Let's turn in our Bibles to Galatians. Galatians, we're going to look at end of chapter 3 and into chapter 4. These passages especially deal with sonship. We're going to start at verse 26, which is a declaration of sonship. So, Galatians 3.26. 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 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 a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as son. 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." May the Lord prosper his word. We hear it now. In Psalm 114, The psalmist opens with these words, when Israel came out of Egypt. He goes on to talk about how they came through the sea. And that it was the work of God in delivering them from the slavery of Egypt and into the blessing of being God's people and being made a nation. And the Exodus is huge in the Bible. It is so important in Scripture. It is the paradigm, perhaps the number one, the principal paradigm for illustrating salvation throughout the Scripture. You know, when my mom was a little girl, occasionally she would hear the gospel. She didn't get saved until she was 17. But she remembered someone coming to their orphanage and asking the question, have you reached the Red Sea place in your life? Have you reached the Red Sea place in your life? Because the Red Sea, its parting, is the power of God to deliver a person from slavery. In the nation of Israel's case, God struck the firstborn of Israel. He sent his angel, the angel of death, who brought judgment upon that nation, which caused their release, and they traveled, and then the armies of Egypt followed them, but by God's grace, they came through the Red Sea. And when they had come through the Red Sea, and Pharaoh and his armies came after them, they were drowned. And so it is a picture of the power of sin, the power that enslaves a person, being destroyed, and a person being brought out. And they sang a song of redemption. You remember Miriam and the women of Israel sang a song of salvation, a song of redemption on the shore, the far shore of the Red Sea. So it is a picture, indeed, not only of Israel and what happened to them as a nation, but it is a picture of salvation. It comes up in Paul's mind in this passage. In fact, in the passage we're looking at, we see a lot of redemptive analogies. If you look back just a moment to verse 23, 3.23, He's talking about God's work in bringing the Galatian churches, and bringing these, both Jew and Gentile, to salvation. And he says, now before faith came, it doesn't mean that faith was not a part. Remember, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Faith has always been the means of salvation. But before faith came, he means the object of faith, the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, when Christ became incarnate, when the Son of God became the Son of Man and entered our world. And so he says, now before faith came, before that event, we were held captive under the law. He's thinking about Israel and how they were under the old covenant before the new covenant was established. 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, and here we are. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. once we were slaves, but now through the Red Sea, as it were, through the death and resurrection of Christ, through the saving life of Christ, through his incarnation and his saving life, his substitutionary death, his bodily resurrection, we are brought through this Red Sea and we are saved. And now we are sons of God. Once we were slaves to sin, now we are sons of God. And so he's using, in those verses 23 and 24, he's looking back on that redemptive analogy, just as it mentions in Psalm 114, when Israel came out of Egypt. That's the idea. So important. in the story of the Bible. It sets a pattern for how God delivers people. And so he's telling us here in this redemptive analogy that just as God brought out a people from Egypt in slavery into the land of Canaan and made provision for them so God has done for us through Jesus Christ. That's why I ask you also, have you reached the Red Sea place in your life? Have you come to the place where the decisive work of Jesus Christ has turned you from a slave to sin to a son of God? It's such an important question for each of us to answer. I'm not asking if you come to church. I'm asking if you have been made by grace into the Son of God through the person and work of Christ. He gives us then another redemptive analogy, but this one is a ordinance of the church, a sacrament, which is baptism. And so you notice as soon as we get to verse 27, he says, he proclaimed that we are sons of God in Christ through faith. For as many as of you who are baptized into Christ have put on Christ, baptism, as an ordinance that every Christian must be baptized. It is vital. In the New Testament, there's no such thing as an unbaptized Christian. And so it's important for us to think of the importance of this sacrament and what it means. And it means that I have been united with Christ. Verse 27 again, as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. To be united, that's just like a marriage. Luther says it that way. It's like we are married to Christ. And that marriage to Christ means that now I have a covenant. Baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant relationship that we have with the Lord. And it is through that process of being united with him, that all of the blessings of the covenant flow to us. And one of them that is primary in the text that we're looking at is adoption. That we have been