Sons Not Slaves

Thank you, AJ. Let's pray together.

Father, we're asking this morning that you would get some convincing done.

Lord, would you convince your children in this room

that they are in fact your sons and daughters.

God, for those of your children who came into this building this morning

more aware of their failures,

more aware of coming to you in fear,

God, would you impress upon them this morning

that you love them as much as you have ever loved them.

That you've given them the full right of sonship.

And that you've secured a loving relationship with them

through the death of Jesus.

God, we pray for the Bickles Grand Adorena.

God, would you pour out your mercy on her

as she's pulled out of a coma today or tomorrow.

God, would you save her.

God, we do pray as well for Second Baptist Church.

We thank you for our brothers and sisters

in that congregation who are 100 years old today

and celebrating that.

God, we rejoice with them.

We pray that, God, you would pour out your spirit on Demetrius,

the lead pastor there.

And we ask that you would bless that church's ministry.

That you would gather for yourself

more and more followers of Jesus.

That, God, you would use that church

to bring gospel blessing to this city.

God, we thank you so much

that we have so much in common

with so many brothers and sisters in this city

who you have called to be your own.

Now, Father, would you pour out your spirit afresh upon us.

Give us eyes to see and ears to hear

and hearts to cry out to you.

Abba, Father, in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Children, you may go to your Sunday school class

with God's blessing.

If you'd open up to your Bibles to Galatians chapter 4.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

Thank you again, AJ, for reading.

That was a joy.

Now, imagine with me,

my wife, Jenny, who wasn't able to be here this morning.

Let's just pretend that we adopt a little boy

from Venezuela.

His name is Victor.

And Victor's five years old,

and we bring him home,

and we've paid all the expenses for this adoption.

We have gone through all of the complicated paperwork

in order for him to release his Venezuelan citizenship,

to become a U.S. citizen,

and to become a legal son of Mike and Jenny Salvati.

We put him in our will.

He's going to receive an inheritance.

We love him.

We love this Victor.

And his fellow brothers and sisters,

they love him too.

But let's say this Victor,

when he turns six years old,

he approaches me,

and he says,

you know, Mr. Salvati,

he doesn't call me dad.

He doesn't call me pops.

Mr. Salvati,

I really appreciate you welcoming into your family.

I'll keep mowing the lawn.

I'll keep making my bed.

I'll try to make you proud of me

for the good grades I get at school.

Whatever I do,

I'll do it out of respect for you.

Just don't kick me out of your family.

At that point,

if you were in on that conversation,

I'd probably be kind of looking at him

and thinking,

hmm,

Victor,

I think,

I think you're failing

to understand something.

In fact,

I'm concerned for you, son.

I'm concerned you don't understand

that you are rightfully

my son.

And I love you.

It's a similar concern

that Paul is writing

for these Galatian Christians

in the first century.

You pick up on this concern

in verse 11.

I'm afraid I may have labored

over you in vain.

Why?

Verse 10.

You observe days and months

and seasons and years.

These Christians in Galatia

who became Christians

in the first century,

Paul had been there,

preached the gospel,

and left,

and then these false teachers

came in and began teaching them

that in order for them

to be good with God,

they needed to not only

believe in Jesus,

but they also needed

to be circumcised.

They needed to take up

kind of Jewish

dietary regulations,

so no more pork for you.

And then,

they needed to start

observing the Jewish calendar.

That's the reference

in verse 10.

You observe days, months,

seasons, and years.

Paul gets wind

of all this stuff,

and he's like,

I don't think you guys

are getting it.

You don't need

to do any of this anymore.

None of this observance

is going to get you

into God's family

or keep you

in God's family.

I'm afraid

that you missed it.

I'm concerned

that you don't understand

what the gospel is.

For many people

in this room,

we approach God

not as calling him

our loving father,

but in our hearts,

we approach it

more like this.

Oh, dear Mr. God.

Oh, dear Mr. Jehovah.

Oh, dear Mr. Judge of all.

You're really nice.

You're very powerful.

Thank you so much

for showing me

your kindness.

But I promise

I'll not sin

like that again.

Just don't kick me

out of your family.

And when we pray

like that,

you know what it reveals?

It reveals

that we think

somehow

God's love for us

is dependent

on our obedience

to him.

Somehow we

have this

power

power

by obedience

to keep ourselves

into his family.

