Understanding Grace Pt 3

If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Galatians, chapter 3. Galatians, chapter 3. We'll be picking up in verse 26. And the title for this morning's message is Understanding Grace, part 3. We've been working our way through this. And it's been a couple of weeks since we've been in the book of Galatians. And so I would like to do a quick little recap.

Just bring us all back up to speed on where we have been in the book of Galatians, of course. Started off with a typical introduction. And then Paul presented the issue that he was addressing to the Galatian people. That they had so quickly left the message of the gospel. That he had given to them that message of the true gospel. And they had left that message for another gospel.

A false gospel. A gospel of works. A gospel that said it's wonderful that you put your faith in Jesus. But you also need to keep the law. And so he told them about the issue that they had. And then he began to present to them grace. That's what we've been talking about the past few weeks. And as he presented to them grace, there's a handful of things that he has been helping them to understand.

He told them that by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. He told them, I have been crucified with Christ. And it's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me. And now the life that I live, I live according to faith in the Son of God. He then began to ask them questions. And he asked them a series of questions which I have summed up with one question.

And that's, having begun in the spirit, are you now being justified? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? And of course, the answer to that was no. And so he began to tell them about what that meant. And he said, Abraham, our father, was also justified by faith, not by the works of the law. Matter of fact, he said, according to the works of the law, the law bring a curse upon us.

But Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. So then what's the purpose of the law? The law brings a curse. The purpose of the law was twofold. Number one. The law brought us all under sin. It shut up the mouth of everyone. And it shut us up all under sin so that we could all be saved by grace. And then, of course, the law was our schoolmaster.

It was our tutor that led us to Christ. But now that we've been brought to Christ, we are no longer under a tutor. We are now sons of God. And that brings us to the subject that we come to this morning, that we are sons of God. We are sons of God through faith. And so this morning's message will take on two different points. We will look at being sons of God, and we will look at being no longer slaves.

And so we pick up at chapter 3, verse 26, and this is what it says. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise.

Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he is not different at all from a slave, although he is the owner of everything. But he is under the guardian, under God. There are no guardians and managers until the date set by the Father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the law. But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

so that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons of God. He sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. So the first thing that we want to look at is this phrase that he gives us.

We are now sons of God in Christ Jesus. And there's a handful of things that I would like to point out to you. Because he says, you are all sons of God through your faith in Christ. And so the first thing that I would like to point out to you is several things that he tells us that we are now because we are in Christ. As a matter of fact, under this title of in Christ, there's four things I would like to point out to you.

In Christ, you are, first of all, a son of God. He says, you all. Now we should define who the you all is. Who is he talking to here? Well, the Amplified Bible puts it like this. You all who are born again, who are spiritually transformed, who have been sanctified through the Holy Spirit. The you all that he's referring to is all of us that have put our faith in Christ Jesus.

All of us who claim the name of Jesus Christ. And so whoever you are this morning, whatever your background is here this morning, if you've put your faith in Christ Jesus, these things are true of you. Number one, you are a son of God. That phrase means set apart with one another. Full rights and privileges. In other words, an adult son. Now, he'll explain this a little bit more clearly as we get into the next section where he tells us that we are no longer slaves.

But we must understand that in the Roman culture, these operated just a little bit differently. You could be the son of a millionaire, and yet you still had no rights and privileges until your father decided that it was time for you to have those rights and privileges. Until he announced, or if you will, adopted you, even though you were his son by birth, adopted you as his own son, did you become an adult son with full rights and privileges. And so when he says that you are a son of God, not only are we born again, but now you are an adult son with all of the full rights and privileges.

In other words, you have the keys to the kingdom. Does that remind you of anything that Jesus said to us? When he was here on earth? You have all of the full rights and privileges of a son of God. The second thing that he tells us as sons of God is that in Christ we have been baptized into Christ. We have been baptized into Christ. That phrase literally means introduced into union with Christ.

Now, the word baptism is used quite often. We need to understand the context of what it means when it talks about being baptized into Christ. Because there's a couple of different things that this could mean. One phrase that's often used is water baptism. Water baptism is the process of literally going out into the water and being baptized. We saw John the Baptist do it.

