WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.080 Now, since around about the early 1960s, psychologists have been developing a thing they call labeling theory. 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:30.899 The idea being that our self-identity can be determined or at very least influenced by the terms that others use to describe us, either how people describe us individually or how people describe the group that we belong to. 00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:42.839 And it's recognized by psychologists, and I guess it's recognized by ourselves, that those labels that people put on us or on others can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:49.799 If enough people say to a person, you are worthless, you're a nobody, then there is no aspiration. 00:00:50.379 --> 00:00:55.700 Sometimes it goes the other way, and people are determined to prove the doubters wrong. 00:00:55.700 --> 00:01:05.879 But what's true is that the labels that we wear are incredibly powerful in terms of forming how we think about ourselves. 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:10.719 So we attach labels to others, and sometimes we don't even realize it. 00:01:10.780 --> 00:01:11.600 We make judgments. 00:01:12.780 --> 00:01:13.500 This person is bad. 00:01:13.579 --> 00:01:14.340 This person is good. 00:01:14.500 --> 00:01:15.200 This person is ugly. 00:01:15.340 --> 00:01:16.320 This person is beautiful. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:18.659 This person has value to me. 00:01:18.960 --> 00:01:21.200 This person has no value to me. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:26.920 And we can also apply those and other labels to ourselves. 00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:29.140 I am bad. 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:30.320 I am good. 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:31.340 I am ugly. 00:01:31.460 --> 00:01:33.980 I have no value. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:42.659 With the result that it can be really complex to think about how do we answer that basic question of like, who am I? 00:01:43.100 --> 00:01:45.480 What is my identity? 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:51.540 Now, I say that because Paul is writing here to Gentile Christians. 00:01:52.060 --> 00:01:56.920 And Gentiles, non-Jewish people, were used to being labeled by Jews. 00:01:57.700 --> 00:02:00.900 So they were sometimes labeled as dogs. 00:02:02.140 --> 00:02:07.980 Sometimes, Paul refers to this in chapter 2, labeled as Gentile sinners. 00:02:07.980 --> 00:02:15.640 And now, even as they've come to faith in the Lord Jesus, there are Jewish false teachers who are saying, 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:25.439 well, actually, you're a second-class Christian unless you become like us, unless you take on all the Jewish ceremonial laws. 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:29.259 And so Paul is writing into this situation. 00:02:29.259 --> 00:02:34.400 He's writing here to answer their identity crisis. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:41.620 Can I trust in Jesus alone or do I need to add something else? 00:02:42.379 --> 00:02:52.319 And what he will say to them in a variety of ways is that in Christ Jesus, you have a new identity, a new privilege, and a new status. 00:02:53.740 --> 00:03:02.120 What we have in effect are five gospel labels that are placed on us when our faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:10.159 Five ways to think about our identity and privilege when we are in Christ. 00:03:11.860 --> 00:03:22.840 The Christian counselor Paul Tripp reminds us of a truth that nobody talks to you about yourself more than you do. 00:03:23.480 --> 00:03:26.500 And so here is Paul teaching this group of Christians. 00:03:26.640 --> 00:03:29.620 Here are five ways to renew your minds. 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:36.620 Here are five truths about who you are in Christ so that you might live different because you are different. 00:03:36.860 --> 00:03:41.640 That you might live with confidence and assurance because you're trusting in Jesus. 00:03:42.259 --> 00:03:49.420 So our goal today is to help us all to answer the question, what do I see when I look in the mirror? 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:58.960 That we would recognize that if we are Christians, that we are redeemed, adopted, loved, and valued children of God. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:06.439 That that would be how we would learn to see ourselves, regardless of other labels that people might like to put on us. 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:11.140 So five gospel labels to define Christian identity. 00:04:11.140 --> 00:04:12.780 That's what we're going to think about this morning. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:21.360 And central to this is the term that Paul likes to use when he's describing Christians, talking about them as being in Christ. 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:25.520 You see that all through his letters, being in Christ, being with Christ, into Christ. 