Free as Sons
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Salvation in Galatians …
We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That statement sums up what we’ve seen in Galatians. We’re saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
God’s pleasure in us is not based on our performance for Him.
Remember the truth we saw in Galatians 1; God’s pleasure in you is not based on your performance for Him. God’s pleasure in us is not based on our performance for Him. It’s by grace alone.
God’s pleasure in us being based on our performance before Him, God’s pleasure in us is based on Christ’s performance for us and in us.
We saw in Galatians 2, saved by grace alone through faith alone. Instead of God’s pleasure in us being based on our performance before Him, God’s pleasure in us is based on Christ’s performance for us and in us.
Christ alone
So, we avoid legalism in Galatians 1, thinking that we can perform for God; we avoid hypocrisy in Galatians 2, living lives that are out of step with the truth of the gospel, and they come together in Galatians 3, in Christ alone.
The doctrine of justification; the idea that we are right before God the Judge.
This idea is the doctrine of justification; the idea that we are right before God the Judge. We’re right before God the Judge. That God has declared us righteous before Him.
The doctrine of justification; the idea that we are right before God the Judge.
That righteousness is not earned; your righteousness before God is not based on how well your week goes, how much you pray this week, how much you study the Word this week, what you do this week.
The doctrine of justification; the idea that we are right before God the Judge.
You’re not trying to earn righteousness on a daily basis. Your righteousness is based completely on the righteousness of Christ in heaven, and God looks at you through the lens of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is an amazing truth, that God, a holy God, looks at us in our sin and pronounces, “Not guilty. Not guilty.”
The doctrine of justification; the idea that we are right before God the Judge.
As amazing as that truth is I want to submit to you that there is an even higher truth in the gospel than that, an even greater truth in the gospel.
The doctrine of adoption. . . we are loved by God the Father
Adoption builds on justification. It’s good to be declared right before a judge. It’s something even greater to be loved by God the Father.
What does it mean to have God as the Father?
What does it mean to have God as the Father? How would you answer that? A Christian is one who has God as Father.
If you want to know how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
Look at what it says in verse 26. Paul writes, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…” That sentence right there sums up everything we’ve seen and will see today in the book of Galatians. If that verse is not underlined in your Bible, let me encourage you to underline it.
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 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.
In the same way we also, when we were children, were 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, then an heir through God.
The word son(s) is used not because the New Testament is chauvinistic. It is used for cultural reasons. In first century culture only the son received the inheritance in a family. Look at 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.
The Adoptive Father …
He’s saying, It doesn’t matter what your gender is, your socioeconomic status is, or your ethnic identity is. You are, in Christ, a son. You receive an inheritance.
The Adoptive Father …
Instead of being chauvinistic, the New Testament is being counter cultural. It’s saying every female follower of Christ has the rights and privileges of a son.
The Adoptive Father …
I want to show you two simple actions that God takes to become our adoptive Father.
God sent His Son so that we might receive the position of sons.
This is Galatians 4:4-5
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.
The picture is adoption. Those of you who’ve been through the adoption process know that it’s not quite as simple as a process as you would like it to be. There are all kinds of things that have to come together in order to make an adoption happen.
Adoption requires someone that comes at the right time.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
Why did Christmas happen when Christmas happened?
It was the right time theologically.
It was the right time religiously.
There was spiritual hunger, not just among the Jewish people, but you look at first century culture, and you look at Roman paganism and Roman idolatry and the spiritual hunger that was created as a result of that, and you see this was the right time, not just theologically for Old Testament Jews, but religiously for the people who lived in the first century culture.
It was the right time culturally.
The Greek language was common among people. It was the universal language of the people that made it possible for a method to be distributed to masses of people through one language.
It was the right time politically.
Politically, you had the Pax Romana, which was the peace of Rome; fancy term that, basically, describes how Rome had subdued all kinds of different nations and, in the process, had created an intricate system of roads for travel and commerce to take place. So, what you had was all of these factors coming together in this moment in the landscape of human history.
Adoption requires someone who comes who possesses the right qualifications.
So, what does Jesus bring to the table that Muhammad doesn’t? What does Jesus bring to the table that the Buddha doesn’t? What does Jesus bring to the table that this teacher or that teacher in the landscape of human history does not bring to the table? This is where Galatians 4:4 is just a theologically loaded verse. What does He bring to the table?
First qualification: He is fully divine.
“When the time had fully come, God sent his Son…” Not created…His Son, God sent His Son, His pre-existent Son. Colossians 1:15, “The image of the invisible God…” Philippians 2:5 and 2:6, “In very nature, God…” Hebrews 1, “The exact representation of his being.”
First qualification: He is fully divine.
God did not send a divine surrogate on His behalf; He came Himself. God sent His Son, fully divine. Not just fully divine, though, but fully human.
Second qualification: He is fully human.
“…sent his Son, born of a woman…” Same thing, Philippians 2 continues, “Being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in…” what? “…human likeness. Being found in appearance as a man…” fully human.
