this
first heading that true sonship, to be an adopted son of God,
it is to be in union with Christ, it is to be in union with other
believers, and it is to be an heir according to promise, not
according to law keeping, not according to ethnicity, not according
to economic status, not according to gender or any other distinction,
but it's to receive the inheritance through faith in Christ alone. Next, under our second heading,
let us see a temporary slavery. As we look to these first three
verses of chapter four, Paul simply expands upon his previous
argument in chapter three, verses 19 through 25, as to the purpose
of the law. Once again, previously, Paul
stated that the law was given because of transgressions, that
the law imprisoned and held everyone captive under sin, that the law
was our guardian until Christ should come, and all this for
the end goal of what? Verse 24. that we might be justified
by faith. As we saw last time, the law
shows how far short men and women and children fall from the glory
of God. The law shows us that we are
sinners. The law shows us that the wages of sin is death. The law impresses upon us our
dire need for a savior. So far from being a way to earn
righteousness before God, the law was put in place to serve
the gospel promise. It was put in place to lead men
and women and children to Christ so that they may be justified
by faith. As we read in Romans 10 verse
four, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
who believes. So in these first three verses
of chapter four, Paul simply expands upon this previous argument,
and in doing so, he draws from his previous analogy of the law
as a guardian. And the guardian of the law watches
over the heir while he is yet a child, until he reaches maturity,
until he reaches true sonship, as it were, and is able to receive
the promised inheritance. Look with me to chapter four,
verses one and two. 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. But he is under guardians and
managers until the date set by his father." Well, in comparing
the child to a slave, Paul is not saying here that they're
the same in status. The child is, after all, the
rightful owner of the whole estate. Yet regarding their freedom of
action, the child and the slave are equal. They are both subject
to rules and restrictions. Neither the child nor the slave
have the ability or the freedom to make their own decisions.
And this is a metaphor for humanity's spiritual state before the coming
of Christ. All humanity, both Jews and Gentiles,
were imprisoned and held captive under the law. As it were, everyone
was under guardians and managers. The Jews were held captive under
the written law of God given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The
Gentiles were held captive under the law revealed to them in creation
and in their consciences. Both were under the curse of
that law because of their sin and transgressions. Now, this
imprisonment and captivity of the child would remain until,
as Paul says, the date that was set by his father. When that
date comes, the child will receive his inheritance. The guardians
and managers are removed and the child takes possession of
the estate that is rightfully his. Again, this is a metaphor
for the spiritual state of humanity. The date set by the father is
analogous to the coming of Christ, what Paul's going to refer to
in verse four as the fullness of time. And when Christ comes,
or more specifically as we saw last time in verse 25, when faith
in Christ comes, the guardians and managers are removed. The captivity of the law is removed
and the believer receives the promised inheritance, namely
justification and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Well, Paul then
brings this illustration to a close in verse three by saying this,
in the same way also, when we were children, were enslaved
to the elementary principles of the world. Just like the child
who is under guardians and managers, Paul is saying we also, both
Jews and Gentiles, Jew and Gentile believers, we also were enslaved,
we were held captive, we were imprisoned until the coming of
Christ. Now this phrase elementary principles
is in reference to the basic components of learning, particularly
the fundamental principles of religious learning. Think of
it as the ABCs of religion, whether that be Jewish religion or Gentile
religion. Commentator William Hendrickson
defines elementary principles in this way. These are elementary
teachings regarding rules and regulations by means of which
before Christ's coming, people, both Jew and Gentile, each in
their own way, attempted by their own efforts and in accordance
with the promptings of their own fleshly and unregenerate
nature to achieve salvation. Essentially, these elementary
principles can be understood to be anything that men use to
get right with God that is not faith alone and Christ alone.
This can be works of the law. This can be heathen rituals or
ceremonies. This can be church membership.