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:27.080 What does that mean? 00:04:27.980 --> 00:04:33.220 It means when a person is trusting in Jesus, they are vitally connected to Jesus. 00:04:33.340 --> 00:04:35.759 We talk about union with Christ. 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:40.720 He becomes our representative before God. 00:04:41.139 --> 00:04:45.379 We now claim Jesus as our head, the one who represents us. 00:04:45.379 --> 00:04:49.279 We have, when we trust in Jesus, changed kingdom. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:51.079 And we have changed king. 00:04:51.259 --> 00:04:53.899 Jesus is our new king. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:55.680 So we are in him. 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:58.579 Our identity is bound up with him. 00:04:58.699 --> 00:05:03.740 So the gospel, the good news of Jesus, helps us to answer the who am I question, 00:05:04.139 --> 00:05:06.860 because it reminds us that Jesus gives us a new center. 00:05:07.620 --> 00:05:09.680 He is our new identity. 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:13.339 So let's begin at verse 26. 00:05:13.339 --> 00:05:19.959 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 00:05:20.479 --> 00:05:24.819 So here's our first personal label that we can put on ourselves if we are Christians. 00:05:25.039 --> 00:05:28.959 In Christ, I am a son of God. 00:05:29.879 --> 00:05:34.379 Now, Paul deliberately has the language of sons there. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:37.659 Sometimes he'll say to the church, you are the bride of Christ. 00:05:37.739 --> 00:05:39.419 He'll use female imagery. 00:05:39.420 --> 00:05:43.259 But here he's deliberately talking about sons because in those days, 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:47.379 it was only a son that had the right to inherit the family estate. 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:50.000 So he's saying something profound here. 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:54.740 He's saying you have the right to all the promises of God. 00:05:55.060 --> 00:06:00.040 And that privilege is not restricted as it was in Paul's day in society. 00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:05.400 That privilege is open to all, to anyone who has faith in Christ. 00:06:05.460 --> 00:06:09.420 So this comes as good news for the Gentiles who are used to hearing, 00:06:09.879 --> 00:06:11.420 well, you don't have the promises of God. 00:06:11.520 --> 00:06:12.860 You're not part of the people of God. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:14.680 So you're less than us. 00:06:15.540 --> 00:06:18.160 And it's good news for us because it says, 00:06:18.500 --> 00:06:23.640 regardless of who we are, where we're from, what our background is, 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:26.719 if we trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, 00:06:27.259 --> 00:06:32.560 then we have all these wonderful promises of God in the Bible that come to us. 00:06:33.259 --> 00:06:38.500 That to put our faith in Jesus the Son is to make us a son of God, 00:06:38.919 --> 00:06:42.339 that the blessings promised to Abraham become ours. 00:06:42.740 --> 00:06:43.919 So back in the Old Testament, 00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:48.300 God said that the blessing to the nations would come through one of Abraham's family, 00:06:48.300 --> 00:06:49.419 would come through Jesus. 00:06:49.419 --> 00:06:52.899 So the blessing of God comes to us. 00:06:52.899 --> 00:06:56.659 We get a great name just as Abraham got a great name. 00:06:56.979 --> 00:06:59.199 Our great name, I am a child of God. 00:06:59.779 --> 00:07:01.359 We get a great land. 00:07:01.500 --> 00:07:03.019 Abraham got Israel. 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:08.599 We get the new heavens and the new earth if we're trusting in the Lord Jesus. 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:13.879 That's our inheritance that we look forward to as sons of God. 00:07:14.719 --> 00:07:19.719 So there's the first gospel label that Paul reminds us of. 00:07:19.719 --> 00:07:21.699 The second is in verse 27. 00:07:22.899 --> 00:07:29.579 For all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 00:07:29.979 --> 00:07:36.459 So again, to personalize that, if I am baptized in Christ, I am clothed with Christ. 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:39.439 What does it mean to be baptized into Christ? 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:43.779 Well, these people had recently become Christians. 00:07:43.779 --> 00:07:45.819 They'd recently started trusting in Jesus. 00:07:45.819 --> 00:07:52.000 And as a sign of that spiritual reality, they had been baptized with water. 00:07:52.819 --> 00:07:57.579 Paul uses this language, baptized into Christ, to talk about identification. 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:00.459 Saying two things to us, really. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:05.719 That we are, if we are in Christ, we are identified with Jesus in his death. 00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:09.220 So Jesus goes to the cross and he dies for my sin. 00:08:09.400 --> 00:08:11.060 Therefore, I am dead to sin. 00:08:11.440 --> 00:08:14.220 The power of sin has no more hold on me. 00:08:14.320 --> 00:08:16.840 I have a new master whose name is Jesus. 00:08:17.540 --> 00:08:22.060 And we're also identified with Jesus in his resurrection life. 00:08:22.460 --> 00:08:26.940 That just as Jesus rose again, so we too, if our faith is in Jesus, 00:08:27.200 --> 00:08:31.240 we're enjoying new life from him and with him. 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:38.080 And so there's these powerful spiritual realities that tell us that believing Jesus died and rose for us 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:40.039 changes our identity fundamentally. 00:08:41.100 --> 00:08:43.799 And that takes us to this clothing imagery. 00:08:44.580 --> 00:08:49.220 If you're baptized into Christ, you're clothed with Christ. 00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:51.940 Let's think about that for a few moments. 00:08:52.019 --> 00:08:56.820 First of all, clothing for us is often a marker of identity. 00:08:56.820 --> 00:09:00.680 I suppose we know that as Scots. 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:02.760 We can think about our kilt. 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:07.720 If we're guys, we have a kilt as a sign of our Scottish identity. 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:12.400 And even more than that, our kilts have also got clan tartans. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:16.140 That they represent the family that we belong to. 00:09:16.260 --> 00:09:19.420 So we get the idea of identity and clothing. 00:09:19.419 --> 00:09:26.279 We can also think in terms of school uniform or work uniform that represent, 00:09:26.620 --> 00:09:28.159 I belong to this school. 00:09:28.319 --> 00:09:30.139 I belong to this organization. 00:09:31.199 --> 00:09:35.620 Here is Paul's way of saying, if you are clothed with Christ, you belong to him. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:39.179 He is your primary mark of identification. 00:09:39.659 --> 00:09:40.799 It's not about our IQ. 00:09:41.479 --> 00:09:42.519 It's not about our finance. 00:09:42.659 --> 00:09:43.740 It's not about our relationships. 00:09:44.219 --> 00:09:45.879 It's about Jesus. 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:50.539 That's our primary identity as Christians. 00:09:51.580 --> 00:09:56.960 Clothed with Christ also picks up that image that you find in the Bible where in Isaiah, 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:03.000 there's the idea that our best efforts, our righteousness are like filthy rags. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:07.980 So we come to God and our filthy rags means we cannot be accepted by him. 00:10:08.580 --> 00:10:14.980 But then by grace, we're clothed in the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:10:14.980 --> 00:10:20.820 That by grace, we are made clean and pure and acceptable to God. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:25.620 So that when God looks on us, he sees Jesus in us. 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:28.460 And so we can be accepted and welcomed. 00:10:29.700 --> 00:10:31.200 We can think about it another way. 00:10:31.560 --> 00:10:34.480 Think about a child's dressing up box. 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:36.960 I don't know if you like dressing up when you were younger, 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:43.060 but often children like to dress up, maybe as a princess, maybe as a fireman. 00:10:44.019 --> 00:10:48.259 In our nursery, there's lots of the kids liking to dress up as wild animals at the moment. 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:54.440 And what happens is, as soon as the clothing goes on, so too goes the behavior. 00:10:55.180 --> 00:11:01.420 So you walk into the nursery and you find kids prowling around like lions or roaring like tigers. 00:11:01.419 --> 00:11:04.539 And what is Paul saying to us? 00:11:04.599 --> 00:11:10.759 He's saying that when we are clothed with Christ, we put on the attitudes and the actions, the behavior, 00:11:11.199 --> 00:11:13.839 the patterns of life of Jesus. 00:11:14.979 --> 00:11:17.740 He puts it another way in some of his other lectures. 00:11:17.899 --> 00:11:20.899 He says you put off the old, the sinful nature. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:22.699 You put off that way of life. 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:25.419 You put on the new, like a new set of clothes. 00:11:25.419 --> 00:11:31.599 So as we trust in Jesus, we are more and more growing to look like Jesus 00:11:31.599 --> 00:11:33.379 because that's our identity. 