STORY / CONTEXT

Paul has been explaining the purpose of the law and why returning to it as a means of righteousness would be foolish. The law was never intended to provide entrance into God’s family. It reveals our sin and our need for a Savior.

Using the story of Annie going from an orphanage to becoming the daughter of Daddy Warbucks, the question becomes: Why would someone who has been given a new identity and a new home ever choose to go back to the old life?

Paul presents a similar choice: we can live as though we are still prisoners and slaves under the law, or we can live in the freedom and identity God has given us as His sons and daughters. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & … 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

SCRIPTURE READING — Galatians 3:23–29

1. THE LAW IMPRISONS US AND REVEALS TO US OUR NEED OF A SAVIOR

Before faith came, Paul says we were “held captive under the law.” The law reveals God’s standard while simultaneously showing us that we have failed to meet it. We have broken God’s law and stand guilty before Him. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

The law was never given so that we could keep enough rules, perform enough good deeds, or become good enough to earn a place in God’s family. Like a prisoner who has already been convicted, we cannot free ourselves from the consequences of our own guilt. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

Romans 3:20 reminds us that no one is justified by works of the law. Our goodness cannot save us because all of us have fallen short of God’s standard.

The law shows us our sin and our need. We need someone outside of ourselves to set us free.

2. FAITH SETS FREE IN CHRIST AND UNITES US TOGETHER AS SONS OF GOD

What the law could never accomplish, Jesus accomplished for us.

Christ becomes our advocate. He took our condemnation upon Himself at the cross, and when we place our faith in Him, our sin is forgiven and we stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

But God does more than simply release us from prison.

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

Through faith in Christ, God brings us into His family as His sons and daughters. Salvation isn’t merely the removal of guilt; it gives us an entirely new identity. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

Baptism pictures our new identity.

Baptism doesn’t make us Christians. We become children of God through faith in Christ. Baptism is the public picture of what Jesus has already done in us: the old life has been buried, we have been made new, and we now stand clothed in the righteousness of Christ. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

In Christ, we belong to one family.

Paul isn’t saying our distinctions disappear. Instead, those distinctions no longer determine our standing before God.

The ground at the foot of the cross is level. Regardless of race, background, education, economic status, or any other distinction, everyone who belongs to Christ has a place in His family. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

That should also shape the church. We are called to reach people from every kind of background because both the person trapped in obvious sin and the person living a respectable moral life need the same Savior. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

SCRIPTURE READING — Galatians 4:1–7

3. THE LAW ENSLAVES US AND LEAVES US IN NEED OF REDEMPTION

Paul changes the picture from a prisoner to a slave.

Trying to establish our righteousness through the law becomes an endless cycle of trying harder and repeatedly falling short. The law can reveal the problem, but it cannot redeem us from it. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

A slave cannot simply declare himself free. Someone must pay the price necessary to redeem him.

And that is exactly what God did.

4. GOD REDEEMS US AND ADOPTS US AS SONS AND HEIRS

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son…”

At precisely the right moment, God sent Jesus. He was born of a woman, born under the law, and lived the life we could not live. At the cross, He became the perfect sacrifice and paid the redemption price necessary to set us free. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & … 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

But God didn’t merely purchase slaves and release them.

He adopted them.

Dr. Jordan illustrates this through the adoption of his own children. When the adoption decree was signed, they didn’t simply receive a new home. They became his son and daughter with the same standing and inheritance that belonged to any child in the family. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & … 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

That’s what God has done for us through Christ.

We have been redeemed from slavery, adopted into God’s family, given His Spirit, and made heirs with Christ. We can now approach God not as condemned prisoners or fearful slaves, but as beloved children approaching their Father. 10-4 Sermon Video Timestamps & …

SUMMARY / APPLICATION

Paul gives us two dramatically different pictures of life:

PRISONER → FREED THROUGH CHRIST

SLAVE → REDEEMED AND ADOPTED BY GOD

The gospel doesn’t simply tell us that our sentence has been canceled. God brings us out of the prison, redeems us from slavery, welcomes us into His family, and gives us the inheritance of His children.

For those who have trusted Christ, that means we can stop trying to earn God’s acceptance.

“I’m your child. I don’t need to impress you at all. I just need to live for you out of joy.”

Quit trying to earn what Jesus has already purchased.

Trust Jesus. Live as a child of God.