We saw Jesus do it. Paul talks about it. That's one form of baptism. That's not what's being referred to here when it says baptized into Christ. Another phrase that's used is baptism. Baptized into the Holy Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit comes upon you in fullness and works his will and way through you. That's also not the baptism that's being mentioned here.

Actually, the baptism that's being mentioned here is your union with Christ. And your union with Christ began the day that you were born again. Because the day that you were born again, you were made one with Christ. Because when you became born again, you were baptized with him into his death. And you were also baptized with him into his resurrection. You see, the water baptism that we perform, the water baptism ceremony that you take part in,

is a picture of the actual baptism that took place inside of you the day that you became born again. Because this baptism, that baptism of salvation, that's the only thing that can truly save you. Your union with Christ through faith. And so as a son of God, not only are you an adult son with all of the full rights and privileges, but you are baptized into Christ.

You are now put into union with Jesus Christ. The third thing it says is that you have clothed yourself with Christ. That you have clothed yourself with Christ. Another way that this could be translated is that you have put on Christ. The clothing that you wear is really, really important, especially at this point in time. You see, a child who is still in their immaturity or in their minority,

as it's going to be put later on in this section, they wore one particular type of toga. Now listen, there's the Latin word for the type of toga that they wore. I can't pronounce that Latin word. Several Bible teachers, several commentators put it in their commentaries, and I was like, kids toga, that's all I could, that's the only thing I knew about. Kids toga, right?

But when you became an adult son with all of the full rights and privileges, you laid aside the clothing of your childhood, and you put on the clothing of manhood. You put on the adult clothing. You put on your grown-up clothes. That's the same idea of being clothed with Christ. You put off the things of the world, and you have now put on Christ. So that every time God looks at you, he doesn't see you, he sees Jesus.

Which is why you are acceptable to God. And can I just remind us all one more time that this is all because of God's grace. It has nothing to do with anything I've done. It has nothing to do with how well I can perform. It has everything to do with the fact that he just loved us so much that he wanted to bestow every spiritual gift upon us. That phrase, clothed, or to put on, translated in the Amplified Bible,

says this, you have taken on his characteristics and his values. Now this is who you are positionally, but now in chapter 5, Paul will begin to tell us about what that looks like practically to put on the things of Jesus Christ. But positionally, you are clothed in Christ. But then the fourth thing that we see is that we are one in Christ. We are one in Christ.

As a matter of fact, I want to read that verse to you again. It says in verse 28, There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. It's an interesting phrase that Paul uses. There's an interesting way for him to put that. And there's a specific reason why he used the wording that he used there.

Because the reason why he used the wording that he used there is because of a prayer that every good Jewish male would pray every morning. See, every morning a good Jewish male would get up and they would begin to thank the Lord for three things. They would thank God that he had not made them a Gentile. They would thank God that he had not made them a woman.

And they would thank God that God had not made him a slave. Because in the eyes of a Jewish man, what made him better than everybody else is that he was a Jew and that he was a man and that he was free. And so when Paul says here, There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

It absolutely flew in the face of the pride of the Jewish people. Of the Jewish man at that point in time. It absolutely flew in the face of the pride of a Jewish man who thanked God that he was none of those things every single morning because that's what he thought made him superior. But you know, I think that there's a word here for us as well. As a matter of fact,

there are several things that we could put in here, I believe, as the Church, to make sure that we understand what Paul meant when he said this. We can say there's neither black nor white. And there's neither Arab nor American. There's neither male nor female, because I think that fits in there, too. We can include that phrase because there's nothing superior about us as Americans.

There's nothing superior about us because of our color. There's nothing superior about us because of our gender, because all are one in Christ. But can I throw another one in there for you that I think is really important for us to listen to? So there's neither Baptist nor Methodist. There's neither Calvary Chapel nor Ephraim. There's no denominations out there because we are all one in Christ.

You know what I think Satan loves to do to us is he loves to divide us. Because if he can divide us, he can conquer us. Because that is a strategy of the enemy. I see it. They. Are taking place in our world right now. And many are playing into the hands of the enemy. And I want to point this out again. I pointed this out Wednesday night about the deception in the book of Revelation.

We were talking about the great dragon that came out of the pit. And that great dragon, one of the things that he did was to deceive people. And can I just go ahead and say now that there's a group of people out there who have been deceived by the enemy. They are not our enemy, but they have been deceived by the enemy. And as they have been. They think the greatest thing that they can do is divide us.

