[0:00] Galatians chapter 3, and you remember we started back up in Galatians last week after taking Thanksgiving and Christmas off, and we're reminded that Paul's theme to the Galatians is no turning back. Don't go back to what you used to know before. Don't go back. We kind of talked about that this morning at Sunday school with the Hebrews. We were studying the book of Hebrews.
[0:38] Don't go back to what you used to know. Christ is so much better. And here today in Galatians chapter 3, starting at verse 26, follow along with me. Galatians 3, 26. It says, For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free.
[1:08] There is neither male nor female, but ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be in Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. You remember last week we talked about the promise that was made to Abraham. Today he says, look, if you're part of the family of God, you're heir to the promise that was made to Abraham. Notice the title, you're part of the family of God.
[1:40] That's why we sang those songs this morning. Every one of those songs talked about being part of the family, being a child of God's or something along that line. We are part of God's family if we know Jesus Christ. Let's have a word of prayer and we'll talk about this today. Father, this morning as we look at your word, Lord, may we rejoice that we are part of the family of God.
[2:08] God has been washed, been cleansed, been made whole because of Jesus Christ and what he did for us on that cross.
[2:19] As we were talking in Sunday school about the Jews used to worship at the altars and make their sacrifices. Hebrews says, we have an altar. It was Jesus Christ on the cross. That's where the sacrifice was made once and for all.
[2:33] And because of what he did once and for all, we are saved for all eternity. Lord, thank you for your great love to us. Thank you for your great provision to us.
[2:46] Thank you for all that you do for us. Lord, help us today as we look at this passage of scripture, these four or five verses, to be reminded that we have a family and we are so grateful for it.
[3:01] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Depending on your experiences growing up in your life, thinking about family can be kind of a comforting thing or it can be an emotional thing.
[3:16] I don't know what your family was like growing up in my family. I had a family. I had a family, mom and dad, who loved me. I was an only child, so I didn't have brothers and sisters to fight with, so hey, something to be there.
[3:32] But those of you who have brothers and sisters, you have a love for them as well, for the most part, probably. But regardless of the quality of your family relationships that you had with your family, it is so encouraging.
[3:51] We're so thankful that we have an inheritance in Christ and that we get to be a part of God's family. To be part of God's family.
[4:04] Just an amazing thing to us. So I want to look at that this morning, part of being in God's family. When you came to know Christ, look at verse 26 again. It says, For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
[4:23] You've been invited to a family. You've been invited to be part of God's family. Now, we're all part of God's family in one way. But don't get carried away with this one way.
[4:35] God is our Father. He's the Father of all creation. God made everything. So therefore, we are part of his family. In fact, we're part of creation.
[4:46] In 1 Corinthians 8, verse 6, it says, But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
[5:04] God is the Father of creation. He is not the Father of everyone redemptively. In order to be part of God's family redemptively, we have to choose to be a part of that family.
[5:18] We have to make sure that we want to be a part. We have to ask to be a part of that family and then say, God, I believe in you. I trust you. I want to be a part of your family.
[5:30] We sing songs about being adopted. We're adopted into God's family. We'll talk about that some more in a minute. So, creation, God is the Father of all creation.
[5:42] But, second thing, God is the Father of the saved. God is the Father of the saved. We tend to look at this verse, verse 26, and we read it this way.
[5:55] For ye are all the children of God. But that's not what it says. Notice what else it says. Fear all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
[6:09] How do we get to be part of God's family? By faith in Christ Jesus. So, take a look at our life here, kind of the steps of our life.
[6:22] Before Christ, we are children of wrath, the Bible says. Before Christ, we have a problem. Before Christ, we are sinners.
[6:38] Ephesians 2, 3 says this. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
[6:55] All of us who are saved, he says, at one time we were the children of wrath. At one time, we all had our conversation in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
[7:06] We live for ourselves, only what we wanted for ourselves. Go back again. I've mentioned this before, but go back to babies. Babies do not have to be taught to be selfish.
[7:17] If they want something, they're going to let you know that they want something. If they're hungry, they're going to let you know. They need the diaper change. They're going to let you know.
[7:28] They want things that are going to make them comfortable. And he says, we were like that. Everything was about us. Everything was what is best for me.
[7:40] What do I think I need? What do I think I want? It's not about anything else. But then, number two, we came to Christ. He says it came by faith in Christ Jesus.