It's a soft form

of what's called

legalism.

When you import

your obedience

into your standing

with God.

And so this morning,

I believe that God

through his word

wants to convince

those of us

who are in Christ

of this truth.

God wants to convince

you that you are

no longer a slave

living in fear,

praying Mr. God,

Mr. Judge prayers.

You're no longer

a slave,

but you,

by his grace,

are his son

and with confidence

you can call him

father.

So this morning,

if I were to sum up

this whole sermon,

this whole passage,

I'd say it like this.

In Christ,

you're no longer

a slave,

you are a son.

You have been given

the right

of sonship.

So here's how

we're going to proceed

this morning.

We've got this

passage,

verses 1-11

in chapter 4.

I'm going to focus

in on verses 3-7,

but I will be

making reference

to verses 1-2

and 8-11.

Just,

I won't be spending

too much time there

because the gospel

action is in

verses 3-7.

And what we're

going to see

is this before

and after situation.

A then and now

with this game-changer

event in between.

Has anybody seen

the show

Extreme Makeover?

Home Edition?

With Ty Pennington?

I see that hand.

I see that one hand.

I see two hands.

Three hands.

Well, here's the idea.

There's this family

in need in a dumpy house.

Ty Pennington and his crew

get word of it.

They show up.

He and his designers

and super carpenters,

they kick that family out

and for a week

they make this house

into something spectacular

and then they bring

this family back.

They put them in front

of a big bus.

They say,

move that bus.

Bus moves.

They see this new home

and they're like,

that is amazing.

And then some banker

comes up and say,

we paid the mortgage.

Here's the key.

And it's,

woo!

Here we have

in Galatians 4,

1 through 11,

an extreme makeover,

gospel style.

You go from being

a slave living in fear

to being a son

living in confidence.

And the change

is the glorious gospel

of Jesus Christ.

Christ.

You guys ready?

Let's dig in.

If you're in Christ,

you're not a slave anymore.

You've been given

the right of sonship.

So in verse 3,

we're going to see

the before.

And we read in verse 3,

we start reading

and we relate,

in the same way,

we also.

And immediately,

you feel like you've

just walked into

someone's family room

into a conversation.

You're like,

what is going on here?

When Paul says,

in the same way also,

he is making a comparison,

comparison to what

he's just written

in verses 1 and 2,

and he's going to compare it

to what he is about

to write in verses 3 through 7.

So in the same way also.

And the comparison

he's making,

in verse 1 and 2,

is that of a first century

Roman heir of an inheritance.

Let's just say

he's going to get $250,000.

And the point that Paul

is making is,

this heir of $250,000,

before a certain time is set,

he's a miner.

And he doesn't have access

to that $250,000.

So in one sense,

he's loaded,

but in another sense,

he has no access to it.

And so he's like everybody else

that doesn't have $250,000.

In Paul's word,

the heir is like a slave.

That's the before.

And then we get to

the after.

And we see that in verse 2,

where Paul says,

but he is under

guardians and managers

until the date set

by his father.

Until the date set

by his father.

On that date,

where the master,

who the giver

of the inheritance

says,

at this date,

my son can have

that $250,000.

Until then,

he's under managers

and guardians.

He's under the estate lawyers.

He's keeping him

from accessing

that $250,000.

But when that date comes,

that heir is no longer

under those estate attorneys,

but he's got free

and full access

to the inheritance.

And the game changer

is that word until.

Until the date set

by the father.

At that time,

at that precise moment,

that heir who's like a slave

gets access

to the full inheritance

and he's free.

So what we see going on

in 1 and 2

is we have a before

and we have an after

and there's this game changer

time event in between.

And so when Paul says

in verse 3,

in the same way also,

he's referring back to that.

It's getting a time frame

in our minds.

And what Paul says

in verse 3 is,

in the same way also,

when we were children,

when we were like that heir

who was more like a slave,

when we were children,

look what he says.

When we were children,

we were enslaved.

But what Paul's about to say

is we weren't enslaved

to a tax estate,

an estate attorney.

We were enslaved

to the elementary principles

of the world,

which is a mouthful,

which thousands of scholars

have written millions of pages

to explain what this is.

So let me take a stab.

What does it mean

to be enslaved

to the elementary principles

of the world?

Well, what you need

to understand

is Paul is talking

in the past tense.