This can be baptism. This can be philanthropy. This
can be science. This can be philosophy. This
can be anything that seeks to supplant Christ alone as the
only way to God. And truthfully, the list is practically
endless and really only limited by the creativity of the person
who is in bondage to these things. Now, as it related to the Jews
in Galatia, the elementary principles probably is in reference to the
types and shadows that were contained in the ceremonial law of Moses. But these types and shadows were
not an end in and of themselves. What were they there for? They
were there to point people to the coming Messiah. Now, as it
related to the Gentiles in Galatia, the elementary principles is
probably in reference to their different heathen ceremonies
and forms of religion, the things that kept them in bondage before
Paul came into Galatia and preached Christ to them and set them free
from that bondage. Now there's something here that
speaks to the clarity of God's revelation of himself in nature
and in creation and how that revelation drives people who
have never heard of Jesus Christ to seek after and worship and
serve some higher power. We see something of this ingrained
desire that all humans have to worship in Acts chapter 17. Paul is speaking to the Athenians
who had a myriad of idols and religious artifacts scattered
all throughout Athens. And upon seeing this, Paul makes
the comment to them, men of Athens, I perceive that in every way
you are very religious. These men knew nothing of Jesus
Christ, yet they were in every way very religious. To cover their bases, they even
had an altar that was dedicated to the unknown God. And that's the springboard that
Paul uses to preach the gospel to them. The Athenians, though,
the point being, were enslaved by the elementary principles
of the world. They had surrendered themselves
to ordinances and ceremonies that they thought would bring
them redemption, so much so that they had an altar to the unknown
God. This is heartbreaking. My friends, there are people
all around us, not just in the four corners of the world, but
people next door to us, people in our own homes even, who are
no closer to God than the Athenians were when Paul encountered them
in Acts chapter 17. And so the question is, what
are we going to do to be the Paul? to be the one who goes
in with the lifeline of the gospel to deliver those in bondage to
these elementary principles of the world. What are we going
to do to support the Paul who is going in with the lifeline
of the gospel? We are so privileged to have
God's word in our own language. We are so privileged to be at
a church where we hear the word of God handled rightly by God's
grace. I'm afraid sometimes those privileges
dull our senses to the spiritual state of those around us. So
may God give us hearts that break for those who are in bondage
to the elementary principles of the world. And may we do what
we can with the skills, with the resources, with the temperament,
with the personality, all of those things that God has given
us to help free those who are in bondage. And so we've seen
the temporary slavery of believers under the law of God, just as
the heir is subject to guardians and managers until the date set
by his father, until he is of age, if you will. Believers were
held captive under the demands and curses of the law until Christ
came, until, as we read next, the fullness of time had come.
And as we move to verses four through seven, we get the privilege
of seeing a beautiful testimony to the Trinitarian salvation
worked by our God for each and every one of his adopted children.
Look with me, if you will, starting in verse four. But when the fullness
of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born
under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that
we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons,
God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Paul begins by making reference
to the fullness time. This is the substance of his
earlier analogy in verse 2 where he spoke of a child being under
guardians and managers until the date set by his father. The fullness of time is that
date set by the child's father. And Paul's use of the word fullness
here tells us that there was a building up to this point. There was a working towards this
point that had been ongoing since the dawn of time. And Pastor
Jerry made reference to it during the expository scripture reading.
This is covenant theology. And we think back to Genesis
3.15, when the first promise of the gospel was made to Adam
and Eve in the garden, that the seed of the woman, would come
and crush the head of the serpent. And then as history unfolded,
the same gospel promise was progressively revealed through what our confession
refers to as farther steps. And this is simply in reference
to God's subsequent covenants with men, each of them building
more and more to the coming of Christ. When God destroyed the
world with a flood, he didn't wipe out all of mankind. but
he saved Noah and his family. And in this way, God's redemptive
purposes were served because in preserving Noah and his family,
he was preserving the means by which the seed of the woman would
be born. God then called a heathen man,
Abram, from Ur of the Chaldeans. He promised Abram that through
his offspring, all the nations of the earth would be blessed,
and we've learned in our study of Galatians that the offspring
referred to in that promise is Christ. Through Christ would
all the nations of the earth be blessed. And many years after
that, when God's people were in captivity in a foreign land,
he heard their cries for help, and the Bible says that he what?