adopted as sons. Now, others we've talked about. Justification. Sanctification. We look forward to glorification. But here, this passage is emphasizing our sonship. It is emphasizing adoption as sons, that we've received this. And through our union with Christ, we have been adopted. He is the Son of God, the exclusive, the eternal, the only begotten Son of God. You are not a son of God in that way. But through him, through union with him, you are made a son. Hebrews tells us he is leading many sons to glory. And John 1.12, 1.13 says that whoever receives him, whoever receives Christ, to him he gave the right to be called the sons of God. And so sonship comes through Jesus Christ. The Son is the one who has wrought our sonship. And Paul declares it here. So he has mentioned the redemptive analogy of the Red Sea. Here he mentions the redemptive analogy of baptism. And not only are we united to Christ, but we're united to one another. So in verse 28, he says, 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. My brothers and sisters, this passage, as much as people love to abuse it, It is not talking about social issue. He is not talking about the problems of Roman slavery. He's not discussing the issues of race or ethnicity. He is not talking about the, it doesn't erase. He's not removing the distinction between male and female. That's not what this passage does. And more often than not, this passage gets used in some negative ways that are not helpful. He is talking about the fact that none of those things, not ethnicity, not your place in society, pure, slave, or free, not your gender, in any way inhibits you from the privilege of being called a son of God. As Michael's fond of saying, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. That here we are all equal brothers and sisters in the family of God because every one of us has been made a son of God. It's probably, you know, some translations in their eagerness, They say sons and daughters. I say sons and daughters, sometimes sons and daughters of God, just trying to communicate it. But the word son here is very important because he's talking about the rights of a son to inheritance. And yes, listen, all of you daughters, you are also sons. And all of you, Sons, you are also sons of God. He's speaking of a spiritual privilege granted to us in Christ that transcends ethnicity, that transcends classes in society, that transcends gender, and that we are all sons of God in Christ. And so we belong to the family of God. And this is important. For some other reasons, he says, verse 29, and if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. Now, I won't ask you, but what are the promises? What are the promises made to Abraham? Remember the Bible tells us in this book that the gospel was preached ahead of time. It was preached before to Abraham in that it stated that in you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. That the gospel was preached to Abraham. The gospel has been there and it is there in the promises. What are the promises? Well, he promised Abraham a seed, he promised him a land, and he promised him a blessing. How are these blessings mine now? As I'm an heir, I'm a son of Abraham, because I'm a son of God, because I am joined to Christ, united with Christ, I am a son of God, I am a son of Abraham, and I have received the promises of Abraham. So how did I receive the promise of a seed? Well, you received a family, brothers and sisters. This is a great privilege and treasure. You need to treasure, I need to treasure the local church. We need to build relationships with one another. We need to not isolate ourselves. We need to not turn away and only want to keep people at arm's length. We need to build and strengthen the relationships with one another because God has promised a family. He says, your offspring will be as many as the stars of heaven. And so it is, brothers, that we are part of that vast family of God. We are to enjoy and rejoice in that privilege. And then he promised him a land. So he promised him from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates River, right? And the extent of which we saw in David's kingdom, we saw Solomon's kingdom. But it's evident that he meant more because Abraham He came into the land, but Hebrews 11 tells us he was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. He was looking for a city that had foundations. He was looking for an eternal community, not just this piece of real estate. And so yes, the promise to Abraham is fulfilled in the land, but it is much greater. So Romans chapter 4 and verse 12, he says, Paul says that to Abraham and his offspring were the promises that he would be heir of the world. You see, the land was only a picture of the fact that all the children of Abraham, who are his children by faith, will receive the kingdom of God. The new heaven and the new earth is ours. And several times in Galatians, he points us toward the new creation that is coming to pass. So thank God that this is part of our inheritance. We are heirs of the promise. We have a family, an ever-growing family. We have a family in glory. And we have a kingdom. He says, little children, fear not, little flock. He says, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. We have a kingdom. And not only that, but we have blessing. And the blessings that are given to Abraham are gospel blessings, that through Abraham and his seed, that is Christ, he has given these gospel blessings the forgiveness of sin. Justification that you're declared righteous in