He's talking about

what was true of us

before we were converted

unto Christ.

We were enslaved

to the elementary principles

of the world.

Some say this is a reference

to demons.

Others say this is a reference

to the essential building blocks

of planet Earth.

Other people argue

that these are ideas,

worldly ideas of being.

I tend to think

with others

that it's kind of

a compilation of it all.

It'd be akin to,

if you flip over to

Ephesians chapter 2,

Ephesians 2:1

verse 1 and 2,

and you were dead

in the trespasses and sins

in which you once walked,

following the course

of this world,

following the prince

of the power of the air,

the spirit that is now at work

in the sons of disobedience.

Here's what I think,

generally speaking,

Paul is getting at.

being enslaved

to the elementary principles

of this world.

It's a worldly approach

to life.

It's a basic default position

of one's heart

on life.

The elementary principles

of this world.

It's kind of like this.

when we boil it down to it,

it boils down to

who are you trusting

to rescue yourself?

And the elementary principle

of the world

is to say

you need to trust yourself

to rescue yourself.

Self-made saviors.

So whether that's

a religious context,

whether it's Judaism

or whether it's Islam

or whether it's Confucianism

or Buddhism,

or what's some kind

of paganism

or some kind

of secularism,

what they all have

in common

is this humanism,

this man at the center,

this man-mediated salvation,

whether it's religious

or secular,

what they have

all in common

is that it all

depends on me.

And if you look forward

to verse 9,

Paul says something

very interesting

about this,

these elementary principles

of the world.

He's saying to these Gentiles,

but now that you have

come to know God

or rather to be known

by God,

how can you turn back

again to the weak

and worthless

elementary principles

of the world?

Weak

and that they are

powerless to save

and worthless

because they are

powerless to save.

They have no value.

So any system

that is promoting

a dependence

on oneself

oneself

to get saved

or stay saved

falls into this

elementary principle

of the world.

This is worldly

way of thinking.

And the world

classically defined

is all of humanity

in opposition to God

living for anything

but the one true God.

So this is any approach

to life

that makes human beings

their own saviors.

And it's our default position.

Does anybody have

a computer

and when they go to print

they have a default printer set?

It drives me nuts.

I bring my computer home.

I want to print something out.

I go to print it.

I print it.

Nothing happens.

I go into the settings.

Oh, it's on the wrong printer.

I adjust it

and then it prints.

All of us

came out of our mamas

with a default setting

in our hearts

for salvation.

Sinfully set on ourselves.

And so what

Christians are called to do

is to remember

we have a new

Savior

Jesus.

And if you're like me

I've got to go

into the settings

every day

to remind myself

of that.

And that's essentially

what Paul is doing here

for these

Galatian Christians.

You see Jews

were seeking

to earn God's blessing

by the observance

to the Old Testament law.

and Gentiles

were seeking

to earn standing

with whatever

their pagan God was

by obedience

and sacrifice.

And what they have

in common

is both

are trying

to earn

their salvation

in the eyes

of whatever God

they are seeking

to serve.

What they have

in common

are self-made

saviors.

And I think

that's getting

at the very

principle

the sense

of these elementary

principles of the world.

and it's complicated

because there's

demonic activity

involved.

It's complicated

because there's

things built

into our systems

and cultures

that work

against this.

But at its heart

it's this posture

of an unbelieving

heart

to trust in themselves

to get right

with God.

Both

are legalism.

Man-centered

salvation.

And what I want

to impress upon you

is that they are

weak and worthless.

They cannot save

and because they

cannot save

they are

of no value.

In fact

there's no blessing

in it.

God doesn't

bless that.

That provokes

God's curse

because instead

of trusting God

as the one

and only Savior

you're turning

to other

saviors

and it's grievous

in God's sight.

This was our

state slavery

beforehand.

We were trying

to live

for ourselves.

But that all

changed

because God

did something

that was a

gospel

game changer.

And so we've

gone from

beforehand

verse 3

we were enslaved

to this

self-made

Savior

complex

and now

we go into

the gospel

game changer.

We see that

in verses 4

and 5.

These are

some of the

most lovely

verses

for you

to see.

We read

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 sons.

Remember in verse 2

Paul talked about

hey in this

illustration

opening illustration

he talked about

you're under

these managers

this heir

until the time

set by the father.