Do you know how people want to divide us as human beings right now, especially politically in America? They want to divide us on racial lines. Have you noticed that? Have you noticed how much more distinction there is in race now? I don't remember it being this way as much. Maybe it's because of the way that I grew up. Maybe I grew up more privileged than I realized that I did.

That was privileged. And I don't understand privilege. But maybe I grew up more privileged than I thought that I did. But we seem to be more divided. And racially now than I've ever seen us before. And I think it's because that's what the enemy wants to do to us. And if we give in to that, then we have major problems because we have to understand that we are we are one in Christ.

There is no racial barrier. Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians that he has broken down the middle wall of separation. One of the beautiful things that happens to us when we come to Jesus Christ is that all those walls of separation get torn down because I first of all, have to take the plank out of my own eye, and then I can see whether or not you have a speck in yours. And once I take the plank out of my own eye, it pretty well tears down the wall because now I come to you as a fallen sinner who just wants to help another fallen sinner.

I stopped seeing racial divisions because I realized that God created us all very uniquely and all very differently, and I can appreciate the differences instead of being offended by the differences. I can even embrace somebody who. Before they come to Jesus Christ struggles with what their gender is or what their sexual identity is. I can embrace them and love them because I know that Jesus changes people from the inside out.

And as he changes them on the inside to bring them to a knowledge of him, he will change them on the outside to make sure that they are who he created for them to be. Because the gospel tears down all of those walls of separation. The enemy wants to put them up. In Christ, they're all torn down. Now, we need to understand something. Paul's not saying that there are no distinctions here, that there's no longer male or female.

As a matter of fact, multiple places throughout Scripture address the fact that we are created differently. Therefore, there are different responsibilities and different needs that we each have. He's saying that in Christ, there's a level playing field. And in Christ, the level playing field is this. You're either in Christ or you need to be in Christ. You're either a sinner or you're saved.

That's the only distinction that there is. And brothers and sisters, if they're not saved, let's get them that way, shall we? Let's tell them about Jesus so that they can get that way. And so, in Christ, there is no division. We are one in Christ. And because of who we are in Christ, the second major heading that we have is that we are heirs according to the promise.

We are heirs. According to the promise. In verse 29, it says, And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise. If you are in Christ, and that should say since you are in Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants. We talked about this a few weeks ago, but I may as well bring it up again. When I was a kid, we always sang that song, Father Abraham, right?

When I was a kid, I loved it. As an adult, I hate that song because I can no longer spin in circles, right? You put your right arm in, you put your left arm in, and then you spin around. By the time I get done spinning around, I don't know whose child I am anymore because I can't see straight. But we sing that song, Father Abraham had many sons. And many sons had Father Abraham.

I am one of them. So are you. So let's just praise the Lord. I never understood what that meant as a kid. Now I get what it means that we are all children of Abraham. That doesn't make us all Jewish people. It means that we're all children of the promise. Because you see, the thing that started this entire discussion is the fact that Abraham, our father, was saved through faith.

He was declared righteous because of his faith. And now, in Christ, we too are children of Abraham and we're heirs to the promise. What's the promise that was made to Abraham? Abraham, Jesus, were heirs to the promise of the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. And so he says, you are now heirs of righteousness through faith because you are a son of God.

Well, now we move into this next section that starts in chapter 4, but it carries on the same theme. It says this. As long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave. Though he is owner of everything, but is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.

But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman. Born unto the Lord. So that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Now, I say, as long as the heir is a child. Now, this is a different Greek word than the word that is used for son. The word used for son, which we saw earlier and we'll see later on in this section, can be translated adult son.

The word that's used here for child means a child in his minority. We would call it someone under. The age of 18, because that's what we consider a child in this country. So we consider a child in this culture. In Roman times, you were considered a child until your dad told you that you were not a child any longer. It was whenever he felt like you were ready to be called a son.

That was when that took place. Now, I say, as long as the heir is a child in his minority, he does not differ at all from a slave. Although he is owner of everything. I found it kind of fascinating. I was reading. Of course, and on this, and he wrote his commentary somewhere in the somewhere in the late eighties, if I remember correctly. And he was talking about the child of Donald Trump's not pretty sure that he's talking about whatever.