00:11:33.620 --> 00:11:35.679 That's who we are. 00:11:37.179 --> 00:11:42.019 There is another label that the gospel gives us to wear. 00:11:42.659 --> 00:11:47.879 In verse 28, we discover there is neither Jew nor Greek, 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:52.240 slave nor free, male nor female, 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:56.060 for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:59.620 So in Christ, we are all one. 00:12:00.139 --> 00:12:02.419 And again, this is hugely significant. 00:12:03.379 --> 00:12:05.940 You could trace every period of history. 00:12:06.419 --> 00:12:10.259 You could look at every culture and society in history 00:12:10.259 --> 00:12:15.299 and you would discover in each of them, there will inevitably be social barriers. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:19.019 John highlighted that talking about doors open day. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:21.460 We understand that there are social barriers. 00:12:21.460 --> 00:12:23.379 Some of them are hugely significant. 00:12:24.300 --> 00:12:27.240 They determine the attitudes that we have to certain people 00:12:27.240 --> 00:12:29.500 and that certain people have towards us. 00:12:30.160 --> 00:12:38.080 They determine our level of access to power or to education or to opportunity. 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:41.560 Some of us, we know this in our cultures. 00:12:41.680 --> 00:12:44.360 This is very much tied up to our stories. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:50.139 It was true then and it's true now that there are by nature, 00:12:50.139 --> 00:12:53.319 because we are sinful people barriers that we put up. 00:12:54.059 --> 00:12:57.220 But Paul here again is pointing to the power of the gospel. 00:12:57.720 --> 00:13:04.759 He's showing how the good news of Jesus tears down those barriers in his day and in ours too. 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:10.879 So he addresses the three big barriers in society, saying that in Christ Jesus, 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:14.639 they do not matter within God's church. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.639 So the first of which is race. 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:19.939 There's neither Jew nor Greek. 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:22.259 Now, if you were to ask the false teachers, 00:13:22.980 --> 00:13:25.840 this would be their ultimate insider outsider. 00:13:26.179 --> 00:13:26.939 We're on the inside. 00:13:27.100 --> 00:13:27.899 We've got the promises. 00:13:28.100 --> 00:13:28.740 We're God's people. 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:30.080 Everyone else is on the outside. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:35.020 But in Jesus, we discover that we are all equal. 00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:37.780 We're equal in our need. 00:13:38.540 --> 00:13:39.860 Jewish people need Jesus. 00:13:40.340 --> 00:13:41.660 Non-Jewish people need Jesus. 00:13:41.820 --> 00:13:43.759 We all need God's grace in our lives. 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:46.879 And we're equal in our opportunity. 00:13:47.620 --> 00:13:51.500 This isn't a promise just for certain people, certain races. 00:13:52.200 --> 00:13:54.759 God's grace is open to all. 00:13:54.860 --> 00:13:57.820 The invitation is extended globally. 00:13:57.820 --> 00:14:08.860 So Christianity is the one truly global religion because it's not tied to race or culture or class or any of those things. 00:14:09.420 --> 00:14:11.240 So there is no Jew or Greek. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:15.580 There is neither slave nor free. 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:20.200 Class does not matter in the gospel. 00:14:21.460 --> 00:14:26.860 We know this, that wealth and education and privilege, they're a really big deal. 00:14:26.860 --> 00:14:29.919 You have some people that have them, other people that aspire to have them. 00:14:30.680 --> 00:14:39.320 We know this in Edinburgh, in our own city, education is a huge deal, a huge point of conversation across the board. 00:14:39.740 --> 00:14:44.960 And here we have a reminder that the gospel cuts across classism. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:49.700 It cuts across snobbery or elitism. 00:14:49.700 --> 00:15:01.140 It reminds us that while money does buy much, does create opportunity, God's love always comes as a free gift of grace, therefore is open to all. 00:15:01.259 --> 00:15:05.180 And we shouldn't have barriers based on whether we're rich or poor. 00:15:06.259 --> 00:15:09.840 And then he comes to the other big division in his day, which was gender. 00:15:10.520 --> 00:15:16.000 There is neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:17.860 So this again was a massive gap. 00:15:18.419 --> 00:15:21.820 There was a real lack of rights for women in Paul's day. 00:15:22.220 --> 00:15:26.279 There was abuse and exploitation across the board. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:29.840 And sadly, we see that sometimes not much changes. 00:15:30.980 --> 00:15:37.539 You watch the media, you think of the Me Too movement, and you see that there are still powerful men who would abuse women. 