[7:55] We came to Christ, and then we became the children of God. That's when we became the children of God. It's when we came to Christ. John 14, 6, verse you know well. Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[8:09] No man cometh unto the Father but by me. You want to have God as your Father? You want God to be a part of God's family? You want to have God as the one looking out for you and taking care of you and meeting your needs?
[8:25] He says there's only one way to do that. Through Jesus Christ. And that's what he says here in Galatians. He says the fact that you are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
[8:37] You have to come to Christ. See, a person who has not trusted Christ as their Savior, a person who has not put their faith in Jesus Christ as the one who can save them and take them to heaven, he says you're not a part of the family.
[8:53] You're not a son of God. You do not have access to the Father. It only comes through Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John chapter 1, you know, in the beginning it was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and later on it talks about the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
[9:12] It also says there in chapter 1 of John, verse 12, it says, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name.
[9:26] He says, you want to be a child of God? Receive him. Believe him. Believe on his name. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then what happens if I do that?
[9:39] Well, Jesus said he was going back to heaven so that he could send his spirit. And number three is, by the Holy Spirit, we are adopted children.
[9:51] By the Holy Spirit coming into our life. When we ask Jesus Christ to come into our life, when we ask him to save us, he says, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. And he's going to teach you, and he's going to guide you, and he's going to lead you in the way that you should go.
[10:02] And when he does that, he's going to make you an adopted member of God's family. Galatians, you're there. Galatians chapter 4, look at verse 6. Galatians 4, 6 says, and because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
[10:23] He says, God has called you to be sons. And he says, the spirit comes in, and you cry, Abba, Father.
[10:33] And you say, okay, so a big deal. What does that mean? Well, the word Abba has the idea of father. Okay, so now I cry, Father, Father.
[10:45] Well, no, actually it goes beyond that. The word Abba has the idea behind it, not just of father, but of daddy. The Holy Spirit comes into our life, and we're adopted into the family of God, and he is our daddy, our father.
[11:03] Not just a father, but dad. He looks out for us, takes care of us. What's only the best for us? He's Abba, Father.
[11:14] In Romans chapter 8, the screen's going to have verse 16. Let me read a couple of verses before that. Romans chapter 8, starting at verse 14. It says this, But as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
[11:31] For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
[11:48] He says the Holy Spirit comes into your life, and he bears witness. There's a difference. There's something that's changed. The Holy Spirit comes into my life, and I understand I have a relationship with God now. Something I did not have before.
[12:00] I have an opportunity. I'm a part of God's family. I am, the Bible tells us in other places, I am a joint heir with Jesus Christ.
[12:13] I am so much a part of God's family, I'm a joint heir. He says, you have that relationship with God. So we're invited to be a part of the family of God.
[12:28] I could stop right there. Think about it. A part of the family of God. I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God.
[12:40] I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by his blood. Those things we sang this morning. I look out this morning, and you can tell we don't fully grasp what it means to be a part of the family of God.
[12:57] That should excite us to know him. To know that I have that relationship with him. How do I get to be there?
[13:08] How do I get that invitation? Number two, I identify with the Savior. I cannot do it on my own. I have to identify with the Savior. Look at verse 27 and 28 again.
[13:20] It says, for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free.
[13:31] There is neither male nor female. For ye are all one in Christ Jesus. When he's talking about baptism there, he's not talking about water baptism. He's talking about the fact that we've been immersed in Jesus himself.
[13:45] Because I'm immersed in Jesus himself. Because I've asked him to come into my life. Because I've asked him to take over. Because I've asked him to save me. He says, there is a whole world of difference now in my life.
[13:59] He says, we have put on Christ. Notice what it says there in the last part of verse 27. It says, baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
[14:13] What does he mean when he says to put on Christ? Well, first of all, you're talking about a position that we have. We have a position in Christ now.
[14:24] I have put on Christ. Think of it like changing clothes. I have taken off old dirty things and put on new things.
[14:36] In Isaiah 64, 6, it says this. But we are all as an unclean thing. And all our righteousness are as filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf.
[14:49] And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. He says, look. He says, we have unclean things. And all our righteousness are as filthy rags. When I was thinking about this, I was trying to think.
[15:02] How do I explain this? I've told you I know before, but bear with me. I remind you again. When I was a kid, well, teenager. As a teenager, I used to work in the tannery in Heartland.