Yeah, that's the daughter, right? Yeah, that's pretty sure he was talking about. He said he's got this little trumpet, which was a great title. He's got this little trumpet who is heir to all of the fortune. But as a child, she controls none of it. And that's kind of what he's talking about here. You can have a rich uncle that put money in a trust for you. But until you turn the age that is legally allowing you to get into that trust, you're just as poor as anybody else in the world.

He says, in error, as long as he is a child is no different than a slave, because a child in that culture had no rights, they had no privileges, and that phrase is better to be seen. And I heard was exactly what was intended for children at that point in time, because that's who they were. They had no rights. They had no privileges. They were not adult sons, even though they were heirs to everything.

Well, now Paul relates this to us. He is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. Those guardians and managers, that's the tutor that we talked about a few weeks ago. So also we, verse 3, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. So also we, he now relates this to us. He gives a real world scenario.

Now he points out how we were the same way. We were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. Well, the thing we have to figure out here is what does he mean by the elemental things? What were we held? What were we held in bondage to? Well, the word elemental can also be translated rudimentary or basic. Some have even translated it as the ABCs.

I found that to be kind of an interesting translation. We were held under the ABCs of the world, the rudimentary basic things of the world. Well, now that we know what the word means, what does that mean for us? I'm really glad you asked. What that means for us is that we were held under the most fundamental things of the world. The most basic things of the world.

What are the basic things of the world that we are held under? Well, for the Jews, the basic things, the ABCs that they were held under was the law. They were held under the law and it had its purpose, but we talked about what the purpose of that law was. It was very basic in nature because it had one job. Actually, it had two jobs. Number one, to hold back or restrain sin.

Number two, to point it. Number three, to show that they were in need of a savior. To put everyone under sin and to show that they were in need of a savior. Those were the basic things of the law that they were held in bondage under and they were held in bondage because it could never make them righteous. For those who have grown up in the church, you and I were held under the elemental things

of our parents and their rules as they continued to tell us about Jesus in right and wrong. But for the rest of the world, that means something very different. And Paul knew that. But when he said the elemental things of the world, that's why he didn't restrict it to just the law. Because you see, for the rest of the world, it might mean paganism. The elementary things that they were held under was simply bondage to their pagan rites

and rituals. Bondage to sin. But then there's the other thing that the rest of the world is held under bondage to, and that is their own conscience. Because while most of the world may have no idea what God's law says, God has written his law in their hearts with what we call the conscience. Now the conscience isn't to be trusted to the same level that the law is to be trusted

because some people's conscience is really strong and some people's conscience is really weak. But everybody has a conscience, right? They all have a level of right and wrong that they understand these are the things that are right and these are the things that are wrong. You want to know why? You want to know why? You want to know why? You want to know why?

There is so much push for evil in today's world, especially with the sexual identity stuff. It's because they know they're wrong, but they're trying to convince you that they're right because they're trying to convince themselves that they're right. I know that because I've talked to people that have come out of incredibly terrible lifestyles and you know what they always try to convince themselves of? This is right.

This is normal. This is good. And then they come to Jesus and they'll tell you, I lived my entire life trying to convince myself that I was right. I tried to convince myself that this is right and this is normal and this is good, but deep down, I knew that it wasn't. You know why? Because God has written his law on our hearts, and it's called the conscience.

And everybody lives in bondage to that conscience. Again, no one will ever convince me that a good percentage, not all, a good percentage of the depression that people are living in today is their guilty conscience that they can't let go of. Because they are in bondage to the elemental things of the world. In the same way that a child, even though he's an heir, has no rights until the father decides that he does.

So we were children. We were children held in bondage. And we were children held in bondage until something happened. Notice what it says in verse 4. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his son. Can I give you Ryan's translation of when the fullness of time came? At just the right time. That's literally what that means. At just the right time, God sent forth his son.

There are so many things that make the time that Jesus came the exact right time. It was the exact right time. It was the exact right time because Daniel had told us exactly how many days. From the decree to build the temple until the Messiah comes into Jerusalem, he told us the exact number of days. So he came at exactly the right time because that was exactly when Daniel told us he would show up.

He came at exactly the right time because nobody else crucified. Nobody else had done what the Roman government did. Nobody else would pierce the hands and the feet. Quite like the Roman government did or the side. Quite like the Roman government did. There were no stripes laid across the back. Quite like the Roman government did. So for all of those prophecies to be fulfilled the way they were, Jesus had to come at exactly the right time.