He remembered the covenant that he made with Abraham. And through
Moses, God delivered his people from slavery and he entered into
covenant with Israel and he gave them the ceremonial law. He gave
them the priesthood and the sacrifices. And the people of God learned
under that covenant that there is no blessing without righteousness. They learned that without the
shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. They learned
that without a high priest, there is no one to mediate between
God and man. And through these types and shadows,
they were made aware of their sin and of their need for a savior
who could make atonement for them. And as redemptive history
continued onward, God established his covenant with David. God's
promise of redemption now narrowing from a chosen people to a chosen
family. And in this covenant, God guaranteed
to David, the king of Israel, that his throne would be established
forever, that a son of his would sit on his throne forever. And by faith, David embraced
this promise and he went on to write these words about his future
son who would sit on his throne forever. David would write, the
Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your
enemies your footstool. David saw that this son of his
who was to reign forever would not be an ordinary son, but this
son would also be his Lord. And so in Adam, we see God's
creation stained and cursed by sin, but it's not left without
a future hope. Again, the seed of the woman
would come and crush the head of the serpent. In Noah, we see
God's righteous judgment displayed in the flood, but also his mercy
is displayed in the preservation of Noah and his family. And then from Abraham to Moses
to David, we see the future hope of God's redemptive plan becoming
more clear. A single nation would bring about
a specific person who would fulfill the righteous requirements of
the law perfectly. who would rule and bless the
nations, and who would finally crush the head of the serpent. And this, of course, is fulfilled
by Jesus Christ, who appeared when the fullness of time had
come. One commentator says this regarding
the timing of Christ's first coming. Excuse me. Quote, God
does nothing prematurely, but foreseeing the end from the beginning,
waits till all is ripe for the execution of his purpose. Had
Christ come directly after the fall, the enormity and deadly
fruits of sin would not have been realized fully by man so
as to feel his desperate state and need of a savior. As it were,
sin was fully developed. man's inability to save himself
by obedience to the law, whether that be the law of Moses or the
law of conscience, was completely manifested. All the prophecies
of various ages found their common center in this particular time. And by providence, various arrangements
in the social and political as well as the moral world had fully
prepared the way for the coming Redeemer. When the fullness of
time had come, God sent forth his son. And I want us to see,
as we work through these remaining verses, the Trinitarian nature
of our salvation and adoption. I want you to see, as theologians
call it, the divine missions of each member of the Godhead,
that being their outward actions in time and in space, which bring
about the salvation of all believers. And the divine missions can be
summarized in this way. Having elected a particular people
unto salvation in eternity past, the Father sends the Son in time. The Son, having been sent by
the Father, redeems God's elect people. And the Spirit, having
been sent by the Father and the Son, applies the redeeming work
of the Son to the hearts of God's elect people. Now I want us to
look at each of these quickly, each of these divine missions,
that is, using our text as a guide. Beginning in verse four, when
the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son. Now the word sent here means
to send someone off for fulfillment of a mission in another place. The eternal father sent his son. but this is no ordinary son.
He sent his eternal preexisting son into time and creation to
redeem sinners. Now the testimony of scripture
is unmistakable. I've got several verses here.
I'm just going to give you the references instead of reading
them out to you. John 3.16, Romans 8.3, Isaiah
9.6, Luke 4.18, I will comment on
that. That's the one where Christ picks
up the scroll in the temple. And what does he read from Isaiah?
The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
liberty to the captives. And this is just scratching the
surface. There are myriads of more texts that speak of the
father sending the son. but let us note that it was not
a creature that God sent. God did not send a good and upright
man by human standards. He didn't even send a sinless
angel, but he sent his very own son to redeem us. Now, again,
I think that this truth is so familiar to us that sometimes
we just say, okay, what else do you have to say, preacher? Does that not strike us as amazing? God sent his very own son to
redeem us. Now consider our adoption and
what this means as our relationship to God as father. He who did
not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he
not also with him graciously give us all things? Brothers
and sisters, your father in heaven loves you. If you didn't know
that or if you're not sure of that, he sent his son for you. He has provided for your greatest
need. He has solved your greatest problem. How much more then can you trust
him with your lesser problems? How much more then can you trust
him with your lesser needs? If you ever begin to doubt his
fatherly care for you, remember that when the fullness of time
had come, God sent forth his son. So continuing on, what we
see next is that the eternal divine son who was sent came. He became flesh, being born of
woman. Now in God's wisdom and providence,
Pastor Jerry preached this mystery to us last week from John 1 14.
I'm not going to repeat that sermon, but I want us to be clear
that when our text says that Christ was born of woman, he
did not stop being God. but rather he became man. Jesus was conceived of the Holy
Spirit, born of a virgin, assuming to himself a sinless human nature. As Pastor Jerry mentioned last
week, the incarnation of the Son of God was addition without
subtraction. In the incarnation, the Lord
Jesus Christ took on a human nature to be united with his
divine nature forever in his one divine person. two natures
in one person forever. Jesus Christ is truly God from
all eternity and truly man from Bethlehem onward. As our text
says, he was born of woman. Now to be sure, this is incomprehensible
for us, but I believe we can apprehend it by faith because
it is what God has revealed to us in his word and we need to
trust him as father. Now our text says next that Christ
was not only born of woman, he was born under the law. And by taking to himself a nature
like ours, sin accepted, and being born under the same law
that had held humanity captive, Jesus became identified with
the people that he came to redeem. His incarnation under the law
allowed him to stand in our place as a man, as the second Adam,
if you will, succeeding where the first Adam failed. And as
a man, Christ obeyed the law that he was under perfectly.