[15:16] I would work there Friday night, Saturdays, doing various things. Part of my job was cleaning. They have what they call a pasting unit.
[15:27] And they would spray paste on these big plastic boards. They'd slap the leather up on those boards, smooth it all out, get it all, you know, so it's all nice and smooth and everything.
[15:40] And then they would go into these dryers. And they'd go into those dryers and they'd be in there for a while and stuff. And then they'd take them out. They'd be all nice and stiff. And then they would put them in these big vats.
[15:52] We called them wheels. They would circulate. And they would just loosen them back up again. They were all stiff. But now we're going to make them so that they are malleable.
[16:03] You know, they can be used in different ways. My job on the weekends was to clean the pasting unit. That was my first job. I would go in there, steam hose in one hand, scraper in the other.
[16:18] And I'd start putting the steam on that thing and start scraping that extra paste glue off of there. And so I'm here doing this and I'm doing like this.
[16:32] What does steam do? It rises. Yeah, it goes up. Guess what? There's paste up there too. And so as I'm doing this, this up here is warming up and going plop, plop, plop, plop, plop.
[16:49] And so as I'm doing this, I'm getting drift on all the time. So I'm kind of scraping it out if I can when it's loose enough. But plop, plop, plop. And then when I get done that and that's all nice and clean and everything and plop, plop, plop, plop.
[17:03] And it wasn't fizzy. It was all over me. Then it was go clean out underneath those wheels. Well, those wheels, as they tumbled and made things, dust would come off the leather.
[17:16] And that leather was all various colors. There's a black one here and a green one there and a yellow one there and a red one there and a blue one there. And then my job, go clean out from underneath those.
[17:27] That dust piles up after a while. And so go clean out. So I would go home. And in my house, you had a house here, you had a garage here, and there was a little breezeway in between.
[17:39] Guess what my mother used to say when I came home from work? Those clothes come off right there in the breezeway. They don't make it inside this house on you.
[17:50] We may pick them up and take them to the washing machine and get them taken care of, but they do not come in on you. So I had to take these things off. He says, look, you're going to take off the unclean things.
[18:07] You're going to get washed by the blood of Jesus Christ. And you're going to put on new things. You're going to put on clean things, clean clothes.
[18:21] That's what he's saying here. To put off and to put on Christ. What does that mean? Go to Colossians. It's just a few books over there.
[18:31] Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. And Colossians chapter 3, beginning at verse 8. It says this.
[18:44] Colossians 3, 8. He says, put off all of these different things.
[18:58] Stop there. He says, put off all of these different things.
[19:11] There's a lot of anger in the world today. There's a lot of wrath, malice. Filthy communication. Filthy communication. Even Christians can be guilty of that one.
[19:23] The type of communication that comes out of our mouth. Whether it be filthy language. Gossip. Backbiting. All this. He says, get rid of all of those things.
[19:35] Put those things off. Then in verse 10. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
[19:46] So what am I putting on? I'm putting on Jesus Christ. When I do that, verse 11. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free.
[20:04] But Christ is all and in all. Put off this stuff. Put on Christ. What happens when I put on Christ? Look at verse 12. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another.
[20:29] If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Put off anger, wrath, malice, and all those things. Put on these other things.
[20:41] Put off the old man. Put on the new man. Put off the old nature, the sinful nature. Put on Jesus Christ. He says that's what we're supposed to do.
[20:53] That's how we're supposed to live. Verse 14. And above all these things, put on charity, love, which is the bond of perfectness.
[21:03] And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. He says put off all these things. Put off all these different things.
[21:16] And when he says that, you put off those things, and he says put on Jesus Christ. Put on is an interesting term, too. Put on has the idea of sinking into.
[21:30] Putting on clothes oneself. I like the sinking into. When you leave here today, sometime this afternoon, probably, or early evening, you're going to go home, and you're going to put on some different clothes.
[21:49] As sharp as Mark looks in that suit today, he is probably not going to stay in it all day long. He's going to go home, and he's going to get into comfortable stuff.
[22:01] Pajamas. Okay. Sometimes, maybe pajamas. For me, it's a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. It's just pajamas. Okay. We got it, Mark.
[22:12] Trying not to get that picture in my head. Okay. No, no, no, no. I'm not wearing pajamas. No. I have a sweatshirt and sweatpants. So I'm going to put those things on.