He came at exactly the right time because the Jewish people would have put him to death by stoning. But the right to capital punishment had been taken away from the Jewish people. And so they had to turn it over to Rome. So he came at exactly the right time when the Jews had no power to put him to death. It would be the condemnation of the Jews coupled with the condemnation of the Romans making him the savior for the Jews and the savior for the Gentiles.

He came at exactly the right time. He came at exactly the right time because there was a common language in the world when Jesus came along. There was what's called the Koine Greek, which is often what pastors will quote when they tell you, Well, what this word says in the Greek is this because Jesus came and there was a common language. You know why that's important?

Because if there's a common language, then you can tell the story. In a common language, you can preach the message in a language that everybody can understand. And he came at exactly the right time because it was the absolute easiest time possible for Bible teachers to travel through the Roman Empire. You know why? Because all roads lead to Rome. Roman emperors thought it was very important that their entire empire be connected by roads.

And so Jesus came at exactly the right time. When the fullness of time came, when the time was right, God sent Jesus. And this feels like a good moment to go ahead and insert the fact that if he knew exactly when the time was right the first time, then he'll know exactly when the time is right the second time. And if he knew when exactly the right time to send Jesus was, then he knows exactly the right time to deal with whatever it is that you're dealing with in your life.

The thing that you've been waiting on. For God to tell you. The thing that you've been waiting on for God to show you. The thing that you've been waiting on God to do in your life. God has the exact right time for that. And we can rest in God's timing. I've always told young people, especially the ones that really, really, really want to find that special person they're going to spend the rest of their lives with.

I tell them, in the will of God, you have nothing but time. Because he will always do it at exactly the right time. And God at exactly the right time even takes into account people like me who aren't good at making decisions. He always has that perfect timing. At exactly the right time. What did he do? He sent forth his son. Born of a woman. Born under the law.

There's some really interesting words that he uses here. He says he sent forth his son. Of course, we know that as we look at God, God is the triune Godhead. We know this from multiple places in Scripture. Trinity is never used in Scripture. The word Bible is never used in Scripture either. But we're pretty confident in calling it the Bible. The word Trinity is never used in Scripture, but we see it everywhere.

One of the most beautiful places that you see that picture of the Trinity is when Jesus was baptized. And when Jesus was baptized, out of the water came God the Son. Fully God, but fully man. And what descended upon him was the Holy Spirit in the presence of a dove or in the form of a dove. And from heaven. And from heaven came the voice of the Father. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

God sent forth his Son. The very God himself, as we're told in Scripture. In the beginning was the Word. That's Jesus. And the Word was with God, making him distinct. But the Word also is God, making him God himself. He sent forth his Son. It speaks of his deity. But he sent forth his Son, born of a... Woman, which speaks of his humanity. Because when Jesus came into the earth, he was born of a woman, of a virgin.

It speaks of his humanity, meaning that Jesus went through all of the same things that you and I went through. And he was born under the law. Meaning that he kept the law perfectly. Because remember what Jesus said? He said, I did not come to destroy the law. I came to fulfill the law. As a matter of fact, I will tell you, not one jot or tittle of the law will be broken.

It will fail until all has been complete. He was born under the law. As in the fullness of time he came, born of a woman, born under the law. Why did he come? Verse 5. So that he might redeem those who were under the law. That we might receive the adoption as sons. That word, redeem, literally means to purchase out of the slave market. Isn't that interesting?

Because even as children and heirs, we were still slaves, we were still in bondage. What were we in bondage to? The elemental things of the world. You were in bondage to sin. You were in bondage to the law. You were in bondage to your conscience. And all of those things held you as a slave. Until the fullness of the time came. Until just the right time. And Jesus redeemed us.

And how did he redeem us? Well, Peter tells us exactly how he redeemed us. Not with silver or gold, as in our vain traditions, but with his own precious blood. See, we don't just celebrate Good Friday on Good Friday. Just like we don't just celebrate Easter on Easter Sunday. We celebrate the fact that we have been redeemed every day. Because every day that you wake up is another opportunity for you to experience that redemption

in your life. To understand to a greater degree that redemption in your life. That when you wake up, you are redeemed. You are redeemed. When he stretched out his arms on that cross and spelled out love with three nails and a spear and shed that blood for you, it was the blood of redemption so that he could purchase you back to himself. And as he did, he set you free.