00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:48.699 One of the things that people were shocked by when they watched Jesus was the amount of dignity and value that he showed to women. 00:15:48.819 --> 00:15:55.000 He was so different to the other teachers and who he welcomed, who he spent time with. 00:15:55.539 --> 00:15:59.819 And it's a reminder that there is full rights in Jesus. 00:15:59.820 --> 00:16:08.580 Anyone can enjoy all of God's promises, regardless of race or class or gender. 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:13.060 Now, Paul is not saying that these differences don't exist, because of course they do. 00:16:13.140 --> 00:16:14.280 We see that. 00:16:14.780 --> 00:16:22.620 But he is saying these differences are not a barrier, should never be a barrier to knowing and enjoying God. 00:16:22.620 --> 00:16:30.440 And we need to be so careful that we don't construct barriers that stop certain people from coming to hear about Jesus. 00:16:31.220 --> 00:16:39.340 And he's also saying, again, that our primary label is who we are in Christ, not those other things. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:42.419 That's not how we define ourselves. 00:16:42.500 --> 00:16:45.720 We define ourselves in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:48.960 Next up, verse 29. 00:16:49.660 --> 00:16:57.660 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:05.059 Or to put it another way, in Christ, I am a child of Abraham. 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:11.480 Because here Paul is reminding these Gentile Christians that they've been connected to the story of Abraham, 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:14.339 to the story of Abraham, the father of faith. 00:17:14.339 --> 00:17:22.119 Here is a reminder to us that if we're trusting in Jesus, we are connected to a whole new family of faith, 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:27.079 stretching from Abraham all the way through time and into eternity. 00:17:27.779 --> 00:17:34.759 And again, this was good news for these guys, perhaps beginning to feel a sense of isolation from their family because of their faith, 00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:37.799 perhaps losing rights and privileges. 00:17:39.899 --> 00:17:41.559 Comes as good news to us as well. 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:46.679 Maybe you're the only Christian in your family and you can sometimes feel really isolated or lonely because of that. 00:17:47.419 --> 00:17:55.919 Maybe you're new to the city, a new student who's just arrived and you feel far from family and the church that you belong to. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:01.659 Well, here is a reminder that Jesus connects us together in a family tree. 00:18:01.660 --> 00:18:05.400 And he connects us also in local church families. 00:18:05.640 --> 00:18:11.160 So let me again encourage you if you're new to the city, especially if you're a new student looking to grow and mature, 00:18:11.420 --> 00:18:16.900 then find a gospel church to plug into either here or somewhere else. 00:18:17.460 --> 00:18:21.900 But as we take a step back and we think about what Paul has said in these few verses, 00:18:22.840 --> 00:18:26.300 notice the levels of connection that are involved. 00:18:26.299 --> 00:18:30.139 So he's saying by faith, we can say we are in Christ. 00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:32.379 So we belong to Jesus. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:34.019 We love Jesus. 00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:35.539 He loves us. 00:18:36.980 --> 00:18:38.720 I am his and he is mine. 00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:41.359 We have that vital connection to Jesus, our Savior. 00:18:41.700 --> 00:18:45.559 But the result is that we are also connected to God as Father. 00:18:46.659 --> 00:18:48.500 We have access to God. 00:18:48.500 --> 00:18:52.859 And we'll discover down in verse 6, we're also connected to the Spirit. 00:18:53.339 --> 00:18:58.319 And we're connected to God's church as brothers and sisters. 00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:06.599 So part of this new identity that we receive in Christ is we get these new relationships, a new sense of connection. 00:19:08.380 --> 00:19:16.420 The last label that Paul gives to us, we're going to focus on chapter 4, those first seven verses. 00:19:16.420 --> 00:19:21.539 In Christ, I am an adopted child of God. 00:19:21.940 --> 00:19:26.860 In this section, we really get to the high point of God's grace to us. 00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:28.759 We get to the peak. 00:19:28.840 --> 00:19:31.759 We get to the pinnacle of our privilege as Christians. 00:19:31.860 --> 00:19:35.960 We actually get to the goal of why God rescues us. 00:19:36.700 --> 00:19:37.900 God rescues us. 00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:43.140 God forgives us so that he might bring us into his family. 00:19:43.140 --> 00:19:49.500 Think about what happened to the people in Israel when they were released from slavery in Egypt. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:54.580 They were brought to Mount Sinai to become the children of God. 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:58.780 We are saved to be brought into God's family. 00:19:59.940 --> 00:20:05.780 And again, in this section, Paul is constantly answering that attack from the Jewish false teachers 00:20:05.780 --> 00:20:10.520 that you need to live under Jewish ceremonial law to really be saved. 00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:14.839 Paul is going to give confidence that if your faith is in Jesus Christ alone, 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:18.920 then you are a child of God and you are heirs along with Jesus. 00:20:19.339 --> 00:20:25.460 You don't need to keep the law in order to earn your place in the family. 00:20:26.180 --> 00:20:29.639 So there are two different but connected pictures going on. 00:20:29.740 --> 00:20:31.400 The first is in verses 1 to 3. 00:20:32.420 --> 00:20:33.359 Let's read those. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:38.379 What I'm saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he's no different from a slave, 00:20:38.859 --> 00:20:40.459 although he owns the whole estate. 00:20:41.199 --> 00:20:45.579 He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 00:20:46.259 --> 00:20:48.859 So also, now here's the parallel. 00:20:49.019 --> 00:20:54.479 So also when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. 00:20:54.740 --> 00:20:56.059 So the picture is this. 00:20:56.740 --> 00:20:57.819 It's a child. 00:20:58.059 --> 00:21:01.959 Think about a child of a wealthy landowner back in the Roman times. 00:21:01.960 --> 00:21:06.640 So either a young child or a teenager, even someone in their early 20s. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:12.059 Paul is saying, while you had that promise of inheriting all this land, 00:21:12.840 --> 00:21:19.440 while you're still a child, you're no better off than a slave until that moment when you come of age. 00:21:19.600 --> 00:21:23.160 So the father would say maybe around 25, okay, you can now inherit. 00:21:23.160 --> 00:21:32.500 But before that, up until mid-teens perhaps, under the control of guardians that existed to discipline and to expose failings. 00:21:32.759 --> 00:21:37.600 And then they'd come under the control of these trustees until the time of 25. 00:21:38.420 --> 00:21:44.700 And what Paul is saying, just as that was restrictive for a child waiting to inherit, 00:21:44.700 --> 00:21:49.420 just as it was temporary because that child was always looking forward to freedom. 00:21:49.420 --> 00:21:58.180 So the law was a temporary restriction waiting for fullness and freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:21:58.640 --> 00:22:06.340 So that's why in verse 3, he can say, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. 00:22:06.339 --> 00:22:11.119 And then he'll go on to say, but God sent his son to redeem. 00:22:11.740 --> 00:22:14.980 Jesus offers freedom from those basic principles. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:19.279 This is Paul saying life under the law was a restrictive burden. 00:22:20.220 --> 00:22:27.799 It was a temporary restriction, restraining sin, in order to keep people longing for the promised Savior. 00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:35.919 So then when he says in verse 4, when the time had fully come, this is the picture of now is the coming of age. 00:22:35.919 --> 00:22:38.919 That God the Father had set the timetable. 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:45.119 At just the right time, Jesus would enter into history and usher in all of these rich promises. 00:22:45.879 --> 00:22:50.759 So the coming of Jesus marks that shift from being a child who's no better off than a slave, 00:22:51.139 --> 00:22:56.839 living under the law, to now freedom and full inheritance for those who are trusting in Jesus. 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:02.139 So here is Paul's way of saying, why in the world would you go back to the law? 00:23:02.959 --> 00:23:07.379 Because in Christ, you've got your inheritance by grace. 00:23:08.259 --> 00:23:15.839 And then the picture slightly changes, but again pointing to the privileged status that we have in Christ. 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:23.500 So if we read from verse 4, when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law, 00:23:23.500 --> 00:23:30.940 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 00:23:32.140 --> 00:23:36.539 That's the important phrase, the full rights of sons, literally the adoption of sons. 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:39.859 Or again in verse 7, so you're no longer a slave, but a son. 00:23:40.299 --> 00:23:44.079 And since you're a son, God has made you also an heir. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:49.680 So there was another practice to do with inheritance back in Paul's day in Roman times. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:56.560 So if there was a wealthy landowner who didn't have children, he had a problem. 