[22:23] Because they're comfortable. I can just sink into them. And they're my favorite things to wear. Now, most of you, if you have days at home, how long does it take you to get out of the pajamas or the sweatpants and things before you actually get dressed, if you do not have to go anywhere that day?
[22:45] You stay in those clothes, don't you? Because they're comfortable. They relax. He says, put on, sink into the Lord Jesus Christ.
[22:56] Once I get those pajamas, not pajamas, now you're eating it up. Once I get on those sweatpants and the sweatshirt and things, where am I going to go from there?
[23:08] My recliner. My recliner. You know, the one you've been sitting in for years, and it's formed to your body, and you just kind of, ah. He says, put on, sink into the Lord Jesus Christ.
[23:25] We should feel more comfortable with Jesus Christ than anything else in this world. Do we feel like that? In chapter 2, verse 20, back there in Galatians, chapter 2, verse 20, he says, I am crucified with Christ.
[23:43] Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. He says, I can sink into the fact that Jesus Christ loved me enough that he went and died for me.
[24:02] I can rest in that. Are you resting in Christ? That's what he wants us to do. So our position, we're in Christ.
[24:14] How about in our practice? In our practice, are we in Christ? Do we put on Christ? Let me illustrate that one this way.
[24:26] Someone puts on an army uniform. They aren't necessarily in the army because they put on the uniform. Example. How many of you have watched war movies on TV?
[24:39] Not all of those guys on there were in the army at one time. Not all of them who were wearing that uniform in the movie were actually army officers or army infantrymen at one time.
[24:52] They're acting a part. But if you are actually in the army, and then you do put on a uniform because you're in the army as a Christian, do you act like a Christian?
[25:11] Do you walk like a Christian? Do you talk like a Christian? Because you are a Christian. That should make a difference. When it comes to the filthy language and other things I mentioned earlier, the anger, the malice and all that, they should be easy to put off because I am a Christian.
[25:24] And I am putting on the clothing of Jesus Christ. I am going to act like him. I'm going to live like him.
[25:35] He says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 2.15 says this, That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
[25:52] He says, put it on and then shine as lights. I think of it this way. In Ephesians chapter 6, what does he talk about? Put on the armor of God.
[26:03] You put on that armor, brand new. You've accepted Jesus Christ. You put that armor on. I've got the breastplate of righteousness. I've got the helmet of salvation.
[26:14] I've got the feet shod with the preparation of gospel of peace. I have the shield of faith.
[26:25] I have the sword of the word of God. And the sun hits those things. Makes you stand up taller. Makes you like, oh yeah.
[26:38] I'm part of God's family. I'm part of God's army. I'm part of what God is doing. I bet one time in that month that Matthew's home, I bet we see a uniform.
[26:55] We will see a uniform show up. I'm part of that. It's part of my identity now. I am part of the family of God.
[27:07] How do I show up when I see people? Do they know that there's a difference? Romans chapter 13. Starting at verse 11.
[27:20] They'll be up behind me here. Romans 13, 11 says, And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to wake up out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
[27:33] Is your salvation nearer than when you believed? You say, how can I be any nearer? I'm saved. Yes. Yes. But the fulfillment of that salvation, Jesus Christ coming back and taking us to heaven, that's nearer every day and every day and every day.
[27:46] It's nearer than when we believed. Verse 12. And the night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light that I was just talking about.
[27:57] Verse 13. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.
[28:16] Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. The stuff that was the dirty stuff, the anger and the malice and all of those things, he says put all that stuff away. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and be ready to go.
[28:29] So he's invited us to be a part of the family. He's invited us to identify with Jesus Christ as our Savior. Third thing, he included us in the promise.
[28:43] He included us in the promise. Look at verse 29 again there in Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3, verse 29. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
[29:00] He gave us a promise concerning Jesus. Remember when he said, he was talking about Abraham's seed? Look at verse 16.
[29:12] Now to Abraham and his seed, where the promise is made. He said not to the, excuse me, to the seed, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.
[29:28] He said, you've been made a promise concerning Jesus Christ. You've been made a promise that Jesus Christ is going to come, that Jesus Christ is going to pay for our sin, that Jesus Christ is going to rise again from the dead, that Jesus Christ did do all of that, and now you've been made a promise that if you accept him, you have a home in heaven for all eternity.