And he whom the Son sets free, is free indeed. And so he says he did that to redeem us, but in order to redeem us who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of Jesus. And so he says he did that to redeem us, but in order to redeem us who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of Jesus. Adoption as sons. Adoption as sons. Two beautiful things took place the day that you got saved.

I love explaining this because the day that you get saved you don't always realized all these things took place. The day that you get saved you just knew you needed Jesus, right? You just knew you needed something and somebody said Jesus is what you needed. So you said Jesus helped. And you didn't understand any of these things. But crazy things took place the day that you got saved.

Number one, you were born again. You were born again into the family of God. you became a child of god you became one who ultimately and completely belongs to him you were born again but not only were you born again you were adopted now again why is that important well because even a roman father just because he was his child he did not receive full rights until the roman father decided he's a man now he can receive full rights as a son and though he was his child by birth when he became old enough to have all of the full rights to sons he adopted him instead now not only is he my child he's my son and he has all of the full rights and privileges of being my son that means he carries with him all of the authority all of the power

all of the rights everything that it means to be my son he has the keys to the kingdom and so when jesus redeemed us not only did it make us his child by brand new birth but it made us the son of god because of the declaration you are a son of god now ladies if you're concerned about the fact that you're a son of god don't you worry about it we as men of christ okay so just let's get past all the terms it's a it's a it's a term we're using here

i'm pointing this out because we need to know it so badly because being able to rest in our position is the hardest thing that we do as believers in jesus christ we don't have to perform we don't have to earn we just have to rest in who we are in christ he says he redeemed you that you might receive the adoption as sons he goes on from there to say tell us about the spirit of adoption notice what he says and because you are sons of god god has sent forth his spirit into our hearts crying father therefore you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son then an heir through god because you are sons of god god has sent forth his spirit into our heart and as god sent forth his spirit into our heart in the book of romans

he refers to it as the spirit of adoption as he sent forth that spirit into our heart the holy spirit bears witness i want you to notice what it says that the holy spirit does he has sent forth the spirit into our hearts crying of the father that word crying means crying out earnestly it speaks of making a public proclamation now this is what the holy spirit does in your heart the holy spirit continues to bear witness crying out in your heart that you are a child of god and what does he cry out in your heart that you as a child of god can cry out he cries out father that word is a really important word it's not just a cheesy man from the 70s right it's an incredibly important word because that word

is translated father but as that word is translated father there's something much more tender that's involved there it's one of the most tender words in the jewish language for father it actually speaks of my father because it carries with it the idea of owning it personally but you know how many have translated this word many have translated this word the same that a jewish child would refer to his father if those of us that have kids we all know what our kids called us when they were really little right daddy and there's nothing quite like the first time that you hear your little girl say daddy if i'm being honest for five it was a little more like dad but you get the idea that's the idea of the word that's there

because there's a very tender-hearted word as a matter of fact some i i've never been able to throw along with this myself some will even refer to god as dad it's a little bit of a step too far for me but i understand where people have come from with this because that's what the spirit cries in their heart out abba father means that that spirit of adoption works in us so clearly that in the same way that we can come to our dad at any point in time we can come to god in that exact same way i've always said there's very few people when i really get into studying that i'm allowed to interrupt me but two of them are named violet and nora because whatever they've got going on

I'll usually stop what I'm doing because they don't care what I'm in the middle of. You know why? Because they have a confidence because they're my daughters. They have a confidence to know I can come to dad at any time with anything because I'm his daughter. And it's the same for us with the father. It means that there's nothing that holds us back from going directly to God and knowing that he is my father.

He's not just a father. He's my father. And I can own that personally. He says, his spirit cries out in our hearts, Abba, Father. And I want you to know what it says in verse 7. Therefore, in light of everything that he said, that because Jesus came, born of a woman, born under the law, because he redeemed us who were under the law, because we have received the adoption as sons,

and because we are sons of God, who the spirit is crying out in our hearts, Abba, Father, therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son. You are no longer a slave. Do you know what that means? It means that if you are no longer a slave, you should stop thinking like a slave. I say that because too many of us as Christians still think like slaves. We still think like slaves of sin.