00:23:57.259 --> 00:24:00.180 Who's going to inherit everything when I die? 00:24:00.380 --> 00:24:07.100 So that landowner could legally adopt a slave to make him part of the family, 00:24:07.220 --> 00:24:10.640 so he had someone to pass on his inheritance to. 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:17.759 And here is Paul saying this is what God has done for us. 00:24:18.860 --> 00:24:24.860 That God has not just forgiven us, not just redeemed and rescued us, 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:30.320 he's done that so that we might receive the full rights of sons. 00:24:30.660 --> 00:24:35.060 That we are rescued by Jesus to be adopted by God the Father. 00:24:35.059 --> 00:24:43.559 In Paul's day and in our day, there is a process involved in adoption. 00:24:44.019 --> 00:24:48.259 There is a change of legal status that's involved, a change of family name. 00:24:49.940 --> 00:24:55.759 And Paul says that in the gospel, in trusting in Jesus, we get the name of God on us. 00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:58.879 That we get a change of legal status. 00:24:59.019 --> 00:25:00.759 Now we belong to God. 00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:01.500 He is our King. 00:25:01.500 --> 00:25:04.940 He is our Father in heaven, in Christ. 00:25:05.099 --> 00:25:07.359 I am a child of God. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:13.079 And the evidence for that, we find that in verse 6. 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:19.579 The assurance of that, because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. 00:25:20.299 --> 00:25:23.859 The Spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. 00:25:25.019 --> 00:25:28.099 The Spirit of his Son is like our adoption papers. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:30.440 Here's how we know that this is true. 00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:33.500 God has placed his Spirit in our hearts. 00:25:33.539 --> 00:25:41.019 And the Spirit's work in our lives is to help us to feel and to know what is already true. 00:25:41.580 --> 00:25:48.259 So Jesus comes and he finishes the work of redemption by dying on the cross to take away our sin, 00:25:48.320 --> 00:25:53.019 to face the penalty due to it, to forgive us, to bring us to God. 00:25:53.019 --> 00:25:58.420 And then he gives us the Spirit so that we would know that this is true. 00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:05.359 That we can be assured that God loves us, that he is for us. 00:26:06.519 --> 00:26:09.259 Assuring us that we are in the family. 00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:14.920 And it says that at the end of verse 6, this is the Spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. 00:26:15.079 --> 00:26:16.559 This is the way that Jesus prayed. 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:21.440 So one of the results of our adoption is that we can pray like Jesus. 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:25.279 We've got this access to the Father like Jesus had. 00:26:26.659 --> 00:26:31.159 So whereas before we perhaps thought of prayer as a duty or a discipline, 00:26:31.299 --> 00:26:34.940 something that we need to know to do because we know that that's what Christians do. 00:26:35.019 --> 00:26:35.980 Now it's a joy. 00:26:36.779 --> 00:26:39.519 We come to this Father who loves us. 00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:43.639 We've got this security of knowing that we belong to him, 00:26:43.960 --> 00:26:45.960 that we can share our joys with him. 00:26:46.039 --> 00:26:47.519 We can share our troubles with him. 00:26:47.579 --> 00:26:52.480 We can call out to him for help and know that he loves us and he is there for us. 00:26:53.299 --> 00:26:57.900 And so adoption gives us this wonderful privilege of being able to pray 00:26:57.900 --> 00:27:03.099 and have this vital, intimate connection with God our Father. 00:27:03.099 --> 00:27:10.419 And so we have in this little section a picture of God's love for us. 00:27:11.579 --> 00:27:16.879 Imagine a slave standing in a Roman marketplace in chains 00:27:16.879 --> 00:27:21.480 and unsure of what the future held for them. 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:27.099 And then the emperor of Rome strides into the market square 00:27:27.099 --> 00:27:32.139 and speaks to the person in charge of selling these slaves. 00:27:32.140 --> 00:27:36.160 And he pays some money and he looks over at the slave and he declares, 00:27:36.280 --> 00:27:39.440 the emperor declares, you are free to go. 00:27:40.180 --> 00:27:43.380 And as the chains come off, he also announces, 00:27:43.860 --> 00:27:50.440 you will come and live with me and all of my vast fortune will be yours. 00:27:51.600 --> 00:27:57.660 This is what it means to be adopted by God when we are in Christ, 00:27:57.759 --> 00:27:59.640 when our faith is in Jesus. 00:27:59.640 --> 00:28:03.880 Paul is saying knowing Jesus takes us from living lives of slavery 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:06.740 to living on the king's family estate. 