This is Paul's

use of that

illustration.

The time set

by the father.

Verse 4

but when the

fullness of time

had come

the fullness of time

is talking about

a specific moment

that God had been

planning on.

Now if you are

a pregnant woman

in the room

you understand

the concept

of fullness of time

more than anybody

because if you're

three months pregnant

you're like

no the fullness

of time hasn't come.

If you're six months

pregnant you're like

I'm closer to the

fullness of time

but not the fullness

of time has come

and when you're

nine months pregnant

and you're ready

to pop

the fullness of time

has come.

This baby is

coming.

So when we read

about the fullness

of time has come

look back

in verse 23

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.

God

has been

orchestrating

all of history

all of time

for a particular

moment.

God

the father

the first person

of the trinity

he's not ruled

by time

he rules

time

and he is

orchestrating

historic events

and times

for his glorious

purpose

and we see it

right here

but when the

fullness of time

had come

what did God

in his sovereignty

do?

God sent forth

his son

the second person

of the trinity

this son

is of course

Jesus Christ

and what you

need to understand

in this

sending forth

of the son

is that

Jesus didn't

come into

existence

when

he was sent

by the father

because the

second person

of the trinity

has eternally

existed

with the first

person of the

trinity

and the third

person of the

trinity

for eternity

past

so the

sending

of the

second person

of the trinity

was the

sending

of

God

so

in the

fullness of

time

God was

orchestrating

time

human history

all the actors

on the stage

just

in

time

at the right

time

to send

Jesus

the second

person of the

trinity

to earth

remember

John 3

16

for God

so loved

the world

that he

gave

he sent

his one

and only

son

that whoever

believes

in him

shall not

perish

but have

eternal

life

in love

God

sent his

son

at just

the right

time

perfect

timing

in the

sending

of the

son

God

in the

flesh

notice

Paul is

very specific

he wants

us to

understand

a couple

things

about

this

son

Jesus

he's

born

of a

woman

which

means

this

he's

fully

man

it

could

be a

reference

way

back

to

the

earliest

proclaiming

of the

gospel

in

Genesis

3

where

the

offspring

of

Eve

would

be

born

to

crush

the

head

of

the

serpent

it

could

be

that

but

most

likely

the

emphasis

is

on

Jesus

humanity

he was

fully

man

born

of

a

woman

he

is

the

second

person

of

the

trinity

fully

God

but

he's

fully

man

and

then

we

learn

as well

that

he's

born

under

the

law

here's

what that

means

just

as

all

of

us

in

one

sense

are

under

the

law

imprisoned

by

the

law

Jesus

was

born

under

the

Mosaic

law

all

613

commandments

he was

born

under

them

and

Jesus

did

what

none

of

us

can

do

do

you

know

who

Simone

Bales

is

the

gymnast

she's

won

more

gold

medals

than

anybody

else

have

you

seen

her

stick

something

she's

like

bop

bop

bop

bing

stuck

ten

Jesus

every

day

of his

life

stuck

tens

and

his

attitude

and

his

actions

and

his

feelings

he

fulfilled

all

513

613

commandments

of the

Mosaic

law

every

day

of his

life

24

7

365

110

after

another

stick

stick

stick

stick

perfect

fulfilling

on all

God's

commands

in

attitude

and

action

and

feeling

he

did

what

none

of

us

can

do

because

we've

already

learned

from

Galatians

3

that

we've

been

imprisoned

by

the

scriptures

the

law

is

a

jailer

to

us

it

exposes

how

much

we

fail

we

don't

hit

10

after

10

after

10

we

hit

1.2

0.7

all

of us

come up

short

all the

time

and

the

law

exposes

that

but

what

the

law

reveals

in

the

coming

of

the

son

is

Jesus

fulfilled

it

all

so

let

me

kind

of

sew

this

together

in

this

sense

do

you

know

why

Paul

wants

you

to

know

that

Jesus

the

second

person

of

the

trinity

was

born

of

a

woman

and

born

under

the

law

do

you

know

what

that

makes

Jesus

it

makes

him

the

perfect

substitute

makes

him

the

perfect