[29:49] You accept Christ, you are now saved and under his control. You are saved and under his protection. You are saved, and you have him to go to for anything in your life.
[30:01] You have Christ. He says, look, you have a promise. Verse 28, the end of it. He said, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus, and if ye be Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed.
[30:20] He said, you've been made part of the promise that was made to Abraham, which letter B, the promise for all people. He gave us a promise for all people.
[30:32] All believers, all who have put their trust in Jesus Christ, have a promise given to them. He says, all spiritual blessings, all resources, all promises, are given equally to all who believe on Jesus Christ.
[30:51] Romans 12, Romans 10, 12. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
[31:05] It doesn't matter if you're a Jew. It doesn't matter if you're a Gentile. It doesn't matter what you are. He said, you believe in Jesus Christ. You have the same Lord as everyone else.
[31:17] And if you have the same Lord, which comes through Jesus Christ, he says, then are ye Abraham's seed. He says, the blessings of Abraham came upon the Gentiles.
[31:30] What were those blessings? Remember, back in Genesis chapter 12, beginning at verse 1, God is giving Abraham a promise. You're going to be like the sands of the sea.
[31:40] You're going to be like the stars of the sky. You're going to have all these blessings come upon you. And then, in Genesis 12, verse 3, at the end of the verse, he says this, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
[31:57] We have the same blessings as God's people because having asked Christ to come into our heart, we are now God's people.
[32:09] We are part of that family. He says the promise has been fulfilled through Jesus Christ. He says the promise of the Spirit says you are part of that family.
[32:21] Our lives should be lived in such a way that as we look at what Christ has done for us, the wonder, the meaning of what we have because of Jesus Christ in our life.
[32:42] Do you ever stop and think, I have Jesus. And because I have Jesus, I have this and this and this and this now.
[32:59] And I have a home in heaven. And I have an eternity in heaven. And I have access to the Father anytime. And, and you can just keep going and going and going.
[33:12] Do we ever stop and think, what I have in Jesus Christ. and it's all because I've been adopted into the family of God.
[33:25] And it comes by grace. He's already talked about that. It comes not by keeping the law, not by keeping rules, not by keeping all, it comes because God said, I'm going to send Jesus Christ.
[33:38] He's going to pay the penalty for sin. All you have to do is believe in him. the sum total of what you have to do is, I believe Jesus Christ died for me.
[33:53] He rose again. He's in heaven. I believe that. And he says, you do that, you get to become sons and daughters in the family of God.
[34:08] Now, question for you to end this. As I look out this morning, you know, I'm talking about the fact, I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God.
[34:22] I'm so glad I'm a part. I know I am part of God's family. I know the Holy Spirit says, I'm in. I know that I have God as my father.
[34:37] I know that I have an inheritance that is beyond anything this world could ever offer. I know that I have Jesus Christ. I know that I'm joint heir with Jesus Christ.
[34:59] Are you drawing on your inheritance? we sit here and we look, life is tough, life's defeated, life is over, life is, are you drawing on the inheritance that you have in Jesus Christ?
[35:21] He gave us everything. Do we understand that? going to end this morning a little differently.
[35:33] We're still going to sing a song, but the song we're going to sing is going to be a little different. Bonnie, come on up. The song we're going to sing is not one of the normal ones I use for invitation at the end of a service.
[35:49] First of all, if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior, come talk to me. Let me take the Word of God and show you how you can know for sure that Jesus Christ died for you.
[36:01] He offered you a way into being part of God's family. He offered you salvation. He offered you freedom from sin. Let me take the Word of God and show you how you can know that.
[36:15] 100% for sure to know that you're a part of God's family. If you are a part of God's family this morning, let's lose the frowns and everything else.
[36:26] Let's instead, page 495, 495, let's count our blessings. God has given us so much.
[36:39] God has taken care of everything we could practically need. I'm not saying He's going to take care of all your wants. I am never going to own a Lamborghini which is okay because I don't know how to drive a stick.
[36:57] I'll admit that. I don't know how to do that so I'm fine without a Lamborghini. But He will give me what I need. He will give me the things I need to get through this life.
[37:09] He will give me the things and has already given me the things I need to go past this life and to heaven when I die. When we pass from this life I have an assurance through Jesus Christ that I have a home in heaven.
[37:27] Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Let's stand.