He always did what was pleasing to his father. I don't know about
you, just every time I read that, it's like, what? He always did
what was pleasing to his father. If I could do that for 10 minutes, and his earned righteousness
as a man under the law, that is the righteousness, brothers
and sisters, that you have imputed to you and by which you stand
righteous before God. You and I have the righteous
requirements of the law fulfilled in us because of Christ's obedience
to the law of God as a man. But he also, he didn't only obey
the law as a man, he suffered under the law's penalties as
a man. Now his divine nature ensured
the infinite value of this sacrifice, but his human nature bore the
punishment for sin, providing the shedding of innocent blood
that the law required. And because of his obedience
and sufferings under the law, verse five, we are redeemed. The Son of God was born of woman,
born under the law to redeem those who were under the law. And this word redeem means to
liberate or to deliver. And just as Moses redeemed Israel
from Egyptian slavery, Christ redeems his church from our slavery
to sin and to the law. And Paul's already explained
to us how this redemption occurred. I'll remind you, chapter three,
verse 13. Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law, how? By becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone who is hanged on a tree. We were enslaved under the law. We were held captive under the
law and under its curse, but Christ became a curse for us. Christ paid the redemption price
with the blood of his cross and freed us from this bondage and
curse of the law. Now, considering this fact, that
Christ had redeemed us from the curse of the law, that Christ
had redeemed the believers in Galatia from the curse of the
law, considering this, why would those redeemed believers in Galatia
now wish to be placed under the bondage of the law once more?
It makes no sense. And we can sympathize a little
bit with the apostles' frustration. Chapter three, verse one, oh
foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? You were under the curse
of the law. You were imprisoned under the
law. But when the fullness of time
had come, God sent forth his eternal pre-existing son, born
of woman, born under the law, to redeem you who were under
the law. Would you now abandon this? Would you now seek to have
the yoke of the law placed once again on your necks? And if they do, if you do, if
I do, if we abandon hearing with faith in favor of works of the
law, not only is our redemption null and void, we do not receive
adoption as sons. Because when the fullness of
time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born
under the law to redeem those who are under the law for what
purpose? so that we might receive adoption
as sons. The purpose of Christ's coming
in the flesh was to redeem God's elect people. And the purpose
of our redemption is that we might receive adoption as sons. Paul brings his argument full
circle here. We started in chapter three,
verse 26. In Christ Jesus, you are all
sons of God through faith. The Father sends the Son. The
Son redeems us, that we might receive adoption as sons, that
we might be sons of God through faith in Him. And finally, verse
six, the Spirit. And because you are sons, God
has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba,
Father. Even as he's rebuking the Galatians,
and this letter is just littered with this, things like this just
make you wonder, what was Paul thinking? What were the emotions
he was feeling as he was writing this? But even as he's rebuking
them, he's at the same time speaking words of comfort to them. You
are sons. They heard the gospel with faith.
They believed upon Christ. They were adopted as sons of
God. God sent the spirit of his son into their hearts, sealing
their adoption in Christ. The same is true for us today
who believe the indwelling of the Spirit of God in our hearts
completes the adoption process that was begun by the Son's redemption. The Spirit makes our Sonship
experimental or experiential, if you will, not simply a legal
adoption. It's not a cold transaction. The Spirit bears witness to us
that we are children of God. He gives us a consciousness of
our adoption. He brings us an assurance of
our status as sons. And how does he do this? By crying
out in our hearts, to God, Abba Father. Augustine commented that the
Holy Spirit is the bond of love who binds the Father and the
Son together. And in this way, the Spirit is
perfectly suited to enable us as believers to share in the
Son's relationship with the Father, enabling us as adopted sons of
God to take upon our lips the very same cry that the Lord Jesus
uttered in his agony in Gethsemane, Abba, Father. And this is a term
of intimacy. It's actually the joining of
the Aramaic word for father and the Greek word for father. It's
really a double declaration, father, father. And this is the intimacy that
you have now with your father in heaven. You don't have it
through your own merits or through your own righteousness, you have
it because the spirit of his son has been sent into your hearts,
crying to him for you, Abba, Father. This is the ultimate
illustration of what it means to be a son and an heir rather
than a slave. Verse seven, so you are no longer
a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Now
that we are adopted as sons of God through faith in Christ,
the Spirit of God enables us to enjoy this close intimacy
with the Father as our Father. Not a distant judge, not a distant
creator, but as an intimate Father. This is a level of intimacy not
known by Again, the Spirit of God crying out in our hearts
brings us an assurance of our adoption as sons of God. And for as much as the Holy Spirit
is the comforter and the helper, he is much more than that. He
is the divine, eternal third person of the Godhead who brings
this Trinitarian salvation home to our hearts by once again crying
out to God from our hearts, Abba, Father. I wanna make two applications
as we close this morning. First, for my fellow Christians,
again, in Christ Jesus, you are a son of God through faith. You
did not obtain this blessed status through your own personal merit. You don't maintain it through
your own personal merit. You didn't obtain it, you don't
maintain it through your own personal morality. Remember,
Paul has been saying the entire letter, you obtained it, not
by works of the law, but by what? Hearing with faith. And we know
from the greater testimony of scripture that faith is a gift
of God. It's not a result of works so
that you can't boast. But I would also say so that
you can't despair. The faith you have, it is not your own.