substitute

for

those

under

the

curse

of

the

law

and

so

in

verse

five

we

read

this

to

redeem

those

under

the

law

so

that

excuse

me

born

of

a

woman

born

under

the

law

to

redeem

those

who

are

under

the

law

so

that

we

might

receive

the

adoption

as

sons

those

are

two

purpose

clauses

the

perfectly

timed

sending

of

this

perfect

substitute

was

on

purpose

to

redeem

us

to

redeem

those

who

were

under

the

law

for

those

of

us

who

have

been

exposed

by

God's

law

exposed

we

know

we

come

up

short

there's

nothing

that

we

can

do

it

imprisons

us

and

we

are

just

hearing

guilty

guilty

guilty

condemned

condemned

by

the

law

Jesus

was

sent

by the

father

in order

to

redeem

us

from

the

law

that

word

redeem

is a

great

word

it

means

to

purchase

out

of

slavery

to

ransom

someone

from

the

power

of

another

and

Jesus

came

and he

gave

his

life

as a

ransom

for

all

who

would

believe

in

order

to

pull

us

rescue

us

from

the

curse

of

law

by

becoming

a

curse

for

us

he

came

to

redeem

us

you

know

when

you've

got

a

pocket

full

of

coal's

cash

and

you

go

to

coal's

and

you're

like

hey

I'm

redeeming

this

I'm

buying

those

jeans

with

this

coal

cash

Jesus

came

to

earth

to

redeem

us

not

with

coal's

cash

with

his

blood

on

the

cross

and

by

the

way

Jesus

just

didn't

redeem

us

from

the

penalty

of

our

sins

he

came

to

rescue

us

from

the

slavery

to

self

made

saviors

this

enslavement

to

these

elementary

principles

of the

world

that we

default

to

he

came

to

save

us

from

that

so

he

has

come

he

was

sent

as

a

liberator

to

redeem

us

from

the

whole

cocktail

of

sin

of

under

the

law

of

under

and

enslaved

to

these

elementary

principles

of the

world

but it

wasn't

just

to

redeem

us

he

came

for

more

he

came

to

grant

you

a

right

the

second

purpose

clause

so that

we

might

receive

adoption

as

sons

not

only

to

rescue

us

from

sin

and

slavery

he

came

so that

we

might

receive

literally

translated

sonship

the

right

of

sonship

to

be

made

sons

of

God

if

you're

in

Christ

you're

no

longer

a

slave

you're

a

son

that's

what the

father sent

the son

for

in

first

century

greco-roman

culture

wealth

was

passed

on

from

a

father

to

a

son

and

so

if

a

father

didn't

have

a

son

do

you

know

what

he

would

do

he

would

adopt

a

full

grown

man

he

would

give

him

the

right

of

sonship

so

that

he

could

pass

all

of

his

wealth

on

to

this

man

and

keep

that

wealth

in

his

family

which

means

this

sonship

doesn't

travel

down

DNA

the

point

that

Paul

is

making

is

this

right

of

sonship

of

becoming

an

heir

of

God

comes

all

by

God's

grace

by

his

declaration

you

don't

need

to

become

a

Jew

in

order

to

receive

the

blessing

of

Abraham

you

got

to

be

in

Christ

to

receive

the

right

of

sonship

so

when

God

sent

his

son

he

sent

with

him

the

right

of

sonship

for

all

who

would

believe

in

Christ

this

right

is

based

on

sealed

with

the

finished

work

of

Jesus

Christ

so

when

you

trust

Jesus

and

you're

given

the

right

of

sonship

it

is

irrevocable

because

Christ

earned

it

for

you

in

other

words

there's

nothing

that we

can

do

in

and

of

ourselves

to

earn

or

obey

our

way

into

the

right

of

sonship

it's

received

by

faith

because

it's

given

by

grace

so

do you

know

why

you're

no

longer

a

slave

to

the

law

a

slave

to

these

elementary

principles

of

the

world

it's

because

if

you're

in

Christ

you

have

received

the

full

right

of

sonship

and

it

is

a

gospel

game

changer

and

now

we

go

to

after

before

we

were

slaves

there

was

the

gospel

game

changer

God

sent

his

son

to

redeem

and

to

give

the

right

of

sonship

and

now

after

what

happens

what's

true

of

us

we

find

that

out

in

verses

6

and

7

Paul

says

and

because

you

are

sons

God

has

sent

the

spirit

of

his

son

into

our

hearts

crying

Abba

Father

so

you're

no

longer

a

slave