Christ. Sanctification that he's doing a work in you to transform you and make you into the image of his son. And glorification that someday he will remove sin altogether from us and we'll have no inclination to sin anymore and we'll be enjoying the Lord forever. All of these are the gospel blessing. So we are heirs of the promises made to Abraham. Now, when we get to chapter four, so we had the redemptive analogy of the Red Sea, and then we have the redemptive analogy of baptism. Here, Paul gives us a comparison of coming of age, of reaching legal age. I know children, they look forward to when they go from single digits to being 10. I've got the two numbers now. And then to be 16, and be able to get my license, to be able to drive, how exciting that is. They look forward to that. And then age 18, and the privileges that may come with that as well, and 21, and so forth. So he gives us a comparison. Look at verse 1 through 3 here. One and two, maybe. 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. Now, what he is wanting us to imagine is this rich family. They're billionaires. They are billionaires. They are so wealthy. They have a son, but he is underage. He is the heir to the family fortune. But right now, they've hired all these people. He has tutors that are educating him and demanding his diligence and study. He has those who are giving him physical discipline and exercise and he has people who are watching his diet and nutritionist because they can afford all this so they have these people he's under this but for the kid this is no fun at all. I'd like a hamburger please, you know? But he's eating all these things, he's learning all these things, he can't get up whenever he wants, he has to go to bed when they say, all of these, he's under this discipline, this tutorage, but it is preparing him. It's not that the father wants him to stay in that situation forever, he is actually preparing him for the moment when he will be the steward of the family fortune. when he will be the inheritor of this and will he be responsible? He's preparing him for all that. And that was very much what it was like for Israel under the law. You can imagine all those 613 laws and the dietary laws and the laws about days and months and the sacrifices. Can you imagine all of those sacrifices and the blood and so forth? all the ceremonies that were part of being an Israelite, the festivals and so forth. And so, it was hard being a Jew and living under all the demands of the law, but it was intended by God to cause them to see their sin and to see the Savior that it pointed to through the priesthood and the prophets and through the sacrifices, through the kings that God raised up to see the Savior, to look to him. So he was training them. That was also true. He's talking to Gentiles here as well. He also did this for Gentiles. In fact, if you look down at verse 8, he says, formally, when you did not know God, this is 4.8, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. Now, I just point out this expression is so similar he says you were enslaved as a Gentile to idols and If you notice in verse 23 of chapter 3 again, he says now before faith came we were held captive Under in fact verse 22 of chapter 3 but the scripture imprisoned everything under sin. So you can see the similarity here. Back to chapter four and verse eight. Formally, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world? And if you notice, chapter 4 again and verse 3, in the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. God has his work that he is doing before we're ever saved. You know, he had that for Paul too. You look at Galatians chapter 1, Paul gives us biographical information. It's potent. story, a potent conversion story. And he says in chapter 1 in verse 13, he says, for you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people. So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. Here is Paul before his salvation. He's laboring to keep the law. And then what happens? Verse 15. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son to me, in order that I might preach Him among the Gentiles. And so you can see in Paul's conversion, his conversion, and yours, and mine, it is parallel to these redemptive analogies. Our baptism is a pattern of what we were, but now we have died with Christ, we've been raised with Christ, and now we are sons of God. and the Red Sea. And your story, no matter what it is, your conversion story is also the very same. And that is what he's getting at here in chapter 4. He gives us this illustration of this child who is waiting for the date set by his father. And then in verse 3 of chapter 4, in the same way, we also, when we were children before our conversion, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world, which for the Jews were these elements of the law. For the Gentiles, it was their practice. Keep in mind that just as the Jews were under the law, so Gentiles were under the law. They both were under a covenant of works that was intended by God to show them their sinfulness and make them long for a savior. And the Gentiles had the law of God written in their hearts. They knew right from wrong, but they knew that they couldn't keep the law. The law that was the natural theology proved to them that they were unwilling and unable to do what was right. Well, likewise, those that had the privilege of having the law of God under the Mosaic covenant, it also proved to them the very same thing. So these elements of the world are involved in both of them. And of course, we'll have