Luther said, “Christianity does not begin at the top as all other religious do. It begins at the bottom. You must run directly to a manger and a mother’s womb, embrace this infant and virgin’s child in your arms, and look at him.”
Third qualification fully righteous.
“…sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law…” Not just born a man; born a Jewish man under Jewish law, would go be raised in a Jewish family and go to Jewish synagogue, and who would know the law of God; not only know it but faithfully, perfectly fulfill it.
Third qualification fully righteous.
The only way that Jesus can die, for those who are unrighteous, is if he has perfect, what? perfectly righteous. These are his qualifications: fully divine, fully human, and fully righteous.
Someone who has the right resolve.
You do not adopt accidentally. Adoption always happens purposefully. “God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to…” Here’s the purpose. Purpose clause: “…to redeem those under law.”
Someone who has the right resolve.
What was His purpose? His resolve?
He determined to redeem us.
Turnn your Bible, to the right to Ephesians 1.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
He determined to redeem us.
The reality is adoption is not an easy process, and anybody who’s been through that process knows that there are all kinds of difficulties that go with that. This is even greater in the New Testament.
He determined to redeem us.
Because you get to Ephesians 2, and the same people that are talked about as being adopted in Ephesians 1, in Ephesians 2 are described as being objects of the wrath of God, because they are so immersed in following the ruler of this world and gratifying the desires of their sinful nature.
He died to rescue us.
He determined to redeem us and, praise God, He died to rescue us. Praise God for His resolve in our lives, against our resistance, His resolve.
God sent His Spirit so that we might experience the privileges of sonship.
God sent His Son so that we might have the position of sons. Here’s the good news, though: it gets better. Here’s where it gets really good. God sent His Spirit so that we might experience the privileges of sonship.
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
Justification: right before God the Judge. Adoption: declared to be in the position of sons. However, that’s not all. God sent His Son so that we might receive the position of sons, Galatians 4:6: “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, that we might cry before him, ‘Abba, Father.’”
God sent His Spirit so we might experience the privileges of sonship.
What are those privileges?
We live with a new identity before God.
What does that mean?
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.
We are baptized into Christ.
Our lives are immersed in Christ. In baptism we identified with the death of Christ and the life of Christ. That’s why baptism is so important. It’s great.
We are clothed with Christ.
Since you are baptized with Christ, you’ve clothed yourselves with Christ. It’s great imagery there. He literally envelops us.
We are united in 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.
Distinctions no longer Divide.
We each belong to Christ.
We are united in Christ and we each belong to Christ. Galatians 3:29
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
We enjoy intimacy with God
Not only do we have a new identity before God, but because we’ve been adopted, we enjoy intimacy with God
We were once held captive by His law.
This is what Galatians 3:22 said, “We’re a prisoner of sin.” Galatians 3:23: “We were held prisoners by the law, locked up.” We were held captive by the law. Why? because the law condemns us before God. The law reveals our sin before God.
We are captivated by His love
So, we’re held captive by the law. That’s why he says, “We once were slaves, but now, we’re a son, and the difference is we were once held captive by the law; now we are captivated by His love.”
We are captivated by His love
John Wesley was a theological student and scholar, ordained clergy. He served, volunteered. He would go into prisons, serving, helping prisoners. He would take food to children in slums. He fasted, prayed, studied the Bible incessantly and Worshipped consistently. After a missionary stint in Georgia Wesley wrote. . .
“I who went to America to convert others came to the point where I realized I myself was never converted to God.”
Is it possible to read, study, pray, and fast and worship, serve and go as a missionary, and have never been converted? I want you to listen to what he describes before his conversion, and he said,
“Then I had the faith of a servant, but not the faith of a son that I have now.”
What kind of faith do you have? That of a servant checking off the boxes so that you will have favor with God? A servant serves in order to receive favor a son serves because He has received favor.
Do you have intimacy with God?
Do you have intimacy with God? Don’t let that question deflect off of you. Intimacy with God is the privilege of sonship, and I wonder how many people in church are living as servants day in and day out when God has called us sons. Intimacy with God.
Because we’ve been adopted we are guaranteed an inheritance from God.
You are no longer a slave but a son, and since you’re a son, God has also made you an heir. Not only are you a son now, but you’re a son forever.
We have an eternal Father.
We have an eternal family.
We have an eternal family. Romans 8 says,
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
“We are heirs with God and co-heirs with Christ.” Let that soak in: All that belongs to Him, belongs to you and me, because we are a part of this family.
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Now, this is good news and bad news, because, well, it’s bad news because the world hated Him. The world persecuted Him, and the world crucified Him. When we realized identification with Him may cost us; not only may, should cost us everything, but that’s where Romans 8 just comes back and says, “If we share in His sufferings, we know that one day we will share in His glory.”
We have an eternal family.
It is a joy to share in sufferings now, because we know that glory is coming. Together, we as a family enjoy all that belongs to Christ.
We have an eternal home.