00:28:07.660 --> 00:28:13.160 We are adopted by God's grace and it's all because we are in Christ. 00:28:14.080 --> 00:28:19.020 He tells us how it happens in verses 4 and 5. 00:28:19.360 --> 00:28:22.060 So we saw in verse 4, 00:28:22.059 --> 00:28:31.539 So here's a reminder that the process of becoming a child of God, 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:34.559 belonging to God, being saved, is God's initiative. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:42.779 God in love and mercy sends his son to rescue us by grace. 00:28:42.779 --> 00:28:48.240 And we discover that Jesus comes to be a perfect representative. 00:28:48.639 --> 00:28:51.399 So Jesus, the son of God, is sent. 00:28:51.879 --> 00:28:55.399 And in verse 4, we're told that he's born of a woman. 00:28:56.899 --> 00:29:01.000 So in those two phrases, we're told Jesus is fully God, 00:29:01.099 --> 00:29:04.519 so he can represent God and he's fully human. 00:29:04.879 --> 00:29:06.460 He can represent us. 00:29:06.460 --> 00:29:12.940 He embraces all the limitations and experiences the same kind of needs as us. 00:29:13.079 --> 00:29:16.620 He lives life like us, except that he never sinned. 00:29:16.680 --> 00:29:22.920 And he did that so that he might, again in verse 4, be born under law. 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:30.440 He might live under the obligations like us to keep God's law perfectly. 00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:34.980 So where we can't, because we fail, because we sin, 00:29:35.360 --> 00:29:37.519 Jesus can and does. 00:29:37.840 --> 00:29:43.259 Our perfect representative positively meets all the obligations of the law 00:29:43.259 --> 00:29:45.580 by perfectly obeying at every point. 00:29:46.039 --> 00:29:49.480 And then he satisfies the demands of justice for lawbreaking 00:29:49.480 --> 00:29:52.160 as he dies on the cross. 00:29:52.180 --> 00:29:57.279 Not for anything he had done, but for the things that we have done. 00:29:57.279 --> 00:30:01.819 And he has done that in order, verse 5, 00:30:02.180 --> 00:30:08.700 to redeem those under law that we might receive the full rights of sons. 00:30:09.240 --> 00:30:13.240 The word redeem is the word for rescue. 00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:17.500 Jesus doesn't come to give us a helping hand. 00:30:18.099 --> 00:30:24.460 He comes to rescue us when we are slaves and unable to get to God by ourselves. 00:30:24.460 --> 00:30:28.620 He rescues us by securing for us total forgiveness. 00:30:29.460 --> 00:30:35.039 He rescues us by gifting to us his perfect record of righteousness. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:40.380 He sets us free to belong to God. 00:30:41.460 --> 00:30:45.360 And so here is this wonderfully comprehensive message 00:30:45.360 --> 00:30:49.559 that Paul gives to Christians who are struggling with their identity. 00:30:49.740 --> 00:30:51.900 Is it enough for me to believe in Jesus? 00:30:51.900 --> 00:30:54.200 Do I need to become like these people over here? 00:30:54.860 --> 00:30:56.400 He says to them in verse 7, 00:30:56.519 --> 00:30:58.660 You're no longer a slave, but a son. 00:30:59.580 --> 00:31:02.720 Since you're a son, God has made you also an heir. 00:31:03.620 --> 00:31:06.759 This is who you are by God's grace, he says to them. 00:31:06.920 --> 00:31:08.340 Live as a son of God. 00:31:08.519 --> 00:31:10.280 Live as a daughter of God. 00:31:11.100 --> 00:31:13.200 Don't live as a slave. 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:18.980 So he's giving us these powerful gospel labels 00:31:18.980 --> 00:31:26.480 to answer those crises of identity that we suffer from from time to time. 00:31:27.360 --> 00:31:30.200 So the question for us as we come to our close is, 00:31:30.600 --> 00:31:36.140 will being in Christ transform how we view ourselves? 00:31:36.140 --> 00:31:40.040 Will we let that shape our sense of identity? 00:31:41.040 --> 00:31:47.480 So that when others would want to make us feel worthless and less than, 00:31:48.080 --> 00:31:50.820 will we tell ourselves in Christ, 00:31:51.480 --> 00:31:54.640 I am a child of God and I know that he loves me. 00:31:55.140 --> 00:31:58.020 When our past comes back to haunt us 00:31:58.020 --> 00:32:00.920 or when we are troubled by guilt or shame, 00:32:00.920 --> 00:32:03.200 will we say to ourselves, 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:07.019 I am clothed in the righteousness of Christ. 00:32:08.140 --> 00:32:11.500 When fear would stop us sharing our faith, 00:32:11.560 --> 00:32:13.580 when we feel dreadfully insecure, 00:32:14.900 --> 00:32:16.519 will we remind ourselves, 00:32:16.940 --> 00:32:20.860 I am loved by God and he has sent his spirit to help me, 00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:24.920 to speak with me as I seek to serve my Savior. 00:32:25.960 --> 00:32:27.259 When we look in the mirror, 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:30.240 will rescued by Jesus, 00:32:30.920 --> 00:32:35.460 and adopted child of God be what you and I see. 00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:36.779 Let's pray.