a chance to talk about the second one next week. But that's what he means there in verse three. But then verse four, here we see the Son and the Spirit accomplishing our Sonship, right? Son and the Spirit accomplishing our Sonship. He says, but when the fullness of time had come, God had a plan. That Father had a plan. A date appointed when His Son would be ready to receive the inheritance. God had a plan for when He would send His Son into the world. When He would accomplish our redemption. Verse 4, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son. The eternal Son of God. Oh, this is pure, wonderful doctrine here. Here is the doctrine of the Son of God born of a woman. It is truly human. Hebrews chapter 4 tells us that because He experienced humanity. That He is able to sympathize with us in every way. He was tempted in every way just as we are yet without sin. Church Father Ambrose says that whatever is not assumed is not redeemed. And by that he meant, if He wasn't really the Son, if He wasn't really human in entering into the world, if He wasn't really incarnate, if He only seemed to be human, Or if there's some other definition of it, some other heretical view of it, then he's not really our savior. But because he truly became a man, he was born of a woman. Not only that, but listen, he was born under the law. Did you see that? Born under the law. So just like us, just like the Jews, just like Adam, he was under the law. But we could not meet the demands of the law. We couldn't keep the law. We're unwilling and unable. Christ obeyed the law of God perfectly. You remember that when Moses brought down the Ten Commandments, the two tablets that he found Israel in idolatry, worshiping the golden calf, and he breaks the tablets with God's commands. They were broken because the people had broken them. After the intercession and the story, then God commands him to cut two new tables and to write the law of God again in them. But this time when he brings them down from the mountain, he places them in the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark is a picture of Christ. And in Christ, the law of God is perfectly preserved. So Psalm 40 says where it says, I have come to do your will, O God. This is the son speaking to the father. I have come to do your will, O God. Yea, what your law is in my heart. He was born under the law and kept it perfectly. And that's why Christ is your righteousness. All His doing, all His thoughts, all His willing, all His choices. He obeyed the law perfectly. He was under the law. This is how God accomplished our salvation through His Son. He entered in our world. He was truly human. He was under the law. And why? To redeem. This word means to buy back. It's a word for economics, to purchase something. We were slaves and we've been purchased by the Son of God to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive the adoption of sons. I was a slave and now I'm a son through Christ Jesus. The Son accomplished my adoption. And then he says, 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. Now, this is a great passage for the Trinity, and the spirit is the Spirit of the Father, and he is the Spirit of the Son. He has both of those titles. And here he says that God has sent the Spirit of his Son. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son of God. When you are born again, one of the Abrahamic blessings, Paul has said earlier, is that we would receive the Spirit of God. And having received the Spirit of God, God has sent His Spirit. He would tell you so many things about it, but God has sent His Spirit into our hearts. So the Spirit of God lives in us. And you know how when you have babies. We have a grandchild that's seven months, about seven months now. And little Luca. And they're talking to him. So I was on the phone with Ruthann just a few days ago. She's saying, say, Mama, say, Mama. And he's talking, but we're not hearing the Mama yet. But he's trying to teach him to form those words. And when you and I are born again, the Spirit of God causes us to realize that God is our Father. He's saying, this is my Father's world this morning. And then we sang how deep the Father's love for us. And the Spirit causes me to recognize my relationship. He witnesses to me that I am a son of God, Romans 8 tells us that. And as a son, he helps me to form the words in prayer, Abba, my Father. And you're able to pray with such familiarity, with such intimacy, because the spirit of intercession, the spirit of the Son, bears witness with your spirit and enables you to speak these things. I know it's remarkable. I read that babies, that the cries of babies are actually in tone by their own mother's voices. So they've proven this scientifically. The BBC had something on it a few years ago. Doesn't matter what culture you're from, that baby that has matured to birth inside the mother has been listening to the mother's voice. And that is how it's learning to speak. And so the baby is able. or when it cries, it actually has distinctive tones that match the tones of the mother's voice. In fact, you're not surprised at all by this, especially you moms, because you know your babies cry. You recognize your own baby. In a nursery full of crying babies, you can hear your baby cry because you are connected in this way. Brothers and sisters, God can hear us cry because we're His sons. And He has brought us into His family and adopted us as His children, given us His Spirit through Jesus Christ our Savior. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.