It is a gift. And brothers and sisters, the
gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Once a son of
God, always a son of God. Once adopted into God's family,
you will never be kicked out. Our heavenly father is not like
an earthly father who will turn his back on you, who will mistreat
you, who will sin against you. He
is not like that. He doesn't change. As we read
and sung this morning, his mercy endures forever. So I would plead
with you, brothers and sisters, do not live in fear that somehow
you're going to be kicked out of God's family. that one day
God's gonna wake up and realize, what was I thinking bringing
that person into my family? That will not happen. Don't live
in fear, but instead be assured of your secured place in God's
family, and by that assurance, live a confident life of obedience. By the mercies of God, present
your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. And the apostle prays for the
church in Colossae, and you can read that in Colossians, but
I think it sums up for us quite well how you and I ought to live
as adopted sons of God. Paul prayed that the saints in
Colossae might walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing
to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the
knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his
glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving
thanks to the Father who has what? Giving thanks to your Father. who has qualified you to share
in the inheritance of the saints in light. You are an adopted
son of God by the mercies of God. Go and live for him. Finally, for my unbelieving friends
here this morning, there are two spiritual families
that exist in this world. There is the family of God, Those
who have received adoption as sons of God through faith in
Christ Jesus, and there is the family of the devil. Those who
have not yet turned from their sin and turned to Christ by faith. You are born as a member of the
devil's family. You don't sin your way into it.
You were born into his family. You must be born again to enter
into God's family. And you've heard this morning
about the glorious inheritance that is received by the sons
of God, namely justification, the gift of the Holy Spirit,
a home in heaven, the ability to cry out to God, Abba, Father. These and many more privileges
belong to the sons of God. This is the inheritance or part
of it that is for those who are sons of God. But what's the inheritance
awaiting the sons of the devil? Have you ever thought about that?
If you die unrepentant, what will your inheritance be? Speaking
in Matthew chapter 25, the Lord Jesus Christ tells us what the
unrepentant will hear on the day of judgment. Jesus says this,
then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, you
cursed. Into the eternal fire prepared
for the devil and his angels. If you remain a child of the
devil, it breaks my heart to say it, this is your inheritance. This is what you have to look
forward to. An eternity in the fires of hell prepared for the
devil and his angels. But you have also heard this
morning of God's great love for sinners just like you. A love
so deep that he sent forth his son, born of woman, born under
the law to redeem those who were under the law so that they might
receive adoption as sons. Are you a child of the devil
this morning? I have one question for you. Do you want to be a
son of God? Turn to Christ by faith. and
be adopted into his family. Let us pray. Father, we praise you and we
thank you that we can call you our father. Thank you for this glorious gift
of adoption and the privileges that it contains. Father, I'm reminded of a Illustration
that one of the saints of old made regarding adoption, that
adoption opens up to us the garden of your promises. Promises that
are as herbs, herbs suited for every ailment that exists. Lord, may we be encouraged and assured that we can enter into this garden
of your promises confidently and take freely and apply to
any area that ails us. Lord, for those who are outside
of Christ this morning, would you make the family of God and
the promises of God and the inheritance of the sons of God so appealing
to them that they would be drawn irresistibly to Christ by faith? and that this day, this very
day, Lord, there might be more members added to your heavenly
family. We pray that you would do this for your glory.
Adopted by God
Series No Other Gospel
| Sermon ID | 41251441241567 |
| Duration | 1:06:03 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Galatians 3:26-4:7 |
| Language | English |
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