We still think like slaves of sin. We still think like slaves of the law. We still think like slaves of our conscience. And as we think like slaves, we constantly live with guilt on the inside of us. We constantly live with fear that God's going to be upset with us. We constantly live with fear as to whether or not we're being good enough. We constantly live with fear as to whether or not we're truly accepted by God.

And I don't live a life of confidence. I don't live a life of boldness. I don't live a life of rest. I live a life of fear. There are way too many believers in Jesus Christ right now walking around living a life of fear. Living a life of not feeling like they're good enough, like they can never be enough, like they can never achieve. And do you know how we have fought that?

We have fought that by making sure to say things like, You are enough. No, you need to fight that by understanding that you are no longer a slave. Because you have been set free by God. You're no longer a slave to your fears. You're no longer a slave to your conscience. You're no longer a slave to the law. You're no longer a slave to your failures. You're a son of God.

Stop thinking like a slave. But do you know what else that means? It means you need to stop living like a slave. You need to stop living like a slave. Stop living like you are controlled by sin. Too many of us as Christians are still living like that sin controls us. I just can't be free. That's always my struggle. No, it's not. It's what you've chosen to be your struggle.

It's what you've chosen to continue to dominate you. Because you are not a slave. That's no longer you. Juswindal told this story. He told the story of a parrot that this guy owned. And he put this parrot on a string. This parrot could do nothing but stay within the radius of this string. It couldn't fly off. It couldn't do anything. One day, the owner, knowing that it was completely convinced that it could not leave that area

because it had always been tied to a string, untied to the string, and that parrot, for the rest of its life, never leaving that radius. Because though it had been set free, it still believed it could not move. And too many of us as Christians live within the same radius. I can never be free from that sin. I can never be free from that struggle. I can never be free from those fears.

I can never be free from those feelings. I can never have joy in my life because this is the way I've always been. Because though it had been set free, it still believed it could not leave that area because it had always been. Brothers and sisters, you need to stop living like a slave, and start living like a son. Start living like a son who is confident in the house of God.

I'll use this other little illustration from my daughters. My daughters have spent a good deal of their four-month warranty nelive years in this building. And so, when they show up in this building, they take their shoes off, whether it's Sunday morning or Monday afternoon. They show up in a camp. They show up in a camp. kick their shoes off. And I'm like, dude, it's Sunday. You can't do that. Monday, you can do

this. Sunday, you can't do this. This isn't your house. They think it is because they've spent so much time here, right? They go in and they get Sunday school snacks. Those aren't yours. Stop doing that. I'm sorry, dad. I'm just used to doing this, right? You know why? Because when they're here, they're free because they know. My dad has always been here. I've lived most of my life here.

There's no confidence about him. I grew up the exact same way. I was the exact same way in this building. That's exactly how God wants us to be with him. He wants us to be able to kick our shoes off, to go get a snack, and act like we belong. Act like we live there. Because you know what? You do. You are no longer a slave, but you are a son. And if you are a son, then you are an

heir through God. Meaning that not only do you have the righteousness of God, but you have all of the benefits of being one of his children. If you want to know what those benefits are, you should go read the first chapter of the book of Ephesians. Many people call it the bank account for the believer. Because the first chapter of the book of Ephesians tells us all about

the benefits of being a believer in Jesus Christ. Amen. Brothers and sisters, can we all stand?

And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come before you. And Lord, I thank you for the morning that we've had together. Lord, I thank you for the time that we've had in your word. And Lord, I just want to pray that you would continue to strengthen us in you. Father, if there are any here this morning who have been living their life as a slave. Lord, who have been

believing that that's who they will always be. I want to pray, God, that you would begin the process of setting them free. Lord, whether it's bondage to the law, whether it's bondage to fear, whether it's bondage to sin, Lord, I pray that today would be the day that they would walk in freedom. Father, that today would be the day that they take their first step away from where they've been bound by the strain.

And Lord, I just pray that you would give freedom in their hearts. Lord, I thank you for who we are in you. And may that truth of who we are in you continue to dominate our hearts and our minds. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. Be blessed. Be blessed. Be blessed. Be blessed. Be blessed. Be blessed. Be blessed. Be blessed. Be blessed.